Stone instead of reply focused to form a second mana point filled with the rest of his heat.
Another explosion and the injured rat was cleaved in half. The pressure wave crushed and threw away nearby ants.
The paralyzed rat was plunged directly into the nearest cluster of ants. He tried to conjure a [Mana Shield], but ants were too fast and crawled into its body, slowly tearing it apart.
[You have killed second-in-command rat 5 levels above yourself]
[You have gained 71,2% experience]
[You have levelled up!]
[You broke through limits]
[New limits imposed]
[Your intelligence has the limit of 6]
The last two rats turned and ran away with their tails between their legs. Too fast for Stone, who got distracted by another good feeling and getting bigger, or Queen Ant, who was out of mana, to do something.
"Ants! Stop! Go back to the anthill and resume your work!" She commanded her swarm and turned to Stone, "they will be back in higher numbers." She noticed the Guardian grew larger. It won't be able to enter the anthill anymore. "Guardian Stone, you have to stay outside. You won't fit into anthill without a massive rebuild."
"…" Stone did not react, still revelling in the amazing feeling.
"Yeah, definitely addiction," Partner thought to himself, frustrated. Next, he checked the Stone's body from inside. The rough, chaotic veins pulsing with mana, written in a celestian language were rearranged more orderly. "This is incredible. I even recognize some of the words, but the rest is a complete mystery to me. If he can evolve as a Monster…" A chill ran over Partner's imaginary spine.
Meanwhile, ants tore the meat off the corpses and took it inside.
The Queen knew she had a problem; the Rat King would come for revenge…
☁☁☁☁☁☁
Emotionallly torn Queen Ant took a long glance at the strange pebble that had changed her life.
When she went back to the throne chamber, she lay down, pondering about what she should do next.
Meanwhile, the meat from the massacred rats was distributed to her swarm. Quite a lot of ants had died, but soon the new generation will hatch. Hatching eggs should not be hard, right?
She nibbled on the mana-filled meat and grew somewhat bigger. Her thorax changed colour entirely, from the mundane black to a deep blue with lightning-like scars.
When she killed the red rat, she gained quite a lot of levels. She felt as something broke inside of her again, while her mana pool rapidly expanded. She looked at her status; it shows her that she had around 40 mana points in her pool now.
However, she felt stuck now. She attempted to break through by eating more meat, but nothing happened. She met the limit; a wall she can't cross with devouring. She pondered a bit over it. She was an evolved Monster, instinct would tell her later.
☁☁☁☁☁☁
"You know, the rats will come back," Partner repeated the Ant's sentence after a moment of deliberation. He knew that Stone did not take attention before.
"Isn't that good? More experience, more levels, more of that good feeling."
"You could take down one or two pack leaders and the Queen another one, but their King will be powerful."
"How powerful?"
"Enough to ground you to dust."
"I don't want to be grounded to dust."
"Well, in that case, we have to think of something."
"What about some trap? Like when I was hunting ants."
"Hmm, it won't stop them. As I already explained, rats' kings are relatively strong. How much mana do you have?"
"Status." 'Thud' Stone tablet materializes in his mind
Name: Stone
Title: Guardian of Talc Anthill
Race: Talc
Level: 6
Exp: 9.73%
Hardness: 1.15
Lifeforce: 115 / 115
Mana: 33 / 33 MReg: 31 / sec
Refined mana: 8.25 / 8.25 MRef: 6 / min
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 3.3
Talents: Ageless, Sapient, Heat Accumulator, Partner
Resistances: Heat T1L3, Electrical T1L3
Expertise: Mana Point T2L3, Ambient Mana Refinement T2L6, Mana Carving T2L6, Healing Bath for stones T1L3
"Rats' kings can have around 200 mana points. Sometimes even higher, but those are mostly found in the cities."
"City?"
"Later… "
"Another lecture?" Stone asks with a stony face, that could mean something like reluctance.
"Yes. I would recommend running away."
"What about anthill?"
"They are dead anyway. Rats won't leave them alive. I wonder why they even allowed the previous Queen to live here."
"Hmm…" Stone felt new conflicting emotions and he did not like it at all.
☁☁☁☁☁☁
"Where's that damned runemae'str? We are loosin cash!" Agitated overseer Breadbeard was increasingly impatient, pacing from one side to another. Thanks to the guilds' policies, he had to halt the mining until a priest or runemaster examined the place.
"Breadbeard, ya wouldn't like to repeat what happened three years ago, wouldn't ya?" Eriv tried to calm him down.
