Arc I : Ô Prometheus !

Chapitre III : Rencontre avec un Slime

Silence.

Then—

Sssssssss

A snake hissed. And then another hissed. And another one hissed. They were three in total. Three petty snakes disrupting the previously unbroken silence by attacking my unblemished person.

They thought to have ambushed me. Wrong, they were so wrong! It was utter naivety! Ahahah.

I ran. But I didn't run to flee. No, I ran right into the devil's mouth, I confronted them directly! After all, they craved for a fight, I couldn't refuse them!

I then took out my sword and cut down the first snake in two.

Splash

No resistance was felt: it only fell down disgracefully. And it exploded in a gory fashion. I then proceeded to create a ice barrier to prevent blood from permeating me. I wouldn't want them to be able to track my position with [Sense Heat Source] , didn't I?

‹ Confirmed. Registry of Black Serpent...successfully acquired.›

I subsequently used its corpse to protect myself while I duplicated its skills. They could very well prove themselves to be useful in a future combat situation after all.

‹ Confirmed. Skill [Sense Heat Source]...successfully duplicated. Following up with the Skill [Poisonous Breath]... successfully duplicated.›

I then used a certain number of magicules to mess up with the mind of the second snake in order to make it believe that its old ally was nothing more than a dishonoured traitor in need to be purged. It succeeded. With its submission acquired, I pulled up strings of blood with [Règne de Sang] to control it more effectively. It became nothing more than my sweet puppet.

Then, I ordered my puppet to purge the traitor. It obeyed: it used [Poisonous Breath]. Its old ally, caught off guard couldn't possibly resist and subsequently died as a result. I then got rid of this puppet of mine by piercing it by the blood strings controlling it.

And so, the battle ended. In silence and in blood.

I sighed. I was sorely disappointed. I didn't even put up traps while I knew they were coming for me. And they looked smart enough to group up together to attack me! But in the end, they were so weak. I didn't even put to practice the abilities I gained in the training earlier! Maybe they thought that I was weak since I didn't let out my aura? Ah, whatever.

At least, I could recuperate their souls to help me gain the Demon Lord's seed. It would be essential to my plans later on. As for their corpses... Destroying them seemed a good idea. So, I froze them, then used [Alteration] to remove their durability and I finally crushed the last remains of these petty creatures. No traces remained. It certainly was a waste of materials but I hadn't any kind of transportations to keep them. By the way, Rimuru would make a fine backpack for loots and materials! Ahahah.

What was I even doing before this ambush? Hmmm.

Ah, yes! I was descending to the lower areas of this cave in order to find Rimuru. Why? Because Rimuru reincarnated in a peaceful environment without the threat of monsters meaning that he was somewhat close to where Veldora dwelled. After all, with the all-almighty power of the Storm's Dragon, petty monsters wouldn't dare to approach his domain. And the area I was currently present was one filled to the brim with monsters. Hence why I descended.

So, to resume my track. I extensively pushed up my [Magic Sense] but not too much. After all, I wouldn't want to be detected by Veldora for the moment. It would also be a good idea to create a map, a magical one to trace back my steps and to note the specific locations of the Magic Ores. I saw many of them on my way down here but I couldn't stock them as of now.

Thus. '[Mystères des Étoiles] , can you create a map of this cave and automatically cartography each terra incognita? Also note the coordinates of each Magic Ore and Hipokte herb.'

‹Answer. Your wish is my command.›

Good, good. I quite liked maps and mapping but it was a somewhat time-consuming activity, it was better to just delegate it to [Mystères des Étoiles].

It also looked like that I was going in the right direction. Hopefully, if there was a next fight, it would be more interesting. But I didn't really think that it would be case.

It seemed like an Evil Centipede was blocking my way to the lower areas. No, at closer look, it didn't seem to just be a lone centipede, it was in reality a whole nest. Meaning that there probably were multiples centipedes. But they looked like they didn't noticed me yet. Interesting.

