Slime Evolution

Chapter 408 - Is Halon a Slime?!

Lisa seemed to pick up on the shock and confusion forming on the two young men’s faces, and a subtle spark of amusement gleamed in her golden eyes, without knowing the real reason for the brothers’ shock, so she shook her white tails and kept talking.

"My name is Lisa, and I am the President and founder of Astralis Requiem, on behalf of Astralis I welcome you both."

Saying that, the white fox raised her muzzle and gracefully pointed with her paw toward the top of Alice’s head. In that exact spot, the small light blue gelatin Slime sat comfortably nestled, glowing with tiny particles that resembled a starry sky.

"This little blue slime lying on Alice’s head is our guild’s Vice President," Lisa explained, her tone mixing pride with a bit of amusement imagining their reaction upon finding out who that little Slime was. "This is the legendary Halon, probably the most famous and feared Player in our guild. I believe he looks exactly the way you two pictured him, right?"

Hearing that, Dan and Sam froze completely in place, their jaws dropping almost comically as they stared at the small gelatinous creature, thirty centimeters in diameter.

They blinked several times, unable to believe that Elysium’s most famous warrior, the relentless killer who had shocked billions of players across the global network, was actually just a harmless, adorable little blue gel ball that looked like a lap toy.

The most shocking part of it all was picturing that when they arrived at the guild and saw a Player walking around with a blue Slime on their shoulder, they’d assumed that little creature was just someone in the guild’s pet!

Who would have guessed that thing might actually be the feared Halon?!

"The... the legendary Halon is a Slime?!" Dan muttered out loud, his voice coming out weak and completely breathless from the shock.

"Exactly, bro," Sam replied mentally, his ghostly form floating back and forth in complete astonishment. "And he’s just resting on the fighter’s head like some kind of gelatin crown..."

Trying to show proper respect despite the overwhelming shock, the two brothers bowed deeply before the blue Slime, their minds still trying to process this absurd reality they found themselves in.

"It is a tremendous honor to meet you, Vice President Halon," Dan said respectfully, keeping a posture of submission.

Even though they’d never seen Halon, or even heard real news of this Player on Syn, receiving the notification that a Player had already cleared a Level 10 dungeon and killed another Player in the open world while they were still struggling at Level 7 in a novice village had been so shocking that the brothers had started idolizing this mysterious Player.

Even the cute, harmless appearance he showed wasn’t enough to erase that already deeply set image in their minds.

Lisa let out a silent laugh that made her ears twitch. "You don’t need to be this formal with him right now, guys. He won’t be able to actively respond to your greeting at the moment. Right now, Halon’s main body is on a high priority infiltration mission extremely far from our current location, and this small being on Alice’s head is just one of his many clones."

The fox walked back to her basin, lying down elegantly once more. "Since the clone is operating with an enormous geographic delay from his real body, his cognitive capacity is far too slow to form complex real time dialogue. But rest assured, everything said, seen, and decided in this meeting room is being recorded and will eventually reach his main mind once he processes the day’s information."

Hearing that the Slime could control active clones across such long distances while his main body carried out dangerous missions only deepened the shock and profound respect the brothers felt for the Vice President, making the doubt that had briefly surfaced after seeing his appearance vanish as quickly as it had come. They realized Halon’s power was on a whole other level.

And as Players who had been so underestimated because of their own appearance, they wouldn’t be hypocritical enough to judge someone based only on their looks, especially when that someone had already proven, through actions and achievements above everyone else in Elysium, that he deserved that respect.

"Thank you again for the opportunity, President Lisa," Dan said, adjusting the hood of his cloak as he realized the recruitment meeting had officially come to an end.

"Take it easy, guys," Dylan said in farewell, gathering up his scrolls with a smile. "The guild is very happy to have you two. One of our little guardians will guide you to the members’ quarters on the lower floor. Right now the rooms are completely empty, but with the guild’s benefits it’ll just be a matter of time before you two decorate it however you’d like"

The oak door opened smoothly and little Pip, Elle’s brother, appeared flying with his sharp wings buzzing at a cheerful rhythm to guide the new members.

As Dan and Sam walked through the headquarters tree’s circular living wood corridors, they spotted Elle floating near one of the corridor’s stained glass windows.

Elle broke into a huge, sweet smile seeing the two brothers again, waving at them extremely warmly and cheerfully. However, what caught Dan’s attention right away was the presence of the woman Elle was escorting to the next round of interviews.

Walking right beside Elle, a woman wore a rough, dark fabric cloak that completely covered her head and shoulders, hiding her features the same way Dan’s ragged cloak shielded his face from the sunlight. But as the two groups crossed paths in the narrow vine covered corridor, the forest breeze blew through the opening of the woman’s cloak.

Beneath the darkness of the heavy hood, Dan and Sam caught a glimpse of the glowing greenish shine of several additional pairs of eyes blinking frantically in the darkness, revealing the presence of small living serpents writhing beneath the fabric and staring toward the two brothers with a cold, instinctive hostility full of wariness.

Dan kept his pace steady, but felt cold sweat run down his back noticing that exotic energy the candidate kept hidden beneath the cloth.

But despite the woman’s intimidating appearance, neither of the two brothers looked at her in a negative light, knowing that in a few hours she could become a valuable companion.

[NunuNote: No more interviews, don’t worry. There will be dozens of interviews happening in the story today, but none of the others will be shown in the upcoming Chapters. I wanted to walk through at least one interview in detail to better flesh out the depth of this administrative and bureaucratic side of the guild, but with that done, we’ll skip ahead past this part to the next candidates and guild members. Still, I hope this interview process with the Winchester brothers from Temu wasn’t too boring for you all XD]