[-40 Thousand AP!]
In an instant, Zaydas felt control over the flow of time in TSSDK.
There was a reason he did this. A very simple reason, actually.
Although the time flow in TSSDK wasn't as significant as in INN, there was still a 1/10 difference.
Now... The reason he did this was because he saw a huge group of Orcs.
At first, Zaydas thought about getting rid of the Orc Leader but gave up on the idea.
'I need to guide Rimuru to them...'
Although doing this in Rimuru's place could yield some AP, it wouldn't be good enough to end up stealing Rimuru's chance to become stronger, even evolving the 'Devour' skill.
By making magic circles appear on the ground, several wild animals were stored.
'Next stop... The cave where Veldora was sealed.'
Although he and Rimuru had cleaned that cave before leaving... There was a reason he wanted to go there. Although it was just a hunch, there was a good chance he was right.
...
In a cave, six ogres gathered. Two females and four males. Among them, there was one who seemed to be the eldest.
"Young master, are you alright?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Despite the evident injuries, he maintained a firm posture, hiding any sign of weakness.
"Who goes there!"
Suddenly, they felt the approach of something powerful.
The eldest ogre said, "Young master! We will only hold you back! Please, escape with the princess!!"
"Kuku, I found a lively group of ogres." A man's voice echoed in the dark cave.
As he appeared before them, the one called Young Master was a bit surprised but didn't lower his guard.
"Brother, his hair is the same color as yours," the pink-haired female ogre said.
"Don't let your guard down; he's powerful!"
Although he said this, the eldest ogre wasn't confident they could resist this individual.
All of them were very injured, some gravely. A normal monster would have already died. The only reason they were still standing was certainly due to the extremely high vitality of the ogre race.
And then, they saw this same human-like being with crimson hair and blue-green eyes retract his aura.
"There's no need to be cautious with me; if I wanted, you'd already be dead." He added, "By the way, my name is Zaydas, Zaydas the Traveler. Nice to meet you... Well, I guess you're not in the condition for that now. Here, a first meeting gift."
Near each of them, a red magic circle appeared, and from the magic circle, golden fruits emerged.
"Eat them; they'll help you recover and..." From the same magic circle, flasks with a transparent blue liquid appeared: "These are healing potions. They'll help speed up your recovery."
The eldest of the ogres took the fruit and ate it without hesitation.
"Old man!" The Young Master was alarmed.
"Mm, it's not bad and... Indeed, it's helping to recover my magic power..." The eldest said, "It's alright, Young Master, the truth is, even if we were in better condition, we wouldn't stand a chance against him."
After that, they all ate the golden fruit and drank the potion.
In an instant, all their injuries, even a good part of their fatigue, began to disappear.
...
Looking at them, Zaydas put his hands in his pockets while smiling slightly.
He didn't expect his hunch to be correct.
'So, as I suspected, many of the events are happening according to the light novel.'
The truth was that Rimuru was supposed to find them in the cave, just as he was supposed to help them.
'Sorry, Rimuru-san, another time, I'll make it up to you...' He thought of the elves living in the Forest of Death. There were still several of them who didn't have a home yet.
Although he didn't have a real obligation, he at least wanted to give something in return for taking Rimuru's chance to meet the ogres.
And, who knows, maybe the elves will become a powerful group under Rimuru's command...
After the initial surprise, they thanked him.
"Thank you, Zaydas the Traveler."
"Feel free to just call me Zaydas." Saying this, even already knowing the answer, he asked: "By the way, you are a strong group... There shouldn't be many monsters capable of leaving you in this state. Do you mind telling me how this happened?"
Ogres are B-class monsters; but, with training, they can elevate this classification to B+ or even A-. Obviously, it would be strange if he wasn't curious about the fact that they ended up like this.
The ogre carrying a large hammer began: "Danna, it's like this..."
His narrative was about the Orcs, obviously.
They also talked a bit about themselves. How the ogre village, although small, housed 300 ogres. 300 B-class monsters.
Upon hearing "300," he immediately thought of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans who faced the Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae.
The Orcs they faced numbered about ten thousand. Of course, they didn't count each one, but they felt there were at least that many.
Waving his hand, some magic circles appeared, and a table and chairs emerged from the magic circles.
"Sit down." Zaydas said: "Let's continue while having some tea."
Saying this, he made a magic circle appear on the wooden table; soon, a large bowl with chocolate cookies and a kettle appeared. Creating a fireball with his finger, he filled the kettle with the other hand and placed the water inside the kettle.
