That time I was reincarnated as a snake (Tensura)

In the forest two dark silhouettes could be seen moving quickly through the shadows.

"Where are you going?" I asked, as we continued moving in the direction Mira took.

"Didn't you say you wanted to go to where the humans live? I remember that this was the direction from which the last humans who entered my territory came."

What Mira was saying made sense, since our direction was west. If we continued on this route, sooner or later we would leave the forest and enter what would in the future be the western nations.

Surely there I could find information that would allow me to know what point in history I am in. I hope I am not in a time close to the next Tenma war, I am not sure I will survive that.

Imagining the sky completely covered by millions of angels destroying everything in their path gives me goosebumps.

As we continued to jump in and out of the shadows, we continued to talk about irrelevant topics, such as what our favorite food was. Mine was wild boars; I may not be able to taste them like I did in my previous life, but the feeling of eating them is the best out of all the monsters I've eaten.

As for Mira, her answer puzzled me. Unlike what I expected, like some kind of fish or bird, hers were the storm snakes. According to her: "They have a lot of meat, few bones and I love to see those arrogant snakes enter my stomach."

I don't know how to feel about it, since that's partly my future if I don't manage to get the dragon factor.

Our conversation covered many topics, we continued talking mostly out of boredom. After all, this world is gigantic; even with shadow movement that allowed us to cover great distances with each jump, it would take several hours to get out of the forest from where we were.

Are you wondering why it took us so long to get that ability, if Ranga can move between countries with it? Well, I honestly don't know how he does it, the consumption of the ability is supposed to increase exponentially the greater the distance traveled. I can only assume that he uses Rimuru's magics while in his shadow.

As for us, without a huge battery of magicules to replenish them, we refrained from making jumps of several kilometers.

At some point the conversation reached Veldora. That's how I learned why Mira was so keen on strength. Apparently she saw from a distance the last invasion of humans into Jura Forest and how Veldora exterminated them so easily. It was her helplessness at seeing it that made her want to become stronger.

This amused me, as it is partly because I saw Veldora in the sky, and I set out to beat him up out of fright, that I am continually seeking to become stronger. I told her about my experience with Veldora and my goal of beating him up, to which she responded with a sneer, I didn't have that much faith in her succeeding.

I wonder what Veldora is doing now, he probably went to destroy some kingdom, I hope one of his sisters beats him up.

-Veldora POV-

* Achu *

"Who is cursing me?" I said angrily.

I was in the middle of destroying the capital of a certain kingdom that dared to say that I, Veldora the Storm Dragon, had not attacked their kingdom because I was afraid of them.

Come on, ants, it's just because I destroyed the kingdom that was here not long ago, a few centuries ago. So I decided to exterminate you for such an offense.

But suddenly I felt a chill run down my spine.

I turned around only to see in the distance a small red dot approaching in my direction. My eyes widened in horror, I knew who it was.

"Why did she come so fast?!" I said in panic.

Without wasting any time, I flapped my wings and flew in the opposite direction.

"Quick, quick, I can't let him catch me or she will kill me" I flapped my wings furiously.

"Veldora stop!" I could hear an angry communication.

"Never, leave me alone Velgrynd, I did not approach your empire!"

"What did I tell you about destroying human kingdoms for no reason?"

"They started it, they said I didn't dare, so I did it," I said in a determined tone.

"Then stay still and take the consequences, I promise I won't kill you, I'll just leave you half dead" she said in a mocking tone.

In the sky, two gigantic dragons could be seen flying rapidly, one chasing the other. If anyone paid attention, they would notice that the two dragons were flying in a southwesterly direction towards the seas.

-KAI POV-

'I strangely feel happy, as if something I wished for has come true.'

…

'Forget it.'

Our journey took us through the territories of several strong monsters, who, upon sensing us invading, attempted to attack us. Some, upon seeing the two of us, wisely decided to retreat. Others, on the contrary, attacked us, only to be quickly dealt with by Mira or me. Wanting not to waste too much time, I planned to leave the corpses, but Mira refused, apparently she had the ability to store things in her shadow.

