53rd Move | The New Order

The number of times I use my 'official' office in a typical month can be counted on one hand, thusly, is it really a surprise if the room is extremely barebone with only the essentials like a desk, a computer, and a chair present? However, recent events have pushed that number into the double digits as I'm currently sitting in my office chair and staring intensely at the piece of paper on my desk.

It read 'investigation into the new political party' and was authored by Diablo himself.

It was a rather thin report, all things considered, a sign that there probably isn't much going on with this new party that Adalman set up, fortunately.

After the annexation of Jistav, Rimuru had introduced me to the key figure in disabling much of Clayman's defenses and getting Amrita to capitulate.

Adalman, a bonafide lich— oh sorry, the correct term is 'Wight', he was once a Cardinal of the Luminous Faith but was betrayed by the Clerics of the Seven Luminaries, so he sought a new faith, AKA: me.

I don't know what to think of the fellow. As an atheist, I've never been much of a religious man. In fact, I actively scoffed at the prospect of 'God', and at most only thought of them as perhaps higher-dimensional organisms influencing the lower realities for some unknown purpose.

But now after Walpurgis...

Blinking my eyes several times to get rid of those thoughts before I could have another existential crisis, I opened the report that Diablo gave me, after all, said Demon Peer is currently standing in front of my desk and eagerly awaiting my reply.

Using reading techniques and shortcuts I adopted from [Literature], I was able to consume and digest a 4000-word report in less than a minute.

What I received from it was... a tad bit disturbing, at least to me. Adalman was abundantly clear in viewing me as a 'Deity', so he created a new faith under my name as well as a new political party called the 'Technologist Party'.

The Technologist Party follows a new ideology called 'Optimizationism'. According to the Optimization Manuscript authored by Adalman himself, they see the worth of an individual is determined by how much output/work they can produce. In other words, it's a technocratic libertarian ideology that emphasizes free-market capitalism and individualism.

...Adalman may have been influenced by my personal memoirs...

The Technologist Party's ultimate goal calls for giving me a blank check on whatever I want to do since I'm the one who's the most productive.

Dictatorship, but with extra steps.

Granted, establishing a new political party is nothing new— there were many parties currently established, examples include; the Orc Party, the Labor Party, the Ultra-conservative Party, the National Capitalist Party, and many others. However, these parties are unbelievably tiny, with the largest only having around 50 members and gaining the favor of 0.8% in the opinion poll.

The Technologist Party is the black sheep among them by gaining the favor of 20% of the population after the latest opinion poll, skyrocketing it into a position right under the Modern Progressive and the Conservative. The Technologist Party can easily earn some seats in the Senate by the time of the next District and Provincial Election.

The Faith that Adalman had created was a monotheistic one, with me as the sole deity and Rimuru as my right hand. Unlike other cults that exist in the country worshipping either me, Rimuru, or Veldora, right after a week of establishment, the Church of Knowledge gained a whopping 117,000 new believers.

Diablo believes due to how rare I appear in the public eye as well as how fast I've advanced the living standard of Tempest, I've inadvertently created a Cult of Personality that attracted the adoration of some and the fear of others.

In other words: I've upended and changed their poor lives so much and so quickly with my technology that I look like an actual God to these people.

I swear if these people start calling themselves Mechanicus and me as the Omnissiah I will—

Clearing my throat, I look up at Diablo, "good work as always, Diablo."

"It is nothing praiseworthy, my Lady, as your humblest servant this is the very least I can do after you've placed me in charge of Special Circumstances." Diablo bowed deeply.

The Special Circumstances Unit—or simply the 'SC'— is the code name for the secret intelligence and operations branch of the Jura Tempest Republic. Operating clandestinely and with total support, its primary purpose is to serve as the eyes, ears, and scalpel of the government. If I were to describe it, I would say that it's like combining the CIA and NSA into one singular branch with Diablo as the Director, essentially the Covert Action Option of Tempest.

Officially, the SC does not exist. Congress does not recognize the existence of Special Circumstances and neither does the President, so they can get away with doing the dirty work that must be done by claiming ignorance. Some of these include interacting with the criminal underworld and offering them silver or lead in staying out of Tempest.

The SC is sort of like Area 51 in a way.

