The next morning was peaceful. No need to dress up in the cold of the wild, no need to prepare for the long trip ahead, and no need to worry about the endless barrage of bugs on the road. Lorn had his full fill of sleep and lazily walked into the kitchen. Hitler must've cooked for them or something, as he found a plateful of various breakfast meals.
He ate heartily and headed outside. The house had a small area in the middle of it, perhaps originally meant to be a garden of some sorts. But now, it was only a small empty space with grass growing freely all around.
The sky was entirely blue, and the sun shone brightly on his face. Lorn yawned, groaned, stretched and started practicing. He did some warmup before activating Acrobatic Sense and doing some high-intensity stuff. The skill made it so that he could almost never lose his balance when doing extreme movement. It also automatically corrected his movement if Lorn was to fall over. At first, Lorn deluded himself that his Probability Alteration was finally working, but Sybil was quick to dash his hopes.
It was a useful skill that was almost a passive buff for someone like Sybil, but when Lorn used it, his spirit ran out in a matter of minutes. Even with all the boosts he received for it, it still wasn't enough to compete with a proper E-rank soul.
Which was why his Spirit Meditation skill was a godsend of the highest order. Lorn didn't know how much time he saved, thanks to this skill that allowed him to refill his whole bar in two minutes, but he was sure it was big. After all, if he left it alone to refill naturally, it would take at least twenty minutes.
Sybil said that it wasn't a very useful skill for close quarter combat, as none would allow you to meditate in peace; but it was something that shined brightly when you were in a large-scale battle, acting as an artillery mage. Just lob everything you had at the enemy and do it all again after a minute.
His spirit filled, Lorn did a different exercise for a few minutes before doing something extreme with his skill active. He repeated this for a while before Clay interrupted him.
"Mr. Lorn, there are people at the front door asking to meet you."
"Who are they?"
"They're Hunters of Belo city."
'They're trying to recruit me?' Lorn wondered. 'Did they find out about spirit bonds?'
"Let's go," he said, not even bothering to wipe down his sweat.
At the front door, he saw three people dressed in a different attire. One was wearing a slick gambeson, another was wearing a suit, and the last was wearing clean, but casual clothing.
"Hello," the suited man spoke first. "How are you doing?"
"Ain't nothing wrong," Lorn replied, a random accent taking over his speech. "Who you?"
"We're representatives of the biggest forces in Belo City. We came wondering if you were interested in joining us? So far, my clan, the Sinclairs have recruited 13 Undying, while the Warriors and Rogue guild here have recruited five each. And just this morning, two of our recruits learned Strengthening. If you come to us, your future will be bright and set."
'But why are they coming together?' Lorn wondered. 'Are they some sort of oligarchy? Or did they just happen to come together? Well, it doesn't really matter.'
"Not interested, brother," Lorn replied. "I'm already in the Manipulator's guild and I ain't got no thoughts of moving. Goodbye."
"Please listen to our offer first."
"Nah, man. Even if you're offering me the whole city of Belo, I'll still refuse." Lorn walked up. "Wanna know why? Because I'm loyal. Sybil Plath, a member of my current guild, saved my goddamn life! Were you out there helping me out when I was bout to be ripped apart by wolves? Don't think so. I owe her my life, brother. I'll spend the rest of my life repaying her for the favor, capiche?"
Lorn didn't know why he was suddenly talking like this and where it was coming from, but he was enjoying every single moment of it.
"Why not receive the gifts we'll be offering you and share it with Sybil? I'm sure she'll be happy with the gifts we can offer."
"Smart," Lorn said, clapping slowly. "Smart fella. But there's only brains and money in that, yeah? No heart. No heart at all. If you wanna repay someone, you don't just give 'em cold hard cash and then be done with it. You need to do it properly." He then eyed the Sinclair representative. "If you think you can solve everything with benefits, you a nasty hoe, brother. Don't be like that. We gotta do better."
Lorn felt like laughing at his bit, but he had to keep the act up.
"If you follow the pacts of loyalty and honor, then the Warrior's guild is best for you," the one with the gambeson spoke up. "The righteous path of a paladin would suit you well."
Lorn shook his head with disappointment.
"Nah, brother, you don't get it. I'm not talking about that kind of loyalty. I'm not there to sit down and judge Sy when she's doing her thing. If I see her in a catfight or some shit, I'd walk over and start kicking whoever she's fighting. If I see her cooking up some bullshit to some innocent idiot, I'd walk over and add salt and spice to the bullshit. I ain't some hypocritical prick who says they're gonna follow someone unconditionally, but spends half the time complaining about their decisions!"
