Again?
After the wave of memories fades and everything settles, both the old memories and the new, she stares down at her hands, the hands of a child yet again, as she finds herself as one named Satomi. Mikami Satomi specifically, “Seriously, what is going on?”
Her only consolation to the weird scenario happening again is that her best friends Kuroha and Tomomi became her friends at school because they also had the ‘weird almost word-like birthmarks’ that people saw their soulmate marks as, so at least this time she doesn't have to go looking for them.
Ahead of her from where they'd been playing tag, Kuroha whirls back to her and Tomomi behind him. “Toshiko, Miho, I gotta say, first we missed you Miho, second, it's damned nice we don't have to try to find each other this time.”
Tomomi lets out a laugh, “Especially since I'm pretty sure magic doesn't exist here, so there isn't any ‘let me casually publish a huge magic breakthrough under a fake name specifically designed to get Hei and Misaki's attention’ stunts for Satomi to pull like she did as Toshiko.”
She laughs as well as the other two walk back to her, “Hey! It worked didn't it? Also, Riko is totally Hoshi right?”
Tomomi shrugs, “We wouldn't know until later, now would we? Since their mom kept her home because she was a bit concerned about the way her asthma was flaring up with her cold?”
Kuroha has his head tilted, “Nah, I can say for sure she is.”
She blinks rapidly, “How?”
Kuroha shrugs, “You shared BK-201 between us. We can feel when the other starts to tap into it, before they even draw enough power for any glowing, either in general or in the red eyes, much less before they actually draw on it enough to use. We started using it for morse code messages at some point. Don't even remember when, so don't ask.”
She hums, “Well, that's even better, since we don't have to go looking for her either.”
Tomomi looks bemused, “Yeah, but while it disproves that they'll always be twins because of what you did, it does make me wonder if it somehow always guarantees they'll be at least siblings.”
She shrugs, “No clue. Is she feeling alright by the way?”
Kuroha snorts, “She's more pouty that she's not here to potentially indulge in her favorite pastime of annoying me to my face than anything. I swear, I can't ever get away from her. And if anything, since the fact the binary star thing created some sort of link between our souls, I can't even get away from her by dying.”
Tomomi rolls her eyes, “He says, like he doesn't actually adore that fact. You're just as bad as she is in certain ways.”
She laughs lightly, then jolts in surprise and whirls around at a car horn going off on the street. Then she's even more surprised as she realizes she was genuinely surprised and not just ‘was absently discarding the Eidos data’ kind of surprised in the first place. It's only then that she realizes she'd been so caught up in reincarnating again, still without answers as to what's going on and the relief that her soulmates are right there this time that she hadn't noticed that her Elemental Sight was off for the first time in, well, quite literally a lifetime.
She can sense it, but it's deactivated for the time being. Which… well, she supposes that answers what that segment she'd never been able to make heads or tails of right before the spell end parameter she’d never hesitated to show people means. If she's right, it essentially reads ‘upon death, spell is temporarily suspended’.
She's pulled back to facing her soulmates by Kuroha's concerned voice, “Satomi? Everything alright sweetheart?”
She blinks rapidly, “Huh? Oh, yeah. I just… was so distracted I hadn't noticed my Elemental Sight was actually suspended. I still have it, I can sense it inside me, but…”
Tomomi's eyes go wide, “It's off? But you couldn't even manually turn it off!”
She shrugs helplessly, “Yeah, I know. That line that mentioned death must have basically been a pause button. I imagine that once I turn it back on there's no undoing it, at least in this life anyway. If we experience reincarnation again, well… if I'm right, it'll get paused again.”
Tomomi searches her face, then quietly murmurs out, “Would that really be a bad thing? It's unbelievably helpful yeah, but this world seems fairly peaceful to me, and I mean… you don't really get real rest with it.”
Kuroha hums, “There is that. But even a normal peaceful world has its dangers and Elemental Sight gives her forewarning of those.”
She nods slowly, then shakes herself, “Well, it's not like I have to make a decision immediately or anything. Let's just table it for now. I don't really feel like talking about whether or not I should turn Elemental Sight back on during the very first day of our new life.” Then her brows furrow, “Though before I forget about it, at minimum I'll need to do some work with Kuroha and Riko. I didn't realize how lax I'd gotten at paying attention to my surroundings while I started relying more and more on Elemental Sight.”
Her husband nods lightly, “I was thinking that myself actually. But let's just take today at least to ourselves while we get used to the new changes before we start even talking about stuff like that.”
Tomomi nods firmly, “An excellent idea.”
She hums. It sounds quite lovely to her.
She blinks slowly, ears ringing, vision blurry. It takes a few moments for her disoriented brain to slowly piece together what happened, but the moment she remembers the truck(1) that had gone out of control she lifts her head as quickly as she can, drawing a wave of blackspots. Kuroha and Tomomi were up in the passenger and driver seat respectively, and both were already dead. So was Riko to her right in the backseat. There's still that charged feeling in the air from Kuroha and Riko both instinctively activating BK-201 in that moment before impact.
She reaches out for them, habitually reaching for Regrowth and their Eidos but… but it's not working. If she was thinking clearly, she wouldn't have even tried since it was impossible, but she's very much not in any place to be thinking clearly. As such, tears pool in her eyes as she struggles to understand why it isn't working.
And for the first time in years, the last time being literally in a different life, she hears a disembodied male voice, one she hasn't heard since she was a day old baby named Shiba Toshiko, ‘I'm sorry. Their souls are already out of your reach beloved.’
It's said gently, but sadly and her tears spill. Regrowth was capable of a lot of things, but it could not resurrect the dead.
She had already experienced around three hundred and fifty years without them as Calanthe Potter-Black. She couldn't do it again. She refused to do it again, and as though in response, that voice speaks again, ‘It's okay beloved. It's okay. Death only seems cruel to the survivors left behind. It may be deemed selfish by the living to refuse to keep going, but everyone is entitled to be selfish sometimes.’
She blinks rapidly, trying to take a deep breath and only then realizing there's… some piece of large metal sticking out of her chest. Coughing, she squints her eyes, ‘Merlin, my pain tolerance must have faded after so many peaceful years, because that hurts. Well, then again, it's not that I didn't feel pain, just that I was really good at ignoring it…’ Now that she's not so fixated on the others and aware of it, her body feels like it's burning, particularly around the stab wound, ‘It's unbelievably hot… the blood perhaps? Assuming it isn't just the burn of the wound itself anyway...’
