A Friend

[Author]

Sorry about no chapter yesterday, work beat my ass. 

New poll on patreon about if the MC should give a damn about the plot in slime. 

Enjoy

Also, for fun and to be a bit more unique, this will be the web novel version of TSSDK, the story thats actually complete and has a stronger version of Rimuru (as of writing this)

patreon.com/MultiversalEldenRingMerchant

[Kale]

Very well, master. 

I can barely contain my excitement, if everything goes well, I'll make a real friend! Breaking the limit with God tier ultimate skills is honestly secondary to me. After so much time with just Whis and Millicent, I can admit I got pretty lonely. I also realized something else important. 

Because of how I've set up time here, literally all my business deals are worthless. This is because time hasn't passed in those worlds, so everyone who traded with me literally haven't been able to do anything with said purchases. This is another big reason to go to another worlds. In light of this, I've decided to only stop times flow here when a customer arrives or when I'm training something that will take fucking forever. Stupid on my part, but I'm still new to this so it's fine. 

I also thought about my own strength in that verse, specifically the web novel. As a multi galactic entity on the verge of becoming a universal powerhouse, there aren't that many who I need to worry about. Those being Guy Crimson, Milim Nava, Dagruel, Dino, Ramiris depending on her form, the three true dragons, Tatsuya with Judgment Bullet, Yuuki, Rudra, and perhaps Chloe depending on her state. Even among these people, I should still be able to fight them off if I can't win. 

This is also not including the EOS Tempest forces. They won't be able to handle me until then. In terms of Ultimate skills, there are three tiers, in my understanding. Lord class Ultimate Skills like Judgment Lord Sandalphon are the weakest ultimate skills, still very powerful though. King class ultimate skills like Gluttonous king Beelzebub and other sin and angle series skills are very strong, usually holding many effects and conceptual powers. Finally, God class ultimate skills like Void God Azathoth. These are the strongest and are usually fusions of ultimate skills. 

There are exceptions, but that's the gist of it, I think. A King class ultimate skill should be enough to break my limit and push me into the universal tier, but I need a god class skill if I want to be multiversal. It's another reason to befriend Rimuru, he is pretty much the only one who can fuse skills and make God class ultimate skills. Even with all that, the main motive is to have a friend, i really don't want to spend tens of thousands of years alone again. 

You have me, master. You will never be alone. Your right Millicent, I'm sorry. But still, your more like a reliable partner who will do anything for me. I want to make a friend who isn't a part of me, someone who likes me for me. I know it's a bit corny, but it's the truth. I don't want to spend another, much longer, life with no friends to speak of. 

Then, I feel the mist shift slightly, and an adorable blue slime plops into existence in front of me. The slime swivels around a bit, before it ripples and faces me, I think. Slimes don't really have a face. Soon after, a voice transmits out from the slime. "Please don't kill me, I'm a good slime!" His high voice sounds out, mildly shivering. Before I know it, I'm laughing. 

"Hahahaha, Hahaha..." I can't seem to stop laughing, it's a person who speaks like me! Someone who actually made a joke, even if it wasn't funny, I still laugh. I don't notice the tears coming down my face until I feel my bandana getting wet, and I slowly begin to control myself. I guess after 13,000 years with only someone who is completely different from me made it worse than I thought. I didn't really think about how much I missed my old conversations online until now. Man, that's embarrassing. 

"Uhm, are you okay?" Rimuru's voice sounds out while I'm calming down. Thats the first thing you ask? Not about where you are, not about who I am, but if I'm okay? Dude your way too pure, I want to be your friend even more now. I want to laugh more. 

"Yes, yes I'm fine. I just haven't laughed in over 13,000 years and it made me a bit emotional. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Kale the merchant, and I would like to be your friend." My voice comes out calmly, if only a bit high because I laughed so hard. Thinking about it now, I should be the oldest person in tensura right? Veldenava is practically the same as the soul king from bleach. 

"Hold it, back it up. Did you invite me here, just to ask to be my friend? Are you insane!" Rimuru's voice comes out filled with shock, and I can't help but chuckle again. Having a conversation like this again, I missed it a lot. Maybe I should tease him a bit? This whole time I have felt some light prodding on my fate, probably great sage trying to analyze me. I haven't been slacking, my grasp over laws has improved a lot, although nowhere near my growth in terms of time laws. 

"Of course, and why not? I really like your personality and vibe, so I want to be your friend. Also, don't you know it's quite rude to keep trying to pry about my information? It won't work, and you could just ask. I want to be your friend, so I'll answer most questions you have." I can't keep the teasing tone outside of my voice, and Rimuru stops all movement for a second and goes silent. Probably talking to great sage, as moments later the prodding on my fate stops. 

"Hehe, sorry about that Kale, my bad. Could you tell me more about this place?" The nervousness in his voice is clear. It's not surprising, great sage has never failed him before, even with Veldora's seal, it only needed time. Still, great sage is a massive cheat. I'm not sure about Raphael, but Ciel would definitely be able to breach my fate. 

"This is my home, the place my customers come to trade with me. This is the Great Caravan; I travel with it to many different realities and have a wide variety of customers. I recently traded with Beerus and Whis. Yes, the ones from dragon ball. I'm a massive weeb too haha." Rimuru eyes went wide, well if he had eyes, they would have gone wide, that's the vibe he's giving off. 

