Can't Catch a Break
She gives Shizu a concerned look even as she habitually kicks on Thought Acceleration. She hadn't thought much of it only making every second seem like a thousand when she first got the report confirming her Skills, but it's actually stronger than she gave it credit for. Since it slows her sense of time down by a thousand times, that makes every second seem to take a thousand seconds. A thousand seconds was actually sixteen minutes and forty seconds, so it makes each and every second seem to take sixteen, almost seventeen, minutes to play out.
To that extent, she feels the magic surge out of control around Shizu with plenty of time to toss shields around the meeting tent, which in and of itself is something of a lost cause. But it keeps the destruction from spreading as her magic suddenly twists and ignites before she goes from the beautiful woman she'd been previously to a muscular man with flaming hair spreading around him.
Gido makes a choking noise, “The Conqueror of Flames? Master of the Flame Titan Ifrit? Shizu is…”
She runs the analysis data she's receiving through Great Sage, and the tension that had built in her body relaxes, “Pfft! A being with no ego isn't really a problem for me. It'd be different if you had one, since I'd either need to overcome it or have explicit permission, but if you don't have one…”
Elen gives her a surprised look, opening her mouth as though she's about to ask a question, but before she can, she shifts back to her Slime form to wrap some Skill created threads around the Ifrit spirit and yank it to her as she activates Predator.
In the split second before she swallows the body, there's another spike of magic and Shizu stumbles away as she starts rapidly aging. She changes back to human form as she darts forward to catch her when she stumbles before she can hit the ground, helping her ease herself down. She's a bit out of breath and seems tired but she still glances up at her once she's safely on the ground to murmur a breathless, “Thanks…”(1)
She nods, and Kaval looks confused, “I guess it isn't very surprising given how long the Conqueror of Flames has been around, but… I'm surprised you're so old given the ease you move with.”
Shizu blinks, slow and tired, “...Ifrit being merged with me was preventing any signs of aging after I was an adult. I never really thought much about it, but I suppose he wasn't actually preventing the aging itself, just the signs of it. So now that we're separated…”
Elen gasps lightly, eyes watering, “Your age is catching up with you all at once.”
Shizu nods, giving her a tired smile, “Don't look so horrified. I suppose some people chase such things, but I was never interested in eternal life or anything like that. It sounds more like a curse to me to be honest… And I'm a tired old woman. I'm not going to complain if things are coming to an end. My only real regret is the kids…”
She narrows her eyes in concern, “The kids? What kids?”
Shizu sighs, “Summonings that successfully grabbed someone, but only got a child. They don't gain a Skill as they come over like otherworlders usually do though, so the magic they gain on the way over is left to run rampant, eventually killing them. I was taking care of a group of them, looking for a way to save them, before I realized I was nearing the end of my life and that I needed to get away before Ifrit managed to take control and run rampant.” She smiles wanly as she flicks a look around the burnt husks of what little is left of the tent and the furniture inside it, “Didn't totally manage. Sorry.”
She waves it off, “Don't worry about it. Otherworlder kids who's powers will kill them though, huh? Something definitely needs to be done about it, but what is the question?”
Shizu sighs lightly, “...I was actually just a child when I was summoned myself, but I gained a Skill within the first couple of minutes when I was fused with Ifrit, so I've always figured the best way to handle it was to trigger them getting one, but… No matter what I tried, they just… weren't gaining strong enough Skills to control the magic rampaging through them. They got some common and extra Skills, but…” She sighs, “Not that there's anything I can do about that now.”
She tilts her head, “You sure it was the Skill that did it?” At Shizu's surprised look, she shrugs, “Sure, that's how most otherworlders control their magic, but children's bodies are already immature, so I can only imagine how much worse the uncontrolled magic is in them. May even be bad enough that a Skill wouldn't do the job totally, so… Are you sure it was that and not being merged with Ifrit that did it?”
Shizu's expression blanks, “I-” Then slowly, like she's just now considering it, “…I don’t know actually… Everyone always talks about how the problem otherworlder children face is because they don't have strong enough desire or ego or something to gain a Skill so I always assumed… but I did get fused with Ifrit at the same time, so…” Then she grows distressed, “...I literally had the answer this whole time..? But…that also means that Leon saved me… I always thought-! …But… now that I think about it… he did only merge Ifrit to me after I accused him of being a liar because he said he'd save me, but then was talking about ‘another failure’ after I arrived… and it was at about the same time that I received a Unique grade Skill. Right after actually, and I only got it because I was scared, terrified actually, of the feeling of him inhabiting my body… I thought I'd disappear…”
Elen chews on her lip, “But… that's a good thing right? That your realizing the Spirit attachment may be the key that is? Since it means you know how to save the kids now!”
Shizu shakes her head though, “I don't have enough time left in me to accomplish it… It'd be one thing if it was as simple as summoning a Spirit and having them inhabit the body, but… I traveled with Hero Chronoa for a while actually… she said that it was either pure luck that Leon chose one that suited me, or he had some sort of Skill that tipped him off to it… And that if he'd picked another type of Spirit, it could've actually worsened the problem due to incompatibility… But with their magic out of control, there's not really any viable method to test to see what sort of Spirit would suit them, so…”
Elen looks sad as her gaze drops a moment before she looks back up, “Then-! What about taking them to the Labyrinth where the Elemental Queen resides? She might be able to help! And besides! Ifrit is specifically an Elemental Spirit anyway, and we have no clue if that's important to the process, but with kids’ lives on the line, it's no time to experiment, so it's best to just replicate it!”
Shizu hums, “Where is the Labyrinth though?”
Elen seems to lose her enthusiasm at that question, “Ah… That… I… don't know…”
Shizu sighs, “Which circles us back around to me not having enough time left to do it.”
She shakes her head, “Then one of us will do it. I'll do it myself if I have to, though I'm not sure when I'll find the free time. Kids’ lives are important of course, but there are also children relying on me here, so…”
Shizu blinks tiredly up at her, “You would?” Then her eyes tear up, “Please. I hate to ask such a favor from a woman who's practically a stranger, and it doesn't need to be done right this second, the kids still have a couple years at least before what little work around we found to buy time ceases to be enough, but-!”
