Chapter 87
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: The Mix Golem
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What’s the most important thing when crafting an object?
Everyone might have their own answer, but Ian wouldn’t hesitate to say “purpose and use.”
Objects are made to be tools, after all. Naturally, they need to serve their intended purpose, so that’s what matters most.
With that firmly in mind, Ian began designing the golem.
Why was he making this golem?
To use it as a laborer, plain and simple.
This wasn’t like Ddol Ddoli, where he’d poured his heart into it purely for fun. No need to lavish it with maximum effort or the finest materials.
As long as it worked well, that was enough.
Starting with that core idea let him cut out all the unnecessary frills.
No need for an oversized soulstone with an outsized ego. No need for a bunch of extra features.
No complex enchantments, no bulking it up like Ddol Ddoli.
What it did need was a sturdy body and tireless stamina. The quiet persistence to handle the same task for days on end without complaint.
Was that all?
No.
It has to obey orders perfectly.
Golems are intimidating. A three- or four-meter monster lumbering around the territory would terrify the locals, no question.
So it had to be docile.
To pull that off, its personality needs to be gentle as a lamb. Not a hint of destructiveness.
Like a golden retriever—big and burly, yet called an angel dog—or a sunflower always facing toward people with affection.
Only then would the territory folk accept it as part of daily life without fear.
In the end, it all boils down to how comfortably my people can get used to my creations.
This went beyond just a “worker golem.” It was a universal principle for all the creations he’d churn out in the future.
He couldn’t have them freaking out over a mere golem when who-knows-what else might pop up later.
That line of thinking gave him the perfect answer for shaping the golem’s ego.
Spirits. The answer is spirits.
Spirits are pure. Devoid of malice. They love humans and hate harming others.
The lower the spirit’s rank, the more pronounced those traits become.
Their egos are faint, blending seamlessly with nature itself.
A lowest-grade earth spirit soulstone. That’ll do it.
About ten days after finalizing the design and diving into the work...
He completed the golem by slotting in a lowest-grade earth spirit soulstone from his stockpiled collection.
[Produced 1 Lower Mix Golem.]
[Alchemy proficiency has increased.]
Ian, having finally crafted the golem, dusted off his hands and inspected the result.
Roughly three meters tall, with a body of solid rock.
It looked somewhat like Ddol Ddoli overall, but the details differed.
Its face was far blunter, lacking the mana traces etched midway through its form, giving it a much rougher build.
Most crucially, iron plating reinforced its core.
This compensated for the weak durability stemming from its lack of potent mana, unlike Ddol Ddoli.
Mixed in some iron golem elements, and it actually worked out great.
He’d protected the core by making just the heart chamber from iron, and it held up nicely.
That’s how it ended up as a “Mix Golem.”
[Created a Mix Golem for the first time.]
[A new research project has been unlocked.]
A new research project unlocked in the “Golem Advanced” field? Total win.
Time to give it a try.
“Hmm, golem. Wake up.”
-Command... received.
Grind!
With a sound like grinding millstones, the Mix Golem rose.
Hmm, the movements are a bit stiff.
Compared to Ddol Ddoli, this thing was practically a kid’s toy.
Of course, he’d stripped out most functions and given it the bare-minimum spirit ego, so that was expected.
Still, it could talk, which was something.
Even if its “talk” was just word combinations.
“Who are you?”
-Mix Golem.
“What’s the purpose of your creation?”
-To work.
“Humans—attack them or not?”
-Humans... friends. No harm.
Ian nodded in satisfaction.
Nice. Answers perfectly.
Excellent. Top-notch!
Finally, the single completed Mix Golem.
Only after embedding the return magic circle and other utility spells could he unveil it.
“Here it is. The new golem I made.”
“Ooh, let’s see... Whoa!”
The dwarves rushed over, poking and prodding from every angle.
They didn’t say much at first, but awe spread across their faces.
“Y-You made this in just ten days?”
“No, it took ten days and a bit more.”
