Having acquired Detoxification, the slime approached other brightly colored plants like the purple grass.

'Tasty!'

Thanks to Detoxification, poison no longer made its body hurt, so the slime could eat any poisonous plant without hesitation. Poisonous plants were now a delicacy to it. Including the poison it could detoxify, they contained more nutrients than ordinary grass.

They did not invigorate its body as strongly as jerky did, but the slime had grown fond of eating them.

[Free Spirit]▶What's going on? Why is Squishy suddenly eating poisonous plants?

The Smartass had briefly gone to watch another stream. Returning to the slime's broadcast, he was startled to find it gobbling up every poisonous plant it came across.

He scrolled back through the chat history to find out what had happened and soon understood.

'Looks like it picked up Detoxification while I was gone.'

According to the knowledge the Smartass had gained upon becoming a lich, humans grew stronger through magic, divine power, and internal energy, while monsters grew stronger through skills. The former was possible through effort, but the latter generally required particular experiences.

Before becoming a lich, the Smartass had learned about poisonous plants during his travels. He could identify the symptoms caused by the plants the slime was eating just from their appearance.

'That one gives you an upset stomach. That one causes paralysis, and that one prevents bleeding from stopping.'

These plants could cause considerable suffering or even threaten the lives of humans and monsters alike. Yet now they were nothing more than delicacies for the slime.

After all, it had Detoxification.

'At this rate, won't it evolve into a poison slime?'

A poison slime was an advanced form of slime that contained poison. Becoming one would mean fewer creatures could threaten it, but...

'It would be a problem if it met Nellin again.'

With poison in its very body, contact with Nellin would become difficult. Merely being near it would expose her to the poison.

Avoiding poisonous creatures was only natural.

He had no idea when that future reunion might happen, but the Smartass hoped the meeting Nellin and the slime had promised each other would take place under better circumstances.

'That way, I'll get to see Nellin a little longer.'

Of course, eating a few poisonous plants would not be enough to unlock the option of evolving into a poison slime.

'Still, I should minimize the possibility. Squishy liked jerky, didn't it?'

▶[Free Spirit has donated 3 coins.]

▶[Message: Squishy! How about trying meat instead of grass?]

▷Meat?

The mention of meat caught the slime's attention.

[Free Spirit]▶Yep, you enjoyed deer blood too. Meat will be even better!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! Meat! Meat is good!

It was Slam First Ask Later—Fenrir—who reacted to the Smartass's suggestion even more strongly than the slime did.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Squishy! Eat meat!

[Noblesse Fire]▶What's with this fucking wolf?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶To eat meat, you must hunt! Which means! Slamming! It's time to use your slam!

Fenrir was unhappy that the slime still had not used the Body Slam he had taught it. Now an opportunity to use it had appeared, and he began enthusiastically making his case.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶With the slam I taught you! Any ordinary animal will be a one-shot kill!

▶A slime getting one-shot kills? Yeah right lmao

▶Won't it just get itself killed trying?

[Squishy Queen]▶My kin is not so weak! As if it would lose to a mere ordinary animal!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy working hard at hunting would be adorable too~

The viewers began to split over whether the slime could hunt or not.

'Meat...'

Hearing the word, the slime wondered whether meat was tasty.

▷Meat tasty?

[Free Spirit]▶Meat is jerky.

▷Jerky!

Jerky was rich in nutrients and the tastiest thing it had ever eaten. Hearing that meat was jerky set the slime's enthusiasm ablaze.

▷Meat! Want to eat!

[Free Spirit]▶Then find an animal! A rabbit, deer, wild boar—anything works!

▷Okay!

During its days wandering the forest, the slime had seen various animals. Some, like deer, simply ignored it without being wary, while others ran away the moment they saw it.

Until now, the slime had only watched them in fascination. This time, it would hunt them itself.

It wanted meat.

The slime activated Sensing to find an animal.

ZZZZZ.

Sensing spread outward from the slime, and before long, a living creature entered its range.

'Rabbit!'

What it had found was one of the animals it had seen before, called a rabbit. It was about the same size as the slime and had fled on sight, whether the slime showed hostility or not.

Eager for meat, the slime bounded vigorously forward. As it pushed through the undergrowth, the rabbit came into view.

'Slam! Have to slam!'

From the chat, the slime understood that it needed to use Body Slam on the rabbit to eat meat, and immediately tried to do so. But the moment the brown rabbit saw it spring from the bushes, it put distance between them and began to flee.

'Rabbit! Running away!'

The slime hurriedly bounced after the fleeing rabbit, and the chase began.

Seen through the third-person camera, the chase between the fluffy brown rabbit and the soft, pale-green slime was utterly adorable.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Eeeeee! So cute!

[Squishy Queen]▶Keep going! Move faster, my kin!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Slow as shit.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Have you considered that Squishy is a slime? Though I suppose a shut-in loser dragon wouldn't have any empathy.

[Noblesse Fire]▶This bastard's picking a fight out of nowhere again?

▶Hmm, that rabbit booty... I might smash?

▶Dude???

▶Ugh, another would-smash freak lmao

The adorable chase lasted more than five minutes. The rabbit won.

No matter how hard the slime chased it, the gap would not close. The rabbit darted this way and that, changing direction so quickly that the slime simply could not catch up.

'Rabbit! Fast!'

Amazed by the rabbit's speed, the slime nevertheless grew dejected at the thought that it might not get any meat.

