Seven days had come and gone since Lone's meeting with the mysterious assassin whose name and organisation were left unknown.

No one had come to attack them yet, though that had been true since the conclusion of Lone's trial, so he and his group weren't sure how effective the assassin's promise was to keep other organisations from taking the bounty quite yet.

Right now, Lone was watching intently as Soph and Hamish sparred. Thus far, no matter how many times the two of them had duelled, Hamish always won.

Soph was restricted from using her teleportation to injure the dwarf nor was she allowed to crush his body with an immense number of layered barriers. She was also, of course, disallowed from making barriers inside of the man.

So far she'd only tried that trick on Lone, and only twice. It was an incredibly invasive and painful experience, almost enough so to convince Soph to stop trying it altogether.

Even since the first experiment, Soph had been very hesitant to try the technique again even if Lone insisted she should practice it until she earned a subskill. He'd only talked her into doing it once more so far, but he was hopeful for more sessions.

A bit of temporary pain with no real danger attributed to it because of his Basic Regeneration was well worth both of them earning skills and skill experience.

Regardless, the rules of the duels made it so the only way that Soph could practically win was by imprisoning Hamish in barriers just enough so he couldn't move but wouldn't actually get hurt by the process.

Speed was her issue. Hamish was simply too agile for her to keep up with him and thus, she could rarely imprison a single part of him like a shoulder or calf, left alone his entire body.

Still, Lone had hope. He watched as Hamish flitted here and there, moving around the stationary woman, ready to serve her a 'killing' blow and win yet another of their spars when something surprised him.

A set of barriers that looked different from the ones Soph was able to summon appeared around Hamish in his entirety.

His movements ground to a halt before he flopped to the floor and bounced a few times before coming to a screeching halt.

Lone got up and jogged over to the dwarf. Not to check on him per se, but more to inspect the new barriers. They were a thicker shade of jade-green and had some sort of runic pattern on them.

A closer look revealed that they were not, in fact, a group of barriers, but a single Hamish-shaped barrier.

Soph wore a massive smile on her face when she removed her helmet and approached them. "I got a new skill! A subskill for Barrier Magic!"

Lone nodded with pride. "I can see that, and what a subskill it is. Well, it's safe to say you've won this match. Wanna let him go before he suffocates or before he tires himself out trying to break the barrier by flexing?"

Soph pouted. "Not really, but okay."

With a wave of her hand, the Hamish-shaped barrier flickered out of existence.

The dwarven rogue gasped for breath as he collapsed onto his back and just stared at the ceiling of the farwind road they were on.

"'At were scary as feck," he said. "Ah always 'ad time tae evade yer attempts tae surround me afore. 'At though, 'at wae one barrier, wasnae it? One very fast an' very strong barrier."

Soph beamed with confidence. "Yup! Unique Subskill: Barrier Prison."

"Describe it in detail for us?" Lone asked.

"H-Here, Mister Hamish," Breena said as she handed a cup of water and a towel to her teacher.

Lone had barely noticed her presence, which was a good sign since Hamish's training was centred around her utilising her Primal skill to make herself as invisible as possible.

Soph did as he requested and read out the details of her new skill. With ease, Lone was able to mentally construct what its skill window would have looked like were he to be the one reading it.

Unique subskill: Barrier Prison

A subskill unique to the host, Sophie Vladimirovich.

Allows the host to instantly create a single barrier that will encase their target entirely.

Limits: Only applicable on things up to 10 times larger than the host. Does not affect the intangible. Can only endure up to 1,000 PSI of pressure generated from within the barrier and up to 10,000 PSI of pressure generated from without the barrier.

Cost: 100,000 MP (an additional 5,000 MP per second the barrier is sustained) Mastery: Beginner Level 1

Lone nodded slowly and said, "What an expensive skill. That definitely sounds like it's tailored to you specifically, Soph."

She cocked her head. "Whaddya mean?"

