That night after training, Seraphina rolled her eyes as she watched Veronica rush off to build. Clearly, her warning to slow down had called on deaf ears. Since there wasn't actually that big of a problem for her to build too quickly in the early stages, she would let it be. The real problem would come if this continued to the point where it jeopardized Veronica's long-term desire to stay in this world. Seraphina hardly wanted to have such a promising new dungeon put down after only a hundred years or so just because the Dungeon Master chose to build too quickly. There were ways she could enforce a break, but that was something to consider for another time, right now she just wanted to get some well-deserved rest.
Veronica wasn't aware of these thoughts, nor was she likely to care as she was too excited to get started on her next challenge room. Rather than seeing the previous decision that had led her to be unable to build as quickly as she wanted, as a mistake, she saw it as a success. If adventurers weren't getting through then it had to be a good thing, right? That was why she planned to make this next challenge just as frustrating, if not dangerous, to complete as well as lock the door for good measure.
First thing's first, if she was going to build a new challenge, she was going to need some new [Traps] and [Items] to work with.
Would you like to spend 100 DP to research burning coal paths using the [Base Resources] coal and fire magic?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to unlock 1-Unit deep pitfall [Traps]?
Yes
No
After confirming her choices, Veronica noted that the burning coals cost 50 MP / 100 Square Units, which wasn't as bad as the research costs would suggest. While the initial cost was high and she was now down to 799 DP, she didn't actually need to research anything else, right away, so it was fine.
Veronica started by carving out a shallow area of land to create a winding path to lay the burning coal path on. While doing so, she couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't just use the terraforming option to create more dangerous [Traps] than her system was offering. Asking her system gained her a bit of insight, but not much. It would seem that the [Traps] would allow her to bypass the 10-Units terrain change limits, but they couldn't be stacked. Apparently, the [Traps] could also reset at certain intervals, regardless of non-dungeon entities being present, and could be made to blend into the terrain so that adventurers wouldn't expect them.
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The 1-Unit deep pitfalls weren't quite what she needed then, she'd be better off just using the terrain change feature. Well, it was a shame to 'waste' her resources on unlocking it then, but maybe she could find a use for it another time. Veronica got to work carving out 10-Units-deep grooves into the land of the room. She wanted to create floating islands, of sorts, to discourage adventurers from trying to cross the room without using the path. The door wouldn't unlock without them completing the challenge anyway, but she felt the effect of it all would be well worth it.
The theme for this newest challenge was actually a firewalk, which could easily lead to second or even third-degree burns. One would have to carefully walk across the coals without rushing or digging their feet into the ground too much. Veronica wasn't sure about the people of this world, but she knew that humans' survival instincts tended to make them want to avoid such dangerous stunts. Yet, there were still performers who would walk across beds of burning coals and even perform tricks with fire and other props. It was likely because most people could never see themselves doing the same thing and that it was so dangerous that it was so exciting to watch experienced professionals perform such incredible displays.
Veronica wasn't going to get to watch the adventurers as they suffered through her challenge, but she still couldn't help but feel excited just thinking about it. If they wanted to bother her and invade her dungeon, then they could suffer for every minute of it. She hoped that would make that awful bull-headed man think twice about hunting her down to kill her again. Maybe she was becoming a bit more bloodthirsty than she'd like, but she couldn't help but want to avoid similar instances in the future.
Of course, before she could finish the room up, she'd need to make a challenge reward, set the challenge, and then spend 300 DP to set the room's theme and lock the door. Well, there was no point in getting too creative with it. The last reward had been a luxury towel set, so she may as well stick with the same sort of theme this time as well. Maybe a nice comb and mirror set? Brushing one's hair was only natural after taking a bath, right? Veronica wished she could make a proper brush, but she didn't seem to have any suitable [Base Resources] to make one with. She could make the base just fine, but the bristles would be more tricky.
Would you like to spend 32 DP to research a mirror and comb set using the [Base Resources] silver, glass, and wood?
Yes
No
Veronica was actually happy that she even could make a mirror. She hadn't been certain she would be able to as she didn't know the exact formula for making one, just that it required glass. It would seem mirrors weren't entirely unheard of in this world then. Still, she couldn't really complain about the final results. The hand mirror was well-made and the comb was carved to look like the handle was made from flowers and leaves. She didn't really care about all the frilly details, just that it was practical. That probably seemed a bit far-fetched since she had just summoned a set for herself to keep, just so she could see what it looked like, but oh well. She'd likely summon a set of luxury towels for herself soon too since a bath was starting to sound pretty good.
Sighing, she spent another 32 DP to set the challenge reward and the 300 DP to set the room theme and lock the door. That brought her total down to 435 dungeon points. Perhaps she should actually take Seraphina's advice and take a few days off from building things? Maybe not, though, she doubted it would be long before she got more tributes and room rentals anyway. Besides, she couldn't earn more dungeon points without spending some.