She lifts her hands, “Easy Shizu. Relax. If there's still a couple years left, I should be able to do it, since that leaves time to stabilize the town and set up defenses for when I'm not here. I'll handle it, I promise.”
Shizu's tears spill, “Thank you. Thank you. ”
Shizu starts to sob quietly in relief, and she moves forward to calm her down. Shizu must've been incredibly worried about the kids and guilty she couldn't help though, to break down like this.
She tilts her head as she gazes at the calming Shizu, hesitating slightly. The way the magics were interacting poorly, she wouldn't be able to use the Philosopher's Stone to make Elixir for her to buy more time for it, but, “I'd ask if you want to say your goodbyes, but I suppose there probably isn't time for something like that… You don't look like you're dying right this second even if it's not too much longer from the looks of things though, so… Did you want to write letters of farewell before you pass maybe?”
Shizu sniffs and nods, “I… Yes. I should… probably take advantage of what time I have left… I honestly wasn't really thinking about it before I left since I was more focused on wanting to track down Leon and ask him why he did the things he did, but…” She sighs, “...I regret not doing it. I really ought to at least write letters to somewhat rectify that mistake before I die…”
She helps her old frame up off the ground, “Come on. Let's get you comfortable in my tent and I'll get you some writing supplies.”
Shizu nods and shuffles off with her.
She's sitting with Shizu, really just keeping her company since Elen and the others had to go, and with the fact everyone was busy either building or securing the town, there wasn't really anyone with free time, and Shizu shouldn't have to be alone as she approaches the end of her life.
They've really just been chatting, hearing about each other's lives and all that. Shizu had come from the Second World War, specifically March 10th, when America firebombed Tokyo. She'd mentioned how later otherworlders had told her the war had ended and that Japan and America had even become friends by and large, though she'd admitted that she was still surprised by that.
But she hasn't met a more recent otherworlder that wasn't a child and therefore not really in touch with news in a while, so she'd been rather curious about anything new after Hinata -the most recent otherworlder she knew- was summoned nine years prior. Though, unlike any of the ones Shizu met before, she was capable of showing her what Tokyo looked like nowadays rather than the burnt out husk she'd left behind.
She'd been more than happy to fill her in on things that have happened since, and Shizu tells her more about this world in return. Veldora had been an incredible source of information of course, but he was a bit… disconnected from society, to put it kindly.
She had learned a decent bit from Elen and the others while she was escorting them out of the cave of course, but that was fairly brief all things considered, and even if it wasn't, it doesn't hurt to get other perspectives. Plus, while Elen and the others know otherworlders, they aren't themselves otherworlders and don't know what one needs to know about this world as well as one who's been here a while and met later arrivals to help them and keep it in mind because of that. So it's pretty helpful.
About 4 days in(2), during which Shizu had let her know she had also written a letter of introduction for her separate from her personal letter to Yuuki since she was going to try to save the kids for her and would obviously needs to go to them for it, Shizu suddenly pauses, “...Rimuru? May… I ask you a favor?”
She tilts her head, “Mm? I mean, you can ask, but I don't commit for basically anyone but my soulmates without hearing what it is first.”
Shizu nods slowly as she gazes down at the papers in silence for a minute before she opens her mouth, “...I have nothing but spite for this world, but I couldn't bring myself to hate it. The same is true with Leon, though I must admit I-... find myself wondering what other misunderstandings there may have been between us…”
Shizu shakes her head, “But, this world has taken so much from me… it may have saved me from the firebombing, but it doesn't change that it took me from my home, and it has taken so many of the loved ones I made in my time here… So, I can't stand the idea of being taken into the earth here. It took enough from me. I don't want it to have my body as well. Elen mentioned that you had a Skill that lets you absorb things, and I even saw it myself with Ifrit. I-... If it's not too much to ask, could you use that Skill and eat my body?”
She blinks quickly, “If you would prefer, yes. Although… I suppose some people may find the idea off-putting, so I should warn you, if you have me absorb you, I'll gain your Skills.”
Shizu looks over and smiles lightly at her, “That's fine. Even if you ignore the way I owe you my thanks for such an odd request, if you're going to try to find a way to save the kids for me, you may find it useful.”
She nods, “Alright then. If that's your desire for how to handle things, I'll do it.’
Shizu smiles as she turns back to her letters, “Thank you.”
[Report. Skill Deviant has been acquired from Shizu. Skill Control Flame has been absorbed into Molecular Manipulation. Skill Cancel Flame Attack has been absorbed into Cancel Temperature.]
She ignores Great Sage's report and sighs at the empty space Shizu had been standing in moments prior, “Goodbye Shizu. Rest in peace.”
She technically hadn't been dead, having finished her letters yesterday and after one last day of taking in the sunrise and the peaceful scenery of the forest on the edges of town, decided she was satisfied and ready. But she didn't have much longer anyway, and it's not like she'd see her again, so it was better to just call it there.
She shakes the melancholy off. Shizu had been a good woman from what she knew of her, but it wasn't like she had passed in some tragedy as a young woman. It was mostly natural causes, the only thing off being her absorption of her, and it wasn't like her absorbing something immediately killed it. Death wasn't cruel, it was the final mercy, that was the Potter belief anyway, but that doesn't mean it isn't sad for those left behind. That being said, Shizu had died from old age rather than some tragedy, and she had promised to help the kids, which she couldn't do until things were stable in the town they were building.
Which means the best way to honor her would be to not let it slow her down and get back to it in all honesty. Even if it feels a bit disrespectful, but since she was mainly doing it in order to carry out her final wish as soon as possible…
…It was only noon. She'd just take the rest of today then get back to it. She wasn't ignoring Shizu's last wish if she was only taking the other half of the day to mitigate her discomfort at immediately getting back to work and how disrespectful it feels.
