[Year 8 Month 3: Continued]

  It was a long three days; that's how long it took to leave the city I was in. Sure, it was kinda cool to see where I had been moved to several years ago, but instead of a bustling and vibrant city, this one was very much abandoned, and not recently either.

  Apparently, the city had been subject to a Vexus wave, which were invaders whose origin no one knows. The Vexus do come in what the locals refer to as Vex Seasons, where every decade or two, there is another wave.

  This city had been caught off guard, as this wave was mainly composed of arachnids and the spyiders had the ability to dig under the walls and popup randomly.

  When the Broodmother found me and used me as a mana battery, it had apparently been super dangerous for several years, but nothing happened until one rich noble was attacked by a spyider originating from here.

  As usual, nothing was fixed unless the rich were in trouble. The city was abandoned for over two years, and in the span of two months, the issue was solved.

  This group was apparently a crew of adventurers who worked similarly to how mercenaries did.

  While the party had lost a few members, the overall losses were apparently well within the acceptable numbers for such an operation. I don’t know why, but something about ‘acceptable deaths’ made me feel wrong.

  We probably could have been out of the city within the same day, but the party wanted to be thorough and make sure all Vexus were purged; if even one was left, another infestation could occur, and the whole reason they were here was to make the region livable again.

  Anyways, that all took a few days, and over the course, I eventually ended up blessing all 26 people in the party (excluding the leader, who I had already blessed), slightly boosting their power and once again returning me to a three-digit number of Blessed.

  [You have 122 Blessed]

  While I was happy to have 122 Blessed, I really couldn’t wait until I had way more, 0.1% flat increase didn’t seem like much, but it adds quickly.

  [+12.2% Mana Regeneration and Resistance]

  Satisfied, I closed the screens and continued to enjoy my surroundings and the quiet chatter of the party.

  I had noticed the party leader (who I learned is called Gadric) shooting some glances at me, some in curiosity, and others in suspicion, but frankly, I had always kinda stuck to myself. On top of the whole “Blessed Stones aren’t sentient” notion I got going for me, I decided that I wouldn’t attempt to speak unless someone did the same to me.

  I think he has some skill that lets him know when others are watching him, as he seems to be aware of someone’s attention whenever I focus on him. It doesn’t seem to activate if I am not intentionally watching him, so that is something to be aware of. No observing at night. Which, now that I think of it, doesn’t sound too good anyway.

  Apparently, this journey back to civilization was going to take several months, with only a few villages being this far out into what they called The Wilds. A region that was… well… wild. There are a few reasons for this, but the main being the mana density. In areas with much higher mana, it could support higher-level animals and beasts.

  The Vexus were the anomaly, with the different types being solidly consistent in level. With the Broodmothers being level 30 through 50, and the spyiders being 10 through 15. This wave was a new one, so there wasn’t as much known about them.

  Is being able to take out so many spyiders and a broodmother mean that this party is a pretty high level? I wonder what level Gadric is?

  Unfortunately, the adventurers didn’t really talk about what was “the norm” as everyone already knew them, and didn’t need to elaborate further.

  In a way, it felt like I was hearing one half of the conversation, missing some critical context and information. Sucks to be me. I mean, I could try and ask them, but at this point, I’m not sure if they would try to break me. It’s possible they think I would be corrupted. What other reason would there be for a sentient rock?

  While I hoped they wouldn’t do such a thing, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks. For now. I would wait.

  [Year 8 Month 4: 1 month has passed]

  Over the course of the month, we passed through two villages on our little journey. They were little more than a small collection of huts surrounded by a short fence that a child could slip through or just climb over.

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  We only stopped at these places for a few hours. Only halting to give the village protectors my [Blessing of Ward], increasing my total Blessed by 23. Unfortunately for the adventurers. We couldn’t restock food by buying from the village, as such small communities barely produced enough to break even, and rarely had enough food for the winter.

  Speaking of winter, it was approaching quickly.

  While I couldn’t ‘feel’ the temperature, I did notice something interesting. My ability [Ambient Mind] had a hidden perk that let me see the ambient mana. While I probably would have noticed this at the cathedral, I remember that one of the party’s scouts had said the ambient mana was corrupted, so maybe that’s why I didn’t notice.

  As I didn’t activate [Dormant], I had to find something to do, and so I just watched streams of mana pass by.

  It’s hard to describe, but I had begun to notice a slight ‘shift’ in the mana. Rather than a clear ethereal color that I had grown used to. I could see tints of blue slowly seeping into it, making it look more like wispy clouds of frozen water.

  Does the temperature change the mana? Maybe mana is influenced by seasons? Or is it the other way around?

