On the next day, Soph and Lone were happily strolling around the city as Soph very tightly held three of Lone's fluffy tails. "Um, is it r-really okay if I do this?"

Lone shrugged. "I don't give a fuck. Who's gonna stop you? Just go for it. I don't give a shit if they get a notification and get startled. You need more people to practise on, and here are hundreds of people. Go wild."

"Potty mouth..." Soph had a mildly worried look on her face, but she nodded very slowly regardless. "Um, okay... Soul Protection."

A man across the street suddenly dropped his kebab and started frantically looking around in a mild panic. Lone chuckled at that while Soph tried not to look at him.

"Soul Protection, Soul Protection, Soul Protection." Soph continued to invoke the skill as they walked.

Lone was honestly surprised that by the time they had reached the Soul Hall, Soph hadn't run out of mana yet. 'At this point, she must have used Soul Protection on, what, at least three-thousand people, right?'

"Hey, Soph, what level is it now?" Lone asked curiously.

"Um, let me check," Soph replied as she wiped some sweat from her forehead. "Em, the notifications say beginner-level-eight..."

"Wow... Seven levels in one day is a lot for you. Congrats, I'm proud of you," Lone honestly praised.

"Hehe," Soph giggled a bit shyly as she buried her face in a fluffy tail.

The apprentice soul oracle guarding the door to the Soul Hall who was also the one in charge of handling the line of potential customers, bowed politely in the wake of Lone as he let him and Soph inside.

Soph blushed lightly as she squeezed her fluffy kingdom a little bit tighter. "Um... I'm really not sure if I should have done that though... So many people were confused and dropped things..."

Lone nodded. "A bunch also recognised that it was you from your name and wanted to approach you. I pressured those people with some Ascending Aura thought so they stayed away."

"Ah... that explains the fluctuations in their mana... I was so focused, I never really noticed. Um, thanks," Soph said with an honest smile spread across her beautiful face.

Lone grinned and resisted the urge to pet her head. "Anyway, to answer your concern, yeah, you did need to do that. The sooner your new subskill is intermediate-ranked, the better. It's almost definitely going to upgrade from having a twelve-hour effect to a twenty-four-hour one, which will be infinitely more useful since the amount of times that you'll need to renew it on yourself and our friends will literally be cut in half."

"I-I see..." Soph replied, not fully understanding Lone's meaning. A heavy sigh ran out in her mind as Sophie began to explain to her in simpler terms why this was a worthwhile endeavour.

A door down the hallway opened and the dark-skinned master soul oracle and vice-head guider, Master Millisa, strolled through it leisurely as she held her hands behind her back. "I see your friend has been causing quite the commotion in the city today, Master Lone," she said as she closed her eyes and smiled while tilting her head ever-so-slightly.

Soph's face flushed while Lone just chuckled softly. "I figured you, of all people, would find out pretty quickly."

Master Millisa nodded as she wore a faint smile. "When several of the apprentices on leave suddenly rushed back claiming that someone named 'Sophie' had given them temporary protection of the soul, well then, it certainly became rather difficult to not know about it. Don't you agree?"

"S-Sorry..." Soph muttered as she covered her head in its entirety with one of Lone's five pure-golden tails.

Master Millisa smiled warmly. "Oh, please, I'm not upset at all, in fact, I'm very curious as to how you gave this 'Soul Protection' when you're not a soul oracle yourself."

"Ah, um, I can't tell you." Soph would never reveal information about her unique skills unless Lone specifically gave her permission to.

She wasn't the brightest nor most confident person around, but if there was one word that could aptly describe her besides adorable, it would certainly be 'trustworthy'.

Lone tapped his chin for a second before a devilish grin spread across his lips. "I can tell you, for a price."

"Oh? Please, do tell, Master Lone," Millisa requested.

"All of the soul skills you know." Seeing the hesitance in Master Millisa's eyes at his request, Lone sweetened the deal, "I'll even give you a Divine Soul Prison regardless of the one staked in our bet, though you have to provide the materials for it."

Master Millisa's eyes shined. "How could I ever refuse such a tempting offer? Master Lone, I accept."

"Great," Lone replied as one-hundred crystal-clear orbs appeared out of thin air in front of him. 'I probably only need five-million mana to make a Divine Soul Prison now, not ten-mil, but they don't know that, so I'll happily take twenty-mil from them.'

"These are... mana orbs? Not a brand I'm familiar with... Why have you brought these out of only the Primal's know where, Master Lone?" Master Millisa asked curiously.

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"Well, these are specially crafted by me, you see. Each one can hold up to two-hundred-thousand mana points and the MP suffers zero degradation when inside of them. I need you to fill them all up if you want a Divine Soul Prison. I can create things via mana. Ah, also, to explain Soul Protection, Soph here can create armour out of raw mana points, so she simply created an intangible armour around the soul. She was practising it to level it up earlier," Lone explained extremely casually.

Master Millisa had to forcefully stop herself from fainting. She held her smooth forehead and sighed grandly. "Okay, let's say I believe you, Master Lone. Is it safe for me to assume that you both possess a unique skill? Are you heroes of foreign nations? Do I need to warn the head guider of possible search parties that might come looking for you two?"

