The first notifications to greet his eyes upon willing them into view were level-ups for Swordspear Mastery.

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

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

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Swordspear Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5.

Lone raised an eyebrow as he walked through the cobbled streets of Ranton. 'Three levels just from those few exchanges with that Quint guy? Even though killing hundreds of goblins did nothing for it nor did sparring with Sophie? And no level ups to the parent skills, Spear and Sword Mastery?’

This was confusing to him so much so that he paused reading his notification log to ponder over the matter further.

‘I guess… I guess fighting someone who uses unfamiliar tactics and an unfamiliar weapon helps more than battles you have complete control over and face no real challenge? It's not confirmed, but this is good to know if that's really how you can more easily level-up weapon passives. He was also a few ranks higher than me, wasn't he? Maybe the strength gap contributed. And the parent skills… I guess they’re just much harder to level, even for me? Something to consider,' Lone thought before returning to looking at the floating screens.

Surprisingly, the next notification was actually about a new skill which he had developed mid-fight. He hadn’t copied it, no, he had earned it entirely by himself.

The host has developed the passive skill: Evasion Mastery.

Immediately, excitement filled his mind as he waited for the skill’s information to scroll into view. 'It seems obvious what it does, but I'm hopeful for a special effect...’

Passive skill: Evasion Mastery

A skill that assists the host in their attempts to evade harm.

Improves the host's subconscious instinct to evade dangerous situations by 5%.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1

Lone stroked his chin thoughtfully. 'Interesting. So, it doesn't boost my ability to evade, but my instinct to evade? Also, situations, not attacks? So... does that apply to if I get a gut feeling telling me to, oh, let's say, not walk down that alley over there, then would this skill make that feeling five percent stronger, or would it increase the chance of me having that feeling by five percent?'

He thought on it for a moment longer before he softly shook his head. 'Either way, it's too unreliable. I guess I can only hope that it gets some sort of awesome effects after a rank up or two, assuming I ever invest the time to farm this skill. I was only being evasive there to avoid revealing my Basic Regeneration. Normally, I'm better off letting myself get hit to strengthen both that and my Bone Armour.'

With that closing thought on the skill, Lone resumed checking his notifications.

Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.

Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5.

Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 6.

Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7.

'Fuck me... Four levels from one fireball? Christ... How did I not get horrifically crippled from that like the first time I got hit by a Crude Fireball?' Lone asked himself very seriously. 'I think... I think Basic Regeneration was pulling its weight now that it's levelled up a lot compared to back then?'

He felt like that was the only logical answer and he had no other theories fresh at hand, so he moved on.

Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5.

Congratulations! The host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.

Lone nodded his head. 'I'm glad. One level is definitely better than none at all. Still, I really need Basic Regeneration to rank up again at least once. The better that skill is, the safer I am. The safer I am, the safer Soph and Sophie are. I'll have to get reckless with those 'Blue Orcs'. Speaking of which, I should really research them before we go out on a crusade against them, huh?'

His next notifications were for the two skills that he'd been using quite a lot lately.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Acting] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5.

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

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 9.

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

'Acting too? I was only expecting persuasion since I lied a bit...' Lone was mildly surprised. 'I guess because I didn't want to lie, Acting levelled up? I really hope it gets a new effect when it hits advanced rank. Persuasion too for intermediate rank since that's only a single level away. These skills are so similar, it'd be nice if they got wildly different additional effects.'

And finally, his last notification was one that he had expected, and thus had no in-depth thoughts about.

Congratulations! The host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

‘Shame the spindly Quint guy didn’t have Greatsword Mastery or something similar. It wasn’t his ideal weapon though, so I guess it makes some sense,’ Lone thought.

As he was absorbed in his ideas regarding his skills, Sophie skilfully led him through the city while she referred to their map.

----------------------------------------

Sophie had found a decently isolated alleyway, good enough for Lone to pull out a new set of clothes from his Dimensional Storage to change into discreetly.

A short while after that, as they approached the highest-class tailor store of the three that The Adventurer's Guild employee had pointed out, Sophie asked Lone a question. "Why are we still going here? We saw the reason in it when your clothes were a mess, but we see no point now. Especially since we are rather poor at the moment."

Lone smiled. "Silk. That's all I want."

"Silk? Why?" Sophie asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

"Because Soph's silk pyjamas cost me a fortune in mana to make. She and you both look great in them, so… I want to make more sets. Different colours, different designs, you know,” Lone explained.

Sophie frowned deeply. “We are not your dress-up doll.”

“All of your clothes were made by me, and I pick out which outfit for you to wear every morning,” Lone pointed out.

Sophie rolled her blind eyes. “Whatever. Have your fantasies, boy.”

“Heh, I will. Anyway, I'm not going to waste such an obscene amount of MP like that ever again. Not on silk, of all things. The plan here is to just buy some, and I'll make the clothes myself. Silk is the big hiccup as far as my magic goes. I can make the other materials fairly cheaply," Lone replied matter of factly and with a shrug.

Sophie didn’t seem impressed. In fact, she closed the visor of her helmet and walked ahead of Lone.

“Haha… We’ll get to your orcs soon, I promise. Just, this is important too,” Lone said.

“Do as you wish,” Sophie said.

“Well, it won’t really be me doing what I wish,” Lone claimed only for Sophie to stop and turn his direction. “It’ll be you.”

----------------------------------------

"Animals stay outside," a cold voice said as its owner glared at Lone.

