Wow, it looks like the first official delve into my dungeon went well for this party. Or is it the third delve? I’m counting it as the first, since the initial visit was just that wizard and warrior discovering it, and the second was apparently an inspection.

  Anyway, it seems the wizard guy and warrior girl brought some friends. From what I gathered, their names are Rolland, Leah, May, and Liam. They talked quite a bit, so I was able to get a better understanding of the situation.

  Apparently, the guild will officially announce my existence to the town tomorrow. I doubt any adventurers would be reckless enough to explore a newly discovered dungeon without some preparation, so I’m guessing nearby adventurers will start flocking here within three or four days.

  The first group did pretty well—they even stumbled upon one of the ruins containing a rare item. When I was designing the second floor, I had an idea. If I was created to help people train to fight calamities, maybe I should theme each floor around some kind of disaster or world-ending event.

  So, I added some drawings on broken stone walls and made up a story about a world overtaken by animals. Sure, Holly might not be a world-ending threat, but since she’s just the boss of the first floor, I think it’s fitting.

  That said, I did notice a few issues with the first floor. It seemed a bit too easy. When the wizard and warrior first came through, they had some trouble with a single rabbit, but that was mostly because they were caught off guard and had no information about the layout or creatures here.

  Now that the guild has investigated, I doubt anyone will enter without getting some intel from the guild or at least hearing rumors from other adventurers. But I still want to keep things fair for newcomers, so I’ll probably create larger groups of rabbits to patrol near the center of the floor.

  Another problem was the ranger girl’s detection skill. I don’t mind them using it to locate enemies or avoid ambushes, but the issue is that she was able to sense when she was near the hidden ruins—especially the ones concealed by illusions.

  The ruins with the tablets are all hidden using illusion magic, while the others, which contain lesser magical items, are camouflaged by dense foliage. So, I’ll probably need to make the tablet ruins harder to find.

  Do I just add more illusion magic? Or maybe throw in some shadow magic as well? Why not both? With that decision in mind, I start modifying the ruin entrances, all the while idly contemplating the various types of magic and the world around me.

  Some aspects of this world are undeniably fantastical, while others feel strangely mundane. I suppose all those fantasy novels I read and games I played weren't entirely accurate. For instance, there are tons of different magic types, so many that they often overlap or even conflict with one another.

  From what I’ve read in the system, this leads to constant debates among the world’s scholars about the proper classification of magic. It’s slowing down magical research from reaching its full potential.

  But enough about magic. I was also shocked to learn from the system menus that this world only has humans—no elves, no dwarves, just humans. Sure, there are goblins, orcs, and other similar creatures, but it seems there are more monsters than intelligent species.

  So, I’ve been thinking about introducing some fantasy races into my dungeon. Aside from zombies, the Myconids turned out fine, so I don't see any major issue with creating more races to inhabit the dungeon’s floors. Maybe I should even add some mini-dungeons on each floor to give adventurers more to do.

  For instance, on the second floor, I could create different sections with their own mini-bosses, each based on a different type of mushroom—like [Embercap] or [Dreamspore]. I can't think of much else to work on for now, other than spending time with the Myconids or upgrading the sun and moon illusions. I could change them from hyper-realistic illusions into more realistic constructs made from fire magic, light magic, and advanced earth and gravity magic.

  Speaking of which, I should do that before I focus on the mini-bosses and their areas. Looking toward the illusory sun beaming down on my dungeon floors, I begin to think of ways to build a miniature sun inside my dungeon.

  The easiest method I can think of is to condense fire and light magic into a superheated plasma sphere, then stabilize it with strong binding magic. I could control the sun's output using enchantment and energy magic.

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  Wow, there are a lot of different magic types in this world. I know I mentioned it earlier, but actually reading it from the system menus and putting it into practice really puts things into perspective. I can see why the scholars here argue so much.

  After a full day of careful calculations and testing with my dungeon core brain, I finally manage to create the artificial sun—without vaporizing the entire second floor, thankfully.

  Now for the easy part: the moon. It’s just a rock in space, right? I’ll just make a rock, suspend it with gravity magic, and bam! Done! It feels a bit anticlimactic, but as long as it works, I’m good with it.

