Having to wash myself out of a bucket of cold river water isn’t something I’ve had to do since I was little. Grandma’s side of family was Jamaican, and we would visit the island a lot when I was young.

  We literally never went to a resort and instead was always in the rural areas where Grandma’s family lived. It was honestly pretty fun to go bathe by a river and even do laundry, and this reminds me of that time.

  Haven’t been there for a while since the family still living there now are bit more distant since Grandma died, and Dad wasn’t necessarily on the best terms with his cousins.

  Something about money.

  But I still hope that they’re all doing just fine in this new life of ours.

  Anyway, I eventually found myself in the theater room where it was time for another big family discussion.

  One glance at the still bandaged up Uncle Lenny was all it took to know he’d learned of the fate of his house.

  The entire compound was owned by Grandpa of course, but they all invested their own money in getting those houses built. I think Grandpa helped, but from what I knew it was mostly them.

  Either way, there were now about 10 people living in their house. Of course, they weren’t going to just be living here and doing nothing. Grandpa made sure to make it explicitly clear that if they chose to stay here, then they would also help keep the compound safe.

  And if we needed their help for anything at all then they would provide that help.

  There was a woman who represented the group by the name of Vera, and from now on she would meet with Grandpa every morning to plan and go over things.

  As I listened to Grandpa explain what the relationship between us and them would be, I couldn’t help but think that it reminded me of vassal and lord system from back in the day.

  Especially when I thought about every single LitRPG book I’ve ever read. Of course, most of them are from Grandpa, but all of them had something in common. Governments completely changed how they worked since soft power was no longer a thing.

  If someone or a group could wipe the floor with your government, then it wouldn’t be them following the local laws, instead they would become the law if they so wished.

  Governments fell, then so called kings and queens rose.

  Of course, there were some stories were the governments managed to make a comeback of sorts and regain some level of control, but it was never completely on top.

  Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s the direction Grandpa was actually moving in. After all he was responsible for a large percentage of all the revenue ever generated from LitRPG books.

  Now that I think about it, he was probably living out his greatest fantasies right now huh. I can’t say I blame him since I kind of am too, but I just hope it doesn’t cause him to make a bad call later.

  Like potentially letting strangers live on our property.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Anyway, the discussion in the theater room continued for a few hours more, as we went over the Dungeon in as much detail as possible.

  We discussed how we handled the situation, and all the different ways we could’ve handled it better.

  And there were quite a few.

  For example, although Aunt Renee would’ve ran out of arrows eventually, that didn’t mean we necessarily had to rush ahead that quickly.

  My Uncles had gained levels, and if they were allowed to stay at the entrance and essentially farm the snakes a bit more, then they obviously would’ve gained even more levels, and likewise stat points.

  Though there were two very quick counters to that idea. The first was that we had no idea if there was a secret time limit to complete at least one floor.

  The other one was unless they reached level 25, then they probably wouldn’t be too much more help than they already were.

  Well there was no need to dwell on it too much. Now that the family was aware of the layout and what exactly to expect in the Dungeon, we would be able to come up with a proper plan.

  Then of course came the best part, the rewards.

  I personally received 10 pieces of some snake leather, 5 pieces of snake fibers, which kinda just looked like really tough string, a nice looking dagger and then 150 coins. The latter was weird, since I don’t remember the Little Maw Dungeon announcing the coins as part of the rewards list.

  I didn’t actually get any coins myself last time and only Grandpa did, but all my family members who completed this floor with me received coins.

  100 Copper and 50 Bronze for each of us.

  It was weird, I kind of assumed all Dungeons would have the same core rules but I guess it was different in a way. But it’s fine, I still don’t know enough about anything to draw concrete conclusions.

  Anyway the only differences in our rewards this time came in the form of the dagger. It was small, with a green and purple snake scale pattern on the handle. Stretching out from the handle was a straight black blade roughly 3 inches in length.

  Kind of reminds me of camos for different weapons in video games.

  It was nice, and I was the only to get it, along with a bit more final XP.

  So we got some materials, a dagger, and 400 Copper Coins, along with 200 Bronze Coins to top it all off.

  And now that we know just how valuable these coins were, we could all agree that the Dungeon run was definitely dangerous, but well worth it.

  With our current supply of coins, food for the entire family, and maybe even our new neighbors should be covered, especially if we can replicate that Dungeon run consistently.

  Food, weapons, and if I remember correctly, basic healing supplies should all be covered now.

  All that was left was to figure out the conversion rate and then save up for some of those books. I’m pretty sure they all contain vital information.

  With that being said, our current plan was simple.

  Keep on hitting the Dungeon, getting stronger and saving up to buy the things we needed.

  Of course, it didn’t need to be said that we would be on the lookout for the red people and we were ready to fight them if needed, but we wouldn’t be going to seek them out.

  Not yet at least.

  Now Grandpa had one last announcement for us before the meeting was over.

  “Once again, good job Freddy, Renee, Robert, and Terrance, you all worked well together, and survived the Dungeon. So, I think you all should just stick together. If we’re going to keep sending members of our family into dangerous places, then having some good fighting chemistry is going to help with that.

  “I think we should just go ahead and make you guys a regular squad, and Freddy over there will be in charge. A Squad Captain. What’s everyone think?”

  Yep, this just about proves it.

  Grandpa was living out his fantasies.

  I can see it now. Lance Williams, Patriarch of the powerful Williams Family, and with all of his descendants responsible for a bunch of different things that the family was in control of.

  Literally almost all of his different series had the main character eventually take up some sort of leadership position. Whether it was a whole kingdom, a clan, or even something like a mercenary group.

  The thing is, it’s not like any of us can even disagree with the decision from an objective standpoint. Having a group that already knows how to fight together, and continue to stay together, is definitely beneficial.

  And it’s not like I’m mad about it…in fact I had to fight back a smile.

  Of course, I’m a bit worried about this Squad Captain thing, but I would be stupid to ignore the fact that I was the one that was basically in charge during the Dungeon run.

  Squad Captain Freddy it is then.

  Thank you all for reading!

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  Water Ascendant!