I can't deny that I was envious of her, who doesn't want portable storage.

When I asked her how it worked, she explained that it was based on the movement of shadows, but it required a lot of control to prevent whatever was inside from leaving the shadow, so the more things you store, the harder it becomes.

I made a note to practice the skill if I had free time.

So our journey continued without much difficulty. Getting closer to the edge of the forest, I could feel the ambient magics becoming more scarce.

By the time we emerged from the forest and found plains, it was already nighttime and the difference in magic in the air between this place and where I was born was very noticeable. If I have to give an example, in this place it felt like being under a gentle drizzle on a sunny day, while where I was born seemed to be inside a storm with powerful blizzards and downpours.

No wonder there aren't many powerful monsters outside of the Jura Forest. With so few environmental magics, it's impossible for many monsters to be born. In the absence of monsters to hunt, it would be very difficult for a monstrous individual to become strong.

Not to mention that such an environment is conducive to humans and humanoids, so they would reproduce quickly and would not allow the existence of monsters that threaten their survival.

In the distance from where we were, we could see the silhouette of a city, so we decided to go there as our first objective.

To avoid trouble I told Mira that we should stay hidden in our shadows.

It's not that I'm worried about being attacked, but I'd like to not attract the attention of strong nations or those guys like Guy and Rudra.

It didn't take long to sneak inside its walls.

The first thing I did was to find a place as a temporary base. After a trip constantly using shadow movement, I felt tired, not because of the consumption of magicules but mentally.

Like any cliché city in a medieval world, it naturally had slums, where the trash of society hid or what the poor called home.

We searched for a remote corner where we believed no one would care if people disappeared. After finding a huge ruined warehouse and saying that this would be our base, the two of us, without wasting any time, slaughtered all the people near the base silently. Under the cover of night, countless lives had been reaped without the rest of the city finding out.

Now we could relax a little.

"Hey Mira, get us something to eat," I said.

To which she responded with a snort, but did it anyway.

After a snack, I lay down on the floor to rest. Mira followed my example.

"Step one, find a human city, done. Step two, get a base, done. Now it's time for step three, gather intelligence," I told myself for the record.

"We should find some bar or brothel to listen to their conversations," I said.

"Go on by yourself, I don't want to bother with that," Mira said with a yawn.

Rolling my eyes, I decided not to argue with her. So I entered my shadow and looked for a cantina. There should be several in a place like a fortress city that lives on a razor's edge.

As I predicted, it didn't take long to find these establishments; they are the only ones that would be open at this time.

Seeing that there were several, I decided to go with the loudest one, that's a sign that their customers can't keep quiet, perfect for my plans.

It had "Ronin's Cantina" written on a large sign above the front door.

How do I know what it says there if I don't know the written language they use? I made it up, Ronin is a nice guy, so I named this cantina after him.

Back to the topic.

I sneaked through the shadows, until I found several tables with strong men. They wore leather armor and carried weapons such as metal swords, daggers, bows and I could see an old man with a staff with a huge gem embedded in it.

Isekai adventurers . All it took was one elf or one catgirl to have the complete package. Since these guys didn't have either it meant they were low class adventurers.

With contempt in my eyes, I snuck into their shadows to spy on them. With luck, I would get some good gossip.

Adventurer A: "Did you hear the latest news from the ruler of Jura Forest?"

Adventurer B: "You mean he destroyed the Thalassia duchy?"

Adventurer A: "No, that was more than five years ago."

Adventurer C: "You mean he destroyed the kingdom of Nythoria?"

Adventurer A: "No, that was two years ago."

Adventurer D: "You mean he destroyed Marquis Argathis' lands?"

Adventurer A: "No, that was several months ago."

…

The more they talked, the more baffled I became by what Veldora did, a kingdom or a duchy every few years.

But I can understand it a little.

I mean, what do you do to entertain yourself in a world where there has been no advancement in any field like entertainment or technology, for millennia?

