Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.
Racial Skill: Tail Spear
A skill unique to the race of foxkin known as Golden Foxkin.
This skill allows the host to turn their tail(s) into an extremely sharp and hard weapon that can easily pierce most Epic-quality items [Up from Rare-quality items] or S-ranked beings [up from A-ranked beings].
The skill is usable three times a day [up from twice a day], and it lasts for 15-minutes [+5-minutes].
Cost: N/A Mastery: Advanced Level 1
It didn't stop there. The wall of screens before Lone's eyes kept going and going, but alas, the world around him moved ever onwards and even with his Reading Mastery skill, he could only go so fast. 'Really wish I had a Time Compression skill or something. Would probably need magic for that and that's something I can't use for a while still.'
"An incredible display of strength! Truly incredible!" the Taker praised as she clapped softly but with enthusiasm. "We all already know of Mister Immortus's tenacious body thanks to his prior duel with silver plate adventurer Hamish some time ago, yes? I think this is more than enough to add militaristic enlistment to his list of possible punishments."
The judge creased his brow in deep consideration. With a sigh, he nodded. "You are all dismissed. We'll be having a 20-minute recess for the Deciders to discuss the matter and for us to clean up the courtroom."
Lone approached the Taker but before he could get within even five metres of her, Xer'rava got in his way and grabbed his shoulder with enough speed that it almost looked like he had used Soph and Sophie's Teleportation.
"No further, or risk death," the most powerful being Lone had ever met threatened. Well, the most powerful being that wasn't a god or a Primal, at least.
"Why're you helping me?" Lone asked the Taker as he stood still.
He wasn't going to chance an attack from an X-ranker, regardless of how badly he wanted to level up his resistances and possibly get a new skill or two.
The Taker glanced up at him and smiled peculiarly. "I wonder? It's certainly not your dashing good looks nor your decent social skills. Let's call it a desire to... hmm... correct your path? You must understand I don't want to strip you of your skills nor see you be wasted when you could serve a higher purpose."
"Uhuh. And clearing out lost kriegs and urds of threats is said purpose?" Lone asked with a raised eyebrow.
The Taker's smile widened. "Let us go, Xer'rava." She turned to the judge and said, "Lord Whiteshine, I shall no longer speak during the trial that follows this recess. I do hope you can forgive my attitude thus far."
The aged Stone Dwarf seemed to let out a long-held-onto breath upon hearing that. "It's quite alright. It would be foolish of me to not listen to the wishes of such an esteemed guest. Consider yourself forgiven and let us treat it as if nothing negative had ever happened between us."
"Very wise," the Taker nodded.
Lone watched all of this with his brain working in overdrive. 'The Taker is clearly more than what she seems... I feel like I've met her before, but that isn't... impossible. It's a weird world. Damn-near anything is possible. I mean, I can literally blow up minds and my girlfriend is a thousand-year-old woman who killed God. Who's to say I haven't somehow run into a Jewel Dwarf who can just so happen to strip people of their skills before? Whatever. Skills first, weird feelings later.'
"Sonya? To the waiting room?" he asked impatiently.
His arbiter nodded nervously. "Uh, yeah. Let's go there. We should talk."
----------------------------------------
Lone didn't say a word upon reaching their private waiting room, he instead unleashed what was left of the torrent of notifications. "I'll speak in a minute, got system stuff to do first."
"Okay," Sonya replied absentmindedly. Clearly, she had to gather her thoughts which worked just fine for Lone.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 3.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 6.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 7.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 8.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 9.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 10.
Congratulations! the host's racial skill [Tail Spear] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 1.
Racial Skill: Tail Spear
A skill unique to the race of foxkin known as Golden Foxkin.
This skill allows the host to turn their tail(s) into an extremely sharp and hard weapon that can easily pierce most Legendary-quality items [Up from Epic-quality Items] or lower SS-ranked beings [up from S-ranked beings].
The skill is usable four times a day [up from three times a day], and it lasts for 20-minutes [+5-minutes].
[New!] When used against a being higher ranked than the skill's effective range, there is a 0.1% chance that the host will learn how to apply 1-3 of the host's unapplied stats. The stats chosen as well as the number of stats chosen is based on the Luck stat. If this effect is triggered, it will disappear once it has finished performing its described effect.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Expert Level 1
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
'Wait, what? A one-time use extra effect? And such a good one too?' Lone thought in both surprise and glee.
