Lone: The Wanderer

"Woah, the air smells so fresh," Hazel noted.

"It does. I wonder if this is an artificial space or if we got teleported to a genuine marina of some fuckoff huge lake in the middle of nowhere," Lone replied.

He almost couldn't see the end of the lake, and the mountains surrounding it were incredibly beautiful. It reminded him of Scotland, oddly enough.

The marina itself was also quite impressive, being a couple of hundred metres long with dozens of boats of all different shapes and sizes ready to set sail. The marina's connecting pier was made of an unfamiliar stone while the individual docking jetty's were made of a mixture of the same stone and a sleek and sturdy-looking wood.

"It's a lot like Loch Lomond, minus the fancy-ass dock," he noted.

Hazel nodded. "Yeah! It is."

"Hello!" an unfamiliar feminine voice greeted from behind them.

Hazel damn-near jumped out of her skin while Lone spun on his heels though he didn't assume a combat position. It wasn't exactly nice being spooked like this but all logic pointed towards the unknown person being their fishing instructor.

She was a short catkin of an unknown race, though her hair, six tails, and her two round eyes, were all a deep mix of purple and black. That seemed to be the naturally colouration, not a result of Void and Darkness's influence like Lone. He guessed she was barely taller than Soph's child form though this person was clearly an adult given her facial structure.

She was leaning forward a little bit with her hands held behind her back playfully. Her hair was long enough to reach her feet but it had been braided over her shoulder so as to only fall down to her belly button, and she was wearing a typical outfit of a fisherman. She did have a nametag pinned to her chest that read 'Zee Zee'.

'She's an... A-ranker? Damn sneaky bitch for me to not have noticed her until I was looking at her. Wonder if that's her racial skill given she's a catkin...' Lone thought before he stuck a hand out. "Hello, indeed. Darren McCullen. I trust you're our instructor?"

She grabbed his hand with both of hers and shook it quite enthusiastically. "Yup! What boat do you wanna take? Six hours sounds like a lot but it really isn't. Best to be out on the water and fishing as soon as possible, y'know?"

She let go of his hand and rushed over to Hazel before hugging her. "You're cute. I bet the fish'll love you." She turned back to Lone and said, "You reek of blood. They'll probably avoid you for that so while you'll catch the dumb ones if you really try, the valuable fish will all avoid your line. Don't worry though! I'll teach you how to stop smelling so bad. Can't teach you to catch fish if no worthwhile fish will even let you try, right?"

"Uh... Sure. That makes sense?" Lone more asked than said. 'She's got a lot of energy. I would expect that from a ginger catkin, not a black-haired one. Still, I'm all for new skills. Maybe learning to suppress my... blood smell will help me figure out how to conceal MP. But what kind of fish are we gonna be catchin' if they can detect, what, how much blood I've spilled?'

Regardless, Lone had spilled a lot

"This one looks good," Hazel said, pointing to a simple yet elegant fishing raft that was nestled between some of the larger ones.

The instructor bounced over to it and nodded vigorously. "Yup! Looks perfect for the two of you. All aboard!"

Lone and Hazel got onto the vessel, and as soon as they did, the instructor casually kicked it off of the pier and jumped on herself before she picked up an oar and began paddling slowly. Despite doing it slowly the little boat was picking up some decent speed.

"I'm Zee Zee by the way! So, about your blood smell. I want you to hold your breath and focus on your aura. You being a B-ranker makes this way easier! Once you've done that, try to get your aura to cleanse itself. Like, imagine it's having a bath or something," the catkin directed.

"That's kinda vague, but sure, I can try. Is it an easy skill or ability to learn? It is a skill, by the way, right?" Lone asked as he closed his eyes and, using Meditation, centred his attention on his own aura within himself.

He was struggling to really pin it down and quickly began assuming he'd need to dive into a deeper mental state to really touch upon the thing.

"Yeah, it's a skill! It's called Blood Aura Control. As for ease... It only took me, like, an hour to learn it? Most people find it pretty easy. It's nothing special. If you don't manage then don't worry about it! I'm sure we'll be able to get some fish for you either way I just want you to get the most out of this experience! You paid for it, after all," Zee Zee replied.

"And, uh, I don't need the skill?" Hazel asked. "The fish will just, uh, like me?"

"Yup! I mean, you have almost no blood in your aura at all and you're aura is so weak given your rank. Ah! No offense intended. There's nothing wrong with being weak! We all start somewhere, right? The bottom is usually where we all come from, hehe!" Zee Zee cheerfully answered as she continued to steer the boat further out into the lake.

'Usually? I've yet to meet something born into power. Ah! Maybe the Shale? Guildmaster Oror was created by the Stone more so than he was birthed, so maybe he came out at a certain strength. I'm getting distracted. Focus. Aura. Blood. Control.' Lone kept repeating those four words in his mind as if in a trance while he used all of his sense to try to do as he been told.

Zee Zee's eyes narrowed and a small smile spread onto her lips, one of interest more so than any other emotion. A couple of minutes of silence passed when the catkin stopped rowing, allowing the boat to drift to a stop.

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Lone slowly opened his eyes and sighed. "No skill."

"Really? That's a shame. Try it for a bit longer while I get your sister all set up and ready to fish. How does that sound?" Zee Zee replied happily.

She then waved her left hand and a purple alloyed ring with runes all over it lit up for a moment. A simple but sturdy-looking fishing rod appeared in her hand which she gave to Hazel. "Do you know the basics of fishing or would you like me to help instrust you from the beginning-beginning?"

"The beginning-beginning would be nice. I've never fished before," Hazel replied.

