Chapter 87: Automatic Level Up.

Where will you be on Lunar New Year?

If you’re a graduate student, even the day before Lunar New Year your location isn’t set.

New Year’s Day is one thing, but Lunar New Year isn’t celebrated outside of East Asia, so there are a lot of variables. Especially if, like this year, Lunar New Year falls on a weekend.

If the professor gets fickle, if there’s a problem with the experiment, or if you suddenly get a call from overseas, a graduate student’s location can change from home to the lab in an instant.

The graduate student who hit all three of these spent a hectic week and finally found some free time after nearly a week.

The graduate student, a sound enthusiast, always has SLimelove’s sugar mukbang Shorts playing endlessly in the background while focusing, listening to the sounds. Since she was logged into the account, she knew Lime had uploaded a new video.

She was curious, but hadn’t had time to watch, so she put it off-until finally, she got to see it.

The castle made of sweets immediately caught her eye.

Lime would probably make an amazing sound eating that.

‘It’d be nice to try it later.’

An orb launched from the launcher spun around the rails circling the castle, went inside, then popped out again.

The same thing repeated several times.

Every time it went in and out, its form changed, which was pretty fascinating.

But her main interest was the sound.

No matter how flashy it looked, if the sound wasn’t good, she couldn’t give it a high rating.

The castle gate opened, and the finished orb briefly soared through the air before being sucked into Lime’s mouth.

Crunch.

The hard chocolate coating broke apart.

Then came the sticky sound of jelly.

Crunch.

The sprinkles made a crisp sound as they broke.

With each variation, all the sounds mingled together, tickling her ears.

‘As expected, Lime’s sounds are the best.’

After showing orbs with a different look popping out from inside the castle each time,

Lime started eating the castle made of sweets.

Crunch. Crunch.

That sound, too, was exquisite.

After the video ended, the graduate student leaned back in her chair.

She was satisfied with this video.

It didn’t quite reach the level of the sugar mukbang,

‘A castle of sweets with a roller coaster, huh.’

Thinking back, Lime had eaten a lot of amusement park foods-cotton candy, churros, hot dogs, soft serve ice cream.

Pieces of thought swirled and mixed inside her head.

‘Is the theme an amusement park?’

The graduate student had no interest in rides and didn’t have any favorites. She didn’t even like amusement parks or theme parks.

‘But if there’s a place that sells the foods Lime did mukbangs of, I’d want to visit.’

Still, if Lime ever made an amusement park or theme park, she’d be willing to go at least once.

A few others who watched the video had the same thought as the graduate student.

If Alchemy Slime made an amusement park, they’d want to visit.

There were even people who took it a step further and thought more proactively.

BeautyLime, now a fairly prominent beauty W-tuber.

She was currently doing a chat stream as a punishment for losing a bet with her viewers-while turned into a pineapple.

LimeLove: The video PengLime uploaded this time. Wasn’t it pretty different from usual?

–

“I think our PengLime just gave us a little hint about her plan to make a Slime theme park.”

–

AdPalmTree: Slime theme park?

–

“Yes! A Slime theme park! A fantastic theme park packed with <Slime> and tons of things to do.”

–

WaterFishSkin: That’s just what you want.

–

“A giant castle packed with all sorts of unreleased <Slime> you can try out. And a place where tiny Penguin Slimes scurry around on their short legs, working, and sing in cute voices-wouldn’t that be super fun?”

–

AtopyNight: Didn’t you watch that chocolate factory movie recently?

–

“Hehe. Yes, I watched that movie recently. Of course, it won’t be exactly like what I imagine. But I’m sure our PengLime is preparing a cultural space packed with <Slime>!”

As Alchemy Slime intended, the idea that the large-scale project was building a cultural space using <Slime> was spreading little by little.

***

[What Alchemy Slime is hinting at in SLimelove’s videos]

[Insider: “Alchemy Slime is planning to build something on top of the landfill.”]

[Why land prices are rising in Yangjae-dong.]

Maybe the mukbang was too blatant.

The rumor is spreading much more than I expected.

By the way, who is that insider, anyway?

There’s no one who should be giving interviews like that.

“Hmm….”

Should I just open Slime Land early?

There’s a method in the world where you sell unfinished games as early access.

It’s a great system for developers-they can make money from an unfinished game while getting feedback as they develop.

It’s a way to offload the risks onto the players.

Since game development takes a long time, projects often get scrapped midway.

There are even scummy games that barely update once a year, hardly do any work, and keep selling.

I’ll just copy that system.

