After the treaty I still had a lot of work to do. Mainly, building the 30 factories necessary to keep up with Eurazania, Dwargon, and Tempest's demands for bug-spray. Thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Infrastructure the work, while tiring, was making some great progress. However, as a result of the constant work most of the Orcs just didn't sleep. Rimuru saw this and told us all to have a whole day of rest.
I told him that I honestly didn't know what to do on a day of rest, I haven't really purposely taken a break before. Rimuru saw this as a problem, and here I am. On a small remote lake beach.
The people here are the most of the Oni's except Hakurou, Milim, Souka and Rimuru. Quite a few other people wanted to come like Gobta and Gabiru but they all had something to do. Gobta had some tortu…I mean training scheduled with Hakurou and Gabiru is working with Vesta on an important experiment. Apparently they still got their research going like in the original. I didn't tell Vesta to do this so I guess it was Rimuru who assigned them to this during my weeks outside of Tempest.
Souei came just as my bodyguard and as a result Souka came to simp on Souei. The rest are here for more normal reasons.
I end up getting assigned as the dedicated Milim babysitter, not that I'm complaining. As Milim and I head out I mention the idea of making a sand castle. Milim doesn't know what that is so I show her. Trying to one up me Milim makes an actual castle with sand. I have no idea how that's possible.
For the most part the time at the beach ends up being pretty uneventful however. I spend most of my time showing Milim some of the games I used to play when I was a child. I still can't get over how childlike Milim is when she's happy.
There is one incident during the time at the beach however. Rimuru decides to dive underwater and take advantage of the fact he doesn't need to breathe to explore what lies underwater. What he finds isn't exactly what you want to find. He flies out of the water landing face first on the beach before a giant squid-like monster surfaces shortly after.
It's a light shade of blue with bulging green eyes and strange sacks on the side of its head. The sacks start growing as it prepares to attack. Suddenly it releases acid all over the beach primarily aimed at our group.
[Great Sage], what is that?
{Answer- A B rank Giant Acid Squid.}
It's not strong enough to hurt anyone but it still gets annoying. Flying upwards with my Phoenix Wings, I wrap it up with [Sticky Steel Thread] and launch it upwards before burning it alive with [Phoenix Fire]. This thing needed to burn. If I didn't, more acid might have been thrown around the beach. It's charred remains land next to Souei who doesn't even flinch while Souka panics and runs. Just like that we have what'll become lunch. Pretty convenient in the end I would say.
I walk over to it, cut a chunk off of it and eat it with [Predator].
{Notice- Analysis of the Giant Acid Squid has been completed.
The ability to mimic a Giant Acid Squid has been obtained.
Skills [Acid Shot] and [Acid Secretion] have been acquired.
Resistance Acid Immunity has been acquired.}
Eh, not bad. As the day wraps to a close I lay down and look up at the stars. I never really got the chance to see stars in my previous life. There just weren't any to see. Milim left to play with Rimuru who is still taking advantage of this break day. Makes sense, considering he is The Unwilling Typewriter.
Suddenly, something catches my attention. A small round, blue blob rises from the ground and starts consuming some nearby leaves. It's a Slime. I guess the conditions at night are better for them right now.
That gives me an idea. So, part of the reason Rimuru and I are so strong is we have an upgraded version of the Slime Intrinsic Skills [Absorb] and [Dissolve]. Those two skills are the basics for [Predator]. Slimes naturally have some pretty crazy potential only being held back by animal level intelligence. Slimes may not seem like much now but what happens after they are named?
{Answer- If named by you, evolution to Tempest Slime is possible. Intelligence on the level of humans is an expected upgrade in the evolution into Tempest Slime.}
That catches me off guard a bit. "Wasn't expecting an answer but thanks."
Souei, who is guarding me nearby, asks, "Did you call for me?"
"Eh, oh, no Souei."
He bows and says, "Understood, sorry for intruding, Lord Migeru."
I immediately start factoring this new discovery into my plans for the future. After a few minutes of brainstorming I finally come up with a final plan.
What I will do is after obtaining the ability to give my subordinates abilities after my Demon Lord transformation I will name a group of Slimes. The strongest will be given [Predator] and [Great Sage] using [Bestow]. This'll be possible as by the time both of us are Demon Lords, neither of us will have [Great Sage]. Both will be Ultimate Skills. As for the rest of the Slimes, they will be given weaker versions of [Great Sage] and [Predator]. For [Great Sage] that would be [Sage] for example.
If this all goes according to plan an arm of the Tempest Military stronger than the Black Numbers shouldn't be too farfetched to achieve. A leader Tempest Slime with [Great Sage] and [Predator] is pretty broken on its own already but this'll be an army of Tempest Slimes. There's no telling how strong they'll be as a unit.
