Lone absorbed all of the energy in two of the mana orbs and most of the energy of a third to max out his mana points. Swind and Eolande had only been given ten mana orbs to fill and he was wondering if he should send them back out to fill more in a few minutes since Eolande, Lipsilk and Soph had rock-bottom or absolutely no mana as well.

Placing the dust of the two drained and now shattered mana orbs in his inventory, Lone put one of his hands on Soph's head and the other just over her heart.

Alisa, having just recovered from the blood's smell and getting used to the sight of it ominously laying there in its bucket, looked at the eight remaining mana orbs with fascination in her eyes. "Those aren't normal, are they?"

Lone laughed. His mind was focused on his Creation Magic to heal Soph, but he could afford some spare attention to answer his former student's question. "I designed them myself. I cheated a bit, but they're far better than regular mana orbs. They can store two-hundred thousand mana points with no gradual leakage and they require no prior experience to fill or drain."

Emma's eyes were sparkling. She didn't care about the particulars of magic like Alisa did, but a cool tool like this was bound to grab her interest. "That's awesome! Can't the best mana orbs in circulation only store, like, fifty-k before topping out? Even the ones out of circulation have a limit of one-hundred-k, and they even explode half the time since they are prone to stupid amounts of mana leakage."

Lipsilk raised an eyebrow. "You know a lot about illegal mana orbs, young lady."

Emma stuck out her tongue. "A girl's gotta have fun somehow. My dad was a duke of Milindo before he got offed, so I had a lot of fun in backdoor auctions."

Lone frowned. "I'm sorry to hear about Henry. He was a fucking cockhead, I won't deny that, but I heard the Seven Deady Sins went too far."

Emma shook her head. "It's fine. I don't resent Sloth for what she did. Apparently, Envy gave them the option to surrender. They didn't take it. My dad was partially responsible for your imprisonment and it was one of the reasons I left with George to find you. To say sorry."

Lone found himself wondering if she was trying to brush off a hidden trauma at her father's demise, or if she had genuinely come to terms with it after almost two-years of time passing. Maybe their relationship wasn't that good to start with?

"Consider your apology accepted." Lone smiled, forgetting the matter. "Everyone might want to cover their ears. Like Swind said, this can get quite gruesome."

With that said, he immediately finished his mental construction of Soph's mana organs and repaired them both at once with his Creation Magic. Eolande, Lipsilk and Swind had long since covered their ears. Soph was used to the sound, so she didn't bother. The teens? They were all practically rolling around on their floor or writhing in pain on their seats and screaming while Hazel had a bitter and wry expression on her face. She was thankful her unique skill had warned her of the torture that listening to Lone healing was beforehand.

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After that fiasco, no one had the energy left to marvel at Lone's unbelievable ability to fix crippled mana organs, Scott especially since he was already exhausted from expending his stamina to boost Ele'hunda's punch.

The kids and Lipsilk just sat in silence as Lone used a quill to masterfully write out eleven contracts with his own blood. Everyone's contract was slightly different. As a show of goodwill, Lone had even written up a contract for himself and Soph.

For the kids, theirs bound them to silence under all manners of circumstances in regards to their status as otherworlders and about the existence of their unique skills. Lone didn't care if they spread the word about Lone and Soph's unique skills, but for their own safety, he had forbidden it since it could lead them to trouble. They weren't allowed to talk about them or Eolande being from another world as well. The final thing they were never allowed to discuss was Garadia. The contract also stated that it would wipe their memories temporarily in regards to these subjects when asked about them so they couldn't give away information to a person that could detect lies. If they did start speaking on the subjects somehow, they'd be assaulted by a minor migraine.

Breena, Swind and Eolande's contracts were practically identical but worded slightly differently to account for some slight differences.

Lipsilk's was almost the same, except he was allowed to reveal Garadia's existence so long as he never revealed where she was. This was to give him some clout now that one of the only two XXX-rankers of the world tree had perished.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You'll have to use your blood to sign, or a part of your soul if you can manage that, hahaha." No one laughed at his joke. "I trust that everyone can bite their own finger, right? If not, I can make some painkillers and pierce your finger with a needle or something," Lone said.

Alisa's expression was the only one to harden at his words.

Lipsilk immediately bit his index finger and signed his name, making the scroll shine brightly before disappearing. Eolande, Swind, Breena, George, Scott, Hazel and Emma followed suit by using a dagger or a bite to draw some blood.

Soph tugged on Lone's arm. "Lone."

"Hmm?" he looked at her quizzically. Why was her face getting red and her expression bashful?

She extended her arm and offered her dainty hand to him. "Bite it for me?" she requested with a slight tilt of the head.

