That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.50 Evolution Galore

Rozemyne's pov: 

Rimuru was honestly terrifying to see stand there, it was giving me small flash backs of the night before with Guy. Yet somehow I thought his aura was actually thicker than the demon's had been, it was barely a thin layer of magicules that barely extended from his skin, yet the number of magicules visible was the same amount that had been the night before. I could see Ferdinand was just staring at Rimuru, looking completely baffled by the sudden change in his aura, most likely. 

Luckily to distract us from Rimuru, one by one, the other members of the ducal family arrived. Florencia was first, in an even fancier dress than the night before. Though this dress was practical as well, I could see a lot of magicules inside it, so clearly it was planned for it to do something when the evolution was completed. I wondered what, but didn't burden her with the question right now. She was currently berating Wilfried and trying to make sure Melchior would stay still, along with a few of their attendants. 

Sylvester was the last to arrive, getting a small glare from Florencia as a result. Though it seemed that he had trouble getting ready, as his suit had a long and impractical cape, which I pitied him having to wear. He had likely been fiddling with it for some time, and it seemed there was a magic circle embroidered in it, so it also likely had an intention of some kind that I was not aware of. 

Ferdinand gestured for me to step aside quickly, and made a motion to talk. He also glanced to Rimuru for a moment and gave him a nod, moments later there was a barrier around us that seemed to be one of the anti-perception barriers Rimuru used so often, as I could tell the sounds were not going past it, and I could not use [Magic Sense] to see outside it. "Let's go over this one more time, what are you going to be doing?" 

"I will be participating by standing next to you three, and holding the anti-magic bracelets if your auras go out of control. I will also be entering the subspace with you to make sure nothing goes wrong." I explained what he had explained to me several times already, he gave me a small nod and then looked away. I was hoping he'd be a bit more merciful with this, well, at least he did not try to embarrass me with this. 

Ferdinand seemed almost sort of excited, despite his relatively inexpressive face. "It should be very interesting, and be a massive help to Ehrenfest. The higher magicule capacity of just the four of us may even be able to fix the mana shortage." His expression seemed to change for a moment and he turned back. "Now, let's talk about compression. Clearly Rimuru-sama figured out your method, but do you really not even know what compression is?" 

I shook my head and tilted it a bit, "It seems like it makes his aura really thick, and small. Beyond that I don't know, was I doing it before?" I questioned while thinking back on what it could possibly being referencing from my time as a human in this world. 

"You certainly were, you at some point managed to surpass my capacity. I spent some time trying to figure your method out, but was ultimately unsuccessful." Ferdinand rubbed his chin for a moment and thought out loud, "I think the best way to explain it would be to say, you envision your mana being compressed in various ways, such as forcing it down or clumping it together." Ferdinand seemed to pause for a moment before continuing. "You likely would have been doing it to stay alive before you came to the temple." 

I thought deeply for a moment, it took only a few seconds for something to come to mind. "Do you mean the box? I used to push my fevers down into a box when I had them. When I think about it, I must have been compressing mana like you describe." I explained, though I didn't talk about all my steps in doing that. It seemed sort of weird to keep a secret, though. 

"That sounds a bit too simple to be your full method, could you explain the rest to me? If Rimuru-sama is doing it, it must still have benefits for monsters." His expression seemed to give a soft genuine smile for a moment while asking the question, so it seemed correct to answer it in my head. 

"Sure, first I compress the mana down into a small space, like a box or bag. Then I carefully fold it, like you would a piece or clothe when putting it away. Finally I flatten it to force it into an even small space once folded." I casually explained while thinking about if I could still do it if I tried now, the moment I finished explaining, Ferdinand flicked me on the forehead. 

"You really are clueless. Do not talk about that to someone you think is nice, in fact don't talk about it to anyone. Ask for permission from now on, if you wish to talk about it." Ferdinand glared at me after having flicked me, me so freely giving away the information seems to have made him very angry. Though he smiled after that, "That being said, I will attempt to replicate this later. I may request your help in doing so." After Ferdinand said this, the anti-perception barrier fell. Leading me to believe him and Rimuru were having a conversation over their thoughts while talking about this, I wondered if Rimuru had lied to Ferdinand about his method or not, considering Ferdinand seemed to lean on mine. 

