Strike after strike battered away at Lone's blood fortress shield. Occasionally, one wouldn't be negated by Fortress Shield Mastery, and Kevin's estoc, Ellie, would come very close to piercing the Blood Clone.
However, the strength of the Blood Clone in combination with Lone's passive skill Blood Thickening, on top of the 95% force nullification from Fortress Shield Mastery, prevented any breaches in the fluid bubble that protected his body.
Congratulations! The host's active skill [Blood Clone] has levelled up! It is now Expert level 9.
'Nice. Musta been close to a level-up already, but then again, I haven't had my Blood Clones endure stabbing attacks as fierce as this dude's before,' Lone commented.
Before too long, he heard the prince's 11th son say, "I have expended almost all of my SP."
Lone knew that was as good a cue as any to move the Blood Clone back into its bucket, revealing his untouched form to the crowd. "I cannot give too much advice since I couldn't see your attacks, only feel them. Still, the few that got past the 95% nullification were powerful indeed, even with most of their force stripped from them. I hope you gained from the experience?"
"A single level in Estoc Mastery," Kevin confessed. "It was a worthwhile experience, attacking something so alive yet so impossible to break through. Those few moments where I almost successfully pierced... I think I came very close to attaining Skill Enlightenment."
"Now that woulda been a sight," Lone commented. "Shame you didn't. Well, who's next?"
Kevin scrunched up his brow. "I beg your pardon?"
"What?" Lone shot him a funny look. "Did you think I was just gonna wait for you to recover? Who's next? In fact, I'm happy to teach groups so long as you're all SS-ranked or lower. I don't have all night since I gotta catch my 40 winks before my fight with Prince Keining tomorrow, so be quick about it! Fight each other for placements if you need to but I want a constant stream of people to teach, so hop to it!"
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Back at their room in the palace, having parted ways with Yulia and Kevin who had both decided to tag along with them, Soph leaned into Lone's chest and said, "The guildmaster was watching you the entire day."
Lone had gained eight new skills after his little teaching session with Princeling Kevin. Two he earned from one person, three which were new magic skills for schools he already had an affinity for, one expected and one unexpected resistance, a new active skill, and the last one came from Princeling Kevin's party member.
They were Heavy Bow Mastery, Piercing Resistance, Earth Spear, Thorny Itch, Nature Magic Resistance, Water Gaol, Drowning Resistance, Sundering Might, and finally, Gentle Glow.
"Details?" Lone asked his girlfriend as he pulled up the information of his new skills.
Passive Skill: Heavy Bow Mastery
A child skill of the parent skill [Bow Mastery] commonly used by incredibly strong archers that have the same efficiency as a catapult.
When attacking with a heavy bow, any arrows fired will travel 95% slower but will deal 5% more damage.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
'What a shit skill. It must be godly at master rank with the correct additional effects to warrant being so bad at beginner rank,' Lone thought. 'No wonder that building of a woman took the chance to practice it on me since it has such a massive drawback.'
Passive Skill: Piercing Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist piercing attacks at varying levels based on mastery.
All piercing attacks the host suffers will be weakened by 5%.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
'The arrow from the heavy bow must have been enchanted to pierce or something. There's no way I wouldn't have gotten this skill sooner unless it needed contact with said enchantment. I basically side gig as a pin cushion, after all,' he concluded. 'Or it's insanely hard to earn, even more so than parent weapon mastery skills. It is a very vague far-reaching resistance, after all.'
"I made sure to pay attention to what the powerful people in the building were saying. The guildmaster is an X-ranker I think," Soph said. "He wanted to come watch in person from the start but his advisor, a guy called Thomas, stopped him. While he did his work though, he kept looking in the direction we were in. He can, I dunno, see through walls or something. The guy seems like Hilda in that he likes, uh, fighting."
