In the end, neither Lohan nor Devon wanted to back down, so as a compromise, they decided to add each other on Syn and stay in touch, looking for opportunities to collaborate, and, most importantly, each hoping to use those opportunities to convince the other to join their group.
Devon knew that Lohan’s Base was at least Rare, and possibly even an Epic Base like that of their group’s leader.
As for Lohan, even if it were just Devon alone, he was still tempted to recruit the boy into Astralis Requiem.
Especially considering that Devon seemed like a good kid, totally different from the delinquents and criminals of the Lower Zone.
The problem was that precisely because he was from the Lower Zone, or, in this world’s terms, because he was human, Lohan couldn’t trust him enough to reveal that he was Halon.
’If I could say that I am Halon, I’m sure Devon and his group would be very tempted to join me, but the problem is if they chose to try to make money by selling information about Halon to all the big corporations that had been constantly trying to find me since that fateful announcement.’ Lohan thought, a little disappointed.
Devon was just as disappointed, since he also really wanted Lohan to join their group, considering that with the support of another Player with at least a Rare, but potentially Epic, card, their group’s success would be getting closer and closer.
Fortunately, exchanging numbers with Syn left both of them feeling somewhat satisfied.
Since the two were still going home together on the same bus, they didn’t say goodbye and stayed together the whole way.
As the flying bus cut through the dense layers of pollution toward the Lower Zone, the silence between the two young men slowly faded, giving way to very low voices audible only to their enhanced Player senses.
Devon, realizing that Lohan was indeed a high-caliber Player, decided to share something his group had discovered.
"Hayes, I don’t know if the folks in your group have had access to this information, but did you know that the Mana from Players outside Elysium is affecting the environment?" Devon whispered in a concerned voice. "My group noticed that when the Mana saturation of an environment reaches a certain level, the air in the real world becomes richer and starts reacting in a strange way..."
Lohan felt a chill run down his spine, not out of fear, but because of the shock that information brought.
"Are you sure about that? What does this strange reaction look like?" Lohan asked worriedly.
Given his Mana, if he were to falter in the real world and be capable of generating that ’strange thing’ that happens to the air all by himself at home, it could even be dangerous for him.
Devon glanced around, making sure the noise from the flying bus’s exhaust fans would drown out their conversation and that the gas mask covered his mouth, and leaned even closer to Lohan.
"It’s erratic, Hayes. My group noticed that in areas where the air is cleaner, Mana seems to act as a catalyst for purity. The air becomes ’sweet,’ almost like in the forests of Elysium. But here in the Lower Zone, where the air is a soup of lead, sulfur, and heavy metals, Mana reacts as if it were trying to ’digest’ the pollution by force, but without a filter. The result is an invisible turbulence that sometimes causes the mist around a person to start swirling, and the air becomes so thick that it feels like you’re breathing liquid mercury."
Lohan clenched his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie, feeling the warmth of his own Mana Paths. He remembered when he first arrived at college and felt the "sweet" air beneath the main filter, and compared it to the air quality there today, realizing that the air quality had actually improved!
He hadn’t focused on it that much, since with his Digestive Filter and Efficient Digestion, he could still function perfectly while breathing only fully purified air.
But upon further reflection, combined with Devon’s comment, Lohan thought of the hundreds of students in the Upper Zone talking about Elysium and realized that perhaps that was the reason?
"Are you saying we’re like walking air purifiers?" Lohan asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Or biochemical bombs..." Devon retorted seriously. "The leader of my group noticed that when she gets nervous, the pollution around her starts to ’curdle.’ Small solid particles form and fall to the ground like black soot. If you have a Rare Base like mine, or something higher, the effect is proportional to your Mana density and even more pronounced if your control over Mana is weak. Luckily for me, my control over Mana is exceptional, so I’ve never had a problem losing control."
Lohan swallowed hard.
He had a Mythic Race and Class. If Devon’s rule was correct, the "environmental signature" Lohan could cause would be equivalent to a lighthouse on a starless night. He recalled how Isabella Vance’s Mana felt 50 times more intense than that of an ordinary student, with her scent exuding a fragrance of wildflowers and dew, and thought that his Class and Race were even greater than hers.
If a person with an Epic Base can already cause these phenomena with ease, imagine what he, a Double Mythic, could cause?!
’Shit...’ Lohan thought, subtly activating his [Structural Stability] to suppress the flow of energy. ’That’s why Isabella stopped in front of me today and started sniffing the air. She didn’t smell my human body... she might have sensed the molecular processing of my Mana trying to clean up the lab’s pollution, or maybe some scent I naturally give off because of a process like that..."
"We’ve noticed this happens more when we’re stressed or using abilities," Devon continued, oblivious to Lohan’s internal conflict. "That’s why my group is training in ’suppression.’ Basically, we try to keep Mana locked in our core even in moments of crisis, which surprisingly also helps improve our Mana control in Elysium. Hayes, if you really have the level of power I suspect, be careful. If you ’leak’ too much Mana in your apartment, that place will have the cleanest air in all of the Lower Zone within a week... and that will attract Federation scouts like flies, or maybe you’ll create the most chaotic air in the place, and attract just as much attention."
Lohan nodded, sensing that this information would be of great value to him.
The real world was no longer just a place to rest between grinding sessions; the rules of Elysium were literally rewriting the atmosphere around him.
A few minutes later, the Devon bus stop arrived, leaving Lohan alone and pensive on the bus. ’I need to ask Lisa about this!’