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Book 3: Chapter 37: Local Elders\' Decision and Return to the Past

She was just a dying figurehead and she had to nod her head happily as if she agreed with the consensus of both idiotic groups.

Guildmaster Elksworth glowered. His perfectly youthful skin and unexplained new functional eye painted an intimidating figure. She wasn\'t sure if she could beat him in a fight but he was, like her, one of the weakest people in the room right now so it showed true grit to be able to display such unadulterated distaste.

"I will not sing this song nor dance this dance again. The last time I bit my tongue and hoped for the best in regards to Lone, Milindo\'s ruling class and armies were decimated in a moment by Sloth, only after the poor boy had endured months of physical and mental torture. I fear if he is mistreated here, Grand Guildmaster Sarah won\'t even need to send a top-class adventurer to enact punishment. The lad was able to fend of the most powerful member of your clan on his own, and he only grew stronger from the vicious unprompted assault," the White Dragonkin insinuated.

First Elder Lelgu furrowed her brow. "Is that a threat?"

Lossa watched the guildmaster\'s expression turn from one of anger to that of pity. "I\'m done here. You want to mistreat him? Look forward to what he might do on his own. I swear on my position that the guild will not interfere one way or the other. We\'d only get in his way and he is fully justified in any retaliatory actions he chooses to take against your clan for this inexcusable attack and inaction to rectify it."

The man roughly the same age as Lossa calmly walked out of the Hall of Elders with his hands held behind his back.

"... That was very unprofessional of him. Doesn\'t he understand what it\'s like in a clan, coming from one himself? I understand he is youthful, but that was far, far, too immature," Fourth Elder Senso sighed into his hand.

"Matriarch Lossa," First Elder Lelgu turned to look at her from his most-respected seat at this meeting. "You know the Void-touched ninetails, yes? I recall hearing you encountered him while investigating those unfounded rumours of a Golden Foxkin infant in that insubstantial human kingdom the guildmaster mentioned. Do you think you could talk to him as an acquaintance? Let him know our position and offer him something to keep this all silent?"

"I..." Lossa felt the glare of her grandmother, Seventh Elder Teesta. "Of course, I could try. I do not know what we could offer, however. My meeting with him was very brief. I do recall he wished to stay here, but that conversation happened over a year ago."

"This is simple then. The true elders wish for us to host him as a guest, so this will cost us nothing. Offer him one of the Spirit Pavilions as a home as well as a stipend of five gold a month. That way, we compensate him for the attack of Clari\'s while also doing as The Elders ordered," Third Elder Hilas suggested.

The other elders nodded, agreeing it was a good idea to resolve the incident.

"Then it\'s decided," First Elder Lelgu stated. "I expect this matter to be taken care of by the end of the day."

"Of course, First Elder," Lossa replied as she bit back the works threatening to creep out of mouth. She wasn\'t as bold nor as brave as Guildmaster Elksworth, though she sometimes wished she was.

"Ah, Caravan Leader Halbundon. I\'m glad to see you enjoying the pagoda you were assigned. I trust everything is going well with your trading negotiations?" Lossa asked the Flint Wolfkin who she knew to be in charge of the group that had been escorted here by Lone and his companions.

The wolfkin was watching his daughter play in the grass with some insects alongside her mother while he went over some paperwork at a bench. "Ah, Matriarch Lossa. What an honour. Please, call me Esto. My non-beastkin moniker isn\'t needed among friends. What brings you here? I trust there are no issues with the cargo we sold to the clan nor with what we intend to buy?"

"Oh, of course not. I wanted to know where i might find Lone Immortus? He\'s an acquaintance of mine and I\'d very much so love to catch up with him," she replied honestly. Lying to a merchant, especially a skilled one, was as good as lying to a White Dragonkin sometimes. Merchants were known to have some rather annoying passive skills in their repertoire.

