A quiet cave, heavy with moisture.

Inside, where droplets dripped from the ceiling and moss grew across the floor, a life was about to be born.

A tiny concentration of the mana that pervaded the world took shape, conceiving a “monster.”

[A slime has been generated.]

A slime.

A low-level monster that required an amount of mana infinitely close to zero to be born.

The soft-looking, pale-green slime gently swayed in place, instinctively searching for food. Wobbling as it inched along, it soon reached some moss.

Instinctively sensing that the moss would nourish it, the slime absorbed the growth, so similar to its own color, into its body and digested it.

At that moment, the slime thought.

'Want... more food.'

Its very first thought since being born.

[Detected an entity with intelligence above the specified threshold]

The system that governed the world took notice of that thought.

'Huh?'

The newborn slime reacted to the sudden sound.

[Requirements met. Granting streaming privileges.]

[Granting permission to change perspectives.]

[Granting chat functionality.]

The voice continued speaking to the slime, but it had no idea what the voice was.

Rather than concern itself with something it did not understand, it simply focused on eating moss and nourishing itself.

Meanwhile, the system's flat voice continued to ring out.

[Subject's visual ability. Unable to verify]

[Perspective locked to third person until visual ability is acquired]

[Would you like to start streaming?]

Without answering the question, the slime kept endlessly devouring the moss around it.

More and more moss was absorbed into its body, and with each influx of nutrients, its thoughts grew more varied.

'Yummy... Full. Don't want any more.'

It was no longer acting on instinct alone. It accurately recognized its own condition and consciously restrained its actions.

Now full, the slime finally took an “interest” in the voice it had heard. Detecting the slime's intent, the system asked again.

[Would you like to start streaming?]

'What's... streaming?'

A natural question.

The slime had never even heard the word before, and the system answered its question.

[Streaming means showing yourself to others.]

'Showing?'

Without sight, the slime had no concept of seeing. As things stood, even a proper explanation was impossible.

[Reviewing the subject's special circumstances.]

[Initiating a limited knowledge infusion.]

CRACKLE!

Tiny sparks flew as the concepts of “seeing,” “hearing,” and “speaking,” along with basic knowledge about streaming, were infused into the slime.

With this new knowledge, its curiosity immediately stirred.

'Why is it dark?'

It wondered why it could not see anything with its own eyes. The system answered.

[The subject currently has no visual function.]

[Visual function can be acquired through growth.]

Having given the slime the answer it wanted, the system asked again.

[Would you like to start streaming?]

The slime could not fully understand what streaming was. More than that, it wanted to experience the sensation of “seeing” for itself first.

Recognizing the system as a being that taught it all sorts of things, the slime vaguely agreed to its suggestion.

'Yeah.'

[Starting stream.]

[Please set a nickname.]

A nickname was the name used to identify oneself when starting a stream. Viewers could remain anonymous while watching other streams, but streamers were required to set a nickname.

'What should it be?'

Rather than decide, the slime asked the system.

Aware of the slime's special circumstances, the system considered the history of nickname entries so far and offered it some choices.

[Recommended nicknames are as follows. 1. Put It in My Mouth First 2. Squishy 3. †Future Kaiser†]

The streaming knowledge infused by the system included not only how to use streams, but also the concept of the nicknames used within them.

Of the three suggested names, the slime chose the one that sounded most interesting.

'Squishy?'

[Would you like to use Squishy? You can change your nickname later.]

'Yeah! Squishy!'

[Your nickname has been set to Squishy.]

[What would you like the title to be?]

With its newly acquired basic knowledge of streaming, the slime chose a title for its room.

'I Want to See.'

That was its greatest desire at the moment.

And so the slime's stream began.

+++

"Huh. Isn't there anything worth watching?"

A volcano with streams of bubbling lava.

The fire dragon that reigned over this place, where no ordinary creature could survive, was bored again today.

It had been ages since anyone had invaded its territory to challenge it. Its only way to pass the time was to watch other monsters streaming through the system.

Yet none of the streams currently appealed to it.

