Chapter 153: Limited Edition <Satellite Slime (Large)>

When I started the Road to Space project, there was a boom in the space industry.

The biggest obstacle to space development so far, transportation costs, has been solved.

The plan is to take parts prepared on Earth into space via Road and assemble them there.

Not only governments but also private companies are planning to launch satellites. Quite a few companies are reaching out to us.

If a country has the technology to launch and manage a space station, it’s preparing space stations as well.

There’s no law that says satellites and space stations have to be made of machines, right?

Isn’t it fine to buy the <Satellite Slime> I made?

When it comes to the current functions of satellites, I’m confident <Satellite Slime> can do it all.

I’m sure its functions will outperform those made by half-baked companies.

Of course, they wouldn’t buy it for military satellite purposes.

They’d have to accept that all sorts of secrets would leak out to me.

But you know,

For living space in outer space, <Satellite Slime> is plenty, not just a space station.

If each country or company connects the satellites they purchase with a <Space Train Slime>, it could be quite fun.

That way, you could experience completely different cultures depending on the satellite.

It would feel like traveling the world.

If you publicly reveal how many people stop at each station, there would be competition, and it’d be fun.

There’s another good thing about selling <Satellite Slime>.

Even countries that don’t have the technology to build or manage space stations or artificial satellites can participate.

Thanks to being made of <Slime>, it barely needs maintenance, and I can handle simple after-service.

It’s important to leave the possibility open for anyone to participate. International law has changed, but it hasn’t been fully accepted yet.

That’s because the law was changed so that whoever gets out to space first and plants a flag can claim outer space territory. If you dig into the details, there are all sorts of conditions, but the more space-related technology a country has, the more advantageous it is.

Countries lacking technology and ability can’t help but oppose the law change.

In that sense, the fact that anyone has a chance to buy <Satellite Slime> will be pretty attractive to those who want to hold space hegemony.

“Just buy <Satellite Slime>.” With this logic, you can suppress opposing voices.

Of course, there will be countries that have neither the technology nor anything to offer in exchange for buying <Satellite Slime>.

That’s fine.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Ah, that’s not it.

Let’s call it equivalent exchange.

I plan to accept goods in kind as well.

I’ll give you territory in space, so give me territory in your country.

It’s not about invading other countries’ territory.

In exchange for a satellite, I could obtain rights to dead land.

Not just dead land-making a <Tunnel Slime> in another country would also get easier.

But there’s a huge obstacle to this plan.

There aren’t enough <Satellite Slimes> to go around.

Right now, I’m a 6-star Slime. Thanks to high base stats, the effect is pretty strong even at low skill levels. If I use [Barrier☆] and [Store+] skills properly, I can inflate the internal space far larger than the volume observed from outside.

I could even fit a living room-sized space inside a small tent.

I have this ability, but making enough <Satellite Slime> to sell to every country in the world is difficult.

Making a <Satellite Slime (Small)> to replace an artificial satellite isn’t much of a burden.

The problem is the <Satellite Slime (Large)> to replace a space station.

There needs to be at least enough space inside for a skyscraper. Ideally, I’d like to secure the size of a large shopping mall.

I can’t make it as thin as a soap bubble.

When making <Satellite Slime>, you have to invest sufficient mass.

But there isn’t a Slime to do this job.

Gongdori and Mother are busy making <Slime> for sale.

Root and Deps are busy filling tunnels spread across the seafloor.

Gongsooni is busy making islands.

The only ones left are me and Road, but even Road is busy.

Road has to build tracks that wrap around the world.

Even just supplying the mass for Road to stretch up to the sky took quite a bit of time. Who knows how long it’ll take to accumulate the mass needed to make satellites and fill the circumference of a ring. And it’d be boring if the track just stretched around in a simple ring. If I want to wrap the Earth like a spiderweb, I’d need a truly massive amount of mass.

If I leave it all to Road, who knows when it’ll ever be finished.

It’s not something I should say at the Alchemy Center, but I think it’s about time to bring Gongdori over.

Making <Slime> at a small size in that cramped space is just too inefficient.

If Gongdori increases his size like Mother, he could produce dozens of times more <Slime> than now.

That would really speed up <Satellite Slime> production.

I should eat some dirt too.

And one more thing.

If something isn’t being solved, suspect a lack of technology.

I sent a message to Ash.

