Correct, it does absorb mana but it isn’t powerful enough to completely absorb spells and such. It can diminish them though and is strengthened by them as well as made heavier. It’s what makes magical lodestone useless in armor despite it’s unique mana absorbing properties. What good is armor that defends against some magic, if it suddenly becomes so heavy it crushes you? ^_^

Loadstone armor would be useless on Phil because the closer something is to him the aura negates. The Staff for example, Phil can hit someone with the short end when his hand is really close to it- and it acts a lot more like a regular quarterstaff. It’s only the areas out side of that aura that affect things the way it does. So if he was wearing armor made out of loadstone it would not be any heavier than loadstone is naturally, and it would offer no real protection. Now… if you could make loadstone super thin you could weave it into a tank like object and Phil could easily lift it and move it around- and to everyone else it would have the mass of an actual tank… or more. Unfortunately loadstone is a type of rock so it’s not known for being something easy to turn into thread! The staff holds itself together and the areas that Phil touches don’t fall apart when he hits things with the other end because of the transfer of physical energy is based on the magical mass- which is negated. So the strain placed on the staff is… Nullified. *puts on sunglasses*