"Huh."
"What wyvern was it?" Sybil asked from the side. "Was it a black wyvern?"
"It says fog wyvern."
"Oh? Does it say anything else?"
"They're related to Fog Dragons. They're elusive and probably have peaceful personalities."
"Huh. Never heard of them."
"Then why did you want it to be a black wyvern?"
"They're the most common type. They can't breathe fire, can't swim like some others can, and all that."
"Now you're just being petty."
"No, no. They're not so special, but their physiques are topnotch. When our Soul Bond becomes stronger, I'll be able to get a skill that boosts my Stamina from you."
"Oh. It says that I'll be getting the Draconic Vitality skill. It seems to boost Strength and Stamina."
"Really?" her eyes sparkled. "What else did you get?"
"One of the Fog Wyvern's abilities. And a boost to my stats. Everything except Dexterity."
Sybil sighed contentedly and slouched onto a couch. As she felt the runes on her bracelet with a satisfied face, she yawned loudly. He found himself yawning as well. His vision darkened, and he briefly lost sense of where he was. He was having one of those momentary faintings.
Soon, clarity came once more, and he saw Sybil staring at him from the couch with a concerned face.
"What?" he asked sleepily.
"No, your head shook a little when you yawned. It was kinda weird."
"Really?" Lorn felt all conscious of his actions suddenly. "Do I seriously do that when I blackout?"
Now that he thought about it, he does find himself in weird positions when he sometimes blacked out like this. Sometimes shaking, sometimes fallen. He does worry sometimes, but never too much.
"Wait, did you just blackout?" Sybil asked worriedly.
"Happens sometimes when I stand up too fast or yawn," he shrugged. "Eh, don't worry. Happens with age."
"You're 25?"
"Yes, yes. The ripe old age of 25. Leave me alone."
Lorn yawned again. It felt divine.
"Did you black out again?" Sybil asked.
"No. I told you, it only happens sometimes."
Sybil was staring at him again. A weird mix of worry and curiosity in her eyes.
Lorn remembered the sentence he read when their Soul bond became stronger. Something about the two of them caring for each other. With the story he told, he could see Sybil caring for him. But why did the system say that he cared for her?
The only thing he did was to learn that she was depressed and think about what he could say to bring her along with him. Was that care? Probably not.
He got up from the bed. "I'll take the other room. I'll probably be training, and at evening, I'll go talk with the Undying."
"Should I go with you?"
"Nah, it's okay."
"Alright. We'll tell the Guildmaster we're leaving for the capital."
"Do you think she'll let us go, though?" Lorn asked.
"Knowledge about severing Bonds should be useful for her as well. Some Hunters and Undying will probably want to get rid of each other later on. If one faction could get a monopoly on that, then they'll be in a pretty good spot."
"I guess."
"And we'll also ask her to lend us some people so we can form a proper team. At least a warrior and a rogue," she said, sighing. "It would be best if we got someone like Shekh… but I suppose that's wishful thinking."
"Shouldn't we try to keep our secret?"
"Our guild should have some warriors and rogues. We probably don't have to worry about that."
Lorn felt that Manipulator's guilds having warriors and rogues felt weird, but he could let it go.
"Alright. See you at dinner tonight, then."
Lorn walked out of the room and entered his own bedroom. He decided to train to distract his mind. When he got bored, he idly thought about the talks he would have with the three Undying. The only one he was worried about was the older lady, so he only thought of the details of that one.
Though, the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had many advantages and cards to play. Soon, his worry dissipated. He could only be sure after he met her, but he felt she was a reasonable, logical person. Perhaps a bit too much on the selfish, backstabbing side, but she won't act randomly, so Lorn could probably keep her in check. He would have to stay close to her, though.
He looked at the mirror again, hoping the researchers would make the status screens appear in front of him already. He was sure the mirror was akin to a smartphone at this point.
[Immersion: 61%]
It was higher than he expected. He was only here for five days now, but he already had to leave. He thought he could last a week, but he supposed that with how much he was using his skill and leveling up, his immersion had to shoot up.
'And I also forgot to ask what Manipulation – Elusive is about,' he sighed, looking at the new branching option he received.
He got it after he received ate the fog wyvern's egg. So elusive had to have something to do with fog?
'So if fog is elusive… then anything intangible? Air, smoke, steam, mist… maybe even spirit?' Lorn thought. 'The ring I got also made my spirit gaseous, so maybe that had something to do with it as well. Gravity is intangible too, isn't it?'
If that was the case, then Lorn could see how this branch would be useful. It probably wouldn't have much raw power, but his deadliness would be subtle. In fact, even if he could only affect air, he would be able to do so many things.
'With enough practice, I could choke people, affect sound, maybe create sonic booms… Can I create air so compressed it cuts people? It's feasible, right? People get their hands fucked working with pressure cutters all the time. If that fails, I can just explode the compressed air to shoot bullets. I guess I could also summon a tornado or something later on.'
Lorn was slightly worried that blowing them away was the last thing that came to his mind, but he was too distracted to care.
'Oh, this might also solve the problem of my spirit being gaseous. It's not like I can hit someone with air, so there's no need for power… but I should have many different options available to me.'
Something told him that still wouldn't be enough when facing absolute strength, but Lorn decided to see where things went.
A soulless knocked on his door and told him that the Guildmaster wanted to see him. Ms. Frieda told him that he could meet the Undying any time in their rooms. Their training was over, so they were free for the evening.
Lorn decided to meet the boy first. On the way, he briefly visited the cook. He thanked him for the egg and asked if he could touch some of the soot on the stone stove. The cook looked bewildered but didn't mind, so Lorn applied some of it under his eyes.
Looking in his mirror, he made sure it looked natural and even drew some veins on it. Turned out better than he expected. He now had proper dark circles under his eyes. He then ruffled his hair into a mess and slouched his pose a bit. Thankfully, he wasn't so muscular and his clothes were baggy.
'Perfect…'
Lorn went to the boy's room and sensed a stir of spirit.
'Oh.'