《The Dangerously Cute Dungeon [Stubbing 1/20/25]》


 1.1 The Cute Dungeon

    Violet was excited as she drove home from work. She had finally been given the promotion she had been hoping for and was excited to share the news with her husband, Lee. They had been happily married for a few years now and had recently been having talks about starting a family together. Violet had been pushing for the promotion for a while now as she had been wanting to have more leeway and, now that she had it, she would be able to work from home. That would make it that much easier during her pregnancy and give her a lot more flexibility after giving birth, not that they had even gotten to the pregnancy part yet. Violet was just too excited about the possibility that she couldn''t help but let her mind wander.


    Violet had always had a love for graphic design and had gotten a degree that would help her land a job in the field after graduating. It was actually in college that she had met Lee who was an avid gamer and loved seeing all of the designs Violet came up with. After all, video games required a good bit of graphic designing and Violet had specialized in animation for that purpose. While her boss had been hesitant to allow Violet to have remote work possibilities, she had finally agreed to it on the condition that Violet ensured she had a dedicated office and high enough quality computer equipment to handle the software they used.


    This was fine with Violet as she already had a fairly high-quality computer set up and her own private office. Lee loved spending their days off playing games together and they had both splurged on a house large enough to have their own offices on top of a few extra bedrooms for future kids and a guest room for family to visit. Violet was sure it would be easy enough to keep her husband out of her office while she was working, so long as she gave him prior notice.


    Violet finally pulled up to her house, but something seemed off. The lights were on and the front door was wide open. Violet''s forehead creased as she looked at the front door in concern. It was possible Lee had grabbed some groceries after work and would simply get the door once he had a chance, but it wasn''t exactly like they needed groceries right now. They had just gone shopping a few days ago and still had a fridge full of food to go through before they needed to go shopping again. Still, Violet figured she''d know what was up soon enough as she turned her car off and headed inside.


    Violet''s heart began to race as she saw the scene inside her home, but her mind felt numb as she began to freeze, unsure of how to process what she was seeing. There were things knocked over onto the floor and there were small drops of red that seemed to turn to footprints that were a dark blood red. When Violet saw Lee slumped over onto the ground, she began to panic more as she rushed to his side, doing her best to flip him over as she desperately checked him for signs of life. However, it was far too late for that and Violet could only begin to shake as the tears poured down and her beloved husband''s lifeless stare gazed up at her.


    "No, no! Why? There''s got to be something I can do! Maybe it''s not too late... I should call 911!"


    Only, Violet never got the chance to do so as a gunshot rang out across the house, causing Violet to slump forward as she slowly bled out and her vision grew dim. The killer had still been in the house and he couldn''t exactly leave a witness to his crime. That left only one choice and so he quickly took care of Violet, complaining that he would now have to dispose of two bodies instead of one. However, Violet never even got to see her killer''s face and could only muse that, at least, she would be with her husband, even in death.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    <hr>


    When Violet next came to, she was wearing a lavender dress that reminded her of one that a fairy might wear. Violet smoothed her hands over the material, marveling at how smooth and soft it was. She couldn''t remember ever having owned such a beautiful dress, but she felt it would match her cascading brown hair and steel-blue eyes quite well. Violet could only imagine how Lee would compliment her when he saw her, he always did love it when she dressed up in a pretty dress and Violet always felt like the belle of the ball as she hung off his arm.


    At the thought of her husband, Violet''s head began to ache and she had to put her hand out, searching for something to lean against to steady herself. Only, Violet began to feel even more confused when a strange lavender, holographic-like screen appeared before her with some rather confusing text on it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Bonding "Violet" to dungeon core #136


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet gasped as she felt warmth spread throughout her, beginning from her hand that was resting on a large translucent orb. As Violet watched, the orb began to darken before turning a deep, dark, royal purple. The dungeon core was resting on a rather plain-looking stone pedestal while Violet rested on stone steps that surrounded the dungeon core.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Congratulations on officially becoming a Dungeon Master, Master Violet!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet looked at the message that once more appeared in front of her, feeling even more confused by what was happening. She couldn''t help but muse to herself


    "Love, what have I gotten myself into?"


    Violet''s memories still felt fuzzy, but it felt right to address the question as if talking to her beloved husband. When a message once more appeared before her, Violet took a deep breath before trying to figure things out.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select a starting theme:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rocky Gorge (Goblins)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sewers (Giant Rats)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Withered Forest (Zombies)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet scrunched her nose up as she complained


    "Gross, why can''t there be any cute options? Also, what am I selecting a theme for?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Reconfiguring...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet tried to think and soon recalled the mention of a dungeon core and being a Dungeon Master. She wasn''t entirely clueless about dungeons as she had played plenty of video games with Lee, but she was a bit unsure about the details still. After some more thinking, Violet started to have it dawn on her that there was one instance she could remember mention of a Dungeon Master.


    Violet had never been into it, but she knew some of Lee''s friends liked to play something called D&D or "Dungeons and Dragons". The person in charge of making the dungeon maps and making up stories for the players to experience as an adventure were sometimes called Dungeon Masters. Was that what this was?


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    "Cute" dungeon theme selected. Auto-assigning dungeon theme flower meadow and starting [Monster] slime to dungeon #136


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet balked as she hit her head and exclaimed


    "I just messed up didn''t I, dear?"

 1.2 Adorable Slime

    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Finalizing dungeon binding...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet felt like her entire body was on fire and her mind felt like it was breaking. When she regained consciousness next, Violet felt as if she had been hit by a truck and her heart felt heavy. Her memories were clearer now and she couldn''t help but sob as the memories of her husband''s cold, lifeless body flitted back into her mind. It was only after she could no longer cry that she started to try and put the pieces of her situation together once more.


    "Oh, Lee, darling, what am I going to do? I got the chance of a lifetime to live out my own fantasy life, even if it came at the cost of both our lives, and I''m already making a mess of it all. Slimes and a flower meadow aren''t exactly impressive."


    Violet wanted to continue to mope, but she decided that it wouldn''t do her any good to do so. Instead, she got up off of the ground and dusted off her dress as she went to figure out what little she could about her new situation.


    Violet felt better than she ever had and she certainly didn''t feel dead. Well, that was if you skipped over her aching heart. Violet carefully made her way towards the stone door on one side of the room and gingerly pushed it open, surprised at how hefty it seemed to be.


    When she walked through the doorway, she was met with darkness and a long hallway. The only light that had been in the core room was from the faint glow of the dungeon core, but that certainly wasn''t the case here. Violet nervously made her way forward, keeping one hand along the wall as she walked forward.


    From the games and stories Violet had read in her previous life, she knew that it wasn''t exactly uncommon for dungeons to have [Traps] or [Monsters]. However, she could only hope that the fact that she was supposed to be the master of this dungeon would mean that she could safely traverse her dungeon without fear of being attacked.


    The hallway seemed to be rather long with no turns that Violet could see. When she reached the other end, she was met with some sort of strange barrier and another system message.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Error! The Dungeon Master cannot leave the limits of the dungeon. Only non-dungeon entities and contracted [Monsters] may pass the safety zone.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet suddenly felt much more isolated and trapped than she had before. She hadn''t noticed any other directions she could go in this dungeon and she was unable to leave it. There was no one else in this dungeon and there was no way for Violet to meet her basic survival needs. Still, Violet didn''t want to give up and could only try to negotiate with this dungeon system.


    "Can you please help me? Do I have a status screen or anything?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana: 50/50


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 0


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 0


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet smiled in relief as she took in the system screen. She wasn''t sure how a dungeon would increase its mana, what DP was, or much of anything else, but she was happy to see some progress. She tried to press her finger into the screen in front of her, happy to see she could actually select the [Construction] category. A new menu appeared when she did, but this one was much shorter.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rooms & Hallways


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Traps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Items


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet opened the [Rooms & Hallways] option first, noting that there were only a dozen options or so to choose from.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Room Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Room Size:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    8-Units by 8-Units Square Room


    </td>


    <td>


    16 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    16-Units by 16-Units Square Room


    </td>


    <td>


    32 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    32-Units by 32-Units Square Room


    </td>


    <td>


    64 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    8-Units by 8-Units Round Room


    </td>


    <td>


    16 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    16-Units by 16-Units Round Room


    </td>


    <td>


    32 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    32-Units by 32-Units Round Room


    </td>


    <td>


    64 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    8-Units by 16-Units Rectangle Room


    </td>


    <td>


    24 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    16-Units by 32-Units Rectangle Room


    </td>


    <td>


    48 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    32-Units by 64-Units Rectangle Room


    </td>


    <td>


    96 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Hallway Option:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Hallway Size:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    5-Units Straight Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    5 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    10-Units Straight Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    20-Units Straight Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    20-Units L-Turn Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    30-Units 3-Way Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    40-Units 4-Way Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    40 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    14-Units by 14-Units Roundabout Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    28 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    20-Units S-Shaped Hallway


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was surprised to find that pressing on the options showed her what the room would look like on the system menu as well as pulling up an option to confirm if she wanted to build the room. It was strange that everything was listed as being measured in ¡®Units¡¯ rather than Meters or Feet, but this was another worlds, after all. After some consideration, Violet decided to try building an 8-Units by 16-Units rectangle room for 24 MP.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to build an 8-Units by 16-Units rectangle room for 24 MP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet clicked the [Yes] option and felt dizzy as her vision zoomed out as she had an out-of-body experience. She could see the size of the vast and empty dungeon, which seemed to have a rather large amount of free space as well as a view of the current hallway she was standing in. The core room was one end followed by a long hallway that led to an area that seemed to have a red highlighted area, as if to highlight it wasn''t able to be built in.


    Violet freaked out as she was unable to understand what was happening. She didn''t know how to exit the view nor how to move the room into place. Violet took some calming breaths as she tried to calm herself. Nothing really made much sense anymore, but panicking wouldn''t help any.


    Violet tried to imagine placing the room a short distance from the entrance and was surprised when she saw the image of a rectangular room move into place. It was as if she was playing a video game as she could easily shift the room into place just by thinking about it. The previous hallway that had been there disappeared when she tried to overlap the new room with it. However, Violet found that she couldn''t remove any of the other portions of the hallway.


    Violet mentally frowned, feeling it was annoying that it seemed to be required that there be a pathway from the core room that connected to the entrance. She was also disappointed when she noticed her mana was displayed in the upper left of the screen, but there was no mana compensation when the hallway was removed to place the room. Violet supposed it would be a bit unfair to get the points for a hallway she didn''t have to build, but it was still disappointing, nonetheless.


    Once Violet felt the room was lined up in a good spot, she thought about how she was finished building and would like to exit the screen. She was pleasantly surprised when she found her vision recentering and that she could once more feel her limbs. However, Violet couldn''t help but sway as she felt a wave of dizziness overcome her. It was very disorienting to have such a change in perspective.


    Violet noted that she now only had 26 MP left, but still decided to explore the [Monsters] category on the menu.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Summonable Monster Options:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Evolution:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Slimes


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    Basic slime [Monster] with no special features. Does very little combat damage, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contractable Monster Options:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Evolution:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Will-O''-Wisp


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a dark environment to live in before you can form a contract. Does no combat damage, but can add ambiance and lure unsuspecting adventurers into [Traps].


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Kodama


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a suitable environment full of plant life and will not engage in combat. Primarily functions as a worker-type [Monster] and cares for its environment allowing its environment to flourish.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet sighed as she noted that, even despite having other types of [Monsters] listed on her menu, none of them would be of any help in a fight. Violet also wasn''t quite sure what a kodama might look like and was sure a cute slime would make for much better company.


    Violet wandered towards her new room and was disappointed to find that it was mostly empty save for some grass, a fake sun, and some dandelions. The size wasn¡¯t too bad for one of the smaller dungeon room sizes, but it wasn¡¯t exactly a huge space either. Violet could only bitterly complain to herself that, while this could technically be considered a flower meadow, it was really the bare minimum. Still, Violet quickly summoned a slime for 10 MP, further reducing her mana to a mere 16 MP.


    Violet squealed in delight as she took in the blue slime. She was glad that it had ended up being the cute kind of slime rather than the more hideous variant that some games had. As it bounced and explored the room, Violet could only watch in fascination. It was so much cuter in real life than she could have ever anticipated. Violet lay on her stomach in the grass, relaxing as she watched the slime continue to aimlessly bounce around.

 1.3 The Dungeon Diplomat

    Violet felt a strange sense of alertness take over her and a sort of cold chill pass over her. She looked around rather confused as she sat up, but she wasn''t left to wonder what was going on for long before a man appeared at the entrance of the room. He was wearing rather strange clothes and seemed to have come from the direction of the dungeon entrance.


    Violet backed away, wondering if she would even have a chance if she started running now. However, the man raised his hands and didn''t walk any further as he assured her


    "Please, miss, I come in peace. There is no need to worry."


    Violet furrowed her brows as she took a better look at the man. He didn''t appear to have any weapons, nor was he wearing any armor. While a world of magic could mean he was still dangerous, Violet felt his clothing was still rather strange for a dungeon. The clothes appeared to be formal attire, but not modern by any standards. Violet briefly wondered if the world she was in now was a medieval one, much like the isekai novels she enjoyed reading previously. The attire seemed fitting for nobility in medieval times from such a novel.


    "I''m sure all of this is very confusing for you. However, I am just here to do my job and to help explain things to you."


    Violet felt even more confused as she looked at the man. Most novels with transmigration or reincarnation did not involve some random person from the world being aware of her situation. She could only hesitantly ask


    "Who are you exactly? What exactly are you going to explain to me?"


    The man did not seem surprised by the question, as if he was used to such conversations, and quickly replied


    "I am Theodore, a Dungeon Diplomat. I have been assigned to look over this dungeon and to guide its new Dungeon Master, which would be you. I will need to take a look at your dungeon core to ensure everything is in working order, but I can answer any questions or concerns you may have after that. While I do realize that you may not trust me, I do not recommend resisting.


    [Monsters] won''t attack Dungeon Diplomats nor do [Traps] work on us. Although, I must say that I am quite surprised that you already have a room and [Monster] prepared. Perhaps that is my fault? I do apologize for taking so long, but I was in the middle of checking in with one of the other dungeons I look after when I was notified of a new dungeon being established."


    Violet felt like she only had more questions the more Theodore spoke, but she decided it would be best to be polite for now. It wasn''t like she could resist, even if she wanted to. A slime would hardly be able to take a grown man out, even if he was unarmed.


    "Alright, I''ll show you the way. My name is Violet, by the way. It''s lovely to meet you, Theodore."


    Theodore was surprised by Violet''s cooperativeness. It wasn''t uncommon for new Dungeon Masters to be combative and suspicious of him when they first met. Some never quite adjusted to him and remained rather cold towards him, even after so many years of cooperation. However, Theodore soon had his answer to much of his confusion as he checked the dungeon core.


    "Purple is an interesting color, but the dungeon core seems to be in good shape. There are no cracks or deformities that I can see and it seems to be functioning perfectly.


    I must say that it is quite strange to see that you have your memories of your past life intact, though."


    Violet felt shocked as she had already dismissed her worries about Theodore knowing what was going on when he hadn''t brought it up previously. Theodore chuckled as he took in Violet''s expression and quickly explained


    "When new dungeons are made, the dungeon core will summon someone who is a good match for a Dungeon Master. Basically, you are two halves of a whole. However, what sort of Dungeon Master is summoned can vary greatly.


    Oftentimes, a [Monster], animal, or person from this world will be summoned as a Dungeon Master. The [Monsters] and animals can end up evolving into sapient and more humanoid forms to better manage the dungeon. However, it is a bit different with human.


    Those who are originally from our world retain their memories, but become healthier, stronger, and semi-immortal. The only thing that can kill a Dungeon Master is for their dungeon core to break. You can''t leave the dungeon, but any attempt to kill you without destroying the core just leads to you respawning unharmed in the dungeon core room.


    Reincarnated individuals are rare, but they usually only have impressions from their previous lives, not their full intact memories. This is the first I''ve heard of a case like yours where the full memories are left intact. Although, that might end up making this whole process easier for me."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Violet wasn''t sure how to feel about being an outlier, but it was nice to know how she ended up in the situation she was in. However, she felt even more conflicted about her newfound immortality. She wasn''t entirely excited about starting a new life while the memory of her husband and their bitter end was still so fresh in her mind. To some extent, she''d almost prefer to have passed on and to be able to be at rest alongside her husband.


    "Would you mind telling me a bit about why you chose to select slimes as your starting [Monster]?"


    Violet grimaced as she took in the question. She couldn''t help how awkward she felt about the situation and the reason she had ended up with the [Monster].


    "Well, it wasn''t originally an option on the menu or whatever it is called. However, after I complained about none of the options being particularly cute, the choice was made for me."


    Theodore nodded as he mused


    "The dungeon system likely made an exception to respect your will. However, the options for starting [Monsters] are fairly limited due to the dungeon accords.


    Both summonable [Monsters] and contracted [Monsters] are scaled by floor level. You can''t unlock them or place them on the lower levels of your dungeon as it wouldn''t be balanced enough. While adventurers enter dungeons with the knowledge that they could end up dying, the dungeons are still required to keep things fair. The [Monsters] and [Traps] on lower floors have to be able to be defeated by weaker adventurers while the higher floors can have more powerful enemies and [Traps]."


    Violet nodded as she supposed this made sense. Still, she couldn''t afford to waste this opportunity to ask someone knowledgeable some questions about her new circumstances.


    "What other sorts of limitations do I have regarding building?"


    Theodore looked thoughtful as he answered


    "I''ll answer your questions, but I can only stay a limited amount of time. So, why don''t we limit it to five questions on your part? Then, I''ll add anything else I think needs to be said before I leave. I have to check in on you once a month as well as whenever you unlock a new floor or when the locals report anything strange in the area. So, don''t worry too much since I can always answer more of your questions the next time we meet. Dungeon masters live long lives, but so do Dungeon Diplomats like myself, so we have many long years ahead of us to discuss things. Waiting a while now won''t hurt anything.


    As for your question, there are a few restrictions you should be aware of. The dungeons are like large square towers made from stone and can only have a maximum of twenty-five floors total. There is no limitation on the number of rooms you can have on a given floor, but you are limited to a 150-Units by 150-Units space for each floor. To unlock a new floor you have to have a boss room with an assigned boss, use a minimum of half the space on the current floor, and have enough DP, or dungeon points, to unlock the upgrade.


    You should have a basic set of rooms and hallways unlocked already, but you aren''t limited to only those shapes and sizes. You can experiment by combining the current ones available to you and then use DP to set it as a reusable schematic for future use.


    However, I must warn you that hallways have their own limitations so you can''t use their cheaper mana cost to get around the building costs. Hallways require slightly less MP for the surface area than rooms, but are restricted to being a certain width and cannot have [Monsters] in them. You can still place [Traps], light sources, and other basic decorations in them as well as upgrade them to look a certain way, but they can''t be combined to form a room that costs less to build. I know other dungeons under my care have tried, but I hope you won''t waste your time with such nonsense."


    Violet nodded to show her understanding. It wasn''t like it was Theodore''s fault if the dungeon-building system had limitations. Still, the knowledge on the amount of space she had to use and how to unlock a second floor was certainly useful. However, Violet couldn''t help but feel like twenty-five floors felt like too little space to work with if she was supposed to be semi-immortal. She couldn''t imagine what she was supposed to do once she ran out of new space to build in and could only imagine her life would eventually become boring.


    Still, Violet needed to set that issue aside to ponder at another time. She had more questions she needed to ask!


    "How does mana work? I already used a good bit of mine up, but it isn''t clear to me how I get more."


    Theodore smiled and nodded, clearly satisfied with Violet''s choice of question, before answering


    "One of the reasons that dungeons are welcomed by the people of this world is that they process the aether in the air. Dungeons turn aether into mana, which is then used by adventurers to cast spells. Aether is like unfiltered mana and, when too much builds up in the atmosphere, it can lead to aether poisoning, which can lead to all sorts of life-threatening health issues.


    You can only process so much aether at once, so you''ll notice that you end up getting 25% of your mana back at the beginning of each day when the dungeon naturally finishes processing the aether into mana. As adventurers use spells, they release aether into the air, but they also can increase the amount of mana your dungeon regains just by being in your dungeon. Even just having me here means you get a point of mana every minute. The points quickly stack up and you''ll earn even more with more adventurers here at one time.


    Although, I would mention that the maximum mana cap is a hard limit so you can''t get more mana than fifty points right now. As the dungeon grows, it can handle more mana, so you''ll get another fifty points added to that limit for each new floor you add. That will make it easier for you as time goes by and it is also why more powerful and larger dungeons are considered more powerful since they can process more aether.


    Finally, as I''m sure you''ve noticed already, mana is used to make certain purchases while DP is used for others. Anything you already know how to make only costs mana while DP is needed to research new [Items], [Monster] evolutions, etc."


    Violet already felt a lot better about things now that she didn''t feel quite so clueless. Still, she felt like she would have to think carefully about what questions to ask for her last three chances.

 1.4 Stranger Danger

    Violet felt like she had so many questions that it was really difficult to choose just three more to ask. It was especially difficult when she knew that this would be her last chance to get such information for an entire month. Violet was tempted to ask more about the dungeon points, but she decided that she had a vague enough idea that she would just make do for now. Instead, she asked


    "How do contracted [Monsters] work exactly? I don''t understand the difference between summonable [Monsters] and contracted [Monsters]..."


    Theodore easily explained


    "Contracted [Monsters] have specific living conditions or other peculiarities that have to be met both before and during their time with you. They tend to want to join your dungeon because they would be more likely to die in the outside world. At least, in the dungeon, they can be respawned."


    Violet looked surprised at that news and easily used up another question to ask


    "How does that work?"


    Theodore laughed at Violet''s eagerness before he continued


    "You can invest DP into researching dungeon spawners. They can be rather expensive and have to be researched progressively with the better ones unlocking only after the lower-quality ones have been purchased. You are limited to one spawner per room, though, so you will need higher-quality spawners if you want to have more [Monsters] assigned to a particular room or floor.


    The spawners are indestructible, save for the dungeon core being destroyed. That would kill all [Monsters] in your dungeon permanently and the dungeon itself would self-destruct. They are placed in the ground in the room you want the [Monsters] to respawn in and have a set amount of mana points the [Monsters] assigned to respawn from them can cost as a total. However, once [Monsters] are assigned to a spawner, MP no longer has to be spent to respawn the [Monsters].


    Unless you assign a [Monster] to a spawner before they die, they can''t be respawned. Normally, the memories and soul are preserved and the body just needs to be remade to house them. However, without a spawner in place and assigning the [Monsters] to said [Monster], all of that is easily lost. So, despite the high costs, I would suggest investing in them sooner rather than later to both save on costs and keep your favorite contracted [Monsters] around longer.


    I would caution that it isn''t good to rely on the respawn feature too much, though. The memories are kept intact, so the [Monsters] can become traumatized and their souls corrupt over time until they can no longer be respawned."This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Violet winced at that reminder as she actually had some experience with that herself. The last thing she would want would be to make her [Monsters] suffer until their souls deteriorated so much they could no longer come back. That just sounded far too cruel.


    Violet only had one more question she could ask and, while she was hesitant to waste her question, she couldn''t help but feel like there was one other pressing matter she needed answers regarding.


    "What sorts of potential dangers are there for dungeons? What should I be prepared for and cautious of?"


    Theodore looked a bit grim as he sighed, seeming reluctant to offer the information. However, before too long, he still spoke up.


    "Well, there is the initial problem, which I came here to investigate. Dungeon cores or their masters can become unstable, be too bloodthirsty, or build in such a way that they start spreading plagues that kill people outside of dungeons. In those cases, the local government will summon powerful adventurers with powerful magic who can destroy the dungeon core. Luckily, you seem unlikely to have such issues, but I will be keeping a close eye on how things progress in the future.


    Additionally, some crafty business groups might cause problems for you to turn a profit. They attempt to control dungeons by keeping adventurers in the dungeon to prevent them from being worked on by the Dungeon Masters, charging fees to enter the dungeon, or repeatedly offering tributes to try and encourage particular types of dungeon growth. When you have more than one floor, only the floors with adventurers on them will be unable to be worked on, but you are especially vulnerable to being messed with right now. The tributes problem is unlikely to be an issue for you since you aren''t an evolved [Monster] or beast, so you have enough awareness to make your own choices. Still, things aren''t hopeless on the other matters either since I can report such issues to the local government and guilds to try and get some action taken against such groups.


    The last issue is more pressing, however. Wild [Monsters] can enter your dungeon and try to consume your core to evolve. Some cults might also try to destroy your dungeon core for not following the same patron god or goddess as them or even just to sow chaos. It is harder to fix those sorts of problems and you will have to ensure you have enough strong [Monsters], [Traps], etc. to dissuade such individuals."


    Violet couldn''t help but feel sobered at such news. Between wanting to protect her cute dungeon [Monsters] and needing to avoid getting herself killed, she likely would have no choice but to build lethal [Traps] and complicated puzzle rooms to prevent all but the most skilled and determined adventurers from progressing in her dungeon.


    "Alright, that is all of the questions you are allowed to ask. Since I have provided what information I could and checked everything is running smoothly, I will be leaving now. Is there a particular sort of tribute you would like to request? I can also just bring you some [Items] that I think might help you to sign a contract so you can send some of those kodama out to gather resources, if you want."


    Violet''s eyes lit up at this news and she nodded her head vigorously to show her enthusiasm for the idea. Theodore chuckled before offering his goodbyes.


    "Alright, I''ll return momentarily and drop off your tribute. However, this will be goodbye for now. I look forward to seeing what you''ve done with the place the next time we meet."

 1.5 Mysterious Kodama

    After Theodore dropped off his tribute, Violet checked her system notifications and mana levels. Much as Theodore had warned, Violet''s mana was full, but there was no going over the maximum level of mana. Still, having full mana was quite useful as Violet would be able to make a good number of improvements thanks to this good fortune.


    Theodore ended up dropping off some grass, a clover, a white clover flower, a dandelion, and an acorn as tribute. This led to system notifications that noted that Violet had gained 125 DP for adding five new [Base Resources] to the system and another fifty for adding new [Items] to the system. Exploring her menu some more, Violet discovered that the [Base Resources] seemed to be listed under the [Research] and that she could use her DP to research new [Items] and upgrades using the [Base Resources] available to her.


    Meanwhile, the [Items] were listed under her [Construction] menu and Violet would be able to add the grass, clover, and flowers to her flower meadow as room features to improve the way it looked as well as add new harvestable resources for adventurers. The grass and clover cost 1 MP per 100 Square Units to apply to a room while the dandelions and white clover flowers cost 2 MP for the same amount of space. Violet wanted to upgrade the room to look nicer, so she went ahead and spent the 12 MP to apply all four of the options.


    While the room had already had grass and dandelions, after applying them as room features, the effect on the room was much better. The grass was more vibrant and healthy while the dandelions were larger and more abundant. Combined with the occasional patch of clover and white clover flowers, the room seemed more natural and far more beautiful.


    The acorn was more of a summonable [Item] where she would only get a single acorn to materialize for 1 MP and she would have to decide where to place it. This did not appeal to Violet at all as it seemed like a waste of mana. Luckily, though, she was able to figure out that she could spend 10 DP to research the acorn and ended up with a placeable oak tree that cost 5 MP each to place.


    After placing the oak tree, Violet checked her [Monsters] section again and was pleased to find that the kodama now appeared to be able to be summoned. Violet glanced at her mana and was happy to see she still had 33 MP left. While the price was a bit steep, it was still easy for Violet to spend the 30 MP to summon a kodama now that she knew just how useful they could be.


    A portal appeared before Violet and she was surprised as she watched the small creature step out of it. Violet wasn''t sure if she should categorize the creature as cute or as nightmare fuel. The creature wore nothing and was an entirely white creature with only black holes for a mouth and eyes. There were no other notable features at all and the creature was a bit unsettling to look at. Still, the roundness of its features and its small stature did give it a somewhat endearing look.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The spirit looked at Violet as if waiting for orders, but soon wandered off toward the tree when it was left to its own devices for too long. Violet smiled as she noted how benign the creature seemed while resting under the tree. Violet couldn''t help but once more speak to the air as she commented


    "Well, love, it isn''t quite the children we want, but maybe we still have a chance at being parents of a sort. Such adorable [Monsters] are bound to need some love, after all."


    As it seemed unlikely that there would be adventurers right away, Violet had to set aside building for the day. Instead, she planned to send her new kodama out to forage for resources while she played around with her menu some more and made plans for what to do the next day when she would, hopefully, have enough mana to make some more, albeit minor, improvements.


    "Hey, sweetie? Do you think you could go forage outside the dungeon for me? If you could just bring back some useful plants for me, I''d appreciate it. You don''t have to fight anything and it is okay if you have to come back because you feel unsafe, but I''d like you to help me out, if you think you can handle it."


    The kodama stared at Violet before making a soft rattling sound as it rotated its head. Violet found the sight quite unnerving but was relieved when she saw the small creature scamper off towards the entrance of the dungeon. She hoped it would stay safe out there and she could make a dungeon spawner for it soon.


    Violet was unsure if she could make a dungeon spawner with what she had, but she would certainly try. She opened the [Research] panel and looked at the options available. However, she wasn''t quite sure what she was looking at, so she tried asking


    "How do I research [Monster] spawners?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to begin research on [Monster] spawners? Requires 100 DP.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet frowned as she saw the expensive price, but she still selected [Yes]. However, she was sorely disappointed with the results. For 100 DP, the first spawner option only allowed for 25 MP total in respawn costs to be converted and it cost 25 MP for each spawner that she wanted to create. As the kodama cost 30 MP just to summon one of them, it would be impossible to set a spawn for it with such a low-grade spawner. So, Violet pulled up the research option for the spawners again.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to begin research on [Monster] spawners? Requires 200 DP.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    However, it wouldn''t be possible to do any further research for the spawners, for now, it would seem. Violet only had 75 DP left to spend and that wasn''t nearly enough to do more research, so she would have to wait for her kodama to return.

 1.6 Sacrifice

    The next day, Violet couldn''t help but muse to herself


    "How strange that I don''t feel hungry or thirsty. Falling asleep was easier than it had ever been before as well. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the ground and I don''t even feel sore despite sleeping on the ground. I doubt the grass added much padding and this eternal sunlight in this room really should have made it difficult to sleep."


    Violet checked her status menu and was happy to see that she had another thirteen points of mana. That gave her a total of 16 MP now, which was hardly enough to do more than summon another slime, but Violet felt it would be better to hold off for now as she would prefer to stockpile enough mana to set up a spawner for her slime and kodama. Still, Violet felt it was quite generous of the system to round the 25% daily MP regeneration up instead of down. Fifty points would end being twelve and a half points of regeneration, after all.


    Yesterday, Violet had nervously waited as her kodama made repeated trips out of the dungeon to forage for supplies. However, the kodama was small and was barely taller than a dandelion, which just made it that much more amusing that it liked to climb all over her oak tree. The tree made the kodama look like a mere speck in comparison as the size difference was just that great. Still, her kodama had worked quite hard and had made an entire ten trips out, bringing new [Items] inside the dungeon each time.


    Luckily, the dungeon could absorb the [Items] at the entrance and the kodama didn''t have to make the trip any longer than necessary. The first time, the kodama had brought back a pebble, which had filled its arms to the point of looking like a boulder in comparison. The next few trips had seen the kodama bringing slightly lighter [Items] back, if a bit less useful. Things like grass and the same flowers that Violet already had access to would only give her a mere point of DP each as they were repeats. Still, Violet did feel grateful for her new friend''s efforts and wouldn''t complain even if they only ever brought repeats back to their dungeon.


    Eventually, the kodama seemed to gain some more confidence and started staying out for longer periods and bringing back slightly more interesting things. A couple of violet flowers, a tiny piece of oyster mushroom, a small twig, and a few oak tree leaves. The leaves seemed to be similar to those from Violet''s previous world, but the colors had changed to reds and oranges, giving her the impression that it was fall outside. Of course, with it being another world, Violet knew the leaves might just normally be like that, but she just didn''t have any way to confirm one way or another.


    When the kodama had sleepily wandered back to the flower meadow room where Violet''s slime lived and curled up into a ball beneath the oak tree to sleep, Violet had merely smiled at its adorableness. It was still a rather strange and unnerving creature and it had no ability to close its eyes, but she couldn''t help but feel endeared to the small, hard-working creature. While Violet did feel somewhat guilty that her kodama had worked so hard, she could only promise herself that she would make sure to talk to it and remind it not to overwork itself.


    While the resources were useful to her dungeon and Violet most definitely needed to save up her DP to research more spawners, she still didn''t want her contracted [Monsters] to end up harmed or to work themselves to death in the process. It was disappointing that none of Violet''s [Monsters] were capable of speech, but they were still the only family that Violet had now and she was determined to do what she could to make sure they could live happy and peaceful lives.


    Violet pulled up her status screen and looked at her gains from the previous day.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 16 / 50


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 204


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    ConstructionEnjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet pressed the [Research] option before looking over her [Base Resources] option. She noted that she now had grass, white clover flowers, dandelions, violet flowers, stone, and wood. The acorns had been removed from the [Base Resources] list after Violet had researched and unlocked oak trees and the oak trees, oyster mushrooms, and oak tree leaves were only available as placeable [Items] or room features.


    Violet smiled as she asked the system to pull up the next spawner research option once more.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to begin research on [Monster] spawners? Requires 200 DP.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After Violet pressed the [Yes] option, she was happy to see the results this time were a bit more useful. The new spawner option had a maximum of 50 MP in total respawn costs, which would be able to easily cover a kodama and two slimes. Of course, there was no way that Violet would be able to afford to pay for the initial cost of purchasing a spawner since it also cost 50 MP to purchase, but it was a goal to work towards and Violet felt happy.


    However, this good news was short-lived as Violet began to feel goosebumps form across her skin and she knew that there was once more a visitor in her dungeon. Violet frowned and went to pick up her kodama, hoping to hide them from sight and save them from her guests. She doubted her slime would be able to handle any threats, but she was unlikely to be able to hide the small slime and protect them in the same way.


    Violet sighed as she went to stand in front of the door that led further into the dungeon and remained vigilant, afraid of what was to come. Violet was relieved when she saw her guests were people. While they could also pose a potential threat, especially to her newly developed dungeon, it was still better than if [Monsters] had breached her dungeon. It was especially reassuring when it appeared to be an older man and a young child who was likely no older than ten years old.


    Violet looked her guests over and noted that the older man wasn''t wearing any sort of armor and seemed to be dressed in clothes that suggested he was of a lower class. Perhaps he was a farmer? He did seem to be brandishing a pitchfork while the young child was holding a wooden sword and only slightly thicker clothing. Seeing Violet, the older man startled before kneeling and pulling his young child to do the same.


    "Greetings, Dungeon Master. I am Gregory and this is my son Henry. We were informed by the Dungeon Diplomat that your dungeon recently formed near our town. I hope we are not imposing, but my son wishes to become an adventurer and, after hearing of the [Monsters] in your dungeon, I was hoping you would allow us to challenge your dungeon."


    Violet frowned as she took in the man''s words. For the child to challenge her dungeon, her slime would have to risk dying to the child''s sword. It was unlikely that the slime would survive the encounter and there wasn''t a dungeon spawner set up yet. Violet sighed as she replied


    "Alright, so long as you agree to leave after your son defeats my slime and not return more than once a day, your son may use my dungeon to train his skills. I wish him luck in becoming a successful adventurer in the future."


    Gregory bowed his head lower to the ground as he groveled and praised


    "Thank you for your generosity, oh benevolent Dungeon Master. If you would be so generous might I ask how you prefer to be addressed? I wish to spread the story of your benevolence to the others in my town."


    Violet still wasn''t happy about her slime dying, but she couldn''t exactly resent the man for using the dungeon as it was intended. Instead, she would have to use this opportunity for what it was.


    "Very well, you may refer to me as Miss Violet. My dungeon is still new and cannot handle very many challengers right now, so I would prefer if your fellow townsmen didn''t visit more than once or twice a day. Once the dungeon has been more developed, I should be able to play the role of a hostess better and the experience should be a better challenge. For now, though, I suppose it is fine for the younger ones to visit occasionally since my slimes should be a suitable opponent for them."


    Violet was relieved when she heard Gregory reply


    "Yes, mistress Violet. I shall inform the others not to bother you too often. It is against this kingdom''s laws to get in the way of a new dungeon''s development anyhow, so I am sure they will understand."


    Violet then watched as Gregory fussed over his son until his son also spoke up


    "Thank you, mistress Violet, for allowing me to challenge your dungeon."


    Violet merely nodded while continuing to stand guard in front of the door. She was willing to cooperate with the locals to prevent future problems, even if it did mean sacrificing her new slime friend. However, she couldn''t risk her own life being put at risk or else her kodama was likely to perish as well. The only thing that Violet could hope was that the fight would last long enough for her slime''s sacrifice to be worth it.

 1.7 Heroic Slime

    Slime one was only recently born and had yet to experience much of life. Its existence mainly was a carefree one where it could happily bounce around its home in the dungeon. There was the nagging feeling of needing to protect its master and the dungeon it lived in, but slime one hadn''t had the chance to even attempt such a thing before this.


    Now, slimes aren''t able to see things in the same way that other creatures are nor was slime one capable of higher thinking. Slime one had to act just on basic instinct with more of a general sense of its surroundings rather than being able to see them. There was no need to eat, but the slime would still consume a bit of grass or a few flowers here and there. The feeling of the flowers digesting in its viscous fluids felt funny and it was a nice distraction from its otherwise simple and mundane existence.


    However, today seemed to be different from the previous days, not that slime one had much of a concept of time. There were feelings of anxiety and concern rolling through the dungeon and something felt off. When the feeling of something rapidly approaching came over slime one, it quickly dodged to the side. Slime one''s membrane jiggled in response to its sudden movement and the slime felt confused.


    Slime one''s instincts kicked in and it began to do what came naturally to it as it dodged blow after blow. The feeling of frustration rolled across the slime from somewhere in front of it and the slime felt more confused. Was this perhaps one of the intruders it was born to protect against?


    As the slime continued to dodge, it slowly put together the strange phenomena happening around it. If its master was feeling concerned and it was being attacked, then it was likely that this was slime one''s big chance to protect its home! Well, if this was how it was going to be, then slime one was happy to step forward and do its duty.


    The thought that slime one might die in the process never crossed its mind, nor did it feel fear as it continued to engage its opponent. As Henry continued to clumsily swing around his sword, slime one merely dodged what it could, and what few attacks managed to hit it were shrugged off. As slime one began to build up confidence, it even attempted to counterattack.


    Henry stumbled back in surprise and fell on his ass after being hit full force in the face by the small blue slime creature. He couldn''t help but feel his frustration grow as he stood back up, readjusting his posture and preparing to swing his wooden sword once more. If he wanted to become an adventurer then he needed to be capable of handling, at least, this much.


    Violet watched on in amusement as her first summon did its best against the young boy. As disappointing as it was for Violet to have to lose her very first summon, after only knowing it for a few short days, she still couldn''t help but feel amused by the situation unfolding in front of her. Besides, it would seem that this fight would be worth the sacrifice of her slime as her mana was quickly increasing.


    With both Gregory and Henry in the dungeon, Violet was easily gaining 2 MP every minute and her mana was almost full again. Violet tried to summon her system menu, but was quickly disappointed to see that it wouldn''t work.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unable to access system menu. Please try again on a floor without adventurers.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Well, Violet could only reassure herself that it was good that the effect was limited to the floors with adventurers on them. Once the dungeon had more floors, she would be able to continue to alter her higher floors while her guests were busy on the lower floors. Violet supposed it only made sense that she couldn''t alter the dungeon while there were adventurers around. After all, a more violent Dungeon Master could use such features in such a way as to lead to unnecessary deaths of adventurers.


    Violet didn''t have any intention to kill adventurers more than necessary. She didn''t want her [Monsters] to die all the time, but it wasn''t like Violet would receive any rewards for adventurers dying in her dungeon. It was better to let them live, unless they threatened the dungeon core. Of course, that would require Violet to prepare defenses capable of killing those who got too close to the dungeon core, but that was something she could worry about later on when she had more resources to spare.


    Violet silently cheered as her mana reached full and watched on as Henry continued to engage her slime. He was starting to make more progress, but it seemed like his strikes were only causing a limited amount of damage. Violet hesitated to give Henry pointers since she didn''t want her slime to die, but she also knew it was too late for that. It was likely that the young boy would figure things out sooner or later anyway and it was unlikely he would leave before defeating her poor slime.


    Besides, Violet wasn''t sure if her poor slime could feel pain or not. If it could, then dragging its death out any longer than necessary was cruel and Violet would have no part in it. So, she chose to speak out as she offered up a small bit of advice.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "Do you see the core? Slimes aren''t solid like other [Monsters], so you have to destroy their mana core to defeat them."


    Henry glanced up nervously at Violet and ended up being knocked down by the slime once more. Still, when he stood back up, he gave Violet a nod in thanks before taking a step forward and slicing down with his wooden sword into the core of the slime. The slime stumbled backward before standing still in a daze. It was likely it would take a few more hits before the slime could be defeated due to the poor quality of the weapon.


    Still, Violet felt relieved when she saw her [Monster] didn''t have to continue to suffer and was quickly dealt with. Violet felt slightly more guilty that she had helped someone defeat her precious dungeon [Monster], but she could only try to rationalize with herself. So, she shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. This was made easier when Gregory spoke up to say


    "Thank you, mistress Violet. Is there anywhere you would prefer us to leave the dungeon tribute? Most dungeons have an area with a table, a basket, or something like that either in their entrance or their first room for the initial tribute. We don''t have much since we are only a poor farming family, but I would like to fulfill the customary donation."


    Violet''s eyes lit up at the mention of tribute. Having both tribute and full mana would make this whole ordeal that much more worthwhile. She knew from Dungeon Diplomat Theodore that tribute was customary, but it had somehow slipped her mind to expect such a thing. However, she didn''t have anywhere official to leave such a thing and could only reply


    "I haven''t had the chance to build an official area to leave tribute. You can just leave the tribute at the foot of the tree for now. I''ll try to get something set up soon enough, but it could still be a few days."


    Gregory nodded as he pulled out a hard roll and a small apple from his pocket. He handed the apple to his son and they both made their way to the tree to make their offerings. They left not long after that and Violet sighed in relief. Thanks to her first slime, she could now ensure that none of her other [Monsters] would have to die. While it might be a bit of an exaggeration, her first slime was a hero who valiantly sacrificed its life to save the others who would soon replace it.


    Violet quickly pulled up her system menu


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 50 / 50


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 199


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The bread and apple had granted her several new [Base Resources] as well as two new summonable [Items]. There was now flour, wild yeast, salt, sugar, oil, water, and an apple under her [Base Resources]. Violet wasn''t sure she would be making too many recipes with the new [Base Resources] any time soon, but she was interested in researching an apple tree as a new [Item]. Alongside the acorns that naturally grew and fell from her new oak tree, an apple tree that produced apples was bound to be attractive to potential adventurers. Of course, before any of that, there was something far more important to attend to.


    Violet quickly purchased a 50 MP spawner and was shifted into the room view. As the positioning didn''t matter that much in this size of room, Violet just placed the spawner in the middle of the room. Once she confirmed she was finished building, she was hit with a wave of dizziness as she readjusted to her normal field of vision. Afterward, as she wasn''t sure how to set the [Monsters] to the spawner, she asked


    "How do I set [Monsters] to this room''s spawner?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Which [Monsters] would you like to set to the [50 MP Spawner] in the [Undecided Room]?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Available Monsters:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unnamed Kodama (30 MP)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Other Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Available Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Other Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet took note of some of the strange wording on her system menu. Apparently, this room was labeled as undecided and her kodama could be named. Her poor slime had died without a name... Still, Violet wasn''t sure if she should give every [Monster] she summoned a name. With the potential to summon hundreds, or even thousands, of [Monsters] over the years, it would be difficult to give all of them names. Violet quickly selected the kodama and set it to respawn via the spawner before further pondering the issue.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    The [50 MP Spawner] in [Undecided Room] now has 20 MP of space remaining to assign [Monsters] and [Critters]. Would you like to assign anything else?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet pressed the [No] option and furrowed her brows further. Apparently, there were also [Critters] that could be assigned to spawners. That option wasn''t even available on the main menu yet. Violet couldn''t help but ask


    "How do I obtain [Critters]?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    No [Critters] currently available. Please complete [Missions] to unlock more.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet paced the room as she considered what she should do next.

 1.8 Completing Missions

    Violet decided to dismiss the matter of naming her [Monsters], for now. It might be more worthwhile to name a boss [Monster] or even a more intelligent [Monster] that might stand a chance at communicating with her. However, it just seemed like a waste to name a normal [Monster] that would be likely to die so often that it would eventually end up unable to even respawn.


    Of course, Violet didn''t feel entirely unfeeling towards her poor unnamed kodama. She would do her best to treat all of her [Monsters] with as much love and attention as she could. Violet just didn''t see the point in coming up with names for every last summon and contracted [Monster]. It wasn''t like she was especially skilled at naming things either.


    As a child, Violet had named her favorite stuffed animal, a stuffed puppy, ''puppy''. It was hardly a very original name and Violet had doubts that she would do much better trying to name things now. At least, if it was a [Monster] that could communicate with her, they would be able to decline any names that were too horrendous.


    Instead, Violet decided to move on to a different matter entirely. If she could unlock [Critters] by completing [Missions], then it was time for her to finally explore that portion of her menu. She had been avoiding it thus far so that she could avoid overwhelming herself. It was already a lot to adjust to suddenly being a Dungeon Master of a dungeon in another world. The last thing Violet needed was to become overwhelmed by all the features she had to play around with. From the sounds of it, she''d have all of eternity to figure things out anyway.


    "Please show me the [Missions] I currently have available."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete first room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Set up first spawner


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Set up first challenge


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete a boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet looked over the six [Missions] currently available and was a little surprised to see that she already had one of the options completed. She quickly asked


    "How do I collect the reward for this [Mission]?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to receive the reward now?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet pressed [Yes] and was met with a new prompt.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following phylum options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Mollusca


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Mammalia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Arthropoda


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Violet groaned as she read her options. It had been quite a while since she had attended any sort of science class. Her previous job working with computers didn''t exactly require her to study ecosystems, so most of these classifications might as well have been her looking at something in a foreign language. Why a system would classify things into their phyla and classes was something Violet certainly wouldn''t have been able to figure out, even if she tried.


    Violet could hazard a guess as to what some of the options meant. Mollusca likely was referring to mollusks like clams and mussels. Mammalia probably had something to do with mammals like wolves or bears. That just left one last mystery grouping, which made Violet feel uneasy.


    "Are there any limitations to what I can receive in these categories?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Available [Critters] have been automatically limited to what is appropriate for the current dungeon level as well as to take into account the Dungeon Master''s desire for a ''cute'' dungeon.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    So that would eliminate snakes and spiders as an option then. Violet wasn''t sure if that was a good or a bad thing, though. A venomous snake would be able to increase her dungeon''s threat level, at least. However, Violet couldn''t say that she''d honestly want to live with such creepy crawlies, even for safety''s sake.


    Violet still wasn''t sure what option to go with. The current quests all seemed simple enough that Violet felt it was likely she would get a few chances to get new [Critters] over the next few days. So, she decided that knowledge was the most important. With that in mind, she decided to choose an option she was completely clueless about.


    "I''ll go with the [Arthropoda] option then."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Queen Bumblebee


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal queen bee. Capable of laying eggs and starting a new hive. Incapable of engaging in combat.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Normal Bumblebee


    </td>


    <td>


    1 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal worker bee. Low chances of male bees being summoned. Very poor combat abilities.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet looked thoughtful at this new information. Obtaining bees wasn''t a bad option considering the room she currently had. A wildflower meadow with a single oak tree would be a good home for bees. There wasn''t enough mana to summon anything right now, but Violet decided she would have to save some room in the spawner for a queen bee alongside the new slime she was planning to summon the next day.


    Violet didn''t know much about bees, but she had to assume there was a reason why she''d be allowed to summon both types of bumblebee. Perhaps the male bees were necessary for the queen bee to be able to produce new bees? If nothing else, it was likely that some extra bees would help the queen bee to set up the new bee hive. Violet doubted it would be necessary to set all of the bees to be able to respawn, so the other bees would likely just be a temporary measure.


    The strange feeling of crawling across Violet''s foot made her freak out, but she soon calmed down as she saw it was just her kodama. It looked up at her and Violet tilted her head wondering what it could need. The only thing she could come up with was that she had yet to give it any orders for the day.


    "I''ve added you to the new spawner. You should be able to go out exploring without worrying. Don''t overwork yourself, but feel free to go out and forage for things as often as you want. If any more people come, just hide until they leave. Just because you can revive doesn''t mean you need to die more than necessary."


    The kodama continued to stare up at Violet and turned its head, causing a small rattling sound. Violet smiled at the small kodama and reassured it


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be fine. You can''t engage in combat anyhow. I''ll make sure to summon a new slime friend for us tomorrow."


    The kodama seemed to understand and soon left. It took quite a while for it to leave the room, but Violet left it to its own devices, reassured now that it wasn''t likely to permanently die any time soon.


    Taking another look at her available [Missions], she couldn''t help but furrow her brows in confusion.


    "How do I complete a room?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set the theme for this room? This will cost 100 DP. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but unlocks upgrades for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and was met with another notification.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was relieved to see she could confirm the theme was correct before being stuck with a set theme. She easily selected the [Yes] option, eager to see what new options would be available for her to play around with. The cost of 100 DP was a bit steep, but it wasn''t like Violet had any better ideas than a wildflower meadow for her first room anyhow. It was better to keep things simple and she had already applied several wildflower upgrades to the room anyway. So, it was rather fitting at this point.


    After setting the room, Violet was pleased to see that the quest for completing her first room was now marked complete. She quickly accepted the reward, but was immediately surprised when the options were different this time.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Cnidaria


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Amphibia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Other


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet looked the options over and once more felt a bit helpless as she found she could only make heads or tails of one of the options. Amphibia looked a lot like amphibians, so that would mean she was likely to get something like a frog or lizard. The first option was completely foreign while the last was just too vague to even hazard a guess about. Deciding to once more try to learn more information for the future, Violet made her choice.


    "I''ll go with the Chordata - other option this time."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Koi Fish


    </td>


    <td>


    2 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal koi fish. Colors are randomized. Incapable of engaging in combat. Safe for consumption.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was a little disappointed to receive a fish since she didn''t have any use for it right now. However, it was still good to receive more information and it wasn''t like she couldn''t ever see herself setting up some sort of fishing pond. She did have access to water as a [Base Resource] now, after all.

 1.9 New Slime

    Unfortunately, Violet couldn''t complete any more quests until the next day. Any upgrades or summons also had to wait until she had more mana. So, Violet decided to just call it a day and relax while her kodama slowly brought back [Items] for the dungeon to absorb. Thankfully, the kodama listened to her advice to not work too hard. It only went out six times before calling it a day and it seemed much happier as it rested beneath the oak tree.


    This time, the kodama brought back some plantain leaves, chicory flowers, and several repeats of [Items] that Violet already had. Both of the new [Items] ended up being added as a new [Base Resource] and new [Items]. Violet wasn''t a survivalist or one to forage by any means, so she wasn''t sure what the plantain leaves could be used for. However, she supposed the chicory flowers were likely to be similar to the other flowers. Violet opened her menu and noted that the changes to her DP and MP were reflected in the [Dungeon Status].


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 13 / 50


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 173


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet quickly used 10 MP to summon a new slime and then set it to respawn at the 50 MP spawner in her wildflower meadow room. She now only had enough to set the 10 MP bumblebee queen, but she didn''t have enough MP to summon any bees right now, so that would have to wait until another time. Still, it was a relief to know that this slime wouldn''t be leaving her anytime soon.


    Before Violet could even consider making any more upgrades, the now familiar sensation of someone entering her dungeon came across Violet. She wasn''t surprised when she saw that Gregory and Henry had once more returned to her dungeon. Gregory quickly gave a half bow before greeting Violet


    "Greetings mistress Violet! I hope it is alright that we have returned once more?"


    Violet nodded her head as she replied


    "It is quite alright! Did you inform the others as I requested?"


    Gregory was quick to respond


    "Yes, mistress Violet. Our village leader has decided to employ a few guards to watch over the dungeon. We plan to collect a small entry fee and to restrict entry to ensure that only one group enters at a time and that people don''t enter too often."


    Violet couldn''t help but feel concerned as she inquiredLove this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Can you tell me more about this entry fee? I''ve only heard bad things about such things happening from the Dungeon Diplomat..."


    Gregory deepened his bow as he reassured Violet


    "Ah, I can see where that might be the case, but this is different. They are only collecting a fee of a single copper for entry. It is nothing like the absurd fees that are charged when the problematic groups you are referring to try to monopolize dungeons. So long as we collect the resources in the dungeon when we visit, we should be able to make more than the copper back.


    The cost is just meant to help pay the guards who watch over your dungeon. The entry fee will likely increase as your dungeon grows. The normal rate is to charge a copper for every room a dungeon has until it starts to have multiple floors. Then it becomes a cost of one silver per floor for an entry to the dungeon.


    We have noticed you seem to have a small contracted [Monster] that leaves your dungeon. As part of the guard''s job, they ensure that no one is allowed to ambush the [Monsters] when they leave the dungeon as well as helping to discourage troublemakers and the young ones from entering your dungeon."


    Violet looked thoughtfully at Gregory, trying to decide if she should take him at his word. Deciding that there wasn''t much she could do to resolve the issue she merely decided to accept it until the next time Theodore visited. Then she could see if this was the normal protocol or not.


    "Very well. I don''t have much that you can collect resources-wise. My oak tree produces acorns and there are various flowers you can harvest, but that is all I have available at this time."


    Gregory merely bowed once more as he gratefully replied


    "Thank you for your understanding, mistress Violet. We''ve brought tribute once more, but I was wondering if there was anything in particular you wish to request. Since we hope to revisit your dungeon regularly, I would like to help you as much as I can."


    Violet nodded as she replied


    "I don''t expect much of you. I know you mentioned that you are just a farmer from a poor farming village. I''m guessing that''s also why you feel intimidated into bowing to me? Regardless, you can just bring whatever you can spare. Even if you brought your garbage into the dungeon to dispose of, it wouldn''t bother me. Everything has its uses."


    Gregory looked taken aback as he replied


    "I could never! Giving tribute to you is the same as paying taxes to the king. How could I soil your precious dungeon with my trash? It is only fitting that a weak commoner like me show you the respect that you deserve! It would likely be easy for a Dungeon Master like you to overpower me and end my life yet you have been gracious enough to allow my son to train and become stronger in your dungeon. I could never repay your kindness with such an insult!"


    Violet furrowed her eyebrows as she sunk deep into her thoughts. From what she was hearing, it sounded like Dungeon Masters were usually strong and capable of defending their dungeons. It also sounded like Dungeon Masters were treated as if they were kings. Violet supposed that might not be too far off the mark considering how large dungeons could grow to be and that Dungeon Masters were in charge of it all. The adventurers who entered her dungeon were, basically, at the mercy of Violet''s choices with only their strength to fight against whatever fate Violet had in store for them.


    Still, Violet couldn''t help but insist


    "Well, if you don''t want to insult me, then shouldn''t you respect my decisions? I don''t want you to bow to me and cower every chance you get. I want you to respect my rules and treat me more familiarly. I''ve allowed you to call me mistress despite telling you to call me the less formal miss. I have allowed you to slaughter my [Monsters] and leave with your lives intact. I even gave Henry pointers so he could succeed last time. Surely you can do me the favor of accepting my words at face value?


    I mean it when I say you can use what would otherwise be trash as a tribute for all I care. You can also speak to me more normally and stop bowing."


    Gregory swallowed nervously as he peered at Violet. He could only just barely stammer his next words out


    "Err... Yes, mistress Violet. I will do as you say..."


    Seeing his chance, Henry stepped forward and began to face off against Violet''s new slime. Violet sighed as she sat against a wall, doing her best to relax as she waited. The conversation had already droned on long enough for her mana to fill up a good bit. By the time Henry finished defeating her slime, it was likely that her mana would once more be full once the two left.

 1.10 Research

    While Henry had certainly learned a good bit the last time he fought a slime, he still needed a good couple of minutes to defeat the new one. Violet didn''t fault him as it made sense that he wouldn''t be able to master combat in a day. Plus, his wooden sword was a poor choice of weapon for fighting [Monsters]. However, no matter how much Violet might feel bad for the young boy, she couldn''t do anything about it.


    Violet only had wood and stone as [Base Resources] and she didn''t have any weapons in her summonable [Items]. Even if she did, it wasn''t like she could summon them with people in her dungeon. Violet made a note to herself that she would have to look into the idea of making some sort of reward available for those who conquered her dungeon. She couldn''t spare the mana right now, but it wouldn''t be a bad idea for the future.


    When the two left, Violet was happy to see her mana was once more full. Today''s tribute seemed to also be crops, which made sense since Gregory was a farmer. Violet now had potatoes and carrots in her [Base Resources] and [Items] categories. That gave her another 70 DP, bringing her total up to 243 DP. Violet was pretty happy with this as she felt it was likely she''d be able to finally get some decent upgrades going around here.


    First, Violet summoned a queen bumblebee and ten normal bees, hoping one of them would be a male bee. That left her with only 30 MP left and her spawner now had no space left to assign [Monsters] to. A notification not long later that a few of the bees had died startled Violet, but Violet was soon assured by the system that the bees had merely died in the mating process. Violet hadn''t known that male bees died in the mating process, but she supposed that it was fine so long as the queen bee was able to do her job.


    Violet barely had enough MP to make a proper second room, so she decided to make some upgrades in her wildflower meadow room instead. She spent 4 MP applying plantain leaves, 4 MP applying chicory flowers, 4 MP applying violets, and 5 MP applying the oyster mushrooms to her one oak tree. This left Violet with only 13 MP left to spare, but she felt much better about the state of her first room.


    The large variety of wildflowers and greenery made the room look more full of life and much more colorful. The fact that there were so many harvestable resources in the room that could, apparently, naturally respawn was exciting as well. Violet wouldn''t have to feel so guilty about people paying to enter her dungeon since there was enough value in this first room to make it worth their while. As Violet found out with Gregory and Henry''s visit, it also meant people would spend more time in her dungeon just to collect the resources, which meant more mana for Violet.


    "I''d like to research the apple to unlock apple trees."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research apple trees using the [Base Resource] apples?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The cost was almost double of what it had taken to research oak trees from an acorn, but Violet just shrugged it off and selected the [Yes] option. The costs were still rather minor compared to the benefit she would receive. The new apple tree was also double the cost of an oak tree to purchase as 10 MP just for one tree. While Violet could afford to buy the tree now, she decided to skip the option for now.


    Violet felt this first room was good enough already and it would be better to start saving her MP for other things like a new room. Still, there was plenty of DP left, so Violet took a look at her list of [Base Resources] as she considered what else she could research.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    [Base Resources] Categories:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Nature


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    CulinarySupport the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Building Materials


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Both the nature and culinary categories had quite a few options under them now, but the building materials category only had wood and stone as options. Before actually doing any research, Violet decided to consider what she actually could use. No use in just spending points on things she wouldn''t actually use any time soon.


    While Violet was happy that she wasn''t having to deal with anything super dangerous right now, there was no guarantee that would always be the case. The [Monster] options she had available were not exactly ideal for defending a dungeon either. The only real options Violet might have to get around that were [Traps] or the use of puzzles.


    "Can you please show me what [Traps] I currently have available?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Available Traps:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Tripwire


    </td>


    <td>


    10 Mana


    </td>


    <td>


    Can be used with other [Trap] types. Trips enemies.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Butterfly Wall Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    10 Mana


    </td>


    <td>


    Releases a horde of butterflies when enemies walk past it causing confusion and disorientation.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unlockable Traps


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was actually quite pleasantly surprised to see that the [Traps] that were available weren''t too overpriced, but she was a bit disappointed to see that they weren''t exactly useful. A tripwire would only be able to trip adventurers, at worst. A butterfly wall [Trap] was certainly interesting, but Violet wasn''t sure that it would do much in the way of protection either. Noticing the last option, Violet selected the [Unlockable Traps] option and was met with a much longer list.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unlockable Trap Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Tar Floor Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    40 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Flip Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    40 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Push Wall Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    40 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Pitfall (1-Unit Drop)


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    40 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Small Wooden Barricade


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    40 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Large Wooden Barricade


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    60 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Slide Floor Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    40 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    80 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Giant Flip Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    50 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Giant Push Wall Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    50 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet smiled as she read the options. The DP cost was a bit high for some of them, but these [Traps] were definitely a lot more worthwhile. They wouldn''t exactly be able to kill anyone by themselves, but pairing some nice wooden spikes with a pitfall [Trap] or flip [Trap] was bound to result in injury, at least. Still, these [Traps] seemed like they might be more suitable to place in a much later room or a hallway rather than just the second room in the dungeon.


    Perhaps a puzzle really was the way to go. Violet did need a little bit more information before she could make any official decisions, though.


    "How do puzzle rooms work? Can I make it a requirement for a puzzle to be completed before anyone can pass through the room?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Puzzle rooms have to have their room theme set before rules can be set for the challenge. Puzzles can take any form that the Dungeon Master desires so long as it is humanly possible to complete the puzzle.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet nodded as she began to think about what sort of puzzle room she wanted to make in the future.

 1.11 Beast Tamer Alice

    Later that day, Violet received another round of visitors. While she had been told it was a possibility, it was still a pleasant surprise to see there were others interested in her dungeon. Of course, that didn''t keep Violet from remaining vigilant as she waited to find out just how dangerous her new guests were.


    When a man dressed in armor and wielding a sword walked in, Violet felt nervous. Even seeing the young girl, who looked only slightly older than Henry, beside the man didn''t calm Violet''s nerves. This party seemed to be rounded out with a third member, a rather young-looking wolf who followed the young girl around like a love-sick puppy.


    "Greeting Dungeon Master, I am David, a retired guardian adventurer, and this is my daughter Alice and her tamed beast, Luna. We are from the nearby small city of Elesfield. We heard that your dungeon might be suitable for younger adventurers and I came to investigate the matter. Where would you prefer we leave your tribute? You do not appear to have tribute tables set up."


    The complaints about the lack of tribute tables were starting to become a bit tiring to hear, even if this was only the second time Violet had heard it. Still, what was, perhaps, more interesting was the mention of the city name. Violet hadn''t even thought to ask about the town she was, apparently, nearby. Perhaps she could ask Gregory about it the next time he visited with his son.


    "Right, sorry about that. You can just put any tributes at the foot of that tree. Just a fair warning, but this is the only room currently available for exploration in this dungeon. I have one slime [Monster] that anyone is free to challenge and you may gather whatever resources you want from this room. However, once you have done that, you must leave and not return any sooner than tomorrow at the earliest."


    David eyed the young woman who appeared to be serving as the Dungeon Master. He found her to be rather young and not particularly strong-looking. Most human Dungeon Masters who were originally from this world retained their classes after becoming Dungeon Masters and could use them to their advantage to defend the dungeon. However, Violet didn''t look like she belonged to this world.


    The purple dress she was wearing was a bit too casual to belong to a noble, but the quality and colors were far too expensive for anyone else to afford. That made it far more likely that she was one of the rare reincarnated Dungeon Masters who were reborn into the position. While weak, those sorts of Dungeon Masters had a tendency to be more clever and, therefore, far more dangerous. David nodded thoughtfully as he replied


    "Very well, we shall do as you say. It is rare for Dungeon Masters to come out and greet adventurers. Thank you for blessing us with your presence. May I also have the honor of knowing how to address you?"


    Violet''s eyes widened in surprise as she replied


    "You may call me mistress Violet. I appreciate your cooperation."


    Violet decided to give up on forcing people to use a more casual title when addressing her. It was a waste of breath to constantly have to explain things to every new person who walked into her dungeon. Still, it was quite surprising to learn that it was unusual for Dungeon Masters to greet adventurers. Violet could see herself being more reluctant to always greet new adventurers once she had more floors, but right now it was certainly a necessary safety precaution. She was hoping to discourage anyone from trying to go deeper into the dungeon and reaching the dungeon core. Still, Violet couldn''t imagine shutting herself away in the dungeon core room as it would feel far too lonely.


    "It''s alright, honey. I''ll be right here, you can go ahead and engage the slime. If it gets too scary, you can come to me and I''ll protect you."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Violet listened as David reassured his daughter and couldn''t help but think the young girl was adorable when she replied


    "Okay, daddy! Come on, Luna, let''s go!"


    The young wolf pup wagged its tail in excitement and quickly followed Alice''s orders. Soon, Violet was watching as the young pup dodged her slime''s attacks before jumping forward and swiping its claws forward or biting at the slime. The attacks seemed far more successful than Henry''s wooden sword attacks were. However, it soon became apparent that Alice was also clueless about how to properly attack a slime.


    With David here to guide his daughter, Violet didn''t feel the need to offer unsolicited advice. David was a retired adventurer, so he should be capable enough to guide his daughter and ensure she could improve her skills with time. It wasn''t like with Henry where his father was a farmer who seemed to just be doing the best he could for his young child, but was clearly out of his element.


    Violet wanted to ask David about his class as a guardian, but was unsure if it would be appropriate. She didn''t want to take away from Alice''s experience in one of her first dungeons either. Still, it was pretty interesting watching Alice interact with her pet wolf. Violet wondered if Alice had a beast-tamer class like in the stories she used to read in her old world.


    While Violet knew about a lot of different classes from the games and stories in her world, it was a bit different to be in a world of magic. If the classes could differ so much from game to game in her world, Violet could only imagine how different things might be in this new world. That was why Violet couldn''t help but feel fascinated as she watched the adventurers who entered her dungeon. It was even a bit disappointing when Alice''s pet wolf, Luna, finally defeated the slime since Violet could no longer watch them fight. Violet hoped that the pair would return again so that she could have more opportunities to watch them interact with her dungeon creatures.


    Seeing the strange, partially built beehive, David inquired


    "Is this supposed to be like this?"


    Violet glanced at the tree before shrugging and replying


    "I only recently acquired the bees so they still need time to build their hive. If you return in the future, it will likely be more developed then."


    David nodded before replying


    "We have some family that lives here, so we will probably stay for a few weeks before leaving again. If we can, we will swing by again tomorrow. The slimes are a good match for Alice''s current level and it will be a good learning experience for her. I''ll have to report to the adventurer''s guild by the end of the month. I''ll put a good word in for your dungeon when I do. I can imagine there will be other beginner adventurers eager to take advantage of the easy resources and low-level [Monsters].


    I do have some concerns about your ability to protect your dungeon, though. Am I right in assuming that you have been reincarnated and weren''t an inhabitant of this world previously?"


    David looked nervous as his hand brushed across the hilt of his sword. It was still in its sheath, for now, but it was more than obvious that David seemed on edge. Violet felt uneasy as she replied


    "Yes, I am a reincarnated Dungeon Master. I would have thought the Dungeon Diplomat would have reported that information if he had told your guild about it."


    David seemed to calm down as he took in Violet''s calm, but confused demeanor. He shook his head as he replied


    "I wouldn''t know since I''m just an adventurer. We only get told the most relevant information like what types of [Monsters] to expect or the number of floors a dungeon has. Maybe whether the Dungeon Master is more human or [Monster] since that can affect how aggressive versus clever they are.


    You seem way too relaxed for a Dungeon Master. Honestly, it is a bit worrisome. It would be a shame if your dungeon were to be destroyed as slime [Monsters] for a starting [Monster] are rather rare. I''m sure your dungeon can become a valuable resource to the townsfolk and new adventurers alike. However, that is only if you can survive that long.


    I wouldn''t normally do this, but I have a little one to consider now. What would you think of us forming a contract with your dungeon diplomat''s help?"

 1.12 The Proposal

    "What did you have in mind exactly?"


    Violet asked. David took no time to answer as he confidently replied


    "As a reincarnated human Dungeon Master, you have a good bit of knowledge and can think your way through a lot of things. However, not all problems can be solved that way and you need to be able to defend yourself and your dungeon.


    If you were a natural inhabitant of this world you would have already had a class, but I''m not sure if you can unlock a class now that you are a Dungeon Master. You will have to ask your assigned Dungeon Diplomat about that. If you were an evolved [Monster] or beast that took over as a Dungeon Master, you would have enough strength to defend your dungeon. Even having strong enough [Monsters] to scare away adventurers would help you, but that clearly isn''t going to be the case anytime soon.


    You''ll have to learn how to wield a weapon and fight back. I only know how to use swords with any significant skill, so I am willing to teach you so long as you are willing to meet my demands. However, I''m unwilling to trust a Dungeon Master without a contract in place. Too many dungeons take the lives of adventurers with no care for how it might affect those outside of their dungeon."


    Violet didn''t quite enjoy being treated as a dangerous and unstable individual who might become violent at any moment. However, she wasn''t sure that she could blame David either.


    "Alright, I suppose we can negotiate terms and then have Theodore finalize it the next time he shows up. It''s only been a few days since he last was here, so you may be stuck waiting a few weeks."


    David nodded as he replied


    "That''s fine, I can put in a request for him to return sooner. I''ll have to send a letter to the guild, which will take a few days, but a contract can certainly be arranged sooner.


    As for what I want out of this, I want to have a safe environment for my daughter to train. I don''t expect you to tell me how to solve any puzzles, how to defeat the [Monsters] in your dungeon, or even refrain from placing [Traps]. I just want you to inform me of any [Traps] you place on the first floor of the dungeon. This way we can plan around them and aren''t caught off guard."


    Violet felt this wasn''t too bad of a deal, but she did still have some concerns.


    "That sounds reasonable, but I''m still a bit unsure. What guarantee do I have that you won''t spread the information to others or that you can''t just act outside of the contract? It isn''t exactly as if I can monitor your movements when you aren''t even in my dungeon."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    David tilted his head to the side slightly, looking like a confused puppy, before replying


    "Did your Dungeon Diplomat not explain how contracts work? Dungeon systems have limitations based on the dungeon accords and any other official contracts that the Dungeon Master signs. Even dungeon [Monsters] are forced to comply with their contracts, which is why they have to protect the dungeon they belong to and otherwise cooperate with you.


    Adventures like myself are similar since we have a system that allows us to unlock skills, interact with patron deities, and level up through the experience we gain from battles. If we break the dungeon accords we end up stripped of all of our property, titles, and executed. Sometimes even our families can end up losing their lives as well, depending on how severe the infraction is. Contracts with dungeons are more personal and can have negative effects that affect our systems as well as corrective action being taken by the Dungeon Diplomats who oversee the contracts.


    With all that said, it should be easy enough to add a stipulation that any information regarding dungeons we are given warning about from you is only allowed to be discussed between you, me, and my daughter Alice. I doubt it would make much of a difference in the long run, though. There are some adventurers with magic mapping abilities who then sell physical copies of the maps to others. Everyone will eventually know about any new [Traps], puzzles, etc. that you put in the dungeon. Of course, it will still be up to their own capabilities as to whether they can conquer the dungeon, even with such knowledge."


    Violet rubbed her nose with her hand, feeling a tad frustrated.


    "I suppose you''re right. Fine, we can just skip that in the contract and I''ll just ask that you not spread the information out of respect for my dungeon. I also don''t mind having a more friendly relationship with one another. I''m happy to consider any suggestions you have for the dungeon and I would appreciate anything you might be willing to share with me about how this world and its various classes work."


    David looked thoughtful as he nodded. Just then, a new slime spawned in the middle of the room. Violet felt a bit surprised that it was even possible for her [Monsters] and [Critters] to respawn with people still in her dungeon. Usually there would be a short delay before they would respawn, but Gregory and Henry had left before the slime had respawned the last time. Violet supposed that this was the ideal situation, though, since it was possible that multiple adventuring parties could enter a dungeon floor at the same time.


    The dungeon floors were 150-Units by 150-Units or 22,500-Units of total area at the maximum. While Violet had grown up in the US, where the measurements would have been in feet, this world clearly operated on different rules. Regardless, that amount of space, even with the inevitable empty space between rooms, was bound to take a long time to fully explore.


    Having only a single party enter the dungeon at once was not something that was reasonable or sustainable. So, having the [Traps], puzzles, [Monsters], and [Critters] be reset, even with adventurers still on the floor, was likely something that would be a necessary feature. Violet had no way to confirm anything else would reset based on time right now. However, she figured she could always just add it to the list of things to ask Theodore the next time she saw him.


    Alice and her wolf familiar, Luna, excitedly abandoned their gathering of flowers to engage the new slime in battle. David looked on affectionately before going to clean up after his daughter. He was happy to see her growing stronger in a safe enough environment that there was room for her to act so carefree. With goblins or zombies, things wouldn''t be quite so simple and David likely would have had to remain on edge the entire time.

 1.13 Room Upgrades

    After David and Alice left, Violet was once more alone in her dungeon. Well, she did have the bees and her cute slime and kodama [Monsters], but it just felt different to have people around she could converse with. Shaking the thoughts from her head, Violet decided to start expanding on her dungeon.


    Her mana was once more full and Violet felt it was time to add a new room that she could build a puzzle in. So, she entered the disorienting building view and began to look through her options. Her wildflower meadow room was an 8-Units by 16-Units rectangular room, but a square room seemed ideal for the sort of puzzle Violet had in mind. Sighing, Violet decided to spend an entire 32 MP to build a 16-Units by 16-Units room in between her first room and the dungeon core room.


    Violet left only 5-Units of hallways between the two rooms and was only slightly disappointed this time when she wasn''t given any discount due to the 16-Units of hallway that was transformed into a room. She already knew to expect it this time, but it was still disappointing. Of course, it was still better than expending mana to build a new hallway for the room to branch off from. Violet was sure it would be even more expensive and slower to build when it came time to build hallways alongside the rooms.


    Violet took a moment to reorient herself after exiting the building view before walking over to her new room. The room was already filled with grass and dandelions and had a sun shining overhead. This was likely due to the floor''s flower meadow theme, but Violet wasn''t sure if she really wanted all of her rooms to have the same scenery as it was bound to become boring after a while. Still, Violet supposed it did have to be better than having everything be made from the same gray stone bricks the hallways seemed to be made from.


    Violet wasn''t sure if 18 MP would be enough to build her puzzle, but she figured it wouldn''t be bad to start doing some research using her DP and [Base Resources] so that she could build the puzzle once she had enough MP for it.


    "System, I''d like to do some research using my [Base Resource] wood to make a wooden jigsaw puzzle."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Searching the database for ''jigsaw puzzle''...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet waited patiently for the system to do its thing, but was only met with another system prompt when it finally finished.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unable to find ''jigsaw puzzle'' in database. Now searching the host''s memory.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet felt a headache building up and then her vision began to grow hazy before she fell unconscious. It took quite some time before she came to again and Violet groaned as she sat up from the ground. The grass might not have been as bad as falling onto concrete, but it certainly still wasn''t very pleasant.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please designate a theme for ''wooden jigsaw puzzle''.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The system prompt was a good reminder to Violet of what she had been doing before passing out. Violet hesitantly answered


    "Oh, uh... Just make it a basic slime."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to complete research and build [Wooden Slime Jigsaw Puzzle] for 50 MP and 200 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet balked at the price as she selected [No]. She didn''t have sufficient mana anyhow, so she wasn''t sure why she was even given the choice. Perhaps the menu would have complained about insufficient mana had she selected [Yes], but it was still strange to be offered the choice.


    While a single apple tree did cost an entire 20 MP, it still seemed like a lot to have to spend so much mana on a single puzzle. Perhaps the size and complexity of the [Item] had something to do with it? It wasn''t as if Violet had wanted a normal-sized jigsaw puzzle, after all. She wanted to have a giant puzzle that took up most of the space in the center of the room.


    Still, with that plan scrapped until a later date, it brought back the other concerns she had. Why weren''t jigsaw puzzles available in whatever this database was and why did the system have to knock her out to scan her memories? Were jigsaw puzzles not common puzzles in the dungeons of this world? Violet supposed it would be kind of neat if she could have a unique puzzle for adventurers to solve. It would likely make her dungeon both more interesting and make it more difficult for adventurers to solve the puzzle.


    Deciding not to waste the rest of her mana and DP, Violet decided to review what other options she had available. David and Alice had left some medicinal herbs as tribute, so Violet now had basil, peppermint, and lavender available in her [Base Resource] and [Items] categories as well as another 105 DP, which brought her total up to 328 DP. Even if she had to save an entire 100 DP just to research her new puzzle, that still left her with plenty to play around with.


    "Can I change the time of day and weather in this room?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Room theme must be set before upgrades are made available.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet facepalmed as she remembered that she had been told something similar when she had set her first room as a wildflower meadow theme. Violet walked back to her first room, deciding she might as well try to upgrade it then.


    "Please show me the upgrades available for this room."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow Upgrade Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sky Options


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Weather Options


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Temperature Options


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Room Feature Upgrades


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet wasn''t expected to be taken to another menu when she asked to view the options for upgrading. She was expecting more of a short list of options she could choose from. Violet decided to select the [Weather] option first.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow Weather Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Option:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Change Seasonally


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Spring Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Summer Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Fall Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Winter Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Sunny


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Overcast


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Raining


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Storming


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Snowing


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Ice Storming


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please conduct further research to unlock any other preset options for weather.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While it was nice that the costs were in DP right now Violet wasn''t sure if that would be a good thing in the long-term. Surely there would come a point when it would be more difficult to earn DP and it would make it less reasonable to waste points on such frivolous things as changing the weather. Then again, it might not be that big of an issue in the long run. The tower was limited to twenty-five floors, after all, and there are bound to be thousands of different [Base Resources] that could be collected. It would just be necessary to convince people to bring more interesting [Items] as tribute as time went on.


    Violet selected the [Spring Weather Patterns] option since she felt it was only fitting. Spring was when flowers were known to bloom in abundance and it was known to have a nice mix of sunny days, light rain showers, and heavier thunderstorms. While Violet doubted she would enjoy ending up drenched by the rain all of the time, she still couldn''t help but feel that the change in scenery would be nice.


    Next, Violet pulled up the [Temperature] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow Temperature Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Option:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Reflect Weather Choice


    </td>


    <td>


    10 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Higher Temperature Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Lower Temperature Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Higher Humidity Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Lower Humidity Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Custom Temperature & Humidity Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please conduct further research to unlock any other preset options for temperature.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet shrugged as she selected the [Reflect Weather Choice] option. She didn''t particularly want things to be colder or hotter and would rather have a milder option. Humidity was also important to keep in balance as too much humidity could cause a more mild temperature to feel unbearably hot while too little humidity was bad for other reasons. Still, Violet wondered what would happen if she didn''t choose a temperature option at all. Would the temperature just remain the same regardless of the weather? That''s certainly how it sounded.


    Finally, Violet decided she would check out the [Sky Options] before calling it a day.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow Sky Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Option:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Natural Day Cycle


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Dawn


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Sunrise


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Mid-Day


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Sunset


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Dusk


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Midnight


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set Custom Sky Colors


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please conduct further research to unlock any other preset options for sky view.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It was a bit expensive to set the sky to a natural day cycle, but Violet was certainly tempted to do so. Thus far, her wildflower meadow room seemed to always be stuck on a rather generic daytime view. Violet wasn''t sure it would be ideal to set every room up to reflect the natural cycle, but maybe it wouldn''t be so bad for this room. It did already have a weather cycle, after all. So, it might be better to set a single time of day for a later room that always had the same type of weather.


    It was unfortunate, but this actually brought Violet down to 168 DP, which was a little under what she needed for her new puzzle. Still, Violet didn''t feel it was worth worrying about since she was likely to have more DP from adventurer tributes or her hardworking kodama by the time she had 50 MP again.

 1.14 Intruders

    "What do you think, love? I think it''s starting to look quite nice around here. You always did love the smell of the rain in the spring."


    Violet smiled sadly as she stood in the doorway to her wildflower meadow room, watching the rain slowly fall from the sky. If it weren''t for the strange phenomenon of the entrances, the room would almost look like the real thing. The sky and ground seamlessly blended together and you could barely even tell that there were walls. It just looked like an endless field of wildflowers, grass, and cloudy, gray sky. Of course, if you looked hard enough, there were some tells that the effects were rather artificial and the room was somewhat limited. However, Violet much preferred to allow the illusion to take over.


    It helped to keep the feelings of imprisonment at bay. Being a Dungeon Master might give you a lot of power and freedom to build a seemingly endless amount of space to explore. However, the feelings of ostracization and imprisonment always seemed to remain in the back of Violet''s mind. She couldn''t leave this artificial space and she would never be able to walk among other people again, accepted and welcomed as one of them. She would always be stuck in this dungeon where she was to be feared, respected, and kept at a distance.


    The slime that was now bouncing adorably through the grass, oblivious to the rain, helped to keep things lively, but it didn''t really respond to Violet''s words. This made Violet think that it was likely that her slime couldn''t really understand anything she had to say and that it was likely that it was acting on pure instincts. It fought invaders because they didn''t belong to the dungeon and also likely because they kept attacking the slimes.


    Honestly, Violet wondered if her slime would even think to attack the invaders without them attacking it first. It wasn''t like the slime ever engaged opponents first or that it engaged the wrong opponent. At least, that hadn''t been the case during the short time that Violet had been in this world. This was certainly a question Violet wished she could have answered since it would be a real waste to only have [Monsters] that either avoided combat entirely or were reactionary.


    Who was Violet kidding? Even if she had a million slimes, they were so bad at combat that they weren''t reliable enough to protect the dungeon at all. It would be far better for Violet to try and confuse adventurers with unfamiliar puzzles and winding passages. Maybe even use some [Traps] in some of the hallways and rooms in order to make it more difficult to continue exploring the dungeon.


    Violet swung her wooden sword through the grass idly. She had spent 10 DP to create a schematic for wooden toy swords from her wood [Base Resource] and then another 2 MP to summon one. Since she was supposed to learn swordsmanship from David, Violet had wanted to have a sword to use. However, the fact was that Violet didn''t have any metal [Base Resources] and stone didn''t really sound like any better of an option than wood to make a sword from. At least wood was a material Violet had heard of swords being made from.


    Most small single summon [Items] were fairly cheap. If Violet wanted to summon a single apple, carrot, or potato it would only cost 1 MP while a more complex summon like a bread roll or a wooden sword cost 2 MP. The [Items] that were applied as room features like the various wildflowers or mushrooms cost slightly more at 2-5 MP per 100 Square Units. However, they also had a tendency to be respawnable resources rather than a one-off like the cheaper [Items]. Of course, it wasn''t like Violet had that many [Items] either so it was entirely possible that more valuable and rare [Items] might have a higher cost.


    Violet wasn''t too bothered by her wasteful spending. Since it was a new day, she already regenerated another 13 MP and still had 29 MP, even after summoning the wooden toy sword. Since her kodama had brought back some meadow garlic, common daisies, and some repeat [Items], Violet had also gained another 73 DP, so her total was now sitting at 231 DP. This meant Violet was fairly happy with where she was sitting.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    If anything, she had to wonder if she should spend some mana on a new room or something since it would be a waste to only be 21 MP away from full and then have adventurers come in. Since the 50 MP was a hard limit, any extra mana she had a chance to earn would be wasted if someone spent any sort of significant amount of time in the dungeon. However, before Violet could continue her line of thinking, Violet felt the familiar feeling of someone entering the dungeon.


    Violet smiled, hoping it was Gregory or David returning to the dungeon. However, Violet was rather confused when her guests took so long to make it into the room. Violet furrowed her brows as she headed for the entrance on the opposite side of the wildflower meadow. In the process, Violet slowly grew soaked, but she tried to ignore her discomfort as she continued. By the time she reached the other side, a strange thudding sound had begun against the other side of the door.


    Violet grew more confused as she pushed the doors open, but began to shriek in fright when she saw just what her visitors were. Where Violet had been expecting living, breathing adventurers decked out in armor or, if she was lucky, her new acquaintances, she was instead met with the rather horrifying and revolting sight of three zombies. The zombies who had been previously smashing against the door in an attempt to brute force their way through were now stumbling forward into the wildflower meadow room.


    "This isn''t good! What do I do, love? I don''t think I can take all three of them..."


    The good news was that the zombies didn''t seem wholly focused on Violet, but the bad news, to Violet''s utter horror, was that they were trying to get to the core room. While two of the zombies seemed interested in Violet, one of them continued to blindly stumble forward towards the other door that led to the core room.


    Violet wasn''t sure how she ended up with zombies in her dungeon, but she did know one thing. There was no way that she was equipped to handle something like this. In desperation, Violet tried to swing her sword at one of the zombies'' heads. Violet couldn''t help but panic as she continued to attack haphazardly, constantly worried about the other zombie who was still heading towards the other doorway.


    Violet finally got one of the zombies she was fighting knocked to the floor when she heard a familiar-sounding thud. Violet whirled around and looked in the direction of the other zombie, but was painfully reminded of the other zombies as she had a chunk bitten out of her arms. Violet cried out in pain before whacking the zombie in the head and knocking it to the ground.


    Even once it was on the ground, she continued to bludgeon it to death in anger. It was already frustrating enough feeling helpless about her having no good way to protect her dungeon and now she had to worry about whether a zombie bite would actually result in her turning into a zombie? Why the heck were there even zombies? This seemed like the entirely wrong genre for this!


    Once the zombie was dead, Violet looked around, trying to figure out where the second zombie she had been fighting had gone. When she saw her slime bouncing up before knocking the zombie over, Violet laughed amusedly. She had just been wondering how well the slime would defend the dungeon and here it was keeping the zombie distracted while she took care of the other threats.


    Feeling satisfied with her slime keeping the second zombie busy, Violet headed for the third zombie that seemed to be making no real discernable progress with the door. The entrance seemed to be too sturdy for the zombie to destroy by itself. Violet sighed as she swung the wooden sword at the zombie to knock it over before also bludgeoning it to death. Unfortunately, this was not a fast process by any means, but it was the best that Violet could do with a wooden sword.


    Finally, Violet took care of the last zombie, grateful that her slime had kept it pinned while she was busy. Maybe her slime couldn''t deal any real damage to the zombie, but it was a relief to have even this small amount of help. Once all the zombies were dead, Violet collapsed on the ground, allowing the rain to wash away the dirt and blood as she rested on the ground.


    "System, am I going to turn into a zombie?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon masters are immune to all forms of death. Only the dungeon core being destroyed will result in the Dungeon Master permanently dying.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    That didn''t feel like a very direct answer, but Violet decided to accept it.

 1.15 Slime Puzzle Complete

    After the fighting was done, Violet was amazed as she watched the bite heal over and, when she checked her menus, she had full mana. It would seem that even having [Monsters] that didn''t belong to her dungeon inside her dungeon would also give her mana. Even ten minutes would have been enough time to fill up Violet''s mana with three zombies in her dungeon, so her mana was certainly full now.


    Violet ran to her new room and quickly announced


    "I would like to build a slime-themed wooden jigsaw puzzle!"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to complete research and build [Wooden Slime Jigsaw Puzzle] for 50 MP and 200 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was relieved when she didn''t pass out and immediately selected the [Yes] option. There was no way of knowing when more adventurers or [Monsters] would show up, so there was no time to waste. Violet was happy as she watched the puzzle form before her eyes. A large wooden platform full of wooden blocks that formed a slime [Monster] picture appeared in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, it was a completed puzzle and Violet groaned as she asked.


    "How much to set this as a puzzle-themed room?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set the theme for this room? This will cost 150 DP. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but upgrades will be unlocked for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet did some quick math in her head before deciding. She had gained a cotton shirt, cotton pants, leather boots, and human remains as [Items] as well as cotton, leather, undyed cloth, thread, and bone as [Base Resources] from the zombies. This had pushed Violet''s previous 231 DP up to 419 DP, but then she had just spent 200 DP for the puzzle. So, she should only have 219 DP left, which was enough to purchase the upgrade but it would definitely leave her low of DP.


    Violet sighed as she selected the [Yes] option. She would need to spend the points if she wanted her puzzle to actually be useful. Whether she had enough DP or not right now was entirely beside the point since she''d need to take care of this before anything else anyway.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Slime Jigsaw Puzzle


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet shrugged as she selected the [Yes] option. She didn''t exactly have any plans to do much else with the room beyond improving the puzzle experience anyway and she certainly didn''t have any better room name ideas.


    "Is there any way to get the jigsaw puzzle to have the pieces randomly scattered around the room in piles so adventurers have to collect the pieces and put them together without knowing what the puzzle looks like first?"


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Room Feature Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Option:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomize Puzzle


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Lock Doors Until Puzzle Is Solved


    </td>


    <td>


    150 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please conduct further research to unlock any other preset options for room features.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet hadn''t expected to even be able to afford both options, but she was happy to know what her next goal would be. She easily selected the [Randomize Puzzle] option and comforted herself that her 19 DP would be able to be refilled soon enough. Even if adventurers didn''t show up for a few days, there was always her hard-working kodama who always seemed to bring a few new things back each day.


    Honestly, Violet was a little surprised that she hadn''t seen anyone quite yet. Well, there had been the zombies, which made Violet worry that the local town was under attack or something, but that was all. It wasn''t like Violet could have the time of day wrong either. Her wildflower meadow now reflected the time of day accurately and she always got her first guests shortly after her mana refreshed for the day.


    Trying to kill some time, Violet pulled up her [Missions] to see if she had successfully completed the [Mission] to complete a challenge yet.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Set up first challenge


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete a boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock new schematic (altar)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet frowned as she asked


    "What do I have to do to set something as a challenge? I already have a puzzle set up and the room theme has been set..."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set ''Complete Slime Jigsaw Puzzle'' as an official challenge?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet shook her head in bewilderment as she selected the [Yes] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please set a reward for completing the challenge. Requires [Item]''s double the equivalent mana cost in DP due to reward needing to be refreshed for every new challenger.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet furrowed her eyebrows as she thought things over. Then, she looked at her [Base Resources] and [Items] list to see what she had available. Finally, making a decision, Violet asked


    "How much would it cost to use the flour, wild yeast, salt, sugar, oil, water, and carrots to make a load of iced carrot bread?"


    Violet considered just making a nice loaf of bread, which would be an improvement over the bread roll she currently had as an item, but had decided something sweet would make a better prize.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to create [Item] iced carrot bread using [Base Resources] flour, sugar, eggs, oil, wild yeast, salt, milk, vanilla, and carrots for 12 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option, but was slightly disappointed the cost was so high. The DP cost for research on a new [Item] was usually double its mana cost, so it would cost an entire 24 DP to both research and set the [Item] as a prize. Her measly 19 DP was not nearly enough for both, but it would only take another 5 DP before she would be able to. So, Violet could only make do for now.


    Having nothing better to do, Violet decided to return to her wildflower meadow where it was still raining. Deciding better of going in and getting drenched, Violet just sat in the doorway, watching the opposite side of the room for any potential threats that might show up. A lot of Violet''s time in this new world was like this, just sitting around and waiting or taking a nap until something interesting showed up. However, Violet had no choice and could only accept her fate.

 1.16 Training From Hell

    Strangely enough, Violet was left waiting for so long that she fell asleep. When she came to, the sun was starting to set and it was no longer raining in the wildflower meadow room. Violet rubbed her eyes drowsily as she tried to focus enough to watch the other entrance once more.


    Soon enough, David walked through with Alice. The young girl looked excitedly towards the slime and David nodded to her as he said


    "Go ahead and enjoy yourself. Make sure to collect flowers in your basket while waiting for the slime to respawn and don''t leave this room. I''ll be busy sparring with Violet today and I don''t want you to get hurt if there are [Traps] we don''t know about yet."


    Violet sleepily called out to interject


    "I don''t have any [Traps] in the dungeon yet, but I do have a new puzzle you can try out in the next room, if you want to try that out later. It''d be useful to have someone test it out for me."


    David looked warily at Violet as he replied


    "We''ll consider it, but I still don''t actually have a guarantee you aren''t tricking us so I don''t want her going anywhere by herself."


    Violet just shrugged in response. It wasn''t like she would be able to convince David to trust her with words alone. So there was no use in trying to change his mind.


    "Instead of tribute, I brought an extra sword for you to use in our training sessions. You can absorb it and recreate it after we leave, if you want. I don''t really care. Just consider this a sign of my goodwill in terms of our arranged agreement. I''ve been informed that your assigned Dungeon Diplomat will be here tomorrow. So we can finalize things soon enough anyway."


    Violet raised her eyebrows in surprise as she replied


    "How? It''s only been a few days? I would have thought that it would take a while to send notice to your guild, much less for them to get in touch with Theodore."


    David shook his head as he answered


    "I don''t know how you think things work, but it rarely takes that long to send mail. I just got one of the locals who can use magic to send the letter for a small fee. From there, the adventurer''s guild was able to get in touch with the Dungeon Diplomat association and sort things out quite quickly. I received confirmation earlier today and came to tell you after I finished running errands for the day."


    Violet supposed that made sense. She was in a world of magic now, so she really needed to stop thinking everything would take longer just because things seemed medieval in nature. Besides, even that impression was largely due to the attire she saw everyone wearing and not because she had any way to actually confirm anything.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Alright, that makes sense. Could I ask you another question, though?"


    David nodded, so Violet continued


    "Three zombies entered my dungeon earlier today and I haven''t had any other adventurers show up today at all. I was told that some guards were stationed outside the dungeon, so I don''t quite understand what happened."


    David frowned before replying


    "I did notice that there weren''t any guards outside today as well. There was some sort of commotion going on in the village, so it is possible that the villagers who were guarding the post either died or were scared away by the [Monsters]. Regardless, it is against the dungeon accords to prevent adventurers or [Monsters] from entering a dungeon.


    The guards are free to provide information on the dungeon, ask for a fee, and even report any strange occurrences, but they can''t actually deny entry to your dungeon. If someone wants in and can''t or won''t pay the fee, they still have to be let in. It''s just that most people prefer to do so since the guards are more likely to ensure they don''t get ambushed on the way in and out of the dungeon. Plus, some guards sell maps or other helpful hints for conquering the dungeon.


    Part of what separates the illegal businesses that camp outside of dungeons is the high fees, but denying entry is certainly another big part of it. There are some other differences as well, but those are the big things the adventurer''s guild teaches new recruits to look out for."


    Gregory hadn''t mentioned that tidbit to Violet when he had mentioned it, so Violet found this information surprising. It would seem that the guards weren''t actually helpful to Violet at all. Well, maybe they could pass on Violet''s preferences, but that was most likely just in an attempt to lessen the number of deaths in the dungeon that were a direct result of annoying the Dungeon Master rather than out of kindness and respect for Violet herself.


    Deciding it wasn''t worth continuing to talk about anymore, Violet decided to just drop the subject. She''d have to be more careful about attacks from both [Monsters] and adventurers from now on, but that was all that she could do. Violet gratefully accepted the simple iron sword from David, even uttering a small "thank you" before beginning to spar with David.


    However, Violet wasn''t expecting David to immediately swing the sword down and cut deep into her shoulder. She loudly screamed out in pain before accusing


    "What the heck? Are you trying to kill me?!"


    David smiled innocently as he replied


    "Dungeon masters never truly die unless the dungeon core is destroyed. It isn''t even against the dungeon accords to kill you. If I hold back now while I am training you, it would only hold you back. You need to be able to keep fighting through the pain and without fearing death. Just think of it as motivation for you to learn quickly."


    Violet groaned, but was only met with another slice from David''s sword, this time across her side. Shaking her head, Violet gritted her teeth through the pain and tried to prepare for David''s next strike. However, David''s strength was far greater than Violet''s and it was nearly impossible for Violet to parry. Violet was starting to regret her choice to sign up for this Hellish training...

 1.17 Traumatized

    After repeatedly dying for hours on end, David, eventually, called it a night when his daughter, Alice, was too exhausted to wait around anymore. He carried the sleepy child out of the dungeon and Violet went to sleep where she slept fitfully.


    She had been beheaded, stabbed, sliced, and skewered repeatedly and even death didn''t give her peace. David would simply wait until Violet left the dungeon core room and made her way back to the wildflower meadow. If she took too long, he would go and fetch her back himself, dragging her to the room where his daughter was waiting before thrusting her sword back into her hands and immediately getting back to it.


    The next time Violet awoke, it was to the sound of footsteps followed up by a rather loud and angry Theodore questioning


    "Why is the dungeon core on the verge of corrupting? What the heck have you been up to?! I''ve only been gone a few days!"


    Violet groaned as she tried to stand up and soon gave up, just choosing to remain lying on the floor. Theodore looked at Violet and sighed as he kneeled down and brushed her hair out of her face. This time, more gently, he asked


    "What happened the last few days? You don''t look so hot and your condition is clearly affecting the dungeon core. You''re lucky it hasn''t corrupted or cracked from the pressure, but whatever is causing it needs to be resolved right away."


    David laughed as he retorted


    "You''re really going to be like this today? You said you wanted me to train you yet you''re having this much trouble recovering after last night''s beating? How do you expect to continue training in the future if you act like this after just one night?"


    Theodore cast a glare at David, but soon turned his attention back to Violet as she croaked out


    "You killed me! Repeatedly! I don''t want to die anymore..."


    Violet''s voice sounded small at the end as her voice trailed off and tears began to fall down her face. The traumatic death that brought her into this world and the hellish training from yesterday had started to blur together, forming a sort of waking nightmare that never seemed to stop playing in Violet''s mind.


    Violet couldn''t help but feel like she understood the Dungeon Masters who cowardly hid in their dungeon core rooms better now. She would rather leave things to her [Monsters] and put up deadly [Trap] after deadly [Trap] just to avoid having to ever die again. It was too much for her to bear. The pain of being sliced and stabbed seemed to linger in Violet''s mind and it almost felt like the ache had seeped deep into her bones, making itself at home.


    Theodore narrowed his eyes as he twirled around and grabbed David by the throat, pinning him against a wall as he seethed


    "Do you want me to strip you of your life right here and right now? I guarantee that your precious daughter''s life will be hell if she isn''t sentenced to death for your foolish behavior!"


    David choked on his words as he struggled to speak. Theodore just barely lessened the pressure he had on David''s neck as he waited for the man to speak.


    "Why? Why are you doing this?! Dungeon masters can''t die unless the dungeon core is destroyed and I haven''t laid a single finger on the thing!"


    Theodore almost seemed to growl out his next words, anger clearly lacing his words


    "Dungeon masters and dungeon cores are connected you fool! If Violet dies too often, her soul can become corrupted from the trauma of repeatedly dying! It might as well be the same thing as you slowly and deliberately corrupting the core until it cracks or, even worse, Violet and the dungeon go mad! You have no idea just how bad things get when dungeons corrupt. I would have to bring in the highest-level mages to completely destroy the dungeon with S-tier-level spells that would have devastating effects on the local environment for eons!"The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Violet cried higher as Theodore''s voice caused her already unstable emotions to become more chaotic and the dungeon core began to glow dangerously, the room flashing with a dark violet light. Theodore dropped David, kicking the man in the ribs before going to comfort Violet. He made comforting shushing sounds as he rubbed her back.


    As a dungeon diplomat, it was Theodore''s job to ensure dungeons followed the dungeon accords, but it was also his job to ensure the dungeons could thrive. He was much closer to being on the dungeons'' side rather than human since he had to actively help the Dungeon Masters as much as he could while keeping both sides in line.


    It was a rather rare occurrence for Dungeon Masters to be manipulated to such an extent that they would allow themselves to become traumatized like this. Adventurers were foolish, but most Dungeon Masters were too self-preserving to even trust adventurers long enough to be misled like this. Of course, most Dungeon Masters weren''t so innocent as to make the dungeon''s system menu hard lock them into a theme for the dungeon either. The fact that Violet had been hard-locked into a rather weak-sounding ''cute'' theme was especially of concern.


    Once Violet had calmed down enough to, hopefully, be able to talk with Theodore to a reasonable extent, Theodore spoke softly to her


    "I''m not upset with you, you clearly didn''t know better. I''ll have to check in on you more often, it would seem. You really shouldn''t trust adventurers so easily. Most of them have no clue how dungeons work and they can easily lead you astray. The dungeon core will be fine so long as you can recover from this yourself. Dungeon masters dying isn''t even the main issue since it isn''t like there is a hard limit to how many times you can be revived.


    You just need to be allowed to heal from the trauma of the deaths and ensure your mental health is alright. Maybe try to avoid dying any more than absolutely necessary for a while and try to find a hobby you can enjoy within your dungeon for a while. Some Dungeon Masters enjoy making statues of their favorite [Monsters] or adventurers. Others get really excited about making new puzzles and [Traps]. I don''t know what you''ll enjoy, but I''m sure you can figure something out."


    Theodore turned, narrowing his eyes once more as he pointed at David and with a hardened voice demanded


    "You wanted a contract with Violet and you are going to have one. However, if you want to avoid getting in trouble for this incident, you are going to have to agree to my terms and conditions. You can have your original condition regarding your daughter''s safety and any [Traps] on the first floor. Heck, I''ll even go so far as to restrict Violet from using any of the dungeon [Traps] on the first floor anywhere but the hallway that directly leads to the dungeon core room. Then she won''t even have to worry too much about keeping up her side of the bargain.


    As for you, I expect you to show up every night for the next year to teach her swordsmanship. You will not kill her even once or else you will have to face severe punishment under the law. You cannot harm her any more than the standard amount that a holy knight under the king might be harmed in normal swordsmanship training either. They hold their swordsmanship trainers to pretty high standards, so that means nothing more than surface injuries.


    You will also be expected to give tribute every single time you show up for training and are expected to help to a reasonable extent to obtain the types of tributes Violet wants. This means anything that can be bought for the equivalent rate of what the harvestable [Items] on the first floor are worth. Whether that be one copper or one gold, you''ll just have to harvest enough ingredients to sell to make it not be a burden on yourself financially.


    In order to help you with your transition into being able to train Violet, I will arrange for you to have a job with the adventurer''s guild. They will be setting up a branch here soon enough since there is a dungeon here. Your contract will also be subject to renewal depending on how efficiently you have trained Violet over the course of the year. If you slack off and do a poor job, you won''t be getting off any time soon, that much I assure you."


    Violet was a bit surprised by Theodore''s rather kind terms. He had arranged for a plan that would benefit both of them while ensuring no one would have to make too many concessions. Before Violet could even think too much about it, the contract was written up and signed then gone in a puff of purple smoke. The only proof that Violet had of the contract having taken effect was a single system notice.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    A new dungeon contract has been registered with the system. Would you like to review the terms?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>

 1.18 Hopping Critters

    "Before we leave, do you have a preference on what sort of tribute you would like to have, Violet?"


    Theodore looked a bit calmer now that the issue at hand had been resolved. Violet thought the question over for a bit before replying


    "Well, I have bees who can produce honey, but I don''t have any honey in my [Base Resources]. It would be nice if I could add that to the list."


    Theodore nodded before pointing to David


    "He can take care of that. Anything in your dungeon that is removed from the dungeon is no longer recognized as property of the dungeon. So, all he will need to do is harvest some, leave the dungeon, and then return to leave it as tribute. Is there anything else you want?"


    Violet smiled as she easily replied


    "Well, I could also use some eggs."


    Theodore laughed amusedly as he noted


    "You sure seem to like collecting culinary ingredients and plants, huh? What are you planning on doing with all of this?"


    Violet smiled alongside Theodore, feeling better with his company as she answered


    "Well, I need rewards for any challenges I set up. I''ve already got a reward in mind for my first challenge, but I''ll need more ingredients for any future rewards I want to set up."


    Theodore looked thoughtful as he asked


    "Is that what that room I passed by earlier was? I''ve not seen a puzzle like that before, but I''m sure it will make for an interesting addition to your dungeon. Challenges are certainly a good way to encourage adventurers to spend more time in your dungeon. I noticed you have two other rooms branching off from your puzzle room, what do you have in those?"


    Violet shook her head as she answered


    "I just wanted to use my mana up before going to bed last night, so I just built two small hallways and one small rectangle room. The other hallway is a dead-end. I didn''t put anything in the room yet. I''m thinking I''ll just work on setting some rooms up first before I start working on filling them in. Now that more people have been visiting, I don''t have much time to build in the daytime. Luckily, I do get some downtime at night, though."


    Theodore pursed his lips in concern as he cautioned


    "Well, it''s good that you are getting some time to rest, but don''t let your guard down too much. It isn''t like it is impossible for people or [Monsters] to come in at night as well."


    Theodore and David left not long after that. With another full mana pool, Violet quickly switched into building mode. Last night, she had absorbed the iron sword and gotten it as an [Item] alongside some iron as a [Base Resource]. That had brought her total to 42 DP, which was immediately reduced to 30 DP after she set the iced carrot bread as a reward for her slime-themed jigsaw puzzle.


    Violet had gained another 13 MP regen for the day, but it was now up to 50 MP after David and Theodore''s visit. Violet quickly built another two rooms, bringing her down to 2 MP, and then exited the building mode, grabbing the wall for support. She was slowly getting used to the sensation of switching back and forth, but it was still certainly disorienting.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    As Violet had yet to accept her [Mission] reward, she did so now.


    "Please accept the reward for the challenge [Mission]."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to receive the reward now?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option, bringing up the next system prompt


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Echinodermata


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Mammalia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Amphibia


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet wasn''t really sure what the first option was, but she wanted to play it safe for once. The last two choices were pretty clearly mammals and amphibians. However, mammals were a rather large group of animals and Violet wasn''t sure what the system would classify as cute. She could end up with a platypus or something else equally weird and Violet just didn''t feel like dealing with that right now. Instead, she decided to go with the safer option.


    "I''ll go with the [Chordata - Amphibia] option."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Jade Tree Frog


    </td>


    <td>


    2 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal jade tree frog. Poor combat skills, excellent jumping skills. Is safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet wasn''t sure what to think about the frog being labeled as safe to consume. She certainly wasn''t planning on eating any frogs she created. The type of frog was certainly not one that Violet had heard of before, but the name made it sound rather nice. The mana cost wasn''t bad either so Violet assumed it wouldn''t be a bad option for a future pond-themed room. Violet felt it might be better to get some more fish options before making one, though. Would be kind of boring if she only had koi fish and jade tree frogs.


    Soon there was the feeling of someone entering the dungeon again, but, just as quickly, it was gone again. Violet checked her menus and noted that she now had chicken eggs listed as a new [Item] and eggs as a new [Base Resource]. She also now had a total of 139 DP since she also had pine cones, bee balm flowers, and 4 repeat [Items] from her kodama foraging the day before.


    Violet had to assume the kodama was venturing out further than before as time went on or else it wouldn''t make sense for it to be finding so many new varieties of plants. That likely accounted for the number of repeats as well since it would likely end up tired from the initial longer trip and end up taking shorter ones later on. Violet honestly wasn''t sure if it was better to suggest the kodama just make fewer trips and only bring back new [Items] or if she should just be grateful for its efforts, so she was just letting it make its own choices for now.


    Violet walked around her dungeon, checking out her new rooms. She now had two rooms to either side of the slime jigsaw puzzle room for a total of four entrances in the room. There was also a room in between the slime jigsaw puzzle room and the dungeon core room. That made for a total of five rooms in her dungeon, which made Violet feel quite happy. While most of them were empty, her plan to make a more complex setup in her dungeon was starting to take form and it would only be a short while longer before it would all look like a real dungeon.

 1.19 Black Fox Shifter

    Emerald Dawn checked her gear one last time while she waited for her other party members to finish preparing for the dungeon. Since Emerald was a shapeshifter, she didn''t really need that much gear. Her black fox form was agile and good at making quick attacks, but that became more difficult if she was weighed down with a bulky pack and other gear. She preferred to keep her equipment simple, just wearing a black cloth robe that matched her fur well with a leather belt around the middle. Any gear she would need would then be kept in a small leather drawstring pouch that hung from her belt.


    In comparison, their wind elementalist, Gale Tempest, and healer, Cirdan Wynstone, tended to carry a lot more. Gale wore a similar blue robe, leather belt, a leather satchel that he carried at one side, and a wooden staff in his other hand. I mean, sure he did have to worry more about things like mana and his health than Emerald, but the sheer amount of gear he insisted on carrying just seemed impractical to her.


    Cirdan was from the elven tribe and was also a male, leaving Emerald the only female in their party. He tended to gather healing herbs as they traveled and stocked up on supplies, like glass vials, whenever they stopped in a city so that he could make potions for their party. However, despite how much gear Cirdan carried around, Emerald was willing to give him a pass since he was a support class with craftsmanship class capabilities. Everyone needed a capable healer, so Emerald wasn''t exactly willing to get on the elf''s bad side by complaining that he carried around too much junk.


    "Are you all ready yet? I want to get to the dungeon early today. I hear the town has employed guards and is trying to convince only one party to enter at a time. Apparently, this dungeon is newer than we had been told."


    Gale snorted as he remarked


    "I bet they''re just saying that. They just want an excuse to collect fees from those wanting to enter the dungeon."


    Cirdan sighed as he tried to mediate


    "It doesn''t matter. We will see things for ourselves when we get there. Now, let''s get going."


    Emerald''s party begrudgingly paid the three copper to enter the dungeon. Just because it seemed wasteful to pay fees didn''t mean they needed to risk upsetting the locals. Their party was still fairly low-level. Both Gale and Cirdan were still considered F-rank adventurers with only Emerald at a higher level. Even then, it was still considered a low level since she was only D-rank.


    Emerald always shifted before entering the dungeon to ensure she was prepared to fight at a moment''s notice. Most low-level dungeons could still be considered rather dangerous with goblins sometimes even leaving their assigned rooms to ambush newbie adventurers at the entrance. So, when they were met with only a single slime in a flower meadow, Emerald was confused, to say the least.


    "This is a lot more peaceful than anticipated."


    Cirdan noted


    "Where''s all the others? There''s no way this is all of them."


    Gale grumbled.


    Emerald shrugged before pouncing on the slime, making quick work of it.


    "Well, you two can keep guard, if you want. I''m going to collect some of these plants. These acorns can be made into flour and most of the flowers are useful in teas or can be sold. This bee hive looks to be pretty new, so I''m not sure we will be able to get anything from it. Ah well, maybe next time."


    Emerald nodded at Cirdan''s words, taking up a defensive posture as she watched the door leading out of the room.


    Violet knew there were adventurers in her dungeon, but she decided not to go to greet them. She still felt uneasy from the previous day''s training. If they tried to come too far through the dungeon then she would warn them not to come any closer to the dungeon core room. However, she was more than willing to just let them explore unhindered otherwise.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "What the heck! All of these rooms are empty!"


    Gale''s frustration was clear as day and Emerald wasn''t sure that she disagreed with the sentiment. So far, they had found four rooms. The first only had a single slime and some bees, which had been rather disappointing. It wasn''t enough for Emerald to level up by a long shot, much less for any of her other party members to benefit. Well, Cirdan seemed happy with the plants he had collected, but that was a separate consideration.


    "Well, we could attempt this challenge. It says all we have to do is complete the puzzle and it has a reward I''ve never seen before."


    Emerald huffed as she complained


    "Yeah, but I''ve never heard of a jigsaw puzzle before, have you? I don''t think it is worth risking it."


    Cirdan sighed as he replied


    "Fine, we can skip it for now, but I''m going to stay behind to try it out when you all leave. The dungeon shouldn''t reset for a while anyway."


    Emerald growled in frustration as she insisted


    "No, I''ll stay with you. It''s dangerous to split up and you don''t want to get ambushed while messing about with a strange puzzle."


    Gale loudly complained


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever! Can we move on already? I don''t want to stand here talking about puzzles all day. We came here to get experience and we have yet to run into any useful [Monsters]."


    Emerald nodded and the party continued on their way. However, the next room was also empty, which did nothing for the party''s morale. Gale didn''t even bother stopping as he pushed his way past the entrance and into the hallway where Violet was waiting.


    "Don''t come any closer. There isn''t any more dungeon to explore, you should return the way you came."


    Violet''s voice fell on deaf ears as Gale began to summon wind magic and threatened


    "You think you can stop me? We have every right to be here, we even paid that lousy entrance fee! All for the guards to be bad at their job too! What were they even going on about? They already had other adventurers in here yet they were assuring us they would dissuade others from entering until we left!"


    Emerald put her hand on Gale''s shoulder and pulled him back roughly, interrupting his magic as she scolded


    "Knock it off! You don''t even know what rank she is or even what class she uses. Besides, it''s wrong to attack other adventurers. I''m sure we can sort something out so no one has to get hurt."


    Violet looked relieved as she let her posture relax, but she kept her sword raised in front of her just in case they changed their mind.


    "Look, as I tried to tell your friend. The only thing beyond this point is the dungeon core. You should turn back."


    Gale growled back


    "We have no way of confirming that unless you let us through! I bet you just want to monopolize all the dungeon treasure and experience!"


    Cirdan looked at Violet carefully before asking


    "Is it possible that you are the Dungeon Master?"


    Violet nodded in confirmation and Cirdan replied


    "As I thought, Gale, you need to calm down. You don''t want to upset a Dungeon Master or else we could very well all end up losing our lives the next time we try to visit."


    Emerald looked confused as she questioned


    "Can human become Dungeon Masters?"


    Cirdan nodded as he clarified


    "Yes, weren''t you all paying attention in the training classes at the adventurer''s guild? It''s rare, but human become Dungeon Masters plenty of the time. They just usually don''t leave their dungeon core room or hang out in special rooms on deeper floors of the dungeon."


    Cirdan turned to Violet, pulling out two vials of potions and setting them on the ground, and apologized


    "I''m sorry about our friend, he hasn''t always been the brightest. I''ll just leave these to cover our tribute and be on our way."


    On the way out of the dungeon, Emerald asked


    "I thought you wanted to try out that puzzle?"


    Cirdan shook his head as he replied


    "Not now, let''s give it a few days, and then we can try again. Hopefully, offering a better tribute than we would otherwise be able to afford will be enough to dissuade the Dungeon Master from trying to kill us off the next time we come..."

 1.20 The Labyrinth Plan

    Violet didn''t even want to think about the strange group of adventurers she had just had in her dungeon. They had left a rather nice tribute with both a lesser healing potion and a lesser mana potion in glass vials with cork stoppers. That had been given both as new [Items] and Violet also had healing potion, mana potion, glass, and cork as [Base Resources] now. That meant she now had 259 DP alongside her mana being full again. However, rather than building new rooms, Violet needed something different for the next step in her plan.


    "Can I research a small roundabout hallway? I think I need a 10-Units by 10-Units one."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 40 DP to research 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout hallways and permanently add them to the menu options?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was fine with that cost and easily selected the [Yes] option. The resulting hallways were 20 MP each and Violet immediately purchased two of them alongside spending another 10 MP for two 5-Units hallways. She connected the new hallways to her first room on either side. The plan was to create a square formation, centered around the new slime jigsaw puzzle room. That way, she could force the adventurers to walk around in a circle, hopefully getting lost in the process, and force them to spend more time in the dungeon. [Traps] and [Monsters] weren''t the only way to defend a dungeon, after all, as there was always the option of creating a labyrinth to confuse her visitors.


    In order to complete the setup, though, Violet would require another 70 MP. Then Violet could remove the old hallways, but she''d have to leave the straight path to the dungeon core for now. None of the other paths would be able to connect to the dungeon core room as things were right now. Violet felt this 50 MP limit was really limiting and it was a bit frustrating, but she''d be a good sixth or so through filling the floor with rooms and hallways once this plan was done. So, she was certainly on her way to unlocking a second floor. It was just a matter of time and then things would get significantly easier from then on.


    As it was still only mid-day, Violet spent the rest of her time practicing with her sword. She practiced swinging the sword and her stances based on what she had seen and read in her old world. She highly doubted she was doing anything right, but it was still good to get used to working with the sword. The more she grew used to handling the sword and swinging it, the easier it would be when it came time to use it.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    David didn''t return until the sun was starting to set. His daughter was in tow and he allowed her to play with Violet''s slime [Monster] while he waited for Violet to approach him. He really hadn''t meant to cause so much trouble with his training methods. He certainly hadn''t meant for things to spiral so far out of control that both his and Alice''s lives would be threatened. In all of David''s time as an adventurer, he had never even come close to upsetting a Dungeon Diplomat like that.


    Seeing Violet enter the room, David offered a small smile as he asked


    "Are you alright to train today? I brought the honey you asked for and left it under your tree."


    Violet narrowed her eyes feeling unsure as she nodded in response to David''s questions, not trusting her own voice to answer. She had known it was David since this was the time of day he came yesterday, but it had still taken everything she had to walk through the door and into the room with him.


    Violet didn''t tend to think of herself as a coward by any standard, but dying so many painful deaths in a single week had certainly taken its toll. Now, this was as brave as Violet could be just to show up and give things another chance. Luckily, David took things slow and let Violet make the first few moves, only deflecting and guarding against her attacks as she made them.


    David had thought of Dungeon Masters as stronger, more resilient and nearly immortal beings. The few human Dungeon Masters he had heard of were powerful and didn''t fear death. David had assumed it was the right move to try and encourage Violet to not only grow stronger but to also make her unafraid of death through exposure therapy. However, he could see his folly now.


    If it had been Alice in Violet''s place, David was sure that he wouldn''t have taken the same approach. He would have gently guided her and protected her until she was strong enough to protect herself. Even if it cost him his life, he would have ensured no harm could come to his daughter. David wouldn''t have in a million years been able to torture his own daughter while justifying to himself that it was for her own good. How he had thought it was acceptable for Violet, David couldn''t say.


    As the night wore on, David watched as Violet slowly regained color in her face and her attacks became more confident. She was still very clearly affected, but David could only hope that things would get better with time. This was his doing and now he had to fix it. Even when his young daughter fell asleep in the grass, David did not leave right away. He allowed her wolf to sleep beside her and was relieved to see the slime did not attack his daughter. How it knew what was a threat and what was not was not clear, even to David, but he was happy to see his daughter was in no immediate danger.


    Only when it began to rain and it was too dark to see any longer did David call it a day. Before he left, he asked Violet if she had any requests for tribute the next day. After being told to continue to bring culinary ingredients, David merely nodded. He''d have to splurge on something extra nice to make it up to her.


    David had no clue what Violet planned to use all the ingredients for. Perhaps she was one of the rather odd Dungeon Masters who enjoyed eating and drinking, even despite their lack of a need for such a thing? It would certainly seem like a waste of mana to most, but David wouldn''t say anything about it. He would want his own daughter to have such a thing to find joy in if she was even in such a situation, after all.

 1.21 Puzzling Puzzle

    After David left, Violet purchased two more 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout hallways as well as another two 5-Units hallways. Then, she called it a night and fell asleep in the slime jigsaw puzzle room. She didn''t feel like being rained on and the grassy outskirts of the room were far better than the cold stone hallways or stone steps in the dungeon core room.


    The next morning, Violet checked her dungeon status and saw she now had another 73 DP from her kodama''s efforts and 13 MP from her daily mana regeneration. This put her total at 292 DP, which she didn''t have any real plans to spend right away. Violet planned to finish her room and hallway building strategy before investing any points into anything else. In that regard, Violet quickly spent 10 MP on another two 5-Units hallways to connect the first half of the roundabout hallways to the new rectangle rooms.


    Now Violet only needed another 10 MP for another two 5-Units hallways. Luckily, Violet didn''t have to wait very long before another group of adventurers entered her dungeon.


    "Now, remember ladies, stay in formation. I don''t want anyone dying on me."


    Rosetta was sure to caution her other party members as they entered the dungeon. As a guardian, she played the role of tank for their party. Their party setup was a bit cliche with a guardian tank, monk and ranger damage dealers, and a healer. However, Rosetta rather preferred the setup since it made things simple.


    "Don''t worry, young one. You might have a few ranks on us, but we all passed the adventurer''s test the same as you."


    Balvna, their dwarven monk, assured Rosetta. Balvna was probably the oldest in their party, besides Estel. However, elves had longer lives and so their rate of maturity was a bit strange in comparison to humans and dwarves. However, Estle had a good head on her shoulders and she was quite skilled with her bow and shortsword, making excellent use of the skills she learned in her elven village.


    Balvna and Estel were only F-ranks while Rosetta was C-rank and their healer, Aurora, was D-rank. However, that was just because human had a tendency to let their young apply to be adventurers much sooner than the elves did. As for Balvna, she had failed to learn her father''s blacksmithing techniques and had set out to find her own path as an adventurer after her younger brother was promised the workshop.


    "The slime is cute, but I''m surprised there aren''t any others around."


    Aurora noted.


    "Well, the scenery is quite nice as well. It isn''t quite as nice as a real forest, but it isn''t bad for a dungeon imitation."


    Estel replied.


    Aurora cleared her throat as she tried to bring her group''s focus back to the task at hand.


    "Well, let''s dispatch the slime and then we can collect the available resources. Estel, why don''t you take this one? You and Balvna could use the levels the most, so it would be good to take the chance while we have easier [Monsters] to practice on."


    Estel nodded and readied her bow, lining up her shot, before letting her arrow loose. The first shot missed the core and Estel just pursed her lips as she lined up her next shot. That one did the trick and the slime soon dissolved into a puddle and Estel was rewarded with a system message. She had leveled up, which wasn''t surprising considering she was only a few experience points away from her next level when she entered the dungeon.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Alright, Blavna, why don''t you join me on guard duty? I''d hate to have [Monsters] ambush us and there are three entrances in this room. Aurora and Estel can collect whatever plants we need and then we will move on when they are ready."


    "Alright, you got it!"


    Balvna easily agreed. Unfortunately, they had no way to know that there weren''t actually any other [Monsters] in the dungeon. Almost all of the rooms were empty, save for one and it was a waste of energy and time for them to be so on guard.


    However, this information was found out soon enough as the group began to explore the dungeon. Most confusing of all was that the hallways and rooms seemed to be arranged strangely and they ended up getting lost a few times. Eventually, they had to call it good enough as they entered the puzzle room once more.


    "Should we try out this puzzle? My system notification says there is some sort of carrot bread for a reward. It might be nice to have something to eat after all this walking around..."


    Aurora quietly asked.


    "Yeah, alright, we can take a break. It shouldn''t take too long for us to figure out the puzzle with four of us working on it."


    Rosetta easily agreed. However, she was wrong and, after waiting several hours for her guests to finish up and leave, a rather confused Violet went looking for her new guests to see what the problem was.


    While Violet had been ready for an ambush, she was rather surprised to find a party of four women adventurers looking rather frustrated and exhausted as they struggled to figure out how the slime jigsaw puzzle worked. Violet laughed heartily as she called out


    "You know, you''re lucky I haven''t added the option to lock you all in here until you complete the puzzle. You can just leave if you can''t figure things out."


    Aurora shrieked in surprise and Balvna scolded


    "Stop that! It''s probably just the Dungeon Master. I''m sorry we are taking so long, we didn''t mean to stay so long. We just can''t seem to figure out this puzzle."


    Violet glanced at the board where the puzzle pieces were stacked haphazardly on top of one another. Why it hadn''t occurred to her guests that they should be filling in the board in one flat layer was beyond Violet, but she supposed she shouldn''t make fun of them too much. It wasn''t like the system had known what a jigsaw puzzle was, at first, either.


    "I''ll tell you what, I''ll give you a hint for next time if you agree to leave for the day now. How does that sound?"


    Violet''s offer was met with groans of dissatisfaction as Estel complained


    "But I wanted to eat that carrot bread! We''ve been working on it for so long, surely we''re close to figuring it out now?"


    Rosetta shook her head at her party member''s antics before replying


    "As much as we would love to stay, we shall respect your wish, Dungeon Master. We would be grateful if you would give us that hint for next time. Hopefully, we will have better luck then."


    Violet smiled amusedly at the pouting elf woman standing behind Rosetta as she replied


    "Very well. Next time, try placing the pieces as one layer horizontally within the confines of the puzzle box."


    Rosetta looked back at the puzzle with surprise, but said nothing. Things made a lot more sense now that she thought about it from that perspective. She still doubted that they''d be finishing the puzzle anytime soon, but it wasn''t like they had to leave town any time soon either. There were wild [Monsters] in the forest that needed subjugating and they needed to report the state of the dungeon to their city''s guild.


    The guild had to wait a while before they could send out a proper navigator class adventurer to map out the dungeon, but they wanted to keep tabs on things in the meantime. They couldn''t very well keep directing the new adventurers to the dungeon if it suddenly became too dangerous. That was part of the reason why adventurers were partying up into groups like hers with higher-rank adventurers escorting weaker adventurers.

 1.22 System Limitations

    Finally! Violet was excited to finish laying out her first set of rooms. She finished connecting all the roundabout hallways to form a square around the square slime jigsaw room. Then she removed the straight pathway that led from the entrance to the dungeon core room. There was a path from left to right through the slime jigsaw puzzle room, but the adventurers would have to go through a minimum of three rooms before they could enter the dungeon core room. If anything, going through the slime jigsaw puzzle room would be a waste of time that would make it take longer to get to the dungeon core room.


    With all of that out of the way, it was time to get to work filling the empty rooms with [Monsters] and obstacles. Violet called out to her system as she asked


    "Is it possible to lower the ground in this room and then fill it with water and wooden platforms? I have water and wood as [Base Resources], so figure there must be some way to make it happen..."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research [Base Resource] [Water] for 100 DP to permanently unlock it as a placeable room feature under [Items]?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet had been left some holy basil, chamomile, cinnamon leaves, and peppermint from the last group of adventurers. This had given her cinnamon leaves as a new [Base Resource] while peppermint was a repeat and the others were all listed as new [Items]. So Violet had recently gotten another 56 DP, bringing her total to 348 DP. So, despite the rather expensive cost, Violet went ahead and selected the [Yes] option.


