Book 2: Chapter 60: Aura and Temporary

Book 2: Chapter 60: Aura and Temporary

The main floor of the courtroom was cleared of stands, seats and other such equipment while Lone and the Taker's protector moved to the centre of the room.

All spectators were removed from the hall except for a select handful, namely Sophie, Breena, Hamish - who was present Lone just learned - and a handful of dwarves he didn't recognise.

More wished to stay but anyone at I-rank wasn't given permission because there were simply too many people for the guards to reasonably protect should something go wrong during the demonstration.

"Xer'rava's your name, right? I heard her say it when she was talkin' to the big guy in the judge's seat," Lone said to the stocky dwarf standing passively in front of him.

"That is correct," the man answered plainly.

"That's not a dwarven name. Hell, sounds kinda elven. Bet there's a story there," Lone said with a smile as he unwrapped his eye coverings and shoved them in his pockets then put them straight into his Dimensional Storage.

"There is," the dwarf replied as he stretched lightly then removed his chest armour and his shirt.

"Smart, don't want me damaging that shit, right? Anyway, wanna tell me that story?" Lone asked, the hunger for knowledge evident in his tone.

"I do not," Xer'rava responded before glancing around. "Everything looks ready. You may attack me now."

"Fuckin' sheesh, you must be a riot at parties. By the way, do me a favour? Blast me with your aura. I have a skill that makes me hit harder when under pressure. Aura pressure is the perfect thing to trigger it," Lone lied.

He'd happily tell a fib or two to power level some of his skills, in this case, his Aura Pressure Resistance.

How often would he get the chance to meet an X-ranker who wasn't out to kill him or who just outright ignored him? Not often, Lone suspected.

The X-ranker looked at his charge for guidance. The Taker nodded. "You have my permission to do as he requested."

Immediately and with no warning the feeling of death consumed Lone.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.

Passive Skill: Aura Pressure Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist the pressure of auras generated by a person's rank at varying levels based on mastery.

All aura pressure applied to the host shall be weakened by 30% [+15%].

Cost:N/A Mastery:Advanced Level 1

Lone collapsed to the floor. His lungs compressed and he felt his entire body constrict while it attempted to fold into itself.

'Don't do anything!' Lone begged Sophie mentally. 'I'm in no danger.'

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.

'... Tell that to the magic within you being obliterated repeatedly by that terrifying aura. Even if he is singling you out and not exuding it to the entire courtroom, we can still see the magic it is made up of. We can feel it... Don't provoke this person to seriously fight you. You will die and we do not know if we are fast enough to save you,' Sophie answered.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 3.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4.

'I didn't plan to. I'm seriously trying to take your opinion on board. Seriously fighting an X-ranker sounds like assisted suicide to me. Fuck. I can't even see what his aura looks like since I can't raise my head,' Lone complained.

'We will describe it. It is a wall. A wall of skulls, bones, faces both familiar and unfamiliar to him. Death had moulded this man's spirit. It defines him but he tries to hide it as he performs his duties. That is his aura,' Sophie replied.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Expert Level 1

'Wait, bonus effects aren't fixed? Fuck. The books I've read on skills never mentioned that. Does that mean I've gotten bad extra effects too? Were there better possibilities? How do I go about guaranteeing they show up on a skill rank up?' Lone frowned. 'I bet the guild has info on this. Likely locked behind the silver plate. Speaking of the guild, I still need to turn in the quest for clearing out Urd Grun. Oh well. probably won't get a chance to do that here.'

The head prosecutor scowled then smiled. "A powerful ability if that is so, but useless for reclaiming kriegs and urds as very few beings occupying the kingdom's lost territories are intelligent enough to use aura."

Lone heard Sonya speak up as he kept his focus on the X-ranker. "Collectively very few, yes, but still hundred of urds and dozens of kriegs lay in the hands of the exiled casteless who have powerful leaders. Krieg Stunfurn is a good example of such. Is it not perfectly reasonable to see if he has the power to handle such people?"

The Taker nodded. "Exactly so. Continue with your aura, Xer'rava. I assume you are ready, Mister Immortus?"

Lone, out of the corner of his eyes, saw the judge give the Taker a look that screamed 'Is this my courtroom or yours?' Still, the man didn't speak up to interrupt her.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] Has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 3.

'I doubt they'll let me sit here and see if an X-ranker can push this skill to master-rank, right?' Another glance at the judge who was frowning even more deeply upon noticing his gaze gave him his answer. 'To levelling Tail Spear we go, I guess.'

"If you have any defensive skills, please use them. I want this to be as difficult as possible," Lone asked.

The X-ranker didn't respond in any way whatsoever and simply kept his posture, ready to receive Lone's attack.

Lone shrugged, cracked his neck, then said, "Tail Spear."

He could feel the difference his temporary stats afforded him immediately. The skill was unchanged, of course. It still gave his usually fluffy limbs the penetrative power to cut through Rare items or A-ranked beings with ease.

However, Lone could sense something different. The way his muscles moved, the sharpness of his fur, the elasticity and hardness of his tail bones. It was all so much clearer to him right in this moment.

Without hesitation, he used Ungrounded to jump a metre into the air before he manoeuvred himself into a prone position midair.

Lone then kicked the space where his torso was only moments ago with enough force to send shockwaves through the room. Luckily for them, a certain barrier mage was present to keep anything tragic from happening.

While the guards had protected most people, the few semi-transparent green barriers surrounding Sophie and Breena didn't escape Lone's notice.

That made him smile. To see her taking advantage of his actions to train one of her skills made him feel oddly proud.

Regardless, within a fraction of a second Lone had rocketed straight towards Xer'rava and was now mere inches away from the dwarf.

His temporary Dexterity allowed him to perceive time so much more acutely than usual and his boosted Agility made it an easy task to channel his momentum into a frontflip mid-air.

During said somersault, Lone repeated stabbed into the dwarf's exposed chest so quickly and with such ferocity that each of his attacks created a small sonic boom.

He had said he would only attack once but Lone would be a fool to not try to get away with a combo since more attacks equated to more skill usage. After all, Tail Spear would be active for another nine minutes and change.

He wouldn't be Lone if he didn't take up such a perfect opportunity to level up one of his most powerful skills as much as humanely possible.

He was stopped, however, after his 576th attack. 'Amazing that I could keep track of that, really. I wonder what stat does that? Dexterity as well? Hmm... Maybe Endurance because, y'know, mental endurance and whatnot...'

"Hey, uh, I have nothing against Australia or anything but could you please stop holding me up by my foot? My head's almost scraping the floor thanks to the height difference," Lone pleaded with a grin on his face.

Why was he smirking? Well, for a start, his vision was almost entirely blocked by system notifications. The other reason was that he could see a small crevice in the X-ranker's chest that was spewing blood.

He, a D-ranker, had managed to injure an X-ranked dwarf who clearly specialised in melee combat without having to rely on his Mental Destruction.

If that wouldn't make him the proudest fox in the world, well, then whatever would?

"Ow!" Lone yelped as he was unceremoniously dropped on his head.

He rolled over and then jumped up onto his feet. Rubbing his head but still smiling, he said, "Well, with that out of the way, shall we proceed with the rest of the trial?"