Normally, you can’t let customers into an unfinished building at a construction site. There’s dust, it’s noisy, and it’s dangerous.

So it’s not an option, but inside Mother, it’s different.

You can compress a facility built underground with [Store+] and move it to the surface, then decompress it to instantly install a new ride. Or you can compress a facility on the surface with [Store+] and clear it away.

A facility that wasn’t there yesterday can appear today.

A place where a facility that was there just a moment ago can disappear after you visit the bathroom.

That’s Slime Land, the land of dreams, tentacles, hope, and slime.

If any problems pop up and people complain, you can just say, “It’s early access! You knew what you were getting into, right?” and offload the responsibility.

Should I just toss out the idea at the next meeting?

With my capable staff, even if we open next month, I think we can at least get the bare minimum ready by then.

If things really aren’t shaping up, I’ll just put in a ton of <Ice Cream Slime> shops, <Churros Slime> shops, <Cotton Candy Slime> shops, and so on.

That alone should be enough to draw in customers.

“Yum.”

[Trait: Slime☆☆☆ level has risen to 40.]

[A new skill has been created.]

“Huh?”

After munching on monster materials, artifacts, and alchemy products, the level reached 40.

As expected, a new skill appeared.

I checked to see what skill I got.

[Purification skill has risen to level 2.]

I got the [Purification] skill.

[Analyze+] skill activated!

[Purification Lv. 2

-A flame that cleanses impurities.]

Wow…. Useless.

Isn’t this the first time I’ve ever called a skill useless?

[Purification skill has risen to level 3.]

When I first saw the [Store] skill, I thought it would just be nice to have, but after getting it, it turned out to be a pretty important skill. I’d like to say this one is the same, but isn’t the [Purification] skill just a loss the more I use it?

The reason I’m evaluating it like this is because it’s much more profitable to devour impurities as resources using the [Decompose+] skill and the [Absorb] skill than to burn and erase them with the [Purification] skill.

What’s the point of using up my own energy to get rid of impurities?

[Purification skill has risen to level 4.]

“….”

Why does this skill level up on its own?

Am I under a curse?

Of course I am.

Because I’m famous.

There are tons of people in the world who, just because I’m successful, are jealous and want to see me fall.

And since the consumers’ money is limited, the companies and employees who lose market share to me must resent me.

Would returning things via Slime Land reduce that curse a little?

[Purification skill has risen to level 5.]

I guess it’s fine even if it doesn’t really decrease.

I always welcome an auto level-up system.

I used the [Purification] skill to create a sphere of flame in my palm.

It’s a pale, heatless flame.

Even if I stick my hand inside, it’s not hot.

For some reason, it reminds me of Gisu’s flame.

Isn’t this [Purification] skill completely useless against normal monsters?

There’s no heat.

Since it’s called the [Purification] skill, maybe it’d work against undead monsters.

But even with undead monsters, it’s more profitable to just grab them with tentacles and use [Decompose+] and [Absorb].

Besides that, I could make gear for the curse response team, I guess.

But they’re already working well, so is it necessary?

So, aside from the auto level-up feature, this skill isn’t all that useful after all.

[Purification skill has risen to level 6.]

Hmm… I feel like I’m forgetting something.

Well, whatever.

If it’s really important, I’ll remember.

I stared at the [Purification] flame in my palm for a moment.

Looking at it, I somehow feel at peace.

I made an orb slime and trapped the [Purification] flame inside.

Even just selling it as is, I think it’d be pretty popular as an ornament.

Even if I don’t decorate it, buyers will probably decorate the surface themselves as <Coloring Play Slime (for slime)>.

If I make it small, it could be used as an accessory.

Besides that, maybe I could make an <Aroma Slime>.

I made a cylindrical slime and trapped the [Purification] flame in the middle.

The slime particles holding the [Purification] flame spread out, releasing a soothing fragrance into the air.

I created a new [Purification] flame and tossed it lightly upward.

The flame floated up toward the sky like a firefly.

If I released a bunch into the night sky, it would make for a pretty spectacular view.

Even if not, putting these in all the lighting fixtures in Slime Land could create a safe and atmospheric space.

Huh? Looks like there are more uses for this than I thought.

Sorry for saying it was useless.

[Purification skill has risen to level 7.]

Maybe I should just sell <Aroma Slime>.

Since <Ornament Slime> with a flame trapped inside overlaps with <Aroma Slime>.

For selling as jewelry, I’ll think more about the design later if I feel like it.

***

Now, meetings are lively even without me pouring oil on the fire.

Lee Doa and Uh Byungwook challenged and developed each other’s ideas, coming up with good ones.

