Chapter 8

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Translator: Ace

Chapter: 8

Chapter Title: The First Homunculus

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Proficiency had risen, unlocking new research projects, but none of that caught Ian's eye. His mind was entirely captivated by the soul stone.

'It's nice and toasty—like holding a hand warmer.'

Whether it was a gem or a stone, it should have felt cold to the touch, but this one was warm. And that warmth didn't fade easily—it was downright fascinating.

'Is it because it contains a soul?'

The only downside was that the soul stone, once as clear and sparkling as a crystal, had turned a murky gray like storm clouds after absorbing the goblin's soul.

Thanks to that, what had looked like a jewel now resembled a common roadside pebble.

'Why did it turn gray? Does it always change color when a soul is infused? Or is there another reason?'

He set aside the questions for now and checked the item details first.

The item description was quite intriguing.

First off, it was classified separately as a 'Soul Stone' under item types.

That meant soul stones were important enough to warrant their own major category.

'Item grade is just Common, and quality is Faint? What's Faint mean?'

It was a grading system Ian had never seen before—which made sense, since it was his first time encountering a 'soul stone' item altogether.

After reviewing the new info on souls, he learned that 'Faint' was a unique classification system applied to soul stones.

It was divided into six stages: 'Faint - Cloudy - Ordinary - Clear - Pure - Noble.' It seemed to be based on the soul's purity.

'Faint is the lowest quality. Not a great one, then.'

Still, he wasn't particularly disappointed. Think about it—it was a goblin soul. How pure could it possibly be?

Plus, the grade was Common.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

In simple terms, it was junk-tier.

'It was just a test run anyway.'

That said, the presence of special attributes was a surprise.

For a Common-grade item to have special attributes was impressive in itself.

'Hmm, not exactly great attributes.'

Very goblin-like, indeed.

'Greed seems decent, though.'

At least it had no downsides.

But Cunning came with a penalty—Agility up, Strength down.

'Loggers would go nuts for this. It's a class obsessed with Agility.'

But what couldn't be overlooked was that this wasn't gear or a consumable.

This was a soul stone. And soul stones were the key ingredient for life synthesis.

In other words, succeeding in life synthesis with this soul stone as material meant the resulting creation would inherit these traits.

'So I need to secure ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the best souls possible. High grade, or high quality.'

If he could extract such souls and turn them into soul stones, he could craft top-tier artificial lifeforms.

Of course, he hadn't even attempted it yet.

'Good souls... where do I find those?'

Ian's body fidgeted with excitement.

He wanted one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right now.

'Make a high-performance body first, snag an S-grade soul to slot in... Ahh.'

Ian wiped his drool and snapped out of it. The thought alone was thrilling, but it wasn't happening today.

'Let's use this goblin soul stone for now.'

To do that, he needed to check the newly unlocked research projects.

Seven new research projects unlocked.

Three were advanced Soul Research techs, while the other four were entirely new fields.

"Whoa, Body Creation!"

Ian couldn't contain his excitement and let out a squeal.

He'd been waiting for this forever. How could he not be thrilled!

'Damn. I should be sleeping by now. No way I can with this.'

As a working stiff forcing an early bedtime to avoid oversleeping, but who cared?

That stuff could wait.

That night, Ian ended up pulling an all-nighter, yet he felt no fatigue at all. How could mere tiredness hinder him?

The office buzzed as usual with talk of 'Golem Master' this and 'Pandemonium' that, but it fell on deaf ears. Ian had only one thing on his mind.

'Man, I wanna clock out already. Head home and dive into research.'

His body was at the office, but his mind was in the lab. He tuned out the chatter around him, ears filtering it like white noise, his thoughts consumed by alchemy.

'What to research first? Soul tech? Or Body Creation?'

'To find good souls, I need those advanced Soul Research techs. But Body Creation is calling me. Tsk.'

'Fine, start with the easier ones. Gotta do them all anyway.'

That was Ian's routine lately: half-ass work, rush home after clocking out, and immerse himself in alchemy.

