After I was blown out from inside the cave, I stared at the blue sky in a daze as I lay down on the green field from the front of the entrance.
“So… was this a success or a failure?”
I made sure all my limbs were in all the right places and walked back like nothing ever happened.
“Oh s*it!”
My room was completely destroyed. The bed was blown through the wall in the armory room…or cave, while the table and the chair were already dust. “Please, not the bathroom!” I ran toward the bathroom and saw the bathtub was cracked all over with water gushing out from cracks.
“Alright, it’s ok, I can repair that much, phew~.”
After cleaning, repairing and building another chair, table, and bed, I resumed my research with the Energy Stone. While inspecting them, I found out that the energies were in a form of extreme slow-motion; the reason why they remained in such a crystallized form. I knew from the game that after the stones absorbed more energy, they would start shining blue and become Illuminating Stones. They would shine like this for hundreds of years until the energy is completely consumed.
Another thing that really interested me were crystals. They have the power to conduct mana, can be used as some kind of batteries, and some of them have the power to amplify the magic output, mostly used on wands.
I never knew how the crystals worked, so I might need to go around and find some later. The warehouse had no such crystals that resembled things like quarts or jades. Only the staves had some of those but I would rather not break such an epic weapon.
Even though there were weapons for dozens of different professions, there were only 9 classes in the game.
Spirit Fighter, Martial Arts Master (M.A.M. for short), Sword Warrior, Sword Master, Magic Swordsman, Elementalist, Soul Seer, Destroyer, Assassin (Or Thief), but seeing how many other weapons there are, it seems the classes Ninja, Spearman, Paladin, Archer might’ve been still not added in the game.
“Every staff is for level of 50 to 60. Just good for Elementals and Soul Seers.”
I looked at the staves in admiration. The lowest in grade was ‘rare’ and it was stronger than a normal ‘rare ranked’ weapon inside the game.
The ranking for weapons/armors inside the game was: Broken → Common → Fine → Rare → Heroic → Epic → Legendary → Godly. Inside the game, I had a Heroic weapon with some Heroic and Rare armor parts. It was pretty basic stuff for someone who was at the max level for 4 months already. However, inside this armory, the weakest was Rare while the strongest was Legendary. Also, the amount wasn’t small at all. With some good commanding skills and trained soldiers, one would be able to create one of the strongest light units on this world.
I looked at all of the weapons and armors with plain eyes.
“After being able to use such powers, things like legendary weapons look like toys to me now.”
Ah~, if only I got them sooner in-game, when I was desperately looking around even for a level 55 epic weapon. When you need it, you don’t have it and when you don’t need it, you don’t know what to do with it. A sick play of destiny.
.
-BOOM!-BOOM!-BOOM!-
After being blown away 10 or 12 times and making the terrain around me look like after the WWII, I finally activate one Energy Stone without making it explode in front of me. After that, I tried to experiment with it slowly and steadily. The first stone being controlled by me was worth more than gold so I had to be gentle or I might blow myself up again.
After finally ‘waking up’ a stone without blowing up in my face, I tried to make a mental connection with it.
“Alright~ easy~.”
-Vhooomm-
The stone vibrated with a low tone while levitating in front of me, making even the space around it seemingly unstable.
“S***! Easy now!”
I panicked when I saw the space around it shake so much. That meant the energy was leaking and a sudden explosion was quite possible.
“Seriously, stop this! I’ve been sent flying around more times in a day than when I had to be the throwing assistant of my Judo master! I know my body is tough, but still!”
If I exploded again that would be my 13th time in a single day.
Even though my coat was protecting me, some shock still penetrated through the barrier, feeling like being thrown around by a Judo master.
Pretty ‘nostalgic’, what can I say…
-Vhom… Fhu~-
When I tried to strengthen the connection without sending anymore soul-waves, the stone shone with a bright blue light.
I expected for another explosion when I looked at the stone flying around me without showing any signs of blowing up.
“…Up.”
I commanded the stone and it did just that, it suddenly flew high in the air.
“Holy f*ck?! Down! Down!”
The stone flew close to 50m in the air and after I commanded to get down, it suddenly stopped mid-air then launched itself downward like a rocket.
“STOP!”
At a distance of 50cm from the ground, it stopped, levitating slowly above the ground and shining in that beautiful light.
“…I need to exercise some more with this thing.”
I was sweating and my back was cold. If my own command were to be the reason that destroyed my controlled stone, then this U-shaped mountain chain would’ve become a J from all the rage.
Two weeks passed just like that. I tried to take control of as many stones as possible and after getting the hang of it, the success rate grew to 5 out of 10, with the rest blowing up.
I was so into experimenting that I forgot to eat, sleep and bathe. Because of the dense mana, I was able to stay alive until I passed out one night after being blown into the walls of the Valley, hitting my head and losing consciousness. I don’t know how much I slept but after waking up, my entire body was in pain; it was comparable to having all my bones shattered. Being blown in all directions for 2 weeks would kill even an Energy master.
