It learned the language, known as celestian, which was spoken by almost everyone. Another thing the pebble learned was that there were many languages created by mortal and immortal beings all around the universe.
It learned about mana that pervaded everything everywhere. Partner said that mana was mixed energies, powers, and laws unused or left out in the creation. Of course, the stone still did not understand.
It learned about life. About different life forms that exist almost everywhere, thinking and doing stuff. That the dwarfs, which it met before, mined the mountain for resources. It felt strange. Partner explained that what it felt was an emotion and specifically, displeasure.
"Displeasure…" the pebble mulled over the word.
"Well, would you like to be hit by hard, spikey things that would break you in pieces?"
"No. Oh. Get it," after a while of passionate contemplation, the stone understood his emotion for the first time. It felt elated, which was quite a nice feeling.
"Good! Let's look at you. Hmm…" Partner pensively observed the strange pebble and asked, "oh, I forgot. Do you have a name?"
"Name?"
"Ah… Name is something that belongs only to you. It's your unique marking." The pebble did not understand, and Partner explains a little bit more, "you are from a mountain, you are made of talc, and you are sitting in the mine shaft made by dwarfs. This is not your name but your description, where you are from, and what you are doing. Every sapient being has a name as it's required by the Universum."
The white pebble finally understood and pondered over it; "Oh… Name... Naaame... My name."
After a while of musing, it exclaimed, "Know!"
"Well? Will you share?" Partner asked with a flat tone after five minutes of silence.
"Stone! Like!" Stone enthusiastically answered.
Partner deadpanned, exasperated and sighed, "so be it. Your name is set in stone... hehe... from this day on. YOU! ARE! STONE!" Partner proclaimed ceremoniously. Nothing happened. "YOUR! NAME! IS! STONE!" Partner hastily corrected himself.
[DING! The entity known as Stone joined the rest of the universe! Rejoice and praise the God of Structures and Laws, the mighty Architect!] A new voice sounded inside of Stone's mind.
"Again. Loud voice. Don't like it," Stone complained.
"Finally," Partner spoke with a calm voice, but secretly elated, "you have joined. Everything will go easier now," Partner said while covertly thinking, "at least for me."
He proceeded with another explanation, "you know, very long before you were born, the first sapient beings evolved. There was no structure to the powers and mana. Mortals were the restless crowd, and each race tried to create their own ranking systems and measurements. It was too chaotic and, in the end, the God of Laws and Structure, Architect had mercy on them. Alongside the Deity of Magic, Conjurarum, they created the unified structure for every sapient being. Be it mortals, immortal gods, or Monsters. Now think of the word 'status'."
"Status… Status… Status!" Stone did not understand much from Partner's lecture, but he patiently thought of the word "status" for hours. And days. Constantly.
[Installation complete. Sorry, it took quite a time. This little idiot has the capacity of a rock…] The strange, deep and loud voice said nonchalantly, paused, then changed his tone to apologetic, [Oh… umm… Sorry again. Enjoy!] The Universum disappeared, who knows where.
"Loud. What's this?" In the minuscule but growing Stone's mind, a stone tablet appears with a soft 'thud'.
Name: Stone
Title: None
Race: Talc
Level: 0
Exp: 0.5%
Hardness: 1
Lifeforce: 100 / 100 LFReg: 0 / sec
Mana: 3 / 3 MReg: 0 / sec
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 0.3
Talents: Ageless, Sapient, Heat Accumulator, Partner
Resistances: Heat T1L3, Electrical T1L3
He concentrated on it for several minutes, not able to make heads or toes out of this unusual thing, but he liked it a lot. It made him comfortable.
"This is your personal status screen. You are the only one who can see it. Even I can see only your name and race. Now... I will teach you how to read it." He focused and used his mana reserves to give Stone the needed knowledge about reading and the celestian alphabet. He could not do it before, because Stone's minuscule mind would have collapsed. "I hate the Rules," Partner inwardly sighed. "Damn this," he cursed as he sensed that his mana did not regenerate as it should. "I am weaker than expected. This took most of my remaining mana. I will be able to do this once more…"
Inside of Stone's mind, another message appeared with a soft 'thud'.
[Partner offered you knowledge. Do you accept?]
"Think of the word 'yes'," Partner advised.
"Yes," Stone's mind was filled with the knowledge he didn't have before. It pained him a little bit, but as it faded he felt elated. He could finally understand what the written words meant. He could read. But he did not understand their meaning...