The branch was created right after Walpurgis. Due to it being relatively recent, it doesn't have any spy network currently established, what with us mostly piggy-backing off of Blumund's. Although Diablo is trying to make one in Ingrassia the last time I checked.

Closing the report, I placed the file into my Pocket Dimension and got up. Seeing the Black Primordial look apprehensive triggered my danger sense.

Sitting back in the chair, I started the conversation with a raised eyebrow, "Is something the matter?"

"No, my lady, it's just an annoyance is all."

"...As your boss, I am obligated to know what troubles you."

My fingers intertwined with each other in a business-like fashion.

"It's just some online idiot was threatening to blow up the Space-Elevator that's opening next week if their partner doesn't return to them. After much investigation, we came to the conclusion that it's just an online troll spatting out empty threats."

Ah, trolls, an everpresent concept even in this world. In the wild west of free internet, trolls are everywhere. "I see. Tell me, as a handler, how are your new subordinates fitting in?"

"Wonderful as always, though I must admit lady Scientia, I still do not see why you had given them that offer: they were associated with the enemy after all."

"I saw an opportunity to reduce the possibility of future threats and I took it. Besides, they wouldn't ever betray me, not after they've seen what I'm capable of and what I'm offering." I waved Diablo's concerns off, it's the classic carrot and stick. If they do betray me, the Black Primordial can easily off them. "How is Rimuru's training coming along?"

"Wonderfully. If I were to place him in a rank, I would think he's a low Disaster-level, nowhere near a Primordial but stronger than most people in the world."

Ever since his resurrection, Rimuru was borderline obsessed with growing stronger. To such a degree the slime had thoughts of resigning as President to get more time to become more powerful. Obviously, I dissuaded him of such drastic actions by supplying him with a room of sped-up time to train in, where every second on the outside is around 2 seconds inside.

"Good, should I check up on his progress with a spar?"

Diablo thought about my question for longer than I expected, causing me to consider perhaps it's not a good idea before he spoke up once again, this time in caution.

"My lady, if you wish to spar with President Rimuru, please go easy on him."

"Grk—!" I clutched my heart as if I had just been shot, before Diablo could ask what was wrong I held up a hand and halted him in his track. Is he truly still so weak?! "I see. By the way, you've told me that there are a total of 7 Primordials, yes?"

"Yes, Me, Jaune, Rouge, Vert, Bleu, Violet, and Blanc."

"I see." Hearing Jaune's name made me recall a particular hostile interaction between her and Milim, "That means there are 2 more free?"

"Yes, Violet and Blanc should be the only ones still uncontracted." The black Primordial confirmed as I ignored the parts of my mind screaming at why is French being used to describe their names.

Is French colonialism hitting a multiversal level? I joked internally, even more than the British Empire?!

"Tell me about them," the part about 'and if it's possible to get them on our side' went unsaid but implied.

"The Purple Primordial is a manipulative demon bitch who uses her child-like appearance to hide her cruel and sadistic personality. I've fought her plenty of times in the Underworld, and every time she always loses. What's worse is that she's such an annoyance when she loses that I'm tempted to give her a free win just so she'll stop whining about it... almost. Although, I haven't seen her after Relentless' Rampage..." Oh boy, she sounds like a fun demon to talk to, better keep an eye on her at all times.

"The White Primordial is a most interesting individual. She displays characteristics of a noblewoman, and as someone who's had a contract spanning millennias with the rulers of Silberia, she was responsible for the infamous Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident."

My face grew serious as I leaned forward on my chair, intent on listening to Diablo's words.

The Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident is one of the most enduring mysteries in this new world, like, on the levels of the missing Roanoke colony. The Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet was an event that happened decades ago in a small northern semi-sovereign province of the Eastern Empire called Silberia (why there is such a similarity with Siberia is beyond me). The exact details weren't known, only that the aftermath was bad enough that the usual hermit empire had allowed the information to pass through their borders.

Normally, had this been my old world, I would've ignored these mysteries but since this world has things like magic...

'An entire province was wiped from existence brutally' was what my private investigation and archeological findings have been able to conclude, the only piece missing was who could've done a thing.