After reading some books from Gabriel’s library, I understood the power ranking in this world. From weak to strong, there would be: Normal Person->Disciple->Energy Control->Great fighter->Core Warrior->Great Warrior->Master->Energy Master->Grandmaster->Saint->Great Saint->Semi-God->Spiritual->God->Elder God. Every rank has 3 sub-ranks of: Initiate->Intermediate->Adept.
While being blown away, I didn’t know that I had my life saved over and over again by my coat, which was just as tattered as me.
I woke up in the middle of the day and ate two week’s worth in two hours… I was really hungry, it seems. Then I took a bath while feeling itchy all over the place. My injuries stung, and I was barely able to wash. I was thinking of taking it more easily or I might really drop dead as Gabriel did. In the diary, he wrote that it was because of his constant experimentation with the energies, that his body broke down and led to his death at the age of 360. It might seem like he lived a long time but in truth, he died 40 years earlier than an Energy Controller. A Grandmaster could live for more than 1200 years while a Saint even past 2000.
After relaxing for a day, I resumed my researching, this time not like a maniac but like a true researcher, for only 7 hours per day.
“Ok, I think these are enough.”
I placed the Energy Stone on the same pile with the ones I finished taking control over. I had a total of around 120 stones controlled with 400 unrefined and another pile of Energy Stone dust that was created after the explosions. It seemed the energy had a will of its own, it would regroup after being destroyed if is not used at anything.
“Come.”
I commanded and the stone on the top of the pile flew in my hand.
‘A telepathic connection is already made, good. Let’s see how much power these things really have.’
I took a martial stance, with my left hand in front and my right fist beside my hip, ready to punch. I focused on the stone, taking strands of energy from it, and made them lay on my fist. I did so till my entire fist shone blue.
I punched forward without using any chi or mana, just using the energy stone’s power on my fists. The energy shot out and smashed on the stonewall, making a hole of 1m diameter.
“Whistle”
I was surprised. Moreover, I didn’t even use that much energy from the stone.
“Let’s see how much stronger this fist can become.”
I focused again; this time I covered my fist with even more energy.
The energy was so strong, it was actually crushing my fist. I was able to feel the bones in my hand being pressured more and more.
”Any more than this and I might lose one hand. This is enough.”
The fist looked as if a crystallized and shining glove was over it, making it look divine and quite cool.
“HA!”
-Boom-
I punched the same way as before. The launched energy was so strong; it actually made me take 3 steps back, cracking the ground at every step. The energy-fist hit the wall and made a huge cave inside the white stonewall with a diameter of around 10 m, looking as if it was hit by a little meteorite.
“Aye. This is really ridiculous.”
I said with a wry smile. I looked at my fist and saw it was all bloody.
“It might be useful for a last resort or when I need for a secondary [Sura’s Wrath]. Both of them are pretty close to the same damage output.”
It would’ve been damn useful against that Gorilla.
I looked at the stone and saw it became smaller with around 2mm in diameter.
“No, wait. How am I able to tell that?”
I’m still not used to the enchanted senses.
Next, I made the stone release a little energy around itself, making the air around to vibrate just like when it was ready to explode.
“I was thinking for a while now, but what would happen if I use the vibration from the energy released like a little hammer?”
I said with a grin.
I took the pose as if I was ready to punch downward and the stone stood right in front of me.
“HA!”
I punched downward and the stone slammed itself to the ground.
-BOOM!-
“Woah!”
I was right in front of the stone when it smashed itself on the ground. The shockwave made me take half the step backward. I looked at the damage and saw a crater 1m diameter and around 30 cm deep.
“Little hammer, my ass! Look at this damage!… It might be more useful to use the stones in this form rather than consuming them for small energy-fists like the first ones. I can launch them just like that and control the output of power they can show by simply controlling the amount of energy they release, no need to waste time absorbing them.”
By simply using them as cannonballs seemed more practical. Now let’s see if this energy can be used as a form of a beam.
I raised my hand and looked at a boulder 6m in front.
-Shoo~-
A straight blue line shot toward the boulder, going right through it.
“…Eh?”
I looked dumbfounded at the energy stone that now looked like a straight shining blue line, which was stabbing a boulder. Then an idea struck me.
“Wait. What if we do this…?”
I grabbed hold of the line then tugged backward.
– vhoom~ –
The line bent after I grabbed it and came back in my hand, coiling around my arm like a snake. I looked with big eyes for one whole minute, then took action.
“Hah!”
I used the shining line like a whip and attacked the same boulder, this time with a clear image in my head. I made the end of the whip emanate energy, making it vibrate.
– BOOM! –
The boulder shattered to pieces and a long line remained on the cracked ground.
