— "Alright, what's next?" Edart said, looking at the remaining 5 cores.
— ["How about we try the earth element one?"] Eris suggested.
— "Yes, it's one of the least dangerous."
Separating the earth core from the others, Edart began his tests.
Like the previous one, this core also had a protective barrier, like a thin film, that kept the earth element mana in the core.
As soon as he pierced this film, the mana began to leak. When it came into contact with the air, it began to transform into earth. Edart expected it to form a solid pillar, however, only soft earth was created.
— "At this rate, I won't be able to use this core to create weapons." Edart said in frustration.
Not wanting to give up, he continued trying to create a stone pillar instead of the loose and soft earth that was being created.
— ["Maybe if you concentrate the mana and don't just let it escape, it might result in a more solid form."] Eris suggested.
As Edart was at a loss, not knowing what to do, he followed her advice.
— "How should I do this?" He asked himself quietly, trying to think of a way to do what she said.
Eris realized that he was trying to find a solution and thought it best not to get in his way anymore. She had already given him a path to follow, now it was time to see how he would accomplish it.
— "I think it should work." After much thought, Edart was ready to try and see if his idea was right.
Activating his 'Mana Manipulation' skill, Edart took two parts of his own mana and controlled them separately. One part was responsible for extracting the mana contained in the core. The other part would be responsible for guiding and concentrating the elemental mana.
Breaking through the barrier and opening a passage, the mana began to leak out. Quickly, the earth began to be created. Edart wasted no time and kept all the created earth and the leaking mana contained in one place.
- "It should be enough." After a while, Edart felt that he had enough and the earth should be compacted.
Deactivating his 'Mana Manipulation' skill, a small sphere fell on top of the workbench.
Edart moved and picked up a small sphere of earth in his hands. Unlike before, the earth became compacted and firm, forming a small sphere.
— "It worked, but it's still earth. If I attack something with this, this sphere will break into several pieces and the target will suffer almost no damage. Eris, do you know of any way to turn this earth into stone?"
— ["I'm sorry Edart, I don't know anything."] Unfortunately for him, she only knew what he knew, and couldn't help much beyond giving some guesses.
— "I don't know how to create stones, but maybe we can find other uses. Let's go outside."
Although Edart hadn't managed to create stones that he could use to attack his enemies, he still had some ideas for using this core.
Outside, a little away from the hut, Edart began to shape the earth with 'Mana Manipulation'. Since he had done this before with the shelter that the black bear attacked, it was something easy to repeat.
Instead of opening a hole in the ground, Edart created a platform, 1 m², with a height of one meter.
As he had expected, as the platform rose, the mana in the earth became dispersed, resulting in a fragile structure.
If he continued to enlarge the platform, he would have to inject mana to prevent all his work from being lost.
— "This is the limit, let's see if this little one can replace my mana. Eris, try to calculate and compare the core's mana consumption with mine."
— ["I'll do my best."]
With the core in his right hand, Edart began to manipulate the core's mana and guided it to the platform. Since he wrapped the elemental mana with his own until it reached the platform, it did not turn into earth when it left the core.
With a little effort, Edart managed to strengthen the platform. He created a thin 5 cm layer on the platform's outer bed, concentrating all the mana in that area, as if it were a box placed around the platform. Even with his strongest strike, he was unable to leave a single mark.
— "This way is much more efficient than using my own mana. Eris, were you able to measure the consumption?"
— ["Yes, just a moment."] Soon, some data was presented to him.
With a consumption of three-fifths of the core's mana, Edart was able to do the work that would take all of his mana twice.
— "Interesting, but you said that this core and I have practically the same amount of mana points, right?"
— ["Yes."]
— "So, what explains this difference in consumption?"
— ["That's due to the type of mana, yours seems to be a mix of all types, and the core's mana is only of one element. When you use yours, you have to convert it to the right type of mana, which ends up generating waste, which doesn't happen with the core's mana."]
