"Hey, whatcha doin', Jango?" a young woman who appeared to be in her early to mid-twenties asked the man sitting on the floor in front of her as she held her hands behind her back and bowed her torso to get closer to his eye-level.
Jango - a High Elven man in his mid-thirties - opened his eyes and sighed heavily. "I distinctly remember telling you not to disturb me as I meditated, Journeyman Petra."
The woman stuck out her tongue and laughed softly. "Stop calling me 'Journeyman Petra', then maybe I'll stop bugging you so much."
Jango lightly scratched his long elven ears as he shook his head. "You know that I can't do that."
"Yeah, yeah, 'hierarchy is very important in the southern world tree' blah blah blah. You're not at the world tree anymore, besides, how can you even remember that when your memory was wiped when you left?" Petra asked as she put her hands on her hips and looked at the handsome man in front of her with a mockingly scornful gaze.
"Only critical information is wiped, not our entire memories. I've told you this at least sixteen times already. Besides, why are you so interested in me? Go bother someone else. Master Dilroy likes talking, so please give him your time, not me," Jango requested, fully expecting her to ignore him.
As Petra was about to reply, one of the doors to the small courtyard they were in opened up and two people entered unassumingly.
Naturally, these new faces belonged to Lone and Soph. Completely ignoring Lone and his good looks, Petra stared at Soph and mumbled, "Wow. She's so beautiful. I didn't know it was possible for us humans to be so good looking." She held her cheek and added, "Maybe I should put more effort into my make-up?"
Lone smiled as he rested a hand on Soph's head. "She doesn't use any make-up."
Petra wore a surprised expression. "Really? Wow. I'm so jealous! Who're you guys anyway?" she asked as she held her chin and cocked her head to the side, making her incredibly long braided black pony-tail flop about.
Jango respectfully bowed his head. "I, Journeyman Jango, greet Master Lone."
"Nice to meet you too. High Elves are rare outside of the world trees, so I didn't really expect to meet one once we left the eastern world tree. Which tree are you from?" Lone asked.
"I hail from the southern world tree, Master Lone," Jango replied respectfully as he kept his head bowed.
Petra's eyes opened wide. "You're the new master soul oracle? Nice to meet you! I'm Petra Heartclaw! I've heard about you before. I'm actually planning to apply to The Academy next week as well! Man, I really wish Headmaster Erion was taking me in as his personal disciple too, ahaha."
"Stop speaking so disrespectfully to Master Lone, Journeyman Petra!" Jango demanded as he raised his voice.
Lone waved his hand dismissively. "I don't really care how casual you are with me. Anyway, I came here to give you two a proposition."
Both of the journeymen settled down and listened carefully to Lone's next words. "Master Millisa told me that you both have a soul skill that no one else in this Soul Hall owns, so I'd like you to use them on me as a demonstration. If you can't target people with them, then repeatedly use your skill so I can see it. In exchange, I'll give you any one thing you desire, regardless of what it is."
Jango bowed his head once again. "I require nothing from you, Master Lone. I am more than willing to demonstrate my skill for you. All I ask is that you see me in a favourable light and perhaps spar with me on the odd occasion. All I desire is to learn and to grow."
Petra snickered. "You're so stuck up, Jango." She practically bounced over to Lone and Soph before she crouched to be at eye-level with the latter. "I wanna cuddle you! You look so squishy, like my little sister! Also, uh, Master Lone? Can you tell me how old you are?"
"Sure. I'm twenty-seven, why?" Lone asked in response.
Both Petra and Jango looked shocked upon hearing that. "Wow! Jango refuses to tell me how old he is. Some demis are so sensitive about their age. I'm twenty-three, but I'm already a C-ranker and a promising soul oracle! Hopefully, I can get into The Academy too. I'm pretty awesome for a human huh?"
Lone smiled faintly. "Yeah. Do you actually know any magic?"
"Yup! I know a bit of earth magic. Want me to show you?" Petra asked.
"Could you? I'll answer any further questions you have about Soph and myself. Soph, you don't mind if she cuddles you, right?" Lone asked his short and adorable companion.
"Um, no... just, uh, be gentle..." Soph replied meekly as she hid herself behind a tail or two.
"So cute!" Petra exclaimed.
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Lone was quite happy with how his meeting with Petra Heartclaw and Jango Felt had gone. As he and Soph were returning to his wondrous emporium, he went over his new skills and skill level-ups.
Active Soul Skill: Soul Linking
A soul skill that lets the host link their soul to other souls. Current limit: 1 link.
Linked souls will always know the other linked person(s) location and condition in relation to their own soul.
Cost: 40,000 MP or SP (80,000 MP or SP to unlink a previously linked soul) Mastery: Beginner Level 1
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
This skill was amazing as far as Lone was concerned. He planned on linking his or Swind's soul to Rachel's to know if and when she ever fell into an emergency during the rare times that Swind or someone else wasn't by her side watching her. Of course, he'd also take some time to try to get Swind to learn this skill himself so the two of them could be tethered to her.
'I wonder how Jango learnt a skill like this on his own... Still, he had a lot of mana points for a B-ranker. He might have been using his SP, but he didn't really look like the athletic type. I guess he was an elven prince or something before he chose to live as a soul oracle?' Lone privately wondered.
He then looked over the soul skill that he'd obtained from Petra.
