Sacrifice

The next day, Violet couldn't help but muse to herself

"How strange that I don't feel hungry or thirsty. Falling asleep was easier than it had ever been before as well. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the ground and I don't even feel sore despite sleeping on the ground. I doubt the grass added much padding and this eternal sunlight in this room really should have made it difficult to sleep."

Violet checked her status menu and was happy to see that she had another thirteen points of mana. That gave her a total of 16MP now, which was hardly enough to do more than summon another slime, but Violet felt it would be better to hold off for now as she would prefer to stockpile enough mana to set up a spawner for her slime and kodama. Still, Violet felt it was quite generous of the system to round the 25% daily MP regeneration up instead of down. Fifty points only would end up with twelve and a half points of regeneration, after all.

Yesterday, Violet had nervously waited as her kodama made repeated trips out of the dungeon to forage for supplies. However, the kodama was small and was barely taller than a dandelion, which just made it that much more amusing that it liked to climb all over her oak tree. The tree made the kodama look like a mere speck in comparison as the size difference was just that great. Still, her kodama had worked quite hard and had made an entire ten trips out, bringing new [Items] inside the dungeon each time.

Luckily, the dungeon could absorb the [Items] at the entrance and the kodama didn't have to make the trip any longer than necessary. The first time, the kodama had brought back a pebble, which had filled its arms to the point of looking like a boulder in comparison. The next few trips had seen the kodama bringing slightly lighter [Items] back, if a bit less useful. Things like grass and the same flowers that Violet already had access to would only give her a mere point of DP each as they were repeats. Still, Violet did feel grateful for her new friend's efforts and wouldn't complain even if they only ever brought repeats back to their dungeon.

Eventually, the kodama seemed to gain some more confidence and started staying out for longer periods and bringing back slightly more interesting things. A couple of violet flowers, a tiny piece of oyster mushroom, a small twig, and a few oak tree leaves. The leaves seemed to be similar to those from Violet's previous world, but the colors had changed to reds and oranges, giving her the impression that it was fall outside. Of course, with it being another world, Violet knew the leaves might just normally be like that, but she just didn't have any way to confirm one way or another.

When the kodama had sleepily wandered back to the flower meadow room where Violet's slime lived and curled up into a ball beneath the oak tree to sleep, Violet had merely smiled at its adorableness. It was still a rather strange and unnerving creature and it had no ability to close its eyes, but she couldn't help but feel endeared to the small, hard-working creature. While Violet did feel somewhat guilty that her kodama had worked so hard, she could only promise herself that she would make sure to talk to it and remind it not to overwork itself.

While the resources were useful to her dungeon and Violet most definitely needed to save up her DP to research more spawners, she still didn't want her contracted [Monsters] to end up harmed or to work themselves to death in the process. It was disappointing that none of Violet's [Monsters] were capable of speech, but they were still the only family that Violet had now and she was determined to do what she could to make sure they could live happy and peaceful lives.

Violet pulled up her status screen and looked at her gains from the previous day.

[Dungeon Status:

Current Mana 16 / 50

Current DP: 204

Current Floors: 1

Current Rooms: 1

Monsters

Construction

Research

Missions]

Violet pressed the [Research] option before looking over her [Base Resources] option. She noted that she now had grass, white clover flowers, dandelions, violet flowers, stone, and wood. The acorns had been removed from the [Base Resources] list after Violet had researched and unlocked oak trees and the oak trees, oyster mushrooms, and oak tree leaves were only available as placeable [Items] or room features.

Violet smiled as she asked the system to pull up the next spawner research option once more.

[Would you like to begin research on monster spawners? Requires 200DP.

Yes or No?]

After Violet pressed the [Yes] option, she was happy to see the results this time were a bit more useful. The new spawner option had a maximum of 50MP in total respawn costs, which would be able to easily cover a kodama and two slimes. Of course, there was no way that Violet would be able to afford to pay for the initial cost of purchasing a spawner since it also cost 50MP to purchase, but it was a goal to work towards and Violet felt happy.

However, this good news was short-lived as Violet began to feel goosebumps form across her skin and she knew that there was once more a visitor in her dungeon. Violet frowned and went to pick up her kodama, hoping to hide them from sight and save them from her guests. She doubted her slime would be able to handle any threats, but she was unlikely to be able to hide the small slime and protect them in the same way.

Violet sighed as she went to stand in front of the door that led further into the dungeon and remained vigilant, afraid of what was to come. Violet was relieved when she saw her guests were people. While they could also pose a potential threat, especially to her newly developed dungeon, it was still better than if [Monsters] had breached her dungeon. It was especially reassuring when it appeared to be an older man and a young child who was likely no older than ten years old.

Violet looked her guests over and noted that the older man wasn't wearing any sort of armor and seemed to be dressed in clothes that suggested he was of a lower class. Perhaps he was a farmer? He did seem to be brandishing a pitchfork while the young child was holding a wooden sword and only slightly thicker clothing. Seeing Violet, the older man startled before kneeling and pulling his young child to do the same.

"Greetings dungeon master. I am Gregory and this is my son Henry. We were informed by the dungeon diplomat that your dungeon recently formed near our town. I hope we are not imposing, but my son wishes to become an adventurer and, after hearing of the [Monsters] in your dungeon, I was hoping you would allow us to challenge your dungeon."

Violet frowned as she took in the man's words. For the child to challenge her dungeon, her slime would have to risk dying to the child's sword. It was unlikely that the slime would survive the encounter and there wasn't a dungeon spawner set up yet. Violet sighed as she replied

"Alright, so long as you agree to leave after your son defeats my slime and not return more than once a day, your son may use my dungeon to train his skills. I wish him luck in becoming a successful adventurer in the future."

Gregory bowed his head lower to the ground as he groveled and praised

"Thank you for your generosity, oh benevolent dungeon master. If you would be so generous might I ask how you prefer to be addressed? I wish to spread the story of your benevolence to the others in my town."

Violet still wasn't happy about her slime dying, but she couldn't exactly resent the man for using the dungeon as it was intended. Instead, she would have to use this opportunity for what it was.

"Very well, you may refer to me as Miss Violet. My dungeon is still new and cannot handle very many challengers right now, so I would prefer if your fellow townsmen didn't visit more than once or twice a day. Once the dungeon has been more developed, I should be able to play the role of a hostess better and the experience should be a better challenge. For now, though, I suppose it is fine for the younger ones to visit occasionally since my slimes should be a suitable opponent for them."

Violet was relieved when she heard Gregory reply

"Yes, mistress Violet. I shall inform the others not to bother you too often. It is against this kingdom's laws to get in the way of a new dungeon's development anyhow, so I am sure they will understand."

Violet then watched as Gregory fussed over his son until his son also spoke up

"Thank you, mistress Violet, for allowing me to challenge your dungeon."

Violet merely nodded while continuing to stand guard in front of the door. She was willing to cooperate with the locals to prevent future problems, even if it did mean sacrificing her new slime friend. However, she couldn't risk her own life being put at risk or else her kodama was likely to perish as well. The only thing that Violet could hope was that the fight would last long enough for her slime's sacrifice to be worth it.