When Lucien decided to check on the amphibians (as he had deliberately named them) after the meeting with his old friends, he already anticipated their reaction.
Just as his mind was always connected to the Nexus he was responsible for, he also had a continuous connection with the androids in charge of the laboratories and factories. Among them, the main one, who could even be considered his personal butler, was I-volion.
Therefore, a part of his mind was also connected to I-volion, and so he also knew how he was treating his "guests."
And most importantly, he knew what he was teaching them.
Lucien was somewhat accustomed to an almost religious level of respect coming from his AIs and androids, so he wasn't exactly averse to the idea of idolatry (even though it bothered him). But idolatry coming from organic beings that had not been created by them in any way was far more…. stranger, to say the least.
For now, this wasn't very important; Lucien hoped that with time and intimate interactions, the amphibians would grow accustomed to his presence and inevitably see that he could be many things, but not a God.
However, until then, he could use both the respect and the slight fear they felt for him. These feelings would be very useful when he conducted his experiments, but before that, he could use these feelings as leverage to help teach them various subjects.
Although, for this to happen, Lucien would first need to interact with them in a gentler way. He was aware that the first impression he left, while impressive, was even more terrifying.
'I think I would also be afraid, probably for the rest of my life, if I were in their place and position.'
This wouldn't be easy. Fear and awe often went hand in hand, and these feelings were what placed him on a divine level for these beings, according to the mental analysis he had done.
But Lucien didn't want to be seen that way. With respect, yes, but not fear.
If fear were effective for his experiments, perhaps—and this was a big perhaps—he would consider it. But he knew that in the long run, fear would be poisonous, and he knew this well, both from various historical accounts (of humans and other alien races), and from having witnessed fear in action firsthand during the post-war centuries.
To eliminate the unpleasant aspect of fear, the safest method would be to help them feel more comfortable directly. And the way to do this would initially be to neutralize their MATER radiation emanation, although this wasn't easy (in fact, impossible as far as they knew).
Even if he had his nanobots reduce their MATER emanation to the maximum, making it visually imperceptible, it was still felt as pressure. Lucien couldn't do anything about this, according to the exhaustive studies and analyses they had conducted over the last millennia.
Once a being surpasses a count of 1 million MATER particles in their body, this pressure is inevitable, just as a person's smell becomes stronger and more foul the more they sweat.
There would be ways to reduce this with some devices, but Lucien couldn't contain his curiosity to see how they were adapting personally, and ended up not stopping in his "room" to get clothing that would help contain their radiation emanation further.
However, perhaps because they were in a place saturated with purer, less harmful, and considerably stronger MATER, their tolerance to the pressure Lucien emanated was slightly improved that week. It was a small tolerance, even less than that acquired by taking a vaccine, but still, only 7 days had passed, and this already demonstrated the adaptive capacity of this new species.
'Or perhaps they have some affinity with the specific MATER of my Nexus, since they originated in its area of influence?'
Lucien had only seen them for a few seconds but noticed the biological and mental changes in the offspring and couldn't help but speculate and theorize in those seconds. But he soon put his conjectures aside; he would have plenty of time for that later, now...
Just by looking at them, Lucien could perform a complete scan with his nanobts and discover all their physical parameters and electrical impulses in their brains. This would allow him to know their mental state and their thoughts. But he didn't.
There were several reasons for this: listening to their thoughts would be a huge invasion of privacy and a sign of distrust; if he always reacted to their thoughts, it wasn't hard to imagine that this would increase distrust and paranoia, ruining his initial intentions of establishing friendly relations with these new beings.
Another reason was that listening to their thoughts would generate considerable mental pressure on them, even if they didn't realize it. Another was that Lucien wasn't the intrusive person who listened to other people's thoughts; it was his insistence that his friends limit mental communication as much as possible in meetings and even use their voices—they had mouths and beautiful voices, why have something if you're not going to use it?.
"How have you been?"
Just as he was doing now with a simple question, with genuine curiosity, the most calming smile he could muster. And with a look that contained a small, but genuine, concern.
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"How have you been?"
Lauxiem, the being who had saved them when they were facing death, asked.
Movuya didn't quite know why, but he felt that he knew exactly how they were.
'I don't think that's impossible.'
Even so, Movuya couldn't speak, both out of nervousness and astonishment; the smile Lucien had given was the epitome of physical perfection Movuya had ever seen.
He was aware that Lucien and they weren't of the same species, and yet he couldn't deny that he found Lucien attractive.
Although this didn't make sense to the young blue-skinned man. Lucien's skin was brownish like river water after rain, or like the bark of a tree during spring. Quite different from the light blue with white patterns that resembled the ripples in the water that he, his mother, and sister had.
The ears of the being who had saved them were smaller than theirs and had a strange round shape. While theirs were more pointed and had fins that helped them hear even underwater in murky water, and helped them glide through the water when they dived.
The eyes were smaller than theirs, with a vivid pink color like a flower. Theirs were slightly larger, generally dark, with larger pupils to see better underwater, and they also had a second eyelid that helped them underwater.
Even with these differences, Movuya was still certain that he had never seen a creature as beautiful as Lucien; his mother and sister also seemed to share this belief.
The amphibians' reaction to Lucien wasn't as surprising as one might imagine. This was mainly due to two factors, technically three:
1. Lucien spent millennia refining his body beyond the normal capacity of a Homo sapiens, waaaaayyyyy beyond. Not out of vanity but necessity, this inevitably led him to eliminate any imperfection that hindered improvement. Making him a literal ultimate icon, in terms of appearance and physical capabilities, for the Homo sapiens genus, from which the amphibians derived.
2. The effects caused by MATER radiation were not limited to pressure or a sense of intimidation, but also included a beatific air. After all, MATER radiation could be deadly like any radiation in large quantities, but it was also a stronger life activator than normal radiation. This generated a desire to be near sources of MATER radiation, provided that it was... appropriate for a certain type of individual.
And as Lucien himself speculated, the development of amphibians was largely affected by the MATER radiation of his Nexus, therefore...
And 3. Although not the main reason, the simple fact that Lucien saved them already defined how they saw him; he could very well be deformed and they would still see him favorably if he had saved them in the same way, they would hardly consider him attractive but they would still venerate him... in a way.
With that aside.
"Haa...ahh...w-w-well, uhhh, no, I-I meant that we're fine.... Um... sir?"
Movuya finally managed to squeeze out a reply after struggling against his nervousness, once again only he spoke.
His mother continued to look at Lucien with her mouth slightly parted, and his sister stared at the strange man with a glint of fascination and curiosity typical of a child.