Well-Rounded Rooms

Violet had found Elivyre to be kind and thoughtful. She had gathered the herbs and flowers she wanted and then left before she could overstay her welcome. Before leaving she had promised to visit again soon, but Violet doubted that meant every day. From their talks, it sounded like Elivyre preferred to remain at home crafting new herbal remedies and potions.

However, Violet found that she actually felt a lot less lonely now that she had a friend to talk to. It was different to have someone who asked about her instead of just speaking strictly about the dungeon. Plus, much of the distance Violet had felt with everyone else wasn't present with Elivyre. That had made a huge difference for Violet who missed being treated as a person rather than an entity to be feared and respected.

Of course, some of the loneliness would never quite go away. The feeling of being loved and cherished by her husband, Lee, was one that Violet missed. Yet she would never again be able to hold his warm hand in hers or look up to find his loving gaze on her. It was heartbreaking and Violet often found herself starting to tear up if she thought too hard on it. Even the dungeon's effort to calm her couldn't erase the fact that she was heartbroken and missed her beloved husband.

Violet shook her head, trying to shake away the thoughts. There was no point in dwelling on things that she couldn't change. It was unlikely her husband would want her to cry every time she thought of him either. It was better to leave those thoughts for another time when she could, hopefully, remember him in a happier light.

Since Violet now had 85DP and a full 50MP, it was time to make more dungeon upgrades. Most of her older rooms were in a satisfactory state, but the garden meadow would still need a good bit of work before she could call it good enough. One day Violet hoped to come back and edit all of the rooms to improve them further, but, for now, it was better to work towards having a new floor and just fill the new rooms as best she could.

"I'd like to research a stone brick pathway."

[Would you like to spend 20DP to research stone brick pathways using the [Base Resources] stone bricks and earth magic?

Yes or No?]

Violet was less surprised to see the earth magic included on the [Base Resources] requirement this time. It was unfortunate that a mere decorative path required such a large investment, but Violet still selected the [Yes] option. Luckily, the MP cost wasn't nearly as bad at a mere 10MP per 100 square meters. As Violet just needed a pathway that led to the edges of the room to the well in the center, she didn't even really need a full 100 square meters worth of pathway. However, that was the minimum cost to apply the room feature, so a full 10MP was deducted anyway.

"Can I use the black ink and wood to research a wooden sign? I'd like it to be readable by the inhabitants of this world."

Violet wasn't sure if the dungeon core automatically translated things for her or if the common language of the world was the same as the one she knew before she reincarnated. So, she wanted to be safe rather than sorry when making such a request.

[Would you like to spend 10DP to research wooden signs using the [Base Resources] wood and black ink?

Yes or No?]

The prompt was a bit vague and answered none of Violet's questions, but she simply selected [Yes] while hoping things would turn out as she wanted. The result was a wooden sign added to her [Items] list as a room feature that cost 1MP per word. Violet carefully thought about what she wanted on the sign as she placed it on one side of the well.

"You may rest comfortably here without worry of being attacked. However, you must place a tribute in this well to enjoy this benefit."

23MP was gone just like that. Violet winced at the cost, but she couldn't exactly say she wanted the sign to be difficult to understand. Besides, mana was easy enough to replenish, but it was important that she secure a regular source of dungeon points for the future. While it was possible that the adventurers would think this was where they put their initial tribute and end up confused, that wasn't really Violet's goal. She'd likely have to look into putting a separate tribute room near the entrance soon just to avoid such misunderstanding, but it still didn't feel like a priority.

While there wasn't much MP left, there was still enough for Violet to apply the allium roseum from Elivyre as well as some holy basil and peppermint to the room. This cost only 15MP to do and helped to round out the room quite well. Since it wasn't like every room needed a million plants and Violet didn't have a ton of appropriate plants for a garden meadow, this was likely the last of what she'd be adding to the room, for now.

Still, Violet felt the room looked quite good now. The birch trees stood tall and there were beehives beginning to form on each. The bumblebees buzzed around the room, making it less quiet than it otherwise would have been. Meanwhile, the jade tree frog hopped around, occasionally hopping up to the edge of the well to gaze down at the water longingly, but only rarely hopping into the well. As it was a tree frog, it could climb up smooth surfaces like trees or the almost too perfectly built well. So, Violet didn't have to worry about it getting stuck and she could let it freely roam the room.

The tree frog was quite cute and Violet made a note to herself to buy it some friends the next chance that she got. The frogs only cost 2MP each, so there was still room for another four of them to be set to the room's spawner. Sure, maybe the [Critters] didn't really have much benefit for the adventurers and they wouldn't be able to offer any additional defense for the dungeon, but Violet still liked them. They added some life to the dungeon and they all looked quite cute in their own way.