Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Sex Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Enhanced Vision] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 8.

Lone nodded, quite happy with the progress of his evening activities and his focus on the rooftops as he strolled through Krieg Moor's streets.

Sadly, Sophie hadn't gained Sex Mastery despite her vigorous attempts, though her Charm Resistance had levelled up which was as good a consolation as any.

Lone shook his head as he lost sight of the camouflaged dwarves following him for the umpteenth time. 'I need to find someone as charming as me to earn Charm Resistance myself... Maybe someone at the guild can help me? Dwarves aren't very charming though...'

He had visited the guild earlier that morning to get Guildmaster Hilda to fulfil her promise and hit his Blood Clone with everything she had. The results of such pleased him to no end.

Active Skill: Blood Clone

A skill popular amongst blood mages who have above average Vigour than the usual mage.

The host may create a connection between their blood and their mind, allowing them to control the blood to do their bidding.

The limits of the Blood Clone are defined by the host's ability and by the skill's rank in equal measure.

Maximum size: 1,191 [+530] drops of blood.

Maximum density: Each drop is equal in hardness to a grain of sand [up from a triple compressed drop of blood].

Maximum speed: 72cm [+31cm] per second.

Cost: 4,000 SP Mastery: Intermediate Level 9

Lone had no idea if the hardness scaled further for compressed drops of blood beyond triple since Hilda's attack had pushed it straight to grains of sand, but regardless, he was happy to see it being likened to a solid object.

Perhaps in the future his Blood Clone could be as strong as steel or even stronger? A man could dream.

It had gained three levels and while the levelling speed had slowed considerably, it's growth rate did not. He still had the little blob following him even now and every few minutes or so he would get a notification about the skill's growth.

As it turned out, when it improved outside of a level up, the system deemed it appropriate to let him know which Lone appreciated.

[Blood Clone]'s maximum size had increased by 1 drop.

Lone smiled. 'I hope the guards let me keep Lil' Blobby around even when I'm in my cell...'

"Dismiss 'at afore ah break yer legs," Thron, the captain guard of the week shift guards, ordered Lone as he gestured to the Blood Clone.

Lone frowned as he felt the scripture magic flaring up at his desire to argue for allowing the clone to remain. With a sigh, he dismissed it, resulting in the floating ball of blood splattering onto the ground and everyone's shoes.

He grinned a little when he saw Thron glare at him. "I did what you told me to."

"Impudent feckin' fox..." Thron mumbled as he finished shackling Lone back up. "You'll be in yer cell fae seven days. After 'at, yer free tae choose another task."

Lone stumbled forward as Thron yanked his wrist, leading him through the compound's hallways.

"What? I can't just, y'know, take on another task immediately and start prepping tomorrow morning?" he asked.

Thron snorted. "Ya think the krieg's only Stoner 'as the time an' luxury tae work 'is magic at yer beck an' call?"

Lone raised an eyebrow. "Kind of? I mean, I'm helping the dwarven kingdoms with my work."

"Arrogant fecker..." Thron shut up after saying that, choosing to not engage with him any further.

Before long, Lone was being roughly tossed into his tiny cell. The second he breached the threshold of the hallway to the room that was his current home, he felt the scripture magic that had been clamped around his soul for the past two weeks fade away.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Scripture Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 2.

"Behave yerself while ye wait, aye?" a guard who wasn't Thron threatened.

"Do you mind if I train my skills?" Lone asked. Meanwhile, he thought, 'A level up for fulfilling the scripture and having it remove itself? Interesting. Is that like when Hunger, Thirst, and Sleep Deprivation Resistance levelled after having broken my avoidance of their subjects?'

The guard shrugged. "So long as ye dinnae feck wae yer shackles or yer cell, ah couldnae gae a shite what ya dae wae yer free time. If ye wanna level Masturbation Mastery, ah'll nae be the one to rip yer 'and fae yer cock."

