I had been unearthed.

  “Hey, I found something!” a gruff but distant voice shouted.

  Barely able to make out the sound, I immediately jolted out of my weird dormancy and focused on the source of the disturbance.

  Instead of the inky void that had seemed omnipresent, I could vaguely ‘feel’ a creature nearby. From the way their body was positioned, they were either latched onto a vertical drop or suspended by a harness.

  Unlike my previous sight, I could only make out outlines and the general shape of things; as such, I could only tell this creature looked like a very buff child that had no reason to be as bulky as it was.

  Either way, I was thrilled to hear a voice after the long silence.

  Slowly, the voice drew closer. I could only assume they were slowly digging; it had already been several days, as it appeared they were taking their time, but frankly, I doubt I will have any issue with running out of time in the future.

  Unlike me, they didn’t seem as patient and had found a few friends to help dig the rest of me out.

  According to the voices, I was pretty much all the way out of the ground, but they had to find some way to transport me.

  Apparently, I was a large rock chunk… Yep, imagine that for reincarnation, could have been a human, but nope. Rock it was.

  Having talked to each other while digging, my rescuers unwittingly shared a lot of information. Apparently, we were on a peninsula next to “Helen’s Tears,” a small sea that separated several kingdoms. One of the significant things I learned, though, is that there is indeed magic; the excavators had spoken of mana and even of classes.

  Wait, that would be so cool. I always loved those types of books.

  Eventually, I caught the name of what I had been reincarnated as. I am a Blessing Stone. I could interact with creatures and grant special ‘abilities’ or a myriad of other things, but the rescuers didn’t talk a lot about specifics. From what they had said, Blessing Stones were incredibly rare, and their abilities seemed to be dependent on the type of symbols that were inscribed on the surfaces. According to them, Blessing Stones were a natural occurrence, and when enough ambient mana had accumulated, they could appear.

  Considering my reincarnation, I made a good guess that the symbols I saw on the dice were the same inscribed on my surface.

  Eventually, even the novelty of new voices grew tiring, the constant suppression wearing away at my mind. Before I could completely go back to sleep, however, I was interrupted by a very surprising but just as exciting notification.

  You heard me, notification.

  Like the books back on Earth, (I think it’s safe to say I am no longer on the same planet, now that I think of it, maybe not even the universe.) up popped a computer-like screen, with small notifications and everything.

  Having been triggered when one of the workers set their palm on one of the inscribed symbols, it seemed to have jump-started the system some of the creatures had mentioned.

  [Congratulations! You are a Level 1 Warding Stone.]

  [Skills Granted]

  [Dormancy (P), Blessing of Warding (A), Ambient Detection (P), Internal Clock (P)]

  The letter after each skill was to show if it was an active or passive; unfortunately, it didn’t seem like I could turn off dormancy, so the lethargic narcolepsy was permanent for now. After showing my “Skills,” the system followed up with another prompt.

  [An unknown humanoid has requested a blessing. Choose a blessing and grant blessing?]

  At first, I tried to press it with a finger, but after remembering that I no longer had appendages, I focused mentally to indicate yes and focused on the Blessing of Warding.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Apparently, that was enough of an indication, and the system closed the notifications as abruptly as they had appeared.

  Feeling a surge of energy leave me, I immediately felt immensely more tired than before, like somebody had poured molasses over my mind. The worker had pulled back their hand after yelping. For a moment, they stood still, and before I could grow worried, I had somehow stopped their brain; they let out a loud exclamation of excitement.

  Scampering off, they quickly left the range of whatever perception I had, leaving me to promptly fall asleep as my [Dormancy] skill kicked in.

  [Year 4 Month 8: 6 Months have passed]

  I awoke to a clock. Apparently, my system being jump-started activated my other passives [Internal Clock] and [Ambient Detection]. Huh, that clock will come in handy; at least I have a solid perception of time now.

  Seeing that my other ability activated, I pulled myself out of my head and returned to my surroundings. Unlike before, I could make out considerably more, while still only reduced to outlines, I could see a bit further than before–maybe ten meters? As well as being able to see things other than creatures.

  It seemed that the workers had managed to find some way to haul me elsewhere, cause I severely doubt I was dug up in the middle of a medieval cathedral.

  Unlike the stifling boxes that were most of Earth’s churches, this seemed to be much grander than those back home, having ceilings that stretched upward out of my detection range, and what looked to be enough room for hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

  Now able to see around the area, I could also see what I vaguely looked like. I was made of some black mineral, roughly three meters tall, and about a quarter as wide. Being almost cubic in nature, I was positioned along one of the cathedral walls, and I had a good view of the surrounding area, although I could only ‘see’ through the wall behind me a bit, considerably less than the open room, but hey, progress.

  Moments later, movement caught my eye, and I quickly focused on what two approaching humans were discussing. Draped in white robes, they were likely clergy of whatever religion the cathedral was for.

  Both of them were talking in hushed voices, “You hear about the new Blessing Stone the church bought?” Oh, they are talking about me. “It hasn’t activated for anyone other than one of the people who found it.”

  The other responded, and both paused in front of me. “Really? Is it defective?”

  Waving their hand, the original replied, “Apparently, it should work; nothing is out of place. According to one of the bishops, it’s just dormant. It happens with minor spirits.”

  “Minor spirit? Does that mean it’s alive?” Their friend asked, their voice tinged with worry.

  “Nah, it’s more like a plant’s level of ‘aliveness’ than anything else.” Well, that’s a load of bull. I could be just an outlier, though.

  Sighing, the knowledgeable one of the duo reached out a hand to touch one of the inscribed symbols on my body. “Still gotta do the check, you never kno-” they froze in shock.

  Having granted them a blessing when prompted, it wasn’t much of a surprise to me when they struggled to understand what happened.

  [You have granted a Human Priest Blessing of Warding]

  [You have gained 1 level]

  [You are now level 2.]

  Huh, I guess that’s how I get levels. Give out blessings, get levels, makes sense.

  Speaking to his fellow clergymember, the man I gave the blessing to whispered aloud, “Martin, go get the Bishop, please. The Blessing Stone is no longer dormant.”

  What followed this was a flurry of activity, several people had already requested blessings, which I happily obliged too, more xp for me! Curiously, the biggest change was not in the clergy itself but rather in normal people.

  Taking a moment for myself, I willed for any more information on [Blessing of Warding] and, much to my happiness and surprise, the system obliged, pulling up a small blurb on the ability.

  [Blessing of Warding is a unique ability granted to a Blessing Stone. When a sentient creature and the Stone are willing, it is possible for the blessing to be applied. After activation, the ward will become a permanent part of the sentient creature until death. The Blessing of Warding specifically grants (minor) protection from evil spirits and (minor) magical resistance. When the Blessed dies, the Contractor will gain some experience. Skill upgrades require a refreshing of the blessing to activate.]

  Every once in a while, a few non-robed people would approach me with reverence. While it confused me at first, I eventually heard that Blessing Stones were highly revered as divine creations. While I thought pretty highly of myself, I never considered myself heavenly.

  Conveniently, [Blessing of Warding] seemed to allow for a series of conditions to be set, and a subsequent activation of the ability. This meant that I could once again somewhat ignore my surroundings, as even the most beautiful of choirs grew tiresome after constant exposure.

  Having not gained any levels since the last time, everything eventually settled into place; the stream of fascinated clergy stemmed to the occasional monitoring and check-up, and while the flow of normal people didn’t stem, it certainly lost its luster as well.

  Eventually, it was the constant draw of [Dormancy] that made me return to the sleep-like state; the lack of action and things to do led me to letting it sweep me away.