I could very well let them live off their peaceful lives by flying over their heads. But I decided against a peaceful resolution. After all, I intended to expand my power's poll by accumulating more and more souls and furthermore, this could potentially constitute a good way to acquire some good combat experiences. And honestly, I couldn't care less for monsters without intelligence.

So, how to deal with them? Manipulating them to kill each others? Deploying a poisonous bomb? Freezing them to death? Stopping their blood's flows? Destroying their internal organs and let them die slowly? Hmmm. I think I was becoming more and more cruel in my methods to kill... One trait of my personality was clearly showing off here. And that wasn't really of a good thing... Whatever. But I should always privilege efficient and cheap methods for this. After all, I hadn't infinite magical energy.

Thus, I shot out a arrow right in the middle of the nest. This time, I tried to combine multiples effects to see how well I will perform. So, I impregnated this arrow with a simple mix of my capacities: the crucial component of this arrow was an ice and blood bomb accompanied by an absolute cold, one capable enough to freeze any foe on the spot, and at impact will liberate multiples projectiles flying off like shrapnel, coupled with an infectious blood's mist capable of infiltrating their internal organs in order to cause bleedings and to slowly wear off their movements; it was also equipped with a simple poison from [Poisonous Breath] compacted enough to fit on; and I used [Silent Freeze] to soundproof all of this. I could have added more but it would be enough to decimate them all.

And the results were... Nasty. And even that was an understatement of the devastation caused here. If I was still a normal human, I would have fainted from the sheer brutality I inflicted. And I said that I would privilege efficient and cheap methods... I quite lacked professionalism, didn't I?

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Arrow of Eris]…successfully acquired» and ‹ Confirmed. Registry of Evil Centipede...successfully acquired.›

So, I acquired the skill [Arrow of Eris]. A pretty bad sign to have a skill baptised after the name of the goddess of strife and discord. But it was at least somewhat fun: it looked just like something out of a Diablo's game. And that was very fun! And by the way I gained a quite good amount of souls for {Terra Astris}, sixteen in total. It was a good number for the moment but it would take a long time to at least reach the fixed amount of ten thousand. I shouldn't also forget to duplicate their skills. Always useful to have more skills after all.

‹ Confirmed. Skill [Paralysing Breath]...successfully duplicated.›

Now, I needed to clean up all of this mess. It wouldn't be easy as the remnants of my magic still lingered in what was once a nest minutes ago by a somewhat not so small margin. So, I will just freeze everything here, it would be much more easier than any other solutions. And it will prevent leaks of magical powers.

I also made a bounded field here to prevent any sort of incidents in the near future. Its purpose was to conceal and deviate anyone daring enough to approach this icy hell. At the very least, it wasn't the Barren Lands.

Now, it was time to resume my journey!

Here it was: the Underground Lake. I was finally here, in the place where Rimuru met Veldora. But I will not meet Veldora yet, that would not do for my plans.

Before pressing on, '[Mystères des Étoiles] , how much time has passed since I set on my course to the lower areas?'

‹Answer. Seven hours.› was the incoming answer.

I see. So that made forty-one hours since reincarnation. I truly was quick to make my way here, to this underground lake. After all, Rimuru took ninety days to come here and another thirty to go to where I was from. But all in all, it was relatively easy since I used [Reinforcement] and [Frosted Sky]. I was faster than any human, even faster than Usain Bolt!

And I must say that this place truly was bountiful in natural resources! It simply was incredible! I never saw a place of that richness. It truly was heaven for farmers, eh. I will definitively come for them later.

Now, I needed to cross this entire section of the cave without being detected by Veldora. That wouldn't be so easy even if Veldora was quite negligent in these days of loneliness. The most disadvantageous handicap I had was that I couldn't use [Magic Sense] too far from me, meaning that my vision was reduced by a great margin. He would detect me far too rapidly if I did that. And I couldn't use magic in a heedless way but that wasn't much of a worry. Fortunately, that was all the handicaps I had.

