The moment a monster acquires a skill, it naturally understands what that skill is.
And the slime immediately understood the new skill it had acquired.
Detection is an ability that maximizes one’s senses to perceive surrounding presence and terrain.
Normally, it’s too early for a young slime to acquire such a skill.
However, because it had grown with a strong desire to see and feel the world, it was able to obtain it faster than other slimes.
The slime, having acquired Detection, used the skill right away.
“Wooooow...!”
The moment it used the skill, the slime was once again moved.
A sensation different from seeing with one’s eyes.
Every sense in the slime’s body was activated, feeding it information about the world around it.
The distribution of countless moss patches, the structure of the cave it was in, and the speed of the dripping water.
It was the most necessary ability for a slime eager to learn more about the world.
Overjoyed to finally know the world it had longed to understand, the slime bounced in place.
[Thread-Lady] Oh my, did something good happen again?
▶The way you’re bouncing is just so kawaii (like, seriously cute)!
▶Could it be that you’ve acquired a new skill?
▶Ohh, new skill? Can’t miss that! oo
▶I also got a new skill today
▶What is it?
▶Actually nothing lol;;;
▶Ugh.
▶Aka.
▶Murasaki.
[Squishy Queen] ▶A new skill... Then you must’ve acquired Body Slam! However, just because you’ve learned a skill doesn’t mean you can go outside until you’re used to it!
Two people who had been watching the slime, along with one more watching multiple screens, noticed the slime’s behavior.
At first, the slime was so busy expressing its joy that it didn’t properly read the chat and only said what it wanted.
It usually couldn’t focus unless it was a donation message.
But this time, it paid attention to the chat from the start.
▷Skill! I got one!
▶It really was ㅇㅇ
[Thread-Lady] ▶Oh my! Looks like you really got a skill!
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶This time, you’re watching the messages properly even without a donation, Squishy.
▶Squishy seems to be growing every day oo
While heartwarming messages filled the chat, another person joined.
Someone who had been watching the stream the whole time entered the chat.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶Wtf, can’t you do something about getting kicked just for saying the truth?
▶Hello, boomer grandpa.
▶This old fossil got kicked again for backseating in the rage channel lololol
▶Lmaoo is this your never-give-up spirit?
▶Honestly, I think he enjoys getting banned oo
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶Tsk tsk tsk. Bragging about getting banned, huh?
[Noblesse Fire] ▶Can’t even complain? This hollow-boned geezer’s going nuts again.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶My bone density is very high, thank you.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶Bone density? lmao lololol
[Squishy Queen] ▶If you’re just going to chatter, both of you be gone! So! You got a skill? Was it Body Slam?
At the Slime Queen’s question, the slime answered energetically.
▷No!
[Squishy Queen] ▶No?
▷Detection! I got it!
[Squishy Queen] ▶Detection?
'It already got that? Is it possible because it’s intelligent?'
Normally, the first skills young slimes acquire are either Jump or Body Slam.
Detection is a skill acquired by slimes who’ve gained more experience and need more information to survive.
'As expected, it’s different from the other slimes.'
It was unlike the other slimes who just followed orders without will of their own.
The Slime Queen imagined a future where this grown-up slime would be her conversation partner, easing each other’s boredom.
—Hehe.
That day was still far off, but she couldn’t help being excited.
'To make that happen...'
She needed to guide this young slime down the right path.
Of course, that didn’t mean forcing it to follow her will.
That would make it no different from the others.
So she intended to respect the slime’s will as much as possible.
'But I can only do that if it survives first.'
She planned to give frank advice and opinions when it came to survival.
Just as she was thinking that—
[Thread-Lady] Huh? Squishy? Are you okay?
▶?????
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ What the—what’s wrong with it?
[Gothic Luxury Bon] ▶ Something feels off about this...
The strange atmosphere in the chat window caught the Slime Queen’s attention.
—Wh-what?! What happened already?!
The Slime Queen immediately looked at the screen.
The slime was trembling.
Not from joy or excitement—something seemed wrong.
The Slime Queen knew what that trembling meant.
It was the kind of trembling that only appeared when a slime was in serious pain—a rare occurrence.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What is it?! Why are you in pain?! Tell me!
[Noblesse Fire] What? In pain? What did it even do to be in pain?
▷It hurts...