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Ferdinand's pov:

Rozemyne was certainly far too gullible at times, especially to someone who looked nice or sincere. It made me quite angry when she so easily explained her compression method to me, even if I did actually wish to know. It should not be such a simple thing to explain, it needs to be assured in trust and necessity before doing such a thing. 'Perhaps she trusts me more than she should, I'd certainly need to make her more cautious.' I gave one last thought on the matter before turning to see the building in front of us.

It was a massive circular structure built of what appeared to be marble, or some other form of stone. However I could see several inlayed magic circles in the structure to reinforce it most like, and possibly also reduce the amount of magicules able to penetrate out of the open central area of the structure. It was a large circular field, with a flat stone square in the center, that was raised only less than a meter. Currently there was a large wooden, circular stage, inlayed with many accents and golden colors, and embroidered with fine fabric decorations sitting on the center of the raised stone platform. Looking back out at the structure itself again, it could be seen that it was made with many seats and a standing area on the lower floors.  It seemed it was comprised to hold a large audience, and attract many attendants for some purpose?

Thinking about it more methodically for but a moment, I came to think on Rimuru's seeming obsession with upholding a good image with the commoners of not only his own nation, but also others. It led me to believe the intention was to hold all events in large public gatherings, and this building could serve many purposes for that. It felt odd coming from Ehrenfest, though I was aware of some tournament thing that was held in Engrassia every season to determine the best fighter in the country, which their commoners could attend. 

Apparently my being lost in thought had become apparent, as I was tapped on the hand by Rozemyne. She seemed to look up to me with a glint of concern in her eyes momentarily, before I responded by looking down to her. I then looked back forward and realized Rimuru had been talking to us for several moment now, and I had been essentially ignoring it due to being lost in the thoughts on what he had been planning. 

"Everyone will be here soon enough, we still have roughly fifteen minutes before anyone should arrive. So you all simply need to go to your places and wait to walk up here." This was how he had finished  his explanation, as nothing came after this. It left me somewhat stunned with myself for a moment realizing I had no idea what I was to do, but I had an idea. 

I tapped Rozemyne on the back of her shoulder lightly, to get her attention. Then waited, I had a feeling she'd do something as a result of my action. I had heard she too was capable of it, so it would not be surprising if it did happen momentarily. 

'What is it, Sensei?' The word still left me a bit odd feeling, at times. It was a word that outsiders of Ehrenfest used often to describe their teachers, and it had stuck on me some time ago at the temple. Though as I had expected, Rozemyne did indeed engage [Thought Communication] with me after I managed to get her attention. 

'What did Rimuru explain to us? I seem to have missed it, however out of myself that may sound.' It felt somewhat awkward to explain this to Rozemyne, embarrassing in a way to admit I had missed something she seemed to have payed close attention to. 

'Oh, uh. Yeah that doesn't sound like you. Well, he just said we'd be waiting inside the gate until he calls each of us forward. The other kids will be sitting below the stage, and get to watch from down here. Beyond that the rest of the ceremony is as you explained to me.' She went on and on after me asking for a single bit of information, including plenty that was not exactly necessary. I suppose that confirmed she did not use this ability sparingly, just like the rest she seems to throw around in far too casual a manor. 

'Thank you.' I replied shortly, trying to speed up the finishing of the conversation. Somehow she had been more long winded than many nobles were, but in a casual tone. After this, I followed Sylvester and Florencia to the place we'd be waiting, along with Rozemyne. This meant leaving behind Wilfried, Charlotte, and Melchior in their own seat right in front of the stage. 

Just as Rimuru had said, it was fifteen minutes almost on the dot before an audience filed into the structure. It was one of the larger ones I had seen in person, but only filled a portion of the structure's seats. It seemed they'd only be using a single quarter, and have this specific event be more secluded to higher class individuals for personal attendance. Along with this, the single large plate of magisteel on the opposing side of the structure from the audience, of which there were four in total, was in operation. It easily projected an image of the stage onto itself and became a glowing close view of it, much more accurate than a human's eyes could see from a distance. It gave me a nagging feeling in the back of my mind looking at the screen, of other possible uses. Especially considering the distance from which it could work, as I knew of the other two screens which were currently in operation in Ehrenfest. 

