"You want me to gift you unfathomable power?" I reconfirmed with the orange haired kid who was pushing his chest out, with a smile.
"Sure I can do that… but you have to first answer a question for me… and I want you to give alittle but if thought before you answer." I said to the boy as I sat on my knees, directly Infront of him.
"Um… ok."
I cupped the boys face, "If you were offered the power to achieve everything you desire… but you were forced to ravage the world endlessly in a never ending sea of destruction, destroying monsters, humans… your friends. Would you take that deal?"
Kenya looked at me with confusion and annoyance, "Um… what, just shut up and give me power!"
I looked at me with a smile, a smile that Rimuru could tell was filled with disappointment and he had suddenly gotten a bad premonition.
"Well then Kenya, your wish is my command." I snapped my fingers and a flood of energy flowed through his body.
"Yes, I feel so powerful, I feel like I could lift up a mountain and- wait it burns, IT BURNS!" And that's where it all went wrong.
Suddenly the power that was given to him burst out of him in rapid blasts, turning him into a turret that randomly firing burst of energy that actually damaged the labyrinth walls.
The other children were protected by a barrier I set up and unharmed from their classmates rampage.
Until a crisp snap broke the silence and Kenya's new power disappeared and he fell to the ground heaving but ultimately unharmed.
Kenya stood up and begin patting himself down, feeling if anything was wrong and then he turned to me, " Hey! What did you do to me!?"
" I gave you power… just as you asked me for."
" But it hurt so much, how can power hurt so much?!"
" Were you expecting to suddenly gain godlike power and be on your merryway without consequence. Remember the question I proposed, gaining power in exchange for becoming a monster, while how did that turn out for you?"
Evens an impulsive idiot like Kenya would understand the implications of what I was saying.
" You see Kenya, it's one thing to have power, it's another to control power. Take a look here." I said as I held out my hand and it caught alight into a raging fire.
" Wow, that's exactly like how I do it." Kenya said while pointing to the fire in my hand.
" Yes it is, now look at this." Saying that, The raging fire in my hands condensed and controlled itself into a tiny burning ball, a miniature sun smaller than my hand.
Seeing this, the other kids curiosity finally triumphed their newfound fear of me and all gathered around me. The ball in my hand looked ethereal to say the least and then I dissipated it, "Kenya would you mind trying to do what I just did?"
"Ok… I'll try." Kenya's response was slightly timid and unconfident, but he did as he was told and the rampaging fire burst from his hand, "Sorry I can't do what you-"
"No no, this is a perfect starting point." His palm facing up, I took hold from under, "You see, magic is also based on imagination and concentration, now I want you to close your eyes while keeping this flame alight."
Kenya closed his eyes for me, "Listen to my voice, imagine a circle perfectly round, now imagine a ball almost the same thing as a circle. Now imagine the sun, contained burning, constant fire, ever lighting ignition… all contained within a ball. Now open your eyes."
Kenya opened his eyes and saw in his hand almost the exact same thing that I did, a perfect sphere of fire with a flaming halo spinning around it, "Woah, I did it!"
"See, magic isn't that complicated, it's really just imagination and concentration. That's why mages recite incantations, it's to affirm the image of the spell in their head, so that they can visualize the spell much easier."
I said all this while shooting a ball of fire into the air and then spreading it into a giant halo that levitated above us all and then I set it to explode into a flutter of flaming butterflies.
" Do you have that kids?" I said as they were enamoured by the fire show I put on display.
" Yes!" They all shouted in unison.
" Well class dismissed then." I said which made them all run off and begin trying new magic.
Both Ramiris and Rimuru's jaw dropped, in just minutes I had taught kids to nigh-flawlessly utilize magic.
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Me and Rimuru were sitting on a panic blanket, Ranga and Ramiris were checking out the kids as they were now trying the new magic formula I had just given them.
" Simon, are you ok?" Rimuru asked me, clearly feeling something was off.
" I don't think that this is something I should disclose."
" Is it really that bad?"
…
" Rimuru, what is your favourite anime?"
Rimuru was stunned by the sudden and random question, " I don't know, there's too much to count, why do you ask, do you have a favourite anime?"
I hesitated at the question but I decided to rip the band aid anyway, "My favourite anime… was called that time I got reincarnated as a slime, an anime about a man getting reincarnated as a slime in another world and was named Rimuru Tempest."
…
"Huh, wait a minute, what the hell are you saying!!?" Rimuru was startled by my sudden proclamation.
"It's pretty obvious… I'm saying it's those plots in light novels where the MC gets reincarnated into a novel or an anime. You're the main character of an anime Rimuru and I'm the possessed side character that accidentally makes himself relevant."
Rimuru was speechless at the moment, the bluntness of my speech and the contents of the speech itself had stunned him too much.
"…Why are you telling me this?"
" Because I am now sure… that every memory that I have of that anime… was all a lie."
Rimuru was struggling to comprehend what I was saying, he understood but couldn't tell the authenticity of what I was saying, " What do you mean by it's a lie?"
Simon: " When Charybdis emerged, it wasn't meant to be so early due to my influence but it's emergence still came when it was meant to."
Rimuru: " So something is trying to set in the original timeline?"
Simon: "You caught on quick."
Rimuru: "I have Great sage here for mediating… so what was it that you did after that?"
Simon: " I traveled back to my old world and investigated my death, I found it wasn't accidental nor was the anime in question…anywhere within that world."
Rimuru had realized the cause of my laid back demeanor, "You thought that you could just isolate yourself and leech off of me, the protagonist, allowing you to do what you desire in peace."
He was expecting me to say something to refute it but I just deprecatingly nodded my head.
" Rimuru, what do I do now because I don't know what to do anymore?"