Lohan stepped out of the shower stall enveloped in a cloud of thick steam, drying his black hair with the softest cotton towel he had ever used in his life.
Although the Digestive Filter allowed him to cleanse impurities from his skin and sweat through his pores, making the act of washing technically unnecessary, Lohan couldn’t resist the psychological pleasure of a hot shower.
In the small apartment in the Lower Zone, the water coming out of the pipes was a cold, foul-smelling mixture laden with metallic sediments... for the ordinary people living there, a bath was a rationed luxury, taken only once every two weeks in cases of real need to save credits and avoid skin infections.
This was one of the main reasons people from the Upper Zone called those from the Lower Zone "rats," since the smell of many people there wasn’t very pleasant.
Feeling the clear, warm water massaging his muscles was a wonderful moment of true peace he’d experienced since his transmigration, especially considering this was the first warm, comfortable bath he’d had in both lives, given that in his previous life he couldn’t even get out of bed.
As he finished drying off, Syn’s holographic interface projected itself before his eyes.
He was exchanging messages with Lisa, using the convenience of the ocular communication device; Lohan sent photos of the barbecue he’d prepared on the terrace, great shots of the meat seared to perfection over the glowing coals.
In response, Lisa sent a few discreet photos of the meal Evelyn was preparing.
The food was surprisingly simple by the Vances’ trillionaire standards: a vegetable stew, artisanal breads, and a serving of grilled protein.
In the photo, there was none of the extravagant ostentation of a luxurious banquet one might expect; the photos conveyed a sense of tasty, home-cooked food, made with a care Lohan had never seen in that world.
[Hayes: It looks really good, Lisa. Enjoy your time with your mom. I’m heading to Elysium now. 😇]
Her reply came within seconds, accompanied by a sense of urgency.
[Lisa: Hayes, wait! Gather everyone from the guild who’s online in an hour in the main hall. My mom mentioned that Ivan’s guild has already hit the 100 official members mark... they’re growing faster than I imagined. We can’t fall behind; we need to do something about it.]
Lohan read the message while putting on one of Seda’s new outfits.
He was surprised by the message’s content, understanding how important this was for them, and immediately agreed with her; the competition with the Hogue Group and even Isabella’s own brothers was reaching a level where Astralis could no longer be content with just its current size.
[Hayes: Okay, I’ll let everyone know. Out.]
-xXx-
Upon logging into Elysium, Lohan felt the familiar transition through hyperspace before opening Slime’s artificial "eyes" inside the fossilized tree.
He wasted no time and opened the guild menu; seeing that Dylan and Alice were online, he sent them a message immediately.
[Halon: Dylan/Alice, gather all online members in the main hall in an hour. We’ll have an official development meeting.]
[LittleCrow: Okaaayy!!!!]
[PrettyBoy: Okay, I’ll let my people know.]
Receiving Alice’s enthusiastic confirmations and Dylan’s signal that he was ready, Lohan decided to use the remaining time to stretch his body around the tree.
He slipped through the base entrance, passing Pip who, despite it being late at night, was standing guard at the tree’s entrance, chatting with Elle.
Seeing the little fairy there, practically taking on inhuman shifts all by himself, Lohan realized that leaving this work solely to him was very unfair, so he made a mental note to find other trustworthy people to take on this task as well.
Camouflaging his blue form with Mimicry, it didn’t take long for him to run into trouble.
A small group of stray Goblins, likely stragglers from a larger pack, were, despite it being nighttime, setting an ambush for an unsuspecting creature passing through some large tree roots.
Lohan didn’t even need to activate his exoskeleton for this. With a quick movement, he fired two simultaneous Ice Spikes, piercing the skulls of the first two monsters with good accuracy before they even noticed his presence.
’I think I can use this time to practice my magic...’ Lohan thought excitedly.
With some rare free time and alone, Lohan glided slowly through the forest, occasionally forming smaller Ice Spikes, trying to adjust their flight speed; other times he tried to increase his Mana output to form larger Ice Spikes, while still maintaining the speed he’d achieved with the smaller ones.
While he was practicing magic, three large, menacing wasps descended from the forest canopy, buzzing aggressively.
Lohan vibrated his membrane in a sign of amusement.
When the first wasp charged with its stinger saturated with Mana, he decided to play around with the Ice Spikes. To counter the high flight speed of these insects, he directly consumed 100 units of Mana to form 10 Ice Spikes of different sizes to see how he could control them.
This cost was much higher than what he normally used for each Ice Spike, precisely because he wanted to test different ideas.
Lohan felt the Mana flow from the [Superior Magic Core] like a river of liquid nitrogen, coursing through the [Optimized Mana Circuits] that acted as powerful magical currents.
The progress was subtle but noticeable; whereas casting a spell had previously felt like a brute effort, with the [Natural Magic Core Harmonizer], the delay between thought and execution had already greatly diminished.
The scene was magnificent: ten bluish crystal spikes floated in orbit above the Slime, pulsing with the energy of its cores.
When the first wasp charged with its Mana-saturated stinger, Lohan quickly coordinated the projectiles.
Four smaller spikes were launched as intercepting scouts, targeting the wasps’ translucent wings to disrupt their flight pattern.
Three medium-sized spikes followed curved trajectories, guided by [Monocular Telescopic Vision], to encircle the creatures and prevent their escape into the canopy.
The curve the spines made drained a few more units of Mana from Lohan, but he didn’t mind.
The last three spines, dense and massive, were kept in reserve as the coup de grâce.
The sound of "SHIIIING!" multiplied by ten echoed through the clearing.
The wasps, disoriented by the icy smoke and the number of targets, attempted evasive maneuvers, but Lohan’s Perception and high processing speed had already mapped out their possible trajectories.
The first group of spikes severed the wing joints of the lead wasp, while the medium-sized projectiles impaled the other two against the trunks of the fossilized trees.
Before the leader could hit the ground, a massive Ice Spike, charged with the vitality of the [Core of Holy Light], pierced the creature’s thorax, causing an explosion of ice shards and energy that obliterated the monster instantly.
Lohan withdrew the residual Mana and observed the result with satisfaction.
Obviously, these wasps weren’t high-level; the leader was likely level 10, and the others below level 8.
If they had been high-level monsters, he would have had to put in much more effort to handle them, since his control over magic wasn’t that precise, but for a test battle, the result was quite satisfactory.
As the meeting time approached, Lohan rolled back to base, calling Pip and Elle to join the meeting along the way, since they were just as much a part of the guild as the others.
He entered the main hall of the fossilized tree and paused for a moment, surveying the surroundings.
The group of players led by Alice and Dylan was already gathered, talking in hushed tones.
However, the place was just a vast, empty room, with walls of shiny fossilized wood but devoid of any furniture, chairs, map tables, or banners.
’Tbh... we’ll need to take the furniture and aesthetics into consideration to improve the members’ comfort in the future.’ Lohan thought, noting how the echo of their voices made the place feel even more desolate.
Suddenly, a glimmer of white and golden particles appeared in the center of the hall. Lisa materialized, her white fox form exuding a legendary aura that made the soldiers straighten their posture instantly.
She met Lohan’s artificial gaze and flashed a sincere smile, pleased to see him there waiting for her.
However, in the next millisecond, a memory from the real world crossed her mind, and Lisa’s fox-like face took on a deep blush that glowed beneath her white fur.
She looked away abruptly, pretending to be extremely interested in a crack in the tree’s bare wall.
"W-well... looks like everyone’s here." She murmured, her telepathic voice faltering for an instant before regaining its usual coolness.