"Partner, what is it doing?"
"Phew…" Partner figuratively exhaled in relief, feeling that maybe gods were not such big bastards as he thought. "Well, it seems like it did not expect you even to exist and to be the ant King to boot."
"Isn't that good?"
"Yes, it is."
"So, we won't die."
"You won't die. I would be transferred somewhere else."
"Oh… Should I try to kill it?"
"You two! Go and get those ants! They must know where their Queen is!" The red rat commanded his entourage and the two normal-sized underlings hurriedly left.
"Ant Queen! Why have you attacked my pack! We had the truce!" The red rat shouted as it still searched for the nonexistent ant queen.
"Hmm… Maybe if you use your Mana Point filled to the brim with refined mana like with ants."
"But I would need heat to make it explosive."
"Really?" Partner chuckled as the idea hit him, "do you see those leaves from your throne? Light it up."
"How?"
"First, use a small amount of mana and push it right near you. Then create a small mana bubble and mana sticks. Put the leaves between it and vibrate it very fast. Hopefully, your mastery will allow this. Normally, you would not be able to do this with this amount of mana. But with that insane regeneration of yours…" Partner explained and thought to himself, "this will be amusing to see what he becomes at higher levels."
'Shustle, shustle,' the few leaves near Stone were pushed directly to him, creating a nice pile of flammable material.
The dried leaves caught on fire easily, producing the much-needed heat.
"Ant Queen! Show yourself!" The red rat was already impatient and becoming more and more agitated, but the smell of a smoke rising from the leaves near the pebble made it halt.
"Ha! Here you are!" The rat came directly above the pebble with a triumphal expression. It swiped with the right paw to extinguish the fire. It collaterally grazed Stone, violently pushing him back and damaging him as it chipped quite a bit from him.
[Heat at 82% of maximum capacity]
"That must be enough. Now or never," Stone silently muttered as he conjured the mana bubble directly above the spine of the rat and compressed it with all of the heat he had.
The rat felt something wrong and rapidly spinned around, searching for the incoming strike.
"It's you! The pebble!" The rat finally understood who attacked its pack, but it was too late to evade.
'BANG!'
The heated mana point exploded, creating a brief, intense light and a strong pressure wave, tearing the red rat in half.
One of the halves landed on the Stone, painting him red. Partner snickered.
"Haaah, 'good' old times," Partner recalled of what happened more than three months ago.
[You killed the rats' pack leader 14 levels above yourself]
[You have gained a bonus experience. You have gained 343% experience]
[You have levelled up!]
[You have levelled up!]
[You have levelled up!]
[You have levelled up!]
[New limits imposed. You can increase Intelligence to a maximum of 5]
[Refined mana is being fully merged with your body. The mana pool is calculated as Intelligence x 2.5]
[You have killed an enemy more than 10 levels above yours. Universum notices!]
[Your spell Mana Point gained a level]
"How many times did you level up?" Partner asked after he knew that Stone was able to sense again.
"Four times."
"…"
"Oh, it says that Universum noticed because I killed someone more than ten levels above myself," Stone stated.
Then something strong came over him.
"Partner, I feel weird! Good!" Stone was excited as never before. This feeling was something he could not even describe. Rays of white light attracted a pile of talc dust and gravel around him like a magnet and merged it with his body.
Stone grew 4 centimetres all around and the glow ceased as fast as it came. If Stone could have weak knees and shake, he certainly would.
"I want more! Partner, I WANT MORE OF THIS!" For the first time, Stone got loud by himself and he was not even aware of it.
"U-huh. Good, calm yourself down and tell me. What did you say about Universum?" Partner pondered if this was some kind of universal joke he could not get, "I am telling a moronic stone to calm down after levelling up 4 times in a row…"
"More! More! More!"
"SILENCE!" Partner roared and the poor Stone was torn between two emotions. One was telling him to get more of that good feeling and the other told him that there was something loud. Too loud.
"Sorry, Partner. It felt too good." Stone says after he finally calms himself down and asks, "What happened to me?"
"I would guess you got high. Or some equivalent of it. I didn't even know that it's possible for stone. You are way too strange, you know?" The Partner shook his non-existent head still thinking if the gods were playing a joke on him.
"Now… What did you say about Universum?"
Stone read the message in his new journal, looking like a lovely stone tablet, and then asked, "what does it mean?"
"Uhuh. That… Could be bad or good…," Partner mulled over how to answer, "it means you could get into trouble or get better rewards… Universum is impassive and fair to all mortals. Well, that's what priests will tell you. The truth is that it doesn't give a shit about you and if does, you better be strong enough to survive it."
"Oh, okay. That's a mutual feeling," Stone answered with a certain satisfaction.
"Thought so…" Partner sometimes felt like between two stones.
Their conversation ended with pensive silence permeating the atmosphere between them. Then Stone remembered something important, "Partner?"
"Yeah?"
"Weren't there two more rats?"
"I think so."
"Good, that means those two rats who are coming over are not new rats."
"Oh, goo… WHAT!?"
"Leader?" "Pack leader?" Both rats squeaked, seeking their leader.
Soon, they saw their leader's remains. They glanced at each other with understanding; each of them took one half to eat. Why to waste perfect, mana-soaked meat, right?
"Don't even think about it!" Partner warned, detecting that Stone was preparing another spell. "Be glad we survived. This was way too close. Luck was on our side as it didn't expect a freaking sentient pebble… "
"Now when you say it… How strong is a normal being?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I killed their leader in one shot. Is that normal?"
"No… but that is because you have refined mana."
"Oh, that's another thing. It said it's completely fused with my body now and it will increase with my Intelligence."
"…" Partner was silenced yet again pondering what insane god created this… stone.
"What do you think about this?"
"That you are insane, this world is insane, and the Universum is insane. And most likely; I am insane too."
"But it's good, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," Partner sighs again and agrees, then silently added to himself, "maybe this time…"
"We should leave, pack leaders of rats are never far away from their own. There would be at least dozens of rats hidden somewhere."
"How do we get back there? I don't even know where we are."
"You can talk, don't you?"
"Oh, okay!" Stone readied himself. "Ants!"