At the unfamiliar word, the slime gave a squeak and tilted its body slightly to one side.

'What's evolution?'

The system answered the question it asked in its mind.

[Evolution is a phenomenon that allows you to evolve into a higher-tier entity.]

'?'

Since the slime still did not understand, the system explained in simpler terms.

[It is a phenomenon that allows you to become a stronger being.]

'?'

[Reviewing explanations suited to the subject's intelligence.]

[Selecting an explanation based on the subject's recent experiences.]

[You will be able to catch deer faster.]

'Wow!'

This time, the slime finally gained a rough understanding of what evolution meant.

'Deer! Catch faster!'

The slime bounced excitedly in place, driving the head of the deer beneath it deeper into the ground.

It immediately shared its new discovery in the chat.

▷Evolution! Evolution!

▶Evolution?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Don't tell me an evolution window appeared, Squishy?

▷Can evolve! Catch deer faster!

▶An evolution window actually popped up?

▶Why so fast?

[Squishy Queen]▶Has an evolution window appeared, my kin!

▶Ah! EvoluSEX!

The chat erupted at the news of the evolution window. It had happened so quickly!

Normally, after monsters gained enough intelligence to recognize system windows, it took at least a year before they encountered an evolution window.

By that standard, the slime had reached its evolution window at practically supersonic speed!

Still, there was nothing unnatural about the slime reaching its evolution window so quickly. Other monsters recognized the system only after growing to a certain extent, whereas the slime had recognized it as soon as it was born. There was bound to be a corresponding difference in the experience needed to evolve.

Amid the stream of questions, some viewers realized this as well.

[Free Spirit]▶Isn't it because Squishy's still a slime? The first evolution's usually pretty quick.

The Smartass was the first to speak up. He had never evolved since becoming a lich, but he spoke as though he had experienced it himself.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Is that so?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶We dragons are top-tier entities from the outset, so how would we know?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Don't put me in the same category as some pathetic bastard who turned into a pile of bones.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶What did you say?

[Squishy Queen]▶If you want to fight, open another room and do it there! My kin stands at a crossroads!

▶Hot take) Every time these old farts fight, you can smell the rot.

▶Secondeddddd.

▶LMAOOOO.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Squishy! What can you evolve into!

At Fenrir's question, the slime tilted its body.

'Into what?'

[The subject has a total of 3 evolution options.]

[1. Poison Slime]

[2. Big Slime]

[3. Bounce Slime]

[Would you like a detailed explanation?]

'Yes!'

[Poison Slime: Your body will become poisonous. You can secrete and spit poison to attack, or coat your entire body in poison to attack a target.

You will acquire the skill: Poison Production.

Required coins: 25 coins]

[Big Slime: You will gain a larger body. You can use your increased size and weight to crush opponents. You can absorb opponents of a similar or smaller size into your body in one go.

You will acquire the skill: Capture.

Required coins: 20 coins]

[Bounce Slime: You will gain a more elastic body. You will be able to move faster, and it will become easier to use terrain and surrounding objects to attack.

You will acquire the skill: Bounce Tackle.

Required coins: 15 coins]

'?'

The slime listened to the system's explanations, but it still did not understand. Nor did it know which option to choose.

'What should I do?'

The system answered firmly.

[That is for you to choose.]

Feeling that the system would not explain things more simply this time, the slime decided to ask the chat.

▷Evolution! Got choices! Lots!

[Free Spirit]▶What choices do you have?

▶Lots of choices? How many?

▷3!

▶It calls three a lot lmaooo.

▶Three is a lot.

▶For evolution, yeah, that's a lot.

[Squishy Queen]▶My kin! What options have appeared, then! Tell us!

'Tell!'

The slime was about to list the three options, but then it paused to think. Rather than simply naming all three, wouldn't it be better to repeat exactly what the system had said?

'Everyone! Talks lots! Knows things! Lots!'

[Squishy Queen] worried about it and warned it to be careful. [Slam First Ask Later] taught it Body Slam and how to hunt. And [Free Spirit] had suggested trying meat instead of just purple grass.

To the slime, the viewers in its chat were beings who knew more than it did. Surely they could understand the explanations it couldn't?

With that thought, the slime spoke to the system.

'Say it again!'

Then it copied the system's explanations word for word into the chat.

The explanations appearing in the chat surprised the viewers.

▶Squishy turned into an explanation nerd!

▶It's just copying exactly what the system says lmaoooo.

▶Never seen anyone give their whole evolution description before lol.

▶Pretty similar to the explanation I got when I evolved.

▶What's a Bounce Slime?

+++

'So these are the evolution-window explanations monsters kept talking about.'

Seated in his secret workshop, the Smartass's empty eye sockets blazed with light—a light full of curiosity and inquiry.

Having never seen an evolution window himself, he had always wondered what the windows monsters saw looked like and what their options said.

But whenever he asked around on streams, they either took offense and said, "Why are you asking that?" or responded, "I just pick whatever the fuck I feel like. Why would I remember every detail of the explanation?" He had never been able to find out properly.

Thankfully, the slime had copied the contents of its evolution window directly into the chat.

'Helpful without being overly complicated.'

