“You can't stop people from resting within the dungeon. If you don’t provide a space, they will just find another solution. Like what is happening now at the gathering point.” Jemma pointed out.

  “But that is not what it is designed to be,” Xu Han complained.

  Jemma, the dungeon fairy, shook her head in exasperation. “Look core, some dungeons are deep. It takes days to reach the deepest floor. You can't expect adventurers to delve for days on end without sleep or rest. That’s not happening,” The fairy lectured.

  Xu Han, had to admit the truth of that. The Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques was not deep, and most of the adventurers he had encountered only delved for one day before retreating. However, he knew that would not be possible for some dungeons. The Hollow Vaults was a thousand floors deep, so he guessed it would be common for delves to last days, if not weeks, in it.

  “Fine,” Xu Han conceded. “I'll give them a space to sleep and rest. But that doesn't change the fact that it’s not free. The adventurers must fight their way to the sleeping area. And there will be a rule that an adventurer can only stay a day before leaving. If they don’t, I’ll send monsters to chase them out.”

  “That will be a problem,” the Guardian said. “What if an adventurer gets injured and need to stay there to recuperate?”

  “They can do so out of my dungeon. My dungeon is neither an inn nor a medical hall!”

  “You still need to give them a chance.” The Guardian said with a shake of his head.

  “I am. I shall be sending monsters to chase them out, not a Boss to murder them all in their sleep. That’s a chance.”

  “Not good enough. Not every adventurer has a Recall Stone, and an injured adventurer has no chance against a monster horde. You need to give them a better chance than that.” The Guardian insisted.

  “You don’t seem to have a problem giving adventurers bad odds when they enter the Hall of Carda.” Xu Han sneered, mentioning the Secret Room created just for the Guardian of Cards.

  “An adventurer can choose not to enter the Hall of Carda. They can choose what to bet. They can choose not to bet! An injured adventure with no way to exit the dungeon has no choice but to stay. There is a huge difference between the two.”

  Xu Han sighed. The dungeon core knew that as a creature of Carda, the Guardian needed to follow his god’s directives, but Xu Han wondered if he could talk to the Lord of Cards about his creature. Xu Han was losing patience with the Guardian’s insistence on giving enemies a chance on everything. In the Crimson Lands, there was a saying; Enemies are there to be killed, being merciful to your enemies is being unfair to yourself. Xu Han always thought the saying was full of wisdom.

  “What if I grant them a Recall Stone? Or a teleport spell to the outside? Would that be enough to -”

  “Let's not waste resources please.” Jemma immediately objected, before stepping in to meditate between Xu Han and the Guardian. “And let's not argue among ourselves on adventurers. We are on the same side here, and the adventurers enter the dungeon knowing the danger. It is just a matter of how dangerous, and fatal, we want the dungeon to be. There is a compromise to be found here”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The Guardian looked at the two, then nodded. He understood Jemma was trying to work out a solution, and as the guest, it was up to him to compromise. He thought hard.

  “I've got it,” the Guardian said after some time. “Why not make use of the puzzles? You have been complaining about adventurers ignoring the puzzles and going straight to the Boss fight. Let’s give a reward if they complete a puzzle."

  “How does that help? We are already giving out rewards.” Jemma asked.

  “We are giving a better treasure if they complete the puzzle, but what if we give them something extra that only appears if they complete a puzzle. Like a Recall Stone. We’ll make it more attractive for the adventurers to attempt the puzzles, giving a Recall Stone every time an adventurer completes a puzzle, and -”

  “No. Recall Stones are expensive to create, and they need to be magically tagged to a location. We can’t tag them to the local Adventurer Guild from here, and one stone for each completed puzzle is too much.” Jemma objected, before suggesting something else. “Why don’t we create something similar to a Recall Stone?”

  “Like what?” Xu Han asked.

  There was a moment of silence, before the Guardian suggested an idea.

  “How about you create a teleportation circle at the rest area, but one that can only be used with a key. A key the adventurers can get by completing a puzzle.”

  Xu Han, the dungeon core who would be creating these items, considered, but his dungeon fairy jumped on it immediately. “Excellent!” Jemma exclaimed, “That’s a great idea. A reusable key is much cheaper to create than a mountain of Recall Stones. And it’ll adds a layer of intrigue before they find the resting area. Adventurers will wonder what the keys are for, making them explore the floors more often.”

  “Intrigue, creating mystery… I wonder?” Xu Han mused, a faint glow emanating from its core. A green thread shimmering with mana came from the core and a series of designs appeared in the air.

  “Core? What are you doing” Jemma asked.

  “Thinking,” Xu Han said as he continued to sketch designs in the air.

  The Guardian pointed at the designs in the air and asked. “Are those graves?”

  “In my past life, when I was just an up-and-coming cultivator, I once entered a Secret Realm that was designed as a massive graveyard. There were hundreds of tombs in the realm, all of them locked, and we need to find a key hidden within the realm. Each key opened a tomb, and the design on the keys was tied to the theme of the tomb. A swirling vortex key for water-based tomb, a jagged mountain key for earth-based ones, and such. Maybe we can do something like that here.”

  “What do you have in mind?” An intrigued Jemma asked.

  “I am thinking of changing the Rest Floor.” Xu Han mused. “Maybe I could fence off some areas. Adventurers can still access the main area, but if they wish to enter the… hidden areas, they need a key.”

  “The Rest Floor don’t have any hidden areas.” Jemma said.

  “I can create them. It’s not really an issue since no one had entered the floor yet. I could just block some parts of the floor, like the waterfall area, with a fog. A fog that will only dissipate if the adventurer has a key with the water design.” Xu Han dismissed the fairy’s concern, before adding some other ideas.

  “As good of an idea as that is, it won’t help you with your current problem. I thought you don’t want to wait for the adventurers to reach the Rest Floor. You want them out now.” The Guardian reminded Xu Han.

  “That’s right, but I agree with the core. Modifying the Rest Floor is easier than creating a brand new area. So, why don’t we try to kill two birds with one stone?” Jemma said.

  “What do you have in mind?” Xu Han asked as he hummed with renewed energy. He was enjoying this collaboration.

  Jemma gave them her idea, and the three collaborators continued to brainstorm, refining the idea as their shared vision took shape within the very heart of the dungeon.

  There are arguments, clarifications, and moments of frustrated silence. However, bursts of inspiration allowed the three to forge their concept into something viable. The possibilities were endless but the three finally came to an agreement.

  The final idea was a compromise of sorts, but that was the way it usually was with a group. You talk, gave your idea, and compromised.

  The next day, something in the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques appeared. A subtle appearance, that changed the dungeon forever.