<Spell: Flux Missile T1L4
School of Evocation
A flux-based, more powerful aberration of Mana Missile spell acquired through learning and instinct.
You took the first step towards a wizard class! Too bad you’re a Monster…
A bubble of flux conjured as a proper spell. Also, 5.124 {+0.708 per lvl} times stronger than the usual Mana Missile spell.
Output: 20.5 flux points
Range: 20 metres>

Flux and the refined mana was an incredible combination. The sheer power skipped almost two tiers when maxed out. Of course, it was possible only thanks to Stone’s insane regeneration. Otherwise, Lucifer would be long dead… or a normal Partner in a dwarf’s head, handing out the knowledge and steering him to be heroic.

“This… It’s even more insane than Stone’s refined mana missile… If I would have that attunement… However, I now have hexes. Even though it is no attunement, they can be extremely powerful. Still, they require an insane amount of resources. Haaah,” Lucifer mind was swarmed by plans, random thoughts and exasperated sighing. 

So, instead, he turned his attention to killing the trash-gobblers! 

The <Tracking> skill, paired with the perception dome, made the scouting comfortable and straightforward. Though, it was quite disconcerting to be utterly blind after the 29 metres radius.

While he stealthily levitated around the outskirts of the goblin camp, marking potential targets and observing the movements of patrols, he discovered many problems he was facing. 

As he travelled around the cavern, he noticed that the camp grew with the newly arriving parties of goblins. 

A very unusual sight greeted him, the 2nd-tier and 1st-tier goblins were mingling together. The goblins were highly hierarchical. 

Occasionally, even 3rd-tier goblins showed up, but they directly walked into the biggest tent, tightly guarded from all sides by fully-armed 2nd-tiers, whose eyes roamed from side to side, observing any kind of disruption. It had to be a reaction to the slaughter of that pair inside the leader’s quarters.

<Your skill Tracking gained a level>

“Somebody is gathering a goblin army. Another problem on the pile…” Lucifer sighed in frustration yet again as he lurked around a convenient shaft.

A group of goblins interrupted Lucifer's stream of thoughts. The 2nd-tier leader of the group had a tattooed face and several knives in a bandolier over his chest. Three 1st-tier goblins followed closely behind him. They were mostly naked bar the short spears hanging on their backs by straps of leather. It was a training patrol.

Each of them held a canteen, swigging from them with a satisfied expression. This was exactly what Lucifer was searching for. 

The patrol walked by him and went inside a small shaft with the 2nd-tier in front. Lucifer devilishly smiled, marked for the challenge and followed them. He knew that this shaft was narrow and very long from his quick exploration.

<<You have tagged 4 beings. Challenge accepted!>

The goblins were lazy and took it slowly. They often stopped to relax, drinking the strong grog. Soon, the goblins were drunk and tottered around, ‘rhythmically’ shrieking, which in some ears, could be even considered singing.

The 2nd-tier leader’s constitution was much higher; he had only a slight buzz. Still, it wasn’t long before he joined them too…  

Singing Monsters… Lucifer shivered and had to hold himself back from blasting them on the spot.

After another hundred metres or so, they took another pause and Lucifer decided it was time for the ambush. He felt trepidation as he conjured one <Flux Missile> after another.

Six purple <Flux Missiles>, each of them for 5 <Flux> points, bombarded them in quick succession, taking the lives of the 1st-tier goblins with ease. The brutal assault left their bodies riddled with holes and blasted off heads.

The 2nd-tier frantically searched for Lucifer. His tattoo on his face slightly glowed and a <Mana Shield> spread from it. He unsheathed his daggers but still couldn’t see the ambusher. So, he threw one of them to the place from which the missiles came. 

It flew far above Stone’s body and as the goblin saw it hit the wall, he rapidly spun and threw another dagger in the opposite direction.

Lucifer observed the goblin’s muscular, olive-green back and grinned. He conjured a deep-purple <Flux Missile> using as much flux as he could muster, 20.5 <Flux> points in total and shot it directly at the goblin’s spine. 

After the brief voyage, the missile directly smashed at the shield with a loud crack as it broke through.

