"Stone?"

"Dafur?"

"Ha! Ya're buying beer!"

"What?" Stone was confused... “What’s a beer?”.

"Ah, nothin'," Dafur realized that he was conversing with a sentient mineral. "It's a dwarven thing… Anyway, I thought ya're dead!"

"I'm fine. I want to leave. It's too loud here," Stone saw everything in his sphere; dozens of strange dwarfs were running around, screaming. Some of them were even smoking as their skin melted. That he did not care for… It was silent. Some were squashed by the Monster's tentacles. Slightly louder… but bearable. The screeching Monster pulled itself on the beach and systematically massacred the consternated druegars.

Meanwhile, the guards and warriors channelled their skills and techniques to protect the villagers. However, the Monster's skin proved itself to be too firm for them to penetrate. They could barely defend themselves while hindering its movement.

Shaman-Ganra woke up and as he gaped around, he felt an undiluted horror. Thankfully, he was powerful enough to fight. Otherwise, the villagers would have roasted and eaten him as a punishment for this failure.

He regained the composure quickly and conjured one rune after another. Swirling mana and elemental attacks bombarded the enraged Shul-Gahat. Some of the runic attacks penetrated its tough skin and forced the Monster to turn the attention to the shaman. It utilized its own refined mana into a powerful spell, while proficiently conjuring a <Mana Shield> around its body.

Stone observed the chaos with interest, while Dafur finally reached the shaft. They slipped through the crowd to the village.

"We need to find another exit. I can't stay here. The shaman wants mea for somethin’, and I'm naet interested to find out for what, but first…" Dafur madly grinned and jogged into the unguarded temple. His innate greed enhanced by the blight emerged.

"Luci? What is he doing?" Stone curiously observed as Dafur rummaged through the chests and looted everything that was not nailed down.

"From the look of it, I would say he is stealing," Lucifer deadpanned, not knowing if he was dreaming. He survived a fall directly into the stomach of the 5th-tier Monster. When finally out, his new companion, a blighted dwarf, whose druegar appearance was good enough to fool the actual druegars, proceeded to loot some shaman's temple. He wanted to scream, wail and laugh. He did not do that. And even if he did, he would never admit it. Stone be the witness.

"Looting…" Stone repeated the word. That sounded interesting. So many things laying around for taking. He liked that concept.

"Stone, we will never talk about this. Never! Do you understand?"

"Why?"

"For once, don't ask me and answer you understand."

"Okay, I understand. We will never talk about being vomited by a monster."

"I am glad you get it," Lucifer was thrilled. The pebble was truly a great student. "Now, tell this thieving idiot to finish. I don't think we can deal with that shaman."

"Dafur, Luci says we should go," Stone obediently repeated.

The blighted dwarf completely ignored him, rummaging through the shaman's property with fervour it could be compared to a starved goblin who was teleported to an elven royal kitchen.

"What is wrong with him?"

"He is blighted, and I guess this is one of the many side effects he will suffer until he levels up... Or dies."

"Can we help him?"

"Hmm… let me think," Lucifer fished in his memory. He was never in high-tier hosts. Even though he was bored to hell from time to time, having it spiced with moments of pure terror, he got used to having someone who depends on him for wisdom and leading. And to wake up Dafur… Slapping him? That would enrage him in this state. Talking to him? Stone was not very good at that. It would end up in slapping and the order of things after that was already established. His mind rapidly spun, attempting to find a solution.

Meanwhile, Dafur found some clothes, not the nightgown, but classic pants and tunic. He also discovered a sturdy, dark leather armour with metallic lining covering vital areas and engraved by low-grade two runes; passive for hardness and active for basic <Mana Shield>. It was not much, but for him, it was the greatest treasure. Clothes and armour! He even did a small victory dance.

"Loud!" Stone complained. Dafur ignored him. Why did everyone ignore him when he complained?

While Dafur was sorting through the ill-gotten goods, throwing out things he deemed worthless, two villagers outside spotted someone inside the temple as Dafur was quite loud. Who would have known? They should have listened to the talking stone.

