Chapter 7

However, before Stone could admire his lovely stone tablet again, he felt a disruption on the mana wall.

"Partner, ants are biting more fervently," Stone reported.

"I told you it wouldn't stop them forever."

It was slowly but continuously draining his mana, even with his incredibly potent regeneration.

"You need to break inside their anthill," Partner said carefully, already expecting a bad reaction...

"What? No! I would have to break a stone! I don't like breaking stone!"

"If you don't do it, they will break through and tear you apart," Partner threatened.

"But, but!" Stone desperately tried to find some argument, but nothing came to him.

"No buts!" Partner had enough.

"Fine…" sometimes Stone wished he would have a face so he could pout.

"I wonder what the refined mana does?" Stone wondered as he sensed a new flow inside of him. He amassed it into a bubble near the crevice.

"What did you just say?!" Partner stirred. He observed with horror as the bubble was compressed into one point in space.

The explosion was strong enough that the mana wall cracked and dissipated into specks of light. The infuriated ants behind it got disintegrated into ash.

"Oh, it's stronger than normal mana," Stone remarked, slightly interested.

"What the?! How do you have refined mana at level one?!" Partner yelled in utter disbelief. What he had just seen?

"Ambient Mana Gathering evolved into Ambient Mana Refinement. It said I will have one refined mana per minute," Stone recited.

[Your technique Ambient Mana Refinement gained a level]

"You… You… What the hell are you?" Partner couldn't wrap his head around this anymore. He muttered under breath again, "this… This is something out of expectations. First, Ambient Mana Gathering is not a technique but an inscription for tools. Then he evolves it into something that only mana furnaces have." He stopped mumbling and after a moment he sighed, "in what monster did I get caught up in…"

This time, the experience didn't flow into him the same as before and asked about it.

"Because the higher level you are, the better quality and higher amount you need. If they would give experience on a higher level, people would need to kill bugs…" Partner extensively explained and thought for himself, "Perditio would never allow something like this, but it's too soon to teach him about gods. After all, I don't want to scare him."

The ants reorganized and marched off the entrance.

Back in the talc anthill one of the tired drones danced, "Queen, the explosion killed hundreds of our soldiers.".

"Queen, the wall disappeared," another one ran inside and reported.

"Queen, we can attack!" One of the few advisors added his wisdom to the mix.

The queen sighed in relief. For a moment she was worried that they would be trapped here until the hunger kills them.

"Form lines! Stand down before I arrive!" She issued and her subordinates ran back to the frontlines. Four bigger ants took her throne on the sides and brought her on the edge of the crevice. Her army was awaiting before here arranged into neat lines, facing the enemy. From her perspective, it was a large, white pebble. It did not look like much, but she already knew better.

The ants' black shells reflected light from mana bubbles as she counters Stone's one with her own.

"Chaaaaaaarge!" She thundered over her swarm with a voice filled with mana.

The ranks charged forward not caring about themselves. Their sole reason was to protect their home and larvae.

The pebble conjured another barrier that crushed her ants like nothing. More and more ants poured alongside her, but they couldn't make their way to the magical stone.

"How much mana does he have?!" She wondered, feeling exhaustion. She did not feel much mana from him, but it seemed to be endless.

She conjured bubbles near the pebble and filled it with the fire. This barrage of spells would take all of her remaining power. It was truly the last, desperate move.

An explosion reverberated over the battlefield and a blinding light consumed the battlefield

A few moments ago Stone conjured the [Mana Bubbles] here and there and the Enemy countered him every time, which made him… agitated, "Partner! She can do spells too. I can't hurt them, and they move towards me!"

"Well, you have the Mana Shaping skill, right? So make a wall again, you dumb stone!" Partner deadpanned.

"Oh, right," Stone felt embarrassed and if he could he would facepalm. For a moment, before he realized it wasn't a feeling for him. Stone crushed the unfortunate ants with the hastily made barrier. He felt something new.

"Partner? Something is happening; I feel something odd," Stone got interested in this new feeling. He felt warm.

"That is heat," Partner flatly explained.

"Heat? Oh, heat. Don't I have the talent Heat Accumulator? It said I could absorb heat," Stone was proud of his ability to make connections.

The first flaming bubble exploded. The heat was absorbed into his body, but the force wave still chipped him. He accumulated more and more heat as the spheres exploded while being dangerously damaged.

"Partner, what is this feeling? It does not feel good," Stone complained as he didn't like this another new feeling.

"That's a pain! Think of lifeforce!" Partner panicked. He refused to have his new host killed again, especially after months of boring lecturing.

"Lifeforce." With a soft thud, the tablet opened.

[Lifefore: 54.3 / 100]

"So? How much?!" Partner had to tear off the stupid rock out of the focus.

Stone read the tablet...

"You are half towards death! Do something! Do you want to die?!" Partner's panic increased by a large amount. Stone did not feel much upon mention of death. Merely a slight agitation and discomfort, as if merely bugged that he could actually die. "What does death mean?" He asked a very philosophical question, ignoring his impending doom.

"I will explain later! Fight back, dumbo!" Partner was extremely distressed. Months of boredness, endless teaching and sitting in one place and now he was close to losing another host… "Not again, please," he silently prayed to all gods he could remember. That he would probably die as well, did not come to his mind at all.

Meanwhile, Stone was being gradually damaged. Little fissures appeared on his body as the enemy conjured more fiery bubbles.

[Your heat is at maximum capacity. Release or explode!]

"Hehehe," Stone chuckled as the message finally flashed in his mind. A much larger, heating bubble appeared in the middle of the battlefield.

A brief, blinding explosion echoed in the shaft.

The ants disintegrated alongside their Queen... Even Stone was pushed by a few centimetres. The explosion created a dent on the wall and the ground with smoking lumps of dirt and seared ants on the edges.

It didn't kill all of them but took out a large number from their army. Ants ran around, confused, as they lost the pheromone trail of their Queen.

"That… was… refined… mana..." Partner whispered. He gazed upon the destruction with disbelief.

"Loud. That was too loud," Stone complained as if nothing happened.

"You… Never, and when I say never, I mean never, use refined mana and heat near yourself. With your lifeforce, it would be instant death! It can even hurt those big dwarfs!" Partner promptly demanded while inwardly shivering with excitement. "Refined mana… Yes!" He inwardly roared.

"Yes, stronger. But stone around has gotten damaged too," Stone looks at the cracked dent in the wall. He decided that he abhors hurting another stone and those who do it should be punished harshly.

"Hmm… status," Stone wanted to look again at his tablet as it would bring his attention elsewhere. After one soft 'Thud'

Name: Stone

Title: None

Race: Talc

Level: 1

Exp: 3.43%

Hardness: 1

Lifeforce: 14.8 / 100

Mana: 20 / 20 MReg: 27 / sec

Refined mana: 5 / 5 MRef: 2 / min

Strength: 0

Dexterity: 0

Intelligence: 2

Talents: Ageless, Sapient, Heat Accumulator, Partner

Resistances: Heat T1L3, Electrical T1L3

Expertises: Mana Point T2L1, Ambient Mana Refinement T2L2, Mana Carving T2L1

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Encyclopaedia Stonia

Refined mana

Mana scraped off the outward pollution and fully integrated into the user. It is 5 times stronger than unrefined mana. Mix it with heat, and you have an excellent, potent explosive.

For comparison, black powder has 3 MJ / kg, and TNT has 4.7 MJ / kg.