My first thought was to blame Velgrynd, only, it couldn't have been her— the True Dragon is well-known even beyond the iron curtain of the Empire, and reports of her movement would be front-page news in every Western nation. Moreover, Velgrynd is the type to raze Silberia to the ground from above by burning everything instead of getting close and personal and running the streets red with rivers of blood, like something straight out of the Hellsing manga that Veldora liked so much.

I then thought of perhaps it was the Eastern Empire military, but from what I can make out of Emperor Rudra's modus operandi based on his past actions, he doesn't seem to be the type of person to order the complete ethnic cleansing of a hundred thousand— the death of a large percentage of the population, yes, but that was for the sole purpose of instilling fear. Completely genociding a province is very out of character for the supreme leader of the shadow empire.

It was an extremely bloody affair, the Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident.

And if one military officer's account is anything to go by, there was pair of giant up-standing stone slabs jammed together near the town center. While it may seem to be an oddity at first, the account later went on to say the middle of the stone blocks was filled with blood and other human viscera, sort of like an Oreo if the cookie portion were made out of rocks and the cream were hundreds of squished humans.

The Rudra dynasty is like this world's version of Stalinist Russia, what with them being known for using gulag-style work camps to execute unruly elements within a population via slave labor, not gigantic blocks of stone.

That was just one of many accounts made by the hundreds of Eastern Empire Military Officers after they investigated why had Silberia gone dark.

There were rumors of diaries written by some residents of Silberia right before their death describing a scene straight out of hell. I found no credence to these rumors, so they can mostly be discounted as hearsay.

"Any reason as to why she caused a genocide of a hundred thousand?" 'gruesomely' went unsaid. All emotions were gone from my tone, and Diablo instantly knew that this is no place for playfulness.

"To know why Blanc caused the Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident, one must know of the pact she had with the ancient rulers of Silberia. Now, personally, I've never paid much attention to other Primordials until they challenged me, so my information is third-handed at best." He waited until I motioned him to continue, "the pact between the White Primordial and the nation was like this: the Demon would protect the nation of Silberia until the birth of an ideal vessel for Blanc to inhabit. Logically, one could extrapolate that something must've happened to that perfect vessel, whether the Royal Family had killed the vessel so that Silberia could enjoy White's protection for longer or something else— the demon was critical in the defense of Silberia against Relentless— Blanc had salted the field and turned the province into a soulless wasteland."

I thought deeply about what Diablo had told me and his theories, the idea of working with someone who willfully commits such atrocities left a bad taste in my mouth.

This is the equivalent of working with Josef Mengele or Pol Pot... but I guess the same could be said about Jeanne considering her past actions of launching Nuclear Magic at El Dorado.

Not to mention Diablo's history...

Sighing, I used my left arm as a crutch when I started to massage my forehead. The sheer difference between this world from my own modern perspective still rattles me sometimes. Weak individuals are seen as something akin to worthless ants in the eyes of people as strong as Diablo, like, they won't go out of their way to kill ants, but they wouldn't hesitate should the ants get in their way.

I silenced [Negotiation]'s attempt to draw a comparison with how I'm merely observing the aliens instead of uplifting them technologically.

God these logics is so... alien. The ideas of democracy, egalitarianism, and power to the people were never a threat like in my world since any attempts at rebellion were useless when the tyrannical leader (who is usually the strongest of each race) alone is usually enough to stop the rebels. Even if the revolution is successful, the new leader quickly devolves into a mirror of the old one, sometimes even becoming worse.

This world doesn't operate on the typical rules that all rulers in my old world must obey. In my old world, it's 'no man rules alone'— the ruler cannot do everything himself— so instead, he relegates these tasks to the form of 'keys', basically a person he puts in control. Now, in order to stay in power, the ruler must appease the keys that support him by giving them money, otherwise, the keys will just replace the current ruler with someone who will appease the keys. This applies to democracy as well, only, the key supporters are blocs of people with mutual interest, for example, grouping farmers together as a singular key bloc and appeasing them through subsidies.

The throne may look omnipotent from afar, but there exists a house of cards that supports it.

In this world where a single individual can decimate entire nations, the rules don't work like that. Instead, it's not the ruler that relies on the supporters, it is the supporters who rely on the ruler for protection as the ruler is oftentimes the only thing defending the nation against other beings.

In other words, the throne IS omnipotent, and the house of cards is built on top of it instead of holding it up.

