Lone somehow found the courage to speak to the old man who wasn't emitting any aura at all but was just as, if not, even more, terrifying to him than Ythmagobla's Dragon Fear was. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Kekekeke... I already... told you... my name, but... I suppose... that... doesn't suffice. Hmm... To answer you... I am the Adjustor... Ever tweaking... Ever modifying... Ever... adjusting... Kekekeke..." Tapper's laughter had a certain charm to it. Listening to it was similar in nature to allowing yourself to get enthralled by the Devil as he convinced you to sell your soul to him.

"'The Adjustor'? What the hell is that? Is Clicker an adjustor as well?" Lone was thirsty for information as well as time. The more of each of those that he could earn, the better.

Tapper tapped his fingers in the air playfully a few times. "I wonder... how he would... perform... as the Adjustor... No, Clicker is... not... the Adjustor. As a gift... for showing me... an interesting... development... I will tell you... that Clicker is the... Corrector. Ever fixing... Ever realigning... Ever... correcting... Kekekeke."

"The Corrector? What does all of this mean? This has something to do with the gods that brought us here, doesn't it?" Lone asked in rapid succession.

Tapper's decrepit and withered head shook from side to side. "You... have asked... two questions... and I have answered. It... is only... fair that you... answer... two of my... questions."

Lone was momentarily startled before he was filled with joy. This was a perfect chance to buy more time for Saturn to get into position. "Okay. That's fair. What do you want to ask?"

"A reasonable... fox, I... see. Clicker... described you... as... arrogant and... unwilling to speak... Kekekeke. First, the Lemurian... what is... he to... you?" Tapper asked.

Lone took a quick second to look around only to realise that everyone was frozen still except for himself. Lone wanted to answer Tapper's question, but he was immediately flooded with worry for Soph, Hazel, Eolande, Lipsilk and the kids' safety.

"Kekekeke... Do not... fear. I have... adjusted... the flow of... time. We may speak... privately. Many eyes... are watching... you... right now. Your nerves... must have... kept you... from noticing... until now... Your companions... have been... like that... since you first... spoke," Tapper explained.

'He's... stopped time for everyone except me and him? Is that just here, or across all of Altros? I don't think I want to know... Tapper... Clicker... Who, no, what the fuck are these people?!' Lone screamed internally before he composed himself and answered the question posed by the elderly man. "He's a valuable friend to me and a fellow Wanderer."

"... I see. My second... question... Do you... regret being... forced onto this... world?" Tapper asked as his body followed the sun-headed cane to the ground.

Lone put on a difficult face. He wanted to lie, but considering the sheer power Tapper had displayed so far by halting time, he thought it might be wise to speak the truth. "No. I've gained a lot from coming here. My life before was... empty, but now it's more than full."

Tapper's toothless and gummy mouth opened to form a crooked smile. "Then... I have... to wonder... why you... resent the... gods as... much as you... do."

Lone frowned. "Just because the end result was good, that doesn't justify forcing the situation on me or Soph. I have a feeling that both of us would have happily accepted the chance to come here if we were asked, but no, we weren't asked. The choice was made for us." His anger was getting the better of him and his caution around the mysterious man was fading as rage started to fill his mind.

Tapper tapped the butt of his cane on the floor three times. "Kekekeke. Good. Express.. yourself. The.. Primals have... no power... over you... so long... as I continue to... adjust time."

What tapper had just said brought Lone back to his senses. 'He even has power over the Primal Essences? Fuck. I'm way over my head here... Ah, Saturn's in place. Good. I'm glad it isn't affected by this 'time adjusting' bullshit.'

Lone had a very strong feeling that Clicker and Tapper both weren't permitted to kill him and Soph. In fact, taking another leap in logic, maybe they were entirely restricted to the 'roles' that Tapper had mentioned.

'I need to risk it. No risk, no reward. These bastards need to know not to fuck with me.' Deep down, it was clear to see that Lone was still traumatised by all of the bullying he had received back on Earth, and he didn't want to get pushed around on this new world where he now had the ability to stand up for himself.

Lone swallowed his saliva and readied himself. 'I'm counting on you, Saturn. Mental Destruction!'

Lone's target wasn't the old man in a robe. No, the subject of his last daily use of Mental Destruction was the sun-headed cane. Even if Tapper was incredibly powerful, Lone could still see his soul. He didn't know exactly what Tapper was, but what he did know was that the man's soul resided in the sun floating just above the cane's body.

Tapper's face cramped up slightly and he wobbled a bit unsteadily. At that moment, from his rear, a swordspear made entirely of primal energy swung down as hard as it could onto the mini-sun.

A long sound akin to a bell chiming filled the air as the Primal Swordspear of Immortal Slaying met the ball of pure light. Tapper's body withered away leaving only his robes to fall onto the floor. A massive blast came from the centre of the sun and flowed outwards, pushing Saturn away.

Once the light from this blast had died down and Lone had readjusted his eyes, he could see a very small crack on the sun's surface which was odd, but it served as proof that Saturn had injured Tapper at least somewhat.

"Kekekeke! You are the first to ever injure my true body in all of the game cycles since my induction! Splendid! To think that you could create something unratable by the system that is not only unbreaking, but also able to wound the immortal. You have my admiration, Fox," a clear and youthful voice said. Its origin was clearly coming from within the cane's head.

Lone looked a little bit panicked. 'Damn it! That wasn't enough to kill him?! I'm fucked now!' Lone was already imagining some of his skills being sealed like with Clicker. Maybe worse. Perhaps he'd go so far as to kill the people he cared about except for Sophie since she should be under the god's protection as well.