Esto\'s expression soured, clearing not liking the topic of this conversation but he soon smiled politely again. "He should be recovering in his room with his life-partner on the fifth floor. He did damage his soul or something to that effect quite recently. I\'m not well-versed in these matters as a humble merchant. I will note, however, that this injury happened before the attack, of course. If you\'re here to offer him your well wishes, I\'d be happy to do so on your behalf."

Lossa\'s expression stiffened for the slightest of moments. \'I didn\'t know that. He was enduring soul pains while he fended off War Leader Clari? Just how frighteningly powerful have you become since we last met? And life-partner? Ah! The human Guildmaster Elksworth mentioned once or twice during our meetings... I doubt he\'ll be chatting with me so nicely in the future as we used to given the new tension created by those shitty elders...\'

"I\'d love that but I do also, like I said, wish to catch up with him. Is he incapacitated? I\'d hate to impose on him if so but surely a conversation couldn\'t hurt," Lossa asked.

Esto was clearly preparing to reject her again and offer to do what she wanted in her stead when his very young daughter stopped him from doing so.

"She can\'t hurt him. He\'s too strong. Stop being silly, Daddy. Just let her do what she needs to do," the small Flint Wolfkin said.

Looking to his wife who gave him a stern look, the merchant leader deflated and said, "His room is the third from the left of the stairs once you reach the fifth floor."

"Thank you. I completely understand your protectiveness but I truly am an old friend and I do not condone what War Leader Clari did," Lossa stated before bowing and leaving to enter the pagoda.

She heard the wolfkin family talk to each other as soon as she had left their sight.

"Why did you try and stop her, you idiot?! She\'s an SS-ranker! Lone can handle himself against an X-ranker. Even if she does mean him harm, she\'d not be successful."

"Mummy\'s right. You can be really silly, Daddy. And why did you let her call you your real name but you still don\'t let Mister Lone do the same?"

"He hasn\'t earned it! Remember, he threw you up into the air, Dear."

"You are unbelievable sometimes, Esto."

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Lossa shook her head and smiled. She envied such a warm, close relationship. Given her position, she wasn\'t afforded such.

Before long, she had made her way to the door of the room the merchant leader had pointed out to her. Clearing her throat softly, she knocked but got no response.

She waited for a moment before softly saying, "I\'m coming in now. I have some things to discuss with you, Lone, so I do apologise if I\'m impos- What in the name of all the Primals is going on in here?!"

Existential dread. It was easy sometimes to forgot how essential breathing was. It didn\'t occur to Lone that he was the one actively drowning himself with his magic right now. All he could really feel was just that, existential dread.

He knew deep down that his Basic Regeneration would prevent him from dying but the... focus and clarity that came with the pain and horror of drowning was unfamiliar to him.

When he had earned Water Gaol, the experience had only lasted a few seconds. Barely long enough for Lone to earn Drowning Resistance before the mage had run out of mana points.

Now, however... he had been violently sputtering and choking on an endless supply of his own magical water only for more to enter his lungs for... he didn\'t know how long. Had it been hours now?

Lone considered that as a feeling of unparalleled horror entered his mind. \'Why do I think I\'m Lone?\'

That wasn\'t right. He wasn\'t his character from Paradox Online. Sure, he was drowning and likely about to die, but he knew who he was. He was Darren McCullen through and through.

Darren considered if he\'d fallen asleep in the tub and if these were his final thoughts before everything turned to black. Or perhaps there was something after death, something nicer. Something better than this waste of a life he\'d lived so far. There had to be something...

Suddenly, he was ripped from his eventual fate as he felt himself collapse onto a wooden oriental-styled floor. He vomited out several litres of water rather violently as he felt several massive wounds on his body closing up.

"I never owned a tub back in Arlith," Lone muttered as he came back to his senses. "I had a shower..."

"Are you okay?! And did she just... teleport? How? Why was she attacking you and why were you suspended in a water magic spell staring blankly as if you were already dead?!" a somewhat familiar voice demanded answers.