This, predictably, leads to some seriously authoritarian and oppressive regimes that'll make North Korea look like strict parents in comparison. In fact, all monster nations operate with this world's version of Fascism (called 'Racialism').

Like, Eurazania was NOT a happy place, the only leisure that the citizens of that nation knows before falling under my influence was to A) get stronger, and B) eat good food.

Exporting modernity to the rest of the world even if we survive the End of the System seemed more like a pipe dream, more so a potential civil war within Qliphoth if the death glares I got from Luminous and Leon were any indications.

Though it's more likely that the Eastern Empire's the one that'll trigger this hypothetical world war, what with their discreet troop build-up along the border.

Personally, I don't think Rudra is stupid or proud enough to try and attack us from the east, since that'll be like a nation trying to conquer the USSR by attacking from Siberia... That's an even worse idea compared to attacking Russia during winter.

I don't want to force modernity onto the rest of the World. I am a pragmatic individual who doesn't want more blood than required. Conflict may be needed for advancements, but there's a point where it gets so bloody and the corpses piled up so high that advancements just aren't worth it anymore.

Before I died, my old world was still experiencing the aftershock of the Industrial Revolution. Just imagine how many societal issues there would be if I drag these primitives kicking and screaming into the modern age.

The scary thing is, I could. I could drag these primitives into the modern age without any societal issues. I could enact something akin to the dystopia in Brave New World, where instead of drugs, I could alter the genetics of each and every person to make them more submissive.

I could create the ultimate dictatorship. I could create a post-discontent society. I have so much power... it is so tempting.

I let out a wistful sigh. Returning back to reality and escaping what could've been.

Primordials... the gears in my head started moving.

"Diablo, I'm going to give you a task," I looked him in the eye as he instantly stood at attention, "you are going to try and deny anyone else from getting these assets, whether get them to become my subordinate or to make sure other people can't get their hands on them, I care not how you do it, just that you do."

Diablo looked ecstatic at the prospect of being given a job, bowing deeply, "I will see to it that your will be done." He prepared to teleport out.

"Wait, before you go back to the Underworld, I think a gift is in order."

His black eyes widened as he took a few small steps back, "wait, my Lady, I can assure you I am strong enough—"

He was cut off when I reached into my own Pocket Dimension, it took a little while for me to find it but the Demon Peer gasped once he saw what was in my hands.

"No, I gave Jeanne something, now it's your turn. In my current understanding of the universe, the Underworld resides in the Metaphysical Plane between worlds that no baryonic matter can touch. So this left me with a bit of a conundrum since most of everything I built at least originated from baryonic matter. Thus, in order to create a proper weapon for you, I realized that I'll need something...spiritual."

In my hand was a Spiritron Annihilation Pistol made from the corpses of Lesser Spirits I bought in bulk from Ramiris, as such, it can't be said that it exists physically. The SAP looked like a grey retro ray gun from the 1960s, with the fin on top and all. While it may look silly, its power is anything but— the Annihilator can purge spiritual lifeforms by enacting something similar to [Disintegration] with each pull of the trigger.

This is one of the rare weapons that I do not fully understand how it works, and I can't help but feel excited since the only time I've created something without knowing how it works was back when I first started to use [Inspired Inventor] over half a year ago.

Diablo looked at the Disintegrator with a reverence found only in believers looking at an artifact of their God. I silently cringed a little when tears pooled in his eyes.

I guess it's also one of the reasons why I trust him so much... That and how his goal of learning the truth of the world aligns with my drive to create a functioning Multiversal Theory of Everything.

Taking the ray gun out of my hands, "Your Will be done!" He bowed deeply before teleporting out, leaving me alone in my office.

Silence descended like a curtain into the room. Seeing that my privacy had been guaranteed, I leaned backward on my chair while stretching my limbs and yawning.

One of the things I despised about being an executive is how you had to sit in your chair all day.

Pulling up several panels of holographic displays, I took a break by surfing the Internet. Due to how new the Web is in this world, there are several search engines competing against one another for dominance.

The default search engine was something I had created, it was called 'Internet Explorer'. As an extremely basic search engine, I designed it to be boring so that other people could innovate based on my creation.

Typing out 'News' on the search bar and pressing enter, a part of my mind noted how I could've used the Noosphere instead.