One extra day for the return magic circle.
“Impossible.”
“Flawless quality in eleven days...?”
“This guy’s the ultimate craftsman, huh?”
Why did they keep slapping “ultimate craftsman” on everything?
Was it their catchphrase?
“To be honest, we could manage that level of rock bonding. But finishing it in eleven days? No way.”
“It came together faster than expected. I simplified the structure and shaved off a few days.”
“A few days? Not months?”
“It wouldn’t take months. It’s just a midsize worker golem, nothing fancy.”
“Months? Heh... heh heh heh...”
Aindelph laughed blankly, lost in thought.
“Why am I even a dwarf? Losing to a human? Why? Huh? Why?”
What’s with him? Kinda scary.
The other dwarves looked just as glum.
To lighten the heavy mood, he suggested a first test.
“Anyway, folks. Watch it move. Golem, go ahead.”
Grind!
Millstone sounds accompanied its motion.
The golem uncurled its legs and stood.
It moved lightly, not thudding like Ddol Ddoli, but tiptoeing softly.
“Ooh, barely any footfalls! How’d you manage that?”
“Engraved spells to muffle the noise as much as possible. What do you think?”
“Brilliant! Revolutionary! Compensating for golems’ noise drawback like this!”
They ran more tests.
The golem obeyed Ian’s every command flawlessly—sit, stand, fetch items, all smooth.
By then, a crowd had gathered, drawn by word of mouth.
They seemed wary, but no panic. Thanks to the prior explanations.
“So, good enough as a worker?”
“Can’t handle complex orders, but... this is plenty. Overflowing, even.”
“Great. Try commanding it yourselves. I shared the authority, so it’ll listen.”
Aindelph tested as rep. He issued various orders, then nodded happily.
“Perfect. I’m satisfied! Oh, can we tweak it a bit?”
“Tweak it?”
“Yeah. Spotted a few rough spots. To improve it.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Heh, sweet! Time to put it to work! Golem, let’s go! You’ve got jobs piling up!”
Grind!
Aindelph dragged the golem off to the sewer site, grinning ear to ear.
He looked thrilled.
Like a kid in a candy store. Must be the engineer in him.
While Ian worked on the golem, the dwarves’ infrastructure projects progressed smoothly.
They insisted on thorough geological surveys before full sewer work, rattling off jargon in thick reports. Sounded like alien talk, so he just nodded along.
That was expert territory.
The boss just needed to make smart calls, right?
“So, when’s full work starting?”
“Not long. Ten days, maybe?”
“Soon, huh.”
“Yep. We’ll be slammed then. Won’t see your face much, benefactor.”
Makes sense. Not small-scale stuff.
“How long to full completion? At least a couple years?”
“Not that long. Three months max, even slow. Probably under two.”
“What? That fast?”
Overhauling a territory’s infrastructure in months?
Aindelph scoffed at Ian’s stare.
“That fast? What do you take us for? Forgotten who we are?”
“I know dwarves are amazing, but I didn’t expect this quick. Construction usually drags forever.”
Apartments take years; city planning, decades.
Under a year?
“That stings. We’ve been at this a while since the commission, but we ain’t rusty. No magical engineering experts match us.”
Ian nodded.
On second thought, it wasn’t so crazy.
Our territory’s smallish. Population’s modest.
Plus top-tier pros.
Might wrap quicker than imagined.
“Truth is, we’re not thrilled. We could shave more time.”
“Even more?”
“Yeah. Short on manpower. More hands, and we’d fly.”
True—only about twenty dwarves.
Massive project on skeleton crew? Insane.
“Manpower’s no issue. I’ll whip up more worker golems.”
And not just golems—human labor too.
But Aindelph shook his head.
“Not grunts. We need specialists.”
“Specialists...?”
“Magic experts. Purification mages would be ideal. We handle most, but sewer purification core needs wizard input.”
Ian paused. Purification specialist?
