With it being revealed that Veldora can be released Rimuru and I immediately headed off to release Veldora. Standing in the cave and looking around I can't help but feel a little nostalgic. This place is where this started 2 years ago.
Getting things rolling I ask Rimuru, "Are you ready?"
"Yes." Rimuru then released a cloud of dense Magicules which float above him and condense into a dragon shape. Veldora, without a physical body, appears in front of us.
"Kuahaha! My grand resurrection will finally take place!" Just as over the top, eh?
I cross my arms and to mess with him I say, "Long time no see," In the most calm voice I can muster. Rimuru continues by saying, "How are you doin?"
Disappointed by our reactions Veldora asks, "After my grand, long awaited revival you two treat me so flippantly?" As he says this he turns away from us and closes the eye that faces us while using the other to gauge our reactions. After a few seconds of silence he realizes we won't give him the reaction he seeks and moves on. He looks around and says, "It came faster than I anticipated. I was expecting it to take much longer. So what's been happening on the outside?"
I stay silent because I know he already knows but Rimuru answers, "A few things happened, we became demon lords, our unique skills evolved into ultimate skills, we made a country..."
Veldora forgets he's supposed to act surprised because he nonchalantly says, "Ho, all that happened."
I smirk as I say, "Give up the act, you already know."
He rapidly nods his head no as he yells, "No, no, I don't know anything! I didn't peek!"
"You're lying. Listen, you've seen what I'm capable of, you can't lie to me. Admit it, you were peeking."
He droops down as he sadly says, "Okay, I peeked." Moving on quickly he then says, "But moving past that, not only one but two awakened Demon Lords in only two years, what in the world are your growth speeds?"
Rimuru smugly says, "Well what can I say we were always geniuses weren't we."
Veldora gets angry, "You two took far too many risks! My magicules would always be taken away whenever I wasn't looking! Whenever you two would go on your ridiculous naming sprees you took what you were missing from me!"
I motion him to calm down and calmly say, "Don't freak out Veldora, while it's true Rimuru has been a bit of an idiot."
"Eeh!?"
Ignoring Rimuru for now I continue, "I wasn't. I already knew we were taking your Magicules as we were naming the monsters around us. Don't worry it was all planned out beforehand. If we hadn't named them we would be far worse off. Trust me I wasn't taking risks like Rimuru was."
Veldora pouts as a dragon! "I guess I'll believe you Migeru but I still don't appreciate it!" He proclaims, "I demand recompense!"
I smile as I tease him, "Creamuru Puffs and Vaneru Cakes, right? Fine, I'll take you to the bakery soon."
He goes full tsundere as he loses eye contact with me and says, "That's not what I was going to ask for...I'll still take them though!"
I laugh at him then ask, "So what did you get from our gifts? Everyone else got one."
He goes on to brag about the evolution of his Unique Skill [Investigator] into the Ultimate Skill [Investigation King Faust]. A skill that from the way he describes it, has some added abilities from me. He mentions [Infinite Thought Acceleration], an subskill this timeline's [Raphael] and my [Solomon] have that is a combination of [Thought Acceleration] and the [Genius] subskill, [Zero Time]. It seems my presence has strengthened Veldora by quite a bit.
Rimuru and I both say, "Good for you," in a calm voice.
This causes Veldora to get disappointed at the lack of reaction. He taps two of his claws together as he mutters, "You can praise me a little more, you know."
Rimuru ignores it and asks if we can go outside now. Veldora the asks, "Why yes, I would love to but, what do we do about my body?"
In his current state Veldora has no body. He turned his old body into pure Magicules to help boost his analysis speeds. That's not good, if he doesn't have a body then he'll face some drawbacks over time. Due to that we will need to grant him a vessel to inhabit. Rimuru and I both have [Omni-Duplication], a skill that grants you the ability to create infinite clones assuming you have enough Magicules. Due to my essentially unlimited Magicules I tell Rimuru that I'll handle it and give Veldora a clone to inhabit. Making the duplicate I tell Rimuru, "Now you can transfer him into it."
"Got it." He transfers Veldora into it and as the form Veldora was in turns back into Magicules and goes into the clone it changes shape. He grows in size, becomes much more masculine, shortens his hair while changing to a blonde color, gets two zigzag lines under his eyes and changes his clothing to his cannon design. As this happens [Tempest Link] activates.
