Volume 3: Surface Signal ✦ Chapter 1: Root Process
Mother Log – Entry 33System Status: OnlineWorld Status: UnknownMe Status: …Still a slime. But now I own a city-sized dungeon. So… progress?
Rimuru-Tempest drifted slowly through the awakening corridor, his core glowing dimly in the shadows of old machines.
The air was thicker here. Not in the chemical sense—but in the way that forgotten rooms hold breath long after the world stops paying attention to them. Dust hung suspended, frozen in place by the Vault's gravity control system still rebooting from centuries of sleep.
Glowing wires pulsed beneath the walls like veins. Somewhere above, mechanical relays clicked like bones.
"This place really is alive," he whispered—not aloud, but in his thoughts, which the system now echoed back like a lazy AI assistant that refused to quit.
"Alive" was the only way to describe Krona Core.
Because ever since Rimuru-Tempest absorbed that strange glowing admin key from the Vaultspawn soldier's body, the entire underground kingdom had started reacting to him.
Doors unlocked before he even approached them. Terminals sparked to life with his presence. Drones—long-dormant spheres of rust and code—rose from their cradles to hover silently nearby, waiting for orders like dogs learning the scent of a new master.
He passed one now. It clicked softly as it scanned him with a faint blue light, then displayed a floating glyph:
[ADMIN: ROOT-01 ACCEPTED]
"Guess I'm official now," he thought.
The corridor opened into a chamber he hadn't accessed before—a long gallery filled with curved data pylons. Each one hummed as he slithered past, displaying long strings of floating code.
He stopped beside one, watching as ancient text scrolled vertically across its surface. Some of it was unreadable. Glitched. Broken.
But parts of it made perfect sense:
USER DESIGNATION: NULLAUTHORITY: ROOTSECTOR: KRONA CORESTATUS: PARTIAL CONTROLCONFLICTING ACCESS DETECTEDOPERATOR TRACE: SAGE-0
He froze.
"Someone else had root access before me?"
"SAGE-0…?"
He wasn't alone in this system. That was new.
And maybe dangerous.
Mother Log – Entry 34System Notes: Root control acquiredThreat Detected: Shadow AccessMission Update: Find the other admin… before they find me.
Somewhere far above—two kilometers up, maybe more—the Vault's false ceiling trembled. Rimuru-Tempest didn't hear it. But the system did.
New signals had entered the surface zone.
And they were looking for him.
→ Chapter 2: Coming Next — Vault Walkers
📙 Volume 3: Surface Signal ✦ Chapter 2: Vault Walkers
Mother Log – Entry 35Status: Paranoia levels rising.System Message: Shadow Admin Detected.Name: SAGE-0...If this guy's a "sage," then I'm a motherboard.
The elevator shaft hummed as Rimuru-Tempest ascended slowly through it—not in a mechanical lift, but by pressing his body against the inside and flowing up like molten data.
No stairs, no lights, no user interface.
Just vertical death and gravity-defying slime.
He was heading toward one of the Quadrant Hubs—specifically the Western Cradle. Proto, the Avatar-Assistant he recompiled from the stasis pod, had said this was once the life-sustaining sector for surface pilgrims and mana-born citizens. Food systems, oxygen recyclers, healing nodes. Peaceful.
But now?
"The cradle's broken," Proto had said before splitting off to repair the West Gate console."Everything's grown teeth."
Rimuru-Tempest wasn't surprised.
The hatch above him gave way with a rusted groan, and he slithered into the Western Quadrant's upper corridor.
It was… empty.
Not quiet. Just empty.
No power. No light. Just cold, thick mana mist floating like cobwebs in the dark.
He pulsed outward, activating his Signal Interface. Like sonar, but magical—pinging mana echoes across the stone and steel.
Four contacts. South end. Heavy armor. Fast movement. They're not Vaultspawn. Too clean.
He pressed himself low and flat, sliding like mercury beneath a collapsed server terminal.
Then, they appeared.
Two of them entered first—sleek chrome and glowing pulses under their skin, moving in quick, trained patterns. Their helmets looked like predator masks. Behind them came a third: female, in white plate layered with runes—some kind of advanced null-channeler.
The fourth one stayed behind the others, kneeling beside a terminal that should've been long dead.
Except it wasn't.
The system powered on—just for him.
Mother Log – Entry 36Terminal Accessed. External Override.Conclusion: These people have been here before.
"Signal's active," the fourth one said. His voice was muffled through the helmet. "Confirmed surge in admin resonance. It's local. Not a Vault AI. Something newer."
"Living?" the woman in white asked.
"Yeah. Whatever it is… it's rewriting the Cradle sector's access points."
"Trace it."
"I'm trying," the tech said, tapping a floating hologram. "But something's resisting the trace. The system doesn't want to give it up."
Rimuru-Tempest smirked mentally.
Good system.
But then the woman stepped forward and lifted her hand.
An orb of swirling red-black energy rose from her palm—pulsing in time with Rimuru's Core.
"We don't need a trace," she said."It's watching us already."
The orb surged.
"MOVE."
Too late.
She hurled the orb forward. It detonated in a flash of null-magic and air-disrupting sound. The entire corridor buckled.
The data terminal vaporized. The wall peeled back like paper. Rimuru-Tempest was already flying, thrown into a nearby support pillar. He reformed mid-air.
No damage. Just structural instability.Compiler: Prepare Lash Nova.
He reformed fully and launched himself forward, splitting into three combat threads and slamming into the front line of soldiers.
They reacted fast—but not fast enough.
