Lone sat on a chair that he'd whipped out of his Dimensional Storage while Sophie kept a keen eye on their surroundings.

Since their arrival to this island, her Mana Sensing had increased in level from Beginner Level 1 all the way up to Intermediate Level 1 according to both her and Soph. This resulted in its range of fifteen-feet going up by a factor of ten, so she could cover a distance of one-hundred-and-fifty-feet in any direction.

This change had only occurred yesterday. Once again, Lone was unsure if she was fast to rank up her skill, or slow. He needed more data to confirm if she was normal, or a genius by this planet's standards.

Anyway, since she could inform him of any approaching goblin groups well before they reached them, Lone had time to look through his new system notifications.

Congratulations! the host's subskill [Bone Armour] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 2.

"Huh. Bone Armour went up after just that one skirmish? Why?" Lone asked aloud.

Sophie looked at him and tilted her helmet-covered head. Apparently, that was a habit of both Soph's and hers when they were confused. "Is that special?"

Lone shook his head. "Not really, it's just, it took us roughly an hour per level before, so I'm kinda curious why it levelled up after only getting hit a few times by those goblins' shitty weapons and the magic."

Sophie shrugged. "Maybe because they wanted to kill you when we were simply training?"

"Maybe..." Again, he needed more data. For now, he moved on with his notifications.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Swordspear Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

Again, only a single level, but that made sense. He had only killed five regular goblins as well as the Hobgoblin. 'Well, this at least confirms that the strength of the target means nothing. Otherwise, with my Growth Accelerator, I'm pretty sure I'd have gotten two or three levels for kicking that hob's ass. Still, need to verify this at some point.'

The host has developed the passive skill: Water Magic Resistance. The host has developed the active water magic skill: Crude Waterball. The host has developed the passive skill: Lightning Magic Resistance. The host has developed the active lightning magic skill: Crude Lightning Bolt.

'Sweet!' Something about magic just sent Lone's heart fluttering despite the fact that the crude spells were seemingly useless considering their long casting times. A man's romance, perhaps? Regardless, he stopped checking the notifications for a moment to inspect his new skills.

Passive Skill: Water Magic Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of Water Magic.

Water Magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1 Active Water Magic Skill: Crude Waterball

An incredibly rudimentary application of the common [Waterball] Water Magic skill.

Due to its crudeness, 100 lines of Ancient Magic Speech must be chanted either verbally or mentally to invoke this skill. These lines will automatically be spoken or thought by the host when the host intends to use this skill.

The MP cost to invoke this skill is substantially increased due to its inherent flaws.

Cost: 5,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1 Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Water Magic. Passive Skill: Lightning Magic Resistance

A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of Lightning Magic.

Lightning Magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1 Active Lightning Magic Skill: Crude Lightning Bolt

An incredibly rudimentary application of the common [Lightning Bolt] Lightning Magic skill.

Due to its crudeness, 100 lines of Ancient Magic Speech must be chanted either verbally or mentally to invoke this skill. These lines will automatically be spoken or thought by the host when the host intends to use this skill.

The MP cost to invoke this skill is substantially increased due to its inherent flaws.

Cost: 5,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1 Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Lightning Magic.

"The resistance will always be useful, and maybe I can use these crude spells to train and develop the real versions of the spells?" Sophie looked at Lone strangely. He would do that every now and then. Break out of his thoughts and speak out loud. It didn't bother Soph, but Sophie found it mildly irritating.

"Hmm... I should check my magic affinity sheet at some point if I wanna experiment. I bet I can learn new spells for the magic types I'm more attuned to pretty fast," Lone concluded.

At this point, Sophie was done with him. She punched him in the shoulder, hard. "We are the only one who is allowed to be insane here. Stop talking to yourself."

Lone smiled wryly under his helmet as he rubbed his now aching shoulder. "Sorry. New bad habit." With that said, he returned to looking at his notifications.

Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9. Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.

Consciously thinking instead of speaking, Lone said to himself, 'Damn. One more level until another rank up. I wonder how it'll change at advanced?'

Congratulations! The host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3.

'Only one level when PPR got two? I guess there was more pain than actual damage. Either that or self-healing damaged nerves is the same as self-healing skin in BR's eyes,' Lone commented internally as he shortened the two skills' names into more convenient acronyms.

With his notifications out of the way, all that was left to inspect now was his status.

