Optimization

Finally, I was done with testing the first two new skills of my upgraded arsenal. And it was very satisfying indeed.

---------------

Now it was time to move on to the next phase of Skill Optimization.

I shall call this phase 'This shit hot as hell'

First up, checking out all the skills I've gotten from Ifrit and Shizue. [Control Flame], [Flame Transformation], [Body Double] and [Ranged Barrier].

I'll deal with the most complicated one first.

[Flame Transformation]. Though it sounded simple, it was not. 

The biggest obstacle for me to use it, was that [Flame Transformation] could only be used on the Spiritual Body. It works by using the spiritual body of the user as magical fuel to generate flames.

Hence, it cannot be used in physical form.

Thank Veldanava, but I had just evolved into a demi-spiritual lifeform a few days ago.

The 'Enlightened Demonoid' stage was a demi-spiritual stage, where I wasn't confined to my Physical/Material body.

I had transcended beyond my Physical constraints, but not completely. 

So that meant that I could basically separate my Spiritual body, not actually separate; but access it, to use [Flame Transformation]

Drawing upon my Spiritual body, I turned myself into Flames. If I didn't have [Thermal Fluctuation Nullification], my physical body would have burned from the flames.

'Yes!!'

It worked, flames started appearing from my fingertips, as their intensity and quantity kept increasing.

'Shit.... This is very draining!!'. It's extremely taxing on the magicule reserves.

In just a few seconds, a noticeable dent had formed in my reserves. This was because the flames continuously consumed magicules and kept dispersing. 

To stabilize the flames, control was required. And thankfully, I have just the skill.

[Flame Manipulation] lets me perfectly control the flames I was producing. It's extremely versatile, allowing for many uses like coating weapons with flame, making constructs of flame, etc.

However, one can't directly coat objects in flame, as they would simply burn. 

This brought me to the next skill, [Ranged Barrier].

It provided physical protection and also contained energies.

Ifrit's [Flare Circle] art used this skill. By enclosing an area in a barrier and then unleashing its flames, maximum damage could be achieved.

From Rimuru's experience, I knew that [Ranged Barrier] could be further upgraded. Since a single barrier cannot have multiple properties, the only way to gain many types of defenses together is to stack the barriers, each with different properties.

<Received. [Ranged Barrier] can be linked with resistances. Relaunch as [Multilayered Barrier]?>

<Y N>

With a quick 'Yes', I was now nearly invulnerable to most things. Even more than I had expected.

I had an unexpected amount of resistances:

1. Thermal Fluctuation Nullification

2. Electricity Nullification

3. Pain Resistance

4. Abnormal Condition Nullification (Paralysis, Poison, Petrification, Madness etc.)

5. Corrosion Resistance

<Report. Thermal Fluctuation Nullification, Electricity Nullification and Corrosion Resistance can be combined to form 'Natural Effects Nullification'.>

'Of course, Do it.'

Now I just had 3 types of Tolerance skills; Abnormal Condition, Natural Effects and Pain. But they were more than enough for now.

I had gained most of these from Coatl's [Celestial Snake Eyes], so I was satisfied.

To activate it, I needed a single thought-- and viola!

An extremely thin, invisible and colorless layer of coating covered my whole body. I could barely sense it with my [Magic Sense].

Once it is deployed, it's magical consumption is also minimal, far less than what I could naturally recover.

Now my defense is finally complete, for now.

---------------

By the way, I CAN FREAKING FLY NOW!!

All thanks to the skill [Gravity Flight].

It basically allowed me to magically levitate myself and fly in any direction, unlike the commonly seen unidirectional flight spells of humans.

Simple really, but extremely cool!

I can't wait to fly all over Jura at speeds that should get me pulled over by the cops at least 83 times.

I then turned my attention to the last skill of the 'This shit hot as hell' phase.

[Body Double]

This skill allows the user to create replicas of themselves that they can remotely control. But, there is something special about this skill.

In the original series, this skill worked differently for every user. Some could make only one replica of similar power to the main body, while some could make a few copies with moderate power. Ifrit, can make many replicas, but the individual power of these replicas is relatively low.

I wonder how it'll work for me.

Turns out, after some experimentation, I can make only a few clones, around 3 with my current magicule capacity.

That's surprisingly low, but it also means that the clones are that much stronger.

The clones can even use my Unique Skills while they are within a certain distance of me. The [Great Sage] told me that as my magicule capacity increases, the max limit of clones will also increase.

The most special feature of my skill, is that I can use the [Parallel Operation] function of [Great Sage] to simultaneously control all the clones along with my main body.

