Two weeks had passed since Lone and Soph had first met with the elves. In that time, the pair had only gone to visit the elves a total of two times.

The first time was at their request. They had been confused at his cabin having disappeared and had left a note tied to an arrow on a nearby tree.

Of course, the cabin hadn’t actually moved they just couldn’t see past his beginner rank Illusionary Dome. That was great news to his fluffy ears.

He’d explained that they had moved to a more secure location since Lal’roh had pointed out how poorly defended the cabin was.

The second time he went alone and it was to tell them that he wouldn't be returning in the near future unless he was absolutely needed.

He did this because he had an odd feeling about the elves. He felt the best way to avoid anything bad happening was to simply stop interacting with them.

Lone didn’t mind if he was being overly cautious. What mattered the most to him right now was his and Soph’s continued survival.

The reason he had given the elves though was a genuinely valid concern. He had said he didn’t want to leave his and Soph’s ‘new’ hiding location for fears of the goblins.

The green devils, as the elves called them, had been furiously scouring the island day-in and day-out, seemingly looking for something. If what Lal'roh had said was true on their first meeting, then they were likely targeting Soph.

He did fully intend to kill the goblins. He was confident they could do it with the help of their unique skills but not quickly nor easily.

Lone didn't have the confidence to take out the small armies that were patrolling the whole island without gaining the notice of the Goblin King, and that would spell nothing but death.

If Lone was going to try to wipe out the green menaces, he'd have to do it right.

In light of that, he had decided to dedicate his time to turning his and Soph's cabin into something of a fortress.

The cabin of old was no more but had been replaced by a keep of stone just small enough to fit within Lone’s Illusionary Dome.

Pitfall traps and trenches encircled the ramparts while a moat was just past those. Even further than that could be seen several metal spikes that were firmly planted in the ground.

There was barely an inch between the edge of his illusion and the defences. He couldn’t wait for the skill to rank up to intermediate rank. Only then could he expand, he assumed.

Right now, Lone was taking a break from his work and he decided to review the progress he had made with all of his skills in the past fortnight.

Illusion Magic Skill: Illusionary Dome

A skill that allows the host to create an illusionary dome around a specified location, hiding it from being perceived by ordinary eyes.

The dome can be maintained for up to 3 days if it does not get disturbed by hostile attacks. The dome’s maximum diameter is 10-meters.

Cost: 4,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 9 [Up 8 levels!]

As it turned out, his skills showed exactly how many levels they had gained since he last pulled up their details if he so wished. A handy feature of the system, for sure.

Even without the three-day time limit being reached Lone could reapply the dome if he wanted to. The only issue being that it was very expensive MP wise. Another issue he hoped to lessen with a rank up.

‘Even if the elves are up to something, getting this skill alone was worth the interaction with them. It’s made the last two weeks super peaceful,’ Lone thought though he had no doubts that something would wander past the dome’s borders eventually.

Passive Skill: Logging

A necessary skill for loggers of all ilk.

A skill that allows the host to harvest wood 15% [+10%] more easily and 15% [+10%] more skilfully.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 1 [Up 4 levels!]

This skill hadn’t gained as much attention recently even despite ranking up. That was almost entirely due to a new skill of his, Masonry.

Passive Skill: Masonry

A basic introductory skill to more intricate stone-based crafting and building skills.

A skill that allows the host to lay bricks and tiles 15% [+10%] more easily and 15% [+10%] more skilfully.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 7 [Up 16 levels!]

While he could build an entire wall with just his Creation Magic alone, making the bricks and cement mix individually was much more cost-efficient. Plus, it was kind of fun with the help of his new skill.

Passive Skill: Woodworking

An introductory skill to more intricate crafting skills centred around wood.

A skill that allows the host to craft with wood 15% [+10%] faster and 15% [+10%] more skilfully.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 3 [Up 8 Levels!]

Unlike Logging, Lone still had a need for this skill every day. He used it to help him carve furniture as well as puzzle toys and figures for both himself and for Soph.

She hadn’t asked for anything but he figured it would be helpful to have them in The Summoning Room so she wasn’t completely devoid of distractions when in there.