The Hobgoblins really are getting much better at cooking since she gave them lessons. They'd had a brief patch where they needed to ask her questions every now and then and get a refresher on certain things, as well as get a handle on it, but they were definitely getting somewhere now. They were at least at her level of cooking skill now, even if she was admittedly pretty rusty from the fact that she only really cooked in recent… centuries when her beloved husband had been busy with other things and she and her wife hadn't felt like going out or ordering in since they wanted something home cooked.
Wasn't anywhere near her husband's level of cooking, but it's unfair to compare it when they haven't been at it for very long. Which she'd told them when they asked how it compared to the sort of food she ate in previous lives. Not because they thought they'd mastered it or anything, but because they wanted to get an idea of how they were progressing. They didn't seem to hear her pointing out it wasn't a fair comparison though, just focusing on the fact they clearly had much further to improve.
Not that they were trying to usurp her husband's cooking skill, a somewhat frantic Hobgoblin had assured her, but just because if they could even begin to approach the cooking she held in such high regard, they'd be satisfied. She hadn't been thinking they were trying to ‘usurp’ her husband, mind. And she hadn't said anything about it either. But she had mentioned off hand previously that she was married to two other reincarnators previously and needed to find her husband and wife in this life. And ever since, they seemed to have grown terrified of disrespecting her by even implying they were trying to do better than and/or replace them.
She hadn't bothered pointing out that she hadn't been thinking that's what they were implying though, having learned from previous experience that it would send them into a spiral of thinking that if they were the only ones thinking that, then she'd think they actually were trying to do that just from the fact they brought it up. It was messy and difficult to pull them out of those spirals since they seemed to feel they were just digging themselves deeper and deeper with each ‘not that I meant that-!’ they were saying.
It'd been a tiring lesson to learn, needless to say. And it hadn't been easy to straighten things out, either for them or the others that had been nearby and heard the conversation and seemed to be on the same train of thought as them and were subsequently judging them.
…Is it harsh if she still misses her husband's cooking? Not because she thinks they're poor cooks, just- That's a rabbit hole of its own, and she can't think about the possibility they aren't here they have to be, they have to be, otherwise-! just misses her husband. Her wife too of course, but it's practically impossible for her to eat without thinking about her husband. She didn't technically need to eat given Slimes did subsist purely on magic, but for one thing, they wanted her to try it to judge how good they're getting. For another they just seem to find joy in taking care of her and they struggle a bit to understand she doesn't need food anyway.
She hasn't had much to do lately, since whatever oversight she was helping with previously they actually got down… pretty firmly when she left things to Rowena to stay with Shizu until she died. She's never been good at being idle though especially now with the unknown regarding her soulmates, so she's been throwing herself into engraving magic. It hadn't taken particularly long to get through her books, so lately she's been working on methods of using it.
Kaijin seemed to be handling everyday things like using engraving magic to warm water that goes through one tap out of the two to make it adjustable, so she was focusing on other things, like wards that are up to her standards. She'd really like to get a Patronus fire kind of ward up, even if she can't find a way to use actual Patronus fire, since it could interfere with non-hostile visitors like Elen and the others if she just barred by species, but it was being trickier than she was hoping for.
She wishes she could use her own teleport circle -since the ‘known’ ones weren't public in any way-, and her type travels through the information dimension and has none of that ‘organic matter can get ruined via the teleporting process if not handled carefully’ nonsense that her books had vaguely mentioned. But she couldn't very well do that when she couldn't use Elemental Sight to get an idea of what string of engravings she needed to tell it to interact with the information dimension. She couldn't even use that trick for circumventing the need for specialized magical tech to send a signal through the information dimension for the same reasons.
She has to admit her frustration is mounting as she seems to be stonewalled at every turn. She can't even blow off steam by putting it down and just wandering away from the town to get the coordinates for later teleporting since the fact she can't keep the Thought Communication connection over large distances means she'd be leaving it vulnerable to attack.
To that extent, she's been turning her ‘time to put the runes down for now’ time towards experimenting with her Skills some more and trying more magic. Not that either of those are getting very far either, since she's not learning anything new about her Skills or anything like that and she still hasn't gotten temporal based Skills of any sort.
Sure, when she was taking breaks when the frustration got too much, she'd found out she could link different resistances to the ‘Ranged Barrier’ Skill she'd gotten from Ifrit. Which didn't actually need to be ranged and could be pulled in tight to act as layers of shielding. Great Sage had called it by the straightforward name of Multilayer Barrier, but it wasn't anything revolutionary and hadn't given her ideas into how to deal with the engraving problem. She had gotten a new Skill when she poked around at Ifrit's Flame Transformation, Dark Flame, which was all well and good, but still didn't help with her engraving problem.
She sits back with a frustrated sigh after her latest failure, turning her attention inwards to go over her Skills again. About the only one she's been making progress on lately is Deviant, which wasn't surprising since it was newer. It only had two subskills, Synthesize, which transforms two targets into one, and Separation, which pulls the properties of a target into two separate things. Though unsurprisingly it comes with the caveat that if one of them doesn't have some sort of physical medium it can be lost. For example, using Separate on hot metal, targeting the metal and the heat, the heat will be lost. Inversely, if she targets for instance a basic milkshake, she could hypothetically separate it back out into ice cream and milk.
She could theoretically use it to magically create compounds that may be useful, but that sort of thing really isn't her forte. Between Elemental Sight being continuous and taking things in whether she was trying or not and her Occlumency storing it all perfectly, she technically knows the molecular formula of… pretty much anything she's come across, but that seems complicated as all hell to her. She's been focusing more on experimenting with it in other ways, gathering up some of her current magic and magic from a previous life and placing them in isolation to see if maybe using Synthesize on them would get them to get along.
It did not.
