The next day, I stopped by Kaijin's cabin to see if he managed to set up his workshop and ask him to make me a magisteel sword, after discussing some details with him I went to the cave to continue training.
On the way there I met Rimuru who was trying outfits in Garm's cabin. If I recall correctly Garm was one of the three dwarven brothers who specializes in Armor Smithing. After finishing his business there, Rimuru stepped out of Garm's workshop, still in his child form sporting a new outfit. Suprisingly no one was shocked by rimuru's new form as we were passing by, they recognized him all the same, which I was pondering when we ran into Rigurd out surveying the scene.
"Hey, Rigurd. Things going well?"
"Ah, Sir Rimuru!, Sir Raiden" He beamed back at us, instantly making out who rimuru was. "Things could hardly be going better, and we all have you to thank for it!"
"So you can tell who I am? I'm not in slime form."
"Ha-ha-ha! Of course, my lord! The elegance you project from every pore of your body is unmistakable!"
Looks like the monsters rimuru named are sensitive to his aura. We informed Rigur that we will stage another experimental session down at the cave, telling him not to bother me unless it was an emergency. hope today results turn good.
"Yes, my lords! By the way, I imagine you have no need for food today?"
That's right now that rimuru has a human form he can taste food again, ahhh! I am the only one who can't eat now.
"Actually, hold on. I think we are going to eat with you guys starting today, if everything went like planned " replied rimuru
"Eh, you are finished the clone already?!"
I was quite suprised, I thought it'll take more time.
"Yeah, I was done synthesizing it last night and I made the body more durable, I've done some simulations with Great Sage and there is a high chance that it will work this time"
"You got my Hope's up, I wont let you eat in peace today if it failed, hehe!"
"You will eat with us?!!" exclaimed Rigurd "Well, we must hold a feast today to celebrate the occasion! I will instruct Lilina to prepare a sumptuous spread for us all!"
Hopefully with me in a physical body by then, I don't feel particularly hungry, but it would technically be the first solid food I'd had in ages.
A distance away from the village, We stumbled upon Rigur and Gobta.
"Hey," Rimuru said. "I guess there's a party at the village today, so try to hunt down something tasty for Lilina, would you? I'm capable of eating food now, so let's make this an evening to remember!"
"Ah, Sir Rimuru!" Rigur exclaimed. "Is that so? Well then, I will provide the most succulent cowdeer I can!"
Cow…deer? The name made it easy to imagine the sort of animal he was talking about, and from his tone People around here seemed to dig it.
"By the way, Sir Rimuru, to what do we owe the occasion of your new appearance?"
"Heh-heh-heh! How kind of you to notice, Gobta! Life as a slime is pretty easy for me, but going around as a human ain't too shabby, either. It offers a lot more command over the five senses than I enjoyed as a slime, for one. Taste, in particular. That, and this form makes it easier for me to interact with you guys."
Rimuru had already reproduced all his old senses pretty well except for taste in slime form.
"Oh, I see!" Gobta shouted. "I would like to interact with you, too, Sir Rimuru, but I do prefer more curves, sir!"
"That's not what I meant by 'interacting,' you idiot!"
Rimuru rewarded his observation with a reverse roundhouse kick, hitting the pit of his stomach.The pain caused him to pass out, and really, I couldn't think of any better medicine for such a fool.
"My apologies, Sir Rimuru. I ensure you I will instill some discipline in Gobta later."
"Sure. I'm not that offended. But thanks in advance for the meat."
"But of course! We've had a number of herds migrating from deeper within the forest, so the pickings are quite good. We won't let you down!"
"Oh? Something up in the forest?"
"Indeed, we occasionally see large-scale migrations of magical beasts, due to changes in habitat or other factors. I doubt it is anything serious, but we are stepping up our patrols."
In order to not be caught off guard if anything happens, rimuru summoned Ranga and assigned him to sentry duty with Rigurd and his team.
In a moment, Ranga stepped out from rimuru's shadow. he was capable of summoning him now, he was quite agitated when gobta was able to do it and he couldn't.
"You called, Sir Rimuru?"
"I did. I want you to join Rigurd's team in the forest. I doubt you'll see anything, but if you do, keep the team safe."
"Yes, my lord. I will make it so." His face was meek and docile, but his tail was wagging like mad, as if nothing pleased him more than being bossed around.
"Keep a close eye out, Ranga. And if you see anything, Rigur, let me know."
"Ha-ha-ha! There is hardly a thing to worry about, Sir Rimuru. I hope you have a hearty appetite worked up!"
"I'll be sure I do. We'll be in the cave, so let me know if something comes up."
Then we nodded at Rigur and left.
The anticipation was welling within me all the way to the cave, I hope that I will come out of there in a physical form.
We began immediately after reaching the underground cavern, Rimuru activated replication using the body he made and the result was quite unexpected.
"Hehe! how you like that?" exclaimed rimuru "I made the body older to accommodate more cells and increase its durability."
"It's a nice surprise, I'll admit, let's hope this works"
I suppressed my magic energy and calmed my spirit and then entered that body, Suprisingly there was more resistance than last time, but the body handled the strain quite well. I carefully sense the state of the body and the rampant energies coursing through it and then I began acting.
"Alright, try to relinquish control over the clone and disperse your magic energy little by little."
"Here it goes, becarefull!" exclaimed rimuru before cutting the connection with the body.
I immediately felt the structure of the body becoming unstable the moment the link was severed, I began pouring my energy to try and stabilize the breakdown.
It was working at first, I don't know if it's because the both of us interfaced with veldora's magic before or by being named by him, but the compatibility between me and the body was not bad.
Eventually though I discovered that the rate breakdown is higher than that of the Regeneration and while there was no imminent risk of dispersing, the more time passes the more unstable the body becomes.
"Hey Raiden, the situation doesn't look good, even though you managed to occupy the body, your rate of adapting can't keep up with it's disintegrating structure!" exclaimed rimuru
"I noticed that, this body while human in structure similar to shizu, your cells are quite unique it is hard to adapt to them" I replied Telepathicly since I can't do much movement or I will break the current stalemate.
"What to do now? If I try to help you in stabilizing it we will return to square one"
"Alright now that it came to this I have no other choice, Bind me tightly with sticky steel threads and put a barrier around me the take some distance and be careful, I might not be in control for a while!"
I urged rimuru to be vigilant as I was going to stop suppressing my Hollow factor.
I suppressed it when I first came to this world because didn't know what will I become if I allow my self to let go, however now that I need my full power to stabilize this body I have no other choice. besides this time I have the skill Perfect Memory EX, which allows me to maintain my ego if something happens.
When everything was set, I braced my self and then I let go of my restraints.
Heaviness clouded my consciousness and everything went dark.