Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Enhanced Vision] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.

Lone kept half of his attention on the courtroom and the verbal skirmish Sonya was engaged in with Head Prosecutor Chillforge as well as the handful of lesser prosecutors.

He had no desire to speak up and try to fight his case nor diminish Sonya's attempts to do so. If he was asked a question, he would answer plainly and as succinctly as he could.

No matter the outcome, his goal had already been achieved today. Wilbur was let off practically scot-free while he had gained massively from a showing of power against an X-ranker. All in all, it had been a fantastic day.

All he was waiting for now, was the verdict which would determine if he'd walk out of the building or teleport out of it.

'I really do wonder what the Taker's goal was by standing up for me... It just doesn't make much sense, even less so the more and more I think about it,' Lone thought.

Regardless, he kept focusing on his vision in an attempt to level one of his newest skills.

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

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Enhanced Vision] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.

Lone rapidly blinked his covered eyes as the sound of a gavel slamming onto stone entered his ears.

Glancing up at the judge and squinting, he listened as the old dwarf declared, "We will now enter an hour-long session of recess while the Deciders discuss the verdict of Mister Immortus's trial."

Sonya elbowed Lone softly to get his attention. "Come on, let's go."

He nodded as he got up, stretched to pop his bones, then followed his arbiter out of the courtroom with a unit of guards surrounding them.

Once inside their private recess room, Lone got comfortable on a chair and yawned. "So, how are things looking?"

"You really spaced out in there, huh?" Sonya asked as she massaged her shoulders with a grimace of pain on her face. "I hate trials that take so many hours... I should rank up to lessen the physical strain of maintaining good posture."

"You should, everyone should. And yeah, I did. I said I'd leave it to you, didn't I? I have decent social skills but I'm not a lawy- an arbiter. You have the know-how. How's it looking anyway? Execution likely?" Lone asked.

Sonya shook her head and ignored his verbal misstep. "I don't think so. The judge has been bought over or blackmailed or whatever else, but Lord Whiteshine isn't an idiot. With the Taker having supported you, even Sheelda McStuderston would have to back down."

"Ah, so legal murder is out of the picture. I can handle assassination attempts, or so I'd like to think. That's a win if anything could be considered as such," Lone happily noted.

Sonya frowned. "I'm gonna get wrinkles from interacting with you so much. Nobody should be happy about assassination attempts. It is sadly likely though. A dwarf's stubbornness runs deep, doubly so for the smith and for the noble castes."

"I'll manage. So what is the expected verdict?" Lone questioned.

Sonya shrugged. "Expected? No clue. Anything could happen given how weird this whole affair has been from start to now. What do I personally think might happen? I fought hard for you. I even gained three levels across two skills. That shows progress."

"Congratulations," Lone nodded with genuine pride.

"Thanks. I'm pretty sure you'll be sentenced to militaristic enlistment for the charge of illegally learning Steamforging. They'll likely have the skill removed from you too. I don't see any possibility where that wouldn't be the case. Your other skills though? Perfectly safe. You'll need them to serve, after all. Your enlistment won't be more than a few decades too. I fought hard for it to not be centuries or millennia since you've awakened three times. What is Void, by the way?" Sonya asked.

Lone stroked his jaw thoughtfully. "Decades is way too much... Hmm... Ah, Void? It's what I described it as. It's the ninth Primal. You probably know more about Primal lore than I do given the fact you specialise in being an arbiter for beastkin, right? Maybe make some inquires at the church if they have a presence down here."

"I might just do that. As for your charge of stealing the Steamforging Checker artefact, I can't see anything more than dismissal or the lightest of sentences like a fine since they can't prove you took it or still have it beyond eyewitness testimonies. No physical evidence is a huge win for us there," Sonya explained.

"I did tune in when it was claimed I could summon and unsummon objects. Seems old Elric snitched, though again, no proof and the ardartian shackles work in my favour," Lone said with a grin.

Sonya nodded. "Exactly. If all goes as I predict, this'll be the biggest case of my career. I expect I'll be the number one person for not only beastkin to want as their arbiter, but all non-dwarves in the Farwinds and her settlements."

"High profile cases do that. Fingers crossed it makes you and doesn't break you, huh?" Lone joked.

"Whatever the Stone ordains, we dwarves accept," Sonya replied.

