The sli, having acquired the Detox skill, approached a plant that looked as colorful as purple grass.
‘Delicious!’
Thanks to the Detox skill, the sli no longer had to worry about getting sick from poison, and could now eat any poisonous plant without hesitation.
Poisonous plants had beco a delicacy for the sli.
They contained more nutrients than ordinary plants, even including poisons that could be neutralized.
Although it didn’t provide as much energy as jerky, the sli began to enjoy eating poisonous plants.
[Free Spirit] ▶ What’s going on? Why is Squishy eating poisonous plants all of a sudden?
Troll, who had been watching another stream and returned to the sli’s broadcast, was surprised to see it munching away at every poisonous plant it could find.
Scrolling back through the chat history to understand the situation, Troll quickly grasped what was going on.
‘Looks like it picked up the Detox skill in the anti.’
According to the knowledge Troll had gained after becoming a lich, humans grow stronger through magic, divine power, and energy, whereas monsters grow stronger through skills.
The forr can be achieved through effort, but the latter usually requires specific experiences.
Having traveled widely before becoming a lich and learning about poisonous plants, Troll could tell what symptoms each plant would cause just by looking at them.
‘That one causes stomach aches, that one paralysis, and that one prevents blood from clotting.’
These were poisonous plants that could cause significant suffering or even be fatal to both humans and monsters.
But for the sli, they were nothing more than tasty treats—thanks to its Detox skill.
‘At this rate, is it going to evolve into a Poison Sli?’
A Poison Sli was a higher form of sli that carried poison in its body.
Becoming a Poison Sli would reduce the threats it faced from other creatures.
‘But if it ets Nellin again, that could be a problem.’
Since its body would contain poison, touching Nellin would beco difficult.
Just being near it could expose her to the effects of the poison.
Avoiding poisonous creatures was only natural.
Though the future was uncertain, Troll hoped the sli and Nellin would reunite under better circumstances.
‘That way I’d get to see more of Nellin too.’
Of course, just eating a few poisonous plants wouldn’t automatically trigger an evolution into a Poison Sli.
‘Better to suppress that possibility. Didn’t squishy like jerky?’
[Free Spirit has donated 3 coins.]
▶ [ssage: Squishy! How about trying at instead of plants?]
▷ at?
The sli’s attention turned at the ntion of at.
[Free Spirit] ▶ ᄋᄋ You drank deer blood just fine. at would be even better!
[Just Slam First] ▶ Yeah! at! at is great!
Before the sli could react, it was Fenrir, known as [Just Slam First], who responded to Troll’s suggestion.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Squishy! You’ve got to eat at!
[Noblesse Fire] This damn wolf, what is wrong with him?
[Just Slam First] ▶ To eat at, you’ve got to hunt! Which ans it’s ti! Ti to use Body Slam!
Fenrir was annoyed that even though he had taught the sli the Body Slam skill, it still hadn’t used it.
Now that a perfect opportunity had co, he started enthusiastically promoting it.
[Just Slam First] ▶ With the Body Slam I taught you, you can one-shot any normal animal!
▶ Like sli can one-shot anything lololol
▶ What if it dies trying?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ My kin is not so weak! No way it’d lose to a re animal!
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Watching squishy work hard at hunting would be adorable~
Viewers began debating whether or not the sli could actually manage to hunt.
The sli thought about the word “at.”
Was at really delicious?
▷ Is at tasty?
[Free Spirit] ▶ at is jerky.
▷ Jerky!
Among everything the sli had tasted, jerky was the most nutritious and delicious.
The idea that at equaled jerky fired up the sli’s determination.
▷ at! I want to eat at!
[Free Spirit] ▶ Then go find an animal! A rabbit, deer, boar—anything’s good!
▷ Okay!
After spending several days wandering the forest, the sli had seen many forest-dwelling animals.
So, like deer, ignored the sli and didn’t react, while others ran away the mont they saw it.
Until now, the sli had just watched them out of curiosity.
But this ti, it was ti to hunt.
Because it wanted to eat at.
The sli used its detection skill to find an animal.
– Zzzzinnng.
The detection pulse spread out from the sli.
Not long after, sothing was caught in the detection field.
‘Rabbit!’
The creature it found was a rabbit—one of the animals the sli had seen before.
It was an animal about the sa size as the sli, and it always ran away at the sight of the sli, regardless of hostility.
Boing! Boing! The sli bounced forward with a strong desire to eat at.
As it parted the bushes and moved forward, the sli spotted the rabbit.
‘Body Slam! I have to do it!’
After reading the chat and understanding that it needed to use a Body Slam on the rabbit to eat at, the sli imdiately tried to charge.
But the mont it leapt out of the bushes, the brown rabbit widened the distance and began to flee.
‘Rabbit! It’s running away!’
The sli hurriedly bounced after the fleeing rabbit—boing! boing!
And so began the chase between the rabbit and the sli.
The chase between the fluffy brown rabbit and the soft light-green sli, from a third-person view, was incredibly cute.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Kyaaaa! So cute!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Hang in there! Move a little faster, my kin!
[Noblesse Fire] So damn slow.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Can’t you rember that Squishy is a sli? Well, I guess a shut-in neckbeard dragon wouldn’t have the empathy to get it.
[Noblesse Fire] This bastard’s starting stuff again, huh?
▶ Hmm, rabbit butt... might be doable?
▶ Bro???
▶ Ugh, another "doable guy" lololol
The adorable chase continued for over five minutes.
In the end, the rabbit won.
No matter how much the sli chased, it couldn't catch up.
The rabbit kept changing directions and moving swiftly, making it impossible for the sli to keep up.
‘Rabbit! So fast!’
Amazed by the rabbit’s speed and disheartened by the thought of not getting to eat at, the sli grew gloomy.
