I might have used a bit too much mana, thought Mud in the aftermath.

When the shimmering yellow dart of Mind mana had impacted the sleeping Goblin, several things happened in rapid succession. The pale-yellow light of the Force Bolt spread across the side of the goblin facing Mud, then began exerting its influence. Across the effected region of the goblin, all forty-eight points of Mind mana instantly converted to kinetic energy. As the surface of the Goblin suddenly accelerated to incredible speeds and subsequently impacted the flesh beneath it, the body of the unfortunate monster was instantly vaporized.

Indeed, the force of the pressure was so great that it did not stop after merely obliterating the goblin; the force instead continued into the tree and ground behind it. As it was pelted with highly accelerated monster remnants the thick conifer burst into kindling, and a crater twice as wide as the Goblin itself was formed in the ground.

Even the caster itself did not escape unscathed. When the spell struck home, a powerful shockwave was released, accompanied by flying debris. Mud fell from its perch in the treetops and was impaled entirely by multiple shards of wood. As Mud did not have internal organs, this did not cause any actual damage.

The blast-back did serve as a warning to the golem, however. Arcane might could be just as dangerous to the wielder as to the victim if wielded irresponsibly. What might have happened if Mud had foolishly fed its entire mana pool of one hundred forty, as it had originally planned? It was entirely conceivable that the shockwave alone would have been enough to tear Mud into tiny pieces, killing it instantly. In the future, experiments with new magic would be taken with much more care.

After expelling the foreign matter embedded in its body, Mud climbed back to the treetops and circled around to check the condition of the humans. No Experience notifications aside from that of the Goblin had appeared, so, much to the golem's disappointment, it had not unintentionally killed them. As the haggard group of humans came into view sprawled on the forest floor, the bearded human abrupt stood up and looked directly at Mud.

"Monster, I do not know your intentions, but we are leaving now. Do not follow us." The bearded human then stood unmoving, as if waiting a reply.

Given the circumstances, it was possible these humans would perceive the experiment with Force Bolt as a hostile action. Wishing to avoid any misguided hostilities against the humans, Mud formed mind magic into Paracusia, and sent a message to the bearded human.

As the spell struck home, the human squinted, but did not react aggressively.

"Human known as Meld, that explosion was not a hostile action against your group. Do not seek revenge."

The human remained still as the message was sent. As it completed, he spoke calmly. "Monster, I'm willing to believe that was a mistake, or you would have simply struck us with that spell directly. Regardless, the face of the matter is that we were hurt by your carelessness. If you wish to coexist with humans, you need to learn tact." Finally showing emotion on his face, Meld scowled. "And what were you thinking interfering with our fights without even asking permission? If you had merely introduced yourself and asked to tag along, I probably would have agreed. Just butting in uninvited shows a lack of respect, like you see us merely as convenient tools."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Mud kept the fact that it did, in fact, see them as merely useful tools to itself.

Having lost his cool, Meld began swinging his arms as he ranted. "You have no idea what kind of tactics we use or how we fight! You could have gotten us killed with your unsolicited 'help'. You can't just run up to an unknown group and start randomly slinging spells and assume it will work out!"

Lowering his arms, Meld's energy seemed to evaporate. "Look, if you want our forgiveness, don't follow us as we leave. Alright?"

"I accept that trade."

At that, the bearded human turned back towards his group. "It agreed to let us leave. Let's head back to town." As the party began leaving, Meld turned his head back and asked one last question. "Do you have a name?"

"Yes", came the reply.

Due to the unexpected events and large amount of data gained already in this excursion, Mud decided to end its hunting and return to the mansion. As the sun sunk below the horizon, Mud reentered the the Cithlar estate, and proceeded to the second floor where Jabrax was working.

"Oh, you're back sooner than expected" commented the demon flatly as she squinted at the vial of reddish-purple liquid she was mixing. "Did something good happen?"

"Perhaps. It depends on interpretation" came the robotic voice of a young boy in reply. "I used forty-eight points of mana on a Force Bolt and caused an explosion."

"You did what?" Jabrax momentarily stared wide-eyed at the golem before turning her head back to her alchemy. "Yeah, that much mana packed into a Bolt will cause some damage. It looks like you didn't kill yourself in the explosion. Too bad about that." The demon laughed darkly.

"How much mana is normally used in an attack spell?"

Jabrax elongated one of her fingernails into a sharp black claw and scraped a purple powder off of her moth-like wings into the bubbling mixture. "Sort of depends on what they're going for, and the spell. For a Bolt type, five is enough to do a bit damage to a tier one. Ten should be enough force to kill a tier zero instantly if aimed properly. Fifty... that's just a waste of mana. Anything that needs that much to hurt could just avoid a Bolt anyway. Maybe if you were trying to knock down a building or something..." Continuing to stir the mixture, Jabrax increased the temperature of the heating artifact she had found in Cithlar's lab, bringing the liquid to a rolling boil.

"I see. I also startled a group of humans with the spell."

Finally turning her attention from the potion, Jabrax stood up and looked towards Mud with one hand on her chin. "Humans saw you use a spell like that? Did you capture them? It could be bad if word gets back to the town of an unknown monster casting spells like that."

"It was not viable at the time to restrain them all without killing them. They do not perceive me as hostile from what I can tell. There is no advantage for them to cause problems for me."

Rubbing her head, the demon that looked like a teenage girl leaned against a nearby table. "Oh, poor naive little golem, you don't understand humans at all. They don't need a reason to act cruel and petty. The mere fact that you exist and aren't under their control is enough for some of them to hunt you down and kill you."

"That would be a problem. What do you suggest?"

Jabrax hummed in thought and looked at the roof. After a moment, she answered. "As I see it, we have two choices. Get some humans to support you so that they'll hinder the ones that want to kill you. Maybe even convince the fools they can control you."

"And the second option?"

The demon's face split in a wide grin. "We just get so strong that it doesn't matter what those insects do."