Book 3: Chapter 89: Master Rank and Verbal Dressing Down
'He'sss doing well controlling himself,' Master Mezro'nan thought as he watched the apprentice below fight off his fellow teenaged humans. 'I wasss worried they wouldn't give him enough presssure with Breena'sss absssence, but they're all growing well.'
It was a relief that the boy couldn't apply any of his stats. Master Mezro'nan wasn't sure how to feel knowing that Lone Immortus could absorb a portion of the stats of who he killed, or how to feel about the fact he was forced into secrecy over this information.
Thankfully, Scott hadn't exploded violently at the influx of stat points Lone Immortus has pilfered from Lady Carnation. Master Mezro'nan assumed a lot of that was due to the fact the boy was only copying roughly 10% of Lone Immortus's stats, but another big part was that his body knew how to handle stats.
It was theoretically possible for a person to spend eternity as an I-ranker but have a untold number of stats through training. Aura was the real concern. That was a matter of being. Ranks existed for a reason, after all. The divides made by the system did more than just estimate one's power.
Master Mezro'nan's slitted eyes narrowed as Scott stiffened in place and Alisa's quarterstaff smashed right into his jaw, sending him flying. The boy began convulsing before he even hit the ground and a guttural scream bellowed out from his lungs.
Alisa, Hazel, George, and Emma, all looked mortified. Scott wasn't one to play such jokes so they all knew something had gone terribly wrong.
Alisa rushed to his side the fastest and said, "S-Scott?! What's wrong?! I-I didn't mean to hit you so h-"
She went flying across the room as did the other three children. The cause of this was Scott's aura rampaging out of control.
Master Mezro'nan used some freeform earth magic to catch the teenagers before he approached Scott's side. 'Ssspeak of the ssspiritsss and watch asss your teapotsss go misssing.'
He thought it almost amusing how ironic it was that just as he was mulling over Scott's ability to control himself beyond expectations that his aura would explode in strength.
"How powerful. Thisss feelsss like the aura of a B-ranker who'sss closssing in on A-rank. Lone mussst have ranked up. He and I were concerned about thisss but thisss isss far too ssstrong to be a tenth of the power of a new A-ranker'sss aura. What have you done, Lone? How hasss your aura grown ssso unfathomably quickly?'
Regardless of his musings, Master Mezro'nan got to work using his body fortification magic to stabilise Scott as best as he could, working in concert with the leftover magic Lone Immortus had implanted in the boy. 'He wasss correct to expresss concernsss over hisss rank up affecting Ssscott. It felt wasssteful to make the boy focusss on a ssspell that only helpsss to retain one'sss bassse form, but hisss insssightsss exceeded my own.'
"I-Is he going to be okay?! What's happening?!" Alisa shouted from across the training hall.
Master Mezro'nan glanced at her and replied, "He will be fine. Thisss time."
"This time?" Hazel muttered.
'He won't like it, but I mussst double the time ssspent on the boy'sss training. He'll die for sssure at thisss rate if Lone sssuddenly ranksss up once more,' Master Mezro'nan concluded.
And he couldn't allow that to happen. After all, half of the reason he had accepted the role of a magical master to a human was the allure of doubling his own stats one day. If Scott died before learning how to use his unique skill on multiple people, then this would all be wasted effort and time.
Lone applied his Agility to his mind for a quick moment to go over his skill gains from that octuple X-ranker aura baptism. He had to fight a fight of words with them now and he couldn't let himself be distracted by his burning desire to check his notification log.
Funnily enough, the first skill to see gains was actually Persuasion. Lone supposed that made sense, however, considering he did need to convince them to use their auras on him in the first place.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 7.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 8.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Persuasion] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 9.
'Three levels is quite decent considering I only need to convince the first elder, really,' Lone thought.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 10.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Master Level 1.
Congratulations! The host's hard work and experimentation have resulted in their passive skill [Aura Pressure Resistance] gaining a new effect upon ranking up when otherwise it would not have!
Passive Skill: Aura Pressure Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist the pressure of auras generated by a person's rank at varying levels based on mastery.
All aura pressure applied to the host shall be weakened by 95% [+35%].
When suffering under the effects of an aura that exceeds the host's rank, the host's stats shall temporarily be increased based on the level of aura being endured [previously this effect only triggered with more powerful auras than the host's]. This effect stacks [It did not previously] to a limit of 3 auras of each unique rank.