    Luckily, water only costs 5 MP per 100 Cubic Units. So, the 40 MP Violet had left after buying the last two 5-Units hallways should be plenty. Of course, that was depending on how much it would cost to create the hole in the ground in the room.


    "Alright, what about creating a rectangular hole in the room? I''d like to leave some standing space on either side so adventurers can safely walk through the door. I''ll also need some wooden platforms that can be placed in the water for them to jump across to."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Determining building design is in accordance with dungeon accords...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet blinked her eyes as she read the message. She didn''t see any reason why it would be an issue. It would be perfectly possible for adventurers to swim across safely or jump from platform to platform to cross the room. It certainly fits the criteria of being humanly possible to complete the challenge and further traverse the dungeon. Even if this room somehow wasn''t easy enough, there was still another open pathway on the opposite side of the dungeon that adventurers could use. At least, there was right now. Violet would soon enough have to fill that room with things as well.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research wooden platforms for 10 DP to permanently unlock it as a placeable item?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was relieved to see the system agreed with her verdict and also that the cost for this [Item] was much cheaper. She easily selected [Yes] before continuing


    "What about the..."


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please enter building mode to alter the terrain. Terrain alterations are limited to 10-Units of change outside of the normal room dimensions. This goes for all directions of the room whether it be a change to the horizontal or vertical plane. Changes do not affect any other floors'' or rooms'' placement within the dungeon. Costs are equivalent to 10 MP / 100 Cubic Units


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maybe Violet was pressuring the system to answer too quickly... oops. Violet shrugged before entering build mode. Since this was an 8-Units by 15-Units rectangle room, the total room area was 120 Square Units. However, Violet planned to leave a decent gap on either side, so it would only cost 10 MP for every 1-Unit of depth she planned to create in the room.


    Deciding to just use up the rest of her mana on it, Violet dug a rectangular pool of 4-Units depth. It would seem that this project would take quite a while if she wanted to make the pool a full 10M in depth. Now it was starting to make sense why the system was hesitant to let her build the room without ensuring there were other routes that could be taken to the dungeon core room. This room would, essentially, be unusable until it was closer to being finished and that could very well take a few days.


    Luckily, Violet didn''t have to wait long before David arrived for their nightly sparring session. Violet still felt uneasy as she made her way to the wildflower meadow. While it was somewhat reassuring that she wouldn''t have to continue to die in increasingly painful and gruesome ways, it was not something she''d be able to forget the feeling of anytime soon. The memories were still so fresh and painful that the previously goosebumps-like sensation had increased intensity and become a full-blown cold shiver whenever anyone entered the dungeon, but especially whenever David specifically entered.


    It was still a bit strange for Violet to think about the fact that she was connected to the dungeon and that the bond could cause both to change whenever one was affected by something. I mean, sure, Violet had been told repeatedly that she would die a very real and permanent death if the dungeon core was destroyed, but that still didn''t quite encompass everything that was different about Violet''s new existence.


    "I brought you something special today. They''re black tea leaves. I figured you might enjoy making yourself some hot tea to enjoy with all these sweets you seem to want to make."


    Violet tilted her head in slight confusion. Did David think that she was consuming the things she was making? Violet wasn''t honestly sure how that would work. Wouldn''t it just be the same as throwing away mana? Perhaps it might be fine once the dungeon was more established. When adventurers were regularly in the dungeon and Violet''s mana pool was larger, spending a few stray mana points here and there on something nice for herself wouldn''t feel like such a big deal. Still, Violet smiled as she gratefully replied


    ¡°Thank you for the tribute. I hope it didn''t set you back too much."


    David shrugged as he replied


    "It''s fine, I still have a good amount of money saved up from my adventuring days and I''ve been guaranteed a job once the adventurer''s guild finishes being built. They''ve already got people in town looking at potential places to build and drawing up blueprints. They''ve likely got a good team hired too, so I doubt it will take very long for them to finish setting things up."


    Violet nodded thoughtfully as she asked


    "Is that because of my dungeon? Honestly, I don''t even really know much about what the area outside my dungeon is like. None of my [Monsters] can talk and I can''t leave."


    David looked sympathetic as he explained


    "The closest town is Millstone, but I''m from a small city a few days'' travel away called Elesfield. I imagine most of the adventurers and locals who visit your dungeon will be from one of those two places. Millstone will likely grow a good bit over the next few years until it turns into a small city as well. I know a few merchants have been sending their children out to set up new shops in the area. Mostly alchemists, a restaurant, and a bed and breakfast, so far. Things may end up differently depending on what sorts of resources your dungeon ends up producing.


    I wouldn''t let any of that pressure you, though. No one is supposed to pressure the Dungeon Master into building any one particular way as it is against the dungeon accords. If anyone tries to mess with you, I''m sure Theodore will end up kicking their asses just like he did mine..."


    David looked a tad embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. Violet supposed it made sense that the man''s pride had taken a beating after such a display of raw power. Even Violet felt somewhat afraid of Theodore after that display. She could only hope that she''d be able to remain on his good side so that it would never need to become an issue.


    "Why don''t we try something different today? I''ve been talking with some of my old adventuring buddies who ended up taking positions as knights for noble families after retiring from adventuring and they gave me some good tips for training. Apparently, I really should have started you out with some basic training exercises to work on your stance and your ability to maneuver. They said that a lot of recruits are also encouraged to do other exercises like running, push-ups, or weight lifting to work on their overall fitness as well.


    However, I''m unsure if that applies to you or not since you are a Dungeon Master. After making some incorrect assumptions the last time, I hesitate to lead you astray again. I know Theodore mentioned that you can''t unlock a class now that you are a Dungeon Master, so I don''t know if it will be of much use to use training usually meant to increase one''s stats either."


    Violet shrugged as she still didn''t know much about that. It would be worth asking if there were other ways to increase her strength the next time Theodore visited. For now, though, Violet was happy to skip the extra exercise and just work on her technique instead.

 1.23 Aspiring Swordsman

    Before laying down to rest for the night, Violet put another 50 MP into increasing the depth of the hole she created. The hole was then finished the next morning using 10 MP of the 13 MP that was regenerated. The kodama had found some samaras or ''helicopters'' from a maple tree, red clover flowers, and three other [Items] that had ended up being repeats. So, Violet now had 381 DP on hand alongside her leftover 3 MP.


    Still, Violet felt quite happy that the 10-Units deep rectangular hole was finished being constructed. Soon enough, she''d have another challenge room set up, which was good news because Violet was starting to feel like her dungeon was too empty. It was too quiet in most of the hallways and there just wasn''t much to look at. It would be nice to have some new slime [Monsters] running around as well as some new scenery to enjoy.


    While it was tempting to do some research with all of the extra DP she had, Violet was worried about what else she would need to spend it on in the process of building the few rooms she already had ideas for. Just building a large pool of water required quite a bit of research, so Violet could only imagine she would end up having to spend even more of her dungeon points in the next few days.


    While Violet was relaxing in her wildflower meadow and enjoying the sunrise and the sight of her single slime [Monster] bouncing around aimlessly, Violet felt the familiar sensation of someone entering her dungeon. While Violet was starting to feel more comfortable around people again, it was still tempting to retreat to the dungeon core room once more. However, it had been a while since she had the chance to talk to anyone besides David and Violet was curious who had shown up this time.


    Gregory walked into the room with a rather excited-looking Henry in tow. Violet smiled, happy to see the two return. It had been quite a few days since she had seen them, after all, and she was curious why they hadn''t returned in so long.


    "Greetings, mistress Violet! I hope it isn''t too early to be bothering you. I''ve brought a tomato and celery for tribute today."


    Gregory walked towards the tree in the meadow, quickly dropping the tribute off while Henry immediately started hacking away at Violet''s slime. It would seem the child was eager to make up for lost time. Even despite his enthusiasm, Violet could see that Henry was taking the fight seriously, though, so she let it be. At least her poor slime could respawn and it was unlikely it would have to suffer for long since Henry''s strikes seemed to be much more skillful than even the last time he had visited. Perhaps he had been practicing at home.


    "Do you think he''s improving any? We''ve been hoping he will get lucky and awaken a class when he is older, but we don''t have the money to get him appraised. So, I''ve been hoping he will gain enough experience for the system to appear on its own and tell him what class he has. If it doesn''t show up by the time he turns twelve, it is unlikely that he will get a class at all and I''ll have to teach him how to farm so he can take over once I die."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Violet''s eyes lit up with interest at this information. That would explain why Alice already had a class, despite only being slightly older than Henry was. Perhaps it was a matter of being born with a class or perhaps it was just something that had to be developed before a child hit puberty? Either way, perhaps it was good for Violet to have her first floor be more suitable as a training ground for children and new adventurers. She had been forced into it a bit by her system assigning her such a weak starter [Monsters], but Theodore had certainly set her fate when he restricted her to only have [Traps] in the area directly before the dungeon core room.


    "Well, he is welcome to continue to train here. I wish him luck in unlocking a class that suits him. Is he hoping to unlock a swordsman class of some sort?"


    Gregory nodded at Violet''s question before replying


    "Henry has always admired the knights ever since he saw one escorting the local tax keeper around tax collection time. However, it also doesn''t help that he can''t really study magic since we can neither afford to send him to an academy nor hire an adventurer as a tutor for him. If I had been an adventurer, it likely wouldn''t have been difficult to arrange something for him, but I never was granted a class.


    I don''t want to hold him back from trying to create a better life for himself than I''ve had. However, it is only because your dungeon is so close to our town and has suitable [Monsters] that he even has this chance. Most children aren''t so fortunate and can only hope to change their fates by throwing themselves into dungeons when they come of age and are considered their own person. Without knowing if they actually have a class or not until they have killed a few [Monsters], it often leads to many desperate fools losing their lives."


    Violet was honestly even more confused now. It sounded like someone either had a class or they didn''t, but the soonest it would show up was some time in the early stages of a child going into puberty. Yet, they could only unlock a system screen after they gained enough experience from killing [Monsters]. So most wouldn''t know if they had a class or not unless they risked their lives to find out or paid an appraiser to check for them. Still, that didn''t really answer Violet''s initial question of what determines if someone is assigned a class or not.


    "Are there other professions besides farming that people can become without being assigned an official class?"


    Gregory nodded as he explained


    "Some merchants have classes related to alchemy or enchanting, but there are also merchants and tradesmen who don''t have classes. However, that would require being taken as an apprentice and taught the skills or, even better, being born into a family that could teach you those skills. Neither Henry nor myself had that luxury, though, so all we have is farming to fall back on."


    Violet felt like she was making Gregory uncomfortable, so she didn''t ask any more questions. It wasn''t like he knew the full picture, anyway. That much she had already learned the hard way when [Monsters] had invaded her dungeon and caught her off guard. While Violet felt more confident she could handle another batch of zombies, she had already learned her lesson. She''d have to take everything people told her with a grain of salt.

 1.24 First Death

    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana: 50 / 50


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 381


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 5


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet checked her [Dungeon Status] menu and frowned. It was so strange how the dungeon core room wasn''t counted as part of the room number. She had to wonder if rooms with stairs to her next floor would count as a room or not. Of course, that was still a bit of a ways away, but it was still food for thought.


    Violet shrugged as she entered her building view and began to fill her 10-Units deep hole with water. Luckily, water was only half as expensive to purchase as digging the hole had been. So, she was able to finish filling it with only a single round of 50 MP. Of course, it would still be a while before Violet was finished with the room, but she figured it would only take another three visits from adventurers before she''d have this room complete. Then she could move onto something else.


    On the brightside, there was still plenty of time left in the day and there had been a few adventurer parties who showed interest in returning to finish her jigsaw puzzle. So, it was likely that she would have things finished up in the next few days. Of course, Violet had to remind herself, time wasn''t as important now that she was a Dungeon Master. She had eternity to finish her dungeon, so long as she was able to protect her dungeon core in the meantime.


    Emerald watched Gale with a wary expression as he stomped past her and towards the dungeon. He had been insistent that they had to have missed something the last time they had visited and that the woman they met had just been tricking them into giving up earlier than they otherwise would have. His attitude was starting to get on Emerald''s nerves, but she had agreed he could explore the dungeon more since Cirdan had wanted to return to complete a puzzle anyway.


    "What can you do? He''ll get over it eventually, he just has yet to learn that everything won''t always go the way he wants, clearly. Give it time, he''ll mature with experience."


    Emerald wasn''t sure it was even worth doing that much. Cirdan was easy enough to work with, but there was no reason they couldn''t part ways with Gale and look for new party members the next time they were in Elesfield. Still, it wasn''t exactly worth bringing up right now.


    "Let''s just get this over with. He can explore all he wants and I''ll keep guard while you complete the puzzle. Let''s not make this take all day."


    Cirdan said nothing about Emerald''s impatience. As someone from the elf tribe, he had been raised in a quiet village where most of his elders were hundreds of years old. The fact that so many other races did not share this virtue had been surprising for Cirdan, at first, but he had adjusted soon enough. It simply wasn''t worth the energy to constantly lecture those who had different upbringings than himself.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Emerald was surprised to see that the entrances had changed since the last time they had been here. While Gale was off taking his anger out on the singular slime [Monster] in the room, Emerald investigated the issue. On both sides of the wildflower meadow room, there were entrances, but both seemed to lead to hallways that curved into another direction, making it impossible to tell which way would be best to continue their exploration.


    "Which way do we go?"


    Cirdan looked thoughtful as he replied


    "It is hard to tell. It seemed some things have changed since we were last here. Why don''t we go to the left for now and we can return if we hit a dead end?"


    Emerald nodded in agreement. It wasn''t like she had any better ideas anyway. Gale seemed bent on destroying the room as he searched every Unit of it in search of more [Monsters]. Before he could destroy a tree and anger a hive of bees, Emerald called out


    "We''re going to move on now. You''re welcome to stay here and continue to throw a fit or you can join us and we can, hopefully, find more [Monsters] elsewhere."


    Gale grumbled, but quickly rejoined the group and they continued on together. After walking around in a circle a few times over, Emerald was sure that there was only one way to go and they moved onto the next room. This one was the same size as the wildflower meadow had been, but was rather empty with two entrances they could continue through.


    "Where now?"


    Emerald questioned


    "We should go this way. As long as it was only the hallways moved around and not entire rooms, this should be the way the puzzle was last time."


    Cirdan answered, earning him a nod in confirmation from Emerald. Gale frustratedly kicked the wall before limping off ahead of the group and into the next room. Emerald really didn''t understand why he was so frustrated. It wasn''t like either of them had gained much experience either.


    Besides, this wasn''t entirely unexpected of such a new dungeon. One of the downsides of being so low-level that you had to rely on newer dungeons was that you ran the risk of there being too little loot and experience to gain. It was just that this particular dungeon was newer than any of the others in the area.


    There were more established dungeons that they could attempt to explore, but they''d run the risk of running into more dangerous [Traps] and puzzles. Plenty of the more established dungeons had been renovated to the point of being too dangerous for inexperienced adventurers like themselves. They were more suitable for D and C-rank adventurers who had enough funds and time to research the dungeon and buy maps of the area. Many even insisted on including scouts and navigators in their party just for safety''s sake as well.


    So, they had to make do with this dungeon, for now, if they wanted to mitigate their chances of dying an early death. Still, it wasn''t like Gale was the only one frustrated. Ember couldn''t unlock better skills, earn attribute points, or earn valuable quests from a patron deity unless she could grow stronger. She just wasn''t in such a rush that she couldn''t see the benefit of having a mostly empty and weak dungeon to farm.


    As things currently stood, they could easily camp the spot that one slime spawned and kill it repeatedly for some easy experience. It would annoy the Dungeon Master if they stayed too long, but that could be solved easily enough so long as they took frequent breaks and left the dungeon for a while. If anything, the Dungeon Master would be grateful for the free resources so long as they did that and remembered to leave a reasonable tribute in exchange for what they''d be gaining.


    While Cirdan was busy trying to figure out the puzzle and Emerald was lost in thought, Gale decided to go off exploring the rest of the dungeon. Without his teammates there to try and talk him into leaving or to share the kills with, he was sure he''d have an easier time leveling up. Since he already knew the room they came from was empty, he decided to exit the slime jigsaw puzzle room from the other door.


    However, Gale wasn''t expecting to immediately drop into a 10-Units deep pool of water. Worst of all, Gale couldn''t swim and his armor had made him sink deep into the water so he was completely submerged. Without the chance to even prepare, Gale soon lost his breath and began to drown. Air bubbled up to the surface, but no sounds of splashing or cries for help could escape the surface of the water. Before Gale could even consider how much he regretted wandering off by himself, he fell unconscious and his brain died from oxygen starvation.

 1.25 Interlude: Dungeon Of The Dead

    Theodore sighed as he materialized at the dungeon entrance. Of all the dungeons he was in charge of, this one was also the biggest troublemaker. The Dungeon Master was a lich that had evolved from the undead skeleton of a darkness elementalist. Most darkness magic just involved creating poisons or illusions, but some dark elementalists held such strong grudges that their spirits lingered too long and ended up turning them into mindless skeleton [Monsters]. This one just happened to have been chosen by a dungeon core and got a nice upgrade into a lich.


    As a result, though, the Dungeon Master was rather obsessed with death and had made a dungeon completely themed around it. Many of the floors had large, open areas or involved several rooms clustered together with no hallways between them. The Dungeon Master had ended up choosing a graveyard for the first floor with a zombie as a starting [Monster]. However, that wasn''t even the real problem.


    The zombies led to a rather painful death as adventurers would be eaten alive, but it wasn''t like the zombies could spread their disease or anything. That would have classified this dungeon as a plague spreader and gotten it destroyed a long time ago. Instead, the problem lies with the first floor contracted [Monsters].


    Ghosts and will-o''-wisps couldn''t do much damage to adventurers and they weren''t really good for collecting things outside of the dungeon either. That combined with how much adventurers detested the dungeon and a lack of useful resources had led to the rather slow growth of the dungeon. This, of course, led to a rather bored Dungeon Master.


    "You can''t keep doing this master Alexander. You know that your ghosts bother the locals and then they drag me in to complain about it."


    Alexander laughed and the ghastly sound echoed across the chamber. This wasn''t the dungeon core room, but a room off to one side of it that Alexander had turned into a throne room of sorts.


    Luckily, the slow growth meant that Theodore didn''t have to travel across too many floors, but it also meant most rooms were either turned into living quarters for Alexander or were large expanses of graveyard or withered forest. This floor had more skeletons than zombies, Alexander finding a sort of kinship with the mindless [Monsters].


    As a dungeon diplomat, Theodore felt attuned to dungeons in a similar way to elves when it came to their forests. However, even he found this dungeon rather unpleasant. The pitch-black dungeon core, the rotting smell of the living dead, and the lack of anything resembling life were a bit off-putting. Still, Theodore would do his best to complete his job and be respectful to all of the Dungeon Masters he worked with.


    "You can''t possibly expect them to want to remain in the dungeon all of the time. We haven''t had anyone visit it a few years now and you know it. They want to have some fun and they are lucky enough to live on one of the floors with access to the outside. Of course, they are going to want to go explore outside of the dungeon."


    Theodore rolled his eyes at Alexander as he repliedStolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Yeah, but they could, at least, stick to the forests and not wander into town. The locals have accepted the forest as haunted and as part of your territory by now. However, you are making it nearly impossible for them to go about their lives by doing this."


    It was certainly true that it didn''t help that the ghosts were on one of the bottom two floors. Contracted [Monsters] could travel between floors freely and even outside of the dungeon, but they could only go two floors in either direction. Their range was limited enough that this wouldn''t even be an issue if they had been assigned to a different floor.


    "You can''t expect me to keep an eye on all of them every minute of every day. Besides, if they know the area is haunted, they shouldn''t be so surprised by a few harmless ghosts."


    Theodore could feel a headache coming on as he continued to argue with Alexander. Why a lich who had once been part of the living couldn''t understand how they felt was beyond Theodore. I mean, sure, he was several hundred years old, but it still seemed like something that shouldn''t be so easily forgotten. Finally, having had enough of Alexander''s antics, Theodore compromised


    "Look, how about this? I''ll try to get a hold of some dark magic crystal for you so you can create a new mine. I''ll even increase my frequency of visits so you can have enough magic to develop it. Then, so long as you agree to keep your spirits within the dungeon and not let them wander past the forest, I''ll even try to encourage some new adventurers to come to explore. With the new crystal mine, I''m sure plenty of them will be convinced and you won''t have to worry about being bored for a few years, at least."


    Alexander smiled unnaturally as he easily replied


    "Deal."


    Alexander shook his head as he pulled out a dungeon contract. He wasn''t so naive as to expect a Dungeon Master to hold up their end of an agreement so easily. Too many of them had twisted morals and would even try to find loopholes in their dungeon contracts.


    This deal wasn''t exactly going to be cheap on Theodore''s end of things either. Well, he had already bought the crystal and brought it with him, knowing it would more than likely come down to this. However, it was still a painfully expensive magic crystal to get ahold of. Most of the more basic elemental crystals were cheaper, but light and darkness magic crystals were rarer and incredibly expensive.


    Theodore was paid with taxes collected from the towns and cities in the kingdoms he and the other Dungeon Diplomats served in. It was one of the stipulations in the dungeon accords that couldn''t be broken. Originally, his race had a different name, but that information had been lost to time as everyone just knew them as Dungeon Diplomats now.


    His people were born from the union of Dungeon Masters and the other races. So they had the ability to teleport from dungeon to dungeon and could wander the world freely. They also had unique abilities to interact with dungeons'' cores and systems to enforce contracts and check the status of their cores. From their other ancestors, they gained the strength of shapeshifters, the appearance of humans, and an affinity with the dungeons from the elves whose affinity for nature had been twisted.


    Theodore''s mind drifted to Violet as he wondered if she was doing any better now. Perhaps he should visit her again in a few days? Hers was the newest dungeon of those he had bonded with and he couldn''t help but genuinely worry about her naivety and innocence. New dungeons could appear every few decades, but the world was vast and many dungeons also died over the centuries. Theodore hoped that Violet wouldn''t share a similar fate as, despite her flaws, he thought she was quite nice and her dungeon held a good bit of potential.

 1.26 Loot Of The Dead

    When the feeling of the last adventurer leaving the dungeon came over Violet, she was rather surprised to see several notifications more than she had expected. Violet looked it over and saw a few herbs she already had, which gave her 3 DP. However, the more confusing part was the rest of the notifications that listed things like blue dye, copper, pepper, wind magic, and wind magic crystals being added to her [Base Resources] list. Meanwhile, a blue robe, leather belt, coin purse, wooden magic staff, leather satchel, boar jerky, wind magic crystal, hardtack, waterskin, and blood had been added to her [Items] list. There was also another 13 DP from repeats, which meant she had gained 241 DP from one round of tribute.


    When Violet reviewed the list in confusion, she started to get the feeling that someone had died in her dungeon. Not only that, but it would seem that their companions hadn''t retrieved their body or most of their belongings. That seemed rather unfortunate for them, but it was certainly Violet''s gain! Wait, that wasn''t right...


    Violet frowned as she thought that over. It felt like a normal part of life and as if she could accept it as easily as the fact that she had to breathe air to live. However, her memories of being human dictated that it wasn''t normal to feel such indifference towards others dying. Violet started to breathe heavily as she panicked. However, even that didn''t seem to last long as she almost felt the dungeon pulse around her and she began to calm.


    Was the dungeon forcing her to remain calm? Violet had also calmed down rather quickly from the extreme trauma of being forced to die repeatedly as well. While her first death that had brought her into this world and the nightmare of finding her beloved husband dead had been almost unbearable, as she lay on the ground in a panicked and terrified state, the feeling had dissipated now.


    Violet still felt sad about it all and she still felt like she loved her husband. However, the feelings that would otherwise cloud her judgment and make it difficult to function were nowhere to be found. Sure, Violet had always bottled up her feelings until a bigger event pushed her over the edge, but this somehow felt different.


    Shaking her head, Violet pushed the thoughts from her head. She couldn''t make heads or tails of this and it wasn''t helpful to stress over things. Violet knows she has no guarantee that more adventurers won''t show up. It wouldn''t be good for her full mana to go to waste!


    Violet quickly spent the 50 MP on a spawner for her new water room and placed it at the bottom of the pool. Then she asked,


    "Can I research slime evolutions that would allow them to easily move through the water and jump up out of it to attempt to knock adventurers off of platforms?"


    Violet hadn''t actually set up the wooden platforms yet, but she could always do that later.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Base Resources] water and wind magic to create slime evolution aqua slime for 250 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    YesYou could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option. It was a tad expensive, but she would still have 372 DP left, so it wasn''t like she couldn''t afford it. Violet did find it interesting that wind magic was involved in the evolution. Perhaps it was similar to the idea of a balloon where the slimes could switch between a heavier and lighter density using wind magic?


    Regardless, the more important thing to find out was how much it would actually cost Violet to evolve her basic slimes into aqua slimes. Violet pulled up her basic menu and then selected the [Monsters] option. She noted that she now had a new option available.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monster Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Summonable Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contractable Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monster Evolutions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Monster Evolutions] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Available Monster Evolutions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Evolution Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Aqua Slime


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a slime to evolve. Requires a suitable environment with a significant amount of water for it to live in. Does very little combat damage, but is capable of evolving into larger varieties of slime.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet found it interesting that the definition now clarified the slime could evolve, but specifically into larger slimes. Perhaps they could only have one specialty evolution, but were able to evolve into larger sizes as a separate consideration? Of course, it was also pretty interesting to note that the evolutions required dungeon points instead of mana. That would make things much more convenient since Violet could still have 5 slimes for a 50 MP spawner, even with the evolved versions.


    Outside the dungeon, Emerald Dawn and Cirdan Wynstone had gone to the local tavern. It was much quieter than they were used to. Most drinking establishments had adventurers who were loudly telling stories and celebrating their recent successes. Here, there were few patrons and most were quietly drinking by themselves.


    "I don''t know what he was thinking wandering off by himself. He better not blame us for leaving him in there! We don''t have all day to wait around for him."


    Emerald complained. Cirdan just gave a polite smile as he replied


    "I''m sure he will be fine. It isn''t like it was particularly dangerous. We even spent several hours on that puzzle without being ambushed by [Monsters]. I doubt there even was anything besides slime on that floor. It''s a real shame there weren''t, at least, more of them. It would make a fine dungeon for beginners if there were more [Monsters] to fight."


    Emerald nodded, but seemed to sober up considerably as she asked in a hushed voice


    "What if he does die, though?"


    Cirdan shook his head as he replied


    "It matters not, adventurers die every day. Besides, my people believe that death is a natural part of life and human don''t tend to live very long lives anyway. They live even shorter lives when they choose a life of adventuring."


    Emerald nodded in agreement. She hadn''t been particularly fond of Gale anyway. She changed the conversation to discussions of what to do from there. Whether it would be best for Cirdan and her to part ways or stick together and look for new party members. While they didn''t know each other that well either, a healer was always valuable and Cirdan was easygoing enough that Emerald didn''t mind remaining in a party with him for a bit longer.

 1.27 Slime Parkour

    No more adventurers showed up that day. Instead, Violet just spent the remainder of her time, until David showed up for their nightly training, practicing with her sword. There was plenty of time to practice swinging the sword through the air as a Dungeon Master. Really, Violet was likely to become quite skilled, even after David no longer showed up to train her. She did have all of eternity to practice, after all.


    "I see you are taking your training seriously."


    David''s voice called out across the wildflower meadow as he entered the dungeon. Violet smiled as she said


    "Yes, well, there isn''t much else to keep me busy here. Gets a bit boring and it is good to have something to focus my mind on."


    David nodded as he replied


    "Yes, well, swordsmanship training is a good way to spend your free time. The more you practice, the sooner you will make progress."


    The fact that David would no longer have to remain in this city once he finished training Violet to a satisfactory level went unsaid. However, it was more than obvious to Violet that this was the case. As much as Violet would rather David become her friend so that she could have someone to trust in this world, she couldn''t force it.


    Sure, David had traumatized her by killing her repeatedly, but the painful memories of that were already starting to fade away. Now, Violet was just left with other, more mild feelings. She could more easily see that David had just been trying to help her and that he was too clueless about how Dungeon Masters worked to be trustworthy. Well, maybe people, in general, didn''t know much about how Dungeon Masters and their connection to the dungeon functioned. However, that didn''t mean that they all had bad intentions.


    "I brought ginger for you today. Do you have anything in particular that you need me to bring for you?"


    Violet thought it over for a bit before replying


    "I could use a variety of berries. I''d like to make some fruit bushes, eventually."


    David nodded in understanding. Berries would be cheap enough to obtain that it shouldn''t be an issue.


    "Alice wants to see that puzzle you were talking about the other day. Is there any way that we could move our training to that room for the day?"


    David clearly no longer had any reservations about exploring more of the dungeon now that he knew there wouldn''t be any [Traps] until they got close to the dungeon core room. Violet nodded before heading off towards one of the entrances.


    "I''ll take you through the side where I haven''t built anything yet. The other side is still under construction and would be more difficult to traverse."


    David held Alice''s hand and Luna walked on Alice''s other side. Violet''s heart ached at the sight as she was reminded of her desire to have children with her own husband. That was no longer possible now, but it didn''t keep Violet from finding the pair adorable together.


    Alice''s black hair contrasted with David''s blonde hair quite a bit, but they shared the same blue eye color. They were also very clearly a happy family. Violet wondered if Alice''s mother had black hair. However, she wasn''t about to ask about it since there was every possibility that the mother could be deceased. Violet would hate to make the young girl sad by asking such a personal question.


    "Alright, this is the puzzle room. Since Alice will be the one completing the puzzle, I''ll be nice and give her a hint on how to complete the puzzle. You have to join the pieces together and lay them out flat within the puzzle frame."


    Alice smiled happily as she went off to complete the puzzle. Luna was quick to chase after her tripping over itself as it did so. Violet wasn''t sure if the quest reward would show up for Luna, even if she did complete the puzzle successfully. She knew Alice had the beast-tamer class, but she didn''t know if she had a system the way other adventurers were supposed to. Of course, for all Violet knew, it was the dungeon''s system that showed up to adventurers to issue the challenge and quest rewards.


    "That was nice of you, but don''t do that too often. She has to learn just how difficult it can be to figure out dungeon puzzles. Some of them have [Traps] built in and she can end up dying, if she isn''t careful. I don''t want her to end up handicapped by having things too easy now."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Violet nodded while looking at David with wide eyes. She hadn''t intended to cause issues. Violet just knew that the other adventurers had struggled so much with the puzzle that it was likely too difficult for the young girl to figure out as well. She''d have to be careful in the future to not give out hints so easily.


    Since Violet was still too inexperienced with swordsmanship, most of their training session was spent going through the motions rather than on mock combat. Apparently, it could take years to master the skill and most children started practicing with the sword at a rather young age. They''d be given wooden toy swords when they were still in the single digits and then be gifted a better sword when they were twelve years old.


    While having a swordsmanship class or similar would make it more sensible to continue training with a sword. Apparently, many adventurer''s children and children of nobility would still get some training, even if they never awoke a class. Violet supposed this made sense since this world was a dangerous place with both dungeons and wild [Monsters]. It was important to be able to protect oneself.


    Of course, this only highlighted just how weak Violet truly was in this world. The fact that she couldn''t even wield a weapon to protect herself, much less not having [Monster] abilities or a class meant she was a rather pitifully weak Dungeon Master. However, Violet wouldn''t let this handicap stop her. She could always just work hard to make up for her weaknesses and ensure they wouldn''t continue into the future.


    Filling in the first floor of the dungeon more would also likely help a great deal. With enough puzzles, [Monster] fields, and [Traps], her dungeon would be able to protect itself more and more every day. While the limitation on [Traps] on the first floor was a bit of a handicap, it wasn''t like Violet couldn''t slow people and [Monsters] down, if not kill them, through other means. There had already been one adventurer death in the dungeon, after all.


    After David left for the night, Violet rested for a short while. She rubbed her shoulders, feeling sore. It was likely that a short nap would fix that, since the dungeon had incredible healing properties, but there were other things to take care of first.


    Violet headed to her room with the water pool and spent 40 MP on building eight wooden platforms. She made sure to space them out well so that it would be possible to cross the room without going for a swim, but it would require a good bit of skill to do so. Then she spent 10 MP and 25 DP to create an aqua slime for the room.


    While there were still other slimes to purchase for the room, Violet felt the room was complete enough to finally set the theme for the room.


    "I''d like to set this room''s theme as ''slime parkour''"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set the theme for this room? This will cost 150 DP. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but upgrades will be unlocked for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Slime Parkour


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet once more selected the [Yes] option, happy to see the system actually used the theme she wanted the first time. However, this was only part of what Violet needed to complete for the room.


    "I''d like to research wild violet and honey lollipops using the violet, honey, sugar, water, and wood [Base Resources]."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Searching the database for ''lollipop''...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unable to find ''lollipop'' in database. Now searching the host''s memory.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet groaned as she began to feel a piercing headache begin to build up in her mind. However, while her vision swam, she didn''t pass out. Violet was grateful as she''d have hated to end up drowning in the water of her slime parkour room.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research wild violets & honey lollipops using the [Base Resources] violets, honey, sugar, water, and wood?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option once more before spending another 10 DP to set the lollipops as a challenge reward. The challenge for the room would require the room to be crossed without swimming, touching, falling, or otherwise interacting with the water. Since the slimes would be attempting to knock adventurers off of the wooden platforms the entire time and could easily take people by surprise, Violet imagined this would be quite difficult to do.

 1.28 Goblin Attack

    The next day, Violet noted that her kodama had brought her black-eyed susans, butterfly weed flowers, and two repeats. So, Violet now had 13 MP from her daily mana regen and another 72 DP. As there wasn''t much she could actually do with so little MP, Violet just bought another aqua slime for 10 MP and 25 DP.


    Now, she would have one normal slime in the wildflower meadow and two aqua slimes in the slime parkour room. That likely wasn''t enough to really make much of a difference if Violet actually had to defend the dungeon from attack. However, Violet also kind of doubted that any number of slimes would really be that helpful since the best they could do was knock enemies down and keep them slightly distracted.


    Of course, this notion was soon put to the test as five goblins entered the dungeon. Violet was somewhat confused by the idea of adventurers entering the dungeon so early in the day. The only one who would normally come so early in the day was Gregory and his son Henry. This was likely because they were used to waking up early for farmwork, but that was neither here nor there.


    When Violet went to investigate, she was shocked as she watched a party of five goblins attacking her flower meadow slime. Two were wielding spears, one had a wooden club, one had a bone knife, and the last, apparently, had earth magic. Violet was quite startled as she watched the floor of her dungeon lift as it rippled and sent her slime flying past her and into the wall.


    While the goblins had been failing to defeat the slime previously due to not attacking its core, the act of throwing it against a wall with so much force certainly did the trick. Violet gripped her iron sword tightly as she felt her heartbeat skyrocket. Goblins were a lot smarter than zombies and this was likely to be her first real test in regards to protecting her dungeon. It was time to sink or swim.


    Mudmag cheered in delight as the slime disintegrated and he was filled with energy. The party''s leader, a female wielding a spear, gave him a smile and Mudmag puffed his chest up with pride. On the leader''s orders, Mudmag and another of their group ran through the door on the opposite side of the room while the leader and two of the others in their group charged the strange human.


    The leader had convinced them that they should attack the dungeon to steal the orb of energy at its center. She had promised to reward whoever got it for her and Mudmag was quite excited to do just that. This was his big chance! He couldn''t fail now.


    All his life, he had been known as a weakling who was weird for enjoying mud baths. However, his strange hobby paid off when he was granted the unique opportunity to become a powerful earth elementalist! Many of his peers now admired him, much in the way that he liked to admire boats, and his position would be secured if he could marry their leader''s daughter. Maybe he could even take over the position of leader himself one day?


    Mudmag pushed open the door to the room with the help of the club user and they quickly made their way through the hallway. However, he started to grow frustrated as he went around in circles. Was this the entrance he had come from or was it a different one? As the strange human came through the door, Mudmag ran away, ducking through the next entrance. However, his companion was not so lucky.


    Mudmag''s mind raced as he considered the implications of seeing the human. Had their leader been killed? Were his hopes and dreams already being crushed this easily? No! He refused, if Mudmag couldn''t go with his original plan then he''d just have to take the energy orb for himself! If he could become strong enough, then Mudmag was bound to have his pick of the female goblins in his tribe.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    However, Mudmag once more became frustrated as he took in the next room. How was he supposed to get across this water? He clumsily jumped onto the first platform before grumbling as he tried to jump to the next one. However, as he did so, something jumped out of the water and crashed into him, knocking him into the water.


    Mudmag desperately thrashed as he tried to get to the nearest platform. However, just as he was starting to climb up, the strange human showed up. With a clean arc, Violet''s sword swung through the air and Mudmag was beheaded, his body sinking deep into the water.


    It had been easier to dispatch of the goblins than Violet had anticipated. Sure, she had quite a few nasty gashes and she had even twisted her ankle, but that would all heal quickly enough. Perhaps goblins were considered beginner [Monsters] for a reason. They had been clumsy in their attempts to use their weapons, even more so than Violet.


    She had taken out the spear users first, wary of how much reach they had. However, that had given the bone knife user the opportunity to get a few attacks in. Then, Violet had caught a rather dazed-looking club-wielding goblin in the roundabout hallway who had barely even thought to raise the weapon before Violet had stabbed it through the chest.


    While the earth elementalist was her biggest concern, Violet had gotten lucky that he was incapacitated by her new slimes. It was nice that her investment was already paying off, but it was still concerning to have [Monsters] running through her dungeon so easily.


    Soon enough, the dungeon absorbed the bodies of the goblins and their gear. Violet now had earth magic among her [Base Resources] and wooden clubs, stone spears, bone knives, hide skirts, and hide dresses were among the new [Items] she had received. All in all, she had ended up with another 82 DP and some reassurance that her training was worthwhile.


    Fortunately, having so many goblins in the dungeon at once meant that Violet''s mana could still reach full, even if the fight hadn''t lasted very long. Violet was definitely sure she needed to bolster her defenses some more to prepare for similar attacks in the future.


    She quickly headed to the room closest to her dungeon core room. This room was still largely an empty grass field with the sun shining down. Violet couldn''t do much about the feelings of emptiness this time around, but she already knew what she wanted to build in this room. She quickly spent 50 MP on a spawner for the room. Some more [Monsters] would be good for the dungeon, even if they were weak.


    "I''d like to research long grass so I can make a hay field."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 4 DP to research long grass using the [Base Resource] grass?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    This was an easy decision for Violet, who quickly selected [Yes]. It would only cost 2 MP / 100 Square Units, but it wasn''t like Violet had any mana left right now, so it would have to wait. Instead, she headed back to her slime parkour room. Pulling up the room upgrades screen, violet spent 85 DP to set the sky to midnight, the weather to always raining, and the temperature and humidity to always reflect the weather.


    Maybe it seemed a bit cruel, but Violet was perfectly willing to use her room upgrade features to her advantage. Adventurers could always swim across, use magic lights, or take a different route. However, [Monsters] were often stupid enough that this would work quite well as a way to slow them down, if not kill them. It would be more difficult to complete the challenge, but it was hard for Violet to care very much about that when her own life was at stake.


    "Forgive me, honey, but I think a lot more people are going to die here than I was previously hoping..."

 1.29 The Raven & The Druid

    Elivyre had come to the town of Millstone at her father''s behest. Apparently, he was willing to fund her opening a new alchemy shop so long as she was willing to move to this quaint little farming town.


    Bramouth city was a large and well-established city built near a dungeon that was several hundred years old. There was a fair number of plants spread across its twenty-five floors, but there was also a lot of competition to contend with. It simply wasn''t practical for new merchants to try to compete with long-standing businesses with merchants who were far more experienced than Elivyre. As such, she was sent off to Millstone to investigate.


    From what little Elivyre had heard, a new dungeon had recently formed in the area and it was supposed to be relatively safe for a dungeon. However, the main thing Elivyre cared about was that the dungeon seemed to have an abundance of flowers, herbs, and other plant life to harvest. Such easy access to the plants would mean easy business for Elivyre. It was likely she''d not only be able to produce potions in abundance, but she''d also be able to sell her father the herbs adventurers brought to her for a bargain.


    That was the deal for paying the startup costs for Elivyre''s shop was that she had to send a free crate of herbs every month and that she sold the rest to her father for a good deal. However, so far, all Elivyre had to go on were rumors. That and the fact that some adventurer named David and his daughter kept selling her the same plants every day. Mostly acorns and wildflowers, but they were still quite useful.


    Since the dungeon was supposed to be safe enough, anyway, Elivyre decided to check it out herself. As a D-rank druid, she really wasn''t strong enough to enter most dungeons, but she figured it should be safe enough if slimes were the primary [Monster]. Elivyre gave her gear one last look over before stepping into the dungeon.


    After a short walk through a hallway, she came to the first room. The artificial sun, slight breeze, and the peaceful scene of a wildflower meadow were rather surprising. It almost seemed too peaceful to be a dungeon. However, Elivyre''s half-elf nature made it easy to tell that the scene in front of her was not quite as abundant with life as it really should be. It was hard to become fully immersed in the beauty of dungeons as an elf, or half-elf, since one''s affinity for nature gave things away way too easily.


    Elivyre was sure that the experience the slime would give wouldn''t do much for her levels. Maybe if she killed it repeatedly, she might get a level or two today, but it didn''t really seem worth the time and effort. Instead, Elivyre headed for the oak tree where she began to pick up acorns and place them into a basket. So long as the slime left her be, she''d be happy to leave it be as well. It wasn''t like it could do that much damage anyways so it would be a waste to spend her mana on summoning earth magic.


    Diva, Elivyre''s pet raven, flew off of her shoulder and Elivyre just continued to gather acorns. As a druid, she had even more of an affinity for beasts than most elves. Diva had a habit of being dramatic, but was also a very proud bird. Still, Elivyre enjoyed her raven''s company and would happily bring it wherever she went. Today wasn''t any different and she was grateful to know Diva would watch over her while she harvested the plants available.


    The rumors had certainly been true and it was difficult for Elivyre to stop collecting the wildflowers, acorns, and even honey that was available in the dungeon. However, it was possible that there would be more to collect in other rooms and her basket was already full. She''d already have to switch to filling her satchel with the plants.


    Elivyre looked at the two directions she could go thoughtfully before finally moving forward. Diva cawed as it circled above her before gently coming to a stop as it landed on her outstretched arm. Together they continued through the doorway and down a short hallway. When they got to the small roundabout, Elivyre remarked


    "The Dungeon Master must be smart to use this method. Most Dungeon Masters use hallways that are really long with many twists and turns to confuse adventurers, but I think I prefer this. Those who aren''t paying attention can still get confused, but we won''t fall prey to that so easily, will we?"


    Elivyre talked to Diva who made small noises in response. Elivyre dropped a flower in front of the entrance they had just left and walked around the hallway. When she arrived at a new entrance, she continued forward. While it was possible that the dungeon could play tricks, this was the easiest way to tell where one had been whenever things were simple. It was a shame to leave the wildflower on the ground, but there was plenty more where it had come from. So, it was no big loss.


    "Hmm, this room is empty. I guess that should be expected with such a new dungeon. Let''s continue on, shall we?"


    Elivyre continued forward, using the same trick at the next roundabout hallway. The next room was also empty and this caused her to frown. It was starting to look like a waste of energy to keep continuing forward. However, it wasn''t like Elivyre had anything better to do today. She could afford to spend a bit more time exploring.


    Once more going through a roundabout hallway, Elivyre came to the next room. This one brought up a system message about some sort of challenge.


    "Let''s see here... It wants us to cross the room without swimming, touching, or otherwise interacting with the water, but it is raining. It''ll be difficult enough to cross in such a dark area while it is raining. However, it would be even more disappointing if we were automatically disqualified just because it is raining."


    Elivyre decided to just return back the way she had come. She hoped the Dungeon Master wouldn''t be upset by her ignoring the challenge. However, Elivyre hadn''t brought a magic light and she was worried that her basket of flowers would be lost. The torch supplies Elivyre had brought in her satchel wouldn''t help her if it was raining. The rain would just put the torch out and she''d just end up wasting supplies that would be better used elsewhere.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    While there was another room Elivyre could go to, she had the distinct feeling that it was where the dungeon core room was. She had no intention of upsetting the Dungeon Master, so Elivyre just returned to the second room where she entered the room she had skipped previously.


    This time, Elivyre found the challenge much easier to accept. The artificial sun and lack of a proper weather system meant that the environment was more suitable for completing a challenge. However, Elivyre wasn''t sure what a jigsaw puzzle was. The fact the notification specified it was slime-themed did give her a clue, though.


    Elivyre looked around the room as her raven companion flew off once more. Picking up a few of the large puzzle pieces, Elivyre noted that the pieces were flat pieces of smoothed wood with different-shaped bits sticking out from the sides. Perhaps the puzzle pieces needed to be combined somehow?


    Elivyre gathered up more of the pieces and brought them to the center of the room where a large wooden area created a divot in the ground. It seemed likely that this part of the room was related to the puzzle. From what she could gather, Elivyre figured she needed to combine the puzzle pieces together to form a slime somehow. However, this was easier said than done.


    The pieces did not combine together so easily and they didn''t really seem to want to be combined at an angle. So, it would seem that it was unlikely that the puzzle required any sort of depth to the slime depiction. This led Elivyre to the conclusion that it was likely that the puzzle needed to be filled in as a flat layer on the puzzle board. However, Diva''s cawing made it clear that it was time to go.


    "Alright, girl, let''s go. I''ll get you a nice treat when we get home."


    Violet was pleasantly surprised to find she had a rather nice tribute once those adventuring in her dungeon left. She had become more sensitive over time and could now tell the number of adventurers who were visiting the dungeon. It was strange, but it felt like different sorts of energy. So, when a large weak mass of energy and a small weak mass of energy entered the dungeon, Violet correctly guessed that a single adventurer with a pet of some sort had entered the dungeon.


    Yet, despite this, she had been left with three new [Items] as tribute. Rosemary, sage, and yarrow were added to both the [Base Resources] and [Items] lists as well as giving Violet 105 DP. This put her at a total of 357 DP as well as having a full 50 MP from the recent visitors.


    Violet quickly headed to her slime parkour room and spent 30 MP and 75 DP to purchase the last three aqua slimes for the room. Then, she headed to the room she wanted to turn into a hay meadow [Monster] field.


    "Is there any way to make slimes that blend into the surroundings? You know, kind of like chameleons?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Error! Missing required [Base Resources] to complete research.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet frowned at that as she asked


    "Is there any chance you can give me an idea of what I''d need to accomplish that?"


    The system didn''t answer Violet. She sighed as she opened her [Base Resources] list. Either she''d need some sort of magic or she''d need some other way to allow the slimes to change their colors. It was a long shot, but Violet had recently received blue dye as a [Base Resource] so, perhaps, researching more dye colors could work.


    "I''d like to research white dye using white clover flowers, red dye using bee balm flowers, and yellow dye using dandelions."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research white dye using the [Base Resource] white clover flowers?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research red dye using the [Base Resource] bee balm flowers?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research yellow dye using the [Base Resource] dandelions?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The notifications came up one after another and Violet selected the [Yes] option for each. Then, she tried to think of a way to create the color black. She didn''t really have a way to make charcoal or any naturally black [Items] like ink.


    However, Violet had been a graphic designer and had taken a few art classes in school. She knew how to make black paint by mixing colors together. Mixing red, yellow, and blue together could result in brown, but it could also make black, depending on how much of each color was used.


    "I''d like to research black dye using red dye, yellow dye, and blue dye."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research black dye using the [Base Resources] red dye, yellow dye, and blue dye?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option. It was unfortunate that the cost was higher, but Violet suspected that had to do with both the number of resources involved and the complexity of the [Item] she wanted to make. Finally, having all the basic colors, she asked


    "Can I research a camouflage slime evolution using red dye, yellow dye, blue dye, black dye, and white dye?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Base Resources] red dye, yellow dye, blue dye, black dye, and white dye to create slime evolution [Chameleon Slime] for 250 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected [No] since she didn''t have enough dungeon points to do so.

 1.30 The New Arrangement

    Violet sighed and walked to her slime jigsaw room. While she couldn''t afford any big upgrades right now, she could still make some minor improvements before starting to save up for the big purchases. Violet went through her menus and selected the options to set the jigsaw room''s sky to always be dusk, the weather to always be sunny, and the temperature and humidity to always reflect the weather. This brought down another 85 DP, leaving her with 147 DP.


    Considering Violet had more than 600 DP just a day ago, the 147 DP felt quite small. However, it was hard for Violet to complain when she had gotten quite a few useful upgrades thanks to it. Besides, she would, hopefully, gain more dungeon points soon enough.


    Next, Violet wandered off to the room she wanted to turn into a hay meadow and spent 12 MP applying long grass, yarrow, and butterfly weed flowers to the room. This left only 8 MP remaining, which wasn''t really enough to do anything meaningful. So, Violet laid down to take a nap in the room until David showed up for training.


    "I''m sorry, I wasn''t able to get any berries for you today. There, apparently, aren''t any in the forest near here and I had to special order them. I bought you something else I thought you might like, though."


    David showed Violet a long, thin pod and she furrowed her brows in confusion as she asked


    "Is that a vanilla bean pod?"


    David nodded enthusiastically as he replied


    "Yep! They can be a bit expensive since most dungeons don''t grow them, but I figured I could afford to splurge on one since the other [Items] you asked for are fairly cheap in comparison. Although, I do hope you have some new rooms for us to collect resources from soon. It''s going to be a while before the adventurers guild will be able to offer me a job and I need to be able to cover my living costs as well as these tributes."


    Violet frowned, feeling a tad bit guilty that David was going so far out of his way to buy things for her. I mean, sure, his contract required him to purchase tributes for her that could cost as much as the resources in her dungeon allowed. That didn''t exactly leave much leftover to cover other living costs and David had a little girl to look after. Violet wasn''t sure how much it would help, but she said


    "I do have a hay meadow now. It has butterfly weed flowers and yarrow you can harvest. I doubt the grass would have much value, but it''s something, at least. I don''t really have enough dungeon points and mana to build any faster than I already am. Plus, I need a better variety of tributes before I can add a better variety of plants to the dungeon.


    It has to be things that fit the meadow theme as well, which is why I want the berries. Honestly, my new slime parkour challenge room just barely counts as a meadow by the system. It''s like the system has classified the water pool as a giant river or pond, even though the room is primarily made up of said pool of water.


    Of course, if you are willing to spend more time in the dungeon, you could always try out some more of the challenges I have set up. They all have rewards that you could keep or sell for completing the challenges. I think, so far, I have iced carrot bread in the slime jigsaw room and wild violet and honey lollipops in the slime parkour room."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    David slightly tilted his head as he asked


    "What is a lollipop? The bread is a bit strange, but I''ve, at least, heard of bread before."


    Violet smiled as she explained


    "It''s just a type of sweet candy that is held on a stick for convenience. It keeps your hands from getting sticky and you are supposed to lick or suck on it while you slowly enjoy the flavor."


    David had heard of candies before, so he just nodded in understanding before asking


    "Wouldn''t it be difficult for you if we stayed in the dungeon too long?"


    Violet pursed her lips before answering


    "Well, it would actually be more helpful, so long as you leave occasionally and take a short break. Then I can spend the mana on more upgrades in between your attempts. I will note that the puzzles do reset when you leave the room empty for a short while. So, you''ll have to complete the puzzle before you leave or else you''ll be forced to start over."


    David seemed bothered as he thought over Violet''s words. Finally, he asked


    "Are you going to get upset with us if we don''t leave a separate tribute each time we re-enter the dungeon?"


    Violet shook her head as she replied


    "I''m not going to turn down tributes, but you can consider it one visit if you are just exiting the dungeons for a short break. You''d be helping me out anyway."


    David nodded, looking determined as he replied


    "Alright, we can do that, but I expect you to continue to train while I attempt things. I''ll give this parkour challenge an attempt once a day and then let my daughter attempt the jigsaw puzzle. Then we will take a break before we come back and switch to collecting plants instead."


    It wasn''t quite an infinite source of mana, but the extra 50 MP a day would certainly be beneficial. So, Violet was willing to take what she could get and accepted David''s choice.


    David stripped his excess gear off and left it with his daughter while he tried to carefully jump from wooden platform to wooden platform. He refused to let Alice attempt the challenge claiming it was too dangerous and she was too young. Violet couldn''t really argue with that since there was every possibility that David could end up slipping on the wet platforms, hitting his head, and then drowning.


    While Violet had been, basically, tortured by David at one point, she didn''t exactly want the guy to die. She''d rather he continue to be useful to her and that his daughter didn''t have to watch him die. So, she was a bit nervous as she watched him carefully jump from one platform to the next. Whenever a slime would jump up and try to knock him off, he''d move his upper body to dodge or punch them to knock them away. However, halfway across, a slime took him by surprise as he was jumping through the air and he slipped and fell into the water. Thankfully, he just ended up soaked rather than dead.


    David said nothing about the frustrating puzzle as he swam back to where he had started and gathered his gear. He''d have to wait until his clothes dried to put his armor back on. Violet wasn''t sure how much help the now much darker puzzle room would be. However, David also said nothing about this, just pulling out a magic lantern for his daughter from a backpack.


    Alice happily ran off, eager to start the puzzle. Violet wished her good luck in her heart, but said nothing aloud. She didn''t want to upset David by being overly friendly with his daughter. She was still young and impressionable. Plus, the recent changes to the dungeon made it very clear where Violet stands. She would put her own life before that of the adventurers who entered her dungeon.

 1.31 Loneliness

    After David left the first time, Violet quickly got to work spending her mana. After absorbing his tribute, she now had 182 DP, so it wouldn''t be possible to do anything too crazy just yet. Instead, Violet just spent 50 MP on a new spawner for the other side room she had yet to do anything with. Then, she spent the rest of the time David was away swinging her sword around. No use in wasting precious time doing nothing and there was no time for a nap anyway.


    David returned, looking around curiously, as if trying to figure out what had changed in the short time he was away. However, due to the [Monster] spawners not actually being visible, in normal circumstances, there was nothing to see. Shrugging it off, David began to spar with Violet while Alice gathered plants.


    "You''re starting to improve, it seems like. A few more years of practicing your swings and engaging in combat against enemies and you''d likely be just as good as me."


    Violet gave a small smile in response. She didn''t say it aloud, but she knew it was also quite possible she could even surpass David thanks to her unnaturally long life. Which would be ideal for Violet since it was always good to add another layer of protection to her dungeon. If a particularly powerful enemy invaded the dungeon, it would even be better to risk her core corrupting from dying repeatedly than to risk dying permanently.


    Violet still wasn''t sure how she felt about living such a long life, especially when she would always have a sense of lingering loneliness. She didn''t want to move on and forget her husband, Lee, and she''d rather spend eternity alone than to love another man. However, it wasn''t like Violet had to give up on all of her dreams altogether. She could always help the children of this world to grow stronger and ensure they could live longer lives as a result.


    It wasn''t quite the same thing as becoming a mother, but it would be as close as Violet could get. Maybe a dungeon was too much of a dangerous place for it to be considered comparable with being a teacher. However, there was clearly some value for the residents of this world in Violet''s dungeon being a place where children could train, level up, and grow stronger.


    Violet''s distracted thoughts made it difficult to concentrate on the fight at hand. She was lucky it was just mock training and that David had to treat her much more delicately. Otherwise, she was likely to not only end up hurt, but she''d be putting the dungeon core and her actual life in danger. Violet noted that she''d have to be careful about that in the future.


    After a while of training in the wildflower meadow, they switched to the hay meadow room. Alice struggled with finding the new plants, at first, due to how tall the grass in the room was. However, her wolf tame, Luna, was very enthusiastic about helping and would bark excitedly to let Alice know whenever she found something useful.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Violet was careful not to let the barking distract her, trying her best to keep her mind from wandering too much. As cute as Alice and Luna were, it was important to practice fighting with a clear mind now if Violet was going to be capable of it in the future. It was only a few short hours after that David and Alice called it a day and left the dungeon once more.


    Violet returned to her empty side room and got to work sculpting the room. First, she created a narrow diagonal river across the room. This took up 40 Square Units, but it was 5-Units deep, amounting to 20 MP to dig out the 200 Cubic Units and another 10 MP to fill it with water. That left 20 MP, which was promptly spent on two apple trees on the side of the room closest to the dungeon entrance.


    The river water didn''t really move and it only took up, roughly, a third of the room. However, Violet felt it would be a nice start to a floodplains meadow. Perhaps she could even, eventually, research a way to make it resemble a more natural river? Violet wasn''t really sure what limitations she really had, but it would certainly be a nice addition to the dungeon. So, she remained hopeful.


    While Violet didn''t necessarily need sleep, she still preferred to sleep at night. It helped to pass the time while the exhaustion faded away and any injuries healed. Even if David was careful with her, it didn''t prevent blisters and bruises from practice. Violet wasn''t sure if she was fortunate to not have calluses form. Her hands would always remain soft thanks to the dungeon''s restorative properties, but that also meant any extensive training would hurt her hands for a while afterward.


    Violet decided to enjoy a nice bath in the new river, even washing her clothes and setting them out to sun dry while she did so. While the dungeon was very convenient when it came to most things, that didn''t mean Violet would magically be clean as well. Her dress didn''t seem capable of being damaged, but it wasn''t dirt-resistant.


    The first few days in this world were fine to go without bathing and washing her clothes, but Violet was a modern woman who was used to enjoying luxuries like showers and clean clothes. She couldn''t stand the idea of only bathing a few times a year the way people in medieval times did. Violet couldn''t really say if this world was the same when it came to hygiene as she didn''t exactly run around sniffing people and getting in their personal space.


    It was entirely possible that they just had magic technology that did much of the same things that modern-day appliances did, but it was also quite possible the world truly was entirely medieval in nature. Violet couldn''t exactly go out and explore the world and she didn''t really feel that comfortable with David or Gregory to ask such questions. Not only were they men, which made it more embarrassing, but they didn''t exactly think of her as their friend. As such, it was difficult for Violet to feel a real sense of companionship with them.


    After her bath, Violet put her mostly dry dress back on and went to the puzzle room to sleep. It was the only room that got dark enough to make sleep easy without the possibility of it raining. Violet didn''t exactly regret making the wildflower meadow follow springtime weather patterns, but it certainly didn''t change the fact that she didn''t want to sleep in the rain.

 1.32 Dungeon Tour

    The next morning, Violet was surprised to find her kodama hadn''t found anything new. Still, she couldn''t complain about the 5 DP it had earned her when it was such a hardworking thing. Violet just shrugged it off and spent 10 MP of her daily 13 MP regen to create another apple tree in her floodplains meadow room. It wasn''t much, but it was still progress.


    Rather than continue sword training so early in the morning, Violet wandered off to her wildflower meadow room to watch her slime aimlessly bounce about. It was still early in the day and the room was overcast and cloudy, which was nice since it wasn''t fun to be blinded by the sun first thing in the morning.


    Before she knew it, Violet had a visitor. This time, it seemed to be a single individual. There was no smaller energy signature, though, so Violet doubted it was the same adventurer from before. She had to wonder if her dungeon was really weak enough to merit adventurers coming by themselves. It would be unfortunate for more people to die and their bodies to never even end up being retrieved.


    Violet wasn''t actually sure if the people of this world cared about burying their dead and holding funerals for them. However, that was certainly what she was used to and she could only find it sad for the dead to be absorbed by her dungeon. Who could even say if their families would ever know what had happened? Would the dead even ever get to be mourned?


    As Violet pondered these questions, Theodore walked into the room. He smiled as he saw Violet and greeted


    "Greetings, Violet. How have you been since we last met?"


    Theodore wouldn''t normally talk so casually to a Dungeon Master since most were temperamental. However, he found Violet responded to the more friendly approach better than most. Perhaps this was just part of her personality. It isn''t like a dungeon system would hard lock a Dungeon Master into a specific theme unless it was an integral part of who they were. It was likely that Violet''s true nature was more innocent and benevolent than any other Dungeon Master Theodore had ever met.


    "I''ve been alright. Adventurers come by fairly often and I''ve made quite a few new themed rooms. I also have more [Monsters] now."


    Theodore nodded before asking


    "Do you mind giving me a tour of everything? You don''t have to, if you don''t want to. I can always do so by myself after I check the status of the dungeon core."


    Violet shook her head as she insisted


    "No, it''s fine! I would actually rather enjoy the company. I haven''t been interacting with the adventurers as much and it''s gotten a bit lonely."


    Theodore frowned at that. Most Dungeon Masters didn''t converse with adventurers at all, but none had ever mentioned feeling lonely before. Theodore couldn''t personally visit every day since he had other responsibilities to attend to. However, he had to wonder if there even was that much he could do.


    "Has David not been training you in my absence? That would be a breach of contract on his part."


    Violet shook her head emphatically as she assured


    "No, he has been here every night. He always brings tribute as well. Although, it sounds like he is having a hard time with his finances. I thought he was going to be given a job with the adventurer''s guild?"


    Theodore almost looked angry as he replied


    "He shouldn''t be bothering you with that. He is lucky his punishment isn''t more severe. I can''t make the builders work faster just so one person can have a job sooner. It will take a few months before they are even able to send people out here to set things up. He will just have to wait until then. Just think of it like he was charged a fee as a penalty for his actions.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Is he just complaining at you and not being friendly enough? I can have him replaced with someone else, if you want? An amendment contract would have to be drawn up and he''d likely be forced to become an indentured servant until he can pay off the cost of your training. However, that isn''t something for you to worry about. He''d still be getting off rather lightly considering his crimes."


    Violet looked horrified as she listened to Theodore. She became agitated as she waved her hands around and insisted


    "No! No, that''s not necessary! He isn''t doing anything wrong on his end. I just don''t feel quite comfortable with anyone. I can tell they don''t think of me as a friend and that there is this distance between me and everyone else. They don''t trust me and so I don''t feel comfortable being vulnerable around them. I can''t talk freely with them."


    Theodore''s expression softened as he looked Violet over. He was upsetting her and it was now more than clear that the problem was more complicated than he had expected. He sighed as he explained


    "Unfortunately, there isn''t much that can be done about that. Few people trust Dungeon Masters and the only reason there is even this level of peace is thanks to the dungeon accords. Dungeons used to be more unfair and adventurers used to destroy or take the dungeon cores for their own devices. The Dungeon Masters never quite stopped being bloodthirsty and they still don''t tend to try to interact with adventurers.


    Over the last few hundred years, I''ve heard of a few dungeons popping up, every now and again, that take a more peaceful approach. However, most end up succumbing to attacks by [Monsters] or the Dungeon Master''s sense of morality changes as they find themselves falling prey to the people of this world. You have been doing surprisingly well while maintaining your sanity thus far. It''s really to be commended, but I do hope you have considered some way to protect yourself."


    Theodore didn''t mention it, but there was also the matter of how Dungeon Masters who were evolved from [Monsters] or beasts usually had an easier time of things. They would fill their dungeons with similar [Monsters] that they felt a sense of kinship with and they don''t have the social needs that people do. Many human who originated from this world would bring their families into the dungeons with them or take lovers who could keep them company. However, that, obviously, wouldn''t work for Violet.


    Violet looked sad as she replied


    "Well, just take a look for yourself."


    They had arrived at the slime parkour room and it was nearly pitch dark with rain pouring heavily from the sky while the slimes in the water arced through the air, excited to show off for Violet as they could sense she was nearby.


    "This is a challenge room where you are supposed to jump from platform to platform to reach the other side without touching the water below. However, the rain makes the wooden platforms slick and the slimes jump out of the water to attempt to knock people and [Monsters] off. Even if you aren''t going for the challenge, too much armor will make it hard to swim across and you''d risk the dungeon absorbing it. There is also a side door that has no ledge to step onto, so you could end up in the water if you aren''t watching where you are going."


    Theodore was impressed as he looked the room over. He had been worried when he limited Violet to only having [Traps] in front of her dungeon core room, but he was happy to see she was clever enough to find a good workaround. Honestly, Theodore doubted that the [Traps] being limited to a small space was that big of an issue. If Violet did things right, the adventurers would be lulled into a sense of safety and end up getting themselves injured or killed when they weren''t careful and ran into a [Trap] outside the dungeon core room.


    As Theodore still wasn''t confident he could cross the room, even if the slimes wouldn''t attack him, they ended up going back around the other way. The next room was a lot emptier, but Violet noted


    "I''m planning on making this into a challenge room as well, but it''s still in its early stages. This way will be a lot safer, but I prefer it that way. Adventurers are smart enough to take the path of least resistance and I want this floor to be a good training ground for young adventurers and children. It''s just that I keep having [Monsters] attack, so I need to take some precautions."


    Theodore only felt slightly surprised by just how intuitive Violet was. It was strange for a Dungeon Master to purposefully choose to make their floors safe enough for beginners to traverse. The system forced it to some extent, but it was a different thing to purposely build with that in mind. However, Theodore also felt like it was a smart move to take what would otherwise be a weakness and turn it into an investment for the future.


    If adventurers and nobles were aware of just how safe and tailored this dungeon was for training their children for a life of adventure, they were bound to come here in droves. Violet likely wouldn''t have to worry about having enough mana to spend by the time she unlocked additional floors. If anything, she would have so much mana to spend that she''d end up having her dungeon points and mana cap become her main limiters. Of course, that also required her dungeon to receive enough publicity and for the nearby town to develop enough to support the possibility.

 1.33 Disgusting Zombies

    Before Theodore had left, he had asked Violet if she had anything specific she wanted to request as tribute in the future. She had replied that she wanted a lily pad and lotus flower, which Theodore had found a rather odd request, but he promised to look into it for next time. However, he still needed a tribute for this time, so he went out into the forest surrounding the dungeon and brought back a nutlet, which would allow Violet to make birch trees.


    This brought Violet up to a total of 222 DP. This wasn''t quite enough for the chameleon slimes Violet wanted to research, so she held off on spending any dungeon points. Instead, she used her 50 MP to improve her floodplains meadow some more. 10 MP went into creating rabbit burrows and a bit of tunneling underneath the ground. These holes were bigger than usual, but still pretty small as they were meant for slimes to travel through. An additional 40 MP was spent to purchase said slimes. These slimes were just basic ones and Violet had no plans to evolve them any time soon.


    Before Violet could even relax, a rather foul energy entered the dungeon. From what Violet could tell, there were five separate energy sources. While Violet was going to leave whatever it was alone, the familiar thudding against the wildflower meadow doors, which was only a short distance away, gave her pause.


    Violet went to investigate and was met with three zombies when she opened the door. However, the sound of a commotion across the way gave away the fact that there were more enemies than just these three. Violet created some distance from the zombies before engaging them in combat. Even if she couldn''t turn into a zombie, she''d rather avoid being bitten and scratched up.


    Violet dodged out of the way of one zombie before swinging her sword at another. While her movements were still more clumsy than she''d like, the zombies were much easier to dispatch than the goblins had been. She tripped one zombie before dodging another, twirling around to swing her sword down on the downed zombie and cut its head off. One of the two zombies grabbed her arm and Violet yanked her arm violently away, shoving herself backwards and away.


    When they came to the roundabout hallway, Violet used it as an opportunity to create some more space and pick them off one by one. She sliced an arm off one zombie, retreated backwards and then took another swing with her sword, cutting its head off. The last zombie of this group of three was taken out similarly. They might have been decaying, but their heads were still difficult to destroy, it was much easier to cut their heads off using the much weaker spine. Then she could go back through and finish them off once they were incapacitated.


    Once she was done, she rushed off back towards the wildflower meadow room and found that the other group had managed to force the dungeon doors open with sheer force. However, they were still breaking down the other door that led to the slime parkour room. While Violet doubted the zombies could swim, she also didn''t want to deal with having to figure out a way to finish them off so they wouldn''t prevent her from building indefinitely.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    She knocked one over and finished it off before turning to the last one. It was not having nearly as easy of a time trying to break down the sturdy stone door now that it was alone. However, Violet still wasted no time in finishing it off.


    These zombie attacks were starting to get rather annoying. Violet wasn''t sure what was causing zombies specifically to be attracted to her dungeon. However, they were certainly becoming quite a nuisance. Their rotting flesh and persistence in aiming for the dungeon core made the otherwise easy-to-handle enemies quite frustrating.


    Violet felt like vomiting as she jumped straight into the pool of the slime parkour room, clothes and all. She quickly washed the blood and flesh from her skin and clothes, as best she could. It would be far preferable to walk around in soaking wet clothes for a while than it would be to have the stench of death continue to linger.


    Violet went to the hay meadow room after that to rest in the sun. Her clothes could dry off while she tried to clear her mind enough to get to work on improving the dungeon. Violet wasn''t exactly a clean freak, but she was pretty sure she absolutely hated zombies and the filth they brought with them. It was hard to get over the stress of dealing with them, even with the dungeon actively working to calm her down.


    Eventually, Violet began to look over her spoils of war. She had only gained 15 DP since the zombies were so basic that there wasn''t anything new to absorb after killing them the first time. This put Violet at 232 DP, but the increase was so small that it just made Violet feel even more frustrated. All this work to kill them and defend the dungeon only to barely gain anything from it. Adventurers were way better as they always left nice tributes and they, usually, were not a danger to the dungeon!


    Violet sighed as she got up. She quickly summoned four basic slimes to the hay meadow for 40 MP before heading to the floodplains meadow to summon another. While Violet did want to have chameleon slimes in the hay meadow, it wasn''t like she couldn''t evolve them later on when she had more dungeon points to spare. For now, even basic slimes would be an improvement.


    The slimes wouldn''t help with the zombie problem, but it was still reassuring to have more [Monsters] in the dungeon. Violet was starting to feel like she couldn''t wait until she unlocked her second floor. Then she could wait until they made it to the second floor to bother with defending against them. Even if a few zombies ended up trapped in the bottom of the slime parkour pool, it wouldn''t stop her from continuing to build. If anything, it would just mean she''d have a guaranteed source of mana.


    Well, Violet did have the feeling that her aqua slimes would eventually end up killing the zombies since they''d respawn every few minutes, even if there were [Monsters] or adventurers in the dungeon. So, it stood to reason that they''d be able to slowly, but surely kill the zombies off. Still, it''d be far better than what she was dealing with right now.

 1.34 Puzzle Progress

    No adventurers visited Violet''s dungeon that day, so the next person she ended up seeing was David and his daughter Alice. However, she wasn''t disappointed since she knew her dungeon was still relatively new. It made sense that there wouldn''t always be adventurers visiting the dungeon since it was likely that only a few people even knew the dungeon existed.


    "I brought the blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries you were wanting. I can''t just buy a single berry, so I just brought the whole bunch, hope that''s alright."


    David informed Violet. She smiled as she replied


    "That''s more than fine, I''ll likely get extra resources from the extra berries, so it''s a win in my book!"


    David poured the berries out of leather pouches and onto the ground in the wildflower meadow. Then, he asked


    "Have you given any more thought to getting a proper place for people to leave tributes? This is fine now, but the more experienced adventurers will be expecting a separate space to pay their respects and leave their tributes."


    Violet pursed her lips, unsure, before replying


    "Well, it isn''t like I don''t want to do so, eventually. It''s just that I have a lot of other things to take care of right now. Maybe after I get a few more rooms built, I''ll feel more comfortable investing in a room for that."


    David shrugged as he replied


    "Well, that''s up to you. It''s not like anyone is allowed to force you to build any particular way without breaking the accords, anyway. What have you been working on lately anyway?"


    Violet gestured with her hand in a few directions as she explained


    "I''ve been building a floodplains meadow over there. The rest you already know about. It''s just the jigsaw puzzle room, slime parkour room, and hay meadow, outside of this one. I want to fill in the rooms I have already built before I build any new rooms. Still, it should only be a few days to weeks before there will be more rooms. Really just depends on how often adventurers visit. There weren''t any today."


    David nodded in understanding, but left it at that. He was starting to feel pressured to make money. Alice''s mother had died a few years ago and it was difficult to cover the costs of renting an inn room. He had to pay for the lodgings daily and the costs quickly added up. It wasn''t like he could rent a property either, the town just wasn''t built to accommodate adventurers.


    If it came down to it, they could always camp out in the woods, but that would leave them exposed to wild [Monsters]. That really wasn''t ideal and David didn''t like the idea of his daughter getting hurt just because he couldn''t afford proper accommodations. If it was just him, he wouldn''t even bother with an inn room or renting a property. He had to camp in forests plenty back when he had been actively adventuring. So, it wasn''t a big deal to do so now, even if his aging body wouldn''t be quite as kind now as it had been in his youth.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    David had a small amount of funds that he could spend on their accommodations, for now. However, it wasn''t that much and it would make it difficult for him to ensure his daughter could afford any sort of higher education when she was old enough. It was only a few years until his daughter would have normally been sent off to an academy. It would have helped Alice learn how to use her class as well as decrease her odds of dying in a dungeon.


    Of course, David knew he couldn''t really blame Violet for his current circumstances. He couldn''t be frustrated with the rate her dungeon was growing either. David had gotten himself into this mess and he''d have to figure things out on his own. Originally, things would have been easier. He wouldn''t have to show up every day and he wouldn''t have to remain for an entire year. He could have had more freedom to sort out his finances and could have left anything as tribute, not just what Violet needed or wanted. So long as he had put forth the effort to teach her swordsmanship, he would have been completing his end of the deal.


    This was all David could think of as he struggled to complete the puzzles in the dungeon. When he finally fell into the water and failed the slime parkour challenge, he gritted his teeth as he gathered his gear and headed to the slime jigsaw room. If he could only complete the puzzle, it was likely that the strange candy could be sold for a decent price.


    A merchant would likely pay a silver or more for a single piece in the hopes of selling it at a markup to a well-off adventurer or someone among the nobility. Those with money to spend loved to collect all the strange and rare things available in dungeons. The fact that the lollipops were a consumable [Item] just made it that much more valuable. [Items] from dungeons were always of perfect quality. No need to worry about things being burnt or the recipe being slightly different each time. So, the sweets would be the perfect way to make money, if only he could actually complete the challenge...


    Alice knew her father was having a hard time lately, but she was quite happy. She was getting to defeat lots of slimes and was slowly increasing her experience. There were even fun puzzles she could do. Even having to collect flowers and other plants didn''t bother her. Alice provided good company and it was fun to watch her father teach the nice Dungeon Master how to use a sword. It was especially cool when they dueled and Alice always cheered them on in her heart.


    Alice gathered the puzzle pieces from around the edge of the room and set them beside the puzzle board. Every day she had gotten closer and closer to figuring out the puzzle. In the last day or two, she had even felt like she was starting to get close to finishing the puzzle. She had long moved past the issue of being confused by how to do the puzzle and now it was a race against time.


    Since she only had so long to complete the puzzle, Alice had to come up with a system to quickly and efficiently sort out the puzzle pieces. She first had to locate the four corner pieces and then she separated the edge pieces from the other pieces. Once she put the border pieces together, she''d just have to figure out where all the other pieces went.


    Violet watched Alice as she practiced swinging her sword through the air. The young girl was clearly on the right path to figuring things out. It would be a shame for her to have to stop before finishing the puzzle again. Violet couldn''t help but feel endeared by Alice. She even thought about telling David to wait a little longer before taking a break today just so his daughter would have a better chance to finish the puzzle. It would be nice if she could complete the puzzle, at least, once.

 1.35 Chameleon Slimes

    After David left to take a break, Violet noted that she now had 489 DP. This was finally enough to finish researching the chameleon slimes, so she spent the 250 DP to unlock the evolution. Then, Violet spent 10 MP to summon the last of five slimes for the hay meadow as well as 125 DP to evolve them into their chameleon variations.


    The blue slimes immediately turned into a scaly green version, much like a chameleon. After watching the slimes for a short while, Violet was also able to observe as they changed colors to blend in with their surroundings. Mostly green since that was the color of the grass, but some streaks of orange were also mixed in thanks to the butterfly weed flowers. Violet felt satisfied with her new slimes. Even if they weren''t stronger, they were bound to take plenty of adventurers by surprise.


    Violet now only had 114 DP to play around with. 20 DP was put towards researching wooden fences, which ended up costing 10 MP / 100 Square Units. After walking to the floodplain meadow room, Violet built a small fenced-in area in one of the corners on the opposite side of the river from the apple trees.


    As Violet originally wanted to have berries so she could make berry bushes for the floodplains room, she ended up spending 20 DP three times over to research the bushes. Then, the remaining 30 MP was spent on planting three blackberry bushes. However, Violet had to wait until after David left again before she spent another 50 MP on three raspberry bushes and two blueberry bushes.


    While the apple trees were all on the same side of the river, the bushes and rabbit holes were spread out across the floodplains meadow room. It was necessary for the basic slimes in the room to have plenty of places to hide in for the challenge Violet wanted to set up. Luckily, the challenge could be set without the room theme being set. She just couldn''t apply any room upgrades to challenges and puzzles until the room theme was set. However, that would have to wait until the morning since Violet only had 14 DP left.


    The next morning, Violet was happy to see her kodama had brought her a pecan as well as two repeats. So, she now had 51 DP, which was enough for her purposes.


    "I''d like to research candy apples using the apples, sugar, water, red dye, and wood [Base Resources]."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research candy apples using the [Base Resource] apples, sugar, water, red dye, and wood?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected [Yes] and then spent another 10 DP to set the candy apples as the reward for her new challenge. In order to complete the challenge, adventurers would have to capture the five slimes within the floodplains room and put them in the fenced-in area. However, this would be difficult with a river to cross and plenty of hiding places for the slimes. While it wasn''t exactly a very good defense for the dungeon, it wasn''t like the slimes couldn''t attempt to protect the dungeon if it became necessary. Plus, it would be a good way to keep adventurers busy and there were plenty of resources to draw adventurers in.


    Now that Violet was nearly finished working on the six rooms she had in the dungeon, she only had a few more rooms that she''d have to add to meet the building requirement for unlocking the next floor. Of course, she''d have to save up dungeon points for a bit if she was to have any hope of paying the cost for it, not that Violet actually knew how much it would end up costing her.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    With only 31 DP and no more mana available, Violet went to relax in her wildflower meadow. She needed time to think about next steps and it would be good to have some peaceful scenery while she did so. While the mana and dungeon points were consistently increasing each day, it was still difficult to manage everything. The dungeon points had a habit of being spent faster than the mana since there were so many big purchases to make.


    Meanwhile, Violet felt like she''d soon have to start building rooms in quick succession just to ensure she wasn''t wasting her opportunity to spend it. However, she didn''t feel like it was a good idea to build haphazardly. She''d want to build something in every room just to personalize it and she needed a plan of action so she could build a suitably sized room. Sure, there was plenty of space to build things now, but that wouldn''t always be the case.


    Plus, from what little Violet knew about unlocking floors, she was likely to have a new theme for each floor. This would be the only chance to make rooms themed around meadows as it would be time to move on to a different theme soon enough. Of course, there was also the matter of this first floor being the only one safe enough for young children like Henry and Alice. Others were likely to have various [Traps] occasionally included just to ensure the safety of the dungeon.


    So far, only weak [Monsters] had targeted her dungeon. However, Violet had a feeling that this wouldn''t always be the case. Perhaps it had something to do with the dungeon''s ability to convert aether into mana? Violet''s mana cap was rather low right now, but it would be much higher later on. If wild [Monsters] could detect the amount of mana, then it was possible that it would lead to stronger [Monsters] invading later on. Of course, there would also be stronger adventurers to contend with as well.


    While Violet was thinking things over, Gregory and Henry entered the dungeon. This time, Gregory had brought an onion and a zucchini for tribute. While he felt bad about bringing such cheap tribute every time he entered the dungeon, crops were the only thing he had in any sort of abundance. He was a farmer who could grow food for his family and earn money, but he wasn''t exactly rich. What little money he could make from gathering resources from the dungeon was sold in the hopes of saving up enough coins to buy a proper sword for his son.


    Gregory was grateful that a few merchants were already looking to set up shop in their small town. It made it easier to find a buyer for both the dungeon resources and the crops his family grew. However, he was still hesitant to explore the dungeon any further, no matter how much his son begged and pleaded. Dungeons were known to be dangerous and they were lucky that even this one room was safe enough for his son to train his sword skills. It would be too much to expect their luck to continue to hold out.


    "Greetings mistress Violet."


    Gregory gave a small half-bow as he spoke. The young woman smiled at him and Gregory felt relieved. So long as she continued to look happy to see them, he wouldn''t have to worry about entering the dungeon. Upsetting a Dungeon Master never was a very smart idea and Gregory certainly didn''t have the strength to guarantee his and his son''s safety if he upset Violet.


    "It''s good to see you! You really should stop by more often. I''ve been building some more rooms in the dungeon and several of them have more slimes than this one. There are also quite a few with challenges set up. Even without a class, you two should be capable of completing a few of them."


    Gregory gulped nervously as he looked at Violet. He wasn''t sure if he could turn down her offer without upsetting her, but he also wasn''t sure that going along with her wishes would be a good idea.


    "I''m sorry, mistress Violet. I don''t think Henry and I are strong enough to challenge a proper dungeon. My family needs me and it would be too difficult for my wife to raise our other children by herself. I''m just a poor farmer, after all."


    The Dungeon Master frowned and Gregory flinched, sure he had upset her. However, she just gave a sad smile as she replied


    "It''s up to you, but it isn''t that dangerous. There are only [Traps] near the dungeon core room and I can only summon a few varieties on this floor. All are suitable [Monsters] to train with, even for someone like Henry who has yet to find out if he has a class or not."


    Violet wasn''t able to convince Gregory to do anything this time around. However, she had dropped the subject after the second time of asking. It wouldn''t be good to scare him away for good. Then she would lose her chance to help him and his son.

 1.36 Kodama s First Death

    After Gregory and Henry left, it was once more time to get to work upgrading the dungeon. It was a shame that Violet couldn''t convince them to check out some of the other rooms, but she hoped that they''d, at least, think about it for the future. One slime was really not enough for Henry to continue training with in the long term. It would be far better for him in either the floodplains meadow or the hay meadow room since there were more slimes available.


    Sure, the slimes could hide and make things more difficult to predict, but it wasn''t like slimes stood much of a chance against people anyway. They could knock people over if they weren''t paying attention, but it was highly unlikely that anyone would end up dying from that. People didn''t have actual health bars that would end up killing them slowly just from being hit by a slime repeatedly, as far as Violet knew. She was pretty sure it was more a matter of lethality.


    Regardless, Violet would need to spend her mana while she had the chance. Sure, most of the time only one party showed up at a time with several hours in between each group. However, who knew how long that would last? It was better to get into the habit of using up the new dungeon points and mana right away.


    As there wasn''t much left to spend mana on in the already-built rooms, Violet headed to the bottom right roundabout of the dungeon and built a 5-Units hallway before finishing it off with a 16-Units by 16-Units square room. All this cost 37 MP, so she only had 13 MP left to play around with. It really wasn''t enough to do much more, but Violet still made the best of it as she spent another 4 MP on creating a round 2-Units by 2-Units hole that was 10-Units deep.


    Violet was hoping to create a wishing well in the center of the room. However, it would take a bit more time before she could afford most of the research and building costs. Still, once it was done, Violet figured it would be a good way to ask for tribute as well as a good start to a room meant for rest.


    Maybe that seemed too kind considering Violet needed to keep her dungeon core safe. However, she didn''t really care. It was also important to encourage more adventurers to visit her dungeon. Creating a room meant for rest somewhere that was around halfway through the floor was a good way to encourage repeat visits. So, she was likely going to create a room on every floor while also having a new place to request tribute in exchange for her kindness. Hopefully, this would also mean that she''d get more dungeon points to invest in upgrading the dungeon in the future.


    While Violet was upgrading her dungeon, there was a party preparing to enter. The adventurer''s guild from the nearby small city, Elesfield, had finally gotten a party put together to explore the new dungeon. Leading this party was Tobias Humbleweed, a half-giant who was tall, broad-shouldered, and fairly muscular. He was also quite popular with the ladies as his well-groomed red hair, vibrant green eyes, and charming smile were considered quite attractive.


    Tobias didn''t wear much in the way of armor, nor did he carry much gear. He was a melee fighting class with the ability to harden his skin into a metallic gray sheen that allowed him to easily defend himself as well as to increase the damage his punches could deal out. However, unlike those who were of the shifter race, Tobias had no hang-ups about carrying extra gear with him.


    As a B-rank adventurer, rather little tended to threaten his life, but he still knew he was always better safe than sorry. Besides, most of his other party members were significantly weaker than him. So, the extra health, mana, and stamina potions were bound to come in handy.


    "I think everyone else is about ready to head in. Do you still need more time, big brother?"


    Mirabella Humbleweed was every bit a beauty as her brother was charming. However, she was actually the weakest member of their party at a mere D-rank and she only had a navigator class as well. However, her rare class was rather useful to the adventurer''s guild and it tended to help fund their party''s adventures, so no one complained about her holding them back.Stolen novel; please report.


    "Yeah, we can head in now."


    The party of four entered the dungeon and were plunged into darkness.


    "This isn''t good, maybe we should leave? I hear dozens of adventurers die every year from walking into dungeons unprepared. That number increases exponentially when the dungeon doesn''t have a light source to help you detect enemies."


    Matthias, the only human in the group, had a habit of being pessimistic, and now was no different. Somehow, though, his disposition seemed rather fitting considering he was a dark elementalist with long black hair, brown eyes so dark they almost looked black, and all-black attire. Even his staff screamed death as it was adorned with a tiny skull atop.


    "We''ll be fine! We are massively overpowered for a dungeon that is supposed to be nothing but slimes. We''ve had two different groups report back to the guild confirming this now."


    Thodin Bharrum''s gruff voice echoed through the dungeon as he spoke. His height contrasted quite a bit with the others in their party as he looked every bit the dwarf he was. His long, bushy beard, messy brown hair, and brown eyes rounded out the look quite well.


    Matthias just continued to grumble as they continued along. He might have been a C-rank adventurer, but he sure as heck didn''t act like one. If it weren''t for the fact that he was a useful and capable ally, it was unlikely that his teammates would have even kept him around this long. His pessimistic attitude wasn''t exactly good for morale.


    Mirabella had a large, empty map open and was using one of her skills to map the dungeon as they went. The skill was quite useful as she would not only be able to memorize a dungeon map after one trip through, but she could also magically create copies onto any surface. Of course, mapping paper was the most sensible since it was easier to carry around than almost anything else.


    When the group came across the first dungeon entrance and stepped through its threshold, they were surprised to go from pitch darkness to a room that was bright and sunny.


    "See, nothing to worry about! It almost seems like a waste to have brought out the magic lantern now!"


    Thodin laughed heartily and Matthias ignored him as he scanned the room warily. He never could quite relax in dungeons and he wouldn''t have bothered with a life of adventuring if he didn''t need to support his younger siblings. His father was on his deathbed, slowly dying and his mother''s health was far too poor to do more than the minimum to care for his four younger siblings.


    Matthias had been born to one of the poorest merchant families around. His father had been able to just barely afford to get Matthias trained as an adventurer after being appraised, but that had been in the better days of their family business. Now, the wagon his father had used to travel around buying and selling goods had been sold and his family had no other source of income to depend on besides his. While he wasn''t optimistic about his chances of being able to live long enough to see his youngest sibling grow up, he had to try.


    "Are there any [Traps] in here sister? All I''m seeing is a single slime."


    Mirabella shook her head in response to Tobias''s question.


    "No, it seems this room only has two [Monsters] tied to it. Something called a kodama and this basic slime. Have you ever heard of a kodama before?"


    Before Tobias could even answer, Matthias cut in with


    "If we can''t even see the [Monster], then it''s too dangerous to be here. It could have some sort of camouflage skill and this slime could be meant to lull us into a sense of safety."


    Tobias looked unsure as he scanned the room. He really couldn''t see anything, but it still seemed unlikely that the [Monster] would be that dangerous. This was still the first floor, after all, so only beginner [Monsters] could live on it. Even if it was a contracted [Monster] that had wandered from the second floor, it would still be rather weak. Of course, his sister had specified the [Monster] belonged to this room, so that meant even that wasn''t likely to be a concern.


    Just then, Thodin''s laughter bellowed out as he picked something small and white up off of the ground. The strange creature wriggled about as he bellowed out


    "You mean this [Monster]? While it looks a bit creepy, I wouldn''t say it looks particularly dangerous. It might even be one of those non-combat types."


    Tobias nodded as he said


    "Yes, well, let''s take care of it just in case. Better safe than sorry."

 1.37 The Failed Challenge

    As the kodama was too small to kill with his axe easily, Thodin immediately started stomping it to death. Of course, the kodama still tried to escape, but it was too small to do so and quickly perished under the weight of the dwarf. The strange rattling sound of the kodama''s head echoed out across the room, making it all the more eerie.


    Tobias easily destroyed the slime''s core and then the group began to collect the room''s resources. Some of the [Items] would have to be brought back to the guild as samples of what was available in the dungeon, but the rest could easily be sold.


    "Has anyone gotten any challenge notifications since we entered?"


    Everyone answered Tobias with a firm shake of their head.


    "Alright, let''s move on to the next room."


    Since they were tasked to thoroughly investigate the dungeon, they were expected to complete any challenges they did come across. If the puzzle couldn''t be completed in a reasonable amount of time, they would have to return another day just to attempt it until the task was complete. It was impossible to report back on any [Traps] that might be involved as well as the dungeon''s true difficulty to complete if they didn''t check everything thoroughly.


    In Violet''s old world, there was well-known advice about traversing mazes that involved always sticking to the left-hand side with one''s hand against the wall. However, this sort of tale was not actually how people usually worked. Instead, they had a habit of choosing between left and right based on whichever was their dominant side. Right-handers would choose right while left-handers would choose left.


    As such, the group easily made the decision to go right and ended up in the slime parkour room next. Of course, this was not before Matthias could freak out about the roundabouts being confusing and Mirabella reminding him in an annoyed tone questioning if he had forgotten she had the navigator class. While the dungeon map only updated once she got into close proximity to an area, the small roundabout was hardly a challenge. It was only when they got stuck in large mazes that they''d end up running into trouble. Even then, that could only last so long as the map would eventually fill out, and then they''d be able to escape.


    Well, that was the case so long as the walls weren''t the shifting kind. That was a rather annoying feature that dungeons with any real experience tended to employ to throw even navigators off course. However, that was a phenomenon that was limited to maze challenge rooms, anyway. A random hallway didn''t have such a luxury.


    Of course, while it would be easy for Dungeon Masters to get frustrated and target navigators just so their dungeons couldn''t be mapped, there were stipulations in the dungeon accords to prevent such a thing. A dungeon could only be mapped once a year and all maps of dungeons had to be sold for a minimum of ten silver per floor covered. That could quickly add up with the twenty-five-floor dungeons costing an entire two and a half gold pieces. Since most of the lower-ranking adventurers couldn''t afford to buy such maps, it didn''t tend to help very many people. Besides, it wasn''t like the resources on the lower floors were worth enough to make the purchase worth the trouble either.


    Most adventurers would only enter a particular dungeon a certain number of times before moving on and those who remained long enough to make the purchase worthwhile usually just memorized the layout of the lower floors. Still, the adventurer guilds and the richer nobility always bought the updated maps. With the navigator class already being quite rare, Mirabella could easily earn a few gold coins each year when she remapped the local dungeons and sold them to her regular customers.


    Of course, selling information was also a very valuable trade. Information on what types of [Traps], puzzles, and challenges were in a dungeon as well as anything on the rewards available in treasure chests or for the challenges were in high demand. Since anyone could gather such information, though, the adventurer guild only paid a few silver, at most, for any new information. Still, Mirabella felt quite lucky that she was able to secure this job for her party since they were likely to be paid several gold coins for both the map and the information they''d be gathering today.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "You can''t be serious! You can''t seriously expect me to jump from platform to platform in this pouring rain. Someone is going to die!"


    Matthias''s loud complaints just made the team''s already bleak outlook on their first puzzle that much worse.


    "For once, the boy has a point. I don''t think I''ll be able to avoid sinking to the bottom with all of this armor on. It''ll weigh me down and I can''t exactly just leave it here."


    Thodin Bharrum didn''t often agree with Matthias, but he wasn''t exactly eager to die either. Tobias sighed as he replied


    "Alright, look, you all just stay here. I''ll try to see if I can safely cross. Matthias and I are the only ones not wearing heavy armor and I can''t actually force him to do anything. If I throw him into the water, he''d just fail the challenge right away, anyway. Whether I succeed or fail, I''ll come back and then we can go back the other way."


    Mirabella looked warily at the pitch-black room and then at her brother worriedly.


    "At least take a magic light with you, brother. It''s difficult to even see the first platform from here, it''ll be impossible to see if there are any [Monsters] or [Traps] hiding in the water if you don''t have it. I can''t map the entire room from here, so I don''t know what to expect."


    Tobias frowned as he said


    "We''ll have to come back tomorrow to finish the map then. We should know what else to expect from the dungeon then and we can prepare for it ahead of time and make sure the map gets finished. The guildmaster isn''t going to want to buy an incomplete map. It''d be a waste of their one chance to get an accurate map this year."


    Mirabella just nodded as she watched her brother walk away. He had left his satchel of gear with her, but had taken the magic light as she had requested.


    Tobias stretched as he prepared himself to make the leap across to the first platform. He had pretty good strength and his height gave him an advantage in jumping further distances than most. Still, it was likely he''d have a hard landing and the platform was rather limited in size. He doubted he could even fully lay down on the wooden platform and its width was even narrower than its length. Unfortunately, there wouldn''t be the ability to get a running start either with the grassy area near the entrance being rather short as well.


    Tobias shook his head, he couldn''t psyche himself out now. He crouched down before leaping forward, just barely making it onto the first platform. He shined his light out across the distance and was disheartened to see that it was even further away than the first had been. If this pattern continued, it would be nearly impossible to finish by the time he got to the other side of the room. Still, he couldn''t give up just yet.


    Once more, Tobias crouched before leaping forward and just narrowly making it to the next platform. However, he had ended up touching the water and the system notification he was presented with made it very clear that he had failed the challenge. Sighing, Tobias shined his light into the distance, only to have it knocked out of his hand as something jumped out of the water.


    "What the heck!"


    Tobias shouted as he jumped into the water after his light. The [Monster] was certainly a concern, but magic lights weren''t exactly cheap. They cost an entire gold coin each and were meant to last the entirety of an adventurer''s lifetime. Quickly grabbing the light, Tobias swam to the next platform before pulling himself up.


    More carefully, this time, he held his light and shone it around the room. When another slime jumped up out of the water at him, he quickly dodged out of the way. Tobias furrowed his brows. While it was a relief that it was just a weak slime, it was still rather odd to have them hopping out of the water like this.


    Before he returned to the other side, Tobias attempted to jump the rest of the way across. It would be good to see just how far away the other platforms were before returning. It seemed there were eight platforms in total with all of the platforms being equally far apart so long as he hopped over to the one that was to the side before going forward each time. He''d have to make use of all eight platforms if he wanted to make things easier on himself next time.


    Of course, the problem with challenges like this was that he''d have to exit the dungeon and return on a separate day to be eligible for the reward again. That''s always how these sorts of static puzzles worked. Some puzzles would reset after the room was empty for a set period of time and could be attempted anew at that point. Others would lock you in until you completed them. Then, there were the puzzles that didn''t require resetting, like this one, which would only make the reward available once a day and wouldn''t be available once you failed the challenge.


    Tobias sighed, it looked like he would have to return to give the challenge another attempt tomorrow.

 1.38 The Trapless Dungeon

    Mirabella glanced at her brother with concern. He was completely soaking wet and his clothes were sticking to his skin while water constantly dripped off of him. She hoped he wouldn''t catch a cold from this. If Tobias caught a cold, it would likely set them back for several days and they''d run the risk of upsetting their employer.


    Matthias was a powerful elementalist, but he would rarely step in to help complete challenges. He mostly just saved his energy for dispatching enemies and making pessimistic remarks. Thodin Bharrum was more cooperative, but his berserker class was more suited for taking on hordes of enemies than solving puzzles. He''d occasionally help out with puzzles and challenges, but he refused to do anything that required him to remove his armor since he never knew when he''d go mad from his class and he''d rather not get so caught up in his bloodlust without proper protection and end up bleeding to death on the floor.


    "Looks like we have another challenge here."


    Tobias called out and Mirabella focused on the system message that had now popped up for her as well.


    "This one doesn''t sound so bad. Capturing slimes should be easy enough, they aren''t particularly dangerous."


    Matthias scowled as he replied to Mirabella''s optimism with pessimism


    "This could be a [Trap]! Why else would the dungeon have one path that is easier than the other?!"


    Tobias shook his head as he replied


    "It doesn''t matter if it is a [Trap]. We''ll get this done and then continue forward. If you''re that worried about danger, you can keep an eye out and let the rest of us know if you notice any [Traps]."


    Matthias just nodded, grumbling as he watched the other party members fan out to look for the slimes. He knew he was lucky to have such understanding party members who didn''t just dismiss his concerns and put up with his refusal to participate in these challenges. Matthias didn''t exactly want to be difficult, he just knew that he didn''t have the stamina and health stats that warrior classes did. If he didn''t conserve strength where he could, he''d not only end up slowing his party down, but he''d also be putting everyone''s lives in more danger when he couldn''t play his part during combat.


    Thodin grumbled as he failed to capture the third slime he had come across. They were proving to be quite tricky to capture. Their slimy nature made it easy for them to slip away and they kept hopping into the rabbit holes, which meant that he''d have to wait for them to come back out before he could try to capture them again. Of course, camping the hole he''d last seen them disappear down wasn''t having much luck either. Thodin wasn''t sure if the slimes were smart enough to stay in hiding until he left the area or if they were leaving through one of the other rabbit holes in the room.


    Tobias sighed as he threaded his hand through his now mostly dry hair. This was taking too long and they''d have to leave soon. If they didn''t move on now, then they were unlikely to see the rest of the dungeon before they had to leave.


    "Alright, everyone, let''s call it for now. We will just have to return on another day. There''s still the rest of the dungeon to check out and we can''t stay all day without upsetting the Dungeon Master. We don''t want to do that since we still need to finish these challenges."


    A rather tired Mirabella and Thodin nodded in agreement as they shuffled over, preparing to move on. It likely wasn''t a good idea to have exhausted themselves so much before moving on either. They were starting to feel like Matthias might have been right about it being a [Trap]. Adventurers wearing themselves down trying to complete a challenge like this was a good way to make a [Trap] later on more successful.


    "Which way should we go? There is a side door that way, near the beginning of the river. Otherwise, we can keep going straight."


    Mirabella checked her map before answering her brother''s question.


    "Wel, it seems like we have been walking in one big circle. There is a big blank space and then there is that room with all the water. My map skill says it''s supposed to be something called a slime parkour room while this is a floodplains meadow. It''s a bit flat to be a floodplains and there isn''t really enough rain to make sense either. Guess the river and the meadow setting is enough for the dungeon to decide to call it that."Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Tobias nodded in understanding before saying


    "Alright, then we will check out the side room before continuing forward. Everyone make sure to stay in formation and remain on guard, we don''t want to be caught off guard when we aren''t at our best."


    There were no complaints as the group continued forward. However, upon entering their third puzzle room of the day, Thodin remarked


    "Isn''t this rather odd for a dungeon? This is the first puzzle-based challenge we''ve seen, but having three out of four rooms be challenge rooms is a bit high, isn''t it?"


    Matthias was happy to see someone else in the group be on the same page for once. However, his ghost of a smile disappeared as Mirabella said


    "I don''t know. It kind of makes sense if we consider the fact that we''ve only seen slime [Monsters] thus far. If a dungeon can''t protect itself with the [Monsters] available, then it makes sense to buy as much time as possible with lots of challenge rooms. More [Monster] fields wouldn''t really help if all they have is slimes."


    Tobias nodded as he replied


    "Yeah, that does seem to be the logical conclusion. It''s still a bit strange that there aren''t a ton of [Traps], though. With such weak [Monsters] and this much dungeon built, we would have normally run across a few [Traps] by now. Are you sure your mapping skill is working correctly?"


    Mirabella nodded as she reassured


    "The only way I''ve ever heard of a skill being blocked is through a boss [Monster] skill. However, if it was that, my skill wouldn''t work at all. Even if the [Traps] were somehow being hidden, we would have stumbled into one by now. So, I''m pretty sure there just haven''t been any [Traps] yet."


    The group felt a bit confused by this and were unsure if they should continue exploring such a strange dungeon. Perhaps this was strange enough that it was worth getting a Dungeon Diplomat involved?


    Tobias didn''t really like requesting the help of Dungeon Diplomats as they had a habit of taking the Dungeon Master''s side in all but the most extreme cases. Their job was to ensure that relations between the dungeons and adventurers remained amicable, but that tended to translate into either protecting the dungeon or putting them down for the good of everyone.


    It was much the same with the elves and their forests. While they could get along with other races, they usually would rather kill those who entered their forests rather than negotiate terms. They pruned the forest, getting rid of diseased and dead plants in order to make room for new, healthy plant life to grow. Tobias supposed, in some ways, getting rid of corrupted and dangerous dungeons was similar. However, it didn''t make him feel any more comfortable bringing a Dungeon Diplomat into things if it wasn''t necessary.


    "Are we really going to waste more energy on trying to complete this puzzle as well? Surely you all know it is dangerous to continue wandering the dungeons when you''re this exhausted?"


    Matthias''s question brought the group back to the reality of their situation. They had been slowly gathering up the pieces, planning on attempting the puzzle, but now they slowly looked around. They weren''t sure that they had the energy to continue dungeon delving, much less to do so after they completed the puzzle.


    "Alright, everyone, let''s go ahead and take a short break and then we will continue on. We will just have to put any further puzzles off for another day. Let''s just focus on getting the mapping taken care of today."


    Violet was starting to wonder what was taking the group, who had entered her dungeon, so long. This was the first group that had gone around to visit all of the rooms in the dungeon. However, most people didn''t bother remaining in any of the challenge rooms very long. They''d usually pick out one puzzle to attempt for the day before leaving. Otherwise, they were just interested in killing the slime [Monsters] since that was how they could gain experience for leveling up.


    When the group came near the dungeon core room, Violet felt nervous. That nervousness only skyrocketed as the group came into the room with her.


    "You...You can''t be here! This is the dungeon core room, adventurers aren''t supposed to be in here!"


    The group of four adventurers looked amongst themselves before the only woman in the group stepped forward to speak on their behalf.


    "Ah, sorry for bothering you, Dungeon Master. We were sent by the closest adventurers guild to do the yearly mapping of the dungeon. We don''t mean to cause you any harm. I''m Mirabella Humbleweed, can I have the honor of knowing what to address you by?"


    Violet still felt highly uncomfortable as she replied


    "I''m... Violet."


    Mirabella smiled as she continued


    "Thank you, mistress Violet. Do you mind if I ask a few questions about your dungeon?"


    Violet felt like she was going to have a panic attack. She gripped the hilt of her sword harder as she tried to think clearly. A black-haired man wearing a black robe saw the movement and began to slowly back up, looking just as panicked as Violet felt.

 1.39 Things Of Beauty

    Violet glanced warily back at Matthias, she didn''t exactly want people to think she was unwilling to cooperate with them. A visit from Theodore was hardly a problem. However, if her dungeon was seen as scary, fewer people would visit and then she wouldn''t be able to accomplish her goals.


    "Alright, I will answer three, and only three, of your questions, so long as you leave this room first."


    Tobias was quick to agree as he ushered the others out into the hallway. They still needed to revisit the dungeon this week yet they were already upsetting the Dungeon Master. The fact that it turned out to be one of the rare types of Dungeon Masters, did not help much. An evolved [Monster] Dungeon Master would just kill you outright, but a Dungeon Master that used to be one of them was far worse. They could grow spiteful, choosing to toy with them before killing them in painful and gruesome ways. Sometimes it could even spiral out of control as other adventurers ended up killed in the process. Tobias hardly wanted to be responsible for such a thing happening.


    Mirabella glanced back at her brother for reassurance and found none before she looked back at Violet to ask


    "Are you sure you''re alright with me asking questions of you, mistress Violet?"


    Violet merely nodded and so Mirabella continued


    "That''s awfully kind of you. Can I ask why your dungeon doesn''t seem to have any [Traps] despite being so large?"


    Violet considered lying, but figured that it wouldn''t actually be a smart move. Her system was meant to hold her to dungeon contracts and it would likely be a good idea to uphold her promises as well.


    "I want this first floor to be used as a training ground for young adventurers and children so that they can more easily grow into full-fledged adventurers. As such, I have willingly chosen to agree to a dungeon contract limiting my [Traps] to just outside my dungeon core room. You can ask the Dungeon Diplomat assigned to this dungeon, if you don''t believe me."


    The group of four looked at each other, feeling a good bit confused as to what would motivate a Dungeon Master to do such a thing. However, Mirabella hardly wanted to waste a good opportunity by asking any follow-up questions.


    "Alright, thank you. Can I also ask about what a kodama is? We''ve never heard of one before and ran into one in your... wildflower meadow room?"


    The names of the rooms in this dungeon were still quite strange to Mirabella. They sounded very innocent and peaceful, which was in stark contrast to what she had come to know about dungeons. Violet only nodded as she repliedA case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Yes, well, slimes are my primary [Monster], but I do have some contracted [Monsters] as well. The kodama are peaceful nature spirits that are incapable of combat. They merely take care of their surroundings and love nature."


    Thodin Bharrum gulped audibly. The fact that he had killed the poor thing in such a violent manner did not look good on him. Even if the Dungeon Master were to be lying about such a thing, the fact that he had killed a [Monster] she cared enough about to describe it in such a way was unlikely to end well for him. Luckily, he could trust his party members to not sell him out. Others might not have been so kind when faced with the wrath of a Dungeon Master.


    Mirabella pretended to be checking her dungeon map as she tried to calm down and clear her head enough to ask the last question. However, it was rather difficult and her brother was forced to step forward instead.


    "Sorry, mistress Violet. My sister has a tendency to get flustered at times like these. She still isn''t used to being the spokesperson when dealing with Dungeon Masters. I hope you don''t mind, but I''ll ask the last question on behalf of the group.


    Is there a particular sort of theme you are going for in this dungeon? Since adventurers are supposed to leave tribute, but we aren''t supposed to influence your building decisions, it would be good to know what to tell our guild so they can spread the news."


    Violet looked thoughtfully at Tobias. She could tell the group seemed even more on edge than Gregory had been when they first met. It wasn''t like she was completely clueless. Still, she decided to act as if nothing had happened and, instead, answered with


    "I just want a beautiful dungeon to live in. No creepy spiders or hissing snakes to keep me up at night. Just somewhere peaceful and quiet to spend the rest of my long life.


    As for tribute, I''ve been known to ask for culinary ingredients or plants in the past. However, I will soon outgrow my use for such things. Having the same things given as tribute every time is bad for my dungeon''s growth. So, you can just tell your guild that I want things of beauty. Bring me things that shine, with beautiful colors, or that I can craft wonderful new rewards for my challenges with."


    Tobias also found this strange, but he merely nodded in response. Who was he to tell a Dungeon Master how to build their dungeon? He might not have minded living in a dungeon with all sorts of unimaginable horrors so long as he could keep himself safe, but it was unreasonable to think everyone would feel that way. Although, that did raise other questions for Tobias. Questions like whether Violet was originally a spoiled noble''s daughter or if she was an extremely rare reincarnated Dungeon Master.


    It just didn''t make sense for most people from this world to be so bothered by [Monsters] that they would make things harder on themselves as a new Dungeon Master. Although, no one could deny that the dungeon seemed to be built quite well, despite the limitations Violet had forced upon herself. The ''slime parkour'' challenge was nearly impossible to cross without stripping oneself of armor and swimming across. The ''hay meadow'' room had even taken his party by surprise when the slimes had jumped out from seemingly nowhere. If they had been more dangerous [Monsters], they likely wouldn''t have left the room without some severe injuries.


    All of this gave Tobias''s party much to think about as they made their way out of the dungeon and regrouped at the local tavern.

 1.40 Milk & Butter

    Tobias was just as wary of upsetting the Dungeon Master as Matthias. So, they ended up leaving a much nicer tribute for Violet than they otherwise would have. Violet ended up with three silver coins, a potion of healing, potion of stamina, and a potion of mana. This gave her silver as a [Base Resource] as well as a higher tier of potions for her [Items] list. Of course, since she didn''t have a stamina potion base in her [Base Resources], that also gave her a nice boost to her DP.


    This brought her total up to 183 dungeon points, which was a relief, but all too easily spent. Violet walked to her hay meadow room and requested to set the theme for the room.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set the theme for this room? This will cost 150 DP. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but upgrades will be unlocked for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option, bringing up the next system prompt.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Hay Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After selecting [Yes] once more, she noted that she now only had 33 DP left. This wasn''t much, but it was enough to set the temperature and humidity to reflect the weather. While Violet hadn''t chosen a specific weather or sky option yet, it did still help the room feel more real. Instead of having a sunshine-filled room without any feeling of heat radiating from the sun, it now felt like being outside on a nice sunny, spring day. Of course, it was likely Violet would still change the weather and time of day later on when she had more dungeon points to spare.


    Violet knew it wasn''t realistic to always set such options for every room she''d build in the dungeon. However, she hoped that some of the rooms in the future wouldn''t be for the outdoors either. Maybe she could even have something akin to a luxurious manor or a mine full of colorful crystals and beautiful ponds full of fish? Both were unlikely to need any weather or sky controls. Violet could see temperature or humidity controls still being useful since a damp cave or a chilled indoor space that mimicked air conditioning could be fun to play around with.


    Sure, a dungeon was meant to be a place to help adventurers grow, learn, and earn treasure while protecting the dungeon core. However, that didn''t change the fact that Violet would also have to live here for the rest of her life. If she was going to be stuck in one place for so long, she might as well make it an enjoyable place to live.


    Violet finally arrived in her new 16-Units by 16-Units square room. So far, she only had a large, circular 10-Units deep hole in the middle of the room. However, Violet wouldn''t be able to do the research to put what she wanted in the room for a while yet. So, she spent her entire mana pool on a new 50 MP spawner.


    The time must have gotten away from Violet as David and Alice showed up not much later. Violet had to wonder if this too was an effect of the dungeon. At first, she had felt like there was too much downtime and was often bored. However, now, it was like time flew by and she barely noticed its passage. Perhaps this was another way the dungeon core helped to protect its Dungeon Master? Being left alone for eons was likely to drive most human crazy, so making the passage of time less noticeable was likely to help preserve one''s sanity.


    David sighed as he put the aluminum container of milk and ceramic butter pot down by the tree in the wildflower meadow room. Theodore had chewed him out after his recent visit to Violet''s dungeon. Apparently, she had casually mentioned his money concerns, which had gotten David in trouble since he shouldn''t have mentioned it to her. While David could understand where Theodore was coming from, it was still frustrating.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Violet was too gentle-hearted for her own good and Theodore was worried that David was taking advantage of Violet by even mentioning how his punishment was affecting him. As such, Theodore had demanded David purchase something extra nice for Violet and never mention anything to her ever again. Granted, buying the milk and butter from the locals had created some goodwill between them and David.


    A kind man named Gregory had even agreed to give David and Alice free lodging in return for David teaching his son, Henry, swordsmanship in the mornings. This solved a good bit of David''s concerns, for now, but he''d still need to find a proper job to tide him over until the adventurer''s guild could finish being built.


    The adventurer''s guild''s HQ had already sent a few people over to check out the area. The construction had even started and the foundations were starting to be built for the new building. However, construction could take a while and they still needed to hire a proper guildmaster and receptionists.


    David was, apparently, likely to be given an instructor''s role in the guild. He''d be training new adventurers and helping with rank advancement evaluations, when necessary. This was supposed to allow him a good bit of freedom with his afternoons left free for him to continue training Violet while a few mornings a week would be spent teaching classes on swordsmanship and dungeon safety.


    Part of his new job would also require him to report information on Violet''s preferences and any issues that cropped up with her dungeon. His position as an instructor for Violet was not a common occurrence at all, which made him a valuable asset to the guild. Most guildmasters had to rely on what little information was reported by adventurers and whoever was hired to map the dungeon that year.


    That meant he was guaranteed a long-term position in the guild and would easily be able to relocate to live in Millstone. David was sure that this was exactly what Theodore wanted. Being forced to uproot his life in Elesfield and move was already a bit frustrating. However, it was even more annoying that he wouldn''t even be able to sell his previous home until his initial one year contract period expired.


    He''d have to insist that Theodore allow him time to sort things out after that point, since it was all but guaranteed that he''d be blackmailed into renewing the contract. Of course, selling his home wasn''t something that David actually wanted to do. It was where he had raised his daughter, where he lived with his now-deceased wife, and he was quite attached to the place. Even if he''d likely earn plenty of money once Violet''s dungeon became more developed and would be able to afford to have a nice new home for him and his daughter built, it was still a hard thing to accept.


    Violet was, of course, delighted to see what David had brought her. Now that she had butter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, vanilla, water, salt, and wild yeast as [Base Resources], there was relatively little she couldn''t recreate sweets-wise. Violet didn''t necessarily plan to always have sweets for challenge rewards, but she definitely felt it was fitting for the first floor since she was trying to build it as an appropriate floor for younger adventurers.


    As Alice had successfully completed the jigsaw puzzle the last time they had visited, she was excited to start working on puzzles again. However, David had to fail the slime parkour challenge first. Honestly, Violet was starting to wonder why he even kept trying when his aging body was far too stiff to easily jump the distance. However, she said nothing as he attempted the challenge each and every single time. Who knows, maybe he''d successfully complete it one of these days?


    As David dragged himself up out of the water, Violet commented


    "Maybe you''ll have better luck on the other challenge I set up? It only requires you to capture five slimes and put them into a fenced area and you get candy apples as the reward. If Alice participates, you could even get two candy apples for completing it once."


    Well, that was Violet assumed, anyway. It wasn''t like she had seen anyone complete the challenge and she couldn''t see the reward prompt. David hadn''t helped Alice with the jigsaw puzzle either, so it could really only be left up to speculation. David nodded before asking Violet to lead the way.


    "It''s nice to see your rooms are no longer empty. Looks like you even used those berries I brought you right away. Those and the apples should sell pretty well. It''ll be winter time soon, so it''ll be impossible to get fruit outside of dungeons. Even when these things are in season, it is difficult to get fresh fruit without living near an area that naturally produces it. I bet that alone will increase traffic to your dungeon."


    Violet wasn''t sure how to feel about that. While it was good to have more adventurers so she could earn more mana and dungeon points, she didn''t want a ton of people in the dungeon right now. It would make it difficult to build since she didn''t have a second floor to work on while the first floor was busy.


    Since Violet hadn''t been there to observe Tobias''s party, this was the first chance she had to observe someone trying to catch her slimes. It was rather amusing for Violet to watch David almost catch one only for them to slip right through his fingers. Alice had a slightly easier time as the slimes seemed more interested in being playful than fleeing. Violet had to wonder if Alice just had less of a dangerous aura and didn''t seem that intimidating to her slimes.


    When a slime jumped down a rabbit hole to escape Luna''s clutches, Violet couldn''t help but think that was exactly the problem. The slimes didn''t seem to have any way to actually see, but they did seem to be able to tell when someone was an actual threat or not. While Violet was all for children using her dungeon as a safer alternative for training, she wasn''t sure she liked the idea of children being brought along just to make the challenge easier. However, there wasn''t much she could actually do to prevent it, so she had to hope that those who entered her dungeon weren''t evil enough to do such a thing.

 1.41 No Bee Wars Here

    After David and Alice left the first time for the night, Violet noted that she now had 93 DP thanks to the increase of 70 DP from their tribute. Violet walked to the hay meadow room and set the weather to summer weather patterns. It was common for hay to be grown out and harvested in the summertime and it, somehow, just felt right to make the weather match that. Besides, Violet didn''t think the light torture of an overly hot room with long grass and chameleon slimes would be enough to do more than annoy most people anyway. So, it was still quite fitting for her goal of making the first floor suitable for beginner adventurers and children.


    With that done, Violet walked into the nearby Garden meadow room. She peered down at the hole she had made in the middle of the room as she asked


    "How much to research stone bricks using the stone [Base Resource]?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 2 DP to research stone bricks using the [Base Resource] stone?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was a little surprised the cost of the stone bricks was so cheap, but she wasn''t going to waste any time in selecting [Yes]. Next, she asked


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research basic well schematic using the [Base Resources] stone bricks, water, and earth magic?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet had been a bit worried that she''d need to have mud, clay, or concrete to build anything with the stone bricks. So, it was a relief that the earth magic was able to bridge the gap for her. She quickly selected the [Yes] option and then spent 10 MP to build the well around the hole she had made in the ground. Next, Violet spent 2 MP to fill the 40 Cubic Units worth of well space with water.


    The stone brick portion of the well was raised off of the ground by a bit, but there was no other well decoration. A bucket, rope, etc. likely would require something better than a mere basic well schematic. However, Violet wasn''t exactly in a hurry to work on that right now since there were more important things to spend her dungeon points on.


    The water portion of the well only came up to the ground level, leaving a decent gap between the top of the well and the water''s surface. Still, it should be sufficient for what Violet intended to use it for. For now, it would provide a source of clean water for adventurers to enjoy, but that wasn''t really what she had in mind for the long-term.


    Nothing was stopping Violet from asking for tribute multiple times from the same dungeon party in the same visit. This might be a room meant for rest and taking a break from the hectic dungeon for the adventures, but Violet didn''t exactly plan to provide it for free. She planned to use the well as a wishing well for tribute to be thrown into as a form of payment for providing a safe place for the adventurers. However, Violet would need to figure out a way to enforce such a thing before it could be used like that.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    For now, Violet just needed to focus on what she could do.


    "How much to research the nutlets into a birch tree for planting?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research birch trees using the [Base Resource] nutlets?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After selecting the [Yes] option, Violet immediately spent 20 MP to plant four birch trees. She placed these each a small distance from each of the four corners of the room. Between these trees and the well, the room resembled a five on a six-sided dice. There wasn''t much mana left, so Violet just spent 2 MP on a jade tree frog that she set to respawn through the room''s spawner, and the rest of the mana was put towards normal worker bees. The bees weren''t set to respawn, but they''d be useful for the queen bees she planned to summon after David left again.


    While the sword training every night had lost most of its novelty, Violet was improving her skills bit by bit. While she didn''t need David to comment on it for her to take note of it, it was still nice to hear. The fact that Violet was no longer afraid of beginner [Monsters] invading her dungeon was nice.


    Sure, things were still difficult since most of the dungeon''s puzzles and [Monsters] could only slow down zombies and goblins, but it didn''t matter so long as Violet could protect the dungeon core. A more dangerous enemy might be a problem, but Violet was hopeful that she would be able to put in a boss room soon and then unlock the second floor after that. She''d have to spend some time saving up her dungeon points so she could make proper use of the boss room as well as afford the next floor, but that didn''t stop her from being hopeful.


    Now that the dungeon''s resources were significantly more varied than they used to be, Alice had to be more choosy with what she spent her time gathering. Things like butterfly weed flowers or violets were not nearly as valuable as acorns and honey. Purely decorative flowers were less valuable since they were mostly just sold as potpourri or in bouquets for young lovers. However, acorns could be soaked in cold water for several weeks before being ground into a flour alternative. While there was certainly a good bit of wheat-based flour to go around, it didn''t change the fact that something that could be used as a food source was more valuable than a decorative flower.


    As Violet watched David take Alice''s overflowing basket and the two turned to leave, Luna hot on their heels, she frowned. She really wished that David would buy Alice a leather satchel or something. Violet knew she likely could make one with some of her mana, but she was also wary of spending her mana on such a frivolous thing. Once she had a second floor with better [Traps], she might feel more comfortable doing so, but that wouldn''t be for a while yet.


    Sighing, Violet walked back to her garden meadow room. There was still much to do in this room, but she''d have to settle for four queen bees and another ten worker bees. The beehive in the wildflower meadow room had required some time to be built, but it now automatically repaired any damage from adventures harvesting honey whenever the room reset. So, Violet felt it would be best to give these bees a head start on building their hives in the four trees in the room.


    Unfortunately, this room only has the basic grass and dandelions right now. It wasn''t really enough for an entire four bee colonies to survive off of. However, putting new plants in the room was already the next [Item] on Violet''s to-do list. Thankfully dungeon [Monsters] didn''t seem to compete for resources.


    The bees in the wildflower meadow never tried to attack her slime, even when it accidentally ate a bee who was trying to pollinate a flower. The slimes who occasionally collided with one another in the slime parkour room never tried to engage each other in combat either. Violet had expected things to escalate on several other occasions as well, but the [Critters] and [Monsters] in her dungeon always seemed to be perfectly at peace with one another. They only ever acted territorial or protective when it came to non-dungeon entities.


    As such, Violet didn''t worry about the queens from the different hives in her garden meadow going to war with one another. Instead, she''d only worry about ensuring they had enough flowers to enjoy and leave them to peacefully produce their honey.

 1.42 Vacancies

    The new day brought another 13 MP as well as 39 DP thanks to Violet''s kodama foraging a black walnut and some repeats. This brought Violet up to 50 DP, which wasn''t enough for any useful upgrades. So, she chose to set it aside for now.


    Instead, Violet walked to her garden meadow room and spent 10 MP to apply lavender and chamomile for her bees. They''d be useful for the adventurers and they were some of the only herbs that had flowers to pollinate. While more normal herbs like peppermint or mint might not be too bad to add later on, it was more important to ensure honey production was stable first.


    Violet headed to the wildflower room, feeling bored. She hoped that Gregory and Henry would show up today. They had only shown up once in the last week and Violet felt a bit disappointed by it. Henry seemed like he had a good bit of potential as a swordsman and Violet enjoyed cheering him on. Plus, David and Gregory were the closest thing Violet had to friends. They weren''t really as close as friends usually were, but they consistently showed up and spent time in her dungeon, which was better than Violet could say about anyone else.


    In order to pass the time, Violet decided to pull up her [Missions] tab. She was hopeful that there would be new [Missions] that she could easily complete.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete a boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete half of the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock [Critters] from five different phyla.


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] optionStolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock ten [Critters]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While there were in fact new [Missions] to look over, Violet was disappointed to see there were none she could easily complete today. The one she was closest to finishing next would have to be either the one requiring her to unlock a [Critter] from five different phylums or the one requiring her to complete half of the first floor. The boss room one wouldn''t take too terribly long either, but Violet just wasn''t sure what she wanted to use as a boss [Monster] yet. That wasn''t even to mention the fact that she had yet to figure out if there was any special way she had to go about creating a boss [Monster].


    Thus far, Violet had three different types of [Critters] unlocked. There was the koi fish, the jade tree frog, and then the bumblebees. All three were from different phylums, so she would only have to continue to select [Critters] from new types of phylums two more times in order to get the reward for it. It wasn''t like Violet needed any specific [Critters] right now, so she was fine with this.


    As for the completion of half of the first floor, Violet already had a good chunk of space used up. Right now, she was somewhere between a quarter and a third way through building the first floor. This had required nearly two weeks to complete, which wasn''t too bad considering she was expected to spend the rest of eternity working on the dungeon. However, it also felt like the first big hurdle she needed to get past before she could properly start working on the dungeon.


    The requirements for unlocking the second floor were supposed to be using up half the space on her current floor, building a boss room, and saving up enough dungeon points to unlock the upgrade. While Violet had no idea what would be required for the other two requirements, she still couldn''t help but feel like they''d be easier to achieve than filling her first floor with useful rooms.


    While Violet was contemplating all of this, Elivyre and Diva entered the dungeon once more. The last few days had been filled with busy work as she contacted her father and building contractors to get things set up for her new shop. However, now she would have to wait quite a while before she could do anything else.


    It would take a few months for the shop to be built, even once the builders got out here and started their work. That left Elivyre in the rather awkward position of needing to find suitable housing and a way to run her business in the meantime. No innkeeper in their right mind would allow Elivyre to keep a cauldron and other alchemist tools in an inn room. It would be too much of a fire hazard and they couldn''t afford the risk of scaring off their other potential patrons.


    As such, Elivyre had talked the town leader into letting her rent a recently abandoned home near the outskirts of town. Some of the locals had started to pack up their things and leave for other towns where it would be safer. They weren''t equipped to handle the influx of wild [Monsters] and any other consequences the new dungeon would cause. They were only weak commoners with very little ability to fight back.


    This was a rather common occurrence when it came to new dungeons. Cities would form near the dungeon with sturdy defensive walls, capable guards, and a bustling marketplace, but the locals who lived here now would have to make the hard choice of staying or leaving for safety. Neither choice was really ideal since they both had their drawbacks.


    Dungeons processed the aether in the air and the new safety measures implemented would make it safer for those in the city. However, it would take a while for things to be built and things would be more dangerous in the meantime. Even once things were built, there was no way to know just how dangerous the area would end up being until it was too late. The dungeon could be relatively harmless or it could make life quite difficult.


    Powerful wild [Monsters] like ogres and wyverns tended to cause quite a bit of destruction and were not easily put down without powerful high-ranking adventurers to counteract them. Unless the local dungeon was worth the trouble, though, it would be difficult to convince high-ranking adventurers to move in and protect the regular citizens on a daily basis.


    There was also the matter of just how much trouble the dungeons themselves could cause. Some of the contracted [Monsters] could kill and kidnap people while others just caused disturbances. Spiders and ghosts had a tendency to creep people out and very few people wanted to live with such creatures on a regular basis. That wasn''t even to mention the fact that a corrupted or damaged dungeon core could cause an entire city to die from a plague overnight.


