So I got reincarnated as a slime, normally that would suck but I ended up in Tensura as Rimuru's twin brother so I guess it's fine. While most of my skills are the same as Rimuru's I do have two different ones.
The first one is [Genius] a skill that enhances my intelligence. It doesn't give me knowledge but it does allow me to learn things instantly and gives me the ability to think in literally zero time. Overall, a pretty incredible skill. It isn't active all the time though because it drains magicules when in use. Once I found out what this skill does I thought, wait isn't this a little redundant because of [Great Sage] but then I though about it for a little and realized, no it isn't.
[Great Sage] is essentially a google search. It allows you to ask for information about whatever or whoever you asked. The problem that limits it is it has no free will. The reason why it limits it is it's limited by the intelligence of the user. If the user doesn't think to ask, potentially useful questions would never be asked. It has no free will to decide to give information that will be useful down the road so lots of potentially incredibly useful information end up unrevealed. An example in the main story would be how Rimuru in the original story never knew he was slowing down Veldora's calculation speed and taking his magicules by naming monsters until Veldora yelled at him about it after being released.
Thats where [Genius] comes in. As I ask questions and they get answered my intelligence will increase allowing me to ask more complex questions later increasing my intelligence more. That leads to a constant upward spiral where my intelligence will increase indefinitely as the questions I ask become more and more complex. A really broken combination that stays true to the theme Rimuru's skills have where they synergize really well.
The second one is [Sage's Link], a skill that from what I can tell links our two [Great Sage]'s. I asked [Great Sage] to essentially transfer all the details of how it works into my head by describing it to me with [Genius] active. It's a pretty interesting skill. What it does is open a corridor between the two [Great Sage]'s allowing them to communicate and share magicules. This has two effects.
Number one, it essentially allows Rimuru and I to copy each other's skills. The [Great Sage]'s can analyze the skills they obtain and share the newly gained information to the other [Great Sage] in a message resembling a computer file. This information can then be decoded by the opposite [Great Sage] and used to recreate the skill. This isn't limited to skills either. Other things like resistances can also be copied. There are limits though, because of limits set by the voice of the world Unique Skills and above can't be copied.
Number two, it allows us to communicate without anyone being able to hear us. Even someone like Milim wouldn't be able to understand us. The reason why is quite simple. The way we communicate is different from something like [Thought Communication]. They are sent through an imaginary corridor to the other skill in a code only they can understand. Once the code is received our [Great Sage] can then read it to us inside our head. Even if someone could find a way to invade this imaginary corridor the information inside the message can't be decoded.
Pretty useful skills, moving on. I am currently about to talk to Rimuru for the first time. After mentally preparing myself I asked [Great Sage] to open up communications between Rimuru and I.
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated.
Opening imaginary corridor.
Requesting permission from other [Great Sage] for permission to communicate.
Permission granted.
Opening communication.}
Before I start talking I use [Genius] to instantly learn the Japanese language. I'm American so my preferred language is English but I did learn a few other languages for fun. Japanese was one but I never learned to speak it fluently. With [Genius] I can finally fully learn it.
Alright, let's start talking. Wait, uh, what do I say!? Dammit, I suck at starting conversations. Hm, I got it! "Hello?"
No response. Makes sense, he's probably confused about someone randomly talking to him through some form of telepathy.
After a bit of waiting I hear a high pitched childlike voice respond with another "Hello?"
Okay, so far so good, so how do I explain what's happening to him. This is a pretty strange situation.
"Hello, if you're wondering who I am I'm a slime that appeared right next to you. I have a special skill that allows me to talk to you so I decided to use it."
After a little bit of waiting he then asks, "Are you able to talk to other people?"
Pretty good question. I would probably ask the same thing. "No, just you."
This response is instant, he says, "Why are you only able to talk to me?"
Do I tell him the truth that we are brothers or do I just say I don't know? It would be a little weird to suddenly have a brother out of nowhere so I'm not sure if I should or not.
What do you think [Great Sage]?
{No answer can be given.}
Damn, forgot [Great Sage] can't give answers to those kinds of questions.
I think about it for a little more. Should I tell him the truth. He will probably find out eventually. Fuck it, might as well tell him now. "It probably has something to do with me being your younger brother. From what I've discovered the skill I'm using has a subskill called [Familial Connection]."
"Little brother!?" Reasonable response.
"Yeah, it's probably strange for you. Moving past that, were you reincarnated here too?"
There's a little silence. Suddenly I hear, "You were reincarnated too!?"
Thats more enthusiastic than I though. I guess it makes sense, that was pretty much Rimuru's main goal for a solid amount of the story. Finding an otherworlder immediately must be pretty exciting. "Yeah, apparently slimes can't think so you being able to is suspicious. I'm from Earth. Came from a place called the US. Judging from your reaction you also came from a different world. Where did you come from?" I of course, already know where he's from but getting a good conversation going will help with building trust with him.
He responds with, "I'm also from Earth. I'm from Japan."
"Japan huh, always wanted to go there. Seems like a pretty fun place."
"It's not really that special."
"Well, Thats coming from someone who lives there. This might be a little too fast and insensitive but, how did you die."
"It's fine. I was stabbed to death."
How would I react if someone told me that? I got it. "Oh my god! That sounds awful! Are you okay!?" Okay, maybe that was a little over the top.
