..eep...ep...beep...beep...beep
...As usual, the noise of the machine that now sustains my life. I open my eyes slowly, with a slight hope that I am imagining things, but I see that I am still in the hospital, in the same bed, with the same sun on my face as every morning.
After a few minutes, a short, chubby nurse with curly brown hair enters my room, her name was Julia, she has been my nurse since the day I started staying in this hospital, she is a foreigner, and despite her grumpy face, she is an extremely kind person.
She as usual brought me a different cookie than yesterday, and some tea. I thank her, and after she has left the room, I reach for a novel that was beside the bed, it was my favorite novel, Tensura, was its name, of course an abbreviation. With it, I spent the whole morning reading, eating and reading, doing physical therapy and sleeping, there wasn't much things I could do in the hospital other than these.
When it was time for lunch, my parents came to visit, Mom, as usual, arrived first, and hugged me tight, thanking me that I was still alive, and sat on the side of the bed, to talk to me. After a few minutes, Dad arrived, and smiled at me, letting out a sigh of relief, and then came over to me and hugged me, and sat down next to Mom, while he took something out of a bag that was in his arms. Those were Tensura manga that Dad had picked up on his way to me, and I happily thanked him, and put them on the side table.
We spent the whole afternoon talking, mostly about me, and that if everything went well, I would be out of the hospital in a few days, I was very happy for this news, I could finally get out of this depressing place. When my parents' break was over, they gave me a hug, and left the room to go back to work.
Something I didn't mention was probably the reason I was in the hospital, well, you see, I was a pretty healthy kid until I was 8. The reason I was sick was the fact that I had an accident in a bus when I was returning from a school trip. This accident killed most of the children on the bus, and luckily I was not one of them, but I ended up having my lungs severely, and like, very severely injured from the impact, and I had a brain seizure, which not only caused me to lose some of my memories before the age of 6, but left me with a huge trauma, which luckily recently has been treated.
After they left, I started coughing up blood, which was a normal occurrence, as I said, it was. When the nurse saw this, she ran out of the room, heading for the doctor, who came over to me and examined my body. Apparently my injury had worsened again, and at a much greater rate than before, if it continued like this, I would probably die within a few hours. My parents left work and desperately went back to the hospital, which was crazy.
When my parents arrived, they stormed into my room, and saw that I was lying in bed, breathing very heavily. My parents asked if there was nothing that could be done, but the doctor said no, the only thing that could be done now was to stay by my side until the moment of my death, or wait for a miracle. Overwhelmed, my parents had a cascade of emotions, but they agreed with the doctor, and sat next to me, my mother while crying, held my left hand, and my father who was standing walking from side to side, completely desperate.
Suddenly my vision started to go dark, I automatically knew that this was the end, that this was where my life ended, I, Mitou Akagi, died at the age of 16.
'....Wh...What a pain...I want it to end soon...'
<<<
'...Mom, Dad, I'm sorry I died so soon...'
<<<
'... It's getting cold... How cold... I hate it...'
<<<
'... I hope that machine was thrown away... It didn't help me at all...'
<<< Confirmed. Machine thrown away... Cannot execute. More information is needed. Replacing with Resistance to Electricity... successfully acquired. >>>>
'I had a pretty sad and lonely life for long 8 years of my life, my friends are gone, and my only entertainment was the Tensura novel, man, I really hope I can reincarnate in the same world as Rimuru, like, a few days before him hahaha.... It really would be fun.'
'...If I could, I'd like to be able to separate this disease from me... Not just the disease itself, but all the evils of the world...'
<<<
'...Death has always been so...Noisy? Let me rest...'
'...I wish I could have become a Sage, and know everything I could know, but as my father always said, never seek only the crumbs, and so I would seek to become a Great Sage.... I wanted to be a pride to them...'
<<<< Confirmed. Extra skill "Sage"... successfully acquired. Evolution of the extra skill "Sage" to the unique skill "Great Erudite"... Successful. >>>>
'... If ... If I could become like those healthy children, if I could copy them and become healthy too, I'm sure Mom and Dad would become happier, I'm really, really sorry...'
