"One thing at a time," Eolande replied to Lone's question about Ancient Beings. She floated next to Sophie and looked at her Adventurer's Status Card with a knowing expression.
She pointed at it with her dainty index finger and said, "These crystals can only record so much information before they can't deal with it, which is why Sophie's Luck stat is being displayed as zero. If it can't determine the actual amount, it just assumes that the host doesn't have any. By the way, the cap for it no longer working is thirty-thousand."
"I see, that explains why it's different to the self-summoned status sheets... maybe I should start using my normal status sheet instead of the card from now on?" Lone asked himself. "Well, thanks for clearing that up, but what was that that you mentioned about 'Ancient Beings'? What are they?" Lone continued, circling back to his original question.
Eolande looked at Lone and smiled before she floated back to her seat and started reading her book again. "I'll tell you if you give me a kiss," she said with an alluring tone, clearly using some sort of illusion magic to bolster the appeal of the offer, even if she knew Lone wasn't affected by it in any way at all.
"I don't care that much. Let's go outside and spar a bit, Soph. You're more talented than I am with martial arts, so I'd like to learn from you if I can," Lone said to which Sophie happily nodded.
"You win. I was only joking," Eolande said with a small chuckle before she ended her illusion and put her book down. "Divine Level Beings are what lies above the Cosmos Rank. I don't know if any exist on Altros for sure, but Hades's father, Cronus, was a Divine level being. I believe Hades became one as well, either that or he died after he was betrayed by his brothers. From my understanding, you need absolute dominion over a law of some sort to reach that state of power. A type of energy, force, existence. It doesn't matter. It just needs to be yours entirely," Eolande explained.
"I see... and Ancient Beings?" Lone asked. 'So the being that helped me with the pure mana and gave me my meditation technique has full authority over pure mana? Interesting,' he thought.
"To be honest, I don't know anything about Ancient Beings," Eolande said with a sigh. She then picked up her book about the continent again and resumed reading it.
"Wait, what? You don't know anything?" Lone asked with his shock evident. 'Does she really know nothing? She's an accepted being which makes her loyal to me to an extent so surely she doesn't have a reason to lie... but really? Nothing?' Lone pondered.
"Only rumours," she said before she closed her book for the last time, apparently finished with it. She floated over to a bookshelf and slotted the book into it before she picked out a new one. This one's cover suggested that it was a romance novel of some sort from what Lone could see. He owned far too many books to remember the covers of each and every single one of them.
Eolande floated back to her couch and got comfortable again. "I know that there's a council here on Altros made up of the twelve strongest Cosmic Ranked Beings from this planet. Clicker is a member. I've heard rumours that a few of them are actually Divine Level Beings and that those Divine Level Beings answer to an Ancient Being. But these are all rumours that I heard back before I entered the Dungeon, so who knows if they're true or not?" Eolande said with an uncaring shrug before she began reading her new piece of entertainment.
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"Interesting," Lone said before he carefully stood up, making sure to not let Sophie fall since she was sitting on his lap as per usual. "Thanks. I'm sure I'll get the chance to verify those rumours eventually. I'm going to go train with Soph. If you see Swind before we get back, tell her to come find me or to just wait here. I need to talk to her," Lone said before he took Sophie's hand and walked towards the entrance of the cabin.
"Sure thing, Husband," Eolande replied to which Sophie snorted before she fully grabbed Lone's arm, and of course, several of his tails. This caused Eolande to giggle before she went back to reading her book.
Sophie and Lone then sparred for roughly an hour used wooden counterparts of their physical weapons and surprisingly enough, despite the huge stat difference, Sophie won nine out of the ten spars they had.
"You really are a genius when it comes to swords, Soph," Lone said before he downed a pale of water and wiped away the sweat from his brow using one of his tails.
Sophie grabbed that tail and gently held it. "I've told you to stop doing that with your tails. Use your hands," Sophie said with a pout as she stroked the golden, black, blue and purple tail with love and care.
Suddenly, a second tail swooped up and wiped Sophie's brow to clear away her own sweat. "They're like arms to me, so it makes no difference as far as I'm concerned," Lone said with a smile. He then swapped his sweat covered clothes with clean ones in an instant using his dimension.
"Ah! No fair! I wanted to watch you get undressed..." Sophie said with a face that made it look like she had been wronged.
"Hahaha, you've really changed over the past year. I like how bold you've gotten," Lone said with a laugh before he began petting Sophie lightly.
Sophie lowered her head while letting Lone stroke her hair before a sheet of crimson covered her face. "... I'm only bold around you..." she muttered.
Lone changed Sophie's training gear into a pair of simple hotpants and a top accompanied by a hoodie of sorts using his Dimensional Storage and Mana Creation. Although it sounded like clothing from Earth, it was actually styled in such a way that it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary in a regular City on Altros. "I know you are," Lone whispered before he kissed her lightly.
The two then returned to the cabin that could be seen not too far away in the distance. What waited for them in the living room was Eolande still reading the same romance novel from earlier and Swind who was busy knitting what looked like a woollen hat.
"You started knitting?" Lone asked in curiosity before he took up a seat with Sophie making herself comfortable on top of him, using his lap and tails as cushions and pillows.
Swind stopped for a moment to look up at Lone before she continued with her knitting. "Yes, Mr Immortus-ss. Although a struggle due to my one hand-ss, I find it relaxing and good to build my Dexterity-ss," Swind replied as she looped the thread, completing another part of the hat.
"I see. Well, I'm glad to have caught you. I'd like to accept you as a travelling companion and as a friend," Lone said without beating around the bush.
Immediately a multicoloured glow took a hold of Swind's eyes before it immediately rescinded, almost as if it had never been there in the first place.
"That will never stop fascinating me," Eolande commented while she continued to flip through the pages of her book.
"Thank you, Mr Immortus-ss!" Swind exclaimed with some emotion laced within her hoarse voice. Clearly, being accepted by Lone meant a fair amount to her. Lone nodded in response and spent the rest of the day training some form of magic or another.
Before long, the day had passed and Lone didn't see much point in delaying it any further, so he had gathered in front of the gate with his companions the very next morning. The gate that led to the final floor of the Dungeon, floor two-hundred. It was time for Lone and his group to beat this Dungeon, or so Lone hoped.