“What are you doing here, child?” Billy asked.

Why the hell would Jimmy let this kid in here without warning me? Rick asked himself.

The boy trembled like a leaf as he held the white cloth up, “I… I saw the small red flowers that grow here. I can use them. I th… I think.”

“Tell him that he shouldn’t be watching the broadcast. He’s too young,” Rick said. He felt a bit embarrassed that children were subject to such Alerts.

Billy relayed the message to the kid and he nodded, looking down, “I… I don’t like them. But my brother says I need to watch it. To see why I have to get stronger.”

Rick hated the System even more now for robbing these children of their childhoods. This generation would be subject to more horrors than he had ever known at that age. He hated himself for playing a part in that, but it all came down to the System allowing it.

“Ask him how he can use the flowers,” Rick told Billy. He knew they were used for healing potions, but he was curious why a child would be able to use them and where he got the knowledge to do so.

“I am an Herbalist. I can spot the special things in plants,” the boy said proudly, losing his stutter.

“It was very dangerous of you to come here. Does your brother know you’re here?” Billy asked, speaking Rick’s words.

“It was his idea,” the boy said.

If Rick ever met this kid’s brother, he’d feed him to the Ceaseless Wolves.

“That was a very dangerous idea he had,” Billy said. “What’s your name, kid?”

“I’m Danny. My brother is hurt and I told him that I could help with these flowers,” he said.

Billy continued repeating Rick’s words, “Can you pluck what you need in five minutes?”

Danny nodded.

“Good, I’ll be timing you,” Billy said, mimicking Rick’s playful tone. “If you get it done in five minutes, you can have this.” A stuffed bunny appeared in Billy’s hands.

The kid smiled, a tear forming in his eye, “I’ll do my best.”

“Oh, and one last thing,” Billy said. “Once your brother is all healed up, tell him to stop by. I’d like a word with him. Now, go. I’m going to start counting!”

Danny raced off and started plucking as many of the red clovers as he could. Now, the whole world could see that the flowers were valuable. Another point for R&J’s Dungeon Depot. He also felt grateful that the information hadn’t been known prior to Gus coming in and trying to get control of that too.

Less than a minute later, Danny held a large bundle of the clovers and wrapped them in the white cloth. “Done! Did I make it?”

Billy looked at the kid and arched an eyebrow, “With four minutes to spare. And since you broke the record, not only do you get the bunny, you get a gold coin.”

Danny’s smile widened as he snatched the coin that materialized in Billy’s hand, “Thank you.”

“Now, go on and sell it quickly so no butt-heads outside can take it from you,” Billy said.

“Yes sir,” Danny said. His eyes went vacant for a moment as he accessed the Shop. “Oh wow, thank you!”

Billy smiled a genuine smile, “Good. Now run along, child.”

The boy didn’t hesitate as he tried to show off how fast he was to the world and raced to the door.

“I gotta talk to Jimmy about setting some kind of age restriction. Not only should that kid have not come in, he shouldn’t be watching the broadcast at all. What the hell was he thinking, letting that kid in?”

On cue, Jimmy entered the dungeon, red in the face and a vein visibly pulsing on his forehead. “Before you say anything, that kid was not supposed to be in here.”

“Then what happened?” Rick asked.

“He snuck in,” Jimmy said, waving his hand dismissively. “Gus told me you struck some kind of deal? Without me? What the fuck, dude?”

Rick felt bad. It would have been good for Jimmy to be with him. His friend would definitely have helped him get a better deal. Separately, they did fine, but when they were together - they could win any deal.

“Fuck, you’re right. I’m not sure what I was thinking,” Rick said.

“It’s fine. But remember, man. We’re a team,” Jimmy said.

“I know. Won’t happen again,” Rick said and began to rehash the conversation he had with Gus.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

—

“Ok, well that’s not a bad deal for you,” Jimmy said after listening intently. “You didn’t sign any System Contracts did you?”

“No, what the hell is that?” Rick asked.

“Thank god. If you did, I’d do terrible, terrible things to your Core,” Jimmy said. “Anyway, System Contracts are a bit pricey, so maybe Gus doesn’t have as much coin as we thought – Cause I sure as hell don’t believe that he doesn’t know of them.”

“Get to the point man, what do they do?”

“You can purchase a contract for any number of years. The longer the contract, the more expensive they are. You can put anything you want in them really, but the System binds the contract to your soul. You can’t break it, even if you wanted to,” Jimmy explained. “I’m one hundred percent going to figure out if there are any loopholes, but as long as you didn’t sign one of those, we’re okay.”

“If Gus knew of them, he’d absolutely would have wanted me to sign one,” Rick said. “Well, maybe not. He was buttering me up a lot, so the contract requests could be coming later.”

“Yeah, fuck that. We need to get him back to the negotiating table. He can have all the real estate he wants outside, but anything we decide to sell out of here is all ours. There is a lot of money that we’re leaving out on the table right now,” Jimmy said fervently.