    Still, it also wasn''t easy for those who lived further away from dungeons either. Without a dungeon to process the aether in the air, there were very few places safe enough for people to live. Even then, that didn''t guarantee no one would develop aether poisoning and end up dying a rather slow and painful death. Since alchemists and healers tended to gravitate towards dungeons and cities where their craft was more appreciated, it also meant it was difficult for those with aether poisoning to get treatment.


    Still, regardless of what Elivyre thought of the matter, she couldn''t deny that she was benefitting from the locals leaving. It meant that she could rent an empty house and set up shop, buying herbs and selling potions to the adventurers drawn to the dungeon. However, Elivyre also needed to know just how common the herbs in the dungeon were so she could set proper prices for them. That was why she was here now. Plus, it wouldn''t hurt to gather some of her own ingredients so that she could increase her profit.

 1.43 New Friend

    Elivyre was surprised to see a young girl sitting amongst the flowers in the wildflower meadow room. With her dainty features and beautiful purple dress, Elivyre couldn''t help but be reminded of the drawings of pixies she had seen. Violet lacked the wings and small stature of a pixie, but she was otherwise very picturesque.


    Diva cawed threateningly as she flew off of Elivyre''s shoulder and to the sky above. This caused Violet to look up in alarm as she grasped her sword, ready to fight off the raven should it become necessary. Elivyre pursed her lips as she looked up at her friend exasperatedly.


    It wasn''t uncommon for multiple adventuring parties to be in the same dungeon at the same time. Although, Elivyre had the feeling that the woman in front of her was not an adventurer. Perhaps she was a noble''s daughter or the Dungeon Master?


    "I apologize if we frightened you. Diva had a habit of being a bit dramatic. I''m not sure why she is acting like this, but I''m sure she means no harm."


    Violet looked warily at the raven flying overhead as she replied


    "I''m not so sure about that. Does your pet not like dungeons or something?"


    "That''s not quite it. She just likes to warn me of anything she thinks might be a threat. She isn''t much for combat, but she is, usually, quite useful. You wouldn''t happen to be the Dungeon Master, would you?"


    Violet looked at the black-haired young woman in front of her. Deciding to attempt to be friendly, for now, Violet introduced herself.


    "I am Dungeon Master Violet. What about you?"


    Elivyre frowned, had she not introduced herself?


    "I''m Elivyre, it''s lovely to meet you! I''m a druid, but I''m not much of an adventurer. I''m actually planning to set up an alchemy shop in the nearby town to sell herbal remedies and potions."


    Violet nodded before replying


    "It''s nice to meet you as well. Are you always this friendly to strangers?"


    Elivyre looked aghast as she replied


    "I''m sorry! I don''t mean to make you uncomfortable or to be rude."


    Violet shook her head as she explained


    "No, that''s not an issue. I''m just not used to adventurers being so friendly. Most tend to keep their distance while trying to behave respectfully. I think my presence tends to make them uncomfortable."


    Elivyre looked sad for Violet as she replied


    "I''d be happy to be your friend, if you''d like? It sounds awfully lonely to be treated like that. I''m only a half-elf so I won''t live nearly as long as full elves, but I''m sure I can keep you company for a few centuries."


    Violet smiled, happy to hear the offer as she graciously accepted.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "I''d like that. Are you here to collect herbs then?"


    Diva was finally starting to calm down, so Elivyre called her back down before addressing Violet''s question.


    "Ah, yes, that is what I''m here for. I''ve brought you some allium roseum as tribute, though. It has lovely flowers, but is related to onion and garlic, so it is also edible. I figured it would go quite well with the aesthetic you have so far. Plus, it isn''t easy to obtain just from foraging."


    Violet found the gift quite thoughtful and it was true that the small pink flowers did look quite pretty.


    "It''ll be a lovely addition to my new garden meadow room. I''ll be sure to make good use of it."


    Elivyre was happy to hear that Violet approved of her choice in tribute. It was often a gamble trying to figure out if a new dungeon had a lot of herbs because the owner actually liked them or if they were just what they had the most access to.


    Many dungeons started out by collecting what they could from outside their dungeons through their contracted [Monsters]. So dungeons that spawned in an old mine might end up with more stones and useful resources like coal early on while those that spawned near an ocean could end up with a lot of aquatic plants and sand. However, quite often the Dungeon Masters would end up changing their themes later on as they got more access to a wider variety of choices. That made it quite difficult to know what sort of tribute to gift a newer dungeon that was still developing.


    "Will you be keeping us company while we are in the dungeon today? I don''t mind, if that is what you prefer. I''ll make sure Diva doesn''t bother you either, so no worries there!"


    Violet didn''t usually follow adventurers through the dungeon. Gregory tended to stick to just the one room and David was a special case. So, she was a bit curious about what it would be like to follow Elivyre. As such, she nodded as she replied


    "I don''t normally get to watch people traverse my dungeon, so that could be a nice change of pace."


    Elivyre was used to making small talk since she had grown up a merchant''s daughter. As such, it was easy for her to make small talk with Violet. She spent much of her time in the dungeon harvesting the various plants, but she made sure to ask questions or make comments as she did so.


    Violet found it quite strange as she watched her slimes bouncing around without giving Elivyre any mind. She knew that the slimes in her floodplains meadow room had been nicer to Alice. However, she figured that was because she was a young child who was less threatening than an experienced adventurer like David.


    "Why don''t you attack the slimes? Are they too weak to give much experience? I don''t really know how that sort of thing works."


    Elivyre glanced up at Violet as she replied


    "I''m still fairly low level, so they would still give me some experience, but I''d have to spend a few hours killing them to be worthwhile. I don''t have any intention of getting in your way of developing the dungeon, so I try to keep my visits short. As an alchemist, it is more worthwhile to collect herbs.


    The slimes don''t attack anyone who doesn''t have the intent to harm them, the dungeon, or are at a high enough level to be a casual threat to the dungeon. Since I''m not even at C-rank and have no intention to harm the dungeon, I can just collect things without worrying.


    Although, it also helps that I''m a druid and half-elf. Elves have an affinity for forests and the living creatures that dwell within them. Similarly, druids have an affinity for beasts and earth magic. [Monsters] aren''t quite the same as beasts, but there is likely still a sense of peace for certain [Monsters].


    A skeleton or other undead would be a different case, but pixies, dryads, and even slimes tend to enjoy the company of druids like myself. Plenty of higher-level druids will even return to some of the dungeons they''ve already moved on from just so they can revisit [Monsters] they have a particularly good relationship with."


    Violet found this interesting and had to wonder if that was part of the reason Elivyre felt comfortable around her as well. If druids and elves could feel some affinity towards even dungeon [Monsters] and [Critters], perhaps it made them more open-minded to befriending even her. Of course, it was also possible that Elivyre was just a strange one who wasn''t worried about Violet trying to kill her off just for being in her dungeon.

 1.44 Well-Rounded Rooms

    Violet had found Elivyre to be kind and thoughtful. She had gathered the herbs and flowers she wanted and then left before she could overstay her welcome. Before leaving she had promised to visit again soon, but Violet doubted that meant every day. From their talks, it sounded like Elivyre preferred to remain at home crafting new herbal remedies and potions.


    However, Violet found that she actually felt a lot less lonely now that she had a friend to talk to. It was different to have someone who asked about her instead of just speaking strictly about the dungeon. Plus, much of the distance Violet had felt with everyone else wasn''t present with Elivyre. That had made a huge difference for Violet who missed being treated as a person rather than an entity to be feared and respected.


    Of course, some of the loneliness would never quite go away. The feeling of being loved and cherished by her husband, Lee, was one that Violet missed. Yet she would never again be able to hold his warm hand in hers or look up to find his loving gaze on her. It was heartbreaking and Violet often found herself starting to tear up if she thought too hard on it. Even the dungeon''s effort to calm her couldn''t erase the fact that she was heartbroken and missed her beloved husband.


    Violet shook her head, trying to shake away the thoughts. There was no point in dwelling on things that she couldn''t change. It was unlikely her husband would want her to cry every time she thought of him either. It was better to leave those thoughts for another time when she could, hopefully, remember him in a happier light.


    Since Violet now had 85 DP and a full 50 MP, it was time to make more dungeon upgrades. Most of her older rooms were in a satisfactory state, but the garden meadow would still need a good bit of work before she could call it good enough. One day Violet hoped to come back and edit all of the rooms to improve them further, but, for now, it was better to work towards having a new floor and just fill the new rooms as best she could.


    "I''d like to research a stone brick pathway."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research stone brick pathways using the [Base Resources] stone bricks and earth magic?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was less surprised to see the earth magic included on the [Base Resources] requirement this time. It was unfortunate that a mere decorative path required such a large investment, but Violet still selected the [Yes] option. Luckily, the MP cost wasn''t nearly as bad at a mere 10 MP per 100 Square Units. As Violet just needed a pathway that led to the edges of the room to the well in the center, she didn''t even really need a full 100 Square Units worth of pathway. However, that was the minimum cost to apply the room feature, so a full 10 MP was deducted anyway.Stolen story; please report.


    "Can I use the black ink and wood to research a wooden sign? I''d like it to be readable by the inhabitants of this world."


    Violet wasn''t sure if the dungeon core automatically translated things for her or if the common language of the world was the same as the one she knew before she reincarnated. So, she wanted to be safe rather than sorry when making such a request.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research wooden signs using the [Base Resources] wood and black ink?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The prompt was a bit vague and answered none of Violet''s questions, but she simply selected [Yes] while hoping things would turn out as she wanted. The result was a wooden sign added to her [Items] list as a room feature that cost 1 MP per word. Violet carefully thought about what she wanted on the sign as she placed it on one side of the well.


    "You may rest comfortably here without worry of being attacked. However, you must place a tribute in this well to enjoy this benefit."


    23 MP was gone just like that. Violet winced at the cost, but she couldn''t exactly say she wanted the sign to be difficult to understand. Besides, mana was easy enough to replenish, but it was important that she secure a regular source of dungeon points for the future. While it was possible that the adventurers would think this was where they put their initial tribute and end up confused, that wasn''t really Violet''s goal. She''d likely have to look into putting a separate tribute room near the entrance soon just to avoid such misunderstanding, but it still didn''t feel like a priority.


    While there wasn''t much MP left, there was still enough for Violet to apply the allium roseum from Elivyre as well as some holy basil and peppermint to the room. This cost only 15 MP to do and helped to round out the room quite well. Since it wasn''t like every room needed a million plants and Violet didn''t have a ton of appropriate plants for a garden meadow, this was likely the last of what she''d be adding to the room, for now.


    Still, Violet felt the room looked quite good now. The birch trees stood tall and there were beehives beginning to form on each. The bumblebees buzzed around the room, making it less quiet than it otherwise would have been. Meanwhile, the jade tree frog hopped around, occasionally hopping up to the edge of the well to gaze down at the water longingly, but only rarely hopping into the well. As it was a tree frog, it could climb up smooth surfaces like trees or the almost too perfectly built well. So, Violet didn''t have to worry about it getting stuck and she could let it freely roam the room.


    The tree frog was quite cute and Violet made a note to herself to buy it some friends the next chance that she got. The frogs only cost 2 MP each, so there was still room for another four of them to be set to the room''s spawner. Sure, maybe the [Critters] didn''t really have much benefit for the adventurers and they wouldn''t be able to offer any additional defense for the dungeon, but Violet still liked them. They added some life to the dungeon and they all looked quite cute in their own way.

 1.45 Suspicious Skeletons

    Much later that day, another group of undead invaded the dungeon. This time, there were three zombies and two skeletons. The skeletons were a new addition and Violet had to wonder how they had gotten in. The entrance had a door that would require someone to open it in order for them to enter the dungeon. Yet, the zombies had never destroyed the door to get in and the skeletons definitely seemed like they lacked the muscle mass to do such a thing.


    Of course, the zombies didn''t exactly seem to be much better off. Sure, they could repeatedly smash into the doors in order to destroy them and, eventually, move on to the next room. However, they were still rotting corpses with relatively little strength. It was because of their lack of skills, strength, etc. that they were still considered beginner [Monsters], even despite their only weakness being their heads.


    After failing to easily kill a skeleton, Violet quickly switched strategies to deal with the zombies first. The skeletons couldn''t be cut into easily due to their body being made entirely from reanimated bones. There was no flesh to cut into and they were way too difficult to kill. Even when she managed to remove an arm at the elbow point or a head from the skeleton''s shoulders, it didn''t seem to harm them. They just reattached the lost part the first chance they got.


    That made Violet feel frustrated, so she decided to concentrate on the zombies that she was more familiar with. Thanks to the fact that she had faced off against the zombies numerous times now and the fact that she had been improving her sword skills, this took no time at all. Well, it did still take some time to bash their skulls in after she decapitated them and it was never easy to face off against multiple enemies at once.


    When Violet turned back to the skeletons, one was being repeatedly smacked into a wall by her slime while the other was practically committing suicide by bashing itself into her door. While skeletons in the games Violet had played with Lee had the ability to wield weapons, these ones were more realistic and didn''t have that ability. So, it could only damage its own bones, causing cracks to appear as bits crumbled away.


    Looking at the one being engaged by the slime, the situation was similar. The slime had managed to knock the skeleton over so many times that it had now been backed into a wall. Each time the skeleton was knocked into the wall, it was forced to climb back up and the force from the impact with the wall was causing its brittle bones to slowly fall apart.


    Violet sighed as she shook her head. She must have been panicking at seeing the new [Monster] for her to not even have thought about the fact that blunt damage was commonly the best way to dispatch of such [Monsters] in video games. it would seem the same was true here as well.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    However, Violet didn''t have a club or hammer right now. She only had her sword, which would be rather dangerous to use as a blunt weapon. She''d be liable to cut her face if she tried to bash the hilt of her sword into the skeleton. Plus, Violet didn''t exactly have a scabbard for her sword, so it wasn''t like she could just put it away and use it like they did in the manga she used to read.


    Violet looked down at her feet and lamented the fact that she didn''t even have boots. The purple flats she was wearing were made from cloth, so she''d be just as well off trying to kick the skeleton to death barefoot. While it was certainly an option to just kick the skeleton into the wall repeatedly, she doubted that was a smart idea. It would just give it the chance to attack her, digging its sharp bony fingers into her arms, and leaving blood to trail down them and onto her dress.


    Violet sighed as she sat down to wait for the skeleton to slowly die. If her slime ended up dying to the skeleton, she''d have to step in, but she wasn''t in the mood to deal with it right now. By the time David arrived for the day, her slime had killed off the first skeleton and was now working on the second. David looked at the bizarre scene as he asked


    "Did you get a second floor while I was gone? I''ve never heard of skeletons as contractable [Monsters], though. How strange."


    Violet looked up at him with a rather annoyed expression as she replied


    "No, I keep being attacked by the undead. At first, it was just zombies, but now it seems skeletons have been thrown into the mix. I killed off the zombies a while back, but I don''t have a proper weapon to take care of the skeletons, so I''ve just been waiting on the slime to finish it off."


    Taking a closer look around the room, David noticed that there were indeed zombies off to one side and a pile of bones and dust laying on the ground near the first. He sighed as he walked over and kicked and punched the remaining skeleton to death. His armor easily protected him while giving his attacks more power. So the skeleton was quickly put out of its misery.


    Turning back to Violet he asked


    "Do you need a moment to freshen up before practice? You''re kind of covered in blood and gore, which I doubt is comfortable."


    Violet was surprised that David wasn''t complaining about the scene being too graphic for his young daughter. However, that also made sense to some extent as well. If she was going to be an adventurer, she''d likely end up seeing worse throughout her life. Still, Violet couldn''t help but feel it was a scene she''d rather the young girl not have to see.


    "Yeah. Could you step out for a bit while I clean up around here? I''d rather get rid of the [Monster] remains as well."


    David nodded, quickly exiting the dungeon with his young daughter. It was rather strange to hear there were undead entering the dungeon. Most were incapable of entering the dungeon by themselves and they didn''t exactly tend to be wild [Monsters]. Even contracted [Monsters] didn''t tend to stray very far from their dungeons. That only left one possibility¡­

 1.46 Fake Money?

    While Violet bathed, she pulled up her building screen and built a 5-Units hallway and a 15-Units by 16-Units square room. This one was parallel to the garden meadow room, but it would be much less kind to adventurers. Now that a good chunk of the first floor had been filled with rooms, it seemed like a good idea to slightly increase the difficulty. Of course, that didn''t mean that Violet intended for them to be too dangerous, though. This floor was still meant for children and beginner adventurers, after all.


    David was kind and didn''t return for far longer than Violet actually needed to bathe. While his consideration was very much appreciated, it had caused Violet to worry that he wasn''t going to return that day. So, she was very relieved when he finally came back into the dungeon.


    "I brought you some cheese today."


    Violet raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what kind of cheese it was exactly. However, David didn''t offer up any details. Violet didn''t bother insisting he clarify either. Knowing her system, it was unlikely to differentiate the cheeses either. It hadn''t exactly specified other things like types of grass either, so it must not matter that much. Still, Violet hoped her system would, at least, use the right types of cheese for the right situation. She didn''t want a soft cheese to show up if she tried to make a storage room or something. A hard cheese was less likely to mold and go bad when being left out, but a soft cheese was most certainly temperature-sensitive.


    "I set up a new room. It''s meant as a room for resting and has a garden meadow theme. It should also have a good number of new resources to harvest. I am trying to charge people tribute to use it, but it should be fine if you want to check it out this once."


    David shook his head as he replied


    "No, I''ll pay the tribute if we are to use the room. I don''t have much, but I can spare some copper coins. I don''t really tend to carry around random extra [Items] with me that I can use as tributes, but I can''t exactly leave my coin purse lying around unattended either."


    Violet shrugged, not really caring to argue about it. She didn''t exactly need copper coins since she couldn''t get them as a summonable [Item] and she already had copper as a [Base Resource]. Still, even a single dungeon point was something and they were bound to add up over time. Plus, there was something fitting about coins being tossed into a wishing well. Although, that did bring up a different concern.


    "How are coins managed? If dungeons can''t produce the coins, but people are always leaving them as tribute in dungeons, it doesn''t seem very sustainable."


    David looked thoughtful as he repliedStolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "From my understanding, the metals needed to produce coins can be harvested from dungeons. However, only the royal family and their trusted subordinates know the official techniques to make the coins. Copper isn''t just melted down and poured into molds, special magic has to be used to certify the coins as official currency of the kingdom."


    That actually sounded pretty smart to Violet. It would be harder to create counterfeit coins with such a specific method. Although, that certainly raised some other questions.


    "How do you know if a coin is a fake or not? Does everyone know some sort of magic to test for it? Is it just an honor system where you trust the coins not to be fake?"


    David shook his head as he replied


    "No, it''s nothing like that. The magic used on the coins are a special type of enchantment with magic to hide the spell''s exact design from all but those trained to recognize it. All official banks have to have someone who can check the coins employed there and it can only be open when someone is there to check the incoming coins.


    Merchants and banks also keep extensive logs, from what I''ve heard. So an investigation can be launched right away if anyone is caught with counterfeit coins. Without the logs, the merchants would even seem suspicious, so they tend to keep close track of who they do business with."


    With the additional knowledge of it being enchantment magic, Violet had to wonder if simply hiding the design was enough. Surely it wouldn''t be that difficult for an enchanter to figure out how to do the same thing? Of course, Violet didn''t really know how enchanting worked either. So she could be entirely wrong about that.


    Still, it had to be better than just adding tiny serial numbers and special materials into the mix while changing tiny details here and there year after year. That was how Violet''s country had done things with its paper money. Yet there were tons of shows and everything else about how people would make counterfeit money and then launder the money as part of a crime syndicate. Violet didn''t actually know that much about money and such, so she dropped the conversation there. Her curiosity had been sated, for now, so that was good enough for her.


    David almost made it all the way to the other side of the slime parkour challenge before failing once more. Watching him struggle with the puzzles so much day after day made Violet wonder if they were too difficult. It was entirely possible that they were just too different from the sorts of puzzles normally used in this world or that David had poor coordination. However, it still made Violet question whether her first floor was actually suitable for beginner adventurers if even David was struggling this much.


    Still, only the slime parkour challenge was actually that dangerous and it was likely it would become significantly easier if she changed the time of day and weather to something safer. However, this was one of the only safety precautions Violet really had in her dungeon. So, she was hesitant to change it before she could unlock a new floor and add in some proper defenses.


    After David left the first time, Violet spent the 50 MP on a new spawner for her newest room. She planned to turn it into a challenge room, but figured there was no harm in including some basic slimes in it as well. The five slimes were, of course, bought after swordsmanship training was over and David left once more. While it was only a dead-end room right now, Violet figured it didn''t hurt to set the [Monsters] up first thing.

 1.47 Forgetful Old Man

    A new day, another 13 MP regenerated. Violet had to wonder if she would feel more excited when that number became 25 MP each day or if she''d still feel like it was so little. If she regularly had people on her first floor and they no longer rushed to leave it since she had a second floor, it was likely that she''d have a lot more mana than she knew what to do with.


    Although, that certainly would cause other problems. If she unlocked her second floor too quickly then she might not easily get a chance to build new rooms on the first floor again. Violet might even have to camp on her own first floor so she could jump at the first chance to build new rooms on it. She didn''t exactly want to leave all of her floors half-built for all of eternity.


    Violet sighed, deciding it would be best to ask Theodore about what to do about such issues when it came time. Surely protocols had to have been developed for such issues by now. There were plenty of older dungeons, from what Violet had heard. Violet finished walking to the garden meadow room. Looking at her cute jade tree frog jumping out of the well to greet her, she smiled.


    "Don''t worry little one, it''s time. I''m going to get you some friends today."


    Violet soon summoned another four jade tree frogs, taking up the last 8 MP of space on the 50 MP spawner in the room. Some of the [Critters] really were quite cheap. Save for the queen bumblebees, all of them had cost less than 2 MP each. Of course, the queen bumblebee was a rare exception that was able to create new bees and run their own hives.


    Most [Critters], much like [Monsters] could not breed and give birth. It was one of the downsides of being considered a dungeon creature. They could have semi-immortality and a safer environment, but they could never have families. Violet supposed she could sympathize with such feelings. Now that she had lost her husband, she would never have a family either.


    The best she could hope for was the chance to help the next generation of adventurers in this world. By creating a more balanced dungeon that slowly scaled from being safe enough that even children could easily traverse the first floor without worry to a super deadly and challenging twenty-fifth floor. Violet did have to worry about her own safety, eventually. A few sword skills were hardly going to be enough when faced with more dangerous [Monsters] and adventurers.


    Violet went to look at what her kodama had brought back the previous day when her menu closed on her. Other than seeing she now had creeping charlie and a total of 123 DP, she didn''t get the chance to see much else. It certainly was inconvenient having one''s menus cease to function every time an adventurer walked into the dungeon. Usually Violet didn''t have her menus open when people showed up, so it wasn''t a reliable sign that adventurers had shown up. However, that didn''t matter if it still kept her from opening it until they left.


    Oh well, Violet would wait and see if they would make it to the dungeon core room. If they tried to get too close, she''d scare them off, but there was no point in interrupting every adventurer who showed up. Even if it was a [Monster], it was unlikely they''d make it very far. At worst, Violet would have to enter the depths of the slime parkour pool to attempt to kill the zombies. Maybe it would be a good chance to test if she actually needed to breathe? It wasn''t like she required sleep or food, so it was clear that she didn''t have to live by the same standards as most living things.


    Ricard grumbled as he entered the dungeon with the others. He wasn''t happy about being in a dungeon. He hadn''t stepped inside one for his entire life and he didn''t think now was the time to change that. His old bones and aching joints protested at every step and he was sure he was likely to lose his life today.


    "Oh, quit your grumbling!"


    Arthur scolded. Ricard looked at him and their other companion, Galileo. They were all old farmers with nothing more than farming tools at their disposal. They weren''t fit to be in a dungeon.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Why are we even here again?"


    Galileo asked. Arthur patted the man on the back, earning a groan of protest, as he explained


    "Is your memory failing you again, old man? We''re here to see if this dungeon is truly as safe as they say it is. Can''t have our grandchildren going off and dying before us, but it would be a wasted opportunity to just avoid the unknown."


    Ricard sighed as he recalled the conversation they had had the night before. They were now here on this suicide mission merely because they couldn''t stand the idea of the youngest members of their families dying all for the mere chance at discovering they had a class of their own. A life of adventuring was already dangerous enough, but it was even worse for those who had no way of knowing if they even had a class without risking their lives in the dungeons.


    Ricard and his friends had agreed to go check on things on behalf of the entire town. If they made it back, then the others would know it was safe enough to take their chances. However, if the dungeon killed them all, then they would know it wasn''t nearly as innocent as it seemed. None of them expected to make it out alive, expecting their weathered bodies to slow them down too much and for them to easily be defeated by even the weakest of [Monsters].


    However, none of them were prepared for what they found within the dungeon.


    "What is that blue thing? Why isn''t it... attacking us?"


    Galileo asked. Ricard looked at Arthur expectantly. He was the youngest of their group and had always enjoyed listening to the adventurers as they told their stories at the local tavern.


    "I think I heard it was something called a... slime? I don''t know why it isn''t attacking us, though. Most adventurers just tell about how they defeated tough opponents like goblins or orcs. I''ve only heard a few adventurers recently grumbling about how weak the [Monsters] are here."


    Ricard nodded his head as he stepped forward to face off against the slime. He wasn''t one for words and much preferred to live quietly. However, he knew what his role was in this dungeon. He was here to live or die, based merely on luck and the Dungeon Master''s whims. There was no point in standing around when he could get to work on trying to defeat the slime.


    Sensing an opponent, the slime bounced towards Ricard. However, it still didn''t use any dangerous attacks, even as Ricard thrust his pitchfork forward. By chance, one of the prongs hit the magic core with enough force that the slime popped on impact and immediately dissolved. Ricard looked around bewildered, but was soon reassured as Arthur came up to him, congratulating


    "Nice! You managed to take it out! I wonder if there are any others around here?"


    They didn''t find any other [Monsters] in that room. The kodama knew better than to be discovered. Anytime [Monsters] or people came along, it was always quick to hide. It really wasn''t sure how that one group had found it, but it wasn''t really something the kodama wanted to hold onto either.


    The group of three elderly farmers continued to move through the dungeon, slowly making their way forward. Through some luck, they managed to go through the door to the left and found themselves in the floodplains meadow next. Thanks to the slimes being more interested in hiding than engaging them in combat, their biggest struggle was crossing the river. However, even that wasn''t a huge deal. The water remained still and it wasn''t a very wide river, so it wasn''t very dangerous. The only threat the river could offer was the potential for one of them to catch a cold, but the warm sun made the water warm and made it so their clothes could slowly evaporate the water.


    "It''s almost a shame we aren''t here to harvest the resources. Those berry bushes and apple trees looked heavy with fruit. Outside of those who can traverse the dungeons to collect the fruit themselves, it''s rare to come across such nice, fresh fruit. I think a few of the locals have their own apple, pear, or orange trees, but berry bushes definitely don''t grow around here."


    Arthur mused. Ricard merely nodded in acknowledgment, but said nothing. Meanwhile, Galileo looked out of it. Their poor friend was only lucid half of the time and often struggled with his memory. It was likely better for them to return, but they had already come so far and it seemed like it would be better to continue. Besides, his friend had seemed willing enough the night before, so it wasn''t like it was his right to question his friend''s right to throw himself to his death. It wasn''t like he was any better off when it came to his suicidal decision.

 1.48 Old Fools

    By the time Arthur''s group made it to where Violet was, they were in much worse shape then they had started in. Yet, they were all fairly bewildered that they had yet to find a single [Trap] or to lose their lives. Violet frowned as she looked the group over. One seemed to have an injured hip and had to be supported by another of their group while a third was clutching his back and wincing.


    Galileo had injured his hip due to being too out of it to pay attention to the chameleon slimes while Ricard had simply injured his back while trying to attack the slimes. His back was killing him, but he couldn''t let his guard down until they left the dungeon... or died.


    "Are you alright?"


    The sound of a young woman''s voice calling out to them surprised the group who had been blindly stumbling down the hallway. Arthur looked up as he called out


    "Who are you? You don''t look like an adventurer. Do your parents know you''re here, young lady?"


    Violet giggled at Arthur''s question. She certainly looked younger and more picturesque now that she was a Dungeon Master. It wasn''t like Violet hadn''t seen her own reflection in the many water surfaces throughout her dungeon. However, she wasn''t expecting to be mistaken for too young to be in a dungeon.


    "I''m the Dungeon Master, Violet. If your group is injured, you should leave the dungeon. You can''t enter this room anyway, the dungeon core room is off-limits."


    Ricard furrowed his eyebrows as he weakly called out in a hoarse voice


    "Are you really the Dungeon Master? The town leader has restricted entry to the dungeon for the locals until it has been confirmed that it is safe enough to enter. If you are lying, you''ll be in a lot of trouble. It isn¡¯t that we don''t want to believe you, but it''s rather odd for a Dungeon Master to show concern for those invading their dungeon."


    Arthur was surprised to hear Ricard speak, since he so rarely did so. However, he couldn''t deny that his friend was right. It was rather odd for the Dungeon Master to show concern for them. They had already left their tributes at the entrance when they first arrived, but most Dungeon Masters would happily let them die so they could absorb extra tribute and ensure they''d never be a threat to the dungeon again. At least, that was what they had heard all their lives. It wasn''t like they had ever entered a dungeon before, so it was hard to do more than speculate based on what they heard.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Why should I have to be like all the other Dungeon Masters? Did you not enjoy my puzzles and find my slimes cute? I enjoy the peaceful environment of my dungeon and wish to coexist with the locals. I do have to protect the dungeon core, but I have no plans to make the first floor itself too dangerous for anyone. I''m trying to make it a suitable environment for even children to learn in and, hopefully, challenging enough that they can learn how to safely navigate a dungeon.


    However, I''m not sure that it is suitable for those of your status. It''s one thing for those who can easily take a fall and will heal quickly. However, it''s still a bit dangerous for you all to be here."


    Arthur waved off her concerns as he replied


    "It''s fine, we know we are frail old men. We just weren''t expecting to make it out of here alive. However, we can''t leave until we know what all you have in this dungeon and can confirm if it is safe for ourselves. I don''t want my grandchildren to die before I do just because they are eager to play adventurer."


    Violet sighed before walking towards the old men. They flinched in fear and Arthur nearly dropped Galileo to the floor. Violet frowned as she helped to support the man, explaining


    "Fine, if you insist on exploring the rest. Then I shall help to escort you the rest of the way. Once you leave, don''t come back. I''d rather your grandchildren not have to mourn your deaths just because you choose to recklessly enter my dungeon."


    There wasn''t much left in the dungeon to explore. There was an empty square room to the left of the hay meadow and the slime parkour room, but they had already seen the rest. Violet had worried a bit that they''d attempt to cross the slime parkour room, just to be safe, so she had to warn them.


    "The platforms are too slick from the rain and it''s dark, so it''ll be difficult to see the aqua slimes jumping out of the water until it''s too late. I''m not going to let you all get yourselves killed, so we will be going the other way around."


    While they had the intention to explore the entirety of the dungeon, none of them actually wanted to die. It would be bad enough having to return to their families and explain how they had ended up injured without them also dying a rather stupid death. Their families never would have agreed to them entering the dungeon and they were likely to be irate.


    Only the town leader had known about their whereabouts when they left. It would be a pointless experiment if they died without anyone knowing what they were doing. However, they couldn''t be sure that they''d hold the same level of conviction if their families tried to convince them otherwise.


    Violet had to wait a short ways away from the entrance as she watched the group leave. The safety barrier wouldn''t let her go the remaining 5-Units distance because the dungeon couldn''t allow her to leave. She was part of the dungeon and she''d always be stuck in here. However, she was still relieved to see the three men leave. Violet really hoped no one else tried to do something so reckless. She couldn''t guarantee that the next group would be as lucky as this one had been.

 1.49 Scavenger Hunt

    Despite expecting to die in the dungeon, the elderly farmers had been rather generous with their tributes. Violet noted that they had left three strawberries, a bell pepper, and a bundle of wheat. This translated to 107 DP, which now gave her a total of 230 DP. Violet chuckled to herself as she said


    "Should I become a farming dungeon, love? With all of the crops I''ve been given, I could easily do some research and plant fields and fields of all sorts of things."


    Violet sighed before continuing


    "I suppose that wouldn''t be a very good way to pay the locals back for their kindness, though, would it? I''d hate to take away their only source of income..."


    While Violet already had quite a few different trees and fruit-bearing bushes in her dungeon, it somehow felt different to turn her dungeon into an actual farmland. At least the things she currently had fit the scenery. It wasn''t like there was much else Violet could put in a meadow theme anyway. Turning a meadow into a mine wouldn''t be allowed by her system anyway.


    Violet walked to her new empty square room. This one had yet to have more than some basic slimes and a spawner built in it. However, that wouldn''t last much longer. It would take a few rounds of building, but this room was Violet''s next goal.


    While she walked the distance, Violet mused to herself how unfortunate it was that her system wasn''t capable of answering her questions about this world. She had tried asking questions from her system about whether there were any other dungeons with slimes as [Monsters], like hers, or how many adventurers visited an average dungeon each day. However, these sorts of questions were always met with silence.


    Violet supposed this made sense. The dungeon core had been born not long before Violet had entered this world and bonded with it. The dungeon core hadn''t met any other Dungeon Masters nor had it been part of any other dungeons. The only knowledge the dungeon core had was the knowledge it had been born with. Things related to the dungeon accords and basic upkeep of the dungeon were all her system could help her with.


    Besides that, it was more than clear to Violet that her system menu and the dungeon core were not sentient. It was closer to a computer algorithm or an NPC in a video game. It had set responses based on what you asked of it, but it couldn''t do much outside of that. Asking the system what it thought of the weather would either get the system to pull up the weather options for the room or no response at all.


    While it certainly had nothing to offer in the way of useful information or company, Violet couldn''t fault the dungeon core. It would be the same as blaming herself or a newborn baby. The dungeon and her were one and the dungeon was only a little over a week old. Besides, Violet had other options, even if it would take longer to get any useful information. She could ask Theodore, David, or Elivyre about the world. Of course, she couldn''t take everything they said at face value, but it was still better than nothing.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Finally walking into the new room, Violet asked


    "Is it possible to make dandelions that have gone to seed?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 4 DP to research late-stage dandelions using the [Base Resource] dandelions?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    That was a lot simpler than Violet had expected and certainly cheaper than expected as well. Well, it was, basically, just a reskin of an [Item] she already had unlocked. They were just at a later stage in their life, but it was still the same plant. Violet easily selected the [Yes] option, happy to have a new option for decorating her rooms.


    Next, she spent 46 MP to apply long grass, plantain leaves, creeping charlie, clover, white clover flowers, red clover flowers, chamomile, daisies, and violets to the room. Violet planned to use this room to do a special scavenger hunt challenge, so she would need a lot more variety of plants than she had in any of her other rooms. In fact, this was hardly even all of the plants she planned to apply as room features. If it weren''t for the fact that she was already out of mana, she wouldn''t have even waited to apply the rest. However, there was no getting around her max mana cap.


    Violet would have to wait until she had a second floor before she could complete many of her challenges, but she planned to eventually lock adventurers inside of rooms until they completed the challenges in them. However, 250 DP just to lock the door to one room was a lot and Violet hardly wanted to make all of her puzzles so difficult. Instead, she planned to use this method only in a few rooms that were further in the dungeon.


    Adventurers who were smart enough to complete the challenges would, eventually, be able to leave. However, [Monsters] would have a much harder time completing the challenges. So long as [Monsters] were in all of the rooms where the doors would lock, Violet wouldn''t even have to worry about the space being permanently locked. The [Monsters] would either starve to death or slowly be smacked to death by the slimes. Maybe they''d even give up and take the easy way out.


    Violet grimaced as she took in her own thoughts. They were a lot darker than she was used to. She had always been a rather optimistic and happy person who lived in the moment. Violet had never suffered from chronic depression or suicidal ideation. She also wasn''t exactly an anarchist who just wanted to watch the world burn.


    It was difficult to say what had caused this change in her mindset. Perhaps it was just because she had become a Dungeon Master in this new world and the dungeon core was affecting her sense of morality. She still seemed to have most of the tendencies that made her want to nurture the young and help the elderly. Violet even still found herself desiring friendship and enjoying the small things in life.


    However, when it came to things that put the dungeon at risk, she could strike her enemies down with no remorse. Violet had even accepted the death of that one adventurer all too easily. It was difficult to say when things had changed, though. For all Violet knew, this could be a result of how difficult her death had been. Maybe she could no longer trust people so easily because she had seen her own husband dying on their living room floor and then lost her own life not long after.


    Violet''s mind began to spiral and she clutched her head in anguish. However, before she could think on the topic much longer, a strong wave of serenity washed over her. Violet got up and walked back to the dungeon core room, no longer feeling bothered.

 1.50 Interlude: Alices Morning

    Alice rubbed her eyes sleepily after waking up. Looking across the room, she noted that the other girl she shared a room with had already gotten up for the day. The family they were staying with tended to get up rather early to complete farm chores. However, none of them ever woke Alice up, allowing her to sleep in as late as she wanted.


    It was strange sharing a room with two other girls, but Alice still felt lucky. When they had been invited to live with another family, she had worried that she would have to sleep on the floor or in a barn. Such things weren''t uncommon since it wasn''t like most families had the extra space to house guests. However, Alice had gotten lucky and even had her own bed to sleep in.


    Apparently, the father of this family, a kind man named Gregory, had many kids of varying ages. One of which had recently moved out when she came of age and married another local. Her bed still remained and now Alice was occupying it.


    David had gotten less lucky and had to sleep on the floor in the family room. There were only three bedrooms in this farmhouse. One bedroom was for the parents, one for the boy children, and one for the girl children. As a farming family, Gregory couldn''t afford to buy a better house to give his children their own spaces.


    Alice''s father didn''t seem unhappy about sleeping on the floor, nor did he complain about getting up at the crack of dawn every day to teach swordsmanship to a boy named Henry. If anything, Alice felt like her father seemed happier and almost relieved. He had seemed stressed when they were staying at the local inn and Alice always had to work hard to collect flowers and herbs for them every night.


    Her father had allowed Alice to keep the iced carrot bread from her first successful completion of the slime jigsaw puzzle. However, other attempts had seen him regretfully asking her to allow him to have it to sell to the merchants that visited the town. Alice did her best to make that first loaf of bread last her as long as she could. It was a real luxury to have something sweet and so the carrot bread truly felt like a reward.


    Thankfully, they had moved in with Gregory''s family not long after that. Now that things were easier, David promised to let Alice keep one of each reward she earned that week. Anything else, he had explained, would be sold so that they could save up enough money for her to go to an adventurer school when she came of age.


    This made Alice very happy as she had always wanted to attend an adventurer school. Her mother used to tell her about her days in a similar school and so it had been Alice''s dream to go as well. In fact, Alice was very similar to her mother. They were both beast tamers and Luna had even been the child of two of her mother''s tames. As such, not only was Luna her best friend and first tame, but she was also one of the few reminders Alice had of her deceased mother.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    After changing out of her pajamas and into her day clothes, Alice shoved her luggage back under her bed. It was fortunate that they had been planning on staying here for a few weeks initially. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have had as many changes of clothes and belongings. Alice still missed home and being surrounded by her things.


    However, she had also had it explained to her that they''d be living here from now on. She would have to wait an entire year before they could collect their belongings and then her dad would try to buy them a new house here. That had been hard for Alice to accept, especially since she''d be leaving behind the house she had been living in with her mother. It was easier to accept that she''d have to leave behind her friends and that she''d even have to start going to school here in the spring.


    When Alice walked out to the kitchen, she was greeted by Gregory''s wife, Edith.


    "Good morning, sweetie! I saved some bread and jam for you. It''s not much, but it should be enough to tide you over until later."


    "Thank you, Mrs. Edith."


    It wasn''t exactly proper to call someone by their first name, but most human didn''t actually have last names. Only the aristocracy and others of higher birth tended to have last names. Things were different with some of the other races, but that was neither here nor there. Alice just wanted to show her respect for the people who were housing her and were kind enough to even offer her food.


    The jam was good and had actually been made from some of the berries Alice had brought back from the dungeon. As she ate, she wandered outside to watch Henry and her dad practice. Apparently, the young boy was jealous of Alice since she got to freely explore the dungeon. However, even if his father was more willing to allow it now, thanks to her father, the town leader had forbidden the townsfolk from entering until it was confirmed that it was safe to do so.


    This hadn''t been the case, at first, but a recent town meeting had changed that. Too many children and young adults wanted to go explore the dungeon, but their parents were worried about the danger. So, it was agreed that the dungeon would be closed to the locals until the group that was currently surveying the dungeon gave the go-ahead. There was also, supposedly, a group of locals who would take a look as well, but Alice hadn''t been informed very well on the details of that.


    Alice quite liked to watch her daddy fight and duel against others. However, the Henry boy wasn''t quite as skilled as Miss Violet. He wasn''t strong enough and had a difficult time even going through the motions for training. So, she had to steal glances at her father at night when he dueled with Violet. That had made it difficult to finish her tasks in a timely manner, at first, but it was easier now that she knew what she was doing.


    As part of the morning training, Henry had to run laps, do pushups and sit-ups, and swing his wooden sword around for a long time. Most of the training was, usually, over by the time Alice got up for the day. Henry only had the stamina to do the training for so long, but her father had explained that it was just because he was young and inexperienced. Even if he didn''t unlock a swordsman class, he was likely to improve so long as he continued to work hard and practice every day.

 1.51 New Equipment

    Tobias Humbleweed looked warily at the dungeon entrance before them. This was the first time they''d enter after meeting the Dungeon Master. If they had upset her the last time they were here, things could be much more difficult for them this time.


    He would have preferred to come back the very next day, but they had to arrange for long-term accommodations and a better tribute. The town leader had agreed to rent an abandoned home out to them for the month. Renting inn rooms every night was too expensive for as long as they needed to remain in Millstone. Even if they doubled up on the rooms, with Tobias and Mirabella sharing a room while Matthias and Thodin shared another, the cost still added up significantly.


    A small town like this didn''t have much competition to worry about either. So, the innkeepers wouldn''t offer incentives for renting for longer periods. The food quality wasn''t great either and it wasn''t exactly included in the cost of renting the room. As such, even if the cost was only slightly less, renting a home was much more cost-effective. They could prepare their own meals and all have their own space to sleep without having to worry about anyone else disturbing their rest.


    "I still don''t see why you all are so determined to risk your lives like this. Look at you, you''re not even wearing any armor today, that''s practically suicide."


    Mirabella rolled her eyes as she replied


    "You don''t have to join us! If you''re too much of a scaredy cat to even enter, then you can just as easily remain at home. You know we''re here to do the slime parkour and it isn''t convenient to have to worry about our armor weighing us down."


    Matthias said nothing. He hadn''t been expecting such a response from his teammates. Mirabella was likely just in a bad mood today. While the reason for that was all too obvious, he wasn''t exactly about to mention it. The last thing he wanted was to piss off the rest of the group. Even if some [Monsters] were drawn to the smell of blood, he''d just be inviting more ire than the comment was worth.


    While the group was familiar enough with the dungeon now, they still entered each room cautiously. You could never quite know when a dungeon had changed something and the last thing they wanted was to get so comfortable that they lost their lives. While it was true that the dungeon had changed since they last entered, the changes were made further in than they needed to go today.


    The group gathered at the entrance to the slime parkour room. All but Matthias would be taking on the challenge today. Each of them had gone out of their way to purchase straps and special hooks so they could carry their magic lamps close to their chests. The straps were similar to those a purse worn diagonally in modern-day might look like, but they were attached to a belt worn around the middle. They were useful gear in this sort of situation, but they were quite costly to purchase and the group had been planning to hold off on such a purchase, initially. However, almost losing one magic lamp the last time they had attempted this challenge was more than enough to change their mind.


    "Alright, I''m going to go first. You all should wait for me to get a bit of a ways away before the next person joins. From what I saw the last time, you have to use every platform jumping to the side platform before going forward each time. It shortens the distance you have to cover and makes the challenge easier.


    However, you''ll also have to be on guard for the slimes hiding in the water. Their coloring makes them blend in with both the water and the dark of the room quite well. They aren''t particularly dangerous, but they can knock you off balance, which can cause us to fail the challenge, if nothing else."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Mirabella nodded at her brother''s words. She was careful to stuff anything that would be damaged by the water into her magic bag. As a navigator, she had often run into the problem of having a map out only to stumble upon a river she had to cross. In such situations, it was too inconvenient to always worry about her gear being damaged. As such, a magic bag had been one of the first big investments she had made.


    The room was quiet as they concentrated, peering into the darkness. The only sound they could hear was the occasional sound of a slime rushing through the water. Tobias gathered his resolve before leaping onto the first platform. Walking to the edge of the first platform, Tobias took a breath before leaping to the next platform. So far, so good, but the next one wouldn''t be quite as easy.


    The gap between the second and third platforms seemed to be an almost impossible stretch, the distance being far greater than that between the first and second platforms. Yet, Tobias knew it was much better than the last time he had been here and tried to jump directly from the first to the fourth platform. Tobias focused, determined to make it as he leaped, muscles straining as he just barely made it onto the next platform.


    After Tobias straightened himself out, he looked back, waving to show the next person could start. Mirabella gulped nervously. She wasn''t nearly as practiced as her brother was at dealing with things like this. It wasn''t like she never had to traverse dangerous terrain in a dungeon before, but most Dungeon Masters preferred things like a thin path surrounded by lava to parkour over a body of water like this. Even if the stakes here weren''t nearly as serious, it was still a lot to deal with.


    With a deep breath, Mirabella summoned her courage and sprang forward. Surprisingly, she made it across the water. Shaking herself, she walked to the edge of the platform and leaped to the next one with much more confidence.


    While Mirabella made her way across, Tobias leaped to the next platform. This one was the easy one, he reminded himself. Of the four sets of two platforms, the biggest jump was the one between the fourth and fifth platforms. It was the jumps directly across the room and the distance was rather nerve-wracking to think about.


    Tobias batted a slime away, took a deep breath and jumped the distance. Unfortunately, his back foot slipped off the edge and dipped into the water. He was so close and yet he was still disqualified. Sighing, Tobias decided he might as well attempt the rest of the challenge. Even if he couldn''t earn a prize anymore, it would still be good to practice for the next attempt he made. Well, that and he didn''t particularly want to swim through the water, if it could be avoided.


    Mirabella didn''t even manage to make it across the first big jump. Her large stature made it easier to cross the large distance, but it was too difficult to concentrate on jumping and avoiding the slimes at the same time. While she was steeling herself to make the first big jump, a slime came jumping out of the water, causing Mirabella to panic and then she fell into the water.


    As for Thodin? He wasn''t exactly the agile type. He was a berserker who carried an axe everywhere he went. It was normal for him to use his small stature and brute strength to overpower his enemies. Rather than worrying about dodging or running away, he''d just lose his mind to the frenzied state of his class, using thick and sturdy armor to protect him while he cut all of his enemies down.


    Thodin knew he was going to fail the second he hopped over to the first platform. He just barely managed to keep his balance and not fall off as he was landing. Then, when he was jumping to the second platform, a slime jumping up at just the right time caused him to slip and fall into the water. He dragged himself back up out of the water, groaning about his now aching shoulder as he did so.


    It would be a waste to use a health potion to deal with such a minor injury, but it was likely his shoulder would hurt the rest of the week. As Thodin grumbled about his shoulder, massaging the sore muscles, Matthias frowned as he looked across the distance. Their group was now separated with Mirabella having chosen to continue to struggle across the room, the same as her brother. It had been agreed that they would regroup and meet in the floodplains meadow next, but it still concerned Matthias to no end to be separated like this.

 1.52 Choices, Choices, Choices

    Violet rubbed her eyes sleepily. It was difficult to nap when adventurers were in the dungeon, but this last group had stayed for quite a while. Since no one could get to the dungeon core room without passing through the hay meadow, she had chosen to sleep in the long grass. Luckily, there weren''t any ticks or fleas to worry about in dungeons. At least, there wouldn''t be without Violet purposely choosing to put them in and there was zero chance of that happening.


    The sun shined down brightly on the hay meadow, blinding Violet, temporarily. A small, green, scale-covered slime bounced past her and Violet watched with a small smile on her face. The slime landed gently, sending small ripples through the grass and flowers as it did so. Soon enough, it began to fade away, blending into its surroundings once more.


    It always felt so peaceful here, surrounded by the flowers and slimes. The only thing that would make it better was a few butterflies to flutter around and land on the flowers. That was one of the things that made the wildflower meadow room better than this one. It had the buzz of bees, which made the room feel more full of life without ruining the peaceful scenery.


    Checking her system menu, Violet looked over the tributes she had received. Willow tree seeds, red roses, sunflowers, white spider mums, brown paper, and an orange ribbon. Violet looked thoughtfully over the list. Since it was the fall time, it was likely that the willow seeds had been purposely brought to the dungeon. Violet could remember the willow tree in her childhood yard and knew quite well that the trees spread their seeds in early summer, not the fall.


    As for the other tributes, it seemed likely that the flowers had been part of a flower bouquet, wrapped in brown paper and tied with an orange ribbon. This was the first time Violet had received flowers from a garden rather than the wild. If it weren''t for the fact that the last group had been a group of four, she would have thought a florist had stopped by the dungeon.


    However, the evidence seemed to point to the tribute being a result of her request for beautiful things as tribute. It wasn''t as clear as to whether the previous group who had been mapping her dungeon had returned or if the news was just starting to spread, though. Sure, it didn''t matter who had come and gone from the dungeon, so long as the dungeon core was still safe that was all that mattered. Still, it was fun to guess what sorts of people were visiting the dungeon.


    Violet entered her newest room and looked it over. It was now quite full of plants, but it would soon be even more crowded. She smiled giddily, she could only imagine just how colorful and wild the room would look when she was finished.


    "I''d like to research round stone altars that can be used to place an [Item] on for a challenge."


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research round stone altars using the [Base Resource] stone?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and then checked her total dungeon points. She still had 431 DP, which was a decent amount, but she had no plans to spend any more right now. Instead, Violet spent 20 MP to create four round stone altars. She placed each in one corner of the room before moving on to the next step of her plan.


    Violet spent 30 MP applying chicory flowers, lavender, black-eyed susans, bee balm flowers, butterfly weed flowers, and allium roseum to the room. With this, she felt satisfied with the appearance of the room. A few small details still needed to be finalized before the room would properly be set up for challengers, but the majority of the work was taken care of now. Soon enough, it would be time to build another new room.


    There were now seven rooms that had been, mostly, completed. A total of twenty-one slimes, one kodama, five queen bees, and five jade tree frogs now called her dungeon home. After this most recent room was completed, there would be a total of four challenges in the dungeon. While the dungeon''s defenses were still a bit weaker than Violet would like, it did feel nice to see some progress being made.


    However, Violet couldn''t help but feel like it would be best to start considering what she wanted to do for her first floor boss room. More than likely, a slime would have to be set as the boss [Monster]. As such, Violet would have to get creative to make it more difficult for adventurers to pass through the room and defeat the boss.


    Once the boss room was built, it would be nice to move the hallways around so that the only entrance to the dungeon core room would be through the boss room. After all, what was the point of having a boss [Monster] if it could just be bypassed? Outside of [Traps], the [Monsters] were the best defense a dungeon had. As much as Violet could continue to pretend she was the final boss of her dungeon, it wasn''t very practical and it wouldn''t help her unlock the next floor.


    The only limit to Violet''s room size, thus far, had been her mana cap. However, the fact that one of the first room sizes the system had unlocked was larger than she could unlock with a mere 50 MP was curious. It made Violet wonder if it was just supposed to be a glimpse into the future or if there were other ways that such a large room could be built.


    Regardless, it would take a while before she could afford to experiment with such things. There were plenty of other things to worry about as well. Once the boss room was completed, it was still possible that the requirement to use half the space on the first floor might not be met. Even if that wasn''t an issue, there was the matter of needing to save up enough dungeon points to unlock the next floor. That was if Violet even felt it worth the trouble to move on to the next floor right away. After all, she still didn''t know if she''d be able to easily modify the first floor after she unlocked the next floor and adventurers started crowding this one.

 1.53 Flower Hunt

    David brought Violet a pear as a tribute that night. He figured that it would fit right in with the apple trees that were already in the dungeon. However, he was quite caught off guard when Violet requested a flower from a flowering hedge.


    While they weren''t exactly impossible to obtain, they weren''t something that was considered common. Only those who could afford a large property, like those in the nobility or richer merchants, ever bothered with such frivolous decorations. Well, it wasn''t like it was impossible to get the flowers, they were still considered pretty and had a chance of being available at a florist''s shop. It would require a trip into the city to acquire, though.


    If he left tonight, he might be able to reach the city by morning and be able to purchase the flowers when the shop first opened before purchasing passage back to town from a merchant. It would still mean cutting it close since it would take an entire twelve hours of walking to reach the city compared to the much shorter trip by carriage.


    However, it might also allow him to get in contact with someone who could arrange for his house and belongings to be sorted out. With the proceeds from selling their previous house, they''d likely be able to afford a new home in Millstone. It would still be quite some time before a new home could be built and David would have to rent out a temporary space to store his belongings in the meantime. Maybe Gregory would be willing to spare some barn space for a few months while he worked on getting a new home built?


    Violet looked over her progress for the night. The tribute David had given her had brought her up to 466 DP. Excitingly enough, David managed to complete the slime parkour challenge. It had been a close call, but he had looked quite happy as he handed the honey and violet lollipop to Alice. He had said something about giving the first one to her since he wouldn''t let her attempt the challenge until she was older. Violet guessed he likely planned to sell any others.


    Violet wasn''t sure how much things were worth in this world. While sweets were known to be expensive in medieval Europe, this world was likely different. What would normally be considered rare or common was likely affected by the existence of dungeons. However, there was no real way for Violet to even begin to guess at the value of things. The best she could do was to offer rewards that she would personally enjoy to those who successfully completed her challenges.


    Since she always had a bit of a sweet tooth and this floor was meant to cater to the younger generation, that translated into a lot of sweets as rewards for the challenges. While Violet wouldn''t mind using more food on other floors, she also felt like it would be better to mix things up some. As an artist, it might be nice to see just how creative she was allowed to get with the rewards. If she was allowed to create unique art or clothing accessories, that might be a nice way to make the rewards seem special and like they truly belonged to her dungeon.


    The first time David had left for the night, Violet had rushed through applying a bunch of new upgrades to her newest room. She made four new signs to place on the stone altars as part of the flower hunt challenge she wanted to set up. The first said "Flower for patience in adversity.", which corresponded with chamomile. The second said "Flower to remind me of you.", which required white clover flowers. The third said "Flower for innocence.", which daisy fit well with. Finally, the fourth one said "Flower for watchfulness.", which required wild violets.


    Lee had always liked to show off his knowledge of the flower language. Whenever he bought Violet flowers, he would always explain what each flower meant. When Violet expressed interest in returning the favor for her beloved husband, he gifted her a book on the meanings of the various plants. After reincarnating, Violet''s memory had a strange sort of sharpness to it, allowing her to recall all sorts of useful info. Yet, other memories were more of a blur, keeping her from reliving painful memories.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    As the signs had taken so much time to construct, Violet had only had enough time to build a few new hallways after that. Her last 30 MP was spent to build a long, 20-Units straight hallway behind the garden meadow room as well as an additional 10-Units straight hallway attached to that one. It would require a new schematic to be researched to just make one 30-Units hallway, but it wasn''t really necessary when she could just build two smaller ones that did the same thing.


    Things were much less rushed after David left for the night. Now, Violet could relax as she thought over what she needed to do next. She quickly added the last 5-Units of straight hallway behind the garden meadow, making the total length 35-Units. Then another 20 MP was spent to create a 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout hallway at the end of that. A four-way hallway might have worked just as well, but, at this point, Violet just felt like keeping within the theme she had already started with the rest of the floor.


    The last of her mana was spent to build a 10-Units and 5-Units straight hallway, a total of 15-Units of hallway, branching off to the left of the roundabout hallway. This was the last of the hallway Violet would need to build. The next step would be to work on building a room large enough for a boss room. However, that would require her to wait until she got a lot more mana.


    Instead, Violet decided to focus on other things, for now.


    "I''d like to research purple dye."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 15 DP to research purple dye using the [Base Resources] red dye and blue dye?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and then stated her next request.


    "I''d like to make lavender meringues with eggs, sugar, vanilla, lavender, and purple dye."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Searching the database for ''lavender meringues''...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unable to find ''lavender meringues'' in the database. Now searching the host''s memory.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet clutched her forehead in pain, leaning against a nearby wall and slowly sinking to the floor. Sure, meringues weren''t invented until the 1700s, which was a couple hundred years after the medieval ages ended. Why would the system know anything about them?


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 30 DP to research lavender meringues using the [Base Resources] eggs, sugar, vanilla, lavender, and purple dye?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet groaned as she selected the [Yes] option. Immediately afterward, she spent another 15 DP to set it as the challenge reward for the flower hunt. To complete the challenge, all anyone would have to do is place the flower on the sign on each altar called for. Pretty simple for someone like Violet, but it was likely to be much more difficult for the residents of this world.


    However, Violet hoped that this room would become quite useful later on. After she unlocked her second floor, she could set the rooms that were deeper in, like this one, to lock until the puzzle was completed. Many types of [Monsters] were unlikely to ever escape the room and they''d likely succumb to her slimes sooner or later. However, adventurers would likely figure things out by trial and error after enough time. The solution might even end up spreading to others outside of the dungeon with time. Still, it would do its job well enough.

 1.54 Adventuring Couple

    Deepvein kingdom was known as the kingdom with the most dungeons that produced metal ores. As such, it was common for dungeons to have [Monsters] like goblins or kobolds who could carry pickaxes or gargoyles and golems who could easily blend in with the dungeon''s environment. While a Dungeon Master could, potentially, go a different route and build something else, that didn''t stop the majority in this particular kingdom from trying to capitalize on the surface dweller''s desire for such rare and precious metals.


    Of course, nowadays metals aren''t as rare as they once were. Even with adventurers being unable to mine more than they could physically carry, the metals were too common thanks to the dungeons providing an unlimited supply. The metal had long ago been exported to other kingdoms where the resource was rarer, but it was only able to help things so much.


    As such, when adventuring couple Avorn and Camellia heard about a particular unnamed slime dungeon, they excitedly planned out a trip to Millstone. They lived a good few cities over, but it wasn''t that big of a deal to spend a week straight traveling. They were adventurers, after all, and it was normal to travel from place to place conquering each dungeon one came across.


    Now, they were only D-rank adventurers and it was a bit expensive to travel too far by carriage. However, everything they had heard about the dungeon during their trip only confirmed their hopes. A dungeon full of slime [Monsters] with abundant resources and unique challenges with valuable rewards. What more could they possibly ask for? So long as they could complete a few challenges, they''d easily be able to earn back their investment and then some. Plus, the easy experience would be truly invaluable.


    After spending most of their savings just to make the trip over, there was no money to rent an inn room. Instead, they merely packed up their camping supplies and made their way into the dungeon. Seeing the first room, Camellia''s eyes lit up as she exclaimed


    "Wow! It''s true, look, honey! There''s an acorn tree, all these flowers, and nothing but a single slime in sight!"


    Avorn looked lovingly at his wife. The sight of a large, muscular, half-giant woman beaming with joy was somehow both intimidating and yet ever so endearing. As an elf, Avorn was much slimmer, but he was still taller than most human men. So the differences in body type weren''t a big setback to their love. Instead, Avorn just preferred to enjoy his prideful and happy warrior wife''s company.


    Camellia grasped her daggers tightly, preparing to attack. She had the dancer class and so wore an airy outfit that was half dress half armor. Avorn readied his bow, ready to step in if anything should jump out while his wife was busy with the slime. However, nothing happened and he was free to watch as his wife spun gracefully through the air, slicing her daggers through the slime one after another in a flurry of attacks. All too soon the slime was dead and Camellia frowned, clearly disappointed the fight was already over.


    Many dancer classes had buffs and debuffs they could apply during battle. However, they were both still quite low level and so Camellia had yet to unlock very many useful class skills. She had a buff to boost her agility and strength, but that was about it. Even then, they were hardly worth using on mere slimes.


    "Don''t worry, sweetheart, I''m sure there will be more [Monsters] deeper in. If nothing else, we have enough time today that we can sit here and farm this slime for a good while before we have to leave."


    Even a few experience points could add up over time. The slimes were more suitable for children than they were for even F-rank adventurers. However, no one could deny the fact that they were easy experience. Camellia just gave her beloved husband a sweet smile in reassurance as she repliedTaken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Should we collect some flowers before we move on then? I''m not good at processing acorns and I haven''t heard anything about there being any restaurants or grocers in town. So it might not be worth the effort to collect those."


    It didn''t help that they only had normal bags to collect things with. Many of the more experienced adventurers would quickly invest in magic bags so they could carry more. The magic bags had weight limits that varied depending on how high the quality was, but they tended to be quite expensive. So there was no way the two of them could afford such a luxury. With the camping equipment already taking up space in their bags, they''d have to be careful about how much they carried along.


    After collecting a good number of each type of flower in the room, the couple moved on. The next room they came across was the floodplains meadow.


    "This room feels even more lively than the last one! There are so many trees and bushes. Look! There''s even a river!"


    Avorn just smiled adoringly at his wife. The dungeon felt devoid of life and it was more than clear to him that the sun shining overhead was artificial. There weren''t even any creatures in this room, just a few slimes who seemed to hop away the second they noticed their presence.


    "Do you want to attempt the challenge sweetheart?"


    Camellia looked unsure as she looked over the system prompt. After a moment of thinking it over, she shook her head.


    "No, it''s fine. We should just explore the dungeon today. It isn''t like we will be leaving town anytime soon anyway, so we can always come back again."


    Avorn just nodded in acceptance. He''d happily stay and attempt every puzzle every single day, if that''s what she wanted. However, it was probably for the best to become familiar with their surroundings first.


    After collecting a good bit of fruit, they moved on to the next room. After getting knocked down by an invisible force, Camellia screamed in fright. Avorn looked around, his mind racing as he looked for the threat. It wasn''t until a few more times of getting knocked over by the slimes that they found out what was going on. A green, scaly slime materialized before them before hopping into the grass, disappearing once more. The slime almost seemed playful and soon others joined the first.


    "It''s alright sweetie, they''re just slimes so they can''t hurt us too badly. We can just leave this room and go try one of the other ones, if you''d like?"


    Camellia looked around nervously before nodding. She wasn''t exactly afraid of the slimes, but she certainly felt uneasy after being taken by surprise. Backtracking, they ended up entering the garden meadow room next. Bees buzzed in the trees and tiny little frogs hopped about. Avorn sighed in contentment. The wildlife and plants made this room feel more like home than any of the others had.


    "Honey? There''s a sign over here that says we''re supposed to leave a tribute to use this room..."


    They had already left the meat and hide of a rabbit as a tribute at the entrance of the dungeon. This room was too deep within the dungeon to be meant as a space for leaving the initial tribute. It was likely that this was a space with an alternate path or some other service being offered by the Dungeon Master in exchange for tribute.


    Walking over to read the sign, Avorn frowned before digging through his bag. Soon enough he pulled out some chickweed. He tossed it into the well, hoping it would be sufficient for the Dungeon Master.


    "It''s alright sweetheart. It seems this is just supposed to be a safe space for us to relax. We can spare some of the wild greens we foraged earlier, so just relax."


    Chickweed was a nice alternative to salad greens like lettuce as it could easily be foraged in the wild and only had to be rinsed off before it could be consumed. As poor adventurers, it was easier to hunt and forage their own food. It saved them a good bit of expense and meat was easy enough to cook over a campfire.


    The duo explored the dungeon for just a short while longer before calling it a day. It was still early, but there was no use in staying too long. It didn''t seem likely this dungeon had a second floor yet and it wouldn''t be wise to upset the Dungeon Master by overstaying their welcome.

 1.55 Merging Rooms

    After the duo left the dungeon, Violet looked over her new tributes. The rabbit and chickweed were interesting and made her wonder if some sort of huntsman was now visiting her dungeon. [Critters] would only unlock from the system menu after completing quests, so the rabbit meat and fur weren''t particularly useful to Violet. They couldn''t be used to decorate this floor of the dungeon nor were they useful for making the sorts of rewards Violet had in mind for this floor.


    The chickweed was more useful as it would give some nice variety to the grass, similar to the clovers, but it would be a bit wasteful to apply it to any of the rooms right now. Having too many plants in a room for no reason made it less likely that adventurers would need to visit the other rooms. Better to save both her mana and some new plants to use later on.


    Since there was now 516 DP, Violet walked from room to room setting the themes for the rooms.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set the theme for this room? This will cost 150 DP. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but upgrades will be unlocked for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Flower Hunt


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Garden Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Floodplains Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    One after another, Violet selected [Yes] until all of her rooms had their themes set. She had been putting off setting the room themes for a few of the rooms until she both had sufficient dungeon points and had completed enough of the rooms'' interiors. However, there were no longer any rooms without their themes set and Violet felt quite satisfied.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    There was now only 66 DP left, but that was fine. It would be easy enough to get more. After all, it seemed that each color of a flower was even separately accounted for in the system. That alone would give her the potential to collect hundreds of dungeon points. A lot of the adventurer parties who visited the dungeon seemed to enjoy bringing plant tributes. So, it wouldn''t be hard to come across new plant varieties.


    Although Violet did hope to move away from plants one day, she wasn''t quite sure what she wanted to collect next. If she wanted to work on fancy accessories and or art, it might be good to collect various paint and textile samples. The dyes were good for a lot of things, but Violet couldn''t imagine they''d be good for recreating paintings. The dyes were closer to food dye or the dyes used in clothing than they were paint. There was no texture left over from applying the dye, it just smoothly blended into whatever it was applied to.


    Violet sighed as she shook her head, she should get the rest of her building done before she got carried away with her thoughts. She quickly spent 48 MP to build a large 16-Units by 32-Units rectangle room just off-center from the long hallway she had recently built.


    From what she had learned from her system, rooms could be combined, but the cost was significantly higher than just building the rooms outright. The same amount of area being created by smaller rooms would cost far more than just building a large room. However, that was hardly all there was to it. There was also a cost of 10% of the room''s area to merge the rooms into one large room. That made it quite impractical to build large rooms in this way.


    However, Violet wanted her boss room to be extra large and spacious. If she stayed within the limits of her current mana, the boss room would only be as large as the garden meadow or flower hunt rooms. That didn''t seem very fitting for what she had in mind, so Violet was planning to build a larger room from the two largest rectangular rooms she could build. A nice 32-Units by 32-Units square room with the boss at the center and obstacles from one end of the room to the next was likely to make for a suitable boss room.


    While Violet was musing to herself, Tobias''s party once more entered the dungeon. This time, they had brought pancakes with fresh butter, maple syrup, and a ceramic plate as tribute. They had gone out of their way to purchase the ingredients for it when they were buying yesterday''s tribute in the nearby city.


    Matthias, despite his gloomy demeanor, was an excellent cook. He had taught himself how to make a good number of dishes that his younger siblings could enjoy. Several times a year, he would make the trip home just to spend time with his family and drop off a portion of his earnings.


    No one in their party ever issued any complaints as they felt sympathy for his difficult situation. Having a bunch of younger siblings and only a one parent household was already difficult enough. Matthias didn''t need to worry about whether he was inconveniencing the rest of them. Besides, it wasn''t like it was impossible to explore the dungeons as a party of three and they could always pick up a temporary party member.


    Even when Matthias was with them, they occasionally had to invite a healer or other support class to their party. Some dungeons were more dangerous and others had specialty resources that were easier to collect with the right party members in their party. That was just how life was as an adventurer. People constantly came and went and only those who had particularly good affinity working together ever bothered to party up for the long-term.


    Yesterday had been a bust, all of them having failed both the slime parkour challenge and the capture the slime challenge. However, the group was hoping they''d have better success today. The parkour challenge was something they just needed to have more practice at before they could successfully complete it. However, the other challenge was likely to be made easier by having the right equipment. As such, they had bought several sacks from a local farmer.


    A net was harder to get access to than the sacks. There were no large bodies of water near here, so it was uncommon for there to be fishing nets available for sale. Besides, there was no guarantee the slimes wouldn''t slip right through the holes in the netting. They weren''t exactly solid creatures, and they could very easily force their bodies through the netting. The only thing that would stop them was a net with small enough holes for its magic core to not be able to fit through it, but that would require special ordering of a net from a craftsman.


    However, Tobias was quite hopeful that the sacks would be sufficient to quickly capture the slippery slimes. It would still be difficult to deal with them slipping down into the rabbit holes, but that couldn''t be controlled. The best they could do was to attempt to attack the slimes from within the rabbit holes in hopes that the slimes would come out. For that, Tobias had gotten Matthias to agree to attack the slimes who hid in the rabbit holes with dark magic today.

 1.56 The Magic of Wind

    Violet looked over her newest tribute list with a conflicted expression. The maple syrup was new, as was the pancake recipe, but most of the other [Items] were made with [Base Resources] and [Items] she had already unlocked. Although, the most confusing part was the fact that someone had even brought a plate of pancakes into the dungeon in the first place. Had someone eaten them on the way over and then just disposed of them? It wasn''t like she''d be told if it was just leftovers or an entire plate of fresh pancakes, so there was no real way to know.


    Well, she had still gotten another 56 dungeon points from the tribute, so who was she to complain? 122 DP wasn''t enough to do much with, but it did still mean that she was well on her way to saving up a healthy amount again. The points always did seem easier to spend than to earn, but Violet was hopeful that it wouldn''t be the case for long. There seemed to be a good variety of people visiting the dungeon now and they all seemed to have different things they brought with them. With a little encouragement and the second floor unlocked, the number of dungeon points earned in a day, even with repeats, was bound to increase even further.


    Violet quickly spent 48 MP on building the second half of the boss room. Now all she would have to do was to combine the two rooms and set it up properly. However, other things could be done in the meantime. Violet slowly walked to the flower hunt room while she muttered to herself.


    The dungeon felt more like home now and she had a friend, but it still felt bittersweet. Only by adding more personal touches did the dungeon feel like home. Perhaps it was wasteful to spend her mana and dungeon points on frivolous decorations and resources in all of her rooms. However, it was difficult enough to feel truly happy while being stuck in this prison of a dungeon without having nice things to look forward to.


    When Violet finally walked into the flower hunt room, she asked


    "Can I research a new room feature using the air magic? I''d like something like windy weather or the ability to control the level of wind in the room."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research windy weather using [Base Resource] wind magic for 50 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet happily selected the [Yes] option before pulling up the room upgrade options.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Flower Hunt Room Upgrade Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sky Options


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Weather Options


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Temperature Options


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Room Feature Upgrades


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While Violet certainly wanted to add some other options later on, the option she was most interested in was under the [Weather Options].


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Flower Hunt Room Weather Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Option:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Change Seasonally


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Spring Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Summer Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Fall Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Winter Weather Patterns


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Sunny


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Overcast


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Raining


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Storming


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Snowing


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Ice Storming


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Slightly Windy


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Set To Always Be Very Windy


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Add Custom Wind Settings To Another Weather Choice


    </td>


    <td>


    75 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please conduct further research to unlock any other preset options for weather.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While she could have added some nice weather and then set custom wind, later on, Violet felt it was fine to just keep it simple in this room. She selected the [Always Slightly Windy] option, bringing her total down to 47 DP.


    The effect on the room was quite miraculous as a slight breeze immediately brushed by Violet, sending the seeds on the late-stage dandelions up into the air. It made the room look quite magical and she couldn''t help but smile. The beauty of this room was quite nice and it almost seemed more fitting to consider this room a wildflower meadow, if it weren''t for things like the lavender. Despite so many plants coexisting in the same room, they were well spaced out so that it felt fitting. The bushier plants like the lavender were bunched together here and there, but were otherwise well spaced out amongst the rest. With the addition of the dandelion seeds floating through the air, the room just felt like a beautiful, wild mess.


    Of course, the wind upgrade had ended up being a lot better than Violet could have imagined. While the static weather options like [always sunny] or [always raining] didn''t include any wind in them, the seasonal weather options had the feature naturally added. The wildflower meadow room, which had spring weather patterns, would occasionally get very windy days while other times were only slightly windy or not windy at all. Considering that the room also had a natural day cycle, it made the room seem the most realistic of all the rooms in the dungeon.


    Violet almost wished she felt comfortable spending all her time in the wildflower meadow room. However, the more time she spent as a Dungeon Master, the more she felt like it was best to hide away. She didn''t want to be lonely and secluded from everyone else, but she also didn''t like how much her presence seemed to disturb the adventurers. It was like she was interrupting their enjoyment of her dungeon as well as intimidating them, which wasn''t what she wanted.


    However, it was also difficult to feel confident about remaining too far back in the dungeon. If more [Monsters] invaded the dungeon, it would be difficult to keep them from getting too far in. The hay meadow worked as a good choke point since it was where all the other paths converged before leading up to the dungeon core room. So, that was why Violet tended to spend much of her time there in the daytime.


    Once the boss room was finished being constructed, Violet was hopeful that she could change things a bit. If the room was set to lock until the boss [Monster] was defeated or Violet chose to open the doors, then she could not only freely wander the dungeon without worry of what might happen, but she would also have a much larger space to spend her time in.

 1.57 Elesfield City

    David was exhausted by the time he reached Elesfield City. He had left Alice with Gregory''s family before spending the entire night walking. She would be safe there and he wouldn''t have to worry about her. Henry had been disappointed that David wouldn''t be there in the morning to teach him swordsmanship, but his father had reassured him that it would be fine.


    Making the entire trip to Elesfield City in one day wouldn''t normally be a big deal. So long as one set out at dawn and paced themselves appropriately, only stopping for short breaks, they could make it to the city by sunset that day. However, it was much more difficult to make the trip at night after spending the entire day awake. There were both [Monsters] and normal predatory creatures, like wolves, to watch out for. Even if that weren''t the case, it wasn''t easy to make the trip when you could barely keep your eyes open.


    However, David had a contract to uphold and there was no getting out of it. There weren''t loopholes that he could exploit. So, he couldn''t just say that taking a day or two off from training Violet was fine since he needed to obtain the tribute she requested. He was, instead, expected to both obtain the tribute, and then he still had to show up for training for the day. As such, David could only make time to sort out his affairs by making the long trek overnight like this.


    The familiar sight of the business district and homes in the city was a pleasant sight. David smiled warily as he headed to the city officials'' offices. He would need to find someone who could be in charge of selling his property before he did anything else. More than likely, he would just end up selling the property outright.


    While it was rare for the people in Violet''s old world to own property in medieval times, this was not the case in this world. Instead, high-ranking adventurers and richer merchant families often would save up their profits for a few years to purchase their properties. This was much the same for David and his deceased wife who had spent many years adventuring together before getting married and settling down together to have a family of their own.


    Still, since plenty of the poorer citizens of the empire rented or leased their properties, all of the property tended to be able to be sold back to the city where it would become the property of the local landlord until it could be sold again. It was far more profitable for the property to be rented out and earn a profit rather than for the property to sit empty for long periods until it could be sold, after all.


    As Elesfield City was only a small city with no nearby dungeons, it wasn''t as easy to sell properties as it might be in a larger city where the land was more valuable due to the proximity to a dungeon. Small towns were less organized than cities, so it was likely that David would both have an easier and a more difficult time obtaining a new home for Alice and himself.


    On the one hand, due to there not being a proper landlord yet, the land and rights to build on the property would be easier to obtain. On the other hand, David would either have to build his house himself or else he would have to hire a construction group to build a home for him. The latter of which would require a higher fee since they would have to be hired from Elesfield since there were no construction shops within Millstone due to it still being a relatively small town.


    Still, David finished selling his house deed and then made his way to a construction workshop. He''d need their help moving his old belongings and it would be ideal to hire them to build his home. There weren''t any carpentry workshops or anything else useful to get the proper building supplies from in Millstone. If he had to purchase all those building supplies and pay to have them delivered, he''d end up better off just hiring an actual construction team.


    Luckily, he was able to sign a contract that allowed him to make a deposit and then pay the rest off in installments. Until David could start his job at the adventurer''s guild, he''d have to work extra hard to make money. However, the fact that it was already late fall meant that he''d have plenty of time. None of the construction teams would be able to start work until the start of spring. Which, of course, was part of the reason he''d have to wait so long before he could start his new job as well.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The manager of the construction company agreed to come out to survey the land soon and promised to move David''s old belongings at that time. He''d still have to stop by and grab anything of sentimental value or other importance. Alice would be sad if her favorite toys were lost and David had a few things he didn''t want to get stolen or go missing as well.


    Finally, David stopped by a florist''s shop and purchased what he needed before coming to an agreement with a merchant who would be passing through Millstone. He would provide extra security from bandits in exchange for a free ride. So long as bandits or [Monsters] weren''t actively attacking the merchant''s wagon, David could even get some rest.


    Still, by the time David made it back to Millstone, it was nearly time to go to the dungeon for Violet''s swordsmanship training. Rubbing his tired eyes, David entered the farmhouse to fetch his daughter before making their way to the dungeon.


    Violet wasn''t in the wildflower meadow today. It seems he would have to go looking for her. David sat the azalea hedge flower down by the entrance before heading deeper into the dungeon with Alice. It didn''t take long before he found her sleeping peacefully among the hay meadow grass. Violet must have felt uncomfortable being looked at as the chameleon slimes began to attack him. After she calmed down, the slimes seemed to calm down a good bit, but most of them had already been killed off by David.


    "You don''t normally keep sleeping when we enter the dungeon, are you doing okay?"


    Violet looked at David who appeared much worse off than she was and replied


    "I''m alright, just a bit tired lately. You look like you could use some sleep yourself."


    David just nodded, not really feeling like going into detail on the matter. Besides, knowing Theodore, he would end up getting chastised if he said anything to Violet about it. It was supposed to be David''s burden to bear and Violet didn''t need to hear anything about it.


    "I brought you an azalea hedge flower today, like you wanted."


    Violet nodded in understanding before happily replying


    "Thank you! That''ll be useful. I recently finished another challenge room. It''s pretty close by, if you want to check it out."


    David was, honestly, getting a bit sick of attempting the slime parkour challenge. Every time it seemed like he was getting better, he''d end up doing even worse the very next day. He had gotten used to the distance he had to jump and the slimes constantly jumping out at him, but it was too easy to fail. Just one wrong step or being blindsided by a slime once would all too easily end up with the challenge being failed. It couldn''t be repeated until the next day either and he''d be soaked by the rain, even if he didn''t fall into the water.


    "What sort of challenge is it? Is the reward sweets again?"


    David amusedly asked. Violet rolled her eyes as she replied


    "It''s a riddle-style scavenger hunt using flowers. You just have to find the right flower for the riddle and place it on the corresponding stone altar. Also, yes, I have lavender meringues for the reward. I''ll, probably, do a different type of reward on the second floor, but I am trying to stick to a theme on this floor."


    David shrugged as he replied


    "They''re a good reward. Everyone likes to eat sweets and the nobility and richer merchants like to buy them as well. I doubt anyone would complain even if every challenge reward in your dungeon was a different type of sweet."


    That was certainly good news for Violet. It was important to have good challenge rewards if she wanted to draw in more adventurers, after all. Although, there were far more interesting things to think about. Now that she had the azalea flowers, she''d soon be able to set up the boss room, which was going to be the highlight of Violet''s night.

 1.58 The Exchange

    Perhaps the slime parkour challenge truly was too difficult. Despite his previous day''s success, David still ended up failing today. It was difficult for Violet to want to make the changes that would make things easier, though, as the room was easily one of the better defenses the dungeon, currently, had. The same things that made the challenge difficult for people, were the same things that made the challenge a suitable defense against [Monsters]. Where a human might feel frustrated as they slipped and fell into the water, a [Monster], who was less likely to know how to swim, was liable to end up drowning.


    The capture-the-slime challenge was also continuing to give David a good bit of trouble. Alice had managed to figure out how to lure the slimes into her basket and carry them over to the fenced-in pen area, but the slimes would end up jumping out of the pen sooner or later. David was less successful as it was too difficult to grab onto the slimes and they seemed to sense him coming from several Units away. Since there were only the two of them, they couldn''t capture the slimes quickly enough and they had yet to complete the challenge.


    The new flower hunt challenge wasn''t difficult logistically, but it required knowledge that neither David nor Alice had. While Violet could certainly tell them the correct answer, it wasn''t exactly in her best interests to do so.


    The longer people didn''t know how to complete the challenges in her dungeon, the longer they''d have to spend attempting to complete them. It would also make it so that the rewards she was offering would continue to be valuable for a longer period. While David had explained that all dungeon challenges seemed to be only able to be completed for a prize once per person per day, it still wasn''t great if people could complete a first floor challenge too easily.


    If they could, they could just walk to that part of the dungeon every single day with a group of people, complete the challenge in mere minutes, and then leave the dungeon until the next day. It was a great way for the adventurers to make money in the short term, but it would, eventually, cause the goods to become less valuable and make it less likely for adventurers to continue to visit the dungeon in the future, which was bad for everyone.


    Violet wasn''t sure the problem would be quite as severe with consumable goods as it would be for something like a sword or armor, but she was still happy that she didn''t have to worry about the challenges in her dungeon being exploited too much. After all, this first floor was meant to be the foundation upon which the rest of her dungeon would be built. If she could convince lots of people to visit the first floor every day, then she would be able to more easily build her later floors.


    Speaking of building, Violet had recently run into a rather large problem. While she had the azalea flower she wanted and the two halves of the boss room were finished being built, she couldn''t combine the two rooms. She only had a mere 82 DP, but she needed 105 DP to combine the rooms. Of course, she''d still require even more than that if she wanted to make any upgrades to the room, create a new type of slime for a boss [Monster], or just about anything else.


    While David was still off taking a break, Violet spent some of her mana to create five candy apples and five wild violet and honey lollipops. Since David was struggling so much to complete the slim parkour and capture the slime challenges, it was likely that these [Items] would still have some value in the outside world. Sweets weren''t very common in medieval Europe, from what little Violet knew. So, she hoped it would be enough to tempt David into helping her out.


    Violet waited until after swordsmanship training when Alice was beginning to get tired and no longer felt up to collecting flowers. Then she said


    "Hey, before you go, I wanted to ask you about something."


    David looked warily towards Violet. He just wanted to get his young daughter back home and it seemed a bit suspicious for a Dungeon Master to say something like this out of the blue. Even if Violet seemed genuinely more harmless than other Dungeon Masters, David couldn''t quite put his guard down around her.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Yes? What is it?"


    Violet brought out the sweets she had summoned earlier and David tilted his head to the side in confusion as he waited for her to explain.


    "I was hoping we could come to some sort of agreement. I''m willing to offer you these sweets in exchange for a mix of twenty mushrooms, flowers, and fruits for tribute tomorrow."


    Violet wasn''t confident that she wouldn''t end up being given repeats of things she had already received, so she had to hope David would agree to exchange double the number of [Items] she was asking for. As for David, he quickly agreed.


    "Alright, I can do that. I''ll have to show up for swordsmanship training late tomorrow, though. It takes a good bit to get to the nearest city and I can''t be confident that there will be any merchants with what you want stopping by town anytime soon. It''ll likely be easier in a few years after a proper business district develops, but things are a bit limited here in terms of what is available."


    Violet just nodded, pushing the objects forward into David''s hands. He placed them on top of the flowers in Alice''s basket, which he was carrying, before leaving the dungeon.


    David somewhat doubted that Violet understood just how valuable these sweets were. While there were certainly desserts, none of them were quite like the ones found in her dungeon. Breads tended to be denser due to how unpredictable wild yeast could be and candies didn''t tend to include flowers in them.


    That idea alone was quite a novel concept and David had been surprised just how much Alice had enjoyed the first lollipop he had earned from the dungeon. He didn''t exactly expect flowers to taste good, but he wasn''t exactly about to question it since the odds were he''d make a small fortune from this haul.


    Forget about the cost of the tribute Violet wanted, David could likely afford to build a small house with the profits from selling these ten [Items] alone. Of course, it would be nice to build a bigger house with some magical technology in it. Maybe a nice heated bath using fire and water magic crystals?


    Perhaps David could even hire some staff and build a larger manor, if he worked hard enough. Then he could afford to have a garden to grow flowers and a chef to make sweets that he could offer up as tribute for Violet. That would likely win him some brownie points with Theodore as well since he''d be doing more than just the minimum required in the contract. He only had to provide something as tribute, unless Violet asked for something specific. As such, if he went out of his way to bring her nice things she would enjoy, without being asked, he might even be able to convince that d*mn Dungeon Diplomat to stop breathing down his neck.


    Plus, it couldn''t hurt to help Violet develop her dungeon more quickly. If that happened, then he would be able to earn better rewards on the higher floors. It wouldn''t exactly be safe enough for him to feel comfortable bringing Alice with him anytime soon, but it wasn''t like he couldn''t go out of his way to explore the dungeon by himself. David was sure he could even spend a week straight in the dungeon, if he wanted. He''d just have to bring enough tribute to cover his stay and he''d have to train Violet for a short while each night. The rest of the time could be spent gathering resources into a magical bag and defeating stronger [Monsters].


    If he made sure to learn where all the [Traps] were and how to avoid them, it might even be reasonable to bring Alice to explore some of the higher floors. The extra experience would be beneficial as it would allow her to grow stronger faster and it wouldn''t hurt for her to learn how to disarm or avoid [Traps]. Adventurer schools tended to teach a lot about that sort of thing as well, but it was different to learn from a textbook versus learning from experience.


    Of course, none of that would be happening anytime soon. Even with an abundance of tributes and visitors, dungeons took time to grow. Alice would have a few years to become comfortable with the concepts of dungeons and to work on her affinity with her beast tame. Increasing Luna''s level and letting the wolf cub grow a bit older would help his daughter a good bit as well. David couldn''t exactly guarantee they wouldn''t get overrun by [Monsters] and it would be reassuring if Luna and Alice could handle the larger number of stronger [Monsters] more comfortably.

 1.59 Magic Technology

    After David left, Violet decided it would be better to work on the next room she wanted to build since she still didn''t have enough dungeon points to combine the two halves of the boss room she wanted to build. It took a good bit of walking now to get from the dungeon core room to the wildflower meadow room.


    Violet was starting to feel like it was going to be quite inconvenient to get from one end of her dungeon to the next as she began to increase the floors of her dungeon. It might only take fifteen minutes to walk a 1,000-Units, but things got more complicated when that terrain wasn''t all flat and included many obstacles. Crossing a river or a large parkour pool couldn''t kill Violet, but it did still slow her down just as much as it did any of the adventurers who would explore her dungeon.


    This time around, Violet wanted to build a room to the left of the wildflower meadow. So, she spent 5 MP to build a 5-Units straight hallway to the left of the roundabout hallway in between the slime parkour and wildflower meadow rooms. Then she spent another 32 MP to build a 16-Units by 16-Units round room.


    This was the first round room built in her dungeon, but Violet had to say that it looked quite nice. Instead of pointed corners of land, the edges all rounded out neatly. It was difficult to tell where the walls were on this floor due to the wildflower meadow base room theme that every room started with. However, Violet felt like the room would look quite nice with cave walls with how smooth and dome-like the walls in this room were.


    There wasn''t much mana left for Violet to spend for the day, but she already knew what she wanted to build in this room. She wanted to make a large pond room in which she could put koi fish and jade tree frogs. It wouldn''t be very beneficial in terms of providing defense for the dungeon and it wasn''t going to be made into a challenge room, but it was still likely to be a nice addition to the dungeon.


    Violet wasn''t naive enough to think she could just build the dungeon based on what would look nice, but she didn''t think it hurt to have a few rooms that just added a nice atmosphere. At best, a pond room would draw in locals who wanted to fish in the pond, which would be good for mana later on, but not very useful otherwise. Still, Violet could easily imagine herself enjoying a peaceful afternoon watching the fish swim about while the frogs hopped from place to place.


    Violet spent her last 10 MP to manipulate the terrain in the room and create a small hole for the pond. She''d require another 160 MP to be put towards the task before the pond would be large enough for her purposes. However, she hardly planned to make such a thing a priority, right now. Violet needed to finish the boss room as soon as possible, but the pond room could be worked on using the smaller amount of mana left over while she was doing that.


    The next morning, Violet spent another 10 MP digging out the pond. The leftover 3 MP wasn''t enough for much of anything, so she just shrugged it off, not bothering to worry about so little mana going to waste. As for what her kodama foraged, it would seem her luck was not very good today. She only earned another 4 DP, which brought her total up to 86 total dungeon points. That was still a ways off from the amount she needed to finish the boss room.


    Violet''s first visitor of the day was Elivyre who even went out of her way to come find Violet after first entering the dungeon. She happily waved some herbs in the air as she declared


    "I brought you some special variants of basil and sage. I haven''t seen them around your dungeon yet, so I''m hoping that they''ll be useful to you."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    As she didn''t have much skill in identifying plants, Violet couldn''t say whether the herbs were new to her or not. She''d have to wait until Elivyre left so that the dungeon core could identify the herbs for her. Instead, she just happily smiled as she replied


    "Thank you, you can just leave it anywhere. How has your business been going lately?"


    Elivyre carefully sat the herbs down before slowly replying


    "It has been a bit slow. Since the town leader is still evaluating the safety of your dungeon, there haven''t been very many people selling me herbs from your dungeon. There are a few adventurer parties who regularly stop by to sell me things, but they don''t seem particularly interested in buying any potions.


    I have sold a few health potions to the locals for other things, though. Some elderly farmers needed some lesser health potions for some minor injuries and I''ve had a few people wanting to buy flowers for their sweethearts. I might, honestly, have to consider stocking more fresh flowers for now and just sell off the herbs that I can get ahold of to my father.


    Hopefully, in a few years, there will be a larger amount of adventurers in this area and I''ll be able to work on more specialty potions instead. Although, I''d have to hire someone with an actual alchemy class if I want to focus too much on potion sales."


    Violet nodded along as Elivyre spoke. She didn''t know much about how alchemy worked or what running a business was like in this world, but her friend certainly seemed passionate about her work. Actually, now might not be a bad time to ask about such things.


    "How does potion-making work, exactly? I don''t have much experience with magic in this world."


    Elivyre raised her eyebrows in surprise before explaining


    "Well, most magic is pretty straightforward. Magic crystals can be used by anyone with the ability to manipulate mana. Fire crystals can be used in kitchen equipment or in conjunction with water magic crystals to make heated baths.


    From the studies I''ve read, more than half of the population never awakens a class. However, that is a bit difficult to accurately measure since most people can''t afford to have their class abilities evaluated by a priest or priestess of one of the various patron deities, and not everyone is willing to risk their lives in a dungeon to find out the hard way.


    Even for those with classes, not everyone had mana-based abilities. Elementalists, guardian-style tanks, alchemists, etc. have mana, but classes like swordsmen or berserkers don''t. That makes it difficult for most people to enjoy the benefits of magical technology, even if they can afford the high cost of purchasing it.


    Alchemy is similar to using magic crystals since you use various ingredients that you grind into powers, cook down, etc. to make a potion base before adding mana to the mix. However, it takes a lot of precise mana control and the right recipes to make the potions. Anyone with mana can make potions, so long as they know what they''re doing, but those with an alchemy class have skills that make it easier.


    They don''t have to train as much to master the mana control for making the potions and they get class-based quests that help them to develop new types of potions, among other things. They end up being a lot more efficient and are, usually, the only ones capable of making the higher-tier potions. It''s just too difficult to make high-grade potions for anyone else."


    Violet looked thoughtful at this information. As a Dungeon Master, it seemed easy to create most things. She even had health, stamina, and mana potion bases. So, she could likely create higher-tier potions just by spending a few dungeon points to research the potions she wanted.


    Of course, the more interesting piece of information was the fact that magic technology was a thing. Perhaps this world was more advanced than Violet had thought and it was just that the technology wasn''t widespread. Well, things like a television or radio still sounded like a bit of a far-fetched idea, but heated baths and proper ovens still sounded nicer than the actual medieval time level of technology.

 1.60 Hedge Maze

    Elivyre spent most of her time in the dungeon picking flowers as she spoke to Violet. While she found the flower hunt challenge interesting, she chose not to attempt it. She wanted to try doing some research into it first and would need to come back on a separate occasion to attempt any challenges.


    Elivyre didn''t want to pressure Violet in any way, but the main reason she had come to the dungeon was to gather the flowers and herbs for her store. She needed to make enough money to cover her housing fees until she could get a proper foothold in the local market and the best way to do that was to sell things to her father. He had already agreed to pay for her new shop to be built, but she was on her own in the meantime.


    It was pleasant enough just getting to talk with Elivyre, so Violet didn''t force the issue. As excited as she was to show off her challenges, her new friend''s company was more than sufficient. Besides, David seemed more than happy to throw himself at the challenges, so it wasn''t like she needed another person to test the challenges out for her.


    While they had gotten to talk for quite some time, the time flew by quickly and it wasn''t long before Elivyre and Diva had to leave once more. The herbs that had been brought over ended up being pineapple sage and Thai basil. Well, that was what the system menu classified them as, but Violet seriously doubted that the basil was known by that name in this world.


    Other things being known by the same names as those in her world were already quite strange, but, from what little she knew, the towns, cities, and kingdoms in this world had their own naming sense. So, it was doubtful that anyone would consider a basil plant to be related to a place from her world. Unless, of course, they had been brought over by another reincarnated Dungeon Master who had spread the name until it became well known enough to be called that here as well.


    Violet shook her head, dismissing the thoughts as trivial. It wouldn''t do to dwell on such things when there was other work to do. The new tribute had been enough to bring her up to a total of 156 DP, so she could now afford to combine the two halves of her boss room. As they were both 16-Units by 32-Units rectangle rooms, they''d combine into a large 32-Units by 32-Units square room. That had a total area of 1,024 Square Units, so she''d end up having to pay 103 DP to combine the rooms since it cost 10% of the total area of the new room to do so.


    This room size would have been far easier to make after she unlocked the second floor. However, Violet didn''t like the idea of having her boss room be the same size as some of her other rooms, like the garden meadow or flower hunt rooms. She wanted the boss room to be large enough to fit a proper hedge maze into as well as to give it a feeling of importance compared to the other rooms. Maybe size isn''t everything, but it still, somehow, just felt right to have a large boss room.


    After combining the two halves of the boss room, Violet was left with a mere 53 DP. Well, what went up had to come down. It would be difficult to save up enough dungeon points to unlock the next floor at this rate, but Violet wasn''t too bothered by it. She could always just stop building rooms for a while and find something else to do with her extra mana in the meantime. That or she could always just ignore the mana since it wasn''t like it would be difficult to save up mana after the next floor was unlocked.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    A lot of mana was already going to waste every single day. Her dungeon core couldn''t convert aether and store more than a set amount of mana. Yet people often visited the dungeon in large groups for long periods. Even if Violet only had one group of adventurers in the dungeon at a time in the future, she''d still end up with more mana from each visit than she did now. Although, she certainly hoped she wouldn''t end up with an empty dungeon too often.


    Violet finished walking over to her new boss room and began to work diligently on designing the new hedge maze. The pink azalea flowers on the dark green bushes were quite pretty, but they were also very thick and bushy. This made it so that Violet was stuck with either having a more simplistic maze with wider paths or a thinner path with a more complex maze structure. It didn''t seem like that big of a deal to make the path only wide enough for one or two adventurers to walk through at a time, so that''s what Violet went with.


    Drawing on the same inspiration she had used when designing the slime jigsaw puzzle, Violet decided to make the maze themed. The azalea hedge bushes had to be created manually and cost 20 MP for every 100 Square Units. This was a far higher cost than most of her other flower-based room features, but she supposed it made sense. The bushes were tall and thick, making them almost wall-like in structure, which was quite a bit different from the normal plants.


    Violet decided to make an outer square-like picture frame before making nine flower-like circles within the maze. At the center of each, she planned to put a tree to make it resemble the centermost portion of a flower. Of course, the middlemost circle of the maze would have the boss [Monster] rather than a tree.


    Violet didn''t have enough mana to finish more than half of the maze''s hedge walls, so she would have to finish it the next time she got some. 100 MP was a lot to spend on some flowery bushes, but Violet felt it was a nice touch since it fit the meadow theme of the flower and it made the room smell quite nice. The trees and the boss [Monsters], of course, would also need mana, so it was likely to be a while before the room could be completed.


    Violet was hopeful that she could get the boss room''s doors to lock until the boss [Monster] was defeated. It would not only slow down intruders so that they couldn''t reach the dungeon core room as easily, but it would also prevent them from burning the room down as a shortcut. If they were locked in and tried to start a fire to get rid of the maze, they''d end up choking on the smoke and be at risk of burning alive. It wasn''t very likely that the slime would die first either since it would be at the heart of the maze and a good distance away from the adventurers.


    While it would be unfortunate for anyone to die in the dungeon, Violet couldn''t say that she had the luxury of caring either. The boss room would be the last room before they reached the dungeon core room, so it needed to provide sufficient defense to deter anything from going any further. Even once the next floor was unlocked, the boss room would still be important since it would have to be conquered before anyone could move on to the next floor.


    Violet was also half tempted to actually research some of the [Trap] options and then to place the [Traps] in between the boss room and dungeon core room. However, all of the [Traps] available on the first floor, even through research, seemed rather weak. As such, Violet felt like it would almost be better to just hold off on any proper [Traps] until she unlocked the next floor. Then she could build all of her rooms with [Traps] included in a natural and sensible way.


    The second floor wasn''t meant to be for locals, pre-adventurers, and beginner adventurers like the first floor. Those who entered the second floor were meant to be willing to put their lives on the line to further explore the dungeon. If they ended up dying to one of the [Traps] after choosing to continue onwards, then that wasn''t something that Violet had to worry about. This was her home they were intruding on and she needed to put her safety first.

 1.61 Foiled Plans

    Avorn and Camellia once more returned to Violet''s dungeon. However, while they were more familiar with the dungeon''s layout, they still were not very eager to complete the challenges. The number of rooms in the dungeon had made it clear that the dungeon was developed enough that it wouldn''t be long before the dungeon would have a second floor.


    At that point in time, it was likely that the adventurer''s guild would start properly investing in the town and the dungeon would likely become much busier. That meant that now was the best time for Avorn and Camellia to farm experience by killing the weak slimes on the first floor. They, currently, didn''t have very much competition for using the dungeon and didn''t have to worry about how long it would take for the [Monsters] to respawn or whether someone else would get impatient about getting a turn to use the dungeon room.


    When a dungeon became too busy, it was common etiquette to not spend too much time in any one room before moving on and to allow those who arrived first to have their turn without being hindered. That didn''t stop some adventurers from abusing their strength or numbers to camp in a room and farm the [Monsters] and resources within anyhow, but that was a different matter.


    Still, usually, the dungeon floor would end up emptying eventually. The dungeon resources in a room wouldn''t reset without the room being empty for a set amount of time, unlike the [Monsters] which would respawn regardless of whether the room was preoccupied or not. As such, it was common for the lower floors of a dungeon to empty at night. Only the higher floor where more heavily geared adventurers, who planned to climb the dungeon tower as high as they could, would camp out would still have adventurers on them after a certain point in the day. Even then, most adventurers tried to avoid remaining on the topmost floor for too long to avoid upsetting the Dungeon Master.


    Regardless, Avorn and Camellia planned to use this golden opportunity for what it was and they were only going to farm experience and collect resources today. As their main tribute for the day, they had brought cattails that had been gathered from a nearby river while they were washing their clothes and bathing early that morning. However, they had also been sure to bring some watercress for the tribute well so they could safely take a break when needed. The watercress was everywhere so it was simple to grab some and store it for later.


    As they were still both only D-rank adventurers, it was still possible to level up while fighting weak beginner [Monsters] like slimes. However, it certainly still took a good couple of hours just to gain a single level. Slimes were considered F-rank [Monsters] and were some of the weakest, even amongst beginner [Monsters]. So, they were easier to defeat, but they also only gave a small handful of experience, regardless of whether they were a specialized type of slime or a basic slime.


    Still, they both felt quite satisfied as they left the dungeon with their bags full of herbs, flowers, and fruits. Most of their harvest would be sold to the locals and the merchants who were beginning to set up shop in town. However, some of the herbs and fruits would also be saved for their own uses. Avorn enjoyed having fresh herbs to cook with and Camellia had a bit of a sweet tooth, so it was always nice to have them on hand as well.


    After the most recent party left, Violet quickly got back to work on her new boss room. All 50 points of mana were used to finish the azalea hedge maze. 100 MP was a lot to build a maze, but Violet quite liked the size of her boss room and felt the investment was well worth it. It felt more like a challenge room right now, since there was only a hedge maze, but that was fine since it would only be a short while longer before it could be used as a proper boss room.


    Not long after that, another party visited the dungeon. As Violet needed something to do while she waited for whoever was in her dungeon to leave, she decided to familiarize herself with the path through her new boss room. It wouldn''t be very helpful if she got lost every time she tried to leave her dungeon core room or vice versa. While she could check the dungeon map at any time to figure out where she was, it was still better to be able to know where she was going just off of memory.


    Tobias''s party was once more back to explore the dungeon. This time, they had brought unscented lye bar soap and a plain wooden comb. Scented bar soaps were slightly more expensive and had to be bought at specialty shops, but the plain sort tended to be cheaper and more common since almost anyone could make it. As for the combs, there were nice, engraved, ivory combs that the nobility liked to use, but they were hardly suitable for a tribute meant to cover a single dungeon trip.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    As their party had begun to notice new rooms appearing in the dungeon, they had decided to take the day off from attempting challenges. Since they had yet to submit the map to the adventurer''s guild, they didn''t have to worry about any problems arising. The dungeon accords couldn''t stop a navigator from exploring the dungeons and having their mental map automatically updated as they went.


    So, the rules had to be followed in a more complicated manner. The maps would be commissioned once a year by the adventurer''s guild and then only the person who had been commissioned that year to map that specific dungeon had the right to sell the dungeon maps. So long as they didn''t submit the map to the adventurer''s guild, they would still be free and clear to update the map.


    It was only slightly surprising that there still weren''t any [Traps] in the dungeon, nor any rooms that locked you in until a challenge was completed. Since Violet had stated that the dungeon would never have any [Traps] anywhere but directly outside the dungeon core room, they knew there was a possibility that she was telling the truth. It was also possible that she was lying or trying to trick them somehow, but it did make the new rooms on the already relatively safe first floor rather unsurprising.


    The new challenges were a bit frustrating to discover. Having more challenges was good since the dungeon would be considered more valuable and they would get paid more for the information they provided, but it also meant they''d be stuck here longer. Tobias''s party had yet to even complete the first challenge in this dungeon since the two they had been working on were too difficult. The slime challenge was easier with the new sacks, but they were still having problems with the slimes hiding in the rabbit holes.


    It took several hours to thoroughly explore the dungeon and get it mapped. It didn''t help that they ended up getting lost in a rather large maze full of nothing but azalea flowers either. This time, they avoided going into the dungeon core room since it was still clear where it was on the map from the last time they had entered. Some of the hallways had changed their locations as the previous hallway that led from the hay meadow to the dungeon core room had been removed, but the dungeon core room was always in the center of the dungeon, so they didn''t need to find it again.


    Violet groaned in annoyance after Tobias''s party finally left her dungeon. She remembered them, they were the ones who did the dungeon mapping. That was likely to defeat the purpose of having a maze for anyone who bought their maps. She had ducked into the dungeon core room when she sensed their party getting close to the new boss room, not really feeling like dealing with visitors right now. However, she had heard their voices and recognized them due to the impressions they had made the last time they had met.


    Well, she also had her improved memory to thank, which had made memorizing the maze layout much easier than anticipated. It was still difficult to get used to the strange way her memory worked after bonding with the dungeon core and becoming a Dungeon Master. Having select memories be hazy while everything else could be recalled in nearly perfect detail was difficult to adjust to. It was like Violet was living in a different body and mind due to the subtle changes she had undergone after being reincarnated into this world.


    With the dungeon points from both Avorn''s and Tobias''s parties, Violet now had a total of 220 DP. That combined with her 50 MP meant that she was now free to spend some points on research for her new boss room.


    "I''d like to research apple trees in the apple blossom stage. Preferably ones where the apple blossom petals can fall and leave a flower petal path on the ground below."


    Violet wasn''t sure if it was necessary to be so specific or if it even made a difference in how the tree would function. However, she much preferred to be safe than sorry.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research apple blossom trees using [Item] apple tree?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and then immediately built five apple blossom trees for 50 MP. She didn''t bother walking through the maze to do so, but chose to use the construction view instead. As it wasn''t necessary to physically be in the room or nearby to build anything, Violet could instantly build everything. However, it made her feel more comfortable to summon the [Item] while nearby and to be able to see everything was laid out the way she wanted it in person.


    Violet supposed it made sense she didn''t need to be in a specific place to build things. She was connected to the dungeon and dungeon core and it wasn''t like she was physically placing the item. She was just choosing what to summon and where, which could easily be done anywhere within the dungeon.

 1.62 Wax Boards

    Later that night, David came to visit the dungeon. This time, he didn''t bring Alice with him as it was already quite late at night and he didn''t want to disturb his daughter who was already fast asleep by the time he got home. She''d likely be upset that she had missed out on visiting the dungeon, but David was sure she''d quickly move on from it since she''d be able to go tomorrow night.


    Violet was nowhere to be seen, so it would seem he would have to go looking for her. While David had been slowly getting used to the slime parkour challenge, he preferred not to cross it tonight. Instead, he went through the floodplains meadow and then into the hay meadow. Violet wasn''t there or even in the new flower-filled challenge room. It would seem he would need to try the other way then.


    The garden meadow was also empty, but there was a new entrance on one side of it, so David went that way. Since the hay meadow no longer had a path leading to the dungeon core room, David supposed this must be the new way to it. The hallway was much longer than any of the others he had seen in the dungeon and it didn''t even end in a room. Instead, he got stuck trying to navigate one of the annoying roundabout hallways before continuing along another hallway.


    Of course, his tired state made him end up turning around the first time, so he ended up in the garden meadow once more and had to re-walk the entire way down to the roundabout hallway again. Eventually, David came to a room with a narrow path that was obscured by tall, bushy azalea hedges. While it was interesting to see what Violet had chosen to do with his recent tribute, he was not thrilled by the idea of walking through a hedge maze.


    It wasn''t a bad idea for Violet to put a large hedge maze like this in between the dungeon core room and the rest of the dungeon. It was very tempting to turn back around and leave the dungeon just to avoid the hassle. David would have done so too, if it weren''t for the fact that he was required by contract to teach Violet swordsmanship.


    It took quite a while of him walking around, lost, before Violet finally came over to rescue him. If it wouldn''t get him into trouble, David would have even scolded Violet and insisted she come to meet him from now on instead of making him walk around lost for so long. It wasn''t exactly part of his job to navigate the mazes, but Theodore would still get upset with him since it is considered perfectly normal for Dungeon Masters to hide away deep inside the dungeons and not go to greet people.


    Shaking his head, David cleared his throat before saying


    "I brought you some morel mushrooms, red pine mushrooms, chanterelle mushrooms, a puffball mushroom, some honey mushrooms, Alaska violets, fairy slipper flowers, baldhip flowers, blue-eyed mary flowers, starflowers, twin flowers, an orange, an apricot, a peach, and some apples. I left them all at the entrance, but I did make sure to bring you the tribute you asked for.


    I''m not sure what you will need next, but I went to a merchant who was selling flowers and mushrooms from a nearby dungeon with a forest setting as well as a fruit vendor for some fruits. I tried to get you things that I haven''t seen much of, but I can''t guarantee all of it will be new to you."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Violet smiled, delighted, as she replied


    "Thank you! I appreciate you going so far out of your way to help me. I''ll probably end up with a forest-themed floor sooner or later, so I''m sure they''ll be useful then. I don''t want to use every plant type I obtain on the first floor, anyway. It''s good to save some things for later."


    David didn''t have much to say on the topic of dungeon building. He didn''t know much about how it worked, nor did he want to get in trouble for pressuring a Dungeon Master to build in a specific way. While polite chit-chat would likely be tolerated by most adventurers, David was already on thin ice, so he couldn''t be too careful.


    Since Alice wasn''t here and David was too exhausted to do most of the other challenges, he decided to just attempt the flower hunt challenge for a short while. They walked to the room in near silence and then Violet went to begin sword training. Meanwhile, David quickly gathered a variety of flowers and got to work on testing different combinations on the altars. He had never heard of flowers having any sort of meaning behind them, so he had no clue what the answer could actually be. As such, all David could do was to randomly try different combinations until something worked.


    Luckily, this challenge allowed you to attempt it until you got the answer right. However, the sheer number of flowers in the room and the fact that he had to place the right flowers on four different altars in the correct order made the challenge quite difficult. The chances of guessing the correct answer the first time through sheer luck were abysmal. David wasn''t very good at math, so he couldn''t say how many different combinations there were, but he did know one good way to keep track of things.


    He had bought a wax writing tablet in town while he was purchasing Violet''s tributes. It was a bit expensive for the initial purchase, but it would be cheaper in the future since he would only have to pay for new wax to refill it as necessary since the board could easily be smoothed over and reused. Paper was a bit more expensive to purchase since it often had to be made through an arduous process by craftsmen and wasn''t common to find in dungeons.


    Anything that was super common as a reward in dungeons and could be farmed and sold en masse would quickly lose its value. Similarly, rewards that were harder to earn in dungeons, or [Items] that had to be made by craftsmen, would be worth significantly more. That was a big part of the reason why David didn''t feel like complaining about how difficult most of Violet''s challenges were. It made the few rewards he did manage to earn that much more valuable.


    After reaching a point where he felt like he was going to lose his mind with boredom, David decided to take a break. He hadn''t managed to complete the flower hunt challenge, but, at least, he had managed to eliminate some of the potential options. Since he had purchased a multi-sectional wax board, he had plenty of room to record things. Sooner or later, he was bound to find the answer through the process of elimination and then it would be easy to complete the challenge.


    All dungeon challenges could only be completed once per day, but this challenge would be easy once he knew the answer to the riddles. He could just spend a few moments completing it each day and then move on to something else. David could likely even sell some of the information on how to complete the challenge to other adventurers or the adventurer''s guild that he''d be working at in a few seasons.

 1.63 Boss Monster

    The first time David left for the night, Violet used her mana to build the last three apple blossom trees of the eight she needed. Then she used the remaining 20 MP to continue building the pond hole in the pond room. She noted she now had 40 MP out of the 170 MP needed for the pond hole now invested. This pond was certainly going to end up being expensive by the time everything was said and done. It was a real shame to spend so much of her resources on it, but, honestly, there wasn''t a ton of use for small chunks of mana right now.


    Violet joined back in on sword training when David re-entered the dungeon, but it seemed almost pointless to have his company. He was too tired to be of much help and so Violet was mostly just practicing her sword swings by herself while David occasionally made comments. Violet ended up shooing David away after an hour, happy to, at least, have another round of mana to spend. It was starting to seem pointless even to have David around if he couldn''t spar with her and correct her on her form. Violet mostly had the various poses and sword swings down, so she could easily do that by herself.


    This time, Violet spent her 50 MP on a spawner for the boss room. Since she now had the hedges finished and all the trees planted, the next step was obviously to add a spawner. If she invested her mana into a slime and it died before she could get a spawner, it would be too disappointing. That was the only reason her previous 20 MP wasn''t put towards other small purchases for the boss room like a slime. Still, the next time Violet had a decent chunk of mana, she''d be purchasing a slime to work on evolving.


    The next day, Violet checked her [Dungeon Status] menu


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 13 / 50


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 721


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 9


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    As her kodama had brought her five repeats, she had only gained 5 DP from all of its hard work. Violet was happy to see her dungeon points were at a nice level, but she knew it was likely she''d end up having to spend most of it to get a decent boss [Monster] for her boss room. Speaking of, Violet quickly spent 10 MP to summon a basic slime into the boss room. Then she moved on to the research stage of things.


    "I''d like to research a rock-based slime evolution using earth magic."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Base Resources] stone and earth magic to create slime evolution [Rock Slime] for 250 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and then read the description for her new slime evolution.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Evolution Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rock Slime


    </td>


    <td>


    25 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a slime to evolve. Has a protective external layer made from stone. Shoots stone projectiles that cause minor damage, but are capable of evolving into larger varieties of slime.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet wasn''t sure what was possible in regards to a slime [Monster], so this was much better than she had been hoping for. At best, she thought the slime might get a nice protective layer or be able to disguise itself as a large rock. However, a slime being able to shoot projectiles and have a hardened outer layer of stone armor was incredible!


    Violet quickly upgraded her basic slime into a rock slime. She watched as the slime''s semi-transparent skin started to harden and turn gray. Violet giggled as she said


    "It looks just like a pet rock!"


    The slimes didn''t exactly have faces, normally, but this one had to have somewhere for the small stone pebbles to be launched from. So, it had two shallow eye-like holes and a larger, rounder hole for a mouth that the stone pellets could launch out from. Violet was a bit curious about how her new slime type would even be defeated.


    The others had bodies that could easily repair themselves, but had an obvious weakness via their cores that, once destroyed, would cause them to melt into a puddle as they were defeated. This stone slime made it difficult to tell where its core might be, but their description made them sound the same on the inside. They were supposed to have stone armor on the outside, but that suggested they weren''t entirely made of stone. It sounded like their core could still be moved around to avoid being easily destroyed, but it was hard to know since it wasn''t like Violet could peer inside the slime.


    However, that also brought other interesting questions up. Could the slime repair its stone armor? How did it form the stones that it used as projectiles? Was its core capable of using magic when the slime had a magic-based evolution? Was it turning its own body into stone and launching that or was the stone created out of mana in the air? Violet sighed, no matter how many questions she came up with, it wouldn''t help her to get any answers.


    Deciding to move on, Violet asked


    "How much does it cost to research a new slime size-based evolution?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Monster] slime to create slime evolution [Big Slime] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet went wide-eyed, feeling surprised that it only cost 100 DP to research this evolution type. All of the skill-based ones seemed to cost 250 DP, but a size increase, which was supposed to increase the slimes'' stats only cost 100 DP? Hardly believing her luck, Violet easily selected [Yes] before prompting the system for further upgrades.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Monster] big slime to create slime evolution [Large Slime] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Monster] large slime to create slime evolution [king Slime] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research slimes using [Monster] king slime to create slime evolution [Emperor Slime] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After spending an entire 400 DP on researching new slime evolutions, Violet only had 46 DP left. Luckily, when Violet pulled up the descriptions for the slimes, it seemed that the Emperor slime was the largest size that she could research.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Evolution Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Big Slime


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP & 10 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a slime to evolve. Can be applied to basic slimes and specialized slimes. Does slightly more damage than their smaller counterparts, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Large Slime


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP & 10 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a big slime to evolve. Can be applied to basic big slimes and specialized big slimes. Does slightly more damage than their smaller counterparts, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    King Slime


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP & 10 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a large slime to evolve. Can be applied to basic large slimes and specialized large slimes. Does slightly more damage than their smaller counterparts, but are incapable of movement. Capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Emperor Slime


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP & 10 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a king slime to evolve. Can be applied to basic king slimes and specialized king slimes. Does the most damage of all slime types, but is incapable of movement. Incapable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Unfortunately, with the additional mana cost to upgrade it, Violet couldn''t afford to evolve her rock slime. It was likely that the spawner in this room would also be full once she was done. That didn''t bother her too much since it wasn''t really necessary to have a bunch of [Monsters] in the boss room, just one strong [Monster] was fine. It just would have been nice to add some [Critters] to the room.

 1.64 Boss Fight

    Most of the morning was rather uneventful in Violet''s dungeon. While Avorn and Camellia did stop by the dungeon, they only farmed some slimes and collected resources before leaving once more. Still, this did give Violet some yarrow and ramps, most of which were only worth 1 DP since they were repeats, but the first ramp did give Violet 35 DP, which was nice. The extra 49 dungeon points brought Violet''s total up to 95 DP.


    While Violet had no way of knowing, some of her slimes were beginning to become slower and react less quickly to incoming threats. This was only the first stage of their souls beginning to corrupt from dying too frequently, but it would certainly get worse at the rate things were going. It would still be a long while before any [Monsters] would stop respawning, but they would need to be replaced sooner or later.


    The basic slime in the wildflower meadow room was actually in better shape than some of the others. Since a single slime wasn''t worth the effort, Avorn and Camellia had been traveling back and forth between the hay meadow and flower hunt challenge room instead. They were right next door to each other and both had a total of five slimes assigned to the rooms. While the chameleon slimes did offer a more difficult challenge, it was a welcome one since the duo could more easily learn how to deal with [Monsters] with stealth abilities without being in too much danger.


    Luckily, the [Monsters] within the dungeon wouldn''t affect the dungeon core, which was why there wasn''t any way to tell when the [Monster¡¯s] souls began to corrupt from dying too often. There was an alert built in for when [Monsters] stopped spawning altogether, though. However, that would be something for Violet to discover when the time came.


    For now, Violet had other priorities to attend to, like evolving her rock slime into an emperor rock slime. This cost her 40 MP and 40 DP, but the effects were quite good. The emperor rock slime took up most of the centermost portion of the boss room and was located smack dab in the middle of the azalea hedge flower maze. The slime couldn''t bounce around anymore now that it was so large and heavy, but it could still rotate slowly around so that it could continue to pelt adventurers with rocks.


    It was difficult for Violet to convince the emperor slime to attack anything since she couldn''t communicate with it. However, its mouth hole had gotten a lot bigger as it had grown from the size of a basic slime to the size it was now. Since the rock armor also seemed to be much stronger than it was before and the description said the slime should be stronger, it stood to reason that the emperor rock slime would be shooting large rocks as projectiles.


    If Violet had to hazard a guess, it seemed like the basic slimes would have small pebbles about the size of your standard tin stored mint. There are a lot of types of mints out there, but this was referring more to the ones that were thicker than a penny but not as large around. Meanwhile, the emperor rock slime seemed like it would launch proper rock-sized stones that would be larger than a can of soda as someone. Assuming the force was decent in both cases, the damage was likely to be increased by a significant amount.


    Deciding not to waste the last 10 MP she had, Violet put it towards enlarging her pond hole. She was now about a third of the way through the process of digging out the area for the pond. Yet the pond still just seemed like a strange round valley in the middle of a circular room rather than a proper pond. Hopefully, it would look more pond-like once it was finished being dug out and then filled with water.


    As she wasn''t sure when the next adventuring party would come through, Violet went to her dungeon core room to relax. She didn''t need sleep or to rest, but she always felt exhausted mentally and it felt better to sleep than to lay awake thinking for hours on end. She''d end up noticing if anyone entered the dungeon and the uncomfortable feeling would only grow as people got closer to her dungeon core room. Besides, now she had a proper boss [Monster], even if the room wasn''t set as a boss room yet, the dungeon should still be safer now.


    The next group to visit Violet''s dungeon ended up being Tobias''s party. This time, they had brought a special tribute for Violet. Mirabella set the unscented beeswax candle tribute they had brought at the entrance, but Matthias carried the other portion of the tribute with him. Thodin looked up at the young man warily as he asked


    "Are you sure you want to deliver that to the Dungeon Master in person? The dungeon has been growing quite quickly and it could be dangerous. She may have even installed a boss room by now."


    Matthias hated taking risks, that much was true, but he shook his head as he firmly replied


    "I want to go home and spend some time with my family. It''ll be my younger sister''s birthday soon and I promised I would go visit them soon. I was going to wait until we finished up here, but it seems like this is going to take a lot longer than planned.


    If I''m going to stop showing up and helping you all out, I want to ensure the Dungeon Master is happy with us and it''s less likely she''ll kill you all off. Also, I''d rather she wasn''t angry with me for leaving.``This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Thodin just nodded in acknowledgment. Their party would be working together to move through the dungeon, anyway, so it wasn''t like they couldn''t watch each other''s backs. Since their friend needed to deliver his tribute to Violet in person, they''d be putting off the slime parkour challenge for the next time. Instead, they''d be checking out the new ''flower hunt'' challenge, as Mirabella''s navigator class skill labeled it, and checking out the new potential boss room in more detail.


    The group took the long way around, going through the floodplains meadow, the hay meadow, and then finally into the flower hunt challenge room. The group heaved sighs of relief when the doors didn''t lock behind them. They had brought along extra rations just in case something like that did end up happening. Having both [Monsters] and a challenge in a room or having both [Traps] and challenges in a room were both common layouts for challenges and both tended to involve locking the adventurers in until they could be completed successfully.


    "Alright, let''s all gather one of each flower type and stand in front of an altar. We can switch the flowers out more quickly that way and see if we can get lucky enough to guess the answer. I''m thinking we can spend a good hour on this before we need to move on.


    If we don''t manage to complete this today, we''ll probably have to wait until you return, Matthias. So, I hope you are willing to cooperate with us when you return."


    Matthias gave a firm nod in understanding. His party members put up with a lot from him, so the least he could do was to place some flowers on a stone altar for a few hours until they could solve the puzzle. However, he also had the feeling that they might end up having to purchase some paper or wax boards to record things if the puzzle ended up being too difficult to figure out.


    The group worked in tandem, placing a single flower on each of the altars, waiting a few seconds, and then switching when Tobias called out "next". They didn''t end up solving the puzzle, but it was still less wet than the slime parkour challenge and less aggravating than the capture the slime challenge was. All of the challenges required a good bit of time to be invested in completing them, so an hour being wasted on an uncompleted challenge wasn''t that big of a deal.


    Tobias checked his pocket watch one last time before putting it away. The group made their way through the garden meadow, not bothering to leave a tribute since they were just passing through. Then they walked through the long hallways and into the hedge flower maze. While a maze might be difficult for most adventurers, they already had most of this room mapped out, so it was easy enough to figure out with Mirabella taking the lead.


    Despite them having mapped this floor out, it was unlikely that most people would have as easy of a time as they were. This floor of the dungeon still wasn''t worth enough to make it worthwhile for most adventurers to spend the coin needed to purchase a map. Only those who planned to frequent the dungeon often enough to make it worthwhile or nobility would bother with a map. Of course, anyone who frequented the dungeon often enough to consider a map was also likely to memorize the route through the maze, so their clientele would be limited to those with poor navigation skills and those rich enough to afford it.


    Tobias was a bit surprised to see the new boss [Monster] and pushed his sister behind him who was then pushed even further back as Thodin also stepped in front of her. Matthias would protect the party from the back while casting long-distance magic. Getting into a proper formation, Matthias made sure to pass Thodin some poison, he had made previously, to coat his axe with.


    Since dark elementalists only had spells for poisoning, making things dark, and creating illusions, most of Matthias''s attacks were poison-based. Unfortunately, this slime seemed to have a protective stone layer, which most long-distance poison spells would not be able to get through. He could try something corrosive, but the area they were fighting in was rather small and there was too high of a chance of his party members getting harmed in the process.


    Neither Tobias nor Thodin complained, though, as they confidently charged into battle. Matthias could protect Mirabella, the weakest of the group. With his poison magic and her basic non-class-based sword skills, they were unlikely to have any issues, even if a bunch of other beginner [Monsters] ended up swarming them. That allowed Tobias to concentrate on the battle ahead of him with ease.


    He hardened the skin on his arms as much as possible, making it harder than steel before smashing his fist into the side of the slime. Meanwhile, Thodin bashed into the emperor rock slime with the side of his ax. Occasionally, when some of the interior layers of the slime were exposed, he would slash into it, allowing the poison on his axe to soak in. Of course, slimes didn''t take much damage from poison, but this was a sort that would cause the blood to boil and evaporate in normal [Monsters] and heavily damaged slimes which were mostly made of a liquid-like substance.


    Matthias had a hard time dodging the large stone projectiles and Mirabella had to use her short sword and buckler shield, which she normally stored on her back, to deflect much of the projectiles aimed towards them. They hid behind the hedges as much as they could, but the stone often would come flying through and damage both the hedges and them.


    Luckily, Tobias was relatively safe from the stone projectiles and could almost ignore them since his skin acted like armor while Thodin was covered in a thick layer of armor that would allow him to face tank most damage coming his way. His berserker class tended to make him lose track of all of his reasoning anyway.


    When the slime''s body absorbed enough of the poison, it turned the tide in the battle. Its layer of rock-like armor began to burst away in large chunks, hitting Thodin and knocking him over. However, it gave Tobias the opening he needed and he thrust his arm into the slime and crushed the exposed core causing the slime to slowly disintegrate into nothing but a puddle of goo and rock debris.

 1.65 Thoughtful Gift

    After the boss [Monster] was defeated, Tobias called out


    "Is everyone alright?"


    Thodin stood up, stumbling forward as he complained


    "My armor is dented now, but I''m alive."


    Mirabella rolled her eyes as she replied


    "I''ve got a few scratches on my armor as well, but I''m just glad it''s my armor and not my skin. We were being pelted with those rocks like crazy. I had to feed Matthias a health potion since he ended up with a gash on his arm."


    Matthias looked guilty as he replied


    "I can pay you back, if you want? Here, I should have a health potion in my bag."


    Mirabella shook her head, causing Matthias to glance from his outstretched hand holding the vial of potion to her in uncertainty.


    "Are you sure? I''d hate for you to be short on potions after I leave and end up dying because of it."


    Tobias rolled his eyes as he replied


    "I doubt this slime is going to end up killing one of us and we won''t be moving on to any new floors without you."


    Thodin guffawed as he boasted


    "I think we are just too good for a first floor boss [Monster]! This guy wasn''t that bad for a first floor boss [Monster]. It''ll likely end up taking a good number of beginner adventurers by surprise. I doubt they''d be expecting such a tough fight after having it so easy in the rest of the dungeon."


