Pip could fly, which made him the perfect scout to guide the group, not only because he could move with more speed and safety, but because he knew this forest better than anyone else here.
But Pip was still fragile, and a surprise attack from some flying creature could be fatal.
"Pip, come here for a second." Lohan said over the guild’s mental link.
The little fairy woke from his trance and quickly flew toward the pedestal, his butterfly wings leaving a trail of greenish glow in the air.
Pip landed on the edge of the pedestal, looking at Lohan with curious eyes full of gratitude.
"Halon! Pip was tending to the flowers on the ground! What do you need?" Pip asked, his voice sounding like a crystal bell.
"Pip, we have new friends arriving," Lohan explained calmly. "They’re at the edge of the forest and need someone who knows the way here. Would you be willing to go get them and guide them safely?"
Pip’s face lit up with pure emotion. He puffed out his tiny chest, feeling extremely honored to receive a mission of such importance from the Slime who had saved him.
"Pip will do it! Pip will be the best guide Astralis has ever seen! Pip won’t let anything bad happen to Halon’s friends!" the fairy exclaimed, starting to spin in the air with excitement.
Lohan vibrated his membrane, feeling fondness for the little creature. "Sure, Pip. I know you will. But to make sure you have enough strength to handle any unexpected trouble, I’m going to give you some special help."
Lohan focused his will and activated partial division.
A bluish mass of crystalline gelatin, about ten centimeters in diameter, separated from his main body. Unlike the previous clones Pip had seen, this clone glowed with a much greater intensity, pulsing with the golden particles of level 4 Sacred Light.
The clone rolled toward the fairy and, with an unsettling naturalness, wrapped around Pip’s legs and the base of his torso, merging with him like a light symbiotic armor.
Pip let out a gasp of shock. In the split second the contact was made, the fairy felt a torrent of energy flood his system, with information flowing from the clone straight into his brain.
Pip’s perception instantly expanded.
He could now see the flow of mana in the tree’s leaves, feel the vibrations of the wind for kilometers around, and, most striking of all, feel the weight of a power he never imagined possible.
The last time Pip had used one of Lohan’s clones, Halon had only been a level 11 Slime helping him deal with the invaders of Petal Village. But now, Lohan at level 15, with a level 4 Sacred Light Core, with his other Evolutions at a much higher level and a far greater biomass density, was a monster of an entirely different category.
"H-Halon... Pip feels... Pip feels like a giant!" the fairy murmured, his tiny hands trembling as he felt the clone’s strength pulse through him.
"The power I’m giving you now is much greater than last time, Pip," Lohan said in a firm, encouraging voice. "With this fragment of me, you’ll have enhanced reflexes and the ability to fire off basic defenses if needed. Use it to protect the group and show them the way home. I’ll be here, watching everything through the clone."
Pip flapped his wings, and the sound they made was no longer the light metallic buzz from before, but a sharp, powerful crack that launched him toward the organic ceiling of the headquarters at a dizzying speed.
He pulled off an aerial acrobatic maneuver with a precision that left him amazed. The synaptic sync between him and Lohan’s clone was almost perfect.
This was something that surprised Lohan even more.
From the experience he’d had so far with the clones, different people reacted differently when using his clone.
Some Players only used the clone’s basic functions, using Lohan as basically a suit of armor, others managed to form a greater synergy and combine attacks and abilities to become even more powerful, and then there was Lisa, who could use his living armor as if it were a natural part of her own body, with the two of them not even needing to communicate verbally during combat to use each other in the best possible way.
So far, Pip had shown the second best synergy with his clone, coming in just behind Lisa, which surprised Lohan quite a bit.
"Pip is going now! Pip will bring everyone back safely!"
The fairy shot out through one of the upper openings of the Astralis tree, disappearing into the evening light of Mythlorien like a blue and green comet.
Lohan watched him leave through the clone’s vision, feeling the connection still stable because of the distance, but growing weaker the farther Pip went.
The farther Pip went, the worse Lohan’s connection to the clone would get, but he wasn’t too worried about that, trusting that Pip would know how to handle the situation well, just as he had when he protected the other fairies during their move to another city.
Back in the chat with Silver Lotus, Lohan sent the final instruction.
[Halon: In an hour or two, head out of the city and keep an eye on the sky. A guide is on the way. His name is Pip, and he’s one of Astralis’s guardians. Follow his instructions and don’t attack the little fairy, to be honest... with the boost I just gave him, Pip could probably take down half of you if he got scared."
[Vonde: A fairy? Alright, we’ll get ready to meet him in a bit, let us know when he’s getting close.]
[Lotus: Okk, we don’t have much left to sort out here in the city, we’ll be on standby for when our guide arrives.]
Unfortunately Pip had no way to use the game chat, since he wasn’t a Player, but even at a long distance, Lohan could still see through his clone’s vision, even if with much less detail and with a fairly large delay between the image being seen by the clone and it reaching his mind, but it would still be enough to help track the location of both groups.
While Lohan stayed at the Guild and Silver Lotus got ready to head out, Pip flew through the forest with a big smile on his face, excited to show off the power of the Guild’s Guardian, with no idea that this adventure would be crucial to his growth!