[NunuNote: Big Chapter here with almost 2.2k words, so just one Chapter today XD]
The journey along Thalendor’s suspended walkways led Lohan and Lisa to the base of Yrneha Ylasys’s majestic tower.
The air surrounding the structure of white wood and translucent crystals was much denser, saturated with the Mana constantly seeping from the Archmage’s tower.
As they approached the entrance arch, the two noticed a familiar silhouette descending the crystal steps with slow, deliberate steps.
Aeliana, the blonde-haired mage apprentice dressed in a beautiful leaf-patterned tunic, walked with her gaze lost on the horizon, clearly distracted by something.
Lohan, realizing that the elf would pass them by without noticing the pair’s presence, took the initiative to make contact, finding the situation somewhat comical.
He used [Viscous Flow] in conjunction with a small burst of his mass, leaping in front of her path. The sky-blue glow of his membrane shone under the Elysium sunlight, making his body glow even brighter and instantly capturing Aeliana’s attention.
"Halon! Little friend!" Aeliana exclaimed, her face lighting up with a radiant smile as she snapped out of her trance.
She bent down and, with the usual tenderness she always showed, picked up the Slime, cradling him against her chest. "I didn’t expect to see you around here today! And you brought Lisa, too."
Through the mental link established by Lisa, Lohan’s voice echoed serenely and warmly in the elf’s mind. "Hello, Aeliana. We came specifically to speak with you. I hope we’re not interrupting your studies."
Lisa, standing beside them, let out a soft snort and greeted the elf with an elegant nod. The spirit fox wasn’t quite as excited as Lohan; their recent encounters had been marked by a slight tension and misunderstandings that made the fox uncomfortable just to recall.
Aeliana returned Lisa’s greeting with a polite smile, but there was a hint of condescension in her gaze; she was clearly not as enthusiastic about interacting with her as she was with Halon, though she didn’t show as much antipathy as before.
The elf, at 159 years old, considered herself far more mature than that "young" white fox accompanying her blue friend.
To Aeliana, Lisa was just a newborn mystical creature, and she felt she should be magnanimous in dealing with the immaturity of such a young creature.
’This little fox might not even be 10 years old yet... I can’t expect her to be as mature as I am...’ Aeliana thought with a small, proud smile at the corner of her mouth.
Lisa, though she didn’t know exactly what the Elf was thinking, subtly sensed Aeliana’s stream of thoughts through their spiritual connection and furrowed her brows, her two tails swishing in irritation at being underestimated in that way.
Lohan also sensed his partner’s emotional turmoil through their link, but he couldn’t help but let out a mental chuckle.
He found the situation genuinely amusing, for he knew that, although they were young in terms of absolute age compared to a centuries-old High Elf, their maturity and life experience in a cruel corporate world like the "real world" made them much older in spirit than the elf imagined.
Although Aeliana was over 150 years old, there was no comparison to the maturity she had managed to accumulate over those 15 decades living in a sheltered environment in an elven city, where everyone was very kind to her, where she hadn’t had to face any adversity, and where everyone around her lived without the urgency for quick achievements, compared to a human with a lifespan limited to less than 100 years, who faced enormous pressure to succeed, to escape poverty, and to start a family in such a short time.
They say that adversity, coupled with sufficient mental nourishment, is what makes a person grow, and in the case of Lohan, Isabella, and Aeliana, the difference in the hardships they had to endure throughout their lives was on entirely different levels.
"You know, Aeliana..." Lohan began, deciding it was time to clarify the dynamic between them. "I think you’re misinterpreting us a little. I’m not a young Slime who just awoke in the forest a few weeks ago, and Lisa isn’t just an ordinary fox either."
Aeliana stopped walking, tilting her head curiously as she continued to hold Lohan’s hand. "What do you mean by that, Halon?"
"The truth is, we’re what you call ’Otherworlders.’ We’re Players from another world brought to this one by the Goddess." Lohan revealed calmly, trying not to make this potentially traumatic explanation too heavy for the Elf to take in.
At no point in their relationship so far had he told her this, and considering how many new Players had appeared in Thalendor by now, Lohan knew he could no longer keep it a secret.
Especially since they wanted to strengthen Astralis’s ties with Thalendor; keeping such crucial information a secret would be foolish.
"I just hope this doesn’t shatter her trust in me..." Lohan thought worriedly.
The news hit Aeliana like a heavy blow, and the elf froze in the middle of the street, her blue eyes widening in utter shock.
Lohan’s small blue body, which she held so tenderly in her arms, suddenly seemed to carry a weight she couldn’t comprehend.
The terrible impression the other Players were making in Thalendor, marked by arrogance, a lack of etiquette, and blatant disrespect for the residents, was a constant and painful topic in the meetings her master, Yrneha, held with the city’s nobles.
Looking at the Slime in her lap, which she had always thought of as just a silly, cute little creature she’d helped raise from Level 1, Aeliana felt a void open up in her chest.
Her hands began to tremble slightly beneath Lohan’s cold biomass, while memories of the past few weeks swirled through her mind like a chaotic whirlwind.
