Chapter 44: Of fire

“Ba ba bam~bam~ba~ba~bam~.”

The firefighter was in a good mood.

Today’s open-run was a success.

Seeing the <Insole Slime>, <Pack Slime>, and <Lemon Flavor Gargle Slime> in the envelope made him hum to himself.

Wearing the special fire suit is hot. It’s basically a sauna.

Even if you do nothing, the internal temperature rises to 40 degrees.

The sweat inside evaporates, making the humidity extremely high.

After just one dispatch, he would come back dazed, gulp down water, and wash his face just to barely get his senses back.

If fire suppression was delayed, he would just sit right there before coming back and pour water on his head.

After sticking <Pack Slime> and <Insole Slime> on his neck, underarms, groin, and feet, wearing the fire suit became bearable.

The fire suit and air respirator were still heavy and stifling, but just lowering the temperature inside the suit and reducing the sweat made things much more comfortable.

For some reason, <Pack Slime> lasts longer inside clothes than when used on the face. Once you buy it, you can use it for quite a while. Not that it lasts forever, so he bought and stocked up whenever he could.

He always tried to buy <Slime> from the online alchemy shop.

Not just him, but all his colleagues together.

He even set an alarm for one minute before items went up for sale.

When the alarm rang, everyone would log in and scramble to buy at least one.

These days, at the fire station, it’s a bit of a trend to tease colleagues who failed to buy anything.

There’s even talk about designating <Insole Slime> and <Pack Slime> as firefighting equipment.

As if that would ever happen.

Normally, he’s too busy to join the open-run, but when the timing is right like this, he can buy all sorts of <Slime>. Next shift, he could hand out <Pure Jelsl> and share his success story.

<Gargle Slime> is sneakily important too.

In fact, the item that draws the most envy when you succeed in the open-run is none other than <Gargle Slime>.

Normally, he prioritized buying <Pack Slime> and <Insole Slime>, so it’s a tough item to get. Plus, it’s single-use.

Firefighters can’t have good dental health.

There are frequent calls while eating. Whether working hard, enduring the heat, or after a failed rescue, you grit your teeth.

And it’s not just the upper half that has issues.

Eating in a rush and sweating a lot makes constipation come easily.

The thing that solves all these problems is <Gargle Slime>.

The current exchange rate is three <Pack Slime> for one <Gargle Slime>. If you took three <Pack Slime>, you have to join the next open-run and buy a <Gargle Slime> to pay back.

Fortunately, he didn’t owe any <Pack Slime>. This <Gargle Slime> was entirely his.

A smooth bowel movement is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.

<Pillow Slime> is also something he’s looking forward to.

Sleep disorders are a chronic issue for firefighters.

There are lots of sudden calls, the blazing flames can burn your mind, and the screams of those you couldn’t save stick with you.

Reviews say it puts you to sleep so well you can’t even look at your smartphone after lying down, so he was really looking forward to it.

They say if you fold it up, it gets pretty small, so it would be nice to carry around and use for quick naps whenever possible.

As he got off the bus, he smelled something burning from somewhere. Looking around, he saw black smoke rising into the sky.

The firefighter immediately started running.

“Excuse me, coming through!”

Seeing the amount of smoke, the firefighter had a hunch.

It was too late for early suppression.

Flames weren’t shooting out the windows, but the amount of smoke was alarming.

The firefighter was swept up in a sense of duty

He had to evacuate people quickly.

The fire alarm was blaring and lots of people were outside, but there could still be people trapped inside.

Since he was off duty, he didn’t have his fire suit or air respirator.

Even so, he was a firefighter.

Never act rashly.

If you rush in blindly, driven by duty, you’ll just add another grave.

Think of the people you’ll leave behind.

We are not Superman.

The firefighter was about to disregard all the advice he’d ever heard and run into the apartment.

Just then, a man blocked his way.

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m an active firefighter!”

“So firefighters don’t burn? You won’t suffocate?”

“I still have to go in!”

“Do you know the layout of this apartment? Do you have any equipment to break down doors? You have nothing! Just stay put, I already called it in!”

At that moment, a balcony door opened.

“Help us!”

The firefighter glared at the man.

He warned him with his eyes not to block the way.

The man clicked his tongue as if he had no choice, pulled a <Pack Slime> from under his arm, and tossed it to the firefighter.

“At least put this on before you go! It’s confirmed to absorb heat and remove contaminants!”

The firefighter immediately took out today’s <Insole Slime> and <Pack Slime> from the envelope and started sticking them on his body.

Seeing this, people around him began pulling out <Slime> from their shoes and other places and handed them to the firefighter.

The firefighter, now covered head to toe in <Slime>, dashed into the apartment.

Luckily, there was a portable light on the first floor.

He grabbed it and ran upstairs.

Black smoke blocked his vision.

But surprisingly, it didn’t sting. His eyes didn’t water.

He didn’t feel the heat either. It was cooler than when he wore his fire suit.

After repeatedly putting <Pack Slime> on residents’ faces and bringing them down,

he had rescued eleven people by the time the fire truck arrived.

Even though the fire truck was late, there were zero fire fatalities.

