The Dangerously Cute Dungeon [A Dungeon Core LitRPG]

1.73 Baby's Breath & Lavender

Tobias's party was still in a good mood from their victory the previous day. Since they no longer had to worry about painfully scraping their knees and jumping across platforms in a pitch-dark, stormy room before inevitably getting soaked by the water below, they were looking forward to returning to the dungeon. They had even gone out of their way to buy a nice tribute.

A whole bouquet of lavender and baby's breath wrapped in brown paper with a purple ribbon was left below the singular tree in the wildflower meadow room. Tobias wasn't even sure what had first drawn his party to leave the tribute there. The tree just seemed to stand out since it was the only plant with any real height in the room and certainly the only tree. So, it just felt right to leave their tribute there, especially since they hadn't found any other rooms dedicated to such a purpose yet.

More merchants were starting to appear in this town, so there was a wider variety of goods to purchase. Most of them were just operating out of their wagons, setting up temporary shops while they were in town. It would take a while before any new shop fronts could be built, especially since they'd have to wait until the next spring before the building could even start. The only reason they were here now was so they could discuss things with the town leader, who would likely be replaced by a proper member of nobility in the coming years. They needed to get the rights to build a shop and then survey the area so that blueprints could be drawn up and the supplies to build the shops ordered.

Still, considering most towns of this size only had a few merchants who would normally pass by on their way to another larger city, the greater variety of goods was quite welcome. Still, it wasn't like Tobias's party had a ton of extra income. Even if they showed up to the dungeon every day to attempt the challenges and collect a few resources, it was barely enough to pay for their living expenses. There was no way they could purchase a bunch of trinkets from the traveling merchants to give as tribute in the future. They would have to buy the tribute on a day-to-day basis based on what they could afford.

Today Tobias's party was attempting the capture-the-slime challenge again. Even despite the sacks they had purchased, it was still proving quite difficult to complete. Even if their reflexes were quick enough to capture the occasional slime and they left the slimes tied up in the sacks until they could capture enough of them, the process was far too slow going. Plus, the slimes were very tricky creatures who would dive into the rabbit holes at even the slightest disturbance, causing them to get away far too easily.

Tobias's party couldn't afford to spend the entire day attempting to catch the slippery things either. There were still other challenges that they needed to take on. Such as the slime-themed jigsaw puzzle. That was the challenge they'd be taking on today in replace of the slime parkour challenge. They usually tried to limit themselves to only one or two challenges to attempt each day since they didn't want to overstay their welcome in the dungeon.

It seemed likely that the dungeon would end up with a second floor any day now. However, Tobias's party was only being paid to map the first floor. That means that, even if a second floor appeared, they wouldn't be responsible for dealing with it. Well, this year anyway. If they did a good job with things this year then they were likely to be hired on to map the next floor next year as well. It wasn't like there were a ton of people with navigator classes in this area.

Mirabella and Thodin worked hard to gather the pieces from the edges of the room alongside Tobias. They planned to bring them closer to the middle of the room where there seemed to be some sort of strange square indent in the floor. Putting the final load of pieces down on top of the mountain of other pieces, Mirabella asked

"So, how do you think we are supposed to complete this puzzle?"

Tobias shook his head as he replied

"I've never seen or heard of a puzzle like this one before. When I sent the information and wild violets and honey lollipop off to the adventurer's guild last night, I asked them if any of the people who had been previously sent out to check out the dungeon had any information on this puzzle. We might be able to ask around the town and see if any of the other adventurers staying in the area have a clue as well, but this puzzle seems unique to this dungeon."

Thodin stroked his beard before saying

"Well, these pieces all seem to have similar shapes with bits that stick out and other areas with indents. Considering this somewhat square indent in the floor is pretty flat, it seems like these pieces either sit on the board flat while being stuck together or, if I'm overestimating the number of pieces needed to fill that space, then it might be possible the puzzle has some height."

Tobias looked from the indent in the floor to the puzzle pieces thoughtfully. The pieces were quite large, but not very heavy. They required two hands to carry due to how bulky they were in size, but they were thin and light. It didn't seem very likely that the puzzle could withstand any sort of weight if it required any amount of height to it. After some more thought, Tobias said

"Alright, well, let's try to lay the pieces out flat on this space. That seems like the more likely scenario. Mirabella, you said there aren't any [Traps] for this room, right?"

Mirabella shook her head as she replied

"No, I don't see any signs of any [Traps] with my skill. There shouldn't be any penalties for completing the puzzle incorrectly."

Tobias nodded before saying

"Alright, then we won't worry about that then. Still, we probably shouldn't force the pieces together since they should fit together intuitively. We only have so much time to work, so we need to move quickly."

Then the group got to work trying to figure out how the pieces worked. It took a bit to find the first two pieces that fit together and even longer for them to figure out that some of the pieces had perfect 90-degree angles. They ended up having to abandon the puzzle as Tobias's watch showed they had already been in the dungeon for several hours. The group of three looked at the unfinished puzzle with regret, but hoped they could use the information they had gained today to make better use of their time the next day.

With the group gone, their tribute was absorbed by the dungeon right away. Violet looked amusingly at the 86 DP she had gained. It would seem Tobias's party liked giving her flowers. Well, she certainly wouldn't complain about it. She likely wouldn't be adding too many more plants to this floor until after she unlocked the next, but it still didn't hurt to have some new items. Besides, even with the additional 86 dungeon points, she only had a total of 120 DP now. Anything that could give her so many points was a good thing at this point in time.

Violet spent 40 MP on four lesser health potions and 10 MP on a lesser mana potion before placing them into the leather satchel at her side. The dungeon wouldn't absorb dungeon-made [Items] without Violet willing it to, but it was still better not to leave such things lying around. That would only lead to an adventurer or [Monster] wandering off with the left-behind items.

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