Chapter 3 - I'm sorry, Shizue-san.

'Oh, that thing you mentioned that makes monsters stronger. Why is that necessary?'

"Even if you have this name 'Satoru', you aren't a named monster. Therefore, by granting you a name, not only will you get stronger, you'll have my blessing. In return, however, you must decide on the last name for both of us."

'Already got one.'

"Eh? Tell me."

'Tempest. Veldora Tempest. Since you're essentially a storm incarnated.'

"Not bad, Rimuru. Or should I say, Rimuru Tempest?'

It was at that moment when the most violent, uneducated, inexperienced, and misunderstood storm to move along with the world calmed.

A divine smile shone upon them.

...

"You sure it'll work?" Veldora asked, looking apprehensive.

'Just sit tight. Anyway, I'm starting, ready?' Sat-Rimuru asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"...Yes"

And with that, Rimuru's Predator activated and swallowed everything in front of him. Including a certain imprisoned force of nature.

. . .

Rimuru, having finished the predation of his new sworn friend, found the silence a little deafening. That was until he heard:

"HAHAHA, how magnificent. Truly a wonderful plan, Rimuru."

-a certain boisterous dragon, celebrating the success of his relocation.

"So all I need to do is send you the data my Unique Skill Investigator has gathered, and your GS will do the rest? How wonderful! Now I can follow you on your journey and see the world once more. Truly, thank you, Rimuru!"

'Y-yeah sure...' Rimuru replied, a bit shocked by Veldora's sudden applause.

And so his journey continued. Due to the open way he traveled every day, he found and predated a black snake, a huge spider, a massive centipede (which tasted even worse than the rest), and a big bat. While all of them netted him useful abilities, he couldn't just ignore the best of the all- the ability to emit sound, to SPEAK. And his voice sounded like an angel's too. His gratitude towards Bat-san was immense.

And so, he did what any slime with a particularly good voice wood- sing.

"...What a precious bas- oh, YES! Finally..." He was just nearing the good part when he saw something better- a nice, relatively open area, with a few large boulders and spikes of stone- a perfect testing place for the ability he has the most interest in right now- the subskill Transmutation. This skill stuck out the most for a few reasons- he had few meaningful ways to test Resurrection, Healing he had already tested when he bumped into a rock and splattered himself (he had no residual injuries, so it was good enough for him), and creating food seemed useless for a slime. Charisma and Temptation were currently impossible to use on unintelligent monsters. Thus, he could only try Transmutation. He had high hopes, as he could assume his current energy levels were leagues over that of his human body.

And so he did what he came here for, in the form of 3 tests:

#1: How finely could he currently control Transmutation? He predicted that he'd both use a lot of material for a small product, resulting in a lot of waste and that the shape would likely not be what he aimed for. The result: he was correct- mostly. As he predicted, a lot of material got wasted, however, he was surprisingly proficient at creating the shape he wished for. When trying to get a sphere of iron from a boulder 5 times his size, the result was a sphere that, while small enough to fit on a necklace, was an almost perfect sphere. He also noticed that it seemed to be far denser than regular iron.

After this test concluded, he followed GS' instructions and predated the sphere, bathing it in his magicules and the peculiar energy inside of his Stomach, thus allowing it to slowly evolve into something better- something magical.

#2: Is there a limit to the materials he could create? While it did say it was 'limited by energy and skill', Rimuru was unsure if that limited the amount he could create, or what he could create. Thus, he tested it. To his surprise, he could create almost anything he could imagine. From whatever stone he had, he could create amazingly tough steel, gold, and diamonds purer than anything seen on Earth, and even gases like oxygen. The only things he couldn't create were those magical in nature- GS, however, had a solution.

If he couldn't create something magical, he should simply use things like his high purity diamond, or gold, and do the same as he did with the iron sphere, which should result in magisteel (magical metal) in far high purity and strength than regular magisteel. So, he did and looked forward to future results.

#3- well, just see:

"Alright, hopefully, this should work!" Rimuru shouted to himself and GS in both curiosity and fear of the entire ecosystem collapsing.

A crack. Numerous cracks. A plethora of cracks, all of different pitches and tones, could be heard from a circle about 10m in diameter on the stone wall Rimuru faced. Then, just as fast as it began, all of it was gone- of course, that included the circle on the wall Rimuru faced too. All that was left was a large tunnel cylindrical tunnel, a refreshing view of the outside, and two figurines (one about the size of Rimuru himself, and the other the size of an adult male), made of high purity diamond, sparkling in the dazzling sun's newly visible rays.