“Aha! This whip might be even better than using the stone simply as a cannonball!”
I was extremely satisfied with the new discovery and a little bit conflicted at the same time.
“All in all, I only discovered how to use it for destruction.”
That wasn’t really the proudest discovery, to be honest.
“Anyway, now let’s see how they’ll react in contact with other elements.”
I activated one skill from the Spirit Fighter set of skills, from the element ‘frost’. While the stone was covered in the elemental energy, it started glowing with a blue hue, becoming colder. “Good!” As I thought, this energy can imitate any other kind of element, or how the ones from my great-grandmother’s books called them, « essences ».
I then focused on the stone while introducing my soul-waves and commanded.
“Ice Javelin!”
– Zhung –
The stone, which was no bigger than the palm of my hand, transformed into a javelin of a 2m length. I started doing some martial arts moves I remembered seeing my master did and at the end I slashed downward with all I had.
“HA!”
– Pow! –
The impact with the ground was strong enough to create a little crater. As expected, the shock chipped the blade.
“I expected this much. The lower the temperature, the stronger the ice, but this ice was barely at -150 degrees Celsius. Now, how about restoration?”
I tried to focus on the link with the stone then: ‘Restore!’ The ice accumulated in my palm to form the little blue stone, this time was just a little bit smaller than before. A normal human wouldn’t be able to tell but thanks to my enchanted senses, it was now possible for me.
“So after every kind of use it gets consumed, well, it is plausible, not wasting energy to transform would result in this stone being some godly object.”
I continued to use it in different ways, to attack with ice arrows or to defend with an ice wall, then I tried to do all of this only with my mind, without moving at all.
Ice ball.
The stone flying beside me created an ice ball 2 times bigger than itself, still, the launching was so slow, one would be able to dodge it if he was aware of it coming.
“The same problem with the Ice Arrows… everything else is alright but the attack speed is way too slow for the ice element. I’ll search for a way to improve the speed later. For now, let’s see the other elements.”
I took another stone and imbued it with the earth element. This time it shone with a yellow light.
Now I tried to use [Seismic Step] with only the energy from the stone.
– RUMBLE~ –
The earthquake was strong enough to shake half the perimeter of the terrain inside the Valley.
“Not bad~ is the same as when I’m using [Seismic Step] with more than 5000 mana points.”
I think I just found the strongest weapon from this world.
I smiled, pleased with the result. Because of my eyes, the smile looked a little bit sinister, though.
“AH! Right. How about ‘that’ ability?”
I started focusing again then shouted out commands. “Go underground!” The stone buried itself underground. I then focused on the connection with the stone and a sudden wave of information entered my head. The information was about what happened in the circumference of 200 meters around where the stone has implanted itself inside the earth.
“Hahahaha~ as expected, I can create a radar with this, truly useful! Now, [Stone Spear]!”
5m in front of me, a 1m stone spear suddenly rose from the earth. “More!” After that, more than 10 stone spears started rising suddenly with the speed of a blink in the same place. The spears were like regular spears of war, but they were made from stone and extremely sharp, being stabbed by one was equal to lying at death’s door.
“I see, so I have to give the exact commands of how the attack must look and how many times must it activate. Indeed, is all about imagination. Ah! Can I do it without the stones? Let’s see…”
I started to focus the mana under my feet to feel the earth.
“Now, I should use the element that’s under my control to take over the earth in front of me.”
Two meters in front, I focused my mana so I could control the earth. I started to feel the respective perimeter and for a moment, I felt like I am in that respective place.
Wow, this feels weird. Maybe I can do it now?
“Rise!”
I commanded and tried to make the feeling of me being there suddenly rise in the sky.
– rumble rumble rumble –
To my surprise, it actually worked. Rather than a spear, a mold of dirt grew from the ground.
“…I need to shape the image in my head a little bit more like a spear, and not like something that grows up.”
I did the exact same thing but this time I imagined something sharp, pointy, the exactly same spear as the Energy stones created
“UP!”
For trial, I was using only 600 mana.
– Vhoom –
A normal looking spear rose, but because it was made of dirt, it crumbled right after it was materialized.
“…Even though the amount of mana is the same, the spear crumbled in seconds. It seems the shape is also a problem.”
Something with a sturdier image but still pointy…
“Would the image of a fang suffice?”
– Rumble rumble rumble –
The dirt rose for the third time, this time with a sturdy base and a sharp tip. It stood 2m tall and 1m thick without needing any more mana as a support.
“Good! Now for a more hardcore level!”
3000 mana points!
– RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE –
Three huge fangs rose from the ground, more imposing and dangerous than any I created until now.
”This really looks dangerous. And it looks like a claw!” The ideas overflowed in my head, but I knew I still have something else to do.
“Anyway, the ‘earth’ element seems really powerful while ‘frost’ is pretty practical. Now let’s see how the element of ‘fire’ is working.”
