"Mu...mu?"

The house flickered. The twisting void slowly swallowed the house.

Tear. Tear.

The void immediately tore the digger worm’s body to pieces.

Blood splatters everywhere.

The digger was reduced to scraps.

But all Lucien saw...

Was Mumu’s life force.

[3%]

[House energy reserve: 10%]

Lucien’s mind blanked for a split second but he immediately decided without any hesitation.

Save Mumu!

Even if the house energy dropped so much.

"Mumu! Hang on!" Lucien immediately ran towards the healing pool, his inner organs ached, blood trickled down his mouth, but he didn’t even feel the pain.

"Glurrggg!"

Behind him, the slime king and queen poured their own blood essence into Mumu, forcibly keeping his life force stable.

"Muuu..."

Mumu looked at Lucien with blurry eyes, his breathing weakened.

Lucien quickly reached the pool and slowly put Mumu inside, his hands trembling.

"Mumu, you’re going to be fine. You will."

"Muuu..."

Mumu snuggled at Lucien’s palms before slipping into the pool, his body floating.

! Is it too late?!

Lucien’s heart almost stopped beating but when he saw Mumu’s life force, he subconsciously let out his breath.

[Life force: 3%]

Okay, it’s not dropping, so he’s being healed now!

Lucien’s hanging heart finally dropped and his 360° vision spread over the areas around his house, looking at it from a bird’s point of view.

A few hundred meters away from the house, hidden behind the red fog...

Swirl.

A gate glowing in white and green floated in the sky.

Thump.

Thumpers poured out.

Hummmm.

Diggers slithered to the ground.

As far as one could see, the worms...filled the entire street.

Lucien felt the pain in his organ intensified and he almost coughed up blood.

Fck.

Fck the death zone!!

As Lucien’s vision darkened and his body slid into the pool, a white figure slowly appeared in Lucien’s house, its silhouette becoming clearer, the face somehow resembling Lucien’s.

The glowing figure looked at Lucien and once again mouthed without a voice, a sigh drifted off to the void.

Get. Stronger.

!

It’s that figure...again.

Just what is it?

Civil City, 06:00

Shaaa....

A house flickered and appeared out of thin air, quietly settled in the previous place.

The thick white fog around the house concealed anything behind it, not even the locals saw anything wrong.

The sunlight shone upon the house, but everyone was crowding at the healing pool, their faces haggard.

Lucien’s mind was groggy but even so, he waved his hands, returning the slimes and spiders back to their dungeons.

"You guys can return...I’ll sleep here..."

He wants to see Mumu when he wakes up.

"Glurg!"

Goodbye, my lord!

"Kiik!"

My king! See you!

The two slimes and the two spiders returned to their own dungeons to recuperate, leaving only the severely injured Mumu and Lurenzo, who drained his energy and was so close to dying.

The house considerately moved Lurenzo to the tenant room, using its precious energy to activate the energy recovery array, slowly nurturing Lurenzo back.

Lucien slowly went back to sleep, his body floating around the pool.

While the three house dwellers slept like they’re dead, the system panel appeared again quietly.

[Day 2 data has been sent ••• ]

[Day 3 observation started.]

At the same time, at the faraway Grindhall City and the local internet, things were blowing up.

[Check this Livestream! Solo-clear F-rank Toxic Giant Spider Dungeon!]

[Anonymous (Awakener): Isn’t this the one who destroyed the dungeon and offended Onous? Super bold!]

[Anonymous (Hunter): Does anyone have his information? Our city is willing to hire such a strong awakener.]

[Anonymous (Unawakened): Civil City’s citizens here! That guy is our local hero! He had just awakened two days ago!]

[Anonymous (Unawakened): Click this link to see what the neighbors said ••• ]

[Anonymous (Hunter): Our Frontier District is finally getting more exciting.]

News about Lucien at Grindhall City spread like fire and more people at Civil City uncovered Lucien’s background before he transmigrated.

But the original Lucien was a homebody, so he was still shrouded in mystery.

The local netizens still lingered around Lucien’s house, but the white fog deterred all of them.

The Civil City’s bureau and government finally noticed the commotion, but their hands were tied with the Death Zone’s joint expedition team.

They could only keep an eye on Lucien for now.

Lucien, Lurenzo and Mumu slept through the morning and only woke up when the sun went down.

Skipping breakfast and lunch, Lucien’s stomach growled so hard that the pain stabbed his nerves.

"Ha!"

Lucien snapped his eyes open, the image of the digger’s open mouth in his mind dissipated.

He immediately splashed around and looked at Mumu, sweat dripping down his face.

[Life force: 20%]

Huh. Okay, that’s good, that’s good.

Lucien sighed in relief as he stroked Mumu’s head, his hands still trembling.

That was close.

Mumu really, really almost died.

If not for the healing pool—

Lucien’s eyes caught sight of the floating virtual panel in front of him.

[Energy reserve: 5%]

That’s dangerously low.

Lucien’s heart sank again.

What would happen if the house ran out of energy?

Not to mention...

The digger worm.

Lucien’s face darkened, his body still trembled reflexively.

He saw many, many diggers like that.

Even if his Land Mapping skill could be used again, the house would still be damaged.

Everyone would die.

The only way to survive is—

Barrier!

He urgently, absolutely, needed a barrier!

Lucien slowly swam around with Mumu, his arms slightly tightening around Mumu.

But...how to get a barrier? Hire someone with that skill? No, his house had too many secrets.

Buy a barrier tool?

Maybe it could block the diggers once or twice, but...

What about next time?

He’s going to the death zone every single night!

Lucien suddenly felt powerless.

Is his power not enough?

Even with two dungeons already?

Or is it because he’s still an F-rank?

...right.

Is there a way to level up?

Lucien started to contemplate, his legs swinging in the water.

Since his ability was a dungeon landlord, maybe he had to upgrade his merged dungeons, or his tenant...or acquire more dungeons?

The system, like a shark smelling blood, immediately chimed.

DING! [Detecting the awakener’s strong intention to level up!]

[Scanning the awakener •••]

[Warning! Because the awakener’s main dungeon is unstable, there’s a deviation]

[Estimated leveling up perquisite: ]

[In Progress:

1. Evolve 1 sub dungeon

2. Level up 1 tenant.]

[Not Yet Attempted:

1. Acquire a new land for the main dungeon’s first anchor

2. Acquire one E-rank Dungeon Core without merging.]

DING! [Estimated new facilities after leveling up: ]

[?? E-rank barrier (Trait hasn’t been developed)]

[Enlightenment Water Source (??)]

[Other benefits: not enough authority]

Lucien’s eyes immediately focused on a sentence—

[?? E-rank Barrier]

Exactly what he needed!

But looking at the four level up progress, all not yet completed, Lucien deflated like a balloon.

He didn’t even know how to evolve a dungeon or a tenant.

Wouldn’t that take a long time?

And the E-rank dungeon core...how could he get that at his current rank?

Even buying it was impossible!

The system seemed to sense Lucien’s frustration and immediately highlighted a skill among his innate skills, one buried at the very bottom.

DING! [Dungeon landlord’s innate skills: ]

[Open House (Myth)]

[Description: the fastest way to evolve a dungeon is by letting others attack it.]

[Landlord, open your house and let the hunters initiate a raid!]

[Skill duration: 1 hour]

[Estimated skill usage recovery: 30 days]

Lucien instantly choked on the healing water.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

"What the hell??"

Is this system crazy??