'I thought I only had to guide them on the first day and today!'

Gracie Frail felt as though she had been struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky.

Welcome the visiting Saintess and Paladin as a proud descendant of The Mage of a Thousand Spells, and give them a brief tour? That was something Gracie had actually wanted to do.

Show them around the Mage Tower the next day and take them to its master? That wouldn't take long, so she didn't mind.

But look after the two of them for their entire month-long stay? Now that was a problem.

In Gracie's eyes, Amelia was a good person. Even when an ordinary(?) magical accident occurred, she went to treat the injured herself instead of leaving it to someone else. Clearly, she wasn't the sort to ignore other people's wounds or suffering.

But right now, that very disposition made Gracie uneasy.

The tower master had already told her why the Saintess and her Paladin had come: the Saintess was to further her growth by helping the Mage Tower and honing her abilities.

What would she need to grow as a Saintess? The first things Gracie could think of were saving more people in trouble and treating more injured people.

And what if Amelia called for Gracie every single day because she wanted to save more people?

'M-my research...!'

She might lose all her research time for an entire month.

Gracie, in particular, did her research in bursts of intense concentration. If someone suddenly called for her or some errand interrupted her focus, it was terribly difficult to regain it that day.

She had improved her abilities through magical devices, but to keep receiving the support payments given to her family, she had to prove she was an excellent mage through her knowledge as well as her skill.

Already struggling lately to choose a paper topic on magic performed using magical devices, Gracie fervently prayed to herself.

'Please don't let the Saintess call for me too often!'

+++

After their meeting with the tower master, Amelia, Paulen, and the slime returned to the villa.

"Haah."

"Why are you sighing the moment we get back?"

"Because I still don't really know how I'm supposed to spend this month here."

"What's so complicated about it? You can take a leisurely walk near the Mage Tower every day, and offer a healing hand whenever an accident occurs."

"A walk every day...!"

"If you start worrying about even that, you'll never get started, Amelia."

While Amelia and Paulen talked, the slime climbed down from Amelia's hand and headed for the kitchen with a bounce.

'Water!'

"Quivery?"

Hopping along, the slime grabbed the water-producing magical device in the kitchen with a tentacle and switched it on.

CLICK!

SHHHHH!

Water poured into the pot.

'It's water!'

The slime quivered excitedly.

Last night and this morning, the slime had used the magical device to help Amelia cook. It had discovered the joy of working together with someone to make food.

But even more enjoyable was the feeling of using a "tool."

Having always moved and fought with nothing but its own body, the slime found using tools with its newly acquired tentacles fresh and exciting.

Dumbbells were tools too, of course, but lifting and lowering them was simply a way to train itself. That felt quite different from activating a magical device itself.

"Quivery, we're not cooking yet."

Amelia thought the slime might be getting things ready, assuming they were going to cook again.

But...

CLICK!

CLICK!

CLICK!

"Quivery?"

She tilted her head as she watched the slime switch the device off and on at regular intervals.

"It looks like Quivery has gotten a taste for using magical devices."

"A taste for magical devices?"

"Yes. Doesn't it look like a child playing with a toy for the first time?"

"Uh..."

'It does look that way, doesn't it?'

"Or, to put it another way, like someone working out with dumbbells for the first time!"

"Did you really need to give that example? ... But is it all right to keep running it like that? It'll use up the magic stone."

"The magic stones it uses aren't very expensive, so it should be fine. Besides, Quivery is clever. It won't do anything dangerous with it."

It was still morning. With nothing in particular to do, the two left the slime to play with the magical device and spent some time on their own.

Amelia went to her room to read scripture, while Paulen went into the garden for some light sword training.

Left alone in the kitchen, the slime continued playing with the magical device.

CLICK!

SHHHH!

The slime quivered, turning the water on and off over and over. It was having fun, but most of the viewers found the scene boring.

▶Is that all there is to do?

▶Training with the muscle human is more fun, for real.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy's having fun, so what's the problem~?

▶So what? I'm bored!

▶But is turning that thing on actually fun? (Genuinely asking.)

▶Oh, it's overflowing.

With water continuing to pour in, the pot was about to overflow.

'Overflow!'

Even the slime, engrossed in using the magical device, noticed when it saw the water about to spill out.

'Can't overflow!'

Living with humans had naturally taught the slime that it shouldn't make a mess.

So it set down the magical device, grabbed the pot's handles with its tentacles, and hoisted its body up. Then it calmly lowered itself, and the moment its body touched the water...

SLUUURP!

The slime absorbed the water as it descended into the pot.

▶Lmao what is that hahaha

▶Water overflowing? Easy~ Just suck it up~.

