My Guardian System: The Trader

"Yes. And it is used to summon something from another dimension." Jem knelt down slightly to see the mark on the ground clearly.

"Summon from another dimension? These people are very suspicious," Miss Mona said as she glanced at the cylinder tubes. She saw humans in each cylinder. And based on their appearance, they seemed to be kids only. 'This is awful. How can they do this to these kids?' She thought:

"Maybe they are members of a bad organisation," Abel added with a frown.

While everyone was suspicious of the persona of the people they had captured, Miles tried to touch the mark on the ground. Unlike before, it no longer shines.

"Wait! Is it blood?" She asked when a red liquid stuck to her finger and smelled the fishy smell of blood.

"As far as I know, blood is mainly used in drawing a mark to summon the Ritual Gate," Jem replied.

"You're great, Jem. You know about this," Miles said excitedly.

"I just read about it in the academy library," Jem replied.

"I see. I didn't know you were very studious."

"Of course not. Maybe I just have a lot of free time because I have nothing else to do other than practice and listen to the teacher's lectures."

"Eh? Don't you even wander around with your friends? As far as I know, the city there is beautiful and the students are free to go for walks with their friends every weekend," Miles said happily while imagining herself in such a situation.

Jem wanted to laugh from what Miles envisioned about the academy. But he remained calm. Jem opened his mouth once again.

However, Jem's response was contrary to what Miles wanted to hear. "The academy isn't that good," after saying this, Jem never spoke again. Miles looked at him. Although there was no visible expression on Jem's face, the girl felt a strange sadness in his tone.

Jem approached Abel and looked at the stones he was holding. "Mr. Abel, can I touch one of them?" Jem asked.

Abel looked at him and nodded. "Of course. Here," Abel handed him a piece of jade stone.

After Jem touched on it, a holographic rectangular screen immediately appeared in front of his sight. And inside that rectangular screen was the very information about the jade stone.

[Green Mana Stone: A mysterious stone that provides magical energy. The quality of the stone depends on its colour. White is the lowest followed by green, blue, purple, and red. The higher the quality the more magical energy it has. Normal people use it for any means while magical humans or also known as Ex-humans or ascenders commonly absorb the magical energy in it to enhance their magical energy capacity. Magical stones can be mined inside a dungeon or labyrinth. It says, higher rank dungeons usually birthed higher rank Mana Stone.]

After reading it, Jem got interested in it. 'It can raise my magical energy?!' Jem was surprised.

<Yes, host.>

Jem then got an idea. "Mr. Abel, can I have all of them?" He tried to ask.

Abel was slightly taken aback when the young man suddenly asked him. But since it was the kid who kicked these suspicious people's asses and saved the group, Abel nodded his head. "Of course, you can have all of them." He handed all the stones to Jem. Abel didn't really know much about the stones.

At that moment when he received all the Mana Stones from Abel, notification boxes came one after another.

[You obtained Green Mana Stone]

[You obtained Green Mana Stone]

[You obtained Green Mana Stone]

[You obtained Green Mana Stone]

[You obtained Green Mana Stone]

[You obtained Green Mana Stone]

[You obtained Blue Mana Stone]

Such notifications appeared in his vision one after another. The trader asked if he wanted to trade them into trade points. Jem thought it would be a waste to just turn them into trade points. Absorbing the magical energy in it would be the most ideal choice.

Through mind-conversation, Jem asked the trader about the value of the Mana Stones.

<It depends on the quality of the items, host.>

'I see. Fair enough. Nonetheless, how to absorb the magical energies from it? '

<You just need to release the hidden magical energies that are in the Mana Stone. To release the trapped magical energy, you just need to break the rock itself. After that, the magical energies will automatically find a new host. And a closer host is always their first choice. So if you want to absorb the energies, make sure you are alone or you are the one closest to it. Only people like you can absorb them because normal people don't have something called Mana Core. The mana core is the centre and source of power of ex-humans. It's inside the body of every single person like you, host. But even though it is inside the body of those like you, it cannot be seen by ordinary eyes even if the human body is butchered. Additionally, there are three cores within those like you, host. And one of them is the Mana Core. It is located in the abdomen. The Mana Core grows bigger with each time the amount of magical energy in your body increases.'

'I see,' said Jem. But he felt a little anxious. 'Because it's in the belly and growing, can't my belly grow too if it grows big?' He didn't want his body to become plump.

<No, host. Although the Mana Core is located on the abdomen, it does not affect your physical appearance. The Mana core is inside the so-called Ethereal Dimension.>

'Ethereal Dimensio—'

Before he could repeat the trader's words, he heard Oldman Barn urged them to proceed.

"Come on, we still need to call for help and report about these people and what they are doing here in the Underground Tunnel," said Oldman Barn.

Everyone agreed, but before that, they freed the children inside the cylinders. The children were about 5-7 years old only. And all of them were naked. Jem also felt magical energies from them, so basically, they were ex-human kids. They must be used as experimental subjects. Jem didn't tolerate this kind of act. Especially that he initially condemned this kind of inhumane acts against innocent children.

After freeing them from the cylinders, the children seemed so weak to speak and walk.