[Slam First Ask Later]▶Hahaha! Good! Those are fine eyes, full of determination!

▶Eyes? On a slime? lmaooo

[Slam First Ask Later]▶I can see the eyes of Squishy's soul!

▶“Eyes of its soul,” my ass

▶This old guy wasn't like this before. Has he lost it today?

▶Come to think of it, didn't you confidently announce you were teaching your sons your techniques?

The bone dragon recalled how Slam First Ask Later had once boldly declared on his stream that he would give his children an education for the gifted.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Don't even bring up my kids. Fuck.

▶Oh.

▶This wolf lmao getting ostracized by his own family lmaooo

▶Dad... you smell stale. Go away...

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Shut up!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my, are you struggling with family discord? Would you like some counseling? My children and I get along sooo well.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶You shut up too!!!

▶Hnn, Mommy... I wanna get along with you too...

▶“Mommy,” my ass

▶But does that warmth actually feel nice? (Never experienced it)

Fenrir ignored the interference directed at him.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Squishy! Back to your slamming lessons!

▷Yeah! I wanna learn!

His username was Slam First Ask Later. Fenrir, also known as the legendary wolf, absolutely loved the slime's eagerness.

Seeing that enthusiasm, he could ignore whatever bullshit the trolls threw at him.

But he couldn't do the same with the wounds of his past.

'Sigh... If only my own kids were like this...'

Fenrir suddenly recalled his children's reactions when he had offered to teach them Body Slam himself.

["Too much hassle."]

["Do we really need lessons for every little thing? Just go bite them apart."]

["Mom! What's for dinner tonight?"]

His children found it a nuisance, saw no need to learn, or went even further and simply ignored him.

'I spoiled them too much.'

Whenever he lost patience and tried to force them to learn...

["Honey! Why do you keep nagging the children? They'll learn on their own if they need to!"]

His wife would butt in from beside him and scold him instead.

'Urgh...!'

A proud, aloof creature, he could not vent on stream about the loneliness of being shunned by his children and nagged by his wife.

["Have you lost your mind?! What are you blabbing about on streeeam?!"]

SHRRRAK!

["Yelp!"]

If he complained like that, she would inevitably find out at once and rake her claws across his back.

'No, this is no time to think about that!'

After being rejected so often by his children, Fenrir wanted to pass on Body Slam, the skill he was most confident in—even if his pupil was a slime.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶All right, Squishy! You haven't learned the skill yet, have you?

▷Nope!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Then we'll start by acquiring Body Slam! Throw your body against the wall right now! Slam first! Body Slam is a very easy skill to learn just by doing that!

▷Okay!

▶Seriously, even I could give that advice.

▶How to learn Body Slam: Charge! Charge! Charge!

▶Yeah, that's honestly all there is to it

▶Would be fucking hilarious if it charged to its death lmaooo

▶Ugh, can someone get rid of this mood-killing asshole?

▶Secondeddddd

▶Ah, fuck, too late

As Fenrir instructed, the slime jumped toward the wall and slammed into it.

BOING! BOING! BOING!

Its soft yet slightly springy body rebounded off the wall. But even as it bounced away, the slime kept throwing itself against the wall without resting.

'This! Is fun!'

After repeating it several times, the slime was enjoying slamming its body against the wall.

▷It's fun! This! Is fun!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Aaaaaah! So cuuuute!

▶Lmao it's going boing boing lol

▶Isn't it usually supposed to go thud thud thud? lmaooo

▶Isn't that a Squishy Slam instead of a Body Slam? lmaoooo

[Noblesse Fire]▶Tsk, tsk. You think that's cute?

▶Emotionally barren much?

▶Oh, come on~ It says it's having fun~

▶For real lol

▶Can't deny it's fun~

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶What would a lizard that never leaves its room know?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Now this denture-wearing bastard is butting in and spewing bullshit!!!!

▶The old geezers are fighting again lol

[Squishy Queen]▶Indeed! What do you mean, cute? It is working so hard! You ought to be proud!

▶More like Slime Mommy than Slime Queen????

[Squishy Queen]▶Who are you calling Mommy?!

▶Hnnn, Mommy, gimme milkies...

