12 11th Move | Tools of the Trade

To remove a possession, the easiest way is to give the spirit possesser a better host to possess, that way said spirit will leave willingly and without any harm done to the original host.

However, I do not have the luxury of having another more suitable subject as Shizue told me how she had this blasted thing for decades, I thought as I looked upon the notes I gathered on this new patient of mine. It's already late into the night and I'm waiting for tomorrow's charges to place more into required specialties.

*Thump*

"Ugh."

Smacking my face onto the table, I groaned. If this was a science problem I could easily solve it, but an occult one? I don't even know the names of the specialties to put the charges in! It's like asking a friend to pick up a pizza from Pizza Hut and not telling them which Pizza Hut you ordered from.

It's utterly demoralizing. Seriously, I am someone who's on track to turn the Jura Tempest Republic into the first modern nation, someone who unlocked a fraction of God's power in the form of the atom and I can't solve a possession issue? I would ask Rimuru's [Great Sage] but I don't think he approves of me signing such a contract with her, and an absolutely loyal bodyguard as an additional line of defense when, not if, my true nature is exposed would be, quite frankly, desirable.

The clock kept ticking as I waited until midnight for my charges to refresh, for me to be able to once again feel the constellation of five charges within me. In the meantime, I continued to brainstorm what specialties to put the charges in, writing down the candidates.

I held the paper up to the lamplight. There were about a dozen names written on there, with the most promising idea being [Magicules], but honestly, I much prefer using one that's less magical. It's a personal prejudice of mine.

Releasing my hold on the paper and hearing it fall onto the table, I decided to lean back onto the chair I was sitting in.

"Hrm..." Taking a mental break by squeezing my eyes shut before opening them, I looked outside through the dark townscape and into the Jura Forest. It was a wall of pure darkness that was only lit slightly by the light coming from Metropolis.

Getting up from the workdesk, I walked out to the balcony on top of the Egg and looked down at what I'd built. The city. Street lights lit up some of the roads with a hobgoblin here and there working and moving things to prepare for tomorrow's busy day before going to sleep.

There was a sense of peacefulness in the air. Being so high up above the trees, the wind blew much faster and I could feel the cool summer breeze wafting through me.

In such a peaceful moment, one can't help but reminisce about the past. Part of my mind wonders if it was a night like this that gave ideas to ancient philosophers and poetry writers because I'm feeling weirdly introspective.

I closed my eyes. With the night's embrace blanketing everything, I could almost pretend, for a however brief moment it will be, that I'm in my old World.

[Silenced Emotion: 30%]

"—!" Sensing an unknown presence on the other side of the balcony, my hands reflexively reached for and pulled out a glowing Dasher in a kaleidoscope of colors and swung it at the intruder.

Just as I was about to cut them, I stopped mid-slash and realized it was the unmasked figure of Shizue. Her figure didn't even flinch when the knife was mere centimeters from their eyes.

My eyes narrowed before sheathing Dasher once again in a specialized container.

"You should be careful to not sneak up on me. That knife could cut effortlessly through any matter." A few weeks ago, I played around with [Dimensional Physics] by placing a few charges into it. Only then did I realize just how much materials I was going to need to properly utilize that overpowered specialty. When I say a lot, I mean I'm going to need a whole moon's worth of raw resources just to get the good stuff.

[Dimensional Physics] grants me the capacity to create dimension-shearing swords that can cut through any conventional matter, make guns that fire off virtual particles that decay entropically in Realspace thanks to the Conservation of Mass, and build a type of shield that utilizes an 'ultra-relativistic fluid'. In essence, through some quirk of physics that is unknown to me, if specific circumstances are met, instead of collapsing into a singularity, I can somehow create a baby universe that exists alongside the main universe as a sphere of event horizon instead of separately.

Effectively, controlled event horizons.

With the thickness of a single quark and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes per cubic meter, this shield terminates all worldline that reaches its surface, meaning that it's disconnected from the outer universe and anything short of a black hole or other similarly extreme manipulation of spacetime cannot hope to penetrate it.

[Dimensonal Physics] called it a gravastar shield, and it's way out of my grasp for now. So instead, I chose to build what I can at the moment.

Namely, what's known as a Quantum Variation Field Manipulator into the handle of Dasher. This tinkertech is something I can understand, at least somewhat. See, in the field of quantum mechanics, there exists a thought experiment called 'Boltzmann Brain'. The thought experiment came from Ludwig Boltzmann and it stipulates how according to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, it is possible, in a chaotic and infinite universe, that a brain could arise from simple probabilistic fluctuations down on the smallest scale.