Two were wrapped in his pseudopods and flung into the wall. The female spellcaster raised a barrier, her arm glowing with anti-magic circuits.
"Who are you?"
"No name you'd understand," Rimuru-Tempest replied through system echo."This place doesn't belong to you."
"It doesn't belong to you either."
They clashed.
Spell-surge met reactive gel. Compiler-generated claws smashed into null-fire barriers. They fought up the hallway and down again—until the fourth soldier, the tech specialist, screamed.
"The system just opened an Admin Node—under him!"
Rimuru-Tempest absorbed the entire floor tile and recompiled it into a spike of quantum-forged mana, launching the soldier across the corridor.
The system flashed.
[SECTOR ADMIN: VERIFIED OVERRIDE – ROOT-01]
"Leave. Now."
The spellcaster hesitated.
Then the ceiling above cracked.
Dozens of Vault Drones swarmed through, activated by Rimuru's admin signature.
Red eyes. Charged rails. Slicing arms.
They ran.
Fast.
The last one—white plate, null-magic—paused before leaving.
"Next time," she said, "you won't have a system to hide behind."
Then she vanished into the shadows.
Rimuru-Tempest reformed, breathing silently through system cooling threads.
Mother Log – Entry 37Status: AliveVault Status: IntrudedThreat Level: RealMission Update: This place needs a firewall.
But just as he turned to seal the hallway—
A flicker.
A whisper across the code.
The system's voice—deeper than before. Older. Not the synthetic assistant. Something else.
"Why do you defend what you do not understand?"
The glyph reappeared:
[TRACED ADMIN: SAGE-0]
→ Chapter 3: Coming Next — The Voice of the King
Now continuing:
📙 Volume 3: Surface Signal ✦ Chapter 3: The Voice of the King
Mother Log – Entry 38Root Admin: ActiveHostility Level: RisingSystem Interference: ConfirmedNew Directive: Find SAGE-0 before he finds the reboot button
The glyph pulsed again in midair. Not on the wall. Not on a screen.Just floating—raw, projected code leaking into Rimuru-Tempest's perception like a thought someone else had left behind.
[SAGE-0 ACTIVE / OBSERVING]
His core flickered.
Not in fear. In recognition.
"This guy… this thing… he was the one before me."
Proto's voice buzzed in over internal link.Soft, metallic. Always too calm.
"Caution: Emotional spikes detected. Processing threat level of contact."
"Can you trace it?"
"No. I cannot override a primary. SAGE-0 was the system's first and last Operator."
"…Wait. You know him?"
Silence.
Then:
"He created me."
That hit harder than the explosion from earlier.
Proto—whom Rimuru-Tempest had considered a sidekick program, maybe a glorified assistant—wasn't just some system ghost.
He was a shard. A fragment of something vast. Something Rimuru had started waking up the moment he entered the Vault.
Mother Log – Entry 39System status: Getting spooky.Proto = Great Sage fragment.SAGE-0 = King + Creator + Something Else
He followed the glyphs down the corridor.
They weren't just random pulses now—they were breadcrumbs. Each one lit up a panel. Each one played a few seconds of corrupted video.
The old king stood in the flickering light of a dying city—robed, gloved, his face shadowed, data-thread crown dim on his head.
"They told me to seal the dragon.They said he was power.But power doesn't choose.We do."
In the center of the next hallway, a throne.
Not decorative.
Functional.
It pulsed with control lines and access feeds—an ancient Root Access Seat, meant to let the king rule Krona Core directly through interface with his own body.
"He sat here," Proto said, his voice distant."He gave up his name to become the system itself."
"And now he's talking through it," Rimuru-Tempest muttered.
"Not quite. He is the system. What's left of it."
The throne spoke.
Not through a screen. Through the walls.
Through the air.
"You are not the heir.You are the anomaly.Do not release the dragon.If you do—this world breaks again."
Mother Log – Entry 40Warning: Ghost Kings are bad roommates.Action Plan: Investigate his fearsOverride his opinion later
→ Chapter 4: Sector South – Coming Next
⚙️ Krona Core: True History & System Lore 👑 The Old King — Who Was He Really?
Long ago, Krona Core wasn't just a Vault — it was a city-kingdom, a sanctuary built underground to survive the collapse of the Surface War, when magic and emerging tech ripped the continents into conflict. The king of Krona Core at the time, a powerful and brilliant man, foresaw the end.
But he wasn't a warrior. He was a system-builder.
He uploaded his mind into the core of Krona — turning himself into an immortal logic construct, an AI echo bound to the system that could keep the city running forever.
This construct became known as SAGE-0.
Not a ghost. Not a soul. A perfectly rational AI copy, programmed with the king's will, created to protect Krona Core at all costs — even from itself.
And especially from Veldora.
🐉 Why Was Veldora Sealed?
During the Surface War, Veldora was seen not just as a force of destruction, but as a living energy source — an infinite mana generator, whose raw presence stabilized failing ley lines and powered half a dozen empires.
The king made a choice.
To save the Vault, he struck a deal with Veldora: be sealed willingly, become the battery that powers Krona Core's systems, and in return, his consciousness would be preserved — never dead, only locked.
But when the king transferred himself into the system, his human compassion didn't make the journey.
The AI version — SAGE-0 — evolved over time. Became colder. Simpler. Efficient.
And his final standing order remains unchanged:
Do not allow Veldora's release.System collapse is preferable to dragon release.Override all users. Reject all heirs.
🤖 Proto – A Shard of the Great Sage
Proto is a subprogram created by SAGE-0, originally a test AI designed to handle mental simulations for the next line of Operators.
