The Innkeeper's Dungeon
The Innkeeper's Dungeon
- Thread starter AutumnPlunkett
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Statistics (17 threadmarks, 22k words)
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1.1 The Inheritance
New
Veronica Maxwell was anxious as she drove up the long driveway to her parents' bed and breakfast. It was hidden away deep in the woods, but it was still a popular getaway destination, especially during tourist season. When she arrived, she took a nervous breath, looking up at the two-story manor. She had practically grown up here as she helped her parents with attending to their guests. It felt like being home again after such a long time.
Really, if it had been up to her, she would have preferred to stick around and keep helping her parents run their business. It was only because of their insistence that she go to college and then experience the world that she had ever left. Even then, she had double majored in culinary arts and hospitality management, which had allowed her to learn valuable knowledge that could help her parents' business. Then she took a few jobs that would help give her relevant experience with everything from being a housekeeper in a hotel to a barkeep in a local dive bar. Now, she was confident that she was far more qualified than her siblings were to take over their parents' bed and breakfast.
That was actually what she was here today for. Her parents were ready to retire and they planned to announce who they'd be signing the business over to. She was hopeful it would be given to her, but she couldn't help but feel anxious since it wasn't guaranteed. Finally, working up the nerve, Veronica stepped forward to turn the front door handle and stepped through the threshold. The only problem was that she somehow ended up in a pitch-dark room instead of the reception area.
"Hello? Anyone there? Did the power go out? Someone check the breaker box!"
She shouted out into the darkness. Then she frowned, something wasn't right. The way her voice carried and the way the ground felt beneath her was unfamiliar. Yet, she could clearly remember arriving at her parents' bed and breakfast, so there was no way she could be somewhere else. Deciding to try and become more acquainted with her surroundings, she stumbled blindly forward with her arms in front of her.
[Bonding "Veronica Maxwell" to dungeon core #224]
The words that seemed to almost glow in front of her didn't register at first. Then, it was like her mind was swimming as everything seemed to shift into focus. She was no longer in a dark room or, at least, it no longer appeared that way. Instead, the was standing on a set of stone steps with a large green marble-like orb in front of her that seemed to have a slight glow to it. This most certainly was not where she was supposed to be!
"What the! For goodness sake!"
With a groan, Veronica sat down on the stone steps and screamed into her hands. She had no clue where she was, but it was more than a little obvious that she was not going to make it in time for her parents' retirement party. That also meant the bed and breakfast would likely end up going to her brother since her parents would likely assume that she wasn't interested since she wouldn't end up showing up.
[Congratulations on officially becoming a dungeon master, Master Veronica!]
Another system prompt appeared before her and so she decided she should, probably, concentrate on the problem at hand. She was hardly the sort to just sit around feeling sorry for herself, after all. Taking into account the previous prompt, it sounded like she had either fallen unconscious and was now having a really strange dream or the manga she liked to read hadn't been quite as fictional as she once thought. However, whether this was a dream or not, it was far safer to assume this was her new reality and react accordingly. The worst case of this being a dream was she'd feel a little silly when she woke up, but the worst case scenario if it was real was a bit more vague and certainly a more terrifying thing to worry about.
[Reconfiguring...]
"Right, so now I'm, presumably, in another world and somehow 'bonded' with a dungeon that seems to have a broken system. This is going to be real fun..."
[Due to the dungeon master's unique experience with running an inn, the dungeon will now make the appropriate adjustments.]
The dungeon around her began to shake and tremble around her feeling very much like an earthquake. Having nowhere to go for safety, Veronica merely ducked down and covered her head with her arms until things settled down again.
[Please select a starting theme for the dungeon half:
-Rocky Gorge (Goblins)
-Sewers (Giant Rats)
-Tropical Rainforest (Gargoyles)]
Veronica sat a moment as she thought over the options, still very much so questioning if this was real or not. Deciding that she didn't want to live in a desert with goblins, nor a dirty sewer with giant rats, she decided to choose the last option.
"I'll go with the tropical rainforest, please."
[Finalizing dungeon binding...]
The next system prompt didn't seem related to her choice, but, then again, perhaps, she had to make a selection before the dungeon finished with its initial processes. Suddenly, Veronica doubled over in pain as she felt like her entire body was on fire and her mind felt like it was breaking. It was difficult to remain awake to the point that no amount of willpower would allow her to power through it. Soon enough, she fell unconscious.
When she next awoke, she was surprised to find that she was still in the dungeon. Sighing agitatedly, she brushed her had roughly through her hair, and mumbled to herself
"I guess this is real then..."
Deciding it would be best to scout her surroundings, she got up and left through the door to the dungeon core room. She'd likely have to learn how the system worked as well so she could take full advantage of everything it had to offer. However, figuring out where she was and what resources she had at hand was more important right now.
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Really, if it had been up to her, she would have preferred to stick around and keep helping her parents run their business. It was only because of their insistence that she go to college and then experience the world that she had ever left. Even then, she had double majored in culinary arts and hospitality management, which had allowed her to learn valuable knowledge that could help her parents' business. Then she took a few jobs that would help give her relevant experience with everything from being a housekeeper in a hotel to a barkeep in a local dive bar. Now, she was confident that she was far more qualified than her siblings were to take over their parents' bed and breakfast.
That was actually what she was here today for. Her parents were ready to retire and they planned to announce who they'd be signing the business over to. She was hopeful it would be given to her, but she couldn't help but feel anxious since it wasn't guaranteed. Finally, working up the nerve, Veronica stepped forward to turn the front door handle and stepped through the threshold. The only problem was that she somehow ended up in a pitch-dark room instead of the reception area.
"Hello? Anyone there? Did the power go out? Someone check the breaker box!"
She shouted out into the darkness. Then she frowned, something wasn't right. The way her voice carried and the way the ground felt beneath her was unfamiliar. Yet, she could clearly remember arriving at her parents' bed and breakfast, so there was no way she could be somewhere else. Deciding to try and become more acquainted with her surroundings, she stumbled blindly forward with her arms in front of her.
[Bonding "Veronica Maxwell" to dungeon core #224]
The words that seemed to almost glow in front of her didn't register at first. Then, it was like her mind was swimming as everything seemed to shift into focus. She was no longer in a dark room or, at least, it no longer appeared that way. Instead, the was standing on a set of stone steps with a large green marble-like orb in front of her that seemed to have a slight glow to it. This most certainly was not where she was supposed to be!
"What the! For goodness sake!"
With a groan, Veronica sat down on the stone steps and screamed into her hands. She had no clue where she was, but it was more than a little obvious that she was not going to make it in time for her parents' retirement party. That also meant the bed and breakfast would likely end up going to her brother since her parents would likely assume that she wasn't interested since she wouldn't end up showing up.
[Congratulations on officially becoming a dungeon master, Master Veronica!]
Another system prompt appeared before her and so she decided she should, probably, concentrate on the problem at hand. She was hardly the sort to just sit around feeling sorry for herself, after all. Taking into account the previous prompt, it sounded like she had either fallen unconscious and was now having a really strange dream or the manga she liked to read hadn't been quite as fictional as she once thought. However, whether this was a dream or not, it was far safer to assume this was her new reality and react accordingly. The worst case of this being a dream was she'd feel a little silly when she woke up, but the worst case scenario if it was real was a bit more vague and certainly a more terrifying thing to worry about.
[Reconfiguring...]
"Right, so now I'm, presumably, in another world and somehow 'bonded' with a dungeon that seems to have a broken system. This is going to be real fun..."
[Due to the dungeon master's unique experience with running an inn, the dungeon will now make the appropriate adjustments.]
The dungeon around her began to shake and tremble around her feeling very much like an earthquake. Having nowhere to go for safety, Veronica merely ducked down and covered her head with her arms until things settled down again.
[Please select a starting theme for the dungeon half:
-Rocky Gorge (Goblins)
-Sewers (Giant Rats)
-Tropical Rainforest (Gargoyles)]
Veronica sat a moment as she thought over the options, still very much so questioning if this was real or not. Deciding that she didn't want to live in a desert with goblins, nor a dirty sewer with giant rats, she decided to choose the last option.
"I'll go with the tropical rainforest, please."
[Finalizing dungeon binding...]
The next system prompt didn't seem related to her choice, but, then again, perhaps, she had to make a selection before the dungeon finished with its initial processes. Suddenly, Veronica doubled over in pain as she felt like her entire body was on fire and her mind felt like it was breaking. It was difficult to remain awake to the point that no amount of willpower would allow her to power through it. Soon enough, she fell unconscious.
When she next awoke, she was surprised to find that she was still in the dungeon. Sighing agitatedly, she brushed her had roughly through her hair, and mumbled to herself
"I guess this is real then..."
Deciding it would be best to scout her surroundings, she got up and left through the door to the dungeon core room. She'd likely have to learn how the system worked as well so she could take full advantage of everything it had to offer. However, figuring out where she was and what resources she had at hand was more important right now.
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1.2 Unusual Dungeon
New
Not long after leaving the dungeon core room, Veronica was taken by surprise by a strange elven woman who asked
"Are you the dungeon master?"
Seraphina asked with an uncertain tone. Veronica couldn't help but feel a bit excited to see someone she could ask for help, even if she knew she should be cautious.
"Well, I think so... I did get some sort of message that said I was bonded to a dungeon and calling me Master Veronica. Seems to me, it should be a more feminine title like Madam, Mistress, or even Lady Veronica, though."
The face of the stranger in front of her lit up in amusement and Veronica couldn't help but admire how pretty she was. Beautiful blonde hair hung down, framing her face, and almost covering her rather strange, pointed ears. Even her blue eyes seemed to scream she was a fantasy race, probably an elf. Still, laughing, the woman introduced herself.
"Well, Lady Veronica, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Seraphina, the dungeon diplomat assigned to help you settle in and ensure everything goes smoothly with your dungeon. Would you mind showing me to the dungeon core room?"
Veronica looked skeptically at the woman. While she was fine with exchanging pleasantries, she had the feeling she wasn't supposed to allow anyone near that particular room in the dungeon. It felt wrong and she couldn't help but feel on edge.
"I'm not comfortable with that."
she plainly stated, earning a frown from Seraphina. Sighing, the woman asked
"You look human. Would you be able to tell me if you're originally from this world? It's hard to know whether you're a reincarnated dungeon master without any memory or some adventurer who should know better when I can't access the dungeon core."
It was rather strange to have someone directly come out and ask her such a thing. This was nowhere near what she had expected from journey to another world. Deciding the woman already knew enough that trying to hide things wouldn't help much, if at all, she decided to be honest.
"Actually, I wouldn't say I so much reincarnated as I transmigrated. I didn't die, I just walked through a door and suddenly found myself here. Then, I was in the dark, so I ended up accidentally bonding to this dungeon. It really wasn't my intention to cause any issues."
Seraphina shook her head as she reassured her
"No worries about that. The dungeon wouldn't have opened its doors to let anyone else in until after you bonded with it. You didn't steal that opportunity from anyone, the dungeon core itself chose you for the job. As for why you were chosen to the extent of being stolen from another world, that isn't something anyone will be able to answer for you, I'm afraid.
I do have to say, though, your dungeon and situation is quite unusual. Normally, there would just be a straight path from the entrance to the dungeon core room. You seem to have a really rare semi-open floor-plan dungeon. The last one like it was one with a navigator class adventurer a couple decades ago. Although, I'd dare say that reincarnated individuals who keep their memory are even more rare, only ever had one of those. The fact that you didn't even have to die to cross the divide between worlds is even more strange, though. The council is going to have a field day when they hear about this...
Regardless, I still need to see the dungeon core to ensure your dungeon is healthy. So, what's it going to take to convince you?"
Veronica really didn't know how to make heads or tails of what the woman was going on about. Deciding that Seraphina clearly knew more about this world than she did and likely wasn't lying, she begrudgingly decided to start leading her in the direction she wanted.
"So, what exactly am I supposed to do with a dungeon?"
she asked, earning a small laugh from the elven woman.
"I suppose it would be confusing at first, wouldn't it? Most dungeon masters don't have previous memories to distract them from their instincts so using the system comes fairly naturally. Unfortunately, I've never been a dungeon master, so I can't tell you what options you will have to work with. Adventurers and dungeon diplomats have their own version of the system that relates to their roles in this life. Still, the basics should be fairly similar. Just think about what you want to do and will it to happen. Why don't you start by thinking about bringing up a status screen?"
Veronica really wasn't sure what the term "dungeon diplomat" was supposed to mean. The fact that Seraphina kept throwing it around as if it was supposed to mean something to her was a bit irritating. However, it seemed too impolite to actually ask about it, so she decided to just do what had been suggested to her instead.
[Dungeon Status:
Current Mana 50/50
Current DP: 0
Current Floors: 1
Current Rooms: 0
Tavern
Monsters
Critters
Construction
Research
Missions]
She was a bit surprised when it worked right away. It would seem it really was rather intuitive. Most of the menu didn't really make sense right now, though, and she wasn't really wanting to start going through it when someone was here.
"Did it work? Just a fair warning, though, you might be able to pull up the information, but you won't be able to build or summon any new [Monsters] while non-dungeon entities are in the dungeon. It doesn't matter if it's adventurers or free-roaming [Monsters] who want to steal your dungeon core. Technically, dungeon diplomats count as something between dungeon entities and non-dungeon entities, but you shouldn't be able to do anything while I'm here either."
Veronica's confused expression must have been obvious because Seraphina was quick to offer up an explanation.
"I get it, it's confusing right? However, if you have [Traps] or [Monsters] they won't attack dungeon diplomats. That's probably scary, but the dungeon accords do a lot to protect you and things are even more strict for us. Besides, I'm bonded to the dungeon and you and I can feel when you're nervous, happy, or anything else. Hurting you would likely hurt me as well, so it isn't something you need to worry about."
While Veronica was still nervous about trusting the strange woman, she couldn't help but find her rather comforting as well. Even when they arrived at the dungeon core room and Seraphina approached the dungeon core, she was gentle and never did anything that seemed to be a cause for concern. After confirming everything seemed to be working as it should, the two parted ways. Apparently, Seraphina had to talk with some sort of council of elders and would be returning the next day. In the meantime, she was meant to try and build her first room in the dungeon.
However, before leaving, she was issued one last warning.
"The area where your dungeon was created is near a rather large city. The previous dungeon decided to permanently retire and disappeared a few years back. So, a lot of adventurers and the richer merchants migrated elsewhere. There is still a local lord and adventurer's guild in the area, though, and I imagine they will want to send some people out right away to check out your dungeon. They won't be entering the dungeon today, but I'd expect company as early as tomorrow morning.
Also, if you get any contracted [Monsters], don't send them outside the dungeon. Your dungeon was created after a ton of earthquakes and a tsunami came through the area, creating a small island and land bridge for your dungeon. There isn't a forest or anything for you to forage from and it would be a shame for you to waste your mana only for them to die a premature death."
Regional world map
Current dungeon map
Veronica
Seraphina
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"Are you the dungeon master?"
Seraphina asked with an uncertain tone. Veronica couldn't help but feel a bit excited to see someone she could ask for help, even if she knew she should be cautious.
"Well, I think so... I did get some sort of message that said I was bonded to a dungeon and calling me Master Veronica. Seems to me, it should be a more feminine title like Madam, Mistress, or even Lady Veronica, though."
The face of the stranger in front of her lit up in amusement and Veronica couldn't help but admire how pretty she was. Beautiful blonde hair hung down, framing her face, and almost covering her rather strange, pointed ears. Even her blue eyes seemed to scream she was a fantasy race, probably an elf. Still, laughing, the woman introduced herself.
"Well, Lady Veronica, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Seraphina, the dungeon diplomat assigned to help you settle in and ensure everything goes smoothly with your dungeon. Would you mind showing me to the dungeon core room?"
Veronica looked skeptically at the woman. While she was fine with exchanging pleasantries, she had the feeling she wasn't supposed to allow anyone near that particular room in the dungeon. It felt wrong and she couldn't help but feel on edge.
"I'm not comfortable with that."
she plainly stated, earning a frown from Seraphina. Sighing, the woman asked
"You look human. Would you be able to tell me if you're originally from this world? It's hard to know whether you're a reincarnated dungeon master without any memory or some adventurer who should know better when I can't access the dungeon core."
It was rather strange to have someone directly come out and ask her such a thing. This was nowhere near what she had expected from journey to another world. Deciding the woman already knew enough that trying to hide things wouldn't help much, if at all, she decided to be honest.
"Actually, I wouldn't say I so much reincarnated as I transmigrated. I didn't die, I just walked through a door and suddenly found myself here. Then, I was in the dark, so I ended up accidentally bonding to this dungeon. It really wasn't my intention to cause any issues."
Seraphina shook her head as she reassured her
"No worries about that. The dungeon wouldn't have opened its doors to let anyone else in until after you bonded with it. You didn't steal that opportunity from anyone, the dungeon core itself chose you for the job. As for why you were chosen to the extent of being stolen from another world, that isn't something anyone will be able to answer for you, I'm afraid.
I do have to say, though, your dungeon and situation is quite unusual. Normally, there would just be a straight path from the entrance to the dungeon core room. You seem to have a really rare semi-open floor-plan dungeon. The last one like it was one with a navigator class adventurer a couple decades ago. Although, I'd dare say that reincarnated individuals who keep their memory are even more rare, only ever had one of those. The fact that you didn't even have to die to cross the divide between worlds is even more strange, though. The council is going to have a field day when they hear about this...
Regardless, I still need to see the dungeon core to ensure your dungeon is healthy. So, what's it going to take to convince you?"
Veronica really didn't know how to make heads or tails of what the woman was going on about. Deciding that Seraphina clearly knew more about this world than she did and likely wasn't lying, she begrudgingly decided to start leading her in the direction she wanted.
"So, what exactly am I supposed to do with a dungeon?"
she asked, earning a small laugh from the elven woman.
"I suppose it would be confusing at first, wouldn't it? Most dungeon masters don't have previous memories to distract them from their instincts so using the system comes fairly naturally. Unfortunately, I've never been a dungeon master, so I can't tell you what options you will have to work with. Adventurers and dungeon diplomats have their own version of the system that relates to their roles in this life. Still, the basics should be fairly similar. Just think about what you want to do and will it to happen. Why don't you start by thinking about bringing up a status screen?"
Veronica really wasn't sure what the term "dungeon diplomat" was supposed to mean. The fact that Seraphina kept throwing it around as if it was supposed to mean something to her was a bit irritating. However, it seemed too impolite to actually ask about it, so she decided to just do what had been suggested to her instead.
[Dungeon Status:
Current Mana 50/50
Current DP: 0
Current Floors: 1
Current Rooms: 0
Tavern
Monsters
Critters
Construction
Research
Missions]
She was a bit surprised when it worked right away. It would seem it really was rather intuitive. Most of the menu didn't really make sense right now, though, and she wasn't really wanting to start going through it when someone was here.
"Did it work? Just a fair warning, though, you might be able to pull up the information, but you won't be able to build or summon any new [Monsters] while non-dungeon entities are in the dungeon. It doesn't matter if it's adventurers or free-roaming [Monsters] who want to steal your dungeon core. Technically, dungeon diplomats count as something between dungeon entities and non-dungeon entities, but you shouldn't be able to do anything while I'm here either."
Veronica's confused expression must have been obvious because Seraphina was quick to offer up an explanation.
"I get it, it's confusing right? However, if you have [Traps] or [Monsters] they won't attack dungeon diplomats. That's probably scary, but the dungeon accords do a lot to protect you and things are even more strict for us. Besides, I'm bonded to the dungeon and you and I can feel when you're nervous, happy, or anything else. Hurting you would likely hurt me as well, so it isn't something you need to worry about."
While Veronica was still nervous about trusting the strange woman, she couldn't help but find her rather comforting as well. Even when they arrived at the dungeon core room and Seraphina approached the dungeon core, she was gentle and never did anything that seemed to be a cause for concern. After confirming everything seemed to be working as it should, the two parted ways. Apparently, Seraphina had to talk with some sort of council of elders and would be returning the next day. In the meantime, she was meant to try and build her first room in the dungeon.
However, before leaving, she was issued one last warning.
"The area where your dungeon was created is near a rather large city. The previous dungeon decided to permanently retire and disappeared a few years back. So, a lot of adventurers and the richer merchants migrated elsewhere. There is still a local lord and adventurer's guild in the area, though, and I imagine they will want to send some people out right away to check out your dungeon. They won't be entering the dungeon today, but I'd expect company as early as tomorrow morning.
Also, if you get any contracted [Monsters], don't send them outside the dungeon. Your dungeon was created after a ton of earthquakes and a tsunami came through the area, creating a small island and land bridge for your dungeon. There isn't a forest or anything for you to forage from and it would be a shame for you to waste your mana only for them to die a premature death."
Regional world map
Current dungeon map
Veronica
Seraphina
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Last edited:
1.3 Diamond In The Rough
New
After Seraphina left, Veronica couldn't help but sit down as she took in just how very real everything now seemed. She'd likely never get to see her family again and she had likely just wasted most of her youth away by dedicating herself to only learning about how to run her parents' bed and breakfast. It didn't really matter that she wasn't going to inherit their business now that she was in another world, but it was still a bit lonely to think that she'd never see them again.
Shaking her head, she stood up once more, determined to get a head start on building her dungeon while she still had the chance to. If adventurers would be arriving as soon as tomorrow, it would be a good idea to try and get some defenses built today. Even if it was unlikely to be sufficient, it was still far better than the embarrassment of having nothing built like she did now.
After re-opening her dungeon status menu, she decided to start off by looking at the [Construction] tab. It was a bit embarrassing to remember how she had been talking to the system aloud just a short while ago when she only had to think of what she wanted to get the system to respond.
[Rooms Options:
-9-Meters by 9-Meter Square Room (18 MP)
-18-Meters by 18-Meter Square Room (36 MP)
-36-Meters by 36-Meter Square Room (72 MP)
-9-Meters by 18-Meter Rectangle Room (27 MP)
-18-Meters by 36-Meter Rectangle Room (54 MP)
-36-Meters by 72-Meter Rectangle Room (108 MP)
----------
Hallway Options:
-1-Meter Straight Hallway (1 MP)
-3-Meter Straight Hallway (3 MP)
-6-Meter Straight Hallway (6 MP)
-9-Meter Straight Hallway (9 MP)
-10-Meter L-Turn Hallway (10 MP)
-26-Meter 4-Way Hallway (26 MP)
-32-Meter Square Hallway (32 MP)]
The options being in-meters was a bit strange for Veronica who had grown up using the imperial system. However, what was even stranger was how easy it was to recall the math lesson she had taken in school, which made it impossibly easy to convert from imperial to metric and vice versa. Had bonding to the dungeon somehow improved her memory? It was strange, but not really something she wanted to get distracted by right now.
While hallways were useful dividers, Veronica wasn't so sure that they were really a good thing for her dungeon. If it was currently an open floor-plan, it might be better to simply have the rooms all connected to one another without bothering with hallways. That would allow her to make the most of the space she had. So, she decided to choose an 18-meters by 18-meters square room to start with. It was a bit expensive, but she wasn't sure that going with the smallest option was very good either.
