Lone: The Wanderer [Rewrite]

Lone frowned. 'Not with that attitude.'

'Be not petulant with me, child. You want answers relating to Void, I need to give them to you. Come, now,' Sky ordered again.

"Lone?" Sophie asked, a rare look of concern on her face.

'Sky finally spoke to me and he wants to talk face-to-face in my mind. I'll be right back, 'kay?' Lone replied telepathically.

Her expression hardened. 'Very well. We shall keep your body safe in the meantime.'

Lone nodded and then, with his still heightened focus that was currently centred on Meditation, mentally entered his soul without the help of Darkness as he had been doing ever since he had earned the skill Puzzle Locked Mind.

There were three distinct changes in Lone's soul that he noticed right away.

Neither Darkness nor Death had come out to greet him as they usually did when he came here for the fortnightly meetings. The chains binding Void's abyssal hole, as Darkness had stated, weren't glowing brightly and barely had any light to them at all anymore. And lastly, the gates to Sky's cloud palace were open.

Not wasting any time, Lone immediate approached Sky's residence and entered it. The moment he did, it vanished only to be replaced by an endless sea of clouds that he was standing atop of.

A loud boom rocked Lone to the core as lightning struck just in front of him. It didn't dissipate as one might expect but instead took on the form of a face, though it only had eyes and a mouth.

"What do you fight for?" it asked, wasting no time on introductions, it would seem.

"Sky?" Lone asked.

The face frowned. "Answer me."

"What do I fight for... right now or on the grander scale of things?" he replied. 'I thought you were going to give me answers, not questions about my personal philosophy.'

"I shall rephrase. Why persist in your existance?" Sky asked.

'I guess I should answer it seriously. This is likely a leading question anyway and we'll get nowhere if I keep being a smartass,' Lone concluded. "I want to live for eternity with the love of my life. If I need to fight for that to happen, then fight for that I will."

"At what cost? What line will you not cross even if doing so is the only way to ensure what you want will come to pass?" the face of lightning questioned.

"There doesn't exist such a line," Lone said confidently. 'Does this relate to Void? Is it trying to draw a parallel or something? There's no line it wouldn't cross to keep Void in check?'

"Even killing your sister? What of your charge, Breena? What of the young fox, Kyuubi? Your father-figure, Gilbert? Your blacksmithing master, Grimsley? What if they had every justification to stop you? Would you allow them, or would you stand firm in your resolve for an eternal life of bliss with your beloved?" Sky pressed.

Lone frowned. "I don't ever see a situation where they would get in the way of that-"

"And if they did?" the Primal boomed as it moved closer to Lone, filling his vision with raging bolts of lightning.

"... I'm not so indecisive as to not know what I care more deeply for. Nothing could ever stand in the way of my goals, no matter how much it might pain me," he replied. 'Though Kyuubi... She'd never stand against me. What a stupid question. The plump blob just sits in her nest sleeping all day.'

"Good," Sky responded before floating away. Lone followed it as it said, "I am the same. My entire purpose is to prevent Void from consuming endlessly, expanding its domain of nothingness. I will not allow it. I will never allow it. My siblings do not recognise the danger Void poses to... everything."

"But you do? And that's why you forced your way into my body to seal it?" Lone asked, an accusatory tone to his voice.

The facial features of lightning nodded. "Indeed. I will not apologise for I am not sorry. Void needed to be stopped. It was my purpose, to bide my time and wait for its release and prevent it from destroying all with an indestructible avatar. Had I not, you and this beloved of yours would have died a long time ago."

Lone had a couple of questions he needed to ask while he had the opportunity. "Why didn't the system congratulate me on Nothing Vortex's level ups?"

"The system is compliant," Sky answered cryptically.

Lone's brow furrowed. "The fuck? What does that mean?"

"Your being is too lowly to know more. Ask again when you have a more significant existence," Sky said dismissively.

'It relates to the level of one's being? Maybe Monsieur Librarian or Devil will be able to give me a hint or two unlike this unhelpful fucker,' Lone thought before asking, "Okay, well if you can't answer that, what about Sofia's unique skill Void Walking? Is that related to Void, or is it just the same word?"

Sky shook its lightning face. "Unrelated. Their origins could not be any more different. Have you any more pointless questions, or can we move on?"

'It knows more than its letting on... I wonder if Darkness and Death do too...' Lone pondered, suspicion filling his mind.

"Just one, I suppose. How did you know I could contain both you and Void and where I'd be to reach us in time before Void could consume all of Milindo and beyond? Void was sealed for over 500,000 years according to everything I've learned," Lone challenged. "That's some incredible foresight if you just knew I'd stroll along with my Basic Regeneration in a remote seaside kingdom."

