Five days passed in a flash. During that time, many things had happened.

In regards to Lone's store, his only customers thus far had been the slummer children and Frodley Goldsbane. He wasn't particularly bothered by this since he was getting to learn more about the city via the children's stories, and Frodley was providing him with a steady stream of dwarven steamforged artefacts.

He understood that his store was tiny and that he wasn't exactly a reputable man. Heck, he had only gained the store by literally threatening to kill the Merchant's Guild's chairman as well as his daughter, so Lone couldn't exactly blame the average shopper from avoiding his strange business.

His store now had two assistants to man it when he was away. Both of them were girls that he and his friends had saved from the bandit castle. Out of the fifty rescued victims, these two were the only ones without families to return to, so, as Lone had suggested, they'd been put under his care.

Because he now had these girls to both shelter and protect while they worked for him, he created a second floor to his store which was to act solely as their joint bedroom.

He had also gotten Eolande to seriously teach him some protection enchantments so he wouldn't have to worry about his employees in the future. Thus far, he'd learned the enchantments; Warding Enchantment, Forced Passivity Enchantment, and the Magic Dampening Enchantment.

Respectively, they warded off the incorporeal, mentally assaulted anyone who tried to attack someone while in the store except for Lone himself, and lastly, weakened all magic being cast in the store not performed by Lone.

He had to admit that he'd been a fool to not seriously consider using Enchantment Magic thus far. Of course, since he was still new to it, he had Saturn live in the store permanently to act as a more proper safeguard while he worked on increased the levels for his enchantment magic skills.

As far as his enchantment magic skills' current levels were concerned, this was how far they had progressed.

Active Enchantment Magic Skill: Relaxation Enchantment

Creates a 48-hour [up from 24-hour] enchantment that relaxes anyone it affects by 30% [+15%].

Cost: 3,000 MP [-1,250 MP] Mastery: Advanced Level 6 [Up 15 levels!] Active Enchantment Magic Skill: Warding Enchantment

Creates a 48-hour enchantment that makes the enchanted person/item emit an aura that non-corporeal beings will naturally avoid. Strength of the warding aura: 30%.

Cost: 3,000 MP Mastery: Advanced Level 2 Active Enchantment Magic Skill: Forced Passivity Enchantment

Creates a 48-hour enchantment that will pacify anyone that touches it who acts aggressively. Does not apply to the host or beings whose internal strength is C-ranked or higher.

Cost: 3,000 MP Mastery: Advanced Level 2 Active Enchantment Magic Skill: Magic Dampening Enchantment

Creates a 48-hour enchantment that weakens the magic of anyone who touches it that isn't the host by 30%.

Cost: 3,000 MP Mastery: Advanced Level 2 Passive Skill: Enchantment Magic Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist all negative forms of Enchantment Magic.

Negative forms of Enchantment Magic used on the host will be weakened by 15% [+10%].

Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 3 [Up by 11 levels]

Lone was honestly quite proud of such fast improvements with so many skills in such a short amount of time, although, he was a bit guilty of splitting his free-time between farming his enchantment magic and one of his... other hobbies.

Lone had been spending a lot of free time disassembling the steamforged items that he'd received from Count Lorton and Frodley Goldsbane, but he did make some time two days ago to finish off the remaining S-ranked quests that he was charged with completing by The Adventurer's Guild's grand guildmaster.

Soph had to teleport him and the teens all over the country, which exhausted her, but it did result in her Teleportation skill levelling up, and naturally, this made Lone proud of her. The girl would be lying if she said that the cuddles and kisses she received when Lone expressed his pride in her didn't make her mental fatigue all worth it in the end.

After that particularly long day, Hazel had managed to become a B-ranker - an adventurer whom most countries would love to have serve as a captain in their armies. Similarly, Alisa, Emma, Scott and George had all also ranked up once more from D-rankers to C-rankers.

Naturally, Lone was very satisfied with them and their efforts. They'd all been very willing to kill the monsters that they'd been charged with subjugating, even the initially reluctant Alisa now seemed more accustomed to the idea of killing a life this time around as opposed to when she fought the bandits and Mishkohns.

Once again, Sarah pulled some strings and got all of The Wanderer's members' and all of French Toast's members' adventurer plates ranked up. No one at the guild raised a fuss since the two groups had completed four S-ranked quests in a single day, also, it was the grand guildmaster herself who was handing out the promotions, so no one even dared to pretend that they possessed any rights to complain.

