For the sli, its tentacles were a versatile skill.
It could build up muscle and lift dumbbells to get stronger.
Besides that, it could stretch out to indicate which direction it wanted to go, and during training with Paulen, it had even learned to dodge sword attacks in midair.
Lately, it had been using its tentacles to play with so interesting magic tools.
However, even for such capable tentacles, the newly received magic tool posed a slight problem.
It tried to mimic Gracie’s fingers, grabbing the tool with two tentacles to rotate it.
Spin.
‘Huh?’
But since it didn’t fix the cylinder in place, the whole device rotated along with the handle.
“Hahaha! Jiggly, you need to hold this part still while turning it.”
‘So cute.’
Paulen laughed joyfully at the sli’s mistake, and Alia thought it was adorable.
anwhile, Gracie thought, ‘It has intelligence, but lacks knowledge?’
She observed the sli from a researcher’s perspective.
‘Fix it in place!’
The sli quickly applied Paulen’s advice.
It used one tentacle to fix the tool and tried to rotate the handle with the other.
Creak! Creak!
Whoooooosh!
Even with just one tentacle, the handle turned and activated the tool.
But it wasn’t exactly smooth.
The handle was designed to be turned by gripping the top and bottom with a thumb and forefinger.
Trying to do that with just one tentacle ant pushing from the edge.
As a result, unlike Gracie who operated it smoothly, the sli had to use strength developed through training with Paulen.
It didn’t like that.
‘So inconvenient!’
If it was going to play, it wanted to do it well.
Creak! Creak!
So the sli, even after activating the wind-producing tool, didn’t enjoy the breeze.
Instead, it kept turning the handle on and off repeatedly using its tentacle.
“Um... what’s it doing?”
Gracie asked Alia and Paulen, puzzled by the sli’s unexpected actions.
“I don’t know? It seed to like it when it got it...”
‘Why is it mad?’
Having spent ti with the sli, Alia could tell that it was currently angry.
At that mont—
Boing!
The sli suddenly jumped onto the table and climbed up onto the magic tool.
“Jiggly?”
Now on top of the device, the sli used two tentacles, placing one on the top right and the other on the bottom left of the handle, trying to rotate it.
However—
Roll!
Maybe the sli was too light, but the mont it tried to turn the handle, the whole tool spun and the sli rolled off.
‘So cute!’
‘T-Totally adorable.’
To Alia and Gracie, the sight of the sli trying sothing and ending up rolling away was unexpectedly heart-lting.
Apparently, so viewers watching felt the sa.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Kyaaaa! Too cute~!
▶ kkkk Failed, huh?
▶Rolling like a marble lol.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Reminds of when my kids used to roll off while playing.
▶ What are they doing now?
[Just Slam First] ▶ They only play with each other.
▶Hey lol don’t tease the poor dad like that lol.
[Just Slam First] ▶ I’m not a dad, I said!!!
▶If you say so, sure lolol.
“Oh, so that’s what it was.”
While the two were distracted by the cuteness, only Paulen understood what the sli was trying to do.
“What do you an by that?”
“Saintess, Jiggly just wants to turn the handle properly.”
“Wants to turn it properly?”
“This tool, unlike the water one, is operated by turning the handle.”
Paulen spoke as he held the magic device the sli had climbed onto.
“Jiggly. I’ll hold it steady, so try turning it now.”
‘Okay!’
Boing!
The sli hopped off the tool and began turning the handle with its tentacle.
Click!
Whoooooosh!
Vrrrrrrrrr!
Feeling the handle turning perfectly, without wasted effort, the sli trembled in joy.
The sli now began to play by adjusting the wind strength instead of turning the handle back to shut it off.
Click! Click!
Whooooooooosh!
“Playing well, huh? Was it really because it wanted to turn the handle properly like Paulen said?”
“If you were told to push and turn this with just one finger, you’d find it uncomfortable too, Saintess.”
“When you put it that way, I get it.”
‘It didn’t just show intelligence in using the tool—it actually felt discomfort. And even though it failed, it tried to solve the problem by thinking it through... Not just the magic tool, but this sli itself is thesis-worthy!’
Gracie’s eyes burned with intense academic passion for the first ti in a while.
That sa Gracie was being watched through the screen by soone smirking.
Though he had suffered ntal damage watching his descendant, the magic-tool-addicted mage, her passion was still admirable.
‘If only she had used that energy to improve her actual skills instead of doping with tools!’
But he couldn’t show up now to lecture her.
Troll shifted his gaze from Gracie to the sli and thought to himself.
‘Hmm, if it used more tentacles, it could probably turn that handle more easily. Is two its limit? Or is it just not thinking of that?’
During the black dragon subjugation journey, he had seen a few unusual slis.
So of them had multiple tentacles.
‘They were stronger than ordinary slis, but they looked weird. If we’re talking real power, Squishy is way stronger.’
So maybe this sli could do it too?
Troll looked at the chat and typed.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy! Wouldn’t it be easier to turn if you just popped out more tentacles?
▷More tentacles?
The sli imdiately responded to Troll’s comnt.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Yup, if you pop out more tentacles, you could fix the tool with one and use the other two to turn it.