When her vision started to shift to a bird's eye view, she felt like vomiting. It was horrendous and she couldn't help but feel disoriented. Hopefully, this was something she would get used to with time as it was unlikely she could avoid doing this in the future. Once her vision finally, settled, though, she took the opportunity to explore her dungeon and was surprised to learn a number of interesting things.
Maybe her dungeon was a diamond in the rough? It would seem that the [Tavern] option on her menu and the initial messages about her dungeon being changed to reflect her experience with running an inn had resulted in her dungeon being divided in half. One side looked like the inside of a log cabin with wooden walls and floors. Meanwhile, the other half was a tropical rainforest with towering trees, ferns, a blue sky, and dirt floors. Down the middle of the dungeon was a hallway that had entrances to both halves of the dungeon and the dungeon core room in the middle. There was also an area for a staircase, but the system seemed to be indicating it was locked until she obtained the next floor.
Being in charge of her own dungeon had certainly never been something she had wished for, but Veronica was fairly confident that she could work with this. At least, she'd still get the opportunity to run her own inn and tavern, even if she didn't quite know what it might look like just yet. Seraphina had been wearing clothing straight out of a medieval dungeon explorer manga, but that didn't really tell her much about the outside world. It could very easily be modern-day technology or even more of a steampunk sort of world with magic gadgets everywhere. Only time would really tell on that front.
Feeling a lot better about her new circumstances, she finally placed her first room in the front left corner of the dungeon half. Two doors were automatically added that led into the open area of the dungeon while a third led to the initial hallway with the dungeon entrance. While it almost seemed silly to even use rooms in an open floor-plan dungeon, Veronica was just going to roll with it, for now. Maybe there was a reason it was an option that she didn't know about quite yet.
Next up on her agenda, was to get some [Monsters] for her new room. So, she opened that tab on her dungeon status menu.
[Summonable Monster Options:
-Gargoyle (15 MP) [Evolves]
Magic stone statue with no special features. Has poor defense and low combat damage, but is capable of evolving.
----------
Contractable Monster Options:
-Will-O'-Wisp (20 MP) (Can't Evolve)
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.]
The initial theme-selection process hadn't said anything about will-o-wisps, just the gargoyles. It was also interesting to note there were exactly two different types of [Monsters] and she had two different sides to her dungeon. Were the will-o'-wisps meant to be used for the hotel side? She could certainly see them leading adventurers to their rooms, similarly to bellhops, but without the luggage carrying. Well, even if she was extrapolating a bit too much, it wasn't like they seemed good for much of anything else in the dungeon. Surely the people of this world were smart enough not to follow will-o'-wisps into [Traps]?
Unfortunately, it also seemed that Veronica had come to an impasse in her dungeon building. She was 1 MP short for summoning even a gargoyle and she had no clue how to earn more mana. Suddenly, she wished Seraphina was still here as it would have been nice to have someone to ask questions to. While she would be returning tomorrow, Veronica had the feeling she wouldn't see her until after the locals started stirring up trouble.
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Shaking her head, she stood up once more, determined to get a head start on building her dungeon while she still had the chance to. If adventurers would be arriving as soon as tomorrow, it would be a good idea to try and get some defenses built today. Even if it was unlikely to be sufficient, it was still far better than the embarrassment of having nothing built like she did now.
After re-opening her dungeon status menu, she decided to start off by looking at the [Construction] tab. It was a bit embarrassing to remember how she had been talking to the system aloud just a short while ago when she only had to think of what she wanted to get the system to respond.
[Rooms Options:
-9-Meters by 9-Meter Square Room (18 MP)
-18-Meters by 18-Meter Square Room (36 MP)
-36-Meters by 36-Meter Square Room (72 MP)
-9-Meters by 18-Meter Rectangle Room (27 MP)
-18-Meters by 36-Meter Rectangle Room (54 MP)
-36-Meters by 72-Meter Rectangle Room (108 MP)
----------
Hallway Options:
-1-Meter Straight Hallway (1 MP)
-3-Meter Straight Hallway (3 MP)
-6-Meter Straight Hallway (6 MP)
-9-Meter Straight Hallway (9 MP)
-10-Meter L-Turn Hallway (10 MP)
-26-Meter 4-Way Hallway (26 MP)
-32-Meter Square Hallway (32 MP)]
The options being in-meters was a bit strange for Veronica who had grown up using the imperial system. However, what was even stranger was how easy it was to recall the math lesson she had taken in school, which made it impossibly easy to convert from imperial to metric and vice versa. Had bonding to the dungeon somehow improved her memory? It was strange, but not really something she wanted to get distracted by right now.
While hallways were useful dividers, Veronica wasn't so sure that they were really a good thing for her dungeon. If it was currently an open floor-plan, it might be better to simply have the rooms all connected to one another without bothering with hallways. That would allow her to make the most of the space she had. So, she decided to choose an 18-meters by 18-meters square room to start with. It was a bit expensive, but she wasn't sure that going with the smallest option was very good either.
When her vision started to shift to a bird's eye view, she felt like vomiting. It was horrendous and she couldn't help but feel disoriented. Hopefully, this was something she would get used to with time as it was unlikely she could avoid doing this in the future. Once her vision finally, settled, though, she took the opportunity to explore her dungeon and was surprised to learn a number of interesting things.
Maybe her dungeon was a diamond in the rough? It would seem that the [Tavern] option on her menu and the initial messages about her dungeon being changed to reflect her experience with running an inn had resulted in her dungeon being divided in half. One side looked like the inside of a log cabin with wooden walls and floors. Meanwhile, the other half was a tropical rainforest with towering trees, ferns, a blue sky, and dirt floors. Down the middle of the dungeon was a hallway that had entrances to both halves of the dungeon and the dungeon core room in the middle. There was also an area for a staircase, but the system seemed to be indicating it was locked until she obtained the next floor.
Being in charge of her own dungeon had certainly never been something she had wished for, but Veronica was fairly confident that she could work with this. At least, she'd still get the opportunity to run her own inn and tavern, even if she didn't quite know what it might look like just yet. Seraphina had been wearing clothing straight out of a medieval dungeon explorer manga, but that didn't really tell her much about the outside world. It could very easily be modern-day technology or even more of a steampunk sort of world with magic gadgets everywhere. Only time would really tell on that front.
Feeling a lot better about her new circumstances, she finally placed her first room in the front left corner of the dungeon half. Two doors were automatically added that led into the open area of the dungeon while a third led to the initial hallway with the dungeon entrance. While it almost seemed silly to even use rooms in an open floor-plan dungeon, Veronica was just going to roll with it, for now. Maybe there was a reason it was an option that she didn't know about quite yet.
Next up on her agenda, was to get some [Monsters] for her new room. So, she opened that tab on her dungeon status menu.
[Summonable Monster Options:
-Gargoyle (15 MP) [Evolves]
Magic stone statue with no special features. Has poor defense and low combat damage, but is capable of evolving.
----------
Contractable Monster Options:
-Will-O'-Wisp (20 MP) (Can't Evolve)
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.]
The initial theme-selection process hadn't said anything about will-o-wisps, just the gargoyles. It was also interesting to note there were exactly two different types of [Monsters] and she had two different sides to her dungeon. Were the will-o'-wisps meant to be used for the hotel side? She could certainly see them leading adventurers to their rooms, similarly to bellhops, but without the luggage carrying. Well, even if she was extrapolating a bit too much, it wasn't like they seemed good for much of anything else in the dungeon. Surely the people of this world were smart enough not to follow will-o'-wisps into [Traps]?
Unfortunately, it also seemed that Veronica had come to an impasse in her dungeon building. She was 1 MP short for summoning even a gargoyle and she had no clue how to earn more mana. Suddenly, she wished Seraphina was still here as it would have been nice to have someone to ask questions to. While she would be returning tomorrow, Veronica had the feeling she wouldn't see her until after the locals started stirring up trouble.
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1.4 Gargoyle's Demise
New
Unfortunately for Veronica, she was unable to generate any new mana until the next day. At first, she had been hopeful that she just had to wait a short while before her mana would refill. That was how it worked in games and fantasy stories, right? However, that might have been a bit shortsighted due to it being based on the assumption the mana pool was hers rather than the dungeon's. Later on, she had tried things that had made her feel a bit silly with everything from trying to feel mana in the air and willing the mana to collect to shouting things into the air. She was really glad no one was there to witness such things as it was, honestly, mortifying to reflect upon.
Of course, the next morning, was when her mana finally increased, but it wasn't by much. Only 25% of her max mana pool regenerated and it didn't round up either, meaning she only got 12 MP from it. Still, this was enough for her to summon her first gargoyle, which was the most exciting thing to happen in far too long. If the first day had taught her anything, it was that being stuck in an empty dungeon by yourself all day was very boring.
Granted, there had been other discoveries as well. She no longer required sleep, food, water, or to use the bathroom. All of this had stressed her out to no end until she had realized that she didn't exactly feel hungry or tired either. Veronica actually felt far better than she ever had before in her life. Of course, she still planned to ask Seraphina about it all once she showed up later today, just to be sure.
Much as she had been warned, a group of three adventurers turned up in her dungeon a few hours later. While she had no problem with small talk, as it was an essential skill for hospitality work, Veronica didn't exactly want to get in the way of the adventurers either. Instead, she chose to hang out on the opposite side of the dungeon from where they were. This was far easier than she thought it would be as she could somewhat sense where they were in the dungeon. Although, the uncomfortable alarming sensation she felt at their arrival was rather difficult to ignore.
For some reason, the group of three were spending an awful long time on the hotel side of the dungeon. There wasn't even anything there, so she couldn't fathom why they would do that. Opening her dungeon status menu, she was surprised to see her mana was full again. Did her mana only regenerate when adventurers were in the dungeon? Well, Veronica supposed, it was a good thing she was planning on opening a hotel then. She'd be able to earn plenty of mana once she started to get some regular patrons. It was just too bad that she couldn't spend her mana while they were in the dungeon.
After some time, she boredly opened her menus again and went through the options. However, something strange happened and she found she was able to summon a new gargoyle. That shouldn't be possible, right? Seraphina didn't seem like she was lying about the limitation, but here she was with two gargoyles now in front of her. They were rather small creatures with very typical appearances that you might expect of the sort used to adorn a tall building. However, they lacked a stone base and they could freely move around. They seemed to be fond of perching high up in the trees where it was more difficult to find them, but that wasn't a problem for Veronica thanks to the system.
Feeling bored, she decided to check out her [Missions] tab.
[Current Missions:
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete first dungeon room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Set up first spawner
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Set up first challenge
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Place first trap
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete a boss room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete half of the first floor
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Unlock the second floor
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete the first floor
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Unlock ten [Critters]
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Unlock [Critters] from five different phyla.
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete first inn room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Make a first-floor reception
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Make a first-floor tavern
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Check-In First Guest
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess
Reward: Unlock new schematic (Altar)]
The sheer number of them was a bit overwhelming, but there was one bit that stood out. The mention of spawners made her question what it meant. Surely it didn't mean something like Minecraft where she could set [Monsters] to spawn indefinitely from them for free. That would be too OP and would defeat the purpose of having the option to summon the [Monsters] individually. Perhaps it was something more akin to a respawn point? Either way she definitely wanted to learn more about them!
[Would you like to begin research on monster spawners? Requires 100 DP.
Yes or No?]
Sighing, Veronica selected the [No] option. She faintly remembered seeing something referred to as dungeon points on her dungeon status menu. She, unfortunately, didn't have any right now, nor did she know how to earn any. Sensing the adventuring party coming her way, she turned to head towards the dungeon core room.
It was a bit unfortunate, but it was likely that her two new gargoyles would end up dying at the hands of these adventurers. Unless they were completely clueless beginners, she couldn't see any reason why they would struggle with [Monsters] her system classified as having poor defense and weak combat skills. Oh well, she mentally shrugged, she should be able to afford some new ones after they leave.
Before they left, however, Veronica did have one thing she wanted to test. Sneaking back into the dungeon side, she tested her menus again. However, while she was able to open her dungeon status screen, she only received an error message when she tried to open any of the others. This was hardly the only error message she had seen in her time in the dungeon either. Just yesterday, she had tried leaving the dungeon only to receive a completely different error. Deciding it was worth testing again, she tried leaving just after the adventurers.
[Error! The dungeon master cannot leave the limits of the dungeon. Only non-dungeon entities and contracted monsters may pass the safety zone.]
Yep, that's how she remembered it being yesterday night as well. Veronica supposed this meant that she couldn't try and trick the dungeon into letting her out by having a shorter cooldown between non-dungeon entities leaving and her own attempts to leave. She was well and truly stuck in here.
Thinking back on the issue with the system locking her out, she also had to wonder if that was due to her dungeon being split in half. If she was meant to have adventurers staying on the hotel, it could easily lead to her being unable to make changes to her dungeon pretty much ever. That would be way too limiting, but things would be different if it was limited by halves of the dungeon. Perhaps she could only interact with the half of the dungeon that was empty of adventurers, regardless of whether it was the hotel or the tropical dungeon side. It would be good to know whether the limitation is usually applied based on the separate floors or if an adventurer on the first-floor prevented normal dungeon masters from making changes to all floors. If it was floor-based then her version of the system wouldn't even be that far-fetched or different from the usual.
Still pondering the matter, she went back to her first room and spent 45 MP, of her now full mana pool, on three new gargoyles. The adventures had, in fact, killed the previous two. It would seem the dungeon had also either absorbed their bodies or the adventurers had brought them with them. Well, either way was fine with Veronica, she didn't exactly want corpses everywhere, stone or otherwise.
Dungeon Map Update
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Of course, the next morning, was when her mana finally increased, but it wasn't by much. Only 25% of her max mana pool regenerated and it didn't round up either, meaning she only got 12 MP from it. Still, this was enough for her to summon her first gargoyle, which was the most exciting thing to happen in far too long. If the first day had taught her anything, it was that being stuck in an empty dungeon by yourself all day was very boring.
Granted, there had been other discoveries as well. She no longer required sleep, food, water, or to use the bathroom. All of this had stressed her out to no end until she had realized that she didn't exactly feel hungry or tired either. Veronica actually felt far better than she ever had before in her life. Of course, she still planned to ask Seraphina about it all once she showed up later today, just to be sure.
Much as she had been warned, a group of three adventurers turned up in her dungeon a few hours later. While she had no problem with small talk, as it was an essential skill for hospitality work, Veronica didn't exactly want to get in the way of the adventurers either. Instead, she chose to hang out on the opposite side of the dungeon from where they were. This was far easier than she thought it would be as she could somewhat sense where they were in the dungeon. Although, the uncomfortable alarming sensation she felt at their arrival was rather difficult to ignore.
For some reason, the group of three were spending an awful long time on the hotel side of the dungeon. There wasn't even anything there, so she couldn't fathom why they would do that. Opening her dungeon status menu, she was surprised to see her mana was full again. Did her mana only regenerate when adventurers were in the dungeon? Well, Veronica supposed, it was a good thing she was planning on opening a hotel then. She'd be able to earn plenty of mana once she started to get some regular patrons. It was just too bad that she couldn't spend her mana while they were in the dungeon.
After some time, she boredly opened her menus again and went through the options. However, something strange happened and she found she was able to summon a new gargoyle. That shouldn't be possible, right? Seraphina didn't seem like she was lying about the limitation, but here she was with two gargoyles now in front of her. They were rather small creatures with very typical appearances that you might expect of the sort used to adorn a tall building. However, they lacked a stone base and they could freely move around. They seemed to be fond of perching high up in the trees where it was more difficult to find them, but that wasn't a problem for Veronica thanks to the system.
Feeling bored, she decided to check out her [Missions] tab.
[Current Missions:
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete first dungeon room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Set up first spawner
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Set up first challenge
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Place first trap
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete a boss room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete half of the first floor
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Unlock the second floor
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete the first floor
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Unlock ten [Critters]
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Unlock [Critters] from five different phyla.
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Complete first inn room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Make a first-floor reception
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Make a first-floor tavern
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Check-In First Guest
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Incomplete
Info: Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess
Reward: Unlock new schematic (Altar)]
The sheer number of them was a bit overwhelming, but there was one bit that stood out. The mention of spawners made her question what it meant. Surely it didn't mean something like Minecraft where she could set [Monsters] to spawn indefinitely from them for free. That would be too OP and would defeat the purpose of having the option to summon the [Monsters] individually. Perhaps it was something more akin to a respawn point? Either way she definitely wanted to learn more about them!
[Would you like to begin research on monster spawners? Requires 100 DP.
Yes or No?]
Sighing, Veronica selected the [No] option. She faintly remembered seeing something referred to as dungeon points on her dungeon status menu. She, unfortunately, didn't have any right now, nor did she know how to earn any. Sensing the adventuring party coming her way, she turned to head towards the dungeon core room.
It was a bit unfortunate, but it was likely that her two new gargoyles would end up dying at the hands of these adventurers. Unless they were completely clueless beginners, she couldn't see any reason why they would struggle with [Monsters] her system classified as having poor defense and weak combat skills. Oh well, she mentally shrugged, she should be able to afford some new ones after they leave.
Before they left, however, Veronica did have one thing she wanted to test. Sneaking back into the dungeon side, she tested her menus again. However, while she was able to open her dungeon status screen, she only received an error message when she tried to open any of the others. This was hardly the only error message she had seen in her time in the dungeon either. Just yesterday, she had tried leaving the dungeon only to receive a completely different error. Deciding it was worth testing again, she tried leaving just after the adventurers.
[Error! The dungeon master cannot leave the limits of the dungeon. Only non-dungeon entities and contracted monsters may pass the safety zone.]
Yep, that's how she remembered it being yesterday night as well. Veronica supposed this meant that she couldn't try and trick the dungeon into letting her out by having a shorter cooldown between non-dungeon entities leaving and her own attempts to leave. She was well and truly stuck in here.
Thinking back on the issue with the system locking her out, she also had to wonder if that was due to her dungeon being split in half. If she was meant to have adventurers staying on the hotel, it could easily lead to her being unable to make changes to her dungeon pretty much ever. That would be way too limiting, but things would be different if it was limited by halves of the dungeon. Perhaps she could only interact with the half of the dungeon that was empty of adventurers, regardless of whether it was the hotel or the tropical dungeon side. It would be good to know whether the limitation is usually applied based on the separate floors or if an adventurer on the first-floor prevented normal dungeon masters from making changes to all floors. If it was floor-based then her version of the system wouldn't even be that far-fetched or different from the usual.
Still pondering the matter, she went back to her first room and spent 45 MP, of her now full mana pool, on three new gargoyles. The adventures had, in fact, killed the previous two. It would seem the dungeon had also either absorbed their bodies or the adventurers had brought them with them. Well, either way was fine with Veronica, she didn't exactly want corpses everywhere, stone or otherwise.
Dungeon Map Update
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1.5 More Suprises
New
After the three adventurers left, there was still quite a bit of time before Seraphina showed up. Unfortunately, two other groups also showed up to the dungeon in that time. That had resulted in even more of her gargoyles dying and having to be replaced. On the bright side, it did allow her to build two new rooms and she made a significant discovery with the last batch.
She, apparently, had a log full of tributes received from the three groups of adventurers, which had resulted in her dungeon points increasing in number. The first group had left her a red mage's robe, bronze dagger, and a lesser stamina potion. The list was further broken down to show the materials each item was made from with her being rewarded 25 DP for each new [Base Resource] and 10 DP for each new [Item]. Thanks to the robe alone, she had been able to earn an entire 85 dungeon points, but the first group's total came out to an even more amazing 225 DP.
Veronica had to wonder why they were leaving their gear in her dungeon, though. Surely they needed their equipment for future dungeon raids? Perhaps this was their old gear, but that still didn't explain the potion. Oh well, it wasn't her job to tell them what to leave as tribute. It was interesting to see that this seemed to be a regular thing that every adventuring party did, though, as the second and third parties also left her things.
She now also had the schematics for a wooden training sword and shield, a lesser health potion, a random wooden button, peppermint, and plantain leaves. With 410 DP, she could easily afford to spend the 100 DP to unlock the 25 MP spawner as well as it's upgrade for an additional 200 DP. While it was a shame to spend all that she had earned so quickly, it was nice to have a spawner. It was just a shame that she had only had enough mana to buy the 50 MP spawner and so she now had zero [Monsters] in her dungeon.
Veronica didn't really have any attachment to her gargoyles. They couldn't communicate with her and they weren't exactly good for companionship in the way a dog might be. Besides, the labels of "summonable" and "contractable" seemed to suggest the gargoyles were being created from seemingly nothing while others, like her will-o'-wisps, would be coming from somewhere outside of the dungeon. If she had to let her [Monsters] die a permanent death, her gargoyles seemed far more suitable for that then anything else might be, not that she'd have to worry about that anymore.
It was a bit worrisome that the next group to visit the dungeon wouldn't have anything to keep them entertained. They'd, hopefully, be reasonable and not try to bother her or go into the dungeon core room. However, it couldn't be helped that she required more mana before she could create new gargoyles for them to destroy. She could only hope she'd get lucky and they'd get lost on the hotel side long enough for her to make some new ones.
However, after a few more hours, Seraphina arrived to the dungeon and Veronica breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, how did things go today?"
The elven woman asked in greeting.
"Well, the dungeon is still standing, so I suppose it could have been worse."
Veronica joked. With a wry smile, Seraphina apologized
"I'm sorry, I probably should have spent some more time helping you adjust to the dungeon. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me and you'll now have plenty of time to ask them. It seems the council has decided it would be best for me to stay with you in the dungeon until you unlock your second-floor. They want me to observe the situation as well as teach you self-defense and ensure your dungeon can survive, at least, that long."
Veronica rolled her eyes as she complained
"Doesn't seem like they trust me to know what I'm doing. I know I'm not from this world, but I've managed just fine on my own today. I even have three rooms now and a spawner in one of them!"
Seraphina laughed in amusement as she walked through the dungeon side with her. Reassuring her, she said
"It isn't about how capable you are, Lady Veronica. The general rule-of-thumb when it comes to dungeons is to let them grow without too much interference. It's even against the dungeon accords to influence your decisions in regards to how to develop your dungeon too much. It's also against the rules to prevent anyone and anything that wishes to challenge your dungeon from entering it. So, I'm hardly here to take away your free will."
Veronica frowned, still feeling upset about it as she asked
"Then why?"
Not leaving any room for her to continue questioning it, Seraphina replied
"Your potential to guard yourself against attacks has been cut in half because of your dungeon being physically divided in half. Besides which, the last time we had someone who retained their memories from their old world, they had to have someone to teach them swordsmanship in order for their safety to be ensured. They somehow ended up hard-locked into a cute theme with slimes as their only combat [Monsters] on their first-floor. She ended up suffering quite a bit of trauma from her situation being mishandled and the council doesn't want to see you suffer a similar fate.