"What're ya doin' her'?!" One of them shouted at the crazed ‘druegar’ who was holding a bag, clearly filled with stolen goods and some pebble. Dafur turned to them with a crazy expression, "mae rich’s! Not yers! Mae!"

"Loud!'' A high-pitched voice, enhanced by mana, reverberated in the room. The villagers froze. A bluish wall slapped Dafur over the right cheek. His face turned angry. The wall hit him over the left cheek. He became enraged. Again, the wall hit him in the right cheek, but with as much strength as Stone could muster.

That woke Dafur up, “what happened?” He asked incredulously as he shook his head.

"Luci explained it's the side effect of blight," Stone replied, his focus on the startled villagers.

Dafur wanted to slip through before the villagers regained their bearings, but was too slow. He was stopped by one of them with a one-handed axe, "wher' do ya think ya're goin'? Be nic' boy and wait her' for the sham'n!"

Dafur hastily retreated and conjured a fiery rune, but the second villager threw at him a dagger, interrupting his channelling. So, he activated the <Mana Shield> at his newly acquired armour. A thin, but firm, translucent film enveloped him from head to toe.

"Damn! Stone! Attack them with maximum power! Aim for eyes or mouth!" Lucifer apprehensively ordered as he saw that the situation was not looking very well.

Stone focused on shaping and carving a half-a-meter long arrow from refined mana above himself. He shot at a villager’s head who was wholly caught off guard. However his instincts kicked in, allowing him to slightly evade. The RM mana arrow pierced his shoulder and disappeared into specks of light. The confused druegar searched around, searching for the wizard or Monster.

<Your skill Mana Carving gained a level>

"Where are you aiming?! Eyes! Eyes!" Lucifer anxiously exclaimed. His own skills were still not up to par to help in this battle.

"He evaded! If you are so smart, help!"

"Moron! I could not properly train yet! My output is too small!" Lucifer explained, realizing that this is the first time Stone got cheeky. "Did he reach puberty? Please, gods! I don't want to raise a teenage mineral," and while inwardly praying, he said, "and stop talking! Attack!"

While pouting, Stone observed the two druegars and one blighted dwarf… and their messy and loud struggle..

"Now!" Lucifer drew on the great opportunity.

Stone learned from the past mistake and conjured another arrow with the rest of his refined mana closer to the target.

'Swish!'

The arrow caught the villager with the axe off-guard and went straight through his eye to the brain. The druegar dropped dead, scaring the second one to hell. The druegar with daggers retreated towards the exit, defending himself from Dafur.

<You have killed a druegar 4 levels above yours>
<Due to the artificial breaking of limits, you will not gain a bonus experience>
<21,70% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 2.17% experience>
<Stone gained 19.53% experience>

"We can't allow him to alert others! Stop him!"

"How?"

"Create a mana wall with me! And tell Dafur to prepare cast his runes!"

"Dafur! Luci says that you should conjure…" Stone was interrupted by a fiery arrow emerging from the Dafur's rune and killing the panicked villager by piercing the neck. A muffled explosion tore his head off, sending it on the overturned chair's leg. The expression on the villager’s face was so surprised that even Stone chuckled.

"Never mind," Stone was embarrassed. That was not very stony.

"Ten out of ten,” Lucifer giggled.

"What?" Stone was confused by these strange sentences.

"Nothing," Lucifer brushed him off. "Tell him to pack. We're leaving. Now!"

"Dafur, Luci wants to leave. Now."

"Yea, sorry about that. T'at was the strangest feeling I ever had," he apologized. "Som'body's gonna be grumpy," Dafur snickered as he glanced around for the last time. This would teach that pesky shaman to not mess with a dwarf!

They left and stealthily moved towards the shaft on the other side of the enormous cavern. On the way, Dafur showed some common sense by dropping most of the stolen things, leaving only necessities; fire-attuned mana crystals, around two hundred gold coins, and some gems. The rest was hidden into a hastily dug out hole behind the armoury.

As Dafur's went near the almost empty mess hall, he smelled beer. A lot of it.

