“Do you think she will go to Tempest?” Trewy asked. They finally left Kumos web. As the blue light of the threads vanished, the forest became less dense. So currently they were walking through the forest with the warm light of the sun. They were really lucky with the weather so far. The Jura Forest was always known for unpredictable weather. Even storms would come out of nowhere. Kumo had read about this. Most people think that the reason for the unpredictable weather is the high mana density in the atmosphere.

“I think so, yes. But it will probably take her a few days until she decides.” Nemu said. In the beginning they were sad to leave. They knew that Kumo would have liked to make them stay a little longer. But after a while the mood lightened.

“Why do you think that? I'm still not sure. After all, she has every reason to not leave her web.”

“It's because of her eyes. In the beginning of her story she was excited and... happy. It changed later. But the next day, she had a curious look again. Just like you.” Trewy blushed a little. So he was looking at her eyes? But then, she nodded. He was right, the way after she was different. In a good way.

And after a while, they finally reached the place that should have been their first destination.

The forest ended at a large lake. It was almost impossible to see the other end of the lake with the naked eye. Or, in Nemus' case, his slimy senses. Nemu and Trewy hadn’t seen something like that before. Nemu spent most of his time in the forest. Sometimes there was a small sea. But for him, it was simply too dangerous to stay there for a longer period of time, because there were also always monsters around. Monsters he wanted to avoid. But that changed. He is strong now and doesn't have to hide anymore. So this time, he could carefree watch the stream of water slowly running from one end to another. Trewy was also impressed. It was the same for her. She had spent her whole life in the grove of dryads. There were lakes and rivers. But they were nothing like the river in front of her.

“So much... water.” Trewy whispered.

"It's amazing.” Nemu said.

“I heard there is even more water in the oceans.”

“Half the world is covered with water I have read, I will definitely go there.” Nemu agreed.

However, the river wasn’t their real destination. They both agreed that the sight was already worth the journey. But they can't just stop here. Because, there was also a big island in the middle of the large river. Almost 4 times the size of Tempest, Nemu guessed.

[4 times is accurate.] Guide confirmed.

'Oh, I almost forgot about you. How have you been?' Nemu asked inwardly.

[I am just a skill. I do not have feelings like that.] Guide said in a monotone voice.

 

'Sure... But you were pretty quiet recently.' Nemu actually hasn't heard anything of Guide since they reached the forest, in Tempest he talked a lot more.

[You did not ask questions.]

'… True. I guess.' Maybe he should rely more on Guide? The situation in the web was pretty dangerous in the beginning. Some help would have been helpful. Nemu decided that he will ask Guide more often. After all, he was a great skill.

“So... How do we get over there?” Nemu asked.

“I don't know. Can you swim?” Trewy said while looking at the island.

“Slimes can't swim. But we also don't need the breath. However, if the stream pulls me downwards I have no idea where I'll land. Also, there is something fishy with the water.” Yea, the fishy joke was on purpose and Nemu even got a little smile for it.

“What do you mean?” Trewy didn’t understand what Nemu meant.

“I should be able to perceive what is in the water, but... it's like there is a film of mana on the water. It's all around the island.” Nemu was confused. So there was actually something weird going on over there. He already suspected something. Such a large island completely unexplored? That doesn't make too much sense.

“Oh, I can help!” Trewy stepped forwards and put both of her hands in the river.

“What are you doing?” Nemu curiously asked.

“Hmm, I haven't told you yet, right?” She stood up again and stopped right before Nemus' face. Or, well, his body. “Look in my eyes.” And again, Nemu blushed a little. Dryads had really beautiful eyes. They looked like they were shining. Luckily Trewy can't see that he blus... “Did you just blush?” What! Okay, Nemu had to be more careful now.

“My eyes are blue. Every dryad gets born with an elemental spirit. In my case it's a water spirit and that's why my eyes are blue. But there are many different spirits.” She explained. “If I grow up I will be able to inherit another spirit from a different element.”

“Ah!” Nemu remembered something. When he first met Treyni, her eyes were shining in different colors. Sometimes blue. Sometimes green. He wanted to ask back then, but didn’t have the right timing. “Like Treyni!”

“Exactly!” Trewy confirmed. “Treyni has a water and a nature spirit. That's why the colors of her eyes are shining in a blue and green light. Well, and since I have a water spirit and we are near a lake I can communicate with him.”

"That's great! I also want a spirit!” Nemu exclaimed.

“Hmm, I don't think that's possible. I was told that only Dryads can have an elemental spirit.” Trewy explained. She didn't know better back then.

“Pf. Unfair.” Nemu puffed. Trewy smiled, she thought it was cute when Nemu looked insulted.

However, then she walked to the river again. Put her hands in it and waited. It took her 2 minutes until she stood up again.