With this, Lone was now a white-gold plate, Soph was a gold-silver plate, Eolande, Rachel, Swind, Kyuubi, Hazel, Emma and Alisa were all now copper-plates, Breena was a bronze plate, and lastly, both Scott and George were now proud silver plates.

On the topic of George and Scott, thankfully, Eolande's illusion magic had worked perfectly. Neither remembered the incident with the XXX-ranked kidnapper, and George wasn't experiencing signs of PTSD from the incident, meaning that his soul had perfectly been fooled by Eolande's magic.

She had expressed to Lone that her magic could only last so long. If George one day grew to be an X-ranker, her magic would start to crack before eventually crumbling, returning his real memories to him. At that point, it wouldn't be wise to continue meddling with his mind unless Lone was fine with the possibility of him losing all of his memories for good.

Lone just dismissed this concern. In his opinion, if George ever became an X-ranker and couldn't handle such memories, then he wasn't worthy of being an X-ranker in the first place. It was as simple as that.

In essence, Lone was hoping that the boy's soul and mind would be strengthened to the point that such memories wouldn't affect George negatively should they return.

In regards to Lone's prisoner, 'Benjamin', Eolande had managed to learn one new thing every day. Nothing important had been revealed yet, proving that whoever the man really was, he had a strong will and a firm mind.

As Lone was thinking over all of this while he sat at the small forge in his store, the doorbell chimed.

"Welcome to Lone's Wondrous Emporium!" the young girl standing behind the counter said to the new customer as she bowed her body politely.

Lone craned his neck back and raised an eyebrow as he saw a familiar face. "Master Millisa?"

The dark-skinned woman smiled faintly as she nodded her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you once again, Master Lone."

Turning his forge off and storing the steamforged bits and bobs that he was playing with, Lone got up off of his stool and cracked his back. "I assume you're not here to buy anything, are you?" he asked jokingly.

"Haha, no, unfortunately not. Your prices are... peculiar, but these items are rather intriguing. Perhaps another day. I have come here today to tell you and Apprentice Swind of the Soul Hall's decision regarding your proposed deal. Is Apprentice Swind nearby? I didn't find him at the Palace of Rest when I visited it this morning," Master Millisa asked as she looked around the shop a bit curiously.

"Gimme a sec," Lone requested as he contacted Sophie via their telepathy. 'Hey, Sophie, do you mind telling Swind to leave The Glade? Tell him it's to do with the Soul Hall. Thanks.'

'And we were just about to cut the eyeballs out too... Fine. It's so rude of you to interrupt us when we were busy 'entertaining' your guest. We trust you'll compensate us tonight in the sheets?' Sophie asked with a sultry tone.

Lone chuckled. 'Sure. Whatever you want. Also, take a break from torturing that piece of shit, and look after Rachel for me while Swind's away, please. I don't want her to choke on her own tongue, soil herself, or get hungry.'

'No. We shall swap and allow Soph to do something so boring,' Sophie immediately replied.

Lone shrugged both mentally and physically. 'Sure, so long as she's taken care of. Love you.'

'We love you too, Lone,' Sophie responded with some rare genuine affection in her tone.

Less than a minute later, Swind stepped out of seemingly nothingness, surprising Master Millisa. The store clerk wasn't shocked at all since she'd seen people enter and leave The Glade before. In fact, she felt a bit special since this apparent high-profile customer didn't seem to know about Lone's pocket dimension like she did.

"Ever the oddity, I see, Master Lone," Master Millisa commented as she nodded her head in Swind's direction. "It's good to see you again, Apprentice Swind."

"Likewise," the Ascending Lemurian answered curtly.

"As impatient as the last time we spoke, it would seem. Well then, shall we head to the soul hall now?" Master Millisa suggested as she smiled softly.

"Sure. Frangila," Lone called as he looked at the uniformed young girl standing behind the shop's counter. "I'll leave the emporium to you while I'm away. As always, Saturn will keep you safe, but crush the orb I gave you immediately if something happens."

"Yes, Sir, Sir Mr Immortus!" Frangila - the young girl - replied energetically.

With that, the three soul oracles left Lone's Wondrous Emporium and made their way through the merchant's district as they headed for the guild district where the Soul Hall resided.

