Tanya continued bouncing her way through the cave, sticking to the hand(or slime for her case)-on-the-right rule by periodically rubbing herself against the cavern’s walls. At this point, she wasn’t even sure how long she had been bouncing, although she was sure Great Sage would tell her if she asked. Great Sage was quite a useful tool, and over the past few days she had been using it to learn whatever she could about this world, how it worked, and how her own abilities worked.

 

Unfortunately, it seemed that Great Sage’s base knowledge of the world was limited, severely so since it couldn’t tell her much during her inquiries. Although it could calculate probabilities quite well based on her current environment and past lives’ knowledge, without data on what the outside was like, Great Sage had nothing to go off of.

 

While that on its own was a bit of a downside, there were other positives that Tanya soon found, primarily in the field of magic. Because Great Sage functioned effectively as a computer within her head, that also meant that she functioned as a computation device, an extremely powerful one. In short, Tanya once more had access to formulas even without a Computation Jewel at hand. The only problem was that most of her formulas were made with both the Jewels and the mage equipment in mind. That wasn’t even to mention they were built to be used by humans, not slimes with uniform cellular compositions.

 

The best Tanya could do right now by mass-testing her formulas, which seemed to struggle to work with Great Sage and whatever this world’s rules were, was strengthen her own physical defenses, create a basic barrier, and shoot out a pebble at bullet-like speeds. She was already experimenting with flight formulas, but without flight gear and the fact that the spell was specifically calibrated to allow flight for the human body, adjusting it to a slime body was going to take Great Sage some time.

 

While it might prove faster if she assigned it to be Great Sage’s primary task, Tanya didn’t want to all but disable Great Sage for a few days just to get it done, if it was even really possible at all. Best to just have it take a few weeks while running in the background so Tanya could still make use of Great Sage if she absolutely needed it. Flight wasn’t really urgent when you couldn’t see where you were going after all. At least while she was on the ground she could sense her immediate surroundings, gradually creating a mental map of the caverns she was stuck in.

 

Regardless, Great Sage was useful for more than just spells and magic. As Tanya wandered around, she was soon introduced to magic ore and hipokute herbs, items she began consuming whenever she encountered them even if it slowed down her traversing speeds. The former was apparently a valuable material in weapons and armor, and the latter in potion making, particularly in regards to healing potions. Although Tanya had no clue whether they were actually valuable at all or if they were just common cheap resources, but with a vast storage space in her Stomach that she wasn’t using, she had no reason not to store them away just in case. Either way, she had a lot of resources to use if she ever figured out how to use them, to which it turned out she could make potions, so she regularly used magical ore to create the containers as her Stomach never seemed to fill.

 

With nothing else to do, she continued her way deep into the cave. She managed to get some basic formulas to work, allowing her to sense the magical signatures of anyone nearby. She had detected a few, but they all moved away before long and she frankly didn’t want to take her chances with them.

 

As she went deeper, the magical pressure around her only grew more and more intense. It felt as though she was back in a submarine like after Operation Revolving Door. However, rather than it being a physical pressure, this pressure was more magical in nature. It was at this point that she considered her theory on the more intense magical pressure leading to the outside to be wrong, but instead, it was leading her to the source of magic in the local region.

 

After sending another magical ping to search for any nearby signatures, she was alarmed to find not only a magical signature, but a frankly massive one at that. So large in fact that she immediately realized just what the source of all this magic was that had even scared away the other entities nearby. She had no idea what was in front of her accounting for the fact she lacked eyes, but there was no way she was taking her chances with it. She could only hope that her small slime body hadn’t been noticed by whatever was in front of her.

 

As she turned to leave, she froze as she heard a loud voice boom throughout the cave, “Can you hear me, small one?”

 

Tanya immediately jolted around, tilting her slime body up to face roughly where the noise would be coming from. In truth, she had no idea if her slime body even had a face, but this direction felt more natural than the others, so she went with it, sending out multiple pings in the general direction.

 

“Hmm… So you can hear me,” The voice murmured.

 

“You’re talking to me… right?” Tanya asked, nervous about handling such an obviously powerful being, at least if his magical presence was any indication. It was millions of times stronger than the other entities she had detected, and the sheer pressure alone was straining her body.

 

The voice boomed again, “Indeed, although you appear to be more nervous than scared.”