A hole, the size of a dwarven fist, appeared in the goblin’s stomach. He looked down with a question in his eyes and collapsed, his mind frozen, unable to comprehend his invisible assailant. 

The goblin attempted to activate a life-saving skill in his panicked frenzy, but another well-aimed <Flux Missile> impaled his head, effectively ending his life and dreams of ruling over the world.

Lucifer madly laughed. The sheer happiness he felt when he massacred them with extreme ease was something he wanted to repeat.

<Challenge cleared!>
<76.1% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 49.47% experience>
<Stone gained 26.64% experience>

A mechanical voice resounded in his mind, but he ignored it. 

He found another problem; his <Flux> pool was thinning every time he levelled up. The math behind it was annoying as he figured it out. He waited a few minutes for Stone’s refined mana to refill so he could recharge his flux.

“I need to wake up Stone as soon as possible and raise his intelligence. Or find another way to store flux or gain an autonom…” a certain talent again worked its magic. His thoughts reset without notice, “but the good thing is that my perception sphere is increasing in diamet…” He mentally frowned, “didn’t I think of something else now? Hmm, no matter… Status!”

A weak ‘swish’ echoes in his mind, it was a pleasant sound, almost like a breeze would rustle a satin blanket; the translucent tablet appeared.

His <Flux> was dependent on his level, Stone’s refined mana pool, aka SRMP and intelligence. After a moment of musing over it, he came at the formula. While his regeneration was fully dependent on his technique <Refined Mana Draining>.

(A/N: Luci’s INT x ( SRMP / (Luci’s LVL x 5))  )

As said; annoying!

While he remained, he looked at Stone’s flickering golden matrix, and it seemed that the experience was able to stabilize it a bit. That was a good sign. Enough experience could wake him up… Though… Why should he do that? 

Lucifer’s mind froze again and reset to the ‘helpful’ state without noticing.

However, very deep inside him, his psyche and the Subordinate talent were battling for control over Lucifer's mind.

Another search did not take long, the whole shaft system around was bustling with activity. Hunting parties, scouts, warbands and freshly recruited goblins were coming and leaving seemingly randomly.

He discovered another convenient group; only three members, but of which two were 2nd-tiers. 

The 1st-tier goblinette had a slave tattoo imprinted on her ample bosom and a chained collar her neck, held captive by the 2nd-tier.

A little, greedy smile formed on nonexistent Lucifer’s face while he followed them. He had to acknowledge that he enjoyed the hunt immensely.

Lucifer lost them on a few occasions as they were too fast for his <Weak Fluxkinesis>, but he knew that the shaft was narrow and with the help of the skill <Tracking>, he located them again.

He entered a small cavern with thick mushroom patches, separated by poorly maintained pathways, in the centre lay a small fountain, providing water for the shrooms. There was only one exit.... A perfect place for an ambush. Secluded, silent and hard to find. 

The goblins were already in the middle of a three-way path, near an especially thick mushroom patch. Their olive-green muscular, thick bodies were… they were… there was a reason why Lucifer didn’t want to tell Stone about the birds and the bees...  

The small, thin 1st-tier goblinette shrieked in pleasure and pain in the middle of them.

Lucifer rolled up his eyes as he inwardly gagged in disgust. Still, he was glad for the easy experience. Well, he already saw them as sources of experience, just waiting to be harvested, instead of living creatures anyway.

He tagged them and conjured a deep purple <Flux Missile>.

<You have tagged 3 beings. Challenge accepted!>

As the goblinette screamed in pleasure again, the goblin's head above her disappeared in a mist of blood. She screamed again, this time scared shitless. 

The other 2nd-tier goblin who was under her joined the first one soon after. His head popped off like a balloon as a purplish ball of flux penetrated him from the top of his skull and wreaked havoc in his body. 

The goblinette was utterly stumped, the now-dead goblins still inside of her. She attempted to free herself, but Lucifer ended her with another missile. 

