Even during winter, some bandits made their way up to the pond next to our cave. When the night came me and Romi took care of them and she turned one of them into a Vampire servant, the lowest ranked vampire and had him serve her. As she could use intermediate space magic spells, she possessed a spell called Dimension home where she stored the servants until she would need them. Sadly, she did not know how to use spells like Teleport or Warp, so I was still in the dark about them.

Thanks to Romi my magic training continued and I learned some new spells, Dimension home included.

"I must say, I never expected to find bandits with so many magic stones."

"When I served my previous master one thousand years ago there was a village nearby that had Magic stone and magic crystal mines. Maybe it has grown in population since then," Romi pondered, "Though I can be mistaken. It is one thousand years we are talking about. They might have already mined everything and moved away."

"Wouldn't your servant know?"

"When I changed him into a Vampire servant he lost his memories of previous life, I'm sorry master," Romi bowed to me.

"It’s fine. Anyway you said magic stones and magic crystals, are they separate things? I always thought they were one and the same."

"Yes they are different. Magic stones are the kind of stones that hold magic power. Unlike Sorcery Stones however, they don’t produce any secondary effects. They are only good for storing and releasing magic power. Magic Crystals on the other hand are crystalized mana itself. That is also why you can find them in corpses of magic born monsters. Only in mana rich places do they harden without the body of a monster, though."

"I see… then it would mean that when a monster dies, its magic power hardens inside… hmm… I never encountered Magic crystals on my hunts, so it is possible that the crystal forms when the monster dies of old age… Thank you Romi, your knowledge is really helpful."

They are most likely used in magic items… We could call them de facto batteries of this world. 

"Ho-hooooo…"

Hearing a familiar sound, I looked up towards the skies and saw Persia flying down to me with another owl. This one was however bluish white, like ice.

Freezing Owl

Rare sub-species of Shadow Owl in same branch as Phantom owl. On top of wind magic it can use Ice magic too. It's body can withstand even the most extreme cold weather, however it cannot handle high temperatures, unless it learns skill for it. Its wingspan is one and a half meters, its height is between sixty to seventy centimeters on average. Wind magic 3, Ice magic 3, Soundless flight 5, Claw combat 4, Heat resistance 2

"So this is your mate, eh? Good find Persia, I can tell you two will have good chemistry," I smiled at the owl and it looked proud. "Now, what should I call you… what about Skopi?"

"Ho-hoooo!!" The Freezing owl sounded happy with the name I gave it.

Once we made it home, Persia started making a new nest on a bench I made near the ceiling for both herself and Skopi. Our surprise grew even more when we found three eggs in a week's time.

Given the amount of stones built up in my Item Box, I decided to try out something. I took them out, broke them down and then solidified them into blocks. This meant using <Break rock> and <Rock> over and over again, so it was tiring to say the least. Thinking about it, I decided to create new spells for it. I made <Pavement> spell to solidify earth previously so I knew I could make new spells with a solid image in my head. This ended up in two spells. One I named <Block> and used it to create blocks of stone. Another spell was called <Clay> and I used it to close gaps in stone. This proved especially handy for the walls of our home as it was quite common for us to get wet during rain storms.

I've thought that because our group grew so much, our food reserves would dwindle significantly, but I was proven wrong. As it turned out, the goblins learned how to hunt with traps from Blanche and were now setting traps in more locations.

Surprisingly, even during winter the slimes appeared in our water hole so I continued taming them. I was afraid they would take too much space, but the Poison and Moss slimes learned skills called Combine and Divide. When Combine is used, all the slimes merge into one slime. After the merge was finished, the slimes became Big Moss/Poison slime. My guess is that there is a need for at least one hundred slimes of the same species to make it possible to merge. This is based on the Poison slimes who created two Big Poison slimes unlike the Moss slimes who just made one. Once slimes become Big slimes, they gain a skill called [Conserve space], which allows them to change its weight and size. Seeing them growing and shrinking on command was quite fun. With more space for us to live, I decided to try to make Stone slimes into Big Stone Slime. I already had ninety of them, so boosting their numbers by just ten more would be easy.

The winter was long and quite boring so I made some table games and taught Blanche, Romi and the goblin girls. Chika got really into chess, but as she isn't really smart, everyone could beat her once they fully grasped new strategies. Though, I once saw her loose to the Golden slime. When that happened, she flipped the board in anger and ran away in tears. However, that was not the end of things. The flipped board flew through the air and hit two regular slimes that were just jumping by and the board did some damage as it was made from stone. Worried, I used healing magic on them right away and they survived the incident.

What surprised me the most however, was that the next day, they both evolved into Healing slimes. This leads me to believe that slimes can evolve when exposed to magical energy. Sadly, my magic control is only level 2 so I will have to wait until I can experiment with this further.

