Stone felt good. Way too good. He was emotional. A state unheard of for a mineral. However, soon, the good feelings went away, and it made him sad and craving. "I want more. How can I level up more?" He asked with a longing in his voice.

"Learn. Hunt. Get stronger. That's how this Universum works," Partner was genuinely ecstatic.

"Loud again. What ‘evolution unlocked’ means?" Stone questioned Partner.

"What? Already? How the... It means you can evolve yourself and your skills after reaching a certain limit," Partner was first taken aback but this particular pebble was extremely atypical in the first place. "Now, with your limits raised, we can do something more. First, let's raise your intelligence," Partner added and began lecturing Stone about universe creation, dwarfs, magic and how it could be used. He broadly explained evolution; what it was and how it works.

And Stone listened patiently and without questions.

"Are you listening?" After several hours, Partner noticed that Stone was unusually quiet. Unusual meant that he did not ask stupid questions in the middle of a lecture about something completely different...

"..."

"Heeeeeey! Are you here?"

"..."

"Don't tell me... No no. I would be freed if he died... Wait a minute..."

"..."

"WAKE UP, YOU MISERABLE STONE!" Partner shouts at him, agitated.

Stone woke up with a false cheeky yawn. "What? Oh, good morning. How are you?"

"You were asleep? How?! You are a freaking stone!" Partner got even more agitated than before.

"Hmm, I think something changed in me when you gave me an explanation of so many things, I felt dizzy and sleepy," he truthfully answered. In a long sentence. And intelligently.

"Huh? Oh... Your intelligence is finally up enough?!" After so many months of constant teaching, he was euphoric. Stone was an exceptionally fast learner. Certain mammals needed years of learning before they could even speak their first words and even longer to walk... This... Stone was bizarre but had an extraordinary mind.

"Partner, we need to destroy the home of those ants. There were Elite guards, and I remember from your lectures that elite guards mean there is also a sentient Queen with magic," Stone made a deduction, sending Partner even deeper into euphoria.

"Yeah. But how? The crevice is too small, and you can move barely a few centimetres an hour anyway," Partner pushed the small pebble. He wanted to know how far he could take it.

"Well, I need heat. I have the racial talent, Heat Accumulator." Stone proved his newly raised intelligence. He felt like never before. Many new thoughts, emotions and ideas were rapidly swirling in his growing mind. He concentrated, calming the tornado of thoughts whirling in his mind.

"Hmm, that could work but I doubt you will be able to gather enough heat to burn the whole Anthill," Partner reasoned.

"No, but I see with my sphere that they are in a small talc deposit." Stone showed unparalleled knowledge about his own mineral.

"Hmm, talc is a good insulator. It would be best if you could level up, but first I recommend blocking that crevice. It won't stop them from the revenge forever, but it will slow them down," Partner handed another idea.

"Okay," Stone readily agreed. He put on his typical stony face as he focused. With his raised intelligence, it was much easier to conjure the mana wall over the crevice.

Ants didn’t appreciate it and small ripples appeared every time the ant bit. Fortunately, Stone pulled in ambient mana at breakneck speed.

Partner finally noted this strange anomaly. "Can't he run out of mana?" He wondered. How could Stone gather so much mana in such a short period? It was an oddity. The Mana Regeneration technique should allow to collect a small amount of mana, especially on low levels, store it inside the being’s mana veins. "How are you able to gather so much mana with the Mana Regeneration technique?"

"Mana Regeneration? You mean Ambient Mana Gathering, and it's on the maximum level,” Stone proudly responded. “I wonder what evolution is like. I hope it feels good," Stone murmured while focusing on the erected mana wall.

"Wait. What? Ambient mana gathering!?!" Partner exclaimed.

"Loud!"

He didn't expect that Stone would get such a technique. Well, it was not an expertise per se. He knew it was an inscription made for tools.

"Damn. Is he living or not? He is sapient... And has a lifeforce. I wonder..." Partner contemplated. He delved to examine the Stone's body. There, he saw many rough inscriptions of celestian language, pulsing with mana. "Did he do this on purpose? No, that's not possible. He was way too stupid for this... still is. What is he?" Partner was more and more baffled by this strange piece of Stone.

"Stone? How is your lifeforce counted?" Partner asked again.

"Well... It says my hardness times 100. Right now, I have one hundred points," Stone answered proudly.

"100 points,” Partner muttered. “Living beings like humans, dwarfs or elves have lifeforce in thousands upon birth,” he explained almost in awe. Partially because he thought that with this little lifeforce, he would probably have a new host soon.

"I don't have to concentrate on the mana wall anymore," Stone stated, ignoring mumbling Partner. He really couldn't care less who has more lifeforce. "What now? Mana Bubble is on the maximum level, and Mana Shaping will be soon too," he boasted, happy with his progress.