So, I thought it through and the conclusion I drew was that invisibility was the best solution. Sure, that was pure and simple paranoia from my part since Veldora was imprisoned in Chloe's spell but it somewhat reassured me to be careful. And if I remembered correctly, Veldora only greeted Rimuru when he was very close to his prison. But the risk was too great to even dare to enter in that section without some sort of concealment.

To achieve invisibility, there weren't thirty-six solutions! So ultimately, the solution was to bend light. It was quite similar to what we knew of the quantum stealth technology back on Earth, but they used some sort of classified material permitting the bending and/or vanishing of light itself. For my part, I will simply use magic to bend light. In a way, it was quite similar to [Magic Sense] to acquire that kind of skill since it dealt with 'waves'. Of course, it was actually more complicated than that but this wasn't my field of predilection.

Thus, I ordered the magicules around me to bend the light in a way that reflected it. But I needed to fix the form, if not, the magicules would be fluctuating in an anarchic manner and that would prove itself to be quite inefficient and it would indeed cost a greater sum of magicules to maintain. So, I decided to form a barrier all around me, I then reduced it to just my body for maximum efficiency. To a certain extent, it was quite similar to the skill [Multilayer Barrier]. But that kind of barrier wouldn't be of use to me since I didn't hold much resistances in the first place.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Veil of the Unknown]…successfully acquired»

And it effectively worked: I was now invisible. Quite useful, wasn't it? Moreover, the name of the skill was quite stylish, it definitively was a plus for me!

Ah. I now remembered something, it was the existence of the skill [Shadow Step]. I sighed... Oh well, whatever. I will learn it anyways since it would grant me a greater concealment capacity since it was a type of spatial travel that allowed for a greater speed of displacement. And it would show itself to be even more efficient mixed with [Veil of the Unknown]. As for the method to acquire it, it seemed that I can't remember it, huh.

'[Mystères des Étoiles] , how do I acquire [Shadow Step]?'

‹Answer. Master needs to merge with the shadows in order to acquire [Shadow Step]. It is noteworthy to say that it is quite similar to [Flash Air] since it is too a kind of spatial travel.›

Hum. I understood. It was some sort of spatial travel that resembled [Flash Air]. But I would displace myself into the shadows directly. Interesting.

So, I first structurally analysed the shadows to hold their exact coordinates. Then, I displaced myself magically into the shadows.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Shadow Step]…successfully acquired»

Weird. It really was weird to be in a shadow. Anyways. Now that was done, I could proceed to traverse this entire section in all safety.

But before that, I applied [Silent Freeze] to soundproof myself. And I did it this time by creating a barrier all around and reduced to just exactly my own body. It was the same method as [Veil of the Unknown].

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Silent Freeze Domain]…successfully acquired»

A derivative? Useful for streamlining as always.

Thus, I finally set off to traverse this entire area.

It was a relatively peaceful ordeal in reality. Veldora seemed to do absolutely nothing. Maybe reminiscing about the true hero? In the WN, he definitely had some sort of crush towards Chloe. He even had more 'screen time' in where he thought about her.

Oh well, it wasn't my business. Love interest definitively wasn't my cup of tea. A friend of mine once said that I will forever remain virgin but I really couldn't care less about that! And anyways, I still had plenty of times ahead of me! After all I was only fifteen, approaching sixteen, which was a quite young age.

But this whole crossing only lasted thirty minutes, thirty minutes in order to pass this section. I was already at the far end of this place. And Veldora wasn't in my line of sight anymore which really relieved me. And I must comment on the rapidity I traversed this place. I really was fast. Ahahah. It even was becoming boring to be this prepared to overcome all of this.

I went out of the shadows to reappear on the surface since [Shadow Step] wasn't needed anymore. I also deactivated [Veil of the Unknown] and [Silent Freeze Domain]. After all, it consumed an incredible amount of magicules just to maintain them.

Now, now, it was the last stretch towards accomplishing my goal! I only needed to go to Rimuru's spawn and that was all. Pretty straightforward, wasn't it?

