That night.
While Alia was asleep.
The sli imdiately reported its new goal in the chat window.
▷ I'm going to make muscles!
▶ Muscles?
▶ You an the muscles that human was talking about?
▶ A sli with muscles lololol
▶ But can it even make them? Do slis… have muscles?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ How rude! How could you ask such a question? Where do you think all that strength has co from so far? We may not have muscles like other species, but slis can also grow stronger!
▶ Oooh, that’s new info. Taking notes.
▶ So no muscles, but there’s squish-strength.
Thanks to Sli Queen’s comnt, it was revealed that slis can also enhance their strength.
But viewers had one major question.
How would a sli build strength?
Naturally, evolution was ruled out.
▶ So how do you get stronger?
[Just Slam First] ▶ Isn’t it like… doing body slams over and over again?
‘You idiots!’
The Sli Queen was on the verge of exploding from frustration at the dumb suggestions.
It was obvious the viewers only imagined slis in the form currently being broadcast.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Do you think tentacles are just for show? Of course you get stronger if you train your tentacles!
▶ Ah~ Tentacles~.
▶ Oh right, it has those.
Originally, slis only had a torso.
But after evolving and gaining skills, they beca capable of using tentacles.
Even the Sli Queen’s arms and legs could be considered an advanced form of tentacle skill that had taken on a humanoid appearance.
▶ But Squishy doesn’t have tentacles?
▶ You can buy them in the skill shop.
‘Tentacles!!’
Through the chat conversation, the sli concluded that it could make muscles if it had tentacles.
And making muscles would an getting stronger.
The sli quickly made a decision.
It opened the shop and purchased the Tentacle Generation skill for 20 coins.
The mont the purchase was made, knowledge of how to use the skill was granted to the sli.
The sli quietly climbed down from the bed without waking Alia, emitted a faint glow, and activated the tentacle skill.
Pop!
Tiny tentacles popped out from either side of the sli.
‘Whoa!’
The sli was fascinated by its own soft and slightly elongated tentacles.
As the tentacles extended, so did the sli’s sense of touch.
Splat splat!
The sli touched the floor and its own body with the tentacles.
The floor felt the sa as always.
‘Wooooow!’
But the sensation of touching its own body was thrillingly new.
‘So squishy!’
Delighted with the texture of its own body, the sli kept stroking and poking itself with the tentacles.
Shiver shiver!
‘It’s vibrating!’
The sli, now able to feel its own trembling while touching itself, was satisfied and climbed back into bed to sleep.
Ti passed, and it was early morning.
‘Workout ti!’
The sli got up before Alia awoke and climbed down from the bed, heading toward the door.
If it had been the old sli, opening the door would’ve been tough.
‘Tentacles!’
It generated tentacles and easily opened the door.
Stretching the tentacles upward with magic power, it grabbed the doorknob and pulled it down.
Once outside Alia’s room, the sli retracted its tentacles and headed straight for Paulen’s private training yard.
Boing boing!
As a Paladin, Paulen must always prioritize protecting the saintess.
That’s why the training yard wasn’t far from her room, allowing the sli to arrive quickly.
“Huff! Huff!”
Paulen was already working out hard in the yard.
Since most of his day involved guarding Alia, his workout ti was always early morning.
Wearing light clothes, he was sweating from working out since dawn.
His sweaty state was proof of his sincere effort.
‘Muscles!’
Usually hidden under armor during duty, Paulen’s firm and large muscles ca into view.
The sli already had a general sense of his strength through detection, but seeing it directly was different.
‘So strong!’
Just looking at his muscles gave off an intense feeling of power.
Godrick had so muscles too, but Paulen’s were even firr and more defined.
‘I want to be strong too!’
Boing! Boing!
The sli approached Paulen.
“Huff! Huff! Huh? Jiggly?”
Paulen, in the middle of working out with dumbbells, tilted his head at the sli’s sudden appearance.
“You’re alone? Wait, how’d you get here?”
Boing! Boing!
“Jiggly, if you sneak out, Alia’s going to worry later.”
Putting down the dumbbells, Paulen picked up the sli.
“I’ll talk Alia into letting you hang out in the training yard again today. But first, let’s go back to your room.”
‘Muscles! I want to make muscles!’
Shiver shiver shiver!
While trembling in Paulen’s hands, the sli summoned its tentacles.
“Huh?”
Tentacles suddenly popped out from the sides of the sli.
It then moved them purposefully.
‘Muscles!’
Mimicking Paulen, it bent its tentacles inward like a flexing pose.
Though short and squishy, and with no muscle bulge in the middle—
“You’re… trying to flex?”
At the very least, it was clear to Paulen that the sli was striking a muscle pose.
Boing!
While Paulen stood flustered, the sli jumped from his hands and approached the dumbbells on the ground.
‘Workout!’
It extended its tentacles and tried to lift the dumbbells.
But no matter how hard it tried, the sli couldn’t lift them.
And for good reason.
The dumbbells Paulen used were specially commissioned from dwarves and made from tal heavier than most.
They were so heavy that even a veteran warrior would struggle to lift them.
There was no way a sli that had just learned to control tentacles could lift them.
‘Urrrrrgh~!’
The sli gave it all it had, trying to lift the weight.
But the dumbbell didn’t budge.
‘I can’t lift it…’
After several failed attempts, the sli gave up, withdrew its tentacles from the dumbbell, and leaned its body forward.