The only thing she got out of it was an appreciation that she'd had the foresight to place them in isolation just in case. Most of the time, they reminded her of tectonic plates grinding against one another, on the brink of something snapping violently and causing earthquakes and eruptions and tsunamis and all that. Using Synthesize on them to fuse either kind of magic with the magic of this universe, she tried both separately, was like one of those videos you'd see of two highly reactive elements being exposed to one another in tiny quantities and erupting.
It probably would've killed her if she hadn't isolated them would that be a bad thing if they somehow aren't here? No, no, no. She can't think like that, they'd be upset with her, so that was… a close call to say the least.
She hums as she looks over her Skills thoughtfully before tilting her head, <...If I can use Synthesize on less physical things, do you think I can use Synthesize on Skills?>
She gets a feeling like Rowena jolting, <...Theoretically? You'd have to try to be sure I suppose…>
She nods slowly, reaching inside herself to try with things that are related first, namely, Magic Perception and Heat Perception, since they're both perception Skills. They don't seem resistant to it exactly, but at the same time, they seem slow to cooperate. Regardless, after a few moments they do, and before she can even Analyze the new fused Skill, [Report: Extra Skill Magic Perception has been fused with Extra Skill Heat Source Perception and has evolved into Universal Perception.]
She jolts.
…Okay then. That… works. She gives it an analysis through Great Sage, but other than getting stronger in general, the only real difference between the two she fused and the new one was in the ability to sense malice, which wasn't that surprising since arguably that was just a matter of being perceptive anyway. Great Sage says it also has an ability to sense sound waves, but while she can sort of understand why other people may find it useful if they can't handle Magic Perception, if they can, then they can already sense sound though that, so it's not something new and she calls BS classifying it as such.
Honestly, it probably only worked and evolved because she technically had the abilities it was composed of, if not the Skills. Since while she didn't have the capital ‘s’ Skills of ‘Malice Perception’ and ‘Sense Sound Waves’ specifically, she did have the ability to tell when someone was coming at her with hostility and combined with Magic Perception, they didn't necessarily need to be directly in front of her. And as stated before, Magic Perception already covers ‘Sense Sound Waves’ so it didn't matter if she was lacking that particular Skill.
It does tell her she can't just fuse Skills and expect them to evolve, and also, with how reluctant if not resistant the Skills seemed to be, she also had to pick them carefully. Particularly since she's pretty sure they only compiled as it were because they were compatible. She sincerely doubts she could do things like Synthesize the Drain Skill she got from those giant bats in Veldora's Cave -which allowed the user to make use of seventy percent of a targets Skills by drinking their blood-, with the Skill Gravity Manipulation for instance, since they had absolutely nothing to do with one another.
Far more interestingly, it felt like she had to get the two Perception Skills to see each other before they got moving. It implies, at least to her, that to a certain extent, what one actually needs to do to get Skills to function together is to utilize a Skill's very nature in a way.
She doesn't have many more that seem inherently compatible at a glance, but it does seem worth considering. Almost hesitantly, she had Great Sage analyze Deviant again, encouraging it to understand it, since it seems to mostly be focused on knowledge and understanding. She nudges Deviant towards it, and without her even having to do anything, she feels tendrils of Great Sage start to reach for it, its energy feeling like smoke twisting through the wind as it stretches out slightly.
She's about to nudge Deviant closer again, but she doesn't even get a chance to, given a moment later those wisps of energy suddenly snap out and haul it in, with the desperation of a particularly obsessive scientist wanting to pull something apart to understand. It starts to unravel it, but its own edges seem to start breaking down. The two rapidly seem to turn into a melting pot of energy, but… it doesn't feel like there's enough. Like a light bulb that's not receiving enough power.
Chewing her lip, she feeds it magic, hoping that's what it needs, since she doesn't know what else it could be. And admittedly a bit alarmed at potentially ruining one of her best Skills as well as one she's almost guaranteed to need to help the kids.
She jolts with a spike of horror as she feels the amalgamation crack, but before she can even form a proper thought of freaking out, the cracked bits fall away like broken tinted glass to show a brilliance shining underneath, [Report: Unique Skill Great Sage has evolved into Ultimate Skill Lord of Wisdom, Raphael.]
She pokes at it even as relief courses through her, ‘Jeez, I thought I'd ruined those Skills for a second.’
The fact she was thinking about it while poking at Raphael seems to make it think she was directing that as a question at it, and it's usual lifeless robotic voice replies, [Negative. It is impossible to destroy Skills in such a manner. They would either refuse to engage with one another, or reject each other and reseperate.]
She gets a feeling like a head tilt from Rowena, <Hm. Given it's an AI, you'd think if it was ever going to gain sentence it would be during an evolution, and yet it hasn't.(3) Pity, since it should theoretically make it more proactive about assisting you.>
She hums in agreement before using Predator's data collecting Analysis, which had shifted from being attached to Predator to under Raphael's more situational and data processing Analyze and Assess despite not having anything to do with the fusion. She doesn't really have an explanation as to how it shifted, only able to guess that maybe it's just a side effect of the fact she linked them and keeps running the results through it?
Regardless, it confirms the fact they really had fused rather than anything else, since the previous Deviant's subskills still existed and were now under Raphael. The only other differences are that Thought Acceleration has gone from one thousand times to one million times, and perhaps as a side effect of previously using Deviant on Skills, since other then when she was coming to this world Skills themselves seem to be based on what you can do, it's also gained the subskill Skill Alteration.(4) It does exactly what you would think it does from the name.