Of course they didn't.

After more than six hundred years holed up in a volcano doing nothing but watching streams, finding anything fresh would have been stranger.

"They're all the same. Boring. So boring."

The fire dragon briskly operated the system window and checked the stream list.

Most entries featured assorted nobodies hunting prey. The rest featured bizarre antics from monsters that genuinely had nothing else to do.

"This stupid troll is smashing ice again today."

The fire dragon frowned at the blizzard troll's stream title, 【Smash Lots of Ice Again Today Challenge】.

"It really must have nothing to do. Monsters these days have no spirit. No spirit at all."

In the past, a monster had streamed itself charging into the middle of two warring nations to annihilate them, only to be slain. These days, however, no monsters did streams like that, so the fire dragon kept browsing rooms with a bored expression.

Then an odd title it had never seen before caught its eye.

"I Want to See? What's this?"

A room title consisting of just four syllables.

A puzzling title.

Usually, stream titles were outlandish or plastered with special symbols like ☆★＠ to attract other monsters' interest. Among those rooms, this simple title caught the fire dragon's attention.

"Don't tell me... another pervert has turned up? Why the hell would they post that here?!"

What came to mind was the bizarre stream of a fellow dragon that made it click its tongue in disapproval.

["Heehee, today I'm showing you~ my reverse scale~"]

▶Oooh! Ooooooh! Mommy! Mommy!!!

▶Hnnng, I'm dying~

▶“I'm dying,” my ass lmao. Those shitty scales turn you on? lmao

▶SILENCE!!!!!! You cowardly anon, how dare you question the beauty of a reverse scale!!! The reverse scale of a fresh virgin dragon is nothing short of sacred!!!

▶Monsters talking about sacred shit lmaoooo

▶You're banned

▶[Anonymous 563 has been kicked]

[Noblesse Fire]▶Tsk tsk tsk. Youngsters these days, huh! No sense of shame! Showing off your reverse scale so shamelessly...

▶And the old geezer gets cuuuuuut too!!!

▶[Noblesse Fire has been kicked]

["Oh, boys~ Thank you~ But showing my reverse scale... is so embarrassing~"]

▶Aaah! Love you, babe! Love you! Love you sooo much!

▶Wing dance, let's go~!

▶[Gentleman Phoenix has donated 50,000 coins]

["Eeeek! Phoenix, honey! I love it!"]

And then there were the reactions of the pathetic idiots who went wild over that stream.

Of course, there was an unspoken agreement that streams of that sort, which might catch the eyes of other races, would appear only in a separate, designated stream list.

But the stream the fire dragon was looking at now had broken that agreement and appeared in the general list.

"Who dares?!"

It would not tolerate some indecent stream in the sacred general list.

Burning with righteous resolve to enter and immediately dispense a stern dose of “advice” backed by years of experience, the fire dragon entered 【I Want to See】.

And what greeted its eyes was...

"... What? A slime?"

A third-person video showing a slime in a cave.

For a moment, the fire dragon doubted its eyes, wondering whether it had misread the stream settings.

An icon at the far right of the streaming room indicated whether the current perspective was third person or first person.

First person showed the view through the streamer's eyes, while third person centered the image on the streamer.

The screen was set to third person.

Yet all it showed was one very small slime.

"Don't tell me this slime is streaming?"

It was astonishing. Unbelievable.

Because a slime—an ordinary slime, not a slime king or queen—could not possibly stream.

Streaming generally required a certain level of intelligence. Ordinary slimes, however, lived almost entirely by instinct and had virtually no intelligence at all.

'And that slime is streaming?'

The fire dragon immediately used the chat system.

Typing a message brought up a translucent window in front of the streamer, visible only to them, allowing viewers to communicate.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What kind of sh*tty gimmick is this? Lost all your fucking sense?

The fire dragon immediately began baiting the streamer.

In its six hundred years of chatting experience, a slime streaming was absolutely impossible.

So it began provoking the other party, determined to shut down this sh*tty gimmick stream at once.

