Lone: The Wanderer

Book 3: Chapter 49: Two Cast and No cost

Lone kept Sophie close to him, his arms still wrapped around her slender waist as he regarded Princessling Yulia. His girlfriend's firm but loving hug gave him the warmth he currently needed. Basic Regeneration could heal a lot, both physically and mentally, but almost dying in such a guaranteed manner was a new experience he was most certainly not a fan of.

'If an X-ranking trying to kill me and only relying on a clone of himself to stop, well, himself, is what's needed to learn how to apply Agility, what will I need for the other stats? Maybe hoarding Luck for a long time to almost guarantee three new applicable stats from Tail Spear isn't a bad idea after all,' He thought before he said, "I don't think I'll be in the mood today to workshop on your magical ideas. I have some chores to run and some feelings to process. If you want to tag along, I won't say no, but don't expect any enlightening discussions."

Yulia smiled wryly. "That's... unfortunate but understandable. I'd like to stay, please. I've never fought an X-ranker before. Not that I haven't had the chance, plenty of my siblings wish to test my magic on themselves, but this fight was incredibly one-sided and dangerous from what I saw. I even gained a level for one of my skills just from avoiding the shockwaves of Lord Brux's shouts. How was it for you?"

'She's trying to be nice but I don't really want to talk about this right now. I just want to enjoy Sophie's perfect hug,' Lone complained internally. "It was terrifying."

"I-I see," Yulia replied and then decided to copy Breena in being entirely silent.

Sophie squeezed Lone a bit tighter then let go of him. She got on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss before saying, "Let us leave, shall we? We have much to do today, and while we can add dreading the guildmaster to that list, we shall not allow it to become the entire list."

"Right, of course," Lone replied awkwardly. "I'll just check my notification log while we return to the lobby and pick out a quest for Breena then?"

Sophie nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

"A quest for the child?" Yulia asked, her curiously likely faked.

"She's at the level cap for F-rankers so we want to find a quest that will allow her to step into E-rank," Lone explained plainly as he collected himself a bit and made to leave the room. "I'll be focusing on my notifications now, so I might not respond quickly, but I'm happy if you want to try bouncing a magical idea or two off of me."

Without waiting for a reply from the grand magus, Lone did just that and began going over his gains from the near-death experience he had just survived. He didn't bother mentally grouping them, instead choosing to read them in the order he had received them.

Congratulations! The host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 9.

Lone almost forgot to keep walking after having left the training room with his companions in tow. 'Two levels at master rank from having half of my head completely destroyed? Why? Is it because it was a new type of injury that needed healing? The severity and closeness to death, maybe? Must be since Bone Armour didn't level from this injury... Can I survive without my head? Will having it half destroyed repeatedly make it so I can if I currently can't? Will the skill evolve the next time it levels like all of my crude magics did?'

Lone felt his anxiety and fears stemming from Guildmaster Brux lessening significantly. This was partially due to Basic Regeneration itself working on his mind and also thanks to the excitement of gaining two master levels from one injury.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Buckler Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 7.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Buckler Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Buckler Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 9.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Buckler Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 10.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Buckler Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 1.

Buckler Mastery

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

When holding a buckler the host is 95% [+35%] 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 5% [+1%] chance of hitting the buckler 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 [No longer factors in the host's body], the shield will shatter [No longer breaks the arm wielding the shield]). [New!] Additionally, all of the impact of the parried attack will be absorbed by the shield with none of it transferring to the host.

Cost:2,500 SP [-2,500 SP] to perform the talent [Forced Parry] (12-hour cooldown [Down from 24-hour cooldown]). Mastery:Master Level 1

'So I could use a paper shield to Forced Parry a meteor, and all that would happen is the paper shield breaking? What a subtle but monumentally powerful change. Master rank is always fun. I wonder if I can reduce that cooldown even further by trying to forcefully activate the talent when it's on cooldown? Doubt that would be pretty or painless, but I can deal with that if it'll work... Hmm... Worth experimenting with at some point, for sure,' Lone concluded as he kept reading.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Oaken Flesh] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 3.

Congratulations! The host's active skill [Blood Clone] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 6.

'Oh, nice. Didn't expect Blood Clone. Guess the first attack plus my arm exploding was enough for the two of these to level. I didn't have a clone inside of me for that second attack, but they were working hard as Fortress Shields, so likely a coincidence. Still, very nice,' Lone thought. 'Next was my inspired moment with Pierce alongside Tail Spear and Gramps' swordspear, right? Fingers crossed I gained something from that feeling. Also, fingers crossed I got that Diamond Defence skill.'

Congratulations! The host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 7.