"What are you doing Arito?"

"Oh, Blanche… I'm training my magic control by making dolls with earth magic."

"Really? Oh, this is Skull bear, right? It looks like it's holding something in its maw, though."

"Yeah, I still can't do the details very well, but it should be a fish." I explained and Blanche took a look around my finished statues.

"Is this Persia?"

"Good eye. I'm going to make Skopi too, but it's harder than making her statue… He has these feathers looking like horns and I can't make them thin enough. When I do, the moment I stop my magic flow they tend to break off. The coloring is also difficult. I have no problem with Red and Yellow as they are made from flowers, but blue is too hard to come by."

I wanted to remind myself of the good ol' times when I was making my first illustrations, so I drew a map of our surroundings and later made a drawing of Blanche. I clearly lost my touch a little over the years I spent here… I've already been here for over a year, huh? I had so much fun with slimes, wolves and the rest that I already forgot… A big smile spread over my face.

"Arito?" Blanche looked surprisedly at me.

"Heheh," I laughed softly and pulled Blanche in for a hug, "I just realized how glad I am for meeting you and the rest of the guys here."

"G-gosh, Arito! You're making me blush…" Blanche was a little fidgety, but hugged me back regardless, "I’m happy too."

Another few days have passed. Spore slimes multiplied and now I have exactly one hundred of them. Thanks to that I was able to confirm that you need at least 100 of the same type of slimes to make one Big slime. The Cleaning slimes tripled their numbers and now I have thirty of them. It seems that Chika was taking them with her into the caves and having them clean up dust and specks of dirt on crystals she mined which also helped, but it was not the main reason. The cave is filled with magic stones.

It looks like the Cleaning slimes prefer some of the Magic stones. As an experiment I ground the two magic stones into fine powder and fed it to them. This led to their massive splitting and their current numbers. Though it is worth noting that they left some specks behind, this could mean that the magic stones can have elements the same way the living creatures have… and undead too… I am still forgetting they exist in this world even though I live with one…

"Mmmmm, I completely forgot what I came here for. Arito, I found some divine statues in the bandit's treasure and I wanted to ask you if I could use some corner of a room for them," Blanche said with a slight blush.

"You want to make a shrine? I don't see any problem with that, but I didn't know you were religious."

"Everyone is, right? I never heard of anyone not worshiping the gods… but I don't know which god, if any, blessed me… I'm not baptized or anything…"

"Well, that goes for both of us…" I smiled a little unsurely. I mean the gods of this world are actually Administrators and my last meeting with one was really unpleasant. Urgh… I really hate remembering that time…

Anyway, I went to the place Blanche designated and made a hole in the wall. She instantly went and started placing statues in the hole. I had to stop her as I thought it would be better to place a wooden plank on which the statues would stand.

"The God of Creation Atan, the God of Life Lodite, the God of Hunting and Wind Vulrin, a-and the Goddess of Love, Culanna," Blanche said names of the four gods as she placed their respective statues on the plank I placed in the hole. The statues were really crudely made, but you could still tell the four statues that they represented the gods they were supposed to.

Creation God had a magnificent braided beard, the God of Life had a youthful appearance, or more like a feel, given how crude it was, the Goddess of Love was… let's say well proportioned and lastly God of Hunting and Wind was depicted with deer antlers in one hand and bow in the other.

With the figures placed on the plank, Blanche took a knee and started praying. I was about to join her when Romi suddenly appeared between us, taking a knee as well.

"Romi? You are going to pray too?" Blanche asked for me.

"Of course, I was blessed by the God of War and the God of Wine way back. Though there were not their statues in the bandit's treasure, I still want to show my gratitude to the gods for blessing me with a new master."

"Should I make them for you? I'm practicing my earth magic so if you draw me a picture of how you want the statue to look, I will try my hardest."

"You are too kind, master," Romi bowed to me with tears in the corner of her eye.

That being said, when was the last time I seriously prayed? I guess it was when dad was still alive, he was quite zealous… Well, I know now that the Administrators of this world work somewhat as gods, so should I thank them for the chance meeting with Blanche? I still don't like the guy who sent me here though, he was so pushy…

I took a knee and while putting my hands together, I closed my eyes. The darkness in front of my eyes slowly turned red and then rapidly white.

"Whoa…" a yelp exited my mouth, but neither Blanche nor Romi said anything.

"You okay kid?" a voice of a man asked me.

I quickly opened my eyes and searched my surroundings ready to fight, but I couldn't see anything.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down! We don't mean any harm!" from the white space appeared an old man with a braided beard and magnificent eyebrows fluttering to the sides. I’ve took a full on defensive stance against them.

"Yes, just like he said," next a woman with a well proportioned body appeared next to the old man.