“There are several large creatures on the bottom of the lake. I don't think they are there without a reason. It almost looks like someone placed them there.” Well, and there they finally had the explanation why the island was still undiscovered. Someone did it on purpose. “They are on the ground but they have large tentacles so it might not be safe. However, they seem to be calm. For now.”

“Hmm, what do we do now?” Nemu asked.

Trewy smiled. “An unexplored island on which someone does not want us. We will go there anyways!”

“But what if they attack us?”

“I should be able to use my water spirit, so it makes us invisible to the creatures on the ground.” She said with a proud smile. Again, Nemu was convinced that he found the perfect companion.

“Now we just have to find out how we get over there.” Nemu said.

[…]

'Guide?' Right. There was something. If he had a problem, he should ask Guide. 'Sorry. What should we do here?'

[Build a raft.] An image of a raft, including something like a manual suddenly appeared in his mind. And all the things he needed, they were already in his dimensional space. Including ropes, remember them?, and a sail. That can't be a coincidence, right? Nemu was sure that Rimuru planned for this. Did he even tell him that they wanted to cross a river?

“We build a raft!” Nemu said and happily jumped up. And then, everything they needed to build a raft appeared from Nemus' body.

“Ew.”

“I already told you it's not in my body!”

“I know, it's just funny to see you fed up.” Trewy laughed. “Do you know how to put these things together?”

“Yes.” Nemu was about to nod but stopped in time, saving him from another laugh. “But... it will take us some time and you have to do the most. Because, well, no hands.” Sometimes a slime body had advantages, but it was these moments he wished he had a more humanoid body.

In the end, it took them about 6 hours to put all the things together. But it was fun, at least for Nemu, who was watching from the side lines most of the time, giving Trewy instructions. He didn't know that she could sigh so often. Definitely worth it!

“Ready?” Nemu asked.

Trewy nodded and sighed again. She had sweat on her forehead. Until now, Nemu didn't even know that Dryads can sweat. Interesting!

Nemu pushed the raft into the river. They were lucky. The river was almost calm. If the weather was worse, or it would have been raining, they couldn't go like that. Fortunately today, it wasn't a problem to cross the river. Well, at least, that was the plan.

Nemu jumped on the raft and Trewy followed.

“How does your water spirit work?” Nemu asked.

“I just have to touch the water surface and it should calm down on its own.” Trewy explained.

As they sat on the raft, they moved slowly down the river towards the large island. Nothing happened, until... Trewy opened her eyes she had closed since her hands touched the water. “They woke up.”

“What?” Nemu was confused. She doesn't mean the things on the ground, right? It was then. Something large was coming out from the water. A tentacle. It was so long that it still shot from the bottom of the river 10 meters above the water surface. And then, another one. If it wasn't about the water spirit, the tentacles would have destroyed the raft in the beginning. But it seemed like they weren't aware of where the raft actually was. Just that there is something on the surface. Nemu finally understood why there weren't any records about the island. It wasn't just that they couldn't cross the river. It was that everyone who tried simply died. The monsters were terrifying.

Another tentacle shot from under the river. This time, even closer to the raft. “How?” Nemu screamed.

“I don't know!” Trewy said out loudly. “We have to hurry!”

“But... I can't do anything!”

It was then. A tentacle hit them from right under the water, catapulting them into the air.

“Ahhhh.” Trewy screamed. Was she hurt?

They were now up in the air. Already falling. What should I do? What should I do? Nemu was desperate. Question!

'Guide! Help!'

[Use your 'Absorption' Skill to absorb water and then use it to spit it out to get speed on the surface.]

That... that's it! He had to thank him later. But for now…

“Trewy, hold my body!” He screamed. Only a few meters away from the surface.

“What?” She didn't notice what he said.

“Hold my body!” Nemu repeated.

Trewy didn't know why. But she decided to trust Nemu.

She wrapped her arms around Nemus' slimy body and held him tight.

“Absorption!” Nemu screamed right before they hit the surface.

Before they built the raft, his dimensional space was almost full, but now there was about 50% free space. And he used all of it. A vortex appeared under them as Nemu absorbed as much water as possible.

And then they hit the water. Without even waiting for a second, Nemu spilled everything out and shot himself with Trewy over the water surface like a flat stone.

After painfully long seconds, they finally reached the coast of the island. Nemu hit his body hard on a stone wall. Fortunately, his body was very durable. If Trewy would have hit it first, she would have probably broken some of her bones.

Crash!

They finally came to a still stand. Heavily breathing they were lying on the ground. Obviously, Nemu wasn't breathing, but his body became slower and bigger so it made it look like it. It took them a minute to finally calm down again.

“I'll never make jokes about your Skill again.” Trewy said while lying on her back and looking up in the sky. Well, that was a lie.