First Steps

The slime dragon was delicious.

Although I couldn't save it to eat over time due to storage issues, it was quite a tasty meal since falling into this other world. Having eaten magical creatures since I was a young orc, slime mucus just felt like konjac jelly.

The question was whether to discard the remaining slime dragon carcass as is.

I kicked the slime's bottom for an experiment.

"Eat it."

Shake shake.

The subordinate slime refused to eat. But now I'm the master of this dungeon.

"If you don't eat, I'll eat you."

Shake shake.

The slime stubbornly refused, but eventually gave up opposing me. The slime slithered over to the slime dragon's tail.

Munch, munch.

The slime began to devour the slime dragon, which had been the dungeon's boss. No matter how you looked at it, it resembled a worm rather than a dragon, but the system calls it a dragon.

So I wondered how that dragon created its rarity.

I pulled up the dungeon information.

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[Kumcherku's Dungeon]

Grade: E-class

Danger Level: 0

Capacity: 2 / 21

Prisoners: 1 / 3

Former slime dungeon. The entire dungeon is dirty.

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That's it?

Is that all? I was dumbfounded and looked for more information, but nothing else appeared. All I could tell was that the current dungeon posed no threat to anyone—just an orc and slime dungeon.

Perhaps if it were Forneus's dungeon, the grade would be impressive and the danger level high, but this is Kumcherku's—my—dungeon. From now on, I can build it up bit by bit, so I should stay positive.

To grow my forces and slap Forneus's cheek one day.

At least this dungeon has one three-star orc, one slime with abundant potential, and a "prisoner" who is still unconscious.

[Ayla] Unconscious for 40 hours.

"She might get dehydrated."

I grabbed a handful of slime dragon mucus and pushed it into Ayla's mouth. Thanks to squeezing it thoroughly, the viscosity wasn't too sticky, and Ayla instinctively ate it even while unconscious.

'She's alive, but I don't know how to wake her up.'

The shock must have been great for her to faint for nearly two days. To prevent Ayla from going wild when she wakes up, I wrapped her body tightly with vine stems that I brought from the entrance.

Ayla became a mummy because of the stems.

"If I just tied her wrists and ankles weakly, who knows what she might do. Right, Lime?"

The slime was eating the dragon like a pig snorting. It had already devoured the tail and was now swallowing what appeared to be the legs. The little pig.

'Just in case, I'll leave this area open.'

I tore off the stems wrapped around Ayla's lower body, then wrapped only from her shins to ankles tightly with stems. This caused her legs to spread slightly, allowing my hand to go unrestricted between her thighs.

'There might be a moment when I need to use it.'

Ayla is a valuable prisoner. Since I have at least one certain use for her, I needed to keep her alive and well. Maybe if I change my mind, I could use her as my subordinate?

'Now the most urgent thing is....'

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[Facility Construction] Secure materials to build facilities within the dungeon.

[Bedroom Lv.0]

[Summoning Facility Lv.0]

[Prisoner Jail Lv.0]

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"Really, just the bare essentials, damn it."

If there were something locked, I could at least imagine what might be there, but having only these three was frustrating. Still, I know better than anyone that these three facilities are absolutely necessary for a dungeon.

'Let's consider three years in Forneus's dungeon as a tutorial.'

Although I wasn't the boss of that dungeon but a foot soldier and slave warrior, I'm not completely ignorant of the system, as they say, "three years at a private school, and you can recite poetry."

'I hate to copy her operation, but I have no choice.'

Since all I know is Forneus's dungeon, I'll have to follow her model for now. Fortunately, while Forneus had terrible judgment of people, her operational ability was excellent enough to run a top 30 dungeon.

First, I need labor. Let's build a summoning facility.

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[Construction] Building Summoning Facility Lv.0.

[Wood 0 / 10]

[Magic Stone 0 / 1]

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"Magic Stone?"

Wood is one thing, but where am I supposed to get a magic stone? Aren't magic stones the jewels found in monsters' hearts? Does that mean I need to tear out my own heart?

Where can I find a magic stone—

Munch, munch.

"Hey, you pig of a slime!"

I grabbed the slime and struggled to pull it away from the slime dragon. The slime was eating the dragon's carcass right up to where the magic stone was located, and it stubbornly refused to detach from the dragon's body.

Thud!

