When he opened his eyes the next day, Lohan noticed something different.
This was the first night he had slept comfortably, without coughing or choking on the polluted air, or feeling discomfort in his body because of the hard mattress.
Although the sky was covered with smoke and soot, the faint sunlight that penetrated this barrier dimly illuminated his room, but even with such a faint light, the definition of what he was seeing was even greater.
’Something has changed... could this be the difference from becoming Level 02 in Elysium?’ He wondered mentally, reaching out his hand and looking closely.
There was a change in his body control, both in strength and agility, but the difference was subtle.
’This is getting weirder and weirder... how can a game influence someone’s body in the real world so much in such a short time? I’m still at Level 02 and I’m already feeling the changes, imagine when I reach Level 20? Level 50? Or even Level 100.’
’Not to mention the importance that large corporations are giving to this game... and with how realistic that world proved to be in all aspects, is Elysium really a game?’
When he had his "breakfast," the nutrient solution mixed with dirty tap water, his nutrient absorption also became stronger.
Like the other changes, the difference wasn’t that big, but for him, who was used to constantly analyzing his digestion in Elysium, these small details did not go unnoticed.
And the last week of evolving [Efficient Digestion] finally brought about a qualitative change, to the point that his body, which was previously thin and malnourished, now had a healthy fat and body mass index.
The workouts he started doing twice a day also showed faster results, with his muscle lines becoming more defined, even if only slightly. After all, muscle gain was still a slow process, even with Evolutions to help.
But Lohan was satisfied.
When he left the house, even with the mask on his face, he still felt discomfort in his throat and lungs, but then an idea came to mind.
"If I’m getting my Evolutions from Elysium in the real world, could [Digestive Filter] also work here?!"
It was a bold idea, but with so many changes happening in their lives in recent days, Lohan decided to give it a try.
Closing his eyes for a second, Lohan remembered the feeling of using this Feature. In Elysium, he didn’t need to be too specific with the use of this Feature, since theoretically it was made to be used by a Slime, so the difficulty couldn’t be too high.
Visualizing the dirty air around him and thinking that he wanted to filter out the pollution, in a few moments the uncomfortable feeling when breathing disappeared!
It was as if he had stopped breathing the air near an erupting volcano to breathe the air a few thousand meters above sea level.
The air was now thinner, requiring him to inhale longer or harder to fill his lungs as he had done before, since after filtering the air he breathed, the contaminated part that represented the majority in the Lower Zone was ignored, requiring even more air with each breath to fill his lungs as normal.
Fortunately, [Efficient Digestion] and [Passive Digestion]
As he got on the bus and smelled the stench of other people, another bold idea came to mind.
’Is it also possible to filter out these bad smells?
Spending two hours on a flying bus with the stench of people who don’t bathe or practice personal hygiene was a torment he had to accept when he came to this world, but now that could be solved!
With a thought, Lohan tried to filter out the bad smell he smelled, and surprisingly, it worked!
Sure, he didn’t filter out "all the bad smells," just the most annoying and harmless ones, afraid that at some point he might inhale some dangerous gas for too long because he couldn’t smell it.
But just these small changes in quality of life greatly improved his mood!
After a few minutes, even though the current passengers were already squeezed in there, the bus stopped to let other people get on again, not caring about the comfort of those who were already there.
Despite this, no one complained because there was no one to complain to. The bus was driven by AI that would stop at every bus stop, regardless of the current occupancy, and those outside would not fail to get on because of how many people were inside before them.
Among the people who got on, even though everyone was wearing masks, there was someone familiar to Lohan.
The clothes and mask covered that person’s entire body, but as soon as he got on the bus, Lohan felt that the nutrition of the air he was absorbing had increased considerably!
Looking in that direction, he saw again the boy he had accompanied yesterday, whom he believed to have a Rare Race or Class in Elysium.
On a bus with nearly 100 people, that boy was the only one who had played Elysium, and surprisingly, he had obtained not a Common Base, nor an Uncommon Base, but a Rare Base!
(NunuNote: I will refer to "Class or Race" as "Base" from now on, as it is very tedious to repeat this constantly. If I’m talking about a Rare Class or Rare Race, then I’ll use the specific name, but without confirmation of which one it is, I’ll call it "Base" for now.)
Unfortunately, with so many people on the bus, Lohan couldn’t get close enough to get a better look, but when they arrived at the college, only the two of them got off the bus, making it much easier to observe.
Sure, neither of them had any intention of communicating, both because the boy didn’t notice anything unusual about Lohan, and because Lohan knew nothing about this boy and didn’t want to reveal that he also played Elysium.
An Elysium helmet costs $30,000, and at a time like this, when Lohan had no powerful means of protection, someone malicious could use privileged information to break into his apartment while he was at college and basically ruin his life.
So this contact could be left for the future.
The walk to class was uneventful. After having his backpack scanned twice, Lohan walked through the college trying to hear important news about Elysium from the Upper Zone Players.
The news was varied, with Players bragging about monsters they had killed, adding nothing to Lohan, while others showed some usefulness, commenting on the structures of the starting villages they lived in.
Basically, there were thousands of starting villages, and apparently Official Guilds could only be created when Players unlocked the next city.
To do this, Guilds actually organized themselves manually in the starting villages, inviting Players by word of mouth and organizing loot, payments, and benefits manually, without using any game mechanics.
Since these places were starting villages, Players couldn’t even buy houses or shops, also having to wait until they reached the next city to buy these.
Because of this, most players were desperately rushing quests and looking for the best spots to grind monsters.
The high interest in these spots generated many conflicts between players, especially between guild players and solo players, who felt entitled to occupy the best spots to the point of threatening and killing players who did not go elsewhere.
Lohan had seen a post on the internet complaining about being killed by an arrogant group from a large guild while researching the physical changes they received from the game, but he didn’t pay much attention to it for several reasons.
But now that he was on his way to developing a guild in the game, information like this became more relevant.
’Too bad I don’t even know if there’s a Starting Village near where I am in the game, much less how I’ll be treated if I’m seen... Players would probably try to kill me to gain experience, right? After all, in their view, I’m no different from a common slime.’
Returning to the classroom, Lohan noticed that the place was completely empty.
Confused, he looked around and tried to think of the reason for this, until he remembered that today’s class would be held in the lab!
Realizing this, Lohan quickened his pace and soon arrived at his class’s lab.
The classroom was practically full, with only a few empty seats.
Looking for the most discreet place, Lohan saw an empty table with two seats and sat down in one of them, waiting for the teacher to arrive.
Looking around, Lohan saw that the boy who had come on the bus with him was also in the room waiting for class to start, sitting in another isolated corner next to another boy from the Lower Zone who kept his head down.
Near the podium where the teacher would stand, the group of students from the Upper Zone chatted animatedly, boasting about their adventures in Elysium.
In the center of that group, despite showing no interest in the conversation, Isabella Vance’s long red hair stood out in the crowd. She sat with impeccable posture while controlling a hologram in front of her face, reading something only she could see.
Suddenly, the classroom door opened and a gasp of breath escaped, attracting the attention of almost everyone.
///NunuNote///
The story became premium today, I hope to continue with your support, even if it’s just reading with Free Fast Passes! <3
Next Goal: 488/400 →0/300 Power Stones
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