  Now, mini-boss zones. I won’t be adding any to the first floor since I plan on keeping it as a kind of tutorial floor for newbie adventurers. The second floor and beyond, however, are fair game. Maybe I could even add a secret boss on every floor after the first—something for adventurers to challenge themselves with once they’ve conquered the main and mini-bosses?

  But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s focus on the mini-bosses first. I’ll likely need to expand the second floor significantly to fit everything in without cramming it too close together.

  As I begin expanding the second floor further, I contemplate how many mini-bosses I want. While reshaping the floor, I fill in sections of the forest as I go. Just as I’m about to finish, I sense a group of two people entering the first floor of my dungeon.

  What? Already? I quickly shift my vision to observe the new delvers—a young, very loud warrior confidently leading a scrawny mage through the forest, speaking so loudly they’re scaring off all the common animals in the area. I don’t even need to get close to hear what they’re yelling about.

  “Look, I told you, Jared! We must be the first people in this dungeon aside from the guild’s scouting team! That means we’ll get dibs on all the amazing loot!” (Alex)

  “Um… are you sure? Maybe we should’ve prepared more, like everyone else? We only became adventurers a week ago! I don’t think we’re ready, Alex.” (Jared)

  “Of course we’re ready, Jared! I glanced at the guild’s notes on this dungeon for like, a few minutes, and it’s just common animals and rabbits with sticks! We’ll be rich!” (Alex)

  Watching them bumble deeper into the dungeon, I’m torn between shock and bemusement. Alex leads with reckless confidence, his cheap leather armor already worn and patched in places, and his short sword sporting several nicks from poor maintenance. His spiky black hair juts out messily, complementing his reckless energy, while a faint scar on his cheek hints at past trouble and stubborn resilience.

  Jared trails behind, clutching an oversized staff like a walking stick to steady himself. His white hair peeks from under a hood that keeps slipping back as he hurries to keep up. His travel-worn robes are dirt-stained and fraying at the edges, and he looks visibly nervous, his breathing uneven as he tries in vain to convince Alex to turn back.

  Sighing, I decide to check the dungeon’s resurrection system—something tells me this group isn’t making it out unscathed. I configure the system to revive anyone who dies in the dungeon just outside its entrance. They’ll have hazy memories of their death but avoid the heavy trauma. There will also be penalties: a loss of levels and temporary weakness.

  I set it this way to prevent adventurers from brute-forcing their way through the dungeon once they realize death isn’t permanent here. With fuzzy memories, they’ll recall that they failed but won’t have perfect details to bring back to the guild. This way, they can still learn from their mistakes without spoiling all my secrets.

  Refocusing on the group, I find them deep in the forest. Somehow, they’ve avoided all the monsters—except Holly, who’s watching them from the shadows, bemused by their antics.

  Maybe this is a super-complicated ruse to lower the monsters’ guard? It has to be. People can’t really be this clueless.

  “I’m telling you, Jared! Skills get stronger if you yell them out loud in battle! I read it in a book about the legendary hero, Gamir!” (Alex)

  “Alex, that book was written by some crazy guy a few years ago. No sane person goes around telling everyone he’s from another world.” (Jared)

  …Yeah, they’re just stupid. But I guess they need to learn somehow.

  It doesn’t take long before they stumble into a patrol of armed rabbits hidden among the trees and bushes. The rabbits, wielding swords, spears, and bows, quickly surround them. Jared notices the ambush first and hastily points his staff at one of the rabbits, fumbling over the words to cast a spell.

  Alex, seeing Jared prepare to attack, charges blindly toward the nearest rabbit, yelling, “Heavy swing!” at the top of his lungs. His strike misses entirely and lodges his sword into the ground, the blade clanging against a rock and chipping even further.

  What follows is nothing short of tragic. Alex is swiftly run through by a rabbit wielding a stone sword, his eyes wide with shock as he collapses to his knees, blood pooling beneath him. Jared fares no better, being struck by arrows and spears before he can finish casting his first spell. He falls moments later, his robes now stained crimson.

  A few minutes later, their bodies burst into light as the resurrection system activates. I feel their presence reappear just outside the dungeon, both of them gasping for air and looking around in confusion. Without much hesitation, they grab their battered equipment and retreat back toward town.

  Huh. Well… what was I doing again?