Chapter 288: New Mochi, New Mystery

[ Mochi is my name? Yay! Mochi, Mochi! I have a name now~! ]

Despite Qiu Nuoya’s confusion, the Slime in his arms was bouncing around innocently with delight. At this point, it was hard to admit that he had made a mistake.

[ But, Master, what does Mochi mean? ]

The unexpected question caught Qiu Nuoya off guard, leaving him momentarily at a loss for words.

"Um, I named you Mochi because you’re soft, round, and squishy, just like the sweet rice cake. And since you’re a Slime, I thought it suited you pretty well. Do you like it?"

When Qiu Nuoya had first given Mochi his name, the little Slime had immediately started repeating it excitedly. Remembering that, Qiu Nuoya couldn’t help smiling sheepishly.

The second Mochi wriggled around in his arms.

[ Sweet rice cake? What’s that? Can I eat it? ]

Even though they were both Slimes, perhaps their vocabularies were different. At any rate, the second Mochi didn’t seem to have any complaints about his name.

Out of curiosity, Qiu Nuoya used his appraisal ability on the second Mochi. The results were exactly the same as those for the original Mochi. This Slime was also a fragment of the Ancient Slime.

The only difference was the color inside the heart symbol. The second Mochi’s affection level was still a pale pink, which probably meant something like "likes you a little."

Come to think of it, why were all the fragments of the Ancient Slime the same pale green color? If that was the case, did every Slime with this color originally belong to Mochi’s family? Were they all siblings, or were they actually the same individual?

The mysteries surrounding Slimes were getting even deeper.

For the time being, Qiu Nuoya was curious about how the first Mochi and the second Mochi would react when they met. However, that wasn’t something he could afford to worry about right now.

"Hey, Mochi, can I ask you something? Where exactly are we?"

[ We’re in a forest. ]

"Um, do you know the name of the forest or anything like that?"

[ Huh? I dunno~ ]

I see... So you don’t know, huh?

But seriously, what was Qiu Nuoya supposed to do now? He was completely lost!

Having made the second Mochi his tamed monster, he felt a little less lonely. Even so, he still had absolutely no idea what was happening or what kind of situation he had found himself in.

Where did that enormous Orc General go!?

No, wait. Thinking about it calmly, the fact that Qiu Nuoya was now in a forest rather than inside the cavern suggested that the Orc General might not have disappeared at all. Perhaps Qiu Nuoya himself had been removed from that place instead.

That reminded him of a certain kind of magic: teleportation magic.

Qiu Nuoya had indeed been practicing teleportation magic. However, he was still only at the training stage, and all he had managed to do was teleport small objects from one place to another. He had never once teleported himself.

He had heard that teleportation magic could normally only take someone to a place they had visited before. Yet Qiu Nuoya was fairly certain he had never been to this place.

Rather than Qiu Nuoya having used teleportation magic himself, it seemed more likely that someone else had transported him here.

But the only person he could think of who might be capable of something like that was Viktor, and there was no sign of Viktor appearing beside him.

Besides, Viktor hadn’t been beside him at that moment. Although he had definitely been fighting alongside Qiu Nuoya just a little earlier, at the crucial moment, he had been nowhere near him.

Panicking wouldn’t improve the situation, so Qiu Nuoya tried to calm down and think things through.

For now, his biggest problem was figuring out where he was.

If the Slime in front of him had been the original Mochi, he might have been able to contact Xiao Tao through Slime communication. However, two Slimes that had never met before couldn’t communicate with each other that way.

Then, suddenly, an idea struck him.

That’s right! The dragon flute!

The dragon flute Long had given him was a mysterious instrument whose sound would reach Long’s ears no matter where Qiu Nuoya was. Long had promised to rush to his side whenever he played it.

Qiu Nuoya took out the flute and blew into it.

The sound it produced seemed to consist of some kind of unusual sound waves. As usual, Qiu Nuoya could barely even tell whether it was making any noise at all. Still, this should work... right?

He listened carefully, searching for any sign of Long’s presence as he waited for the dragon to arrive.

But ten minutes passed, then twenty, and there was still no sign of Long.

Qiu Nuoya began to feel anxious once again.

[ Master~ Are you okay? Are you hungry? ]

Mochi wriggled around and peered up at Qiu Nuoya with a worried look.

I’m really glad you’re here with me. Being alone is lonely, and solitude is painful.

Realizing how relieved he felt at Mochi’s small gesture of concern, Qiu Nuoya gently stroked the Slime’s head.

"I’m fine, but are you hungry, Mochi?"

[ Hmm, let me see... I am~! ]

They had only been in this forest for an hour or so, but it was probably around lunchtime now. After all, an army marched on its stomach. More importantly, if Qiu Nuoya didn’t keep himself occupied, his anxiety would just continue to grow.

He rummaged through his magic bag and took out some snacks for Mochi, along with some emergency rations for himself.

His emergency food consisted of cookie-like treats that were easy to eat on the go. He did have some prepared meals stored in his bag, but with monsters potentially lurking nearby, he was reluctant to lay out a proper meal.

When Qiu Nuoya handed the second Mochi a snack, the Slime initially seemed puzzled. However, it cautiously absorbed the treat, and its insides began to quiver, just as the original Mochi’s had when Qiu Nuoya first gave it a snack.