 

“I’ve seen a lot of scary things in my life, but aside from your immense magical aura, what reason do I have to be scared?” Tanya inquired. She was glad that this being didn’t seem immediately hostile, but she couldn’t let her guard down yet. Of course, with how much mana this creature had, there was no doubt it could probably turn her to goo in seconds.

 

“Usually when people see my form, they are overtaken with fear, with some rare exceptions,” the voice explained.

 

“Well that’s the thing, I can’t see you. I have no eyes,” Tanya muttered blankly, questioning how she was communicating with this… individual.

 

“Kyahahaha! Of course! I should’ve expected as much. Do not worry, I may have a solution for you. But it comes with two conditions,” the voice declared.

 

Tanya nodded along, moving her entire body in the motion considering her lack of a neck… or head… or anything else, really. There was no way she could turn down an offer to regain her sight. Living a whole life as a blind blob didn’t sound particularly pleasant. However, at the same time, she wasn’t sure if being indebted to this… being would be beneficial in the long run. Tying oneself down did come with its own responsibilities, responsibilities she wanted to avoid such as fighting on the front lines.

 

Considering his power though, Tanya knew she probably didn’t have much of a choice and continued, “Alright, what are your conditions?”

 

“Firstly, when you see my form, you must not be scared of me. Secondly, you must also come to talk to me again,” they stated.

 

“I see… Surprisingly reasonable I suppose. But what’s with coming to talk to you again?”

 

Although she couldn’t see him moving, she could sense that he was pouting, “I am… incredibly lonely.”

 

“I see…” Tanya muttered. It was best not to pry into the affairs of such a powerful being, at least not yet, but if all he wanted was company in exchange for sight, it wasn’t a bad offer by any means. “Alright then, I accept!”

 

“Very well then. There is a skill called Magic Sense, can you use it?” The voice asked.

 

Tanya shook her head, “No, it’s not in my list of skills unfortunately.”

 

“It allows you to see through detecting the magicules around you. If you can sense magicules, you should be able to brute force your way into acquiring it with your magicule count.”

 

Tanya nodded as she listened intently. ‘So it’s like my formulas? I’ve been using them to detect magical signatures, but if I do something similar and just scan for mana, or rather, magicules, I might be able to brute force it as he says… At least I hope so, I’d rather not be blind forever.’

 

With a bit of help from Great Sage, Tanya began to sense the magicules around her. After a few moments, she heard Great Sage in her head. <Extra Skill [Magic Sense] Acquired>

 

‘Really? That’s it? Guess I can’t complain.’

 

In an instant, the world around her sprung to life. The cave walls around her glistened with a plethora of colors from the rainbow-tinted magic ore scattered around, and the nearby fields of hipokute herbs looked… surprisingly lackluster in comparison, but were absolutely chock full of the individual’s magical power just like the ore.

 

She hopped over to a nearby pond, glancing at her reflection in the light as she grumbled to herself. ‘I know I was told I was a slime already, but seeing it firsthand really drives it home, huh?’

 

Her ‘body’ was now round, yellow, and with a slimy appendage extending out of the top with a slight curve to it. After a moment, she realized in anger what it looked like, ‘I EVEN KEPT THE STUPID AHOGE?!’

 

<That extension is utilized by the Electric Slime race to cast their electric-based intrinsic magic. Each electric slime tends to have slight differences during formation, occasionally resulting in it appearing similar to ‘ahoges.’>

 

‘Thanks for the wiki article, Great Sage, not that it makes me any less annoyed. I suppose it's not a big deal, it does look kind of stupid though.’

 

She then turned back to see what the being with the voice looked like, being startled to see a massive dragon towering over her. Considering the fact that she herself was a slime, the existence of a dragon wasn’t all that out there. However, the fact remained that seeing a giant lizard monster with wings and with the magical capacity to probably level a city meant it was somewhat hard not to be at least slightly intimidated. He was huge, easily as tall as the cavern, and was tens of meters tall. His wingspan alone filled most of the cave, reaching from end to end.

 

She inched closer to the Dragon, eventually noticing a shiny, dangerous-feeling barrier around him. The barrier was magical in nature, but it was hardly like any barrier she had cast in her former life. This barrier seemed otherworldly in comparison to hers, no barrier she had ever cast would come close to the barrier surrounding the dragon, and Great Sage quickly reported that the barrier would require immense calculations, which she promptly shelved.