    Matthias was quick to add in


    "A lot of people could end up dead."


    Tobias frowned before replying


    "Alright, I''ll make sure to send a progress report to the adventurer''s guild tonight then. So long as they are aware of the issue with the boss [Monster], that should mitigate the damage the boss can cause."


    Matthias wanted to complain some more, but he chose to remain quiet. At least their party leader was taking his concerns seriously. Anything more would just annoy his party members, which wasn''t ideal considering he''d soon be taking a leave of absence. If he wanted them to leave room for him to return, he needed to stay on good terms with them.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The rest of the journey through the maze was quite short. There was a direct path out of the room after the boss fight was completed. When they entered the short 5-Units-long hallway, Violet was already waiting for them.


    Violet felt it made sense once she saw who had made it past her new boss [Monster]. These adventurers seemed to be much stronger than most of the ones who entered her dungeon. Plus, they had mentioned something about needing to fully explore the first floor of her dungeon for some sort of job. It only made sense that they would need to defeat the boss [Monster].


    "Is there something I can help you with?"


    Matthias stepped forward nervously, extending his arm out as he offered his tribute to Violet.


    "I... um... I''m planning on taking a break from exploring your dungeon to visit my family. However, I wanted to offer you a parting gift before doing so. I noticed you always carry that sword around, but you don''t have any other adventuring gear. I thought you might appreciate this."


    Violet looked at Matthias with curiosity. Her expression quickly morphed into one of surprise and excitement as she took in the steel scabbard and leather belt. Now, she''d be able to put her sword away when she wasn''t using it! That would make things significantly easier for her and she''d no longer look like she was actively threatening everyone she met.


    "Wow! This is really thoughtful of you, thank you!"


    Violet exclaimed.


    Matthias nodded in acknowledgment, but, otherwise, remained silent. He didn''t want to seem arrogant by saying she was welcome or otherwise upset her and had decided that was the best response. After exchanging greetings once more, Tobias''s party headed out of the dungeon.


    After their party left to take a break, Violet absorbed the tributes, including the scabbard and leather belt. Then she spent 3 MP to make a new leather belt and 10 MP to make a new steel scabbard before equipping it and putting her sword away. It felt strange to not constantly be holding her sword as it had almost been like a safety blanket, albeit a rather dangerous one. However, it also felt like a relief mentally to now have a proper home for her sword.


    She spent the last 35 MP she had on furthering her pond hole. She now had 85 MP out of 170 MP spent on building the pond hole. So, she was halfway there, it wouldn''t be too much longer before she''d be putting in cute little koi fish and jade tree frogs. Violet could already imagine some of the locals wandering into the dungeon just to fish at her pond. Since the wildflower meadow was pretty safe and the pond room was just to the left of it, it would be perfectly safe for anyone to go fishing there.


    The best part for Violet, of course, was the fact that she''d be able to earn plenty of mana in exchange. Maybe the locals would even start to bring her tribute and she might be able to get new tributes from what the adventurers tended to bring. A tailor might give her various types of cloth while a blacksmith might bring her a small bit of some rare metal. Maybe that was a bit too much to hope for, but Violet preferred to remain hopeful about her endeavors.


    Of course, it might take a while before she could get anyone to even notice the new pond she was building. From what little she could tell, it seemed like it was, mostly, the same few people entering her dungeon each day. There was a pair of two adventurers with weak energy, Tobias''s party of four with a mix of weaker and stronger energy, David and Alice, and, occasionally, Elivyre would visit. There had been some others who had entered several days ago, but they had yet to return to her dungeon.


    While it had only been just shy of two weeks since Violet had reincarnated into this world, it felt like progress was slow. Well, building the dungeon was going pretty smoothly, but it was taking a good bit longer for adventurers to take notice of her dungeon and choose to visit. Perhaps things would be different when Violet unlocked her second floor and things were just slow now since she was still in a new dungeon. Only time could tell what would happen.

 1.66 Pond Progress

    "Gosh! Leveling up has been so easy since we came here, love. I hope the next floor of the dungeon has some good [Monsters] as well."


    Camellia gushed. Avorn smiled adoringly at his wife as he replied


    "I hope so too, sweetheart. It''s quite good to have a forest nearby since it makes things easier. I don''t know what the environment will be like on the other floors, but the first floor is a lot more comfortable than the others we''ve seen so far."


    Camellia laughed as she replied


    "Oh? You mean like those goblin caves?"


    Avorn shuddered in disgust as he replied


    "Those creatures are truly vile! They live in a lifeless cave and they''re always using underhanded tricks."


    This was the second time Camellia and Avorn were visiting Violet''s dungeon today. Killing slimes tended to get a bit repetitive and there was only so much they could collect before their bags would get full. So, they stopped after a few hours in the morning to go sell most of the plants they had collected and to prepare lunch.


    While he was hunting, Avorn managed to get an extra squirrel. This alongside a small handful of acorns he had found nearby had been brought to the dungeon as tribute. The acorns were small and could easily be carried in his pocket until it was time to throw them into the tribute well. After all, while there weren''t any obvious [Traps] in the garden meadow room, it was much better to be safe than sorry, and having a space designated for rest was quite nice.


    Of course, they had been wary of whether the room was safe or a [Trap] the first few times they had used it. However, after not running into any other [Traps] in the dungeon and not having any issues with using the garden meadow room for rest, they now felt much more reassured about the whole thing. The level of safety in a dungeon could change at any point in time, but that was something every adventurer had to get used to early on.


    It wasn''t like this was Camellia and Avorn''s first dungeon either. They had explored dungeons with skeletons, goblins, and even giant rats before. Plenty of those dungeons were dark places with very few challenges, resources, or places to rest. It made the dungeons much less enjoyable to explore and they tended to get sick of them pretty quickly before moving on to the next dungeon. Well, they would often get stuck in whatever town or city they were in until they could scrounge up enough resources to sell to afford to leave, but they didn''t tend to stay any longer than necessary.


    From what the more experienced adventurers had told them, it sounded like most dungeons tended to have more valuable resources the higher up you went. Most theories were that the dungeons used the resources as a way to convince the adventurers to climb higher despite the increased danger from [Traps]. Challenges would, usually, be sparsely placed throughout the floors with only three to five challenges per floor, at most. Even then, most of the challenges tended to have rewards like magic crystals or enchanted gear that was appropriate for the level of dungeon you were dealing with.


    Well, apparently, some of the dungeons in other kingdoms were supposed to be quite impressive. Some of them would recreate jungles, the inside of a volcano, or even have underwater portions. The most impressive ones would have insects and other wildlife buzzing around and challenges that matched the theme of the floor. It was just that this particular kingdom was known for its mining-based dungeons that were filled with dreary caves on the lower floors and only those willing to climb high enough would ever get to see any real value from exploring the dungeon.


    In comparison, this dungeon was like a breath of fresh air. There was a good bit of light throughout the dungeon, plenty of challenges to check out, and the [Monsters] were less annoying to deal with. As the leveling up would likely become more difficult as the days went by, it was likely that they''d need to start doing challenges and saving up for better gear. They would certainly need to be more appropriately geared if they wanted to check out the next floor. Avorn and Camellia spent a while longer defeating slimes before leaving the dungeon once more.


    Violet happily checked her dungeon points total and noted that she now had 263 DP after the 73 DP from the recent adventurers were tacked on. This wasn''t much, but Violet was still hopeful that it would be enough to finish her boss room.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "How do I set a room as a boss room?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to make this room the first floor boss room? This will cost 250 DP. You can only have one boss room per floor. Setting a room as a boss room will automatically reinforce the environment in the room and cause all doors to lock until the boss is defeated or you choose to open the doors. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but upgrades will be unlocked for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet smiled happily as she selected the [Yes] option. Normally she would have to spend 150 DP to set a normal room''s theme and then a separate amount to cause the doors to lock. Having the environment reinforced also sounded like it would be more difficult for adventurers and [Monsters] to burn the place down or destroy the bushes to get through the maze more easily. Of course, even if the maze was set on fire, without being able to leave the room, whoever was inside was likely to die from smoke inhalation, if not end up burning alive.


    This brought Violet''s total down to 13 DP, so it was unlikely she''d be able to make any more upgrades right now. Instead, she spent her 50 MP on further digging out the pond hole before going to rest. The pond would only need another 35 MP to be completely dug out, so it wouldn''t be much longer before it would be finished.


    The slime parkour room had been much easier and quicker to complete, but that was also because the room was smaller than the new round room the pond was being built in. Even though both would end up being 10-Units deep, the surface area made the biggest difference in how much mana it took to build the bodies of water.


    David and Alice stopped by later that night. Apparently, it was getting closer to winter time as David ended up bringing a large crate of rotten apples to Violet as tribute. When David had explained what the tribute was, Violet had made a face of disgust, but she wasn''t sure she could really complain. It did end up giving her an entire 150 DP for the 50 rotten apples and the wooden crate they were stored in.


    David and Alice were staying with some local farmers who had an apple orchard. Most of the apples had been harvested on time and were going to be made into apple butter, among other things, and only a small number of apples had gone to waste. To make the most of the situation, David offered to collect the bad apples and bring them to the dungeon as tribute. It would reduce the bad smell from the rotten apples remaining on the ground as well as give Violet a better tribute than she normally would.


    Of course, most of the value from the tribute had been from things like the nails and wooden planks the crate was made from. Violet had also gotten wooden crates as an [Item] schematic, which she wasn''t sure if she''d have any use for or not. She wasn''t exactly planning to give away entire crates worth of goods to visitors any time soon and she wasn''t sure if she wanted to put anything purely decorative in her dungeon or not. Well, maybe she''d find a use for it one of these days.


    David had struggled with the slime parkour challenge, but he just barely managed to make it to the other side. While the first time he had seemed incredibly happy and relieved to have completed the challenge, this time he seemed slightly less excited. Violet supposed this made sense since it was the second time he was completing the challenge and it was only natural that he would get better at it over time.


    Similarly, Alice seemed to complete the slime jigsaw puzzle nine times out of ten. She had figured out how it worked and so it was more of a repetitive task that she needed to complete each night rather than something she was struggling to figure out. Alice didn''t seem to have much joy in completing the task either, which made Violet wonder if she wasn''t getting to enjoy the iced carrot bread from completing the challenge.


    Of course, that was actually what was happening, Violet just had no way of knowing about it since David didn''t discuss his private life with her. He had told his daughter that she could keep the rewards once a week and the rest would be sold off to pay for her schooling when she came of age. That would be something she would be happy about when the time came, but there was very little joy in it right now.


    David also attempted the flower hunt challenge and crossed some more wrong answers off of his tablet, but he didn''t manage to complete it this time around either. As for the capture-the-slime challenge, it seems that it was being set aside for the time being. Since it was a difficult challenge and there were easier challenges they could rely on when it came to earning the reward, they wanted to concentrate on those.


    The first time David and Alice left for the night, Violet put the last 35 MP towards digging out the pond hole. Then the last 15 MP was used to begin filling the pond with water. Violet felt happy to see one of the goals she had been working on completed, but it still felt like it would be a long time before the pond would be finished. Well, it would likely be finished in a matter of days from start to finish, but it wasn''t like there was much besides sleep to keep Violet entertained.


    Similarly, the last bit of mana Violet earned for the night was spent on adding even more water once David went home. While the water cost half as much as manipulating the land to create the hole, Violet still needed another 20 MP to finish filling the pond. However, that would have to wait until tomorrow since it was unlikely she''d have any more visitors tonight.

 1.67 Willow Tree Island

    The next day, Violet was pleasantly surprised to see her kodama had brought something new. She now had bearberries as both a new [Base Resource] and a new [Item]. From the item''s description, it seemed a bearberry was a forageable plant that appeared around late fall through winter time and was similar to a cranberry in use. It was supposed to be ground cover like creeping charlie was, but more bushy in appearance with red bearberries growing on the plant.


    Violet wasn''t sure she''d ever be able to use a plant so unfamiliar to her, but she''d still happily accept the dungeon points from it. After adding the additional 36 DP, she now had 199 DP total. As Violet wasn''t ready to research anything yet, she just planned to save them up, for now. However, 10 MP of her daily 13 MP could easily be used to add some more water to her pond. With only 5 MP left to go, Violet happily went to sleep.


    Of course, this caused her to miss the start of the upcoming battle. Another four zombies and two skeletons had entered the dungeon and were stumbling their way through the place. Eventually, the zombies broke through one of the doors in the wildflower meadow room, which led to the rest swarming together as they made their way further into the dungeon. Only a single skeleton, which had gotten caught up in a battle with the slime in the wildflower meadow room, was left behind.


    As there was only one direction to go, the zombies and skeletons, eventually, made their way into the floodplains meadow room. This had taken a while since the zombies were still slow when it came to breaking down the large stone doors, but it still happened in only a matter of minutes thanks to four of the zombies working together.


    As the dungeon was actively in danger, the slimes, which usually stayed hidden as part of the capture-the-slime challenge, did their best to fend off the intruders. The second skeleton was easily held back by two of the slimes while the other three went after the zombies. The slimes didn''t have higher brain function, so they couldn''t coordinate their attacks. As such, while one slime could have easily taken care of the skeleton, given enough time, two ended up preoccupied with the same skeleton.


    The river and rabbit holes alongside the other three slimes slowed the four zombies down considerably. It was difficult for such a mindless zombie to navigate even a river that didn''t have running water. Even the rabbit holes caused their feet to get stuck while the slimes repeatedly knocked them over. One such incident even led to one of the zombies dying as it knocked its head off of the wooden fencing meant to corral the slimes. With one of their companions taken out, it took the zombies much longer to get through the next door.


    While adventurers might have gotten confused about which way to go next, the [Monsters] had no issues with figuring out the correct path. They were instinctively drawn towards the dungeon core and would go whichever direction was the most direct route to the dungeon core. As such, the zombies went to the garden meadow next where there weren''t actually any [Monsters] of [Critters] capable of being a real threat.


    The frogs could attempt to trip the zombies, but they were really too small and would just end up squashed. Meanwhile, the bees ended up sacrificing a few lives attempting to sting the zombies, but ended up giving up when their attacks proved futile. Instead, they ended up swarming angrily as they attempted to look menacing, but this didn''t exactly do much against the undead.


    Before too long, the three zombies had finally made it to the hedge flower maze. While both doors would have, normally, locked the zombies in, they had destroyed one of the doors in the process of trying to enter the room. Similarly, the zombies fought against the hedge flower maze walls as they tried to force their way through the maze. While they may have instinctually known the most direct route to the dungeon core room, this didn''t apply to something that wasn''t an actual dungeon wall. Hedge Flowers were difficult, but not impossible to destroy or climb over, so that''s what the zombies attempted to do.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Of course, all of their efforts were only rewarded with a rather speedy death once they made it to the emperor rock slime that served as the room''s boss. The three zombies were pelted with stones until they died. The skeletons took longer for the basic slimes to kill, but they still ended up dying not long before Violet awoke from her rest.


    When Violet looked at her system menu logs, she was surprised to see she had 18 more dungeon points than she had previously. Looking over the specifics, she noted that she had the same sorts of tributes she did whenever zombies and skeletons invaded her dungeon. This was quite worrisome for Violet, but she was only left scratching her head in confusion when she checked to see if there were any [Monsters] left in the dungeon.


    Of course, that wasn''t necessary since the dungeon wouldn''t have absorbed the zombie and skeleton remains unless they had all been defeated and the dungeon no longer had outsiders in it. It was just that people, including Violet, tended to feel the need to confirm the details without thinking things through.


    While it was a huge relief that the dungeon had managed to fend off a threat without her even needing to get involved, Violet still couldn''t help but feel perplexed. She had been so worried about [Monsters] invading and her poor, weak slimes being unable to handle them that she had barely been able to rest early on. To think that simply adding a boss [Monster] could have this much of an effect seemed almost too good to be true.


    Still, Violet was quite happy as she went about spending the 50 MP she now had. As she walked to her new pond room, she noted that the dungeon had already managed to repair the damage on the stone doors and there was no sign there had even been any intruders. If it weren''t for her system menu showing what "tributes" she had received while she was asleep, she might not have even known that [Monsters] had invaded her dungeon.


    Filling the pond the rest of the way up, 5 MP was easily used up. Then Violet played around with the room feature that allowed her to manipulate the terrain. With another 8 MP she was able to build a small island in the middle of the pond, just big enough to put a tree on.


    "I''d like to research a willow tree using the willow tree seeds."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research willow trees using the [Base Resource] willow tree seeds?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and noted that the willow tree seeds had now been removed from the [Base Resources] menu. She supposed that made sense since it wasn''t like there was a whole lot else she could do with it.


    Luckily, since the willow tree wasn''t a tree that bore fruit, it only cost 5 MP to put one in the middle of the new island in the middle of her new pond. Apple trees cost double that amount, but they were also a useful resource that encouraged adventurers to visit her dungeon, so she couldn''t complain about them too much.


    Before leaving the pond room once more, Violet spent another 15 MP to apply grass, watercress, and cattails to the pond room. The room already had grass, but applying grass made the grass more vibrant and the other two plants were the only ones that seemed well suited for such an environment. Similarly, Violet also spent her last 11 MP applying grass to her boss room so that her boss room could look extra nice.


    The pond room would still need to have some [Critters] added as well as some other plants, but that would have to wait. Violet had to wait for Theodore to return to even get the lotus flowers and lilypads she had requested from him the last time they met. However, even [Critters] would be impossible right now since she needed to install a spawner and have enough mana to summon the [Critters] first. Still, Violet felt quite good about how her pond room was shaping up.

 1.68 Celebrating Success

    Tobias looked nervously at the space between the platform he was on and the grass in front of him. After several days of everyone practicing, he was finally so close he could almost taste the victory. They had skipped a few days of doing the slime parkour, but he had still been practicing hard to get better at the parkour challenge.


    Since they were renting a home instead of staying at an inn, they had even set up a practice parkour course. They set up platforms to jump to and from and those who were feeling more daring, like Tobias, even had one of the others throw rocks at them to try and dodge while they practiced jumping. The rocks were far less dangerous than arrows and didn''t require them to purchase equipment they wouldn''t normally have use for.


    The others were still making slow progress and could only make it halfway through the slime parkour challenge before failing. However, that was, somewhat, to be expected. Mirabella was an entire two ranks lower than Tobias and Thodin was at a disadvantage due to being a dwarf who had a significantly shorter gait when compared to the half-giant siblings. He still tried his best and always had a good attitude about things, even despite how frustrating it likely was.


    Still, Tobias wanted to finish this challenge for his party members. They only had to complete each challenge once and then they needed to submit the challenge reward alongside the information so that both could be analyzed. What they planned to learn about a loaf of carrot bread or a candy apple, Tobias wasn''t sure, but his party was being fairly compensated for it so they could hardly complain. Besides, any extras they picked up they were free to keep for themselves or sell to others.


    Tobias took a deep breath to steady himself then quickly ran to the edge of the platform and jumped across to the other side. The landing was not all that pleasant and he landed face-first on the grass. He started to slip off of the edge and immediately he began to grasp desperately at the grass, pulling himself further onto the land before he could fail the challenge. Luckily, when he managed to make it onto land and checked the results, he was successful!


    He immediately accepted the challenge reward. A singular wild violet and honey lollipop materialized, looking very small when compared to Tobias''s large hands. Still, he happily cheered as he called out


    "We did it! I got the challenge reward!"


    Mirabella and Thodin both immediately cheered, happily jumping into the water and swimming the rest of the distance over to Tobias before pulling themselves out of the water. The challenge was so frustrating that they''d rather just be done with it than bother to continue to attempt it any longer today. Perhaps they might return one day to attempt the challenge again, but right now they were just all so relieved to have it done and over with.


    Mirabella looked at the reward Tobias was holding and frowned before saying


    "Is this what a lollipop is? It just looks like a fancy hard candy on a stick. I''m guessing those small bits inside are wild violets?"


    Tobias shrugged before replyingUnauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "You know as much as I do. We don''t exactly have any extras to try for ourselves, so we only have the system message to go by. Should we attempt a different challenge today or do you all just want to go to the tavern and celebrate?"


    The three shared a knowing look before heading out. They''d have to stay a long while just to solve the other challenges and were likely to fail them today as well. It was better to celebrate this victory and spend the rest of the day relaxing before they got back to work. It would be better both for their morale and for their constitution. Overworking themselves would just lead to them being too exhausted to properly explore a dungeon, which was something that should be avoided at all costs.


    With Tobias''s party gone, Violet noted that she had received a decorative ceramic pot as a tribute. The pot had been worth an entire 35 DP by itself, which had brought her total up to 242 dungeon points. However, she still didn''t have anything she was ready to spend the points on, so her mana was more important.


    While Tobias''s party had remained in the dungeon for a shorter time than they usually did, it was still enough to fill Violet''s mana up. It only required seventeen minutes with three people in the dungeon to get fifty mana. So, it wasn''t that difficult to get enough mana from a proper party. It was only when people explored the dungeon solo or as a duo instead of as a party that it took a significant amount of time for the mana to accumulate. Of course, even then, most people would spend, at least, an hour in the dungeon at a time.


    When Violet''s mana increased and she had more floors, it would take longer for the mana to reach full capacity. However, if her dungeon was interesting enough, it wouldn''t matter. There would be enough adventurers in the dungeon to ensure she rarely ran low on mana. Well, on the second floor, she still might run into times when she was low on mana, but there would still be less mana going to waste. A two-floor dungeon wasn''t likely to be nearly as exciting as a twenty-five-floor dungeon, after all.


    Shaking her head, Violet tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. She needed to install a 50 MP spawner in her pond room before anyone else could visit the dungeon. While she wasn''t planning to put any [Monsters] in the room, it would still be good for her [Critters] to be able to respawn. Both the jade tree frogs and koi fish were considered safe to consume, after all. So it was likely that there would be plenty of people who would be interested in capturing her [Critters], which would lead to them dying. Without a spawner, they would have to be replaced, which would be a far sadder result.


    While Violet normally would have been a lot more emotional about her [Monsters] and [Critters] dying, the dungeon core was affecting her sense of morality. She now felt like it was a normal part of life for things to die in the dungeon. If anything, it was the [Monster]''s duty to die to protect the dungeon and draw adventurers in. The entire reason adventurers visited the dungeon was to grow stronger and to chase after fame and wealth, after all. As for her [Critters], most would be fortunate to rarely have to die while others would likely die so often that they''d need to be replaced more often than the [Monsters] would.


    The more time Violet spent as a Dungeon Master and bonded to the dungeon core, the more her sense of self was blurred. Even if she realized that she would have had a different viewpoint just a few short weeks ago, she no longer felt the need to panic. Only the most traumatic and emotional events of her past life could hold any sway over her now. The rest may as well have happened to someone else for all they seemed to matter.


    Luckily, the dungeon core couldn''t force Violet''s will too much. She was still able to hold onto her love for her husband Lee. She even had happy dreams of their time together whenever she slept. If the dungeon core ever tried to take away that part of Violet, it was likely that she would no longer be who she was, which would be bad even from the dungeon core''s limited perspective. The dungeon core had carefully selected her to be the one to be bonded to, after all, so it was important that the core of who she was always remained.

 1.69 Dungeon Merchant

    Later that day, David brought Violet some apple jam as a tribute. Since all of the good apples still had to be turned into dried fruit, jams, and other more shelf-stable goods, there was plenty to spare. While it wasn''t entirely necessary to do so, David and Alice both helped Gregory''s family with the preparations for winter. They had plenty of time to spare and they both appreciated having somewhere to stay. Besides, Gregory''s family had been quite good to them and so they felt happy to help.


    Violet wasn''t informed of any of this, however. David didn''t like to talk to Violet more than he had to and Alice was a rather quiet and shy child. She was always polite to Violet and greeted her each time they entered the dungeon as well as answering any questions directed at her, but she mostly just preferred to spend time with Luna. David tended to glare at Violet whenever she tried to get too friendly with his daughter, though, so it was rare that Violet tried to engage Alice in conversation.


    No matter how much time passed, David didn''t seem to be warming up to Violet and she was already growing tired of trying. While it wasn''t exactly normal to expect people to like you after only a few days of being around one another, things just felt different here. David and Violet were spending a lot of quality time together, not just simply being in the same room with multiple others. If they were going to become friends instead of merely having a contractual agreement, it was likely that it would have already happened by now.


    So, Violet just accepted the few blessings that she did have. She could now defend her dungeon quite well between her new boss [Monster] and her beginner swordsmanship skills. Plus, she had an entire 100 MP to spend on upgrading her dungeon between the two rounds of spending she got during the time David would visit her each night. Both would likely end up as valuable assets for the future, so she couldn''t complain too much about the rest of it.


    David completed the slime parkour again, but didn''t make much progress on the flower hunt challenge. That wasn''t much of a surprise since he seemed to be using the process of elimination to do so. Violet wasn''t sure if his wax boards would even be enough to record all of the possible combinations. That was just how abysmal the chances of solving the puzzle that way is.


    Alice almost always completed the slime jigsaw puzzle and tonight was no different. While the two also spent some time working on the capture-the-slime challenge, they were still struggling too much with it. As for why the two always seemed to change their mind about which challenges they wanted to stop doing, Violet wasn''t certain. Perhaps they just kept getting frustrated with how difficult they were, but then didn''t want to give up on an entire challenge reward because they were too tempting. Well, maybe that was being a bit generous about the value of the challenge rewards, but it was the best guess Violet had.


    When David finally left to take a break, Violet got to work spending her mana. The apple jam and the jar it came in gave her an entire 60 DP, bringing her total up to 302 DP. It was nice to see the amount slowly increasing, but the progress still felt slow. Oh well, not every day could be like the one when she exchanged goods with David, she needed her mana for other things right now anyway.


    Now that she had a spawner, it was time to summon some [Critters]. 10 MP was spent on five jade tree frogs while 40 MP was spent on twenty koi fish. The main point of the room was for it to be a relaxing pond with fish swimming in it that could double as a fishing pond. It wasn''t an ideal fishing spot since there were only koi fish, so Violet wasn''t going to bother making it a challenge. However, it still felt like a lovely place to relax and it added some value to her dungeon.


    The koi fish came in a lot of different color variations. They could be black, white, metallic, gold, silver, red, orange, or yellow. Plus, they had a lot of different pattern variations. It was a lot of fun for Violet to watch the fish swim around in the pond and see how many different patterns and colors she could spot. With the addition of the willow tree and the sound of her jade tree frogs splashing in and out of the water, it felt incredibly peaceful.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    It felt disappointing when David entered the dungeon once more and she had to return to swordsmanship training. However, she had all of eternity left to enjoy the sights in her dungeon. David would only live so long and would certainly only be around to teach her for a short time. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity that she had now for something she could do whenever.


    Violet fought fiercely against David in mock combat, failing quite frequently as she was knocked onto her butt and had her sword go flying. While her sword could be replaced easily enough, it still felt like a shame to have her sword thrown into the dirt every few seconds. However, swordsmanship was something people spent years getting better at, so there was no way she could master the skill in a few days.


    Well, someone who had a swordsmanship class could become good at it much more quickly, but it wasn''t like David or Violet had such a class advantage. David had the guardian class and all of his skills were based around controlling [Monster] aggro and shielding his party from danger. All of his sword skills had been learned through hard work and consistent practice. It wouldn''t make sense for anyone to enter a dungeon without something that could be used as a weapon, so he had chosen to wield a sword and cover himself in an extra layer of protective armor.


    By the time David left for the night, Violet felt exhausted. Her muscles ached and her palms were a puffy red as the skin was clearly on the verge of forming blisters. If it weren''t for her rapid recovery rate, thanks to her bond with the dungeon core, she''d likely have a hard time with practice the next day. Instead, after a good night''s rest, she would be in perfect condition again.


    Violet dragged her tired body to the dungeon core room before starting to work on the dungeon upgrades she needed to make. Entering the building view, she spent 5 MP to build a 5-Units hallway to the right of the wildflower meadow room. She would be building her next room there, but that could wait until the next round of mana she had. For now, she had other interests to take care of.


    Another 20 MP was spent to build a 20-Units straight hallway that connected the pond room and flower hunt room. This wouldn''t help anyone get to the dungeon core room any faster since they''d still have to go through the same minimum number of rooms to reach it. Instead, it just offered another alternate route where adventurers could skip the slime parkour room while also increasing the chances someone might get lost in her dungeon.


    With the last little bit of mana she had, Violet spent 5 MP on a leather satchel, 3 MP on leather boots, 10 MP on one lesser healing potion, and 5 MP on a wild violet and honey lollipop. The bag would give Violet somewhere to put [Items] she didn''t want the dungeon to absorb right away as well as to keep any dungeon-created [Items] she wanted on her person. It was annoying always having to carry things in her hands or to leave them lying around. Adventurers used satchels and there was no reason she couldn''t as well.


    As for the leather boots, Violet felt like they would be more appropriate for someone who was fighting with a sword. Her purple cloth slip-on shoes didn''t tend to be good about traction and she slipped far too often. It wasn''t like she got to choose what she was wearing when she was reincarnated into this world, but she could easily afford to make some custom equipment for herself using the unlocked [Items] from that one adventurer who had died in her dungeon. So, she put her cloth shoes into her satchel and the new leather boots on her feet.


    With her new leather belt and scabbard from Matthias, the leather boots, and the leather satchel she now felt much better equipped. Perhaps she was still a far cry from being dressed as a proper adventurer, but she wasn''t exactly meant to be one anyway. Most of her life was meant to be spent relaxing and managing the dungeon, not in combat. Violet just needed to be able to have clothes that could be used in a larger variety of situations and could make things easier for her.


    As for the health potion, Violet felt like it would be a good idea in case anything bad happened and she needed one. The situation with the elderly farmers came to mind as one issue, but it could just as easily happen that a child or Elivyre could get hurt and then she''d want a healing potion on hand. Plus, for the same reason she wanted the lollipop, it might be nice to have dungeon-made items.


    Violet was a Dungeon Master, but she could just as easily function as a merchant in the same way that Elivyre does. Heck, it could be like a special event to meet her and haggle prices to buy useful equipment or challenge rewards without having to complete the actual challenge. Maybe Violet could even draw in more adventurers with such a gimmick? Only time will tell¡­

 1.70 Adventurer Family

    Joan looked worriedly over the contents of her magic bag. Their family had recently moved to the town of Millstone after hearing about the new dungeon. Well, her husband was still ironing out the details and would have to join them later on, but their son, Adam, and she had already moved into a temporary residence.


    While Joan was only a C-rank summoner, her husband was an A-rank healer. He had accepted a job with the adventurer''s guild, that was going to be built in this town soon, as the branch''s dedicated healer. As a hiring bonus, they had agreed to cover 50% of the expenses for them to build their own home and the entire cost associated with their temporary lodgings until their new home could be built.


    This was a rather exciting proposition for their family. Joan had been wanting to try for another child and her husband was excited by the idea of building a much larger and more luxurious home. If they put the entire amount gained from selling their old home, the 50% from the employment contract, and took a small loan, they could even have a large manor with custom-built magic technology installed. That would put their new home on par with those of the richest merchants and some of the poorer aristocrats.


    Healing classes weren''t necessarily rare, but they were still fairly uncommon. Even then, it was difficult for healers to gain as much experience as some of the other classes since they didn''t tend to spend a lot of time killing [Monsters]. Their class quests also tended to be a bit more difficult to complete since they centered around healing a certain number of people or curing certain ailments. In comparison, defeating a certain number of [Monsters] or a certain rank of [Monster] was much easier to do.


    It was only because her husband had spent much of his youth healing others in the slums of the large city he grew up in as well as learning to dual wield a sword and shield that he was able to get to where he was now. He had managed to unlock the special class skills more quickly than others and he was also able to defend himself or farm experience in the weaker dungeons in his free time. By the time Joan had met him, he was already a C-rank healer while she was a D-rank summoner.


    As a summoner, she had to learn magic control as well as purchase a lot of expensive magic equipment to help her succeed. However, those who weren''t born to rich families who could fund such endeavors tended to struggle to level up. They couldn''t afford higher-quality magic crystal accessories to help with the summoning of stronger summons. So, it was difficult to continue to take on the more dangerous dungeon floors and so it would become too difficult to level up after a point. Meanwhile, her class quests tended to be based on completing contracts with more powerful summons, which, again, was difficult.


    Luckily, their son, Adam, had been lucky enough to earn a cleric class. Well, he hadn''t unlocked his system menu yet, but they had been fortunate enough to save up enough money to have him appraised by a priest during his last birthday. Both Joan and her husband had been grateful that their son had gotten a class that would be a bit easier to level up. So, when the opportunity to move close to a new dungeon with suitable [Monsters] for beginners came up, they immediately jumped on the chance. It was like a dream come true.


    Now, today, Joan was taking Adam to the dungeon to fight the slimes and practice exploring dungeons safely. While they couldn''t afford anything fancy, they had bought Adam some basic leather armor and a cheap iron sword. So long as they collected the dungeon resources, they''d likely be able to buy him something better within the next year. It would likely even be a good learning opportunity for Adam to collect the resources to save up for his own equipment and adventurer school costs.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Finally making it to the dungeon entrance, Joan smiled nervously as she held her son''s hand and stepped through the threshold. It was dark, so she clicked on the magic light attached to her son''s gear before pulling out her own magic light from the magic bag at her side. Her son also had a leather satchel for collecting herbs and such, but magic bags were too expensive to buy him one outright. Even the magic light he had on now was borrowed from his father.


    Soon they came across the first room and their senses were overwhelmed by the change from nearly pitch darkness to being surrounded by artificial light. Joan put her magic light away before using the magic staff she held in one hand to summon a large bear. It would serve as extra protection in case anything went awry. Finally, she turned to her son and said


    "Alright, you see that slime there? It has a core, which you have to break to defeat it. From what I can tell, it looks to be a normal slime, so the worst that should happen is it might knock you over. If that happens, just stand back up and keep going, eventually, you''ll defeat it."


    Adam nodded, looking very serious as he replied


    "I''ll try my best, Mom!"


    Joan smiled adoringly at her son as he ran off to fight the slime. While he did so, she took a potion of lesser healing and some holy basil out of her bag. She brought it over to the only tree in the room and sat them at the foot of the tree. There didn''t seem to be any other rooms connected to the hallway they had entered, so it was likely a room for tribute wasn''t set up yet. This would have to do, for now.


    As this was the first time her son had been in a dungeon, Joan decided to keep things simple. They let the slime in the room respawn a few times, her son defeating it each time, and then they went home. When Adam became more comfortable with fighting the slime and, hopefully, reached level one, unlocking the system menu, they could see about venturing a little deeper into the dungeon.


    Joan could likely handle anything on the first floor with the beasts she could summon. However, she didn''t want to overwhelm her son. Of course, she was lucky that there were plenty of things to collect in the first room as well. It was a great opportunity to teach Adam about the various resources available in dungeons.


    Adam was still fairly young at eleven years old, but he had a good attitude. So, he happily collected the acorns, dandelions, chicory flowers, plantain leaves, white clover flowers, wild violets, and oyster mushrooms. By the time they left, his bag was quite full and he was excited to see what they would be doing with it all. After returning home, his mother explained


    "Now, a lot of the things we collected are useful for making other things. The acorns can be soaked in cold water for several weeks before being ground into flour. Meanwhile, the dandelions and their roots can be used in tea. The plantain leaves are usually used to make poultices for wounds in the dungeon. Most flowers can be sold to alchemists or flower shops since they can be used in bouquets, potpourri, or other applications. Lastly, the oyster mushrooms have to be washed first, but then you can cook and eat them.


    Not all mushrooms you find in dungeons are safe for consumption, though. It''s important to learn how to accurately identify which ones are safe to consume and which ones are poisonous. While the poison mushrooms might be useful for dark elementalists or assassins who use them to make poisonous concoctions, we don''t want them. Some of them are even dangerous to touch with your bare hands, so never harvest something you aren''t sure of."


    Adam looked wide-eyed at the plants, feeling both nervous and excited. There were so many things to learn! Some of it was scary, but he wasn''t afraid because he knew his mom and dad would protect him. His dad was good at saving people and he never had to worry about getting hurt from falling. Adam looked up to his dad and he hoped he could be just as heroic when he grew up.

 1.71 Little Owls

    The new day had brought Violet another 13 MP and 2 DP from her kodama. It wasn¡¯t entirely surprising that her kodama wasn¡¯t finding anything new to forage in recent days. The kodama was a very small creature who couldn¡¯t travel very far very quickly. Besides, if it was supposed to snow any day now, then it was likely that there weren¡¯t very many plants left to harvest. Perhaps things would be easier in the spring?


    Violet had just bought another two lollipops before going to rest. Surprisingly a new group of two visited the dungeon at that time. One of the energy signatures was weaker than the other, so it was easy to tell that it wasn¡¯t the two who usually visited the dungeon. This new group of two also didn¡¯t leave her wildflower meadow room. That made Violet wonder if Gregory and Henry were visiting the dungeon again, but she didn¡¯t bother to go and check. The last thing she wanted was to risk scaring away any new people who might be uncomfortable around her.


    Perhaps, with time, the locals and the various adventurers who visited her dungeon would become more comfortable with her. It would certainly make it difficult for Violet to pretend to be a dungeon merchant if people weren¡¯t comfortable around her. Although, perhaps she was overthinking things. It wasn¡¯t like every adventurer who had entered her dungeon had immediately guessed that she was the Dungeon Master. If she could use that to her advantage, perhaps she could try to use the time it took for them to figure it out to convince them she wasn¡¯t a threat.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the duo to leave her dungeon. Violet checked her system logs and noted she only got 2 DP from their tribute. Well, that was to be expected to an extent as well. If one adventurer thought something was good enough to be a tribute, it was likely that others would as well. Besides, Violet wasn¡¯t even sure if most adventurers were aware of what value the tributes held for dungeons or if they just did it out of tradition. They certainly had no real way of being able to tell which tributes Violet had already received, if they even cared about that at all.


    Oh well, that was a big part of the reason Violet wanted to try this whole dungeon merchant thing out in the first place. She planned to charge the same cost in tributes as she had spent in mana to create the [Items]. If she had to spend 5 MP to create a wild violet and honey lollipop, then she wanted to receive a minimum of 5 DP for it. Of course, it would be even better if she could get a new [Item] or [Base Resource] instead.


    Perhaps many adventurers would get confused by her prices. They could just as easily trade her five random leaves from the outside world as they could five lesser healing potions since they would hold the same value for Violet. However, it couldn¡¯t be helped that what was worth a certain amount outside of the dungeon held a different amount of value inside the dungeon. However, perhaps Violet could use that to her advantage. Maybe she should try to charge double the value of the [Items] in her dungeon. Getting ten leaves for a lollipop still seemed utterly absurd, but she would hardly complain about getting an entire 10 DP for the item.


    Besides, even if people could purchase [Items] for a bargain, they still had to find Violet first. She also had no intention of spending all of her mana on merchandise since she still needed some to build the dungeon. As for the rest, why should Violet begrudge anyone the chance to make a profit? They could make their profit and Violet could make hers. It just sounded like a win-win to her.


    With her mana full again, Violet decided it was time to build another room. 32 MP was spent on building a 16-Units by 16-Units square room to the right of the wildflower meadow room. The hallway had already been built the day before, so it was easy enough to slot the room in right next to it. Violet planned to turn this new room into another puzzle room. It was likely that she wouldn¡¯t need to build very many more rooms. Heck, maybe this was the last one she needed.


    Violet decided to pull up the [Missions] menu.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete a boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete half of the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    SystemStolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock [Critters] from five different phyla.


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock ten [Critters]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock new schematic (altar)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It would seem that Violet had forgotten to check her [Missions] system menu for a while now. She not only had the [Mission] for filling in half of the floor taken care of, but she also had the one for building a boss room to collect the reward on.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to collect the reward for the boss room quest.¡±


    Violet stated.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to receive the reward now?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and was met with the next prompt.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following phylum options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Cnidaria


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Mollusca


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Aves


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    How lucky! She hadn¡¯t chosen any of these options yet. That would make it easier to complete one of her other quests. After some thought, Violet selected the [Chordata - Aves] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Little Owl


    </td>


    <td>


    5 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal little owl. Mediocre combat skills, excellent flying skills, nocturnal. Is safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet frowned. Why did her system always feel the need to tell her when things were edible? She wasn¡¯t going to be eating an owl, a frog, or any of her other [Critters]! She could barely even imagine adventurers wanting to eat an owl. So, it was just a really strange thing to always have included in the description.


    On another note, Violet had never heard of an owl called a little owl. Was it meant to be a descriptor or was that the name of the species? Well, all of the other [Critters] were named whatever they would have been in her world. The bees weren¡¯t called fuzzy bees, they were called bumblebees. The jade tree frog wasn¡¯t named "tiny green frog" either, so she had to assume that "little owl" was the proper name for the owl as well.


    Violet didn¡¯t have anywhere to assign the owls right now, so she¡¯d have to wait to see what they looked like. Instead, she went to claim her other quest reward.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to collect the reward for completing half of the first floor.¡±


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to receive the reward now?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected [Yes] once more.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following phylum options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Mammalia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Reptilia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Echinodermata


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet still wasn¡¯t sure what most of the phyla options even meant. All of these options were ones she hadn¡¯t selected either. Violet wasn¡¯t sure what her next floor theme would end up being. She kind of hoped it would be something forest-themed, though. With the plants David had brought her and the owl, it would be a pretty good theme to have next. Since she didn¡¯t know what would fall under [Echinodermata], Violet decided to go with the safer [Chordata - Mammalia] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Fennec Fox


    </td>


    <td>


    5 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal fennec fox. Mediocre combat skills, average burrowing skills, nocturnal. Is safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    What were the odds of that? Both of the new [Critters] she had unlocked were nocturnal and have mediocre combat skills. Violet supposed that meant the creatures would make for better defense than her jade tree frogs, koi fish, and bumblebees who were said to have poor combat skills. It wasn¡¯t clear if [Monsters] and [Critters] were compared on the same scale, so she wasn¡¯t sure if they¡¯d be stronger than her basic slimes or not.


    Feeling satisfied with her new [Critters], Violet decided to spend the rest of her free mana. Candy apples were too sticky to keep in a leather satchel, so Violet decided to purchase some lavender meringues instead. Where the lollipops were only 5 MP and could create a single lollipop, the lavender meringues were 15 MP to create five cookies.


    The price still seemed a bit high to Violet since the meringues were much smaller than something like a chocolate chip cookie or a doughnut might be, but it wasn¡¯t like they were any smaller than their modern-day versions. That was just one of the problems with luxury [Items] like this, Violet supposed. Hopefully, the adventurers would still be happy to exchange their tributes for them.


    Well, Violet already had the perfect customers in mind for trading the lavender meringues to. Tobias¡¯s party would likely have just as much trouble as David was having with the flower hunt challenge. So, she might be able to convince them to purchase the lavender meringues from her since they were meant to be the reward for that challenge. She¡¯d just have to wait for the perfect time to bring it up.

 1.72 The Joy Of The Challenge

    Before Violet could forget, she went back to check her [Missions] tab one last time.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock [Critters] from five different phyla.


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock ten [Critters]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock new schematic


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Right, she almost forgot! With the last reward she chose, she had completed the quest for unlocking [Critters] from five different phyla. She quickly accepted the [Mission] reward.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following phylum options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Cnidaria


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Echinodermata


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Aves


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet didn''t need to select something new, but she also didn''t need another bird right now. If she didn''t end up with a forest biome, she wasn''t even sure the birds she did have would have somewhere to nest. So, perhaps it would be better to take a chance on something new? Violet sighed as she selected the [Cnidaria] option, resigned to her fate.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Crystal Jelly


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal crystal jelly. Average combat ability, capable of paralyzing prey. Safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet blinked in surprise at the message before her. She hadn''t been expecting a jellyfish. However, its combat ranking also raised other questions. Jellyfish aren''t considered to be lethal to human. Even if it could paralyze its prey, it wasn''t like a single jellyfish sting would paralyze the entirety of a human''s body. Maybe if multiple attacked at the same time and someone was swimming through deep water. Well, it was a dungeon, after all, so perhaps that wasn''t too far-fetched of a possibility.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Violet stretched, yawning and feeling sleepy. Adventurers would likely be showing up soon enough, perhaps it was time for another nap? While she was sleeping, Camellia and Avorn stopped by to farm experience and collect resources.


    "Hey! Check this out, honey! There is a pond in here, maybe there will be some fish we can catch..."


    Camellia excitedly exclaimed. Avorn frowned, this dungeon was strange. He walked into the new room cautiously, but there weren''t even any slimes to attack them. There were just some small frogs, that he almost would have missed if he hadn''t nearly stepped on one, and some colorful fish swimming through the pond.


    "Wow! This room is so breathtaking! I love the willow tree that''s in the middle of the pond. I''ve never seen anything like this before have you?"


    Camellia asked. Avorn just shook his head, still feeling shocked by the new room. There was no sign declaring it a room for rest, asking for tribute, or anything else that would suggest the room was a safe space. Yet, no matter how he looked, there wasn''t a single [Monster] or [Trap] to be found. Finally sorting out his thoughts, he replied


    "It''s rather odd for a dungeon to have a room like this on the first floor, especially considering there is already a room for resting further in. Why do you think the Dungeon Master would do something like this?"


    Camellia shrugged her shoulders as she replied


    "Maybe the Dungeon Master likes things like this? Maybe they want to encourage more people to visit the dungeon. It''s really hard to know since I''ve never talked to a Dungeon Master before. Besides, it isn¡¯t like we''ve been to that many dungeons. Just a small handful of the ones in this kingdom, so it''s hard to say how strange this is."


    Avorn pursed his lips, still feeling unsure about this strange dungeon. Well, it wasn''t like there was any issue if the dungeon did something like this. At worst, the Dungeon Master might later put [Monsters] or [Traps] in the room. At best, they got a nice fishing spot and could now eat some tasty fish with their meals. Maybe they could even sell some of the fish to the locals who don''t normally get to enjoy such a delicacy.


    Just like that, Avorn and Camellia adopted a new habit. They would need to buy fishing poles first, but they were excited to be able to fish. It wasn''t like they had anything better to do with their free time anyway. Whenever they weren''t in the dungeon, they were camping out in the forest. That left little room for entertainment of any kind, so fishing wasn''t a bad way to spend their free time.


    When Violet awoke, she was disappointed to see that she had only gotten 3 DP from the most recent adventurers. They had left chickweed, watercress, and an apple, but they weren''t new [Items] so it didn''t help her very much. Today was starting to look like a bust on the dungeon points front. Yet Violet still very much needed to do some research to complete her new puzzle. She sighed, shaking her head as she said


    "I''d like to research orange dye and green dye."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 15 DP to research orange dye using the [Base Resources] red dye and yellow dye?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 15 DP to research green dye using the [Base Resources] blue dye and yellow dye?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option one after another as the system prompts showed up. With an entire 30 DP gone, she now had only 279 DP left. Luckily, she wouldn''t need to research any more dyes today, she just needed to build the actual puzzle.


    "I''d like to research and build a rainbow sliding ball maze. I want there to be wooden balls that are dyed red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. They should be able to slide along the puzzle from one end to the other with a few places where they can cut through to the other side without moving any of the other balls."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Searching the database for ''sliding ball maze''...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unable to find ''sliding ball maze'' in database. Now searching the host''s memory.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet wasn''t surprised and she quickly braced herself against a nearby wall. Wooden ball mazes weren''t super common knowledge even in her old world. There were some versions for toddlers and a few more complicated ones for adults, which was where Violet''s idea had come from. Even then, she was trying to adapt it to be more suitable for her purposes with some of her own imagination involved in the process. Even once the next prompt showed up, Violet couldn''t help but feel nervous about whether the puzzle would be executed correctly.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to complete research and build [Rainbow Sliding Ball Maze] for 50 MP and 200 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option as she sighed. Of course, one of the only times when she had to spend an insane amount of dungeon points and the mana to dungeon point cost wasn''t two to one was when she built puzzles like this. The puzzle was built in the middle of the room in the same way that the slime jigsaw puzzle had been with most of the space taken up by the puzzle.


    Violet was relieved to see the puzzle was exactly as she had imagined it. If anything, the system had even perfected the idea so it worked seamlessly. The balls were large and had to be pushed with both hands to push them across the board. There were set paths that the balls could travel along and the balls couldn''t be removed from the board. There were about five of each of the six different colors and Violet wanted to make it so they had to be arranged in the correct color order while having the balls randomly arranged beforehand.


    There was only 79 DP left after making the puzzle, but Violet still wanted to set the challenge officially before calling it a day.


    "I''d like to research chamomile shortbread cookies with both honey and chamomile flowers in the cookies."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 30 DP to research chamomile shortbread cookies using the [Base Resources] flour, sugar, butter, chamomile, and honey?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet happily selected [Yes] before spending another 15 DP to set the challenge. That only left her a mere 34 DP, but she was still happy to see the room be useful. It was likely this challenge would be a lot easier for most to complete as well. It didn''t require anyone to jump across platforms, it didn''t require guessing the correct answer, and it didn''t require you to capture any slimes. Violet still stubbornly refused to think those challenges were problematic, but she didn''t exactly want people to stop visiting her dungeon due to the challenges being too difficult either.


    Of course, the challenges were mostly just difficult because they weren''t what adventurers were used to. Once someone figured out the puzzle and the information on how to complete it spread to others, there would be plenty of people completing the challenge. Even the parkour challenge could be conquered by practicing outside of the dungeon, like Tobias had, or simply continuing to show up and fail the challenge every day, as David had. Conquering difficult challenges in dungeons and defeating difficult [Monsters] was what made adventuring so fulfilling. If everything was easy, it would ruin the best part about dungeons.

 1.73 Babys Breath & Lavender

    Tobias''s party was still in a good mood from their victory the previous day. Since they no longer had to worry about painfully scraping their knees and jumping across platforms in a pitch-dark, stormy room before inevitably getting soaked by the water below, they were looking forward to returning to the dungeon. They had even gone out of their way to buy a nice tribute.


    A whole bouquet of lavender and baby''s breath wrapped in brown paper with a purple ribbon was left below the singular tree in the wildflower meadow room. Tobias wasn''t even sure what had first drawn his party to leave the tribute there. The tree just seemed to stand out since it was the only plant with any real height in the room and certainly the only tree. So, it just felt right to leave their tribute there, especially since they hadn''t found any other rooms dedicated to such a purpose yet.


    More merchants were starting to appear in this town, so there was a wider variety of goods to purchase. Most of them were just operating out of their wagons, setting up temporary shops while they were in town. It would take a while before any new shop fronts could be built, especially since they''d have to wait until the next spring before the building could even start. The only reason they were here now was so they could discuss things with the town leader, who would likely be replaced by a proper member of nobility in the coming years. They needed to get the rights to build a shop and then survey the area so that blueprints could be drawn up and the supplies to build the shops ordered.


    Still, considering most towns of this size only had a few merchants who would normally pass by on their way to another larger city, the greater variety of goods was quite welcome. Still, it wasn''t like Tobias''s party had a ton of extra income. Even if they showed up to the dungeon every day to attempt the challenges and collect a few resources, it was barely enough to pay for their living expenses. There was no way they could purchase a bunch of trinkets from the traveling merchants to give as tribute in the future. They would have to buy the tribute on a day-to-day basis based on what they could afford.


    Today Tobias''s party was attempting the capture-the-slime challenge again. Even despite the sacks they had purchased, it was still proving quite difficult to complete. Even if their reflexes were quick enough to capture the occasional slime and they left the slimes tied up in the sacks until they could capture enough of them, the process was far too slow going. Plus, the slimes were very tricky creatures who would dive into the rabbit holes at even the slightest disturbance, causing them to get away far too easily.


    Tobias''s party couldn''t afford to spend the entire day attempting to catch the slippery things either. There were still other challenges that they needed to take on. Such as the slime-themed jigsaw puzzle. That was the challenge they''d be taking on today in replace of the slime parkour challenge. They usually tried to limit themselves to only one or two challenges to attempt each day since they didn''t want to overstay their welcome in the dungeon.


    It seemed likely that the dungeon would end up with a second floor any day now. However, Tobias''s party was only being paid to map the first floor. That means that, even if a second floor appeared, they wouldn''t be responsible for dealing with it. Well, this year anyway. If they did a good job with things this year then they were likely to be hired on to map the next floor next year as well. It wasn''t like there were a ton of people with navigator classes in this area.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Mirabella and Thodin worked hard to gather the pieces from the edges of the room alongside Tobias. They planned to bring them closer to the middle of the room where there seemed to be some sort of strange square indent in the floor. Putting the final load of pieces down on top of the mountain of other pieces, Mirabella asked


    "So, how do you think we are supposed to complete this puzzle?"


    Tobias shook his head as he replied


    "I''ve never seen or heard of a puzzle like this one before. When I sent the information and wild violets and honey lollipop off to the adventurer''s guild last night, I asked them if any of the people who had been previously sent out to check out the dungeon had any information on this puzzle. We might be able to ask around the town and see if any of the other adventurers staying in the area have a clue as well, but this puzzle seems unique to this dungeon."


    Thodin stroked his beard before saying


    "Well, these pieces all seem to have similar shapes with bits that stick out and other areas with indents. Considering this somewhat square indent in the floor is pretty flat, it seems like these pieces either sit on the board flat while being stuck together or, if I''m overestimating the number of pieces needed to fill that space, then it might be possible the puzzle has some height."


    Tobias looked from the indent in the floor to the puzzle pieces thoughtfully. The pieces were quite large, but not very heavy. They required two hands to carry due to how bulky they were in size, but they were thin and light. It didn''t seem very likely that the puzzle could withstand any sort of weight if it required any amount of height to it. After some more thought, Tobias said


    "Alright, well, let''s try to lay the pieces out flat on this space. That seems like the more likely scenario. Mirabella, you said there aren''t any [Traps] for this room, right?"


    Mirabella shook her head as she replied


    "No, I don''t see any signs of any [Traps] with my skill. There shouldn''t be any penalties for completing the puzzle incorrectly."


    Tobias nodded before saying


    "Alright, then we won''t worry about that then. Still, we probably shouldn''t force the pieces together since they should fit together intuitively. We only have so much time to work, so we need to move quickly."


    Then the group got to work trying to figure out how the pieces worked. It took a bit to find the first two pieces that fit together and even longer for them to figure out that some of the pieces had perfect 90-degree angles. They ended up having to abandon the puzzle as Tobias''s watch showed they had already been in the dungeon for several hours. The group of three looked at the unfinished puzzle with regret, but hoped they could use the information they had gained today to make better use of their time the next day.


    With the group gone, their tribute was absorbed by the dungeon right away. Violet looked amusingly at the 86 DP she had gained. It would seem Tobias''s party liked giving her flowers. Well, she certainly wouldn''t complain about it. She likely wouldn''t be adding too many more plants to this floor until after she unlocked the next, but it still didn''t hurt to have some new items. Besides, even with the additional 86 dungeon points, she only had a total of 120 DP now. Anything that could give her so many points was a good thing at this point in time.


    Violet spent 40 MP on four lesser health potions and 10 MP on a lesser mana potion before placing them into the leather satchel at her side. The dungeon wouldn''t absorb dungeon-made [Items] without Violet willing it to, but it was still better not to leave such things lying around. That would only lead to an adventurer or [Monster] wandering off with the left-behind items.

 1.74 The Question Of Eternity

    Later that night, David visited with Alice once more. However, nothing interesting occurred. David brought Violet some pickled cucumbers and bell peppers as a tribute, which gave her another 45 dungeon points and brought her total up to 165 DP. Violet wasn''t ready to start trying to play the role of a dungeon merchant yet, but she still spent the entire 100 MP she earned from David''s two back-to-back visits on [Items] she could later sell.


    40 MP went towards four lesser mana potions, 40 MP towards two health potions, 10 MP towards wild violets and honey lollipops, and 10 MP was spent on two tins of black tea leaves. Violet wasn''t sure if anyone would want to buy potions from her or not, but it seemed like a logical thing to invest in. Even if she couldn''t manage to sell the potions to adventurers, maybe she''d be able to give them to some of her [Monsters] later on. More intelligent [Monsters] would likely know how to use them and would make good use of them to put up a better fight against any intruders. Still, Violet primarily planned to try and market her goods to adventurers.


    The new day brought another 13 MP, of which 10 MP was spent on a glass jar full of honey. Violet''s kodama also brought another four repeats, which brought her up to 169 DP total. It would seem that even despite how hard the kodama was working, its efforts were in vain. There didn''t seem to be anything new for it to forage for. Violet wondered if this was due to the season or perhaps its size being too limiting. It was unlikely that it could go very far with such a small stature, after all.


    Since Violet felt like she had enough after last night''s spending spree to start testing the concept of playing a dungeon merchant out today, she rested in the wildflower meadow and waited for someone to come and visit. Surprisingly, Theodore was the first to turn up. It had been several days since she had last seen him, so she smiled happily as she stood up to greet him.


    Theodore offered Violet a friendly smile as he asked


    "How have you been lately? I see you''re still insisting on greeting people as soon as they enter the dungeon..."


    Violet rolled her eyes as she replied


    "I''ve been spending most of my time sleeping and resting in the dungeon core room recently. This is one of the first times in a while that I''ve tried to meet with adventurers. You just happened to coincidently be the first person I met today."


    Theodore frowned as he asked


    "Are you depressed? I know older Dungeon Masters tend to sleep more, but that''s usually after they''ve established a large portion of their dungeon. It makes it easier to pass the time while they amass the dungeon points needed to invest in new floors and upgrades for their dungeon. You should still have plenty to do, though, as a newer Dungeon Master."


    Violet shrugged as she replied


    "I like sleeping. I don''t need to sleep, but I can fall asleep right away whenever I lay down intending to do so. Plus, I get to have pleasant dreams of my life before I reincarnated."


    Theodore pursed his lips, looking concerned. He didn''t exactly want to pry into Violet''s emotional state too much. Besides, it was only a real concern if the dungeon core was being affected by her mental state. Even if she were depressed or traumatized and was using sleep as a way to escape reality, it wasn''t an issue so long as her mental state was otherwise stable enough to not corrupt the dungeon core. Due to Theodore''s prolonged silence, Violet askedLove what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "So, I had some questions about managing the dungeons in the long term. Like, do I have to live forever? Doesn''t it get rather boring for older dungeons once they run out of space to build?"


    Theodore''s eyebrows had jumped up in concern at Violet''s initial question, but his face evened out by the time Violet finished talking. The question of eternity wasn''t exactly something most Dungeon Masters worried about so early on. Most wouldn''t even think to ask until several decades to hundreds of years after becoming a Dungeon Master. Still, it wasn''t like it wasn''t a question that Theodore couldn''t answer.


    "Well, as I said, plenty of Dungeon Masters spend time sleeping once their dungeons have been built up enough to not have to worry about outside threats as much. It lets them amass mana and dungeon points without having to wait impatiently for it to happen. Others take up hobbies to keep them entertained while they wait. However, it isn''t like dungeons have to last forever.


    Dungeons have a largely symbiotic relationship with the people of this world. They''re meant to help adventurers become stronger while feeding on the aether they produce to generate mana that can be used to further grow the dungeon. Dungeon Masters make all of the creative decisions regarding the dungeons and are meant to be the face of the dungeon that communicates with the outside world. However, since Dungeon Masters aren''t always so good at that, those like myself, Dungeon Diplomats, ended up taking on a more active role in ensuring relations between dungeons and the people of this world remain pleasant.


    Still, living for eternity can be harder for those who were originally sapient beings. Elves and half-elves are used to living long lives, but even they have a difficult time as Dungeon Masters in the long term. Being separated from the outside world and the forests they have always loved is almost painful for them. Humans tend to be happier so long as they have loved ones who can live in the dungeon with them. Spending time with a romantic partner and raising children gives them a sense of meaning to their lives and they don''t sense the peculiarities of the artificial dungeon environments like the elves do.


    Still, there always comes a time when a Dungeon Master can''t handle the torture of living forever anymore. At times like that, it is the job of their assigned Dungeon Diplomat to help them retire. I can''t say whether your soul will end up reincarnating again or anything like that. We aren''t equipped with knowledge regarding the afterlife. However, part of the reason for the dungeon core being exposed is that you can choose to end things at any time you wish. Although, I really would prefer it if you tried to play your role as a Dungeon Master for a couple of centuries, at least."


    Violet could sense that Theodore was very much concerned for her well-being. She gave a grateful smile as she reassured


    "Don''t worry, I''m not that eager to end things just yet. Admittedly, I don''t intend to have any romantic relationships in this life. Ever since I became a Dungeon Master, my memory feels sharper and the memories I shared with my husband still hold a good bit of sway over me. I don''t want to move on and find someone else to love in this life. Maybe that might make things more difficult for me in the long term, but that''s alright.


    Still, it is rather reassuring that I''m not going to be forced to live forever without any choice in the matter. It would be quite problematic if I spent all this time building up a strong dungeon that makes it difficult for anyone to harm the dungeon core just for it to backfire. I hope you''ll be around whenever it does come time to retire."


    While it was unlikely that Theodore would die first since he was still quite young as far as Dungeon Diplomats went, he didn''t feel like reassuring Violet. She was still so young, practically a baby as far as Dungeon Masters went. He didn''t like the idea of talking about such dark things any longer and he was eager to change the subject.

 1.75 Interlude: The Perfect Dungeon

    Azrael and Kali were perfect twins in all except one facet of their lives. While both had awoken classes, Lady Azrael had been gifted with the necromancer class while Lady Kali had been blessed with the dark elementalist class. While the classes were quite similarly themed, they were in no way the same class nor were they the ideal match-up for a party of two. Luckily, as the daughters of a marquise, they had strong, well-trained knights to rely on.


    As nobles, it was their responsibility to become strong adventurers who wouldn''t let their people down. Their kingdom was a monarchy, but all positions of nobility had to be earned. Rather than noble titles being passed down to the oldest male child or whoever had the best skills when it came to managing a territory, the children of nobility had to prove themselves first as adventurers. Nobility needed to have excellent strength, knowledge, and territory management skills to guarantee they would be able to maintain their position as nobility.


    Anyone who became an S-rank adventurer, regardless of their previous social status, would end up being offered the chance to be granted their own noble title. They would then proceed to receive marriage offers from the current nobility. Having a strong adventurer marry into one''s family would almost guarantee that a noble family would be able to maintain, if not increase, their social status for the next generation or two.


    If a child was born into a noble family without a class, the best they could hope for was to be used as a political pawn for marriage. However, even that rarely went well. High-ranking noble families wanted to maintain their prestige by having strong heirs who married other strong and talented individuals. Even a craftsman class would be more valuable than someone born without any class at all.


    That was actually why Azrael was here, in this dungeon, today with her twin sister and three of their family''s knights. She needed to farm experience so that she could level up and grow strong enough to marry into a decent family. Luckily, since they both had a class, they weren''t at risk of being disowned and being thrown out. At worst, they would become knights if they couldn''t become the heir of the family or find a decent marriage partner.


    One of the three guards with them paid the fee to the dungeon guards and they finally made their way into the dungeon. There were likely several other parties already in this dungeon, but this was one of the better ones to level up in. For whatever reason, the Dungeon Master of this dungeon seemed to be obsessed with efficiency. The dungeon was filled with as many rooms as possible to ensure there were plenty of [Monsters] to defend the dungeon as well as making sure very little of the dungeon space went to waste.


    Almost all of the rooms were 16-Units by 16-Units square dungeon rooms. This gave the otherwise cave-like dungeon rooms a rather artificial appearance. However, there were also some other room styles, where necessary. For example, straight ahead of the dungeon entrance, there were two rectangular rooms in a row. The first was the room for putting tributes, which was where they were heading now. The next was an altar to the patron deity of the dungeon.


    Azrael pulled a small, intricately decorated chalice out of her magic bag before placing it on what little room was remaining on one of the several wooden tables in the room. Despite it still being rather early in the day and there being an entire six large tribute tables, the tables were full. This wasn''t surprising as the dungeon was always busy and several hundred people came through here on a daily basis.


    After the others finished placing their [Items] as well, their group moved on to one of the rooms. As this floor of the dungeon hadn''t changed in years and they could easily afford a map, it was easy to navigate the [Traps]. Almost every room, save for the boss room, tribute room, and altar room, had three goblins in them. However, after walking around the wooden barricades, jumping across the pitfall [Traps], and avoiding the wall push [Traps], they still didn''t see any [Monsters]. While they could easily stay in the room and wait for the [Monsters] to respawn, it would likely be better to head deeper into the dungeon.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Unfortunately for the Dungeon Master, this combination of [Traps] was not exactly unique. Many other dungeons had these sorts of [Traps] so most adventurers knew how to look out for them. The pitfall [Traps] tended to have a natural-looking covering over the top of them to hide their location, but things like leaves or grass tended to stick out like a sore thumb in a dungeon that was nothing but stone.


    The push wall [Traps] were a little bit more difficult to spot, but they were always placed in the wall next to the pitfall [Traps], so they were still easy to avoid. It was likely the intention was for the wooden barricades to guide adventurers to walk in a certain direction and then the push wall [Trap] would ensure that people were more likely to fall into the pitfall [Trap], even if they walked against the wall.


    However, these [Traps] were far too weak to be effective against people. The wooden barricades could be climbed over or destroyed without any consequences. Even if one fell in the pitfall [Trap], they were likely to only end up with minor injuries. A lesser health potion could easily heal such injuries or someone could just rest at home for a few days until their twisted ankle healed.


    This dungeon had [Traps] in about half of the rooms and they were used in a variety of different ways, but they were all equally ineffective. The next room was also free of [Monsters] and so was the next. There were tar [Traps] that were difficult to avoid and would easily ruin one''s boots, if you couldn''t jump over it. However, it wasn''t until they went a few dozen rooms in that they finally ran into some [Monsters].


    Azrael let Kali fight this group alongside the knights. They''d be setting up camp in this room anyway and Azrael required some setup before she could use her class abilities. As a necromancer, she had to either bring along the bodies of the dead or kill the available [Monsters] before she could resurrect them. While she could have done so before they entered the dungeon, it was seen as wrong socially to do so. Most people found undead [Monsters] disturbing, so necromancers were encouraged to only use their abilities in the dungeon or when absolutely necessary otherwise.


    Doing so as soon as they got in the dungeon would have been fine since no locals could be bothered by it. However, it would have held up other adventurers who would likely be right behind them. Waiting until they were deeper in the dungeon and had a spare moment was mostly just done to be polite. However, once these goblins were killed, Azrael would be able to help out with all of the consecutive fights.


    Since the goblins were only beginner [Monsters], they didn''t require much magic to resurrect nor did they require any special class skills. However, they also tended to die rather easily. Of course, most beginner necromancer skills also didn''t tend to last very long either. The [Monsters] would end up running out of magic and return to their disabled state after a certain amount of time, it was just that higher-level class skills could increase that duration.


    The room Azrael and Kali had chosen was a trapless room that was about halfway through the dungeon and otherwise a dead end. They were less likely to be disturbed by other adventurers and were unlikely to have anyone else trying to force them out. Since there weren''t any challenges or resources on this floor, there was less need to be mindful of other adventurers, but it was still best to camp out in a more out-of-the-way room.


    Azrael and Kali hardly needed guards to protect them, but they were there as a safety precaution. It would be bad if the Dungeon Master got mad about something or decided they wanted this floor clear of adventurers and decided to make their [Monsters] chase the adventurers out. Three goblins at once was one thing, but it would be another story if several rooms worth came at them at the same time. Well, it was less likely to be an issue on this lower floor since so many adventurers were coming through and killing the [Monsters] off, but it wasn''t like they''d never be moving on to a higher floor with more dangerous [Monsters].


    Azrael and Kali spent a couple of hours farming experience before finally heading home for the day. They would likely return tomorrow as well, but they still had a schedule to maintain. Time had to be set aside to train in the dungeon just like time was set aside for etiquette training or socialization. As nobles, they couldn''t afford to be lacking in any way, after all.

 1.76 Lilypads & Lotus Flowers

    "I brought you a lily pad and a dried lotus flower like you wanted. It took quite a bit of travel to find what you wanted and I had to ask everyone I knew if they had ever heard of such a thing. They especially seemed confused by the lotus flower, I don''t think we call it that here. I don''t mind doing this much for you, but I might have to get some more information from you the next time you make a similar request."


    Theodore explained. Violet felt a bit guilty, but still smiled gratefully up at him as she replied


    "Thank you! I''m excited to put them in my pond room. I''m probably just going to wait until I''ve unlocked the next floor, though, since I''m trying to focus on that right now. It costs an entire 1,000 DP to do that. Since I tend to spend most of my dungeon points on research and upgrades, I''m pretty low on them right now."


    Theodore nodded, looking unsurprised as he replied


    "That sounds about right. There aren''t a lot of Dungeon Masters who bother decorating their first floor so thoroughly. Well, most Dungeon Masters also started as [Monsters] or beasts, so that should go without saying. Still, even Dungeon Masters who are more like yourself tend to prefer to keep things simple on their first floors until they have a few floors built. They tend to be more afraid of dying and want to unlock a few mana capacity increases. It becomes easier to build once you aren''t so limited by your mana.


    Still, I like what you''ve done with the place. With how fast your dungeon has been growing, it seems like a lot of adventurers must like it as well. It''ll likely take a few years before you can get a steady flow of adventurers in here, though. Things take a lot longer to be built in the outside world and most adventurers aren''t willing to go without a proper bed and a roof over their heads.


    However, that does bring up another point I wanted to talk to you about. It''s going to be wintertime soon, which will likely mean you won''t see as many adventurers visiting your dungeon, certainly not as many new ones anyway. Also, you likely won''t be getting any more dungeon points from your contracted [Monsters]."


    Violet furrowed her eyebrows as she asked


    "Why would that be a problem?"


    Theodore looked at Violet in confusion, taking a moment before replying


    "Are you not aware of how difficult it is for your kodama to get in and out of the dungeon? It''s too small to open and close the dungeon doors by itself. It likely has to wait until adventurers open the doors before dashing outside. Then, I imagine it just throws anything it does manage to forage into the dungeon before going out to look for more things. Then, it has to decide when to call it a day before sneaking back into the dungeon. With the snow, it''ll be much more difficult for it to traverse the outside world and there will be fewer adventurers to let them in and out of the dungeon."


    Violet hadn''t put much thought into how the kodama had been going about getting the tributes. She knew that she couldn''t personally approach the dungeon entrance, so she couldn''t help it get in and out, but she wasn''t exactly watching the kodama come and go. Now she felt guilty for expecting the small spirit [Monster] to do such hard work.


    Perhaps she should look into whether she could make contracted [Monsters] from the second floor do the foraging. They''d have to go down to the first floor and then traverse the dungeon just to reach the entrance, but, hopefully, they''d be larger creatures who could open the doors by themselves and travel a lot further a lot faster. Maybe they could even bring back more [Items] at once so they wouldn''t have to work as hard to get the same amount of tribute.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "I didn''t realize that was what was going on. I''ll talk to the kodama I have collecting tribute now and let them know that they don''t have to do that anymore."


    Violet said. Theodore shrugged, not having an opinion on the matter. It was a dungeon [Monster''s] job to protect the dungeon. Considering the kodamas couldn''t even do that much, it seemed obvious that they should contribute by foraging for items, no matter how difficult it might be. If the kodama wasn''t willing to do that much, they wouldn''t have accepted the contract offer in the first place. They would be lucky to end up with such a generous Dungeon Master as Violet.


    After reaching the dungeon core and checking it out, Theodore asked


    "Do you have any other questions or concerns you''d like me to address before I leave?"


    Violet nodded eagerly before inquiring


    "Yes! I was wondering about how easily I''ll be able to continue building rooms on the first floor after I unlock other floors. I know right now people tend to not stay in the dungeon too long so they aren''t preventing me from further upgrading the dungeon and risk upsetting me. However, that seems like it won''t be the case anymore after I unlock more floors."


    Theodore easily answered


    "That shouldn''t be too big of an issue. The dungeon traffic will always be reduced in the wintertime. Even once more people live nearby, it is still a bit too long of a trip for many to want to make when it''s snowing and cold outside.


    However, even during the rest of the year, there should be opportunities to build on the lower floors. Most adventurers tend to clear out of a floor at night so that the dungeon resources can respawn. Unlike [Monsters] that respawn at set intervals, things like flowers and trees only respawn when the room has been empty for a long enough time. That is difficult with multiple parties occupying the same floor, so most tend to just leave at night and come back the next morning.


    There are cases where higher floors will have people stay overnight, but they never stay on the highest floor for too long. Plus, most adventurers tend to offer extra tribute to make up for the inconvenience of staying overnight. Most adventurers are pretty good about respecting dungeons and the Dungeon Masters who oversee them. It is only a small handful of bad apples that you have to look out for. Still, if your dungeon is popular and you live long enough, I''m sure you will see plenty of those sorts of people as well."


    Violet and Theodore talked for a short while longer before he left. There were plenty of small details regarding unlocking her next floor that Violet wanted to confirm, but most of it could be left until later. Theodore would immediately come to visit her when she unlocked the next floor since that was part of his job. She could always ask him anything else that she thought of between now and then at that time.


    The lotus flower and lilypad gave Violet another 45 DP, bringing her up to 214 dungeon points. That was already a fifth of what was needed to unlock the next floor. So, Violet felt quite satisfied with her progress. So long as she was successful in trading her dungeon-made [Items] for some extra tribute, she would likely be able to make her goal in no time at all. It would certainly be nice if she could spend most of the winter setting up her second floor in preparation for the next spring when more adventurers were likely to visit.


    Before going to relax once more, Violet spent her mana on some more items. 40 MP was spent on two mana potions while 10 MP was spent on one lesser mana potion. She''d only need a few more before she could feel like she had a comfortable amount of potions on hand. Then she would likely move on to buying other items. Well, it would help to know what the adventurers currently visiting her dungeon were even interested in. If they all wanted to buy potions, she would happily invest her mana in more of them, but, if they wanted something else, she''d certainly have to stop buying potions.

 1.77 Potion Tiers

    Due to how long it was taking for anyone to visit, Violet went to take a nap, which caused her to miss her next guests. It had still been rather early in the day when Theodore had shown up anyway, so she was hoping to catch some of the adventurers who tended to show up later in the day instead. So, by the time Joan and Adam showed up, Violet was nowhere to be seen.


    Joan held her son''s hand as they both walked to the wildflower meadow. Adam immediately wanted to go off and fight the slime in the meadow, but Joan scolded


    "We should always make sure to give our tribute to the dungeon first. Here, you take this one and I''ll take the other."


    Adam scrunched his face up in confusion as he asked


    "But, momma, why would a dungeon want our garlic and ginger?"


    Joan smiled indulgently at her son, ruffling his hair as she replied


    "It isn''t important what we leave as tribute, Adam. The point is that we need to show our appreciation for all that we get from the dungeon by leaving gifts before we do anything else."


    Adam still seemed a bit confused, but still nodded obediently before following his mother''s lead and leaving the bulb of garlic beneath the tree in the wildflower room. He even politely said


    "Thank you, dungeon!"


    Joan chuckled, not bothering to correct her son''s words. It would make more sense to address any praise to the Dungeon Master, but it wasn''t like they had met the Dungeon Master, so there was no way to know how to properly address them, anyway.


    This was only the second time they had visited the dungeon, so the pair didn''t venture any further than the wildflower room once more. They just killed the slime in the room half a dozen times and collected some resources while waiting for it to respawn. Then they went home, satisfied with their efforts.


    Luckily, twelve times killing a single slime between their two visits was more than sufficient for Adam to hit the first level and officially unlock his class system. Joan wasn''t particularly familiar with the cleric class, but she did her best to walk her son through the rest of the process of understanding the way the system and his class worked.


    Some things were the same for all classes like the process of gaining experience from [Monsters]. One could kill wild [Monsters] or dungeon [Monsters] and their experience would slowly increase until they leveled up. As they leveled up, their stat points would be automatically allotted to whatever was appropriate for their class. In this world, the system didn''t allow you to choose where your stat points would be allocated, it was all just based on what class you were assigned.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    As you leveled up, you would unlock new class quests that would need to be completed to earn new class skills. All classes would start with one free skill such as healers getting a low-level healing spell or a swordsman getting a swordsmanship skill. Those skills would just allow the class to function, but would be relatively weak and usually ended up no longer being used as time went on and better skills were unlocked.


    Joan continued to explain things to her son, trying her best to explain things in a way that such a young child might be able to understand. From what she could tell, her son had been given both a low-level light magic healing skill and a basic swordsmanship skill. This was likely due to her son having a class with multiple different focuses rather than being purely magic, fighting, support, or a craftsman class.


    Of course, Violet didn''t know about any of this since she had decided to take a nap. While she was a bit disappointed when she woke up and saw she had missed a valuable opportunity, she didn''t stay upset about it very long. It wasn''t like it was ideal for her to meet every adventurer every single time they showed up in the dungeon. She wouldn''t always have [Items] in stock to sell and she wanted it to be more like a special event where adventurers were lucky to have her show up and offer to sell them things or they would have to actively seek her out. Both would likely be good for the dungeon.


    As Violet already had ginger before this, she only gained 36 DP from the most recent tribute. Still, she was quite satisfied as she saw she now had a total of 250 DP. That was an entire quarter of the way to her goal! Besides, since she had just told her kodama not to go outside anymore, she needed every bit of tribute she could get.


    As Violet didn''t want to spend any of her precious dungeon points to research new [Items] she could sell to adventurers, her choices were rather limited. Produce might rot before it could be used and things like her candy apples would be too sticky to just put into a leather satchel with everything else. Violet rather doubted this world had anything like plastic wrap and she didn''t have any appropriate containers to store most of these things in.


    However, that did bring up another concern entirely. She wanted to purchase things like lollipops and cookies to sell to the adventurers as well. If she just left those in her leather satchel with the bottles of potions, they were likely to end up broken and her bag would be full of nothing but crumbs. So, 15 MP was spent to purchase three empty glass jars. One for the wild violets and honey lollipops to be stored in, one for the lavender meringues, and one for the chamomile shortbread cookies. While Violet had yet to purchase any chamomile shortbread cookies, she still wanted to plan ahead for the future.


    Although, maybe that was something she could work on now. Violet spent another 15 MP on five chamomile shortbread cookies and the remaining 20 MP on a healing potion. The lesser healing potions only cost 10 MP, but the next tier of potions cost double, so it was harder to amass a decent collection of them. Funnily enough, both potions came in the same size glass potion bottle. It was just that the higher-tier healing potion had a deeper red color to it with an almost sparkly appearance. Violet could almost imagine the highest tier of healing potion would likely be a deep blood-red color with a very magical sparkly appearance to it.


    The mana potions seemed to work the same, but they were a blue color. Violet didn''t have a lesser stamina potion unlocked, so she could only assume that it would be the same case there. As for any other potion types, Violet had no clue. Elivyre had mentioned potion-making a few times, but she hadn''t gone into much detail on the colors and differences in the potion types. While Violet could ask about it, she didn''t want to make her friend feel pressured to talk about anything and risk scaring her away. She was the only one besides Theodore who asked about her well-being and it would be unfortunate to lose that.

 1.78 First Sale

    Later that day, Avorn and Camellia showed up to the dungeon. They were excited to test out their new fishing poles and had even brought along some nice wild persimmons they had managed to forage. As it was already cold enough for the surrounding area to frost over, many plants were no longer able to be found and foraged as a food source. However, wild persimmons tended to hang on a good bit longer than most other plants.


    As Camellia and Avorn made themselves comfortable in front of the pond, threading some bait and casting their hooks into the water, Camellia asked


    "Have you ever tried this type of fish before? Do you think they''ll be safe to consume?"


    Avorn pursed his lips, looking unsure, as he replied


    "I haven''t seen these before. However, most fish only have potential parasites for you to worry about. With dungeon fish, that isn''t a big concern. The Dungeon Masters would have to go out of their way to give the fish parasites and most Dungeon Masters tend to keep things too simple for that.


    I suppose there might be some poisonous fish I''ve never heard of, but there are usually signs of that. Many poisonous creatures have spots, stripes, or bright colors that give away their poisonous nature to anyone paying close enough attention. These fish have a lot of different patterns and colors, but none of them look particularly dangerous."


    Camellia nodded, still looking unsure. It just still seemed rather odd for a dungeon to have a room that was perfectly safe like this without there being a sign asking for tribute in exchange, much like the garden meadow room. However, before Camellia could ask if it was necessary to leave a tribute, just to be safe, Violet entered the room.


    Violet saw the look of surprise on their faces and raised her hands to show her lack of ill intent. She hadn''t met these two before, so she made sure to speak in a friendly, but calm tone to avoid upsetting the adventurers.


    "Hello! I''m Violet and you are?"


    Avorn glanced warily from Camellia to Violet. He wasn''t sure if he should step between the two to protect his spouse or if that would be insulting. So, he chose to remain where he was as he replied


    "I''m Avorn and this is my wife, Camellia. I didn''t think very many others visited this dungeon."


    There weren''t guards outside the dungeon anymore ever since the first batch of undead had brutally killed the first set. So, it wasn''t like there was anyone to mention how many others had already entered the dungeon, not that guards could have stopped anyone from entering anyway.


    Violet nodded as she explained


    "I''m the Dungeon Master here, but I don''t mean to cause trouble. I was just wondering if you would be willing to browse my wares and, potentially, make a trade."


    Avorn''s eyebrows raised in alarm at Violet''s confession. While it was theoretically possible that someone could lie about being a Dungeon Master, it wasn''t something that an intelligent person would do. They risked angering the actual Dungeon Master and losing their lives. So, it was very likely that Violet truly was the Dungeon Master, but that raised all sorts of other concerns.


    Camellia pulled on Avorn''s arm as she bowed to Violet and greeted


    "Greetings mistress Violet. I apologize, but we weren''t aware that you would be trying to sell us anything, so we don''t have anything particularly valuable to offer you. We are mere wanderers who forage and hunt for our own food, we don''t have much else."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Violet sighed and Avorn flinched. However, Camellia remained in a half-bowed position, not showing any signs of being fazed by Violet''s presence. This was hardly what Violet wanted, but it seemed to be the reaction every time she met new adventurers. Deciding to move on, she replied


    "You don''t have to keep bowing to me. Also, what holds value in the outside world is not the same as what holds value within a dungeon. A diamond might be valuable the first time it is offered, but it holds no more value than an ordinary stone might after the fact."


    Camellia gratefully straightened out her back, standing tall before Violet. It would be uncomfortable to remain bowed like that for very long. This was the first time she had ever met a Dungeon Master, but it wasn''t like she didn''t have the common knowledge of this world to fall back on. Ever since she was young, she had been told stories about what was appropriate behavior when exploring a dungeon. Besides, even if she did her best to be polite and not agitate the Dungeon Master, it wasn''t guaranteed that she wouldn''t end up offending the Dungeon Master anyway since every Dungeon Master was, supposedly, different.


    "Well, if you don''t mind, then I would happily like to browse your wares and then you can see if we have anything of use to you. Do you have a particular room you need us to follow you to?"


    Avorn looked frantically at his wife in a panic. However, she only squeezed his hand to calm him. It might be dangerous to follow a Dungeon Master blindly like this, but it was still better than upsetting the Dungeon Master and ending up dying anyway.


    Violet shook her head as she replied


    "No, I keep all of my merchandise in my leather satchel. I currently have lesser healing potions, healing potions, lesser mana potions, mana potions, tins of black tea, a jar of honey, some wild violets and honey lollipops, lavender meringue cookies, and chamomile and honey shortbread cookies. Each [Item] has its own price, but that''s too hard to explain, so I won''t be doing so."


    Avorn flinched again at Violet''s words. Her last sentence had been said in a friendly tone and in a very matter-of-fact manner, but they still seemed to hurt to hear as if he was being attacked verbally. Camellia wasn''t sure what the prices were, which made her feel more uncomfortable, but she didn''t want to turn Violet down and risk upsetting her. So, she simply said


    "Well, I''m not sure what we can afford, but I''ll take out some of the [Items] we have for you to look over. It would be nice to have some black tea and honey since it''s been getting colder outside."


    Violet smiled happily as she watched Camellia kneel down on the floor and begin pulling things out of her bag. Avorn, still looking rather nervous, did the same. When Violet saw a small coin purse among their belongings, she pointed to it and asked


    "What''s in there? I don''t have much use for actual money in this dungeon."


    Avorn swallowed nervously before explaining in a shaky voice


    "I... uh... these are the acorns I''ve been collecting from your dungeon over the last few days..."


    Violet tried to soften her expression, more than aware of just how uncomfortable she was making the poor elf man. However, she wasn''t sure if having a more gentle smile was possible or if her expression would just end up looking odd and thus more terrifying. Turning to Camellia, she asked


    "How many acorns do you have? Acorns aren''t worth much, you''ll need, at least, thirty to purchase the tea and honey."


    Camellia took the acorns out, slowly counting them before saying


    "Well, this amount is thirty, but we''d feel guilty if we only gave you this much. You should take the whole bag''s worth."


    Violet shrugged, replying


    "Alright, you can just leave the acorns on the floor then. There is no need for you to leave the bag."


    Camellia gratefully replied


    "Thank you, mistress Violet. We will definitely leave the acorns behind, thank you for your kindness in selling us these items."


    Violet merely nodded, pulling the tin of black tea and a glass jar of honey out of her satchel before leaving them on the floor. She carried the acorns out of the room, bringing them to the dungeon core room with her. It wouldn''t do any good to have her payment taken back when she wasn''t looking. While the pair seemed utterly frightened of her and were highly unlikely to try anything, Violet would rather be safe than sorry.

 1.79 Big Sale

    After Avorn and Camellia left, Violet spent her mana on two stamina potions and two tins of black tea. Then she went to her new pond room to relax until more people showed up in the dungeon.


    With Matthias gone, their party had to mostly rely on the local tavern for their meals. The rest of them could cook alright, but it was certainly nothing to write home about. Mostly, they could just throw together some campfire stew, but they weren''t talented enough to make much else. As such, they had stopped by the local tavern to have breakfast before heading to Violet''s dungeon, bringing a few hoecakes as tribute. Hoecakes were similar to pancakes, which they had given as a tribute previously, but these used cornmeal rather than being a sweet, fluffy, pan bread.


    Noticing there was a new puzzle to try out, Tobias''s party decided to spend their time checking it out today. The sliding ball maze was a new puzzle to their party, but it still seemed simple enough. The balls slid with little resistance, but still required one to bend slightly over and push them with both hands due to their size. After confirming this fact, Tobias turned to the others and said


    "Alright, so, it seems like this one should be doable enough. From what my system message is telling me, it looks like we just need to arrange these balls in a specific order and get them to the middle-most endpoint. I''m not sure what the "order of the rainbow" means, but it shouldn''t be that difficult to rearrange the seven colors until we get it right.


    It''ll be difficult for all of us to work on this puzzle at the same time, but we all get the reward if we all participate and complete it. So, why don''t you two work on moving the colors we don''t need out of the way? I will move a single color to the endpoint before moving on to the next. This way we can complete the puzzle more easily without tripping over each other."


    Violet noticed right away when Tobias''s group entered the dungeon. However, she decided to give them some time to themselves first before trying to sell her wares. When she noticed they were remaining in one room for quite a while, she determined they were likely working on a puzzle of some sort. That was likely to take a while, but there was no point in interrupting them unless she planned to help or hinder their progress. She wasn''t interested in doing either, so she just moved to the wildflower meadow room to wait for them instead. They''d have to pass through it to leave her dungeon anyway.


    It took a bit longer than Tobias was expecting to complete the rainbow ball maze puzzle. Several hours had passed by the time they got the notification that the puzzle had been completed correctly and, even then, Tobias got the feeling that they were lucky to complete it so easily. He was starting to get the feeling that the flower hunt puzzle would end up taking them more than a year to complete, if they could ever complete it. They''d more than likely just have to report the information on the puzzle without being able to solve it. That would reduce their pay, but there was simply no helping it.


    Since they had already spent so much time in the dungeon, their group started to make their way to the exit. However, Violet caught them as soon as they entered the wildflower room. She smiled happily as she greeted


    "Hi! How are you all today?"


    Tobias''s group had met Violet several times now, so they were much less nervous than they had been the first time they had met her. As the party leader, Tobias stepped forward to answer


    "Greetings mistress Violet. We are alright, but is there something we can help you with?"


    Violet nodded happily as she replied


    "I was wondering if you all would be interested in trading some [Items] with me? I''ve decided to try out being a merchant and have several [Items] available for sale."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Tobias had never heard of a Dungeon Master playing the role of a merchant before. Yet another peculiar thing he would have to report to the guild. However, he decided to play along. As he reached for his coin purse, he asked


    "What sorts of goods do you have for sale? I''m not sure how much money we can spare right now, but I''d be happy to take a look."


    Violet frowned as she replied


    "I don''t need money. You adventurers don''t seem to know much about how dungeons work, do you? What holds value outside dungeons doesn''t hold the same value inside of them. A copper coin could be worth a lot for the first one I ever receive, but it would be worth a lot less for all future exchanges. The same could be said for valuable jewels and anything else you could imagine. If you want things to be worth more in exchanges, you need to offer variety or quantity rather than quality."


    Tobias had the feeling that Violet was giving him this information for a reason. Perhaps she wanted him to pass on the information to the adventurers'' guild or other adventurers? Well, it wouldn''t hurt to include the information in his report when he went to submit one of the chamomile and honey shortbread cookies they had received as a challenge reward. They had received five cookies each for that challenge, which could be considered a quite generous reward.


    Tobias turned to look at his party members to discuss the issue. They hadn''t been expecting this, so they didn''t exactly have much to trade with them. However, Mirabella stepped forward after saying "I''ve got this." to her brother.


    "I''ve got some of my map-making materials I could trade you. I can show you them and you can tell me what you want in exchange, but I''ll need to know what you have for sale first."


    Violet smiled excitedly. Paper and writing tools would definitely be new [Items] to her dungeon! She eagerly explained


    "I have healing potions, mana potions, stamina potions, tins of black tea, wild violet and honey lollipops, lavender meringue cookies, and chamomile and honey shortbread cookies. I''ll likely have other things for sale later on, but I only have a limited stock available at any given time."


    Tobias''s eyes lit up at the mention of the lavender meringues. Pulling his sister aside, he said


    "Can you get some of the meringues? That''s the reward for the flower hunt puzzle. More than likely, we won''t have time to complete it. We got lucky with that rainbow ball challenge, but there''s no way the same will happen with the flower hunt one. If I can submit the prize from it alongside what little information we already have on it, we can still make a decent amount of pay from it."


    Mirabella nodded before turning back to Violet and saying


    "We''d like to purchase a tin of tea, four lollipops, and five of your lavender meringue cookies."


    They''d have to send one of the meringues off to the guild, but it would be nice to have one each just to try. Besides, Mirabella wasn''t sure of how many of each [Item] Violet had or how much she would end up charging for them. She needed to be modest in her request to avoid any problems.


    Violet spent some time negotiating the [Items] she wanted in trade, but she ended up asking for a sheet of parchment, a sheet of paper, a goose feather quill pen, and one glass inkwell full of charcoal ink. However, Violet hadn''t been expecting to get as many dungeon points as she did from the trade. Where she had only had to spend 45 MP for the [Items] she had sold, she ended up obtaining an entire 235 DP from the trade. With the hoecakes she received as tribute tacked on, she now had a total of 612 DP.


    Violet smiled giddily as she spent her mana on ten new tins of black tea. It would seem that the tea and sweets were far more popular than the potions were. At least, that was the case right now. Things could change in the future, so Violet wouldn''t consider the potions a waste just yet.


    As for Tobias''s party, they made sure to pay Mirabella a fair price to compensate her for the [Items] she traded away and then split the [Items] amongst themselves. Having tea and sweets was a luxury, even for adventurers like themselves. However, being able to enjoy a nice treat like this was still worth far more than the amount they might make off of selling them, especially if they could just trade Violet for more in the future.

 1.80 Proposed Rent

    Avorn and Camellia came back later that same day with another two persimmons to leave as tribute. They were the same tribute they had left earlier that day as well, but they didn''t have anything much better to use. It had officially started to snow today and there were already fewer things to forage for now than there had been earlier on in the fall.


    Since they would need to sort out dinner soon enough, they planned to spend some more time fishing. As it turned out, koi fish tasted pretty good roasted over a fire with some seasonings. Plus, they could easily be speared onto a stick and propped up over the top of the fire so that multiple fish could be roasted at the same time. That was much more convenient than having to find the appropriate stick shapes to set up a spit over top of the fire. There were also things like campfire cooking pots or other cooking equipment they could buy, but much of it was too bulky.


    Avorn and Camellia were still low-level and rather poor, so neither had a magic bag and their backpacks could only carry a limited amount of supplies. They had a cloth that could be propped up with sticks to form a tent-like structure to camp in as well as a few blankets to keep warm, but most of their backpack space was saved for actual necessities like first aid supplies, resources they harvested from the dungeon, etc.


    As they sat fishing, the two began to talk about their concerns for the winter. Camellia lamented


    "I wish we could afford to stay in an inn. Maybe we should stop trying to level up and just focus on collecting resources for the winter so we can have somewhere warm to stay?"


    Avorn sighed as he replied


    "We might have to do that. It would make it difficult to continue saving up for better equipment like we wanted, but it can''t be helped."


    Camellia looked hopeful as she said


    "Well, at least this dungeon is a lot better than the other ones we''ve been to. I wouldn''t mind staying here for a couple of years. Maybe we will even get lucky and we can buy some more [Items] from the Dungeon Master."


    Avorn nodded thoughtfully as he replied


    "Yeah, it might even be nice if we could sell some of the [Items] outside of the dungeon and use that to better afford the [Items] we want and need."


    Just then, Violet cleared her throat and the two of them exchanged worried glances as they looked back at Violet. While she had heard most of their conversation, she wasn''t exactly mad about it. Instead, she spoke in a cheerful voice with a bright smile as she said


    "I heard about your problem and I''m willing to offer you a solution, if you''re willing to hear me out."


    Avorn gulped nervously, but still nodded, giving his consent. So, Violet continued


    "I''d be willing to let you stay in the dungeon from sunset to sunrise so long as you are willing to pay me tribute in exchange. I have an adventurer who comes here with his daughter a little before sunset each day to train my swordsmanship. So long as you give me some time to handle my dungeon affairs while he is here and for a short while after he leaves, I don''t mind if you stay the rest of the night.


    You can just camp out in the wildflower meadow room or the garden meadow, if you prefer. The slimes don''t attack so long as you don''t attack them or mean the dungeon any harm. I don''t think faking it works either, so you have to genuinely mean me and my dungeon no harm."Stolen novel; please report.


    Avorn glanced at Camellia nervously and she nodded, taking over as she asked


    "How much would you expect us to pay you for each night that we stay?"


    Violet gave the woman a gentle smile as she replied


    "Well, I would be willing to settle for a hundred small [Items] per night. They can be acorns, leaves, sticks, copper, whatever, but I''d expect a hundred of them every night before you leave the dungeon in the morning.


    You''d be free to collect resources in my dungeon and sell them to purchase your [Items] or whatever else, I don''t care how you go about it, but I would expect you to never miss a payment."


    Avorn nodded enthusiastically to show he understood before replying


    "We would never do anything to upset you on purpose, mistress Violet."


    Camellia added on


    "We wouldn''t mind paying you that much, but I do have some questions about how that number is calculated, if you don''t mind?"


    Violet nodded and Camellia continued


    "There are a limited number of things to forage in the cold season, but there are still things like tree bark, pine needles, maple syrup, etc. How would maple syrup be counted number-wise? What about pine needles? Would a hundred individual pine needles, even if they were attached to the same branch count?"


    Violet frowned, feeling unsure. She wasn''t exactly the one who got to decide such things, the dungeon itself seemed to be behind that. However, she had noticed some trends with the tributes she had received previously. So, she answered


    "I think tree bark would count so long as it is separate strips per [Item] you''d be counting. The pine needles would also have to be separated or else each twig with them would only count as one. As for the maple syrup, I think it would be per container. However, the container and the maple syrup itself would each count as a separate tribute. It doesn''t matter what size the container is, so you would only need fifty containers of something like that. If you had something like berries, though, they''re already individual enough that, even if they''re still in a container, they''d count as individual [Items] per berry."


    Camellia nodded, considering Violet''s words thoughtfully. She didn''t know much about how dungeons worked or even how the Dungeon Masters would know what sorts of tributes had been left and who had left them. However, she wasn''t exactly about to question her obligations to pay rent to stay in a semi-safe place. Still, she did have one major request before she could agree to the matter.


    "While I''d like to trust that we won''t be attacked while staying here, we''d like it if we could sign a dungeon contract first, just to be safe. We''re fine with paying that sort of rent and it would certainly end up cheaper for us than staying anywhere locally. I hope that''s alright?"


    Violet nodded, looking completely unbothered as she replied


    "That''s no problem at all. You will have to send for Theodore, my assigned dungeon diplomat, though. I don''t really have any way to communicate with him and he was just here recently, so I don''t know when he will return.


    Anyhow, would you be interested in buying anything else today?"


    Camellia shakes her head as she replied


    "No, unfortunately, we still have a good bit of tea and we don''t have enough to trade with you right now. We were planning on going foraging for some [Items] soon, though, so maybe we can take you up on that offer in a few days?"


    Violet didn''t pressure them any further on the matter. She just said her goodbyes and wandered off to another part of the dungeon. It wouldn''t be a bad idea to stock up on more merchandise anyway. Which is exactly what she did when they left. Since tea seemed to be popular, she spent her entire 50 MP on five glass jars of honey. Her bag was starting to get heavy, which seemed a bit concerning, but she could always just focus on buying sweets for a while to increase her inventory without worrying about the amount of space taken up and making her bag too heavy.

 1.81 Not Very Special

    Later that night, David and Alice came for their nightly visit. As it was winter time, David couldn''t continue to bring what little food Gregory''s family had available to the dungeon anymore. Instead, he had gone hunting earlier that morning and killed a wild boar that he then brought back for their household. The meat would be broken down into various roasts, boar bacon, etc. while the fat was cooked down into lard that could be stored and used for cooking throughout the winter. This was what David brought as a tribute for Violet in a nice little ceramic butter pot.


    David was by no means a skilled hunter, but he did have some practice with a sword and he had gotten lucky by finding the boar. With more food secured, David wouldn''t have to worry as much about his daughter and himself going hungry this month, but he''d certainly have to figure out something else later on. There wasn''t exactly a lot of food available for sale during the winter since nothing could be grown and many animals would hibernate for the season. Gregory''s family wasn''t rich enough to afford a magic refrigerator either, so they had to make do with an ice box and preservation methods like smoking and curing meat or sun drying and canning produce.


    Of course, David made sure not to mention any of his concerns to Violet, instead he merely gave her a forced smile as he greeted her and put the tribute down.


    "Good afternoon, Violet. It''s interesting to see you out here again, you normally make me come get you."


    Violet shrugged before explaining


    "I''ve decided to try something new out. I''ve been trying to exchange some of the [Items] my dungeon produces with others so that I can get the [Items] I need more quickly. It''s been going pretty well, thus far."


    David frowned, feeling a bit hurt. Violet had offered to exchange some [Items] with him previously with the stipulation that he bring her several tributes. As her swordsmanship trainer, surely he should be the one Violet was closest to. Gritting his teeth, David questioned


    "How can you trust others so easily? There is no guarantee that one of them won''t just take the [Items] you offer them without ever returning with the [Items] you request. It''s not like it is with me, I couldn''t do that even if I wanted to."


    Violet glanced at David, sighing before turning away and starting to walk out of the room, motioning for him to follow her.


    "First, I have a new challenge for you to try out. I''ll show you the way and we can continue talking after that."


    David continued to fume as they walked in silence until they came to the room. Violet let David look over the puzzle instructions for a moment before explainingYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "I don''t have to worry about whether others are trustworthy or not. I have the [Items] they want on my person, so they can''t steal them, even if they were to kill me. I would just respawn in the dungeon core room with all of my belongings. They also tend to just offer me what they have on them or say they''ll have to return another day, I don''t just take them at their word."


    Violet didn''t bother mentioning the fact that she wasn''t sure she even needed David to continue to instruct her after their year contract was up. She''d likely have to mention to Theodore, when the time came, that she had no plans on renewing. While she was hardly going to be a master swordsman with just a year''s worth of training, there was no point in keeping someone around who didn''t want to be around her. Violet could just continue to practice by herself and see if she could make some new friends who wouldn''t mind having friendly sparring sessions occasionally.


    Who knows, maybe she''d end up with a useful [Monster] when she unlocked her next floor. It didn''t even necessarily require a [Monster] capable of speech or that was incredibly talented at swordsmanship. Even something on the level of a goblin could work since it would still allow her to practice regularly. Besides, there was no need to worry that her own dungeon creatures would kill her or otherwise betray her trust, which was a lot more than she could say about David.


    Violet quietly practiced her sword skills while David tried to solve the rainbow ball maze challenge. After watching him struggling for quite some time, Violet called Alice over and hinted


    "Hey, Alice! Have you ever seen a rainbow before?"


    The young girl nodded and Violet continued


    "Have you ever noticed that rainbows always have the same color patterns? Try to remember which order they''re in and you can help your dad solve this puzzle. I bet the system will even give you some cookies to enjoy if you do that!"


    David glared at Violet for talking to his daughter, but went back to ignoring her after she returned to her sword practice. She rolled her eyes, feeling a bit frustrated, but she was used to his behavior by now, so it was hardly surprising. Considering Violet was supposed to forever not put [Traps] on her first floor, she kind of hoped that Alice, at least, grew up to be a more trusting and friendly person than her father was. Otherwise, it would be a shame if she had signed this contract only to get a grumpy middle-aged man to barely teach her swordsmanship skills.


    Alice had a hard time remembering the colors of the rainbow exactly, but she knew enough that David managed to figure things out after a few hours. They then went out of the dungeon to take a break while Violet spent 30 MP on ten lavender meringues, 15 MP on five chamomile shortbread cookies, and 5 MP on a wild violets and honey lollipop. The sweets were put in their respective glass jars in her bag and then she returned to waiting for the two to return.


    Later that night, when the two finally left for the night, Violet again spent her mana on sweets. Only, this time, she spent 30 MP on ten chamomile and honey shortbread cookies instead of the lavender meringues. Doing the opposite of what she did last time , she ended up with a total of fifteen lavender meringues, fifteen chamomile shortbread cookies, and two wild violets and honey lollipops to add to her stock just from David visiting the dungeon. Hopefully, these would sell better than the potions had been.


    After the lard tribute, Violet had a total of 649 DP, so she was more than halfway to her goal. It would only take a little bit longer and then all her efforts would surely pay off as she unlocked her next floor.

 1.82 Second Contract

    The next morning Violet awoke to 13 regenerated mana points and no additional dungeon points. Since she had told her kodama not to go out anymore, this was the expected amount, so Violet wasn''t surprised. Deciding to buy something different today, she spent 10 MP on two loaves of iced carrot bread. To keep them from being damaged, Violet made sure to place them at the top of her bag and to be careful moving around.


    She had to be pretty careful because of the glass potion bottles as well. So, she was already used to needing to be careful about things. Violet wasn''t sure what the optimal solution to such a problem was, but she was considering investing some mana in some squirrel or rabbit fur to wrap things in. The only reason she hadn''t done so previously was that the furs were bound to be rather small and she''d end up having to invest a lot of mana into it just to have enough to cover all of her bases. Plus, the furs would be bulky and take up a lot of space in her already fairly crowded satchel. Neither was ideal since she needed the space to ensure she had a decent variety to tempt adventurers with, but it also wouldn''t be great if the merchandise ended up broken due to a lack of care on her part either.


    While she was considering all of this, a person suddenly appeared in her dungeon entranceway. They quickly left and then, a short while later, Theodore came in with Avorn and Camellia following behind him. Violet had been a bit confused by a person suddenly appearing and then immediately leaving, but was reassured when she saw Theodore. Violet remembered him mentioning how he could teleport between dungeons to her once, so it was likely that it had just been him the whole time.


    "Hello, Violet, how are you today? I hear you wanted to sign another dungeon contract?"


    Violet nodded, reassuring


    "Yeah, it was my suggestion this time, so no need to worry about anything."


    Theodore nodded, looking a good bit reassured as he replied


    "Alright, well, I''ll have to go check on the dungeon core before I can sign off on anything. You don''t mind if they come with us, do you? They can also just wait here, if you prefer."


    Violet shrugged, replying


    "I don''t mind, but won''t my boss room lock and the boss [Monster] attack these two if they come with us?"


    Theodore looked the two up and down for a moment, sizing them up before replying


    "Perhaps you''re right. Most [Monsters] can be told to stand down and you can always unlock the doors, but these two look too weak to fend off any accidental attacks. What are you? F-rank? Maybe D-rank?"


    The two looked nervously back at Theodore and Violet only nodding without offering much more information. Theodore sighed before telling them


    "You know, you won''t make it very far in your adventuring careers if you are always cowering. Violet is relatively harmless as far as Dungeon Masters go, but even the scary and temperamental Dungeon Masters prefer people not to cower. They want you to be polite and respect their property and their right to exist, but they''ll just get mad if you do nothing but cower and refuse to answer their questions."


    With that, Theodore walked off with Violet following close behind. He tried to take some calming breaths, clearly feeling worked up. He could sense it in the air that Violet and, as a result, the dungeon hated it when people acted afraid of them. Violet wanted to be seen as a person, not something to be feared. Finally, feeling more calm, Theodore asked


    "Are you sure you want to form a contract with those two? They seem mostly harmless, but it hardly seems ideal for you. What are you even agreeing to anyway?"


    Violet sighed as she explainedIf you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Those two tend to act afraid of me, but they tend to be pretty polite. They answer my questions, willingly trade with me, and bring me nice tributes while enjoying everything my dungeon has to offer wholeheartedly. However, they seem to be struggling due to being beginner adventurers who don''t have much money. With it being winter, they were debating what to do and I offered to make a deal with them.


    I said they could stay the night in the dungeon from sunset to sunrise, save for when David was here since I need to do dungeon things, and all they have to do is provide me with tribute for it. Once I unlock my second floor, I don''t mind if they are here at the same time as David, it shouldn''t be too long now, actually. I''ve already earned a lot of dungeon points from trades I''ve made."


    Theodore nodded, looking thoughtful, before replying


    "That doesn''t sound like too bad of a deal for you. I''ll have to add in some stipulations about them not trying to attack the dungeon core during their stay, a time limit of only this winter, and some things about your [Monsters] not attacking them unless they attack them first. How much rent do you want exactly? If I specify an amount in the contract, they can just submit the amount to their system menu each day. It will automatically transfer the [Items] to you when they leave and it will ensure they know if they have submitted enough to cover their rent."


    Violet''s eyes lit up as she exclaimed


    "Oh, wow! Really? That would be awesome! I was only asking for 100 DP per night, but I don''t know how to or even really if I''m allowed to explain how dungeons work to them, so I just said 100 small items."


    Theodore shrugged before replying


    "Every dungeon works a little differently, but it''s up to you what you want to tell people. Most Dungeon Masters don''t like to talk with people and certainly don''t trust them enough to get into the intimate details of how their dungeon works. A lot of human don''t care about all the work that goes into managing a dungeon, though. They just want to know enough to get what they want from their experience in the dungeon.


    The system menus the adventurers see are a little different, so it will likely just show up as whatever amount out of 100 points submitted, but not specify anything about how the points are calculated or that they''re dungeon points. So, it isn''t like the dungeon cores tend to communicate everything to the class systems adventurers and craftsman use either."


    Violet almost felt like it was silly that more wasn''t known about dungeons by people, but she supposed it couldn''t be helped if they were willfully ignorant of it all. She was a bit curious about the whole matter of the dungeon systems being different from each other as well, but she had other things to focus on. Soon enough, they had returned to the wildflower meadow where Avorn and Camellia were waiting.


    Theodore ran through all the stipulations for the contract and had both people agree before finalizing everything. Just like the first time, Violet received a notification about a new contract being registered with the system. She dismissed the notification, for now, since she already knew what all was covered. It would be useful to be able to review the terms should the need arise, but, for now, it was unnecessary.


    Before leaving, Theodore removed a bag he had slung over his shoulders. It looked much like the satchel that Violet was wearing, but she was surprised when he offered it to her, explaining


    "Since you wanted to play merchant so badly, I decided to purchase this magic bag for you. It holds 50 Units of weight, that''s nearly three times as much as a normal satchel. Also, [Items] disappear into the bag so you don''t have to worry about [Items] becoming broken if you fall or whatever else. You likely don''t have to worry about anyone stealing the bag from you since that would be difficult, but it looks like an ordinary satchel so it is difficult for others to tell what it is."


    Violet felt touched by Theodore''s kind gesture and promptly said


    "Thank you so much!"


    She hugged the bag to her chest, fighting back tears of happiness. She''d also be able to produce new magic bags after the dungeon absorbed the bag, so it was a pretty big deal to get such an [Item] as tribute. Even Camellia and Avorn had wide eyes as they knew a bag that held that amount was worth an entire ten pieces of gold. Considering they were lucky to earn even a single gold piece a month between the two of them before they moved here, the amount could be considered a lot of money. Of course, their earnings potential was much higher now, but it was still quite valuable.


    Avorn and Camellia promised to come back later that day, but left their tribute of three teaberries and a bunch of wintergreen for Violet. They had gone out of their way to forage for them after leaving yesterday afternoon. However, they wanted to make a good impression on Violet and give her an extra nice tribute as a thank you for helping them out. While they could have stayed in an inn, it definitely would have been expensive to do so for an entire season. That money was much better used to buy some new equipment that would allow them to explore higher floors later on. Maybe, one day, even they would be able to afford magic bags of their own.

 1.83 Excess Potions

    As it turns out, magic bags are really expensive to recreate. It cost the entire 50 points of mana that Violet had from Theodore''s visit to recreate the 50 Units brown leather satchel style of magic bag that she had the dungeon absorb. She was just used to absorbing everything that was given to her to add new [Base Resources] and [Items] to her list in case she ever needed them. Besides that, there had never been any [Items] she couldn''t either split the cost up into small increments or that weren''t under 25 MP before this. Manipulating land or applying grass to a room could, potentially, cost hundreds of mana points, but they cost less than 10 MP for the smallest increment available. However, there was no summoning part of a magic bag and then paying for the rest later.


    Violet sighed, figuring that it was fine since everything had ended well enough as it was. She''d just have to remember such information for the future in case it was ever relevant again. Besides, she now had more information about the bag now, which was quite valuable. For instance, the magic bag functioned the way it did because of a special enchantment. It was some combination of space and time magic that made it so anything put inside the bag wouldn''t spoil nor would the weight of the [Item] be reflected. The bag could be filled to the brim while still having the same weight as an empty leather satchel.


    Violet only got 35 DP for the bag because the enchantment counted as a single enchantment that was specialized for creating magic bags. Other than that, there was just the matter of a new [Item] being added, which gave her 10 DP. She could now create as many 50 Units brown leather satchel-style magic bags as she wanted and had the mana to afford them. That was likely to give her a unique opportunity in the future since Violet was sure that many adventurers were likely to want such an item.


    However, the more interesting thing was that the enchantment suggested she might be able to create new [Items] with it. Maybe she could try making stylish handbags that even the rich and well-to-do ladies of this world might enjoy carrying around. Otherwise, perhaps there was the possibility to apply it in some other way? Violet wasn''t sure, but her mind was certainly racing with the possibilities.


    However, Violet set this matter aside when she felt the familiar presence of her friend. She immediately set off to greet Elivyre and was surprised to find her friend looked different from usual. The druid tended to wear pretty cotton dresses with cotton shoes and a long robe while carrying around a basket that she would fill with various herbs and flowers. However, today she was wearing cotton pants, a long-sleeved cotton shirt, and boots while carrying a leather satchel. It felt strange to see her friend dressed up in such a manner when she was used to her rather cute and feminine appearance.


    However, Violet didn''t say anything about it as she didn''t want to appear rude. Had she asked Elivyre would have easily explained that she needed to dress warmer due to the cold weather and snow on the ground. Besides that, she had needed to purchase a magic satchel for her business since it wasn''t ideal to leave her shop empty and risk someone stealing the valuable potions and herbs held within it. Of course, it also made for a good place to store her fur winter coat while she was in the dungeon since the difference in temperature between the outside of the dungeon and the inside of it was considerable.


    Elivyre smiled happily and greeted


    "Good afternoon, Violet. How have you been?"


    Violet returned her friend''s enthusiasm as she answered


    "I''ve been pretty good! I''ve been trying some new things around the dungeon lately."


    "Oh?"


    Elivyre prompted her to continue and so she explained


    "I''ve been trying my hand at being a merchant. I''m almost ready to unlock a new floor for the dungeon, so I needed to increase the number of tributes I was earning to do so. It''s been going pretty well so far and I''ll likely be ready to add the next floor either tomorrow or the next day."


    Elivyre pursed her lips, feeling a bit unsure of herself. She almost felt like she should warn Violet against giving out such information to others. Talking about when the dungeon might unlock its next floor was not exactly a smart move for a Dungeon Master. However, this might have been merely because they were friends. Maybe Violet was a good judge of character and knew she wouldn''t purposely harm her or the dungeon. Deciding to move on from the subject, she repliedThe author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "I could let some of the people who visit my store know about it, if you''d like. I don''t mind drumming up some business for you. A lot of locals and adventurers alike visit in the wintertime since they need cold remedies or even health potions in more serious cases."


    Violet smiled gratefully and nodded as she said


    "That would be great! Thank you!"


    The two continued to talk for some time while Elivyre gathered the herbs and flowers she had come for. There hadn''t been very many new plants added to the most recently added rooms, but there was still a lot of variety. This made the first floor of the dungeon feel like a treasure trove for someone who runs an alchemist''s shop like Elivyre. After thinking it over for some time, Violet asked


    "Hey, Elivyre? I was wondering if there is any demand for potions around here yet. I kind of invested in some health, mana, and stamina potions to sell to adventurers, thinking they''d be useful, but they haven''t been showing any interest in them, thus far."


    Elivyre looked thoughtful as she replied


    "I feel like that might have more to do with the lack of danger and thus the lack of need for such potions in your dungeon right now. Many adventurers also stock up on such supplies before they enter the dungeon, so they wouldn''t need them unless they used most of their potions up and had already climbed a few floors up. From what I''ve heard, it''s common for potions to be offered as challenge rewards in dungeons, so that might also affect it.


    However, in general, there is plenty of demand for potions outside of the dungeon. Even those without a class or with a craftsmanship class purchase potions. A blacksmith who gets third-degree burns can buy a healing potion while a mother with a sick child might buy a lesser healing potion. A knight in training who has to do a lot of physical work or a farmer might have an interest in stamina potions while wizards and alchemists might need mana potions to continue their work.


    Depending on how many you have and how much you want for them, I might be able to purchase them from you. Since I don''t have someone with the alchemist class working for me at my shop quite yet, it could be a mutually beneficial deal for both of us. However, it would be better for you to wait for me to make an advanced order rather than creating them ahead of time."


    Violet felt a bit silly while listening to her friend''s explanation. A lot of it sounded like things that should have been common sense. Of course, there was very little use for potions in her dungeon, her slimes weren''t likely to hurt anyone. Well, except for her boss slime, perhaps.


    "Alright, well I appreciate you helping me out like this. I still want to hang on to a few health potions in case of an emergency. I''d hate for outsiders to harm someone in my dungeon and then not be able to have a health potion on hand. Heck, I had a bunch of crazy elderly men come into my dungeon the other day and they barely left my dungeon, even despite my slimes normally being rather weak [Monsters].


    I''ve got four lesser health potions, two health potions, six lesser mana potions, two mana potions, and two stamina potions. As for what I''d charge for them, that''s where it gets complicated. Items don''t hold the same value in dungeons as they do in the outside world. Variety or quantity is the important thing, not the rarity of [Items] or anything like that. A diamond and an acorn could have the same value in here. In general, I''d need 440 points worth of value where something I''ve already had before, like an acorn, would be equal to one point, and new [Items] could be worth anywhere from ten points to a hundred plus points."


    Elivyre frowned, not quite understanding due to the vagueness of the explanation. However, she felt like she understood the gist of what was being said, so replied


    "Alright, I can just bring you some herbs or something and you can let me know which ones you want in exchange for your potions. If it doesn''t matter what I bring, then it isn''t like you need super rare expensive herbs or anything, right? Also, how come lesser stamina potions are the only ones you don''t have?"


    Violet chuckled as she easily explained


    "Ah, yeah, I have no control over what I get as tributes. I''ve only received those types of potions before, so I don''t have lesser stamina potions or anything else unlocked quite yet. You don''t have to, but I''m pretty sure the first of each potion type is worth 35 points each, if you wanted to trade me some lesser versions of potions you have."


    Elivyre wasn''t entirely against the idea, so she just told Violet she would see what she had before she visited next. For Violet, it only cost 20 MP for a healing potion, so she was charging 40 DP for one. While she didn''t know much about the value of the potions outside of the dungeon, she was still certain that the value of a lesser potion was likely to be less than that of the next tier up. So, she didn''t feel bad for suggesting that her friend could give her some new potion types, if she was willing to. It was likely to be a win for both of them, after all.

 1.84 Escapism

    Violet was quite happy when she discovered her friend had brought her some nice [Items] as a tribute today. She now had both witch hazel and snowdrop flowers, which she didn''t know much about, but they did give her 70 more dungeon points than she had before. She now had 826 DP and was so close to reaching her goal that she could almost taste it. Considering she was guaranteed 100 DP from Camellia and Avorn when they came to spend the night tonight and David still needed to visit, she was likely going to be able to upgrade the dungeon the next morning.


    It was certainly good news that she''d soon be able to get rid of the excess potions that were taking up space in her bag. Even if she now had a magic bag, potions still weighed quite a bit and were a waste of space if they weren''t going to sell very well. Of course, that still left the question of what she should invest her mana in. Sweets and tea seemed to be selling well, but there were only so many cookies and tins of tea that she could stock up on before it started to seem excessive.


    So, this time, Violet decided to try something new. She could purchase 0.5 Unit glass jars, so she spent 25 MP to purchase five of them. As for why everything was measured in ¡®Units¡¯ by the dungeon, if not this world, she wasn¡¯t sure, but it was hardly anything new at this point. The other 25 MP was spent to create 2.5 Units of maple syrup to fill the jars. She had been given the maple syrup on a plate of pancakes, so she hadn''t unlocked them as an [Item] that could be created in a jar, it was just loose maple syrup. Other items, like honey, milk, or butter could also be summoned outside of a container, but they also had a container option since they had been absorbed into the dungeon while inside a container originally. Still, realistically, the maple syrup and the honey cost the same amount. It just took an extra step since she had to create the jars first and then fill them with maple syrup.


    While honey was more traditional for putting in tea, Violet was still hopeful that the syrup would sell well as well. It could just as easily be used in tea or it could be used on pancakes, in glazes for meat, or baked goods. It was sweet and likely wasn''t super cheap in the outside world. Even in the modern day, maple syrup took a lot of work to harvest and refine, so it was expensive. In a medieval-esque world like this one seemed to be, it seemed likely that maple syrup would be even more valuable.


    After storing her new merchandise, Violet went off to the dungeon core room to nap. While she had been trying to sell things the day before, today wanted to do something else. Since she was likely to reach her goal regardless of what she did, she wanted to take the chance to stock up on merchandise. Considering she''d need her mana to build, there was only so much time that she''d be able to stock up on such [Items] left. Only when Violet started to run low on dungeon points would it be worthwhile to invest in any more merchandise after she unlocked her next floor.


    While she was resting, Tobias''s party came to the dungeon to do their daily visit. Once again, they had stopped by the local tavern and bought an extra dish to use as a tribute for the dungeon. Today, they had brought a venison apple stew made with deer meat, dried apples, raisins, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and white beans in a rich brown sauce. When they had eaten their bowls of the stew, they had eaten a nice crusty bread and drank some alcohol with it, but they had kept things simple when it came to their tribute.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    As it was, the tavern owner tended to look suspiciously at them whenever they brought the food away. Even if they had paid a fair price for it, food was scarce during the winter. It was frowned upon to waste food when others might not be able to afford to eat well for most of the season. Tobias''s party didn''t have that sort of problem and they much preferred to appease the Dungeon Master by bringing her new tributes to enjoy. However, that didn''t change the fact that their decision was certainly controversial.


    Their group was once more attempting the capture-the-slime challenge today. Only this challenge and the jigsaw puzzle remained. They had gotten close to finishing the jigsaw puzzle the last time, but they were still struggling with the slimes by quite a bit. Since the jigsaw puzzle seemed doable so long as they set more time aside for it, they decided to set it aside for when they needed a break from the frustration of the capture-the-slime challenge.


    Their teamwork for the challenge had improved by quite a bit as they already knew what their roles were and were used to the challenge. Thodin would babysit the slimes in the bag where they had captured them, ensuring none of them managed to escape.


    Meanwhile, Tobias and Mirabella would do all the chasing after the slimes and try to coax them out of the rabbit holes. Unfortunately, while they had succeeded in making progress, it was difficult to predict which rabbit hole the slime would pop out of after entering one. They all seemed to be connected and there were ten holes, but there were only three of them.


    Thanks to dedicating all of their time in the dungeon to chasing after the slimes today, after several hours of aggravation, they managed to capture four of the five slimes. It was so tempting to stay longer and hope they could capture the last one, but there had been no sign of Violet and they were still worried about overstaying their welcome. They had been hoping she would visit them again today and let them trade for more things, but it had been hours and there hadn''t been even the faintest sign she''d show up. So, they packed up, after reluctantly freeing the slimes, and left.


    Violet was very happy with the 155 DP from her most recent tribute, which easily brought her total up to 961 dungeon points. Tobias''s party always seemed to bring nice tributes to her and she was very grateful. Although, this led to other thoughts such as how disappointed Violet would be when she unlocked her next floor and spring came. There would likely be more adventurers, but she wouldn''t know much about them and it would be harder to differentiate them. She''d have to wait for them to approach her before she''d be able to tell if they were friend or foe. It was likely to exacerbate her loneliness as well as change the dynamic of the dungeon for the worse.


    Feeling upset, Violet spent her 50 MP on twenty-five bread rolls, stuffed them into her bag, and went back to sleep. She wanted to return to her pleasant dreams where she didn''t have to feel lonely. She could relive her happiest memories with her husband, as if she were reliving them and she could feel loved once more. There was nothing sweeter than the comforting embrace of her husband and it always took a lot to convince herself to wake back up again. However, the draw was even stronger at times like this where she couldn''t wait to escape the reality of her new life.

 1.85 Homesick Kodama

    As a kodama spirit, life had always been peaceful. The kodama who lived in Violet''s dungeon had spent a few hundred years living amongst its own kind in a peaceful forest. It was rare for the kodama to run into people or [Monsters] while living in the forest. The elves had an easier time sensing the kodama spirits, but others tended to be oblivious to their presence.


    Kodama spirits could, potentially, live forever and were rarely killed out in the wild. As spirits, they weren''t exactly alive in the same sense that people or other [Monsters] were. Instead, they were more akin to ghosts while having a close connection to nature in the same way that dryads and nymphs often do. There was seemingly no reason for a kodama to ever volunteer to come to a dungeon.


    Most [Monsters] were willing to sign a contract with a dungeon in exchange for longer lives and a sense of safety they wouldn''t otherwise have. Goblins and orcs tended to be hunted to the point of nearly going extinct and had to have a supernaturally high reproduction rate to prevent their species from forever disappearing. However, not all of them were satisfied with such a life and would often be willing to join a dungeon, given the chance. Of course, most goblins were summoned [Monsters] rather than contracted [Monsters].


    None of this was information the kodama in Violet''s dungeon was particularly aware of, however. It just knew that it had been curious when it had chosen to volunteer to join a dungeon. However, now it missed its own kind and felt a bit lonely. The early days of the dungeon had been filled with hard work, but not the sort it liked to do. Now, things were much more boring as it had nothing to do.


    Normally, in its natural environment, a kodama spirit would care for the plants and forest it called home. It would help to spread seeds throughout the forest from various plants, prune plants to ensure they could thrive, and enjoy being one with nature. However, in the dungeon, everything was different. What little plants and wildlife there was, were spread out and did not need its help. If a tree was cut down, it would be perfectly fine the next day. The bees never struggled to find pollen and the plants never went to seed. Well, there were the apple blossom trees and dandelions in the one room, but they were strange and the kodama''s efforts were wasted since the seeds it helped plant always seemed to disappear.


    Then there was the matter of the people. They always seemed to come and go with some coming at the same time every day while others were more random. Right now, the kodama was following a strange young girl, an older man, and its master. Normally, the kodama would check out whatever strange [Item] was left near its tree before carefully following the group and curiously watching what they would all do. However, today it seemed things were different.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The kodama watched as the man handed some strange white thing to its master before saying


    "I wanted to get you something nicer today. So, I went out and bought you some silk tights since it didn''t seem like you had anything to wear with your boots."


    The kodama wasn''t sure what any of that meant, but its master seemed happy, so the kodama felt happy too. Normally, this strange man seemed to make its master uneasy and the kodama often felt irritable as it wished it could make the strange man leave. However, kodama spirits weren''t violent creatures and they didn''t engage in combat, nor did they have the ability to communicate with people.