In my old life I couldn't go more than a couple of days without internet. Now, what would I do with all those years of life? I think maybe I would found some dark organization behind the scenes to play with humans for fun, something like the Assassin's Creed order or an assassins guild.

After recounting the list of Veldora's crimes, they finally got to the point.

Adventurer B: "Stop dragging out the story, what news are you referring to?"

The rest agreed with B and pressured A to talk .

Adventurer A: "Okay, a couple of days ago I heard from a wandering merchant that the dragon attacked the kingdom of Lubelius."

Adventurer B: "You mean that kingdom that believes in the supposed goddess Luminas ?"

Adventurer A: "That same one, apparently the dragon attacked the lands of that kingdom near the capital, but was stopped. Its believers claim that it was their goddess who protected them."

Adventurer C: "It must be propaganda from their church. How can anyone stand up to that dragon? Even other dragons that have destroyed small kingdoms were killed by Champions, but that dragon has never been defeated."

Adventurer D: "Yes, there are ancient records that tell how that evil dragon has destroyed kingdoms for millennia. I doubt that a supposed goddess from a kingdom that was founded just three hundred years ago could compete with that dragon."

'Lubelius Kingdom? Founded just three hundred years ago?' I thought thoughtfully.

'From what these guys say, Lubelius has only been around for three centuries. That means the Tenma War happened three centuries ago, because I remember that although Veldora destroyed Luminous's Night Rose Kingdom over two thousand years before canon, it was only after the Tenma War that she gathered groups of humans to protect them and form Luberius.'

'That means I have two hundred years to prepare for the next Tenma war.'

I was satisfied; with this time I was confident that I could become a powerhouse, not at the level of a true demon lord, but at least a demon lord seed.

'I wonder who stopped Veldora, Luminous or Chronoa?' I frowned at that annoying existence.

'If there's one thing I've never liked, it's works that use time travel elements. They're a nuisance full of holes.'

'Now the question is, did I appear in the last iteration, the one where she arranges everything for Rimuru, so my existence can trigger changes in her plan, but she doesn't know about it? Or was I part of the last iteration she saw, just the one before this one and she's already aware of my existence because of my future?' My head hurts when I consider

Brother, it could also be that Chronoa doesn't exist. You could make a WarMachine and kill her when she's still young, thus preventing her from traveling back in time and meeting you right now. After all, you know the plot.

No bro, that's not how it works. Haven't you ever wondered why Rimuru, Chloe and Hinata are too powerful?

It all goes back to the fact that they are the protagonists chosen by the universe; the universe favors them. Because I am part of this universe, remember that when I died I heard the voice of the world, so my previous world was still part of this universe. The plot I know might have come as meta-knowledge of what happens in the Cardinal world to my old world.

And if that knowledge is true, which it has been so far, then the universe will follow the plot I know, favoring the development of Chloe, Rimuru, and Hinata. Therefore, the universe would not allow a nobody to mess with them. Even if I did manage to mess with them, it would only take one trip back in time to eliminate me as an obstacle.

So, yes, Chronoa exists, no matter what she does.

My doubt remains whether I was in the last iteration she knows of, or I'm just in this one, which she doesn't know of. I'd prefer the latter, if I may say so. I could answer my doubt by looking for her, but as I am now, if she knows me and thinks I'm upsetting her plan, she might annihilate me. Part of her is Hinata, a crazy person who if you're a monster she'll kill you, no matter if you're reasonable.

Actually, there are other ways to find out. One is to stay completely off the radar, avoiding interfering with the world, until events that were arranged by Chronoa that I could interfere with occur like the original work. In that case, maybe even if I was in the previous iteration, she wouldn't know about me.

The problem is that I would have to avoid altering history for more than a thousand years. Using the founding of Lubelius as an indicator of the Tenma War, which occurs every five hundred years, plus the destruction caused by Milim's awakening, which occurred two thousand years before canon, I can say that I am seventeen hundred years away from canon.