Most humans, like yourself, tend to have a history as adventurers before they become dungeon masters. Beasts and [Monsters] that become dungeon masters tend to grow stronger with each new floor they unlock. Since the only case we have to reference suggests you'll have to depend on your own abilities to defend yourself, I've been told to teach you martial arts and help keep people away from the dungeon core room. Otherwise, just look at it as an opportunity to earn extra mana to build your first-floor more quickly."
Well, Veronica couldn't really argue with that sort of logic. It was true that it would be nice to not have to worry about struggling as much in the beginning. Still, that did raise other questions.
"What happens if someone reaches the dungeon core, anyway? It always feels like alarm bells are going off in my head when adventurers enter the dungeon and I feel the need to protect that room, but I don't entirely understand why."
Seraphina frowned, looking rather serious, as she replied
"Now that you are bonded to the dungeon, you can, potentially, live forever. You won't need to eat, drink, sleep, etc. and you will heal very quickly. However, you have to protect the dungeon core or else it could result in you dying with it. It isn't just you either, the whole dungeon will be destroyed and any [Monsters] in it, including the contracted ones, will die in the process. If you have adventurers who can't get out in time, it's also possible they could be harmed in the process.
I usually try to avoid mentioning this for as long as possible, but I think you should know. Dungeon masters often end up getting tired of living such long lives. By the time that happens, they usually have maxed out their dungeon floors with all twenty-five of them built and it's hard for adventurers and free-roaming [Monsters] to make it that far. That was the case for the last dungeon in the area as well, but it is my job, as your assigned dungeon diplomat, to destroy the dungeon core for you when you are ready to move on. That might mean I lose my life in the process, a lot of that comes down to my own skills and luck."
That was a lot to take in... Veronica wasn't sure what to think and could only ask to be given some space. She needed some time to unpack all that she had learned.
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She, apparently, had a log full of tributes received from the three groups of adventurers, which had resulted in her dungeon points increasing in number. The first group had left her a red mage's robe, bronze dagger, and a lesser stamina potion. The list was further broken down to show the materials each item was made from with her being rewarded 25 DP for each new [Base Resource] and 10 DP for each new [Item]. Thanks to the robe alone, she had been able to earn an entire 85 dungeon points, but the first group's total came out to an even more amazing 225 DP.
Veronica had to wonder why they were leaving their gear in her dungeon, though. Surely they needed their equipment for future dungeon raids? Perhaps this was their old gear, but that still didn't explain the potion. Oh well, it wasn't her job to tell them what to leave as tribute. It was interesting to see that this seemed to be a regular thing that every adventuring party did, though, as the second and third parties also left her things.
She now also had the schematics for a wooden training sword and shield, a lesser health potion, a random wooden button, peppermint, and plantain leaves. With 410 DP, she could easily afford to spend the 100 DP to unlock the 25 MP spawner as well as it's upgrade for an additional 200 DP. While it was a shame to spend all that she had earned so quickly, it was nice to have a spawner. It was just a shame that she had only had enough mana to buy the 50 MP spawner and so she now had zero [Monsters] in her dungeon.
Veronica didn't really have any attachment to her gargoyles. They couldn't communicate with her and they weren't exactly good for companionship in the way a dog might be. Besides, the labels of "summonable" and "contractable" seemed to suggest the gargoyles were being created from seemingly nothing while others, like her will-o'-wisps, would be coming from somewhere outside of the dungeon. If she had to let her [Monsters] die a permanent death, her gargoyles seemed far more suitable for that then anything else might be, not that she'd have to worry about that anymore.
It was a bit worrisome that the next group to visit the dungeon wouldn't have anything to keep them entertained. They'd, hopefully, be reasonable and not try to bother her or go into the dungeon core room. However, it couldn't be helped that she required more mana before she could create new gargoyles for them to destroy. She could only hope she'd get lucky and they'd get lost on the hotel side long enough for her to make some new ones.
However, after a few more hours, Seraphina arrived to the dungeon and Veronica breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, how did things go today?"
The elven woman asked in greeting.
"Well, the dungeon is still standing, so I suppose it could have been worse."
Veronica joked. With a wry smile, Seraphina apologized
"I'm sorry, I probably should have spent some more time helping you adjust to the dungeon. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me and you'll now have plenty of time to ask them. It seems the council has decided it would be best for me to stay with you in the dungeon until you unlock your second-floor. They want me to observe the situation as well as teach you self-defense and ensure your dungeon can survive, at least, that long."
Veronica rolled her eyes as she complained
"Doesn't seem like they trust me to know what I'm doing. I know I'm not from this world, but I've managed just fine on my own today. I even have three rooms now and a spawner in one of them!"
Seraphina laughed in amusement as she walked through the dungeon side with her. Reassuring her, she said
"It isn't about how capable you are, Lady Veronica. The general rule-of-thumb when it comes to dungeons is to let them grow without too much interference. It's even against the dungeon accords to influence your decisions in regards to how to develop your dungeon too much. It's also against the rules to prevent anyone and anything that wishes to challenge your dungeon from entering it. So, I'm hardly here to take away your free will."
Veronica frowned, still feeling upset about it as she asked
"Then why?"
Not leaving any room for her to continue questioning it, Seraphina replied
"Your potential to guard yourself against attacks has been cut in half because of your dungeon being physically divided in half. Besides which, the last time we had someone who retained their memories from their old world, they had to have someone to teach them swordsmanship in order for their safety to be ensured. They somehow ended up hard-locked into a cute theme with slimes as their only combat [Monsters] on their first-floor. She ended up suffering quite a bit of trauma from her situation being mishandled and the council doesn't want to see you suffer a similar fate.
Most humans, like yourself, tend to have a history as adventurers before they become dungeon masters. Beasts and [Monsters] that become dungeon masters tend to grow stronger with each new floor they unlock. Since the only case we have to reference suggests you'll have to depend on your own abilities to defend yourself, I've been told to teach you martial arts and help keep people away from the dungeon core room. Otherwise, just look at it as an opportunity to earn extra mana to build your first-floor more quickly."
Well, Veronica couldn't really argue with that sort of logic. It was true that it would be nice to not have to worry about struggling as much in the beginning. Still, that did raise other questions.
"What happens if someone reaches the dungeon core, anyway? It always feels like alarm bells are going off in my head when adventurers enter the dungeon and I feel the need to protect that room, but I don't entirely understand why."
Seraphina frowned, looking rather serious, as she replied
"Now that you are bonded to the dungeon, you can, potentially, live forever. You won't need to eat, drink, sleep, etc. and you will heal very quickly. However, you have to protect the dungeon core or else it could result in you dying with it. It isn't just you either, the whole dungeon will be destroyed and any [Monsters] in it, including the contracted ones, will die in the process. If you have adventurers who can't get out in time, it's also possible they could be harmed in the process.
I usually try to avoid mentioning this for as long as possible, but I think you should know. Dungeon masters often end up getting tired of living such long lives. By the time that happens, they usually have maxed out their dungeon floors with all twenty-five of them built and it's hard for adventurers and free-roaming [Monsters] to make it that far. That was the case for the last dungeon in the area as well, but it is my job, as your assigned dungeon diplomat, to destroy the dungeon core for you when you are ready to move on. That might mean I lose my life in the process, a lot of that comes down to my own skills and luck."
That was a lot to take in... Veronica wasn't sure what to think and could only ask to be given some space. She needed some time to unpack all that she had learned.
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1.6 The Local Lord
New
Lord Sylvar Goldenleaf looked up as his daughter came into his office. It had been a long day of filling out paperwork as he carefully managed their territory. However, he had been waiting for his daughter to visit, so he gave her a smile in greeting while she made herself comfortable in the seat across from him.
"So, how did things go, Ava?"
His daughter seemed bored, but she still answered his question promptly.
"Eliath sent the adventurers to check out the dungeon like you wanted. They all returned unscathed, though, they took far longer than expected. It seems that the dungeon is a bit peculiar."
Sylvar frowned, feeling concerned as he questioned
"That's disappointing, I was hoping this would be a valuable opportunity for our people. Has he sent out a notification to the dungeon diplomats?"
Eliath Autumnfire was the local adventures' guild's guildmaster as well as his daughter's husband. More than likely, he would have taken the initiative to check out the new dungeon, even without his own interference. However, he had been optimistic that the new dungeon would give a second life to his city. If there was something wrong with the dungeon, though, then it couldn't be helped, it would have to be destroyed.
Of course, something like that wasn't so easily done. Since the dungeon diplomats were in charge of managing the dungeons and ensuring everyone followed the dungeon accords, they would have to wait for the council's approval before action could be taken. The only bit of good news was that they wouldn't have to worry about finding someone suitable to take care of the problem.
Before he could continue his line of thinking, his daughter interrupted
"Actually, it seems the dungeon is in good health. I thought the same at first, but Eliath explained it was unlikely anyone would safely return from the dungeon if it was truly a danger. Rather, it seems we have a unique dungeon on our hands. One half of it appears to be a rainforest while the other half has wooden walls and floors. It's an open floorplan dungeon as well, which, from what I was told, is quite rare. There is supposed to only be a small handful of them in the entire world."
Sylvar stroked his chin as he sat in thought. Perhaps, rather than being disappointed, he should be more enthusiastic. If they had truly lucked into having a functioning unique dungeon type, their city could see unprecedented growth that could even surpass that which they had previously seen. The last dungeon in their city had been a fairly standard one with a succubus as the dungeon master. The [Monster] variety was decent and everything was well-balanced. The only real worry back then had been the sheer number of adventurers who fell prey to the dungeon master and had willingly gone to their deaths. However, that had been something that was easily accepted and had hardly stopped the thousands of adventurers who flocked to their city just for the chance to conquer the dungeon.
"Do we know what kind of dungeon master is running the dungeon yet?"
He asked. Ava shook her head, looking bored as she answered
"No, not yet. You know how dungeon masters tend to be. They don't like it when you enter the dungeon core room and they rarely venture out, especially in the early days. I'm sure it will just be a matter of time, though. Adventurers are bound to jump on the opportunity to make some quick coin by selling information about the dungeon."
Sylvar nodded, dismissing his daughter so he could get back to work.
Elsewhere, Veronica was taking her first martial arts lesson from Seraphina. The elven woman had brought her a wooden staff and had immediately wanted to start lessons once the sun had set. Apparently, the plan was to start with a weapon and then move on to hand-to-hand combat later on. While both were equally important to learn, she, apparently, thought it would be easier for Veronica to fight off intruders with a weapon to add some oomph to her attacks. Considering the fact that most adventurers and some free-roaming [Monsters] also utilized weapons, she could definitely understand where Seraphina was coming from.
After being knocked on her ass for the dozenth time, Veronica stood up and glared at the woman across from her. She was hardly going to complain, but it was definitely getting annoying to constantly be knocked over and smacked around. Well, it could certainly be worse. If she were in an actual fight, she would have to contend against those with magic or pointy swords and spears. Those would likely hurt a lot more than what she was currently dealing with.
There hadn't been anymore visitors for the day, but that was fine with Veronica. After confirming all she had to do was send Seraphina into the other half of the dungeon to access her system, she had used the opportunity to build a few more rooms and fill them with 50 MP spawners and 3 gargoyles each. She now had five rooms ready to take on adventurers, which wasn't a ton, but it was certainly better than things had been before.
After a few hours, Seraphina must have tired out because she finally called it quits on the training for the night. Veronica was glad for it as she was sure she had several bruises forming and blisters were forming on her hands. It would seem that the ability to heal quickly didn't prevent her from getting injured, it just made it so she was guaranteed to recover within a few hours time.Of course, it was faster for more minor injuries, but it still sucked. She was even beginning to suspect such healing might be a curse since she doubted she'd form the necessary callouses to ensure she wouldn't have to keep suffering in the future.
"Are you familiar with the different types of rooms you can build? It seems like you're mostly just building [Monster] fields right now. I mean, that's fine, if that's what you want to do, but I'd be happy to fill in any gaps in knowledge you might have."
Seraphina asked. As she seemed to genuinely be asking rather than making fun of her choices, Veronica decided to be honest.
"I've never been in charge of a dungeon and we don't have them where I came from. We have stories and games where we can play around with similar concepts, but I'm not sure it's the same thing. I know there are usually things like rooms where you have to solve riddles or dodge [Traps], but I don't really know how things work here."
Seraphina nodded before launching into an explanation
"Well, generally, room types can be divided into three primary types. There are [Monster] fields, which is where the primary focus is the [Monsters] the adventurers and intruders have to fight against. There might be resources added like oak trees or fruit bushes, maybe even a few [Traps], but that's it.
Challenge rooms are the second type and can take many different forms from a riddle that has to be solved to jumping over obstacles. There is always a reward set for the challenge and the system has to know what the conditions are to complete the challenge.
As for the third type, it's, pretty much, just a miscellaneous category. Your boss rooms, a tribute room, and any non-combat, non-challenge rooms would fall under this category. Most dungeons are fairly combat-heavy and the dungeon masters don't get very creative with making other types of rooms. However, I've heard from my friend, Theodore, that one of his dungeon masters likes to make rest areas before boss rooms and some areas that are just meant to be relaxing and peaceful. Since you can't leave the dungeon, it's important that you make it a place you want to live, not just focus on safety all of the time."
Veronica listened to her words carefully, making mental notes. She could certainly see the appeal of turning your dungeon into a place of joy and beauty, but she just wasn't sure that it was her style. Besides, she had the hotel, so there wasn't a need for more dungeon space to be spent on things that wouldn't have some level of defense for the dungeon. Challenge rooms didn't sound like a bad idea to include, eventually, but, even then, she wasn't sure she wanted to dedicate too much space to things like that.
"Alright, thank you for the information. I'll consider what I want to do in regards to challenge rooms in the future, but I don't think I have use for any of the others. I should, probably, be more worried about what to do with the hotel, anyhow. I actually have system quests for that."
Seraphina just shrugged at Veronica's words. It wasn't her job to influence her, just to guide her. Saying anything more would be out of line, so the subject was dropped.
Dungeon Map Update
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"So, how did things go, Ava?"
His daughter seemed bored, but she still answered his question promptly.
"Eliath sent the adventurers to check out the dungeon like you wanted. They all returned unscathed, though, they took far longer than expected. It seems that the dungeon is a bit peculiar."
Sylvar frowned, feeling concerned as he questioned
"That's disappointing, I was hoping this would be a valuable opportunity for our people. Has he sent out a notification to the dungeon diplomats?"
Eliath Autumnfire was the local adventures' guild's guildmaster as well as his daughter's husband. More than likely, he would have taken the initiative to check out the new dungeon, even without his own interference. However, he had been optimistic that the new dungeon would give a second life to his city. If there was something wrong with the dungeon, though, then it couldn't be helped, it would have to be destroyed.
Of course, something like that wasn't so easily done. Since the dungeon diplomats were in charge of managing the dungeons and ensuring everyone followed the dungeon accords, they would have to wait for the council's approval before action could be taken. The only bit of good news was that they wouldn't have to worry about finding someone suitable to take care of the problem.
Before he could continue his line of thinking, his daughter interrupted
"Actually, it seems the dungeon is in good health. I thought the same at first, but Eliath explained it was unlikely anyone would safely return from the dungeon if it was truly a danger. Rather, it seems we have a unique dungeon on our hands. One half of it appears to be a rainforest while the other half has wooden walls and floors. It's an open floorplan dungeon as well, which, from what I was told, is quite rare. There is supposed to only be a small handful of them in the entire world."
Sylvar stroked his chin as he sat in thought. Perhaps, rather than being disappointed, he should be more enthusiastic. If they had truly lucked into having a functioning unique dungeon type, their city could see unprecedented growth that could even surpass that which they had previously seen. The last dungeon in their city had been a fairly standard one with a succubus as the dungeon master. The [Monster] variety was decent and everything was well-balanced. The only real worry back then had been the sheer number of adventurers who fell prey to the dungeon master and had willingly gone to their deaths. However, that had been something that was easily accepted and had hardly stopped the thousands of adventurers who flocked to their city just for the chance to conquer the dungeon.
"Do we know what kind of dungeon master is running the dungeon yet?"
He asked. Ava shook her head, looking bored as she answered
"No, not yet. You know how dungeon masters tend to be. They don't like it when you enter the dungeon core room and they rarely venture out, especially in the early days. I'm sure it will just be a matter of time, though. Adventurers are bound to jump on the opportunity to make some quick coin by selling information about the dungeon."
Sylvar nodded, dismissing his daughter so he could get back to work.
Elsewhere, Veronica was taking her first martial arts lesson from Seraphina. The elven woman had brought her a wooden staff and had immediately wanted to start lessons once the sun had set. Apparently, the plan was to start with a weapon and then move on to hand-to-hand combat later on. While both were equally important to learn, she, apparently, thought it would be easier for Veronica to fight off intruders with a weapon to add some oomph to her attacks. Considering the fact that most adventurers and some free-roaming [Monsters] also utilized weapons, she could definitely understand where Seraphina was coming from.
After being knocked on her ass for the dozenth time, Veronica stood up and glared at the woman across from her. She was hardly going to complain, but it was definitely getting annoying to constantly be knocked over and smacked around. Well, it could certainly be worse. If she were in an actual fight, she would have to contend against those with magic or pointy swords and spears. Those would likely hurt a lot more than what she was currently dealing with.
There hadn't been anymore visitors for the day, but that was fine with Veronica. After confirming all she had to do was send Seraphina into the other half of the dungeon to access her system, she had used the opportunity to build a few more rooms and fill them with 50 MP spawners and 3 gargoyles each. She now had five rooms ready to take on adventurers, which wasn't a ton, but it was certainly better than things had been before.
After a few hours, Seraphina must have tired out because she finally called it quits on the training for the night. Veronica was glad for it as she was sure she had several bruises forming and blisters were forming on her hands. It would seem that the ability to heal quickly didn't prevent her from getting injured, it just made it so she was guaranteed to recover within a few hours time.Of course, it was faster for more minor injuries, but it still sucked. She was even beginning to suspect such healing might be a curse since she doubted she'd form the necessary callouses to ensure she wouldn't have to keep suffering in the future.
"Are you familiar with the different types of rooms you can build? It seems like you're mostly just building [Monster] fields right now. I mean, that's fine, if that's what you want to do, but I'd be happy to fill in any gaps in knowledge you might have."
Seraphina asked. As she seemed to genuinely be asking rather than making fun of her choices, Veronica decided to be honest.
"I've never been in charge of a dungeon and we don't have them where I came from. We have stories and games where we can play around with similar concepts, but I'm not sure it's the same thing. I know there are usually things like rooms where you have to solve riddles or dodge [Traps], but I don't really know how things work here."
Seraphina nodded before launching into an explanation
"Well, generally, room types can be divided into three primary types. There are [Monster] fields, which is where the primary focus is the [Monsters] the adventurers and intruders have to fight against. There might be resources added like oak trees or fruit bushes, maybe even a few [Traps], but that's it.
Challenge rooms are the second type and can take many different forms from a riddle that has to be solved to jumping over obstacles. There is always a reward set for the challenge and the system has to know what the conditions are to complete the challenge.
As for the third type, it's, pretty much, just a miscellaneous category. Your boss rooms, a tribute room, and any non-combat, non-challenge rooms would fall under this category. Most dungeons are fairly combat-heavy and the dungeon masters don't get very creative with making other types of rooms. However, I've heard from my friend, Theodore, that one of his dungeon masters likes to make rest areas before boss rooms and some areas that are just meant to be relaxing and peaceful. Since you can't leave the dungeon, it's important that you make it a place you want to live, not just focus on safety all of the time."
Veronica listened to her words carefully, making mental notes. She could certainly see the appeal of turning your dungeon into a place of joy and beauty, but she just wasn't sure that it was her style. Besides, she had the hotel, so there wasn't a need for more dungeon space to be spent on things that wouldn't have some level of defense for the dungeon. Challenge rooms didn't sound like a bad idea to include, eventually, but, even then, she wasn't sure she wanted to dedicate too much space to things like that.
"Alright, thank you for the information. I'll consider what I want to do in regards to challenge rooms in the future, but I don't think I have use for any of the others. I should, probably, be more worried about what to do with the hotel, anyhow. I actually have system quests for that."
Seraphina just shrugged at Veronica's words. It wasn't her job to influence her, just to guide her. Saying anything more would be out of line, so the subject was dropped.
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1.7 Bull-headed Adventurer
New
The next day, the dungeon was even busier than it had been the day before. However, Veronica no longer had to worry about adding new [Monster] to replace the old ones. The spawners ensured there was no shortage of gargoyles to keep the adventurers entertained. Instead, she spent her time questioning Seraphina and learning more about the world around her.
"So, what are things like outside of the dungeon? I know you said my dungeon is on an island and there is a large city nearby, but that's about all I know."
Seraphina looked up from the stairs she had been absently staring at while munching on an apple. Tilting her head to the side in thought, she replied
"Well, your dungeon is like a square tower, if a rather short one. As you add floors to your dungeon, new floors will be built on top of the old, creating a tower that can be seen from farther away. Similar to the central hallway and your dungeon core room, the outside of the dungeon is made from very smooth, but plain grey stone bricks. You're not really missing anything by not getting to see it for yourself, the inside of a dungeon is always far more interesting.
I should probably mention, though, you haven't named your dungeon yet. Every dungeon has an area above the main entrance for the name to be displayed. There's no rush, though, you can always name your dungeon later. Even if you build a few floors first, the option will still be there."
Veronica blinked her blue eyes in surprise. She didn't realize there even was the option to name her dungeon. It wasn't like it wasn't an option listed in her menus. Of course, this only brought up further questions about what sorts of other hidden mechanics her dungeon had in store for her.
"Well, I'll think it over some. I'll probably end up naming it something dumb, but I know I'd like it to be something related to the inn and tavern side of the dungeon. It would be good to advertise that feature up front."
Seraphina just shrugged in response. That seemed to be a habit of hers and it was beginning to grate on Veronica's nerves. She didn't expect the elven woman to be her friend, but it would be nice if she acted like she cared a bit more.
"What about the city? What sorts of businesses are there? I know the dungeon gets tributes from adventurers, but it might be good to consider some sort of trade with a merchant so I can get what I need for the hotel."
Seraphina looked up from hermostly eateneaten apple. Her expression was pinched as she said
"I wouldn't recommend getting into contracts with others so easily. While I can help you make arrangements outside of the dungeon, should it become necessary, people aren't always trustworthy. A lot of times it comes down to misunderstandings since they don't know much about how dungeons work, but I don't want to see you get hurt."
Veronica could certainly appreciate how concerned the elven woman sounded for her, but that still didn't answer her question. Giving her an impatient look, Veronica waited for her to continue. Sighing in exasperation, Seraphina relented
"Fine! I guess there are a few remaining merchants around the area. Those who could afford to chose to leave the area after the last dungeon was destroyed. We are in a port city, though, so a lot of trade from other kingdoms and traveling merchants pass through the area. For the most part, though, there are just general store merchants who sell general supplies, smaller food market stalls, a few basic tradesmen, a nearly bankrupt inn, and the adventurers' guild."