It described the characteristics of the form one would evolve into, as well as the skill one would gain.

'And coins are used for evolution, too.'

Coins accumulated when monsters had certain experiences. The only use for coins the lich had known of was buying skills through the shop.

The skills available there varied widely, but there was one rule: an entity could only buy skills it was capable of using.

For example, no matter how many coins it had, a monster like a slime could never learn a dragon's breath attack.

Although one couldn't buy every skill, choosing usable skills wisely could make one stronger.

That was why some monsters who had only just become aware of the system and unlocked the shop opened streams to beg for coins.

"Please! Spare your precious coins for this lowly octopus who has only just unlocked the shop!"

Some groveled and demeaned themselves to beg.

"You all like this sort of thing, right? It's my shed. skin. Next time I'll shed even more boldly, so please send coins to support me~"

Some imitated other suggestive streams.

"I'll do anything if you give me coins! Come on! What will you have me do!"

Others earned them by making more daring content.

Monsters somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy craved coins so they could become stronger.

Setting aside his delight at learning something new about evolution windows, the Smartass began his operation to steer Squishy.

'Anything but Poison Slime.'

Just as he had feared when the slime ate poisonous plants, becoming a Poison Slime with a poisonous body would make contact with Nellin difficult.

He began with a casual question.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy! How many coins do you have now?

▷Coins?

[Free Spirit]▶Ask the system and it'll tell you!

▷37!

'Evolution won't be a problem, then.'

The Smartass quickly analyzed the slime's evolution options other than Poison Slime and was about to speak.

Just then, the fire dragon Noblesse Fire beat him to it.

[Noblesse Fire]▶If you're evolving, bigger is obviously better! Hey! Go with Big Slime!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶What an ignorant thing to say.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What's ignorant about it! Huh! You have to be big so nobody looks down on you!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶That's precisely what makes it ignorant. Still, size does matter.

The fire dragon and bone dragon, who normally bickered, had offered the same opinion.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my, don't you know how useful poison is? Poison Slime would be a good choice for our cuuute Squishy, too~

Arachne, Madam Cat's Cradle, frequently used poison and recommended Poison Slime.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶What are you talking about! Squishy learned to slam! Bounce Slime is the best choice for doing that well!

Fenrir, Slam First Ask Later, recommended Bounce Slime, which would let the slime make use of his teachings.

As their recommendations heated up the discussion, other viewers joined the debate for fun.

▶Not Bounce Slime. It costs the fewest coins.

▶You're ruling it out because it's cheap? Tsk, tsk, tsk.

▶More expensive doesn't always mean better.

▶Poison's useless if you can't land a hit lol.

▶What's so great about bouncing?

▶Get stupidly big and you'll get hit by every attack.

▶Costs so damn few coins, though.

Of course, most of them were trolls joining in for fun. They enjoyed disparaging the other choices and watching the chat descend into chaos.

'Mmmm...! Don't know!'

The constant stream of claims that one option or another was better only made the slime more indecisive.

Then—

[Squishy Queen]▶Silence, you trolls! What do your opinions matter! What matters is what my kin wants!

▶Like I care? Lmaoooo.

▶Aw, come on, it's funny lol.

The Slime Queen was furious that a discussion about her kin's important evolution had become half a joke.

[Free Spirit]▶Yeah, Squishy Queen's right. What Squishy wants to become is what matters most.

Riding the wave of her anger, the Smartass immediately asked the slime a question.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy! What do you want to be like?

▷Like?

While the chat remained noisy, the Smartass drew on his experience as a former mage to explain each evolution's characteristics in terms the slime could understand.

[Free Spirit]▶Poison Slime can use poison.

▷Poison?

[Free Spirit]▶You can make water that hurts things, so you can catch deer easily.

▷Wow!

[Free Spirit]▶Big Slime makes your body bigger, Squishy.

▷Get bigger!

[Free Spirit]▶You'll be slower, but you can eat more.

▷Eat lots!

[Free Spirit]▶Bounce Slime can move fast.

▷Fast?

[Free Spirit]▶Yeah. And you jump in place when you're happy, right?

▷Yes!

[Free Spirit]▶You can jump more.

▷More!

Having explained everything as simply as he could, the Smartass told the slime:

[Free Spirit]▶Just pick whichever of these you want to become.

+++

'Want to become...'

After listening to the Smartass's explanation, the slime thought carefully.

Poison Slime.

It had a rough understanding of what using poison meant: the pain it had felt after first eating purple grass. It understood the idea of using that pain to attack.

But it couldn't properly imagine itself attacking with poison.

Big Slime.

By contrast, it could easily imagine growing larger and eating more. Deer were bigger than it was. If it became a Big Slime, it could eat more deer, and eat them faster.

And finally, Bounce Slime.

It could move fast and jump more. It could catch up with fleeing rabbits and deer without having to ambush them.

What did it want to do more of?

After thinking about that at length, the slime made its decision. It chose what was most familiar to it, and what it had wanted most.

'Want to evolve!'

The system responded to the slime's thoughts.

[Which form would you like to evolve into?]

'Bounce Slime!'

[You have selected Bounce Slime.]

[15 coins will be consumed.]

[Beginning evolution.]

WHUMMMM!