"Oh, no! Stone, stop him!" Lucifer called out, alerted; dwarfs and their beer…

"Luci says we have to keep moving."

"Just a lil’ bit!" Dafur beseeched.

"No! In any circumstances, don't allow him to drink beer!" Lucifer knew what would happen otherwise.

"Apparently, you can't. I don't know why, but Luci is loud about this."

"Please! No more than three mugs! I'll be done in a second," the roused dwarf argued with a pleading voice.

"No!"

"No."

"Fine! But I'm takin that small keg!" He pointed at the untapped keg. He put Stone in the pocket, the bag on his back, and the 25 litre beer-filled keg on his shoulder.

"Damn dwarfs and their addiction to beer!" Lucifer lamented as they ran considerably slower and not so stealthily on the beaten track towards the other entrance.

The way split into two ways; up or down?

☁☁☁☁☁☁

‘Bang! Bang!’ “Mast’r!”

In the Gilded Runemaster Guild, a young servant banged on the rune-engraved door leading to Therdreag’s personal workshop.

‘Bang! Peng! Clang!’

Muffled explosions and clanging spread from behind the door.

“Dornus dammit! Whichever Karna-Kul’s shit is banging on my door, I will hang him by the balls!” A gruff, angry swearing echoed as the door opened. A charred-black face emerged, frightening the newly hired servant.

“I’m sorry, mast’r!”

“Sorry won’t cut it, bastard! Now, what do you want?!” Master Therdreag grumpily asked, knowing that the boy had to have something important.

“Master Baelgin wanna to visit here. His apprentice disappeared near yar place. Ya shoulda know which,” the servant whispered while looking at the tips of his boots while his beard slightly trembled.

“Hmm, when?” Therdreag’s grumpiness and anger vanished. “This could be problematic. I forgot that Dafur is his apprentice. Even though Baelgin is a mere 4th-rank runemaster, he comes from a fairly powerful military family.”

“In an hour,” the servant relaxed.

“Prepare some meals and a lot of beer. And tell your superior servants,” he emphasizes with a relit anger, “to prepare themselves to welcome a fellow runemaster.” He pondered about something and added with a broad smile, “Oh, and tell apprentice Tafur to come. No excuses allowed.”

“As ya wish, mast’r,” the servant bowed and ran away.

“Dornus dammit! Something is happening. I can feel it!” Therdreag’s smile faded. “Too bad I didn’t have time to visit the lab and check those logs. What should I tell him?”

The guild became bustling as everyone prepared to receive the important guest.

In an hour, Baelgin arrived, followed by a guard and a servant. They led him to one of the luxurious reception rooms, fitted with paintings, statues and even some ancient tinkerer’s artefacts carefully placed on the pedestals. The middle of the room was dominated by a table from rare chestnut mana-wood with matching chairs. Lightly shimmering runes were engraved into walls, ceiling and floor in the Protection Array. They were clearly the works of Therdreag, known for having an Universum-acknowledged <Engraver> profession. On what tier, nobody knew.

He sat on the sturdy chair and a servant brought him an ale mug and some fruits. After he chugged three refills, the master Therdreag arrived, followed by his favourite apprentice, Tafur.

“Welcome, friend! I am truly sorry for your apprentice,” Therdreag said with a fake bright tone. “Tafur was there. He will explain during lunch. Servants!” He clapped.

“Good mining, friend! Thank you for your warm welcome. Yes, it’s truly regrettable. When I investigated, I found the destroyed miner’s camp. Luckily, the owners were already rebuilding it. When I questioned their leader, he said something about mana crystal deposit,” Baelgin paused with significance, “and two blighted dwarfs,” he makes another significant pause. “When I returned to report to my uncle, who, as you certainly remember, is a captain of the Army of the Abyss, he sent me to you,” he spoke with a hidden threat that did not escape Therdreag’s experienced ears.

On the other hand, Tafur was confused. Something was wrong, but he could not tell what.

