Veronica had never been the sort to need social interaction constantly. In fact, going to work or school for the day had been enough to drain her social battery. However, that didn't exactly mean she had been a shut-in either. That wouldn't exactly have lined up with her goals to take over her parents' bed and breakfast, nor would it have helped her at that time.
When she had been a worker under her parents' employment, she had mostly done things like cleaning rooms, handling check-in, and cooking breakfast in the kitchen alongside her mom. Unlike big inns, the big draw of a bed and breakfast was just how personal everything felt with only a few rooms being available alongside a few communal areas. This has made it easier to find some downtime to relax without being constantly overwhelmed by people.
Now, as a Dungeon Master, it is almost expected that she'd be somewhat reclusive, only allowing those she deems worthwhile into her presence. Well, anyone strong enough can force her to pay attention to them if for no other reason than she doesn't want the dungeon core to be destroyed. Bo is proof enough of that, but she hopes that will change now that she has unlocked the second floor of the dungeon.
Of course, since half of her dungeon is a tavern and inn space, things are slightly different for her than they would be for most Dungeon Masters. From what Seraphina had told her, the dungeon had manifested her desire to take over her parents' bed and breakfast by giving her a space to play innkeeper. While Veronica often gets distracted by the dungeon affairs, she can't exactly complain about the work related to the inn and tavern. It was everything she wanted, even if the scale was a bit much.
However, the scale of her inn is much closer to that of a hotel than that of a bed and breakfast. There were constantly large parties coming in and out of the reception and even more people showed up at the tavern when it was opened than stayed in the inn portion. She was fortunate that she didn't have to do all of the work herself, but it was also true that the sheer number of people she was constantly surrounded by was more than enough to keep her from feeling alone.
Anytime she started to feel burnt out and wasn't working in the kitchen of the tavern, she could easily escape to her personal living quarters. She didn't have to interact with most adventurers as they didn't bother with trying to seek her out, nor did they try to attack the dungeon core. Only Bo tended to disturb her peace and quiet, but even that didn't tend to be an everyday occurrence. He liked to have a challenge and she had immediately unlocked the second floor of her dungeon after finishing the first floor boss room. So, it had ensured he was too bored to show up in the days before then.
Veronica had been expecting for things to change now that the second floor was unlocked, but most certainly not in the way they had. There wasn't a single person visiting her dungeon now, not even the tavern and inn. Where she used to feel like she was fine alone and didn't need friends, she was starting to feel lonely. Even Seraphina had simply stopped in to check on things before leaving, promising to check back in a few months' time or when she unlocked the third floor, whichever came first.
It was strange to go from having the Elven woman around each and every day to having her, and everyone else, gone just like that. Seraphina had warned her things would be quiet for the next month or so, but she hadn't been expecting it to affect her quite this much. She hadn't been expecting it to mean literally no one would show up either. It had led to other problems as well. She no longer had any incoming dungeon points and her mana was limited to only the 25 MP the dungeon regenerated each morning. That was hardly enough to get any real work done.
Veronica had taken to training with the staff while using what little mana she had to do the basic setup for the dungeon. Without Seraphina, she couldn't learn anything new and there was no one to correct her form, but even just using the longstaff every day would ensure she became more proficient in it. Hopefully, the next time her assigned Dungeon Diplomat showed up, she could ask for a round of training to see what she had made progress on, what she needed to correct, and what to work on next. She didn't exactly want her progress to stall, after all.
Besides which, Veronica had recently made progress in another way. As part of the process of unlocking the second floor, she had been granted a minor increase in strength, agility, etc. It was the equivalent of her actively working to become stronger by lifting weights, faster by running, and more flexible by stretching every day for an entire year. Well, before she had become a Dungeon Master anyhow.
She couldn't physically change much of anything about her physique now. She couldn't form calluses on her hands, which meant that practicing with the staff resulted in blisters if she did it for too long. Gaining muscle mass wasn't much different. The physical strengthening had improved that situation somewhat, but it was still rough, to say the least. It was almost ironic that the only improvements she could make on her own had to be related to improving her own knowledge and skill set rather than making physical changes. She was certain that, if her life wasn't at risk, she would have found it far too demotivating to bother continuing with training.
Everything about her life now was centered around her role as a Dungeon Master. If she wanted to grow stronger, she had to put the dungeon's growth first. If she wanted to live a long, happy life, she had to protect the dungeon core. There was no point in desiring valuable gems and exotic culinary ingredients either. They held no significant value to the dungeon, so they couldn't be prioritized in trades. The currency of this world was all but worthless as she was forced to act like even the smallest tributes were worthwhile. Leaves and flowers could be the equivalent of copper coins or they could be as valuable as gold, all depending on whether they were new to the system or not.
She also didn't have a physical supervisor to report to, but that didn't mean everything was left up to her own discretion either. She had [Missions] to complete with rewards, which had grown into a long list once more now that she had unlocked a new floor and signed contracts with two deities.
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Origin:
Status:
Info:
Reward:
System
Complete
Unlock the second floor
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Complete the first floor
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Unlock ten [Critters]
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Unlock [Critters] from five different phyla
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Complete second-floor boss room
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Complete half of the second floor
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Complete the second floor
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Unlock the third floor
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Make a second-floor reception
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Incomplete
Make a second-floor tavern
Unlock a new [Critter] option
System
Complete
Earn the favor of a patron god or goddess
Unlock new schematic (Altar x2)
Patron Goddess of Chaos
Incomplete
Build a shrine to the Patron Goddess of Chaos
Blessing (random chance of having an increase in tavern sales)
Patron Goddess of Hospitality
Incomplete
Build a shrine to the Patron Goddess of Hospitality
Blessing (10% mana discount on alcohol purchases)
There were a few quests that were complete already, but Veronica just didn't feel like collecting the rewards quite yet. It wasn't like she was going to use the [Critters] anytime soon anyhow. It would be a waste of mana and she already had plenty of [Critters] she hadn't bothered to make use of already.
Most of the new quests were just a repeat of the ones she had completed for the first floor. The only really interesting ones were the new ones for the two goddesses she had contracted with. The goddess of chaos was something that could be interpreted a few different ways. A random increase in sales without a percentage even attached certainly reflected the goddess's influence over chance and probability, bringing about favorable outcomes among chaos. However, it was a bit too tailored to her own circumstances to seem purely coincidental. It was more than clear that the reward had been chosen with her in mind.
As for the deity with domain over hospitality, it was much more straightforward, but it seemed rather stingy. Saving a mere 10 MP for every 100 MP she spent was hardly going to make any real difference. She didn't need alcohol when adventurers weren't visiting her dungeon and mana wasn't a concern when they were. She'd still likely complete the quest in hopes of unlocking a better reward later on, but she wasn't exactly going to be very enthusiastic about it.
It was going to require her to set aside some space on the first-floor to build the altars, though. The [Staff Elevator] skill hadn't been as inconvenient as she had thought it would be. It only took up a small corner of her first-floor reception room. Since the reception was near enough to the tavern, it wouldn't be too much work to carry supplies back and forth either. More than likely she'd end up building these new altars somewhere in the inn as well, she hardly wanted to detract from what little dungeon space she had. That would have to be saved for another day, though, as she was already low on mana and it'd be quite a while before she could afford such changes.