The moment a monster acquires a skill, it naturally understands what that skill is. The slime, too, immediately understood its newly acquired skill.

Sensing was an ability that heightened one's senses to their utmost, revealing nearby presences and terrain. Ordinarily, it was too early for such a young slime to acquire it. But having grown with a longing to see and feel the world, it had acquired the skill sooner than other slimes.

The slime used Sensing right away.

'Woooow...!'

The moment it activated the skill, it was moved all over again.

This sensation was different from seeing things with its own eyes. Every sense throughout its body worked together to tell it about the world it inhabited: the locations of countless patches of moss, the layout of its cave, the speed of the dripping water. For a slime eager to learn more about the world, no ability could have been more essential.

Delighted to learn about the world it had been so curious about, the slime bounced up and down on the spot.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my, has something good happened again?

▶Those little bounces are so cute (seriously cute).

▶Did you perhaps acquire a new skill?

▶Oh, can't pass up a new skill. Yep.

▶I got a new skill today too.

▶What is it?

▶Actually, I didn't, haha;;;;

▶Ugh. Blue.

▶Red.

▶Purple.

[Squishy Queen]▶A new skill... Then you have acquired Body Slam! But even if you have learned it, you must not venture outside until you are accustomed to using it!

Two viewers who had been watching the slime continuously, and another who had been watching several screens at once, noticed its behavior.

At first, the slime had been so busy expressing its joy that it barely read the chat, saying only what it wanted to say. Unless a message came with a donation, it had struggled to pay attention. This time, however, it watched the chat closely from the start.

▷Skill! I learned one!

▶So it was for real.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my! Looks like you really did get a skill!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶You're paying attention this time without us having to send a message, Squishy.

▶Squishy seems to grow every single day. Yep.

As the heartwarming chat continued, another viewer joined in—someone who had kept the stream open all along.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Fuck, can't something be done about getting kicked just for saying the right thing?

▶Welcome back, boomer grandpa.

▶This toothless old geezer got kicked from the reverse-scale stream again for backseating lmaooo.

▶Lmao, is this the spirit of never giving up?

▶He actually enjoys getting kicked. Yep.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Tsk, tsk, tsk. Going around bragging to everyone that you got kicked.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Can't I even complain? Fuck, this bag of bones with holes everywhere is talking shit again.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶My bone density is exceptionally high.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Bone density, my ass lmaoooo.

[Squishy Queen]▶If all you intend to do is chatter, both of you get out! Now! You acquired a skill? Was it Body Slam?

The slime answered the Slime Queen enthusiastically.

▷No!

[Squishy Queen]▶No?

▷Sensing! I got it!

[Squishy Queen]▶Sensing?

'It has acquired that already? Is this also possible because it possesses intelligence?'

The first skills young slimes usually acquired were Jumping or Body Slam. Sensing was a skill acquired by more experienced slimes when they needed more information to survive.

'It really is different from other slimes.'

Different from the slimes that merely obeyed her words, with no will of their own.

The Slime Queen imagined the little slime grown up, becoming a companion she could talk to, the two of them relieving each other's boredom.

"Hehe."

That future was still a long way off, but she could not help looking forward to it.

'For that to happen...'

She would have to guide this young slime down the right path. Of course, she did not mean forcing it to act as she wished. That would make it no different from the other slimes. She would respect its wishes as much as possible, but...

'Surely it must stay alive first for any of that to be possible.'

When it came to survival, she intended to offer her advice and opinions without hesitation.

It was while she was thinking this that it happened.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Huh? Squishy? Are you okay?

▶?????

[Noblesse Fire]▶What the hell? What's wrong with it?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶This doesn't look good.

The Slime Queen noticed the alarming mood in the chat.

"Wh-what! What has happened in that brief moment?"

She immediately looked at the screen.

The slime's body was trembling. Rather than bouncing joyfully, it looked wrong somehow. The Slime Queen knew what that trembling meant. It was the tremor that appeared on the exceedingly rare occasions when a slime felt pain.

[Squishy Queen]▶What is wrong! Why are you in pain! Tell me!

[Noblesse Fire]▶What, it's in pain? What did it even do to hurt itself?

▷It hurts...