Aura pressure being resisted and the resulting stat boosts: C-rank: 5%. B-rank: 10%. A-rank: 15%. S-rank: 25%. SS-rank: 35%. SSS-rank 45%. X-rank: 65%. XX-rank: 85%. XXX-ranker: 105%.
[New!] This skill now very marginally applies to Divine aura pressure. All Divine aura pressure applied to the host will be weakened by 5%.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
[New!] When being endured by the host's aura instead of the host themselves, the host's aura may shift the percentage of aura pressure between themselves, the host, and one other target, whether willing or unwilling, with the success depending on their willingness and various resistances.
Cost:N/AMastery:Master Level 1
'Fuck me. This is insanely powerful. This just might be my most powerful skill now. Well, provided I can find a group of 27 microscopic beings, all being different ranks and having infinite stamina to effectively boosts my stats by 1,170%... Fuck me, multiplying my stats by almost 12 times... That would be fuckin' insane. Time already feels slow when I apply my Agility, would it literally stop with stats like that? That's a hyper-unrealistic scenario. I'll likely never get the full effect but still, it's absurd enough to think about trying to get it to work. It could make a difference against Zel and any other major threats,' Lone thought.
He also noticed that the boost to resisting Divine aura pressure was just enough to make the resistance 100% were he to also get Divine Aura Pressure Resistance to master-rank. He was so very hopeful that would just nullify such auras. Wouldn't that be the flex of a lifetime? Walking into a room full of Divines, demand they slam their Divine auras on him, only for him to scoff and act like nothing had happened.
Regardless, he had to stop daydreaming. Lone had a handful of notifications left but he didn't have infinite time nor SP while he applied his Agility to his mind. He'd go over the rest of the notifications later. Sustaining and powering his aura had been a drain on his SP enough as it was.
If only ranking up also restored someone to their peak physical condition. Alas, it didn't, thus Lone committed all of his attention to the eight elders of the Crimson Foxkin Clan.
"I'm sure you're all rather curious as to why I wanted to meet you in the first place. I'm just a traveller, a wanderer, really, who stopped by here with my companions during an adventurer escort quest. Sure, I'm a concern due to me being 'Void-touched', but otherwise, logically I should avoid you all, no? Especially given what happened with War Leader Clari," Lone said.
Many sour expressions became visible on the faces of the elders.
First Elder Lelgu frowned. "Is that why you arranged this meeting? Did you feel your compensation for that misunderstanding was deemed lacking?"
Lone shook his head. "I don't care. I was disappointed, but honestly, material possessions are beneath me. I gained a lot from the encounter and the Spirit Pavilion is nice. Would it be enough compensation if someone five ranks stronger than you tried to kill you despite having every reason to not do so? That's for you to decide. You clearly think so since you guys decided it was enough for me."
He caught a few shameful gazes among the elders but most of them were subdued. 'Been trying hard to avoid awakening all your lives, not gonna stop just because of my words, eh? Well, the Lossa-lookalike might burst a blood-vessel soon. Angry lady, huh? Which Primal governs that emotion again, Darkness?'
'Don't talk to me. I'm busy recovering from your pet aura's theft, but if I must answer you, Void is the lord of anger, rage, hatred, etcetera, etcetera...' The Primal replied in a huff.
Death added, 'Void also governs the most dangerous emotion of all - apathy.'
'Ah, love's true opposite,' Lone thought.
He centred his focus on First Elder Lelgu again and smiled. "I am here for answers on an incident from a decade ago. It is to my understanding that somehow, a group of mostly human-led slavers were able to not only successfully attack the home of so many X-rankers, but even made off with many clan members, mostly children and infants, many of whom have yet to be recovered to this day."
Lone narrowed his eyes sharply. "I intend to question you all on this and get to the bottom of it. Thankfully, we have a White Dragonkin present who can ensure the truth is the only thing being communicated today."
"What a farce. The records of that incident are, while not public, also not top secret. We will happily grant you access to peruse them," the seventh elder responded off-handedly. "Just make an official request. Given your companion, she must be a victim, no? That is more than enough justification to permit such a request."
Many other elders nodded in agreeance. Lossa looked concerned while Gilbert wore a serious expression. Breena's expression was unreadable under her veil but her body language spoke of how upset she was with the seventh elder's dismissive tone.
