“Join a sports club?” King Coach nearly choked on his toothbrush. “Is that a joke?”

  “I’m serious, Coach,” Matthew insisted as he finished washing his mouth. He had woken up early—a rarity on a Sunday—to ambush his gym teacher in the dorm’s shared bathroom. “Yesterday's match opened up my mind. I’ve decided to reinforce my body, improve my health, and become a better version of myself.”

  He heard John and a few other early birds snicker several sinks over to his left. King Coach put down his toothbrush, sighed, and then stared at his reflection in the mirror for half a minute. Matthew wasn’t certain what to make of it.

  “So what club would you suggest I enroll in, Coach?” he asked his teacher. “I was thinking about martial arts so I can learn how to dropkick bullies and punch through walls.”

  “I knew this day would come,” King Coach muttered to himself before taking in a deep, deep breath. “Matthew, look at your hands.”

  “Uh, why?”

  “Look at your hands! Look at them!” King Coach grabbed Matthew’s wrists and forced him to behave. “These noodles aren’t meant to grab balls—except yours—or to fight or sweat.”

  King Coach took Matthew’s hands into his own, then raised them in front of his only eye.

  “Those,” King Coach said, “are nerd hands.”

  “But I–”

  “You’re meant to do other things than sports. Your hands are designed to write or draw stuff that’ll sell millions of euros and wipe your ass with bank notes.” King Coach almost sounded encouraging. Almost. “Once you’re rich, then you can start golfing, choking your assistants, and dating porn stars.”

  “But that’s why I want to practice sports,” Matthew protested. “To become rich!”

  “I can’t let you join a sports club. It’ll be a disaster for everyone involved.” King Coach looked sad as he imparted a few more words of wisdom. “Don’t be like Hitler, Matthew. Stay in art school.”

  King Coach let go of Matthew and then vanished into the shower, never to come out again.

  “I don’t know how I should take that speech,” Matthew told John. “I feel both deeply offended and vaguely empowered.”

  “Don’t,” John replied while checking his phone.

  Matthew raised an eyebrow. “Feel offended or empowered?”

  “Matsumoto is waiting for us downstairs,” John said, completely ignoring Matthew’s question. “Poor girl, she says she has found a solution to your luck problem.”

  “Oh, really?” Matthew grew excited. “Did we receive answers on the Crawlnet post? I haven’t checked yet.”

  Crawlnet was a worldwide website operated by Crypto which served as a discussion forum for Crawlers. Its members used it to share tips, organize Dungeons raids, and disseminate knowledge of new spells. Matthew and Kari posted a report on the Lucky Star experiment yesterday night.

  “We got plenty,” John replied after he finished checking his mail. “The Doc will pick us up after breakfast for the meetup. Don’t forget to bring your loot to Charlie.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Charlie was the Dungeon Wreckers Association’s fence and in charge of reselling Dungeon loot the ‘clean’ way. “I’m still sad we couldn’t get anything from the last one.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  After a quick shower and filling their bags with Dungeon trophies, the duo made their way to the lunchroom on the first floor. They arrived early for breakfast so they didn’t face too much competition for the pancakes and cereal. Kari was already sitting at a long table with Marlene, Giant, and Cass from Class 3-C. Their giggles filled Matthew with an ominous feeling of dread, though he couldn’t explain why.

  Kari excused herself, then joined John and Matthew as they sat near the window.

  “Okay, Matthew, I have double the good news,” Kari announced. “I’m ninety percent sure I can arrange for someone to take the fall for you for Fall Formal.”

  “That’s mostly good news for you, not for me,” Matthew replied while slurping on his honeyed pancakes. He crossed his fingers to land a date with Marlene. “But your help is appreciated.”

  “In that case, we’ll dye our hair tonight so you can’t chicken out of the deal.” Kari opened her school bag and presented Matthew with a paper sheet filled with tables. “As for the second bit of good news, I have conferred with other Crawlnet users on your case and came up with an effective luck farming program.”

  Matthew checked the sheet and immediately shivered. She arranged for an entire weekly schedule, which also included study hours in his free time. He noticed strange names written in individual cells.