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul] subskill [Tempest Link] has been activated.
Notice- Breaking apart Ultimate Skill Veldora into its subskills.
Notice- Subskill [Storm Dragon Magic Archives] has been deemed unnecessary because it has been fully analyzed by [Solomon].
Unique Skills [Storm Dragon Summon] and [Storm Dragon Restoration] have been acquired.
Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul] subskill [Tempest Link] has been deactivated.}
So that's how [Solomon] worked around the whole, no two people can have the same Ultimate Skill at the same time rule. It simply breaks it up into parts and keeps them as separate skills.
As I get this notification I look up to see the clone fully inhabited by Veldora. He radiates a massive amount of Magicules to the surrounding area as he begins to do a bunch of anime poses while yelling, "Kuahaha! I, the great Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest have been fully restored! Anyone who dares get in my way shall be slaughtered! Kuahahaha!" After laughing for a minute straight he jumps down and hugs the two of us, "Thanks you two! To think the day I can see you two again came so soon, as expected of my sworn brothers!"
Rimuru asks, "Where did you learn those moves?"
He responds, "I got bored so I repeatedly read some of those manga things you had in your subconscious!"
Again, that's a big reason why I didn't absorb him and instead let Rimuru do it. Him reading the manga in Rimuru's subconscious is fine but it would have been a complete disaster if he had read my mind and found this story in manga form. There's no way he wouldn't have asked about how I have that in my head. That could have been very bad.
Wanting to get things moving I say, "Alright so to get started you need to suppress your magicules, there are humans and weak monsters living in Tempest so we can't have you giving them magicule poisoning."
"You're very serious Migeru."
I scratch my head, "I would prefer the phrase efficient but I guess you could say that. Now get moving," I say as I clap my hands.
"Gotcha," he begins to do the Super Saiyan pose as he draws in his magicules. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Rimuru comments, "He's really over the top."
I laugh a little, "Yeah."
We watch him slowly draw in his Magicules over a course of half an hour. Not bad, must be thanks to [Infinite Thought Acceleration]. With that whole show over we start walking out of the cave. On the way there Veldora catches up fully with us and from analyzing our interactions I can one hundred percent say that while we do act like brothers, the positions are swapped.
I'm the youngest but most mature, Rimuru takes up the position of the middle child and Veldora, the oldest, is the most immature. It's pretty funny. Eventually we leave the cave and run into a group of the most important figures of Tempest. I shrug, "Welp, now's as good a time as any. Hello everyone, meet Veldora!"
They think about what I said, processing and letting it really sink in before, "Eeeeh!?"
Everyone freaks out upon my declaration that the man standing next to me is actually the Storm Dragon Veldora. Their deity and protector that disappeared 2 years ago. After the screaming ends we are all just standing there awkwardly. Feeling the awkward pressure the most out of everyone there I can't work up the courage to speak out. What should I do?
{The best course of action would be to speak up.}
Damn it [Solomon] this isn't the time for your unintentionally sarcastic answers.
Rimuru speaks up first saying, "Um, I know this might be a little crazy but this really is Veldora, he's a little shy so please try and get along."
Veldora blushes and yells, "D-don't be stupid! I'm not shy, it's just no one could survive long enough to reach me alive!"
With the conversation back on track I jump in. I slap him on the back, pushing him forward, and tell him, "Introduce yourself then."
He steps forward and in an overly exaggerated anime pose he proclaims, "I am the Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest! If you guys are wondering what my relationship with Rimuru and Migeru is, they are my sworn brothers!"
Everyone freaks out and yells, "Brothers!?"
I can sense Rimuru melting from the sheer embarrassment he's in. I don't really get it. Veldora's personality is really exaggerated and over the top so I would be surprised if he didn't loudly proclaim our friendship with him. Then again, this is like the 5th time I've experienced this scene in one way or another. Maybe I'm just too prepared for it.
As I think about this, Treyni appears with her sisters. They bow down in front of Veldora and say, "We graciously welcome you back and celebrate your revival. Our great guardian deity Lord Veldora."
He looks down at them, "Oh, it's the dryads, how nostalgic, thanks for looking after my forest! Kuahahahaha!"
"Your thanks is more than we deserve, your great kindness in taking us in after straying from the Spirit Queen is something we cannot repay." They ask about Veldora's new appearance which he responds with, "This is a medium Rimuru and Migeru made for me. They're also the people who trained me to restrain my aura as well!"
