First, Lone read all of his level-up notifications as well as the ones for his newly acquired skills.

The host has developed the active skill: Weapon Block.

'Huh. That was unexpected. For trying to block that attack that broke my swordspear and sent me flying, I suppose?' Lone wondered as he pulled up the skill's information.

Active Skill: Weapon Block

A common skill for non-shield using warriors.

Allows the host to nullify 5% of the force of an incoming attack if blocking it with a weapon.

Cost: 5,000 SP Mastery: Beginner Level 1

'Hmm... Sounds like a decent passive skill but as an active it's kind of... bad? Well, at least I have one more use for my SP I guess, though that does drain pretty fast naturally when I'm fighting.' Lone was a bit let-down, but, he was perfectly aware that this skill could potentially save his life. 5% could make all of the difference, after all.

Congratulations! the host's unique subskill skill [Bone Armour] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 5. Congratulations! the host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 1.

'Oh, A rank up! This damned skill stopped levelling up and wouldn't react even if I was almost killing myself with my magic every day, so this is handy. Fingers crossed for a new effect,' Lone thought as he unconsciously tightened his grip around Gilbert's neck, choking the dragonkin slightly and earning him an elbow to the ribs.

Unique Skill: Basic Regeneration

A skill unique to the host, Lone Immortus.

Grants the host the ability to passively heal injuries at a fast rate. The healing rate can be increased in exchange for mana.

Cost: 20 MP [-10 MP] (per second per 1% increase in healing rate) Mastery: Expert Level 5

'Damn... Still, it's a lot cheaper again, so I can't rightly bitch and whine about it since it's such a stupidly useful skill,' Lone convinced himself even though he was very disappointed deep down. 'Also, level five? Not one? Ah, right... The skill levelled-up when I almost died before Gilbert saved my life... Guess I just haven't seen the notifs for that yet.'

In light of that he continued looking through his system notification.

Congratulations! the host's active lightning magic skill [Lightning Bolt] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 4. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Evasion Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.

'Woah, that's a lot of levels. What did I dodge to get all of them?' It took him a second, but he quickly remembered avoiding the chieftain's axe when the monster had thrown it at him. He'd flung his body to the ground in a powerful slide, narrowly saving his body from being split straight down the middle.

Not long after that, his body had moved on its own, resulting in half of his limbs being chopped off instead of him being sliced clean down the middle by the return of the chieftain's magical axe.

"Would you stop shivering?!" Gilbert yelled. "You're not cold, are you?"

Lone chuckled. "Sorry, I'm just going over my gains from the fight. I remembered almost dying, hence the shivering."

"Ah." Gilbert's playfulness came to a grinding halt. "Fair enough."

Lone smiled. He really did appreciate how understanding the old man who looked roughly 35 was being, all things considered.

He took a deep breath and put the dodging incident behind him as he resumed the reading of his notifications.

Congratulations! the host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 2. Congratulations! the host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 3. Congratulations! the host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 4. Congratulations! the host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 5.

'Yup. Called it. That hurt like a motherfucker... I guess PPR is next?' Lone wondered.

Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 8. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 9.

'Damn, only two levels shy of a rank-up... I kinda wish Gilbert had waited a minute or two before saving me...' Lone quickly shook his head after imagining that. 'Stop thinking like that, you idiot. A few more minutes and you'd have bled out, meaning that Sophie would have been forced to reverse time.'

With all of that out of the way, only five blue screens remained.

Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Poison Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 3. The host has gained immunity to [Carbon Monoxide Poisoning].

'Oh, sweet. I half expected to get a smoke-based resistance skill or something, but this works too. I guess it makes sense, and now I have the qualifications to be the perfect firefighter, right?' Lone joked as he looked at the next system message.

The host has developed the active nature magic skill: Root of Life. Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Nature Magic.

'So I didn't get the gravity magic skill Gilbert used to get us out of the camp? Why not? Did he not use it directly on us, but around us? Like, did he alter the gravity near us to make us float and not us specifically?' Lone couldn't think of a better explanation since he generally learned a skill the moment it was used on him.

He could always ask, but he wasn't quite sure how the guildmaster would feel knowing that Lone had, in essence, stolen one of his powerful spells without putting any effort into learning it whatsoever, so, instead, he just checked his final notification.

Congratulations! The host has successfully gained enlightenment and ranked up. The host is now an E-ranker.

Well, Lone was already aware of that since he could feel that he was stronger now. He immediately pulled up his status to see how many levels and stats he'd gained from the Blue Orc Chieftain.

Status Name: Lone Immortus Sex: Male Age: 24 Level: 99 Species: Foxkin Rank: E [Up from F] Race: Golden Foxkin HP: 29,950/29,950 [+12,000] SP: 18,209/34,820 [+9,850] MP: 2,410/38,460 Basic Stats Strength: 2,203 [+600] Vigour: 2,995 [+1,200] Dexterity: 1,782 [+190] Agility: 2,044 [+202] Vitality: 3,482 [+985] Luck: 116 [+10] Secret Stats Charm: 77 Charisma: 49 Magic Power: 3,846

'No level ups? Did I not rank-up when I killed him?' Lone didn't understand.

