Lone: The Wanderer

Book 3: Chapter 61: Tips and As Planned

"Ah, yesss. Dark and dangerousss isss The Departure. Stay clear of mind and pure of sssoul lessst you wisssh to become departed yourssself. A common phrassse in the Great Ssswamp," Swamp said with a nod.

"How quaint," Devil remarked.

"And the other two that you do know about?" Lone asked of Monsieur Librarian.

"The answer to that requires payment," Monsieur Librarian replied. "How old are you, Human? In years, and there\'s no need to be specific with months, days, minutes, etc."

Both Swamp and Devil listened with interest, clearly hoping he would answer for whatever reason.

\'It\'s a simple enough question. No reason to not answer it considering what I get to learn about in exchange,\' Lone concluded before saying, "I\'m 25 years old."

"That makesss sssenssse," Swamp commented. "I asssumed you were older than me given your wisssdom. It ssseemsss I wasss not wrong."

"How can someone so young know about Cosmos-level beings?" Devil asked, not expecting to receive an answer.

Monsieur Librarian simply waited patiently, not minding the interruption at all.

"Well how old are you both then? It\'s only fair we share," Lone suggested. \'Swamp will answer for sure, but I bet Devil will choose not to since I used my age as payment for valuable knowledge, she\'ll likely do the same eventually.\'

"What isss a year? We measssure our age in the great ssswamp by our height and by the colour of our ssscalesss. I only know that I have only had four growth periodsss and my ssscalesss are very light, which must mean I am fewer than 25 yearsss of age, yesss?" Swamp asked.

Monsieur Librarian nodded. "Correct. In years, you would be eight-years-old, Swamp."

Lone\'s eyes widened. \'Fuck, that\'s young. No, wait. He\'s a different species from a different land. Hell, maybe even a different world. I haven\'t found any records of a \'Great Swamp\' on Teresta, so that\'s possible. He\'s very mature and oddly wise when he wants to be, and he\'s being actively hunted, so he\'s not a child, just... from a different culture.\'

"Ah, then Human must be very tall and have much darker ssscalesss than I." Swamp nodded as he had figured out all of the mysteries of the universe.

"I do not recall my age, but I am significantly older than you, Human," Devil said, surprising Lone.

"Thanks for letting me know." Lone turned to Monsieur Librarian and gave the being a polite nod.

"Other than the eldritch, the other two entities of a higher order that you should be wary of are the seraphim and the Ancients. I know not of other higher order beings on Teresta, but that does not mean they do not exist," Monsieur Librarian said.

"Could you explain them to me? I\'ve heard whispers of the Ancients before, but nothing substantial outside of a recent attack. I\'ve never heard of the seraphim before," Lone asked.

"Tell me of this recent attack and I shall tell you the basics surrounding the Ancients. As for the seraphim, recount your earliest memory for me," Monsieur Librarian replied.

"The recent attack was from the Darkness Dragon, Ythmagobla. He attacked the Southern World Tree fifty or so years ago. The tree\'s still standing, so it could be assumed he failed, but I\'m sure it\'s more nuanced than that. I don\'t want to fulfil your other request," Lone said.

Monsieur Librarian tapped the right armrest of his chair thoughtfully. "Interesting. There are eight of them. The Ancients are a balance put in place to maintain the lowest of orders - the Mortal-order - on Teresta."

"Not Altros?" Lone asked.

"No, not Altros. Just Teresta," Monsieur Librarian answered.

"What isss Altrosss?" Swamp asked, lifting his eyes from the tome he had been reading for the past minute or two.

"It\'s the name of the world Teresta is on. Or, that\'s what we call it here. Who knows, you and I could share a planet, but we could be on different continents and you could have a different name for it," Lone replied.

"That sssoundsss fun, but what isss a world?" Swamp questioned, tilting his head as he did so.

"That\'s a bit harder to explain. The word \'world\' is kinda vague, actually. I was using it to mean a planet, which I think, by definition, is a celestial body that isn\'t a star. Science was never really my thing," Lone shrugged.