"Max your Mana Shaping. Create different shapes. Make them move."

"Okay."

Stone got an idea. He would make and use them for a target practice.

"He is finally completely awakened. Thankfully, he remembers all of my lectures and can make use of them. I wonder…" he figuratively shook his head as if trying to exorcise the insane thought.

"Hehe," Stone chuckled. He was having fun as the bubbles burst with a mana stick he threw at them. He always hit. He tried to miss a few times, but that didn't feel nice.

Stone’s focus was broken by the dwarfs nearby. He still could not see them, but they were annoying. Loud noises… And he could not stop them.

He attempted to ignore them, but still…

"DORNUS DAMMIT! Eriv, I hear it again! The plopin! It drives me crazy, I say!" Dori, the male dwarf, stopped mining and frantically searched around about what made the sound, but could not find anything.

'Plop! Plop! Plop!'

He heard it again, driving him nuts.

"Uaaaargh! Stop iiit!"

Eriv, the female dwarf, peeked at him with a pity and said to the dwarf near her, "Poor Dori, Morty. That’s a deep craziness. We should tell Overseer Breadbeard."

"Right ya are, Eriv. Yar brother needs help," Morty, a robust dwarf with a brown, thick beard, replied in a feminine voice.

They took frantic Dori between their arms and went outside. Stone was happy; the loud noises went away. Even though they almost stomped on him to Partner’s massive scare.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Outside, the spooked dwarfs stopped at the foreman hut.

"Breadbeard! Dori caught deep craziness," Eriv heavily banged on the doors.

"Dornus dammit! A few months ago Orifog died and now Dori goes crazy? Somethin bad happen’ down there," he lamented while observing flinching Dori. "Let's call runemae'str," he made the decision and went to the pen with three trained ravens to send the message to the town three days away.

Meantime Eriv and Morty brought Dori to their tent and put him on the bed.

"Dori! Do ya hear anythin now?" Morty questioned him with worry.

The questioned dwarf peeked fearfully around, "Nae. But I tell ya, somethin is down there with us!"

"Brother, go sleep, will ya. Runemae'str will come soon," Eriv soothed him. To dwarven ears it sounded like a soft, motherly voice. To anyone else with ability to hear, it would sound like a death threat in the Colliseum.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Two days of constant training and patience of Stone and Partner alike were bountifully rewarded.

"Loud," Stone complained. He was always disturbed by these annoying sounds. "Status," he ordered next. The lovely tablets always put him at ease.

His status screen softly 'thudded' into existence in his mind

Thanks to the all-powerful Stone’s perception sphere, which penetrated everything, Stone could see inside the anthill. Not like he cared about them… The little mineral rather stared at his Universum tablet…

However, the Partner carefully observed them and their doings…

In the middle of the white anthill, in the middle of the throne room was an erected platform with a throne made from dust and leaves. On the throne lay the Queen of Talc ants, observing her subordinates to dance their reports.

“Queen, our soldiers cannot break through magic wall."

"Queen, our stock will last one day."

"Queen, here is your snack."

“Queen, we should enlarge the crevice,” one of the ants danced his proposition.

Most of the ants froze in their movements and stared at the ant who dared to even make a proposition to the Queen.

The Queen was in distress and she ignored the brave ant. The wall crevice was the sole entrance to their nest, leaving them vulnerable to this type of attack. Who could even anticipate something like this? Whoever heard about a stone who can control magic like that?

She was happy when she found this place; safe, with enough food around, easily defensible and with plenty of clefts. What was more, it was located in a small talc deposit, which was a good insulate for her occasional outbursts of uncontrollable fire magic.

“Increase the efforts! Send more soldiers!” She ordered with a mana-filled voice. Why should she dance like some peasant?

Partner turned his attention back to his host. And facepalmed.

Stone adored his tablet. It was made from a beautiful grey stone. The exquisite craftsmanship, the colour… The Universum had to genuinely like him. He sat in the place and lovingly stared at it. If he could, he would have a face full of love. Regretfully, he had only a stony face.

“So?” Partner spoke up.

“…” Stone ignored him, being way too infatuated by the screen.

“Hey!” Partner tried to get his attention with fervour.

“…”

“Oh, for the love of… Stone!”

“Loud,” Stone finally registered the voice, and needless to say, wasn't happy to hear it. “What do you want?”

“Can you evolve your skills? I want to leave here as soon as possible!”

“Yes.”

“So do it!”

“How?”

“Say expertise evolution.”

“Expertise evolution,” Stone repeats.

a cheery voice clamoured in Stone’s mind.

