It wasn't long before Soph returned and happily teleported once again with Lone, Greed, and the unconscious Five Blades of Aymtar all inside of The Glade.

Naturally, before they left, Lone had told the leaders of the Beastman Alliance to just stay put in the castle and maybe hash out some of the finer details with Archon Milos while they waited for him and Soph to return.

After all, they needed Soph's Remembrance Teleportation to get back to their entourages in the Crimson Foxkin Clan in any reasonable frame of time.

Stepping out of the dimensional pocket upon getting Soph's signal, Lone took a second to take in the sight before him.

The land was full of vegetation and there was a tropical forest off in the distance, but everyone looked... almost brown and lifeless, confusing Lone. "What the hell's up with this place? That city in the distance looks really fancy, but this place... it should be a lot greener. Is magic at play here?"

Infa at his side frowned. "The land here is dying."

Lone stopped staring at the ginormous city that was less than a mile away from his group to glance at the infant Rock Dragon. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone in my tribe could feel the land. You cannot?" Infa asked.

Lone shook his head. "It's probably a racial thing specific to Rock Dragons, I'll look into it some more, but yeah, assume that only you can 'feel the land'."

Infa wore a surprised expression as he thought privately for a moment. Before long, he continued explaining. "I can feel the land, the presences on it, as well as its health. Do you remember the canyon where we met?"

Lone nodded. "That was more of a ravine though considering how green and lush it was, but yeah, I remember it."

"It was only so healthy because I was dying. My lifeforce was revitalising the land, enriching the place. If you returned now, I'm sure you'd see it be a lifeless gorge," Infa claimed.

Lone held his chin as he walked towards the city. Greed licked his cheek since his bicep was closer to her face now, which earned her a glare from Soph.

Not minding his lover and the snake, Lone replied, "So something similar is happening here? Was this place originally barren, but a, I dunno, power source or whatever, was removed, so it's slowly going back to normal?"

Infa creased his massive stony brows. "No, the opposite. It feels more like there is an empty container sucking the life out of the land. I can't quite tell where it is, but it's certainly within those city walls."

"Huh." Lone cocked his head to the side as he contemplated over the matter. "Well, that's got jack-all to do with us. We're here to force the emperor to sign a contract, or find a replacement who will."

"Indeed," Infa said a bit absentmindedly as he lumbered alongside the foxkin.

The group of four then tried to enter the city peacefully but were naturally stopped by the gate guards. Not caring in the slightest about them, Lone used his Ascending Aura to knock them and all who tried to stop his group to the ground, adventurers and priests included.

'It's such a shame that Ascending Aura is a passively maxed skill. How many level-ups would I have gotten by now? I must have knocked out at least seven-hundred people in the past twenty-minutes alone,' Lone thought as his group had finally made it to the long winding staircase which led to the city's central palace - home of Emperor Sid Mon Rator the Seventh.

"Infa, Soph, head back into The Glade and prep those Five Blades guys, would you? I don't want to over intimidate the emperor with you, Infa, and I don't want to be looked down on because I've got an insufferably adorable companion, Soph," Lone said as he activated The Glade's key, opened the pocket dimension.

Infa simply nodded in agreement, but Soph grinned and blushed before getting on her tiptoes and kissing Lone. "Mmm, okay. I love you."

Lone smiled warmly. "I love you too."

With that, Lone and Greed were left alone to climb the massive flight of stairs.

Lone barged his way through the palace gates and moved without changing his walking pace even slightly.

'These guys won't die from a Lightning Bolt or two. They might keel over from a Lightning Wave, so yeah, I won't use that. I really need to learn more skills that can incapacitate people. I'm sure The Academy has lots of non-lethal combat magic skills, right?' Lone wondered as he rescinded his Ascending Aura and began spamming his Lightning Bolt skill in place of it.

Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] had levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 3. Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] had levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4. Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] had levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5.

Lone frowned as he approached the jewel-encrusted door which led to the palace's throne room. He was upset for two reasons.