Then, he went through the process of preparing the tea.
Meanwhile, they watched this scene, which must have seemed at least bizarre, but they quickly adapted, sat down, and drank the tea when it was served.
"It's delicious." The female ogre with light purple hair tied in a ponytail, as well as a visibly curvaceous figure with huge breasts, said.
At this point, their caution diminished considerably.
Well, Zaydas had demonstrated his aura from the beginning precisely to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.
The other ogres also seemed to enjoy the tea.
After drinking the tea, the Young Master of the Ogres said, frustrated: "They attacked our village suddenly. With overwhelming force...! Those bastards... Orcs!!"
Unlike humans, monsters don't have rules that stipulate a declaration of war.
Orcs have a classification between C~D. Stronger than the average goblin, but they don't pose a danger to veteran adventurers. However... these weaklings attacked the stronger ones and even managed to win...
The village chief and a small group apparently paved the way for their young master and the princess to escape.
With a pained voice, the young ogre master said: "If I had more power...!!"
The last scene they saw was their chief falling before the orcs. Moreover, a giant orc was releasing a strange aura. There were others like him. While the village's elite warriors approached the four, the remaining orcs invaded the village. And each of them, just like humans, was fully armored with chainmail.
"What are you planning to do?" Zaydas asked them.
"Isn't it obvious? Find a chance and attack!" The young ogre master replied.
"Of course. I have to avenge my master!" Said the older ogre.
"Me too! While I'm still powerless, I can't let those pigs live!"
"We will follow our young master and princess!"
Up to that point, Zaydas already expected this kind of reaction from them.
"If you want strength, I can give it to you. But, it's alright at a price." Zaydas clasped his hands: "I will give you names, let you have your revenge, but in return, I desire your loyalty."
"Are you serious?" The young ogre master stood up with his hands on the table.
The table barely moved even under the impact of his hand hitting it, which seemed to surprise the other ogres a bit.
"Of course I am." Zaydas placed the cup on the table: "Even if what you said is true, they don't pose a threat to me."
The ogre called "young master" paused to think upon hearing Zaydas's offer. He slowly closed his eyes and then opened them wide: "Understood! We will become your subordinates!"
It was even smoother than Zaydas expected. He was happy about that, to say the least.
"Alright! Now, let's name you!" Zaydas smiled a bit.
Some of them swallowed hard after hearing that.
After all, names for monsters are very important.
Zaydas didn't intend to give different names than Rimuru did, so... The young master was named "Benimaru." The princess, "Shuna." The others were named: Kurobee, Hakurou, Souei, Shion.
Whenever Zaydas named one of them, his stamina would drop to half but would return to 100% thanks to Healthy Body, losing about 10% of Demonic Power.
After he named all of them, his Demonic Power was below 40%. He then took a golden fruit and started eating while the Ogres glowed a bit.
[+239,244 AP!]
"..."
Zaydas choked on the golden fruit and coughed a bit.
His eyes widened slightly, becoming more almond-shaped.
The change in the Ogres didn't happen instantly. Although they had already received new abilities thanks to being named.
'Status.'
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|Name: [Zaydas Gremory]
|Race: [Hybrid: Devil/Meta-human]
|Rank: [Ultimate-Class Devils]
|Title: [Count], [King], [Zaydas Gremory Tempest]
|Powers: [Power of Destruction (Rank S-)], [Demonic Power (Rank S-)], [Dimensional Pocket (Rank S+)], [Magic Master (Gate 9)], [Healthy Body (Rank A)], [All-Purpose Farming Tool (Rank A+)], [Program (Rank A)], [Modeling (Rank A)], [Extra: Magic Detector (Rank A+)], [Indestructible Threads (Rank B+)], [Silk Manipulation (Rank B)]
|Achievement Points (AP): [620,437]
|Equipment: [Evil Pieces]
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'I have enough AP to unlock the last gate of Magic Master...'
It takes 512,000 AP to unlock the tenth gate.
Part of him wanted to do it now, but on the other hand, he felt it wasn't the right time.
'There's a good chance this will become an Ultimate skill...'
If he's going to do something like that, he needs to consider the time and place. Especially bringing those associated with his name into the TSSDK world.
Thinking a bit, he spent 40,000 AP and increased the time flow of this dimension to 1/20.
Then, Zaydas used 1 AP to help him alter the time flow of the cave area they were in, so that while one day passed inside, only a minute elapsed outside.
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