“Loud. I don’t like loud!”

the voice mockingly responded in a quieter, over-caring tone.

“Ye-,” Stone was cut in the middle of the sentence.

The voice shouted again, now even more obnoxiously.

‘Thud’ A new screen shows before him

“Partner? Why did everyone laugh when they found out you were here?” Stone innocently asked. Still, a critical hit.

“…”

“Partner?”

“… no …”

“What no?”

“No!”

the cheery voice paused for a moment,

"Evolve everything,” Stone wished, still disgruntled with the loud voice. He waited for hours, without single thought or emotion. It was nice to be a normal stone again for once.

“It’s not my fault, you know?” Partner tearfully spoke after a long silence. A person could say he cried, but… Who could say for real?

“…” Stone ignored him, too enthralled in doing nothing.

“It’s them who always…” Partner was cut in the middle.

The voice shouted, interrupting Partner.

“Status,” Stone thought, wanting to see the exquisite tablet again. ‘Thud’

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…” Stone agreed, disgruntled.

“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.

“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 outside 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! Wait for my arrival!” 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 purpose was to protect their home and larvae.

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

“How much mana does he have?!” She wondered, more and more exhausted with each she cast. She could feel nigh-endless mana from the white, smooth rock and from her position it seemed like it couldn't exhaust.

She conjured bubbles near the pebble and filled them 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 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. Suddenly, he felt something new; warm.

“Partner? Something is happening; I feel something odd,” Stone got interested in this new feeling.

“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 steadily accumulated heat and damage as the spheres continued to explode.

“Partner, what is this feeling? It does not feel good,” Stone complained. He didn’t like this another new feeling; being hurt.

“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.

“So? How much?!” Partner had to wrestle off the stupid rock's attention back to the matther at hand.

Stone read the tablet...

“You are half towards death! Do something! Do you want to die?!” Partner’s panic spiked.

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?”

“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. He didn't stop to think that probably die as well.

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

“Hehehe,” Stone chuckled as the message 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 commanded while inwardly shivering with excitement.

“Yes, stronger. But stone around has gotten damaged too,” Stone looks at the cracked dent in the wall. He decided that he abhored 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’

“Partner, there are no messages this time,” Stone said while admiring the stone tablet once again. He could not imagine what he would do without them.

“Moron! Go and fight!” Partner snapped, irked by that miserable stone’s complete ignorance of its surroundings. “We'll have to do something about this,” he muttered more to himself.

“But they are not attacking me anymore. Look, they are just running around,” Stone proved otherwise. He was paying attention.

“Yeah, fine, that's because you disintegrated their Queen. They don’t know what to do,” Partner responded with a calm voice. So what, he made a mistake? Who would call him on that?

“Oh. Partner?” Stone called for his friend.

“Yeah?” He carefully responded as the Stone’s tone was strange.

“I feel strange,” he dropped.

“What do you mean?” Partner needed clarification. For the stupid pebble, everything was odd.

“Well, I think it has something to do with that lifeforce thingy,” Stone made a connection, following his instinct.

“How much do you have?” Partner sighed.

“14.8,” the number takes the Partner's voice away for a moment. He had to recollect himself first.

“Shit! Wait! You should regen…era…t…e,” Partner slowly stopped, a sudden realization hitting him like… well a stone, “how do living stones heal?”.

“How should I know? Maybe ants will know?” Stone was curious too. Even he acknowledged this was something he needed to know.

“They are just stupid bugs! Barely alive. Less than you and that is already saying something! Only their Queens are sapient enough, but I doubt she will be any more knowledgeable than you!” Partner felt like he couldn't catch a break.

“But she is dead,” Stone stated as if he was saying that it was sunny today.

“Yeah! Because you killed her!” Partner fiercely responded. A weird atmosphere fell between the two of them.

“What now?” Stone broke the uncomfortable silence.

“Silence,” Partner ordered, “let me think!” He closed his imaginary eyes and murmured to himself, “no… No… NO! That won’t work either…”

As Partner was trying to find some solutions, Stone noticed a small, black ant crawling towards him. The ant was strangely moving in circles. Stone watched it with his classical stony face that could mean interest.

“Partner?” Stone interrupts him.

“What?!”

“What is it doing?”

“Who?”

“The ant before us,” Stone pinpoints the little ant.

“Walking? Oh, wait. It is trying to communicate.”

“And do you understand?”

“No…” Partner confessed.

“Should I kill it?”

“You can, but you won’t gain anything from this,” Partner mentally shrugged.

After a while, the ant stopped dancing and pressed its head to the ground. The rest of the ants saw their companion and decided to comply one after another.

“What are they doing?”

