Lone: The Wanderer-Chapter 76Book 3: : Princely Request and ’Kyuu’s A’Plenty

"... I didn't expect a guest. This is our third meeting, no, Master Mezro'nan?" Prince Keining said, avoiding the question which Lone found to be quite interesting.

It was also worth noting that the XX-ranker seemed to be fascinated by the X-ranker's claw weapons judging by the look he was giving them.

He seemed to be equal parts envious, curious, and surprised at the weapons.

'Well, he is a enchantment mage, so that makes sense. Those bad boys are laced with powerful enchantments. I wonder why he avoided the question though. Is the matter too sensitive for Master Mezro'nan's ears?' Lone thought.

"That isss correct, Lord Keining," Master Mezro'nan replied a bit hesitantly. Clearly, he was trying not to offend the ruler of the city in which he lived.

"I owed him a favour. You probably know he's been looked after Wayward Kin, which have some relation to me," Lone explained. "He can be trusted. And if you don't trust him, I can force the trust. So, what's the matter? If you wanted to talk to me casually, you wouldn't have got your X-ranked daughter to tell me herself and also get her to help me kill a fellow X-ranker."

"... Very well," Prince Keining relented. He rolled up his shirt to reveal a small dent in his flesh that was in the shape of a spear tip. "This has never healed, and my mother's imperial healers cannot remove it either. It could prevent me from ascending, blocking my path to becoming a triple-X-ranker. You caused it. Can you remove it? Name your price. If it is reasonable, I am willing to pay it."

'Oh, how fun,' Darkness commented. 'I would have been surprised if his precious mother could have fixed it. Nothing short of a fellow godly being or some special demigods can resolve that. Though then again, I'm sure Creation Magic could work... Though the cost...'

'It bypasses any shadow, dream, nightmare, barrier or obscured illusion, your Primal skill, You. That includes, what, healing? How does that make sense?' Lone asked mentally while he asked a different question verbally, "An injury can stop you from ranking up? First time I'm hearing of this."

Darkness laughed. 'Loney-boy, healing and recovery are barriers that prevent a injury from lasting eternally. Of course it can bypass that. Perhaps were it a normal Primal skill, that wouldn't be the case, but it's the Primal skill of my Avatar, that being you.'

'That's some outside-the-box logic. Scary. Makes sense why it has a week-long cooldown, I guess. I'm glad I have the skill and not my enemies,' Lone replied.

'As am I, Loney-boy, as am I...' Darkness replied, a smile on its face no doubt.

Prince Keining, meanwhile, answered Lone's question about ranking up. "The X-ranks do more than just change how the system quantifies your aura. It changes your very being. Each of the three ranks prepare you for becoming a Divine. If you become lesser during that process, your chances of improving your whole decline sharply. It is a conscious choice to rank up once all of the requirements have been met, and doing so while sustaining a loss of your self, be it physical or otherwise, is tantamount to suicide."

'All of the requirements? There's more than just hitting the prior level cap and having enlightenment? Does this relate to the level of one's being like mortal-ranked beings and cosmos-ranked beings, or is the wording just similar?' Lone wondered.

Lone tapped the table thoughtfully. "Have you considered my hypothetical situation at all?"

Master Mezro'nan looked confused but Prince Keining nodded. "I have. I asked my mother about it too and she's shown some interest in helping, if you can compensate her, of course."

"Hmm..." Lone frowned.

He doubted he could compensate a Divine to a satisfactory level as a simple B-ranker, regardless of his uniqueness. The cost would likely be immeasurable and paying it would reveal more about himself that he wanted to reveal to such a powerful being. Thus, that topic would be shelved for now. Lone would consider it later.

After all, he did still have time to prepare for Arch Devil Zel if the man in question could be trusted.

"How different is the being of an X-ranker to that of an XX-ranker? Do you know, waitress? I trust Lord Keining but he has a vested interest here and I need unbiased information," Lone asked the empty air at his side.

Revealing herself, the half bald gnome with side parted hair inclined her head respectfully. "Of course. An XX-ranker is to an X-ranker what an X-ranker is to everything between I-rank and SSS-rank."

"Hmm. I see. I'll take my menu now, by the way, please," Lone said with a smile.

