The soreness in Shami's body lasted an entire day. The next morning, he still felt achy and found himself at the village entrance, pondering whether to continue with his daily physical training routine while massaging his waist.
If he continued today, he would get [Physique +0.1], and after persisting for seven days, he could increase the gain from one day of training to [Physique +0.2].
Abandoning now would keep the current physique value unchanged. However, to achieve a daily gain from +0.1 to +0.2, he would need to resume the exercise and persist for 10 consecutive days from the start.
After deliberating for a while, Shami ate an Aikoya Fruit and began today's training.
Under the restorative effects of the Aikoya Fruit, he completed the task within two hours and managed to walk back to the village alive.
It was time to wake the elf up and get some actual work done.
Shami found a secluded spot, opened the Teleportation Gate that led directly to the elf's bedroom.
"No, don't go... to that kind of place... it's dirty..."
Lureya's sleeping posture was awful; she rambled on unintelligibly while her legs slowly started to wiggle.
She was still in her sweet dreamland. But for a brief moment after Shami's daily training ended, a trace of his gained physique value transferred to her, instantly warming her abdomen.
Lureya promptly opened her eyes, wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and threw off the bed sheet.
She thought it was something else...
Just as she was about to go back to sleep, Shami walked right out of the Teleportation Gate.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't just barge into a girl's bedroom, okay?" Lureya quickly pulled the sheet over, covering her pale legs.
Shami noticed the faint scent of orchids in the room.
"Get up. Today, I want to see your true strength so I can develop a relevant training plan."
Since she was his Demon Envoy, a demon with attack capabilities was much more useful than a lazy, useless demon. Shami decided to refine the flat-haired blonde to see if he could make her effective.
"Training? What?" Lureya was at a loss.
"Anyway, get up. It's already this late..."
"It's only six in the morning!"
Lureya interrupted Shami's spellcasting hastily.
On the maple tree clearing, the morning light slowly floated from the skyline over the entire forest, coloring the still green maple leaves with a thin layer of purple light.
The morning air was a bit chilly. After stepping out of the Teleportation Gate, Lureya rubbed her arms, recalling the days at the academy when she was forced to wake early to study "Elf Race History."
Shami pushed aside the stone in front of the cave, calling out the slimes inside.
There were two slimes inside the cave, one being the first created by Shami and the other created just yesterday.
He intended to turn the one that first reached level 30 into a breeding slime for producing more slimes.
Whereas the other would be transformed into a slime with attack effects to enhance his combat abilities.
Currently, the very first slime had turned completely blue, like a large Treasure Bead formed from condensed seawater.
[Name: Ordinary Slime]
[Race: Demon Tribe—Ordinary Demon Creature]
"It's already level 29, with some effort, it might reach level 30 today."
Shami fed the slime the resin in his hand and then played with it by tossing sticks.
[Slime devouring resin enthusiastically, Experience +4]
[Slime playing around, Experience +3]
Playing with the slime was no easy task. The higher the level, the more vigorous the slime was. After completing his training, Shami gradually felt weary, so he called the flat-haired blonde to his side.
"Why did you call me here?"
"Here you go. You can take over playing with Gou Maru. I'll rest for a while."
Shami handed over the scroll from the Demons Atlas containing slime information to the flat-haired blonde.
"Eh, me? Although being a Demon Envoy means I need to do some work. But my salary hasn't been negotiated yet—by the way, who is Gou Maru?"
Shami pointed to the ordinary slime, about to reach level 30.
"Don't give names that could be misunderstood! It's like a pun on ○○! If the slime knew its name was such, it would definitely be depressed! Yelling 'Go! Gou Maru!' during battle against the Hero would be so bizarre!"
"Don't suddenly act like you don't want to be a Demon King anymore; it's just naming!" Lureya clutched the scroll, thought for a bit, "How about calling it Jelly? Slime looks similar to jelly."
"Gou Maru basically means the same."
"Far from it! Stop talking and go rest properly!"
The flat-haired blonde pushed Shami away with both hands.
Lureya opened the Slime Atlas, learning for the first time such detailed information about slimes, from habits to traits, from reproduction to tribes... This data was several times more detailed than anything within the Elf Race.
Stealing this information would certainly be an honor.
But just dreaming about it, she soon gave up the thought.
Shami would definitely make her repay it a hundredfold with her body.
At this moment, Lureya wasn't very eager to approach this slime that was about 1.5 meters tall.
After her first experience of being overwhelmed by a slime, she wisely avoided paying attention to such ordinary demons afterward.
Jelly bounced around the ground for a while, then gently nudged toward Lureya.
The tender motion took Lureya by surprise; she soon realized it must be due to the Demon Envoy Contract. As half a Demon King, demon creatures would naturally find her endearing.
This made things much easier.
Lureya delightfully petted the slime for quite some time before starting to play with it.
"Jelly, fetch the stick."
"Jelly, clean the ground over there."
"Jelly, use Thunderbolt."
"Jelly, go knock Shami over."
"Don't assign such tasks to an ordinary slime!"
Shami, sitting beneath the tree, suddenly realized things were amiss and shouted to stop.
"Shami, there's a little slime over here too."
Lureya pointed beside her; since earlier, a small slime had been bouncing around her place.
She squatted down, trying to touch it.
Very well-behaved, it did not resist. Moreover, its light blue big eyes showed an adorable expression.
Lureya's girlish heart felt moved.
"Oh, I created that slime a couple of days ago, it's only level 7 right now. Your task today is to spar with it."
Lureya was taken aback.
Shami stood up, coming over to the flat-haired blonde's side.
"Don't worry. It's just a regular duel. Friendship comes first, competition second. I also want to see the extent of your abilities."
Lureya held her thumb and index finger, nearly touching, in front of her eyes, the gap just accommodating the little slime's body.
"Wouldn't that be bullying? I'm afraid I'd accidentally squish it."
"Rest assured. I'll be the judge, with my own judgment."
Lureya accepted, drawing the Elf Sword from the Storage Space, assuming a fighting posture.
But she quickly realized.
"Wait! Why did you set a level 7 little slime against me? What about the level 29 one?"
"It's just a precaution so you wouldn't get thrashed..."
The blonde elf blushed furiously.
"What a joke, bring it on!"