“I think I figured it out now, Oliver.”

A few days later, Jade smiled as she stood in front of a big pile of rocks, sand, dust, dirt and other materials that would normally be sent up through buckets. Those eyes radiated a lot of green light as her gray hands started to redden a little bit from the heat. Then all the stones in the pile lifted up into the air a whole meter.

They hovered there and started fusing together into a single giant sphere. Of course, there were also lots of tiny pieces of placer gold that started seeping out in every direction. Along with lots of crystals, some glowing green and others not. There was also plenty of black sand, shiny silvery metal filaments and other random ‘impurities’. Stone wasn’t really pure though. It was generally just nonmetallic minerals combined together, often to create a ‘rock’.

“The best way for me to get rid of my excess energy is to just use it! Ehah-ehah-ehahaha~!”

That huge boulder was over a meter in diameter and hundreds of kilos, but she was able to let it float around in mid-air easily. When she gently placed it on the ground, Oliver had already gathered up all the gold and other random materials that seemed somewhat valuable. They would still need to be processed to a certain extent, but it was much easier than normal rock crushing and panning.

“It makes sense. You can also train your abilities by using them more. After all, I can train my muscles by mining, but you… Uh, well, do you have muscles?”

“I don’t know.” Jade calmed down a bit and shook her head, “I think that… Maybe my body is actually… Maybe I just move the same way I can move these rocks and stones? I don’t know if I even have bones or if it’s just all gray stone… What kind of stone am I made out of?”

“Probably gray marble? Or gray limestone. Could also be granite.” Oliver answered casually, “Shouldn’t you know this already. You were a sculptor.”

“I was a sculptor, so I know I’m not made out of normal stone.” Jade rolled her glowing green eyes and giggled, “Maybe I’m actually gray jadeite? I’ve never seen it before in real life, but my father told me about lots of different special ‘materials’ he used in the past.”

“How do you feel now? Your hands are so hot that they’re still really red.”

“It does burn a little bit.” She nodded and looked at her hands curiously, “I can still… Feel. My skin is still skin. Just like my nose can still smell and my eyes-uh, sorry. You understand.”

“Maybe I could turn myself into stone too?”

“I was Cursed by my mother. But… I’m not really sure whether that was actually the reason I became this way. Maybe Papa made me like this from the beginning. I’ve thought about it a lot… My last moments as a ‘human’. Maybe I died? Maybe after I died as a human Stone Sculptor, I was able to revert to my original form?”

“What you’re saying is that I shouldn’t waste my time trying to copy your freak accident and come up with a different plan?” 

Oliver shrugged as he sorted out the large gold nuggets and placer gold, dropping them into a plastic jar he conjured. Then he put the other stuff in a bucket to be panned out by the villagers.

“Don’t worry. You’ve actually given me a lot of inspiration. At least I know that there are a lot of other options besides becoming some kinda Dwarf.”

“What about a Stone Dwarf?”

“Are Stone Dwarves actually made of stone?”

Jade smiled wryly, “I don’t know…”

“Besides, it’s not that easy to ‘pick’ a Word Change. Usually it depends on what you do or some great achievement. That’s why I built my own mine, instead of relying on the tunnels that other people made. But… I need to go farther. Do something special.”

“Like what?” She looked over at his glowing green eyes behind the goggles.

“Dig! I’m gonna dig down deeper than anybody else! If I dig deep enough, maybe I’ll be recognized by the world?!”

“That sounds fun! Ehah-ehaha~!”

“Hahaha~! Your laugh is so funny!”

“Ehah-what? What the hell does that mean?! What’s wrong with my laugh?!”

“Uh… I mean, it’s not a bad thing-”

“My laugh is normal!”

“Jade-”

“Hmph~!”

“Jade I’m sorry, I love your laugh, okay?!”

“Whatever, let’s get back to work!”

***

*Knock-knock-knock!*

Peridot came downstairs with a loud yawn and looked out the window next to the door. She frowned immediately when she saw the tall and skinny man in a green trench coat. He had blonde hair and green eyes, with sunken cheeks and a cigarette in his mouth. She could already smell that familiar stench even with the windows closed.

“Go away!”

“Little Dot, open up. We need to talk.”

“Screw you!”

“Dot, it’s serious.”

“Damn it! You’re not coming in here! I’ll go over your place later, now get the hell outta here!”

“Fine. Just don’t make me wait too long.”

“Whatever!”

Peridot scowled as she glared at the man’s back from the closed window. She let go of the curtain and let it fall back into place, sinking the living room back into relative darkness. Looking down at her face in the reflection on the butcher knife in her hand, she narrowed her eyes and pouted.

“Ollie, I’m sorry.”