Book 3: Chapter 3: Rank-ups and Interruption

Book 3: Chapter 3: Rank-ups and Interruption

Seeing his status first felt like the right move. It was quicker to go over, even if he did like to look at the massive amount of MP and HP he'd gained solely from the lesser eldritch horror for tens of minutes at a time.

Status Name:Lone ImmortusSex:Male Age:25Level:399 SpeciesFoxkinRank:C Race:Golden Foxkin HP:224,710/224,710 [+126,430]SP:130,900/130,900 [+28,750] MP:447,720/447,720 [+270,650]WF:1,300/1,300 Basic Stats Strength:8,830 [+3,291]Vigour:13,090 [+2,875] Dexterity:7,104 [+2,080]Agility:7,865 [+1,908] Vitality:22,471 [+12,643]Luck:1,535 [+209] Secret Stats Charm:209 [+43]Charisma:225 [+58] Magic Power:44,772 [+27,065]

'Still nowhere near Soph's absurd level of Magic Power, but that eldritch horror had more MP than everything else I've killed combined. If I hadn't gone into it and ripped it apart from the inside, it would have killed me. Or worse...' Lone thought as he shuddered, recalling the forbidden knowledge that had been crammed into his brain during their battle.

Pushing those memories right back into his fifteenth mental puzzle where all of his unwanted memories belonged, he began going through the skills that had ranked up over the last five months as well as the new skills.

Going down his skill list, the first was his brand new skill, Fortress Shield Mastery.

Passive skill: Fortress Shield Mastery

A child skill of the [Shield Mastery] skill only possessed by one being thus far, the foxkin man who created it, Lone Immortus.

When using a fortress shield, stop 95% of all attacks dead, the other 5% shall have their force reduced by 95%. When using a fortress shield, the host's SP shall recover at a rate of 5% per second.

When using a fortress shield, the host may choose up to 4 additional beings to be included within the shield's protection. This will teleport them into the fortress. The SP regeneration will also affect the chosen being(s).

Cost:N/A Mastery:Master Level 1

Lone was technically in a fortress shield right this moment. It was why his SP was maxed out despite that stat typically draining every moment a person was conscious.

Lone had created the skill when he had gotten annoyed at Hilda constantly getting behind him and walloping him with her big fuck-off hammer, Gurt.

Her Agility just outpaced his own so much that he had an outburst and basically created a bone shell around himself.

She hit it and it cracked, of course, but a new skill was born. It took a good amount of effort after that to power level it to master rank and earn that additional effect.

Right now his second Blood Clone was serving as a fortress shield. Lone was sure that it wouldn't be many more months before the skill's information updated to state more than just he owned it. He had given up the information of the skill to the guild, after all.

Buckler Mastery

A child-skill of the skill [Shield Mastery] commonly used by swashbucklers and duellists alike.

When holding a buckler the host is 60% [+30%] more likely to parry a blow when attempting to do so.

When wearing a wrist-strapped buckler, any ranged attacks aimed at the host have a 4% [+1%] chance of hitting the bucker regardless of where they were aimed.

Grants the talent [Forced Parry], Say the words [Forced Parry] when wielding a shield and the host shall successfully parry any incoming attack regardless of its power (if the power of the attack vastly outstrips the durability of the shield and the host's own body, the shield will shatter and the arm holding it shall break).

Cost:5,000 SP [-5,000 SP] to perform the talent [Forced Parry] (24-hour cooldown [Down from 48-hour cooldown]). Mastery:Expert Level 6

Whenever he was out and about, Lone always had a buckler made of his own bone attached to his right arm, even when fighting and encapsulated in his fortress shield. It was simply too useful to not always have one ready.

Four percent sounded small but in actuality, when your entire life revolved around fighting, even a single percentage chance to guarantee an attack will hit your shield was massive.

Passive skill: Shield Mastery

The parent skill of all shield-based masteries.

When blocking or deflecting an attack with a shield, the attack's force shall be reduced by 30% [+15%].

Cost:N/A Mastery:Advanced Level 3

Nothing new or impressive with this rank-up, but since it was a parent skill that stacked on top of all other shield skills, it made Fortress Shield Mastery nigh undefeatable. A truly gargantuan amount of force would be needed to even so much as crack a fortress shield made of his own bones, let alone break through it.

Passive skill: Dual-wielding Mastery

A skill that allows the host to dexterously wield two items, typically weapons, without any one item impeding the other.

