Chapter: 70
This… is pretty bad.
I sighed as I looked down at the ruined village.
“Grrrr…”
There were wild dogs munching on lifeless corpses. Wait, since flames were flickering from their fur, they’re more like monsters.
The little pioneer village in the mountains, which had about 30 residents, had turned into a lair for these flaming beasts.
There were about ten of them, but that was still a terrifying threat to humans.
I let out a small sigh and casually lobbed the neck of the biggest flaming beast that was too busy munching on a corpse.
As its head flew off, the other beasts perked up, scanning the area, but not one of them could find my hidden self.
I placed my hand on the decapitated beast’s body and started rummaging through it with my magic.
I discovered something small and stone-like near the heart and pulled it out with my magic.
A deep red stone that looked like crystallized blood. This stone was found in the bodies of magical monsters, known as a mana stone.
I inspected the stone from different angles, then pulled out the black diamond I had stored in my pocket and held it against the mana stone.
But, nothing happened.
“Darn, that’s a bust.”
I thought it’d be the biggest one, but no luck there.
I sighed again and glanced around. The remaining flaming beasts were on high alert, ready to bolt at any moment.
Let’s see… If I just slice their bellies open, that should do the trick.
I snapped my fingers, and at the same time, blades of magical energy sliced through the beasts’ necks.
Oh? One managed to escape? Looks like it sensed the danger and was already running for it.
“Trying to dodge, huh? Guess that one’s special.”
I muttered to myself as I watched the fleeing beast and snapped my fingers again. The beast got slammed down to the ground as if caught in an invisible grip.
Boom!
Hmm… maybe I overdid it a bit? It’s totally squished.
I sighed again and approached the now bloodied beast, using my magic to probe for the mana stone, and thankfully found one that wasn’t smashed up.
I wiped the blood off the mana stone, brought it to the black diamond, and this time, a tiny shard of darkness leaked from the stone and flowed into the diamond.
A super tiny fragment of darkness. Well, at least I didn’t completely waste my time.
After checking the other bodies for mana stones, I had no luck finding any more.
Hmm, one out of many isn’t great.
I stuffed the black diamond and mana stones into my pocket before heading towards the human city.
The emergence of monsters was a massive crisis for humans, but it also posed an opportunity.
The meat, hides, fangs, and bones of the rapidly multiplying monsters were becoming precious resources for humans.
The most valuable of these was, of course, the mana stone—the crystallized magic power of a monster.
Originally, these deep red stones were tossed away, but now people knew how to use them.
If someone holds a mana stone and focuses their thoughts, even those who can’t wield magic can utilize its power.
Sure, they can only use a tiny bit of the stone’s magic, but they can still shoot small fireballs or light up the dark.
Thus, mana stones began to shine as the new hot commodity for humans.
In my opinion, though, it seems like a lot of that magic power is going to waste.
If the mana stone I just pried out of the flaming beast had 10,000 units of magic, humans would end up using only about 1 unit to conjure a tiny fireball.
But hey, that’s just how clumsy humans can be when using magic.
Despite their inefficient use of mana stones, humans were still really interested in them.
Of course, I was interested too—but for different reasons than the humans.
Among the mana stones from monsters… every so often, you could find a tiny fragment of darkness in the stones of particularly exceptional monsters.
And of course, they were fragments of Erebus.
So here I find myself having to take down even the monsters I wouldn’t have bothered with before… how annoying. Seriously.
Should I just outsource this? Or buy the mana stones at a ridiculous price and check for myself?
But the problem is that those monsters with Erebus’ fragments are somehow special—truly elite monsters.
And those beasts are tough to catch with the current strength of humans.
Even the flaming beast earlier managed to dodge my magical blade once. Maybe it had some kind of danger-sensing ability or even precognition.
It also seemed pretty smart. I doubt humans could deal with it.
So, here I am, roaming around and taking out the strongest monsters to see if they have any good mana stones.
Really… it’s just a hassle. For real.
Ahem. Let’s get back to the mana stone topic.
Humans started using mana stones for all kinds of things.
They use them to create light at night, start fires, grow their crops, purify water, and a whole lot more.
Other races weren’t too different in this regard either.
First up are the beastmen who live closest to humans.
They use mana stones to enhance their physical abilities.
Strength, senses, endurance, you name it. It’s basically body-strengthening magic.
Of course, humans can do this too, but they don’t get the same level of efficiency due to the difference in physical abilities.
Next, we have the dwarves.
Dwarves are totally obsessed with mana stones.
If they use them on a regular iron sword, they can give it special powers.
For instance, the sword might spew flames, freeze whatever it cuts, or even electrocute anything that touches the blade.
Plus, they have about three major ways to give those powers.
One is permanent enhancement. It’s kind of weak compared to the other two, but the effect lasts until the item breaks.
Think of it like a softly glowing lantern or a slightly warm cushion—nice effects for sure, but not much else.
Then there’s temporary enhancement. This one’s actually strong and doesn’t wear down the user, but it will consume the mana stone.
Dwarves prepare an insert for the mana stone, and it activates by draining the stone’s magic.
However, naturally, the downside is that the mana stone gets used up.
Finally, there’s the method where they draw on the user’s magical power. This is a wee bit weaker compared to temporary enhancement, but it doesn’t burn through the mana stone.
As long as the user has magic, they can use it to their heart’s content, and human magic regenerates over time.
The only issues are that if you run out of magic, you’re out of luck, and pushing too hard without magic can threaten your life. Just minor problems, right?
Anyway, dwarves are using mana stones in these ways.
As for elves… they’re all about absorbing the power from mana stones to replenish their own magical power, kinda like a magical energy drink.
The only worry is whether they might accidentally absorb a fragment of Erebus too.
Well, if anything goes wrong, I’m sure Yggdrasil will handle it.
And the lizardmen? Unfortunately, they lack a magical affinity, so they can’t use mana stones. What a bummer!
Still, they gift them to their spirit buddies to boost their friendship.
Spirits can absorb the magical power from mana stones and grow a bit stronger, it seems.
Thank goodness! They aren’t completely useless!
As for giants? They probably don’t even know what mana stones are.
It’s impossible for giants, who are bigger than houses, to dig through monster bodies to find mana stones.
Sure, they sometimes catch monsters the same size as them, but… I wonder how their mana stones would turn out.
Guess I’ll have to swing by the giants’ place and see for myself.
In this way, various races began adapting to the sudden influx of monsters and started using mana stones as a new resource.
And the ones who could utilize mana stones the best were—surprise, surprise—humans who could instinctively use magic.
Mages!
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