Kyle kept eating the stones.
It was probably slower to eat them than to carry them outside, but this way, he didn’t need to walk back and forth.
He kept digging, but the debris covered more and more of his body.
At one point, he was covered in debris that went up to his waist, and moving around became awkward.
That was when Kyle ate stones without chewing them.
He just rammed them into his mouth and swallowed them.
Luckily, his body was strong enough to push the big stones down his esophagus.
And as soon as they hit his stomach, they just vanished.
“Man, I’m getting hungry,” Kyle thought after 30 minutes. “I should eat more stones.”
He ate more and more stones, but his hunger only got worse.
“Oh, is somebody getting hungry? Why don’t you eat more stones and see how you feel then?” Theodor asked with annoyance.
Kyle just looked at the stones with furrowed brows. “I’m not sure if that will work.”
“Of course it doesn’t!” Theodor shouted. “What would the world look like if beasts could gain nutrition from ground? Have you ever thought of that?!”
Kyle imagined a world where every beast just kept eating the ground around them.
That would be… weird.
“You absolute imbecile!” Theodor shouted. “Do you think converting matter into Ether is that easy?”
“Everything you eat has to be broken down into Ether, and you need Ether to break it down! The stone around you barely has any Ether, which means your body is using more Ether than it gains!”
“Has that thought never entered your dwarf-brain?!”
Kyle just looked aimlessly forward.
“No,” he answered.
“I think you learn better by feeling the pain of your own stupidity,” Theodor said. “You are a toddler that thinks it can outsmart the world. I’ll just let your stupidity punch you in the face! That seems to be the only way you can learn anything!”
Kyle took a deep breath.
He wanted to protest against the verbal abuse, but he was too ashamed.
Yes, he had been dumb.
“Fine!” he shouted. “I’ll just carry it out the normal way!”
“Oh wow-”
“Don’t give me a sarcastic comment,” Kyle shouted back. “I’m doing what you told me to do!”
Theodor didn’t say anything, but Kyle could feel the arrogant and smug smirk on Theodor’s metaphorical face.
Kyle went back to the hole and jumped about ten meters up.
BANG!
He hit the wall of the hole with his hammer, and a big chunk fell off.
After all the debris finished raining down on him, he looked up.
He saw an indent in the hole.
’Foothold acquired!’
Then, Kyle grabbed as much debris as he could carry and jumped to the foothold.
And promptly misjudged his power.
He didn’t reach the foothold and started to fall down.
BANG!
He hit the ground with his back, and all the stones he carried rained down on him.
“Don’t!” Kyle shouted. “Just don’t!”
Theodor didn’t say anything.
Kyle grabbed less debris this time and jumped again.
He overshot his goal a bit, but he managed to land on his new foothold on the way down.
He jumped once more and landed outside, where he just dumped the debris in a random location.
During the next couple of jumps, he misjudged his power again and plummeted to the ground.
He expected a negative comment from Theodor, but he didn’t say anything.
’But I can still feel his smug fucking face. He’s looking at me like he’s waiting for me to mess something up!’
’Well, fuck you! I’m not going to mess up! I’m just carrying stones from one place to another!’
Kyle moved stones back and forth for the next ten minutes.
As he looked at the sizable hill of stones near the hole, he smiled triumphantly.
Finally, Kyle jumped back into the hole.
BANG!
He hit the ground, and the cave shook a bit.
BANG!
The next moment, Kyle was blasted by a grey cloud.
After the grey cloud vanished, Kyle saw something.
The hole he had dug had collapsed!
All his work, gone!
“I thought it would collapse sooner,” Theodor commented.
“Why? What happened?” Kyle asked.
“You put your debris over your tunnel. I’m not sure if you are aware, but stones are quite heavy. Instead of stabilizing the tunnel, you put more stone on top of it.”
“You can’t even carry some stones from one place to another without messing something up. That is quite remarkable.”
Kyle grew annoyed.
He had essentially wasted two hours of his time.
All of that… gone!
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kyle asked.
“Because you need to learn the hard way,” Theodor answered.
“Alright, fuck this!” Kyle shouted, jumping out of the hole. “I’m done with this digging shit!”
Surprisingly, Theodor didn’t say anything, but Kyle could still feel the smug expression on Theodor’s face.
’No, I’m fucking done! Fuck this mining shit! Fuck carrying stones! Fuck the Tar Golem! And most of all, fuck Theodor!’
Kyle angrily stomped through the forest until he found a Spitter.
After killing it and eating it, he just sat down with a frown.
His hunger was gone, and he had calmed down.
Theodor hadn’t said anything during this entire time.
“Argh!” Kyle shouted, aggressively ruffling his hair.
“Fine!”
Then, he walked back to the hole.
“See? I knew you would come back,” Theodor said with his smug smile.
“Shut up,” Kyle answered with annoyance as he jumped back into the hole.
Kyle could hear a quiet chuckle.
As he looked at his collapsed tunnel, he took a deep breath.
“Alright, how do I make a tunnel that won’t collapse?” he asked.
“You told me to shut up,” Theodor answered.
“Are we really doing this?” Kyle asked with a roll of his eyes.
Theodor didn’t answer.
Kyle took a deep breath.
“Alright, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not listening to you,” Kyle said.
“Good inheritor,” Theodor said with an arrogant grin, as if praising his dog.
Kyle just gritted his teeth in annoyance.
“Now, if you just listen to what I tell you, you don’t have to be the victim of your own stupidity anymore. Do you understand?” Theodor asked.
“Fine. I’ll listen,” Kyle said.
Theodor chuckled arrogantly.
Theodor had become pretty good at getting beneath Kyle’s skin.
But the only thing Kyle could do for now was to endure.
’I’ll make you shut up eventually!’ Kyle thought.