"An X-ranker? That's certainly the strongest guildmaster we've run into so far. Shame he couldn't come down. I'd have taught him for free and hopefully earned a skill or two of his with Teaching Mastery's additional effect," Lone sighed in regret as he continued looking at his new skills.
Active Earth Magic Skill: Earth Spear
A standard application of the earth magic school where the caster focuses the element of earth into a spear.
The skill is twice as powerful and takes half as long to cast if there is a source of natural earth nearby.
Cost: 5,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
'The earth mage's spears were needle-like in width and they only managed two before almost passing out. Still, they got four levels from the experience, so they must've been a new mage,' Lone concluded.
Active Nature Magic Skill: Thorny Itch
An uncommon application of the nature magic school where the caster focuses the element of nature into wild thorns that will appear on the target's body and force it to itch uncontrollably to varying degrees based on mastery.
Maximum simultaneous targets: 1.
Cost: 1,000 MP per second per target. Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Passive Skill: Nature Magic Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of Nature Magic.
Nature Magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
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'Either that old S-ranker never gets to use this skill, or it has some crazy effects that can be earned or unlocked at high ranks,' Lone thought. 'It didn't really do much to me so I wonder if they forcefully suppressed any interesting additional effects? Assuming that's possible...'
He would have preferred the greying man had used his most powerful skills on him but Lone wasn't in a position to demand that in a public setting so he'd have to settle with this uncommon nature magic skill instead.
Active Water Magic Skill: Water Gaol
An uncommon application of the water magic school where the caster focuses the element of water into a spherical prison that will fully encapsulate their target.
Cost: 5,000 MP per second. Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Passive Skill: Drowning Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist the negative effects of suffocation via water.
The host can hold their breath for 5% longer.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
'It's so interesting that the skill title is translated to 'gaol', not 'jail'. I wonder why that is?' Lone pondered before shaking his head and moving on.
Active Skill: Sundering Might
A common skill for warriors confident their strike will not be met with a counterattack due to how draining it is on the host.
When invoked while striking an opponent with the flat edge of a weapon, halves the speed of the attack but quadruples the force.
Cost: 95% of the host's SP. Mastery: Beginner Level 1
'Useless for bladed weapons, godly for blunt ones like hammers and maces. With my Creation Magic though, this gives me ideas... I can only imagine how stupidly powerful this skill could be at master rank,' he thought, eager to see the true potential of this skill unleashed.
Active Heavenly Magic Skill: Gentle Glow
A common application of the heavenly magic school where the caster focuses the element of the heavens into a warm glow with restorative powers.
The cost of this skill varies based on the wounds it is tasked with healing.
The skill only affects physical wounds.
The skill may only be used once a day.
Cost: 50,000 MP base cost. 1 DP. Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Heavenly Magic.
'DP is a new term. Wonder what it stands for? I'd bet on 'Divine Power'. I also wonder how I can get it... I wasn't awarded any like I was with World Force, so I likely have to kill a heavenly magic wielder to use this currently worthless skill,' Lone surmised.
"Why didn't you teach everyone for free?" Soph asked. "I thought your Teaching Mastery could give you more free skill stuff if you did."
Lone watched his girlfriend yawn before blinking her eyes a few times. He smiled and answered, "It's a 0.5% chance for me to earn a skill the student knows if they end up learning a new skill from my teaching, or the same chance for my version of whatever skill I'm teaching to level up once per student. I wasn't teaching new skills today, just letting myself get hit while giving out advice."
"Ahh... You know, it's kinda nice not having to worry about so many skills. Even if it means I'm less versatile than you," Soph mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.
Lone shook his head, smile still on his lips. "You're not wrong there. It'll be a real fuckin' pain levelling everything I have. So long as we deal with Zel, I'll have an eternity to do it..."
He sighed and then pulled up his notification log to look at the level ups for the few skills of his that had benefited from the tutoring session.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Blood Thickening] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Blood Thickening] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Blood Thickening] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Blood Thickening] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.
