"This sucks," a young girl no older than twelve with black-striped bright-white waist-long hair and two fluffy tiger ears atop her head exclaimed along with a sign.

An old man with bark and leaves covering his skin - a Lesher, slowly shook his head as he wore a mildly troubled expression on his face. "Now, now, Rangah, the rest of us did the exact same thing for you when you were accepted into the hall. In fact, even the journeymen and apprentices were gathered to welcome you, so can't you at least pretend to be excited to welcome a follow master into our fold?"

The only other person in the room - a middle-aged human man with a bit of a bald spot on his almost-full head of black hair - nodded. "Indeed. This new master has a greater range of raw soul detection than even you do, despite being older and apparently clueless in the ways of our arts. While we aren't exactly rolling out the red carpet, some respect must be afforded to such blind talent."

Rangah spread her torso out on the table as she stared out of a window. "This sucks," she repeated herself.

The two men just looked at each other wryly. While they had the right to give Rangah some suggestions and maybe chastise her, due to her social status and soul oracle abilities, they had no right to force her to do anything and she had no reason to listen to them should she not wish to.

Before long, the doors to the chamber opened and three people entered. Naturally, the one leading them was Master Millisa, with Lone and Swind behind her.

Rangah rolled her head over while it was still laying on the table to look at the room's guests. Her eyes widened slightly upon seeing Lone and Swind for the first time, but her eyes stayed affixed to Lone after giving Swind a cursory glance. "So pretty..." the girl muttered.

Master Millisa bowed her head gently as she took a seat. "Master Rangah, Master Dilroy, Master Lefrasburn, I present to you Master Lone and Apprentice Swind."

The Lesher extended a hand in Lone's direction, and like a wild magical plant, it grew several feet long until it was right in front of him. "I am Master Lefrasburn, but please, call me Master Lesher. I am the only known Lesher soul oracle on the continent, so I'm sure that's an easier title to say than my name is, hohoho."

After Lone had shaken his hand, Master Lefrasburn retracted his arm then nodded to Swind in a friendly manner.

Both Lone and Swind took seats of their own before the foxkin replied. "A good friend of mine is a Lesher, actually. An Innkeeper in Milindo's holy city, Ranton."

"Oho? What a lovely coincidence. our kind is spread far and few between. Might I know my brethren's name? Perhaps I know them," the Lesher asked as he stroked his leafy beard.

Lone shrugged. "He was a nice and wise old man called Kerny, or Lefakern for his full name."

"Ah, not a name I'm familiar with. He must be from an offshoot branch of the main treehold," Master Lefrasburn assumed a bit sadly.

The human male sat at the table coughed lightly. He gave both Swind and Lone respective nods before he said, "I'm Dilroy Fiddlespurn, or Master Dilroy. I'm a duke from Sarohair and I'm an alumnus of The Academy. I majored in ice magic. This was before I had discovered my talents as a soul oracle, you see. I still remember the day that Apprentice Tallice found me in that baker-"

Master Millisa sighed very loudly. "Yes, yes, we all know how she fell in love with you at first sight, Master Dilroy. Perhaps you can leave your stories for another day? We have a lot to discuss."

Master Dilroy coughed awkwardly. "Ahem, of course."

Lone smiled. "Nice to meet you. For a duke, you seem goofy as fuck. Not a bad personality trait to have, mind you. I wouldn't hate listening to you ramble about your life at some point later on."

"Very rude." Master Dilroy's words and facial expression would indicate that he was offended, but the excitement in his eyes at the prospect of earning a willing listener to his youthful tales painted a very different mood in regards to his true reaction to Lone's words.

Silence reigned over the chamber as all eyes fell onto the peacefully lazing Master Rangah.

Lone held his chin in his hands and then rested his elbows on the wooden table. "And who might you be?"

"Rangah," the tigerkin answered simply as she continued to stare at Lone's face from the odd angle her head was resting at.

"Just Rangah? Don't have a last name, do you?" Lone asked a little bit teasingly. 'She could be hundreds of years old, but considering that she only has one tail, I highly doubt that she's any older than twelve or thirteen.'