So, I once again set off to depart.

It looked like I finally founded Rimuru. His aura truly was remarkable even when I was still at distance, I could very well sense it pretty easily. This was the protagonist's power, huh? Not so surprising honestly. But as of now, I could truly and finally confirm his existence! It relieved me so much, so, so much. If I was the only one being reincarnated in this cave, this whole world would have been doomed to utter and complete destruction. And I wouldn't really want to live the rest of my life in that kind of hellish world. Though it could be potentially fun but the odds weren't so good. Definitively not.

But it still took me seven days to finally find him. And I did it at full speed without stopping even once! This cavern was even more enormous than what I could have thought of! It simply was absurdly vast!!

It was also worth mentioning that I wasn't idle mentally in these days, indeed I polished my plans of the future to better accommodate my visions of this world. But for instance, they weren't really applicable since I was still at the very beginning. It would have to wait before applying any of them.

Moving on, I now needed to be quite careful proceeding towards this situation. Because I didn't know which Rimuru this was and that was a bit problematic. Indeed, the problem was his personality. After all, in the WN, he was a bit psychopathic on the edge and it was better for me to not piss him off. As for the LN, he was a little softie, so it was relatively tranquil. And I really don't picture him being too hostile towards my person. But he would definitively be careful approaching me. I would just have to see, didn't I?

Thus, I channelled magicules towards Rimuru in order to communicate with him by using the soon-to-be learned [Telepathy]'s skill.

« Confirmed. Common Skill [Telepathy]…successfully acquired»

'Hello, can you hear me?' was my successful greeting.

Mhhhmmmm. My social skills were a bit in disarray, didn't they? Once upon a time, my social skills were definitively better, that was when I was still a class' representative. But nowadays, not so much since I fell out of position and then the successive lockdowns came. Which was a pretty big blow to my social skills. I mentally sighed.

'!' He definitively was surprised, heh. It would be embarrassing if he thought that I was [Great Sage] trying to contact him. Especially since we didn't hold the same consonance of voices. But I didn't think so.

'Y– yes, of course. Who is there?' He was a lot more reactive speaking with me than with Veldora. Was this caused because he wasn't as surprised with me? Maybe, maybe not. And he was definitively not insulting me by shouting 'shut up baldy!' Was I lucky? Ahah.

'Oh. You definitively aren't a bad slime, are you? And you definitively are a special one to be able to communicate in this fashion.' I was evidently baiting him in a way that he would ask me to learn [Magic Sense].

'Waaaaiiiittt! Am I truly a slime? Truly, truly?' It seemed that he still couldn't accept the status of being a slime. It was understandable. Not so much if he learnt of all his powers. But he hadn't. So, yeah, understandable.

'Ah. Maybe you can't see. If you wish so, I can teach you how to see.' Finally, the first step of this conversation accomplished.

'Yes, please! I have been stuck without sight for what seemed an eternity. And that wasn't a pleasant experience. So, please, teach me!' Oh. He seemed very eager to learn how to see. After all, no one would voluntary like to be a blind person. That would be foolishness if that was the case.

'If you seem that eager, I will certainly teach you. So, there's a Skill, an Extra Skill to be specific called [Magic Sense] , that can grant you sight.' I tried to hold a gentle tone to look a bit more approachable. As for my facial expressions, there weren't any as they were of no use since he couldn't see for the moment.

'Wait, what's a Skill and an Extra Skill?' I expected that. But everything had its time. And it wasn't now.

'I will explain you all of that later. After all, you first and foremost want to see, don't you?'

'Ah. O– of course! So, please continue.' Good.