Ignoring that part, I got around 37,000 results for 'News' with the majority of articles belonging to the largest news sources in the country filling up the top links.

I skimmed over the articles using the same technique I used for Diablo's report.

I stopped when I reached the business section since most of the articles were about the rise of a new company called 'Rosso Incorporated' and how it's having record growth despite being so new.

Going to the Official Website of Rosso Inc, I discovered that they are a family business started by the Hero of Light himself, Granbell Rosso of Siltrosso.

My lips thinned at the name 'Rosso'. If I remember correctly, Granbell was someone who detested monsters and the consumeristic culture of Tempest, except, he's now the owner of one of the fastest-growing companies in the Republic. And this is supposed to be the World's definition of a True Hero...

Reading about Rosso Inc's past, I noticed how it intentionally maneuvered around typical pot-holes and other hidden traps that new companies fall into as if it's led by a graduate of Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration.

(I remember right before I died that Harvard had some bad blood with MIT over an apparent robotics accident that resulted in a graduate's death)

Especially with Rosso Inc's largest subsidiary of Rosso Bank, often accused of predatory behaviors yet they nonetheless serve the niche market of high-interest loans.

'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action.'

The fact that this company has been able to not only survive but thrive is extremely unusual. Ever since Ingrassia recognized our existence, there have been many foreign nobles trying to get into the Tempest market, but failing spectacularly. Almost every enterprise these nobles started off so far has all either bankrupted or is making barely enough to stay afloat. One of the larger companies that failed, Meiling Heavy Industry, cited the source of the issue as Tempest being too alien of a market that they can't adapt to.

In short, the foreign Nobles are stuck in the past and can't compete with capitalism.

'Does Granbell have a Unique Skill in economics?'

[Negative]

That can't be right, my brow furrowed as I grabbed my chin in deep thought.

During the founding of the Jura Tempest Republic, I thought long and hard about how to deal with the Skills that people have. See, the thing with Modern Society is that it assumes people are the same, and switching out someone for another is just like switching the cogs in a machine.

Skills, especially Unique Skills (and Intrinsic Skills) make this an impossibility as you wouldn't hire a Goblin to do heavy labor when there are plenty of Orcs available nor would you hire a person without a Unique Skill related to the field over someone that does.

This is a highly dangerous prospect that will lead to class and race discrimination and resentment, something that already exists to a lesser extent in my old world in the form of different cultural values. For example, Jewish families value education a lot, which is why so many Jews are world-famous scientists and business tycoons. If something like cultural differences can build enough resentment to the point of people causing genocides over, what does that say to those belonging to different species? Where there IS a much larger difference?

Extinction.

My solution to the problem was the Skill Registry and the Omniversity.

The Skill Registry exists to catalog every Extra and Unique Skill User in the Jura Tempest Republic, it functions a lot like Wikipedia and a Social Security Number but for Skills. Generally speaking, it is a by-law that any Citizen who has earned an Extra or Unique Skill must report to be Registry within 30 days, otherwise, there will be some rather harsh penalties both social and legal. In the interest of personal privacy, only the effect of Skills is displayed, and any personal information is only shareable by the person.

The Omniversity is the ultimate place of learning in the entire world. Using [Inspired Inventor], I made Programs and Courses that can teach students complex topics like Molecular Engineering, Business Management, Psychology, and Entrepreneurship using ultra-efficient learning methods that shorten what was once years, even decades, of study to take mere months or weeks to fully complete. Most of the time, after completing a Program, a person typically gains an Extra Skill related to the area they've studied in. Unlike American or Canadian colleges, the Omniversity is subsidized by both me and the Tempest Government, meaning that any courses are dirt cheap and what little tuition fees remained are paid by taking a tiny percentage of the student's future income.

These are what I liked to call the Great Social Equalizers, ways to create a real meritocracy with the Skill Registry being a credit score and the Omniversity being the balancing weight.

'Does someone in Granbell's family have an Extra or Unique Skill in Business Administration?'

[Negative]

I then started to read about the financial transactions of the Rossos family back in Siltrosso, and it got my gut tingling, like that feeling you get when you know that something is wrong but you can't figure out what.

