Entry Twelve

Dear Diary,

I think I'm starting to get the hang of things around here. I've finished setting up some empty rooms to form a mini labyrinth centered around my slime-themed jigsaw puzzle. While I definitely want to fill them with more interesting things and monsters to guard the place, I'm hopeful that this will work as a short-term solution.

I'm hoping people will get lost more easily and have a harder time stumbling upon the dungeon core room. However, I don't know how successful that will be. I am always in the dungeon and I can pull up a mental map of the place at a moment's notice, so it just isn't something I can accurately gauge. Still, since my slimes are weak enough for a young child without an official class to defeat, I have to do my best to come up with more creative solutions to protect the dungeon.

I've also been attempting to learn more about the system's limitations. It doesn't really seem to have any freedom to freely answer my questions. I can't ask it how it's feeling or things about the outside world. I suppose that makes sense, though, since what little I know suggests the dungeon core was created shortly before I reincarnated. Unless it was connected to a network with other dungeon masters, it would have no way to know anything that wasn't related to itself.

Another thing I've decided to work on is a parkour room involving the slimes. I'm going to fill a room with a deep pool of water, platforms, and try to make slimes jump out of the water to knock adventurers down. I'm sure some people can swim, but I'm hoping that any invading monsters won't be able to. Then I might get lucky and have them drown in the pool or even knock their head off the wooden platforms when the slimes jump out at them.

It still feels wrong to kill people and sometimes I still question if it is even worth it to keep going. Things have been lonely and I don't have much that makes it worthwhile to keep building up the dungeon. The only rewards for my efforts is that I have more protection against the outside world and maybe some pretty scenery to look at. Even then, the dungeon feels empty.

In the outside world, there are so many little things that add to the beauty of nature. Blue skies with a bright sun that warms your skin. Grasshoppers chirping in the distances and wind rustling nearby bushes. Even the sound of birds chirping in the trees fills the air with sound. Without all the wildlife, the weather effects, etc. the dungeon just feels artificial and empty.

Still, I'm hoping that things will just be difficult in the beginning and that they'll, eventually, get better. Maybe I should talk to Theodore about how lonely things are around here. I don't know how much he can do about it, but I think I really need some advice. I want to make friends and find things to help make each day I spend here more worthwhile.

-Violet