"My Lord," Ceela called respectfully as she fell to one knee. "The foxkin and his presumed master have settled in Ranton, it would seem. I cannot say for sure how long they will stay in the holy city, but from my investigations, it doesn't seem likely that they will leave relatively soon."
Lord Griffset smiled as he stroked his oily goatee. "Excellent. What else? Have they been approached already by another noble?"
Ceela trembled in fear at the overweight lord's... excited tone. "N-No, My Lord. However, they have joined The Adventurer's Guild. Thus far, they have taken a commission to hunt down Blue Orcs two days in a row with some mild success."
"Hmm... Powerful. If those other adventurers are to be believed, the girl and this foxkin were only H-rankers... To defeat Blue Orcs... Indeed, the legends about the Golden Foxkin must be true." Lord Griffset sipped from his goblet thoughtfully as he sat in silence for a moment.
“M-My Lord, I know it is rude of me to speak out of turn, but should we really continue to pursue obtaining the Golden Foxkin when he is now a member of the guild?” Ceela asked, perhaps foolishly.
She was an adventurer herself, but she wasn’t anyone special like a beastkin from an extinct race who also happened to have nine racial traits.
She was just… Ceela. A somewhat useful human rogue. Disposable and easily blackmailable. If she could perhaps convince Ros’s city lord to stop all of his plans for the foxkin, however, a beating or two would be worth doing so.
‘This man doesn’t deserve to live, let alone have the ability to ruin others’ lives,’ she thought with gritted teeth as she stared at the noble’s feet respectfully.
“I understand your apprehensions. That lizard of a guildmaster certainly might be a bit more vigilant when it comes to one of his own. Hmm… I suppose we should put more effort into a more peaceful acquisition of the foxkin. Still, to speak up against me…” the man frowned.
“I-I apologise, My Lord! I merely wish to preserve your status and public image as much as possible. I hold no ill will. I would never,” Ceela quickly bootlicked to the best of her ability.
She did have the Persuasion skill so she hoped it would kick in here and spare her from a beating, or worse, having to spend the night with the disgusting pig sitting upon his fake throne.
"Wise. Very well, I've decided. Bring my boy Bastion with you to Ranton immediately. Have him spearhead the negotiations. While he didn't inherit my good looks, he has certainly inherited my intelligence. I trust he'll do well in the capital," Lord Griffset decided, seemingly happy to drop the matter of Ceela speaking out of turn.
She pressed her head to the floor, making her yellow bangs spread out a bit loosely. "Of course, my lord."
"Hmm, if I recall correctly, isn't the annual fighting tournament being held in Ranton this year? I heard the crown prince himself was participating... Acquire the foxkin before then. Wouldn't it be a perfect show of loyalty to His Majesty King Heidron if I can present to his son the perfect challenge of an opponent, no?" Ros's city lord rhetorically asked while Ceela remained rooted to the velvet carpet.
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Lone stretched as he woke up.
"Man, I feel fucking amazing. Is this what it's like to rank up? Well, it didn't feel nearly as good as this when I went from I-rank to H-rank. How does it work? Is it like Chinese cultivation or some shit? Expelling more impurities over time? Well, I'm not covered in black gunk, so I guess not, haha," he joked as he tried to get off his and Sofia's king-sized bed.
He tried, but as per usual, someone short and heavy was tightly hugging his waist and she was firmly attached to his tails. "Soph," Lone softly called, "it's time to wake up."
"Mmm... Five more floofs..." the sleepy woman responded as she yawned and tightened her grip on his cuddly limbs.
Sighing and smiling wryly, Lone stayed there and resigned himself to his fate as little more than a stuffed animal for a good 20 minutes until Soph finally opened her eyes.
"Mmm? Morning," she lazily greeted with half-open eyes.
Lone pushed her bangs out of the way and kissed her forehead. "Morning, Little Miss Sleepyhead."
Soph smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sorry... I know I sleep more than you, but, uh, it was all I really did for a really long time, so, um, sorry?"
Lone laughed faintly. "It's fine. It's cute, just don't go all lethargic on me."
"Lefa-wha?" Soph asked as she stumbled out of their bed and started dressing herself.
"Extremely sleepy, or very lazy," Lone answered as he got up as well. "Anyway, I was thinking that after today's lessons with Grimsley, we really hunt down some Blue Orcs to grind levels. You and I, not Sophie and I."
