Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Pet Mastery] Has levelled up! It is now beginner Level 2.

"I only just put the brush in your hair... Well, let's see how many levels a single session will get me, shall we?" Lone asked Kyuubi.

The sleepy fox yawned before replying with, "Kyuu..."

Lone chuckled then got to work taking care of his adoptive daughter-slash-pet-fox. He carefully brushed every strand of fur, properly fluffed her tail, cleaned her ears, brushed her teeth, clipped her nails, and gave her a treat for not resisting or complaining in the slightest.

Foxes were weird. Lone knew they were like a mix between a dog and a cat, sometimes exhibiting the best of both, sometimes the worst of both. Kyuubi, on the other hand, was just a lazy blob of cuteness.

'She's a lot like Soph in some ways,' he joked internally.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Pet Mastery] Has levelled up! It is now beginner Level 3. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Pet Mastery] Has levelled up! It is now beginner Level 4. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Pet Mastery] Has levelled up! It is now beginner Level 5. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Pet Mastery] Has levelled up! It is now beginner Level 6.

Lone smiled as he cuddled the chubby fox snoozing on his belly. "Hard work in this dark cell but I think I did a good job. Another day or two and it'll be intermediate rank and then you can get even more out of these little pedicures, eh?"

He heard some footsteps approaching so he quickly unsummoned Kyuubi and got comfortable in his prisoner's cot.

"Oi, who're ye talkin' tae?" the guard asked upon reaching the door of Lone's cell.

Raising his head and noticed the tray of food with a glass of water on it too, Lone smiled. "Myself. I find it easier to work through things if I vocalise them. Is that against the rules here? Sorry if it is."

"Nah, cannae say it is." The dwarf shrugged as he placed the tray on the ground just outside of Lone's room. "Reach oot if ya wan' tae get some grub or wet yer throat. Ah ken ye asked tae be starved an' deprived ah water, but we're nae lookin' tae torture ya. Eat or dinnae, the choice is yers, nae oors."

"It'd be better served going to other prisoners, really. I'm trying to up my resistances," Lone explained.

The guard shook his head. "Yers nuts. Well, ye'd 'ave tae be tae try an' learn steamforgin' as ah non-dwarf."

He then walked off, presumably back to the prison's entrance or wherever else he was currently posted for his guard duty.

Lone sighed as he stood up and stretched. He approached the bars of his cell and crouched down. Sticking his hand through it, he stored the offered food and water while leaving the tray and cup alone.

"Even if I don't consume it, it'd be dumb to just waste it. I am lacking when it comes to my provision supplies after the journey back to the krieg, after all," Lone mumbled before he made his way to the centre of his cell.

"Ungrounded," he invoked, using the Primal skill Sky had forced onto him when it made him its Avatar.

Here he was, insolated in a small room with nothing to do besides train his skills, think, or sleep. It was obvious which of his options Lone would choose to do.

Congratulations! The host's primal skill [Ungrounded] Has levelled up! It is now beginner Level 10. Congratulations! The host's primal skill [Ungrounded] Has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 1. Primal Skill: Ungrounded

A skill granted to the avatar of Sky.

Grants the host the ability to walk on any substance as if it were land.

Cost: 800 SP [-200 SP] per second. Mastery: Intermediate Level 1

Lone allowed himself to drop to the ground as he wore a disappointed expression on his face. "I know hoping for a new ability at intermediate was a bit much, but it is a Primal skill... While I appreciate the insane cost becoming slightly less insane, this just isn't what I wanted."

He scratched his head before putting his chin in his hand. "I know subskills are a thing. I mean, I have one - Bone Armour. What about learning new abilities for skills before ranking them up?"

He flopped onto the floor and assumed a cross-legged position. "I wish I had a higher rank in the guild. I bet such an old, large, and powerful, organisation has this entire system fully figured out top to bottom."

Thinking on that, Lone reached into his Dimensional Storage and retrieved the communication orb Gilbert had gifted him. "It's been a while since we last spoke."

Lone then reached out to one of his two telepathic connections. 'Hey, Soph. Do you mind teleporting in here and activating my communication orb? I don't wanna extend my MP seal, if possible.'

