A sweet taste rose in Lucien's throat and he was about to cough up blood— when he saw his pristine floor without a speck of dust.
Lucien immediately forcefully swallowed the blood rising in his throat.
Gulp.
Okay, safe!
But the system guide didn't think he's safe.
It flickered ominously and immediately popped up transparent panels coldly.
[Scanning the awakener •••]
[Warning! Warning! Low vitality detected!]
[Loading data •••]
[Finding a solution •••]
DING! [A broken house needs energy from a potential tenant.]
[Find a potential tenant's energy to complete the awakening!]
ZZZT! [Warning! Warning! 1 minute left until the awakening failed!]
[00:59]
A crimson countdown appeared in front of Lucien and Lucien had an urge to cough another litre of blood, but he immediately forced himself to think.
There's still time! His awakening can still be saved!
Think quick!
First, plan A, find energy from a potential tenant— the awakeners.
Are there any around? No?
Only a soon-to-be awakener.
Of course, awakeners are not as common as cabbages, only 1% of the entire world, hahaha.
No worries, there's still plan B!
How about…
A monster.
They are also potential tenants!
But the next thing you know, the landlord is served on their plate.
Wait, no, it doesn't have to be the monster itself, it's only their energy!
Do monsters' body parts count as potential tenant's energy?
Such as…saliva?
[00:45]
Lucien's eyes met the familiar two pairs of eyes and the raging flame in his chest flared again.
If not you guys, the culprit, who should clean up my a*s…who else?
Okay, this landlord has decided!
"I choose— "
Lucien held back the blood rising from his chest and dragged his trembling legs towards the two slimes, his whole body burning with rage and then...
He paused a few steps away and poked his head out of the hole carefully.
Good, good the slimes really aren't interested in eating him, only his house.
Once Lucien was sure that he wasn't in danger, his courage immediately swelled.
"Y-you!" Lucien pointed at the huge slime when the slime's small eyes looked down slowly, staring at Lucien while its mouth dissolved thick bricks.
Crack. Crack.
"...."
Lucien broke into a cold sweat and the words rolled out of his tongue immediately changed.
"Cough! Y-you— your cub!" Lucien pointed at the smaller slime, "only" as big as a soccer ball, the smallest among all the slimes.
Yes, this one is his target!
Without hesitation, Lucien lunged at the small slime with ferocity on par with a leopard— if one looked without their eyeglasses.
Swoosh!
"Got…you!"
[00:30]
Lucien staggered for a split second, grabbed the small slime with his trembling arms and— kneaded it.
Again, not a sexual harassment.
He's just curious.
The moment Lucien kneaded it, small slime in Lucien's arm stiffened, the bricks in its small mouth fell to the ground with a thud.
As if by instinct, it flipped over with its belly up, its tiny eyes closed in resignation.
Ohhh, soft, bouncy— wait.
Is this guy pretending to be dead?
Lucien immediately sensed a kindred spirit in this little guy—
Hello, fellow coward.
Oh, no, what 'fellow'? He's not a coward.
Lucien subconsciously softened his voice but still tried to sound like an evil kidnapper coaxing a baby with candies,
"Hey, you…freeloader. You ate…my thing, so you have to pay…you agree.. right??"
Lucien moved the motionless slime's head up and down and immediately replied happily,
"Ah, I know you agree!"
"M-mu?"
Agree? Where? When??
The slime cub opened its eyes in confusion when Lucien apologized.
"Sorry, little guy!"
[00:10]
With a face devoid of any guilt, Lucien pried open the slime cub's mouth and...squeezed its saliva out.
??
Lucien swiftly poured the slime cub's squeezed saliva onto the hole in the wall.
!
The slime cub watched its precious corrosive saliva squeezed dry and it cried out aggrievedly.
"Muuuu!"
Bad guy!! Wahhhh!! Mom! Dad!!
The high-pitched cry immediately attracted the big slime's attention.
"Glurg! Glurg!!!"
Your highness!
The big slime wriggled anxiously, wanting to get closer but seemingly afraid that the despicable human would squeeze the cub dry.
