After a night of well-deserved rest, Lone woke up at five in the morning to finalise his research on Swind's new mechanical tail.

In his workshop, both he and Kyuubi were sitting on the floor. Lone had a few rings of brass that would make up the tail in his hands while he inspected them closely with his double lensed Dwarven glasses as Kyuubi snoozed, curled around his body.

Lone absentmindedly stroked Kyuubi's head as he thought. 'Mmmmm... The design and the runes need to change for the tail. The design isn't a big issue, but the runes... I really wish I had some talent for enchanting. Well, copying the way I did it on the arm should work so long as I make far more joint rings... I just wish it didn't take me so many months to perfect these fucking runes...'

With that in mind, Lone closed his eyes and imagined a tail for Swind that could be freely moved with a single thought without having to rely on mana. He also imagined an option that fired tiny needles from the tip of the tail to give it some offensive power on top of its inherent ability to be used as a whip or a club.

Having decided all of that, the final touch Lone added was, of course, the same ability the arm had: being able to launch itself and self-detonate on a predetermined target.

Item does not exist in Altros, however, there are a few similar items and the host has invented an item strikingly similar to this one. 150,000 MP is required to compensate for the difference.

The host has a great understanding of the item and of its construction. Base MP cost: 75,000 MP.

The host possesses insufficient MP. The stored MP from 1 of the host's [Mana Orbs] has been consumed to compensate for the needed MP.

225,000 total MP has been consumed to create the item: Brass Mind-Linked Fairy-Forged Lemurian Tail.

'Heh... It was a lot cheaper than the arm was... I guess that just goes to show how much of a difference it makes to have created something very similar to it before,' Lone marvelled as he put the remaining half-empty mana orb back into his Dimensional Storage.

Lone first inspected the tail via Clicker's power before he did anything else to make sure everything was in order even though he trusted his creation magic completely.

[Unnamed] Brass Mind-Linked Fairy-Forged Lemurian Tail Description

Created by Lone Immortus with an unidentifiable magic.

This tail is designed to act as a permanent replacement for a lost Lemurian tail and it is equivalent in power to an average Epic-rated weapon.

Rank Epic Stats Durability: 350,000/350,000 Attack: 250 Defence: 420 Weight: 50 Abilities Passively links to the host's mind to allow control and movement of it. Can use 10% of its oil reserves to fire several needle projectiles from the tip. Can use 40% of its oil reserves to separate from the host and explode on a predetermined target. Passively uses 0.5% of its oil per hour to remain operable.

Lone nodded with content. The stats were all slightly higher than the arm's ones were and Lone chalked this down to it being far larger that Swind's mechanical arm. "I wonder if Swind still remembers how to use a tail? I remember it took him weeks to find his balance after losing his original one... Well, I should give him this and tell him about my 'training exercise' plan, shouldn't I?"

As Lone was mumbling to himself, Kyuubi, who was coiled around him, slammed her paw down on a small bug that was crawling past her snout and them she suddenly opened her eyes wide and her body began to shake.

Lone, being the doting father that he was, immediately put Swind's new tail in his Dimensional Storage and hugged Kyuubi as he asked, "What's wrong? Are you cold?"

Usually, Kyuubi never did anything except sleep or act as a mount for Eolande when she could be bothered, so seeing her body move like this, Lone could only assume that it was unnatural and that she might be in pain somehow.

Just as Lone's worries were getting to an unbearable level, Kyuubi's body stopped moving and began shrinking.

Before long, she was less than a tenth of her original size and all of the fur on her body suddenly disappeared as her paws turned into two chubby arms and pudgy legs. Her adorable face shifted and warped until it was an equally adorable face of a baby girl. Short golden hair flowed from her head and stopped just below her shoulders.

Lone noticed that there was a very small pair of fox ears on top of Kyuubi's head much like his own and she had a big bushy tail that was wrapping itself around Lone's arm playfully.

This infant, Kyuubi, stared up at the dumbfounded Lone who was holding her and smiled sweetly before she said, "Papa?" in a high-pitched and cute voice.

"Ky-Kyuubi?" Lone was more than a little bit shocked.

True, he had expected her to change back to her Beastman form after he had heard her voice back in Clicker's dungeon, but so much time had passed since then, so he had honestly begun to think that maybe he had hallucinated her words.

Kyuubi laughed sweetly and replied, "Papa!"

Lone could feel his heart melting. "Are you able to speak properly? I have so many questions..."

Kyuubi looked up at him and tilted her head in confusion before she said, "Papa?"

Lone chuckled softly. "I suppose it would be unfair to ask for it to be that easy."

Lone stroked Kyuubi's soft hair and sighed. "Well, for now, why don't we get you in some clothes and go see Mama, huh?" he asked with a soft and caring tone in his voice.

"Papa! Mama!" Kyuubi joyously called out in response.

Sitting in the living room, Sophie was cuddling Kyuubi with a loose smile on her face as she let the small baby hold her fingers with her tiny hands.

Lone was next to them and he had his arm wrapped around Sophie as he watched this adorable display of affection between mother and daughter.

