The slime gazed at Fenrir and the pure-white snowy mountains spread across the screen.

“First, let's find some suitable prey!”

Fenrir set off in search of something to hunt.

'Wow!'

The slime marveled as it watched Fenrir move. Seen from the third-person view, his movements were incredibly swift and agile. His speed was unmistakable even against the snowy mountains, where everything was covered in white.

The moment he started moving, the gently falling snow suddenly seemed to speed up. It wasn't the snow that had gotten faster. The screen followed Fenrir's movements, making the snow appear to rush past.

[Squishy]▶Fast! Slam First Ask Later! Fast!

“Bwahahaha! Of course I'm fast! I'm a Fenrir!”

[Squishy]▶Fenrir?

“That's my species! Squishy! You're a slime, aren't you?”

'Oh!'

Now the slime clearly understood the concepts of names and species.

[Squishy]▶Fenrir! Fast!

“That's right! I'm fast!”

Fenrir raced down the snowy mountain and entered a stretch of forest halfway down its slopes. Unlike the forest where the slime lived, the trees here weren't packed together. They grew sparsely, with plenty of space between them.

'Wow! White trees!'

The sight of trees blanketed in white snow rather than lush with green made the slime's eyes shine all the brighter.

“Found one! Squishy! Watch closely!”

While the slime was admiring the scenery, Fenrir found prey suitable for his demonstration. A White Boar had entered his field of view—a boar-shaped monster with white fur, also nicknamed a snow boar.

Normally, he could finish hunting it simply by ambushing it and tearing into its neck. But this time, the whole purpose of hunting the White Boar was the slime's special training. As he approached it, Fenrir said,

“I'm going to copy the movements you made! Pay attention!”

[Squishy]▶Okay!

Showing it a good example right from the start would be pointless anyway. Fenrir thought the most important thing was to help Squishy recognize its mistakes first, and he began to move. He approached the White Boar and revealed himself.

OINK?!

A predator had appeared out of nowhere. Faced with Fenrir, who was vastly stronger than itself, the White Boar instinctively knew it couldn't win. It turned to flee—but Fenrir was already standing in its new path.

Having blocked the White Boar's escape route with overwhelming speed, Fenrir immediately began imitating the slime's movements. He ran this way and that around the boar, slowly enough for it to follow him with its eyes.

'Huh?'

As the slime watched Fenrir, something seemed odd. Was it because he was moving slowly, unlike before? No. It was the strange rhythm of his movements.

Sometimes he moved again immediately after reaching a new spot; other times, he hesitated before moving. His movements were clearly clumsy. Even the slime, inexperienced as it was at hunting, could tell that something felt awkward.

And the slime wasn't the only one who felt that way. The White Boar being hunted also found Fenrir's movements strange. This supposedly overwhelmingly powerful predator moved awkwardly. In other words, he looked pathetic—enough to make the boar wonder whether he was just big and otherwise nothing special.

OIIIIINK!

A sudden surge of confidence filled the White Boar, and it actually tried to attack Fenrir. It charged with its tusks, the attack it trusted most!

'What? A mere boar dares challenge me?'

Fenrir scowled at the White Boar trying to ram him. Even if he was deliberately moving poorly for the slime's training, being underestimated by his prey was bound to annoy him.

If he'd had a nasty temper, he would have killed the prey the instant it attacked. But Slam First Ask Later—Fenrir—had patience. Compared to enduring his steadily declining status at home, his children's indifference, and his wife's pointed looks, a little irritation for the sake of the slime's training was nothing!

Fenrir easily dodged the White Boar's charge and spoke to the slime.

“Squishy! How did those movements look?”

[Squishy]▶Weird! Don't fit! All separate!

“Bwahahaha! You've got a good eye, at least! That's it! What I just did was copy your movements!”

[Squishy]▶Mine?

“That's right! You started out well too, but partway through, you lost your rhythm and hesitated! Now... I'll show you how it's really done!”

Fenrir smiled at the slime's response. It had spotted what was wrong immediately. If it hadn't understood, he would have had to repeat the demonstration several times and keep letting the White Boar look down on him.

“Move like this!”

THUMP!

Planting his paws on the snow-covered ground, Fenrir began moving again. He moved in the same directions, but his speed and rhythm were distinctly different this time. Confidently, naturally, without a hitch. Darting freely in every direction, he demonstrated movements that left the White Boar utterly bewildered.

'Woooow! Amazing!'

The slime marveled at his agile movements, each flowing seamlessly into the next. At the same time, another new wish blossomed within it.

'I want to do that too!'

It wanted to move in exactly the same way. A longing to move as quickly, naturally, and skillfully as Fenrir burned within the slime.

[Squishy]▶Amazing! Amazing! Fast! Wow!

“Hehehe. Shall we wrap this up?”

Fenrir had kept an eye on the chat even while moving. Satisfied with the slime's reaction, he brought the demonstration to an end.

The White Boar didn't know what to do now that Fenrir's movements had suddenly become so sharp, unlike before. While it floundered, Fenrir's Body Slam struck home.

WHAAAM!

OIIIIIIINK!

Hit squarely in the torso, the White Boar went flying violently the instant they collided. It flew with such tremendous force that it broke three trees. Unsurprisingly, by the time it lay sprawled on the ground, it was already dead.

“Did you see that, Squishy? Try doing it like this next time!”

[Squishy]▶Okay! Slam First Ask Later! Amazing!

“Bwahahahahaha!”

