Chapter 135: Pressure

<Pandora>.

It is a posthumous work by the famous artist James Theodore, who temporarily overcame dementia with <Random Jelly Slime (Extremely Spicy Flavor)> and painted it on top of <Towel Slime> using <Coloring Play Slime (for Slimes)>.

Alchemy Slime mixed this expensive piece among other forgeries and created an amusement ride where you have to find the real one.

The name of that ride is [Find James Theodore’s <Pandora>].

Proudly ranked number one among facilities hated by critics and appraisers, this ride has only seen a tiny handful succeed to this day.

One of those rare protagonists was a girl.

She caught Alchemy Slime’s attention, and her father, who had been scraping by as a day laborer, got a job at Slime Land.

It’s true that he decided to hire her after seeing his daughter, but she wasn’t the only reason.

What Alchemy Slime said about this was not a lie.

He was given plenty of work, and the man had to work hard.

Compared to his time as a day laborer, the physical strain was definitely less.

Instead, the number of tasks requiring brainpower increased significantly.

There was a lot to learn and a lot to think about.

He learned a lot about things he didn’t even know existed, and his world grew wider.

He began to think about things he’d never considered before.

‘Who would have thought I’d end up studying art?’

He hadn’t intended to paint himself.

He just wanted to talk with his daughter, so he started studying her area of interest.

It was something he never would have imagined before.

He didn’t even have the capacity to think about his daughter when he needed certifications for work.

Yet now, he was learning something just to have conversations with his daughter.

All of this was thanks to AlchemySlime Company’s benefits policy.

They made it possible to spend as much time as possible with your child.

There were enough facilities to entrust your child, and if it was in the arts or sports, you could learn anything inside Slime Land.

Since moving around inside Slime Land was very simple, you could easily go meet your child during breaks.

You could have lunch with your child every day.

If you got tired at work, you could have snacks with your child.

Even if your child suddenly showed up at your workplace, no one would give you dirty looks.

How many jobs in the world make this possible?

As he spent more and more time with his child, he naturally started looking for things to talk about with her.

That’s why he started learning art.

At first, he didn’t understand the staff’s love for <Slimes>, but as time passed, he gradually came to understand it.

Today is no exception.

He was on parental leave.

Not parental leave of absence.

Parental leave.

At AlchemySlime Company, they give you time off specifically to play with your child.

Of course, it’s not just a free handout.

You have to prove that you used it for your child.

What you did, how your child reacted, and what you felt.

You have to write a report about these things and submit it.

Apparently, these kinds of ideas are what help Slime Land grow.

The man held his daughter’s hand tightly and entered Water Land.

He didn’t work in Water Land, but if you worked at Slime Land, you’d hear things about it.

They say all sorts of spectacular things happen there-fighting, getting stranded, being attacked, even encountering typhoons.

He had no intention of taking his daughter into such a battlefield.

Alchemy Slime made a clear distinction between hardcore and casual gamers.

The father and daughter entered the undersea tunnel.

The feeling was similar to when they first entered <Tunnel Slimes>.

“Wow….”

The girl’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the underwater scenery.

In the bluish light coming through the water’s surface, fish of all colors swam freely.

Below them, gently swaying coral lit up the floor.

It was truly dreamlike.

The girl fidgeted with her hands.

“Do you want to draw?”

“Yeah. But….”

Maybe she hesitated to block the passage and start drawing, because her words trailed off.

“It’s okay.”

When he operated the bracelet, the bubble carrying the two of them detached from the tunnel.

The girl’s eyes grew as big as lanterns.

She hurriedly took in the scenery around her with those big eyes.

The man pulled out tentacles from the wall and made chairs and a stand.

When he also made a control panel, the bubble became a tiny sub.

“If you do this, you can control it.”

The girl spun the sub around this way and that.

At last, she found a view she liked, stopped, and took out her drawing set.

Then she drew the scenery she saw onto it.

In the past, he might have thought this time was a waste.

He would have closed his eyes to nap or pulled out his smartphone out of boredom.

But maybe it was thanks to studying a bit of art.

It was amazing to see the underwater scenery captured in that little hand, inside a square frame.

The saying that you see as much as you know was true.

He felt like he could understand the intention behind the lines she drew now.

He felt like he knew what she wanted to express.

He even felt proud, wondering if she’d already learned such techniques.