 

Yet it was strange, the barrier’s source didn’t seem to be the dragon himself like how her’s were. Rather, the barrier had no real source. It was self-sustaining, more like a wall of magic rather than an applied barrier that required a constant stream of magic to sustain. If that was the case, it meant that the dragon was trapped within it, likely explaining how he had been so lonely as he had said, although for reasons unknown. If the dragon was truly sealed away, then perhaps she had a little less to fear coming from him.

 

As Tanya approached the Dragon, it leaned down and nodded, “Good, it appears you can see me. Now, allow me to formally introduce myself… I am the Storm Dragon Veldora! One of only four True Dragons that exist in this world! Kyahahahahahaha!”

 

The dragon, Veldora, immediately burst out laughing as it caused the cave around them to shake and tremble. Tanya stood her ground, staring up at the dragon with a tilted head, or rather body. It seemed that despite his apparent imprisonment, he still had quite the ego.

 

“It is quite strange though…” Veldora began, “Slimes are usually low-ranked monsters that don’t think, they can barely comprehend anything besides danger. Even rare electric slimes like yourself are usually only smart enough to use basic electrical magic from their own bodies, most slimes can only eat. Yet you’re able to hold a full conversation and have sentience. Are you Unique?”

 

Tanya squished her body down in an attempt to shrug, successfully managing a bowl shape of sorts, “I haven’t met any other slimes yet, so I can’t really say for certain. Normally, I wouldn’t tell anyone this lest they think I’m crazy, but considering the situation I’m in, I suppose it's not the strangest thing to say. Truth is, I used to be human, died in my world, and woke up here as a slime. Know anything about that?”

 

Tanya was taking a slight risk telling this Dragon this, but this reincarnation didn’t seem to be a result of Being X. She had seen Being X die, and even before that, he was pretty insistent that she wouldn’t be reincarnated again. The woman who helped kill Being X didn’t seem to be behind it either, since she had died after the sword woman had already left, but perhaps she had been involved in her… transfer. Whatever the case may be, this dragon, with his power seeming to rival if not surpass even Being X’s, could know about her situation.

 

True to her hopes, the Dragon nodded and quickly explained, “I see, so you were reincarnated.”

 

“So this has happened before?” Tanya asked, her ahoge subconsciously tilting to the side.

 

Veldora shook his head, “Not in any cases I’ve known of personally. While it isn’t unheard of for beings to come into this world from other worlds, being reincarnated into this world is a rarity, but not impossible I suppose. The amount of power a soul would need to have to survive being brought to this world without a body is too much for the average human, I’d imagine.”

 

“How are people usually brought to this world then? I assume with their bodies?” Tanya inquired.

 

Veldora again nodded, “In rare cases, otherworlders can just appear in this world. However, most are brought here through rituals in which dozens of mages spend weeks conjuring a spell to bring one to this world. These people are then enslaved by their summoners and forced to serve the kingdom or master they were summoned by. I’ve heard that otherworlders gain skills during the process of being transferred into this world, making them valuable assets for the summoners.”

 

If that was the case, then perhaps she was more of a rarity than she thought. If she was more powerful than the average person, then perhaps her chances of survival weren’t as low as she had begun to worry. “So, skills aren’t common, I take it?”

 

Veldora shook his head, slumping, “For humans, they are quite rare. While monsters may have intrinsic skills, the amount of individuals with anything beyond an Extra skill is probably only in the triple digits. Which, compared to the millions of humans, should give you a good impression of just how rare they are. Even I myself only have one Unique Skill, although within this barrier I cannot use it to its full ability despite my immense prowess.”

 

Tanya took a quick note that with three Unique Skills, she was in a far better position than she had assumed. “I noticed the barrier, I had assumed it was a touchy subject and decided to leave it at that. But if I may ask, why are you in a giant unbreakable bubble?”

 

If she had to guess, a dragon of this power probably decided to go on some rampage and ended up imprisoned because of it. Of course, if that was the case, it might not make him the most reliable ally to have, but he could be a very powerful one if she could manage to keep him from rampaging if she freed him.

 

“You are correct in that I may have done a little rampaging in my past.”

 

“You can read my mind?!” Tanya questioned, startled.

 

“I have been this whole time. You can’t speak, remember? If you really wanted to cut me out, that Spiritual Attack Resistance also includes mental resistances. You can easily kick me out of your mind at will, but then I wouldn’t be able to hear you, and neither can you communicate with me.”

 

“I see…” Tanya mumbled in her head.

