Someone materialized from the hologram, tall and bright-faced. He stepped forward, the black box above him moving as well. He held a microphone and shouted, "Here we go, Nathan!" Then, he clapped, "Hi Nathan, my name is Max. How are you doing?"
Nathan rose to his feet to greet the man, as well as Meriel, who also stood and positioned herself firmly behind Nathan to avoid looking at the black box hovering in front of them.
"Who are you?" Nathan asked Max, his voice flat.
"Oh right! I'm sorry," Max replied with a laugh. "It looks like I'm so excited that I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Max Berger, here as a host that is broadcasting this event live. Wave your hand, Nathan!" He then pointed to the camera. "Those who are watching want to know a lot from you."
Nathan followed Max's instruction, waving his hand, "Hi..." he said with a smile.
Max closely examined Nathan's body. "You're more muscular up close like this, haha. Everyone was in awe of your fight against the Elite Bear yesterday and the Skeleton Bear last night," he said, imitating Nathan's movements while casting a fire spell with his sword.
"The video of you in black armor fighting with fire spells last night was a huge hit on the internet. Did you know that? Hahahaha. Oh, I forgot - you can't access the internet here," he added.
"Thanks," Nathan replied simply.
***
Anonymous Pig: "Holy cow, he's so cute! I like him! Nathan, let's go, Nathan!"
Anonymous Rabbit: "He's not just good at fighting, he's also really cool and handsome!"
Anonymous Cat: "You horny girls, just shut up!"
***
"Okay, so I have some questions for you. I hope you're willing to answer." Max said.
Nathan nodded slowly.
"Okay, the first is...." Max brought his face close to Nathan's. "Are you still single? Lots of girls have been asking me about this." He laughed.
"Hmm, I'm not sure what you mean by 'single'?" Nathan asked.
"Relationship, girlfriend," Max added.
"Ah... I think I have quite a few girl-friends," he said innocently.
"Woah.... that's really good information for us!" Max clapped.
He then brought his face closer to Nathan and whispered, "I hope you will be open to having more girl-friends again." he said with a laugh.
"Oh wait, who do we have here?" He looked behind Nathan. "Oh my gosh, it's Ms. Meriel...."
Meriel showed a shocked expression as Max's hologram walked over to her. She lowered her eyes slightly and was silent, nodding and shaking her head to answer Max's question.
"Hahaha, looks like Ms. Meriel is quite shy, huh?" Max said. "Okay, then I have one last question for Nathan." Max then walked back to Nathan.
"What do you think of this challenge so far?" He asked Nathan.
Nathan smiled slightly and nodded. "I'd appreciate it if CEHA could provide more elite monsters for me to hunt," he said.
Max was taken aback and quickly clapped his hands. He turned to the camera. "Did you hear that? Nathan wants more elite monsters - please grant this young man's request, CEHA higher-ups!"
***
Anonymous Monkey: "I'm so jealous; there are two hot and beautiful girls next to him. Oh... I wish I could be in his position."
Anonymous Cat: "I prefer Linda; she's tough and strong."
Anonymous Snake: "I want Meriel more; I want her to be my waifu!"
Anonymous Rabbit: "You guys are so weird."
***
After Max, with his hologram body, left, Nathan returned to sit on a log near the fireplace.
"Oh, can't I just have some quiet time?" he sighed.
He glanced over at Meriel, who also seemed to have closed her eyes and sighed. She opened her eyes and looked at Nathan, then lowered her gaze.
"It seems you don't enjoy being in the spotlight either, huh, Meriel?" Nathan said.
"Uh!" Meriel replied quietly with a confused face. Then, she slowly nodded. "I'm not really sure," she said, grinning gently. "I just prefer to do things on my own."
Nathan was now surrounded by a lot of new people. Though he didn't know much about their personalities or backgrounds, he could tell that they really cared about him and were very helpful. He had mostly only interacted with Edna before, but they never discussed anything too deeply. He was even only recently found out that she was a dragonkin.
He didn't want to make the same mistake again and wanted to get to know the people around him better. He was still thinking about it and planned to do it slowly.
