That Time I Got Reincarnated As A True Dragon

Chapter 3

Swallowing the piece of armorsaurus flesh that he was chewing on, Izuku glances at Rimuru before speaking up. "Hey Rimuru?"

She turns toward him. "Yeah?"

"I just noticed, when we first met you were about knee-high, and a light shade of blue, but now you're around thigh-high and a bit darker than before, you have any idea why that is?"

Rimuru thinks it over a bit, before deciding to consult Great Sage. 'Hey Great Sage, why do I look different now?'

'Answer: as a result of being named by Individual; Veldora Tempest, you have evolved from the Slime race to the Night Slime race.' The skill responds immediately, Rimuru nodding internally.

"I evolved from a regular slime into a Night Slime after Veldora named me." She says aloud, answering Izuku's question.

"Indeed!" Veldora exclaims via telepathy. "All monsters evolve when named, even slimes!"

"Really? How about Dragons?" Izuku asks.

"Excluding us True Dragons, yes. True Dragons are born with names, rather than receiving them from someone else. True Dragons cannot evolve, as we are the pinnacle of the world, and the highest beings in terms of Spiritual Ranking, though it is possible for a lesser lifeform to surpass us in power, and in fact 2 of the Demon Lords are more powerful than even I!" Veldora explains.

"I've been wondering, how are monsters ranked in this world?" Rimuru asks. "As in, how do humans rank us, in terms of power?"

"Well, it's actually rather simple." Veldora begins. "To start with, monsters are ranked by letters, the weakest being D-rank, and the strongest being SS-rank. However, A-rank and above also have special names demonstrating how much damage they may cause. A-ranks are also known as 'Hazard Class' monsters, and they're powerful enough to destroy a small city, though they're not even a threat to most strong adventurers. Special A-ranks are also known as 'Disaster Class' monsters, as one going on a rampage may cause significant loss of life, and most Strong Adventurers would have a hard time killing one. S-ranks are also known as 'Catastrophe Class' monsters, as it would take a country's full military might to kill one, and even the strongest adventurer wouldn't be able to defeat one on their own. Finally, SS-ranks are known as 'Calamity Class' monsters, as they have the power to end the world." Veldora explains fully, causing Izuku's eyes to widen, Rimuru's would have as well if she had any.

"How would the 2 of us be ranked?" Izuku asks, genuinely curious.

"You, Izuku, are a catastrophe class monster, in fact, you're just barely too weak to be considered a Calamity class. On the other hand, you, Rimuru, are a Disaster Class monster, dead center of the ranking, in fact." Veldora answers. "However, Izuku, you'll get stronger as you mature, seeing as you're still young and nowhere near as strong as you could be."

Izuku smiles in response to this, before realizing. "Wait, couldn't I just train to get stronger, rather than merely growing into it?"

"Bah! We're True Dragons, we don't need to train!"

Rimuru giggles at this. "Maybe we should call you The Lazy Dragon if you think like that."

"Please don't. I already get that too much from my sisters." Veldora grumbles.

"You have sisters? I have aunts!?" Izuku questions, yelling the second part.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you accidentally transmitted it over the link." Rimuru responds, humor in her voice.

"Anyways," Izuku says, preventing further conversation, "we should get back to looking for the exit. This time without getting sidetracked by conversation.

Rimuru nods mentally. "Yeah, you're right. Let's get back to searching then." She says firmly and starts hopping away in a random direction, Izuku following her.

They continue traveling through the cave, killing and eating any monster they encounter during their search for the entrance/exit, until eventually...

"That is a giant fucking door." Rimuru states in shock as soon as it comes into view.

Izuku nods, equally shocked. "It's almost twice as big as the classroom doors back at UA."

Rimuru turns to him while mentally raising an eyebrow. "You went to UA? Huh. I graduated from the Gen Ed course a couple of years ago before I got stabbed. Small world, I guess."

Izuku nods. "Y-yeah, I died due to an accident during my first Heroics 101 class."

If Rimuru had a face, she would wince at that. "Ah man, sorry for bringing it up. You can't be older than, what, 15?"

Izuku smiles awkwardly while scratching the back of his head. "16, actually. Also, don't worry about it, it was gonna come up sooner or later." Suddenly his attention is drawn back to the doors, hearing voices from beyond them with his enhanced hearing. "Someone's coming, hide."

Rimuru nods the best she can and quickly gets behind a rather sizeable rock, Izuku following her.

As soon as they're hidden, the doors open and 3 humans enter, most likely adventurers based on their outfits.

"That's odd." The female of the group says as she looks around. "That mana, it feels so strong and monstrous, but at the same time it feels very warm and comforting. I've never felt mana like it before." She says, still searching for the source of the mana she's feeling.

"Is it anything to worry about? We do have a mission, after all." One of the men asks in response, only for her to shake her head.

"No, if the source of the mana was hostile we likely would have been attacked by now. Let's just assume that, whatever it is, it either hasn't noticed us, or it has no interest in attacking us." She answers as she continues walking. "Come on, let's finish our mission quickly and not overstay our welcome."

Both men nod and follow her, though they keep their hands on their weapons just in case.

As this happens, Izuku and Rimuru sneak out of the cave through the doors, careful to avoid being noticed.

As soon as they're far enough away from the cave, Rimuru stops moving and Izuku sits down leaning against a tree.

"We're finally free from that cave. Fucking took long enough." Rimuru says in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, Izuku chuckling in response.

"I couldn't agree more."

Suddenly, a small group of goblins run up and slam their faces into the ground.

"PLEASE HELP US, GREAT ONES!!!"