Chapter 421 - Immersion Capsule

Chapter 421: 421 - Immersion Capsule

Lohan finished reading Lisa’s detailed explanation, his eyes wide with astonishment.

He looked back at the immersion capsule resting on his terrace, feeling a shiver of admiration run down his spine as he grasped the priceless value and technical breakthrough of that machine.

He’d never heard of a device capable of merging continuous medical nutrition with long duration virtual immersion so perfectly, but coming from the Vance Group, the corporation that practically held a monopoly on the human federation’s cutting edge health technologies, it made total and absolute sense that they’d have products far superior to the ordinary helmets available to the general public.

What surprised him was that even ordinary people in the Upper Zone apparently didn’t even know this capsule existed, making it clear to him just how advanced and secretive this technology was.

Isabella being willing to give him something like this for free, something that would probably cost several million dollars, made him even happier about the choice of companion he’d made in the game, realizing that accepting the position of Astralis Requiem’s vice president had definitely been the best choice he’d made since coming to this world.

Feeling excited like a kid who had just gotten the most advanced, most wanted toy in the world on a Christmas morning, Lohan wasted no more time.

He walked over to the control panel and activated manual control of the floating magnetic tech platform the capsule was perfectly mounted on, and carefully guided the platform using his optical terminal’s commands, making the heavy metal structure float a few centimeters off the floor, sliding smoothly through the penthouse until it reached his master suite.

He positioned the magnificent white capsule right on the side opposite his double bed, sighing with satisfaction upon realizing the master bedroom of the penthouse he lived in was spacious and airy enough to fit a piece of equipment that size without feeling cramped or throwing off the room’s subtle decor.

Lohan let out a short laugh, immediately drawing a comparison to his past. If he were still living in that old, damp, crumbling apartment in the Lower Zone, that colossal medical capsule simply wouldn’t have fit anywhere! It would probably have blocked his front door or taken up the entire space of his old mattress, forcing him to sleep cramped on the floor just to be able to use the gaming machine, or even get rid of the bed entirely and use the capsule as one.

The problem would have been that hiding the Elysium helmet had already been hard enough in that cramped apartment, imagine hiding a capsule like this, which obviously cost far more than what an ordinary person in the Lower Zone earned in an entire lifetime... if he’d opened his apartment door and someone happened to be passing by in the hallway, he’d be screwed by how many problems that would bring.

Fortunately that problem didn’t exist here. In the new, perfect layout inside the penthouse suite, his logistics were flawless. He could step out of the immersion capsule after long grinding sessions in Elysium and walk straight to the attached bathroom for an easy, warm, relaxing shower, just like Lisa said she often did herself.

Besides that, using the device in his private bedroom guaranteed him absolute privacy and priceless peace of mind. He wouldn’t need to worry about his own physical appearance or his vulnerability in case someone decided to surprise visit him at the penthouse while his consciousness was lost in the other world.

Even though he wasn’t close enough to anyone to receive visitors, besides Lisa of course.

However, the exact instant that thought about his privacy crossed Lohan’s mind, he froze completely in place, his skin going cold and his blue eyes going wide with pure shock as he remembered a crucial and extremely embarrassing detail from the past few days.

He logged into Elysium shirtless.

Lohan remembered that he always logged into the game with no clothing on his torso, since he no longer felt cold the way he used to, and staying shirtless helped his body’s passive digestion of the nutrients present in the air. If it weren’t for how vulnerable and uncomfortable it left him, Lohan would have preferred wearing the helmet completely naked.

’Thankfully my common sense won out and I didn’t commit an atrocity like that...’ He sighed with relief, wiping away a nonexistent cold sweat off his forehead.

And considering Lisa had explained that she’d personally come to his apartment to restock the fridge with the Grade SS ampoules and help feed him... the truth hit his mind with the force of a punch.

Isabella Vance had been in that bedroom and had seen his shirtless body!

And worst of all... she’d probably used her own delicate fingers to part his lips and pour the Grade SS nutritional solution directly into his mouth while he was shirtless, completely unconscious, vulnerable, and motionless.

Lohan covered his face with his right hand, letting out a loud, embarrassed, deeply amused laugh that echoed through the silent room.

He pictured Isabella’s pale cheeks burning beneath her red hair as she carried out that intimate, embarrassing procedure on his bed.

"I really hope you didn’t do anything you shouldn’t have with my body while I was vulnerable and unconscious in my bed, Lisa... haha." he murmured to himself with genuine amusement, finding the whole situation incredibly funny and subtly cute, feeling that their friendship had gained a new, unexpected Chapter of closeness in the real world.

Obviously he wasn’t embarrassed by it. Lohan was a shameless man who liked the mindset of "as long as I’m not the one embarrassed, you will be," and he knew very well that Lisa had probably died of embarrassment doing that, so he just felt disappointed he hadn’t gotten to see her reaction in the moment.

’If I’d known about this I would have left a hidden camera recording to see her reaction...’ He thought, frustrated.

Setting aside the mental teasing to focus on the practical task ahead, Lohan grabbed one of the Grade SS ampoules Lisa had left in his kitchen and drank the dense vitamin compound, feeling the nutritional warmth instantly reinvigorate his muscle fibers in the real world.

Next, he organized the remaining stock of solutions into the automatic recharging thermal compartments on the immersion capsule’s outer base, securing the fuel for his next journey.

He lay down comfortably inside the medical capsule’s welcoming interior, feeling the anatomical silicone supports mold perfectly to his spine, surprised.

Lohan then closed the translucent glass dome with a subtle tap on the digital display, hearing the soft hiss of the purifying gas envelop his body before it began the neural connection with the world of Elysium.

The instant Lohan activated the login command, the transition sensation surpassed everything he’d ever experienced in his life.

There was no trace of the usual optical dizziness or sensory delay the previous helmet caused in his nervous system.

The trip through hyperspace was infinitely smoother, faster, and more natural, and when his virtual senses awakened in the other world, Lohan was completely shocked to realize his immersion in Elysium had reached a frighteningly realistic level.

The warmth of the air, the rustle of Mythlorien’s leaves, and even the subtle scent of mana coming off Thalendor’s ground were all perceived with a fidelity he couldn’t describe with any word other than perfect.

Before, using the helmet, he’d felt his connection to this world was already perfect simply for lack of anything better to compare it to, but now with this capsule, he couldn’t help but be amazed all over again.

Lohan opened his "eyes" and realized his consciousness in Halon was still anchored at the exact spot in the rocky gorge where the operation against the Broken Suns had been successfully completed earlier that morning.

The area around Thalendor’s northern rift was calm, the ground clear of any trace of corrupted mana thanks to the flawless containment Yrneha had carried out the night before.

Taking advantage of the fact that the region’s mystical currents were completely peaceful and safe, Lohan vibrated his blue gelatin membrane, feeling an immense excitement pulse through the center of his core.

He wouldn’t waste any time standing around in that slippery gorge. He rolled at high speed toward the silver gates of Thalendor to meet Archmage Yrneha at her magic tower, extremely eager to collect the fabulous rewards she’d promised his guild, especially the advanced mana stone he was so eager to receive.