[Your intelligence had risen by 0.1]
"Loud voice. Again," if the pebble could frown he would.
"What did it say?" Partner asked.
Stone repeated what he heard as he got a little bit more comprehensive.
"That's what I am talking about, baby," Partner celebrated, overjoyed.
"Now you understand, right? Now, think about word abilities. The Universum should explain to you their definition."
"Hmm... Understand? Understand..." This was a strange, new feeling. Understanding made him feel good, and feeling good was nice. He wanted more of a good feeling.
"I want more."
"What?"
"More."
"What more?"
"Feels strange. Good."
"So learn. There are plenty of things that feel good in the universe," Partner baited Stone. It was a critical hit!
"Abilities... Abilities..." Stone hurriedly thought of the word. This was the first time he felt something like impatience. It took a while before Stone could get it right, but after a few hours, a light 'thuds' resounded in his mind.
[Abilities
Something you're born with and can be raised or lowered. Training, expertises, items… Everything goes, so try hard. Otherwise… hehe.
Hardness
What do you expect? Quantifies how hard you are on Mohs Scale of Hardness. Defines your density and through that your natural defenses. Right now, pray you won't be stepped on by a slightly larger rat.
Strength
Determines your ability to exert physical power. You have to have muscles or equivalent. I wonder how you will move...
Dexterity
Usually defines flexibility, speed of your body and reaction speed. Physical stat that is completely wasted on you! Weirdo!
Intelligence
Well, you're smart as a retarded cow, however you can learn extremely fast. Your mind is also quite effective when you compare it to others. This attribute is amalgamation of your wisdom, knowledge, comprehension, etc… Also, it directly impacts your mana pool.
Lifeforce
Every 'living' being has some kind of lifeforce. You have the pure kind. Which is… strange. Anyway, you are barely considered as living. I still cannot understand how a simple piece of rock acquired his own LF, even if a little. Meh… Who cares? Hardness x 100.
Mana
All-encompassing energy that allows mortals and divines alike to control the world around them. It's a source for all mana-based expertises. Not everyone can use it. Even though you're an idiot, your mana pool is INT x 10, which is ridiculous!
One point of mana has the energetic value of 1 gram of black powder, but don't forget that black powder is explosive. Mana, thankfully, is not.
Levels
Your utmost limits. Every level increases the limits of your attributes and possible expertises' evolution. That means, level up if you want to get stronger!
Experience
Gain experience by killing (thanks Perditio and Mallum for that!). A mixture of laws, origin, spirit, leftover lifeforce, etc… Nobody quite understands it. Maybe Woo could… It allows you to break your limits and evolve.]
[Your intelligence had risen by 0.2]
"The loud voice said that my intelligence rose," and after a bit of musing over it, he concluded, "oh, I understand. I learnt something," for the first time Stone truly understood what he was doing. It made them both thrilled.
"Yes. Good. Finally, we are moving. Figuratively speaking, of course."
Stone noted empty Expertise and Talents, "what are those?"
"What is what?"
"Expertise and talents."
"Why do you ask me? Ask the Universum."
"Expertise. Talent."
'Thud. Thud.' Two new tablets appear.
[Expertise
Spells, techniques and skills. You learn them, the Universum keeps track of them for you with unified measurement. Nice, right? Praise the mighty Architect! (and Conjurarum too… Tche!)
It would help if you would learn something… This empty place is sooo lonely… Sob!]
Talents
Something you are born with or acquire by other means. It can do almost anything and every single being has at least some talent (even if it's nothing but being 'Sapient'). Cannot be trained. Can be changed during evolution, stolen or transferred.
Ageless
You are a piece of mineral and as such you won't exactly age. Nice, huh? But be wary; if powerful beings get a whiff of this talent, they will hunt you down. It excludes age from the LF equation.
Heat Accumulator
Your racial talent. You can accumulate heat and release it with the help of mana; quite an ordinary talent for higher tiers… Except you are not one… sigh… Be attentive; if you exceed your max capacity, you can explode yourself.
Partner
Rejoice! You hit the 'jackpot'. HAHAHA!
Sapient
Barely. Still enough for talent, but… Heh.
Perception sphere technique
It's one of the essential techniques, known for being a technique used by warriors, assassins and others such classes. It creates a sphere, or a dome, of mana, specially attuned to the caster's mind. Of course, there are skills that can interfere with it.
Some races don't have any other ways to perceive their surroundings (like our Stone). In this case, Universum doesn't count it as expertise but as a natural perception of the lifeform.
It's almost undetectable.]