▷Can't eat meat...

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Tsk, tsk. You won't get any by just following it around! I'll teach you the basics of hunting!

▷Basics?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! The basics of hunting!

+++

'Hehehe, nothing's more fun than teaching a newbie to hunt.'

After teaching it Body Slam, Fenrir could not help getting excited at the prospect of teaching the slime how to hunt. It was still young, innocent, and obedient.

Just like his children when they were little!

He recalled his interactions with them in those beautiful memories.

["Daddy~ Is this how you do it?"]

["Dad! I caught this! I did good, right?"]

["I caught a bigger one! Hehehe!"]

His children used to come back with prey they had caught just as he had taught them, beaming as they proudly showed him.

But now...

["Ptooey. Right, done hunting for today."]

They would quickly catch just enough to fill their bellies for the day, then laze about.

["You want to go hunting together? Too much bother."]

Even when he suggested hunting together for a change, they would look annoyed.

["What's the point of catching something this big? It won't even fit in the cave."]

If he went out of his way to catch something big to relive the old days, his children did not understand.

Recalling the past only made him compare it to the bitter present, and tears trickled down in Fenrir's heart. So this was what they meant when they said raising children was thankless.

'I'll teach you the true art of hunting, Squishy!'

Perhaps missing his once-innocent, adorable children, Fenrir saw them in the slime and tried to recapture a little of that old joy.

+++

As with Body Slam, Fenrir's lessons took several days. Naturally, the slime could not master his hunting methods in just a few days, so he taught it how to ambush prey instead.

It would move carefully without making a sound, then launch a surprise attack when its prey let its guard down. For a slime whose only means of attack was Body Slam, this was the only viable method.

After several days of lessons, the slime earned Fenrir's seal of approval and brimmed with confidence.

'Meat! Going to eat meat!'

Quivering with enthusiasm, the slime immediately began hunting. First, just as before, it used Sensing to find prey.

ZZZZZ.

Finding another rabbit, the slime bounced closer. Once it was within range, it stopped jumping and switched to crawling, inching stealthily forward.

'Have to go slowly!'

Surprise was important. The slime moved stealthily to avoid being noticed by its prey.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy moving little by little is so adorable~!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! That's it! Carefully! Don't get spotted!

The hunting newbie's first hunt had the viewers engrossed.

▶Why am I nervous over this?

▶Watching newbies is always a blast, yep

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶I wonder whether Squishy will succeed.

The slime did not even glance at the incoming chat messages, focusing solely on the hunt.

'Found it!'

Moving slowly, the slime caught sight of the rabbit.

'Still far away!'

It crept closer from behind the rabbit, crawling slowly and silently so the sound-sensitive animal would not react.

Once it had closed the distance as much as possible and reached Body Slam range, the slime launched its attack.

'Slam!'

Tensing its entire body, the slime used its elasticity to spring off the ground and strike the rabbit. The rabbit crumpled to the ground.

▶Oh! It hit!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! That's it!

▶It got it in one hit?

Slimes were ordinarily among the weakest monsters. But before leaving the cave, this slime had learned Body Slam techniques under Fenrir's guidance, and it had grown further by consuming nutrients from animal blood, jerky, and the like.

It was not a tremendous amount of growth, of course, but it had at least gained enough strength to kill a rabbit with a single Body Slam.

'Yay!'

▷Did it!

Its first successful hunt. The thrill of catching a rabbit it had failed to catch no matter how hard it chased. The satisfaction of seeing days of effort bear fruit.

And the joy of finally being able to eat meat made the slime bounce up and down on the spot.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy! Nice job!

[Squishy Queen]▶Well done, my kin! Keep growing stronger like that!

[Noblesse Fire]▶What's so exciting about catching one rabbit?

▶Holy shit, this old fart really can't read the room

▶That's why he keeps getting kicked from streams, yep

Excited by its first hunt, the slime stopped bouncing and looked at the fallen rabbit. Then another question occurred to it.

'Where's meat?'

The slime had been told that catching a rabbit would let it eat jerky—in other words, meat. Yet despite all its hard work catching the rabbit, it could not see any jerky.

That was only natural. The only form of meat it knew was jerky. It could not see flat, red jerky and a dead rabbit as the same thing.

So it asked the chat.

▷No meat!

▶What do you mean, no meat?

▷No jerky!

▶Oh.

▶Wait, does it still not know?

▶Lmaoooo

▶Didn't think of that lmao

▶Well, there really isn't any jerky lmao

The slime stood before a dead rabbit, looking for jerky. The sight sent the chat into fits of laughter.

The Smartass, who had first suggested hunting to the slime, stepped in to explain.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, the rabbit is meat!

▷Not meat!

▷Meat red! Rabbit brown!

[Free Spirit]▶There's meat inside the rabbit!

▷?

Seeing that the slime still did not understand, an anonymous viewer posted a message.

▶No questions, no arguments! Just eat the rabbit!

▶Gotta eat what you hunt, yep

▶You'll get it once you taste it lmao

▷Eat rabbit?

▶You sucked down deer blood just fine! Give it a taste!

▶Try it, try it!

The slime still could not think of the rabbit as meat. But following the chat's advice, it decided to try absorbing it.

It bounced onto the dead rabbit and began to absorb it. As the rabbit entered its body and was slowly absorbed...

'...! Meat!'

The slime finally realized that the rabbit was meat.