Lone froze. "What?"

He was in a state of utter shock. "No.. Surely not. Right?"

He ignored the food he was prepping and instead quickly pulled up his magic affinity sheet.

"Holy fuckin' shit," Lone muttered. 'The percentages can go over 100%?'

'Well, I always knew this was theoretically possible but I've never seen it before. It's so rare to find someone talented enough to have an affinity close to 100%, and then add on the fact that person needs Historical and Cultural Appreciation, and to top it off, they then need to create a moment of such significance that the skill deems the host worthy of earning a percentage affinity boost. A statistical possibility but a practical impossibility,' Death remarked.

Lone could practically hear Darkness nodded as it added, 'Indeed, and for it to be two magic affinities as well? Good job, Loney-boy. This in and of itself would be worthy of a moment in history if you go public with it and prove it, though I wouldn't suggest doing that despite how entertaining it could be. You'd have to explain how a 10% bonus resulted in you getting to 110% affinity. After all, only the avatars of magical affinities are known to have perfect 100% affinities. Well, and a few other special cases.'

'Special cases?' Lone asked.

Darkness chuckled. 'You're not the only one with unique skills, you know?'

'I suppose that's fair,' Lone replied as he resumed cooking. 'Do either of you know how significant having over 100% affinity is? Like, what does it do, specifically beyond just making me better with those magic types?'

'I lean more on the mysticism side,' Death replied. 'Darkness is quite magically inclined, however.'

'I can make an educated guess seeing as how I've never seen this before, having only imagined it. I've previously calculated that every 10% over 100% would be like having that 100% effect doubled. 110%? Essentially 200%. 120%? That's more of less 300%. So on and so forth. Beyond that? I haven't a scooby, Loney-boy. Have your lunch and then maybe experiment? You're on soft house arrest anyway, so what better use for your time do you have?' Darkness said, no doubt as it shrugged.

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'Finishing Sofia's mana concealer, for one,' he replied.

'Please do be careful with that. As fun as it is to watch you lose consciousness only to awaken to no mana for an extended period of time, you having no access to one of the resources that maintains your 'immortality' is frightening given how much more killable it makes you,' Darkness said.

Lone raised an eyebrow. 'I thought you of all Primals would want me dead. That would free you, no?'

'Y'know, I'm not sure. Believe it or not, you're my first. That is, the first person to trap my entire being within your own soul. That in itself is terrifying. But, lest I remind you, your soul is currently imprisoning Void. I may be selfish, Loney-boy, but I don't want that thing being free to do as it please any time soon. You've also grown on me, It'd be such a shame to see you perish when you have the potential to do so much with my Primal skill,'

Darkness replied.

'Mine as well. I have given you such a powerful tool and I refuse to see it go wasted,' Death chimed in.

Lone sighed. 'I'll train Lifespan Revelation eventually, I promise.'

'Good,' Death replied, no doubt with a stern nod of his head body.

'As for Sofia's mana concealer, I share your concerns, Darkness. I was ready to just say 'fuck it' earlier and make it with what I've theorised so far, but I have a different plan now. I'm going to spend the rest of the time between now and the next meeting to find out what I can and then I'll ask Monsieur Librarian some questions. It shouldn't reveal who I am since I have exactly zero plans to ever reveal the existence of the device to anyone,' Lone explained.

'... I really do wonder who Monsieur Librarian is... Or what, perhaps would be a better word. To have knowledge on multiple worlds is very, very uncommon. And the precision of those tomes you've spoken of... It's such a shame I wasn't able to learn more when he used me to kick-start his little cabal,' Darkness huffed. 'Oh well. Anyway, it's a good idea to make use of him the same way he made use of you. Will you ever ask him why it was your soul he used as the basis for the meetings initially, or how he even did so?'

Lone shrugged. 'Asking that would reveal it to the other members, and he probably wouldn't answer. I'm not too interested in that right now anyway. He's been a help to me so far, so we can worry about him when more pressing matters have to be handled first, right?'

'True, very true,' Darkness replied. 'Still, I'm curious, so keep it in mind.'

"I swear, Son, you should consider opening a restaurant. It'd certainly be less dangerous than your current lifestyle," Gilbert said after having polished off his plate of food completely.

Breena was still picking away at her food slowly but with joy, meanwhile Lone had finished just a moment before Gilbert had.

The three of them were sitting under the centrepiece of the Spirit Pavilion's lake, the gazebo.

"Nah, I have no interest in businessifying my cooking. Your retirement may be filled with paperwork, Gil, but mine will be filled with peaceful exploring. Or here's hoping it will be, at least," Lone replied.