Lone didn't laugh but instead tilted his head in interest. "That's a skill? I haven't rubbed one out in ages since I've got a loving girlfriend... Hmm..."

"Cheeky braggin' bastard..." the dwarf grumbled before he stormed off.

Lone got himself as comfortable as he could on his cramped mattress before he nodded. "Well, if I've a week to myself, may as well make the most of it."

Nine days passed peacefully. All Lone did in that time was train his skills and talk to Sophie and Soph via their telepathic link.

It was nice but he was getting a bit impatient since he'd been told a week was all he needed to wait for Stoner Heeth to be available once more.

Lone yawned in boredom as he munched on the stale bread he'd been slowly eating since it was given to him for his breakfast.

He doubted he even needed to eat and drink thanks to Basic Regeneration, but even if he levelled skills by avoiding consumption it still left him feeling empty. Besides, it actually bothered him a good deal that Soph and Sophie didn't like the look of him when he was starved.

Lone heard footsteps approaching his cell so he dismissed his Blood Clone and quickly stored the dropped blood into his Dimensional Storage.

A few moments later, the head guard of the weekend shift unlocked Lone's cell and motioned with his head for Lone to get out. "Stoner Heeth 'as time now tae redo yer scripture. Ye've already picked oot ah task, aye?"

Lone scarfed down the last of his break and chugged his stone cup of lukewarm water before he got up and exited the tiny prisoner's quarters.

"Yup. Gonna go kill that blood mage in Krieg Stunfurn. That'll get my sentence reduced down to about 14 and a half years," Lone estimated since the reward for reclaiming Krieg Stunfurn was a juicy 50% sentence reduction.

The guard nodded thoughtfully. "Thron doesnae like ye, fox, but ye did good work in Urd Siltal. Ah've faith in ye. Word 'as spread aboot 'ow ye took two blows fae the guildmaster o' The Adventurer's Guild. Scary woman. If anyone can kill 'at invadin' topsider mage scum, it's ye."

Lone chuckled, ignoring the fact that he too was a 'topsider'. "I'll do my best. I wanna be out of here and back up top as soon as possible, so it'll be nothin' but big and scary tasks for me from now on."

The guard actually smiled at him, which was a surprise. "Fae ah skill thief, ye've 'onour ah plenty. There's something tae be respected in 'at."

"I do it for selfish reasons but I'll take all the kind words I can get," Lone replied.

"Hi Zil, hi Heeth," Lone greeted casually upon entering the warden's office.

The gnome sitting atop the cushion on his chair smiled and returned Lone's greeting but Stoner Heeth looked furious.

"It's Stoner Heeth tae ye. Be respectful or ah'll make this process many, many times mere painful 'an it needs tae be," the dwarven mage threatened.

"Now, now," Warden Zil soothed. "Lone here is a very young foreigner. Show him some leniency. He's about to go attempt to reclaim one of our lost kriegs. That deserves some allowances if nothing else."

Stoner Heeth grumbled but did eventually say, "Aye, 'ats fair. Well, fill 'im in on the new scripture conditions. Ye ken as well as ah dae that ah've three more scriptures tae rewrite the day."

The gnome nodded.

"New conditions?" Lone asked curiously.

"Indeed. Only two, really. The first being the less important," Zil said. "You are allowed up to four months between your holiday days to complete this task. That's because Krieg Stunfurn is several hundred miles away and the entire stronghold is overrun by the blood mage's thralls. It won't be easy nor quick to reclaim."

Lone nodded. "Makes sense. Don't want the scripture forcing me to walk back here or even just kill me if there isn't enough reasonable time to actually do the mission. And the second condition?"

"You and those you hire to help you in completing this task are forbidden from looting or even so much as touching any lost steamforging artefacts that still remain in the krieg. They are the property of the three united dwarven kingdoms and the greater council as a whole. Given your history with steamforging artefacts, the recovery of such objects will be left to others once you have successfully dealt with the blood mage and his army," Zil explained.