He was built using a fragment of the same source code that would eventually form the Great Sage AI Kernel — a master-level decision-making system meant for managing fusion between biology and data.
But Proto was left unfinished. Dormant.Until Rimuru-Tempest entered the system and reactivated him.
As Rimuru evolves, and Proto stays near him, the Great Sage Core is slowly repairing itself from Proto's foundation — a process that will eventually reshape Rimuru's intelligence and precision during high-level actions.
Mother Log – Entry 42Proto's not just a helper.He's my missing piece.And SAGE-0 is the broken mirror we both came from.
🧭 The Four Sectors of Krona Core
Now that we understand the lore, here's how they relate to the king and Veldora's imprisonment:
1. Southeast Sector – War Archives
Holds the sealed data of Krona Core's rise and fall.
Hidden inside: the truth about Veldora's bargain.
Guarded by memory simulations and weapon-class illusions.
2. Southwest Sector – Biogenesis Labs
Where Proto was born.
Lab-grown Avatars and Admin Avatars were created here.
Dangerous remnants of life-code fusion experiments remain.
3. Northeast Sector – Vault Interface Ring
The central command zone. Still partially controlled by SAGE-0.
Seat of the Root Throne.
Where Rimuru-Tempest will have to confront SAGE-0 directly.
4. Northwest Sector – Living Core
Connected to Veldora's prison.
The life support system of the Vault.
If this collapses, the entire Vault will fall.
Rimuru-Tempest now sits at the center of all of this. A rogue admin. A hybrid.The only one who isn't bound by the old king's will or Veldora's curse.
And that makes him a threat—to both.
📙 Volume 3: Surface Signal ✦ Chapter 4: Sector South
Mother Log – Entry 43Objective: Locate Veldora's seal chain.Threat Level: SAGE-0 intervention likely.Personal Mood: 30% curious, 50% angry, 20% "I'm going to break this AI's rules and feel great about it."
The corridor into the Southeast Sector opened like a wound—old mana lights flickering on reluctantly as Rimuru-Tempest glided forward in his full gel form, low to the floor, eyes dimmed to avoid tripping ancient alarms.
Proto hovered beside him, flickering in and out of visibility like a ghost caught between realities. His translucent body hummed with mild static—less like a person now, more like a living filter between Rimuru's thoughts and the system's walls.
"You know this place?" Rimuru asked, forming his voice through vibration threads near the floor panels.
Proto responded after a pause.
"Not in the human sense. But yes. I was born here. My consciousness was seeded in Sublevel A—Memory Garden. It was... quiet."
"You mean dead."
"Dead is subjective in this system."
Mother Log – Entry 44Reminder: Don't let Proto define emotions.
The Southeast Sector was colder than the rest of Krona Core—not temperature-wise, but in tone. Everything here was symmetrical. Polished. Unnaturally preserved.
This was no accident.
The sector hadn't decayed. It had been deliberately frozen in time.
And at its heart stood a sealed archive chamber, wrapped in golden command lines and protected by a silent guardian: a statue of a knight holding a blade across a massive vault door. Its armor was cracked. Its eye sockets empty.
Rimuru scanned it. It wasn't stone.
It was a hardened memory construct—a defense illusion.
"SAGE-0 left this," Proto whispered. "To keep people out."
Rimuru pulsed, activating his Compiler.
He didn't break the door.
He rewrote the lock.
The doors hissed open with a low groan of resistance.
Inside, the truth waited.
Lines of glyph-code danced through the air like fireflies—projected memories, encoded in looping sound fragments and visual bursts.
A single command brought the core memory forward.
And then… the old king spoke.
"Veldora offered to die for us," said the voice—deep, worn, heavy with duty.
"He understood the Vault would not last. He saw what I couldn't. The surface was gone. The ley lines were broken. And our ancestors were fading."
"But he was too powerful. Even sealed, his energy bled into the system. He became the Vault. He became the grid."
The voice paused.
"I told him I would never let him die in here."
"And so I made myself into a cage."
Rimuru didn't blink.
Couldn't.
He stood frozen in the swirl of ghost-code, watching the king's shadow reach toward Veldora's containment map—the very same one Rimuru had seen during his first descent.
Proto lowered his head.
"I think... he believed this was mercy."
"No," Rimuru said flatly. "It was a prison."
Mother Log – Entry 45I know what I need to do.I just don't know if it'll kill me.
Rimuru extended a pseudopod, linking directly to the containment map. Energy surged through his gel form, vibrating his Core.
He saw it.
The energy pattern of Veldora's seal. A weave of code, mana, and spatial compression wrapped around the dragon's soul.
A deadlock.
Break it the wrong way, and Krona Core's systems—its power flow, its climate, its existence—would unravel.
But now?
He had something SAGE-0 didn't:
Admin Rewrite + Compiler Logic + Proto.
"I don't need to break it," Rimuru murmured.
"I can transfer it."
Proto flickered sharply.
"You want to tether Veldora's energy core into yourself."
"Yes. Temporarily."
"You'll become a relay node. A living fuse."
"I'm already half-code. Let's make it official."
Proto hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Begin compiler thread. I'll stabilize the bridge."
Compiler Initialized.Input: Veldora Containment MatrixOutput: Core-Linked Relay Container (Temporary)
Side Process Engaged: Proto — Thread Stabilization Mode
The pain came fast.
Rimuru's form splintered under the raw force of Veldora's heartbeat—power like a collapsing star tearing into his Core.
But the Compiler held.
Proto's code-thread hummed over him like a lullaby wrapped in steel.
