Chapter 0031: The Earthen Golem

To craft a sorcerous apparatus capable of summoning an Earth Golem, it was clear Grim could not accomplish this within his own quarters. Thus, he hurried out and made his way toward the alchemy laboratory on the third floor.

Spending three knowledge points and thirty gold coins, Grim secured three hours of access to the most precise alchemy station available. The cost nearly depleted half his capital reserves; were it not for the need to ensure the success of his very first puppet creature, he would never have parted with so much.

The floors were immaculate, the walls smooth, and the stone chamber was lined with wooden racks piled high with all manner of items. Labeled jars contained common sorcerous materials, elemental wands served to test the properties of various substances, while sets of metal armor were used to measure the potency of enchanted artifacts. Beyond these, there were countless strange objects whose purposes Grim could not even begin to guess.

But none of this captured Grim’s attention as much as the magical alchemy station at the center of the chamber, shimmering with elemental brilliance.

Metal chains hung from the ceiling, each terminating in a luminous stone. Eight chains, eight stones, encircling the alchemy station in a perfect ring. Thus, when an operator was engrossed in crafting magical items, no shadow could disrupt their concentration.

It was, in essence, a fantastical version of a shadowless lamp.

And the magical alchemy station itself was, in truth, a foreign-world counterpart to an industrial mother-machine.

Spanning eight meters in length and four meters in width, its surface was layered with countless wondrous items beyond ordinary imagination. Technically, it was divided into sixteen work zones, each dedicated to a specific alchemical function.

A master alchemist familiar with its operation could perform a seamless experiment, their actions flowing with the grace of water and clouds. For a stranger, merely acquainting themselves with the myriad magical tools and devices would take ten days or more.

Yet Grim, aided by his chip, was undaunted.

“Chip, begin scanning the alchemy station, and devise a workflow plan for the experiment!”

“Beep. Task established... scanning in progress...”

As the blue light flickered in Grim’s eyes, every vessel, item, device atop the station, and even the hidden magical machinery and rune arrays within, was meticulously scanned and mapped into his mind.

Combining his previous knowledge with the live scan, most of the station’s tools and items were swiftly entered into the chip’s database, annotated and projected onto Grim’s retina.

Now, as his gaze moved across the station, whenever an odd or mysterious tool entered his view, a clear annotation appeared beside it.

It was a work mother-machine amalgamating every alchemical method imaginable.

The high-powered magnifier mounted on a movable mechanical arm was certainly not made from laboriously ground convex lenses as on Earth, but from a lens etched with special sorcerous runes. Grim had chosen the highest-spec laboratory, so this magnifier could adjust from five to three hundred times magnification. In an ordinary lab, the maximum would only be one hundred fifty.

This was noteworthy, for most enchanted artifacts required micro-engraving during their creation. That is, one must carve several—or even dozens—of tightly interlinked runes into a specific part of the item. The most skilled alchemists could inscribe hundreds of runes onto a ruby no larger than a fist.

Grim, a novice, was far from such mastery. He needed only to engrave seven runes onto a core no larger than his fingertip.

A summoning rune was essential—the foundation for calling forth the Earth Golem, present in every summoning device.

The elemental life infusion rune was also indispensable, allowing sorcerous power to forge an elemental body for the golem, with soft earth as the material.

The will imprint control system was vital; during its forging, Grim had to embed his own soul imprint within, so the summoned Earth Golem would obey his commands as if an extension of himself.

To ensure the golem could freely manipulate the elemental forces binding its form, necessary energy nodes and circuitry had to be delineated—a crucial factor for its mobility and combat prowess, permitting no carelessness.

Grim knew nothing of such advanced rune techniques, but fortunately, his chip handled their design and optimization, so for now he simply had to follow its guidance.

Even so, the difficulty of the task was daunting.

Over the past six years, Grim’s alchemical experience was scant, limited to basic elemental purification and essence extraction—commonplace work. Truthfully, he was still a rookie in the profession.