“Huff, huff, huff, huff.”
Paulen was breathing heavily as he watched the scene.
‘Beginner.’
The sli looked gloomy because it couldn’t lift the dumbbells.
To Paulen, the sli looked like a beginner who had just started working out but was already discouraged.
‘I can’t just leave it like this!’
“Jiggly!”
Snorting fiercely through his nose, Paulen asked,
“Do you want to build muscles too?!”
‘Yes!’
Boing!
The sli jumped as if nodding.
‘W-What an admirable little sli!’
Paulen recalled his own distant and bittersweet past.
His days of trying to grow stronger through relentless training after becoming a paladin.
But the stronger he got...
And the harder the training he put himself through beca...
His companions slowly fell away, unable to keep up.
It wasn’t that they held any ill will.
They simply gave up, admitting the increasing intensity was too much for them.
Paulen understood how they felt.
But the loneliness was inescapable.
Ever since he had been appointed a Paladin, he had trained alone in the private training yard, and solitude had beco the norm.
Then suddenly, a new workout companion appeared right before his eyes.
And not just any companion—a total beginner he could teach from scratch.
Even if it was a monster, he didn’t want it to give up on training.
“Jiggly, don’t be sad that you can’t lift this yet! ‘Yet!’ You just can’t do it yet! Let’s start with sothing lighter and work our way up! I’ll prepare everything you need! I’ll help you build muscles too!”
‘Wow!’
Boing!
The sli was delighted at the promise of becoming stronger.
▶ What’s with this human all of a sudden?
▶ His eyes are scary.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Th-That human scum! Are you trying to steal my role as Squishy’s master?!
▶ Since when was that wolf dude a master?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Indeed! Just teaching one body slam doesn’t make you a master of my kin!
▶ This is a classic case of ntor-NTR.
▶ Wait, is the sli really going to try making tentacle muscles? lololol
“Four days! No—give just three days, Jiggly! I’ll gather all the training equipnt you need! Let’s enjoy working out together!”
‘Workout! muscles!’
Boing! Boing!
The sli bounced around the floor excitedly.
***
“Wow~ It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”
Nellin was riding a carriage, enjoying a visit to a city for the first ti in a while after leaving the elven forest.
Since she was out, she decided to start with a place she knew.
“So things never change, even after 50 years.”
Even after half a century, so shops remained exactly the sa.
There were also many new ones, and she made ntal notes of a few she wanted to check out later.
After a quick tour, Nellin entered the Adventurers’ Guild.
‘Ahh, this is it. This is what an adventurers’ guild should be like.’
The atmosphere felt like it hadn’t changed at all over the years.
So were looking over the request board or sitting at tables discussing missions.
So adventurers who had finished early were already drinking and lounging.
Receptionists worked while chatting with various adventurers.
It was the exact scene Nellin rembered seeing most often 50 years ago.
‘Alright, let’s register.’
Nellin walked up to the receptionist to get a new adventurer’s registration card.
“I’d like to register as an adventurer.”
“Yes, you’re registering as a new adventurer. Please write your na here and pay the registration fee.”
Nellin wrote a na on the form and handed over the fee.
The receptionist took the paper and checked the na.
“You’re Ms. Marin, correct? Please wait just a mont.”
Marin.
Nellin had purposely used an alias instead of her real na.
The reason was her fa.
Talking with Jessie back at the Count Ludendion’s estate, she was reminded of how well-known she really was.
If she used her real na, she would attract attention too quickly.
‘Being too famous can be annoying.’
She rembered how people sward her when she returned after slaying the black dragon 50 years ago.
She understood their admiration and goodwill, but she didn’t want to be mobbed every ti she traveled alone.
The receptionist handed her a magic-made adventurer identification tag and said, “Here you go! Now, let explain what you need to know as an adventurer—”
“Oh, that’s okay. I already know the gist of it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. I’ve heard a lot from a fellow elf who used to be an adventurer.”
“Understood. Then best of luck with the F-rank missions.”
‘Ah, right.’
Nellin had forgotten that even with new registration, one had to start from the lowest rank.
‘Well, I’ve picked herbs plenty in the forest. Should take about two or three days.’
Thinking it was best to get the hassle over with quickly, Nellin selected a herb-gathering quest.
Two hours later.
She returned with the herbs to the reception counter.
“All checked! They’re all high quality!”
“I’ve been picking herbs for years. This is basic stuff.”
“I’m glad. There’s actually another adventurer who gathers herbs of this quality too.”
“What, soone other than ?”
“Yes. But they’ve all ranked up to C now, so they don’t do herb quests anymore.”
“Really? Huh?”
Nellin noticed the receptionist’s expression suddenly changed.
“What is it? Did one of those C-rankers cause so kind of incident?”
“Huh?”
“Your expression just changed mid-conversation.”
“Oh, it’s not that. Those adventurers are still diligent and hardworking. They’re model adventurers. It’s just… recently they lost a companion and have been completely focused on getting stronger.”
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
Nellin could guess easily enough.
There were many who, after losing a companion on a mission, blad themselves and beca obsessed with growing stronger.
If they were called model adventurers, it made sense that the receptionist would be worried.
‘If I run into them, should I give them so advice as a senior?’
As Nellin was thinking that—
Creak!
The doors to the adventurers’ guild opened, and four n entered.
Godrick, Hawane, Def, and Skol.
It was Godrick’s party—the group that had parted ways with the sli.
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