Rowena's comment had been made while she was using Analysis and simultaneously reading it over to make sure everything is okay and hearing about her Skill having an attached AI makes the thought hit her like a bolt of lightning, <...What if we used Separate to remove your consciousness from your H3 and used Synthesize to fuse it with the Raphael Skill? Suppose to avoid confusion since that's a name it's better to call it Lord of Wisdom… Anyway, you should be able to go back to the sort of thing you've done before in previous lives and just project yourself into the H3. There is the problem with range if I leave though…> (5)
This time she gets a feeling like a jolt, <...Why didn't I think of that? Especially since that's brilliant, not only from the angle of the fact I could be more proactive in using it to assist you, but also, one of your worries when we get to a new universe and you have to start thinking about the lack of power to the Trunk has always been about me losing power and shutting down and if that would essentially kill me and clone me if you powered me back up. But since the Skill is fused to your soul and runs off whatever ambient magic you have, you wouldn't have to be concerned about that anymore. Mind, you shouldn't have to worry about the Trunk anymore either, since you can just keep it inside Predator's subskill Stomach, but it's still advantageous.>
<It frees up whatever power I usually draw to be used to maintain the Trunk and insure you don't lose anything from it after all. As for the range, I've been thinking about that, and couldn't you hypothetically use the Replication Skill you absorbed from that Ifrit and spread them out to act essentially as signal relays? It's even more suitable if you have them in Slime form which is much less noticeable to begin with and unlikely to be thought much of even if it is. The Replication Skill doesn't seem to really have a set limit on how many can be made, from what Great Sage said previously, it's reliant on how proficient you are with it, but hypothetically…>
She hums, <The Replication relay idea is definitely worth merit if nothing else. Though… we should probably test that before we move forward with the idea.> Since she's not really busy with anything, she gets up to go do that now, idly commenting on the rest, <And I don't know why it didn't occur to you, but the more we go over it the better the idea seems, doesn't it?> A concerning thought occurs to her, <Though, there is a question is how to separate your consciousness without potentially having you dissipate like heat separated from a metal would.>
Rowena hums, <I honestly wouldn't think it would be a concern since you can reabsorb my H3 which would store it within you. At which point, it technically would have a container in you yourself and it's fairly obvious things don't need physical form within Stomach from the magics in it. But if you're still concerned, you could try wrapping another isolation around my H3 before pulling the isolation away from it while keeping my consciousness contained after separating it?>
She nods slowly, <Yeah, that could work. If the Replication relay idea works, we could go with that just to be safe, but the possibility of your consciousness being lost makes me wonder if we should even try.>
She gets the feeling of a head shake from the connection to Rowena, <It'll be fine Creator. The potential benefits of it outweigh the risk in my opinion.>
She feels hesitant, but well, she's always been very firm about not making other people's decisions for them, <If you're certain…>
Rowena sends back an agreement, and they shift to chatting just to keep an eye on the strength of the connection as she leaves to test it. It's not like physically talking or anything, as she moves away the ‘volume’ as it was stays the same, and it just suddenly cuts off as she exits the range. She makes a Replication and shifts it to her Slime form as she sends it back a bit. Practically the moment it's back within range the connection comes back, so it absolutely works.
She leaves the Replication out there, since if they're going to use them as relays for the ‘signal’ there's no point canceling it, so she just sends it up to hide in one of the trees as she starts to make her way back.
She's derailed by the fact she apparently gets into range and suddenly starts feeling flares of magic from the side opposite the village, the way it was going off implying a fight of some sort. With a slight curse, she hurries off, applying Gravity Manipulation to fly and some of the various speed altering Skills she got while trying to manipulate time, which still haven't condensed down into one or two yet, to go faster.
She's at the scene where the fight is taking place in seconds, getting there just in time to use universal shapeshift to block the sword that had been just about to somewhat shallowly cut at Gobta's chest before she punches the older guy that had been doing the cutting hard enough to send him flying. He recovers fairly quickly, flipping back around to land on his feet, though from the slight tightness around his eyes, that hurt like hell. A quick analysis of the Hobgoblins and Tempest Wolves laying around tells her they're just asleep rather than dead or seriously hurt thankfully.
She stares the six attackers down, even as she prods at Lord of Wisdom again to find out what they are, immediately being informed that they're Ogres, “Is there a reason you're attacking my people?”
She's perfectly ready to end them without hesitation, but given she doesn't know the situation, she can at least hear them out first. For all she knows, even if it had been unintentional, her people may have started it. The six had four males, one of which was the old guy, and two females.
The red haired male roughly in the center bristles, “Do not play dumb! You're with those filthy pigs that destroyed our people! The masked one in charge of them was here just yesterday!”
So, not bad guys necessarily, more of a misunderstanding from the sounds of it, driven by rage at their people dying. Presumably whatever he meant by ‘those pigs’ was the same thing that was causing the Cowdeer herds to migrate from deeper in the Forest that Rigur had mentioned this morning and had concerned her enough that she'd assigned Ranga to go with them for now.
More confusingly, “Masked? The only masked individual who's been here recently was Shizu. A human adventurer who died of old age yesterday. There seems to be a misunderstanding, so-”
The red head flares up, “Lies! You-”
She pushes out an explosive breath before holding a hand out sort of towards them but a couple of feet to their side at a large boulder, activating Dark Thunder and vaporizing it in an instant. The Ogres a little freaked out and she calmly turns her head to the old one who's been slowly drifting around her side, “I don't know if you think you're being sneaky,” He jolts in surprise and for some reason the Ogres seem to get even more freaked out, “and I'm willing to give you all a chance since this seems to just be a misunderstanding, but I'd suggest you think over your next course of action thoroughly since you won't get another if any of you attack again.”
“I had nothing to do with the attack on your home, and neither did Shizu for that matter. She was known as the Conqueror of Flames because she was merged with an Ifrit you know? I don't know what you mean by ‘those pigs’, but even if she did have reason to attack, she wouldn't have required help, given the only time she's really struggled was against an Archdaemon.”
The pink haired female that had been standing to the side of the red haired one, staring at where the boulder had been moments prior before turning to the red haired one, “Brother, I'm confident she's telling the truth. What reason would either she or this ‘Shizu’ have for working with the Orcs when they possess such power, either what we saw or being able to use an Ifrit's strength at will?”
He lowers the sword he'd been holding up, “That…” He stares at her with furrowed eyebrows for a moment, then sheaths his sword, “It seems we owe you an apology.”