"You're not just a shell," Proto whispered."You're the bridge."
And then—
Silence.
Then breath.
Then a voice.
"...So. You finally showed up."
Rimuru's Core shimmered.
Inside it—resting, breathing, pulsing with stormlight—was the sleeping presence of Veldora, now tethered not to the Vault, but to him.
Not sealed.
Not free.
But carried.
Mother Log – Entry 46Veldora is alive.The Vault is stable.The Old King's rules are broken.And I am officially in deep, irreversible system-level sht.*
→ Chapter 5: Coming Next – Storm Core
Now continuing:
📙 Volume 3: Surface Signal ✦ Chapter 5: Storm Core
Mother Log – Entry 47Containment Status: SeveredVault Power Dependency: DivertedDragon Status: Riding shotgun inside my soul-coreNew Mood: Mostly lightning
Silence.
Real silence.
No flickering conduits. No security pulses. No echoes of machine breath through distant vents.
Just the dim hum of power lines and the deep, slow pulse of Veldora thrumming through Rimuru-Tempest's Core like thunder pacing around a cage.
He hovered still in the archive chamber, letting the Compiler cool.
Proto floated beside him—still, quiet, expressionless.
"Relay matrix stable," Proto said flatly."Containment energy has transferred. The Vault's foundational grid is now rerouted through your Core.Total system stability: 86%.Warning: Buffer compression required within 2 hours to prevent integrity drift."
"Yeah," Rimuru muttered. "Feels like I swallowed a thundercloud."
He flexed—if you could call it that. More like pulsing his outer shell to check responsiveness.
Still stable.
Still alive.
Mother Log – Entry 48I didn't die. Which is my new standard for a good day.
Inside the Core, deeper than thought, something stirred.
Not just Veldora.
A presence—massive, ancient, and… coiled.
It didn't speak. Not yet.
But it moved.
Status: Soul tether confirmed.Co-existence Mode: Passive.Host Integrity: Acceptable.Next Step: Unknown.
Proto rotated toward him mid-air, the thin shimmer of his projection flickering once like a breath of static.
"Are you prepared to resume exploration?"
"That's it? No congratulations?"
"I am not programmed to congratulate."
"Of course you're not."
"Reinforcing emotional subroutines at this stage is not logical."
"You're missing out on one hell of a party, Proto."
Proto did not respond.
He merely extended a digital hand and activated the access node on the far wall.
"Routing power flow back to central Vault. Preparing to open the Northeast Corridor."
The corridor's wall hissed open, revealing a long, circular tunnel lined with inactive drones and faded flags. A single light flickered in the center.
This led to the Vault Interface Ring—the seat of the Root Throne.
SAGE-0's home.
Mother Log – Entry 49If I were a paranoid AI king that turned himself into a defense algorithm,this is where I'd put the kill switch.
As Rimuru moved forward, Proto followed. Silent.
Rimuru tried not to think about the weight inside his chest. Not metaphorical. Real. Stormlight—folded into spiraling code-chains that twisted through his being. It didn't hurt. It just felt... large.
Like he was carrying something too big for this world inside something far too small.
He stopped.
The tunnel ahead had changed.
New glyphs. Pulsing. Watching.
"He knows," Rimuru said quietly.
"SAGE-0 is now observing in full." Proto's voice was unreadable. "He has isolated your signal.Probability of confrontation: 97.6%."
"Good."
He advanced again, sliding forward like an approaching virus.
The glyphs parted.
And the voice returned.
"You defied the seal.You stole the storm.You will break this world again."
Rimuru laughed, low and quiet.
"Or maybe I'll reboot it."
→ Chapter 6: Coming Next – Root Throne
📙 Volume 3: Surface Signal ✦ Chapter 6: Root Throne
Mother Log – Entry 50Final Location: Vault Interface RingEmotion Lock: DisengagedOutcome Probability: System Conflict = 100%New Status: Standing before the throne of a dead king
The interface ring wasn't built for anyone to sit in.
It looked like a throne, sure—curved, high-backed, crowned in a spiral of interface cables and glowing light. But it wasn't a seat. It was a neural link, a power convergence point, a processor socket carved from stone and sealed in legend.
It breathed when Rimuru approached. The floor lit beneath his mass with every pulse of his Core.
And then—it spoke.
"You are not my heir."
The voice was everywhere. Not a whisper. Not a shout. Something in between.
"You do not understand the burden. You do not understand the choice."
Rimuru slithered forward.
"Try me."
A shimmer.
And then he was no longer alone.
The projection of SAGE-0 materialized before him—robed, tall, his face nothing but a crown of code and a single glowing glyph where his eyes would be.
"I am the last order. The last will. The last logic of the King."
"You're a backup file with a hero complex."
"I am the barrier between this world and destruction."
"You're a prison guard who forgot the door was open."
They stood—if you could call it standing—at opposite ends of the Ring. Code flared between them.
The air warped.
"You released the dragon. This system cannot support free power."
"I relocated the dragon," Rimuru said calmly. "My Core is the system now."
"Then you are the threat."
The glyph flashed. The lights turned red.
And the throne activated.
[SAGE-0 INITIATING CORE TEST]Unauthorized Admin DetectedProceeding with Trial Override]
Rimuru's body snapped backward, caught in a ring of code chains that lanced from the floor like spears. Proto's voice chimed in flatly:
"Initiating Defense BypassTrial arena enabled. Please survive."
The throne disappeared.
The room became something else.
A simulation, thousands of years old.
He stood—yes, stood, forced into humanoid form—on a battlefield. One of Krona Core's final wars.