"Well, my unique subskill Bone Armour costs nothing to invoke, it just costs me MP to boost its self-healing rate like its original skill, Basic Regeneration. This subskill of yours has an insane entry cost. Only someone like you who has over 3,000,000 MP could properly take advantage of this skill. It'd be near-useless to me like two of my Primal skills currently are, thus, I think it was tailored to you and not just picked out of a hat. I'd even wager it was made just to reward your efforts," Lone explained to which Soph slowly nodded.

"W-What's a 'PSI'?" Breena hesitantly asked.

Both Hamish and Soph looked confused as well so Lone answered, "It means pounds per square inch. It's a measurement of force."

"Wouldnae it be PPSI then?" Hamish asked. "Also, what's one PSI feel like then if it's ah measure o' force?"

"I didn't make the acronym, and stand still." Lone walked up to Hamish and punched him with the strength equal to that of an I-ranker. "That was about 150 or so PSI of force."

The dwarf raised an eyebrow. "An' ah thousand?"

Lone reeled back his arm and punched again, this time with the strength of a G-ranker. Hamish didn't even move let alone flinch.

The punch was harder than that of even a professional boxer from back on Earth, but to a B-ranker, Lone had to admit that it was a painfully weak strike.

"I'd reckon that was roughly 1000 PSI or so. I'm not entirely sure. I'll work on making a proper scale to know who the barrier can and cannot safely contain rank-wise. The best way would probably be for Soph to put me in a Barrier Prison and for you to try to break it from the outside while I try to break it from the inside," Lone said.

Hamish nodded as he crossed his arms. "Aye, 'at could work. If 'at punch wae ah thousand PSI though then ah'd be willin' tae bet 10,000 is only equal tae the average C-ranker's strength."

Lone shrugged. "It's only at beginner rank. Give it a few ranks and maybe Soph'll have a way to instantly capture a physical-focused S-ranker or above. And besides, It's gotta be a lot harder to get out of the barrier as opposed to relying on someone else to get you out."

Hamish grimaced. "Aye. When ye'r locked in place, flexin' yer muscles'll only do so much."

"Exactly," Soph chimed in. "Now that I'm so much stronger than you, what's even the point of duelling with you anymore?"

"Just don't use Barrier Prison and work on another type of barrier," Lone suggested.

Soph pursed her lips in thought. "Me and Sophie don't mind that, but, uh, the rest of our ideas are very deadly. At least the ones that need another person are."

"Nope," Hamish immediately said. "Ye can test those on Immortus the Immortal over 'ere, nae me. Now let's get ah move on before ya somehow manage tae convince 'im tae let ye an' yer psycho other side actually off me."

Lone chuckled as he watched Hamish quickly pace down the road with Breena trailing after him. "He's really scared of you, huh?"

Soph looked up at Lone and replied, "He should be. You know that if it was up to me and Sophie, he'd be dead right now."

"Yeah, I know," Lone sighed. "Congrats, by the way. Big congrats. It's been a while since you've got a new skill."

"One step closer to earning my place by your side!" Soph happily exclaimed.

"You ain't gotta earn shit, but if that's the goal that motivates you, more power to you," Lone replied. "Now, let's go after them before we're too far."

Soph got on her tiptoes and gave Lone a brief kiss. "You don't think Sophie and I need to earn it, but we sure do."

She then teleported the two of them to Breena and Hamish's side.

A few hours had passed and Lone was currently sitting at their camp for the evening waiting for Soph to finish her dinner.

As he did that, he decided to check his notification log for the past week. It had been a bit sparse when compared to some other weeks, in truth, but still, as he always liked to say to himself, some progress was more than no progress.

The host has developed the passive skill: Unique Magic: Barrier Magic Resistance. Unique Magic: Barrier Magic Resistance All offensive barriers produced by the skill Unique Magic: Barrier Magic used on the host shall be 5% weaker and 5% easier to break. Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1

The important information Lone had gleaned from this skill's existence was undoubtedly the fact that one could develop a resistance to unique skills.