“Personally, I need to level. Badly. Secondly, I need an Energy source, but Gus said that he’d be taking care of that,” Rick said. “What about you, Jimmy? What do you want?”

Jimmy grinned the same way he would when he saw a rich fish walk into the store wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, “I want our shop back.”

“Fuck. Yes,” was all Rick could say.

“Since I’m immune to the mobs and minions, I could set it up right near the entrance of the first floor,” Jimmy said.

“Jimmy — Have I told you that you’re a goddamn genius lately?” Rick said.

“Not nearly as much as I deserve,” Jimmy said with a laugh. “The first thing we need to do is get the contract set up so that any dungeon-made products are ours and recognized by the System as such, unless a Challenger wins them, of course.”

“Of course.”

Jimmy held out two fingers, “The second thing we need to put in there should really be the first thing, but obviously, immunity from the Eagle Empire for anyone that we care about. Me, your parents, Kara, Penny, everyone.”

“Yeah, that reminds me. Are we still planning on hijacking their shit?” Rick asked. “I think we should at least have a plan in place for that in case shit hits the fan.”

“Yes, absolutely. I’m going to meet with Kara about that and I have tracked down Deandre too. I might bring Lazaro in, but I don’t exactly trust him,” Jimmy said.

“Do you think the Spell & Sword would help us?” Rick asked. He had grown to like the group quite a bit.

Jimmy rubbed his chin in thought, “That Alex guy seems like a rock. I would definitely bring him in and Sarah too. But the other three? Nah.”

“Yeah, true. Grady seems pretty trustworthy though,” Rick said, arguing for the large warrior.

“He does, but I have something else in mind for him,” the grin returned to Jimmy’s face. “He isn’t cut out for fighting in the dungeon. He doesn’t like it, but he won’t leave his friends and they won’t abandon him. So right now, they’re discussing what other work he could do for them and potentially bringing in another warrior.”

“Yeah, I could see that. It’s only a matter of time before he bites the dust with his brains and fighting style,” Rick agreed.

“Yeah. He was a bartender before all of this. I want to open a pub inside the Auxiliary Room for Challengers only. If they’re staying the night, they can buy bargle steaks, pizza, chicken parm, beer, the works. Grady could run the place for us and all you’d have to do is make whatever they order and, of course, pay for.”

“Jimmy —”

“I’m a goddamn genius, I know,” Jimmy said, cutting Rick off and puffing his chest out.

As Rick and Jimmy talked about what other demands they would make in the future, the door opened and Gus delivered on his promise. Dump trucks had arrived and an assembly line of workers started to pile in the trash.

“See if you can convince some of those Eagle Empire morons to come to Challenge the dungeon,” Rick suggested, desperate for a level.

“I don’t think it’ll be too hard. They’re chomping at the bit to get in here,” Jimmy said. “I’ll send the most annoying ones I can find.”

“Perfect. By the way, can you set the door to make them go into Luca’s area first?” Rick asked.

Jimmy’s eyes went vacant for a moment, “Yes, actually. Luca is in the same tier as the combined forces of this floor.”

“Beautiful, let’s do that. The bugger needs some work,”

“You got it. Anything else?” Jimmy asked.

“Oh, and find that kid that came in along with his brother. Learn what you can about the brother, but out there is no place for kids to be on their own. I was thinking he could help Penny. She could heal and he could harvest the red clover and make supplies that we could sell in our own little shop. Undercut the System shop,” Rick said.

Jimmy nodded along, “I like it. But, there are a lot of kids out there on their own. We don’t have room for all of them.”

“Then we start with one, Jim.”

“I like where your head’s at. You haven’t completely lost it,” Jimmy joked.

“Thanks. Anyway, I think this is all a good start. Why don’t you go and bring Gus in? I’ll work on R&J’s Dungeon Dive Bar.”

“Don’t you talk dirty to me, Rick,” Jimmy said with a wink and went to fetch Gus.

Rick began to greedily burn trash and top off his Energy when he realized something important. “I don’t know how to build a fuckin bar. Yosk!”

The seven-foot lizardman flung his hammer in the air as Rick startled him, “Yes sir!”

“Can you make me some blueprints for a bar or tavern? It would have to be in great detail down to each nail if you can,” Rick said.

“Yes, of course! I’ll get started right away. My builder’s kit came with blueprint papers, but I haven’t needed them yet,” the excited Yosk said.

“Great, let me know when you’re all done,” Rick said.

Yosk flicked his tongue out in a way that Rick started to take as a salute of some sort.

“Sorry, Penny. Gotta move you again,” Rick said. Penny was used to this by now and he moved her and the egg back into the empty Auxiliary Room.

Rick burned some trash and grew Luca’s floor while he daydreamed about reopening the shop in the new world and a bustling bar in the Aux Room. His daydreaming cut short as the door to Luca’s floor opened.

The silhouette of five men stood in the dark doorway.