No Mistakes (World of the Changed Book #1): LitRPG Series by Vasily Mahanenko

Chapter 1

Congratulations!

You discovered a dungeon during the prerelease!

Once the official game version is released, you'll get a well-earned reward.

And you'll get an even better reward if you beat the dungeon!

YEAH, BITE ME, SIS! Like I was ever going to be getting you a new phone...you'll be fine with your old one. Next time you'll think twice before making a bet with your elders!

"Mark are you screwing around on your phone again? Doesn't that ever get old? You should try something useful instead of turning your brain to mush," Chris muttered angrily. Another time, hearing the boss say something like that might have gotten to me, but not right then. He wasn't mad at me or my phone; it was the trip. The road we were on barely deserved the name. The pavement had ended a couple kilometers back, and it was like the car had suddenly stumbled onto a set from an old war movie. Dirt, mud, potholes. I could practically hear the shells whistling overhead, the wounded groaning nearby. Sheisse, sheisse, nicht kapitulieren...

"You've got to be kidding me!" Chris exclaimed when something scraped against the bottom of the car, which shuddered to a halt. "Whatever, we're here. Time to walk."

"What about our stuff?" I hit the pause button begrudgingly and dropped my phone into my pocket. The release was just a few hours away, and I'd been counting on beating that dungeon. Could the timing be any worse?

"We'll get it later—the presentation isn't for another three hours. It's a kilometer to the village. Let's go."

I opened the door and glanced down sadly at my white sneakers. It wasn't the death they'd dreamed of. Anything but that. The grayish-red clay was almost up to the car's running boards. That damn GPS and the skip traffic function! Where could there possibly be traffic here a hundred miles from the city?! And what kind of VIP village needs a children's entertainer? They didn't have enough money for their resort?

There was a squelch, followed instantly by a string of curses from the boss. His shoes, which cost a month's salary for me, had just introduced themselves to the local scenery. That was my signal. If Chris saw that I was holding back, he would fire me and hire Joker. The bastard had been gunning for my job for a long time, and I wasn't about to let him have it. Ignoring the new hue my shoes took on, not to mention my quickly soaked socks, I went over to the trunk and pulled out two large bags. Chris was the entertainer. And a good one. The kind that was invited to perform even in the rarest of air at the top of the social hierarchy. And me? I was just the guy he had carry everything around, strong, durable, and cheap. You don't have to pay much when you're talking about a student working a side job in their spare time. The only thing that cheered me up was that my extensive collection of autographs was going to pick up some new entries, making it even more valuable. Chris didn't accept just any invitation. Especially when it involved trudging through the mud.

The look on the face of the guard at the security checkpoint didn't bode well. Instead of the usual tubby character who'd been fired from government service for drinking and was happy spending the rest of his days doing crossword puzzles with the button to open the gate next to him, the guard was a hulking character with the figure of a young Schwarzenegger. Angular cheekbones played nervously, barely visible behind his collar. Pointedly sliding the bolt back on his automatic, he barked threateningly.

"No begging! Get out of here!"

I ducked behind the boss, not a fan of people pointing weapons at me. Chris, not quite the coward I was, just pulled out a piece of paper.