'Sure. I don't mind. It's, uh, it's on you though if someone detects me,' Soph answered.

'I doubt this prison has someone as skilled as Hamish in scouting just lingering around, but sure, I'll take responsibility if we get found out,' Lone answered with a smile.

"The great astral beings from beyond, imbue my spell with your blessing and your power! Know that I do not submit myself to you, but I give my undying admiration and respect to thee in exchange for the power you grant me!" Forces swirled in the air unlike anything Shana had likely ever seen before, Gilbert reckoned with a smug grin plastered across his lips.

"I know not your name, you know not mine, yet still, you will allow this spell to come into creation! You know of gravity and its dominance, I know of gravity and its ever-presence! Show this measly mortal plane that which can be dominated by what is ever-present! Gravity Storm!" Gilbert finished his chant.

The gathered powers in the air ripped the ocean in two as everything flipped upside down and then compressed into the centre of a violent storm that seemed invisible yet rocked even the air into uncertainty.

Gilbert used some freeform gravity magic to move the compressed ball of air and water to lay atop his open palm.

"Now, dear Shana, I used two spells there. One, chantlessly, the other, quite clearly, with a chant," Gilbert explained. "Can you tell me what the spells were and how they differed?"

Shana scrunched up her brow, something that made her look even more masculine than she already did as a dwarf, the White Dragonkin thought.

'Such a shame to be born as a dwarf when you have such immense magical talents. That foolhardy species doesn't have the necessary infrastructure to support any magical talents outside of enchanting and scripture magic,' he thought.

It was quite vexing, in truth. The true masters of enchanting magic were all dwarves and almost every single one of them was impossible to gain tutelage from since they were such a secretive and reclusive species, the dwarves.

'I won't say it was lucky meeting me given both your former circumstances and our current ones, but at least now you can slowly become the grandmaster gravity mage destiny always hoped you would,' Gilbert thought with both regret and pride.

"Well... Uh... I know the chanted one was Gravity Storm. That's a tier two gravity spell," Shana said in a mildly certain tone.

Not perfect, but it was a good sign his teachings hadn't been completely lost on the dwarven child. "That's right. Now, what else can you tell me about Gravity Storm? Specifically, about how I used it."

"Um... From what you've told me, it was about 1.25 times stronger than it should have been. You, uh, you have it at expert mastery, right?" Shana asked.

'So much hesitation even when you are right. Such a difficult attribute to hammer out of a person. Well, I'll manage somehow,' Gilbert thought as he nodded.

"Right, uh, the chanting did that, didn't it? It added extra power to the spell. Was that a fixed chant, by the way?" Shana asked curiously.

Gilbert's one remaining eye lit up in joy. "Good! Don't ever be afraid to ask questions of me. The chant was not fixed, no. It is one I am constantly modifying in the hopes of making the spell even stronger. For the past 50 years I've been seeking aid from the astral plane to boost it, but perhaps I'll move on to the hells. Demons can give tremendous power if treated carefully eno-"

At that moment, the communication orb in his robe's front pocket hummed to life with magic. "Lone is contacting me, it would seem. We'll discuss the other spell once I'm done. Quickly though, can you tell me its name?"

"Um... Gravity Compression?" Shana asked in an unsure manner as with her brow once again, furrowed.

Gilbert shook his head as he withdrew the communication orb from his robe and poured some of his MP into it. "It is called Gravital Compression. Close enough though. Go see if you can't help your foolish uncle and that useless duke with whatever it is they are working on right now."

"The seventh attempt at making a proper ship? Sure. I'll, uh, come back in an hour?" Shana said questioningly.

Gilbert just nodded as a voice chuckled through the orb. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Yes, but it's not that big of a deal. I was merely teaching Shana some gravity magic. Well, specifically, about my skills in the magic. She can only take being surrounded by raw gravity magic for so long, what with her being a child at such a low rank," Gilbert answered honestly. "How about you? What are you up to these days, son? If I recall correctly, you were travelling with an untrustworthy dwarf towards a lost urd, yes?"

