"He definitely said that he was staying here, didn't he?" An anxious voice found its way into Lone's ears as he and Kyuubi left the Palace of Rest.

Looking towards its owner, he saw the redhead from yesterday, the one who was at the front of the line outside of the Soul Hall. 'Is she looking for me? She's awfully focused on the ground, isn't she?'

Continuing to pace back and forth as she bit down on her fingernails, the woman mumbled more words to herself. "What if he has a really high commission price? I only brought so much money with me, but he seemed filthy rich, so maybe he doesn't need money? What if he asks for my body? Well, that guy at the Soul Hall was clueless, so maybe he can't even help me too? I mean, he's a master soul oracle, isn't he?"

Lone had heard enough at that point. Approaching her and coughing loudly, he asked, "Are you looking for me?"

Snapping her head up, anxiousness filled the redheaded woman's expression. "No? Um, I mean, yes?"

'Well, this is certainly entertaining, now isn't it? This should serve as something to kill my tension at least a little bit,' Lone decided as he smiled. "Well? Yes or no?"

"Um, yes? Yesterday you said that you were a soul oracle, right? Master Millisa herself saw to you, so you must be, right?" the woman asked.

Lone nodded. "Yup. That I am and that she did. Do you need my services as a soul oracle or something?"

"Maybe? Um, how much do you charge?" she replied cautiously.

Lone shrugged. "Right now? If I can actually solve your problem? Let's say a contract. All I really want would be a favour from you in the future. Or, if you've got any dwarven gizmos or maybe rare books, those'll do as well. If I can't fix your problem, a golden coin for my time'll do. I hardly need money, but I can at least give you my professional advice for that much gold. I don't wanna waste my time."

Relief washed over the woman's face. 'He's a bit eccentric, but those're pretty reasonable requests,' she thought. "I have a tome on healing magic. I heard it was really rare because the Healing Association hoards all things related to healing magic whenever they can."

"That'll do perfectly," Lone replied as he stroked Kyuubi's fluffy ears a little, which resulted in the sleeping girl purring like a kitten.

"Great!" The redhead was quite clearly excited.

"So, what's the issue?" Lone asked.

"Um, it's my brother..." She got Lone to follow her as she explained exactly what she needed a soul oracle's services for.

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

Lone was led to an inn. It wasn't particularly big, nor was it particularly fancy, but something about it felt homey.

'This place kinda reminds me of the Amberbark Inn... I wonder how Phil and his family are doing? I should go visit them one of these days. That'll have to wait until Soph gets better at teleporting, I suppose. Milindo's pretty far away. On that topic, I wonder if her Teleportation skill will evolve once she reaches master-level-ten?' Lone thought as he followed the redhead up a flight of stairs.

She had explained on their way here that her name was Emilia Firefoot and her brother and she were the son and daughter of Baron Firefoot respectively. Baron Firefoot ruled over a very small barony in the neighbouring human-run country, Drefdol.

Emilia's brother was an A-ranker and a silver-plate adventurer. On an unranked quest for the guild, he ran into a corrupted Lesser Lich. While he managed to defeat it, the monster was still able to corrode his soul and injure him severely.

"He's barely alive right now. I've been spending almost all of our savings of spiritual herbs, but they barely do anything to help," Emilia said as she held back her emotions. Just thinking about how hopeless things were made her a bit teary-eyed and filled her with a sense of hopelessness.

"Herbs can help with fading souls?" Lone asked in surprise.

Emilia gave him an odd look as they reached the floor she and her brother's room was on. "Yes? Wouldn't you know that as a soul oracle?"

Lone remained stoic as he fluffed Kyuubi's tail a bit. "I'm self-taught. I don't know much about herbology, to be honest. It doesn't interest me that much, but I'll be sure to look into it now that I know that some plants can help souls."

'What an oversight... Maybe I can help Rachel with some herbs? Hell, there might even be some herbs that can help me move Sophie's soul safely. I'll look into this later,' Lone decided internally.

"Self-taught?" Emilia was beyond surprise. "You must be a genius... I heard that soul oracle skills are incredibly hard to learn, even for the most talented soul oracles."

Lone shrugged. "I only know a handful of skills. Hopefully, one of them can save your brother. Or at the very least, keep him alive."

Emilia's face stiffened at Lone's brutal honesty. She was happy that he wasn't giving her any false promises, but his bluntness certainly left much to be desired.

She took out the key to her room and opened the door for Lone.

Walking through it, he immediately saw a handsome young man with shoulder-length red hair laying down on one of the room's two single beds. There was a wet towel on his head and his face was beet red as he panted lightly.

"A fever?" Lone asked.

Emilia nodded as she closed the door behind her and started replacing the towel on her brother's forehead. "He's had one ever since he fought the Lesser Lich. If he wasn't an A-ranker, he'd already be dead. That's what a healer told me, anyway."

"I see," Lone replied as he cracked his neck. "Well, no time like the present."

He found a chair and placed it next to the bed. Sitting down, he gently laid Kyuubi on his lap then he put his palm on the young man's chest.

A few moments passed before something unexpected happened. Emilia couldn't see it, but a few tendrils of purple smog escaped her brother's body and entered Lone's open palm.

'Darkness Essence? Was the Lesser Lich a servant of Darkness or something?' Lone wondered.

The next second, his question was unexpectedly answered. 'Ah, one of my spawn marked this boy to be a reincarnation vessel, it would seem, Master.'