I can hear Diablo comment, "To train him to restrain such a dense aura. I expect nothing else from Lord Rimuru and his brother."
And his brother huh. He's definitely more loyal to Rimuru than me. Eh, nothing much I can do about it.
Veldora begins showing off his new form as I walk up to Souei who has just been standing there watching us without saying a word. I say, "Souei, I need you to announce a meeting that will happen in about two days. I want you to invite all the major leaders of the Twin Capitals. If you need clarifications you're free to ask for details later."
"Understood." He vanishes after telling the rest of the Shadow Squad to follow him. I notice something during his vanishing that intrigues me though. The way he moved in particular wasn't through [Shadow Step] or even [Spatial Travel]. [Solomon]? What was that?
{Answer- The skill used was the Unique Skill [Phantasmic Stalker], an evolution of [Shadow Step] combined with Extra Skill [Phantasm].}
So some of my skills transferred over to them. Now that I think about it, that does happen in the original story. What other abilities did he get from me?
{Answer- Extra Skills [Death Stare], [Camouflage], [Night Vision], [Controlled Air Flow], [Streamline], and [Thought Acceleration] were all obtained on top of his gift.
This combination of already existing skills, acquired skills and your gift were used to create Unique Skills [Phantasmic Stalker] and [Phantasmic Ninja].}
Hold on! [Death Stare]! Wait, approximately what percentage of the population of this reality he can instantly kill with that attack.
{96.82%}
Holy shit! [Death Stare], despite being an Extra Skill, is incredibly deadly and powerful if used by the right people. Souei in particular having [Death Stare] couldn't be any deadlier. Now he's a ninja that can insta-kill people from a distance. That is a crazy scary combination. He's basically a near unstoppable assassin now as well with that.
I think about the possibilities for people I might need to make disappear later on but decide to think about that later and turn back to Rimuru and Veldora. I walk up to Rimuru and explain, "Preparations for our meeting in two days are beginning to start, hopefully you're ready. You can come to my house for a rundown on what I have planned."
Rimuru's face gets serious, "I got it."
Veldora looks at both of us confused and asks, "What are you two talking about?"
Rimuru and I look up at him. I just realized how huge he is, it's either he's huge or we're small. For the sake of my self esteem I'll just say he's huge.
Rimuru says, "We're deciding our next course of action in our retaliation against Clayman."
He then asks, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
I say, "Of course there is, we'll tell you at the meeting."
"I see. Well in that case I'll leave you two to that." He starts tapping the tips of his fingers together, looks down and asks, "But, I would like to ask if..."
I hand him a manga volume, "You were going to ask for this right? You saw what Rimuru gave Yuuki and decided you wanted some too."
"No-No that wasn't what I was gonna ask. I will still accept it though!" He snatches it and runs. His pride knows no bounds.
After clearing a few things up with Rimuru about the meeting I walk away.. I've still got other things to do on top of this meeting.
Chapter 38- The Tempest Slime Corps
With the Veldora situation sorted I still have other things to do. While walking into Migeru City I decide it's about time to test out [Tempest Link]'s little update for once.
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Tempest Link] has been activated.
Opening connection 35,278.}
Uh, yeah no. Can you change the connections to be based on how much I care about that person?
{Answer- Understood
Notice- Reordering connections.
Reordering process complete.
Notice- Opening connection 3.
Communications with individual Milim Nava have been accessed.
Communications have been set up.}
"Yo, Milim, can you hear me?"
"Eh? Migeru? How can you..."
"It's a new skill I have. Well, more like an upgrade on an old skill. The old version allowed me to talk with Rimuru in a way that made it impossible for other people to understand, now with this new one I can do that with anyone I have a connection with."
"That's amazing!"
"I know...wait, never mind that. I'm contacting you because I know what you're doing right now."
"Oh, I'm sorry if you..."
"No, don't worry, I understand why you're doing this, I won't stop you, I know you have a plan. The reason why I contacted you was because of something I'm going to do. In your absence Tempest got attacked and to save it Rimuru and I evolved into Demon Lords. To make it official I'm planning to attend the upcoming Walpurgis Banquet."
"That's great! Wait, how do you know?"
