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Book 2: Chapter 80: Shield and Strike

It didn\'t take long for the dwarven woman to catch up to Lone on the stairs given how slow he was walking thanks to his Blood Clone\'s limitations.

He just smiled wryly at her as he gestured with his head to the Blood Clone. "This lovely little blob can only move so fast. Gives you time to get a crowd gathered and arrange a betting pool though, right?"

The adventurer didn\'t reply for a moment. A complex look crossed her expression before she signed and stormed off, straight down to the second floor and then immediately for the stairs to the first floor.

Lone raised an eyebrow. \'I know I\'m a bit weird- okay, very weird, but that was odd as well. Best thing I can think of is her having mixed feelings since I upped the prize if she beats me. Maybe she\'s heard of my fight with Hamish and doesn\'t think she can win, and it\'ll look bad on her if she loses with a large crowd? If that\'s the case, she was beyond stupid to challenge me in the first place.\'

Either way, he didn\'t really care. He was here to grind his skills and grind his skills he certainly would.

It took Lone a little over six minutes to reach the training hall. The good news was that Blood Clone levelled up just as soon as he arrived.

He took note of the slowly growing crowd of adventurers that were lining the walls of the training area - many exchanging coins which all ended up flowing to one dwarf, in particular, a guild employee of some sort.

\'Well, if not her, at least one person decided to get the betting pool arranged. Wonder if I could smuggle Breena or Soph in here to bet on me? Not that I need more money right now,\' Lone wondered.

His challenger, the youngest dwarf he\'d ever met thus far excluding Grimsley\'s niece, was in the middle of the sand-covered floor with her sword at her hip, both hands holding the top of her ornately designed metal tower shield that had been stabbed into the floor.

As Lone walked over to a suitable position for duelling his fellow silver-plated adventurer, he looked at Blood Clone\'s newly updated information.

Congratulations! The host\'s active skill [Blood Clone] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 10.

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: 318 [+11] drops of blood.

Maximum density: Each drop is equal in hardness to a drop of blood.

Maximum speed: 19cm [+1cm] per second.

Cost:5,000 SP

He winced. \'Another shit level. Hopefully advancing to intermediate changes something, and fingers crossed the improvements are larger for the higher ranks. I\'ll settle for constant slow upgrades since the skill can improve outside of levelling, but fuck, I want this to be useful now.\'

"Feelin\' nervous?" the shieldwarden taunted.

Lone shook his head as he cracked his wrists. "No, no. Just a bad skill improvement. Well, no time like the present. Come. I\'ll let you attack me three times without moving, then I\'ll attack you once. If you make me bleed then it\'s your win."

"Yer arrogance will end ye, Skill Thief, even if ye put up ah good fight against Hamish," the woman growled, earning the approval of the crowd of 30 or so dwarven spectators.

\'If that isn\'t an accurate nickname, then what the fuck is?\' Lone mused as he shrugged. "If I draw blood in my single attack against you assuming you fail then it\'s my win, otherwise, it\'s a tie. Nice and simple. Do you agree to these terms? I don\'t exactly want to leave you on Death\'s doorstep when I intend to use you to train my new skill."

"Ye won\'t get the chance," the woman rumbled as she lifted her shield with her right hand and then drew her blade in her left. "Nae funny business? Nae tricks an\' magic? Ye\'ll let me attack ye thrice, aye?"

Lone nodded. "No magic nor tricks, though I will be wearing my armour if you don\'t mind?"

"Armour?" the woman questioned in confusion. "Ye got ah full suit o\' plate stuffed up yer arse or sum\'in\'?"

"Or sum\'in\'," Lone quoted with a grin as he activated Bone Armour.

Immediately and without warning, his pitch-black bones speckled with flakes of bright blue and now - a new addition - deep purple, shot out of his wrists and engulfed his entire body.

Within mere moments he was covered head to toe in the villainous-looking armour. There wasn\'t a single exposed joint nor opening to attack. Even his eye slits had bars of bone crossing them horizontally making it impossible for small blades to pierce his eyeballs.

Granted, needles could pass through and make short work of his squishy visual organs, but Lone doubted many people on the planet were like Breena and had a natural calling for the sewing implements to be their primary weapon.

His only weakness was his nine casually swaying tails. "Please, give me your best shot. Ah, I will turn to make sure I\'m facing you at all times, so no cheap shots on my fluffy appendixes, yes? I don\'t want to use my racial skill in a panic and kill you accidentally."

The dwarven woman gazed upon Lone\'s armoured form with fear and no small amount of regret in her eyes. "A-Aye..."