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

Her answer told him that fixing Prince Keining's injury very well might seal his mana organs. He had little trouble healing Gilbert and Lossa, both SS-rankers, but they were at the same level of being as he was, a mortal-ranked being.

Lone has some assumptions about cosmos-ranked beings. He was pretty sure that was the same level as a Divine given the term 'cosmos' was very telling. If the term meant that level of being could traverse the cosmos, surely only a Divine was strong enough to do, no? Granted, that was an assumption and he could quite easily be way off base.

That line of thinking also put into question why the system had given that label to Sofia. Her order of being must have degraded since being tied to his soul, or perhaps he was just wildly wrong.

'Have I ever really healed her? Her Luck lets her get away with nary a scratch in most cases and when I did fix her eyes, they had a crazy name and sealed my MP for a year. I could afford them now, yeah, but the eyes of a mortal-ranked being shouldn't cost half a million MP to restore and alter,' Lone thought.

"I'll take my menu too," Master Mezro'nan said.

"Of course. And Prince Keining?" the gnome asked.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

He nodded. "Thank you."

The waitress snapped her fingers and three menu booklets appeared in front of the three of them. Lone's had a golden edge and looked noticeably more opulent.

"Would it be okay if we could get some snacks to permanently increase stats?" Lone asked. "I'm happy paying for it if isn't complimentary as you said when we entered."

The gnome shook her head before replying, "While you are a V.I.P., you cannot afford tho- I have been informed that your request has been granted, but only this one time. Manager Peter had this to say exactly: 'You will need to pay for them in the future, Lone, and they are not cheap and they cannot be bought with money, just so we are clear. This is the last of our thanks for raising the sleepy one with such care.' I'll take my leave now. Just call for me when you're ready to order."

As soon as the gnome had disappeared with nary a trace, Prince Keining mumbled, "So you know the Undying Teller? That makes no sense but employees of the conglomerate never lie... this changes things."

He looked up and fiercely but respectfully locked eyes with Lone. "Name your price. I am getting close to the level cap of XX-rank and I cannot afford for my true self to be damaged during the rank-up process."

"Master Mezro'nan, mind cutting off one of your claws? Just the tip will do," Lone asked. "I need to test on you first. I've never healed an X-ranker before."

Hope entered Prince Keining's eyes. "So you do have the means... Please, Master Mezro'nan, I implore you to do as he says."

Master Mezro'nan's lizard eyes narrowed. He stared at Lone and said, "You're asssking me to damage my true ssself. Even if the injury isssn't permanent, fixing it if you fail to do ssso will be incredibly expensssive. Your concernsss are not unique and are, in fact, ssshared by all healersss who are not alssso of the sssame rank or higher than myssself. Doubly ssso given I am not humanoid."

Prince Keining spoke up and said, "I will burden any costs incurred should Lone fail to heal you. I am also willing to pay you for helping with his test, just name a reasonable price."

"Any information that isss available on my bank'sss attemptsss to crosss the Emerald Sssea," Master Mezro'nan stated without hesitation.

'Sly old lizard. He can see how desperate the prince is and he's suffering no losses here since he has no enemies that might try to take advantage of him when he gets his claw healed if I fuck up. His bank though? A bank is the name for a group of komodo dragons back on Earth. Kind of interesting Restodian Iglaforms use the same terminology, though mind you, it's possible the system is just translating it like that to me. My Western Common Human isn't perfect yet,' Lone thought.

"Your family did that? They answered the calling?" Prince Keining seemed surprised. "No, I suppose that makes sense. It explains your upbringing. I doubt there will be any news at all, let alone good news, but I will task my child whom you met earlier today, Seres, to look into it and find results within the next decade. Is that acceptable?"

Master Mezro'nan glanced at Lone meaningfully.

'He doesn't trust the prince's words alone. Fair. I need them both in contracts anyway to hide my Creation Magic. Some of my unique skills can public but some, especially that one, cannot,' Lone thought before he nodded towards the purple dog-sized X-ranked lizard.

Master Mezro'nan's tongue snaked out of his mouth as he smiled. "I agree, Lord Keining. Ssshall I remove the tip of my claw, or would you like the honoursss, Lord Immortusss?"