 

“Now then, as for how I got into this predicament. About 300 years ago I may have gotten a little carried away and accidentallyburneddownanentirecity. Eventually, a really beautiful hero came and sealed me away with this barrier called Unlimited Imprisonment… Only because I was distracted by her beauty of course! I could’ve crushed her easily! Since then I’ve been sitting in this cave… alone… and bored… for 300 years…”

 

‘He’s really making himself sound desperate. Definitely trying to convince me to stay…’

 

“Is it working?” Veldora asked.

 

Tanya felt the need to roll her non-existent eyes before she sighed, “While I have no problem chatting with you, especially since you know far more about this world than I do, I also don’t wish to be confined to a single place forever. So how about this, I’ll go out of this cave and do whatever it is I end up doing, and I’ll come back and visit every once in a while. How does that sound?”

 

Veldora tapped his fingers together, silently muttering, “I-I suppose that would do. Far better than sitting alone for the last hundred years or so left.”

 

“Hundred years? Are you dying?”

 

Veldora shook his head, “Well yes and no. Truth be told, True Dragons like myself are extremely powerful spiritual beings, and thus we cannot age or die of diseases. However, we can run out of Magicules. As a True Dragon, I slowly produce more and more magicules over time, allowing me to grow stronger as I age. Of course, this rate of growth is slow and thus still encourages growth through other means, but the main problem with this magicule generation is that for it to occur, it needs an intake of magicules to make an output of more magicules. With this barrier here, all I can do is slowly lose magicules as my aura forces them out. In about a hundred years or so I’ll run out of magicules and just die, ending my time here in the material realm.”

 

Tanya was startled by how casual his tone of voice was about his own death. Sure, it was still a hundred years away, but for an immortal being that normally didn’t age, an imminent death like that would surely be seen as premature. “You’re surprisingly calm about this…”

 

“Of course I am, when I die I’ll just come back later. True Dragons can’t really die in a conventional sense. We’re aspects of the universe itself, living incarnations of the world’s natural laws. When we die we just get reborn a bit later, although we’re not always the same after.”

 

“I see… But I’d assume you’d still like to prevent that if you can,” Tanya inquired, watching as Veldora nodded, “Well I don’t think I can do much in my current state, that barrier seems too complicated for even Great Sage, but for now I think I’ll go out and see what information I can gather that might help. If nothing else, it gives me an initial goal to work for in this world. I’m not sure how many opportunities are even open for me as a slime, but working to free one as powerful as yourself could net me possibilities and information.”

 

Veldora folded his arms, “I doubt you can do much about this barrier, not within such a short time span as a hundred years anyways. But if you’re venturing outside, you should be warned; almost all human nations don’t take kindly to monsters. Even the other nations are very reluctant to let anyone besides demihumans inside, and monsters such as you end up being at best pets for the rich and powerful. I highly doubt you’d be able to find a comfortable life beyond my domain.”

 

“Your domain? What is your domain anyways? This cave?”

 

“Kyahahaha! My domain spans far, far beyond this cave, little slime! Beyond this cave is a vast forest spanning beyond the horizon in all directions, for leagues upon leagues! No nation dares conquer it out of fear of me, even with my imprisonment. Currently, my domain is home to a plethora of monsters and demihumans who would probably be more accepting of a sentient slime. However, with a skill like yours, I’d personally recommend starting your own group,” Veldora explained, leaning back down so that his head was closer to Tanya.

 

“With my skill? Which skill?” Tanya questioned.

 

“I cannot get good details on your skills, but one of them seems to involve empowering subordinates and subjugating mindless monsters into subordinates. If you can gather enough strong subordinates from the forest beyond the cave, you could make a nice safe settlement for you to grow out and live your life in.”

 

Tanya sighed, “It seems I might not have much of a choice then if slimes aren’t on the list of accepted creatures in most nations. If I may ask, what is the technology level of this world? Do they have industry, electricity, cars, vehicles?”

 

Veldora seemed a bit confused and muttered in response, “I have heard of otherworlders coming from worlds where humans are more advanced, but I’m afraid that this world has none of those things. And although I believe I have heard the word ‘industry’ used in regards to the Dwarven nation to the north, I still doubt it's to the level that you’re expecting.”

 

Tanya groaned, it seemed that with each reincarnation, she was getting further and further away from the modern world she wanted and closer and closer to a world of pure magic and fantasy. Now they had slimes, dragons, and an excess amount of magic, there wasn’t much further they could go besides the Stone Age.