"Me?" Soph wore a confused expression on her face as she slipped into a light blue blouse. "But I'm useless in a fight..."
"You're not, but your confidence is pretty shitty. We'll work on that. If I'm not pushing myself to gain enlightenment or skill levels, then I can kill the Blue Orcs with very little effort, so it'll be fine," Lone claimed as he was finishing getting dressed - his final article of clothing being his boots.
"Um, o-okay, just, uh, please don't get mad at me if I, uh, if I do something stupid. I-I'll try not to, obviously, but, em, you know, mistakes, and stuff..." Soph clearly didn't like the thought of working on her attitude towards combat as much as Lone apparently did.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine," he reassured her in a warm tone.
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As one could predict, Soph only fought via her Teleportation. She used the tried-and-true method of teleporting next to the enemy then bringing them up into the sky and dropped them, crippling the Blue Orcs she faced.
Lone had expected this of her, and he was quite proud of her, actually. The day had been a success, and they were now returning to Ranton after another successful subjugation.
Naturally, Lone went over his skill and status gains to kill time as they travelled back to the city.
Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 9.
Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 10.
Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 1.
Active Lightning Magic Skill: Lightning Bolt A standard application of the lightning magic school where the caster focuses the element of lightning into a condensed bolt of pure lightning. Cost: 2,000 MP [-500 MP] Mastery: Intermediate Level 1
No extra effect, which, of course, upset Lone slightly, but a reduction of cost was always a welcome benefit if nothing else.
Status
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Name: Lone Immortus Sex: Male Age: 24 Level: 74 [+15] Species: Foxkin Rank: G Race: Golden Foxkin HP: 8,700/8,700 [+2,190] SP: 9,321/15,270 [+2,850] MP: 73/12,110 Basic Stats Strength: 849 [+302] Vigour: 1,527 [+285] Dexterity: 493 [+14] Agility: 417 [+32] Vitality: 870 [+219] Luck: 68 [+2] Bonus Stats Charm: 77 Charisma: 46 Magic Power: 1,211
'My level stopped rising after the fourth orc, so does that mean I've already hit the cap before F-rank? Hmm…’ That seemed more than likely.
It was helpful not having to worry about levels anymore, but he could only imagine how frustrating it was for a regular denizen of the world to deal with the level caps.
‘For me, I can keep getting more stat points thanks to Growth Accelerator. People like Sofia only get points when they level based entirely on their talents and what they have done since levelling,’ he noted mentally. ‘Or, rarely, a stat point or two outside of levelling. That all screeches to a halt at a level cap though. It’s like the world is saying ‘No more freebies. Get enlightened if you want to become stronger.’ Or something…’
Lone pondered on that for a moment more before his mind returned to his own strength.
‘It sure would be nice if there was a safe way for me to test exactly how much stronger I am than your typical G-ranker... Maybe I can fight a powerful monster that's leaps above the Blue Orcs in power that I can both test myself on and try to gain enlightenment from? Like, surely, I can skip ranks with my stats. The orc from yesterday was supposedly a C-ranker, after all…' Lone wondered.
Not long after, he and Soph were paid for their hard work, and they had their adventurer plates upgraded once again. Now instead of being iron plates, they were proud copper plates.
From here on in, however, increasing in plate rank would require huge contributions to the guild. Wooden to copper were the training wheels of the plates, supposedly.
On their way back to the Amberbark Inn from The Adventurer's Guild, Lone decided to stop by at the library and register both himself and Sofia.
For Sofia, since she was a human, it cost her five silver coins. Lone's entry pass, however, was set at an astonishing 25 silver coins to obtain.
Were it not for that fact that he could make gold coins and had a decent supply of them already, perhaps Lone would have ignored the library for now.
Instead, he paid the fee, accepted his and Sofia's library passes, and then he spent the next four hours covertly reading books as quickly as he could and then making duplicates with his recovered mana via Creation Magic.
Soph chose to nap on a cushioned chair in that time or read some of the children's books which were told mostly via drawings. Why she chose those, Lone had no idea. Maybe reading wasn’t interesting to her and the illustrations made it somewhat enjoyable.
Due to Lone's lacking knowledge of the books he was trying to duplicate, as well as his small mana reserves, he was only able to copy four volumes before he decided to wake up Soph from her latest nap, and the two then left.