<Challenge cleared!>
<80.39% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 52.25% experience>
<Stone gained 28.14% experience>

With another triumphant hunt, he was exhilarated! It was an awesome feeling. He couldn’t help himself but crave more. A small thought occurred to him that it was very… Monster-like. Was he Monster or not? 

It was the same question he asked Stone so many times. Maybe he should stop using such stereotypical terms. Stone was Stone. Lucifer was Lucifer. Who cared about the rest? 

He felt something click in him. It felt right.

He cleared his mind; it was time to resume the hunt.

For a few hours, Lucifer was not able to discover any suitable patrol to kill. The groups he found were either too powerful, large or just too close. 

So he decided to train for a bit. He went through his list and facepalmed. He completely forgot about <Flux Bubble> and <Flux Shaping>. 

It was extremely boring, but he knew that their 3rd evolution was completely worth it. He inwardly sighed, wishing for the <Meditation> technique. However, he still did not know how to achieve it. He attempted to emulate Stone’s procedure, but that stupid little pebble was too big of an enigma wrapped in mystery holding an explosive missile.

After some tenacious training, Lucifer got lucky and tracked down another group; a thin 2nd-tier goblin, wearing a tattered, brown robe, was leading four 1st-tier goblins with slave marks on their foreheads to… somewhere.

Lucifer thought he had mapped the whole area, but new shafts popped up almost randomly as if some Deity was fucking with him. 

He groaned and followed them into the unknown.

They entered a small cavern, closely followed by a levitating Lucifer. In the middle was a bloody, small platform with four spires rising from the corners and a small altar in the centre.

The 1st-tier goblins were chained to the tapering spires, shivering and holding crooked daggers. The 2nd-tier goblin entered some sort of trance, muttering seemingly random words in the simple goblin language that Lucifer could not understand. He had never tried to learn their disgusting language.

Lucifer observed the ritual with interest and decided to let it play out. He was way too curious to stop them now. 

The slaves stopped shivering as their eyes became vacant. 

The master of ritual raised his hands and the slaves raised the daggers to their necks. After some more muttering, they slit their throats without hesitation. 

The pouring blood formed a simple pentagram and an unstable, blueish portal appeared above the altar. 

The leading goblin slumped down in exhaustion, and Lucifer ended him with a <Flux Missile> in the face. It was always funny to watch their incredulous eyes right before they expired.

<You have killed a 2nd-tier goblin>
<30.01% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 19.57% experience>
<Stone gained 10.54% experience>

The portal was still firmly lodged in the space, even though it was highly unstable and volatile. Energetic discharges ripped the rock around without abandon. 

A weak discharge grazed Lucifer’s <Flux Shield>, almost cracking it. Still, it held firmly, not even scratching Stone’s surface. Lucifer <Flux> fluctuated as ithe shield ate  into his reservers. He inwardly thanked the gods for giving Stone his insane regeneration. He still hated them, but he knew when to show appreciation.

Then, he cursed them as an all-too-well-known figure emerged from the hole in the space, followed by a powerful druegar wearing a rich attire; a purple, silky robe, with several engraved runes on the back. He had two golden rings on his left hand, in the same hand he grasped a metallic staff and a pouch hung over his shoulder. 

The portal rippled for the last time and flickered out of existence.

“Dafur! Move yar ass!” The druegar nudged the dwarf with his staff.

“Yes, master,” Dafur replied, his eyes red and empty, and moved to the side.

“Where’re they?” The shaman mumbled and looked around, seeing the corpses. “Tche!” He disgruntled spat on ground, “what a trash! Dafur!”

“Yes, master?” A tear came out  as he hatefully uttered the word ‘master’.

“Find a goblin.”

“Understood, master,” he obediently replied and walked out of the room.

The shaman sat on the cold ground, closed his eyes and meditated.

Lucifer was dumbfounded. He never expected something like this to happen. He knew he should be used to this, as odd coincidences and weird twists of fate were common around Stone, but still...

Dafur appeared almost like a Monster with those glowing mana crystals embedded in his chest and vacant eyes. 

Lucifer couldn't do anything for now. The shaman would notice and that would spell his and Stone’s end. 

