Chapter 2

-and now we go to our proposition. You remember what we said about interference in mortal life?

-yes-Naomi answers.

-and like you know for yourself life is not so easy even for us gods-The Lady sighed- we can’t entirely live you alone. We need something that will challenge you, push you forward.

-especially because of twisted gods. For now everything is fine. They probably do even more damage to cultists and each other than us. But that can change and everyone must be ready.

-ok. I don't mind creating for you or someone else. It sounds very tempting. But I'm bad with people, and don't know anything about weapons and fighting.

-and that's the best part. You don’t need to. With help from some wandering souls like you, we create places called dungeons.

-let me guess. Are they full of monsters and traps and chest with gold to tempt adventurers?-Naomi sighed.

-so you know-The Smith nodded-that simplifies things. Obviously we need some changes and simple rules to ensure everything works like planned. But they work quite well.

-you will be responsible only for creating new floors, and challenges. if you can include some of your knowledge no matter how superficial it is in those challenges that's even better. But they can't be obvious. and they definitely can't include an answer.

-something like what does sea water taste like and you next write salty or sweet. That's no challenge at all.

-first floors usually are quite simple, some traps, some predatory animals like wolves.

-riddles are good to-added The Smith.

Naomi starts intensely thinking. It was a tempting offer, but she had doubts. The main one was she newer managed anything, hell, she failed managing her one life, and now she will be responsible for teaching and training adventurers. Local kids probably know more about this than she. The second one was killing. She may be able to accept the death of some people. Humans do stupid things all the time, and attacking a tiger or pack of wolves was stupid. But the death of all of those animals was unacceptable.

-is killing necessary?-asked Naomi.

-yes my dear. You can try to build a maze full of traps, riddles and non-lethal challenges. But you must remember, that there exist real evil people, and you will need someone that will fight for you. And that means that people and animals will be dying in your halls.

-well there are also some plainly stupid people-add god with a wide grin-and i see you agree with me.

-sorry-Naomi answered-i imaginened some bratty hero that opened the door and a bucket of paint fell on him.

-ha, ha ha-god started laughing-good one, probably even worse than some deadly one. They hate when their reputation is tarnished.

-You said about traps. What kind of traps are available?

-whatever you can imagine. Usually they are tripwires, pitfalls, falling rocks, older dungeons experiments also with magic. You said you build and design machines, find a way to use it.

-we will grant you a small library with scrolls about all animals, plants, magic and general knowledge. It should help you to choose the most appropriate animals and traps.

-so do I really have a free hand?

-almost-said The Lady-on every fifth level you need to include a safe room, where adventurers can rest and prepare to fight one of your champions. Also after reaching it they get right to bypass earlier floors if they wish so. In one of the scrolls will be described magical methods of doing it. You will just need choos one and it will work. My personal wish is that you don't change animals too much. Bigger body, sharper claws, venom from different animal, maybe delicat mix of two different species, but please be gentle with them. they are not real, everything within your dungeon just like your body is temporary and built from energy. But even then twisting their body and creating some unimaginable monstrosity, will be painful for me to watch.

-and from a more practical point of view if you do something like this people will think that you sided with twisted gods and try to kill you no question asked-add god.

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-i will not-Naomi strongly said-animals are innocent. Yes, some animals like wolves are dangerous, but if they attack you it's because it’s hungry or protecting young or something. Not because it’s evil.

-I'm so happy to hear that-goddess give her a gentle hug.

-You said my body isn't real?

-oh. Yes. That one. It's like those stories from wandering souls. Your soul will be encapsulated in precious stone on the lowest floor. It will be cruel to not allow you to wander through the halls of your dungeon.

-sorry my dear.

-it’s ok. I'm bad with people and I don't think I will interact with anyone too much. And I'm fine being hidden in some library or workshop. Oh can I have a workshop?

-anything what you want-said The Smith-on your last floor besides your core room, there is always room with your last champion who protects your soul. Any extra rooms you are free to design and decorate however you want.

Naomi's eyes light up for the moment. She take deep breath and said.

-I think that I'll try being your dungeon master. I think I will try this last time to maybe do things right. I never did anything similar in my past life but if my work is mostly planning and designing things I probably can do it.

-wonderful!-goddess smiled.

-and who is a failure. You have more courage than half of all adventures-said god.

-so what's next-Naomi asked embarrassed.

-let's start with the place where we want your dungeon-The Lady pointed on the globus- like you saw, in the heart of the largest continent is the great Ul-hiram Desert. There are a lot of cities and towns on its borders but nothing in there.

-and that is a problem young one. The desert is like a double edged sword. On one hand it's protection because it's impossible for any invading army to cross it, but any allied army can’t cross it either.

-oh, i get it!-Naomi said-and if armies of evil gods somehow manage to get control of eastern and western coast northern kingdoms will fall and all those people…-Naomi eyes went wide as she imagined all those people mostly mothers with kids trying cross desert and dying in scorching heat.

-yeh. Luckily it's the worst case scenario. Northern and coastal kingdoms are well aware of it and prepared for it.

-what about commerce?-Naomi asked-if everything goes east or west, central northern kingdoms can lack some supplies, or they are expensive.

-oh you even have knowledge about commerce?-ask god-that’s great.

-and you are right-said The Lady-because of that i personally take care of On-Taram oasis-goddess pointed on center of desert-there are others smoller oasis, but this is biggest and most important, because most caravans travel through the oasis.

-and it has your shrine-add The Smith.

-well. I'm taking care of it so It's natural -goddess answers a little embarrassed.

-ok. Everything makes sense besides what I am doing there. For me personally it's a great place, far away from people but dungeons need people at least some.

-You see, we want to create a real trade route there. People try this few times, but desert is a harsh place, and they fail.

-oh. But dungeons are not affected by scorching sun. Especially if they are hidden underground. And you are the goddess of life so I have special access to all living things, and a lot of them are edible.

-full mark from me-The Smith smiles like a proud teacher.

-yes. There is a sort of custom or tradition, that the dungeon master gets one free floor and dedicates it to his patron god.

-and I’m your patron god too so you get two floors.

-yes. Our wish is that the first floor will be dedicated to me. Thanks to that, travelers will have relatively easy access to food.

-and on the second floor you can go wild and create any sort of traps you can imagine.

Naomi for a few moments closed her eyes and started thinking.

-I have a question. Is it allowed to build a dungeon aboveground?

-like a tower?-ask god-yeh. A few dungeon masters even tried that. But they didn't manage to build it too high. 30 floors was the highest one.

-and its tower fell after the earthquake and he die-sight goddess.

-you thinking about towers? It's risky but on the other hand it will be seen from afar like a lighthouse, so maybe it’s worth considering?

-I'm fairly confident that I can build much higher than 30 floors and not fall to earthquakes. But really tall buildings need to be elastic because of winds. And that means living on the top floor will be like being on a ship, and I like steady ground when I build something. I think I'm ready.

-you don't need to hurry. we have time. You can ask as anything freely-The Lady said.

-thank you. But even if I'm scared I'm probably a little excited too. I can try creating things for real, and there is a chance that I can help someone. Maybe you are right that i’m not a failure, not the real one, and i was just too scared so i wont try one more time.

-i’m so happy for you-said goddess.

-and don’t think about the result. Just do what you can and like.

-thank you-Naomi said seriously and full of determination.

-ok. So now we send you there. Time will stop for you so you will have a lot of time to create everything. When you are ready you loudly say that you are finished and time will start flowing normally, and you can wait for the first visitors.

-I understand, and once again thank you.

-your welcome. We will visit you when you will be ready-goddess hug her.

-go wild-The Smith laughed.