Book 2: Chapter 28: Reflection and Genuine Hate
Lone was no stranger to stares. He had been a pretty introverted person for a teacher back on Earth, of course, though that was mostly due to his abusive childhood and not as a result of his inherent personality.
Granted, he was nothing like Soph who was socially awkward and Breena who was utterly inept at any and all interpersonal relations.
However, during his time in Milindo - before he was imprisoned, he'd slowly grown accustomed to noticing people stealing glances at both his face and his tails.
He couldn't really blame them. He knew he was pretty handsome and even if he wasn't a Golden Foxkin, nine racial traits for a beastkin was nigh-unheard of.
That experience had helped shave off a few layers of his introverted shell. Now, though? Now he felt very uncomfortable walking through the streets of Krieg Moor with Steamforger Wilbur at his side.
Every single person had their eyes glued to his bloodied and broken body. A range of horror, disgust, and contempt, covered their faces.
The one range of emotions which Lone actually wanted to see in, however, was utterly absent. Not a single person was sparing him even a drop of compassion, worry or understanding. Well, none bar Steamforger Wilbur but he was also giving off a heavy 'disappointed parent' vibe.
All of this made Lone feel uncommonly high-strung. To get away from these newly mounting nerves, he pulled up his notification log and went into auto-pilot while walking with his blacksmithing and steamforging master.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.
'I should actively train this skill. I can barely use it now since I have a low amount of SP and it costs 1,000 per second, but at the higher ranks, I'm sure it can let me essentially fly for a negligible cost. It not needing to use magic is a huge win,' Lone thought.
From his research into the arcane arts, flying was something quite a few of the magical schools could allow. Namely, it was most common among lightning, air, and water mages, though almost every school of magic could fly one way or another.
Also, in light of flight being such an easy feat to achieve for mages, many large settlements and cites had enchantments set up to make flying with magic impossible. Krieg Moor had such a series of enchantments in it.
With Ungrounded though, such enchantments would be utterly useless if Lone wished to fly since they only stopped magically-fuelled methods of flight. He'd dismissed the skill for a while on account of lumping it in with the absurd skill Void had given him, Nothing Vortex.
Now, however, after seeing this skill's potential during his fight against a B-ranker, Lone felt he had to reevaluate the skill's worth.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 9.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 10.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 1.
Lone nodded. He hadn't successfully dodged all that many attacks, but the few that he did evade were strong enough to cripple him, even if only temporarily. He was glad to be rewarded for that effort with a rank up.
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 60% [+30%].
Allows the host to use the talent [Momentum Shift] to completely change the trajectory of their moving body instantly.
Cost:750 SP [-250 SP] to perform the talent [Momentum Shift] Mastery:Expert Level 1
Lone was a little bit disappointed to have nothing new be added but he wasn't ungrateful. As little as it had mattered when Hamish started applying his Agility, the skill was still an amazing one that had only been made even greater.
'At 60% of a boost to my natural dodging ability, I wonder if I now need to actively try to get hit in a fight if I want to, well, get hit? At least against relatively slower enemies, anyway. I should ask Sophie to spar with me to find out at some point after today,' Lone thought.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Unarmed Combat Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Unarmed Combat Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Unarmed Combat Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Unarmed Combat Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.
Lone winced as a long string of notification for just this skill alone scrolled past his eyes. He shook his head a bit helplessly upon finally reaching the end.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Unarmed Combat Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 7.
'From beginner-level-one all the way up to advanced-level-seven. 26 whole levels. That kind of growth reminds me of crude magic, haha,' Lone laughed in his mind. 'It's only a few levels short of being on par with Swordspear Mastery. Christ above, fighting beyond your league and actually landing hits works wonders for training, huh? I also think the seriousness of the fight added to the growth. I still haven't confirmed that theory yet but it seems highly likely considering all of the evidence I have to support it.'
Despite his scholarly thoughts, his mind still dwelled on the fact he didn't much have a choice when levelling this skill.
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't bitter over Hamish basically forcing him to fight without a weapon. If nothing else, it had made him more versatile he thought as he looked at the skill's newly updated information.
Passive Skill: Unarmed Combat Mastery
The root skill of all hand-to-hand combat skills and skills related to passive yet damaging styles of fighting.
When fighting without a weapon, the host's control over their body is boosted by 30% [+25%].
[New!] The host's natural ability to learn martial arts skills that don't involve a weapon is boosted by 30%.
Cost:N/A Mastery:Advanced Level 7
'What a slap in the face, that new effect,' Lone remarked internally. 'With Growth Accelerator helping me, that boost is less than worthless. I was taught to never look a gift horse in the mouth but c'mon.'
Sophie also had this skill, Lone recalled. She could make use of that expert effect, certainly. It was a new skill of hers and it was only beginner-level-two. Again, if nothing else, he had a new tool at his disposal and perhaps he could help Sophie grow stronger with her Wing Chun Mastery using it.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Nausae Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Nausae Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 6.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Nausae Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7.
'I got used to the feeling of being sent across a room at dozens of miles per hour, huh? I kind of expected this one to rank up too. Thinking on it though, I did stop feeling sick pretty quickly. I'm too adaptable,' he complained with a smile. It was certainly a good problem to have.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 3.
It was a pleasant surprise to see this level up. He would rather fight a near-fatal battle with a pissed-off dwarf than to be tortured for weeks just to see this skill gain a single improvement any day of the week.
Congratulations! the host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 7.
