"First," Lone said, "Introductions. I'll apologise for my earlier curtness, though I'm sure you can understand it. I am Lone Immortus, Immortus the Immortal, gold-silver plate adventurer. I watched my mentor die today and was then attacked by your - brother, was it? - while I was grieving. Were I an ordinary blood mage of little ability, I would have been murdered in cold blood for no fuckin' reason."
The man with short blonde hair grimaced. "I can do nothing but express my deepest condolences for your loss. And I fear my brother is too foolish to apologise on his own so I shall do so in his stead. I am Andrew Keining, the 16th son of Prince Keining. You are right in that were you not so capable, you might have died. As an apology of my own, I'd love to invite you and your companion to stay in the royal palace during your stay in our fair Golden Pass City."
"Two companions, not one. Guess your mage didn't see Breena." Lone stroked his chin.
That was likely on account of Soph's magic dwarfing even his own, so if they were somehow able to detect Soph from within the carriage but not Breena, that indicated all the mage could see, or perhaps feel, was her mana.
Lone nodded to himself. "I might take you up on that. Anyway, 16th son? Motherfucker needs to learn some self-restraint. He's just asking to get murdered by some power-hungry child. Your dad's an XX-ranker, right? Might have to fight him once or twice before I leave the city..."
The man squirming on Lone's blood carpet with a broken leg muttered, "Insolence... How dare... a... blood mage speak so... ill of his highness..."
Lone rolled his eyes. "My guy, blood mages are not evil because they perform blood magic. I'm not gonna preach sense into your thick skull, but if I were you, I wouldn't antagonise the man who spared you from death or life as a cripple when you attacked me with no cause like some idiot drunk on a false sense of justice."
"If I may be so bold," Andrew spoke up, "what skill is it that you have used to conjure up this floating sheet and the draconic beast of blood? My sight mage told me it is not magical in nature."
Lone raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Sight mage? Now there's a type of magic I've never heard of before but considering sound magic is a thing, it's only a matter or time before I meet the sorry sod that's a scent mage. It's a skill called Blood Clone. It uses SP and my own blood to create the clone. It's as simple as that. If you want more details, look it up on the list."
Andrew and his retainers seemed to immediately understand what Lone meant by 'the list', meaning Andrew had managed to convey the concept of the credit slate to his companions just as he had to Soph and Breena.
At the same time, the retainers of Andrew's brother and the brother himself didn't appear to understand, which was interesting given their status.
"Now, sight mage, huh?" Lone said, looking between the two women dressed in clearly enchanted robes. "One of you is a fire mage, the other must be the interesting one. I can't detect MP in people yet, nor have I any idea how to differentiate it. So, who is who?"
"How is it you know my sister's primary magical attribute?" the woman wearing a long white robe encrusted with jewels and lined with golden thread asked a hint of fear in her tone.
"A good guess," Lone answered. "Use a sight skill on me."
"What?" Confusion overcame the sight mage's expression.
"Try and look into my mind, or soul, or magic, or whatever it is a sight mage does. Use a skill on me actively and I won't press the local guild to execute mister princeling's brother here for trying to murder me." Lone tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You too," he said, gesturing to the fire mage. "Hit me with your strongest fire magic skill, assuming you have more than just Fireball. I've got that skill already."
Some surprise flashed through Andrew's eyes at Lone mentioning he had a fire magic skill of his own, but he was quick to take the initiative despite that. "Hesha, Helen, please do as he says."
"As you wish, Young Master," they both said in unison.
Lone would be smiling from ear to ear were he not still trying to distract himself from Wilbur's death. Using Ungrounded, he started walking in the air ahead of the carriage, earning him several gasps of surprise.
"Chantless advanced air magic?" The fire mage Lone now knew to be called Hesha asked herself.
The sight mage, Helen, replied, "No, he's not using magic."
"It's a Primal skill," the rogue from the imprisoned prince's retainers muttered.
"Miss Can't Cut An Artery is correct, it's the skill I got from Sky," Lone replied. "Now hit me with your magic, if you wouldn't mind. No need to go in turns or worry about harming me. My moniker is Immortus the Immortal for a good reason."
The women both nodded and began chanting without any hesitation. Their charge had ordered them to comply, so there would be no reluctance from them.
'That one said 'chantless',' Lone thought as he waited. 'Normally, I would have thought that meant just needing the skill's name and no additional chants like they need right now, but I don't need to invoke Ungrounded's skill name to use it. Can magic be cast silently somehow? Can all skills? Dimensional Storage needs no invocation either... Hmm...'
Lone would be lying if he said he hadn't considered this at all before but he had just assumed it was a quirk of the system. However, if all skills could effectively be cast without a word, well, that changed things quite a bit.
A mass of fire and wrath engulfed Lone while he also felt a piercing set of eyes peer down upon him as if from the very heavens themselves, trying to gaze into his every secret.
The host has developed the active fire magic skill: Oxygen Ignition.
Active Fire Magic Skill: Oxygen Ignition
An advanced application of the fire magic school where the caster creates an invisible mass of harmless flames that contain a magnetic force which attracts oxygen.
When oxygen levels within the invisible mass of fire reach 25%, it will all ignite and explode with 2x the natural level of force it should explode with.
Cost: 20,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now intermediate level 2.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now intermediate level 3.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now intermediate level 4.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now intermediate level 5.
The host has developed the active sight magic skill: Oppressive Gaze.
Active Sight Magic Skill: Oppressive Gaze
A basic application of the sight magic school where the caster focuses the element of sight into an otherworldly set of eyes capable of seeing through more than normal eyes.