Lone tuned the two of them out, choosing to instead focus on acquiring the skill Blood Aura Control. Normal concentration wasn't working, clearly. Either that or it would take far too long to find his aura to focus on it.

Summoning the damned thing was easy enough, as was emitting it, but looking inward and really gazing at it, interacting with it? Now that was tough. Thus, Lone decided to enter his mind space to look at his body metaphysically instead of with his physical senses.

It only took a couple of seconds for him to feel completely disconnected from his body and all of its associated sensations. Meditation really was such a valuable skill, though his ability to enter his own soul likely helped him reach this zen-like state as well.

'It has aura in the skill name and Zee Zee implied its related to one's aura which is one of the reasons it'd be pointless for Hazel to try to earn the skill, so, I guess I need to look at my aura, really look at it, find the blood smell or feeling or whatever is coming out of it, and beat it into submission, right?' he assumed.

He usually only ever used this state of mind to reach his soul or a simpler version of this kind of internal introspection to access his Puzzle Locked Mind, so he didn't really know where to look to find his aura here.

'I can even faintly feel my internal energy channels like this. That's interesting, but where's my aura? Well, it comes from somewhere and everyone's got one. Maybe I should try summoning it and trace the source? I don't really want Haze to see it though and Zee Zee might see it as an act of aggression. I guess I can try bringing it forth without manifesting its image? I've rarely done that before despite being able to ever since I was C-ranker.' With his mind made up, Lone did just that.

He repeatedly flared his aura not caring for any SP drainage doing so was causing. It only took six attempts of calling forth the aura to find a trace of its origin.

To describe what he was seeing in this state, his Puzzle Locked Mind was in his head next to his mana brain. His soul covered his entire body like a thick lustrous membrane with its core being in the centre of his body just alongside his mana heart. His internal energy channels littered his entire body like a never-ended spider's web, though they were faint. And now that he had found his aura's source, it was clear to see that it rested just below his metaphysical abdomen.

It was golden and muddy in colour. It was a rough sphere with dents all over it but it was powerful. It was also soaked with blood and numerous other things he couldn't make neither head nor tail of right now.

'Okay, target acquired. Now to suppress the blood. It's so interesting that I can actually interact with my aura like this so easily. This has to be because of Growth Accelerator, right? Zee Zee must have been teasing me when she said this was easy for everyone. I'll earn the skill but I'll suppress it if it's passive and not use it if it's active. Don't want her to think I actually earned it,' Lone concluded.

He then forced all of his willpower into attempting to obliterate the blood covering his beaten and worn aura source. There was probably a gentler way to do this but Lone didn't fear pain nor was he worried that any damage he might do to himself that wouldn't just fix itself.

He'd injured his soul multiple times now but somehow that kept healing despite Basic Regeneration not being applicable to all that. Then again, Basic Regeneration could fix his metaphysical mana organs, so maybe it had an unlisted impact on his metaphysical body. It could heal his mind and mental state, after all. Regardless, he wasn't worried about being rough with himself.

Lone reeled a bit because just as his willpower began hammering away at his aura, the damned thing screamed at him as if it was deeply offended that he was targeting the blood within it.

He pulled back his willpower to consider things. 'Oh, it calmed down too. Can it... be reasoned with? Hell if I know. I have so little info on the metaphysical state of a person, but it's worth a try? Now, to focus and convey feelings of negotiation to my aura... Fuck this is nuts...'

It took a couple of minutes and his willpower being assaulted by his aura three times when it approached before he was able to express that all he wanted was for the blood to be hidden, not gone. His aura seemed hesitant as if hiding its accomplishments was shameful but he got the feeling of a nod from the thing after it had the gall to growl at him.

'Are... are we done then? I... don't know. Guess I'll return to the physical world to see if I have a skill? Fuck, this was so weird...'

Lone slowly opened his eyes only to see Zee Zee staring at him intently with barely an inch separating them. Meanwhile, Hazel was tied up like a stuffed pig behind the instructor and she was flopping about trying to wriggle out of her bindings.

Two blue screens were also distracting him, which wasn't helping make sense of the situation.

The host has developed the active skill: Symbiotic Aura Control.

Active Skill: Symbiotic Aura Control

An incredibly rare skill belonging only to those that have auras so strong of character that they have the potential to grow egos and that potential was allowed to actualise by the host. Not only that but the host then reached an accord with the aura's ego. The skill has wildly different abilities based on the synergy and wants of the host and the aura's ego.

Allows the host to mask the natural scent of blood their aura emits.

Cost:10% of the aura's power to keep active.Mastery:Beginner Level 1

"Oh, hi! Welcome back!" Zee Zee greeted. "So, you earned a skill way different from what I was expecting. I've had most of my fun but I do need answers now. Who are you? Why did you sneak into my business? How did you successfully lie about your identity at the entrance? How is your aura defined enough to grow an ego despite you only being a B-ranker and so young?"

"'My business'?" Lone quoted as his mind spun, trying to figure out if Hazel was in any real danger and if this A-ranker was a threat to him or if he could take her out with ease.

"Heheh, yup," the catkin grinned. "Suppose it's only fair that I should be honest with you if I want honest answers back, right? By the way, you don't stand a chance, so no funny ideas, 'kay? I'm Zelda Zaph, or, if you wanna be fancy, you can call me Divine Tethered."

A flash of light then blinded Lone for a second. When his vision returned the catkin was gone and in its place was a panther with eight legs, six tails, and sleek luscious fur. It also had a thin red leather collar around its neck that had two golden bells attached to it. "And this is my true form. Wanna do the same and deactivate that brooch of yours?"