'Darkness? You're awake?' Lone asked in mild shock.

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'Would you look at that, so I am,' the Primal teased. 'I can't talk for long. Sky has sensed my awakening and will no doubt demand that I help him restrain Void. I missed you, Master. Did you miss me too?'

The coyness in Darkness' voice sent chills up Lone's spine, especially since the Primal was imitating his voice. 'Honestly? A little bit. It gets a bit lonely when the voices in your head suddenly shut up.'

'Ahaha, is that so? I see you've grown a funny bone or two since the incident with Little Purp, hmm?' Darkness asked jokingly. 'Anyhoo, Sky just barged his way into my pyramid. I'll tell you that the boy in front of you should be fine. He'll recover on his own now that the Darkness from my follower's spell is gone. Also, Radiance should be waking up shortly too.'

'Is that so? Thanks. Say hi to Sky for me,' Lone replied. He hadn't expected Darkness to be so straightforward, but it was certainly a nice change from the Primal Essence's usual attitude.

Lone reinforced the man's soul up to the E-rank since it had fallen all the way down to I-rank and was close to disappearing. For safe measure, he used Soul Binding as well to anchor his soul to his body firmly, just in case.

Congratulations! The host's soul skill [Soul Reinforcement] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's soul skill [Soul Reinforcement] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 9.

Congratulations! The host's soul skill [Soul Binding] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.

'Oh? A rank up? It has been levelling up each time that I bound Rachel's soul back to her body, but it stopped at intermediate-level-ten. I wonder why it ranked up now? Maybe because I used it on a different person? Oh well. I'm sure I'll have plenty of chances to test that theory over the next year or two,' Lone concluded before he pulled up the skill's information. As usual, when it came to his skills ranking up, he was hopeful for a new effect.

Soul Skill: Soul Binding

A skill unique to soul oracles. It allows the user to anchor a soul strongly to a body for 48-hours [Up from 24-hours].

[New!] When used on a target, the host will now be informed if it was necessary or not.

Cost: 1,750 MP or SP [-250 MP or SP] Mastery: Advanced Level 1

'Oh? So I still have to use it to find out, but it'll let me know if the soul wasn't tightly bound to the body already? That's mildly useful. Still, the time-extension is great,' Lone thought as he got off the chair and wrapped Kyuubi up in his arms once again.

"It looks like he'll be fine. I managed to find the source of his injury and eliminate it. He should be right as rain if he's given time to naturally heal. Come find me again in two days if he doesn't get any better," Lone said as he glanced towards Emilia Firefoot.

"... Really?" Emilia wasn't wholly convinced. After all, this was her brother, so she found it tough to believe Lone at face value when nothing had changed visually with her brother's countenance.

Lone shrugged. "What? Were you expecting a flashy light show or something? I'm not sure about other soul oracles, but my soul skills aren't very showy."

"... You promise that he'll be healthy again? He... He'll open his eyes again?" Emilia asked with a near-infinite amount of hope in her tone.

Lone couldn't get upset at the woman since he could clearly tell that she was only worried about her brother. 'She'd be like this no matter who healed him, wouldn't she? She must really love him...'

"Yeah. I promise. Anyway, gimme the healing book now, or give it to me when he's up and about. Do whichever you're most comfortable with. I don't care either way." It was entirely possible for her to skip town with her brother and the book, but Lone honestly wasn't invested enough in regards to a  single tome of healing magic just to pursue his reward any further than this.

"Ah, no, um, here," Emilia said as she picked up a well-decorated grimoire from a side table. "It didn't help me at all, so please, take it. I'm glad you spared me some of your time today, Master Lone."

Lone nodded as he pocketed the book. "Make sure to spread how I healed your brother when he's all better. Mention my price too. A rare book, a dwarven gadget or machine, or a contract for a future favour. I'm a fan of free promo."

"Yes! I'll be sure to," Emilia Firefoot responded enthusiastically. 'If brother gets better... Maybe we won't lose the barony!'

Emilia had her own concerns that stretched beyond her familial love, but regardless of that, Lone left the inn and made his way towards the Merchant's Guild.

Stroking his daughter's chin, Lone mumbled, "I feel a lot better now. I guess seeing someone being so earnest helped calm me down, huh?"

Kyuubi purred in response as she wriggled about a bit. "Haha, you're such a sloth, Kyuubi. At least when you were in your fox form, you still walked about."

Out of curiosity, as he played with Kyuubi, Lone checked his status.

Status Name: Lone Immortus Sex: Male Age: 27 Level: 2,580 Species: Foxkin Rank: SSS Race: Ascending Foxkin HP: 79,240/79,240 SP: 240,290/241,920 MP: 546,183/657,280 DP: 64,320/64,320 WF: 1,500/1,500   Basic Stats Strength: 10,615 Vigour: 7,924 Dexterity: 9,293 Agility: 10,042 Vitality: 24,192 Luck: 884 Secret Stats Charm: 564 Charisma: 116 Magic Power: 65,728 Divine Power: 6,432 Rage: 45 [-15] Control: 955 [+15]

'Sky has Darkness hard at work, I see. I certainly feel more mellow than I did when I woke up. I really have to wonder why Void warned me about Darkness... Is he really planning to dick me over somehow?' Lone asked himself as he entered the Merchant's Guild.

He was here for one reason and one reason alone, obtain the deed to the property that would soon be the home of his new store.