{OPTION ONE: THE INs & OUTs OF SLIME RANCHING}
Elizabeth opened the book with one hand and patted Pudding with another. She was sitting in the now repaired guild base with the slime, relaxing by the fireplace. The others had all logged out so it was just the two of them.
The teenager proffered it that way as she didn't want to deal with anyone giving her a look due to Pudding's behavior. Yuki had expressed to them that the slime just had a tantrum but Catherine hadn't believed that. The elf had been acting very sneaky when Pudding or Elizabeth was near.
The teen was worried that the gamer might try to kill the slime when she wasn't near. Because of this, the teenager had started to purposely log in when the girl was online. It was the only way she knew Pudding was alive and well.
When she couldn't she made sure to lock Pudding in a room with the slime being given a SLEEPING DUST. The dust was one of the first things she found out that helped slimes, courtesy of Jake. The knight explained that mobs that could be domesticated had trouble sleeping when their owners were offline.
Because of this, the game had developed a dust that you could sprinkle on them before logging out. This dust would put them to sleep for five real-life hours and a potion version of it would make them sleep for twenty.
Jake gave her a sample-size jar for free which the teenager accepted gratefully. The man said since they were guild mates he felt like he had a duty to look out for her and she reciprocated this with a smile.
“I have plenty of coins to spend in-game and in the lobby. So, whatever I have to get on my own I'll make sure I have.” Elizabeth whispered to the slime who nuzzled her palm and let out a low growl of appreciation.
It was hard to see the slime as the same creature that had lost control. Yuki had said that Pudding hadn't attacked her but Elizabeth knew there was a chance of it happening. She couldn't risk it with any of her guild mates or worse, a random player who saw Pudding as free exp.
Elizabeth hadn't seen anyone else in town with a slime companion and that made her anxious. The older woman noticed this and told her that it didn't mean anything. Yuki told her that slimes were uncommon as pets but that was only in certain areas.
She must have had a confused look on her face as Yuki then sat the teenager down to give her more information on in-game pets. She explained how there were shops in other towns that sold slimes, wolves, lions, and more that you could purchase.
Higher-level players had multiple that they used when adventuring, even forgoing a guild for their pack of pets. Elizabeth had never heard of this and Yuki said that wasn't a thing in their area. There were five towns she hadn't entered yet with plenty of people with all sorts of companions.
She knew that they were fully domesticated and trained whether it be for show or comat. The teen didn't know if she wanted Pudding to be used during combat. It hurt her heart to think of the slime perishing under a feral mob's claws.
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However, if she didn't help Pudding grow its durability and strength it would be helpless without her. Even as an adult goo ball Pudding could die if the person attacking it was skilled. Elizabeth would feel like garbage if she neglected to teach her pet to defend itself.
[CH01 – “Slime Ranching” otherwise known as “Slime Caretaking” is when someone chooses to keep and domesticate a slime. Typically it's with an infant slime but more advanced players (level seventy and up) can tame an adult slime. In even rarer cases, level two hundred and higher players have been told to have tamed feral slimes who are used for boss battles. However, this is more rumor than fact so please do not attempt to tame a feral slime at any time. It's incredibly risky and a stupid way to die here.]
The brunette laughed. “At least they're not dancing around it.”
[When domesticating a slime, please do not overstimulate them. Slimes, while friendly and often dimwitted (similar to an orange cat) can become overwhelmed by new people entering their lives. They prefer to be with their chosen mother figure (slimes only have mothers as they are born from eggs) while being babies. They get scared easily and are defenseless to any harm that may come their way. So, it would be risky to have slimes by more than a handful of people until they reach toddlerhood. Due to this anyone who adopts a slime is recommended to have a private place for them.]
This made plenty of sense to the brunette and she felt like a dumbass for not realizing it. She had described the baby slimes she'd seen that day as a cat herself. Pudding acted like a newborn kitten with the way it keened and whined at her in a form of communication.
Like any cat, it also hissed and destroyed furniture when it felt threatened. Elizabeth figured that she'd have to think of the baby slime as a cat from now on to act appropriately.
This meant Pudding probably wanted to be treated with respect and not as some living accessory. She felt really bad for acting so careless. She thought back to the mammoth fight and how Pudding was in danger during that.
She didn't know what she would have done if the beast had attacked the carriage. What if Pudding woke up and came out to defend her? What if the baby had witnessed her being thrown to the ground? Elizabeth hadn't thought about any of that happening or what to do if it somehow happened.
The teenager had just assumed that whatever AI or code controlled Pudding would keep it away from harm's way. Now she knew that it would have done the direct opposite since it was modeled after a kitten. Her chest was tight and her heart clenched as she flipped to the next page of the book.
[Slimes are loyal to a fault to the person they chose as their mother figure. Slimes are abandoned by their mothers typically before they hatch so they desperately crave her once they start moving. It doesn't matter if your player character is female or not, slimes will still see you as their mother. They will try to cuddle with you often as their mother would hold their egg close and nuzzle it. A baby slime tends to be very absent-minded so you will struggle with them hurting themselves and others. It isn't out of a cruel nature but out of the lack of sense, any child would have. You must be sweet but stern when dealing with them as they see you as their entire world. The mother of a slime is the only person they trust for the majority of their life.]
Elizabeth looked down at the slime and rubbed its head. Immediately it began to make a soft murmuring noise in the back of its throat. The slime began to rub itself against her hand, gently touching her palm with love. This made the teenager laugh under her breath and smile gently.
Pudding saw her as its mother and she didn't want to be a bad example. Sure, she had made some mistakes but that's what they were. Mistakes but actions made with malicious intent. The teenager wasn't sure if she could pull off the mean part of parenting but she was perfect at pampering the creature.
The book felt heavy in her hand, continuing over five hundred pages on how to raise and train various mobs in the game. It also had beautiful illustrations that Elizabeth had seen on the game's official website.
The teenager was continuously amazed by the amount of effort put into making Frozen Hearts as real as possible. You felt like you were in a different world while playing. There were NPCs of villagers, nurses, maids, adventurers, and more who lived in the town square.
Then there were other towns she hadn't gone to with NPCs, government officials, and bandits that when you spoke to them it was uncanny. Elizabeth couldn't believe that a game like this existed and she'd finally become a part of it.
Her smile grew bigger as Pudding nuzzled her again and moved so that she was lying on her belly. Her hair sat sprawled across Pudding's body as she talked to it.
“I'm going to go into one of the other towns later and I'll get everything I need to take care of you. I won't let you feel abandoned again. I promise.” The slime let out a high pitched happy murmur and rolled her softly.