Book 2: Chapter 23: Third Meeting and Three Weeks
Lone sighed when he opened his eyes only to find himself in the mysterious urd again. "You know, you could at least bring me to a room or something when you force me here instead of in the middle of the road."
Darkness chuckled as it took the form of Breena. "What would be the point? You hardly stay for long. Besides, guests who don't take off their shoes when I invite them in my house get the short end of the stick, I'm afraid."
"Oh, of course. How rude of me," Lone answered with a roll of the eyes. "Does this 'home' of yours even have a name?"
"Well, it's not 14 Main Street or anything like that," Darkness replied with a smile as it stretched, seemingly testing the flexibility of Breena's body. "I could tell you what this place used to be known as though if you really wanted to know. I wouldn't suggest it, mind you. Knowing won't do you any good."
"Ignorance is bliss, eh?" Lone said. "I'd like to know regardless."
Darkness shrugged. "If you say so... This lovely little place used to be known as Urd Grun. Nowadays I just call it the kitchen sink."
'Urd Grun, Urd Grun, Urd Grun... I need to remember that. This could be vital,' Lone thought before realising something. "The kitchen sink?" He looked down at the mosaiced road beneath his feet and made a face as if to say 'there?'
"Right next to the detergent," Darkness giggled with Breena's body which was rather... unsettling considering the girl hardly ever smiled, let alone laughed. The next moment it waved its hand and purple smoke surrounded Lone, signalling his return to Krieg Moor.
"This girl really does have a durable body. Strange for someone so young. I wonder how that came to be, hmm?" the Primal asked Lone in a seemingly-accusatory way.
Lone wanted to refute the insinuation, however, not a second later his eyes were opening to the sight of his room's ceiling in the Rusty Sprocket.
Breena was sitting on the desk chair which was pointed towards the bed instead of the desk itself. She looked a little bit drowsy but the moment she saw Lone her eyes snapped wide open.
"Y-You're awake," she mumbled in a soft yet weak voice. "You, um, you didn't disappear..."
Lone sat up and laid his back against the bed's headboard. He reached over and picked up the sleeping Kyuubi before placing her on his lap. "So I looked completely normal? I didn't vanish or turn invisible or anything?"
Breena nodded. "Um, yeah. I touched the bed to make sure you weren't replaced by an i-illusion or something and I couldn't see or sense anything odd..."
'So either it really is just some sort of soul and dream fuckery or Darkness's control over illusion magic is so great that even a Crimson Foxkin can't detect its meddling... Still, this is informative if not inconclusive,' Lone thought before he smiled at Breena. "Thank you for staying up all night to help me with this. You didn't have to and I really appreciate it."
Breena lowered her head and a bit of redness entered her cheeks. "I-I wanted to do it, so it's okay."
"I'm thankful regardless," Lone said before he stretched a little and then scratched the back of Kyuubi's ears, eliciting a purr from her. "Do you want to take a bath to get refreshed? I'll go order breakfast while you do."
Breena nodded. "Sure. Um, I'll have two eggs and some toast, please."
"Water or juice?" Lone asked as he gave Kyuubi a kiss on the head before moving her off of him. He got up and started getting dressed.
"Water is fine," Breena answered. She also got up and put the desk chair back in its usual position. She then left to go bathe in her own room's en suite.
Lone couldn't help but smile while he got dressed. He spoke to Kyuubi and said, "She's a lot more sociable now, isn't she? She only looks at her feet when talking about 70% of the time as opposed to 99% of the time."
"Kyuu..." the lazy fox replied as she rolled around in the bedsheets uncaringly.
Three full weeks passed since that test. Meeting Darkness every night and reporting what he spoke about with the being to Felix every three days was becoming just another part of Lone's daily routine.
Apparently, the council had records of a place called Urd Grun and had been making efforts to locate it. Supposedly, it was a lost urd so it wasn't as simple of a process as just travelling through the Farwinds until they arrived at it.
Breena had been busy helping Mister Fits'war diligently as his tailoring assistant and she'd even doubled her skill repertoire in the time that had passed.
Previously, she only had a simple pair of skills to her name. One was her racial one, Flickering Identity which allowed her to change her appearance via illusions just as the Crimson Foxkin twins had done back in Milindo.
The other was one she shared with Lone, though it wasn't a happy one; Hunger Resistance. When she was a slave she was rarely fed and usually only given water and scraps to keep her alive. That didn't get much better when Daisuke became her master.
It was clear to all that she was rather fond of her new skills. The first was Needle Mastery. Its use was obvious. The skill increased her ability to handle needles of all kinds. It was a general skill akin to Sword Mastery or Polearm Mastery.
While it aided her in her job it would also be useful in combat. Lone had seen her using needles a handful of times in the past few weeks and was a bit surprised to see that they were her ideal weapon.
In light of this, he greatly encouraged her to use them more frequently and to even try practising with them on the dummies in the guild's training yards.
As for her second new skill, it was actually Pet Mastery. Her time carefully caring for Kyuubi had blossomed into a skill that made doing so more efficient and easier.
Naturally, Lone also put some effort into obtaining this skill when he learned Breena had gained it. As expected, Growth Accelerator made it so only two days of grooming and looking after the self-sufficient fox were necessary to earn Pet Mastery himself.
He'd also been helping Steamforger Wilbur more and more with his steamforging, resulting in a lot of his skills gaining rapid levels.
Blacksmithing had levelled-up five times, bringing it to Advanced-Level-10.
Steamforging had levelled-up a grand total of 13 times, allowing to reach Intermediate-Rank-8, resulting in its bonuses increasing from 5% to 15%.
Woodworking had only gained three levels because as he got more and more into steamforging, wood became less and less relevant to the tools, weapons and armour he made or helped create, leaving the skill at Advanced-Level-5.