As though the random male voice that has popped up repeatedly wasn't strange enough, now a female voice decides to pipe up, 《Confirmed. Cancel Pain… successfully acquired. Resist Heat… successfully acquired.》
She blinks rapidly again, ‘Well, I don't know what nonsense this is, but that's a damned lie, given it sure as hell still hurts and is still hot.’ Not giving it a moment more of thought, she shifts to trying to distract herself, ‘Haaaa. It's funny really. People have tried so hard to kill me in both lives and never succeeded, yet something as mundane as blood loss from a stab wound is doing me in. Even funnier when you think about how so many other people heralded me as some great sage or prophet or something, come to lead them to a better path.’
That voice again, 《Confirmed. Resist Heat upgrading to Cancel Heat… successful. Confirmed. Constructing a blood free body… successful. Confirmed Resist piercing weapon… successfully acquired. Upgrading to Resist Melee Attack… successful. Great Sage… successfully acquired. Prophet… successfully acquired.》
She's admittedly a bit annoyed now, ‘You keep going on and on about acquiring skills, how about you do something about this damn cold that's starting to creep in, huh? I mean, it's not surprising given I've gotta be getting close to dying, but…’
Of course, as though to mock her, 《Confirmed. Resist Cold… successfully acquired.》
Her gaze turns outright mocking as it drifts upwards as well rather than implied like the voice piping up, ‘Oh just resist cold huh? If it's so easy to upgrade, then why skimp out?’
Seemingly in response, 《Resist Cold upgrading to Cancel Cold... Combined with previously acquired Cancel Heat, the Skill has progressed to Cancel Temperature.》
She shakes her head, ‘You do realize I can basically do most of that with my magic via spells or otherwise, right? You're basically saying you're going to give me skills I already have. What nonsense is next, resisting magic? Electricity? Magic sight? Being able to heal stupid fast? Being able to analyze things just based on said magic sight? Being able to tell when people are lying to me, even if it's just because they've had their mind altered or are delusional or something?’ (2)
That voice seems like it's trying to annoy her, 《Confirmed. Resist Magic… successfully acquired. Confirmed. Resist Electricity… successfully acquired. Confirmed. Magic Perception… successfully acquired. Confirmed. Self Regeneration, Absorb, and Dissolve intrinsics combining and upgrading to Ultra Speed Regeneration… successful. Confirmed. Skill Magic Perception upgrading to possess subskill Analysis… successful. Confirmed. Detect Absolute Truth… successfully acquired.》
She rolls her eyes, then chooses to ignore it. Given the way the darkness was rapidly closing in, there really wasn't time for it anyway. As her gaze drifts to her soulmate’ bodies, she feels a wave of sadness, ‘Haaa. There's not even a guarantee we'll be able to find each other easily again. If only this whole soulmates thing came with telepathic communication.’
Then her brain, rapidly shutting down as she dies, decides to whine and point something out in complaint, and she pouts, ‘Damn it! Tomomi and Kuroha were in such a rush this morning that we didn't get that quickie I wanted in! And now we've all kicked the bucket! That settles it. I don't know why we keep getting reborn, but if it happens again, I'll have to chase them down and eat them up! I already went through those three years of waiting to grow up to have a relationship with them as Calanthe damn it! And that's before taking into account the centuries I outlived them!’
That annoying voice decides to poke its nose in again, 《Confirmed. Soul connection upgrading to soul corridor… in progress. Confirmed. Predator… successfully acquired. Predator subskill Analyze and Assess combined with previously acquired Magic Perception Analysis subskill and upgraded.》
That irritating voice and the sound of sirens that were just too late to do anything is the last thing she hears in that life. Then the world and all of the pain and fuzziness starts to fade away. She feels like she's drifting down a river, surrounded by what looks like a stream of stars. She's not sure what's happening, but it's pretty obvious she's dead.
She… well, she doesn't quite blink, she doesn't feel substantial and doesn't actually have eyes, despite the fact she feels like she can see the river of stars she was floating down, but it certainly feels like it. Even though her ‘vision’ doesn't cut out or anything like what would happen from closing her eyes. She's died multiple times and never seen anything like this. It was actually kind of pretty.
It's a shame it doesn't last long, given a few moments later as she puzzles over the new unfamiliar view, everything suddenly goes dark. Yet at the same time, she feels… more physical now. When she turns her attention inwards to reach for her Elemental Sight though… she can sense it within herself of course, but… her Toshiko magic, as well as her Calanthe magic for that matter, are grinding against the magic this world seems to have -given it appeared out of nowhere when she was reborn-, like tectonic plates or something, ready to catch hard on one another and set off a disaster. Which… means no Calanthe or Toshiko magic for the foreseeable future. Not until she can get a handle on things.
Which… puts her in a bit of a bind given the whole can't see problem. As she's looking over her powers internally, she realizes there are some new things. She reaches to poke at one experimentally, and the moment she touches it, a vague idea of its basic use flows through her mind, an innate resistance to magic.
She instinctively goes to hum, but there's no physical change she can feel, which she brushes off for now, ‘Oh yeah. That female voice was talking about skills and mentioned Resist Magic… I suppose I owe it an apology, given how much I was mocking it. Then again, it sounded pretty… robotic like an AI, and without any… depth like Rowena so I doubt it's sentient. Still feel bad though…’
She shakes it off and starts going through them, vaguely remembering it saying something about a ‘Magic Perception' in response to her thinking about Elemental Sight. Shifting through them doesn't take very long since there aren't a whole lot, only eleven, and once she has it, she examines it while trying to figure out how to turn it on. She turns her attention to her resistances. From the feel of them she could turn them off but they're naturally in an on state, which makes sense given what they are. It does give her an idea of how to activate them though. Once she has a feel for it, she tries to replicate pulling its power out to radiate through her like they do.