Passive Soul Skill: Soul Growing
An extremely rare and hard-to-master soul skill that passively increases the size and rank of the host's soul.
Current growth rate: One soul size every 6 months and one soul rank every 6 years (Up to a limit of Very Huge B-rank).
Current state of the host's soul: Small C-rank.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Lone wished that he hadn't spent two-and-a-half hours diligently feeling Petra's soul as she actively tried to cultivate the skill into motion. Supposedly, at the advanced rank, an active effect was added where you could supply the skill with MP or SP to rapidly increase your soul's growth rate, but in its current state, it was practically worthless.
'Maybe this skill would be amazing if I didn't have Soul Reinforcement and a viable way to store mana, but right now, it's so fucking useless for both Rachel and Sophie,' Lone thought as he physically sighed.
Soph squeezed his hand and looked up at his face. "What's wrong?"
Lone shook his head. "Nothing, I'm just wallowing in my disappointment. Keep being your adorable self and I'm sure I'll be as right as rain in no time."
"U-Um, I'll try!" the golden-haired and green-eyed girl responded enthusiastically, cleansing Lone's spirit.
Now with the soul skills out of his mind, he moved onto his new magic-related ones.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Earth Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Earth Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
"It's been such a long time since I last got hit with earth magic... I wonder if I can use Infa to farm this?" Lone asked himself rhetorically and in a hushed tone.
He immediately moved past his pondering and checked the skill he'd acquired from Petra that was responsible for his Earth Magic Resistance levelling up.
Active Earth Magic Skill: Advanced Rock Bullet
An advanced application of the uncommon [Rock Bullet] Earth Magic skill.
Cost: 10,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Naturally, it didn't sound like much, but a single rock bullet of Petra's had treated Lone's flesh like paper. Perhaps his unbelievably hard bones would have stopped the magic-infused spikes of earth, but his skin and muscles were clearly no match for the things.
'It's kinda scary how willing she was to actually use it on me. Like, she didn't hesitate at all even when Jango advised her not to go along with my request for my own safety. I guess he knew that she, a C-ranker, had a magic powerful enough to hurt a triple-S-ranker like myself? To be fair, it was incredibly slow to my eyes, so I could have dodged if I felt in danger, but it's kinda refreshing meeting an elf with no prejudice against other races,' Lone said to himself internally as the doorbell to his shop rang, announcing his and Soph's arrival.
"Frangila, I'm back," Lone announced.
"Ah, Sir Mr Immortus!" Frangila quickly bowed her head then said, "You have a guest. They arrived shortly after you left, but, um, well, they refused to leave, and Saturn didn't attack them, so I told them to wait up in my and Annie's room."
Lone raised a curious eyebrow. "A guest?"
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Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, deep in the heartlands of the Monster Continent, stood a grand city that wouldn't pale in comparison to any other on the continent of Teresta.
Some of the city's buildings were majestic and exquisite in design, while others gave of a very primitive and powerful feeling. Some were almost no different from the buildings that humans and demis designed and lived in, while others were the size of mountains.
Inside one of the more regular buildings which almost resembled an inn, a cloaked figure that was rather... tall, could be seen sitting by itself at a corner table with a mug of foul-smelling juice in its only remaining hand - a hand with scales on the underside and feathers on the backside.
"Did you hear how Origin has awoken recently?" a large bear with dark red fur who was wearing nothing but a belt asked the monster sat next to it - a woman with a human's body except for her snake head.
"Who has-ss-n't heard about that? His-ss roar could be heard all across-ss the continent," the snake-headed woman replied.
"Right, right, but did you also hear that he's apparently building up his power to destroy the barrier trapping us in here?" the bear asked as he stroked his furry chin.
"What? No. I had no idea... Do you think he has-ss the power to des-ss-troy this-ss eternal pris-ss-on of ours-ss?" the woman asked as she hissed at the bartended and accepted her poisonous beverage.
The bear shrugged as he finished his meal - a feral monster steak. "I certainly hope so. He's the only Ancient we have in here trapped with us. Sure, there's the Royal Stars, but half of those Divines gave up hundreds of thousands of years ago. If thirty full-power Divines can't smash that damned one-way barrier, then I don't know if even an Ancient could."
From across the room, the cloaked solitary figure laughed. "Then you clearly haven't seen an Ancient."
"I beg your pardon, Long One?" It was a tradition on the Monster Continent to address those whose name you did not know by a single physical distinction of theirs, hence why the bear addressed the cloaked figure as 'Long One' due to their apparent thinness and tall stature.
Slithering across the bar, the cloaked figure stood in front of the bear and the snake-headed woman. Beneath the hood, the two of them could see a horribly disfigured face covered in both scales and feathers.
Glancing back and forth between themselves, they both had no idea what species this person belonged to, but they could tell that whoever they were, they were on the cusp of becoming a Divine.
"What do you know about Ancients-ss?" the snake-headed woman asked with a challenging tone.
"What do I know?" the figure asked as it removed its hood. What was revealed, was a face filled with both hate an unbearably strong longing for the past. "My father was an Ancient."
The bear's face shifted questioningly. "'Was'?"
"Yes. Tell me all about this 'Origin' person. I'll tell you about my father in exchange," the monster who could have only been Itchy the Unhcegila, adoptive daughter and family to the recently deceased Ancient, Yhtmagobla, demanded.