Now, the QVF Manipulator controls the quantum superposition of electrons to create a shearing effect by making sure the target's atom's electron cloud remains in a wave function. In such an event, any possible physical resistance is rendered null because the very atomic structure that makes up the target just doesn't exist anymore. Cutting through a diamond is as easy as chopping aerogel.

"Why are you so paranoid? In a place as miraculous as this, you should feel safe here, especially since you are the one who built it if what the goblins are saying is correct." Her tone is warm while being underpinned by what's undoubtedly one of extreme confusion and bewilderment at how is it possible for me, someone who can be seen as the Founder of this city and the creator of all these miracle technologies to be so afraid.

Then, she cheekily added, "I highly doubt the 'family' is omniscient enough to check this deep into the Jura Forest."

Shizue warmed up to me pretty quickly after we finalized the contract and geas, perhaps the only one of two magic I can get behind. She told me her real name, that being 'Shizue Izawa' and now acts extremely friendly.

It was very off-putting, considering how I tried to kill her less than a day ago. I'd have guessed she'd be at least somewhat wary about me but I guess that's more of my own modern bias polluting my judgment.

"That is my own thing, not your business— and why are you even here?" I asked, trying to divert the conversation to something else.

"Well, if I am to be your bodyguard I should get to know where you live, shouldn't I?" Shizue said playfully, and much to my despair, any potential argument died on my tongue at the logic of the statement.

"Fair enough, I suppose," I said while shrugging. Heading inside, Shizue followed me in to observe my place.

"So... weird looking."

"What?"

Her words caused me to pause.

"Is this design really what your world thinks fashionable?" She said before touching one of the sofas, "Everything is just so... geometric, so rigid, so unnatural, so bland and lifeless..."

She trailed off after seeing the modern house that's mainly composed of white and shades of grey, before moving to the kitchen, pulling out a chair, and sitting on it, her body facing towards the table. The superhuman seemed surprised when said table suddenly lit up, multiple windows opened up about what would she like to drink.

"I mean, in my culture, from what little I remember having been gone for so long, we often build buildings that have vibrant colors, sliding doors, and other things. Although I seem to recall because of the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Bricktown buildings became more and more popular with more Western influences."

Shizue then tapped the table with caution, like an 80-year-old grandmother who had just been introduced to the wonders of touch screens. Her movements were slow and methodical, and her body language spoke clearly of how she was trying to decipher the thing in front of her like how she would decipher an enemy's attack pattern.

However, to me, seeing Shizue play around with the table touch screen just reminded me of that one time when I had gifted my grandfather with an iPhone 5 for Christmas years ago. He was so confused at what each thing does that he managed to somehow change the main language into German.

Slowly, Shizue's movement grew erratic and she got more anxious since more and more windows popped into existence on the glass screen of the table, before going into absolute panic mode. Sighing at what was happening in front of me, I pulled out a chair and sat next to her. Then I deleted all the extra windows by pressing the trashcan icon that sat near the edge of the table.

I guess Japan back in WWII didn't have anything this advanced huh? I thought sarcastically. Personally, I don't think Shizue and I came from the same world, but I wouldn't completely dismiss the possibility.

"This is what we in my world call a 'Touch Screen'. The hobgoblin who got the blueprint for a more primitive version of this called a 'phone' are still trying to find a way to profitably manufacture it."

I tapped the side icon of beverages on my table and selected 'water' among the choices. Moments later, a section of the wall opened up to reveal a black Roomba-shaped drone that began to move toward me. After it reached the base of my chair, the top opened to a glass of water that began its ascend with a pillar underneath it.

Grabbing the glass, I took a drink before looking over to Shizue, who had quickly burst out laughing, "What was the purpose of that? Can't you just... walk over to a water container and scoop some? Or maybe use a Water Spell to condense the vapor in the air into water?"

The superhuman had an incredulous tone as if she couldn't believe that someone would create something as useless as a servant drone.

Just as I was about to rebuke that statement, I stopped myself to look at the glass of water, realizing that this is a primitive society where people had to learn how to be frugal, where to earn a better position in life you must work harder.

The culture of this World and WWII Japan must be clashing with my modern consumerism perspective.

Placing the glass onto the table, I looked untroubled at her statement, "You would be surprised at how many people would want a home as smart as mine."

"I think you mean lazy."

"You..."