'That was great practice, plus, I got a lot of levels in Reading Mastery. Well worth the 30 silver,' Lone said to himself in thought as he checked his notification log.
Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Reading Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner level 5.
Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Reading Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner level 6.
Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Reading Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner level 7.
Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Reading Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner level 8.
"Mmm, Lone?" Soph called questioningly as she tugged on the man's sleeve.
"Hmm?" Lone glanced down at his blind companion curiously. "What's up?"
"What's going on over there?" she asked as she pointed towards a group of 30 people that were surrounding a single man stood atop a wooden box. "I can't hear them, but I can feel that everyone's really excited. Their mana is jumping around a lot."
"You can feel that?" Lone was very interested in this, and less so in whatever the people over there seemed to be invested in.
Soph nodded. "The colour of the mana. It reacts and changes in response to really strong emotions. I, uh, I told you that, right? Um, you turn all pink when we, uh, do, uh, y’know… that..."
Lone chuckled softly at Soph's bashfulness while he tried to hide his own. "Yeah, you did. Thanks for the reminder though… Anyway, let's go find out what's going on over there, why don't we? I can kinda hear them a little with these big fluffy ears of mine, but it's a bit hard to make out what's going on since there's, like, eight convos going on at the same time all around us."
"Mmm," Soph replied with a light bob of her head.
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"Indeed! I, the great and powerful polyma- nay! Allmage, Muradon, top graduate and honoured alumnus of The Academy, shall be participating in the upcoming annual fighter's tournament of Milindo!" the man stood atop the soapbox announced.
The gathered crowd issued a variety of 'ooh's and 'ahh's in response.
"I've heard of him. Supposedly, he slew a dragon on his own. It was an infant, yeah, but that kinda thing could easily wipe out a country like ours if it really tried!"
"I heard the same thing! Did you also hear that he discovered a lost B-rank dungeon on the border of the Monster Continent? He cleared it in two hours to make sure it was safe, then he informed the nearby kingdoms of his heroic feat!"
"That's nothing! I've heard he's even had to reject several princesses and powerful adventurers who want his hand in marriage! He keeps saying that his heart is only for his true love who he's yet to meet!"
The corners of Muradon's mouth inched upwards into a smirk. 'Plants are so useful... I like these ones. Maybe I'll keep them unlike that useless bunch from the Free Nations' Alliance...'
"The Academy? Doesn't that mean he's really good at magic, Soph?" a foxkin with an absurd number of tails and a peculiar fur colour asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
The blind human girl by his side shook her head. "U-Um, he has some magic, but, uh, even you have more, Lone."
"Huh. So he's weak," the foxkin said a bit softly in disappointment.
Muradon frowned. "Who are you to blaspheme my fame, demi?" He turned to the girl called 'Soph' and said, "Please, control your friend better. Or perhaps he's your slave? Regardless, I do not take kindly to slander."
The foxkin known as 'Lone' bowed his head politely. "Sorry, I spoke my mind out of turn. Forgive me. I'm just a stupid beastkin, so I didn't know any better."
Muradon flinched a little at the foxkin's mature response. "V-Very well. I am magnanimous, so I shall overlook it, but control yourself in the future! Not all are as kind as I."
"Wow. If that were me, I'd 'ave slapped that demi upside ‘is ‘ed."
"Me too, but ah'm no mage and don't know no fancy magics."
"Ain't every day you see a beast with so many traits. I wonder 'ow strong he is?"
"Who knows? Maybe 'e'll compete in the tourney?"
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Soph held Lone's arm as they walked away and looked up at him in puzzlement. "Why'd you do that?"
"Getting in the way of a swindler is a fast way to get yourself killed. I'd rather humble myself to him than antagonise him. Anyway, this tournament looks interesting. Wanna go investigate it a bit before we head home?" Lone asked as he smiled down at Soph gently. “We’re stuck in the country for half a year anyway as is. A tournament could be a fun distraction.”
Soph nodded her head excitedly. "Mmm! I wanna know what kinda prizes there will be!"
"So do I. It sounds like the perfect setting for me to properly test myself in a safe environment, doesn't it?" Lone asked rhetorically as he changed their direction.
They were now heading towards the only area that Lone thought an annual country-wide tournament could possibly be held - Ranton's Grand Colosseum.