Souls Online: Mythic Ascension
Chapter 126: Strings Attached

Chapter 126: Strings Attached

While Nyx was away, Luna, Lily and Horo began their own conversation.

"So what do you think the odds are that Sonata is gonna fall for Leo?"

Horo asked with a teasing expression of his own but was met with a glare from the two girls.

"Sonata is still an idol! She will not fall that easily for a man!"

"This is not the time to gossip about my little brother!"

Lily hissed with annoyance in her voice while Luna tried to divert the conversation but failed to hide her anger.

"Sheesh alright. Well then let’s change topics. I know we all got rare Lifestyle Professions but the one that never really came up was yours Lily. Care to elaborate on it?"

Lily narrowed her eyes and started smirking, her expression made both Luna and Horo smack her out of sheer annoyance.

"My Lifestyle Profession is called Wild Shifter~! It is a Craftsman type skill close to Alchemy I suppose. I am able to take Living matter and modify its structure to suit my needs. So in theory, given enough time I could take a block of wood and turn it into a functional eyeball~"

Lily looked extremely proud of herself while Horo and Luna looked absolutely appalled.

"Mad Scientist Lily sounds downright terrifying. She may turn a tree into a cupcake or something..."

"Or a chair into a mount so she doesn’t have to walk anymore..."

"I could see that happening."

"Hey! Why are you guys being so mean!"

Lily cried out as Luna and Horo wasted no time in playfully mocking her. She puffed up her cheeks as she stroked Moku’s soft fur.

Luna and Horo glanced at each other before sporting matching smirks.

"Cause it’s easy"

Both of them spoke simultaneously, causing Lily to be mildly offended.

"Enough about me! What about you, Horo? The way that Barry was going on about Puppeteer, it doesn’t sound like it is something normal. So spill it already!"

Horo grimaced as he pulled out a small wooden rabbit doll that could fit in the palm of his hand. It was a present from his mentor who had casually carved the cute figure out within a few minutes.

"Oh~? This thing is so cute!"

Lily remarked but then she noticed that Horo was brandishing his fingers in a strange manner. Suddenly, white thread erupted from his fingertips, impaling the rabbit figurine. The scene was relatively grotesque and seeing a rabbit getting impaled like that made Luna extremely uncomfortable.

"That was gross...Wait what?!"

Luna started to complain when the thread seemed to disappear and instead, the rabbit figurine began to move as if it was really alive despite it clearly being made of wood.

Lily was also entranced by the almost magical scene that was playing out in front of them.

"So those threads you saw essentially allow me to hijack whatever I am connected to and allow me to control it with a thought...Literal puppeteering."

Lily seemed to pick up on something in Horo’s tone. Glancing between the wooden rabbit and Horo whose expression was growing worse and worse by the second.

"What is the limit on material Horo?"

"None. The only cost is the mental drain. The more the target resists, the harder it is..."

"Resists? As in you can control..."

"Yes. I can control Humans and any form of sentient life granted my mind can handle the strain..."

He groaned as he clenched his fist which caused the rabbit to suddenly stop moving.

Seeing that it had taken a lot out of him, the girls were both surprised and slightly terrified of the possible implications. What they didn’t know was that in his pursuit of power, Horo had already begun...on himself.

He was about to say something when Luna thought of something and unintentionally interrupted.

"Doesn’t that mean Leo will be able to use all of these skills himself? That sounds really overpowered even if it’s weaker."

"The question is what is the coefficient here for strength. Will he eventually be able to use all his professions with powers exceeding ours?"

"No, I don’t think so. It depends on the number of Bonds Leo can make I guess?"

The girls continuing on with the conversation allowed Horo to keep what he was doing a secret for now.

"We should think about creating a guild. A party of 6 seems to be the max and I highly doubt that Leo has reached anywhere close to enough to max out his bonds. You all saw how many slots his shield form had right?"

Horo was the one to point out that there were 12 slots on the shields and 2 of them had now been filled with those mysterious gems.

Lily was silent as she ruminated on what he said. After a few minutes of quiet, she finally weighed in.

"The benefits far outweigh the negatives that come from it. It would also help us avoid unwanted solicitation of people from guilds trying to recruit us."

Luna nodded her head as well.

"Yeah I am not a fan of those creeps. I don’t want to run from them but if we continue like this, I may end up locked up somewhere for killing them!"

Horo laughed sheepishly as he recognized that given Luna’s personality, it was closer to being a foregone conclusion that she would be arrested for murder by one of the Village Guards.

Lily too shot her friend a dubious gaze before faking a cough into her hand.

"Ahem! Well if we are in agreement, all that’s left is to decide who will be the guild leader and our name."

There was a moment of silence as they looked into each others eyes and said "Leo" in perfect unison.

"So it’s decided then. Leo will be the Guildmaster of the Adorables~!"

Lily laughed with a clap of her hands. only for Horo to immediately stand up

"Absolutely NOT!"

"Absolutely not what? Do I even wanna know?"

Leo’s tired voice called out as he and Sonata entered the room.

"We are deciding on a Guild Name Leo. Lily wants us to be called the Adorables."

Luna calmly explained with crossed arms, giving Sonata a questioning gaze who in turn did her best to act as if she didn’t see anything by averting her gaze.

"Why can’t you let that name die Lily? I absolutely refuse to go with that name."

Leo remarked with a pointed stare directed towards Lily who merely giggled in response acting as if she was completely innocent but unable to look him in the eyes.

"Oh really~? I completely forgot~!"

"Your acting is terrible."

He groaned in annoyance.

Is she even trying to hide her intentions?