Lone frowned. He'd already thought of a way around this but it did bother him somewhat. "I wasn't convicted on that theft charge."

Stoner Heeth snorted. "'Ardly matters. Any adventurer's pouch o' yers would be searched when ye return so any stolen goods would be seized anyway. Well, if ya return. Why ya think ya can some'ow kill an SSS-ranked blood mage who the council is 'esitant tae send troops after, ah'll never understand."

The scripture mage spoke true. The supposed blood mage that could murder anyone by making their blood explode, even those who so much as approached Krieg Stunfurn, was supposedly an SSS-ranker at the middle stages, meaning they were somewhere at the 3,750 level range.

Stoner Heeth wasn't aware, however, of how unkillable Lone was and how destructive he could be.

"I appreciate your concern. Well, if it's needed, you have my consent to add the new clauses when you put your scripture magic back on me," Lone said politely.

The dwarf nodded thoughtfully. "It's nae needed, but ah appreciate it." He then walked over to the seated Lone and put his palm on Lone's golden hair. "Now clench yer teeth, 'cause this is gonna hurt."

Lone nodded and smiled before closing his eyes and activating Meditation. Oddly enough, however, the promised pain never came.

He felt a scraping in his mind as if something was trying to break in. It was then that he recalled the existence of his future memory bank - Puzzle Locked Mind.

A few seconds passed as he slowly peeled his eyes open only to see Heeth with his own closed, so lost in his own concentration, was he.

Something snapped in Lone's mind and he could immediately tell without needing to visualise himself there to know the first of his five puzzle locks had been bested.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Puzzle Locked Mind] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

While feeling joyful over the unexpected level up, Lone became aware that should he so desire, he could disable the remaining locks on his own, allowing Stoner Heeth access to his mind's vault.

He saw no reason to do that. This man took pleasure in the pain his magic caused. Lone would be damned if he didn't farm as many levels in as many skills as possible while he got the scriptures inscribed onto his soul.

'Interesting to know scripture magic needs to go through the mind first even if it affects one's very being. Makes sense considering even thinking about breaking the clauses causes mental backlash,' Lone thought before he sensed the second and third locks breaking within seconds of each other.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Puzzle Locked Mind] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Puzzle Locked Mind] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.

And then the fourth and fifth locks collapsed not long after, exposing his mind to the dwarf's magic.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Puzzle Locked Mind] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Puzzle Locked Mind] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 6.

Lone immediately felt the scripture magic coursing through his entire body once Stoner Heeth had access to his mind's vault - the floating runic words surrounding the scripture mage finally finding purchase on Lone and thus flying into him.

The process was over not too long after it had started, and while it did, of course, sting, to Lone whose second language was pain, it could barely be counted on the list of his top ten most agonising moments on Altros.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Scripture Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Scripture Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 4. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Scripture Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Scripture Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.

Stoner Heeth pulled back his hand just as soon as Lone had deactivated his Meditation. The man looked confused as if he didn't know he'd just engaged in a battle against Lone's pitifully weak puzzle locks.

"... Ah gained ah level in Enforcement Scripture fae that," the dwarf said, confusion marring his tone. "Ah haven't levelled it up in over three decades..."

Warden Zil looked pleasantly surprised. "Congratulations. This calls for a celebration, no? Lone, I trust you to spend your two days of free time responsibly before you embark upon this dangerous task."

Lone slowly stood up and nodded, not missing his cue to leave.

Stoner Heeth grabbed his wrist roughly to stop him. "W-Wait! Did... did ye dae somethin'? Ah wasnae close tae ah level up. Ah'd ah've felt it in the Stone were ah."

Lone saw the lost look in the old man's eyes but he shook his head. "Dunno. I've a tough mind, but I wasn't actively resisting. Maybe meditate on the matter? That does wonders for me personally."

And with that, he left the room, allowed himself to be shackled again, and he was then led to the building's entrance before he was free to spend his first two holiday days of the mission as he wished.