"A planet is the living, breathing, pained, existence that you live upon, unless you inhabit a different dimension or plane of existence. Your \'Great Swamp\' is on a planet, most likely. Do you have a night sky, a sun or many, and a moon or many?" Devil asked Swamp.

Swamp tilted his head in curiosity. "A night sssky, yesss. The Wakeful Eye needsss ressst too. I don\'t know what a sssun or moon isss."

"My turn to ask a question that\'s probably got an obvious answer to you. What\'s the Wakeful Eye?" Lone asked.

Swamp\'s green and red-blotched figure smiled widely. "Ssshe isss the god of the sssky. Ssshe detirminesss what isss day and what isss night. I will ssshare a common phrassse asssociated with her. \'Bright and golden doesss ssshe ssshine, allowing usss all to bear witnesss to the giftsss of the Great Ssswamp. When her wakefulnesss endsss, fear not for her beacon of purity coolsss, sssoothesss, and allowsss sssafe passsage to the land of the unwaking."

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Lone squinted. "I don\'t mean to be rude, it\'s perfectly possible it is a god with two different forms. I\'ve certainly seem some weird and fantastical stuff, but, that sounds like a primitive way to explain the science behind a sun setting and a moon rising."

"I don\'t underssstand," Swamp replied.

Lone shook his head. "Another time, maybe? I have some more questions for Monsieur Librarian and I want to read this book, even if it seems fuckin\' useless at face value."

"We have time for four more questions, or time for you all to read your books and discuss them briefly should you wish to. Remember, I am not at the peak of my power. These meetings do grow longer, yes, but not as long as we would all like, I am sure," Monsieur Librarian reminded.

"Right... It isn\'t urgent, I guess," Lone replied before he flipped open his book and began reading it.

It didn\'t take him too long to finish it. It was much shorter than Ruldso Redmore\'s book. The book was essentially a massive list of tips for mastering etiquette. Only a handful of the tips presented really stood out to him but he did make sure to absorb all of the knowledge given how useful the prior Tome of Omniscience had been.

Etiquette Tip 1.

Etiquette is simple. You are playing a character. All it takes to be a master of all forms of etiquette is knowledge and acting ability. That is it. You must know the local etiquette norms and you must act as a version of yourself that follows them. There is much more to the topic than that if you wish to master it, but at its core, that is it.

Etiquette Tip 16.

Be prepared for others to try to make you look uncultured. One of the most useful things you can do to follow local etiquette norms is to know when your would-be peers are trying to make you look like a fool. Noticing such attempts is challenging at first, but easy enough to learn. The true struggle is in learning how to combat such childishness without breaking character. There is a skill for this called Political Evasion that I will describe how to earn in the next four tips, as there are various methods to do so for different people born of different circumstances.

Etiquette Tip 38.

Etiquette is more than just your behaviour, body language, speech, etc. It also encompasses many more aspects of your being, your strength included, but this tip is to tell you about the vastly underestimated power behind attire. Clothes make the man, and attire makes the actor. There are a few different paths for this topic, each different in who should follow them. The next 6 tips will describe these paths.

Etiquette Tip 42.

The attire path of personality. Etiquette norms come from somewhere. Usually, from the ruling body of the land. The empress is seen in a new dress of unique design? Not a week later and every other noble or highborn woman has an imitation and to be seen without one would speak of one\'s inability to see the trends or perhaps their lacking funds to pursue them. You need not follow the trends or the local expectations of attire if you have such a magnificent and powerful presence to the point you determine what the latest trend will be. There is a science to this, but it is very hard to reproduce. Some just don\'t have the mettle for such an approach, and a forced attempt is liable to seeing one laughed out of any ball they go to. There is, however, a skill for it. It is called Magnetic Appearance. It relies on the host having at least 100 Charm. A large number, one that would likely see you not needing the skill, but I will describe how to earn it regardless.

Etiquette Tip 101.