[Silenced Emotion: 35%]

I paused and pondered at her words. It's human nature to be lazy and to do what we want to do, it's the whole reason why supply and demand exist because if we could do everything ourselves, we wouldn't even need to form a civilization where everyone has a role.

Every single invention ever since the creation of the wheel was to make our life easier. The wheel allowed us to transport more goods over longer distances, the aqueducts allowed the ease of moving freshwater into the city, the creation of the electric bulb made lighting easier, and the guns made the act of killing an easier affair.

"I guess it's human— nay a universal nature of all sapient lifeforms to find an easier way to live." I simply concluded, "Everything we ever did was to make our life easier. From the wheel to guns, it makes everything more efficient and less energy-intensive."

Shizue looked at me with surprise on her face. She probably didn't expect my reply.

Then, from out of nowhere, I felt 5 torches lighting up within me. It seems that once again, [Inspired Inventor] is ready to be used once more.

Alright, let's put one into [Occult].

Instantly, I felt a torch get extinguished, in its place was a new specialty.

Well, [Occult] combined with [Laser] gave me a blueprint for a laser emitter that harms the supposedly intangible. Interesting, even if I don't know much about science, I knew the implication of such a scenario would mean that there's more about Electromagnetism than scientists from my old world would know.

Getting up from my seat, I began to walk towards the main door to the hallway outside. This time, I won't have to jump out off the balcony since I'm not in a hurry. However, just as I opened the door, I turned back to look at Shizue, whose currently playing around with the table.

"Ah right, just so you know, I have a ceremony tomorrow concerning the first school opening. It's been delayed for weeks as the Conservative budded head to head with the MPPs over tax revenue and mining rights until it was finally greenlit by the Executive Branch three days ago."

A school for children was one of the first things I recommended building. I even preemptively picked out teachers and gave them several crash courses at night before the whole deal with the Tempest Dollars.

Then, [Psychology] told me Shizue only understood half of what I said, so I decided to dumb it down.

"I need you to guard me essentially."

"O-oh, right, I'll be there tomorrow... when?"

"10:00 a.m. sharp." Then, I realized Shizue doesn't really have anywhere to stay, "Oh, and you can claim any empty bedroom you want. I have plenty in this penthouse."

Accurate timekeeping made it so that the hobgoblin's days were much more organized since they wouldn't need to look at the position of the sun to know what time it was. In fact, clocks are one of the most popular technology out there, with every household owning at least one.

Walking through the doorway of the penthouse, I quietly closed it behind me.

_____________________________________________

Going through the same process of inputting the password, the door to my lab slid open.

Workbench stood near the wall on one side of the room, out of the way and always awaiting my command.

"Workbench."

The wolf chimera neared and opened its sides to reveal the multitude of tools and other chemicals I'd placed inside it for storage.

Reaching into the bowls of Workbench, I pulled out M.A.N.A. before placing it on my head. Slowly, the neural connectors inserted themselves into my skin and wrapped around my spine, connecting to the nerves held within the bones. With a single thought, some of the tentacles reached over to some of the tools hung from the insides of the Workbench and took them out.

Placing a charge into [Spirit Containment] and getting only ways to contain spirits but none for Greater Spirits, I got to work tinkering.

Pulling up a whiteboard and with one of the tentacles holding a marker while another held an eraser, I got to work brainstorming more ideas.

As of right now, the only idea I have is to remove the Greater Spirit through some kind of surgery on the soul itself. Not ideal, as I don't even know much about the soul.

Next, I placed a charge into [Metaphysics] and received blueprints for a type of specialized gamma laser that'll cut any spirits apart.

"Hrmm", well that's useful if this Greater Spirit becomes violent.

Placing my fourth charge of the day into [Spirit Containment] to strengthen it, I got the blueprint when a newly strengthened specialty combined with [Biology] to create a new body to transfer the Greater Spirit into. It's much easier than an inanimate object but runs the risk of the spirit taking over the body.

I'll need to cripple the new body in some way as to trap the spirit.

I then had one of the free tentacles of the M.A.N.A. reach over to a stack of books and pull out an especially thick one. It's an occult book about spirits that Rimuru brought back from his disastrous visit to Dwargon.

Flipping the page, I skimmed over it until I reached a section about Greater Spirits.

Apparently, there were four Greater Spirits. The Greater Spirit of Water, Undine. The Greater Spirit of Wind, Sylphide. The Greater Spirit of Earth, War Gnome (What kind of name is War Gnome? It's like naming yourself 'Tank Man'). And finally, The Greater Spirit of Fire, Ifrit.