Unfortunately for her but fortunately for Lone, her \'dwarven honour\' wouldn\'t allow her to back out now despite Lone\'s menacing display of defensive prowess and his promise of accidental murder should she aim for his racial traits.

"If it\'ll make you feel more comfortable, please, feel free to use your aura. I know as a C-ranker it\'ll have no definitive form and will be difficult to use, but any advantage is still an advantage at the end of the day, right?" Lone asked with a smile.

The woman seemed to mull over his words for a moment before nodding. Lone then felt the tiniest of inklings that something was trying to push him down. It was as if a child had gotten on top of a step ladder and was trying their best to press on his shoulders.

More strikingly, Lone felt the shift as his stats doubled since the adventurer in front of him was a rank above his own. \'I am so evil. Give her words of encouragement and then make her do something that only ends up doubling my stats...\'

Still, before Lone had any more time to think, the silver plate seemed to have fully resolved herself now that she was draining her SP to keep her aura active.

With swift movements, she lunged in front of Lone and used the momentum of her massive shield to swing herself around before jamming her sword right into Lone\'s armpit only for it to bounce clean off of his Bone Armour.

\'For once, you stop something, my sole subskill. I really do only use you on things I think can rip you apart, huh?\' Lone mused as he shook his arm, and the dwarven woman quickly shuffled back in response.

"My bones are rather tough. Perhaps use a skill on top of a stab or slash? I would imagine you have a weapon skill at intermediate rank, right? Give its active form a shot if you\'ve got nothing else to add some extra oomph," Lone suggested.

He would assume the woman had the skill Longsword Mastery or perhaps Shortsword Mastery. He wasn\'t very sure what her blade would classify as given the adventurer\'s small stature.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Teaching Mastery] has levelled up! It is now intermediate level 6.

\'Unintended, but very welcome. Hey, if I can tric- convince enough dwarves into helping me level Blood Clone, maybe I can get Teaching Mastery to advanced while I\'m at it by encouraging them to injure me? I wonder if there\'s a special effect born from teaching those conventionally stronger than you repeatedly,\' Lone thought as he watched the dwarf charge at him again.

She crouched down and sprung to his side, moving as if Lone would react to her which he had no plans on doing unless she targetted his tails. She then very quickly positioned herself underneath those very tails.

The woman lunged out with her sword\'s tip, aiming right for the back of his knee. "Puncture!"

Lone raised an eyebrow as he felt his leg bending a little from the force but his Bone Armour remained perfectly pristine.

He heard the woman swear under her breath before she returned to her original position with a disheartened slump in her shoulders.

\'No new skill so that was definitely an active effect of a weapon mastery from a skill I already own. Either Shortsword Mastery or the parent skill Sword Mastery. Probably the former given her young age. Sophie\'s at Beginner Level 9 in Shortsword Mastery, right? Good to know she\'ll get a useful active effect soon,\' Lone thought.

"My bones are the same strength regardless of where they are guarding me. My suggestion? Use blunt force. It\'s unlikely given how hardy I am, but if you slam me with that shield of yours as hard as you can, an organ or two might pop. That won\'t threaten my life either, so give it a go with your last attack if you\'re out of ideas," Lone said.

He was happy to see the woman slowly nodding, apparently seeing no other chance at victory. He was pleased for a specific set of reasons. Firstly, he was likely to earn a Tower Shield Mastery skill from this and maybe even the parent skill, Shield Mastery, provided she owned it. Secondly, a new notification had just presented itself to him.

Congratulations! The host\'s passive skill [Teaching Mastery] has levelled up! It is now intermediate level 7.

\'Definitely getting you to advanced tonight. Well, I\'ll stop at level 10 to check the credit slate for additional effects but after that, it\'s advanced for you, my precious little skill,\' Lone thought.

The adventurer facing him entered a defensive stance with her shield positioned to cover almost her entire body. She then shoulder-charged Lone and screamed "Full Charge! Ramming Strike!"

As soon as the shield connected with his chest, Lone felt himself lifting off of his feet and flying across the room, startling the dwarves that had chosen to watch from that particular part of the training area.

Several system notifications flashed across Lone\'s eyes while he slammed into the wall, leaving a small dent before he slid to the ground, landing nimbly on his feet.

He shook his head sadly. "Powerful for a C-ranker, but sadly not enough to give me any internal injuries, it would seem."

Everyone, the shield-and-sword wielding adventurer included, could tell he was being truthful seeing as how he hadn\'t coughed up any blood.

He returned to the centre of the training area and noticed a sour look on the woman\'s face so he said, "Hey, no need to be so downcast. I haven\'t won until I draw your blood with my single attack, right?"

