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Book 2: Chapter 55: Expert Rank and Enhanced

Lone heard Elric swear something foul under his breath at his statement\'s obvious lack of truth.

Smiling to himself, he strolled to the room\'s exit but just as he reached the door, Lone stopped dead.

\'I\'m in a room with a guy specialised in interrogation. Actual interrogation, not Sir Ardus\'s kind of interrogation. The dude\'s a strong fucker. Weaker than the king I think, but still up there. The \'competition\' is here too. I\'m currently trying to farm a resistance skill by standing still in the doorway. Bets of how long it takes for Mr Interrogation Dude to blow a casket?\' Lone asked Sophie as he focused on not blurting out anything in his mind out.

That doubled as good training for the resistance. Now that Sophie was talking to him again, he was happy to contact her given how lonely his new lifestyle in jail was. If that also resulted in a hard to level skill levelling... well, he wouldn\'t complain.

A soft giggle sounded out through the telepathic link. It didn\'t really match Lone\'s image of the hardass that was Sophie and it almost didn\'t sound like her. Something about it was a bit more high-pitched than normal.

\'I hope Soph didn\'t take over and find some beer or something. She\'s so weak to alcohol,\' Lone thought.

Still, it was a cute giggle and it made his smile grow even larger.

\'A minute, two at best,\' she replied almost monotonously. Clearly, Sophie was in control, not Soph.

"Trying to hide your cute laugh by going all stone-cold on me, huh? Sneaky," Lone said, earning him a pair of confused and concerned looks from the room\'s other occupants.

"Are you okay?" Sonya asked before her face scrunched up. She was clearly trying her best to avoid blurting out the rest of her own thoughts just as he was.

"Just talking to the voices in my head," Lone replied with a shrug as he tapped the side of his skull. "Do you mind if I just stand here for a bit? Get my bearings and whatnot."

"Yes, I do," Sonya answered immediately.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Enchantment Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 9.

"Why though?" Lone asked even if he already knew the answer. "There\'s little harm in me just standing here, right?"

He wanted to at least buy enough time for the resistance to reach expert rank. Elric, surprisingly, didn\'t seem to mind either. Instead of denying his request as Sonya had, the man simply opted to watch Lone with interest.

It was now clear that the powerful dwarf was keen to gain any insight whatsoever into Lone\'s absurd ability to learn, even at the cost of the questioning chamber getting less and less effective.

Sonya marched right up to Lone and said, "Because we have so much to discuss! What do you mean \'the voices in my head\'?! What are we going to do during the trial?! What of the device used to determine you have the steamforging skill?! What of the Taker called in to strip you of not only your Steamforging but all of your skills?!"

As soon as she realised what she had said, she grimaced as she glanced out of the corner of her eye towards Elric who only smiled kindly back at her.

"Yes, you should not have revealed that. He was not aware that all of his skills were at risk. I\'ll forgive it though if you find it in your heart to forgive me for my derailments during my discussion with Mister Immortus. Is that agreeable?" the wily old man offered.

\'Ah, clever guy. I bet he wants nothing more than for the Taker to steal everything from me. There\'s gotta be a way that the Taker learns stuff about the skills they rip from people and it\'s that information he wants. Can\'t be having points made against him that could result in something happening that doesn\'t align with his goals, now can he?\' Lone thought, straining his mind near the end there since his brain was screaming at him to speak aloud.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Enchantment Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 10.

\'Just one more to go,\' Lone thought with a grin.

He could see the internal struggle Sonya was dealing with. Either adhere to her presumed sense of honour and reject the offer or listen to her more logical side and take the deal.

"This room is evil," she said as she stepped just past the door\'s threshold, leaving the domain of the enchantments lining the walls. "I agree and I seal the pact in the Stone, as is my duty as Arbiter Forgegulf."

\'Oh! Fancy,\' Lone thought as his mind throbbed with pain. \'Were those words only tradition, or was there power behind them? God, what I wouldn\'t give for Soph and Sophie\'s Mana Sensing...\'

Elric was smiling cheerfully while Sonya stared at Lone impatiently. "Well? Are you coming?"

Lone nodded. "In a moment."

He had a feeling he needed to lie one more time to push his resistance across the advanced border and into the land of the experts.

