Chapter 2 - Mana stone
Author: M_W Cancer
Grammar Checker: M_W Nomral
While the soldiers were still cleaning up the place, Leo was momentarily surprised as he noticed they had killed 4 Silver Fur Wolfs. With how strong the Silver Fur Wolf compared to them, and how weak their weapons were, being able to kill 4 of them was truly an astonishing feat.
Looking at the 4 dead wolves, Leo can't help but let out a laugh of triumph. He walked across to check the bodies of the 4 wolves and his eyes suddenly lit brightly.
The 4 Silver Fur Wolves in front of him will easily earn him a lot if he sells them to the market, usually around 2-3 gold coins. But, considering that the body of the 4 wolves doesn't have any considerable damage to its fur since the way they had used to kill it was through stabbing of its eyes, the price would likely go double the usual.
A lot of rich people like to purchase the fur of a Silver Fur Wolf since it's warm and comfortable to wear, and can also turn into armor because of its ability to defend iron weapons. Aside from that, the fur could also increase the cold resistance of the wearer, hence it will help their body stay warm during night hunts and winter. For those reasons, merchants would usually purchase Silver Fur Wolf for 2-3 gold coins in the market. Of course, the price can still increase if one knows how to refine their fur.
"After selling them, we will probably earn 20 gold coins! 20 freaking gold coins, Butler Xiao! Even I need two-and-a-half weeks of consistent working to earn that much of gold coins!" Leo exclaimed in excitement as he put his arms around Butler Xiao's shoulder out of joy.
"We still need to buy the medicine for your men, Young Master!" Butler Xiao quickly reminded.
"Yes, but after buying the medicine for them and also the compensation, we will still have something around 14-15 gold coins! That is still a lot!"
"But..."
"Of course, I'm just joking around Butler Xiao!" Leo wasn't really planning to sell these 4 Silver Fur Wolfs. Though he knew that he'd likely earn a lot if he indeed sold it, more than the expected price if he carefully looked through the different merchants. But equipping it for his soldiers was still a much more meaningful choice pick.
With how poor the present state of the Heart City, everything was a weapon for them. As long as it could increase their overall strength, Leo will no doubt use whatever means necessary for improvements.
Considering that it will improve their defense and resistance. The Silver Fur Wolf's fur would also make their hunting much easier next time. Also, the wolf's meat will be able to provide all of his soldiers back in the Heart City with around two and a half days of dry rations.
Totally Worth it!
"Men, remove the fur of these wolves. We will have wolf meat tonight!" Leo ordered his soldiers excitedly as he began laughing joyously.
While his soldiers were skinning the other wolves, Leo approached the wolf that he had killed himself a little time ago. He wanted to handle the skinning of its body himself, to savor the triumph of his fight.
Taking out a small dagger from one of his hidden sheaths on his clothes, Leo swiftly and with an obvious sign of experience, started separating the skin and the body. Albeit this was just rough skinning, it is nothing comparable to how professional refiners do their skinning.
However, the moment he started to clean up the innards of the wolf, he immediately noticed that something stone-like object was inside its stomach. Without any hesitation, he took out the object from the wolf's stomach.
The moment he saw the stone and wiped the blood covering its body, Leo quickly saw that it was a beautiful sky-blue-colored stone. Looking closer, he further noticed that Mana was dancing around the stone's surface.
Leo immediately gasped in astonishment as he saw that the Mana was coming out from the inside of the sky-blue-colored stone.
"Mana stone!" Leo exclaimed in joy as he realized what the stone was. He excitedly stood up from the ground.
It was actually a Mana stone!
Leo had long already learned about this kind of ores. These Mana stones were ores found in caves with rich mana environments or magical stones that were made inside the body of any Magical Beast with rich magical properties. These Mana stones contained Mana that anyone, such as Humans, Foreign races, and Magical Beasts could use for many important things.
However, the most important thing about it was that the Mana Stone is one of the focal points of the Celestial World!
After being transferred into the Celestial World, aside from discovering that this world was seemingly endless, and is inhabited by countless distinct races, Magical Beast, and other unimaginable things, Humans have also found out about a new element called, Mana!
