Unbreakable Foundations and Mana Stones
I closely examined the purple, translucent stone I'd extracted from the Alpha Blinkwolf's body. It was only half the size of my palm and felt lighter than 100 grams. Why the hell was something like this inside a living creature?
Everyone's attention, like mine, was fixed on the purple stone.
"What is that thing?"
"No idea... When I stabbed it with my spear, I felt something hard, so I checked it out and found this."
But for how hard I'd stabbed, there was only a tiny scratch on the stone. I'd just shattered the alpha's ribs with that attack, yet this thing seemed incredibly tough.
Seo-rin, staring at the stone, suddenly spoke up as if sensing something.
"Mana... Doesn't it feel like that?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah!"
Da-on agreed with Seo-rin. The two of them handled mana the most among us, so they could sense it. Listening to them, I started to feel a similar energy to what I sensed whenever I used my Skill—but it might just be my imagination. I couldn't quite pin it down. Honestly, I had no clue.
"Ah, do the others have them too?"
Setting aside what I didn't know, since the alpha had one, other monsters might too. I sliced open the chests of the freshly killed monsters to check. Sure enough, every single dead monster had a purple stone inside.
"So they all carry these stones in their bodies."
"What could they be...?"
"Guess it's just a monster thing."
Normally, the System would explain stuff like this, but it was silent. We'd have to figure it out step by step. Just in case, I collected all the purple stones—they might come in handy.
"Lunchtime's coming up soon. Let's call it and head back. We'll split the Coins at home."
Everyone agreed with me, and we returned home.
After lunch, I headed straight to the neighbor's house. I cleared the rubble alone, feeling a bit lonely. Dad was supposed to help, but he'd twisted his back trying to do it solo this morning. Da-on was healing him.
"Dad said we'd do it together—why'd he try alone?!"
I couldn't blame him; he'd just wanted to help his son. Da-on had no choice, and Seo-rin and So-hyun were resting after burning through their stamina on the morning hunt. With my relatively high Stamina, I was fine, so I kept at it alone. The two of them would join after an hour or two of rest.
I was silently loading the salvaged cart with rock chunks when a pale hand suddenly appeared in my vision. Startled, I looked up—it was Seo-rin.
"You, what're you doing? Weren't you resting?"
"Nah, just... I feel better now..."
"Still, rest a bit more..."
Inside, I was thrilled, but I played it cool.
"We gotta hurry and build! I'm a co-designer too!"
Since when did she talk so sweetly? I stopped her from using her bare hands.
"Hold up—put on gloves!"
"Huh?"
I grabbed the spare gloves I'd brought and slipped them onto her hands.
"......"
"You're a girl—can't have you getting hurt doing this. Such pretty hands!"
"Pretty hands...?"
"Yeah, just the hands."
I'd meant it as a joke, but she yanked her hand away and put them on herself.
"I'm good—I'll do it!"
"Haha, kidding."
I glanced at Seo-rin's face. She was smirking faintly. Normally, she'd have exploded.
"What're you staring at?"
"Oh, nothing... Let's get to it!"
I shook off the random thoughts and kept working. With Seo-rin helping, it went faster than me alone, but still, just the two of us wasn't speedy. At least it wasn't lonely—my mind felt at ease. How long had it been since we'd done something just the two of us like this? Pretty often before I'd confessed.
Come to think of it, why hadn't she accepted my confession? She and Da-on were the only ones who stayed close even after rejecting me. They didn't avoid me like others did. It didn't seem like she disliked me...
I'd held back from asking so our friendship wouldn't get awkward, but now? Maybe it was time. We'd grown closer these past few days. Hearing her reason might change things in my lifelong rejection saga. Not that I'd confess again right away... But knowing could help me advance things with her or Da-on.
I sneaked a peek at her face while working. Should I ask now...?
I waffled until about an hour in, then we took a break. We sat side by side on a big concrete chunk.
"You tired?"
"Nah... I leveled up my Stamina a bit. Relying on Mana alone limits you."
"Smart thinking. My little sis could learn from you!"
"So-hyun's great."
The conversation flowed naturally. Normal for most, but considering our history...
Something had changed. It was getting a little awkward.
—I couldn't take it and bolted.
I jumped up.
"Why stop already?"