When active, will allow the host to see the intentions of the target. Warning! This skill will always be detected by the target.
Cost: 5,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Sight Magic.
The host has developed the passive skill: Sight Magic Resistance.
Passive Skill: Sight Magic Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of sight magic.
Sight magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Finally, a smile surfaced on Lone's face as he used Creation Magic to repair his tattered clothes. He returned to the carriage's coachman's seat and sighed in muted joy.
"What..." the sight mage's eyes had widened, but not in shock. No. Lone sensed admiration and perhaps even a hint of worship in her expression now. "A polymage..."
"Huh?" Lone tilted his head in thought. "Oh. Does a higher rank of that skill you used let you see a person's magical affinities?"
Andrew shot a meaningful glance at his retainer, clearly curious as to what had her so awestruck.
The sight mage bowed deeply at Lone and said, "I am honoured to be in your esteemed presence, Great Mage. I will always remember your kindness in allowing me to gaze upon such a beautiful arrangement of affinities."
And just like that, everyone felt her aura shift from that of a B-ranker to an A-ranker. The sight mage's experience of witnessing Lone's ten perfect magical affinities increasing by one had given her the enlightenment needed to breach the B-ranked level-cap barrier.
"Wow," Lone commented. "Well, at least I'm not the only one who gained from that exchange. Let's all have a pleasant chat now until we reach Golden Pass City, huh? We're not far now and I'm sure we both have a lot of questions for each other."
Princeling Andrew nodded his head immediately. "Indeed we do, though may we first treat my brother's injured retainers, assuming we've assuaged your anger enough?"
"I made sure to not give them life-threatening injuries, but sure. Gonna use magic to heal 'em?" Lone asked, his greed obvious in his tone.
The shorter of the two men that were Andrew's retainers stepped towards the blood carpet and answered, "No, simple first aid skills."
"Ah, shame. I still don't have any first aid skills myself. Well, another time then," Lone sighed as he willed the blood carpet to not obstruct the retainer's work. "So, tell me about Golden Pass City, Andrew. I expect to stay there for a few days, maybe a week at most, so any info would be appreciated."
----------------------------------------
"Hey!" A peppy woman who looked no older than perhaps 19 or 20 greeted Hazel who was waiting at the eastern city gate of Golden Pass City. "You're a warrior, right? Wanna join us on a Furster hunt? You'd only get a tenth of the pay for its hide and meat, but the levels are a sure-gone thing!"
Hazel quickly dropped her suppression of Mind Reading to check if the woman's intentions were as pure as her words.
'She's an iron plate even though she's so young. I'm still only a wooden! I bet she really knows how to use that sword and shield of hers! The more experienced fighters, the less risk! Da's always right about this kinda stuff,' the woman thought as she waited for Hazel's reply excitedly.
Seeing that there was no ulterior motive to be found, Hazel smiled politely and said, "I'm waiting for someone, actually. Thank you for the offer though. I appreciate it. If you're still in this city in a few months, maybe our groups can do some quests together."
The woman deflated a bit but bounced back just as quickly. "I live here so it's a promise! Seeya!"
Just as Hazel shook her head in wonder at how someone could be so friendly in such a world, she heard a commotion.
Turning her head in its direction, she saw seven people walking alongside a carriage of brass cogs and gears while two men floated on a blood sheet of some sort, and another person was being carried around in a very familiar-looking barrier.
She then spotted Lone who was happily conversing with three of the walking individuals, one of which she recognised. The face of the man trapped in a barrier was also not a new one to her.
'Why the fuck is he acting so casually with Princeling Andrew while Princeling Keith is being imprisoned?!' Hazel panicked.
"Well, you can have this back now," her brother said in the distance as the barrier surrounding Princeling Keith disappeared, resulting in him collapsing onto the ground face-first. "And you, if you ever attack me again unprompted, I won't spare your life. One second chance, that's all I'll afford."
Hazel paled. 'Princeling Keith attacked Darren? Why?'
She could hear the murmuring of the crowd as well as the gate guards who were debating on if they should arrest her brother or not.
Prince Andrew stepped forward and addressed the guards, "Gold-silver plate adventurer Lone Immortus here is my valued guest. Return to your posts but do know that he has permission to enter the city and the palace free of charge. Lone, where will you be parking your carriage and steamforged horses? They are rather valuable so I'd be happy to arrange for the palace stables to be available to you."
'What the... Why is Princeling Andrew acting so subservient to him?' Hazel thought. 'And Gold-silver plate? Fuck, that's a super respected rank in the guild...'
Lone nimbly got off of the coachman's seat and opened the side door of the carriage. Breena and Soph or Sophie - Hazel didn't know which - stepped on out.
With the mechanical carriage clear, her brother waved his hand and it along with the two steamforged horses disappeared. 'Dimensional Storage, right? He's just using it in public like that?'
Hazel noticed Soph or Sophie staring right at her as she tapped her head with her index finger nonchalantly.
'Wha- Oh, uh...' Hazel quickly stopped suppressing her unique skill and almost stumbled upon feeling what seemed like an insurmountable wall coming from her brother's mind. 'His Puzzle Locked Mind has gotten stronger. Much stronger.'
'This obviously is not a good place nor time for us to meet as planned. Return home or do something else. We can see you so long as you don't stray too far from the city so we shall teleport Lone to you once his curiosity at the palace has been sated. The fool wishes to fight the prince ruling this city. When there are skills on his mind, little else will manage to distract him,' the short woman whose tone reeked of Sophie's rather than Soph's conveyed.
Before she could be assaulted by any following thoughts from the darker personality of her brother's girlfriend, Hazel suppressed Mind Reading again and nodded firmly.