Well, that wasn't much, but Veronica was pretty sure she could work with it. However, before she could think much more on the topic, Seraphina stood up in a defensive position in front of the core. Just moments later, a rather muscular and tall man came barreling into the room. Seraphina would later explain that the man was half giant and half shifter, which is why he had bull horns sticking out of his head. Pointing to Veronica the man bellowed
"You, me, duel now!"
Then the man thrust his fist out at her, clocking Veronica in the jaw. Seraphina stepped forward, demanding
"You need to leave this room or I will be forced to take action."
The large man took Seraphina in, seemed to make a decision, and then grabbed Veronica's arm, dragging her out into the hall as he replied in a gruff voice
"Fine with me! I'm just here for the dungeon master. Can't very well consider the dungeon conquered unless I can defeat the dungeon master now can I?"
Looking back at her assigned dungeon diplomat, Veronica was horrified to see that she seemed to have no intention of helping her. She just remained in the room, leaving her to her own defenses. After a moment of thought, she opened the door and tossed out Veronica's staff and called out
"Good luck!"
with a far too cheerful tone. Looks like she was on her own. Stumbling to her feet, she took up a defensive stance and prepared to defend against the man in front of her. The man might have let her stand back up, but it seemed that was the only kindness he was willing to grant her as he immediately charged her with his horns pointed forward.
Veronica barely managed to dodge to the side, but the man redirected too quickly and she ended up taking a punch to the gut. As she had never needed to take self-defense classes and a few hours practicing with Seraphina, the previous night, was hardly enough for her to stand a chance against the man. Unfortunately, a few too many hits led to her vision spotting around the edges and she could barely stand up. Veronica was fairly sure she likely even had some sort of internal injuries, yet the bull-headed adventurer didn't relent.
"Come on, do we really have to do this? You're clearly stronger than me, can't we call it quits? I don't even know you! Please stop!"
Veronica called out, desperate to get him to stop. It worked, for a moment, as the man introduced himself.
"My name is Bo, no more talking!"
Then he charged forward once more, piercing into her throat with his horns. It didn't take much longer after that for Veronica to experience her first death both in this world and her previous one.
Bo
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"So, what are things like outside of the dungeon? I know you said my dungeon is on an island and there is a large city nearby, but that's about all I know."
Seraphina looked up from the stairs she had been absently staring at while munching on an apple. Tilting her head to the side in thought, she replied
"Well, your dungeon is like a square tower, if a rather short one. As you add floors to your dungeon, new floors will be built on top of the old, creating a tower that can be seen from farther away. Similar to the central hallway and your dungeon core room, the outside of the dungeon is made from very smooth, but plain grey stone bricks. You're not really missing anything by not getting to see it for yourself, the inside of a dungeon is always far more interesting.
I should probably mention, though, you haven't named your dungeon yet. Every dungeon has an area above the main entrance for the name to be displayed. There's no rush, though, you can always name your dungeon later. Even if you build a few floors first, the option will still be there."
Veronica blinked her blue eyes in surprise. She didn't realize there even was the option to name her dungeon. It wasn't like it wasn't an option listed in her menus. Of course, this only brought up further questions about what sorts of other hidden mechanics her dungeon had in store for her.
"Well, I'll think it over some. I'll probably end up naming it something dumb, but I know I'd like it to be something related to the inn and tavern side of the dungeon. It would be good to advertise that feature up front."
Seraphina just shrugged in response. That seemed to be a habit of hers and it was beginning to grate on Veronica's nerves. She didn't expect the elven woman to be her friend, but it would be nice if she acted like she cared a bit more.
"What about the city? What sorts of businesses are there? I know the dungeon gets tributes from adventurers, but it might be good to consider some sort of trade with a merchant so I can get what I need for the hotel."
Seraphina looked up from hermostly eateneaten apple. Her expression was pinched as she said
"I wouldn't recommend getting into contracts with others so easily. While I can help you make arrangements outside of the dungeon, should it become necessary, people aren't always trustworthy. A lot of times it comes down to misunderstandings since they don't know much about how dungeons work, but I don't want to see you get hurt."
Veronica could certainly appreciate how concerned the elven woman sounded for her, but that still didn't answer her question. Giving her an impatient look, Veronica waited for her to continue. Sighing in exasperation, Seraphina relented
"Fine! I guess there are a few remaining merchants around the area. Those who could afford to chose to leave the area after the last dungeon was destroyed. We are in a port city, though, so a lot of trade from other kingdoms and traveling merchants pass through the area. For the most part, though, there are just general store merchants who sell general supplies, smaller food market stalls, a few basic tradesmen, a nearly bankrupt inn, and the adventurers' guild."
Well, that wasn't much, but Veronica was pretty sure she could work with it. However, before she could think much more on the topic, Seraphina stood up in a defensive position in front of the core. Just moments later, a rather muscular and tall man came barreling into the room. Seraphina would later explain that the man was half giant and half shifter, which is why he had bull horns sticking out of his head. Pointing to Veronica the man bellowed
"You, me, duel now!"
Then the man thrust his fist out at her, clocking Veronica in the jaw. Seraphina stepped forward, demanding
"You need to leave this room or I will be forced to take action."
The large man took Seraphina in, seemed to make a decision, and then grabbed Veronica's arm, dragging her out into the hall as he replied in a gruff voice
"Fine with me! I'm just here for the dungeon master. Can't very well consider the dungeon conquered unless I can defeat the dungeon master now can I?"
Looking back at her assigned dungeon diplomat, Veronica was horrified to see that she seemed to have no intention of helping her. She just remained in the room, leaving her to her own defenses. After a moment of thought, she opened the door and tossed out Veronica's staff and called out
"Good luck!"
with a far too cheerful tone. Looks like she was on her own. Stumbling to her feet, she took up a defensive stance and prepared to defend against the man in front of her. The man might have let her stand back up, but it seemed that was the only kindness he was willing to grant her as he immediately charged her with his horns pointed forward.
Veronica barely managed to dodge to the side, but the man redirected too quickly and she ended up taking a punch to the gut. As she had never needed to take self-defense classes and a few hours practicing with Seraphina, the previous night, was hardly enough for her to stand a chance against the man. Unfortunately, a few too many hits led to her vision spotting around the edges and she could barely stand up. Veronica was fairly sure she likely even had some sort of internal injuries, yet the bull-headed adventurer didn't relent.
"Come on, do we really have to do this? You're clearly stronger than me, can't we call it quits? I don't even know you! Please stop!"
Veronica called out, desperate to get him to stop. It worked, for a moment, as the man introduced himself.
"My name is Bo, no more talking!"
Then he charged forward once more, piercing into her throat with his horns. It didn't take much longer after that for Veronica to experience her first death both in this world and her previous one.
Bo
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1.8 Distractions
New
Veronica had a hard time putting together the previous events and the fact that she was now alive and standing in the dungeon core room. However, once she got her bearings, she was quick to accuse
"Why didn't you do anything? I thought you were supposed to be helping me!"
Seraphina looked bored as she replied
"I'm not always going to be here to help you."
"I- I died! What do you-"
Seraphina was quick to interrupt her complaints
"Well, you aren't dead anymore, are you? Besides, you had to learn this lesson sooner or later."
Veronica felt livid as she questioned
"Lesson?! What lesson?!"
With an exasperated sigh, Seraphina explained
"Well, I did tell you that you're immortal now. That means you literally can't die unless the dungeon is destroyed, period. Although, that connection does go both ways. If you die too often and end up traumatized from it then that can lead to the dungeon core corrupting. That'll be far worse than the depression or PTSD you might, otherwise, suffer from. It could lead to life feeling unbearable while you go insane and you'll feel the need to make others suffer just as much as you are.
Honestly, I get it, you're mad, but it must not be that bad if the dungeon isn't stepping in. If you were that badly off, it would be sending out calming waves of energy to force you to calm down, relax, and be happy. Anger isn't really an issue, as far as the dungeon is concerned, though. That's effective for plenty of things like defending the dungeon in times of need, for example."
Veronica still felt like arguing about it, but tried to take a moment to calm down. Seraphina wasn't entirely wrong. While it had all come as a shock and she was most definitely upset with her assigned dungeon diplomat, it wasn't like she felt like curling up in a ball and crying or anything. Maybe that was because of the way she had grown up. Her childhood was mostly happy, but she had to get used to competing with her brother from an early age. She knew now that crying when things didn't go her way wouldn't solve anything. If she wanted things to get better, the only thing that would help was determination and hard work. Sure, that didn't work for everything, but the things she couldn't change weren't worth wasting energy on caring about anyhow.
Seeing her starting to calm down, Seraphina must have decided it was a good time to continue to educate her.
"Your [Monsters] have similar mechanics, you know. If your gargoyles die too much then their souls can also become corrupted. That tends to lead to them being worse at battle and more prone to attack at even the slightest provocation. However, if it gets too bad, they'll just stop respawning and need to be replaced.
Most summoned [Monsters] aren't sentient enough for you to need to feel pity for them. As for contracted [Monsters] who come from outside the dungeon, they, generally, know what they are signing up for. Out there, if they die, that's it, their lives are done. In here, they're almost guaranteed to die again and again, but their lives will also be longer and they have the opportunity to evolve or do unique non-combat tasks for you with both offering them the chance for a less dangerous existence."
Veronica frowned. She hadn't really given it much thought, but it was true. Her dungeon [Monsters] would all have to die repeatedly to adventurers, sometimes even multiple times a day. They wouldn't all be like the gargoyles who just seemed to snarl incoherently at her or glare menacingly. It was possible she could end up with a more sentient creature like the goblins she had dismissed when she initially arrived here.
Deciding she didn't want to think about all of this anymore she mumbled her goodbyes and left the dungeon core room. Seraphina seemed far too cheerful as she called after her
"Don't worry, I'll keep the dungeon core safe while you're gone. Remember, we still have training once the sun sets and all the adventurers go home."
Great, so she couldn't even get space around here for very long. Veronica mentally rolled her eyes. She definitely needed a distraction. Maybe she could work on her hotel side of the dungeon for a bit? She certainly had a few [Missions] relating to building things on that side of the dungeon.
Earlier in the day, she had built her sixth 18-meters by 18-meters square room on the tropical rainforest side of the dungeon. It already had a 50 MP spawner and 3 gargoyles assigned to the room. However, she had, unfortunately, discovered that the leftover space on the right-most side of the dungeon didn't fit any of her current room-building options. The menu did suggest she could research new options to use for dungeon points, but she would be leaving that for another day. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone while she worked on other things.
The first day she had been here, she had been experimenting and found out that she had to always have a path that led from the entrance to the dungeon core room. Why the dungeon would want to keep such a weakness, she wasn't sure. Perhaps it related back to the dungeon accords Seraphina liked to reference all of the time. Considering how she had been checking her dungeon core for corruption, it was likely that the open access was meant as a way to ensure a dungeon could always be destroyed in an emergency.
Still, that didn't mean she had to keep open access on the hotel side of things. Even if she blocked things off some, she would still have a route through the tropical rainforest. Adventurers would just have to contend with getting lost in the trees and fight her gargoyles before they could reach the room, not that it had stopped that crazy half-giant. She shivered in discomfort as she reflected on the memory.
Four groups of adventurers came through the dungeon over the course of the day. Most of them had weak energy signatures and their group numbers ranged from those going solo to four-man parties. Thanks to Seraphina's presence, she always had plenty of mana accruing, but her menu accessibility cut off on occasion as adventurers wandered into her work area. None of them paid her much attention, only sparing her an odd glance on occasion.
Veronica did have to admit that her party dress and wedges weren't doing her any favors when it came to blending into this new world. Most of the adventurers were wearing pants, including the women, but she highly doubted that a pair of jeans would have been any better. Really, Veronica needed to get ahold of some new attire so she could play the role of innkeeper and dungeon master without anyone batting an eye.
Regardless of the constant distractions, she still managed to make some decent progress on building. By the time Seraphina came along to fetch her for martial arts training, she had 10 new 9-meters by 9-meters hotel rooms and plenty of hallways to connect everything. She also managed to figure out that she could just ask the system to unlock a new 15-meters by 19-meters rectangular room and a prompt that asked her
[Would you like to research a 15-meters by 19-meters room for 68 DP?
Yes or No?]
popped up. Thanks to earning 422 DP for the day from the adventurer's tributes, that amount barely felt like a drop in the bucket. So, now she also had a room perfect for a reception where adventurer's could check in. The only real issue Veronica was worried about was the lack of suitable tributes for making things for the inn rooms.
It would seem that wherever she was living now was full of elves and, for some reason, had a lot in common with the Asian countries of her home world. She had received 3 flint arrows, some evening primrose, an empty potion vial, a cork stopper, a camellia flower, perilla leaves, a bit of hemp rope, cherry blossoms, taro root, some twine, chrysanthemum, lotus root, ginger, and a chunk of jade stone. Veronica supposed the mythology from her own world about elves must be true with the number of plants and nature-based items she was getting for tributes. Many of the items didn't even seem like the sort of thing that would grow near a coastal city, so it was likely they had chosen to buy them purely to leave as a tribute for her dungeon. Still, she was hardly going to complain since she was most certainly benefitting from the variety.
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"Why didn't you do anything? I thought you were supposed to be helping me!"
Seraphina looked bored as she replied
"I'm not always going to be here to help you."
"I- I died! What do you-"
Seraphina was quick to interrupt her complaints
"Well, you aren't dead anymore, are you? Besides, you had to learn this lesson sooner or later."
Veronica felt livid as she questioned
"Lesson?! What lesson?!"
With an exasperated sigh, Seraphina explained
"Well, I did tell you that you're immortal now. That means you literally can't die unless the dungeon is destroyed, period. Although, that connection does go both ways. If you die too often and end up traumatized from it then that can lead to the dungeon core corrupting. That'll be far worse than the depression or PTSD you might, otherwise, suffer from. It could lead to life feeling unbearable while you go insane and you'll feel the need to make others suffer just as much as you are.
Honestly, I get it, you're mad, but it must not be that bad if the dungeon isn't stepping in. If you were that badly off, it would be sending out calming waves of energy to force you to calm down, relax, and be happy. Anger isn't really an issue, as far as the dungeon is concerned, though. That's effective for plenty of things like defending the dungeon in times of need, for example."
Veronica still felt like arguing about it, but tried to take a moment to calm down. Seraphina wasn't entirely wrong. While it had all come as a shock and she was most definitely upset with her assigned dungeon diplomat, it wasn't like she felt like curling up in a ball and crying or anything. Maybe that was because of the way she had grown up. Her childhood was mostly happy, but she had to get used to competing with her brother from an early age. She knew now that crying when things didn't go her way wouldn't solve anything. If she wanted things to get better, the only thing that would help was determination and hard work. Sure, that didn't work for everything, but the things she couldn't change weren't worth wasting energy on caring about anyhow.
Seeing her starting to calm down, Seraphina must have decided it was a good time to continue to educate her.
"Your [Monsters] have similar mechanics, you know. If your gargoyles die too much then their souls can also become corrupted. That tends to lead to them being worse at battle and more prone to attack at even the slightest provocation. However, if it gets too bad, they'll just stop respawning and need to be replaced.
Most summoned [Monsters] aren't sentient enough for you to need to feel pity for them. As for contracted [Monsters] who come from outside the dungeon, they, generally, know what they are signing up for. Out there, if they die, that's it, their lives are done. In here, they're almost guaranteed to die again and again, but their lives will also be longer and they have the opportunity to evolve or do unique non-combat tasks for you with both offering them the chance for a less dangerous existence."
Veronica frowned. She hadn't really given it much thought, but it was true. Her dungeon [Monsters] would all have to die repeatedly to adventurers, sometimes even multiple times a day. They wouldn't all be like the gargoyles who just seemed to snarl incoherently at her or glare menacingly. It was possible she could end up with a more sentient creature like the goblins she had dismissed when she initially arrived here.
Deciding she didn't want to think about all of this anymore she mumbled her goodbyes and left the dungeon core room. Seraphina seemed far too cheerful as she called after her
"Don't worry, I'll keep the dungeon core safe while you're gone. Remember, we still have training once the sun sets and all the adventurers go home."
Great, so she couldn't even get space around here for very long. Veronica mentally rolled her eyes. She definitely needed a distraction. Maybe she could work on her hotel side of the dungeon for a bit? She certainly had a few [Missions] relating to building things on that side of the dungeon.
Earlier in the day, she had built her sixth 18-meters by 18-meters square room on the tropical rainforest side of the dungeon. It already had a 50 MP spawner and 3 gargoyles assigned to the room. However, she had, unfortunately, discovered that the leftover space on the right-most side of the dungeon didn't fit any of her current room-building options. The menu did suggest she could research new options to use for dungeon points, but she would be leaving that for another day. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone while she worked on other things.
The first day she had been here, she had been experimenting and found out that she had to always have a path that led from the entrance to the dungeon core room. Why the dungeon would want to keep such a weakness, she wasn't sure. Perhaps it related back to the dungeon accords Seraphina liked to reference all of the time. Considering how she had been checking her dungeon core for corruption, it was likely that the open access was meant as a way to ensure a dungeon could always be destroyed in an emergency.
Still, that didn't mean she had to keep open access on the hotel side of things. Even if she blocked things off some, she would still have a route through the tropical rainforest. Adventurers would just have to contend with getting lost in the trees and fight her gargoyles before they could reach the room, not that it had stopped that crazy half-giant. She shivered in discomfort as she reflected on the memory.
Four groups of adventurers came through the dungeon over the course of the day. Most of them had weak energy signatures and their group numbers ranged from those going solo to four-man parties. Thanks to Seraphina's presence, she always had plenty of mana accruing, but her menu accessibility cut off on occasion as adventurers wandered into her work area. None of them paid her much attention, only sparing her an odd glance on occasion.
Veronica did have to admit that her party dress and wedges weren't doing her any favors when it came to blending into this new world. Most of the adventurers were wearing pants, including the women, but she highly doubted that a pair of jeans would have been any better. Really, Veronica needed to get ahold of some new attire so she could play the role of innkeeper and dungeon master without anyone batting an eye.
Regardless of the constant distractions, she still managed to make some decent progress on building. By the time Seraphina came along to fetch her for martial arts training, she had 10 new 9-meters by 9-meters hotel rooms and plenty of hallways to connect everything. She also managed to figure out that she could just ask the system to unlock a new 15-meters by 19-meters rectangular room and a prompt that asked her
[Would you like to research a 15-meters by 19-meters room for 68 DP?
Yes or No?]
popped up. Thanks to earning 422 DP for the day from the adventurer's tributes, that amount barely felt like a drop in the bucket. So, now she also had a room perfect for a reception where adventurer's could check in. The only real issue Veronica was worried about was the lack of suitable tributes for making things for the inn rooms.
It would seem that wherever she was living now was full of elves and, for some reason, had a lot in common with the Asian countries of her home world. She had received 3 flint arrows, some evening primrose, an empty potion vial, a cork stopper, a camellia flower, perilla leaves, a bit of hemp rope, cherry blossoms, taro root, some twine, chrysanthemum, lotus root, ginger, and a chunk of jade stone. Veronica supposed the mythology from her own world about elves must be true with the number of plants and nature-based items she was getting for tributes. Many of the items didn't even seem like the sort of thing that would grow near a coastal city, so it was likely they had chosen to buy them purely to leave as a tribute for her dungeon. Still, she was hardly going to complain since she was most certainly benefitting from the variety.
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1.9 Resource Quest
New
Earlier that day, a group of three adventurers were at the adventurers' guild. The pretty receptionist behind the desk was flirting with their leader, Coryas, again. Amelia rolled her eyes in annoyance, hoping they would hurry up.
"So, what quest did you two decide to go with again?"
Elwin had been late arriving to the adventurers' guild today. If it weren't for his valuable skills as a scout class and the fact that they had gone to school together, his regular tardiness likely would have been enough to kick him out of the party. However, as things stand, their party was well-balanced and they needed him.
"Well, since we recently made it to D-rank, we decided to take one of the more dangerous quests on today. The local stone mason's workshop is requesting we collect gargoyle stone from the new dungeon. Apparently, all it takes is a day for word to get around."
Elwin laughed, before replying
"Yeah, I know Leaf Mason was talking about how he wished he had better materials to work with just a few weeks ago. I'm not surprised he's taking advantage of the new dungeon already. I'm sure others will follow his example as soon as the dungeon master decides what other types of resources they want to offer."
Amelia decided not to reply, even despite Elwin's rather upbeat attitude, his word's had been a reminder of just how much she was a stranger in this land. Both she and their party leader, Coryas, were half-giants who had grown up in bluecove city, but they were still very much so considered other. Had their features suggested they were even so much as half-elf or they had a spouse or family member who was part of the elven race, things might have been different. Rather, instead, Coryas was half-dwarf, which gave him the appearance of your typical human, while she was half-human, which was hardly anything special.
"Alright, is everyone ready to go? You remembered to bring a tribute, right?"
Coryas asked, looking pointedly at Elwin as he said the last part. The dig was unnecessary as, while he had the bad habit of getting sidetracked, the elven boy never forgot anything essential. It would have been especially bad as a scout class if he didn't always come prepared. Smiling, Elwin enthusiastically declared
"I just stopped by the market on my way here. Picked up some rope and rations for the day. I didn't know we were going into the new dungeon, but I'm sure the dungeon master will enjoy a bit of hemp rope as well as anything else."
Coryas rolled his eyes, looking to be in as bad a mood as ever, as he led their group out of the guild and into the dungeon. Amelia had chosen to go with a branch of cherry blossoms herself. She found them pretty and it certainly seemed fitting to give a dungeon in an elven kingdom something nature-related. Besides, from the stories she heard from her parents, the last dungeon had featured a succubus as the dungeon master. She was known for enjoying rare flowers and sweets to the point that she'd even show her favor to those who left something impressive enough.
There was no way to know what type of dungeon master was in charge of the newest dungeon without meeting them or waiting for the adventurers' guild to publish the information for the public to make use of. More than likely, they'd be discussing hiring an official mapping group to come through later in the year and would already be offering a pretty coin for any useful information that was brought in now. Their party wasn't likely to have anything of use, though, as they were just supposed to get in, kill some gargoyles, bag up their corpses, and then drag them back to town to deliver to the adventurers's guild who would see to it that the quest giver received it.
When they arrived to the dungeon, they were surprised to see it's name over the door. It read "Veronica's Rest", which made it sound an awful lot like some human tavern or inn. Did that mean the dungeon master was human? Was her, if it was a her, name Veronica? Shrugging, she stepped through the door to the dungeon. Amelia had too little information to go on and she hardly wanted to make any assumptions.
"What even was that? There were just a bunch of empty rooms and the walls and floors were all made from wood!"
"Did you see that woman's attire? She doesn't look like she belongs in a dungeon. It's great that she brought a weapon, but a dress and cloth shoes just aren't appropriate for dungeon diving!"
