Opening his eyes, Himo was greeted by the view of a boar leaping toward him.

“Wha-?!” Startled, he threw a kick to its brow, sending the boar crashing against a pine tree. The impact snapped the trunk in half, leading the boar to fall on a green bush. The creature then sprinted away without looking backward, vanishing in the midst of vegetation before Himo could come back to his senses.

[This is why sleeping in a forest should be avoided. Good job in following standard common-sense, User.]

Himo blinked. “System, didn’t you say that the adult version of the slime could destroy planets? That fight was disappointing to say the least!”

[The system managed to check that dream kingdom for a few seconds, and is confident in saying that the user is crazy to compare a poor creature like the slime to that monstrosity.]

“How did the slime become a poor creature all of a sudden? Didn’t you want me to kill it? No, more importantly, what do you mean with monstrosity?! Take that back!”

[Indeed, the user was supposed to eliminate the threat but didn’t do so. Therefore, the quest is failed. However… the user also avoided the penitence; this is surprising.]

“Ah!” Hearing those words, Himo hurriedly checked the grass around him, but failed to find any of the items that the system had lent him. They had vanished. A feeling of sadness swept to him as he looked at the sky. “System… I still solved the problem with the slime, can I, at least, receive a reward?” If logic didn’t work, pity would do. Himo’s acting skills could be said to be exceptional, sometimes.

[Quest Failure(?): Slay the living calamity!]

[Quest Difficulty: F]

[Quest Reward: A candy.]

[Quest Failure Penitence: Dodged.]

"A candy? Really? At least give me some fried meat instead!" Himo frowned. "Now, where did that boar escape to?"

[Normally there would be no reward for this quest as it's failed, but the system felt pity toward the user.]

Himo narrowed his eyes. Just as he was about to retort, an orange candy materialized in front of him. It didn’t even have a wrapper. Speechless, he extended his hand to grab it, when a green sphere snatched it.

The candy ended up eaten by the slime, who bounced right and left in appreciation of the sweet item.

Himo was annoyed initially, but after seeing its cute actions, his frown turned into a smile and he patted the slime. He laughed. “I heard you morphed into a woman during combat…” Grinning, he added, “With that in mind, I will name you ‘Phylia’.”

The slime giggled. While it had first felt reluctant to acknowledge Himo as its master, after the fight in the dream and being given something awesome like that candy, it swore fidelity to the child.

Himo, however, had no way to know that. System, can it understand my words?

[The taming item that the user used held the function of applying a "seal". While its main use is to prevent the slime to rebel, it also has two additional functions. One is to raise the cultivation level of the slime to the same of its master; the other is to act as a communicative pathway. While the slime has no idea of what the user's words mean, it can understand the general intention.]

Before Himo could reply, the system continued speaking.

[The explanation of the seal’s functioning isn't currently accessible.]

I never doubted that. Himo rolled his eyes. After thinking for a moment, he glanced at his surroundings, but all he could see was the flora that overran the area. Therefore, he took out the map he had bought and looked at it for a minute.

Taking a step forward, he proclaimed confidently, “Phylia! It seems that...”

She turned toward him.

“...We are lost!”

[...]

Despite the system’s speechlessness and the slime’s lack of response, Himo had a plan. He quickly climbed up to the top of a tree.

A wall of foliage walled the view on each side, making impossible to discern one's own location. Only by paying attention to each gap in that wall did Himo find a large land of fresh grass, one leading upward. A hill. Followed by Phylia, he hiked up to the summit. Once atop, a smile grew on his face as he gazed at the surrounding view. It seemed that the lack of powerful monsters had left the fauna to grow, resulting in a semi-pristine landscape.

“Phylia, come up here!”

Hearing those words, the slime morphed into a small bird and flew up to his shoulder, rubbing her head against his cheek. Chasing after his gaze, she turned to see the panorama.

Hidden behind the foliage, a river of limpid water separated the forest of trees in two. At its left side, a dirt road offered a path to two horses that dragged a caravan packed with people. 

As Himo's sight had improved drastically after cultivating, he could make out most of the details in their clothes—tunics with light decorations ranging from patterns of flowers to knives and swords. 

Seeing them, Himo didn't linger on the hill. He hastened toward the group. While walking, he looked at Phylia for a second. "Can you change your shape to hide your identity of a slime?"

Nodding, Phylia jumped down from his shoulder. Once on the ground, the little bird-shaped slime began to expand, shaping into a humanoid form. Mimicking Himo, she colored hair and tail white, and her eyes black. Her height and build didn’t differ much from Himo’s aside from slightly more feminine details. As for clothes, she wore a white shirt and black trousers.

Himo was satisfied. Apart from a small issue, she seemed no different than a regular ten years old girl.

“I noticed that you’re only morphing into the external shape, like this, you won’t be able to talk. If we find some enemies, your job will be to analyze their bodies and mimic vocal cords.” Turning to look at the caravan in the distance, he stroked her head. “Now don’t worry about it. Let’s ask them where we are now.”

As soon as he said those words, both he and Phylia sped up. They reached the caravan in just a minute. Walking toward a tiger-man at the back of the group, Himo waved a hand. “Hello!”

“Everyone, enemy attack! Defend yourselves! Get ready for the fight!”

“What?!”