Now that he had ascended to the rank of a Level Four Wizard, Future Skywhale found himself increasingly uneasy.
"In their eyes, I'm still just a Level Three Wizard," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "They have no idea I broke through a year ago. They're only Level Two Witches—gathering enough resources to push me to Level Three was already difficult for them. But now that I'm at Level Four, I'll need to figure out the rest on my own."
He paused, his expression clouded.
"Elizabeth and the girls are amazed by my talent... but that's only because they've seen too little of the world."
He frowned and shook his head bitterly.
"Even with my potential, I'm still far from the level of the Three Great Witches of the past. Compared to prodigies like Lilith or Medusa—the most gifted of this era—I'm still slightly behind. If I continue with conventional training, I'll never catch up."
A gleam entered his eye.
"But I have my own strength. I didn't waste my forty-plus years in the modern world. I've finally maxed out my tech tree!"
He turned to face the towering figure before him—a secret creation he had poured decades of knowledge into.
It stood three meters tall, a humanoid construct with a divine, almost mythological presence. A round shield rested in its left hand, while a deep blue staff was gripped in its right. His face was sculpted like a god's, skin pale as snow, and robes of midnight blue shimmered with stars. He was a vision out of Norse legend.
Though he looked human, he was anything but.
Crafted from the reinforced bones of ancient beasts, the construct's body was covered in intricate runes and sigils, forming arcane circuit diagrams that glowed with subtle menace. Power pulsed within.
"Back in my world, I spent forty years becoming a world-class mechanical engineer and building a tech empire," he said to himself. "Here, progress has been much slower, but after thirty years, I've finally grasped the basics of soul science and spiritual energy. With that foundation, creating a lifeform that fuses alchemy and engineering... was inevitable."
With a graceful leap, he entered a hatch embedded in the construct's chest. Inside, he pulled the bellows with his feeler, channeling spiritual energy into a control panel shaped like a magical array.
Click.
The hatch sealed shut.
And then, a tall, radiant figure stepped forward—graceful, majestic, and three meters tall.
"From this day forward, no one will know that I am a Slime," he declared. "My name... is Grantham."
He paused, considering his next move.
"But do I really want to fight and grind levels the hard way? Ugh... no thanks."
As a gamer who preferred cozy, slow-paced farming simulators, Future Skywhale hated violence.
"Looks like I need to find someone to support me instead—someone with the resources I need."
That day, Future Skywhale walked into the heart of Babylon's royal palace.
He held deep respect for the queen who ruled it—a once-proud monarch forced to swallow humiliation to protect her kingdom. She had even given up her beloved for the sake of her people. That was a strength few could understand.
Even now, Lilith remained stuck at Level Five.
A noble and upright ruler, she was plagued by obsession. In a world where witches cultivated spiritual strength above all else, her mental chains held her back. She stood at the threshold of the legendary Sixth Level... but could never pass through.
Meanwhile, the Rose Kingdom had produced numerous Level Five Witches, all surpassing Lilith. Babylon's hope of resistance had long since faded.
"If not for the Slime's sudden appearance and the pressure he lifted from us... this kingdom might have already fallen," Lilith murmured.
She sat upon the golden throne, her staff resting at her side. Her face, though beautiful beyond words, carried the weight of grief.
Boom!
Suddenly, the doors to the audience chamber flew open.
A man strode in—tall, otherworldly, his form cloaked in regal robes. Staff in one hand, shield in the other, he was like a war god descended from legend.
Lilith narrowed her eyes."Who are you? To breach my palace's defenses undetected... And at that height—three meters? You can't be human..."
She instinctively assessed his strength."A Level Four Wizard? We've had someone like this hidden in Babylon all along?"
Her shock was so great, she stood from her throne.
"How could we have missed such a wizard?"
Boom!
Future Skywhale pulled the bellows again, and his aura erupted—clashing with Lilith's.
Her pupils contracted.
"This... this is the power of a Level Five Wizard!" Her mind reeled. "But he's clearly Level Four! How is this possible?"
Future Skywhale remained silent for a moment, then finally spoke.
"This is the power... of Alchemy."He stood tall in the chamber, eyes meeting hers.
"In the age of the Three Great Witches, the god Hermes descended upon Babylon in the form of a black raven. He gifted us the three divine disciplines: Magic, Meditation, and Alchemy. The Witches uncovered the secrets of the first two. But now... I have opened the third path. I have opened the Gate of Alchemy."
Alchemy.
Lilith's thoughts ground to a halt.
That word—that discipline—was said to be the most arcane of all. Legend claimed it could birth life, manipulate matter, and unravel the mysteries of the universe.
Hermes himself once said: "He who masters Alchemy shall possess the Truth of All Things."
And now, a man stood before her—claiming mastery over it.
"He possesses infinite wisdom," she thought, heart pounding. "What the Three Witches failed to achieve… he has."
Her hands trembled.
"Our kingdom... at last..."Madness, passion, and desperate hope swirled in her eyes.
"God has not abandoned us!"And then... the genre changed.
The chest of the mechanical figure popped open.
From within, a round, squishy green Slime bounced out, its feeler wobbling energetically.
"Your Majesty!" the Slime chirped with enthusiasm. "Grant me the authority of Babylon! In your name, I will defy fate itself and strike down that haughty Empress of Death—Medusa!"
Lilith: "..."
She stared, dumbfounded."What... what just jumped out of his chest?"A Slime?
That adorable little creature... was the main body?
Her thoughts crumbled."So this so-called godly Level Four Wizard... is actually a Slime in a robot suit!?"
And in that moment, all she could think was:
"Some men may look divine on the outside... but are, in truth, just Slimes inside."