Cultivating Rimuru

Seeing Rimuru's approach, a faint curve tugged at the corner of Mo Li's mouth.

It seemed he wasn't the only one trying to keep the plot on track—even this world was doing its best to preserve the story's integrity. This must be the world's power to rein in the narrative thread. Honestly, Mo Li had suspected as much: this world definitely had a World Will, and it was constantly watching over Rimuru, the child of destiny. After all, wasn't Rimuru the reincarnation of the Star King Dragon? In a sense, that made him the reincarnation of this world's Creator God—basically the world's father. Understandable. That was why, even though the plot had shifted, it still stayed roughly the same. It was like those primordial chaos novels Mo Li had read in his past life: the grand trends couldn't be reversed, but minor details could be tweaked. In other words, even if Mo Li did nothing now, Rimuru would still follow the original story—build Tempest (the Demon Country Federation), become a Demon Lord, and step by step ascend to Creator God.

That meant the worries Mo Li had at the start were completely unfounded. No great upheaval, no treacherous waters—just him borrowing trouble for nothing. But Mo Li still had things to do, namely, to avert the tragedies. After all, the cost of making Rimuru grow into a ruler was something that pained Mo Li's heart.

In his past life, as a model youth raised under the red flag, steeped in the five-thousand-year heritage of that sole ancient civilization, and with these cheats on top of that, Mo Li was confident he could help Rimuru live a better life.

For example, now that Mo Li was a monster, he had to think like one, not keep siding with humans like a human would—even if he had been one in his past life.

Because Mo Li knew human nature, that was why he thought this way. And this was what he wanted to teach Rimuru now. But Mo Li knew that getting Rimuru to accept this idea anytime soon was nearly impossible. In the original story, a big part of why the Cute King grew up was because of that crisis—the one that nearly wiped out the Demon Country Federation, where even Shion died in that tragedy.

At the end of the day, it was because the Cute King was too kind. In the early part of the story, the Cute King laid down three rules for his subjects: don't harm humans, don't fight among yourselves, don't look down on others. These three rules seemed simple, but they represented three great virtues: "friendliness," "unity," and "equality." Right, Rimuru's ideal was to build a socialist world where everyone was equal. Unfortunately, these three rules planted the seeds of disaster for Rimuru, especially the first one, which nearly brought ruin to the Demon Country Federation. Rimuru's intentions were good, but he misjudged human nature. Not everyone was like him—a peace-loving idealist. All they cared about was their own interests.

Having done all this, Rimuru looked at Mo Li.

Sensing the gaze, Mo Li met Rimuru's expectant eyes and gave a nod of approval.

Only then did Rimuru let out a long breath.

"This was the best plan she could come up with after careful thought. If even this didn't get approval, she'd probably have to surrender and beg Mo Li for help. After all, the only thing these goblins could offer her was their loyalty. Rimuru didn't care much for anything else."

Just as Rimuru was about to get more details from the Old Goblin, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the door.

"Howl~"

A wolf's howl rang out.

"The Direwolves are here, everyone run!"

"We're doomed."

"Is there anyone who can save us?"

"Flee, if we don't run now, we'll all die here."

All the goblins were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Direwolves.

"Didn't expect them to come this fast," Rimuru said in surprise.

"It seems these Direwolves have been watching the goblins all along. Otherwise, they wouldn't attack right after we got back from outside," Mo Li said calmly.

Seeing the Direwolf Tribe attacking his people, the Old Goblin couldn't hold back any longer. He quickly knelt and begged Rimuru, "My lord, please save my people."

"Alright, no problem," Rimuru agreed, about to act, but Mo Li stopped him.

"Not so fast. Let's observe first," Mo Li said thoughtfully.

"Everyone, stop running! If we keep fleeing, we'll all die here. We should pick up our weapons and fight them—that's the only way we might survive!" At that moment, a goblin stepped forward and shouted at the fleeing goblins.

All the goblins stopped at his words.

"That's right, let's fight them!"

"Yeah, we're not afraid!"

At this, the fighting spirit of all the goblins was roused.

"Good! All goblins capable of fighting, grab your weapons and face the Direwolves. The elderly and young goblins, find a safe place to take shelter," the leading goblin ordered.

Seeing this, Mo Li cracked a smile. "Looks like they're not beyond saving. At least they know to pick up weapons and fight back."

"Rimuru, you can step in now," Mo Li reminded him.

Rimuru was a bit confused, not understanding what Mo Li was doing.

Seeing Rimuru's puzzled expression, Mo Li said, "Alright, it's handled. I'll explain it to you properly later. And if you don't act now, those goblins..."

Hearing Mo Li's words, Rimuru hesitated no longer.

Then, an overwhelming pressure erupted from him. In an instant, all the monsters were crushed to their knees by that terrifying aura.

Even the group of goblins couldn't escape the pressure's range and were forced to kneel.

Seeing Rimuru like a demonic lord of destruction, even the Old Goblin standing beside him hurriedly dropped to his knees.

Now, only Mo Li and Rimuru remained standing in the entire village.

Mo Li looked at Rimuru's appearance and couldn't help but feel a sense of relief, as if his child had finally grown up.

Having received the blessing of the Storm Dragon Veldora, Rimuru's magicule reserves were now as vast as an ocean, at least at the Demon King level.

To be honest, Mo Li quite approved of Rimuru's actions. After all, the Demon Country Federation was sorely lacking in manpower in its early stages. It was best to recruit whenever possible. The Direwolf clan was no small fighting force.

The Direwolf clan, pinned to the ground, was utterly bewildered.

What's going on? I was just fighting these Goblins. Where did this pressure come from, crushing us to our knees without any warning?

Having finished everything, Rimuru hopped over to Mo Li, his face full of pride.

"Ari, I did it! Aren't I great?"

Rimuru said, his eyes gleaming with expectation.

Under Rimuru's hopeful gaze, Mo Li shook his head.

"It's not over yet. The big one hasn't shown up."