Congratulations! The host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 9.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Swordspear Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 7.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Swordspear Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Spear Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

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

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

'No Diamond Defence, and no Polearm Mastery levels, but seeing Sword Mastery levels is very nice. Makes sense since I have the parent skill now, after all. Shame I didn't attack him more physically if I got all of this from one strike. Also a shame I didn't get some sort of new effect on Pierce. Will need to test later if one use of that talent can apply to multiple objects. Shouldn't be too hard to find out,' Lone pondered as he kept walking.

Their group was now in the lobby of the guild with quite a few eyes curiously watching them, but Lone ignored that. "Go pick out a quest for yourself with Sophie, Breena. I'm still busy."

"With Soph," Sophie corrected. "We are no longer needed." And with that, the hardness in her eyes melted away to reveal a much more tender gaze.

"You're still looking at your notifications?" Yulia asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Got a lot of levels," Lone replied absently.

"Ah. I suppose that makes sense. It was a fight with Lord Brux and considering your discussion with father the last time you were in the city... Well, I shall wait here with you then," the princessling said as she walking upstairs and carefully sat herself down at a table before cloaked herself in distortion magic to avoid unwanted attempts at conversation.

Lone placed himself across from her and ordered a few drinks for himself and then dived right back into his notification log.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 2.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 4.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Weakened Stream of Ezekial] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Weakened Stream of Ezekial] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.

Congratulations! The host's hard work and experimentation have resulted in their active fire magic [Fireball] gaining a new effect upon ranking up when otherwise it would not have gained one!

Active Fire Magic Skill: Fireball

A standard application of the fire magic school where the caster focuses the element of fire into a condensed ball of pure fire.

[New!] When casting this spell, simply think of double-casting it and the spell will be case twice at the same time.

Cost:1,500 MP [-500 MP] [New!] or 2,250 MP to double-cast. Mastery:Advanced Level 1

'Oh, that's fuckin' awesome. From casting it fast and so repeatedly while fighting a much stronger foe, I guess? It's cheaper too. When double-casting, the second Fireball is half price. Definitely need to earn that with all of my offensive magic spells. If it works for Fireball, it'll work for the rest, I'm sure,' Lone thought.

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

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.

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

[New!] The host can apply the effects of the skill to another person or object when using it, free of cost.

Cost:400 SP [-200 SP] per second. Mastery:Expert Level 1

'Oh, a second skill that ranked up. Didn't expect that. Primal skills are such a bitch to level. That new effect is sweet and the reduced cost is always appreciated,' Lone appraised.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 3.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 6.

Congratulations! The host has successfully applied the stat [Agility] for the first time. As a reward, the host has been granted 50 points of [Agility]. When applying [Agility] in the future, it will cost 7.5% of the host's SP per second.

'It comes with a stat boost? Guess the system or Altros or whatever wants people to apply stats then. I do wonder what my max speed now is with Survivor's Speed or Tower Shield Mastery's Fully Charge talent... Need to get fully used to my applied state. Even if I can apply Agility whenever I want, that doesn't mean it's as natural to me as my tails first were,' Lone concluded.

As for the SP cost, he'd been aware of that, of course, from his discussions about the matter with Grimsley and Gilbert back in the Farwinds. The cost varied from person to person when unlocking the stat.

Grimsley said his initial cost for applying his Strength was only 4%, but Gilbert had laughed at that saying some people had an initial cost of less than a percent, so Lone was actually rather untalented in this regard.

That didn't bother him thought because the cost could be reduced with training and mastery of the applied state. Besides, he had his Fortress Shield Mastery to keep his SP supply matched with the demand.

The waitress arrived with his drinks to which he gave her a friendly smile and a silver coin, telling her to keep the change. She blushed and nodded her head softly. Almost instantly, Lone felt a glare coming from the first floor.

'I was being friendly, not flirty. I swear on my tails,'he pleaded his case.

'Hmmmm... Can't leave you for more than a moment before you're charming some cute barmaid, huh? Sophie's right. I need to get a leash for you,' Soph replied a bit too seriously for Lone's liking. 'A nametag too. 'Lone: exclusive property of Sofia'.'

'When did that little brat tell her to leash me? She's influencing herself, and not in a good way,' he chuckled mentally. 'The nametag's a cute idea though...'

'Can we get matching nametags? Yours will say 'Soph: beloved of Lone'. And if you flip it, the other side will say 'Sophie: return to Lone if found',' he suggested jokingly.

'We are not some do- Hey! No commandeering the body without permission!' Lone laughed out loud upon hearing the two sides of his lover quibbling telepathically.

He happily downed his first drink and began nursing the second, feeling much better than he did about ten minutes ago. "So, wanna chat about magic? Maybe help me get some of yours? I know it ain't direct, but I can learn from observing."

Princessling Yulia was barely visible to his eyes but he could kind of see through the distortions when she stuffed a book into her ring which was obviously a storage device before she nodded at him sharply. "I would love to!"