A faint red smoke floated through the forest, tracing a path through the trees to the little Slime.
This smoke was not something anyone could see, only those with Chemosensory Aptitude could sense it... and Lohan looked at them intently.
’Should I follow this trail? If I find that fox, what do I do? If they try to do something to me, maybe I can defend myself, but if I have to rely on my slow speed to do something to them, maybe I can only shoot an Ice Spike and run out of Mana right after...’ He thought doubtfully.
If he did nothing, it was possible that the fox would do something to him that would put him at risk again... but if he went after it to get revenge, he also had nothing to do against it.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, he didn’t have to decide on that.
The red smoke that had seemed so sparse before gradually became denser.
Lohan looked at them a little confused, but when he "felt" that smoke, he understood... the smell was stronger!
’Shit, I haven’t even decided what to do and they’re getting closer?’
With no time to lose, Lohan used all of his stored Biomass to recover to peak condition, controlled the small Clone to merge with him again, and faced the direction from which the smell was approaching.
The seconds dragged on much longer than normal... a minute waiting for the fox to approach seemed like hours to Lohan, who was on edge, prepared for the worst.
But surprisingly, when a small white head appeared from behind a large, thick tree, Lohan controlled himself so as not to shoot an Ice Spike directly at that creature.
With no means of communication, Lohan just stared at the fox, analyzing for the tenth time whether his position was bad or if he should move to a better place.
Unlike him, the fox walked calmly and confidently, without a hint of fear as it looked at Lohan with curiosity.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
The steps of the surprising little fox made no sound other than the ground being touched. Although the ground was covered with dry leaves and broken branches, her paws did not touch anything undesirable.
Finally face to face with that curious Slime, the Fox also looked at the creature with curiosity.
She noticed that unlike when the Slime was facing the Elf girl, where its membrane was soft and relaxed, now in front of her, the creature had entered "attack mode," with a hard and resistant exoskeleton formed above the surface of its body, with a matte and reinforced membrane underneath, and its body perfectly tensed to jump away from her at any moment.
’It seems they’re not an idiot...’ She thought with an internal smile, but outwardly showed only indifference.
Confirming the advanced thought process of the monster in front of her, the fox was almost 100% sure that she was facing another Player, like herself.
With a little caution, and surprisingly relief, she used one of her innate abilities.
"Hello Slime." A young, graceful female voice sounded in his mind.
If it weren’t for the immensely stressful situation Lohan was under, it would have been a very pleasant voice.
But upon hearing it, Lohan was shocked. With his 360-degree vision, he was sure there was no one else nearby who could speak to him, and the strangest thing was that he didn’t see the fox move its mouth!
Frightened, the Slime rolled backward at full speed to distance itself, trying to keep itself safe by distance.
"This is my innate ability, telepathy." The voice sounded again in his mind, a feeling so strange that Lohan was ready to cast an Ice Spike at it.
Even more so after hearing the explanation.
’Shit, did she say telepathy?! Is she reading my memory?!’ He was startled, worried that this was somehow real.
Although he had seen videos and livestreams of other games in the other world, he had never heard of a game that allowed telepathy, let alone something involving the real mind!
This feeling was so strange that Lohan felt as if her voice was sounding in his real mind, not the Slime’s!
Then the voice sounded again, surprisingly patient despite Lohan’s outburst. "Calm down, I can only read your shallow thoughts, just your shallow thoughts. If you want me to lose access to your mind, you just have to try a little harder."
He was suspicious, but having no other choice, he mentally focused on denying anyone any kind of access to his mind.
At first, nothing changed, but after a few more attempts, he finally felt as if something had left his mind.
’Damn, I didn’t even feel that get in there! Since when has she been reading my mind?!’ he wondered in shock.
"Okay, now can we talk?" she asked as she snuggled into the grass beneath her and lay down, looking at the Slime with a playful expression.
Lohan looked at her for a few seconds, seeing that she showed no hostility, he tried to answer. "Yes..."
"Great, you’re really a very interesting Slime... how did you manage to survive the brutal first day as this race? Didn’t that wave of monsters find you?" She asked curiously, looking him up and down.
Although Lohan always considered himself small, his body was already about 30 centimeters in diameter, which meant he was a sphere about 30 centimeters high and 30 centimeters wide.
The white fox in front of him was just under 30 centimeters tall, slightly smaller than him, and when lying down, she was even smaller. But on the other hand, she was thinner and longer than Lohan.
It was what she said that confused him. "Wave of monsters? What’s that?"
At his response, the fox looked at him, also confused. "The monster wave on the first day, most players with rare non-human races died before the first night because of this monster wave. How did you survive it with such a fragile body?"
???????
Lohan became even more confused.
’Wave of monsters? I have no idea what she’s talking about... but as far as I remember, after entering Elysium for the first time, the old Lohan didn’t stay online for more than 5 minutes before disconnecting and going to look for a good guild, unsuccessfully, he killed himself before even logging back into the game.’
Analyzing the small changes in Slime and realizing that he was as confused as she was, the fox asked incredulously. "Don’t tell me you were one of the lucky ones who wasn’t in the game during the monster wave?"
’Can I call a rope around my neck luck?’ Lohan thought to himself.
///NunuNote///
Every 200 Power Stones this week = +1 Extra Chapter.
Next Goal: 146/200 Power Stones