Titan after drinking the bottle felt energized and he started to rise to his feet.

  Charlie and the others walked over to him with a bag filled with treasure. They had grins on their faces.

  “Alright you survived your first dungeon run. What do you want to do now?” Charlie asked.

  Titan smiled. “I want to see how much money I can get for the dungeon gold to put down for the mortgage." He said.

  Charlie nodded while the others all chuckled. He tapped Titan’s shoulder.

  “The Redemption store is closed until tomorrow. We need to have a guild meeting at the Gypsy.” He said.

  Titan frowned but he nodded. “Okay. We can go over what we did and what I need to work on to assist the crew.” He said.

  Charlie nodded saying nothing and put his arm around Titan’s shoulder and led him away.

  “So. Titan. How are you doing? Do you feel like you can continue doing this shit?” Charlie asked.

  Titan frowned at Charlie shaking his head. “I told you. I have to keep going. Until I pay off the mortgage on the house and fund my sister’s college.”

  They quickly were walking toward the exit and leaving the lunch room. The parking lot was blocked off by the police and military.

  They walked to the guild shuttle bus that was parked a few feet away.

  Eddie got into the driver’s side and Titan and the rest got into the back.

  Titan sat in the backseat beside Ronald on one side and Charlie his other side.

  The remaining crew filed into the back quietly.

  Ronald started the van and he started driving to the gate. Titan got out his magic bag.

  He searched through the bag and counted twenty gold coins inside.

  “I got about twenty coins. I don’t know what the conversion rate is for dungeon gold.”

  “Titan. Are you up for doing another dungeon in the morning, young blood?” Eddie said from the front.

  “Yeah. I need to do all the dungeon crawling I can before Monday morning. I got less than seventy-two hours left.” Titan said.

  “Don’t worry so much, Titan. We got you. We do a couple of dungeon runs tomorrow and pay it off for the month.” Charlie said.

  Titan stared straight ahead. “I have to save the house because my mother can’t handle losing the house right after she lost dad.” He said.

  They drove in silence for a few miles through town listening to music being played over the radio.

  They finally arrived at gypsy wine and spirits. Eddie parked in front.

  The side door opened and Ronald got out followed by Titan and Charlies.

  They walked to the entrance of the bar. The inside bar was empty of guests..

  Charlie waved to the bartender who was a tall bald copper skin man with a cybernetic left eye. He glared at Charlie.

  “Charlie the bar is closed for good.” He said.

  Charlie dropped a bag of a loot on the bar in front of him.

  “Good. I’m having a guild meeting here. Titan. This is Harold. A retired crawler.”

  Harold opened the bag and looked through it for a few moments.

  “You want to buy the place? I’ll take this bag as payment.” Harold said.

  “Titan. What do you think?”

  Titan took a moment to think it through.

  “We can sign it over to the guild as an asset and keep Harold on as a part time bartender and receptionist.”

  Harold frowned at Titan. “How do you expect to pay me?” He asked.

  “You’ll be paid through tips and every successful dungeon raid you get a percentage of the loot.”

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  Harold stared at Titan. His cybernetic eye moved and scanned him.

  “What class are you?” He asked.

  “None of that shit. Do you agree to the deal or not?” Charlie asked.

  Harold nodded with a grimace. “Yeah. Sure.” He said.

  “We’re going to use the back room. Watch the front and continue to work.” He said.

  Charlie led the way to a back room. They walked inside the small dinning room.

  They all sat down at a round wood table. Charlie took off his jacket. He looked at Titan.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Titan asked.

  Charlie snorted and he shaked his head. “What kind of place did you get you license from?” He asked.

  Titan stared at him. “It was a government one shop and stop store. My license is real. I did my research.” He said.

  “Government license? Can I see your license again?”

  Titan got out his thin leather wallet, took out his license and passed it to Charlie.

  Charlie examined the card from the front to the back and then he smiled.

  “It’s legit. You’re telling me you just went to a government store, paid a fee and they gave you a license. No training or tests.”

  “No. I took a character sheet test. It was list of questions that placed me as a rogue offically.” Titan said.

  Ronald shook his head. “Unbellievable. What was the weapon selection like a coin flip?”

  The others laughed. Titan rolled his eyes.

