[NunuNote: For those who haven’t seen it, a visual representation of Brynn was added in the last Chapter; it was also posted on our Discord.gg/NunuXD for anyone who wants to join and discuss the story as well.]
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"Are you sure that was an oracle from the Goddess?" A girl with squirrel ears on her head asked in surprise, looking at her friend who was wearing healer’s robes.
The healer nodded quickly and replied worriedly in a low voice. "Yes, from what I’ve heard, this information is being disseminated by all the churches of the Goddess Astraea with high priority... even the nobles are already holding meetings to decide how they’ll handle this, since such a large influx of people from another world appearing in the cities could cause a lot of chaos."
This answer piqued the curiosity of the girl with squirrel ears even more, causing her to look around excitedly as if trying to spot someone different who matched what she’d heard in the news.
Unfortunately, aside from the ordinary people who frequented Thalendor, the only beings slightly different from the norm were a small white fox carrying a tiny blue Slime on its back.
Thinking about how the people from another world had been described by her friend, she didn’t even consider that these two small creatures were part of that group.
Not only because of the fox, but the idea that a Slime could have an identity as unique and prestigious as that of someone personally brought from another world by the Goddess Astraea herself was inconceivable.
What she didn’t know was that the said Slime had overheard her conversation with her friend and was surprised.
"Did you hear that, Lisa?" Lohan asked.
"Yes... I knew that eventually the news about the Players would reach the cities of the Open World, but I didn’t imagine it would spread so fast... it seems that the arrival of other Players to the Open World is accelerating the spread of this." Lisa replied through their mental link.
She wasn’t even running through the city, so there was no need to carry Halon on her back, but considering how used to it they both were, she didn’t even realize he could get off her back and roll around.
The same was true for Lohan, who had also grown accustomed to the convenience of moving on Lisa’s back, like a mount; he didn’t feel the need to get off her back to move on his own.
Considering that he was treating a Legendary Fox like a mount, one could say that at least among the Players, no one had a mount as luxurious as his.
"Will new Players appear in Thalendor?" Lohan asked curiously, thinking about the possibility of finding new potential members for Astralis Requiem.
Lisa was a bit pensive about this, but soon replied. "Well, my employees and followers will soon arrive in Thalendor after following me on the friends list, so at least those people are guaranteed. As for random Players, I believe only a small minority spawn here, since Thalendor is a major metropolis; for someone to come to this city as their starting city in the Open World, those people must have either done something exceptional in Novato Village, or they must have a very high rarity level that matches the environment here."
Hearing that, Lohan realized she had mentioned something he had never asked about. "Speaking of your employees and associates... is there anything I should keep in mind? After all, I’m the Vice President of Astralis Requiem, right? It would be strange not to know how to act around these people who would be joining us."
Lohan’s question struck a nerve with Lisa.
’I should tell him that I’m representing a branch of the Vance Group... but if he knew my real-world identity, would he act differently toward me?’
This was something Lisa had found herself thinking about more recently than she’d imagined.
Theoretically, her relationship with Halon was strictly that of business partners, but considering how close they’d become in recent days—with Halon’s casual way of treating her as if she were just a normal girl—Lisa was putting off sharing this information longer than she should have, so as not to lose that feeling.
The problem was that with the arrival of the new members, eventually this news would spread.
Getting her employees to keep quiet about the Vance Group was possible, but the problem was the "Associates" she mentioned.
These associates weren’t people who depended on her or had to obey her every order; in fact, her two associates were her only two friends in the real world!
Commanding them the way she did her employees was something she vehemently refused to do.
Even though she knew they would obey her without hesitation, given the respect they had for her family, it was precisely because of that she didn’t want to make such a request.
It had already been very difficult to get them to treat her the way they did now—as what she considered the closest thing to a normal girl she had ever felt in her life—but there would always be a distance between them because of the respect they felt.
After meeting Halon, her fear that he would become like them only intensified even more.
Recently, she’d even had to restrain herself from sending him messages on Syn after something interesting happened to her in the real world... something that had never happened before!
In the past, it was always other people who sent her the first messages, trying to strike up a conversation with her for various reasons, but ever since she added him on Syn, that clueless Slime hadn’t even considered sending her a message!
Noticing that the fox’s mind had drifted off into thoughts, Lohan assumed she was processing important information about the new Guild members and didn’t interrupt her, simply enjoying the walk while continuing to digest the Beetle corpses.
Although it seemed like a simple and rather useless item with many vulnerabilities, the Astral Chest was like a perfect treasure to him, allowing him to maintain constant digestion even inside Thalendor.
With this constant digestion, Lohan had already accumulated over 3,000 Biomass to purchase evolutions.
Too tired to choose what to evolve yesterday, today was finally the day Lohan decided to spend that large amount of Biomass and upgrade himself significantly.
Taking advantage of Lisa’s mental distraction, Lohan opened his list of evolutions and, without hesitation, spent Biomass like a child in a toy store after receiving Christmas money from generous grandparents!