Lone was surprised when a short elderly woman with long, grey braided hair that reached her hip appeared out of nowhere next to him.

She was about 4-foot-7-inches tall and she was wearing a messy loose robe that invoked memories of cultivators in Lone's mind.

Those were memories he'd rather forget honestly since it was a style that he felt only looked cool the first few times he had seen it and it quickly became tired when he realised every single character illustrated as a cultivator looked the exact same as one another.

"Uh, hi?" Lone said in an unsure manner. "Charlie said this was where a one 'Divine Cauldron' lived?"

"Charlie?" The woman scrunched up her brow in thought before she slowly nodded. "I think I know a Charlie. The fisherman from Port Desdu? I haven't seen him in over 100,000-years. He was dying last time I checked. Old age. It's a sad thing, really. He sold me the best tea leaves."

"Uh, I'm sorry to hear that," Lone replied.

"So am I. I'm also surprised he sent you since he's, y'know, dead. Soul shenanigans? It's always soul shenanigans. I wonder if he figured out how to become a ghost or something... Hmm..." The old woman held her chin as she seriously pondered over the subject.

"Actually, it was the Ancient Cr-"

"So why're you and the cocky child-sized fairy here? Charlie was a good guy. I trust he had his reasons to tell you where my little home away from home that is actually my real home so isn't a home away from home is?" the woman interrupted.

'... She's... strange.' The fact that Lone, of all people, was coming to that conclusion spoke volumes of this woman's personality.

"... Charlie assured me that if anyone could help me with some... soul related issues then it would be you," Lone explained a little bit vaguely, clearly not intent on attempting to correct the misunderstanding of which Charlie exactly.

The woman nodded. "I can see that. What's the issue, exactly? As much as it behooves me I don't specialise in divinations nor do I have a unique skill that lets me read minds. Those are so rare. Such a shame."

"Someone very important to me is experiencing her split personality forming its own soul. The process is extremely painful for her and I don't know how to remove the second soul and put it in a new body without it degrading," Lone explained. 'I'll touch on the topic of Rachel later. She's stable and I want to see if this woman can help Soph and Sophie or not first.'

The old woman frowned. "That's impossible. Ever heard of explosions?"

"I have?" Lone asked back in confusion.

"Well, that's what happens when a soul splits. Kaboom! Organs and blood everywhere. It's a rather messy affair, really," the woman said with a sad sigh. "Fun to document, dreadfully boring the cleanup."

'... She's on her own and even if she's a Divine - assuming Charlie was telling the truth... I can take her on if I need to even without any more daily uses of Mental Destruction left. I can take a risk here,' Lone decided on doing something rather risky.

"Well, since you're either mad, deluded or lying, maybe all of the above, please leave my marsh now. I'm not very fond of strangers. Well, not unless you want to donate some of the child-sized fairy's blo-"

"She's immortal. my lover... She's a summoned hero like me and she is completely immune to death. Assuming you actually are Divine Cauldron - the continent's most skilled alchemist, wouldn't she interest you?" Lone asked, interrupting the woman's strange request.

"Prove it," the woman answered with a demand.

"Sorry? Uh, how?" Lone had expected some questioning first but if he could skip some steps to get this ball rolling then he'd love to.

"You said you're a summoned hero. Prove it. Show me something unique," the woman replied with a surprising amount of patience for a secluded Divine.

"I mean, sure," Lone said.

He then raised an open hand and imagined a golden coin. A moment later, a minute portion of his total MP left him and the coin came into existence on his palm.

The woman rushed up to him and grabbed both his hand and the coin. "How did you do this? What unique skill is capable of this? Details! Now, boy!"

"... It's called Creation Magic. If it exists or if it can exist, I can create it," Lone explained.

"Excellent! Most excellent! Yes, you and the large fairy, follow me," Divine Cauldron ordered as she snapped her fingers, releasing a portion of her illusions so that Eolande could actually see her and Lone again.

"Hmm? This who we're looking for, Lone?" Eolande asked as she looked around in fascination as the illusions bent to the old woman's will.

Lone nodded. "I think so, yeah. Things look... promising. More promising than they did with the idiot triplets anyway."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Huh. Fingers crossed she doesn't get greedy then," Eolande whispered to him after reached his side.

"I may be old but I still have ears, you strange little creature!" the woman yelled without looking back. "Of course I'll be greedy! If he can just make things out of nothing then what you want will cost you a damned fortune! I'll finally get to be young again, ahaha!"

Lone smirked. "Well, at least she's honest. Can't dislike her for that."

----------------------------------------

After the three had walked for a few minutes they soon found themselves in a small cabin at the heart of the marshy island.

To call it cramped would have been a compliment. Bottles both filled and empty littered every shelf and even the floor while books and ingredients were haphazardly laying about in every open spot or poking out of broken cupboards.

There was no bed in the cabin but a single chair sat next to a large white cauldron that seemed to have been recently emptied.

"I don't entertain guests, really. That's kind of my thing, well, besides the alchemy. So find somewhere to stand... or hover, or just stay there. You might need to stand in the doorway, boy, what with all of the... fluffiness attached to your arse," the woman said as she rapidly began moving things she deemed important to harder to reach areas.

Eolande giggled as she found a nice corner to float in while Lone chose to, as suggested, stay in the doorway.