 

It seems that if Tanya wanted to live life in a modern civilized society, she would have to make it herself from the ground up. Normally she would consider such an endeavor impossible but with Great Sage and to a lesser extent her other skills, she may just have a chance at pulling it off.

 

The only upside was that with a fairly low technology level, she wouldn’t have to worry about tanks, guns, and grenades. But if the Dragon before her was anything of a power scale to use against the world, the magic could be more dangerous than she gave it credit for. 

 

“Alright then, I believe I have a vague goal to strive for while doing some studies on barriers as a side project. With that, I think it's best I get started immediately.”

 

Veldora pouted. “I-I see… W-Well if you must leave, allow me to provide you with a name as a sign of our friendship!”

 

“A name? I already have a name, its-”

 

“Stop! In this world, names have a far different meaning. While humans and their names mean little, giving a name to a demihuman, monster, or spiritual being causes them to gain a great boost of magical power at the cost of the namer’s own magical power. You don’t have the magical power capable of naming yourself, not that I even know what would happen if you did, due to being a slime. Instead, allow me to name you, I have an excess of magical power to use, even if I named you I would live for at least another century, so naming you shouldn’t be an issue. In return, you could provide us with a second name that we can both share to connect us both. I believe humans call it a ‘family name.’”

 

Tanya looked down and muttered, “So a family name huh?” She had no problems being friends with such a powerful creature. She didn’t want to be indebted to him too much, but it seemed this dragon was more desperate than anything else, so perhaps he just genuinely wanted friendship. However, then it became the problem of what name to suggest.

 

He was the Storm Dragon and she was an Electric Slime. In the end, she could only think of one name: “Tempest!”

 

Veldora leaned down and muttered, “Tempest… hm….” Suddenly he raised up and began to shout, “KYAHAHAHA! I LOVE IT! From now on I shall be known as Veldora Tempest! And you, my sworn friend, shall be known as Tanyaru Tempest!”

 

Before Tanya, or rather Tanyaru, could react to how strange the name was with its attachment, she felt a surge of magical power, boosting her up even more than she already was. Veldora wasn’t lying when he said giving names granted power to those named. She wished she could name all of her future subordinates she planned to attach to Oberst, however, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to withstand the magical drain depending on how many monsters she gathered. But was there any way to use the magicules from elsewhere?

 

<Notice: Through utilizing the small Soul Corridor created between yourself and the individual Veldora Tempest, it may be possible to borrow excess magicules from him, allowing you to name individuals with minimal cost to yourself.>

 

‘That works too, I suppose. But we can worry about the details later.’

 

“Now then, you are free to leave, but do not forget our deal, you must come and talk to me again!” Veldora exclaimed as Tanyaru finished handling her new excess of power, feeling her slime body growing slightly in size as the process finished.

 

“Of course, I had no intention of forgetting.” 

 

“If anyone tries to push you around my domain, do not be afraid to utilize my name in your defense. You are my Sworn Friend, my domain is your domain.”

 

Tanyaru nodded in response and turned towards the entrance she had entered through, beginning to bounce away as she extended a bit of slime to wave at him. Veldora waved back as she bounced her way further and further away into the cave, wishing her luck in her endeavors.

 

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

 

Tanyaru had been moving through the cave for what felt like days or even weeks, although she couldn’t tell. Although the cave could hardly be called a maze, the fact remained that it was massive, and as a slime, she couldn’t move particularly fast despite her greatest efforts.

 

As she had bounced through the cave, she had found more monsters, this time utilizing Magic Sense to see them rather than rudimentary formulas to detect their presence. With the ability to actually see now in her possession, she took to fighting them in hopes of acquiring more strength and skills. Sure, she could possibly subjugate them with her Oberst skill, but gaining more power with her Predator skill was the current priority given that one needed power to name others in the first place.

 

Most monsters seemed to be largely passive by default, no doubt an effect of Veldora’s aura. But it seemed like they were more than willing to fight when actually attacked, attacking at the slightest provocation. None had proven too difficult yet, and she had even gotten a handful of skills off of it too.

 

After a bit more bouncing, Tanyaru quickly took notice of yet another monster, this one taking the form of a massive snake with a head that was strangely reminiscent of Veldora’s, albeit with the mouth of a snake. Its aura was stronger than anything Tanyaru had fought before, but it was still too weak to pose much of a threat judging by its magical capacity.

 

The black serpent had spotted her as well, and although it didn’t launch an attack just yet, it stared at Tanyaru waiting to determine what move she would make.

