---
The seed remained black. But Dickoff felt something. It was a pulse. Very weak one. It was so weak he might have imagined it.
His heart began beating faster.
"It works."
He grabbed another stone.
Then another.
The same thing happened.
Energy vanished into the seed. Dead powder fell from his fingers.
Dickoff stopped after the fifth stone.
Not because it had failed.
Because he finally understood how terrifying the consumption rate was.
Five stones had done almost nothing.
One hundred million.
Mihos had not exaggerated.
Dickoff placed the seed back inside the box carefully.
No.
He would not activate it now. He would wait.
Every second of power would matter.