The person to introduce Rimuru was Shuna, as she was technically a noble herself. Even if she was only the noble of a single village, she technically was. Her being one of Rimuru's executives had additionally boosted her status, I'd go as far to say she could even be considered an archnoble by Ehrenfest's standards, if it were not for her being a monster. Though today I suppose that could change, if all goes right. "Welcome to Tempest, and welcome to today's ceremony of unity, it will serve as a symbol of the union between Tempest and Ehrenfest. As of today, the two states will be one, as Ehrenfest will become an autonomous duchy with Tempest's jurisdiction. The details of this agreement will remain private, but as such foreign diplomacy will now be operated through Tempest. Additionally Tempest will be adopting Ehrenfest's branch of the Holy Western Church, as an officially accepted religion. Rimuru-sama has declared the union will lead to more prosperity for both parties, and as such it was only natural." It was lengthy and more spoken like a legal declaration than a proper speech, though that was likely the intention. I had participated in it's writing, and I was relatively assured it got all necessities across for a foreign leader. 

Rimuru took over speaking after this, though he looked mildly awkward in front of such a large group for a moment before his face almost seemed to be taken control of by a different person. I believed this was likely Raphael, as it seemed unlikely Rimuru himself could do so himself. "As Shuna-dono just stated, that is indeed the detail of this event. Though there is more to it, than simply this. I will be bestowing a gift upon the ducal family, to allow them to join their own lady Rozemyne properly." He cut himself off here and stopped to wait for a reaction from the audience. 

As the audience appeared to still be processing what Shuna had said with gasps and murmurs of surprise, some angered shouts, and some cheers. It appeared there was a mix of reaction to this still, there was a silence among those from Ehrenfest in attendance, who had already been informed of the vassalization. Though upon the statement by Rimuru sinking into their minds, it seemed as if the crowd all collectively joined this silence. The expressions of those from Ehrenfest seemed to perk in interest. 

Rimuru continued with a nod to a specific person in attendance. "The gift will come in the form of power, the exact details will be explained as the process happens. For it would be too hard to explain otherwise."  The person Rimuru nodded to had been Guy Crimson, sitting with the other demon lords and several of their attendants high in their own section of the structure, raised above all but a few others. "Come, Sir Sylvester, Lady Florencia, Sir Ferdinand, and Lady Rozemyne." Rimuru announced shortly after this. 

At this the four of us slowly marched to the platform, stepping up the short stone stairs, before stepping up the larger set of stairs leading to the stage. Once onto stage Rimuru brightly smiled to us, and motioned for each of us to stand on what appeared to be crystals with magic circles engraved onto them. They were inlayed into the stage, once one was completely standing on them, it would create a barrier around them. Each of us stepped onto one of them, and waited. 

"The barrier will keep them from losing any magicules during this process, to ensure it goes correctly with absolute certainty." Rimuru explained to the audience while stepping forward to the barrier Rozemyne was standing inside and locking eytes with her for a moment before looking away. "Now that their bodies are safely inside these barriers, their souls can be safely taken out of them. Wait a moment before commenting on this, however. it is more complex. The deeper details of this, will remain hidden at the request of a certain demon lord in the audience, as well."  Rimuru finished off the explanation to the audience with this, and afterward, a thick purple and black mist surrounded the four of us and I could feel my eyes get heavy as everything went black. 

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<Hey you, you're finally awake.> I heard a stiff voice say upon my coming to, it sounded feminine but had a vibration similar to Rimuru's. 

Rozemyne was standing there, seemingly being a composed completely of a translucent golden light. She had now put her face in her hand, and was staring at the figure that had spoken moment before. "You really need to try better, that joke is very old." 

<The joke is infact dated at an unknown age, as it is dependent on the time dilation between worlds. Which is, unknown. When Master died, it was only a year old.> The figure finally came into view, she looked just like Rimuru and was wearing nothing but a tight white suit that clung tightly to her skin. Luckily she had no obvious features to make the display even more improper. The figure additionally had blazing crimson eyes, which had an incredibly intricate moving pattern active inside them. 