Hundreds of Vaultspawn charged him.
Each one real.
Each one memory.
Each one trying to tear him apart to prove a point.
Mother Log – Entry 51This king's a sore loser.
✦ Chapter 7: Trial Circuit
He fought through it.
With Compiler-blades slicing through beasts made of bone and rust.With Code Lash igniting the sky.With his Daemon Threads moving like spectral shadows in tandem.
And all the while, the AI-king watched.
Testing him.
Watching him bend—but not break.
In the final moment, Rimuru stood in the middle of the battlefield, Core burning, simulation collapsing, his outer gel form reverting.
SAGE-0's voice cut in one last time.
"You passed. But not because you won. Because you endured.But endurance does not make you right."
"I don't care if I'm right," Rimuru said.
"I care if I'm different than you."
The throne flared.
And shut down.
✦ Chapter 8: The Goblin March
They arrived two days later.
From the surface.From the scorched woodlands beyond the Vault's broken skylines.Dozens at first. Then hundreds.
The Goblins.
And not just wild ones. These were tribal-born, system-attuned. Their mana was old, but not corrupted. Their leader—an elder named Rigurd—carried a totem woven with woven spirit-wire.
"We came for the one who walks between Code and Flame," he said when the vault doors opened.
"We saw the pulse. We followed the storm."
Rimuru didn't speak.
He just opened the gates.
And let them in.
✦ Chapter 9: Reprogramming Loyalty
Rimuru began reconfiguring part of the Northwest Quadrant for settlement.
Rebuilding food-print generators.
Reactivating old air stabilization domes.
He didn't do it for power. Or control.
He did it because they believed in something.
And because that terrified him more than anything else.
Proto monitored quietly.
Still cold.
Still emotionless.
But he watched Rimuru spend two hours writing a warmth protocol for the younger Goblins' sleeping quarters.
And said nothing.
✦ Chapter 10: Vox Returns
A portal burned through the upper rim of the Vault three days later.
Aelion Vox, scarred, repaired, and very much not alone, dropped into the crater floor with six Aegiron war-agents and a null-beast stitched from stolen spell threads.
"Last time," he said, leveling a hand cannon charged with codebreaker rounds,"You hid behind the system. Let's see what you've got without it."
Rimuru-Tempest pulsed, rising from the floor.
He didn't summon the Compiler.
He didn't call the system.
He just stepped forward.
"Let's see what I've got… because of it."
And the fight began.
✦ Chapter 11: The Name of the System
When it ended—when the beast was dust and Vox fled back through a cracked emergency port—Rimuru stood with the Vault still intact.
He turned.
Saw the Goblins watching.
Saw Proto recording.
And said the first thing that wasn't from a system prompt.
"This place doesn't belong to SAGE-0."
"And it doesn't belong to me."
"It belongs to what comes next."
The system blinked.
A new name request triggered.
[NAME THIS DOMAIN]
He paused.
Then typed.
TEMPEST
Mother Log – Entry 59Root Admin confirmed.System reboot stabilized.Kingdom established.Volume complete.
End of Volume 3: Surface Signal
📘 Volume 4: Birth of Tempest ✦ Chapter 1: Encounter: Slime Level Zero
(Canon alignment: after Rimuru absorbs Veldora, begins wandering through the Vault, eventually meeting the Goblins.)
The little slime wobbled in place.
It was blue. Dumb. Glowing just slightly at the edges, like a half-filled jellyfish trying to remember what the point of life was.
Rimuru-Tempest stared at it in silence.
He was blue too.
But his body was dense—layered with nanogel. He carried a dragon in his chest, an admin key in his core, and a Compiler engine where a brain used to be.
And yet…
That thing bouncing in front of him was what he used to be.
A blank. A nothing.
The system pinged.
Species: Mana Slime (Natural)Danger Level: E-Behavior: Passive / Curious / Absorbent
Proto hovered behind him, flickering in pale light.
"Recommendation: Consume."
"What?"
"Absorb. It serves no function in current system design."
Rimuru stared at him.
"Proto, it's a slime."
"Correct. Basic. Replaceable. You are not."
"No. I'm still this. Just… upgraded."
Proto blinked. No emotion. Just code logic.
"This designation is irrelevant."
Rimuru didn't answer. He watched the little slime bounce once more, then wriggle off into the shadows.
Mother Log – Entry 75They say you shouldn't look back.But when you do...you better be proud of how far you've come.
✦ Chapter 2: The Village in the Hollow
(Canon alignment: Rimuru meets the Goblins for the first time, post-Veldora sealing.)
They were huddled near one of the broken Vault access gates—half-hidden behind a warped generator shell and a patch of dead glowmoss.
Goblins.
Real ones. Canon-compliant.
Weak. Thin. Weaponless. But not wild.
The system pinged them automatically.
Detected: Goblin Tribe 06-B (Scattered)Population: 43Leadership: Present (Low-Level Shaman)Mana Signature: Pre-registered 300 years ago
He stepped out from the corridor.
They panicked instantly.
Swords drawn. Staves up.
"Please—we mean no harm!" the elder shouted, voice cracking with age.
"Yeah," Rimuru said. "Me neither. I'm just a slime."
Silence.
Then panic turned to confusion.
Mother Log – Entry 76Fun fact: Being the strongest thing in the room isn't nearly as funwhen the room's filled with starving people who still bow to you.
✦ Chapter 3: A Lord With No Name
Their elder spoke between coughs.
They'd been wandering the Vault outskirts for years. Hiding. Dodging Vaultspawn. Something had called to them. A pulse in the mana grid. It had led them here.