Immediately the world opens up around her. The world is more busy than she's used to it looking as well, at least with her eyes. The amount of data available pales in comparison to Elemental Sight, but she's used to that being entirely separate to her regular ‘gaze’, whereas this basically has them mixed together. And she's in a… cave? She's confused enough by the additions to her sight that it doesn't really click what she's seeing until a drop of water descends from a stalactite and a wave ripples out through the air after it lands. Looking around again, she realizes she's seeing the, admittedly limited, soundwaves amongst other things.
Her… ‘sight’ also extends three hundred and sixty degrees around her, like Elemental Sight, but with a different range.
As she contemplates everything, she realizes she can't sense any of her limbs. Since that ‘gaze’ seems capable of seeing basically everything much like her Elemental Sight, experimentally she tries turning it into herself. It works, but it gives her one hell of a surprise.
A blue blob.
She's a little blue gelatinous blob. She'd maybe say orb or something since she isn't dripping or anything like that, but her… body was flat where it was laying against the ground. Which makes sense given gelatins are pretty malleable, but… it leaves her with so many questions. What the hell she was for starters.(3) Why was she reborn as… that as well. Where was she as another. How does she move is one more.
It's more habit, shifting weight when in thought and all that, but she leans to the right slightly as she instinctively goes to cross her arms. With a strange… sliding feeling against what feels like her stomach, the blob she's become shifts to the right a little, even as two tendrils of its body extend out and cross.
The lean actually causes her to bump into a plant she hadn't really noticed while she was distracted by what's going on. But that… ‘Haaa. Unless that's a really tall plant, I suppose that gives me a pretty good idea of my size. That thing is what? Half as tall as me? If it was something taller like a sunflower or corn it wouldn't say as much, but given I'm in a cave, that seems unlikely.’
She'd actually meant to speak out loud, but… well, it wasn't surprising given the blue blob she's become doesn't have a mouth, but nothing comes out. It had actually been a bit of a test even as she was contemplating the plant, since there had been those extensions after she went to cross her arms and all.
She leans a bit closer, reaching out for the plant, admittedly not an expert by any means, but if she can somehow identify the plant, maybe that can give her a better idea of her height. When she does though, that strange voice comes back, or maybe not, since now that she's aware of those Skills she realizes it's emanating from the Great Sage one, [Use Unique Skill ‘Predator’? Yes. No.]
She blinks rapidly, or well, a feeling like rapid blinking washes over her, ‘Ah… I don't know if you're that same voice that was talking about me acquiring Skills, you sound the same though, and if you are I owe you an apology for the shit I was giving that voice before regarding giving me ‘skills’ I already have, given they're… kind of unusable right now. You seemed to be able to hear my thoughts before, so sorry ma'am.’
She waits a beat but there's no reply, which sort of backs up the idea that it's something similar to a non-sentient AI in her opinion, if it's even the same voice as before. Regardless, it had asked her a question hadn't it? Using whatever this ‘Predator Skill’ was? Well, she'd already sort of worked out what it did from what she got from it when she was going through these ‘Skills.’
It's probably good to get a sense of it in action in a controlled environment though so, ‘Yes.’
Her body… reacts entirely on its own at that. Extending out and wrapping the plant up before pulling it into herself. It disappears immediately, presumably to the Predator's subskill Stomach. She tilts her head thoughtfully, which gets some weird reaction of her gelatinous body sort of folding on itself as it leans the same direction her head tilted.
There are other plants around though, significantly more past the hard stone she was 'born' on, practically blanketing the ground anywhere there wasn't hard stone stopping it, so she doesn't hesitate to step over to one of the sparce ones on the stone for a little more experimentation. Or she starts to anyway. Her body's been reacting when she was trying to use human gestures, so she figured she could move just with that, but that gets her body to give a little bounce up and forward rather than just sliding along the ground like it had when she leaned. It brings her pause for a moment before she shakes it off and continues forward, continuing with the bouncing walk since it seems faster.
The next one, she tries manually replicating the feeling she'd gotten from ‘Predator’ when it was activated by that voice, targeting the plant, which works beautifully given her body moves to swallow it up immediately. She feels a sense of satisfaction at the fact she can totally do it entirely on her own. Shifting through her Skills again, she turns the Analyze and Assess subskill into a third plant. Once she gets the information, she turns her attention to the Great Sage Skill that was talking to her earlier. Or rather, it's subskill ‘All of Creation’ to see what all it can tell her.
The moment she feeds it the data while plucking it into action it responds, [Report: Hipokute Herb- A type of ingredient used in healing medication. Only thrives in areas blessed with high local magic densities. Fusing its juice with magicules produces recovery medicine. Grinding the blades and fusing them with magicules produces a salve that closes wounds.]
She tilts her head, ‘Magicules?’ She doesn't get a response, so she tables it for now, though unless it's a misleading name she'd say it's rather obvious what a magicule is, particularly given she's fairly sure she can see some drifting around, ‘Well… that's surprisingly valuable. Wasn't expecting it from some random plant. Maybe all the plants and the like in this world are like that?’
She doesn't get an answer, but if they're that useful, she may as well gather them. As she sort of goes into autopilot doing it, she examines the Hipokute closer. There's something strangely familiar about it. And then she almost wants to laugh after she pinpoints it after a bit of examination and digging through her memories with her Occlumency. She had Elemental Sight in previous lives. She may not have paid attention to it most of the time, but again, the way Occlumency works meant practitioners basically gained edict memory. She understands why Great Sage had said it only appeared in areas with high magical concentrations though.
It was grass.
Normal grass that had been mutated by the dense magic but still close enough to regular grass for her to recognize from previous Eidos data. Well, even so, it was so pretty valuable, so she'd still gather it, but it was frankly hilarious. And theoretically made it rather easy to acquire more later, since she should be able to just bathe more grass in this world's magic. She can't bank on that, since she has no guarantee that it's not a process that takes a while and can't really be sped up, hence why she's still gathering, but it's good to know.
While she's wandering around this empty cave doing her Hipokute gathering, she spots a particularly shiny stalagmite. Curious if this world has different ores or even if ores she's familiar with would also be altered by dense magic, she uses Analysis on it, running that data through Great Sage as well, [Report: Magic ore- The raw form of magisteel, a material which has an ability to self repair, and once it's formed a strong bond with the user, can mold itself to their needs to an extent.]
