Lone: The Wanderer

Book 1: Chapter 4: Mental Shock and God's Killer

While very shoddy and clearly crafted by someone with little-to-no experience, Lone was proud of his two teepees.

Sure, a strong gust of wind would knock them down like a house of cards and if the sky decided to start raining anyone inside of them would get soaked. Regardless, he smiled in accomplishment.

I dont know about you but Im pretty tired after all of that physical labour. Suns going down too. Sleep? Lone asked as he looked down at his short companion.

Sophie turned to look back at him which was more than a little bit creepy since she was blind as far as he knew. Okay.

Right then Lone muttered before choosing a teepee to settle into for the night.

The bliss of consensual unconsciousness was happily welcome by Lone. The next morning, he awoke to a peculiar feeling on his chest.

It was like he had suddenly become a heavy smoker of seventy years or had woken up as a sumo wrestler. Surely the coconut from yesterday hadn't made him gain 60 or 70 kilograms, now had it? nove(l)bi(n.)com

Opening his eyes and looking down, Lone quickly found the culprit to his odd condition. Sophie was laying on top of him with a few of his tails wrapped up in her arms. 'The poor kid... She must miss her parents or something, right?'

He wanted to be upset since the weight wasnt exactly pleasant given his frail frame. He couldnt get mad though, not given the situation.

Lone sighed softly and carefully pushed the girl off of him while freeing his tails before he left the teepee and made his way onto the beach.

He stretched his entire body and watched the rising sun. "Not a bad sight in all honesty. Not bad at all Now then I should test my skills, I think. After all, there might be some situations where I need to know how to use them, so I may as well learn now. Cant live off of coconuts forever and I sure as hell aint killing anything with these noodly arms of mine."

He glanced down at his scrawny figure. Couldnt have given me big ol biceps and an eight pack along with the species change, huh?

Having said that, Lone cleared a little bit of space and decided to test his Creation Magic skill first.

From its description, he could create anything that existed in this world with his mana points so long as he could imagine it.

"I guess a knife? Hmm, then again, how will I hunt anything with a knife in my state? Maybe a bow or a spear?" Lone wondered aloud.

He recalled how bad he was at shooting with a bow and arrow as a child when he got the chance to practice archery during a school trip, so he decided to try a spear first.

Besides, it was the classic weapon of the soldier. It was relatively easy to use and had reach. What more could he ask for?

"What are spears even made of? A wooden shaft and a metal tip I suppose. I know more about spear types and where or when they came from and who used them, not how they were made..." Lone complained.

He closed his eyes and pictured a very simple spear. He had decided to use the common beginner's spear from the online game that he had played for the better part of the last five years.

Why not, after, all? He had a lot of experience with it even if it was just pixels at the end of the day.

Item does not exist on Altros, however, there is an innumerable amount like it. 5,000 MP has been consumed to compensate for the difference.

The host has a great understanding of the item but does not know anything regarding its construction. 1,000 base MP cost. 500 additional MP has been consumed to compensate for the lack of knowledge.

6,500 total MP has been consumed to create the item: [Beginner's Spear].

A wooden spear with a long and sharp head fell to the sand in front of Lone. Similarly, he, himself also collapsed. He clutched his head and screamed when a sudden pain assaulted his very mind.

Warning! The host has consumed more MP than they possess. Bracket of extra consumption: 0-5,000 MP. MP has been sealed for 1 hour.

The host has developed the passive skill: Mental Pain Resistance.

Passive Skill: Mental Pain Resistance

A skill that helps protect the host's mind.

Reduces the effects suffered from overusing MP by 5%. All mental painswill be weakened by 5%.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

Lone could barely read the messages that flickered in front of his eyes before he passed out from the suffering he was trying to endure.

Quite clearly, at only beginner level one, this wasn't a very useful skill.

"Mmm?" Lone raised his body and held his still throbbing head.

He looked around and saw half of a coconut next to him with its water still inside. Lone looked around and saw Sophie nibbling away at her own half.

Lone carefully picked up the coconut and sat next to the small girl. "You got this for me?"

"... Yeah..." she replied shyly.

"Thank you," Lone said and then began drinking the somewhat sweet liquid inside of the fruit. He looked at the ocean and asked the girl a question that some people might have thought was insensitive, given the circumstances. "Do you miss your parents?"

Sophie looked shocked for a moment but she quickly collected herself and answered, "No... They both died almost a thousand years ago..."

"I see..." Lone took a bite out of his coconut and almost spat it out immediately. "Wait! Run that by me again, would you? Did you just say, a thousand years ago?"

Sophie nodded her head timidly. Seeing how uncomfortable he was making her, Lone quickly said, "Sorry for shouting... Just... what do you mean by, 'a thousand years ago'? You can't be any older than nine or ten."