— "I see."
Having understood this, Edart realized that these cores would be of great help, it would be like having an extra battery.
Excited about his future, he continued to do his tests. Leaving the plant core to test another time, as he still needed to make some preparations, the next one was the purple core's turn.
The next tests continued outside. Edart didn't want to risk destroying the house. Leaving the core on top of the platform, he said.
— "Eris, this one's up to you, try to create something with this mana."
— ["Yes, I'll do my best."] Since she had access to his abilities, Edart wanted to test the limits of this.
Without delay, Edart felt his mana stirring inside him, at first he wanted to resist, but in the next second he let go of her control.
Eris didn't have her own mana, so she needed some mana to be able to work and Edart's was the easiest one she could use.
A few seconds later, the purple core, which was standing on the platform, began to shake. Soon, a small purple ray began to crackle above the core.
— "Amazing." Edart said upon seeing the small ray. The moment he spoke, the ray disappeared and Edart became worried, thinking that he had disturbed her concentration, causing her to lose control.
— "I'm sorry…" Just as he was about to apologize, she interrupted him.
— ["Take the core, I have an idea."]
Without hesitation, he walked over to the platform and picked it up.
— "What should I do?" Edart asked, still not knowing what she wanted to do.
— ["Point the core forward."] Eris answered without delay.
Hearing her, Edart raised his right arm, holding the core in his hand. Pointing to a rock, he spoke.
— "All set, what should I do next?" he asked.
— ["Just keep your arm like this, leave the rest to me."] Edart did exactly what she said.
Edart felt Eris controlling her mana again, just like before, he couldn't resist. Without delay, an arrow of light left his hand and flew for 5 meters, before hitting the ground, near a rock.
— "Wow, what was that?" Since everything happened so quickly, he ended up getting scared and dropped the core. Making Eris miss the rock.
— ["Sorry, I wanted to surprise you. I should have warned you."] She said, feeling guilty.
— "It's all right, but what was that?" Edart quickly recovered from his shock and changed the subject, as he felt embarrassed for being so easily scared.
— ["Well, when I was first manipulating the core, I noticed that depending on the flow of mana, the lightning varied in size and speed. So I thought about what would happen if the mana from the core came out all at once."] She paused and he continued.
— "If we make proper use of it, we can create an attack."
— ["Exactly."]
While talking, Edart approached the site of the impact of the lightning. Arriving there, he saw a black circle on the ground. The ground was scorched and some shards of glass could be seen in the place.
— "That was really a strong attack."
— ["Unfortunately, it can only be performed once, as it will use up all the mana in the core. If we're not careful, we could damage the core."]
— "Yes, it will be a good trump card, if we get more cores, we will have more attacks, and that bear will not be a problem."
Edart was happy with the discovery, even if his strength was cut in half, the cores were not part of him and would have their strength maintained.
Since he had a core of the fire element, Edart imagined that he could create a flamethrower like lightning, which would cause a lot of damage, but it would only be an attack.
Trying to find more ways to use the cores, he wanted to try one more thing.
— "Eris, I'm going to use the spell 'Fireball', when I'm done, take the mana from the core and try to inject it into the spell."
— ["Ok."]
Wasting no time, Edart began to chant the spell. When he was at the end, he felt Eris take part of her mana to work with the mana from the core.
Holding the stone with his left hand, a small sphere of fire formed in his right. Eris wasted no time and began injecting mana into the sphere.
As mana was injected into the 'Fireball', it grew larger. After using half of the mana contained in the core, Edart finished the spell.
— "Fireball!"
The sphere flew out of his hand, 10 meters forward, hit the ground and burst into flames.
— "Wow"
The heat from the flames reached him, and he couldn't help but exclaim.
The fireball had doubled its strength, which was a good result.
— "That bear will have trouble when he meets us again. Hehe!"
Seeing the results, Edart was happy. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay here enjoying this, he still had a lot to do.