Another valuable object then. Well, even if it's common in this world, it's valuable to her at least. Absorbing that with Predator as well, she examines it as she goes back onto autopilot, adding the ores for it to her gathering list. She wants to snort in amusement after a bit of examination. It used to be iron from the looks of it. Still worth gathering in its complete state since she doesn't know the conversation time on that either though.
Running it through Great Sage's All of Creation gives her an idea though, so while she continues collecting on autopilot, she turns her gaze onto herself and uses Analysis before feeding that to All of Creation, [Report: Slime- An unintelligent gelatinous creature, which belong to the Specter type of demi-spiritual life-forms, a subcategory of magic born. Their cells are perfectly uniform, constantly changing out which are serving as neurons, muscles, and which are resting after prolonged use. Slimes are capable of subsisting on just absorbed magicules if the region they are in has a high enough concentration of them, and only need to take in physical matter if the concentration of magicules is low in the area they are in. Species intrinsic Skills- Absorb, Dissolve, Self-Regeneration.]
Ah. She'd wondered if she had any other ‘intrinsics’ given ‘Ultra Speed Regeneration’ had explicitly said it was being upgraded from Intrinsics. Beyond that though… it didn't really tell her much beyond her species name.
Turning her attention more firmly to her surroundings and scanning for anything interesting, she idly notes that with how massive this place is, even if she wasn't taking the time to gather everything, she'd probably still be wandering for a while until she found a way out.
Well, at least the fact this universe's magic doesn't feel as… ridged like her Toshiko magic and was more fluid like her Calanthe magic opens a possibility for her to test the waters a bit and try her hand at manipulating it to both kill some time and also start to get a handle on it if possible.
He's staring at Darling after they'd both checked the other also felt the sudden… feeling that had started plaguing their soulmate connections to Satomi. A strange… tugging which had started out of the blue. He's just opening his mouth to start trying to figure out what it is with her when the alarm Darling had set starts screaming, getting all three of them scrambling to get a lock on the result with magic as fast as possible, trying to beat its potential disappearance.
It's only a matter of moments before Darling has a circle of magic serving as a screen to peer at the woman they've been waiting for so long. He starts laughing the moment he sees it, “Ohh, that's just like-” He stops himself, knowing better than to risk a Naming when it comes to a monster -it was the whole reason Darling was Darling for him and Sister was Sister after all-, especially given that while her new species is usually the weakest, he knows she's stupidly powerful. He's grown much stronger himself, but better not to risk it, “Sweetheart's luck to end up as a Slime of all things.”
Darling shifts back and forth somewhat impatiently, “How are we supposed to reach her?”
He sighs, “Well just have to wait for an opportunity to present itself Darling.”
Her face darkens with obvious displeasure, “We've been waiting so long already though!”
He sighs, “I know, I know. Sister and I already apologized for that. It was instinctive, and even if it wasn't it's not like we had any way of knowing BK-201 would interact with the rift in such an odd way and create that temporal flux.”
Darling sighs in aggravation, “I know. I've said before I don't blame you, I just-!”
He leans over to kiss her temple, “I know Darling. I know.”
Sister leans over in curiosity as Sweetheart's Slime body suddenly engulfs a Hipokute Herb, “What's she doing though?”
He snorts, “This is Sweetheart we're talking about. She's probably experimenting with whatever Skills she gained on the way over. You know her. She never hesitates to investigate those kinds of things.”
Darling chews on her lower lip, “She… She would've picked up on the fact our previous magics don't play well with this world's, right?”
He kisses her temple again, in reassurance this time, “Sweetheart is brilliant Darling. We all know that. She undoubtedly clocked it immediately.”
She crosses her arms uncomfortably, “God, I hope so. The consequences if she didn't….”
He wraps an arm around her to rub the bicep on the side opposite him comfortingly, “It'll be okay Darling.”
She nods slowly. For a solid two months, they just watch as Sweetheart wanders around, experimenting with magic while gathering up valuables like Hipokute and Magic ore, making it clear she'd obtained some sort of Skill that identifies them. It's amusing to ridiculous degrees to see her start to experiment with magic manipulation. Starting with basic things like elemental manipulation, water, fire, earth, air, and even electricity.
The three of them can't help but be amused by her doing the most Sweetheart thing there is and not only ignoring the actual spells from this world, which in fairness she'd have no way of knowing, but making breathtaking progress with just straight magic manipulation and undoubtedly gaining Skill after Skill after Skill. As Sister quips at one point, she's practically being the living embodiment of that ‘what, like it's hard?’ meme, utterly ignoring that yeah actually, it was something you're supposed to work at getting.
At least, the amusement lasts right up to the point they suddenly realize exactly where she is.
Darling jolts from where she was sitting beside him while they watched like starving hawks today, “Thats-!”
He nods, “It… makes sense when you think about it. Slimes only form in areas of high magicules to begin with, and on top of that, Sweetheart was already rather powerful even before her soul got bombarded with magicules on the journey over. Really, in light of all that, in retrospect, where else would have the magicule density required to let her of all people form as a Slime?”
As Sweetheart starts over, there's a breathless silence out of concern for her safety.
She peers into the water of the underground lake, curious to see if there's anything interesting in the water, but it's utterly barren of life. But that was more a check as she went by, far more interesting is the huge black dragon that seems to be sealed inside some sort or magical shield. Using the ‘Sound Manipulation’ Skill she'd picked up while experimenting with manipulating magic to synthesize a voice, her voice as Calanthe actually, and taking in the intelligence in those eyes that were watching her in bemusement, she calls out, “My, you're quite large, aren't you? You definitely dwarf the dragons from my first world anyway. So how'd you get locked up?”
The Dragon jolts, banging his head on the shield from the tight quarters, blinking rapidly and slowly opening his mouth, before a male voice comes out, “...An intelligent Slime? I was already wondering how any creature could form in my cave, but an intelligent creature at that… Are you a unique monster? Or perhaps a named one?”
She does that motion that results from a ‘head tilt’, which honestly she's just taken to referring to as a head tilt much like the human terms for many of her movements just for simplicity's sake, “Ah? I wasn't actually expecting you to be able to understand my language.”