“Ah… don’t worry, I reported everything truthfully,” Therdrea shot an amused glance at his apprentice when he saw his confusion. “Now, my little genius, tell everything! Don’t worry, you can talk, Master Baelgin already knows about the laboratory. After all, we found it together,” he explained with a slight smile as he reminisced about the simpler past. That time, both were barely inaugurated 4th-rank runemasters, seeking riches to support their further studies.

Tafur wanted to reflexively answer, however, he had a mouth full of beer. He hastily gulped and narrated his adjusted story. Tafur’s mouth’s corners slightly rose as he recalled that he had finally gotten rid of that pathetic twin of his.

Master Baelgin silently listened. When Tafur ended his story, he deeply frowned. “So, Dafur is blighted. Still, we have to presume he is still alive. Master Therdreag, did you find what is in the laboratory?”

Tafur’s face hardened. If his twin was still alive…

“No…” Therdreag replied a bit ashamed. He promised the Assembly that he would be able to translate those old runes. He still did not make any progress with them and now it was broken.

“Hmm… And the rift to the Abyss opened too. The Army of the Abyss will build an outpost there. Who is the owner of the mana crystal mine?” Baelgin questioned.

“It’s mid-large and attuned, so it belongs to the Assembly. The miners’ guild who owned the marble mine will be reimbursed and will be allowed to mine out the marble after their safety will be assured,” Therdreag gave away the information.

“I don’t care about them,” Baelgin dismissively answered as he pondered how to react to his lost apprentice. He could not abandon him. That would damage his reputation, but he did not want descent to the dangerous Abyss himself and hiring adventurers would be too expensive. Moreover, Dafur was not someone too important and according to his brother, blighted anyway.

“Baelgin! Aren’t you a little bit cheeky?” Therdreag squinted.

“I am sorry, Master Therdreag,” Baelgin replied with fake regret and a hint of amusement.

“Good,” Therdreag nodded and smiled at Tafur. This was an important lesson too. When talking to a higher-tiered being, be always respectful. Even on the battlefield.

“Now, if you excuse me, I will have to go back to my guild and my family,” Baelgin stood up and burped. “Thank you for your treat. The beer was amazing.”

“Right? It’s from Torag’s brewery in the north.”

“Human? They can make such a good beer?” Baelgin asked with suspicion.

“No, no… Of course not. Torag is a dwarf.”

“Dwarf in the north… What happened?”

They chatted a little bit more as they went to the gates. Right before the Baelgin left, Therdreag leaned to him and whispered, “thanks for allowin’ mea to lecture mae apprentice.”

Baelgin knowingly smiled and after wishing, “Happy mining!”, left.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

“Down!” Stone yelled. His mineral’s instincts were drawing him deeper into the underground.

“Up!” Dafur shouted back at the pebble in his hand. He wanted to live.

“Stone, he is right. Let’s go up. We will die deeper down. You cannot even imagine the horrors that lurk there. That lake Monster was a prime example. We need you to level up and evolve. And I need time to train too,” Lucifer reasoned.

“I want down! I don’t like up!” Stone stubbornly repeated.

“Why?” Dafur and Lucifer asked in unison.

“It's wrong! And traitors! Constant movement! Annoyances!”

Lucifer facepalmed and groaned. “We go up, you stubborn moron!”

“Down!”

“Up!”

They bickered like that for a few precious minutes.

“You know what? Up there, it will be easier to level up! More good feelings!”

“Easier?” A crack appeared on the Stone’s iron-clad defence of constant repeating ‘down!’..

“Yeah! Imagine that!” Lucifer knew he was making a mountain out of a molehill. There was another reason he did not want to go deeper into the Abyss; he knew jackshit about that place, bar the general knowledge.

“Wait for a minute, why am I askin’ a freakin’ piece of pebble about t’is?” Dafur muttered and reflexively wanted to stroke his beard. “Dornus dammit! Mae beard…” he sobbed. He missed that beard so much… It was almost like a loved pet. No… not almost… It was a loved pet…

“Well, seems like we don’t have an option,” Lucifer commented, satisfied as the dwarf made the decision for them..

