[Tainted Realm] 7 – Pack of Golems

Seeing the literal mud ball on the spade become alive was horrifying until I saw the screen that appeared after its animation.

[Servant of the King of Golems - Unquie - This construct was brought into being by the King of Golems and is thus a servant of its King. It cannot be bent into the control of others without extreme effort. It follows all orders of its King, mental or vocal, down to the letter]

[Golem - Unique - As an inanimate object brought to life through magic. Requires Energy to continue functioning]

That's...comforting. 

"Drop to the ground," I spoke out, watching as the muddy mass on the spade began to wriggle before sliding off the spade, hitting the ground with a wet slap.

"Guard the perimeter of my home; attack anything that nears," I ordered, watching as the slime began to slowly roll across the grass.

Seeing that, I grabbed a log and pulled out a lawn chair, sitting in the shade in my backyard, carving away at the log to make a small humanoid figure. As I carved, I poured a slight amount of mana into the wood. I was surprised to find a notification appear as I carved, stating I had gained a new skill.

[Mana Infusion - Level 1 - Active - Mana is in the air, the ground, and in the very elements around you, and you have found that you can infuse an object or material with mana]

Interesting. Though I'd need to experiment with that later, for now, I stopped the flow of my mana and went back to carving, occasionally watching my first Golem circle around my property like a guard dog.

By the time I had finished with my creation, I noticed that, for my first time, it looked shitty. The arms were disproportionate, a few chips littered its frame, and its head was not round nor even.

Seeing as it took me an hour and a half to carve the wood to make the figurine, I was sitting at near full capacity in mana after having wasted some earlier infusing the wood with mana.

So, I began pumping mana into the wood carving, stopping at the same point that I did with the mud slime, only I felt like I could go further, so I did.

I continued to pump mana into the little object till the point I was nearing exhaustion, finding that my mana had dropped down to a measly six points before I stopped, unable to go further for now.

As the Wooden Golem began to move in my hand, I glanced at its status screen.

/=========+=========\

Name: None

Species: Wooden Doll

Type: Golem

Level: 2

Health: 50/50 - (5) [] Mana: 50/50 (0) [] Stamina: 100/100 (10)

=[Attributes]=

Strength: 1 / Agility: 3

Vitality: 5 / Endurance: 10

Perception: 5 / Reaction: 5

Intelligence: 0 / Wisdom: 0

Focus: 0 / Willpower: 0

=[Skills]=

Active: [Wooden Tendrils Lvl 1]

Passive: [Tremor Sense Lvl 5]

Resistances: [Nature Magic Lvl 5]

Unique: [Servant of the King of Golems], [Golem]

\=========+=========/

Wiping the sweat off my brow, I noted its increased stats and that it was a level higher than the Mud Slime. It also had a different resistance and active skill, though it did have the same passive as the mud slime.

They didn't exactly have eyes, so It made sense that they sensed through vibrations.

"Help the Mud Slime in patrolling the perimeter of my home. Attack anything that nears," I ordered, watching the wooden doll hop off my hands and begin walking awkwardly behind the Mud Slime as they patrolled around my house. As it walked, I noticed that I must have messed up its legs, too, as it hobbled behind the slime.

I noted that I had leveled up my mana manipulation and headed back into my house; I needed something to drink before I started meditating.

...

After about an hour of meditating, and it was nearing evening, I grew insanely bored with meditating, but despite that, meditation did level up twice as I sought to regen my mana. After it leveled up, I noticed the change; it went from helping me regen my mana by 1% to 3%. A small change, but with time that would become an excellent bonus to my mana generation.

With the rest of the day free, I stepped outside, finding the two Golems still patrolling the area. Examining their statuses, I was surprised to find that they both had lost five mana in the span of an hour. Then, I recalled what I had read earlier about the fact that the Golems required energy to function. 

They were like battery-powered machines, machines that would stop working if they ran out of power.

I can now see why having a larger battery for my Golems would be beneficial. The Mud Slime would only last five hours before it ran out of mana and stopped working, but the Doll would last for ten hours for a larger mana investment.

Eventually, there'd be a point where I can't even recharge all the Golems I have, making investing in my Mana even more of an enticing choice. I'll continue to save my points until I need to use them. My [Rebirth] cooldown was down, too, and I didn't want to risk trying to head back to town, at least not till the end of the week. 

So, until then, why not see where my abilities go? I had literal magic at my fingertips.

"Wooden Doll, come here," I called for the Doll, watching as it abruptly turned and motioned toward me as fast as it could with its small legs before stopping before me.

"Slime, keep patrolling the area," I called out to the Slime before focusing on the Doll before me.

Reaching down, I grabbed it and picked it up.

Walking back to the metal folding chair I had left, I sat down and examined my creation closely. On the surface, it looked like a regular wooden doll—nothing extraordinary—yet beneath the surface, I felt something else: mana, my mana.

Wanting to try something new, I reached out with my mana, pushing it through my arm and through my hand as I held the Doll into the wood. I found that my Mana naturally connected with the mana stored beneath the surface, slowly recharging the Doll back to full at the rate I was going.

Pushing more mana through the thread, I recharged the Doll to full mana before wandering something. Having an idea, I began to push my Mana into the Doll with a different intent. I started infusing the Wood with mana, feeling my mana begin spreading from its center outwards like a spider web till my mana reached the surface of the Doll before stopping. I kept pumping mana even then, letting the Mana soak into the wood, and as it did, I noticed the wood was changing. It became easier to soak the wood with more mana. I pushed until the wood became extremely receptive to my mana, far surpassing what it was just a little while ago, and when I was near mana exhaustion, I stopped to examine the changes in its status.

/=========+=========\

Name: None

Species: Wooden Doll (Poor Arcane Oak)

Type: Golem

Level: 3

Health: 100/100 - (10) [] Mana: 75/75 (0) [] Stamina: 150/150 (15)

=[Attributes]=

Strength: 2 / Agility: 3

Vitality: 10 / Endurance: 15

Perception: 5 / Reaction: 5

Intelligence: 0 / Wisdom: 0

Focus: 0 / Willpower: 0

=[Skills]=

Active: [Arcane Wooden Tendrils Lvl 1]

Passive: [Tremor Sense Lvl 5]

Resistances: [Nature Magic Lvl 10]

Unique: [Servant of the King of Golems], [Golem], [Mana-Infused]

\=========+=========/

Its level, stats, attributes, and resistance increased while its species name gained another addition, and its Active Skill changed the name.

[Arcane Wooden Tendrils - Level 1 - Active - This Golem, through an Arcane Process, can extend the wood of its hands into malleable tendrils that can wrap around, stab, or hit a target. With each level, the transformation becomes smoother and faster, also allowing the Golem to use more mass. Due to the Mana-Infused nature of the Golem's material, the Tendrils are naturally more durable and can even ignore a small amount of arcane defenses]

[Mana-Infused - Unique - This Golem's body has been infused with Mana, making the Golem stronger and more durable and increasing its combat prowess. Note that the Golem can only hold so much mana without preventions or additions before self-destruction]