Thus, he turned around and put a hand on both his seat and the one Sonya had been using just moments ago. Elric gave him an odd look but Lone ignored the man and directly placed both chairs into his Dimensional Storage.

Elric\'s eyes damn near popped out of his skull. Sonya\'s did the same.

Power rumbled out of Elric menacingly as a spectral cabinet covered in brass and bolts that was stuffed full of letters and documents appeared behind him. This was most definitely the full force of his aura on display.

It fell onto Lone like a hammer onto a nail, only this nail had been hammered before and was not only resistant to a good blow or two, but even welcomed it.

Lone basked in the aura, hopeful for even more resistance level ups - just of a different kind - while he waited for the inevitable demands that were to come with a pissed off dwarf.

"Tell me how you just used magic despite being in contact with ardartian. Do so or die," Elric threatened.

Sonya stumbled back in fear, falling even further back into the hallway as the man\'s aura forced her into a state of panic. Lone, on the other hand, just smiled from ear to ear.

"What magic?" Lone asked. "I can\'t use MP. Now, your little outburst and threat are very, very concerning, Mister Greydon. I guess we do have something to use against you in the trial after all. What wonderful news."

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.

\'Fuck yeah! Who doesn\'t like bonus goodies?\' Lone thought as he chuckled mentally. \'Man, this guy\'s aura is weak as balls when compared to King Heidron\'s. Then again, I was forced to endure multiple SS-ranked auras on top of dozens of S down to C-ranked ones when I fucked up the prince\'s arms. It\'ll take so much more than this to get me on my knees and sweating.\'

"Where are the chairs, Immortus?!" Elric boomed.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.

Lone shrugged. "What chairs? I only see one chair - the one you\'re currently trying to turn into little more than rubble with your aura alone. Nice cabinet, by the way. It\'s very steampunk."

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Enchantment Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 1.

Passive Skill: Enchantment Magic Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist all negative enchantments (depends on the host\'s mindset).

Enchantment Magic that the host deems harmful that is used on them will be weakened by 60% [+30%].

[New!] When encountering a negative enchantment, there is a 1% chance the host will gain permanent immunity to it. This chance is rolled for every 24 hours the host is subjected to the enchantment.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Expert Level 1

\'Now that, that is what daddy likes to see. It\'s like a different version of the additional effect Poison Resistance got. The one that made Ranton\'s dungeon\'s even possible to survive without having my mind fully broken,\' Lone thought as his brain got to work on making plenty of serotonin for him to enjoy.

It was a rush seeing himself improve so greatly.

"... Leave. Now," Elric ordered while he struggled to rein in his anger.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8.

Lone understood. It wasn\'t every day you saw someone do something that clearly appeared to be a magic of some sort - likely space magic - while wearing ardartian shackles.

And while he would love to get some free stat points, he wasn\'t going to provoke the S-ranker to the point he\'d have to kill him. He did actually want to win the trial, after all. Or, if not win, at least clear Wilbur\'s name.

Lone nodded and smiled cheerfully. "With pleasure."

He then strolled right out of the room, helped Sonya get back up on her feet, then allowed the spooked guards to escort him back to his cell.

Sonya opted to skip out on chiding him on their return to his room, much to Lone\'s pleasure. She was clearly too shaken up to bother.

Instead, she chose to tell him that she\'d be back in a few days after settling a few accounts and getting a few things set up since she had just arrived at the krieg this morning.

Lone didn\'t much enjoy seeing a grown woman tremble in fear, but not having to suffer through a lecture regarding his action which he already knew were conventionally wrong was certainly nice.

Lone rolled his wrists thoughtfully as he stretched, readying himself for some more Ungrounded experimentation.

\'It sure is nice that they don\'t keep the shackles on while I\'m in here,\' he sighed mentally in appreciation.

Supposedly, the bars were made of the magic nullifying metal known as ardartian. The stone walls as well had a layer of the stuff buried beneath it, according to the guards.

\'It\'s so nice that Soph and Sophie\'s Teleportation couldn\'t care less about that. Her Mana Sensing too. I do wonder what the limits are on those skills. Can she teleport through powerful warding enchantments? Can she see through them? What about through different veils of reality? That demigod Four-twelve spoke of... could Soph just \'port out of the attack it levied against him and his party? Could she understand some of it with Mana Sensing?\' That was an interesting thought.

