Jack's POV

  My dad and I sat on the floor on either side of the table with short legs. It was high enough that we could sit around it with her legs folded. My dad was in his late thirties, with unkempt golden hair, and stubble beard. He and I lived alone together, if that makes sense. The only time we spoke was during the dinner as both of us were usually out from dawn to midnight working one job or the other.

  Life inside the safe zone of the dungeon wasn't really a luxurious one like it once was. We live here because the world out there is far more dangerous. There were multiple dungeon breaks a couple of centuries ago that had made the surface the most dangerous place for us humans. Billions died before our ancestors made a home across various dungeons and did everything in their power to survive.

  "How was your day?" asked my dad as he took a spoonful of thinly chopped, bland strips of algae with some soup. This algae was a shade darker than herbal weed, as it was farmed inside the safe zone and didn't grow up on dungeon walls.

  "Good," I said, taking a bite from my bowl. "How was your day?" I asked him next.

  "Good," he said, and it was back to pin drop silence.

  There was a time when this tiny room of ten by ten had my mother and my younger sister in it. Back then, life was difficult, but at the same time it was easy too. Because we had them in our lives. No day was dull, and there were these laughs that were now gone along with them.

  Given Mom's healer class and Karaa's mage class. The human guild made them shift to the lower fifth floor to their home base. Dad was a merchant, and I was unindicted. There was no way we would survive there. So we had no choice but to remain on the second floor and much closer to the surface.

  "When will Mom be visiting us again?" I asked.

  My dad, my first hero, who now looked older and more tired than I ever remember him to be, sighed at my question. His eyes lingered on my face for a long heartbeat. "Soon, son," he managed a smile.

  I nodded at that and went back to eating the same food we ate every night. Having had the same conversation as we have every night. And ending the things in the same silence as we did every night.

  The last time I had asked him about Mom. My dad had reminded me that I was seventeen now, and should work hard. That was his solution for everything as if he and I hadn't been doing just that for ages.

  I usually don't tend to think about the what if's. But having almost been caught tonight. I was glad I hadn't pulled out my pocket watch in front of that man. That watch belonged to my grandfather on my mother's side. And it was the only way I could tell time inside the dungeon as I wasn't inducted yet or had access to a screen like the others. But try as hard as I may to not think about it. I couldn't help but wonder how things might have been different if I was inducted.

  My mother and father were inducted into the System a long time ago, and when my sister was born. The System had started a new initiative to induct new born into it. The whole idea was to eliminate blanks like me by having us all inducted at birth. My sister had got a class, and was gaining levels long before she was even born.

  Starting from her generation. There were no more tutorials. No more leaving your loved ones behind for two solid years when System did god knows what with your body. You were just born inducted, and the System did what it could to guide and nurture you out in the real world.

  When my sister was born. I was three. I was considered too young to go through with the induction. So we kept delaying it. Hoping that soon it would be my turn. But my turn never came. Mom and Dad worked endlessly just to keep us afloat, and someone had to be there to take care of my sister. We were inside a safe zone. But this was a dungeon after all. And goblins weren't the only monsters we had to be worried about.

  "Dad," I said, and he looked at me. "I… I earned three hundred extra credits today," I said to him. I had sent my usual share to Dad. And though three hundred additional credits sounded like a lot. It was barely enough to get me a room and a single good meal for the day if I were living on my own.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "Good," he gave me a small smile. "You should get yourself some new clothes," he said. He absent mindedly opened his interface and with a flick of his finger browed through a few options.

  "Next month," I said, and he looked at me. "I transferred the amount to mom already." I smiled. "An extra payment towards her rented gear."

  He swallowed in empty at that. Nodded. And went back to eating, being unable to meet my eyes.

  My heart turned heavy as stone inside my chest seeing the defeated look on my father's face. My ears still reverberating with the countless silent fights they had about money while we were all still together. The thing is we weren't always this poor or under so much debt. It was just a string of bad luck. Nothing that my father or anyone could have done to save us from this fate. The System did whatever it wanted.

  And that reminded me about this another thing that I had no control over.

  "Dad," I said.

  He looked up with no life in his eyes. He had stopped pretending to be cheerful and happy a long time ago. And I couldn't blame him for that. I wasn't a kid anymore, and I more or less knew everything now.

  "The dungeon council meeting tomorrow…" I hesitated while talking about the people in charge. The ones who decided the rent for the plots in the safe zone on all the levels among other things. They had no permission from the System to enforce their rules or collect rents for that matter.

  But what they had was muscle.

  With each race contributing its best and strongest fighters to maintain a sense of peace and rule of law inside this dungeon. There was no way one could cross them and live to tell about it. Moreover collecting rent for them was as easy as me using my rectangular tab and collecting payments through it. It was a loop hole in the System which they were exploiting.

  "What about that meeting?" asked my father, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

  "It's better if you don't go," I said, coming back to my senses. "There are only so many people this dungeon can accommodate, and a law on controlling the human population is becoming a reality as each day passes by..." I reminded him.

  "More the reason why we should be there in big numbers," he said to me, sitting a little straighter than before. Back when we had money. Dad had influence, and that influence had gotten him a seat at the table, which was long gone. But he still wanted to go. He still wanted to make a difference. "The other races may not reproduce at the same rate as us human," he said. "But they have grown stronger." He paused. "And we humans. The only advantage we had was our numbers—"

  "But things aren’t the way they were ten years ago," I said.

  Dad huffed at that.

  We humans had shrunk in number. A great deal of people took their chances out on the surface, and many perished when the dungeon cycle ended, and the dungeon upped in difficulty again.

  The other races knew this. The human population wasn't an issue anymore. It's just that they wanted humans to be gone. Every single one of us. This was their home after all before our ancestors showed up and claimed large chunk of their home turf.

  Usually, I didn't care about the dungeon council politics as such. My mom had taught me better than that about how this world works. But last month, when other races raised this issue about controlling the human population at the dungeon council meeting. A fight had broken out.

  A few lives were lost, and about a dozen humans who started the brawl were exiled from the dungeon. A few among them were just spectators. But the council had to calm the rising tempers, and a few innocent lives were tossed out to fend for themselves just for that reason.

  "Dad…"

  "I'm going," he said to me, while munching on the algae from his bowl. "But I won't force you if you don't want to come," he eyed me.

  This was exactly why we needed more credits, and soon. Because as things became more and more volatile on this floor. I could see it soon turning into an all out war. So the sooner we can get those credits and pay off our debt. The sooner we can equip my mom and my sister Kara with good gear, and move into deeper floors for now.

  So when my mom asked me to get inducted again the last time she was here. I, after knowing all these things. All I could say was…

  "A couple more years. A couple more years, and Kara would be strong enough that she wouldn't need our help. Plus, after we pay off the loan on her equipment. We still need funds to restart Dad's business. Once everything is in place. I will go ahead with my induction," I had said. "Karaa can turn me in and gain additional stat bonuses too."

  Even though they had protested. I could see the relief in their eyes upon hearing my decision. My mom knew my father needed me. My father knew that my mom and sister needed the additional funds I brought in. And I knew that being the eldest. I couldn't afford to leave my family for two years to get inducted when things were like this. I had to do everything I can to make sure we can be a one big happy family once again.

  Kara knew what was going on. She may smile and act silly as a fourteen year old does. But I could tell she was pushing herself to her limits. So I knew I couldn't let Kara's little shoulder bear this burden alone.

  She may be a promising fire mage. But she was still my baby sister.

  *****