Sometime after CATS had wiped Basileus' memory, he had gained a much more sophisticated attitude. He was no longer arrogant and did not assert his dominance over far weaker creatures. In-fact, he was searching for a quiet life, one where he could build his Dungeon in peace while watching all the adventurers have a great experience there. Of course, he was still going to cause a fairly large number of deaths with his Dungeon, and had made the conscious decision to erect statues that would hold the names of the deceased. He had chosen an area to live that was quiet, and uninhabited by any creature thus far, as it provided the perfect working place for him.
"CATS, close DMS for me. I've altered this room enough.
"Understood, esteemed Dungeon Master Basileus"
"How many times do I need to tell you to stop calling me that? It sounds far too arrogant for my current self. Perhaps my previous self liked that name, but I do not."
"Understood, Basileus"
"That's better"
Basileus was stood within a fairly small room. Not the room of a Dungeon, but a simple living quarters. In the left-most side of the room, was a simple bed that seemed to be fairly expensive, having a cotton mattress, something only the rich could afford on Praelium. In stark contrast to that, a leather sheet was laid atop it as a cover of sorts, and beyond that was a feathery pillow. By the back wall there was a bookshelf, containg multiple books storing information about the world of Praelium. At the right-most side was a table and chair, with simple pieces of paper and a mirro on top of the table. On the papers was only drawings, usually of either some horrifying creature or a beautiful landscape, sometimes even things that looked like treasures. All of these were sorted into individual piles, aptly named "Creatures", "Landscapes" and "Treasures" respectively. The walls of the room were decorated with a pattern resembling the four primordial elements, Earth, Fire, Water and Air, and the roof was decorated with simple plants. The floor, however, simply opened into an expanse of pure Nothing, simply being an invisible floor. There was also a fairly posh chandelier hanging from the roof, made mostly out of gold and silver. The room itself was overall a single Gerat wide, a single Gerat in height and 2 Gerat in length. (A/N: If you didn't read the Info chapter, a Gerat is 5m). There was a simple, wooden door with sparse decoration and occasional golden engravings connecting the outside world and this room.
Looking into the mirror, Basileus checked if he was suitably dressed to go outside. He had his dignity as a pure-blooded Dungeon Master to keep after all. He was dressed in fairly simple clothes that suited his no-longer arrogant self, being a simple white leather tunic with comfortable fur on the inside, and the same situation was present within his leggings. He was also wearing fairly thick, black leather boots. He moved his face close to the mirror, checking his eyes for any signs of rheum, (A/N: Crust that appears on your eyes when you sleep. Having rheum in a world like Praelium would show that you don't care about yourself, and can be a cause for disrespect) of which there was none. His purple and golden irises were shining brightly, reflecting light from the chandelier. His thick, golden hair was unorganised, but this had no effect on his overall appearance. He radiated a noble aura, despite his simple clothing.
"I should be good to go. Thankfully, no humans live around this area. CATS, deactivate the lights"
"Understood, Basileus"
The chandelier's light dissipated, plunging the room into darkness. Basileus walked towards the door, and pulled down on the handle, causing a 'click' sound as the door opened. Natural light poured into the room, quite suddenly, causing Basileus to raise his free hand to cover his eyes. Outside, there was a massive snowy expanse, mountains covered by snow and broken rocks scattered everywhere. The mountain Basileus had situated himself on was particularly large, reaching the impressive size of 3 Praeta (A/N: 15km for those who haven't read info chapter), and was fairly isolated from Humanity, despite the occasional powerful Human who flew by. The base of the mountain was a fairly flat expanse covering 2/5 Praeta (A/N 2km), and was a suitable area to build a city as long as the cold could be negated. This was the only reason Basileus wanted to settle here, as he could build the entrance to his Dungeon at the base of the mountain, where a city could easily be built around it so the Dungeon was easily accessible.
"I should probably start work on the entrance now. What kind of Dungeon has no entrance?"
Basileus carefully started working down the steps he had created for himself. Over 30,000 steps were made to make it up the 3 Praeta distance that the mountain covered, his living space situated at the very top of the mountain itself. It was built like this so he could easily access the ground and his room, whilst normal humans could visit him, or view the statues for the deceased that he was going to build. This was made so that humans didn't believe he was some form of monster, despite being the one who orchestrated the dance of death that was a Dungeon.
