CH 18

Chapter 18 – I Acquired A Magic Stone!

“Could it be…that they are all happy because we defeated the snake?”

Melk muttered as she watched the slimes hopping around.

Wiz bent its body and moved as if to nod.

This was an affirmative gesture that I had seen a lot.

“I see. Yes, if there was such a huge snake here, you wouldn’t be able to go outside… In any case, it’s good that you didn’t have to fight.”

I said as I patted Wiz on the head.

Thanks to Wiz, it looked like we could build a friendly relationship with the slimes.

Slimes rarely attacked humans unless they were attacked first, which resulted in humans often enslaving them.

But I always thought of Wiz as my partner, and not a slave.

In the meantime, Iria poked the severed Devil Snake head with her sword as if to confirm that it was dead.

“It isn’t moving anymore. Still, I’ve never seen one this big before…”

“If this is its lair, it must have killed a lot of prey here… It would be best to clean this up quickly so that we can call the Kijins…”

It would get in the way of their mining.

Besides, it would stink up the mines once it started to rot.

Also, much like Hell Alligators, this thing had tough skin.

And I had heard that its meat was delicious, and that the paralysis poison could be used as a painkiller.

And so I very much wanted to take it back for materials.

Iria opened her mouth.

“Should I call the others to help?”

“With this size, it would take more than ten people. And its possible that the slave hunters might attack us on the way. I’ll see if I can absorb it.”

No…surely it was too large.

It was 2 beters wide, and the length was at least 10 beters.

That was at least twice the size of the great tree I had absorbed earlier.

But if I couldn’t manage it, then I would just have to cut it and carry it a little by little.

Thinking this, I put my hand over the Devil Snake and…

“Absorb…”

“What!? Sir Joshua! You did it!”

“Woah! The snake disappeared.”

Sweat ran down my forehead while Iria and Melk shouted.

“It-it worked…”

I was able to absorb it… Just how much was I really capable of then?

Maybe next time we are gathering trees, I should try and test the limit.

“Well, now we don’t have to worry about carrying it… Hmm, oh?”

While I was carving the Devil Snake up in the Magic Workshop, I realized something.

“This green stone… It’s a magic stone. I haven’t seen one in a while.”

“A magic stone? What is that?”

Iria asked, and so I took out just the magic stone and showed it to her.

Melk’s eyes shone when she saw it.

“It’s so pretty…”

“Is it like a gemstone?”

Iria asked. Indeed, it looked like a green gemstone.

“Well, they’re sometimes used in bracelets and rings. But these have special power… For some monsters, they can be similar to the crests that people have.”

Just as humans received the blessings of the crests, monsters received them through these magic stones.

It may increase their magic energy or make them excel in something.

But unlike crests, which had no physical manifestation, these magic stones were ‘objects’ that existed within a monster.

Not only that, but they were only in some monsters, and their sizes also varied.

It was said that most monsters did not have magic stones.

Furthermore, you could determine a magic stone’s strength by looking at its size.

“This one is big…it must be very rare.”

This magic stone just barely fit into the palm of my hand.

As for its effect, you could tell by the color.

“It is a light green… I believe it makes healing magic easier to use.”

This would be the object of envy for any healer, and due to its size, it would sell for a higher price than precious stones.

Indeed, it was large enough to command a high price if traded.

“What a fine thing we have acquired. If I made a staff with this, I would be able to heal everyone’s wounds.”

Magic stones could be used to strengthen weapons, armors and tools as well.

But there were even some rare ones that had effects all by themselves.

For instance, they could emit water, poison, or even explode…

Of course, such ominous stones did not appear often.

Melk looked at the magic stones and said,

“Melk wants that.”

“You, Melk? Can you use magic?”

“No. Joshua will teach me.”

“Fine. Are you fine with that, Iria? You two defeated it together.”

I asked, and Iria nodded without hesitation.

“I don’t mind at all. And you can freely use anything in the village, Sir Joshua. Besides, Melk’s claws were faster than my blade.”

“I couldn’t tell…”

Yes, I couldn’t see anything… Iria’s blade had moved faster than my eyes could see.

“In any case, we’ll search a little deeper before calling the Kijins over. And then I’ll teach them how to use pickaxes.”

And so we went deeper into the cave.

By the time we hit a dead end, we had still encountered no monsters outside of the slimes. That meant that it should be safe to dig here.

I then called the Kijins, and then hit the ground with my pickaxe and gave them a simple lesson in how to dig.

However, Wiz then came out and picked up the fallen ore and gathered it into a single spot. The other slimes saw this and began to do the same.

Apparently, the slimes were going to help us with transportation then.

In exchange, I would share with them some fruits and seeds.

As the Kijins practiced with the pickaxes, I went out of the cave in order to gather wood materials.

This was so that I could make a door for the entrance, as well as a wooden fence surrounding the place.

Like this, an hour passed, and we decided to return to the village once.

However, while we were on our way back, a Kijin ran towards us from the direction of the village.

“Sir Joshua! It’s an enemy attack!”

The Kijin shouted, and so we urged our horses on and rushed back to the village.