"YOU CAN GO TO ANIME WORLDS!? Tell me everything man, I'm from 2015, how did one piece end? Did Naruto get a sequel? What about bleach, did Goku get any cool new forms? C'mon man don't leave me hanging!" Rimuru speaks so fast he would put Eminem to shame, and his excitement was wildly apparent. I can finally talk about anime with someone! 

After that, we had a long conversation about anime, where I was from in 2023, some new manga, bleaches TYBW, Boruto being ass, UI and Gear 5 breaking the internet, and a bunch of other stuff. We both almost cried about how we would never be able to finish One Piece. I used some laws to show him some anime scenes from my memory. When I told him about time not flowing in his world, we binged some One Piece and Demon Slayer. This took more time than I'd like to admit. But now, we were like the worst of enemies. 

"Your fucking crazy, Hinata is NOT better than Hancock. Hancock would do anything for you, she would protect me if I needed and go against anyone for you! Rimuru, wake up to reality!" I was shouting, how could Hinata come even close to Hancock as a waifu? 

"Kale, you clearly haven't seen Naruto, Hinata would do all that and more! She literally stood up to pain for Naruto and confessed, ready to die! She was loyal for years and loved him with everything she had! She's way better than Hancock." Rimuru's voice was no less loud, but that's a bad argument! She loved him, sure, but she didn't act on it for so long. 

"Bro, she literally watched as Naruto got bullied as a child and didn't hang out with him. Her clan told her not too, but Hancock would say fuck the clan, I love him! Hinata was too shy and nervous to help Naruto during his darkest time, Hancock would never do that to someone she loved!" 

"It was her family! So, you expect someone to abandon their family and everything they've ever known for a child's love? When Hinata was older, she did disregard everything for him, so your argument is shit." 

"Look man, I'm not saying she's a bad waifu, but she's way worse than Hancock. She could have hung out with Naruto in secret, it would have been fine! If they didn't care enough to let her get lost and bullied once, surely, she could have gotten away again. Hancock let Luffy hide in her skirt and protected him right after she decided she loved him, that's the difference between them!"

"Kale, are you fucking stupid? The Anbu were constantly watching Naruto, they would have reported the meeting to Hiruzen and Hiashi. Even if she had tried to hang out with Naruto, it would have just gotten her in trouble. Hinata is peak, Hancock is good but not as good as Hinata." 

We just glare at each other; well, I glare into the slime. I could just kick his ass right here, but that would just mean I lost the argument! I guess he makes some valid points, but he clearly won't change his mind, and neither will I. 

"Fine, Rimuru. It's clear neither of us will change our minds, agree to disagree and bury the hatchet?" My voice has some slight hope to it, I don't want to keep arguing with my friend, no matter how wrong he is. Rimuru goes silent, before agreeing with me. 

"Okay Kale, we can stop. Back on track, are you sure you want to live with us? I mean, how would you get more customers? Don't get me wrong, I would love to have you, but you're a merchant." Rimuru's voice is laced with minor concern, but I don't care about that. This has been the most fun five days I've had in both lives, over 13,000 years. I don't want to leave my friend right after getting to know him. 

"Its all-good bro, I can just pop back if I want another customer. Time doesn't flow here, so it's fine. I can just trade with people in your world, I'm sure there's plenty of stuff I can profit on. What about your plans? Need any help? I won't let anyone bully you, I promise. I'm very strong." I remove my shirt and flex, showing off a perfect upper body. Get fucked Rimuru.

He seems to deflate, and his response is laced with envy. "Dude, why do you get a body like that? Cmon bro, were friends, help me out!" He rolls over to me and jumps into my arms, damnit! Rimuru is very soft and adorable, no homo. "Fine, I guess I'll help you. Here, touch this and Ill craft you a body." He shakes in excitement and rolls onto the amber egg as soon as I bring it out. I grab a larval tear and get to rebirthing; I make sure not to touch his soul. Don't want him losing his skills. 

I craft a body that resembles his Shizu form, same hair and face. I make him taller, from four feet to 5'5 or 161 cm. It would be weird to be shorter than Rimuru, so that works. I keep his physiology as that of a slime, just letting him have the human shape whenever he wants. Most importantly, I give my boy his little brother back, and make it functional. It was a bit hard with his slime body, but the law of rebirth fixes that problem. Ass for the size of his little brother, I gave him full control. I'm not a monster, that's my friend's choice 100%. I kept his overall looks because it would be weird to have Rimuru not look like Rimuru. Once I was done, I finish the process and Rimuru transforms into his new form. 

He looks at his new body in a mirror I made with mist, and that huge smile never leaves his face. When he turns to me, I can feel the gratitude radiating off him. 

"Kale, thanks a lot man. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask. I mean it." His voice is the same, I felt no need to change it. I can't help but smile myself. 

"Don't worry about it Rimuru, what are friends for?"

[Author]

Into tensura next chapter, lemme know what you think, thanks for the read. 

have a good one boys, and don't forget the poll on Patreon. Thats probably the most important poll so far, will MC care about plot or not. And don't forget its the Web Novel world. 

patreon.com/MultiversalEldenRingMerchant