"CATS, activate DMS"
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"Understood"
The green screen that composed DMS appeared in-front of Basileus. He tapped multiple points on his way down the mountain, and once he reached the bottom, he had touched around 50 points in total. An entirely new option was on the DMS screen, 'Customise'. Basileus selected this option, and immediately a second screen popped up to his right. He turned to face it, and on the screen was multiple selection options including, but not limited to: 'Breakable', 'Alterable', 'Material', 'Touchable' and 'Visibility'. He selected the 'Breakable' option and set it so that it was off, making the objects he was constructing completely invincible to any form of attack. The next option that he chose was 'Material'. Basileus decided to make the constructs out of a substance known of "Black Crystal", a form of crystal that is imbued with the ability to grant insights towards anything to do with darkness. The crystal was dark, as its namesake suggested, with occasional streams of white running through it, which was the latent power it had. Black Crystal was fairly valuable on Praelium's marketplace, ranging from between 5 Golden Crystals all the way up to a Nothing-Engraved Golden Crystal, depending on the chunk's size of course. He tabbed all of the spots he had selected besides one, which he focused on. Basileus raised his hand, and a monolith made out of the Black Crystal formed itself out of the ground. No Mana was used, because Basileus was directly manipulating Nothing to produce the results that he was seeing. He, being the creator of the monolith, was able to inscribe on the top of the monolith "The records of all that died on the First Floor". As expected by the title of the monolith, it was imbued with the ability to record the names of all that died on the First Floor of the Dungeon Basileus was beginning to create. He left this monolith alone, 100 steps up his staircase, for all that wished to see if someone had met their untimely demise.
Walking to the bottom of the stairwell, Basileus found a good, open area within the side of the mountain. He drew a symbol that looked like an X mixed with a Y and a Z. In-front of him, a pop-up in orange appeared.
"ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO BUILD YOUR DUNGEON HERE?"
There was obviously two options. Basileus clicked YES as soon as he saw it. Immediately, the mountainside degraded down to nothing, before forming what looked like the entrance to the Pantheon, with great, white pillars supporting the roof of the entrance. Engraved on the roof were the words 'The King's Dungeon' in cursive handwriting. A tall and overbearing golden door decorated with patterns of snakes, demons and hundreds of other creatures was present, clearly leading to the entrance.
"Tsk. Far, far too arrogant for my liking. I would make it a simple door, but that wouldn't be appropriate for a Dungeon. Perhaps I should turn it into a cave? That sounds good. Not too arrogant, but not too simple either. I just need to make it radiate the airs of a dungeon"
Basileus tapped the door, and DMS automatically opened, presenting a whole new plethora of options that he could customise. But he ignored all of these, as they didn't allow for the degree of customisation that Nothing-manipulation allowed. He closed DMS, and waved his arm upwards, dissolving the doorway into Nothing. Past the Nothing, what should have been walls of the mountain, was in fact an infinitely large open area, where he could build his Dungeon.
"Dayum, that truly is an amazing sight to behold. Pure Nothing, where I can build whatever I want. I think the first floor should b- wait, wait, Basileus, keep yourself in check. You have an entrance to make, not a new floor."
Basileus patted his cheeks and raised his arm, causing Nothing to seep out of the ground. It collected into a large block where the entrance had previously been. He tapped the Nothing, and it spread out like a river breaking it's banks, forming into a shape that could be seen as a cave's mouth. Waving his arms not unlike a orchestra's conductor, the Nothing gradually began to change material, eventually becoming a solid, grey stone. The entrance truly resembled a make-shift cave now, only lacking a few details.
"Now that the basic shape is done, I need to get onto decorating the entrance. Perhaps I should put some fairly weak magical herbs around the entrance, hidden of course. And maybe a few creatures, bug-like ones that could thrive in a humid cave. Wait, this is a cold area, I need bug-like creatures that thrive in the cold. And I should make one or two simple monsters that could guard the entrance, providing suitable training for newer adventurers. I wouldn't want my Dungeon to be classified as overly dangerous until around the 30th or 40th floor, I need to to be available to all kinds of adventurers. Hopefully, as soon as they discover this place they will build a town around it. That would be convenient for me as I could learn about the ranks and general strengths of adventurers. Knowledge is of the utmost importance if I want my Dungeon to be available to most"
Snow fell onto the rocks Basileus had made from Nothing, and condensed. This is what he wanted to happen, a mystical cave that blended in with the natural scenery, but upon walking too far into it, opened up into a great Dungeon. He tapped an area of snow that was slightly hidden, and opened DMS. There was an option that read "Create Magic Herb?". Upon selecting "Yes", a blue screen appeared by Basileus' left side, detailing all of the herbs he could create. He selected a fairly weak looking one, called a "Nix Alba", and it was a herb used by alchemists residing in colder areas of the world. When mixed with certain other herbs, it produced a slow recovery effect, and also created a coat of snow around the person who used it, protecting them from certain degrees of heat. When found in the environment, it was a small plant not unlike a thorn-plant, but frozen over with tiny amount of snow and ice. It let off a glow that usually signified it's appearance, but the glow was easily removed if need be. Basileus created this herb in the hidden spot, growing quite fast into it's fully fledged form. He created multiple of these herbs around the entrance, usually hidden from sight, but a few were out in the open, allowing random adventurers to pick these with no real degree of danger.
"Now that's complete, I should move on to creating a monster that guards this area. Not too strong, but not too weak either. I don't want people to blindly walk in and receive a prize, that's not how Dungeons work. There has to be some degree of danger"
Basileus squatted down and began thinking.