Opening the Dungeon

Mary was delicious. It felt as if someone had already taken a massive bite out of her, but it was still a different sensation from the stiff, constricting interior of Eila. It was like sinking into a sponge that wrapped around me snugly. I couldn't help the sour scent that inevitably clings to humans, but it didn't pose much of a problem for what I was doing anyway.

'I've eaten my fill, so now I'll just let her go.'

If Mary had been a higher grade or possessed exceptional talent, my thoughts might have been different. But Mary was a mere 1-Star. And rather than keeping her alive, the urgent priority was to evolve Lime and learn the mechanics of "Monster Evolution."

Crunch!

I left the cleanup to Lime. The only traces of the humans left in the dungeon were the wooden swords, staves, and scraps of cloth they had abandoned. They must have been aiming for a Slime Dungeon with those pathetic wooden swords, but unfortunately for them, this wasn't a Slime Dungeon. ...Even if the main force was indeed slimes.

Lime had met the conditions for evolution into a Slaine. Thanks to that, the "Monster Evolution" in my system could proceed to the next stage without any issues.

"Obviously, it's Slaine."

I chose Slaine and, following the system's guidance, picked up Lime. Lime seemed to intuit what was about to happen, as she remained as still as a mouse. "Let's evolve!" I placed Lime in the center of the summoning facility. Fortunately, it seemed I didn't need to build a separate facility for evolution, and Lime's body began to shimmer with green light.

For some reason, it felt like if there were a 'B' button, I shouldn't press it, as the green light swirled. Lime's body was enveloped in green light, and her form began to change gradually.

"It only tells me the updated info. Tsk."

I checked to see if anything else had changed from Lime's previous info, but there was absolutely nothing different. Still, one gain was the race 'Slaine' itself.

"Are there no other conditions...? Lime, do you know anything?"

Shake, shake. Lime shook her head from side to side. It was truly fascinating to see her shake her head in that shape, like a person molded from clay in childhood. But I couldn't fuck her yet. Not until she took on the form of a human woman. I intended to raise Lime and then eat her, and Lime likely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠desired that as well. Otherwise, she'd just end up as Lime juice.

"So, grow up big and strong, okay? I'll even make you some subordinates."

Nod, nod. Lime nodded vigorously, and I summoned the subordinates who would work for me first. "Lime, bring me the magic stones. Don't eat them."

Lime waddled over and brought the magic stones I had stashed under the bed. Thanks to having sorted them into groups of five, there was enough quantity to summon slimes with certainty.

"35 stones? Lime, bring the remaining 5 as well."

Lime tilted her head, but I gave the order again, and she gathered every last one, including the 5 I had kept as extras. 'To level up the summoning facility, I needed to summon 10 times.'

I hadn't summoned a single monster yet. But I had 40 lowest-grade magic stones to summon 8 slimes, and 2 monster summoning scrolls obtained through quests and the like. First, one.

I summoned a slime. "Gacha!"

The magic stone in the center of the summoning circle glittered. The wooden magic circle began to emit a purple light, and the mana gathered in the center of the altar to create a single entity.

A small green slime appeared in the summoning circle. The slime, looking blankly around, stopped in front of Lime according to my instructions. 'Starting off with a 1-Star is unsettling.' It was even a 1-Star that couldn't evolve into a 2-Star. I'll have to call that guy Jack from now on.

"It's nice that it tells me clearly, but would it kill you to tell me a bit more?"

The system only told me what I wanted. I was grateful it even told me about gacha rates or future evolution routes, but human nature is what it is. Still, thanks to summoning once, the summon count increased by 1. Both summoning via monster summoning scrolls and magic stones counted as summoning, so I summoned slimes in succession. I was aiming for a 7-pull gacha. Hoping that at least one would be a 3-Star, I summoned the monsters with a pious heart.

"Ah, a system error just happened and I see a future where a 5-Star slime appears!!"

But that was impossible.

"Aaaargh!!"