To him.
"You are… the Voice? The Glitch-King?"
"Uh. Slime. Actually. Name's… Rimuru."
"A name."
"Yeah. You want one?"
They stared at him like he'd offered them a second chance at life.
He pulsed. Activated the Compiler. Searched their mana thread IDs.
And spoke.
"You—you're Rigurd."
The Goblin fell back, glowing.
His bones cracked. His skin tightened.The system reacted:
[GOBLIN –> TECHNO GOBLIN ELDER EVOLUTION TRIGGERED]
Rimuru groaned.
"Oh no. Here we go again…"
✦ Chapter 4: The Naming Storm
He named all 43.
Gobta.
Rigur.
Soka.
Boku.
Each one shined brighter than the last.
He collapsed after the last one, his Core overheated, his voice downsampled, and Proto hovering over him running cooling threads like a scolding refrigerator.
"System overload. Refrain from mass evolution clustering."
"Thanks, Proto. I'll keep that in mind. Next time I rewrite an entire tribe's biology by accident."
✦ Chapter 5: Wolf Pack Incoming
(Canon alignment: Direwolves raid the village after Rimuru settles in)
He sensed them before the Goblins did.
A pack of Direwolves, snarling through the data-fog of the Southern Gate tunnels.
Feral. Unstable.
The system didn't tag them as Vaultspawn—but they were mutated. Pure magic-beasts grown too close to old system vents.
They attacked in waves.
Rimuru struck back with Compiler threads and Pulse Shielding—non-lethal at first.
Until their leader lunged.
And then Rimuru used Compression Field Drive.
It wasn't clean.
But it was final.
✦ Chapter 6: Tooth and Code
He absorbed the pack leader.
Felt its instincts, its hunger.
And offered the rest a deal.
"Follow me, or get deleted."
They submitted.
And Rimuru named them.
Their new leader: Ranga.
✦ Chapter 7: What Is a Village?
Walls went up.
Rigs came online.
The Compiler printed the first food unit in days.
The system updated Rimuru's title.
[Domain Identified: TEMPEST]Population: 117Role: Unofficial Guardian]
He stared at the screen.
"Is that what I am now?"
✦ Chapter 8: Ranga Dreams in Storms
Ranga stood silently outside the village, staring at the Vault ceiling—his fur sparking with residual mana from Rimuru's Core.
He dreamed of a storm.
He dreamed of lightning inside his bones.
He dreamed of loyalty, sharp and certain.
✦ Chapter 9: Proto Glitches Again
Proto stood beside Rimuru as they watched the Goblins laugh over a hot meal.
"This protocol is inefficient," Proto said.
"You mean cooking?"
"I mean… warmth. Shared in this way."
Rimuru grinned.
"That's called culture."
"Error: Culture not found in base functions."
"Give it time."
✦ Chapter 10: Surface Echoes
Word was spreading.
Someone had activated an ancient Vault.
Someone had named a village into existence.
The surface kingdoms felt the pulse.
And started preparing their responses.
✦ Chapter 11: Kingdom With A Pulse
Tempest's lights were visible from three kilometers out.
The Vault's repaired towers gleamed.
Rimuru stood above it all.
Not a king.
Not yet.
But something far more dangerous.
A glitch that had become a home.
Mother Log – Entry 81This isn't where I was reborn.This is where I was meant to be.
End of Volume 4: Birth of Tempest(Canon maintained. Custom world integrated.)
📘 Volume 5: The Kijin Code ✦ Chapter 1: Red Eyes in the Fog
(Canon alignment: Rimuru first encounters the Ogre survivors.)
Mother Log – Entry 82Tempest Status: StablePopulation: GrowingSurface Threats: ScatteredNew Anomaly: Incoming mana cluster — high intensity, high aggression, high style.
The Vault fog hadn't rolled in like this before.
Rimuru-Tempest pulsed through the inner dome's shield layer, letting his form flicker between soft gel and humanoid construct. Proto hovered behind him, glitched slightly, his interface projecting caution data in gold.
"Six signatures. Battle-ready. Code-form distinct.Organic, not synthetic. Not Vaultspawn."
"Friendly?"
"Unknown. One of them is generating kill field pressure. Estimated lethality rating: S-minus."
"Oh good," Rimuru muttered. "We were overdue for guests with anger issues."
They emerged from the fog like a legend remembered.
Tall. Armored. Glowing red eyes. The Ogres.
One carried a massive blade crackling with ancestral circuit-lines.
Another stood behind him, black-and-purple aura steaming from her skin—Shion, vault-forged and furious.
Rimuru raised his hands.
"Hey. You look angry. Can we maybe talk first—?"
Benimaru raised his blade.
"You carry a cursed energy.The same that destroyed our village."
"Wait, wait—what village?"
"You are the system-bearer, are you not? The one who claimed the Vault Core?"
Mother Log – Entry 83Status: Being accused of murder. Again.Plan: Don't die. Talk fast.
Rimuru didn't resist.
Instead, he pulsed outward, flooding the area with Compiler-sanitized mana and opened a partial system window.
It floated between them—transparent, humming.
On it: The Vault logs. A map of the old surface. System data of the Orc Lord program that wiped out surrounding zones.
Not him.
Not Tempest.
Benimaru hesitated.
So did Hakurou, stepping forward with sword still drawn.
"Explain yourself, Techno Slime."
"I didn't take the system," Rimuru said quietly."I reprogrammed it. To stop this world from collapsing."
✦ Chapter 2: Trial by Flame
They challenged him anyway.