"There's nothing I don't know, Milim, I'll leave it at that. Ignoring that for now I have to say, be sure to add that to your plan and be prepared to change your plan on the fly because I have a feeling this won't exactly be a normal Walpurgis."
"I see. Okay!"
"Also, are you okay?"
"Eh?"
"That bastard Clayman. He's hurting you, or at least trying to right? I'm..."
"Don't worry! It's fine! There's nothing he can do to me! The Great Destroyer Milim Nava!"
"I see. I'll trust you. Of course that doesn't leave Clayman off the hook." I smile in reality, "I'll make sure he doesn't get a painless death."
"Okay then, so, how's Rimuru, does he know?"
"Oh, Rimuru, he doesn't know but he is a little worried about you."
I can sense Milim trying to smile on the other side but being unable to, "I see. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Well, I know that was a short talk but I guess that's about it for now. See you soon Milim."
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Tempest Link] has been deactivated.
Closing connection 3.}
That's great, so it works as intended. And it works over any distance and can be shared to other people. Tempest now has a private communication network that is unable to be blocked by barriers. Incredible.
Arriving at my final destination I put my hands in my sweater pockets and look up. The Slime Farm, finally it'll be put to use. "Things are about to get interesting."
[Solomon], it's time, start production of the skills I'll give to my Slime Corps. Especially that last one. That'll come especially handy in case things go south in the Walpurgis.
I make it to the observation deck and see the groups of Slime's rolling around on the ground. A pit filled with 152 Slimes total sits below me. It's time, the strongest army in the history of Tempest is about to be created, how exciting.
I jump down and put up a Magicule Barrier around me to not get jumped on by the Slimes. They're pretty cute I guess, I can start to see what Shion and Shuna mean but still. I still think they are overreacting a little though. Welp, might as well start.
I lean down and start naming. "You'll be Aqua, then you'll be Cobalt, you'll be Azure..." The naming process takes a while but not as much as the Orc naming process. Overall, not that bad. As I finish [Solomon] gives me a notification.
{Notice- All named Slimes have begun evolving into Tempest Slimes.}
After that, they begin to glow and as they all slowly stop glowing I see a lot of them have changed they're shades of blue. That's interesting. Less noticeable though, I see that their movements become slower and they seem to feel around their surroundings more.
I see. So they are definitely smarter than before. I look around the pile of Slime's and find one particular Slime that is stronger than the rest. Putting down my barrier I pick it up. "Found you." I need one Slime to lead the others in case I am to go away for some reason. With this one being the strongest, this one will be the leader of my new army.
Alright [Solomon], it's time. You know what to do.
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Subjugate] has been activated.
Using an absolute subjugation on all surrounding entities.}
A burst of gold light is sent out in all directions. All the Slimes begin to glow a little.
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Tempest Link] has been activated.
Notice- Human mimicry has been gifted to all surrounding Tempest Slimes.
[Magic Sense] has been gifted to all surrounding Tempest Slimes.
Knowledge has been gifted to all surrounding Tempest Slimes.}
With that, the most basic needs to become strong have been given to the Tempest Slimes. They can sense their surroundings, turn into their human forms and have even higher intelligence.
After doing this I see as one by one, the Tempest Slimes begin to mimic human shapes. Once they all complete this transformation, I see they all look like Rimuru and I with minor differences and different shades of blue in their hair colors.
Alright, good start. Let's continue. First, they need to be stronger so let's give them some more skills.
{Notice- Skills [Telepathic Communication, Hive Mind, Adrenaline Rush, Streamline, Phantasm, Magic Armor Plating, Super-Regeneration, Black Lightning, Body Double, Multilayer Barrier, Magic Jamming, Spatial Travel, Sticky-Steel Thread, Super Strength, and Master-Servant Corridor] have been gifted to the surrounding Tempest Slimes.}
Most of the skills I gifted to them are weaker versions of skills that I myself have. These are simply to make them stronger, however, there is one that stands out among these skills, that being [Master-Servant Corridor]. This skill is the one I had [Solomon] make for this specific moment.
What it does is create an indestructible soul corridor between a master and a servant. The servants being the Tempest Slimes and the master being me. This corridor comes with many benefits but the main one is it serves as a last resort in the event someone on either side of the corridor is about to die. On the occasion one dies, their soul will go through the corridor and reappear in the body of the person on the other side. For us, that's basically a free revival because both sides have clone skills meaning it's as simple as the master or servant making a body double for the other to inhabit for us. With this this army is basically the Yomigaeri on steroids.