“Tche!” Stone clicked his imaginary tongue.

“Where did you learn this?”

“What?”

“Being stubborn, cheeky and clicking the tongue when you have none.”

Stone mentally shrugged and Lucifer felt a rage swelling inside of him; so, in the end, he was raising a teenager.

The climb took a whole three hours. The 4 metres wide and 7 metres high shaft was steep and without stairs. The path was wholly abandoned, however, Dafur could discern traces of usage and even cart tracks.

“Luci, I have decided,” Stone proclaimed as they swayed in the pocket.

“Hmm? On what?”

“I will find out more things that feel good.”

“Really?!” Lucifer joyously exclaimed. “Ambition! He has ambition! With that, I can work with! Gods did not abandon me!” He inwardly danced.

“Loud!” Stone protested as in was not as much inwardly as Lucifer thought.

They arrived at a circular small cave. Next to a natural fountain and tables with stools was a small house carved into the mountain. Against them were four shafts, marked with dwarven runes.

Dafur examined each rune separately. “Hmm… three shafts lead towards outposts of the Army of the Abyss. No way It’ll come close to them. One leads… I don’t know that runa but looks menacin’ and I don’t wanna find out…”. He paused at the last rune, with bulging eyes. “Dornus ass! This one leads to the Arn-Dul’s maze!” He could not believe his luck.

Dafur put Stone and the keg on one of the tables and tapped it. He deeply inhaled the beer’s smell and opened the tap above his mouth.

“Luci?”

“Yea?”

“What is he doing?”

“Getting drunk.”

“Oh, does that feel good?”

“Sometimes, yes. From what I was told.”

“Do you think I can get drunk?”

“What do you think? You can’t drink or eat. And doesn’t need to, you little monster! No, Monster! Plus, I don’t want to deal with a drunken you.” He inwardly shivered.

Meanwhile, Dafur sang a dwarven song about mining and beer between chugging down the whole keg.

“Mine~, mine~, mine~, metal, stone, gem!
Drink~, drink~, drink~, the beer is plenty!
Break~, break~, break~, the goblin’s head!”

Nobody said that dwarfs were good composers or singers.

Dafur was slapped with a bluish wall and a high-pitched “Loud!”.

At that moment, they heard hurried steps from the shaft they came from.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Chaotic druegars’ village

It took three hours to placate Shul-Gahat. Many villagers must have been sacrificed for this. After the Monster was done with their devouring, he sank back to his lake and closed his single eye.

Inside a temple, an explosion reverberated as the 4th-rank shaman’s mana discharged from him.

“Darkul dammit! What happened?” The leader of the village exclaimed as he returned from the hunt with experience and resources. The village was in heavy disarray. Many dead bodies were piled up before the temple while Shaman-Ganra was losing his shit.

“Chief! Ya are back!” One of the guards shouted over the square for everyone to notice. They surrounded him and talked over each other.

“In the Darkul’s ass, what happen’d here?!” The chief thundered, agitated. He rapidly walked towards the shaman. The crowd stepped back from him, forming a corridor, “Shaman-Ganra! Explain! Now!”

“Chief-Tadra…” The shaman abruptly turned towards him, his rage receding.

“So?!” the chief impatiently inquired.

The shaman explained everything with the nearby guards adding a few details.

On the village leader’s face appeared a grave expression, “How many?”

“Five high-levelled and three mid-levelled guards, twelve villagers, and someone ransacked mae temple.”

“What?!” The chief exclaimed, his mouth slightly gaping. Such significant losses were unheard of.

“Shaman-Ganra! The blighted druegar is missin’!” One of the guards came before them.

“What blighted druegar?” The chief was confused.

“Ah, I forgot… We found a crazy, blighted druegar near the Shul-Gahat’s lake. He said somethin’ about losing his stones there,” the shaman grinned at the joke. He was still angry but did not dare to show it before the chief.

Chief-Tadra blinked a few times, trying to hold his laughter. Next, he handed out orders to his elite guard squad. This was not a good day for him. Not only was his class rank-up delayed by the prey that ran away, but when he returned, he found this mess.

