Dungeon Tour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Theodore nodded before asking

"Do you mind giving me a tour of everything? You don't have to, if you don't want to. I can always do so by myself after I check the status of the dungeon core."

Violet shook her head as she insisted

"No, it's fine! I would actually rather enjoy the company. I haven't been interacting with the adventurers as much and it's gotten a bit lonely."

Theodore frowned at that. Most dungeon masters didn't converse with adventurers at all, but none had ever mentioned feeling lonely before. Theodore couldn't personally visit every day since he had other responsibilities to attend to. However, he had to wonder if there even was that much he could do.

"Has David not been training you in my absence? That would be a breach of contract on his part."

Violet shook her head emphatically as she assured

"No, he has been here every night. He always brings tribute as well. Although, it sounds like he is having a hard time with his finances. I thought he was going to be given a job with the adventurer's guild?"

Theodore almost looked angry as he replied

"He shouldn't be bothering you with that. He is lucky his punishment isn't more severe. I can't make the builders work faster just so one person can have a job sooner. It will take a few months before they are even able to send people out here to set things up. He will just have to wait until then. Just think of it like he was charged a fee as a penalty for his actions.

Is he just complaining at you and not being friendly enough? I can have him replaced with someone else, if you want? An amendment contract would have to be drawn up and he'd likely be forced to become an indentured servant until he can pay off the cost of your training. However, that isn't something for you to worry about. He'd still be getting off rather lightly considering his crimes."

Violet looked horrified as she listened to Theodore. She became agitated as she waved her hands around and insisted

"No! No, that's not necessary! He isn't doing anything wrong on his end. I just don't feel quite comfortable with anyone. I can tell they don't think of me as a friend and that there is this distance between me and everyone else. They don't trust me and so I don't feel comfortable being vulnerable around them. I can't talk freely with them."

Theodore's expression softened as he looked Violet over. He was upsetting her and it was now more than clear that the problem was more complicated than he had expected. He sighed as he explained

"Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done about that. Few people trust dungeon masters and the only reason there is even this level of peace is thanks to the dungeon accords. Dungeons used to be more unfair and adventurers used to destroy or take the dungeon cores for their own devices. The dungeon masters never quite stopped being bloodthirsty and they still don't tend to try to interact with adventurers.

Over the last few hundred years, I've heard of a few dungeons popping up, every now and again, that take a more peaceful approach. However, most end up succumbing to attacks by [Monsters] or the dungeon master's sense of morality changes as they find themselves falling prey to the people of this world. You have been doing surprisingly well while maintaining your sanity thus far. It's really to be commended, but I do hope you have considered some way to protect yourself."

Theodore didn't mention it, but there was also the matter of how dungeon masters who were evolved from [Monsters] or beasts usually had an easier time of things. They would fill their dungeons with similar [Monsters] that they felt a sense of kinship with and they don't have the social needs that people do. Many humans who originated from this world would bring their families into the dungeons with them or take lovers who could keep them company. However, that, obviously, wouldn't work for Violet.

Violet looked sad as she replied

"Well, just take a look for yourself."

They had arrived at the slime parkour room and it was nearly pitch dark with rain pouring heavily from the sky while the slimes in the water arced through the air, excited to show off for Violet as they could sense she was nearby.

"This is a challenge room where you are supposed to jump from platform to platform to reach the other side without touching the water below. However, the rain makes the wooden platforms slick and the slimes jump out of the water to attempt to knock people and [Monsters] off. Even if you aren't going for the challenge, too much armor will make it hard to swim across and you'd risk the dungeon absorbing it. There is also a side door that has no ledge to step onto, so you could end up in the water if you aren't watching where you are going."

Theodore was impressed as he looked the room over. He had been worried when he limited Violet to only having [Traps] in front of her dungeon core room, but he was happy to see she was clever enough to find a good workaround. Honestly, Theodore doubted that the [Traps] being limited to a small space was that big of an issue. If Violet did things right, the adventurers would be lulled into a sense of safety and end up getting themselves injured or killed when they weren't careful and ran into a trap outside the dungeon core room.

As Theodore still wasn't confident he could cross the room, even if the slimes wouldn't attack him, they ended up going back around the other way. The next room was a lot emptier, but Violet noted

"I'm planning on making this into a challenge room as well, but it's still in its early stages. This way will be a lot safer, but I prefer it that way. Adventurers are smart enough to take the path of least resistance and I want this floor to be a good training grounds for young adventurers and children. It's just that I keep having [Monsters] attack, so I needed to take some precautions."

Theodore only felt slightly surprised by just how intuitive Violet was. It was strange for a dungeon master to purposefully choose to make their floors safe enough for beginners to traverse. The system forced it to some extent, but it was a different thing to purposely build with that in mind. However, Theodore also felt like it was a smart move to take what would otherwise be a weakness and turn it into an investment for the future.

If adventurers and nobles were aware of just how safe and tailored this dungeon was for training their children for a life of adventure, they were bound to come here in droves. Violet likely wouldn't have to worry about having enough mana to spend by the time she unlocked additional floors. If anything, she would have so much mana to spend that she'd end up having her dungeon points and mana cap become her main limiters. Of course, that also required her dungeon to receive enough publicity and for the nearby town to develop enough to support the possibility.