 

‘Let's see… I don’t have much in the way of projectiles. My electric attacks are technically projectiles, but if I run into an enemy with resistance to it like I have, I’ll want to have a second option. Let's see what else I can use… Great Sage, is there any limit to how quickly I can shoot out something from my stomach?’

 

<While there is a limit, it is possible to shoot certain items out at a lethal velocity>

 

‘Hm… All I have in my stomach is some monster corpses, magic ore, and water. I can maybe shoot out the magic ore like bullets but…’

 

<Notice: It is possible to shoot out a stream of water fast enough to cause significant damage>

 

‘Really? Then let's try that.’

 

Tanyaru readied herself and with the help of Great Sage shot out a wave of water at rapid speeds, slicing into the serpent as it let out a painful screech.

 

<Common Skill [Water Blade] Acquired>

 

‘I see… That should be useful. Hopefully, I don’t face anything with both water and electrical resistance anytime soon. I’d rather avoid close-range combat where I can.’

 

The serpent flailed around before launching itself at Tanyaru. Quickly she realized she was likely to end up inside the serpent's stomach in a moment if she didn’t react soon. She was confident that she could kill it from the inside and protect herself with her barriers, but she’d rather avoid it if she could.

 

‘Great Sage, shoot out the water like a hose! It should be able to blast me away!’

 

Just as expected, Tanyaru shot out a jet of water from her body, launching her far into the distance until she slammed into a cave wall. Tumbling back onto the floor, she grumbled, ‘Alright… Needs some getting used to, but it’s viable.’

 

<Common Skill [Hydraulic Propulsion] Acquired>

 

‘Good thing I decided to gather water in case I needed it, turns out I did. Anyway, I think I’ve experimented enough for one day, best if we end this quickly.’

 

Several strings quickly shot out of Tanyaru’s body, quickly entrapping the serpent in a tight network of webbing thanks to Sticky-Steel Thread, a skill devised from multiple skills she had taken from other monsters and combined together thanks to Great Sage.

 

The serpent struggled against the strength of the string, unable to break it fast enough despite its scales before Tanyaru unleashed the second part of her planned combo for all future attacks. In an instant, the Serpent let out another screech of agony as bolts of electric power surged from Tanyaru’s ahoge into the strings, electrocuting the serpent from a safe distance with what seemed to be thousands of volts at once. Unable to escape and being shocked from all sides, the serpent died in seconds, slouching down in the strings as Tanyaru was quick to devour it whole, the threads dissolving as she willed them away.

 

As her body wrapped around the serpent’s last tail bits, it slowly dissolved inside her as she popped back down to her normal size, listening to Great Sage intently as she awaited her new skills.

 

<Analysis Complete. Extra Skill [Sense Heat Source] Acquired>

<Additionally, Common Skill [Poison Breath] Acquired>

 

‘Poison, huh? That could be a decent option, but I’d need to test how far its range goes. My body doesn’t have much in terms of durability, and that Body Armor skill I got doesn’t help all that much. If I can, I'd like to avoid close-range confrontations.’

 

Tanyaru, satisfied with her new skills, continued her march further through the cave, hopefully moving closer towards an exit. If Veldora was the source of magic, then where it was lightest was probably farthest away from him and thus probably closest to the outside world. Fortunately for her, she soon glanced up to see a massive set of doors looming over her, worn with age.

 

She approached the door as she noticed them being made of metal, the handles far too high for her to reach and several times taller than what a human would need. She moved up to the door, extending a portion of her body to touch it, and immediately had Great Sage run an analysis.

 

<The door appears to be made of a highly advanced and durable material. Likely originally created from a refined version of Magic Ore called Magisteel, it has since become even stronger due to being subject to Veldora’s aura for over 300 years. Your skills are likely not enough to break through the door on their own.>

 

Tanya groaned to herself, and although she eventually devised a method of speaking thanks to the Ultrasonic Wave skill she took from a Giant Bat, she still spoke mostly in her own head. She had nobody to talk to, after all.

 

She slid over to the center of the doorway where the two doors met together. Placing her “hand” right against the crack, she once again requested analysis from Great Sage.

 

<The door appears to be locked, and without a lock apparent on this side, it is unlikely it can be unlocked. However, it may be possible to squeeze through the cracks in the door.>

 

Tanyaru groaned but soon began to force her way through the door. Despite the door’s size, it was still shut quite tightly. Squeezing through was no easy feat, and in the end, it took her well over an hour to fully get herself through the door, however she managed to do it. Never before had she been so relieved to be able to freely move her slime body again and so thankful that she had no bones.