“We shoulda send a few guards for that druegar. He can’t be too far away and could know why Shul-Gahat awakened so soon,” the shaman proposed.

The chief nodded in agreement and called out, “Guard-Jarka!”

“What do ya wanna, chief?” She stood up in attention before him.

“Go with Shaman-Ganra; he’ll prepare a new hunt.”

“As ya wish,” she answered and left with the shaman back to the temple. It was cleaned up by his assistants. The shaman was fuming. Many of his riches were gone.

The shaman split the group into two. One group would go up, the other down. He would be going down with three elite hunters, while Guard-Jarka, a 3rd-rank warrior, would go up with two hunters.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

“Who is…” Stone wanted to warn about the incoming enemies.

However, the extremely fast-moving hunter interrupted him as he stunned Dafur with a mace into his face, making him see sparkling stars. The hunter bound him with a rope made from a 3rd-tier Monster’s tendons and waited for the rest of his company.

“Ya thought ya coulda run, little boya?” Jarka asked with a sadistic smile after she leisurely emerged from the shaft. “Ya’re in the world of hurt now. Shaman is fuckin’ mad at ya! What did ya think? Stealin’ from him?” She derisively shook her head. “Let’s go, boys!”

“Luci, shoulda we do somethin’?”

“Lose that accent. It dinna suit ya. And hush! We’re weak as chicks. They coulda crush us like chicks.”

“But…”

“Again? No buts! If ya wanna save the dwarf, level up!”

“You're talking with a dwarven accent too!” Stone pouted.

“Tche! Cheeky boy. Let them be. He will survive…” Lucifer made a notable pause as he glanced at the leaving druegars with Dafur swaying on the Jarka’s shoulder, “I think.”

Dafur was screaming, “Let mea go!” and “Stone! Help mea!”.

“Luci, what now?”

“If you want to save Dafur, you need to evolve. Now, we need to train and level up. And at least to a 3rd tier. Don’t forget that the shaman is the 4th rank at minimum, but I would guess he is 5th. He has refined mana too and has a much larger mana pool too.”

“How much?”

“If 4th tier, something about 200 points of refined mana and 1000 or 1500 of the normal one. If fifth… it can vary, but I would guess around 400 RM and 2000 to 3000 normal mana. But the most important is the output. He will definitely have many skills. It would be best if both of us could learn some spells. These basic ones are, well, basic. They are for newbies and kids.”

Stone mused over it for a few moments and acknowledged that Lucifer was right.

“Well, summon those souls. Where was that path to Arn-Dul?” Lucifer finally created his own perception sphere. It was bigger than Stone’s sphere, 23 metres in diameter, equalling Lucifer’s intelligence.

Meanwhile, Stone conjured two ants’ souls next to him. “Ants! Pick me up!”. He could send the order through the link, voiced commands felt right.

“That way!” Stone pointed. Lucifer shrugged as he could not remember the right rune and thought Stone’s guess was as right as his.

Lucifer finally had some time to train. It was slow, at least when compared to Stone insane progress. It would take him another few days, maybe a week, to actually increase the levels of the skills and spells to be useful. Right now, he would be happy if he could hurt an average rat.

<Your spell Ants’ Souls gained a level 2 times>

After eight hours of moving through the shaft, they met a pack of new Monsters inside a small cavern filled with mushrooms.

They were around 1.5 metres tall. They had olive-green skin, long, pointy ears, a long nose, and a big mouth filled with sharp teeth. Their oversized hands with four fingers with four joints held simple short spears with iron tips. They were wearing small bags made from the same-coloured leather as their skin on their backs full of tight muscles. They spread out, hunting for food.

“Stone, stop here.” After Stone stopped, he explained, “these are goblins, an inferior sub-race of orcs. They are considered Monsters, but few of them have reached enough sapience and decided to acquire <Class>. These seem like normal Monsters, barely sapient and on the 1st tier.”

