Spending some time with Dandelion after the soul contract, Evelynn learned a few things.
Firstly, she no longer had to guess at Dandelion's emotions. She could now feel clearly what Dandelion wanted to convey. Through this, she also found that Dandelion could understand what she said. So, even if Dandelion couldn't respond back with words, communicating had become much easier.
Secondly, Dandelion had indeed been fighting in the slime field, as she had suspected. It seemed that unlike her, Dandelion had no fear when it came to fighting groups of slimes.
'But that might not be so weird, though. Dandelion, as a black slime, is a species that evolved from regular slimes, after all. It might even consider the regular slimes as prey.'
Thirdly, Slimes had no gender. This was kind of expected, but Evelynn thought it was nice to be sure. She would rather avoid misgendering someone out of prejudices of their species, if she could avoid it.
She had read rumors online in her last life, of the monsters living on the later floors. It was suspected that they had communities and that maybe the climbers would be able to communicate with them.
Of course, that had only been a rumor, as no one had actually met any monsters that could, or would, communicate with them. And if someone had, they had kept it a secret.
But Evelynn had hope, considering they had only reached the thirtieth floor when she died in her last life. And no one could guarantee that those floors had even been explored fully.
Just like she found the Hidden Slime Creation Chamber, other floors also had hidden secrets.
Evelynn clearly remembered one of the interviews she had watched a year ago, about a climber on the ninth floor that had stumbled over some ruins when he got lost. Not to mention the riches he had found, he had even unlocked a new class for being the first to discover the ruin.
She couldn't really remember the class he had obtained, or even the exact story of how he got lost, but she remembered the spark his interview had ignited.
Before his interview, climbers hadn't really been exploring the floors, apart from what their quests demanded. The whole focus was on climbing the tower as fast as possible. To get the first-clear rewards and so on.
But after the interview, it gave motivation to those that were on the lower floors and had yet to catch up with the exploration teams. It gave a greater hope of catching up. Of riches. Of power.
Though it gave a new influx of climbers, it also slowed down the speed the floors were getting cleared.
No one wanted to leave treasures behind for others, after all.
Dandelion had left to go hunting again when Evelynn told it she would wait for the girl to awaken. It seemed it didn't understand why they couldn't just leave the girl.
Evelynn had tried to explain to Dandelion the morals of not leaving someone behind, and the dangers the girl could face if she was unconscious and alone, but all she got in response was confusion.
It seemed it might have been too complicated a topic for her companion. So, when Dandelion had expressed its desire to go hunting again, Evelynn had let it go as she remained by the girl alone.
'It probably has a higher survival rate against the slimes than me, either way.'
So, after nagging for a bit that it should return at once if it spotted any humans near the slime field, Evelynn reluctantly let her slime leave on its own.
Waiting by the girl, Evelynn heard a soft groan as the girl slowly stirred awake.
Having practiced her introduction while Dandelion was away, Evelynn once again checked that she wasn't sitting too close and got ready for her introduction.
As the girl opened her eyes and slowly sat up, Evelynn slightly lowered her head and raised her shoulders to make herself look as harmless as possible.
"Hi, I'm Evelynn. Are you alright?" she asked as she made eye contact with the girl.
'I did it!', Evelynn rejoiced to herself, feeling a sense of accomplishment at her introduction. 'I didn't stammer and kept my voice calm. I also remembered asking if she was okay, so she'll know I'm not someone bad!'
"Hi…" Lydia answered, cautiously watching Evelynn. "I remember you. You were watching us from behind the tree…"
"Yeah… I didn't think you would remember that…" Evelynn hesitantly started. She still remembered the girl's eyes, devoid of all hope, meeting her own.
"I do," she answered, as she scooted slightly further away from Evelynn, checking the surroundings.
Evelynn sat completely still, waiting for the girl to continue the conversation. She had contemplated admitting to saving the girl but found out that she had no way of doing so without revealing that she was a healer.
So, she had decided to simply say she had waited beside the girl, giving basic first aid and not anything else. Even if the girl didn't believe her, she had no way to prove that Evelynn was lying.
"How did I survive? Did you save me?" the girl asked, seemingly a bit less wary now that she had checked their surroundings for dangers.
"Just some first aid," Evelynn answered as she had practiced.
"How could first aid be enough? I was bleeding out…" the girl responded, her eyes once again growing suspicious.
Evelynn just shrugged her shoulders, not giving any deeper explanation. If she didn't say anything, the girl would never know, after all.
"Did you use a potion?" Lydia hesitantly asked. "No, no one has a potion on the first floor… and they are extremely rare…" as she drifted off pondering, she suddenly straightened. Her eyes going big, she looked at Evelynn in shock.
"You're a healer?!"
Though the girl had asked it as a question, she seemed sure. The shock and amazement in her eyes were directed straight at Evelynn.
"Wha- No! No, I'm not!" Evelynn stuttered out, caught by surprise.
Skeptically looking at Evelynn, the girl let out a big sigh.
"I got a notification from the system… Though it seems bugged, it clearly says I was saved by a healer."
Evelynn felt her body run cold, but she tried to play it off. 'I can't let her know. No one can know. I must trick her somehow.'
"I am sorry, but I'm not-" Evelynn started shakily, but she was cut off.
The girl waved her hands to cut off Evelynn, giving her a smile.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's the least I can do since you saved me. I'm Lydia," she quickly let out.
"I really am not-" Evelynn once again tried, as sweat began forming on her temple.
"Sure, sure," Lydia laughed. "Okay, I won't speak of it anymore."
It seemed Lydia no longer had any wariness towards Evelynn at this point. Or, at the very least, she seemed more comfortable.
Evelynn let out a big sigh as she buried her face in her palms. Looking back up, she locked eyes with Lydia. "You must keep it a secret. If anyone finds out…" Evelynn pleaded.
Seeing the tremor run through her, Lydia nodded solemnly. "I promise."
Seeing that the cat was already out of the bag, Evelynn could only complain to the system in her mind. 'How could it out me like this?' Shaking her head in resignation, Evelynn gave Lydia a weak smile.
"I really hope you will keep it a secret, Lydia. If anyone finds out… It will be really bad. Probably worse than either of us can imagine."
Lydia was just about to assure her again, when something behind Evelynn made her spring to her feet in distress.
"Evelynn! Watch out!"