 

Getting back in would be a headache, but it would be a headache she would deal with later. She had no intention of abandoning Veldora, he was a powerful ally if he was truly the ruler of the forest that now spanned out in front of her.

 

<It would be an easy feat to unlock the door by utilizing your gelatinous and flexible body to push all the required pins to turn the lock.>

 

‘I suppose that’s my way in then… For now, I suppose I should start on amassing some monster subordinates with my skill. I should at least try and find out what monsters reside in the forest before I start investing in them. I don’t want to pick a monster that ends up being hard to work with.’

 

Looking out from the mountain where the cave resided, Tanyaru saw a vast expanse of forest spanning far beyond what she could see with Magic Sense. Veldora’s comments on the forest being massive were certainly correct. 

 

It was surprising to her that Veldora’s aura could be felt even beyond the cave; she had assumed the door might’ve been keeping it inside. But in the end, it was safe to assume that his aura probably helped him remain in control over the forest even while sealed away in a cave.

 

‘Hold on, if Veldora and the other monsters have an aura, that must mean that I have one as well. If another monster out there can detect creatures based on their aura like I can, then I might be in a bit of trouble.’

 

<Your aura currently far exceeds any monster currently encountered besides Veldora himself. In order to conceal your aura properly, it can be stored within your stomach, hiding it almost completely from all but the most skilled observers.>

 

With Great Sage’s advice, Tanyaru was quick to suck up her aura and stuff it into her Stomach, making sure that they wouldn’t be detected and hunted down in the forest. With how much one’s aura seemed to scale with magical power, it could certainly work as an intimidation factor if she needed it, but otherwise, it served only as a giant beacon telling everyone where she was, including possibly other stronger individuals.

 

Now assured that she wouldn’t immediately be hunted down by whatever beasts lurked in the forest, she began bouncing her way down the mountain, ready to face what was to come.

 

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Tanya had been wandering through the forest for a few days, scouting out and trying to discover and learn what she could. While she had encountered and even defeated a few monsters, she had yet to find any monster that she was fully confident in beginning with. The monsters of the forest seemed considerably weaker than those inside the cave, most likely because they didn’t have to compete with Veldora’s imposing aura at all times. The resources she had encountered were far more typical as well, encountering uninteresting trees and grasses and stones. 

 

Still, Tanyaru doubted that the ‘bulldeer’ she killed and ate would be of much use to her. She considered going back into the cave to hunt down an actually strong monster, however, she decided to continue looking for a bit longer. The dragon had stated that out here did have strong monsters for her to subjugate, perhaps they were just rare. 

 

After a while, she took notice of noises coming from afar. Unlike other noises she heard from monsters, these seemed to be conversational. Strangely enough, as she got closer, she could actually understand the words being said.

 

<Notice: Magic Sense allows the user to translate other languages into understandable words via detecting the intent behind them.>

 

‘That’s… very convenient actually.’

 

Using this inherent ability of Magic Sense, Tanyaru quickly slid up closer to the conversation’s origin, eventually finding herself hiding behind some bushes on the outskirts of what appeared to be a small, rudimentary village. The village was populated mostly by green humanoid creatures reminiscent of goblins from the mythology and popular media of her first life. Unsure of their race currently, Tanyaru simply made the safe assumption that they were in fact goblins.

 

Most of the goblins were short, almost child-sized, and wore clothes that were glorified rags at best or barely even provided coverage or warmth at worst. Their homes weren’t much better, all shabby huts that likely would barely survive a bit of bad weather, if at all. There was one goblin that seemed a bit older however, easily being the size of an actual human adult; he seemed to be doing some of the heavier work within the village although he didn’t seem to be the leader.

 

That instead seemed to be a wrinkly old man with a cane, likely meaning the village ran on an ‘elder’ system, where the oldest and wisest were deemed the best to lead. Why that one goblin was bigger than the others confused Tanyaru, but in all honesty it wasn’t her business. On their own, the goblins all seemed weak, almost pathetically so. Even the bulldeer was on par with most of the goblins, if not slightly stronger, however, it was what the elder was talking about that interested her.

 

In front of the goblin appeared to be a man of similar height who could only be described as an anthropomorphic dog. If she recalled the mild amount of mythology she knew correctly, in many cases they were called ‘kobolds,’ although other media portrayed kobolds as lizard-like.

