Back on the third floor I'm presented with the reality of that rule being so expensive. I can't afford a large 20mx20mx20m room at the moment. I also don't want to do nothing so instead I create two more branching paths on either side of the last room using the slightly smaller 10mx10mx10m rooms. I probably could have come up with another floor design that was somewhere between the two. I do still have around 110 world energy to play with after all. That's not actually that much world energy though. Granted when I only had the one floor it felt like a lot. Now however it doesn't seem like anything special.

As for actually filling the two rooms I take my time. Mainly because I need to make sure there is enough mana left to reset the first floor once that party gives up. Which given their level should be happening pretty soon.

At any rate I go ahead and put grass in both rooms. I then get the idea to search the shop to see if I can find anything interesting. Let me just check what the options are.

Rooms Various Plants Various Creatures Various Loot Various Themes Various Traps Various Skills Various Creature Skill Rules Various

It's then that I notice something I had been overlooking until now. I can give myself skills. I think the last time I seriously looked at the options was when I was first starting out. I picked up the Water and earth skills and then never looked at the skills tab again. Since then, I've been just going right to the tab I wanted. Opening the skills tab, I notice that most of the skills are insanely expensive some costing billions or even trillions of world energy. Out of curiosity I ask what the difference between skills and rules are.

To my surprise I actually get an answer despite not really asking anyone in particular. "The difference is twofold. First dungeon rules are automatic and once applied need no further input. Dungeon rules may consume mana in performing their task but as a general rule they do not require mana themselves. Skills require a certain level of mana to be used and maintained. Second dungeon rules apply specifically to the dungeon and only the dungeon. Skills apply to you and while the majority are meant to help you run the dungeon some are meant for other things."

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I don't really like how the voice seemed to emphasize certain words. It almost sounded like it was trying to hint at something that it's either not allowed to or is unable to tell me. Both of which are scary thoughts. They both suggest the presence of a being or beings more powerful than the voice. Either way there isn't much I can do about it at the moment, so I chose to move on.

Focusing on the list of skills once again, with a mental command I sort the list by price. The problem now is that none of them really jump out at me. I do briefly search for air and fire specifically. For some reason those cost a thousand world energy each. I'm not too upset as I would expect the really good skills to be a little expensive. One skill I do decide to get is simply called skills sense. According to the description it will allow me to see when a skill is used and which skill it is. Up till now I've been relying on context clues or them just shouting the name of the skill, for some reason, to know when a skill was being used.

Only two teams have made it as far as the second floor so far so I'm not expecting my new skill to make much of a difference right away. As the team that was on my first-floor leaves, I get back to working on the third floor and mentally face palm. The reason I originally checked the options was to buy something to keep the rooms from being so monotonous. Instead, I spent most of the world energy I had on something completely unrelated.

Ah well, looking closer the entire third floor seems to have taken on a nature theme all on its own. Granted I don't actually have the nature theme, so I don't get any discount on plants or nonhostile creatures. I decide to hold off for a bit and get a new creature I still need to populate the large room as well after all. I have an idea of the creature I want but it's a bit expensive. In the meantime, I go ahead and throw down a small forest worth of trees in the center of the large room. As much as I can anyway. While the room is large compared to the others that I have right now it's still relatively small.

Luckily it doesn't take as long as I thought it would to save up enough world energy. Finally, I can get back to populating the rooms. The first thing I do is set down a group of eight level 12 goblins. I don't let them build a village because I want them to just attack delvers as soon as they enter. I keep them at level 12 because there are so many of them and because they are not the main enemy of this room. Up till now delvers will have gotten used to the idea that once an encounter ends the room is clear. I'm not that predictable.

The real enemy will be three level 13 Skeleton mages. To keep things somewhat fair they will not attack the delvers until after the last goblin dies. Creature skills are much cheaper than the skills for me. So, I'm able to give two of them one offensive and one defensive spell. One will use fire and the other will use water. As for the third, he will be my 'healer' and use a skill called mend undead. As well as a more potent 'healing' spell that requires physical contact.

The reason the skeleton mage is important is it allows me to do something I've been wanting to do for a while. Starting with two branching paths. In each of the smaller side rooms I place an entire skeleton party. In the room to the west, I place fighter, rogue, archer, and healer all level 13. In the room to the east, I place a fighter, rogue, fire mage, and healer once again all level 13.