Veronica eagerly made her way to the dungeon core room as she prepared to unlock her second floor. While she had no way of knowing what would happen, there was one thing that was certain. The dungeon core was the heart of the dungeon and had to be protected at all costs. It was highly unlikely that whatever was about to happen would endanger the dungeon core room unless the system was poorly designed.

Would you like to purchase the second dungeon floor for 1,000 DP?

Yes

No

Veronica was surprised by just how cheap it was. She had been expecting to spend, at least, ten times that amount and had been diligently saving up for such an occasion. She quickly selected the [Yes] option and the dungeon immediately began to shake, almost as if the entirety of the dungeon was part of a massive earthquake. However, Veronica didn't have time to be distracted by that as a new system prompt appeared.

A [Monsters] stampede has been initiated to ensure the dungeon is free of non-dungeon entities. The dungeon entrance will be sealed shortly. Please prepare for the dungeon upgrade in the meantime.

System configuring...

As the dungeon shook every time a [Monster] stampede happened, this wasn't very surprising. It was strange that the dungeon core room always had to have a direct path available for adventurers yet the dungeon was being sealed now. Even if it made sense for the dungeon core to protect itself at such critical times, it still suggested none of the rules of this world were absolute. There were exceptions to the rules, she just wasn't being informed of them.

The second floor staircase is now unlocked! Please note that the entrance will be locked to all non-dungeon entities who haven't defeated the designated first floor boss ahead of time. Dungeon [Monsters] assigned to the tavern may freely move between floors, but all others will be restricted to their designated floor at all times.

Luckily, Veronica didn't have to worry about rearranging the dungeon or anything like that. There was already a staircase at one end of the hallway the dungeon had spawned with. Her boss room was already connected to that hallway with only her room and the dungeon core room also being connected. However, it would seem her previous worries about the inn being used as a shortcut were no longer necessary. The only thing it would serve as a shortcut to now would be the first floor boss room. Even if that did still cut down on her ability to defend against intruders, it would still provide a great deal more freedom.

More importantly, the fact that her tavern [Monsters], which currently only included will-o'-wisps, would be able to travel between floors was incredible! Seraphina had previously suggested that the system designated [Monsters] as contracted versus summoned with the contracted ones being able to move two floors in either direction while the summoned ones were stuck on their assigned floor. However, she knew from experience that her gargoyles couldn't even cross over to the inn side, nor could the will-o'-wisps leave the dungeon or even enter the dungeon side. In fact, only her will-o'-wisps could even enter the central hallway.

While she knew all of this was likely due to the unique setup her split dungeon had, it was still quite confusing to be told one thing only to have things turn out to be completely different. It was starting to make more sense why Seraphina preferred to keep things vague, forcing her to discover how things worked for herself. Veronica couldn't base all of her assumptions on how things worked for everyone else, she had to know how things worked for her own dungeon.

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Feeling even greater tremors spread throughout the dungeon, Veronica soon passed out. While she was unconscious the dungeon continued to rumble and shake as the second floor of the tower was built and the dungeon core room, where Veronica was, moved up to the second floor. By the time she awoke, the last of the earthquake-like tremors had settled and everything was calm once more. Wanting to check everything out, Veronica opened her construction view. She quickly took note of the changes.

The first floor now had a straight hallway that led directly from the entrance of the dungeon to the staircase that led further up the dungeon. There were still two entrances for each of the sides of the dungeon, but that hardly seemed to matter much. She was glad that the system had already explained the mechanics behind how the stairs worked and it was easy to see the door in front of the staircase would be what locked some visitors out while letting others progress.

Where the dungeon core room had previously reduced the space available for certain rooms, that had now been remedied. However, none of the furniture had been moved from where she had put them, which she was quick to sort out. Veronica didn't actually have to be in a room to use the construction menu, thank goodness, but it was reassuring when she could double-check with her own eyes that nothing was amiss.

Before doing anything else, Veronica decided to also pull up the [Dungeon Status] menu to see if anything had changed there.

Dungeon Status:

Current Mana 45 / 100

Current DP: 23,703

Current Floors: 2

Current Rooms: 26 | 45

Tavern

Monsters

Critters

Construction

Research

Veronica had made some decent sales at her new tavern as well as continued to collect tributes and rent out tavern rooms, so her dungeon points had already managed to reach 24,703, more than double what she had wanted in reserve. It was only the 1,000 DP she had spent on unlocking a new floor that made the number a bit smaller now. Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as she had been anticipating.

Her mana cap had also now increased from 50 MP to 100 MP. It had been full beforehand since there had recently been inn guests, but she had to spend 5 MP on a new shelving unit while rearranging the rooms the dungeon core room used to overlap with. Before Veronica could even think of doing anything else, a new system menu she had never seen before popped up.

The following patron deities are available to sign a contract with. You may choose up to two at this time.

God of Death

Goddess of Chaos

Goddess of Commerce & Knowledge

God of Agriculture & Harvest

Goddess of Hospitality

Veronica felt her eye twitch as she read over the first two options. It was more than clear from the other options that these five options had been chosen based on her own choices and ambitions during her time as a Dungeon Master. She knew exactly why she was being offered choices regarding death and chaos as it had everything to do with her approach to managing the dungeon. Even Seraphina had pointed out just how much she had been overdoing things with the overly dangerous challenge rooms. Even her desire to kill off Bo in order to resolve her issues with him made it more than clear where her priorities lie.

Well, she would have to choose one of the two as it was only fitting that, if she could choose two deities to serve, she would choose one to match with her inn side and one to match her dungeon side. After some time contemplating the issue, she confirmed her two choices with the system.