“So... Free to kill?” Stone’s interest piqued. It had been some time since he last levelled up and missed the great feeling.

“Yeah, go for it. But first, turn off your messages. Allow only the ‘kill’ confirmation through.”

Stone commanded the ants’ souls to move him closer to his first victim.

The unsuspecting goblinette was gathering the mushrooms, putting them in her bag while licking her lips with her long, scarlet tongue.

Stone conjured a 10-RM arrow near himself and aimed at the goblin’s chest per Lucifer’s advice.

‘Swish’

The arrow pierced the air. The arrow dissipated as the goblin silently slumped to the ground, instantly killed.

<You have killed a 1st-tier goblinette>
<17,30% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 1.73% experience>
<Stone gained 15.57% experience>

“Good! Seems like the talent works,” Lucifer commented as he saw his own journal light up. It was only now he read through his journal. Stone mostly ignored… Until he did not level up, he couldn't care less if there was experience flowing into him...

“Wait, what?” Stone did not like it a bit. His hard-earned experience went away. That will slow down his levelling up. That means the good feeling would come later.

“Don’t be like that! I earned it! And anyway, when I am strong enough, my earned experience will go to you,” Lucifer was quite happy. Not always you could gain free experience.

“Oh… okay,” that actually persuaded Stone.

“Heh,” Lucifer snickered, “next one.”

“But they are close together,” Stone pointed out.

“It’s time for you to learn how to fight,” Lucifer sternly stated. “Move two meters behind their back. Create a dagger from refined mana and push it through the spine of one of them. Cleanly and quickly. The second one will notice, but he won’t expect you, a piece of sapient stone who can use mana. So it will be easy and either destroy his brain, pierce his heart or spine. Your choice,” he gave Stone the battle plan and went quiet. “Haaah, that reminds me of the past. Hehe, Rikto was funny. Too bad he died in that Monster’s belly. I told him not to go there… Well, maybe I should have warned him before he was being swallowed… Hopefully, it will be different with Stone. It must be; otherwise, I am dead too…” He reminisced about his past and hoped.

Stone followed the laid plan. First, he ordered his ants’ to move behind them and conjured a dagger from refined mana.

The dagger went through the first goblin’s back. Stone internally frowned. No message. Stone checked the goblin and he was merely paralyzed.

The other one rapidly spun around as he heard the body falling. His eyes were flickering from side to side, searching for the ambusher.

Stone conjured another arrow and sent it towards the goblin’s eye, but he effortlessly evaded.

“What now?!” Stone asked, not knowing what to do next. He was out of refined mana. Lucifer did not reply..

“Luci?” Stone asked again with a worried tone.

Lucifer wanted to give him space to learn. Now, he knew it was a mistake.

“Don’t stand here and attack, or the goblin will call for help! You have plenty of normal mana, idiot!”

“Oh, okay,” Stone flatly replies and Lucifer facepalmed. He even mentally created a face and a palm for it.

‘Swish’

Another arrow broke through the green skin at the chest, but not enough to substantially hurt him. The panicked goblin sprang back and put his hand over the superficial wound. He blindly poked in the mushroom patches.

The spear came close. Too close for Lucifer’s comfort.

Stone shot another arrow, aiming at the same place. It went a little deeper but dissipated before it could hurt the goblin more. The goblin was scared out of his mind. He wanted to run away, but Stone tripped him with mana walls.

“Timber! Hehe,” Lucifer chuckled. “Quickly! Aim at his neck, slightly to the side, where the arteries are!”

‘Swish! Swish!’

Two arrows pierced the veins of both goblins and both of them rapidly bled out.

<You have killed a 1st-tier goblin 2 times>
<31.19% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 3.12% experience>
<Stone gained 28.07% experience>

“Nice,” Lucifer happily whispered.

“What?”

“Ah, gaining experience for doing almost nothing,” he replied with a satisfied voice. “Continue, these goblins aren’t here alone for sure.”

Stone waited for his mana to recharge. During the wait, Stone used Lucifer’s perception dome and it went shockingly smoothly. Lucifer was surprised for a bit, but he realized that it was not so surprising after all. Why? Because both were anomalies.

