Tensura x Kumo desu ga, nani ka. Crossover.{COMPLETED}

Side Story 1 : Rimuru visits Tbate (11)

Virion pov:

Just as Rimuru took the portal out of her sleeve she pulled my arm and dragged me inside.
At first I was surprised by the white room with several pillars and a fountain in the middle, but what intrigued me even more were the runes that were covering the walls.
Rimuru spoke up "This is what's called a sanctuary, a safe place in other words. Those iron doors are what leads to the next zone in these relictombs."
I looked at the iron doors and wondered what would be on the other side or the zone as Rimuru called it. I said "Don't we first have to tell everyone about this before we go any further?"
"Don't worry elder Virion, we'll be out before they even notice." She assured me.

When we walked in I noticed several unusual things about these relictombs, the mana was thinner than in the elven forest and the place didn't have a sun even while it's bright.
The zone we were in had several mountains surrounding us while a huge forest was beneath the platform we had arrived after we stepped through the door.
When looking down I noticed several large bugs running through the forest being chased by what looked like a panther, a giant panther at that, the panther shot out several purple claws that cleaved the bigs into ribbons, I was a bit scared by the feeling it gave off, so i asked "Are all these zones so dangerous?" "No, it's my presence that changes the zones into a more dangerous state, if you went in alone you might have encountered the same zone but everything was a lot weaker." I let out a sigh at the mention that it was only because of Rimuru that the zone was so dangerous right now.
I saw Rimuru hold up a hand which started forming a wind sphere in it, after a few seconds she released the attack which slice through the panther and left a mark on the forest ground.
Rimuru took my arm again and brought me to the ground before setting me down and going towards the corpses, she took out a purple stone and held it up in front of the corpses that dissipated into purple smoke which was absorbed by the stone.

When we got to the middle of the forest, we saw a little arena made of stone with a portal to the side.
The portal was guarded by two golems and in the middle arena was another golem, these golems were stationary.
The moment I set my foot on the arena stone, the golem turned upwards and faced me.
Rimuru placed her hand on my shoulder and threw me backwards before taking a short sword out of her storage ring and blocking the attack of the golem.
The shockwave threw me back even further until I hit a tree, when I looked at the arena again, I saw a blue blur swirling around the golem before it fell into little pieces.
I was amazed at the strength that Rimuru showed, but even more so afraid of what such power is capable of doing.

We walked up to the portal and the golems faced towards the arena before letting us through the portal into the next zone, this zone resembled a dessert with many dunes and sandworms crawling around.
Rimuru jumped up into the sky, looked around and came back down to pick me up.
While flying over the desert I saw multiple creatures surrounded by a thin purple layer.
"Rimuru, do you by chance know what that purple glow is that's surrounding these monsters?" I couldn't see Rimuru's face, but from the silence I could tell that she was surprised, she answered "That's the energy called Aether, but you shouldn't be able to see it unless you have an affinity for manipulating it, unfortunately you're to old to do it now. If you were even 20 years younger you might've been able to reach the integration stage."
I was surprised at the sudden information, but quickly recovered and asked "Is that the stage beyond the white core?" "Yeah, it allows those with an affinity for aether to manipulate it or at least enhance yourself with it. You do have to learn it first though, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to learn it anyway."
Rimuru informed me if this and it sparked a question "If I was 20 years younger I would still have to learn it, so it wouldn't have been useful anyway right?" "The integration stage gives you more lifespan or makes you immortal depending on your understanding of the time edict, but in your case you would still have to reach it before you can start comprehending the time edict and you're still only at the silver stage in your old years, unless I help by advancing your core, you won't ever reach that stage and manage to learn the time edict before your death."
The bombshell that was just dropped left me speechless, I mean Immortality, who wouldn't want that? "What do you mean advancing my core?" I asked. "If I gather enough of your elemental type mana and push it into your core at once, I could forcefully advance you to the next stage, but it's excruciating.".

We arrived at the portal towards the next zone, but this one had a black wall covering the gate, so i asked "Any idea what that wall is, Rimuru?"
"Yeah, it's a wall that tests mana density and control."
"What do I have to do to get rid of that wall?" I asked. "You imbue your hand with mana and put it on the wall, after that it will drain your mana and if you don't have good mana control or density it will suck your core dry."
I gulped but proceeded to put my hand on the wall anyway, I circulated my mana into my right hand and felt the pull immediately.
I kept my hand on the wall and saw the corner starting to dissipate, but not before I noticed the massive decrease in my mana reserves, I had only 63% left and only the corners were gone, how would I do this entire wall?
Rimuru placed her hand on my back and started giving me mana, I slowly felt my core filling up despite the continues drain from the wall.
When the last half meter was left, my core had been refilled, I started to push even harder and in a minute the wall was gone, but Rimuru kept filling me with mana, I was practically bursting from the amount.
My solid-silver core was starting to crack and I realized immediately what she was trying to do, so i sat down crosslegged and let the mana flow through me pushing my core to the limit, suddenly everything started going dark and before I knew it I woke up again, greeted by the sight of the desert, I looked up and saw Rimuru sitting down at the edge of the stone platform before looking at my core and being greeted by a light-silver color which looked too bright for a normal light-silver core.
Rimuru walked up to me and said "You happy with your core, it's even starting to approach the white stage, it does still have a little bit to go though."
"That's no problem Rimuru, I appreciate the help, but I wasn't nearly as excruciating as you said it would be."
"Yeah, you are surprisingly compatible with mana, so the sudden flood of it didn't overload your body."
That makes sense, but I stood up copying Rimuru and walked through the portal which led back to the sanctuary, I quickly found our portal and went back into the castle.
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The end.
Hope you enjoyed the side story.