 

The ‘Kobold,’ for lack of a better term, was seemingly a merchant of some kind. Its outfit, consisting of actual clothing, was no doubt out of place among the village of poorly-clothed goblins, if the racial difference wasn’t enough to distinguish them already. Behind him was a cart of goods which all looked far more high quality than the goblins could realistically afford. Although she could barely see inside the cart from the bushes, she could see glimpses of weapons, foods, and other assorted items that he seemed to be trading.

 

While a few of the goblins began trading with the other kobolds seemingly part of the trading caravan, mostly exchanging food for more basic and simple items, Tanya listened in as the elder spoke with the caravan’s apparent head.

 

The kobold glanced at a sheet of paper as he spoke to the goblin elder, “That should be enough food to cover the costs, so we should be all good here. Oh right, I forgot to mention, keep an eye out for direwolves in the coming months.”

 

“Direwolves? I’ve heard my fair share of rumors about them, but they mostly stick to their own territory. It’s rare for them to leave it,” The old goblin responded.

 

The kobold shrugged, “There’s some reports of the direwolf packs fighting with each other for territorial dominance. For now, they seem to be keeping it within their own territory, but still watch out for any stragglers, exiles, rogues, or anything else for that matter. If the conflicts escalate too much, it may lead to some chaos in this part of the forest. I doubt many caravans will want to risk traveling this trade route if that happens considering its proximity to the direwolf territories.”

 

The goblin seemed a bit concerned, muttering, “Even still, it's rare for direwolves to be fighting amongst themselves like that. They’re more likely to attack other territories than they are to attack each other. Many of our former neighboring tribes to the east were either wiped out or had to migrate to avoid the expanding territories of the direwolves. We are even considering packing up and moving to a new location. The only problem is that not many villages are particularly welcoming.”

 

The kobold nodded. “It’s not hard to see why. Life for most villages is a constant struggle, most can’t afford to take in a whole village’s worth of goblins when they already struggle enough. It’s not like there’s much territory that you can take for yourselves without a fight. You might just need to settle closer to the cave of the Storm Dragon.”

 

The goblin elder sighed, “Yes, we are well aware. We’ve been considering that, but for the time being, we’re remaining here. Eventually, my time in this world will come to a close, and my son, Rigur, will lead our people to a new home, wherever that may be. If the situation calls for it, however, I may have to lead my village to a new home sooner than that, especially if this direwolf conflict escalates into goblin territory. Just what is the cause of this anyways?”

 

“We’re not sure. There might be a majin involved, and some are even beginning to toss around the words ‘Demon Lord,’ but that’s just pushing it. The most likely possibility is that the drought that wiped out the Orc Kingdom is expanding its way into giant ant territory, forcing them to move north for more territory. With how good the Lizardmen and the Ogres are at repelling them, it really only leaves the direwolves and goblins to take territory from. From there, the ants take direwolf territory, and the direwolves, needing more territory, start taking it from the other tribes, starting a chain reaction that led to the chaos going on currently.”

 

The goblin elder nodded along. “Whatever the case may be, we’ll keep an eye out. I’ll see if I can increase patrols near the direwolf territorial border. Better safe than sorry.”

 

As their conversation came to a close, Tanyaru quickly slipped into the caravan, looking around at any materials or items that might be useful to analyze. While she couldn’t find much use, she did find paper. After eating a single sheet of it, Great Sage already successfully analyzed it. With that complete, she rushed out of the caravan and back into the forest shrubbery.

 

The information she learned from the kobold and goblin’s conversation was valuable, mainly in learning about some of the races in the forest. Namely direwolves, lizardmen, giant ants, ogres, and orcs. While it was hard to gauge the strength of each of these races, direwolves seemed to be treated like a big enough threat to be worth starting with. Since they worked in packs, getting them to serve as intelligent and coordinated subordinates should be an easier task than if she tried it with one of the monsters in Veldora’s cave.

 

With that goal in mind, she waited around the village for the rest of the day, soon following silently behind a patrol said to be heading towards the edge of direwolf territory. Once there, she would sneak her way inside and find out if these wolves could be domesticated, by force if necessary.

 

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Co-Author/Editor - Dr. Rx - let’s skip these goblins for now. More power awaits!

 

Beta Reader - U2Donyz - Tanya about to get herself a good doggo

 

Beta Reader - Dragon1008 - Such useful ants helping to funnel all the wolves to Tanya