Slime Evolution

Chapter 427 - Reward!

About thirty seconds passed in absolute silence before a faint crackle of magical energy broke the calm of the entrance hall.

Right at the wooden desk’s circular indentation, the neon blue magic circle glowed again for a split second, revealing a new folded scroll that had appeared out of nowhere bearing the archmage’s official seal.

The young elf apprentice picked up the runic paper extremely respectfully, unfolded it quickly in front of them, and read the message inside carefully before flashing a very knowing smile at the pair of little monsters before her.

She turned the document so they could clearly see the content written on the sheet, which displayed a single, large, imposing word traced directly in Yrneha’s elegant, authoritative handwriting, reading "Come up."

"I’ll personally guide you both to the archmage’s hall at the top of the tower." the girl announced enthusiastically, standing up from her vine chair and stepping around the reception counter with light, very quick steps.

Although Lohan and Lisa already knew the general path leading to Yrneha’s office perfectly well from their previous visits with Aeliana, they knew it cost nothing to accept this official guide’s kindness, avoiding any kind of trouble that could arise along the way if they walked there on their own.

They climbed the wide spiral wooden staircase in extreme silence, passing by several mages busy reading books, meditating, or analyzing magic circles. The mages who glanced at them looked subtly surprised to recognize who they were, with some even giving respectful or friendly nods in their direction.

This was a completely different treatment from what they’d received the last time they came. Before, the looks they’d gotten were mostly ones of indifference, or at most curiosity because of their race or their closeness to Aeliana, but now, those mages knew exactly who they were, and were grateful for what they’d done to protect the forest and part of the city the night before.

That attitude had not only shown everyone that their character was respectable, entirely unlike the character of those other annoying outworlders from the Broken Suns, it also showed they held enough power to deserve the attention of these members of the magic tower.

Even though some showed more interest or curiosity than usual, no one approached them too closely, since they were being escorted by Rosanhi, who walked with quick steps toward the top of the tower, the sharp mages realizing their destination was likely the Archmage, so no one got in their way, not wanting to be responsible for making the Archmage wait for her guests.

As they advanced with determination toward the much higher floors of that magnificent structure, the density of mana in the surroundings kept rising even further, creating a pleasant, warm sensation of magical heat that continuously, deeply, and refreshingly massaged Lohan’s gelatin membrane.

With such a high density of Mana in the environment, not only was his passive digestion extremely satisfied, but even his active digestion was in full swing, actively absorbing the ambient Mana and converting it into biomass for Lohan.

The amount was far from what he’d gain digesting the corpse of powerful monsters, but mosquito meat was still meat.

If Lohan hadn’t been using every free moment to digest biomass, he wouldn’t have had enough biomass to burn through in moments of need like having to deal with the corrupted Mana leak the previous night.

Reaching the imposing colored stained glass portal that led into the archmage’s chamber, the young elf apprentice stopped with a very respectful, solemn posture, took a deep breath, and knocked on the great oak door extremely politely, calmly, and rhythmically.

"Come in." a feminine, melodious voice, carrying an unquestionable authority, echoed from inside the meeting chamber, granting the group immediate access to the main room.

The girl opened the door silently, but stayed outside the room, giving a very polite nod for Lisa to walk through with Lohan firmly anchored on her back.

As soon as the two Players crossed the oak threshold, the apprentice quickly closed the wooden door behind them, leaving them alone with Thalendor’s Archmage.

Stepping into Yrneha’s room, Lohan simply felt amazing.

The air in there was so incredibly thick with pure mana that it felt almost tangible to his slime sensory channels.

Breathing in that atmosphere brought a wave of energy and vigor that revitalized every cell of his biomass, a sensation that felt even better and more intense now that he was connected through the luxurious neural immersion capsule Lisa had gifted him in the real world.

In the center of the luxurious white wood office, Archmage Yrneha was focused on finishing the design of a complex containment rune on the surface of a silver metal shield.

The tip of her staff glowed with a soft purple light as she guided it to form a glowing blade in the air, which embedded the rune directly into the metal.

Upon completing the tracing, she set the defensive tool aside and turned her face to look at the newcomers, showing an enigmatic smile that softened her aristocratic features.

"I see you two were extremely quick to answer my call..." Yrneha remarked, her purple eyes gleaming with quiet amusement as she watched the two monsters’ expectant posture. "From the flow of energy radiating from your cores, I can tell very clearly that you’re both extremely eager to receive the reward promised for last night’s service."

Lohan saw no tactical need whatsoever to deny the truth or try to appear excessively magnanimous before one of Thalendor’s most experienced and perceptive mages.

He vibrated his blue core and replied through the mental link directly, sincerely, and very respectfully.

"We won’t deny the truth, Lady Ylasys." Lohan transmitted calmly. "We took on this dangerous espionage and containment task against the Broken Suns specifically aiming for the reward you promised us for our guild’s development. Ensuring our group’s growth and reaping the fruits of our hard work is simply the natural course for any guild worth its salt."

Yrneha let out a melodious laugh that echoed pleasantly through the meeting room’s crystal walls.

She greatly enjoyed Lohan’s practical honesty, finding his attitude far superior to the false modesty and cheap flattery most human and elf adventurers usually displayed in every formal audience with her trying to win political favors over her centuries of dealing with people like that.

"I greatly appreciate your frankness, Halon." Yrneha declared, her gaze visibly warming. "It’s extremely refreshing to deal with someone who doesn’t try to pretend to be a selfless hero in my presence just to inflate their own ego, or improve my perception of them in some superficial way. The magical world runs on equivalent exchange and practicality, and you two proved your worth brilliantly at the gorge."

The archmage extended her right hand over the great oak table and, with a slight motion, opened a small golden spatial rift in the air.

She pulled a heavy brown velvet pouch from the opening, one that jingled with the metallic sound of heavy coins, and set the item on the polished wood with a dull thud.

"This is my personal, contractual reward for your service containing the northern rift and investigating the fraudsters I suspected." Yrneha explained, pointing at the velvet pouch. "Inside are exactly five hundred gold coins from my own Thalendor magical research budget."

Hearing that exorbitant amount confirmed in solid gold, the fox Lisa’s golden eyes gleamed with an intensity of pure joy that even surpassed Lohan’s amazement.

She was the one mainly responsible for managing Astralis Requiem’s finances, and she knew very well that amount represented a fortune capable of restructuring the entire member base to an entirely new level.

Unlike the Broken Suns, who had to spend over a thousand gold coins a month renting an imposing building, Astralis had no debt like that, and could comfortably use most of that money to invest in the base they already had, or in the guild’s member Players.

A few dozen gold coins were already enough to buy excellent gear for their core team, imagine what they could buy with 500 coins?!

With an agile, graceful motion of her paws, Lisa fondly pulled the coin pouch and deposited the treasure directly into the Astral Chest’s dimensional inventory.

Before they could offer their official thanks, Yrneha reached into the spatial rift again and, to the absolute shock and disbelief of the pair of monsters, pulled out a second velvet pouch, this one much larger, more ornate, and glowing with emerald toned runic inscriptions.

She set it in the same spot where she’d placed the first pouch, producing an even more imposing metallic sound against the wood.

"And this second, massive portion of the payment..." Yrneha announced with a proud, friendly smile. "It is an additional bonus of exactly one thousand gold coins, sent directly by the Council of Thalendor as an official token of gratitude for destroying those fakes yesterday."

Gazing at the bulk of the contents in that sack, both Lisa and Lohan were stunned to estimate that it likely held at least twice the number of gold coins as the previous one!