But Now What?

So, what now? I lay on my bed, staring at the dungeon status window while lost in thought.

"Up until now, only slimes have been spawning in my dungeons."

At first, I figured it was because the dungeon's level was too low. That once the level went up, other monsters would naturally start appearing.

But even after the level rose several times and the dungeon's scale grew massively, no new monsters ever showed up.

Which meant...

"There's another reason..."

It wasn't about leveling up to unlock other monsters besides slimes.

There had to be some other method.

"The hint is from when I awakened."

The moment I got isekai'd to this world and first awakened my dungeon ability.

If it was really just a slime-only dungeon, the message would've said "Slime Dungeon Master" instead of "Living Dungeon."

I recalled what I'd done right after awakening the ability...

-Pant pant...

I'd fed Kkomangi the slime noodles he was begging for.

That's what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I gave him back then, and I've only fed him slime noodles ever since. So naturally, Kkomangi's diet has been nothing but slime noodles.

Kkomangi's a slime dog. Breed: Pomeranian. But at his core, he's a living dungeon...

So, maybe the reason slimes started spawning inside the dungeon is because Kkomangi absorbed the "factors" of slimes from those slime noodles that day?

Time to test that theory.

I pulled up an item I'd noted while managing the dungeon status window.

Tucked away in one corner of the dungeon customization screen was:

So, what about now, after eating monster ingredients from Luna's shop?

"Holy shit!!!"

The food I'd eaten at Luna's shop was:

Giant Bat wing skewers, Giant Spider leg roast, Rock Lizard tail roast and leg meat skewers, Sewer Rat lean jerky char-grilled, Wild Boar foreleg roast, Mud Crab steamed, and finally, slime noodles.

"That's it!!"

I bolted upright from the bed in excitement!

Now I could create brand-new dungeons!

"Heh... perfect."

Honestly, Slime Hill tickets had only been meaningful for low-tier explorers up to now.

The gallery was mostly full of low-tier explorers, which is why dungeon ticket sales had been booming.

But as time passed, those explorers would level up, and slimes alone wouldn't give enough EXP to progress further.

My Slime Hill had insane numbers of slimes and regeneration like an endless fountain, so low-layer explorers were growing fast.

Pretty soon, ticket users would move on to the next layer.

They already said lower layers were so crowded it was hard to even hunt one slime. If all that population shifted upward...?

"Oof... gonna be a shitshow."

I could practically see the future gallery chaos.

The lower layers and the ones above would both be packed tight with no gaps. And as people from below moved up, the upper layers would be even more insanely crowded than before.

Sure, some folks would stick to slimes forever. But still, tons would at least dip into the upper layers.

"I... might've just unleashed a new wave of chaos..."

Heavy is my sin... But that was only if my dungeons ended at Slime Hill.

Not anymore.

"Who am I? Sewer Rat, Rock Lizard, Wild Boar, Mud Crab, Giant Bat, Giant Spider Dungeon Owner."

Time to unveil a whole new dungeon to the Isekai Survival Gallery.

And so, I threw myself into dungeon creation late into the night.

*

The next morning—late morning, really—I checked the community.

"Lively as ever."

While I was making new dungeons, Joodak had posted an additional notice. It basically greenlit rolling with dungeon ticket and Dungeon Master speculation.

Thanks to that, the gallery was in full festival mode, just like I'd predicted.

"Or not?"

Whatever. Better than a funeral.

I lurked the gallery, clicking through posts one by one.

"Huh, so some people use it like that."

From gathering info on the community, open-air dungeons with sky views like Slime Hill were super rare.

The few that existed were mostly hot humid jungles or scorching deserts—not comfy like Slime Hill.

And since it's lowest-tier monsters, high-level explorers could legit use it for R&R.

That open sky and breeze you can't get in the stuffy ceiling-bound shelter? Total healing.

"Hmm... maybe distribute some resort tickets."

Everyone's been staring at shelter ceilings for 10 years—gotta be depressing. Not right now, though. Need to scale up the dungeon first. EXP requirements rise with my level.

But adding new monsters should fix that. Slimes give 1 EXP each, but stronger ones will give way more.

"Still... maybe drop some resort ticket events until then...?"

Need beta tester data before full resort dungeon ops anyway...

Anyway, checked other posts.

"Hmm... yeah, about time for posts like this."

The classic "But now what?" phenomenon.

Once the dopamine high from everyone fades, the cold realists start pointing out flaws.

Soon, the dopamine zombies and the awakened would start bickering.

"But I won't give it that timing."

I stopped lurking and uploaded the new dungeon ticket to the [Market].

Monumental first activity as anon "DungeonMaster."

The moment the new ticket hit the market...

The gallery exploded again.