We may exchange stories by letter in an old-fashioned way, but we’re civilized people. Of course, we know each other’s contact info.

The message was simple.

[Ash. I’ll give you a satellite, so how about helping me out?]

I was left on read.

Should I send a letter?

***

The day after I sent the message.

Ash showed up.

“What kind of help do you want?”

Can’t you just reply to the message first?

I thought I’d been left on read.

Don’t tell me a reply letter is on its way.

He once suddenly sent me two <Space Expansion Bags> to test me.

He really is pushy in his own way.

“Don’t you have anything to do?”

“I finished everything.”

“Aren’t you working too little?”

Ash comes to play at Slime Land whenever he’s bored.

I have to use clones just to get my work done. Even now, my clones are working hard, eating dirt and increasing mass.

Ash has only one body, but still has spare time to goof off?

“I reorganized the company structure so it can run without me.”

“Did you delegate research and development too?”

“Yeah.”

I looked into Sole Alchemy, where Ash is the chairman.

I didn’t dig into secrets or anything, but I wanted to learn if there was anything worth learning, so I checked out what the world’s greatest alchemy company was like.

Sole Alchemy is a company that, despite its size, is basically run by Ash dragging it forward by the scruff of its neck alone.

The company basically has three product lines.

Alchemy products made personally by Ash.

Below that are downgraded copy alchemy products, for which Ash created manufacturing methods that even fakes could reproduce.

And alchemy products made with well-verified manufacturing methods.

Except for Ash, it was a structure that didn’t require creativity.

Even Grade A Alchemists at Sole Alchemy were just parts for making alchemy products.

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t trust the fakes?”

“Even fakes might become the real thing one day. Most of what they bring in now is trash, but it’s getting a little better.”

To think Ash would say something like that.

Come to think of it, Ash has changed quite a bit too.

He’s gotten a lot softer.

“So, what did you call me for?”

“I’m planning to launch a large number of satellites into space and connect them with <Space Train Slime>. Those satellites are intended for sale.”

“So, you’re aiming to shorten travel time and expand space.”

“Yeah.”

As expected of an S-rank alchemist.

Long explanations weren’t necessary.

“Oh, by the way, is it okay if I eat the watch you gave me?”

Ash gave me a watch as a gift to celebrate becoming an S-rank alchemist.

Just looking at it increases my [Analyze+] skill; it’s a real treasure.

It’s such a precious item, and it helped me overcome the Curse of Lust, so I’ve kept it until now.

But with the stars increasing and having squeezed a lot out of it, the level-up efficiency has dropped.

If I eat it, I might be able to boost my skill growth, so I’m tempted to do it soon.

If I’m going to fully cooperate with Ash, it’d be better to have my skills grow.

“It’s something I gave to you. Do whatever you want with it.”

“Then, I’ll enjoy it.”

Ash knows my true identity.

So, I just swallowed the watch.

[Decompose+ skill level has increased to 27.]

[Absorb+ skill level has increased to 27.]

[Analyze+ skill level has increased to 36.]

[Control+ skill level has increased to 23.]

My skill levels have risen tremendously.

What on earth did he give me?

Isn’t this an S-class artifact? At least it feels like that level.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

[Store+ skill and Accelerate+ skill are fusing.]

[Spacetime★ skill has been created.]

Oh?

Even after eating A-class artifacts, the + skills wouldn’t budge.

But now, two of them have merged and evolved into one.

Perhaps because it’s a skill created through fusion, it has a black star attached.

I immediately tried various things with the [Spacetime★] skill.

As expected.

I couldn’t go back to the past… not yet.

I can go to the future. I just need to sleep. The problem is I can’t come back.

Unfortunately, time travel is still impossible.

Instant teleportation… doesn’t work either.

I can move much faster than before, but I can’t jump through space.

That doesn’t mean it’s useless by any means.

For starters, the effects of [Accelerate+] skill and [Store+] skill have become much stronger and can still be used as they were. And that’s not all.

With [Accelerate+] skill, I could only speed things up, but now I can slow them down too.

With [Store+] skill, I could only compress things, but now I can expand them as well.

When combined with the [Barrier☆] skill, I can do even more amazing things. Inside an isolated space, I can slow down or speed up time.

Unfortunately, I can’t create a room where a piece of land the size of Earth exists, and one day outside equals one year inside.

Still, if I reduce the degree of space expansion and slow down the acceleration of internal time, I can manage somehow.