▶We're proud AND it's cute~

[Slam First Ask Later]▶You've taken a liking to it! Excellent!

After bouncing against the wall about twenty times...

[Skill: Body Slam acquired.]

The slime acquired Body Slam.

The proof was immediate.

BOOOING!

It rebounded even more strongly when it struck the wall.

Delighted to have acquired Body Slam, the slime bounced up and down on the spot and reported to the chat.

▷Got it! Body Slam! I got it!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! Well done! But this is only the beginning, so keep up! I'll teach you how to slam better!

▷Yeah!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶That's the spirit!

▶Don't you just slam into things? How do you do it better? (Genuinely don't know)

▶You don't even know that? You see...

▶It's not yet time for you to know...

▶He's really having a blast.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶He hasn't mentioned his children on recent streams. Perhaps he was lonely because they wouldn't give him the time of day.

▶Why mate if your kids are just gonna fucking ignore you? (Genuinely don't know)

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Shut uuuuuup!!!!

▷This is fun!

+++

'Once again, it listens to someone else.'

Watching the slime, the Slime Queen had mixed feelings.

She had clearly been the first to tell it to become proficient in Body Slam. She had also intended to explain how.

But Fenrir had interrupted as she was about to do so. Before she knew it, that wolf was teaching the slime.

She had been ready to scold him immediately if his teaching methods proved worthless. Yet Fenrir's instruction was passionate, and his approach was one even the Slime Queen could approve of.

In fact, he was explaining things in greater detail than she had intended to.

She had only planned to warn the slime not to bounce too far away when using Body Slam. Fenrir, however, was teaching it timing, reaction speed, and even evasive techniques involving footwork.

For the sake of the slime's survival, she couldn't bring herself to interfere.

But that was one thing. Her resentment was another, and she couldn't simply ignore it.

'I, the Slime Queen, am falling behind in teaching a slime...'

The highest-ranking creatures were the strongest rulers of their respective species, not teachers.

Still, she was frustrated.

'Body Slam is only useful at the beginning, anyway! Later on, we don't even use it!'

An ordinary slime could do little more than Body Slam and absorb food. But once it grew and evolved, it could use a variety of skills.

The Slime Queen's own specialties were skills available upon evolving into a higher-ranking creature.

'Yes! All that matters is that my kin evolves! And if it wants fun, using a variety of skills will surely be more entertaining than Body Slam!'

Rather than resent being unable to teach the slime now, the Slime Queen decided to look forward to teaching it once it had grown further.

'Hehe. When that time comes, my kin will realize how remarkable I am!'

She intended to make the slime her conversation partner, but she also wanted to see it admire her.

+++

The Body Slam lessons continued for three days.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Well, that should do for now!

[Squishy Queen]▶I, too, think that is satisfactory.

▷Yay! Can I go outside now, then?

The slime rejoiced at Fenrir's words, and the Slime Queen's as well.

Practicing Body Slam so diligently had been fun in its own way, but what the slime most looked forward to was permission to go outside.

[Squishy Queen]▶Yes. You should be all right to go out now.

At least as far as the Slime Queen knew, no ordinary slime could move more nimbly than this one.

Anyone would consider it overprotective to insist it stay inside because it was still too dangerous.

Besides, she was beginning to want the slime to go out and show her the scenery beyond the cave.

'Then I should be able to guess where my kin is.'

Though her range of activity had shrunk considerably since she became the Slime Queen, she had learned the general geography by watching other monsters' streams.

If the slime was near her dwelling...

'Once it has grown enough, I ought to go and teach it myself.'

Unlike the others, she wanted to teach the slime in person rather than through chat, gaining an advantage in her relationship with it.

[Squishy Queen]▶Now, go outside the cave. See for yourself the world you have so longed to see.

▷Yeah!

The instant its queen, the Slime Queen, gave her permission, the slime answered and bounced toward the cave entrance it had located with Sensing.

Had it been traveling for about ten minutes?

At last, the slime made it outside the cave, just as it had so desperately wished.

'Wooooow...!'

A forest in vibrant shades of green and brown greeted the slime.

Still lacking vocal cords and unable to speak aloud, it shared its impressions through chat instead.

