“The system says I can expand now Lilly.”

“I know. Let's spend some time talk a little about things you can improve upon from the first floor that you can apply to your second floor. Now, I know you’re proud of this floor but there’s still things you could’ve done better with the tools you had when you built it. I didn’t say anything because frankly, aside from making you do one long tunnel that had rooms randomly placed along the path towards your core room I didn’t really care.

Your diverging paths were a good start but you didn’t use them well. Making people make a choice on what direction to go is a good thing but for your second floor I at least want you to make a few dead-ends. Not every path has to lead somewhere. Making rooms that only have one way in our out and hallways that ends suddenly without a room at the other end is sort of like a time-honored tradition of dungeon design. In fact, most experienced adventurers expect it. They take great care in selecting witch way to go since you never know if the path chosen will lead to a dead-end or perhaps a literal dead-end where they risk death just by picking the ‘wrong’ path.

Maybe it’s not a dead end but instead they find some hidden treasure. Or maybe it’s both? A dangerous path but it holds treasures for those brave or lucky enough to survive the danger. So long as just one of the paths leads to your core room you can create as many paths as you like that leads nowhere. Or at least as many as you can fit for the room you’ve been given to build in.”

“I’m not sure I can create paths that kill Lilly. My only two traps don’t seem very effective even at injuring things.”

“That’s just for now. We’ll have you unlock more complex traps and those are far better than a simple drop or a falling rock. Even if you don’t upgrade the ability to upgrade your trap building skill you can still improve the traps you can currently to make them more dangerous.”

That was something that caught my attention. A way to improve my traps without having to use an upgrade point. That meant I could send it on something else. Maybe even yet another floor?

“How Lilly? Tell me.”

“Have you ever thought about shaping the bottom of your pitfalls? It doesn’t have to be as level as the ground elsewhere. Maybe the bottom is filled with jagged rocks? Or maybe if you make the pitfall a bit bigger and deep enough you can fill it with water. Granted only those clad in metal armor would be at risk but it’s still better than just a simple little drop.”

“How could a pit of water kill anyone?”

“Oh, I almost forgot. You see little pebble. Most living things need the air to breathe. Without it they die. Only fish can breathe in water so if someone falls into a trap you’ve made and can’t reach the surface, they will no longer be able to breathe. Death soon follows. Their only hope is that they’re not alone so that their companions can pull them up. Even then they might not be able to help fast enough. Some warriors prefer to wear the heaviest armor they can find and still move around in. Those fools weigh so much they drop like a stone and no one can help them while they still wear that silly armor. They're simply too heavy. So, you see, even something as simple as filling your pitfall with water can make it more deadly. Isn’t that lovely?”

“Amazing. I never considered that. I’ll have to try it.”

“You could also make a pitfall and the rock drop trap in the same place. Make them fall into a pit then a rock falls down and crushes them since they can’t move out of the way. I’ve just given you three examples of things you can try but feel free you experiment. Maybe you’ll even find some way to improve your traps that even I haven’t imagined?”

“I’ll try but all this talk of dead-ends and traps. I thought you were going to talk about the story you want me to create. You still haven’t done that.”

“Because there’s not really much to tell. The second floor will just be a harder version of the first floor really. Focus on summoning the second ‘Fallen Hero of the Lost Kingdom’ when you’re summoning the floor boss and just try to make everything else a little harder compared to the first floor. The Fae you summon will naturally be a little stronger on the second floor then they would be on the first. The density of your mana will thicken the further down you descend and since your creatures are essentially sustained by that mana it will make them slightly stronger based on the density. For example, a Tier 1 Fae on your ninth floor will be more powerful than a Tier 3 Fae on your second floor.”

“So, I should just summon lots of Tier 2 Fae for my second floor then?”

“Heavens no. That would just be a waste of your mana. You already have Fae on this floor ready to evolve to Tier 2, right?”

“The system told me several were ready. I’m not sure how many.”

“Wonderful. Once you finish building your second floor all you need to do is evolve those able to and then move all of your Fae down to the second floor, apart from your new boss, Illana of course. The mix of Tier 1 and 2 creatures will make for a nice increase in difficulty without being overwhelming. Just summon some more Tier 1 to fill their ranks if you make the second floor much bigger or a few Tier 2 if not enough can evolve.”

“What about this floor then? It will be totally empty.”

“Just summon the ‘Fallen’ version of your Fae to replace them. That way all you’ll end up summoning are Tier 1 creatures. Far more mana effective and when you’re done, you’ll have two floors well-guarded without having to spend more mana then you need to. In fact, you should mix in a few rooms and hallways made from dirt. Just because you’re inside a mountain doesn’t mean you have to stick to making everything out of stone. It’s not only cheaper but this way you don’t have summon dirt to plant your flowers.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. What if I make the entire floor out of dirt? That will save me even more mana.”

“I wouldn’t advice that. If you want to do so, save it for the lower floors if you want it. You’ve made your entire first floor out of stone. If you make such a sudden switch it will feel even more unnatural than perfectly sized hallways and rooms. Just make a few of them here and there. Then for your third floor you can have most of them be made out of dirt with a few from stone and then for the fourth floor you can have your wish. That way, the deeper the adventurers go into your dungeon, the more their surrounding change without it being so sudden.”

“If you say so. Is there anything else you want to tell me before I start?”

“Oh, there is one thing I forgot. When you make your path down to the second floor. Make sure it goes down deep enough.”

“What does that mean?”

Well let’s say your pitfalls on a floor is 4 meters deep. You then make a path down to the next floor six meters down. Then you start expanding. You will only be able to build 4-meter-tall halls and rooms. And wherever you’ve placed pitfalls on the floor above you’ll only be able to make it 2 meters. Do you see the problem if you had planned to make something 5 meters in height or even just 3 meters where there’s a pitfall above?”

“I didn’t realize that was even something I had to even consider. I just thought it was a path down and then I would be free to make my floor however I wanted.”

“Most cores never do realize it until it’s too late. It’s a common enough problem for Dungeon Cores and adventurers alike that the second floor of a dungeon is often referred to as the ‘Gnome sized floor’. Tall people really hate those dungeons. Let’s try to avoid such an easy mistake, shall we? Now let's get started little pebble. You were out of it for 3 hours. Let’s see if you have enough mana to at least make the path down. If not, I can always give you some of my mana. Time waits for no core or fairy and I have a birthday party to go to soon. Can’t stay here with you all day even if you’re a lovely listener.”

I’m not sure what a birthday is and I ignore the compliment of me being a good listener. I don’t want to be that. I’m just happy that I finally get to start expanding again. I have a few ideas based on the tips Lilly gave me.