The problem is trying to do both at the same time.

The more I apply spatial compression and time adjustment simultaneously, the greater the burden becomes. Also, accelerating time over too wide an area increases the burden.

If I do just one or keep both at a low level, the burden is significantly reduced.

Accelerating the internal speed of an Earth-scale space by 365 times is difficult.

But if it’s a room-sized space without expansion, accelerating time by three times is possible.

You know, like the perceived time manipulation technology often seen in novels about virtual reality games. In the game, 24 hours pass, but in reality, only 8 hours have gone by! I can do something like that now.

If I create a room where time flows slower, people will flock to it.

Writers chasing deadlines, students preparing for exams, or researchers who need quick results would pay a high price to rent such a room.

But I have no intention of making one.

It’s not just perception; time actually flows differently. People would age several times faster than others.

Until people can fully understand the tragedy that could result from this, I plan to use it only on a small scale.

For now, I can transport people faster inside <Tunnel Slimes>.

The same goes for moving inside Road.

And that’s not all.

I can now create large <Satellite Slime> with much less <Slime> than before.

While this [Spacetime★] skill is incredibly useful, it does have a drawback.

It consumes a lot of mana. If it’s at the level of what [Accelerate+] skill and [Store+] skill used to do, the efficiency is higher than before. But if I try to do more than that, the energy consumption increases exponentially.

Actively using the [Spacetime★] skill makes energy supply quite tight.

I should also prepare to borrow the great power of the sun.

Even though I have the [Spacetime★] skill, I have no intention of saying I don’t need Ash’s help.

After all, I’m a slime who knows humility.

And having a skill doesn’t solve everything.

How I use the skill is also important.

Doesn’t Ash have a philosophy about this?

‘A true alchemist isn’t just someone who possesses alchemy skills. It’s someone who explores the unknown, brings their discoveries into the real world, and shares them with people.’

In reality, there is a clear difference between the products made by someone who only relies on skills and an alchemist who never forgets to explore and refine their craft. Even if made with the same manufacturing method, the results are distinctly different.

It’s not for nothing that Ash treats those who only rely on others’ manufacturing methods as fakes.

“Looks like you’ve acquired a somewhat useful tool.”

Look at what Ash says to me, who just obtained the grand [Spacetime★] skill.

It’s not bravado; he means it sincerely.

If the watch I ate was something Ash made, then he has the right to say that.

“Are you telling me not to lose to a tool?”

Ash let out a rare scoff.

“That won’t happen.”

We started working on creating <Satellite Slime>.

If all the <Satellite Slime> were made as joint works with Ash, it would’ve been done quickly.

But Ash generously shared his knowledge and techniques so I could make them on my own.

Without the [Spacetime★] skill and the knowledge I gained from analyzing the watch, I might not have been able to keep up.

The <Satellite Slime (Large)> completed with Ash is something I could never have made on my own.

This first piece belongs to Ash.

“Thanks. I’ll send this one up into space.”

“It was pretty fun.”

“It’s an honor.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Yeah. I won’t let you down this time.”

After finishing the work, Ash left immediately.

Thanks, man.

He said he came because the work was done, but in reality, he probably isn’t that free.

Even if he reorganized the organization to run without his direct involvement, it doesn’t mean he truly doesn’t need to intervene.

Knowing that getting involved clearly produces better results, it’s hard to stay hands-off.

Even though he has things to do, he came right away when I called.

I’ll have to repay him somehow next time.

After Ash left, I gathered the clones that were eating dirt.

I secured the mass and made a few more <Satellite Slime (Large)>.

My work here is done.

From here on, it’s Hans’s job.

The quantity of <Satellite Slime (Large)> has its limits.

It’s a limited product with no known restock date.

I was able to conceptualize a tunnel for the <Space Train Slime> to run through.

This too is limited in length due to a shortage of materials.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing.

It’s located in the most convenient spot to travel to and from the ground space, and it’s the satellite most people will pass through on their way to other satellites.

In other words, this is akin to selling one of the few prime commercial spaces near a station.

Other buildings are still under construction, with no clear completion date.

The price is bound to skyrocket.

Even if governments make secret agreements to suppress the price, it won’t work.

If it falls below expectations, I simply won’t sell.

Most likely, an auction will take place where no one can predict the ceiling.

Now, go ahead and fight each other to the death.