Overhearing another group of adventurers talking, it was easy to know which way to go. They waited a moment to give them some space, then they followed through the door. The space immediately became brighter and felt bigger as they went from the dark, cramped, stone hallway to an open jungle. Even as they progressed further into the dungeon, it was incredible how open everything was. Where there would typically be doors separating different rooms, the trees just grew thicker in some areas with paths leading to the different spaces, and no doors in sight.
"Whoa! Is this an open floorplan dungeon? I've only ever heard stories about those!"
Elwin exclaimed. Coryas glared back at him and just barely noticed the gargoyle that was about to ambush them from the trees above. Smashing his hammer into the stone creature, he almost took out Elwin with it. Luckily, they were all similar levels, so it was unlikely he would have been injured worse than a healing potion could handle, but it was still enough to freak the elven boy out.
"Hey! Watch it!"
"No, you watch it, we have a job to do."
Their time in the dungeon mostly continued like that. Once Elwin's head was in the game, he did his job pointing out the [Monsters] and set up a perimeter of [Traps] once they found a room they wanted to farm for a while. Amelia was an earth elementalist herself, which was great for forming defensive barriers and throwing small stone pellets at her enemies. Those were actually the only two spells she had unlocked, thus far, but that also mostly left her to handle the defenses while Coryas carried the team, smashing any gargoyles that dared to get close into smithereens. Amelia didn't mind, though, and happily bagged up the remains alongside Elwin.
After spending several hours in the dungeon and gathering as much as they could carry, they packed up and headed back to the guild. The gargoyles weren't worth much experience, but they were still happy with the small handful of XP they had earned and even happier about the coppers and silvers they'd be paid.
Dungeon Map Update
Amelia
Coryas
Elwin
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"So, what quest did you two decide to go with again?"
Elwin had been late arriving to the adventurers' guild today. If it weren't for his valuable skills as a scout class and the fact that they had gone to school together, his regular tardiness likely would have been enough to kick him out of the party. However, as things stand, their party was well-balanced and they needed him.
"Well, since we recently made it to D-rank, we decided to take one of the more dangerous quests on today. The local stone mason's workshop is requesting we collect gargoyle stone from the new dungeon. Apparently, all it takes is a day for word to get around."
Elwin laughed, before replying
"Yeah, I know Leaf Mason was talking about how he wished he had better materials to work with just a few weeks ago. I'm not surprised he's taking advantage of the new dungeon already. I'm sure others will follow his example as soon as the dungeon master decides what other types of resources they want to offer."
Amelia decided not to reply, even despite Elwin's rather upbeat attitude, his word's had been a reminder of just how much she was a stranger in this land. Both she and their party leader, Coryas, were half-giants who had grown up in bluecove city, but they were still very much so considered other. Had their features suggested they were even so much as half-elf or they had a spouse or family member who was part of the elven race, things might have been different. Rather, instead, Coryas was half-dwarf, which gave him the appearance of your typical human, while she was half-human, which was hardly anything special.
"Alright, is everyone ready to go? You remembered to bring a tribute, right?"
Coryas asked, looking pointedly at Elwin as he said the last part. The dig was unnecessary as, while he had the bad habit of getting sidetracked, the elven boy never forgot anything essential. It would have been especially bad as a scout class if he didn't always come prepared. Smiling, Elwin enthusiastically declared
"I just stopped by the market on my way here. Picked up some rope and rations for the day. I didn't know we were going into the new dungeon, but I'm sure the dungeon master will enjoy a bit of hemp rope as well as anything else."
Coryas rolled his eyes, looking to be in as bad a mood as ever, as he led their group out of the guild and into the dungeon. Amelia had chosen to go with a branch of cherry blossoms herself. She found them pretty and it certainly seemed fitting to give a dungeon in an elven kingdom something nature-related. Besides, from the stories she heard from her parents, the last dungeon had featured a succubus as the dungeon master. She was known for enjoying rare flowers and sweets to the point that she'd even show her favor to those who left something impressive enough.
There was no way to know what type of dungeon master was in charge of the newest dungeon without meeting them or waiting for the adventurers' guild to publish the information for the public to make use of. More than likely, they'd be discussing hiring an official mapping group to come through later in the year and would already be offering a pretty coin for any useful information that was brought in now. Their party wasn't likely to have anything of use, though, as they were just supposed to get in, kill some gargoyles, bag up their corpses, and then drag them back to town to deliver to the adventurers's guild who would see to it that the quest giver received it.
When they arrived to the dungeon, they were surprised to see it's name over the door. It read "Veronica's Rest", which made it sound an awful lot like some human tavern or inn. Did that mean the dungeon master was human? Was her, if it was a her, name Veronica? Shrugging, she stepped through the door to the dungeon. Amelia had too little information to go on and she hardly wanted to make any assumptions.
"What even was that? There were just a bunch of empty rooms and the walls and floors were all made from wood!"
"Did you see that woman's attire? She doesn't look like she belongs in a dungeon. It's great that she brought a weapon, but a dress and cloth shoes just aren't appropriate for dungeon diving!"
Overhearing another group of adventurers talking, it was easy to know which way to go. They waited a moment to give them some space, then they followed through the door. The space immediately became brighter and felt bigger as they went from the dark, cramped, stone hallway to an open jungle. Even as they progressed further into the dungeon, it was incredible how open everything was. Where there would typically be doors separating different rooms, the trees just grew thicker in some areas with paths leading to the different spaces, and no doors in sight.
"Whoa! Is this an open floorplan dungeon? I've only ever heard stories about those!"
Elwin exclaimed. Coryas glared back at him and just barely noticed the gargoyle that was about to ambush them from the trees above. Smashing his hammer into the stone creature, he almost took out Elwin with it. Luckily, they were all similar levels, so it was unlikely he would have been injured worse than a healing potion could handle, but it was still enough to freak the elven boy out.
"Hey! Watch it!"
"No, you watch it, we have a job to do."
Their time in the dungeon mostly continued like that. Once Elwin's head was in the game, he did his job pointing out the [Monsters] and set up a perimeter of [Traps] once they found a room they wanted to farm for a while. Amelia was an earth elementalist herself, which was great for forming defensive barriers and throwing small stone pellets at her enemies. Those were actually the only two spells she had unlocked, thus far, but that also mostly left her to handle the defenses while Coryas carried the team, smashing any gargoyles that dared to get close into smithereens. Amelia didn't mind, though, and happily bagged up the remains alongside Elwin.
After spending several hours in the dungeon and gathering as much as they could carry, they packed up and headed back to the guild. The gargoyles weren't worth much experience, but they were still happy with the small handful of XP they had earned and even happier about the coppers and silvers they'd be paid.
Dungeon Map Update
Amelia
Coryas
Elwin
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1.10 Furnishings
New
The next day, Veronica still felt frustrated with Seraphina, but she could no longer avoid her. She was still working on the hotel side of the dungeon, but had moved on to decorating the previously made rooms. This had all been jumpstarted by some inspiration that had come in the form of a discarded iron belt buckle that she had received as a 'tribute' earlier in the day. There had been other things as well, including a leather belt, roasted seaweed, dried apples, and another flint arrow. Veronica honestly felt bad for whoever kept losing their arrows. Even if flint and wood were likely less expensive than metal-based arrows, it had to be expensive to constantly have to replace their arrows.
Before she had started researching new schematics to use in her inn, her dungeon points had been at 605. The first thing she had researched, of course, had been iron nails, which had been insanely cheap at a mere 2 DP. They also cost 1 MP each to summon, which was a lot more expensive, in comparison to other things, but was besides the point since she just needed nails for the other things she planned to research.
Unfortunately, Veronica found that she was lacking a lot of the [Base Resources] needed to properly set up a comfortable inn room. Even the reception ended up lacking due to the limitations she currently had. Still, she did the best she could with the wood she had unlocked thanks to the leftover flint arrows and the new iron nails she had. The notifications for the new items had been rather repetitive as everything had cost 10 DP to unlock and 5 MP each to create.
However, the reception room now had a wooden corner shelving unit and wooden corner counter to one side. Another 50 MP had gotten her a new spawner for a 20 MP will-o'-wisp to occupy. The strange glowing blue ball of light couldn't talk, nor could it charge the adventurers for a room, but it would be useful for guiding them to their rooms. Besides which, Veronica had found out that she could set prices for each room using the system, which would control whether the room doors would unlock for the adventurers as well as accept the payment directly.
Since all she had was the most basic furniture for her inn, right now, and all the rooms were 9-meters by 9-meters, she had decided to keep things cheap and was only charging 10 DP per room per night. It wasn't a ton, but the amount was bound to add up over time and it would easily allow her to afford any necessary research in the future. Veronica was just glad that she didn't have to stand guard in the hotel and constantly demand people pay to use the facilities. She would have done it, had it been necessary, but it definitely would have made it difficult to manage other areas of the dungeon.
For the rest of the reception area, Veronica had decided to decorate it with five coffee tables and eight wooden armchairs. Four of the coffee tables had been placed together to create a larger square table space to be set amongst three chairs in two corners of the room. Meanwhile, the last coffee table and two wooden armchairs were placed in front of the reception desk area. The room, honestly, looked very bland with all wooden furniture, floors, walls, and ceilings. However, uncomfortable wooden furniture seemed better than leaving the room empty. She just hoped she could replace them with something better later on.
The inn rooms themselves were all identical with the same furnishings going into each. There was a large wooden bed frame that could easily be slept on. Rather than being a rectangular frame with nothing in the middle, they were solid with a surface that could be covered with a sleeping bag and slept directly on. She had seen something similar while touring a museum with medieval furniture when she was in college.
To either side of the bed area was an end table with functioning drawers. In one corner of the bedroom was also a corner desk with a wooden chair as well as a wooden wardrobe against the same wall. The plan was to put a fireplace on the other side of the room once she had the [Base Resources] to make such a thing. The wardrobes had both drawers on the lower half and a top half that could open to display a wooden rod which clothes could be hung from. Veronica had considered making hangers for it as well, but had decided to skip such luxuries for now.
Now that the basic furniture was taken care of, though, she had the desire to get ahold of better materials to work with. Surely there were merchants in the city who could sell her luxurious clothes, stone bricks, and fire-making materials. However, since she couldn't personally leave the dungeon, she would have to rely on Seraphina to negotiate on her behalf. That was why she was now standing in front of the dungeon core room, staring at the door as she tried to work up her courage. After she stood there for far too long, Seraphina opened the door with an unamused look and asked
"Do you need something?"
Her tone was friendly enough, making it obvious that she didn't feel the same tension she did. That was frustrating for Veronica who was still very much so upset with the elven woman and found her carefree attitude about it all to be frustrating. Still, she decided to press forward since she wanted to accomplish her goals sooner rather than later.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you could help me trade with the local merchants. I have plenty of mana, so I'm hoping I could make some items they'll want and I can get some materials to use in my inn rooms in exchange."
Seraphina looked surprised as she replied
"That's an interesting proposition. I'm not sure it's necessary, though. I can just go buy you whatever you want, within reason. I'm actually supposed to bring you tributes, just like the adventurers, but you haven't expressed an interest in anything yet, so I haven't bothered. It would be nice to have a proper room to sleep in at night."
Veronica had seen the elven woman eating and even sleeping on the hard stone floors of the dungeon core room. Sometimes, she tried to sleep as well. While she always fell asleep right away, it was also very much so unnecessary. Besides, with how cold and uncomfortable the floor was, it wasn't really that tempting to spend all her downtime sleeping when she could be doing other things.
"Can you really afford to buy very much? I don't want to put you out."
Veronica said. She might not be happy with her decision to let her die, but she didn't hate the woman either. Seraphina smiled as she replied
"It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm getting paid for this. Dungeons are an integral part of this world, so some of the taxes collected by each kingdom are paid to my village and then dungeon diplomats, like myself, receive compensation for ensuring the dungeons are taken care of. Why don't you figure out a short list of what you need, for now, and I'll see about picking up what I can. I don't have a ton on me right now, but you can consider it compensation for letting me use one of your inn rooms."
Veronica was hardly going to refuse such a good offer, so she immediately got to work considering what she needed most right now. Since it wasn't necessary to buy the actual item she needed and it was actually easier to just get the necessary [Base Resources] she needed to figure out which of those she needed. A mattress could likely be made from feathers and she already had undyed cotton cloth and thread. A fireplace would require something to make a fire, firewood, and stone for the furnace itself. Maybe it would also be good to consider options for a toilet area or a new tavern section. Since she might not be able to get a lot, she definitely had to carefully consider her options.
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Before she had started researching new schematics to use in her inn, her dungeon points had been at 605. The first thing she had researched, of course, had been iron nails, which had been insanely cheap at a mere 2 DP. They also cost 1 MP each to summon, which was a lot more expensive, in comparison to other things, but was besides the point since she just needed nails for the other things she planned to research.
Unfortunately, Veronica found that she was lacking a lot of the [Base Resources] needed to properly set up a comfortable inn room. Even the reception ended up lacking due to the limitations she currently had. Still, she did the best she could with the wood she had unlocked thanks to the leftover flint arrows and the new iron nails she had. The notifications for the new items had been rather repetitive as everything had cost 10 DP to unlock and 5 MP each to create.
However, the reception room now had a wooden corner shelving unit and wooden corner counter to one side. Another 50 MP had gotten her a new spawner for a 20 MP will-o'-wisp to occupy. The strange glowing blue ball of light couldn't talk, nor could it charge the adventurers for a room, but it would be useful for guiding them to their rooms. Besides which, Veronica had found out that she could set prices for each room using the system, which would control whether the room doors would unlock for the adventurers as well as accept the payment directly.
Since all she had was the most basic furniture for her inn, right now, and all the rooms were 9-meters by 9-meters, she had decided to keep things cheap and was only charging 10 DP per room per night. It wasn't a ton, but the amount was bound to add up over time and it would easily allow her to afford any necessary research in the future. Veronica was just glad that she didn't have to stand guard in the hotel and constantly demand people pay to use the facilities. She would have done it, had it been necessary, but it definitely would have made it difficult to manage other areas of the dungeon.
For the rest of the reception area, Veronica had decided to decorate it with five coffee tables and eight wooden armchairs. Four of the coffee tables had been placed together to create a larger square table space to be set amongst three chairs in two corners of the room. Meanwhile, the last coffee table and two wooden armchairs were placed in front of the reception desk area. The room, honestly, looked very bland with all wooden furniture, floors, walls, and ceilings. However, uncomfortable wooden furniture seemed better than leaving the room empty. She just hoped she could replace them with something better later on.
The inn rooms themselves were all identical with the same furnishings going into each. There was a large wooden bed frame that could easily be slept on. Rather than being a rectangular frame with nothing in the middle, they were solid with a surface that could be covered with a sleeping bag and slept directly on. She had seen something similar while touring a museum with medieval furniture when she was in college.
To either side of the bed area was an end table with functioning drawers. In one corner of the bedroom was also a corner desk with a wooden chair as well as a wooden wardrobe against the same wall. The plan was to put a fireplace on the other side of the room once she had the [Base Resources] to make such a thing. The wardrobes had both drawers on the lower half and a top half that could open to display a wooden rod which clothes could be hung from. Veronica had considered making hangers for it as well, but had decided to skip such luxuries for now.
Now that the basic furniture was taken care of, though, she had the desire to get ahold of better materials to work with. Surely there were merchants in the city who could sell her luxurious clothes, stone bricks, and fire-making materials. However, since she couldn't personally leave the dungeon, she would have to rely on Seraphina to negotiate on her behalf. That was why she was now standing in front of the dungeon core room, staring at the door as she tried to work up her courage. After she stood there for far too long, Seraphina opened the door with an unamused look and asked
"Do you need something?"
Her tone was friendly enough, making it obvious that she didn't feel the same tension she did. That was frustrating for Veronica who was still very much so upset with the elven woman and found her carefree attitude about it all to be frustrating. Still, she decided to press forward since she wanted to accomplish her goals sooner rather than later.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you could help me trade with the local merchants. I have plenty of mana, so I'm hoping I could make some items they'll want and I can get some materials to use in my inn rooms in exchange."
Seraphina looked surprised as she replied
"That's an interesting proposition. I'm not sure it's necessary, though. I can just go buy you whatever you want, within reason. I'm actually supposed to bring you tributes, just like the adventurers, but you haven't expressed an interest in anything yet, so I haven't bothered. It would be nice to have a proper room to sleep in at night."
Veronica had seen the elven woman eating and even sleeping on the hard stone floors of the dungeon core room. Sometimes, she tried to sleep as well. While she always fell asleep right away, it was also very much so unnecessary. Besides, with how cold and uncomfortable the floor was, it wasn't really that tempting to spend all her downtime sleeping when she could be doing other things.
"Can you really afford to buy very much? I don't want to put you out."
Veronica said. She might not be happy with her decision to let her die, but she didn't hate the woman either. Seraphina smiled as she replied
"It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm getting paid for this. Dungeons are an integral part of this world, so some of the taxes collected by each kingdom are paid to my village and then dungeon diplomats, like myself, receive compensation for ensuring the dungeons are taken care of. Why don't you figure out a short list of what you need, for now, and I'll see about picking up what I can. I don't have a ton on me right now, but you can consider it compensation for letting me use one of your inn rooms."
Veronica was hardly going to refuse such a good offer, so she immediately got to work considering what she needed most right now. Since it wasn't necessary to buy the actual item she needed and it was actually easier to just get the necessary [Base Resources] she needed to figure out which of those she needed. A mattress could likely be made from feathers and she already had undyed cotton cloth and thread. A fireplace would require something to make a fire, firewood, and stone for the furnace itself. Maybe it would also be good to consider options for a toilet area or a new tavern section. Since she might not be able to get a lot, she definitely had to carefully consider her options.
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1.11 Shopping Spree
New
Seraphina was well aware that purchasing this list of items for Veronica wasn't going to fix things between them. However, she didn't particularly care that much about resolving the situation. Being overprotective of the dungeon masters she was in charge of wasn't always the best approach to take and it was hardly her way of doing things.
Theodore was her long-time friend and had shared many a tale of his own experiences managing dungeons. He had, somehow, managed to luck into getting a rather unique dungeon master. A human named Violet who had reincarnated into their world a decade or so ago. She was a complete sweetheart, but even she had been tested by time and had to make some adjustments to her approach to running her dungeon. What had started out as a rather carefree attitude had turned into a more cautious one.
The girl still insisted on keeping her first-floor a rather peaceful one with no [Traps] and child-friendly puzzles and weak slime [Monsters]. She very easily could have gotten creative and made more dangerous versions of the creatures, even if they would always be considered a low-rank [Monster]. However, her first-floor boss room had an emperor rock slime that had easily slayed many an unprepared adventurer who had underestimated the threat that lay in store for them. Her choice to leave the rest of the floor as a rather unthreatening temptation had caused those unfamiliar with her dungeon to underestimate just how capable she was at creating dangerous boss [Monsters] and effective [Trap] combinations.
Theodore had chosen to give Violet only what she asked for. In this case, she wanted friends who would accept her for her. So, he always provided a shoulder to cry on and acted like an over-protective father who would happily give her the world on a platter. That had worked out for him because her unique dungeon set-up combined with her creativity had made for a rather successful dungeon. It was unlikely that would work for Seraphina, though, and she hardly wanted to watch Veronica suffer for her decisions the way Violet had suffered from Theodore's leniency.
"Ah, Lady Seraphina! It had been quite a while since I've seen you around these parts. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Master Blacksmith Rulvion said, his gruff voice carrying across the noisy workshop.
She smiled in greeting as she replied
"Well, you'll likely be seeing a good bit more of me. I'm actually in charge of the new dungeon instead of just helping out, this time."
The old dwarf raised his eyebrows in surprise. As Seraphina had elven features, she was often assigned to help the last dungeon diplomat assigned to the previous dungeon. All dungeon diplomats were shown a good bit of respect for their roles, even being addressed the same as an aristocrat might be, despite never being given official titles. However, being directly assigned to the area certainly came with a good bit more respect. However, Seraphina didn't have time for the pleasantries and continued
"I'm actually here to see if you have anything made with steel I can purchase from you. The new dungeon master sent me out to get a few materials she needs for some new, upcoming dungeon features."
Rulvion pointed behind him with his thumb as he said
"If you're looking for pre-mades, you'll need to check that side of the shop. One of the apprentices should be able to help you find what you need."
The dwarf was clearly disappointed she wasn't here to special order a weapon of some sort from him. Seraphina had never really been one for swords and spears, though. She much preferred a wooden staff and hand-to-hand combat as it was less likely to result in someone's death while still providing the extra leverage needed to do significant damage. Her supernatural strength from her dungeon diplomat race already made her quite dangerous without any special frills.
The cheapest option ended up being a small steel hunting knife. After quickly paying for her purchase, she moved on to the next stop. The list she had was a decent length, but Seraphina had the feeling that Veronica wasn't actually trying to take advantage of her offer so much as she didn't actually know what was available on the market.
It took a few hours to walk around the city, buying this and that, but, soon enough, Seraphina was once more returning to the dungeon. Veronica was excited when she saw the elven woman, but she also felt nervous as she asked
"Do you have access to the system? It's just that... Well, the rooms are meant to be paid for and checked into without my interference. A certain number of dungeon points are charged for each night for a room and the system handles the whole transaction process. I could, probably, manually unlock the door each time for you, but that would make it so you can only get in with my help..."
Seraphina rolled her eyes and immediately pivoted as she made a beeline for the inn side of the dungeon. Veronica followed behind, curious as to what she was up to. Soon enough the satchel full of items disappeared and the elven woman looked smug as she replied
"There, it's all taken care of now. I've got this room for 104 days and you get the tributes you wanted. I'll just have to stop by my village to get paid and pick up some new tributes for you when it comes time to pay up again."
Veronica's eyes widened in surprise as she took in the 1,045 DP increase, which brought her total up to 1,773. That was partially thanks to the tributes she had received from three visiting adventurer parties. They had left napa cabbage, a tiger's eye stone, plum blossoms, 2 flint arrows, an empty potion vial with a cork stopper, daffodils, yuzu, and a coffee jelly dessert complete with whipped cream. The last one had been especially valuable according to the system.
"Woah! Thanks so much Seraphina! I'll make sure to get your room upgraded first so you can get an especially good night's rest tonight."
That was a bit of a lofty promise since she wasn't actually sure if she could edit a room once it was rented out. However, it ended up turning out that she could so long as she kept the items that were present when it was first rented out present. She could add to the room's value, but she couldn't take it away, nor could she edit the price while someone was renting it out. That was unfortunate since it would be more than a season that Seraphina was going to be renting the room out, but Veronica just settled with keeping the prices for the 9-meter by 9-meter rooms at 10 DP per night. She could always make more luxurious rooms of a larger size if she wanted to make more off of her future customers.