Sky turned around and floated away slowly. "It doesn't matter now. I was correct, but my efforts are being undone by your reckless use of Nothing Vortex. Darkness has already blabbed about how we are empowered by you using and improving our skills. This applies doubly so for Void as Nothing Vortex directly consume strength much like you do with your Growth Accelerator. You should never employ the skill again. The consequences far outweigh the benefits."

"I'll use the skill if I have to. If you wanted me to not have it as my ultimate trump card then you should have given me an equally destructive skill to use in its place," Lone shot back. "I'm up against something so much stronger than me that I don't have a scooby of a chance in hell against it, and he's getting his big fucking brother to come beat my ass in his place. What am I supposed to do? Just lie down and die? If you want to lecture me to not use Nothing Vortex then give me a good fuckin' reason."

Sky paused. "You caused this mess with the petty demon and everything seems to be well in hand. If you really want more power, then do as Death says, and not only with its skill, but with mine and Darkness's too. Don't take skills so literally. It is nothing but a limitation. The system expresses your realised possibilities, and Lone, your possibilities are endless."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Lone asked, a bit confused. 'Is it just explaining what I already know? Of course Ungrounded can get stronger if I dedicate weeks and months to it, but I don't have that leisure right now.'

The lightning face frowned. "It is rather self-explanatory. Figure it out. Neglect is your biggest enemy, Lone, not some worthless Arch Devil. A final word before I refocus my efforts to seal Void; if you must use it, do not let Nothing Vortex ever surpass Ungrounded. You will regret it. And remember, those who look up bear witness to the majesty of the Sky."

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Lone blinked and found himself outside of the palace of clouds. "What a rude bastard. I almost want to get Nothing Vortex to a higher rank and level than Ungrounded out of spite. Lucky for you, Sky, I'm not petty enough to risk everything."

He sighed and walked over to the looming abyss that occupied the centre of his mind, soul, or whatever this place really was.

Lone stared down into it and he didn't feel it was as... daunting as when he had first witnessed it. Perhaps that was because he was stronger now, or maybe his usage of Nothing Vortex had connected him more deeply with Void.

He didn't know which was true and no one was coming out to offer him any words of wisdom. They were likely too focused on bolstering the chains that had almost lost all of their golden lustre.

"I need at least one of the major threats in my life to disappear. I'm spread far too thin and while Basic Regeneration helps, the mental strain of managing so much is getting to me..." He shook his head and willed himself out of this place.

Lone opened his eyes and sighed.

"Were you told why the system did not congratulate you?" Sophie asked upon noticing his returned consciousness.

He smiled at her. Sofia's presence, regardless of which side of her was in control, always helped calm him. "No, at least, nothing beyond 'the system is compliant'. but I think it's safe to assume the system simply isn't a fan of Void. Maybe it's built it. It doesn't want to encourage it since it can turn things into nothingness. Maybe that includes the system?"

"Maybe," Sophie replied.

"I'm gonna quickly go over the gains from our two months of training. Master Mezro'nan will be back any minute and I really need to unwind," he said.

Sophie raised a flirtatious eyebrow. "We can think of a few ways to help you destress, Lone."

He chuckled. "Later tonight, you vixen. We're in someone else's home, and besides, I'd die of embarrassment if Hazel walked in on us."

"Right you are. Unsummon us then if you will not please us. As much as we enjoy cuddling with you as you mope about, we must brush up on our sword training. Soph has been far too focused on Body Manipulation and her barriers of late. Some diversification and rest could help her to unwind herself," Sophie said.

"You don't mind the darkness in there? It's rare for you to ask to get unsummoned," Lone said, raising an eyebrow.

She leaned over and kissed him. "Soph is more scared of the dark than we are. We fear other things."

"Such as?" he questioned, returning her kiss with one of his own.

She smiled coyly. "Losing you, for a start."

Lone's heart skipped a beat and he chuckled. He gave her a quick squeeze and said, "Almost gave me Charm Resistance there, ya little devil. Now go on and get, before I start acting up. Have fun and give Kyuubi a hug for me. Unsummon Sofia Vladimirovich."

Now alone, Lone cracked his neck and sat in silence for a few seconds before he focused and brought up the newly ranked-up skills from his and Sofia's two month training period. Just doing that already set his mind at ease a good deal so he relaxed while he started internally commenting on each and every one.