Gilbert scowled. "Don't remind me... I need to get a clone of some sort to do my guildmaster work. My affinities don't really lean into that, sadly. Well, there are a couple of options with nature magic, but nothing simple."

Lone shrugged. "Just invent a new skill."

"Ah, yes, because that's easy," Gilbert replied with a roll of his eyes.

Lone grinned. "I've only had access to the system for, like, two years, and I've invented just as many skills."

"Yes, yes, and I'm very prou- Wait. Two? I know about Fortress Shield Mastery, but what's the other?" Gilbert asked in surprise.

"A social skill. It gives me a killer smile," Lone said. "It tries to force people who see it to trust me. I'm suppressing it right now."

"How considerate. I suppose making a new skill isn't too out of the norm considering how eventful that meeting earlier was," Gilbert pondered as he stroked his goatee.

Breena had finished her food now so she, after putting her utensils in the centre of her plate, asked, "U-Um, Guildmaster... W-What do you know about them? The, uh, the real elders..."

"The Council of Elders?" Gilbert asked rhetorically as he stroked his goatee in thought. "Not as much as you might be hoping. I'll tell you what I know, certainly, but it isn't much. I'll say that today was the first time I've ever seen a member in person."

"I'd appreciate any info too," Lone said.

Gilbert nodded. "Well, I know that there are hundreds of members, all of which are at least XX-rankers."

Lone narrowed his eyes. "That many? Really?"

"Well, think about it. It's an organisation of ageless beastkin. They are all beastkin, by the way. To become a member one must first be from the clans, reach XX-rank, and be unawakened. That's it. There are hundreds of beastkin clans, and each and every time someone from one becomes an XX-ranker, membership to the council is forced upon them. So long as you never awaken, you have eternity to eventually rank up. That will lead to a lot of powerful members over time. Even a non-combatant XX-ranker is still a force to be reckoned with. All people who have ever met those conditions are, or were, members."

"Were?" Breena asked softly.

"My former clan departed from the council some 250 years ago. My great-grandfather's rather public subservience to the White Dragons forced the council to allow him to remove himself and all other XX and XXX-rankers of the White Dragonkin Clan who were members. That was quite controversial at the time. It still is, really, being fresh in the minds of those ancient monsters."

Lone frowned. "So Divine Dragonsworn was a member? I thought the council was hands-off with their clans of origin. Well, mostly, from what I've heard and seen. I've read up on Divine Dragonsworn and he's been the clan's acting patriarch for, like, 3,000 years."

"Divines are given exceptions and permissions. Most choose to stay within whatever territory the elders are squirreled away in, but as soon as he became a Divine, my great-grandfather returned to the clan, assumed the position of patriarch, and started siring children," Gilbert said.

Lone make a noise of realisation. "That makes sense. Explains why a young boy no older than 400 is his great-grandchild, and not his, like, great-great-great-great-great-great-great-gre-"

"Shut up, you little shit," Gilbert sighed in exacerbation to which Lone burst out laughing. The guildmaster coughed to collect himself before continuing, "The last thing I know about the council is that while I never saw them, the members personally visited Divine Dragonsworn for council matters while he was still a member. Normal clan leaders, such as puppets like Lossa, well, they get summoned. To where or how, I don't know. I can try to look into it using my guildmaster privileges, but I'd need a good reasons to do so with my position."

"Personal interest likely won't cut it. Oh well. Thanks for filling us in on what you did know," Lone said.

Breena nodded. "Um, uh, y-yeah. Thank you Guildmaster E-Elksworth."

"You're very welcome, young Breena. And you, you stupid fool. I don't know what I'll do with you... Would there be any point in me advising you not to antagonise the elders any further than you already have?" Gilbert asked with a raised eyebrow. His face was full of concern.

Lone smiled. "Actually, yes. I thought it was, like, a couple dozen XX and XXX-rankers, and maybe a Divine or two, but hundreds? And how many Divines do they have?"

" I do know that number, in fact. Exactly 17," Gilbert replied.

"Yeah, one Arch Devil is causing me enough grief for several lifetimes. Fuck 17 people of roughly equal strength. I'll stay out of their hair..."

"Good. That's a weight-"

"... until I've ranked up once or twice more."

"..." Gilbert sighed extremely deeply. "That's a weight put immediately back on my shoulders."

"I'm kidding. I'd at least need a couple more master rank skills too," Lone replied.

"I'm leaving before you give me an aneurism. You say you're joking but remember, Son, I can tell truths from lies," Gilbert said before getting up.

He walked over to Lone and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll see what I can find out for you. Just keep your head down for the time being like Elder Elcudia suggested."

"I will," Lone replied honestly.

Gilbert gave him a fatherly smile filled with pride at the answer before he left the lake gazebo and, presumably, the Spirit Pavilion.