How much you wanna bet the Conqueror of Flames has Ifrit possessing her?

I let out a deep sigh of relief. Now that I've isolated the specific spirit that was possessing Shizue, I can create more specialized tools to aid in its removal.

According to this book, when a spirit has been attached to someone long enough, it tends to bind itself to its hosts in a way similar to how bandaids become more painful to remove the longer you have them on. Obviously, I'll need extremely precise tools.

And more importantly, I'll need more tools that can interact with the intangibles first. Physical things like scalpels and knives can't touch or even vaguely affect anything spiritual. Not even Dasher with its QVF Manipulator can affect the spirit.

[Dimensional Physics] then spoke up and gave me the idea of a scalpel with a dimensional shearing effect that can precisely cut anything within a 3-dimensional space. Sounds like an optimal tool to use, but the cost... the power requirement alone is more than the power output of an entire nation like Britain.

Not ideal.

Looking over more of the books that Rimuru had brought from his visit, I found a specific one about souls. The book says that there are three bodies within a single person: the Material Body, the Spiritual Body, and the Astral Body.

The Material Body refers to the actual physical body that everyone interacts with, and it's a requirement for spirits to have a material body lest they get rejected from Realspace.

The Spiritual Body prevents the Soul and Astral Body from collapsing, and it also has a copy of the person's memories. I wouldn't really classify this as a body personally.

Finally, the Astral Body is the innermost body and the container that surrounds the soul itself. Supposedly, the Astral Body can be seen as where the 'soul' began and where the 'material' body ends.

"How fascinating." I can't help but remark. The science in my old world has almost definitively proven the universe to be a materialistic one, but with a single reincarnation, I've completely disproven that notion.

An entire field of study hidden away from 21st-century physics.

I feel like Albert Einstein before he made his Theory of Relativity. I was a pioneer within a new field of study comparable to those early 20th-century physicists who were marching ahead into a previously unknown field of study about things on the smallest scale, how the world was more than just Isaac Newton's Classical Mechanics.

[Magicule] and [Surgery] then spoke up to give me a magical solution of creating enchantments that can cut within the spiritual level and leave the physical alone, hereby removing any and all possible harm done to it.

A grimace appeared on my lips. I... really would rather not use anything magical. [Psychology] said how it's a personal prejudice of mine but I trust science far more than magic.

Then, I placed my final charge of the day into [Pocket Dimensional Engineering] in the hopes that it'll net me a solution to trapping Ifrit in case things get out of hand.

I already underestimated Shizue and was almost defeated in battle. I'd rather be overprepared than get caught off guard like I did the last time.

*Clung*

"Ah!" The M.A.N.A. dropped all that it was holding as a flood of information rushed into my brain, so much so that it took me a few seconds of sorting and organizing before any coherent thoughts could be made once more.

Let's see... now pocket universes are completely out of my grasp since that requires a black hole to start with, so I'll instead build a subspace pocket dimension. It doesn't require much energy, and I could build it with the items around my lab. It also deposits the stuff inside the pocket dimension out like a dump truck once it collapses and the distorted spacetime returns to normal.

It took me several hours, and I had to disassemble some machines I had already built for their parts, but I eventually made the pocket dimension generator. The generator works by generating a small wormhole to consume a local region of space, creating a type of subspace pocket dimension that exists adjacent to normal spacetime.

If I were forced to put it into simpler terms, imagine spacetime as a piece of cloth, the generator stretches a specific region within that cloth, causing it to bubble out as a sack that is connected to the normal universe by a very thin 'string' (AKA wormhole).

This is probably the most advanced thing I've built so far, and such control of spacetime isn't even the limit if the blueprints that [Inspired Inventor] is showing me are any indication.

Looking at the clock and seeing how there was only one hour left until the ceremony, I decided to quickly tinker up some laser-based tools I could use as a scalpel during the eventual spiritual surgery on Shizue.

After completion, I wiped some sweat off my forehead and looked at the clock, seeing that it was 9:55 AM—

"SHIT!" I cursed out, immediately dropping whatever tools were in my and the M.A.N.A.'s hands.

I looked around me in a bit of a panic before realizing the giant flesh octopus that was on my head. Quickly, I reached up and yanked the octopus off my head, undoubtedly severing all of the neural connectors.

I'm... going to need to repair that, I thought as I placed the tinker assistant onto a nearby chair.

