The host has developed the passive skill: Haggling Mastery.
Passive Skill: Haggling Mastery
A skill popular among street vendors and conglomerate employees alike.
When haggling, the host is 5% more likely to leave paying a price or being paid a price that they feel satisfied with.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
'Basic and beautiful. With how long my lifespan is, what with it basically being infinite, I do wonder... how much money will you save me? How many extra goodies will you earn me? Welcome to the arsenal, Haggling Mastery,' Lone smiled.
The host has developed the active compulsion magic skill: Trade Agreement.
Active Compulsion Magic Skill: Trade Agreement
A basic and extremely common application of the compulsion magic school.
When applied, it will weakly compel any trade participants to honour the agreed upon terms and the spirit of the deal.
Cost: 500 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Compulsion Magic.
"Compulsion magic? So that's what that was," Lone muttered.
Soph nodded. "Yup. It came from an enchantment on the room, by the way. I didn't mention it since all traces of it disappeared when you gave Tayson the money and the gem. I thought it was kind of indirect but I guess not if you earned a skill."
"I guess not indeed. That only leaves the resistance..." Lone said.
The host has developed the passive skill: Compulsion Magic Resistance.
Passive Skill: Compulsion Magic Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of Compulsion Magic.
Compulsion Magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
"Scary magic type. It's like mind control but more subtle. Glad I got introduced to the magic type in as harmless and peaceful of a way as possible. With the resistance, I should be able to feel more hidden attempts to influence me, so that's good," Lone commented.
Both Soph and Breena nodded at that. Not a moment later, Lone's girlfriend stopped walking and furrowed her brow.
"What's up?" he asked Soph.
She looked at him and replied, "Yulia just left the palace, got into a carriage, and is heading towards us."
Lone pursed his lips. "I don't mind that. I can try to get distortion magic from her via observation since it's indirect. No need for us to stop since she can feel your MP. Let's keep going."
"The issue is that two of the other four people that detected me are also heading towards us," Soph explained.
That made Lone frown. "Strengths and appearances?"
"S-ranked tiny woman the size of a baby with glowing wings. X-ranked male... lizard? His mana is in the shape of a lizard. Not a lizard person but, uh, literally a lizard that is the size of a dog. The shape kind of reminds me of a Komodo dragon if I remember your description of those accurately. Uh, he's wearing a tuxedo top," Soph detailed. "They aren't rushing and I don't sense any aggression but..."
"Best to be cautious. Okay. Teleport us straight to Guildmaster Brux. He'll forgive the intrusion and us using him as a potential shield if I ask to fight him. He looked very eager half a month ago," Lone said.
Breena added, "P-People with eyes like his w-would do anything to satisfy their urges. H-His urge was certainly to fight you..."
'I don't like the origin of that observation but I'm happy to hear you speaking up and involving yourself in the conversation,' Lone commented internally.
Not a moment later and Soph had grabbed the wrists of Lone and Breena before teleporting them halfway across the city to the top floor of The Adventurer's Guild in the fighter's district. At least, the top floor that wasn't concealed by magic.
A familiar grizzled old man with a wooden prosthetic leg glanced up from his mountain of paperwork at the sudden intruders. An unfamiliar man who Lone assumed was the guildmaster's advisor, Thomas, also gave them a curious glance.
"Gold-silver plate adventurer Immortus the Immortal, silver plate adventurer Sofia Vladimirovich, and copper plate adventurer Breena Redtail. You are not allowed in here. I must ask you to leave either by the means of which you entered, or via the door," Thomas ordered. "The guildmaster is very busy."
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"N-Now don't be so hasty, Thomas!" Guildmaster Brux said before Lone could reply. "They must have a reason for dropping in so suddenly. It's surely urgent given they didn't arrange a formal meeting. Was that teleportation that didn't require an anchor of some such? Incredible. Anyway, Grand Guildmaster Sarah teaches us all to look out for one another, especially for those at or above silver plate. Surely I can push back this work by half a da-" a powerful glare make the guildmaster don a depressed expression, "by a couple of hours, no?"
