n

n

nOcter and Foster stared at each other from across the table. Nervously, Octer turned to the side to look at Lynol,

"Yo, help me out here, will you?

"

n

"Why would I?

" the swordsman replied immediately,

"I'm on Foster's side. What you just did was more than just idiotic.

" Lynol pointed out, while Octer was just perplexed,

"What do you mean, idiotic? You wanted me to take the pill, right?

"

n

"Sure, but why would you not even think about it, you **ing dumbass?!

" Foster let out,

"I told you, even if it didn't kill you outright, you could have keeled over in horrendous pain, and then you just swallow it? What kinda **ing idiot takes random pills they're just given-

" He exclaimed, stopping himself soon after. He stood up straight, and slowly started removing his cesti. Confused, Octer and Lynol looked at him,

"What just happened?

" Octer asked, and Foster awkwardly looked away.

n

"I've taken random pills I found on the floor of random clubs... I shouldn't be the one to lecture you here...

" Foster admitted, before looking at his friend again,

"Still, just... don't do that again, alright?

"

n

"R-Right, I won't...

" Octer replied awkwardly,

"But well... I have three martial skills that give me natural armor now. Iron Skin, Bone Armor, and Rock Armor...

" He soon realized, and Lynol curiously looked at him,

"Speaking of, I haven't seen you use Iron Skin before.

"

n

"Hm, right, the only time I had to use something like that was the boss in the world dungeon, but Bone Armor is more powerful than Iron Skin, and its cost is just a little more, so...

" He explained.

nFoster raised a brow,

"Then how about you try using them together? Like, at the same time?

"

n

"Huh? I mean, I guess I could try, but it would take way too much internal energy to activate.

"

n

"Right, but you mentioned that the activation is the worst part, after that the amount to actually hold it isn't that bad.

" Foster pointed out,

"So, just activate Bone Armor and Rock Armor with mana, and then feed them internal energy.

"

n

"What do you mean, 'just', do you know how hard that would be? And I can't even control my mana well enough in the first place to do something like that...

"

nFoster thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged,

"I mean, you don't have to learn to do it right now, but like, in the future. You wouldn't need the defense from all three of those things anytime soon anyway, right? But in the future, it might be useful.

"

nOcter rubbed his neck again, trying to think,

"Fair enough. I'll just try doing it with internal energy for now.

"

n

"Didn't you say that would take too much?

"

n

"Too much for a fight, but I'm heading to bed after this anyway, so it doesn't really make a difference.

" Octer replied quickly, before taking a deep breath. He stood up straight, stretching out his back. Once he let out his next breath, his quite rough, somewhat dry skin turned smooth and seemed to reflect a bit of light off of it. His skin turned a more pale, grayish colour as well, making it generally more metallic,

"Right now, my Iron Skin skill is at a low tier, so this is the extent of it for now. But when I advance it through training, it should get a bit stronger than this.

" He explained, before taking another deep breath, holding it a bit longer this time. And again, while breathing out, his body slightly changed.

nA layer of bones grew all over his body, already bulking him up a bit. The bones looked the same as they normally did, just with a metallic aspect to them. They were smoother, and a bit darker than normal. At this point, it seemed like the activation of Bone Armor already tired him out a bit more than it usually did, but even then, Octer took another deep breath in preparation of activating his newest martial skill.

nAs he breathed out, Octer's body bulked up even more as cracks seemed to appear on the layer of bone, as this layer itself seemed to be transforming into something between rock and bone.

nFoster and Lynol looked up at their friend, who seemed to have grown by a few inches after activating these three skills,

"Holy **ing **, you look terrifying... and super awesome, damn.

" Foster soon let out, practically involuntarily. Octer slowly looked down at his body, every movement causing his joints to let out loud creaks, as if every part of himself was pressing so hard against others that he was about to shatter apart if he moved too fast.

n

"It's... interesting...

" Octer pointed out, his voice sounding distorted compared to what it was before. It sounded somewhat echoey and weirdly fake, as if a recording taken in a cave was played through an old radio, all while his voice had dropped an octave or two. Slowly, Octer tried to take a step forward, but the moment he tried to lift his foot, it dropped back down onto the wooden floor that let out a loud creak, showing that it was clearly just about to break under Octer's sheer weight.

n

"I... can't... move...

" With a tone that clearly showed that this situation wasn't as cool for himself as it appeared for Foster, Octer tried placing a hand onto his chest,

"...breathing... is... hard... even blinking... takes effort...

"

n

"Then hurry up and undo it, before you have a heart-attack or something.

" Foster told him, watching as his friend's body shrunk back down, returning to what it was before. For a few moments, Octer seemed a bit dizzy, as if he had to newly orient himself in his body, even grabbing onto the back of the chair standing next to him for balance. He took a deep breath, and as he let it back out, looked at his friends,

"That was an experience, alright... It's not something I can do right now. Maybe when I level up a bit more, sure, but not right now.

" He quickly explained, looking at his hand as if he was surprised how easy it was to move around again all of a sudden.

nLynol stood up, looking at the shield bearer curiously,

"Something... seems different about you all of a sudden.

"

n

"Huh?

" Confused, Octer looked down at his body, trying to figure out what he was talking about. And then, Foster looked at him again as well, even taking a step back to see if he could notice anything. And then, when he saw Lynol and Octer standing next to each other, he finally realized what was wrong,

"Mother**er- you're taller than you were before!

"

nOcter practically flinched as he heard Foster's words, and Lynol looked up at him as well, quickly realizing that it was true,

"He is right. An inch, maybe two, but you are definitely taller than you were before,

" Lynol explained, looking down at his friend's waist, slightly pulling at the bottom of his shirt,

"Look, you can see it here as well. A bit of your stomach is exposed. You are definitely taller than before.

"

nWith a wry smile, Octer looked down at his body, pulling on his shirt and looking at the ends of his pant-legs,

"A-And... why the ** did this happen...?

"

n

"...I mean, if mana effects the body, then why can't internal energy? It's fine though, right? It's not like it makes a huge difference. Most of your stuff should fit you well enough, anyway,

" Foster explained, walking around Octer for a moment,

"And if your clothes are a bit tight, I can just widen them a bit, so it's not a big deal.

"

nSomewhat distracted by what Foster just said, Lynol turned his head,

"You know how to sew?

"

n

"I had like a single outfit for the first half of my life, what do you think?

"

n

"...Fair enough.

" Lynol replied, before looking back at Octer, patting his shoulder,

"Anyway, it's time for us to go now. We should probably rest a bit. Using those three skills at the same time probably exhausted you a good bit anyway, right?

"

n

"Yeah... I am a bit tired.... So let's just- Wait, no, hold on, we're not just skipping over the fact that this martial skill made me grow two inches?! Why are the two of you so relaxed about this?

" Octer asked with a wry smile, and Foster and Lynol looked at each other for a moment, before shrugging,

"It's honestly not the weirdest thing that happened so far, is it?

"

n