When class ended, Isabella felt a little regretful.
For the first time in college, she felt like she had something fun to do, only to have that fun interrupted by something she always loved to hear: the bell signaling that class was over.
And seeing Halon get up from the bench and hurry away without even looking at her made Isabella feel a little bad about the situation, but she knew she couldn’t blame her friend, who still didn’t know she was so close.
’Lohan Hayes...’ She murmured his name in her mind, committing it to memory.
Hearing the teacher address Halon by his full name was the clearest confirmation Isabella could get that he was her friend; after all, the name [Hayes] on the Syn app couldn’t have been any more obvious.
’Thank goodness my name on Syn isn’t Isabella or Vance; otherwise, he probably would have discovered my identity just as I discovered his...’
She was still undecided about whether she should tell him about her identity or not, but thinking that it wasn’t urgent yet, Isabella stopped paying attention to it and returned home in her private car.
Unlike Lohan, who needed several hours on the bus to get home, Isabella was inside her apartment in less than 20 minutes, using that time to physically prepare herself to enter Elysium, then step into her nutrient capsule and head out to kill some monsters while exploring the surroundings.
An agreement had already been made between her and Halon, where the Slime made it clear that he didn’t mind Lias hunting alone to get stronger, even if that meant his level would always lag behind hers.
If he had a fragile ego, unable to accept being "worse" than anyone else, that might have been cause for a tantrum on his part, but Lohan didn’t care. The stronger Lisa became, the stronger he would eventually become as well, so there was no reason for this competition.
Lisa, who had been on a high all day, had so much energy that she ran wildly through the area, focusing on everything around her to tire herself out physically and mentally.
The good thing was that with this extra time, she could also hunt some monsters from the list Halon had provided to farm some silver coins.
Even though she didn’t need those coins, it was still good to stockpile them so that when the guild players arrived, they would already have a basic structure good enough to help them.
After about 90 minutes, Halon finally logged into Elysium.
Lisa didn’t even wait for his message and ran to where he had last logged out.
Seeing that little blue Slime, with no facial expressions and no limbs to more easily show what it was thinking, the fox felt like smiling.
Analyzing the way the Slime spoke and acted toward her, Lisa found it more and more interesting how that little round, expressionless creature could display such a strong personality as well.
"You actually got here faster today, Halon..." she remarked curiously.
Lohan looked at her a little surprised and explained. "A little bit. I was lucky to catch a bus with a driver in a hurry today... he made some dangerous maneuvers, but in the end it was worth it to get home early. How are you? Have you been playing for a long time?"
Naturally, Lohan rolled over to Lisa and climbed onto her back, while his gelatinous body expanded and completely enveloped the fox’s body.
Lisa felt a refreshing sensation from his icy body enveloping hers, which was already hot from the physical exertion she’d been doing earlier.
"Not for very long, I just killed a few low-level monsters and managed to capture some Level 01 and Level 2 Dream Butterflies to sell to Intervar." She explained, making no comment about him hugging her body.
Although she was used to it, this time it felt a little different, making her cheeks hotter than usual.
She had always known he was the man controlling the character Halon, and even though their physical contact bothered her a little at first, over time she came to picture the Slime in her mind whenever she thought about this friend.
But now that she knew what his human face and body looked like, feeling him hugging her that way seemed to take on a different meaning.
’It’s strange going through this now that I know what his face looks like...’
Fortunately, perhaps because he didn’t seem like a disgusting person, didn’t cause her any revulsion, or because he was good-looking, Lisa didn’t feel as uncomfortable about it as she would have if someone else had done the same thing to her.
The problem was that as soon as he wrapped his arms around her body, Lisa felt a gentle, undulating sensation ripple through her, tensing and relaxing her muscles in a way so pleasantly unlike anything she’d ever felt before!
The sensation was so good that her mind went blank for a second, until she realized what was happening.
"HALON!" She shouted angrily, opening her mouth and firing a Spiritual Flame at the layer of blue gel that surrounded her.
Feeling the heat of that white flame, Lohan quickly tensed that part of his body and laughed through their mental link. "Hahaha, didn’t I tell you I’d give you a soothing massage when I found you here as a thank you?! I’m just paying my part of the deal!"
As he said this, Lohan intensified the massage, pressing her muscles in a way no human hand, or even a specialized machine, could manage.
Lisa had to force herself not to collapse to the floor in sheer bliss. "STOP IT, I DIDN’T SAY I WANTED YOUR MASSAGE!!!"
Luckily for her, her white fur perfectly hid the face that was now bright red with embarrassment, but her slightly trembling voice through the mental link, even if masked by "rage", caught Lohan’s attention, and if he had a face in that form, a mischievous expression would be plastered across it right now.