No Step On Slime

Chapter 5: A Skill, A Trade, A Little Something To Learn

Season 2 has begun airing, which is nice. I won't actually be writing anything that happens in S2 until it's finished in probably a few months from now, to buffer the time between both seasons and give myself time to write it.

. . . . .

A few weeks had already passed since Rimuru returned with the Dwarves. To say they were helpful would be severely underestimating how much they've contributed to the growth of the village.

We've already cleared out a measured portion of the forest to place down the foundation for the future town. It reminded me of those construction developments back at home, where they had all the land flattened but nothing was built on it yet.

The extra manpower from all the Goblin refugees definitely helped.

My self-oriented projects were also moving forward at a steady pace.

Kaijin had helped melt down some pig iron from the ore that I have collected. I was far from an expert in refining metal, all I knew was that crude iron was one of those resources that you can have, but can't really use yet without further processing.

Think oil. You first have to pull it from the ground, but you can't just take the crude oil and pump it in a car. It's in your possession but requires further processing to actually use.

I think that's how it works.

There was one thing that was made immediately apparent: Remember that Dissenter's Archive tech tree that I needed to go through to unlock other things? Turns out that certain things are unlocked immediately if I physically examine them.

The pig iron I mentioned earlier? I grabbed a bar to inspect it and that voice popped up in my head.

[Notice: Research requirements for the item Pig Iron has been bypassed due to direct contact with the item.]

Five minutes later, once I deciphered what they meant, I was running around and touching almost everything in the smithery. Kaijin had to grab me by the shoulder so I wouldn't knock a thing or two over.

[Notice: Research requirements for the item Steel Hammer—]

[Notice: Research requirements for the item Metal Tongs—]

[Notice: Research requirements for the item Hardened Chisel—]

[Notice: Research requirements for the item—]

Yeah, a room full of tools was a field day for me.

The other three Dwarves had also piqued my interest. Garm wasn't just a simple clothesmaker, he also designed armor. My expectations might've been a bit high, but I was really hoping there was a kevlar-like material in this world that could resist projectiles while still remaining snug.

The middle brother, Dord, seemed to be a precision craftsman of sorts. I've got no interest in jewelry or the like, but the level of detail on his works would be great for the precision I needed if I ever wanted to get any complicated mechanisms to work.

Myrd... Admittedly, neither he nor I have anything in common. The guy's an architect and seems to know what he's doing, but I can't say anything more than that.

One at a time, of course. Kaijin proposed that he be my tutor before I move on to learning under Garm or Dord.

I like the guy. He's a pretty good teacher.

"Strike while the iron is hot, that's when the hammer is most effective," Kaijin instructed. I hammered the piece of heated metal flat, using both the weight of my automaton arm to assist in striking.