He briefly considered the mention of lower SS-ranked beings, wondering what that distinction meant exactly before he returned his mental attention to the extra effect.
Applying stats was one of the few things he couldn't learn by brute force or by copying or stealing it from another person like he did with skills and stats.
He was on the same playing field as everyone else in this regard, but this effect right here... well, it was perfect for him.
'Hell, all I need to do is not rank up Tail Spear again and just reach a point that triple-S-rankers are no threat to me. Or SS-ranker rankers above lower? Still need to look into what that means. Admittedly, that's all a ways off, but so is learning to apply stats. Still, I definitely need to murder some super lucky stuff then, don't I?' Lone thought, as doing so would surely raise his Luck, meaning his chances of getting everything he could out of the effect would increase.
"Quick question. There wouldn't happen to be a krieg or urd out there full of Sheinlings, would there?" Lone asked, hopeful the rare species of short, feral, and bipedal monsters who happened to hate the sun were lurking around.
Sonya scowled. "I have no idea. Maybe? I don't specialise in information regarding the lost kriegs and urds unless it relates to my clients."
"No worries. Still busy. Be done soon," Lone replied.
'Sophie? Mind asking Hamish if Sheinlings happen to be anywhere in the Farwinds that he's aware of? Thanks, love you,' Lone communicated telepathically.
'What manner of creature is that? We shall ask. One moment.' A pause came and went before she continued, 'He claims they've been sighted in two urds and a whole clan of them overran a far-off krieg with the help of a few other monster clans. Why is this suddenly relevant?'
'New skill bonus that relies on Luck. Sadly, I don't have your insane numbers there. How high even is your Luck now?' Lone replied.
'Hmm... It has grown a lot. We do doubt it even works though. Then again, nothing bad has really happened to us or Soph, only you. Perhaps it shields us from your idiocy affecting us as well? Regardless, it is sitting at 78,043. It goes up by several hundred each time you, and thus we, level up,' Sophie explained.
'Hey, is this the return of snarky Sophie? I missed you. But god damn it all if I ain't jealous. What a number. None of my stats are even close to that...' Lone sighed.
'Hah. Shall we rub salt in the wound? Yes, yes we shall. Our Magic Power is at 124,546, meaning we have over a million Mana Points with which to use as we see fit,' Sophie boasted.
Lone snorted mentally. 'You mean that Soph has to use as she sees fit, what with her being the magical genius and you being the one trying your best to at least get some physical stats per level up,' Lone remarked though not in a harsh tone.
He was only happy to be getting a bit of lighthearted banter out of his girlfriend's darker personality for a change. Lately, it has been nothing but serious fights followed by consequential arguments.
Now that he was really willing to do as she said in regards to his own safety though, he was happy to be conversing with her old self again. It felt refreshing, warm... natural.
'And yet, our hours of effort seem almost wasted when not a single one of our other stats have reached 200 yet. Vitality is barely over 100. It sits at a pathetic 111. We are too fragile. Were we to act as you do, we would be dead by the day's end,' Sophie lamented.
'Hey! That's... sadly true. But what do you mean 'fragile'? That's definitely not the case in the bedroom, I can attest to at least that much. Damned succubus. Why am I always the one to get exhausted first, eh? Tell me how to figure that one out when all the science suggests it should be you,' Lone complained.
'Heheh, numbers aren't everything, silly man,' Sophie teased in a sultry tone.
'I'll show you one of these days, just need to cap out Sex Mastery. But yeah, on a more serious note, fingers crossed you get Immortality on the next skill unseal, right?' he encouraged.
'We can only hope. By the way, you didn't answer me. What are Sheinlings?' Sophie inquired.
Lone shrugged both telepathically and physically. 'Little bearded monsters that love shiny things. Apparently, they have a lot of Luck. A lot of Luck I would like to borrow from them. Permanently.'
