Eve Meadows was excited for another day as she walked out of her dungeon core room. She had spent most of her life exploring other dungeons and even studying maps that other navigator-class individuals had drawn up. Being born with such a class had given a real head start in life as the navigator class was considered exceptionally rare, even among the already rare support classes. You were far more likely to get a class as a dancer, bard, or priestess than you were to be lucky enough to become a navigator or a telepath.

Thanks to her elven heritage, she had also had the good fortune to live long enough to be chosen by a dungeon to bond with it. Well, that was her theory anyhow. It wasn't exactly as if she was the most talented amongst her class, nor was she particularly strong or cunning the way other Dungeon Masters could be. The only thing she really had going for her was that she had spent much of her long life dedicated to her craft of map-making and exploring dungeons. Thanks to some particularly high-ranking adventurers, she had even had the privilege of seeing some of the highest floors in the more well-established dungeons.

Truth be told, it was rare for anyone to ever explore the top five floors of a dungeon and even the top ten were rarely mapped out. The adventurer guilds always had to ensure there were enough A-ranks and S-ranks available to escort the navigator as well as find one brave enough to venture that far in. Eve wasn't exactly willing to risk her life, so she had only ever ventured as far as the 16th floor and only the one time. Things had gone well, all things considered, but it had been rather stressful and was still not an experience she was desperate enough to repeat.

Still, despite her previous limitations, she was now using her experiences to build her own dungeon. Although, she wasn't sure how useful her prior knowledge actually was. Her dungeon, Whisperwood Haven, was a rather rare open floor plan dungeon. Instead of well-defined rooms, she had preset territories where her challenges, spawners, [Monsters], and [Critters] could be assigned to. She didn't even have the luxury of a thick line of trees or mountain ranges to separate things on most floors. Heck, some of them were deserts that were nearly completely flat, allowing you to view things far off into the distance.

As for her dungeon core, it wasn't even in a separate space. Instead, the dungeon core rested high on a stone pedestal at the top of some stone steps in a temple-like space. She had been worried that it would be far too easy for intruders to damage it when she had first arrived. However, it would seem that her dungeon had its own defenses and she could also hide it on most of her floors. Trees would obscure one's line of vision in a dense jungle while fog could be utilized on a meadow-themed floor. The desert had been her riskiest venture, but that one had been her 5th floor, so she had been able to depend on the lower floors to deter any intruders from getting that far.

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Of course, the best defenses she had were a strange magic shield that could be used to force adventurers to complete challenges and defeat enemies before continuing forward. It seemed to work similarly to the ones utilized by guardian tank classes, but was much larger and stronger than anyone with that class she had met. Eve couldn't really say how it compared to an S-rank, or even an A-rank, but it was most certainly strong enough to be dependable.

Eve had somewhat rushed through her first floors, so she was already on her sixth floor now. It had only been maybe a decade since she first arrived here, though that was mostly speculation. Being in the dungeon made it hard to keep track of time and it had been a while since she had last seen her assigned dungeon diplomat, so she could hardly ask them. The floor she was currently on was a giant fortress. Rather than being the sort just meant to house soldiers, it was more the sort that resembled a city with a giant castle at its center. The dungeon core room rested in the courtyard, away from prying eyes.

Most of the floor was customizable and could be bent to her will, but she had immediately had the outer town walls as well as the inner castle. It was the defining feature of the theme she had chosen. After playing around with so many different outdoor themes, she had been wanting something different. Lately, she had been playing around with making cannons and utilizing rolling boulder [Traps] along the outer edges of the floor. She had unlocked goblins early on, which she could easily evolve and repurpose for this floor. Some nice hobgoblin archers, warriors, and even elementalists helped to increase their difficulty level enough that their low-ranking, as a beginner [Monster], was more than made up for.

As Eve placed some catapult [Traps] on a castle tower, she began to ruminate on those below her. There were a lot of adventurers milling about on the lower floors, just as they always did. She never really felt the need to interact with them, content with her own company, but it was interesting just how much their presence faded into the background the more floors she unlocked. It was only really when they reached the floor with her dungeon core that she got the uncomfortable, prickly sensation of something being wrong. That was, apparently, something that all Dungeon Masters experienced, as the dungeon diplomat had explained so long ago.

It was beginning to be tempting to interact with those who visited her dungeon, though. Maybe she could meet a nice, handsome, elf man who would be willing to join her in the dungeon and they could have a couple of children. That would certainly make things more lively around here and it would also provide some extra safety. Her navigator class skills were still available to her, but it wasn't the best class for combat. Having a husband and some sons would mean there were others to help make up for what she lacked.

Dismissing her errant thoughts, she put the idea aside, for now. That could wait for another day. If she was going to take a spouse, then she wanted it to be someone strong enough to reach her on her top floor and charming enough for her to enjoy their company. Simply marrying for defensive power wasn't really all that appealing. Besides, she had work to do.