A dashing grin or a beguiling smirk can add a considerable amount of class and mystique to your persona, and I would say such is required for any situation where etiquette is a concern. One can learn to smile properly. One can be trained to narrow their eyes, shape their cheek dimples, cock their head, all perfectly, but a skill is the only true way to gain an almost devilish edge to your smile. There are two versions of this skill and how you earn it will determine which you get. If you do not want the skill, tip 102 covers how to perfect your smile as naturally as possible without system help. The rest of this tip will explain how to earn the skill Disarming Smile.

Not too longer after he had read the last page did both Swamp and Devil close their tomes too.

"So what did your books cover? Mine suggests that I\'ll be needing quite a few social skills and understanding about etiquette soon," Lone said.

"Mine isss a ssseriesss of mapsss. I know not where they lead, but I look forward to finding out," Swamp replied.

Devil was silent for a moment before she said, "My tome details how to hide existential changes. It is exactly what I needed for my... situation."

"Well, at least one out of three of the books is clearly helpful this time," Lone laughed. \'She needs to hide changes that are happening to her? That\'s curious.\'

After returning to the his soul space and after having had a somewhat lengthy discussion with Darkness and Death, Lone asked, "So everything\'s going as planned?"

Darkness shrugged. "You tell me. She had to reverse time, didn\'t she? What was that about?"

"Your beloved can reverse time? A powerful ability," Death commented.

"Give Loney-boy here enough time to rank up and eventually she\'ll become immune to you too. Isn\'t that fun?" Darkness chuckled.

Death\'s split skull looked confused.

"It\'s been long enough. I think I should return now," Lone said, choosing not to answer Darkness or Death\'s questions. "Remember, Darkness, this is the price to earn back my trust," he stated as he pointed towards one of his mental locks and a stream of... something flowed from his extended finger to the lock.

"I know, I know. Keep the warden happy and the prisoners will soon be dancing and singing in joy as well. I am aware," Darkness sighed in exasperation.

Lone\'s eyes were treated to the sight of a sweaty Sophie training her Shortsword Mastery on a copper training dummy as he slowly got up from the sofa bench he\'d been dragged to in his sleep.

He watched Sophie for a bit, noting she was just wearing a pair of short sporty shorts and a skin-tight crop top that fully exposed her navel. \'Not that I\'m complaining, I love the view, but wouldn\'t it be better to train in her full armour? Unless she\'s trying to earn something speed-based or something. Maybe she\'s working on her Agility?\'

"Couldn\'t sleep?" he asked.

"We must get stronger, however we can, as fast as we can," she answered plainly. \'Did the book this time offer any meaningful insight?\'

Lone stretched as he got up, walked behind her, hugged her waist and rested his chin atop her head. "Well, we\'ve got two months to do some isolated training. I\'ve sure we can figure something out. We can maybe get you to earn Internal Strengthening Arts. That\'ll make ya much stronger in the short and long term."

\'I need to learn how to master the ways of etiquette, apparently,\' he mentally replied.

Sophie blushed a little bit and rolled her eyes. Her breathing was a little bit heavy from her training. She lowered her swords and replied, "We are sweaty and smell, but you will likely respond with something strange like \'I like how you smell\', won\'t you? Let us train for another hour, perhaps two more, then we can sleep. In the morning we are willing to give control to Soph so she may play around with our aura."

At the same time, she responded telepathically, \'We are doomed if you are to learn how to be polite in the wake of arrogant self-aggrandising noble scum. The moment they slight you, you are likely to quip how their receding hairline is very much so visible under their toupees.\'

Lone chuckled and responded to both her spoken and mental words at the same time. "Have some faith, eh? You make it sound like it\'s impossible, and you should know by now that nothing is with the right attitude and knowhow."

He then kissed the top of her head and squeezed her a little bit. "And I do like your smell. It\'s calming."

That got Sophie to properly blush from ear to ear, a rare sight for the stoic woman. Lone laughed before releasing her. Flirting could wait. Training was, as she had said, much more important right now.