It doesn't end there though. Cerulean will get special treatment.
{Notice- Gifting Unique Skills [Great Sage, Predator and Hyper Regeneration to individual Cerulean.}
I expect great things from Cerulean, hopefully he can live up to those expectations. Cerulean senses himself getting much stronger as some other Tempest Slime's around him look at him as well after sensing him skyrocketing. I watch the Tempest Slimes get used to their new bodies for a while until I decide it's time.
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Alpha's Call] has been activated.}
A regal presence radiates throughout the Slime Farm as I make my presence known to everyone around. The Tempest Slime's turn to look at me and immediately realize who exactly I am and immediately bow down.
Not only are they grateful as well as following the monster rule to always follow the strongest. But they are also in the presence of my [Alpha's Call], a skill that makes it so anyone that's been subjugated sees me as an untouchable borderline Omniscient entity beyond the understanding of those affected. They essentially see me as a god now which is useful.
I command, "Okay then, I see you all are already listening. To start, I need Cerulean to come forward."
Cerulean jumps a little as he immediately moves forward and bows. He then says, "Greetings Lord Migeru, we are in deep gratitude for your great blessings."
"So you already know."
"Of course. Thanks to the great knowledge you have bestowed upon us we know all about you and the great country of Tempest."
"I see. Then I accept your gratitude. In that case may I assume you already know why I have given you those blessings?" I'm getting a little uncomfortable with this. I'm talking a bit too regally for my tastes here. A little more and I'll end up talking like Veldora when he's confident.
Cut to Veldora and Rimuru. Veldora sneezes as Rimuru asks, "Can Dragons get sick?"
Veldora responds, "No, this is quite the odd occurrence. I've never sneezed before."
They both sense a massive amount of Magicules in Migeru City. They both yell, "What the!?"
Back with me, Cerulean says, "Why yes, we have learned of your great plan and humbly accept our role in our lord's plan."
I essentially gave them a mission in that gifted knowledge. They're mission is to protect Tempest as its guardians.
A flash of light appears in my vision.
Oh, come on! What caused that!? Fine, Tempest's protectors. Basically what they'll do is protect Tempest from danger as the main defense line in the case of a severe emergency. I highly doubt even a natural Tenma War would pose a significant threat at this point.
Moving back to the task at hand I say, "I see, then in that case, I hope you all can live up to my high expectations."
Now to get this out of the way. "Anyways, to get this out of the way, can you all change your forms a bit. You all look almost exactly like Rimuru and I in almost every trait, that could cause some issues. So for my first order, I need you all to change your forms."
They all understand and immediately begin changing shape. Cerulean, the one I'm particularly paying attention to the most, becomes more masculine and taller with some feminine features. I ask, "I see, what made you make that decision Cerulean?"
He answers, "The longer limbs should make it easier to fight with."
"Not bad, good planning Cerulean."
One of the Tempest Slimes, after seeing everyone change shape, asks, "Might this be sufficient my lord?"
"Why yes, that should be good." Moving to the door I say, "Part of the knowledge I sent are the rules that must be followed in Tempest. I need you all to follow them. As the protectors of Tempest it wouldn't be a very good example to have you all not respect the country you are supposed to be protecting." Signaling Cerulean to come up I continue, "Finally, to finish I have one last announcement. Cerulean here is the strongest among you and the possessor of three of my previous Unique Skills. With these traits he will be promoted to second in commands behind me. I will coach him on what he is to do, he will be the Slime you listen to after me, only I can overwrite his commands. You are to listen to his orders alright?"
They all nod. "Yes sir!"
"Cool! Now to introduce you all to Tempest. I hope you make a good first impression."
We walk out only to see Rimuru and Veldora. Rimuru looks at the Tempest Slimes and says, "You've done a lot of crazy stuff before but this," he points at the army behind me, "This is going to need a lot of explaining, Migeru. What have you done!?"
I look behind me to see why he's so worried and then realize, they're combined Magicule count is higher than a True Demon Lord's. They couldn't beat Rimuru in a fight because of Ultimate Skills like [Beelzebuth], but they could get pretty damn close.. I comment, "Well this is interesting."