"Today's stream will be a Nukkonyan observation stream since I'll be working inside the dungeon. Please enjoy the cuteness to your heart's content. I'll pull the gacha after I finish and return from the dungeon."
"I'm off now."
"Hassaku, Dango, Shinju, Sumomo, Ginnan, Kinako, I'm counting on you to hold the fort…"
"Meowww."
"Take care!"
"Got it! Observation stream initiated!"
"Take care!"
"Have a safe trip!"
After checking the stream screen briefly and announcing today's plans, I quickly gathered Oboro, Hisui, and the others and teleported into the dungeon.
"For now, I'm building a floating city."
"You've simply left a bunch of plain boxes lying around."
"Yeah… I realized I couldn't get the details right by just using the terminal. I needed to see it directly."
"I understand that well. There are things you just can't grasp unless you see them in person."
"Exactly. As I explained earlier, this road will lead straight to a floating palace in the middle of the lake. It's modeled after the Rokujo-in from The Tale of Genji."
"That's quite a large structure you're planning. It's a good idea. Having water flow beneath the floors adds a touch of elegance. But the interior is still undecorated because of the DP limitations, correct?"
"Yeah. Eventually, I'll fully decorate it and open it to the public, but for now, it's just for looks. My focus is on food and plants, so I want to create a green-filled city. Specifically, I want to decorate walls and eaves with beautiful flowers and trees."
"That sounds good. It would be best if the decorations are unique to the dungeon. It'll help with publicity."
"Right. I've already made a list of plants I want to use for decoration."
"I see. You plan to rotate them based on the seasons?"
"Yeah, but since we haven't set the release date yet, I'll be mixing up the seasons for now. Once I've gathered enough DP, I'll adjust the decorations to match the current season. For now, I'll create a preset for each season—spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and also for the rainy season between them."
For example, between spring and summer, I want to transition from wisteria flowers to hydrangeas. Since the theme is Japanese, I want to include the beauty of the changing seasons. However, to balance the DP, I won't rotate the field's plants or monsters seasonally. They'll remain the same throughout the year.
The idea is to only change the decorations of cities, towns, and villages according to the seasons for added enjoyment.
"Even though the use of flowers and plants for decoration doesn't consume much DP, it can still add up over time. Are you sure your DP will hold out?"
"No problem. I've already calculated the gathering points, target plants, resources, monster placements, numbers, and respawn times. The remaining DP is enough to cover the decorations, and I'll still have some left. Depending on my luck with the daily free gacha, I'll decide whether to buy monsters with DP or take my chances with rare gachas."
"If that's the case, go ahead."
"Alright, let's get started."
I raised my terminal toward the lake and aimed it at the plain box floating there. A variety of icons, lists, and options appeared on the screen, allowing me to start designing the exterior.
I began by overwriting the basic box with the pre-downloaded data of the Rokujo-in and set it as the default. However, it still looked bland, so I made adjustments. The original Rokujo-in had four buildings, each with its garden, but I deleted the ground and made it look like the entire structure was floating on the lake. I then repositioned the four buildings outward, rotated them to face inward, and connected them with corridors, leaving an empty space in the center.
I created small raised platforms on the water surface in the central area and connected them with bridges and walkways styled after fishing pavilions. With that, the basic structure was complete.
"How's this?"
"I'll go check."
Oboro floated in the air, circling the newly transformed palace-like structure that replaced the plain box.
Meanwhile, I used the terminal to rotate the view and check it from all angles.
"It looks good to me. Now we just need to add the decorative vines and plants, right?"
"Wait a second. This part isn't right. It needs to be like this… No, not that. The corridor is too long—it should be shorter. And the northern building is misaligned. It should be more to the left. Oboro, one more check."
"Understood."
Oboro flew off again to inspect the adjustments.
"The corrections are done."
After confirming the corrections from Oboro, I gave a satisfied nod, concluding the minor tweaks.
"Okay, let's move on to decorations… but there's no label for seasonal plants, so I don't know which are for spring, summer, fall, or winter. And we still don't know when we're going to release this."
"Just go by the color scheme."
"Yeah, that's probably the only way. I guess I'll just mix the seasons for now."
I sighed deeply, closing my eyes as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Some plant enthusiasts are going to complain, aren't they?"
"That's something they'll have to take up with the gods. It's fantasy, after all."
"True… Anyway, let's start by adding a large symbolic tree…"
"Meow."
"How about a cherry blossom? Perfect! Cherry blossom it is!"
Hisui, who had been sitting quietly beside me, suggested a cherry blossom tree, so I reached out and petted the large cat's head. I placed a giant cherry blossom tree on one of the small platforms in the middle of the water.
"What variety is it?"
