'This scale is like a skyscraper…' Young Slime clicked his tongue. He was used to huge buildings, but he couldn't believe—something this big existed in a fantasy world.

----

They soon reached the first basement by bouncing up the stairs.

"Ha… ha…" Elder Slime panted, taking deep breaths, exhausted from climbing so many floors up.

Young Slime waited calmly at the end of the stairs. He didn't even break into a sweat, much less pant.

He glanced at the hall. It was similar to the basement 149 hall, but it didn't have any rooms. Sigils covered the entire hall, interlocking with each other to form a massive magic array. The white marble tiles were packed with inscriptions, but the whole thing lay dormant—empty and powerless.

"It's the Demon King's heir judgment array," Elder Slime said, pointing at it.

"Okay." Slime#47 took a deep breath. "Let's start."

Old Slime nodded and bounced to the array.

He poured in a small amount of mana.

The array lit up gold and rose toward the ceiling, forming layers five meters above the tiles.

'It doesn't require… crystals?' Young Slime wondered, doubtful.

The entire room was filled with golden light as the array formed like a dome.

Elder Slime's expression sharpened. "Go to the center, where the big circle sigil is embedded, and meditate." Then he warned, "Be careful. Demon kings will appear in the trials… and they will kill you if you perform poorly."

Slime#47 nodded, breathing in slowly. 'Anyway… just death,' he thought carelessly—though he still hoped to clear it in one shot.

"Remember, pay respects to everyone," Elder Slime said sternly. "Some demon kings are erratic. A few will kill you even if you speak irregularly… even based on how you stand or sit."

'What the…' Young Slime's eyes twitched. 'Yeah… they have the power to back up their weird personalities.'

Wob! He bounced to the center, where a magic circle sigil was inscribed, marking the position. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

A huge wave of mana swept into his body and rushed into his core.

For a moment, he felt himself floating—Then he landed.

He opened his eyes.

'It's real… it doesn't feel like an illusion,' he thought, patting himself. He could feel everything—senses, emotions, even the wind.

He glanced around and realized he stood in an open forest field. Grass spread everywhere, with a few large trees scattered in the distance.

A huge, five-meter-tall humanoid male shadow silhouette in black heavy full-body armour stood right before him, staring down coldly. Two red eyes flashed on his black, invisible shadow face.

He said in a cold, hoarse voice, "You who perform forbidden rituals for power are not worthy!"

"What?" Slime#47 asked in disbelief.

He came here after suffering so much—now he was declared unworthy because of rituals! Rituals that helped him reach this place in the first place.

"Rampaging Lightning Fall," the shadow cast. A light purple magic rune flared on its palm.

ZZZ!

A massive current of black lightning descended from the sky.

In an instant, Slime#47 was zapped.

He couldn't react. It was too fast.

'It hurts…' he screamed internally.

Within moments, he turned into dust.

[ Ding! You have died! ]

----

Slime#47 opened his eyes to nothingness. 'Seriously… after all that—just because I used eldritch power… he killed me.' He sighed. 'So that's it… Rituals are the problem. Next time, I'll use my power—without that octopus.'

He then muttered, glancing at his cloak, "Where is Vael? Shouldn't he mock me or something?"

He bathed in golden light for few seconds.

"Whatever… so what now?" He frowned, already planning.

'I think I can do it,' he decided, clicking on the crimson shimmering panel to begin a new timeline.

----

Timeline 78521452224.177

He opened his eyes inside Mama Slime's warm hug.

Vael manifested behind him and glared at the young slime with a slight grin.

---

Young Slime used the crystals from the crate they found under the trough. Within a few days, he leveled up to Lv.50. He picked the same class and race as the previous loop.

"Aura Recovery." Slime#47 poured his aura to heal the injuries caused by the Mana Torrent Refinement Technique.

He picked up the last aura crystal to restore his reserves. The crystal dissolved as his aura recovered a little.

He forcefully used the technique to level faster, then used Aura Recovery to heal himself. Whenever he ran out of aura, he used aura crystals. He repeated this process.

Because of it, it took only ten days to reach level 50—but all the crystals were used up—mana and aura.

'It's very painful…' he mused bitterly, recalling the overflowing mana.

It was only because of Supreme Pain Tolerance that he endured it. Even so, a chill crept through him as the memory surfaced.

He also hadn't exploded thanks to Mana Mastery {Tier 2}—his control over mana had increased just enough to hold it back.

Then he refined mana, aura, and dark element into demonic force.

"Today… February 5," he muttered, fixing the date in his mind. 'Good. Now, 25 days until the baron's men arrive.'

----

Young Slime yanked open the lid of the crate in the secret room of the slime farm owner.

"It's empty…" he said, finding nothing.

He glanced at the cloak. After all, it was meant to be present in that crate.

"There won't be a duplicate," Vael said, manifesting near him. "In a single timeline, only one can exist. If there are two… they will fuse with each other by Voice of the World."

'After all, it was because I fused with a variant of the current timeline…' Vael mused. 'I could recover my energy reserves.'

He then checked his storage space. 'All four sealed artifacts still exist.' His lips curled up.

'Any object can't be brought into a new timeline… but it's different if it's Authority of Time,' he noted, recalling what he'd learned via authority of time.

'Why is he telling me all this?' Slime#47 wondered. This was important information.

"Because…" Vael grinned—and disappeared.

Young Slime's eyes twitched. He got nothing again.

'Hopefully… one day you'd try to sneak into other timelines for more power by fusion,' the small humanoid thought, planning.

"What's wrong?" Elder Slime asked, noticing Slime#47 lost in thought. Mama Slime also stared at him.

----

"This time… I'll take the aqua crocodile and the wolves with me," Slime#47 decided as he rushed out from Oakfield Village with his fellow demons.

His Eternal Mastery devoured faith before his eyes—something he had gotten used to by now.

'I also need to kill the Dancing Lightning party before they get devoured by their captain…and him as well,' he planned, wanting to steal all their crystals.

He had already used all the slime farm owner's crystals, leveling himself up to Lv.89 with them.

'I'll pass the trial this time....with my power,' His eyes narrowed.

End of the chapter…

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