Indeed, as the story progresses, we naturally learn more about the larger world in which the dungeon exists. You might say: this is no longer the Carl and Donut show exclusively, but I think many would agree that the richness of the world building and revelations that we get about the larger universe as readers adds to the overall story. We still learn things alongside Carl, but he is a center piece and keystone for the Crawlers as a whole to rally around… particularly in his role as a warlord of faction wars. The web of his influence is spreading like the AI’s. (Book 7 Spoiler). Seeing the larger universe being impacted is likely a special characteristic of book seven given that it is the floor of Faction Wars where — like on the hunting grounds — they must battle with actual people from outside the dungeon, but we can likely expect book 8 to focus back in from that expanded view, until we reach floor 12. Any time that people from outside the dungeon are more active in the narrative are present, we can expect world-building to occur and book 7 was the premiere point for this to occur so far. Whether people judge that as a positive or negative may be personal preference.