Lorn saw Sybil walking out of the guild's building.
"Anyhow, brothers. My mind ain't changing, so go spend your time on something more productive. And don't go bothering Sybil, offering her this and that. That's fucked up. It's cheap and annoying. Leave her alone if you're real men. Actually, I can see her walking here, so you better shut it."
The three looked over; and under the silent, scrutinizing gaze of four men, Sybil walked home. She seemed mostly confused, but she weaved between the three and approached Lorn.
"What's going on?"
"Get inside, sugar," Lorn said, keeping the accent.
"Sugar?"
"Just get in."
Sybil looked like she wanted to say something, but she silently walked inside and closed the door behind her.
"I'm proud of you, brothers," Lorn said to the three. "Real men. Have your best day."
With that, he closed the door and saw Sybil looking out the door and at him with curiosity.
"What was that about?"
"They were trying to recruit me and I was just having a little fun."
"Sure."
Lorn cleared his voice.
"Anyhow, did you meet the Guildmaster?"
"Yes. And she also agreed to our little excursion."
"Perfect!" Lorn replied. "In that case, I'll leave tonight and when I come back, we'll head to the capital together. Did she mention anything about the people we'll be going with?"
"Not yet. But we won't have to worry about that. She'll create a good team for us."
With their plan settled, Lorn and Sybil prepared for the trip ahead. They bought more supplies and also some more clothes. Lorn's allowance money he got from Silt's mayor was quickly dwindling, so he asked Sybil if they could buy some of the local commerce and sell it at the Capital.
She said sure, so Lorn bought some salt and black pepper and put them in wooden boxes. He bought an empty one as well, thinking he could gather whatever he found in the wild.
They were stopped many times by random recruiters and even some Undying. If it was this bad in Belo city, Lorn couldn't imagine how it was in the capital.
Finished with shopping, the two quickly made their way home and breathed out a sigh. They cooked some food for each other and walked into their own rooms. Lorn spent some time practicing his skills once again. Acrobatic Sense and Spirit Meditation went up by a level each.
He then remembered about his new Rank up messages and decided to ask Sybil about them. Sybil was surprised to hear about his Behavioral skill. She asked what Lorn did to receive such skills and Lorn honestly described the conversations he had with the three Undying.
She insisted he do the acts again, so Lorn played Shy Lorn he acted out for Mark, and then Chad Lorn he played for Jihye. He also did a part of his bit he played for the representatives in the morning.
Sybil was surprised by Lorn's acting, so she excitedly asked for more characters. Lorn did her best to comply. In the end, she couldn't help but ask how he got so good at acting. Lorn himself wasn't sure, so he just explained it was fun to do sometimes. Something of a hobby.
They got back to the Behavioral skill, but Sybil wasn't sure what to make of it. It could be anything. Perhaps it would be something that allowed him to see the moods of others in different colors, like with Spirit Visualization. Sybil heard of such skills existing, but it could've just been a false rumor.
She was also unsure of the Elusive Manipulation branching he was offered. They went to the Guildmaster to ask about it, and the latter explained that it was basically the manipulation of things that people couldn't see or touch. But it couldn't encompass anything too wide. Things like smoke, mist, gravity, or perhaps static were possible, but skills that allow control over the air or spirit would be considered too powerful by the All-seeing.
Perhaps it would be possible when Lorn ranked up further, reaching B or A rank, but for now, it was impossible. Even if he somehow got it, there would be severe limitations attached to it.
As for what kind of skills he would get, the Guildmaster was unsure. She wasn't so familiar with this branch as there were very few people who received it. Most Hunters received much more straightforward skills. Hers was a set of skills that allowed control over water. Now, she could control mist and ice, but back when she was just starting, she could just move a small bit of water through the air.
Hearing the advice, Lorn and Sybil decided that if there are no other choices that sounded better, they would pick elusive manipulation. With their Spirit Bond, it would be best for the two of them to have a diverse skillset.
Sybil really wanted him to receive the skills of a warrior, but that didn't seem too likely at this point, and Lorn didn't want to become a rogue.
Time passed, Lorn's immersion meter reached 70% and they said their goodbyes.
Lorn went to his room and logged out on his bed. Hopefully, this time, he wouldn't have to wake up to a raided house and his spirit partner missing.