He laughs, “Physically, I cannot. But I possess Magic Perception as you seem to, since you are capable of understanding me. When one speaks, their words are imbued with their meaning you see? When one possesses Magic Perception, they will pick up on that and understand, even if they are speaking in two different languages.”
That makes sense in a way. It was probably in English since for all that her previous life had been in Japan, the couple decades there compared to a couple centuries spent primarily in the UK made her mind far more familiar with it. She nods, even as in idle curiosity she uses Analysis on the soundwaves he was producing as he speaks and runs them though Great Sage, trying to see if it'll possibly spit out essentially a dictionary or something for her to translate through in the future when speaking to those who don't possess Magic Perception.
From the result she gets, she feels like it just doesn't have enough data, but hopefully she'll get enough as they talk if she keeps feeding it to Great Sage, “I see. Does that apply to writing as well?”
He laughs good-naturedly, “Unfortunately no. So are you? A unique or named that is.”
She hums, “I'm not entirely certain, since I don't know what exactly those refer to, given I was only born in this cave, ohhh, a little over two months ago? And you're the first living being I've come across, so.”
It's his turn to hum, “That is because the magicule density is too high for most other creatures to survive. A named monster is one who has been assigned an exclusive name, which makes them stronger, though it costs magic for the namer to grant it. In and of itself, that does tell me you aren't named though, if I am the first you've come across. A unique perhaps, due to the high magicule density, though I must confess to being surprised you could form to begin with.”
She shrugs, and goes for her usual brush off joke that no one ever realizes is dead serious, “Maybe because I'm a reincarnation from a different world.”
To her absolute surprise, rather than laughing that seems to make something click for him, “So a reincarnating transmigrant then? Your origins are quite rare indeed.”
She tilts her head, “You have things like that known here? It's the truth, but I usually just say it like it's a joke because it's unbelievable in the other worlds I've lived in.”
He nods shallowly, but as a matter of necessity given the tight fit of his magical cage, “Quite. As I said, it is rare, but it does happen every now and then. Transmigrants are beings who's memories from the past are burned into their souls due to a powerful will, you see? There are some, indeed, who retain every memory of their past lives. But a transmigrant from another world…”
“That is quite uncommon. A regular soul, by itself, would normally have no hope of surviving a journey across realms. It would dissolve midway, taking its memories with it. Someone not only retaining their full mind and becoming reborn as a monster born out of pure magic at that… I cannot recall any past example of that. Quite… peculiar indeed.”
She shrugs, “I've been unfairly strong since my first life and have only gotten stronger since, so it's not so surprising. Also, speaking of these ‘magicules’ is my assumption that they're magical particles correct? I've heard that term before from one of the Skills I got when I was dying is all. I sort of assumed from the context as well as from the, well, particles of magic floating around, but since I couldn't precisely ask anyone, I wasn't totally certain.”
He laughs, sounding absolutely delighted, “I suppose that's fair! And yes, that's precisely what that is. You truly are intelligent to have worked that out by yourself so quickly.”
She nods, “I wouldn't say that, given its pretty obvious from the name magicule. They're much easier to manipulate than the magic of my last magically active world, let me tell you that.”
He shakes his head slightly, “Perhaps, though you would be surprised how many do not realize. You are a fascinating one, aren't you? Most slimes are low-level monsters incapable of conscious thought, as they run through a cycle of absorption, division, and regeneration. I suppose it makes sense if you are a transmigrant however. Though, I'm surprised you ended up as a different species, much less a Slime of all things. And to approach me so fearlessly… You have aroused my curiosity, I must confess.”
She snorts in amusement, “That lady voice takes everything entirely seriously.”
He tilts his head, “Lady voice? Ahh, do you mean the Words of the World perhaps? One which speaks to you about Skills being acquired?”
She nods, “Mhm. Amongst everything else that triggered Skill acquisitions, I had an errant thought about dying to bloodloss, and well, she took that as a desire for a blood free body apparently, so here I am.”
He chuckles, “Ah! That'd do it!”
She makes an amused huff sound, “You never answered my question though. How'd you get locked up? And who are you actually? As I said, I wasn't expecting you to understand me so I didn't think to ask, and then we got a bit distracted.”
Now he laughs boisterously, “I am Veldora! The Storm Dragon! One of the four True Dragons. And it is quite the tale actually!”
That's the only warning before he goes off, almost immediately rambling. He tells her more than just the story about how he got locked up though. Really it's practically his whole life's story. She gets the distinct sense right from the get go that he's lonely and is just so happy to have someone to talk to that he's eager, something only reaffirmed by the fact he doesn't speak of anyone he was particularly close to practically the entire time.
He vaguely mentions an older brother, who could arguably be called his father if the man himself hadn't insisted they were siblings since he was apparently a creator god, and a couple sisters. But… While he speaks fondly of his brother in the few brief mentions of him, it's fairly obvious they weren't exactly super close. And while he tries to hide it, she gets the impression he's actually kind of terrified of his sisters.
Probably due to trauma given when, while trying to be as tactile as possible, she prods ever so slightly and he vaguely reveals a tendency to take advantage of the fact the ‘True Dragons’ are technically immortal since even if they die, they reform elsewhere from the eldest to kill him, and a tendency from his still older but younger than the murderous one to beat him up.
Beyond that though, while he does occasionally speak about occasionally getting into other fights, from the way he tells them, they were either started by the other party or were just a ‘friendly swipe’ against someone who looked strong. Her Detect Absolute Truth doesn't sense any lie or delusion or anything like that. But that just means he genuinely meant it good-naturedly. Given he's a dragon though, and one of these powerful seeming True Dragons at that… Well, it was probably more of a disaster for the other party.
She… can't quite bring herself to hold it against him though. The more he talks… Quite frankly, between the vague mention he made of the fact that while technically if they died another True Dragon of their element, name, and memories would form, they were actually kind of a different person in actuality and the eldest sisters tendency to kill him, the impression she's getting the more he talks on him being like a child someone gave an energy drink or twelve and then is confused as to why they're being a destructive little chaos gremlin doesn't seem all that far off.