▷ Can’t eat at...
[Just Slam First] ▶ Tsk tsk, just chasing like that won’t get you at! I’ll teach you the basics of hunting!
▷ Basics?
[Just Slam First] ▶ That’s right! The basics of hunting!
***
‘Hehehe, there’s nothing more fun than teaching a newbie how to hunt.’
Fenrir was excited at the thought of teaching the sli how to hunt, following his earlier lesson on Body Slamming.
After all, the sli was still young, innocent, and obedient.
Just like his own kids when they were little!
Fenrir fondly recalled his interactions with his children in those beautiful mories.
– Dad~ Is this how you do it?
– Dad! I caught this! I did good, right?
– I caught sothing even bigger! Hehehe!
They used to smile brightly and proudly show him the prey they caught just like he taught them.
But now...
– Pfft, yeah, I’m done hunting for today.
They just hunted enough to fill their bellies and then lazed around.
– Go hunting with you? That’s a hassle.
Even when he asked to go hunting together, they’d pull a face as if it were too much trouble.
– What’s the point of catching sothing that big? We’re not even going back to the cave.
Even when he tried to relive old mories by hunting a big one, his children just couldn’t understand.
Reminiscing only made him compare the bittersweet present with the past, and Fenrir shed silent tears in his heart.
They say raising children is useless.
‘I’ll show you the essence of hunting, Squishy!’
Fenrir, missing his pure and adorable children from the past, saw the sli as a way to relive a little bit of those joyful days.
***
Just like with the Body Slamming lessons, Fenrir’s hunting class took several days.
Of course, there was no way the sli could master Fenrir’s hunting thods in just a few days.
So what Fenrir taught instead was the art of ambush.
Move quietly so as not to make a sound, then strike when the prey lets its guard down.
With the sli’s only offensive move being the Body Slam, it was the only viable thod it had.
After several days of training, the sli passed Fenrir’s test and was brimming with confidence.
‘at! I’m gonna eat it!’
Trembling with determination, the sli imdiately set off to hunt.
First, just like before, it used detection to search for prey.
– Zzzzing.
It found a rabbit again and boing! boing! closed the distance to so extent.
Then, once it got within striking range, the sli stopped bouncing and began to crawl forward instead.
Creeping slowly.
‘Gotta move slowly!’
The importance of surprise.
To avoid being detected, the sli moved as stealthily as it could.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Watching Squishy move so slowly is too adorable~!
[Just Slam First] ▶ Yes! That’s it! Carefully! Don’t get noticed!
The newbie hunter’s first hunt had the viewers completely hooked.
▶ Why am I so nervous about this?
▶ Watching newbies is always peak entertainnt lol
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ I’m curious to see if Squishy will succeed.
Ignoring the ongoing stream of chat ssages, the sli focused solely on the hunt.
‘There it is!’
Crawling slowly, the sli spotted the rabbit.
‘Still too far!’
The sli crept forward bit by bit.
From behind the rabbit.
Moving quietly so the sensitive-eared rabbit wouldn’t react to any sound.
And the mont it got as close as possible...
The sli reached Body Slam range and launched its attack.
‘Body Slam!’
Putting all its strength into it, the sli pushed off the ground with a bounce and slamd into the rabbit.
Thump—the rabbit fell over.
▶ Oh! It hit!
[Just Slam First] ▶ That’s it!
▶ It did that in one shot?
Slis are usually among the weakest of monsters.
But before leaving the cave, this sli had learned Body Slam techniques under Fenrir and had gained nutrition from animal blood and jerky.
It wasn’t an enormous improvent, but it was enough to take out a rabbit in a single Body Slam.
‘Yay!’
▷ I did it!
Its first successful hunt.
The joy of finally catching the rabbit that had always escaped.
The sense of accomplishnt from days of effort finally bearing fruit.
And the excitent of finally being able to eat at.
The sli bounced up and down in place—boing! boing!
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy! Well done!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ You did well, my kin! That’s how you grow stronger!
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ What’s so great about catching just one rabbit.
▶ That old-tir’s tracking and dodging was insane.
▶ That’s why you keep getting kicked from rooms lol
High on the thrill of its first hunt, the sli stopped bouncing and stared at the fallen rabbit with a new question.
‘Where’s the at?’
Even though the sli had caught the rabbit, believing it would get jerky—that is, at—there was no jerky in sight.
And it made sense, because the only form of at the sli knew was jerky.
It couldn’t equate the flat, red jerky with the dead rabbit before it.
So the sli asked the chat.
▷ No at!
▶ What do you an, no at?
▷ No jerky!
▶ Ah...
▶ Don’t tell you still don’t get it?
▶ Lolololol
▶ I didn’t think of that lololol
▶ Of course there’s no jerky lolol
The sli, looking for jerky in front of the dead rabbit, made the chat burst into laughter.
Troll, who had first suggested hunting to the sli, stepped in to explain.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy, the rabbit is at!
▷ Not at!
▷ at is red! Rabbit is brown!
[Free Spirit] ▶ There’s at inside the rabbit!
▷ ?
Seeing that the sli still didn’t understand, an anonymous ssage appeared in the chat.
▶Don’t ask questions! Just eat the rabbit!
▶ You hunted it, so you gotta eat it lol
▶ Once you try, you’ll know lol
▷ Eat rabbit?
▶ You drank deer blood just fine! Give it a go!
▶ Try it, try it!
The sli still couldn’t grasp that the rabbit was at.
But following the advice in the chat, the sli decided to try absorbing the rabbit.
With a boing!, the sli jumped onto the dead rabbit and began to absorb it.
As the rabbit slowly entered the sli’s body and was absorbed—
‘…! It’s at!’
The sli finally realized that the rabbit was at.
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