  “Isekai Warrior Heroes?” Matthew squinted. That sounded vaguely familiar. “Tokyo Grand Chaos?”

  “Those are all free-to-play mobile gacha games,” Kari explained. “They all follow the same principle: you earn in-game currency either by completing activities or with real money purchases, which you then use to gain new units.”

  “Wait, wait.” Matthew stopped her dead in her tracks. “I don’t want to spend money!”

  “That’s the beauty of it: when you’ve exhausted all of one game’s available free activities, you can switch to the next one,” Kari replied with a smile. “You will shore up good luck by constantly failing the gacha rolls while I use Premium Thoughts to identify the best investments to spend it on, and then we split the profits.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Split?” Matthew grinned ear to ear. “Kari, Kari, did I make a believer out of you?”

  “Well, uh…” Kari scratched her cheek in embarrassment. “I'd like to buy new clothes…”

  John sipped his coffee. “Would that count as good luck if Maruki gets a five-star unit he doesn’t want?”

  “I dunno,” Matthew admitted. “Probably not?”

  “Then good luck with your scheme,” John said while rolling his eyes. “I’ll pass this one.”

  “I thought you liked making money?” Matthew inquired.

  “The entrepreneur’s way, not the gambler’s way,” he replied. “If you want to cruise through life trusting luck rather than your own skills, Maruki, then that’s your problem.”

  “It’s not luck, it’s probability,” Kari countered. “Besides, we’re using spells. Wouldn’t optimizing Lucky Star make us better sorcerers?”

  Her words reminded Matthew of something. “Hey, check this out,” he said while checking his school bag and bringing out his drawing notebook. “I’ve finally completed it!”

  “Completed what?” Kari asked.

  “My animation spell, what else?” Matthew checked that no other mundane student could take a peek and thus ruin his magic, then opened his book. “See?”

  Kari and John leaned in to better look at the page. A black ink manga-style neko cat ran across a paper landscape, then waved a paw at the viewers. It took Matthew quite a few tries, but he managed to imbue his drawings with his Yellow Flux until they grew autonomous.

  “I call it Art Attack.” The spell’s name sounded so good to Matthew that he had to say it again. “Art Attack.”

  “That’s a cute spell,” Kari replied with a giggle.

  John’s response proved far less enthusiastic than expected. “Mmm.”

  “Mmm? Mmmm?!” Matthew pouted. “You don’t sound impressed.”

  “I’m not,” John replied bluntly. “I don’t see any practical applications. What’s the point of having your drawings move around?”

  “You’ve got a mundane person’s mindset,” Matthew argued. “A true sorcerer first asks if it can be done, then finds a use for it!”

  Maybe Matthew would change the spell to summon those ink creatures in the real world, or use them as spies once he found a way to make them leave their pages. The sky was the limit!

  “I’ve been focusing on improving Premium Thoughts myself,” Kari declared with a hint of pride in her voice. “I think I’ve managed to cancel the aftereffects by mitigating the Flux cooldown. No post-genius brain slump.”

  “I’m working on an electrical version of the Beam spell,” John replied with a shrug.

  “Beam?” Matthew asked. Beam was pretty much the simplest Red spell in existence. The caster simply projected condensed Red Flux from their finger in the shape of a laser ray. It was super easy to use but required quite a hefty amount of energy, so John usually relied on his guns instead. “You’re cheating on your firearms?”

  “Of course not,” John replied with a snort. “I’m just diversifying my arsenal. Inflicting electrical shocks would help me paralyze monsters and reduce their mobility.”

  “Electricity falls under Red,” Kari mused. “Transforming Beam’s Red Flux into an electrical current should be doable.”

  This situation neatly illustrated everybody’s mindset when it came to spellcasting. Matthew was an innovator. He liked to create brand new spells, even if he admitted that they weren’t always practical and usually lost interest after completing them.

  Kari, like almost all Blues, was an optimizer. She focused on improving and perfecting existing abilities without truly seeking new paths to explore.

  John, meanwhile, was something of a middle-ground between them; an adaptor. He usually sought to create new ways of using existing spells or variants.