Scratching my head, I looked down at my clothing. The hobgoblins and tempest wolves probably wouldn't care if I wore my military clothing but Rimuru definitely will find it distasteful.

"But I don't have any good options..."

Quickly coming up with a compromise, I put on the inner tunic and pants of my military officer clothing. Without the outer jacket, it shouldn't be too obvious that I'm wearing a military dress to the opening of a school and it is formal enough.

Running out of the doors of my labs, I recalled where exactly the ceremony was located and broke into a sprint.

Barreling through the streets of Metropolis like an albino missile with a speed comparable to a car on a freeway, I was silently thankful that right now wasn't the morning rush hour and the road was relatively clean of people.

Very quickly, I reached the area where the ceremony was being held.

It was a very grand ceremony, with a lavish party and many banners to boot. The school itself can be considered an engineering marvel, with wide-open spaces and large windows to let the light in. It's also got one of the more unique designs with smooth, unbroken designs that stand out from the Egg and the rest of the buildings in Metropolis.

In all honesty, it looked more like a concept art of a school in a utopian future rather than anything real.

Effortlessly scaling the fence that surrounds the school with [Gymnastics] and [Stealth] guiding my every move, I silently sneaked behind the main stage that was set up near the entrance to the futuristic school.

I found everyone panicking at my absence, with one of the organizers running around asking people if they'd seen me and a masked Shizue trying to calm everyone down.

In business, punctuality is absolutely necessary, as it shows your boss that you take your job seriously. In my climb on the corporate ladder, I've never once been late for anything, so as you can imagine, I'm feeling a sense of sickness in my stomach.

Even if I was late by only two minutes late.

"I'm here," I spoke up, catching everyone's attention.

Shizue quickly jaunted over and before bowing, "My Lady, now that you're here, we can finally start the ceremony."

The superhuman then pulled something out of her pockets before handing me a weird stone with a hole on one end.

"Shizue what is this?"

"It's a Sonic Amplification Stone. You talk into the hole and your voice will get amplified. I usually have one on me in case I need to stun an enemy with a loud sonic blast."

Seeing my face, Shizue then elaborated, "It's on the lowest setting, it'll amplify your voice enough that everyone can hear you."

Then, my bodyguard moved out of the way and gestured me to backstage.

Well, I guess time waits for no man.

I jaunted over and stood on the stage. 100 pairs of eyes were now on me. My mind unhelpfully dredged up memories of when I was young when no sound could come out of my throat as I stood in front of a crowd similar in size to this one during my elementary school's talent show.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

A nostalgic smile shaped my lips. That was a much simpler time, but I am no longer a simple boy.

Whispers began to run amok amongst the crowd at my apparent silence. I could see at the edge of my peripherals the organizers starting to panic once more at my silence.

After letting the silence continue for 15 seconds, I opened my mouth to speak into the stone.

"In the courtyard of this school, is a geometric sphere with rings orbiting around it. The rings are disconnected from each other and are only held up with magnets." I gestured toward an area behind the crowd, where a few hobgoblins sat, "In anywhere else, such a thing is only possible with magic, but I designed the thing and built it without any magic."

My eerily perfect voice instantly garnered everyone's undivided attention in a way similar to how a death wail would instantly warn every animal within a several-kilometer radius that a death had just occurred. I could spot a particular couple taking the time of my silence to flirt with each other, but the moment I started talking, they stopped to give me their full attention.

I spread my free arm out as if to point at the areas all around me, "everything you see here, from the smallest pencils to the largest buildings, is built without any magic. It is through science that I have built, science that is so advanced they appear like magic to any ignorant people."

I then started walking around the stage.

"Science, that's a new word, isn't it? Even as I'm communicating with you all through what's apparently the universal language of the world, you've all never heard of it before, correct?"

Like dominos, only a few heads nodded before the rest followed. Stopping at the left edge of the stage, I paused once more in my speech before turning to face the audience for dramatic effect.

"Science is the study of the natural world through observation and experimentation. This means that I am using natural laws to my advantage instead of outright bending them like magic." I then pointed at a random hobgoblin, "This also means that you too could also become as powerful as me through science. In fact, ANYONE can be as powerful as me through science."

I can see the widened eyes and stunned faces of each of the hobgoblins. Historically, they've always been seen as the weakest among the Monster races, oftentimes bullied by other stronger races.

The idea that they could be as strong as me, was almost unthinkable.