Regardless, he was alone again and he\'d finished limbering up so it was time to get back to the new routine of training, writing, and repeating.

Congratulations! The host\'s Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.

Congratulations! The host\'s hard work and experimentation has resulted in their Primal skill [Ungrounded] gaining a new effect upon ranking up when otherwise it would not have gained one!

Primal Skill: Ungrounded

A skill granted to the avatar of Sky.

Grants the host the ability to walk on any substance as if it were land.

[New!] Grants the host the ability to ignore the laws of gravity, allowing vertical and inverted movement as if they were natural.

Cost:600 SP [-200 SP] per second. Mastery:Advanced Level 1

The host has created a moment of history unlike most, having altered a Primal skill, improving upon its fundamental ability. Moment added to the [Extraordinary moments and sites of history witnessed or created] list of the skill [Historical and Cultural Appreciation].

Alter 4 more Primal skills to upgrade the tier of this moment.

Stat bonus from moment: 50 Dexterity | 50 Agility.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Historical and Cultural Appreciation] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Historical and Cultural Appreciation] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.

\'Day 8 of my imprisonment in Krieg Moor, awaiting my trial.

I was aiming for a new effect on Ungrounded but I didn\'t expect me gaining one on my own would trigger my history-based skill.

Can\'t say I\'m disappointed. It sure is a historical moment of significance, \'altering\' a Primal skill, as the notifications put it.

I do wonder why me killing King Ralph Heidron wasn\'t a moment just as valuable though. Maybe it\'s not that amazing for someone as weak as I was to kill someone as strong as he was? I bet plenty of low-ranked assassins can completely destroy high-ranked people when they\'re caught off-guard or sleeping or something.

Anyway, objective met. Time to focus on something else. I\'ll keep practising Ungrounded, but I have a feeling it\'ll be capped out now until I use it in battle. We\'ll see. For now, I\'m gonna use up some of my spare paper in conjunction with my memory to work on Cartography.

I wish I had a Night Vision skill or something so I could double-up on skill gains. Maybe if I wrap my eyes in some cloth that\'ll work? It\'s worth a go. There has to be a skill about seeing better in the dark.\'

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 1.

Passive Skill: Cartography

A skill that makes map-drawing and copying 15% [+10%] easier.

Any maps drawn by the host are 15% [+10%] more easily understood by those who read them.

Cost:N/A

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 2.

The host has developed the passive skill [Enhanced Vision].

Passive Skill: Enhanced Vision A skill that makes seeing through obfuscation 5% easier. Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 4.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Enhanced Vision] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Enhanced Vision] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Hunger Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 10.

The host has developed the passive skill [Sleep Deprivation Resistance].

Passive Skill: Sleep Deprivation Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist the need to rest and the negative effects of being tired to varying degrees based on mastery.

The host shall get tired 5% slower than normal.

The failure of certain mental faculties induced by a lack of rest shall be reduced by 5%.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

\'Day 9 of my imprisonment in Krieg Moor, awaiting my trial.

Skills that didn\'t improve today despite me training them: Reading Mastery, Ungrounded, Pet Mastery, Meditation, and I suppose Thirst Resistance too.

I\'m not that upset since I got two new skills since my last journal entry, both of which are fantastically useful.

Sleep Deprivation Resistance took way longer to acquire than I thought it would but I guess my Basic Regeneration and my rank are to blame for that. I\'m gonna try to avoid sleeping for as long as I can to level this bad boy up. I doubt Soph or Sophie will appreciate that but at least I\'m not fighting gods, right? Surely she can\'t complain that much.

As for Enhanced Vision, it was not what I expected, but I love it. I can practically taste the potential. Doesn\'t it mean I can see through all mistruths and attempts to obscure? The darkness tries to obscure the light, so I can see in it. Conversely, too much light would obscure darkness, so doesn\'t it stand to reason I\'d be able to see through a flashbang too?

Way more useful than something like Night Vision. I think I\'m gonna keep the eye wraps that I fashioned on for as long as I can get away with.

I didn\'t get this skill in Ranton\'s dank and dour dungeon, so obscuring my vision is likely the only way to level it. maybe seeing through hidden things too? Needs testing to confirm.

I hear footsteps. Light but familiar footsteps. Sonya was quick in getting things settled. Well, until tomorrow, Mister Journal.\'