Slime Evolution

Chapter 235 - The Carrot and the Stick

[You killed the Player: Brutus (Level 11)]

[Predator Title Activated: Extracting Rare Class Evolution... 100% chance of success!]

[Congratulations on the new Evolution: Colossus Charge]

[Colossus Charge Lv 1]

[Accumulate Mana and Biomass within your internal structure to drastically increase your inertial mass for a short period. When rolling or charging at an enemy, the impact becomes more powerful and dense.]

Upon reading the description of this new evolution, Lohan felt it was just average.

Definitely, if this skill were obtained by any other Player, it could become a core ability in their combat style, just as it was for Brutus.

But for Lohan, who already had other skills like this, his expectations were somewhat dashed.

Sure, it would still be a good complement to the skills he already had, having great synergy with [Body Density], but it wasn’t a game-changer for him.

Looking again at the soldiers kneeling on the ground in front of him, Lohan sighed inwardly as he figured out the best way to handle this situation.

”You don’t need to kneel. Honestly, the distrust you felt toward me was entirely expected.” Lohan spoke in the calm, pleasant voice he usually used. ”What sealed Brutus’s fate back to Level 10 and his expulsion from Astralis Requiem was the fact that he turned against a guild member. Whether it was me, or if he had done the same to you, the result would have been the same.”

Upon hearing that, the soldiers were a bit confused.

They thought Halon had killed Brutus for insubordination, which was something completely normal in the work environments they were involved in.

But the fact that Halon said that if something like that happened to them, the result would be the same came as a surprise.

In a world as developed along anarchist lines as the real world was, labor rights were just a dream that these people believed didn’t even exist.

Hearing that they too would be protected by the same standards as the leaders seemed unreal, so unreal that many didn’t even believe it, thinking Halon was merely justifying his actions to them, which they didn’t even consider necessary.

But no one dared say this out loud, preferring instead to keep their heads down and show remorse for the words they had spoken.

Lohan knew that the example had already been set, and even though he noticed these people’s doubts, he knew he couldn’t change things overnight, so he left it as it was.

Over time, these soldiers would come to understand that the Astralis Requiem they were trying to create went far beyond the rampant and inhumane exploitation they were accustomed to.

The image Lohan had for the Guild was exactly the image he saw of guilds in games from another world. That despite disagreements among the Players, the advantage of being together was so great, and the Players made so many friends in that place, that in the end the guild became a family.

Obviously, Lohan wasn’t naive enough to imagine they’d be one big happy family; there would be rules and goals to meet, and anyone who failed to comply would be penalized in some way. But the environment he wanted to create was still light-years ahead of the inhumane structure the other corporations were building.

After the stick, Lohan decided to show the carrot, explaining to these players the benefits of the Guild, the missions they had already accumulated in Thalendor, and the rewards they could receive.

Hearing about the possibility of earning at least $500 in extra credits per day by selling Elysium coins to the Guild for the missions, and receiving double the market value for them, made these soldiers’ eyes light up.

They all joined Dylan out of greed, satisfied to receive a high salary, above the real-world average, without risking their actual lives for it. But upon hearing just how large the bonuses could be, and that as they grew more powerful that amount could increase even further, the gleam in these soldiers’ eyes turned into beacons.

The displeasure they felt toward Halon for seeming weak had vanished when he killed Brutus with ease, and now the indifference they felt toward the guild had turned into fervor to complete the missions as quickly as possible to receive these rewards.

Even knowing that the guild would take 10% of the earnings, 90% of something was far better than 100% of nothing!

Lohan hadn’t even told them about the ability to make them stronger with the Weaver Mother, since he didn’t yet fully trust this group for that, and didn’t want the information to leak.

For now, not even Alice’s group would be entitled to that kind of upgrade, with Lohan limiting its use to only Lisa, Pip, Elle, Alice, and Dylan, who already had his trust.

For the ordinary guild members, a longer observation period would be necessary.

So after giving a mission to the group of soldiers, they left the tree satisfied and ready to hunt.

At that point, they were even happy that Brutus wasn’t with them anymore, since one less person would make the share each of them received even bigger.

With that, only Lohan, Lisa, and Dylan remained at the guild base.

Looking at Lisa and Lohan, Dylan bowed his head. ”Bella, Halon, I’m sorry for bringing a parasite like that into the Guild. While we were in Newbie Village, Brutus had shown himself to be a very helpful and valuable person, totally different from the disgrace he demonstrated to you. If you want to blame me, I’ll gladly accept the punishment.”

Lisa looked at Dylan, then at Halon, but said nothing.

It was Halon who had been offended; even though Dylan was her friend, she didn’t want to cover for him and invalidate Halon, so she chose to remain silent.

Lohan looked at Dylan intently, trying to detect any sign of deception.

To say he didn’t suspect that Dylan had instructed Brutus to act this way to test his power would be a lie, but looking closely at the Dhampir in front of him, Lohan sensed genuine honesty, and even Lisa hadn’t noticed anything unusual in the friend she’d known for years, so he believed the boy.