Maybe because there was a holiday this time, they brought even more ideas than last time.

Since everyone’s doing well on their own, I don’t bother interfering.

“Thanks for the good ideas, both of you. I’ll reflect them in Slime Land as much as possible. By the way, what do you think about opening Slime Land at the beginning of next month?”

The once lively meeting room fell silent.

“Lime. Today is February 19. Are you saying we should finish and open Slime Land in just about 20 days?”

Huh. Rarely, Hans’s voice wavers a bit, like he’s flustered.

“I’m not saying we have to open it in perfect condition. We can just set up a few stores like a park at first and keep adding facilities later, right? Since we’re building it inside Mother, it’s easy to renovate.”

“It’s not like we urgently need funds, so is there any reason to rush the opening?”

“Not really. Still, wouldn’t it be nice if the place where the family will live together is finished quickly? At first, even just a few stores like a park would be fine, right? We can add amusement rides slowly.”

“Is the waste disposal done?”

“Ah… Right, there was the trash issue. It’s not done yet, but can’t we just cover it up for now?”

“Lime. First impressions are very important. If you want to make Slime Land a place that feels fresh and surprising, you can’t start off like that.”

Huh? Isn’t this the first time Hans has directly contradicted me like that?

“Ah, you’re right. Just forget I said anything.”

Hans probably knows best when the opening would be ideal, so I guess I spoke out of turn.

“No. If it’s what Lime wants, it’s our job to make it a reality. Even if it’s hard to finish the blueprints by March or early April, let’s try to get them done before May. Then Lime can build <Slime Land> inside Mother, and we can aim to open it about a week after that. How about that?”

That way, we might be able to open Slime Land before the outdoor pools open.

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

As expected, leaving things to Hans makes everything go smoothly.

“From now on, your homework is to follow Hans’s words and get ready. I’m counting on you.”

Not long after the video meeting ended.

[Makina: Hi.]

I got a message from my mysterious internet friend Makina.

[Makina: No problems?

Me: Nope, none.

Me: I’ve got plenty of reliable people around me.

Me: Things go well when I leave them to others.

Makina: Really?

Me: Yup.

Me: You really do have to leave work to the experts.

Me: Everyone has a job that suits them best.

Makina: What’s your job?

Me: Making <Slime>.

Makina: What about the boss’s job?

Me: I do participate in meetings.

Me: Today, I suggested the wrong idea and got shot down right away.

Me: It’s best to leave the work to the experts and have the boss just pay the money.

Makina: Really?

Me: Yup. Hiring Hans is all I need to do.

Me: Oh, right. Thanks for recommending Hans.

Me: He’s really good at his job.

Me: Thanks to him, the theme park construction is going smoothly.

Makina: I see.]

For some reason, I get the feeling she didn’t like my answer.

Did I say something weird?

[Makina: Today’s game is this.]

I checked the game Makina gave me as a gift.

It’s a text-based life game.

You start from childhood, and depending on what choices you make along the way, you end up living a completely different life.

Judging by the description in the game’s introduction, it looks like there are a ton of endings, but not many reviews.

I get the feeling it probably didn’t sell very well.

These days, if a game doesn’t grab your attention right away with flashy graphics or beautiful art, it’s hard to succeed.

Maybe if the gameplay was amazing, it’d be different, but here, you just get different text depending on your choices.

On top of that, according to the reviews, the story is way too bleak.

It’d be weird if something like this actually sold.

[Makina: Let’s see who survives the longest.

Me: K.]

I started the game.

“Huh?”

A burglar broke into my house, and my character got stabbed to death.

The reason was that I didn’t lock the door.

Start again.

“Huh.”

My character went bankrupt.

I’m not sure why.

“Not again.”

My character ended up in prison.

I took a job that paid a lot in a short time, but I guess it was illegal.

With my [Accelerate] skill, my eyes can read everything even if I flip through the text quickly.

Plus, my character never made it past their forties, so I could keep trying over and over.

[Me: Isn’t this game weird?]

I failed every time.

[Me: I don’t think there’s a happy ending?]

Makina sent me a screenshot.

It showed a life where you live happily as a global tycoon and die at age 100.

[Me: How did you do that?]

[Makina: Pick the options that benefit you in the long run.]

Oh, now that I think about it.

I feel like I kept picking whatever seemed profitable right now.

If a choice didn’t seem to matter, I didn’t think too hard about it and just picked something.

As a result, I died over and over again.

“….”

Lately, I feel like I’m not thinking things through.

Maybe I’ve gotten complacent because everything’s been going so well.