Dual Cultivation

TL Note: Finals and last week this week, so missing chapters and extra chapters will be dealt with the following week.

I woke up when the light was still dim and the sun had yet to rise to train my body lightly. After that, I ate my breakfast, and then I took the Big Space Slime that can use dimension magic with me to a room in the house… Although it was within my house, the distance we had to travel was quite far.

It’s because I built a lot of facilities for experimenting as well as to house my slimes and help me use up my magic power each day. The lot size is about 150 hectares, but as of now, I’ve already used up over half of the mountain range.

Also, although I say “use”, all I really did was change the tunnels that were already there into a number of square-shaped rooms. The build of the facilities I created were all plain and simple. Save for the facilities that are being used for experiments, the rooms werwe mostly storage rooms.

Another exception would be the tunnels by the sides of the house I built when I first started living at the mine. I figured the students might use the training facilities there back then, so I designed the rooms there better than the others.

Deep inside those training facilities is a goblin farm. There are eight big rooms that are connected to passageways that can be closed and opened. Four of those are rooms are inhabited by 200 goblins each, totaling to 800 goblins. These goblins are fed, and when their population grows, the surplus is used as food for the slimes or as experimental subjects.

Even deeper past the breeding grounds are two demarcations. One is for experimenting and another for manufacturing. And then lastly, there’s the field. So there’s a workshop for me to experiment and create things, and then there’s also a place for me to store ingredients and completed products.

Also, around the fields there’s another group of goblins that’s different from the ones I’m breeding. I made a deal with these goblins to let them live by the fields in exchange for their service in doing some easy work around the fields, as well as gathering the crops.

I also tried raising orcs in the past, but unfortunately, although their sexual desire was strong, they couldn’t multiply quickly. Moreover, although they were strong, they refused to listen to orders.

I know it’s a little questionable to have the goblins work for me and at the same time have them serve as feeds, but I’ve already killed a lot of goblins. And I’ll also have to kill goblins if my adventurer work requires it, so something like, “Let’s not kill goblins again!” is not something I can say.

That’s why I thought I should at least make the living environment of the goblins that are working better. Because of that, I’ve been mostly feeding them the food from the fields. And when it’s not enough, I even go out of my way to buy some leafy vegetables from the market at the town, and feed that to them. I also get some wine for them once a week. I also make sure to give the goblins that are meant for breeding enough to eat. They can live with just a little food, but I do my best to ensure they have their fill.

“We’re here.” [Ryouma]

The place we arrived at is a corner in the manufacturing area where the products to be brought out are stored. By the corner of this storeroom are king grave slimes that have stored the corpses of goblins that has already had their blood drained. The king grave slimes are about the size of two drums even when compressed, so they can still be seen through the gaps in between the luggage.

“First comes the paper used in the research facilities and the vitamin pills. Then the dried corn used for making popcorn at the store by the arena… the potatoes, the onions, the sesame seeds… the bamboo, the iron, and the cursed ornaments… Ok.” [Ryouma]

I put the items in the storeroom into the Dimension Home and the Item Box. I also borrowed the help of the big space slime. After I finished getting the things I needed, I took the big space slime and the king grave slime with me, and we headed for the research facility.

As we entered the town, we stopped by a slime research facility at the back of the training facility.

In front of me is a triangular building surrounded by 4m tall walls. It looked like a fortress. The building is about three stories high.

The walls being high is a requirement by the law for magical beast research facilities inside a town. It’s to ensure the safety of the citizens living nearby.

Moreover, this building is situated 30m away from the surrounding buildings. That empty space is covered by a park. The security is made to be lax as the park is also open to the public. Nothing can be done about the height of the walls, so at the very least, the security was lightened to allow the citizens visiting the park to be able to relax.

As I greeted the security of the facility, I entered into the research facility, and stopped by the receptionist’s desk where an old man was waiting for me.

“Good morning. Sorry for making you wait.” [Ryouma]

“Good morning, Chief.” [Old Man]

The man who is bowing deeply right in front of me is Paul Bilkins. He is the man responsible for managing the researchers of the slime research facility. He is able to immediately comprehend the things I teach him, allowing him to immediately distribute the work to his subordinates, gather the results, and report to me everything in detail.

Also, because I also have other stores to deal with, I’m more the investor and advisor of this research facility rather than a manager.