Finally, Steamforged Tool Mastery has gained seven levels, matching its level to Blacksmithing's at Advanced-Level-10.
Of course, Sophie's condition had slowly been improving as the roots covering her peeled off one at a time, symbolising the skill was almost done healing her.
The final root appeared ready to fall off at any second so Lone, Breena and Kyuubi were by her side while Lone held her hand. She was laid on top of their bed and she looked incredibly peaceful.
Naturally, Root of Life hadn't been exempt from levelling-up in the three weeks that had come and gone. Lone pulled up the skill's information as he waited for it to finish healing his lover.
Active Nature Magic Skill: Root of Life
A very rare application of the nature magic school where the caster focuses the element of nature into summoning a root of Altros which is capable of fully healing a being dying of physical injuries.
Can only be used once every 8-months [down from every 12-months].
Beings this skill is used on will take anywhere from 4-6 weeks [down from 4-8 weeks] to recover.
Cost:125,000 MP [-25,000 MP] Mastery:Intermediate Level 8 [+9 levels]
It was still an abysmally expensive skill and one with plenty of restrictions but seeing those very same restrictions loosening was somewhat cathartic to Lone.
He was aware that this was very much so a skill that he should never really want to use just as he was certain Gilbert disliked having to utilise it to save him those many months ago.
Using it was akin to admitting that someone you cared about was literally on death's doorstep. That was never the most pleasant thing to deal with.
It was also harsh since if used, it became inert for months on end. That could lead to having to watch someone savable die due to having the skill on cooldown.
Lone was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt movement coming from his hand. "Sophie?" he called with hope in his voice.
With rapid movements, Sophie flung upwards as the final root snapped free from her body and dissipated into ambient mana.
She reached for her swords only to find them missing. Well, them and most of her clothes. She looked around with caution and suspicion until her bright emerald-green eyes focused, revealing Lone, Breena and Kyuubi to her.
"The Rusty Sprocket?" She seemed confused for a moment until she asked, "How long were we unconscious for and what happened after Four-twelve betrayed us?"
Lone wrapped Sophie in a hug and squeezed her tightly. "Welcome back."
Sophie felt her cheeks getting hot. "Years haven't passed, have they?"
"Haha, no, thankfully," Lone chuckled. He pulled himself away from Sophie while he held onto her bare shoulders. He looked into her eyes, smiled, then kissed her. "It felt like it though. It's been about three and a half weeks. You have quick natural recovery since Root of Life is meant to take four weeks minimum, huh?"
Sophie frowned. "We remember... teleporting us away after we both got grabbed by Four-twelve... Then... Then immense pain and darkness followed by a constant light... What the hell happened?"
Lone wore a wry smile. "You should have a Darkness Corruption skill, right? It's probably why your healing took less time than expected."
Sophie nodded. "That we do. Beginner-level-4."
'Such a stark difference with my own progress in the skill...' Lone thought. "I panicked and immediately used Root of Life on you when you lost consciousness - the skill Gilbert saved my life with after my fight with the Blue Orc Chieftain. It's been slowly healing you and now you're better... You are better, right? Nothing weird on your status or anything?"
Sophie paused to check and shook her head. "We seem fine, if not a bit chilly."
"Haha, yeah, sorry about that. I stored your clothes and armour since they seemed counter-intuitive to helping you recover." He looked over at the silent Breena and asked, "Would it be okay if you returned to your room with Kyuubi, Breena? I'd like to spend some time filling Sophie and Soph in on what's happened since she's been gone."
The teen bobbed her head up and down. "T-That's fine. Um, I-I'm happy you're back and that you're okay... um, Sophie."
"Thank you," Sophie replied stoically, though her appreciation wasn't fake. Once Breena was out of the room, she turned to Lone. "So what is the full story?"
"I missed your frankness," Lone confessed with a warm tone. "To simplify things, Four-twelve was being manipulated by the Primal Darkness. He afflicted us both with Darkness Corruption. I healed mine naturally thanks to Basic Regeneration but you... you were dying in my arms. I used Root of Life on you."
Sophie frowned as she shuffled around a bit to get under the bed's covers. She wasn't a huge fan of that nippy feeling, after all. "Another Primal... This reeks of more trouble than we can handle, Lone. Also, Root of Life... We never expected to be truly unconscious like that. Usually, both Soph and we can maintain a state of mental consciousness at all times if we need to."
"I also thought it was odd since you never responded to my telepathy. I guess the skill just shut down your entire body and took control of everything to more accurately heal you, mind and all," Lone said with a helpless look on his face. "Sadly, I'm not the expert in magic I wish I was."
"An ignorant idiot we may see, our ignorant idiot you still are and always will be," Sophie teased.
Lone smiled. "When'd you become a poet? I really missed you. You were so close yet so far at the same time... Can't say I enjoyed that very much."
"Rhyming is simple if you try to do it." Sophie grinned. "For us, a mere few moments passed. It is nice though to see you acting like a young girl in love. How refreshing."
Lone chuckled. "Give me a few days, I'll have you blushing from ear to ear like usual."
Sophie scowled. "We shall see. Tell us more of what happened. We can't imagine someone as sensitive and dependant on us as you would act rationally with us in such a state."
Lone heaved a heavy sigh. "I hate that you're right... Let Soph take control though. She doesn't bully me and I'd rather snuggle up with her while I explain."
Sophie rolled her eyes. "She will have her turn. Act like the man you are and confess that you enjoy our crassness. Also... you are f-free to snuggle with us if your wish is so strong..."
"You, of all people, know I'm not an M," Lone countered as he clambered into the sheets and wrapped an arm around Sophie's mature adult form. "Anyway, let's get back on track, yes? I ran through the Farwinds as I carried you in my arms, roots and all..."
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