'Yes! That’s what I wanted to hear! Go on, tell me! Why did you become a magic tools doping mage?'
Troll, who had been watching the situation through the third-person broadcast screen, was delighted that the topic he had been waiting for had finally come up.
Over the past two weeks, Gracie had shown impressive focus while observing the slime.
Seeing that made Troll smile proudly, thinking she was truly his descendant, but it also intensified his curiosity—why had she become so reliant on magical tools?
“The reason I collect magic tools?”
“Yes. I was curious because you seem to have a particular fondness for them, Gracie. But if you’re uncomfortable talking about it…”
“No! I’m not uncomfortable at all!”
'If anything, getting closer to the Saintess by sharing my story wouldn’t be bad!'
Gracie, who had chosen the path of magic tools-doping without hesitation to receive funding, was someone who believed in seizing opportunities.
She never had any peers with whom she could share stories about her family or past.
Though she did want to grow closer to the Saintess, more than that, she was simply happy that she had someone she could finally talk to about such things, even while feeling a bit nervous.
‘Let’s be careful not to stutter.’
Gracie paused her note-taking from observing the slime and opened her mouth.
“I’ve already mentioned that I’m a descendant of the proud Sage of Magic, Ventus Frail, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, even though I am his descendant… besides him, no one else in our family had any real talent.”
“Huh?”
Gracie gave a sheepish smile as she began to speak about her family and past.
Her grandmother’s cousin.
The tragic death of Ventus Frail due to a magical accident.
The mental shock her grandmother experienced after that.
The way that influenced how she raised her children.
And finally, her own admiration for Sage of Magic and her family’s financial dependence on sponsorships.
“That’s how I got interested in magical tools. Since I don’t have the outstanding talent like that great sorcerer, I thought I could make up for it with tools.”
“I see. But most people don’t use magical tools so heavily…”
Even from Amelia’s perspective, the number of artifacts Gracie used was overwhelming.
“Yes. There are people who look down on it because of that. But! I shut them up with my skill in using them! Honestly, when it comes to magic tool usage, I don’t think there’s anyone in the Magic Tower better than me! And... the Tower Master supports me too!”
“Oh my, really?”
‘What?! That guy supports my descendant?’
Troll couldn’t help but feel baffled when the name of the current Tower Master, Brooks Vessilja—the man who had betrayed him—was suddenly brought up.
“I still remember it clearly. I gathered up my courage and told the Tower Master that I wanted to improve my skills using magical tools. I honestly thought he’d laugh at me or scold me.”
After pausing to recall the emotional moment, Gracie continued.
“But instead of yelling, he laughed heartily and said it was wonderful. He even said he’d help me get any tool I wanted!”
“He sounds like a kind person.”
“Yes!”
‘He laughed? Said he’d help her get whatever tool she wanted…?’
Troll understood.
Because he was also a natural-born sorcerer—and because he knew Brooks Vessilja’s true nature after being betrayed—he could see the truth.
Brooks hadn’t supported his descendant.
He had laughed at her.
He had mocked the sight of a natural-born sorcerer turning into a magic tool-doping mage.
‘Broooooks!!!’
Troll felt an overwhelming urge to storm the Magic Tower immediately.
More than the insult to his own identity as a natural-born sorcerer, it was the humiliation of seeing his descendant toyed with by that traitor, Brooks, that enraged him.
But if he did that, not only the slime but also his cousin and other family members still in the Tower would be in danger.
Knowing how much his cousin had already suffered, as hinted in Gracie’s story, he tried desperately to contain his fury.
“But that’s why I’m going to become the greatest magic tool mage—to repay the Tower Master’s support!”
“Aaaaarghhh!”
Troll’s scream echoed hollowly through the secret workshop.
***
‘This is fun! I love it!’
The slime had been enjoying the happiest days of its life lately.
Each day was filled with fun time playing with different magical tools.
It went on walks under the excuse of “finding someone who needs help.”
And every time an incident happened, it got to see all sorts of things.
For a naturally curious slime, it was an exciting and never-boring time.
‘Gracie! I love her!’
Gracie had earned a spot on the slime’s list of favorite people, right alongside Nellin, Jessie, the Godrick Party, Amelia, and Paulen.
And during those happy days, something new began to change within the slime.
It was its use of tentacles.
After a new tentacle had grown, the slime’s behavior began to shift.
For example, when eating snacks.
Whenever Amelia made cookies, the slime used to simply climb on top and absorb them.
But now, it could use its tentacles to pick up cookies and eat them one by one.
Instead of swallowing everything in one go, it had learned how to savor each bite.
‘Delicious!’
Brrrrrr!
“So, so cute!”
“Haha, already mastering it, huh?”
When they first saw it, Amelia and Paulen looked at the slime proudly, as if watching a baby take its first steps.