  Matthew wondered on which part of that spectrum the new recruits would fall.

  As promised, the Doc came to pick them up after breakfast. He congratulated Matthew on his Eurobillion win—having purchased the ticket on his behalf—and said the prize office already agreed to wire him the winnings. Matthew could expect to receive his money within the next two days.

  Hopefully, this would be the beginning of an inspiring rags-to-riches story.

  Traffic was light on a Sunday morning, so it hardly took them fifteen minutes to drive across Evermarsh’s Little Brussels shopping district and park in front of a familiar building. Facing a bustling shopping street and a three-star hotel, the Neverland was a classy Art Deco bar-restaurant with yellow walls and a subdued burgundy roof. Its menu was laid on a panel outside, promising enticing meals and drinks far out of Matthew’s current budget. A staircase led to the basement, which served as a jazz club and dancing space… at least officially.

  Matthew immediately noticed a gray, unknown Fiat 500L parked near the entrance. The new ‘recruits’ waited inside it, with Petro behind the driver’s wheel, his very good friend Sasha in the front, and Amelia nervously waiting at the back. They only climbed out of their vehicle once they saw the Doc’s group.

  “Hi, everyone!” Kari waved a friendly hand at them. “So glad you could come!”

  Though Sasha looked cagey, her expression softened considerably upon seeing her friend.

  “Hey Kari,” she replied on her group’s behalf, while Petro mumbled ‘morning’ under his breath and Amélia looked down on the ground in meek silence. “Is this really the place? It looks like nothing special.”

  “The bar is only a facade,” the Doc said as he shook everyone’s hands. “Thank you for joining us today.”

  “I still can’t believe that… that thing wasn’t a mass hallucination of some kind,” Sasha said, her arms crossing and her fair face scowling in anguish. “Passing through the church’s front door makes my skin crawl now.”

  “You sure that weird place won’t come back?” Petro asked the Doc.

  “It won’t,” the Doc replied with a sigh. “Alas, that Dungeon was but one of many. Our manager can tell you more inside.”

  The group walked up to the Neverland’s entrance. While Kari exchanged brief pleasantries with Petro and Sasha, Matthew noticed that Amélia kept to herself. He had the distinct impression neither of her fellow Dungeon victims knew her well.

  Maybe he should find a moment to talk to her later. She struck him as too shy by half.

  The owner and chef, Lou ‘Gourmande’ Houard—a fearsome, thirty-year old blonde woman with sparkling blue eyes and a frightening collection of knives hidden under her apron—came to greet the group on the threshold with a smirk. Matthew noticed she had added a new set of dragon tattoos on her arms.

  “Hey there, fellas,” she said, waving a friendly hand at their group. “You’re right on time. What would you like to drink for the meeting? First one is on the house, Sunday offer only.”

  “Hey, tapster,” Matthew returned the gesture and immediately seized the opportunity. “Can I try the house’s cocktail?”

  Lou stifled her laughter. “Can’t do that, brat. You’re too young.”

  “But I turn eighteen next year!” Matthew complained. He had hoped the latest timeshift would change the local drinking age laws, but apparently not. “I’m old enough to go buy beers at a shop already!”

  John snorted at him. “Then why don’t you, Maruki?”

  “Three euros per liter,” he replied mournfully. “On sale.”

  “Dorm parties will run on a budget this year,” Kari conceded.

  “I don’t make the rules, M,” Lou said. “Until I see that sweet number eighteen on your ID card, I can’t serve you alcoholic beverages downstairs.” Then she smirked at him. “I have milk though.”

  Matthew glared at her. Why could he kill monsters before puberty, but not drink alcohol? This world didn’t make any sense!

  “I’ll brew you a non-alcoholic cocktail, Matt,” the Doc promised. “Are we ready to proceed the meeting, Lou?”

  “The Old Town team is skipping this one out and Auguste is running late. Everyone else is waiting downstairs.” Lou glanced at the newcomers. Her intense stare caused Sasha and Amélia to bristle, while Petro warily returned it. “And who are they?”