So he just sat on the spot, carefully observing the meditating shaman. He also disabled the <Flux Shield>. It would be pretty embarrassing if Stone almost died, and consequently him, because he forgot to turn it on. And then because he forgot to turn it off.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Unbeknownst to Lucifer, the aftermath of his small hunt was found by another patrol of scouts. This added to Stone's slaughters and the increased death rate and with no goblin bragging about it nor taking credit, the rumors started freely spread.

Two 3rd-tiers elites were dispatched to investigate with the help of experienced scouts and hunters, but they were after all mere goblins. Playing detectives was not in their nature. 

They were not able to find the perpetrator or how it was all of this possible in the midst of their territory. Every single predator should have already been hunted down. 

In the end, they decided there was a goblin assassin on the rise who was settling some scores.

As the more and more fantasticall talks and rumours continued to spread, the murder in their leader’s quarters was also revealed. And that was the last nail in the coffin. Some goblins started rumours about a new unseen predator that was able to kill even 2nd-tier elites with ease under the nose of their illustrious leader. 

Thus, The Ghost, a blight or a blessing, depending on who you asked, of the newly founded Goblin Army was born.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Dreaming Jarka

Her whole world, the village was in flames. Everyone she knew was lying dead on the ground. On the square were ripped mutilated corpses of her fellow villagers stuck on bone spears, jutting from the ground. 

She walked through the square equipped with her trustworthy axe and clad in the red mist. She madly laughed while she slaughtered everyone in her vicinity; children, women, men… She was skipping from house to house murdering the dwellers. They screamed… so, so much. It made her happy.

Everyone she could find fell under her axe, clad in the deep-scarlet mist.

She glanced at her hands and saw them so bloody, she could not see her own skin. 

The dream suddenly moved forward. Now, she was in the shaman’s temple. She could control her own body again and ripped apart the screaming love of her life, Shaman-Garza, limb by limb while chuckling. 

She was the crazed killer; a Siran. 

As she walked by a pool of blood, she saw her reflection. An insane smile crowned her disfigured face, the reflection looked back at her and winked. 

Her skin was pitch black, except for neat scarlet lines emerging on her body. From top of her head protruded a crown of black horns as if mocking her heritage of the druegar; the true Dwarf.

She merrily laughed again while stomping in the bloody puddle, disrupting the reflection.

The dream shifted again. 

Now, she was before a shadowy army of small figures. She was able to discern goblins, clean-shaven druegars and hairy dwarfs, but there were many other races she could not discern at all. 

Her own body was completely dark-red as dried blood, but still she was a druegar. 

She was not fighting the army; instead, she was yelling some indiscernible words.

Her fight or flight instinct flared and she rapidly turned around.

Before her sat a smooth, white stone on a white pedestal. The smooth rock filled her whole view and she was not able to move even a millimetre.

The stone levitated and formed a powerful deep-blue missile while making a strange, high-pitched sound. It laughed. 

The missile came closer and closer at her. She was unable to move even a finger, unable to cast a skill. 

The deep-blue rays filled her vision… 

Jarka rapidly sat up, fully-woken up from the nightmare, drenched in sweat and gasping. For a while, she remained still, confused and not recognising her surroundings. 

The Darkul-damned <Third Eye> talent. It helped in battle, but otherwise, it was a shit.

She deeply inhaled and slowly checked her calmly slumbering party. Her gaze stopped at the Orc.

The meditating Orc slowly opened his eyes, feeling her stare, and scrutinized her. Then he closed them again, returning back to his meditation while muttering some kind of mantra.

“Darkul damn it… Again,” she quietly muttered. “The white stone is a new one, though. Wonder what that means.” From time to time, she had this nightmare. She hated it. Especially the part where she ripped the shaman apart. The one who saved her. The one to who she pledged her life to. And her lover.

She found the half-empty canteen and quaffed it, thinking it was merely water. Her eyes bulged as she coughed it out. 

“Aaah, darkul ass… Grog.” 

She sipped the grog again, this time prepared and let the poison slide into her stomach.

She searched for the knapsack as a certain thought could not leave her. She needed to be sure. The resemblance was uncanny.