Just by bringing out a differently shaped tentacle, the slime had found new joy.
Then it wondered: wouldn’t it be even more fun if it could create other shapes?
Instead of just summoning normal tentacles, what if it could make them into different forms to play in more creative ways?
That thought passed through its mind.
‘I want to make it different!’
As always, when a new desire sprouted, the slime acted on it right away.
It began trying to mold its own tentacles into new shapes.
But then—
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
'This isn’t it!'
No matter how much it tried to change the shape of its tentacle, all that happened was a new tentacle growing from an existing one.
Of course, from the perspective of Amelia, Paulen, and Gracie, the slime’s efforts just looked like it was playing a game of pulling tentacles in and out.
It had been easy to create a new tentacle from the first one, so the slime figured it could just do it again.
But after several days of failure, the slime decided to try a different method.
▷Help me!
It immediately typed into the chat window asking for assistance.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Huh? What are you talking about?
▶ My weight?
▶ Who the heck wants to know that?
▶ Your secret reverse scale collection?
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Who the hell collects perverted junk like that?
▶ Haha, look how quick the old man is to react!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Silence! Can’t you see my kin is speaking? Kin! What is it you wish to know? Speak now!
The slime quickly typed what it wanted.
▷Tentacle! I want to change it! Shape! I want to change the shape!
‘Oh ho! So that’s what you want!’
At the sight of that message, the Slime Queen internally rejoiced—it was finally her moment to shine.
The topic the slime brought up was something no other monster could advise on or teach a technique for.
Only she, the Slime Queen, could offer an answer.
‘Finally! I finally get a chance to help my kin!’
The Slime Queen had always been quietly bothered that she hadn’t been able to help the slime much up until now.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ That’s my specialty! I shall help you, my kin!
▷Wow!
▶ Oh~ the Squishy Queen is finally giving advice?
▶ It's always Fenrir who teaches, I thought Fenrir was a slime.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Who said I’m a slime?! I’m clearly a Fenrir! A pro hunter who can deliver the greatest body slams…
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Silence! I must answer my kin’s question!
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Lolol, Squishy’s really desperate.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ This is finally her chance to give helpful advice as a slime. Tsk tsk, and she still didn’t notice.
‘All of you, be quiet already!’
The sudden chaos in the chat made the Slime Queen panic—what if the slime decided not to ask after all?
But her worry was unnecessary.
After all, the slime wasn’t the type to back down just because the chat was noisy.
▷Tentacle won’t change! It just goes pop pop! Nothing new comes out!
▶ Pop pop lolol.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Even the way it says things is so cute~.
While the other viewers laughed and felt warm inside at the slime’s wording, the Slime Queen worked her brain at full speed to understand the slime’s intention and think of a solution.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ I understand the problem!
▶ For real?
▶ What could she possibly understand from that?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What my kin is trying to say is this! You want to create a new-shaped tentacle but it’s not working, right?
▷Right! It won’t come out! New shape won’t come!
Brrrrrrrr!
The slime shook with joy at how the Slime Queen understood it immediately.
‘Heh, I instantly get my kin’s troubles!’
Pleased with the slime’s reaction, the Slime Queen quickly offered a solution.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Kin, the way you’re doing it now is incorrect.
▷It’s wrong?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Yes, your attempt to make a new-shaped tentacle is flawed.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ You mustn’t think of making a new shape from the start—you need to think about changing the shape of an already-summoned tentacle!
She continued to explain.
It’s impossible to create a totally new-shaped tentacle from the beginning.
But it is possible to take an existing tentacle and transform its shape from there.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Of course, this isn’t easy. Unlike summoning a tentacle, you need to acquire a new skill—Tentacle Transformation!
▷Tentacle Transformation! How do I get it?
Tentacle Transformation is a skill typically acquired during the evolutionary phase before gaining intelligence.
‘But my kin already has intelligence and the desire to learn a new skill.’
That might mean it’s still possible.
Even without undergoing evolution, or waiting for the skill to appear in the shop, the slime might be able to learn Tentacle Transformation.
The Slime Queen took a chance on that possibility and offered her advice.
She told the slime not to try summoning a new tentacle, but instead to focus its mana on the one it already had and attempt to reshape it.
Following the Slime Queen’s advice, the slime began to try something new.
It focused mana into an already existing tentacle, attempting to change its shape.
At first, it didn’t really get the hang of it.
But the more it tried, the more it began to understand what it meant to transform a tentacle.
After five days of effort—
About seventeen days after it had arrived at the Magic Tower—
[Skill: Tentacle Transformation acquired.]
The system delivered the official confirmation.
The first tentacle shape that the slime managed to transform—
The one it was most familiar with, having seen it countless times, and the one it could instinctively recreate—
The system recognized this as a valid transformation.
‘I did it! A tray!’
It was a round serving tray.