She remembered how she’d called him a little pest and a little girl, how she’d pressed him against her chest, and how she’d acted childishly, thinking she was dealing with a newborn mystical creature.
Discovering that, behind that crystalline blue membrane, lay the consciousness of a man from another world, a being with maturity and complex thoughts, made her cheeks flush bright red with shame and confusion.
Aeliana, despite being 159 years old, suddenly felt like the child in the relationship, realizing that Lohan and Lisa’s spiritual maturity might even surpass her own in many ways she hadn’t realized!
Her confidence, which until then had been unshakable and pure, wavered under the weight of the secret Lohan had kept for so long.
Aeliana felt a pang of betrayal, wondering if the Slime saw her merely as a tool to obtain high-quality Mana Stones and the prestigious Thalendor ID Card.
The silence on the street became oppressive for the girl, broken only by the distant sound of the crystal fountains and the pulsing of Lohan’s core, which now seemed to be the engine of a human intelligence.
Lohan, sensing the shock and hurt that were beginning to cloud the gaze of his first friend, used Lisa’s mental link to speak with a gentleness he had never used before.
"Aeliana, please listen to me," Halon’s mental voice resonated in her mind, laden with melancholic gentleness. "I didn’t hide this from you because I wanted to deceive you or use your kindness as a tool. I did it out of sheer terror. In the world I come from, people don’t see beings like me, Players with rare or mythical bases, as friends or allies. They see us as property. As weapons that must be captured, caged, and controlled by the big corporations."
Lohan felt his core throb with the anxiety of that confession. "I feared that, upon learning I was a Player, you might look at me with the same disdain or greed that others of my kind bring to your home."
Aeliana lowered her face, her cheeks still burning with shame as she remembered how she’d treated him like a silly little animal, calling him "little girl" and pressing him against her chest as if he had no mind of his own.
"But I need you to know one thing, Lia," Lohan continued, his voice now firmer through Lisa’s connection. "The help you gave me when I was just a tiny Level 1 blue ball was what changed everything for me. At that moment, I was just a useless Slime, the weakest monster in the forest who struggled even to digest grass... perhaps destined to be crushed by anyone before I had a chance to shine. You didn’t see an ’Otherworlder’ or a ’Mythical Race’ worth investing in for a valuable return in the future... you saw a creature in need of care and gave me those Mana Stones when I had nothing."
He transmitted to her mind the vivid image of the first time they met, saturating the link with the gratitude he felt. "The affection I feel for you, Aeliana, is the most real thing I have in Elysium. You saved me from being just another piece of biological debris in Mythlorien and gave me a place to call home even before the guild existed. Please don’t let my fear of being hunted destroy the friendship that is the foundation of everything I’ve achieved so far."
Lisa, standing beside them, watched the scene with her ears laid back, recognizing that Aeliana’s friendship was different even from the friendship between them, one that required no personal interest on the elf’s part to invest in and help Lohan.
The fox felt the emotional weight of that bridge Halon was trying to rebuild, knowing that without that elf’s trust, Astralis Requiem would lose its soul before it even had a chance to grow.
Gradually, Aeliana’s breathing began to steady. She looked at the small, jelly-like hands Lohan had formed to comfort hers and saw the glow of Level 4 Sacred Light pulsing at the center of his core.
As she looked at Lohan and Lisa, Aeliana couldn’t feel the prejudice she usually felt toward other otherworlders.
Halon had always made her feel at ease; he treated her with respect and never displayed the blind greed that defined others of his kind.
"Are you... really otherworlders?" she murmured, her voice faltering. "Well, that would explain a lot... your intelligence, the speed at which you absorb skills... But you’re so different from the others I’ve seen wandering around and causing chaos in the city."
"Yeah... I guess that really could explain a lot, haha..." Lohan replied, feeling a bit awkward with his words now as well, not knowing exactly what to say to comfort the girl.
Fortunately, Lohan felt a wave of relief wash over him when he realized she didn’t seem to be letting go of the goodwill she felt toward them. "I’m glad you understand, Lia. Actually, we’ve even formed our own organization, the Astralis Requiem guild. And I’d like to invite you to visit our headquarters, that’s exactly why we came to see you today."
Aeliana already knew they’d formed a group, but she had no idea of the scale of their progress.
When Lohan mentioned that they had cleared a Level 10 Dungeon on their own to secure their base, her shock doubled. But the final blow came when he calmly described how, just yesterday, they had cleared an entire Level 15 Dungeon, defeating an Arbor Guardian!!
The rate of growth demonstrated by Lohan and Lisa was vastly superior to any records Thalendor’s scouts had on other otherworlders, who were still struggling to deal with common low-level monsters.
Aeliana, despite her gentle appearance and "innocent" personality, was no fool. Because of her position as Yrneha’s apprentice, she had already been involved in complex political situations and interactions with the Elven Royal Family.
She could sense that there was something more to that group.
Although she felt a little lost about how to handle or feel about these little friends of hers, in the end, she still nodded to Lohan, accepting their invitation.