[Dylan: Hey Bella, we’ve arrived in Thalendor. Where are you guys?]
Seeing that message, a smile spread across Lisa’s face; she was happy that her friend had finally arrived.
[Lisa: Hi Dylan, we’re at our guild headquarters. Want to come over and check out the place? Are you with your group?]
[Dylan: Yeah! That’s great, I’m really excited to see our new home in this world! How do I get there?!]
While Lisa was messaging, Lohan stood stood her, analyzing Pip’s changes and mentally calculating how he could ensure he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in this aspect of the guild’s development.
’If everyone depends solely on me to get the biomass I’ll give as a reward, even if that’s just sporadic, with hundreds of members in the future, I’ll end up farming just to get biomass to sustain the members, which would be totally against the purpose of establishing a guild to help me in my own development...’ He thought, rolling calmly around the room, lost in thought.
Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. ’Lohan, why are you so stupid? Why would you need to hunt the monsters yourself? Wouldn’t it be easier to just have the players bring in the monsters they want and receive the biomass as a reward? That way, I’d not only solve the problem of how I’d get the biomass for this, but I could even keep the remaining unused biomass from that monster as a fee!’
’The Players obviously wouldn’t mind hunting the most powerful monsters to convert into biomass for themselves; after all, the opportunity would be rare, and the better the monster, the greater the amount of biomass they could receive if their bodies could handle it.’
Thinking about that, Lohan’s eyes sparkled with excitement, feeling increasingly thrilled by the development of this plan.
Given how effective his clones were, once he got used to administering this biomass injection to other Players, he could even use the clones to do it, saving a lot of time every day since he’d be able to treat multiple Players at once.
Suddenly, he turned to Lisa and saw that she had a smile on her face while doing something on her system screen.
Curious, he approached her and asked, "Hey Lisa, what’s the good news that’s putting that smile on your face?"
"It’s Dylan! He and his group just arrived in Thalendor, and now they’re coming to our headquarters!" Lisa replied, her two white tails wagging at a frantic pace of excitement that Lohan rarely saw.
Upon hearing that name, Lohan felt a strange "tightness" in his core, something he couldn’t explain as merely a fluctuation of Mana. ’Wait... why is she so happy?’ he thought, keeping his two artificial eyes fixed on the fox, trying not to show the discomfort rising through his gelatin.
He remembered what Alice had said days ago: Dylan was the "other" childhood best friend, the third member of the inseparable trio. Until then, dealing with Alice had been easy because she was an easygoing girl, but now the friend was a man. And, judging by Lisa’s smile, a man who was very important to her.
’To be honest, I knew this was going to happen eventually, but did it have to be right now, just when we finally made up?’ Lohan sighed inwardly; he couldn’t help feeling insecure.
Lisa was Isabella Vance, a trillionaire heiress of the Federation. Dylan was probably from the same social circle, someone who attended the same parties and possessed the same elite style that Lohan was still learning to ignore.
Compared to a Low Zone Slime with a 30,000-credit debt at Atlas Bank (which he could pay off right now if he wanted to), Dylan must seem like a prince charming by Lisa’s standards.
"Great... more people for the grind," Lohan transmitted via the mental link, trying to sound as casual and professional as possible, though inside she was screaming with jealousy. "He also has a team of soldiers like Alice’s, right?"
"Yes! Alice said he’s really strict with training. His group must be even more efficient than hers," Lisa commented, still focused on the messages. "Dylan has always been the most competitive of the three of us, so much so that he was only delayed for the Open World because he received a hidden mission to unlock a Rare Class, turning him into a Double Rare Base now."
That last sentence made Lohan’s core tremble with concern.
For a competitive man, being the guild’s Vice President could be a source of conflict, right? If Dylan were as close to Lisa as Alice, the hierarchy of Astralis Requiem could turn into a diplomatic battlefield, and he didn’t want it to come to that.
’Sure, if he causes trouble, I can always show him why I’m the top PK in the Open World.’ Lohan thought with a hint of predatory malice, but quickly scolded himself. ’Relax, Lohan. If you act like an insecure Vice-Leader, then he really will run you over.’
Determined to keep his composure, Lohan refocused on his "Biomass Tax" idea. If he wanted to keep his spot at the top and ensure that neither Dylan nor anyone else saw him as Lisa’s "pet," he needed to be indispensable.
"Lisa, before they arrived, I had an idea for the guild’s bonus system," Lohan said, changing the subject to regain control of the situation. "Instead of me spending my own biomass to strengthen everyone, which would be unsustainable, Players will be able to bring in the monsters they hunt themselves. I’ll process the corpses by extracting the valuable parts, increasing their value, giving them the quality that Intervar admired, and I’ll record in a ledger the biomass obtained from digesting that monster, so when a player is set to receive the biomass injection reward, I’ll know exactly how much that player can use without worrying about hunting it myself."
Lisa finally stopped typing and looked at him, her ears pricking up with interest. "That’s... brilliant, Halon. You’ll basically become Astralis’s official refiner, since no one in the game can extract 100% of a corpse’s value like you can, and with that, not only will the Guild members get stronger, but you will too!"
"Exactly," Lohan beamed with satisfaction, feeling his confidence return. "This creates a meritocracy. Whoever hunts better monsters gets better bonuses. And I keep growing without having to put my own development on hold to ’carry’ others. What do you think?"
"Halon, I think your idea is like a bank, haha. You’d accept biomass investments from guild members, you could even use that biomass on yourself as investments, then return the members’ invested share to them, keeping the interest for yourself! Hahaha, my mom would love to talk to you." She said, laughing even harder.
Seeing that wider, more sincere smile on the fox’s face, Lohan felt a wave of relief wash over him, noticing small subtleties that showed her smile for him was different from the one she was giving to Dylan’s messages.
’Okay, Lohan, maybe you are a little childish.’
But remembering what Lisa had said, he chuckled to himself and asked a question that caught Lisa completely off guard.
"Ohh, are you already thinking about introducing me to my mother-in-law?!" he asked, feigning shock.
And Lisa, upon hearing his question, froze completely, staring at the Slime beside her in shock at his audacity.
Seeing the "innocent look" on his round, bluish face, knowing he did it on purpose, Lisa let out a loud scream while hiding the intense blush on her face.
"HALOOONNNNN!!!"