After four hours, they tracked down four goblins in a cavern with a pond. On one side were a dozen dirty beds around a large fireplace.

One of the goblins was happily snoring while the rest argued nearby.

“Now, you will learn how to kill silently. Do not raise attention; use misdirection. It’s the single piece of advice I will be giving you. And please, be nice and don’t die. I would go with you,” Lucifer stressed and shut up, but secretly prepared his reserves for the moment the plan would inevitably blow up.

Stone examined the surroundings to decide how to start. First, he was brought next to the sleeping goblin. He conjured a blue-coloured dagger and drove it straight through his spine. The goblin twitched and died without a sound.

<You have killed a 1st-tier goblin>
<15.36% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 1.54% experience>
<Stone gained 13.82% experience>

Stone paused to examine the rest of them. Thanks to the perception sphere, he always knew what was happening around him. He learned to filter it as there were too many things happening at once.

He slowly shifted towards the fireplace. The goblins did not even notice the moving white pebble. Stone was close to the level-up and understood that dust and gravel would gather around him.

So, he decided to take all of them at once. He walked over the fireplace and enabled the messages once again:

<Your heat is at 100% of maximum capacity. Release or explode>

He conjured a 20-RM <Mana Point> and added all of the heat, directly in the middle of the struggling goblins.

‘BANG!’

The detonation reverberated even in the surrounding shafts. The three goblins, stunned by the sudden blast, screeched in pain and panic.

Two of them lost their eyes and the third one, who caught the full brunt of the explosion, lost consciousness.

Stone would frown if he could because this did not go as planned. He thought the explosion would kill them.

“Don’t stand there! Attack! I will explain later!” Lucifer shouted.

“Loud!” Stone complained but did as said. An arrow from 5 RM launched towards the first goblin, piercing his chin right to the brain. He hastily conjured another weaker arrow and fired it at the second goblin, striking his heart. He cast the last, weakest arrow and sent it against the unconscious goblin, penetrating his neck and spine with some difficulty.

<You have killed a 1st-tier goblin 3 times>
<41.28% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 4.13% experience>
<Stone gained 37.15% experience>

<Your limits are broken through>
<New limits imposed>
<Attributes limits raised to 16.>

The good feeling washed over Stone. He grew to 144 millimetres. “I love this feeling,” he stated as he revelled in it. Soon, it disappeared, making him a little bit sad. His journal flashed with new message;

<Your skill Mana Carving gained a level>

“Huh… It worked… It actually worked… That idiot made it…“ Lucifer was stumped.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Encyclopaedia Stonia

Shul-Gahat
Relatively rare amphibian monsters, who prefer deep waters or underground lakes. While they are considered prey for most Sea Monsters, they are treated with the utmost respect in the Abyss. How this Monster found its way into the first layer of the Abyss is unknown, but the druegars who settled nearby pray to it.

Mana Shield rune engraving
It activates by the set amount of mana you want it to use. As it's not expertise (does not have levels), it is limited by the material it's engraved upon. Use too much mana, and the rune explodes.

As dwarfs, and subsequent sub-races, cannot use <Spells>, it's their only option. Strangely, directly cast runes cannot supplement certain spells, like <Mana Bubble>, <Mana Point>, including <Mana Shield>. Thanks to dwarven researchers' tenaciousness and sheer stubbornness, they found a rune that could be engraved into the armour or clothing, or even tattooed on a body, successfully supplementing the spell. It became one of the most basic engravings, with each runemaster rank 3 knowing it.

Differences between Monster and ‘civilized’ sapiens
As said before, Monsters evolve their bodies through devouring other higher-tiered beings when they reach needed requirements in level and expertise. They know their expertise instinctively, which was a ‘gift’ from gods, respectively Mallum, Perditio and Conjurarum, and others I will not speak of today.

‘Civilized’ sapiens, aka those who do not evolve their bodies, have classes and professions. They don’t know their paths instinctively but have an immense amount of knowledge passed through generations.