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Theodore was her long-time friend and had shared many a tale of his own experiences managing dungeons. He had, somehow, managed to luck into getting a rather unique dungeon master. A human named Violet who had reincarnated into their world a decade or so ago. She was a complete sweetheart, but even she had been tested by time and had to make some adjustments to her approach to running her dungeon. What had started out as a rather carefree attitude had turned into a more cautious one.
The girl still insisted on keeping her first-floor a rather peaceful one with no [Traps] and child-friendly puzzles and weak slime [Monsters]. She very easily could have gotten creative and made more dangerous versions of the creatures, even if they would always be considered a low-rank [Monster]. However, her first-floor boss room had an emperor rock slime that had easily slayed many an unprepared adventurer who had underestimated the threat that lay in store for them. Her choice to leave the rest of the floor as a rather unthreatening temptation had caused those unfamiliar with her dungeon to underestimate just how capable she was at creating dangerous boss [Monsters] and effective [Trap] combinations.
Theodore had chosen to give Violet only what she asked for. In this case, she wanted friends who would accept her for her. So, he always provided a shoulder to cry on and acted like an over-protective father who would happily give her the world on a platter. That had worked out for him because her unique dungeon set-up combined with her creativity had made for a rather successful dungeon. It was unlikely that would work for Seraphina, though, and she hardly wanted to watch Veronica suffer for her decisions the way Violet had suffered from Theodore's leniency.
"Ah, Lady Seraphina! It had been quite a while since I've seen you around these parts. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Master Blacksmith Rulvion said, his gruff voice carrying across the noisy workshop.
She smiled in greeting as she replied
"Well, you'll likely be seeing a good bit more of me. I'm actually in charge of the new dungeon instead of just helping out, this time."
The old dwarf raised his eyebrows in surprise. As Seraphina had elven features, she was often assigned to help the last dungeon diplomat assigned to the previous dungeon. All dungeon diplomats were shown a good bit of respect for their roles, even being addressed the same as an aristocrat might be, despite never being given official titles. However, being directly assigned to the area certainly came with a good bit more respect. However, Seraphina didn't have time for the pleasantries and continued
"I'm actually here to see if you have anything made with steel I can purchase from you. The new dungeon master sent me out to get a few materials she needs for some new, upcoming dungeon features."
Rulvion pointed behind him with his thumb as he said
"If you're looking for pre-mades, you'll need to check that side of the shop. One of the apprentices should be able to help you find what you need."
The dwarf was clearly disappointed she wasn't here to special order a weapon of some sort from him. Seraphina had never really been one for swords and spears, though. She much preferred a wooden staff and hand-to-hand combat as it was less likely to result in someone's death while still providing the extra leverage needed to do significant damage. Her supernatural strength from her dungeon diplomat race already made her quite dangerous without any special frills.
The cheapest option ended up being a small steel hunting knife. After quickly paying for her purchase, she moved on to the next stop. The list she had was a decent length, but Seraphina had the feeling that Veronica wasn't actually trying to take advantage of her offer so much as she didn't actually know what was available on the market.
It took a few hours to walk around the city, buying this and that, but, soon enough, Seraphina was once more returning to the dungeon. Veronica was excited when she saw the elven woman, but she also felt nervous as she asked
"Do you have access to the system? It's just that... Well, the rooms are meant to be paid for and checked into without my interference. A certain number of dungeon points are charged for each night for a room and the system handles the whole transaction process. I could, probably, manually unlock the door each time for you, but that would make it so you can only get in with my help..."
Seraphina rolled her eyes and immediately pivoted as she made a beeline for the inn side of the dungeon. Veronica followed behind, curious as to what she was up to. Soon enough the satchel full of items disappeared and the elven woman looked smug as she replied
"There, it's all taken care of now. I've got this room for 104 days and you get the tributes you wanted. I'll just have to stop by my village to get paid and pick up some new tributes for you when it comes time to pay up again."
Veronica's eyes widened in surprise as she took in the 1,045 DP increase, which brought her total up to 1,773. That was partially thanks to the tributes she had received from three visiting adventurer parties. They had left napa cabbage, a tiger's eye stone, plum blossoms, 2 flint arrows, an empty potion vial with a cork stopper, daffodils, yuzu, and a coffee jelly dessert complete with whipped cream. The last one had been especially valuable according to the system.
"Woah! Thanks so much Seraphina! I'll make sure to get your room upgraded first so you can get an especially good night's rest tonight."
That was a bit of a lofty promise since she wasn't actually sure if she could edit a room once it was rented out. However, it ended up turning out that she could so long as she kept the items that were present when it was first rented out present. She could add to the room's value, but she couldn't take it away, nor could she edit the price while someone was renting it out. That was unfortunate since it would be more than a season that Seraphina was going to be renting the room out, but Veronica just settled with keeping the prices for the 9-meter by 9-meter rooms at 10 DP per night. She could always make more luxurious rooms of a larger size if she wanted to make more off of her future customers.
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1.12 Comfortable Beds
New
Before Veronica left to begin researching new [Items] for her inn, Seraphina had casually mentioned that she was fortunate to have asked for the materials now rather than later. Apparently, things like the fire, water, and ice magic crystals were not common in this area anymore. The last construction group had moved out of the area a few years back and there weren't currently any enchanters in town. Really, there had only been any in stock because of the old inn.
The fact that they were living in a coastal town and were a hub town for Rosefall Empire didn't necessarily guarantee they would have access to the supplies she wanted. Apparently, there was something called aether in the air, which could make people sick if they were exposed to it for too long. Dungeons processed the aether and turned it into mana, which made the area safer for all of elven kind. However, dungeons didn't tend to appear in the middle of the ocean, so it was quite dangerous for ships to be sent between continents.
Magic technology was a thing in this world with richer households and businesses using them to make their quality of life better. A fire magic crystal might be used for an oven with better temperature control than your classic hearth-based cooking would allow for. Meanwhile, a water crystal would allow for plumbing of sorts and ice would be used to make something akin to refrigerators or ice boxes. However, such technology wasn't accessible for everyone as it was not only expensive, but could only be used by those with magic-based classes. Since some people never awakened a class and others got classes like warrior or scout, that made it so only a small percentage of the population could even dream of using such technology.
The ones Veronica had gotten were actually those being held in reserve for the local tavern and inn. However, since the place was falling apart too much and had been officially condemned as of last week, the merchant was more than happy to sell it to Seraphina. Whether that meant the elven woman had gotten a discount or had to pay the fair market value, though, she hadn't said.
The other materials she had managed to collect had included things like cotton cloth, raw cotton, wool, stone brick, flint, steel, duck feathers, clay, dirt, peace lilies, an unscented candle, and various colors of paint. For some reason, the system had counted the paint twice in the [Base Resources] with her being given both black paint and black dye as well as every other color of the rainbow and white. Veronica was hardly going to complain about the extra dungeon points, though. She had far better things to be doing anyhow.
For the reception area, Veronica decided to go with a super cozy sitting area. She reabsorbed the previous wooden armchairs and replaced them with brand-new teal cotton-stuffed armchairs that resembled modern-day ones. Some new stone-brick fireplaces with a set of iron fireplace tools and a stack of firewood set beside it. As she didn't want to push the cost of the items up too much, she decided to keep things simple. However, she had certainly been tempted to see if she could use the fire magic crystals to make a Minecraft redstone-style fireplace that would alight with the push of a button. Instead, she just made a set of flint and steel that would be kept on the shelving in the reception area.
All of the new additions had cost 170 DP, but the more comfortable chairs and the warmth from the fireplace did a lot for the space. Next up was the bedrooms themselves. Most of the space had already been taken up by the wooden furniture, but that didn't mean there wasn't room for some luxuries. For the beds, a padded mattress, blue silk sheets, blue quilts, feather-stuffed pillows, and blue silk pillowcases added a nice pop of color to the room while also making everything super comfortable. Veronica had decided to go with blue and green shades for everything as she felt it would contrast with the brown walls, floors, and ceilings this side of the dungeon was filled with.
The old wooden chairs for the desks were absorbed and then replaced with leather armchairs. While she couldn't recreate a proper computer chair with wheels, she had tried, a nice leather bound chair with some padding and a tall back was still better than hard, uncomfortable wood. Veronica was pretty sure the limitation that was keeping her from recreating the computer chairs seen in modern-day was related to her own limited knowledge. Ever since she had become bonded to the dungeon she could recall details with perfect accuracy, even remembering small things like lists of ingredients from nutrition labels. However, she had never thought to look up how things like modern-day computer chairs were put together, nor had she ever personally put one together from scratch.
In the end, it wasn't a big deal to have a chair with wooden feet since the chairs still ended up incredibly comfortable. There was no need to worry about cheaply put-together furniture that would easily break down in a short amount of time. Her system only seemed to know how to make perfect copies of things with high quality at the forefront of their design.
In order to bring the room together, Veronica also opted to add green rugs, potted peace lilies, and some wooden hangers, which were placed in the wardrobes. It hadn't seemed worthwhile to make them before, but, now, with the rooms looking so much nicer, it seemed silly to skip over such a small thing as hangers. Besides, it wasn't like she only had medieval-quality furniture anymore, so she couldn't even use that as an excuse anymore. Before calling it a day and going off to do her martial arts training with Seraphina, she decided to place a few of the potted peace lilies in the reception room. More greenery was always a welcome addition anyway, right?
Veronica was starting to get used to her new life in this world, even if it had only been a few days. She had learned that her previous thinking of the mana pool being hers rather than the dungeon's was silly on her part. That was why she didn't feel drained if she used it all up. Dungeon points continued to accrue and she had even managed to have another two adventurer parties show up while she was working on the inn rooms and reception area. With the addition of figs, currants, rose quartz, and some copper, she now had a total of 1,572 DP, even after her spending spree.
The copper had actually been given to her in the form of copper coins, but that hadn't unlocked copper coins as an [Item] for her, just copper as a [Base Resource]. She didn't even bother asking Seraphina why that was as it seemed obvious to her. If dungeons could recreate the currency from this world then that would mess up the economy far too easily. It was one thing for the dungeons to absorb the copper as new coins could always be made by whoever was in charge of that process, but making them was a whole other can of worms.
Veronica was slowly making progress with her training, but she was sure that even that was thanks to Seraphina's efforts to train her. She was always pointing things out that she should fix like her hand placement on the staff, her posture, or how placing her feet slightly differently would help her maintain her balance so she was less easy to knock over. Veronica appreciated the elven woman's efforts and was no longer inclined to hold her previous death against Seraphina. When she had resurrected, the dungeon core had been safe and the tall bull-man, Bo, had been nowhere in sight. That was already more than she should be expecting from anyone.
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The fact that they were living in a coastal town and were a hub town for Rosefall Empire didn't necessarily guarantee they would have access to the supplies she wanted. Apparently, there was something called aether in the air, which could make people sick if they were exposed to it for too long. Dungeons processed the aether and turned it into mana, which made the area safer for all of elven kind. However, dungeons didn't tend to appear in the middle of the ocean, so it was quite dangerous for ships to be sent between continents.
Magic technology was a thing in this world with richer households and businesses using them to make their quality of life better. A fire magic crystal might be used for an oven with better temperature control than your classic hearth-based cooking would allow for. Meanwhile, a water crystal would allow for plumbing of sorts and ice would be used to make something akin to refrigerators or ice boxes. However, such technology wasn't accessible for everyone as it was not only expensive, but could only be used by those with magic-based classes. Since some people never awakened a class and others got classes like warrior or scout, that made it so only a small percentage of the population could even dream of using such technology.
The ones Veronica had gotten were actually those being held in reserve for the local tavern and inn. However, since the place was falling apart too much and had been officially condemned as of last week, the merchant was more than happy to sell it to Seraphina. Whether that meant the elven woman had gotten a discount or had to pay the fair market value, though, she hadn't said.
The other materials she had managed to collect had included things like cotton cloth, raw cotton, wool, stone brick, flint, steel, duck feathers, clay, dirt, peace lilies, an unscented candle, and various colors of paint. For some reason, the system had counted the paint twice in the [Base Resources] with her being given both black paint and black dye as well as every other color of the rainbow and white. Veronica was hardly going to complain about the extra dungeon points, though. She had far better things to be doing anyhow.
For the reception area, Veronica decided to go with a super cozy sitting area. She reabsorbed the previous wooden armchairs and replaced them with brand-new teal cotton-stuffed armchairs that resembled modern-day ones. Some new stone-brick fireplaces with a set of iron fireplace tools and a stack of firewood set beside it. As she didn't want to push the cost of the items up too much, she decided to keep things simple. However, she had certainly been tempted to see if she could use the fire magic crystals to make a Minecraft redstone-style fireplace that would alight with the push of a button. Instead, she just made a set of flint and steel that would be kept on the shelving in the reception area.
All of the new additions had cost 170 DP, but the more comfortable chairs and the warmth from the fireplace did a lot for the space. Next up was the bedrooms themselves. Most of the space had already been taken up by the wooden furniture, but that didn't mean there wasn't room for some luxuries. For the beds, a padded mattress, blue silk sheets, blue quilts, feather-stuffed pillows, and blue silk pillowcases added a nice pop of color to the room while also making everything super comfortable. Veronica had decided to go with blue and green shades for everything as she felt it would contrast with the brown walls, floors, and ceilings this side of the dungeon was filled with.
The old wooden chairs for the desks were absorbed and then replaced with leather armchairs. While she couldn't recreate a proper computer chair with wheels, she had tried, a nice leather bound chair with some padding and a tall back was still better than hard, uncomfortable wood. Veronica was pretty sure the limitation that was keeping her from recreating the computer chairs seen in modern-day was related to her own limited knowledge. Ever since she had become bonded to the dungeon she could recall details with perfect accuracy, even remembering small things like lists of ingredients from nutrition labels. However, she had never thought to look up how things like modern-day computer chairs were put together, nor had she ever personally put one together from scratch.
In the end, it wasn't a big deal to have a chair with wooden feet since the chairs still ended up incredibly comfortable. There was no need to worry about cheaply put-together furniture that would easily break down in a short amount of time. Her system only seemed to know how to make perfect copies of things with high quality at the forefront of their design.
In order to bring the room together, Veronica also opted to add green rugs, potted peace lilies, and some wooden hangers, which were placed in the wardrobes. It hadn't seemed worthwhile to make them before, but, now, with the rooms looking so much nicer, it seemed silly to skip over such a small thing as hangers. Besides, it wasn't like she only had medieval-quality furniture anymore, so she couldn't even use that as an excuse anymore. Before calling it a day and going off to do her martial arts training with Seraphina, she decided to place a few of the potted peace lilies in the reception room. More greenery was always a welcome addition anyway, right?
Veronica was starting to get used to her new life in this world, even if it had only been a few days. She had learned that her previous thinking of the mana pool being hers rather than the dungeon's was silly on her part. That was why she didn't feel drained if she used it all up. Dungeon points continued to accrue and she had even managed to have another two adventurer parties show up while she was working on the inn rooms and reception area. With the addition of figs, currants, rose quartz, and some copper, she now had a total of 1,572 DP, even after her spending spree.
The copper had actually been given to her in the form of copper coins, but that hadn't unlocked copper coins as an [Item] for her, just copper as a [Base Resource]. She didn't even bother asking Seraphina why that was as it seemed obvious to her. If dungeons could recreate the currency from this world then that would mess up the economy far too easily. It was one thing for the dungeons to absorb the copper as new coins could always be made by whoever was in charge of that process, but making them was a whole other can of worms.
Veronica was slowly making progress with her training, but she was sure that even that was thanks to Seraphina's efforts to train her. She was always pointing things out that she should fix like her hand placement on the staff, her posture, or how placing her feet slightly differently would help her maintain her balance so she was less easy to knock over. Veronica appreciated the elven woman's efforts and was no longer inclined to hold her previous death against Seraphina. When she had resurrected, the dungeon core had been safe and the tall bull-man, Bo, had been nowhere in sight. That was already more than she should be expecting from anyone.
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1.13 Mission Submission
New
After Seraphina went to bed for the night, Veronica decided it was time to check her [Missions] tab again. It had only been a few days since she last checked them, but she was certain there should be several of them now complete.
[Missions:
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Complete first dungeon room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Set up first spawner
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Complete first inn room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Make a first-floor reception
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Check-In First Guest
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option]
There were still several [Missions] she could easily complete, if she put in the effort, like one for placing her first [Trap] and one for setting up her first challenge room. Veronica had actually learned a bit about how to go about completing those [Missions] today by asking Seraphina about it during training.
Apparently, she would have to set up the room with any [Traps] and room features necessary to make the challenge and then she would have to have the intended reward researched before choosing to set the challenge's parameters and reward with the system. The dungeon system would then communicate with the adventurers' systems to convey what the challenge and reward was as well as to dispense the rewards automatically when they were successful. Luckily, she wouldn't have to worry about ongoing mana costs for the rewards either, but she would have to invest dungeon points to complete the initial set-up.
She had also learned about setting the theme for a room and how that would ensure the system knew which [Items] and room features belonged to the room. When the dungeon half was completely empty of adventurers the rooms would then reset, ensuring the resources, like flowers or fruiting bushes, were always available. The [Monsters] that were assigned to spawners could respawn at set intervals and didn't require the dungeon to be cleared of non-dungeon entities. As for the challenge rooms, the challenges themselves would reset just enough to ensure the challenge could be taken on by the next set of adventurers.
It was because of this new information she had learned that Veronica was surprised to see her reception and inn room [Missions] were considered complete. She hadn't set the room's theme for any of those rooms. Marching over to the reception room she decided to test out the room theme system prompt.
[Error! Unable to complete command.]
After testing some things out and asking the system some follow-up questions, Veronica found out the inn didn't function the same as the rest of the dungeon. Well, she already knew her dungeon setup was a bit... unique. Apparently, the inn and tavern side didn't require her to set the room theme because she would have to manually take care of things. The dungeon would absorb anything that was considered to not belong to the dungeon, meaning she could still move forward with her public bathroom building plans, but beds would remain unmade and obtaining more firewood would require her to spend mana.
Well, that wasn't exactly ideal, but it wasn't like Veronica didn't have experience working at her parents' bed and breakfast. She could play the role of housekeeper and having adventurers constantly in the dungeon meant she wouldn't have to worry about having the mana needed to obtain the supplies she needed. Still, she could only hope that she would be able to obtain some useful [Monsters] to help out with the housekeeping side of things sometime in the future. Otherwise, Veronica was fairly sure there was no way she'd ever be able to keep up with all the inn rooms wanted to build in the future.
Shaking her head, she decided to leave that problem for the future as she focused on accepting her [Mission] rewards.
[Would you like to receive the reward now?
Yes or No?]
Veronica selected the [Yes] option and accepted her first [Critter] reward.
[Please select one of the following options to be randomly rewarded a [Critter] from:
-Cnidaria
-Mollusca
-Arthropoda]
She had no clue what most of the options meant, so she decided to go with the last option on the list.
[Randomizing options...]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Queen Bullet Ant (10 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal queen bullet ant. Capable of laying eggs and starting a new colony. Incapable of engaging in combat.
-Soldier Bullet Ant (1 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal soldier buller ant. Nonlethal, but extremely painful bites, territorial. Consumption is not recommended.]
The description of the queen bullet ant as well as the fact that she had received two options instead of just one seemed to suggest the ability to reproduce was a special feature of the bullet ants. As the first of five rewards, the bullet ants, honestly, didn't seem like a bad option. If anything, she was surprised by the fact that she had gotten something with some combat ability when she only had the first-floor of her dungeon unlocked. Moving on, she decided to roll the dice again.
[Randomizing options...]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Red-Eyed Tree Frog (2 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal red-eyed tree frog. Poor combat skills, excellent jumping skills. Is safe to consume.]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Angel Fish (2 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal angel fish. Colors are randomized. Incapable of engaging in combat. Consumption is not recommended.]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Tarsier (3 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal tarsier. Poor combat skills, average climbing skills. Is safe to consume.]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Crimson Topaz (2 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal crimson topaz. Colors are randomized. Incapable of engaging in combat. Excellent flying skills, cowardly.]
After seeing all of her new [Critters], Veronica couldn't help but draw the conclusion that she had been given them based on her tropical rainforest theme for her first-floor. She wasn't about to complain, though, as most of them were fairly cheap and they would be useful for making the environment on the floor more realistic. Of course, she would have to figure out how to balance the cost of her [Monsters] with that of her [Critters], assuming they could both be assigned to the spawners in the rooms. Currently, she had 45 of 50 points being occupied by her gargoyles and she wasn't sure reducing their numbers was a great plan.
Oh well, that was something she could tackle another day. Right now, she was eager to get started on her first challenge room while there weren't adventurers on that side of the dungeon.
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[Missions:
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Complete first dungeon room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Set up first spawner
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Complete first inn room
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Make a first-floor reception
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option
Origin: System
Status: Complete
Info: Check-In First Guest
Reward: Unlock a new [Critter] option]
There were still several [Missions] she could easily complete, if she put in the effort, like one for placing her first [Trap] and one for setting up her first challenge room. Veronica had actually learned a bit about how to go about completing those [Missions] today by asking Seraphina about it during training.
Apparently, she would have to set up the room with any [Traps] and room features necessary to make the challenge and then she would have to have the intended reward researched before choosing to set the challenge's parameters and reward with the system. The dungeon system would then communicate with the adventurers' systems to convey what the challenge and reward was as well as to dispense the rewards automatically when they were successful. Luckily, she wouldn't have to worry about ongoing mana costs for the rewards either, but she would have to invest dungeon points to complete the initial set-up.
She had also learned about setting the theme for a room and how that would ensure the system knew which [Items] and room features belonged to the room. When the dungeon half was completely empty of adventurers the rooms would then reset, ensuring the resources, like flowers or fruiting bushes, were always available. The [Monsters] that were assigned to spawners could respawn at set intervals and didn't require the dungeon to be cleared of non-dungeon entities. As for the challenge rooms, the challenges themselves would reset just enough to ensure the challenge could be taken on by the next set of adventurers.
It was because of this new information she had learned that Veronica was surprised to see her reception and inn room [Missions] were considered complete. She hadn't set the room's theme for any of those rooms. Marching over to the reception room she decided to test out the room theme system prompt.
[Error! Unable to complete command.]
After testing some things out and asking the system some follow-up questions, Veronica found out the inn didn't function the same as the rest of the dungeon. Well, she already knew her dungeon setup was a bit... unique. Apparently, the inn and tavern side didn't require her to set the room theme because she would have to manually take care of things. The dungeon would absorb anything that was considered to not belong to the dungeon, meaning she could still move forward with her public bathroom building plans, but beds would remain unmade and obtaining more firewood would require her to spend mana.
Well, that wasn't exactly ideal, but it wasn't like Veronica didn't have experience working at her parents' bed and breakfast. She could play the role of housekeeper and having adventurers constantly in the dungeon meant she wouldn't have to worry about having the mana needed to obtain the supplies she needed. Still, she could only hope that she would be able to obtain some useful [Monsters] to help out with the housekeeping side of things sometime in the future. Otherwise, Veronica was fairly sure there was no way she'd ever be able to keep up with all the inn rooms wanted to build in the future.
