Magic stones... What were they, and what were they good for?

Magic Stones had several different uses for magicians. The first and simplest of them was a mana reserve accessible to any type of mage.

In normal situations, one's mana was limited to one's level. No matter how dense one's magical powers were, sooner or later, they could be used up to the point where the magician would reach a state of magical depletion. When this happened, the magician would temporarily lose the ability to use their mana for spells and abilities in order to keep the body alive. In this situation, one would be forced to use some sort of regeneration potion or meditate to recover.

However, a blacksmith crafting a weapon, an alchemist preparing pills, or a warrior fighting could use mana from alternate items to compensate for the energy expended during their action.

Magic stones could be used as "batteries" for such moments, and since their mana was neutral regarding elements, any type of magician could use them as a backup.

Depending on the level of the magic stone, one could even fight for days or use their magic production skills with the support of one of these special resources.

But magic stones could be used in many ways!

If you were willing to lose your magic stone forever, you could use its mana to bless your cultivation and increase the speed of your progress.

If one used the magic stone as a "battery," one would not endanger the magic stone by spending the mana from it. These were items that naturally absorbed free mana in nature. When a magician used up their mana, the owner only needed to keep it for a while until it was restored.

However, by using magic stones in cultivation, one would destroy the essence of these precious items and lose them forever in exchange for progress.

Vicente knew how valuable these stones were and did not want to destroy them all in pursuing advancement. He said. "We will keep one of them for the future of the group. We will use it as a mana supply for our men in times of need. The other two I want to use to increase our strength."

Rory agreed they needed items that would increase their men's strength more than 'batteries.' Keeping the 'batteries' would certainly be wiser if they were strong enough to defend themselves. But that was not the case.

Meanwhile, Vicente quickly distributed the 1st and 2nd-grade resources he now had among his men.

He gave his Acolytes two 2nd-grade armors, and each of those 2nd-stage men a 2nd-grade weapon. As for his 1st-stage magicians, Vicente couldn't help them much with artifacts. Most of the artifacts in the place he had raided were 1st-grade ones, but they were not in this vault but in another room in that post.

However, he got enough pills and potions for 10 of his 1st-stage men and one of his Acolytes.

"Absorb the essence of these resources," Vicente ordered the group of Intermediate and Senior Apprentices.

He looked at the two Acolytes who had received nothing and said. "Stand by to take care of any problems. Only interrupt our meditation if Defiant Tyranny shows up here with level 3 Acolytes."

"Yes, boss!"

As they prepared themselves to absorb the mana from the magic stones, Vicente said next to Rory. "Keep our coins and these other items I collected in our vault. They will be important to us when we get through this night."

...

Soon Vicente was sitting in a lotus position in his training area, where not only he but also Rory, 9 other Apprentices, and an Acolyte were at different places.

Each of them had their eyes closed while they meditated, but Rory and Vicente were the ones who had the most impressive effects on their surroundings.

As they meditated, crystals that looked like gems floated above their legs, at the level of their chests.

In front of Rory, a greenish crystal glowed brightly as the mana leaked out of its ends and headed toward the redheaded young man's navel.

The same happened to Vicente while the bluish crystal in front of him glowed.

Magic stones were not all the same. There were stones with different colors. Their color did not determine the richness of mana in their structure but rather the place where they were formed.

In any case, these items did not look like ordinary rocks or stones but like crystals.

Historically, however, they had become known as stones, as magic stones were nothing more than the crystal found within some types of stones in Polaris Realm.

The name had stuck since the time when magicians didn't even understand what these items were for, and now Vicente was absorbing the powers of one of these unique items from this world.

He felt the difference between improving the mana density in his body with pills or potions and doing it with magic stones.

Magic Stones were truly fantastic! The mana in them was even purer than the free mana in the atmosphere!

At the same time, it was mana that was neutral to the elements, unlike the free mana found in nature, which generally required a lot of care to absorb.

This mana easily entered his body and was integrated into his essence without difficulty, leaving no negative residue behind.

'Magic stones are amazing!' Vice thought as he felt a good sensation throughout his body and noticed that his mana was quickly approaching the peak of his level.

If he had 70% progress within the Intermediate Apprentice level, he now had reached 85% in just a few minutes with such a magic stone!

'Too bad they are so rare and hard to find.' Vicente lamented.

Considering how magnificent these stones were, it was only natural that they were rare and valuable.

It was tough for 1st-stage people like them to obtain one; only nobles and the wealthiest people in the province could regularly access such a resource.

But like any other magical resource, how much one used it depended on one's aptitude, not just how good the resource was.

As Vice absorbed the mana from the crystal before him, the item quickly darkened while the yellow glow on the young man's forehead grew more intense.

Unlike Rory, Vicente had already absorbed half of what his magic stone had to offer in just a few minutes!

In the midst of this, there was a noise in the mansion that frightened several of Vicente's men.