Even other slimes around the house simultaneously turned to look at the source of the cry and rushed towards Lucien's house!
[00:05]
Seeing the swarm of slimes, Lucien was so scared that he almost dropped the slime.
Ahhh! This little bastard called for help!
Lucien's inner self was screaming like a groundhog but outside, his face turned even colder.
"Too…late!"
[00:03]
The saliva had already poured out but strangely, the saliva didn't even touch the wall and actually disappeared into thin air!
[00:02]
Lucien stared at the ticking countdown, his soul praying for a miracle.
Hurry! Hurry! Make it work—
[00:01]
Before the countdown hit 0, the wall slowly throbbed, absorbing the slime's saliva.
As the wall absorbed the saliva, Lucien felt a new kind of energy pouring into his whole body, soothing all the unbearable pain from the backlash.
Lucien once again entered the strange, mysterious state as before and the glitched system interface in his mind finally moved.
DING! [Potential tenant's energy received!]
[Awakening process 99%...100%]
A new interface popped up, glowing with a 7-colored rainbow, like the special effect when you got a legendary rare gacha item.
Even the system's voice suddenly became much softer, as if truly excited for his successful awakening.
DING! [Congratulations, you have awakened as a Dungeon Landlord!]
As the word "Dungeon Landlord" shone brightly, Lucien's house flickered, entering a strange state between real and unreal.
A strange fog slowly rose from nowhere, subtly covering the entire house, blocking other people's sight.
Hidden under the fog that only Lucien could see, the wall throbbed, moving up and down—
The floor under the forgotten tenant's body moved and the underage young man's body was instantly thrown out of the house, its body forming an arc before landing right to the house next door.
Bang!
Once the disturbance was gone, a familiar white glow immediately enveloped the entire house.
Shingggg…
The moment the white glow appeared, the slimes wriggled anxiously.
They felt a familiar energy from that thing.
It's a dungeon.
But something…is strange.
A white glow, F-rank dungeon.
Yet the slimes felt that the house was a black hole with no ends in sight, waiting patiently to devour everything in sight.
While the slimes trembled, Lucien sensed a strange synergy with his house and he subconsciously looked over.
Just now, he suddenly felt as if…he could command the house as he fit, even casually blowing it up.
Every inch of the house felt as familiar as his own body.
But that strange commanding feeling, along with the bottomless pit aura, was like a flash in a pan, disappearing in seconds and becoming dormant.
It was like it exhausted all its energy.
'Huh….whatever. That's my house, anyway, it won't go anywhere.'
Lucien put his suspicion at the back of his head and immediately noticed the pain all over his body disappeared.
Wow! Wonderful! So awakening does turn people into a winter soldier— ah, no, a superhero!
Still, even more wonderful was the "status window" in front of him.
Lucien's breath quickened and a perverted smile bloomed on his face.
[Dungeon Landlord (Myth)]
[Every dungeon you personally conquered without any external help is your property. You may alter, exploit or command anything within.]
[Current strength: F-rank]
[Main dungeon: 1]
[Merged dungeons: 0]
Lucien blinked…and blinked again.
The corner of his lips was fighting to rise as he looked at the glowing interface.
Myth potential!
All hunters who reached SSS-rank at least had a legendary potential and he's actually…above that?
With this kind of potential, if this world was a manhwa, he would definitely be the OP protagonist, right??
Of course, Lucien conveniently ignored the big fat F-rank label, closed his eyes dramatically and started to laugh like a villain.
"Ha— hahaha! I'm going to be rich— "
Lucien's eyes flew open, his black pupils turning deep purple with streaks of mysterious light, extremely enchanting.
But those pupils quaked and the three-second laugh got caught in the throat.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Instead of his grand dream, what greeted Lucien was a blue sea—
A sea of slime.
As far as Lucien could see, there were only slimes, slimes…and more slimes.
There was really not a single other being in sight— no human, no pets, except for various livestream drones circling in the air.
Lucien's smug smile froze on his face.
Uh. Oh.
Is he screwed?