A chill ran over the overseer's body as he recalled what happened three years ago.
"How's ye brother, Eriv?"
"Still nuts. He says that there are naet more strange sounds, but heard some explosions and high-pitched voices…"
"Haaah, deep craziness…" Breadbeard sighed.
"Hope it's some evolved Monstar. If it's ghostery like the last time…" Eriv whispered.
"Overseer! Runemae'str arrived!" A dwarf in brown, simple clothes walked inside the cave.
"Finally!" Breadbeard and Eriv joyously said together.
"Ha! Ya're buying the beer!" Eriv grinned before the overseer could say it.
"Ahh, Dornus dammit!" Breadbeard lamented as part of his excitement left him.
They met the apprentice runemaster Dafur in a dilapidated dump with wooden planks for a roof and canvas for its walls that the dwarfs dared to call an inn. Inside were shouting drunk dwarfs, boozing, or playing cards.
Dafur, already with a beer-filled mug in hand, welcomed them; "Happy mining! Ya must be the overseer!"
"Runemae'str! Welcome to dur mine! I'm Breadbeard, and this is prospector Eriv! How was yar travel?"
"Safe! This time, nae monstras appeared. I'm apprentice Dafur under runemae'str Baelgin and came to investigate the mine,'' he introduced himself. Breadbeard almost grimaced as he heard Dafur was an apprentice. Still, his big, toothy smile visibly weakened.
"Apprentice?!" Breadbeard uttered in disbelief and a few dwarfs around turned to them.
"Calm down. What rank are ya?" Eriv tried to soothe him.
"First. Finished the first three runas recently. This is mae first mission, but don't ya worry, I'll do proper work."
"And runemae'str? Why isn't he here? I asked the guild for a proper runemae'str!"
"He has too much work."
Breadbeard frowned, "uhuh… more like he's too lazy! Can't wait anymore anyway. Money is slippin," he sighed.
"I have full trust of runemae'str Baelgin! I'll start at mornin! Now, let's drink! Right, lady Eriv?" He turned at the female dwarf, flashing a large grin.
"Sure, but ya're buying the beer, mister Dafur," she said, returning him the smile back with a glint in her eyes. "Naet half-bad! Cityfolks are ever so tidy. I must say, I've quite enough of those dirty miners," she thought while her eyes were gliding over him.
"Dornus dammit! Go get a room, ya two! Barman, four mugs!"
"So little?"
"Well, this apprentice," Breadbeard emphasized the word and Dafur's eye twitched, "has work to do tomorrow. We can't let him have a hangover, can't we."
"Hmpf! Challenge accepted, ya olde fart!" Dafur gets angry and shouts, "Barman! Make it double!"
"Shove it, apprentice!"
"Ha! Will blast ya with mae runas!
This went for a while, while Eriv was chuckling at their little argument.
"Comin up!" The barman shouted over the bustling inn. He delivered the 8 beer mugs, interrupting their high-class argument mostly about who was the bigger pussy.
"I'm joinin too, ye scabby jessies," Eriv proclaimed and grabbed a full mug of the fresh beer, "and the last one is a pussy buying another round!"
Of course, that night, they got drunk as pirates on vacation after a year-long voyage to Abstinence Island.
"Milady Eriv, let's go on the walk," the hammered Dafur eloquently proposed.
"Did ya caught deep craziness?! It's the night! Do ya wanna be eaten?" Eriv replied with some difficulty while trying to balance herself on the chair.
"Told ya! The city folks can't handle the beer! Look at him! He won't be able to work in the mornin! Ya buying another round, apprentice!" Breadbeard's voice sounded somewhere from under the table.
"Ha! I am more than prepared to go there! You know what? Let's go now! All of us!" He accepted the challenge, and mockingly added, "if you are not a coward, Breadbeard."
"Ha! Shove it! Let's go'! As I woulda fear mines!" He accepted while attempting to stand up for the third time already.
"Eriv! Striptease!" One of the drunk dwarfs shouted at her and soon the whole inn chanted, "Strip! Strip!"
"Brutes!" She yelled, but still grinned while trying to stand up. She staggered, but Dafur caught her with his body and both fell on the ground.
"Milady! Here and now?" He asked and attempted to kiss her.
"Ha! Keep that for now, will ya, fuckboy! I heard som' challeng' her'!"
"Oh! Yeah! Let's go! The mine awaits!" They all slowly stood up, leaning on themselves. "Beer~! Beer~! Beer~! Keep it flowing~!" They were singing the whole way to the entrance cavern.