Mo Na chose not to explain her actions with words anymore and instead lowered the Gem of Authority gently onto the black cupboard. Yet who would’ve thought that the spot she chose so happened to have a slot that fitted the gem snugly? Clearly not any of us observers. By the time the gem fully slotted itself into the hole, the stone cupboard sprang open like a safe.
“Look Mama, this piece of rock just opened up.”
“…” ‘Fine, I guess I was wrong about my little darling then.’
The stone cupboard wasn’t all that big; roughly about the size of an ordinary safe from Earth. Its insides were rather empty except for a few items, namely three black gems of roughly the same make as the Gem of Authority, and a black leather book cover.
I picked up the black gem with some trepidation, clearly expecting it to do something amazing, else why would it even be locked up in a safe like that? Placing it back down, the next thing I reached out for was that leather book. The pages were all undamaged by time, just like the palace it was stored in. Giving it a casual flip, I found, to my surprise, that it actually contained the schematics for those golems…
“Mama, is that the schematic for those big lugs over there?” Mo Na wrapped her left hand around my neck and pressed her soft body against my shoulders as she leaned in to have a peek at the book. A short while later, she gasped: “Mama, Mo Na knows this too!”
My eyes immediately darted to where she was pointing and found a diagram of a humanoid skeleton. Giving the page a closer look, my eyes opened wide at the stunning discovery I made –the golems were actually made using these skeletons as their core!
‘So they’re actually a hybrid made from Undead magicks and Alchemy…in other words, they are Undead as well as Magical Constructs…no wonder those two winged golems gave off such a strong aura…for a moment there, I thought that they had gained sentience or something…’
‘It all makes sense now…that’s why those golems are able to maintain normal functions even after 80 000 years of neglect.’
The Undead were famous for not needing any sort of fleshly sustenance. However, because they hadn’t received any form of replenishment in those 80 000 years. They ended up losing a portion of their strength since their gradual energy consumption eclipsed that of their replenishment rate. Thus, those golems we met outside merely had the offensive strength of a Five-stars.
Back then, I had already noticed a metallic skeleton poking out of the rubble of those golems, and that fuelled some speculations of my own; my theory then was that the golems had something to do with Undead magic.
Now that I had given the schematic a brief look, my heart was more than excited. Since the construction of those golems had in part to do with Undead magic, that meant that making our own wasn’t entirely out of the question either.
With that in mind, I glanced at Mo Na who was busy pouring over the contents of that black leather book. In case one forgot, this little daughter of mine was an exceptional genius in the Undead arts, else why would the Grimoire of the Dead abandon me for her.
Furthermore, she had clearly stated that she knew how to create the inner core of the golem. In other words, as long as we could find her the right skeleton, she could create a complete product.
However, just being able to create the inner core of a golem wasn’t enough. We needed to be able to create the outer covering as well, otherwise could it even be considered a golem then? It was their poop shell that made them so sturdy and even made them highly resistant to fire.
Given that certain creatures of Purgatory possessed both Darkness and Fire in them, being highly resistant to fire would instantly render these creatures crippled right from the start. If one were to add on their nigh impenetrable poop shell, even those who were adept in both magical and physical arts would find it difficult to defeat a golem. After all, was it even possible for a creature of similar level to break through the defenses of golem? Highly unlikely.
Speaking of their outer shell, my thoughts immediately drifted towards a certain queen ant, along with it went my gaze as well. Sensing my gaze, she hurriedly lowered her head subserviently.
Since the outer shell of the golems was basically Black Blood Ant poop, having a queen ant beside us basically guaranteed us a steady supply of materials.
Even so, there was still the issue of the inner skeleton. It was of a rather special variety. More specifically, it was probably that of a giant’s. However, if that was really true, didn’t that mean that I had to first kill a member of the giant race before being able to create a golem?
Putting aside whether or not I could even kill one, did Sable Radiance even possess any living giants to begin with…was I supposed to create giants out of thin air or something?
‘Geez, it’s not like this is Attack on Grammar. I can’t just turn into one all willy nilly just by biting on my hand!’
‘Forget it, I’ll just search around the area for now, perhaps there might be other warehouses.’
“Mama, Mo Na wants to spend a little more time on this book.” As she said that, she reached out to grab the leather book.
“Alright Sweetie, that works out as well. Perhaps there might be some other useful information in it. Maybe even the method of activation.” I handed over the book to her while she, in turn, returned the Gem of Authority to me since her little hands couldn’t carry so much at her tender age. Having done that, she plopped the roughly 15 cm wide book on my head and unabashedly started using my head as a bookstand.
‘That little scamp’s asking for it…bah, forget it, I’ll just leave her for now.’
I had No.3 and Big 4 secure the three black gems before leaving reluctantly for the giant doorway of the warehouse.
In here, was at a least a thousand inert golems, of which 10% were of the winged variant. With such a vast army at my disposal, I could easily sweep through the entirety of Sable Radiance. Assuming I was able to activate them of course…
Having left the warehouse, I had the queen ant lead the way once more as we continued our search for more warehouses. A short while later, she did, in fact, manage to find three more warehouses. In front of each of them was a high level golem guard.
We easily subjugated these golems by raising the Gem of Authority to their eyes after which I commanded them to raise the doors.
As I watched the familiar sight of massive doors rising into the ceiling, I couldn’t help but chant to myself: ‘Golems, golems, bring me some golems…’ My hopes were that these three warehouses would be stocked full of completed golems as well. Unfortunately, I was doomed to be disappointed. The moment the first warehouse was completely unlocked, I found it full of nothing but raw materials. In short, poop.