As she was slowly opening it, she was interrupted by a familiar druegar.

“Darkul ass! Ya scared mea. What’re ya doin’ her’?”

“Happy minin’, Guard-Jarka. I’m here with the master. I’m supposed to sleep here,” he replied without emotions or participation; like a doll. 

He immediately laid down on the first free bed he saw and closed his eyes.

“What happened to ya?” She asked while kicking him off her bed.

“…”  No reply came back as Dafur’s chest with the three implanted mana crystals was slowly rising and falling. He was already deep into sleep.

“Whatever…” she loudly yawned and returned back to her bed. 

This time she dreamed about an immensely huge white stone slowly conquering the infinite universe. And she was helping it.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Bored Lucifer observed as Dafur promptly returned with a thin goblin right behind him.

“Where is yar boss?” The shaman asked. He still had closed eyes.

“H… H… Hunt,” the goblin’s teeth clattered in fear as he carefully replied with a broken celestian language.

“Bring mea to the strongest one,” the shaman commanded, completely ignoring the goblin’s existence.

The goblin rapidly nodded. Even though he never had seen such a powerful druegar, the order came before the boss left for the hunting; ‘do whatever the shaman commands. Otherwise, you will be roasted alive.’

Dafur’s appearance greatly interested him, “those three embedded crystals should have killed him long ago... And those empty eyes… That takes me back. I faintly remember when I was in that poor elven boy, we met an enslaved dwarf. He had similar eyes… But I doubt he pledged with the Oath. Food for thought…”

Lucifer carefully sneaked back to his favourite hiding place behind a large tent not far away from Jarka’s group. 

In twenty minutes, a party of guards appeared and entered a nearby shaft. Two 2nd-tiers and five 1st-tiers were marching in a tight line as the shaft did not allow otherwise. Lucifer liked that. His imaginary eyes sparkled with expectation. 

He tracked them down somewhere in the middle of the path as they were too fast for his levitation. He internally facepalmed at the sight. Lucifer wondered if they were unlucky or he was lucky.

One of the 2nd-tiers crouched, shitting on the ground, whilst the rest waited for him. They nervously shifted their eyes from side to side and flinched at any random clang.

Lucifer was twenty meters behind them, wedged in a small crevice on the ceiling.

<Your spell Life-for-Life Hex gained a level>

<You have tagged 7 goblins. Challenge accepted!>

Lucifer happily tethered as the Universum sent the messages. Even though the <Life-for-Life Hex> message was kinda random and definitely should have taken much longer to level the hex. It seemed like the <Hex Master> had some hidden perks. 

He focused back on the goblins and fired up a single purple missile as much as he could. Too bad that a <Flux Shaping> did not work on the spell. There could be some very interesting application of this combo. With altercations, Lucifer could substantially increase its penetration power.

“I need time to train and find a library. Maybe I will be able to return back to the memory behind the throne… After all, it has to be somewhere in my mind,” his thoughts wandered. The <Flux Missile> flickered, pulling his focus back on the task.

The missile travelled through the air and landed on the 2nd-tier goblin in the front. It pierced his chest without much resistance, paralyzing him. 

The purple missile continued in its way without slowing down and punched through all of the 1st-tiers, instantly killing them. The last goblin, still busting a grumpy, tried to evade, but a badly timed cramp did not allow him to. 

The missile penetrated directly into the eye of the target, exploding it in gore. The excrement mixed with the bloody remains flowed on the ground. 

“Heh… Explosive diarrhoea,” Lucifer chuckled as he levitated back on the ground.

The paralyzed and utterly frightened goblin whispered; “G… ho… s…t… G…h…”, again and again until he bled out.

<Challenge cleared!>
<134.78% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>
<Lucifer gained 87.61% experience>
<Stone gained 47.17% experience>

Both Stone and Lucifer levelled up and Stone’s body acted again like a magnet, pulling gravel and dust around to himself. The elusive golden rays transformed the mixture to a cloud of white talc dust and merged with Stone’s body, enlarging it by one centimetre all around.