The chipper voice of Tapper's soul laughed delightfully once more. "You don't need to be so worried. I am not Clicker. I admire your spirit to fight back. I suppose I should go now. Flicker is getting annoyed at how much I'm telling you. Look after the Lemurian for me. I've got an interest in the boy. Hopefully, I don't need to adjust your path again, but if I do, I look forward to experiencing your growth personally once more."

Before Lone or Saturn could react, the sun cane smacked the ground several times, resulting in it distorting and warping until it was no more. He had teleported away and time began to flow once more.

Lipsilk looked around in confusion. "Where did he go?"

Scott was the first to notice the robes lying loosely on the ground. "Mr McCullen... what happened?"

Lone regained his senses and grabbed Tapper's garments. He put them in his Dimensional Storage and then turned to face everyone. "To summarise, I attacked him, injured him, and then he fled."

Hazel frowned. She could read Lone's true thoughts and the mess that was his mind made the young woman's heart ache. She slowly walked forwards and wrapped her arms around her big brother. "I missed you... I missed you so much..."

Soph approached from Lone's side and just held his hand calmly. Were it any other woman trying to hug him without her permission, she'd no doubt pout and go in a mood. Thankfully, Hazel was Lone's sister.

Lone gently grabbed Hazel's shoulder and pulled her off of himself. He looked down into her bright amber eyes and smiled softly. "Not now. We can catch up and have a nice chat later. We still have to worry about the Taslo Empire."

Hazel looked visibly shocked by her brother's almost indifferent attitude towards her, but she nodded her head and stepped back.

Alisa was the most well-versed on Altros' history, politics and current countries and empires, so she put on a difficult expression upon hearing that the Talso Empire was a threat. "Really? Didn't they just come out of a thousand-year-long war with the Beastman Alliance? Why would they wage war on a world tree? Isn't that suicide? Even after just coming out of a fight with the Ancient Dragon Ythmagobla, the forces of a world tree could easily crush the best armies of a human empire."

Everyone turned to stare at Alisa, especially her companions. It was rare for the small girl to talk so much at once considering how shy she was most of the time.

"You always did get the best scores in class, didn't you?" Lone noted as he recalled grading her tests back in school.

Realising how much attention she was now under, Alisa grabbed the edge of her mage's hat and pulled it down to cover her embarrassed face. "Y-Yeah..."

Scott chuckled. He put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder and poked her in her side. "Best in the whole school, not just the class. You cute little bookworm, you."

Lone was happy to see his former student's getting along so well, even if Scott wasn't technically his student. "Anyway, to answer your question, the only explanation I can think of would be Tapper. That old man with the sun cane. I bet it was his doing."

Lipsilk had a more pressing matter weighing down on his mind than Tapper and the Taslo Empire. "Lone, Ele'hunda's... Can you...?" He stumbled over his words and he didn't know how to articulate what he wanted to say.

Lone understood perfectly. He approached the cold and grotesquely injured corpse of the Elven king. He gently placed his palm on his friend's chest and placed him in his Dimensional Storage. He then looked at Saturn. "Please collect his soul. No matter what, don't use it as an energy source, okay?"

Saturn hummed sadly before spinning around for a few seconds. Ele'hunda's soul offered no resistance as it was absorbed into the Divine Soul Prison. Glad that he had safely stored both Ele'hunda's soul and body, Lone tried the same with Ythmagobla.

The body was put in the Dimensional Storage easily enough, but Lone still frowned. 'No soul, huh? So the bastard really did consume his own soul to charge up another one of those breaths. Insane lizard... Still, I'm sure his body will be helpful in the future. Ancient remains can't be common.'

Alisa gaped in shock. "What on Earth? What kind of spatial skill was that? And that ball, it can hold souls?" Even if she understood some of what Lone had just done, she was still - like most people - ignorant of the existence of Divinity-level beings, so she couldn't even start to comprehend how impossibly powerful Saturn actually was for being able to contain a Divine-level soul.

"Not much point in hiding it. It's one of my weaker - but definitely one of my most useful - unique skills. It's called Dimensional Storage. It can store an unlimited amount of things, even souls, but nothing living. Time is frozen in there and things retain whatever state they were previously in when in there. Like hot food and ice. Saturn on the other hand, I can't explain, unfortunately. All I can say is that I created it and that it's a one a kind." The sphere rotated its ring out of the way and rubbed itself against its master's cheek lovingly. Lone grinned as he gently pushed it away. "It's pretty attached to me. As you can see, it's got an ego."

Emma's jaw almost hit the floor. "The magic tool engineers and the enchanting mages back at The Acadamy would wet themselves with joy if they could study that for just a day."

Lone was happy that the kids weren't acting traumatised after seeing Ele'hunda die. One Lipsilk was enough for Lone to worry about. He obviously held no contempt for the Fairy and his extreme emotions, but now was not the time for it, and children would be far harder to persuade to keep it together than a man who was so old that he'd seen the rise and fall of countless civilisations.

"Let's head to the general army. You kids, stay close. The elves aren't very fond of humans. I'm sure you know why, and it doesn't help that we're about to face a human army, so be on your best behaviour." Lone looked at the still very clearly depressed Lipsilk. "Don't worry. I'll restore his body to perfection and help in any way that I can after we've pushed back the Taslo Empire."

Lipsilk's expression brightened slightly. "A silver lining I suppose... Look at me, I'm a mess... How is Her Highness going to react?"

Eolande made a suggestion. "We should hide his death from everyone we can until the war is over. Announcing it will only lower morale. I don't have the mana to charm everyone to accept it more easily, so that's our only choice, really."

Lone and Lipsilk both nodded. It was cruel to keep such an important fact hidden from the people, but if it would help them even slightly in the coming battle, then it was a small evil that they were all willing to accept.