The Slime Doesn't Die from Mana Transfer

Creak, creak…

Her small, pale feet sank deep into the fresh snow blanketing the forest floor.

Each time she lifted them, they left clear half-inch-deep prints. The white mist of the girl’s breath instantly frosted in the frigid air.

“So, so cold…”

Rozelite tiptoed as she hugged her thin body tightly with her slender arms. She had no clothes for warmth—only a flimsy white dress, so light and delicate it looked as though the wind itself could tear it apart.

For a moment, she even wanted to retreat back into the labyrinth behind her.

Her golden hair, usually soft and smooth, now whipped into disarray by the wind, a few strands clinging to her frost-flushed cheeks.

When Rozelite looked up, all she could see was silver and white.

Snow-laden branches bent under their weight, and the forest’s depths were a blinding expanse of white. She had no memory of ever seeing such scenery, and its sudden appearance before her eyes only deepened her confusion.

“Where exactly am I…?”

“Wait—is this… snow?!”

She crouched carefully, her reddened fingers scooping up a handful of the icy powder.

Tiny shards of light glimmered in the crystalline flakes, reflected in her eyes as pure curiosity.

Suddenly, her stomach lurched.

“Uhh—”

With a dry gag, a translucent blue jelly-like tentacle tipped with an eyeball slid from her mouth.

It swayed back and forth, the eye observing the outside world.

“Five years… I’m finally out.”

Russell was overwhelmed with emotion.

In those five years, he hadn’t spoken to a single person. If not for occasionally talking to himself, he would’ve thought his ability to use language had atrophied.

…Well, technically, slimes didn’t have the ability to speak in the first place.

In any case, compared to that dark, damp dungeon, the world outside was far more enticing.

“Mmff… shhhlai… mmrshun…”

“What?”

Russell retracted the tentacle.

“Mister Slime, what should we do next?”

Rozelite’s teeth chattered as she hugged her shoulders. The cold wind flushed her pale skin pink, and her bare feet, pressed into the snow, were already red and swollen.

“What to do, huh…”

Russell pondered for a moment.

His excitement calmed quickly. Forget about lofty dreams or “the poetry of distant places”—for now, the most important thing was figuring out where exactly they were.

“Do you know where this is?”

“Uh… no.”

Rozelite shook her head.

“The place where I live never snows this heavily, so I guess this must be the north. But which city in the north, I don’t know. Definitely not beyond the barrier, though.”

Barrier?

What the hell?

“C’mon! Don’t throw new settings at me the moment I step out of the noob village!”

“…Forget it. For now, let’s head toward the nearest town.”

Russell made his decision.

First of all, Rozelite needed real treatment fast. He couldn’t keep her alive forever by locking her HP himself.

Second, whether he was to search for a way to become human or decide his next steps, he needed a much deeper understanding of this world.

Hard to admit, but despite transmigrating here for five years, most of what he knew about this world had come from this little brat. What he desperately needed was a “Beginner’s Guide,” a “Quest Log,” and a handbook titled “100 Things You Must Know After Crossing into Another World.”

“Onward! Our target—the Slime Master!”

Russell declared with vigor.

“Um, Mister Slime, you say onward… but which way do we go?”

Rozelite glanced around.

All directions were nothing but snow-covered forest, with no signs of a road or town.

“Open your mouth.”

“Uh… uhhk!”

With her gagging sound, Russell emerged once again from her mouth.

The eyeball-tipped tentacle scanned the surroundings, trying to use the wisdom of a transmigrator to discern a path. Then…

Yeah, no dice.

Truth was, Russell had never thought of himself as the intellectual type. Sure, back in elementary school he’d learned a little about finding directions in a forest. But after starting work, life had been nothing but a grind—those lessons long since forgotten.

Frustrating.

“Wait, hang on…”

Russell suddenly noticed something.

He stretched his tentacle higher, higher, until it reached the limit of his [Shapeshift Lv. 7].

Finally, his vision cleared the treetops, revealing in the distance a vast, unending white mountain range, stretching all the way to the horizon.

“There’s a really long mountain range over there,” Russell reported.

“Hmm…”

Rozelite tilted her head, thinking. Then, hesitantly, she said:

“North, with a long mountain range… If that’s the case, then we might be near the border of the Rhine Kingdom. My teacher once told me this area is almost uninhabited. Only adventurer teams above A-rank accept the periodic monster-clearing requests here.”

“So, we should move in the opposite direction of the mountains?”

“That should be… right, I guess?”

Rozelite didn’t sound all that confident.

Still, Russell had already made up his mind based on this scrap of info.

“Recklessness is closer to success than cowardice. Who cares if the direction’s wrong? The earth is round. Just walk!”

“Uh… o-okay…”

Rozelite was dumbfounded.

But with Russell’s motivation (read: shoving), Rozelite braced herself and prepared to move forward.

Plans, however, never kept pace with reality.

After barely two steps, Rozelite broke down, tears spilling like pearls off a snapped string.

“Mister Slime, I’m cold…”

Her delicate little feet had no shoes, now swollen red from frostbite. Her only tattered dress gave no protection. In this frozen wasteland, even a burly man two meters tall would struggle, let alone a frail little girl.

“Ugh, humans are such trouble. Open your mouth.”

“Ahh… uhhk!”

This time, a thinner tentacle slipped out—not with an eyeball.

Under Rozelite’s confused gaze, it swayed once in the air.

[Fire Magic Lv. 6]

Fwoosh—

A small flame appeared at the tentacle’s tip.

At once, warmth spread around Rozelite. Even the snow beneath her feet began to melt.

Her eyes widened in astonishment.

“Mister Slime, you can use magic?!”

“Want to learn? I can teach you.”

“But my teacher always said I have no talent for magic.”

“Heh, just a useless teacher. Haven’t you heard? Heaven never shuts all doors. As long as I want to walk…”

Russell grinned as he opened Rozelite’s status panel.

And then he froze.

“…Not cool, bro. Where’s your mana bar?!”