"Haha, yeah, that I was. Got there, levelled up a bunch off of a horde of Balor Demon Bats then used up the Djinn's Wish you gifted Sophie and me," Lone answered.

'Of course. Never a peaceful day in this boy's life, is there?' The old White Dragonkin thought as his racial skill let him know Lone spoke the truth.

"I hope the side effects weren't too bad? I know you're a clever lad, but if you had to resort to using the wish even despite all of your unique skills, then I'm left worrying you were hardly sound of mind when you summoned the Djinn," Gilbert expressed his concern.

"Hit the nail on the head, you did. Turns out the urd was holding Darkness in it. As in, the Primal. I have no clue if the fucker was sealed or just chilling out down there. Either way, it got me good. Bastard tricked me into thinking it wanted to possess me only for it to try to possess Breena," Lone detailed.

"Breena? The Crimson Foxkin girl?" Gilbert asked as he sat down on the sandy beach.

"Yup. Anyway, I obviously wasn't going to let that happen. Sophie wanted me to kill her to stop it but I couldn't do that. I used the wish and kinda... threatened the Djinn," Lone confessed with an awkward chuckle.

"Of course you did. Let me guess, it forced Darkness into your soul," Gilbert sighed deeply.

"Bang on the money again. I mean, It's not a huge deal since the ageing means nothing to me and I got another skill out of it - one I can't use since it needs MP - but yeah, kinda sucks. I also got into a big fight with Sophie over it so she isn't talking to me anymore," the young Golden Foxkin claimed with regret and some sadness in his tone.

Gilbert smiled wryly as he shook his head. 'The struggles of the young. No one wants to deal with suddenly becoming a Primal's awakened, let alone its Avatar, but the stupid boy seems more concerned about his lover's spat than about Darkness itself. His priorities baffle me.'

"At least you're back in the krieg now, yes? More than enough time has passed. I know nothing of love having never possessed an interest in the subject, but treat her with respect and I imagine things will resolve themselves in time," Gilbert offered what little advice he felt he could, given the situation.

"Ah, well, I'm pretty confident I can patch things up myself. I do have, uh, more pressing concerns though," Lone stated vaguely.

Gilbert narrowed his eye in suspicion. "What does that mean?"

"Well... I may or may not be imprisoned for illegally learning the Steamforging skill and for stealing the steamforged artefact used to determine that I have said skill. Apparently, a 'Taker' is planned to come and deal with me? I was hoping to get your thoughts on the matter. Y'know, be my defacto lawyer or something. Soph and I can teleport out of here whenever, but I'd rather do things legally if possible since I don't want to implicate Wilbur," Lone explained, much to Gilbert's horror.

'And here I was thinking my stress levels were only just now starting to decrease... This fucking idiot of a foxkin!' Gilbert yelled internally as he responded with nothing but a massive sigh.

"Haha, yeah, it's kinda serious. Like I said though, we can bounce whenever. I did already make an enemy out of one kingdom, so, if possible, I'd rather not do the same again but with an entire species this time," Lone expressed.

Gilbert sighed again. "You may just have to."

"What? Why? There's no way around this?" Lone asked in confusion.

Gilbert put a hand to his heavily scarred face and he spoke through his fingers, "Takers are not to be treated lightly. They need only touch you and then they can strip you of every single skill you possess. It's not even a skill they use, it's an inborn talent. Like how we can breathe and talk, they can simply... take. They're so rare but I have heard the dwarves do use them when outsiders learn Steamforging."

"Oh..." was Lone's only answer.

"'Oh', indeed," Gilbert mimicked with a wry smile. 'This foolish lad. Of course the moment I start seeing some pup as a son of sorts he becomes the most annoying to handle son on the entire face of Altros...'

Still, as the boy's father figure, he needed to do something, no? "Listen up. I'll tell you everything I know as well as give you a few options. You don't necessarily need to flee immediately, but you'll need to tell me everything about your situation. Down to the last detail. You are definitely in the wrong here but the guild has its own laws. Some of which I may be able to get you to use for your own benefit without making you the most wanted man of all of the dwarven councils. It's unlikely, but it's best we at least try."