At least mentally. And if that is true… Veldora had told her the True Dragons were living embodiments of nature basically. Veldanava, the Star King Dragon, the Creator, a representation of well, ‘creation’. Velzard, the Frost Dragon, who was basically an embodiment of ‘deceleration’. Velgrynd, the Scorch Dragon, and embodiment of ‘acceleration’. And finally himself as the youngest, Veldanava's counterpart, much like Velzard and Velgrynd were to one another, as the embodiment of ‘destruction’.
Which… between the fact he kept essentially being reset and wasn't allowed a chance to mentally mature and his very nature, it wasn't that surprising he was wild and uncontrollable before he was sealed. No one had actually taught him better. Furthermore, he's fundamentally of ‘destruction’ but that was represented in the storm. He was going to be a being of chaos in some ways. But from what she's gathering as she's listening patiently, no one ever taught him how to control his emotions, how to control the proverbial storm so it doesn't control him. He also doesn't seem to genuinely understand the stakes for people who aren't True Dragons.
He was practically a child mentally, only being as knowable as he is by virtue of his long life and his inherent curiosity from what she can tell. And a lonely child at that it seems, if how eager to talk he is and the glances he keeps failing to subtly give her like he's desperate to make sure she's still there and interested are any indication. Her body isn't exactly built to show her emotions, so she makes sure to make interested noises and ask questions to make sure he knows she's still paying attention and is engaged.
Kuroha and Tomomi may be exasperated with her and she's certainly never found herself in the position of emotionally adopting a dragon much less one that's technically much older then her but... Damn it, the more he goes on- They know she's weak to this sort of thing, okay?! To neglected and abused children and from what she's gathering as he talks, that's basically what he is!
It actually takes a while for him to circle back around to his imprisonment, long enough that she'd actually sort of spaced how the topic came up, but he sounds so pleased when he's done with even that and she's still listening. Though, in all honesty… the way he talked about the Hero who sealed him, a summoned otherworlder which resulted in a brief tangent on them, she suspects he ended up losing because he was smitten with her.
Afterwards, they end up chatting for a while about various things, mostly about some basics of this world she's found herself in. What sort of species exist and their classifications, and from a legitimate question -rather than some sort of assumption regarding whether the fact she was technically born from the bleed off of magicules from him meant she was technically his child-, they even briefly go into a tangent on the fact some species have unique reproduction or even lack the ability all together. The lizardmen, for instance, can absolutely have children regularly and even with other species like humans, though rarely do given hostility between the species.
Then they get into the various power levels that tend to be associated with each, which her companion seems to get particularly hung up on, seeming to be a little excited about the various powerful magical-born he'd fought with before.
He seems to circle back around after a bit though, “As I told you, then, I lack the ability to reproduce offspring. The reason is simple. Because I do not need to. I am of the True Dragon race- one of only four in the world, both unique and the most perfect of my kind. You will hereby know me as Veldora, the Storm Dragon! My lifespan is infinite, my flesh unfathomable! As long as my will remains intact, I shall be ever alive!”
He laughs heartily again at the end, and she can't help but feel a bit bemused. He's certainly full of confidence and bluster, isn't he? Well, from his mentions of the fights he's gotten into, it wasn't unwarranted, “That's both interesting and informative, thank you.”
He hums again, “It is no problem. Still, I have told you all about myself. It is your turn now, would you not agree?”
She hums, “As I said earlier, I've only been here for about two months, and the last world was honestly fairly calm all told. It's also not even really the start of the story, since this isn't the first time I've been reborn. It'd probably be a pretty long story even if I summarized it if I started from the beginning though.”
He laughs good-naturedly, “It has been quite a while since I have conversed with someone! I certainly don't mind! Please, do start from the beginning!”
She chuckles at his enthusiasm, “If you'd prefer.”
And so she starts to tell him, starting from her life as Calanthe. She's not the sort of person to boast like Veldora is, but he seems to almost have a supernatural intuition for when she's kind of just brushing over a story he'd find interesting and doesn't hesitate to latch on and ask eager questions. She leaves out private things of course, she's certainly not going to discuss her sex life, especially not with how he comes off as a weirdly well learned child, and she doesn't particularly feel like discussing things like the three years of waiting until her first seventeen birthday.
She refocuses her Magic Perception sight on him as she reaches the end with a sigh, “Next thing I knew, my ears were ringing and my vision was all blurry and when I looked up I realized I was the only one in the car still alive. Technically could've used Regrowth, but… well, I did that whole three hundred and fifty-ish years outliving them previously, and it may be a bit selfish, but even if it wouldn't be as long, I wasn't doing it again thanks. So, figured I'd take my chances on another reincarnation. Not that interesting of an end. As I was dying though, it was like that voice, Words of the World you called it, was going for every errant thought I had.”
Veldora makes a particularly interested noise at that, “Truly? Otherworlders, regardless of whether they're summoned or find themselves stumbling through a brief natural rift between worlds tend to only get one, perhaps two Skills born from particularly strong desire.”
She tilts her head, “Ah? Maybe it just came across as all being strong because I was actively dying? Like it intensified the thoughts or something?”
Veldora hums, “That could possibly be it, though even with the rare reincarnating transmigrants, I can't say I've heard of such a thing. Perhaps though, it is more due to their rarity making it so I have never heard of one who took so long to die when their soul was already beginning to drift towards the rift. And those that may have, the rift did not exist long enough for them to finish dying and drifting through it. Truly, it's an alignment of many different aspects.”
She hums in agreement, “Actually, that reminds me. You seem fairly knowledgeable, Veldora.” He puffs up a little bit in pride at that, which is frankly kind of adorable, “Do you know what a soul corridor is?”
Veldora tilts his head, “Ah that? A soul corridor is a superior version of a soul connection. The latter are usually seen amongst those who are known as a soul lineage, or perhaps as would be more accurate for the case of your soulmate bonds, soul dependents. They share strength to a certain extent, but that is mostly the end of it, with the exception of your unique soulmate bonds from what you have told me. Soul corridors are enhanced versions. Along with sharing more strength easier, one can share thoughts and the like as well.”
She snorts, “That explains it then.” Seeing Veldora tilt his head in curiosity, she explains, “I heard the term from the Words of the World when I was dying. I had an errant thought about how it was somewhat frustrating that our soulmate bond wasn't capable of sharing thoughts or something since it can complicate finding each other, and it suddenly announced an upgrade in soul connections to soul corridors was in progress.”