<You have reached level 10>
<You can choose a Class>
<Your soul is fully healed>

Three messages. Three insane meanings. Lucifer’s mind blanked out. He could choose a path. He even ignored the good feeling of level up. 

The great feeling from level up slowly faded.

“Whatever… I don’t care anymore. Path!”

A breeze-like sound resounded in his mind, tablets appeared and intense pain encompassed Lucifer’s very own being.

<Universum notices!>

The intense pain receded. Fortunately, he did not have a body. Still, it would not be Lucifer’s favourite memory.

Wait… He had a full soul now!

“… No,” Lucifer absentmindedly proclaimed and dismissed the tablets.
“…” After a minute of empty mind, he opened them again—still no change.
“…Just no.”
Minutes went by, he calmed down a bit and his mind worked overtime, “what in the hell… Who was I?! What is happening?! Path!” 

<The Devilish Sorcerer
A sorcerer class mixed with an Ethereal devil. That is all I know. I have other things to do than take care of you two bastards! The whole universe is under my control and requires my attention! First the stupid pebble and now you!
You are the first who have ever done something like this. Usually, you would not be allowed to do this. This is not permitted! Congratulations! You made me your enemy! You are lucky I can’t do jackshit… Tche!
Devils are denizens of the Negative Energy Realm.
Sorcerers are wizards focused on battle-type expertises,
You have to find for yourself what is hidden in this ‘Path’ and where it leads.

Perks and ailments (decide for yourself!):
- You are naturally attuned to the Negative Energy Realm. Each offence or defence spell will carry traces of negativity, granting it the following properties:

Offence spells will directly attack the mind of the target, plaguing it with hallucinations. It can be offset with resistances, talents, or expertises.

Defence spells are able to devour part of incoming mana, adding it to its own. Be careful, as too much mana will collapse the spell if it has not a sufficient level.

- Your battle-type spells are 20% stronger.
- Your research speed of magical matrixes (hexes, curses, magical circles…) are doubled.
Synergy with Hex Master talent found - hex research speed is 6 times faster
- The intelligence will increase by 20 points at each level (retroactive) due to the healed soul and Path.
- You are naturally weak to Positive Energy Realm.>

<Changes in all spells!>

<Warning! Entity Stone is not able to contain your soul anymore! Critical! Both sides' destruction will ensue in 3 days!>

As his thoughts settled a bit, the first thing he did was that he tried to levitate away. However, the technique collapsed as Stone’s body gained too much weight. 

Tears streamed from Lucifer’s imaginary eyes, “why me… Why meee?!”

“LOUD!” Stone’s annoyed voice suddenly echoed in their shared mindspace and interrupted Lucifer’s weeping.

“Kyaaah!” Lucifer’s soul flared, “you scared me!” 

“Aaaah, I don’t like this! Not feeling good at all! Wait… I am alive?”

“… Yes. Yes, you are,” Lucifer replied, secretly disappointed. He had really enjoyed these three days of complete freedom. Now, reality once again dropped the boot and crushed his hopes. Three days until the go boom boom. He had to somehow find and relocate into an acceptable body. But, He would rather die and take down Stone with him than become the host of a filthy goblin body. 

“Oh… why am I feeling so bad?”

“Because your lifeforce is almost gone, you utter idiot!”

“Oh… so what is your plan for this?” Stone deadpanned, acting as if nothing had happened. 

“… AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!” Lucifer screamed in frustration, resentment and irritation. Then he wept for a good ten minutes straight.

“Loud!”

“Loud, he says! Loud, loud, loud… HAHAHAHahehahaheaha!” Lucifer crazily laughed, lamented and sobbed simultaneously for another ten minutes as his mind was on the verge of collapse. He felt like the whole world was crumbling. Like somebody had ripped his mind and soul apart, melted it and then reshaped it again. Repeatedly... Never mind that that was exactly what had happened.

“Auch! That hurts!” Stone defended against the wave of insanity, but it was so strong that he couldn’t. He had a vision of many dwarves breaking and crushing rocks. He conjured one <Mana Missile> after another, launching them on all sides to punish those pesky dwarfs. He would not allow this! Not now, that he was powerful!

