Flower Hunt

David brought Violet a pear as a tribute that night. He figured that it would fit right in with the apple trees that were already in the dungeon. However, he was quite caught off guard when Violet requested a flower from a flowering hedge. 

While they weren't exactly impossible to obtain, they weren't something that was considered common. Only those who could afford a large property, like those in the nobility or richer merchants, ever bothered with such frivolous decorations. Well, it wasn't like it was impossible to get the flowers, they were still considered pretty and had a chance of being available at a florist's shop. It would require a trip into the city to acquire, though.

If he left tonight, he might be able to reach the city by morning and be able to purchase the flowers when the shop first opened before purchasing passage back to town from a merchant. It would still mean cutting it close since it would take an entire twelve hours of walking to reach the city compared to the much shorter trip by carriage. 

However, it might also allow him to get in contact with someone who could arrange for his house and belongings to be sorted out. With the proceeds from selling their previous house, they'd likely be able to afford a new home in Millstone. It would still be quite some time before a new home could be built and David would have to rent out a temporary space to store his belongings in the meantime. Maybe Gregory would be willing to spare some barn space for a few months while he worked on getting a new home built?

Violet looked over her progress for the night. The tribute David had given her had brought her up to 466DP. Excitingly enough, David managed to complete the slime parkour challenge. It had been a close call, but he had looked quite happy as he handed the honey and violet lollipop to Alice. He had said something about giving the first one to her since he wouldn't let her attempt the challenge until she was older. Violet guessed he likely planned to sell any others.

Violet wasn't sure how much things were worth in this world. While sweets were known to be expensive in medieval Europe, this world was likely different. What would normally be considered rare or common was likely affected by the existence of dungeons. However, there was no real way for Violet to even begin to guess at the value of things. The best she could do was to offer rewards that she would personally enjoy to those who successfully completed her challenges.

Since she always had a bit of a sweet tooth and this floor was meant to cater to the younger generation, that translated into a lot of sweets as rewards for the challenges. While Violet wouldn't mind using more food on other floors, she also felt like it would be better to mix things up some. As an artist, it might be nice to see just how creative she was allowed to get with the rewards. If she was allowed to create unique art or clothing accessories, that might be a nice way to make the rewards seem special and like they truly belonged to her dungeon.

The first time David had left for the night, Violet had rushed through applying a bunch of new upgrades to her newest room. She made four new signs to place on the stone altars as part of the flower hunt challenge she wanted to set up. The first said "Flower for patience in adversity.", which corresponded with chamomile. The second said "Flower to remind me of you.", which required white clover flowers. The third said "Flower for innocence.", which daisy fit well with. Finally, the fourth one said "Flower for watchfulness.", which required wild violets.

Lee had always liked to show off his knowledge of the flower language. Whenever he bought Violet flowers, he would always explain what each flower meant. When Violet expressed interest in returning the favor for her beloved husband, he gifted her a book on the meanings of the various plants. After reincarnating, Violet's memory had a strange sort of sharpness to it, allowing her to recall all sorts of useful info. Yet, other memories were more of a blur, keeping her from reliving painful memories.

As the signs had taken so much time to construct, Violet had only had enough time to build a few new hallways after that. Her last 30MP was spent to build a long, 20-meter straight hallway below the garden meadow room as well as an additional 10-meter straight hallway attached to that one. It would require a new schematic to be researched to just make one 30-meter hallway, but it wasn't really necessary when she could just build two smaller ones that did the same thing.

Things were much less rushed after David left for the night. Now, Violet could relax as she thought over what she needed to do next. She quickly added the last 5 meters of straight hallway below the garden meadow, making the total length 35 meters. Then another 20MP was spent to create a 10-meter x 10-meter roundabout hallway at the end of that. A four-way hallway might have worked just as well, but, at this point, Violet just felt like keeping within the theme she had already started with the rest of the floor.

The last of her mana was spent to build a 10-meter and 5-meter straight hallway, a total of 15 meters of hallway, branching off to the left of the roundabout hallway. This was the last of the hallway Violet would need to build. The next step would be to work on building a room large enough for a boss room. However, that would require her to wait until she got a lot more mana.

Instead, Violet decided to focus on other things, for now.

"I'd like to research purple dye."

[Would you like to spend 15DP to research purple dye using the [Base Resources] red dye and blue dye?

Yes or No?]

Violet selected the [Yes] option and then stated her next request.

"I'd like to make lavender meringues with eggs, sugar, vanilla, lavender, and purple dye."

[Searching database for 'lavender meringues'...]

[Unable to find 'lavender meringues' in the database. Now searching host's memory.]

Violet clutched her forehead in pain, leaning against a nearby wall and slowly sinking to the floor. Sure, meringues weren't invented until the 1700s, which was a couple hundred years after the medieval ages ended. Why would the system know anything about them?

[Would you like to spend 30DP to research lavender meringues using the [Base Resources] eggs, sugar, vanilla, lavender, and purple dye?

Yes or No?]

Violet groaned as she selected the [Yes] option. Immediately afterward, she spent another 15DP to set it as the challenge reward for the flower hunt. To complete the challenge, all anyone would have to do is place the flower on the sign on each altar called for. Pretty simple for someone like Violet, but it was likely to be much more difficult for the residents of this world.

However, Violet hoped that this room would become quite useful later on. After she unlocked her second floor, she could set the rooms that were deeper in, like this one, to lock until the puzzle was completed. Many types of [Monsters] were unlikely to ever escape the room and they'd likely succumb to her slimes sooner or later. However, adventurers would likely figure things out by trial and error after enough time. The solution might even end up spreading to others outside of the dungeon with time. Still, it would do its job well enough.