After today's events, he understood that only strength would allow him to survive properly. He could only rely on himself.
As for the indifference of the people around him, he didn't care... instead, it became an endless source of motivation for him.
Back in the palace, after Naofumi left, the atmosphere was somewhat tense. However, the king and Myne soon expressed gratitude to Takeru and the others, thanking them for helping the world see the Shield Hero's true colors.
Myne even pretended to be grateful and tried to throw herself into Takeru's arms. Takeru coldly refused her. After being rejected by Takeru, she could only return to Motoyasu's group with a hint of reluctance.
Then, after the king finished expressing his thanks, Takeru and the others left the palace.
The king, watching Takeru's retreating figure, had a flickering gaze, scheming about something in his heart.
Takeru, however, paid no attention to the scheming king and went straight back to the inn.
"Takeru-sama, you're back! Are you alright?" Seeing Takeru return, Via asked nervously.
"I'm fine." Hearing her words, Takeru shook his head calmly.
"I heard that the Shield Hero..." Then, Via looked at Takeru. She had naturally heard about the Shield Hero's matter here.
"That is false. Do not speak of this matter again." Hearing her words, Takeru said calmly.
"False? But in the royal capital..." Hearing Takeru's words, Via was stunned.
"You only need to remember my words and obey my commands." Hearing her words, Takeru spoke coldly.
"Yes, I'm sorry, Takeru-sama. I overstepped." Sensing the coldness in Takeru's tone, Via looked terrified.
"Takeru-sama, you've been busy all morning and haven't eaten yet. Perhaps you should have breakfast first?" Then, Via said to Takeru with concern.
"No need. I'm going back to rest first. Don't disturb me unless it's important." After saying this to her, Takeru directly returned to his room.
After thinking for a moment, Takeru created a shadow clone to study this world's magic on its own, while Takeru's original body entered the portable space.
Once inside, Takeru quickly surveyed the changes in the portable space.
Because the mana concentration in this portable space was still relatively low, and there were no special plants like the World Tree-
Apart from the land area expanding a bit and the mana concentration becoming slightly denser, there weren't many changes after three days of development in the portable space.
Takeru didn't pay too much attention to this. The area and mana concentration were temporarily sufficient. The most important thing now was to check on the slimes.
After three days of development, the variety and number of slimes in the portable space had increased considerably.
In addition to the Healing Slime, Purification Slime, Magic Slime, and Catalyst Slime that Takeru had catalyzed, a Recycling Slime, a Milk Slime, and a Gourmet Slime had also been born.
Furthermore, the Demonized Slime that Takeru had catalyzed using monster corpses was also complete.
Aside from devouring this world's balloon monsters, Rabbity, and Needleboars, Takeru also had it devour a dragon he had hunted in the previous world.
Not the fire dragon, but the sub-dragon that Jesby had ridden. This allowed it to gain quite a few imitation forms.
In addition, Takeru also developed a new type of slime.
[Weapon Slime: Evolved by devouring a large number of special weapons. All attributes increased. Can freely transform into various weapons it has devoured in the past. When transformed into a weapon, it possesses the weapon's hardness and sharpness. Because it is still fundamentally a slime, it also possesses the slow regeneration of a slime.]
Looking at the Weapon Slime and the Demonized Slime, Takeru was somewhat satisfied. He then had the Weapon Slime transform into a spear.
Holding it in his hand, he found that the holy weapon in his hand, the sword, showed no rejection at all. It seemed to recognize it as just a creature.
Before this, when Takeru held Twilight Moon, the sword in his hand would emit a special energy that resisted Twilight Moon. Although its resistance was extremely weak to Takeru, he hadn't forcibly suppressed it for now.
Because although Twilight Moon was a weapon that had accompanied Takeru all the way and given him much help, and would definitely remain a main-level weapon, the sword in Takeru's hand also had great potential.
Takeru planned to study it properly first. Perhaps after this world ended, Takeru could take this sword with him.
Of course, by that time, Takeru would definitely not allow it to act willfully. He would thoroughly suppress it, making it clear that he was the absolute master.
After some testing, Takeru found that he could use other sword-type weapons, but not other types of weapons.
Moreover, continuously using the same weapon could increase its power.
The power of a weapon could be completely inherited by another weapon. Absorbing the energy of other weapons could increase the overall data of the held weapon.
After discovering this, Takeru had already had it devour quite a few spiritual swords he had materialized himself. Through this devouring, the Holy Sword had gained a tremendous boost.
[Holy Weapon - Sword: When equipped, increases strength by 100, speed by 60, spirit by 40. Additional skill: Absorbing the energy of other weapons can increase the overall data of the held weapon. Restriction: Once the holy weapon confirms its user, it cannot be removed and other types of weapons cannot be equipped.]
The Holy Sword's attributes were definitely very good. Takeru knew it still had significant room for improvement.
However, Takeru did not continue feeding it. Because at this moment, the Holy Sword did not completely belong to Takeru. He wasn't sure if he could take it with him when he left this world.
After all, these weapons were clearly not simple. Since the vast majority of people from the first batch would enter this world, it seemed unlikely that everyone would walk out with a Holy Weapon.
With this doubt in mind, Takeru temporarily decided not to invest too many resources into upgrading it.
After all, Takeru didn't currently need to rely on it for his own enhancement.
Shaking his head, Takeru stopped thinking about these things. He directly transferred a portion of energy to the Weapon Slime and the Demonized Slime.
After transferring a total of 15,000 mana, the two slimes split. Each of the two resulting slimes possessed the abilities of the original.
Takeru was also aware that the reason only 15,000 energy was needed to catalyze these two slimes was that they had accumulated quite a bit of energy themselves over the past two days. Adding the energy Takeru provided, they simply reached the requirement for splitting.
After splitting the two slimes, Takeru went to the surrounding area, picked some delicacies, enjoyed a meal, and then exited the portable space.
Upon exiting, the clone was still studying magic.
With a thought, he made the clone disappear.
Takeru tidied up a bit and went outside. Next, he was going to find Naofumi and offer him some support.
Although Takeru could have exonerated Naofumi earlier, it was still part of the plan.
The benefits of exonerating him were too small. While it would change the plot and increase his evaluation score, and earn Naofumi's gratitude, that wasn't enough for Takeru.
After all, Naofumi hadn't completely fallen into despair at that time, nor had he fully matured. Now, the timing was very good. Takeru planned to find him for a deep conversation.
"Via, time to go out." Arriving outside, Takeru spoke directly to Via.
"Yes, Takeru-sama. Where are we going now? To a new leveling spot? I recommend a dungeon location. Although the rewards aren't great, you can gain experience quickly." Looking at Takeru, Via spoke expectantly.
"No, not yet. We're going somewhere else first." Hearing her words, Takeru shook his head directly and began leading the way.
Seeing this, Via could only follow behind Takeru as they slowly left the city.
Outside the city, the weather was very gloomy, looking like it was about to rain. It mirrored someone's mood.
Takeru didn't mind and walked straight in a certain direction.
Soon, near the edge of the forest, they saw a figure shouting as he punched balloon monsters one by one.
However, his attack efficiency was extremely low. The balloon monsters, though small, were very agile. So, his efficiency in killing balloon monsters was predictable.
"That is..." Seeing Naofumi, Via was startled. She looked at Takeru, seemingly understanding the purpose of his trip here, though she wasn't sure what Takeru wanted with Naofumi.