"No, uh, keep resting... Got something I wanna try."
I quickly put distance between us and gathered rebar detached from the concrete debris. Using my Skill, I made two 1-meter square rods. One from concrete alone, the other mixed with rebar inside.
I made two on purpose to test their strength difference. I still didn't fully understand my Skill. Before coming here, I'd repaired our house's broken fence. Partly because So-hyun had wrecked this place earlier, giving me a chance to experiment.
Conclusion: Moderately damaged stuff could be repaired or reshaped with my Skill. But here's the key—Seo-rin said the wall I'd fixed gave off the same mana vibe as the purple stones. I'd thought it was just a lingering aftereffect, but the mana didn't fade over time.
So everything I made held mana. What made it different from normal stuff? Mana could create fire and water, even heal people. It was worth testing what set mine apart.
First, the pure concrete rod. I swung it at a chunk of debris like when killing monsters.
"Hiyah—! Uh...?"
Something amazing happened. The plain concrete rod cracked the reinforced concrete in one hit, exposing the rebar. But the rod? Just a scratch.
Impossible...
Even a sledgehammer would struggle... My strength was nuts too...
"Whoa—this could be a weapon!"
"The mana makes it this tough?"
"Probably?"
I smashed a few more times—the rod held, pulverizing the reinforced concrete.
My hands shook, but I moved to the next. I tested the rebar-mixed rod on the pure concrete one. I laid it down and smashed like breaking a foe.
Thwack—!
It didn't shatter in one go. The impact was huge, but I kept going.
"Nngh..."
After a few more hits, I snapped it in two.
"What the...?"
Beyond imagination. The rebar-mixed rod was unscathed after those blows.
This meant: A house from pure concrete alone would be several times tougher than normal buildings. Add rebar? Invincible. A fortress no monster could breach.
And easier than I thought.
"Your hands are shaking—are you okay? Should I get Da-on?"
"Psh, from this? I'll be fine after a short break."
I couldn't contain my excitement. No wonder it was a Unique Skill!
I'd thought it lagged behind others', but no.
"Seeing you, I gotta figure out my own power properly too!"
"Huh?"
I'd ignited something in Seo-rin. Even the strongest ability is trash if you don't use it right. Maybe there's more than the description says.
She stood to one side; I stood beside her.
"Whatcha gonna try?"
"See if my magic can clear this debris."
"Ooh, that'd be awesome!"
"Here goes. ...Wind (風)!"
Seo-rin summoned wind—the strongest spell I'd seen from her. Near typhoon-force. It'd blow goblins away.
I shielded my face from the gusts and watched. But even this couldn't move all the debris. Small stuff rolled with the wind, big pieces barely budged. And the biggest issue: Dust everywhere.
When her magic ended, the backdraft buried us in dust.
"Kyaa—?!"
"Ugh, hey...?"
I barely caught Seo-rin as she stumbled, waiting silently for the dust to settle. Moving would mean falling. Damn, dust in my eyes!
Dust slowly settled, visibility returning.
"Cough... cough..."
"Keh... Ugh, dust... hack..."
We coughed nonstop, then I finally looked at her.
"You okay...?"
Her face was caked in concrete powder like kabuki makeup. I barely held back a laugh.
"Pfft!"
"Ugh... Yeah... Thanks for catching me..."
She trailed off. Then it hit me. My right hand was gripping something firm...
Her face flushed red through the dust. I knew exactly what I'd grabbed and what came next.
One last plea anyway.
"It was an accident, right?"
"...Take your hand off my ass first, you pervert!"
She slapped me hard.
Smack—!
Eh, no regrets...
Da-on stood at the neighbor's front gate, peeking instead of entering. She watched Do-hyun and Seo-rin. They'd been hugging-ish, then she saw him get slapped—but they stayed close.
"As expected of unnie..."
Being a girl, she got it.
"Unnie... I won't lose...!"
Muttering her resolve, Da-on entered.
"You two fighting again? And what's with all the dust?"
"I-it's not like that!"
"Oh, Da-on, you're here. How's Dad?"
"Yeah, a bit more rest and he'll be fine!"
"That's a relief—thanks so much!"
The three resumed work like nothing happened. But a weird tension flowed, with Do-hyun at the center.
He just didn't notice it.