“You are doing badly!” the Stockholder screamed at Zoli “All this time, and you managed to renovate only TWO floors?!?!? And even that only barely! Where is all the shiny loot, the magical weapons, the tons of free cash?!?!? What were you doing?!”

  “Esteemed Stockholder, sir. My Executive Team has enthusiastically embraced economically sound expertise to seamlessly streamline state-of-the-art solutions in order to professionally promote proactive partnerships in the way of redefining interdependent services. Best-of-breed applications of dramatically delivered bleeding-edge customer service are the catalysts of change! With an expanded array of collaboration and idea sharing, our competently evolved employees can now intrinsically exploit client-based core competencies."

  “I see. So THAT was, what you were doing?”

  “Yes, sir. Facilitating distinctive and diverse…”

  “Stop that! Make a puzzle, that spews that nonsense, and let any normal mortal figure out the meaning! I will even sponsor a mythical reward for the one, who solves it!”

  “As you wish, sir. I will direct Engineering, IT, O&A, and Zoning to the task immediately!" Of course, in Zoli's opinion, corporate speech wasn't nonsense, quite the opposite, every phrase had a clearly defined meaning! But, if the Stockholder said, the sky was red, it was indeed red.

  “Honestly, why do I have to put up with morons all the time?!? Look at all the other System Administrators! They order a murderhobo to kill stuff, and they get a murderhobo to kill stuff! Competent dungeon masters? Heroes? Legendary crafters? Happens all the time! You should read all the journals on that one ‘interweb’ library! What do I get?!? Lazy, incompetent morons!”

  “Yes, sir. I will instruct HR to fire a random lazy moron!”

  “Do that! Make an example!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You know, the only thing I see right now you did well are those Goblins. I like what you did by evolving stock nose-picking idiots. While the idea still needs some work, I think, I will keep them. Wait! Maybe I could apply the same modifications to Trolls, Orcs, and Ogres too! A new species to inhabit Arkadia!"

  “Yes sir.”

  “Anyways, that is not your job or priority. Show me in detail, what you completed so far!”

  “Yes sir.”

  Zoli, with the Executive Team in tow, directed the Stockholder to the lowest elevation point, aptly named Ground Zero.

  “Sir, the Business Plan and Process Map points to putting the entrance to the dungeon here. The Executive Team is still debating, if we should put some vendors, service providers, souvenir shops, and ticket booths here, or let the customers enter the company premises freely."

  “What? Do you want to put up tourist traps right at the entrance? I don't think, a dungeon has done that in all the multiverses! For now, you can put them up, but if there isn't a positive response, tear them down on a moment's notice."

  “Of course, sir. Please follow me to Zone 1. The Business Plan points to the customer having to defeat every Zone Leader in the Forest and Lake Biome to enter the Mountain and later the Grassland Biome. We will keep our database updated, so the customer doesn’t have to deal with all the Zone Leaders each time, they enter company premises.”

  “A good idea to link progress to completed waypoints.”

  “Thank you, Sir. Dealing with the Zone Leaders is just one part of the challenge, sometimes finding them is more of a task. Quality Management proposed some interesting ideas for a few of the Zones in the Forest Biome. In Zone 1, we have a rotating schedule for four Zone Leaders, every time a new customer tries to complete the Zone, they have to find the correct Zone Leader. We assume corporate espionage and the grapevine will identify a Fox as the Zone Leader, but next time, for a different customer it will be a different Fox."

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Nice idea! Make sure, finding the Floor Boss is hard, but possible. Hiding a mouse somewhere without adventurers able to find it wouldn’t be fair.”

  “Yes, Sir. As an added feature, we incorporated the cave system into the Zone, creating a compelling feature. The previous CEO located the visitor center in this Zone, but we got rid of it since it wasn't conforming to adaptive alignments."

  “Interesting selection for the MOB, I like the synergy between different units. However, the loot is underwhelming so far. Animal parts, some herbs, and just a few vials of stuff… Why should an adventurer make the effort for so little? The cave is also too sparely populated."

  “We are currently researching a few versions of jewelry, so far just made of wood, stone, and Gem Bugs. The Business Plan made allowances for seeding more expensive merchandise later on, but at this moment, we are still developing alternative solutions and redefining functional quality vectors. Unfortunately, the previous management left a situation, that calls for interactively incubating innovative ideas."

  “Yes, that moron made a huge mess, I give you that. You could still define currency as loot.”

  “I beg to differ, Sir. The daily revenue, we currently receive is already appointed for the next decades. We need to procure a lot of Perks, Blueprints, and raw materials as it is. Finances also ran the numbers, offering money to the customers simply isn't feasible even in the short term. The company would fold quickly. I understand you envision this company to stay operational for a very long time."

  “Hmmm… I see… Linking loot currency to a daily stipend probably wasn't a good idea. I will think about a solution. What about the cave?"

  “Quality Management already proposed puzzles and hidden passages, but for the former, O&A pointed out, it doesn’t exactly mesh with granular paradigms.”

  “What?”

  “Puzzles feel out of place.”

  “Damn, put at least a few traps in there! A basic pitfall here and there, or a swinging giant axe! Be a little imaginative!”

  “Yes, Sir. I just created the Zoning Department, I will instruct Lance to take a look at the cave. Currently, they are working on a Roadmap for the Grassland Biome, but will surely be able to synthesize intuitive schemas for the cave in short order."

  “Don’t forget the hidden passages! Those are a classic! The cave system is already close to a maze, you should work on amending it to a full maze!”

  “Yes, Sir!”

  “And put more monsters into it. Also topsides.”

  “Yes, Sir. Would you mind continuing to Zone 2? This way, please.”

  Walking around the lower hill provided an impressive sight. Right after the confluence of the two streams, an almost hundred-meter-high cliff side dominated the narrow plain, with the Goat strike team happily jumping around.

  “Esteemed Stockholder, sir, our schema here is to occupy the customers' attention with randomly delivered service by the Senior Agents. They were enhanced by competitive, but random Perks, so every new meeting will provide new opportunities for excellence."

  “Heh, a funny one to give Helldiver to an animal, that can’t fly. Stormtrooper though? Will they be able to hit anything? Hmm… No matter, anyone in a red shirt will die anyway."

  “A red shirt, sir?”

  “Well, I once saw a documentary series, every time someone in a red shirt entered the battle, he died in short order. Funny thing. I would assume, folks could add two things together, and not wear red shirts when going into battle."

  “I see, sir.”

  To reach the small cave, they had to get around the hill and enter the sloping side of it.

  “Do you plan to do something with that hot spring?" the stockholder asked Zoli, pointing at a spring, contently bubbling about, and emptying into the slightly boggy stream bed through a picturesque little waterfall.

  “O&A and Quality Management proposed opening a spa there, where the customers could pay for a healthy soak. R&D thinks they could research better healing properties for the water, and Finances stresses the importance of selling bottled water. We are currently still discussing the viability of the scheme and how to construct the infrastructure."

  “I like the idea of healing water, accessible after completing some task, and so expending energy. Make sure, the water retains the properties only in the basin itself and loses it if it flows outside. It would be a pity if the adventurers could get the water by simply stealing it downstream."

  “Yes, sir. I will instruct the Executive Team to incorporate your suggestions into the best practice content.”

  “You have both slots for Minibosses already filled, and the Elites too. You could define an exclusivity boundary, with an entrance protected by a puzzle?”

  “Yes Sir. Please follow me to the cave in the meantime.”