Ignoring the ridiculously beautiful diamond, the most shocking features were what the figurines were representing: a majestic dragon (adult male-size) holding an adorable slime (Rimuru-sized one) on his back, a look of joy on both of their faces. With a slight smile creeping upon his face, he predated the figures, awaiting a day when they'd reach unparalleled heights.

"Well then, what to do about that blazing fire burning down the forest?" Rimuru muttered. "Wait what-"

It took Rimuru a while to process what he saw. He was already rather shocked when he looked past the first few trees to see a massive, burnt plain, but what he saw next surprised him further. Goblins, dire wolves, ogres, and humans, all working together to take down a single woman, engulfed in flames. The woman's face had few flaws, perhaps one of the most beautiful faces he'd seen- but it struck him as oddly Japanese.

Notice. The woman has been possessed by Ifrit, a high-ranking spirit of flame. Her energy levels surpass even yours.

"Really? Well, since she seems to be specialized in flame, I should be fine with my resistances, right?"

Notice. Correct.

"Well, may as well help..." Rimuru sighed, before launching himself towards the scene with his Water Propulsion. When he arrived, he realized he'd forgotten to suppress his aura. While it was far weaker than Veldora's, it shook the soul of all at the scene, barring the Ifrit-incarnate. That said, she did turn her head, and directed her killing intent towards him.

Ignoring the flames that now surrounded his body like a wildfire, he, with assistance from GS, launched a large number of healing potions at the others fighting the spirit, healing them, before warning, "RUN! I can deal with the spirit's temper tantrum myself, just make sure you all get out of here."

His comment earned even more of the spirit's animosity, but his aura and Charisma subskill earned the obedience of the others, and they retreated with the few spare healing potions the slime threw that were never used. Seeing them gone, Rimuru returned his attention to the flames he'd forgotten, putting them out with some of the water he'd predated, using a negligible amount compared to the whole underwater lake he'd absorbed.

"It feels wrong for me to do this, but-" Rimuru combined two skills he'd received from monsters in the Stick Thread and Steel Thread to create a compound skill, Sticky Steel Thread (GS alerting him of this achievement) to bind the Ifrit-possessed for long enough for Water Propulsion to get him close to her, and then activated Predator.

Like an apex predator, the shocked and weak-willed spirit succumbed and was absorbed by Rimuru, leaving nary a trace on the woman's body. Well... aside from her lack of life.

Staring at his now dead 'enemy', he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness in his heart- he had, after all, been responsible for the death of someone who looked like a fellow Japanese. Perhaps it was his now monster heart that limited it to only this.

With a sorrowful expression, he once again predated the food in front of him, not quite expecting to gain a unique skill, or be flooded with memories- memories of the life of an unfortunate soul.

Japan. Bombs. Fire and death. A tornado of flames. A new world. Leon Cromwell. Ifrit and possession. Deviant. A True Hero. Yuuki. Hinata. Gale, Ryota, Alice, Kenya. Chloe. A journey. An untimely demise.

Unaware of the form his Mimicry: Human had allowed him to unconsciously take, or the now downsized clothes that covered his young body, Rimuru felt a single tear fall down his cheek, before his inhuman heart locked itself with a key he couldn't find alone.

"I'm sorry, Shizue-san..."

(Milim 3rd person perspective)

Silver-pink hair prettier than the most luminescent moon. Blue eyes deeper than the brightest sky. A playful, childish, but fading atmosphere. A pitying expression.

Milim Nava observed the poor slime from a distance. She'd been ecstatic when she heard her previously 'dead' Father practically announce a Chosen One. She'd been even more full of glee when she felt Veldora disappear, and saw a slime with a soul so radiant she stared unabashedly in admiration, and the blessing of a tamed storm, exit his the sealed Dragon's cave. She'd been impressed by the amazing growth of 'Rimuru Tempest' and his easily executed fight.

She'd been less than happy when she saw sadness in the heart of the one who'd piqued her interest. She'd adopted her pitying expression at the sight of the tear running down the humanoid's cheek. Thus, she made her choice. Though it was earlier than she was planning, she'd do it.

She'd reveal herself.

And she'd soon find she wouldn't regret it.