He thought about the matter for a few minutes before realising what had actually happened. 'I ranked up when I was dying? Did I, what, gain enlightenment on my deathbed? That's dumb... I guess it makes sense, but boy is it useless in most situations since you'd, y'know, expire like a bag of bananas left out in the sun.'

With all of his notifications now cleared, Lone decided to look at the information of his new skill, Root of Life. Gilbert had already explained the basics of the skill when he'd used it, but for a magic enthusiast like Lone, there was no reason not to check it out. Doubly so since he had nothing to do while he was being carried by Gilbert.

Active Nature Magic Skill: Root of Life

A very rare application of the nature magic school where the caster focuses the element of nature into summoning a root of Altros which is capable of fully healing a being dying of physical injuries.

Can only be used once every 12-months.

Beings this skill is used on will take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to recover.

Cost: 150,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1

'Well, that's useless. I didn't expect such a huge MP cost but it makes sense since it's such a powerful skill. Maybe if it was unique it'd be more reasonable to use, but, if it was unique, I'd not have learned it like Soph's Mana Sensing or Teleportation,' Lone thought a bit regretfully.

'Still, Gilbert said he could only use it once every 6-months, not once a year, so his must be, what, intermediate or advanced, right? He must have been using this skill for, like, a century assuming his growth rate is fairly normal,' Lone concluded.

He kept himself busy with similar thoughts, and, before long, he, Sophie, the two ex-slaves and Gilbert had all returned to the city of Ranton without much incident.

As soon as they had reached the city gates, Lone jumped off of Gilbert's back. "Thanks for the ride."

"You really shouldn't be walking just yet," Gilbert protested like a worried father.

"I'm fine. I heal quickly. My HP's already full and my SP and MP are getting there, MP a bit slower than SP though," Lone claimed as he did some stretches and started popping his joints.

Gilbert frowned. "Okay, but stay close to me. We're returning straight to the guild."

Lone and Sophie both nodded.

The five of them got some funny looks. Partially because the guildmaster of the local branch of The Adventurer's Guild was with them, a little bit because two slaves were a part of the group, but mostly because Lone and Sophie were covered in blood and reeked even worse than the sewers. Something about orc guts was particularly... foul.

"Is that smoke?" Lone asked as his eyes looked up into the air.

Gilbert's gaze followed the foxkin's. "Seems like it."

"That looks like it's right above... the slums?" Lone said questioningly.

Sophie sulked. "We cannot see it."

"Well, yeah. You're blind, ya silly girl," Gilbert laughed as playfully as he could to help lighten her up. In his opinion, Sophie was far too uptight.

Sophie rolled her grey eyes and didn't bother contesting the man's statement.

It was then that the elven slave timidly opened her mouth. "U-Um, Daisuki-sa-, I mean, uh, the hero said that he was g-going to retrieve Harem Member Two after today's quest."

"Oh? What does that have to do with that smoke?" Gilbert asked.

"Well, uh, he did some snooping and found out that there's only one free dwarf in this city. Harem Member Two was a dwarf, so he f-figured the free dwarf somehow kidnapped her. She went missing about, uh, 2-months ago?" the elven girl admitted.

Lone's face fell. "Grimsley's smithy."

Without waiting for any more explanation to be given, he bolted off at his top speed towards the border between the residential district and the slum district where Grimsley's home was.

Gilbert's eyes opened wide. "What on Altros... That isn't the speed of an E-ranker! He's got at least as much Agility as a high C-ranker!"

Sophie looked at the White Dragonkin and asked, "Can you catch him? We fear he will do something foolish if he runs into that 'hero' right now."

"No way. I'm a mage, not a warrior or a runner. I've never trained my body more than enough to avoid getting blisters on long walks," the SS-ranked man admitted a bit shamelessly.

Sophie sighed. "We are in a similar boat, unfortunately. Let us return to the guild. Lone is a smart man if a bit impulsive at times. He will come and find us once he is done. Hopefully, best-case-scenario, the smoke isn't from a building burning down or is from a different building."

Gilbert looked worried. "You're right, unfortunately. We need to deal with these poor girls first."

A crowd had gathered around the smithy which had smoke pouring out of its chimney. The building had no windows and the door to the place had been broken so as to prevent entry, though a bit of smoke was escaping from underneath it.

Lone arrived on the scene like a hurricane. His face had some sweat dripping down it, but no anger could be seen on his expression, only worry.

He pushed past the crowd a bit roughly, earning him some foul-worded shouts.

"Oi, demi, what the fuck de ya think yer doin'?!"

"Don't get me covered in your germs, you animal!"

"Ow! That hurt, ya fuckin' mongrol!"

He didn't care. He reached the door and jammed his fingers into the broken parts to get a hold of it. With all of his strength, he ripped the thing off of its hinges and tossed it aside, scaring the life out of the spectators.

Lone immediately ran into the building. He couldn't see much on account of the smoke, but he wasn't affected by it health-wise thanks to his new carbon monoxide immunity, so he decided that he'd empty his MP once again to stop the fire.

"Waterball! Waterball! Waterball!" Very quickly, his mind began throbbing in pain, but he hardly cared. "Waterball! Waterball! Waterball!"

It was possible to overtax mana organs which he was more than aware of thanks to his Creation Magic experiments, so overtax them he would if the life of his blacksmithing master and friend was in danger.