She hums as she glances at the ones unconscious on the ground, “Mm, no one seems to have gotten hurt since they're just asleep, so we can just leave it there.” The one with pink hair releases the spell at the reminder and they start groggily waking up. She starts to turn away as she turns her attention back to the Ogres, “If your home has been destroyed, you should come to our village for now. We can at least feed you and give you someplace to rest for a while. Just tents and bedding since we're still building, but it's better than roughing it. It's getting late, so you can tell me what happened tomorrow after getting a night of rest.”
The red haired one bows his head in gratitude, “I thank you sincerely for your generosity.”
She hums and finishes turning back towards the direction of the village. As they move, she sends a Thought Communication to Rigurd explaining things and about rustling up some accommodations for them as well as being prepared for a couple extra mouths to feed. Practically immediately getting back his usual enthusiasm as he expresses his understanding. It makes her glad as all hell she'd had them make a few extra tents and bedding sets just in case anyone's got damaged, since it means they have the spares necessary.
They had basic soap that Rowena has given the Dwarves the recipe for based on what they have available, but while it was very basic and rather simplistic bar soap, even when compared to bar soaps from the more modern worlds she lived in before, it served its purpose. To that extent, when they get back, she sends them off with Rigurd to get cleaned up properly with their temporary baths and soap, rather than just quick wipe downs in rivers or whatever the Ogres have been doing during however long they've been roughing it. While they're busy with that and everyone else is doing other duties, she and Rowena duck into their tent so she can reabsorb her H3 for their idea.
She smiles a little tensely at Rowena, “You sure about this? There's a distinct possibility it could go wrong.”
Rowena smiles lightly, “I'm sure. I know you're concerned that it'll go wrong and ‘kill’ me as it were, so we'll just take a moment to use the materials you have stored to make a digital storage for me to connect to and make a backup of me in. Since I wouldn't be able to just reconnect to the orb without entering the isolation the Trunk is kept inside and risking the H3 being contaminated that is. It would also require using some materials to create some sort of power bank to power the digital storage, but that shouldn't be too difficult. Especially since we could probably just set things up in such a way as to use Molecular Manipulation to generate electricity for it. Once all that's done, even if it goes wrong, you'll be able to re-upload my backup to the H3.”
She nods, “Alright then, if you're certain…”
She's fairly uncertain about the idea in all honesty, even though she was the one who thought of it since she hadn't considered the possibility of Rowena's consciousness being lost if she used Separate on it to pull it from the H3 when she brought it up, but if Rowena is certain about doing it, she's not going to tell her no. It's her choice to make in the end.
To that extent, she reabsorbs Rowena's H3 to get started. Once the H3 is back inside the Stomach's storage, Rowena immediately hands over the designs needed to create a backup and run it off of her Molecular Manipulation generated electricity to Lord of Wisdom to start making. Benefit of Synthesize and Separate is that Rowena can direct Lord of Wisdom to modify the materials she does have to craft what she's missing.
She feels another flicker of nervousness when Lord of Wisdom finishes and promptly gives it power on her absent order and she finds herself needing to wait a few minutes for Rowena to upload her backup.
Her mind drifts in the interim.
If this doesn't work, will Rowena technically die? She'll have her backup, yeah, but won't that be sort of similar to the arguments that traditional sci-fi teleporting technically kills you and just creates a clone with all of your memories? Rowena is… Well, some people would say she was her child given she created her, but she and Rowena have never been able to figure out if that was their connection. Not because she's inherently against it, she's been accused more than once of being a bit quick to adopt beings that aren't blood related after all. More in that even though in the times they talked about it, they weren't sure if that described the actual emotional portion of their relationship. It's the whole reason Rowena just references it by calling her Creator rather than a more parental title.
Even without that though, Rowena was her friend, and more importantly, while they've never been able to decide if they have a relationship akin to parent and child, she was family. It would gut her if it didn't work and it essentially killed her. She was one of her loved ones and the only one here who even remotely understood her feelings regarding the unknown surrounding her soulmates after all, she didn't want to be alone, with no one who actually understood what she was going through the reason for her death.
Her anxiety about it has been slowly winding up as she was waiting for Rowena to finish, so she almost jumps when she sends her a Thought Communication that her backup is complete and she's ready. Taking a deep breath, she wraps Rowena in an Isolation barrier as they'd discussed, before reaching inside it to separate her consciousness from her physical form. Worried that she has to be quick, she hurries to remove the H3 from the isolation without risking losing Rowena by just ejecting it straight from the storage as a whole and back into the real world before swiftly moving to use Synthesize to merge her consciousness with Lord of Wisdom.
A beat after it’s absorbed into Lord of Wisdom, she feels it flicker with activity, <I've successfully merged with Lord of Wisdom Creator. I am contained within it and in full control of its capabilities.>
She lets out an explosive relieved breath, <That's good. Great, actually Rowena.>
The Lord of Wisdom Skill flares up a bit, like it was jolting, then Rowena laughs lightly, <What do you know. Apparently Veldanava predicted the possibility of some Skills gaining sentience. Assuming it isn't just Words of the World adjusting to new developments anyway.>
She blinks rapidly, <What?>
Rowena sends her the feeling of a head shake, <The moment you called me by name I heard Words of the World. It told me I'm a Manas. The Manas Rowena born from Ultimate Skill Raphael. Which… is sort of backwards obviously, but apparently regardless of whether it was a prediction of Veldanava or Words of the World itself adjusting to sentience within a Skill, the potential of an already formed sentience being merged with a Skill didn't occur.>
<Weird side effect that it kind of undid all the work to merge me with Lord of Wisdom, since while I still have the ability to control it, I sort of exist independently within your soul. So, it doesn't negate the goals of the effort even if it undoes it itself since I'm still capable of running Lord of Wisdom, and I'm obviously still not draining power from the Trunk.>
She hums, <Assumably it's Words of the World's adaptability. Veldora was very firm that Veldanava gave up his omniscience because he didn't want to know everything that would happen before it even had a chance to happen. There's a difference between that and just predicting something of course, but from what Veldora said, he actively avoided even trying to predict the future to a certain extent. And the very fact Words of the World can recognize every species means it must be adaptable.>
There's a pause as Rowen just hums thoughtfully, then she huffs out a small laugh, <I suppose if nothing else I don't have to use context to tell Lord of Wisdom and Words of the World apart, since you still have control of it and your own voice and don't sound exactly the same as Words of the World unlike Lord of Wisdom.> Then she shakes her head as she looks down at Rowena's H3, which looks like it's just asleep, <So can you project your consciousness back onto your H3, or..?>
Rowena doesn't respond mentally, but the way the H3's eyes open a beat later before it sits up is answer enough. Rowena smiles, “Well. It appears the only concern now is making sure to leave a trail of Replications behind to act as a Thought Communication signal relay in case you go out of range.”