Veldora smiles, “Is that so? How delightful.”
She smiles, well, she instinctively tries to smile but her Slime body isn't exactly conducive to that, “I don't really have a solid opinion since I don't exactly have any experience with a soul corridor. It should certainly make it easier to find one another if nothing else though.” She shakes her head, “Anyway, it's basically got to be just a combination of how long I took to die with the fact I was already dying while drifting towards the rift, doesn't it? I mean, Skills aren't exactly hard to obtain, but by the time I died, I had eleven Skills.”
Veldora blinks rapidly, then laughs heartily, “You really aren't supposed to have that many! What were you even thinking to get so many?”
She shrugs, “Just pretty normal stuff I'd say. Just that it, you know, understandably hurt given I had a huge piece of metal stabbed into my chest, and that it was hot, either from the wound itself or the blood or a combination of the two. Which got me Cancel Pain and Resist Heat. Then I was thinking it was lying since, you know, it still hurt and was hot, so I just brushed it off because of that. Chuckled to myself a bit over the fact so many people have tried to kill me in the past and something as mundane as bloodloss from a stab wound was doing me in and that it was ironic given how many people praised me as some sort of great sage or prophet.”
“Which got my Resist Heat upgraded to Cancel Heat, Words of the World interpreting that as me requesting a bloodless body, Resist Melee Attack, Great Sage, and Prophet. Then I started getting annoyed and mentally snarked that it should do something about the cold which was probably since I was close to dying, which got me Resist Cold. Admittedly I got a bit mocking there and taunted it for ‘skimping out’ on it just being Resist if it's that easy, so it upgraded to Cancel Cold, and I guess it didn't happen before since they were two different tiers, but it immediately combined with Cancel Heat and became Cancel Temperature.”
“Got exasperated at that point since I could do a lot of that with my magic from previous lives and went on a tangent on what else it was going to ‘give’ me that I already had. Which got me Resist Magic, Resist Electricity, Magic Perception, all my Intrinsics I was set to have combining and upgrading to Ultra Speed Regeneration, an upgrade to Magic Sense to possess an Analysis subskill, and finally Detect Absolute Truth. Brushed it off and started ignoring it at that point, which is when I unintentionally triggered it to start upgrading my soulmate connections to soul corridors when I was regretting that it doesn't come with some way to mentally get in contact to make it easier to meet up.”
“Also, it really does take everything seriously, because I was being pouty at not having some, uhh, last minute fun with my soulmates that morning because of the rush they were in, and sort of jokingly thought something along the lines of ‘I'm just gonna have to chase them down and eat them up next time!’ or whatever, which it took absolutelyliterally and gave me the Skill Predator for. And I guess that had its own Analyze and Assess subskill because then it kind of absorbed the Magic Perception Analysis subskill? So. In total I walked away with Cancel Pain, Cancel Temperature, Resist Melee Attack, Great Sage, Prophet, Resist Magic, Resist Electricity, Magic Perception, Ultra Speed Regeneration, Detect Absolute Truth, and Predator.”
Veldora laughs hard at that, “You really aren't supposed to gain so many Skills when transferring!”
She shrugs, “Skills aren't exactly difficult to acquire, and with how long I took to die, it's really not that surprising.”
He tilts his head ever so slightly, “Ah? Have you managed to acquire more Skills in the brief time you've been here?”
She snorts in amusement, “I mean, I was experimenting with trying to manipulate the magic of this world, and it kinda just kept giving them to me? I wasn't sure what to make of their value, but Skills are pretty cheap and easy to acquire. I mean, I've already got some skills playing around with Electricity, Fire, and Water a bit and then they all combined and upgraded to Molecule Manipulation at a certain point. Got Gravity Manipulation when I was playing around to see if I could mess with that as well. Still not getting anywhere with my experiments to see about temporal manipulation, just keep getting random things related to different kinds of acceleration and deceleration.”
Veldora laughs even harder at that, “You! You are an absolute riot you realize?”
She gives him a bemused look, which obviously doesn't translate into her body language either, so she makes the voice she's speaking with equally as bemused, “If you say so. On a different topic, I wonder though…”
She's been using her Analyze and Assess as she started getting a notion that Veldora was honestly more of a child mentally than anything, which still lets her Analyze just from Magic Perception even though it was absorbed into her Predator, maybe with the logic she was absorbing the data from Magic Perception into it? Regardless, she's been contemplating the results even as she fed them to Great Sage.
There wasn't a whole lot of info yet, it would take time to properly analyze this ‘Unlimited Prison’, but she'd actually turned her analyze onto Predator itself to see if there's any information she was missing that would make the idea percolating in her mind unusable. Before she suggests it though, while she's fairly certain she's not wrong, just to be safe, she feeds the idea into the mostly useless until now Prophet. It's not as powerful as its name may suggest, since it can really only give her a vague idea on the chances of something going right or wrong.(4) That being said, it predicts a ninety-seven percent chance of things having a good ending, which at least tells her that Veldora hasn't actually been using his thousands of years of experience on her to pull the wool over her eyes.
Assured by that she finally voices her suggestion, “That Skill I got, Predator? It doesn't inherently kill something I take in.” Veldora nods shallowly, “How do you feel about me using Predator on you so as to run Analyze and Assess twenty-four seven to find a way to break you out? I know you said before that ‘Veldora The Storm Dragon’ would reform and he'd have your memories, but he wouldn't quite be you, so…”
He blinks quickly then tilts his head back as far as he can, as though an instinct to throw his head back in laughter is coming to a compromise with experience on banging his head on the magic seal, laughing brightly, “That sounds like a fantastic idea! Yes! Let us go with that! I actually have a Skill that may help myself! Investigator it's called, it has a subskill called Analytical Appraisal. This seal does not prevent me from using thought communication, so theoretically, I could use it from the inside on the seal and pass the data over while you used your own Skill on the outside to try to speed things up.”
She nods happily, “Then, that's what we'll do.” Uncertain about how his trauma has affected him, she doesn't demand, but asks gently, “Before that though, does that make us friends then?”