A bit absentmindedly, she replied, "Whitestripes." She used a few of her fingers to twirl her hair that was laying on the table next to her face. "You're very pretty."

Lone almost laughed. "So are you. Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"

A light blush covered the girl's face. "Eleven."

'Huh. She looks older. Maybe she'll be a well-endowed woman when she grows up?' Lone thought as he leaned back in his chair and tapped the table lightly with a finger. "Well, you're awfully young for a master soul oracle, now aren't you?"

"Yup," she slowly nodded. "I'm the youngest in six-hundred-thousand-years, apparently."

"Well, as such a talented and lovely young woman, don't you think it's horribly rude to be sitting like that? I'm a very important person, you know, and you're not making the best out your first impression," Lone said somewhat jokingly, but he still channelled his inner teacher as he spoke those words.

Rangah scrunched up her face a little. "You were rude to Dilroy just a second ago."

"You're right, I was. But the difference between you and I is that I've earned the right to be rude, you, charming Miss Rangah Whitestripes, haven't. Please be respectful to me, okay? I'll even give you some sweets if you behave and act like an adult as I and the other masters talk. How does that sound to you?" Lone suggested as he made a bag of cookies and lollipops appear on top of the table.

Rangah's tiger ears straightened and her tail started to wag. "Okay. Deal! No takesies backsies!"

"Sure," Lone laughed as he slid the bag of goodies over to the child and watched as she fixed her posture while she began nibbling on a chocolate-chip cookie. 'Well, she'll definitely be the easiest to convince to teach me her soul skills.'

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 1.

'Oh? Was she actually a tough nut to crack but I coincidentally pushed all of her buttons in the right order?' Lone wondered as he checked Persuasion's updated information. As usual, he was hopeful for a new effect.

Passive Skill: Persuasion

Naturally makes everything that the host says or suggests 60% [+30%] more reasonable.

[New!] Has a 50% chance to notify the host if their attempts at persuasion are failing, even if it does not seem obvious.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Expert Level 1

'Oh, sweet. Not the best effect ever, but it certainly isn't total dogshit. The raw percentage boost on the base ability is always nice... Fifty-percent isn't a low chance... I'm curious now, how does it warn me? A gut feeling? A notification? Hmm...' Lone thought as he wore a ponderous expression.

Master Millisa, Master Dilroy, and Master Lefrasburn, all wore shocked expressions on their faces.

Master Millisa rubbed her temple softly for a moment as she glanced at Rangah. 'Not only did he convince her to be polite, but he also got her to sit up straight... Her, the princess of the Bright Tigerkin Clan, hailed as being the next successor to the clan's leadership as well as one of the most self-centred and easily bored girls who never listens to others? It took an obscene amount of our reserved money to make sure that she ended up here and not in some other Soul Hall, but Master Lone got her to be nice to him after a light scolding and a bag of sweets?!'

At this point, Master Millisa wasn't even sure why she was getting surprised anymore. 'He must have the charm stat, and it must be very high. I'd also wager that he has the Persuasion skill... To convince the uncooperative tiger so easily... I'd suspect at least advanced-rank...'

Master Dilroy and Master Lefrasburn were having very similar thoughts.

Lone smiled as he exited his train of thoughts regarding his Persuasion skill, and he then tapped his finger against the table once again, however, loudly this time. "So, you've brought Swind and I here to discuss our terms of joining the Soul Hall, right?"

Master Millisa nodded slowly. "That's right. We already had a vote on if we should allow two soul oracles - a master and an apprentice - who have no known feats nor reputation to speak of save for your... incident in the human-run country of Milindo, Master Lone, to join us."

"Oh? New applicants are only accepted in by the masters?" Lone asked as he raised an eyebrow. 'Interesting admission system, for sure. Decided on by reputation and skill by a council of master soul oracles? Very interesting. I guess they can't exactly accept someone who has a very dark past, hell, they might even kill someone they suspect would abuse their knowledge of soul skills.'