'So, what does it do? Simply said, it allows the user to perceive the surrounding magical energy, in other words mana and with it, it granted sight, hearing and many other advantages. That was the theoretical definition. To learn it you need to detect the particles of magic all around you. Logical, right? Since that connected with the definition. And for that, you need to observe the waves of light and of sound. Then, you transmit the said-information in order to calculate how the area around looks and sounds like. After all, this world is covered in sheer magical energy, so if you can sense 'mana', you can also sense the waves disturbing it, and these are sound and light.' I hoped that it wasn't too convoluted. It had been some times since I didn't explain something to anyone else. And I didn't use the word 'magicule' since it would just make things more complicated.

'Heeeeeuuuuu. Um. I totally understand!' He certainly was funny but if he was my student, I would have smacked him. If you didn't understand, just say that you didn't understand! Simple as that!

'No, you don't!'

'Aargh.' I smiled at that.

'But understanding the theoretical process of this skill wasn't necessary to the acquirement of the skill in itself. So, just move the magic around yourself with your inner magical energy. That would make things easier.'

'Hurgh. How do I move my inner magical energy?' Hmmm. It was true that at this time, [Great Sage] still hadn't integrated with him and that he hadn't any sort of magical experiences.

'Let me help you with that.' It would just make my life easier if I helped him directly rather than explainining for all eternity.

Thus, I posed my hand on his body. Then, I channelled my magicules into his little self in order to bring his own magicules out. Next, I proceeded to redirect these magicules onto the surrounding atmosphere. It should work, hopefully.

'Now, do you see?' This time, I was smiling. Being too stoic wasn't that good for first impressions.

'Ah. Yes, thank you very much!' He then turned towards me. What would be his reaction towards my appearance? I was rather intrigued. 'Wooaw. Aa– Ahem.' He definitively was under my charm but then coughed to redirect attention elsewhere. Interesting. But that wasn't really important honestly.

I then placed a mirror made of ice in front of him. At last, he could finally see his own reflection.

'Ooaaawwww, man! This is so disappointing. I truly am a slime... An oval-shaped slime with a light-turquoise colour... Like a little bun, huh?' Never saw someone that disappointed in all of my life. Maybe he was contemplating suicide? Ahahah.

I redrew attention to myself. 'Now. I had some questions. You, a slime, understood the concept of light's and sound's waves, you knew how to communicate properly with me, you were polite and asked for my help in order to remediate to your blindness and most importantly, you have intelligence, sufficient intelligence to accomplish all of these unheard feats for just a 'simple' slime. I ask of you, are a reincarnated otherworldler?' All this time, I looked straight at his eyes. And not a bit of smile could be viewed on my visage.

A cold silence made its way onto the corridor. Then—

'Ah– Ahahah. You really nailed it right! Yes, I am indeed a reincarnated otherworldler.' This wasn't quite the intended effect. But it was still quite good in my opinion. Because, I frankly kind of expected some shock and even panic but nothing came down in reality. I certainly was playing with fire but it was more like a test than a planned suicide. Ahah. But what did he live trough in his previous life? In the series, we didn't get much explanations about who was Mikami Satoru. Hmmm. I was definitively intrigued. But enough digressions for the moment.

Thus, I smiled. 'This truly must be fate for me to have met you!' I then solemnly placed a hand on my heart. 'After all, I am also a reincarnated otherworldler!'

I then moved my hands in front of me in a theatrical manner. 'Maybe, maybe, we should introduce ourselves properly this time around, don't we?' was my proposition.

He sighed. 'You really are a dramatic fellow, aren't you? 'Cause, I really didn't expect that at all! But I agree to your proposition. And since you also are a reincarnated otherworldler, are you perhaps Japanese?'

'Ah. Sorry to disappoint you but I am not. I am just a simple European but one with Asian descent. And fret not, the country of my parents isn't an enemy of the State of Japan.'

'I see... At the very least, you come from Earth.' was his dejected answer. But in a way, it would be better if he didn't come face to face with any other otherworldlers than me for the time being. The experience certainly wouldn't be pleasant with his current form: he would be chased down like a witch. And the practice of summoning definitively wouldn't sit well with him. Human rights and whatnot.

I then clapped my hands in order to regain attention. 'We shouldn't digress too much. After all, it is time for presentations. So, how about you introduce yourself first?'

