Ludwig didn't move.
None of them did.
For a few breaths, the open doorway remained exactly that, a line drawn between his restaurant and Tempest. Light bleeding over the threshold, Tempest stretching wide and bright and impossible beyond.
Wind brushed past them again, carrying scents no Konoha forest or Ravenhall alley had ever held. Damp earth rich with mana. Resin from strange trees. Cooked grain. Smoke. Distant metal and oil. Life.
His skin prickled.
So this is what it feels like without the restaurant between us.
"Hey." Rimuru said lightly, glancing over his shoulder. "You won't get the tour if you stay looking dumb like that. What are you guys waiting for? Come in!"
Rimuru chuckled before leading by example. He lowered himself ever so slightly before jumping and landing like a clown in a circus.
Ludwig snorted, while Claire and Cless just looked blankly at what stretched in front of them. Rimuru's act which always became the subject of scrutiny didn't even register in their eyes right now.
In the meantime, he could feel Kushina shifting. Her eyes returned to the restaurant's interior behind them. Or to be precise, someone who was not there.
Then, slowly, she shut them.
When she opened them again, there was still hurt there. But it had been pushed aside, just enough to let something else through.
Determination.
"Fine." She muttered. "If he won't come, I'll just bring him stories he'll regret missing. Dattebane."
Ludwig's lips curved. That's more like you. But he didn't voice it.
"Alright." he said quietly. "Rimuru, lead the way. Kushina, stay close to me."
She shot him a look. "I'm not a kid, you know."
"I know." Ludwig replied. "That's why I'm only asking once."
The corner of her mouth twitched.
Claire exhaled, a tiny shift of her shoulders as she pushed off from the counter. "Cless. Hand."
Cless grabbed it without complaint, though her eyes were very obviously fixed on the city outside, wide and shining. "There's… someone as small as me here."
Ludwig and the others chuckled at the little kid's words. Then, Ludwig took a step forward. The restaurant's floor ended beneath his heel. Instead of wood, stone met his sole. A clean-cut pavement, faintly warm from the rising sun.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the world… shifted. Something ancient and mechanical and impossibly vast turned its gaze toward him.
Ludwig's breath caught.
And a voice spoke.
Ludwig was familiar with the sensation. Yes, only the sensation. The restaurant had done it countless times by now.
Even though what he currently experienced felt invasive, his knowledge about Rimuru's world helped him calm down.
He knew what that powerful being that was trying to talk to his mind was. It was the system, the overseer of this world:
Voice Of The World.
「Foreign Existence Detected.」
「Analyzing Soul…」
Ludwig straightened instinctively. The others didn't react yet. At least… not outwardly. Kushina just inhaled sharply, Claire's fingers twitched, Cless shivered. But only he heard anything.
「Converting Attributes…」
「Magicule Pathway Creation Complete.」
Then, a rush of something colder than ice and hotter than flame shot through him. The sensation was so alien, so raw, that Ludwig couldn't help but groan.
Magicules laced themselves through his mana channels, filling the tiny gaps between pathways like molten gold pouring into engraved lines.
A pressure followed. It's heavy, ancient, undeniable.
「Race Adjustment: Not Required.」
「Enlightened Human (Sanctuary-Bound) recognized.」
Ludwig blinked.
So that's my race now? Last time I checked… Well, it's too long ago, and at that time, I'm still a human.
At that moment, something new appeared on his mind. His mind now vividly remembered everything that happened the last time he checked his race, or, his Status Window in general.
Ah! The locked panels! The attribute and attribute point!
But before he could willed his Status Window to open, another flurry of voices entered his mind.
「Adapting Skills…」
「Acquisition of Unique Skill [Chronos Kitchen] successful.」
「Acquisition of Unique Skill [Spatial Sovereign] successful.」
「Acquisition of Unique Skill [Hospitality Lord] successful.」
「Acquisition of Extra Skill [Weapon Master] successful.」
「Acquisition of Extra Skill [Taste Appraisal] successful.」
「Acquisition of Extra Skill [Time Manipulation] successful.」
「Acquisition of Extra Skill [Mana Sense] successful.」
「Acquisition of Extra Skill [Enhanced Mana Conductivity] successful.」
No more announcements followed. No thunder. No titles. No mention of what the others gained. He didn't hear anything but his own message.