    Of course, the kodama spirit also couldn''t realize its own intellectual limitations. Where the slimes had no higher thinking skills and could only act on instinct, the kodama spirits were significantly more capable. However, they were still no smarter than a toddler or a dog might be. The spirit could understand simple commands and had some thoughts of its own, but it couldn''t understand more complex ideas nor did it have the ability to learn more about such things due to its inability to communicate with anyone but its own kind.


    Still, the kodama spirit was happy and it enjoyed the change of pace the dungeon brought. It could meet many new people and discover new plants that it had never seen before. It was just that the kodama wished there were more of its own kind. Perhaps, it would also be nice to have a more comfortable home, a nice cozy forest, just like its old home.


    As per usual, Violet didn''t notice her kodama''s presence. She knew nothing of its thoughts and so there was very little she could do to accommodate its wishes. Had she known, she likely would have reassured it that she hoped to give it a more comfortable environment soon enough. That she wouldn''t be asking it to forage for things when spring came, that she planned to contract some friends for it, and that she too hoped to add a forest to her dungeon one day. After all, David had brought her all of those forest plants, so it would be a shame if she never got the chance to use them.


    However, since she was unaware of the kodama''s problems, she could only go about her own business. She diligently did her sword training, slightly happier that David was taking his job more seriously, but still feeling fed up with his previous attitude. Then, when he went to take a break, she spent her mana. 10 MP went towards recreating the lacey white silk stockings that she promptly put on. It was a relief to no longer have to worry about blisters from wearing her boots without socks. The rest was spent on four ceramic pots of butter to sell alongside the bread rolls she had previously bought.


    Then, when David left for the night, Violet spent her next set of 50 MP on five glass jars of apple jam. The jam didn''t seem as appealing as a nice berry jam might be, but Violet didn''t want to spend any of her dungeon points on creating new [Items] until after she unlocked her next floor. Considering she now had 1,021 DP, she''d be able to do so the next morning. While she would have loved to do so right away, unfortunately, she had promised to let Avorn and Camellia sleep in the dungeon, so it would be rude to do so now.

 1.86 Happily Married

    Avorn and Camellia were a bit confused when they were to submit their juniper berries and they ended up needing thirty-four less than they had expected. They had deliberately counted out an entire one hundred of them and then tried to submit the entire amount to their system screen yet they had extra. So, they decided to just leave the rest as a separate tribute for Violet inside the dungeon. As such, Violet would end up finding she had another 134 DP, which would certainly be helpful when she began to work on her next floor.


    Avorn and Camellia weren''t quite ready for sleep just yet, so they started their night off by fishing from the koi pond. While they did so, Avorn noticed the now familiar kodama spirit scurry past and he offered it a nod in acknowledgement. He wouldn''t bother the poor creature, but this was hardly the first time he had seen it in this dungeon or even the first of its kind he had seen in his lifetime. He couldn''t help but feel bad for the poor creature.


    As an elf, the artificial nature of dungeons was always a bit unsettling. However, Avorn could only imagine just how much worse it would be for such a precious nature spirit. None of the other dungeons he and his wife had been to had ever had kodama spirits, nor had they heard any stories of them being spotted by other adventurers. Of course, human and dwarves tended to be a bit oblivious to such creatures, but it wasn''t entirely uncommon for elves to become adventurers.


    Sure, many of his kind did prefer to stay in their forests and live a peaceful life, but many also craved adventure. Some would give up early on due to how uncomfortable it was to be in a dungeon while others would simply grow bored after a decade or two and end up coming back home. Then some really took to a life of adventuring. Since elves had such long lives, it gave them plenty of time to hone their skills and become truly talented, making S-rank not such a far-fetched dream as it might be for other races.


    Of course, Avorn had had an additional motive to continue to adventure. After he had met Camellia, he had fallen in love with her and now he couldn''t stand the idea of being apart. Of course, he was likely to outlive her, but he would happily follow her anywhere for as long as she lived. Even if that meant he had to spend a hundred years away from his home tribe, then he would happily do so just so he could allow her to live her own life without any regrets.


    Of course, while elven tribes tended to be made up of primarily elves, they didn''t turn away the spouses of their brethren. His wife was free to come with him to meet his family and they could even settle down in his home forest and have half-elf children together. Camellia would be expected to treat the forest with the same respect the elves did and Avorn would have to take responsibility for his spouse''s actions, but they would otherwise be welcomed with open arms.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    After catching half a dozen koi fish, the two decided to call it a night. They''d wake up early so they could gather some other resources to sell, but right now they just needed enough for dinner. The two worked together to get their tents set up and a campfire going before putting the fish to roast. Freshly cut wood didn''t make for good firewood, so they had to purchase and bring their own firewood to the dungeon. However, that didn''t stop Avorn from picking some grass and leaves that he could dry by the fire for the next night. He did want to be as self-sufficient as he could, after all.


    "Should I make us some tea tonight as well?"


    Camellia asked, Avorn nodded with a slight smile. Camellia quite enjoyed the luxury of the tea they had purchased and the sweetness of the honey just made it that much better. It was almost too good to believe that they could afford such luxuries while still being able to earn enough to buy new equipment when springtime came along.


    "I''m really glad that we get to stay here at night. It''s a bit strange to have a slime so close by without having to worry about being attacked."


    Avorn rubbed his chin thoughtfully before replying


    "It''s certainly different from what we have become accustomed to. Since we don''t have to worry about staying at an inn, we''ll likely be able to afford a lot better equipment than we were expecting."


    Camellia nodded enthusiastically as she said


    "Yeah, a silver per night just to share a room would be most of the income we could earn in a single day. However, since we won''t have to spend that much, we should be able to save almost an entire gold piece''s worth of income. It''s not quite enough for anything as fancy as a magic bag, but it would be nice to get some better daggers and a less worn and frayed backpack. Although, maybe we should consider a better tent first?"


    Avorn just shrugged his shoulders as he replied


    "I don''t know, we''ll have to see how much the equipment costs when the time comes and then consider our options. There aren''t any local craftsmen who can make the equipment and this dungeon doesn''t have those [Items] for challenge rewards, so we might have to try the next city over. Although, it might be good to see what sorts of [Items] the Dungeon Master has for sale by that time as well."


    Camellia''s eyes lit up as she lightly bumped shoulders with her husband, teasing


    "You should probably try not to be so terrified of her first before you start making plans to socialize with her more."


    The two continued their friendly banter for a while longer before turning in for the night. They may have been married for a few years already, but they were still happily married and couldn''t be any happier than they were in each other''s company.

 1.87 The Second Floor

    The next morning, Violet woke up early due to her excitement at getting to unlock a new floor. She had enjoyed making a peaceful and relaxing space that was appropriate for the locals and children alike, but the second floor would be her chance to finally have a proper dungeon with [Traps], more dangerous [Monsters], etc. There was no telling what sorts of things she might unlock with her new floor and she almost felt impatient as she waited for Avorn and Camellia to leave.


    After seeing they had submitted an entire one hundred juniper berries, netting her 134 DP instead of just 100 DP, she felt a bit guilty about her previous thoughts. They had chosen to give her the extras and yet here she was feeling frustrated they were taking so long to leave! Taking a breath, Violet shook off her thoughts and tried to concentrate back on the matter at hand. It was finally time to upgrade the dungeon!


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to purchase the second dungeon floor for 1,000 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet easily selected the [Yes] option and the dungeon immediately began to shake, almost as if the entirety of the dungeon was part of a massive earthquake. However Violet didn''t have time to be distracted by that as a new system prompt appeared.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    A [Monster] stampede has been initiated to ensure the dungeon is free of non-dungeon entities. The dungeon entrance will be sealed shortly. Please prepare for the dungeon upgrade in the meantime.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please build or designate an 8-Units by 8-Units room for the staircase to the second floor. Please also ensure there is a clear path from the entrance of the dungeon to the staircase.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Well, that explained why the dungeon was shaking, Violet supposed. How strange that the dungeon core room always had to have a direct path available for adventurers yet the dungeon was being sealed now. Violet entered the construction view and spent 16 MP of the 50 MP she had left, from Avorn''s and Camellia''s stay in her dungeon the night before, on a new 8-Units by 8-Units room that she placed behind her boss room. She then rearranged the maze in the boss room so that it opened up from the opposite side it had before. Luckily, she didn''t have to purchase a new 5-Units hallway and could move the one that had previously connected to the dungeon core room.


    As soon as she finished designating the room for the staircase, Violet immediately passed out. While she was unconscious the dungeon continued to rumble and shake as the second floor of the tower was built and the dungeon core room, where Violet was, moved up to the second floor. By the time Violet woke up once more, the last of the earthquake-like tremors overtook the dungeon and then everything was still once more.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Wanting to check everything out, Violet opened her construction view once more. She was now on the second floor and there was a 42M hallway that connected the dungeon core room to a new 8-Units by 8-Units square room where a staircase connected the first floor to the second. There was now a blank space on the first floor where the dungeon core room had been, but everything else was the same as it had been.


    Before doing anything else, Violet decided to also pull up the [Dungeon Status] menu to see if anything had changed there.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana: 34 / 100


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 155


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Her mana cap had now increased from 50 MP to 100 MP and she had only lost the 16 MP needed to create the first 8-Units by 8-Units square room. It would seem that the hallways and the second floor room had been provided free of charge, much like the initial hallway she had been provided with, when she got the dungeon, had been free. It would also seem that the rooms with the staircases didn''t count as rooms as far as the [Dungeon Status] screen was concerned. Well, it wasn''t like they could be removed entirely and they didn''t exactly add much value to the floor in terms of safety or resources. So, Violet supposed it made sense in a way.


    Before Violet could even think to do anything else, a new system menu she had never seen before popped up.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    The following patron deities are available to sign a contract with. You may choose up to one at this time.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    God of Death


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Goddess of Commerce & Knowledge


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Goddess of Agriculture & Motherhood


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    God of Design & Creativity


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet felt a bit confused as she read over the first option a second time. The other choices seemed to reflect the choices and ambitions she had showcased during her time as a Dungeon Master, but the only connection she had to the god of death was that she died and been reborn into this world before coming to this world. Maybe, if you stretched things a bit, there was the matter of the undead she constantly defeated and absorbed into the dungeon or the one adventurer who had died in the dungeon. However, she didn''t have any control over that, it wasn''t something she had wanted or even caused to happen.


    Shaking her head, Violet dismissed it as just being a strange phenomenon. She most certainly didn''t want to spend the rest of her new life worshipping the god of death when she could choose something more suiting. As there was no guarantee that she''d be able to choose a second option later on, Violet wanted to make sure she chose something that fit her long-term goals for the dungeon.


    When things had started, she had stated that she wanted a dungeon full of cute [Monsters]. That had seemed like a mistake at the time, but things hadn''t turned out nearly as badly as she had expected them to. While it was a good idea to continue to build up the defenses in her dungeon and to even invest in ways to make more mana and dungeon points in the long term, her feelings about the dungeon hadn''t changed that much. She still wanted the dungeon to be a place of beauty where she could live comfortably and enjoy her new life before anything else.


    As such, Violet finally made her choice after quite a bit of time contemplating the issue.

 1.88 New Floor, New Adventures

    Violet decided to choose the [Goddess of Love & Beauty] option after much consideration. There were plenty of good options to choose from, but Violet felt this option best reflected both the current state of her dungeon and her desires for the future.


    Commerce and knowledge weren''t a bad option, but Violet wasn''t looking to learn a bunch of new information or to make her dungeon all about turning a profit. It just felt too clinical, which felt wrong considering her merchant hobby was just a means to an end. She wanted to make new friends and provide a useful service to those who visited her dungeon while earning enough dungeon points to further improve her dungeon. It didn''t matter whether she was getting a good deal from the trades every single time, she''d happily accept a loss if it came down to it. So, she had to turn down the god of commerce and knowledge.


    As for design and creativity, it was closer to her goals for the dungeon, but it still felt like it fell short. Violet had come from a graphic design background and it was also true that she had wanted to live in a pretty dungeon that would bring her joy. However, it wasn''t like she was obsessed with making her dungeon the best when it came to form, even to the point of sacrificing function. Her puzzles also might have seemed creative and interesting for this world, but they were hardly her own inventions. The puzzles were just based on puzzles and games from her previous life, not something she was showing off her creativity and ingenuity with.


    Violet did want to indulge her creative side, somewhat, but that was likely to have as much of an effect on the dungeon as her merchant endeavors. She wanted to make pretty things to assign to her challenges as rewards. Lovely paintings of flowers and nature, colorful pieces of jewelry, and fancy dresses were great options for making unique puzzle rewards, but they were unlikely to affect the actual design of the dungeon. So, Violet also had to dismiss the offer made by the god of design and creativity.


    Agriculture and motherhood felt the most personal to Violet and it had been tempting to choose it. However, as much as Violet enjoyed feeding others and felt bittersweet about missing out on her chance to be a mother, it wasn''t all-encompassing in regards to what she wanted. The first floor was meant to indulge her desires to provide a safer place for the children of this world to grow up and learn how to become successful adventurers in a, relatively, safer environment. However, much like how food wouldn''t be the reward for all her challenges, she wasn''t going to design every floor to be safe for children.


    Violet didn''t necessarily want to kill off every adventurer who would enter her dungeon, but she certainly needed to prioritize the safety of her dungeon as well. She had a responsibility to the [Monsters] who she summoned and contracted to work for her. Her slimes seemed to lack personality and the ability to think things through. However, there might come a day when she would have [Monsters] who could think and communicate with her. At that time, she was sure she would feel much more desperate to keep them safe and she wasn''t sure she could stand to watch them be tortured without doing anything. So, it was inevitable that she would have to build a dungeon with [Traps] that would create a lot more distance between her and the children of this world.


    However, Violet didn''t want to give up on her feelings entirely, which is where her choice to go with the goddess of love and beauty came into play. It was the perfect balance between her desire to create beautiful things, to live in a dungeon with breathtaking scenery, and her desire to connect with others. Love could take many forms from the love one has for one''s friends to the love of a mother for their child to the romantic and passionate love one might have for their spouse. Such love could even exist for those no longer in one''s life, such as her dear husband, and so this choice reflected who Violet was at her very core.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select a new floor theme:This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Grasslands


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Enchanted Forest


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Mushroom Caves


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet had been so deep in thought for such a long time that she had missed what had been right in front of her for quite some time now. She had just wanted to justify to herself that she had been making the right choice. Now she had to once more make another choice, which she noticed also held very little information about what the choices entailed.


    The first system prompt like this had included a potential [Monster] next to the floor themes, but this one did not. Violet had to wonder if this was normal for dungeons or if this was, once more, a result of her initial wish to have a dungeon with cute [Monsters]. Would it make a difference which choice she made? Would she receive different [Monsters] depending on which theme she chose or would it be the same no matter what? There was no way of telling.


    Well, it wasn''t that hard to make a choice anyway. Violet promptly chose the [Enchanted Forest] option. Grasslands sounded too similar to the wildflower meadows and mushroom caves sounded too confined and a bit boring compared to a forest. Besides, who wouldn''t want to find out what the ''enchanted'' in ''enchanted forest'' means?


    After choosing a floor theme, a new system prompt appeared showing off the new [Monsters] she now had.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Summonable Monster Options:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Al-Mi''raj


    </td>


    <td>


    20 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Horned rabbit [Monster], which prefers to make fast and stealthy attacks while avoiding danger as much as possible. Does moderate combat damage.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contractable Monster Options:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a suitable environment dark environment with minimal light and soil. Does moderate combat damage, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Pixie


    </td>


    <td>


    50 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Refuses to live anywhere they aren''t surrounded by their own kind. Does minimal combat damage, but is playful and enjoys playing tricks on adventurers. Primarily functions as a worker-type [Monster].


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet pursed her lips as she read through the descriptions of her new [Monsters]. The al-mi''raj sounded a lot more useful than slimes, but it would seem they weren''t capable of evolving, which meant they didn''t have very much potential. The myconid, on the other hand, were more expensive, but did a similar level of damage while being capable of evolving. That gave them a lot of potential for the future, but also limited their usefulness in the present. It would be far more effective to have five horned rabbits than three mushrooms in a room, after all.


    However, the pixies were the most curious of the new [Monsters] she had unlocked. They likely would be able to fly, but were likely to be quite small. That made them a good option for replacing the kodama as foragers, but they were also more expensive and likely weren''t strong enough to open the dungeon doors by themselves either.


    Then there was the matter of how much they cost while requiring a place where they could be surrounded by others of their kind. With 100 MP as her new cap, she''d only be able to unlock and use a 100 MP spawner, at best, which meant she could only afford to assign two pixies to a room. Granted, they could leave their room freely and even travel to other floors since they were contracted [Monsters]. However, Violet wasn''t sure about whether that would be enough to meet the requirements or if she would be forced to wait until she unlocked her third floor to use the pixies.


    Regardless, she was quite satisfied with her progress. New, more powerful [Monsters] combined with the use of [Traps] was bound to make a huge difference in the dungeon''s defenses. Plus, it was bound to be quite interesting to find out what role the patron deity she had chosen would play in her dungeon''s growth. Yes, Violet was quite excited to get started on her new floor!

 1.89 Death Follows

    Violet wanted to check her [Missions] progress, but she was interrupted by yet another system prompt.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select a new skill:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Skill Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Recall


    </td>


    <td>


    Instantly teleport from anywhere in the dungeon to the dungeon core room. Can be used even on floors where non-dungeon entities are present.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Guest List


    </td>


    <td>


    Displays a list of non-dungeon entities currently in the dungeon alongside their classification, classes, rank, and location.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Gluttony


    </td>


    <td>


    Any non-living, non-dungeon [Items] left in a designated tribute room will be absorbed immediately rather than after the dungeon has been cleared of non-dungeon entities.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet hadn''t been expecting a system prompt like this. She hadn''t seen something similar when she first bonded with the dungeon and it had never come up in her talks with Theodore. Well, he had said that dungeons could have some unique functions and he hadn''t exactly mentioned the patron deity thing either. So, this might have been a special feature only she got to enjoy, but it was also possible that he had simply been too vague about what would happen causing her to not be prepared for such a scenario.


    Regardless, Violet was quite excited to see she was getting a power up and, best of all, it didn''t seem to require any resources to use! If it required dungeon points or mana to use, the menu had always displayed the cost, but this had no costs listed, which meant it had to be free! Now, all that was left, was to decide which one she wanted.


    [Recall] sounded useful since it would allow her to interact with adventurers and then teleport to the dungeon core room so she could spend her mana on upgrades for the dungeon. That sounded useful, but it also wasn''t that necessary right now either. She could just as easily walk upstairs and then use the building menu to spend her mana real quick before popping back downstairs. She didn''t have to be in the room she was building in, after all, she just preferred it. Even in the long-term, there were both pros and cons since it would cut down on time to get from the top to the bottom floor, but it was very much a one-way trip.


    The [Guest List] skill was similar in that it would be a time saver. Violet didn''t exactly need or want to interact with every local, adventurer, etc. who entered her dungeon and she had a very limited ability to tell who was in her dungeon right now. It would be a waste to go all the way down to the first floor if there was just a bunch of [Monsters] invading her dungeon. She''d be better off letting her [Monsters] and [Traps] pick them off first while she spent the mana their presence generated. It wouldn''t be too late to step in if they ever made it far enough to be considered a proper threat.


    As for the [Gluttony] skill, it sounded the least useful of the three skills and was immediately dismissed. Worrying about people stealing tributes from the dungeon or trying to absorb people''s [Items] when they accidentally dropped them in a specific room only had so much use, after all.


    Sighing, Violet made her choice. It would be a shame to give up on [Recall] since there was no guarantee it would show up again, but [Guest List] just sounded more useful both in the present and in the long term. Finally certain there wouldn''t be any more system prompts showing up, Violet pulled up the [Missions] menu.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] optionUnauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock ten [Critters]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete second floor boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete half of the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the third floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Earn the favor of a patron deity


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock new schematic (altar)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Build a shrine to the patron goddess of love & beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (? cost evolve cute [Monsters])


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The list of [Missions] was starting to get quite long. However, the only ones that mattered, right now, were the two that were completed. The first was the one for unlocking the second floor, which Violet made sure to claim the reward for right away.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly rewarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Mammalia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Reptilia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Other


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It was interesting to see all of the options were in the Chordata phyla this time around. However, Violet already knew which option she wanted to choose. The [Chordata - Mammalia] option was perfect since her new floor theme was going to be a forest.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Giant Checkered Rabbit


    </td>


    <td>


    3 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal giant checkered rabbit. Poor combat skills, cowardly, average burrowing skills. Is safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet''s eyes lit up in excitement as she took in her new [Critter]. If she added both al-mi''raj and checkered rabbits to the second floor, then she could, potentially, confuse adventurers. They might see the checkered rabbits and let down their guard only to be caught off guard by the horned rabbits charging them. Alternatively, they might see the al-mi''raj first and then end up jumpy only to have it, amusingly, be only a giant rabbit. The combination sounded like it had potential and Violet was excited as she went to accept her second [Mission] award.


    The next challenge she completed was to earn the favor of a patron deity, which was a bit misleading. That made it sound like she had to do something to get their attention, but it seemed to be a natural part of unlocking the second floor of the dungeon. Of course, it was possible that the patron deities had to be interested in the dungeon and actively offer their favor to even end up as an option to select, but Violet had no way of knowing either way.


    The schematic she was awarded ended up being for an altar to the goddess of love and beauty, which worked out well with the fact that she now had a new quest that required her to build one. However, as Violet was heading downstairs to look into building a new room to place the altar in, she felt a presence in the dungeon. That was surprising considering she had just finished upgrading the dungeon, but things only got worse from there.


    One by one presences started to appear until her dungeon was slowly beginning to fill up far fuller than it had ever been before. Violet panicked as she ran towards the wildflower meadow room and pulled up her new [Guest List].


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Guest List:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Classification:


    </td>


    <td>


    Class:


    </td>


    <td>


    Rank:


    </td>


    <td>


    Location:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Samael


    </td>


    <td>


    Human


    </td>


    <td>


    Necromancer


    </td>


    <td>


    D-rank


    </td>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unnamed


    </td>


    <td>


    Zombie


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    F-rank


    </td>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unnamed


    </td>


    <td>


    Zombie


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    F-rank


    </td>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unnamed


    </td>


    <td>


    Zombie


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    F-rank


    </td>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unnamed


    </td>


    <td>


    Zombie


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    F-rank


    </td>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unnamed


    </td>


    <td>


    Zombie


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    F-rank


    </td>


    <td>


    Wildflower Meadow


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    There had never been a human in the dungeon when the undead invaded her dungeon previously. However, it all made perfect sense now! It wasn''t like the undead could have let themselves into the dungeon, but it made perfect sense if a necromancer was behind it all. However, that didn''t explain why they were now escalating their attacks out of nowhere, especially when Violet had never met this Samael fellow.

 1.90 Overcoming Adversity

    Violet was starting to panic as she got closer to the wildflower meadow. What had been four zombies and two skeletons was now six zombies and two skeletons, not to mention the necromancer behind it all. To make it worse, it wasn''t exactly as if the intruders had remained in one room the whole time. It would seem the necromancer had opened the doors for the zombies and skeletons before making more [Monsters]. Violet was starting to have doubts that her dungeon could handle this invasion.


    When she got to the meadow, her fears were confirmed by the lack of the doors having been broken down. Violet had killed three zombies just outside of the roundabout who had been trying to break down the rainbow ball maze and floodplains meadow entrances. However, there were only a few [Monsters] in the wildflower meadow room alongside the necromancer. It would seem that three of the zombies had been sent through to the other side while the two skeletons had been given iron swords and were now acting as guards.


    Hoping that the other intruders would get stuck in the slime parkour or pond rooms, Violet decided to focus on the enemies in front of her. Since her sword wouldn''t be very effective on the skeletons, she kept it sheathed and just removed her scabbard from her belt. The blunt damage was more likely to be effective on the skeletons, even if she had concerns about whether she''d actually be able to overpower the necromancer.


    The skeletons wasted no time engaging her in combat and immediately moved in, swinging their swords this way and that. They were clumsy, much clumsier than David was, and they didn''t seem to have even as much intelligence as the goblins had. However, it was still a lot for a beginner like Violet to handle two of them at once. She winced as she dodged one strike only to be struck by another.


    Feeling anxious, Violet glanced at the necromancer who appeared rather smug, but was also perfectly content staying out of the battle. This cost her yet another injury as one of the skeletons clumsily swung its sword into her side, leaving a shallow, but painful and bleeding wound just above her hip. Violet cried out in pain this time and she began to have flashbacks of the times when David had first trained her.


    She had died painfully time after time without any chance to rest or recover from it. As yet another strike hit, her vision grew hazy and she felt like passing out both from the shock of the pain and the paralyzing fear she felt. If this continued, she was likely to end up dying.


    The necromancer bellowed out a laugh, taking great pleasure in Violet''s pain as she continued to struggle to fend off the skeletons. Boasting, he questioned


    "Don''t you see? You should have chosen to embrace the god of death! I went to all this trouble to show you just how persistent they are and just how strong they can be in groups. Yet you still chose to go with such a pathetic excuse for a goddess!"


    Violet didn''t hear anything more from the necromancer as her wounds and trauma began to become too much and she ended up blacking out. When she came to, she was once more in the dungeon core room.


    For a while, she just laid down on the cool stone platform and cried, both from frustration and as a result of her past trauma. It was so pathetic to die to a couple of skeletons after so much time training! Maybe if she had kept a clearer head she might have been able to handle it, but she had very clearly lost that fight. While she was lucky that death was no longer the end for her, she knew she needed to get her head on straight if she wanted to attempt to go back out there and fend off the intruders.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    However, that was easier said than done and it took a while for Violet''s shoulders to stop trembling and for her to sit back up. As her head started to clear, she took a moment to take stock of what was happening downstairs. She watched as the necromancer summoned another two zombies, but was surprised when he stopped at that.


    Perhaps he was limited much in the same way that she was? It would make sense for him to be limited by mana since Violet had heard something along those lines from David and Elivyre before. Of course, video game logic from her old life would also suggest that was how things worked, but it was dangerous to draw conclusions based on that sort of thing. Still, that raised other questions. How did he summon or create so many undead [Monsters] before this if his mana limits him so much? Did he drink a mana potion? If so, how many did he have left? If it was just a matter of him running out of his natural mana and having to wait for his mana to naturally regenerate, that would certainly make things easier.


    However, all of these questions weren''t that helpful. What did more for Violet''s emotional state was finding out that most of the zombies who had been making their way around the long way had disappeared. That meant they had likely died already, which was a good thing. That left only Samael, two zombies, and two skeletons who were steadily making their way towards the boss room. The fact that they were a more consolidated group meant that Violet wouldn''t have to chase any of them down and she could try to end things all at once.


    Violet got up, dusting herself off, before making her way downstairs. She planned to try and cut them off in the boss room. With her emperor rock slime to back her up, it would be more difficult for them to progress forward and it wouldn''t be too late for her to respawn one last time and protect the dungeon core. Violet had the feeling this guy was so unhinged that he''d happily destroy her dungeon core, consequences be damned.


    Violet arrived in the boss room before the intruders did. That was only to be expected given she had a shorter distance to travel than the others did. Walking up to her boss [Monster], she said


    "I''m going to have to depend on you, this time. We''ve got intruders and I need you to help me ensure that none of them make it past you. I''ll stand guard behind you so that I don''t get in your way, but don''t worry, I''ll watch your back."


    If the emperor rock slime''s best abilities were shooting stone projectiles, it wouldn''t be a very good idea if it had to avoid shooting in a particular direction due to worrying about her. However, Violet wasn''t confident that her enemy wouldn''t try to pull some shenanigans to take out her [Monster] either. After all, surely he would have come to her dungeon prepared, right?


    As it would turn out, that was not the case. Violet watched as her emperor rock slime completely decimated her enemies. Neither zombies nor skeletons were a match for her boss [Monster]. Even the necromancer seemed to be in pretty rough shape by the time he had the sense to try and run away. However, that was a fruitless endeavor.


    As Violet walked towards the man, she felt conflicting emotions. She didn''t want to have to kill a man in cold blood. It felt wrong and entirely unlike her. However, she couldn''t exactly just let him go and leaving the doors to the boss room locked until he starved to death, or worse, seemed even more cruel. However, the dungeon core clearly felt differently as the dungeon energy began to pulse, slowly causing Violet''s mindset to change.


    Violet could feel as her head cleared and a sense of calm came over her. Then, a more sinister feeling started to creep up inside her. This one was far more dangerous and her natural instincts demanded she fight against it. However, even if it was just this once, she wanted to give in. She let the feelings of blood lust and protectiveness for her dungeon overcome her. By the time she reached the now cowering necromancer''s side, she had no problem at all slashing out with her sword and decapitating his head.

 1.91 Countermeasures

    Showing up, late as usual, was Theodore. Violet wasn''t even sure if he would have been able to help out with the recent invasion, but it still seemed more than a little ironic to have him show up immediately after she was done dispatching of the intruders. Deciding not to bother wasting any time, she made her way towards him. Theodore looked a bit frazzled as he said


    "Sorry, I''m late. I was visiting one of the larger dungeons I work with today and I can''t exactly leave in the middle of visiting another dungeon to visit yours. I''m guessing you''ve already gotten around to figuring things out by now, huh?"


    Violet just nodded in response. Theodore sighed as he continued


    "Well, I''m here now, so let''s go ahead and go over everything we need to. First, congratulations on unlocking your second floor. How are you feeling about it, so far?"


    Violet wasn''t sure such idle talk was really what they should be focusing on right now. However, she decided that it would be best to humor Theodore first and then worry about the recent events afterward. So, she put on a bright smile as she replied


    "I''m excited to be able to build at a more comfortable pace now. It''ll be nice not to feel rushed to finish building rooms so that I don''t lose my chance before the next adventurer or intruder can enter the dungeon. However, I''m a bit unsure of how quickly the dungeon traffic will pick up or if the winter weather will cause the dungeon''s progress to stall too much."


    Theodore nodded as he replied


    "That''s about what I expected from you. Don''t worry too much, everything will work out in the end. You can always take a break from building and just relax for a while, if you need to. It doesn''t matter if you spend all of the mana the dungeon has right away. You should take some time to just enjoy your life and focus on pursuing some worthwhile hobbies.


    Anyways, what sort of floor theme did you end up being offered? Which one did you choose?"


    Violet pursed her lips, trying to remember what all had been offered, before replying


    "Well, I had an option for grasslands, an enchanted forest, and a mushroom cave. None of them listed [Monsters] with the options, though, which was different from the first time it happened."


    Theodore frowned, nodding as he replied


    "I''m afraid that confirms it. You''ve been hard-locked into the cute theme you initially wanted. All of the floor themes were either generic or had the potential for building nice scenery and it would seem the [Monsters] are likely going to be the same regardless of which floor theme you choose.


    Did you get anything more useful for combat this time? I know you were disappointed by the slimes and contracted [Monsters] you got last time."


    Violet beamed as she excitedly explained


    "Yes! I got some horned rabbits called al-mi''raj for my summonable [Monster] this time. They can''t be evolved into anything, but they''ve already got better stats than most of my slime variations. For summons, I''ve got some mushroom dudes called myconid and some pixies. The pixies seem to be a mixture of the will-o''wisp''s and kodama''s traits since they play tricks on adventurers and are supposed to be worker [Monsters] who would usually care for their environment."


    Theodore''s eyes went wide as he said


    "Wow! That''s good! The pixies should be able to help with your desire for socialization as well since they can communicate and are fairly bright, even if they are troublemakers.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    It''s a relief to see you''ll be able to have some better defenses too. Although, from what I''ve been hearing, apparently your boss [Monster] is quite impressive. Some of the adventurers recently reported to the adventurer''s guild that the level of danger in the rest of the dungeon versus the boss room was vastly different. As your assigned dungeon diplomat, I tend to end up being filled in on anything relating to your dungeon, but that doesn''t mean I have to interfere unless it''s an actual problem.


    I think you might want to consider making some changes to your first floor now that you have a second floor. Since you seem to want a first floor that is appropriate for locals, children, and beginner adventurers alike, it might be better to make some adjustments to make the floor safer. I wouldn''t normally recommend that, but you can always make the second floor more dangerous so that it''s only appropriate for beginner adventurers to slightly more experienced adventurers and still be able to fend off most threats. I can give you some more specific pointers, if you don''t mind?"


    Violet shook her head as she replied


    "No, I actually would love to hear what you think. However, I do have some thoughts of my own. I''ve been trying to give each floor a few themes and I''d like to stick to that. The first floor is supposed to be safer, as you''ve said, and has the wildflower meadow theme, of course, but it also has slime-themed puzzles and food-themed prizes. More specifically, I''ve been trying to make the food either appropriate for younger children or flower-themed since it fits the meadow theme.


    I''m still thinking over what I want to do for the second floor, but I''m thinking I''d like to have some pixie-themed challenges and colorful prizes. I''ll probably have rabbits and the occasional myconid or slime in the other rooms, but I''m thinking of only assigning pixies to most of the challenge rooms. I, originally, wanted to have [Monsters] in the challenge rooms and to lock their doors to make them more difficult, but pixies are expensive and one of their requirements is that they live in groups. So, I figure it would be better to assign pixies to every room with challenges so the [Monster] fields don''t end up as empty."


    Theodore looked thoughtful as he replied


    "I understand and you certainly don''t have to take any of my advice to heart. It''s fine to build the dungeon however you want. You were the one chosen to be the Dungeon Master, after all, so that means the dungeon core was entrusting the job to you.


    However, since you said you''re willing to hear my advice, I will provide it. Originally, I was just going to say you should likely rearrange some of the rooms and, probably, make the weather settings more tame for the slime parkour room. However, since you expressed your wishes to me, I''d like to make an additional suggestion.


    It might be better to rethink the placement of some of your challenge rooms. The flower hunt room could be moved to the second floor and you could switch the slimes out for pixies. If you add some rain and keep some edible plants, but lock the doors, it would work great as a [Trap] room while still being feasible for the adventurers to survive long enough to figure it out. It might also be worth considering that flower-themed sweets and colorful [Items] might be more fitting for a pixie-themed floor. Children might not enjoy the taste of strong herbs and flowers as much as they would simpler sweet flavors.


    Of course, there is also the matter of creating a space for tributes to be left and an altar for a patron deity. Most of the time, adventurers expect those to be directly connected to the first hallway in the dungeon so they can stop there before they start adventuring. The way you currently have things set up, I''m not sure there is space for those rooms.


    Speaking of patron deities, how many did you end up with?"


    Violet looked confused as she replied


    "I was only offered the choice to choose one patron deity. I had the choice of the god of death, the goddess of commerce and knowledge, the god of design and creativity, the goddess of agriculture and motherhood, and the goddess of love and beauty. I ended up choosing the last one."


    Theodore shrugged as he said


    "Ah well, some dungeons get to choose two patron deities while others only get to choose one. Everyone can tell you''ve chosen the goddess of love and beauty, though, it''s on the outside of the dungeon above the entrance. There is a placard for the dungeon''s name too, but it seems you still haven''t chosen a name for your dungeon."


    Violet blinked in confusion. She hadn''t heard of such a thing before, so, obviously, she hadn''t tried to name the dungeon. Now that she did know, though, there was no way she was going to name it on the spot. She''d much rather think it over a while and decide on something that she would be happy with for years to come.

 1.92 A New Name For A New Beginning

    While she was thinking things over, they arrived at the dungeon core room. Theodore nodded as he looked things over and asked


    "So, did you end up with any other bonuses, maybe a newfound sense of strength?"


    Violet looked confused as she hesitantly answered


    "Well, I was offered the choice of a skill to choose from. It can be used anywhere in the dungeon, regardless of whether adventurers are on the floor. I had the choice of a skill called [Recall] that would allow me to instantly teleport to the dungeon core room, a skill called [Guest List] that displays a list of all non-dungeon entities inside the dungeon, and a skill called [Gluttony] that instantly absorbs any [Items] placed in a designated tribute room immediately. I went with [Guest List] since I felt like it met my current needs the best."


    Theodore frowned as he said


    "So, you don''t feel stronger or anything?"


    Violet shook her head in the negative and he continued


    "Hmm, interesting. I guess your dungeon does seem to prioritize things differently from most I''ve heard of. Many Dungeon Masters grow stronger as their dungeon grows, some even unlock new class skills, but it seems that isn''t the case for you. The dungeon-based skills are certainly a new one I haven''t heard of before, but, as I previously said, all dungeons are a little different and have some unique aspects to them.


    Recall sounds like it would have been useful for a lot of Dungeon Masters who would rather make intruders go through their entire dungeon before being forced to confront them as a last-ditch effort. However, for someone like you, [Guest List] sounds fitting. Maybe you can be a bit more cautious and avoid trying to get into unnecessary fights with intruders while still being able to socialize with the more friendly adventurers and locals. It''s not good for you to run blindly into danger, after all."


    Violet felt hesitant as she went to finally broach the topic that had been bothering her this whole time.


    "Well, actually, I had an intruder in between the time when I upgraded the dungeon and when you came today."


    Theodore raised an eyebrow and gestured for Violet to continue, so she did


    "I had previously had zombies and skeletons periodically entering my dungeon and had to keep defeating them. However, it was because of this necromancer guy who wanted me to choose the god of death for my patron deity. It seems, that when I decided to go with someone different, he got angry and decided to launch a full-scale assault on my dungeon. I think he drank some mana potions or something because there were more undead than usual.


    I tried to cut him off at the entrance, but ended up dying, so I had to rethink things. My emperor rock slime was able to take out all of his undead and then I had to kill him to ensure he wouldn''t return. I think I''m still struggling with the previous incident with David, which is why the skeletons ended up getting the best of me."


    Theodore felt a little bit like laughing as he took in Violet''s frustrated expression in regards to losing to the weak skeletons. However, the rest of the conversation topic was serious enough that he held himself back as he repliedYou might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "That does sound pretty serious, I''ll look into it. I''m guessing that''s why you''ve seemed tense this whole time and the dungeon core looks a little worse for wear than the last time I was here.


    I''m guessing the necromancer was a follower of the god of death and he wanted to convince you that his god was the best choice with his previous attacks. However, he isn''t allowed to directly tell you how to do things in your dungeon without getting in trouble. It''ll be difficult to figure out his identity if your dungeon has already absorbed his body, but it would be ideal to launch an investigation."


    Violet frowned as she replied


    "I, unfortunately, don''t have the stomach to store his body in my magic bag. I also don''t have the strength to carry his body until someone could show up. I''m sorry I can''t help out with the investigation, but I appreciate you looking into it.


    However, I do have to ask, why would they want to control what patron deity I choose anyway?"


    Technically speaking, Violet knew Samael¡¯s name thanks to her new [Guest List] skill. However, she didn¡¯t want the man¡¯s family to suffer and she rather doubted that anyone would come around to avenge him. It was better to leave things as they were. The man was already dead, after all.


    Theodore sighed as he explained


    "Most dungeons would be affected more heavily by their choice of patron deity. If a normal Dungeon Master had then been inspired to choose the god of death as their patron deity, their dungeon would then be affected by that choice. It doesn''t hard lock them into having undead [Monsters] only, but they''d be more likely to have those [Monsters] show up as potential options to choose from on new floors.


    It''s, probably, ideal that you chose the patron deity you did. You might still be able to get rewards that help with your dungeon costs and it will reinforce to the dungeon core that you are happy with the choices you''ve made with the dungeon. Beautiful scenery and cute [Monsters] with an optimistic attitude towards those visiting the dungeon are what you want, after all.


    I''m guessing you''ve already noticed, but the dungeon core can affect your emotional state. If you made choices that suggested being bloodthirsty and unforgiving towards outsiders was the best, the dungeon core would reinforce that idea. You can, of course, fight the emotional manipulation, but having to do so for hundreds of years is still bound to take its toll on who you are as a person.


    As a dungeon diplomat, I try to be fairly impartial in my judgments. However, I think you''ve got a good thing going here. Your personality is a lot better than most Dungeon Masters and you seem to be making your, normally questionable, choices work for you. Despite regular attacks on your dungeon, you''re still standing and you''re still yourself. I don''t think I could ask for much more from those under my care."


    Theodore didn''t bring a tribute to the dungeon this time, but he promised to return at a later date with some special plants that would fit the enchanted forest theme. Violet didn''t mind too much since he had already given her a very clearly expensive magic bag recently, but she wasn''t exactly about to turn down some specialty magic plants either.


    The recent attack and the things Theodore said brought up a lot of concerns for the future. While most of the people of this world seemed to be relatively harmless, the few who wished her dungeon harm couldn''t be dismissed. It would be difficult to strike a balance in her dungeon between preparedness and a welcoming environment, but Violet would have to figure that out one day at a time.


    The second floor was a new opportunity and Violet couldn''t help but feel motivated to make the most of it. She could now turn the first floor into a truly peaceful and safe environment meant for socialization and learning while using her second floor to properly defend her dungeon and challenge those who wished to grow stronger. There was no longer the need to worry about choosing between defense and her own desires for the dungeon, she could have both.


    Yes, Violet could now truly build the perfect dungeon without having to compromise. It would be both beautiful and dangerous, much like a rose with thorns. As such, Violet''s dungeon would forevermore be known as Thornkeep Sanctuary.


    *END OF VOLUME ONE*

 2.1 A New Adventure Begins

    Not too long ago, Violet had been tragically murdered alongside her beloved husband. After her tragic death, she was reincarnated into a new world, one filled with magic and [Monsters]. Without meaning to, she became bonded to a dungeon core and became the owner of her very own dungeon in the process. Without meaning to, she unwittingly inflicted a handicap on herself, causing herself to become forever stuck with the theme of a cute dungeon.


    However, Violet didn''t give up and, instead, chose to turn what might otherwise be a weakness into a selling point. Slimes were cute and weak, but that made them perfect for those who would normally be too weak to conquer a dungeon to practice their skill sets. When she ends up contracted into making a first floor without [Traps], she turns it into an opportunity to make it appropriate for young children, locals, and beginner adventurers alike.


    Even when a follower of the god of death plots against her, constantly sending the undead into her dungeon, she doesn''t give up. She picked up her sword and personally fought off every last enemy sent her way. Eventually, things even came to a head as the necromancer behind it all came to destroy her dungeon in a fit of anger. The battle ended up being a struggle as Violet was overwhelmed by the number of enemies combined with her lingering traumas. However, in the end, she still managed to overcome even that.


    Now, all of Violet''s efforts had paid off as she had unlocked the second floor of the dungeon and received plenty of useful upgrades alongside it. Before getting started building, though, she wanted to review all of the tributes she had received thanks to defeating the recent intruders. human remains, blood, a black mage''s robe, cotton shirts, cotton pants, leather boots, leather belts, a leather satchel, iron swords, a wooden magic staff, a mana cost reduction enchantment, empty potion vials, corks, a waterskin, and a few other miscellaneous repeats. It all ended up amounting to 101 DP, bringing Violet''s total dungeon points to 256.


    Looking over the items, she frowned. She had thought that something like necromancy might mean the user would have to have dead bodies to resurrect. There certainly weren''t any human remains in her dungeon that could have been revived. Yet the necromancer had been using a leather satchel rather than a magic bag. Well, perhaps it was possible that the skeletons and zombies could have been made from pure magic, there were certainly plenty of empty potion vials among the loot that had been absorbed by the dungeon.


    Of course, Violet didn''t exactly know how any of the classes of this world worked either. She had no way of knowing what types of classes were available, what variations within each class existed, or anything else for that matter. She could only base things on her experience playing games and based on her observations of the people of this world. Even then, the common sense of this world didn''t necessarily match up with the things she had experienced in the video games of her old life.


    Shaking her head, she decided to move on to other things. Unfortunately, some of the mana that was earned between the battle with the undead and Theodore''s visit had gone to waste. However, there was still 100 MP to play around with and an entire second floor to work with. First, she spent 10 MP on building two 5-Units straight hallways. One went to the left of the staircase room and one went to the right. Then 40 MP was spent on building two 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout hallways to go at the end of each of the 5-Units hallways. Then another 10 MP was spent on making another two 5-Units straight hallways that connected to each of the roundabout hallways. Finally, 32 MP was spent to create a new 16-Units by 16-Units room for one side while the other side was filled with the 16-Units by 16-Units square flower hunt room that was originally on the first floor.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Theodore''s advice about moving it from the first floor to the second floor had seemed like a good suggestion to Violet. There wasn''t really a good way to make the puzzle easier without completely changing what the concept was. However, since she had made the room in loving memory of her husband, she didn''t really want to change the basic premise behind the challenge. Still, there were a few tweaks that she wanted to make to the room.


    First, Violet walked to the room, curious as to what changes may have been present now that it had changed floors. The basic design for a new room on the first floor was a wildflower meadow which meant that there would be green grass, a sparse smattering of dandelions, and a bright blue sky overhead. Even rooms like the slime parkour room had green grass and dandelions on the edges of the room where water didn''t fill the space. However, the dandelions and bright sky were no longer present in the flower hunt room.


    There was now a forest of trees with dark wooden trunks and a mix of dark purple and magenta leaves. The grass was also a much darker green with areas where it became sparse and dark soil could be seen. As the day cycle had never been officially set, the bright blue sky had also been changed to a sunset level of light with pinks, blues, and purples covering the sky. The rest of the room remained the same with the plants she had added showing up throughout the room and the stone altars in each of the four corners of the room.


    Violet wasn''t entirely sure what she had been expecting from an enchanted forest theme, but she still, somehow, felt disappointed. The thought of magical glowing mushrooms growing at the base of the trees or glowing lights floating through the forest, like fireflies or will-o''-wisps might cause, were very much missing from this forest. It just felt... incomplete. Still, it wasn''t entirely that surprising considering how the wildflower meadow theme had really just been barely met by the dungeon''s basic design. Violet had to put in the work to make the meadows really stand out and it would seem that this floor would be the same.


    Shaking her head, she decided to finish up her second floor. She moved the hallway that led straight from the stairs room to the dungeon core room and connected the new empty forest room and the flower hunt room. The dungeon core room would now be accessible only after going through one of the other rooms on the floor, instead of being able to be gotten to by just walking straight forwards.


    The last 8 MP that Violet had was spent on four bread rolls that she promptly stuffed into her magic bag. She wouldn''t always have extra mana to spend on new merchandise, but it would certainly still be nice to get some extra dungeon points. There were bound to be plenty of things she needed to research for her new floor, after all.

 2.2 Short Guest List

    While Violet hadn''t exactly been expecting her dungeon to instantly become popular with the number of visitors increasing in a matter of hours, she hadn''t expected the first day to be so slow either. Whereas there would normally be a small handful of visitors every day, even with the recent winter weather, Violet spent all day waiting only for the dungeon to remain empty. While it was good not to have any [Monsters] to fight off, she was disappointed not to have any opportunities to interact with adventurers.


    The first person that ended up showing up for the day was David and Alice. Even then, Violet got the feeling that it was only because he was under contract and was required to show up every single day. The way he was constantly glancing around and kept telling Alice not to run around made it pretty obvious that he was more on edge than usual. It was honestly pretty disappointing for Violet, even despite her knowing that David was never quite going to trust her.


    It was like he expected her dungeon to have become a lethal killing machine over the course of a single day. As if her first floor was even capable of such a thing. She couldn''t put the new [Monsters] she had unlocked on the first floor. They were only available for the second floor or higher floors. Slimes would be the most dangerous thing that could be on the first floor for the rest of the time. Well, her pixies and myconid could go to the first floor and even leave it, but that was a different matter entirely.


    Besides all that, she couldn''t exactly add [Traps] to the first floor now any more than she could before. The deal was that she couldn''t build any [Traps] on the first floor, except for directly outside her dungeon core room. A room that wasn''t even on the first floor anymore, which really just said it was impossible to install any [Traps] now. Unless David planned to bring his daughter to the second floor, which wouldn''t be very smart on his part, there was no reason for him to worry.


    Sighing, Violet picked her sword back up off of the ground where it had fallen when David knocked her over during their sparring. Turning back around, she said


    "You should really relax. Also, I''d like to talk about the current deal we have. Now that I have a second floor, I don''t really have any need for you to leave the dungeon anymore. However, I also don''t really want to do swordsmanship practice with you more than once a day. I can''t change anything on the first floor while you are on it, so you don''t have to worry about that. I also can''t assign anything more dangerous than slimes to this floor and it''s impossible to put any [Traps] on this floor now. So, you can rest easy and do whatever gathering or challenges you want after I leave each night.


    I do have a contract with another group of adventurers for the winter, though. I''ll be telling them that they no longer have to wait for you to leave before they can come in for the night. So, you may have to deal with there being multiple groups in the dungeon from now on."


    David flinched at Violet''s obviously accusatory statement. However, he played it off as he replied


    "Alright, we can do that. It will make things easier for us, anyway. It isn''t good for Alice to stand outside in the dead of winter, she might get sick. Besides, it''s a decent walk between here and the nearby town, so it isn''t like we can go home and then come back that easily either."


    David didn''t really talk much more than that for the rest of their time together. After an hour, Violet went back upstairs. Her mana was already full and she was eager to get back to building her second floor. While she did feel more motivated to train harder after the recent intruders, it wasn''t like she needed David to supervise her as she did sword swings. She just found it helpful to spar with him each day since it helped in ways that practicing alone couldn''t.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    The first thing Violet did was to go to the flower hunt challenge room. She removed the late-stage dandelions, chicory, lavender, black-eyed susans, beebalm, and butterfly weed flowers. She also removed the windy weather effect. She hadn''t set a specific weather pattern, just the windy option, before because she wanted it to blow the seeds of the late-stage dandelions around. However, she wanted to get rid of the plants that didn''t fit the forest theme as well, so there was no point in the wind anymore. Perhaps she would find a new use for the combination of windy weather and late-stage dandelions for one of the first floor rooms later on.


    Next, Violet spent 20 MP applying Alaska violets, fairy slippers, baldhip, and blue-eyed mary flowers to the room. She had taken away more than she had added to the room, but the number of plants was still high enough to make the challenge difficult. The challenge''s answers still remained the same since the chamomile, white clover flowers, daisies, and wild violets still remained in the room. Even the lavender meringues were still set as the prize option.


    While Violet had originally wanted to have something non-food related on the second floor, she had felt Theodore was also right about the prizes. Making the first floor rewards more suitable for children and the everyday person''s palate was more suitable for her goals. She''d still have to change out some of the rewards on the first floor, but it wasn''t like they''d be going to waste since she could always assign them to second floor rooms. She''d just have to make sure to leave herself room for assigning other types of rewards to this floor as well.


    The next thing on the to-do list was working on the currently empty 16-Units by 16-Units room on the second floor. 50 MP was spent on a spawner. There wasn''t enough DP to research the next spawner upgrade just yet. It would take an entire 500 DP to research it, which was going to take a short while to save up. Considering unlocking the second floor cost 1,000 DP, it would seem the spawners were considered quite valuable by the dungeon system.


    As the mana was earned at a rate of 1 MP per person per minute, it took a while for the mana to trickle in and add up to enough to continue building. However, Violet was still much happier with the way things worked now compared to the past. Before she would have to wait until adventurers left the dungeon in order to spend it. So, several hours of having visitors would end up being the same amount as a single hour since the most she could get out of it was 50 MP. Waiting on a slow trickle of incoming mana was nothing in comparison.


    Since she was limited by the 50 MP spawner, Violet decided to spend 40 MP for two al-mi''raj and 9 MP for three giant checkered rabbits for the new room. Luckily, she had wanted to use a combination of the two to catch adventurers and invading [Monsters] off guard, anyway.


    The horned rabbits were actually a bit strange looking as their colors varied from a dark black with red eyes that gave off a sinister feeling to a more pristine white with dazzling blue eyes. Meanwhile, the checkered rabbits were a larger type of rabbit than her [Monster] rabbits and they had white fur with black spots and fully black ears. They were all the same colors, but their patterns did differ slightly. This did hurt Violet''s plan to confuse the intruders by a bit, but it wasn''t like an adventurer would be able to tell the difference until the rabbit was right in front of them, anyway. So, a rustling bush or the sound of hopping could still make them antsy as they prepared for an incoming attack.


    Since David didn''t remain in the dungeon for too much longer, Violet only ended up earning enough mana to spend an additional 120 MP on twelve blackberry bushes. She planned to use a combination of bushes and rabbit holes for the rabbits so that they''d have more places to hide and her strategy would be more effective than a more plain forest might result in.


    Reviewing the new tribute message from her system, it seemed that David had left her a wool dress today. As David didn''t wear dresses, as far as Violet knew, it was likely the dress was one of Alice''s old ones. The dungeon didn''t really differentiate between the two and would just size things based on who the recipient was, which is why Violet''s new leather boots and silk stockings fit perfectly. So it wasn''t exactly going to specify if it was a child''s dress or one meant for an adult.


    Still, Violet was quite satisfied as she noted she now had another 95 DP, raising her total to 351 dungeon points. As there would be no more mana until Camellia and Avorn came for the night, she headed to the dungeon core room to relax.

 2.3 Trapped Butterflies

    Shortly after Avorn and Camellia stepped into the dungeon, Violet was met with a notification. Apparently, they had submitted Sixty five rosehips as their tribute today, which amounted to 100 DP, bringing the total up to 451 dungeon points. It would seem they had caught onto how things worked and had only collected as much as they needed to pay for their time in the dungeon.


    Violet headed down and informed them that they would no longer have to wait for David to leave to come over for the night. They would still have to pay rent, but that was a separate matter. Since she still couldn''t build on her first floor with people there and they were still enjoying having a safe space to sleep for the night, the contract was still very much so valid. Of course, Violet was getting a lot more out of it now that she could use all of the mana that she earned from their visit.


    As Violet wanted to have a total of sixteen bushes in the blackberry forest room, she spent another 40 MP for the last four bushes she needed. The room felt massive, even despite the multitude of trees. The bushes helped to make the area feel less empty and like more of a pain to navigate.


    Next, 20 MP was spent to make rabbit holes and a tunnel network for her rabbits. The holes had to be much larger than the ones she had made for her slimes in the floodplains meadow due to the rabbits being made from more solid substances as well as the giant checkered rabbits being quite large. Luckily, the rabbits hiding and popping up in a random new location in the room would be a good thing for a dungeon and wouldn''t be making any challenges more difficult since this would be a [Monster] field, not a challenge room.


    It took a while to get the tunnels just right and yet the mana still kept trickling in. Violet couldn''t help but think that it was unfortunate to have so much mana yet only be able to use it on the second floor. While her second floor certainly needed to be sorted out sooner rather than later, the first floor would also need to be renovated before adding some new rooms to it. That meant that Violet would have to more carefully plan out what she wanted to do with the first floor and conserve some mana so that she could carry out said plans. Meanwhile, the second floor would likely be empty, for the time being, and could be freely experimented with. Even if she decided she didn''t like something and ended up wasting mana as she redid things again and again, it wouldn''t be an issue at all.


    After a short break, Violet spent 10 MP on two new 5-Units hallways that led to the left and right of the two roundabout hallways on the floor. Then 64 MP was spent on two new 16-Units by 16-Units square rooms. This brought the second floor''s total rooms up to four, excluding the dungeon core room and stairs room. This rate of building seemed almost insane compared to how things had gone with the first floor. Violet wasn''t even sure she could come up with ideas for what to put in all of the rooms fast enough to keep up with the amount of mana she now had access to.


    Perhaps this was what Theodore meant about not being afraid to let mana go to waste. Even if she could change the location of rooms and what was in the rooms, short of changing the theme of a room after setting the room''s theme via the system, it still seemed like too much to be rushing things when she had all the time in the world to take her time and build her dungeon how she wanted. Well, maybe it would be a good idea to slow things down some, later on, but right now she did need to increase the defense of the dungeon. That required her to build more [Monster] field rooms and [Traps], lots of [Traps].


    To start with, Violet decided to turn the left-most room into another [Monster] field room. It would, mostly, be the same as the blackberry forest room, but this time it would be a raspberry forest. First, she installed a 50 MP spawner in the room. Then she spent 40 MP on two al-mi''raj and 9 MP on three giant checkered rabbits. Then, over time, she slowly added sixteen raspberry bushes for 160 MP. Finally, another 20 MP was spent on another network of rabbit holes. The two rooms were then, nearly, identical, save for the types of fruit bushes used in the room.


    Starting to worry she''d run out of mana, Violet decided it was finally time to start working on [Traps]. She pulled up her [Traps] menu to start with, taking note of what new [Traps] were available.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Available Traps:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Tripwire


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Can be used with other [Trap] types. Trips enemies.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Butterfly Wall Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    10 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Releases a horde of butterflies when enemies walk past it causing confusion and disorientation.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Rolling Boulder


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    A small boulder that is launched in a straight path from a wall when triggered. Easily crumbles and can be easily dodged due to slow momentum.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Briar Patch


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MPEnjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    </td>


    <td>


    A bush with thorns that is itchy and painful, but does minimal damage.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unlockable Traps


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was happy she had two new [Traps] that were automatically unlocked. The briar patches were likely to work well in her forests, especially when placed near the bushes she already had. The rolling boulder, on the other hand, she wasn''t quite sure how to use just yet. They didn''t really fit the forest theme and would likely stick out like a sore thumb if they were placed into a wall that was otherwise meant to look like a sky. Next, she decided to pull up the [Unlockable Traps] option.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Unlockable Trap Options:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock Cost:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Tar Floor Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Flip Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Push Wall Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Pitfall (1-Unit Drop)


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Small Wooden Barricade


    </td>


    <td>


    25 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    50 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Large Wooden Barricade


    </td>


    <td>


    50 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Deep Pitfall (3-Units Drop)


    </td>


    <td>


    50 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    100 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Slide Floor Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    75 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    150 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Giant Flip Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    125 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    250 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Weak) Giant Push Wall Trap


    </td>


    <td>


    125 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    250 DP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The only new [Trap] under this list was the deep pitfall option. Without something like stakes at the bottom of it, there was still only so much damage that a pitfall could do, even if it was a 3-Units drop. It was certainly enough to break your spine or the bones in a few limbs, but it wasn¡¯t guaranteed to kill someone. It was still possible that a few healing potions or a healer could get someone back into decent shape, allowing them to escape the dungeon and get more significant treatment.


    Violet wasn''t exactly eager to have people dying in her dungeon, but many [Monsters] could be just as intelligent or even stronger than an adventurer might be. So, it was necessary to have the [Traps] be capable of taking care of any threats that might come into the dungeon, even if that meant it became dangerous to both [Monsters] and people alike. It just wasn''t worth risking her own safety to protect others entirely from danger, especially when adventurers knew that dungeons were dangerous and still chose to enter them.


    The first [Traps] she decided to put in were briar bushes, which she spent nearly 400 MP on to purchase sixteen of them. These were split between the blackberry and raspberry forests and spread out to make traversing the room more difficult. The worst the briar bushes could really do is result in someone bleeding a bit and then feeling a bit of pain and a lot of itchiness if they were to fall into them or something along those lines. They were still rather ineffective [Traps], but dungeons were supposed to get progressively more difficult and dangerous, so it wasn''t exactly a big deal.


    Violet was surprised that she still had mana pouring in. She didn''t exactly have a way to tell time, normally, and the dungeon core tended to cause the passage of time to blur even more than normal. So, she was delighted as she watched her mana continue to amass, she had never expected an overnight stay to give her so much mana!


    Deciding it would be good to have some sort of warning for the adventurers entering her dungeon, she decided to spend 40 MP on four butterfly wall [Traps]. These were placed in pairs along the two hallways that branched off from the staircase room. They weren''t very big [Traps] as they were barely bigger than a computer monitor might be. They had a small door that could be raised and would release a horde of butterflies that would then spread out in the space directly in front of them, blinding anyone who passed by. It was almost entirely harmless by itself, but it would work great as a warning system. She didn''t exactly want any children or locals to wander up to her second floor expecting things to be just as safe as the first floor was.


    Next, 64 MP was spent on four wooden signs that were placed after the butterfly [Traps] with a warning on them. They read


    "Warning! Starting on this floor, the dungeon is no longer safe for non-adventurers and the unprepared!"


    Now, no one could blame her if they lost their lives in her dungeon. She had done what she could to warn them and they may as well have been consenting by choosing to continue onwards, ignoring her warnings. Of course, Violet didn''t really think much about the lack of light in the hallway, which would make reading such a sign difficult, but, at least, an attempt had been made.


    While she would have preferred to save her dungeon points up for a new spawner, she decided it was necessary to invest in some better [Traps] as well. 100 DP was spent on unlocking the deep pitfall [Trap], leaving her with only 351 remaining dungeon points. Then another 60 MP was spent on six more butterfly [Traps] and 100 MP was spent on two deep pitfalls [Traps]. These were placed in the hallway directly leading up to the dungeon core room.


    Violet figured it would be a good combination for catching intruders off guard, making it more likely they would end up falling into the pitfall [Trap]. While she was fine with the other rooms having less dangerous [Traps], all bets were off if people were going to insist on trying to go into the dungeon core room. That was a space for her and only her.


    Feeling quite satisfied, she decided to go take a nap. Any other mana she earned that night could go towards renovating the first floor in the morning.

 2.4 Major Renovations

    When Violet awoke, she was surprised to see she had a full 100 points of mana. While part of it had been from her daily regen of 25 MP, the rest had been from Camellia and Avorn''s stay the previous night. It really did feel like she had lucked out by getting them to agree to stay in her dungeon for the cold season. Even if it was a mutually beneficial agreement, Violet was still starting to feel guilty. Maybe she could see about arranging some sort of gift for them?


    Regardless, there was no time to waste! While the dungeon was still empty, Violet wanted to get started on renovating the first floor. While she often liked to see the changes in person, the amount of moving rooms around that she was about to do was going to be too much to be standing around on the first floor, so she chose to remain comfortably in the dungeon core room. Well, the stone floor wasn''t exactly comfortable, but it was empty of [Monsters] and [Critters] that might otherwise startle her while she was in the construction view.


    To start with, Violet had to move as many rooms and hallways as she could to the back side of the dungeon to make more space to move rooms into place near the entrance. She had to be careful to ensure there was still a path from the entrance to the stairs up to the second floor, but the rest of the rooms had no issues at all with being disconnected. Once she was done with that, she finally got started with arranging things the way she wanted them.


    To start with, she moved the azalea hedge maze boss room to the front left corner of the dungeon. Setting that aside, she moved 10-Units of hallway to make an L-turn hallway off of the safety zone in front of the entrance of the dungeon. This was made to face the direction of the boss room. Next, she spent 32 MP to create a brand new 16-Units by 16-Units square room that she planned to, eventually, turn into a tribute room. She still wasn''t sure what she wanted to do for the design of the room, but she knew that having the room right off of the entrance was ideal if she wanted adventurers to actually leave their tributes there.


    Next, she moved 5-Units of hallway into place behind the new tribute room before spending another 32 MP to create another new 16-Units by 16-Units square room. This one would be for the altar room she needed to build for the goddess of love and beauty. She definitely wanted to complete the [Mission] related to it so that she could reduce the cost of evolving cute [Monsters]. Since she was hard-locked into that theme anyway, she may as well get some benefits from it.


    Another 5-Units of hallway went behind the new altar room and then the garden meadow room was moved into place after that. The room wasn''t really needed for rest so close to the entrance, necessarily, but it would work as a great hub for the first floor. Since it already had a four-way path inside the room, it only made sense to have four different entrances connected to it. Besides that, the plan was to have it connect to the boss room on the left side, so it would work as a great sign for the adventurers that they were coming up on the boss room so that they might be more cautious about continuing forward. At least, that was how Violet saw things, but the reality was likely to be different, especially considering the rather common discrepancies between Violet''s view of the dungeon and how much the adventurers often struggled with things.


    15-Units of straight hallway was added behind the boss room before adding a 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout. A 25-Units straight hallway was then placed to the left of the garden meadow room. However, Violet found herself in a pickle. She needed 3-Units of straight hallway to finish connecting the roundabout to the garden meadow, but she only had sections of hallway in multiples of 5. As it turned out, even if she already had the hallways, she couldn''t move them in smaller increments without having that size of hallway researched first. Violet sighed as she spent 6 DP to research a 3-Units long hallway and finished the connection.


    While Violet wanted to move the staircase room next to the boss room, she decided to leave it for last so that she wouldn''t have to deal with the annoying sound of the dungeon system screaming at her that things would no longer be following the rules. Still, she rearranged the dungeon maze so that it would be able to lead people out to the right where the stairs to the second floor would later be.


    The reason Violet wanted to move the boss room so close to the entrance was because she got the feeling that it would become annoying both for herself and adventurers to have to traverse an entire floor''s worth of rooms just to move on to the next floor. Besides, the basic slimes weren''t really a match for anyone who wanted to harm the dungeon. It was better to just skip straight to the boss room and see whether they could be defeated on the first floor right away. That would save Violet a good bit of anxiety in the long run while also making traversing the dungeon easier.


    Moving on, 5-Units of straight hallway were placed to the right of the entrance hallway. Then the koi pond was put in followed by another 5-Units of hallway to the right. Next was the wildflower meadow room, 10-Units of straight hallway, and then the rainbow ball maze room. The next 5-Units hallway was placed leading behind that room and led to the slime jigsaw puzzle room. Then, another 10-Units leading to the left was followed by the hay meadow room.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    This created a pattern of sorts. The right-most rooms were all puzzles and they had [Monster] fields to the left of them. Meanwhile, the koi pond was safe for even locals to relax in and so was placed closest to the entrance. Violet hoped this would encourage people to come to the dungeon to fish, whereas they might otherwise avoid it due to it being too dangerous. Meanwhile, the rest of the right side would be filled with challenge rooms and [Monster] fields that were appropriate for both children and beginner adventurers alike.


    Now that the first floor could be purely dedicated to Violet''s goals without having to compromise for safety''s sake, she planned to make the most of it. She''d have to wait a while to have enough mana and the opportunity to build new rooms for everyone to enjoy, but she was still excited about all of the possibilities. Rearranging the dungeon to prioritize the needs of those she wanted to draw to her dungeon was only one part of that, but she still took pride in her efforts.


    However, that could only be one part of it. She still needed to sort out what to do about the slime parkour and floodplains meadow rooms. Since the slime parkour room needed to have an entrance on each side of it, due to the way the room was laid out, she decided to remove a section of hallway to the left of the garden meadow. Placing it in the middle between the roundabout hallway and the garden meadow, it left 5-Units of straight hallway on either side. This arrangement didn''t seem too bad to Violet since it was likely that it would discourage those who were unprepared to continue forward, decreasing the odds they''d end up dying in the boss room or on the second floor.


    As for the floodplains meadow, Violet decided to put in a 9-Units L-turn hallway to the left of the roundabout before placing the room behind the boss room. It might be inconvenient for the adventurers to have to repeatedly cross the river, but it wasn''t like it was necessary to have a second entrance to the room. However, to make things easier for the adventurers, Violet did make sure to put the side with the pen for the slimes on the side with the entrance.


    The slime parkour room and floodplains meadow were also a bit too difficult for the first floor. Too many people struggled for too long with the capture-the-slime challenge and the rainy weather in the slime parkour room made the platforms slippery while the midnight time of day made it difficult to see anything. Changing the floodplains meadow room was easy enough as all Violet had to do was remove the rabbit holes and network of tunnels. However, the slime parkour room would have to wait until she had enough free DP to spare.


    That took care of most of the changes on the first floor. Violet couldn''t help but note that without all the excess hallways and everything being spread out, it felt like there was a lot more free space on the first floor. It was even hard to say if it would still count as being half completed anymore, but, thankfully, it wasn''t like the [Mission] rewards would be taken away once they were granted. That did suggest that she could just spam rooms on a floor to more quickly unlock the next floor, but she didn''t really want to do that. The goal was to build a proper dungeon, not to just unlock floors in the fastest time possible.


    Violet''s next goal for that morning was to redo the second floor and rearrange the location of the stairs. The only problem was that changing it on one floor would cause the room to be moved on the other floor as well, which could cause issues with the system, so it would have to be done carefully.


    First, she would have to move the rooms and hallways around. Taking inspiration from the first floor, Violet moved the flower hunt room to the front right corner, placing a 5-Units straight hallway to the left and behind the room. Then the blackberry forest was placed to the left of the flower hunt room while the raspberry forest was placed behind it. Next, another 5-Units hallway was placed to the left of the raspberry forest followed by the empty forest room. She planned to, eventually, put a challenge in the empty forest room, so that would create a checkered sort of pattern with [Monster] field and challenge rooms.


    Even with moving most of the excess straight hallways from the first floor up to the second floor, though, Violet didn''t have enough hallways to connect everything the way she wanted. She ended up having to use a 96-Units L-turn hallway to connect the staircase room and the dungeon core room. Even then, she had to spend 25 MP of the 36 MP she had remaining. It was a shame to cut out the rooms she had built, but it would cost significantly more mana to create enough hallways to connect everything properly and she had to abide by the rules of keeping the dungeon core room connected to the entrance.


    5-Units of hallway had been saved for the first floor so that the staircase room down there could be connected to the boss room. While it had, temporarily, created an awkward situation on the second floor, Violet still felt like the long-term advantages made it worthwhile. Besides, it was likely that the second floor wouldn''t look so awkward by tomorrow morning since she''d have plenty of mana to build with once Avorn and Camellia came back for another night of camping in the dungeon.


    As she didn''t have anything better to use it for, the last 11 MP she had was put toward one 5-Units and two 3-Units hallways for a total of 11-Units of straight hallway that she put to the left of the blackberry forest room. At least, that would make it easier to connect the staircase room to the blackberry forest before cutting off the connection to the dungeon core room in favor of connecting it to the empty forest room instead. If intruders had to go through the challenge and [Monster] field rooms before they could get to the dungeon core room, that would be far more ideal. Even with the butterfly [Traps] and deep pitfalls in the dungeon core room hallway, Violet just couldn''t feel at ease with such a weakness in her dungeon.

 2.5 Dream Sequence: Sweet Memories

    Violet lay peacefully in the empty forest room of the second floor. She had decided to take a break and get some sleep. It was hard work to build a dungeon, always having to take so many different factors into account. Sinking into a blissful dream where she could relive the memories she had with her beloved husband, Lee, was the best reward after working so hard.


    "Come on, love, we have to get in line."


    Violet laughed as she replied


    "Sorry, you know how much I love the arcade! I just can''t help but get excited every time we come here."


    Lee rolled his eyes playfully at her, but said nothing. This particular arcade had a regular promotional deal where you could get 120 game tokens for $20, but you had to go through the prize counter employee rather than the token machines. Normally, you would only get 4 tokens for every $1 you spent, but they both preferred to have a good couple of hours of fun, so the more tokens the better.


    Violet smiled happily as she watched Lee give the employee a $20 bill, excited to watch as the tokens poured out of the special token machine they had behind them. This one must have been set up specifically to dispense the amount for the promotion, unlike the other ones. Once they received their tokens, Lee grabbed a separate cup and Violet helped to count out exactly 60 tokens for each of them.


    "So, what game do you want to play first?"


    Violet grinned mischievously, her eyes crinkling at the edges as she pointed to the back of the arcades. Lee raised his eyebrows in mock surprise as he asked


    "You want to play the new hunting game?"


    Violet shook her head, pouting as she said


    "No! I want to play breeze puck!"


    Lee chuckled, enjoying his wife''s cute reaction as he replied


    "Of course! How could I possibly forget, your favorite has always been breeze puck."


    Lee poked her nose playfully for emphasis as he said the last half of his sentence. Violet scrunched her nose up in discomfort. However, her expression smoothed out once more as she begged


    "Come on, please? Pretty please!"


    Lee chuckled as he replied


    "Alright, I''ll play a few games of it with you, but then you have to play some of my favorites with me in return."


    Violet nodded, easily agreeing. She happily trotted over to the breeze puck table, holding Lee''s hand as she did so. When they got past the other machines that had been in the way, they could better see their target. As it would turn out, one of the machines was out of order while the other two were already occupied. Lee frowned, looking around before pointing to the right as he said


    "Why don''t we go play some roll-score together for a bit? We can come back when the breeze puck is less busy."


    Roll-score was Violet''s other favorite arcade game, so she happily agreed. It wasn''t like either of them could change the fact that the breeze puck tables were busy. Besides, even if Violet felt comfortable acting like herself around her husband, even if she was a bit childish at times, she was still mature enough to not throw a fit about not getting what she wanted right away.


    Neither of them were really overly competitive, but it was still fun to compete at roll-score to see who could get a higher score. So, they each put in two game tokens and took turns rolling their balls up the slope and into the scoring area. They continued their playful banter as they watched the other play. Sometimes they''d ''boo!'' a good score on the other person''s end or cheer when they made a good score of their own. Other times, they''d console the other whenever they lost a game, saying words of encouragement that they''d do better with the next game.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    It took three games of roll-score before the breeze puck tables were clear. A group of four teenage boys was hogging the other table, so it was still busy, but the other was free. So, Lee pointed it out to Violet as he asked


    "Do you still want to play breeze puck? If so, we should get a move on before someone else takes the table."


    Violet nodded, grabbing his hand before they quickly marched over to the table. The breeze puck required four tokens per game, which could quickly add up. However, Lee always covered the cost for the games he liked in exchange for her covering the cost of the breeze puck she wanted to play. This way, it was less likely that either one of them would end up having to wait for a long time while the other finished spending their tokens.


    Violet practically bounced on her feet as the game came to life and the paddles started to float across the board. Lee grabbed his right away, but she had to quickly snatch hers before it could finish getting away. The disc ended up on his side, so Violet prepared herself as he went to serve. She always played with a vigorous spirit, so the disc went flying as she smacked it away, defending her side of the table.


    Lee was a lot more calm about the game, happy whether he won or lost. That tended to mean that Violet would either end up getting the best of him due to her quick reflexes or she''d end up hitting the disc too hard and it would end up zooming back towards her side of the table without Lee having to do anything and he''d end up scoring a point. Occasionally, though, Lee would even manage to score a point due to his own efforts.


    After four games, they decided to call it on the breeze puck. Someone else was waiting on the sidelines for their turn and they simply felt too guilty keeping the game all to themselves. Besides, they had easily spent 22 game tokens between roll-score and breeze puck as it was. If Violet kept spending her tokens, she''d soon have nothing left.


    Lee tended to like playing the arcade games that involved shooting, racing, or two characters fighting against one another. These came in a variety of different themes from police or CIA-type officers gunning down aliens or mobsters to cars on a racetrack or water vehicles racing over open water. Luckily, Lee tended to skip the racing games until after they split up to have some solo game time. Violet hated racing games the most and he didn''t want to torture her with boredom when they could have a fun bonding moment playing the other games.


    As Violet actually tended to enjoy the two-player shooting games, Lee first led them over to one with a red and blue pistol holstered to the machine. He put in some tokens for them and they each took their own pistol in hand. Lee was better with accuracy as he shot the various enemies on screen, but Violet made up for her lack of skill with enthusiasm. She made sure to reload frequently and then repeatedly pulled the trigger as she attempted to take down any enemies that appeared on the screen.


    Lee continued the game twice before he ended up calling it and they moved on to something else. Violet was happy to spend time with her husband and he was glad that his wife was willing to set aside some time to do the things he enjoyed together. The next game they played was one with superheroes fighting against one another. Violet always preferred to choose a female superhero as she found them more relatable while Lee tried to change it up each time they played. While she rarely ever won at these types of games, it was still fun to experiment and find out more about the various powers the character had and it was worth it to play a game she mostly lost if it made her husband happy.


    They played that game for three rounds as well, Lee winning all of them, before they decided to part ways. Her husband was likely going to play some of the single-player games while Violet planned to try some other game types. While she didn''t like to gamble all of her tokens away, some of the ticket-dispensing games could be pretty fun. The timed light one where you had to hit the light at the right time was actually one she was pretty good at. She tried to limit gambling-type games to less than 10 tokens per visit with most of them going to this game, but she still tended to get a jackpot on several of the visits and several decent ticket payouts on every visit they made.


    The prizes at the prize counter were mostly kiddie toys and cheap candies at the lower ticket tiers. Things like sticker earrings made from plastic and meant to imitate gems, ''Chinese'' finger [Traps], and half-sphere bits of plastic that you turned inside out and then set on the ground before waiting for it to randomly pop up as it righted itself were staples of the arcade ticket counter. There were some better prizes if you could save up hundreds or even thousands of tickets. Things like BRICKO sets and even a console at several hundred thousand tickets. However, that would require saving up a significant amount of tickets before bringing them in to exchange them.


    Violet and Lee tended to come in once every month or so to play arcade games, but it wasn''t like they were spending crazy money on playing arcade games and they were hardly going to amass enough tickets to earn any top-tier items. Instead, Violet was saving up her tickets for some of the more middle-tier items. Right now, she was saving up tickets to exchange for a BRICKO set for Lee. It was based on one of his favorite science fiction series and had BRICKO people meant to look like the characters as well as a set of BRICKOs for building one of the notable spaceships from the series. Violet was hoping to surprise him with it for Christmas later that year, but that was still a ways off.

 2.6 Simmering Tension

    Alice looked warily at her father as they entered the dungeon. She was old enough to pick up on the stress of others and knew food had to be reserved as much as possible in the cold season. Yet, she still felt like it was wrong to offer Violet the remains of a moldy loaf of bread. Her father had tried to play it off as doing Gregory''s family a favor and that Violet wouldn''t care whether the bread was still good or not.


    Her father had even suggested that Gregory himself might try to eat the bread just to ensure it didn''t go to waste. While his family was certainly poorer than theirs and had to make do, that still sounded like nonsense to her. Why would anyone risk getting sick by eating food that had gone bad?


    Of course, Alice had grown up fairly privileged. Back when her mother was alive, both of her parents had made sure that they wanted for nothing. They had a decent-sized cellar in their old house that was slowly but surely filled up with pickled veggies and canned fruit soaked in sugar syrup. They even had barrels with flour and potatoes surrounded by hay. There was never any reason to worry about running out of food when winter came and her parents always seemed content and happy with their lives.


    Things had changed a bit after her mother had died and their food stores had begun to dwindle little by little, but her father had still always done his best to ensure they never had to go without. If she complained about being hungry, he would sometimes check the cellar, coming back out frowning, before disappearing for most of a day. Then he would always come home with a deer, boar, or even a couple of rabbits. Then he would spend the night salting and smoking the meat. Some of it would be traded to their neighbors for more veggies, but they would no longer have to worry about being hungry.


    This time was a bit different as Gregory''s family often only had one meal a day and it was almost always a pot of soup that they would all share for dinner. The young children would, occasionally, be allowed to have some extra bread midday to tide them over, including Alice herself, but that was all. Whenever Alice went to tell her father that she was hungry, he would frown, but he no longer tried to do anything about it. He would just tell her "Just hang in there for now. I''ll figure something out soon." However, Alice had yet to see anything happen and she was starting to wonder when "soon" was.


    Her father and the Dungeon Master were now sparring together in the wildflower meadow room. Alice had been a bit curious after seeing the dungeon had changed since the last time they had visited. However, her father had refused to let her go exploring, telling her "It isn¡¯t safe." and his stress and bad mood had seemed to intensify after they entered the dungeon.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Alice had already grown bored of watching her father sparring with Violet. Since they came here every night and did the same thing again and again, it was no longer interesting. However, she could still tell that her father was being much rougher than he normally was with the sparring. Considering how gentle he was with Henry and how he always told her that these things took time, she felt like that was wrong. She wasn''t going to say anything, though, because she knew her father didn''t like it whenever she interacted with the nice dungeon lady.


    Instead, Alice focused on picking plantain leaves, dandelion greens, and oyster mushrooms that were scattered throughout the room. While she knew her dad preferred more valuable plants that he could sell, she figured that everyone else would appreciate some fresh, edible plants much more. The plantain leaves and dandelion greens were both good sauteed, in soup, or even in a salad. The latter was less likely since they didn''t have any other ingredients to put in the salad, but Edith was good at cooking, so Alice was sure she would still enjoy the dishes that could be made.


    Meanwhile, the oyster mushrooms could be quite versatile since they could go in just about anything. They could be breaded and fried, sauteed with garlic and onions, added to stir frys or soups, etc. Considering how sparing they always had to be with meat in their soups, it seemed like the mushrooms might even be a nice way to help make up for that. Edith had told her, the first time they brought some oyster mushrooms back, that they could easily be used as a meat substitute as they had a nice chewy texture similar to meat. Alice didn''t really know much about all of that, but she was still happy to help.


    What Alice didn''t realize was that her father didn''t actually care that much about what she chose to gather. He was too focused on dealing with the Dungeon Master and he preferred not to mistreat his only daughter. If she gathered edible plants, they would be brought back to Gregory''s family to cook with. If she gathered medicinal plants, they would be sold to the local alchemist. Flowers would be sold to any merchant willing to buy them. It really made no difference to him, so she was free to do as she pleased.


    Violet grumbled as she left for the second floor. David seemed to be in an even worse mood today than he had been the previous day. She could only assume he was upset about the dungeon layout changing, even despite all of her reassurances that everything was just as safe as it had always been, if not more so. He had even dismissed her suggestion to come back during the daytime without his daughter to check out the dungeon for himself. Well, she couldn''t force the issues, but she also couldn''t shake her feelings of frustration.


    David had also asked about buying things again, but she had to tell him no again. She didn''t plan on focusing on such things until the next day. In fact, she now had so much mana to build with that she was starting to think it would be ideal to spend the mana earned in the daytime on new merchandise. Maybe she would even take up a hobby of enjoying tea and sweets like she had once had suggested to her. While she didn''t need to eat, that certainly wouldn''t stop her from enjoying the act of eating.

 2.7 Overlapping Visits

    Despite his reservations, Violet could very easily tell that David was still remaining in the dungeon to complete the challenges. He was moving much slower than he usually did, forcing Alice to remain a short distance behind him as he tentatively explored things before declaring them safe enough for his daughter to continue. Violet just rolled her eyes, deciding to concentrate on building instead of monitoring his ridiculous behavior.


    First, she erased 1-Unit of hallway from the 11-Units long straight hallway to the left of the blackberry forest. Then she moved 5-Units of hallway to the left of the empty room just behind it, effectively cutting the remaining hallway in half. Next, she spent 64 MP on two 16-Units by 16-Units square rooms. She then placed these to the left of each of the 5-Units hallways she now had.


    While it was important to also fix the issue with the hallway that led from the stairs to the first floor directly to the dungeon core room, this was actually part of that. There was no point in having only long hallways spanning across the second floor. It was much better to cover 16-Units of distance with actual rooms than with hallways, even if they were a bit more expensive. Still, she definitely did need to finish fixing the initial problem.


    To do that, Violet first removed the middle section of the hallways that connected the staircase room and dungeon core room. She split them into two 10-Units long hallways and moved them to connect to the new empty square rooms. This made it so that the staircase room''s hallway connected to the front-most empty room while the hallway leading to the dungeon core room''s hallway now connected to the back-most empty room. Another 1-Unit of hallway did have to be erased in the process, but Violet felt much better about things now.


    While there were now three empty square rooms that she would definitely need to turn into something useful, the layout was much better now. Adventurers would have to venture through six rooms, one after another, before they could reach the dungeon core room. It was doubtful that the two [Monster] field rooms and the flower hunt room, which still had slimes in it, would be very effective at deterring anyone from continuing forward. However, that would be fixed with enough time. After all, now she could take things much slower and focus on customizing the rooms one at a time instead of rushing to build everything all at once.


    Violet suddenly noticed two new energy signatures appear in the dungeon, so she pulled up the [Guest List]. As it turned out, it was just Avorn and Camellia who had easily accepted her words that they no longer had to wait for David and Alice to leave for the night before they could enter the dungeon. It was a little bit ironic that those two were willing to trust her at her word, even with how terrified Avorn seemed to be of her.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    This was actually the first time she had had two different parties in the dungeon at the same time. Well, that was if you didn''t count that one time with the leftover skeleton that David walked in on. Violet certainly didn''t count that as it just felt different having two adventuring parties in the dungeon at the same time. If things went well, this would hardly be a rare occurrence in the future, but, today, this was something worth celebrating.


    It wasn''t long after they entered that Violet got the notification in regards to their nightly tribute. This time, there were 105 dungeon points, which had come from pine, fir, and spruce needles. The three had apparently been added to both the [Base Resources] and [Items] menus, resulting in them being worth 35 DP each. It was interesting to see the two of them slowly learning the ins and outs of their agreement, even if it was a bit disappointing not to receive extra DP like she had last time.


    Avorn and Camellia were absolutely fascinated by the changes to the dungeon''s first floor. They hadn''t been expecting it to change so drastically and overnight at that! As they explored the dungeon, they noticed that there were now two new empty rooms to one side of the entrance. However, they quickly stopped exploring that side after they ran into the slime parkour room. Neither really wanted to get their clothes wet tonight and they were worried that this was a sign that more difficult challenges were likely on the other side of this one.


    This idea was only reaffirmed as they explored the other side of the dungeon. The koi pond room they loved so much was the first thing they saw on that side and then they saw the rest of the rooms they were so familiar with one after another. They did end up running into another party and ended up having to politely apologize before giving them some space. Well, it wasn''t quite as simple as that.


    While Avorn tended to be a bit cowardly in front of Violet, he was hardly that way all of the time. So, when he was met with a bristly adventurer with a bad attitude who seemed to be protecting a young girl, he couldn''t help but want to act in defense of his wife. It was only because Camellia dragged him away, apologizing profusely, that they even left it at that. While he could have argued that he could protect them, Avorn was smart enough to know that wouldn''t actually help anything, so he dropped it.


    They''d, unfortunately, have to see the two again when they went to exit the dungeon as there seemed to be only one path forward on this side. It was also rather doubtful that they''d go around to a path they didn''t know about, if there even was one. Surely that would mean crossing the slime parkour room, which didn''t seem ideal for such a young child, especially when they would then be going outside into the harsh winter weather before making the trek back to the nearby town.

 2.8 Pixie Puzzles

    The first room Violet decided to work on was the back left-most room on the second floor. Since she planned to make every other room a [Monster] field, this one was going to follow the same pattern as the blackberry forest and raspberry forest room. The only difference was that this room would have blueberry bushes instead, making it a blueberry forest room.


    First, she spent 50 MP on a spawner for the room. She still didn''t have enough to unlock a new spawner, so this was the best she could do, for now. She could only comfort herself that mana was easier to come by now, so it wouldn''t be a big deal to replace them later on. 40 MP was used to summon two al-mi''raj and 9 MP was used on another three checkered rabbits. As she actually liked the mix of different types of rabbits in these rooms, Violet figured it would be nice to just double the population of both types of rabbits once she got better spawners. That would mean four al-mi''raj and six checkered rabbits for each of the rooms.


    As this was the last of the fruit bushes she had available, Violet wasn''t really sure what sort of [Monster] fields she would make next. She figured it could be fun to try some fruit trees, mixing them in with the enchanted forest trees, but that was only if she could replace the trees that were already in the forest. It would be far too crowded in the rooms otherwise.


    The next step in the plan required 160 MP for sixteen blueberry bushes, 20 MP for a network of rabbit holes, and 200 MP for eight briar patches. This took quite a while, even with there temporarily being four adventurers in the dungeon. Eventually, David and Alice left for the night, which, of course, slowed down the process even more. While Violet didn''t mind waiting on mana to accumulate, most of the time, she still tended to prefer her rest.


    It was very satisfying to watch her ideas come to life and it was fun to imagine how adventurers might interact with her dungeon. However, it was still a bit boring to wait around, only creating the occasional bush or [Trap]. Violet wished she had some pixies to talk with while she waited. It would be so nice to make friends with them and she was sure the time would pass by even faster with them around. Of course, the dungeon tended to skew her sense of time as it was, but it was different to be sitting around doing nothing versus actively watching the mana increase so she could build the next part of her plan.


    Tomorrow, Violet definitely wanted to sell some [Items] so she could make some quick dungeon points. The current rate of accumulation was too slow and she was growing tired of waiting. However, it would be a waste to leave the last two rooms on the floor empty in the meantime. Those were meant for puzzles and would likely require quite a bit of DP to complete, but it wasn''t like she couldn''t get started on them now. She would just have to sparingly research new [Items] so that she didn''t make things harder on herself.


    The first room she worked on was the front left-most room, which was the one just in front of the new blueberry forest room. As the plan was to make most of the puzzles themed around pixies on this floor with suitable rewards for the challenges, it took her a bit to think about what she wanted to do.


    Fairies were considered the group that faeries, elves, goblins, and pixies fell into. Kind of like how there were phyla, families, etc. for animals. A lot of the lore and stories told in her old world were also contradicting or confusing. Fairies could be called by any number of variations including fae, fay, fair folk, faerie, etc. They also were often depicted as large beings, the size of a human, and may not even have wings. There could be multiple factions such as the Seelie court and the Unseelie court with the Unseelie court being composed of mischievous and cruel fae with darker natures.


    Pixies were largely considered innocent, but mischievous beings. Their description on her [Monsters] menu seemed to confirm this was true even in this world. Since they were described as small in stature as well, it was likely they were also the flying type that was barely as big as a human''s hand. However, much of the rest of the information was unclear. Did they sleep in flowers? Did they enjoy living in small fairy houses made from wood and other materials? Were they at home in a swamp, desert, forest, or a flower meadow? It was hard to know just off of what little information she had at the moment.


    Still, it wasn''t like Violet had to match the puzzles entirely to the version of pixies that existed in this world. She could just as easily draw her own conclusions and fill in the rest with her own imaginative ideas. That was certainly what she would be doing today, at least.


    The rainbow ball maze, among other things, had seen a number of different dyes being researched and added to the [Base Resource] list. There were also quite a number of domestic flower types thanks to Tobias''s group leaving her bouquets of flowers. So, Violet decided to use this to her advantage. She spent 50 DP on researching orange roses, yellow roses, green roses, blue roses, and purple roses. This brought her total down to 410 DP, which was still pretty close to the 500 she needed for the next spawner upgrade.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    There were already red roses in the [Items] list, so this meant that she now had all of the colors of the rainbow. Well, she was technically skipping indigo, but she had also skipped that with the rainbow ball maze challenge. Still, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple were close enough that it could still be considered all of the colors of the rainbow. The red roses cost 2 MP for every 100 Square Units, so 5 MP had to be spent to apply them to the room. Meanwhile, the dyed roses cost 5 MP for every 100 Square Units, so 63 MP had to be spent to apply the other five colors of roses to the room.


    Roses grew as bushes, so there was now a rainbow of bushes spread throughout the room, often clustered together. Roses don''t naturally come in all of the colors of the rainbow, but these ones looked quite "natural" as the dye didn''t come away when one touched the flowers and they didn''t have any of the acrid smell a dye might give off. They just smelled the same as the normal red roses did. The last thing Violet did in this room was to spend 10 MP to purchase two round stone altars that were placed at each of the two entrances. These were the same ones used in the nearby flower hunt room, but that just meant she didn''t have to spend any additional dungeon points to research them.


    The plan was to set the challenge so that the roses had to be picked in the order of the rainbow system and then the bouquet would have to be placed on one of the altars in order to unlock the doors to the room. However, that would require locking the doors, which required the challenge to be set first. That would require far too much DP to be spent, so it would have to wait until later. The other thing was that Violet wanted to set the wild violet and honey lollipops from the slime parkour challenge to this room before replacing the reward to that challenge with something more suitable.


    While the flower hunt challenge had signs put up, they weren''t put up in this new challenge room. It didn''t actually matter which altar the bouquet of flowers was placed on, there were only two because adventurers could come from either direction. The system should also inform them of the rules of the challenge, so it would be pointless to bother with wooden signs.


    Moving on, Violet started working on the last empty room on the floor. This one was located between the raspberry forest and blueberry forest rooms. For this challenge, she decided she wanted to do a twist on the hopscotch game she had played as a young child.


    20 MP was spent on a stone brick pathway, much like the one from the first floor garden meadow room. However, this one had pieces missing in order to resemble a hopscotch path better. The adventurers would have to jump from stone to stone, never touching the grass in order to complete the challenge. However, things couldn''t simply be left at that.


    The path was made to diverge shortly after the entrance and then to reconverge just before the next entrance, creating a circular path of sorts. Then four solid areas were created with one at each of the convergence areas and one in the middle of each of the separate paths. At each of the areas, Violet planned to put a sign with instructions the adventurers would have to follow before continuing.


    The first sign read


    "Go left if you have a magic class, go right if you have any other class."


    The second sign read


    "Spin in a circle and then cast your weakest magic spell on the tree closest to you before moving forward."


    The third sign read


    "Roar and stomp in place then attack the tree closest to you before moving forward."


    Then, the fourth, and final, sign read


    "Thank me for the fun adventure before moving on."


    All of these signs had to be doubled so that the adventurers could complete the challenge regardless of which entrance they started at. For the eight signs, Violet had to spend 59 MP twice over for a total of 118 MP.


    Violet giggled to herself as she imagined adventurers playing the game. They would likely look silly and some of them might even end up frustrated and try to refuse to play. However, since she also planned to lock the doors in this room, they would have no choice. As pixies have a mischievous nature, Violet figures that this sort of challenge would capture that quite well.


    In fact, the plan was to have pixies live in both the rose-filled challenge room and this challenge room. It was just that they cost 50 MP to summon one of them and one of their contract requirements was that they live among their own kind. That meant that she would have to wait until she unlocked the new spawner before she could even attempt it. Even then, she hoped they wouldn''t be too lonely since they could, technically, move from room to room and spend time with the others in the dungeon. It would just be difficult, due to their size, for them to open the doors by themselves. That was something that Theodore had to remind her of in regards to her kodama, much to her embarrassment.


    The hopscotch challenge room would likely end up having the chamomile shortbread from the rainbow ball maze challenge reassigned to it. That would take care of removing the last of the flower-themed sweets from the first floor. However, Violet still wasn''t sure what sorts of rewards to assign to the rooms on the first floor. She already had candy apples and iced carrot bread, but she didn''t have anything like chocolate to use for challenge rewards. That would take some time to think over.


    For now, Violet decided it would be best to go rest for the rest of the night. It didn''t matter if the rest of her incoming mana went to waste, she had all of eternity to earn more, after all.

 2.9 The Temple

    In the morning, when Violet awoke from her slumber, she found that she once more had 100 MP waiting for her. Of course, she would have had plenty of mana to use the night before had she wanted to spend it. That just wasn''t where her focus was right now. Violet wanted to modify the first floor this morning and then spend the day trying to sell her goods instead.


    However, the only room she had enough mana to take care of was the altar room to the goddess of love and beauty. She had received a blueprint for it after contracting with her first and, from what Theodore told her, the only patron deity she''d get to choose. While she could have just as easily managed things from the second floor, Violet decided to head down to the first to see the altar room in person.


    It cost the entire 100 MP she had on her person to build the altar room, which really just seemed overpriced when compared to just about anything else that she had ever built. The only things that came close were the puzzles she had built, which had cost 50 MP and 100 DP to research and immediately implement the ideas in one fell swoop. That, of course, had only happened twice with the slime-themed jigsaw being the first and the rainbow ball maze being the second. However, they had also taken up the entire room and made it easy to set up the challenges she wanted without having to imagine all of the moving pieces and build them one by one.


    When she got down to the first floor, Violet immediately spent her 100 MP so that the room could be modified and then finished making her way over to the altar room. This process proved to be much more difficult now that she had to go through the hedge maze and cross the slime parkour room to do so. However, Violet just bore with it, even attempting to cross the dark and stormy room before inevitably falling into the water and having to swim the rest of the way across.


    If she was going to regularly interact with those visiting the dungeon, it was best that she get proficient at crossing her own dungeon. Adding a shortcut just meant that it would be easier for others to make it to the second floor as well. While it was possible to set up other rooms in the left side of the dungeon behind the area where the hedge maze was, that would have to be more of a long-term goal. The invading [Monsters] were still likely to take the shortest and most direct path to the dungeon core should they be left to their own devices, so it wasn''t exactly a big deal so long as she made the other path longer and more out of the way.


    The attack from the recent god of death fanatic had seen some undead [Monsters] taking the long way around, but their master had been present and had made them go that way. That was a special case that would, hopefully, not be happening again. However, it was obvious that even undead raised by a necromancer would take the shortest path, honing in on the dungeon core, when they were alone in the dungeon. So, it wasn''t like they were that much different in the end.


    Violet was annoyed by how wet her clothes were, but continued forward to the altar room, quickly arriving after she had exited the slime parkour room. When she pushed open the door and looked inside, she was speechless. The floors and walls were made from a pristine white stone that had entirely replaced the usual meadow theme of the first floor. Along the floor there was also a golden rug that made a T-shaped path leading from one entrance to the other and then up to the main centerpiece of the room, the altar. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Meanwhile, the walls were paneled with intricate designs sticking out ever so slightly on most of the panels while the others held candelabras with candles that were burning bright. There was no wax dripping from these candles, nor was there an explanation for why they were even lit. Violet couldn''t make a light source for her dungeon because she didn''t have fire magic in her [Base Resources], nor did she have anything else that could easily be used to start a fire. For that matter, she hadn''t exactly researched any of the [Items] in this room, nor were they added to her [Items] list now that they had been built. It was all quite strange and Violet couldn''t help but look up at the ceiling in thought.


    Of course, the ceiling was just as blindingly white as the rest of the room. It had a sloped appearance to it with a square box outlining everything on a few of the layers. Then, the very middle, which was still quite a large space, had an intricately engraved pattern around the outside that surrounded a large ceiling window made of glass so perfectly made that it seemed like it had to have come from modern times. The sun and the blue sky that was common in her meadows shined through this window, making the temple even more illuminated than just the candles might have allowed for.


    This was all so strange and far more than Violet had been bargaining for. Looking back didn''t help matters any as she was met with the face of the goddess she had signed a contract with. Well, it was more so that a large altar with steps and a flat platform made of the same white stone as the rest of the room led up to a giant marble statue of the goddess with a chest at her feet meant for offerings. The goddess was wearing a beautiful dress that was draped perfectly across her figure with long hair cascading down to her waist and every detail of her face had been carefully and painstakingly created. She was holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms with one arm cradling them while the other rested at her side. She even had a crown of flowers on her head to tie the whole look together.


    Violet wasn''t sure how accurate the details on the statue were, but she had no reason to doubt that this must be what the goddess truly looked like. The statue told the story of a beautiful and fair maiden who loved beautiful things. She could easily have a line of suitors at her beck and call yet she didn''t seem arrogant. If anything, the statue gave off a sense of love and compassion for all who came across it.


    Violet was beginning to feel overwhelmed, far too overwhelmed for her own good. In her previous world, there was no definitive proof of any sort of deity truly existing. She hadn''t been sure what to believe whether there was a correct religion to follow or not and she certainly didn''t like getting caught up in religious propaganda. Yet, in this world, it was very clear that not just one deity, but multiple deities actually existed and had a real effect on the people of this world.


    Just building this altar to the goddess of love and beauty alone meant that Violet would receive a blessing from her chosen deity to reduce the cost of evolving her [Monsters] by 25%. She didn''t even have to go through and redeem the reward either, she could feel the energy flow through her and the rest of the dungeon as it took effect. Violet shook her head, she felt so overwhelmed that even the dungeon''s calming effects weren''t enough to keep her anxieties at bay. Soon enough, the dungeon core became more aggressive, this time forcing her into a lethargic state so that she would lay down to rest for a while. Finally, Violet gave in.

 2.10 Dream Sequence: Culinary Delights

    Violet had always enjoyed trying food from a variety of different cultures. New Year''s Day celebrations often featured either a rack of ribs or bratwurst with german sauerkraut. Meanwhile, St. Patrick''s Day celebrations would mean corned beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions being served for dinner with potato pancakes with eggs for breakfast. Of course, her culinary exploits were hardly reserved just for the holidays.


    Lee and she often spent their free time looking up new restaurants around the city to try on their date nights. They had a favorite Japanese bento box and sushi style restaurant nearby that was one of their top favorites. They had two primary categories for the bento box: teriyaki and fried. You would get to choose a meat option, which ranged from fried fish to teriyaki sukiyaki-style steak and shrimp to a vegetarian tofu option. Then you have to choose a side, which could be onion soup made with a clarified broth before adding fried onions and thinly sliced mushrooms, sushi, or even wontons. A free side salad was also always automatically included alongside steamed edamame beans.


    Violet wasn''t really into sushi and her husband disliked the seaweed and raw fish elements of sushi, but he still enjoyed a few varieties at the restaurant. There was a cooked eel one that tasted extremely fishy to Violet with an eel sauce on top. There was also a golden coast roll with avocado, crab stick, and some sort of spicy sauce. Violet couldn''t really remember the other options all that well since she usually didn''t ask her husband about what they were since she didn''t like them all that well.


    There were also other restaurants near where they lived since they lived in a city. However, that was a story for another time. The reason Violet was thinking about the Japanese restaurant now was that this was their first time trying out a new Asian market they had found that just so happened to be within five miles of their house. As for why it was called an Asian market when it didn''t have food [Items] from India or many other countries in Asia, Violet wasn''t sure.


    Lee carried the basket for Violet as she happily stared at all the various foods in the store. Despite this particular Asian market being a small mom-and-pop one, there was quite a bit of variety to choose from. Near the door, they had dried nuts and shelf-stable produce to the left side alongside a see-through freezer and a refrigerator full of various types of ice cream.


    Violet couldn''t help but get excited as she looked at the ones with a fish-shaped waffle-like exterior. It came in a lot of different flavors including brown sugar boba, matcha and chocolate, and chocolate with a chocolate sauce layer. There were also popsicles and push-pop ones, but these were the ones that Violet wanted to try the most. Chuckling, Lee suggested


    "Why don''t we wait to get ice cream for last? We don''t want it to melt before we even get to checkout."


    Violet frowned a bit, but knew he was right so she nodded her agreement. They were likely to spend quite a while here and the ice cream would taste better if it was still frozen properly. Turning around, she saw that the right side had a refrigerated produce section. The portion closest to the door had jellies, mochi, and various drinks. However, most of these didn''t really hold her interest. Violet enjoyed milk teas and would often get them at the bento restaurant with juice pearls that was filled with fruit juice, but she wasn''t really a fan of the tapioca kind of boba pearls. The yogurt-flavored drinks also seemed a bit strange so she was a bit hesitant to try it.


    Well, Violet had grown up a picky eater in the first place. It wasn''t until she became an adult that she realized that much of the problem had stemmed from the fact that her parents were not only bad cooks, but also had vastly different tastes in food than she did. At Chinese restaurants, they would often get things like lo mein noodles whereas Violet preferred fried rice, karaage, stir fries, fried wontons, etc. Why all of the restaurants her parents brought her to seemed to have bland, brown-looking American Chinese food that always featured lo mein in all the pictures, she''d never know, but it certainly hadn''t helped things.


    This was also the case for other cuisines as well and it had led her to think that she disliked most types of cuisines. She didn''t like the one "authentic" Italian restaurant her parents had brought her to as their pastas included everything but the kitchen sink in them. However, she did like a number of pasta-based dishes, pizza, garlic bread, etc. She had even enjoyed an upscale Italian restaurant her and her friends had enjoyed after winning a graphic design state competition in high school. The idea of dipping bread in balsamic vinegar and olive oil was a novel one she had never experienced before yet it was so good!


    As such, Violet still tended to be a bit hesitant to try things too far out of her comfort zone. At least, that was the case at first. As she tried cooking dishes at home, tried more new foods within a cuisine and found things she liked, etc. she started to get more adventurous and willing to try more new things. A lot of the times the things she didn''t think she would like, she''d end up not liking, but there were a few times she had been surprised. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    In fact, that was a large part of the reason they were here today. The goal was to pick up a few snacks she wanted to try, for Lee to pick a few things he wanted to try that she might not otherwise pick, and then for them to pick up some things to cook for dinner together. Violet always loved having a variety of foods. So, she couldn''t help but ask to try a bite of Lee''s food whenever he ordered something different from her. Lee never seemed to mind and even enjoyed sharing their food with one another. He even felt proud to watch his wife branch out and try new things over time.


    The next area they came to was full of frozen things as well as a rack for discounted produce. There were pints of matcha and ube ice cream as well as tons of frozen meats. Some things sounded particularly strange to Violet like shrimp or fish meatballs while other things she felt curious about like the huge variety of sprouts and kimchi they had at the end of the frozen aisle. She had never tried radish sprouts before and hadn''t really given much thought to what other kinds of sprouts there might be outside of bean sprouts. Deciding to try making some homemade ramen she said


    "I''ll be right back!"


    She had just remembered there were some neat-looking beech mushrooms in the produce aisle, which would be a good addition alongside the radish sprouts for the ramen. The end cap as they turned had discounted snacks and shelf-stable goods. Things like moon cakes and jellies, which they bought some of. Violet didn''t like the texture of puddings and jellos, but Lee did. So, she was much more interested in the marshmallow and chocolate layered treats.


    Next, they came across a huge aisle full of instant ramens and dried varieties of noodles from ramen to udon. There was also a meat freezer with some rather unusual options like chicken feet and cow calves. While she knew that these were not as strange in Asian countries, they certainly weren''t something one could find in your typical American grocery store. There was one thing that stood out, though, that Violet couldn''t help but point out


    "Ooh! Look, honey, they have pork belly! That would be really good in some ramen alongside these mushrooms and radish sprouts."


    Lee nodded before joking


    "Here I thought you were trying to make a salad or something. Do you want to make some homemade broth or try one of these imported ramens with it? There seems to be a lot of different flavors here."


    Violet made a sour expression before straightening her expression back out and replying


    "I''d like to try making some from scratch, but we can get some instant ones to try as well. Most of them look pretty cheap, even if they are a bit more than the kind in the other grocery stores."


    Violet had made homemade ramen before, she just hadn''t used the proper ingredients for it. She stole the noodles from some instant ramen, discarding the seasoning packet before making a homemade broth. It was basically just bouillon or stock cooked with vinegar, soy sauce, a bit of sugar, and some seasonings to make a well-balanced broth. There were, of course, a variety of different ramen styles and toppings that one could use, but she wasn''t trying to make anything fancy, just something quick and easy. Shredded carrots, thinly sliced cabbage, radish, eggs, and some seasoned steak rounded things out quite nicely.


    Of course, it wasn''t uncommon to also have a side with one''s ramen, even in places like Japan. So, they checked out the next freezer section, which was much smaller this time, that held many different premade items. There were scallion pancakes, brown sugar pancakes, a variety of dumplings, shumai, etc. It was hard to just pick a few items, but Violet restricted herself to just a small handful of options. They were hardly hurting for money since they both had quite successful careers, but their freezers hardly had the space for too many new things to be stuffed into.


    Violet loved a good sale, so she tended to stock up on vegetables and meat, which she broke down before vacuum-sealing it, and placing them in their downstairs deep freezer. The freezer that was part of their refrigerator was reserved for quick and easy meal options like the dumplings or snacks like ice cream, but it wasn''t really that big. A few loaves of bread and two tubs of ice cream would fill up the majority of the freezer space since it was so small. However, it worked well for their needs and it prevented Violet from going too crazy about hoarding food.


    They spent a few minutes perusing the cooking equipment aisle, even picking up a nice set of stainless steel chopsticks, and then moved onto the spices aisle. There were some nice bottles of pre-made dipping sauces and Japanese mayonnaise, but they didn''t really need any of that right now. Some soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, pepper flakes, and a sprinkle of sugar would work well enough for a quick homemade dipping sauce for their wontons and the other [Items] would be more suitable at the beginning of the month when they did their actual grocery shopping. This was just meant to be a fun date night that they would round out by cooking dinner at home together and then watching some anime.


    Of course, no trip to the Asian market would be complete without snacks. This time Violet really splurged. She had a long black crate where she kept her snacks in the pantry, and it was nearly empty, so she could afford to stock up on everything she was interested in. Fancy fruit flavored gummies, puchao, grapefruit earl gray cookies, pepsticks, traditional korean cookies, mixed rice crackers, wasabi rice crackers, and more went into the cart. Then, of course, there was the ice cream which they had saved for last. There was no way Violet could forget the ice cream.

 Contest Submissions & Voting

    ¡°Jessamine¡¯s Dungeon Adventure¡±


    Written by Lillene the author of ¡°After the End: Serenity¡± and ¡°Broken Lands¡±, which you can find on RoyalRoad.


    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


    There were plants everywhere. Jessamine stared at one plant, then another.


    Was this what a dungeon was supposed to be like? It didn¡¯t match the stories, but it had to be a dungeon. It was nothing like the outside. It was cold outside, cold and dangerous. She wasn¡¯t prepared for a blizzard.


    This wasn¡¯t the slightly warmer cave she was searching for, but it would have to do.


    Jessamine ducked outside for long enough to get her donkey and bring him into the warm interior. It wasn¡¯t safe, but anything was safer than outside.


    Jessamine searched around the entrance first; if there was anything dangerous, she needed to know. Grass, clover, some very useful herbs, flowers ¡­ a bee! She¡¯d have to be careful, but that bee might be the best news she¡¯d ever seen. A bee meant a beehive, and beehives held treasure, both honey and bees¡¯ wax. Better yet, this was a dungeon beehive; that meant it would return after it was taken.


    At least, that was what the stories said. Jessamine had never been in a dungeon before.


    She couldn¡¯t get any wax or honey today. She didn¡¯t have the gear for it, and dungeon creatures were supposed to be more dangerous than normal ones. She didn¡¯t want to be stung. Getting a beekeeper out here should be possible if she went to the right place; there was a town less than a day¡¯s travel away.


    Maybe she¡¯d be better off reporting the dungeon instead? Jessamine wasn¡¯t sure. They were valuable, weren¡¯t they? That might be worth even more than finding a beekeeper if no one else had reported the dungeon. It was worth finding out. If it wasn¡¯t worth anything, it wouldn¡¯t hurt.


    Who did you report a dungeon to, anyway? Who would actually pay to know? Should she go to Staiven? He would pay for almost any information, but he usually didn¡¯t pay well.


    Eh. There would be time to deal with that once she was out of here. She had better things to deal with.


    Jessamine followed the honey bee as it buzzed along the top of the flowers, then rose a bit. Her eyes widened as she finally saw the bees¡¯ home. It was a fancily carved stacked set of wooden boxes with holes surrounded by bees. It had to be a beehive, but what beehive was set into a tree? It almost looked like it was the tree, but that didn¡¯t make sense. Surely it just surrounded a hollow in the tree?


    If this were anything but a dungeon, Jessamine would say there was definitely a beekeeper. If there was a beekeeper in a dungeon, she didn¡¯t want to meet them.


    She turned and cautiously made her way down the short hall and poked her head back outside the dungeon. The wind stole her breath and she shivered as snow found its way right down her shirt. She definitely couldn¡¯t leave.


    ¡°Camp first,¡± she muttered. ¡°The bees haven¡¯t bothered me yet.¡±


    The donkey didn¡¯t share Jessamine¡¯s reservations; it was already eating the dungeon¡¯s plant life. The bees weren¡¯t bothering it either, so it must be good enough.


    A day later, the blizzard winds no longer howled in front of the dungeon entrance, but only because it was blocked with snow. Jessamine knew what that meant: she¡¯d be stuck inside for days if she was lucky. If she wasn¡¯t lucky, it could be weeks. It wouldn¡¯t be longer than that; it was still too early in the winter. It was really too early for a storm this large, but that was how she was caught in the first place.


    At least there was water. All she had to do was grab a bowl, scoop up some snow, and let it melt and she¡¯d have water. Several of the greens inside were edible, too; she couldn¡¯t really cook with what she had, but she could soak some greens and get enough to eat for a few days without reducing the supplies she needed to make it back to town.


    Jessamine made her way back inside and stripped off her top before it could get soaked by the melting snow. She shook it out, then heard an odd thump not too far away. Her head rose and followed the noise.


    A rabbit sat in the clover and stared up at her.


    ¡°Where did you come from?¡± Jessamine frowned at the rabbit. ¡°I know you haven¡¯t been here, I¡¯d have seen you.¡±


    The rabbit hopped away, startled by her voice.


    Jessamine followed slowly. This was a dangerous place and she had to be careful, but she could only be so scared of a place with bees and rabbits. Rabbits were skittish and didn¡¯t stay visible in places that were too dangerous, but this one seemed remarkably calm.


    The rabbit led her down a short stone walkway to another open field. This one seemed filled with grasses and shrubs rather than clover. The shrubs seemed familiar, so Jessamine leaned down and sniffed a broken leaf. ¡°Tea! But tea doesn¡¯t grow here-¡±


    Jessamine had to harvest some tea leaves. No one was going to believe there was tea here if she didn¡¯t bring proof. It was too bad that she didn¡¯t know how to turn it into proper tea, but at least it would be something.


    She tried to stay aware of her surroundings, but by the third trip back to her camp with tea leaves she was trying to dry out without using a fire, she was hurrying and not watching where she put her feet. Her left foot went straight into a hole she hadn¡¯t seen and she felt a sharp pain as she tripped.


    Jessamine curled up on the ground in pain, then forced herself to examine her foot. Nothing seemed to be broken, but her ankle was definitely twisted. She dragged herself back to her camp on her butt, pushing with her arms and her good right foot, then wrapped her left ankle.


    It was a day later before her ankle felt enough better for her to take the corridor outside for water. Another day passed before she really felt comfortable walking on it. It still hurt a bit, but she¡¯d walked on worse and she didn¡¯t have a choice. She needed to move.


    The snow outside was melting. It would be gone soon enough; it was already low enough that she could travel if she had to, but another day would be better.


    Jessamine couldn¡¯t wait any longer. If she was going to make it through any more of the dungeon, it had to be now. She¡¯d found bees and wild greens and tea; what else could be here?


    Two steps into the room with the tea, Jessamine found the reason the rabbit had moved to the bees¡¯ room: three red foxes stood in the tall grass. They didn¡¯t seem to have noticed Jessamine.


    She couldn¡¯t see an exit, but there had to be one. That meant it was probably along the wall to her left, since that was the direction she couldn¡¯t see. Jessamine nodded to herself and set out. She was sure to stay well away from the foxes; they weren¡¯t usually dangerous, but ¡°usually¡± was a bad way to judge things and the fact that this was a dungeon made it worse, even if she hadn¡¯t found anything worse than a mole hole so far. As long as the foxes didn¡¯t bother her, she wouldn¡¯t bother them.


    Most of her attention was on her feet. She definitely didn¡¯t want to twist her ankle again, or worse, break an ankle. That could absolutely happen on poor ground, and this seemed to be poor ground. She didn¡¯t see any moles, but the small holes everywhere were the right size. There were far too many of them and they seemed worse than she was used to, which made the trip across the field nerve-wracking, but at least she was able to stay relatively close to one of the stone walls. It helped keep her from getting lost in the near-maze of bushes.


    The other exit was exactly where she guessed. When she saw it, she knew why it wasn¡¯t visible from across the room: it would lose its impact. The short stone corridor opened up into an impressive wild grotto filled with colorful plants. A waterfall in the distance meant the path was covered in water; it led to a pool right at the entrance to the room.


    Jessamine paused and looked around. She didn¡¯t recognize most of the plants. Did that mean they were valuable or were they just pretty?


    ¡°Just pretty is worth something,¡± she told herself. As she spoke, she could have sworn some of the plants moved. She paused, concerned.


    A moment later, something dropped from the ceiling. A giant spider!


    Jessamine would later deny it, but she shrieked, tripped backwards, and landed on her butt. She stared upwards at the spider ¡­ plant ¡­ thing.


    When she got a better look at it, it looked like a skull supported by vines with a set of eight large spiderlike limbs. ¡°What are you?¡±


    The skull chattered at her. The clicking was followed by a high-pitched, scratchy voice. ¡°I¡¯m the dungeon master, girl, and you shouldn¡¯t be here. Run back to your donkey and leave as soon as you can.¡±


    Jessamine flipped onto her knees and hurried away. Strangely enough, her sore ankle didn¡¯t bother her at all as she ran from that thing. She had just enough presence of mind to make her way safely across the meadow full of holes and avoid the bees on the clover near her camp. She quickly packed up everything she had and loaded it onto her donkey.


    A few inches of snow or not, she¡¯d clearly outstayed her welcome.


    She had her tea leaves and she¡¯d outlasted the blizzard. Maybe she¡¯d even get something for finding a dungeon when she reached town.


    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


    Author¡¯s Note: Anyone who reads what I write knows I love to write notes at the end, so you¡¯re getting one :-)


    This is the sort of thing I¡¯d normally reveal later, but since there won¡¯t be a later for this story - no, the skull with vines and spider legs isn¡¯t the dungeon master. It¡¯s a puppet. It definitely did its job of scaring Jessamine away without the dungeon master having to show up in person!


    As for who or what the dungeon master actually is ¡­ well, there might be some clues in the dungeon¡¯s setup.


    ~Lillene


    The Green Mile Dungeon


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    <hr>


    Untitled


    Written by Lunar_Silkie the author of ¡°Love Isn¡¯t Rainbows¡± and ¡°Shadow Hunters¡±, which you can find on Wattpad.


    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


    There is a dungeon out in the middle of the Bermuda called the Sirens Abyss, the dungeon master''s name is Grace. It¡¯s hard to even get to it because of all the fog that leads sailors astray. The dungeon is mostly sea with drowned sailors, krakens, and even mermaids. No one has even made it close to the core(except the dungeon representative of course). The Sirens Abyss became so powerful because the endless sea around counts to getting points. The dungeon rewards include rare plants, legendary fish, and objects thought lost to time. No one truly knows how old this dungeon is for most records don¡¯t even get the chance to be known. Now let¡¯s get into how this dungeon came to be and the story of its infamy.


    (Grace pov)


    It¡¯s the middle of summer when I died. It wasn¡¯t even a cool death, it was freaking stupid. I got killed by a water gun, A WATER GUN! How does that work you ask well I¡¯ll tell ya. It was dropped on me from a high rise diving board. Now I¡¯m just floating here choking to death because that stupid water gun hit my throat. No one even notices someone choking. Dude Society¡­


    I just wanted to have a nice calming swim.


    Noting preference to swimming (water)


    Why am I hungry now? I¡¯m never gonna eat again, I¡¯m never gonna have fries again.


    Generating Gluttony


    Is this voice calling me fat?


    No


    I can no longer keep on¡­. How is no one noticing¡­


    I knew I wasn¡¯t important¡­Hopefully someone leaves flowers at my grave for me¡­


    Generating anti-depressants


    Noting preference to nature


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-Chapter One¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    Our lead slowly awakens to the smell of the sea and sand under their fingertips. How is she alive, she questions while opening her eyes just to get sand blown into her eyes.


    Desperately trying to wipe the sand out she hears a goggle and a damp cloth being placed into her hand. Not thinking about it she uses the cloth as intended, sand. She slowly turns her head to see someone smiling at her, freaking out as she pulls sand from her pockets flinging it at them. The wind decides to throw the sand back which makes this mystery person laugh.


    They finally introduce themselves to her as Cressida or Cress for short. Grace slowly realizes Cressida has scales that shine beautifully around her cheeks trailing down her neck and her eyes are a beautiful seafoam green. Cressida tells her she is her assigned dungeon representative and how she was chosen because of the location of this so-called dungeon I now ¡°govern¡±. The entrance is located in a cave under the sea which leads to this little island.


    After a while Cressida left after giving her contributions, a rainbow fish, one of her scales, and a few seashells. The fish and Cressida''s scale reminds Grace of that one children¡¯s book for some reason; the seashells are just pretty. Grace soon started building up her dungeon by first making a little pagoda on the island that contains her dungeon core. After doing that brick by brick Grace made a spawner that made water slimes and a scary looking crab that goes and grabs things for her to absorb.


    Grace then realizes she hasn¡¯t made any type of trap yet and soon she begins. Seeing she didn¡¯t have much mp she decides to add these trees she has in her arsenal supposedly one is sleep inducing for the people who will be coming here and the other can grow vines and roots which will subdue her victims. Grace notes another tree for later, it sounds interesting because it is somehow poisonous.


    Slowly mp started coming in out of nowhere which Grace decides to investigate. Turns out the trees have been working together by making the people who are on the boats asleep then vines started covering the boat and all. It is surprisingly pretty, the vines sprouting red flowers that completely cover the ships. No one would think the flowers could be caused by blood.


    As she got more and more mp Grace expanded by adding squids with barbed tentacles, selkies, and much much more. The world soon knows of the Sirens Abyss, the dungeon is now called because of how birds with the heads of beautiful women lure them in with their enchanting hymns. Soon the sailors and adventurers that were on the boats that have been submerged over time became zombies while the passengers just stay there decomposing, becoming nutrients for the many schools of fish down below.


    A few hundred years have passed since then and Grace has gotten bored quite a few times. Once she learnt how to combine creatures and objects alike she started scaring people. She made the lochness monster of this world as well as many cryptids of the sea. The plants she made were beautiful so she added them as rewards for defeating the drowns in the lower levels. Most of the time Grace made absolutely terrifying creatures but every now and then she would make adorable creatures for example sea lions literally lions with fish tails. Her all time favorite creation is the sea cats she made, specifically one that looks like her old cat from her world.


    Another few hundred years has passed and now she¡¯s been collecting things like books, rocks, and paints. Her paintings have been hung up on walls around the world. Her paintings are rewards in the middle levels of her dungeon which is hard to get to. The books she received from her alter have been modified by her so they don¡¯t get soaked. She has books that are hundreds of years old and more. She stopped counting after two hundred.


    Adventurers are able to get undeniable wealth if they are able to obtain one of those books which are only rewards on her third floor. Now the rocks, she just loves them and the prettier the better your luck is.


    Everyone far and wide knows of the Sirens Abyss and its many wonders. People still try to beat it even if they die in the process. The chance for unimaginable wealth is slim but it still keeps people coming to try their luck for a new life.


    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


    (This link goes to pintrest where a ''video'' of a Minecraft world map of the dungeon is available.)


    https://pin.it/1SbadoFbq</a>


    <hr>


    The Dungeon Completionists


    Written by Colin Dyke.


    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


    Clide was watching amused at the group of new adventurers searched high and low in the 4th room of the 1st floor. It was empty but they hadn¡¯t asked about that at the Adventurers Guild. The new party decided to carry on and went into the next room, and when they saw the 5 goblins in there, they were even more confused. That said, 5 goblins were still not enough as this group was reasonably strong. With these 5 goblins completed they then went back and searched the previous room again to find the 4 goblins that should be in the room if the pattern made sense.


    While he was watching using the remote view skill, he saw another party come through the room, barging past the party that was still searching for the missing goblins. Clide¡¯s eyes narrowed, it was them, the Dungeon Completionists. The party was a classic fighter, rogue, cleric, and mage composition. According to George, his dungeon diplomat, they went around boasting that they had reached the dungeon core of every dungeon on every level, and as soon as they heard that a dungeon had a new floor they went and defeated that floor.


    Now that in itself was complete understandable, and Clide was happy with people challenging the dungeon and completing it. What he hated was the taunting and mocking dance that they had performed in the core room after reaching it. The fact that they had tied him up while they performed the mocking dance was even worse.


    Clide was prepared for them this time. He quickly switched the hallways that connected to the second floor boss room to be the other one changing the route through the maze. He then switched to watching them.


    The Dungeon Completionists had no trouble dealing with goblins. Ulnak the fire mage didn¡¯t even need to shoot any spells, the combined talents of Gaston the Swordsman, and Macavity the Scout sliced through the goblins like they weren¡¯t there. They reached the stairs and started along the path to the core, while the dart traps worked reasonably well, Gaston blocked those that came at them and Macavity disarmed the ones that came from behind before they could fire. Macavity also disarmed the pit traps very easily. Even though he had brought the upgrade that turned their hidden covers into stone floor like the rest of the dungeon it wasn¡¯t enough.


    The real fun started when they reached the old entrances to the boss chamber and found that there was just a wall there.


    ¡°What?¡±


    said Elaina the healer,


    ¡°The adventurers guild said that the route to the boss was simple. Just go left at each junction unless there is a pit trap just before the junction.¡±


    Well, that was the route about 15 minutes ago, Clide smirked to himself.


    ¡°So the Adventurers Guild is stupid.¡±


    said Gaston


    ¡°We are going to have to do this ourselves. So let¡¯s go back and check the paths that we didn¡¯t try.¡±


    After finding a few dead-ends they found themselves at a new junction. They took a right then a left and found themselves back at the stairs.


    ¡°How is this possible?¡±


    asked Gaston,


    ¡°There is no way we should be back at the stairs this quickly!¡±


    ¡°Probably some moving walls that Macavity couldn¡¯t spot¡±


    Ulnak replied.


    ¡°Hey, I can spot any moving wall that the dungeon places. There is no way it was a moving wall trap.¡±


    Macavity was indignant. He had a reputation to uphold.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back and we will just have to try a different way. I will point out any moving walls that we come across.¡±


    Clide smirked. The newly installed teleport trap had worked. 1,000 DP was a lot but it had been worth it to confuse their spatial mapping sense. The completionists turned back and quickly found themselves in unfamiliar territory as the trap had not recharged so didn¡¯t trigger.


    Eventually, they found their way to the boss room, a stone golem awaited them there. This proved to be a problem for the completionists. Ulnak¡¯s fire spells did little damage to the golem, and Macavity¡¯s daggers just scratched the surface. Gaston¡¯s sword did some damage, but it wasn¡¯t much, and the fight went on for ages. Elaina was even drinking mana potions just to keep up with the damage that the golem was dealing back to Gaston, despite his heavy armor. Eventually, they were victorious, and the golem was defeated.


    The Completionists headed up the stairs to the 3rd floor. They opened the door to the 1st room on the floor and immediately spotted the bats. Ulnak sent a fireball at them wiping out most of the bats and Gaston moved forward to finish the rest off. Macavity said


    ¡°WAIT!¡±


    and pulled Gaston back.