How the hell would it not create butterfly effects for over fifteen hundred years!

It's impossible!

'I can only pray to Veldanava that she only exists in this iteration. Chronoa may be setting up various events to happen, but she can't know everything that happened in this era. Most of her knowledge of the past comes from Hinata, who heard it from Luminous, and Luminous, while beautiful, isn't very hard-working. I doubt she knew or cared about everything that happened outside of her empire. She should be safe as long as she doesn't go to Lubelius.'

I continued listening to their conversations for a few hours, but I didn't get anything valuable, so I decided to call it a night and return to the temporary base.

"Were you lucky?" Mira asked me when she saw me arrive.

"I found some information, but not what I was looking for, and I discovered some serious problems that we need to solve," I looked at her seriously.

Seeing my seriousness, she knew it was something important.

"How old are you?" I asked him seriously.

She was taken aback by my abrupt question.

"What do you care?" she said viciously.

I looked at her for a while without saying a word. To which she replied with the same.

"Forget it, just tell me, are you over three hundred years old?" I said in a serious tone.

Seeing that I wasn't playing, she replied.

"I have more than a hundred, but less than two hundred."

A reasonable age due to his strength. Just look at Hakurou, that guy was over three hundred years old; he was only weak due to his lack of magicules.

"Have you ever heard of the Tenma War?" I asked.

"What is that?" she said doubtfully.

It seems that I will become his mentor, with all the knowledge that I am imparting to him.

"The Tenma War is a worldwide event that occurs every five hundred years. When it happens, the entire world is assaulted by millions of angels, with the weakest among them being slightly weaker than you or me, but the strongest comparable to those guys I mentioned, destroying any advanced nation in their path. Although it's not targeted at monsters specifically, you can imagine that there's fighting and destruction everywhere. In such an event, only with enough strength or luck can you survive," I said seriously.

"And from the information I heard, I can tell that the next one will arrive in two hundred years, so we must become stronger in this period of time or we might die."

"You say we should become stronger, but how strong should we be?" Mira asked me seriously.

"We must reach the level of a Demon Lord seed," I said in a casual tone.

"And what is this so-called Demon Lord seed level? How far away are we?"

"You can think of it as the true limit of a monster. Literally, once you get there, there is only one way to get stronger. It doesn't matter if you work hard for millennia, if you don't follow that way you will never grow any bigger. Some seeds think of themselves as Demon Lords, but that's not true."

"After a Demon Lord seed follows the form I mentioned, it will evolve into a True Demon Lord. That is a completely different level of existence. They are practically immune to almost all types of harm, their powers destroying nations. That level of existence is known as spiritual lifeforms. True Dragons are born as spiritual lifeforms. Ordinary dragons, at full maturity, are semi-spiritual lifeforms, just one step away from spiritual lifeforms. The rest of the world is born as semi-material lifeforms, two steps behind the former."

"It is the leaps between these levels of existence that constitute becoming stronger, as each level has limitations."

"Semimaterials are limited by their bodies in many ways. One of them is the brain, since no matter how many abilities you have, your brain cannot process the use of several at the same time. Another is that if your physical body is seriously damaged, you will die, and the body ages with age."

"Semi-spiritual lifeforms lose many of those weaknesses. They now think with their souls, so their memories are stored there. So they can make better use of skills and magic. Even if their physical body is destroyed, they won't die. They can seek out another vessel. As long as their spiritual bodies aren't damaged, they are immortal."

"Lastly, spiritual life forms are the pinnacle, because they literally cannot die. They are already beings of pure will and energy. Even if you were to destroy their physical and spiritual body, at some point in the future they will be reborn."

"Demon Lord seeds can be semi-material or semi-spiritual life forms. Obviously the latter will be stronger, but when they evolve into Demon Lord, they will naturally become spiritual life forms."

"My plan is to at least become a semi-spiritual life form by the time the Tenma War comes."

"To reach that level, I estimate that we would need our magicule limit to be multiplied by forty in your case and sixty in mine, approximately," I finished my long explanation.