"... You will have to work overtime to make up for it and I will be writing a report about this," Thomas stated in a no-nonsense fashion.
"Of course, of course," Guildmaster Brux replied with a toothy grin. "Now, with that settled, to what do I owe the surprise visit? I thought you were in the Crimson Foxkin Clan, but if you can freely teleport, well, that explains a lot."
"You knew Sofia can do that. You're powerful. Everyone of a certain strength in this city likely knows about the massive blob of mana that appeared here as if by magic almost half a year ago, and again today," Lone said.
The guildmaster dropped his smile but still had a friendly atmosphere around him. "True enough. It's not every day you see a C-ranker violently explode an X-ranker before then ranking up right before your very own eyes. It's only natural to investigate such a person. So what does bring you here? I hope it is for what I'm thinking it is. If not, I'll be rather disappointed."
"Then you're in luck. I do wanna fight you. I have bit of an issue first though. Well, potential issue. An S-ranked woman with glowing wings about yea high and a sentient lizard X-ranker wearing a tuxedo sensed Sofia's mana and are both heading towards us. As is Princessling Yulia, but we know her. We don't know this winged woman and the well-dressed lizard. We felt it was wise to seek your knowledge on them and perhaps your protection too if they have impure motives," Lone explained honestly.
"I would advise you not call him a lizard to his face," Thomas suggested. "You just described Cuardaigh of the Tower, and Master Mezro'nan. The former is the spirit guardian for the city's local enclave of Starbound Magi. The latter is an independent master mage of both body fortification magic and earth magic. He is a Restodian Iglaform, not a lizard."
'So the perfect tutor for Scott and a fairy with a Irish Gaelic name. I studied dead languages for a while... Puzzle Locked Mind, do I happen to know what the word means exactly? Ah, I do. To search, or wanting to know more, curiosity, maybe? Dead languages are so conceptual, but that is what's beautiful about them,' Lone remarked internally, thankful for his perfect memory.
He noted that Thomas hadn't actually said the word 'Cuardaigh'. It was more like the system that was translating mentally for him knew that to be the person's true name and also knew Thomas was trying to say it in Western Human Common, so it did its thing and conveyed that to Lone.
Similar to how an Italian man called Giacomo could be known as James in English, but were someone to introduce him as James to Lone, he would instead hear the true name of 'Giacomo'.
'Very, very interesting. Everyone always comments on how difficult to say Sofia's surname is. I wonder what it actually sounds like when they say it without the translation effect?' That was a curious thought, but sadly, Lone didn't have infinite time to mull over it.
"Noted. Thank you for the information. So, guildmaster, we have a couple of hours before you have to work again and probably a dozen or so minutes until our curious guests come to question my lovely girlfriend. What's the plan? Think they have pure intentions?" Lone asked.
Guildmaster Brux grinned madly. He got up, completely unbothered by his fake leg. "They'll have to with me at your side. Let's greet them together. I want all distraction gone before I sink my teeth into you. I saw what you did to the prince, and you feel even stronger now than then. Nothing's getting in the way of this fight. Nothing."
'... He creeps me out,' Soph relayed.
'It's kind of endearing in a way, no?' Lone questioned.
Soph gave him a funny look. 'Trust you to sympathise with a fellow weirdo.'
'Hey! You have a gaggle of weirdos coming here just for you. I don't attract 'em, I can just recognise 'em,' Lone replied defensively.
Soph rolled her eyes but she still smiled warmly. 'Well, no matter what, you're my weirdo.'
Guildmaster Brux walked past the two of them and the silent Breena while saying, "You two sure are good at communicating without speaking. Must be young love. Well, my unplanned and soon-to-be heavily punished break isn't getting any longer, so come on, to the lobby we go."
Soph blushed while Lone smiled wryly. Talking telepathically probably did look a bit strange to outside observers.