The way they invested in certain things and changed the rules of Siltrosso felt like the moves of an experienced CEO abusing their knowledge of modern economics on these plebs.

It's like reading the biography of John. D. Rockefeller during the Gilded Age, in other words, the start of a monopoly.

'Is someone in Granbell's family an Otherworldly Reincarnator?'

[Confirmation]

I froze in my seat as [Contessa]'s words sunk in, my mouth hit the floor at the revelation.

Moments later, once my mind fully registered [Contessa]'s words, I felt overjoyed at the prospect of meeting another reincarnator, before that joy was dashed when I'm once again reminded of what I lost when I reincarnated.

"..." Kathy... my fist tightened as my body tensed, a flood of nostalgia, of homesickness, quickly replaced every thought I had like a plague in the middle of a city, spreading with the speed of wildfires on a dry summer day.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

Instantly, the overpowering wave of emotion and nostalgia evaporated as I dialed up [Silenced Emotion], letting my mind be clear once more. Homesickness has been less and less of an issue ever since I started to date Arcueid but... it's like tides— only, this 'tide' comes and goes as it pleases instead of being predictable clockwork.

Taking a few seconds, I asked [Contessa] 'is this reincarnator from my old world?'

[Affirmative]

Oh, dear.

I pondered whether or not this world and my old world are connected somehow since this is thrice now that an Otherworlder came from my old world.

The questioning continued for a while as I pull up the family tree of the Rosso family, going over each member until I find the reincarnator.

[Negative]

[Negative]

[Negative]

Due to how massive the Rosso family is— not even counting the extended family— It took me around half an hour until I found my target.

'Mariabell Rosso, is she a reincarnator?'

[Confirmation]

Quickly, I added 'is she the only Reincarnator in the Rosso family?'

[Confirmation]

My mouth formed into a savage smile, gotcha, I thought.

After the War, I had a small talk with Rimuru about what to do if either of us finds other Otherworlders like ourselves. In the end, we agreed to deal with it on a case-by-case basis.

Using the Noosphere, I connected it to the internet and arranged a meeting with the head of the Rosso family sometime after the completion of the Space Elevator. Due to her being the granddaughter of one such as Granbell, her standard of living should be quite high.

Finally getting out of my seat, I did some stretching, moving my neck and limbs in such a way that I'll hear a satisfying crack.

I sent a message to Shizue using the Noosphere to prepare some special tea, before teleporting to right outside of Rimuru's training room in deep interstellar space.

.

.

.

A black abyss was all that I can see, the only light in the room was this single line on the ceiling.

The hallway to the room was unlike anything in the World. It's made out of a material so dark as to be able to block out neutrinos, making any attempt to light up anything other than the people a wasted endeavor.

It can't be classified as baryonic matter, it is a form of Bose-Einstein Condensate, it violates the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and it is the brainchild of my attempt to create a matter that can theoretically survive past the end of the System.

Moving on, here's an interesting thing about antigravity: it speeds up time, unlike normal gravity which slows it down. Now, in order to achieve enough antigravity that quantum dynamics speeding up becomes noticeable, you only really have one method unless you want to go full multicity-scale facility:

Dark Energy.

You could use negative mass to create antigravity, but that's like using a pile driver to create holes in studs of wood for construction. You use negative mass to accelerate the decay of micro-black holes, not a small facility.

Granted, you could also theoretically use a time crystal and the Holographic Principle to the same effect, but that'll take too long, and speeding up time by changing the Calabi-Yau manifold is just spiteful overkill on the level of the United States using its entire arsenal of ICBMs against the North Sentinelese because an overzealous American pastor who tried to spread Christianity on the island got killed.

I stretched out my hand outward into the abyss, only stopping once I'd hit a wall...

Or should I say the door?

The darkness tore itself apart as I was bathed in light, consuming me in an instant as I am teleported inside.

*Bwooosh*

The next thing I know, I was pushed back by this tsunami of passive magicules and intense heat, drowning out my senses and forcing the Mathematics around me to change its warp-space into something that'll passively filter out these new vectors.

Once that was done, I was greeted with the sight of Rimuru flying through the air and duking it out with Jeanne, the latter wearing a white collared button-up t-shirt with a black short skirt and tie while the former was wearing a black trench coat.