She nods, then looks towards the tent entrance, “Well, I suppose we ought to head back out to dinner so no one gets concerned if nothing else.”
Rowena climbs to her feet smoothly, brushing off her dress, “Quite.”
Heading out, it isn't long before Rigurd is sweeping her along to sit and eat. As she tries this ‘cowdeer’ meat, which has been made pretty well, she mulls over the possibility of wrangling a decent herd up for livestock. Wondering if it's too early and they should wait until they have a proper ranch set aside, or if it would be better to corral them now to lock down the safety of a decent herd even if there are a couple complications from keeping them now.
With the unrest in the forest, there was a possibility of things getting really bad and wiping out the local herds isn't there? So… that would make it wiser to gather up a decent herd now right? But that leads to the complication of taking care of them and all that… They feed themselves from what the forest has to offer, and hypothetically if they just penned in a large enough area to keep them and let them roam they'd basically take care of themselves, wouldn't they? Something to discuss with Rowena later she supposes.
Technically, with her consciousness existing within her soul, they could easily have the conversation mentally, and she might've even picked up on the thought. However, after the previous life where they'd both been told off for having mental conversations when they were physically near each other as well as around others which also gave the impression they were conspiring, nowadays it kind of felt rude to both of them to do so.
The glances Rowena tosses her way lets her know she had, in fact, been picking up on what she was thinking and was perfectly fine with talking about it later. She has a flicker of thought that they ought to figure out a way to block that when they want.
If only because it could be incredibly awkward later assuming her soulmates truly are here and she's not alone, alone, alone when she finds and meets back up with her soulmates.
Rowena had nodded subtly when she'd initially thought about the fact they needed to find a way to block the mind reading when they wanted, but she gives her a well concealed look of concern at the second half.
She refuses to even think about why she would.
Sister tilts her head in confusion, “What was that about?”
He hums as he tilts his own head while contemplating the image, “I'm uncertain. Given Rowena's H3 was still active when Rimuru was out of range of Thought Communication in Dwargon, presumably her mind was uploaded completely into the H3. Which makes sense given the way the magics of the world's we've lived in prior don't get along with this universe's, so she must have it contained in some way when she ate the Trunk with Predator. It's the reasonable presumption anyway. How else could she have safely devoured it after all? So, it's very likely she created a new orb for Rowena to use more permanently and project herself from, which is why they mentioned using Replications as relays.”
Darling nods, chewing her lip thoughtfully, “...She seemed fairly anxious about it though. It couldn't have been just that.”
He hums, “That's true… but unless they speak of it out loud, we currently don't have any way of knowing what was happening.”
Darling continues to gaze at the image with concern, and there's a beat of silence before Sister stirs, “So, Rimuru is totally going to end up naming and taking in the Ogres isn't she?”
Darling laughs lightly, “That's practically a given.” Then her humor fades, “What's more of a question is what's going on in the Forest of Jura and wiped out the rest of the Ogres to begin with.”
He glances at her, “The red head called them ‘filthy pigs’ earlier. There aren't a whole lot of things that description would fit if he was being literal. It means nothing if it was just a general insult though.”
Darling goes quiet, “...If they were being literal, the only possibility would be Orcs, but… Orcs aren't a threat to Ogres generally. The… only way they could be would be if there was an Orc Lord…”
Sister glances over in concern, “...That's one hell of a bad match up if that's the case…”
Darling gives them a tense smile, “I suppose we'll just have to hope they weren't being literal now won't we?”
Since something that can wipe out the Ogres seems pretty important that they kind of all need to hear, she settles in to wait with the other Goblin Lords, Rowena's H3, and Kaijin for Rigurd to bring the Ogres to the meeting tent to explain the next day.
When they enter and greet her, she has another mental hiccup on the greeting as she raises, mentally chastising herself for being so thrown by her soulmates possibly not being here and her being alone, alone, alone being a big question mark on where they were and finding them due to Prophet that her mind is hyperfocusing on the familiar.
Brushing the thought off and holding her hands out to her sides and nodding, she gestures to the simple stools, “Please, make yourselves comfortable.” The red haired one nods in thanks, and murmurs a verbal one to go with it as they settle down. Once they are, she sits as well, tilting her head, “So then, tell me what happened.”
The red head sighs before flicking a tired but thankful smile at one of the female Hobgoblins as she brings in tea for them all. Afterwards, the red haired one slowly starts explaining. The gist of it is that the Ogres were challenged and lost, which was concerning in and of itself, given they were amongst the upper echelons of powerful beings in the Forest.
What was even more concerning was that it was Orcs who faced them. The problem is, it should've never been possible for them to win, given the strength difference. Orcs were generally about as strong as Direwolves are as individuals prior to their evolution. Ogres on the other hand, tended to have a strength around that of Wyverns, a subspecies of Lesser Dragons, which was itself the bottom rung of Dragon evolution.
The red head sighs, “Anyway, they attacked out of nowhere, yet despite the usual strength difference, there was nothing we could do. Their power was overwhelming, and we hardly had time for my father to order us to take my sister and flee… I looked back in time to see him die to those pigs-!”