Fenrir basked in the innocent slime's cheers and admiration. But he had no idea that when he returned home in high spirits, his wife would be waiting, sulking because he'd ignored her and gone out.

+++

And now, back to the present.

The slime had fully adjusted to controlling its body's strength and had come very close to matching the movements of Fenrir that it so wanted to imitate. With just a little more practice, it could call them mastered. Where it had once caught a deer only once in ten attempts, it could now catch one eight times out of ten.

Perhaps because it had grown accustomed to hunting, the slime's dissatisfaction grew as it longed to see new scenery. That wish was reflected in its stream title.

The slime had stopped streaming once to watch Fenrir's stream. When his stream ended, the system asked whether it wanted to start streaming again. Listening to that voice, the slime learned something new: there was a “Change Stream Title” feature.

And now, the slime's new stream title was no longer “I Want to See,” but “I Want to Leave.”

Viewers had been dropping by less often because the slime's stream kept repeating the same routine. The first title change in a while caught a few viewers' attention.

[Squishy Queen]▶My kin! What do you mean, you want to leave?

▶You wanna quit monster life? lmaooo

[Free Spirit]▶??? Something happen?

The Slime Queen, a troll, and the Smartass entered the stream in response to the title.

▷All the same!

[Squishy Queen]▶The same? What is?

▷Forest! All the same! Forest! Want to leave! Want to see something different!

[Free Spirit]▶You meant you wanna leave the forest?

[Squishy Queen]▶Oh, is that all?

The Slime Queen was relieved that, at least, it wasn't anything serious. The Smartass also immediately understood the situation.

'Well, that forest really was ridiculously big. Besides, there are hardly any monsters around.'

The forest surrounding the elf village, commonly known as the Green Elf Forest, was one of the largest forests on the Dersia continent. Trained elves also patrolled it regularly. Unless a monster was so weak it wasn't worth dealing with, like a slime, they attacked every monster they saw. As a result, the monsters living in the Green Elf Forest stayed on its outskirts, far from the elf village.

'It's definitely been more than a week since Squishy left the elf forest...'

After mentally calculating the slime's movement speed against the size of the elf forest, the Smartass typed into the chat.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy! Don't worry. You'll be out of the forest soon.

▷Wow! Really?

[Free Spirit]▶Yep. Keep going straight and you'll see what's outside the forest. But there's something to watch out for.

▷Watch out?

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, you've seen elves, right?

▷Elves! Saw them!

[Free Spirit]▶Then you'll also see these guys called humans who look kinda like elves.

▷Humans?

'Whew. I hope Squishy listens.'

The Smartass couldn't easily predict how Squishy would react. It was so innocent. Hoping fervently for the response he wanted, he continued typing.

[Free Spirit]▶Humans might attack you, Squishy! So it's best to avoid them if you meet any!

[Squishy Queen]▶Yes, well said, Smartass. My kin is still weak. So it's best to avoid those humans if you encounter them!

The Smartass and the Slime Queen offered their advice out of concern for the slime. But the advice didn't really sink in. After all, the first elf it had met had given it deer blood and jerky.

'Look like elves? Humans! Then they're good!'

Squishy found it hard to imagine humans who looked like elves attacking it.

▷Really attack?

[Free Spirit]▶They might attack. They might ignore you. But if they attack, it's best to avoid them if you can! Still, if you have to, you can attack too, Slime!

Avoiding them was best, but if it had no choice, it needed to fight back. Since the slime could bring down a deer in one hit, the Smartass figured it could easily defeat an ordinary person or a novice adventurer.

[Free Spirit]▶But there's one rule you absolutely have to follow! Never forget this!

▷Rule to follow?

The Smartass gave the slime the advice he'd long been meaning to offer.

[Free Spirit]▶Even if you beat them, don't eat humans! Seriously, don't eat them! You'll be in big trouble!

▷Big trouble?

[Squishy Queen]▶? Smartass, what trouble could eating humans cause?

The Slime Queen questioned the Smartass's advice. Having come from the Demon Continent and encountered humans only through streams, she didn't understand the situation he was worried about.

[Free Spirit]▶If another human happens to see Squishy eating a human, it'll be bad! Every human could instantly become your enemy!

[Squishy Queen]▶What? Is that true?

▶Oh lmao yeah, those nasty human bastards do that.

▶They unite over the weirdest fucking shit lmaooo

▶They're not even the ones getting eaten, but eat some other human and they immediately take it personally and lose their fucking minds. Yep.

▶They kill each other all the fucking time, then throw a fit over this. Selective group-P bastards. Seriously disgusting lmaooo

▶Secondeddddd

▶Thirdeddddd

The Smartass's advice still didn't quite make sense to the slime, but seeing the chat's reaction, it decided it shouldn't do it.

'Humans! Don't eat! Dangerous! Big trouble!'

It still trusted the chat, so the slime decided to accept the advice.

Then, thirty minutes later, a living creature appeared before the slime as it continued on its way. It had green skin and yellow eyes with vertical slits. It was bigger than the slime, with pointed ears and arms and legs shaped much like an elf's. Even the slime could tell it wasn't an elf, but it would be hard to say there was no resemblance at all. The moment it saw the creature, the slime asked the chat.

▷That! Human?

[Free Spirit]▶That's a goblin.

▶Lmaooooo

▶It called a goblin a human lmaooo

▶Ahahahaha

▶They do have a lot in common though lol

The innocent slime's question sent the chat into another fit of laughter.