Jeanne floated up in the air with dozens of orbs—miniature stars— orbiting around her like planets, each of them shooting out blasts of nuclear magic every few milliseconds and acting more like machine guns.

"..."

Correction, it isn't Rimuru duking it out with Jeanne, it's the Yellow Primordial training the slime to fucking dodge.

The room that Rimuru is training in is shaped like a gigantic flattened cylinder that has a radius of 30 meters.

Cosmic inflation is caused by a combination of different factors. During the initial singularity, the Big Bang was caused by the decay of the quantum field into a more stable state, inadvertently causing the Superforce to quickly decay into the four fundamental atomic forces. That first explosion is what propelled spacetime and matter outward, the initial push of that snowball down the metaphorical hill. Now, gravity would've caused a Big Crunch as all matters fall back into the singularity point had it not been for Dark Energy.

Dark Energy is a cosmological constant, it is generated homogeneously (equally) as space expands from the effect of the bubbling Quantum Foam. The only way to capture enough Dark Energy is through a pocket of slowed-down cosmic inflation that acts as a 'trap' that attracts Dark Energy similar to how air flows from a region of high pressure to low pressure.

Now, to create this trap, I would just link a near-static pocket dimension causally via a wormhole to Realspace (it has to be 'causally' in order to allow Dark Energy in). This pocket of hyper-slowed-down inflation acts like something akin to a sinkhole that suddenly appeared on a lake bed, drawing in 'water' until the entire hole is filled and equilibrium is achieved once more. By controlling how much the inflation rate is slowed down and the size of this dimension, I can control how much Dark Energy is flown into this trap and subsequently, how fast the time symmetry moves. An additional fun fact, this is how you contain a black hole without regard to time dilation.

In a way, the idea of Quintessence Dark Energy in Physics is accurate, except the dynamic scalar field is unnatural.

Oddly enough, this place can be considered some of the most isolated regions in the universe due to the natural Domain Walls formed on the border of the wormhole due to the sudden difference in universal symmetry.

Domain Walls are a 2-dimensional topological defect that forms whenever there is a difference in terms of physics symmetry. The symmetry, in this case, is the sudden difference in terms of the fundamental force symmetry in comparison with the greater world. (I had to increase the electro, weak and strong forces since the antigravity inside here is strong enough to rip apart chemical bonds)

In simpler terms, imagine the universe as a piece of paper spinning clockwise (this is symmetry). In order for part of the paper to spin counter-clockwise (a break in symmetry), you'll need to cut a portion of that paper. A topological defect is the 'cut' itself, the tiny distance between the now two different pieces of paper impossible for any two-dimensional beings to get to the other side, in this case, Domain walls are 'cuts' in a three-dimensional space.

I had played around with the idea that space-time is a superorganism since if symmetry returns, topology starts to get healed up like how animals heal their wounds.

Returning to the fight, the two were so focused on their efforts that I was entirely ignored, so I merely contented myself to observe the spar. The improved Block Form Singularity Mathematics formed a chair behind me for my sitting pleasure. After realizing the upcoming war, I upgraded certain aspects of the armor, tentatively called by the Internet 'Void Armor'.

As the battle rages on, Rimuru was gaining ground against Jeanne. It was like watching one of those rhythm action games, or playing the later stages of Space-Invaders, or playing that game Rimuru loved, 'Touhou' I think it's called? Either way, it's a bullet hell, only this time the opponent is adaptive.

Using the Noosphere, I was able to determine that Rimuru was switching Kusanagi between the Time and Space element in order to weave around the hundreds of bolts of nuclear magic coming at him every second. Why he doesn't just create a Topological Manifold as a shield is beyond me but to each their own, I suppose.

Just then, a Doorway opened up next to me, "Lady Scientia," Shizue in her maid chassis walked out and bowed slightly, her feet clamped magnetically to the floor. In her hands is a small metallic cylinder.

Wordlessly, she twisted open the top of the cylinder, producing a plastic pouch with a built-in straw. It sort of reminded me of the containers that astronauts in my old world would eat from when they were inside the ISS.

Snapping off the cap of the straws, Shizue gave me it.

Silently thanking her and taking a sip, my attention was briefly on why she didn't use [Eidolon] to transport her before chalking it up to something personal to her.

