Book 2: Chapter 69: Trance and Saturday Midnight
Hamish mulled over Lone's words for a moment before a bittersweet smile appeared on his face. "'At's pure filth."
"Risk-free pure filth," Lone noted. He then glanced at Soph who nodded before disappearing, having used her Teleportation skill.
"We'll only be here for a little over a week," Lone said as he looked at Breena, "So try your best to learn as much as you can, okay?"
Breena nodded with lacking confidence but an equal measure of conviction. "I... I won't waste this opportunity."
Hamish raised an eyebrow. "Ah week? Ye could clear the place in an afternoon."
Lone shook his head disapprovingly. "And gain what? The scripture magic enforcement allows me two days of free rest, two weeks to finish the mission, and then another two days of rest. Be happy I'm leaving wiggle room days for unforeseen accidents. It is a dungeon and should stop being one when I've killed the last of 'em, but you can never be too sure when you're in a magical world."
Hamish shrugged. "Suppose it isnae ma business if ya make full use ah the time yer given."
Soph reappeared with a ghostly looking creature held by its wrist in her hand as it flailed wildly against her armour. She dropped the Sheinling, letting it tumble to the ground.
Soph shock her hand a little then said, "I broke its wrist by mistake when grabbing it. They're fast but pretty frail."
The beast of pure madness screeched before launching itself at Soph. Lone got in its way, displaying a level of speed it could never compare to.
He grabbed it by its skull and lifted it up. "Soph, your job is to make sure to protect Breena with your barriers if it looks like she'd going to get stabbed or gravely wounded. Hamish, you tutor Breena, and Breena, you fight the thing."
As he was saying that, the Sheinling had already used its still functioning wrist to pull out the blade on its hip and had stabbed him dozens of times in the forearm and bicep, covering him and the place in blood.
The blade gained more and chips as it entered Lone's flesh, rebounded against his bones, and then exited his flesh.
Breena looked incredibly uncomfortable and Hamish was downright disgusted.
"Ah couldnae dae 'at, even wae super 'ealin'," Hamish admitted proudly, pointing out Lone's weirdness for being so unfazed.
Lone smiled. "I can out heal damage of this level easily. It doesn't even register as painful either."
"Lucky thing they're nae deep-touched, only their overwell was," he heard Hamish mutter almost inaudibly.
Lone let the dwarf keep his whispers to himself as he said, "Are you ready Breena? The second I let go of this little fucker he's gonna go wild."
Breena seemed even less sure of herself and her resolute gaze had wavered a bit. She did, however, nod. "I-I'm ready."
Lone nodded back. "Good."
He tossed the creature to the side of the farwind road a decent distance from them. It scrambled to its feet quickly and rushed at them.
Thankfully, Breena didn't get cold feet. She moved to meet the Sheinling. As she did, Hamish sighed. "Ah didnae expect tae be daein' such ah hands-on practical trainin' session, but 'at's 'ow the Stone sings ah guess."
Lone paid his grumbling no mind and said, "Well, you trio have fun. I'll be back soon."
"Be careful," Soph warned in a worried but loving tone.
He grinned at her. "I always am."
"Liar," she pouted with a shake of the head before putting her entire attention on keeping Breena from serious harm.
The last thing Lone heard from his companions as he approached the town gate to Urd Siltal was Hamish yelling correction after correction at Breena.
A few hours later, Lone stretched his arms over his head as he approached a campsite in the middle of the road where once there wasn't one. "Everything go well?"
Hamish looked up at him and his blood and guts covered body before he replied, "Well enough."
"Where are the girls?" Lone asked as he sat down across from the dwarf.
Hamish pointed a thumb at the tent behind him. "The wee lass got a lot of cuts'n'bruises. Ah few bites tae. Yer lil lady friend want'd tae patch 'er up 'erself an' maybe earn ah passive first aid skill."
"Smart," Lone replied.
