I was having a tea party with Erneah-san when Dragon Grandpa came to visit us. With his addition, the conversation steered to them giving me, a greenhorn dungeon master, a lecture on ancient dungeon creation.
"First of all, Chise, Teto. What kind of dungeon do you guys want to make?"
«Feel no hesitation to ask us, your predecessors, of our wisdom.»
After saying that, both of them showered me with their expectation-filled gazes. They resembled seasoned experts eagerly seizing the spotlight to share their cherished expertise, like old storytellers weaving tales of their wisdom.
It brought up a strained smile on my face as I churned my brain to come up with something.
"Err......"
"Yes-nanodesu! Teto has something to ask-nanodesu!"
While I was wracking my head to come up with any question, Teto excitedly raised her hand.
"Hmm, a question from Teto? Bring it on! Feel free to ask anything!"
«What kind of dungeon did Dragon Grandpa and Erneah-san make?»
That was indeed something I would like to know as well. I might be able to come up with some questions if I come to know their preferences from their past dungeon.
Nice, Teto. I fist-pumped internally.
«The one I created in the past was a labyrinth that served as my residence as well. A long time ago, there was a never-ending stream of humans coming to subjugate me. It was increasingly getting annoying so I created it to drive them back.»
"What I created was a resource dungeon to harvest and collect resources that you will normally not find in a forest. It was also a training place to hone our elven warriors, and there were some mana facilities to generate mana. Each floor had its role, so I can't decisively say what kind of dungeon it was specifically."
So the dungeon Dragon Grandpa created was to chase away intruders, huh? It was the typical dungeon an adventurer would usually imagine in their mind.
Erneah-san's dungeon was very close to what I first thought of after hearing about the ancient dungeon's function: a resource dungeon.
"Oh, then how did you make your resource dungeon, Erneah-san?"
Hearing my question, Erneah-san puffed her chest in 'I was just waiting for you to ask this' look and responded.
"First of all, even if you manage to completely create a resource dungeon, it doesn't mean you can gain resources from there forever."
"Hmm? Teto is curious why."
"Erneah-san is talking about the running cost of the facility."
I explained the floor's maintenance cost to Teto, who tilted her head in confusion.
In addition to the required materials and mana during the installation of dungeon facilities, dungeons also collected mana every day to sustain them.
"Let's suppose you are mining from the vein you have installed in the dungeon. If there is no mana to sustain it, the vein wouldn't be able to restore itself and will wither away just like that. Furthermore, you may have sufficient mana to sustain it, but the vein itself won't be back to its original self in just one day."
"So we just need to generate enough mana to sustain those resources."
I replied, to which Erneah-san nodded in appreciation.
"You're right. So to make the best use of it, we often replicate a portion of the natural environment, creating a floor specialized in mana generation and generating mana from it.
«Hmm, this is something akin to a biotype model in our time.»
Dragon Grandpa supplemented after Erneah-san's explanation. Biotype, huh? I repeated the word in my mouth.
"Then, how can we create that... 'biotype', was it?"
Teto inquired about the specifics of creating a biotype floor. Erneah-san put up a contemplative expression as she continued.
"Hmm, they differ depending on the environment, like the myriad of shapes nature comes in. It could be a simple plant-only floor, a floor specific for animal breeding, or one particular floor for monsters. In our case, we went along with a forest-type layer where we released animals. In the end, it's entirely up to individual preference."
«Long ago, there was an urban-type dungeon where dungeon masters would often have their own servants or followers residing within the dungeon. Following this, the mana the residents released was gathered for their dungeon.»
Creating a forest and releasing animals into the wild was something we had been doing since the «Empty Wilderness» era. So, I kind of wanted something different this time— well, not as different as having people reside inside the dungeon or breeding monsters though.
"Monsters, huh?...... There is a danger of actual summoned monsters escaping the dungeon."
Monsters from nearby monster-infested regions have been kept at bay with the help of the Great Barrier and the illusion magic Erneah-san passed to us. However, I couldn't discount the possibility of them breeding inside our territory.
I would like to avoid risks of that sort as much as possible.
«I don't think Majou-dono has to worry about such things too much. Aren’t there trees like the world trees here that can generate mana? Planting one of those trees inside should be sufficient to replenish a good amount of mana.»
"Yeah, there's also this option. In fact, we already planted the seedling of the world tree we received from you in the new dungeon. It's still a seedling but it's already generating an astounding amount of mana."
With the affirmation from Dragon Grandpa, I guess we don't have to worry about keeping up with the mana cost.
"In that case, the topic is what kind of facility I would like to have...... I already created a forest so we can cross that out of the list."
"Teto would like a dungeon for delicious things!"
"Fufu, I knew you would say that. But indeed, especially for stuff like salt which is hard to procure since the «Forest of the Creation Witch» is inland."
This was something I had originally been thinking about as well— To create a dungeon that made it possible to procure stuff that was hard or impossible to get in the «Forest of the Creation Witch».
The ideal one would be creating a salt-making facility or a tropical environment to grow the plants that were originally impossible to grow in the «Forest of the Creation Witch» climate. I spoke of my plan to the two.
“Great. Since you already know what to create, you just need to be efficient and you'll be done.”
«Indeed. Tell me if you ever need sea creatures to release in the dungeon, I'll fly out and catch it for you!»
My idea seemed to be good enough as Erneah-san nodded in approval. Dragon Grandpa's response was also positive and he even offered to help out.
Well, this basically settled the outline of my dungeon. Since we were already on this topic, I also wanted to know what other types of dungeons there were.
"Alright, I'll follow this outline. By the way, do you know the types of dungeons other people have made?"
It was useless to take reference from the typical dungeons that could be found all over the continent since they most likely were the result of randomly matching the settings of ancient dungeons except that they molded themselves to the type of environment where they appeared. Well, at least that was the conclusion I reached.
"I'm sorry...... I don't know anyone else who may have created a dungeon except me in this era. In fact, this is something I am eager to know as well."
«Then let me satisfy the curiosity of Majou-dono and the Fairy Queen.»
Erneah-san showed an apologetic expression after hearing my question. The only one who seemed to be well aware of this was Dragon Grandpa who, after hearing my question, started speaking about the various types of dungeons he had the chance to see.
Type Labyrinth: They were designed to repel intruders, and traps or monsters were common in them.
They were configured to have a certain number of quasi-lifeform monsters at all times, while pairs of actual monsters were used to create more offspring which contributed to the dungeon's overall battle power.
For example, floors like plains and forests were popular and convenient for this. The only aspect they needed to make sure of was there was enough to feed the monsters as they mated and increased their numbers.
Of course, there were loads of disadvantages to this like the time it took for them to mate to their offspring maturing, or the possibility of them getting killed by intruders and other monsters which would create a dent in their number, but it was still doable with the benefit they bring; their capability of releasing mana.
