The trip, surprisingly, had gone without any incidents after that encounter with the Half-Orcs, and there was now only one day left until the ship was scheduled to reach the port owned by the Crimson Foxkin Clan.
Lone was surprised that Sabrina, the Catkin Captain, hadn't found him to tease him again. In fact, he hadn't seen her once since the beginning of the journey. As it happened, being the Captain of a trading Galleon wasn't an easy task, so Sabrina was busy day-in-day-out. It wasn't like she didn't want to play with Eolande and Lone, it was just impossible currently with all of her duties.
Lone was standing at the bow of the ship with Sophie at his side and Kyuubi at their feet. The family of three were watching the ambient sun slowly setting. The scene was almost picturesque.
Leaning against the railing, Lone relaxed his eyes and sighed. "I wonder how long it will take us to reach The Academy?"
"Does it really matter?" Sophie asked as she lightly stroked Kyuubi's head. "I'm happy no matter where we go, so long as I'm with you."
"I guess it doesn't really matter, no. I'm just really eager to learn magic from professionals. There's only so much Gilbert can teach me over the communication orb and I have so many maxed affinities, but I only know beginner levels spells for all of them except for lightning and illusion magic." Lone sighed again.
He felt weak. It wasn't that he didn't know how powerful he was despite his situation and level, but he couldn't help worrying about what would happen if he was stripped of his Mental Destruction skill.
That was his biggest trump card and it worked against almost everything he had met so far, the exceptions being George Leston the Second, the final bosses in Clicker's Dungeon and Clicker himself.
Although Lone did have quite a few powerful attack skills and the three intelligent elements inside of his body, all of whom could increase his strength exponentially if they possessed him, he didn't feel like they were adequate enough for his goals.
His targets were Gods! Lone needed the strength to deal with people like Clicker and other chosen like himself, such as Bradros, the Grey Elf that had robbed him. Lone couldn't allow his previous hubris to blind him.
He was aware that there were people like himself and Sophie who had been granted powers by other people. If he couldn't figure this out from Clicker's words and from this supposed 'Ancient Foundation', then Lone would have had to of been an idiot.
And even though he was training his hardest to level up and master his current skills, it still wasn't enough! He had no one that was willing to teach him any powerful skills since usually, they were heavily guarded by their owners and no one wanted to teach others their valuable skills unless they trusted them a great deal.
And even though Lone learnt skills exceptionally quickly, he had to see them first in order to do that. Unless needed, most people weren't willing to display their skills since each and every one was a valuable secret not to be exposed on a whim.
So all that was left, in Lone's opinion. to grow stronger quickly, was The Academy. A safe haven for the magically gifted. So long as one had talent, they could learn magic from this mage's Utopia.
Now, even though The Academy was the most fitting place to learn magic if one was talented, it didn't mean that it was the only magic school in existence.
In fact, even Milindo had a magic academy, but it was nowhere near as good as The Academy was. From Lone's knowledge, The Academy was the home of no less than twenty SS-Ranked Wizards, Magicians, Sorcerers and Witches!
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It also had five SSS-Ranked Elders, all of whom were absolute masters of one of each of the basic elements, water, air, earth, fire and space. Finally, there was the Headmaster whom Lone had mistakenly thought was an SSS-Ranker, but was now sure held the power at least an X-Ranker or above like Eolande.
"The world is a lot bigger than we first thought. We're actually really lucky considering how far we've gotten without tripping up too badly. If it wasn't the whimsical and unpredictable Clicker, but another being as strong as him, maybe they would have killed all of us..." Lone solemnly stated.
Sophie frowned. She tugged at Lone's arm, making him turn his head towards her and before he could ask her what she wanted, he found his lips to be sealed by hers. A few seconds of bliss later, Sophie slowly pulled away from Lone and smiled sweetly.
"You worry too much," she said softly. If Lone wasn't mistaken, he could have sworn he saw Kyuubi nodding her head slightly in agreement.
"What do you mean? Isn't it natural for me to worry about my family and friends when our lives could end at any single given moment?" Lone asked with a downcast look. He was a bit upset that his lover wasn't understanding the point that he was trying to make.
"Lone, I didn't tell you because you've been busy training and things have been peaceful for us recently, but I unlocked another one of my powers ever since we became C-Rankers," Sophie said with a prideful and uncommonly excited expression on her cute face.
Lone gaped in shock momentarily. "You're right... I completely forgot since I was so engrossed in exploring this new power Clicker gave us..."
Sophie shook her head and held her hands to her chest. "It's okay. I understand how busy you are, and it didn't matter until now, but if it will help you in feeling better... would you like to know what power got unsealed?"
Grabbing Sophie's hands in a swift and practised motion, Lone anxiously asked, "Of course I would!"
Looking joyful and eager to show off her new ability to Lone, Sophie immediately summoned the table for her new skill.
Legendary Magic Skill: Minor Time Control A skill unique to the host, Sophie Vladimirovich, and it cannot be used or learnt by any existences other than herself. By consuming 100% of the host's mana, allows the host to reverse the flow of time by up to two hours. Can only be used once every year and will seal the host's mana for a month after use. Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Upon looking at the white screen, Lone was exceedingly happy. "This means that if anything happens to one of us, you can make it so that it never occurred in the first place?"
"Mmm. But just like most of my other skills, I never trained it when I was alone for all those years, so it's not a skill I can use freely. B-But if anything happens to you or Kyuubi... I can save you!" Sophie said with emotion and passion in her voice. Luckily they were currently alone at the bow of the ship since it was nighttime and the ship was anchored.
Lone scooped Sophie up into his arms and began spinning around while laughing. "This is great! My lover has such a powerful ability! Hahaha, now if only you could get your immortality back, then we'd be unstoppable!"
Sophie knew Lone was exaggerating a bit since they couldn't possibly counter every situation that might happen to them, but she felt happy and relieved at his depression having disappeared.
"I-I'm getting d-dizzy," Sophie mumbled. While she enjoyed being embraced by Lone so fervently, spinning around and around and around and around was not to her liking.
With a blush on his face, Lone put Sophie down and scratched his head. "Sorry. I got carried away. Thanks, Soph, that really cheered me up, hahaha," Lone said with a toothy grin.
The two happily held one another with the lazy Fox, Kyuubi, sleeping at their feet while they stared at the stars above, fully enjoying the peaceful evening. However, an ear-splittingly loud bell being rung disturbed them and a voice echoed across the entire ship.
"MONSTER HORDE ATTACK!"
Lone clicked his tongue. "To dare interrupt my evening with Soph, well, good. As it turns out, I have an intense desire to reach B-Rank as soon as possible so Soph can get another power, so I'm glad the experience is coming towards me," he said with a bloodthirsty growl.