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Yulia was excited. She had reached yet another bottleneck in her research. That wasn't particularly uncommon in her line of work.
The primary focus on her research was trying to find safer and more reliable methods for activating mana organs. The current ways to do so, while consistent, were very, very dangerous outside of the normal natural activations.
Almost everyone pursuing power wanted access to magic since without it, that big old MP stat on their status would remain forever at 0/0. A truly disheartening situation, and one Yulia wanted to make less common, so was her life's goal.
She was currently excited because not three hours ago she had detected a massive radiant sun-like ball of mana appear in the city's noble district, just by the examination-centred store: Mason and Sons.
Of course, Yulia could recognise this mana sun belonged to the ever so interesting Sofia Vladimirovich. The smaller but still impressive collection of mana belonging to Sofia's lover, while hard to notice next to such a powerhouse, it was also clearly present.
Yulia had to make preparations immediately. Sofia's unique magic was worthy of endless studying and Lone had such a brilliantly unique and clever mind that discussing her research with him had almost bore fruit a couple of weeks ago. She couldn't let them just leave the city without so much as a conversation first.
However, single-mindedly focused on her research as she was, Yulia was not rude. She knew there would be more opportunities to talk to the pair at a later date if they were in a hurry.
So, she chose to patiently wait for their business to conclude at Mason and Sons first to see if they would remain in Golden Pass City for a bit longer or if they would leave immediately.
It only took a few hours for her nail-biting wait to come to an end. They hadn't, in fact, left the city, but had instead started walking through it. With that in mind, Yulia immediately arranged a carriage and directed the driver to head straight for them.
'She'll know I'm approaching if she's paying attention but we're on friendly terms, so surely Sofia and Lone won't mind my company for a little while, right?' Yulia wondered as she looked outside of the carriage's window. Just then, the mana sun and smaller mana light disappeared, making Yulia deeply depressed.
Thankfully, they reappeared almost instantly but in the fighter's district this time. And not only that, but right in the guildmaster's room. 'They have business with Guildmaster Brux? Well, I need to tell the driver to change directions. Hopefully they don't teleport around all day... I'll never catch up to them in that case...'
Fifteen minutes later and she had successfully arrived at the strongest branch of The Adventurer's Guild in the city. However, as soon as she stepped out of the carriage, she was slammed with an oppressive and disgustingly baleful aura, threatening to push her to her knees. It wasn't being used at even a fraction of its full power but this aura made her want to be violently sick.
Just outside of the exit she could see two familiar faces in similar situations while everyone else just watched them curiously or with some concern. There were murmurings of how there was 'another one' who had pissed off Guildmaster Brux, likely referring to Yulia herself.
'What are Cuardaigh of the Tower, and Master Mezro'nan doing here? While this whole aura suppression is rather concerning, I would be lying to say it isn't satisfying to see the usually smug and haughty Cuardaigh sweating so profusely while standing on the ground instead of flying in the air. Master Mezro'nan looks mostly fine but that nervousness in his eyes is impossible to hide,' Yulia observed.
"Come in then. Let's get this over with. I don't have all day and you're running into my break time," the powerful voice of Guildmaster Brux boomed through the lobby of the guild out to the entrance where the three were.
The aura suppression lifted and Yulia almost passed out from the sudden weight being freed from her being. "That was... entirely unpleasant."
"I agree," Cuardaigh of the Tower replied, puffing up her cheeks. "Stupid old fogies telling me to come 'investigate the person with so much mana'. You can do it yourselves next time if this is what I need to go through."
Master Mezro'nan ignored both Yulia's comment and Cuardaigh of the Tower's grumblings as he got up on his hind legs, fixed his tuxedo, dropped back down to all four legs, and them lumbered straight into the guild rather gracefully.
Yulia didn't really have a choice now, so while she had no idea why she had been suppressed like that, she followed suit and entered the guild with a very angry and upset winged woman the size of a baby flying alongside her head.