Chương 44: Mana Stone Vein

"Quite the way to greet an injured patient."

"You look pretty healthy to me," Sebastian said.

"The gash on your arm and chest is healed. Your bruised and beat-up face looks much better, and the swelling has reduced by quite a bit. All in all, you don't look like a patient to me."

"Well," I coughed, "quite the way to greet your Lord then."

"I don't see a Lord. Only a patient." I worked my jaw, but no words came out. Sebastian took the liberty to invade my room and walked towards the table across from me. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and summoned a cup and saucer. The tea was apparently already inside as steam rose from the cup while Sebastian blew on it before taking a sip.

"Please sit," he said.

"We will need to discuss this now. This is quite deeper than I thought." I simply nodded and was about to stand up when a black shadow appeared out of the corner of my eye. Inky sped through the air before gracefully bouncing off the bed and then into my arms. I just shook my head and petted her. She purred. At least someone cares about my well-being. With her in my arms, I stood up from my bed. My steps were surprisingly stable. I expected a wave of dizziness to hit me, but there was none of that.

I took a seat next to Sebastian, who seemingly wasn't in a hurry to share the news. But I was.

"Speak," I said, "I have a Merged Skill and would like to figure out what it does."

"You have what? How and when did that happen? It shouldn't be possible. Even the Disciple of Swordmaster Yonran only got a Merged Skill months ago. And he is your age. He is also considered the most talented man in our Blackfire Kingdom. His Merged Skill is only Super Rare Grade, but it speaks of his talent to Merge a Skill at such a young age. What Grade is your Merged Skill?" Sebastian shook his head.

"You know what? Forget it." A small smirk formed on my face. I liked seeing the man getting flustered. Still, the most talented man in the Kingdom only got a Super Rare Skill? Then what was I? I didn't linger on that topic and moved on like Sebastian liked. However, before starting the conversation that Sebastian wanted to have, I made sure he told me everything that had happened after I passed out.

After his little stunt of saving Gerald and the other soldiers, Sebastian took me to my room and the housekeepers put me back together. The rest of the town was going through its own recovery process as far as Sebastian was aware. People got the healing they needed. Others slept or went back to their families. Not too many hours had passed since I last fought the Goblins. Most importantly, the war was now truly over. There were no remaining enemies, and the town was safe.

I also finally understood why I was kept running around. The Shamans wanted me away from position zero and from where they were—right in between both positions. This way, the front lines and back lines would have been breached at the same time. After all, I wouldn't have made it back to Gerald's fight in time from the point where I was. If it wasn't for Sebastian's words, I would have gambled wrongly. I sighed in relief at that information. Well, at least everything was over, and the town was safe.

This meant everything else could wait a little, and I could have the conversation with Sebastian and look at my Skill later.

"So what did your little investigation find?" I said, as I switched the topic.

"Has it been worth it?"

"Definitely," Sebastian nodded.

"Looks like we are out of luck, Ivor. Honestly, it seems like wherever you go, bad things happen. Anyway, I found the leaders of the Greens and their little hideout."

"Did you kill them?" My eyes lit up. Sebastian snorted, "Kill them? They were all Silver Rank, with the strongest being Peak Silver. I would have died without even knowing how. Luckily, they were arrogant, so I was able to easily hide and gather some really interesting information." My face went pale.

"Silver Rank? Are you sure?" The man nodded. Sebastian had a special task during this whole war. It wasn't actually finding the leadership but investigating the reason why the Goblins decided to make a move. This information was just a lucky, or well, an unlucky coincidence. One that also allowed him to figure out why the Greens acted the way they did. Over the next couple of minutes, I found out that the Greens were much, much more organized than I thought.

They were led by three Silver Ranks, forming a council, with the Peak Silver one as the head. They were an Orc, Ogre, and Goblin Shaman, respectively. The Greens had actually discovered multiple small caves and creeks near our town, filled with Mana Stone. And the Goblins made sure none of the beasts wandered off into those caves. However, the real reason for the attack on our town was far more insane. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"So you are telling me Blackstone Town is built upon the vein of Mana Stone?" I said.

"Yes, that's what the leadership suspects. The quantity and quality of the Mana Stone mines increase the closer they get to our Town. In addition to that, the Shaman has a way to tell where the Mana density is the highest. And it's in our little town. However, it turns out that the Mana Stones are just very, very deep, causing the effect to be barely noticeable." I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

"For fuck's sake. So you are telling me this town was built upon a Mana Stone vein that is covered by three Silver Rank monsters?"

"Yes," Sebastian nodded.

"So we are fucked," I said.

"And if anybody else in this kingdom finds out we have a Mana Stone Vein beneath our town, we will be stripped of our town. We will lose everything. We will be turned into an outpost, and if things go well, I will be allowed to be the overseer. If things go bad... I and the leadership will be killed while the rest will be enslaved." Sebastian nodded again, "Precisely, Mana Stones are the currency of nobility and Mages. Unlike Gold, they hold an inherent value.