"Hahahaha!" Lone laughed. "Nah, we ain't heroes. Just get those orbs filled for me, and you'll have a Divine Soul Prison good to go."

"I see..." Master Millisa really wanted to ask several more questions, but she could already see that Lone wouldn't elaborate any further unless he truly wished to. "Well, Master Lone, I suppose I shall distribute these orbs to the journeymen and apprentices. I suspect it will take me at least a week to two weeks to have them filled up."

"That's fine. By the way, who out of the journeymen and apprentices have soul skills that none of the masters own?" Lone suddenly questioned.

"Ah, still insistent on learning every soul skill in a week? I did hear of your... deal with Master Lesher. Even though he displayed his skills to you, you weren't discouraged from trying to learn all of our soul skills in such an unreasonable frame of time?" Master Millisa asked.

Lone gave her a funny look. "But I learned all three of them?"

"You... You what?" Master Millisa could feel a headache coming on.

"Yeah, I learned them all. Soul Oracle Detection, Soul Tugging, and Soul Rooting," Lone said as it if were the most natural thing in the world. "Soul Oracle Detection was a bit of a bitch since it's kinda like breathing, so I had to practice a little to learn that one on my own, but that only took about an hour."

"May... May I see you demonstrate Soul Tugging for me, please?" Millisa asked with a slight tremble in her wise voice, a rare thing for her to display.

"Sure," Lone replied casually. "Soul Tugging."

Fifteen-thousand point of his mana left his body and scattered into the air as Master Millisa suddenly felt an urge to step towards Lone. She naturally ignored the urge since the five-percent chance to forcefully move the target hadn't triggered, but her face was dyed blue with shock.

Congratulations! The host's soul skill [Soul Tugging], has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

"This is... A genius... An absolute genius!" Master Millisa seemed to be over the moon and not upset that she may lose her bet with Lone, which pleasantly surprised the foxkin in question.

"Master Lone, I shall use a soul skill on you now to demonstrate it, if you don't mind. I must truly confirm that you can learn soul skills after only experiencing them once!" The dark-skinned woman seemed very excited by the prospect of Lone being a prodigy when it came to soul skills.

'Well, my 'genius' applies to all skills, not just soul ones, but this is good. I'm glad she isn't jealous or something. She must be really loyal to the Soul Hall,' Lone though as he nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

Master Millisa recollected her composure and bowed her head lightly, "Well then, I shan't hesitate, Master Lone. This may make you feel a bit uncomfortable, so please bear with it. Soul Shocking."

A host has attempted to use the soul skill [Soul Shocking] on you, but it hasn't affected you due to the host [Sophie Valdimirovich]'s [Soul Protection Stage 1].

The host has developed the soul skill [Soul Shocking].

Lone was happy that he'd earned the skill despite Soph's protection. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little bit worried about that disrupting his ability to learn any soul skills used on himself. Immediately, he checked the skill's information.

Active Soul Skill: Soul Shocking

A soul skill that lets the host put a soul in a mild state of shock.

When used on a sentient being, there is a 5% chance that the target will become dazed and confused.

Cost: 10,000 MP or SP Mastery: Beginner Level 1

'Not particularly useful for Rachel or Soph's cases, but it seems easy enough to grind,' Lone thought. "I learned it," he then announced.

Master Millisa smiled faintly. Lone had to acknowledge how talented this woman was at adapting to the absurd and then returning to her usual mysterious atmosphere. "Could you please show it to me? I know it probably won't work on the first try, so please, attempt the skill as much as you like on me until it does, of course, assuming that your mana and stamina reserves will allow for it."

The foxkin nodded casually as a smile crept up onto his face. "I'm pretty lucky, so It might trigger the first time for all we know."

"Hahaha, I look forward to seeing that," Master Millisa replied as she closed her eyes and patiently waited for Lone to start practising on her.

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

Congratulations! The host's soul skill [Soul Shocking], has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 6.

"Five tries... truly, you are rather lucky, Master Lone," Master Millisa said in admiration.

Lone scratched the back of his head. "I'd have prefered if it took way more, but I can always practice on monsters in the future," he muttered.

"Anyway, Master Lone, I am very thankful that you showed me your potential here. To answer your earlier question, no apprentice knows a unique soul skill, but two journeymen - Journeyman Jango Felt, and Journeyman Petra Heartclaw, both possess one skill that none of the masters own," Master Millisa informed him.

Stroked his chin lightly, Lone asked, "What about the head guider? I know you staked a chance for me to meet him in our bet, but don't I need to learn his soul skills regardless for me to win the bet in time anyway?"

Master Millisa chuckled faintly as she covered her mouth with one of her hands. "No, Master Lone. I am not so devious. There is no need. After all, Master Sel'pho - our head guider, knows no soul skills that the masters or those two journeymen that I just mentioned do not already know. He is a lot like you in that he is quick to learn soul skills, but he does not seek them out quite like you seem to be doing, Master Lone."

"Ah, okay. Well, I guess I'll be off then. Fill up those orbs for me. Once you've done that, I'll make you your Divine Soul Prison," Lone said as he took Soph's hand and inclined his head politely towards Master Millisa.

Smiling politely, the woman nodded back at him, thus ending their very fruitful conversation.