    ¡°There is a trap just ahead of us.¡±


    Macavity carefully moved forward and opened the pit trap in the centre of the room. As he did so, this caused another trap to trigger, which meant that rocks fell onto Elaina and Ulnak, who were waiting in the back. While Elaina could heal the damage, the rocks were too heavy for Elaina or Ulnak to lift off themselves. As Gaston and Macavity turned back to unbury Elaina and Ulnak, the doors of the room opened and minotaurs entered from both sides. The minotaurs were armed with crossbows and Clide had called them forward so that they could deal with the Completionists as a group.


    Gaston had no choice but to try and defend the group. There was a lot of crossbow bolts coming his way, and while he could block some with his shield, some with his amour, and deflect a few with his sword, some of the bolts got through.


    ¡°This is annoying. How much longer before we can fight them?¡±


    ¡°We need your strength¡±


    Macavity replied.


    ¡°They are too heavy for us to move.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t hit the Minotaurs from this position¡±


    added Ulnak.


    Gaston sighed.


    ¡°If I move to help you then we will all get hit by these bolts. Elaina, how¡¯s your mana holding out?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m getting low and will be out soon. This constant damage is getting to us.¡±


    Elaina replied.


    ¡°Ok dungeon, you win this time, but we will be back, and next time we will be ready for you. Macavity take us out.¡±


    Yelled Gaston while retreating into arms reach of Macavity.


    Macavity grabbed hold of Gaston and Ulnak, Ulnak grabbed Elaina, and then Macavity used his signature skill


    ¡°Mass Teleport¡±


    causing them all to vanish. The rocks fell down proving that they had really left the dungeon and not turned invisible.


    Clide was relieved. His plan had worked, and he drove them away. They would probably be back but he could reasonably assume that something similar would work again. He sent the Minotaurs back to their rooms and relaxed. For now the threat was gone and he could go back to watching the new adventurers search the fourth room for the goblins that weren¡¯t there. Though as it turned out, the adventurers had already left the dungeon while he was occupied by the Completionists.


    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


    <hr>

 2.11 Concerned Parent

    David set the rock he had picked up on the way to the dungeon, down on the ground inside the new tribute room. As to why Violet had gone to the trouble to make a tribute room without doing anything to officially designate it as such was beyond him. However, he wasn''t so sure that he understood much about the rather frustrating Dungeon Master he was in charge of teaching swordsmanship.


    She had said repeatedly that she wanted to play at being a merchant yet she always seemed to dismiss the possibility of selling anything to him. It was always "Maybe tomorrow", "Not today", or "I don''t have enough in stock for it to be worth your while." After a while, David had simply given up on asking, but he was still waiting for her to bring up the idea again herself. He had already gone out of his way to stuff a magic bag full of [Items] to trade away to her and he brought it along every single day in the hopes that she would be interested. Yet, she never was.


    That didn''t stop him from feeling sour about the whole thing, though. He was beginning to worry about how he would provide for his daughter. He had been hoping to get by making trades with Violet for useful [Items] like food and medicine throughout the winter, ensuring no one had to go hungry, but that was clearly off the table now.


    The next best option he had was to complete challenges in the dungeon and collect edible plants from the first floor. His daughter had already been hard at work doing so over the last few days. At first, she had only added a few small [Items] to the basket, but she had become more bold as of yesterday. It made David feel guilty that she felt she had to shoulder the burden of providing food for them like that.


    Well, it wasn''t like this was an entirely new phenomenon. Alice had been asking about why the meals were getting smaller, why there was only soup and so little bread, etc. since a short while before the snow first fell. Gregory''s family was not well off by any standards, but they were used to living this way. They knew how to make the most of what food they did have and none of them ever complained about it.


    It was a little embarrassing the few times that Alice''s complaints and questions had been overheard. However, it was less so because of the dirty looks that David received and more so because he knew he was helpless to do anything about it. They were fortunate he had been able to catch a wild animal a short while back and it would likely last them a few more weeks. However, that was nothing compared to the life that Alice had been able to enjoy back when her mother was still alive.


    David was desperate to return things back to the way they used to be, even though he was already past his prime. There was no way that he was going to be able to return to a life of adventuring and take on the very real and dangerous threats that a proper dungeon would provide. That was a good way for him to leave his daughter an orphan and ensure that her life would be a difficult one.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    David had hoped that Violet''s dungeon would be promising and it had seemed that way, up until recently. However, after the dungeon had undergone its recent transformation, he couldn''t help but feel uneasy. Most adventurers knew better than to even enter a dungeon too soon after it developed a new floor. Many dungeons would leave the lower floors alone, but some of them could end up changing so much that it was like night and day. David hadn''t been expecting Violet to be the sort to change things so drastically, but he had clearly been wrong.


    Who knew just how much more he was wrong about? Violet kept trying to talk to his daughter, even despite his warnings. Perhaps she was trying to harm his daughter somehow? Maybe she wanted to twist her mind and turn her against him? Violet had seemed innocent enough and like there was very little harm that she could cause, but maybe all of that was just a ruse. David wasn''t sure, but he couldn''t help but feel on edge.


    This, of course, bled through into his sparring sessions with Violet. He couldn''t help but flinch and react more aggressively every time she got near him. David just wanted to create some distance between them. Yet, here he was stuck training her every single day. Maybe he should try begging Theodore for some leniency when the next spring arrives. While David knew he was supposed to train Violet for a minimum of a year, he wasn''t sure he could handle the constant stress that it brought.


    David still wanted to build a nice home for Alice to finish growing up in. He still wanted to send her off to a reputable magic academy and help her grow up to be a strong adventurer. However, if he couldn''t even depend on Violet to follow through on her own words, such as playing a dungeon merchant, how could he trust anything else about this dungeon either?


    "Alright, well, that''s time. I''m going to go now."


    Violet dismissed herself quickly and David watched her carefully as she left. Once more, it would seem she was failing to follow through on her promise to sell him anything. It would seem he would have to depend on Alice to forage things while he tried to complete some challenges.


    Luckily, the new arrangement of the dungeon seemed to make that easier, for the most part. All of the more difficult challenges were no longer in the way and David and Alice could safely go from room to room gathering as they wished. Of course, now they had to share the space with others.


    The strange elf man and his half-giant companion always seemed to give David plenty of space, which was how he preferred it. During his time as an adventurer, he had met plenty of different types, not all of which were the friendly type. It was always best to avoid others in the dungeon, especially if you weren''t on equal footing and able to properly defend yourself. If you wanted to meet new people, it was better to do so in the local tavern or adventurers'' guild where there was more of a guarantee of safety for everyone involved. The local guards and other adventurers never tended to like it when others caused problems, after all. However, someone dying in a dungeon was less likely to be questioned, or even investigated, so you were always better off playing it safe.

 2.12 Harsh Winter Weather

    Avorn and Camellia pulled a bag full of pinecones and pine nuts out of their backpack after entering the dungeon. Then they quickly submitted the contents before tucking the now empty bag back away again. Satisfied that they had paid their dues, they merrily went on their way.


    As they knew they were no longer the only ones in the dungeon, they put off setting up camp. The last thing they needed was for someone to make off with what precious few belongings they did have. Instead, they went to the koi pond room that was just off to one side from the entrance.


    "Which one of us had the fishing bait again?"


    Camellia asked. Avorn pointed to the bag she was already shuffling through as he replied


    "I''m carrying the firewood, so it should be in your bag. Did you manage to get it stuck at the bottom of your bag again?"


    It took a few more minutes before Camellia found what she was looking for. She then held out the bag for Avorn to take. He tended to be very particular about how the worms were handled due to not wanting to prolong their suffering. As a farmer turned adventurer, she didn''t exactly have the luxury to act delicate and avoid such things as worms, guts, and dirt. So, it wasn''t so much that she was unwilling to put the bait on her own fishing pole as it was purely out of respect for her husband''s ideals.


    While she was waiting, Camellia mused


    "Firewood has been getting expensive lately. It might be better to try and ration it more."


    Avorn sighed before replying


    "The cold weather seems to be especially hard this year, I don''t imagine things will get much better than this. There has been an increase in the number of people moving to the area, but not enough of the locals remained to ensure that firewood was adequately prepared. Well, that and most people likely aren''t going to think about rationing the firewood until it''s too late."


    Camellia shook her head as she commented


    "It''s a shame we can''t just cut some of the firewood in this dungeon and bring it back. I''m sure we could borrow a wheelbarrow and an axe from someone, but it''ll likely take too long for it to dry, right?"


    Avorn handed Camellia back her pole and they cast their hooks into the water before he continued the conversation.


    "Firewood usually needs to be dried for several months to be seasoned properly. Otherwise, it is hard to light the wood and keep it lit. It might be possible if we got someone to agree to buying it off of us now and they kept it in a room with a lit fire to speed up the drying process, but it''s definitely not a very realistic solution. Besides, we don''t officially live here, so it isn''t exactly our responsibility, nor is it an effective way to earn an income.


    We may just have to go without a fire after some time. It means we won''t be able to cook fish anymore, but we should be able to get by with the forageable plants in the dungeon and the surrounding area. It''s also not exactly cold here, so we won''t freeze to death."


    Violet found it a bit funny as she walked into the room at just the right time to overhear the tail end of their conversation. This was the second time now she had gone to see if they''d be interested in buying goods from her and ended up overhearing a problem they had that just so happened to be a good business opportunity for her.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    She was originally going to leave to go upstairs for a short while to build before attempting to sell things to Avorn and Camellia. However, she had only just taken inventory of what she still had in stock when they had entered the dungeon. So she put off the building for later and made the trek back downstairs in the hopes of making a sale. It was hardly like she was expecting her luck to be this good!


    "I could probably help you out with that."


    Even Camellia couldn''t help but jump in surprise as she heard Violet''s voice echo across the room. She was starting to feel more comfortable around Violet the more she interacted with her, so she comfortably questioned


    "Help us with what exactly?"


    Violet smiled as she replied


    "Well, with your firewood problem, of course! I imagine you''d need some magic bags to carry it around with, though, as it would likely be quite heavy. However, otherwise, I can create perfectly dried firewood that''s ready to go just so I can sell it to you. The only thing is that I would expect fair compensation for the resources I expend to do so."


    Avorn pulled Camellia aside before whispering to her


    "I''m not sure we can afford that! We can''t just upset her by turning her down now, though, right?"


    Camellia smiled as she patted her husband''s shoulder reassuringly and said


    "Relax, just let me handle this."


    Then she turned back to Violet who was still waiting for their response. Camellia took a calming breathe before asking


    "How many points would we need for something like that? I know the quest menu says we have to provide one hundred points of value for our rent each day. I''m assuming that is similar to how you said the dungeon functions before. I can''t agree to anything until I know if we can deliver on our end of things first."


    Violet was actually a bit surprised by Camellia''s astute observation. She didn''t exactly think of the woman as unintelligent, but it was still a surprise to see she had put things together so well when most everyone else seemed to struggle with the concept so much. She took a moment to do some mental math of her own before answering.


    The magic bags would cost her 50 MP each, which would usually be doubled and she''d charge 100 DP for them. However, the bags were very clearly worth a lot and Violet hardly wanted to ruin the economy by selling them for such a cheap price, even to people she liked a good bit. So, she''d have to double the price and charge a total of 400 DP for the two of them. Then there was the matter of the firewood. Violet wasn''t sure how much the firewood would cost her, nor how heavy the firewood would be. So, she decided to ask


    "How much does firewood normally weigh?"


    Camellia looked confused for a moment before hesitantly answering


    "I think it''d be safe to say about three pieces weigh close to 5 Units."


    Violet nodded. That would mean sixty pieces should be able to be carried in two magic bags with a weight limit of 50 Units each. There''s no way that the firewood would cost more than a few mana for a single piece for firewood. Even if she was generous on her end, it was only bound to cost 5 MP per piece, at the most. That would add another 300 MP for a total of 600 DP in cost. So, about 1,000 DP would have to be charged for it all. It was a bit steep, but it was still likely to end up in their favor.


    "I''m willing to accept 1,000 points for everything. Two magic bags with a 50 Units limit and sixty pieces of firewood, which should take up the entirety of the weight between the two bags. I can also sell you more firewood later on, so long as you give me notice ahead of time."


    Avorn and Camellia deliberated between themselves for a short while before agreeing. While a thousand small [Items] weren''t worth nearly as much as even one magic bag, it was still a lot of work to commit to, especially when they considered they''d also have to collect enough to pay for their nightly stay in the dungeon. If it took them ten days to collect the payment, they''d end up needing 2,000 points since they''d also need to pay rent in that time. In which case, it was better to pay the amount off sooner rather than later. As such, they promised to come up with the payment in just a few days'' time.

 2.13 Pixie Pals

    Since Violet hadn''t managed to sell anything to Avorn and Camellia this time around, she reluctantly decided to try and see if David would be up for it. The promise of income later in the week was nice and all, but it just wouldn''t be that helpful in the meantime. However, that didn''t exactly mean that Violet was all that happy to interact with the overly standoffish David either.


    As it turned out, David was just wrapping things up and fixing to head out by the time she reached him. With a huff, he narrowed his eyes and questioned


    "What do you want now? I thought we were done for the day. I need to get my daughter home soon, it''s a bit late for her to still be awake."


    Violet gritted her teeth as she answered


    "I just wanted to see if you''d be interested in buying anything today. However, if it bothers you that much, I''ll just leave."


    David sounded surprisingly gentle when he replied


    "No, wait. What do you have available?"


    Violet felt exhausted as she turned back around and answered


    "I''ve got some potions and then some food items. I don''t have much else right now, but that might change later on."


    David looked thoughtful as he replied


    "Alright, well, I''ll buy whatever food [Items] you have."


    Violet narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she replied


    "I don''t have a ton, but it still won''t be cheap. Are you sure you can afford it?"


    David grunted in response before beginning to pull [Items] out of his magic bag. Back when he had thought they would be trading sooner rather than later, he had begun to collect [Items] he thought Violet might have some interest in. However, even back then it had been close to the beginning of the cold season and it wasn''t like magic bags could extend the shelf life of goods. So, most of what he had was a mixture of different clothing [Items] and decorative buttons he had bought in the next city over in the hopes Violet would be interested.


    Violet began to pull out her own [Items] as she pointed to items, negotiating on a fair price for her goods. She hadn''t created much in terms of new merchandise over the last few days, but she still had twelve tins of black tea, five glass jars of honey, five glass jars of apple jam, two loaves of iced carrot bread, four bread rolls, two wild violet & honey lollipops, fifteen lavender meringue cookies, and twenty chamomile shortbread cookies. The whole lot had cost her an entire 293 MP to create it all, which was, admittedly, not as big of a deal now as it used to be, but that still meant she was expecting a minimum of 586 DP as a return on her investment.


    David wasn''t entirely happy with how much he ended up having to trade away for the goods he wanted. While he had gotten a really good deal previously by only having to bring a few flowers, fruits, and mushrooms in exchange for several sweets, he had to trade away much more expensive goods this time. That was primarily due to a fundamental misunderstanding on his part as to how things were valued in the dungeon, but that was hardly something that Violet was going to explain to him now that their relationship had gotten as bad as it had.


    Violet ended up obtaining: a red velvet dress, a brown leather tunic, a white wool cap, gray linen pants, a blue silk nightgown, some hemp rope, a fox fur scarf, black, white, and blue fabric buttons, clear, red, green, and blue glass buttons, horsehair, flower-shaped, and square patterned ceramic buttons, engraved iron, engraved gold, and engraved silver metal buttons, iron snap buttons, and a lot of wooden buttons. The [Items] couldn''t be absorbed until after the dungeon was cleared of occupants, but it would end up being worth an entire 635 DP, which was really not a bad haul.


    David felt like grumbling as he left the dungeon, so there wasn''t any further discussion on future purchases. Still, it wasn''t like he felt entirely put out, he was just disappointed due to not feeling like he was getting as good of a deal as he had the last time. It would be too difficult to travel through the snow to reach the next city over, but merchants still traveled through the area on rare occasions, even during the winter time. So, David could only hope to trade some of the excess sweets, tea, and honey for money and [Items] for future trades with Violet.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    It wasn''t like David wasn''t going to share any of the goods he had obtained today, though. A single tin of black tea, a jar of honey, all of the apple jam, and the bread rolls would be brought back to be shared with Gregory''s family. It would be a nice luxury for everyone to enjoy and the jam was bound to make the rare loaves of bread that Edith baked taste that much better. The food wasn''t much in the long run and wouldn''t be very filling, unfortunately, but that couldn''t really be helped.


    Selling the sweets would amount to a larger amount of money that could be used to purchase firewood and food that would last far longer than the sweets themselves would. Besides, since it seemed Violet wasn''t entirely adverse to selling him things, it would also be good to stock back up on [Items] to trade with her. Perhaps, next time he could even try to buy more useful things like the bread rolls. The winter season was a long one and it was still just the beginning of the season, after all.


    Of course, Violet wasn''t aware of any of this. She was just happy that she had plenty of [Items] to absorb the next morning. Besides that, she actually had the 500 DP she needed to research the next spawner thanks to Avorn and Camellia''s rent being added to her points total right away.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research 100 MP limit [Monster] spawners? Requires 500 DP.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet excitedly selected the [Yes] option. She then spent the rest of the night investing her mana on new spawners for her second floor rooms. It took 600 MP to replace the old 50 MP limit spawners with the new ones. That took quite a while to save up enough for and ended up taking up most of her night. However, it was hardly all of the mana she earned in a night. So, 120 MP was spent on six al-mi''raj and an additional 27 MP was spent on nine giant checkered rabbits. These were split between the blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry forest [Monster] field rooms, effectively doubling their population. There would now be four horned rabbits and six giant rabbits in each of the rooms, making them feel much less empty.


    While it may have been worthwhile to consider adding a better variety of [Monsters] and [Critters] to the room to make the rooms seem more lively, Violet preferred to prioritize practicality in this case. More [Monsters] meant that she could more easily defend her dungeon and adventurers would get more use out of the rooms. Environmental considerations could always be considered more carefully in other types of rooms anyway.


    The most exciting part of the night''s activities, however, was the fact that Violet could finally summon her very first pixies for the dungeon! It took an entire 200 MP to summon just four pixies with two placed in the hopscotch challenge room and two placed in the rainbow of roses challenge room. Violet smiled excitedly as she watched her new [Monsters] flutter around playfully, clearly happy to be a part of the dungeon.


    "Um... hello! It''s nice to meet you all. I''m Violet, the Dungeon Master."


    She nervously greeted them. The pixies all stopped and turned towards her voice, clearly seeming surprised by her presence. However, they were all super friendly as they greeted


    "Hi! I''m so excited to meet you! I''m Jasmine!"


    "I''m Daisy! Your dungeon is so pretty!"


    One of the other fairies hid behind the third one to speak up, so the last two were introduced by the only boy fairy to be summoned.


    "I apologize, my wife Lily is very shy around people she doesn''t know very well. I''m Cedar, by the way."


    Violet blinked in surprise, a bit taken aback by her new residents. However, she soon recovered before reassuring


    "That''s alright. I''ll just quickly move your assigned rooms around so you two can share the same room. Are roses alright with you? The only other option I have is one with a hopscotch challenge. Those rooms will lock at times, which I do apologize for, but I just couldn''t quite spare the spawner space in one of the other room types."


    Daisy zoomed by excitedly before dancing with Jasmine as she excitedly exclaimed


    "Can you believe it? We are actually being given our own rooms to inhabit and we even get to be assigned to a spawner as well!"


    Cedar seemed to share that sentiment as he cooly replied


    "That''s fine, thank you for your consideration. By the way, are there any particular tasks you expect us to complete? I''m afraid our size doesn''t make us very effective at combat, but we''re still happy to help lead any enemies into [Traps] for you."


    Violet shook her head as she answered


    "That won''t be necessary. Right now it is cold and snowy outside, but I''d like it if you all could go forage outside the dungeon when the spring comes. I realize that might be difficult due to your small size, so don''t overwork yourself. Your safety is more important to me than how much progress you make.


    Anyway, I''ll give you all some time to settle in. I''m going to rest for a while, but feel free to find me if you all need anything."

 2.14 Just Desserts

    The next morning, Violet went down to the first floor. Since the dungeon had absorbed her tributes, she now had 646 dungeon points, which left plenty to play around with. As she planned to change some of the first floor rewards to be assigned to the second floor, it only made sense to start by assigning a new reward to the first floor rooms to replace the old ones.


    Violet had to spend a while thinking about what sorts of new rewards to offer that would be suitable for the first floor. Since she wanted them to be suitable for all ages and not a niche flavor choice, it would usually seem pretty simple. However, Violet struggled with coming up with ideas more than she thought she would purely because she didn''t have any chocolate to use. So many candies and desserts used cocoa powder or chocolate for flavoring that it took a while for her to move past that fact and think of alternatives.


    The first thing Violet decided to research was walnut butter.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research walnut butter using the [Base Resources] walnuts and salt?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet selected the [Yes] option and immediately proceeded to the next step in her research process.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 20 DP to research engraved wooden boxes using the [Base Resources] wood and iron?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research brown candy liners using the [Base Resources] brown paper and beeswax?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    One after another, Violet selected the [Yes] option before finalizing her research for the candies.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 30 DP to research walnut fudge using the [Base Resources] walnut butter, butter, milk, vanilla, and sugar?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 50 DP to research a box of walnut fudge using the [Items] walnut fudge, engraved wooden box, and brown candy liners?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While she could have just researched the walnut fudge with the packaging, Violet much preferred to have the flexibility that having both recipes researched unlocked brought with it. Of course, an additional 50 DP had to be used to set the box of walnut fudge as the new reward for the slime parkour room as well. So, this easily brought her total dungeon points down to 466, but it felt well worth the investment.


    "Please set the weather in the slime parkour room to be always overcast and sunset weather."Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    This request ended up costing another 75 DP to accomplish, but it was a much-needed adjustment. With the much better reward and the change from the stormy midnight setting to a sunset overcast one, the challenge would be much more reasonable for the first floor. The wooden platforms would no longer be slippery and it would be easier to make out the aqua slimes after they jumped out of the water. However, the platforms would still be the same distance apart and the challenge would certainly still be a difficult one, which is where having a more worthwhile reward came into play.


    Feeling satisfied, Violet moved on to the rainbow ball maze room where she also needed to replace the reward. The challenge seemed to be of a reasonable enough difficulty for the first floor since both David and Tobias''s party had already successfully completed it, from what she had heard. It was just that the chamomile shortbread cookies would be better suited to the second floor than one meant for children and beginner adventurers.


    This time around, Violet was inspired to make a version of a dessert she often saw at Chinese buffets in her old world.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 10 DP to research sugared pecans using the [Base Resources] pecans, sugar, and salt?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 4 DP to research brown paper cones using the [Base Resource] brown paper?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to spend 16 DP to research packaged sugared pecans using the [Items] sugared pecans and brown paper cones?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After selecting [Yes] on everything and then spending another 16 DP to set the reward for the rainbow ball maze challenge, Violet was now down to 420 DP. The package of sugared nuts were significantly cheaper to purchase at only 8 MP each compared to the box of walnut fudge, which cost an entire 25 MP each. So, this challenge was definitely not receiving quite as nice of a reward, but Violet still felt that everyone was likely to enjoy the new addition.


    With everything taken care of, Violet headed back up to the second floor. While she had a lot fewer dungeon points to play around with now, she still wanted to finish setting up her two new challenge rooms on the second floor. So, first she headed to the rainbow of roses room where Cedar was quick to greet


    "Hello, Violet! What can we do for you?"


    Shaking her head, she replied


    "I''m just here to work on this room. I''ll be setting the room to lock when adventurers enter, but the challenge is fairly easy so you shouldn''t end up locked in here for very long. Don''t worry, if it takes too long I''ll make sure to come and sort things out by the time night comes around that same day."


    With the [Guest List] skill, it was easy to keep track of who was where, so it wasn''t like she wouldn''t know if someone was stuck in a particular room for an extended period of time. Cedar waved off her concerns, seemingly unbothered, so Violet just went on her merry way.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to set the theme for this room? This will cost 150 DP. You will no longer be able to change the room''s theme and all [Items] added to it in the future must match the set theme, but upgrades will be unlocked for the room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Is the current theme correct?


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Theme: Rainbow of Roses Challenge


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It was a steep price, but the door couldn''t be locked without setting the room''s theme first. However, Violet would require 600 DP if she wanted to both set the themes and lock the doors of both this room and the hopscotch challenge room, so that would have to wait for the other room. With the additional 10 DP required to set the wild violet and honey lollipops as the challenge reward in this room, Violet was already down to 110 DP.


    So, she just finished up by setting the challenge in the hopscotch room with chamomile shortbread cookies for a reward. That took 30 DP, further reducing her total down to 80 DP. Violet hoped she would be able to finish this room as well, soon enough, but she knew she would just have to wait and see. For now, it was time for a long overdue nap.

 2.15 Dream Sequence: Nostalgic Video Games

    Violet was dreaming again, but this time it wasn''t of her time with her husband. Instead, this time she was a bit younger.


    It was finally summer break, no more annoying exams and preparing for college! Violet always worked hard enough during the school year to apply for scholarships, so summertime was a time strictly for relaxing. Well, she did still have a job down at the local breakfast cafe to worry about, but she was otherwise free to relax and play her favorite video game: La Cleric: Strategies.


    The game had been a bit obscure, even when it was more popular. However, now that people had already moved on from the PlayConsole 2, it was even more unknown than it had been before. However, Violet had bittersweet memories of it and she had always wanted to beat the game.


    She had originally been given the game by her uncle as a tenth birthday present and she had tried to beat it the next summer. However, things hadn''t gone as planned and she only barely managed to scratch the surface of what the game had to offer. According to her grandmother, her grandfather had ended up playing the game while she was back home with her parents. Since the game had been left at their house, it wasn''t exactly a big deal, but it had inspired her to try playing it again as both a way to enjoy an old favorite and to feel connected to her now-deceased grandfather.


    Violet had even prepared for today with quite a bit of effort. She had taken some of the money she had earned from working and gone out and bought some grape soda, her favorite regional potato chips that her grandfather had always enjoyed, and some store-brand sugar cookies. As she tended to be an honor student who never caused trouble, her parents never complained about her playing video games either, so she''d have the whole day all to herself.


    Completing the old video gamey feel, Violet even had an older box TV model. It still had color, but the screen wasn''t that big and she had to pile a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor to lean back against just so she could be closer to the screen. Then her snacks were set up nearby on a short cooler so they''d still be within arms reach, but she''d be less liable to spill her soda on the floor. Her mother might have been lenient about having food in her room, but she''d hardly hear the end of it if she spilled it everywhere.


    As the game''s intro screen booted up, Violet was met with the familiar sight of a large medieval-style castle town followed by church-like stained glass windows that depicted a story. This story was one very similar to the ones told in the light novels Violet also tended to enjoy, especially later on when she grew into an adult. Some dark and evil entity would descend down into the masses and wreak havoc and destruction, but there was always a hero or heroine who would represent the gods or goddess of that world that was destined to save the day.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    After the intro screen finished playing out, Violet was prompted to select her save, so she did so. By this point, she had actually already invested more than a hundred hours into the game and had easily gotten past the halfway point. Still, she had quite a bit of fondness for the characters and even had a small crush on the male protagonist of the story, Rook.


    The initial party was made up of the heroine of the series, Alouette, the protagonist, Chanter, and Chanter''s younger brother, Chiro. The trio had met in a church where Alouette had played the role of Chanter and Chiro''s teacher. La Cleric was actually the name of the demon-hunting group for the holy church and they were responsible for going out and fighting [Monsters] and demons whether it be in dungeon-like environments or out in the wilds.


    They, eventually, end up meeting Rook who is considered to be a freelance demon hunter, at the time, but later joins their group and the La Cleric organization. This happens after the main trio visit a sight that Chiro notes looks just like where his and Chanter''s parents were buried. When a strange "lady" appears and tries to sneak attack Chiro, Rook comes in shooting his gun and exposing the bad guy for what they are.


    His character had a very "hot shot" attitude and he was decked out in a trench coat, pirate-esque boots, and shades. Admittedly, his character was pretty cool, but that wasn''t enough to steal Violet''s attention right away. In fact, it wasn''t until much later in the story that she started to get excited every time his character showed up on screen and had an active part in the story.


    Most of the game was a top-down turn-based RPG and the characters weren''t nearly as detailed as they were in the cut-scenes where the story was brought to life. There were even voiceovers with each of the characters being given their own personality. It really made the game something special since the characters felt a lot more real than other games where they didn''t pay for voice actors.


    It likely helped that Rook''s attacks also just seemed cooler than some of the other characters. He was the only one with a gun in the entire lineup. Chanter used a baton that she used to beat her enemies into submission while her brother, Chiro, tended to have attacks that involved things like throwing mushrooms at the enemy. Of course, the heroine, Alouette, was very much a holy maiden-type who would call down divine judgment on the [Monsters] and demons. Which, while interesting enough, still somehow didn''t measure up to the badassery that was Rook.


    Of course, the characters themselves weren''t the only thing that Violet enjoyed about playing the game. It was also quite fun to see the different environments and discover what types of [Monsters] each would bring with it. There was even the opportunity to tame [Monsters] and use them as part of your team. You could slowly level them up and unlock new abilities for them, making it so there was always plenty of excitement to look forward to.


    Sadly, as much as Violet wanted to continue to sleep and dream, she eventually ended up waking up. While she had once had all day to spend playing video games, she no longer had such luxuries. It would seem someone had made it to the second floor and the dungeon didn''t seem to like it very much.

 2.16 Time Passes

    Another week in the dungeon passed by with very little changing. David and Camellia''s groups were still the only ones interested in visiting the dungeon each day. This started worrying Violet, but she wasn''t sure what the cause was. Could it be that her recent renovations also have put the others on edge? Otherwise, perhaps it was the wintertime weather that was the problem. It wasn''t like Violet knew how far away the nearest town was, perhaps it was too much for most people to make the trek over. Regardless, it felt unfortunate to see her dungeon become so empty.


    Thankfully, Violet wasn''t the sort of person to just give up at the first hint of difficulties. Thus, the past week was spent hard at work improving the dungeon and making preparations for the future. There wasn''t a lot of building going on, per se, as she had only really been building new things on the first floor with what little mana she could spare each morning. However, 700 MP still felt like quite a bit when compared to the 350 MP her previous mana limits would have allowed for.


    Over the course of the week, Violet also continued to receive a steady amount of incoming dungeon points from the few people who were visiting her dungeon. 700 DP had been paid to her from Avorn and Camellia as payment for letting them stay the night in the dungeon. It was all just repeats of things they had already given her, but that didn''t matter as much as the points themselves right now. Violet was certain that the snow was hardly making it easy for them to amass the points needed for their rent as it was.


    Of course, they also had to work hard to gather an additional 1,000 points worth of goods as well. Violet hadn''t completed her trade with them quite yet, but she had been told the previous night that they would be submitting their payment soon. As such, Violet had already completed her research for the dried firewood and planned to finalize the purchases later in the night.


    It had ended up costing an entire 50 DP to research the dried firewood with the mana cost being 25 MP per 10 Units. The research costs had been a bit higher than Violet had been expecting as was the upfront mana cost. However, the overall cost for the wood was slightly lower than she had been anticipating. Violet could only suppose that the fact that some sort of time manipulation was involved in the creation of the wood and had to be at fault.


    Everything in the dungeon was created from magic, so one would assume that creating dried firewood was no different from creating any other form of wood. However, it wasn''t exactly as if Violet was the one who decided how the system worked, nor was she an expert in it to any extent. She could only grasp at straws as she tried to rationalize to herself why the system would even work the way it did.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    In addition to the dungeon points earned through Avorn and Camellia, Violet also got a small chunk of points through the tributes that David brought to the dungeon each day. However, that really hadn''t amounted to much as he had gotten quite lazy about it. The first day or two he was more generous and had even brought her a wooden training shield as well as some hair sticks. Of course, Violet had no way of knowing this, but they were all broken when they were absorbed by the dungeon. Still, the remaining days of the week had seen David bringing nothing but a few handfuls of acorns and leaves that he had likely collected from the dungeon itself due to them all being repeats. So, in the end, she had only gotten a paltry sum of 43 DP from David.


    While Violet normally wouldn''t be so judgemental about what was brought to her as a tribute, she couldn''t help but feel slighted in this case. She had been trying to be sympathetic about his circumstances during the winter season by not requesting anything specific as tribute. However, it seemed that this was only causing laziness and a lack of effort on his part. Surely there was a local landfill or something that he could scrounge up something more worthwhile to use as tribute from? Violet sighed, feeling like this was just one more reason that she wanted to cancel their agreement sooner rather than later.


    As for what she had spent her actual mana on, Violet still wanted to take her time with building, so she had mostly built empty rooms and hallways. 160 MP was spent on five new 16-Units by 16-Units square rooms, 48 MP was spent on two new 8-Units by 16-Units rectangular rooms, 25 MP was spent on five new 5-Units straight hallways, and 30 MP was spent on three new 10-Units straight hallways. These had been arranged on the first floor to follow the pattern she had already established on the right side of the floor. All she would have to do now was figure out what sort of new [Monster] fields and challenge rooms she wanted to build in them.


    Of course, that amount hardly added up to the full 700 MP she had access to across the seven days'' worth of mornings. The rest, however, had been spent on upgrading and installing new 100 MP spawners on the first floor. 400 MP allowed her to purchase four spawners, which she installed in the wildflower meadow, the hay meadow, and the two new rectangular rooms she had built.


    As she now had more room to assign slimes to the room, Violet even moved the five basic slimes that were on the second floor in the flower hunt challenge room to the wildflower meadow room. As there was previously only one bee colony, a kodama, and a single basic slime in the wildflower meadow room, this more than doubled the population of the room. It was possible this would make the room more difficult, but the slimes tended to only engage adventurers one at a time unless they were intentionally provoked into attacking in groups. Of course, if an actual intruder who meant harm to the dungeon came along, they would all attack at once, but that was unlikely to be the case with young children.


    Feeling quite satisfied with finishing up her work on the first floor, Violet headed up to the second floor. She still had much to do and it would be good to check in on her new pixies.

 2.17 Custom Merchandise

    As Violet walked through her rooms on the second floor, she was greeted by each of her new pixie friends. Cedar was the first of which as he said


    "Hello, Mistress Violet! Another slow day today, huh?"


    Violet gave a faint smile, nodding, before she replied


    "Yes, it seems that is the case."


    Jasmine tried to cheer her up as she reassured


    "Don''t worry, we can keep you company, if you''d like!"


    Daisy followed that up with her own comment of


    "Who needs those pesky adventurers anyway? Certainly not me!"


    Violet pursed her lips to keep from speaking out against such remarks. Jasmine and Daisy were very happy-go-lucky free spirits, but they also tended to have quite a bit of prejudice against adventurers. Violet wasn''t sure that Cedar or Lily were much of a fan of them either. It was just harder to tell since Cedar tended to be more careful about what he said while Lily was too shy to do more than wave hello while hiding behind her husband.


    While she tended to identify more with the people of this world, Violet wasn''t so sure that it was even her place to keep the peace between her [Monsters] and the adventurers who entered her dungeon. Most of the folks she had met were fairly decent people who just wanted to earn a living or grow stronger, but it wasn''t like everyone would always be so reasonable. When it came time for the dungeon to be defended, it would only confuse those living in the dungeon if they were forced to feel guilty about taking the lives of those living outside of the dungeon now.


    Deciding to focus on less stressful things, Violet waved goodbye to the pixies, promising to spend some time hanging out together with them a little later in the day. It was nice to spend time around the pixies since they always seemed happy to see her, but she couldn''t help but feel like there was a hint of subservience to their behavior, which also made her feel uncomfortable to some degree. Violet wasn''t quite sure whether it was worse to deal with the frightened and overly respectful adventurers or to accept that friendliness from those who were forced to do as she told them to. None of it really felt like genuine friendship in the way that time spent with Elivyre did, regardless of how rare that seemed to be.


    As she walked to the dungeon core room, Violet noted that she hadn''t really made any progress with building anything on the second floor this week. Despite having more than sufficient mana thanks to Avorn''s and Camellia''s stays in the dungeon, she had chosen to take a week off from building anything significant. Instead, she had spent her nighttime mana earnings a little at a time before going to sleep for the night.


    This had helped her mood by a considerable amount. It was always nice to relive some of the best memories from her previous life during her rest periods. Sometimes she dreamt of her husband, sometimes she dreamt of time spent with family, friends, or coworkers, and other times she dreamt of old video games she had played. The last one seemed especially useful for sparking her imagination in a way that allowed her to consider what she wanted to build her dungeon to be in a more creative way.


    With the resources she had access to, she could really do some good for this world. It would take a lot of difficulties and a lot of time to enact change, especially while trapped inside the walls of this place, but she had plenty of time to get it right. For the time being, though, she wanted to start with something small, but that she knew would benefit the locals quite a bit. So, she had spent a good chunk of her dungeon points from the past week researching new merchandise that she could sell.


    The firewood that Camellia had requested was likely something that more than just they would need. However, just trying to sell more firewood was likely thinking too small. In the long run, the townsfolk could always chop firewood from the lower floors of the dungeon and then store it throughout the year to ensure there was plenty of firewood the next winter. So, it would be far better to focus on other options that she might even be able to sell year-round.


    It took Violet quite a bit of time to think things over. She was pretty sure she wanted to make some new food [Items] to sell since those always seemed to be popular. However, she also felt it was important to consider things like the shelf life, nutrition, and enjoyability of the foods. She already had hard tack, jerky, and raisins available on her [Item] list, but hardly anyone would choose to eat that if they had other options available.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    In the end, Violet had settled on making goods from three general categories. The first of which was soup, which had cost an entire 204 DP to research six of them. The options she had available were a bit limited due to not having the [Base Resources] available to create them. So things like cabbage soups, gumbos, or even beef stew were completely out of the question. What Violet did have was a large variety of vegetables and some game meats that could be swapped out to create a new version of the recipes she had enjoyed in her previous life.


    A tomato soup made from tomatoes, deer stock, milk, garlic, salt, pepper, a mason jar, and air magic had been the first she had researched as well as the cheapest. The deer stock had already been unlocked thanks to Tobias''s party donating it as part of a bowl of venison apple stew a while back. Since there wasn''t even chicken among the [Base Resources] list, it was much simpler to just use what was already available. As for the air magic, Violet was fairly certain that it was being used to remove all the air from the mason jars and pressure seal the jar, much in the way one would be boiling the jars when canning.


    The other soups were broccoli and cheese, Italian wedding soup, deer and gnocchi, white deer chili, and venison apple stew. The Italian wedding soup had required that she first research meatballs made from boar and deer meat as well as some ditalini pasta. Meanwhile, the deer and gnocchi was like a knock off version of chicken and gnocchi soup and required that gnocchi be researched to make it. As for the venison apple stew, Violet only had it available without a container or in a bowl. Even if she manually put the stew into a mason jar, it wouldn''t be shelf-stable, so it was far safer to do the research for it as well.


    The reason why soups seemed like a good idea in the first place was that they would be a well-rounded meal that only needed to be reheated before it could be eaten. Of course, it would also pair well with various garnishes or be delicious when eaten with some buttered bread, but it could technically be eaten as they were. Add to that fact that they were easy to make shelf-stable and quite tasty and it just made for an excellent addition to her merchandise.


    The second category of goods Violet worked on was drinks. She had been inspired by trips she used to take to Asian markets with her husband and decided to make powdered milk teas. Having some extra nutrition from the dairy, some energy from the sugar and caffeine, and some warmth from it being a hot drink just made it seem like a good option to have. Of course, it also helped a bit that the black tea she had been selling was quite popular. Even Camellia had bought some from her despite how much financial difficulty she and her husband tended to have.


    A black tea version was simple to make as it only required black tea, milk, sugar, a mason jar, and some air magic. The dungeon seemed to be able to manipulate time and what form an [Item] was quite freely when it came to doing research, so it wasn''t difficult to make everything into a powdered form. In fact, Violet was pretty sure the air magic was just to seal the jar for extra freshness, which she was hardly going to complain about. She didn''t exactly want her goods to go bad before she could sell them after all.


    The second version was a matcha tea version, which required her to research green tea using the black tea first. However, both it and the black tea ended up being the same cost for the powdered milk tea version itself. They were only 32 DP each to research or 16 MP for a 0.5 Unit jar full of the stuff. Since it would only require hot water to make, Violet was hopeful that it would prove as popular with the locals as it was with her past self.


    Finally, the last group of [Items] she researched fell into the snacks category. Some cinnamon apple chips, caramel pear chips, zucchini chips, mild salsa, and queso that were also all stored in mason jars rounded things out quite nicely. The chips were all basically dehydrated fruits and veggies and didn''t require any sort of fat since they weren''t the fried sort. They were all pre-seasoned save for the zucchini chips as well, which were meant to be enjoyed with the salsa or queso instead.


    After everything was said and done, Violet only ended up having to spend 384 DP to research everything, which left her with 439 DP now. While she could have focused more on building things for her actual dungeon with the amount of points she had earned in the last week, Violet was hopeful that this would be a better investment in the long run. Helping out the locals was likely to earn her some goodwill as well as far more DP than she had spent to research these goods in the first place.


    Of course, there were other matters to consider as well. For one, her magic bag could only hold 50 Units worth of goods at one time. Thanks to David buying everything else, she only had 18 potions left, which weighed half as much as a mason jar of goods or about 0.25 Units each. That left her with 45.5 Units for other items.


    Unfortunately, Elivyre still hadn''t visited the dungeon and so Violet still had her potions. She was half tempted to just reabsorb them and accept the loss of the mana she had invested in them. However, she didn''t want to disappoint her friend whenever she did, eventually, hopefully, show up. Violet frowned, she really did hope that her friend was doing alright.


    Violet ended up using 30 Units of space to store ten of each of the six soups, 5 Units of space for five of each type of milk tea, 5 Units for five of each of the fruit chips, 3.5 Units or space for seven jars of zucchini chips, and the last 2 Units of space were used for two of each of the chip dips. That had only cost her a total of 1,081 MP to purchase, which was less than she would generally make in a single night lately.


    However, as stressful as it was to watch her mana go to waste, it was nice to take some time to just relax. The feeling of potential for what she could build in her dungeon was almost better than the feeling of accomplishment of completing a room or floor, especially without adventurers around to enjoy her hard work.

 2.18 Odd Jobs

    David sat at a table, slowly picking pine needles from a branch alongside several others. Each one would have to be separated from all the rest and then put into a mason jar for storage. Later, he would have to remove the outer bark and put that in a separate mason jar before collecting the inner bark to set aside for something called "bark flour". Finally, the remainder of the branches would be set aside to be tied up into bundles. It was tedious work that took up several hours of his work each day, but the work wasn''t nearly as bad as some of his other jobs in the past.


    Earlier that week, David had stopped by the local tavern to try and sell some of the sweets and black tea he had gotten from Violet to the tavern owner. Sweets were better off being sold to merchants usually, but, after some digging around, he found out that there was unlikely to be anyone else coming through anytime soon. Apparently, someone had just come through last week and they wouldn''t be returning for another few weeks.


    The tavern owner had happily bought the tea, but was only able to offer half of the usual price for the sweets. As this town was still small, the amount of income that could be earned from renting out rooms, selling alcohol, and offering meals was still rather limited. The tavern owner was confident that the tea would sell well to his patrons and that some of them may even be willing to buy the sweets, but there was no way they''d fetch nearly as much as selling it to a noble family.


    David had managed to negotiate with them in order to get some basic staples like flour, butter, and eggs instead of accepting the coins for the sweets. The tea was still a fair price, though, and he still needed to be able to buy some more goods to trade to Violet, so it was sold at the offered price. It wasn''t ideal, but it would certainly help alleviate some of the concerns regarding food that they had at the moment.


    Before leaving, he had gone to check the community board for any jobs that might suit him. Usually, the adventurers'' guild or a merchants'' association would be a better place to look for odd jobs that needed doing. However, both of those were missing from a town as small as this one still was. So, it was only natural that the tavern, which saw the most people coming and going, would fulfill the role instead.


    There, David had found a listing from Avorn recruiting some people to help them process foraged goods. In exchange, they were offering to teach others how to process tree bark and acorns into a flour of sorts as well as offering 50 Units worth of dried firewood. The job was simple enough sounding and David could only surmise that the request was either recently put up or was unpopular due to not offering an actual coin reward.


    There had been quite a bit of awkwardness as David met Avorn for the "first" time. He hadn''t gotten their names when they were in the dungeon and their first impressions of each other hadn''t been the best. However, neither group was willing to let a misunderstanding stand in the way of getting what they needed. So, a contract was signed by each party and the job was accepted.


    Each afternoon Avorn and his wife would stop by Gregory''s house and drop off a large pile of branches, decaying tree trunks, etc. that they had likely collected from the nearby forest. After showing David how to differentiate the outer bark, inner bark, and the rest of the wood, the rest was left to him for processing. Gregory had seemed to feel a bit awkward about having his own family roped into the work, but he had easily accepted it once he knew it would help keep his family fed and warm for the winter.


    There weren''t just pine branches to process, but those seemed to be the ones that Avorn was most interested in. He even insisted on them keeping a count of how many of everything there were. That tended to result in one of them having to dump out a full jar and count out the contents before recording how much there was and putting it all back in again. That was, unfortunately, left to David himself as he had the best education among the older individuals in their household.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    There was public education available for all children from the spring through the fall. It only cost a small fee that was affordable even for commoners, but that didn''t mean that everyone could afford to send their children off to school. Those who did farm work often needed help managing things from day to day more than they cared about whether their children could read, write, and count. So, children often only ended up getting the most basic education before being forced to drop out of school for good when they came of age.


    Really, David felt that Henry was a rather fortunate soul. His father was giving him the chance to learn swordsmanship and attempt to build a better life for himself instead of forcing a life of farming on him. Most commoners couldn''t afford to get their children appraised and didn''t want to risk their children dying in a dungeon, so they just forced them to manage their expectations from a rather young age. It was an unfortunate fact of life, but it was sad nonetheless.


    Noble knights tended to be strong adventurers, so it was unlikely that Henry could get an official title without being one of the lucky ones to earn a class. However, David was sure that he''d still be capable of becoming a local guard with slightly better pay than your average farmer, even if he never awakened any abilities.


    David shook his head, he was letting his mind wander again. A rather unsurprising fact considering he had nothing better to do while he worked. Still, it would be time to pack up and get ready to go to the dungeon soon. Apparently, this would be the last time they''d be expected to do this work. So, David needed to bring along everything when he went to the dungeon today so that he could hand it over to Avorn and his wife when he saw them.


    He was going to keep all but a small sample of each of the barks. Apparently, Avorn would be stopping by as soon as the next day to fulfill his end of the bargain. They''d be bringing them a large pouch of acorns as well as the dried firewood. Then they would teach everyone in their house how to turn the acorns and barks into flour. The children seemed quite excited about the idea, even Alice, so David was happy that Avorn had been so agreeable about teaching everyone instead of just him.


    While they had a few large bags of flour from his deal with the tavern owner, David was sure that it would be good to have alternate options. Alice had even already started excitedly collecting acorns whenever they went to the dungeon. Well, even he could admit that some nice homemade bread to dip in their nightly supper of soup would be quite nice.


    "Come on Alice, it''s time to go!"


    David said. Alice rushed out of the bedroom she had been staying in with Luna in tow. The wolf cub was getting larger by the day and was easily already half his daughter''s height. Soon enough the wolf was likely to be full grown, even if it would still be a bit immature.


    "Daddy, I''m cold! Are we almost there yet?"


    David just pursed his lips, shaking his head in disbelief as he reassured her


    "We''ll be there soon enough, just hang in there a little longer."


    The trek to the dungeon was a bit long and Alice frequently complained about how cold it was. She was at an awkward age where she was both rather mature in her thinking and a bit emotional due to her immaturity. David didn''t mind the occasional emotional outburst or complaining, but he also couldn''t help but feel like he wasn''t the most suited for comforting a small child. It was really a shame his wife had passed away so soon as he knew she would have known just what to do in such situations.


    Eventually, they made it to the dungeon. David made sure to head to the room meant for tributes first. It was still empty, but he still wanted to respect Violet''s wishes as best he could. Then he pulled out a burnt bread roll and set it down carefully on the ground. He wasn''t so sure that Violet was going to consume such a thing herself, so he hoped that it didn''t matter what state it was in. Most of the rolls in this batch had been fine, but this one had been a little too exposed to the hearth and ended up a bit burnt. Rather than forcing anyone to eat it, he had hidden it away in his pocket until it came time to go to the dungeon.


    Despite David''s attempts to respect Violet''s wishes, she still couldn''t quite see how hard he was trying lately. All she knew is that David was just as watchful as ever and that she had once again gotten a single DP for his tribute.

 2.19 Learning To Trust

    Camellia was quite happy as she walked through the entrance to Thornkeep Sanctuary. It was an interesting name for a dungeon, but she wasn''t exactly one to judge. She was certain she wouldn''t know where to begin if asked to name a dungeon. Besides, the name somehow felt fitting given how the dungeon functioned. The first floor was fairly safe and almost felt like a home away from home after so many days camping in it. Yet, she could never quite escape the uneasy feeling that the dungeon brought, as if something dangerous was waiting to ambush her at any moment.


    "Are you excited, love? We''re supposed to get our very own magic bags today! One for each of us even!"


    Avorn asked in a rather chipper tone. Camellia smiled down at her husband as she answered


    "Of course! It honestly feels just as good as discovering a rare and hidden treasure. I''m glad we got someone to help us process everything into individual parts as well. I was a bit worried we would have to cut down on our leveling up at night just to make time to do it ourselves."


    Avorn nodded in understanding. It was certainly true that they wouldn''t have had any other time to do so. The tavern owner wouldn''t have been happy if they did it at one of their tables, even if they did buy some ale to drink while they worked.


    During the daytime, Avorn often went around trying to forage things in the forest, but that could hardly be done for very long with how cold it was. So, they had to find other things to do to keep them preoccupied until they could return to the dungeon. Selling some of the loot they had earned from the dungeon could oftentimes be drawn out for a while so they could remain in the warmth of the stores in town. However, they always inevitably ended up at the tavern where they could stay for a few hours so long as they kept buying new pints of ale or splurged on the occasional meal.


    Luckily, now they would be able to afford such an expense more easily. They had hardly been planning on buying magic bags as they were much too expensive, but they were going to need proper backpacks so they could invest in better camping gear. Now they had magic bags, so they''d be able to fit everything they needed in them and also have plenty of room leftover to carry away more loot from the dungeon. That, in turn, would also make it easier to earn a larger sum of money in a shorter period of time so that they could buy new armor and weapons more quickly.


    After coming to the koi pond room, the two looked around uncertainly. Avorn was the first to speak, though, as he asked


    "David should be here by now, right? Where do you think he''d be?"


    Camellia wasn''t entirely certain, but she still answered


    "I know he usually seems to wander around a bit. Maybe he likes to complete the dungeon challenges?"


    Avorn nodded before noting


    "You know, we haven''t actually tried any of those out for ourselves yet. Do you think maybe we should set aside some time to try one or two of them?"


    "Since we come here every night, it almost seems like a waste not to."


    Camellia answered. The conversation was left at that as the two started to wander around the dungeon.


    It was a bit surprising for the two to see just how much had changed in the dungeon. There were now six basic slimes in the wildflower meadow where there had only been one before. Avorn almost felt bad for the kodama who seemed to be in a much more crowded space now, but he was hardly going to say anything to Violet about it. Still, he hoped that the situation would be sorted out soon.


    They passed by a few puzzle rooms while they were walking around. Their systems notified them of what all the challenges entailed as they passed by, which made it easier to decide which of them would be better for them to attempt. The rainbow ball maze and jigsaw challenges both seemed to be good options. While they were unfamiliar to them, the concept seemed simple enough, if a bit time-consuming. Still, it would hardly be a big deal if they had to take their time to figure out the mechanics behind the puzzles.


    By the time they found David, he had just finished up his training with Violet and was heading elsewhere to work on some challenges. Camellia smiled as she spotted Alice who was carrying a basket full of various plants. David still felt a bit uneasy about letting someone he knew so little about talk to his daughter, but he decided to keep things amicable. It wouldn''t do to pick fights where it wasn''t necessary.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Here, I''ll get out the [Items] you asked for. I''m not entirely sure what you''re planning to use these for, but, if you''re hoping to trade with Violet, she doesn''t seem to be interested in that today. I already tried and got told that she needed to finish up her current project before she was willing to do anything like that."


    David wasn''t exactly blind. An adventurer who was taking the time to meticulously prepare something that wasn''t edible seemed to suggest they were trying to trade with Violet. He wasn''t exactly about to complain since the firewood and knowledge he was gaining was far more useful than mere hopes Violet would be in the mood to trade with him. However, he still felt the need to warn them that their endeavors might be fruitless.


    Avorn just smiled, thanking him for his help as he and his wife took the [Items] off his hands. They weren''t entirely sure what sort of project Violet might be working on, but they weren''t going to give up so easily. It wasn''t like they were trading for her usual merchandise, they had struck a deal with her and already informed her ahead of time that they intended to trade with her today. So, while it was always possible for her to put it off, the chances of her going through with it also seemed quite good.


    Of course, Violet didn''t know anything about their conversation or concerns. When she had mentioned being busy with something to David, she had also been merely referring to her deal with Avorn and Camellia in a rather vague manner. It was none of David''s business who else she traded with anyway, so he hardly needed to know the finer details. All that mattered was she found carrying around three magic bags, two of which were loaded to the brim with firewood, to be more of a pain than she liked. She just wanted to get rid of the extra baggage before even attempting to dig out all the bits and bobs she had in her primary bag.


    Violet waited a while before going to approach the couple. She wanted David out of the way so she could talk to them in a more private setting, which meant waiting for him to go home for the night. Still, it wasn''t too bad of a wait since she could happily spend time enjoying the new scenery on the second floor. The room filled with roses had quite a pleasant aroma and the addition of the strange trees made for quite the strange sight.


    Eventually, though, it was time for the trade. Violet tried to make her presence clearer by walking with more intentional footsteps, instead of as quietly as she usually did, as well as announcing her presence when she entered the room they were in.


    "Hello! How are you all?"


    However, this didn''t seem to help matters all that much. Adventurers were still rather wary, constantly worried about [Monsters] or other adventurers ambushing them. So, Avorn still ended up pointing his bow at her with an arrow drawn. Camellia was the first to catch on to what was happening and gestured for her husband to stand down who ended up looking quite embarrassed.


    "I apologize about that. You usually approach so quietly that we don''t even have time to worry about whether it''s a friend or foe. We didn''t mean to threaten you."


    Violet narrowed her eyes, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but after a moment she relaxed. She reminded herself that these two were trustworthy. If they had meant to harm her or her dungeon, they would have done so by now. As an extension of this wish to show more trust for the two, Violet decided not to make things difficult for them when it came time to trade the goods.


    While it was tempting to demand they leave the [Items] in the dungeon and then leave so she could tally things before giving them their stuff, it wasn''t exactly a show of good faith. Besides, if they truly respected Dungeon Masters, including herself, as much as they acted like they did, then it was unnecessary. There was no way they''d ever think of betraying her, especially not unless they planned to never return to the dungeon again, which seemed unlikely.


    It also wasn''t like she had as much to lose from this deal as they did either. She already had the magic bags unlocked and the firewood had only cost 50 DP. The mana could be easily forgotten about and it was pretty easy to eyeball if there was 50 DP worth of [Items] being given to her or not. So, she was more than likely going to make her investment costs back, if nothing else.


    "Here, they''re both full of firewood. You won''t be able to put anything else in them until you remove the firewood, but I don''t recommend removing it before you leave the dungeon. It might get absorbed once the dungeon is empty if you leave things lying around."


    That wasn''t exactly the whole truth. Anything created by the dungeon that had yet to leave the dungeon wouldn''t be absorbed without her willing it to happen. However, explaining the nuances of such things seemed unnecessary.


    Even Camellia seemed shocked that Violet had trusted them so easily. However, all she could really do was to give the [Items] they had prepared to Violet while explaining


    "We separated the various parts so they would count as a single [Item] for the points. You''ll probably have to take them out of the mason jars first, though. There should be more than 1,000 points worth here since we also included samples of various barks and such for you. We weren''t sure whether they''d count as a single point or more, so we just made sure we had enough leaves and needles to account for the 1,000 by themselves."


    Violet nodded in understanding before bidding them farewell. It wasn''t until the next morning that she saw her new total was 1,598 DP. They hadn''t been lying about providing more than enough to fit the criteria. She had been given a mixture of pine, birch, spruce, and fir bark as well as spruce needles, pine needles, fir needles, birch leaves, wood, and some mason jars. It was interesting to see that the dungeon just considered the stripped wood as the same as any other wood with only 1 DP being given for each of them. Of course, there was also some twine that the wood had been bound in, which had given her a nice bit of extra dungeon points. All in all, it felt like it was quite worth it to make such a deal with those two.

 2.20 Interlude: Big City Merchant

    Nicolas Chapman hated the winter season with a passion. The snow always made it difficult to convince anyone to transport goods from place to place. Yet the need for potions, especially in a city as large as Bramouth, would only increase. He had been fortunate enough to get a few crates of herbs from his daughter, Elivyre Nightstar, before the snow had fallen, but he was steadily running out and would need more before the season was over.


    As such, he was currently in the middle of writing a letter to his daughter to inform her of his plans to send a wagon to collect more herbs from her within the month. It always felt a bit odd having to sign the letter with a different last name from his daughter''s. However, his wife had insisted it was better for their daughter to take her last name to help her fit in. Apparently, a half-elf with a human last name, like his, was more likely to face scrutiny when visiting elven cities than those who could easily be identified as one of their own.


    Nicolas was, honestly, quite pleased with his investment in his daughter already. The plants she had sent him thus far were of excellent quality and variety. Apparently, the local dungeon even had more of an abundance of plants than either of them had hoped for. So, once she was done sending him the free crates full of plants, she would be able to supply him with a good deal on herbs in the future as well.


    As for why Nicolas had ever thought it a good idea to start an alchemy business in a place without abundant resources for such a thing, that was another matter. The dungeon in Bramouth was a well-established one with twenty whole floors, which meant that there were a great deal of adventurers who passed through the city. Combine their numbers with those of the local residents and those who had moved here to start businesses of their own and you''d end up with quite the market for potions.


    His shop front was quite large and they boasted the best potion selection in the entire city. Craftsman classes weren''t entirely rare, but they were certainly uncommon. Since he had been gifted with an alchemist class himself, he didn''t even have to worry about finding someone to work for him, much less negotiating wages. All of his staff were purely there for organizing stock and managing the shop side of things. They''d buy herbs at the current market price, always careful not to buy too much of any one thing, and then he could work his magic, turning them into potions that could be sold for a profit.


    Of course, as even his daughter knew, an alchemist class wasn''t necessary in order to be capable of brewing potions. However, the types and quality of the potions would be quite limited. That was why his business had been able to thrive all this time thanks to his rather high-level alchemist class. It was only a B-rank, but that was still better than the other alchemists in the city. Individuals over C-rank weren''t exactly willing to work for someone else, after all, and there were too many dungeon-based cities out there for all of the high-level alchemists to be in the same place.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    There was also an additional bonus for living in a city with a dungeon that tended to focus on magic crystal mines rather than plants. While he had to pay a rather high fee to have herbs shipped in from elsewhere and to pay adventurers to collect herbs from the forest a half day''s travel from the city, he could also charge rather high prices for the potions he was selling.


    The value of goods were often decided in such a way. If something was in abundance, but had very few willing people willing to buy it, the price would naturally be lower. If something was difficult to get ahold of and everyone wanted to buy it, then the price would skyrocket. As cities tended to be built around dungeons, which could create an abundance of whatever it specialized in, that meant the price of goods were often decided based on what was available in said dungeons.


    Setting his pen down, Nicolas went to fetch some candle wax and his seal. He would have to pay a small fee to have someone with the appropriate magic send this letter off right away. That would have to wait until the next morning, but it would still be guaranteed to get there far sooner than any wagons he might send. That was a good thing since he wanted to make sure his daughter had sufficient time to prepare the goods. He didn''t want to inconvenience her, after all, as he did love her quite a bit.


    He''d likely have to include some specialty potions for her as well as whatever her siblings or mother wanted to include. However, those could be sent with the wagon. Perhaps he would also include another letter for her. It would be good to have one where he could include more personal notes, unlike this one which was almost purely business. Nicolas also hoped that his daughter would send him a letter in return.


    It hadn''t been very long since Elivyre had arrived in Millstone, so he had only received one letter in the month or so that she had been gone. That one had mentioned that she had found somewhere to live, but that she''d have to open up shop early in order to afford the monthly rental costs. Once the shop was built, the upstairs would include a separate living area, so he knew that wouldn''t be an issue for more than a year, at worst.


    The more interesting bit, of course, had been just how many different plants had been available in the local dungeon. It sounded like the main issue was the lack of adventurers to collect and sell the herbs rather than any lack of abundance. She had also mentioned that she planned to take a few trips to the dungeon herself, which worried him to no end.


    While he had gone into dungeons himself in order to gain the necessary experience required to increase his level and unlock more valuable class skills, he still worried for her. She was his daughter, after all, so this was only natural. Still, Nicolas was sure that he''d support her endeavors so long as she was happy.

 2.21 The Empty Dungeon

    Another two weeks passed much as the first two had after Violet unlocked her second floor. The only ones who showed up day after day were those who had signed contracts with her. David was just as hot and cold as ever and Avorn and Camellia were quiet and caused no issues for Violet whatsoever. It wasn''t a bad life and it certainly allowed her to have more time to think out how she wanted to build her dungeon, but Violet still couldn''t help but worry about what was going on outside of the dungeon.


    Sure, she could have tried to ask David about why no one else was showing up to the dungeon, but she got the feeling that would just lead to him giving an aggravating answer that was more likely to sour her mood than actually be helpful. As for Camellia and Avorn, they hadn''t approached her to talk or trade and Violet could only assume they enjoyed having their space. She didn''t quite enjoy the unpleasantness of Avorn''s fear of her either. He had been slowly, ever so slowly improving, but giving him time to process things seemed better than exposure therapy in this case, not that Violet was much of a psychologist.


    Elivyre not showing up to the dungeon was the most disappointing thing of all. They were supposed to be friends and Violet didn''t get the impression that her friend was afraid of her. So, unless there was genuinely something wrong, why hadn''t Elivyre shown up for nearly a month now? If it were a lack of being able to carry through on her promise to trade for the potions, Violet would rather her friend just ask her for more time than avoid her completely.


    A surge went through the dungeon and she felt a sense of calmness wash over her. This was a common occurrence lately as Violet couldn''t help but worry about the state of things. When the dungeon was so empty after seeing so much success, she couldn''t help but worry that she had done something wrong, that she was at fault for the empty dungeon. It was even becoming difficult to feel up to developing the dungeon when it just felt like all her efforts were for nothing.


    Well, Violet had already slowed down her building by quite a bit. She had used some of her excess mana at night to invest in a small coin pouch to store paper, ink, and a quill as well as lots of sweets and tea to enjoy with the pixies each night. The tea still had to be brewed by leaving it out in the sun, but it was still just as tasty. The nights were peaceful and the pixies were always so eager to hear about her plans for the dungeon. Jasmine and Daisy were especially excitable as they loved to point to her various sketches and ask what things were, offering up their opinions on things quite freely.


    Lily was still as shy as ever, but she did stop hiding behind Cedar long enough to wave hello to her now. It would seem she was slowly, but surely warming up to her, which made Violet feel relieved. Lily''s behavior wasn''t aggravating like the adventurers since it was clear she was just super shy rather than being afraid of Violet. Still, it would be nice to see her come out of her shell and relax as the others do.


    Feeling the familiar feeling of someone entering the dungeon, Violet knew it was time for her nightly swordsmanship training. Violet let out a heavy sigh as a thought occurred to her. David''s tributes had been rather low-effort lately, even to the point of seeming passive-aggressive. She could easily guess what he had brought tonight was likely to be the same.


    Violet wasn''t entirely wrong either. David felt frustrated by how infrequently Violet wanted to trade with him. After the initial long wait for her to be willing to trade with him, she had ended up limiting him to only having the opportunity to trade with her once a week. Considering this was throwing off his plans to feed his family delicious food during the cold season and get rich in the long-term, he couldn''t help but feel frustrated.


    Of course, there were other factors at play as well. There was a distinct lack of merchants coming through the town to trade with and the only one he could depend on buying the goods from him right now was the local tavern owner. The new alchemist would purchase any plants that he brought her, but there weren''t many options for selling luxury food items. That also meant that it was difficult to get anything worthwhile for trading to Violet as well, much less bringing new and interesting [Items] for tributes on a daily basis.


    Despite all of this, Violet really wasn''t doing too bad. She had received 1,400 DP in rent payments and 14 DP from David from his daily tributes. Then there was the matter of the dungeon points she had earned from their weekly trades. Last week, David had bought all of the soups she had as well as the mason jars full of powdered milk tea. The [Items] had a value of 2,240 DP, but she had ended up earning far more than that.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    As she took her stance and prepared to begin their nightly duel, Violet continued to think things over. It was no longer worth her time to practice sword swings and form while with David. Besides which, it felt a lot more vindicating to be able to channel her frustration towards him by going at him with all she had, even if she knew she was still a bit far off from being able to overpower him. It wasn''t like he was a weak adventurer, after all, he had reached a pretty decent level even before he had ''retired'' in order to start his own family. Violet wasn''t sure that was such a bad thing, though, since that meant she never had to hold back.


    After they finished with their hour of training, Violet would go ahead and handle this week''s trading session with David. Last week he had brought oak leaves, oak bark, apple tree leaves, apple tree bark, and mason jars. She had been impressed by the number of leaves that could be stored in one magic bag, but that was mostly just because she wasn''t aware of just how light they were, even in mass quantities. Apparently, 1,492 leaves only takes up a single Unit of space.


    David had chosen to bring these [Items] as a bit of a gamble based on his interaction with Avorn and Camellia. He had to assume their trade had been successful after he had noticed they were carrying new bags the next time they met. So, he went into the dungeon and chopped down an oak and an apple tree and then dragged them out of the dungeon and back home. A normal man might have struggled to do such a thing, especially without help, but this was easy enough for David, it was just a shame how much of a mess it left in the process.


    The dungeon repaired itself when he left, but he had to go back through the forest and local town area and clean up after himself as best he could. Gregory had offered to help him or to send one of his younger sons, but David had turned them down, assuring them he could handle it by himself.


    Since the apple tree and oak bark wasn''t one of the ones Avorn had mentioned as being possible to turn into bark flour, he had just packaged it up into mason jars to trade away to Violet. The sticks and wood itself had been bundled or chopped into firewood and stored in Gregory''s family''s barn so that it could, hopefully, dry out before the end of the winter season. They were fine, for now, thanks to the 50 Units of firewood they had received from Avorn, but it was unlikely that amount would last them the entire season.


    Violet had accepted the [Items] David offered her easily enough, but she was entirely too unwilling to sit there and count out the leaves required to pay for the rest of the cost. Instead, she told David to do it while threatening that she would never trade with him again if there was even one leaf missing. This had resulted in David just giving her all of the leaves he had brought with him, which had made Violet quite happy thanks to the profit she made. However, it worsened David''s impression of her. Even though he was happy his gamble had paid off, he didn''t like the threat to his livelihood.


    In the end, Violet had ended up making an entire 7,496 DP from the trade. While she had dumped the bark out of the mason jars before they were absorbed by the dungeon, she had only received 10 DP for each, which was mostly due to them being added as new [Items]. The apple tree leaves were also new, but she only got 10 DP for the first one and then the rest were worth 1 DP each. Despite David having a magic bag, he hadn''t exactly filled it to the brim with things for trading, some of the space had to be used for his other equipment. So, while she had made off like a bandit, it wasn''t as over the top as it could have been.


    Violet enjoyed the extra dungeon points since it meant that she could invest in her dungeon more. However, she wasn''t so greedy as to take advantage of anyone, even David, so she informed him the next day that the same purchase only required just under 2,250 leaves, in case he wanted to make the same purchase again in the future. David was appreciative of her help, even if it did still sound like a pain to count all the leaves out.


    He didn''t even have to chop down any more dungeon trees for a while. Since one oak tree could easily have 225 Units of leaves or 373,134 leaves, he could likely afford to pay for the same purchase every week for the rest of the winter season and then some.


    As David wasn''t aware of just how much under 2,250 leaves it would cost, he just brought that exact amount for this week''s trade. There wasn''t much point in changing his order either since nothing had changed for him and Violet hadn''t added any new [Items] to her stock. The soups were good options for feeding everyone at their household while the teas could be sold to the tavern owner for a bit less than he''d like, but a decent price nonetheless.


    Once Violet parted from David''s side to head back upstairs she thought about how she really wished Elivyre was here once more. It would be good to ask her about any merchants who might be interested in signing a contract with her. Either that or some sort of charity organization that could ensure the goods made it into more hands and could help more people.


    Violet didn''t really like the idea of selling goods too often to normal adventurers or even most merchants. She didn''t want people to treat her the way David clearly was trying to. Neither she nor her dungeon were there purely for adventurers to get rich or otherwise take advantage of them. Violet wanted to help people, but her merchant hobby was otherwise just a means to an end.

 2.22 Candy Shop

    It was once more tea time with the pixies. They gathered around excitedly as Violet set everything up. First, she had to summon a few mason jars then she added some black milk tea powder, put the lid back on and then shook it up well before placing it in an especially sunny spot. That was harder to do on the second floor due to the tree coverage, but still not impossible. Then she summoned a few strips of cloth to spread out as a blanket before creating several varieties of sweets.


    Jasmine and Daisy squealed in delight before flying around excitedly, clearly happy about the feast laid out before them. Violet had some concerns about feeding them a diet of sugar, but she also wasn''t really sure what to feed them that would be appropriate. From what little she had been told, they were used to drinking dew off of tree leaves after it rained and foraging for berries, nuts, and mushrooms. She had included a few of those as well, but the pixies weren''t overly eager to eat those when there were cookies and iced carrot bread to munch on.


    Oh well, Violet wasn''t exactly their parent, they could sort it out for themselves. She had work to do. Removing the coin pouch from her belt, she loosened the strings and pulled out her inkwell, a goose feather quill pen, and the most recent drawing she had made of the dungeon. Quite a bit of progress had been made over the last week, even if it was just on the first floor.


    For one thing, the first floor tribute room was finally being properly utilized. She had ended up deciding on an old-fashioned candy store theme for it. While she had initially been throwing around the idea of making it something nature-themed to fit the meadow theme of the first floor, she had struggled with thinking up something that felt fitting for it. In the end, she ended up coming to the conclusion that it didn''t have to fit the floor''s theme. She would only ever have one official tribute room, after all.


    She had decided to decorate the room with shelves to line the walls, tables in front of those, and baskets to fill the tables. Then she would use large barrels lined up in rows to fill the middle of the room. While it would have more of an appropriate vibe for a candy store if there were colorful candies to fill the various storage containers in the room, that wasn''t quite how things had ended up. Instead, the idea was for the tributes from adventurers to be placed in the barrels and baskets. It was a bit of overkill to have so much storage space for everything, but Violet figured it would likely be needed in the long run.


    Tributes couldn''t be absorbed unless the dungeon was completely free of non-dungeon entities. When there were more floors in the dungeon, it was likely that there would be times when adventurers would camp out in the dungeon as they spent weeks traversing the many floors trying to climb as high as they could. That could result in the tributes piling up and then anything less than this might seem underprepared instead of fitting as it would right now.


    A lot of research had to be done in order to furnish the room. 10 DP was spent on researching the shelving and then 70 MP was spent on fourteen shelves. The same costs applied to the tables that were placed in front of the shelves. Then 2 DP had to be spent to research straw from grass before another 4 DP could be spent on researching the woven straw baskets themselves. Since each table could hold ten baskets and there were fourteen tables, 280 MP had to be spent on the baskets. Still, that was hardly the most costly [Item] used in the room.


    The wooden barrels cost 20 DP to research, but 640 MP was needed to create 64 of them. They were lined up in rows next to one another just like the ones that would hold loose individually wrapped candies in a candy store. The barrels would be doing most of the work when it came to storage, though, so it was fine that nearly an entire week''s worth of morning mana had to be spent on them.


    Since the room would otherwise be too open with green grass and a blue sky, Violet also had to spend some DP on researching an extra large canopy and mana on putting it and some stone brick path in. The canopy was the most expensive dungeon points-wise at 50 DP, but it only cost 25 MP for one large enough to cover the entire area of the room. With the addition of a 10 MP square of stone brick pathway, it was almost as good as an indoor-style room, but it was still a bit awkward. Still, there wasn''t anything more that Violet could do about that.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Of course, just putting a bunch of storage in a room and connecting it directly to the hallway outside the entrance was hardly enough to make it clear that the room was meant to be for tributes. So, 90 MP was spent on wooden signs to place throughout the room and just outside it. They each read


    "Please leave your tribute here before continuing your adventure."


    That wrapped things up on the mana front, but Violet was hardly going to leave things at that. In order to call it officially complete, she had to spend another 235 DP to set the room theme and to make it always midday and sunny with the temperature and humidity reflecting the weather. While most of this wouldn''t be visible through the canopy, it did make it so that the room was lit up to some extent, making the contents visible even without a magic light or torch.


    Thanks to David making an extra trip to the dungeon in the daytime, Violet had nearly 1,500 MP to spend over the last week instead of a mere 1,400 mana points. Well, she had more than enough mana at night time, but that was the amount she had available to spend during the day time when there weren''t adventurers preventing her from improving the first floor. So, that meant that, after she spent nearly a week and a half in the tribute room, she was able to work on other rooms as well.


    One of the minor things Violet had gone out of her way to work on was the koi pond room. It was pretty good as it was, but she wanted to add in the lily pads and lotus flowers she had received from Theodore a while back. Why she had put it off so long was a bit complicated. She likely could have scraped together the 8 MP to apply them to the room long ago, but every time she had the mana to do so she had conveniently forgotten about it, until now anyway. Still, they were certainly a nice addition as they made the pond more colorful.


    From there, Violet had prioritized building new [Monster] fields. The two empty 8-Units by 16-Units rectangular rooms had already had 100 MP spawners installed in them, so this was a rather cheap matter to take care of.


    The first room she had created she decided to name the dandelion meadow. Since she had removed the late-stage dandelions from the flower hunt challenge room, this was where she decided to recreate the effect. 40 MP on basic slimes and then moving one of the basic slimes from the wildflower meadow, reducing their numbers to five, easily filled her quota for the room. Well, she could have placed ten basic slimes, but she didn''t want to overdo things and cause the adventurers to be overwhelmed. Besides, she could always put some [Critters] in to add to the ambiance later on.


    6 MP was all the dandelions and late-stage dandelions cost her. Then 285 DP set the room''s theme, made it midnight with summertime weather patterns, slightly windy, and made the temperature and humidity reflect the weather. It was super simple, but Violet still found it quite lovely as it made the effect of the dandelion seeds floating on the wind that much easier to appreciate.


    The second [Monster] field room was named the misty meadow and was a bit more complex, but still fairly simple compared to some of her other projects. Instead of basic slimes, Violet splurged an entire 50 MP and 125 DP to make five new chameleon slimes for the room. The only other room that she had utilized them in thus far was the hay meadow, but she felt their unique camouflaging skills would work well in this room as well.


    As she wanted a nice pop of color, Violet spent 12 MP to apply long grass, allium roseum, butterfly weed, and chicory flowers. This created a nice mix of green, pink, orange, and bluish-purple from the grass and flowers. Most rooms with multiple flowers were more like a rainbow of colors, but this was more of an intentional combination that Violet felt paired well together.


    In order to complete the room properly 200 DP had to be spent to research foggy weather effects. The price was a lot higher than it really should have been, but Violet could only assume that was because she only had water as a [Base Resource] and not water magic to base the weather effect on. After spending 150 DP to set the room theme, 50 DP to set the time of day to dusk, 25 DP to set the weather to always sunny, and 10 DP to make the temperature and humidity reflect the weather, it had only cost 50 DP to make it very foggy. That meant she had to spend four times as much just to research the weather effect as the highest setting for fog instead of a more normal amount like when she researched the windy weather effect. Still, it felt worth it since it gave the room a unique effect she hadn''t used before.

 2.23 Old Fashioned Candy

    "What do you think, love? Do you think they''ll like it?"


    "Huh?"


    Cedar asked, causing Violet to blush before dismissing his question.


    "Oh, nothing, just talking to myself!"


    Cedar looked at Violet with a bit of skepticism. This wasn''t the first time he had heard her talking to someone who wasn''t there. Yet she always seemed unwilling to clarify when asked. She just turned beet red and then tried to play it off as if it was nothing of importance.


    Violet looked down at her drawings with an expression of concentration. She had been hoping to get more challenge rooms done on the first floor this week, but there simply hadn''t been enough mana to do everything she wanted. Still, she really hoped the children, like Alice and Henry, would like the new puzzles and rewards she had implemented.


    Since she had decided to go with a candy store theme for her tribute room, she ended up designing five challenge rooms with old-fashioned candies for their rewards. The only problem was that she had only had 199 MP left to spend for the week by the time she started working on them, so she had only gotten around to making three of them. Still, she was rather looking forward to implementing the other two sometime in the next few days.


    The first room she had designed was a 3D slime-themed jigsaw puzzle. It was a bit of a recycled idea considering she already had a slime-themed jigsaw puzzle, but it still seemed like a fun idea. When she had first designed the other one, she had even caught some of them trying to stack the puzzle pieces that were meant to lay flat, as if it was a 3D puzzle instead. Now she would actually have one, which she was sure would result in just as much chaos and confusion as the first one had.


    Of course, she couldn''t just simply make it a 3D version of the first one, it was necessary to improve upon the first design! So, she had used blue dye on the wooden pieces so that the finished result could look like an emperor basic slime when complete. Although it would have been pretty neat to do an emperor rock slime, Violet worried that the grays and browns would end up looking too similar to the first design, so that idea had been quickly scrapped for a basic slime instead.


    As for the reward in the room, this one had been based on the peanut butter "kisses" that used to be very rarely given out at Halloween when she was a kid. Some of the older folks enjoyed them and wanted to share their love of the candy by sharing them with the new generation. Apparently, many of the parents disapproved of it, though, as the wrappers tended to be harder to check for signs of tampering and the candies were often handmade. However, after Violet had expressed interest in the candy, her mother had brought her out to buy some from a specialty store nearby and she had fallen in love with the soft, chewy, and sweet candy.


    Of course, there weren''t actually any peanuts among the [Base Resources] cataloged in her system. That much hadn''t changed at all since she had made the walnut fudge. However, it also seemed a bit boring to just do a walnut candy again, so Violet opted for making pecan "kisses" instead. It ended up costing 20 DP to research the pecan butter, 10 DP each to research black and orange wax paper for candy wrappers, and then 30 DP to research the pecan "kisses" themselves. Of course, as per usual, it also cost the same amount as it did to research the [Item] initially in order to set it as the reward for the challenge.


    Still, even after the 50 MP and 100 DP to research and implement the 3D puzzle, the total costs for setting everything up were only 50 MP and 170 DP, which really wasn''t that bad. Well, that was if she didn''t consider the cost of building the rooms and connecting hallways, but, well, those were old costs anyway.


    The next challenge she had set up was also a slime-themed puzzle, which really was starting to make her dungeon challenges on the first floor seem a bit repetitive. However, Violet didn''t particularly care that much about how original everything was. She just wanted a variety of puzzles that could be completed safely by children and beginner adventurers alike while also maintaining a slime theme throughout most of the puzzles. Well, not every challenge had to involve slimes, some could just be inspired by children''s games she had enjoyed while growing up, but it was still nice to make a good chunk of them slime-themed.


    Of course, in order to space things out a bit, Violet alternated which of the challenge rooms had which puzzles. While she built all of the slime-themed ones first, she skipped one of the new 16-Units by 16-Units square rooms to leave space for other puzzles before making the next one. Since there was only one connecting hallway to lead from the koi pond to the last challenge room space, that meant one would have to slowly progress through the challenge rooms with a [Monster] field in between each. So, ideally one would do the slime-themed jigsaw puzzle, the hay meadow, a different challenge, and then the 3D slime-themed jigsaw puzzle. Then there would be the new dandelion meadow [Monster] field before another type of challenge room before the third slime-themed puzzle came into play.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The third one ended up being a sliding image puzzle type. It was another flat puzzle, but the pieces couldn''t be picked up and moved around. Instead one had to push the images around to unscramble them and make the final image. This one Violet had also made a colored version with green grass in the background and the same blue basic slime design as the 3D slime-themed jigsaw puzzle.


    That one had cost her 50 MP and 180 DP to set up, which was a little bit more than the other puzzle, even despite taking fewer research steps to complete. There were really only two things to research. The initial puzzle, which had cost 50 MP and 100 DP and then the reward. This time Violet went with a rainbow lollipop reward, which sounded simple enough until one got into the finer details of what all was required to research it. In fact, it had cost four times the amount that the wild violet & honey lollipops had.


    See, Violet wanted each color layer on the lollipop to have its own flavor. She had gone with raspberry, orange, blueberry, and blackberry for the red, orange, blue, and purple colors, but the rest had just been honey-flavored. She didn''t want to ruin the lollipops by involving too many different flavors, but she felt the combination of those five worked well enough. Still, it had resulted in a total research cost of 40 DP, which had then been doubled so she could set the challenge reward as well.


    The other three challenges Violet had in mind for building were a bit more complicated as she had to build them from individual pieces. So, she only ended up creating a pick-up sticks challenge, which was placed between the dandelion meadow and sliding slime puzzle rooms. Luckily, the sticks themselves were pretty cheap to research at a mere 6 DP, which was likely due to the simplicity of their design since they were just dyed wood. However, Violet remembered that pick-up sticks games always involve a minimum of thirty sticks to ensure there were enough for, at least, two players. So, she had to spend 90 MP just to create the minimum number of sticks needed.


    It was quite interesting to see the giant sticks piled on top of one another in the middle of the room, especially with the rainbow of colors they came in. Of course, normally a game of pick-up sticks would also involve a stick for the player to wedge under the others. They''d have to remove one without any of the other sticks being jostled in the process. If they failed, it would be the other players turn. Once all of the sticks were safely collected, whoever had the most would end up winning the game.


    For this version of the game, the objective was a bit different, though. Instead of being a competitive game, the challenge could be done single-player. Violet planned to make it so there was no minimum for the number of sticks that had to be picked up either with even just one being removed equalling a win. Since players would have to carefully remove a stick with their bare hands, despite the sticks being taller than them, it would already make for quite a difficult challenge.


    While one might have concerns about how feasible it was for a child to even attempt the challenge, Violet had made sure to address this when she was building the game. The sticks were super lightweight to the extent that they could easily be snapped in half, even by a non-adventurer. So, while it would likely be difficult logistics-wise due to the size of the sticks, it was technically something that could be completed by anyone.


    As for the prize for the challenge, Violet had to research white wax paper before combining it with eggs, sugar, vanilla, water, red dye, orange dye, yellow dye, green dye, blue dye, and purple dye to make candy buttons. There wasn''t any flavoring to these and they reminded Violet of mini meringues to some extent, but they were still very much so a classic candy.


    Violet hadn''t exactly made candy buttons before, so this was her first time even really thinking about the ingredients they were made with. Instead, it was thanks to her enhanced memory from bonding with the dungeon that even allowed her to recall ingredient lists she had maybe glanced at once in her lifetime that allowed her to recreate such things. Really, this was far beyond just having a photographic memory as Violet didn''t even have to have gotten a proper look at something before. She just had to think about the information she wanted to recall and flashes of memory would appear before the information she wanted slowly filtered into her mind.


    It had been a bit difficult to get used to everything in the dungeon when she had first arrived. However, as the days went by, it became much easier. In fact, the dungeon system no longer caused her migraines when it needed to search her memory for information. It just had a notification appear and then quickly implemented whatever she was asked for. Perhaps, one day even that would no longer be necessary. Regardless of how strange it all was, it really didn''t seem worthwhile to spend too much time dwelling on it.


    There were much better things to think about like how she wanted to go about creating her next two challenge rooms. She would have to wait until she had the mana for them, but she already had plans to make a giant Jenga game and a wooden lock puzzle challenge. Since she still had 11,126 DP from her trades with David and everything else, even after all of her expenditures, she was pretty free to work on things as she liked. All she had to do was wait for the mana to come in so she could get to work.


    The second floor could likely use some work as well, maybe some more [Traps] and more difficult challenges, but Violet just didn''t feel as motivated to work on it. Who was even going to see the second floor when no one was even coming to look at the first floor? Maybe if she tried harder to make her first floor new and exciting again she would eventually have enough people interested in her dungeon to make it feel worthwhile to work on things again...

 2.24 Return To The Dungeon

    It had officially been a month since Tobias''s party had last been to the dungeon, but they were all excited to get back into the swing of things. It had been difficult to wait things out, but the wait was finally over! They had been disappointed to see the dungeon had unlocked a new floor since tradition called for everyone to give the Dungeon Master an entire month''s worth of space to build afterward. Part of this was for their safety, but the other part was due to respect for the Dungeon Master.


    It wasn''t uncommon for a new Dungeon Master to want to completely overhaul the dungeon''s layout and change things up when they unlocked a new floor. Many didn''t, but plenty of others did and that tended to become a safety hazard. Those who were used to the dungeon''s old layout could be caught by surprise and end up getting themselves killed. Other times the Dungeon Masters would purposely make their dungeons more dangerous to discourage adventurers from visiting because they wanted space to work. Regardless of the reason, Tobias wasn''t about to let his team get hurt by neglecting the traditions.


    "Now remember, we have to be extra cautious this time around. I know Violet seems friendly, but that doesn''t mean that she won''t put up [Traps] and whatever else to protect her dungeon. We''ll likely have to remap everything and re-complete all of the challenges to ensure that we have everything done properly. However, we aren''t going to step a single foot onto the second floor. We need to get this done quickly so we can wrap things up before the winter ends and we can take a new job in the spring. Alright?"


    Tobias looked each of his team members in the eyes to get their nods of confirmation. Thodin didn''t have much to say, so kept it simple with a grunt and a nod. Mirabella reassured her brother by saying


    "I''ve already got some fresh paper and ink ready to take notes. I''ve kept the notes in case the guild wants them, though. It might be good to establish a pattern of behavior so they can better classify what sort of dungeon it is."


    Tobias nodded, replying


    "Good thinking. I''m sure that''ll make it easier when I have to write up the official report on everything."


    Turning to Matthias, he asked


    "Can you cooperate a bit more with the challenges this time? The sooner we can complete them, the sooner we can all take a break. I know you said your mother has slightly recovered during your visit, but I''m sure you''re still anxious to be there with them."


    Matthias glowered at Tobias, he didn''t like the death flags he was putting up, especially just before they were about to enter a dungeon. Still, they had all been respectful about him taking time off to visit his family, so he tried to muster up some positivity for their sake.


    "I''m not going to do that parkour challenge, but I''ll help with whatever else I can."


    Tobias nodded, reassuring him


    "That''s fine. The others and I have been practicing with the makeshift course we set up, so we''ll likely have better luck with it than you would."


    Matthias felt like that came across as an insult, but he knew Tobias didn''t mean anything by it, so he just let it be. With everything confirmed, the group headed into the dungeon.


    Instantly they could tell that things had indeed changed since they were last here. There was no longer a path in front of them, instead two paths branched out to either side of them. As one of the paths had a sign stating there was a tribute room ahead, they decided to go that way first.


    The hallways were still dark, so they had to use a magic light each time they traveled through one. Otherwise, they likely wouldn''t have even been able to see the sign in the first place. Upon entering the tribute room, the group was a bit surprised to see it was more like a small storage room. It was crowded with shelving and barrels and there was light just barely coming through the thin cloth covering that served as a roof.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Well, this certainly isn''t what I was expecting."


    Tobias noted. Mirabella laughed as she interjected


    "I suppose it certainly doesn''t fit the otherwise whimsical nature of the dungeon. By the way, did you notice the dungeon has a name now? Apparently, it''s called "Thornkeep Sanctuary". Perhaps Violet is trying to change things up from how it used to be? Such a carefree and peaceful dungeon wasn''t likely to last long, but it''s still a shame."


    Matthias was easily swayed by his party member''s words and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. It wouldn''t be good for the dungeon to have switched strategies so quickly like that., people could get hurt. Well, his party would likely be fine, they knew better than to let down their guard and they had Mirabella to scout out any [Traps]. However, it was still problematic since the dungeon already had a reputation for being one of the more beginner-friendly dungeons.


    Tobias hummed in thought before replying


    "Well, it might be a little too early to tell. This is only one room, after all. Let''s go ahead and leave our tribute here, as it says, and then we can move on."


    Despite his hopeful comment, he still planned to take his time moving forward so that he could watch out for any problems that might arise. Luckily, since the dungeon had a second floor, they could now afford to spend several hours in the dungeon without any issues. Well, Violet might still be working on the first floor, but they''d certainly clear out before the sunset.


    They dropped a silver coin into a barrel before moving on to the next room. They had been wanting to buy something decent for a tribute this time around to celebrate Violet''s recent success, but they had been out of luck. The merchants seemed to be having some difficulties, so there hadn''t been very many, if any, coming through the area over the last month. Then, to top it all off, the tavern owner and grocers started raising prices as well as setting limits to how much they would sell people. It would seem the town''s supply lines were cut off and this was going to be a rather harsh winter.


    The next room they came across was the new altar room. Religion in this world was a very personal affair with most adventurers choosing only a small handful of deities they were willing to pray to. Those who were devoted only to a single deity tended to be either part of a holy church or part of a cult for one of the darker gods. Neither of those things were really ideal for the average citizen, though, especially since all of the gods with temples in dungeons were very much so real.


    Mirabella was curious and went up the stairs of the altar to take a closer look at the statue of the goddess displayed on it. Reading a small placard at its feet, she read off


    "The goddess of love and beauty. Huh, that''s an interesting one. I''m not sure I''ve heard of her before. Have any of you?"


    Thodin stroked his beard in thought before slowly replying


    "No, I haven''t. Do you think it''s a new one?"


    Well, there were no ''new'' gods or goddesses per se, but any deity who hadn''t been showcased in a dungeon before could certainly be considered new to them. Tobias felt a little unsure of himself as he said


    "I think most dungeons end up with deities that relate to the nature of the dungeon themselves. For example, a dungeon filled with the dead might have an altar to the god of death. If that''s actually the case, then perhaps this dungeon is the only one that has qualified to represent this particular goddess up until now."


    Mirabella felt that made sense, so she nodded before declaring


    "Alright, well, I think I''m going to pay my respects. It isn¡¯t every day that you discover a new deity and I could probably use some help from a goddess of love."


    Tobias looked away awkwardly. His sister had been talking about how she wanted to meet a strong, handsome adventurer to settle down with one day ever since they were kids. However, as her elder brother, it was a bit embarrassing to constantly have his sister''s lack of a love life brought up around him. While he was sure their mother would much rather he thought similarly so someone would be able to pass down their family name, he just wasn''t ready for that quite yet.


    Thodin''s laughter made him grimace and he quickly hurried the others out of the room to give his sister some privacy. She could meet up with them at the entrance to the next room when she was ready. Until then, they would just have to wait.

 2.25 Dream Sequence: Graphic Design Dreams

    Violet used to dream of becoming a cook when she was little. She would even make elaborate ''salads'' from weeds in her backyard. Some wild onion grass, the yellow petals from a dandelion, and even the seeds off of a plantain leaf plant would be thrown together to add some visual appeal. Then her salad would be plated on a plate she drew up with chalk with sticks she shaped into utensils using stones or the sidewalk to smooth them.


    Of course, this was more so when Violet was really young and barely even in elementary school. Eventually, her dreams grew bigger and she learned more about cooking. She started helping her grandmother in the kitchen while she would cook breakfasts and her grandfather when he would grill burgers and steaks on the grill. Violet even had to reshape her dreams to be bigger than she had thought of before as one of her least favorite uncles teased her that being a line cook wasn''t going to pay very well nor be very impressive. Thus, she started saying she wanted to be an executive chef instead.


    It wasn''t until Violet was in middle school that she even discovered that there were other potential career options she might want to pursue. That was about the age when her love for video games also began to take on new meaning. It was no longer just playing superhero fighting games on the PlayCube with dad because she wanted to spend time with him. It started with wanting to play and beat Zinia games by herself and rushing to complete her homework so that her mom would grant her permission to play for a few hours before dinner time.


    Of course, video games themselves weren''t the trigger for Violet to become interested in graphic design, instead it was just one minor part of her journey. What really put the career option on her radar was a trip to a career technical school during her first year in middle school. During this trip, she was taken around to get a short introduction to all of the different programs they offered and she even got a few trinkets and pamphlets to take home from the experience.


    There was a welding group, which handed out little Halloween-themed metal souvenirs, the culinary group, which showed off the work it took to make the lunch they ended up making that day, and then there was the graphic design class. There Violet got to watch as they made drawings of anime characters with a digital art program and a mockup advertisement that could easily be put into a magazine. The instructor never mentioned how the same skills could be applied as part of the video game-making process, instead Violet didn''t really learn much about that until her college years.


    Still, Violet had become fascinated with the concept of making art on a digital canvas. Her grandfather had always encouraged her to try her hand at drawing, but she always found it messy and frustrating whenever a line came out wrong. With digital art, though, one could easily erase their mistake and then draw a new line, ensuring that the final result was that much better.


    So, when it came time for the second tour of the career technical school, during her first year of high school, she easily made her choices for which two programs she wanted to tour. This time she could choose what she wanted to learn more about, so she chose culinary arts for the first option and graphic design for the second. Despite her fascination for the subject, she was, unfortunately, still conflicted about which choice to make at that point in time.


    This was what Violet found herself dreaming about today. She walked behind several others who had also chosen to learn more about the culinary arts aspect of things. Apparently, they would be switching to their second choice after they ate lunch. Unlike the previous time she had been here, they were going to be looking at both the 11th-grade and 12th-grade classrooms for the culinary arts material.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    If she decided to attend the school, she would have to buy the uniform and pay for the class fees associated with whichever class she wanted to attend. Then she would have a small handful of classes to continue the normal educational side of things with the special classes occurring during the mid-day portion. The culinary arts 11th-grade course work would apparently see her studying book work before going to the cafeteria to prepare lunches, which everyone else who attended the school would be eating that day. The menu would be decided by the teacher and they would have to strictly follow recipes. Each week they would switch tasks so that they could learn everything there was about running a kitchen from cooking to serving to dish washing and food safety.


    The 12th-grade work for culinary arts was similar, but then they would be in charge of running a restaurant that would be open to the public. Others who attended the school could go there during their lunch period and order from a menu then would be waited on by the students, much like one would at a normal restaurant. However, parents and random people off the street could also enter the restaurant, which made it a very serious and stressful-sounding affair. There would be more freedom to choose which dishes you wanted to cook within the station you were assigned to for the week, but it was still fairly similar to the 11th-grade cafeteria''s setup. One week you would be serving, taking orders, delivering drinks and food, and carrying away the dirty plates. The next you might be on the bread station, salad station, dessert station, or even working on dishes. You didn''t really get a choice on which you worked at, but you still had to deliver quality work.


    To make matters worse, apparently there were certifications you had to earn and a minimum number of job hours you had to log before the end of the year with a restaurant-type job. You would be responsible for obtaining your own employment, ensuring you get the paperwork signed off on by your employer, and everything else related to it. While Violet had ended up getting a job at a restaurant during her time at the career technical school anyway, this had not been the ideal situation for her at the time she was doing the tour. Instead, it all just added up to a sense of overwhelm and made it easier to choose just about anything else.


    The lunch this time around had been rather mediocre, even compared to the usual slop the lunch ladies served at her normal school. Violet wasn''t sure she remembered the food being quite so bad when she was younger. Maybe this year''s students were just worse at cooking or perhaps it was just that she was less picky about her food when she was younger. It wasn''t exactly as if her own parents were talented in that department, after all.


    The graphic design class was very much the same as it had been the last time she had toured the place, but this time she had more time to ask the instructor questions about everything. Apparently, the dress code was much more relaxed for this class. A somewhat ugly T-shirt with the program''s information on it, jeans, and a flannel zip-up with the class''s logo branded on it. Well, it still sounded better than the rather complex multi-layered outfit the culinary class required.


    The instructor was also good about reassuring her that they would teach them everything from scratch so that they didn''t have to have any prior knowledge or skill about the subject. Violet had taken a computer class where they designed websites in her 9th-grade year of high school as an elective and had been playing around on her own at home for the last few years, so she wasn''t exactly clueless, but it was still good to know she wasn''t expected to be super talented or risk majorly messing everything up right off the bat like with the culinary class.


    When Violet later looked at the fees associated with the two classes, the graphic design one had actually been slightly cheaper as well. Having a less complicated uniform that didn''t have to be special ordered certainly helped a good bit with that. For the most part she just needed to cover the costs associated with some special computer programs they''d need both in class and at home for any homework. So, just like that things were set in motion for Violet who would later end up working as a graphic designer for some indie video game studios just before she died and was reincarnated into another world.

 2.26 Saving The Best For Last

    Ironically, Tobias''s party wasn''t aware that they had gone in the direction with the hardest challenges first. As the first two rooms had neither [Monsters] nor challenges to complete, there was no need to use the garden meadow room for rest. Thus, they skipped leaving a tribute in the well and continued on to the next room.


    Unfortunately for Matthias, the only path forward went through the slime parkour room. He debated returning to the garden meadow room, but decided that would be a foolish choice. The last thing he wanted was to be separated from the rest of his party in a dungeon that had recently had major renovations. Besides, if their group came across the boss room, they would need his corrosive acid and Thodin and Tobias would have to work in tandem to take down the boss. Since Mirabella had to go everywhere in the dungeon to map the first floor, that meant there would definitely be no way anyone could remain behind.


    Tobias grimaced at Matthias, knowing that he wouldn''t be able to make things easier for his fellow party members. He had said that Matthias wouldn''t have to do the slime parkour challenge, but he couldn''t do anything to change their current circumstances.


    Stretching, Tobias prepared to jump across to the first platform. As he did so, he noted that the room''s environment made things much easier this time around. It was like they had been playing on hard mode previously and now things were a breeze. There was no longer pitch darkness nor slipperiness from the constant rain pelting down on them.


    As the first aqua slime jumped out of the water towards him, he easily struck out at it with his fist. Thanks to his ability to harden his body to be as strong as metal and just how weak slimes tend to be, in general, the slime easily dissolved as its core was destroyed. Assuming there were still just five of them in this room, that meant they would only have to worry about another four aqua slimes.


    Tobias easily crossed the room, effortlessly jumping from platform to platform until he finally reached the end. He had already managed to complete this challenge once before and he had been practicing for the last month or so on their makeshift obstacle course at their rental property. All of that combined with the new, easier difficulty level made it easy enough for him to complete the challenge in one go.


    Mirabella was a lower level and rank than her brother with no real skills to contribute to her ability to complete physical challenges. However, her long legs, thanks to being a half-giant, made it easy enough to follow along. She almost ended up falling over due to a stray slime, only for Thodin to save her at the last moment, falling into the water in the process. However, in the end, she made it to the other side.


    After swimming over, Thodding pulled himself out of the water. Then, guffawing, he noted


    "I likely wouldn''t have been able to make it over anyway. I just don''t think I''m built for jumping such great distances."


    Mirabella smiled down at the dwarf, grateful for his kind words. She did feel a bit bad about him falling into the water like that, but she supposed it couldn''t be helped. Luckily, they had stuffed his armor into her magic bag, which she had made extra space for, so he wasn''t wearing it when he fell into the water. Leaving it on the other side wasn''t ideal and they had known it was likely they would have to complete this challenge again sometime this week. Luckily, now that they had, she would be able to repack her bag when they returned home tonight.


    Matthias was not prepared at all for such a challenge. He was nervous about the first leap and then ended up tripping over his long robe, falling into the water right away. He looked much like a wet cat, none too happy about his circumstances, by the time he reached the other side. With all of their party members now finished with the challenge, Mirabella and Tobias accepted the reward for the challenge.


    Mirabella was quite surprised as she received the hefty box. There were some pretty engravings on the outside with flowers and butterflies alongside some intricate lines that covered much of the top of the box. Opening it, she was even more pleasantly surprised to find it filled with some sort of sweet-smelling food that seemed quite dense. It gave off a strong smell of walnuts and sugar and there were more than a dozen of them set into square compartments with brown wax paper to cushion them.


    "This is quite nice! Since we both got one, we should be able to keep one for ourselves, right, brother?"


    Tobias nodded his head in response to his sister''s question. He was still deep in thought as he contemplated just how much had changed about the challenge and just what it would mean for the dungeon they had grown fond of. With the challenge being easier and the reward being this good, it was likely to become popular with adventurers come spring time. However, he did worry a bit about whether everything had been adjusted like this. It wouldn''t be a good thing if Violet let her guard down too much and ended up falling to invading [Monsters].This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Right now, she would likely be safe. Most of the wild [Monsters] tended to ''hibernate'' over the winter season, just like people do. The snow and ice made travel difficult for all and that would provide an extra layer of protection, for the time being, for this dungeon. However, the dungeon was now more vulnerable than it previously had been.


    The classes at the adventurers'' guild and the few books he had read on the subject didn''t explain much. However, it would seem that stronger [Monsters] would feel a draw to higher-level dungeons. Essentially, it was possible that stronger [Monsters] than goblins and wild animals would come for the dungeon core, eventually, because they would be drawn to the stronger energy signatures it would give off. It was likely to be a gradual increase in threat levels being drawn to the dungeon, much like the ranks of adventurers interested in the dungeon would slowly increase. However, that didn''t stop Tobias from worrying.


    After Thodin and Mirabella finished re-equipping their armor, Tobias nodded to his group before saying


    "Alright, if we are all ready to go, we should continue. I don''t know how far this path will lead, but I''d like to get, at least, a few challenges taken care of today."


    The boxes of walnut fudge were placed into Mirabella''s magic bag. It would be more difficult to fit everything into her bag by the end of the day, but she hadn''t packed more than a single quill pen, inkwell, and a few scraps of paper, so there should be plenty of room for the rest. Her supplies were quite light for a 50 Units limit magic bag, after all. While there were better magic bags out there, this was the best she could afford, so she had gotten used to packing light.


    The next area they came to was the one and only roundabout hallway Violet still had in the dungeon. It had two branching paths with one very clearly leading to the boss room while the other led to a more normal room. The group could easily tell the boss room from the others as such rooms always had larger, fancier doors than the other rooms in a dungeon tended to have. It was one of the ways the dungeon helped to make things fair for adventurers. If they were going to be locked into the room and forced to defeat a tough opponent, then it was only fair for there to be some way to know what they were getting into beforehand, not that complete beginners would know what they were doing.


    Of course, Tobias''s party was fairly high level, save for Mirabella, so they could easily tell which room was the boss room. They ended up choosing to enter the floodplains meadow room next instead. The group groaned as they realized they would once more be completing a rather difficult challenge. Eventually, they found out that this room had undergone a difficulty adjustment as well, but that didn''t change their initial feelings on the matter.


    Now that the rabbit holes were gone from the room, the five basic slimes had limited places they could hide. Mere bushes did nothing to stop the party from hunting them down and stuffing them into the sacks they had obtained just for this challenge. It still took a while as the annoying things were slippery, but they, eventually, ended up rounding them all up.


    With four of them there, they easily covered more ground. They stuffed the slimes into their bags one at a time and then handed them off to Thodin to look over. There was no way they were going to try and stuff two slimes into the same bag since that would increase the odds of both getting away, so they had to use a new bag each time. Once they were all rounded up, they were unceremoniously dumped into the fenced-in area.


    This time around, all four of them got a notification that they could now claim the reward for this challenge. This time, they got a brown paper cone full of sugared pecans. Thodin laughed loudly as he jested


    "At this rate, we''re all bound to end up as heavy as my father."


    Tobias snorted in response to the joke. It wasn''t quite funny enough to elicit a proper laugh from him, but he could certainly understand the sentiment. Violet certainly seemed to enjoy assigning sweets as rewards, especially on this first floor. It wasn''t a terrible plan, but it was certainly likely to affect the economy in interesting ways. The sweets were consumable, so there would always be demand for more of them. However, with their rarity being decreased, it was likely that it would stop being so prohibitively expensive to the point where only the nobility could afford to enjoy it.


    Before heading to the tavern to celebrate their victories, their group decided to make one last stop. They already knew they could defeat the emperor rock slime, so they decided to go ahead and do so. It would allow them to check and see if anything lay on the other side or if they should head the other direction the next day.


    Despite how much weaker Mirabella was than the rest of their group, Tobias encouraged her to play a more active role this time around so that she could earn some extra experience. She hated using acid on her blade as she worried it would dull it, but she went ahead and did so, knowing it was likely she''d have to get it fixed the next time she was in a city with a blacksmith. Otherwise, the fights went much the same as the first time they had done it.


    Thodin and Mirabella hacked away at the rock slime''s exterior with their acid-covered blades. Meanwhile, Tobias fought with his fist, breaking off chunks of its exterior to make it easier for them to get in more effective blows. Once enough of the acid made it to the slime''s insides, it started to crack before exploding, throwing its rocky armor in all directions.


    This time around, they were better prepared for it, though. Matthias hung back near the entrance where he wasn''t likely to come to harm from any of the stray rock projectiles, Mirabella used her shield to block her party members from the final explosion, and no one managed to sustain any significant injuries.


    It was a relief to find out that the other side of the boss room only led to a staircase up to the second floor. That also brought Tobias some relief on behalf of Violet. Having to go through such a tough boss [Monster] would definitely keep invaders from making it to the second floor as easily, much less the dungeon core room.

 2.27 Challenge Montage

    It took Tobias''s party just over a week to complete all of the challenges on the right side of the dungeon. Most of the challenges were able to be attempted until they were successfully completed, which saved them from having to make too many additional trips to the dungeon. However, in general, they tried to make it through a minimum of three new rooms per day before leaving for the tavern.


    Thodin was a heavy drinker while Mirabella didn''t like to drink at all. As for Tobias, he''d have one or two pints of ale, but he had to hold himself back most of the time to ensure he was sober enough to jot down notes regarding their progress in the dungeon. The guild had been disappointed by how long they were taking to complete the job for a brand new dungeon, but had been more understanding after learning about how quickly it had unlocked a second floor. It couldn''t be helped, after all, if they had to take an entire month''s break in the middle of their exploring. Still, they were quite confident they could knock the rest of the challenges out in just a week or two, even before they returned to the dungeon on the second day.


    The right side ended up being much more tame than the left. The first room hadn''t even been a challenge or a [Monster] field. Instead, it was just a pretty pond room that Mirabella had been quite captivated with. Tobias couldn''t blame his sister, it really was quite pretty. However, they only had time to capture a few specimens before they had to be on their way. Tobias was quite sure that the guild would be happy to know that there were edible fish and frogs in such a safe room right off the entrance. It was likely to be quite helpful to the locals and adventurers alike.


    The next room was the wildflower meadow, which was originally the first room one would enter when visiting the dungeon. How the times had changed! Now, there was no longer any sign of a kodama being in the room, according to Mirabella. While they now knew the [Monster] was harmless, it was still a bit off-putting to have it disappear like that. It just brought up the question of where it had gone and what it was doing. However, they wouldn''t find that information out until much later.


    As Mirabella needed the experience the most, she was left to her own devices as she defeated the five basic slimes in the room. Tobias lit a torch to put the bees in the beehive to sleep then got to work harvesting the honey. Meanwhile, Thodin helped out by collecting some of the plants in the room to serve as samples to send to the guild. Matthias didn''t tend to collect any plants he didn''t have a personal interest in. However, the sorts of plants he needed for his poisons didn''t tend to be the sort Violet kept in her dungeon, so that wouldn''t be happening today.


    Finally, before wrapping things up for the second day, they completed the rainbow ball sliding maze challenge. That one hadn''t changed much, but it did have a new reward of sugared pecans, which came in a brown wax paper cone. Since they had completed it once before, it was simple enough to organize everyone to push the dyed wooden balls into the correct order on the platform and they completed the challenge in no time at all.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    The next day, they returned to complete another set of challenges. Luckily none of the ones they had completed the day before involved locked rooms, so they could easily just walk through the ones they had previously finished and move on to the new ones. Well, they only ended up coming across one puzzle that was new to them, but they hadn''t completed these puzzles during this run-through.


    First up was the wooden slime jigsaw puzzle. Despite the name of the puzzle being displayed through their system prompts, it was still hard to make out the actual image when they were doing the puzzle. The slightly different shades of brown on the wooden puzzle pieces were not nearly enough to make completing the puzzle easy. Still, it did help that they now knew the general idea of how to complete the puzzle. It just took them a while to complete the challenge was all.


    Getting four whole loaves of iced carrot bread made the time spent completing the puzzle well worth it, though. They would have to send another on off to the adventurer''s guild, even despite doing so once before, but that still left three loaves to eat over the next week or so. Unfortunately, having the dungeon reset meant the researchers with the guild would want to ensure none of the ingredients and such had changed with any of the rewards. It still felt a bit frustrating to give up so much of their rewards, though, even if they were being well paid for their efforts.


    The hay meadow was the next up, which wasn''t anything new either. Mirabella didn''t end up being the only one fighting, though, as the whole party found the chameleon slimes a bit annoying. Even if they weren''t trying to engage them in battle, the [Monsters] seemed to enjoy playful jumping out at you, which often ended up with them accidentally being killed as they lashed out to protect themselves. Well, they weren''t really in danger, but jump scares being reacted to by violence was a common occurrence for those who had the power to defend themselves, such as themselves.


    Finally, they came across one of the newest additions to the dungeon: a giant Jenga tower of wooden blocks. This challenge seemed to require them to remove three blocks or more without toppling the tower and only one attempt was allowed per day. In order to increase their odds of finishing the challenge in one day, they decided to only have one of them enter the room at a time while the others waited in the hallway. When the tower, inevitably, ended up falling over, they would exit the room and share their findings with the group.


    They didn''t end up completing that one on the first day they attempted it. However, much like the slime parkour could be practiced at home, something similar could likely be set up for them to practice with when not in the dungeon. They wouldn''t have time to do such a thing, but it would certainly be the strategy they planned to recommend to the guild once they wrote the report for it.

 2.28 Finishing The Job

    The next day, Tobias''s party returned to the dungeon once more. Before doing anything else, they attempted the giant Jenga tower once more. It didn''t end up going to plan this time either, but they were definitely making progress. They were hopeful that they would be able to complete it before the week was out.


    The next room ended up being another new challenge room. This time it ended up being a 3D slime-themed jigsaw puzzle using dyed wood. However, if they thought the traditional jigsaw puzzle was confusing, this one was worse.


    They had to start by unlearning everything they had learned previously. The pieces were no longer flat and so they had to be put together differently. 3D wasn''t really a concept they had heard of before, but it was still simple enough to see they would be creating something more statue-like in nature rather than a flat image.


    Unfortunately, the dyed wooden blocks did not make things easier for them. The shades of blue were too similar to one another, so only the eyes stood out as being significantly different. The pieces also curved and interlocked in strange ways that just made the whole process that much more frustrating for them. Luckily, this puzzle was one that could be attempted until it was completed. However, by the time they finished the challenge, they ended up needing to take a break.


    They got something called "pecan kisses" from completing the puzzle, but that wasn''t really going to do much for their mental or physical exhaustion. The puzzle didn''t exactly require acrobatics, nor did it require brute force, but they had still been standing on their feet for several hours.


    Since there wasn''t an easy way to start a fire in the dungeon to heat anything up, Tobias just put together a salad of sorts from the plants they had gathered along their trip through the dungeon. Some watercress and plantain leaves for the greens, some thinly sliced oyster mushrooms and cattails, etc. and they had something edible. Maybe it wasn''t the best tasting or composition for their meal, but it wasn''t the worst either. Technically, they had some hard tack, jerky, and dried fruit in their bags as well, but that was better to save for emergencies. They wouldn''t be able to stock up as easily once they left the dungeon if they ate their emergency rations now. Besides, it all washed down just fine with some water from their waterskins and the sweet taste of the candies they had just earned made it a tolerable enough meal.


    Getting back to work, they moved on to the next room. The dandelion meadow was a new type of [Monster] field they hadn''t seen before, but it was still relatively easy to defeat the basic slimes in the room. The strange seeds blowing in the wind were a bit distracting. Even if Mirabella did insist they were pretty, Tobias just couldn''t find himself agreeing with the sentiment. It was rather annoying to have them constantly getting stuck to his clothes and occasionally trying to fly into his eyes. The fact that such a minor amount of wind could cause this much floating debris was likely due to the sheer number of dandelions in the room, which Tobias really couldn''t see the point of.


    Unfortunately for Tobias''s party, they didn''t have much luck in the next room. Much as they had struggled with the giant Jenga tower, the giant pick-up sticks were also frustrating. They required one to collect the sticks without disturbing the rest, but they would only get one attempt per day. The minimum of three sticks being collected was the same as the other challenge they were struggling with as well. It would seem these two challenges would become their biggest obstacle to overcome before they could return home to their families.


    The next day, they attempted the challenges once more and, this time, one of them managed to be successful with the pick-up sticks. They had ended up being rewarded less than they had hoped, though, as they only received a single paper full of something called "candy buttons". It was a strange candy with lots of different colors, but they wouldn''t be getting the opportunity to try them since they had to send these ones off to the guild.


    The next three rooms were all new to them as well. A slime-themed sliding image puzzle was the first new one they came across that day. The repetitiveness of the slime-themed puzzles was interesting, but, honestly, Tobias could tell his party members were just getting tired of having to complete so many different puzzles. He could only hope they would finish with their job at this dungeon soon.


    Since the sliding puzzle could be attempted endlessly, they ended up completing it the same day, but they struggled with it even more than the jigsaw puzzles. The concept was simple enough and they could grasp what the image was much easier than the other slime-themed challenges. However, trying to unscramble the puzzle without getting the pieces they had already sorted out rescrambled was more difficult than he''d like to admit.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Thankfully, they all got the reward this time around since they all participated in the challenge at the same time. A giant rainbow lollipop wasn''t that easy to split evenly between their group, but it was still nice that they would get a chance to enjoy the reward. Having to complete a challenge only to not even get to keep the fruit of their efforts was the worst.


    Where they had found the chameleon slimes in the hay meadow annoying, the ones in the next room were twice as bad. Having so much fog to obscure their vision on top of having enemies, even weak ones, jump out at you from nowhere was as frustrating as could be. They ended up quickly giving up on the concept of Mirabella killing any of the slimes, just trying to make it through the room as quickly and as safely as they could.


    There, they came across the last room the dungeon had to offer on the first floor. It was another challenge room, which had... two kodamas? This was the only challenge room on the first floor that had any [Monsters] in it. There used to be the flower hunt challenge, which seems to have been removed or moved elsewhere in the dungeon. That one had basic slimes in it, but none of the others had ever had anything in them.


    Now knowing that the kodamas were peaceful creatures, Tobias tried to ignore them. That was a bit difficult when he couldn''t help but study their movements as they ran past. Initially, he hadn''t even noticed their presence, but he certainly did after Mirabella pointed them out. Now their creepy faces and the strange rattling noise they made were almost distracting.


    "Looks like this is the last one we need to figure out. It looks like the system prompt is calling this one a wooden lock puzzle. I''ve never heard of anything like that before, but, I''m assuming, it''s this strange contraption?"


    The puzzle sat on a round stone altar in the middle of the room. It was quite small and would very clearly only be able to be worked on by one of them at a time. That didn''t sound very ideal at all. They''d likely be stuck here until late at night...


    They ended up deciding to just return on a different day. They didn''t want to be stuck in the dungeon too late in the day and risk upsetting Violet. She seemed fairly reasonable, but it still just seemed plain rude. So, they arrived early the next day and promptly attempted the Jenga puzzle. Managing to just barely complete it, they were rewarded with eight pieces of saltwater taffy, all in a different flavor. Unfortunately, that meant they also wouldn''t be able to enjoy any of these ones either as Tobias just knew the guild researchers would want one of each.


    Still, the joy of their victory carried them through as they went to work on the lock puzzle. Just as they had feared, it took them quite a while of passing the puzzle off to someone else, to attempt to get the next piece free, before they could complete it. Luckily, that ended up counting as all of them completing the puzzle and they were all rewarded with sixteen slime-themed gummies each. That helped their team morale by quite a bit. They could just send four of them off to the researchers and keep fifteen for each of them.


    As they went to leave the dungeon, enjoying their recent reward, Mirabella noted


    "It''s a shame we''ll have to leave the area soon. I kind of like it here."


    Tobias nodded in response as he replied


    "I know, Violet seems a lot nicer than the other Dungeon Masters. I wish we could stay longer, but you know we''ll likely have to take a new job once springtime comes."


    Thodin guffawed as he noted


    "I doubt anyone at the guild will believe that, though! A reasonable Dungeon Master with a dungeon as nice as this one? It''s almost too good to be true!"


    Matthias glowered at the stout man. He didn''t like having death flags dropped like that. Now he was going to worry they wouldn''t even make it out of the dungeon alive, which would be a real shame since he really needed to make it back to his family.


    Tobias sighed, turning back to look at the dungeon one last time before they left. They were standing outside the dungeon now and it already felt like it was too soon. Cautiously he asked


    "Well, we can probably stop by one last time to thank Violet before we leave. She was rather cooperative with us and it might be good to show our appreciation. We''ll hopefully end up with future jobs involving mapping her dungeon at some point, so we should leave a good impression."


    Even Matthias could agree with that sentiment. It was why he had gone as far as buying a fancy engraved steel scabbard and personally gifted it to Violet before he left to visit his family. Seeing his party members were perfectly healthy when he returned made it seem like a worthwhile investment. Finally, they left for the tavern, Tobias none too eager to get started on the extensive report he would soon have to turn into the guild.

 2.29 Goodbye For Now

    Violet had been sleeping when Tobias''s party first came through her dungeon. However, she had immediately felt the effects of their return to the dungeon. Every day that they came through, she would have additional mana to spend on upgrading her first floor as well as a few extra dungeon points to save up.


    It was rather reassuring to see them return to the dungeon as she had been genuinely worried that she had scared everyone away. Having to wait until spring arrived for new adventurers to show up was bad enough without having to worry that those who were already patrons of her dungeon were avoiding her. Violet''s worry about causing them to disappear was so bad that she couldn''t seem to bring herself to approach them quite yet.


    However, today would be different! Violet had psyched herself up and now she was ready to try talking to them again. She wasn''t sure what she had done to scare them away in the first place, if it was even her fault at all, but she was going to do her best to be extra friendly and accommodating this time around!


    Since Tobias''s party wasn''t really sure where Violet would be, they took their time walking from the entrance through the left side of the dungeon. By the time she ended up reaching them, they were still just hanging out inside of the tribute room. Clearing her throat, their attention snapped over to her right away. This group must have been less skittish than Avorn''s as they didn''t even bother brandishing their weapons against her.


    "Uhm... hello! It''s been a while since we''ve talked. I hope I''m not bothering you?"


    While Mirabella had always had a feeling that Violet was less of a threat than most Dungeon Masters, their party had done some talking during their time away from the dungeon and they were now convinced they shouldn''t act so warily towards Violet. Acting hostile towards her was more likely to cause harm than good and it wasn''t like they had ever met a human Dungeon Master before this anyhow. So, Mirabella was quite excited as she greeted Violet warmly.


    "It''s great to see you again! You''re definitely not bothering us at all! We were actually looking for you."


    Violet blinked her eyes in surprise as she hesitantly asked


    "Oh, you were?"


    Thodin laughed in a warm and friendly way before smacking his hand across Violet''s back in the customary way he might among his own people. Violet flinched in pain, finding it rather unpleasant, but saying nothing, as she listened to him speak.


    "Of course. We couldn''t exactly leave without showing you our thanks!"


    Now Violet felt even more confused and a bit frightened herself. This sudden change in attitude and being treated in such a friendly manner was more than a bit disorienting. Tobias took pity on her and explained


    "Yes, well, unfortunately we have finished our job here. We have to return to Elesfield, a small city near here, and turn in our reports to the adventurer''s guild there. Then we will likely return to our families until the winter season ends and we are assigned a new job.


    Still, you''ve been quite cooperative and friendly during our time in your dungeon. We really appreciate how easy you''ve made our job. So, we wanted to give you one last gift before we depart."


    They had actually just gotten confirmation that they would have a ride out of here as early as the next morning. Apparently, a merchant wagon had been sent over to collect herbs from a local alchemist shop and would be heading out towards Bramouth the very next morning. Since it would be passing through Elesfield on the way, they had agreed to act as extra security in return for hitching a ride.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Violet felt a little disappointed as she replied


    "Oh... I was kind of hoping you all would stick around for a while longer. You were gone for so long and now you''re leaving for good..."


    Mirabella frowned, hearing the sadness in Violet''s voice. Giving her a hug, she reassured her


    "Well, we didn''t really want to stay away for so long. There are restrictions about entering a dungeon for the first month after it unlocks a new floor. While we''re sure you wouldn''t purposely harm us, we have to follow protocols. Besides, we will likely end up getting another job mapping your dungeon in a year or so. Might be longer, though, hard to know."


    Violet felt like her head was reeling. So it wasn''t that she had done something wrong, necessarily, it was just, once again, something she didn''t know about this world and how it functioned. That still didn''t explain why Elivyre had yet to visit the dungeon again. Surely her friend would want to visit now that sufficient time had passed...


    Pulling out a scrap of paper from her bag, Mirabella explained


    "I don''t know how useful you''ll find this, but I drew up an extra copy of the current map of your dungeon. I figured it might be a nice keepsake for you, if nothing else. If you want, I can draw you up another one the next time we visit? It might be a nice way for you to track the progress you''ve made over the years."


    Violet''s heart warmed at the kind gesture. Looking the map over, it was clearly hand-drawn, but a lot of time and care had been taken to ensure the lines were straight and as much information as possible was included. Despite the fact that a map like this was unlikely to provide any useful resources for her, Violet was still more grateful for the thoughtfulness of the gift than words could sufficiently describe.


    "Thank you so much! I''ll definitely cherish it. I''m actually not that great at drawing maps myself, so it will be nice to have a proper one to look at."


    Violet laughed awkwardly as she confessed the last part. Mirabella smiled in reassurance as she said


    "Well, map-making is a skill like any other. I''m sure you can improve with time. I''m glad you like it, though."


    Tobias rubbed the back of his neck as he admitted


    "The rest of us also wanted to get you something, but it''s been a bit difficult. There still haven''t been very many merchants coming through. The local alchemist''s shop had some basic potions and herbs, but it''s mostly just things we''ve given you before or have already seen in the dungeon. I''m guessing she is having a hard time getting new herbs due to the snow. I''m sure it''s likely all she can handle just trying to keep health potions in stock right now with a whole town depending on her to keep them healthy."


    Violet nodded in understanding as she reassured them.


    "That''s alright. Despite how much storage space there is in my tribute room, I don''t actually have such high expectations. I know things must be rough on everyone right now."


    Thodin laughed in amusement before noting


    "It''s actually not bad. I wish more Dungeon Masters thought like you. It''s really a shame it''s so dark in the hallways, though, it makes it hard to find this place."


    Violet frowned in concern. She had put up a sign, but she tended to forget that everything looked dark for others. As she was bonded to the dungeon, she barely noticed light levels. It was just one of the many perks, she supposed. Still, she was apologetic as she said


    "I''m sorry about that. I haven''t really gotten the tributes needed to create any form of light. I think I''d need a fire or light magic crystal, a lit torch, or a magic lantern. I''m not entirely sure, but that''s my best guess anyway."


    Tobias''s eyes widened at the information. He now had the perfect idea for what they could give her as a tribute. Sighing, he unclipped his own magic lantern from his gear. It would be a bit expensive to replace, but he''d still rather make the sacrifice than to expect one of the others to.


    "Here, you can have mine."


    The others had been just a touch slower and almost seemed disappointed when they couldn''t offer their own. Well, Matthias was a bit relieved. He was only going to offer his because he was still a bit afraid of Violet and wanted to remain on her good side. As far as he was concerned, she may as well have been demanding they give her one of their magic lanterns with that statement. However, Tobias gave it in good faith and, when Violet tried to turn him down out of concern, he reassured her it was fine.


    Soon enough, they were on their way, leaving Violet once more by herself.

 Contest Announcement

    Since everyone had so much fun with the last contest, I thought it would be fun to do another. However, this one will be a bit simpler in order to allow more people to participate and will include both the TDCD and TID audiences. Since the contest is simpler this time around, the deadline will be shorter and the rewards won''t be as generous.


    Rewards:


    1st Place:


    <ul>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TDCD</li>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TID</li>


    <li>PDF copy of book one of TDCD Diary</li>


    <li>Copy of the TDCD 2024 Calender</li>


    <li>15 TDCD-themed digital coloring pages</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    2nd Place:


    <ul>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TDCD</li>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TID</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    3rd Place


    <ul>


    <li>PDF copy of either volume one of TDCD or TID</li>


    <li>Copy of the TDCD 2024 Calender</li>


    <li>15 TDCD-themed digital coloring pages</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    Bonus (Random Number Generator)


    <ul>


    <li>Copy of the TDCD 2024 Calender</li>


    <li>15 TDCD-themed digital coloring pages</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    Contest Entry:


    To enter the contest all you have to do is to comment below with ideas for skills you''d like to see either Violet of TDCD or Veronica of TID to potentially unlock in the future. You should include a name for the skill and a brief description, but try to keep it on theme for the story. The winners will be decided based on vote here where the other readers will decide which ones sound the coolest, most creative, etc. I will have the right to alter and use the skills later in the story as I please, but there is no guarantee a skill will be used, regardless of whether it wins in this contest or not. As per usual, skills will still be part of a Patreon vote with each new floor, so even if I like it, the Patreon subscribers also have to vote for it. So, mostly just think about this as a fun thing to participate in and don''t take it too seriously.