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Soph seemed to appreciate the gesture which was more than enough for Lone to continue crafting things and working on the skill in his free time.

As well as his building work, every day Lone had been cooking their meals for them while trying to help teach Soph how to cook herself.

This had led to more levels in Cooking Mastery but also to another new skill.

Passive Skill: Cooking Mastery

Every chef of any renown possesses this skill.

A skill that makes cooking 15% [+10%] easier and reduces the time needed for food items to cook by 15% [+10%].

Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 4 [Up 13 Levels!]

It made a world of difference having the skill at intermediate rank. It gave him so much more time to focus on helping Soph with her own attempts at the craft.

Which, in turn, had led to him earning the skill Teaching Mastery.

Passive Skill: Teaching Mastery

A skill that makes teaching concepts 5% easier to the unlearned. It also boosts the host’s ability to impart their own insights of skills to others by 5%.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 4 [Up 3 levels!]

It seemed fitting that he earned this skill though he found it kind of ironic that he didn't get it for teaching Soph about Earth's more modern history. Instead, gaining it when he tried to help her learn how to cook, of all things.

His only other gain skill-wise during the past two weeks was that of Laundry Mastery.

Passive skill: Laundry Mastery

A skill that allows the host to clean clothing more efficiently.

All clothes cleaned by the host have stains removed 5% more easily and dry 5% faster after being washed.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 8 [Up 7 levels!]

‘Illusion Detection nor its relevant resistance levelled up even though I went to the elven camp twice… I wonder why,’ Lone thought.

His immediate theory was that he needed to interact with a new illusion. That seemed the most likely. Also, it clearly couldn’t be an illusion created by himself since he was constantly aware of it.

He pondered over the matter for a moment before bringing up the details of his status to check.

"So you're doing it tomorrow, Lone?" Soph asked as she sat cross-legged on the sand next to him.

While he had been going over his skills, she’d been finishing up her lunch which was some lovely French toast that she had made all on her own without burning it even a little, much to Lone’s joy.

It was expensive to create ingredients with his Creation Magic but it was worth it to vary up their diet and also to give Soph different foods to try and cook.

"Yeah. I think we’ve pushed our luck long enough as is. Plus, we really do need more levels. I need more MP now more than ever. It’s time to kill some goblins,” Lone said in a serious tone.

"Mmm, I understand that, but, uh… can't we just live here forever?" she asked hesitantly.

Lone knew where she was coming from, of course. Thanks to his Illusionary Dome they’d been left alone besides that one arrow message from the elves.

Every day that passed was another one that saw their little keep improve. Food was abundant thanks to Lone and it was peaceful. For now.

Lone sighed when he saw the expression on Soph's face. "I know how you feel, Soph, I really do. I'm happy too, really. The time I've spent with you has been great. You're a fun person who's easy to get along with and I lo- like hanging out with you. but we can’t maintain this status quo forever, sadly."

"Why not?" Soph squeezed the tail in her arms tightly.

He smiled a little. “For a start, I’m certain we’ll be found by the goblins soon. The dome doesn’t turn people away. All it takes is one goblin to find this place while we sleep and then run off to tell its friends where we are.”

He leaned back a bit and added, “Secondly, I want to find a mainland of sorts. I want to investigate those who brought us here as well as to just learn more about this world. I feel kind of trapped here. I’m sorry if you don’t feel the same.”

Soph frowned a little but said, "I-I understand that. It’s just… It’s just nice here right now."

Lone let out a small sigh. "I can’t fault you for that, now can I? Well, let's go to the courtyard then. No point in further delaying this, right? Ignoring any future plans to leave the island, we’ve still got to kill the goblins, now don’t we?"

"Yeah, you’re right,” Soph replied before bouncing to her feet.

She then followed Lone to the heart of the fort, all the while holding a couple of his tails.

It took them no time at all considering the fort was only about nine metres from one end to the other.

Once at the small courtyard, Lone began to seriously practice with several weapons of various shapes and sizes that he’d created in the past two weeks with leftover MP every night.

He was trying to find the perfect one for him. Soph had already done this just yesterday, and as it turned out, oddly enough, paired dual short swords were her true calling.

