Chapter 42: Chapter 42 – Basic Mage Stone
"What the fuck is a diffuser?" Kyle asked the golem as a blue chunk of ore was between the two of them.
"Every mining weapon comes with a diffuser," the golem answered.
"You already said that! I want to know what it is!"
"Every mining weap-"
"Shut up," Kyle said with annoyance as he looked at the blue chunk of ore.
It looked similar to the Spirit Spring Ore, but it looked far chunkier and edgier.
Yet, it was quite a bit lighter than the Spirit Spring Ore.
According to the golem, this was a Basic Mage Stone, and it was a Rank E material.
Apparently, it was used as a medium for many magic circles and arrays, whatever the hell that was.
The correct way to mine it was to diffuse its core, and Kyle had no idea what that meant.
"Is this a diffuser?" Kyle asked, pointing at the spiky end of his hammer.
"No," the golem answered.
"Is this a diffuser?" he asked, pointing at the blunt end.
"No."
Over the next minutes, Kyle asked the golem if any part of his hammer was a diffuser, and the answer was always no.
"Then, where is the diffuser?!"
"Every mining weapon comes with a diffuser," the golem answered.
'Fucking basic ass AI,' Kyle thought with annoyance.
He held his hammer in his hands as he looked at it in confusion.
'Where the fuck is the diffuser?'
While Kyle was thinking about where the diffuser might be, he took a lick of his Spirit Spring Ore lollipop.
DING!
Kyle was startled as a spike came out of the top of his hammer.
He looked at it while blinking in confusion.
"Is this a diffuser?" Kyle asked, pointing at the spike.
"Yes," the golem answered.
"Finally!" Kyle shouted before looking at his hammer again.
'But why did it suddenly appear?'
Then, Kyle looked at his lollipop before looking back at his hammer.
'Hmmm.'
'A Soul can also infuse Ether into tools, right? It essentially communicates with them and tells them what I want.'
The arm with which Kyle carried his hammer became warm.
'Tell me what you can do.'
BANG!
Kyle almost dropped his hammer as over 20 different tools came out of its head.
There were small knives, several spikes, weird drills, and even some kind of rubber band.
'Holy shit! This thing has a lot of stuff!'
'Diffuser!' he ordered in his mind.
All the other tools retreated, only leaving the diffuser out.
'Well, time to test it!'
Kyle put the diffuser on the ore while carefully trying to shield his eyes.
Earlier, he had thought that the pointy end of his hammer had been the diffuser, but when he had cracked the Basic Mage Stone with it, it suddenly exploded into pieces.
According to the golem, the Ether inside the Basic Mage Stone was volatile and would explode if it came into contact with any foreign Ether.
However, if one diffused the core, it would no longer explode.
But how was he supposed to get to the core without coming into contact with the surroundings?
Well, that was what a diffuser was for.
Kyle watched as the spike created a hole in the ore.
And it didn't explode!
He could feel his Ether rapidly dropping as the spike buried further into the blue ore.
To counteract the exhaustion, Kyle sucked on his lollipop, creating tiny balls with his lips.
He was glad that nobody was around to see him.
As he watched the diffuser going in deeper, Kyle felt like he could see what was happening to the Ether.
He felt like the diffuser was isolating the Ether of the shell.
'It's like a repulsive magnetic field or something like that. I dunno. I had a C in physics.'
After some seconds, the diffuser reached the core.
'Eh, and what do I do now? Do I just stab it?' he thought as his lips sensually caressed the lollipop.
Kyle looked at the cave and saw five more blue chunks.
Then, he shrugged before stabbing the diffuser forward.
BANG!
The blue core dispersed, and a blue electric wave washed over the entire chunk.
Kyle watched nervously, ready for it to explode.
But nothing ever happened.
He slowly pulled the diffuser out.
Nothing.
No explosion.
Then, he used his pike to tap on the ore.
It cracked, and a piece fell off.
Still no explosion.
'Well, I guess I did it. Seems about right. The golem said this generally gets processed into powder, which is then used for rituals and shit.'
Kyle grabbed one of the chunks and crushed it into a fine powder with his hands.
Usually, he wouldn't have the power to crush a piece of ore, but by using his Soul, he could make it brittle.
As he looked at the blue powder, he was reminded of the golem core he had eaten during the second trial.
"Are golems also made with this?" Kyle asked.
"Mage Stone is used for golems. The quality of the Mage Stone determines the maximum strength, complexity, and intelligence of the golem," the golem answered.
Kyle sniffed the blue powder, and a bit of it entered his nose.
Kyle rapidly shook his head and blinked several times.
His right eye twitched several times as he looked forward, focused on something random.
'That does not feel good,' he thought as his eyes started to water.
'It's almost like it's spicy!'
'I should stick to eating.'
The next moment, Kyle looked at his lollipop before looking at the blue powder.
Without thinking, he retrieved a small ball from his lollipop, which he then covered in the blue dust.
He looked at it nervously before swallowing it.
He didn't move for three seconds.
Finally, a disgusted expression appeared on his face.
"I hate this," he said.
The taste was confusing and horrendous.
It was calming and exciting.
It felt like his body was being torn in two opposing directions.
"That's disgusting," Kyle said, subconsciously pulling his Spirit Spring Ore away from the Basic Mage Stone.
"Don't mix medications, kids."