Arms clasped behind her back, Master Millisa hmmed quietly as she led Lone and Swind through the city. "A very loyal soul, that girl."

"Yeah. We saved her from a bandit group along with a few dozen other girls. She had nowhere to go home to since the bandits razed her village to the ground, apparently. I decided to hire her and another girl with similar circumstances," Lone replied casually.

"Very kind of you," Master Millisa praised. "It's good for a soul oracle to be virtuous. With an ability as powerful as one that allows us to meddle with souls, it's always a concern that our brethren may dabble in dark arts and compromise their morals to expand their horizons."

Lone sneered. "Like I'd ever need to do that. I'm more than capable of getting whatever I want with my own abilities."

"Is that so? Well then, Master Lone, what exactly is it that you want?" Master Millisa asked in a friendly tone that held very slight hints of a certain... testiness. It was as if she would be able to discern an extreme amount of knowledge from him regardless of how he answered.

"A lot of things. From the Soul Hall specifically? Every skill related to souls that you guys know would be great. That, and some proper tutoring for Swind," Lone replied without a care in the world as if his answer was the most natural one to have.

Master Millisa smiled. "Both very achievable, although, Master Lone, learning every single soul skill our soul hall has knowledge of will be no small feat. I imagine it could take centuries, even with your vast talents. Some skills simply require far too much practice."

Lone smirked. "Wanna make a bet?"

"Oh? Whatever on?" Master Millisa asked as she turned her head to face the ninetails and then raised an eyebrow curiously.

"On how long it'll take me to obtain every soul skill your soul hall has to offer," Lone elaborated.

An interested look crossed Master Millisa's face. "I don't see why not. What should we bet? I see no fun in it if I have nothing to lose but a bit of pride."

Lone held his chin. "If my estimated time gets passed, I'll give you two basic copies of Saturn - the floating orb that can hold souls - for free, but you'll still have to provide the materials," Lone declared as he thought, 'That'll be several tens of millions of mana points, which will be good for me regardless since I can squeeze the Soul Hall's mages a bit more than I need to for the two Divine Soul Prisons.'

Swind held his chin thoughtfully. "I have nothing to offer beyond my skills in cooking and knitting, so should Mr Immortus lose, I shall act as the personal outfitter and chef for the Soul Hall for one month, provided Mr Immortus will allow me to."

"Yeah, that's fine. It'll be a good distraction for you, though I'm probably not gonna lose," Lone replied as he shrugged. "And you, Master Millisa?"

"Judging by your store's prices and where you're living, I assume money is no obstacle to you, so, hmm, I shall arrange a meeting for you with our Soul Hall's head guider. Such a meeting is rare and has only happened twice in the past forty-thousand years since he took the position, so I think this is a worthy prize, no?" Master Millisa asked with a knowing smile on her face.

"Sure. Why not? So, how long exactly do you think it'll take me to learn every soul skill you guys know?" Lone questioned.

Master Millisa gazed into the sky as she hmmed. "Considering your talent and confidence, hmm, I think I'll go with one-hundred and forty years. You also need to consider the time it will take for you to convince the other soul oracles - especially the other masters - to teach you their more secret soul skills."

Lone grinned. "One week."

"I beg your pardon? Did I mishear you?" Master Millisa's mysterious and all-knowing aura slipped momentarily as she was caught so off-guard by Lone's ludicrous estimation.

"If there're two things that I'm good at, it's bribing people and learning skills. One week is more than enough time to reach beginner-level-one in all of your Soul Hall's skills." Master Millisa didn't know if she should laugh or cry at Lone's simply absurd confidence.

She coughed awkwardly as she regained her mysterious atmosphere. "Well, I certainly admire your belief in your own abilities, Master Lone."

"Thanks. I know you think I'm full of shit. I can't tell exactly what a soul is feeling, but I can sense strong shifts in mood. You think I'm speaking out of my ass, right? Don't worry. It'd be weirder if you believed me without any proof first," Lone claimed with a heavy shrug of the shoulders.

Master Millisa almost tripped over and fell into a passerby, but she managed to catch herself in time. "Ahem, I see... By the way, congratulations on your recent rank-ups, Master Lone. How ever did you go from being an S-ranker to a triple-S-ranker in less than a week?"

Lone took her obvious cue to change the topic and happily began talking about his recent adventures as he, Swind, and Master Millisa, strolled through Mystopolis' cobbled streets.