Crystals could be earned by exchanging energy-containing items, completing guild missions, or fighting in virtual arenas. They were essential for strengthening, drawing loot, and other guild activities.
"Hmm, 150,000 crystals. That's enough to evolve my Spatial Body once," Rimuru murmured. "Even though that Time Fruit is pretty broken... Guy and the others should be able to handle that guy. Still, better safe than sorry!"
"System, initiate evolution!" Rimuru commanded in his heart.
[System Notification: Evolving Spatial Body will cost 100,000 crystals. The process may cause slight discomfort. Proceed?]
"Yes!" Rimuru barked back. Seriously, what's with the warning? Just a little discomfort? Even if it were a hundred times worse, it wouldn't matter! I'm a Demon Lord—how could I ever back down? You've got this, Rimuru. You're the best!
The moment the command was given, a brilliant blue light materialized out of thin air, wrapping around Rimuru's body like shimmering threads. A vast energy cocoon began to form, encasing him in a glowing shell.
That's when Rimuru realized… he had made a terrible mistake.
Once fully enveloped, he reverted into his slime form. Then, without warning, his body began splitting apart. As a slime, his body and soul were one; so as his body tore, so too did his soul. The agony was indescribable—language simply couldn't do it justice. His consciousness faded as he slipped into deep slumber.
The Spatial Body was composed of infinite space. Now, that very space scattered throughout his form. Each fragment resembled a microscopic speck—but each was its own miniature world. Vast energies flowed into them, and these inner worlds began to expand:
1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters, 1,000 meters... 2,000, 3,000, 4,000...
The internal space continued to inflate.
Then, when one of those realms exceeded 10,000 meters, it suddenly condensed into a singularity. With an explosive burst, that point expanded again—first to the size of an egg, then a soccer ball, until it became a massive glowing sphere over 100 meters wide, radiating soft light.
It resembled a star.
Outside, the glowing cocoon wrapped around Rimuru was steadily shrinking—but its radiance grew ever more intense. Anyone watching might swear they saw a galaxy contained within.
Inside, Rimuru's fragmented body slowly began to reform. Countless stars within him were drawn together in ordered clusters, forming thousands of galactic regions that slowly rotated.
Suddenly, a blue flash erupted as one of these "star regions" began to transform. The stars turned into massive bookshelves, and the central star shifted into a glowing blue core. Around it, the shelves orbited rhythmically. One by one, countless books materialized into existence and filled the shelves, forming a colossal library.
At the same time, three more galactic regions underwent similar but distinct transformations:
In one, the stars dimmed, turning pitch-black, releasing a devouring void—it became a black hole sector. In another, the stars shimmered like multicolored bubbles—dreamlike and illusory. Within this realm danced phantom-like beings: snakes, tigers, werewolves, dragons, and more. The final sector was enveloped in a sacred golden light. Inside floated numerous shadowy silhouettes, each one linked to a central golden star by chains of light—this was the Domain of Oaths.
Once the transformation was complete, the radiant cocoon shattered—and a gigantic slime emerged. Through its semi-transparent body, a beautiful starry sky shimmered within.
"Ugh... Where am I? What just happened?" Rimuru groaned, slowly awakening from his deep sleep.
"Wait... Oh! Right, I was evolving... and then I passed out." Realization dawned. "Man, seriously! They called that slight discomfort? That was literal soul-ripping agony!"
Then he noticed something strange.
"Huh? What's with all these stars inside me? So this is what they meant by the 'Stellar Body'?" He tried to scratch his head but realized—he was still in slime form, and had no hands.
Within his body, Rimuru could feel the shifting power of the galaxies:
The God of Wisdom had taken form as the immense library. The God of Devour became the black hole region. The God of Illusion shaped the dreamlike galactic domain. The God of Oaths ruled over the golden star realm.
Beyond those, there were thousands of ordinary galactic sectors, each rotating gently inside him. Every one of his abilities had undergone a massive upgrade—his overall strength had increased over a hundredfold.
But what shocked him most was that his powers had now become part of his instinct. They were no longer abilities he had to consciously evolve—they had fused seamlessly with his Stellar Body. From now on, he only needed to grow stronger, and his powers would evolve on their own. No more wasting massive amounts of crystals to level up.
Rimuru marveled at the terrifying power flowing through him. Though this "Stellar Body" wasn't yet the true form in the fullest sense—each of his stars was only a few hundred meters in diameter, far smaller than real celestial bodies—he had faith.
One day, he wouldn't just make his internal stars rival those in the sky—
He would surpass even the stars themselves.
He would attain the Cosmic Body, and perhaps even reach the Body of the Universe itself.