Lone: The Wanderer

Book 3: Chapter 80: Worthy Bravery and Take It Or Leave It

Lone watched on with a groggy Breena and an absolutely fuming Gilbert as Daragon Shimmerscales left the Spirit Pavilion with his XXX-ranked siblings in tow.

'So now I have an unfriendly Divine's protection for the next decade or until Zel makes his move. Don't know if it was worth it, honestly,' Lone thought.

He glanced at Gilbert and said, "So, the system agreed to your self-chosen surname? I noticed you signed as Elksworth."

Gilbert slowly opened his mouth to reply, "I didn't know his name until today."

"What?" Lone replied in shock.

"I've been his great grandson for almost four hundred years and only today, as a guildmaster of The Adventurer's Guild with no ties remaining to the clan, did I learn his name. It's always been 'Patriarch Shimmerscales' or 'Divine Dragonsworn' until your unique magic forced him to sign in his true name. What a bastard," Gilbert cursed.

'Well, Divine Dragonsworn would have worked. Zel didn't sign his contract with his true name, but he's bound all the same. Don't want to take from this moment though. Gil deserves to be upset. That guy was a bastard, though a useful one,' Lone thought.

He scooted around to be at Gilbert's front before hugging the man. "It's good to see you by the way. Let me and Soph check if Timos's magic is still lingering on you and then let's catch up. It's been over two months since we last met. We can go on a quest together too if you can get enough free time away from your duties."

Gilbert's expression softened greatly. He returned Lone's hug and replied, "I'd be happy to catch up but a quest is unlikely. I need to coordinate with Matriarch Lossa and the local elders regarding the accommodations of whoever he gets to stay in his place to keep an eye on you."

Of course, Divine Dragonsworn couldn't attach himself to Lone for a full decade. He had claimed he could, if required, traverse the distance between his clan and this one in but a moment at a great cost. He would do so for any emergency that required Divine intervention in the next decade. Even for non-demonic situations.

Lone figured the man was just that desperate for his healing powers.

An X, XX, or XXX-ranker, would be assigned to watch over him at all times who would inform and essentially summon Divine Dragonsworn as needed. That position would be changed once every six months and Lone was to bind them in a contract forcing their cooperation and secrecy every time.

Divine Dragonsworn had assured him the involved dragonkin would sign and consider it to be an equal deal, not interfering with his 'blood magic'. Lone saw no reason to correct the man's assumptions about his True Contract Magic.

"Right. That's fair. Well, I'll be here for a while. I have no planned two month holidays for the foreseeable future. Cunt or not, your great grandpappy did agree to our offer, so that's a small weight off of my shoulders. The plan is to train, consolidate my power, reach A-rank, and just generally try to make the most of the time between now and when Zel makes a move," Lone said.

Gilbert smiled sadly. "That sounds horrible. If you need anything, let me know. I should really go though. I was pulled from my work for this discussion. I'll make time to visit you every third sun. How does that sound? What would you call third sun where you from, by the way?"

'Soph, can you check him for me? Any magic you can detect?' Lone asked telepathically as he replied, "That'd be Tuesday. You guys use the Emperor Constantine method of starting your weeks on Sundays. It took a bit of time to adjust to but I like it."

Gilbert's expression softened. "How interesting. I need to leave now before you interest me even more and make me regret it."

'I can't feel anything, no,' Soph responded.

"Gotta get yourself a Thomas," Lone commented.

Gilbert wore a strange look on his face. "A who, sorry?"

"A clone that constantly bitches at you to do your job. Guildmaster Brux in Golden Pass City has it. 'It' being a skill that made a clone of him to do that among other things," Lone said.

He then grinned and jogged behind Gilbert before he pushed his back softly, making the man stumble forward. "I'll shut up now. I'm making it worse."

Gilbert sighed as he steadied himself. "I swear, in a few centuries we'll be viewed as basically at the same age and, if anything, I'll be your junior in rank no doubt, but if you keep acting like a child, I'll keep viewing you like one."

"You keep acting like a dad, I'll keep treatin' ya like one too. Now get outta here. I've got a fat frog to speak to," Lone replied. "Also, real quick, Soph says you're fine. She can't detect any of Timos's magic on you."

"That's a relief." Gilbert shook his head as he walked off though he was smiling. He also muttered something so low that even Lone's advanced hearing couldn't pick it up.

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Lone stretched his back and cracked his knuckles over his head. He then let out a short sigh before approaching Breena who was now laying down on the couch he'd summoned for her. "Feelin' better, champ?"

She turned her head a bit to look at him and replied, "I feel weak..."

"Because you are. You'll get your strength back shortly tho- Ah. You meant on a grander scale," Lone corrected himself.

Breena averted her eyes in shame. "I couldn't h-help you... Those beings had to in-instead..."

Lone squatted down next to her head and placed a hand on her hair gently. "Breena, you did far more than anyone else in your position would have been able to. Do you have any idea how proud of you I am?" R𝒶Ɲ𝙤ᛒÊs̩

"... But I-I didn't do anything of any w-worth..." she stuttered in a voice that suggested she might cry at any moment.