This made little sense to Lone since historically, dual wielding actually wasn't a serious school of sword fighting or any other type of fighting for that matter.

It was impractical and clunky outside of simply sparring for entertainment. He could only assume that the gods who had sent them here had done something to further mess with them.

Yet another reason to dislike them, Lone thought.

Moving on to himself, he was fairly confident with the spear, but he wasn't going to ignorantly disregard all other weapons just in case he was actually more suited to another.

After all, he had only created a shortspear in the first place since it was the most useful weapon at the time, not the one he was most proficient with.

Six hours later, Lone still didn't feel like any of the gathered weapons were perfect for him and his Growth Accelerator agreed.

He flopped down onto the ground and stared at the sky past the Illusionary Dome as he caught his breath and gathered his thoughts. "What am I doing wrong...?"

Soph walked over to him and carefully dabbed the sweat from his brow with a towel. "Maybe the weapon you need isn't here?"

"But we have every basic weapon I could think of. Surely I'm not fit for a more complex weapon, am I? I was just a normal history teacher before we came here," Lone protested.

Soph smiled. "Would a normal history teacher get sent to another world with me?"

Lone was lost for words. "You can be surprisingly sharp when you want to be, huh? Well, you're from a time when such weapons were more common. What would you suggest, Soph?"

"I don't know." Soph blushed. "I only know about basic stuff like swords, spears and bows."

"Huh... Well, all I can really think of right now is maybe my character's weapon..." Lone said jokingly. “After all, your perfect match happened to be the thing you trained in while still a young girl just for fun right?”

Soph tilted her head. " Yeah, that’s right… But, uh, what’s do you mean by ‘character's weapon’?"

Lone chuckled softly. "Nothing, really. It's just a stupid weapon that should only work in games, to be honest. There's no harm in trying it though. Another ten or so minutes like this, then I'll go at it again. I can spare some mana for some more exotic weapons when I’ve recovered a bit."

Soph softly nodded her head.

A few hours after that, As the sun was setting, Lone finally discovered that the weapon which felt natural to him was, in fact, a swordspear. The weapon of choice of his Paradox Online character, Lone Immortus.

It was a combination of a sword and a spear. Essentially, one end was a very wide and long spearhead, while the other was the entire blade of a thick long sword. In the middle, these sharp weapons were joined by a cylindrical handle of sorts.

It reminded Lone a lot of a certain Sith lord’s weapon of choice. He had to wonder how much he could tweak the design and still maintain Growth Accelerator’s approval.

"No wonder the spear felt good, but not quite right. It was only half of the answer... Still, did that fuckin’ god literally copy-paste my character on top of me? A swordspear is my most natural weapon? Ha-ah..." Lone sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

"I'm still shocked that you can tell what weapon is best for a person, Lone. I couldn't tell the difference when I was using an axe instead of my swords," Soph admired.

Lone just smiled wryly. "It isn’t me, it’s my Growth Accelerator. I can gain any skill used on me with it like I did with Illusionary Dome. It also lets me see how much of a match a person is with equipment. I do need to kill stuff to gain stats though because of it unlike you who just needs to level up or train."

"Huh… That’s a complex skill," Soph said as she tilted her head and held her chin in her hand, an act Lone found all to endearing.

"I don't fully understand it, but I guess the system is constantly checking people to see their potential for various things, and my unique skill allows me to tap into the results of that check or something? I dunno. Tell me if you have a better theory." Lone couldn't help but smirk as he saw Soph trying her hardest to think about the matter.

"Hmmmm..." It was almost as if smoke was about to come out of her ears in frustration. "Nope. I can't think of anything! You're probably right anyway, you usually are. Let's go to bed… Thinking too hard made me tired."

"Okay, just be gentle with my tails tonight, okay? I can still feel all the pain, even if I can resist it pretty well. I need to be in my best condition for tomorrow," Lone requested with a somewhat pleading look in his eyes.

Soph was unexpectedly rough with his furry limbs some nights and incredibly gentle other nights. It was honestly annoying how inconsistent she could be.

"Sorry, I’ll, uh, try my best…" Once again, the woman's cheeks flushed red.