He seems to grow flustered, sort of turning a bit tsundere, “Me, the mighty Veldora, friends with a Slime? Then again, you are helping me quite a lot, so it would be rude to refuse if you insist…”
She holds back the urge to laugh, “I do insist! That settles it! We're friends from now on!”
He grows ridiculously happy at that, and ohh her heart aches. Is she his first friend? More than actually, since she's damn weak to neglected and abused children and has basically already accepted that if she hasn't already, then despite the age discrepancy, she was gonna end up emotionally adopting Veldora.
He laughs, “Then! Before you use Predator on me, we must commemorative our new friendship, yes? I mentioned named monsters before, but I would like to give you an equal name.”
She tilts her head, voice coming out warm, “An equal name?”
He nods happily, as much as he can in his confines, “Yes. There are three types of namings, you see? A Naming by masses, in which many people call them by the same name and the cumulative weight steadily engraves it onto the soul once they accept the name. Then there is the more standard Master-Subordinate Naming, in which they are technically the namer’s subordinate, and as long as they remain loyal since it does not force it in anyway, it is mutually beneficial. As whenever either party gains strength, the other does as well you see? Though it does admittedly benefit the namer more than the named but comes at a decent cost of magic.”
“The last is Equal Naming. This happens when the namer sees the named as an equal, as the method name suggests. Though while it costs less, it also has weaker benefits than the Master-Servant Naming, since their strength is not tied together and it requires some knowledge to accomplish as otherwise it defaults to a Master-Subordinate Naming. It's not as used as it does require the namer to see the named as their equal in all aspects in some form or another(5). That includes power, so regardless of your respect for them, it's impossible to do if you're fully aware they're weaker overall. However, if you have come to the conclusion you can break this when I have not in the entire three hundred years I have been here, then it is obvious that you are my equal.”
She laughs lightly, “Mm. I would be fine with that.”
He laughs happily, “Then! You used to be human, yes? So you are familiar with the way they have additional names they share with family? Let us commemorate our new friendship in you coming up with a last name for me to rename myself, and I will come up with one for you!”
She laughs and Veldora pauses in thought for a little, while she herself contemplates. After a few beats Veldora stirs, “Well then, how about Rimuru?”
She hums, “That works, though it's on the spot enough that my mind really just wants to go to Tempest even though it's kind of on the nose.”
Veldora gets all overly excited though, “It sounds fantastic! As of today, I am Veldora Tempest! And you shall be Rimuru Tempest! As proof of our new bond!”
《Storm Blessing combining with Molecule Manipulation. Skills Black Lightning (6) and Black Wind have been derived.》
Ignoring Words of the World she laughs even as she notes the slight wave of Veldora's magic that manages to escape the Unlimited Prison and washes over her, burying itself deep into her very being and memorizes how an equal Naming works from what she saw, “Sounds great! Then, I don't know if I can communicate with you within Predator's Stomach subskill, but rather than goodbye, we shall see each other later, when the seal is broken and you're free.”
Veldora makes a very pleased hum, “Indeed! I shall see you next when I'm free Rimuru!”
She nods, and without another word, reaches into herself for Predator, targets Veldora, and activates it. Without hesitation, her body bursts into involuntary movement to swallow Veldora and his prison whole in a split second, and just like that, she's alone.
It's a strange feeling, since she hasn't known Veldora very long and he's just inside the Skill, but there's a sudden strange loneliness when the space he just occupied is empty. It's fine though, she'll break down the Unlimited Prison and get him free, so he'll be back, even if it takes a bit.
Shaking the sudden spike of melancholy off, she takes a bit to look around, but this seems to be the deepest point of the cave, since it doesn't go any further. She gathers up the rest of the Hipokute and Magic ore around and after creating a box of shields lacking a top snags enough of the water to drop the lake about two feet just out of curiosity of if it has any particular properties after having been bathed in magic and to potentially use, then starts back the way she'd come.
She'd apparently unknowingly been heading deeper into the cave this whole time, but she doesn't exactly regret it given she met Veldora. She does want to leave though, so. Time to head back and beyond where she started.
They were watching the interaction, a mixture of tension, captivation, and fascination since none of them have really had anything to do with Veldora… really ever actually. As it goes on though, Sister starts a low chuckle which slowly gains strength until she's laughing uncontrollably even as Darling rubs at her temples, “...So, since her kids are our kids, we just gained Veldora the Storm Dragon as a son?”
He pushes his lips together to try to hide a smile, “I mean… hearing more about Veldora…”
Darling groans, “I know, I know! He's nothing like we've always heard or been under the impression he was like, just-! …She really can't help herself, can she? She's an absolute serial adopter.(7)”
He barks laugh, “Yeah. Yeah she is but I mean,Veldora-”
Darling groans, “I know. I'm just… coming to terms with the fact we just gained Veldora, of all beings, as our newest adopted child.
Thankfully, a distraction as Darling absorbs that comes up right about then. His spine snaps straight as he and Darling's gazes whip back towards the magical screen when Sweetheart asks about soul corridors, a suspicion already beginning in his mind. One that's confirmed a beat later when Sweetheart explains why she was asking, where she even heard it from.
He shares a startled look with Darling, as they understand exactly what that ‘tug’ they both started experiencing right before Sweetheart showed up was. It was Words of the World working on strengthening their soul connection to Sweetheart into a soul corridor. Well, technically their soul connection was already stronger than the sort from this universe, but it… it was like a pipeline compared to a train tunnel when it came to the difference between a soul connection and a soul corridor. So it'd probably be more accurate to say it's widening their connection.
A thrill that makes him tremble in its wake shoots through his heart at the very idea. Their attention is drawn back when Sweetheart starts discussing her Skills with Veldora, and he lets out a burst of laughter at her getting this ‘Predator’ Skill from that quickie that he and Darling have long regretted denying her that morning, particularly given what sort of Skill it got her. Darling starts laughing in utter disbelief at the end total of Sweetheart's Skills and the fact that she has, in fact, been picking more up with the ease of scooping up pebbles on the road, and the skewed notions it's given her about Skills. Which, well, it's a fair assumption to make under her circumstances.
He's not really surprised, in light of all that and knowing Sweetheart, when she offers to help Veldora get free and engulfs him after he agrees, pausing a moment to name her. There's a brief stillness before she turns to leave.