Chapter 474 - Open Windows

Chapter 474: 474 - Open Windows

During the first hour of the trip back, Lohan didn’t open any of the game’s system windows.

He wanted to, badly, and even though he knew Lisa would have liked some company to chat with while she ran, a part of him was still stuck in the chamber they had left behind, with the monster mother’s faint breathing and the clean stone where she had lain.

So he let the cold night wind and the steady rhythm of Lisa’s strides gradually undo the weight of it, while the dark forest passed on both sides and the glow of the volcano shrank on the horizon, until it was just an orange smudge so distant it seemed to belong to another world.

The new mental clarity he felt, however, didn’t fade with the distance, and that surprised him with every passing minute.

He noticed small details that would have completely escaped him before, like the way each leaf moved with a different wind, the subtle difference between the sound of Lisa’s paws on damp earth and on dry roots, and even the rhythm of her own breathing, which he no longer needed to hear to know she was tired.

Lohan already had a much sharper perception thanks to his body and all the sensors that being a Mythic Slime brought, but that already enhanced perception was now rising to a completely different level.

’Let’s see what you gave me,’ he thought, more to the memory of the mother than to himself. ’I promise I’ll make it worth it.’

When the second hour began and the trail grew wider and firmer, he finally opened the first window.

[New Matter Digested: Whisper of the Abyss]

[After 6 digestions of the same species, the compatible traits are undergoing a qualitative fusion...]

[New Trait obtained: Mental Pressure Lv 1]

[Emits a wave of psychic pressure that disorients fragile minds within a short radius. Targets with weak minds may be paralyzed or confused for a few seconds, while more resistant targets feel only slight discomfort. The effect scales with the user’s mental strength.]

[Upgrade Price: 25 Biomass]

Lohan read it twice, and a low laugh escaped him, short and almost incredulous.

’So that’s what I felt when they were stirring,’ he thought, remembering the constant hum that had filled the chamber and that he had called mental pressure without knowing how right he was. ’They weren’t just giving off power, they were using a skill that’s now mine too.’

It wasn’t, at first, the kind of gain he had been looking for, but it was far more than he had expected from six Level 11 creatures, and he could already imagine how useful it would be against large groups like the one they had faced hours earlier, where a well placed pressure would be enough to freeze half the enemies before the first blow.

Combined with the killing intent he had already mastered, it could transform the opening of any fight, and he made a mental note to test it as soon as he had a safe chance.

Then, with a mix of anxiety and respect he hadn’t felt in a long time, he opened the second window.

[New Matter Digested: Elder Whisper of the Abyss]

[Matter Rarity: Epic]

[New Trait obtained: Mental Voice Lv 1]

[Allows projecting thoughts and words directly into the mind of any conscious being within range of the user’s senses, with no need for a prior bond, voice or intermediaries. Being able to influence the target’s mind based on the difference in mental power between the user and the target. Stronger minds can resist or block the projection and commands. Current range: 20 meters.]

[Upgrade Price: 100 Biomass]

He stopped reading.

It was only a one second pause, but within that second an enormous number of things fit, because Lohan remembered every time he had needed to wait for Lisa to open a link to be able to speak, every interaction in which he had to stay mute beside her, every conversation with someone outside the guild where he could only be a blue mass of gelatin swaying from side to side without saying anything.

He remembered the relief he felt every time the link opened, and the silent tightness that came with it, the certainty that that voice wasn’t his, but borrowed.

"Without need for a prior bond," he repeated, softly, rereading the same line. "Of voice. Of intermediaries."

’I can speak,’ he thought, and the sentence had a strange weight, almost physical, as if it had just settled into his mind. ’I can talk to anyone!’

He kept reading, faster now, barely able to contain his excitement.

Since he had digested dozens of monsters, he got a good number of skills.

[New Trait obtained: Abyssal Clarity Lv 1]

[The user’s mental structure reorganizes into parallel layers. Processing speed increases considerably, mental fatigue is reduced and resistance to mental invasions, possessions and illusions is amplified. The user also becomes able to keep multiple lines of thought active at the same time without loss of quality.]

