Shopbound: Ludomancy

Caleb Gesh did not wake up in a dungeon. He woke up behind a counter. One moment he was a regular guy with a dead phone and a normal life. The next, he was standing in a old and sealed game house in the drifting river-city of Marenthros, staring at a system message assigning him a class he never would have chosen: Shopkeeper – Games Attendant (Common civic). No combat skills. No flashy stats. No hidden bloodline. Just a deed to the legendary House of Six Rings and a ledger full of half-finished tournaments, enchanted decks, and debts tied to games that still echo through the city. In Marenthros, games are not always just pastimes. They can settle contracts and determine favors. They bind agreements that the law would rather not touch. Probability in these games is not always so abstract. It's a tool and rarely a weapon. Caleb is a rare human in a city that does not know what to do with him. He has no sword, no spellbook, and no obvious path forward. What he does have is a shop with a long history, a system that rewards effort in small, practical increments? and a growing realization that the most powerful position in a game is not always the one on the board. If he wants to survive, he will have to rebuild the House, understand the rules of a city that moves with the river, and learn how to turn a civic class into leverage. Because in reality, everything is a wager. Even your life. Shopbound: Book 1 – Ludomancy is a slow-burn LitRPG about systems, reputation, and the quiet power of the person running the table.