The next day, Veronica decided to work on a slightly different project from usual. She was relieved the dungeon core wasn't retaliating towards her for continuing to progress the dungeon now that she had slowed things down and wasn't pushing her luck by making the challenges too difficult. However, that didn't change the fact that she wanted to start working on the tavern side of things.
In order to open a tavern, she was going to need all sorts of cooking vessels and dishware. This would also be useful for her larger inn rooms, which she was charging an entire 50 DP per night to rent out, so she was plenty willing to splurge on things a bit. Once she finished cleaning all the inn rooms for the day, she went to one of the large inn rooms and began to research new [Items] and will them into existence as she filled the kitchen with the new amenities.
Would you like to spend 80 DP to research a twenty-piece silverware set including four soup spoons, four teaspoons, four salad forks, four dinner forks, and four butter knives using the [Base Resources] silver and copper?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research glass tumblers using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research glass ale mugs using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research wine glasses using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research champagne glasses using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
As her tavern would be selling alcohol, she needed a variety of different glasses to serve it in. Beer, mead, and ale could all be served in the ale mugs. Meanwhile, wine and fizzy drinks would need their own special glasses. While she drank occasionally, it was always rather casually, so she wasn't super aware of all the benefits of the different styles of glasses. Mostly she just knew it had something to do with the air exposure affecting the taste of the drink.
Of course, it was still up for debate whether she could even create something like champagne in the first place. If this world didn't have plastic or baking soda then it was unlikely it had carbonated water or anything else to unlock it as a [Base Resource]. She'd have to hope she could get by with experimenting with air magic after, somehow, obtaining an air magic crystal. It certainly hadn't been among the ones Seraphina had brought her in the early days of her dungeon.
Would you like to spend 80 DP to research an eight-piece gold-rimmed ceramic dinnerware set including two dinner plates, two dessert plates, two soup bowls, and two dessert bowls using the [Base Resources] clay, white dye, and gold?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 100 DP to research ten-piece gold-rimmed ceramic tea set including one teapot, one sugar bowl, one milk jug, two tea cups, two saucers, two spoons, and a golden storage rack using the [Base Resources] clay, white dye, iron, and gold?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a 3-tier gold-rimmed cake stand using the [Base Resources] clay, white dye, and gold?
Yes
No
Veronica was more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker and certainly had never been into afternoon tea, nor had she played tea party when she was young. Still, it seemed like too good of an opportunity for matching dishware to pass it up. It was unfortunate, though, that she had to reduce the pieces to only be enough for two people instead of four just so it would be within her mana cap limit.
Would you like to spend 100 DP to research a five-piece stainless steel cooking set including one frying pan, one saute pan, one saucepan, one dutch oven, and one stock pot using the [Base Resource] steel?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 25 DP to research a stainless steel wok using the [Base Resource] steel?
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Yes
No
Would you like to spend 30 DP to research cast iron waffle iron using the [Base Resources] iron and coal?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research a two-piece cast iron griddle and grill set using the [Base Resources] iron and coal?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 100 DP to research a six-piece stainless steel bakeware set including one cupcake tray, one bread pans, one cookie sheet, one pizza pan, and one cake pan using the [Base Resource] steel?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research a three-piece glass bakeware set including one pie pan, one brownie pan, and one roasting pan using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
This part was, perhaps, the most important part of what she was making today. Thankfully, she had taken several culinary arts classes for her hospitality major in college as she knew it was likely she'd be the primary one using these new pans in the kitchen she built for the tavern. While Amelia's suggestion of hiring staff was an interesting idea, she just wasn't quite at the stage where she was ready to attempt such a thing just yet. It would certainly have helped if she had a reliable helper from outside of the dungeon to help her, but she didn't really feel like she did.
Things had certainly improved with Seraphina, but their relationship wasn't so much that of friends as it was merely amicable. They didn't hate each other and they didn't go out of their way to sabotage one another, but they weren't exactly divulging their darkest secrets to one another either. That was fine since Veronica had always been a bit of a loner and didn't feel it was worth it to worry about making friends. If both parties weren't willing to put in the effort and didn't enjoy each other's company, then that was that. There was no use crying over it.
Looking over the room, she couldn't help but feel like there was still something missing. She couldn't exactly cook without utensils to do so with. Even despite her supernaturally enhanced memory, it was quite clear that her new state of being was already taking its toll. It would have been too easy to forget she needed things like mixing spoons or a spatula to cook with had she not really taken the time to study the room and consider the matter. Hopefully, running the tavern would help her remember her human roots instead of letting everything fall to the wayside.
Would you like to spend 70 DP to research a seven-piece knife block set including one wooden storage block, one honing rod, one kitchen shears, one chef's knife, one serrated bread knife, one boning knife, and one paring knife using the [Base Resources] steel and wood?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research six-piece utensil set including one gold-rimmed ceramic jar, one wooden ladle, one wooden mixing spoon, one wooden slotted spoon, one wooden serving spoon, and one wooden spatula using the [Base Resources] clay, white dye, gold, and wood?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research a wooden cutting board using the [Base Resource] wood?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 30 DP to research a three-piece glass mixing bowl set using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a four-piece stainless steel measuring cup set using the [Base Resource] steel?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a four-piece stainless steel measuring spoon set using the [Base Resource] steel?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research a glass liquid measuring cup using the [Base Resource] glass?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 10 DP to research a wooden colander using the [Base Resource] wood?
Yes
No
Everything was still rather basic and really only covered the basics, but Veronica decided this would do for now. She had already spent 985 DP and nearly 500 MP just to fill the kitchen with all of the new [Items] she wanted. If she really wanted anything else, it could wait for another time. As it was, it would take several days to fill all twelve of her 18-Units by 18-Units inn room's kitchens with the new kitchen amenities. She sure hoped the adventurers didn't feel inclined to steal any of it either as she was most definitely not willing to replace this stuff all of the time. She'd have to look into some anti-theft options another day, though, as she had no idea where to start as was honestly exhausted mentally from what little work she had done.
The large cost really didn't bother her that much. She still had more than 6,000 dungeon points left, even before considering whatever tributes and room rentals she had gotten the night before and would receive today. Besides which, it would be nice to be able to fill her own room with the same kitchen supplies she had filled this inn room with. Maybe she could have a better meal than the few [Items] she had unlocked via tributes, though even that would be limited until she spent some more dungeon points on turning the ingredients under her [Base Resources] into [Items].
As it turned out, she might unlock things like oats, salt, sugar, cinnamon, etc. from someone giving her cinnamon oatcakes as a tribute, but she couldn't just summon the individual ingredients until she researched them. She only had the oatcakes themselves unlocked under [Items] and the ability to use the ingredients to research new things since they were listed under the [Base Resources]. It wasn't a huge deal, really, but it was still rather annoying.