"Hiss~~"
Elsewhere, Rimuru, who was about to take a bite of the skewered meat handed to her by Shuna, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, sparking a sense of alertness. She glanced around warily.
'What a strange feeling…'
Rimuru thought, 'It's like someone's plotting against me behind my back.'
"Miss Rimuru, your grilled mushrooms are ready too."
"Ooh!"
Distracted by Shuna's words, Rimuru's thoughts were interrupted as she gazed at the two fragrant skewers of food in her hands.
"Whatever!"
"Any issues can wait until I've finished eating!"
Thus, Rimuru dove into a final frenzy of indulgence before the hellish overtime that awaited her.
The next day, everyone heard Rimuru's furious roar, sounding as if she were ready to commit murder: "Damien, you old crook! I'll never forgive you!!!"
Unfortunately, by then, Damien had already departed the Cardinal World once more.
His destination was none other than the first world he had traversed... the Konosubaverse.
"If all goes as expected, Rimuru's probably losing her mind right about now."
Damien smirked, recalling the mountain of documents... enough to fill a room... submitted by Treyni and the other ministers.
To this, Damien merely scoffed!
"Who in their right mind would sit in an office dealing with paperwork?"
Damien was immensely grateful for having lured Rimuru out of that sealed cave. "As long as the slime doesn't die, I'm not working!"
Such was the confidence of a slacker boss, bold enough to slack off while his underlings slaved away in overtime!
"Popo…"
Ogerpon, accompanying Damien to this world, tugged at his sleeve and asked, "Is this really okay?"
"No need to worry, Ogerpon!"
"You have to trust in Rimuru's strength!"
Damien declared with flair, "She's not a woman who'd easily succumb to work!"
"I have a feeling you're going to get hunted down by that kid when you return."
Joining them was Velzard, the Frost Dragon God, whom Damien had long promised to bring along.
Velzard was rather exasperated by Damien's penchant for slacking and skipping work.
However, like Damien, she wasn't one to stay idle.
Office work?
That was Rimuru's domain!
As for them…
"Is this the other world?"
"Hm, the rules here are indeed different from our world."
Velzard analyzed the Konosubaverse's rules while probing its strength.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
Damien hurriedly grabbed Velzard, cautioning, "Take it easy, alright? This world is pretty fragile compared to us."
"I can tell."
"This world's strength is roughly equivalent to a low-tier chaos world."
"Hm…"
"In that case, I'll need to restrain quite a bit of my power."
Saying so, Velzard followed Damien and Ogerpon's lead, sealing most of her power within her body.
She took care not to let her aura leak, lest she accidentally harm the flora and fauna of this world.
"How's that?"
"Not bad."
Seeing Velzard suppress her aura to a level comparable to his own, Damien nodded in approval.
The Konosubaverse, on the whole, was fairly peaceful.
To Damien, it was like a pastoral countryside.
Coming here was akin to a relaxing visit to a rural retreat.
"So?"
Velzard asked, "Why did you come to such a weak world?"
"First, I need to clarify... the Konosubaverse isn't weak."
Indeed, the Konosubaverse.
If one only considered the planet itself, it was indeed feeble.
But factoring in Aqua's reincarnation system and the Heaven, it was a different story.
With Damien's current strength, he didn't fear the Heaven or its Gods.
Yet, he wouldn't provoke an unknown force without reason.
"Second!"
Damien gazed toward Axel City in the distance. "I plan to conduct an experiment in this world…"
"An experiment?"
"Yes."
Damien explained, "You know, my God of the Void possesses the power to traverse and consume worlds."
"But what does consuming a world actually mean?"
"Is it devouring the planets in the universe or the energy contained within?"
"No, neither."
Damien revealed the answer directly: "It's the laws!"
For someone like Damien, who had reached the level of a Dragon God of Creation, conjuring resources from nothing was no challenge.
What Damien couldn't create were unique laws!
"This world has a system known as experience points."
"I could simulate a similar data transfer in Void World, swapping magicules for experience points."
"But that would only be a simulation."
Hearing Damien's words, Velzard began to understand. "You're saying that while Thought Manifestation can achieve anything, it's ultimately superficial."
"Exactly."
Damien elaborated, "Experience points simulated with magicules are still just magicules... they don't truly give rise to a new law: Experience!"
Admittedly, the concepts weren't fundamentally different.
But different is different.
"Simulation uses the laws I already possess to fulfill my desires."
"Consuming a world, however, allows me to acquire new laws."
This was what Damien aimed to attempt in the Konosubaverse: "I plan to try introducing the laws of this world into our own."
Introducing laws didn't necessarily require swallowing the entire Konosubaverse.
In essence, what Damien sought was a sample of this world's laws.
With enough samples, he could nurture the Void World, making it more complete.
"How do we do it?"
This plan benefited Damien, so Velzard supported it unconditionally. "Do I need to fight this world's gods to create an opportunity for you?"
"There you go again."
Damien shook his head. "No need for such trouble."
"Then?"
"We just need to open a small breach in this world."
It was like how air contains nearly all atmospheric components.
Damien didn't need to consume the entire world.
He only needed to let the 'air' of the Konosubaverse, imbued with its laws, flow into the Void World.
"A small breach?"
Velzard blinked, clearly not grasping the specifics.
"Right here will do."
Instead of explaining directly, Damien led Ogerpon and Velzard to the northwest corner of Axel City.
***
Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well. I just wanted to let you know that right now I'm working on a really good and promising naruto fanfic. If you're interested in reading it, feel free to give it a try:
[Naruto: Pathological Liar]
Synopsis:
After reincarnated as a worthless member of the Hyūga branch family...
Fate handed me the worst possible script, but that's fine... I was born to be the greatest actor.
Are you ready?
My name is Hyūga Kumokawa.
I'm going to weave one enormous lie.
And make the entire ninja world dance to it.
---