Status Name: Lone Immortus Sex: Male Age: 24 Level: 36 [+8] Species: Foxkin Rank: H Race: Golden Foxkin HP: 1,480/1,480 [+470] SP: 3,891/4,650 [+1,040] MP: 6,543/7,960 [+1,440] Basic Stats Strength: 153 [+71] Vigour: 148 [+47] Dexterity: 174 [+31] Agility: 126 [+16] Vitality: 465 [+104] Luck: 56 [+2] Secret Stats Charm: 72 Charisma: 40 Magic Power: 796 [+144]

'Lots of strength, vitality and magic power with a decent chunk of vigour... This basically confirms that I'm taking the stats of whatever I kill. Either that or I'm taking a good portion of them. I'll need to find out if this is normal, or if I'm just getting that due to my Growth Accelerator. Regardless, it's looking to be one of my best skills yet, If I'm being honest,' Lone speculated.

He got up and stretched his back. "You good to go?"

"Home, or more hunting?" Sophie instantly replied.

"Hunting. It's still pretty early and my MP and SP are looking great. Yours?" Lone asked.

Sophie quickly scanned her status. "MP is fine. SP is a bit worse. We only have just over half left."

Lone nodded. "Okay. So one more hunt, then back home?"

"Sounds good," Sophie agreed.

The couple had decided to move further inland. They'd never gone that far in before, but with their new armour, Lone felt more confident about their chances.

Sophie was a bit worried about her stamina points, but she chose to keep that worry to herself since Soph kept yelling at her to not trouble Lone. Truly, Sophie had to wonder sometimes who out of the two of them was actually the one with the most paranoia? Of course, they were paranoid about different things.

Lone pushed his way past a particularly thick bush and found himself to be standing in an open field. In the distance, he could see what looked like broken down huts, no, maybe houses? It was hard to tell at this distance.

"Do you think that's where the elves lived before the goblins attacked them?" Lone asked as Sophie got up next to him.

Sophie looked at him like he was asking the stupidest question imaginable. "How would we know if you don't?"

"Right." He sighed. "If I ask you a question, and you don't know the answer, just pretend it was rhetorical."

Sophie giggled a little. "We wonder what she sees in you? You are handsome and very cute sometimes, but other than that..."

"I ask myself the same question at least four or five times a day." Sophie seemed a bit off guard by Lone's bluntly honest answer, so she coughed awkwardly. Lone tried to ignore that as he added, "Anyway, let's get closer. I want to know if there's any gobs there."

Sophie bobbed her head up and down in response.

The pair slowly approached the buildings and managed to safely get behind one of the slightly taller ones. It covered them perfectly despite the fact that it has a collapsed roof and was half-charred and covered in soot.

"Sense anything?" Lone asked.

Sophie frowned. "Two Hobgoblins and about fifty goblins. Four have staves." She then pointed at the direction of the largest building in the village. "They are in what we assume was the town hall. In or near it."

Her frown deepened. "A lot of them are surrounding taller figures. Maybe elves? It's hard to tell. They are just on the border of my senses."

Lone's face became one of pure rage. "Putting two and two together is pretty easy."

Sophie agreed. "It is. Soph is crying. What's the plan here?"

"I'm thinking you go in first and teleport the elves away. I fucking hope they aren't elves and are just gangly gobs, but it's best to assume the worst," Lone spat out.

"Okay. We can do that. There's only seven of them. What about after that?" Sophie pressed.

"Once that's done, you try your best to kill the mages. Be quick. I'll use Mental Destruction on the hobs then we work together to wipe out the gobs," Lone said.

Sophie raised an eyebrow from underneath her faceplate. "You're not going to endure the magic?"

Lone shook his head. "Too many. Too risky. They might finish chanting before we're done with the normal gobs. Fifty isn't a small number."

"Fifty-four to be specific. We were rounding down," Sophie admitted.

"Fifty-four then," Lone echoed. "Got any amendments?"

"Yes, we do," Sophie replied. "We're not going to kill the mages. We will cripple them and keep an eye on them. We're sure you would like to obtain all of their magic in the case that they have anything you haven't already stolen, would you not? We can keep them crippled and out of action until the gobs are eliminated."

Lone scowled. "Can you do that? I don't want you getting endangered for my sake."

Sophie blushed, but thankfully her face was covered. "We can. Mana Sensing is far more useful than mere eyesight is. It won't be an issue."

"Okay." Lone stiffened his grip on his weapon. "I'll trust you. The second, the fucking second, things go south, I'm unsummoning you and going on a fucking rampage. I'll use up my other three unique skill chances if I have to."

Sophie's chest felt tight and her heart was beating in her ears. "Mmm," she meekly replied.