Congratulations! The host's active skill [Blood Clone] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 10.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Oaken Flesh] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 5.
The gains of today made Lone incredibly excited for the gains that tomorrow promised. His fight with Prince Keining would likely push many of his more annoying skills to level, and perhaps even rank up for some of them.
Tomorrow afternoon couldn't come fast enough so Lone made sure Breena was okay on the adjacent sofa. She was sleeping soundly so he closed his eyes, held Soph closely, and then forced himself to sleep.
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"Lone," Soph said as he, she, and Breena, approached the arena Lone was set to fight the ruler of this principality in.
"Hmm?" Lone donned a questioning gaze.
"Lots of people are looking at me. Um, mostly men. The looks aren't... great. I noticed it a bit yesterday but it's way worse today," she expressed her concerns to Lone.
He frowned. "It might be wise to put Sophie in control. This place values strength over everything else so if anyone tries anything that they shouldn't even be thinking of, then she can deal with it appropriately. Find Princeling Kevin for me too, please? I'll have a word with him about getting V.I.P. seats for you guys or something."
"This stupid face... I wish Body Manipulation would let me be ugly or something," Soph muttered although Lone heard her with ease.
'Never say that again. You are beautiful and I like you that way. You are not to blame for people being unable to control their lust. Besides, it's only dirty and suspicious looks at the moment, right? So long as it stays that way, it's fine. And if it escalates, well, that's why we're both getting stronger, so no one can even dare to think of fucking with us,' Lone sent telepathically.
He saw a smile worm its way onto his lovely girlfriend's expression before her face hardened and her eyes narrowed in caution, signalling Sophie's arrival. 'We shall take you to the man with a compensatory sword. He is already in the building. And... thank you. We think you are pleasing to the eyes as well.'
Lone grinned, happy to see his telepathic words having an impact. He leaned down to Breena's ear and whispered, "Don't get in Sophie's way but help her as much as you can if anyone tries to take advantage of her or yourself, 'kay?"
Breena nodded seriously, clearly more than willing to stop lechers given her past with such a person.
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Now alone and waiting in the eastern waiting area of the central arena, Lone raised his head from his seated position to look at Princeling Andrew.
"As requested, Elder Brother Kevin was able to arrange for your partner and fellow foxkin to be seated in the V.I.P. lounge. It's amazing how you earned his favour. Yulia I could understand since she is no fighter, but Kevin? You truly are incredibly powerful," the blonde-haired man claimed.
"Bet your dad'll still slap me around," Lone laughed.
"If you are so certain of your defeat, why challenge him to a duel? You do not seem the type to enjoy public humiliation though I do admit, I know too little about you to make an apt judgement. I also apologise if my question is rude. You seem to like candidness so I am trying to be frank when possible," Andrew said.
"And you'd be right. I do appreciate the peeling back of the false smiles. But yeah, I'm no glutton for ruining my public image. I didn't even want this fight to be public. Your dad's a politician, alright, doing that. Totally understand his reasoning. Anyway, how often do you think the average person gets the chance to fight an XX-ranker in a controlled environment?" Lone asked in response.
Andrew frowned. "Never for most, almost never for the very lucky or unlucky few depending on your perspective. Why is this a good thing though? You stand to learn nothing in a one-sided fight."
A sound mage entered the room. The woman was to guide Lone to the arena while putting magic on him that would amplify his voice so the whole crowd could hear any exchanges between both him and the prince.
Lone got up and patted Andrew on the shoulder. "That's where you're wrong, pal. Even were you not me with my particular talents, when your life isn't in danger, everyone stands to learn a thing or two from a losing battle. And besides, this fight won't be nearly as instant or one-sided as perhaps you might be assuming. Your dad's strong, sure, but no one's invincible. Well, not yet. I'm working on that."
He left the astounded princeling to his own thoughts and introduced himself to the sound mage before leaving the waiting room with her.