"Ye look like death itself... again," Hamish noted.
Lone just laughed. "I'm fine. Got stabbed a few hundred times, sure, poisoned too, but not anything I can't passively resolve. I'm durable."
"Much tae former me's dismay," Hamish snorted. "Now wheesht. Ah'm busy tryin' tae nae feck up this stew. Ma Cookin' Mastery's only beginner-level-eight, so ah canne multitask while daein' it like ye can."
Lone happily obliged since he had some notifications to go through anyway.
On his little excursion, he had decided to use some weapons that weren't his ideal dual-ended swordspear, instead, he had chosen to wield an axe in his left hand and a hatchet in the other.
As a result, some of his previously unused skills had gained levels.
The host has developed the passive skill [Hand Axe Mastery].
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hand Axe Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hand Axe Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hand Axe Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hand Axe Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hatchet Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hatchet Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hatchet Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Hatchet Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Axe Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
'Not much of an improvement to the parent skill Axe Mastery, but that's to be expected. Gotta keep working on these uncomfortable weapons. The swordspear's just way too long to fight with in tight spaces,' Lone sighed mentally.
He shook his head. 'I was a fool to dismiss all weapons that weren't perfect for me according to Growth Accelerator. A true craftsman knows how to use all of the tools in his workshop. I should be no different when it comes to combat even if a dual-ended swordspear feels the most natural.'
The main reason for this shift in perspective was him seeing just how strong Hamish was despite the fact that neither his fists nor his cursed daggers were his ideal weapons. It didn't help either that he had injured an X-ranker with his tails, not his supposed ideal weapon.
'"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you insane your whole life." That was the quote, right?' Lone mulled over the topic as he checked his other notifications.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Dual-wielding Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Dual-wielding Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
'Another skill I refused to level for meaningless reasons. So what if this is a signature skill of Sophie's? My gains in it don't take from her own accomplishments. The stronger I am, the safer we both are,' Lone concluded.
The acknowledgement of this recent realisation sparked something within Lone and he unknowingly entered a trance-like state completely regardless of his own will.
He'd been growing as a person a lot lately. Coming to terms with the fact that Wilbur was ready to die while he was not at all prepared to see his master leave so soon was the genisis of this growth.
Since then his mind had been opening to new and differing perspectives on matters, primarily taking Soph and Sophie's concerns about his safety seriously for once.
It had been a long few months of slow realisations. Struggling with the trauma of torture only to be met with the stress of a godly being trying its best to possess a close friend. Then being arrested and force to meet with yet another being that was likely godly in nature.
Stress after stress. It accumulated but then also settled and slowly faded.
The mind was a wondrous tool. It would likely take years, perhaps decades, perhaps even centuries, for Lone to get over all of the bad experiences in his past, both recent and distant. However, get over them he would.
No hurdle is too high when one has legs with which to jump and an environment with which to endlessly grow.
The trance he was in helped him to consolidate some of his thoughts on this matter and strengthen his mental health in all regards.
Slowly, he opened his eyes after not knowing how long had passed. Immediately, he was greeted with two notifications.
Congratulations! The host's active skill [Meditation] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.
Congratulations! The host's active skill [Meditation] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8.
"And here we thought you had trouble sleeping," Sophie teased.
Lone blinked a few times and turned to look at her. She looked tired but otherwise fine. He smiled at her. "I subconsciously entered a state of meditation. Got two levels out of it."
That lightened Sophie's hard expression a bit. She knew what that skill meant to him, after all. "That is good. Did all go well? We noticed no new levels, but we are curious how much Luck you obtained. That was your goal, yes?"
"I bet a couple more kills will give us a level, but yeah, gimme a sec to check. I blacked out before I could check my status," Lone chuckled to which he got a nod.