Shaking her head, she decided to leave that problem for the future as she focused on accepting her [Mission] rewards.
[Would you like to receive the reward now?
Yes or No?]
Veronica selected the [Yes] option and accepted her first [Critter] reward.
[Please select one of the following options to be randomly rewarded a [Critter] from:
-Cnidaria
-Mollusca
-Arthropoda]
She had no clue what most of the options meant, so she decided to go with the last option on the list.
[Randomizing options...]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Queen Bullet Ant (10 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal queen bullet ant. Capable of laying eggs and starting a new colony. Incapable of engaging in combat.
-Soldier Bullet Ant (1 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal soldier buller ant. Nonlethal, but extremely painful bites, territorial. Consumption is not recommended.]
The description of the queen bullet ant as well as the fact that she had received two options instead of just one seemed to suggest the ability to reproduce was a special feature of the bullet ants. As the first of five rewards, the bullet ants, honestly, didn't seem like a bad option. If anything, she was surprised by the fact that she had gotten something with some combat ability when she only had the first-floor of her dungeon unlocked. Moving on, she decided to roll the dice again.
[Randomizing options...]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Red-Eyed Tree Frog (2 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal red-eyed tree frog. Poor combat skills, excellent jumping skills. Is safe to consume.]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Angel Fish (2 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal angel fish. Colors are randomized. Incapable of engaging in combat. Consumption is not recommended.]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Tarsier (3 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal tarsier. Poor combat skills, average climbing skills. Is safe to consume.]
[New [Critter] option unlocked!
-Crimson Topaz (2 MP)
Behaves the same as a normal crimson topaz. Colors are randomized. Incapable of engaging in combat. Excellent flying skills, cowardly.]
After seeing all of her new [Critters], Veronica couldn't help but draw the conclusion that she had been given them based on her tropical rainforest theme for her first-floor. She wasn't about to complain, though, as most of them were fairly cheap and they would be useful for making the environment on the floor more realistic. Of course, she would have to figure out how to balance the cost of her [Monsters] with that of her [Critters], assuming they could both be assigned to the spawners in the rooms. Currently, she had 45 of 50 points being occupied by her gargoyles and she wasn't sure reducing their numbers was a great plan.
Oh well, that was something she could tackle another day. Right now, she was eager to get started on her first challenge room while there weren't adventurers on that side of the dungeon.
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1.14 Tropical Parkour
New
As she got so many tributes so often, it was hard to keep track of what all was available to work with for her first-ever challenge room. While reviewing what resources were available her, though, she made the fortunate discovery that she had been automatically granted the ability to create pools of water in the dungeon after receiving the water magic crystal. Also, apparently, the ability to terraform was always available to her with a cost of 10MP for 100 cubic meters of change. The water cost half that for the same amount of space.
That was hardly the only discovery she had made either. The leftover space in the front right side of the dungeon amounted to 17-meters by 37-meters. However, directly researching that particular room size wouldn't give her what she wanted because she was currently limited to a 50 point mana cap. A 17-meter by 37-meter room bought directly would cost 108 DP to research and 54 MP to purchase once. However, there was a work around for this problem, which Violet was happy to take advantage of.
First, she researched a 17-meter by 18-meter room for 70DP and then she researched a 17-meter by 19-meter room for an additional 72DP. Then she placed the rooms side by side for the combined total of 71MP. It was already more expensive than being able to buy the room outright, but the real cost came into play with the rooms being able to be combined for 63DP or 10% of the new room's total area. Honestly, though, neither the dungeon points nor the mana cost really bothered Veronica, though, as both were easy to come by.
Unfortunately, the room couldn't be finished that night since it took most of the rest of the night to change the terrain. Seraphina's presence ensured she could earn 720MP across a 12 hour span of time, but digging a pool 10-meters deep that spanned most of the room cost most of the mana she had earned. Adventurers came through the dungeon throughout most of the day, ensuring she couldn't work on the new challenge room until they left for the day.
It was hard to complain, though, when it resulted in her earning more dungeon points as tributes continued to pour in. The traffic was slowly increasing as time went by and five parties of varying sizes managed to make it to the dungeon for the day. She even managed to get two takers for her newly furnished inn rooms. While the 20 DP was a drop in the bucket compared to the 360DP she earned from tributes for the day, it was still exciting since it felt like she was making some real progress.
Pulling up the list of tributes, at the end of the day, she noted that she now had oatcakes, oats, cinnamon, eggs, butter, obsidian arrows, obsidian, lotus flowers, lesser mana potions, spearmint, sea salt, black peppercorns, and springy turf moss. The rest of the dungeon points had been from repeats, which only gave 1 DP each. Compared to the 25 DP from new [Base Resouces] and 10 DP from new [Items] it was a bit disappointing, but even points from repeats and inn room rentals could add up over time. Just look at the amount she had earned from Seraphina.
After getting her butt kicked by Seraphina during training, Veronica dusted herself off and got back to work on her new challenge room. It would seem one of the new room rentals must be being shared as she was now earning 4 MP per minute, which meant she'd have nearly 2,880 MP to work with tonight. Filling the space with water took up roughly 315 mana points, but the rest of the work was rather cheap mana-wise, draining her dungeon point reserves instead.
Maybe it was a bit unoriginal, but the plan was actually to make a wipeout-style parkour course. It wasn't going to be quite the same as the original one, though, and, infact, it would be closer to the Minecraft version she had once recreated for an online multiplayer world she was part of in college. Veronica had chosen to make a massive amusement park on the server with semi-functioning rides, games, and themed booths. She had spent hundreds of hours doing research, farming materials, and building the park only for the server to have to be reset not even a year later. Still, the memories were rather fond ones and she thought it was fitting to recreate such a masterpiece here in her own dungeon. The only way anyone could take it away this time would be for the whole dungeon to be destroyed, taking her with it.
Veronica started by removing many of the entranceways from the other rooms, funneling the adventurers through this particular area before they could move further into the dungeon. Since there weren't actual doors, that meant she got to watch as trees rapidly grew, cutting off the path forward. Next, she shaped the land-masses in the room to create platforms where necessary. There was one near the only entrance leading into the room, one near the exit to the room, and four in the middle of the parkour course.
For 20 DP she managed to research big wooden balls, which would hurt more to fall on than the inflated ones used in her world, but utilized the [Base Resources] she actually had access to. Besides, why should she care if adventurers got injured in her dungeon? It was their fault for coming in here in the first place. Four of the big wooden balls were placed between the entrance platform and the next rest platform. Thanks to the tropical rainforest theme, the mini islands all still came with plants one would normally expect to find in the environment,really making them feel like mini tropical rainforests.
The next part involved a rectangular land-mass placed against a wall and the use of a brand new [Trap] had to spend 40 DP to unlock. When she had first opened the [Traps] menu she had been met with a rather disappointing list.
[Trap Options:
Available Traps:
-Tripwire (10 Mana)
Can be used with other trap types. Trips enemies.
-Itching Powder Wall Trap (10 Mana)
Releases a cloud of itching powder when enemies walk past it causing itchiness and discomfort.
Unlockable Traps]
Both tripping adventurers and making them itchy sounded great if you were going for practical jokester levels of chaos, but that wasn't really Veronica's motivation for using [Traps]. She just wanted to protect the dungeon so she didn't end up dying prematurely. The [Unlockable Traps] option hadn't had anything of much more use, but she did have some use for the [(Weak) Push Wall Trap].
[Unlockable Trap Options:
-Tar Floor Trap (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Flip Trap (25 Mana Each) [50 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Push Wall Trap (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-Pitfall (1M Drop) (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-Small Wooden Barricade (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-Large Wooden Barricade (50 Mana) [100 DP Unlock]
-Slide Floor Trap (75 Mana) [150 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Giant Flip Trap (125 Mana) [250 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Giant Push Wall Trap (125 Mana) [250 DP Unlock]]
The [Push Wall Traps] were supposed to be placed inside the dungeon walls, but she didn't have walls, so they were placed inside of trees that formed the barrier and would jut out to push unsuspecting adventurers into the water beside the rectangular land-mass she had created. Assuming they could make it past that point, the next stop would be another mini island.
30 dungeon points bought some ice pillars, which were the next step before a large platform that had cost her 50 DP to research. The ice was slippery and would make it difficult to jump up onto the large, raised land-mass of a platform. With water rushing downhill and only a few land pillars jutting up to anchor themselves with, it would be a literal uphill battle for the adventurers.
The way back to the exit platform was finished off with another large ice platform, mini island, more big wooden balls, another mini island, and then lots of ice pillars that had to be jumped across in order to reach the final platform where they could exit the room and move further into the dungeon. It was definitely not something that Veronica could ever see herself wanting to do, but there was no reason to go easy on those who wished her harm anyhow.
There wasn't much need for [Monsters] in the challenge room, so Veronica threw down a 50 MP spawner and then filled the water with 25x angel fish. They came in a variety of colors and they added a nice bit of life to the room. While the other [Critters] were all pretty good as well, she wasn't sure they'd be happy with so little land space in the room. So, she wanted to save them to use another time.
Finally, with the room complete, Veronica wanted to utilize the room theme setting option and finalize her challenge.
[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.
Yes or No?]
[Is the current theme correct?
Theme: Tropical Parkour
Yes or No?]
Both prompts she chose the [Yes] option. Then she spent 60 DP to research a 6 piece luxury towel set. Veronica got a chuckle just thinking about the faces of those who successfully completed the challenge just to get towels as a reward. They'd be able to dry themselves off, but it felt a lot like a middle finger to their efforts. She wasn't here to reward people who were trying to harm her, but it wasn't like it was all bad. They would get a nice towel set they could use while relaxing in her inn rooms later that night and it was a high-quality product.
It cost another 60 DP to set the challenge to require the challengers to cross the room without falling into the water. Apparently, the cost was always the same as the cost to research the reward being used for the challenge. That was, honestly, rather interesting since it meant she could, potentially, spend a mere 2DP to set a challenge up if she offered something particularly worthless as a reward. She probably wouldn't do that, though, since the idea put a bad taste in her mouth. She still had standards, even if she thought the rewards were rather silly.
Before leaving the room, she spent 150 DP to lock the room until the challenge was complete. Since there were no doors, this led to the exit sprouting large vines, which twisted around one another to seal the exit. She could easily will them to untangle themselves and open the space once more, which meant it was likely they would move out of the way once the challenge had been completed.
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That was hardly the only discovery she had made either. The leftover space in the front right side of the dungeon amounted to 17-meters by 37-meters. However, directly researching that particular room size wouldn't give her what she wanted because she was currently limited to a 50 point mana cap. A 17-meter by 37-meter room bought directly would cost 108 DP to research and 54 MP to purchase once. However, there was a work around for this problem, which Violet was happy to take advantage of.
First, she researched a 17-meter by 18-meter room for 70DP and then she researched a 17-meter by 19-meter room for an additional 72DP. Then she placed the rooms side by side for the combined total of 71MP. It was already more expensive than being able to buy the room outright, but the real cost came into play with the rooms being able to be combined for 63DP or 10% of the new room's total area. Honestly, though, neither the dungeon points nor the mana cost really bothered Veronica, though, as both were easy to come by.
Unfortunately, the room couldn't be finished that night since it took most of the rest of the night to change the terrain. Seraphina's presence ensured she could earn 720MP across a 12 hour span of time, but digging a pool 10-meters deep that spanned most of the room cost most of the mana she had earned. Adventurers came through the dungeon throughout most of the day, ensuring she couldn't work on the new challenge room until they left for the day.
It was hard to complain, though, when it resulted in her earning more dungeon points as tributes continued to pour in. The traffic was slowly increasing as time went by and five parties of varying sizes managed to make it to the dungeon for the day. She even managed to get two takers for her newly furnished inn rooms. While the 20 DP was a drop in the bucket compared to the 360DP she earned from tributes for the day, it was still exciting since it felt like she was making some real progress.
Pulling up the list of tributes, at the end of the day, she noted that she now had oatcakes, oats, cinnamon, eggs, butter, obsidian arrows, obsidian, lotus flowers, lesser mana potions, spearmint, sea salt, black peppercorns, and springy turf moss. The rest of the dungeon points had been from repeats, which only gave 1 DP each. Compared to the 25 DP from new [Base Resouces] and 10 DP from new [Items] it was a bit disappointing, but even points from repeats and inn room rentals could add up over time. Just look at the amount she had earned from Seraphina.
After getting her butt kicked by Seraphina during training, Veronica dusted herself off and got back to work on her new challenge room. It would seem one of the new room rentals must be being shared as she was now earning 4 MP per minute, which meant she'd have nearly 2,880 MP to work with tonight. Filling the space with water took up roughly 315 mana points, but the rest of the work was rather cheap mana-wise, draining her dungeon point reserves instead.
Maybe it was a bit unoriginal, but the plan was actually to make a wipeout-style parkour course. It wasn't going to be quite the same as the original one, though, and, infact, it would be closer to the Minecraft version she had once recreated for an online multiplayer world she was part of in college. Veronica had chosen to make a massive amusement park on the server with semi-functioning rides, games, and themed booths. She had spent hundreds of hours doing research, farming materials, and building the park only for the server to have to be reset not even a year later. Still, the memories were rather fond ones and she thought it was fitting to recreate such a masterpiece here in her own dungeon. The only way anyone could take it away this time would be for the whole dungeon to be destroyed, taking her with it.
Veronica started by removing many of the entranceways from the other rooms, funneling the adventurers through this particular area before they could move further into the dungeon. Since there weren't actual doors, that meant she got to watch as trees rapidly grew, cutting off the path forward. Next, she shaped the land-masses in the room to create platforms where necessary. There was one near the only entrance leading into the room, one near the exit to the room, and four in the middle of the parkour course.
For 20 DP she managed to research big wooden balls, which would hurt more to fall on than the inflated ones used in her world, but utilized the [Base Resources] she actually had access to. Besides, why should she care if adventurers got injured in her dungeon? It was their fault for coming in here in the first place. Four of the big wooden balls were placed between the entrance platform and the next rest platform. Thanks to the tropical rainforest theme, the mini islands all still came with plants one would normally expect to find in the environment,really making them feel like mini tropical rainforests.
The next part involved a rectangular land-mass placed against a wall and the use of a brand new [Trap] had to spend 40 DP to unlock. When she had first opened the [Traps] menu she had been met with a rather disappointing list.
[Trap Options:
Available Traps:
-Tripwire (10 Mana)
Can be used with other trap types. Trips enemies.
-Itching Powder Wall Trap (10 Mana)
Releases a cloud of itching powder when enemies walk past it causing itchiness and discomfort.
Unlockable Traps]
Both tripping adventurers and making them itchy sounded great if you were going for practical jokester levels of chaos, but that wasn't really Veronica's motivation for using [Traps]. She just wanted to protect the dungeon so she didn't end up dying prematurely. The [Unlockable Traps] option hadn't had anything of much more use, but she did have some use for the [(Weak) Push Wall Trap].
[Unlockable Trap Options:
-Tar Floor Trap (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Flip Trap (25 Mana Each) [50 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Push Wall Trap (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-Pitfall (1M Drop) (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-Small Wooden Barricade (25 Mana) [50 DP Unlock]
-Large Wooden Barricade (50 Mana) [100 DP Unlock]
-Slide Floor Trap (75 Mana) [150 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Giant Flip Trap (125 Mana) [250 DP Unlock]
-(Weak) Giant Push Wall Trap (125 Mana) [250 DP Unlock]]
The [Push Wall Traps] were supposed to be placed inside the dungeon walls, but she didn't have walls, so they were placed inside of trees that formed the barrier and would jut out to push unsuspecting adventurers into the water beside the rectangular land-mass she had created. Assuming they could make it past that point, the next stop would be another mini island.
30 dungeon points bought some ice pillars, which were the next step before a large platform that had cost her 50 DP to research. The ice was slippery and would make it difficult to jump up onto the large, raised land-mass of a platform. With water rushing downhill and only a few land pillars jutting up to anchor themselves with, it would be a literal uphill battle for the adventurers.
The way back to the exit platform was finished off with another large ice platform, mini island, more big wooden balls, another mini island, and then lots of ice pillars that had to be jumped across in order to reach the final platform where they could exit the room and move further into the dungeon. It was definitely not something that Veronica could ever see herself wanting to do, but there was no reason to go easy on those who wished her harm anyhow.
There wasn't much need for [Monsters] in the challenge room, so Veronica threw down a 50 MP spawner and then filled the water with 25x angel fish. They came in a variety of colors and they added a nice bit of life to the room. While the other [Critters] were all pretty good as well, she wasn't sure they'd be happy with so little land space in the room. So, she wanted to save them to use another time.
Finally, with the room complete, Veronica wanted to utilize the room theme setting option and finalize her challenge.
[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.
Yes or No?]
[Is the current theme correct?
Theme: Tropical Parkour
Yes or No?]
Both prompts she chose the [Yes] option. Then she spent 60 DP to research a 6 piece luxury towel set. Veronica got a chuckle just thinking about the faces of those who successfully completed the challenge just to get towels as a reward. They'd be able to dry themselves off, but it felt a lot like a middle finger to their efforts. She wasn't here to reward people who were trying to harm her, but it wasn't like it was all bad. They would get a nice towel set they could use while relaxing in her inn rooms later that night and it was a high-quality product.
It cost another 60 DP to set the challenge to require the challengers to cross the room without falling into the water. Apparently, the cost was always the same as the cost to research the reward being used for the challenge. That was, honestly, rather interesting since it meant she could, potentially, spend a mere 2DP to set a challenge up if she offered something particularly worthless as a reward. She probably wouldn't do that, though, since the idea put a bad taste in her mouth. She still had standards, even if she thought the rewards were rather silly.
Before leaving the room, she spent 150 DP to lock the room until the challenge was complete. Since there were no doors, this led to the exit sprouting large vines, which twisted around one another to seal the exit. She could easily will them to untangle themselves and open the space once more, which meant it was likely they would move out of the way once the challenge had been completed.
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1.15 The Carpenter
New
Juniper Evergreen was excited to have a new dungeon in their city. Bluecove had been slowly dying over the years, but it was hard to abandon the only life she had ever known. Her father had run their workshop with pride, working hard every day to deliver the best quality. When she had turned sixty years old, he had gifted her the local carpenter's workshop while he and her brothers had moved elsewhere to open up a new branch. Some of her siblings weren't willing to participate in the family business, but her father was determined to help all of his children succeed however he could.
Juniper didn't mind staying in Bluecove, even after adventurers stopped showing up, there were still plenty of orders to fill. They often got special orders from all around thanks to being a central trading hub and port town. Besides which, there were still plenty of people living in the city since nowhere was made up of merchants and adventurers alone. If anything, many of the locals were relieved by the lack of a dungeon since it had meant they had a low aether area to live without the concern caused by contracted [Monsters] running amuck.
You would think that the new dungeon, oddly named 'Veronica's Rest' would have caused a disturbance to their peaceful lives, but they had gotten lucky. After week filled with chaos as earthquakes and a tsunami wreaked havoc on their city, the new dungeon had appeared a good distance away from the city on an island. It would be stupid of the dungeon master to send their [Monsters] out to forage in those circumstances, so their peaceful way of life would be able to continue.
"Are you ready, boss? I've got the cart ready with all the supplies we need and the adventurers who volunteered to escort us are already here."
Juniper looked up at the man and nodded her head. She had put out a resource quest at the local guild requesting bodyguards to protect her workers while they chopped down trees in the dungeon and hauled them back to the workshop. One of the big issues with living in a coastal city is there wasn't a lot of land for natural resources to grow. Besides, as an Elven woman, Juniper understood well just how bad it would be for her to cut down healthy trees in the forests surrounding their city. It was one thing to remove diseased and dying trees as that would allow the forest to grow back stronger, but that really limited the resources she could obtain.
The last couple of years, they had mostly been ordering supplies in bulk from nearby towns and cities that had dungeons with forests to utilize. However, those weren't exactly common. Their kingdom had a variety of different dungeons and there were even a few with dryads and other nature guardians who had been chosen as the dungeon masters. However, dungeons were still fairly spread out and it wasn't like every dungeon was the same. They all had their own unique characteristics that made them unique and interesting.
"Yeah, let's not keep everyone waiting."
Juniper walked out and greeted the three adventurers who had volunteered to help them that day.
"Good day, I'm Juniper Evergreen, the one in charge here. Could you quickly introduce yourselves?"
A young woman stepped forward to speak on behalf of their group, pointing to the others as she replied
"I'm Amelia, an earth elementalist. This is Elwin, a scout class, and Coryas, our team leader with the warrior class."
Juniper nodded, waving her hand as she said
"Very well, this is my team. We're just taking a few people, but we'll be coming and going from the dungeon for most of the day. We plan to work until sundown and collect as much wood as possible. I'm sure you already know this, but you'll be paid one silver each per hour with a bonus, assuming none of my team members are injured at the end of the day."
She was required to pay them unless every person in her team died or their entire group died. However, Juniper had found it was always a good idea to offer something extra as motivation for a job well done. The cost to hire bodyguards was steep and the price she was offering was hardly going to attract anything but beginner adventurers, but it was still well worth it. The cost to buy wood from elsewhere and have it transported here was still far more expensive. Assuming they had a productive day here, their workshop would be set for a few months and their profit for the season would be higher than it had been in years.
As there wasn't a tribute room in sight, they decided to put their token tributes in the first room they entered. Elwin got to work setting up [Traps] and pointing out potential threats right away while Coryas smashed the gargoyles to bits and Amelia stood to the side, ready to erect a protective stone barrier at a moment's notice. The gargoyles would have to be cleared out every ten minutes, so it was important to prepare things ahead of time.
"Looks like the wood in this dungeon is high quality. The trees are tall and thick while the wood is just right for most construction projects. We might still have to source some softer and harder wood types for special projects, but this should work well."
Juniper's assistant noted. She nodded in response, overseeing the logistics of everything. She'd step in when necessary, but it was important she ensure any crises were dealt with right away and that all of her workers got breaks when needed. Usually, she'd have them take turns chopping wood versus bringing things back to the workshop where they were expected to take a short break before returning. Since the timing wasn't quite right, the ones on site also had to be given breaks, on occasion.
The adventurers helping them were all rather young, but they worked well together. Juniper was looking forward to watching them grow stronger over the years. Eventually, they'd likely outgrow jobs like the one she was offering, but that just meant they'd likely turn into valued customers instead. The [Traps] the scout used or a sturdy handle for the warrior's hammers would easily be handled by her workshop. Hammers made purely from metal were a possibility and there were a lot of metal-based [Traps] as well, but those tended to be heavier and weren't always convenient to carry with them into the dungeon. Even if they got magic bags, there was still a limit to how much weight they could carry and other equipment might be better to use that space for.
After a hard day's work, Juniper was satisfied to see no one harmed and happily paid them a few extra silvers for their efforts. The kids seemed excited about their pay and she could only smile. Things wouldn't always be like this for them, but she hoped they could continue to enjoy themselves.
