Slime Evolution

Chapter 428 - More Rewards?!

Yrneha tapped her slender fingers lightly against the second velvet pouch, letting the metallic sound echo once more before pulling the golden cord holding the opening shut.

"This one is different from the first," she explained, her voice taking on an almost solemn tone. "Inside are twelve hundred gold coins."

Lisa felt her paws freeze for an instant, her heart racing inside her chest. She’d already been satisfied with the earlier five hundred coins, but hearing a number nearly double that made her lose her breath for a full second.

"Technically speaking," Yrneha continued, folding her hands over the oak table, "this amount doesn’t mean much to the nobles’ coffers or to Thalendor’s Council’s overall budget. Twelve hundred coins is a respectable sum, but far from something that would shake the city’s finances."

"But..." Lohan ventured, sensing there was a "but" weighing in her voice.

"But," Yrneha smiled, "this is officially the largest reward the Council has ever granted to a citizen with less than ten years of residency in Thalendor. And, on top of that, it’s the largest reward any outworlder has ever received since you all started arriving in our world."

The silence that settled over the room carried a different weight than before. Lohan felt his core vibrate, but not because of the amount of gold itself, rather because of what that number meant.

"Wait," Lisa said, her golden eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to process this rationally. "Are you saying that, even being outworlders who arrived only recently, the Council decided to recognize us above every other group that’s ever passed through here?"

"Exactly that," Yrneha confirmed, her pride evident in her upright posture. "You two came to this city just over a month ago. Normally, it would take decades for any outsider to earn this kind of official recognition from Thalendor’s more traditional nobles. But you two proved, with concrete actions and undeniable results, that you deserve this place."

Lohan felt something warm spread through his biomass, something that came neither from the ambient mana nor from the gold reward. It was the feeling of being genuinely valued, not merely tolerated or used as a useful tool, but recognized as someone who belonged there.

’After so many years of being nothing but a useless burden stuck in a hospital bed... where not even my own blood family showed me any favor... now an entire city of millennia old elves recognizes my worth and decides to trust me...’ He thought, feeling a mix of pride and an old pang of melancholy that he quickly pushed to the back of his mind.

"This is... far more than we expected, Lady Ylasys," Lohan finally replied, his voice coming out more restrained than he’d intended. "We are deeply grateful for the trust the Council has placed in us."

"Don’t thank me yet," Yrneha raised her hand, her smile widening slightly. "Because that isn’t all."

Lisa arched a feline eyebrow, curious. "There’s more?"

"Both of your identification cards will be raised from Level 3 to Level 2," Yrneha announced, watching with satisfaction the genuine shock that caused in the two monsters. "And, considering the role the other two members of your leadership played in this operation, I made a point of mentioning their names during the Council meeting. They’ll receive Level 3 cards."

Saying that, she gave the pair a slight wink.

That was even more surprising. Alice and Dylan, though fully willing to help, had contributed to practically nothing in this mission, with Dylan running off to get help being their biggest contribution, and Yrneha knew this from the detailed report they’d submitted.

Especially with that wink at the end, it became clear to the pair that the Elf was actively giving them a helping hand.

Lohan felt his parallel processing nearly stall for an instant. He knew, from the conversations he’d had with Aeliana and from the guild’s own records, just how much that level of card meant within Thalendor’s bureaucracy.

Level 2 cards granted access to restricted areas of the city, allowed participation in private auctions, and most importantly, gave political voice in certain smaller assemblies discussing commercial and territorial matters.

If before they’d only been at the lowest tier above the city’s ordinary citizens, now they were starting to get closer to the very heart of the city!

"This is going to open doors we never even imagined existed," Lisa murmured mentally, more to herself than to anyone else, her mind already racing through the possibilities that represented for expanding Astralis Requiem in the elven capital.

Lohan and Lisa looked at each other, and in that same instant, a spark of mutual recognition passed between them. Neither needing to exchange a single word over the mental link to know they were both thinking exactly the same thing.

’This could make for a great selling point for a bonus system within the guild,’ Lohan thought, feeling the excitement build inside him. ’If members find out that working hard and representing Astralis well can literally translate into official status gains within this world, that’s going to create a massive incentive for everyone to give their absolute best.’

It wasn’t just about money or gear, this would be about belonging, about recognition, about the feeling that each member’s individual effort genuinely mattered to something bigger than themselves.

Skye, Dylan, Dan, Sam, and so many others who’d come from humble backgrounds or constant rejection, could now dream not just of power within Elysium, but of real social status within that magical world.

"We are deeply grateful, Lady Ylasys," Lisa said, her voice carrying a sincerity she rarely showed to outsiders. "These rewards go beyond the material. They show that Astralis Requiem is truly building something lasting here in Thalendor."

Yrneha nodded, pleased with their reaction, but then a mischievous gleam appeared in her purple eyes.

"Considering all this," the archmage remarked, in an almost playful tone. "I wonder if you still need that Mana Stone I promised, Halon. With so much gold and prestige, maybe a simple stone wouldn’t make that much of a difference anymore."