  “New Crawlers we encountered yesterday,” the Doc replied. “I hoped to introduce them to the team.”

  “New meat for the grinder then?” Lou’s smile turned predatory as she invited them to enter her bar. “Welcome to HQ then.”

  (access to advance chapters, arts and other bonuses)

  My Amazon if you wanna check my other books

  on Tapas

  Thanks to my patrons on :

  Samantha Kuhn Krosh Pagrek Johan Eenfeldt deez Jeffrey Zhou manna huizar Valentin Claeys Truehearts Mora_Insight Andriy Karpus Thejasvi Prahlad Taccohunter Brian Mccarthy Steph mightyMiso ?a?an O'san Plaszczykov Shaun norden C?me Roy Pear Adrian Castillo Luis Hernandez sageco ProxReader Fritz Kühn Seth Baker Armani Mena Federico Randy FaronAan John Lim Rom Yaskant Cap'nSmurfy Bombastic101 SovereignDag Roma Ivanets CrossingInk ryan dougherty krakan delux Warren (Stephen) Rose Andrew B Alexander Sampson Blitzcread Maxime Bray Brendan D. King John Baugher Colonel Doloryas RA Alexzendor Misra Charles Konstantin eeee elforo Pius Tumwebaze Lemky Wilfire Lucas Troyano Costaud 3107 Zomboss Zonbikirā DatUser higby Adrian Wright SirDeP Josh schneefhoove Exal DKM Mike Baker MomentarilyDisabled Julio Leite Lord Voldemorty industriousrevolution Almander Aleck E. S.P AMERICUH Montana Peter Parker Maxum Tristan Koyamatsu Publius Decius Mus Syom Trasen56 RepossessedSoul Josiah Henderson Keith Rowland Kingman ioajfidsnmfomds77 CentaureHeart Ouro Nobody Matthew Mocias I Eat Pain Legogredo AnimeKay Douglas Bevil king ramp GloryHound Arnoud Diego Villa Matthew Escobar CJ Tamberella Leonardo Yang Lod bing Joseph Abrathat AL Zaid Hyasat Vincent Mourey Spoop Reno BetterMike Charlie Burstiner Emil Takman Matthew Collins Bury Zenek Abbie TPG bingus1234 Sleep J. K. Mohamed William Keith Sean Coker Patrick Booth Terv Jay Dune Black Pranshu Dhungana Yuval Roth Mmaze Jeff G Aaron U'Ren Mr. Nut undercoverducky Shadow Wing Rainer Jenning Runaway_Cactuar chidera onwuegbu MoEl Christopher Hahn Maria Cobos Mateos Arjun Aletty Eric M MadAdder FirstKingofthePotatoes Tinman Nithhogg vVip3rzzz Mason Kamer Guessed Dr. Rage Lonnie Tanay Singhvi wahtique Carlos Robert Tylena Simmonds Zharele Thomas Block Monster M Alec Ruth Okman202 Lol Isaac Mcdonald dogmaster20070 Suer Garret Chris Briar hannah922 John Hyland Mikael Markus Malex Seth P Jay Halfcrzy Nicholas Martin dxpt12 Hex Federico Bellavista Andreas Toffi coffe Dylan Alexander Matthew Flowers Tom Scheibe Cerbero300 Silim Chillitsagame Nasa Wofford Raymond Santiago Cortes CaptainFlowers locky 0gain antares48 Dylan Crawford Colin Love Marquel Miles TenDust8752 Veraenderer Hussar L Karl Marc Berkowicz Arxigal noises Leyse Jacob Ward Diego Urbina R3ad Jeff Israel bobnob Aluereon Arthur Ibanda Jimmy J.K. Dixon Gao Lukasz Podgorski H Jayel Savaris Sqishy Vertdure Bazoo juanmi Miles Larson George R Ceagle TheLazerCat TMKnight Nomad Myrrdin Sarcastic Traitor Kris Bruns Joshua Lau Nicholas Al Capone Roberto Tomás Jesper L?mo-Hansen Igor S. Carvalho mark harrell