Sophie smiled bitterly as if she was remembering a painful memory. "I'm immortal... Or at least, I should be. I think that ability of mine got sealed when we came here..."

'She's full of shit, right? Did she go nuts when we came here?' Lone thought but didnt say.

He suddenly recalled something that the young girl had said when they had first met in that weird black space. "What did you mean by 'my dimension'? You said that before we came here, didn't you?"

"Mmm... I don't want to talk about it, but I'll tell you if you let me squeeze one of your tails, The girl offered.

She wants what? Well She has hugged them twice now, both times seemingly unconsciously. If itll sate my curiosity, sure, she can squeeze them again. No pain no gain, Lone mused before moving one of his tails onto her lap.

The perhaps not-so-young girl grabbed it and cuddled the soft and furry limb with both of her arms.

A few moments passed of her enjoying the softness of his tail before she said, "I was just a normal girl, but, uh, some things happened. I found out I couldn't really die. It it wasnt nice learning that.

Lone tried to keep an open mind. He was a magical man with fox ears and tails now so what was one or two immortal kids? That must have sucked. Cant imagine its a nice story.

She nodded. Its not. About uh 20? Maybe 30 years later a man who called himself 'God' forced a lot of men to hunt me for about 200 years... what were they called again... Knights Tem... Tem... Tem something. Sorry, I dont usually manage these memories" Sophie explained with a very sad tone to her voice.

Lone's eyes almost popped out of his head after hearing that. 'The Knights Templar?! As in, the literal Knights-fucking-Templar?! What?! So the holy crusades... were they actually all just to find this one girl? More importantly, she escaped them for two full centuries?

As a history teacher and avid lover of the more classical eras of history, this was all very alarming news to him if true.

I mean, this is insane... There's no way this can be true, right? But if it is Would the Vatican have records on her? Oh my god that would be soooo fucking interesting. I kinda want this to be true now,' he thought a bit excitedly.

Were it any other person in any other situation, Lone would have completely ignored these ridiculous claims.

However, this girl had quite clearly teleported in front of him, and from what he could tell, that was a subconscious action and it wasn't a skill that she had just learnt in a couple of days. More and more reasons to believe her were springing up.

Sophie smiled sweetly and wiped away the tears that were building up in her eyes. "They eventually caught me and locked me up for a long, long time. After that, I got revenge on God and kind of killed him before living in his home, a pocket dimension that sat above Earth."

"You... you killed God?" Lone was more than shocked. Did this girl really kill the deity that so many people worshipped and prayed to every day? Her rising credibility was beginning to diminish.

"Mmm... I don't really want to talk about this anymore... Its, uh, I dont like bringing it up" she said weakly.

"Thank you for opening up," Lone said softly. 'Let's take her words with a grain of salt. Maybe a few grains. I'll believe her. No reason not to, but if she really did kill God... Why is she so timid and childish? Best not to ask. I don't want to set her off accidentally. We were sent here together for a reason I'd wager. No point adding friction where it's not needed. Not yet at least.'

Just as Sophie was about to reply, a loud and ghastly shriek echoed out from the forest behind them. Lone whirled his head around and after narrowing his eyes, he could see a large, brown-furred boar charging right at them.

Sophie screamed and froze in fear while Lone started to sweat. 'That thing's fucking huge! It must weigh at least 400 kilos! Fuck! Why is it coming towards us?! One hit from those tusks and we're dead meat!'

Lone quickly stood up and grabbed Sophie. He ran to the side and barely avoided the boar as it tore through the spot they were just in.

Like a car that had put the handbrake on, the wild animal ground to a halt and changed its direction.

"Shit! It's out for blood!" Lone exclaimed in annoyance with a tinge of fear.

Quite honestly, he didnt want to die to a massive boar. Hed much rather a peaceful death in his sleep when he was old, incredibly old.

He frantically looked around for something that could help in this situation and his eyes fell onto the spear he had created before passing out.

Lone immediately sprinted towards the weapon that was laid out next to the two teepees while still carrying the screaming and crying Sophie.

As soon as he grabbed the spear with his free hand, a gust of hot wind brushed past him and he could feel a searing pain from his side.

The enraged boar had ripped a large chunk of his flesh out of his chest as it trampled over and destroyed the two makeshift sleeping spaces. "Ahhhhhhhh!" Lone cried out in agony.

Somehow, he didnt die on the spot but he screamed yet again at the sight of his ruined sleeping spaces. 'I worked hard on those, you fat fucking pig!'

The boar swivelled around and stomped its hoof into the ground before it puffed out a bunch of air from its nostrils.

With beady eyes trained on Lone and gleaming tusks to skewer a grown man, the boar charged at him again.