CHAPTER 124 - THE SLIME'S FAVORITE OOZE-IC

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The next day I woke up bright and early. I’d told my household that I was taking a break today, but there was no time to waste, so I rushed through my morning rituals and grabbed Cutie from the [Slime House] before stepping through the portal to the mines.

Today was harvest day for both the [Mushroom Cave] and [Mini Hydroponic Farm]. I used the System to gather the ripe fruit, herbs, and flowers that I was growing hydroponically. Though I got a decent amount of Farming exp, I didn’t level up. The same was true of the Foraging exp I got from the cave, but I wasn’t about to complain since these two locations didn’t require much upkeep on my part.

The real reason I was excited was the [Sunshine Glue-Flower]. I’d gathered a few of them from the forest and placed them in plant pots at the [Slime House]. Cutie liked them so much that it gave me an idea I wanted to try today.

“Shall we visit your family?” I said to my pet.

Cutie bounced up and down sluggishly. She always liked the outdoors much better than the mines. I guess that was why she went with me and left her home.

I led her to the secret elevator and pressed the button for the slime level.

Though these slimes were called monsters or demons, according to game lore, their ancestors were the treasured pets of the god of the mines. The god had left millennia ago, but these creatures still lived a carefree life in the bowels of the Chitinous Caverns with no predators to bother them.

The elevator door opened into a huge cavern whose earthen walls were covered in glowing flowers blooming in riotous profusion. The flowers were the slimes’ primary food source. In the middle was an open space where hundreds of bright yellow, blue, green, red, orange, violet, white, black, and multicolored slimes bounced around. At the far end was a white stone platform decorated with white crystals and boulders painted with psychedelic flower patterns. In the game, this place was used for the “Slime Wonderland Event.”

My eyes, which had become accustomed to the elegant, refined, and subdued colors of the [Courtyard House], were delighted by the bold design and vivid colors of the place.

“Wow, it’s so lively,” I said to my pet.

The last time I had been here, I had been in too much of a hurry to go home to try to get the slime event’s reward.

I strolled straight to the center of the platform and took out the potted [Sunshine Glue-Flower]. Then I went to the jukebox that was on one side and turned it on by feeding [Spell Stones] to it. A bouncy dance version of the Adventure Incarnate theme song blasted out of hidden speakers all over the cavern. Spotlights and disco balls descended from the cavern’s ceiling, making myriad spots of light dance all over the place.

“Chu! Chu! Chu!” The slimes exclaimed in delight and started bouncing in time with the song. The slime strands on top of their heads shaped themselves into hearts or lightning bolts.

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A few of them came over to check us out. Cutie rubbed her body on theirs, so I guessed they were probably her family and friends. She lifted the flower pot and offered it to them.

The slimes probed the flower with their slime strands and made pleased “Chu!” sounds.

“Do you guys want more?” I smiled down at them and took out two more [Sunshine Glue-Flowers].

“Chu!” My sluggish pet perked up and she and her friends started dancing around the flower pots until the song came to an end. The disco balls and spotlight retracted back into the ceiling.

[The slimes are pleased by your offering.]

[Congratulations, you have received the title: Slime Friend

Effect: You can use the Slime Cavern facilities.]

Facilities? In the game, the player received a slime tiara or hairpin that boosted the slime pet’s stats. I turned on the System’s minimap which showed the newly opened secret features of the slime cavern.

“Oh my gosh!” I said when I pressed on the hidden panel that made a door slide open to reveal an amazing discovery. “This wasn’t in the game.”

I stepped into a large open space filled with large, medium, and small swimming pools lined with colorful porcelain tiles. At first, I thought it was simply a bathing area for the slimes, but as I walked deeper into the cave, my mouth fell open in awe. There were play areas with water toys, slides, fountains, water jets, waterfall curtains, and even a lazy river. It was a slime water park!

Only a few dozen slimes were playing in the pools and water features. I circled the entire place, looking for more hidden panels, and hit the jackpot once again when I spotted a lever. When I pushed it up, a section of the cave wall opened up into a bland brown and gray corridor. At the end of it were two rooms, both with metal plumbings. Was this a maintenance area?

Two spots were marked on the System minimap, and I was quite pleased to find that I could collect ten buckets of [Goo] and ten bottles of soda water to make more [Kola-Kola Soda].

When I tried to take more than ten of each, I got a popup message from the System.

[A mysterious force prevents you from taking more. You may only collect from this place once a week.]

That was fine. [Goo] and soda water weren’t particularly valuable anyway. It was nice to know where I could get more, but I had plenty in my inventory.

I retraced my steps and decided to have fun with Cutie at the water park. Perhaps the place had a special effect when a player used it?

Even though there was no one around except for me and the slimes, I still put up a tent and used it to change into my bathing suit before cautiously dipping a toe into one of the smaller pools that none of the slimes were currently using.

“Ahh~” The water in it was cold as ice! No wonder none of the slimes were using it.

Cutie poked at my foot with her slime strand to get my attention, then bounced off to a bigger pool that had lukewarm water in it. I sat on the underwater bench to relax. Cutie pressed a red tile at one corner which made bubbles rise and dance around me, turning the water into a frothy, effervescent wonderland. It was pure magic, and I couldn't help but laugh in delight as the bubbles tickled my skin. I stayed in that pool for a while before trying out the pools, which had interesting features like hydrotherapy jets. My favorite was the tiled bed where I could lay down while multiple nozzles above me released streams of warm water that massaged my whole body.

Cutie, on the other hand, was a big fan of the slides and lazy river where she played with her friends.

We stayed there until noon time. The water park was nice, but not nearly nice enough for me to miss one of the Demon Chef’s meals.

“Let’s do this again next week,” I said to Cutie right before we stepped into the portal back to the [Ranch House].

It would have been nice to bring some people with me, but the rest of my household disapproved of my slime pet.

Maybe next time I could bring a certain Prince with me.