"Forget it, I'll stop thinking about it. Even thinking won't make it mine."
Nolee shook his head as if he could shake out all his troubles.
"Right now, the urgent matter is to get to know Rimuru."
Noleethought and thought, thought and thought, thought for a long time but couldn't think of a plan.
"Wait, why do I need to think? I can just go out and introduce myself, right? What's the use of thinking about all this? It's not like I'm trying to harm him. I just want to make friends with her."
Only then did Nolee realize he'd been overthinking. For someone like Rimuru with an easygoing, kind, and tolerant personality, he just needed to make friends normally like an ordinary person. Being overly calculating would backfire and be counterproductive. However, some surface-level work still needed to be done.
Nolee lifted his dragon feet and walked toward Rimuru.
[Ding, detected powerful life form approaching, please prepare defenses quickly.]
Rimuru turned and saw Mo Li.
"Whoa, it's a dragon! So cool! Wait, who are you?"
Rimuru was shocked at first, then came to his senses with a vigilant expression.
Having grown up in Japan in his previous life, Rimuru naturally hadn't seen a dragon, this kind of creature from mythology.
"Hello, I mean no harm. I just want to get to know you."
Mo Li's words to Rimuru were full of goodwill.
Rimuru looked into Mo Li's eyes and found no malice.
"Great Sage, what do you think?"
[Detected that the other party has no hostility, please rest assured, host.]
"Uh, even if there was hostility, I might not be able to win. This is a dragon! I'm just a small slime. I also think the other party has no malice, otherwise I would've run away already."
Rimuru said with a deadpan expression.
[Detected that the other party's magical essence content is higher than the host's. Currently, the host's magical essence content is B+ rank.]
"Which means he's at least A-rank."
Seeing Rimuru's silent appearance, Nolee knew he was currently communicating with Great Sage, so he didn't speak up to interrupt.
"Which means I can't beat him, right?"
[Correct.]
"So what should I do?"
[You can try agreeing to the other party's request.]
"That makes sense."
"Excuse me, have you decided?"
At this time, Rimuru heard Mo Li's voice and came to his senses.
"Oh, oh, hello, I'm a slime."
Only then did Rimuru react.
"Hello, I'm a young dragon. Wait, I shouldn't be a dragon. No wait, I'm not either. I just look like a dragon. Yes, that's right."
Only then did Nolee realize he didn't really understand his own race.
To be precise, Nolee wasn't a dragon species, but a form transformation of the rock attribute. Because he possessed Old Man Zhong's skills, the Voice of the World made Mo Li's appearance similar to Old Man Zhong's true form.
Seeing Nolee explaining, Rimuru couldn't help feeling amused.
He originally thought that Mo Li, being a high-ranking species, would look down on a low-ranking species like himself. Who would've thought he'd be so friendly?
Seeing Rimuru laugh, Mo Li's nervous heart also calmed down.
"Alright, let me introduce myself again. I'm a creature whose appearance resembles the dragon race, but at least my status panel doesn't show dragon race. As for my name, to be precise, I don't have a name in this world yet."
Nolee said with a thoughtful expression.
Nolee deeply understood that in this world, names are very important. Names aren't something the weak can possess.
Only the strong can name others.
To be precise, naming is a thankless task.
Because each naming consumes a large amount of magical essence, and under "normal" circumstances, this amount is uncontrollable. This is why Rimuru fell into slumber after naming—though the main reason was his reckless naming. Because naming reduces magical essence, and this could reduce the namer's maximum magical essence. In Rimuru novel, the strength of magic creatures mainly depends on the amount of magical essence, so under normal circumstances, no strong being would be willing to name other magic creatures. And fools like Rimuru who name hundreds or even thousands of magic creatures at once can't be found anywhere else in that world. The reason Rimuru dares to do this is simply because of Storm Dragon and Great Sage. It's precisely because Storm Dragon named Rimuru that Rimuru's internal magical essence content skyrocketed. But this still isn't his basis for reckless naming. The fundamental reason is that Great Sage, without permission each time, draws magical essence from the chuunibyou dragon to supplement the insufficient part. It's precisely because of this that Rimuru can name so recklessly.
"In this world, which means..."
Rimuru's eyes gleamed.
Mo Li's words surprised Rimuru a bit.
"Could you also be..."
Although Nolee already knew, he still put on a surprised expression.
"When will the bright moon appear?"
Nolee spoke up.
"Uh."
"Wait, do you know Michael Jackson?"
"King of Pop."
"Jordan?"
"NBA star."
"You're also—"
"Could you also be—"
"An Earthling?"
Rimuru's eyes widened.
"Fellow countryman!"
Rimuru flew into Mo Li's embrace.
"Fellow countryman!"
Rimuru's eyes were teary.
This truly confirmed that saying:
Fellow countrymen meet fellow countrymen, both eyes brimming with tears.
"I thought I was the only transmigrator!"
Rimuru spoke up.
"Same here. After all, who would believe in transmigration?"
Nolee agreed.
"By the way, how long have you been transmigrated to this world?"
Rimuru asked Mo Li.
"Not long. I was also just born into this world. As for how long, I'm not too clear either."
"Same as me then!"
Rimuru said happily.
"You also came to this world not long ago?"
Nolee raised an eyebrow.
"That's right!"
"By the way, how did you transmigrate here?"
Rimuru asked.
"This?"
Nolee told Rimuru about his previous life's experience.
"So you also came to this world after dying."
"So you too?"
"Yes."
"In my previous life, I was walking down the street with my good girlfriend, and suddenly some lunatic came out with a knife and stabbed me to death."
Rimuru's words were full of resentment.
"You're really unlucky."
Nolee said gently.
"Wait, good girlfriend? You were a girl in your previous life?"
Only then did Nolee notice that what Rimuru said was different from the original plot.
"Of course I was a girl. Don't I seem like one?"
Rimuru widened her eyes, puzzled.
"No, no, that's not right."
Nolee was somewhat confused at this point.
In the original work, Rimuru was a middle-aged man, an ordinary office worker who was stabbed to death while protecting his friend during a street outing, and thus reincarnated into this world as a slime.
How is it that in reality, Rimuru was stabbed to death while shopping with her girlfriend and then reincarnated?
How did Rimuru's previous life become a girl?
This is really unreasonable.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
At this time, Nolee heard the call.
"Nothing, I'm just a bit surprised."
Nolee explained.
"Surprised about what? Surprised that I'm a girl?"
Rimuru asked curiously.