I tried to change perspective to myself and realized I could not see any mana except a small ring of it that was around myself, an orb? Slowly an amount of magicules were produced and radiated out from me, allowing me to finally see myself. A glowing blue orb surrounded by a translucent orb of pale white light. "What is this? What am I?" 

Raphael looked to me a moment later and began to explain. <You are currently simply a free floating soul, with an astral body around it.> It seemed there were two other orbs that were near me as well, who were currently not speaking. I assumed I was not either, and only Raphael could hear me. It seemed Rozemyne did not respond to me, at all. 

"Oh, are they actually awake? I thought you said they'd be inactive for some time?" Rozemyne posed this question to the being in front of her while tilting her head aside to the slightest degree. 

<A minute is a very long period of time.> Raphael replied sharply and assertively, that statement almost amazed me. It seemed that Raphael believed waiting even moments for something was a terrible, about the highest expectations I'd ever heard of. 

Rozemyne seemed to shiver for a moment at the sharp tone, and then looked to the three of us. "So  you guys are awake then? She talked so I assume you can hear me, don't worry. This should not take long. I'll be helping, since Raphael says my magicules are more compatible than Rimuru-san's." After this Rozemyne paused for a moment and began to tap on her head slightly before speaking once more, "So. What you three need to do is hold onto your memories, and think about the people you care about. Don't let go of them when this happens, that is the best way I can explain it. Raphael seems to think I'd explain it in a way you'd understand." After this she stopped and waited, seemingly wanting some form of response. Though I did not, as I knew even if I did it would not have any effect. 

<Prepare yourselves, we will start in fifteen seconds.> After this, a small clock appeared above Raphael made of a white light, which was easy to see in the completely black space. It was a circular clock which ticked down from fifteen to zero. 

I brace myself mentally, keeping track of my memories for a moment and trying to think of a list of people to keep in mind as I had been instructed. It felt relatively odd to do so, for a moment. The list of people I ended up envisioning immediately had a newer face that made me question myself for but a moment before seeing the timer finish. The impatience of Raphael was something I was not to this point aware of, so it was a bit of a sudden shock. 

Rozemyne help up a hand, seemingly mentally preparing herself as well. Once the timer hit zero, Raphael gave a nod. Then a thick aura of magicules suddenly surrounded us, it was clearly Rimuru's aura. Along with this Rozemyne also pushed forward a cloud of uncompressed magicules toward us, and focused them down slowly to make them surround us more and more tightly. 

It was incredibly, incredibly, incredibly painful. It felt as if the small orb that comprised my soul was attempting to completely reconfigure and tear itself apart, to build anew. The magicules around myself slowly started to form into a shape of their own, initially being incredibly unclear. I focused on preserving my memories, and repeated the names of the list of people I had selected within my head, the list was not that long. When I got to the last name, I paused for a moment in thought, then repeated it coming to the decision. 

As this happened I could slowly begin to feel the magicules that were in the process of forming around me, it was an even more excruciating feeling. As if the tender skin under a scrap had just been uncovered, but across my entire body. It accompanied the previous feeling to turn into something even more wrenching, and I could begin to feel some of the less important memories slip. I steeled myself and clung to all of them even more tightly. 

I began to slowly change perspective, as the form around me allowed me to slowly sieze control of it, doing so slowly allowing me to ease the immense pain it had caused me. I slowly flexed the limbs and felt this even more comforting. Adding complexity to the form slowly, as it took shape, each thought of the shape I wanted it to have and what form I wanted to have. It finally broke through, I could feel my ego take control of the form totally. All the pain stopped, and my soul ceased attempting to sunder itself. A small burst of pale white light engulfed my eyes before all my vision became clear. 

"I think he is done, he took the longest, plus he looks kinda different.." It was Rozemyne's voice, only now had I realized that before it had sounded distant and unclear. Though now it sounded completely clear, and it actually felt like she was right in front of me. 

