Violet didn't even want to think about the strange group of adventurers she had just had in her dungeon. They had left a rather nice tribute with both a lesser healing potion and a lesser mana potion in glass vials with cork stoppers. That had been given both as new [Items] and Violet also had healing potion, mana potion, glass, and cork as [Base Resources] now. That meant she now had 259 DP alongside her mana being full again. However, rather than building new rooms, Violet needed something different for the next step in her plan.
"Can I research a small roundabout hallway? I think I need a 10-Units by 10-Units one."
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research 10-Units by 10-Units roundabout hallways and permanently add them to the menu options?
Yes
No
Violet was fine with that cost and easily selected the [Yes] option. The resulting hallways were 20 MP each and Violet immediately purchased two of them alongside spending another 10 MP for two 5-Units hallways. She connected the new hallways to her first room on either side. The plan was to create a square formation, centered around the new slime jigsaw puzzle room. That way, she could force the adventurers to walk around in a circle, hopefully getting lost in the process, and force them to spend more time in the dungeon. [Traps] and [Monsters] weren't the only way to defend a dungeon, after all, as there was always the option of creating a labyrinth to confuse her visitors.
In order to complete the setup, though, Violet would require another 70 MP. Then Violet could remove the old hallways, but she'd have to leave the straight path to the dungeon core for now. None of the other paths would be able to connect to the dungeon core room as things were right now. Violet felt this 50 MP limit was really limiting and it was a bit frustrating, but she'd be a good sixth or so through filling the floor with rooms and hallways once this plan was done. So, she was certainly on her way to unlocking a second floor. It was just a matter of time and then things would get significantly easier from then on.
As it was still only mid-day, Violet spent the rest of her time practicing with her sword. She practiced swinging the sword and her stances based on what she had seen and read in her old world. She highly doubted she was doing anything right, but it was still good to get used to working with the sword. The more she grew used to handling the sword and swinging it, the easier it would be when it came time to use it.
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David didn't return until the sun was starting to set. His daughter was in tow and he allowed her to play with Violet's slime [Monster] while he waited for Violet to approach him. He really hadn't meant to cause so much trouble with his training methods. He certainly hadn't meant for things to spiral so far out of control that both his and Alice's lives would be threatened. In all of David's time as an adventurer, he had never even come close to upsetting a Dungeon Diplomat like that.
Seeing Violet enter the room, David offered a small smile as he asked
"Are you alright to train today? I brought the honey you asked for and left it under your tree."
Violet narrowed her eyes feeling unsure as she nodded in response to David's questions, not trusting her own voice to answer. She had known it was David since this was the time of day he came yesterday, but it had still taken everything she had to walk through the door and into the room with him.
Violet didn't tend to think of herself as a coward by any standard, but dying so many painful deaths in a single week had certainly taken its toll. Now, this was as brave as Violet could be just to show up and give things another chance. Luckily, David took things slow and let Violet make the first few moves, only deflecting and guarding against her attacks as she made them.
David had thought of Dungeon Masters as stronger, more resilient and nearly immortal beings. The few human Dungeon Masters he had heard of were powerful and didn't fear death. David had assumed it was the right move to try and encourage Violet to not only grow stronger but to also make her unafraid of death through exposure therapy. However, he could see his folly now.
If it had been Alice in Violet's place, David was sure that he wouldn't have taken the same approach. He would have gently guided her and protected her until she was strong enough to protect herself. Even if it cost him his life, he would have ensured no harm could come to his daughter. David wouldn't have in a million years been able to torture his own daughter while justifying to himself that it was for her own good. How he had thought it was acceptable for Violet, David couldn't say.
As the night wore on, David watched as Violet slowly regained color in her face and her attacks became more confident. She was still very clearly affected, but David could only hope that things would get better with time. This was his doing and now he had to fix it. Even when his young daughter fell asleep in the grass, David did not leave right away. He allowed her wolf to sleep beside her and was relieved to see the slime did not attack his daughter. How it knew what was a threat and what was not was not clear, even to David, but he was happy to see his daughter was in no immediate danger.
Only when it began to rain and it was too dark to see any longer did David call it a day. Before he left, he asked Violet if she had any requests for tribute the next day. After being told to continue to bring culinary ingredients, David merely nodded. He'd have to splurge on something extra nice to make it up to her.
David had no clue what Violet planned to use all the ingredients for. Perhaps she was one of the rather odd Dungeon Masters who enjoyed eating and drinking, even despite their lack of a need for such a thing? It would certainly seem like a waste of mana to most, but David wouldn't say anything about it. He would want his own daughter to have such a thing to find joy in if she was even in such a situation, after all.