But today, there was no room for practice or error.

He had only one monster core.

If he failed, his dream of an army of golems would be halted at the very first step.

...

Grim stood before the alchemy station for a full quarter of an hour without moving. Meanwhile, within his mind, the chip was repeatedly simulating the process of forging the golem’s core, demonstrating every step and detail until Grim had memorized every critical point.

After a brief pause, Grim finally began to act.

He took a piece of black magic iron from his pouch and dropped it into a crucible, then deftly channeled his mental power into the station’s control runes. With a gentle pop, a stable, searing elemental flame ignited beneath the crucible.

Without the magical alchemy station, Grim would have had to maintain a steady stream of fire elemental energy for over fifteen minutes to melt the black magic iron—a demanding task.

Now, with the station, he simply activated the hidden rune array, and the device automatically heated the crucible to a preset temperature and duration. While the iron melted, Grim could prepare other materials.

This advantage of the magical alchemy station was clear.

He suspended the monster core taken from Simba’s skull above the station, adjusted the magnifier to the proper position and magnification, and calmly prepared the micro-engraving tools.

The device for micro-engraving was a special enchanted tool. By injecting varying amounts of sorcerous power, it produced a fine, heat ray as slender as a gnat’s leg. This ray, refined and modified by master alchemists, was weak yet possessed tremendous cutting power.

It could easily carve runes and inscriptions into even the hardest magical metals—octal gold, subterranean adamantine, kryptonite, all far beyond ordinary imagination.

Now, Grim’s task was to use these tools to engrave seven runic arrays onto the fingertip-sized core: one summoning rune, one will imprint control rune, one elemental life infusion rune, four energy nodes, and several energy circuits...

Easier said than done. Grim steadied his nerves, leaned in under the magnifier, and began the long-prepared work.

At three hundred times magnification, the once smooth, crystalline core now appeared as a massive surface covered in coarse granules. Guided by the chip, Grim maneuvered the rune array, positioning the core perfectly, then activated the heat ray.

A beam, just a tenth the thickness of a cow’s hair, struck the core, making the illuminated spot redden and soften, gradually burning out a recess barely a quarter the diameter of a hair. Grim’s mental power guided the ray across the surface, tracing a careful line.

Under the chip’s coordination, every target location and depth was marked in different colors for Grim to follow. All he needed to do was use his mental power to guide the heat ray, tracing the chip’s prescribed paths and speeds, completing the delicate work with utmost care.

Intricate, crisscrossing runes were etched one by one, each surrounded by magical rings, four corners reserved for energy nodes, and the center linked by continuous energy circuits.

After an hour and a half of focused micro-engraving, the seven designed runes formed a perfect three-dimensional array around the core.

The first step was complete.

Next came the equally painstaking process of connecting the runes.

The micro-engraving had merely outlined the runes, but magic energy could not flow naturally through the etched grooves. A medium was needed to bond with the energy and guide its transmission.

This medium was the molten black magic iron.

Of course, a wealthier, full-fledged sorcerer would use mithril instead, but Grim lacked such resources and had to settle for black magic iron.

Though this meant some loss in energy transmission, it was adequate for a low-tech Earth Golem.

Another hour passed, Grim’s mental power steadily drained. Though the output was slight at any moment, the prolonged concentration left his brow veins bulging and sweat pouring from his head, with no chance to wipe it away.

Guided by runes, he led the liquid black magic iron into the tiny grooves, forming a fine thread, ensuring no cracks or overflow—an impossible feat for a novice apprentice.

Yet, with the chip’s powerful assistance, Grim turned this miracle into reality.

As the last trace of molten iron closed the final groove, Grim deactivated the rune array, pushed aside the magnifier, and gazed silently at the suspended golem core.

His heart surged with emotion, his eyes grew damp.

He had finally completed his ideal first golem.