It will feel 15% [+10%] more natural when the host dual-wields.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Intermediate Level 3 Cost:N/A Mastery:Intermediate Level 1 Cost:N/A Mastery:Intermediate Level 9 Cost:N/A Mastery:Advanced Level 3

'Their killing intent is strong. Probably after,' Soph answered.

'Strong enough for me to get the resistance?' Lone wondered.

'Nope. You're too used to death. Like you and Sophie have discussed, since she and me can't so much as summon a flicker of killing intent directed at you, you'll need someone capable enough of killing you and intent on it too,' Soph said.

'Yeah, yeah. Any mages?'Lone inquired.

'Nope! At least, I don't think so. Nothing in their mana says 'I can utilise this energy' to me. There're two in the other group though. One's a fire mage I think judging by the colour of their mana. I can't tell what the other one might be,' Soph responded. 'I'm gonna go back to reading. Lemme know though if you need to use the Express Soph Transport System.'

Lone got up and cracked his neck. He squinted and could see four humans running towards his precious carriage, weapons drawn and hatred in their eyes. The fifth was trying to stealthily jump from tree to tree with a bow in hand.

"Money's on a grudge with a blood mage and they just assumed I'm a mass murderer or something like their grudge's target. There's not a thing suspicious about a blood bubble and a blood wyvern or two. Yeah, no talking sense into those kinds of heads, not until they've been slapped around a bit," he sighed.

It only took a few more moments for the five valiant warriors to reach Lone who had, to his credit, taken out a steel swordspear and wasn't underestimating the foolish adventurers even one bit.

"Today is the day you die, vile blood mage!" the one Soph had pointed out was a B-ranker shouted as he slid across the gravel path while moving his longsword into a thrusting position. "Mana Severance!"

Lone's eyebrow rose in interest as he shifted his body slightly and caught an arrow that had been aimed for his heart in between his ribs and arm. He untensed those muscles and let the entirely metal piercing instrument clatter to the floor.

Two more melee warriors flanked him as a bright blue spear of energy flew in his direction from the leader.

Of course, he let it hit him though he did block it with his unshielded wrist as he span on one foot and used the flat side of his swordspear to trip one of his two flankers while kicking the other square in the chin.

The young woman with a shortsword and buckler fell head over ass while the burly man whose jaw had been introduced to Lone's boot went flying into the air.

Warning! The host's MP has been sealed for 2 seconds!

The host's MP has been unsealed!

"T-Two seconds!" the handsome young man who was sweating and clearly quite drained after his skill usage was beyond shocked for whatever reason.

'I guess the skill scales off of some metric and I made it near worthless somehow? Better question is why didn't I earn it? I know that's not a racial skill since he's a human. Bloodline skill, maybe?' Lone wondered as something sharp pricked his neck.

He glanced down only to see a dagger trying its hardest to gain any purchase on him but had instead barely succeeded in drawing his blood.

"Shame. No assassination-based skills? I was hopeful, but you are just a C-ranker," Lone sighed before slamming his head back, reverse headbutting the woman trying her best to sever a critical artery.

As if someone so inexperienced could ever hope to escape the sight of his Enhanced Vision. Still, the blade wasn't even poisoned.

Considering the leader hadn't followed up his Mana Severing with another attack, Lone couldn't help but think that he was dealing with an incredibly inexperienced group as a whole.

Two more arrows flew his way in quick succession, one of which he dodged automatically with Evasion Mastery while the other he simply caught and returned to its sender. A gruff yelp quickly followed suit.

"We done?" Lone asked the stupefied B-ranker.

"H-How are you a C-ranker?! It's impossible!" The man seemed to regain some of his composure and readied his longsword.

Lone sighed and reached up to his collar, resulting in a flinch from the still hesitant young man who stood a few dozen metres away from him.

He pulled out his adventurer plate that was wrapped around his neck. "I'm a gold-silver plate adventurer, and while I am technically a blood mage, my cape and wyvern are not born of magic. Now go collect your archer friend and come back here to explain yourself. I was quite busy before you decided to waste my time."

Lone looked up into the sky and moved a little to the right and nodded. A visceral scream slowly became audible before it stopped abruptly when Lone caught the man he'd launched into the air by his leg, breaking and almost separating the limb from the man's body.

Dumping said man on the ground and ignoring the two women also on the floor, one holding her bleeding nose in agony, the other simply staring in shock at his adventurer plate as she lay there on the road, Lone got back into the coachman's seat of his carriage.