"Mmm..." Soph groggily opened her eyes and blinked several times once she noticed that another set of eyes were calmly watching her.

"Lone... Lone! Lone! Lone!" she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and began sobbing.

Unsure of what to do, Lone just returned Soph's hug. "What's with the overreaction?"

Soph pulled away from Lone momentarily in shock before she dove face-first back into the nape of his neck. "You... You wouldn't wake up! It's been so long!"

Soph's cries filled the bedroom and did little more than make Lone feel both awkward and sorry. It was also hard to focus when she was pressing herself against him so hard.

It was never a very good sign when a woman was crying, especially when it was your name being said alongside the tears.

‘'Been so long'? How long, exactly? I got beat up pretty badly but I’d healed myself too so it can’t have been, what, more than a few days, right?’ Lone thought.

He continued to hold Soph and gently pat her back as he waited for her to calm down.

It took some time, but after roughly ten minutes, Soph managed to settle her emotions. She got off Lone and scurried out of the room quickly before returning with some clothes and some soup.

"I-I'm not that good at cooking... I’ve, uh, I tried to do what you taught me,” she said as she passed the bowl of soup to him.

He brought it up to his nose and sniffed it. “Mushrooms?”

She nodded happily as she sniffled a bit. “Mmm. I-I know it doesn't look that good, but I promise it's really tasty! I, uh, only picked the mushrooms you said were safe and I tasted it myself earlier. Sorry it’s cold…" Lone couldn't help but smile at her.

He brought the bowl of soup to his lips and took a sip. 'Lacking in all flavour but her heart was in it. I give it a… hmm… seven out of ten. Could use more salt.'

He patiently enjoyed the meal of cold mushroom soup. He had an audience, after all. It would be rude to let her down when she’d clearly tried so hard.

“You went outside?” he asked. “To get the mushrooms, I mean.”

She nodded slowly. “Mmm. I teleported. I never stayed out for more than a few minutes. I, uh, didn’t spot any more goblins… I think.”

Lone wore a ponderous expression on his face but didn’t speak. Once he was done with his soup, he said, "It was delicious, thank you very much, Soph."

A smile bright and gorgeous enough to put the sun to shame appeared on Soph's face. "I'm glad..."

"Soph, how long was I unconscious for?" Lone asked as he sat on the side of the bed and started getting dressed.

Without hesitation, the girl scootched right next to him. She was practically sitting on his lap at this point.

Apparently, his extended state of unconsciousness had made her more physically attached to him, even more so than she already was.

‘Focus. Ignore the immensely beautiful woman who’s pushing up against you. She lacks common sense. Don’t overthink it,’ he ordered himself.

"I-It's been four days..." she said in a soft tone, sadness clouding her words. “I was… I was worried you’d never wake up.”

"Four days… Fuck I must’ve been exhausted or what, huh?” Lone laughed dryly. He finished putting his change of clothes on and flopped down onto the bed. “Is the dome still active?"

It only had a life expectancy of three days since it was still beginner rank. By all rights, it should have dropped and disappeared yesterday.

Soph shook her head, “N-No. It’s still there, uh, kinda…”

“How and what does’ kinda’ mean?” Lone asked.

Soph crawled up next to him and asked, “Don’t get mad?”

“I won’t,” he replied.

“Promise?” she pleaded, looking right into his eyes with those dead grey ones of hers.

He raised an eyebrow. “You saying this is making me think I should be mad. Just explain, yeah? You know I’m a reasonable guy.”

"O-Okay.” She took a deep breath then explained, “I-I've been giving it my mana... I'm really happy that you woke up when you did. Of course, I'm happy that you woke up in the first place, but I feel like the dome might explode soon."

"Well, you should have said that straight away. Still, you can funnel your mana points into my spell and keep it active? How does that even work?" Lone said as he got up and began travelling to the illusionary dome.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Y-You’re not mad?” she asked in shock.

Lone stopped to give her a funny look. “No. I said I wouldn’t be and if anything, I should be happy. You extended the dome’s lifespan by an extra day. That’s no easy feat. Hell, I don’t even know if that’s normally possible. I wouldn’t be able to do it for the elves’ dome, that’s for sure.”

"O-Oh… Sorry for being so worried… I just, I… I don’t know what I expected,” she giggled a little bit awkwardly as she matched his pace.

Soph then said, “I don’t really know how I can do it. I have a lot of mana points so I just thought about putting them in the barrier and it happened.”

"I definitely can't do that. Maybe it's to do with your unique skill, Mana Sensing?" Lone asked.

"Maybe. I never knew you couldn't do that. You always make me feel like you can do anything. You're really amazing, you know that?" Soph's undisguised admiration caught Lone off-guard.

"I'm not, really." Lone's voice clearly stated how much he felt that he wasn't deserving of Soph's praise. “I’m just some dude. I’m not anyone special or anything.”

Soph tilted her head. "But you left a proper life behind, unlike me, and you've adapted so well to this place. Most of the people that I met while I was still... travelling, were very bad at getting used to new situations. They hated that I was an immortal girl, so they always tried to burn me. Not once did a person just accept me and question their old way of life."