Lucifer finally calmed down and thundered, “my plan?! I have no plan! You… you… Stone!”

“Yes, that is my name,” Stone answered with a flat voice. “Think of something! I don’t want to explode! Find a way for me to regrow. I want to feel good again…” his voice slowly slipped away as the stimulation from the experience surge waned.

“Uhuh… Want me to find a solution… You insane little piece of… Wait a minute” Lucifer’s mind and soul quivered with pensiveness as an idea struck his mind. He remembered his single hex. The number of beings he could connect increased to the whole three. More and more ideas sprang in his mind.

“Luci? Do… something…” Stone’s voice was weak and slow.

“What?”

“I… weak…” Stone sent emotions as talking was too exhausting, his consciousness slipping away.

“Go to sleep. We… I can try something. Either it will work or not and we die.”

“O…kay… I… trust… Luci,” Stone answered for the last time.

“Good! Now, with him ou…” his thoughts halted by the talent Subordinate for a few nanoseconds. His mind was adjusted and he continued without notice. “Now, how to move… Oh… Damn! How to move!” 

In the end, he formed a purplish stick through the <Mana Shaping>. A weak <Flux Bubble> and the stick were enough to slowly crawl towards the dead 2nd-tier goblin. Minutes flowed by, but Lucifer’s will to live was strong enough to overcome the endless frustration he felt.

He crossed enough ground to rip the heart from the corpses using <Flux carving>. He needed the resources to cast the <Life-for-Life hex> spell and a 2nd-tier Monster’s heart was one of them.

He crawled back to the camp while thanking the gods that he had an almost endless supply of refined mana. It took more than an hour and on the way, he met another scouting party, led by a 3rd-tier goblin who was proficient in mana manipulation. They missed him by a hair's breadth as one of the followers almost stepped on the still-battered Stone’s body.

“The next step is to find mana-ashwood’s ash. Damn it! Where are we supposed to find it, maybe possible on land but here in the fucking Abyss?! The druegar village is way too far… The goblins will not have one. Well, maybe… Nope! Hmm…” he ardently attempted to come up with an idea. In the end, only one option was left, “Dafur! He is the single chance I have… Jarka will have to help me fetch him.”

The way back was long and dangerous. As he crawled close to the camp, his mind was slightly overwhelmed by the massive increments of information recently, resulting in a massive boost to intelligence. His perception sphere range almost tripled and nearly the whole base was fully visible.

He ‘saw’ every nook and cranny, every goblin. He adjusted his mind quickly, filtering most of the information. 

His sudden headache receded and he could continue his adventure.

The outside of the tent was only guarded by two dozing, drunk goblins. He quickly slipped inside and noticed that there was an Orc with Scout-Durza, though Jarka and the third druegar were gone. The only people sleeping were the dwarfs, including Dafur. 

“What in the Nine-Hells? I wonder if this is really a stroke of luck or something else is in play… Something will go wrong! I would bet my left nut on it…” Lucifer pessimistically muttered. 

He observed the calmly sleeping Dafur. His body had fully accepted the crystals and merged with them. The skin around them was crystallized too. 

The shaman probably sought to create an unlimited supply of low-grade mana crystals. Not a bad idea. However, when you are literally living in a sapient mana crystal, it did not seem so important.

Next, Lucifer examined the twins. Both of them were profusely perspiring, heavily breathing and appeared in great pain. 

“Hmm… They are already dead. They have even less time than me… They would need to find a 6th-ranked wizard-class or a 5th-tier Monster willing to help them,” he shook his non-existent head. 

He conjured a weak <Flux Bubble> and popped it near Dafur’s ear. He just waved his hand as if driving away a fly and rolled over.

“For fucks sake!” Lucifer shaped a purple stick and smacked him hard in the head. Dafur rapidly sat up, massaging his hurting head. 

“What?! What?! Yea, master! I am… Oh…” the confusion in his eyes cleared up. “STONE! I’m so happy to see ya!” He cried as he picked him up and hugged him. Luckily, the <Flux Shield> held. “Ya won’t believe what happened. The bastard shaman tried to make mea a slave! Slave! I’ll roast him!” He jabbered, not giving Lucifer the opportunity to even write.