"Ah\'m nae downcast, ah\'m unfocused. System notifications," she explained gruffly.

Lone raised an eyebrow. \'She got some skill level-ups? That\'s good. More incentive for other dwarves to challenge me. Speaking of notifications...\'

The host has developed the passive skill: Tower Shield Mastery.

Passive skill: Tower Shield Mastery

A sub-skill of the skill [Shield Mastery] commonly used by heavy infantry to effectively block ranged attacks while in a formation.

Any tower shield held by the host shall feel 5% lighter than it actually is and will be 5% less unwieldy.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

The host has developed the passive skill: Shield Mastery.

Passive skill: Shield Mastery

The parent skill of all shield-based masteries.

When blocking an attack with a shield, the attack\'s force shall be reduced by 5%.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

The host has developed the active skill: Ramming Strike.

Active Skill: Ramming Strike

A common skill for hosts who like to use larger than normal shields as blunt instruments of ramming destruction.

When ramming a target with a shield, the host\'s speed shall be increased by 5% and the force of the shield\'s impact onto the target shall be multiplied by 2.

Cost:5,000 SP Mastery:Beginner Level 1

\'Ah, so Full Charge was the active effect of Tower Shield Mastery then. Still, I don\'t use a shield... Well, better to have the skills if I ever need them than happen to need them and not have them,\' Lone surmised.

"Are you ready?" Lone asked as he withdrew a typical steel swordspear from his Dimensional Storage, pretending to do so from his adventurer\'s pouch.

His fellow silver-plated adventurer nodded as she firmly planted her shield in the sand and placed herself behind it. "Ah\'ll be tryin\' ta block ya. Nae rules against ya sneakin\' round ma defense though and slashing up ma sides or back. Ah\'m ah rank \'igher than ya, so logic would dictate mah stats an\' skills would allow me tae block whatever ye try, though ah \'ave ah funny feelin\' ah\'ll be spendin\' the next few hours whacking \'at bloody ball o\' yers."

"Perceptive," was all Lone said before he disappeared.

The next moment, he reappeared behind the woman with one of the ends of his swordspear pressed against her exposed neck, a small dribble of blood was flowing down from the slight cut the metal had caused in her flesh.

"My victory, it would seem," Lone noted.

With his advanced hearing, he could pick up in clear detail the whispered words and hushed exclamations of both admiration and fear at how quickly he had moved. Most importantly though, he had heard the woman\'s heart stop beating for a few seconds.

She quickly gasped for air and fell backwards into his armoured form before slumping down onto the floor.

"Ah. My bad. I didn\'t mean to release any killing intent," Lone said in mild embarrassment. It not being a skill made his killing intent a bit tricky to control and judging by everyone\'s reactions, that was likely what he had done.

He hadn\'t intended to scare the adventurer half to death. Walking around the terrified woman, he reached down and offered her a hand. "We good?"

She stared at his outstretched palm before slowly taking it and getting up with his help. "Ye\'ve been through ah lot ah killin\', eh, Skill Thief?"

Lone laughed. "Less than you\'d think, but more than I\'d like. Now, assuming we\'re fine, as agreed, please help me level Blood Clone," he said, pointing to the blob of blood. "Your sword can\'t move me or chip my bones, so I\'d like you to try to attack me and I\'ll have it try to block your strikes. I\'m aiming for a new additional effect."

She took a deep breath before nodding. "Will ye gae me advice while ah dae it? Ah got ah level in Shortsword Mastery, Tower Shield Mastery, an\' Ramming Strike durin\' oor lil\' bout. Might get Killin\' Intent Resistance tae if ye slip up like \'at again. Ye\'ve Teachin\' Mastery, dunt ya?"

\'Oh, that\'s a skill? I bet Sophie had a lot of killing intent. I\'ll ask her about that later,\' Lone thought.

The gathered crowd of adventurers made shouts of jealousy-induced disbelief at the massive gains the woman had received from simply attacking Lone\'s armour three times.

"You catch on quick. Indeed I do," he said before turning to face the 25 to 30 spectating adventurers, "and I\'m more than willing to give helpful tips to anyone else who wishes to challenge me. Same terms as with her. Ten gold in you win, attack my Blood Clone until you\'re basically about to collapse if I win. The specifics of the duels will vary based on your rank. I\'m happy to fight those at or under D-rank too. Even if you don\'t win, you\'ll likely get a level or two in your most used combat skills. Personally, I think that\'s worth the risk."

Lone sported a massive grin when almost immediately, over a dozen dwarves quickly approached him.

\'This is going to be such a productive night,\' he thought.