“Hmm… From the look of it, you became their new King, but that’s odd. From what I know they need a queen. Female,” Partner stopped talking, then asked something he should have known long ago, “Wait… what gender are you?”.

“Gender? What is that?” Stone curiously asked.

“Never mind… Let’s roll with it,” Partner sighed in exasperation. “Ahh, someone. Anyone, please SAVE ME!” He pleaded internally to any god who could listen.

“So, how do I communicate with them?” Stone let the gender question go as even he felt it was a minefield.

“I don’t know, Stone. You could try talking, that’s… how…” Partner realized another problem. Stone didn’t have a mouth or any other organs when it came to it. The pebble could talk only to him and generating complex sound directly with magic was out of the question. He would probably explode himself, him and the mountain.

“How?” Stone asked. This time, Partner acknowledged it was a good question.

“Oh right, you have never talked before. Hmm… I never had to teach someone to speak. Give me a minute,” Partner fell quiet, focusing on finding the solution to this peculiar problem.

While Partner was thinking about how to teach Stone to speak, the rest of the ants joined the first one and knelt before him. Then they surrounded them and around a dozen ants tried to pick him up.

“Partner? What are they doing?”

“What again? Can’t you give me a moment?” He groaned, frustated and knowing he couldn't run away.

“They are trying to do something. It feels strange. Itchy,” Stone said as the ants poked him around, trying to lift him up.

“Use mana… Wait, what are they doing?” Partner finally perceived the surroundings. They lifted Stone and carried him towards the crevice.

“Yeah. You became their King. They want to bring you to their nest,” Partner confirms.

“Oh.” Stone thought nothing of it. He is a stone. Sometimes he suddenly showed up at different places and he didn't think much of it. Except for that one time when he moved by himself. That was fun.

In a few moments, ants brought him to their throne room. They had to widen the tunnels as they passed through. Stone didn’t like the stone breaking, but as it was only a little he reluctantly allowed it. They put him on the pedestal and stood before him, waiting for orders.

“Partner?”

“Hit me,” Partner knew the moment he said he should not. Figure of speech was something out of Stone’s comprehension.

“How?” Stone showed interest, but rectified himself almost instantly before Partner could react, “Errr… Why? And I got a title.”. Partner decided to leave it alone, especially that eager tone.

“Again... What did you do this time?” Partner asked, full of suspicion. He knew he would one day stop wondering what was happening and accept it as a new normal, but today was not the day.

“It said that I am the Talc Anthill King.”

“What does it do?”

“I don’t know.”

“So ask Universum! How many times do I have to remind you of this?”

“Titles,” Stone wished. ‘Thud’ Stone sometimes hated that he couldn’t smile. Of course, after Partner explained to him what smiling was.

Stone read it aloud to Partner.

“Yeah, I have something. It’s not a skill per se, but… It could hurt, and you have to heal completely before that.”

“What is that?” Stone suspiciously asked, not liking the pain thing.

“Well, carve fissures into yourself. You can use mana to talk through them,” Partner says in one ‘breath’.

“…” Stone thought he heard bad.

“Well?”

“…”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Carve. Into. Myself?” Stone emphasized every word.

“Again, do you have a better idea?” Partner triumphantly repeated.

“No,” Stone pouted.

A few ants danced before Stone and the title worked as declared.

“Queen, please give us an order.”

“Queen, what should we do?”

“Queen, please help us.”

But he could not reply.

“How do I heal myself?” He tried to ask them but to no avail.

“They won’t hear you. You are talking in your mind,” Partner replied to him instead and finally got an idea of how Stone could heal himself. “Hmm… We are in the middle of a talc deposit. You could try to use mana to gather it around yourself, crush it into powder and mix it with refined mana to create a bubble around yourself with the dust. The combination of talc dust and refined mana should allow you to regrow fast.”

Stone promptly did as told and gathered the talc around. Meanwhile, poor ants were scared because they still didn’t get orders. Thankfully workers like caretakers and food gatherers have long standing obligations, so they do their work as usual.

Stone is getting bathed in the dust and refined mana. ‘Thud’

“Partner, I created a spell,” Stone boasted.

“Oh, that is nice. Did you get a title?”

“No.”

“Too bad. Researchers discovered or created most of these spells long ago anyway.”

Stone's new underlings watched as the bubble that was exuding blue rays slowly filled with talc dust and enveloped their King.

They panicked and tried to free him, but ants who touched the layer got painfully zapped. So the Royal Guards dutifully stood there protecting their ruler as they should and the rest of anthill lived by its own life.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Encyclopaedia Stonia

Refined mana

Mana scrubbed of the outward pollution and fully integrated into the user. It is 5 times more potent than ambient mana. Mix it with heat, and you have an excellent, potent explosive.