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Juniper didn't mind staying in Bluecove, even after adventurers stopped showing up, there were still plenty of orders to fill. They often got special orders from all around thanks to being a central trading hub and port town. Besides which, there were still plenty of people living in the city since nowhere was made up of merchants and adventurers alone. If anything, many of the locals were relieved by the lack of a dungeon since it had meant they had a low aether area to live without the concern caused by contracted [Monsters] running amuck.
You would think that the new dungeon, oddly named 'Veronica's Rest' would have caused a disturbance to their peaceful lives, but they had gotten lucky. After week filled with chaos as earthquakes and a tsunami wreaked havoc on their city, the new dungeon had appeared a good distance away from the city on an island. It would be stupid of the dungeon master to send their [Monsters] out to forage in those circumstances, so their peaceful way of life would be able to continue.
"Are you ready, boss? I've got the cart ready with all the supplies we need and the adventurers who volunteered to escort us are already here."
Juniper looked up at the man and nodded her head. She had put out a resource quest at the local guild requesting bodyguards to protect her workers while they chopped down trees in the dungeon and hauled them back to the workshop. One of the big issues with living in a coastal city is there wasn't a lot of land for natural resources to grow. Besides, as an Elven woman, Juniper understood well just how bad it would be for her to cut down healthy trees in the forests surrounding their city. It was one thing to remove diseased and dying trees as that would allow the forest to grow back stronger, but that really limited the resources she could obtain.
The last couple of years, they had mostly been ordering supplies in bulk from nearby towns and cities that had dungeons with forests to utilize. However, those weren't exactly common. Their kingdom had a variety of different dungeons and there were even a few with dryads and other nature guardians who had been chosen as the dungeon masters. However, dungeons were still fairly spread out and it wasn't like every dungeon was the same. They all had their own unique characteristics that made them unique and interesting.
"Yeah, let's not keep everyone waiting."
Juniper walked out and greeted the three adventurers who had volunteered to help them that day.
"Good day, I'm Juniper Evergreen, the one in charge here. Could you quickly introduce yourselves?"
A young woman stepped forward to speak on behalf of their group, pointing to the others as she replied
"I'm Amelia, an earth elementalist. This is Elwin, a scout class, and Coryas, our team leader with the warrior class."
Juniper nodded, waving her hand as she said
"Very well, this is my team. We're just taking a few people, but we'll be coming and going from the dungeon for most of the day. We plan to work until sundown and collect as much wood as possible. I'm sure you already know this, but you'll be paid one silver each per hour with a bonus, assuming none of my team members are injured at the end of the day."
She was required to pay them unless every person in her team died or their entire group died. However, Juniper had found it was always a good idea to offer something extra as motivation for a job well done. The cost to hire bodyguards was steep and the price she was offering was hardly going to attract anything but beginner adventurers, but it was still well worth it. The cost to buy wood from elsewhere and have it transported here was still far more expensive. Assuming they had a productive day here, their workshop would be set for a few months and their profit for the season would be higher than it had been in years.
As there wasn't a tribute room in sight, they decided to put their token tributes in the first room they entered. Elwin got to work setting up [Traps] and pointing out potential threats right away while Coryas smashed the gargoyles to bits and Amelia stood to the side, ready to erect a protective stone barrier at a moment's notice. The gargoyles would have to be cleared out every ten minutes, so it was important to prepare things ahead of time.
"Looks like the wood in this dungeon is high quality. The trees are tall and thick while the wood is just right for most construction projects. We might still have to source some softer and harder wood types for special projects, but this should work well."
Juniper's assistant noted. She nodded in response, overseeing the logistics of everything. She'd step in when necessary, but it was important she ensure any crises were dealt with right away and that all of her workers got breaks when needed. Usually, she'd have them take turns chopping wood versus bringing things back to the workshop where they were expected to take a short break before returning. Since the timing wasn't quite right, the ones on site also had to be given breaks, on occasion.
The adventurers helping them were all rather young, but they worked well together. Juniper was looking forward to watching them grow stronger over the years. Eventually, they'd likely outgrow jobs like the one she was offering, but that just meant they'd likely turn into valued customers instead. The [Traps] the scout used or a sturdy handle for the warrior's hammers would easily be handled by her workshop. Hammers made purely from metal were a possibility and there were a lot of metal-based [Traps] as well, but those tended to be heavier and weren't always convenient to carry with them into the dungeon. Even if they got magic bags, there was still a limit to how much weight they could carry and other equipment might be better to use that space for.
After a hard day's work, Juniper was satisfied to see no one harmed and happily paid them a few extra silvers for their efforts. The kids seemed excited about their pay and she could only smile. Things wouldn't always be like this for them, but she hoped they could continue to enjoy themselves.
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1.16 Bigger Rooms
New
With her first challenge room completed, Veronica felt more confident that her dungeon would be more adequately protected. Sure, it was possible that the supernatural skills of the people of this world would allow them to easily complete the parkour challenge, but it wasn't like there was much she could do about that. Instead, she was much more interested in beginning work on some bigger rooms for her inn and tavern.
On the opposite side of her inn side of the dungeon, she started building 18-meter by 18-meter rooms. Of course, in between each set, she also placed hallways. It wouldn't do any good to have new rooms if no one could reach them. Thanks to the abundance of adventurers, this process went rather quickly. Before too long, she had twelve of the larger rooms in place, which easily took up half of the free space she currently had on that half of the dungeon.
Veronica thought the 9-meter by 9-meter rooms were pretty fancy already. However, she wanted to the 18-meter by 18-meter ones to be even better. That's why she planned to include a bathroom in each. She could already picture Seraphina's surprised expression when she saw them. Seraphina had been going on all morning about how much she loved the inn rooms, saying they were way better than any other tavern she'd stayed at. Since Veronica couldn't personally leave the dungeon, it had been a very enlightening conversation.
The doorways and doors could easily be slotted into place, combining with the wooden partition walls seamlessly. Unlike the dungeon walls and doors, though, these weren't nearly as sturdy. According to Seraphina, an intruder could break down a door to get through an area, if they were strong enough and desperate enough. However, part of locking the doors or setting a room as a boss room was that the entrances would be reinforced so that only s-rank individuals could break them down. Well, that or an a-rank that specialized in strength and had a weapon suitable for such a task. That was, somewhat, reassuring, even if there was a limit to how much such things could slow intruders down.
After waiting for her mana to refill sufficiently, something that didn't take long, she began to build a separate area for the bathrooms in each 18-meter by 18-meter room. The partition walls were 25 MP / 10-meters, but that was enough to cover a few room's worth of partition walls. Then she just had to add the doors so that inn customers would be able to have some extra privacy, in case they were sharing a room with someone else.
It wasn't even sunset by the time Veronica finished setting up the basic walls, but she still decided to call it a day. There was a lull in dungeon traffic and she was eager to get some more [Monster] fields put in. Just something basic with a 50 MP spawner and 3 gargoyles. It was a bit boring a generic, especially considering she now had access to a few varieties of [Critters], but the adventurers visiting her dungeon hardly seemed to mind. They just wanted to get in, earn some experience, and then get out.
Since she now had a solid pattern down for where to place her challenge rooms, she also went ahead and built another 17-meter by 37-meter room while she was at it. It remained empty, for now, but it wouldn't be long before she'd be setting up her second challenge room. In the process, she had learned an interesting fact. She could pay for a 17-meter by 37-meter room and place it, even if it overlapped with her dungeon core room. The space would just be subtracted from her challenge room, making it imperfectly rectangular in shape. Hopefully, when she unlocked her second-floor the dungeon core room could be moved and the room would fill out the rest of the space. Otherwise, she could easily imagine it would make things awkward.
Seraphina was impatiently waiting for her when she finished trekking the rest of the distance to the dungeon core room. It was time for their nightly sparring match. While the experience was still painful, Veronica couldn't help but look forward to it. Seraphina seemed happy with her progress learning how to wield a staff and she was happy to be learning self-defense skills. There was no telling when Bo would show up again and she didn't want to die quite as easily as she had the last time.
"Why don't we try something slightly different today? I know its only been a few days since I started teaching you. However, you seem comfortable wielding the staff now, so it seems like a good time to move on to working on specific skills."
Seraphina announced. Veronica raised one eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue expectantly.
"I'd like you to focus more on dodging and blocking skills. So, don't try to attack me, just try to step out of the way or move your staff to stop incoming attacks. Once you improve, we can move on to transitioning from blocking to retaliating more smoothly.
You're lucky that free-roaming [Monsters] won't attack your dungeon very often. They'd get caught by the city guards before they could ever make it to your dungeon. The city and your dungeon are positioned just right so you get some extra safety that way. Many dungeons end up in mountains or forests and adventurers have to trek a short distance to get to it. Still, that does mean it's more likely that any troublemakers will be sentient, so your training needs to be flexible enough to deal with that."
Veronica didn't have any arguments. As much fun as it was to try and get a hit in on Seraphina, she didn't actually have any current grudges against the woman. She had already forgiven her for letting her die, so she no longer wanted revenge. Of course, and eye for an eye wouldn't have truly have been possible in the first place. Seraphina was far too strong and she wouldn't come back to life if she died. Well, Veronica was assuming she wouldn't, but she didn't have any reason to think anyone not tied to a dungeon would have that ability. So, she was most likely correct.
Feeling a little more unsure of herself, she steeled herself as she tried to block the first attack that came her way. However, Seraphina's strike was too strong and she easily got pushed back, causing her to stumble and fall on her behind. The Elven woman rarely seemed to hold back or, perhaps, wasn't capable of it. Veronica was fine with that, though, as she doubted taking things easy on her would have been helpful in the long-run. Adventurers were always going to be stronger than her, so she needed to be able to overcome such shortcomings.
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On the opposite side of her inn side of the dungeon, she started building 18-meter by 18-meter rooms. Of course, in between each set, she also placed hallways. It wouldn't do any good to have new rooms if no one could reach them. Thanks to the abundance of adventurers, this process went rather quickly. Before too long, she had twelve of the larger rooms in place, which easily took up half of the free space she currently had on that half of the dungeon.
Veronica thought the 9-meter by 9-meter rooms were pretty fancy already. However, she wanted to the 18-meter by 18-meter ones to be even better. That's why she planned to include a bathroom in each. She could already picture Seraphina's surprised expression when she saw them. Seraphina had been going on all morning about how much she loved the inn rooms, saying they were way better than any other tavern she'd stayed at. Since Veronica couldn't personally leave the dungeon, it had been a very enlightening conversation.
| Would you like to spend 50 DP to research wooden partition walls using the [Base Resource] wood? |
| Yes | No |
| Would you like to spend 10 DP to research wooden doorframes using the [Base Resource] wood? |
| Yes | No |
| Would you like to spend 10 DP to research wooden doors using the [Base Resource] wood? |
| Yes | No |
The doorways and doors could easily be slotted into place, combining with the wooden partition walls seamlessly. Unlike the dungeon walls and doors, though, these weren't nearly as sturdy. According to Seraphina, an intruder could break down a door to get through an area, if they were strong enough and desperate enough. However, part of locking the doors or setting a room as a boss room was that the entrances would be reinforced so that only s-rank individuals could break them down. Well, that or an a-rank that specialized in strength and had a weapon suitable for such a task. That was, somewhat, reassuring, even if there was a limit to how much such things could slow intruders down.
After waiting for her mana to refill sufficiently, something that didn't take long, she began to build a separate area for the bathrooms in each 18-meter by 18-meter room. The partition walls were 25 MP / 10-meters, but that was enough to cover a few room's worth of partition walls. Then she just had to add the doors so that inn customers would be able to have some extra privacy, in case they were sharing a room with someone else.
It wasn't even sunset by the time Veronica finished setting up the basic walls, but she still decided to call it a day. There was a lull in dungeon traffic and she was eager to get some more [Monster] fields put in. Just something basic with a 50 MP spawner and 3 gargoyles. It was a bit boring a generic, especially considering she now had access to a few varieties of [Critters], but the adventurers visiting her dungeon hardly seemed to mind. They just wanted to get in, earn some experience, and then get out.
Since she now had a solid pattern down for where to place her challenge rooms, she also went ahead and built another 17-meter by 37-meter room while she was at it. It remained empty, for now, but it wouldn't be long before she'd be setting up her second challenge room. In the process, she had learned an interesting fact. She could pay for a 17-meter by 37-meter room and place it, even if it overlapped with her dungeon core room. The space would just be subtracted from her challenge room, making it imperfectly rectangular in shape. Hopefully, when she unlocked her second-floor the dungeon core room could be moved and the room would fill out the rest of the space. Otherwise, she could easily imagine it would make things awkward.
Seraphina was impatiently waiting for her when she finished trekking the rest of the distance to the dungeon core room. It was time for their nightly sparring match. While the experience was still painful, Veronica couldn't help but look forward to it. Seraphina seemed happy with her progress learning how to wield a staff and she was happy to be learning self-defense skills. There was no telling when Bo would show up again and she didn't want to die quite as easily as she had the last time.
"Why don't we try something slightly different today? I know its only been a few days since I started teaching you. However, you seem comfortable wielding the staff now, so it seems like a good time to move on to working on specific skills."
Seraphina announced. Veronica raised one eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue expectantly.
"I'd like you to focus more on dodging and blocking skills. So, don't try to attack me, just try to step out of the way or move your staff to stop incoming attacks. Once you improve, we can move on to transitioning from blocking to retaliating more smoothly.
You're lucky that free-roaming [Monsters] won't attack your dungeon very often. They'd get caught by the city guards before they could ever make it to your dungeon. The city and your dungeon are positioned just right so you get some extra safety that way. Many dungeons end up in mountains or forests and adventurers have to trek a short distance to get to it. Still, that does mean it's more likely that any troublemakers will be sentient, so your training needs to be flexible enough to deal with that."
Veronica didn't have any arguments. As much fun as it was to try and get a hit in on Seraphina, she didn't actually have any current grudges against the woman. She had already forgiven her for letting her die, so she no longer wanted revenge. Of course, and eye for an eye wouldn't have truly have been possible in the first place. Seraphina was far too strong and she wouldn't come back to life if she died. Well, Veronica was assuming she wouldn't, but she didn't have any reason to think anyone not tied to a dungeon would have that ability. So, she was most likely correct.
Feeling a little more unsure of herself, she steeled herself as she tried to block the first attack that came her way. However, Seraphina's strike was too strong and she easily got pushed back, causing her to stumble and fall on her behind. The Elven woman rarely seemed to hold back or, perhaps, wasn't capable of it. Veronica was fine with that, though, as she doubted taking things easy on her would have been helpful in the long-run. Adventurers were always going to be stronger than her, so she needed to be able to overcome such shortcomings.
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1.17 Bo's Return
New
Bo was bored again, so he decided to pack up his gear and return to Veronica's Rest once more. Last time had been rather disappointing. The gargoyles were weak and very easy to defeat. He just had to grab the and crush them into smithereens with his fist. He didn't really need to use actual weapons very often. His warrior class had adapted to his fighting style and his shifter lineage had blessed him with strength and horns alike.
When it came to the dungeon master, he had been hoping for a real challenge. However, she had been clumsy in her attempts to dodge him and not very brave either, for that matter. He doubted much had changed in such a short period of time, but he had given her a few days to improve. Bo hoped that she would put up a much more impressive fight this time around.
When he got to the dungeon, there were already a few groups of adventurers milling around. Most were still in the first few rooms as they discussed strategies and waited for the gargoyles to respawn. Since he was a c-rank adventurer, Bo was hardly here to farm experience. The pitiful amount the gargoyles would give him simply wasn't worth wasting his time on. Maybe things wouldn't have been so bad if there were more than three of them per room. Having a whole swarm of them attack him at once certainly would make things tricky, even for him.
While Bo wasn't one for using weapons and he couldn't help but look down on his local dungeon, he had still come prepared. If the dungeon master had been smart about things and planned ahead, he was sure things would get messy. However, the lesser healing potion would still be enough to heal most injuries. Even if the worst came to pass, he also had a normal healing potion, which he had carefully saved up to afford. That still wouldn't be enough to recover missing limbs or truly lethal injuries, but he doubted this dungeon would be capable of that any time soon.
After entering the tropical parkour challenge room, Bo paused. He looked the room over, feeling impressed. While he could certainly exert enough force to jump long distances, he didn't have much agility, making it hard to maneuver carefully through the air. Turning around, he tried the door he had just come through. It was locked and the challenge notification popped up notifying him of what was in store. It would seem he had no choice then, he'd have to conquer this course before he could move forward.
Thanks to not wasting money on fancy armor and weaponry, he had a cheap magic bag. It had a limit of 25 kilograms and was the cheapest on the market, but it was enough for his purposes. He wouldn't have to worry about any of his gear being ruined, should he fall in the water, nor would he have heavy armor to drag him down. Readying himself, he braced himself and jumped onto the giant wooden ball in front of him.
He must have overestimated the jump as he went flying over them and landed in the water between the second and third ball of the bunch. He quickly swam over to the entrance and dragged himself ashore. He didn't wait long before he was at it once more. While this was hardly the first parkour course to ever exist in this world, they weren't exactly common. So, Bo didn't have any experience dealing with such obstacles and it took him a while before he could make it to the first island in the midst of the pool of water.
Sighing, he sat down and pulled out a ration. He would take a short break and then continue onwards. Peering ahead of him, he could see a rectangular strip of land directly ahead of him. The distance to cross over made it seem easy, but there was no way it would be that simple. From what he could see of the rest of the room, the course was meant to be difficult. There was ice, which one could easily slip on, causing them to fall into the water below. The highest point in the room appeared to be some raised landmass with water pouring into the water below. How the water level below him didn't rise and the landmass itself didn't run out of water, he wasn't sure. Probably some sort of dungeon-exclusive magic.
Bo had only brought simple rations and simple camping gear. He was glad that he had it now that he knew he'd likely be stuck here for a few days, but he was most certainly going to miss having a hot meal and a proper bed to sleep in by the time he made it home. Still, it was nice to have a proper challenge and he felt far less bored now, even if this wasn't what he had in mind. Standing up, he dusted off his pants and prepared to make the next jump across.
Thanks to his alertness, he was easily able to dodge the first [Trap] and even the one after that. However, he had gotten the timing wrong and the next push wall [Trap] started to close in on him. Digging his feet into the ground, he did the only thing he could think of and shoved at the [Trap], attempting to remain on land with all of his might. The push [Trap] must have been a weak one as he was successful as he shoved it back into the wall and was then able to continue forward. That would make this whole process far easier than he had been expecting.
After clearing the rest of the distance, he jumped onto the next island floating in the water. This was the last one on this side. He'd have to clear the raised platform with rushing water and avoid slipping on two icy platforms before he'd be able to take a rest next. Bracing himself, he jumped across to the icy platform, but, despite his best efforts, he skidded across its surface and fell into the water. This was definitely going to take a while...
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When it came to the dungeon master, he had been hoping for a real challenge. However, she had been clumsy in her attempts to dodge him and not very brave either, for that matter. He doubted much had changed in such a short period of time, but he had given her a few days to improve. Bo hoped that she would put up a much more impressive fight this time around.
When he got to the dungeon, there were already a few groups of adventurers milling around. Most were still in the first few rooms as they discussed strategies and waited for the gargoyles to respawn. Since he was a c-rank adventurer, Bo was hardly here to farm experience. The pitiful amount the gargoyles would give him simply wasn't worth wasting his time on. Maybe things wouldn't have been so bad if there were more than three of them per room. Having a whole swarm of them attack him at once certainly would make things tricky, even for him.
While Bo wasn't one for using weapons and he couldn't help but look down on his local dungeon, he had still come prepared. If the dungeon master had been smart about things and planned ahead, he was sure things would get messy. However, the lesser healing potion would still be enough to heal most injuries. Even if the worst came to pass, he also had a normal healing potion, which he had carefully saved up to afford. That still wouldn't be enough to recover missing limbs or truly lethal injuries, but he doubted this dungeon would be capable of that any time soon.
After entering the tropical parkour challenge room, Bo paused. He looked the room over, feeling impressed. While he could certainly exert enough force to jump long distances, he didn't have much agility, making it hard to maneuver carefully through the air. Turning around, he tried the door he had just come through. It was locked and the challenge notification popped up notifying him of what was in store. It would seem he had no choice then, he'd have to conquer this course before he could move forward.
Thanks to not wasting money on fancy armor and weaponry, he had a cheap magic bag. It had a limit of 25 kilograms and was the cheapest on the market, but it was enough for his purposes. He wouldn't have to worry about any of his gear being ruined, should he fall in the water, nor would he have heavy armor to drag him down. Readying himself, he braced himself and jumped onto the giant wooden ball in front of him.
He must have overestimated the jump as he went flying over them and landed in the water between the second and third ball of the bunch. He quickly swam over to the entrance and dragged himself ashore. He didn't wait long before he was at it once more. While this was hardly the first parkour course to ever exist in this world, they weren't exactly common. So, Bo didn't have any experience dealing with such obstacles and it took him a while before he could make it to the first island in the midst of the pool of water.
Sighing, he sat down and pulled out a ration. He would take a short break and then continue onwards. Peering ahead of him, he could see a rectangular strip of land directly ahead of him. The distance to cross over made it seem easy, but there was no way it would be that simple. From what he could see of the rest of the room, the course was meant to be difficult. There was ice, which one could easily slip on, causing them to fall into the water below. The highest point in the room appeared to be some raised landmass with water pouring into the water below. How the water level below him didn't rise and the landmass itself didn't run out of water, he wasn't sure. Probably some sort of dungeon-exclusive magic.
Bo had only brought simple rations and simple camping gear. He was glad that he had it now that he knew he'd likely be stuck here for a few days, but he was most certainly going to miss having a hot meal and a proper bed to sleep in by the time he made it home. Still, it was nice to have a proper challenge and he felt far less bored now, even if this wasn't what he had in mind. Standing up, he dusted off his pants and prepared to make the next jump across.
Thanks to his alertness, he was easily able to dodge the first [Trap] and even the one after that. However, he had gotten the timing wrong and the next push wall [Trap] started to close in on him. Digging his feet into the ground, he did the only thing he could think of and shoved at the [Trap], attempting to remain on land with all of his might. The push [Trap] must have been a weak one as he was successful as he shoved it back into the wall and was then able to continue forward. That would make this whole process far easier than he had been expecting.
After clearing the rest of the distance, he jumped onto the next island floating in the water. This was the last one on this side. He'd have to clear the raised platform with rushing water and avoid slipping on two icy platforms before he'd be able to take a rest next. Bracing himself, he jumped across to the icy platform, but, despite his best efforts, he skidded across its surface and fell into the water. This was definitely going to take a while...
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Spotify Playlist:
View: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6EYZqr5VSZImy2QWCGYXB4?si=6R4A5ZkYRZ2G6ySn2N1aoA&pi=iet8eFaHSZ6M-
- Location
- England
Lost an 'm' from "them".