That means there'll be no multiple consciousness issues, because in the end, all of the clones are just ME.

I then proceeded to practice these new powers for the next few hours, getting a feel of them, and improving my control.

----------------

*PHEW*

Finally done.

I had finished experimenting with the skills I had acquired from Ifrit and Shizue, along with [Dimensional Threads] and [External Armor].

Time to test optimize the next set of skills.

All the 'Manipulation' type skills:

1. Flame Manipulation

2. Dark Lightning (Lightning Manipulation)

3. Water Manipulation

4. Wind Manipulation

5. Earth Manipulation

<Report. Based on information from [Archiver] and analysis of skills, following skills can be optimized:< p>

Water Manipulation, Wind Manipulation, Earth Manipulation, Dark Lightning, Flame Manipulation and Flame Transformation can be combined to create two new skills:

1. Dark Flame-Thunder

2. Molecular Domination>

You really are the best, [Great Sage]

'Carry out the optimization'

<Synthesizing skills using [Degenerate]......Successful>

<Extra Skill [Molecular Domination] and [Dark Flame-Thunder] successfully acquired.>

The <VOTW > announced my new skills.

Now I'm really stepping into the higher-tiers. Both of the skills I had acquired were extremely powerful, and capable of doing everything the old skills that were synthesized could do, to an even higher degree.

[Molecular Domination] basically allowed me to control the surrounding magicules to manipulate the path and movement of molecules. That gave me an assortment of abilities like Telekinesis, Control over the elements, etc.

But there was something else. If I remember correctly, Rimuru merged his Molecular Manipulation Skill with Magic Jamming to get Magic Manipulation.

<Report. [Molecular Domination] can be merged with [Magic Jamming] to get the skill>

<Execute. Y N>

And just like that, with a simple 'Yes', I got a new overpowered skill.

This feels too easy.

[Magic Domination] allowed me complete and precise control over the magicules around me. I can control various elements, perform precise telekinetic manuevers, interfere with other's magic by controlling the magicules they are using, etc.

Combined with my innate Magic Resistance, this skill made me basically immune to Elemental Magic.

Unless it's a Nuclear Magic or a Holy Miracle of course.

Next up, was [Dark Flame-Thunder].

This skill was the result of Veldora's influence. Since his innate True Dragon Magic has the ability to manipulate dark flames and thunder, it manifested through this skill.

In a sense, it was the sign of my bond with Veldora.

The skill allowed me to convert my magicules into extremely powerful black-colored flames, or extremely potent black lightning.

I had total control over these generated flames and thunder.

It was a skill whose strength stemmed directly from one's magicule capacity. So it was a direct representation of a monster's power.

In terms of performance and effectiveness, it could easily rival some Unique Skills.

Another related skill I had gotten, was [Lightning Transformation].

Its similar to [Flame Transformation], but the vital difference is that this skill transforms the physical body instead of the spiritual body.

I'll try this skill out later, along with [Gravity Flight].

This concludes the 'Manipulation' skills phase. Time to try them out.

-----------------

This is freaking amazing!!

To put it simply, these skills are overpowered as hell.

When I started experimenting--

A single thought could create a giant wall of dense earth, raise spikes from the ground, cause the whole cave to almost collapse, and then allow me to fix all damage done to said cave.

A simple wave of my hand generated precise but powerful wind currents that I could fully control the direction of. They were even more powerful than the strongest jet-streams of my past world.

I could telekinetically control the smallest particles in the air, shaping them into whatever form I wished.

Then came the really broken part, [Dark Flame-Thunder]

When I first used it, I got a concerned telepathic message from Veldora saying to be careful using such powerful abilities while inside the cave.

The flames I created surpassed many thousand degrees in terms of temperature, and their intensity was simply unparalleled.

The lightning strikes were too fast to see, and powerful enough to vaporize a whole segment of the cave instantly.

I really HAD to gain control over these powers. Can't afford to cause unnecessary damage during important moments.

I still wanted to let loose a little here and there. But for that, I needed a worthy opponent.

Oops, got sidetracked there.

Back to becoming overpowered.

I've already reduced over 10 skills down to 4.

This is as far as I can go with inspiration from the original story. Now I'm on my own.

And I actually have an idea. I just have to test whether its feasible. To do that, I needed a clone of myself.

So I created a replica of myself in front of me.

Slowly calming my mind down, I closed my eyes and focused.

I activated [Magic Aura] and channeled it through my body.

I felt power surging all over my body, and my body started pulsing with a dangerous light.

Then, I opened my eyes.