He chokes off emotionally at that and the old one takes over. He doesn't outright say it, but she gets the sense that due to the way Demi-Humans and the like work in this world, really anything not human, they aren't inherently upset about the surprise attack itself or think it's a cowardly tactic or anything. Humans are really the only species that declares war to begin with, but while there is a strong might makes right sort of mentality and the Orcs were stronger somehow, it was that latter part that was strange.
It was incredibly outside the norm given the strength difference. Even then, regardless of whether they're of the Demi-Humans species that descended from a cross breed between Elementals and Humans, or the type that can trace their roots back to experiments of mixing human and legitimate monster genetics, they don't tend to attack without some sort of goal.
Usually an attack like the one they suffered would be because they were trying to claim territory, but from what little they've managed to gather, the Orcs have been just… slaughtering everything as they sweep through the forest.
She hums as they finish, thinking it over, “...You said they were heavily armored as well?” They nod, and she gazes at the tent wall as her eyes unfocus in thought, “Then they have a backer.”
The old one jolts, “I beg your pardon?”
She raises an eyebrow, “If they're on the level of normal unevolved Direwolves, then they aren't much better off then Goblins. If you saw Goblins in full gear, what would that tell you?”
The red head furrows his brows, “The Hobgoblin here are equipped though-”
She nods, “Because I went and got the services of blacksmiths at least until they can learn how to do it themselves, so-”
The blue haired male stirs, “Much like how the Goblins had you as a backer, the Orcs must have one as well. The Majin we mistook you for?”
She nods, “Most likely. Which implies they have some sort of goal, and it's likely not a good one if they're killing everything they come across.” She crosses her arms as she tilts her head thoughtfully at them, “Which along with the way they crushed your village, means basically everyone is in danger. This isn't the time for rivalries or mistrust or anything like that.”
The red head nods firmly, but his tone is frustrated, “I quite agree, but what are we even supposed to do against a force like that?”
She smiles, “I have a proposition for you all about that actually. You said previously that the Ogres often work as mercenaries hired by various Demons Lords and the like, right?” They nod, and she smiles, “Like I said, they clearly have a goal, and it's likely nothing good. So fleeing probably isn't an option in the longer term even if I was inclined towards that sort of action, which means it's best to work together. You up for free room and board and fifty gold each(6) until this is dealt with at least?”
They all choke in surprise, even the Hobgoblins, since the only one who doesn't seem surprised is Kaijin. After a quick double check with Rowena mentally to make sure she's correct about their power, she continues, “If you do take me up on it, you aren't obligated to stick around or pledge your loyalty or anything after, but would you be agreeable to me giving you names to make you stronger and potentially evolve you? We need all the strength we can get after all, but even if I have zero intention to demand your loyalty after, I'm not about to do something like that without someone's permission given you'd end up with a subordinate type naming.”
They share quick glances before the red head tilts his head, “No, we wouldn't be against it at all, but surely you don't have the magic to name six Ogres-”
She laughs lightly, “If we start going back and forth about that, we're both just going to find ourselves insisting, so if you're alright with it, I'm just going to move forward. From the styles of clothes and weapons I assume you've had some sort of ties to Japanese otherworlders in the past. Would you prefer names more in line with this world's style or Japanese?”
The red head nods, “Well yes, there was a group we took in who influenced our culture rather heavily, and if we were actually given names we'd prefer Japanese ones in light of that, but Lady Rimuru naming so many of us-”
She smiles, “Japanese it is!” Without hesitation, she whips her magic into her more precise naming as she points at the red head, “From now on you all respectively possess the names Benimaru,” She shifts her pointing to his pink haired sister, “Shuna,” Her finger moves to the dark blue haired male, “Soei,” Now the last of the younger males, the quiet black haired one, “Kurobe,” The old man, “Hakuro,” Finally the purple haired other female, “and Shion.”
With her more precise naming technique, it only takes about a twentieth of her magic to name them all. It is a little bemusing though, she has noticed that she's been getting stronger as she granted names, the more powerful the named the better the boost, but… She hadn't realized just how much of a difference was occurring. It was pretty clear now though. The pack of Direwolves all together had taken about half her magic. The entire pack was about on par with an Ogre. She'd been able to name all six of them without really thinking about that math uncaring of the potential consequences, but the fact it had only taken half of all of her magic overall to name them… She recalls Veldora had mentioned that a master-servant naming linked the growth of their strength, and she's been assuming she's been gaining more power due to those she named subsequently evolving, but has it really been making her that much stronger? If that's the case though, given she named the whole pack which subsequently evolved, it's no wonder she's perfectly capable of naming all the Ogres.
The Ogres go pretty wide-eyed in surprise though, before they start dropping tiredly, and she smiles kindly, “It looks like you're all successfully evolving. The evolutionary sleep is going to hit soon whether you want it to or not. I would suggest you go make yourselves comfortable before you pass out and collapse wherever you happen to be. Unless your higher base power level changes things, you should be back up in about seventy two hours. Go and get some rest.”
They all nod sleepily, apparently too tired to express any more of their surprise at her naming them, given they don't hesitate to get up and start stumbling towards the entrance.
Rigurd is staring at her with furrowed brows, “Lady Rimuru, are you sure it's wise to pay them that much after the purchase you made in Dwargon?”
She blinks in surprise(7), “Obviously? I wouldn't have offered otherwise. From what I observed regarding the prices in Dwargon, that seemed fair. Do they have a different value here and I should have offered more? I mean, I still have something like twenty five thousand left, so it's not like it'll break my wallet if I should.”
He jolts hard, unintentionally kneeing the table when she tells him how much she has, “N-No my Lady. That's a perfectly generous amount.”
She blinks lightly then brushes the weird mood off, “Anyway, while we do need wait for them to wake back up, we should get started on things.” She looks at Rowena, “Start Thought Communicating with people and getting an idea of a map together to get a better picture of the situation please.”
Rowena nods, “Yes Creator.”
As Rowena gets started on that, her mind drifts over what they had been able to tell her. She'd undoubtedly need more intel to make properly informed decisions, but there's no reason to waste time thinking on possible moves to make.