Vice-headmaster Merkel was right. A month passed and Lone had been perfectly shunned by a good portion of the staff while almost every single human student ignored him entirely or actively avoided him.
His Wondrous Emporium suffered as well. Rumours had gotten around amongst the nobles of Lone's vicious duel with Professor Fredley, and coupling that with the Church of the Primal's official stance on what had happened at Mystopolis' cathedral between Bishop Samson, the Seekers and Lone, well, only the hardiest of blacksmiths and collectors who were unafraid of public opinions came to purchase anything anymore.
So, on that front, Vice-headmaster Merkel was absolutely correct, however, did that make Headmaster Erion wrong? Not even slightly.
Lone couldn't care any less how people viewed him. His days of conforming to the views and beliefs of others died when he, Soph, Kyuubi and Breena fled Milindo. If anything, he was happier than ever having his days no longer interrupted for petty duels where he stood to gain very little.
So what if he wasn't able to learn some more unusual and peculiar skills like the ones he'd gotten from Reinheart? If he really wanted more skills, he could just file for a class transfer and get them straight from the teachers. He was perfectly happy learning the magic skills that he had already signed up for.
Naturally, on that topic, Lone had learned a utility magic skill during his class on that school of magic over the past month.
Active Utility Magic Skill: Clean
Allows the host to use the magic essence of utility to clean an object perfectly (maximum object size is 4-cubic meters).
Allows the host to clean a surface perfectly (maximum range of 10-meters in all directions from the spell's target).
Cost: 250 MP Mastery: Expert Level 3
It was cheap but surprisingly useful. After he'd gained the ability to clean surfaces once it reached expert-rank, Lone had suddenly found himself becoming much more or a germaphobe when it became so simple to clean literally everything he came in contact with.
Swind was supposed to be in his utility magic class as well, but, of course, he had been very busy helping rehabilitate Rachel.
She could now walk on her own for an hour before she would get tired and she could hold conversations, though she still had yet to recall anything about who she was nor who The Wanderers were.
Swind was making a point of telling her everything he knew about her and her relationships and he'd even gone so far as to contact Matriarch Lossa through Lone's glasses to have her talk directly to her granddaughter to fill in the blanks that Swind was unable to.
Of course, no one was pressuring Rachel to act like who she used to be. Everyone had come to accept that it was more than likely that she would never again be the bubbly and easily embarrassed girl with a temper hot enough to match her fire magic skills. They had hope but no uncalled for expectations.
Currently, Lone was sat at the second floor of The Adventurer's Guild with his sister's adventurer group, French Toast, and with Soph. Across from them, chugging a pint of dwarven beer, was Grand Guildmaster Sarah.
Breena was busy acting like Master Dilroy's daughter to - in her own words - help strengthen Lone's bond to the Soul Hall since he hadn't visited even once in the past month. He had no reason to since Rangah still hadn't returned from the Bright Tigerkin Clan after all and she was the only master that possessed a skill he didn't own yet.
Eolande was taking lectures on water magic and its two subschools of magic, ice and snow, from Professor Akayuri who had approached her and very politely asked for her to become his disciple since she was a strong candidate to become the next Advent of Waves, which was why she wasn't present.
And lastly, Swind, Rachel, Infa, Kyuubi and Garadia were all in The Glade.
"So, will you take the quest?" Sarah asked Lone.
He frowned. "You got permission from The Academy to give Soph and I, Hazel, Alisa and Emma a temporary leave of absence?"
Sarah grinned. "Sure did. Erion and I go waaaaaaay back. Hell, he used to have a thing for me before I shot him down faster than a... Well, fast than a thing that shoots things down. The look on his face was fuckin' priceless when I told him I like pussy just the same as he does."
Hazel grimaced. She wasn't able to read the minds of Divines most of the time. It was only when they let her that she could, which was something that she had learned only today when an endless stream of thoughts regarding Sarah's... vivid past sexual experiences was delivered to the young girl's mind.
'Does she know about my power? It wouldn't be a surprise. She's a Divine for one, and I kinda do act on the thoughts I hear a bit too much... The ability to read minds is a lot more believable than seeing the future or travelling through time, after all,' Hazel thought.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
"TMI," Lone said with a sigh. "Well, so long as it's only an SS-ranked quest, then sure, I can manage. You said a sin would be coming?"
"Yup. Wrath. He wanted to meet ya. He's been interested in ya ever since he found out how fond of ya Greed is. Speaking of the tiny critter, she may or may not come along too. She's on a job right now with Lust, so if she does come, she'll meet ya lot halfway there. So, ya in, or not?" Sarah asked.
Lone scratched his head. "I'd rather go on an S-ranked quest since that's safer for the kids, but I can't really refuse since it's about a mass-kidnapping. It might have something to do with slave traders, after all."
"Thought as much. Yer a cocky asshat, but you've got a soft spot for the innocent, huh?" the muscled woman teased.
Lone smiled. "Someone's got to."
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"What world are you from?" a short boy in his early teens asked Lone as soon as they had met outside of Mystopolis' walls.
The boy - or Wrath as he was called - had literal fire for hair. His shoulder-length hair burned brightly and was almost too hot to even look at without having your face sweat. His eyebrows danced warmly along with his amber locks while a frown covered his face.
Lone glanced down at the boy's chest and asked in return, "You don't happen to have fiery hair on your arms and chest too, do you? I dunno if you're old enough for it to show up in some other places too that I personally wouldn't be fond of becoming bonfires."