It was a feat worthy of praise.

***

-Because the slime blocked the heat and smoke, I wasn’t scared at all.

“Ah… Right. So you can use it like this too. That’s good news.”

Rarely is there actually good news.

Did they get the idea from the stories about football players covering their whole bodies with <Insole Slime>?

This guy even upgraded it by sticking <Pack Slime> on his face.

Can you use a large amount of <Pack Slime> as a fire suit substitute?

You can.

Though it’s recommended to use it as a supplement.

Anyone who’s used <Pack Slime> on their face knows it doesn’t block your breathing. <Pack Slime> lets air through. And in the process, our gluttonous <Pack Slime> eats up anything harmful to your health. <Pack Slime> is such a glutton that it’ll even pull carbon out of carbon dioxide if it gets bored.

So you can use it as a substitute for an air respirator. But if the oxygen level on site drops too low, even my slime has its limits. There are also issues with humidity. It’s also weak to physical attacks.

So I don’t recommend using just <Pack Slime> and charging into a fire scene.

Next is using it as a fire suit substitute.

It definitely blocks heat.

Many people might find it surprising that <Pack Slime> blocks heat.

Slime does resemble a snail. You’d think it would just shrivel up if you put it near fire and all its moisture evaporated.

But that’s not the case.

It’s a slime that inherited my trait as a fire-attribute filial son. There’s no way it would be weak to fire, right?

Since I did a mukbang in the form of a penguin slime, people might mistake it for an ice attribute.

In fact, I can use a wide-area cold attack.

But the principle behind my cold attack isn’t like in games, where you refine cold energy inside your body and release it.

What does a man who speaks Japanese say in the morning?

He gets up.

A lame joke makes the surroundings freeze!

Just kidding.

My cold attack works by absorbing the surrounding heat with the [Absorb] and [Convert] skills.

Rather than calling it a cold attack, the term heat absorption attack is more accurate.

If you shoot fire at me thinking I’m weak to it, I’ll just eat it up deliciously.

I’m weaker to low temperatures than high ones.

I can endure 272 degrees with a smile, but minus 272 degrees? What on earth, even I find that tough.

Because there’s no energy to absorb.

A fire scene is a place overflowing with energy to absorb.

The more the fire burns, the more lively my <Pack Slime> becomes.

So, it can be used as a fire suit.

But if you rush into a fire scene wearing only <Pack Slime> like this firefighter, you’ll soon get seriously injured or die.

Because it’s weak to physical attacks.

At a fire scene, it’s not just the flames that are a threat. Falling objects are risks too. Unlike <Insole Slime>, <Pack Slime> isn’t that great at absorbing or dispersing impact. I made a beauty tool, not a face guard.

So, I’m saying to use it as an auxiliary item for a fire suit.

Just filling the inside of a fire suit with <Pack Slime> will drastically increase survival rates at a fire scene.

“Hmm…. Hmm…! Should I donate a little?”

To the fire station.

But why am I so reluctant to donate?

That’s strange.

Is it because I think that even if I donate, the items might be diverted to unrelated places?

I know that donated items aren’t always used for good purposes.

If I gift <Insole Slime> and <Pack Slime>, they might end up in golf shoes, wedged between legs, or stuck on a lady’s face, right?

Should I release a new <Slime> specialized in heat absorption?

<Fire Gel Slime>

-A slime specialized in heat absorption. Heroes, I pay my respects to you.

“Hmm….”

I still don’t want to donate.

What if it’s diverted and used as fireproof wallpaper in a luxury apartment?

<Fire Gel Slime>

-A slime specialized in heat absorption. When angered, it releases the absorbed heat to burn its surroundings.

If it’s diverted, should I just burn it all down?

Let’s stop. Only innocent firefighters would suffer.

I can’t make things harder for firefighters while claiming to make something for them.

Then, another item….

Ah…. Why am I so against this?

I think the idea of donating is the problem.

Since when did I become so stingy?

I have a lot of money.

Do I… have a lot of money?

I do, right? With this much….

Is it really a lot? Can I buy everything I want with this money?

Slap!

I slapped my cheeks with both hands.

It didn’t hurt, but I came to my senses a bit.

If I don’t want to donate, I can think of it as a way to earn more money.

I can think of it as an ad.

And while I’m at it, I’ll make it really hard to use for other purposes.

The method is simple.

Make it turn into trash if it’s not regularly exposed to high-temperature environments.

Want to use it as fireproof wallpaper? Then periodically blast it with a flamethrower.

Want to use it as a parasol? Jump into a fire.

Want to sell it? That’s a violation of alchemy law, and I’ll sue.

I’ll be watching.

<Fire Hero Belt Slime>

-Press a button, and a fire-specialized slime covers your entire body. Transform!

Firefighters, everyone.

I will make you into heroes.

Ah, I almost forgot <Jjin~Poom! Slime>.

This is a must.

Let’s attach it to the transformation button.

***

GelX Big Eyes and MaXcraft.

They’re really popular games, aren’t they?

I like them too.

[<Slime> Offline Meetup]

But what’s the deal with doing that in reality with <Pillow Slime>?