The first was related to his Lightning Bolt. 'I'm such a retard at times. This skill is incredibly-fucking-useful. Why did I ditch all of my other magic skills exclusively for Lightning Wave again?'

Of course, he knew the answer to that question. He had no reason to spare the monsters in Clicker's dungeon, so he had only used his most power and most cost-efficient attack skill. Were its cost less, he'd have used his Pure Mana Flame freely, of course, but at the time, he didn't have the magical freedoms that he now enjoyed., so Lightning Wave was the only realistic choice.

It was a deadly and quick to cast skill, so it made all of the sense in the world to use it when Mental Destruction wasn't strictly necessary.

The second reason for Lone's scowl was the tiny snake wrapped around his arm. "Could you please stop looking at all of the humans and the building itself like they're a tasty snack?"

"Hiss?" Greed was confused. Why was she being told off? She wasn't eating anyone and was peacefully watching, not actually consuming anything.

True, she desperately wanted to use her unique skill on this entire palace and everyone inside of it, but Lone had already warned her not to, so she was holding herself back. Was it so wrong of her to drool though? This was just some harmless window shopping and nothing more as far as the reptile was concerned.

Lone glared at her like a parent would to their child. "Don't give me that look. I wanna kill them all too so I can nick their stats, but you don't see me salivating at the thought, now do you? You'd be a lot cuter if you showed some self-restraint. You'd also be harder to read, making it easier to catch and eat your prey, now wouldn't you?"

The tiny snake seemed shocked by this statement. She slowly nodded her head in agreement and then closed her eyes and coiled around Lone's bicep very tightly.

"The fuck... Did she just... gain enlightenment? She's not becoming a triple-X-ranker though... That's a different feeling. I clearly remember that from Eolande when she went from X-ranker to double-X-ranked... Is triple-X-ranker different somehow? Hmm... Curious," Lone muttered as he pushed open the doors to the audience chamber.

Immediately, an SS-ranked knight whose life-duty it was to guard the room, swung his sword down in an attempt to lop off all intruders' heads. "Who dares barge into the imperial court?!"

Lone calmly took out his old alterion swordspear from his Dimensional Storage. He'd have let Saturn handle things were it here, but he'd left the sentient ball of death at his Wondrous Emporium to protect his live-in employees.

"Lone Immortus does. One of you go summon your emperor. Tell him that if he doesn't come out to meet me, then I'll find him myself and kill him. He already blew his first chance by rejecting the peace treaty," the foxkin calmly stated with a smirk on his face.

Lone then immediately avoided an attack from an SSS-ranked knight whose armour looked to be a step above the other knights.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 9.

"Oh, awesome. This skill hasn't levelled up in forever. I tend to tank skills and attacks way too much instead of dodging then." Lone cracked his neck as he said, "This is a good chance to rank it up. All of you knights, come at me together. You'll serve as a good time-killer while one of those nobles or servants back there go bring me the emperor."

Followed by ten maids and servants, Consul Peitmond Alexhuna the Fourth, Military Advisor to the emperor and High General of the Aymtarian Empiric Army, politely knocked on the door which led to the private imperial dining hall.

"Enter," a stoic voice responded to the knocks.

Doing as he was told, Peitmond stepped through the door once a maid had opened it for him. Immediately and with swift motions, he got down onto his knees then pressed his head to the floor. "I greet his Imperial Majesty! I greet the Imperial Empress! I greet the Imperial Concubines! This servant offers his greetings to the Primals!"

Emperor Sid Mon Rator nodded with a pleased expression on his face as one of his concubines did him the service of wiping his mouth free of any food debris that remained. "What business have you with me, Consul Peitmond? I trust it is urgent for you to be disturbing our evening meal."