“Aren’t you bored, Dad?”

“No. Just watching Yuna draw is fun for me. By the way, here-“

When the man made a guess, the girl opened her eyes wide.

“Yeah! How did you know?”

The effort he’d put into studying had paid off.

After that, the father and daughter wandered around here and there, drawing pictures.

They had more conversations than usual and spent peaceful time together in the beautiful sea.

***

There are many ways to enjoy the beach.

Some people build sandcastles.

Some people lie on benches and pass the time.

Some people swim until they drop.

Even at the same place, everyone spends their time differently.

Some people love playing together in a noisy crowd.

Some people frown at such noise.

Content involving trade, pirates, or coming with family isn’t really suitable for those looking to enjoy with their loved ones.

So, while you can’t achieve achievements, there’s content prepared for you to relax and enjoy peacefully.

The most representative are the undersea tunnel and the sub.

You can travel to other islands through the safe, dispute-free undersea tunnel.

The path is decorated with beautiful scenery.

If you don’t want to walk along the tunnel, you can use sub mode.

Then you can float freely under the sea.

There are plenty of other things prepared besides these, too.

You can enjoy swimming at the beach just like any regular coast.

The main attraction is the undersea, but there’s no intention to forcibly drag people down to the ocean floor.

It’s not like I’m under the Curse of Lust or anything.

You don’t even have to go out to the sea at all.

You can just stay in the starting village, clearing quests given by the villagers.

You don’t even have to do that.

I’ve made all sorts of things, but I have no intention of forcing anyone to enjoy them.

I went to all the trouble of setting up, but there might be content that no one enjoys until the Water Land event ends.

So what if that happens.

The stockpiled materials can just be used again someday.

If you can’t use those materials as they are, you can just process them.

But this part gives me a bit of pause.

“Isn’t it fun? It’s fun, right? In real fishing, you’d never catch a big one this easily. Oh! Got another one!”

If someone came alone, I wouldn’t interfere.

Whether they spend 24 hours at the fishing spot or not, that’s up to them.

Of course, I’d contact their home, but if their family tells me to just leave them be, I’ll keep letting them be.

But what is that, coming here with your family and doing that?

Should I just let it go when a child who isn’t even interested is forced to hold a fishing rod and made to enjoy fishing?

Many people visit Slime Land.

There are harmonious families.

There are also troubled families.

Some families respect their child’s opinions.

Some parents force their children to do things that way.

Actually, it’s not just there that’s like that.

In other facilities too, there are plenty of people who force their opinions on others.

I guess, in their own way, they think they’re sharing fun.

But that behavior lacks respect for the other person.

There are people who study fields they’ve never touched in their life just to meet their child halfway, so why act like that?

I should step in after all.

I can’t just watch such wrong behavior.

If you like fishing so much, should I let you enjoy it in a more tense environment?

<Seagull Slime> deployed.

Kkiruk kkiruk.

Kkiruk kkiruk.

Kkiruk kkiruk.

A flock of seagulls gathered around the fisherman.

“Shoo! Shoo!”

The fisherman tried to drive the seagulls away, but after flapping and moving away for a moment, they quickly returned.

They didn’t show any aggressive behavior.

Instead, they played cutely with the child, mixing in a bit of mischief.

On the other hand, they acted differently toward the father.

They didn’t attack.

They just quickly snatched the fish away whenever the fisherman caught one.

And if the fishing slowed down, they’d poke him with their beaks.

-What are you doing? Why aren’t you fishing faster.

-Hand over the fish.

If you want to force fishing so much, why don’t you try being forced yourself.

In the end, the fisherman couldn’t last long and ran away with the child.

That worked pretty well. If there’s another person like that, I’ll do the same thing.

I kept watching while eating monster materials.

[Trait: Slime☆☆☆☆ leveled up to 60.]

I paused my Water Land observation for a moment.

As expected, the ocean is a treasure trove of resources.

Even now, with the addition of monster materials, alchemy products, and artifacts received as Slime currency, plus the dungeon debris that had sunk to the ocean floor, my level is rising fast.

[A new skill has been created.]

[Pressure skill has grown into Pressure+ skill.]

With so many Class A artifacts eaten, I get spoiled even without opening the status window.

So this time it’s the [Pressure] skill.