<<<
'... Noisy... Be quiet please... I just want to... Rest in peace now...'
With that, everything had become silent again, and no more traces of sound could be heard.
----------------------->
'... I can see the blue sky... What a strange feeling, it's been so long since I could see the sky...By the way, why am I lying on the ground in a forest?'
'I mean, I think I died, but for some reason I'm here, alive, lying on the ground, feeling the breeze of the wind, the smell of nature and looking at the sky hahaha... What a relief, I... I am alive...'
I repeated in my thoughts, as tears of emotion and sadness flowed down my face. I was alive, and that had made me happy, I didn't want to die, but I was also sad, I had probably been reincarnated, and my parents were possibly crying for me right now, it made me very sad.
I sit cross-legged, wiping my tears, and look up at the sky again.
"...How beautiful" - I said, amazed, as I listened to the sound of the birds flying across the sky.
Getting up from the ground I start to stretch and-
"Wait... Uahh!!!"
I shout in surprise, I had a tail, quite long and bushy, it reached up to my knee, and it wasn't just that that surprised me, it was also the fact that my skin was pale grey, and that I had horns on my forehead. My hair was also blue, but that didn't bother me too much. Fortunately I wasn't naked, after all there were some rags of clothes on me and I had no idea where these clothes came from.
"... So I have a tail in this life? Hahaha..."
"..."
"Let me try something..."
'Sage? Great Sage? Anyone?'
I repeated in my mind, hoping to possess the Unique Skill 'Great Sage', or at least something like it, so that loneliness would not consume me over time. And surprisingly for me, someone answered.
<< Answer. The Extra Skill Sage evolved into the Unique Skill "Great Erudite". "Great Sage" was not found. >>
'Wow, so it really does have someone! But... "Great Erudite"? What a name... By the way, what are your effects Great Erudite?'
<< Answer. The Unique Skill "Great Erudite" has the following five effects: >>
> Thought Acceleration
> Analytical Evaluation
> Parallel Operation
> Chant nullification
> All Creation
> Alteration
> Prediction of future attack
'Hm I understand... The effects are quite similar to those of the Great Sage, however they have new things... And that already makes you much more amazing Erudite!'
<
'That's just the way you think! I hope I can count on you from now on!'
<<...>>
'Oh by the way, do I have any other Unique skills? I mean, the voice of the world seemed to be giving me more stuff before...'
<
'Hm, the "Copier" appears to be self explanatory, let me guess, it copies skills?'
<< Answer. Affirmative, however the "Copier" is not limited to just copying skills, but it can also copy things like knowledge about spells, resistances, and items.>>
<< Copying skills is limited to only: Extra, Intrinsic, and Unique skills.>>
When I heard about the possible copying of spell knowledge, and that I could also copy unique skills, several ideas started popping into my mind about how I could use this skill.
'Wow, so even copying knowledge is included? That could be interesting...' I thought to myself as I gave a small giggle.
'And the "Divider"... I don't know about that one... Great Erudite, please.'
<
> Divide
> It can split anything with a single strike, both the ocean, the sky, and even mountains.
> Spatial Domination
'Wow, this one looks interesting too...'
Looking around, I glance toward one of the trees in front of me. I push my right arm back, and pull it all the way out in a cutting motion towards the upper left diagonal. This motion pushed out an incredible wave of air and by the end of it the tree had been split in half, along with everything in it. A few birds flew out of the tree out of surprise.
"Holy crap... What a powerful skill..."
"...Great Erudite, what is my Existence value?"
<
"... I see... What about my race? What is it? I mean, I really don't think I'm an Ogre..."
<
"Rushura? I don't remember reading anything about that in the Novel..." - I said this while staring at my tail.
"Well, leaving that aside, Great Erudite, set a timer of 3 months from now, if I am correct, Rimuru will be reincarnated!"
<
----------90 days Later -----------
In the meantime, I asked the Great Erudite to give me some tips on how I could become more powerful, and the first of them was to acquire more skills, so I did, of course, using the Unique Skill "Copier", which allowed me to copy all the Target's Skills just by touch.