Just as the Slime Queen suspected, the slime was suffering.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Where?! Why does it hurt?!
▷Inside... it hurts...
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Inside?
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Do you think it means its core hurts?
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Poor baby Squishy, getting sick at this age is too soon.
▶Babies shouldn’t get hurt...
▶Omo omo~
▶Wait but seriously, why is it suddenly hurting? (No clue fr)
The Slime Queen began pondering why the slime was in such pain.
'It hurts inside.'
As one viewer mentioned, slimes feel pain when their core is damaged or when their soul is affected.
But there was no one in the cave besides the slime itself.
Which meant—it was likely suffering from something it had done to itself.
‘No way!’
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Don’t tell me you’ve been using Detection continuously? If so, stop using it immediately! That should fix it! Hurry!
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Wait, it’s hurting because of Detection?
►????
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Can Detection even cause pain?
▷It huuuurts...
There was no time to respond to everyone’s doubts.
Thinking the slime might not be able to concentrate on chat because of the pain, the Slime Queen decided to use a donation message.
[Squishy Queen has donated 10 coins.]
[Message: Stop using Detection right now! That will stop the pain!]
Shortly after the Slime Queen’s message was sent—
▷It doesn’t hurt! It stopped hurting when I stopped using Detection!
The slime bounced with joy at the disappearance of pain.
[Noblesse Fire] What the, ㅇㅇ it was really hurting from using Detection?
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Even that weak side of yours is adorable~.
▶Auntie, don’t you feel embarrassed using words like that?
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Say that again and you’re dead.
▶Oof, auntie’s triggered lolol
While some were warmly watching the slime hop around in relief, others in the chat were puzzled.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Hmm... Feeling pain from using Detection? That’s... unusual.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ That’s because the Detection skill a slime uses is different from that of other monsters!
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Detection is Detection. What’s different about it?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Other monsters likely have different organs that receive stimuli.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ But slimes feel everything through a single body.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ That’s why, when a slime uses Detection, it feels more and becomes more sensitive to everything.
At the word “sensitive” in the Slime Queen’s explanation, a few viewers pounced like hyenas.
▶Ooooh~
▶Just how sensitive???
▶Slimes are sensitive... but Slime Queen is even more sensitive... noted...
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What are you taking notes on?! If this were my room, you'd be banned on the spot!
▶Can’t do anything, huh? Not your room, so no bans either? Lololol
▶Heuuung, Squishy Queen-noona’s sensitive body...
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Even if you feel more, does it really have to hurt?
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ That part confuses me too.
▶At this rate, isn’t it more of a sunfish than a slime?
Frustrated by the teasing and lack of understanding, the Slime Queen responded.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Think, will you?! The more you concentrate while using Detection, the wider the range you can sense! But you don’t usually expand it too much! And why is that?!
[Noblesse Fire] Because... there’s no real need to?
[Thread-Lady] ▶ You only need to check if the surroundings are safe, after all.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Exactly! But this one—this slime—is a bundle of curiosity!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ It doesn’t even realize the danger and wants to go outside, and now that it can learn more about the world using Detection, what do you think it did?!
As the Slime Queen explained in more detail, the viewers in the chat finally started to understand.
There is no such thing as useless information for a slime.
Rather, if it can expand its focus, it can learn more about the world even without seeing it directly.
That’s why the slime didn’t limit its range—instead, it expanded it to the maximum.
Unlike other species, which process information through specific organs, the slime receives information through its entire body, so it absorbs much more.
The wider the Detection range grew, the more overwhelming the influx of information became, and the small slime’s body couldn’t handle it, resulting in pain.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Squishy, how much did you learn using Detection?
The dragon asked the slime, who was happily celebrating the end of its pain.
▷The cave! I learned about the cave! I'm happy!
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ I see. Then when did the pain start?
▷I was happy to learn about the cave! I wanted to learn more! I wanted to know about outside the cave too! But I can't go out yet!
▷So I tried to learn about outside the cave! That’s when it hurt!
In short—
Because it couldn’t leave the cave, the slime had tried to expand its Detection range beyond the cave, and that’s what caused the problem.
▶ㅇㅇ So it was pain from using Detection.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Tch, even if you don’t know anything, don’t most people stop when it starts to hurt?
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ It likely didn’t realize Detection was the cause.