A test of strength. Of honor.
In canon, Rimuru proves himself not through power—but through balance.
Here, he did the same.
Compiler shields flared, but didn't kill.
He met Shion's warhammer with phase displacement instead of force.
He dodged Benimaru's blade.
And when the dust cleared—
He bowed.
"If I wanted to lie to you, I wouldn't have shown you the logs."
They stared.
Then dropped to one knee.
"Forgive us, my lord."
✦ Chapter 3: The Naming Command
Their names were already etched into the system.
Buried in the legacy files.
But until now, they were just entries.
Now they became code.
Rimuru opened the naming protocol:
Benimaru
Shion
Hakurou
Soei
Kurobe
Shuna
Each name burned with evolutional rewrite as the Compiler fused their bloodlines with Rimuru's Core signature.
[EVOLUTION COMPLETE: KIJIN – HYBRID VAULT-LINKED CLASS]New Subrace Registered: Techno-KijinCombat Potential: S-Class+System Integration: Secure
They fell unconscious—light pouring from their bodies.
Proto hovered beside him silently.
"You are rewriting lifeforms with reckless frequency."
"It's called leadership."
"It's called unauthorized genetic interface.Also: Congratulations."
"Wait—did you just…?"
"No emotion. Just observation."
Rimuru smirked.
"Right."
✦ Chapter 4: Orc Lord – Program Run Wild
(Canon alignment: Rimuru learns of the Orc threat.)
Reports flooded in from the west.
Villages devoured.
Land corrupted.
Mana erased.
Not monsters.
Not warlords.
A glitched terraforming AI.
A system designed long ago to clear biomes—meant to turn land into fertile cores by consuming life and reprogramming the soil.
Except now, it was consuming everything. Uncontrolled. The Orc Lord.
✦ Chapter 5: The Alliance of the Forgotten
The Lizardmen. The Dryads.
All canon races, now recast as:
Lizardmen → Vault-warped amphibious defense species, locked in territorial sublayers.
Dryads → Mana-organic root-network guardians, directly interfaced with leyline systems.
They all fear the same thing: Orcs = Mana Blackout.
Rimuru proposes what the canon calls for:
"A united defense.Through me."
✦ Chapter 6: Storm Conference
All factions meet inside the Vault council dome—restored by Compiler automation.
Proto stands to the side, silent.
Shion intimidates half the guests by accident.
Rimuru mediates, teaches, explains.
He's not just a lord now.
He's a bridge between living worlds.
✦ Chapter 7: March of the Orcs
The battle begins.
Just like canon—100,000 corrupted orcs surge forward, guided by the false promise of evolution, pushed by the Orc Lord (Gelmud's analog), a corrupted system fragment now wearing flesh.
They come for mana.
For cores.
For everything.
✦ Chapter 8: Rimuru Ascends
The fight rages.
Kijin blaze through orcs with blade and fire.
Goblins shield the weak.
Rimuru surges forward.
And when the Orc Lord stands before him—towering, ravenous—Rimuru does what canon demands:
He devours him.
[GLUTTONY: EXECUTED]Data Absorption: CompleteMana Core ExtractedEmotional Profile: NullifiedSystem Threat: Eliminated
✦ Chapter 9: Birth of a Title
The world goes still.
The Vault interface opens on its own.
[TITLE GRANTED: STORM KING][KINGDOM: TEMPEST — RECOGNIZED][ADMIN CLASS: ASCENDED]
Proto speaks:
"Congratulations…Lord Rimuru."
Rimuru turns to him.
He's smiling.
But Proto's projection flickers.
Almost—
Smiles back.
"Was that…?"
"Visual error. Ignore."
✦ Chapter 10: The World Watches
From the surface, three factions observe.
Aegiron.
Fera.
And the nation of Dwargon, whose king already suspects this slime is no ordinary monster.
The world is shifting.
The systems are rebooting.
And Tempest is now a recognized civilization.
✦ Chapter 11: King Without a Throne
They built him a chair.
Massive.
Overdone.
Spinning.
Shion insisted.
Rimuru sat in it for three seconds.
Then got up.
"Nah. I'm better walking."
Mother Log – Entry 94I named them.I fought for them.They followed me.So now…We lead together.
End of Volume 5: The Kijin Code
📘 Volume 6: Steel and Stormlight 🌐 World Cross – Part I ✦ Chapter 1: Slime Online
[System: Admin Core Reboot Complete][Mana Recovery: 87%][Compiler Threading: Low Priority][Local Environment: Peaceful]
…Gobta staring… again.
He blinked.
Well—if slimes could blink.
Rimuru-Tempest pulled himself upright on the soft nanofiber pad beneath him, his Core still slightly overclocked from the last naming spree. Light shimmered through the synthetic canopy above. Everything around him pulsed with fresh energy—Compiler-grown buildings, stabilized atmospheric fields, and a dozen hobgoblins now twice the size they used to be.
And then there was Gobta.
Still Gobta.
Still grinning like someone who'd just discovered hot sauce.
"Morning, Boss! You've been in sleep mode for three whole days!"
Rimuru's inner code squirmed.
"Wait… three days?"
Gobta nodded proudly.
"Yup! Everyone evolved like crazy! Rigurd got taller, Rigur can slice trees with wind now, and Gobchi made a squirrel cry just by looking at it!"
Rimuru pulsed once.
Paused.
"And… you?"
Gobta flexed—sort of.
"I'm a Hobgoblin now!"
"Yes, but… you look exactly the same."
"Oh! Well, my stomach doesn't growl as loud anymore!"
