Chapter 700: Stone brick
Fudge beamed with the biggest smile as Michael said those words. It was as if this was the moment he'd been waiting for his whole life.
"No worries, Master! I shall stealth my way through this room. The Knight won't even know what hit him!"
The little ninja slime skipped towards the kneeling Knight before stopping a few tens of meters away from him.
He seemed to have sensed something.
"What's wrong Fudge?" Michael asked him.
Fudge looked back and took out a small stone from his shadows. And with a simple throw, he hurled it up towards the kneeling Knight.
And before anyone could even react, the stone was suddenly sliced in half. Michael couldn't even see what happened. The stone was whole a second ago, and it was halved an instant later.
If Fudge had continued to step forward, then he would have been immediately sliced in half without even a warning.
This was the guardian's true power. It protected this entire arena, making sure that there was no one trespassing inside it.
"Is that guy really even that strong?" Zion asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"Of course, you idiot. The guardian is operating under an Aubility Power, something that none of us have except Lord Michael and sir Fudge," Sheina said, sternly looking at her little brother. She didn't want to encourage him, thinking that he was strong enough to conquer this guardian.
And as a test, Fudge sent out a simple shadow spell towards the Knight. This skill was made out of mana, yet one of the stealthiest attacks that Fudge could create.
Yet still, as soon as the shadow crossed the threshold, it was suddenly split in half without a single warning.
This demonstration made it clear. Magic could not solve this problem. The only thing that could defeat a guardian like this was with another Maugnetic with a similar power.
But unfortunately, judging from the intensity of the glow in its chest, this guardian looked to have a strength equaling the 8th or 9th stage of Body Formation.
I can see now why everyone's avoiding this guardian, Michael thought. The only ones that can defeat this are Alaric and the other Major Factions. The Rising Six has no chance.
Of course, Michael was an exception. Since it was made out of Aubility Power, this meant that he could siphon out its power and use it to execute his 'Quantum Step', which would be enough to travel over its space.
Wait a minute… I could use this guardian to charge my batteries.
Since this kneeling knight was at a complete stand-still, it was incredibly easy to maneuver his drone to siphon off its power. All he had to do was let the Drone hover close to it, and let the battery do all the work!
"Actually, Fudge. Let me handle this guardian," he said.
But the little slime wouldn't allow that. Fudge immediately morphed his body into a six feet tall wall, preventing Michael from moving any closer.
"No, Master! You promised! Please let me be stealthy!!"
Michael sighed and eventually relented. "Alright, alright."
He felt bad that the little slime wouldn't be able to show off its new skills to the Dragonborns.
"Watch me closely, Zion! Here's my Aubilities!"
Fudge jumped towards the ground, landing squarely on a loose stone brick.
And immediately, the stone brick gained a devilish shadow that grinned behind it.
The inanimate stone brick suddenly gained life, growing two sly eyes reminiscent of Fudge's features. It then inched closer and closer towards the guardian knight's area, until finally, it crossed the threshold.
And surprisingly, the Knight remained unmoving. There was no flash of light, no invisible slash, and no burst of Aubility Power coming from its chest. It was as if it didn't notice the stone brick wiggling closer towards it like a little worm.
"Great job, Fudge!" Michael praised him. "Now, go to the other side and get the prize!"
On the other side of the arena, there was an alcove that contained a golden chest in the middle.
It was already opened, allowing Michael and the others to take a peek at what's inside.
There, he saw a white flame billowing out of the chest. It was undying and eternal.
And the very object that these white flames came out of was none other than the most-awaited GodForge pieces!
There must have been at least a couple of kilograms inside the chest!
"Go, Fudge!" Michael spurred him on.
Fudge moved closer towards the kneeling knight, stopping for a moment to get a close look at its structure.
"What are you doing, Fudge?"
For a brief moment, Michael saw a glint on the ninja slime's face. It was not one of curiosity, but one of mischievousness.
Fudge was definitely planning something.
Michael thought he'd do something crazy, but thankfully, Fudge continued to move the stone brick towards the other side of the arena, eventually ending up in front of the golden chest.
As soon as the brick touched the wooden frame, the ambient light in the room suddenly turned bright.
Not only that, but the Aubility Power in the Knight's chest became a lot tamer than before. What was once a grisly fire, now became a gentle flame.
Michael tossed a stone towards the Knight's area, and it arced down towards its feet, completely intact.
It seemed that making contact with the treasure turned the guardian Knight's power completely harmless.
He slowly stepped forward, carefully stepping towards the knight. And thankfully, he wasn't attacked by its incredibly fast cutting Aubility.
"It's that easy?" Zion complained.
Sheina immediately smacked him in the head. "Did you want to fight that guardian? You don't even have your own Aubility yet."
"I'm not complaining," Jaku said, walking towards the knight casually.
Umisu, on the other hand, made sure to keep herself as far away from the Knight as she moved towards the treasure chest.
Eventually, Michael arrived at the golden chest containing the GodForge pieces he'd been wanting for a long time.
He looked down at the chest, seeing a grape-sized metal in the center of all the white flames.
How many kilograms do you think that is?
[According to my calculations, that size corresponds to 5 kilograms of GodForge, plus minus 0.15kg.]
Even though it was such a small piece, it still contained 5 kilograms worth of GodForge. This metal was incredibly dense for its size.
He immediately took out a box from his shadow inventory and carefully scooped the floating liquid pellet of GodForge into the box.
Once it was inside, he twisted the box, locking it in place.
Soon, the white flames were extinguished.
That's 5 kilos, which would be enough for a normal Maugnetic to transcend from the 4th stage to the 5th stage. But not me.
He learned early on that he needed a lot more GodForge pieces than others in order to advance to the next stage.
At first, he thought that it was because he was a Natural Maugnetic.
But seeing as the Dragonborns and even Fudge needed normal amounts of GodForge pieces, it meant that there was another reason why his body required a lot more pieces than others. He just still didn't know why.