Lone wobbled up to his feet and located Soph with his eyes. "Fuck, you\'re beautiful. I am so fuckin\' lucky to have you." He hobbled over to her, still drenched head to toe, wrapped her up in a hug, and then kissed her with more passion than he had ever done so before.

A heated look entered her eyes as she muttered, "Maybe you should drown yourself more often... But, em, you, eh, have a guest? She knocked but we were busy... I thought she\'d leave but she just kinda walked in..."

"I need an explanation, now!" Lossa Redtail, matriarch of the Crimson Foxkin Clan, demanded.

Lone separated from the love of his live as he finally looked at the Life-touched foxkin. "In a minute. Lemme take a seat and check my notification log first. Ever drowned for..." He looked at Soph for assistance.

"Oh, uh, 15 minutes," she happily answered his glance with a smile.

"Ever drowned for 15 minutes before? It\'ll make you separate yourself from the world like nothin\' else. Totally forgot Soph was hammerin\' me with her magic and I nearly fuckin\' forgot myself, so yeah, gimme a minute," Lone said, not waiting for an answer as he just sat there on the floor with his legs crossed.

"I really don\'t think that\'s a suff-"

Soph interrupted her. "Please let him do what he wants. We\'re in your clan, yes, but this is our room. You\'re invading our privacy so, um, please just let him indulge in his favourite hobby. Well, second favourite... I\'m the favourite..."

Lone smiled slightly before tuning the two women out. Soph seemed to have a good handle of the situation so he opened up his notification log without any further hesitation.

Of course, he grouped all level ups by skill and not by the time they were earned. First came Water Gaol.

Congratulations! The host\'s active water magic skill [Water Gaol] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

Congratulations! The host\'s active water magic skill [Water Gaol] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

Congratulations! The host\'s active water magic skill [Water Gaol] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.

Congratulations! The host\'s active water magic skill [Water Gaol] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.

And it kept going and going and going until it stopped at advanced-level-one.

Congratulations! The host\'s active water magic skill [Water Gaol] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.

Congratulations! The host\'s active water magic skill [Water Gaol] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.

Congratulations! Due to the host using it on themselves with the full intent of drowning without holding anything back, the water magic skill [Water Gaol] has gained a new effect upon ranking up when otherwise it would not have!

Active Water Magic Skill: Water Gaol

An uncommon application of the water magic school where the caster focuses the element of water into a spherical prison that will fully encapsulate their target.

[New!] The target will have a 10% chance to enter a catatonic state upon being entrapped in the skill. This effect can be negated with the relevant resistances.

Cost:3,000 MP [-1,000 MP] per second. Mastery:Advanced Level 1

The host has developed the active water magic subskill: Drowning Chamber.

Active Water Magic Subskill: Drowning Chamber

A subskill of the water magic school derived from the active water magic skill [Water Gaol].

A rare application of the water magic school where the caster creates a [Water Gaol] that actively attacks the target, forcing water into every available orifice until death by drowning has been achieved.

Cost:20,000 MPper second. Mastery:Beginner Level 1

\'I have... so many thoughts. For a start, I couldn\'t have afforded to fuel Water Gaol for 15 minutes. That would have needed, what, 4,500,000 MP, right? Give or take a few hundred thousand since I have no idea when it hit intermediate and then advanced. Did Soph overload my spell to keep it active while also continuing to attack me for her own training? Well, I don\'t think I would have doubted my own current existence and earned my first subskill since Bone Armour otherwise, so I gotta thank her for that,\' Lone thought.

He furrowed his brow. \'This subskill... Ignoring it\'s insane cost... it\'s so brutal. I... I want to use it on myself but I... I\'m afraid? Of drowning?\' Lone knew that wasn\'t accurate. \'I\'m afraid of mentally returning to Darren McCullen again, aren\'t I? Fuck. Well, at least I have a way to train Fear Resistance somewhat reliably now...\'

He moved on before he could let his negative feelings about his past self take over his mind. He had many more notifications and skills to get through before speaking with Matriarch Lossa, after all.