There is one last question however, why not name them now? The answer to that question is simple, I can't give them human forms without [Bestow] and that's a problem. Rimuru could give them human forms but I need these guys specifically under my control for future more shady endeavors I plan to do with people like the Rosso's. I'll have to wait until I obtain [Bestow] or a stronger version of it during my Demon Lord transformation. I don't want to name them now and have a bunch of sentient blind water balloons rolling around all over the place.
To prepare for this new Slime force I'm putting together however, I need to make a farm. A place where I can store and raise the Slimes. Due to them staying mindless animals this only makes sense. Flying around gathering Slimes to name when the time comes would simply be irrational. Just store and raise them like farm animals, that's way easier.
The next day back in my lab I design the new Slime Farm. It has a few things it needs. It needs an area specifically tuned for Slime survival for one. Slimes are actually very fragile, Rimuru and I are exceptions. They need a dark, wet, Magicule rich environment to live healthy lives. They're kind of like earthworms now that I think about it. Anyways, I need to simulate that ideal environment.
The dark part isn't that hard to do. Just don't put lights in the farm. It's as simple as that. The moisture is simple as well. I design pipes that are connected to the lake from yesterday. It'll drain water from the lake and transfer it here. As the water enters the building it will be warmed up with Heat Rocks to the perfect Slime-friendly temperature where it will be ready to be released into the containment area with a consistent timer system to make sure it doesn't get too dry or wet.
The Magicule rich environment is a little more complicated however. It'll involve using specialized machines that slowly release Magicules into the Slime containment area. The Magicule source will be Magistone mined in the Sealed Cave. The Magistone itself will also need to be monitored and refilled on a regular basis to maintain optimal Slime Magicule density. It'll be more hands on but I can do it. As for how I know the optimal Slime Magicule density, I calculated it with [Genius] and [Great Sage].
Luckily for me, food isn't an issue with these Slimes. Slimes do in fact eat, they eat very regularly in fact but this is just a weird instinct. They can live off of just Magicules. Due to that I won't feed the Slimes.
After the designing is complete, building it comes next. The factories are being led by Gurd so I don't need to be there. I'll focus on the Slime farm.
Building it proves to not be very hard, in fact it ends up being pretty relaxing. As I've said, I've had my hands pretty full. Whether it be the treaty with Carrion or my plans for the future I always have something to do.
On top of that, due to experiences with a slightly egotistical and violent little sister in my past life I have a way easier time with Milim than Rimuru. I'm more like her caretaker or as I like to imagine an older protective brother than her "besty" right now. It doesn't bother me because I care quite frankly way more about Milim than I should but sometimes it does get mentally draining.
With the farm, getting to work on a project where assuming I don't mess up, nothing can go wrong proves to be helpful in helping me unwind a little.
I put in some real elbow grease on this one. I get the entire farm complete in only a week. When I get a good look at it, I marvel at it. It's the third biggest building in Tempest only behind the Central Hall and my Lab. It's made of the same stuff my Lab is made of.
A dirt, mud, stone and Magisteel mix made mostly of some really plentiful materials. Of course the Magisteel is a little expensive but the Sealed Cave still has quite a bit and the mix itself only calls for three percent Magisteel so it's not too bad.
The tunnel for the pipes connecting to the lake ends up being really easy. I got a skill called [Tunneling] from a monster called a Stoneworm which really comes into play here. Using this I could dig at crazy speeds while I left behind complete connected pipes behind me.
As for the inside of the farm it's made mostly of stainless steel with some concrete support. There's only really one room for people in it. Most of it is just the farm, the room is only really for observation purposes. I check the machines to make sure they are operational and finally get ready to actually put Slimes in the farm.
To find out how many I should put in I need to consider how they reproduce. Slimes can reproduce both sexually and asexually. They can either split in two or rub against each other in a manner resembling sex as they share DNA. The DNA from both parents rearranges and mixes around until the DNA for a whole new slime is created. The "female" Slime in this relationship then splits part of itself off and puts the newly created Slime DNA in it creating a new Slime.
Whether it be sexually or asexually they don't do it often. Only about once a week at most and some can reproduce as slow as once a month. They live forever assuming they aren't eaten so it's not like they are pressured to do it. Of course just to be safe and avoid overflowing I'll only start off with two Slimes. I am still a long way away from becoming a Demon Lord and these Slimes will grow in Numbers exponentially. Sadly, if it does overflow I'll have to let some Slimes go.
Finding two with [Magic Sense], I dig them up, pick them up and bring them to the Slime Farm.. Placing them in I say, "Let's see how this goes," and fly out of the containment area.