"It's a fantasy cherry blossom tree created by a god called 'Sakura Divine Tree.' I'll also plant a few weeping cherry blossoms here and there… It looks good from the outside, so let's go with this."
"It looks a bit messy from above, though."
"Doesn't matter. No one can fly yet, so it's fine."
"You know, there are things called drones."
"I refuse to acknowledge them! I need to save DP!"
"Alright… How about we decorate the walls with vines that produce beautiful light purple flowers and pearl-like fruits?"
"Oh, that sounds amazing! Let's drape those down from the top?"
"It would look better coming from above, reflecting on the water."
"Got it. This plant is called 'Shinju-shi' (Pearl Purple), right? It seems like it might become popular with plant enthusiasts. Should we add it to the dungeon's plant population as well? It appears to have medicinal properties in its leaves and fruits."
"Perhaps we could make it a rare find, only accessible under specific conditions? It could fit in with some of the other rare plant areas we've already planned. It'll depend on the DP, of course."
"Hmm… Let's cut down on some of the low-tier medicinal herb areas to make space for it. That should work."
Having already prepared a decent number of medicinal herb areas, I figured cutting a few wouldn't cause any issues, so I replaced them with new Shinju-shi growth zones.
"We'll check it out later."
"Where did you set it up?"
"It's in the forest on the eastern side of the map."
"That's a good spot. Reaching it will be a challenge for those who aren't used to the area."
"Exactly. And I've set strict environmental conditions, so it'll be tough to stumble upon it by accident."
"Meow."
"Water lilies on the surface? Sure, why not!"
Responding to Inaho's suggestion, I added water lilies to the lake.
"The seasons…"
"Don't worry about it. I'll fix it with DP after the release!"
As I adjusted the positioning of the water lilies, I shouted out in frustration about the lack of DP. Most of it had been consumed by the foundation and terrain, leaving me with a bare minimum to work with.
"Oboro, can you confirm the placement of the Shinju-shi and the water lilies from above?"
"Leave it to me. Since I suggested the Shinju-shi, I'll arrange it to my liking, okay?"
"Go for it. And check the water lilies too. Here's the terminal."
"Consider it done."
I handed the terminal to Oboro and watched as he flew off to check the layout.
"Meanwhile, I'll start thinking about the town layout on this side."
"Meow."
"What? You want a place for Mugi and the others to wait?"
"Meow!"
"They want to create a cat café and a treatment center? And work there themselves?"
"Meow!"
"The Nukkonyans want to run the place, and Hisui and Inaho want to stay by my side… How adorable! I'll praise them all the time, not just occasionally! So cute!"
Overwhelmed by their cuteness, I hugged Mugi and Kohaku tightly and took turns petting all the Nukkonyans that had gathered around me.
"Alright, let's build the cat café and treatment center in the best spot!"
It would make sense to place them along the main road leading to the palace. Since the dungeon's entrance would serve as something like an adventurer's guild, the area would likely be crowded. This road would lead toward the palace, with a bridge just before the entrance splitting off toward the fields.
Therefore, it made sense to build the cat café and treatment center along this main road, maybe at the halfway point. Both would feature traditional Japanese architecture with a cute touch. I'd make sure the café had glass walls to let people see inside, and it would be spacious enough for the Nukkonyans to move around freely, with plenty of room for a giant cat tower.
There are people who love cats but can't be near them due to allergies. Luckily, according to the dungeon's records, Nukkonyans don't trigger allergic reactions. So, even though they aren't real cats, people can enjoy interacting with them to their heart's content.
"Now that it's decided, I guess we'll need a dungeon currency?"
"Finished placing the decorations. What's on your mind?"
"Whooooa!!"
Startled by the sudden voice from behind, I jumped straight up.
"Apologies. Did I scare you?"
"N-no, I'm the one who should apologize… I was just lost in thought."
"So, what were you pondering? Something about dungeon currency?"
"Well, yeah…"
I held my chest as I tried to calm my racing heart.
"Mugi and Kohaku want to run a cat café and treatment center inside the dungeon, and I figured we can't just make everything free. But at the same time, we can't accept real money either. And DP is something only we and the dungeon monsters can see. It has no value to anyone else. I'm just wondering how I could create a currency within the dungeon. Like in games, you can earn dungeon currency by defeating monsters, opening treasure chests, selling materials, or crafted items. I'm trying to figure out how to implement that. I want to turn this dungeon into an open-world game—or even a VR game. But the resources obtained here are traded in the real world…"
"Calm down. You're talking too fast."
"S-sorry… It's a bad habit…"
"A classic nerd trait."
"How do you even know that?"
"No idea. Ask the god who created me. I have no clue who made me, though."
"Totally pointless!"
I playfully scolded Oboro, who stood with his arms crossed and chest puffed out proudly, before sighing and hanging my head in defeat.