I looked at the stones again. Monsters are basically animals. Animals shouldn’t have stones inside them. It’s unnatural. Unnatural... Wait, are these related to the curse?! I never considered that before. I’ll try a purification spell... Nope, nothing. That’s a relief. Still don’t know what they are, though.
I decided to see if the stones responded to an input of mana, like the stone that makes up the cave. The result was surprising. My mana penetrated the monster stone in an instant, like the stone itself was sucking it in.
So much faster than working with actual stone... Still don’t know what I can use it for, though. Guess I’ll have to try a couple of things. Wonder if I can stockpile mana inside these too?
For spells to keep working long after I cast them, I needed to fill whatever material I was using with a reserve of mana—something I’d only discovered after the flushing function on the first-floor toilet stopped working. I’d thought maybe it was broken, but when I carefully inspected the toilet, I realized I couldn’t feel the usual constant pulsing of mana, which I’d grown accustomed to. Thinking I’d perhaps found the answer, I’d flooded the entire room with my mana, penetrating not only the toilet itself, but the floor, walls, and ceiling too. I was right on the money. The toilet started flushing of its own accord. I considered myself lucky that it was the toilet spell that wore out first, and not the food-preservation spells I’d cast on the storehouse. Imagining all that food rotting...
Yep. Definitely lucky.
Carefully holding the stone, I visualized—and felt—my mana pouring into it. And pouring. And pouring... The stone wasn’t very large, but it seemed like it could hold quite a lot of mana.
“Argh!” I nearly dropped the stone when it suddenly gleamed and turned from dark gray to vibrant green.
Weird. Guess it is pretty different from cave stone—no matter how much mana I pour into the cave, it’s still just good old stone.
The stones that came out of the monsters were opaque and gray like actual stone, but this one was now a transparent, glistening green, just like an emerald—and I didn’t have the faintest idea why.
Wonder what happens if I try to add more mana... Huh. It’s not going in. Full tank, I guess?
I was still very confused, but I decided to test out some of the other monster stones. A few minutes later, I had a small spectrum of the gemlike pebbles: green, red, burgundy, sky blue, and sapphire.
I wonder if there’s any difference? Well, the colors are different, obviously—but do the colors mean anything? No idea how I’d find out... Oh yeah, also, I can put mana into the stones, but I don’t know if I can take it back out... Nope. That didn’t work. I have absolutely zero idea what I’m doing. Huh? Oh hey, Koa—
The wolf was breathing fire.
Jeez, you scared me. What’s wrong? Is—? Hang on, you can cast magic? I mean, I kinda thought you might be able to, but still... Well, that’s great! Good girl! By the way, any reason you decided to start breathing fire all of a sudden?
Koa lifted a paw and placed it on top of the red monster stone, and let out another stream of flames. It was more powerful this time, and mildly terrifying.
Great job, girl! Still don’t know why you’re doing it though. Did... Did I do something to upset you?
Koa?
The wolf repeated the process again—a smaller jet of fire, followed by a larger one. I knew she was trying to tell me something; I just had to calm down and figure out exactly what that was.
Otherwise, I feel like she’s gonna keep standing here blowing flames at me.
After a few deep breaths, I made the connection—she was moving her paw on and off the stone, kind of like...
Like it’s doubling her power.
Time for a little experimentation. I fetched an empty cup and grasped the red stone. “Drinking Water.” Water materialized, filling the cup—the same amount as always.
Huh. That’s weird. Maybe the stones don’t double the power of a spell, then?
Koa, who’d clearly been watching me, picked up the sky-blue and sapphire-colored stones and dropped them at my feet.
Ah, so maybe red is for fire, and blue is for water. I see, I see.
I picked up the sky-blue stone and tried again. “Drinking Water.”
Water materialized out of nowhere—about five times as much as usual.
So it’s not double, I guess...
The area around us was drenched.
I don’t know what I expected. The cup gets completely full with just the normal spell, and I wanted to add to it—what else was gonna happen? Sure, I was thinking I’d get double the water, not five times as much, but it was gonna overflow either way. Idiot.
“Evaporate. Clean.”
The water—both in the cup and outside of it—vanished, and our surroundings returned to their pre-flooded condition.
Destruction of evidence successful!
I grabbed the sapphire-colored stone and tried again. “Drinking Water!” A ridiculous deluge of water gushed around us.
Wait a minute. It didn’t fit in the cup last time—why the hell did I do it again?!
I quickly cleaned up the new round of evidence, somewhat exhausted.
Well, at least I figured out what the monster stones do. They intensify magic! But I don’t know why I’d need to do that. I’ve never once thought “Jeez, I wish I could double the power of this spell” since I got here. Hmm... Well, I’ll give them to the wolves for now, if they want them. Maybe they’ll come in handy while they’re hunting. Oh, maybe they’d be useful in a battle. “Offensive Power Up!” or something? Ugh... That’d be scary.
I made fifty mana-filled spheres of rock, each around the size of my fist. Rock Transformation seemed to be my specialty. Then I shaped some of the silvery metal into a long trough—around a meter long and half as wide—and filled it with the spheres.
Barbecue preparation: check.
Next, I shaped some of the golden ore into long, thin rods and used them to skewer chunks of meat.
Meat preparation: check.
Finally, I held my hand over the trough, visualizing glowing, sizzling charcoal. “Heat.”
Somehow or other, my plan seemed to have actually worked. The stones were able to maintain a consistent (and intense) level of heat, just like charcoal. It was exactly what I’d hoped for. I rested a few of the skewers over the trough and waited for them to grill, sprinkling them with a little bit of salt about halfway through.
They were delicious.
Fire spells usually cooked the meat well enough, but it wasn’t the same as a properly barbecued skewer.
I wonder what other pseudo-appliances I can make... I’d love some sauce or marinades too. And some other types of seasonings. Gotta get back into the forest.
With a start, I realized that the canine members of my family had gathered around, staring at the grilling meat. They usually didn’t show much interest in cooked food, but maybe the premium smell of barbecue had lured them in. I grabbed a few of the rarer, unsalted skewers and shredded the meat onto a stone plate. They seemed a little cautious at first, but pretty soon, they were wolfing it down.
Looks like they’re fans.
Also fond of today’s menu were the spiders, who tended to prefer their meat cooked anyway. I had no idea whether that was a “parallel world” thing or if spiders back home preferred cooked meat as well. Shuri was firmly in the “raw meat” camp, but the antlets had recently started requesting their share sans blood.
Hope Shuri’s not gonna get mad at them or anything... Eh, I’m sure it’s fine. Definitely.