"To become a mage, one needs to have a special talent in manipulating magicules. To become a warrior, one needs to have good genetics. To have powerful skills, one needs to have a strong soul: all of these paths to power require chance, but Science?" I started talking steadily louder and faster, "Even if you have no special talent in controlling magicules, even if you are crippled from the waist down, even if you have a weak soul: Science only requires you to have a sound mind. You don't even need to have a particularly sharp mind or wit. Science is the great equalizer. It is the thing that will give rise to those have-nots to the same level as those who have. Science is the master key, science will answer all of our problems, and science will achieve things that magic or Skills can never hope to!"

By the end, I was raising my fists and yelling, my voice choke-full of emotions. I was riling the crowd up into a frenzy.

I closed my mouth and licked my dry lips. I raised a hand and waited patiently for the crowd to die down.

"My name is Scientia Tempest, and it is in this school that I hope, my greatest wish that, your children could learn science. Could learn about the things that made me powerful. With the abolishment of the Youth League, I welcome everyone to the opening of the Metropolitan Academy of Higher Thought and Learning. Within this academy, we are teaching the next generation of thinkers instead of workers, as such, we encourage critical thinking and independence. We encourage each student to have their own ideas and their own minds, to explore the world on their own. Because now something unstoppable has occurred."

I paused, building up even more suspense. Then, I resumed in a grave tone as if I was talking about the Holocaust.

"Change. Change is coming. Radical changes that'll make your lives unrecognizable. The march of progress that has once been halted has now resumed, an unstoppable march that'll bring us all into the future, a technological, utopian future for all instead of the stasis you've all been in for the last however long it is."

With a solemn look, I ended my speech.

"Eventually, probably within a century or two. History will look back and see today. This very day... will become known as the starting point of when the march of progress has started once more. I welcome all new students. If you need more information, please check out the info desk.

_____________________________________________

It was deep into the night when the ceremony finally ended. The late-night party was filled with newly rich entrepreneurs and ambitious business hobgoblins networking with each other. Honestly, the party became less about the school and more about business, just like the many charity events and fundraisers organized by the company I worked at in my last life.

Well, I kind of did expect this to happen. It was only natural, for almost everyone in this room owned at least one blueprint or two. The booklet I wrote for these entrepreneurs said how networking was the most important element within any business and I did start auctioning off one or two tinkertech blueprints now and then as a way of making some money on the side.

Granted I could just turn on the money printer since I'm the acting head of the Ministry of Treasury, but that feels too much like corruption to me. Not to mention the inflation and potential loss of trust in the Tempest Dollar just as it's starting out. With blueprints, I could at least justify it as a private citizen exercising Capitalism.

Fortunately, no one attempted to try and network with me. If they did, I'd have shot them down regardless of what they might say. [Psychology] noted how since no one attempted to talk with me, none of the hobgoblins wanted to be the first for fear of standing out too much and get subsequently excluded from any future dealings.

Guess I'm something of a taboo, huh?

After the party, I'm back in the lab working on a power source for the pocket dimension generator. Sparks flew as more and more of a hydrogen fusion reactor powerful enough to give light to an entire city comes into shape. However, while my body was piecing the reactor together, my head was elsewhere.

Unlike the adults, kids had no reservations about talking to me, so during the party, one child hobgoblin came up and asked me just how many jobs I have.

Let's see, I'm the acting head of over a dozen Ministries (just like Rimuru), I'm the Commander of the Grand Republic Military, and I'm the Director of the as-of-yet unofficial Research and Development. The latter one I came up with on my own since I think it's appropriate considering I'm the one who's bringing modernity into this world.

This is one of the reasons why I asked if Rimuru was sure he wanted to tie his fate with the goblins. It's like getting a random remote village in Africa and asking them to run a country: they really can't since none of them are not educated, unlike those in the human cities. Personally, I'd preferred if I could cut a deal with one of the human kingdoms and start off that way.

Thankfully, however, long-term-wise, the academy should help in raising the literacy rates among the kids. But as for the short-term? I'd need to create a short, one-week crash course with [Teaching] to start filling the government with somewhat competent people that won't just fill their Ministry with their own friends and family member.

Nepotism was really popular back in the day.

Finishing up the hydrogen fusion reactor to power the pocket dimension, I started work on more tools that'll participate in the spiritual surgery.

At the very least, I won't have to do any paperwork, so silver linings.

_____________________________________________

AN: Fun fact, the idea for Scientia's eerie perfection came from this one passage I remember reading from the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It was when the protagonist Percival talked about how there were freakishly beautiful faces within the Oasis.