"Good, good. Now, we actually have a few options but I need more details first. Can I see the person in question? Is that possible right now? I don't do house calls so you'll have to bring them to me," Divine Cauldron explained.

Lone nodded. "Yeah, I can show her to you."

He quickly unsummoned Soph and held her in a princess carry.

Divine Cauldron puckered her lips in intrigue as she crossed the room and began examining Soph.

"Hmm... A heavy fever, rapid pulse, moaning from pain... If not for the obvious soul being birthed inside of her, I'd think she had a bad case of constipation. Without a doubt, her soul is splitting yet she still lives. Very interesting." The woman nodded and then returned to the depths of the room.

"You know, I actually worried about having my soul split a long time ago. That's why I have research on this topic and how I figured out a cure," Divine Cauldron claimed.

"Yeah?" Lone wore a hopeful expression. "How did that turn out? You're still here, so I'm guessing that cure works?"

"Oh, I never took it myself. A splitting soul means you explode. No two ways about it. I chose to alchemically alter the makeup of my soul instead of taking the risk. Are you a soul oracle? You're probably a soul oracle. Everyone's a bloody soul oracle. Try looking at my soul. That should entertain you while I find the right mixture of ingredients," Divine Cauldron suggested offhandedly.

"Well, if you don't mind... sure." Lone focused intently on the woman's soul only to find something very... odd.

Its colour was ordinary enough. It was a deep shade of teal - a colour he had learned was associated with a person who was very self-serving but who also tended to stray from doing evil deeds when possible though they were not above them.

Sadly, that was a rather common colour for a soul to possess.

What was strange with her soul, however, was its shape. "Is your soul genuinely shaped like a strawberry?"

"Oh, you really are a soul oracle. I knew it. I'm certain the whole 'soul oracles are rare' is a conspiracy theory to drive up the price of goat's milk. I don't know how those two are linked but I can feel it in my bones..." Divine Cauldron said with a stern look in her eyes as she held up a bottle of purple liquid like it was some sort of holy relic.

She shook her head and returned the purple liquid to where it was before and quickly resumed scavenging her hut for what she needed to help Soph, completely ignoring Lone's question.

Lone frowned. 'She's a master of illusion as well as alchemy. I can't forget about that illusion part. Maybe she hasn't altered her soul at all but is only showing me a very advanced illusion that Eolande can't detect?'

He wasn't sure what was the truth. 'It's not very important, true, but learning how to make a soul never have the chance of ever splitting sounds like extremely useful info... Still, I can't be greedy.'

Lone sighed softly. 'I have to trust her no matter how crazy she seems. She's only asking for a way to be young again. I can just make a potion for that. If that's not possible, I'll just recreate her body. That's basically a costless endeavour for a chance to save Soph, unlike that freakishly tall weirdo that basically wanted to kidnap her.'

"Ah, that's a shame," the woman commented.

"What is?" Eolande asked.

"I'm missing four ingredients. I guess that makes sense. I haven't made the Brew of Never Splitious Potalatis in a long time. Not since I experimented on those Wildburrow Bunnies. It was all consensual, by the way. I don't know if you guys are avid nature lovers or not, but I made the bunnies sign a form of consent and a waver. I still provide for their descendants to this day, lovely little critters," Divine Cauldron explained.

"Are the last ingredients hard to find?" Lone asked in worry.

"Oh, no, not at all. Two of them come from dragons, in all fairness, but dragons are pretty weak since they're so stupid," Divine Cauldron claimed.

Lone sighed. "Great. Well, can you get the materials yourself in a timely manner?"

"Of course I can," the woman answered. "Return in, oh... let's say... 2,000-years? I should have everything I need by then, give or take a century."

"Not happening. Just describe the ingredients to me. I'll create them with my magic," Lone said, his patience rapidly declining.

"Ah, I didn't consider that. You can certainly try. The magical energy in these particular ingredients is rather... high in density, however. I wouldn't want you to kill yourself by way of exploding mana organs," Divine Cauldron answered. "For a start, this island has no graveyard. I'd have nowhere to bury you."

"Give me some MP numbers to work with, please," Lone requested. 'Even if it costs hundreds of millions of MP, if it can save Soph and Sophie, then so be it.'

"Hmm... Off the top of my head? I think the item with the lowest amount of energy contains about 1-billion Mana Points worth of energy. These things are super rare and are generally used as generators to run magical item production facilities when they're found. At least that's how it was the last time I visited the mainland," Divine Cauldron claimed with a shrug.

Lone's face paled. 'Who knows how long my MP will get sealed if I go so over budget. That's only one item too... Looks like I'll need to collect them then... Damn it.'

"I can't wait for 2,000-years and I can't create them if you're being honest. Tell me what they are and where I can find them. I'll go gather them myself," Lone declared with conviction in his voice.

"Oh? Fantastic. Well, first, the corpse of an Elder Rock Dragon. It specifically needs to be about a million-years-old. Go get that then I'll tell you the rest. Making the cure for soul splitting is quite the process in and of itself," Divine Cauldron said in a tired voice. "I'd never touch the subject again in all honesty if you didn't have a realistically possible way to reverse my physical ageing. Believe it or not, people aren't fond of me digging up ancient corpses. I never did figure out why..."

Eolande chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Lovely. Well, it looks like we have the perfect chance to visit Infa's family."

"... So it would seem," Lone nodded grimly.