▶That sounds convincing.
▶ Was this guy… a genius?
▶Genius, for real lololol.
[Squishy Queen] ▶Oh yeah, you can just grow more tentacles.
▶How could you forget that lololol.
▶ Other people know your species better than you lololol.
[Squishy Queen] ▶Silence! One day, I’ll teach my kin sothing more useful than tentacles!
▶Sure~ but if you can’t do it now, what’s the point?
▶ When are you teaching us that useful thing? (Seriously asking)
[Squishy Queen] ▶Shut your mouth!!!
As the chat grew noisy again, the sli began thinking.
‘Another tentacle…?’
If it were to grow another one, how should it do it?
Where should the new tentacle erge from?
“Jiggly?”
“Why did it suddenly stop again?”
“I don’t know this ti either...”
The three watched the suddenly pensive sli with curiosity.
Just then, Paulen’s thumb and forefinger, which were holding the magic tool, entered the sli’s view.
‘Fingers!’
The sli decided where to grow a new tentacle.
There was no need for it to co from the body directly.
It only needed to erge in the right place and in the right amount.
With that thought, the sli focused mana into its right tentacle—
Pop!
A small tentacle sprouted from the right one.
Tap tap—using its left tentacle, the sli tapped Paulen’s hand and then raised the tentacle with the new appendage with a flourish.
“What the—another tentacle grew from the tentacle? Ah, so you’re gonna do it yourself now?”
‘Yup!’
Boing!
Paulen imdiately understood the sli’s intent, but Alia and Gracie blinked in confusion as they looked at the sli’s new tentacle.
“Jiggly, you could do this kind of thing too?”
“You didn’t know, Saintess?”
“I’ve never seen it used this way before.”
‘To not only feel discomfort but to imdiately adapt its skill to solve the issue—this sli is absurd! If I write a thesis on this sli’s use of various magic tools… I won’t have to worry about grant funding for the rest of my life!’
Gracie felt the hope she once had growing larger and shining more brilliantly than ever.
“Jiggly, then go ahead and try it.”
As Paulen turned off the tool and placed it on the table, the sli imdiately tested the new tentacle.
First, it extended its left tentacle to wrap and secure the tool.
Then, it used the right tentacle to grab the handle from top and bottom.
Using the strength of the tentacle muscles it trained with Paulen, it twisted the handle.
Click!
Whoooooosh!
The tool activated with just the feeling the sli wanted.
‘Got it!’
Vrrrrrrrrrr!
Trembling with joy, the sli extended its tentacle and lifted the tool so that the wind would blow toward itself.
The straight wind blowing from above brushed pleasantly over the sli’s body.
‘Feels good!’
Even without bouncing, the squishy sli’s slight up-and-down movents made it clear how happy it was.
Its soft, wobbly movents tickled the hearts of the two won watching.
‘So cute!’
‘The kind of cuteness worth observing…’
Click click!
Whooooooooooosh!
‘So refreshing!’
With its new tentacle, the sli fully enjoyed the wind-blowing magic tool.
***
Tartan, the city of duels and gambling, ho of the Colosseum.
Before the preliminary round of the Black Dragon Festival, contestants were gathering in the waiting room.
“Is that Bloodstained Valdis? I knew he’d enter the Black Dragon Festival.”
“Ha! Didn’t expect to see you here, Padiare. Let’s see how much your hamr skills have improved.”
“Hey, look over there. That’s the rising star adventurer everyone’s talking about.”
“They say he shot up to B-rank at a young age. Nickna’s sothing like Frost Fist?”
The waiting contestants began murmuring as they sized up the others.
With nothing better to do before the matches, judging the famous nas was the most entertaining pasti.
Among the crowd sat the Godrick party.
The Godrick party, unusually, stood silently with stern expressions, drawing attention from a few chatter-prone contestants.
“Who are those guys?”
“No idea. I’ve never seen them around here.”
“Must’ve co from far away. But… those expressions are sothing else.”
“Exactly. I can tell. That’s the face of soone who’s been through brutal battlefields.”
“Heh, this year’s Black Dragon Festival is gonna be interesting.”
Though their expressions were solemn, the Godrick party could hear everything being said.
‘Brutal battlefield, huh…’
‘Heh, it was brutal.’
‘We overca it. We survived those hellish days!’
‘Now I feel like we could beat anyone!’
“Because we trained under Sister Marin’s hell program!”
The Godrick party’s grim expressions were due to the massive boost in confidence after three days of Nellin’s hellish training before the preliminaries.
—Oh? You blocked that? Then try blocking this! Here it cos, faster! How’s this one? And this? And this!?
—Ugh, no! You need to keep your core here and move your body! What good is being tall if you can’t use it!? Who’s calling a nag?! Co here!
—Your dodging patterns are so predictable! Move farther! More flair! Be dynamic!
—Our little Def~ You’ve got so many spots to hit, so let’s build up that endurance, okay? It’s because you’re the cutest and most promising that I’m being tough, got it?
Brrrrr!
Recalling those three hellish days made the Godrick party tremble and break into a cold sweat.
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