"Indeed," Master Dilroy answered. "Many ages ago we used to accept any and all who had the talent, but too many of our fellow soul oracles turned to dark arts. Wiping out entire settlements to gain new research subjects, devolving into undead creatures to extend one's lifespan when they couldn't gain enlightenment... Such things were common, so we're far stricter now. We've been like this for about four-hundred-thousand-years."

"I see. And how did you guys vote on Swind and I joining?" Lone asked out of curiosity.

Master Lefrasburn scratched his cheek lightly, resulting in some bark falling off. "Well, for yourself, it was four for, one against, including the head guider's vote. For our friend Swind here, it was two for, three against, which complicates things somewhat..."

Master Millisa started to sweat upon seeing the frown that instantly formed on Lone's face upon hearing that.

"You can forget me joining if Swind doesn't get in too." Lone stood up and put his palm against the table as he scanned each master one by one. "I'll be honest here. I have a friend whose soul was heavily corroded by an Emperor Corrosive Slime. She's barely alive, so either you guys will let me and Swind in and let me learn all of your skills so I can save her, or you refuse and I cripple you all before having a friend of mine use illusion magic to force the skills out of you."

Master Dilroy scowled. "Don't be so unreasonable, Master Lone."

Lone sat back down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't fucking test me. When I was only an S-ranker, I forced an Ancient fucking Darkness Dragon to commit suicide in the hopes of killing me. Now I'm a triple-S-ranker. I'll go to war with all of the soul halls on the continent if I fucking have to." He then glared at Master Dilroy who shrunk back a little bit in response. "Swind gets taught here. End of story."

Naturally, everyone seated at the table knew of Lone's... altercation with the Church of the Primals as well as the rumours surrounding his involvement with the new Divine that was born and died in the same day near the eastern world tree. Well, everyone except for Rangah who was still silently staring at Lone with a bit of a blank expression on her face.

Of the other three masters present, none of them particularly wanted to defuse the seemingly upset Lone who would undoubtedly explode upon whoever attempted to do so, Master Dilroy especially.

Master Millisa, as the vice-head guilder, sucked in a short breath of air then wore a friendly smile on her eye-pleasing complexion. "We meant no offence, Master Lone. We are aware that you care for your friend, Apprentice Swind. We weren't aware of your other friend's condition, but regardless, we brought this up because, while the majority of masters disagree with Swind's acceptance, we are all open to having him prove himself in consideration of you and your proposal regarding the sphere that can store souls."

Lone's frown didn't leave his face. "Fuck that. He doesn't have to prove shit. Who disagreed with him joining?"

"T-That's confidential, Master Lone. Please under-"

"I change my vote," Rangah suddenly said, interrupting Master Millisa.

"Pardon?" Master Dilroy asked in surprise as he looked at the small tigerkin girl.

"I change my vote. I accept both of them now," she replied.

Millisa smiled wryly. 'Why, oh why, did you not decide to do that twenty seconds ago, you little devil?!' The dark-skinned woman sighed softly before she said, "With this, Master Lone, you have five votes of acceptance and Apprentice Swind has three."

Lone nodded and stood up again, frightening the three older masters. he walked around the table and rested a hand on Rangah's head.

Master Dilroy gasped at his audacity while Master Lefrasburn stroked his leafy beard thoughtfully. Master Millisa was more surprised at the fact that Rangah wasn't outright attacking Lone to get him away from her than she was at Lone treating her like a regular child. 'She hates other people touching her, even her father and mother, so why is she letting him do that?'

"I don't know why you didn't vote for us before meeting us, but thanks. You just spared me a lot of effort. I'll give you more sweets if you teach me what you know about soul skills after this if you'd like to," Lone suggested while he carefully avoided the girl's ears as he stopped petting her. From his own experiences, he knew that ears were a sensitive-borderline-erogenous zone for beastkin.

Rangah nodded passively. "Sure."

Master Millisa held her temple once again. 'She's like a different person! What on Altros brought this on? More importantly, why couldn't she have become this cooperative two-years ago?'