Slime Bed

I switched control to the house-sitting group and relaxed at Penpen's Home.

The wagon group's girls were resting at my Home. There was a hut with a roof to keep out rain and wind, making it a far better setup than camping outdoors.

I'd tidied it up from the shabby shack it used to be, turning it into a somewhat comfortable living space. With secondhand furniture. Thanks, Penpen.

So, the Restriction Release meant we could now stretch one day into three.

But since we weren't game characters, three days of activity meant needing three days' worth of rest too… If you didn't go back outside the game and rest in real life, the fatigue would pile up at breakneck speed.

"By the way, you guys know about VR sleep, yo?"

"VR sleep…?"

That's what Nika brought up.

"Basically, you just sleep while you're still in VR."

"So, like falling asleep in-game?"

"More like setting up a proper relaxing environment, yo. Healing music, calm and soothing visuals."

Made sense.

But could that actually relieve fatigue? Hard to say.

"Wearing a headset would just make your shoulders stiff, but we don't even have headsets right now, yo."

"Then maybe it could work for resting?"

"If your brain's accelerated, I feel like resting wouldn't really help much though…"

Fair point. Physically speaking, your real brain should still experience one day as one day… that should be the case.

That's why there were all sorts of regulations around thought acceleration.

Or so there should be, but…

"No, speaking from my experience of cramming half a year into a single day during Nika-chan's scenario, resting in-game genuinely relieves fatigue, yo. The real-life fatigue you had is still there when you go back to reality, though."

Right. This game was strange in that you could genuinely rest inside it.

Though the fatigue coming back when you returned was both impressive and underwhelming at the same time. Resting in-game not carrying over to real life was, well, expected when you thought about it.

"Same deal as the fullness system, yo."

"Oh right, hunger carries over with that one too."

"Yeah. You're suddenly starving the moment you return to reality and it catches you off guard. Probably like that."

Still, the bottom line was this:

As long as you rested in-game, you wouldn't carry your in-game fatigue back to reality.

"So you're saying we should set up proper beds in our Homes and rest there?"

"Exactly, yo. An inn would work too, but inns in this world are basically medieval-tier with a shower tacked on. Pretty lackluster, yo."

"If it's furniture Crafting, then it's my time to shine! … Yeah, compared to embedding magnets into board game pieces, this'll be a breeze. I'll whip up the beds first!"

Beds were already in the Crafting recipes, after all. Unlike board game pieces that needed all sorts of manual adjustments, they came together quickly as long as you had the materials.

Of course, if you wanted to get fancy with reliefs and extra parts, the adjustments would eat up more and more time, but…

"You're both fine with the default 'Nice Bed,' right?"

"I might get fancy with mine later, but that's fine for now, yo! If I'm gonna customize anything, it'd be the mattress, yo."

"Yeah. You can't see the bed's reliefs once you're asleep anyway. Function over form."

"That stuff matters to me for sleep satisfaction, so I'll go with default for today, but I'm definitely making mine cute. Eventually!"

That was so Penpen.

And just like that, three simple beds were done.

"Alright, I'm gonna set this up in a room at my Home and hit the hay!"

"One of you, lend me a room, yo. Even a storage room works if I can fit a bed in it, yo."

"Sure thing! I expanded my Home and have empty rooms, so feel free to use one. Might even turn it into a guest room while I'm at it… Ehehe, how fancy!"

Having a guest room in your house was pretty upper-class living, after all.

As a side note, Homes were mysteriously spacious on the inside compared to their exterior.

But since it worked the same way as inventory space, it wasn't worth overthinking at this point.

Anyway, I parted ways with the two and headed back to my own Home, but…

When I walked into the room carrying the bed, Miitei-chan ran up and clung to me.

"Spirit-sama! Slime Bed, let's do a Slime Bed! Okay!?"

"I never would've thought of that…!"

A Slime Bed. In other words, a bed made of Slime!!

It might sound confusing, but basically Miitei-chan would act as the mattress and I'd sleep on her.

Wouldn't that mean Miitei-chan couldn't rest? That thought crossed my mind, but… she could just use Fission and turn the half she wasn't controlling into the mattress.

"Can you make sure you won't accidentally eat me or drown me?"

"Of course I can!"

So she said.

Alright, let me set up the sleeping area of the bed… Oh, it was basically just a thick futon laid over a board. I removed the futon and had Miitei-chan take its place instead… Fission!

"Ooh, it's jiggly and cool to the touch, but not too cold. Nice."

"Ehehe, let's sleep together! I'll be the blanket!"

A Slime blanket. That was a thing… was it?

As I thought that and lay down, a pillow sprouted up with a pop. A Slime pillow. Nice one, Miitei-chan.

Then Miitei-chan climbed on top of me and… melted down, draping herself over me.

It was like sauce poured over fried rice. W-well, my body was no longer exposed to the air, so it functioned as a blanket, I suppose. A regular Slime probably couldn't pull this off.

Oh, it retained body heat nicely, leaving a gentle warmth. This might actually be soothing…

"Ehe, ehehe, Spirit-sama… Spirit-sama is wrapped up in me… Ahh, I love you, I love you…"

"Alright then, good night… It's a little ticklish, though."

"Oh, sorry, Spirit-sama. I'll try not to move too much, okay?"

I slept soundly until morning, and the fatigue felt completely gone.

I ended up sticky all over, but once Miitei-chan properly collected all the Slime residue, I actually felt refreshed… Overall verdict: the Slime Bed was quite comfortable.

Time to brag to Alto about it.