Harbingers of Change

While various teams explored the cave system outside Nazarick, Momonga decided to test how the Mirror of Remote Viewing worked in the current situation. After requesting one from Albedo, all he could do was wait. As usual, eight-edge assassins sat on the ceiling and a maid stood by the door.

Solution, the blonde beauty with one of the shortest dresses Momonga had ever seen on a woman, stood with a professional expression, waiting for any chance to serve the Supreme Overlord of Nazarick.

Out of curiosity, he had looked at her ability list and, besides the usual thought of communication and inventory, she had the maid-specific |Skill - Cleaning| and |Unique Skill - Predator|, same as Buku.

Momonga guessed that the skill was a slime-specific one, as his attempt to gain it through his |Nazarick| skill ended in failure. With its extreme utility of gaining new skills, he wanted it for himself, but his skeletal form simply couldn't use it.

Luckily, there were enough reports to go through to appear busy in front of the maid, whose gaze never left him. Most were Nazarick function reports and there wasn't much of interest inside them, besides the observation that the Great Tomb didn't use money anymore. There was also a request from Albedo to allow a full internal investigation of how Nazarick now worked. Relieved that he could pass it onto someone else, Momonga happily approved the request and moved on.

Another thing that caught his interest was a list of creature types killed within the cave system, with the dead bodies collected for research. Momonga made a mental note to test the dead bodies on someone with |Predator| and continued with his work. Not a minute later, Sebas arrived with the requested mirror and set it up on the table.

Momonga looked through his skills immediately. The first one, |Unique Skill - Martial Arts Master|, was expected, as the iron butler was a monk class fighter. The next, |Unique Skill - Ki Master|, was more interesting. It essentially let Sebas control his own energy and the energy of others to both heal and deal damage, with the only downside being that he had to touch opponents to manipulate their energy. Finally, |Unique Skill - Intimidation|, let him put fear in the hearts of his opponents.

The fact that not only Solution but Sebas too was watching him fumble with the mirror was extra anxiety-inducing. At first, he had no idea how to operate it, but a random hand movement brought its focus point somewhere outside and showed a green lush forest by a mountainside.

The process was slow, but he managed to get the hang of it. This vast forest had clearings in a few places. Closing in on those spots showed small green creatures living in primitive settlements.

'So this world has goblins too?' Momonga mused while looking at the daily lives of these primitive creatures.

There was something fascinating about their simple lives. As if he was watching an old documentary about primitive tribes of Earth that were long gone even before he was born. Their rusted metal and stone tools reminded Momonga of creatures from Yggdrasil's starting areas.

An old-looking goblin was giving orders to others by the looks of it. The mirror provided only visual information but no sound, so there was no telling what the old goblin was saying. He slowly moved around while holding on to a wooden staff.

As fun as just watching the simple creatures was, he needed to know more about the nearby area. After moving the viewpoint up once again, he looked for more creatures within the forest, but if he didn't count the regular forest animals, there were just goblins in the nearby area.

By dragging the view to the maximum distance and then dragging it to random locations, he found other creatures as well. There were areas filled with large wolves, lizard people could be found by an enormous lake and there was a particular area filled with huge bugs. It seemed that this forest was shared by various intelligent creatures, each holding vast territories. There was a random monster here and there, but they were hard to spot among the trees.

{ Albedo, can you set up a team scouting the outside world with remote viewing mirrors? }

{ Yes of course my lord, I will prepare it immediately. }

{ Excellent. }

{ Lord Momonga, Demiurge has prepared the bodies of creatures for your inspection, as you requested. }

{ Thank you for notifying me. }

Now only to get someone with the |Predator| skill.

{ Buku, we have some creatures if you want to get alternative forms. }

{ You want me to eat some random creature corpses? Are you out of your mind? }

{ Sorry I just thought… }

{ No, just no. If you get a human-looking one I might get over the disgusting idea and somehow consume it, but I will not eat some random corpses for your fucking amusement! }

{ Ok, ok I didn't mean you have to do it. }

{ It's fine. I know you mean well, it's just… you know… eating corpses. }

{ I understand. Then you want me to tell you when we have a corpse of a humanoid that is close enough to a human? }

{ I guess. }

{ Then if we get one, I will notify you. }

{ Sure. }

Buku's response was disappointing, but understandable. Slime or not, she still had a human mentality, just as he had his, even in an undead body. With the first option refusing, he had no choice but to ask the second one.

"Solution, could I ask for your help in experiments with your |Predator| skill?" Momonga said and then slowly added while looking at her face to see the maid's reaction, "We have corpses of local creatures…"

"Of course Lord Momonga. I would be honored to be of use."

Until now, anyone who wanted to use teleportation needed the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, but now, as Overlord of Nazarick, Momonga could move servants around with his skill directly. With a single thought, he and Solution appear on the fifth floor.

