It has now been four days since Elivyre last visited. Violet wondered when her friend would next visit her. She had stopped in the very next day to give her the news regarding the town leader. However, she hadn't been ready to set things up for their charity work just yet. Violet was fine with waiting a few days while Elivyre sorted things out. It wasn't like it was going to hurt her if things took too long.
Her dungeon points were already starting to go back up as well. Theodore had brought her five different types of glowing mushrooms. She had been surprised to find honey mushrooms among them, she had already obtained them from David previously, but she wasn't aware they glowed in the dark. The others were bitter oysters, little ping-pong bats, glistening starcaps, and luminescent morels. Violet was pretty sure the last two were some sort of fantasy mushroom native to this world, but she wasn't exactly familiar with the others either. She was hardly an expert forager or anything like that.
It would be good to play around with the effect of the mushrooms in future rooms, but that could wait a while yet. Violet was still working on making a list of all of the changes she wanted to implement while waiting for her dungeon points to increase enough to feel worthwhile. Right now she has 2,757 DP, which isn't bad by any means, but somehow still felt like a small sum. Perhaps her perception of it was a bit twisted after how high it had been just a week ago.
Regardless, today Violet had much more important things to concern herself with. Ever since she had read her [Missions] and saw she had one for praying to the goddess of love and beauty, she had been trying to think of a proper tribute to give to her. She had seen the tribute chest in the altar room when she first built it and she had gotten the distinct impression that anything left in it would no longer belong to the dungeon. That meant it was likely that the tributes would genuinely be received by the goddess. It was only right that she brought something should she go to pray.
Violet still wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that deities were real in this world. It wasn't like it was difficult to believe considering everything that had happened up until now. Reincarnating into a fantasy world full of [Monsters], dungeons, and adventurers certainly put things into perspective. Still, it felt strange to all of a sudden devote herself to a religion when she had never been particularly into that sort of thing in her past life. Well, she supposed, it was likely that she would have struggled even more had she been devoted to another religion, but she'd never know for sure since she hadn't.
When it came down to giving gifts, Violet liked to give thoughtful gifts based on who she was giving it to. However, she didn't actually know much about the goddess who resided over her dungeon besides her titles. Love and beauty could mean a lot of things, though, especially depending on who you ask. Violet didn't really think giving the deity things like a paper valentine or makeup really made sense, though. As a result, she ended up turning to her knowledge of flowers.
When she made the flower hunt room on the first floor, it had been made in memory of her husband, Lee. It ended up having to be moved to the second floor and some changes had been made to it, but it was still something meaningful and personal to her. Perhaps that would make a similar tribute of flowers a decent tribute to give to the goddess.
Of course, depending on the culture you come from, flowers have different meanings. Many books even just list all of the possibilities of what the flowers could mean. That was the way Violet had learned the meanings of the flowers as well. She didn't subscribe to the idea of a flower only having one meaning, but that they could mean a number of things depending on the context. Thus, Violet began to go over the various flowers that could mean things like "love" or "beauty".
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Her enhanced memory made this far easier than it likely would have been in the past. She had never quite perfectly memorized all of the different meanings of the flowers, but she had a book to reference before. Now she had to rely purely on her own memory. She could only be thankful for the way her bond with the dungeon had preserved all of her memories perfectly, allowing her to recall everything in perfect focus at a moment's notice.
In the end, Violet ended up deciding on red roses. The flower had multiple meanings, but the three she wanted to focus on were "love", "beauty", and "devotion". It seemed like the perfect thing for someone praying at an altar, like a devoted follower, to the goddess of love and beauty. Red roses were even known for being romantic and the traditional gift given before dates or on anniversaries in her past life. Still, something felt missing.
Anyone could bring flowers to the dungeon and leave them as tribute for the goddess. As the Dungeon Master and the first to contract with this particular deity, Violet wanted to do something more special. What made her different from the others? She had been able to build a grand altar from next to nothing. Similarly, she could create just about anything so long as she had the [Base Resources] unlocked for it. Perhaps she should research something new so that the goddess could be the first to receive such a gift from her?
It took quite a bit of time pacing back and forth, ruminating on the subject, before Violet made her decision. Quickly spending the 20 DP and 10 MP, she created her tribute and then made the trip down to the first floor. Violet climbed the steps to the altar and then kneeled in front of the statue before opening the tribute chest. She carefully set the red rose flower crown inside before once more closing it. Smiling, she made herself comfortable before beginning to pray.
"Dear goddess, I apologize for taking so long to show my appreciation for your help. I'm afraid I'm not used to praying like this, so I might not show you the proper respect and etiquette you deserve. I made you a crown of red roses and I hope you enjoy it.
Perhaps you might find it odd, but my dungeon isn't exactly very dangerous or scary right now. I kind of prefer the innocent and playful nature of things. That might change in the future, but I hope, with your guidance, that the dungeon will always remain a beautiful place that the people of this world can grow to love. I don't want to be feared, I just want to live a happy life surrounded by friends and help as many as I can.
I've asked Theodore, the Dungeon Diplomat assigned to this dungeon, to look for a priest or priestess for you. I don't know if it's true, but I heard this is the first time you've ever contracted with a dungeon before. I can't promise to make you well-known or to ensure a lot of people worship you. However, I'm hopeful that I can do what I can to ensure you are acknowledged. I... I don't have much power to do anything about the people outside of this dungeon. We'll have to depend on others when it comes to that, but I'll continue to advocate for you however I can.
Sorry if this is so short, but I really do appreciate your help."
Violet stood back up, feeling uncertain. However, after she exited the room and checked her [Missions] menu, she found her actions had been sufficient to earn the reward for it. Violet's eyes went wide with surprise as she read over the information regarding the blessing.
Blessing: Beauty Is Pain
The more beautiful the dungeon, the more painful it is for non-dungeon entities who cross the threshold into the dungeon core room.
This was huge! Violet wasn't certain just how much of an effect it would have and what exactly was considered "beautiful" in this context, but the ability certainly sounded OP. While it wasn't exactly as if adventurers or invading [Monsters] would die from being in the dungeon room, it would definitely discourage them from staying in there too long. This also felt a lot like receiving approval for the decisions she had made thus far and made Violet feel like she wanted to continue to pave her own path forward, knowing the goddess approved of her choices.