The 'animal' in question frowned. 'As expected. This is the highest-class tailor shop in the capital of a systemically speciesist kingdom, after all. ’Speciesist‘. What a weird word though I guess racist would only be accurate if a different coloured foxkin was being discriminatory to me…'

"Sophie, I'll leave it to you," Lone said as he passed her a few of their last silver coins and then leaned against the building's wall.

The man that had stopped them at the door scowled greatly. "Get your filthy body off of the store. You'll sully it. Honestly, this is why we enslave your kind here. Otherwise, you never learn how to behave in a civilised manner."

Lone suppressed his anger and sighed lightly before he did as he was told. 'Fuck you too, Asshat. It's just a fucking wall.'

Sophie suppressed a giggle. "Be a good boy now, Lone. We shall not be long," she said as she followed the tailor into his store.

Lone kicked a rock across the street in frustration. "Man, can’t say I’m fond of being discriminated against for no good reason beyond the fact I have fluffy ears and bunch of tails."

He hung his head down and rubbed his neck. Lone then chose to sit on the cobbled street cross-legged and simply think as he waited for Sophie.

Many people scoffed at the sight of him and turned up their noses while others simply laughed at how he looked like a beggar. One nobleman even found it amusing enough to toss him a single copper coin.

For a man like Lone, pride was a useless concept. He nabbed the coin and continued his thoughts. 'We're really low on money, but I doubt we can earn much if we rely solely on The Adventurer's Guild. I want to buy strange and wonderful stuff to experiment on... Books too, I need to buy as many books as I can find... I don’t really wanna sell anything we got from the dungeon though. That one coin to the bookshop in Ros was enough.’

He sighed. ‘Should I try making coins early? I know nothing about the metals. Grimsley will teach me, but copper, silver and gold are hardly standard for weapon and armour smithing, aren't they? Maybe for engravings, hmm...'

Lone shook his head. 'I really should have paid attention during science class at school. Shame I was too worried about Dad the whole time. However, since I know nothing about all three types of the coins’ metals, won't they all cost the same amount of mana regardless? I guess I'll try to make some gold coins tonight then. We’ll get some money from killing orcs, yeah, but if I can just make money out of nothing, it’ll be worth it to find out if that’s an easy endeavour or not.'

"Hey, are you okay?" the sudden voice of a man asked.

Looking up, Lone saw a handsome young man of maybe 15 or 16 years. He was wearing a luxurious robe and he was oddly tall for his age.

'A noble?' Lone wondered and he slowly stood up, wore a smile, then bowed his head. "Sorry if I bothered you somehow. I’m just an adventurer. No one of any real importance.”

The boy looked a bit flustered at Lone's politeness. "Ah, no, you didn't bother me. I saw you sitting there with a pained look on your face, so I was worried."

Lone didn't really believe that. He looked up and saw a very exquisite carriage on the road behind the boy which was surrounded by a small unit of heavily armoured knights.

'Yeah, definitely a noble. He doesn't seem to be a religious figure since I can't see that weird triangle on his clothes. Hmm... What does he want? Me, I'm assuming,' Lone thought a bit pessimistically.

"My master is inside buying some fabrics. She adores sewing, you see. As a demi, I was told to wait out here. I was merely thinking about her safety. I'm nothing but a barbarous foxkin, so I'm sorry if my ponderous expression worried you, sir," Lone lied.

"Um, no, that's fine. You didn't bo-"

The tallest and most well-built knight out of the unit stepped forwards. His face wore an unpleasant glare as he approached Lone and the boy before he interrupted with, "Young Master Leston, we do not have the time to be concerning ourselves with someone else's slave. We must return to the estate post-haste."

The boy had an angered look on his face for a split second before he wore a warm smile. His slouching back straightened up and he cleared his throat. "Right. Thank you for reminding me, Fredrick."

He gave Lone a nod to signal his farewell before he sauntered back to his carriage. Once inside, the coachman cracked the horses' reins, and the carriage rolled down the street with the knights escorting it.

"Leston? Isn't that one of the ducal households?" Lone muttered to himself.

In the book regarding the history of Milindo, it had mentioned the four ducal households. Lone had already encountered the daughter of the current duke and head of the ducal house of Malik. "The other three were the house of Leston, the house of Fenton, and the house of Silpo, weren't they?"

He held his chin in thought for a few moments. "I should look into this country's nobility and its laws a bit. That could be helpful stuff to be in the know about."

"Again, we catch you talking to yourself," a very cold voice said accusingly.

Lone grinned as he spun around to face its owner. "There's not much point in me saying sorry, is there? Old habits die hard."

Sophie just frowned deeply as she shoved the rolls of silk into his hands. "Whatever. Here, your silk."

Lone checked them then glanced back to Sophie. "And my change?"

"What change? We had to threaten the shopkeeper just to get that for the small amount of money you gave us," Sophie claimed as she crossed her arms over her pitiful chest, making her armour rustle. "We are extremely bored. Orcs. Now."

Lone smiled wryly. "Sure. Man, I don't know if you're high or low maintenance. Is having your lover demand to go kill orcs a good or bad thing?"

Sophie walked away from him as she replied, "We are not your lover, Soph is."

Lone shrugged as he caught up to her. "Here comes my common rhetoric; you're the same person as far as I'm concerned."

With a shake of her head and a faint sigh, Sophie answered, "Think what you will, fool.”

Lone just laughed. 'I kinda wanted to buy a few books on Blue Orcs with the last of our money or go to the library but fuck it. We'll manage somehow. I'd rather she didn't get even more angsty than she already is.'