“Think about it. Where’s a purification mage in this backwater? And not just any—high-level for massive arrays. Rare even in cities...”
“What if there is one?”
“Huh? Th-There is?”
“Yes. One right here.”
All eyes locked on Ian.
“R-Right! Forgot our benefactor!”
“A great mage was here, and we’re sighing?”
“The wizard who designed Ddol Ddoli’s complex arrays must know purification too. Problem solved.”
Awe crashed down. Ian looked baffled.
Not this ‘great mage’ nonsense again.
How had Ddol Ddoli brainwashed them into seeing him that way?
“I can handle it, but for purification, someone even better than me exists.”
“Such talent? Where?”
“Eltea.”
Dwarves’ faces soured instantly.
Sour glares.
“You don’t mean those stuck-up pointy-eared brats?”
“What if I do?”
“Ugh. Bleh!”
They spat and rubbed their ears like they’d misheard.
“Pretend we didn’t hear! Why beg elves? We’re fine alone!”
They hate elves.
He knew dwarf-elf relations were rocky, but this bad?
“Haha, kidding. Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Gotta watch the jokes—might end up dead.
They’re glaring at their benefactor over words alone.
“Kidding? Dude, who else lives in Eltea besides elves?”
“Someone does. Hold on.”
Ian fed mana into the consciousness network and pinged Lara.
-Lara. What’s up?
-Oh, Ian!
She picked up quick.
Akbon takes forever.
Our Lara’s the best. Listens well.
-Busy?
-No! Need help?
-Yeah. Got a job for you.
-Anything! I’ll do it!
-Building a purification facility. Want you on it.
-Purification facility?
-Yeah, so...
Ian explained: Core magic setup to purify sewer waste. Needed her help.
-Dunno details, but purification? My specialty. I’ll do it! Just call!
Glad acceptance.
Yes! Lara’s a star.
Things were looking up.
A Fairy Queen master of Fairy Magic and Holy Magic designing the purification system?
Territory’d be spotless.
“Hey, Aindelph. Ever seen a fairy?”
“Fairy? Nah. Why?”
“Perfect. Time for intros.”
“Huh? Fairy?”
“Come on! Fairies went extinct ages ago! Benefactor’s got jokes!”
Hmm. These dwarves are out of the loop.
Meanwhile.
In Eltea’s palace, Edelin tilted her head mid-tea time, cake in hand.
Lara had frozen mid-bite, staring blankly.
She used to wonder why, but now she knew.
Chatting with the Guide, I bet.
Called “consciousness connection”—linking souls for distant talks. Cutting-edge stuff.
She’d been stunned learning about it.
The Guide, father of all fairies. Of course he’s exceptional.
Their souls bound tight proved his authenticity.
Faith grew stronger the more she learned.
Was meeting him fate?
“Mm.”
Lara groaned softly. Chat over.
“Lara. The Guide called?”
“Yes.”
“What’d he say?”
“Needs my help.”
“Your help?”
“Yeah. Something about purifying? Evil in his territory? Vibe like that. Gotta go see. Oh, heading out!”
Edelin jolted.
“T-Territory? The Guide has a territory?”
“Yeah. Emperor granted Ian one, I guess. He’s lord now. Purifying its evil or whatever. Details there. Bye!”
Edelin froze as Lara vanished via summons. She’d known about the title, not the land.
She sat motionless, then murmured.
“A territory... Land ruled by the Guide. Incredible...”
Incredible. How could it not be? The Guide’s domain.
The Guide wasn’t ordinary. Father of all fairies, benefactor to elves. Descended to prosper both races.
Him claiming land? Huge.
At last, the Guide hatches from his shell to fulfill his mission!
She shot up, eyes alight. She might witness legends firsthand.
“Guards!”
“Yes!”
“Prepare to depart.”
“Huh?”
“We’re going out.”
“O-Out? Princess, what...”
“Not a mere outing. The Mother Tree’s sacred task.”
“Huh?”
The elf knight floundered, but Edelin hurried her preparations regardless.