I looked around myself, and saw the other two. Florencia and Sylvester, each respectively sporting their own magicule colors as translucent forms. They seemed to appear as if they were just finishing their growth to adulthood now, as opposed to their partially aged forms they normally had. There was something more noticeable though, I myself was shorter than I should be in comparison to them. I had gone from being able to look Sylvester in the eyes easily, to needing to look up a ways. 

<It would appear the formation of individual, Ferdinand's, spiritual body was significantly less successful. This has caused instability and regression to a previous state. Memories and personality are preserved, however physical form will likely experience a similar regression.> Raphael was now staring at me closely, from the corner of my eye. I was able to enable [Magic Sense] once more as well, which was a poor idea, as I suddenly got a shiver from the space's appearance. 

"He looks like a kid again." Rozemyne said bluntly, she was at the very least still a ways shorter than me. However she still appeared to be able to gain a smug expression while staring up at my face. "So I guess we are more equal now." It seemed to give her an immense amount of pleasure to see me this way. 

As for what had cause me to shiver. I gazed around the room with [Magic Sense], to see several portals to different areas within this subspace. They appeared to each be isolated from each other as it was impossible to view inside the portals, they just gave an insight to the contents of the isolations. Several of them had ungodly amounts of magicules stored inside them, and two appeared to have a collection of other souls like I had been up to this point. Many others simply contained collections of different items. "Where are we?" 

<We are inside my isolation of Master's [Stomach], this is where I have been learning how to operate a physical form and have been attempting to gain a better understanding of emotions and expressions.> Raphael explained completely expressionlessly before suddenly taking a cutting tone, <Do not tell Master about this isolation, or that I brought you here.> 

Sylvester began visibly shaking and nodding vigorously to the words Raphael had said. 

I felt a cold spell well up deep inside my being, and nodded as well. Though not as vigorously, but equally as affirmed. "What are these portals?" I questioned while looking around the space for another moment. 

<They are simply a way for me to view the other isolations when inhabiting this form with my full consciousness. The isolations with the raw magicules are the ones which were made from the isolation of individual, Guy Crimson's, attack.> Raphael explained, then appeared to huff for a moment and tapped each of us on the forehead in a quick motion, seeming to close the distance instantly. 

After this happened the view I had into the portals completely disappeared. Though I noticed some of the contents of this space more distinctly, there was a single small knitted figure, seemingly made of magicule infused wool sitting on the ground near Raphael. Looking at it more closely, I realized it looked like an anatomically inaccurate version of Rimuru, made of wool. "What is that?" 

<Nothing, now you all need to go back to your bodies. Goodbye.> After this was said immediately to my question, the black and purple mist once again engulfed us all, and I heard a different voice. 

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{Notice: Requirements met for evolution into demi-spirit.}

'The voice of the world? Were we successful?' I felt myself get excited, however at the moment I was entirely blinded by a bright light around myself. 

{Reconstructing spiritual body out of excess magicules, success.}

So the first time was not enough, and it needs to be built again? It seems to not be painful at all now, which relieves myself greatly.

{Reconstructing physical body, successful. Acquiring resistance to spiritual attack, acquiring weakness to physical attack, acquiring resistance to elemental attack, acquiring pain amplification, successful.}

I had not possessed any resistances before, though it seems that this has been accompanied by some weaknesses. I suspect they are due to the new body I will posses. 

{Acquiring extra skill, [Enhanced Magic Sense], acquiring intrinsic skill, [Imperfect Fusion], acquiring intrinsic skill, [Cast Annulment], successful.} 

I was especially interested in the idea of cast annulment, I supposed this is what had allowed Rozemyne to so casually throw around advanced spells without even thinking of it. If so, I would especially like to try this myself. 

{Evolving Unique skill [Holy Sigil] into Unique skill, [Demon's Faithful], Unsuccessful. Reattempting, Unsuccessful. Reattempting, Unsuccessful. Evolution rejected.} 

That left me somewhat confused, I had never even heard of a gaining a new skill, or the evolution of a skill being rejected. I suppose now I knew this was indeed possible, as it had happened to me. 

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--4332 words--

(AN: Cutting it off hear to keep it from going too long, and cause I am super super tired. Will hopefully release another chapter tomorrow. Hopefully this chapter was enjoyable.)