Status Name:Lone ImmortusSex:Male Age:25Level:238 SpeciesFoxkinRank:D Race:Golden Foxkin HP:61,370/61,370 [+340]SP:57,544/62,220 [+70] MP:52,840/52,840 [+320]WF:1,200/1,200 Basic Stats Strength:3,127 [+21]Vigour:6,222 [+7] Dexterity:2,505 [+321]Agility:4,022 [+407] Vitality:6,127 [+34]Luck:394 [+201] Secret Stats Charm:127Charisma:132 Magic Power:5,284 [+32]
"Wow, okay. No wonder a handful managed to slip away from me despite being consumed by madness and despite the fact I was being pretty serious while hunting them," Lone exclaimed.
Sophie raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "That much Luck?"
"It more than doubled. Went from 193 to 394," Lone answered.
"Oh. Wow. Nowhere near our own almost 80,000 Luck but that is a large jump," Sophie said.
For some reason, Lone felt like he had just been made fun of. If there was one thing Lone knew, it was that no amount of endless slaughter would get him even close to Soph and Sophie's absurdly high amounts of Magic Power and Luck.
"Feck oof!" Hamish yelled as he stormed out of his tent. "Ye 'ave 'ow much Luck?! As feckin' if! If 'at were true, ye'd be shittin' gold nuggets an' ye'd be strugglin' tae nae have everyone dae whatever the feck it is ya wan'!"
Breena meandered out of her own tent, a few bandages here and there but she otherwise looked fine. She smiled at the still blood-covered Lone a little before finding a place to sit.
Sophie scoffed. "That is not how Luck works. Foolish Dwarf. And you described Charm there at the end more so than Luck."
"Oh, aye? Elucidate me then, ya feckin' halfpint! Ah ken the system's ins an' oots since its been ah part ah ma life fae, oh, ah dunno, oover ah hundrood years!" Hamish scoffed.
Lone frowned as he took out a bucket and a set of clean towels from his Dimensional Storage to clean himself up with.
"Shall I explain or would you like to, Sophie?" he asked as he got to scrubbing.
"Oh, we would be thrilled to put the petulant little man-child in his place," Sophie chuckled.
"Fair. Hamish," Lone called, getting the man's attention, "before she makes you feel stupid, I'll say one thing. You just described Applied Luck. She can't apply the stat yet. Sophie, the floor is yours."
Lone tuned out the verbal beatdown his girlfriend was dealing out to the dwarf as it was a rhetoric he himself had taught her.
The essence of it was simple enough. Soph and Sophie's Luck made it damn-near impossible for anything bad to ever happen to her unless she seeked it out, and even then she'd likely be fine.
In all of the time they had spent on Altros, Soph and Sophie had barely suffered so much as a bruise outside of training.
Misfortunes would also morph into fortunes like in the case of her falling ill to Darkness Corruption only to come out of it with no permanent injuries and a new resistance skill. Most other people would have died even despite Lone's usage of Root of Life given her feeble physical stats.
Were she to ever learn how to apply her Luck, Lone reckoned she could very possible defeat an X-ranker with nothing more than a wet sock and a teaspoon.
He chuckled a bit at that thought. It was nice to be free of major worries for once. Perhaps tonight he'd sleep comfortably.
"Gotta get this blood out first..." he sighed. "I need to teach my muscle memory to store the blood before it dries and becomes a part of the fabric. Ha-ah..."
And just like that, over a week passed with the same routine of Breena and Sophie training on a few Sheinlings a day while Lone worked on his more unused skills.
The dungeon had been destroyed, returning the urd to a normal, yet abandoned a blood-soaked, settlement.
Lone still had no idea what made dungeons special enough to warrant system acknowledgement, but that was a line of inquiry for another time.
The day they began their return trip to the Krieg after successfully securing the urd and retrieving the personal belonging for the second guild quest, Lone found himself being summoned to Darkness's inverted pyramid at exactly midnight.
As agree, two Saturdays had passed since their last meeting so it was time to see what the mysteriously motivated Primal was up to.
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