BXBX NOVEL Chapter 40 - The Exploding Stone
"Ah Vexsus just in time me and Kitsoma were discussing about what our plans were after escaping. She was thinking of starting an adventuring party, and while I wanted to return home, I feel like agreeing with her especially after all the excitement I've seen lately."
"Well that would be a good idea I know that after this I will be heading back to my family to discuss my future plans with them but doing some adventuring around sounds like a good inbetween hobby."
They looked at me weird for a second. Before Kitsoma spoke up.
"Hobby? what do you mean, are you actually thinking of doing adventuring work for free?" She asked with a slight twist of her head in confusion. (which totally looked like a cute fox and may or may not have melted my heart a little.)
"What do you mean for free? Are you telling me that I can get a job just adventuring?"
Sylvania laughed. "No shit, ofcourse there are adventuring jobs. All you have to do is register with the adventurers guild, ofcourse they have ranks that determine which job goes to who but that's easily fixed by completing a few jobs."
"Well I'll be damned that is awesome, I thought there was a place like that but I never saw one or read about one so I just figured I'd do it on my own and sell whatever I get to the next town I visited."
We all had a good laugh after that for a few minutes until Sondar come over.
"Hey man we're ready to start tunneling towards the ants. Digger went ahead to scout it out. He should be back in a couple minutes."
"Alright awesome, so I am going to the old base and if the coast is clear then I want to see if there are any of the loot that was left behind." I said as I got up and started walking to the tunnel that led to the old base area.
"Whoa hold on now man is that really a good idea?" Sondar was quick to voice as he quickly stood in my way.
"Yea I think so, look at it this way what would happen if nobody is there and the loot we collected is?"
"Well obviously we could just bring it back with us here."
"Exactly we can use that to create armor, weapons, and tools that will help us out way better than having to rely on you creating them from earth. Which by the way don't get me wrong is great but if we design them specifically for that purpose especially from good material than it'll last way longer and have way more efficiency."
He looked a bit hurt before mumbling a "yea" and slunk down on to the floor. I felt bad because I didn't think this would hurt his feeling that badly before. So I came up with a plan that if it worked out we would gain top quality materials and he would gain an awesome skill.
"Hey I got an idea that I can only give you, wanna hear it?" I sat down next to him and stared right into his eyes hoping that he wasn't to sad or pissed off at me.
For a few minutes he didn't say anything so I just waited until he breathed in deep then sighed.
"Yea go ahead what is it." He said in a defeated voice.
'Man this dude can be temperamental.'
"So I was thinking have you ever tried to condense your earth magic before? Like say you take a stone and compress down on it with your mana. What would happen then? It would become denser right? And if its the right kind of earth or stone it would become a jewel right? Well what if you were able to create jewels or even to create them out of thin air? That right there would give us top quality materials to make stuff with aswell as giving you another skill for your arsenal."
The more I kept talking about it the more I could see a faint light start to shine brighter and brighter in his eyes. At the end of me trying to convince him he stood up and then grabbed a piece of nearby rock.
"Yes that sounds fcking awesome I want to make jewel weapons and armor and look awesome. Thanks man, Although your the one that made me feel like shit you also gave me a goal."
He took the stone in both hands and pressed down as hard as he could. I could feel the mana being forced into the stone before I got a shiver down my spine. I immediately got up and knocked the stone away from him.
"OH shit Sondar stop, that is to much mana you almost made a bomb dude."
The others started to panic as they all start to stare at a smooth round stone that was the size of a palm but is now the size of a finger and glowing white hot.
"Sondar man you put to much into it I appreciate the attitude and ferocity but you can't just throw it all in at once."
I went over and picked up the rock before using Mana Manipulation and withdrawing the overwhelming amount that was starting to build up pressure. I was at my limit but thankfully I was able to level up my mana storage ability.
It was weird to have more MP storage than my actual MP but seeing as how the only magical things I used per se were when I infused my muscles with lightning and also for my spatial bullets. Oh and I guess now when I use all of my MP to use my new Beam skill.
I was happy to have leveled up a skill but that was overshadowed by the fact that even as I kept pulling out mana, the stone kept increasing in pressure and the Mana inside seemed to keep growing.
[User is in danger, Recommend running or seeking nearby shelter]
'You idiot can't you see that we are in the middle of a cave we are in the shelter already. Also where the hell can we run to.'
[User is recommended to run away. User may also ingest hazardous material inside Abyssal Stomach. But the resulting explosion will cause damage]
'Shit well its better than nothing I guess.'
"Everybody this thing is gonna blow so Sondar I want Earthen wall around me now and make it as tightly packed as you can but do not over do it. Sylvania, Tinoa I need you to create a thick ice wall around me aswell I am going to eat this thing but the explosion could still hurt you guys so be ready." I yelled as I activated my 2 skills and open my stomach to reveal a pitch black mass that shoots out inky black tentacles to wrap around the small stone and suck it into the Abyss.
A few seconds go by as I am preparing for the pain.
'What the hell I thou.....'
