Chapter 381: A Power Stone Experiment
"I set up a barrier when the... smaller monster first showed up," Benjamin answered calmly, his voice carrying clearly despite the oppressive atmosphere.
He gestured vaguely with one hand toward the invisible perimeter surrounding them. "They don’t know what’s happening within a few miles of this point. We’re completely isolated for now."
Daitentamono made no attempt whatsoever to conceal its overwhelming bloodlust, allowing the dark, suffocating aura to pour out in thick, oppressive waves that pressed down heavily upon the entire beach like a gravitational wave.
The colossal ancient beast’s presence alone caused the air to grow colder and thicker, while its massive shadow swallowed the orange-tinted sunlight completely.
Its wounded child, still lying in the shallow waters to one side, began to wail even louder and more desperately now that its parent had appeared, the bubbling cries echoing across the sea like a haunting, mournful song that vibrated through the sand and water.
In just a few short minutes, the giant creature had clearly decided to kill everyone present on that isolated stretch of beach without mercy.
Its enormously wide mouth slowly began to open, stretching as vast as a small lake, revealing rows of jagged teeth the size of tall trees and a glowing interior filled with building destructive energy.
Swirling orange molten power gathered rapidly at the back of its throat, crackling and churning with terrifying intensity as if preparing to unleash a cataclysmic blast.
If the child’s earlier yellow beam had been lethal enough to melt solid boulders into magma, this attack from the parent threatened to erase half the entire beach and everything on it in one devastating strike.
[Well, ain’t this quite the bad situation we’ve found ourselves in?]
Benjamin thought casually through their telepathic connection, his mental voice carrying a strange mix of excitement and amusement despite the apocalyptic threat looming overhead.
{Indeed, Master. The energy signatures I am detecting are off the charts. What do you intend to do now in response to this development?} Sys replied promptly, her tone calm and analytical as always.
[Well, this is obviously the perfect part where I get to save the day dramatically and show that stuck-up raven Tensei that I’m the real cool protagonist here, right?]
Benjamin responded internally, a clear sense of thrill leaking through the link as he stood on the bloodied sand, staring upward at the mountain-sized monster.
{Understood. Which ability of mass destruction shall we prepare for this encounter?} Sys asked, sounding quite interested for once.
[Ehehe. Sys, you actually sound pretty eager for this, huh? Well, so am I! Though, I seriously doubt anything I currently have in my arsenal can take down something the size of Mount Everest, but that just makes it more exciting. It means I finally get to test them all out properly.]
Benjamin’s mental tone bubbled with chaotic enthusiasm as the wind whipped fiercely around him, tugging at his clothes and hair.
{Among Master’s offensive abilities, the Power Stone is currently the most devastating option available, with results heavily depending on the exact amount of energy Master chooses to feed into it. Shall we proceed with that?} Sys suggested efficiently.
Tensei, who had remained fully connected through the telepathic link, visibly paled as he overheard the increasingly nuclear conversation Benjamin was having with his Ego Partner.
The sheer scale of the power being discussed so casually made his hands tighten around the hilt of his still-glowing katana.
Benjamin’s right arm suddenly began to glow with intense inner light and started crystallizing rapidly, the surface hardening and turning translucent like ice forming over raw energy.
The crystallization spread quickly, making his arm look solid, reinforced, and increasingly imposing as he raised it and pointed it directly toward the towering Daitentamono above them.
The air around his arm shimmered with concentrated power, sending small sparks of energy dancing across the sand at his feet.
"I will use... let’s say, one hundred... No, one million power stones to see if it would even hurt something of this size," Benjamin announced out loud with a low, confident chuckle.
His crystallized arm was steadily growing larger and more buffed with each passing second as additional power stones fused into it.
His blue eyes sparkled with reckless excitement while the ocean wind howled louder around them.
"Wha—!? O-One million?!" Tensei nearly jumped out of his skin in utter shock, his voice cracking as he took an involuntary step backward across the shifting sand.
His tail lashed wildly behind him in agitation. "It is already considered a miracle if an ordinary mortal manages to create even ONE power stone in their entire lifetime! Are you sure you do not mean Elemental stones instead? Though even that amount would still be completely ridiculous and dangerous!"
Benjamin slowly turned his neck to the right, looking over at Tensei with a broad, confident smile that showed his teeth.
The orange light of the setting sun reflected off his crystallized arm, making it gleam like a living weapon forged from stars. "Who said I was mortal anymore? I graduated from that limitation some days ago..."
Then another idea seemed to spark in his mind as his arm continued to fatten and pulse with even greater infusions of power stones, the crystalline structure expanding outward with audible cracking sounds.
"It’s a bit scary that Daitentamono is still gathering that much energy inside that joy-ridden mouth of hers," he remarked, making a small concerned expression as he gazed upward at the massive flood of swirling orange and crimson energy building far above them like a brewing volcanic eruption. "But won’t this actually be a good time to try out a little experiment?"
{Is... Master planning on fusing Elemental Stones and Power Stones together at the same time?} Sys asked, a faint note of caution mixing with intrigue in her mental voice.
[Yup! Cool, right? Elemental Stones come from the deep relationship between the primal energy of the world itself and your own personal energy used to hold and shape them. Power Stones are simply your raw destructive potential crystallized into physical form. If we combine the original energy of the world with my own destructive energy, I wonder exactly what will happen...]
"Something completely insane, that’s what will happen!!" Tensei yelled aloud in horror, having already imagined the catastrophic consequences in vivid detail.
His golden eyes were wide with panic as he gestured frantically with his free hand. "Wait, will there even be a continent left afterward? This is an extremely bad idea, Benjamin! Tell them to stop, Stem!"
{... According to... my calculations...} Stem began responding in her usual painfully slow and drowsy manner.
"Please speak faster! Those completely unhinged duo are planning a continent-wide extinction event!" Tensei cried out desperately.
His voice rose higher as the ground trembled beneath them from the giant monster’s building power. His wings spread slightly in instinctive preparation for flight.
{Geez, Master... I was getting... to the... best part of the... nap...} Stem whined softly, clearly reluctant, before her tone suddenly shifted to become more serious and focused. {Sir Benjamin, please consider carefully what my Master is urgently telling you right now. Your Power Stones alone are already very destructive on their own. Let us not add an Elemental Stone into the mix as well. It might cause widespread damages and consequences that even you do not intend to shoulder or be responsible for later.}
An Elemental Stone is a type of element-derived stone. Creating an Elemental Stone is creating one or two of the crystalized power of only one element.
Elemental Stones however are multiple stones for multiple elements.
Creating five fire stones would be narrated as "Creating one Elemental Stone," though people usually said "stones" to imply they are more than one.
But creating one water stone and one fire stone would be the real "Elemental Stones," meaning multiple elements being crystalized.
