Slime Evolution

Chapter 418 - Exhaustion

Yrneha watched the rift, now perfectly sealed, with an expression of deep satisfaction that softened the traditionally rigid, imposing features of her face.

Thalendor’s archmage turned to the small four member delegation from Astralis Requiem, her purple eyes shining under the silver moonlight with renewed respect for the guild that had saved Mythlorien’s northern ecosystem from an imminent, highly dangerous ecological disaster caused by the stupidity of a greedy group.

Dylan, who had just come back, looked at how Yrneha and the mages under her command were handling the situation with a smile he tried his hardest to hold back, quite pleased that the Broken Suns were finally being exposed.

”Your work tonight was flawless, Halon, Lisa, and friends I hadn’t met yet.” Yrneha said, her voice carrying a solemn sweetness she rarely used. ”Not only will I write an extremely favorable, detailed report on your merit for Thalendor’s Council tomorrow morning, I’ll also recommend you as protectors of this part of the Mythlorien forest before the entire royal court of Thalendor.”

The noble elf paused briefly, adjusting the position of her white wooden staff as she gave a warm smile toward the blue Slime resting on the fox’s back. ”Considering the night is already extremely far along and all of you have spent a massive amount of energy on this risk containment, I suggest you rest. Tomorrow, at whatever time suits you, you can come to my magic tower to receive the reward I promised your group.”

Lohan, hearing that official confirmation, felt an indescribable wave of satisfaction pulse straight through his core.

A big mental smile spread across his consciousness as he realized every drop of biomass and every point of Mana he’d spent to make this plan work had been completely worth it.

The temporary loss of biomass, though it might seem like a heavy sacrifice for an ordinary player, was actually a very easy problem for Lohan to fix.

With his network of clones spread among the guild’s veteran members who would keep hunting in the deep forests of Mythlorien, and now benefiting even more from the excellent farming capacity of the new members approved in the guild’s recruitment, his recovery rate would be absurd.

That store of vital energy would return to its maximum limit in a short amount of passive grinding, without him needing to move his main body from its safe location.

But the advanced Mana Stone they would receive directly from Yrneha’s hands tomorrow was a completely different story for him.

From the respectful, cautious, almost ceremonial way the archmage had spoken of that Mana jewel during their negotiation at the tower, Lohan was certain that magic gem would be Level 20, or maybe even Level 21!

For a Slime with a Double Mythic Base who had already experienced frightening growth from digesting the Guardian of Light’s level thirteen stone, an upgrade of that caliber would bring about an unimaginable evolution, making him both excited and a little scared about what digesting that would be like.

Lisa even looked over at him, worried, wondering whether or not she should let him digest that, considering the risk he had already gone through digesting Mana stones that were too powerful for him.

What excited her even more was the five hundred gold coins Yrneha would pay directly into Astralis Requiem’s administrative fund as contractual compensation for handling that whole sham.

That was an absolutely exorbitant amount of money by the standards of a small, new guild like theirs, a valuable resource Dylan and Lisa would use very carefully to buy high quality equipment, rare mana potions, and cover all the basic infrastructure needs of the new members who had just joined, as well as to upgrade the veteran members who had already proven their loyalty to the guild.

Satisfied with that night’s glorious outcome, the members of Astralis Requiem silently watched Yrneha say goodbye with an elegant nod of her head.

The archmage activated her spatial teleportation circle, enveloping her body and the captured Broken Suns officers, who walked with their heads down, completely disarmed, under the strict escort of her mages, vanishing in a purple flash that silenced the stone ravine.

In the millisecond Yrneha’s magical signature vanished from Lohan’s sensory perimeter, an overwhelming wave of physical and mental exhaustion hit the Slime’s core with the force of a kinetic impact.

Lohan felt his gelatin abruptly go slack over Lisa’s body, his membrane losing its usual combat rigidity.

He was at his physical processing limit and needed to disconnect from that world as fast as possible to conserve his energy.

Being awake for more than fifty hours straight, keeping his mind in a constant state of maximum alert to manage the parallel processing between monitoring the enemy base and coordinating the farming clones with the guild members, had worn down his human brain in a way that his body’s basic nutrients could no longer sustain his mind through. Even with the Mythic Slime’s biological resilience, Lohan’s mind, which still retained much of the structural limits of an ordinary human brain, was begging for a period of rest to recharge its energy.

”Everyone, duty’s been done for today, but my mental processing is running on fumes.” Lohan said slowly and haltingly through the mental link, his voice coming out without its usual magnetic energy. ”I need to disconnect immediately before my brain fries inside the game helmet. Lisa, Dylan, Alice... see you all tomorrow to reap the fruits of our work.”

”Go rest, Halon, you earned it more than any of us.” Alice replied, yawning cutely again and stretching her arms, since she too had been woken up in the middle of the night to come help, even if she hadn’t been any help at all. ”Since I’m already awake, Dylan and I are going to head back to our base to make sure the new Players don’t do anything stupid or wreck the decorations in the main hall overnight, but the heavy lifting is already done.”

”Log out safely, Vice President.” Dylan nodded politely, adjusting his coat.

Lohan sent a quick mental pulse of thanks to his vanguard companions and, without wasting another second on formalities, activated the logout command in Elysium’s system.

His gelatin body began glowing with a soft pearly light, dissolving into blue particles that rose toward Mythlorien’s starry sky before vanishing completely from Elysium’s universe, ending his part in that night of vigil and espionage.

Lohan knew Astralis Requiem’s future would be qualitatively glorious and bright under that world’s beautiful starry sky, but for now, his only priority was to let his mind relax deeply and safely, sleeping peacefully in the comfortable bed of his apartment.