Lone ended up laughing lightly. "You think I've gotten used to this place?"

"You haven't?" Soph questioned.

"Not even slightly." Lone scratched his head as he thought of how best to explain what he meant.

"If you weren't here for me to talk to, I honestly think I might have gone insane by now. Granted, you do drive me nuts but in… other ways. Do you think a normal person like me can just endure being cut up and torn to pieces by a boar and goblins several times? It fuckin’ sucks, but I don't mind doing it if it means that you're safe. That we’re both safe. How to properly convey this… hmm... You're like an anchor? Certainly an upgrade from your typical Wilson, that’s for sure. Does that make any sense?" he asked with a sigh.

Shock filled Soph's blind eyes. "Wilson? And, uh, I never knew you were struggling... I-I just assumed-"

Lone stopped walking and put a palm out to stop her from saying anything further. "It's fine. To be honest, I probably am more adapted to our situation than most people would be. It's definitely lucky as fuck that I used to study engineering for a bit. Not to mention that my Creation Magic is an incredibly convenient skill."

Soph's cheeks were dyed red as she stared at Lone’s long fingers. "All of your skills are really useful. Mine are terrible... I was even supposed to get a new one but when we ranked up the system said I wouldn’t until two more ranks."

“That fuckin’ sucks. Oh well, at least we know for sure you’ll get them back eventually,” Lone said in as cheery a tone as he could manage.

“Uh, yeah…” Soph said awkwardly.

Lone noticed she was averting her eyes from him so he said, “What’s up?”

“Uh, well, your clothes are… tighter than I remember. I can see your muscles. They look. Nice? Sorry. Was that weird to say? I feel distracted looking at you,” Soph answered honestly, perhaps too honestly.

“Ah, right. Uh, well, I’ll go fix the Dome then,” Lone quickly said before leaving to do that. Soph trailed after him but at a distance and slowly.

Once he was done fixing the dome, Lone wiped the sweat that had formed on his brow. "Jesus, this thing really was about ready to explode. Dangerous shit. I'll keep a note of that for the future."

He then sighed mentally. ‘No level up… Maybe next time. I could use it since it’ll push the skill to the intermediate rank.’

"You swear a lot for a teacher," Soph noted with a cute frown on her face.

Lone chuckled. "Hahaha, you say that a lot and you're not the first person to tell me that. You, Zar and my sister. All of you seem to notice it, huh?"

"Who's Zar?" Soph asked as she fell into step with Lone and followed him back into their home, an awkward air still hanging around the both of them.

"Just some Canadian kid who I played a game with. Nice girl, but she always kept her feelings very close to her chest. Y'know, the type who says yes to almost anything, even if she doesn't want to do it. A crowd-pleaser I guess," Lone explained with a dismissive wave of his hand to add emphasis. “Quick learner, though.”

"'Canadian'?" Soph didn't recognise this word.

Lone sighed. He gazed at Soph with a slight disappointment in his eyes. "I told you about all of the countries only a week ago. Did you really forget already?"

"Sorry," Soph avoided his eyes as she apologised.

"It's fine. Not like it really matters, I'm just upset that my teachings didn't stick with you. Maybe I was a crap teacher after all?" Lone mused sarcastically as he stroked his growing stubble.

It had been two weeks since he'd last shaved but a fine-looking beard was starting to take root on his face.

Soph got a bit flustered upon hearing his words. "Th-That's not it! I just always get distracted by your fluffy tails... And muscles, apparently."

"Ah, right. Yeah, of course.” And the awkwardness was back in full force and with reinforcements to boot.

Soph's face went beet red. “Why does saying that make me feel hot? Do you know?”

“Nope,” Lone answered immediately. ‘It’s probably just her mortal body feeling attraction to the first man she’s talked to in centuries. Do not get your hopes up or gaslight her into thinking it’s more than it is.’

"It’s weird. I don’t… dislike the feeling. It’s warm and fuzzy and… It’s nice, y’know? Do you feel it with me too?” Soph asked almost absentmindedly like she was examining the feeling and trying to figure it out.

He stopped to look at her. To really look at her.

‘Yup, she could definitely have been a fashion model, super model, actress, or whatever else. She’s beyond gorgeous while I’m just… normal,’ Lone commented. ‘I definitely like her. I definitely get that feeling but what would the best answer her-’

He saw how she was looking at him with those oddly endearing dead eyes of hers and he sighed. “Yeah, I feel it when I’m with you too. You’re 100% my type, if that helps at all with your internal musings.”

----------------------------------------

Not too long after that weird yet very comforting conversation, Soph was on her own while Lone was busy training some skill or the other. "He feels the same, but why is he so... sad about it?"

She finished putting on her night clothes and just sat down on the bed in a bit of a daze. She held her face in her hands and couldn’t help grinning.

“I’m his type… Heheh…” She grabbed a pillow and hugged it. “Why does hearing that make me so giddy? It’s so weird…”

Quickly, her good mood was ruined by a throbbing pain in her mind. “Not now… You can’t come out!”

She curled up and fought back, waiting for the pains to fade. Things were finally going her way. Soph would not have all of this new, thrilling pleasantness be taken from her.

Not now, not ever.