Since the fourth floor came with an overgrown ruins theme, Veronica decided to fully embrace it. The first challenge was called 'the bridge' and involved a rotten wooden bridge hanging high up in the air above a nearly 10-Units drop with a deep river in the middle of it all. The river was more likely to save adventurers' lives than to increase the danger level, but it would also increase their fear as they worried what might lurk in the water below them. Plus, with any luck, the dungeon core wouldn't see it as her trying to make things unbalanced again. The last thing she wanted was to lose access to the system menu again and no longer be able to sleep in peace. Things were bad enough without that happening again.
In order to create the challenge, Veronica had to spend 8 DP to research a rotten wooden bridge. Both stone and wood tended to be rather cheap, according to the system, but that was even more so true when it was an old, decayed, partial version rather than a whole one. There was also the matter of digging out the trench, which took some time due to the mana expenditure, and adding torches. As the sides of the bridge involved thin wooden poles that would normally have added stability, she could easily add torches on top of them to set the mood. Granted, even if they did set the bridge on fire, she hardly had an issue with that.
The most difficult part was getting the bridge to collapse after a set period of time. The dungeon's way of balancing things meant that it was likely that the bridge wouldn't collapse unless too much weight was put on it at once or the adventurers' did something stupid, even if it was a 'rotten' bridge with missing planks and flimsy rope attaching it all to the wooden poles along the way. For this, Veronica had to delve into a part of the system mechanics she hadn't previously used before.
Among the construction screen options, there was one called 'room settings', which she could only use when the room's theme had been set.
The Bridge Upgrade Options:
Sky Options
Weather Options
Temperature Options
Room Feature Upgrades
After that, she could go into the room feature upgrades to make upgrades to specific upgrades for challenges like this one. The only free option was a 'randomize puzzle' option, which would ensure puzzles that came with pieces like a jigsaw puzzle could change the initial layout when the room resets, ensuring adventurers won't be able to complete the puzzle from memory. Well, there was also the lock doors option under that menu as well. That wasn't what Veronica needed, though, so she had to research an option called 'fading platforms' for 300 DP. That would then make it so that the bridge would collapse after a set period of time. It would also work on other 'platforms' from wooden platforms in water to entire islands floating in the sky like some video game.
Room Feature Options:
Option:
Cost:
Randomize Puzzle
50 DP
Fading Platforms
150 DP
Lock Doors Until Puzzle Is Solved
150 DP
Please conduct further research to unlock any other preset options for room features.
The cost to apply the room feature upgrade was 150 DP. It was a bit steep, which was much steeper than the 'randomize puzzle' option would be. Then, she just had to spend 100 DP to research a box of chocolates and another 100 DP to set it as the challenge reward. The chilate she had previously gotten as a tribute, before being locked up for Goddess knows how long, was really coming in handy now. Veronica wasn't sure if this world originally had anything like chocolate in it, much less what had been invented since she last had contact with civilization, but it was likely the sweet would be expensive, even if it did exist.
The next challenge she named 'sunken treasure' involved rooting around in pools of water in search of a weather golden key. The key cost 40 DP, but that was the only research she had to do besides the challenge reward. Wanting to stick to the aztec theme she had chosen for the inn, she had decided to make cacao chapstick for the reward, which only ran her a meager 20 DP to research and another 20 DP to set as the challenge reward.
The key itself wasn't actually used for anything, but was simply symbolic. Find the key and the door will unlock. You just wouldn't have to actually put the key into a lock to do so. Veronica secretly hoped the adventurers would drown after becoming exhausted from all the swimming around. She still had yet to add resources like edible plants to the dungeon, so they'd likely be desperate enough to move on that they'd actually expend their energy fairly quickly. Of course the walls weren't impossible to climb, but they were actually fairly sturdy compared to the trees on the first floor and certainly couldn't be circumnavigated the way the water on the second floor could be.
The third challenge room was the most dangerous of all. The 'hanging gardens' challenge involved vine ropes hanging throughout the room. They had been cheap enough to research at a mere 10 DP and even cheaper to install. However, there were also hundreds of them spread throughout the room with gaps at random intervals. She had chosen to use the 'fading platforms' upgrade again. In response, the dungeon had made a portion of the ropes slightly lighter in color and they would randomly break and fall down into the trench below.