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

"We, the Deciders, hereby declare that Adventurer Lone Immortus, a Golden Foxkin of the foxkin species, shall be found guilty of the charge of learning the sacred Steamforging skill gifted unto us by the Stone."

Lone nodded since this was within expectations.

"He shall be sentenced to serve as a member of a prisoner excavation and extermination unit under militaristic enlistment for the duration of 27 years, 11 months, and 16 days. Additionally, the Taker present shall relieve him of his Steamforging skill."

Lone winced a bit, but this much was still tolerable. If he could leave this courtroom without becoming enemy number one of the dwarven kingdoms, then that would be preferable. Even if it hurt him on a spiritual level.

'What's one skill? I still have my knowledge. I can relearn the skill twice as fast as initially. I'll take this hit for the greater good of the whole situation,' Lone convinced himself.

He had come into the trial unwilling to lose even a single skill, but considering all that he had gained from his demonstration with the X-ranker, he was willing to lose Steamforging now to ensure he didn't become the enemy of all dwarves.

He was aware that when a Taker took a skill, they also supposedly took with it the ability to ever relearn that skill, but Lone had hope. He had too.

'I swear to god, Gramps, if Growth Accelerator doesn't get around that, then I'll burn this entire krieg- no, all of the dwarven kingdoms to the ground. Steamforging is too cool for me to lose it forever,' Lone thought.

"We, the Deciders, hereby declare that Adventurer Lone Immortus, a Golden Foxkin of the foxkin species, shall be found innocent of theft in relation to a prized steamforged artefact of the court's possession under the condition of insufficient evidence to support the prosecution's claims."

"I cannot abide by this! I object to this hearing's results!" a loud voice boomed across the courtroom.

'I recognise this voice,' Lone thought as he turned and squinted. "... That's Elric, isn't it?"

Sonya nodded. "Yeah. I can understand his upset but objecting won't change anything here. What a fool. He's about to tarnish the reputation of the High Order of Inquisition."

Judge Whiteshine, sighed faintly as he said, "Under what grounds do you object, Inquisitor Greydon?"

Lone saw the short dwarf who had helped him farm his Enchantment Magic Resistance point a finger in his direction.

'C'mon man, you helped me out so much, even if I did fuck with you a bit. Don't ruin yourself over this,' Lone thought. 'File for a retrial or something which I can later ignore when I'm much more powerful. Objecting like that... is that even legal?'

Lone didn't know so he kept his mouth shut.

"That wily fox can use magic somehow despite having no active mana organs and regardless of the ardartian pressing against his flesh! I witnessed him make two chairs disappear then reappear before my very eyes when interrogating him! Whatever he did then, he did the same to the Steamforging Checker, no doubt!" Elric accused.

Lone leaned over to Sonya and asked, "Why's he making an ass of himself, exactly? I didn't fuck his wife or anything, so I don't get it."

Sonya pursed her lips. "It was him who approved the usage of the artefact in question in the first place. Likely under a bribe from you know who to give valid reasoning for your arrest. With that being the case, he might lose his job for allowing such a valuable and hard to create artefact officially becoming listed as 'missing'. If he doesn't take a risk here, his career is over regardless since the investigation into its whereabouts will reveal his connection to it, and I bet you know who will toss him under the carriage without hesitation."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Lone wore a confused expression on his face. "But the guy's an S-ranker. Is he that attached to being an inquisitor? He could easily make a fortune from being an adventurer. Hell, if I was an S-ranker, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd have forced your culture to allow others to learn Steamforging."

Sonya sighed. "Of course you would have despite the fact the dwarves have several X, XX, XXX-rankers, and even a Divine or two, hmm? But regardless of what you would do, he isn't a warrior. He gained his rank over the course of 2,000 years through the slow accumulation of levels and enlightenment in peaceful environments. You've likely fought more battles than he's ever even seen."

"Huh." Lone turned to face the judge. "Your Honour?"

"Yes, Mister Immortus?" Lord Whiteshine answered while he continued to stare at Elric.

"Can you please throw this idiot out of the room for contempt? He has no ground to stand on and I don't know about you, but I'd like to get my Steamforging skill removed and then immediately figure out how I'll be helping the dwarves reclaim their lost lands. I want to make up for my wrong-doings, not get accused of doing something I've already been declared innocent of," Lone proclaimed loudly and with conviction.

A murmur of approval and surprise spread through the spectator seats.

They likely hadn't expected Lone to so readily accept his punishments so he had won over quite a lot more of the individuals present.