But the slime simply stayed there, moving its squishy body. Even that seemed like a natural reaction, hardly a response to the fire dragon's chat.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Damn, you're good at playing dumb lmao. Think anyone's gonna watch this crap?

Even when it typed something more inflammatory to force a reaction, the slime showed no response whatsoever.

'Still ignoring me?'

The complete lack of a reaction to its unprovoked baiting left the fire dragon even more puzzled.

There was, of course, a reason for that.

Chat messages were displayed in system script that monsters could understand.

In other words, one had to see them to understand them at all.

The slime, which had yet to gain sight, could not possibly read or react to the chat.

Then it happened.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hoho, the shut-in, fossilized, sanctimonious fuck of a dragon in its heated room is throwing a shit fit in a tiny stream.

A chat message appeared, taking a swipe at the fire dragon.

The fire dragon recognized the sender from the tone alone.

Streaming nickname: Gothic Luxury Bone.

A bone dragon, an undead dragon.

With no need to eat, sleep, or shit, it was an even more entrenched veteran viewer than the fire dragon, spending all its time roaming streaming rooms.

[Noblesse Fire]▶lol The literal bag of bones is talking shit? You're the real denture geezer.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Spent so long in that heated room your brain's stewed too? My teeth are perfectly healthy. Never lost a single one.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Healthy teeth my ass lmao. Says the dumbass who won't even die.

Normally, the next step in their conversation would have been an accusation of discrimination against the undead.

But the bone dragon had a more important concern.

Protecting a fresh newbie.

For the bone dragon, which suffered even greater boredom than the fire dragon, a newbie meant fresh stimulation and precious potential.

So it immediately began soothing the newcomer.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Squishy, I'm sorry. That shut-in loser dragon's always had a fucked-up personality, so please don't mind it too much...

Of course, the bone dragon's chat did not reach the slime either.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Squishy?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Ignores the hell out of me no matter how much I bait it.

The bone dragon wondered whether this was some monstrous newcomer with nerves of orichalcum. Only then did it realize that the creature on-screen was a slime.

▶??? Wait, a slime? A slime is streaming?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Only just noticed?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. No wonder you're so scatterbrained with that empty head."

While the bone dragon marveled and the fire dragon clicked its tongue, the slime wobbled gently and began to move.

It had already digested the moss it had absorbed and was seeking its next source of nutrients.

For now, the fire dragon and the bone dragon watched.

An hour passed.

[Noblesse Fire]▶It's a legit slime.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Just a slime.

The bone dragon and the fire dragon conceded that the slime was simply a slime.

"Has the system gone haywire?"

While the fire dragon took its questioning in a different direction, new visitors came nosing into the chat room, which had held only two viewers, to check out the new stream.

▶???? Why's there a slime?

▶Someone shapeshifted?

▶Ah! S*x!

▶Wait, what kind of slime streams? lmaooo

A strange room title and a strange host: a slime.

Curious, the newcomers stayed in the room and watched it.

As comments and speculation flew back and forth, the slime gently wobbled, eating moss at regular intervals.

Watching it, one viewer said:

▶... Ah, this is soothing.

Soothing.

Healing not in the sense of mending bodily wounds, but of bringing peace to the mind.

Once one viewer spoke up, others who agreed began typing as well.

▶fr

▶Agreed. Cute as hell.

▶Hmm... Is it really that good?

▶Won't some wild animal come along and gulp the slime down?

▶Ugh, fuck off, you chaos junkie.

▶Nah lmaooo

As more and more viewers simply watched the swaying slime, someone finally offered an accurate guess.

▶Maybe it can't see the chat window?

▶You got no brain? How would it start a stream if it can't see?

▶Yeah~ But it did, didn't it? And we're watching it, aren't we?

▶Here we go again, another self-proclaimed expert.

▶Ah! S*x!

Random facts about slime biology, something they had never taken much interest in because slimes were a different race.

When the most plausible theory emerged, someone quick to act spoke up.

▶Hang on, I'll go ask the Squishy Queen.