Anger flared up on Wrath's expression. "I'm over 2,000-years-old! I'm an Archfire Spirit, Jackass."
Lone smiled and extended his hand politely. "Nice to meet you, 'an Archfire Spirit'. I'm Lone."
"Why you!" Wrath's hair and eyebrows grew in a burst of flaming fury.
'Immediately they're off on the wrong foot. Well, they're both stupidly arrogant, so I guess this is par for the course...' Hazel sighed.
Lone laughed in Wrath's face. "Anyway, you asked what world I was from, right? Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but we're on Altros right now."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it! You never said you were a hero to Envy, Sloth and Greed, but I can tell. You, you, you, you, and you," Wrath said as he pointed at Lone, Soph, Hazel, Alisa, and finally Scott before continuing, "You all smell like you're from another world. Your fire isn't from here. So, what world are you all from? You reek of the same place."
A serious look entered Lone's eyes. "Heroes don't all come from the same planet?"
Wrath shook his head. "Not all summoning spells and rituals lead to the same world. Some do, but a vast majority of the ones owned by the various human royalty differ from each other, and every group of demis with the means to summon heroes has a completely unique way to do it, meaning they all connect to different worlds."
Lone scratched his chin. "I never knew that... That's helpful info to have. Well, I guess I can tell you since I already know what your special power is. We're from Earth."
"Ah, the world crippled by a false god and pointless religion. It must have sucked to have grown up in a place that had its magic stolen from it," Wrath sympathised.
Lone shrugged before he rested a hand on Soph's lovely head of golden-blonde hair. "This little angel killed God, so I bet it won't be long until Earth starts getting its magic back."
Soph's cheeks turned bright pink. "I... I didn't really do anything... It was Sophie..."
"That's a bit dangerous. Without a Cosmos Being there to filter the magic and guide it, weird things might start happening," Wrath said as he narrowed his eyes and held his chin in thought.
"Cosmos Being? Also, what kinda things?" Lone hadn't expected to meet someone so interesting and knowledgable when it came to heroes, but maybe he had found the perfect person to help him understand how to return to Earth.
Of course, he had no plans to go back if it was a oneway trip. He had made a life for himself here on Altros as the leader of a powerful wandering adventurer group, and he also still had that promise with himself to punch the gods that had brought himself and Soph into this world right in their faces, but besides that, what else did he have as far as goals were concerned?
He wanted to raise his two daughters and he wanted to continue exploring steamforging, blacksmithing, and magic, but beyond that, nothing really. 'Fingers crossed. If I can return to Earth and make, like, a space tunnel to it or something, then I'd like to show all of the people that bullied me and made fun of me that I'm a motherfucking nine-tailed badass now... I also still kinda want to tell Dad that I don't hate him anymore...'
"A Cosmos Being is what us spirits call people between X-rank and triple-X-rank. As for dangerous things... Well, loads of things could happen. Best-case scenario, non-sentient creatures turn into monsters and the world's inhabitants - humans for Earth, right? - they might mutate into other human races or even new species that can use magic. Worst-case, the magic builds up in concentrated areas, turns into dungeons, then those dungeons start leeching the planet to death if they aren't taken care of," Wrath said uncaringly.
"Oh, lovely," Lone replied sarcastically. "On this topic, do you know how to return to the world you were summoned from?"
Wrath snorted. "If I had, I wouldn't be on this backwater world anymore. Seriously, how can a world be so... stuck? It has so much magic and even a bunch of technology, but still, there hasn't been a single impressive advancement of any kind in a million years apparently."
Lone chuckled. "Blame it on the Church of the Primals. Religion is famous for not liking progress."
"I... I think it's actually to do with a reliance on the system..." Alisa weakly said.
Wrath grinned. "I like her. She's smart, unlike you," he said as he stuck his forked tongue of fire out at Lone.
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Itchy bowed down as respectfully as she possibly could before the grand monster of bones that towered over her like a titanous god.
"Hmm... You say interesting things, Daughter of Ythmagobla," the booming voice of the Ancient monster, emperor of all of the monsters living within the Great Barrier, echoed out throughout the utterly enormous palace made of bones.
Itchy didn't dare to raise her head to look at the Ancient being that could kill her, a crippled XXX-ranker, with but a thought.
The palace of bones rumbled as a decision was made. "Very well."
Thousands of bones of all shapes and sizes flooded towards Itchy and submerged her entirely. She screamed from her very soul at the unbelievable pain as her body violently reacted to whatever was being done to her.
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A full week passed before Itchy's voice became hoarse and whatever had been done to her was completed.
"Daughter of Ythmagobla, in respect to my fallen brother, I welcome you into my service. Enjoy the Divinity I have granted you. Be warned, however, a daughter of my brother you may be, but a liar I will not tolerate. Pierce the jail that imprisons us, then as you wished, I shall eviscerate the ones who thought themselves more than they are solely due to defeating the injured denier that was Ythmagobla," the Ancient monster said.
Itchy felt her new leg, her new arm, and lastly, her new tail, all of which were now made entirely of foreign bones and which pulsed with a strange energy. "I shall not disappoint you," she answered hoarsely.
"Very well. On my authority as the 6th Ancient, I shall dub thy Divinity and grant thee the title, Divine Mutant." In response to the Ancient's decree, the stars shifted and every Divine became aware of the presence of another Divine entering their fold.