“Gods dammit!” He formed another purplish bubble in Dafur’s mouth, finally silencing him.

“Hmpf! Hhmmpf!” Dafur released Stone’s body, his hand shooting to his filled mouth.

A purple stick appeared before his eyes. It slowly levitated down on the ground and Lucifer wrote, “Stone is sleeping. Lucif… Partner writing. Do you have mana-ashwood or its ash? I have no time to lose.”

Dafur quietly read the words. Then he blinked a few times. Then he deeply frowned. Then he blinked again. “Luci? Isn’t that…? Wait, Partner? Stone sleepin’? Stone can sleep?” He wanted to say, but only ‘Hmpf! Hhhmmmpf!’ came out.

Lucifer rolled up his imaginary eyes and wrote another line, “I can see that you have many questions. I don’t care. You have some mana-ashwood ash?” He highlighted the last sentence.

Dafur shook his head but indicated he wanted to say something.

“Be quiet!”

Dafur rapidly nods several times, “Yy!”

“Fine!” Lucifer dispelled the bubble.

“I haven’t. But the sham’n shoulda hav’ som’. But I don’t know if it’s ash…”

“Can you take some?”

“Mayb’?” Dafur replied with an unsure tone and looked around for the first time, noticing the sick dwarfs. “Can ya help them?”

“No. And nobody here can. I wonder why you are so well.”

“I have a talent, Crystallizer. It’s odd… I gained it thanks to the knowledge of Stone’s existence. I can connect to mana crystals.” Dafur touched the crystals on his chest. “Ya know, it hurt so much… That crazed bastard. He tortured me… He said I’m his slave! I even accepted it for a moment! But I won’t give up! A measly Druegar’ll never break a Dwarf! Never!” He shivered and almost yelled.

“Fucking! UNIVERSUM! So this is your ‘notice’, huh?! A natural enemy! BITCH!” Lucifer cursed the Universum as Dafur chattered.

<*whistling*>

Lucifer ignored the sudden journal message, calmed and hit Dafur’s head with the purplish stick. “Go and find some mana-ashwood! I can hardly move now… Long story. Now, go!”

Dafur nodded and left the tent. Lucifer grinned. He liked when minions did what they were asked for.

Lucifer scanned the surroundings and practised the <Weak Fluxkinesis> as he had nothing better to do.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Encyclopaedia Stonia

Sorcerers
A battle-hardened wizard. For what they lack in research capabilities, they compensate in brawn and raw power. Sorcerers are often the first line of defence in most of the kingdoms in Orbisia.

Except for dwarves and subsequent sub-races, like druegars.. 

The most significant difference between wizard and sorcerer is that wizard will dissect you alive, while sorcerer will just burn, melt, explode, freeze,… you while alive.

Devils
An Ethereal sub-race from Negative Energy Realm. It’s said that a certain god (Mallum, God of Evil, but pssssht!) created several races on his own and Devils were one of them. But, it’s not a confirmed rumour. They are considered cunning, brutal, and magical arts experts.

Mana-wood
A mana-infused wood, either existing naturally in the wilderness or made by craftsmen proficient in mana-casting expertises. Of course, natural manawood is much more durable and has way better properties, but is also much rarer. Not as rare as mana crystal deposits, but enough to make the finder fairly rich, if he is not murdered and robbed blind.

Each type of wood (ash, oak…) has slightly different properties. The same goes for manametal and other mana-infused materials too. 

Mana crystals are materials on their own. Stone’s existence is completely unusual in that it is his ‘sub-race’. Normally, it does not matter which mineral they are from.

It interacts with mana in a certain way and due to that, it is easier to process. It also serves as a low-grade alchemical or spell-casting ingredient.

Elves are suckers for this type of wood, and if they find you sawing a naturally grown manawood, they will use you as a fertilizer. Literally.

A legend says that the elves are evolved trees, but it’s taken more like an insult and joke than a truth. Needless to say, it’s a very popular joke with dwarves.