The skills I acquired were not many, but could become useful in the future: Magical Sense (I acquired it from the means presented at the beginning of Tensura's story); Sense Heat Source (Storm Serpent); Ultrasonic Waves (Giant Bat); Thought Communication (Giant Wolf); Keen Smell (Giant Wolf); Steel Threads (Black Spider); Sticky Threads (Black Spider); and Body Armor (Armosaurs).
Most of these skills were acquired by Rimuru, so I decided to follow his lead, considering they are really tactical and interesting skills to use.
The second way to become stronger that the Great Erudite indicated to me was to acquire combat experience. I faced several types of non-intelligent monsters, because I was afraid I would end up meeting some character from the main story.
And after all that, the 90 days had passed, and I already had a plan in mind.
"Uff... Great Erudite, what's my EP now?"
<
"Heh, it really hasn't grown much huh, even with 3 months of non-stop training hahaha..."
Getting up from the stone I was sitting on, I head towards the cave where Veldora was sealed, hoping to find him, to start the preparations of changing Tensura's history.
Once there, I cross the cave entrance, and head in what I believe is the direction that Rimuru took to leave the cave. It wasn't long before I could hear someone's voice in my head.
(Can you hear me unknown creature?)
"Ah..."
(...?)
"...Hello, Veldora, the True Storm Dragon, I was just looking for you..."
(Ho-ho, so I see I don't need to introduce myself huh?)
"Of course not, after all you are quite famous"
(Fufufu, of course I am, after all I am the great Veldora kuahahaha!!!) Veldora repeated in my mind, being the noisy dragon I remembered him to be.
(So, my first visitor in 300 years, what business do you possess with me?)
"Heh, so I managed to be ahead of him huh" I whispered to myself, happy to be ahead of Rimuru.
("Him"?)
"Nothing Veldora, I came here just to tell you that in a few days you will be released from this seal."
(What?! It's not possible, that seal was put on me so that I would be stuck here for the rest of eternity until my magicles are extinguished!)
"Yes, I know that very well."
(...What did you mean by 'In a few days'?)
"Hahaha, you see, I have a unique skill that allows me to predict the future, that future is still unstable considering it is still far away. But it will happen if you do things the way I tell you." I spoke to Veldora, trying to lie as best as I could, to try to fool him, even though I knew of his Unique skill, "Investigator".
(... Hoho, well then, grace me with this knowledge of yours that even I, The Great Veldora, do not possess). Veldora spoke to me, clearly curious about what I was implying.
"Well, how about we do an exchange of favors? You give me a name, and I'll give you my knowledge, how about that?"
(Hm, so you're trying to make a trade with a True Dragon? KUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!)
"!!!!!!" Surprised by Veldora's sudden laughter I took a step back.
(Well then! I will give you a name! I like your bold attitude, strange looking Ogre!) Veldora said, as he approached his dragon head near the barrier of the Infinite Prison.
(Your name will be Mika!)
The moment Veldora gave me a name, my body began to glow, and then I became stronger, just as predicted. And then I turn my gaze back to that huge dragon, who was waiting for my answer.
"Heh..." I gave a little chuckle at how easy it was to impress a dragon.
(Keep your promise Mika.)
"Well then, Veldora, what I am about to tell you is not something that will be done by either of us, but by someone in particular, and that someone will both save this world, and save you and the entire Jura Forest. I really need you to wait for him, in less than a month he will be here, he will get you out of this prison, I hope you can be friends!"
(...Just that?)
"Well, that's exactly my prophecy, summarized so you don't know too much and mess up the whole destiny." I said this while giving a giggle to Veldora.
(...Haah... Well then, can you at least wait with me? It's really kind of lonely here).
"So, I kinda can, but a day earlier I'll leave, so I don't get in the way of the story too much."
(That's good enough.)
I kept up with Veldora during these days, and we talked about various things. I hope I was able to increase his appreciation of me. And as I had said, I left the day before Rimuru appeared, bid Veldora goodbye, and so we parted ways temporarily.