▶Goo goo, I’m a baby slime! It hurts, but I don’t know! I won’t stop using Detection!
Then, the troll popped into the chat.
▶Wait, what? Did Squishy almost die?
▶ㅇㅇ Nearly died from using Detection too much.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Lmaooo Squishy always brings unexpected fun.
▶Unexpected fun → lets your guard down → dies ㅇㅇ
▶Troll’s personality = trash lolol
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What’s so funny about this?!
‘I was worried sick!’
As the Slime Queen let out a deep sigh—
The slime typed into the chat.
▷ Curious! I’m curious! Squishy Queen, I’m curious!
‘Huh?’
Could it be? It really was a message directly addressing her nickname.
‘You’re curious about me?’
Hearing that the slime had curiosity toward her made the Slime Queen’s lips curl upward in a smile.
It had directly chosen to speak to her, and no one else.
‘So, you think I’m reliable, huh!’
Deep down, the Slime Queen had been bothered by the slime responding more to the troll than to her.
But that slight annoyance was completely wiped away the moment the slime addressed her directly.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ All right! What are you curious about? Ask me anything!
▶My three sizes are a secret ♡
▶Because the slime’s a newbie, it’s chaos in here.
▶Fresh and chaotic—I actually like it.
▷ When can I go outside? I want to go! I want to learn more! Do I need to grow more? How much?
The slime’s questions made the Slime Queen even happier.
Because it had chosen her, not the troll.
‘Hmph! Look at that, troll! You only said what was expected from one of its kind! But in the end, it’s me that the slime turns to!’
The truth was, the slime had just clicked the most recent visible nickname, but the Slime Queen had no way of knowing that.
In any case, she smiled and answered the slime’s question.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ So you’re eager to go out, huh? But you mustn’t rush. You’ve learned Detection, right?
▷Yeah! I learned it! But it hurts when I use it...
[Squishy Queen] ▶ That’s because you’re using it too broadly. If you only use it within the range you did the first time, it won’t hurt.
▷Really?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Really. And before you leave the cave, make sure you can at least use Body Slam proficiently.
Body Slam—the most powerful weapon available to an ordinary slime.
Just being able to perform it significantly increased one’s survival rate.
‘If it were up to me, I’d let it access the Coin Shop right away and get...’
One of the features of the system—
The Coin Shop.
Coins could be earned when a monster grew significantly, defeated an enemy, or took down another monster carrying coins.
Once a certain amount of coins has been accumulated, the system unlocks the shop feature.
In the shop, one can purchase food, a once-a-day healing item, and skills that the monster’s species can learn.
If the Slime Queen were to donate enough coins to unlock the shop, the slime could immediately acquire multiple skills.
However, the Slime Queen believed that she shouldn’t do that.
‘Just one skill—Detection—was enough to cause this whole mess.’
The slime still couldn’t distinguish what was dangerous and what it shouldn’t do.
At the very least, until it developed a proper sense of safety, the Slime Queen believed she must not allow access to the shop.
▷Body Slam! How do I use it?
Just as the Slime Queen was about to advise it to try slamming into the cave wall—
▶[User “Just Slam First” has donated 10 coins.]
▶[Message: Time for this Body Slam master to step in.]
A viewer who had left earlier, much like the troll, jumped back into the chat with confidence.
The nickname “Just Slam First” proudly declared:
▶Who’s this guy?
[Just Slam First]▶ I’m a grandmaster of Body Slam techniques.
▶Yeah, he’s the one who always uploads Body Slam clips ㅇㅇ
▶So you’re just a bored wolf dude lolol
▶If you’re a wolf, shouldn’t you be better at biting?
▶ㅇㅇ lolol
▶Happy, bite him!
[Just Slam First] ▶Tsk tsk tsk, you wolf-ignorant fools!
[Just Slam First] ▶Body Slam is the true specialty of a real wolf!
[Just Slam First]▶ Even that Sword Master guy who broke into my house to skin me—I took him down too!
▶Nice, wreck those toxic humans.
[Just Slam First] ▶Squishy! If you want to learn the essence of Body Slam, I’ll teach you!
▶Great, now we’ve got backseat coaches too. Look at the state of this chat, sigh.
It was an unexpected offer, but for the slime, who wanted to see the outside world as soon as possible, the answer was already clear.
▷I want to learn!