Just as the Slime Queen had suspected, the slime was suffering.

[Squishy Queen]▶Where! Why does it hurt!

▷It hurts inside...

[Squishy Queen]▶Inside?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Does it mean its core hurts?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Squishy is far too young to be suffering like this.

▶Babies shouldn't hurt...

▶What do we do, what do we do~

▶But seriously, why is it suddenly hurting? (Actually don't know.)

The Slime Queen began considering why the slime was in such pain. It hurt inside. As one viewer had said, slimes felt pain when their cores were damaged or something went wrong with their souls. But there was no one in the cave except the slime. That meant it was suffering because of something it had done itself.

'Could it be!'

[Squishy Queen]▶Are you still using Sensing? If so, stop using it at once! That should do it! Hurry!

[Noblesse Fire]▶What? Sensing is making it hurt?

▶For real????

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Can Sensing cause pain?

▷It hurts...

There was no time to answer the others' questions. Thinking that the pain might be preventing the slime from paying proper attention to chat, the Slime Queen immediately used a donation message.

▶[Squishy Queen has donated 10 coins]

▶[Message: Stop using Sensing right now! Then it will no longer hurt!]

A short while after the Slime Queen sent her message:

▷It doesn't hurt! When I don't use Sensing, it doesn't hurt!

The slime bounced happily, delighted that the pain was gone.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What the hell, using Sensing really was hurting it?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Even looking so frail, it's such a cutie-wutie~

▶Lady, doesn't talking like that make you hate yourself?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶If I catch you, you're fucking dead, got it?

▶Got under your skin, huh, lady? Lmaooo.

While viewers watched the bouncing slime with warm affection, some were puzzled by what had happened.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hmm, feeling pain from Sensing. How curious.

[Squishy Queen]▶That is because the Sensing slimes use differs from the Sensing other monsters use!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Sensing is Sensing. What's different about it?

[Squishy Queen]▶Other creatures have separate organs for their respective senses.

[Squishy Queen]▶But a slime experiences every sense through a single body.

[Squishy Queen]▶Thus, when we use Sensing, we become more sensitive and can feel more.

Some viewers pounced like hyenas on the word “sensitive” in the Slime Queen's explanation.

▶Oooh~

▶How sensitive are we talking???

▶Slimes are sensitive... The Slime Queen is even more sensitive... Taking notes...

[Squishy Queen]▶What are you taking notes on! If this were my room, I would kick you at once!

▶Can't do anything, can you? Can't kick us because it's not your room, can you? Lmaoooo.

▶Haaah, Squishy babe's sensitive body...

[Noblesse Fire]▶But even if it feels more, does that really make it hurt?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶I was wondering that myself.

▶At that point, isn't it an ocean sunfish instead of a slime?

The Slime Queen grew frustrated at the reactions of those who failed to understand and were too busy teasing her.

[Squishy Queen]▶Think! When you concentrate, Sensing's range expands! But you do not expand it farther than necessary! Why do you suppose that is!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Because there's no particular need to expand it more.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶You only need to check whether your surroundings are safe.

[Squishy Queen]▶Exactly! But this little one of my kind is a bundle of curiosity!

[Squishy Queen]▶It wanted to go outside to learn more about the world, oblivious to the danger! What do you think would happen once Sensing let it learn even more!

Only when the Slime Queen began explaining in detail did the chat start to understand. To the slime, no information was unnecessary. If anything, expanding its range through concentration meant it could learn more about the world without seeing it directly. So rather than limiting its range, it had expanded it as far as it could.

Unlike other species, it sensed information with its entire body rather than concentrating it in a particular organ, so even more information poured in. The farther it expanded Sensing, the greater that flood became, until its little body could no longer process it all. That was what had caused the pain.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Squishy, how much did you learn by using Sensing?

The bone dragon asked the slime, which was celebrating the disappearance of its pain, to confirm the explanation.

▷The cave! I learned about it! I'm happy!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶I see. Then when did it start hurting?

▷Learning about the cave made me happy! I wanted to know more! I wanted to know about outside too! Because I can't go out yet!

▷I tried to learn about outside! That's when it hurt!

