Violet decided to choose the [Goddess of Love & Beauty] option after much consideration. There were plenty of good options to choose from, but Violet felt this option best reflected both the current state of her dungeon and her desires for the future.
Commerce and knowledge weren't a bad option, but Violet wasn't looking to learn a bunch of new information or to make her dungeon all about turning a profit. It just felt too clinical, which felt wrong considering her merchant hobby was just a means to an end. She wanted to make new friends and provide a useful service to those who visited her dungeon while earning enough dungeon points to further improve her dungeon. It didn't matter whether she was getting a good deal from the trades every single time, she'd happily accept a loss if it came down to it. So, she had to turn down the god of commerce and knowledge.
As for design and creativity, it was closer to her goals for the dungeon, but it still felt like it fell short. Violet had come from a graphic design background and it was also true that she had wanted to live in a pretty dungeon that would bring her joy. However, it wasn't like she was obsessed with making her dungeon the best when it came to form, even to the point of sacrificing function. Her puzzles also might have seemed creative and interesting for this world, but they were hardly her own inventions. The puzzles were just based on puzzles and games from her previous life, not something she was showing off her creativity and ingenuity with.
Violet did want to indulge her creative side, somewhat, but that was likely to have as much of an effect on the dungeon as her merchant endeavors. She wanted to make pretty things to assign to her challenges as rewards. Lovely paintings of flowers and nature, colorful pieces of jewelry, and fancy dresses were great options for making unique puzzle rewards, but they were unlikely to affect the actual design of the dungeon. So, Violet also had to dismiss the offer made by the god of design and creativity.
Agriculture and motherhood felt the most personal to Violet and it had been tempting to choose it. However, as much as Violet enjoyed feeding others and felt bittersweet about missing out on her chance to be a mother, it wasn't all-encompassing in regards to what she wanted. The first floor was meant to indulge her desires to provide a safer place for the children of this world to grow up and learn how to become successful adventurers in a, relatively, safer environment. However, much like how food wouldn't be the reward for all her challenges, she wasn't going to design every floor to be safe for children.
Violet didn't necessarily want to kill off every adventurer who would enter her dungeon, but she certainly needed to prioritize the safety of her dungeon as well. She had a responsibility to the [Monsters] who she summoned and contracted to work for her. Her slimes seemed to lack personality and the ability to think things through. However, there might come a day when she would have [Monsters] who could think and communicate with her. At that time, she was sure she would feel much more desperate to keep them safe and she wasn't sure she could stand to watch them be tortured without doing anything. So, it was inevitable that she would have to build a dungeon with [Traps] that would create a lot more distance between her and the children of this world.
However, Violet didn't want to give up on her feelings entirely, which is where her choice to go with the goddess of love and beauty came into play. It was the perfect balance between her desire to create beautiful things, to live in a dungeon with breathtaking scenery, and her desire to connect with others. Love could take many forms from the love one has for one's friends to the love of a mother for their child to the romantic and passionate love one might have for their spouse. Such love could even exist for those no longer in one's life, such as her dear husband, and so this choice reflected who Violet was at her very core.
Please select a new floor theme:
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Grasslands
Enchanted Forest
Mushroom Caves
Violet had been so deep in thought for such a long time that she had missed what had been right in front of her for quite some time now. She had just wanted to justify to herself that she had been making the right choice. Now she had to once more make another choice, which she noticed also held very little information about what the choices entailed.
The first system prompt like this had included a potential [Monster] next to the floor themes, but this one did not. Violet had to wonder if this was normal for dungeons or if this was, once more, a result of her initial wish to have a dungeon with cute [Monsters]. Would it make a difference which choice she made? Would she receive different [Monsters] depending on which theme she chose or would it be the same no matter what? There was no way of telling.
Well, it wasn't that hard to make a choice anyway. Violet promptly chose the [Enchanted Forest] option. Grasslands sounded too similar to the wildflower meadows and mushroom caves sounded too confined and a bit boring compared to a forest. Besides, who wouldn't want to find out what the 'enchanted' in 'enchanted forest' means?
After choosing a floor theme, a new system prompt appeared showing off the new [Monsters] she now had.
Summonable Monster Options:
Mana Cost:
Info:
Al-Mi'raj
20 MP
Horned rabbit [Monster], which prefers to make fast and stealthy attacks while avoiding danger as much as possible. Does moderate combat damage.
Contractable Monster Options:
Mana Cost:
Info:
Myconid
30 MP
Requires a suitable environment dark environment with minimal light and soil. Does moderate combat damage, but is capable of evolving.
Pixie
50 MP
Refuses to live anywhere they aren't surrounded by their own kind. Does minimal combat damage, but is playful and enjoys playing tricks on adventurers. Primarily functions as a worker-type [Monster].
Violet pursed her lips as she read through the descriptions of her new [Monsters]. The al-mi'raj sounded a lot more useful than slimes, but it would seem they weren't capable of evolving, which meant they didn't have very much potential. The myconid, on the other hand, were more expensive, but did a similar level of damage while being capable of evolving. That gave them a lot of potential for the future, but also limited their usefulness in the present. It would be far more effective to have five horned rabbits than three mushrooms in a room, after all.
However, the pixies were the most curious of the new [Monsters] she had unlocked. They likely would be able to fly, but were likely to be quite small. That made them a good option for replacing the kodama as foragers, but they were also more expensive and likely weren't strong enough to open the dungeon doors by themselves either.
Then there was the matter of how much they cost while requiring a place where they could be surrounded by others of their kind. With 100 MP as her new cap, she'd only be able to unlock and use a 100 MP spawner, at best, which meant she could only afford to assign two pixies to a room. Granted, they could leave their room freely and even travel to other floors since they were contracted [Monsters]. However, Violet wasn't sure about whether that would be enough to meet the requirements or if she would be forced to wait until she unlocked her third floor to use the pixies.
Regardless, she was quite satisfied with her progress. New, more powerful [Monsters] combined with the use of [Traps] was bound to make a huge difference in the dungeon's defenses. Plus, it was bound to be quite interesting to find out what role the patron deity she had chosen would play in her dungeon's growth. Yes, Violet was quite excited to get started on her new floor!