Unfortunately, as if fate didn’t want Lohan and Isabella to celebrate Silver Lotus’s new arrival at Astralis, an emergency came up at the company and Isabella could only drop Lohan off at home and drive hurriedly back to deal with the problem.
Since they’d already had a good night before that, Lohan didn’t mind too much, but he still felt like he’d missed out on a great opportunity once again.
Lohan stretched out on the couch in his apartment, feeling the softness of the fabric against his skin.
With a fluid motion of his finger, he activated the Syn interface and projected the holographic screens onto the ceiling of the room.
Dylan had been extremely efficient. In Lohan’s inbox, there was a package of encrypted data containing the profiles and detailed descriptions of the most promising players who had gone through the first round of video interviews today.
This information had been compiled and sent to Lohan, Isabella, and Alice, saving everyone time on the initial screening, and ensuring that when the in person interviews happened over the weekend, everyone would already have access to the interviewees’ information, at least for the most promising ones.
Lohan began scrolling through the screens, carefully reading the notes Dylan had attached to each candidate. His brain, boosted by his parallel processing evolutions, absorbed the information at a speed far beyond any ordinary human.
"Alright, Dylan... let’s see who Astralis’s new stars are," Lohan murmured into the silence of the apartment.
He was quite pleased with what he saw. Dylan hadn’t just selected Players with high stats, but individuals who showed a psychological maturity that matched the guild’s philosophy.
However, what really made Lohan buzz with anticipation were the three profiles highlighted at the top of the list. They were the three players with Epic Bases.
Of those three players, two of them had Epic Races, which wasn’t bad, but like him and Lisa, if they died they could lose those races, but one of the Players actually had an Epic Class!
Reading that information, Lohan grew even more excited to see these Players in person and try a hunt with this group.
Considering the power and potential they had, Lohan knew that a battle against bosses like the ones they’d faced before would be much easier with higher Base Players helping out.
Lohan sighed, feeling relieved. With these three additions, the guild would move even faster toward becoming a real military power.
He kept scrolling through the list, approving some of the names Dylan suggested and flagging others for more cautious observation. In the middle of this review, a thought crossed his mind and made him freeze the movement of the hologram.
"Wait... I realized I know the rarity of everyone’s base in Silver Lotus, but I never asked what they specifically are," Lohan thought, letting out a short laugh at his own oversight.
He knew Skye had an Epic Race, that Devon had a Rare Base focused on perception, and that the others varied between Rare, Uncommon, and common, like Jenny and the tank Zach.
But with the rush of the hangar meeting and the pressure of the negotiation, he’d forgotten to check their classes and race names. He knew Skye was the group’s leader and that she could smell magic, but there were so many possibilities for races like that in Elysium... He’d have to find that out in person later.
Lohan shut down the Syn interface and got up from the couch. He walked to the bedroom, grabbed his Elysium helmet, and lay down on the bed. His anticipation for meeting the new recruits was quite high.
He closed his eyes and pressed the connection command.
The trip through hyperspace was quick, with starlight passing through his senses until Halon’s 360 degree vision returned.
He was in the main hall of the Astralis tree, the central pedestal emitting that comforting warmth that nourished his biomass.
Almost the instant he stabilized, a cascade of friend request notifications began popping up in his vision.
They were the Silver Lotus Players. They were already online and, apparently, had just been waiting for him to connect so they could start the entry protocol.
Lohan quickly accepted each one. The first direct messages came from Skye and Devon.
[Lotus: Halon! Are you already there?]
[Vonde: Sup bro, we finally managed to get everyone logged in at the same time, you have no idea how excited everyone is here.]
Lohan paused for a second, reading Devon’s name on the interface.
"Vonde?" He let out a laugh that made his gelatin vibrate. "Devon... that wasn’t very original of you."
He realized Devon had simply rearranged the letters of his own name to create Vonde, just like Lohan had done with Halon and Isabella had done with Lisa.
It seemed like the "anagram complex" was a trend among Astralis’s members.
He quickly opened the group chat he’d created for the new members and sent the first welcome message.
[Halon: Welcome, everyone. How is everyone doing? Did the helmets arrive in time?]
The replies came loaded with an energy Lohan hadn’t felt from that group before.
In the hangar, they’d been tense, worried, or hesitant when looking at him, but here, the messages overflowed with vibrant hope.
[Vonde: Yeah, they arrived, bro. Thanks again for that. Everyone here won’t stop thanking the President. We’re still meeting up and getting to know each other in person around the city. Zach and Kai can’t stop laughing at each other’s appearance.]
[Lotus: Hayes... or Halon... we’re all here, as soon as you tell us where to go, we can start our move.]
[Kaicent: Pfft, you talk like you weren’t laughing at Jenny, Devon! Halon, thanks again for the helmets, and sorry again for the misunderstanding that happened that day... the group is in a state of comedic shock over here. Since most people didn’t have their own helmet and had to share connection time, they’d never actually seen each other in person in Elysium. Seeing Jenny as a two meter tall Berserker or Zach looking like a metal cabinet is something that’s going to take a while to get used to.]
Lohan smiled inwardly at the interaction. That camaraderie was exactly what Astralis needed. He then started typing out the coordinates and description of the base’s location.
[Halon: Alright, hold your position. Astralis’s base is in the heart of Mythlorien, close to Thalendor. Based on where you described being, it’ll be a long trip of a few hours. To make sure everyone stays safe, I’ll send a guide, so use the time to get to know each other.]
Lohan looked toward the guild entrance, where Pip was resting among the glowing branches, tending to the mana flowers Elle had recently planted, and an idea began forming in the Slime’s mind.