When I checked the dictionary, ‘pressure’ didn’t have the meaning of hitting the back of the head.

I called it out without worry.

“Status window.”

[Trait: Slime☆☆☆☆☆ Lv. 60.

+Courage +Temperance +Faith +Diligence +Respect

Skills:

–

Pressure+ Lv. 1.]

[Pressure+ Lv. 1

-Exerts an intangible force.]

Synonyms for pressure include oppression, suppression, and intimidation.

A strong country can do it to a weaker one.

A king can do it to those he rules.

A boss can do it to subordinates.

It’s a way of suppressing others mentally or physically to make them obey.

Thankfully, the [Pressure+] skill isn’t one that acts on the mind.

But in a way, you could say it does work on the mind.

Humans are creatures whose minds are influenced by physical changes.

When their hearts beat fast, they mistake it for love.

If you physically press on their chest to make it hard to breathe and add vibration to make their body tremble, just that can make someone feel mentally oppressed.

So you can use it as a skill that acts on the mind as well.

It’s a skill worthy of the Curse of Arrogance.

Even if I isolate it with the [Barrier☆] skill, it still affects me.

Maybe even the status window didn’t completely reject that skill.

If it were a skill like [Intimidation] that only works on the mind, it might be different.

But this [Pressure+] skill seems like it’ll be quite useful.

Exerts an intangible force.

In other words, it’s basically a telekinesis skill.

“Oh.”

When I used the skill, my body floated up into the air.

Penguins can’t fly.

Slimes can’t fly either.

Penguin Slimes can fly in the sky.

I CAN FLY!!!

Since ancient times, people have longed for the sky.

They tried everything to reach it.

They dreamed of freely roaming there.

As proof, transcendent beings do not crawl on the ground but fly through the sky.

Divine beings look down on humans from high above.

To reach those who dwell up high, people built towers.

They built tall altars on mountaintops.

Now, with technological advancement, the sky has become a realm that people can reach.

They have reached beyond the sky and into space.

Still, flying through the sky with just your body remains a dream for people.

That’s why personal flight equipment continues to be developed endlessly even now.

In fact, even before I acquired the skill, I was able to achieve limited flight.

I’ve consumed plenty of materials from monsters with flight abilities. The data I’ve accumulated with the [Analyze+] skill is enough.

I’ve also eaten a lot of materials from monsters with telekinetic powers.

Inside Slime Land, I was using flight functions in a limited way.

However, I wasn’t using them actively.

The ability to reproduce based on information obtained through the [Analyze+] skill is less efficient compared to using only the skills I possess.

The more I try to let people fly freely, the greater the burden on Mother becomes.

The flights in Slime Land are mostly similar to magic.

Either using invisible, thin slimes or bouncing up with the elasticity of the floor.

Since advanced magic doesn’t differ much from sorcery, there haven’t been any problems so far.

But from now on, things will be different.

This [Pressure+] skill works well with [Control+], [Accelerate+], [Link+], and [Evangelize+] skills.

I can use skills quite efficiently.

From now on, people will be able to experience flying through the sky with just their bodies inside Slime Land.

Of course, it’s not truly just their bare bodies.

Because I need to reduce the burden on Mother.

It’s not like anyone’s going to fly around completely naked, right?

I think it’s best to let people fly when they have wings attached to their backs.

It’s easier to understand, too.

If I announce that a flight function can be added, Lee Doa will probably be thrilled.

From now on, you won’t be able to feel safe just because a roller coaster is in the air.

Because it’ll show very unpredictable movements even in midair.

Of course, not just Lee Doa, but Uh Byungwook and Marco will be happy too.

Taking a leisurely trip in a hot air balloon and sightseeing on the ground is something the whole family can enjoy together. I could even make a ferris wheel that isn’t connected to anything.

As for Marco, he’ll go crazy if I call it a sky island expedition.

Up to here is the story inside Slime Land.

From a military power perspective, I can now build a formidable air force.

Things like fighter jets-I could already make those before.

The versatility of the material called <Slime> is endless.

Even before I had this many skills, I could make a <Stealth Plane Slime>.

Now, I could even make aerial battleships or floating fortresses instead of just fighter jets.

Floating fortresses that don’t even show up on radar, at that.

Ah, I could even send Mother up into the sky.

An airborne Mother aircraft carrier…

Is that a nightmare?