As she continued her laid-back adventure, Erika arrived in a area with glittering puddles. Little Water Blobs climbed out of the puddles and clumsily ran around.

So cute~

Erika smiled from ear to ear as she watched a baby blob running on its chubby feet. The blob tripped and landed on its round belly, then stood up and continued running. Truly, this sight was heaven for Erika... until she saw the unbelievable.

The blob approached the lake and prepared to jump in. Just then, a big mass of water crashed on the blob and absorbed the baby inside.

No! That can’t be...!

A Waterflora gulped the blob and caged the baby inside its watery head. The helpless Water Blob waved its tiny arms while being sucked dry by Waterflora. The flower and the blob were fellow mobs, but their relationship was that of a predator and a prey.

“Vivi! Can you...”

Erika bit her lip. Vivi just overcame the trauma of nearly drowning inside a Waterflora. Asking the traumatized pixie for help made guilt surge in Erika’s heart.

However, precisely because of that guilt, Erika had to ask Vivi for help. By herself, Erika wasn’t strong enough to rescue the blob before it was completely digested.

“Vivi, please! Can you save that little blob from the Waterflora?”

“Hmph! Like, why should I care about idiots like that? He can drown in that flower for all I care! Ahahaha!”

Vivi crossed her arms and enjoyed the spectacle of a mob devouring another mob. For her, the size or strength of the enemy didn’t matter; they were all idiots, worthy of being ridiculed and blasted to pieces.

Vivi wasn’t going to lend a hand and it was difficult for Erika to find a good argument in the heat of the moment. Each second Erika would spend on failed negotiations - will drive the blob closer to its demise.

N-not good! I need to hurry!

Erika sprinted toward the gluttonous enemy by herself. Her hand instinctively reached toward the Silver Knife, but it froze midway.

Punching was more useful, for some reason.

She didn’t understand the logic behind it, but she prepared her fists instead. She whammed the evil flower right in the face, splattering liquid across the ground. Same as before, the Waterflora didn’t attack while it was busy devouring a prisoner; Erika’s real enemy was time.

I need to hurry...!

The punches connected and shook the Waterflora, but the enemy refused to surrender. With each passing moment, another part of the imprisoned blob was melted and mixed into the water inside the Waterflora.

“Curses! Spit it out!”

Erika slammed the Waterflora’s face until all of its water leaked out The trembling stem collapsed onto the ground and dispersed into azure particles.

“Haa... haa... are you alright?”

Erika picked up the freed baby. The blob dripped water like a squeezed sponge, losing more of its humanoid shape with each drop.

“You poor thing...”

Erika hang her head and gritted her teeth. Yet again, she was too slow. Even though she knew how to efficiently combat the Waterflora this time, the Water Blob was reduced to this sorry state. It was melting in her palms and fading from this world.

“Can you be healed? Is there anything I can do for you?”

“P.. pyu...”

The blob choked out a weak, squeaky sound. It wasn't translated to any words by Erika’s [Communication], making her curse the rune’s incompetence. However, the second level of the rune did show something: a faint icon hanged above the dying blob’s head, with the drawing of water in it.

The icon was vague, but it implied that the blob sought water. Or, perhaps it cried about missing water and drying out because of it. Either way, the lake was the only source of water available in the area.

“Do you want to go to the lake? Will that save you?”

Erika carefully brought the Water Blob toward the lake and dipped it inside.

“P... yu... py... u... pyu...”

The blob’s melting body began to reform by absorbing water from the lake. After a few seconds, it was as good as new.

“I’m so glad~”

Erika smiled in relief and patted the little blob. Alas, the blob immediately jumped from her palms and dived into the lake. It swam away, leaving his savior behind.

I suppose it can’t be helped...

Erika watched the departing Water Blob with longing eyes. She wanted to keep that cutie by her side, to make sure it stayed safe and sound.

“Hm...?”

The Water Blob stopped swimming all of a sudden. It turned around and stared at Erika for a couple of seconds, the swam back to the shore.

“Pyu!”

The blob clumsily climbed out of the water and ran toward Erika.

“My, what’s wrong, little one?”

Erika petted the little baby and her affection wasn’t reject. On the contrary, a heart emote sprouted above the blob’s head.

【NOTIFICATION】【A Water Blob would like to become your familiar.】

“T-this is...!”

Erika’s eyes sparkled and she shot her finger into the【Accept】button. It felt like a dream that could fleet away at any moment.

【Place input a name for your new familiar.】

Erika glanced at the small, chubby blob. Its round body properties looked childish, therefore only silly names came to mind. The blob didn’t have a specified gender, but Erika decided to treat it like a boy.

“Blobby.”

She said the name out loud for the voice detector and completed the registration process.

【Blobby (Water Blob) became your familiar!】

“Y-yes!”

Erika grabbed her tiny baby and tightly hugged him, almost crushing him to bits. At long last, after suffering through unreasonable battles, Erika felt truly rewarded. Blobby wasn’t a fluffy critter, but he was small and adorable enough to be showered with love.

“You’re watching this, Mini!? I just got myself a cute familiar~!”

“Ah... yeah, sure...”

Mina didn’t know how to respond, she was stunned by the fact that a random mob could turn into an ally. She spent all her time in GoVe on methodically executing every mob in sight, but now the game looked more dynamic and deeper than ever before.

In fact, many of Erika’s actions made Mina feel that way. Erika played the game at a snail’s pace: she wasted time speaking to useless NPCs, she aimlessly roamed in new places and she got distracted by small creatures. She did so many things that had nothing to do with fighting or improving combat skills.

At first, Mina was irritated by Erika’s slow progress. She felt that Erika fooled around too much and achieved nothing of worth. However, now that she watched Erika snuggle the little blob, her opinion was completely different.

Erika played in weird ways, but that was exactly the reason it was interesting to watch. In just three days of playing in GoVe, Erika discovered mechanics which Mina couldn’t even imagine.

Perhaps she was just in a good mood today, but Mina was now convinced. Together with Erika - they’d definitely reach Trilz City and would cure the Grim Reaper’s curse... eventually.