'Ah, yes. I am Mikami Satoru, well, I was and I was thirty-seven. As you could have already guessed, I'm Japanese. At the time, I worked as a general contractor in a very generous company! Ahah.' He was lying about his company, huh? And if I remembered right, it had been some time since he took some days off to celebrate his very own birthday. He definitively wasn't living that good of a life. Courtesy of Japanese society.

'And how did you get isekai'd in this world?'

'Ah. That. It seemed so far away yet so close as if it was yesterday. I was stabbed to death by some random maniac when I shoved my co-worker aside in order to save him. He was a good guy even if he tried to show off his girlfriend. And that's pretty much all.' He was ranting about Tamura. But at least, he eliminated all the evidences by destroying his computer's hard drive.

'Ah. You're like me; stabbed to death by a random maniac on the street. We're both deeply unlucky, aren't we?'

'—' He was silent for a moment. Then, he smiled and said: 'Yeah. But maybe that was fate?'

'It could be. It could very well be the case.' I also smiled. But I didn't believed at all in fate contrary to what I said earlier. I believed that man will take his own fate onto his own hands and that no superior entity would guide him. As for this world, my feeling were a bit more complicated. After all, Veldanava, something very close to a God existed and there was the fact that I was no longer human. I once again mentally sighed.

'Now's my turn, isn't it? I was once named ——— But as of now, I am nothing more but a nameless doll. I was quite young at the time of my death, after all, I was only fifteen. But mentally, I am bit more mature than my age. I was also a fourth year secondary school student. And that pretty much sums it all.' I smiled once again. All in all, he didn't need to know much about me. This wouldn't be at all necessary.

'Ouch. That must have been rough to die off so young.' Not so much, honestly. It was even exciting but it was because I was somewhat of a special case.

'Ahahah. Yeah, it has been rough for the both of us.'

'Now, it would be good to find some sorts of appellation to call ourselves.'

'Why not use our old names though?' It was a reasonable expectation but not in this world.

'Because they are pretty much meaningless in this new world as they don't hold any kind of value. Why? Because as Monsters, we are naturally nameless. And that would be incredibly bizarre if we were to be named early on. Generally speaking, it is a greater being that grants you a name and that said-name is a reflection of your own status and power. This is why we can't use our old names.' It was a pretty bad explanation honestly. Argh.

'Ok, ok. I will not pry too much into that. But I always kind of wondered if you were a boy or a girl 'cause your appearance, voice and mannerisms are pretty ambiguous.' I should have précised that earlier to not cause confusion.

'I'm a boy.'

'Oh. I see.'

'So, how about Slime-san for you and Doll-san for me?'

'Hmmm. That sounds good. No problems for me!'

'Good, good! And earlier you said that you wanted some explanations about skills, right?'

'Yes! I'm absolutely clueless about everything's here. And you looked honestly quite knowledgeable about this world. And also, please keep it short, I just want the essential.'

'That's a hard request to keep but I will try. So, there exists a system dictating every kind of powers, it is the [Voice of the World]. And it is also the same voice that surely granted you some kinds of powers when you died.'

'Ah, yes. I remember that vividly. I think it granted me a couple of resistances and something called Unique Skills.'

'I will explain that in a second. But before that, we will cover the basics of what is a Skill. So, a Skill is an ability acquired in recognition of your own growth. And you acquire it when the [Voice of the World] or by some very special Skills etch it on your Soul. But gaining a Skill in itself is a rare phenomena to be expected.' I will not explain how to exactly acquire a Skill since he asked for a simplified explanation.

'It's a little like a video-game?'

'Yes and no. There's no interface, no XP, no guides. You're all alone in understanding the system. But for the use of a Skill, it's practically the same as in a video-game since you can use it by simple instinct without any sort of practice.'