[Upgrade Price: 60 Biomass]

[New Trait obtained: Mental Perception Lv 1]

[Allows sensing the presence and general emotional state of conscious beings within a 50 meter radius, even through obstacles. Strong minds are perceived more clearly than simple minds.]

[Upgrade Price: 30 Biomass]

Lohan spent some time just staring at those lines, letting each one settle, and the feeling was so strange that it took him a while to name it.

There was excitement, of course, enormous excitement, but beneath it there was something calmer, a deep satisfaction at having just discovered the depth of what his mind was capable of exerting.

With these new skills he was now capable of communication, mental resistance, perception, and an ability to think in parallel that he knew, even without testing it yet, was going to change the way he used his clones.

It was exactly what he had been looking for, and a little more, and the only part that bothered him was knowing it had come from so much suffering.

’But she chose,’ he reminded himself, slowly. ’She chose to give me this, one way or another, and I’m not going to waste it.’

It was at that moment that Lisa, sensing he had been quiet for a long time, asked over the link, without slowing down.

"Halon, are you okay? It’s been more than an hour since you said anything."

"I’m fine," he answered over the link, and realized you could hear the excitement leaking out from behind the words. "Better than fine, actually. Lisa, I need to test something, and I need you to tell me exactly what you feel. Okay?"

"Sure," she said, slowing to an easier trot, and Lohan felt her body adjust beneath him. "What are you going to do?"

"I need you to close the link for a moment."

"What? Why?"

"Just a moment. Trust me."

With him asking for something so explicit, in a single instant Lisa was able to imagine what he wanted with it, which excited her quite a bit, and Lohan felt the link between them grow weaker and more distant, like a light being slowly dimmed, until there was nothing left there but the ordinary silence of the night.

Even as they "disconnected," this time he saw it in a much sharper and clearer way, as if that connection were something physical and tangible, unlike how he had seen it before.

He took a deep breath, even without lungs, and focused all his attention on that new structure inside his mind, the one that still felt so strange and so newborn.

There was a kind of point, a small, warm core just above what would be his artificial eyes, which pulsed once when he touched it with his will, and then Lohan did something he had never done before.

He extended a thought toward Lisa, with no link, no voice and no intermediary at all, and let it reach her on its own.

’Lisa.’

She stumbled.

It was a small stumble, on just one paw, but enough to make her whole body jolt, and Lohan nearly fell off her back from the shock.

"HALON?!" Lisa shouted, stopping completely in the middle of the trail, ears fully upright and golden eyes wide. "It actually worked?! I heard you! I heard your voice, but not through the link, it was... it was inside my head!"

’Yeah,’ he said, and this time he couldn’t hold back the laugh that came with the thought. ’It was me. No link, nothing. Just me.’

Lisa stood still for a few seconds, taking it in, and then looked over her shoulder at him with an expression that mixed shock, pride and something more, something Lohan couldn’t identify right away, but which warmed his chest in an unexpected way.

"Inside my head," Lisa repeated, slowly, still standing in the middle of the trail with her tail half bristled, as if testing each word before accepting it was real. "No link. Halon, do you realize what this means?"

’I do,’ he replied, and this time he himself heard his own thought come out with a different texture, cleaner, almost as if he now had a real voice and not just a reflection of hers. ’I don’t need anyone to open the door for me to speak anymore.’

Lisa stayed silent for a few more seconds, and Lohan noticed, with an attentiveness he still didn’t quite know where it came from, a small shadow cross her face before she looked away at the ground.

"So you don’t need me for that anymore," she said, and tried to make the sentence sound light, but couldn’t entirely hide what was underneath.

He didn’t even need Mental Perception to understand, although it was active, still clumsy, and had picked up a tiny hint of something he recognized as sadness mixed with pride.

But he made a point of not looking any deeper, because the feeling of invading someone’s mind, even by accident, bothered him in a way he couldn’t explain.

’Lisa,’ he said, now over the link, which she had reopened without him asking, choosing each word carefully. ’I managed to talk to you without the link, yes. But I’m going to keep choosing to speak through it every time I’m with you, because it’s yours, and I like knowing it’s yours. That will never change.’

She raised her eyes slowly, and a small, slightly embarrassed smile appeared on her face.

"Silly," she said, softly, but her tail started swaying again. "But thank you for saying that."