But Ludwig felt something in him shift. He exhaled slowly, and the air that left his lungs shimmered faintly. Magicules clung to his breath like dew catching sunlight.
He focused inward and the effect was instant.
His body was glowing, like a fire that warmed everything. Maybe that's why he got the Hospitality Lord skill.
Then, his spatial sense expanded. It was no longer a simple directional feel. Every fold, every ripple of dimensional tension around him mapped itself in thin silver threads in his mind.
His temporal awareness sharpened. Not time travel, nothing absurd. But the micro-movements of air, the inertia of sound, the slow drift of heat currents, he felt them all. If he focused, he could probably tell the exact millisecond a droplet of water would fall.
Then, his Mana sense flared outwards. The world didn't brighten, it textured. Everything gained weight and shape where sight and hearing couldn't reach.
Claire's aura flared like a storm wrapped tight into human form. Wind humming under her skin, explosive mana flickering at the edges.
Cless shimmered like wet paint catching light, her mana threads swirling in a painter's spiral.
Kushina was a bonfire, chakra coiled like molten rope, Kurama's presence curled deep and irritated but no longer violent.
Meanwhile Rimuru… under the mask of his fun sized body, a boundless energy was twisting and turning like an undercurrent. It was scary just looking at it.
Ludwig let out a long breath. He knew that everyone who heard the Voice Of The World after entering Tenshura World would gain a Magicule Aligned body. So, he tried.
The heavy, wild atmosphere of Tempest, which should've been suffocating, now felt natural, breathable, almost refreshing. His body didn't resist the change; it embraced it. His mana circulated smoother, sharper, as if the world's energy recognized him as something familiar enough to welcome.
He flexed his fingers slightly, watching as faint motes in the air rippled around them in response. Not visible to the naked eye, just a subtle distortion that Magic Sense made obvious.
"Alright…" He murmured under his breath. "That's… potent."
Nothing was really new to him, aside from maybe how his body easily handled Magicules. However, what he felt now was different. It's like he was a frog who finally learned that his world was just a small pond for many others.
He thought he was close to mastering his own power. Or at least, by the standard of Modern Ortus. But now, he knew just how wrong he was. What he thought as bending time and space turned out to be a mere coaxing them out to do his biddings.
But now even without him willing it, the space and time felt as if they were wagging their tails to him, looking forward to being ordered to his heart's content. But if he still fell on the same pitfall after surviving it the first time, he didn't deserve to call himself a student of magic.
In Tenshura World, what he felt, and the three others felt was just a rite of passage for an otherworlder. The reason every single one of them got an Unique Skill was simply because their souls got strengthened in the process when they were summoned to this world.
However, most of those otherworlders failed to evolve further to the realm of the likes of Rimuru, Shizuka, Diablo, and some handful more. And he knew, once he stepped into that realm, he would feel his current control had left much to be desired.
Ludwig was awakened from his musing due to how Kushina's breath hitch.
Not loud, not even sharp. More like someone who suddenly felt cold water run down her spine. Her chakra flared across her skin for a split second. Her hands curled, steadying herself. Kurama stirred violently, Ludwig felt it through the magicules, but instead of raging, it recoiled. Like the fox wasn't sure whether to snarl or bow.
Kushina blinked hard, grounding herself, then looked up at Ludwig with confusion flickering behind her eyes.
Claire reacted differently.
She didn't flinch. Didn't shiver. Didn't gasp.
Her eyes simply widened, just barely, then narrowed, analyzing something only she could sense. Her mana flared in spiraling wind-runes around her shoulders, involuntary at first before she suppressed them with precision. She didn't speak. She didn't need to.
Her expression said enough.
Cless was the opposite of them. She wobbled backward, clutching Claire's sleeve, her pupils dilated and glowing faintly as if she was trying to paint something beyond comprehension.
