During the trip from college to the Lower Zone, Lohan kept his distance from the boy, close enough to observe him, but far enough away that he, someone who had no idea he was being watched, couldn’t notice.
Surprisingly, the boy got off at a bus stop before Lohan’s, closer than he had imagined.
Lohan was even tempted to get off the bus and strike up a conversation with the boy. Perhaps connecting with another kid from the Lower Zone with a Rare Class would be useful to him, not to mention that he had been alone for a week in this world, without talking to anyone... seeing someone else in a situation so similar to his own aroused his sympathy.
But thinking that it was still risky and uncertain, since he didn’t know the boy or anything about his past, Lohan gave up on the idea and stayed on the bus.
"Tomorrow I can try to talk to him at college."
For someone with a Slime race, getting Gold was still uncertain... considering that his new life would be over if he didn’t get money in three weeks, befriending someone who could help him with that would be useful.
Not because he was thinking of asking the boy for money, but just having a guide, or someone who could help him resell items, would be very useful.
And between getting that help from someone like him from the Lower Zone, or relying on someone from the Upper Zone for that, Lohan would choose the former without thinking twice.
Despite trying to appear superior, Lohan knew that the people from the Upper Zone were the most treacherous he could meet, people who would not hesitate to step on his head to climb higher, and it was no wonder that they all had such promising families.
-xXx-
Back home, Lohan was a little mentally tired from his classes, which weren’t that difficult for him since in another world he used to argue with doctors while still a student, but as soon as he opened the door, he took off his clothes and started exercising.
Although the scene of Lohan exercising completely naked in the living room of his apartment was strange, it was the only alternative he found to avoid spending even more money.
Exercising itself was free, but washing clothes was not.
And in a world like this, where humanity extracted everything it could from the planet in pursuit of profit, without concern for sustainability, decontaminated water was extremely expensive.
Even his showers had to be rationed throughout the week, let alone wasting water to wash clothes every day.
So Lohan came up with the current alternative, where he trained completely naked at home so that sweat wouldn’t dirty his clothes.
In any case, this was his body, a body 80% similar to his body from the other world, different only in health and muscle development, something he had seen naked often since he was born, so he didn’t feel repulsed by it.
In fact, Lohan even liked the feeling of getting up and seeing his muscles pumping, swelling, and developing before his very eyes!
With his enhanced vision, he could see details better than high-definition zoom cameras from the other world, so even if the daily muscle gain wasn’t exaggerated, since his body had little fat and his vision was incredible, he still saw improvement every day.
After exercising, Lohan looked at himself again, satisfied with the bodily changes, wiped himself down with wet wipes, and put on the Elysium helmet.
Slowly, his consciousness traveled back to the game world, watching the visual representation of him traveling through hyperspace.
As his consciousness was pulled into Elysium, a small, bright blue body seemed to form from millions of particles coming from a tunnel of light.
The first sensation to return was smell, changing from the unpleasant smell of mold and pollution in the real world to a pure and refreshing smell in the virtual world.
The next sense to return was touch, with him losing his limbs but gaining incredible control over every cell in his gelatinous body.
Looking at the sun in the sky, Lohan smiled and absorbed that comfortable light.
’Who would have thought that even after transmigrating, I still couldn’t feel the sun with my physical body? What will I need to do to feel this in the real world? Leave the planet?!"
In the first world, Lohan couldn’t feel the sun because he was stuck in a hospital bed. Sure, from time to time, some nurse would take pity on him and take him for a walk in the sun while pushing the bed he was lying in, but without the sensitivity of his body, he didn’t feel much.
In the second world, the sky was covered with pollution from factories and resource extraction machines. Even at college, the sky was so cloudy that Lohan still couldn’t feel the sun directly, only the light refracting in the dense fog around the college.
Only in this "third world," the game Elysium, did Lohan truly feel the sun.
And surprisingly, the virtual sensation that the game conveyed was the best of the three he had ever felt.
Finishing enjoying the sun, the first thing Lohan did was open the menu.
[Name: Halon
Race: Slime (Mythical)
Class: Devourer (Mythical)
Level: 01
Experience: 38 / 100
Mana: 18.1 / 18.1
Evolutions: Hidden]
’Hmm, I already have 38 experience points, if I accumulate 62 more I can level up... what do I get for leveling up?!’
Lohan was surprised by this.
In other games, when the player leveled up, they unlocked new skills, gained stat points to become stronger, and gradually became stronger.
’But my growth isn’t normal, right? Even though I’m still level 1, I’m already much stronger than other Level 1 Slimes... the problem is that I haven’t found anything Level 2 to compare myself to yet.’
As Lohan thought about this, as if hearing his inner thoughts, a creature he had never seen before appeared running through the forest.
"Grwadsadwa!"
The creature roared as it swung its claws around, trying to hit something small that was running around.
Because of the tall grass, Lohan couldn’t see, but he knew that something close to his size was running away from that creature at high speed, dodging between the trees, taking advantage of the natural unevenness of the terrain, but the creature didn’t let up on its target.
Using its small, muscular green legs to run, while struggling to balance its slightly disproportionate body, extending its claws forward as it tried to grab its target, but failing miserably, the Goblin caught a glimpse of a bright blue ball, which, because of the sunlight, shone even brighter, and stopped.
When that Goblin’s gaze focused on Lohan, he froze.
’Shit...’