"Of course, Your Imperial Majesty!" Peitmond kept his forehead glued to the floor despite his status as an XX-ranker and then said, "The foxkin from the previous report who had supposedly stormed into the neutral territory of Castle Hrogar and demanded that we, along with the other members of the Free Nations' Alliance, officially agree to stop all efforts and plans to engage in warfare with the Beastman Alliance, well, Your Imperial Majesty, that very same foxkin has barged into the palace and is now beating the Imperial Guards within an inch of their lives, repeatedly, as he waits for you to come and talk to him."

The emperor's expression morphed into one of fury while the empress' held some level of offence and scorn. "This animal dares to treat our home in such an unruly manner? Does he not know of who my grandmother is? Is he unaware of the Youngest, or simply a fool? Dear, I demand we have him executed!"

The emperor's anger simmered slightly at the mentioned of the Youngest. "Indeed." He stroked his chin thoughtfully before he said, "Darling, please stay here and finish our evening meal, hmm? I shall go and meet with this rabid animal and have him put down immediately," he said as he smiled warmly at the empress, not even sparing a glance at his imperial concubines.

The emperor then narrowed his eyes as he stared at the still prostrating Consul Peitmond. "I trust that you can sufficiently protect me as I cast my judgement upon the criminal who has invaded my imperial courtroom, yes, Consul Peitmond?"

The middle-aged XX-ranker immediately replied, "Naturally, Your Imperial Majesty!"

Lone skillfully dodged the blow from the only knight who was still getting back up after being brutally knocked down by Lone - the apparent knight captain.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4.

"Hoh, not bad! Even if you have less stamina than last time, you almost grazed me there, buddy," Lone praised as he spun his swordspear around and then used it as a pole vault by stabbing the ground and pushing off with it, resulting in him doing a somersault over the armoured man.

With a clean motion, he sliced right through the man's breastplate and cut from his shoulder all the way down to his lower back.

The man quickly turned around but ended up collapsing with a rough grunt. Clearly, the pain in his back and shoulder was too much for him to continue this fight on top of the dozen other smaller injuries that he was afflicted with.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Swordspear mastery] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 9.

"Oh! Awesome! Another level-up. Well, let's heal you so you don't die, huh? But I can feel the people from earlier returning with someone new, so that was the last one," Lone commented casually before saying, "Minor Heal. Minor Heal. Minor Heal. Hmm, bleeding's stopped, so you should be fine now."

Congratulations! The host's nature magic skill [Minor Healing] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5. Congratulations! The host's nature magic skill [Minor Healing] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 6.

"Man, I should invade kingdoms and empires more often to upgrade these skills. Or maybe I should take up part-time work at a hospital in Mystopolis? I bet I can max out Minor Healing if I do that," Lone muttered as he sat down cross-legged and summoned the details of his newly ranked-up skills.

Passive Skill: Evasion Mastery

A skill that assists the host in their attempts to evade attacks.

Improves the host's subconscious instinct to evade dangerous situations by 30% [+15%].

Cost: N/A Mastery: Advanced Level 4

"No new effect at advanced? Shame. Must be at expert rank then, right?" Lone asked himself as he moved onto Minor Healing.

Nature Magic Skill: Minor Healing

Allows the user to cast a minor healing spell that can heal minor cuts and bruises.

Will also heal headaches and very basic illnesses like the common cold.

[New!] Can clot bleeding from serious wounds, but will not heal them.

Cost: 400 MP [-50 MP] Mastery: Advanced Level 6

"Such a cool skill. Is this, what, my only skill that's had a new effect per rank-up thus far? I'm hopeful for expert and master rank too," Lone said to himself.

Greed was happily snoring in response to what Lone was saying as she processed her recent burst of enlightenment, but the barely conscious knights, as well as the servants and officials still in the audience hall, were incredibly frightened by Lone's perceived insanity.

As normal of a habit as it was for Lone, talking to oneself certainly was not within the standard norms as far as common sense went.

Lone's head perked up and his words stopped as he heard a door creak open. "Finally arrived, I see," Lone muttered as a grin spread across his lips.