Colorless motes swirled around her like invisible brush strokes. She stared at Ludwig with the kind of fascinated fear a kid might show a lightning storm, terrified, but unable to look away.
"Ludwig… you're sparkly." She whispered.
He wasn't.
But to a child whose entire soul resonated with mana?
He might as well have been a supernova.
When his head turned to the owner of the city, he saw him standing still. To be honest, it was frightening by itself, because Rimuru never went still.
He didn't speak.
Didn't hop.
Didn't joke.
He just stared, eyes widening by slow degrees, like he was seeing something he genuinely didn't expect.
Then Ludwig felt it. Rimuru's magicules pulsing once, sharply. The slime's body almost wavered between shapes before settling again, and he exhaled a long, slow breath.
"…Whoa."
Ludwig's focus sharpened. Through the months he had known him, the Slime rarely said 'whoa.'
That alone told Ludwig everything. But he didn't linger on it. Not now. Not here. Everyone was already looking at them funny.
He swallowed once, grounding himself.
Then he stepped forward. "What are we waiting for, Rimuru? Let's go for the tour."
* * *
Okay. What the heck was that.
Rimuru thought he'd gotten used to surprises. Someone didn't just survive Veldora, or Orc Disaster, or naming half a nation, or handling Shion's cooking, without having a very flexible definition of "normal."
But when Ludwig stepped through the doorway, just one step. The world reacted.
The magicules didn't just ripple. They bowed.
They moved around him the way wind shifted around a Divine Knight or a nascent Demon Lord seed. Not exactly, Ludwig didn't have that pressure, but the pattern was there. Something only beings on the edge of evolution displayed.
Rimuru discreetly activated Magic Sense harder. He expected to feel a spike of energy.
But Ludwig wasn't 'flaring.'
He wasn't trying to do anything.
He was simply… existing.
And the world was adjusting to him.
It was proof he wasn't someone who got stronger because the Voice gave him toys. This was someone who already had terrifying control. The Voice just gave him a new medium to play with.
Rimuru's stomach dropped a little.
Ludwig, who could already fold space so casually that Great Sage grumbled about consistency, now had fully aligned magicules. Plus something else. Something which he recognized as Mana of another world.
The presence he now carries reminded Rimuru of a handful of beings. Those whose name was enough to shake the stability of the strongest empire. The Orc Disaster was nothing compared to his current self.
Yet… He didn't evolve. That stability was exactly what made him terrifying.
People evolve. Humans, monsters, demons evolved when they desire something deeply. Status, survival, love, recognition, vengeance, meaning.
But Ludwig didn't seem to desire those things.
And Rimuru knew what he desired the most after knowing him for a few months.
He wanted to cook.
Run a restaurant.
Feed people.
Maybe travel a little.
His soul wasn't reaching outward, it was centered inward. That meant the Voice had given him everything necessary to evolve further… but since Ludwig didn't crave anything, he simply wouldn't.
A fully loaded weapon with no wish to fire.
Rimuru exhaled.
"So that's the level you're sitting at… sheesh."
Ludwig glanced over, brow raised. "Something wrong?"
"Nope! Nothing! Definitely not something that'll give me anxiety later!"
Ludwig blinked slowly. "…Right."
Rimuru forced a smile.
But inside?
He was sweating.
Because Ludwig had just stepped into Tempest with the quiet power of someone who could breath some air of Tempest before getting an Ultimate Skill if he ever wanted. Yet he chose not to.
Which, ironically, made him more dangerous than if he had.
"Alright!" Rimuru said with forced cheer. His eyes looked at the inhabitants of Tempest who started crowding at them. Some cheers, some looked at them with recognition. But Rimuru knew better.
"Let's get this tour started before Shion thinks you're intruders and punches someone into orbit!"
Actually… he should probably hurry.
Because the last thing Tempest needed was Shion testing herself against Ludwig. She might accidentally evolve him by feeding him the abomination she called food.
And Rimuru did not want to deal with the consequences of that.
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