How could this happen? Nothing but 1-Stars came out, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and there wasn't even a single one born as a 2-Star. There were some that could grow into 2-Stars, but in the end, I just ended up with eight 1-Star slimes.

"......Lime, everyone, assemble."

There were only eight slimes, but they were all full of vigor. Standing in front of the eight slimes, Lime looked as smug as an instructor who had just finished training camp and been assigned to a new recruit training center, and I tied an armband woven from vine stems onto Lime's left arm.

"Lime. From now on, you're the leader of these guys. Got it?"

Nod, nod. Lime nodded, showing off the vine armband.

"Just two short."

If Lime hadn't eaten those few extra magic stones, I could have fully formed the squad. It was a shame, but let's just say that thanks to that, she was able to evolve. What's done is done.

"Then, Lime. I'll entrust you with a mission."

I pointed to the wall leading to the cave entrance. "Now, let's get to work."

Instead of a Big Slime, eight—no, nine—slimes should be enough to renovate the cave. The slimes began to gnaw at the cave walls like earthworms, starting to renovate my dungeon according to my will. That little brat Lime, now that she had an armband, was already slacking off. Once she takes on a bit more form later, I'll discipline that insolence with a hot rod.

* * *

Having grasped the intelligence and work efficiency of Lime's squad, I instructed them to make the straight cave as maze-like as possible. Fortunately, Lime wasn't that stupid despite her gluttony, as she quickly understood the map I drew on the floor and began to renovate the cave walls.

'As expected, it was good to have her evolve towards human.' Although she became too human-like by acting bossy and slacking off, it meant she had some intelligence to match her cunning. Now, all that remained was to test my atrocious gacha luck again.

"Please, let at least a 2-Star appear...."

I still had 2 monster summoning scrolls left.

'Arithmetically, it's time for a 2-Star to appear.'

The probabilities for 1-Star are 35, 30, 20. Adding them up makes 85. So, if I roll the remaining two times, surely at least one 2-Star will appear. No, it has to. Otherwise, at least a 1-Star with three stars should appear. No matter how much of a "poop-hand" I am, isn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it too much to roll 10 times and not get anything within a 65% probability?

"Hoo, hoo."

Summoning via monster summoning is a first. I'm not even wishing for Ryun or Tural. The system's probability was actually a lie, so please, let it be a system where 4-Stars or 5-Stars can appear!

"Fuck!"

Hiss, hiss. My nose flared on its own. This emotion of joy and anger stirring inside my body at the same time was indescribable. It was good that it was the bare minimum. But why a slime?

"The location is the problem, the location."

It must be cursed so that only slimes are summoned because it's a Slime Dungeon. I took a deep breath and then pulled out the next summoning scroll.

"Ah, you go and work. Lime! Take the new recruit."

The squad member count increased by one. Lime instinctively kept the 3-Star in check, but that guy was the one who would take the place of the former landlord. After evolving it into a Big Slime, I'll evolve it into a Slime Dragon to become the protagonist of dungeon expansion. Then, the last remaining monster summoning scroll.

"Another slime will come out, right?"

I cast a curse. Since I cast a curse, it will now be fulfilled properly. Or should I borrow a cat's paw?

"......."

I slung the unconscious Ryun over my shoulder and approached the summoning circle. I grabbed Ryun's wrist and pressed the summon button, but there was no reaction.

"It doesn't work. Tsk."

I placed Ryun's tiny hand over mine. My finger would be the one pressing it, but if I summoned it by borrowing a lot of Ryun's energy, wouldn't something good come out...?

"Gacha!"

Please. Let this be a success. I tore the monster summoning scroll with a desperate heart.

Wooong, wooong.

'Damn it.'

It's the same effect as before. Next time, I should borrow Eila's hand.

'It's fine since I was doing it to level up the facility anyway-'

Wooooong!

The purple light began to shine much brighter than before. My vision was brightly dyed with the purple light bursting from the very center of the summoning circle.