Demiurge was already waiting with all the creatures organized in an orderly row. The first creature Momonga asked Solution to consume was a large vampire bat. She opened her maid outfit up, revealing large perky breasts for a brief moment before her entire chest area turned into a light blue, gelatinous form and shoved the entire body of the creature inside her. Did she flash him on purpose?

It took her just a minute to consume the creature and she gained two new skills. The first one was |Drain|, a simple vampiric ability, and the second was the |Ultrasound Wave|. Momonga saw the two skills, adding them to Nazarick's skill list about a second later. The experiment was a success, he now had a straightforward way of gaining new skills.

Next came shelled lizards giving |Body Armor|, a gigantic spider giving |Sticky Thread| and |Steel Tread|, a centipede giving |Paralyzing Breath|, and finally an enormous black snake giving |Poisonous Breath| and |Sense Heat Source|.

Most skills were only mildly useful to Solution, but she was ecstatic about gaining the ability to shoot both sticky and steel thread, increasing her overall spy/assassin abilities.

"Thank you for assisting me Solution. I would like to reward you for providing means of acquiring new skills."

"Being of use to you is the highest reward I could wish for, Lord Momonga."

"Hmm, then would you like the first one I ask whenever there is a new creature whose abilities I want to include in |Nazarick|?"

"That would be an honor, my Lord."

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To watch the green creatures turned out to be more advantageous than Momonga first imagined. While looking through the list of all the skills stored in Nazarick, he found out that both Aureole and Nigredo possessed the skill |Remote Viewing| and he could copy it to his own abilities. However, it came with the revelation that each new skill put a strain on his soul and he was nearing the upper end of the number of skills he could have.

That also meant that in the same sense, he couldn't just pile up skills to his servants carelessly. The strain Solution received by getting eight new skills had put her closer to her own limit. Seemingly, the stronger the skill, the more strain is put on the individual soul. There still was the question of whether this limit could be increased in any way, but for now, there was no way to test it.

The goblin village was filled with grief today. The chief's son was killed in a direwolf attack, putting the entire tribe in a difficult situation. Momonga found it strange that this warrior was the only one addressed by name. Unlike the mirror, his new skill allowed him to not only see but also hear what goblins talked about.

The tribe's chief sent runners to reach other tribes with a request to help. It was like watching a small drama unravel itself in a TV show. Momonga felt weird, not feeling any kind of compassion for the pitiful creatures and the only thoughts coming into his mind were about how to exploit the situation in favor of Nazarick.

Not long after, the runners returned with bad news. None of the surrounding tribes were willing to support the one he watched right now. There was visible despair in the old chieftain's eyes as he retreated to the biggest hut in the small village. Once he was out of sight and far enough that they couldn't hear him, the elder prayed and cried for help from Gods.

Once again, it wasn't compassion that turned gears in Momonga's mind but cold calculation. He could easily pose as a messenger from their God, Veldora. Knowing that the Great Tomb's pop monsters killed every single monster in the cave system, the goblins likely, and by extension the wolves, were likely not much stronger; it was a safe assumption that they would pose no real threat.

Remembering Albedo's freakout, he was not about to run off on an idea again without warning her.

{ Albedo, I plan to go talk with the local goblin tribe. Would you like to accompany me? }

{ Of course, Lord Momonga. I will gear up and join you. }

Since there was no rush, Momonga could repeat the 'I am a born ruler' routine in his head. Albedo arrived a few minutes later, clad in her dark plate armor and followed by a few squads of expendable stealth teams.

"I am ready to be your shield, my lord!"

"Good, let's go then," Momonga said while casting the gate spell.

Albedo stepped through first, with stealth teams following through. Momonga went through it last and was hit by a horrible smell right away. It was, however, manageable and he could resist the urge of trying to plug a nonexistent nose.

"These filthy creatures are disgusting. Shall we eliminate them for you?"

The poor goblins were already prostrating themselves while shivering in fear. A pitiful sight indeed, but at least it confirmed they were afraid of someone at his or Albedo's level.

"Let's not be hasty," Momonga said while looking around. The elder he observed the entire morning was nearby.

"You there, village elder, your prayers have been heard."

The old goblin mumbled, remaining in the same position,

"Oh, great God, thank you for hearing our plea."

"You wish to be saved from direwolves, do you not?"

"Yes. Please help us, o great one."

The goblins surely were desperate and surely would do anything he asked them to.

Momonga activated skill Ainz Ooal Gown and a golden staff appeared in his hand. He spoke in an authoritative tone while hitting the ground with it.

"You want our help, but what can you offer in return?"

"W-we have nothing but our servitude to offer o great one."

"Then I will help you, my new servants. Albedo, send teams to survey the surrounding woods and report on the movements of the direwolves."

"At once, my lord," Albedo said.

She didn't fully understand why her lord chose to help such disgusting, useless creatures, but at least they showed him proper respect and it was not her place to guess Lord Momonga's enigmatic motives and millennia spanning plans.

Edited by Edgy.