Eolande almost gagged. "Too sweet... I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Swind just shook his head while Breena sunk back into her master's shadow and tried to ignore the pink atmosphere developing between him and her mistress.

Lone sighed, but his face looked happy. He brought his mouth over Soph's index finger and bit it as softly as he could, drawing a tiny amount of blood.

Soph wore a beaming smile that just radiated purity, and once Lone drew away from her hand, she brought the injured digit to her own mouth and licking it a few times. She saw everyone staring at her judgementally. "It's a waste of saliva..." She then lowered her head in embarrassment and began writing her name.

'Good job! That'll show that Fairy slut! Look how happy Lone was! He loved that as much as we did!' Sophie was very proud of her meeker and more obedient self for following through with their combined scheme.

Lone had a sorry expression on his face, but he really didn't care. If Soph wanted to be affectionate with him in public, who was he to complain? He did it often enough with her when he was angry, so he didn't mind at all. Though he did have to admit that licking his saliva outside of a sexual situation was a little bit weird.

Alisa was looking between her fingers and Scott's mouth. Back and forth. Back and forth. She glanced between the two enough times to make her feel dizzy. Eventually, she mustered up the courage to bring her wobbly and shaky index finger to his mouth.

Scott looked a bit confused at first before he realised what she wanted. It was hard to read her at times when she always covered her face with her massive mage's hat. He put the slender white finger in his mouth and chomped down on it hard.

"Ouch!" she yelped in pain. Alisa yanked her finger out of his mouth and tears leaked out of her round eyes.

Eolande found this to be a perfect time to get revenge on Soph for her obvious provocation. It was different when Lone was being all lovey-dovey with her, but if she was the one instigating it, then Eolande knew it was just to fuel the fire of their rivalry. "Soph is used to being bitten by Husband. He sees her as a piece of meat most of the time. You shouldn't compare yourself to her, Alisa. It's normal for Scott to not know what to do when you shove a finger in his face."

Immediately, Eolande realised her mistake when Lone glared at her dangerously. 'Shit. I included him in my insult... One step forward, twenty steps backwards...'

"Eolande, we'll have words later when you give me this 'request' of yours that you mentioned this morning." Lone's voice was stern and there was no room to contest him.

"Yes, Lone," Eolande replied with none of her usual sass and she made sure to call him by his name. She was aware of her blunder.

Lone shook his head and sighed once again. He looked at his former student who was crying quietly as she nursed her injured finger while Scott apologised over and over again. He got up and grabbed her hand. "Minor Healing."

A warm green glow covered Alisa's blood-covered hand. Scott had really done a number on the poor finger. Lone took out a cloth and wiped away the blood before a pill appeared in his free hand. He gave it to the girl. "Eat this. It should taste nice, so don't worry about it tasting like the medicinal garbage from Earth. It's a painkiller."

Alisa hesitated for a moment before she popped the tiny capsule in her mouth and swallowed it. Lone nodded and got a needle out from his Dimensional Storage. It was one of the steel ones that Swind used to use before he graduated to alterion ones. He penetrated the tip of her now healed index finger before he let go of her wrist.

"There. Now you can sign the contract, yeah?" he asked with a caring smile on his lips.

Alisa was a little bit stunned that she couldn't feel even a numbness from her hand. It was like her finger wasn't punctured at all. She mutely bobbed her head up and down before signing 'Alisa Domitrovich' on the parchment. Once it had disappeared in a cascade of light, Lone went around healing everyone's fingers that hadn't already healed by themselves in the meantime, namely, the kids, Eolande, Soph and Swind.

"You even know nature magic..." Alisa has finally returned to her senses.

"I can learn anything that's been used on me or anything else if I practice it a bit," Lone answered as he took his place on the sofa next to Soph and Eolande once again and scooped Garadia up into his arms.

George glanced at Hazel. "Doesn't that mean that he can learn your holy magic?"

"You know holy magic? That's a nice surprise," Lone said.

"Yeah, though only beginner stuff. I can heal quite well, but I don't know, watching you has made me doubt myself," Hazel replied with a bit of a nervous laugh.

"Sorry. Showing off is a bit of a bad habit of mine," Lone admitted. "Anyway, now that the contract business is out of the way, we should relax, refill our MP and SP, and talk."

"Talk?" Hazel asked.

"You can read my mind, why are you even asking?" Lone chuckled.

Hazel blushed lightly. "Most people don't know about my unique skill, so it's a habit to act like it's not there..."

"That makes sense. I can play along." Lone reclined on the sofa and stroked Garadia's back gently, resulting in the dragon purring like a cat as she coiled up on his lap. "Tell me about your adventures, and tell me about The Academy. Let's swap stories."