'We think you may not understand how borrowing things works. Still, I asked you to describe Sheinlings to me, not the entire dwarven species. Regardless, farewell for now. Have fun with your notification checking. We know you. You got distracted with a thought of efficiency so stopped to address it. Now that you have your thought resolved, your mind is now itching to get back to your addiction. We shan't hold you any longer. We love you,' Sophie said proudly and with confidence.
'Caught red-handed. Love you too,' Lone said as he cut the connection.
Immediately he resumed the flow of system notifications with a smile on his face and with a feeling of being adored in his heart.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 4.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 5.
Lone frowned. 'Two level-ups here is great, making it my second strongest resistance tied with Mental Pain Resistance and being just behind Darkness Corruption Resistance, but... that's it for Tail Spear?'
He had a stinking suspicion that the Taker's protector had sensed the quantitative change of his racial skill leaving the advanced rank and entering the expert one. Thus, he had decided to stop Lone from attacking him any further.
'Makes sense. That bleeding dent in his chest was pretty deep... He probably did it to stop me from seriously hurting him but if he did stop me because of the rank-up, then I should thank him. From the way it's worded, Tail Spear's new effect count proc per attack on anyone above a lower SS-ranker, whatever the fuck a lower SS-ranker means.' Lone stroked his chin thoughtfully.
'0.1% chance... so 1 in 1,000 odds. No guarantees on a proc in the first 1,000 attacks, but it does mean I could trigger it on the first attack or the millionth depending on my luck and on my Luck, heh. I absolutely don't want this bad boy getting activated until my Luck is at 5,000 at the very least, preferably five digits if that can be done quickly enough,' he concluded as he resumed checking his gains.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 3.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 6.
Congratulations! the host's Primal skill [Ungrounded] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 7.
Lone nodded appreciatively. 'Even if not a life-and-death battle, combat with something on the line is much more efficient for levelling than simple training is. Then again, simple training with some experimentation is what let me kick off the air horizontally and then from all angles to stay ungrounded while maintaining my momentum so I could even hit Xer'rava with a combo exceeding 500 hits. Pros and cons to both methods.'
The host has developed the active skill: Survivor's Speed.
Survivor's Speed
A skill intended to be used when the host's life is in danger and the only answer is to run or to react with the speed of lightning.
Multiplies all speed-related aspects of the host by a factor of 10.
Warning: The host may suffer injuries from the activation of the skill, both to their body and to their mind. If the host does not possess sufficient mental or physical strength, then they risk destroying themselves when using this skill.
Cost: 20% of the host's maximum SP per minute. Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Lone felt his bottom lip twitch. 'What an insanely powerful skill. Why the fuck was the X-ranker using it though? Was he really worried I'd seriously injure him? Ah, was it when he 'teleported' to protect the Taker? That makes more sense. I absolutely need to test this later. Does it make me perceive time faster? Do I think faster? Can my Basic Regeneration make that warning null and void? So many questions.'
"We have five minutes left," Sonya said, bringing his attention back to reality. "Not nearly enough time to discuss everything we should be going over right now."
Nodding weakly, Lone cracked his neck. "Right. Well, here's the current newly revised plan then. We're aiming for militaristic enlistment now. I would absolutely accept that. Exile too, but that's unlikely. If the Deciders choose execution, Soph is teleporting me out instantly. Any conflicts with you there?"
Sonya sighed. "I would like to say yes since I want you to be declared innocent, but that isn't going to happen. Sure. Militaristic enlistment is something I can aim for with some confidence. It's more attainable than exile status, anyway."
"Yeah. That's a punishment to dwarves due to the topsider stigma, but it's likely viewed as another way to declare innocence for a native topsider like myself. Indentured servitude sounds a lot better and is a lot more practical," Lone grinned.
"It isn't slavery," Sonya argued.
Lone raised an eyebrow. "I never said it was."
"I'm not blind to implications," she spat back.
Lone shrugged as he reached into his Dimensional Storage and retrieved his eye wraps. "Speaking of blindness... No point in not wearing this again. Always gotta be working on those passives, am I right? I'll leave everything up to you now, my trusty arbiter. Go earn yourself a level or two in Persuasion, huh?"
"As if it's that easy," Sonya said with a shake of the head.
Just then, the door to the recess chamber opened. The guards assigned to escort them back to the courtroom had arrived. Now, the second and final stage of Lone's trial could commence.