Nathan then continued with his plans for the day. He wanted to quickly improve his fighting abilities, as well as other things he felt would be more beneficial to him now that he had golems to help him fight.
He stood aside from Meriel, so he could converse with Luna.
Nathan muttered to himself as he examined the Monster Soul Stone he'd just acquired. "I want to make a new golem, but the armor in the Crescent Moon Dimension looks a lot like Night's and Silver's."
Luna floated in front of him, chuckling softly. "Why don't you make the golem the exact size of a human and give it human clothing, plus a mask, so it looks like a person but hides its identity, Master?" she suggested.
"How do I make a golem, just like a human, without the material of armor?" Nathan asked, still thinking about the decision he was about to make. "Previously, I made it using rocks, and the result was a rock monster that very clearly looked like a golem, Luna."
"So, Master Nathan," Luna answered, "actually, with your golem creation tier 2, you can already have more control over the shape of the golem you want to create. You just make sure the golem you create has a human-like shape, and it will follow its shape automatically."
"Can't I make a golem in another form, Luna? Like an animal, or something else?" Nathan asked.
"A Golem in tier two will follow the characteristics of the main structure it has. For example, if in human form, it will walk on two legs. If in the form of an animal with four legs, it will try to adapt. However, if you want to add other elements, like tails, wings, or weapons that attach directly to the Golem, you need to create a new skill to do that." Luna explained in detail.
"That sure is a difficult task," Nathan said, taking a deep breath. "But I think I can put it off for a while and find something else to do with my golem. Now I have four skill slots available, so I guess it's time to unlock a new class!" Nathan beamed.
Luna jumped up and down in excitement. "Yippee! I've been waiting for this for so long!" she exclaimed joyfully.
"All right, Luna, Let's create a new skill," he said.
The screen for creating a new skill then appeared before him.
"So I have an affinity for four elements - water, fire, earth and air," Nathan explained. "I've already created abilities related to fire and earth, so I thought I'd make another class using the remaining two elements."
"But wait..." Nathan continued, then a Fire Element Enhancement Token appeared in his palm. "Before that, I was curious as to what element I would get with this token."
[Do you want to activate the Fire Element Enhancement Token?]
"Yes," Nathan said softly.
[You've unlocked a new advanced element]
[A reaction between the Fire Element and Air Element has occurred]
[An affinity to the Lightning Element (Low) has been unlocked]
[A reaction between the Fire Element and Earth Element has occurred]
[An affinity to the Magma Element (Low) has been unlocked]
[A reaction between the Fire Element and Water Element has occurred]
[An affinity to the Fog Element (Low) has been unlocked]
Nathan gulped, taken aback by the notification in front of him. "What is this? I got three elements at once?"
Luna beamed and clapped her hands together. "Congratulations, Master Nathan! You'll soon be able to create a spell that is more powerful than ever before with these new elements."
"Okay, now give me any ideas for a class that could be based on the combination of these three elements, Luna."
Luna nodded quickly. "For example, if we want to combine Lightning and Fog, there are several class options, such as the Stormcaller, Tempest Mage, or Cloud Rider.
The Stormcaller can cast both offensive and defensive spells to control the battlefield. They can summon fog to obscure their enemies' vision and manipulate lightning to blast their foes from afar.
The Tempest Mage uses the power of Fog and Lightning to create powerful storms of destruction. They can create thunderstorms that rain down lightning bolts on their enemies and summon powerful gusts of wind to cover the battlefield in fog.
Cloud Riders soar through the skies on the backs of their summoned fog and lightning clouds. They use their mastery of the elements to launch lightning-charged attacks on their foes while using the fog to conceal their movements."
Luna chuckled lightly. "Actually, creating classes after combining these three elements isn't too problematic, if you can create truly optimal skills, Master."
"I thought the same," he responded, "but I was really interested in some of the ideas that you mentioned earlier. Even though I was a bit concerned that the skill I created wouldn't be very effective because my affinity is still low."
Nathan and Luna chatted for a while, discussing the best class for him to take. In the end, Nathan decided on the first skill he wanted to make.
"All right, Luna, let's create that skill!"