The first thing to be done after arriving here is the matter regarding the things that I’ve brought. The reception’s desk that we are at now is the lowest part of this triangular building. Going left from here leads to the laboratory that studies the practical applications of the slimes. Going right leads to the lab that studies unknown slimes.

I handed the paper and the goblin feeds to the person in charge of their storerooms.

There are few amongst the researchers who can contract a large number of slimes like me, so they can’t have the slimes fuse together and become a big version or a huge version to save on food costs. That’s why a majority of the goblins I’m breeding are being consumed by the research facility.

The reason I’m able to contract a large number of slimes is because Gayn and the others set my talent in slave magic to adapt to my interests. I’m extremely interested in slimes, so my talent in slave magic adapted itself for slime contracts. Thanks to that, I’m able to contract what is pretty much an infinite number of slimes.

But I can also contract with other beasts, and am often told that I’m better than the common man at it. Also, according to Gayn, I’m apparently compatible with magical beasts that have a tendency for crowding together. I’m also compatible with magical beasts that are weak individually.

When I asked Kufo why, he said, “Weren’t you always bad with people back in your previous life? Then isn’t your affinity something that came about because of your admiration for those that are able to form bonds with crowds?” His words hit right at the heart of the matter of how I thought back in my previous life, so I couldn’t deny it at all. I’ve always been envious of people who could get together happily with other people after all.

Being told the truth with no malice behind it is a lot more painful than some poorly made lie. It was also in the middle of the banquet when I was told that, so I ended up drinking more liquor than normal. I couldn’t get drunk at all though…

Going back to the topic…

My job isn’t only to transport the goods to the storeroom.

“Here are the documents since last week–––” [Researcher 1]

“Oil Slime, Wax Slime, Mold Slime, and Copy Slime. These four types of slimes all possess the ability to generate lubricant liquid. We compared the liquids they produced, and as expected, although they all possess the same Lubricant Liquid Generate skill, the characteristics of the liquid produced varies per type. Also, the abilities exhibited of two slimes of the same type apparently vary depending on the food they are fed before evolution. For example–––” [Researcher 2]

“The slime evolutions are really varied. We are currently in the process of drawing up a tree-chart for their evolution–––” [Researcher 3]

“We’ve discovered another new slime!” [Researcher 4]

I took the opportunity to go around the laboratories, receiving the reports of people as I did. The bureau director, Paul, has also written it down in the document he gave me, but I also wanted to see the actual results myself.

“Another one? There sure has been a lot of new slimes lately.” [Ryouma]

I looked at the slime that was presented before me. This slime had just evolved, so the research surrounding it has only just begun as well. From the outside, it looks no different from a normal slime, so I used my Monster Identify skill.

Jelly Slime

SKILL NAME LEVEL

Digestion Lv 4

Absorption Lv 3

Split Lv 2

Oh, a jelly slime…

Wait a moment, just how on earth did they distinguish it from the others!!?

“…It’s rather difficult to distinguish from other slimes from just the appearance. What did you feed it?” [Ryouma]

Slimes can look similar to each other despite being a different variant, so it’s quite troubling…

“We fed it the bones of magical beasts and animals. We were looking to see if there were any other evolutions aside from the acid slime and the bone slime, and the result is this, the Jelly Slime.” [Researcher 4]

It probably evolved from the collagen inside the bones.

When this research facility was first founded, the first researches that were done were based mostly on my findings, which stated that slimes evolved differently depending on the food they ate. (At this time, the researchers in the facility were only the people working at the laundromat)

But then when the researchers tried it out, they were able to evolve slimes of different variants despite feeding them the same food. For example, slimes that were fed bones evolved into either an acid slime or a bone slime. And today, there’s even the jelly slime.

While it seems it’s possible to make the slimes evolve, directing the slimes’ evolution with 100% certainty is quite difficult.

To make matters worse, a large number of variants can apparently transform into the same type. A good example would be the slimes inside the monster carriage, the heater slime and the cooler slime, as either of those two slimes can transform into an aircon slime.

This diversity in the evolution path of the slimes is one of the causes of the researchers’ headaches.

Still… A jelly slime, huh? It’s probably going to be used for food…

“As one would expect, the jelly in the jelly slime is the same jelly that’s eaten. I’ve heard that jelly is generally made out of animal bones.” [Researcher 4]

“It’s the collagen from inside the bones of animals. That ingredient is heated, which then turns it into gelatin, which is then used as the main ingredient for jellies.” [Ryouma]

Well… gelatin isn’t only used in sweets though.