'BOOM'
A loud explosion goes off in my stomach and a huge pressure actually forces open my Abyssal stomach and a massive plume of Blue Flames erupt from it. the flames melted the rock wall and the ice wall together before finally stopping after a few seconds.
[User has experienced extensive bodily damage. Will now initiate consumption of stored material for regeneration.]
I wasn't able to read what the pop up said as the blood was covering my body and also coated the walls around me as I screamed in pain to the point it reached a pitch and my voice went out. I still was unable to catch a breath long enough to start calming down. It wasn't until Sondar came over and knocked me out with a double handed blow directly to my forehead.
-----Companion POV------
"Oh Fck, Oh Fck, Oh Fck I killed him I killed Vexsus OH shit, Oh gods, I killed him and after he gave me a new goal in life Dammit WHYYYY." Sondar was hysterical shortly after knocking Vexsus out.
"Sondar shut up we need your help to stop his bleeding. Quit being a baby and get your ass over here." Kitsoma shouted as her hands were busy trying to staunch the bleeding hole that was my stomach.
"He isn't going to be any help, plus look his body is already starting to regenerate. Do we even need to do anything at this point? I say best bet is to start patrolling because this amount of blood is going to attract all kinds of beasts even if it isn't goblins or ants." Howy said as he stood up still with a fearful look in his eyes.
"We can't just leave him like this Howy he went so far to protect us from Sondars mistake. Even if he is healing I bet he will be severely weakened once he wakes up. Why don't you take the Liosa and Konna with you and Sondar aswell. He needs to get away from here for a minute to clear his head" Sylvania starting sending out orders to the others as she couldn't help physically because of her only arms being feathered wings.
"Fine we will be back in an hour, Lets go girls and Dumbass. We are gonna go where Vexsus was gonna go and see what we can scrounge up. I'm sure he had plans before the impromptu light show he was forced to put on."
The small group left as Shorunt, the sisters, and the 2 women who both were overly worried over a healing dragon nobody.
Kitsoma and Sylvania looked at eachother before nodding.
"Thank you Sylvy with them here it was getting difficult. I need you Shorunt to start casting healing spells and focusing on using up as much mana as possible he needs you now."
"Yes Ms. Kitsoma I promise I will." Shorunt quickly says before waving his green gemmed staff over Vexsus' body and after a few words forces a massive amount of mana through the gem to cast a green light over his masters body.
Vexsus' body was slowly healing but soon after his body drank in the healing light like a dying plant sucked in water. The massive open hole started to first regrow the bones including the spine. Then came the different connective muscles and tissue then after what seemed like forever came the skin and scales that sprouted out like small hardened hairs at first than expanded like a pointed fan.
"Master just needs to rest now, Unfortunately so do I." Shorunt says weakly before fainting from mana exhaustion.
The sister mages quickly rush over to Shorunt to check on him but Sylvania intervenes.
"We can worry about him after Vexsus wakes up he is priority. He and Shorunt are the only 2 that can share their Mana with others. It's a cruel Ironic joke but it's the only option available to us so we need you 2 girls to try and quickly learn it otherwise get out of the way."
The sisters look at eachother than at the ground in defeat as the walk towards the back of the cave.
An hour goes by and still Vexsus has not woken up. His body had completely healed but his body was skinny and pale, like he was malnourished. The others had come back with some of the leftovers that were left behind by the red goblins as the fled from the Warrior ant. They had also ran into a few Goblin scouts that were fighting a worker ant so they killed them all and brought the corpses back under the pretense of 'everybody should be hungry by now.'
But as soon as they entered the cave with the bodies Vexsus' jumps up and lunges at the corpses before rampaging and devouring the corpses while slinging various bits and chunks of flesh in his frenzy for food.
-----------Vexsus POV-----------
[User has digested the flesh of a [Red Goblin] Will now auto assimilate]
[User has digested the flesh of a [Cavernous worker ant] will store for later use]
[Generating skill list]
[Goblins Vitality] - The goblins are well known for having great vitality... as a species. They are known for rapid reproduction. User will gain the ability to create offspring at a fast pace that will be born in a few months time.
[Red Goblin Rage] - The Red Goblins are a variant of Goblins known for how fast they succumb to their rage. User will be more prone to anger but will benefit from having increased attack and defense while in an angered state.
[Basic weapon proficiency] - As a humanoid sentient species Goblins have discovered the use of tools, such as weaponry. User will gain the Goblins knowledge of weaponry. [Warning, User has no way of utilizing skill will be locked until capable. IF CHOSEN.]
My mind is a haze. 'Am I eating right now? I can't tell I Don't feel anything. I don't feel my jaws chewing, I don't feel my food sliding down my throat, What is happening right now and why can't I control it?"
[User is now under the control of Gluttony. Users body went through Regenerative procedure to heal over half of your body. The cost was all of your stored materials from previous devouring's Body was in a state of coma until provided with a food source.]
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[Mana Hands] Lvl 0 -> 3 -- 0/40
[Mana Storage] 30 -> 100
MP : 30 (100)
[Basic weapon proficiency] Lvl 0 0%- As a humanoid sentient species Goblins have discovered the use of tools, such as weaponry.. User will gain the Goblins knowledge of weaponry.