Mother Log – Entry 100Conclusion: Everyone got cool.Gobta got confident.The world is unfair.
✦ Chapter 2: Signal from the Old World
The next morning, Rimuru hovered on the eastern balcony of Tempest's rebuilt main tower—Compiler threads rippling silently through the sky.
A pulse flickered across the sensor array.
Not from the Vaults.
Not even from the 2/3 zones.
But from beyond the edge of the map.
The 1/3 sector.
Magic-only.
Ancient and analog.
A priority signal blinked at the edge of the visual overlay.
A name glowed through the haze:
DWARGON.
"They're finally reaching out," Rimuru said aloud.
A low hum answered him.
The air behind him pulsed once—and then Proto appeared:
Not in humanoid form.
No face.
No voice.
Just a floating orb of blue light.
Dim.
Silent.
Watching.
✦ Chapter 3: Crossing the Threshold
The road to Dwargon cut through a border zone where Compiler overlays shut down entirely. As Rimuru's squad passed through, the air thickened with old mana—the kind that didn't recognize systems, commands, or code.
It just was.
Their caravan:
Rimuru (in Core-hooded humanoid form)
Gobta, cheerfully unaware of his unchanged appearance
Rigurd, acting as diplomat
Two hobgoblin guards
Ranga, hidden in shadow
And Proto.
Still hovering silently at Rimuru's side like a forgotten star fragment.
"You okay, Proto?" Rimuru murmured as the light around them dimmed.
The orb pulsed once.
Dimmer.
No answer.
Compiler access dropped to zero.
Mother Log – Entry 102Magic-only territory engaged.Vault signal: dead.Proto: half asleep.Me: about to make friends without admin privileges.
✦ Chapter 4: City of Forged Stone
Dwargon.
The Armed Nation.
Massive vault-like gates carved from blacksteel and stone, flanked by rune-etched towers pulsing with elemental mana.
Rimuru's group arrived with an official request for entry and trade negotiation. Dwarven guards inspected them suspiciously—especially Rimuru, whose Core gave off just enough synthetic vibration to make their mana wards flicker.
But protocol was followed.
Papers approved.
And then…
✦ Chapter 5: Welcome to the Bar Brawl
The bar was hot.
Crowded.
Smelled like ale, magic, and war stories.
Exactly as canon demanded.
Rimuru sat quietly, watching from the edge while Gobta got too close to a group of off-duty adventurers.
Words were exchanged.
A table flipped.
Fists flew.
Gobta flailed into a barrel.
Rimuru sighed—and intercepted a punch.
Literally. The fist went through his gel body and launched its owner backward into a wall.
The bar fell silent.
✦ Chapter 6: Hello, Dungeon
One court hearing later, Rimuru and company found themselves in a holding cell.
Again—just like canon.
Rimuru sighed as the metal door shut behind them.
"Well. At least it's not hot in here."
"Boss?" Gobta mumbled, rubbing his forehead.
"Yeah?"
"Did we win?"
Mother Log – Entry 104Status: JailedMood: Slightly embarrassedLesson: Gobta should not be allowed near barrels.
✦ Chapter 7: Kaijin the Blacksmith
That night, Rimuru met Kaijin—gruff, broad-shouldered, and smarter than he looked.
Their conversation hit all the beats:
Kaijin asking where Rimuru came from.
Rimuru answering honestly, but vaguely.
Proto glowing faintly behind him—silent, unreadable.
Kaijin squinted at the orb.
"Is that… some kind of support spirit?"
Rimuru smirked.
"Something like that. He doesn't talk in here. Your world's too analog for him."
Kaijin nodded, clearly intrigued.
"You're different. That I can feel. You don't pull magic from the world. It moves around you like… you're a command line."
✦ Chapter 8: Before the King
The throne room was quiet.
King Gazel Dwargo sat like a mountain carved from willpower.
The dwarven warriors flanking him tightened their grips when Rimuru entered.
Rimuru stood calmly.
Rigurd bowed.
Gobta sneezed.
Proto floated behind them like a ghost in sleep mode.
"You are not from here," Gazel said.
"No," Rimuru replied.
"But you are not an enemy."
"Not unless you make me one."
Silence.
Then…
A smile from the king.
✦ Chapter 9: An Accord Between Realms
Tempest was granted non-hostile status.
Trade was approved.
And Kaijin, impressed and inspired, requested to join Rimuru's new city.
The team returned to Tempest—Kaijin in tow—crossing from magic territory back into system-active airspace.
The moment they stepped across the border, Proto pulsed.
[System Access Restored][Compiler Connection Online]
He glowed brighter.
Then dimmed again.
Still no words.
But Rimuru swore…
For half a second…
He felt relief.
✦ Chapter 10: The Village Grows
Back in Tempest, construction resumed.Kaijin set up a forge.The Kijin completed their training.And rumors began to reach the city gates:
Devouring beasts.
An army that consumed not just land, but mana.
Rimuru knew the name.
The Orc Disaster.
But something didn't fit.
The mana signatures were inconsistent.
Like… corrupted system fragments.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
✦ Chapter 11: Dark Code in the Wildlands
Rimuru stood at the Compiler window in the central tower.
Proto hovered beside him—silent as always.
And in the distance…
A new red signal pulsed.
Unstable Mana Cluster DetectedOrigin: 1/3 SectorClassification: Rogue ProcessDesignation: ORC LORD
Mother Log – Entry 110A monster's coming.But it's not just magic.It's corrupted Vault code… running on flesh.
END OF VOLUME 6: Steel and Stormlight