I then putted four fingers in front of me. 'So, there's four types of Skills: Intrinsic, Common, Extra and Unique.' And then Ultimate but that was another story in itself and I will be way too suspect if I mentioned it. Because in all frankness, no one at this point of the story knew what an Ultimate Skill was. Heck, most Demon Lords didn't even know what a Ultimate Skill was! Only the oldest ones knew what it was.

'Intrinsic Skills are Skills inherent to your race. And they are only available to the races of monsters. Humans can't get one. Common Skills allude to the most basic Skills. Extra Skills refer to Skills more powerful and efficient than a simple Common Skill.' I paused before continuing again.

'And then, you have Unique Skills, they are fundamentally different than the others. After all, they are the results of the desired wishes of the user given form to a Skill. That's its nature. But one couldn't possibly acquire a Unique Skill without a mighty soul. Do you finally understand?'

'Yeah, I understand. So, they're just different tiering to Skills. The more you jump on Skill's tier, the more powerful the Skill gets.'

'Exactly. You looks like someone who finally understands.' I smiled.

'If you want, I can also analyse your Skills. They could prove themselves to be very useful in the future, especially so since you are a holder of Unique Skills.'

'Oh. Yeah, you can analyse them.' No hesitation whatsoever, huh. He either really was clueless about his Skills or he trusted me more than before. Or both. Because, I already knew that he was very clueless about his Skills since we were only at day nine.

Thus, I used {Appraisal} on him. But it simply just was a facade. After all, I already knew well enough his Skills.

'Done.'

'That fast?!' he exclaimed.

I smiled. 'Yeah, that fast. I'm pretty proficient with my own Skills, you know. One day, you will also acquire that level of proficiency. As they say, practice makes kings.' That was pretty much nonsense since I was pretty much a new-born myself. But who really cared?

I then proceeded to create a giant status' sheet in ice placed in front of him.

'So. Here it is:

Present Status

Intrinsic Skills:

• [Absorb]

Allows the user to absorb matter.

• [Dissolve]

Allows the user to dissolve matter.

• [Self-Regeneration]

Allows the user to regenerate from injuries which include regenerating lost limbs.

Common Skill(s):

• None.

Extra Skills:

• None.

Unique Skills:

• [Predator]

{Predation}:

Takes the target into your body. Lesser chance of success if the target has its own consciousness. Can be targeted on organic and inorganic objects, as well as skills and magic.

{Analysis}:

Analyses and researches targets taken into your body. Lets you create craftable items. If the required materials are present, allows you to make a copy of the item. Successful Analysis of the casting method allows you to learn the target's skills and magic.

{Stomach}:

Stores the Predated target. Can also store materials created via Analysis. Items stored in your stomach are unaffected by time.

{Mimicry}:

Reproduces the form and skills of absorbed targets. Only available once the target has been Analysed.

{Isolate}:

Stores harmful effects incapable of being analysed, neutralizing them and breaking them down into magical force.

• [Great Sage]

{Hasten Thought}:

Boosts perception speed by a thousand times.

{Analyse and Assess}:

Analyses and assesses the target.

{Parallel Thought}:

Operates on any matter you wish to analyse, separating it from the regular thought process.

{Cast Cancel}:

Annuls the casting period required when using magic, et cetera.

{All of Creation}:

Provides full coverage of all unsuppressed matter and phenomena in this world.

Resistances:

• [Thermal Fluctuation Resistance]

Grants resistance over thermal fluctuations.

• [Piercing Weapon Resistance]

Grants resistance against piercing weapons.

• [Melee Attack Resistance]

Grants resistance against melee weapons.

• [Cancel Pain]

Cancel all pains.

• [Electricity Resistance]

Grants resistance against electricity.'

'Oh. Ooooohhhhh. That's great! And pretty neat too. Thanks Doll-san!'

I then let him read out his sheet. It wouldn't do if I interrupted him.

'So?' I asked.

'It's all good. I now have a clear understanding of my Skills. But now, what will we do?'

'Now? It's simple, we are going to farm. See that plant?' I then pointed my index towards the Hipokte plants on the soil.

