The Dangerously Cute Dungeon [A Dungeon Core LitRPG]

1.10 Research

While Henry had certainly learned a good bit the last time he fought a slime, he still needed a good couple of minutes to defeat the new one. Violet didn't fault him as it made sense that he wouldn't be able to master combat in a day. Plus, his wooden sword was a poor choice of weapon for fighting [Monsters]. However, no matter how much Violet might feel bad for the young boy, she couldn't do anything about it.

Violet only had wood and stone as [Base Resources] and she didn't have any weapons in her summonable [Items]. Even if she did, it wasn't like she could summon them with people in her dungeon. Violet made a note to herself that she would have to look into the idea of making some sort of reward available for those who conquered her dungeon. She couldn't spare the mana right now, but it wouldn't be a bad idea for the future.

When the two left, Violet was happy to see her mana was once more full. Today's tribute seemed to also be crops, which made sense since Gregory was a farmer. Violet now had potatoes and carrots in her [Base Resources] and [Items] categories. That gave her another 70 DP, bringing her total up to 243 DP. Violet was pretty happy with this as she felt it was likely she'd be able to finally get some decent upgrades going around here.

First, Violet summoned a queen bumblebee and ten normal bees, hoping one of them would be a male bee. That left her with only 30 MP left and her spawner now had no space left to assign [Monsters] to. A notification not long later that a few of the bees had died startled Violet, but Violet was soon assured by the system that the bees had merely died in the mating process. Violet hadn't known that male bees died in the mating process, but she supposed that it was fine so long as the queen bee was able to do her job.

Violet barely had enough MP to make a proper second room, so she decided to make some upgrades in her wildflower meadow room instead. She spent 4 MP applying plantain leaves, 4 MP applying chicory flowers, 4 MP applying violets, and 5 MP applying the oyster mushrooms to her one oak tree. This left Violet with only 13 MP left to spare, but she felt much better about the state of her first room.

The large variety of wildflowers and greenery made the room look more full of life and much more colorful. The fact that there were so many harvestable resources in the room that could, apparently, naturally respawn was exciting as well. Violet wouldn't have to feel so guilty about people paying to enter her dungeon since there was enough value in this first room to make it worth their while. As Violet found out with Gregory and Henry's visit, it also meant people would spend more time in her dungeon just to collect the resources, which meant more mana for Violet.

"I'd like to research the apple to unlock apple trees."

Would you like to spend 20 DP to research apple trees using the [Base Resource] apples?

Yes

No

The cost was almost double of what it had taken to research oak trees from an acorn, but Violet just shrugged it off and selected the [Yes] option. The costs were still rather minor compared to the benefit she would receive. The new apple tree was also double the cost of an oak tree to purchase as 10 MP just for one tree. While Violet could afford to buy the tree now, she decided to skip the option for now.

Violet felt this first room was good enough already and it would be better to start saving her MP for other things like a new room. Still, there was plenty of DP left, so Violet took a look at her list of [Base Resources] as she considered what else she could research.

[Base Resources] Categories:

Nature

Culinary

Building Materials

Both the nature and culinary categories had quite a few options under them now, but the building materials category only had wood and stone as options. Before actually doing any research, Violet decided to consider what she actually could use. No use in just spending points on things she wouldn't actually use any time soon.

While Violet was happy that she wasn't having to deal with anything super dangerous right now, there was no guarantee that would always be the case. The [Monster] options she had available were not exactly ideal for defending a dungeon either. The only real options Violet might have to get around that were [Traps] or the use of puzzles.

"Can you please show me what [Traps] I currently have available?"

Available Traps:

Name:

Mana Cost:

Info:

Tripwire

10 Mana

Can be used with other [Trap] types. Trips enemies.

Butterfly Wall Trap

10 Mana

Releases a horde of butterflies when enemies walk past it causing confusion and disorientation.

Unlockable Traps

Violet was actually quite pleasantly surprised to see that the [Traps] that were available weren't too overpriced, but she was a bit disappointed to see that they weren't exactly useful. A tripwire would only be able to trip adventurers, at worst. A butterfly wall [Trap] was certainly interesting, but Violet wasn't sure that it would do much in the way of protection either. Noticing the last option, Violet selected the [Unlockable Traps] option and was met with a much longer list.

Unlockable Trap Options:

Name:

Mana Cost:

Unlock Cost:

Tar Floor Trap

20 MP

40 DP

(Weak) Flip Trap

20 MP

40 DP

(Weak) Push Wall Trap

20 MP

40 DP

Pitfall (1-Unit Drop)

20 MP

40 DP

Small Wooden Barricade

20 MP

40 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

Violet smiled as she read the options. The DP cost was a bit high for some of them, but these [Traps] were definitely a lot more worthwhile. They wouldn't exactly be able to kill anyone by themselves, but pairing some nice wooden spikes with a pitfall [Trap] or flip [Trap] was bound to result in injury, at least. Still, these [Traps] seemed like they might be more suitable to place in a much later room or a hallway rather than just the second room in the dungeon.

Perhaps a puzzle really was the way to go. Violet did need a little bit more information before she could make any official decisions, though.

"How do puzzle rooms work? Can I make it a requirement for a puzzle to be completed before anyone can pass through the room?"

Puzzle rooms have to have their room theme set before rules can be set for the challenge. Puzzles can take any form that the Dungeon Master desires so long as it is humanly possible to complete the puzzle.

Violet nodded as she began to think about what sort of puzzle room she wanted to make in the future.