All semblances of a smile disappeared from Lone's expression. "Victors write history and criminals cover up crimes. You may not be understanding the gravity of the current situation. Allow me to put it into the plainest of terms. I will ask you all several pointed questions. You will answer. Lie if you wish, it doesn't matter. Fail to answer, however, or try to leave this hall, and you will be deemed as a conspirator partly responsible for that incident."
'Lone!' Soph shouted via their telepathic connection. 'I couldn't feel them before and I can't anymore, but two people's auras that are stronger than that of the elders just fluctuated at your words. One is hiding in the ceiling and the other, if my Mana Sensing wasn't just being weird, is standing right next to First Elder Lelgu.'
Lone frowned. He couldn't detect any such people with his Enhanced Vision or with his aura. 'Thanks for the heads-up. Let's assume they're both real, made a slight mistake revealing themselves for a single instant that you noticed, and that they're both XX-rankers. I can handle them, probably. I could injure Prince Keining with Darkness's You, so I can probably kill them with Void's Nothing Vortex.'
'I don't like that word, 'probably'. I really don't want to reverse time again, Lone,' Soph replied.
'Let me know if you sense them again. I'm not changing my plans unless they reveal themselves. Try to find them though if you can. I reckon it's a couple of real Elders from the actual council spying on us due to my connection to Void,' Lone said.
Soph responded, 'M-Maybe... Okay, I'll treat it as training... I haven't tried to enter the void from here either so maybe I can find them from there...'
That was a good idea. Of course, Lone was a bit worried about this revelation, but he knew that now that he was an A-ranker, he could use Mental Destruction nine times a day and it could now instantly kill SSS-rankers not immune to magical or soul-based damage. He could probably drop three of the present elders in an instant and kill another three with Nothing Vortex, and that was only his estimations of the next few seconds.
If a couple of XX-rankers attacked him, he might not be as helpless as one of his rank should be.
Fourth Elder Senso scowled in disapproval. "I was actually in awe of your unabashed willpower to fight against our auras, but threatening to, what, label us as traitors to the clan so baselessly is unbecoming, even for one as young as you."
Lone looked to the seated woman as he chose his words carefully. "I am almost certain the incident from a decade ago was partly an inside job. Or, do you mean to tell me the clan is so incompetent that is cannot stop a single slaver-led invasion?"
Before letting any of them reply, he continued by saying, "Not a kingdom, not a warring clan, not a rampant Ancient or an evil Divine, no. I've done my research. The attack was led by three X-ranked humans, each with four SSS-ranked humans under them. That's it. 15 people. I could stop an attack of that size."
He looked to Gilbert who in turn nodded. "He is speaking the truth."
"However, I'll play devil's advocate. Let's assume these slavers specialise in subterfuge and rogue-based skills. It's certainly possible to remain undetected to a group of eight or more X-rankers with the right skills," Lone said, intentionally making a parallel to the room's hidden observers. "Even were that the case, why haven't all of the victims been recovered? Why haven't the slavers been brought to justice for their actions?"
He saw the seventh elder was getting ready to refute him so he snorted. "Don't give me some crap like 'we did bring them to justice'. You didn't. Again, I did my research. The clan wiped out some smaller connected slaver organisations, yes, but not the 15 individuals who personally invaded the clan. And don't tell me 'we have saved who we could, but some of them were bought by some very powerful individuals'. As fuckin' if that would be an issue. 'Ah, sorry you got kidnapped under our protection and were sold into slavery, but one small issue. The fella who paid for you is a bit too much to handle, sweetheart. We can't do anything about it since a prince bought you. You're not worth a possible war even though we'd be fully justified and have the backing of the Elders. Terrible shame, it is, but it's the truth that'."
The condescension and scorn in Lone's tone were palpable. He gestured to the silent Breena and said, "This young girl was enslaved to a useless C-ranker hero who belonged to a weak coastal kingdom whose most powerful individual was an SS-ranker, who I killed when I was just an E-ranker."
He reached into his Dimensional Storage and pulled out a blood-stained golden crown, resulting in a couple of disgusted gasps. "A pathetic man, really, that king."
Lone shoved the crown back into his unique skill and added, "I have the names and locations of 17 currently-enslaved young Crimson Foxkin girls and boys. It took very little effort to find this information. In fact, it only took an afternoon and I didn't even get it myself. I just paid a broker in Golden Pass City two gold coins and the info was mine. My first question to you all is this: what is stopping the clan from rightfully freeing and returning those 17 boys and girls to the clan?"