Passive Skill: Bearded Axe Mastery

A child skill of the parent skill [Axe Mastery] commonly used as both a one-handed and a two-handed tool of death and carnage among axe enthusiasts.

When using a bearded axe one-handed, it will move 15% [+10%] faster but inflict 60% [-35%] less damage on impact.

When using a bearded axe two-handed, it will move 60% [-35%] slower but inflict 15% [+10%] more damage on impact.

[New!] Grants the talent [Overswing] Say the phrase [Overswing] and all limitations of this skill will be removed for 1 minute while all bonuses will be doubled for 30 seconds. This talent can only be used once per day.

Cost:3,000 SP to perform the talent [Overswing]. Mastery:Intermediate Level 1

'Not a useful talent outside of using a bearded axe, so you'll be stayed at intermediate until I decide to get all of my skills to advanced,' Lone reaffirmed the decision he had made when the skill had hit intermediate rank. 'Still, it was nice to know my original conjecture of the -95% being the inverse of a positive boost, meaning at advanced the negative should go down to -30%, then -15% at expert, and -5% at master rank.'

If only all weapon mastery talents could apply to all weapons like Greataxe Mastery's Heft, but still, like he had thought, at least he had confirmation to one of his many theories of his if nothing else.

Passive Skill: Estoc Mastery

A child skill of the parent skill [Sword Mastery] commonly used by cavalry knights and warriors of great dexterity.

When attacking an armoured foe with an estoc the host will find it 15% [+10%] easier to strike joints and gaps in the target's armour. Only applies to anything categorised as full plate.

[New!] Grants the talent [Hasten Strike]. Say the words [Hasten Strike] and the host's attack from a pointed weapon will be twice as fast. The talent can only be used once per day.

Cost:5,000 SP to perform the talent [Hasten Strike]. Mastery:Intermediate Level 1

'A very useful talent since it can apply to my tails when I've used Tail Spear. I need to find a way to somehow consolidate all of these effects into, like, one keyword, if that's possible. That would save so much time and brain power midfight if I could just say 'Power Up' or something and suddenly my deadly tails have a dozen weapon talents applied to them,' Lone thought.

Passive Skill: Greatsword Mastery

A child skill of the parent skill [Sword Mastery] commonly used by knights and warriors of great strength. Uncommonly used as a pair by the absurdly strong and practised.

Things attacked by a greatsword will act as if they are 15% [+10%] more brittle than they really are.

[New!] Grants the talent [Enlargen]. Say the phrase [Enlargen] to increase the size of the blade of the host's greatsword by 1.4 times while doubling the weight. This talent lasts for 10 seconds and can only be used once per hour.

Cost:1000 SP to perform the talent [Enlargen]. Mastery:Intermediate Level 1

'Just a shitter version of Call of The Woodsman from Hatchet Mastery, really. The extra weight is good if you can handle it, and I guess you could offset it with Call of The Woodsman while getting both size increases, but yeah, I need more general talents,' Lone commented.

Passive Skill: Heavy Bow Mastery

A child skill of the parent skill [Bow Mastery] commonly used by incredibly strong archers that have the same efficiency as a catapult.

When attacking with a heavy bow, any arrows fired will travel 60% [-35%] slower but will deal 15% [10%] more damage.

[New!] Grants the talent [Encumbered Arrow]. Say the phrase [Encumbered Arrow] to triple the weight of any arrows fired while active. The talent lasts for 2 minutes and can only be used once every 2 days.

Cost:7,000 SP to perform the talent [Encumbered Arrow]. Mastery:Intermediate Level 1

'Y'know, once this bullshit with Arch Devil Zel is over, I think I'd like to focus on ranged skills. Become a magic archer, y'know?' he mused internally. 'Imagine building up a reputation as a feared ranged combatant only to get ambushed in a fight where I can't possibly use magic or bows and then my assailants get to feel utter despair when they realise magic is a hobby and archery is just a fun side thing to me.'

He was having a lot of fun and he'd only rechecked four skills so far. There was still another 24 skills to go over plus his status. Honestly, he should have told Master Mezro'nan to let Hazel come find him in an hour, not in twenty minutes. He only had another five or so minutes before she'd be here.

'Well, I can always keep doing this as we go to the zoo place she mentioned,' Lone thought. 'Plus the guild. Yeah, I'll have plenty of time to finish destressing.'

Before he got back to it, he quickly pulled out a 'Yes, I don't look like this. Stop Asking.' broach and changed his appearance. There was no reason not to do it now since it would be required for his play date with Hazel to prevent getting recognised as the guy who 'won' a spar against Prince Keining.