  Overall, though, the days were pretty much the same, only broken up by the occasional attack by beasts. Possibly the most interesting thing about these attacks was the size of the creatures. Unlike Earth, it seemed like the biodiversity was much higher.

  If I remember right, a US president had to ship a moose overseas to prove North America had large wildlife.

  Eventually, I grew bored enough to activate [Dormant]. Look, there is only so long a guy can wait and fidget with his mental fingers.

  [Year 8 Month 5: 1 month has passed]

  Once again, a month had passed. This time, however, there were no villages for several weeks. I had overheard that there was another Vexus attack that had wiped the main city off the map. For whatever reason, the invading monsters seemed to beeline for larger population centers.

  Eventually, though, we left the desolate area and stopped at a decent-sized village. Having told the rest of the party to wait, Gadric, the party leader, approached the entrance. Unlike the previous two villages, this one had a slightly higher wall, made out of cobbled stone instead, looking as if it had been built long ago.

  Stretching my detection ability as far as it could go, I could barely watch as Gadric walked up to a cluster of adults that had been watching the adventurers approach. Asking some questions, their faces lit up, and they pointed at something I couldn’t see.

  Gadric seemed pleased, and a few moments later went wherever they were pointing.

  For the next few minutes, the party waited, content to let their leader do his thing. It was only after a few of the men had broken out a card game that Gadric returned with a much older-looking man.

  While the old man was much shorter than Gadric (partly due to the man’s hunched back), they shared a strong resemblance.

  Waving at the card players to continue their game, he introduced the old man as Inra, his great-uncle.

  Bringing Inra to where I had been lying flat on the ground, Gadric motioned to my rocky body. “This is what I was talking about. We found a Blessing Stone in the ruins of Goldblum.”

  “Goldblum eh? It’s been a little while since I heard that name.” Come on, people, it's been less than four years! Oblivious to my thoughts, Inra continued, “I can see how it wouldn’t be the most fun thing to drag around, although you could get a better price than I could pay for it at a bigger city.”

  Wait what?

  Sighing, Gadric just shook his head, “It’s taking a lot of mana to haul it around everywhere, our porters aren’t able to carry the rest of the supplies, and frankly, that is a lot more valuable than gold. Honestly? We just didn’t want to leave it where it was, didn’t want any of the Vexus finding it.”

  Shooting Gadric a look, the old man hushed him, “Shh! You know how talking about those damn creatures makes people nervous.” Gadric just waved him off. “Eh, superstitious folks. Never can get away from them.” He paused, once glancing at me. “Although…” he cut himself off. “Nevermind.” Motioning for the two porters to pick me up, Gadric said, “Just tell them where to drop it off.”

  Inra protested, “Surely you do not intend not be paid for it?”

  Waving the man off, Gadric just laughed, “For what this village has done for me? Consider it paid in full. I took it as my cut for the expedition, and while everyone would like to make a bit more coin, they also know we need the carrying capacity for the winter. Don’t wanna get caught anywhere with only a few days of rations and a heavy rock.”

  Hey, that was rude! I mean, not wrong, but still.

  Taking several more minutes to be convinced, eventually Inra gave in and motioned for the haulers to follow him into the village.

  Having passed through the other villages, I was surprised at the cleanliness of the town; most buildings were made out of firm-looking wood or rock. The village itself still wasn’t ‘large’ by my earth standards, but with enough space to house several hundred people, it clearly wasn’t brand new.

  You know what? I bet skills make it easier to build houses. That’s probably why they look as good as they do, considering this is a medieval world.

  Mentally, I shuddered, having read about the horrible living conditions of Earth’s dark ages. Honestly, the quality of life here was probably better than most people's, even in the early industrial age!

  Having attracted the attention of a few adults going about their daily chores. Those who had noticed the giant floating rock had watched as I passed by.

  Most seemed to know what I was, and had grown excited. For a village like this, a Blessing Stone was quite literally a blessing. With the large range of effects that Blessing stones could have, you never know what they could do.

  Eventually, we stopped, having reached our destination. This is a good spot. If my vision worked as it used to, then it would be even better.

  It was a slightly elevated spot, and a person would be able to see over the roofs of nearby houses. While my sight didn’t work like that, and I could literally just… see anything in my skill range, it was still a nice location.

  With the help of the porters and a couple of men who had been watching the little procession, I was eventually set upright, and the skill that kept me afloat was canceled, letting me drop to the earth with a heavy thump.

  With that, the two porters patted my side and returned to their party. Leaving me with a small crowd of interested adults.

  I had reached my final resting place, and I would never move from this spot again.