In short, unable to go outside itself, it had tried to extend Sensing beyond the cave—and that had caused this whole mess.

▶So using Sensing really did make it hurt.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Well, damn. Even if you know nothing, don't you normally stop when it hurts?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶It probably didn't know Sensing was the cause.

▶Waaah, I'm a baby slime! It hurts but I don't know why! I'm not turning Sensing off!

Then the wisecracker appeared in the chat.

▶What happened? Did Squishy nearly die?

▶Yep, nearly fucking died from using Sensing too much.

[Free Spirit]▶Lmaooo, Squishy is entertaining in all sorts of unpredictable ways.

▶Unpredictable entertainment -> let your guard down and die. Yep.

▶This wisecracking bastard's personality lmao.

[Squishy Queen]▶What do you find so entertaining!

'I was on tenterhooks!'

As the Slime Queen heaved a deep sigh, the slime typed into chat.

▷I'm curious! I'm curious! Squishy Queen, I'm curious!

'Hm?'

She had wondered if it could be, but it really was asking for her by username.

'It has something to ask me?'

At the thought that the slime was curious about her, the corners of the Slime Queen's mouth lifted. It had singled her out first, rather than anyone else, to ask its question.

'Yes, it seems you too consider me someone you can rely upon!'

Deep down, the Slime Queen had still been dwelling on how it had responded to the wisecracker's words rather than hers. But now that the slime had singled her out, that resentment vanished completely.

[Squishy Queen]▶Yes! What are you curious about! Ask me anything!

▶My measurements are a se-cret♡

▶The slime's a tiny newbie streamer, so the trolls are running wild.

▶It's refreshing. I actually like it.

▷When can I go out? I want to go out! I want to know more! Do I grow more? How much?

The slime's question delighted the Slime Queen even more. After all, it had asked her, not the wisecracker.

'Hmph! Look at that, wisecracker! You merely spoke at a level my kin could understand! In the end, it is me my kin relies upon!'

The slime had simply addressed the last username it saw to ask its question, but the Slime Queen had no way of knowing that. In any case, she smiled and answered.

[Squishy Queen]▶You seem eager to go outside, but you must not rush. You learned Sensing, yes?

▷Yes! I learned it! But using it hurts...

[Squishy Queen]▶That is because you used it over too wide a range. If you keep to the range you used at first, it will not hurt.

▷Really?

[Squishy Queen]▶Really. And if you wish to leave the cave, wait until you can at least use Body Slam proficiently.

Body Slam was the greatest weapon an ordinary slime could wield. Whether a slime could use it made a tremendous difference to its chances of survival.

'If I had my way, I would let it use the coin shop immediately, but...'

One of the system's features was the coin shop. Monsters could earn coins by undergoing substantial growth, defeating an “enemy,” or defeating a monster that possessed coins. Once a certain number of those coins accumulated, the system unlocked the shop feature. The shop sold food, healing that could be used only once a day, and skills the buyer's species could learn.

If the Slime Queen donated enough coins to unlock the shop, the slime could acquire several skills immediately. But she believed she must not do that.

'Did Sensing alone not cause this debacle?'

The slime still could not distinguish what was dangerous or what it should not do. The Slime Queen believed she must not let it unlock the shop feature until it had at least developed a proper awareness of safety.

▷Body Slam! How do I use it?

Just as the Slime Queen was about to advise it to try slamming its body into the cave wall...

▶[Slam First Ask Later has donated 10 coins.]

▶[Message: Time for a fucking master of slamming like me to step up.]

A viewer who, like the wisecracker, had left partway through and returned confidently interjected. The viewer with the username “Slam First Ask Later” spoke with assurance.

▶Who are you?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶A fucking expert. A master of slamming.

▶The guy who posts slamming videos all the time. Yep.

▶What, just a wolf with nothing better to do? Lmao.

▶Shouldn't a fucking wolf be better at biting?

▶For real lmao.

▶Happy! Bite!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know nothing about wolves!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Body Slam is a wolf's true specialty!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶I burst every last one of those Sword Master bastards who invaded my home to skin me.

▶Fuck up those nasty human bastards. Nice.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Squishy! If you want to learn the true essence of Body Slam, I'll teach you!