The drink felt cold on my tongue. My attention returned to Rimuru as he whizzed around all over the chamber in an attempt to dodge Jeanne's nuclear fission beams.

My attention is then drawn to the area on the walls where the beam had hit, the redness is slowly dissipating.

Through the manipulation of the Electromagnetic Force using a Hyper-dimensional Forge, I was able to create a metal that has some of the highest melting temperatures in the Universe. When I told Jeanne of this fact after the Demon had asked whether or not the facility can handle 2 S-ranks duking it out, she was visibly thrilled and hugged me, much to the annoyance of Arcueid.

Eventually, the spar ended when, upon seeing an opening in the barrage of nuclear magic, Rimuru pushed as much magicule into Kusanagi as possible and folded the space between him and Jeanne, allowing the slime to blitz across the room towards my subordinate in a nanosecond, stopping just before his katana could penetrate the Primordial's skin.

From the outside, the folding of space made Rimuru appear stretched out as if he were made of dough and someone pulled to try and make noodles.

"Heh, gotcha," Rimuru smirked as he sheathed Kusanagi, looking a lot like a samurai.

The miniature stars poofed out of existence, and my thermometer displayed the ambient temperature in the training room to be 70 Celcius despite having liquid helium pumped in pipes all around the coils underneath the floor, "that's 'cause I got distracted when I saw that my boss is here."

"Your boss—" Rimuru whipped his head around until his eyes landed on me.

I gave a small wave as a bright smile appeared on his face.

Upon seeing how sincere the smile was, [Acting] had to take over as I felt an indescribable amount of envy at how easily Rimuru could laugh and smile as if nothing was wrong... as if the System isn't falling apart.

"Hey, Scientia, Shizue! I'm now able to land a hit on Jeanne!" He spoke with excitement in his voice while waving at me. Considering Jeanne is one of the most powerful beings in the Underworld and as a Progenitor of a line of Demons, saying that he was able to land a hit is a big deal.

Using Kusanagi, Rimuru floated down towards us since there was no gravity, as the built-up Dark Energy permeates this entire chamber equally.

"President Rimuru," Shizue bowed respectfully. Shizue was able to bow because of the magnetic clamps in her foot that attached her to the wall.

"You did well," I congratulated him while letting the plastic pouch float there aimlessly, it only now came to me how odd it is for someone to drink a beverage while watching a fight. Dismissing the oddity, I turned to Jeanne, "in your honest opinion, do you think he's ready for the next step?"

Jeanne crossed her arms and grinned, which is a weird sight considering she was currently upside down. The Primordial's grin caused Rimuru to ever so slightly shudder, "yeah, he's ready for even more intense training."

"Wait what— I'll die if the training gets even more intense!" Rimuru's bravado from before disappeared like the morning dew.

I sighed while facepalming, "dude, you need to be at least on par with Jeanne before I'm satisfied."

"WHAT?!"

Jeanne chuckled darkly, her aura was unleashed causing Rimuru's jaw to snap shut.

"Well," her arms swung to the sides and shrugged, "you heard the boss, Mr. President."

I'm entrusting Rimuru's training to her since the Yellow Primordial values the weight of a promise a lot, to an almost obsessive amount.

"I'll talk with you later, Rimuru," I told him as I opened up another Door, "Jeanne, don't rough him up too much, he's got a meeting with the Ingrassian King in a few hours."

"You got it, boss!" A pair of golden gauntlets appeared on Jeanne's forearm.

"Don't leave me Scientiaaaa!"

_____________________________________________

AN: Holy fuck I spent WAY too long thinking of a way to slow down cosmic inflation. You guys have no idea how many versions there are, I tried to use concepts like naked singularities and negative mass before realizing that it doesn't make sense. Finally being satisfied with pocket dimension.

differences between Pocket Universes and Pocket Dimensions;

Pocket Universes have different laws of physics while Pocket Dimensions are a pinched-off portion of the current universe with the same laws of physics, sort of like an appendix.

Also, I know that this would come up: the reason why Dwargon accepted the rise of Tempest Dollars to challenge their Dwarven Coins was due to King Gazel realizing that it's better to try and ride the waves the Republic would bring (whereby becoming a close ally and reaping the reward) rather than trying to pointlessly prevent the Republic's rise.