"Forty-sixty times?" Mira opened her mouth wide at those numbers.

"You see why I told you the name was the easiest way," I gave him a mocking look.

She looked a little regretful, but quickly changed her expression to a resolute one.

"I already said it, my style is not to depend on others to be strong," she said proudly.

"And that is why I value you. I would not accept that way either, especially since when someone is appointed as another's subordinate, the path to Demon Lord is cut off. By appointing us on equal terms, you left that possibility for yourself," I laughed.

"What?! And you didn't plan on telling me before?" Mira glared at me.

"If you had considered subordinating yourself to me, even if I told you before appointing you, it would mean that you do not have the necessary qualifications. Only someone who is unwilling to be below others, has the qualifications to become a Demon Lord." I gave her a condescending look.

"I see," she relaxed her gaze.

"Well, I plan to stay in this city for a few weeks, to gather more information. After that we will leave," I told him before going to sleep.

___________________________

Author's notes:

We finally know where Kai is in history: seventeen hundred years from canon and only two hundred years from the next Tenma war. He will have that time to prepare or he could suffer with the arrival of the legions of angels.

As you can see, although Kai and Mira are strong so far in the play, they are insignificant compared to even Clayman the Clown. While the ranks of -A or below have only two or three times the difference in strength between them, it is the ranks A, Special A, S, and Special S where the strong ones are. Each rank up involves countless time, hard work, and opportunities to advance, so the time between Kai's evolutions will no longer be days or weeks, but months, years, or even decades.

Remember, Kai only has a unique ability and his knowledge as tools to do what Rimuru has: several unique skills, a sealed True Dragon supplying infinite magics, an AI that solved all his doubts and could do everything for him and the favor of fate.

So it's normal that Kai's path can be boring, tedious, bland and inefficient, but I'm not going to give him something that will help him become OP.

Naturally I'm going to do some time jumps, so as not to eat up thousands of years that were probably spent mostly training in magic or something else. I'm going to explain what happened in between, in summary style, and perhaps during the adventure itself those time periods will be recounted as flashbacks.

If you agree with the above, I invite you to continue reading my fanfic with a smile. If not, you can leave. I don't want to read in the comments that the story progresses too slowly, or that it stops doing time jumps, or that Kai no longer evolves and is no longer cool.

I plan on this fanfic being over a hundred chapters long. Since each chapter I write is over three thousand words, you can tell I plan on writing a lot, because I try not to do what I don't like about other fanfics , like: the story develops too quickly, the characters' relationships are flat as well as their personalities, the MC becomes OP too quickly, and we're just watching him have fun for dozens of chapters without the plot moving forward, and the fanfic being practically the same as the original work.

Partly because of that last point, I chose this time period. Almost everything is unknown about that era, which gives me freedom to introduce places, events, and characters. I can tell you that I am in no hurry to get to the canonical period of the original work, because for my fanfic, that time period would be the end.

Since I'm writing for entertainment and partly to quit my addiction to audio novels, the worst thing for me would be for the fanfic to end, because I don't guarantee that if I finish it, I'll write another one.

That's why I'm taking my time, because I know we'd rather see a journey like Rudeus Greyrat's after being teleported, exploring an unknown, but dangerous world, while meeting people along the way. Or like Goku in the first series, along with Bulma in search of the Dragon Balls for the first time.

Not like now, if they need the dragon balls, they just fly from point A to point B and that's it. That's why I plan for Kai to do the world exploration phase while he's weak and not when he's at the level of Luminous, who can even use space magic, and if he had it and didn't use it you'd say it was a waste of time.

It may seem annoying that I'm giving away a lot of information in this chapter , although many of you who read this fanfic should know the history of the LN. Since this work has a lot of spoilers, there might be someone who only knows the anime, so I'm taking the time to put this information in using Mira since she doesn't know it either.

I'll sound heavy, but I think it was necessary to say all the above before starting the trip through various places on the continent. I prefer to make everything clear so I don't have to read complaints later.