After a long wrestling match, I succeeded in detaching the slime. The slime, obsessed with food, was cleaning up the mucus spilled on the floor, and I extracted a very small magic stone from what appeared to be the slime dragon's heart.

"One secured."

Judging by its size, it's a mid-grade magic stone, which means three stars is equivalent to mid-grade.

"Perfect match."

Lowest grade, low grade, mid grade, high grade, highest grade. Among them, I was a level 75 orc of mid grade. Even as mid grade, I was stronger than a high grade—four-star level 25 human female knight, which gave me some comfort.

"As for wood..."

The icon looked exactly like a log, so I wondered if this would work, and gathered the stems that had been wrapped around Ayla's bottom.

Wood 0 / 10

Magic Stone 1 / 1

"Time to cut down some trees. Hey, Lime, have you eaten it all?"

Shake shake. The slime shook its head. It seemed to have grown about 1.5 times larger than when I first met it, and the color of the mucus had deepened.

"Hehehe. You're proving useful in many ways."

Since the slime is my subordinate, I have a very good way to check. Subordinate view.

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[Subordinate View] Kumcherku's dungeon subordinates 1 / 20

[Nameless Slime ★☆☆☆ Lv. 7 / 15]

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"Lime? It says you have no name, what's going on?"

I lifted the slime and asked. The slime shook its head vigorously, firmly rejecting the name given to it.

"You don't like Lime? How about Chill-lime then?"

Shake shake.

After a long battle between me and the slime, the slime finally became [Lime].

[Lime] ★☆☆☆ Lv. 7 / 15

Just one star and its level is merely 7, about 1/10 of mine, but Lime will be a good subordinate that allows me to conduct various experiments.

Squeeze.

I held Lime in both hands and kneaded it. Although its body was cold, the texture was similar to Ayla's breasts. Now I understood why some people would stick it in slimes.

"I'll experiment with that later, but now we need to get some wood, right?"

I grabbed Lime and shook it. Although we couldn't communicate verbally, I was very glad to have found the only being in this cave with whom I could communicate in some way. Even though I was the only one talking.

"So, for wood..."

I gathered the vine stems I had torn from Ayla's lower body in one place. There were exactly 10 pieces—would this trick work?

Wood 0 / 10

Magic Stone 1 / 1

It was impossible after all. Since the icon is shaped like a log, maybe I needed to cut down trees and bring them whole.

"Then Lime, let's go. You'll have to serve as my ax."

The slime should be able to break down fiber too. I kneaded Lime and escaped from the cave.

==

In the Virgo Barony of the Zodiac Kingdom, there exists an Elven Forest.

The forest dwellers, skilled in magic and spirit arts, originally did not leave the forest and sought peace in their territory, but as the full-scale confrontation between the Demon King's Army and the Human Alliance intensified, they became involved in the war.

The elves sided with humanity.

The reason was simple: the Demon King's Army had attacked the elves' villages.

Having been attacked first, the elves stood against the Demon King's Army, but they didn't actively side with the Human Alliance either.

"We only protect our territory."

The high elders of the elves did not want their people to suffer casualties, and the Human Alliance, hoping for the elves' participation, dispatched special envoys daily.

As a result, the atmosphere in the forest became unsettled, and pure, young elves began to get swept up in it.

"The humans who come to the forest seem nice, so why can't we help them?"

They were still unaware of the ugliness of humans and war. They were just growing tired of the elders who only repeated "No."

"I just don't understand the elders. Right?"

A small elf with light brown hair, Ryun, played with a wind spirit while gossiping about the elders. They walked through the forest having trivial conversations and smelled the rough, ominous scent of the wind.

"Sylph...!"

Ryun grabbed a tiny bow. Renowned as a promising upcoming hunter, Ryun was excellent at handling bows and spirits despite being a young elf.

Swish, swish.

Something was damaging the forest. Ryun jumped from branch to branch, approaching whatever it was.

Puff, puff.

With rough breathing, a tree fell down. And where the tree fell, a green monster was naked, dripping with sweat, chopping the tree into pieces.

"......."

The still young Ryun was dazed at the sight of something dangling below the green monster's belly.

And at that moment.

Crack.

Ryun accidentally stepped on a branch, and the monster noticed.

Kuhehe.

The monster was clearly smiling at Ryun.