BMN Chapter 36 (Patreon)

Chapter 36: The Naming

Having accepted the allegiance of the three, Bai Luo turned his gaze back to Benimaru.

The young Ogre chief, with his long, blood-red hair, was now in a state of deep conflict. With his sister and two childhood friends having chosen to follow Bai Luo, Benimaru also felt the urge to become Bai Luo's retainer.

This was especially true after Bai Luo had declared his ambition to become a Demon Lord. From a personal standpoint, having been utterly crushed by Ogerpon's overwhelming power, he had already come to acknowledge Bai Luo. Benimaru had no qualms about serving such a powerful being.

The problem was...

"My apologies." Benimaru was reluctant, but he had to make a choice. "I am the young chief of the Ogres. I cannot abandon everyone in the village. Therefore, please forgive me, but I cannot follow you, Lord Bai Luo!"

"Is that so..." Hearing Benimaru's reason for refusal, Bai Luo wasn't angry at all. Instead, he was quite impressed, thinking to himself that this was indeed the man who would become the Great Marshal of the Monster Nation in the original story.

With someone of his dedication and sense of responsibility holding down the fort, Bai Luo could leave the Cardinal World in the future to seek opportunities in other worlds with peace of mind.

"I think you've misunderstood." Bai Luo waved his hand and said, "I don't actually plan on leaving the Ogre village."

"What?" Benimaru was stunned. Just as astonished as he was, Shuna, Shion, and Souei were.

"You mean to say..."

"I intend to subjugate the Ogre tribe!" Bai Luo made no attempt to hide his ambition. "And then I will build this place into my main base, the cornerstone for my ascension to Demon Lord!"

"This!" The four of them looked at each other, momentarily at a loss for words.

To subjugate the Ogre tribe was, in another sense, to conquer them. If anyone else had said this, Benimaru and the others would have fought them to the death. The Ogres would rather die than submit; they would never yield to violence.

But things were different with Bai Luo.

First, there was the debt of saving their lives. It was Bai Luo and Ogerpon who had saved the younger generation of the village, preserving the future of the Ogres.

Then, not long ago, Ogerpon had single-handedly defeated the entire Ogre tribe. There were no fancy magic tricks, just pure brute force. With one Ivy Cudgel and a pair of fists, Ogerpon had beaten everyone in the area where the Ogres excelled most.

A high-ranking Majin of the same race, a great benefactor to the Ogre village, coupled with the presence Bai Luo displayed and his friendly attitude toward the Ogres... Rather than a conquest, it was more like Bai Luo and Ogerpon wanted to become one of them.

"What do you mean, conquest?" Shion, ever direct, said, "It's obvious that Lord Bai Luo intends to protect us and lead us to greater heights!"

"That's right." Shuna tugged on her brother's sleeve, her meaning unmistakable.

If they didn't agree to such a good offer, wouldn't that make them fools?

"Please accept my allegiance, Lord Bai Luo!" Benimaru didn't hesitate either. He placed his hands on the ground and declared, "I cannot make a decision on behalf of the village, but I am willing to follow you!"

He was only the young chief of the village; the true leader was his father. But what did that matter?

On the matter of whether the Ogres should pledge allegiance to Bai Luo, Benimaru chose to stand with Bai Luo. Moreover, Benimaru didn't believe his father was the kind of fool who couldn't see the situation clearly.

To gain the protection of Bai Luo and Ogerpon, the only price was to relinquish the position of leader.

At that moment, Shuna and Benimaru exchanged a glance. The siblings both saw the same understanding in each other's eyes: if their father didn't understand, then the two of them wouldn't mind staging a little gekokujō to let the Red Ogre Chief know what it meant to be a person of good sense. 【TN: Gekokujō refers to overthrowing one's superiors, a common theme in Japanese history and media】

"Welcome, my companions."

After Bai Luo spoke, he raised his hand, and four invisible oaths descended upon their heads. "Hereby, I bestow upon you names."

"Benimaru!"

"Shion!"

"Shuna!"

"Souei!"

Bai Luo didn't change their names, choosing to follow the original story.

On the other side, the four who received their names from Bai Luo had looks of utter disbelief. They had thought that what Bai Luo meant by "following" was merely in name. Who could have imagined that Bai Luo would actually name them?

"Lord Bai Luo!!" While shocked, the four were also worried for Bai Luo.

It was common knowledge that naming a monster would consume a large amount of Bai Luo's magicules, which would undoubtedly be detrimental to their master's interests.

"No need to worry. Just focus on the changes in your bodies."

In Bai Luo's eyes, magicules were like money.

Using 【Catcher】, Bai Luo began to convert the four into his dependents.

Benimaru's initial magicule count was 7,500, Shion's was 7,000, Souei's was 7,200, and Shuna's was a little less, but still 6,500. Thus, 50% of the dependents' magicules from 【Leader】 would be added to Bai Luo. This was equivalent to Bai Luo gaining 14,100 magicules out of thin air.

Then, there were two conditions for naming a monster. First, there must be a fundamental gap between the magicule counts of the namer and the named. That is to say, since Hakurou and the Red Ogre Chief both had magicules below 10,000, they couldn't use naming to help others break through to A-rank.

In the original story, Rimuru named the Storm Dragon because they had established an equal contract on a spiritual level by exchanging names. It was not the same situation as normal monster naming. 

Other than that, a single naming must provide enough magicules for the recipient to complete their evolution. This meant that to name Benimaru and the others, he had to raise their magicules to above 10,000. Only then could they evolve from Ogres to Kijin.

"10,800 magicules, is it?"

However, considering that Bai Luo could get half of this amount back from the four afterward, the actual cost was only 5,400.

"By this calculation, I actually profited by 9,000 magicules."

So in this wave, not only did Bai Luo not consume any magicules, but he had increased his own from 18,000 to around 27,000. If over 10,000 magicules were A-rank, then with nearly 30,000 magicules, Bai Luo and Ogerpon could now be called mid-tier A-rank.

The benefit of taking monsters from the Cardinal World as dependents was that Bai Luo knew their rank and magicule count from the start. It wasn't like with Ogerpon, which was like opening a blind box—only after bringing her back to the Cardinal World could he know her talent and potential.

Considering that he might travel to a dangerous world next, Bai Luo planned to strengthen his own side as much as possible. Once Shuna, Shion, and the others became his dependents, he could take them to new worlds together, just like with Ogerpon, through the Pokémon Storage.

And with four entry-level A-rank and one mid-tier A-rank combatant by his side, his sense of security instantly soared.

"BOOM!!!"

The commotion caused by four Ogres evolving at once was even greater than Bai Luo's own. Because no isolation barrier had been set up, the disturbance from the four of them instantly attracted the attention of the Ogres led by Hakurou.

In an instant, countless Ogres rushed toward Bai Luo's wooden house, quickly surrounding it.

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