'Yeah. Is it special? Because I have been munching on them for a long, long time.'

'It is a very special plant since it allows the creation of extremely potent healing potions. And on the market, they must cost quite a lot!' I smiled.

'Hoho. I see where you're getting at! We're gonna get rich!! Ahahaha.' His laughter echoed well over the telepathic line. I kind of pitied his laugh. There was nothing evil about it. Though, he still couldn't normally laugh because he didn't have a proper mouth for the moment.

Then, I pointed my index to Magic ores surrounding us. 'And these ores are capable of creating the best equipment this world has to offer!' Yes but no. I was just baiting him. After all, there was an ore even more powerful than this one but it was of mythical grade, so it was kind of useless to even bother mention it.

'Oh. Magnificent!' Sparkles were now all around him. This conversation looked like one with Mjöllmile (or Myourmiles) and that was pretty funny.

'And you hold the exclusivity to absorb and stock them with [Predator] , isn't that great?'

'Of course it is! Ahahahahahaha.' A good life advice was to never compliment Rimuru since his ego could be really fast to inflate. As for me, I was just motivating him. That was all!

Thus, we set out to farm. Well, to destroy and ravage the ecosystem of this cave to be exact. Fumu.

Before that tough. '[Mystères des Étoiles] , begin works on Project Vickyfication.'

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AN:

Here it is. It took less time to actually write this chapter. And I am quite content with the result. But this chapter is especially short since it is just before an 81 days timeskip. The next chapter will probably be more interesting. After all, the next chapter is intituled 'Chapter IV – Veldora, the Storm Dragon' and it will the formalisation of the three Tempest's brothers.

I also hope to not have butchered the early's Rimuru character. For rappel, we are at day nine. And in the novels, there weren't much expositions over this period. So, this is less Rimuru but more Mikami Satoru here. Yeah, they're the same person but with each different experiences (well, Rimuru has more experience though it depends on the exact time period of the story).

As for the present status of Rimuru, you don't really need to read it since probably most of you already know it. But that warning is probably too late.

And I'm also getting impatient: this arc is getting too long. This is why, in the next two chapters, I will try to end this arc. But this will in no case justify a decrease in quality! And the next arcs will be spicy as hell. And I really want to write them!

A bit of a teaser be like (not in order, in essence, they are just titles and sub-titles for certain parts of the story)

• Battle for the Goblin Village

• Shadow over the Dwarven Capital – Edchina's Lasts Remnants

• Understanding a Pierrot

• Journey for Dolls

• Fate of the Flames' Conqueror

• Ode au Désespoir (this one is a bit special since it's actually the title of Arc V)

Now, now. A guest recently asked about my release schedule. In all frankness, the schedule will be quite irregular. During holidays, I will probably release multiple chapters a month. But when school comes back in September, I could surely not assure that kind of productivity. Especially since I will enter my fifth year of secondary school (second year of highschool). So, maybe a regular bi-montly release during holidays and a every other month release when school comes back.

And for those who want to know, in the volume 18 of the LN, it was finally précised that Mikami Satoru worked in a black company. So, he was basically just a slave.

As for Project Vickyfication, if you played a certain game, you will certainly know what this is about. But no more clues :)

Changelog:

-07/15/21

• Some fixes -- 02:20 in the morning

• More fixes -- 02:25 in the morning

• More fixes -- 02:33 in the morning

• More fixes -- I really should have re-read this chapter better -- 02:49 in the morning

• More fixes -- 02:58 in the morning

• More fixes -- 03:01 in the morning

• More fixes -- 03:03

• More fixes -- 03:05

• More changes -- 03:11

• ~Changes -- 03:16 -- Also noteworthy to say there's more than 6 hours of difference between Belgium and the U.S.A.

• ~~Fixes -- 03:25

• ~Lalala Fixes -- 03:31

• Fix -- 11:18

-08/24/21

• Fixed something in the AN that looked kind of weird -- 05:33