A criminal he was, but he was also exuding a genuine feeling of honour; not something dwarves would ever let go remiss given how they valued that trait so much in their culture.

Enough so for Hamish to have become mostly ostracized by his own people after he had smeared his honour by 'duelling' Lone at a time that felt so long ago to him.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.

Lone watched as Elric's face contorted in an ugly manner as they both witnessed the court siding with Lone's 'selfless' plea to serve the kingdoms.

"You have skills and items built to resist skills that affect the mind!" Elric yelled at the judge. "I know you do! Don't let yourself become swayed by his honeyed words! He's a liar, a con, a thief, and above all else, a fox! We must have him return that which he stole! If that technology ever gets to the hands of the scholars who reside topside, they can no doubt reverse-engineer it and perhaps even figure out our sacred art of steamforging in its entirety!"

Lone was moments from refuting the S-ranker before he noticed Sonya stepped ahead of him. Instead of voicing his reply, he chose to watch his arbiter with interest.

"What utter nonsense! I thought you to be a respectable elder of our society, Mister Greydon, but it seems your age may have corroded your mind along with your sensibilities. One artefact ending up topside would lead to us losing that which the Stone gifted us? If that is so then we must petition the greater council to muster our armies and invade all nations not of our own immediately! After all, this is not the first time we've lost an artefact before," Sonya mocked. "Besides, many dwarves are allowed topside with artefacts they have bought or created themselves. Not of the same intricacy, but steamforged nonetheless."

"What complete and absolute utter nonsense," she repeated with a shake of her head. "Your Honour, my client openly and honestly admitted his guilt of illegally learning the art of steamforging. He was prepared to be executed if that was what would be required of him to appease the Stone and her children."

A surprised murmur spread through the spectating dwarves.

"It makes no sense whatsoever for him to do that and then deny any guilt when it came to the artefact's disappearance had he, indeed, stolen it. Witness testimonies can be faked. Motivations can be impure. The bravery to accept death for one's own wrongdoing? Your honour, that is something that with all of my being I wholeheartedly believe cannot be faked. The more serious of the two crimes was the one he openly admitted to committing. There is no sense in him not doing the same for the other unless he was innocent. This is a pointless debate with a desperate man whose agenda is questionable at best," Sonya stated powerfully.

She then turned to face Elric once more. "Stop making a mockery out of our legal system. Your objection to the ruling is without merit and quite frankly, I question its legality. Perhaps an inquiry should be opened into how the artefact was able to go missing in the first place. Such a failure of management is more than worthy of an investigation, no, Inquisitor Greydon?"

Lone heard a soft but loud chuckle enter his ears. The Taker was smiling as she said, "I like her. Very impactful words."

The judge smacked his hammer down onto his stone desk. "I concur. Very well put, Miss Forgegulf. Inquisitor Greydon, leave this courtroom. This session of court is hereby officially adjourned. Guards, escort Mister Immortus to his new accommodations. Mister Immortus, you're to be held in captivity until an official date is declared for your Steamforging to be publicly remo-"

"No need," the Taker interrupted as she walked towards Lone. "Kneel, Mister Immortus."

"Kneel?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She smiled up at him. "You're almost double my height. So yes, kneel. I can hardly reach your head like this."

Lone shrugged. The sooner this was over and done with, the better for him. It was emotionally draining enough just thinking about losing one of his precious skills.

Having time to think over his decision to comply may have ended up with him making a choice to flee instead and turn this entire effort to avoid becoming wanted in all of the Farwinds into a pointless endeavour.

He got on one knee and requested, "Make it quick, please."

"You won't feel a thing," she replied sweetly as she placed a palm on his head.

Lord Whiteshine frowned. "I will approve of this. We can all agree this entire affair has been much too stressful enough for all of us as it is already."

'i don't think she needs nor wants your approval, pal,' Lone replied mentally as he closed his eyes and tried his best to not think about what was happening.

'A bright bronze light is being pulled directly out of the top of your head. It is travelling up her arm. The process of watching her rip a skill out of you is rather interesting,' Sophie observed over their telepathic link.

'Can you not tell I'm expressly trying my best to, y'know, not think about that? Closed eyes, scrunched up face, bleeding soul. The whole package is plain to see,' Lone complained.