    Deadline:


    The deadline for submissions is October 30, 2024 or 3 Weeks from now. I will be compiling all of the submissions to post them as a single ''chapter'' within this book and then holding a vote where the readers can choose whose entry they like the best. The voting portion will only be available for a single week and will end on November 6, 2024 with prizes being sent out ASAP after that. I plan to leave the contest entries up indefinitely for all to enjoy, even after the contest ends.


    Info:


    I figure it would be good to include the skills currently available for Patreon subscribers to vote on as well as a brief summary for each story in case not everyone reads both.


    The Dangerously Cute Dungeon:


    Has a cinnamon roll MC with a focus on cute dungeon monster, skills, and floor themes. Rather than going on the offensive, Violet tends to try to make friends with the adventurers, but she will kill if provoked into doing so.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Recall


    </td>


    <td>


    Instantly teleport from anywhere in the dungeon to the dungeon core room. Can be used even on floors where non-dungeon entities are present.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Guest List


    </td>


    <td>


    Displays a list of non-dungeon entities currently in the dungeon alongside their classification, classes, rank, and location.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Gluttony


    </td>


    <td>


    Any non-living, non-dungeon [Items] left in a designated tribute room will be absorbed immediately rather than after the dungeon has been cleared of non-dungeon entities.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Achievements Masterlist


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows the Dungeon Master to set challenges that aren''t tied to a specific room with rewards to entice non-dungeon entities with. Will appear as a hidden feature that can only be discovered after completing the relevant tasks.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Magic Mail


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows for sending pieces of writing and small packages in exchange for an equivalent exchange of mana so long as the basic identifying information is available.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Pop-up Shop


    </td>


    <td>


    Items in a designated sales space can be sold to non-dungeon entities via a system prompt. Includes an inbuilt option to prevent theft, but can only be set up in a single enclosed room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Inventory


    </td>


    <td>


    A system-provided space for the dungeon master to store [Items] in where they will not be lost when the dungeon resets. The space grows alongside the dungeon.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Save Point


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows the dungeon master to build a room with a teleportation circle on every floor that allows dungeon entities and non-dungeon entities to quickly travel between floors. Non-dungeon entities must defeat the designated boss [Monster] on a floor before they can unlock access to travel for that floor.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The Innkeeper''s Dungeon:


    Has an MC that once dreamed of inheriting her parent''s bed & breakfast and is considered to have anger issues and a desire for independence, but ends up becoming much more bloodthirsty and violent while having a more ''money'' attitude towards business after being pushed too far. Maybe one day she''ll learn to love and trust again... All of her skills have to be related to the inn & tavern.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Masterkey


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows for better lock controls on inn & tavern doors including designating rooms as a larger variety of room types with more strict controls on who can access the space. Does not affect rooms outside of the tavern & inn side of the dungeon.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Staff Elevator


    </td>


    <td>


    Automatically builds a magic elevator with a teleportation circle on every floor that allows inn staff and supplies to quickly move between floors.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Housekeeping


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows the Dungeon Master to auto-clean and straighten a room at a cost of 10 MP per use. Includes restocking supplies that were previously stocked in the room when the room was first designated as an inn room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Guest Profiling


    </td>


    <td>


    Displays a list of non-dungeon entities currently in the dungeon alongside their classification, classes, rank, location, temperament, and hospitality preferences.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Tranquil Retreat


    </td>


    <td>


    This crowd-control skill turns the tavern side of the dungeon into a non-combat area with a non-stressful, relaxing environment. Non-dungeon entities who violate the non-combat rule will be banned from the premises permanently.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Surveillance


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows the dungeon master to view all areas of the dungeon as if they were looking through a window into the room. Rooms that have been rented out for private use are off-limits to maintain guests'' privacy.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Forecasting


    </td>


    <td>


    System prompts will be delivered to the dungeon master at set intervals displaying relevant information about events outside of the dungeon so that they can plan ahead for the resulting effect on the tavern''s traffic.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Logistics


    </td>


    <td>


    Adds a new menu to the [Status Menu] screen that can be used to monitor supply levels, manage staff, and change prices remotely.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Gift Shop


    </td>


    <td>


    Items in a designated sales space can be sold to non-dungeon entities via a system prompt. Includes an inbuilt option to prevent theft, but can only be set up in a single enclosed room per floor.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Credit


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows non-dungeon entities to submit tributes in exchange for points that can be used at any time in the future. If they perish before the points are used, the remainder is automatically transferred to the dungeon master.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Magic Advertisements


    </td>


    <td>


    Allows for sending pieces of writing and small packages in exchange for an equivalent exchange of mana. However, the location will be random unless the required basic identifying information is available.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Sorry about the spoilers for anyone who didn''t want them. If it helps, some of these aren''t even used in the later volumes and the order they are listed in aren''t necessarily the order they show up in the story, so you still don''t know which ones they''ll unlock and when. These are just some of the ones I''ve already come up with for the Patreon subscribers to vote on and I really think they''ll be useful for helping you to come up with your own for the contest.


    I''ll be posting this same notification on all sites I post on for both TDCD and TID, so you only need to read this notice once, not in every book of mine you follow.

 2.30 (Dream Sequence) Goblins’ Nightmare

    Violet was once more dreaming. It was her day off from work, a weekend, and she was getting ready to spend the day playing video games with her husband, Lee. They had already gone to the grocery store earlier in the day and picked up some snacks to last them most of the weekend. They were both fortunate enough to have jobs where their two days off a week coincided to be on the weekend.


    For Lee, he had a job as a floor supervisor at a package management warehouse. Almost every employee who worked there would get Saturdays and Sundays off. The shifts varied with some people working super late at night to super early in the day, others working closer to a nine to five, and then there was night shift that worked late in the afternoon to late at night. That was the shift that Lee used to work, but now he only had to work eight hours a day because he had been recently promoted to a salaried position.


    Where he used to be a normal worker who had to move heavy packages, loading them on and off or trucks, using heavy machinery, etc. he had worked hard to become certified in all of the things he could. He volunteered to be part of workplace teams, like one for safety, and easily became well known by all of his superiors. When his lead gave up, quit, and went to work for a different company because he kept getting turned down for promotions to the supervisor position, her husband had applied for his position.


    That hadn''t gone as planned. His job was very much about trying to keep their diversity numbers up, not an overall bad thing, but they went about it very poorly. They promoted a less qualified man who had zero experience with that company, much less the account and snubbed her husband. Later, the new lead ended up causing so much havoc that he got fired and her husband got the promotion.


    Getting his newest promotion had been just as difficult. Too many people who worked under and above him didn''t like him for whatever reason. One lady who worked under him kept reporting him to HR for nonsense with the case being dismissed every time as the other employees working under him would back him up. Then, the lady ended up being put on an ignore list since she was clearly trying to cause drama.


    Still, the guy who was in charge of deciding on promotions decided to pass her husband up for the supervisor position for a woman from a different shift. At least, she had more of a clue how the company worked, but she was under-prepared for the position and didn''t want to work the night shift as it made it difficult to spend time with her family. She ended up quitting to get out of the position. Then the customer for the account her husband managed and the building manager put pressure on the guy in charge of promotion decisions and her husband ended up getting the position. It was a hard journey, but she was still proud of her husband.


    As for Violet herself, her workplace was a lot less dramatic. She didn''t have a position of any real importance and she got along with her coworkers fairly well. She, unfortunately, had to work a different shift than her husband during the week, but she had been fortunate enough to be hired on with the weekends off, as she had wanted. So, she couldn''t complain too much, she actually really liked having the weekends off to spend time with her husband and they were well enough off financially that they could both afford to pursue whatever hobbies they wanted.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    For Violet, she had played "Goblins Must Perish!", the original, in high school. It was a game her father had introduced her to and she had become almost obsessed with mastering every level. She spent her own money to buy the DLC for it and rushed through her homework so she could spend hours trying to get a better score on the levels she had already played dozens of times.


    So, when "Goblins Must Perish! 3" finally stopped having an exclusivity contract and was released to PC, her husband agreed that they would both get it and play it together. The first had been single-player, but the second, which she never played, and the third both had multiplayer capabilities.


    Her husband was new to the game, but they both loved playing games together. They had played most every decent multiplayer game together by this point. Survival games like ARQ or Kronin were definitely favorites, but they had also played more peaceful games like Starview Vale as well.


    Violet was excited as the game loaded up. Most of the [Traps] were familiar as they had stayed the same since the first game, but there were also new ones. Of course, most of the [Traps] were locked until she completed the levels required to unlock them. However, the spike wall and floor [Traps] were always unlocked towards the beginning and they were classics.


    As Lee didn''t want to take away from his wife''s fun, he let her decide how to set up the [Traps], content to just shoot the enemies once the round was started. Violet smiled as she confidently set up kill zones to do the most damage, ensuring the goblins would die en masse, just as her father had taught her back in high school.


    The first few rounds were easy. Lee quickly learned how to play the game, protecting the portal to ensure that no stray goblins made it past the [Trap] and snuck through the portal, costing them a win. Violet continued to set up [Traps], making sure more and more goblins would die as they came through each round.


    After a few rounds, the two took a break. It was good to stretch, take a bathroom break, and get some more snacks between rounds. Since both were used to playing games for an entire day straight, neither really needed an extensive break. Besides, it already genuinely felt like spending time with one another. Their PCs were set up in the same room and they played without headphones on so that they could still talk to one another as they played.


    It wasn''t until late that night that they called it a day. They would likely spend another hour or so watching TV in bed before going to sleep. It was good to wind down and spend some time cuddling together before going to sleep. Still, Violet was quite eager to wake up and continue the fun the next morning.

 2.31 Rehomed Kodama

    Violet sat amongst her pixies, watching them amusedly as they happily flitted around. Lily sat on the ground, leaning up against a purple rose. Cedar grabbed a large chamomile shortbread cookie and struggled to carry it over to her. The cookie fell roughly to the ground, a few small pieces breaking off. Lily and Cedar didn''t seem to mind, though, as they sat beside one another, happily munching away.


    Lily was still very much so shy and quiet, but she seemed to be warming up to the group. She no longer hid from them, but sat on the sidelines, happy to observe. Meanwhile, Jasmine and Daisy were just as enthusiastic as ever.


    "Jasmine! You have to try this, it''s so good!"


    Daisy exclaimed. Jasmine was a little more subdued than Daisy, but still smiled happily as she accepted the small piece of caramel pear chip. As they ate, they continued to talk amongst themselves, sometimes even bringing Violet into the conversation.


    "What''s that?"


    Jasmine asked as she landed on Violet''s shoulder. Offering a reassuring smile, she explained


    "It''s a map of the first floor of the dungeon. I was actually gifted it by one of the adventurer groups who recently visited."


    Jasmine wrinkled her nose in disgust as she asked


    "Why''d you keep it? Surely you could make a better map than this."


    Violet sighed, not quite enjoying her pixies'' dislike of adventurers. The map was plenty accurate and it was a thoughtful gift. Besides, Violet most certainly couldn''t make something better than this map. At least, she couldn''t right now.


    "Maybe one day that might be true, but it certainly isn''t right now. I''ll likely have to practice for a few years before I can make something of this quality. So, for now, I think this will be a better reference than what I have been using."


    Jasmine looked unimpressed as she flew off to play with Daisy. Glad that she hadn''t pushed the issue, Violet focused back on the map. All of her rooms were labeled with the same titles her system labeled them with. There were even some markings that represented the various resources and [Monsters] found in each room.


    Thanks to Tobias''s party, Violet had even managed to finish filling in all of the empty rooms on her first floor. They were all present on the map too, which was really quite fortunate. Violet continued to admire the map as she thought back on the work she had accomplished this past week.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    The giant Jenga game had taken her a total of 270 MP and 190 DP to complete. Luckily, with their visit to the dungeon and the leftover mana from Avorn and Camellia staying the night, she could easily expend 200 MP a day. That ensured she could make progress on her rooms fast enough to stay ahead of their exploration. Of course, part of that was the fact that they had been stopping to complete each of the challenges and only went so far before calling it a day. Luckily, they always cleared out before David showed up for the day, even if it had been a close call a few times.


    The Jenga game required fifty four pieces that were layered on top of one another to create a rather tall tower. Despite being referred to as "giant" the total height ended up coming just short of the normal ceiling height. Violet was glad she didn''t need to do any terrain manipulation for the room. That still meant that it was taller than most adventurers, though. Luckily, they would only have to remove the pieces without toppling the tower, not stack the removed pieces back on top of the others.


    The reward ended up taking a bit of extra research to complete than most of the others. She had to get access to cornstarch by first researching cornmeal to get corn and then researching corn to get cornstarch. That was then used alongside sugar, honey, salt, butter, cornstarch, strawberry, red dye, orange, orange dye, yellow dye, pear, green dye, blueberry, blue dye, grape, purple dye, blackberry, black dye, peppermint, white dye, and white wax paper to make eight different flavors of saltwater taffy.


    There was red for strawberry, orange for orange, yellow for honey, green for pear, blue for blueberry, purple for grape, black for blackberry, and white for peppermint. The flavors were a bit different from what they would likely be in her world, but she doubted it really mattered that much. She had to use what fruits and herbs she had access to and she just wanted to have a nice variety of flavors to keep things interesting. Whether they were the usual black licorice, cotton candy, etc. she had seen in such saltwater taffy mixes in her old world didn''t really matter that much. It wasn''t like the adventurers would know what they were missing out on anyway.


    The final challenge had been a wooden lock puzzle. That room had cost slightly less at only 190 MP and 114 DP. However, that was primarily because the puzzle itself was cheap to construct and didn''t require her to create and arrange the individual pieces. The wooden lock puzzle was just interlocking pieces of wood that had to be removed in a certain order in order to separate all of the pieces. It was small and placed on a simple round stone altar, something she had gotten quite a bit of use out of.


    In fact, the thing that had cost her the most resources was the fact that she had wanted to make a nice environment. Violet knew she had been neglecting her kodama for quite some time and she wanted to make it up to them. However, she no longer wanted to have them taking up spawner space in a [Monster] field room, so she decided to move it to one of her new challenge rooms. Four oak trees, a new 100 MP spawner, and even a second kodama was added to the room. Violet hoped the creatures would be happier with more of their kind around.


    As the kodamas only cost 30 MP each to summon, it was likely she could have had three of them in the same room. However, Violet didn''t particularly want to use all of the space in the spawner on [Monsters]. If she ever unlocked insects and other small [Critters], it would be nice to have some room to add them. Besides, since kodama were guardian spirits that cared for their environment, she was sure they would enjoy having the [Critters] around. Maybe she could add some other kodama to the first room some other time, but, for now, she thought this would be enough.

 2.32 Fruity Forest

    Violet knew she couldn''t possibly draw as nice of a map as Mirabella had, but she still felt like it couldn''t hurt to practice. Since her second floor wasn''t included in the map she had received, she decided to practice her map drawing skills in an attempt to create a similar rendition for the second floor.


    Over the last week, Violet had continued to make slow progress. However, she had also made quite a bit of progress on her second floor. She likely could have met the requirements for completing half of the second floor by now, if she wanted to. However, she didn''t want to rush through things too much. Completing it by the end of the winter season would be good enough.


    Violet had started by spending 256 MP on eight new 16-Units by 16-Units square rooms. In addition, 40 MP had to be spent on eight 5-Units straight hallways to connect the rooms. In order to ensure the dungeon core room connected to the last available room, Violet had to move the previous hallway that connected the room to the blueberry forest to make it connect to one of her new rooms instead. Additionally, instead of continuing the normal pattern of three rooms in a row before moving on to the next, she had to make the last two rooms be aligned in a column instead. That allowed her to connect all of her new rooms and hallways so that the adventurers would have to traverse every single one of her rooms before reaching the dungeon core room, gaining her plenty of time to defend her dungeon from threats.


    Of the eight new rooms she had created, she decided to leave four of them empty. These rooms would have to be turned into challenge rooms later on, but Violet wanted more time to contemplate what exactly to build in them. Instead, she chose to focus on turning the other four rooms into [Monster] fields.


    Previously, Violet had used fruit bushes as the difference between the [Monster] field rooms. Since the rooms were all forest-themed, as that is the floor''s overall theme, she was pretty limited on options, anyway. This time she decided to do something similar, but also different. The rooms still all contained eight briar patches for [Traps], six giant checkered rabbits, and four al-mi''raj. However, Violet decided to replace half of the ''enchanted'' trees with fruit trees.


    Researching pear trees, orange trees, and peach trees had cost her an entire 60 DP, but that felt like a drop in the bucket compared to her reserves. Since she already had apple trees unlocked, it was easy enough to make that the fourth [Monster] field theme. Just like usual, the [Monster] fields alternated with the [Monster] field rooms, creating a checkered sort of pattern. That would help to keep things interesting as well as ensure she could lock each of the challenge rooms until they were completed, slowing the progression through the rooms considerably.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Between all of the upgrades she had been making on the first floor and second floor, over the week, she had managed to just barely spend a couple hundred dungeon points. Considering she had gotten 700 DP from Avorn and Camellia''s rent as well as tributes from Tobias''s party and David, she was now sitting comfortably at 11,610 DP. She was also supposed to complete her weekly trade with David tonight, which would easily give her another 2,250 DP, bringing her total up to 13,860 dungeon points. That was of great comfort to Violet as it would make it much easier to unlock her next floor since she would hardly be struggling to scrape together the points for it.


    Although, Violet was starting to question how dungeons could ever struggle to make it to Twenty five floors if it was this easy to earn additional mana and dungeon points. The only thing stopping her from burning through all of the points she earned each day was a desire to take things slow and do things properly. It felt good to build each room with its own theme, imagining just how adventurers might interact with them. Rushing through things would also leave her bored in a few years, she was starting to wonder if it might be good to take some time off to relax.


    Theodore had told her to consider taking up a hobby a few times during his previous visits. David had also mentioned that she might enjoy drinking tea and eating sweets, as she was now. Having a proper home to do that would likely make practicing hobbies and relaxing easier, but Violet still wasn''t sure how to go about that. Was a forest even the place to attempt to build a home? She wasn''t sure, but it definitely didn''t seem like it would be a good thing to constantly have to traverse to the lower floors from whatever the current highest floor was. Although, it might also be bad to leave the dungeon core vulnerable and to be too far away to protect it.


    Violet couldn''t help but wish that Theodore was around to ask about these things. It would be nice to hear more about how other Dungeon Masters did things. However, it had been just over a month and he had yet to visit her. Maybe she had just gotten used to how often he visited in the beginning, but it seemed strange to have him away for so long. Then again, maybe she was thinking about things wrong. If Dungeon Masters can live, potentially, forever, then visiting often could very well take on a different meaning, especially since Dungeon Diplomats also had long lifespans.


    Before Violet could get too carried away with her own thoughts, she decided to call it a night. The pixies seemed sad to have her leave so soon, but still enthusiastically wished her well. She was glad they didn''t seem to find her sleeping all the time strange. Perhaps they didn''t know enough about Dungeon Masters to know that it wasn''t necessary. Either way, she was more than a little relieved as she laid her head down and began to drift off to sleep. It was so nice not to have to deal with the burden of her own thoughts all of the time.

 2.33 Potion Trade

    The next day, Violet was surprised when someone showed up fairly early in the day. When she checked her [Guest List], she saw Elivyre had, finally, returned to the dungeon. Feeling excited, Violet raced through the rooms on the second floor and first floor until she finally reached her friend''s side. Of course, this took a while, so Elivyre had already moved quite deep into the dungeon.


    Elivyre had started off at the entrance of the dungeon and slowly walked through each of the rooms, one by one, as her raven, Diva, flew overhead. She was happy to see that Violet now had a tribute room, which she had noticed right away thanks to the magic lanterns hanging on the wall of the hallway. The first hallway was the only one with such lights, but it still helped quite a bit.


    The tribute room felt much like a very empty store or an oversized storage room of some sort. However, Elivyre still found the decorations quite interesting. The way the sun shone through the cloth material overhead and the grass peeked through the stone brick pathway was interesting. It was more than a little obvious that the room had still been a meadow room before Violet had filled it with items.


    Leaving behind her tribute, some dill and ''greek'' oregano, Elivyre moved onwards. Of course, Elivyre didn''t know that Violet''s system would refer to the oregano by such terms. Instead, she knew it by a different name that was unique to the world she lived in. Normally, though, she would just refer to it as the bitter variety of oregano. Neither herb was particularly fancy, but it was something she hadn''t brought for Violet quite yet and she wanted to ensure her friend had something nice to celebrate her recent achievement.


    Next, Elivyre went through the threshold to the next room where she found the altar to the goddess of love and beauty. She couldn''t help but comment


    "I always knew Violet was something special, but this is certainly something else. Don''t you think so, Diva?"


    The bird made a cawing sound in reply, but otherwise seemed quite bored with the room. Unsurprising considering there was nothing of interest for a raven such as itself. The room was quite unique as it was the only room she had seen on this floor that seemed like she was truly indoors. Even the stone hallways were more like she was walking through a strange, carved-out section of a cave.


    By the time Violet found Elivyre, she had already managed to make it to the garden meadow room where she chose to stop for a while to collect herbs. While the herbs were definitely needed, she also wanted to stop and wait for Violet, knowing very well that she usually showed up not long after she entered the dungeon.


    Violet panted as she sat down on the floor near Elivyre. She just waited patiently for the poor girl to catch her breath. Then, when Violet said


    "It''s been a while since I''ve seen you. I was starting to worry."


    She chuckled before explaining


    "I''m sorry for making you worry so much. Originally, I was planning on popping in as soon as I could. I doubt you or your [Monsters] would harm me, but the town leader has been so antsy about everything. He likely never expected to have to deal with a dungeon showing up. It''s been difficult to earn his trust, so I was trying to observe the usual one-month waiting period for when a dungeon upgrades.


    Unfortunately, my father sent me a letter not long ago letting me know that he planned to send a wagon out to collect more herbs from me. I''ve been pretty low on both herbs and potions myself because a minor illness has been passing through the area and this winter has been especially harsh. The sheer lack of firewood, food, and other supplies had been really rough on everyone.


    I ended up putting in a job request for the adventurers asking them to collect more of certain herbs so I could purchase them. Then I had to spend some time packaging them up for transport as well as renewing my own stock. A lot of healing potions, antidotes, and cold-resistance potions get used this time of year, unfortunately. Your dungeon has a lot of useful ingredients, but certainly not all of the ones I need. Luckily, my father sent me the others I needed, among other things."


    Violet frowned, this was hardly the first time she had heard about the locals having a hard time with things lately. Still, she decided to start with the more immediate issue before considering anything else.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "I still have those potions we talked about. I''d be more than happy to sell you what I have."


    Elivyre smiled knowingly as she reassured her


    "Don''t worry, that was one of the things I asked my father to help me with. He sent me a few varieties of specialty potions in the lesser and normal varieties. I also had him help me gather any bad potions and herbs from his shop and those of his friends to send me. I figured you would likely be able to make use of them, even if they aren''t top quality. You''re going to feed them to the dungeon, right?"


    Violet wasn''t sure she would have put it that way. However, it most certainly wasn''t too far off the mark. The dungeon most certainly would be absorbing the items, so she nodded. Elivyre smiled as she dug some of the [Items] out of a bag at her side as she explained.


    "I''m pretty sure all of the herbs and potions are just the super common things. I doubt there is anything new among that. However, I remembered you said you need a lesser stamina potion, so I brought one of those for you. I also have one each of the lesser and normal quality of about half a dozen different potions."


    Violet tilted her head in curiosity, but Elivyre just let Violet gather the potions, looking them over, before explaining them one at a time.


    "That one''s an antidote. The lesser antidotes can only cure weak poisons and status effects. Meanwhile, the antidote version can cure most types of poisons and status effects. Greater antidotes are only needed for truly vile poisons and such, most of which are quite lethal.


    That one''s a fire-resistance and that one''s an acid-resistance potion."


    Elivyre said, pointing at each in turn, before continuing


    "The fire resistance helps prevent you from getting any nasty burns, but it won''t exactly prevent someone from dying to lava. I''ve not personally had any experience with using it, but I''ve heard some stories from adventurers. The acid-resistance doesn''t prevent issues with poison, but it does keep your skin from dissolving due to attacks from [Monsters] or acid-based poisons. Oftentimes, the acid-resistance has to be paired with an antidote, though."


    Violet found this information fascinating. She picked up two others Elivyre had yet to explain and said


    "What about these ones?"


    Elivyre pointed to each as she explained


    "Those ones are heat-resistance and cold-resistance potions. They are limited in what they can do, but can help you be less bothered by temperature changes in dungeons or otherwise. A hot day can still cause dehydration, but you are less likely to get heat stroke or feel unbearably comfortable if you drink a heat-resistance potion. Similarly, the cold-resistance potion won''t prevent you from getting frostbite if the temperature is too extreme. However, it is effective at preventing you from constantly shivering, thus wasting your energy, and prevents you from being as likely to get colds."


    Violet had to refrain from noting the fact that cold weather didn''t cause sickness. It just affects your immune system, making it more likely that you could get sick. It wasn''t exactly helpful to the conversation, nor did she want to have to get into the topic since she was hardly an expert.


    Since Violet wasn''t saying anything else, Elivyre pointed to the last two potions she had yet to identify and explained


    "The last two are a night vision potion and a water-breathing potion. The first one makes it easier to see further with minimal light and can temporarily affect the way one''s eyes look visually. Similarly, the water-breathing potion can cause you to grow fish gills that aid in breathing underwater for a set amount of time. The better the quality of the potion, the longer the effects last. Considering some dungeons have underwater levels or utilize the darkness to increase the danger level, the potions can be quite useful to adventurers."


    Violet was quite excited about her new potion options. She happily dug out the five lesser healing potions, three healing potions, six lesser mana potions, two mana potions, and two stamina potions she had and gave them to Elivyre. It seemed like a rather one-sided trade, no matter how she looked at it. Her potions were expensive to produce and the ones she was giving Elivyre had cost her 250 MP to make, valuing them at 500 DP. Yet she had received fifteen potions and a rather large amount of expired potions and herbs in return. Violet wasn''t sure she liked the way it felt like she was taking advantage of her friend. However, when she went to apologize, Elivyre was quick to dismiss her.


    "Don''t worry about it. This will help me too, anyway. If I end up unable to make some of these potions for myself, I''ll be able to trade with you for more of the ones I need. In fact, it might, honestly, be good to arrange for you to make some healing potions for me. I don''t know if I''ll be able to give you any more potions or herbs for them, though. We''ll have to figure out something else instead."


    This just made Violet think more. The community around her needed help and she was most certainly in a position where she could offer it. Finally making up her mind, Violet decided to speak her mind.


    "Elivyre? I was wondering if you could help me with something..."

 2.34 Charity & Changing Minds

    "I''m listening."


    Elivyre prompted. Violet smiled nervously before explaining


    "Well, I''d like to help the locals out. I''ve actually been thinking about this for a while, but I didn''t have anyone besides you to ask for help. Still, I''ve already developed several pantry-stable food options and I can make seasoned firewood now. Between that and helping you out with potions, I think I could do a lot to help everyone get through the rest of the winter."


    Elivyre looked Violet over carefully as she considered her words. While she already knew better than to compare her to other Dungeon Masters, that still left another problem. Elivyre simply didn''t know what to think about Violet because she was too unpredictable. Thus, she could only ask for clarification before further contemplating the issue.


    "How would that work exactly? What would you be expecting in return?"


    Violet sighed as she felt herself well up with a very distinct feeling of disappointment. She knew her friend likely meant well, but it still felt like a let down that they weren''t close enough for Elivyre to know better than to assume she was in it for the profit. Violet genuinely did want to help people and she wouldn''t have bothered to offer if she didn''t know that there were more than enough dungeon resources to afford it. For goodness'' sakes, she was constantly letting hundreds of points of mana go to waste every single day. Mana that could be put to use helping others.


    Of course, it would be lying to say that she didn''t want anything out of it. She wasn''t exactly a saint, but that didn''t change the fact that she had mostly good intentions. Deciding to bite the bullet, Violet explained


    "I was planning to offer a set amount of free firewood, food, and potions for the remainder of the winter season for free. I don''t plan on asking for anything more than I have to. Maybe a contract to ensure my safety is guaranteed and that the goods will be delivered to those who need it. I doubt I''ll personally know the person put in charge of the project, after all.


    At worst, I''ll admit that I would like it if I could build up some goodwill with the locals. Maybe I can convince them that I''m not out to get them and that my dungeon is safe enough for them to venture into. There''s hardly much of a point in investing so much time and resources into making a first floor devoid of [Traps] if no one is willing to check it out. I even have a koi pond, where they can fish up edible fish, alongside all manner of edible plants and such. I just wish people would give me a chance."If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Elivyre flinched as it registered just how neglected Violet likely was on a social level. She hadn''t realized that everyone was still giving her such a hard time. It wasn''t like the poor woman had done anything to deserve everyone''s mistrust either. It was just a misfortunate result of her occupation as a Dungeon Master. Feeling guilty, Elivyre frowned before apologizing.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to sound like I was doubting your generosity. I''ll try to talk to the town leader today. I don''t know how cooperative he will be, but I''ll do my best. Worst case scenario, I''ll personally oversee the project and just give away the supplies from my storefront to those who I know might need it. I doubt that will be as effective as it otherwise might be, but it''s likely to be better than nothing.


    I know there was recently a party in the area that said something about mapping out the dungeon. I don''t know if you''ve met them before, but they should be reporting things to the nearest adventurer''s guild. Come springtime, I''m sure we''ll end up with a noble family being assigned to look over the area as well as some staff for the adventurer''s guild that is supposed to be being built in the first part of the year. That should ease restrictions a good bit and we won''t have to worry about the town leader telling the locals they can''t enter the dungeon until he has decided it''s safe enough and then not following through."


    Elivyre ran a hand through her hair, clearly looking frazzled. Violet felt bad for making her friend stress out so much. However, another feeling was also present as she also felt grateful her friend was willing to help. Deciding to move the conversation along, she explained


    "I''ll try to focus on health potions primarily for now. Once you figure things out, just let me know and I''ll start preparing some of the other resources for you. I don''t think I can just give out magic bags all of the time, so I''ll likely just set up some wooden crates with the materials each day. This way you shouldn''t have to worry about returning them and I don''t have to worry about negatively affecting the local economy."


    Elivyre laughed amusedly, looking like she was starting to feel better, as she replied


    "That sounds like a good enough plan. I don''t know if you should worry too much about supply and demand, though. I would have to keep more than a couple dozen magic bags and then sell them at lower than market value for a while before it would have any real long-term effects. You might be forgetting, but adventurers die in dungeons as well as have their gear break all the time. So, dungeons end up absorbing enough to keep the economy mostly stable.


    I suppose if you had too easy of a challenge on an early floor with a magic bag, it could lead to issues. However, I''m guessing you''re smart enough not to do that if you''re worrying about me exploiting the dungeon resources."


    As they had gotten back on decent terms and both were starting to feel better, the rest of Elivyre''s visit went much more smoothly. She collected herbs and the two talked, sharing the recent developments in their lives and growing closer as they bonded.

 2.35 Friends Among Trees

    Kodama one had gone so long since it had been among its own kind that its days had become listless. It wasn''t like it could complain in a way that Violet would be able to understand, though. In fact, it had become hard to even find its master in more recent times.


    Sometimes she would come down to the first floor and then it would try to follow her as quickly as its small limbs would allow it to. However, it always resulted in it losing track of its master not long after it started. Once it had even made it up to the second floor, but that was too scary and it had run quickly back down to the first floor, returning back to its favorite tree.


    However, recently, things have changed. There was now one other of its kind! In fact, quite a bit had changed as it had been reassigned to a new room that had four large trees instead of just one. It had been disappointing to leave behind its favorite tree, but kodama one wasn''t sure that it was worth it to make the trek all the way back to the other tree all of the time. Besides, that tree was quite noisy and it didn''t want to leave the other of its kind now that it had joined them in the dungeon.


    It was so wonderful to have someone to communicate with! Of course, they didn''t quite talk as much as rattle their heads at one another, otherwise letting the silence sit between the two of them. Where its master''s voice was loud and scratchy, communicating her desires as the sound vibrated the airwaves around it, its own kin was much more soothing to listen to. Some sounds were happy and some were alarmed, but it never hurt their head to hear the things they communicated.


    It had taken kodama one a while to decide which of the four trees in its new room that it wanted to claim. Luckily, the other of its kind didn''t stir up a fuss, already quite content with a different tree. That one had a small opening that hung low on the tree, creating the perfect opening for the other kodama to climb into before resting. While it could see the draw of such a thing, kodama one much preferred to relax high up the branches of its tree and the one it had chosen had nice, high-up branches that were still quite sturdy. It was sure it would be a great way to watch the non-dungeon entities from.


    Of course, there was still the matter of a lack of purpose that had yet to be addressed. Kodama one had communicated this to its new friend, but they had seemed overjoyed at the news. It wasn''t sure whether it had poorly communicated the news or if the newcomers were misguided. Leaving the dungeon was, admittedly, exhausting and uncomfortable for them, but that didn''t mean they wanted to have nothing to do.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Kodama one wished the Dungeon Master would consider its needs more carefully. Well, it couldn''t really complain as much now that it had more of its kind around and several large trees in its room. Maybe more wildlife might be nice to have around as it would feel like home, but it wasn''t sure that would fix things in the long run either. It wasn''t like anything in this dungeon really required caring for, the dungeon was too self-sufficient for that.


    Of course, Violet wasn''t aware that the kodama had complaints in the first place, much less that it was still unhappy. This wasn''t so much because she didn''t care, but rather that she hadn''t been made aware of the issue. The kodama couldn''t communicate in a way that she could understand and it wasn''t like she had a manual detailing proper care for her dungeon [Monsters].


    The pixies had opened her eyes to quite a number of things. They liked to be with others of their kind and they seemed quite comfortable being surrounded by nature. When asked about whether they had a preference in what their assigned rooms looked like, they had reassured her what they had was fine. Apparently, they had come from a lush, green forest with a variety of plants. That made it quite comfortable for them on the second floor filled with ''enchanted trees'' and a beautiful pink and purple dusk sky.


    Of course, the system had only a few short words to say about each of the [Monsters] she could summon or contract with. The kodamas said nothing about having to be with their kind and the pixies said nothing about requiring a forest environment. Both were meant to be caretakers of their environment, but Violet wasn''t really sure what that meant. So, she was stumbling around blindly trying to figure things out and could only do her best.


    When it came to the kodamas, Violet had called off their job as gatherers because the winter time was a bad time for any of them to be going out and about. However, she still had no intention of sending them out when spring arrived. The pixies were also small, but their ability to fly would give them more avenues to escape dangers as well as, hopefully, allow them to travel much further much faster. They would even have one another to keep them company!


    Similarly, the kodamas now had one another. Violet could only hope that the two would get along and that they would enjoy their new home. She would have loved to give them a forest to inhabit as well, but, well, she couldn''t turn a meadow into a forest. The tribute room had been pushing things as it was. The system wouldn''t allow her to change a room from what its overall theme was supposed to be, except in the case of the altar room she had had a blueprint for.


    Thus, kodama one would have to figure out for itself what its purpose should be. Much like all of the [Monsters] in Violet''s dungeon, they had a great deal of freedom. However, they would all have to figure out for themselves how to adjust to their new life.

 2.36 Fae Circles

    That night, Violet was feeling especially inspired. She had been boredly reminiscing on her days in the modern world where she used to have plenty of entertainment. While she could now relive her favorite memories where she played her favorite video games or watched fun movies, that didn''t mean that she wanted to spend all of her time here asleep. Still, it had reminded her of something useful to use for a challenge idea on the second floor.


    While pixies were a type of fairy and most certainly not the same as other types of fairies, that didn''t mean she couldn''t interpret the concept more broadly. Besides, she used to love reading fairy tales of all sorts when she was a young girl. One of which covered the topic of changelings, which is essentially when a baby would be replaced and the original would be taken to the world of fairies.


    Violet was pretty sure that the concept was meant to act as an explanation for things like colic in babies where they would constantly cry and scream. Having your baby be more fussy and difficult to care for than those your friends and family had raised was likely to be stressful. Since those in the history of her old world didn''t have the sort of knowledge and medical care they did in modern day, it was likely the tale had originated from that. At least, that was Violet''s theory.


    Regardless, that was hardly the only fairy shenanigans she had read about. There was also the concept of fae [Traps] and fairy circles that one could find out in the wild. The latter was specifically a circle-shaped ring of mushrooms, which could be found in forests, grassy meadows, or other natural areas. Other times the circle might be made from stones, moss, or even just unnaturally tall grass. However, traditionally it was mushrooms.


    As for fae [Traps], that was a bit more complicated. While both are considered to lead you to the world of the fae, forever dooming you to remain trapped there, or otherwise bring you harm, the fae [Trap] wasn''t necessarily circular. It could be a set of stairs that lead to nowhere, an archway made from trees that bend unnaturally, or any other number of things. While Violet wasn''t particularly superstitious, she still found the idea a fun one to play around with.


    Before she could get started on her plans, Violet had to do some experimenting. She went to the first empty room, just past the blueberry forest room, and headed to the center of it. Then she experimented with trying to remove or even just move the trees around. Violet knew that the system could be particular about the room still being considered on theme, but it also tended to give her quite a bit of freedom. After a bit of work, Violet was able to remove many of the trees from the center of the room while moving the rest of them to the outer portion of the room, creating a nice little clearing.


    Nodding, she looked around quite happy with it. She felt like she was in the middle of a dense forest that just so happened to have a small clearing in it. That was just right for what she needed, so she moved on to the next step. Normally, when Violet applied things like flowers to a room, she just added it as a blanket effect to the entire room. However, this time would be different.


    Using snowdrop flowers, pinkish-orange starflowers, and blue-eyed mary flowers, she made three large, overlapping circles in the middle of the clearing. This only ran her 6 MP since she was covering such a small area with the flowers. In fact, the circles weren''t even filled out, but formed more of a ring with no flowers inside or outside of the circle. Due to the way they were overlapping, they looked a lot like a venn-diagram, which was where the challenge was going to come in.


    Violet planned to make it so that the adventurers each had to stand in the middle of one of each of the three circles. Then they would have to place an [Item] in the overlapping part that was related to both of the people in the primary circle. In the middle, they would have to have a fourth [Item] that connected all three of them. It wasn''t until they successfully did so that the door to the room would unlock. Of course, Violet was perfectly aware that the adventurers could come to the room in smaller parties, but that could easily be fixed by instructing the two pixies she planned to assign to the room to participate.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    In fact, she kind of hoped that the adventurers would have to involve her pixies. It would be good for them to get to know more about them so that they''d be less likely to want to kill them off. It wasn''t like all of the [Monsters] in her dungeon were threats to adventurers, even if the pixies didn''t exactly like the people of this world either. Maybe that could be resolved a bit through this challenge as well. However, before she could worry about that, she would have to get some new pixies to assign to the room.


    Spending 100 MP, Violet set up a new spawner in the room. Then she went ahead and spent the 100 MP required to complete the contract and summon two new pixies to her dungeon. However, she hadn''t been expecting two rather elderly pixies to appear in her dungeon. They appeared to be a couple since the female one was clutching the male close to her with a worried expression on her face.


    Violet frowned, hoping that this wasn''t going to be a repeat of the last time something like this happened. She didn''t particularly enjoy having Lily fear her and it had taken a lot of time to earn her trust. Of course, Violet didn''t have anything against her [Monsters] being socially awkward, she just felt guilty and bad about herself when it happened. She didn''t particularly like that feeling.


    The elderly old man squeezed his companion''s hand with a reassuring smile on his face before flying closer to Violet. When he spoke it was very slow and deliberate, but also reminded Violet of her own grandfather, which made her feel homesick. Still, he was quite friendly as he introduced himself.


    "Hello, miss. Pardon our lack of manners, but time has taken its toll on us. I''m Hawthorn and this is my wife, Aster. We''re very grateful for you accepting us into your dungeon."


    Violet felt a bit more at ease, but she still couldn''t help but ask


    "I''m not bothering your wife, am I?"


    The old woman laughed amusedly before replying


    "Oh, no, dear. Rather, instead, we are more so worried that we might be a burden on you."


    Violet tilted her head in confusion as she asked


    "How could that be the case?"


    Her husband patted his wife''s hand again in reassurance before replying on their behalf.


    "Well, we are quite elderly. I don''t know how much use we could be to you. We wanted to join a dungeon so we could retire in peace without worrying about being bothered by those who stumble about in our home forest. However, we realize that might be a bit selfish of us. It''s usually the youngsters who sign up for such opportunities."


    Violet waved her hand to dismiss their worries as she reassured them.


    "I''m not bothered by your age. I will say, though, I think I''ll need to change my plans. I was initially looking for someone to help me out with the challenge in this room, but I think it would be better to come up with something more suitable for you all. Still, I hope you can relax here, for now. Since it''s still winter, there shouldn''t be many adventurers coming up to this floor and there are other pixies you can meet in the other rooms."


    Hawthorn nodded, gratefully thanking Violet.


    "Thank you, I''m sure we''ll be fine. We''re happy to help with the challenge here, but I also understand if you have something else in mind for us."

 2.37 Overdue Missions

    Violet wasn''t quite sure what she wanted to do with the elderly couple. She certainly didn''t want to expect them to fly around and deal with frustrated adventurers all of the time. It would be better if she could figure out some sort of challenge that was better suited for them where they could mostly relax. She would have to make that the next challenge room she made, though, since she needed to move them if she wanted to invite more pixies into her dungeon. Well, technically she could put a new spawner in one of the empty rooms and move them now, but putting them in an empty, boring room sounded unkind.


    Honestly, Violet was starting to wonder if she should try investing some of her dungeon points into researching fairy houses. In her old world, those were either purely decorative or were really fancy birdhouses that were kept in a garden. However, it was quite likely that she could design actual functioning houses for the pixies so long as she got a little creative and was realistic about the design.


    Either way, that was something to think about later. Violet sighed, sitting down on the steps to the dungeon core room. It was a pain to jump over all of the pitfall [Traps] to get in here, but she definitely needed some space to think. Her fairies liked to socialize quite a bit, which was usually nice, but that just wasn''t what she needed right now. Instead, she wanted a distraction. Violet pulled up her system menu and listlessly looked it over.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 100 / 100


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 14,531


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 32


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    She had already received the rent for the day from Avorn and Camellia as well as David''s tribute worth a measly 1 DP. That had brought her to her current total of 14,531 dungeon points. It had been a while since she had really looked over her menu, it was nice to see how high her room total had gotten between the first and second floors. While she could easily look at the mental map she had or even the physical maps she now had of the dungeon, it was hardly the same as seeing the number reflected on the [Dungeon Status] screen.


    The rest of the options she was pretty familiar with. She didn''t need to be reminded of which [Monsters] or [Critters] she had, they were already memorized. It would be good to try and work some fennec foxes and little owls into her plans somewhere, but she was still trying to figure that out. With the higher mana costs for her new [Monsters], it was difficult to devote any spawner space for them. She hardly wanted to summon them without assigning them to a spawner, it would be too sad and frustrating to have them die and not respawn.


    One thing she hadn''t checked in a while, though, was the [Missions] menu, which she decided to do now.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions:


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Place first [Trap]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    SystemUnauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock ten [Critters] (7/10)


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete second floor boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete half of the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the third floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Build a shrine to the Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (? cost evolve cute [Monsters])


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Pray at the shrine of the Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (beauty is pain)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Have ten different children level up within the dungeon (1/10)


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (? cost toys & sweets)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Have ten different couples enter the dungeon (3/10)


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (true love never dies)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The list had gotten a lot longer since Violet had last looked it over. She now had two [Missions] completed. The first was a system quest for placing her first [Trap] while the second was for building an altar for the goddess of love & beauty. She made sure to collect that reward right away. While she hardly needed the extra dungeon points, she was still happy to take what rewards she could get. Then she accepted the reward from the system.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to receive the reward now?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Mammalia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Amphibia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Other


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet decided to go with the [Chordata - Mammalia] option this time.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chinkara Gazelle


    </td>


    <td>


    5 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal chinkara gazelle. Easily frightened and rarely engages in combat. Safe for consumption.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Well, it was hardly going to add to the safety of the dungeon, but that was hardly surprising. The dungeon seemed to naturally scale her options to ensure the danger to the adventurers couldn''t drastically increase. She''d likely have to unlock a few more floors before the system would be willing to give her something like a bear. Still, from how much the locals were struggling with food, Violet got the feeling that a gazelle would come in handy in the future.


    Once all of that was done, Violet more carefully went through the other options and considered which ones she could complete next. She really needed more things like insects or birds to use in her dungeon, eventually, so system quests would be good to complete. However, after determining most of them would require her to complete floors faster than she was ready to, she dismissed that notion.


    Next, Violet looked over the quests from the deity she had contracted with. It was a relief to note that the goddess wasn''t exactly asking for anything she wasn''t comfortable with. If anything, the quests were in line with her own goals. However, Violet still couldn''t help but feel like many of the quests weren''t something she could actively control. She couldn''t even convince the locals to come to the dungeon and it was unlikely new adventurers would be in the area until spring arrived.


    Still, it couldn''t hurt to give tribute to the goddess and pray to her. It was a shame that she had no information on what the blessing "beauty is pain" means, but she somehow doubted that it would be anything too bad. After all, if it caused her pain to make her dungeon look better, then it would be more of a curse than a blessing.

 2.38 Mystery Falls

    It took Violet half the night to contemplate the possibilities for what she wanted to do for the next challenge. While the [Monster] field rooms could easily be thrown together with little thought, she didn''t really like rushing through things when it came to the challenge rooms. Since she really liked locking the challenge room doors, that meant she would have to set the rooms'' themes and that would make it difficult to change things too much later on.


    She ended up leaving the dungeon core room to spend some time with her fairies and observe the newcomers while they interacted with the others. After some time, it seemed clear to Violet that they weren''t much different from the older people she knew from her world. They just wanted to relax, enjoy their "retirement", and socialize with others. Hawthorn even seemed to enjoy cracking jokes with the others and was very easy to get along with, which is how she had ended up deciding on her next challenge.


    The concept of what made a challenge room a challenge room was both very broad and very specific at the same time. She couldn''t make it so that adventurers had to give her tribute or ask them to do the impossible, but she was otherwise quite free to make up her own stipulation and get creative with it. So far she had mostly done physical puzzles that required adventurers to jump across platforms, capture slimes, or even move giant jigsaw pieces into place. However, that was just one option she could use and she most certainly didn''t have to limit herself like that.


    Before she started working on anything else, though, she wanted to ensure the room was well decorated and somewhere comfortable for Hawthorn and Aster to live. So, she spent 200 DP to research a waterfall and 100 MP to install it. It was a bit painful, figuratively, to part with her entire mana pool''s worth just for the waterfall portion, but Violet was sure the effect would be worthwhile.


    The waterfall was up against the middle of one wall of the room. Stones stuck out from the wall and naturally led down to the floor where the water crashed down into a pool where it disappeared. As she had to wait a while for her mana to refill, she was grateful that the water wasn''t spilling everywhere. Well, it wasn''t like the river on the first floor had a problem like that either, so she likely shouldn''t have worried about it.


    Luckily, Avorn and Camellia sleeping in the dungeon meant that her mana could refill in its entirety in less than an hour. So, Violet soon was back to work as she created a winding river that led from the base of the waterfall to the other side of the room. That had only cost her another 25 MP, but that was with her only making the river 5-Units deep instead of the full 10-Units limit.


    The waterfall had been quite expensive due to its scale and all of the effects to make the water act naturally, but the rest of the setup was quite cheap in comparison. Even researching a new stone brick bridge to put across the river near the end of it only cost her 20 DP and 10 MP to build it. It was still likely a bit wasteful to build the whole setup since it was hardly necessary for the challenge, but the sound of the crashing water sure was peaceful and it was definitely a lovely sight.


    Creating a fairy house took a lot more work. Violet even made sure to go through and sketch out a detailed design before going to do the research. She still wasn''t sure how much specifying changed how the system did things, but she wanted to do what she could. She wanted the houses to blend into the trees while being able to be hung from high up branches or set in between two converging branches. So, the base of the houses had to be made from wood while the roofs were meant to blend in with the foliage. Since the enchanted forest had purple trees and a deep dark brown color for the trunks, that meant the houses ended up in similar colors.


    However, not everything had to be about blending in. The houses would be replaced when the room refreshed anyway, so she felt free to take some creative liberties. She added a tiny garden with miniature stones lining it and some of the smaller varieties of flowers and foliage in it. Then there was a cobblestone pathway leading up to steps at the entrance of the house. It was multiple floors tall with balconies with wooden railings and windows with actual glass panes. She even detailed what she wanted inside the home with light crystal-based lighting features, a kitchen with a tiny wood stove made from metal, and comfortable furniture with wooden frames, cloth covers, etc.


    Since Violet knew she would be limited by which [Base Resources] she had, she knew she had to design things based on that. A wood stove could utilize fire should it ever become available and a sink could utilize water fetched with buckets from the nearby river. However, she didn''t have fire or water magic / crystals, so everything would have to be done manually. If it weren''t for her recently being gifted a magic lantern by Tobias, she likely wouldn''t even be able to add proper lights to the homes. Still, she wanted her pixies to live comfortably in her dungeon so they could be happy.


    The homes had ended up costing an entire 1,000 DP to research, which had nearly given Violet a heart-attack from worry, but she was relieved to find they would only cost 100 MP to build each of them. Perhaps the dungeon was being generous in even allowing her to get them for that cheap, but she certainly wasn''t going to complain. Normally they would cost two the amount in dungeon points to research as they did to buy them with mana. So, this was already quite good.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    It took a while for her mana to refill again, but that just meant she had more time to consider next steps. A new spawner would cost her another 100 MP and then she would need another 100 MP to sign contracts with new pixies to cover the fae circles room. Hopefully, she would get more suitable occupants this time. While she didn''t mind the elderly couple and even found them quite precious and sweet, she still had to consider what her current needs were.


    It took a while to gather the needed mana, but it all felt worth it when Violet ended up summoning two young ladies. They both curtsied to Violet and greeted her in unison.


    "Hello! I''m Iris..."


    "and I''m Orchid! It''s lovely to meet you!"


    The two were twins with dark black hair and stunning blue eyes and they were wearing matching blue dresses that resembled the flowers they were named after. The two reminded her quite a bit of Jasmine and Daisy. Maybe the four would get along?


    "Thank you. Please give me a moment as I need to finish things up here before I can show you around. I''ll need your help with a challenge in a different room, which is where I''ll be assigning you, but I have to finish this one first."


    Violet explained. Iris was enthusiastic as she replied


    "Alright!"


    The two flew off to explore, giggling amongst themselves as they did so. Violet quickly switched the assignments for her pixies around and then started working on finalizing things. 300 DP had to be spent to set the themes in both the fae circles and mystery falls room, which was what she had decided to call the newest one. Then it was time to figure out the new challenge rewards.


    However, before she did any of that, she wanted to try something new.


    "Can I assign more than one reward for the same challenge?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research randomized challenge rewards for 10,000 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet''s eyes got big as she took in the biggest number she had seen the system quote her yet. The fairy houses had already cost as much as unlocking her second floor had, which was still quite insane. However, this was ten as much and almost made her wonder if it was truly worth the cost. She just wanted to have some more variety and felt like it would be better to have a variety of colors for the scarves rather than having things so limited.


    Taking another glance at her dungeon point total, she felt even more nervous. She was already down to 13,011 DP, which was still a lot, but she was still starting to worry. Taking a calming breath, Violet decided to take the plunge and selected [Yes], watching her dungeon points immediately decrease to 3,011. Her heart started to beat wildly in her chest, but the dungeon soon pulsed around her and she felt herself become calm. Everything was going to be fine.


    Smiling, Violet reassured herself that she''d have plenty of opportunities to earn more dungeon points in the future. Every week David always buys 2,250 DP worth of goods from her and she was sure that she could always try to convince others to buy her goods as well. Even just Avorn and Camellia''s monthly rent meant she''d earn 700 DP in passive income each week. She would just have to wait a while to make any more big upgrades after she finished these two challenges.


    Stretching, Violet relaxed herself and began to work on the research for the prizes she was going to use in the rooms. For the fae circles challenge, she wanted to use tie-dyed silk scarves. She used to have quite the collection of them, which she had bought from an art center in the small town they often vacationed in. She ended up making three different designs. The first was black, white, and gray with traces of yellow like a stormy day. The second was blue, yellow, and orange like a beautiful sunrise. Meanwhile, the third was green, brown, and white, which reminded her of the forest. All of that ended up costing her 150 DP with the scarves being valued at 25 MP each.


    For the mystery falls room, she decided to go with flower hair clips. That one she only did two designs for. The first was a white lace flower with white goose feathers and a metal pinch-style clip. The second used a hair comb, a black flower, small glass pearls, and glass rhinestones. Despite the flower hair clips being smaller, they also cost 50 DP each to research since they utilized so many different [Base Resources] to create.


    Another 300 DP had to be used to set the challenge with its rewards in the fae circle room as well as lock the doors. Meanwhile, the mystery falls room took 250 DP to do the same. For that challenge, Violet had stipulated that the doors would only unlock when someone said the password, which would be Aster''s name. The adventurers would be encouraged to talk to Hawthorn who could be convinced to accidentally or purposely say the password, depending on the adventurer''s behavior. Of course, it was possible that the answer could spread over time, but Violet wasn''t worried about that since she could always change it later on.

 2.39 Investigation

    "Are you sure you aren''t rushing things too much?"


    Theodore questioned as he jumped across the last pitfall [Trap] just before the dungeon core room. Violet shook her head as she reassured him


    "I''ve already been trying to slow things down by quite a bit. Do you think it''s really too much?"


    Theodore could feel Violet''s anxiety hanging in the air around him. However, while he wanted to reassure her, he wasn''t sure whether that was the right choice or not. He wasn''t exactly clear on what to think in this situation. He was fairly young amongst his kind and only had a total of three dungeons that he was in charge of caring for. However, even from what he had learned from his peers, Violet''s dungeon seemed to be a rather rare case.


    There were some nefarious cults and those who tried to get away with breaking the dungeon accords in order to earn some coin, but that wasn''t exactly an everyday thing to worry about. Considering Violet had already successfully defended her dungeon from invading [Monsters] and a cultist, he was pretty confident she had already proved herself capable. Still, he couldn''t help but worry about her and he was very forthcoming with it.


    "Well, in theory, it isn''t a problem for you to build as quickly as you are. It''s just that you seem to be almost done with your second floor and it hasn''t even been half a year. Normally the winter season would slow down the dungeon progress, especially in your first year. However, even most of the older Dungeon Masters tend to end up hibernating through the season."


    Violet tilted her head to the side as she thought over his words. Theodore was now checking out her dungeon core, so he soon continued to speak as he noted.


    "Your dungeon core seems to look healthy enough, though. There doesn''t seem to be any signs of corruption remaining either. I suppose that means David has been behaving himself?"


    Violet got a sour expression on her face as she replied


    "I just don''t think we get along that well. Are you sure it isn''t possible to alter the contract without him being sold into slavery?"


    Theodore narrowed his eyes, but was prompt in his response.


    "I''m sorry to hear that. Did you have something particular in mind?"


    Violet shrugged her shoulders, sighing as she sat down on the stone steps. She took her time replying, not wanting anything to be misinterpreted should she word things poorly.


    "I don''t think David is a bad person, but I also don''t think he cares about me. That''s alright, but I don''t particularly want him to continue to be in my dungeon. At least, I don''t want to have to continue to interact with him. I''d be fine with not using any [Traps] on my first floor as I''d like that floor to serve as a safe enough place for children to learn and grow."


    Violet chuckled before continuing


    "Actually, the goddess of love and beauty even gave me some new quests. I need ten children to earn their first level in my dungeon. I''m also supposed to have ten couples visit my dungeon. The [Missions] are right up my alley and fit with my goals, so I don''t mind, but it is a bit funny.


    I think I''d just like David to no longer be allowed to approach me, talk to me, or otherwise be allowed to harm my dungeon. He can still bring his daughter here to train and I won''t hold a grudge against her. She''s really a sweet girl. I just don''t like how he wants to take advantage of my dungeon. It''s clear he wants to buy goods from me, earn rewards through the challenges, etc. in order to make a better life for him and his child. I''ve been trying to cut him some slack this season and not make requests for specific tribute, but he hasn''t even been putting in any effort. Even garbage from the locals would likely be more beneficial than random stones and twigs he finds on the way over here."


    Theodore already knew that Violet was a very genuine and kind person. However, what he hadn''t been expecting was the feeling of anger that even shook the dungeon around them as she spoke about David. In fact, he couldn''t help but feel himself becoming worked up as he found himself angry that David was taking advantage of Violet''s kindness. There was no way he could just let things end as simply as all of that. Gritting his teeth, Theodore tried to calm himself as he askedReading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "Is there anything I should look for in a replacement? I doubt you''ve perfected swordsmanship in a mere season, so it would be good for you to keep practicing."


    That was something Violet wasn''t as sure about. Hesitantly, she said


    "Well, is it possible that you could look for a priest or priestess willing to worship the goddess in my dungeon? Elivyre said that she''s never heard of the goddess of love and beauty before. It would be even better if it was someone who could help me with things besides swordsmanship and was willing to view me as a person."


    Theodore frowned, that was definitely a difficult request. He wasn''t sure that he could find anyone with that particular skill set who was also willing to do such a thing. However, he was hardly going to give up before trying. So, he asked


    "I might be able to find a cleric or something, but is it fine if I can''t match all of your criteria? I''ll definitely try to find someone with a better personality than David, but I can''t make any guarantees outside of that."


    Violet waved her hand to dismiss his concerns as she replied


    "That''s fine. Honestly, I have the basics down, I can just keep practicing them. It isn''t like I can always be the first defense for the dungeon. That''s why I''ve been working on adding [Traps] and such to the dungeon. Most of my challenge rooms on the second floor usually lock too. Considering I lowered the difficulty of everything but the boss room on the first floor, I''m happy my second floor is as built up as it is now. It ensures intruders will have a more difficult time getting in."


    Theodore nodded in response, simply replying


    "I see."


    Violet smiled as she excitedly shared


    "Actually, I''ve recently started a new project as well. I''m planning on using the extra mana I''ve been getting from Avorn and Camellia to create food and dried firewood for the locals. Unfortunately, Elivyre informed me the local town leader was unwilling to help with that. He is, apparently, planning to leave town with his entire family after spring arrives. She did say that he agreed not to interfere with our work, but that we''ll have to talk to the new Lord after he arrives. I sure hope we get someone more cooperative."


    Theodore looked confused as he replied


    "I''ll be honest, I don''t really know who this Elivyre is. A friend of yours perhaps? However, it''s pretty unusual for Dungeon Masters to interact with the locals, much less go out of their way to help them. Is there a particular reason why you feel inclined to do that?"


    Violet smiled, once more dismissing his concerns, as she reassured him


    "Oh, it''s no big deal. I overheard Avorn and Camellia talking about firewood being more expensive and made a merchant deal with them. I ended up making quite a bit off of it. David wound up finding out about how they were paying for the goods, though, and so he''s been paying me tree leaves from the dungeon to buy food every week.


    The other day I actually had as much as 14,000 dungeon points, but I had to spend most of them on my new challenges. Well, 10,000 of them were invested in unlocking the ability to assign more than one prize to a challenge.


    Sorry, I ended up off-topic. Anyhow, between that and Elivre discussing how many health potions she''s been using, I ended up deciding to take action. I''m hoping that I can convince the locals to stop fearing my dungeon and thinking I''m all bad. Probably not going to happen anytime soon, though. The town leader had banned the leaders from entering until it was confirmed to be safe, but now he is planning to leave. Really frustrating, honestly."


    Theodore sighed, commenting


    "You still didn''t explain who Elivyre was."


    Violet looked flustered as she explained


    "Oh, sorry! She''s my friend. Apparently, she''s a half-elf and she is trying to get an alchemy shop opened here. She often comes here and collects herbs while we talk. I think I might have mentioned I made a friend once before? Sorry if I didn''t."


    Theodore wasn''t honestly sure if she had or not. While it was always concerning for merchants to get involved with Dungeon Masters, he was glad it seemed like Violet was happy. He''d still have to look into this new friend''s background, but he''d allow things to stand as they were, for now.


    That was hardly the only thing he''d have to look into either. Theodore quickly said his goodbyes to Violet, dropping off the glowing mushrooms he had promised her, before leaving. While he wanted to trust that everything was going fine, it was his job to investigate things and ensure everything was as it seemed. He already knew Violet meant no harm and he was going to be sure to sort things out with David soon, but the rest was going to take some time.

 2.40 (Interlude) The Beastly Diplomat

    Beowulf had been born much the same way that other Dungeon Diplomats were. His father had been the Dungeon Master of his own dungeon before he met his mother and fell in love. After they were married, they later decided to start a family of their own and then he was born. At least, that was the story he had been told when he was young. The truth was quite a bit darker than all of that.


    His father had originally been a powerful saber tooth tiger, but had later been teleported to a new dungeon where his body was altered and he became more human in shape, but still lacked much of the civilized behavior of the people of this world. It had taken hundreds of lonely years developing his dungeon before his father had his heart stolen away. You see, his mother was a woman of the shifter race and could freely shift between a more human appearance and that of a tiger. Well, most tigers can''t walk on two feet, but it was still more than enough to garner his father''s attention.


    In the short time that his mother''s party continued to visit the dungeon, his father tried to woo his mother with everything from raw meat to flowery weeds. However, none of that did more than confuse his mother. When his father heard it was going to be the last time their party would visit the dungeon, his father had gone into a rage, killing all of her party member''s, save for her, and then locked her up on a floor full of [Monsters] too dangerous for her to risk escaping.


    How his mother had ever been convinced to forgive his father for such a thing, Beowulf wasn''t sure. However, somehow they had ended up getting along well enough for him to spend his childhood happily. When he turned twenty years old, still practically a baby, his mother had encouraged him to go out and see the world for himself. Apparently, that was the common age among humans, dwarves, and shifters to venture out and see the world for themselves.


    He wasn''t sure of what to do or what the world was like so he was hesitant to do so. Luckily, that didn''t matter since the Dungeon Diplomat in charge of his father''s dungeon helped bring him to others of their kind. There he learned from the elders how to control his abilities and what sorts of responsibilities would be expected from him. Once he turned fifty two years old, he had become bonded with his first dungeon. However, what he hadn''t been expecting at the time was that all of the dungeons he''d end up in charge of managing would be those with beasts and [Monsters].


    Beowulf couldn''t help but reminisce about all of this as he walked through the halls of the dungeon he was currently in. It had been a few months since he had last inspected this dungeon. This one was quite well established with twenty whole floors and being hundreds of years old. Despite being quite popular with adventurers, the wolf beast that had become the Dungeon Master was not particularly fond of building things. He much preferred to rip any threats limb from limb.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Filthy beast! How dare-"


    Beowulf caught the tail end of the man''s words as he entered the next room. It was of now surprise to him when he found the Dungeon Master himself standing over the man with blood dripping down his face. The other party members took the opportunity to run away. However, Beowulf only looked disappointed down at the adventurer. He had been a rather beefy barbarian from the looks of it, not that it mattered much now.


    "Master Silverbane, it''s good to see you''re in good health as always!"


    A growl tore through the beast''s throat and Beowulf found himself chuckling in response. He immediately dodged to the side before turning around, clutching the best by the throat and raising him into the air. He hardly cared about the man he had killed and defending himself like this was nothing after all this time. Beowulf had learned quickly that he needed to be able to defend himself if he didn''t wish to be killed during these fights for dominance. Throwing the beast across the room, he rubbed the blood off his hands and onto his pants.


    Silverbane laughed boisterously as he enthusiastically greeted him


    "It''s been too long, old friend! Ah, but you scared away my prey... Oh well, no matter! Let me show you to the core room."


    With the display of violence out of the way, Beowulf was glad to see things were going smoothly. Some of the newer Dungeon Masters would require him to put them in their place for much longer before being willing to cooperate. Shrugging, he replied


    "I doubt they will make it out of the dungeon. Knowing you, you''ve likely got your [Monsters] hunting them down as we speak."


    "Haha! You know me too well."


    Master Silverbane finished his sentence with a slight growl. Despite the dungeon core twisting his form into a more suitable one, his animal nature was still very much present. Even talking like this was likely difficult for him, not that Beowulf would ever offer such sympathy. Beastly Dungeon Masters like Silverbane did not take kindly to his pity.


    As they walked they continued to talk about things, Silverbane slowly filling him on recent events. Admittedly, as a dungeon diplomat, dealing with the dungeon side of things was the easier part. Even all of the extra training wasn''t a big deal when compared to dealing with the politics the humans, elves, and such demanded of him. Truly, being in the dungeon was when he felt most at home.


    Sure, he used to think it a bit of a curse to always be assigned beasts, but now he felt blessed. Human Dungeon Masters tended to be weak-willed, their dungeons falling too easily, or they were too cunning, always causing trouble for his peers. With beasts, the worst he had to worry about was adventurers dying. That wasn''t even that big of a deal, though. They knew the risks when they entered the dungeon, so they could pay the price, even if it ended up being their lives.

 Contest Voting

    So, this might be a bit later than it was supposed to be. I was a bit busy last week and couldn''t keep on top of everything. Still, we are still moving forward with the voting phase now and the voting should end 11/11/24.


    In order to keep everything fair, I have reworded all of the entries to fit the wording and style I use for the skills in the actual story. I will also not be listing who submitted which skill so it is more anonymous. However, not to worry, I do have names recorded on my end for who submitted which idea.


    As a reminder, the voting is for the most creative and interesting idea, not for which skill you want to see in the story. I may rework and reuse some of the skills in the story later on, but only after a long process that includes Patreon subscribers having to vote for which skill they''d like to see used next. Some of the skills submitted wouldn''t work within the story''s confines anyhow, so I really cannot emphasize enough that you should be voting purely on what ideas so the most creative and fun, not what you want to see in the story.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    I will be doing the RNG drawing when I announce the winners of the vote. As a reminder, this is what the potential rewards are:


    Rewards:


    1st Place:


    <ul>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TDCD</li>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TID</li>


    <li>PDF copy of book one of TDCD Diary</li>


    <li>Copy of the TDCD 2024 Calender</li>


    <li>15 TDCD-themed digital coloring pages</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    2nd Place:


    <ul>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TDCD</li>


    <li>PDF copy of volume one of TID</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    3rd Place


    <ul>


    <li>PDF copy of either volume one of TDCD or TID</li>


    <li>Copy of the TDCD 2024 Calender</li>


    <li>15 TDCD-themed digital coloring pages</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>


    Bonus (Random Number Generator)


    <ul>


    <li>Copy of the TDCD 2024 Calender</li>


    <li>15 TDCD-themed digital coloring pages</li>


    <li>Shout-Out for story of your choice</li>


    </ul>

 2.41 The Perfect Tribute

    It has now been four days since Elivyre last visited. Violet wondered when her friend would next visit her. She had stopped in the very next day to give her the news regarding the town leader. However, she hadn''t been ready to set things up for their charity work just yet. Violet was fine with waiting a few days while Elivyre sorted things out. It wasn''t like it was going to hurt her if things took too long.


    Her dungeon points were already starting to go back up as well. Theodore had brought her five different types of glowing mushrooms. She had been surprised to find honey mushrooms among them, she had already obtained them from David previously, but she wasn''t aware they glowed in the dark. The others were bitter oysters, little ping-pong bats, glistening starcaps, and luminescent morels. Violet was pretty sure the last two were some sort of fantasy mushroom native to this world, but she wasn''t exactly familiar with the others either. She was hardly an expert forager or anything like that.


    It would be good to play around with the effect of the mushrooms in future rooms, but that could wait a while yet. Violet was still working on making a list of all of the changes she wanted to implement while waiting for her dungeon points to increase enough to feel worthwhile. Right now she has 2,757 DP, which isn''t bad by any means, but somehow still felt like a small sum. Perhaps her perception of it was a bit twisted after how high it had been just a week ago.


    Regardless, today Violet had much more important things to concern herself with. Ever since she had read her [Missions] and saw she had one for praying to the goddess of love and beauty, she had been trying to think of a proper tribute to give to her. She had seen the tribute chest in the altar room when she first built it and she had gotten the distinct impression that anything left in it would no longer belong to the dungeon. That meant it was likely that the tributes would genuinely be received by the goddess. It was only right that she brought something should she go to pray.


    Violet still wasn''t sure how she felt about the fact that deities were real in this world. It wasn''t like it was difficult to believe considering everything that had happened up until now. Reincarnating into a fantasy world full of [Monsters], dungeons, and adventurers certainly put things into perspective. Still, it felt strange to all of a sudden devote herself to a religion when she had never been particularly into that sort of thing in her past life. Well, she supposed, it was likely that she would have struggled even more had she been devoted to another religion, but she''d never know for sure since she hadn''t.


    When it came down to giving gifts, Violet liked to give thoughtful gifts based on who she was giving it to. However, she didn''t actually know much about the goddess who resided over her dungeon besides her titles. Love and beauty could mean a lot of things, though, especially depending on who you ask. Violet didn''t really think giving the deity things like a paper valentine or makeup really made sense, though. As a result, she ended up turning to her knowledge of flowers.


    When she made the flower hunt room on the first floor, it had been made in memory of her husband, Lee. It ended up having to be moved to the second floor and some changes had been made to it, but it was still something meaningful and personal to her. Perhaps that would make a similar tribute of flowers a decent tribute to give to the goddess.


    Of course, depending on the culture you come from, flowers have different meanings. Many books even just list all of the possibilities of what the flowers could mean. That was the way Violet had learned the meanings of the flowers as well. She didn''t subscribe to the idea of a flower only having one meaning, but that they could mean a number of things depending on the context. Thus, Violet began to go over the various flowers that could mean things like "love" or "beauty".Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Her enhanced memory made this far easier than it likely would have been in the past. She had never quite perfectly memorized all of the different meanings of the flowers, but she had a book to reference before. Now she had to rely purely on her own memory. She could only be thankful for the way her bond with the dungeon had preserved all of her memories perfectly, allowing her to recall everything in perfect focus at a moment''s notice.


    In the end, Violet ended up deciding on red roses. The flower had multiple meanings, but the three she wanted to focus on were "love", "beauty", and "devotion". It seemed like the perfect thing for someone praying at an altar, like a devoted follower, to the goddess of love and beauty. Red roses were even known for being romantic and the traditional gift given before dates or on anniversaries in her past life. Still, something felt missing.


    Anyone could bring flowers to the dungeon and leave them as tribute for the goddess. As the Dungeon Master and the first to contract with this particular deity, Violet wanted to do something more special. What made her different from the others? She had been able to build a grand altar from next to nothing. Similarly, she could create just about anything so long as she had the [Base Resources] unlocked for it. Perhaps she should research something new so that the goddess could be the first to receive such a gift from her?


    It took quite a bit of time pacing back and forth, ruminating on the subject, before Violet made her decision. Quickly spending the 20 DP and 10 MP, she created her tribute and then made the trip down to the first floor. Violet climbed the steps to the altar and then kneeled in front of the statue before opening the tribute chest. She carefully set the red rose flower crown inside before once more closing it. Smiling, she made herself comfortable before beginning to pray.


    "Dear goddess, I apologize for taking so long to show my appreciation for your help. I''m afraid I''m not used to praying like this, so I might not show you the proper respect and etiquette you deserve. I made you a crown of red roses and I hope you enjoy it.


    Perhaps you might find it odd, but my dungeon isn''t exactly very dangerous or scary right now. I kind of prefer the innocent and playful nature of things. That might change in the future, but I hope, with your guidance, that the dungeon will always remain a beautiful place that the people of this world can grow to love. I don''t want to be feared, I just want to live a happy life surrounded by friends and help as many as I can.


    I''ve asked Theodore, the Dungeon Diplomat assigned to this dungeon, to look for a priest or priestess for you. I don''t know if it''s true, but I heard this is the first time you''ve ever contracted with a dungeon before. I can''t promise to make you well-known or to ensure a lot of people worship you. However, I''m hopeful that I can do what I can to ensure you are acknowledged. I... I don''t have much power to do anything about the people outside of this dungeon. We''ll have to depend on others when it comes to that, but I''ll continue to advocate for you however I can.


    Sorry if this is so short, but I really do appreciate your help."


    Violet stood back up, feeling uncertain. However, after she exited the room and checked her [Missions] menu, she found her actions had been sufficient to earn the reward for it. Violet''s eyes went wide with surprise as she read over the information regarding the blessing.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Blessing: Beauty Is Pain


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    The more beautiful the dungeon, the more painful it is for non-dungeon entities who cross the threshold into the dungeon core room.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    This was huge! Violet wasn''t certain just how much of an effect it would have and what exactly was considered "beautiful" in this context, but the ability certainly sounded OP. While it wasn''t exactly as if adventurers or invading [Monsters] would die from being in the dungeon room, it would definitely discourage them from staying in there too long. This also felt a lot like receiving approval for the decisions she had made thus far and made Violet feel like she wanted to continue to pave her own path forward, knowing the goddess approved of her choices.

 2.42 David’s Ire

    "Here."


    David said before shoving a rusty iron helmet into Violet''s hands. Violet smiled bitterly at him as she did her best to sound grateful.


    "Thank you. Where should we train today?"


    David merely grunted and shrugged at her, but soon he was walking faster as he led the way through the dungeon. Violet wasn''t quite sure, but she was more than starting to suspect that David was angry with her. Whether that had anything to do with her previous discussion with Theodore, though, she wasn''t quite sure. It wasn''t like David tended to be particularly friendly towards her lately anyway.


    The tributes changed in the last few days, though. They weren''t necessarily better, per se, but they were certainly different. Two days ago she had received an iron sword, which was broken into two pieces with several smaller pieces missing. Then, the next day, it had been a leather satchel with multiple holes in it and that had begun to rot. Today was, of course, the rusted iron helmet, which was, luckily, something new. The other [Items] had only been worth 1 DP and had left her hands feeling dirty as David had insisted on handing them directly to her instead of leaving them in the tribute room.


    This helmet, though, would be worth an entire 10 dungeon points! It still wasn''t exactly a fortune, but it was still nice to have a new [Item] schematic unlocked. Violet wasn''t exactly eager to start selling adventurer equipment on a regular basis, but she felt it was still nice to have the option available. Maybe one day she''d even consider using enchanted equipment for challenge rewards. However, she wasn''t quite sure what she could offer that other dungeons wouldn''t already have and she didn''t exactly want to offer something adventurers wouldn''t actually be excited to receive.


    Once they reached the wildflower meadow, Violet heard David tell his daughter, Alice


    "Take Luna and go kill slimes."


    Violet winced, feeling a bit bad for the young child. Ever since she had started selling David food each week, she had seemed more carefree. The plants they had been collecting had even changed from being more focused on those that were edible to flowers and herbs once more. However, Alice seemed nervous again today, which was even more of an indicator of how things were at home than David''s foul mood was.


    Violet supposed it wasn''t surprising when David seemed to be out for blood today. He kept pushing the boundaries of the agreement they had both signed. It didn''t take long for her arms to end up covered in small lacerations that slowly wept blood, covering her arms in the crimson liquid. She also ended up falling backward onto her ass and was barely given time to stand up and recover before David was bearing down on her once more.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    After nearly three months of practicing, Violet was getting much better with the sword. However, there was no way that she could learn enough to overpower David, who had years of experience and unnatural strength from his guardian class, in such a short period of time. It would have been nice if she grew stronger with each floor she unlocked like Theodore said other Dungeon Masters often could. However, clearly that wasn''t her path in life and she would have to depend on other ways to defend herself and the dungeon. It was really too bad, she would have loved to put up a decent fight against David.


    Part of Violet genuinely worried how bad things might get if David was allowed to remain in her dungeon. She wanted to be fair to him and his young daughter rather than punishing him. However, it also seemed inevitable that his passive-aggressive attitude would one day turn into something more dangerous. Perhaps he would try to find a loophole and use it to bring about the downfall of her dungeon or otherwise make her life more difficult. It was simply too dangerous to keep someone so emotionally unstable around her.


    After an hour, Violet tried to leave. However, David pretended to be oblivious as he continued to have a go at her, swinging his sword down at her face with her barely being able to block in time. Starting to panic, Violet shouted


    "Stop! I said enough!"


    The dungeon around her began to shake around her in response to her own emotional response. The recently respawned slimes began to swarm clumsily towards them in a bid to defend the dungeon and their master. David watched her with a dark look as she left the room, only looking away once the door closed behind her.


    Violet swallowed nervously, casting the occasional glance behind her as she made her way upstairs. She didn''t feel safe until she was in the dungeon core room and even then she still felt shaky. While death wasn''t the end for her and the contract would have consequences for David if he ever tried to kill her again, it was still scary.


    She hadn''t mentioned anything to David and she had to assume that Theodore was smart enough to not put her in danger unnecessarily. Yet it seemed like David knew something was going on and he wasn''t all too happy about it. Violet had a bitter taste in her mouth, she no longer wanted to pretend everything was the same. She no longer wanted to show up to their nightly sparring sessions. The only problem was that David had to show up to teach her every night, there was no avoiding it.


    It wasn''t like she had to cooperate, though. She could easily hide away in the dungeon core room and force him to come after her. However, Violet worried about what that would mean for Alice. Would she be brought home or would she be put in danger? David always seemed to be protective over his daughter, never letting her get too close to the young girl. So it seemed unlikely that he would choose the more dangerous option, but Violet didn''t like the idea of gambling on such a thing.


    This was going to be a long night...

 2.43 Homes For All

    Violet took calming breaths, trying her best to calm herself down. Having a panic attack was hardly going to help her right now and she hardly wanted the dungeon core to corrupt again. What would Theodore think of her? Letting herself get worked up over every little thing. It wasn''t like David had broken the contract or else he would have immediately suffered the consequences.


    Pacing anxiously, back and forth, Violet pulled up the details of the contract she had made with David. She read it over, again and again, but there wasn''t actually that much text to go over. This was hardly a lawyer''s contract. No, this was kept sweet and simple with very clear points and relying on the fact that Theodore could always take further action of his own accord.


    The contract prevented her from putting [Traps] anywhere but in the hallway directly in front of her dungeon core room on the first floor. Now that it was on the second floor, that meant she could no longer put [Traps] on the first floor at all. There had been a contingency for if she had [Traps] when she unlocked the next floor where the [Traps] would automatically be moved to the next floor. That hadn''t been necessary, but Violet knew that was just because she had made a rather strange choice to not use any [Traps] on the floor in the first place.


    There was also a bit about how Violet couldn''t intentionally incite a [Monster] stampede to attack David''s daughter or otherwise intentionally harm her with physical violence until she became her species''s equivalent of an adult. Since she was a human, that would mean the girl would be safe until she was eighteen, but Violet hoped it would never be necessary to harm the girl. It was interesting to note, though, that Violet had accidentally incited her [Monsters] to attack David yesterday, which hadn''t come with any consequences. Whether that was because it was accidental or because it was directed at David, though, she wasn''t sure. It certainly wasn''t something she wanted to test, though.


    All of that was detailed in only a few short sentences whereas the portions relating to David took up a larger portion of the text. If David killed her again, his system was meant to alert Theodore immediately as well as implement consequences right away. There was some jargon with code Violet didn''t understand relating to what those consequences were listed in the contract. Then there were details about how extreme the training could be. David was supposed to keep the training to reasonable levels of violence that weren''t allowed to exceed the difficult training the royal knights of the Deepvein Kingdom go through. Any intentional injuries worse than what could be healed by the weakest healing potion were off-limits.


    There were also requirements for David to show up every day to conduct training. Violet was allowed to dismiss him at any point in time and was not required to come to him. He would have to seek her out, if necessary. Then there was a bit about how David had to bring Violet tribute every day and specific tribute, up to the value that could be obtained from her dungeon from one day''s worth of gathering, upon request. The contract finished off with it being noted that Theodore could take further action and require David to sign a new contract should it become necessary with the current contract being valid for one year.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Violet still felt uneasy about things, but she needed time to think things over. She didn''t want to hide away in the dungeon core room all night, though. So, instead, she decided to try and distract herself. In particular, she decided tonight would be as good a time as any to spoil her pixies. Striding into the mystery falls room, she announced


    "I''m going to gather the others for a tea party. We''ll have it in here tonight, so please prepare yourselves!"


    Aster and Hawthorn could easily hear her voice, even over the roar of the waterfall that stood between their home and the other side of the river where Violet was. So, they immediately began to get ready. Meanwhile, Violet continued to travel through her rooms one at a time. She gathered all of the others from their rooms and led them back to the mystery falls room. Then she summoned up a huge feast of sweets and tea, making it far grander than she usually would.


    The pixies immediately began to feast, excitedly chattering amongst themselves as they did so. Violet smiled, happy to be surrounded by such overwhelming positivity. She still didn''t feel quite right, but this would have to do, for now. It took a while for her mana to fill up all the way, but she spent several hours with her pixies summoning new homes for them one by one. Once she had five of them, she announced


    "Good news! Everyone is getting a home tonight! I''ve got one for Jasmine, Daisy, Iris, Orchid, and then one for Cedar and Lily to share. I know you two are twins and like to spend your time together Iris and Orchid, but I don''t want you to feel like you can''t have your privacy. Maybe one day there will be cute boy pixies who join the dungeon that you like. Even if you can''t start families of your own the traditional way, you should still feel free to get married or whatever else you want. Forever is a long time and we should all try our best to make it worthwhile."


    The two newest additions felt quite touched as they excitedly looked over the new homes. They were all identical, the dungeon system ensuring that there weren''t even minor details that would differ, but it was still exciting nonetheless. Iris and Orchid definitely did enjoy each other''s company, but the thought of being able to continue to live their lives without being held back by their contract with the dungeon was incredible! Neither was sure they''d ever get lucky enough to meet the perfect husband in a dungeon, but it was still nice to have the option.


    Really, Miss Violet was already quite strange for a Dungeon Master. Despite the fact that none of them could do much of use, she had seen to it that they could serve just as they were. They were given puzzles and challenges to overlook and told they could help in the spring by going out to forage. There were also far more of them who had been summoned to the dungeon than they could have ever hoped. Yet, here their master was saying she would continue to bring more of them into the dungeon. If that was true, soon they''d practically have enough of them spread out across the dungeon to amount to an entire village of them.


    Violet listened as the pixies talked amongst themselves. The fact that they felt free to speak their minds, even in front of her, was heartwarming. It was nice to know that they trusted her and felt at home here. She hoped that would always continue. Their relationship still didn''t quite feel like they were equals, but it was still something she was fond of and she never wanted that to change.

 2.44 Retail Therapy

    Violet made sure to place the new pixie homes in appropriate places before retiring for the night. Most were hung high up on trees with the placement dictated by the pixies themselves. Iris and Orchid asked to be placed on the same tree, next to one another. Jasmine and Daisy were similar, but they wanted to be on separate trees. They were worried about the noise carrying too much and wanted to make it slightly harder for adventurers to find them. Cedar and Lily asked to be placed as high up as possible without their home being unstable. Lily liked her privacy, so that was hardly surprising.


    After going to sleep for the night, Violet had a comforting dream about her husband, Lee. She still awoke with tears streaming down her face, but she''d rather continue to have the dreams than forget. It was even comforting to still talk to her husband during the daytime as if he was still with her. She felt less lonely keeping his memory alive, even if it did feel bittersweet to be reminded of him.


    As Violet walked downstairs, considering what to work on for the day, she continued to be lost in her own thoughts. It was hard not to dwell on the fact that David would be returning again later in the day. Since time seemed to blur in the dungeon, the morning always seemed to slip away so quickly, easily becoming night in the blink of an eye. Without new adventurers coming through to keep things interesting, that fact was exaggerated even more than usual. No one was avoiding the dungeon anymore, but Tobias''s party left and no new adventurers would be coming through until after the winter season officially ended.


    Sighing in frustration, Violet rubbed her nose with her hand. Whenever she got too stressed, her nose started to itch like crazy. If she didn''t try to calm down soon, it might even end up turning into painful, itchy hives across the entirety of her skin. Violet had always struggled with her mental health. Despite growing up in a happy family, she still suffered from anxiety disorder, among other things. The labels hardly fixed the problems she had, though, so she didn''t think about it often, but that didn''t keep her problems from affecting her day-to-day life.


    Well, maybe some retail therapy would help? Violet used to love window shopping in her previous life. Adding things to her online cart and then never buying anything or, even better, going to antique malls with Lee and looking at everything. The actual antiques were the most fun to look at as it was fascinating to learn about what things in the past were like. However, even things like collections of buttons sorted by color or kitschy displays with cliche signs could be entertaining enough to look through.


    There was, unfortunately, nothing like that to be found in her own dungeon. Well, realistically, Violet could create whatever she wanted, but that wasn''t the point. Today, Violet wanted to spend lots of resources and really improve the dungeon. Her mana was still very much limited, though, so that was hardly going to be the way to go. Instead, Violet decided it was finally time to make some overdue changes to her rooms using her dungeon points.


    Right now, she has 3,069 DP, which still felt like a drop in the bucket compared to what she used to have. Still, considering how much she had earned in a week, it was hardly a problem to spend some of it. Deciding to start on the koi pond room, Violet slowly walked through each of the rooms, checking their settings before taking actions.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    The koi pond room was nicely decorated, but the room theme hadn''t been set yet. So, 150 DP went towards setting the theme followed by 25 DP to make it always sunny, 50 DP to make it always sunrise, and 10 DP to make the temperature and humidity reflect the weather. Since the koi pond room was meant to be for peaceful fishing, it just made sense to make the time of day sunrise. Lee used to love going fishing with his friends and would always get up at four or six in the morning for it because he said it was one of the best times to go. Violet didn''t know much about that, but she liked the idea of utilizing that detail in her room''s creation.


    A small portion of the rooms already had their room theme, time, and weather settings taken care of. Others Violet chose to just set the theme, make it always sunny, always mid-day, and set the temperature and humidity to reflect the weather. That meant the rainbow ball maze, giant Jenga, 3D slime-themed jigsaw puzzle, giant pick-up sticks, and slime-themed sliding puzzle all ended up costing 235 DP each to give it fairly generic settings.


    The hay meadow room with the chameleon slimes already had most of its settings taken care of. However, Violet still went ahead and officially spent the 50 MP to make the time of day always mid-day. The other rooms, Violet went out of her way to make special additions for one reason or another.


    The wooden lock puzzle room had the kodama in it. So, Violet decided to make the room have a natural day cycle. The wildflower meadow room was also like that and she didn''t want the original kodama to feel like it missed its original room. She wanted it to feel at home in its new location so that it could just enjoy its new friend and the peace and quiet the room would offer. After all, it was unlikely as many adventurers would end up in this room as would end up in the rooms closer to the entrance.


    On the other side of the first floor, there were mostly just older rooms. The garden meadow and floodplains room both already had their room theme set, but 85 DP still had to be spent to give them the generic settings most of the rooms now had. That then only left the hedge maze boss room left to take care of. The second floor rooms would have to wait another day since Violet''s dungeon points were already getting lower than she wanted.


    Since the boss room was a unique room that she only had one of for each floor, she wanted to make it special. 50 DP went towards giving the room spring weather patterns, which matched the apple blossom trees that were dotted through the maze. 100 DP went towards a natural day cycle, which would likely make the boss fight more difficult, forcing adventurers to slow down. Maybe she could even encourage people to not do the fight unless it was daytime, ensuring she would be able to relax at night. Soon enough, she''d have a third floor, putting even more obstacles between the entrance and the dungeon core room, but she would still utilize all that she could.


    After setting the temperature and humidity to reflect the weather, Violet was left with 994 dungeon points. She had spent an entire 2,075 DP across the first floor to take care of everything. It felt nice to fix everything up and ensure the rooms were at their best, but soon enough her anxiety once more began to eat at her. Today was going to be a very long day.

 2.45 Quiet Dungeon Days

    Hawthorn happily stood on the balcony of his new home. It had been kind of Miss Violet to gift him and his wife, Aster, such a lovely home. They hadn''t, honestly, been expecting such a thing when they had been contracted to join the dungeon. They had actually expected it to take far longer to be accepted as part of a dungeon in the first place.


    Hawthorn had met others of his kind who had tried to join dungeons before and been quickly dismissed. Their contracts with dungeons ensured that they too would die with the dungeon if it should ever fall. However, so long as they weren''t around long enough to die and the dungeon still remained, the Dungeon Masters could always dismiss them. They would then be sent back to wherever they had been before the contract was made. There was always the option to re-sign up for the contract program in hopes of joining a new dungeon, but there was no guarantee one would be kept around.


    Hawthorn and Aster had never had any reason to join a dungeon before. Their particular pixie village enjoyed a rather peaceful existence and was rarely disturbed. At least, that had been the case when he was younger. [Monsters] didn''t exactly suffer from the same diseases species like Humans did when there was too much aether in the air. Their tribe used to be hidden in a mountainside forest where there was too much aether for anyone to venture through the area.


    That had all changed when he was a teenager and a new dungeon appeared a distance away. As the dungeon had grown, adding more and more floors, the aether became more bearable for the races of this world. Their pixie village had to deal with adventurers coming through the area more and more as the aether levels decreased and now their forest wasn''t a danger at all. With how old Hawthorn and Aster had become, they no longer wanted to deal with the stress.


    A dungeon was hardly meant to be the perfect sanctuary for their kind. They could quite easily die at the hands of adventurers. Still, it wasn''t exactly guaranteed that they''d die permanently either. Some Dungeon Masters did get frustrated by their kind being considered useless for combat and would only let them stay with the condition that they wouldn''t be able to respawn if they died. They''d be assigned jobs foraging outside of the dungeon, luring adventurers into [Traps], or distracting them while more dangerous [Critters] and [Monsters] ambushed them.


    That had been what they expected when they came to this dungeon. Yet, they had, somehow, found a miracle waiting for them instead. Miss Violet was a deeply troubled yet optimistic Dungeon Master. She enjoyed the company of his kind and she did all that she could to ensure they lived happy lives. They even now had this lovely home to rest in when they weren''t needed for their assigned duties.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The younger pixies were even excited for springtime. Hawthorn was glad to see the youngsters weren''t going to shirk their duties. He did worry that might change when they discovered just how hard the work would be. It wasn''t like they could open the doors and it would be difficult to make it outside of the dungeon, even with them flying as fast as they could. Hawthorn wouldn''t be surprised if some of them ended up with a broken wing or two should they time things poorly.


    "Darling, breakfast is ready."


    Aster said, coming up to stand beside him. He wrapped his arms around her, smiling down at her.


    "Alright, let''s go."


    Hawthorn said before the two flew downstairs. At the small wooden table, there were two small flower-themed tea cups filled with fresh water from the stream. On plates, they had leftover sweets from the night before. Violet had included basic dishware and even the materials they might need to cook things. However, while they had already collected grasses and small sticks to dry, it would take a while for them to dry sufficiently. It was also difficult to carry the larger [Items] and there wasn''t much they could cook.


    Before Miss Violet went to sleep each night, she always ensured she saw to it everyone made it home safely. She''d even carry whatever sweets they wanted to keep and help with tasks like fetching water for them. She couldn''t exactly reach the top of the trees, though, so they often had to do the rest of the work. Still, at least they never had to worry about the doors keeping them from going home.


    Aster was a bit weaker than Hawthorn, so he always tried to ensure he was the one to carry the bigger [Items] back to their home. He had been one of the ones responsible for foraging goods for their tribes when they were younger. Meanwhile, she used to be a seamstress who created beautiful clothes for the entire village to enjoy, alongside a few others. Hawthorn was happy to continue to provide for the two of them and he couldn''t complain when his wife seemed happy to keep their home clean and prepare meals for them.


    Things were much quieter now than they used to be in their village, but they were also much more peaceful now too. Hawthorn did worry how that might change when adventurers started to visit this floor. His job was to talk to them as part of the challenge for the room they were in. He was supposed to entertain any questions they might have and keep them company, but Miss Violet had reassured him that he didn''t have to accept any abuse from the adventurers. While he wasn''t sure her hopes of convincing adventurers to get along with his kind would work, he was willing to play along.


    Hawthorn knew that many of his kind harbored a hatred towards adventurers. He couldn''t exactly blame them since some of them had to deal with the atrocities committed against their kind for their entire lives. Watching their families killed and their homes destroyed wasn''t exactly an easy thing for anyone. Even if most of it wasn''t intentional, it didn''t change how much harm was caused. Still, even if he could understand, he would do whatever Miss Violet asked of him. He owed that much to her after all that she had already done for them.

 2.46 Veteran Dungeon Diplomat

    "Something isn''t right here."


    Elder Kendric stated as they walked through Thornkeep Sanctuary dungeon. Theodore looked down at his senior. For the investigation he had requested from the council in the village of the dungeon diplomats, they had chosen to dispatch two people to help him. One of them was a slightly older peer of his, Beowulf, who was known for his strength while the other had been a veteran in their field of work, Elder Kendric.


    Anyone with the title of ''elder'' had to be over a thousand years old and was guaranteed to know what they were doing. Having someone like that assigned to this case was both a relief and stress-provoking at the same time. Theodore was still young and his methods were flawed, so it was no surprise that Elder Kendric felt the need to lecture him a number of times over the last week. Still, he wanted Violet to get the appropriate help that she deserved, so it was a relief to have someone experienced and knowledgeable on board.


    Still, it wasn''t like experience with other dungeons would prove entirely helpful. Violet''s dungeon was quite special and so it was impossible for anyone to truly know what to make of it. Thus, Theodore tried to reassure


    "Well, as I''ve been telling you, Violet is a bit different from most Dungeon Masters. She''s a reincarnated Human and has retained her memories of her past life. So, her dungeon reflects that."


    Elder Kendric glowered at Theodore as he reprimanded


    "Boy! Have you forgotten your training? There is no reason to question how the Dungeon Masters choose to decorate their dungeons. I better not find out you have been giving unsolicited advice either!


    The dungeon cores always choose the one they wish to bond to with the utmost care. It isn''t our place to then question what sort of dungeon they become. It is only our place to offer guidance and help when it is asked for. Perhaps, in more extreme circumstances, we can help them move on.


    However, that''s neither here nor there. I was clearly talking about the way the dungeon feels. Don''t tell me you can''t feel it too!"


    Elder Kendric''s voice still sounded quite young, despite his age. He was shorter than Theodore, but that was mostly just because they had been born to different parents. Still, the authority and annoyance that the elder spoke with still made everyone who heard him want to stop and listen. Sighing, Theodore did as Elder Kendric was asking.


    It was true that the dungeon didn''t quite feel right. It was quite similar to the day Theodore had initially formed a contract between David and Violet. There was a bit more hope and optimism in the air than there had been back then, but it was certainly true that the dungeon felt constricting. Still, Violet was often anxious or depressed, so, perhaps, he had merely gotten used to the way the dungeon felt off.


    Beowulf shifted the man he was carrying over his shoulder to the other side before asking


    "How far do we need to go to reach the dungeon core room exactly? You said this dungeon was still fairly new, but it looks to be two or three floors tall from what I saw from the outside."


    Elder Kendric said nothing about the change of topic, not even sparing Beowulf a glance. Instead, he looked to Theodore expectantly.


    "When I was here a week ago, there were only two floors. I haven''t felt any of the signs of a new floor being created, so it should still be just that much. Violet does have a habit of building a lot faster than most Dungeon Masters, though, so we should have quite a bit of ground to cover."


    Theodore said as they arrived at their first obstacle, the slime parkour room. They had already passed through the tribute room, altar room, and garden meadow room. Despite how impressed Theodore thought the other two would be by the dungeon, they had yet to even acknowledge anything. It was, honestly, kind of disappointing. Even if the achievements weren''t his own, he couldn''t help but want to show off.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Dungeon diplomats always had a connection to dungeons as well as much stricter laws and regulations than even the dungeon accords accounted for that ensured the dungeons in their care would be well taken care of. However, the connection the assigned Dungeon Diplomat had with the dungeons and their masters was even more special. Theodore couldn''t help but feel like a proud parent or even a friend to Violet, even despite how little they had interacted, thus far. He wanted to declare to everyone he talked to just how impressive Violet was, just like a doting parent, and he was also fiercely protective over her, even if his methods were a bit flawed.


    Now, Theodore had two other dungeons he was also bonded to, but it wasn''t like he felt the same type of connection with all of them. With Master Alexander, the glitch Dungeon Master, he felt more like a social worker or parole officer. There wasn''t really the same level of connection, but that worked better for Master Alexander anyhow. He wanted respect and to be left to his own devices, not a friend and confidante. So, Theodore did what was asked of him and nothing more.


    Theodore''s thoughts were interrupted as Elder Kendric scolded


    "Why do you keep referring to her without her title? Perhaps I should suggest to the council that you need to be re-educated."


    Theodore rolled his eyes, finishing the trek across the slime parkour room before he responded


    "Many of the adventurers refer to her as Mistress Violet and even the Pixies she recently made contracts with refer to her as Miss Violet. However, she had made it more than clear that it makes her feel lonely. She wants to be treated as an equal, so I call her by her name since it shows that I respect her choices."


    Beowulf seamlessly crossed the room, not struggling at all. That didn''t stop the man on his shoulder from complaining, though, not that he could be understood with his mouth covered and the restraints he was tied with restricting his ability to communicate. Elder Kendric was a bit slower, but still managed to jump across the distance to each of the platforms in turn. He barely took time to catch his breath before continuing forward while replying


    "Very well, I shall reserve my judgments until I can meet her for myself. It''s certainly unusual, even for a Human, to not enjoy the respect and other pleasantries their new roles come with. However, I suppose it''s true that a reincarnated individual keeping their original form and their memories intact is also unheard of."


    They continued forward until they reached the boss room. The boss itself wasn''t going to attack them, nor would other creatures attack them. Well, it wasn''t necessarily impossible for the more intelligent types of [Monsters] to choose to fight their instincts and try to attack them anyway. Most were smart enough not to get their Dungeon Master in trouble, even if they could resist. However, some were simply too chaotic to resist. A mere slime wasn''t exactly capable of coherent thought or communication, though, so there was hardly anything to worry about here.


    Still, the hedge maze itself presented a problem. Theodore hadn''t really gone through it often enough to memorize the route to take either. Usually Violet came down to greet him by now, so he could just follow her the rest of the way to the dungeon core room. Elder Kendric didn''t seem all that impressed by his lack of knowledge about the dungeon either.


    "You haven''t memorized the route yet? How new could this room be if the dungeon was reported to have unlocked the second floor nearly a season ago?"


    Theodore sighed as he explained


    "If you remember, the dungeon itself only appeared a few weeks before the winter season started. The boss room was built only a few days before the second floor was unlocked. I''ve only visited two or three times since it was built. Even then, Violet usually comes down to greet me before I can make it more than a few rooms past the entrance. I just follow her from that point since she knows the way."


    Elder Kendric didn''t seem all that impressed by Theodore''s answer as he demanded


    "After we''re done here, I expect you to take a few days off to explore the entirety of the dungeon. There''s no reason you shouldn''t have the route memorized."


    Beowulf chuffed, seeming far too amused. Elder Kendric turned to him as well, glaring as he asked


    "What about you? Should I see how well you have your assigned dungeons memorized as well."


    That made Beowulf''s amusement evaporate immediately as his face once more took on a rather serious look. It wasn''t part of their job to memorize the layout of the dungeon. Besides which, his lineage made it easy to tell which direction to take to make it to the dungeon core room the fastest. It wasn''t his job to do so here and the connection wasn''t as strong in a dungeon that he wasn''t bonded to. So, there was no reason he''d go exploring a dungeon unless he received a report from the adventurer''s guild about suspicious activity in the dungeon, something that hadn''t happened in a couple of decades, at least.

 2.47 Cooperative Companions

    Theodore was getting a bit tired of getting lectured. So, he pretended to check on the hostage Beowulf was carrying while Elder Kendric continued forward. When his senior became startled, he knew that his plan had worked. A butterfly wall [Trap] wasn''t exactly something that most dungeons had access to. In fact, Theodore''s theory was that there was something special about Violet''s dungeon that she had received as part of her initial request for a ''cute'' dungeon.


    Kendric looked quite upset as he looked back at Theodore.


    "Why didn''t you tell me there were [Traps] ahead? Also, is there something wrong with this dungeon you haven''t informed me about? There shouldn''t be any [Traps] triggering on us."


    Theodore rolled his eyes as he gestured at the mass of butterflies in their path.


    "This barely counts as a [Trap]. I was surprised by it the first time as well and even Violet had seemed confused since it is labeled as a [Trap] by her system. From what I could tell, it seems the dungeon views it as a hybrid with it both counting as a [Trap] and as [Critters] or a special effect. It''s like how bees don''t stop existing just because we walk past a beehive."


    Elder Kendric furrowed his brow, still feeling quite perplexed. Well, it was certainly true that the butterflies themselves weren''t exactly poisonous or anything. Still, he couldn''t help but wonder what would make a Dungeon Master want to install such a thing if it wasn''t lethal. There wasn''t even another [Trap] being used in tandem with it. Still, he hardly wanted to ask about it since it would be the opposite of what he had said earlier. It wasn''t his place to question a Dungeon Master''s decisions, regardless of how strange he thought they were.


    Luckily, he didn''t have to ask. Theodore was more than happy to brag about Violet.


    "The first floor doesn''t actually have any [Traps] and all of the [Monsters] are mostly harmless, save for the dungeon boss. I had initially been a bit worried about how well-protected the dungeon would be. That was why I had agreed to let Violet sign a contract with David to learn swordsmanship when she asked. It seemed like a good way to increase the odds of the dungeon lasting long enough to grow stronger.


    However, Violet actually doesn''t seem to be very power-hungry and she has other goals in mind. She developed her first floor to be a training ground for young children and beginner adventurers. It''s also supposed to be safe enough that the locals can come in to gather resources, assuming they take the path opposite of the way we went.


    While the emperor slime had been considered far too powerful compared to everything else, something the adventurers keep reporting to me, Violet was still worried about people who make it to this floor. So, she added the butterfly [Traps] to the hallway immediately outside the stairs between floors to act as a warning system. We tend to think of adventurers as accepting the risk of death when they enter a dungeon, but she really seems to want to give them a fair chance."


    Beowulf sneered, scoffing as he remarkedThe narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "They don''t deserve her kindness. You shouldn''t be encouraging such behavior."


    Elder Kendric said nothing, still feeling a bit conflicted about things. Soon enough they came to the first room with pixies in it. The room was full of rose bushes of a rainbow of colors as well as enchanted trees, which easily towered over them all. A pixie immediately flew up to greet them, but Theodore knew there was another one hiding somewhere in the room. Well, all of them could sense the presence of the [Monsters] in the dungeon, but Theodore had actually met the painfully shy Lily.


    "Greetings, I''m Cedar! Do you need help with..."


    Cedar trailed off as he realized Theodore was with them. Recovering from his surprise, Cedar asked


    "I wasn''t expecting you here today, Theodore! Did you need to see Miss Violet today? She doesn''t seem to be feeling too well since last night. I''m afraid she is, probably, still hiding away in the dungeon core room. I can help show you the way, if you need?"


    Theodore smiled gratefully, but still replied


    "That''s awfully kind of you. However, it would likely be better for you to stay here with your wife. I''d hate it if you were to accidentally become separated if we get too distracted. I''ll see about asking one of the others further in. Here, you can have this."


    Theodore took a small dried fruit out of his pocket and handed it to the male pixie. It was small enough that Cedar didn''t struggle too much with it and he happily took it home with him. Their group continued forward and Elder Kendric continued to observe Theodore carefully. The next challenge room didn''t actually have any pixies in it. The flower hunt room used to have slimes, but Theodore didn''t see any sign of them nor any replacements now. So, they continued to go through the rooms one after another until they arrived in the hopscotch challenge room where they met Jasmine and Daisy.


    "Theodore!"


    "We''re so happy to see you!"


    The two pixies cried out in joy. Theodore returned their enthusiastic greetings with one of his own.


    "Yes, it''s lovely to see you as well! I hear Violet has been in her room since last night. Has she been sleeping a lot this week?"


    The two looked concerned, but neither seemed sure what was wrong. So, Theodore settled for asking them to lead the way through the dungeon. The new fae circles and mystery falls challenge rooms were new even to Theodore, so he wasn''t familiar with Iris, Orchid, Aster, or Hawthorn. However, he was still friendly to them all, greeting them each in turn, but none of them quite seemed sure what was wrong with Violet. Hawthorn did have a theory, though.


    "She came back from training last night quite upset. She mentioned before that a man comes to train her in swordsmanship each day. Then she comes up to have a tea party with us while she draws maps and plans what to build next in the dungeon. She always seems troubled, but last night she seemed more upset than usual.


    Miss Violet certainly tried to hide it, but the child seems to forget that we have a connection to her. Maybe that would work with the adventurers, but we can tell when something is wrong. She made all of us homes and threw a more extravagant party than usual, but I think she was just trying to distract herself. She still seemed upset this morning when she went to work on things downstairs as well."


    Theodore nodded in understanding. It would seem David had been causing trouble again. Oh well, that was what they were here for today anyway. After getting directions from Hawthorn, he said his goodbyes, promising to do his best to remember to return the others to their rooms when they left.

 2.48 Consequences Of Your Actions

    Violet knew there were people in her dungeon. She even knew that they were nearly to her dungeon core room now. However, she just couldn''t be bothered to go and greet Theodore, especially knowing that he had brought David with him. Two others were with them. They were labeled as Dungeon Diplomats by her [Guest List] skill, but that only made her feel more anxious. She hadn''t been given any advanced warning, so she had to assume something was wrong.


    Was her dungeon core going to be destroyed today? Had Theodore felt it necessary to bring back-up to ensure she couldn''t put up a fight and prevent anything from happening? The fact that David was with them just felt like that much more of a betrayal. She thought she could trust him, that Theodore actually cared for her. Yet, if he had been swayed by David to take action against her, then that clearly wasn''t the case.


    This had, of course, led to even more confusion once their group finally made it to the dungeon core room. A rather large man, who looked just as much beast as man, set a tied-up David down on the floor rather roughly before kicking him. Where Violet had been ready to submit to the fate she thought was awaiting her, thinking she didn''t stand a chance of resisting, she now just felt confused.


    "Greetings, Madam Violet. Or would you prefer if I called you just Violet? Theodore here has told me that might be the case, but I''d prefer to get your permission before making any assumptions. I''d hate to be rude, after all. I am Kendric and this is my subordinate, Beowulf. I do apologize if our visit has caught you off guard."


    Violet couldn''t help but relax as she heard Elder Kendric speak. He spoke slowly, as if he was a wise old man, but he also had quite a bit of youthfulness to the way he spoke, which was reinforced by his rather young look. If Violet had to compare him to someone, she''d have to say he looked to be, roughly, David''s age. His hair had streaks of gray in it, but his face was still free from wrinkles. There wasn''t even a single scar or stubble to subtract from his youthfulness, making his entire persona seem at odds with itself.


    Rolling her shoulders back, she took a calming breath, trying to center herself. Then she answered


    "Yes, well, Theodore is certainly the only one willing to respect my wishes, usually. I do prefer not to be referred to with such fancy titles, but I can''t even get my own dungeon [Monsters] to skip the formalities, so it''s whatever.


    More importantly, can I ask why you''re here? I, kind of, assumed that you were here because I did something wrong."


    Elder Kendric looked at Violet with concern, only stopping for a moment to taste the air, before responding


    "Did Theodore say something to you to make you think you were in trouble? I assume you haven''t actually done anything we should know about. You certainly seem quite nervous, my dear. Shall I take a look at your dungeon core while Theodore explains things to you?"


    Violet stepped out of the man''s way, gesturing towards the dungeon core in acceptance. She felt a bit uncomfortable being surrounded by so many men, so she could only try to make herself feel more at home by keeping her focus on Theodore, the only one she was actually familiar with.


    Theodore smiled warmly at Violet, offering her a hug in greeting, before explaining


    "I do apologize for taking so long to return. It took a while to finish up the recent investigation we''ve been doing. I know I probably should have taken the time to inform you we would be visiting today, but I didn''t want to raise suspicions more than necessary."


    Violet looked warily at David as she repliedThe author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "A bit late for that, I should think. I''m pretty sure David caught on to the fact that your investigation was related to my dungeon a few days ago."


    Theodore pursed his lips, looking a bit angry as he asked


    "Did something happen last night? Your pixies seemed a bit worried about you. Besides which, you still seem tense."


    Elder Kendric was quick to add in


    "The dungeon core seems to have undergone quite a bit of stress recently as well. It''s nothing too serious since we''re here to resolve things now, but I''d hate to see the result had we waited any longer. No recent deaths, besides your slimes, in the dungeon, though, so I guess you haven''t had many visitors to the second floor. That should change soon enough, though, I''m sure."


    Theodore looked up at his senior a bit exasperatedly. Violet wasn''t really sure what that was about. While Kendric wasn''t exactly as friendly, nor did he praise her as freely as Theodore did, he wasn''t exactly being unkind. Violet still felt a bit uncomfortable around Beowulf who looked quite scary as he towered over everyone present and didn''t seem particularly happy, but she was otherwise warming up to her visitors. Looking warily back down at David, she decided to just be honest. They were supposed to be here to help her renegotiate a contract with David anyway, right?


    "Well, it''s just that David has been rather passive-aggressive most of the winter season. I''ve tried to be as understanding as I can about things and help him out as much as I''m comfortable with. However, he hasn''t exactly been willing to reciprocate and has been anything from passive-aggressive to violent towards me. He started bringing me better tributes than just random rocks and twigs after the last time you visited. It''s mostly been random trash like rusted helmets and such, but I don''t mind that so much. As I''ve said before, I wouldn''t mind if people brought me literal trash since it would still give me resources to improve the dungeon.


    I don''t think he has really broken the contract we initially made regarding his training either. He shows up every day to train me and he hasn''t killed me or anything like that. However, he was a bit more violent than usual last night. I had to wash the blood off my arms and it took a bit to heal everything as well. Besides which, when I said I was done training, he continued to lash out at me, as if he wanted to kill me. To be honest, I was planning on hiding in here and making him come to me. I know it likely wouldn''t work to keep him away since he''d still have to follow his end of the contract, but I didn''t have any other ideas.


    I don''t exactly have very deadly [Traps] unlocked right now and I wouldn''t want to make changes to the dungeon just because of him. I want other adventurers to visit the dungeon, so it''s important to me that I gradually increase the danger level of the floors. As it is, I''m sure you''ve seen I have a deep pitfall [Traps] in the hallway. Even the [Monster] fields with the rabbits have briar patches, even if they are easy enough to avoid."


    Beowulf seemed to almost foam at the mouth and he looked so angry. Violet was sure that if he had been holding anything in his hands it would have been destroyed now. His fists were balled so tight she could see blood dripping down from the way his nails were digging into the flesh. Theodore didn''t look much better, but he seemed more so defeated, as if he had failed her. Only Elder Kendric seemed to still be calm, but he still looked at Violet with a mixture of pity and curiosity. As the only calm one in the room, Kendric stepped forward and said


    "Alright, well, we can fix the contract for you, not to worry. Now, while I''m sure Theodore was bonded to your dungeon for a reason, I would like to ask, do you want to request someone else? It''ll take some time and be a bit painful to break the connection so that someone else can be assigned to your dungeon, but it isn''t impossible."


    Violet couldn''t help but feel repulsed by the idea. She vehemently shook her head, gesturing wildly, as she replied


    "No, no, no, no, no! I like Theodore and I don''t blame him for this at all. He always considers my opinion when it comes to decisions like this and I don''t want him to suffer. Besides, I don''t exactly have very many friends and I''ve enjoyed his visits. While I''m sure someone else could also do his job, I don''t want anyone else."


    Violet flinches as she finishes speaking. She sure hoped this wasn''t one of those situations where having a good relationship was considered a problem. However, that wasn''t something she needed to worry about as Theodore was smiling at her in gratitude when she looked his way. Kendric''s response was also quite positive as he replied


    "Ah, that''s high praise. Theodore really is lucky to have been given such an opportunity. Very well, that''ll make things simpler. Right, well, shall we get started on amending the contract then?"

 2.49 Amended Contract

    "Right, so, Theodore, why don''t you remind us of the details and circumstances of the previous contract?"


    Elder Kendric asked. Theodore sighed, knowing that today wasn''t going to go well for him. Still, he had a job to do, so he was quick to reply


    "A few days after this dungeon was established, I received a summons to help with establishing a system contract between David and Violet. I immediately responded to the request assuring that I would be around the next morning. After teleporting to the dungeon, I collected David before heading to the dungeon core room, where I found Violet.


    The dungeon core had begun to corrupt and she was in a traumatized state on the ground. I immediately went to comfort her while trying to get answers in regards to what had happened. From what I could gather, after I confirmed my arrival for the next morning, David decided to begin swordsmanship training that night. However, in the process, he chose to kill Violet repeatedly. This caused strain on the dungeon core due to her emotional state being compromised beyond what the dungeon could handle.


    After a brief violent response on my part, I decided to change the terms of the contract that had initially been requested. David had been the one to suggest a contract first. He was offering to train Violet in exchange for a safe environment for his daughter on the first floor. Violet would be expected to inform him of any new [Traps] added to the first floor and he would show up occasionally to train her in swordsmanship.


    I changed the contract to favor Violet more and to offer David a second chance. He was expected to show up every day for swordsmanship training with restrictions on how severe it could be. No limit on duration and Violet would be free to turn him down on a day-to-day basis. David was informed he had to provide tribute up to the value of what could be retrieved from the dungeon, upon request. He was also obligated to do the training for a minimum of a year with renewal being considered based on how things looked after that point in time.


    In exchange, Violet was asked to not place [Traps] anywhere on the first floor, except in the hallway directly outside the dungeon core room. The [Traps] would automatically be moved when she unlocked a second floor, but she chose to just forgo any [Traps] on the first floor altogether. This was decided upon to ensure she could keep her end of the bargain more easily. She wouldn''t have to give out information on what types of [Traps] she had access to, nor where she decided to place them.


    I also agreed to secure David a job with the adventurer''s guild once they moved to the area. The guild has already agreed to it and was enthusiastic about the idea of having someone knowledgeable about the dungeon and its master. However, they won''t be able to start building until after spring, so he has been on his own, thus far. I considered this part of his punishment for his actions in the hopes that he could reflect and more severe action wouldn''t have to be taken. He was warned, though, that I could and would take further action if he wasn''t more careful in the future."


    Theodore tried to keep things simple, keeping his own feelings and thoughts out of it as much as possible. Elder Kendric nodded, looking at something in the air that the rest couldn''t see. More than likely he was looking at a copy of the current system contract, but it was also possible he could already be working on a new one. Kendric hummed in thought before turning to Violet and asking


    "You were the one who asked for intervention in the current contract, right?"


    Theodore was a bit relieved his senior didn''t say anything about his own failures in dealing with the previous contract. At least, he wasn''t saying anything about it right now. While his actions were always reported to the council for review, he still felt guilty that things had turned out as poorly as they had. Violet''s voice was quiet as she answered and Theodore easily caught her worried glance at David. The man wouldn''t be able to hurt her again, that''s what they were here for today. Still, it didn''t change the uneasy emotions that seemed to pollute the air in the dungeon.


    "Well, yes. I just felt like it would be better for both of us if we could cancel the contract sooner rather than later. I can tell David is miserable and hates having to come here. Well, he seems to want to take advantage of my dungeon, so maybe it would be more accurate to say that he doesn''t like me.


    I don''t know if Theodore told you, but I''ve been trying to be creative so that I can obtain more resources and upgrade my dungeon more quickly. I signed a contract with another group of individuals who have actually been quite good to me. They needed a place to stay during the winter season and, in return, they will pay me rent each night. It was a bigger deal having them around when I only had one floor, but it has actually been quite beneficial to me now that I have two floors. They haven''t complained about continuing to pay rent, though, so I''ve been happy to help them out further.


    One of my other hobbies I''ve been working on is playing the role of a merchant. I sold them some dried firewood and magic bags in return for a large amount of resources. I actually have been selling David canned food each week as well, but he seems to get more passive-aggressive about it instead of appreciating it. It shows in how aggressive he gets during training and with how the quality and amount of tribute continues to decrease with each passing day. I don''t want to be used as a way for him to get rich.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    So, when I first mentioned changing the contract, I just asked that he be banned from interacting with me anymore. His daughter and he could continue to visit the dungeon and I would treat them the same as normal adventurers. I don''t even care about keeping the [Traps] off the first floor since it works out with my current goals. I just don''t think our relationship with one another is very healthy."


    Kendric nodded, seeming like he was taking notes. His hands were empty, but he was likely changing the details of the contract as he listened to them talk about the various details. The next thing he asked seemed less related to the contract, but Theodore still had the feeling that Violet''s answer actually mattered.


    "Our recent investigation actually involved the town leader as well as a local alchemist. There were some others we had to ask questions as well, but I''ve heard you''re familiar with those two. Could you explain to me what made you want to start a charity project involving them?"


    Violet looked confused as she answered


    "I haven''t personally met the town leader. Elivyre is the only true friend I''ve made, thus far. She often visits just to collect herbs from the dungeon. Since she knows I like flowers and edible herbs and she uses them in her shop, she often tries to bring me ones she hasn''t seen in the dungeon as well. We usually just talk about our day and she''s the only one, besides Theodore, who is willing to treat me like her equal. She isn''t afraid of me and she was the one who showed me that my slimes only attack those who pose a danger to the dungeon.


    I asked her to help me with the charity project, but she ended up informing me that the town leader wasn''t willing to help. Apparently, he is planning on leaving soon and a new noble is supposed to take over come spring. I was hoping she would return soon so that the locals could get some help before the winter is over. I know they need it, I''ve overheard a number of others talking about how hard things have been.


    As for why I want to help, I guess it''s partially for selfish reasons. The local town leader banned the locals from entering the dungeon until it was deemed safe. I used to have a local boy and his father visit the dungeon every day when I first started. I want to earn the trust of the locals so that they''ll be willing to give me a chance. There isn''t much point in building a floor perfect for aspiring and beginner adventurers as well as locals alike, if no one ever visits. It''s kind of depressing and it becomes hard to stay motivated.


    However, charity was common in my old world as well. There were food banks, thrift stores, etc. that sold cheap goods or provided free meals to those who needed the help. I used to donate to such organizations whenever I could. Most of my childhood was happy, but my family had to depend on food pantries and thrifting for several years. It only seems right to give back when I can. Since I''ve got tons of extra mana just going to waste, I figured it would be good to turn it into something that can help others. Besides, food, potions, and firewood are all consumable, so it''s unlikely to ruin the economy."


    Theodore watched as Elder Kendric smiled warmly at Violet. Finally, a system message appeared in front of all of them. His senior was quick to explain


    "It''s lovely to see such a pure-hearted Dungeon Master, Violet. I really hope that this world doesn''t corrupt you. I really want to respect your wishes as much as possible, but I won''t allow your kindness to overshadow your safety.


    As you can see from the contract I just made available, new terms have been outlined. From this day onward, David will be banned completely from your dungeon. His daughter can return once she is of age, but I am a bit wary of how that may turn out. Hopefully you have implemented enough safety measures in your dungeon by then to ensure it won''t be an issue.


    I know someone who works with the adventurer''s guild in a different kingdom. It''ll be better than slavery, but he will be an indentured servant for a few years. A home will be provided for him and his child and she will also have her schooling paid for. However, he will have to follow every order the guild master gives him and serve his kingdom well.


    I can''t change all of the terms of the original contract. So, I have to make small changes. His indentured servitude will be used to provide a fund to pay for a replacement, which I''ve heard Theodore is already working on. You will also still have to abide by the same agreement in regards to no [Traps] on your first floor, but you said you don''t mind that, so I assume that''s fine.


    I have added a few clauses specific to Theodore himself. He will have to take some classes in regards to prevention and safety as well as contract making in order to better serve you. He will also be forced to spend some time exploring your dungeon until he is sufficiently familiar with it. During his visits he will be expected to provide additional companionship for you in order to ensure your mental health improves.


    I will also be assigning Beowulf and Theodore to help with the charity you want for the remainder of the winter season. They will help Elivyre since she seems to be safe enough. If you wish to make this a regular thing, Theodore will also be responsible for ensuring something is set up outside of the dungeon that is sustainable.


    Lastly, don''t worry about the town leader. He will be forced to answer for his crimes. His replacement had already been confirmed by the king of this kingdom, but I interfered some. I know the guy is a decent person and he should be around as soon as spring arrives and sort things out for you. He can''t make the locals trust you, but they will no longer be banned from the dungeon. There will be city guards assigned to watch the dungeon as well, but they''ll be up to dungeon accord standards."


    With that, Violet was asked to finish reviewing the contract. Then David was forced to sign alongside Theodore. Before too long, Violet was once more alone in the dungeon as the three left the dungeon. Beowolf and Theodore had to fetch Alice and then personally escort David to his new home while Kendric simply went home. It all left Violet feeling like she had whiplash with how quickly everything was resolved.

 2.50 (Dream Sequence) Hostess With The Mostest

    With her fears calmed, Violet slept much more peacefully. While the dreams she enjoyed the most tended to involve her deceased husband, Lee, that didn''t mean that he was always featured in them. In fact, today was quite a bit different as she was dreaming about hosting a dinner party with her girl friends.


    "Mmm! This is so good! What did you say it was called again?"


    Evelyn asked. Violet smiled to appear more friendly as she answered


    "That one is a pineapple-flavored melon pan. It''s pretty much just a sweet bread made with pineapple juice."


    Those were actually the most expensive of the breads she had prepared for their tea party. Her friend group always took turns hosting and they always did their best to come up with creative themes for the day. This was one of the first parties they had done, so trying different world cuisines was still interesting. However, later parties had taken on other themes like harvest season, winter wonderland, or an "Alice In Wonderland" mad tea party. Violet had always enjoyed Japanese cuisine, though, so she had, obviously, called dibs on that theme pretty early on.


    A trip to her local Asian market and several hours of cooking had seen to it that she had a full afternoon tea spread prepared. When she wed Lee they had been gifted a beautiful tea set, including three-tiered trays for holding tea sandwiches and desserts. That paired with a cherry blossom tablecloth and red napkins made the table look quite beautiful.


    While it was hardly necessary, their friend group had taken pride in setting up a proper afternoon tea. The first layer of the trays always held tea sandwiches. Today they held egg salad, pork cutlets, and fruit and cream sandwiches. The egg salad wasn''t much different from the American version, but it did require cutie mayonnaise, which was made with more yolks than other kinds. The pork cutlet sandwiches were, basically, a breaded and fried pork chop put on bread with the crusts cut off. Meanwhile, strawberries, kiwis, and mandarin oranges had been layered with homemade whipped cream for the fruit sandwiches.


    The second layer of the tray was usually supposed to be things like pancakes, English muffins, or biscuits with spreads like butter, clotted cream, jams, and lemon curd. However, the Japanese breads Violet had chosen for the day didn''t really need anything extra, so she had skipped that step. Her local Asian market had two varieties of milk pan, one had cheese added and then there was the original. Both were rather sweet, but not quite on the level of cake. They were soft little pillows and it was easy to stack them up on the tea tray. The pineapple-flavored mellow bun was a bit more expensive and much larger, but her friends were hardly going to complain about her dividing them into quarters. It would ensure everyone got the opportunity to try them while not having to blow her whole budget on them.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The final layer of the tray was meant for small desserts. For this, Violet had chosen to use matcha and strawberry choco rolls, grapefruit-filled earl gray cookies, chocolate-dipped puff pastry, and a variety of different blocky flavors. Most of them would go well with tea, which was perfect since she had gone out of her way to provide oolong, Japanese green tea, and jasmine tea for her friends to sample. She wasn''t personally a fan of the jasmine variety, but it just seemed right to provide all three options.


    "So, what game are we playing today?"


    Mia asked. Violet stood up and brought a box over before explaining


    "I know it''s a Japanese-themed party, but I just picked out a flower-themed jigsaw puzzle. I didn''t really have any time to order something online, I¡¯ve been too busy with work lately."


    Her friends all worked in different fields of work, but this was hardly something they''d fault her for. It was good enough that she had done her fair share in hosting the tea party and ensuring everyone had enough refreshments and something to do while they hung out.


    "Well, I wouldn''t have expected anything different from you anyway. You have always enjoyed puzzles far more than anyone else I know."


    Lacey said, her laughter filling the room. Violet smiled back in return, feeling a bit awkward about the statement. She knew her friend didn''t mean anything by it, but it still felt a bit like a dig. Most of her friends liked to choose things like Cashflow Clash or a digital game like the Whackbox Fun Bundle. Sometimes they would even take turns playing Prance Prance Uprising at Lacey''s house, mildly teasing each other for their bad dancing skills. Violet didn''t mind doing what her friends wanted to do sometimes, though, making compromises was a healthy part of any relationship, after all.


    Violet usually chose to lose herself in her dreams, but it wasn''t truly the same as dreaming was before she reincarnated. She couldn''t change what happened in the dreams because it was mostly just her reliving her memories from her past life. However, she was very much aware of what was happening, just like if she was lucid dreaming. Oftentimes, as she relived things, she found herself making comparisons to her new life or taking inspiration for what to build next in her dungeon.