Eolande, who was on the other sofa, couldn't hide the grin on her face. Even if she regularly used Kyuubi as a mount, the two of them had actually grown close over the past few months and the twol-hundred-thousand-year-old girl would be lying if she said that she wasn't happy to see Kyuubi return to her original form.

"So she can't talk besides saying 'mama' and papa', right?" Eolande asked to reconfirm what Lone had stated a few minutes ago.

Lone nodded as he reached over Sophie's lap and stroked Kyuubi's hair gently. "Yup. I think she had to use a lot of mana to change back to her Foxkin form, and I also think she did the same thing to speak to me in Clicker's dungeon. Using that much mana might have forced her mental age, and probably her physical age as well, to regress as a result. Although, I do have another just as equally plausible theory."

Eolande frowned as she held her chin in her palm. "That does make some sense. How old was she again?"

"Just inspect her," Lone replied in a slightly uncaring tone as he focused his attention on his fiancée and daughter.

Status Name: Kyuubi Immortus [???] Sex: Female Age: 3 Level: 25 Species: Foxkin Rank: H Race: Golden Foxkin HP: 320/320 SP: 200/200 MP: 240/10,000 Basic Stats Strength: 17 Vigour: 32 Dexterity: 26 Agility: 20 Vitality: 20 Luck: 500 Secret Stats Charm: 150 Charisma: 45 Magic Power: 1,000

Eolande was at a loss for words. "I have so many questions."

"You're a smart girl. I figured out most of it on my own, so I'm sure you can too," Lone teased.

Eolande's cheeks puffed out a bit in response before she began theorising. "Well, first thing's first, the brackets by her name. I'm guessing that's her true name, the three character word. I think we've never seen it before on her normal status because her biological mother had never seen her in her Fox form, so that body never had a name until you gave her one."

"I suspect the same," Lone replied.

Looking up the ceiling in thought, Eolande continued, "She's H-rank, not I-rank. That's suspicious since, from my knowledge, she's never so much as lifted a paw against monsters nor has she engaged in any activities that would give her experience. True, we're on a world tree so she passively gains levels here, but four months isn't long enough of a timeframe to gain a whole rank superficially, even if it was the very first rank-up."

"Again, I agree," Lone said before he added, "I noticed it after she changed into her Foxkin form, but there was a dead bug on the floor of my workshop right next to where her head was lying before."

"So you think she's been killing creepy-crawlies to gain as much exp as she could ever since we brought her here?" Eolande asked, unsure if this assumption was correct.

"Yup," Sophie said as she maintained eye contact with Kyuubi who was now happily sucking on one of her fingers. "We think she needed to rank-up to reverse her transformation."

"I guess that would make sense... It's really a shame that we know nothing about this ability of hers, huh?" Eolande noted.

"Yeah," Sophie replied a bit absentmindedly as Kyuubi gently wrapped her small and fluffy tail around Sophie's hand and fell asleep. 'She's not as soft as Lone is, but something about Kyuubi's tail feels... new. It's nice.'

"I guess the last point is that all of her stats have actually lowered even though she's ranked up, but that's probably since she's in a weaker body now, or maybe she has to train each form individually." Eolande's conclusion was exactly the same as Lone's.

Lone sighed and said, "I'm happy, really happy, but it's a little bit worrying."

"What is?" Eolande asked.

"What does she need to do to regain her intelligence and real age? Does she need to level up? Will it come back over time? Or maybe her bodies simply age only when used and her Fox form is just a form that ages quickly like with Lemurians. This is my second theory about why her age has regressed, and it's concerning." Lone's mind was swimming in anxiety.

"That's... That's a good point. But regardless, Husband, this is still progress and it seems like it was a conscious decision on her part to revert to this younger Foxkin form, so it shouldn't be a bad thing," Eolande tried to console the worried father.

Lone smiled a little. "You're right, it's just hard not to worry, you know? She is my daughter after all, even if not biologically."

"How couldn't I understand?" Eolande replied with an empathic look on her face. 'Every one of the Wanderers cares about Kyuubi, even Rachel, so you don't need to feel like you're alone with your worries, silly Husband.'

As if he could read Eolande's mind, Lone chuckled a bit. "By the way, that staff of yours, I'll make it today," he said before he took four empty mana orbs out of his Dimensional Storage. "Fill these up for me. I'll spend all of today researching and you're gonna help me with the enchantments. No matter what I do, I just can't understand that magic, oddly enough."

Eolande caught the clear spheres and immediately began filling them. "Of course, Husband. Let's begin, shall we? A long and hard day of sweaty and passionate work. I'm full of excitement."

Sophie growled viciously as she glared and Eolande. The Elder Tylwyth Teg in question giggled and flew off, presumably towards Lone's workshop.

Lone grimaced before he stood up and rubbed Sophie's head lightly. "Don't let her provoke you so easily, Soph. She only does it because she knows she'll get a reaction out of you."

"Muuuu... Don't let her touch you or your tails! Especially your tails!" Sophie ordered.

Lone smirked before he got down on his knees and kissed Sophie and then Kissed Kyuubi's forehead. "Yes, ma'am, I'll try my best," Lone joked as he happily watched Sophie's cheeks inflate like balloons.