They can be used to recharge Mana, create rituals, and most of the bigger cities use Mana Stones to power their Mana Cannons and Barriers. Besides this, Gold is a local currency, but Mana Stones are universal. Everybody on this continent needs them. From your Local Baron to the King and the Magic Towers." Sebastian continued, "But not all hope is lost. The Silver Ranks won't attack. They are too cautious. They know that they might be strong, but even Baron Adrian has Silver Rank Knights under his command.

Should Silver Rank Greens emerge, then they will move out. Losing a town to a group of Stone Rank Shamans is an accident they can ignore. Losing a town to three Silver Ranks is a deliberate attack." I sighed in relief. Sebastian was right. The thing that was saving us for now was that the greens were not dumb. They would hide, bide their time, and grow their forces. They were betting on the fact they were a pest that grew in size fast. And that would have been the right bet, had they not met me.

Because I was sure that I could make this town outgrow even the greens. To hell with infinite demonic growth. Me and my Minor Simulation and Limbo State Skills would take care of it. Over the next hour, Sebastian and I discussed what we would do with the information we had. Depending on the size of the Mana Stone Vein, even the Royal family might come here–who were the only ones who could be trusted somehow. They had set enough precedents for me to consider them as potential partners.

I would, of course, be rewarded handsomely, and I was sure even Gold Rank Royal Guards would be placed here for this town's protection. But I would lose the thing meaning the most to me. My freedom and autonomy. So he and I decided to keep it a secret for now–unless the danger outgrew the benefits.

"I heard there is a branch of the Crimson Magic Tower near Baron Adrian's territory," I said.

"Yes, those Battlemaniacs wanted to explore the Verdant Expanse and train their new recruits here. But from what I know, the Crimson Magic Tower is going through a lot of trouble right now, and their funding is severely limited, causing the branch to be half-built and severely understaffed." I grinned, "And their funding is severely limited in what currency?"

"Mana Stones..." Sebastian hesitated.

"So, it looks like we found our trading partner. Dealing with a Magic Tower is much easier than nobility. They don't hold any territory besides their branches and don't look to expand that. They only care about their personal power." Sebastian shook his head, "It's not that easy. We would need to send the merchants on our own. We would have to protect them on our own and would be responsible for any loss of Mana Stones. Besides this, we would have to mine the Stones first, which is a hard task in and of itself.

We have far too few people for that."

"Well, at least we know what our next project is going to be!" I clapped and shot up from my seat. I was excited again. The Mana Stone Vein was a practical guarantee to prosperity should we be able to protect it properly. Now that the conversation was done, it was finally time for me to check out my new Epic Rarity Skill. Sebastian went downstairs while I sat cross-legged on my bed. We needed power to protect our town, and this skill would allow me to do so.

I closed my eyes and went over the information of my new Skill. Every bit of detail was engrained inside my brain. So, even if I didn't pay attention to the information after Sebastian came, I could recall it with ease. The most important part came first. It was about how I could use the Skill: how and which Mana Paths would be used, how much Mana it consumed, etc. Without hesitation, I used it, and immediately I could feel my strength increase by a lot.

I simply strengthened my body via my Mana, similar to how I did with Mana Manipulation. But comparing both of them was like comparing a crude sketch to a masterpiece drawn by a genius artist. It was the difference between night and day. I felt like I could tear the world apart with my two hands. This was the power of an Epic Ranked Skill. And that was not it. Mana Body Arts was an interesting Skill. It was far more versatile than anything I have heard of. It basically made me a walking weapon.

It was the Skill version of what I was already doing with Mana Manipulation. The Skill allowed me to fling spells or use Martial arts seemingly interchangeably. It was like a combination of Marital Forms and the Mage's Grimoire, but it was also so much more. In addition to that, it had the same passive function of Unarmed Combat. The Skill was specially created for my purpose. Causing as much destruction as possible in whatever way was needed.

Drunk on the power of my new Skill, and with Mana coursing through my veins, I used Mana Strike. A blue glow, much more intense than any other, wrapped around my fist. The Mana was almost solid. The power oozed off it like blue streaks of lightning. Without thinking, I stood up, went to the wall facing the outside, and punched forward. Even during my attack, I already began regretting doing it. But nonetheless, my attack landed, and the wall simply disintegrated.

A bed-sized hole was left inside my room as the debris was flung outward. Despite realizing what I had done, I couldn't help but marvel at the power of my strike. Before, I might have been able to leave the wall cracked, maybe a small crater. But this? This was completely unexpected. This was the power of an Epic Ranked Skill. And the true power of my Class.

We still had a couple of things to do—fix the locust problem, take care of the Goblins and the Demonic Cultists, and in addition to that, the Mana Stone Mine was a new problem. Oh, and one couldn't forget the Nine Mountain Bandits, of course. But that was a problem of the future. Today we had won and grown in strength. And we would continue winning.