Robert Whitaker Mai0e TGZ Samuel Patterson Carlos Torres Rrazy HonestMan Shadeepta Alexander Ksendzov jak0b Benjamin Hermes The Tallest Tree Nicholas Hoekstra Stultus bensorme Yi xiu DB Alidraco richard wechsler Hunter LostOx Droog mea Doctor Zero Ozzy J T Lord Freezy Pop Jujuan tillery Evan Fleischer Joel Magnuson Adam Jordy Broussard David Cullen John Ness Janwardha Maulana Vaulex PalmTrees Cd Lluis Jimenez Puig Andrew Moreton Angus Losier SCout75 Sam Kyle Badello Trisper Brennon Shippee Halesmash Ali Cattell Gres Om V Julian Hinck Connor McCaul Joseph Barratt Francisco Rosado Pradian Darrel Kincade Joseph Duchesne Ramapriya Rangaraju Skinnybonz Michael Chermside Joseph Klos ArianaAndBeyond Innes PizzaNachos PcKc Xophos Justin Huddleston hunter117x Joshua Thompson Mike222 Tamás Bodnár John Young Jio TheBlackfirebird Blaize Haynes Garrett Smith B1w2c3 Graham Hildebrandt Dirk Kefferpütz Elijah Tan tdb Stoney06 Dimitar Slavchev Django munkasir masud Tom Stapleton Darth Bayes Dr_Njitram Jukka V?limaa Morgan D Kauffman Elros Notcreepycreeper BoadBoad Trausti Sigurgeirsson Brett Labat thomas flipsen Alex Timothy Smith James Ryan Porcine Pirate Bernardino Campa IV boo Christopher Walker Christopher Sigmann EmliTGM Ikit Claw Alexander Orion1024 Tim Joseph Dumol george haynes padanu Zorro De Las Gafas Ashlee Jacobsen Raphael Mengha Duco Van der Ploeg Treeman4 cadis R. B. Ezo Caleb Smith Kaleb Orduno Ethan Chen Ted Berkowitz My name is Klondike Kooooomakimi P enyuk Ran Rain song gemer Disclancer Luke Delakar John Pratt Eddie Christopher Bennett Epiphaner Chris Ferguson Dallas Gillespie BlueGraine Wei b0urne78 Frostbound slammer evan peat Niloc Necrologist Iwritestrangethings Alexander Rodriguez Adrien Matricon Slim Dakhch Miran RandomAnkle Adwait Gautam Sportpix andrew barnes Dirkk Diggler Jeremy Engelberg Clawseeker Sterban Friz DHNightshadow Trucinox A JohnFish Impetusin TheFool HeavenDragon Cal Fiala Jarrod Young Sir Sloth Josh Enterman Pride Ricardian Timothy Felker S T Deepsealife Grosbilljunior Loki Gianni Ghiribelli Josh Delgado42 ScottDR Contractk4 Matt Hollowlce Adrian Engel Massgamer T T Deinos AlthePal Rectum Amaury Valcry Charlie Ivan Kal Thundabear95 Adam Johnston Heikki Aitakangas Richard Lee Erik Aleksander Z Dietz Djinn Kite7 Michael S. evilperson41 edmuck Dalton Cade Spence mhaj58 William Johnson John Evans HarbingTarbl KilledbyBooks Guy Incognito HenryMorgan PlasmaticPi Andreas H. YourFavorite Popcorn Spartanstoryteller MasterofNova Walter Sam Paley Bob of Doom Kody Ihnat Puri Iresan morganmoll Jdosnoen Maalsc TTG Siphor Nikhil Majumdar glare31337 Slipperyfish Birbman Jonathan Spaulding H. Scott Taylor Tilbury Ashley Cameron Tate Browder Ryan Trueman Chris Mezmer Roden Alex Lindsay Sadinar Daniel Everest Ausner Gentil Kyle Reese Zach Svarog Peter Christensen-Calvin Matteo Viktor D victorious Maxwell Margetts Hulg Gohen Karthic PbookR John Carroll Parker Groseclose Zack Grog_Guy Marc Claude Louis Durand Rhodri Thornber Dax