"You two realize that the reason for his wariness is your sudden appearance, right?" a woman in something like a lab coat and glasses stared at the two with an exasperated look.

"Well, we were supposed to meet once he made it to the baptism in town. And it was you who asked to do it right away, right?" Next, a young looking boy appeared and smiled softly at the woman in the lab coat.

"Ahem! Let's talk to the boy now, shall we?" The old man cleared his throat and looked at me, "First thing first, Arito Aruze, welcome to our world Aniten. I'm known as the Creator god Atan."

"I'm the goddess of Love Cullana," the well proportioned woman said with a warm motherly smile.

"I'm the god of life Lodite, Nice to meetcha," the boy said with a cheeky grin.

"And I'm goddess of evolution Tunetia. And let me say," he pushed up her glasses and in the next moment she was holding my hand in both of hers, "I'm a huge fan!!!"

Am I getting fan girls in this world too?!

"Nothing to worry about, Arito. Hey, finish your sentence already," the god of Life kicked the goddess of evolution and she fell into my arms.

"Th-thanks for the catch."

"Think nothing of it. Could you please explain to me what exactly you mean by being my 'Fan'?"

"Yes! Right away! Ahem!" She fixed her glasses and hairs in a ponytail before Looking me straight in the eyes, "In the last ten thousand years, not a single person was able to willingly evolve monsters. As a goddess of evolution I oversee such events and come up with new possible evolution and methods. You however, have not just willingly evolved your slimes, you have also created completely new species of slimes! And that was without any blessing or help from me! You just did it!"

"Um, I created new species?"

"Yeah! Slimes evolve depending on their environment and feed. You just created new species on a whim! The Collagen, Medicine, Cleaning and Grime slimes are completely new discoveries!" the goddess of Evolution held my shoulders with a big grin of a mad scientist.

"I-I see…"

"Boy, I'm giving you my protection. So keep up the good work and don’t call me a mad scientist, I can read your mind!" she suddenly tightened her grip on my shoulders and started breathing heavily.

"Calm down you Mad Scientist!" The God of Life delivered a chop to her head looking angrily.

"Yes, please don't hog him just for yourself. We are here too, you know?'' The goddess of Love smiled at the goddess of evolution and swiftly took me to a table with tea that appeared out of nowhere.

"Well, it's not like he will be suddenly better at evolving monsters! He will just have an easier time taming them! He already have great capacity and aptitude!'' The evolution goddess was harrumphing cutely.

"If you don't mind me asking. The administrator who I met previously said he will have me save the world. Does that mean it is in a state of danger?"

"Well, kinda yes, and kinda no," the Creator god scratched his head, "You see, the mana shortage has already been dealt with, and you taming all those monsters helped a little too."

"It helped? Me taming slimes? How?"

"Well, taming magic was originally created as a means to close the distance between humans and monsters. However the way people 'tame' is rather brutal, they are practically forcing the monsters into one sided servitude, though there are few exceptions… That's why I would like you to spread the idea of treating monsters decently to get to tame bigger and stronger numbers."

"I quite literally have only slimes, wolves, beetles, two owls and goblins. Those ain't the strongest monsters."

"If you raise them properly you will get more advanced species in the next few years!" The evolution goddess smiled and sat next to me, unlike the other gods who sit on the other side.

"Well, you don't need to tame those powerful monsters yourself, but just let the information spread. We could give humans revelation, but seeing is better than hearing, as you could say."

"Even when it comes to gods?"

"Well, the one responsible for monsters is Tunetia next to you, and well, she doesn't have as much followers as the rest of us and we have this rule that forbids us from interfering with other gods jurisdiction."

"I see the problem," I smiled bitterly but at the same time my body started glowing.

"Oh, it looks like it's time for us to part. Listen up young Arito. This is your second chance at life so use it to do whatever you want."

"Doesn't that contradict what you said before about saving the world?"

"Quite the opposite! If you do what you love your life will be much happier! So make sure you enjoy it as much as you want! Also once you return, you will find a letter in your World introduction book. In that letter is written a backstory for you. If anyone asks about your past you can use it, it should make it believable you being in forest alone. Though you are not alone anymore," the god of life smiled brightly. It’s true that Blanche doesn’t ask me questions about my past and I don’t ask about hers.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you and thanks for letting me live here."

"Of course!"

"You are quite welcome."

"Just make sure you stay healthy and happy, okay Dear?"

"And continue your research! I will be expecting great results from my apprentice!"

The gods called over each other and my eyes turned black once again. When I opened them, I found out that the world apparently stopped while I was in the divine realm. Still though, treating monsters nicely will make the world a better place? Nah, I don't care about that. As long as our life is a happy one, then I'm content. Though, something tells me that the gods count with that. I just hope they won't interfere too much.