They held a predator's gaze, quite literally. I'd activated [Celestial Snake Eyes].

As the final step, I simultaneously charged up [Crimson Ichor] and a [Death Roar].

Finally, I shot everything I had built up, filled with magicules and my aura, at my clone.

It was magnificent. 

An extremely complex attack, made up of many abilities, combined intricately.

*BOOOM*

It hit my clone at full strength.

<Report. Effects of the skills [Celestial Snake Eyes], [Death Roar] and [Explosive Blood] can be integrated into [Magic Aura]. Relaunch as [Deathblight]?>

<Integrated skills will be sacrificed. Y N?>

"It Worked!!" I exclaimed.

"YES!"

<Acquiring Extra Skill [Deathblight]...Successful.>

<Report. Extra Skill [Deathblight] adds the following effects to your magical aura:< p>

1. Poison

2. Corrosion

3. Madness

4. Petrification

5. Death

6. Paralysis

7. Explosion

>

I've done it. This is the first skill I've created on my own.

Not gonna lie, I'm very proud of myself.

In the original series, most readers' biggest problem with Rimuru's character was his over-reliance on Great Sage/Raphael/Ciel.

I'm trying to not do that. Of course, she will always be with me, and she is a part of me, but I still have to pull my own weight.

And the skill is pretty impressive too. Basically an insta-win against opponents with weak resistances and weak auras.

And it's not just effective against weak opponents. Even if it won't work to the same degree against powerful opponents, it'll still be a hindrance.

The main use of this skill is to coat my weapons and body with a [Deathblight] infused aura, to attack with these effects.

The aura would attack the opponents with all the effects simultaneously. Even if the opponent possessed resistances to some of them, the others would still work.

But I had a question.

How does the 'Death' effect exactly work?

<Received. 'Death' is a unique attribute which summons the power of dead and evil spirits to sap away life energy target. This leads eventual death It can be resisted with powerful enough aura.>

'So it's Unique to me?'

<Received. Insufficient information to arrive at a conclusion. However, it is most likely that the case.>

'Pretty Cool, having a unique attribute?'

This skill is pretty similar to Luminous Valentine's Ultimate Skill [Asmodeus].

I hope it lives up to it's hype though, don't wanna be disappointed.

-----------------

Up next, the final possible skill combination.

[Consumption] and [Drain]

[Consumption] allows to mimic the properties of any consumed inorganic substances.

While [Drain] allows the user to use 70 percent of the targets skills for a limited amount of time by drinking the targets blood.

They aren't fully compatible with each other, but I think I can force it.

'[Great Sage], use Synthesis on those two skills forcefully.'

<Report. Forced Synthesis can result in reduced effectiveness and efficiency of resultant skill. Proceed Y N?>

Doesn't matter, just do it.

<Combining [Consumption] and [Drain].....Successful>

<Extra Skill [Esurience] successfully acquired.>

Hmmm... That's new...

Upon asking, [Great Sage] told me that [Esurience] gave the user the ability to partially mimic the properties of anything they consumed, be it inorganic materials, other monsters etc.

Properties of lower-level objects and organisms can be perfectly mimicked, but the effectiveness decreases the higher the level of the target.

Basically, this was a nerfed version of Rimuru's [Predator], except for the Stomach function.

Very useful indeed.. This skill would be overpowered in the hands of a certain insect.

Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

This finally concludes the optimization of all my skills. I don't think I can combine any more than I've already done.

To sum it all up, these are the new skills I've gained:

1. [Dimensional Thread]

2. [External Armor]

3. [Magic Domination]

4. [Dark Flame-Thunder]

5. [Deathblight]

Along with these, I've gained two Tolerance skills:

1. Abnormal Condition Nullification

2. Natural Effects Nullification

Judging by the vastly different skills I have compared to Rimuru, I'm sure that I'm much stronger than he was at this point in the original story.

The only major things I lack are [Predator/Gluttony] and Veldora-The Magicule Battery. But they're more than compensated for by [Necromancer] and the new skills I've gained, especially [Magic Domination] and [Deathblight].

I should take a break from constant power-experimentation for some time. Focus on some other things like developing the [Soul Realm] and most of all, relax.

But unfortunately, fate didn't seem to be on my side. Just as I finished one important thing, another troublesome thing popped up.

*SIGH*

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A/N: YAAYY! New Chapter!

This one was fully, just power-progression.

There will be more of plot and dialogue in the next one. Things are gonna start deviating a LOT from canon. Stay Tuned!!

Don't forget to REVIEW the story and drop some POWER STONES!