A laugh met him in response. 'That is exactly why we are narrating the experience for you. It is a once-in-a-lifetime historical moment that you would be ill-advised to miss out on witnessing.'

'... I fuckin' hate you sometimes,' Lone replied.

'Less so than you love us, we hope. Ah, the bronze is slowly running out. Perhaps she has finally finished removing your precious skill? I wonder if she'd take a few more of your non-combat related ones if we asked politely. The fact you have more hobbies than just getting stronger is very concerning,' Sophie commented in a deadpan tone.

'Are you trying to comfort me by bullying me? Please stop, it isn't working,' Lone sighed across the link.

He then felt the Taker slowly remove her hand from his scalp. With bated breath, he slowly peeked his eyes open. He then gathered all of his courage and tried to summon the skill information for Steamforging.

'Of course it wouldn't show up. She removed the ski-'

Passive Skill: Steamforging

A skill that allows the host to perform the sacred dwarven smithing art of steamforging.

Steamforging performed by the host will be 15% faster and 15% more skilful.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 8

He slowly reached up and removed his eye wraps. With unbelieving confusion leading him, he stared directly into the Taker's eyes.

Those very eyes were filled with mirth. "Not a word, my friend, not a word," she whispered so softly Lone wasn't even sure he had heard her.

He was stunned, confused, befuddled, and quite possibly bamboozled, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Who cares what the motivations of the Jewel Dwarf in front of him were? For whatever reason, she'd decided to let him keep one of the most solid pieces of proof he had spent time with Wilbur, his dying master.

He was willing to sacrifice that for the better good and slowly relearn the skill on his own if possible. Now though, that conviction was unneeded, the sacrifice gone unpaid.

He entered a sort of daze after that while the world moved around him, his feet leading him along while his mind was elsewhere.

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

'What the... Sophie, she didn't take anything from him,' Soph pointed out to the part of herself that was currently in control of their body.

'Yes, we just noticed. That was nothing but an elaborate light show. Why would she do something so risky for him when they've never met before?' Sophie had no idea. 'More importantly, how? She can't use skills as a Taker.'

Her mind immediately drifted to the possibility of love at first sight and she considered finding an opportunity to murder the woman.

She then considered that perhaps she was a supporter of the idea that dwarves shouldn't monopolise the Steamforging skill and she had decided to take a risk by letting Lone keep it given his potential for unbridled power.

It was then during her pondering that she heard something strange. It almost sounded like a... clicking noise.

"Observant little splitter, aren't we?"

Sophie had no idea where that voice was coming from. It was old. Older than anything she could even think to comprehend. It sounded like an amused elderly man who had just told the funniest of jokes and now expected laughter to follow.

"Keep your rudeness inside your minds, yes? Tsk, tsk, the pawns of this generation sure are haughty. It makes you wonder what Snapper's been doing. Not her job, I'd bet, unlike me. Be a dear wouldn't you, little miss splitter? Keep him from killing himself. That's twice now I've corrected your courses. If only he had your Luck. That would make keeping tabs on the other six so much easier without him consuming so much of my focus."

Several seconds followed those words where Sophie stood still like a statue and did nothing but sweat and try her best to keep breathing.

"M-Miss Sophie?" Breena cautiously called from her side.

Sophie ignored her. She felt her hands shaking. "I couldn't see his voice but it was all that filled my existence. What did I just talk to? No, what just chose to talk at me?"

She had a lot to process and even more to talk about with Lone.

'Pawns... pawns... Sophie... could that person have been...?' Soph asked cautiously.

Sophie nodded slowly. 'I think so. Let us follow Lone. The moment he is alone, we must talk. This cannot be discussed without being near his side. We admit, we are too shaken to do this over telepathy.'

'Why are you so scared?' Soph asked.

'Are you stupid? We could not see his voice yet he spoke at us! How did he bypass our Mana Sensing? That was a being of immense power. A being of immense power that might have something to do with the Taker's odd actions,' Sophie snapped. 'And did you not notice he said it was not the first time he had interfered?!'

'Oh. Well... uh... at least whatever he is, he didn't kill us, so yay?' Soph said in an attempt to comfort herself.

"You are just as insufferable as he can be at times," Sophie spat out through gritted teeth.

"H-Huh?" Breena questioned in a hurt voice.

Sophie snorted. "Not you, you are just useless, not insufferable. Come, let us go."

"... R-Right... Uh, of course, Miss Sophie..." Breena said with a strained smile.