▷Amazing! Amazing! Wow! Wooooow!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my, oh my. Look how happy it is.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Ugh!!! The screen's shaking!!!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Doesn't that just show how delighted Squishy is?

[Free Spirit]▶Hey hey hey, Squishy made it outside?

Just then, the wisecracker entered the stream.

▶Yep, just escaped the cave

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy! Congrats on getting outside!

▷Thanks! Thanks! I'm happy!

[Free Spirit]▶You're responding fine even without donations now? Squishy! Turn all the way around and take a good look at your surroundings. I'll try to figure out where you are.

▷Turn?

The slime slowly turned its body as Free Spirit, the wisecracker, requested.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Free Spirit, can you tell where Squishy is? It looks like an ordinary forest to me.

▶Seriously, how can you tell?

[Free Spirit]▶Uh...

[Free Spirit]▶Wow. Squishy, you're farther away than I expected.

[Squishy Queen]▶Do you know where my kin is?

The viewers focused on what the wisecracker would say next.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, you're on the Dersia continent. Those trees and flowers around you only grow in Dersia.

"Wh-what?!"

The Slime Queen was horrified by the wisecracker's words.

'The Dersia continent... That's an entirely different continent!'

Her plan to visit the slime in person once it had grown enough had hit a major snag.

▶Dersia lmaoooo

▶Fucking hell difficulty lmaooo

▶Hell yeah! Now we're talking lol

▶Wow, fuck. Dersia's brutal for a slime

▷Dersia continent? What's that?

The wisecracker's words immediately piqued the slime's curiosity.

[Free Spirit]▶It's where you are right now, Squishy. Still, it's not a bad place. Lots of weak guys there,

Compared with the monsters of the Exper continent, home to the highest-ranking creatures, Dersia's monsters were incomparably weak.

That was because it had fewer of the highest-ranking creatures that ruled over their kind as they did in Exper. It also meant there were fewer monsters intelligent enough to stream.

[Squishy Queen]▶What do you mean, not a bad place? Even those weaklings will all be stronger than my kin is now!

▶For real lol

▶A continent full of scrubs (all stronger than a slime)

▶+It's crawling with those nasty human bastards

▶Wow... fuck

[Free Spirit]▶That's something Squishy has to handle on its own. I don't want Squishy to die either, but there's nothing I can do about this.

▶Yep yep, gotta survive on your own.

▶Life's all about the strong eating the weak~

▶Thought this was a chill stream, turns out it's a survival show lmao

A monster's life was always a matter of the strong preying on the weak.

If the slime wanted to survive, if it wanted to see more of the world as it wished, it had no choice but to grow stronger first.

[Free Spirit]▶So, Squishy! Sightseeing is great, but work hard at getting stronger too!

▷Yeah!

After its cheerful answer, the slime decided to be true to its own desires first.

That meant moving farther and seeing the world outside the cave.

Having spent its entire life in the cave until now, its desire to see more had grown even stronger than before.

Bouncing along excitedly, the slime explored the forest full of unknown wonders.

[Squishy Queen]▶Wait! Sensing! You are using Sensing properly as you go, aren't you?! You must detect danger in advance!

'Sensing!'

The Slime Queen's advice caught the slime's eye.

When it first used Sensing, it had gotten so excited that it expanded the range and suffered pain. It hadn't needed to use it for a while, busy as it had been practicing Body Slam.

The slime began moving with Sensing active, keeping its range small enough that it wouldn't hurt.

'Amazing! Fun!'

The world it saw with its own eyes as it moved, and the world it perceived through Sensing.

Experiencing the world in both ways at once was novel and delightful to the slime.

It was easy to tell from the stream that it was having a wonderful time.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh myyy~ Squishy is sooo cute when it's having fun.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Everything is new and exciting when you're that young.

[Noblesse Fire]▶For excitement, flying is the GOAT.

▶Yeah, flying's where the fun is. What do you ground-crawling bastards even live for?

▶The winged assholes are spouting bullshit again.

[Squishy Queen]▶Are you all right, my kin? Is there anything strange nearby?

As the viewers commented on its reactions, the slime detected something through Sensing that it had never felt before.