For the challenge reward, Veronica had taken inspiration from a special tea kit she had once tried in her old world. One of the local grocery stores used to sell a special loose leaf tea kit where you could make your own using the provided ingredients. They had a few, but her favorite had always been one that came with orange peels, cacao nibs, and black tea leaves. Since small metal tins of tea were cheaper than a large jar full, it only cost 16 DP to research it and another 16 DP to set it as the challenge reward.
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Finally, all that was left to do was to complete the boss room. The overgrown ruins didn't have a forest or anything, but Veronica couldn't help but want to make a ranger goblin for the boss. The boss room had thus been aptly named 'the hunter boss room'. In order to set everything up, Veronica needed a forest, but she didn't actually have anything to make normal trees with. The best she could manage was to research the cherry blossoms she had once received as a tribute in order to make cherry blossom trees. At 20 DP, they were still rather cheap, so she could accept the overly flowery atmosphere it created.
Next up was the [Traps]. Veronica had only ever unlocked a few of them for the first floor tropical parkour room, so most of the options would cost dungeon points to use. The others were freebies she had received when she unlocked the second and fifth floor.
Available Traps:
Name:
Mana Cost:
Info:
Tripwire
10 MP
Can be used with other [Trap] types. Trips enemies.
Itching Powder Wall [Trap]
10 MP
Releases a cloud of itching powder when enemies walk past it causing itchiness and discomfort.
(Weak) Push Wall [Trap]
20 MP
Can be used to push non-dungeon entities into other areas of the dungeon, but is so weak that a moderately strong individual can easily resist its strength.
(Weak) Rolling Boulder
25 MP
A small boulder that is launched in a straight path from a wall when triggered. Easily crumbles and can be easily dodged due to slow momentum.
Briar Patch
25 MP
A bush with thorns that is itchy and painful, but does minimal damage.
Unlockable Traps
There were actually a lot more options than Veronica would have expected to receive from the system for free. Considering how unkind the dungeon core had been to her for even the slightest misstep on her part, this almost seemed too generous. The ones she wanted, though, were the 3-Units deep pitfall [Traps]. While she could easily make a trench, the pitfalls still had some benefits that a simple hole in the ground did not. The [Traps] would reset with the room and tended to be a bit more camouflaged than a trench would be.
Unlockable Trap Options:
Name:
Mana Cost:
Unlock Cost:
Pitfall (1-Unit Drop)
20 MP
40 DP
Small Wooden Barricade
20 MP
40 DP
Tar Floor [Trap]
25 MP
50 DP
(Weak) Flip [Trap]
25 MP
50 DP
Large Wooden Barricade
30 MP
60 DP
Slide Floor Trap
40 MP
80 DP
(Weak) Giant Flip Trap
50 MP
100 DP
(Weak) Giant Push Wall Trap
50 MP
100 DP
Deep Pitfall (3-Units Drop)
50 MP
100 DP
Besides the pitfall [Trap], she also spent 20 DP to research snares. As hunters tended to use them to catch small prey, they were a fitting addition to the boss room. The briar patches, deep pitfall [Traps], and tripwire [Traps] were already unlocked, but they'd be useful as well.
Name:
Mana Cost:
Info:
Snare
10 MP
A rope that tightens and lifts unsuspecting non-dungeon entities into the air.
The trees were set up on the outside of the room with briar patches in between them, creating a circular enclosure. Only a path to the entrance and exit were left free of the pointy thorns. Near the entrance, a 3-Units deep pitfall and a tripwire were set up. Near a few of the trees in the inner circle, snares were set up. The middle was meant for a hunter's cabin, but a trench with briar patches was set up surrounding the area. One last tripwire, along the otherwise clear-of-traps walking path, was the last addition.
Veronica already had access to wooden partition walls, wooden doorways, and wooden doors. However, she had to spend 100 DP to research wooden ceilings and floors in order to build an actual cabin from the pieces. The furniture was kept simple with pieces from the inn on previous floors being used to decorate the space. The boss goblin would likely be the only one among her minions to be comfortable as she had barely bothered with huts for the others and some of them had nothing but the dirt ground to sleep on. However, she had no attachment to the creatures, so she could hardly be bothered with feeling guilty.
Researching the ranger goblin evolution cost 250 DP while evolving a basic goblin into a ranger class cost 75 DP. After that, all that was left was to spend 300 DP to set the room as a boss room, reinforcing the environment and locking the door. Only 311,252 DP remained when she was finished with everything.