With the discovery of Mana, the Humans were able to continue fighting and stay alive in the Celestial World.
Using Mana, they were able to possess great power.
Along with the discovery of Mana was also the rise of the Mages!
Mages were powerful people who were capable of doing things that were once believed as impossible back on earth. Mages were the exact reason why Humans were still able to survive until today. Without the Mages, Humans would have long been nothing but a mere history in the Celestial World. Specifically, a history that no one would even bother knowing about.
Leo's parents and brother were also Mages. However, since they were the first batch of Mages, they were then forced to become the first fighters of the Humans. Hence, dying on the battlefield of the War of Races.
To sum it all up, Mages are powerful individuals capable of manipulating Mana to do its bidding. Such as being able to cast magical spells, crafting rare weapons, inventing powerful techniques, concocting potions, and so much more...
To become a Mage, one person should have a strong affinity with Mana and its different Elements. Either being naturally born from a family with Mages, which surely has a heritage of Mana flowing within their blood, or by being in constant contact with things that were rich in Mana, will one be able to become a Mage.
Also, it was exactly through the Mana stone that a person would know whether they have the affinity to become Mages.
Aside from that, Mana stones also allowed the Mages to cultivate their magical power. It can also increase their cultivation level, reaching higher realms hence being able to access a higher form of magic, or to strengthen their spells and a lot more...
Some powerful weapons were also made out of Mana stones.
Leo was feeling happy as he jumped around in excitement.
Noticing the joyous Leo, Butler Xiao quickly approached and asked in curiosity, "May I know what made our Young Master so happy at this moment?"
Leo quickly fixed himself as he opened his hand in front of Butler Xiao, "Look Butler Xiao, A Mana stone! A real Mana stone!"
Butler Xiao gasped in shock soon after discovering that his Young Master had surprisingly found a Mana stone.
Looking at the sky-blue-colored stone, he can't help slightly feeling doubtful of whether it is truly a Mana stone or not.
Based on his research through the years about the things discovered within the Celestial World, such a magical object called Mana stones, considering their current circumstances, could only be found in the body of 1 Star Magical Beast. So, it was close to impossible and out of almost anyone's expectations to even discover such an object from the body of a mere Silver Fur Wolf that Leo had killed.
He had long already confirmed that these wolves were not even close to a 1 Star Magical Beast!
Even if they considered the chances that these wolves were close to breaking through, it would highly likely be nothing but a half a 1 Star or a more than half a 1 Star Magical Beast only, which was still far from even condensing a Mana stone in its body.
One should also know that Mana stones have another term if it was discovered from Magical Beast bodies, Mana storage. The Mana stone discovered inside the bodies of Magical Beast differs from the Mana stones discovered inside the mines.
The mana stones discovered in the mines were ores and still in need of some type of refinements since they still contained some unwanted or impure energy inside. Any Mages shouldn't absorb such type of energy because it would surely cause them blockage in their cultivation veins, hence would surely result in some future trouble.
On the other hand, the Mana stones discovered inside Magical creatures are already refined, ready-to-use, Mana stones, since they were the Mana storage of these Magical Beast, hence constantly being refined inside of their body.
It was also through this Mana Storage which separated the 1 Star from the no Star Magical Beast. Possessing a Mana storage, a 1 Star Magical Beast can execute Spells that allow their simple attack to contain more strength or bring about Magic power related to a specific Element.
However, when Leo was fighting this wolf, it clearly didn't demonstrate that there weren't any attacks with Magic power or anything Magic related to it, which just made it much more strange and confusing for him.
"Impossible....."
"Oh no, Butler Xiao. In this world, nothing is impossible!" Leo rebutted quickly before putting the Mana stone inside the backpack on the side of his horse. He was planning to use this Mana stone after getting home tonight.
Noticing that his soldiers were already done cleaning the other Wolves and were done putting the bodies in a cloth bag, Leo quickly ordered them to prepare to return home.
"Men, let's return home!" Leo yelled as he urged his horse to move towards the Heart City.