    She already had plenty of jigsaw puzzles and she was hardly about to reuse the idea so soon. Maybe after she had a few more floors, she would consider adding more jigsaw puzzles with a different theme. She didn''t really have use for Japanese cuisine in her dungeon right now either. She did have the milk tea powders, which she had already made, but that was a separate matter. Still, there were other things she could use.


    Relaxing her mind, Violet once more became a passive participant. It was better this way, she needed to rest. It would help her feel better when she next awoke, allowing her to better tackle the day. There was a lot she needed to work on in the upcoming week, after all.

 2.51 The Mishap

    After Theodore and the rest left, Violet decided to get to work. It was a relief knowing that she would no longer have to worry about David, but it had come at a cost. Now that he was gone, there was less of a guarantee she''d have enough mana and dungeon points coming in to freely build. She still had Camellia and Avorn she could depend on, but they were only one group and they couldn''t be depended on for everything. Thus, she no longer felt as free to let her mana and dungeon points go to waste. She''d need to spend her mana in a timely fashion and conserve her DP as much as possible.


    Taking her full 100 MP, Violet headed to the flower hunt room. It was the only room that didn''t have [Monsters] assigned to it on the second floor, nor did it lock its doors when non-dungeon entities entered it. That was something that she was starting to question now, though. David had been with Theodore''s group yet they had made good time traversing her dungeon, suggesting the dungeon rooms weren''t locked for them. Well, hopefully, Theodore would never purposefully allow other adventurers to use this weakness against her. It certainly didn''t seem very responsible of him if he let someone follow him and skip past all of her dungeon defenses, anyway.


    Finally arriving in the room she wanted, she went to summon two new pixies. After the incident with Aster and Hawthorn, she knew that it was entirely possible she wouldn''t end up leaving the pixies she summoned in this room. However, there was no way of knowing what she would get until after her mana was spent. She would just have to roll the dice and see what she would get.


    "Good afternoon-"


    The first male pixie was cut off abruptly by the second


    "Wait! No! Send me back! You have to send me back!"


    Violet was a bit surprised by the fact that she had managed to summon two male pixies this time. Most of the ones she had summoned, thus far, had been overwhelmingly female at a rate of three girls for every one male pixie. She had almost been convinced that male pixies were rare for their species. A bit too caught up in her own thoughts, Violet seemed almost oblivious as she stared blankly at the pixies in front of her. It wasn''t until the first pixie snapped at the second that she came back into focus.


    "Would you stop that?! You''re acting ridiculous! You shouldn''t have signed up to join a dungeon if you weren''t prepared to actually join one. Most of the people in my village would happily take your place in a heartbeat!"


    Violet raised her eyebrows questioningly at the first pixie, just now taking note of how distraught the second male seemed. Feeling a bit unsure of herself, she said.


    "Look, I apologize, but I must have missed your names. However, that doesn''t matter right now, we can get to that later. Why don''t you go over there and give the two of us some space to talk?"


    She gestured to a random corner of the room and the more calm, if a bit annoyed, pixie was quick to follow her orders. Looking back to the distraught male pixie, she sighed. Violet wasn''t exactly the right size to comfort the man, but she definitely didn''t want to just dismiss him without getting some answers. Scratching her face as she felt her anxiety increase, she asked


    "Could you, perhaps, explain why you want to return to your village? I''d rather see if we can''t find a different solution rather than resorting to such a thing, if at all possible."If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Violet couldn''t really understand what was happening, but she definitely wanted her [Monsters] to all feel at home. She would happily change the temperature of a room or decorate it to look more like their previous residence, if she could. If it was a matter of needing more purpose, she would happily try to design a new puzzle with them in mind. No matter what it was, she was happy to take action, but it would most certainly have to wait until later that night when Camellia and Avorn arrived. It wasn''t like she was going to regenerate mana without people actually being in the dungeon, after all.


    The male pixie sounded like he was having a panic attack as he explained


    "It''s my wife and daughter, they''re still back in my village. It isn''t safe there, they could die without me!"


    Violet felt herself beginning to panic as the pixie''s words sunk in. However, this wasn''t something she could take immediate action on. The small creature continued to speak


    "I knew there was the chance that we could end up separated when we signed up for a dungeon contract. However, I had consoled myself that I could live with it so long as my wife and daughter were safe. I never thought I would be summoned first, I wasn''t even the first of us to sign up for the program!"


    Violet wasn''t really sure how signing a contract with [Monsters] from outside the dungeon worked. Up until now, she had just ended up with complete strangers or pairs of pixies who knew each other and she hadn''t questioned it. Cedar and Lily were husband and wife, as were Hawthorn and Aster. There were even the twins, Iris and Orchid, who had been summoned at the same time. Since things had never gone like this before, she had never had to worry about whether families could become separated or not. Now she was starting to worry that she was harming those in her dungeon and whether she really should just send the man back.


    "I''m sorry, I don''t really know what to say. Could you maybe tell me more about what''s going on in your village? Are your wife and child actively in danger?"


    The man seemed to calm down a bit, feeling a bit uncertain as he answered


    "Well, I suppose so. My village used to be part of a more swampy area with an Elven village a decent distance away. Over the decades, the swamp dried up and the Elven village grew. However, in more recent years, we''ve had issues with Humans entering the forest. Now, it seems, the Elves and Humans in the area have gone to war with one another. Sometimes the Humans set the forest on fire or they chop down the trees to use them for their own needs. We never had any issues with the Elves because they have a lot of respect for the forest and those that call it home. They even killed off the more troublesome beasts and [Monsters] like the goblins or a rabid wolf, so we ended up benefitting from them.


    Shortly before I was summoned here, one of our village scouts reported a fire and our village was planning to evacuate. I don''t know what is going to happen to everyone else, but I know I can''t just leave my family''s lives up to chance. Without me, I''m not sure they''ll be able to flee fast enough and they most certainly won''t be able to bring enough supplies with them. That''s why I need you to send me back."


    Violet nodded in understanding as she listened to the pixie speak. She still wasn''t sure what his name was, but she was glad he was willing to explain things to her. It wasn''t really clear whether her pixies were all from the same kingdom her dungeon resided in or anything else. The way they talked about it, none of the pixies knew much about the world at large. They were all very isolated in their villages and only ever really learned about other pixie groups if they joined a dungeon, something they weren''t guaranteed to come back from alive. Sighing, Violet made her decision.


    "Alright, well, I hate to ask this of you when I don''t even know your name. However, I''m going to need you to wait until tomorrow morning before I make any official decisions on whether to send you back home or not. I have a lot more free mana at night and I''d like to try summoning more pixies to see if I can get lucky enough to bring your wife and child here as well. I don''t make any guarantees, but it''s the best I can do."


    Violet felt nervous, even as she said the words. If the man ended up never seeing his family again, something she certainly had no way of knowing about, she was fairly sure he wouldn''t forgive her.

 2.52 Family Reunion

    Violet ended up finding out the panicked pixie''s name was Clove while the more grumpy one was Basil. Well, maybe he wasn''t that grumpy, it was still a bit early to tell. Clove still seemed to be worried about his family, but he accepted Violet''s proposal easily enough. It wasn''t really like he had a choice, anyway, and she just hoped that he understood that she was trying to help. Sending him back to his village now wasn''t guaranteed to make things better. He might end up dying in the fire without ever getting the chance to help his family. Otherwise, even if they did escape, how long would it be before they''d end up in danger again? At least, in the dungeon, they could worry about their safety a little less.


    Since it was possible that she''d end up having to make more rooms in quick succession as well as summon several pixies back-to-back, Violet got to work planning out her next steps. She''d have to save working on new challenge rooms for tomorrow, more than likely, but she needed to be efficient with her mana now to ensure she could still assign the new pixies to a spawner. Luckily, she didn''t have to make a spawner for the flower hunt challenge room since it already had a nice 100 MP one in it, something she had upgraded to quite a while back. However, any new rooms or ones without challenges in it, would require her to spend an entire round''s worth of mana to install new spawners.


    Violet hadn''t really wanted to do things this way and she hated feeling rushed. The pixies would all need homes too, which meant she''d end up having to spend a night or two''s worth of mana on that before she could move on to bigger and better things. Namely, Violet wanted to start working on things like a new room meant for adventurers to rest in exchange for tribute and a new boss room. As for what she was going to put in the boss room, that was still something she still needed to work out. Pixies weren''t ideal for battle and Al-mi''raj couldn''t evolve either, so neither would really be able to put up as much of a fight as the emperor rock slime on her first floor did. Yet, it really seemed necessary to have something even more impressive to pit intruders against before letting them move on to the next floor.


    When her mana finally started to refill, Violet sighed a breath of relief. Things would still be left up to chance, but she''d know soon whether her efforts were worth it or not. When her mana finally reached 100 MP, she took an anxious breath and then summoned another set of pixies. More than a little surprisingly, she ended up with another two male pixies.


    "Greetings, Madam. I am Briar and this is my husband, Moss."


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss."


    The two pixies spoke in turn, sounding rather formal, but just as polite as the rest of her pixies had when she first met them. Violet smiled as she replied


    "It''s lovely to meet you as well, Briar and Moss. I do apologize, but I''m afraid I can''t celebrate your arrival as I usually would. Normally I would have tea and sweets for everyone to share before showing you to your new home, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Still, I hope you enjoy socializing with the others."


    Violet had already gone around and gathered her pixies into the mystery falls challenge room where Hawthorn and Aster lived. Everyone had been a bit disappointed by the nightly tea party being canceled, but they were still in high spirits as they socialized with one another. Due to the number of them now residing in the dungeon, Violet noted, it was almost like she had her own pixie village. She had heard that most villages only had a few dozen of them living there at any one time, so she was certainly well on her way.


    While two male pixies being married to each other definitely would have been a hot topic back home, she didn''t really find it her place to question it. In fact, most species in nature had been proven to have instances of same-gender coupling in the wild, so it made sense that the same would apply here. Violet herself wasn''t really interested in anyone but her husband, but she also didn''t find it worthwhile to cause pain and suffering to others for no good reason. She just hoped that all of her dungeon-dwelling inhabitants could live happily.


    In fact, of much bigger concern to Violet was the fact that she hadn''t ended up summoning Clover''s wife and child this time around. She had been hoping that it would be the case. That perhaps Basil was the first in line and that was why neither the mother, nor daughter had come alongside Clover. However, either that wasn''t the case or something else had happened to them. Another Dungeon Master might have made a contract with some pixies in the time she had been waiting to have enough mana to summon more of them. It was also, unfortunately, possible that the mother and daughter had perished. Shaking her head, Violet tried to calm her nerves as she waited for her mana to refill once more. She wasn''t going to give up until she ran out of mana for the night!You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    The next round of summoning also ended up coming up short, but had also ended up far more interesting than the last.


    Bowing his head, the newest male pixie introduced himself


    "Thank you for summoning me, Mistress. I am Chief Alder, the previous head of my village."


    Quickly flying over, Clove looked worried as he asked


    "Chief Alder, I can''t believe you''re here! What happened? Do you know if my wife and child are okay?"


    The gruff man seemed tired as he replied


    "Yes, Rosemary and Juniper managed to make it to safety. Unfortunately, others did not. My wife personally oversaw the evacuation of the women and children, but many good young men lost their lives today. It is a relief to see you aren''t among the casualties."


    Feeling relieved, Violet turned away while the two continued to speak amongst themselves. Alongside Alder, another, much younger male, named Aspen had joined her dungeon. From what she could understand from his excited talking, she had come from a desert village and he was quite happy to have been brought to such a beautiful dungeon with more moderate temperatures. Violet got the feeling Aspen was going to be quite popular with the young pixie girls in her dungeon. All four of the single women were quite excitable, enthusiastic in their youth, and she could easily see them getting along.


    The next attempt ended up with two siblings named Willow and Holly joining the dungeon. They were both quite young, barely adults by pixie standards, but they were a lot more serious. Apparently, they were from a pixie kingdom buried deep in some mountains, near a dragon''s lair. They were considered royalty where they came from, but they weren''t the firstborn, so it was better for them to join a dungeon and live their own lives free from politics than to continue residing where they were unwanted. Violet felt bad for the siblings, but found it quite fascinating to hear there were kingdoms with hundreds of pixies in the less well-known parts of the world.


    It did make a good bit of sense that the aether in the atmosphere would play a role in how the world developed. If Humans could only safely live near dungeons while [Monsters] could safely live in areas high in aether, then it would make sense for any larger settlements to be hidden away like that. Still, it kind of made Violet wish that she too could leave the dungeon. She wanted to explore the world and see what things were like for herself, not just hear stories about it, no matter how fascinating they might be.


    Once the siblings drifted off to socialize with the others, Violet''s anxiety began to set it once more. She hadn''t bothered to waste any mana on spawners or new rooms to place said spawners in, thus far. Yet, she had already spent an entire 300 MP on summoning pixies, which was a lot, even if it wasn''t quite half of her nightly mana. She didn''t quite feel comfortable leaving her dungeon [Monsters] vulnerable, though. Knowing her luck, if she did, she''d end up regretting it. Even despite no adventurers coming up to explore her second floor, thus far, she knew it was only a matter of time. The last thing she wanted was to have her pixies die while not being assigned to a spawner, it had already been bad enough with her first slime. It would be even worse with sentient creatures who could talk and whom she had grown accustomed to having around.


    Bowing her head, Violet decided to try praying to whatever deity would accept her prayers. She wasn''t really sure that the goddess of love and beauty would hear her prayers without her being at the altar, nor that she could do anything. It also wasn''t certain whether the system or any other deities would accept prayers from her. However, she couldn''t help but feel the need to try something, anything, to try and salvage the situation.


    "I don''t know if anyone is out there, if you can even do anything to intervene. However, I still have to ask. Please help me reunite Clove with his family. I''m doing my best here, but I think I can only summon two more groups of pixies, at most, before I have to switch priorities. I don''t want to be the reason this man suffers and loses his family, but I don''t want to send him back to a warzone either. I don''t really have anything to offer you either and I know I''m being selfish, but please just help me."


    Violet winced at herself as she finished the prayer. She would happily offer an entire night''s worth of mana in the form of tribute to a deity if it meant she could keep her pixies happy. However, since she wasn''t even sure who she was praying to, she could only ask for help without offering anything in return. She did feel lighter after praying, though, and then she went to summon another group of pixies. By some divine intervention, a miracle occurred and, finally, finally, Clove was reunited with his wife and daughter.

 2.53 Good News

    Violet was extremely relieved when she finally summoned Rosemary and Juniper to the dungeon. Clove was clearly overjoyed as well as they cried in each other''s arms. The fact that it had only taken 400 MP to summon the eight pixies was also really good news. It meant that there was still enough time in the night to take care of other pressing issues.


    First things first, Violet needed to build some new rooms and hallways! 128 MP had to be spent on four new 16-Units by 16-Units square rooms. 20 MP went towards making four new 5-Units straight hallways to connect the rooms and one of the old 5-Units straight hallways had to be moved. Violet wanted all of the rooms to continue the same pattern she had been using so that adventurers would have to go through all eighteen challenge and [Monster] field rooms before reaching the dungeon core room. With any luck, most adventurers wouldn''t be able to clear the floor without spending a few days working at it. That wouldn''t exactly get rid of any threats by itself, but the exhaustion they would feel would certainly make accidents more likely.


    Since the flower hunt room already had a spawner, only 400 MP had to be spent to get four new spawners to assign all of the new pixies to. That, unfortunately, ended up being the last of the mana Violet could afford to spend for the night. Anything else would be saved up and combined with the 25 MP that regenerated each morning so that she could have some to use the next morning. A few hours was hardly going to make for enough sleep for a normal person, but Violet didn''t need sleep anyways, so it was plenty for her. After seeing her pixies back to their respective rooms, she went to sleep.


    The next morning, Violet was excited to see Elivyre visiting the dungeon. It seemed like forever since she had last seen her friend, even if it was really more like only a little over a week. Still, she couldn''t help but act overdramatic as she hugged her friend and exclaimed


    "You''re back! I was starting to worry I wasn''t going to see you for another few months!"


    Elivyre laughed as she patted her on the back good-naturedly. However, she was quick to get down to business as she explained


    "I was a bit worried as well, honestly. Several Dungeon Diplomats were in town for an investigation most of the last week. I ended up having to show them my records and answer a bunch of questions, many of which seemed to relate to your dungeon. I''m guessing some idiot ended up causing you enough trouble to warrant all of this?"


    Violet offered a half-smile, feeling a bit guilty.


    "Yeah, kind of. Although, I think it was more that too many things added up and Theodore was starting to worry. I''m kind of glad, though, since things seem to be improving for the better. It is rather unfortunate that I won''t have very many visitors to my dungeon for a while, though."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Elivyre shook her head as she went to sit down beside some plants, preparing to collect them. Violet did the same, eager to continue talking to her friend. It was quiet for a bit before Elivyre said


    "I know I didn''t have anything to hide, but it was pretty nerve-wracking being investigated. I don''t really do much of anything to warrant being looked into, everything is above board and I''d never do anything against the dungeon accords. I suppose that''s probably why the questions stopped being about me and my business pretty quickly. Mostly, I had to give them some information about the adventurers and locals I''ve interacted with as well as explain how things were going in regards to the town leader.


    Now, I guess, I''m being assigned help from some Dungeon Diplomats to do the charity thing you wanted. I was originally told that Theodore you mentioned and another one named Beowulf would be helping me, but I guess they''re busy so they''re sending someone else. Should be able to pick up the first batch of supplies from you early next week."


    Violet nodded, blowing out a breath of air, before she said


    "I suppose I''ll have to start preparing for that then. Do you think you''d mind visiting me more often so I can get enough mana to cover everything? I''m hoping to get my third floor at the beginning of spring, but I have some things to work on before I can do that. I don''t mean to complain about something I suggested, but making the supplies can be costly and I wasn''t expecting to have all of my regular visitors disappear."


    Elivyre looked thoughtful before replying


    "I can see what I can do. It might be good to gather some more herbs for my shop and stock up before spring arrives, especially if I won''t be able to visit the dungeon at the start of the season. Unfortunately, until the new noble arrives, we have to follow the rules the town leader set up. I''ve heard he is going to have to stand trial and face punishment for trying to limit who visits the dungeon, but the politics surrounding everything is too complicated for everything to immediately change. Still, I''ll do my best to advertise your dungeon for you while I hand out supplies. Hopefully, the Dungeon Diplomats don''t try to investigate me for it."


    Elivyre chuckled as she finished speaking. Violet gave her a smile of sympathy, feeling bad that her friend was being scrutinized so much. Hoping to reassure her friend, she said


    "Well, if it helps, Theodore, the one assigned to my dungeon, seems to think well of you. I know I''ve told him I''m happy to have a friend, not many people are willing to look past my status as a Dungeon Master."


    "Yeah, but it''s kind of understandable. You might not be trying to actively kill everyone who steps foot in your dungeon, but it''s hard to give you a chance when everyone else is so problematic. I''m sure people will warm up to you with time, which, luckily, you have plenty of."


    Violet knew what her friend was saying was true, still it sucked being judged for the actions of others of her kind.

 2.54 Cutting Costs

    Violet spent the mana from Elivyre''s visit on an extra magic bag and firewood to use for charity. She needed her mana from nighttime to work on some of her other projects, but she also knew she''d need to start working on creating goods for the charity work sooner rather than later. Actually, the project she was working on today was meant to help with her mana costs while ensuring her quality of life was still consistent.


    As soon as Camellia and Avorn arrived for the night, she made her way through her rooms until she arrived at the first unused room after the mystery falls, which sat between the pear and orange orchard [Monster] field rooms. Much like she had done for the fae circles room, she cleared away some of the unnecessary trees in the center of the room.


    "Pardon me, Miss Violet, but what are you working on?"


    Holly asked. This room was where she had assigned Willow and Holly, the pixie royalty she had summoned just yesterday. While the pixies had all been calling her different things when she first summoned them, they had all seemed to agree calling her "Miss Violet" was the best choice. Considering she didn''t actually want to have any titles used, she supposed she would have to accept the wins she could get. Being called "Miss" wasn''t nearly as stuffy sounding as "Madam" or as strange as "Mistress" anyhow.


    "Well, I''m sure you''ve heard from the others that I tend to make all of the rooms you are assigned to challenge rooms."


    "That''s correct, Miss."


    Willow interjected. Smiling, Violet continued


    "Well, I''m doing the same here, but I was thinking of having it be tea party themed."


    Willow creased his eyebrows in confusion, but Holly was cheerful as she exclaimed


    "How fun!"


    The way these two spoke certainly made them stand out from the others. In fact, Violet almost felt like they had an accent of sorts that made them sound more like aristocrats, but she couldn''t quite say whether that made sense or if it was all in her head. She most certainly wasn''t used to her pixies being anything more than carefree and informal, save for when they called her name.


    With the space finally ready to start building, Violet opened her [Dungeon Status] screen.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 100 / 100


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 5,960


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 2Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 36 (18+18)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Despite how poorly things had gone when Violet last interacted with David, she had still managed to do their weekly trade. This was mostly because she had opted to do so before they began their swordsmanship training for the night, something she had conflicted feelings about now. There was no way she would have willingly done so after what he pulled that night, that much was certain. However, she couldn''t help but wonder whether it was better to have made the trade and have gained the extra 2,500 DP or if she would have preferred not to have traded with him, ensuring that he couldn''t benefit from her efforts.


    The rest of the gains she had received had been from things like Avorn and Camellia paying rent, the tribute from the Dungeon Diplomats trio, and the tribute of herbs Elivyre always brought her. Elivyre usually brought along two different herbs to give as tribute as she was always generous, but she had opted for just one this time around. Still, the apple mint was intriguing to Violet who always loved to see what new and interesting herbs her friend would bring her next. Besides, she was fairly certain that she would easily choose Elivyre visiting without any tribute at all over her friend not visiting just because she didn''t have enough to give as tribute. Violet just enjoyed her presence that much.


    The diplomats themselves seem to have chosen to give a separate tribute each. As to who had given what, Violet wasn''t sure, but she could certainly make some educated guesses. There were two steel daggers, luminous moss, and an iron chestplate with a protection enchantment. Knowing Theodore, she was fairly certain that he had given her the moss since she had asked him for glowing mushrooms previously. Beowulf seemed like a tough guy while Elder Kendric seemed like he''d be wealthy, but cautious. So, she thought it likely that Kendric had given her the enchanted chestplate since she could, potentially, use it as a reward for adventurers.


    Regardless, Violet was quite happy to know that she had 5,960 DP because she was most definitely going to need all of the dungeon points she could get for her current project. Normally, she cared more about making a fun challenge with a good reward for the adventurers who came through. This time, however, she was more interested in cutting costs on future tea parties. While she wasn''t sure if her dungeon [Monsters] required food to live, there was no denying the fact that their nightly soir¨¦es made everyone happy.


    While the charity work would only be affecting them for a matter of a few weeks, now that winter was almost over, there would be other things Violet needed to save her mana for later on. She didn''t want to worry over the tea not being hot, the cookies not being fresh, or a lack of variety just because she wanted to build a new challenge room instead of spending all her mana on foods that could range from anywhere from 1 MP to several tens of mana points in cost.


    Besides which, Violet was more than a little aware of the fact that she wouldn''t always be able to prioritize her pixies as the dungeon would only continue to grow. When she, one day, had a dozen or more floors, she would have to consider the needs of other groups of [Monsters] as well. She didn''t feel the need to worry about the ones like her slimes who weren''t capable of higher thought, much less properly communicating with her. However, if it was possible to get pixies on what was only her second floor, who was to say she wouldn''t end up with even more powerful sentient creatures? Wouldn''t something like a dryad or a shapeshifting werewolf require love just as much as her pixies did?


    However, just because she had to balance her attention in other places, later on, didn''t mean she couldn''t ensure her pixies were happy. Making them homes and a tea party that refreshed daily, without any input from her, would guarantee they''d always be able to get by without her. Violet just hoped they''d still be as happy to see her in the future as they all were now. She certainly knew distance didn''t always make the heart grow fonder, even if she still hadn''t gotten over her deceased husband, Lee.

 2.55 Mad Tea Party

    Violet pulled out the drawings she had made when planning out the new tea party challenge. She had a lot of little details she planned to implement for this room and she didn''t want to forget anything. Before doing anything else, she was going to need to do some research for some new furniture. 10 DP was spent on researching a tree stump before 5 MP was used to place one off to one side of the clearing. This was where Violet planned to put a miniature version of the larger tea table for her pixies to comfortably sit at and enjoy themselves.


    In order to set up the main part of the clearing, she spent 90 DP and 105 MP to set up a table with chairs and a tablecloth. While Violet had previously researched a rectangular wooden table for her tribute room, she decided to research a new one since a round table would be more suitable for a tea party. It made it easier for everyone to reach everything on the table as well as be able to talk to each other without having to talk as loudly. The tablecloth was perfectly white, but was still well decorated with lace accents on the edges. There were four chairs that were made from sturdy wood with rounded edges and comfortable padded velvet cushions, which ensured those who sat to enjoy the tea would be comfortable. Violet would be using this room herself too, after all.


    Nothing about this setup was going to be cheap, but that was why Violet had waited until night when she knew she''d have plenty of mana to use on this project anyhow. For the tea set itself, Violet decided to go with a beautiful painted ceramic with a floral design and gold accents. The set had cost an entire 160 dungeon points to research and 80 mana to create. However, it also had several pieces with one teapot, one sugar bowl, one milk jug, four tea cups, four saucers, four spoons, and a golden storage rack. Honestly, it was the sort of thing that Violet wished she could have afforded in previous life. It was just too bad she had to lose everything she had ever had, including her own life, before she could have such luxuries.


    A 3-tier matching painted ceramic and gold cake stand was also needed to display the foods that would be served alongside the tea. However, since there were fewer pieces involved, it only cost 40 DP to research and 40 MP to create two. With four people being served at one table, Violet wanted to ensure there would be enough food to go around. It wasn''t like she needed to consume food herself, but she knew for certain there was no way a few tea sandwiches and small desserts would be enough to satisfy four people unless she had, at least, two trays worth.


    Of course, simply having nice tableware and a place to sit didn''t make for a tea party. There was a need for food and actual tea. So, Violet had planned out a nice menu of some classic afternoon tea options with only a few special additions that fit her personal tastes a little better. 5 MP was spent on water to fill the tea pot and then another 2 MP was spent on some black tea leaves. The teapot had a filter on the inside of it that would ensure no loose tea leaves made it to the tea cups themselves. While she didn''t have the option for hot water, Violet hoped the sun could heat the teapots just as well as they did the mason jars she usually did. Either that, or when she set the room''s theme, she hoped the system would make the appropriate adjustments.


    For tea sandwiches, Violet went with boar, apple, and cheese as a remix of the classic ham, apple, and brie. Then a boar bacon, watercress, and tomato sandwich as a remix of a classic BLT, which required researching boar meat to get the boar bacon as a new [Base Resource] to use. Since sweet sandwiches were also great options, she also decided to make two other choices. There was a strawberries and cream sandwich as well as a pecan-butter and raspberry jam one. Luckily, most of the ingredients she needed for the sandwiches were things she had already researched or received as a tribute in the past, making this part fairly simple. Really, the only thing, besides the boar bacon, she had to research was the raspberry jam and whipped cream, everything else was made with previously unlocked [Base Resources] and [Items].


    That made the total research cost for the tea sandwiches was 110 DP, which wasn''t bad at all. That put her at 5,550 remaining dungeon points out of her original 5,960, so she was definitely spending a lot on this one challenge, but the individual costs weren''t bad at all. There were just a lot of little details to worry about, but that just made it all that much more worth it. Nothing felt quite as good as making a perfectly curated room that would be well-used in the future. The finger sandwiches themselves cost 5 MP for four, but that was more like 5 mana for one normal-sized sandwich made with sandwich bread from her old world. Considering an entire loaf of white bread could be made for the exact same mana cost, Violet wasn''t sure whether this was a better or worse investment. Well, it wasn''t like she''d be spending mana on it every day, these ones would be respawning as the room refreshed instead, making the cost almost irrelevant.


    The next layer on the 3-tier tray was for bread. However, the breads themselves weren''t the only thing Violet had to worry about. Butter, orange curd (lemon curd substitute), clotted cream, and jams needed to be prepared in small ramekins that way guests could spread it on the variety of bread options they would have to choose from. That meant she''d have to research ceramic ramekins and then research each of the spreads, even things like butter, which she otherwise had unlocked already. Just for the spreads, it ended up costing 138 DP for the research and 54 MP since she needed two of each type since there were two 3-tier trays on the table to fill.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Of course, none of that even accounted for the breads themselves. For that, Violet decided to go with bread rolls, mini pancakes, bearberry orange muffins, and triple-berry scones. The first two, Violet didn''t even need to research, which was, actually, a surprise. She had expected to have to research the pancakes she already had unlocked in order to make them tiny, but she ended up finding out that the system would adjust the sizing of anything, but that she''d have to spend extra to do so. The pancakes had only cost an extra 1 MP each to create a miniature version of them, but the system had listed 0 DP next to the cost, which suggested the costs could be much worse, depending on what she was working with. Still, this fact alone was revolutionary! She could already imagine the possibilities of what this might mean for the future of her dungeon and she was excited!


    Still, there was much work still to be done. Thankfully, the bread options only ended up costing her 16 DP to research, even if the eight pieces of each, two of each per person, ended up costing her 56 MP. It was a bit steep to pay so much for so little bread, but it wasn''t like her mana costs, overall, were that bad yet. She had only spent 380 MP for the night out of what was likely to be more than 1,000 mana over the course of the night. She was earning 2 MP per minute thanks to Avorn and Camellia, after all, which easily added up over the night.


    Still, she would need to wrap things up soon. There was still the smaller version of the tea party setup to worry about, which was likely to cost her even more than she had spent thus far, even if she now knew she could save on the dungeon points cost. So, Violet got to work making the small desserts to finish off the 3-tier trays.


    Lavender meringues, chamomile & honey shortbread cookies, ginger spice cake with spiced pear jam petit fours, and citrus cake, orange curd, and whipped cream mini trifles perfectly finished off the trays. The first two were already available since they were actually challenge rewards on the second floor. Meanwhile, the petite fours and mini trifles took a good bit of research. Violet felt pretty good about the fact that she was making pixie food out to be flavorful and delicious, even if some of the flavors might take some getting used to. As Theodore had previously pointed out, floral flavors weren''t something that children and most other individuals would easily be able to enjoy.


    Interestingly enough, the research for the ginger spice cake, citrus cake, and spiced pear jam ended up being more costly than the petit fours and mini trifles had been. However, it made sense when Violet saw that the result was a whole frosted ginger spice cake and citrus cake that could be created for 25 MP each. It was much different to have one-bite-sized pieces of cake versus a whole cake, even if the decoration was much fancier on the petit fours. Still, perhaps she should have been expecting as much since all the jams she researched also tended to be 0.5 Unit jars while the recipes she used them in required far less of the substance.


    With the trays both now full, Violet was satisfied with the larger table''s setup, now she just needed to set up tables on the stump for her pixies. The only problem was how to ensure all of her pixies could be comfortable. She currently had eighteen pixies in her dungeon, but she had only covered half of the space in her dungeon. Considering she had yet to make the resting room and boss room on this floor, it was difficult to say just how many pixies she''d end up with by the time she finished this floor. Even then, there was a limit to how much could fit on any one tree stump.


    While waiting for her mana to increase again, Violet looked over her notes and drew up some more sketches to work with. However, no matter how she looked at it, she couldn''t seem to figure out something that would ensure everyone was taken care of. She would just have to make do with what she had and hope no one felt left out. Maybe some of the pixies wouldn''t enjoy tea parties? It wasn''t like they could all make it to the room, anyhow.


    Violet decided to go with two rectangular tables for the stump instead of round tables. The challenge itself was meant to be a spot-the-difference type, so it was fine to have some difference between everything. Each table got a tablecloth, eight chairs, two tea sets, four 3-tier cake stands, and an appropriate amount of food and tea. This ended up making the total for everything 1,844 MP plus an additional 136 MP to shrink everything. That, of course, ended up meaning that Violet had to return the next night to continue working on everything because her mana ran out before she was even halfway finished with the miniature version of everything.


    Of course, Violet also needed some of the foods and designs on everything to be different, so she also had to spend another 200 MP to make the design on the tea sets and 3-tier trays different from the larger version. The food was left the same since she didn''t expect people to try it in order to see if the ingredients were different. However, to make the challenge even more difficult, she also planned to add the stipulation that the adventurers had to follow the rules of fae etiquette in order to complete it.


    While that would normally be complicated since the rules said not to refuse a fae''s hospitality, but that you couldn''t eat their food in their realm or you''d be stuck there forever, Violet just planned to make it mean that they should eat the large food, but not the small food. The adventurers would also be expected to be polite to her pixies and not murder them.


    Deciding to call it a night, Violet spent 150 DP to set the room''s theme and called her pixies in to enjoy an overdue celebratory feast. She could finish the challenge tomorrow, but she definitely needed a break and she wanted to celebrate the new dungeon arrivals before too much time passed.

 2.56 Playing Dress-Up

    The next morning, Violet was surprised to see she had someone new in the dungeon. Well, she didn''t actually know if the person had visited her dungeon before or not. She hadn''t always had her [Guest List] skill and she had chosen not to always greet her guests the previous fall. Still, she was overjoyed to see that there was someone in her dungeon! It meant that she could continue to work on her mad tea party room since she would have mana coming in.


    Since the last part Violet needed to work on wasn''t so much for the room itself, but for her pixies that lived in the room, she had to walk over to her new challenge room before getting started. When she arrived, the siblings were quick to greet her.


    "Good afternoon Miss Violet."


    "Good morning, Holly! Good morning Willow!"


    Violet returned their greeting. Willow frowned before saying


    "It is quite perplexing how time works in a dungeon. We didn''t think you''d be returning until your usual time and it''s nearly impossible to tell how much time had passed. The sky always looks the same here with no changes to indicate the time of day."


    Violet frowned, looking up at the strange sunset sky with its pinks, blues, and purples. It was certainly true that all of her rooms here on the second floor still had their default settings. Still, as tempting as it was to change things for her pixies, that wasn''t something she could prioritize right now. She simply didn''t have enough spare dungeon points to waste on weather and time effects, especially since she needed to continue working towards unlocking her third floor. While she felt fine investing in researching new [Items], it just felt different to spend anywhere from 25 DP to 150 DP just to change the time of day from day to night.


    "Yes, well, I''m sorry things have been so difficult. I still haven''t gotten you a house to live in either, which can''t be helping matters. I''ll be working on that once I''m done with the challenge in this room. Maybe I can do that today? Assuming I can finish things this morning, that would be the ideal time to make them."


    Holly flew closer to Violet as she reassured her


    "It''s alright, Miss Violet. I don''t think my brother meant to sound like we were complaining. We know you have been working quite hard on our behalf and we really appreciate it!"


    Violet smiled, nodding in acknowledgement before she got to work. Since she didn''t know Joan or the young boy with her, she wasn''t sure how long they would be in the dungeon. She had already had a full mana pool thanks to the daily 25 MP regen and the leftover mana from Avorn and Camellia''s stay in the dungeon. So, she needed to quickly get to work if she didn''t want any of her mana to go to waste.


    Today''s goal was actually to make appropriate tea party outfits for Willow and Holly. It would help to set the mood for the room and Violet just felt that it would be a nice gift for her new pixies. She did feel awfully bad about having pixie royalty in her dungeon without being able to treat them appropriately. Since Willow''s outfit would include several [Items] she already had unlocked, she started by spending 26 MP to create brown leather boots, a brown leather belt, a decorative steel scabbard, and an iron sword. An additional 4 MP then had to be spent to shrink the [Items] down to the appropriate size.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The main part of Willow''s outfit would require research, though. Violet had drawn sketches up to better imagine what she wanted. She planned to make the outfit brown, green, and white so it would have very foresty colors. Of course, she also planned to use gold buttons as a nice luxurious accent to the outfit. There was a white silk dress shirt, a white lace jabot, a brown cotton vest, a green cotton tailcoat, and green cotton trousers, which would be work in addition to the boots and sword kit she had already created for him. Overall, the outfit seemed just right for a noble like Willow.


    The research costs for everything ended up costing 86 DP, which wasn''t bad at all. Violet was pretty sure the dungeon just didn''t see basic clothing as very valuable since clothing was always fairly cheap. The mana costs were, initially, half the cost at 43 MP, but Violet ended up having to spend an additional 5 MP to shrink everything down to the appropriate size. After handing everything to Willow, he flew off to another part of the room to get dressed. While he was gone, Violet got to work on Holly''s outfit.


    While she had already spent 78 MP out of her 100 MP mana pool, time had also passed, so she had already managed to recover 10 MP. With two guests in her dungeon, that meant that she would quickly recover her mana. Still, 32 MP was definitely not enough to make another full outfit, so they would have to wait for a while.


    For Holly''s outfit, Violet chose to go with a red rose floral theme with green and white accent colors. She felt it would go well with her red hair and green eyes while still sticking to the nature-theme she had gone for with Willow''s outfit. There was a lacey lolita-style dress with red roses and green leaves across a white background with multiple layers. The shoes were dress shoes with a strap and 3-D roses attached to them. Of course, the top layer wasn''t the only important thing, so Violet had also ensured to design white lace drawers and to create a set of the white lace stockings, just like the ones she, herself, was wearing.


    For accessories, she had designed a straw hat with red ribbon and red roses on it as well as lacey white gloves and a glass pearl necklace. While pearls made from glass weren''t nearly as fancy as the real thing, Violet had to work with the materials she had available and she rather doubted the difference would be noticeable once everything was shrunk down to pixie size. Overall, the total research costs for Holly''s outfit ended up coming out to 156 DP, which was a bit more than her brother''s outfit. However, that was hardly surprising since there were more expensive materials being utilized for Holly''s outfit. In fact, most of Willow''s outfit was made from cotton and leather, which the system tended to charge a small pittance for.


    It took about half an hour of waiting before Violet could afford to materialize the full outfit for Holly and then pay to shrink it. Luckily, it seems she ended up having just enough since Joan and the young boy with her left not long afterwards. It was a shame since Violet really would have loved to meet them, but she had to prioritize what she was doing now instead. Still, she did note she now had another 2 DP from their tributes, bringing her total up to 4,766.


    While their tribute hardly made up for the amount she had just spent for her pixies'' outfits, it was still nice to have visitors to her dungeon. Besides, they had clearly put some effort into their tribute, unlike David used to. Violet shivered, feeling glad that she no longer had to deal with the man. He hadn''t exactly been that bad, but there was no denying that he wasn''t good for her dungeon or her mental health.

 2.57 Tea With Friends

    Violet was nervous as she hesitantly asked


    "Hey, Elivyre? I was wondering if you''d be willing to join me for tea on the second floor today?"


    Her friend looked up from where she was collecting herbs as she answered


    "I''m not against it, but... is it safe? I''m not a particularly skilled adventurer since I mostly spend my time running my shop."


    Violet smiled, feeling a bit more confident, as she explained


    "There are a few [Traps] and more dangerous [Monsters] than I have here on the first floor, but nothing is too dangerous. Mostly I have some jump scare [Traps] in the beginning, some briar patches, and the most dangerous [Monsters] are horned rabbits. I don''t know if I can tell them not to attack you, but I can certainly show you a safe path through the rooms.


    I also have some pixies, who will likely join us for tea, but they''re not effective at combat. They aren''t all friendly towards adventures, but I think it would be good for them to meet you."


    She genuinely thought so too. With how much some of her pixies hated people, she wanted them to meet someone she actually trusted who might change their mind. It was fine for them to be cautious around adventurers, smart even, but it wasn''t good for them to assume that all of them were bad, not when there were those like Elivyre among the bunch.


    "Alright, well, just let me finish up what I''m doing here and then you can show me the way. I don''t like to leave my shop unmanned for too long, but, since I''m the only employee, it isn''t like anyone can stop me."


    Elivyre finished off with a chuckle. She felt nervous about taking Violet up on her offer, but it wasn''t because she thought the girl meant to harm her. Elivyre simply knew all too well just how dangerous dungeons could be. Since she had grown up in her father''s alchemy shop, helping him out, she had heard plenty of stories from adventurers. There might be a big difference between Violet and other Dungeon Masters, but that didn''t help her unease with the situation any.


    Still, after putting her herbs into her bag, Elivyre stood up, dusted herself off, and gestured at Violet to lead the way. While she oftentimes went in the other direction, today she was in the garden meadow room, so the journey wasn''t long, but it was a bit burdensome. Even with Violet calling off the slimes, the parkour room was hard to cross without getting wet. Luckily, Elivyre always stored her winter coat in her magic bag when she visited. While her other clothes would dry after some time in the artificial sun of the dungeon, her thick fur coat would have been more time-consuming to dry.


    Elivyre had never really bothered with going this direction before because Violet had explained that the boss room was in this direction. She didn''t want to battle the [Monsters] of this dungeon, she just wanted to collect herbs for her shop and talk with her friend, so it just wasn''t something she would normally bother with. Even Diva, her pet raven, seemed uneasy as they entered the boss room. It made sounds of distress as it flew low in the sky, careful not to set off whatever boss [Monster] was in the room.


    "Don''t worry, I''m pretty sure I can tell my emperor rock slime not to attack. Theodore has come through with others before and didn''t mention having any difficulties, so I assume the same should apply with me being the actual Dungeon Master."


    Violet''s words didn''t help Elivyre''s nerves any, but she decided to trust her friend. Even if something did happen, she knew the potions in her bag would be enough to ensure she wouldn''t die. She''d just have to be cautious enough to avoid any truly fatal attacks. There was no healing herself if she died first.


    Her concerns ended up being unnecessary. When they reached the giant blob of a creature, Elivyre watched as her friend went up to it and patted it in greeting. It was certainly interesting seeing the level of affection Violet held for her dungeon creatures. However, perhaps, that shouldn''t have been surprising. Her friend was a bit too kind for her own good, even if Elivyre did prefer to be treated as a friend than an enemy. Maybe she just was lucky enough to get a unique perspective on the dungeon that most others did not. It wasn''t like Elivyre had ever seen Violet around anyone else, it was always just the two of them when she visited.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    After making it past the first floor boss room, it was smooth sailing from then on. Elivyre did end up a bit surprised by the butterflies that swarmed out at her when they first entered the second floor. Violet giggled, thoroughly enjoying herself. She couldn''t really blame her friend, she likely would have also found it funny if she had been on the other side of it. She did feel a bit embarrassed, though, since she had sensed the small creatures and had been warned about there being a jump scare [Trap], even if she hadn''t known the specifics.


    Elivyre watched in wonder as they walked through each of the rooms as Violet greeted each of her pixie [Monsters] by name. It was impressive that her friend could remember so many different names and faces.


    "Hello, Miss Violet! Isn''t it a bit early to be gathering everyone for tea? Oh! I almost didn''t see you there. I''m Hawthorn and you are?"


    Elivyre was surprised to be addressed, but quickly recovered as she replied


    "I''m Elivyre. It''s nice to meet you."


    The elderly male pixie laughed as he reassured her


    "I''m sorry if the younger ones have been giving you a difficult time. Many of them have spent their entire lives suffering at the hands of Humans. They can''t help but feel prejudiced against other races as well since they''ve never had any positive association with others."


    Elivyre smiled back in response, appreciating Hawthorn''s words.


    "Thanks, but it''s alright, I understand. Violet invited me to join you all for tea, I hope that''s alright?"


    Aster, who was beside her husband as they continued to travel through the rooms, answered


    "I''m sure the others will calm down in time, dear. We''ve actually heard a little about you from Violet. It''s nice to know she had friends like you to rely on."


    There were only a few more rooms to pass through before they arrived at the mad tea party challenge room. While the other rooms had mentioned what the challenge was, this was the first that didn''t have a notification pop-up for Elivyre. The room appeared to be well-decorated, so it didn''t seem like her friend was still working on it, but it was hardly as if she knew the specifics of such things. Even though Violet often talked about what she was working on in the dungeon, many of the concepts were hard to understand without actually experiencing them for oneself.


    Violet pardoned herself to go gather some others, assuring her that she could start enjoying the tea while she was gone. The younger pixies who Violet had introduced, but whose names Elivyre had already begun to forget, seemed excited as they sat down to tea at a small table. They didn''t bother her, even if they didn''t seem to appreciate her presence in the dungeon. Meanwhile, others like Hawthorn, Aster, Chief Alder, and siblings in rather noble-looking attire chose to keep her company.


    "Mmm! This one is quite good. Have you tried it yet, Elivyre?"


    Holly exclaimed, holding up a piece of a petit four. Elivyre gestured to the tray as she explained


    "I think I''d rather start with some of the savory [Items] first. Everything has been quite good, so far, though, so I''m sure everything will be delicious."


    Willow nodded as he enthusiastically endorsed their Dungeon Master


    "Yes, Miss Violet has shown us excellent hospitality and many of her ideas are quite good. We feel quite fortunate to have been assigned to this room. I only regret that we won''t always have such wonderful company as yourself."


    Violet had explained a little bit about the various challenge rooms as they walked through them too. It had been interesting to see how things had changed from the first to the second floor. The use of [Traps] was an obvious difference, but there were other ways that the danger-level had subtly increased from the first to second floor. Yet, her friend has still managed to put quite a bit of love and care into building the floor so that the pixies could live comfortable and happy lives here.


    Elivyre''s father might have been a Human merchant, but her mother had been an Elf through and through. Oftentimes, when she was growing up, she would hear stories about the sorts of creatures that lived in her mother''s ancestral forest. Pixies oftentimes were said to get along with Elves with the two groups drawing up agreements that worked for everyone. Elves believed in a peaceful existence with almost all forms of life having their place in the forest''s ecosystem. Still, many such creatures were something ELivyre could only dream about as she had never had the chance to see them for themselves.


    Today was truly a unique chance as she highly doubted she''d ever get the chance to have tea with pixies if it weren''t for the unique existence of Violet''s dungeon. Elivyre even felt a bit guilty as the thought of what other things she might get to experience thanks to her friendship with the girl crossed her mind. However, while it was fine to accept her friend''s hospitality when it was offered, she never wanted to take advantage of Violet. That just wasn''t who she was.

 2.58 Joyful Holly

    Holly was only one of eighteen pixies in the dungeon, but she certainly couldn''t help but feel happy to be there. The Dungeon Master she affectionately called ''Miss Violet'' was always kind and seemed to care a great deal for all of them. While she had been quite happy in her home kingdom, Holly knew that it was quite possible she could have ended up in much worse circumstances.


    Despite how well her brother, Willow, and she got along, they had been very much in danger at home. Their eldest brother had been the crown prince and was set to receive his coronation in just a few short years. If they remained in the area, though, it would be seen as a challenge to his right to rule. That could result in any number of problems arising from being assassinated to a civil war taking place. While these events tended to look a bit different from how it did with the larger people, it was still, nonetheless, problematic.


    Some of their other siblings had chosen to make the trek to other pixie villages and kingdoms to live out their lives there. Some of them were lucky enough to ask larger [Monsters] for help in doing so, but it wasn''t like all of them could burden a dragon to help them. Besides which, neither Holly nor Willow actually had anything of worth to offer the local dragon to repay them for their help.


    Due to their kingdom''s size, they did have a few maps that depicted the kingdom they lived in. It was a map that was originally meant for a Human and took up an entire wall in the castle they had once called home. Any pixie kingdoms, cities, and villages they knew about were marked on the map, but it was hardly possible for them to know about every location when they couldn''t personally travel there themselves.


    Regardless, the point was, that trying to find a new home was far too difficult for Holly and Willow. Their best bet had been to sign up for the dungeon contract system and hope they could live semi-decent lives. However, as Holly showed Violet the tree she wanted her new fairy house to be hung on, she couldn''t help but feel like she was one of the luckiest pixies alive. She had read the records in the castle library about what their kind usually had to deal with when it came to joining dungeons. It had never involved being given her own home, a suitable role in the dungeon, or being gifted customized clothing just for her.


    Once her home was taken out, Violet said


    "Here, Holly. Why don''t you put your old clothes in your house? I''m not sure how they work, but nothing the others put in there ever seems to be altered by the dungeon when their rooms reset."This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Violet followed her statement up with some semi-incoherent mumbles about her intentions and the possibility of using some discovery to her advantage. Not wanting to interrupt her Dungeon Master, Holly waited to respond, but Violet ended up walking away, causing Holly to have to fly after her to say


    "Thank you, Miss Violet! I really appreciate you giving us such nice clothing and homes. I promise to serve you and your dungeon to the best of my abilities!"


    Violet just nodded, looking far away. She had other homes to place tonight too, so Holly decided to leave her be. Her brother''s home was placed a few trees away from her own. It was far enough away to be considered a different neighborhood by typical pixie city standards, but it was still close enough that they could easily visit one another when the desire arose.


    Truthfully, while their small size did slow them down a bit, they could still travel quite fast. They were only a little slower than a bee might be, which meant they could easily keep up with Violet, but they lacked the stamina to cross the distance of one Human settlement to the next without most of an entire day passing by. This was part of the reason their kind was often utilized as foragers within a dungeon. They were small enough to go unnoticed by most while still being fast enough to guarantee they could bring back something useful by the end of the day.


    Holly had already talked to everyone else who lived in the dungeon. While they all seemed to be assigned to challenge rooms, not all of them were required to be there for the challenge to properly function. Apparently, Violet had mentioned to some of the early arrivals that she planned to give them the winter off, but then she would expect them to help with foraging in the spring. More than likely, such a job would be given to those like Cedar and Lily or Briar and Moss, who had been assigned to the flower hunt room.


    Holly did feel a bit bad for them since the trek down to the first floor would be hard enough without anyone to open doors for them. However, Elder Hawthorn had reassured her that Violet cared for everyone''s safety enough that she''d likely help them return once night fell. So, they would just have to worry about making it inside of the dungeon before then. It was common knowledge that Dungeon Masters couldn''t leave the dungeon itself, after all. If they could, there would be no need for foragers of their size in the first place.


    Holly knew her brother and she would never have to worry about being foragers, not without room assignments being changed, anyhow. The fact that their presence was meant to be part of the room''s challenge had only been reinforced by the amount of effort Violet put into creating custom outfits for them. They were so pretty too! Holly had never felt more like a princess than she did now with the delicate materials and beautiful patterns she was wearing. Despite how nice the outfits she wore in her home kingdom were, it just wasn''t the same as lace and glass pearls, something pixies normally wouldn''t have access to.


    Yes, Holly was truly happy and content to be part of Violet''s dungeon. She couldn''t have gotten luckier.

 2.59 Empty Challenges

    A few days passed before Violet could get back to work on making new challenge rooms. The night after Elivyre visited, she had to make fairy houses for her pixies. Briar and Moss were assigned to the flower hunt room and only required one house to share. Holly and Willow were in the mad tea party room and needed separate houses, which they chose to have placed a short distance apart. Where the twins, Iris and Orchid, almost always wanted to spend time together, the noble siblings much preferred their own space.


    The next two challenge rooms were currently empty, but would be worked on today. Violet assigned Chief Alder and Clove to the first one and Clove''s wife and daughter, Rosemary and Juniper, to the next one. Despite having different room assignments, though, Violet only placed one fairy house in each of the rooms. She didn''t mind if Clove went home to his family each night and she was even willing to design the challenge rooms the four pixies would be assigned to, so that they would only need one participant in each of them to help run the challenge. That way it wouldn''t matter that her pixies couldn''t open doors and Clove wouldn''t have to risk being separated from his family for long periods.


    The only remaining pixies that needed to be assigned to a room after that were Basil and Aspen. They were complete strangers who came from different villages in different environments, but they were willing enough to work together, should it be asked of them. So, Violet happily assigned them to the last challenge room she had available and made them separate houses to live in.


    Last night there was no mana to spare to work on new challenge rooms, even despite how cheap they were likely to be. Violet had spent the entire night''s mana on firewood and shelf-stable foods for the charity program. As promised, Elivyre showed up bright and early the next morning with two Dungeon Diplomats Violet had never met before. They carried the magic bags Violet packed with goods and then promptly brought them back. Apparently, the Dungeon Diplomats that had been sent to help with the charity work were a married couple. They were friendly yet very serious, giving the impression that they took their work very seriously.


    While Violet had the feeling that the charity program was likely too late for some, she did hope that it would bring much-needed relief for others. It wasn''t like people were suddenly going to have more food, so the end of the season was likely going to be the hardest. Of course, Violet wasn''t stupid either, she was well aware of the fact that, even once spring arrived, things wouldn''t magically be better overnight. Crops take time to grow, merchants take time to travel, and not all hibernating wild animals would come out right away. That meant there would be a hunger gap in the beginning of spring, but Violet hoped that the locals would warm up enough to her and her dungeon by then that they''d be willing to put in the effort to come raid her dungeon for resources.


    Shaking her head, Violet tried to refocus on the task at hand. The two new challenge rooms were actually going to be almost embarrassingly empty compared to the others she had made. However, she still had to put in the work to research new rewards and set the challenge up on the system side of things. For the first challenge, she planned to do a "capture the flag" event. So, she spent 1 MP to summon some purple ribbon. While red was a more classic color for capture-the-flag, Violet only actually had orange and purple unlocked. Besides that, she felt purple was prettier, so it was fine to just use what she had.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Chief Alder accepted the bit of ribbon, looking perplexed as he asked.


    "Am I supposed to do something with this?"


    Violet laughed as she spent 4 DP eight over to research a tiny glass jar of edible glitter sealed with a cork. She wanted it in all the colors of the rainbow as well as black and white. Since she now had the option of randomized challenge rewards and the research for the first one had been so cheap, it seemed fitting to offer lots of options for it. Edible glitter was basically just sugar with dye that gets baked until it shines like glitter, basically shiny sprinkles. Violet planned to have the system label it as ''fairy dust'' as a fun little way of setting the theme.


    Of course, she also had to spend an additional 32 DP to set the challenge reward. However, before that, she needed 300 DP to set the room''s theme and lock the door. Finishing up, she explained how capture-the-flag worked to Chief Alder. He seemed to catch on fast as he noted


    "So, that''s what my job will be in the dungeon then? I can handle that. I''m still pretty young, though, so I can''t guarantee anyone will be able to catch me."


    The man finished with a chuckle. Violet smiled in return, replying


    "Yes, I''ve noticed that. You don''t have to make it easy for them, but don''t take any risks either. I''d rather you just let them win than for you to die an unnecessary death."


    The next room didn''t require any equipment for the challenge itself. Violet planned to play on the theme of pixies being mischievous by having the challenge be a game called ''2 truths and a lie". The game would require the pixie to give three statements about themselves and then the adventurer would have to guess which one was a lie. If they guessed it wrong, they would have to start over with three new statements until they guessed correctly. The game could just as easily be run by Clove as it could by his wife, Rosemary.


    For the challenge reward, Violet spent 30 DP to research fairy lanterns. Basically, they were glass mason jars with black silhouettes on them that depicted pixies and various nature scenes. An unscented candle would come with it and, once lit, a room could be illuminated with the silhouettes creating pixie shadows on the wall. Since Violet already had most of those elements available as [Items], nothing extra had to be researched to obtain the final product. Another 300 DP to set the room theme and lock the door as well as 30 DP to set the challenge reward and she was already done with the room.


    Of course, before she could call it a day, she did have one more stop to make. The mad tea party room hadn''t been completed yet. The room''s theme was set, so the tea setup would refresh, but it wasn''t set up as a challenge yet. For the reward in this room, Violet decided to go with fairy bread. It wasn''t something she had enjoyed much in her last life since she wasn''t from Australia, but the name was fun and it seemed like a fitting reward for the challenge. The fairy dust sprinkles got used alongside some butter and white bread, all things she had unlocked previously, and the research was easily completed for 10 DP. Since the room''s theme was already set, it only cost 150 DP to lock the door and 10 DP to set the challenge with its reward.


    Since she didn''t end up spending very much of the night''s mana on the new challenge rooms, Violet decided to get a head start on the charity work for next week by investing the rest into firewood and shelf-stable foods.

 2.60 (Interlude) Road Trip

    Theodore looked behind him, sighing as he took in the sight of Beowulf. The large man was asleep, but still had a firm grip on David, never quite letting his guard down. Honestly, he felt relieved to have his help escorting Alice, her familiar, Luna, and her father to the next kingdom over. His strength and ability to remain calm and calculating, regardless of what was happening around him, made Beowulf very uniquely qualified in a way that many other Dungeon Diplomats certainly weren''t.


    David had stopped struggling and trying to escape after the first few failed attempts to run away. The fact that they had his daughter in their custody certainly didn''t help matters. Despite his failure to get along with Violet, the man wasn''t a bad father. He wasn''t going to abandon his only daughter. Even with how complicated family dynamics could be for those raised in dungeons, Theodore wasn''t blind and he could understand that much about the man.


    Traveling from one kingdom to the next was going to be time-consuming, though. The council had paid for and arranged for transportation and accommodations for them. Still, neither Theodore nor Beowulf could afford to spend too much time traveling. That was why Beowulf was in charge of driving in the daytime while Theodore would take the night shift. Every town they came to, there would be another set of horses ready to swap out for the exhausted ones that had been transporting them. The horses would get their rest and then return home on their own. They had been trained to always know their way home, which was a mandatory part of training for horses that were to be rented out to travelers.


    Still, it wasn''t like they could continue traveling indefinitely. They needed to restock on rations and other gear on occasion as well as get some proper rest in an actual bed. So, arrangements had been made for them to stay at inns and another Dungeon Diplomat would drop off supplies for them. If they didn''t have to transport David and his daughter, they could have instantly transported to any dungeon in the world. So, it was a rather rare thing for their kind to have to travel for so long. Still, Theodore was grateful that the council was so cooperative in ensuring everything went smoothly for them.


    It was likely going to take them a week or two to get where they were going. After that, Theodore would have to immediately get back to work. He already missed his wife, but it simply couldn''t be helped. Violet needed to be checked on first to ensure everything was running smoothly and then he would have to check on the two other dungeons he was assigned to. After that, he would likely be forced to take classes, but he would get to remain in his hometown and get to spend some quality time with his own family.


    Of course, there were some other matters to attend to as well, Theodore was reminded, as more magical mail materialized before him. He stuffed the letter into his pocket before continuing to watch the road. In every city, town, and village they passed through, he had been putting up notices in regards to seeking David''s replacement on Violet''s behalf. He would have to worry about interviews and figuring out who the best matchup was while he worked on the mandatory training Elder Kendric insisted he take.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    There were a few promising applicants, thus far, but no one was quite a perfect match. Violet''s request for someone willing to help out with her new goddess, train her in the sword, and actually be open-minded enough to befriend her was a rather large ask. It was certainly not impossible to find something close enough, but it was likely going to take a lot more time and effort on his part. He might even have to teleport around to a few different kingdoms and put up some flyers in a large number of adventurers'' guilds and taverns besides the ones he''d see on his route to drop David off.


    Honestly, a lot of Dungeon Masters liked to think his job only pertained to keeping them in line and helping them out. That was far from the truth, though. Similar to how Beowulf was helping him now, he had to help out others with their investigations and other work. There were meetings he had to attend in the areas surrounding the dungeons he managed. Plus, he had to put in plenty of time to help teach the younger Dungeon Diplomats how to control their abilities and how to best serve the dungeons they would one day be bonded to. It was kind of like being a jack-of-all-trades, but everything related back to dungeons in one way or another.


    It wasn''t like Theodore could really complain about his lot in life, though. His wife and him were both dungeon diplomats, so they''d both live long lives. They had a rather large manor with servants and the pay was quite good. Normal Humans, Elves, and Half-Giants weren''t privy to where their species lived as they were quite secretive about it. However, when two Dungeon Diplomats have children together, most of the time, it results in children who are Halflings and not true Dungeon Diplomats.


    If their father was a [Monster] that evolved to be a Dungeon Master while their mother was from the Shifter race, it could result in someone like Beowulf who was half-man half-beast. If Beowulf had children with someone of the same variety as him, their children would likely end up being considered Half-Shifters. They''d get none of the abilities of a Dungeon Diplomat besides having a slightly extended lifespan, similar to a half-elf, but they''d get all of the perks of the Shifter race. Since the children were raised in their village, but couldn''t perform the same roles they did, they often took other sorts of jobs to help their communities. Other times, they simply left and lived the same way other races did.


    Still, even if Theodore enjoyed the fruits of his labor, he really couldn''t wait to get home to his wife. It was far too depressing escorting an irate man and his unfortunate daughter who had to suffer for his decisions. Even if David had pissed him off with his stupidity time and again, it was hardly as if he enjoyed watching the man suffer. Theodore hardly thought the punishment should have been less severe, though. He just simply didn''t enjoy this kind of work as much as he did other parts of his job.

 2.61 Raising Funds

    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 100 / 100


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 5,204


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 36 (18+18)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet reviewed her [Dungeon Status] menu as she carefully thought over what to do. Since she had set the room theme in the mad tea party challenge room, four days had passed. This meant that she had already received 400 DP from Avorn and Camellia and she''d soon be receiving another 100 DP from them since it was almost night time again.


    When Elivyre had visited to have tea with her, she had brought her some foxglove beardtongue as a tribute. Apparently, they were a white flowering plant that was at home in a meadow environment. This was perfect for Violet who didn''t actually have very many plants that were specific to a meadow environment, even if she had added quite a number of flowers and herbs to her first floor.


    Not that long ago, Elivyre had also stopped by briefly with the two Dungeon Diplomats to pick up the goods for the charity event. Despite them only staying for a brief moment, they had all still left her a tribute. However, it was all repeats and had only netted her 3 DP. Still, Violet couldn''t complain about the random woodland plants and stones they had plucked along the way since they were doing her a favor by coming here in the first place. It would be greedy of her to even expect a tribute, much less anything decent.


    Still, even with her friend''s generosity, Violet was starting to worry about the amount of dungeon points she had and whether it would be enough to unlock the third floor when the time came. She no longer had David here, so she was no longer guaranteed to earn 2,500 points each week from selling him food. That was a small problem in the long-term and certainly worth it since she was now rid of him. She didn''t like the stress and discomfort he brought along, much less being used.


    Still, Violet knew that she needed to be more proactive if she wanted to ensure she''d be able to unlock the third floor before spring arrived. There were only about two weeks left at this point and time certainly isn''t going to pass by any slower than it is now. Of course, if Violet knew for certain that the cost would be the same as it had been for the second floor, she wouldn''t even bother concerning herself. 1,000 DP was only a fifth of her current amount and 4,000 was certainly enough to take care of the rest area and boss room for the second floor.


    The main reason she was theorizing the cost would increase was because of how everything else within her system worked. The dungeon spawners had gone from costing 100 DP to unlock a 25 MP spawner to 200 DP for a 50 MP, doubling the cost. However, the most recent spawner had been even worse at 500 DP for a 100 mana limit. That meant the price had increased by more than double for the third one. Even her [Monsters] had increased in cost when she unlocked the second batch. 10 MP slimes and 30 MP kodamas had turned into 20 MP horned rabbits and 50 MP pixies. While the cheapest option had doubled, the most expensive option was less than double. There wasn''t exactly a ton of consistency in what to expect a cost increase to look like, so she had to prepare for the worst case scenario in order to ensure she''d meet her personal deadlines on time.


    That''s why, as soon as Avorn and Camellia arrived in the dungeon, Violet made her way downstairs. It was a bit of a pain to lug three magic bags with her, even if they weren''t as heavy as their contents suggested they should be, but she still made her way downstairs, feeling like a pack mule as she did so. One of her bags was full of merchandise to sell while the other two were for firewood and shelf-stable goods for charity. The charity bags were mostly empty right now since she hadn''t had the opportunity to buy new goods to fill them with just yet. However, her merchandise bag was packed to the brim.


    Since Violet had sold off all of the potions she had stored in the bag, she was able to use that space for other [Items]. The potions had freed up about 4.5 Units of space, but it was still enough for her to add four tins of black tea, two jars of honey, one jar with twenty five lavender meringues, one jar with twenty five chamomile shortbread cookies, one jar with eighty saltwater taffy, one jar with eighty pecan kisses, and four bars of unscented lye soap. Since most of the other merchandise was things like dried produce, soups, and milk teas, it seemed like a good idea to balance it out with some normal tea, sweets, and even a basic necessity like soap. Besides, food seemed to sell the best and it didn''t seem ideal to take chances with anything new.


    "Oh, Miss Violet! It''s been a while since we''ve seen you! We were starting to wonder if we''d get to see you at all before spring came."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Camellia enthusiastically greeted her. Avorn gave her a nod in acknowledgment, clearly looking a bit awkward. He didn''t seem as afraid of her as he once was, but he certainly seemed unsure of what to do with himself. Violet laughed as she replied


    "Well, I''ve not exactly been hibernating like a bear or anything, as tempting as that might be. I just don''t want to bother you all. I know some adventurers certainly don''t like me being around since it distracts them from the task at hand."


    Avorn sounded thoughtful as he agreed.


    "That''s certainly likely. We spend most of our time just relaxing around the campfire while we''re here now, but it certainly would be bad timing if you had visited us while we were fighting a boss or something."


    "Oh? Have you tried fighting my emperor rock slime already then?"


    Violet asked in surprise. Camellia shook her head vehemently as she replied


    "No, not yet. We''ve made some good progress on leveling up, though, thanks to your generosity. We''ve also made enough profit that we can afford to buy some new equipment when spring arrives and we can travel to the next town over. We were hoping to tackle the boss then and, hopefully, start working on the second floor after that."


    Violet nodded as she continued


    "That seems like a good plan. Depending on what you need equipment-wise, though, I wouldn''t mind helping you out with some of it. You wouldn''t even have to worry about the sizing since the dungeon takes care of all of that. I don''t have anything on me today, I mostly just brought food goods and some soap in hopes you might be interested in some of that."


    "That''s alright, we''re probably better off looking at the local shops at our levels. While our classes determine a lot about our fighting style, a lot of it is still up to personal preference. We haven''t quite figured out what types of gear we want to use in the long-term, though. For example, Avorn is an archer, but there are actually a lot of types of bows out there and many of his class skills would also apply to crossbows or things like dart blowing.


    We''d hate to put you out when we don''t even know what we want to use. If we go to a shop, at least, we can take a look and try out some of the equipment to see how it feels before making a choice. Are you planning on having equipment for challenge rewards in the future? I know many of the people we''ve met say that it''s a good way to try out new equipment and they can always sell something if it doesn''t fit their personal preferences. It can lead to blacksmiths not wanting to do business in the area, though, as it can end up being too much competition.


    I mean, you''re free to make your own decisions. Don''t take this as me telling you what to do!"


    Violet could tell Camellia was clearly worried about breaking the dungeon accord restrictions on influencing how a dungeon progresses. However, she just waved her hand to dismiss the woman''s worries as she reassured her


    "Don''t worry about it. I understand what you mean well. I don''t know what I''m going to do in the future, but I wasn''t planning on having anything like that for dungeon rewards anytime soon. The second floor is pixie-themed, so many of the rewards are based on that. There''s a little bit of everything from silk scarves to flower-flavored foods. Actually, I moved many of the rewards from this floor to the second because it didn''t seem as suitable flavor-wise for this floor."


    Camellia''s eyes widened in surprise as she listened to Violet speak. They had only recently begun to complete the challenges on the first floor, but they had already been enjoying the rewards quite a bit. If it weren''t for how much effort they were exerting to complete the parkour challenge and defeat slimes, Camellia was even fairly sure they''d have put on significant weight from all the sweets they had been enjoying.


    Still, the second floor sounded even more tempting! Silk scarves were likely to sell for a small fortune to noble ladies and she was fairly certain she''d enjoy having one or two for herself as well. It wasn''t like she always dressed in armor and carried around daggers, after all. She did like to go home to visit her family or her in-laws. Plus, if she was successful enough in her class, there was always the possibility that unique social opportunities would arise in the future. Even A-rank individuals had a small chance of becoming a lower noble while S-rank almost guaranteed you''d be chosen for a noble ranking.


    If the kingdom you were in didn''t have any positions, you could issue an official challenge to take their position or you could try your chances in another kingdom. After all, adventurers were integral to a kingdom''s economy and success in war times. There was no place for nobility who weren''t strong enough to protect their positions in the kingdom. It was really only because it was too difficult to become such a high-ranking person without the long-standing security and unique opportunities a noble family would have that it wasn''t common for them to be replaced.


    Still, even a C-rank or B-rank was likely to be offered better jobs by the adventurer''s guild or receive an invitation to social gatherings held by rich merchants and local nobles. So, Camellia definitely liked the idea of getting ahold of some of the unique treasures mentioned. In fact, that was about all she could think about for the rest of the time Violet visited with them.


    Avorn ended up having to handle the rest of the trade process. They had been stocking up on acorns and other small bits and bobs around the dungeon in case the opportunity to trade arose again. So, they bought some black tea, a jar of honey, a bar of soap, and a few different soup options to enjoy in the coming days. With their new magic bags they could certainly have bought a lot more, but they preferred not to use up all their space on such luxury goods and they didn''t want to take advantage of Violet''s generosity.


    Still, being 172 DP richer was still better than nothing. It would at least cover the cost of researching a few new things. Violet would just have to put in a bit more effort to also sell things to anyone else who might wander into her dungeon and, otherwise, hope for the best.

 2.62 Treasure Hunt

    For the final challenge room for this half of the dungeon, Violet had something a bit extravagant in mind. She had always found the trend a bit silly, but she had often watched videos of sellers showing off what they referred to as "fairy treasure". Generally, they''d have tiny treasure chests full of things like seashells, crystals, painted mushrooms, fake flowers, etc. The random odds and ends would be mixed together and then scooped out and into a decorative bag for anyone who bought from them.


    Violet couldn''t replicate the idea in its entirety, but the idea did seem like a fun one for her dungeon. The only thing she really had to worry about, besides the lack of [Base Resources], was balancing the variety and feeling of abundance with the need to keep the [Items]'' value low. She didn''t actually care that much whether it cost her a whole night''s worth of mana to set the challenge room up, but she didn''t want the value of the [Items] outside of the dungeon to be very high.


    Unlike the mad tea party challenge, she wasn''t going to have an etiquette clause to keep people from taking the [Items] from the room with them. While the economy outside of the dungeon was unlikely to directly affect her, she still wanted to do her best to be careful that her decisions didn''t hurt anyone. Still, it wasn''t like the trinkets had to be valuable in order to fit her needs, so she still had plenty of options to work with. Before getting started on that, though, she needed to set up the room itself.


    The first thing she set up was a winding pathway that led from one side of the room to the next, but took many detours through the trees. Still, since the stone brick pathways only cost 10 MP / 100 Square Units and the room itself was only 16-Units wide, she only ended up having to spend 10 MP to make the entire path. Next up, she made a slightly elevated platform from stone bricks along one portion of the path. This would serve well as a place to house the treasure chest the challenge would be based around.


    While Violet already had quite a number of containers unlocked, she didn''t have anything suitable for this challenge. A wooden crate and an engraved wooden box meant for holding fudge were hardly the same thing as a treasure chest, after all. This ran her 50 DP to research it and 25 MP to create one of them. It looked quite nice with dark, sturdy-looking wood and golden accents, just right for drawing one''s attention at a glance. The chest was fairly big, but not huge. It was approximately the size of a proper drink cooler.


    With the environment set up, she now only had to fill the treasure chest with [Items]. First she decided to get all of the research out of the way. A total of 108 DP allowed her to unlock weather iron keys, five types of painted stone mushrooms, smooth stones, painted heart-shaped stones, painted flower-shaped stones, and painted butterfly-shaped stones. Since she needed to mix things up and carefully layer everything, she had to create everything outside of the treasure chest as her mana slowly regenerated.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The first thing she spent mana on was ten each of the seventeen varieties of buttons she had previously unlocked. There were iron snap buttons, flower-shaped ceramic buttons, gold and silver buttons, and tons of other varieties that ensured the chest had a variety of colors and materials in it. Next up was twenty five each of acorns, pinecones, and maple seeds as well as fifty each of pecans, black walnuts, and pine nuts. The size variances were good, but Violet mostly went with them since pixies actually had a strong connection with nature, making them a good, cheap option.


    Finally, it was time to add the new [Items] she had just finished researching. The weathered iron keys she only put 10 of, but it still ended up costing her 150 MP. They weren''t functional and couldn''t unlock any doors yet the dungeon still insisted they were worth more than things like buttons or stones. The mushrooms were all fairly large and were based on button, morel, amanta, oyster, and chicken of the woods mushrooms. Violet felt it gave a good style variety while also making them more realistic since they were based on real mushrooms. These she only put five of each type into the chest.


    As for the stones, the plain rounded stones, which were perfect for skipping across water, were cheaper than the painted, shaped ones. So, she put twenty of them while the others only got ten of each of them. The flower design was a very basic five-petaled variety and the butterfly was very generic as well. She didn''t really want to spend all of her dungeon points on this, after all, especially when she''d likely have to come back and add new things later. She was hopeful she''d get things like non-magic crystals, different varieties of stone, rather than a basic gray, and also some seashells in the future, but she''d have to make do with what she had, for now.


    Alder and Aspen, the two pixies assigned to this room, weren''t actually required for the challenge. Violet just spent the 30 DP to research the challenge reward and then another 30 DP to set the challenge with its reward. Adventurers would have to find a random [Item] in the chest, dictated by the system, in order to earn a wish necklace as a reward. The jewelry was made from a steel chain with a glass and cork vial that held a dandelion seed hanging off of it.


    The idea was cliche seeming back when she had seen something similar in her old world, but it seemed just right for this occasion. Honestly, Violet couldn''t help but feel like a lot of things were like that now. Sticking within a theme based on fairies tended to mean embracing her own child-like wonder and letting her imagination run wild. Still, she felt pretty good about how things were progressing, so she was hardly about to let shame and embarrassment keep her from doing something "childish".


    Finalizing the room, she spent 300 DP to set the room theme and lock the door. That ended up bringing her total down to 4,888 dungeon points. It was a little less than she wanted to be at, but she couldn''t really complain about the nearly 500 DP she spent for the room when it could have been so much worse. As it was, she had to repeatedly cross out her own ideas while planning the room just because she had been worried about the cost. Thus, she could only be at peace with the results being as they are.

 2.63 First Class Quest

    Joan was nervous as she hurried her son into the dungeon. She had been avoiding entering the dungeon until her husband arrived. He had been slowed down by all of the snow by quite a bit and then they had been struggling with just getting by, so they still hadn''t made a trip to the dungeon. A few days ago was the first time in several months they had made the trek through the forest to the dungeon.


    As the mother of a rather young boy, Joan couldn''t help but worry as she saw just how much things had changed around the dungeon. She had felt like she was holding her breath as they slowly worked their way through each of the rooms, uncertain of when they would run into danger. Her husband, Raphael, had reassured her that there was no way they were going to run into anything he couldn''t heal on the first floor of a dungeon. She knew he was right, but emotions were rarely ever logical.


    "Mom! Dad! Come on, hurry up!" Adam shouted excitedly, pulling on her hand. Their son had just received his first quest, which was supposed to help him learn a new class skill. Due to the fact that he had yet to choose a patron deity to follow, his opportunities for such things were rather limited.


    The current one was for his swordsmanship skill and required him to kill 100 F-rank or higher [Monsters]. That would allow the skill to evolve from being a poor-grade one to a beginner-level skill. There would likely be similar quests in the future to further increase the skill''s quality. Just using his skills would allow them to level up, but the quality of the skill could only be increased through quests such as this one.


    Joan was a summoner, so she didn''t have to worry about weapon-based skills. However, from what little she had learned on the subject, both the skill''s level and quality were important. The quality would determine how much knowledge and resources. It was like having years of training knowledge was put in your head the moment the quality was increased. Less stamina would also be needed to perform more complicated maneuvers, ensuring her son could fight for longer. Meanwhile, the skill''s level was more of a numerical expression of how much physical experience her son had with using the skill. After all, having the knowledge to use the skill wasn''t the same thing as muscle memory.


    As her son went off to fight the five slimes in the first [Monster] field room, Joan smiled, feeling bittersweet. She could remember how just the other day he had been struggling to fight just one of them. Now he was confident even facing off against multiple of them at the same time.


    "It''s okay, love. I was actually talking with the local alchemy shop owner and she reassured me that the first floor is quite safe. Apparently, she has talked with the Dungeon Master a number of times and regularly comes here to collect herbs. There is apparently a system-bound contract that ensures no [Traps] can be placed on the first floor."The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Joan looked relieved as she turned to her husband and replied


    "Is that why you seemed so relaxed about coming here today? I remember you were just as worried as I was when you heard how much the dungeon had changed."


    Raphael nodded before offering up


    "Elivyre is actually really friendly, I bet you two would get along quite well. Actually, she has been running a charity event on behalf of the Dungeon Master. They even have two Dungeon Diplomats helping them. It''s quite unusual, really. She was rather forthcoming about information regarding the dungeon, almost like she was advertising it."


    Joan frowned as she questioned


    "Doesn''t that make you worry whether the information is reliable or not?"


    Chuckling, her husband replied


    "It doesn''t seem like that''s the problem here. She answered every question I had without any hesitation. Apparently, this first floor only has slimes and non-combatant [Monsters] called kodamas. They''re supposed to be some sort of nature spirits that live in trees, so most people never even see them when they visit. Even the contracted [Monsters] on the second floor seem to be fairly harmless, pixies, if you''d believe it."


    Joan''s uncertainty changed into incredulity as she stared blankly ahead, watching her son. After a moment, she cautiously said


    "Maybe we''ve been worrying about the wrong thing. There are going to be a lot more adventurers come spring, maybe we should make an effort to visit the dungeon more often before then. I worry we might not have the opportunity to let our son train in such a safe environment for very long."


    Her husband hummed in agreement beside her. It wouldn''t definitely be good to, at least, get her son''s class quest complete before then. There is no way to force class quests to appear more quickly, but the faster he could grow strong, the better chances he would stand in a proper dungeon. Goblins tended to be merciless creatures who liked to play dirty and horned rabbits liked to surprise adventurers by rushing out at them from seemingly nowhere. Slimes were rare and one of the only [Monsters] weak enough to not pose much threat to an adventurer.


    If the adventurers that came in the spring ruined this dungeon for them, her husband''s job offer could evaporate just like that and then they''d have to move somewhere else. Joan wasn''t really that worried about their finances. She could easily earn enough for them to get by for a few months by herself and her husband''s healing abilities would always be in high demand. The only thing that really worried her was ensuring her son could grow strong enough to live a long life, even with how dangerous a life of adventuring could be.


    After staying for several hours, allowing her son to complete a good chunk of his quest, they decided to leave the dungeon for the day. They''d have to come back soon, very soon, but they didn''t have to do everything in one day.

 2.64 Fairy Retreat

    Violet waited until she received the notification regarding the nightly rent from Avorn and Camellia before starting her work for the night. With the 3 DP from repeat tributes a group of three had brought earlier that day, she now had 5,091 total dungeon points. Since she had already purchased the supplies for the charity for the week, she no longer had to worry about it and could spend the rest of her mana on building.


    Only half of the floor had rooms built so far, but time was running out. Soon it would be spring and Violet wanted to get the third floor unlocked before then. Since the rest area and boss room were bound to take up a ton of resources, it was best she get it done now so she''d have time to finish gathering the dungeon points needed to pay for the next floor. Unfortunately, despite asking the system, she wouldn''t know the answer to that until after the boss room was built. The system just kept giving her annoying error messages about needing a boss room before considering building a new floor.


    Before she started building, first up was rearranging things. Violet wasn''t going to fill the boss room with anything yet, but she decided to start with that. Thankfully, unlike the first floor, she had enough mana to outright buy a 32-Units by 32-Units room this time. The 64 MP didn''t even feel like that much nowadays and the efficiency of building one large room instead of two smaller rooms and combining them was certainly a relief.


    The second floor boss room was shoved up into the same corner as the first floor one had been. There were no rules against having rooms disconnected from everything unless it was the dungeon core room, so she could easily move on to the next step without worrying about rearranging hallways just yet.


    The rest area room only cost 32 MP for a 16-Units by 16-Units room, the same as most of her rooms had. Since the two rooms only cost a total of 96 MP, she didn''t even have to wait for her mana to refill until after the two rooms were made. However, since the hallways would have to be carefully arranged, Violet decided to wait until her mana was full again before she started working on that.


    The long-term plan was to have the staircase that would lead from the second floor to the third just behind the first one. It would mean the hallway leading out of the boss room would be in a different place from the first, but the room size itself was big enough that things could still line up just fine. Besides, the new boss room wasn''t going to be a maze, so it didn''t really matter where the boss room doors were. The adventurers would still have to defeat the boss before they''d be able to leave.


    Seeing her mana was full once more, Violet began to rearrange some hallways, buying new ones as necessary. It ended up costing 171 MP for various hallway lengths as well as an additional 20 MP for a 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout hallway. The rest of the length came from moving the hallway that was previously behind the dungeon core room to in front of it so that it connected to the boss room as well as utilizing the remaining hallway to the left of the peach orchard.


    There was a lot of excess hallway on the second floor now, but Violet didn''t care that much right now. She could always rearrange things later, but she wanted to be done with building the second floor for a few months, at least. Since she had forever to perfect her dungeon, it only really made sense to complete half of each floor before moving on to the next. While she had too much pride to be building empty rooms in order to advance more quickly, that didn''t mean she had to entirely rush the process. Some of each floor could wait a while and be built slowly over time.


    Now, in order for adventurers to reach the next floor they''d have to travel from the first floor stairs through eighteen rooms that were half challenge rooms and half [Monster] fields. With the doors all being locked, they''d be slowed down considerably. Once they got through the final room, the peach orchard, they''d have to walk down a long hallway, make a right turn, walk some more, and then they''d arrive at the rest area room. That would be the last stop before they''d end up at the boss room with just some hallway, including a roundabout, in between the two.


    While Violet had long ago given up on the idea of confusing adventurers with a labyrinth, since she knew yearly dungeon mapping was a thing in this world, she still liked to use them before the boss rooms. She found that it made it easier to make branching pathways later on, should she decide it was necessary. Things like creating a shortcut for adventurers to leave or to get to the boss room faster was bound to save both her and them some hassle. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Sure, it meant they could bypass all of the challenges, but, when she added a few more floors to the dungeon, that wouldn''t matter much. The boss [Monster] was also likely to be the most difficult part of the floor. If they could get past it, everything else would just be stalling on her part. Besides, she was hardly going to build such a shortcut right away, right now she was definitely benefitting from making intruders trudge through long hallways and locking them into challenges one after another.


    Finally satisfied that the foundation was set up, Violet decided to take a closer look at the rest area room. She had gone with a peaceful garden meadow with a wishing well to throw tributes into on the first floor, but this time was going to be slightly different. With the addition of the fairy houses for the pixies and learning she could resize things, she was planning on using that knowledge to create a much nicer rest area then she normally would be able to.


    After removing half the trees from the rest area, only leaving them to populate the sides of the room, Violet spent 100 MP on a fairy house, which she placed in the middle of the room. It took a while for her mana to refill once more, but she had to be sure she could afford the size increase before attempting it. From what she had seen, decreasing the size of an [Item] cost 10% of its initial cost in mana and 0 DP to do so. Her experiments from a few days ago had also resulted in her learning that increasing the size of an [Item] would cost her the same amount of mana as it cost to initially create the [Item] plus ten percent of the initial cost in dungeon points. In this case, she would have to spend 100 MP and 10 DP on top of the initial 100 MP cost.


    Of course, before she could do that, she had to spend 250 MP to increase the room''s height by the maximum allowance of 10-Units. The total room height would then be closer to 15-Units total, which was just barely enough for a three-story home from her old world. Considering most one-story homes were just under 5-Units in height, from the tiny bit of information Violet could recall. She had to research a lot of size comparisons to help with her work designing things for video games. She didn''t want to make a cat 1/10 the size of a house if it was meant to be 1/15 of the size. That would just make her look bad when the game tester complained about the proportions being off.


    Unfortunately, by the time the fairy house was enlarged, most of the night was already over. That meant there wouldn''t be much more she could do to improve the room for the night, which was probably fine since the house didn''t need much more than it already came with. The house ended up being a little cramped with the ceiling being just barely high enough for her, but would likely present problems for taller adventurers. The room was just barely tall enough for a three-story house and the fairy houses she had made were meant to be multi-story abodes with plenty of space for her pixies to enjoy. The stairs leading up to the house meant the first floor was already raised off of the ground, then the roof cut the space she had off even more, leaving the three-story house a bit short.


    Still, it was rather nice to tour the fairy house for herself, seeing the functioning magic lights and furniture for herself. Even the beds in the upstairs bedrooms were incredibly comfortable compared to the hard stone or grassy fields she usually had to settle for. Still, as much as Violet felt like she wanted to move into the home and claim it for herself, she knew there would be opportunities to create something better later on down the line.


    After finishing the tour of the home, Violet decided to spend the last of her mana on some much-needed luxuries. She spent 20 MP on two empty aluminum milk cans with an additional 5 MP to fill them with water. Then 10 MP was spent on a large empty crate with 40 MP to buy eight each of apples, pears, oranges, apricots, and peaches. Finally, 18 MP was spent for a wooden sign that said


    "Feel free to enjoy the amenities, but don''t forget to leave a tribute as payment before you go."


    Violet didn''t really want adventurers to get greedy and steal the [Items] from the area. So, she decided to keep it simple and only offer water and the same fruits that were freely available throughout the second floor. Since the resources in a room would only reset once the dungeon was completely empty, it was a very real concern if the supplies were raided by those who didn''t need them only for there to be nothing less when others came along.


    Finally, Violet finished things up by spending 150 DP to set the room''s theme before calling it a night.

 2.65 Gregory’s Return

    Henry excitedly ran ahead of his father, eagerly jumping into combat with the slimes in front of them. It had been months since he had last been allowed to enter the dungeon, but he had been diligently practicing with his sword every day. Where he had struggled to defeat even one slime, previously, he now confidently dispatched of them, taking on small groups of them at the same time.


    Gregory watched his son with amusement, but still scanned their surroundings nervously. It had been worthwhile to open up his home to David in exchange for his help training Henry. Both him and his daughter, Alice, had been taken away a short while ago. Gregory knew his son didn''t quite understand why his instructor had to leave them so suddenly, especially in the middle of winter. However, he could only be grateful that the Dungeon Diplomats had left his own family alone.


    As a farming family, they normally wouldn''t even interact with the Dungeon Diplomats because they wouldn''t enter dungeons in the first place. Gregory had chosen to take a chance to do something for his son because he wanted all of his children to lead good lives. Most of his other sons were content to go to become apprentices of tradesmen or to become farmers like he was. His daughters were all still young enough to be making up their mind on what they wanted to do in the future and he was hardly going to rush them. His wife, Ester, taught them valuable life skills like cooking and tailoring, but it was hardly as if their options were limited. They could just as easily ask to pursue a life of adventuring as Henry had.


    "Father! I did it!"


    Gregory looked at his excited son as he ran over to him, his wooden sword still in hand. Nodding his head in approval, he encouraged


    "Good work. Shall we move on to the next room then?"


    When they had initially entered the dungeon, they had gone and dropped off their tribute in the new tribute room. The room was strange, feeling half like it was a shop and half like an empty warehouse a big merchant might own. However, the magic lights in the hallway had made it easy to read the wooden sign in the hallway that labeled the room as meant for tribute. After quickly dropping off the tribute, they had gone the other direction as another wooden sign had said this way had the [Monster] fields and challenge rooms while the other direction was also supposed to be home to the boss room, somewhere neither of them were prepared for.


    Looking a tad frustrated, Henry complained


    "No! I mean, the screen, I can see it!"


    Gregory''s eyes widened in surprise. While he had believed in his son enough to arrange for David to train him and to bring him into the dungeon, he hadn''t thought his son would be fortunate enough to be blessed with an actual class. Feeling his own enthusiasm increasing he asked


    "That''s great, son! What class did you get?"


    Depending on what the answer was, he would have to make preparations for his son''s future. Just because he had learned the sword didn''t guarantee the class would even be combat related, after all. His son was supposed to return to school in the spring, much as his other children would. Many farming families had to pull their children out of school early, but he had done his best to make-do long enough for them to learn basic math and reading skills as well as the local laws and important dungeon information that everyone learned at their age. Even those without classes or any notable skills needed to know how to keep themselves safe from wild [Monsters] that could easily take their lives, after all.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "I think it says I''m an assassin? What''s that, father?"


    Henry frowned, feeling unsure as he replied


    "I''m sorry son, I''m not very familiar with the classes adventurers can have. It doesn''t sound like a craftsman class, though, so it should be offensive. Does it say anything about skills?"


    Henry was still rather young and neither of them had much knowledge on what a life of adventuring truly entailed. Luckily, once the adventurer''s guild set up shop, they would be able to sign up for some beginner classes to learn more about it together. As much as Gregory half hoped it would be a craftsman class, since it would be safer for his son, he also knew this was better. The classes at the guild would be far easier and cheaper to arrange for his son than paying for a specialized trade school and trying to convince a merchant in some far off city to accept his son as their apprentice. Besides, he wasn''t quite ready to say goodbye to his young son just yet.


    His son''s forehead creased and his eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated on the menu in front of him. Gregory couldn''t see it and could only make do with what information his son could provide him. Unfortunately, it ended up being not much.


    "I think my menu is broken... I checked the one that says skills, but there''s nothing there!"


    His son''s voice raised as a hint of a whine slipped into his agitated voice. While Henry could act quite reasonably and had been quite dedicated to his sword training over the last few months, it was still a fact that he was but a boy of ten years old. As exciting as it was for him to make progress on his goals, there was bound to be a learning curve. Sighing, he patted his boy on the back and reassured him


    "I''m sure it''s fine. You probably just have to keep practicing with your sword so that you can unlock your skills. I''m sure we can figure things out if we give it some time."


    Luckily, that was something they had now. Where the local town leader had banned them from entering the dungeon, the restrictions were as good as lifted now. The town leader had gotten into some trouble with the Dungeon Diplomats and it had been announced that some noble would be taking over come spring. Apparently, banning anyone from the dungeon, even while the safety was checked out, still went against the dungeon accords. There would be no punishment for them coming to the dungeon now, even if nothing could officially be done about the previous ban until the new noble arrived.


    Moving on to the next room, Gregory told his son to go ahead and attempt the challenge, stepping in to help him push the wooden balls into place when he saw him struggling. They had a lot of catching up to do in regards to his son''s dungeon experience, but he wasn''t exactly as fearful as many of the other locals were. He had gone to get firewood from the lovely Miss Elivyre earlier this week and she had happily entertained his questions about the dungeon''s current state. Apparently, there weren''t any [Traps] on the first floor and everything was safe enough so long as they stayed away from the side of the boss room.


    Everything he had seen since arriving today had only reinforced what he had learned. If anything, he felt more eager to return to the dungeon after seeing all of the valuable resources they were missing out on. The pond in the first room had fish in it, which sounded like the perfect excuse to break out his old fishing gear. There weren''t any good fishing spots where they lived, so he hadn''t gone ever since they had their first kid. He didn''t want to leave his wife alone for so long, especially not for such a selfish endeavor. However, the fresh fish would be good for his family now and he''d feel less guilty than taking the limited food supplies that were being passed out.


    David had ensured they had plenty of food stocked up at home. When he had been taken away, the leftovers had remained in his home. Considering how many reports he had heard of high neighbors starving and freezing this winter, he hardly wanted to take more than he had to of the limited supplies available. Hearing that the lovely Miss Violet had been responsible for the odd food being passed out was hardly surprising either. She had always been kind and friendly when he had visited the dungeon the previous fall. Still, what food supplies they had could always be supplemented and his son would certainly benefit from the time they''d be spending in the dungeon.

 2.66 Second Floor Boss Room

    As excited as Violet was to see Gregory''s and Henry''s names show up on her [Guest List], she simply couldn''t bring herself to go visit them. While she knew it was likely that they had only stayed away from the dungeon because of the previous town leader''s policies, she also couldn''t help but feel like she didn''t want to scare them away now that they had returned. Maybe she would go visit them another time, but, for now, she would let them get reacquainted with her dungeon on their own terms.


    Still, it was difficult to keep her mind on the task at hand, even if she knew it was best to start working on her boss room while she had plenty of mana coming in. Even Avorn and Camellia wouldn''t be staying in the dungeon for much longer since spring was only a few weeks away. So, with a sigh, Violet made her way into the large room she had already set aside for her new boss [Monster].


    Unfortunately, as much as Violet enjoyed theming a whole floor around the fae, as a representation of her pixies, they were not [Monsters] who could evolve, nor were they ideal for combat. That wasn''t to say they couldn''t attempt to engage adventurers in combat, nor that they would refuse like her kodamas would, but they simply were not the best suited for the job. So, after spending a rather large chunk of the season deliberating, she had come up with an idea that could incorporate the fae myths without actually using any of her pixies.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research myconid using [Monster] pixie and [Base Resources] steel, wood, undyed cotton cloth, undyed thread, red dye, and white dye to create myconid evolution [Redcap Myconid] for 250 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It had been a while since Violet had attempted to create any new [Monster] evolutions and she had forgotten just how expensive it could be. Rather than costing double of whatever the final cost would be, it was always a flat 250 dungeon points. While it was a relief not to have the cost doubled since she was working on a more expensive [Monster] with triple the base cost, it still made her pause a moment before selecting [Yes]. Regardless of how expensive the boss room ended up being, she would still have to go through with it. Nothing quite offered protection for the dungeon core the way a boss [Monster] did, after all.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research myconids using [Monster] myconid to create myconid evolution [small myconid] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research myconids using [Monster] small myconid to create myconid evolution [Medium Myconid] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research myconids using [Monster] medium myconid to create myconid evolution [Large Myconid] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to research myconids using [Monster] large myconid to create myconid evolution [Giant Myconid] for 100 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Once again, Violet felt uneasy as she went through each of the prompts and selected [Yes] as she unlocked the various size variants for the myconids. It was interesting to see how the size names differed from that of the slimes. Instead of a king slime, she had a large myconid and the emperor slime had become a giant myconid. Still, it was a shame to see just these five research options had brought her dungeon points down from 5,091 to 4,441 DP. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Violet wasn''t sure how much she''d get from Gregory''s tribute as he hadn''t left yet, but she didn''t have high hopes since she knew it was likely he was struggling. His family didn''t have adventurers or craftsmen, as far as she had been told, so they had to survive on what little they could make from farming that year. Considering how much she had heard the general population of the Millstone was suffering, she could only imagine they weren''t doing much better.


    Finally ready to spend a bit of mana, Violet expended 100 MP on a spawner for the boss room. She''d have to wait until her mana refilled a bit before she could even summon a basic myconid, but that wouldn''t stop her from reading the new descriptions in the meantime.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a suitable dark environment with minimal light and soil. Does moderate combat damage, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Evolution Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Redcap Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    75 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a myconid to evolve. Requires a suitable dark environment with minimal light and soil. Does moderate combat damage using a scythe, but is capable of evolving into larger varieties of myconid.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Small Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP & 30 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a myconid to evolve. Can be applied to basic myconid and specialized myconid. Does slightly more damage than their smaller counterparts, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Medium Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP & 30 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a small myconid to evolve. Can be applied to basic small myconid and specialized small myconid. Does slightly more damage than their smaller counterparts, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Large Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP & 30 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a medium myconid to evolve. Can be applied to basic medium myconid and specialized medium myconid. Does slightly more damage than their smaller counterparts, but is capable of evolving.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Giant Myconid


    </td>


    <td>


    30 MP & 30 DP


    </td>


    <td>


    Requires a large myconid to evolve. Can be applied to basic large myconid and specialized large myconid. Does the most damage of all myconid types, but is incapable of movement.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Whereas the research costs had been the same for the slimes and myconid, the cost to evolve and make a contract with them had remained at the same ratio with the myconids being three times as expensive as the slimes were. Violet was grateful to Gregory and Henry for staying in the dungeon so long today as it made it easy to refill her mana. All it took was fifty minutes and it was back to full again. At that point, she spent 30 MP to contract with a basic myconid, 75 DP to evolve it into a redcap myconid, and then another 60 MP and 60 DP to evolve it into a medium redcap myconid.


    Unfortunately, this was the best Violet could do for a boss [Monsters] this time around. She still had a limit of 100 MP on her spawners. Even if she wanted to splash out the 1,000 DP needed to unlock the next spawner upgrade, she didn''t have the 250 MP needed to buy one. She likely wouldn''t have it any time soon either considering each new floor she unlocked only increased her mana cap by a mere 50 points. She''d have to wait until she unlocked her fifth floor before she would have enough for it and, by then, she wasn''t sure if there would be much point worrying about a boss [Monster] on the second floor.


    Still, she couldn''t entirely complain about the results she had gotten. Where your typical redcaps looked a bit like a goblin wearing a red cap that would be at home on a garden gnome and wielded a farmer''s sickle, her recap myconid was a lot prettier. The basic myconid was, apparently, the same size as a kodama and, similarly, looked a bit Humanoid in appearance. They had red and white spotted caps and wore similarly patterned vests. They were absolutely adorable! However, the redcap version was a lot more feminine and wore a lolita-style red and white spotted dress, cap, shoes, etc. while wielding a wicked reaper''s scythe. Thanks to the size upgrade, it was now the size of a five-year old Human toddler, which certainly still made it quite small, but she could just tell by the vicious look in her eyes that the redcap was capable of doing quite a bit of damage to anyone stupid enough to get close to it.


    Gregory and Henry left not long after that, which allowed the dungeon to absorb their tribute. It was unfortunate she wouldn''t receive anymore mana, but there was always later that day. Still, far more importantly, she was touched to find the tribute she had been left with was a patchwork teddy bear, likely sewn by one of the other household members in Gregory''s family. Using the last of the mana she had remaining, she quickly summoned up a copy of the patchwork bear and then stuffed it into her merchant''s bag. She wasn''t planning on selling it to anyone, rather, instead, she wanted to cherish the thoughtful gift she had been left.

 2.67 Honored Host

    That night, Violet didn''t join her pixies for their nightly tea party. She had more work to do in the boss room, which was going to take most of the night. That left Willow and Holly to play host for the night. Where his sister was cheerful and loved socializing with the others, Willow couldn''t help but find the whole thing a bit tedious.


    Willow had never really found much joy in lavish events back when he lived in the castle. Grand balls full of dancing pixies, grand displays of food, and power plays were boring and exhausting to attend. The nightly tea parties here weren''t nearly as bad, but the frilly decorations and the gleeful chatter was still not his cup of tea. Still, he would never utter a word of complaint to their mistress. He would happily play the role of the honorable host, even if it was hardly his ideal way to pass the time.


    "Greetings, Prince Willow, how are you this fine night?"


    Iris asked, barely keeping a straight face. Willow offered a small smile in return, always making sure to keep his best manners on display.


    "I''m alright, Iris. Are you and Orchid finding everything alright?"


    Willow continued to socialize until the two excitable girls flew off, eager to play with Jasmine and Daisy as they often did. His sister, Holly, had told him the other night that she was fairly sure that the girls had a crush on him. By the way they turned into a blushing, awkward mess every time they approached him, he wasn''t surprised to hear it. He wasn''t interested in pursuing a relationship right now, but he was hardly going to act dismissively towards them. Even if it might make his own feelings on the matter more clear, it was hardly ideal to sour his relationship with the others in the dungeon when they''d be stuck with each other for as long as Violet wanted them around.


    Besides, Willow much preferred to think of himself as a pixie warrior who was here to help protect the others. In fact, part of the reason he was fine with accepting the job Violet had assigned him was the fact that he felt seen. She had gifted him a proper sword and scabbard as well as clothes that he could easily move in, even if they were a bit flashy. While there was still a limit to how much damage a sword as big as a needle could do and he certainly had to strategize plans of attack to make up for his small size, he was still confident he could do some real damage with his new sword.


    At home, Willow would never have been able to get ahold of such a high-quality weapon. Pixies had to use the materials that were suitable for their small size. Mining metals would be difficult, much less trying to set up a proper blacksmith''s forge to manipulate such metal. No, the best that his kind could use was weapons made from wood, bone, or other common materials. It would take a lot of time and attention to detail to whittle things down into a usable form, but there were several craftsmen dedicated to such work.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Still, most of the strategies they employed to protect their people tended to involve diplomacy or finding a mutually beneficial agreement with powerful, larger [Monsters]. The kingdom he had come from had an agreement with a dragon. Ensuring their side of the agreement was always carried out and that the dragon remained their ally was the job of his father and the crown prince. Willow had never been made privy to the details of the contract since he had never stood a chance of inheriting the crown and he didn''t have any skills that would prove useful, apparently.


    None of that mattered now, though. He now had a new purpose, which he was happy to fulfill. He would protect his sister from anyone who wished to hurt her as well as any other pixies he could. There was a limit to how much he could help those who were assigned to other rooms and he wasn''t supposed to leave the dungeon with the others when spring arrived. So, he would have to do what he could with the limitations forced upon him.


    When Violet came into the room, Willow was shaken from his thoughts.


    "Good news everyone! Please say hello to Mr. Mushroom. He doesn''t really say much, but he will be helping you all get around from now on."


    Willow immediately went to do as his mistress asked of him. It was true that the myconid didn''t speak the same language as they did, for the most part. This one mostly seemed to quietly hum in response to anything said to it, but Willow didn''t mind since it seemed harmless enough. Apparently, this was a medium myconid and he was meant to open the doors for them to help them travel through their floor and so they could forage more easily in the spring without getting locked out. Mr. Mushroom was assigned to one of the newest rooms in the dungeon and had been made specifically so their mistress wouldn''t have to worry about them being able to get around the dungeon.


    Willow felt bad that his mistress even had to worry about them getting locked out of their assigned rooms. However, it wasn''t something that could be helped. Pixies were always small and they weren''t capable of evolving the way other [Monsters] could. Still, it was clear from the way the other pixies were acting that he wasn''t the only one touched by their mistress''s thoughtfulness. It was a bit disappointing to know that Violet wouldn''t always be around to socialize with them, but none of them really had the right to complain. They were already fortunate just to have a Dungeon Master who so readily accepted them, much less one who genuinely cared about their needs.


    Willow made up his mind as he flew closer to Mr. Mushroom. It would be best to befriend the strange creature since he would have to depend on him in the future. Willow would have to rely on the myconid to ensure the others returned from foraging safely. Besides, more allies was always a good thing.

 2.68 Mushroom Mayhem

    Violet smiled in amusement as she filled yet another room with mushrooms. She had just finished up the boss room and made a new myconid. She decided to name it Mr. Mushroom, for the rest area. Now she was just spending the rest of her free mana for the night on glow-in-the dark mushrooms for all of the rooms on the second floor. It just didn''t seem right to have an "enchanted forest" without them.


    It had taken quite a bit of time to finish up the boss room, though. She had to spend 250 MP to increase the boss room''s height by 8-Units. Then she had to do some research to unlock stone brick tower ruins, stone brick wall ruins, and stone brick bridge ruins. That had run her 126 DP and then another 333 MP to actually build everything. However, it had felt well worth it when she saw the finished result.


    Redcaps had never really been Violet''s favorite fae myth, but she still knew enough about them to know that they preferred to wander about in old castle ruins. It was only natural that she would recreate it in her own dungeon for her new redcap myconid, even if it did cost quite a bit. While the new medium basic myconid couldn''t talk, only hum, the redcap variant had more of a broken speech pattern, much like she imagined a goblin might. The redcap had been quite excited as she tried to tell her


    "Th-Thang.. yough!"


    Well, the redcap tried to say some other things as well during her time in the room, but most of it was so difficult to understand that Violet mostly just smiled back at her new [Monster] with a pinched expression. She was certainly glad now that she had unlocked the pixies first as it would have been incredibly disappointing if the first talking [Monster] she had ever ended up with was something like her new redcap. Of course, she likely wouldn''t have tried to make a redcap myconid in the first place if it weren''t for her trying to recreate different aspects of fae mythology in the first place...


    Besides the castle ruins, Violet had opted to create a moat around the area surrounding the castle. It ended up costing her 2-Units she could have used to increase the overall height of the room and the moat had still ended up rather shallow, but it just seemed right to have a moat of some sort since there was a castle. That had run her another 40 MP, but that hardly seemed that bad when compared to having to spend her DP.


    Luckily, Mr. Mushroom, who was the only [Monster] assigned to the fairy retreat rest area, hadn''t cost her any more dungeon points. All the research had been done already in order to create her boss [Monster]. While it felt a bit odd to have both the boss [Monster] and a random dungeon [Monster] be the same size, Violet could only accept it. Anything smaller and Mr. Mushroom wouldn''t have been able to open the doors of the dungeon for her pixies, which was the main reason she had signed a contract to bring him here in the first place.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    She did learn one interesting thing from creating Mr. Mushroom, though. Apparently, most of the basic myconid fought using pure strength. They were rather weak defensively and easily damaged, but they also had supernatural strength that was far above what their bodies should naturally allow. It was mind-boggling in comparison to the redcap, which utilized a rather sharp scythe to damage its opponents.


    Walking into the next room, Violet began to apply honey mushrooms, glistening starcaps, and luminescent morels, much like she had all of the other rooms. She had a few other varieties, but had decided to stick to just three so that the rooms didn''t end up too filled with mushrooms, ruining the aesthetics she was going for. Mushrooms were a fairly cheap room feature to apply at a mere 5 MP / 100 Square Units. All of the rooms, save for the boss room, on this floor were 16-Units by 16-Units, meaning it cost her about 38 MP for each room or 722 MP to apply the mushrooms to all of the rooms, except the boss room. The boss room was going to end up costing her 150 MP to add the mushrooms to and would likely end up having to wait until tomorrow when she''d have more mana.


    While it might seem wasteful to spend thousands of points worth of mana on some decorative mushrooms, Violet wasn''t bothered by it anymore. It had certainly taken some getting used to before she could accept letting mana go to waste, but an entire season had passed and she had slowly gotten used to it. Sure, Avorn and Camellia would no longer be tenants soon and the dungeon would likely be empty for an entire month, after she unlocked the next floor, but there would always be new opportunities to earn mana and to build.


    Besides, Violet was seriously considering the possibility of just sleeping for an entire month after she finished unlocking the next floor. The adventurers weren''t going to come and visit her until after that long anyways, so there was no point in sitting around bored the entire time. Even if she considered the possibility of wild [Monsters] attacking her dungeon, she was fairly sure things would be fine. If they made it too close to the second floor boss room, the dungeon wouldn''t allow her to continue resting. That was if some mere goblins and whatever else was in the area could even manage to make it that far.


    Luckily, she no longer had to worry about the undead attacking her dungeon. A real shame since that meant she couldn''t farm mana from them getting stuck in the slime parkour pool, but also a relief considering what was causing it. Without having to worry about a malicious non-dungeon entity targeting her dungeon, it would be much easier to take a much-needed break.

 2.69 Mission Management

    With both her boss room complete and half of the floor built, Violet could finally find out how much DP she''d need to unlock the third floor.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Would you like to purchase the third dungeon floor for 3,000 DP?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Yes


    </td>


    <td>


    No


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While she technically did have enough to do so, Violet decided to hold off, for now. There was only a little over a week left until her contract with Avorn and Camellia would expire. It would be polite to wait until then to upgrade the dungeon so that she didn''t end up making them uncomfortable. While they hadn''t stayed away for the month after she unlocked her second floor, it was a different matter altogether this time. She didn''t want to accidentally upgrade the dungeon while they were still inside it and it was hardly going to hurt her to wait such a short period of time before initiating the change.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dungeon Status:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Mana 100 / 100


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current DP: 4,275


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Floors: 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Current Rooms: 38 (18+20)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Monsters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Critters


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Construction


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Research


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Missions


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet blew a breath out as she looked over her [Dungeon Status] menu. Her DP had gone down another 250 points as she had to officially set the boss room as a boss room, but she had also collected another 100 DP in rent while finishing up her mushroom placement last night. Her room number was also certainly starting to look pretty impressive. However, she had pulled the menu up for a different purpose, she wanted to look at her [Missions] menu as she knew there were likely rewards ready to be collected.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Origin:


    </td>


    <td>


    Status:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    <td>


    Reward:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the first floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock ten [Critters]


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete second floor boss room


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete half of the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Complete the second floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    System


    </td>


    <td>


    IncompleteIf you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock the third floor


    </td>


    <td>


    Unlock a new [Critter] option


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Have ten different children level up within the dungeon (3/10)


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (? cost toys & sweets)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Patron Goddess of Love & Beauty


    </td>


    <td>


    Incomplete


    </td>


    <td>


    Have ten different couples enter the dungeon (6/10)


    </td>


    <td>


    Blessing (true love never dies)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet was pleased to see she had made significant progress on her quests for the goddess of love and beauty. It seems that trying to rescue Clove''s wife and daughter had been a blessing for her as well. She now had several pixie couples in her dungeon as well as, apparently, adventurer couples who had visited her dungeon. However, none of those quests were complete and ready to collect the reward, so they were hardly important right now.


    She did have two quests complete now. So, she went ahead and accepted their rewards.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Cnidaria


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Aves


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Arthropoda


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet really wanted some more insects for her dungeon. While she usually found them creepy-crawly and didn''t want anything to do with them, she couldn''t deny that they were an important part of creating a more natural-seeming environment for her dungeon. Besides, the system was hard-locked into a cute theme, so there was no way she was going to have to worry about getting anything too awful.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Firefly


    </td>


    <td>


    1 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal firefly. Emits a faint light. Incapable of engaging in combat.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Awesome! Violet''s eyes lit up in excitement as she took in her new find. She had been expecting something like a ladybug or maybe a butterfly of some sort, but fireflies were way better! It was almost too tempting to run off and start adding them to every room on the second floor, but she resisted the temptation as she still had one more reward left to collect. Besides, it wasn''t like every room had space on the spawners, even with how insanely cheap the fireflies are.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Reptilia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Arthropoda


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Echinodermata


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Shrugging, she chose the [Athropoda] option again. It would be good to get some more options, maybe there would be something good to use on the first floor as well.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Ghost Crab


    </td>


    <td>


    5 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal ghost crab. Mediocre combat skills. Is safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Violet would certainly be the first to admit that she was no expert in science. Still, she had thought she knew, to some extent, what to expect from the phylum categories now that she had received a few [Critters] from the system''s reward system. However, she hadn''t realized that things like crabs were also part of the [Arthropoda] category.


    Well, it wasn''t like she could use every [Critter] she had access to now anyhow. Reviewing her full list of options, she now had: queen bumblebees, normal bumblebees, fireflies, ghost crabs, jade tree frogs, little owls, fennec foxes, giant checkered rabbits, chinkara gazelles, koi fish, and crystal jellyfish. Speaking of which, checking her [Missions] tab, she now had another quest complete as there were now ten different [Critters] she had access to. Well, might as well accept the reward while she was at it. Goddess knows she likely wouldn''t check her progress again for another few weeks.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Please select one of the following options to be randomly awarded a [Critter] from:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Amphibia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Reptilia


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chordata - Other


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It was always a bit weird to see only chordata options, but it also wasn''t surprising since more than half the options called into that category. Since she didn''t really want another frog, right now, that really only left two good options. After some short deliberation, Violet decided to go with the [Chordata - Reptilia] option and just hoped not to get a snake or something equally terrifying.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Randomizing options...


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    New [Critter] option unlocked!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name:


    </td>


    <td>


    Mana Cost:


    </td>


    <td>


    Info:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chinese Water Dragon


    </td>


    <td>


    3 MP


    </td>


    <td>


    Behaves the same as a normal chinese water dragon. Poor combat skills. Is safe to consume.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Well, there were certainly worse things than lizards. Violet felt satisfied with her new additions, but also felt like she was going to need to start planning out where to use them. She hadn''t, honestly, utilized [Critters] in her rooms ever since she had unlocked her second floor. Maybe that was something she could work on over the next week or so, it wasn''t like she wanted to do any more major renovations before the third floor was unlocked anyway.

 2.70 Adding Ambiance

    Over the next week, Violet decided to work on adding more ambiance to her second floor while taking every opportunity she could get to try and sell merchandise to dungeon visitors. Unfortunately, that didn''t amount to very many people. Avorn and Camellia came every night, which netted her 700 DP by itself and she was able to convince them to buy some soups and sweets for another 492 DP worth of [Items]. However, Violet got the distinct feeling they had felt bad about turning her down and had gone out of their way to collect some extra pine needles and such to trade with her.


    Gregory had shown up every few days, but had seemed uncomfortable the one time Violet approached him, so she didn''t end up selling him anything. He had been polite, but she just still couldn''t quite handle his overly polite and somewhat fearful behavior towards her. Maybe that was more on her, though, as she couldn''t help but worry she was going to scare people away, especially with how badly things had gone with David, who she had, at one time, hoped to have a positive relationship with.


    While many of the tributes they had brought were repeats, Violet did manage to obtain some dried spearmint, a rusted bronze wood ax, and a bit of green ribbon. That had amounted to 82 DP, counting the repeats. Honestly, Gregory had been super apologetic about bringing a rusted, old tool the day she had tried to visit him. Violet was actually thrilled about getting a new type of metal as well as an axe for an item, but the whole thing had certainly left a sour taste in her mouth. She didn''t want Gregory''s family to go broke just so Henry could train in his dungeon. That just didn''t align with her goals at all...


    Elivyre had also visited a few times in the past week, but a few times she didn''t have time to stay. Violet had given her the charity [Items] and then they promised to enjoy tea and talk the next time she visited. Since her friend had been so busy, she had chosen not to bother her about selling anything and to try to just enjoy her company when she was able to stay more than a few minutes. The Dungeon Diplomats who came with her helped with the tributes, so she was able to get a few more interesting [Items] including: some dried curly parsley, wild bergamot, and something the system referred to as almond applesauce. The last one was particularly interesting as Violet had never heard of such a dish, but she wasn''t sure if it was a common medieval dish in her world or if it was actually something unique to this one.


    There had also been one other group that visited the dungeon twice, but, somehow, she had missed them both times. Still, after their tributes, which were just repeats of what she had previously received, she ended up earning a total of 1,385 DP this week, which brought her total up to 5,660 dungeon points, since she hadn''t researched anything this week.


    Thanks to the small handful of visitors she had over the course of the week, there was plenty of mana to play around with. That was part of the reason she had increased her charity donations for the week, but the rest of it was spent on small upgrades in all of the second floor rooms. Unfortunately, all of the challenge rooms already had two pixies assigned to the spawner, which took up the full 100 MP limit. However, Violet still decided to go ahead and add twenty five fireflies to each of the rooms, regardless of whether they could be assigned to a spawner or not.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Violet tended to have a sour taste in her mouth whenever she had to assign living things to a dungeon room without there being a spawner for them to be connected to. However, insects were hardly the most sentient, even of the [Critter] options she had. It was unlikely that adventurers would go around killing them off either since they were neither edible nor were they a threat. They would just add a nice bit of ambiance as they flew around, faintly glowing in the shade of the trees.


    In all of the forest [Monster] field rooms, Violet also decided to add grass, clover, creeping charlie, Alaska violets, fairy slippers, starflowers, and blue-eyed mary flowers. While there were other flowers that could grow in forest environments like common daisies or wild violets, those had already been used in other places and she didn''t want her dungeon to get too repetitive. Besides, Violet knew quite well, thanks to Elivyre, that a good variety of plants spread throughout her floors would be good for drawing in adventurers. With so many different plants in the world, she might as well choose just a few options to decorate each of her floors with, if she used them at all.


    All of the plants were fairly cheap as they ranged from 1 MP / 100 Square Units for things like grass to 2 MP / 100 Square Units for the flowers. That amounted to an average of 28 MP to apply everything to each of the [Monster] field rooms. As she wanted the challenge rooms to be a bit more customized, they only shared the grass, clover, and creeping charlie since that helped add a good bit of variation to the ground covering.


    The hopscotch, mad tea party, capture the flag, lie detector, and treasure hunt challenge rooms got the same treatment as the [Monster] field rooms. However, the mystery falls room had some watercress, chickweed, and cattails, added while the flowers were skipped. The rainbow of roses, flower hunt, and fae circles challenge rooms utilized flowers as part of their challenges, so no additional flowers were added to those rooms to avoid confusing the adventurers too much.


    As for the fairy retreat rest area and the castle ruins boss room, Violet wanted to be especially careful about what plants were added to them. Cattails, watercress, and chickweed were added around the moat area of the boss room while some extra oyster, red pine, and puffball mushrooms were added around the outskirts. As the boss [Monster] was a redcap myconid, she really wanted to emphasize the mushroom theme in the room, but also couldn''t resist the pairing of the water-loving plants with the moat. The fairy retreat had some larger plants added around the outside of the main house including: some lavender, baldhip flowers, and sunflowers since it just seemed fitting to have some pretty flowers for a fairy house. For the main forest, though, things were kept simple with just ground coverings so that adventurers weren''t tempted to wander around and spend too much time in the room.


    It had been a rather busy week full of lots of small changes for the second floor, but Violet felt a lot more satisfied with things now. She was now confident that she''d be able to unlock the third floor at the beginning of spring and then hibernate until the adventurers arrived. With everything thoroughly taken care of on the second floor, she was confident that it was ready for adventurers.

 2.71 Spring’s Arrival

    Violet looked over her contract with Avorn and Camellia, confirming one last time that this would, in fact, be their final night staying in the dungeon before spring arrived. It was sad to know things would be changing so soon, but, as someone with the potential to live forever, she was going to have to get used to the unsettling feeling of things changing far sooner than she''d like. Even if she could control much of what happened in her own dungeon, the outside world was likely to continue to change with the passage of time, resulting in those changes being seen within the dungeon, to some degree, as well.


    Over the last few days, she had continued to amass dungeon points with 500 coming from the nightly rent payments and another 174 DP coming from various tributes. Gregory and a group with a young child, named Adam, had continued to visit the dungeon over the last few days, but most of their tributes were repeats. Still, thanks to Elivyre and the two Dungeon Diplomats helping her with the charity work, she had received some nice new [Base Resources] and [Items], including: coal, a fire magic crystal, thyme, and some marjoram.


    Before now, Violet had actually only ever gotten two other magic crystals, which had been for the air and light elements. She did, technically, also have some earth magic, but that was from the dungeon absorbing a goblin earth elementalist, not from a crystal itself. Of course, something like fire magic was even more special because it meant she could now make [Items] that utilized fire in their design.


    The magic light that Tobias had gifted her had allowed her to place magic lanterns along the dungeon walls, but they were rather expensive and far too tempting for adventurer''s to steal. Thus, she had immediately reabsorbed the ones she already had placed and spent 10 DP to unlock wall torches, which she had placed throughout the first and second floor earlier in the week. At only 5 MP per wall torch, it was fairly cheap to light up the entirety of both floors'' hallways. The other good thing was that it would also make it easier for adventurers to read the many wooden wall signs she had begun placing throughout the hallways to direct them around the dungeon.


    In the past, she had wanted to make her dungeon labyrinth-like to confuse adventurers and force them to backtrack as much as possible. However, that no longer aligned with her goals. Making her dungeon easy to navigate for adventurers would be good marketing and it wasn''t like intruding [Monsters] needed signs since they always seemed to hone in on the quickest path to the dungeon core anyway. So, now every entrance had a wooden sign above it stating what the next room held while hallways with multiple directions, like her roundabout hallway, had signs that stated what was in each of the directions. There would be no children getting confused and ending up in the boss rooms and no one could say that she was purposely leading people to their deaths.


    Of course, that had been far earlier in the week and now she had an entire night''s worth of mana to look forward to. Charity work was no longer a concern as Elivyre had come to collect the last batch of goods from her earlier in the week. Violet had chosen to give away all of her previously stocked merchandise at that time since she knew her priorities were likely to be different the next time she decided to play merchant. Besides, hopefully, there would be more adventurers regularly visiting the dungeon, so she would need to base her merchandise around that, not what was selling during the winter season.


    As a temporary goodbye, Violet had invited Elivyre to one last round of tea with her pixies. Most of them were still uncomfortable with the half-elf''s presence, but her friend didn''t seem offended in the slightest. Violet was glad that her friend had such a good disposition and that she genuinely enjoyed her presence. She could only hope that whoever Theodore brought in to replace David was equally as kind, but she had no clue when that would be. She most certainly hadn''t seen the man in quite some time. However, Violet was hardly the sort to hold that against someone and could only hope that he was doing alright.


    After spending nearly 870 dungeon points and most of an entire night''s worth of mana, Violet smiled to herself. She had wanted to get Avorn and Camellia a parting gift that she was certain they would be able to make use of. Now that everything was ready, she made her way downstairs so that she could catch them before they left. She didn''t want to miss them, especially since she knew they planned to head to a nearby city to shop for new gear. That would make her efforts wasted, which was hardly what she wanted.


    "Oh, Miss Violet! We didn''t know if we''d see you before we left, but I''m glad to get to see you. We''ll be leaving for a while, but we did want to express our sincere gratitude for your kindness in allowing us to stay here all season long."


    Camellia said in a chipper tone. Violet smiled back in return, holding two bags out to them as she explainedThis content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Yes, that''s actually what I was here for as well. You have both been such lovely guests that I wanted to give you a parting gift. You not only held up your end of the contract, paying your rent on time, never attacking the dungeon core, etc., but you''ve also been welcoming and cooperative every time I''ve come to see you. I''ve never had to worry about you trying to take advantage of my kindness either, something I''ve come to appreciate after having to end a messy situation with the first person I made a contract with."


    The two seemed almost embarrassed by her words, so she merely continued


    "Right, well, I''ve made you both magic bags in the style of camping backpacks. They hold 100 Units each, double what your current ones can handle, and they''ve been packed with some other [Items] as well. I know you both have been sleeping on old blankets without proper tents or anything since your initial gear was just normal backpacks that couldn''t hold much, so I made you leather tube tents, leather bedrolls, and cotton sleeping bags.


    The backpacks and sleeping bags use zippers, which have a little tab you gently pull to open and close the seam, when necessary. I''m not sure if that''s something you all have seen before or not, I really don''t mean to belittle you or anything. The tents have loops with steel tent poles you hammer into the ground to hold the tent down while at the top you just string the included cotton paracord through and tie it to two trees. It should be big enough to fit both of you under one, but I have provided two tents, in case you prefer sleeping separately.


    This section of the backpack right here is for holding these steel thermoses I made for you. You have to twist the caps off, but they work just like the waterskins you use, except they can also hold hot liquids like tea, not just water. Inside the magic bags, I''ve put sixteen-piece mess kits that include tea kettles, a skillet, and a pot with a lid. All of them have collapsible handles so they can take up less space. Then there are two cups, two three-piece collapsible silverware sets, a short wooden rice spoon, a collapsible ladle, a wooden dish scraper and a knitted cotton sponge. The last two will require some soap to work effectively, but should make cleanup easier. All of the mess kit pieces can be used over a campfire, so I''m sure it should serve you both well since you seem to often spend your nights outdoors instead of at an inn.


    The last two [Items] are a camping multitool and a fire-starting kit. The kits include lighters, which have fire magic crystals in them, so I hope one of you can use magic. Unfortunately, I didn''t have any flint to make a non-magic option. My dungeon is still fairly new and it seems like I''ve mostly been getting plant-based tributes, thus far. I did also include things like fatwood and wax infused hemp ropes, which should set fire quite easily and function as a useful tinder for setting your firewood on fire. As for the multitools, they include an ax, hammer, saw blade, file, bottle opener, straight cutter, and a whistle. They''re super compact, but should help solve a lot of your camping needs, including setting up those tent poles."


    Camellia was speechless as she stared at Violet, unsure what to say. Normally, she would be the spokesman for both of them, but she wasn''t sure how to react to such an insanely generous gift. It felt too good to be true and she wasn''t sure whether to reject the offer or not. Luckily, Avorn''s survival instincts kicked in and he didn''t have as difficult of a time responding.


    "Thank you, that''s very generous of you. Do you mind if we take a moment to transfer some of our valuables? We''d like to leave our old gear with you, even if it isn''t worth much, but we have to keep some of our things. I don''t know if you''re aware, but there are bandits and such on the roads as well as wild [Monsters]. It would be a shame if we left everything we owned for you only to be unable to defend ourselves and lose such a precious gift as this before we could even properly enjoy it."


    Violet couldn''t help but look confused as she handed the bags to Avorn and Camellia. She was glad they weren''t refusing the gift, as she had worried they would. She was well aware they didn''t want something like weapons from her as they had discussed that the last time they met. However, she wasn''t sure why they felt the need to pay her back in such a way. She didn''t personally mind if they sold off the 50 Units magic bags she had previously traded to them in order to afford better gear, nor did she expect them to give her anything else in return. However, she was hardly going to argue with them either. She was too afraid of them changing their mind and no longer being willing to accept her own gift.


    While their gifts had been rather costly, when it came to the dungeon points investment, it was hardly a big deal to her. In fact, she had actually chosen to reabsorb her old magic bag and replace it with a set of the same gear she was now gifting to Avorn and Camellia. A backpack was less accessible than a satchel was, but the backpack and other gear would still be fairly convenient and had the added bonus of blending in with other adventurers. The only things she retained of her old gear were the patchwork teddy bear replica Gregory had left as a tribute the other day, her iron sword from David, and the engraved steel scabbard Matthias had gifted her so long ago. Outside of that, she just had the clothes she was wearing and her purple cloth shoes she had reincarnated into this world wearing that had been stuffed into her new magic backpack alongside the teddy bear.


    After some more brief, if slightly awkward chit-chat, the three of them parted ways. It was finally time to unlock the third floor.