▶Isn't Squishy going to get cooked in that pot?

[Squishy Queen]▶Do not say such ominous things, you insolent creature!

'Done!'

Having solved the overflowing-water problem, the slime decided to try using the magical device in a different way.

Using Sensing to locate the device outside the pot, it stretched out a tentacle and picked it up again.

CLICK!

SHHHHH!

It held the magical device overhead, switched it on, and let the water fall onto it.

'Water wash!'

The slime was recreating its bath with Amelia using the magical device. Whenever the pot began to fill, it only had to absorb the water, so it thoroughly enjoyed the sensation of water raining down on it.

It was having so much fun that it never thought to turn the switch off.

SHHHH...

'Huh? No water!'

The slime had used the magical device until all the mana in the magic stone ran out.

▷No water coming out!

Wanting to ask for a solution, the slime used the chat.

▶What's up? Bath time over?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Isn't the water supposed to keep coming out?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hoho, it seems the magic stone has run out of mana.

'Magic stone ran out?'

The slime brought the device closer and examined it. Its mana was depleted, but the magic stone was still firmly in place inside.

▷Magic stone here!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶The magic stone is there, Squishy, but its mana has run out.

▷Mana ran out?

[Free Spirit]▶I'll explain!

When the slime tilted its body, unable to understand the bone dragon's words, Smartass stepped in to explain.

Just because Smartass belonged to the natural-magic camp didn't mean he knew nothing about magical devices. In fact, seeing the slime take an interest in something related to magic made him all the more eager to offer a patient explanation.

Fortunately, the slime could understand his explanation. Magic stones contained something called mana, and magical devices operated by using that mana. It was like the slime using a skill, for example. The power it used to stretch its tentacles farther was mana.

With that easy-to-follow explanation, the slime understood.

'Not enough mana! Need mana!'

It needed mana to keep using the magical device.

And with simple innocence, the slime thought of a way. Magical devices used mana to work. Magic stones contained mana. It used mana when it used its skills, too. It had mana.

So wouldn't the device work if it used its own mana?

'Mana!'

The slime immediately put its idea into action. It opened the cover over the magic-stone compartment and put a tentacle inside.

'Mana!'

Then it tried to move the power it used to extend its tentacles—the power it used for Bounce Jumping—into its tentacle without expending that mana.

'Mmmmm~!'

But it didn't go smoothly at first. The slime knew what using mana felt like, but moving it freely to wherever it wanted wasn't easy.

Still, it kept trying without giving up. It repeatedly shortened and lengthened its tentacle, trying to work out how the mana moved.

And with each attempt, it gradually got the hang of it.

'Mana!'

HUMMMM!

At last, the slime managed to concentrate its mana at the tip of the tentacle inside the magic-stone compartment.

At that moment, it felt something tugging at the mana gathered in its tentacle.

'Magical device!'

There was no need to puzzle over it. The device's switch was on, and it was trying to draw in mana.

The device couldn't absorb the slime's mana right away. Though the slime had learned to move mana into its tentacle, it hadn't yet learned how to release the mana it gathered.

But that didn't discourage it.

'Mmmmmm~!'

Just as it had when trying to move its mana, the slime now willed and worked to let the device absorb the mana it had gathered.

It pictured sending that gathered mana outside its body. Sending it toward the magical device that was trying to absorb it.

The slime tried again and again.

And at last, its efforts bore fruit.

[You have acquired the skill: Mana Manipulation.]

The system's voice announced its new skill.

The mana concentrated in its tentacle streamed toward the magical device, which absorbed it.

SHHHHH!

'It's water!'

The slime quivered and bounced.

SPLASH!

As water made with its own mana rained down on it, quivering wasn't enough to express its delight. It hopped around inside the pot, splashing as it went.

▶Why's water coming out? Didn't you say it ran out of mana?

▶Didn't Squishy put mana into it?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Is that why you were sitting still all that time? Wondered what you were up to again.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Wow! Squishy, it looks like you can use mana however you want now! Congratulations!

[Squishy Queen]▶Any member of my kin can naturally do this much!

Mana was something very familiar to monsters. After all, they needed it to use their skills, which were indispensable to life in the wild and frequently used.

As a result, the monsters merely saw this as the slime getting better at using its skills.

But one viewer was utterly shocked by what the slime had done.

'Wh-what on earth did you just do, Squishy? The others don't know anything about magical devices, so they don't even understand what you've done!'

It was Smartass.

'That's far beyond simply using a skill!'

Once a human mage and now a lich, Smartass understood what the slime had just done, and was aghast.

'It activated a device that runs on magic stones by injecting pure mana instead of using a stone? That level of mana manipulation is something only a high-level mage can manage!'