Slime Evolution

Chapter 388 - What to Do

Lohan turned off the terminal and walked to the center of his living room, feeling the need to stretch his human body.

Ignis’s arrogance and the Broken Suns’ success in Thalendor were creating a siege like scenario around Astralis that left him a little surprised, but not shocked.

Considering how much Astralis was standing out currently, and would surely stand out even more in the future, situations like this would only become more common as time went on.

He realized the "silent study" phase was coming to an end.

Even without wanting to respond directly to Ignis, Lohan knew Astralis couldn’t just stay completely silent and take hits without answering with anything.

Sure, they wouldn’t need to name anyone in these exchanges, just showing off their own success the way they already were would be more than enough, without giving Ignis the attention he so badly wanted, while still putting him and his guild in their place.

His terminal buzzed again with a voice call from Lisa.

Lohan didn’t think twice and accepted the call.

"Halon, did you see the circus this Soul Group put on?" Lisa asked, her voice coming out cold. "That idiot Ignis is using our name to compare himself to us and grow that garbage guild of his. To be honest, I’m one step away from authorizing Alice to hack their media account and delete every frame of that ridiculous interview."

Lohan smiled, feeling the warmth of their friendship through the connection, happy that she’d come to vent with him so naturally, without needing to hide or cool down her feelings for herself.

"Calm down, Lisa. His noise is proportional to the Soul Group’s insecurity. They know we’re ahead in levels and real accomplishments. They’re just trying to capitalize on the public’s attention before we show what Astralis is truly capable of. Honestly, I almost want to thank Ignis. He’s building up massive hype for our next move. When we show up, his fall is going to be that much more satisfying."

Lisa huffed, but Lohan noticed she’d relaxed a bit. "Dylan sent me the report on the spy who wanted to join us... If that guy had made it through the initial screening and earned our trust... I can’t even imagine the damage he could have caused."

"That’s why I’m even more grateful you brought Dylan into Astralis, Lisa." Lohan replied, walking toward the kitchen to prepare a nutritional solution for breakfast. "He understands the filth of the Upper Zone better than anyone. As for Dragon Soul and Ignis... let them think they’re the predators for now. The public is loving ’a day in the life of a legendary,’ but they’ve forgotten that in Elysium, the top of the food chain doesn’t belong to whoever has the shiniest scales, but whoever has the heaviest fist, and in that case, we have a huge blue advantage on our side."

"You have a really weird way of reassuring me, Halon." Lisa remarked, her tone subtly calmer and a little amused. "But you’re right. I just got a report from Alice’s investigation team. The financial trail of the Broken Suns in Thalendor is getting clearer. They’re using the nobles’ influence not just to build up wealth and influence in the city, but mainly to recruit as many Players as possible in the shortest time possible to tighten their grip over the city... their goal with this isn’t entirely clear, but it isn’t hard to guess either."

Lohan paused with the bottle in hand, his gaze turning cold and focused. "Really... it’s easy to think of several reasons for what they’re doing, especially with them knowing that Players’ growth potential is much higher than that of people from that world, controlling a large army, with resource investment from the city’s nobles behind them, at some point their strength would surpass that of the city’s authorities, and from there we can already guess where the small nobles’ interest in sponsoring this new group comes from."

"Yeah... I was thinking along those same lines too. And considering ambition like that, obviously there’d be no room for Astralis sharing Thalendor’s resources in their plans, so dealing with them has genuinely become almost an obligation for us now." Lisa said, as the sound of a faucet turning on came from the background. "I’m going to enjoy my bath for now, we’ll pick this back up in Elysium to plan how to deal with them, see ya!"

The call ended and silence returned to Lohan’s luxurious penthouse, this time an even more intense silence than before.

’Wait... was she in the bath? Or heading to take a bath? So she was talking to me naked? Holy shit...’ Lohan didn’t even want to let his mind run wild, but with so much information Lisa had just given him so casually, Lohan couldn’t help picturing the scene of her, with that pale, delicate skin...

’Get a grip Lohan, you have more important things to deal with right now.’ He had to force himself to stay focused. Fortunately, being a Slime came with a huge advantage, an incredible level of control over his own body.

Even with a scene that vivid in his mind, he still managed to control himself perfectly well and not get swept up by his hormones.

Sure, maybe if he saw that in person, controlling those hormones would be even harder, but with no way to test that, he couldn’t say for certain.

He finished drinking the nutritional solution, feeling the energy instantly distribute throughout his system. He went back to the bedroom and looked at the Elysium helmet on his nightstand, starting to feel curious about how such a small, unassuming piece of technology was capable of so much, representing such immense power.

’How did humanity manage to create this? Was this really made by humanity?’ Unfortunately he had no way of knowing, but considering Isabella’s identity, maybe finding out the truth through her would be much easier.

He put on the helmet and felt the familiar sensory transition. The clean scent of the luxury penthouse was replaced by the wildflower honey and summer rain perfume of Mythlorien’s Mana.

Opening his "eyes" in Elysium, Lohan saw the towering white tree of Astralis Requiem rising against the starry firmament.

’Ok, one thing at a time, right now we need to focus on the guild we have to deal with, tomorrow we’ll have Players to recruit, and for this new team, we’ll need an objective to handle, even if it’s just another low level dungeon...’