[Lisa: Hey Halon, I’m hunting some goblins. How about you? Do you want me to come pick you up now?]
That was the best message Lisa could think of, one that wouldn’t seem suspicious at all and was something she’d say on any normal day.
’Please, don’t ask about my identity...’ She pleaded mentally, hoping he’d just pretend not to know, just as she was doing.
The time until his reply felt like an eternity, but in reality only 30 seconds had passed.
[Halon: Oh, okay then, you can continue your hunt for now. I just ran into Aeliana and her Master here in Thalendor, and they invited me to their magic tower. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll tell you where the tower is so you can come too!]
Reading Halon’s reply, a mix of feelings welled up in Lisa’s chest.
On one hand, she was relieved to see that he wasn’t bringing up the subject of her identity, practically acting as if he knew nothing about it.
That was exactly what she wanted to happen, but the reason he wasn’t bringing up that subject stirred another feeling in her chest.
’Geez, going to explore Aeliana’s master’s magic tower is more important than asking me about my identity?!’ she wondered, frustrated.
When she discovered Halon’s identity, that was what she thought about most during the day. Many times while she was alone, Lisa would recall his face and imagine what it would feel like to talk to him in person.
But when he discovered her identity, instead of confronting her until she admitted it and they could act like they did in Elysium in the real world, he went out with other girls to explore a magic tower?!
Besides this strange feeling she was experiencing, another feeling was also taking hold of Lisa’s chest, an anxiety she had been keeping under control in recent days, but which had grown even stronger because of Halon’s behavior.
’Is he avoiding me now that he knows who I am?’
Lisa didn’t even know how to reply to that message, wanting to rush back to Thalendor to see him and figure out how they’d resolve this, but also afraid of returning and seeming desperate, or worse, returning and seeing that he was looking at her differently, seeing that the friend Halon she’d made had vanished, replaced by the boy intimidated by the Vance surname...
With such conflicting feelings swirling in her chest, she let out a frustrated scream and didn’t reply, running toward the goblins’ lair and deciding to take out her anger on those grotesque creatures.
-xXx-
While Lisa was taking it out on the goblins, Lohan was in Aeliana’s arms, heading toward her mistress’s tower.
Just a few minutes before Lohan sent that reply that left Lisa in a state of fury and confusion, he was idly wandering through the wide, magnificent avenues of Thalendor.
The air of the elven capital, saturated with Mana and freshness, made his core vibrate with a sense of comfort he couldn’t feel in the real world.
He was on his way to the Great Horizon Bazaar, thinking about how to use the silver coins when suddenly, a shrill cry, charged with contagious joy, cut through the city’s murmur.
"Halon! Little friend! You’re back!"
Lohan barely had time to react before being spotted by Aeliana, who ran toward him with her long blonde hair swaying in the wind and a pout of frustration on her face. She crouched down, picking up the slime and cradling it in her lap with ease, something that, at this point, didn’t bother him in the least.
"Where have you been?! I’ve been looking for you all along the edge of the forest these past few days..." Aeliana exclaimed, pretending to be angry as she pressed him against her chest. "I thought you’d forgotten me after getting that ID card! How dare you leave your only elf friend waiting?!"
Lohan vibrated his membrane, trying to explain himself. However, he realized an immediate problem: Lisa wasn’t there to act as the usual mental link.
Without the fox, he was just a mute Slime to Aeliana’s ears. He began gesturing frantically, forming a small bluish hand that waved apologetically and pointed toward the horizon, trying to indicate that he had been on an important hunt.
"What’s the matter? Are you trying to tell me you were busy?" Aeliana tilted her head, trying to decipher the clumsy movements of the little jelly hand.
It was then that the air around them crackled with a cold, purple pressure. In the blink of an eye, Yrneha Ylasys materialized beside the apprentice, her wooden staff still pulsing with a soft glow of spatial magic.
She was apparently about to say something to Aeliana when she noticed the little blue ball in the girl’s arms.
"Stop shaking the poor Slime, Lia. He’s probably trying to say that his partner isn’t here to translate for him." Yrneha’s voice resonated, and Lohan felt a slight mental touch as she effortlessly established a telepathic link between them.
As soon as the connection was established, Yrneha froze for a millisecond. The expression of disdain she normally reserved for slimes was replaced by genuine shock. She sensed not only the dense Mana and the [Artificial Magic Core Harmonizer] operating at high frequency, but something much deeper.
’That fluctuation...’ Yrneha thought, her eyes shining with a dangerous scientific curiosity. ’He isn’t just saturated with Mana. Is that... Natural Energy?!’
She realized that Lohan now carried a vital essence that synchronized his cellular structure with the very nature of the world, something she had only seen in ancient texts or in monsters made of nature itself. For a nature-loving High Elf, sensing that pure energy in a Slime was like finding a rough diamond in the middle of a garbage dump.
A creature known for the rampant destruction of life, now exuding an aura of life, was something utterly contradictory.
"Little creature... what have you been devouring?" Yrneha asked, her voice carrying an authority that made Lohan’s core waver. "Your level of existence has changed qualitatively in just a few days... I demand that you come to my Magic Tower now for a more thorough analysis."
Lohan felt a chill run down his spine and immediately shook his jelly-like hand. He remembered the last time she had shown interest in taking him to the lab and knew that, without Lisa there to mediate, he might end up as a potion ingredient.
"I appreciate the invitation, Lady Ylasys, but I really need to find my companion soon." Lohan replied mentally, trying to stay calm.
Yrneha clicked her tongue impatiently.
She knew this Slime was a "Friend of Thalendor" and couldn’t simply kidnap him, but the knowledge regarding that Natural Energy Core was far too valuable. She looked at the Slime, realizing how much he valued his own growth.
"What if I offered you a Mana Stone from a Level 13 monster?" she proposed, watching the Slime freeze instantly. "You should know that just as our core needs twice the energy to level up each time, monsters are the same... imagine the energy load of a Level 13 core."
Lohan hesitated.
He wasn’t even worried about the large amount of biomass he could gain from it, but rather excited to think about what Evolution he might achieve from it? Considering he had gained very good powers from the other Mana Stones above Level 11, he figured that this time might not be any different.
He looked at Aeliana, who was smiling hopefully, and at Yrneha, who was already preparing the teleportation circle.
"All right... I accept. But only with an oath sworn on your magic that you won’t put me in danger and that I can leave at any time." He gave in, but still set conditions.
Honestly, he was curious about the mage’s tower, drawn to the Mana Stone, and trusted Aeliana enough to believe she wouldn’t be smiling like that if her master intended to dissect him.
It was at that moment that he received the message from Lisa.