"Too loud!"
The announcements were still quite loud and constantly pestered the silence-loving pebble. He truly did not appreciate being bugged. It had been a constant distraction for quite some time, but he was patient. A stone had to be with its nigh-endless life; thus he waited for it to go away by itself... Then he remembered. He could turn it off.
"Silence," he wished, and announcements went quiet. "Loud," the announcements came back. "Hehe. Fun. I can control it," he slacked off as he found a new toy. "Hehe," Stone chuckled. "Loud. Silence. Loud. Silence."
"Hey! What do you think you are doing? Don't slack off!" Partner snapped at him.
Stone listened to his teacher and commenced killing the passing ants again. If he could, he would be pouting. Too bad he was a mere piece of rock and as such he had only a single expression; a stony one. Very good for poker.
He was persistent. Simply sitting on the side of the shaft and conjuring one [Mana Bubble] after another to kill the poor ants. Constantly. No announcements, no emotion, no thoughts. Except for one; squish more ants! He did not personally have anything against them, but Partner said that levelling up would feel good.
After four days of hunting, a problem had arisen; no ants came around. Stone got distraught thanks to this. How could he kill them when there are none around? He must have thought of something. Fast. Well, stone fast.
Hours later, after mulling over it, he got an idea. It was his first one. He could use a small bubble next to himself and push away with the blast.
Partner sighed, something he got used to during the days of boredom, "Learned how to move around, huh..."
The sudden movement startled him as he got torn off his deep notions.
'Plop' He shifted as the bubble burst. He did it! He moved on his own for the first time! He felt so joyous and satisfied as never before. He created another bubble and moved again. He had more fun than when he was crushing those little, stupid ants.
'Plop' Stone shifted again. He contemplated what that meant and decided that he liked to move on his own. He understood that it was something extraordinary for a simple stone. However, the philosophical question eluded him in the end anyway and got pushed out of his mind by another bubble propelling him.
After several bursts, which had moved him about fifty centimetres forward, he saw bugs again.
[Your spell Mana Bubble gained a level]
[Your spell Mana Bubble reached the 10th level (max)]
Partner was… To say overjoyed would be an understatement of his emotion right now. Maybe enraptured? Ecstatic? Rapturous? Finally, after months of sitting in one place, he advanced; even if just a little.
With his sphere of sight, Stone saw ants disappearing into a crack in the wall.
"Their nest must be nearby," Partner proclaimed and another plan occurred to Stone; he will make a trap.
"Trap? That could work," Partner praised him, happy that the stupid piece of literal rock got smarter. He could have proposed it by himself long ago, but he explained to him what traps were and waited when he got the idea by himself. If he would hand him all the answers out, the unique being self-named Stone would be too dependent on him.
Stone felt great again. He didn't know that there are so many things that can make him feel good. Like praise. Or murdering innocent bugs, who were just looking out for themselves. He desired more.
"Trap. I will dig a hole. Ants fall into the hole. I create a bubble again and crush them all at once," Stone flaunted his intelligence.
"So, do it," Partner said, this time no more praise came from him. Stone wanted more praise, but another problem appeared.
After a while of contemplation Stone put a stony face and unceremoniously asked, "How do I create a hole?".
"Oh, for fucks sake. He is such an idiot. Well, at least he finally got the idea of traps," Partner sighed to himself while offering the Stone advice, "use mana bubbles. You should have raised it by a few levels. You can pour more mana into it."
Stone did not wait and the bubble bloated with mana. As it bursted, it dug a small dent in the ground.
'Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!'
Soon there was a nice hole in the soil, around twenty centimetres deep.
The ants were not that stupid and marched around, not caring for the all-powerful trap of mighty Stone... He watched at them with what could only be murderous intent and thought that his plan did not go as intended. It was a bad feeling. He was not fond of it.
"Well. Dig more of those holes and connect them to create a ditch," Partner decided to stop the foolishness and hand the answer out.
'Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!'
"Dornus damn it! Eriv! Do ya hear it too? It drives me crazy!" One of the nearby dwarfs called his fellow miner.
Eriv, a female dwarf who looks almost the same as Dori, but with a thinner beard, answered, "What are ya blabberin about, Dori? I hear nothin except ya naet workin! Go back to work, will ya? We have the quota to meet!"
After that, both continued to fervently mine slabs of marble. Quotas had to be fulfilled!
Stone ignored them as they were annoying noises and dug the ditch around the ants' entrance.
"Good. Now, go before the ditch. Create a small wall of mana around the edges and hold it. It will continuously drain your mana. So regenerate mana by using Ambient Mana Gathering alongside with it," Partner explained and Stone did. Partner always had such lovely ideas.
It was hard, but after a few days, he got it right.
[You have learned a skill Mana Shaping]
[Your technique Ambient Mana Gathering gained a level]
[…]
[Your technique Ambient Mana Gathering gained a level]
[Your technique Ambient Mana Gathering reached the maximum level]
[Your technique Mana Shaping gained a level]
Patience paid off and soon the ditch was filled with the crawling ants.
"You should have gained the Mana Shaping technique, right?"
"Yes."
"Finally," Partner celebrated. "Now, hold the mana wall and pump more magic into it. Get it thicker." Six points of mana got sucked directly into the wall. If Stone could perspire, he would as it drained him. Thankfully, he had become proficient with the mana gathering and almost instantly regained what he lost.
"You will have to use more mana. Put the mana wall over the full ditch, then squeeze it to the ground."
'Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!'
Stone crushed the ants in large droves until there was only left a greenish liquid mixed with chunks of bodies. The mixture of their laws, origin, energy and lifeforce transformed into an ethereal experience that flowed into Stone.
[You have killed 213 ants. You have gained 0.253% EXP]
[You have killed 21 ants' guards. You have gained 2.1% EXP]
[You have killed 2 ants' elite guards. You have gained 0.4% EXP]
[Your skill Mana Shaping gained a level]
"Better. Now it will go way faster," Partner cheers.
The liquid and chunks served as bait, finishing the trap.
☁☁☁☁☁☁
Encyclopaedia Stonia
Ants
Hive-mind insect. Cannibals. In the world of bugs, it is quite dangerous. Thankfully, only the Queens can use mana. Otherwise, they would already rule the universe. Gods (with big G) still don't understand how they came to be. But, well... they are mortal, and that's all they need.