As I was thinking that, Paul talked to me.

“So you really don’t want to see slimes used as food ingredients.” [Paul]

“Not really. It’s not like they’ll die anyway, so it’s fine.” [Ryouma]

The meat slime that Caulkins-san evolved in the past is also present in this research facility. It’s a slime that evolved after being fed the meat of magical beasts continuously.

The meat slime has two abilities, Change Meat Quality and Remember Meat Quality, allowing them to transform into a meat with similar quality to that of the meat they ate. The meat can be taken from them without killing them so long as their nucleus is left untouched. They can also regenerate their body so long as they don’t eat poisoned meat. They can do this even with meat not consumable by people. It takes about two weeks for them to regenerate completely.

Although I’ve been hunting other prey, I was a bit hesitant to use the meat slimes as food at first. But then I found out that the meat slime apparently doesn’t feel any pain from it, so nowadays, I’m not really against it anymore. It’s also better to just eat the meat that’s already been gathered so as not to waste it.

“Not at all. It’s because you don’t see them like we do. You see them as your family or your friends, and not just as research subjects, so it probably can’t be helped. It’s also because of that that you have a different point of view regarding slimes, right? We couldn’t even think of any other use for the meat slime other than for food supply… It was truly shameful on our part then.” [Paul]

As soon as they found out that the meat slime’s meat could be eaten, the researchers all thought to breed and study them in that light. But because I was against the idea of using them as food, I fed them the muscle of magical beasts, had them change their meat quality, and with the help of the bone slime, I found out that it was possible to use them to supplement muscles that weakened due to age.

The effects were huge, and people became able to move like they did in their younger days. Because of that a lot of people helped out in the experiments. The researchers all thought to use the meat slimes for food at first, but that’s probably because they’re still affected by the values of the research facility they worked at before.

“Because the perspective is different–––” [Ryouma]

“N-No Ah AHHHHHHH!!!” [Girl’s Voice]

While I was in the middle of talking, a girl’s screaming voice suddenly reached our ears, cutting my speech midway. Her scream was so loud it must’ve reached the entire facility. Of course, Paul, me, as well as everyone else in the surrounding area stopped in our tracks.

“This voice…” [Ryouma]

“It’s Alicia again!” [Paul]

“For the meantime, let’s follow the direction of her voice!” [Ryouma]

We knew who it was as soon as we heard the voice. The owner of that voice was none other than the famous trouble maker of a female researcher, Alicia. She was the type to cause trouble wherever she went. And not because of ill will or anything, but because she’s merely unlucky. It’s not on purpose, so she doesn’t get punished, but…

“Just what is it this time, I wonder.” [Paul]

“Well for the meantime, let’s hurry.” [Ryouma]

If I recall correctly… The first trouble she caused was when she tried to confirm my findings, and she tried feeding the slime rotten foods to turn it into a scavenger slime. But the result she got instead was that of a mold slime that ate molds. As a result, mold grew all over the storerooms in the laboratories.

Then the last trouble she caused was when she fed the slimes bamboo charcoal, and discovered the carbon slime. But then that carbon slime spit out powdered carbon, causing a dust explosion inside the facility… After the mold slime incident, we put her inside a room that couldn’t be entered in order to prevent casualties, but apparently, that backfired on us.

Fortunately, the explosion was small, and because Alicia-san was taken aback from the carbon slime spitting powdered carbon, she inadvertently took some distance, allowing her to get by with only some wounds. However, because of the loud noise from the explosion, everyone inside the facility went into an uproar. Moreover, the windows in the laboratories were blown away and the other slimes were damaged so badly you they were pretty much wiped out.

We headed to Alicia-san’s lab as I recalled those things. By the time we got there, a crowd had already formed, and was being kept in check. When we went through that crowd to take a look at the situation, what we saw were the cramping faces of the security.

“Is anyone injured!?” [Ryouma]

As I said that in a loud voice, the crowd immediately parted, opening a way for us. At the end of that path was a guard who answered my question.

“Just two researchers who fainted. There’s no danger to their life. There’s also no danger as of now.” [Guard]

“That’s good to hear… What’s the cause of all this?” [Ryouma]

“…If you take a look inside, you’ll understand.” [Guard]

Just as the guard had said, I took a peek inside the room, and I immediately understood the reasoning behind that scream a while ago as even my face couldn’t help but cramp.

Yeah… if it’s something like this, you’d definitely want to scream…