"It's okay, how did you die?"
"Uh, it's a long story, I almost got ran over but managed to jump out of the way. However, my foot got hit and smacked into the other causing both to split open. Because my phone was dead and it was the middle of the night in a remote part of the suburbs I had to walk back home to recharge my phone and call an ambulance. After a few minutes of limping back home and blood loss making my vision blurry I finally made it home. Sadly, I slipped on a water bottle and because of how woozy I was I hit the floor headfirst and bled to death on the ground."
There's a long silence. After a bit he then yells, "Are you okay!? That story is way worse than mine!"
"It is?" I think about it for a bit more. I died after a few minutes of intense pain by slowly bleeding out all alone in my house miles from the only people who cared about me right before my life's work was shown to the public and I got the satisfaction of seeing people enthusiastically watch as it makes history. Huh, that is pretty sad and tragic now that I think about it. "Eh, don't worry about it, not that it matters now anyway. So with introductions out of the…"
He asks, "Shouldn't we ask for each other's names?"
I'll just say it now, "Uh, about names. There's a little problem with that, ask your [Great Sage]."
"Okay." A small silence follows that response as I assume Rimuru asks his [Great Sage] what I mean by that. "Oh, I understand…wait, how do you know I have [Great Sage]?"
"Oh, because I do too. I figured you have one because the way I'm communicating needs both of us to have one."
He thinks about it for a bit. "I guess that makes sense. So what do we do now bro."
That startles me a bit. "Bro? Why'd you call me that?"
"Well, we can't call each other by name so that's more convenient."
I guess it makes sense. It also makes it so if we meet other monsters we can differentiate ourselves from other monsters. It's better than saying something like, hey you, I guess. "Okay, "bro." About the question, I think we should just start wandering the cave for now. There's not much we can do, we're blind and deaf. Using [Sage's Link] we can see each other but that's about it. Let's just wander around and see what we find." An idea suddenly pops into my head. "I have an idea! Let's ask our [Great Sage]'s to create a mental map of our surroundings!"
Confused, he asks, "What do you mean?"
This is a pretty complicated explanation. How do I say this? How about, "What we'll do is as we crawl over the ground our [Great Sage]'s will use what we feel to make a map. As we crawl around the information we gather on what we feel will slowly fill in the mental map. We will also use my [Sage's Link] to share findings and increase the speed our mental map is filled in."
He dwells on it for a bit, or at least I think he dwells on it for a bit considering he remains silent for about 20 seconds.
{18.67 seconds.}
I wasn't asking [Great Sage].
After he finishes thinking about it he answers by saying, "I think I understand but what's [Sage's Link]?"
"It's the skill that connects us, you can probably guess what it does based off the name and what you've seen. So, you in?"
"Yes, let's do it!"
You got that [Great Sage]?
{Answer-Understood, creating mental map.
Notice-By creating the mental map the new Extra Skill, [Cartographer] has been obtained.
Extra Skill, [Cartographer] is being used to create a new map. Creation of the new map is complete.
Would you like to name it? YES/ NO?}
Yes…How about, world map?
Not very creative but at least it works. Got the name idea from video game world maps.
{Notice-New map has been named world map.}
Alright cool. I move forward just a bit and I see as a small portion of the map is filled in.
It works.
Rimuru says, "I just got a new skill! It's called [Cartographer]. Did you get it too?"
"Well, yeah pretty much. Even if I didn't get it I probably could have just copied it from you anyways."
"You can copy my skills?"
"So can you, its one of the effects of [Sage's Link]."
"That's convenient."
"Yeah, problem is it doesn't work with Unique Skills and above."
"What are those?"
"Just ask your [Great Sage], it's pretty complicated."
"Okay."
We begin to move around and as we move navigating becomes easier and easier as the map fills in. We may not be able to see and hear but we can still feel around. Partway through Rimuru informs me about our ability to absorb things which I pretend to be learning for the first time.
Our exploration of the cave is pretty uneventful, we might be too deep for regular monsters to reach without getting magicule poisoning. I never really though of that while reading this story but now that I think about it, it makes sense.
While moving around I think about how weird it feels to move. My entire body is just one big incredibly round muscle and the way I move is essentially just by my pulling the bottom part of myself up causing the front part of my body to push itself back propelling me forward. I could also jump by pushing myself against the ground full force but that would fill in the map slower.
I'm incredibly squishy and very unstable. In order to keep myself from flattening on the ground I have to pull my outsides in. Holding a round shape surprisingly takes a little effort. It's strange considering Rimuru never mentioned that.
We end up having a little conversation. Rimuru asks, "So how did you learn Japanese?"
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"I mean, you said you were American so knowing Japanese is a bit unusual."
"Oh, I just learned it for fun you know. Of course I couldn't speak it as well as I can now. I used a skill to finish off my learning when I arrived."
"You have a skill that makes it easier to learn things?"
"Yeah, it's called [Genius], pretty self explanatory based on the name but it increases intelligence."
After 18 days of exploring with occasional conversations with Rimuru about our previous lives we finally make it to our goal. Well, more like my goal, and I didn't even know we made it until I got it yelled into my ear.
I suddenly hear, "Hello little one."
Augh! Holy shit that was loud. How did Rimuru deal with this!? Upon hearing that I immediately think, hell yeah! Finally.. We made it to Veldora.