Quitting at 6 PM got him to the lab by 6:30. From then until bedtime, he was glued there—averaging four to five hours a day on alchemy.

About ten days later, Ian completed all four newly unlocked 'Body Creation' research projects.

The newly unlocked crafting project.

"Finally!"

What was there to hesitate about?

He dove right in.

It wasn't identical to other crafting projects, but his prior experience made it familiar enough.

'Five sub-researches? Manageable.'

With that thought, Ian jumped into the research.

But he hit a snag from the start.

Homunculus creation felt different from golem crafting.

The basic process of inputting materials was the same, but the details differed.

If golem crafting was like mass-producing from a factory mold, homunculus felt like handmade custom work.

What did that mean?

He had to design it from scratch—appearance, size, everything.

But Ian quickly adapted to the homunculus crafting system.

Drawing up 'blueprints' seemed daunting at first, but it turned out manageable.

'Easier than I thought?'

Ian scrapped his practice blueprints and started fresh.

'Hmm. What vibe should I go for?'

'Humanoid's the way to go.'

Unfortunately, he couldn't make it too big yet.

Not until unlocking higher techs.

For now, small size only—but leveling alchemy and advancing techs would allow larger ones, more capacity, better materials.

'Gender: Male-type? Female-type?'

The decision was quick. Any guy would pick female-type homunculus.

Ian recalled countless webtoons, anime, and games from his past life.

The answers lay in those experiences.

Drawing on vivid memories even after twenty-plus years, he sketched the blueprint.

The finished product?

"Oh. Not bad at all."

It was a cute, big-headed, two-head-proportioned girl character.

The classic SD style.

Slightly curly golden blonde hair, with wings on her back for flight.

'Proportions look off.'

Head was a bit oversized. Might be top-heavy.

'Eh, whatever.'

Scrapping it would be a shame—the drawing was too good. He might not replicate it.

'Going with this.'

With that, Ian began crafting his first homunculus.

Ian had taken six months to craft the Stone Golem.

So he braced for a long haul on the homunculus.

But nope—it wasn't that tough.

'I figured at least three months, but just ten days...'

Merely ten days, and he was at the completion stage of the Homunculus crafting project.

Why so fast?

Simple: the homunculus was small.

Small size meant less time.

Not that it was easy, though.

The struggles over those ten days rivaled months of toil.

Shaking his head at the memories, Ian thought.

'Creating a lifeform is this hard?'

A thought dawning only now, near completion.

Golems were easier, despite the time.

Lower difficulty, even if longer.

That's why homunculus had extra stars.

'Anyway, finishing today.'

On the tenth day, only finishing touches remained.

It urged careful selection, like a warning.

But Ian had only one soul stone.

Naturally, he hesitated.

'Gonna turn out mediocre. Hold off?'

With a good soul stone later, success odds would be higher.

But he shook his head.

Since when did he play the efficiency game in alchemy research? Why agonize over holding off?

'Screw it, just do it. It's a hobby anyway. Not selling it.'

If it flops or sucks, scrap and retry.

Ten days lost would sting, but it wasn't insurmountable effort.

Trial and error for the first one.

A light began swirling around the tiny homunculus body he'd labored over for ten days.

The once-cold, corpse-like flesh started gaining a healthy glow.

Ian watched tensely.

'Ugh, so slow. Speed it up already.'

His palms were slick with sweat. Ian wiped them with a handkerchief.

About thirty minutes later.

All processes complete.

"Yes!"

Ian jumped for joy.

'Jackpot! First try success!'

He'd worried about failure!

Notifications flooded in, but they didn't matter.

Only the tiny wriggling lifeform before him did.

'It's... waking up.'

Gulp.

He swallowed hard.

The homunculus slowly stirred, rising.

About the size of two adult palms side by side, a winged little girl.

"Yaaawn."

The adorable child stretched cutely, then looked at Ian.

And spoke.

"Keruk."

Ian rubbed his ears.

'What?'

Had he misheard?

"Keruk!"

No, same again.

'Wow. Goblin soul.'

Ian's face fell, but then he chuckled.

The cute face goblin-croaking was hilariously mismatched.