  “She showed me a series of weapons that fit with the class and I selected it and she blessed it for an extra fee.” He said.

  “Shit. Government parasites.” Hank said, causing the others to laugh.

  Charlie and Titan didn’t laugh though.

  “What was her name?” Charlie asked.

  “I didn’t get her last name but her name tag said Glenda.” Titan said.

  The others suddenly stopped laughing. Charlie leaned back in his seat.

  “Did Glenda give you any hands-on training?" He asked.

  Titan frowned. “Follow the leader’s orders. Analyze the enemy and use the best method for execution on the target.” He said.

  Charlie smiled leaning back in his seat. He nodded his head.

  “Is Glenda one of your dungeon crawler buddies?” Titan asked.

  Charlie was still smiling but he shook his head.

  “Oh no. I’ve heard of her before. She's a Legendary crawler that works for the government on special cases.”

  Titan nodded. “Alright. So are we going to discuss today’s raid?” He asked.

  Charlie nodded his head. “Yeah. You messed up on when you took the swing at the boss with the spear.”

  “How? I wanted to weaken it’s legs and joints more for Hank and Ronald to finish it.”

  “You ended up knocking Eddie and two other crew members against the wall. You did little damage to the boss.”

  “Why did my attack little damage? It was a direct hit?”

  “You’re a Rookie. So your low level will be too small to equal any amount of damage against a Dungeon Boss.”

  “So a level sixty or higher with Rank five class would bring maximum damage to dungeon boss?” Titan asked.

  Charlie’s eyes widened but he nodded his head. “Yeah. Sixty is legendary. Rank Five is the maximum class rank tier.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t think or realize that I had attacked one of the men.”

  Charlie smiled. “It happens.You did call out sound advice and weak points to aim.”

  “Does every class have a rank level?”

  Charlie stared at him. “You don’t have a class rank?” He asked.

  “No. There is just a class name and my personal level. My rankings are in my primary skills.”

  Charlie stared at him. “Yeah. I guess that means Psi classes are different from magical classes. You’ll rank up XP points into your rank skills as you level up.”

  “Why the difference in ranking up?”

  “You’re in the Psi category; most crawlers are in the magical category. Experience Points all go to your mental ability and not a magical base.” Ronald said.

  Titan frowned. “I still don’t understand how my abilities aren’t magical.”

  Ronald shook his head. “Your abilities come from your mind, not from a high power or a magical core in your body.”

  Charlie held up a hand. “It’s late. I think we should call it a night. I’ll set up a dungeon for us tomorrow. Titan stay.”

  The four veteran Rough Riders filed out of the room quickly for the night. Charlie and Titan were left behind.

  Charlie turned to Titan. “So did you have time to read the letter you dad left for you?” He asked.

  Titan nodded and looked around for waste bin. He found it under the table and then he took out the letter.

  “You got a match?” Titan asked quietly.

  Charlie said nothing simply held his hand and white flames appeared hovering over his open palm.

  Titan nodded. “That’s good. He told me to burn it after I read and memorized it.”

  “Are you ready?” Charlie asked.

  Titan got up taking a moment. He stared at the letter and then dropped it into the waste bin.

  Charlie sent the white flames into the waste bin. The letter was consumed quickly in the flames.

  “Are you still up for being the guild book keeper?” Charlie asked.

  “Of course. I can help with maintaining the guild fund and building on our assets.”

  Charlie nodded, grinning and patted his shoulder.

  “I know you will. The government will deposit our fee tomorrow. I need you to divide that fee up for our expenses, bills and resources we need to buy.”

  Titan nodded. “I’ll need a spreadsheet of our past guild expenses and I’ll form a budget around it for the future.”

  Charlie nodded. “I’ll email it to you. You’ll work full time as the book keeper and part time in dungeon crawling with a team.”

  “Thank you Uncle Charlie for taking me on. It means the world to my family and me.”

  Charlie shook his head. “I don’t need your thanks. We’re family."

  Titan smiled. “Thank you. I know mother isn’t going like me going into a dungeon.”

  “You’re a man. You showed up and put the work in. You earned your way in. Your father would be proud of you.” He said.

  Titan’s eyes watered as tears flowed down his cheeks. He lowered his head and cried silently.

  Charlie took hold of Titan’s shoulder and squeezed.