The man must have seen Shane's pained expression as he struggled against the applied [Paralyze] status effect because that's when the laughing began.

Through the man's deep-throated guffawing, Shane swore he could hear Cain Prime laughing, taunting, and mocking him. Before Shane committed to raging and boiling within his paralyzed state, a new icon appeared above the orange-skinned fellow's head. The icon was a black octagon with a face split down the middle by a thin line. Each side of the face had extremely opposite emotions that alternated between happiness and sadness. Both with bulging, unfocused eyes.

That's madness! Shane chuckled triumphantly. My gear's twenty-five percent chance to cause madness on being hit modifier actually triggered!

The man with the top hat in hand continued laughing. Prolonged whooping gusts of hilarity escaped his mouth as tears streamed down his almost comically tanned face. A twisted look of what Shane could only describe as happy terror flashed across the man's features. In a fit of rabid disorientation, Mr. top hat turned toward the dwelling and nearly tumbled over. He leaned against the wall with both hands as the volume of the laughing increased.

Shane's paralyzed status effect was represented as a humanoid figure with lightning bolts lining its body. So it was a massive relief when the icon started flashing, and control of his peripherals slowly returned. Meanwhile, the status effect Shane's armor inflicted hadn't gone away yet, causing the man to still cry and holler with a sound that was between crying and giggling.

Seconds later, the paralyzing effect disappeared, and Shane had enough control back to summon his skeleton crew. His three reliable skeletons spawned around him in battle stances, ready to fight. Shane shook his head and told them to forcibly hold the odd man against the dwelling's wall. They did so within seconds, restraining the man who was now severely coughing in between gasps of air and the most ragged laughs Shane had ever heard.

The man laughed and thrashed against the skeletal minions, but their combined strength was more than enough to keep him there. Shane placed a hand on the man's surprisingly moist back. He laughed so hard he ended up sweating through such a thick robe. An acknowledgment that was not entirely devoid of revulsion.

This annoying man's fate had already been decided. Shane had no patience left, not for a fool Cain Prime sent to annoy him.

"Not many get to die laughing. Count yourself lucky," Shane said as he used [Time Subjugation] to sense and absorb the literal time from the man's soon-to-be corpse.

The familiar flowing white wisps appeared and gathered around Shane's touch as his hand siphoned the tendrils of time. The man's laughs became weaker, almost hoarse. Shane blinked in surprise as the intermittent laughs audibly aged. Like they came from someone in their forties. Then fifties, and then sixties.

The skin of the man's arms became blotched, followed by exaggerated wrinkles and folds, then translucency and liver spots, before finally losing its lively sheen and crumbling to dust. Over half a minute and Shane had effectively absorbed nearly seventy years worth of time. His heads-up display told him those years translated to roughly seventy minutes of usable time. Not a ton, but enough to let me get creative if I need to. There were likely a lot of ways he could use time; he just required imagination and creativity when it came down to it.

+ 336 Experience!

Shane dusted the small flaky bits of skin off his hands and clothes as his skeleton crew resumed the default defensive positioning near and around him. He placed a hand on the side of the dwelling, hoping to feel its inherent time. In a development that initially surprised him, none of the white tendrils showed themselves to his senses this time.

"Oh jeez, I'm an idiot. I just used that spell, so no wonder it's not working!" he was glad no one else was around to see how red his face was after such a simple mistake.

Shane inhaled deeply and sighed. I'll have to tear this place down by hand, the good ole fashioned way, he thought to himself. Though he would ultimately decide to venture inside first. The curiosity about what Cain Prime's dwelling held within could not be ignored entirely.

But first, I should inspect and equip that ring from the quest rewards.