Lone's response was to ask, "How many E-rankers do you know who have spoken up against a Divine with so much bravery, huh? I've never heard any stories along those lines. Also, don't think I didn't notice how determined you were to save me. I bet Altros noticed too and rewarded you with plenty of skill level ups, new skills, and heck, maybe even some pre-loaded enlightenment for a rank up or two. And I right?"

Breena unfocused her eyes briefly and then a look of disbelief flashed across her masked face. "What...? But... but I didn't do anything..."

"Self-doubt isn't a trait I like to see in you. What happened? What did you earn?" Lone asked.

Breena stammered, "F-Fear Resistance l-levelled ten times. It w-went all the way up to intermediate l-level one... It gained a new e-effect too..."

'Oh? She earned a new effect? My additional effect on that skill to gather courage twice as fast was given automatically for hitting expert rank. I wonder what she got for acting to oppose a Divine at her rank?' Lone thought before he asked, "What does it do?"

Breena tried to gather enough strength to sit up but failed. She looked a bit upset at that but she did respond to his question. "It says, uh, 'If the host acts in the face of their fears for the sake of others, the host's stats will be doubled.' Is that... good?"

'Useless to me personally. I don't fear much and what I do fear can't be resolved with just more stats. Still, super interesting and super powerful for her. Even without being able to apply stats, doubled SP and MP is very useful, even if there's a conditional to trigger it,' Lone thought.

Lone smiled at Breena and gently rested a hand atop her head. "It's fantastic. Now stop denying you earned it, 'kay? You stood up to a Divine and got a skill rank-up and a new skill effect out of it. You deserve to be happy."

Breena looked confused. She opened her mouth to respond but Lone saw it close under her mask in silence.

'Baby steps,' he muttered internally.

He patted her head a little before he stood up. "Go back to sleep. Or just relax. I fixed you up but you pushed yourself to sign the contract and I know you're still mentally drained. I'm gonna go thank that frog spirit for helping you out. You can do the same once you're fully rested. Sound good?"

Breena closed her eyes and nodded lightly. "Sounds... good..."

Lone smiled again before he walked to the edge of the gazebo and then used Ungrounded to tread the lake's surface. "Now where are you... Ah, there's your aura."

Having locked onto the cat-sized frog, Lone approached where it was, which happened to be the bottom of the lake. Standing directly above where it was, he glanced down and saw the G-ranked spirit looking back at him.

It slowly swam up to the surface and peaked just the top of its head and its eyes out to look at him as if to ask 'what do you want'?

"Thanks for saving Bree. That was risky for you to do. I don't really know how intelligent spirit animals at your rank are, but still, you need anything? I'd be happy to compensate you for sticking your neck out to give her a hand," Lone said.

The frog slowly shook its head and then sunk back down into the water. Lone watched in silence as it got itself comfortable at the lake's floor before it dozed off.

'Huh. I guess it doesn't need thanks?' Soph commented.

Lone nodded. 'So it would seem. You done adjusting to your stats, by the way?'

'As well as I can in here, yeah. Sophie thinks we should spar. Her and you with swords, and me and you with magic. It has been a while,' Soph said.

Lone frowned. 'I'd love to, but your growing MP is a concern. What's it sitting at now?'

'Um... Well... 6,257,650...' Soph sheepishly replied.

'That's more than triple my doubled amount. I have faith in your Luck but I really think you should stay in The Summoning Room for now. I'll put all of my effort into making an artefact that can mask both your and my MP. I really don't want to run into a third Divine but this one decides it's worth their time to kidnap you or both of us for some experiment or another,' Lone replied. 'At least in there you're undetectable and while my MP is a growing concern, it's not to the point quite yet where it's unfathomably large unlike yours.'

'That... That makes sense... Be quick though, please?' Soph asked.

Lone knew it was likely a difficult thing for her to agree to. She wasn't the biggest fan of The Summoning Room despite all of their efforts to make it more homely. If it wasn't for Kyuubi's presence in there, he suspected she would be very reluctant to ever enter the place despite how much safety it afforded, let alone stay in there indefinitely for him to finish a project like creating devices that could mask their MP.

'I'll be as fast as I can. Besides, I'm always here to talk to you. And if it really gets too unbearable in there, just let me know. I'll find a secluded spot away from the clan and you can teleport us to one of our Farwind hideouts. I'll likely need to go to Golden Pass City for research anyway so while it's a small risk, you can be let loose so to speak to teleport me between nearby wildernesses,' Lone joked.

Soph giggled. 'I'm just your personal teleporter, aren't I?'

'Sure you are, but I pay you in love and affection, now don't I?' Lone replied as he returned to the gazebo and began placing the devices that could mask small amounts of MP he's bought from Mason and Sons on the table.

'Not enough! We're doubling our rates! Either pay up or Sophie and me will go on strike!' Soph demanded, a hint of amusement in her tone.

'Triple. Take it or leave it,' Lone counter offered.

Sophie's voice entered his mind with a sigh, 'We accept. No wonder it took you so long to get Haggling Mastery. You are dreadful at the practice.'

'Hey! It just wasn't a focus,' Lone countered.