Summary
Like many fantasy isekai,That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slimehas various mechanics that are reminiscent of those found in tabletop or videogame role-playing games, and other kinds of fantasy media in general. One such familiar mechanic found in theTenSurauniverse is evolution, a dramatic increase in an individual’s overall stats which grants them access to a number of unique Skills and perks as a result.
In the second season of the anime, Rimuru dramatically ascended to True Demon Lord status after acquiring a large mass of souls as part of a ceremony that not only saw him become a bona fide Demon Lord in name after being accepted by the other Demon Lords, but also as a being. Humans are capable of undergoing the same kind of evolution, which enables them to follow a similar yet opposite path to the Demon Lords, but how exactly does human evolution work inThat Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime?
The Human Evolutionary Trajectory
As Above, So Below
Humans have access to two possible evolutionary paths inThat Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime,Enlightenment orMajinizationor Monsterization. Enlightenment takes place when a human undergoes very long and difficult training, eventually breaking through a significant mental barrier. Through doing so, the person becomesa “demi-spiritual” lifeform, capable of thought through the Spiritual Body; one of five major vessels thought to house the soul in theThat Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slimeuniverse. Their flesh has been partially ascended to a higher plane of existence, making the Enlightened much more tolerant to magicules than the average human, and they have longer lifespans.
On the other hand, Majinization is an evolutionary path in which a person who has experienced great levels of magicule exposure becomes a monster. This is something that can occur as a result of occult rituals or unique circumstances where normally over-exposure to magicules results in death, a person can experience rebirth as a “Demonoid” instead. On both ends of the spectrum, an individual can reach even higher, more powerful modes of existence through cultivating their Skills, bodies, and lives in order to break through their mental barriers. The result of this is seen in the Ten Great Saints.
After Enlightenment
Becoming A Fully Spiritual Being
Should a human become an Enlightened, further cultivation of their abilities could enable them tocomplete the process of awakeningand become a Divine Human. These individuals are extremely powerful and because they are divine beings, they gain material bodies that do not age. In the case of those who went the other way, a Demonoid can become even more powerful as they reach states such as Greater Majin, Sub-Demon Lords and eventually, Demon Lord-level. Characters like Hinata Sakaguchi and the Demon Lord Leon Cromwell serve as prime examples of evolution at either end of the spectrum, although, at this point in the anime, Hinata Sakaguchi is yet to ascend to the immense heights that are possible for humans in the series. Divine Humans are so powerful that they can stand onequal footing with True Dragons, and their parallel on the demonic side of things is known as a Divine Demonoid. On either side, Divinity is a possibility that indicates an individual has undergone the full awakening process and become a transcendent being, and as long as the individual was a spiritual lifeform with a physical body, transcendence is a possibility.
Enlightened or Divine Humans must not be confused with High Humans, the first species created by the vampire Twilight Valentine who had a long life expectancy as well as magical affinity; however, due to their selfish and violent nature, they were considered a failed creation and driven to the brink of extinction bythe Lord of Darkness, Guy Crimson. The human race as it appears in the series is a result of further experimentation by Valentine. Demi-humans on the other hand, are simply the result of cross-breeding as well as experimentation with humans and despite being fully human, there is immense animosity between them and the regular humans. Each of these varieties of human found inThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slimeare capable of evolution, meaning that a human, demi-human or High Human can reach the aforementioned milestones.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Based on Fuse’s novel and light novel series, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an isekai anime that follows Rimuru, a guy who reincarnates in a fantasy world as its weakest monster. However, that soon changes.