This implied that if he did decide to rely entirely on Mental Destruction to keep his pet Primals in place, eventually, they'd grow nigh immune to the punishment.

'It also means that Soph can't imprison someone indefinitely. Ignoring her new skill's upkeep cost versus her MP regen rate, assuming they're strong enough to not starve to death, the prisoner'll eventually get the resistance and level it enough to break free,' Lone surmised in thought. 'Though that would likely take weeks to months, right? Even if actively resisting, it is a unique skill and no one has my skill acquisition speed but me.'

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Unique Magic: Barrier Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Unique Magic: Barrier Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Unique Magic: Barrier Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Unique Magic: Barrier Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Teaching Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 5. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Cartography] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Drawing Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Drawing Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Drawing Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Drawing Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 5. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Drawing Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 6. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Drawing Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Art Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Art Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3. Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Art Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.

Over the past seven days, Lone had dedicated himself to improving his map-making skills while he worked on trying to utilise his mental locks as memory banks.

He was getting close but hadn't quite earned that particular additional effect of Puzzle Locked Mind yet. Hence the slow week, but still, Lone was happy with his creative gains.

'I'm definitely getting a better eye for the artistic and my ability to draw is improved by the hour. What does this tell me?' he asked himself. 'Well, it's the most concrete proof thus far that skill level-ups do make a difference, just not a difference the system thinks is worth an update on the skill's screen.'

Lone had tried his hand at drawing before back on Earth. His vast interest in classical history and legends of old had led to him attempting to draw dragons and knights, Greeks and hydras, and all sorts of childish fantasies. 'Attempting' was the keyword.

He simply had no eye for the subject. Now though? Lone had only spent a few hours a day trying his best to add plenty of detail to his self-made maps and even without Drawing Mastery entering intermediate rank, his ability to draw had shot through the roof.

Lone glanced over and saw that Soph was almost ready to start training, having finished her dinner, so just before she came over to use him as a training dummy, Lone decided to summarise all of the ways he currently knew of to improve a skill.

'As Drawing and Art Mastery have shown, raw levels do improve the skill's subject but it clearly varies based on the skill. If this were obvious, I'd have discovered it months ago. Ranking up earns you a definitive boost from the system - usually a percent increase. Some skills have specific triggers to improve like Bone Armour getting broken. Some improve passively on top of level and rank bonuses like Blood Clone. Some skills, maybe most, maybe a few, can evolve after reaching master-rank-ten.' Lone tapped his chin.

"I think that's everything?" he asked himself.

"I won't say that to him! It's needlessly mean," Soph said as she approached him, apparently having responded to her other half.

"What's she telling you to say?" Lone asked.

Soph smiled wryly. "Something rude."

Lone pursed his lips. "I can take a guess. Knowing Sophie... 'Thinking? Isn't that dangerous for him? You should ask that he not strain himself too much.'"

Soph giggled. "Shockingly close, but she was snider. Anyway! I'm in control, so no meanness!"

"... Barring you practising your ideas for Barrier Magic on me that would kill most people," Lone commented.

"I will not come even close to killing you, and it's not mean since you offered, rejected my rejection, and then persuaded me that it makes sense to help you build your resistances while making my own skills stronger," Soph protested.

"Got it. No gaslighting. Well, let's get started, shall we?" Lone asked with a cheeky grin on his lips.

"Sure. Uh, t-tell me if it hurts too much, okay? I seriously don't want to leave any, uh, scars. Both physically and mentally," Soph requested.

Lone smiled. "Basic Regeneration has me covered on both fronts now that it's master rank. Let's do this. The stronger you are, the more likely it is that you can save me if I ever get close to dying, right?"

Soph nodded and then Lone felt a soul-splitting pain as most of his organs ruptured from barriers suddenly appearing within them before rapidly expanding. At the same time, all of his limbs were cut clean from his body save for his head.

This was going to be a brutal evening, Lone felt. Still, he could already see several system notifications, so while brutal, it would also be worthwhile.