Dungeon of Niflheim

Frost spent a short moment to tidy up his desk and office before heading out for a quick set of rounds through the camp. Seeing him out and about promoted stability and reassurance to the people in his territory plus he got to see the simple things that couldn't be explained through standard reports.

For example the expressions on people's faces, their goals, passions and desires for certain creature comforts. Everywhere he went someone had something to say. Some were worried about the camp's external defences; many had endured through the monster stampede recently in Furano and felt that the walls were far too low and that the war machines were insufficient to protect them all from an assault.

More than a few merchants suggested that he should create a garrison to help fend off unscrupulous bandits, wary that Frost's position as owner was in jeopardy. Through their eyes he was a kind and benevolent lord who taxed them fairly and hoped to create mutual profit rather than bleed them of even the slightest gains.

Therefore to see such a person brought down from his position of power would be anything but good for business.

Others had started to feel claustrophobic given the rapid increase in residents. Before they could run around in whatever direction they wanted without fear of bumping into someone. Now however the streets were starting mirror Furano.

Frost took time to listen to each of their worries and took their input to heart, truly understanding where they were coming from. Some of his future plans needed to brought forward if his residents were to have peace of mind, thankfully he now had the DP to do just that.

"Nanna are you here?" Ending his rounds at the sleeping fenrir Frost called into the kitchen.

"Ah over here master." Over by a potato peeling station was a young girl with azure hair standing on a wooden step with a potato in hand. Her ears perked up at the sound of Frost's voice and she turned around to face him with a bright smile on her face.

"Nanna don't run with the peeler!" Just as she was about to run to his side however the thunderous bellow of the head chef reverberated throughout the kitchen. Nanna froze in place, a cold sweat forming on her brow.

"Sorry head chef!" She loudly replied before placing her peeler down and carefully rushing to Frost's side.

"Hahahahaha well said Wilson, well said." Frost praised the head chef, admiring the care he showed to his student before laughing out loud causing the little girl to blush from ear to ear. "Do you mind if I grab her for lunch?"

"Not at all Lord Frost she was due for a break anyway." Head chef Wilson acquiesced and returned to his duties. Frost then led Nanna out into the inn's cafeteria.

"Good teacher that Wilson."

"Yes master, he's very kind and patient with me." Nanna explained with a gentle smile on her lips.

"Except when you act dangerously. Do you do that a lot?"

"No, no I usually know better I just got excited and forgot." She quickly waved her hands in denial. She truly was a very good student, careful and meticulous but her master, her treasured family was visiting her at work.

"Good, I'd hate to see you injured." Frost rubbed her head in an affectionate manner. "Since you work here what dish would you recommend?" He planned to have a private meal with just the two of them.

"Oh then I'd..." Nanna proceeded to give her personal opinion on all the top dishes, struggling to pick just a single one.

"We'll order several then, I hope you're hungry." Nanna's face always lit up the moment she talked about food.

"Un." She nodded her head and started to hum away from sheer joy, her feet even started swinging under the table. The pair of pseudo father and daughter thus enjoyed a very pleasant meal together before separating.

Nanna went back into the kitchen to help head chef Wilson while Frost walked back to his office. It was time for some more Dungeon related work.

Once he was alone in his office Frost teleported back to the private space to start some remodelling. The living room was still absent of anyone, and he couldn't hear any running water.

"Those two must still be resting." He could wake them up for another round or just for the sake of a healthy lifestyle but instead he chose to play it kind.

"Khuno does everyone know about the upcoming remodel and is Loki still at the medical centre?"

"Yes and yes milord."

"Perfect I'll contact him now and have him join me for the design phase." Frost quickly opened up a Dungeon communication path with Loki.

"Master?"

"Hey Loki, I was wondering if you'd like to help with the next Dungeon remodel."

"…..YES, YES SUPER YES!!" The young boy was silent for a second before excitably roaring back.

"Quickly finish whatever you're doing then and join me in the living room." Frost warmly replied before setting up the upcoming workstation i.e. arranging suitable snacks for the hardworking men.

Loki appeared a few minute later with slightly messed up clothes and hair, it was clear that he really rushed to finish whatever he was doing earlier.

"Come sit." Frost tapped the seat next him.

"Un" Loki bounded across the room and sat beside him, wasting no time at all to dig into a bowl of hard candy. His actions brought a bright smile to Frost's face. He rubbed his head affectionately like he did with his sister before bringing up the Dungeon menu.

"750,000DP a hefty sum, where should we start Loki?"

"Floors!" Loki yelled with his hand raised and a lollipop sticking out his mouth.

"You want more floors."

"Yes, more floors means a bigger Dungeon and a bigger Dungeon means we can have more monsters, more environments, more everything." The young phoenix kin gave his in depth reasoning with a serious expression. Frost felt like he was going to pull as stitch from holding in his laughter and the urge to hug the adorable things sitting beside him.

"Alright we'll start with a couple extra floors." The dungeon currently had 12 regular floors and two passive floors (floors without any monsters) which were being regarded as floor 5.5 and 10.5. Both had the same winter prairie environment but only floor 5.5 was currently in use for its intended purpose as no one bar Ladius and her team had reached below the 10th floor as of yet.

In the future Frost planned to have passive floors at every 5th or 10th floor interval, to serve as resting points for the arduous adventurers and in time be the perfect locations for internal camps and outposts, mirroring features found in the larger monster lairs.

Right now to add an additional floor to the Dungoen even without room expansions and environments cost 20,000DP per floor. So Loki just requested a minimum purchase of 40,000DP with a lollipop in his mouth and Frost was completely unfazed by it. Eventually after spending money like running water enough times a person becomes numb to the fact.

"Should we complete the floors or leave them empty?" As though 40,000DP wasn't enough Frost asked if Loki wanted to outfit the floors with environments and expansions.

"How about we partially outfit one and leave the last one bare." Loki wasn't completely ignorant it seems, decorating one floor wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Good plan, economical. No point in fleshing it out if it's not going to be used anytime soon." Frost agreed with his decision and with a flick of his wrist he manoeuvred the Dungeon menu so they could start designing the 13th floor.

"We'll just go with a simple expansion along with environments." Basically the three given rooms would receive a single size upgrade and will be outfitted with a chosen environment. No extra rooms will be added, and no special features would be applied.

"Un." Loki nodded his head in agreement and opened up the list of environments. The 11th and 12th floor both had 2 star winter highlands as their environment throughout the entire floor. The question was whether to continue with this pattern or change it up and change it up by how much.

Frost was all for maximising his gains and playing to what made sense, but he also wasn't against occasionally tossing in something out of the box. One of the main advantages a Dungeon had over a monster lair was the change in environments. This not only allowed adventurers to experience different battlefields but also a wider variety of monsters.

Playing it safe and structured may appear more logical but it failed to set the Dungeon of Niflheim apart from its competitors.

"Loki let's go for an environment jumble, I'll close my eyes while you scroll down the list and the moment I say stop we'll pick whatever environment your finger lands on for the 1st section. After that we'll swap places."

"That sounds awesome." Loki's eyes opened up wide and his smile threatened to stretch all the way to his ears as he frantically nodded, fully onboard with Frost's suggestion.

"Alright are you at the top of list for 2 star environments?"

"Yep." Loki replied with his finger itching to start scrolling.

"Ok 3, 2, 1 go."