The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

My First Taming

I WAITED A WHILE for the collapsed slime to move, but it stayed slumped. Does it just…not recover? Unsure of what to do, I held back a little longer, but the situation didn’t improve. It was trembling a little, and I could practically feel its misery. I felt bad for it…but it was still pretty cute.

The little thing was totally helpless, so I reached out to try to prop it up…and then I froze. I can’t touch it. They say even a poke is enough to kill the rare weakest slime.

When I’d read that, I’d wondered if any monster could really be that frail. But looking at the collapsed slime now, fallen over and unable to right itself…it was hard to deny what I saw.

What do I do? Will it die if I touch it? Well…touching isn’t poking, right? I’ll try caaarefully, slooowly scooping up its upper body to point it forward.

I was nervous. The thing was even shuddering…

Huh?! Is it dying? It’s really dying?! I watched nervously. After a while, it stopped, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ah ha ha! What am I doing?”

The collapsed slime stared at me. Honestly, I didn’t want to abandon it. Maybe I could tame it? The weakest slime and a no-star…maybe we were a perfect pair.

I’d read how to tame in books, but I never thought I would actually try to do it, so I hadn’t committed much of it to memory. If I failed, the collapsed slime in front of me would probably die.

So I took the book out of my magic bag and looked up how to tame. According to the book, if you offer a piece of your mana and the monster accepts it, it creates light. When you see that glow, you speak your own name, then give the monster a name. There was another method that involved forcefully asserting your authority over the monster, but that was generally recommended for people with three or more stars. A no-star like me, not so much. 

In either case, if it succeeded, the book said a mark would appear.

Hand over some of your mana, the book says. Just a tiny bit is fine, right? Juuust a little. I looked at the collapsed slime. Its eyes were trained on me.

“Just a little.” I felt out for auras, but nothing was approaching. After giving myself a little pep talk, I kneeled next to the collapsed slime.

With just the tiniest bit of mana in my right index finger, I slowly reached toward the slime. My heart was thumping like mad. If it rejected me, that was that. The slime quivered and rubbed its body against my fingertip. Once I felt the mana moving from my finger to the slime, I snatched my hand back and watched.

Shake shake.

It was bathed in a faint light now, so it must’ve accepted my mana. Next, I had to speak my name and give the collapsed slime one of its own.

My name—not the name my parents had taken from me. I’d come up with something new after leaving the village: I was Ivy, one who can be trampled on yet still survive and grow strong. It was a word pulled from the memories of my past self. Apparently, it was the name of some kind of plant.

As for the collapsed slime…umm, it’s blue, so…I could call it Blue? Maybe something better. I looked up and stared out at the beautiful blue sky. Ah…okay! Sky—we’ll go with Sora! That’ll do it!

“I’m Ivy, and you’re Sora!”

Its quivering body spasmed. I watched anxiously, wondering if it would disappear, until a pattern appeared on what I guess you’d call its head. The symbol was proof that the slime had been tamed. Hooray! I did it!