Lone shook his head. "I don't want to get out a weapon or sharpen my tails in this place. Go ahead," Lone replied.

Master Mezro'nan nodded and then put one of his claws in his mouth before he bit the tip off. He then spat out the severed part and held in place with some freeform earth magic.

'Preserve it to make healing easier in case I fuck up. Fair,' Lone nodded before he got up out of his seat and went to the X-ranker's side.

He took the man's leg into his hands and then said, "Full Body Diagnostics."

Nothing happened. That was expected given Lone had used the skill twice today already, once on Hazel and once on Emma. Still, he was hoping to force an extra daily allotment before the skill could rank up.

Sure, it was a world skill and Altros got to decide when he made progress with the skill, but there was no harm in trying.

"One little caveat, Lord Keining," Lone said to which he got a raised eyebrow in response. "You'll need to sign some unbreakable contract magic after this attempt of mine. Also, as a side note, do either of you have mana orbs? I've only got the one and it can store 100,000 MP, but if either of you have a larger one, that would be helpful here."

Both of them nodded.

Master Mezro'nan answered first with, "I have a mana orb with a capacity of 172,000 MP."

"I possess one that has been leased to me from my mother. It can hold up to 323,000 MP," the prince said.

'No wonder she didn't bid on my one at the auction way back when. 100,000 MP is nothing to her if she can lease out a much better one to her son, implying she has more or perhaps even better ones. I wonder what kind of artefacts she has as a Divine? Speaking of, I wonder what toys Divine Tethered has accumulated as such an acclaimed merchant,' Lone pondered before he held out his free hand. "Give them both to me. I've never tried to use MP from multiple orbs before, but it couldn't hurt to try."

Master Mezro'nan frowned. "It could. You could explode. I have only ever heard of sssomeone sssuccesssfully channelling two orbsss at the sssame time at most, and while the effort gave them a new ssskill, it wasss uselesss sssince the new ssskill pertained to magic or ssso I've heard, but their mana organsss were ruptured from the activity."

"I have heard the same story," Prince Keining nodded. "Use my orb and no others. As for the contract matter, I am willing provided the terms are fair."

"They have to be," Lone replied before he gestured to the XX-ranker. "Your orb it is then. I'm warning you though, if this seals my magic for more than 1,000 hours, I'm bleeding your palace fuckin' dry."

Meanwhile, Soph was pressing herself into Kyuubi's soft golden fur while the large fox had her head resting on her lap. She ran her fingers through her daughter's fur, scratched her chin, and began gently playing with her big fluffy ears.

'One 'kyuu' for yes, two for no. Okay?'

'Kyuu...'

'That's a good sign! Do you know who I am?'

'Kyuu...'

'Okay, great! Now, for an easy no. Are you not floofy?'

'... Kyuu kyuu...'

'You do understand us! Did you just became able to do so recently?'

'Kyuu kyuu...'

'Oh! Then, did you just recently became able to respond?'

'Kyuu...'

'You're such a clever girl! I have so many more questions... Do you mind if I ride you?'

'...'

'Kyuubi?'

Soph was too busy cuddling Kyuubi's big soft head to notice the large fox rolling her eyes as if this level of energy was exhausting to deal with.

'Kyuu kyuu...'

'So you don't mind! Yay! Can we try now? Or are you still sleepy? Right! Have you had that special milk before? Is that why you're always so sleepy?'

'One question at a time. We understand you are excited, but the poor thing can only reply with 'yes's or 'no's.'

'Right, my bad...'

'Uh, have you had the milk before?'

'...Kyuu...'

'Okay, that explains the constant sleep and you getting so much bigger and floofier. I approve, by the way.'

Kyuubi nestled her head into Soph's lap a bit harder as if to show some affection in response to the approval.

'You're such a cutie-patootie! Can I ride you now? Just a couple of laps around our stuff here. Please?'

'Kyuu Kyuu.'

'Wow, that was instant... Why not? Are you still too tired?'

'Kyuu...'

'Okay, but in the future?'

'...'

'Uh, Kyuubi?'

'... Kyuu...'

'Yay!'