Lone sighed and chuckled faintly, eliciting a side glance from Steamforger Wilbur. 'It's not even master-rank, it says it's only 'basic' and it takes dozens and dozens of fist-sized holes being punched into me just to level up once. Needless to point out each one of those holes should have killed me. If this is just basic, then what the fuck is actual Regeneration capable of and how hard is it to make that level up?'
"Something funny, boy?" his mentor asked him.
Lone shook his head. "I wasn't lying when I said to that bastard I grow stronger after every fight. I was just going over my gains and one of my skills tickled my funny bone. So yeah, I guess something is funny."
"It's good you're in a chipper mood. Savour it. It won't last once we get back to my shop," the old dwarf said in a less-than-pleased tone.
Lone wore a wry expression but didn't protest. He had no idea if the local guild's guildmaster would have actually stepped in or not without Wilbur's presence.
Lone was seconds away from turning Hamish into a B-ranked kebab and then using his Bone Armour and Mental Destruction to carve his way out of the city if things grew out of control.
He doubted it would have come to that, though. Lone was confident he could hold back from killing the man, even with his tails, but thinking of the worst-case scenario was never unwise in his opinion.
Unconsciously, he licked his lips as a feral smile consumed his face. 'I wonder how much Bone Armour would have grown if I'd used it from the start of the 'duel'? How durable would my bones have become? He was snapping them and breaking them left and right, but only barely and that was my skeleton, not my armour...'
Suddenly, Lone's ears rung as he heard a voice in his mind.
'Found you!' a furiously worried Sophie yelled at him telepathically.
"How, exactly, do I look, Gramps?" Lone asked, seemingly randomly.
Wilbur eyed him strangely then said, "Like someone threw ah bucket or two of blood over yer head."
"Haha, great. Would you believe me if I told you someone actually did that to me once?" Lone cracked his neck and braced himself.
"Really? Ah'm surprised ye didn't come down with ah disease or two if yer not tellin' fibs. What kinda sick fuck does that to ah person?" Wilbur asked, stopping in his tracks since Lone had also ceased walking.
"The kind that didn't really have a say in the matter," Lone replied when something fast and armoured rushed into sight.
Halting just shy of smashing right into Lone's chest, Sophie's heavy helmet creaked as she eyed him top-to-bottom. "Who did this to you?"
Her voice was cold and harsh. Her question also came off as more of an order than as a request for knowledge. It was as if she would stop at nothing to learn who the culprit behind Lone's condition was.
'It's not just Sophie,' Lone noticed. It was hard to see her eyes through the slits in her helmet's visor but see them he could.
It was clear to him that Soph was close to wrestling control of their body away from her more rational self. It was also obvious why. 'And here I thought holding back Basic Regen from fixing my ripped off tails was wise... Haha... I can be a real idiot at times...'
Lone slowly shook his head. "Whatever you're thinking of doing Sophie, now isn't the time. It was a B-ranker, by the way. It also wasn't entirely one-sided. I fucked up one of his arms and gave his empty skull a good ol' smack."
Sophie lifted her visor to show her beautiful yet absolutely infuriated face. "No! B-ranker or a fucking god, we do not care! This happens far too often to you and we have had enough! Do you think we enjoy seeing you like this?! Will whoever did this to you survive a fall from a few thousand meters up in the air?! We would like to see them try. Give me a description and they'll be dead within the hour!"
'I've never heard her swear before,' Lone thought as he processed what she had said. '"But your range limit is-"
"Limits can be broken for a price! You of all people should know that, Lone," Sophie scoffed. "We have limited information right now but if you don't wish to cooperate, we will do our own investigations. You fought at the guild, no? We will go there now."
She tried to storm past him but a firm grip pressed down onto her gauntleted wrist. The metal beneath threatened to bend under the pressure of this iron grip.
Lone's hand began to bleed from the metal he was crushing and Sophie grunted a bit in pain. "I said now isn't the time. If I wanted him dead, he wouldn't be living. Cool the fuck down, Sophie. You should still be at work and I need to talk to Gramps. Please, I'm begging you, don't make this situation any worse. I... I understand how you feel, but really, venting your anger over seeing me like this by murdering someone is not the right thing to do."
"Let go of me," Sophie demanded in a quiet and pointed tone.
"Can I trust you to not do something stupid?" Lone asked with a serious frown spread across his lips.
Sophie looked up to match his gaze and her face was slowly being stained by tears. "Let go of me," she repeated through gritted teeth.
Lone looked at her deeply for a short while before sighing and loosening his grip. The steel of the plate had been warped pretty badly around where he was holding her gauntlet and his hand was damaged beyond all conventional repair. It would also be shocking if Sophie's wrist didn't come out with severe bruising.
She raised her other arm as if to slap Lone but stopped halfway. "We hate you for this. You... Why don't you value yourself more? Why are we the furious one while you calmly walk down the street as if nothing ever happened?!"
Sophie shook her head and didn't wait for an answer. She spun on her heels and ran off, leaving Lone and Wilbur on their own with a veritable audience of curious bystanders.
The elderly dwarf stroked his beard and said, "Sophie, huh? Yer lover's name if ah recall, no? She's got fire, Ah'll give ye that much."
Lone smiled weakly. "Perhaps too much fire. She's lived a very harsh and very long life. That was the first time I've seen her act like that though..."
"Long life? Girl barely looks two-decades-old if ye push it." Wilbur sighed before saying, "Anyway, domestic spat now over, our business hasn't even begun, boy."
"Of course, Gramps," Lone answered half-heartedly.
His mind was filled with nothing but Sophie and how to deal with this... situation. He could hardly care now what kind of words Steamforger Wilbur had waiting for him in his shop.
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