The Healer Golem

"Let's put the spore issue on hold for now. I'll think about it a bit."

"Understood. We'll lay all the patients down on the lower floors. They must be starving, so we'll boil some rice porridge too."

While I was lost in thought, the golems handled everything with swift, military precision.

Tosiki and Dayeon took charge of cooking and tidying up the rooms.

With the survivors' needs in good hands, I decided to focus first on producing a few more healing cores and finishing the golem I'd left half-done.

I'd seen so much blood that I expected alchemy to be a struggle, but strangely enough, my success rate with healing cores seemed even higher than before.

I really don't understand this damn magic at all.

In the end, I went with my usual "good enough is good enough" mindset. I gathered up the completed healing cores, placed them in the golem's hands, and tuned out the rest.

"Mix these into the porridge later and feed them to the patients."

With that, I'd made enough healing cores for immediate use.

I couldn't keep leaving a half-finished golem lying around forever, so I figured I'd quickly wrap up the final touches.

All that remained was to insert the mana core and stabilize the magic circle.

I poured my mana into the circle, carefully stabilizing it, when something felt... off.

It was like the golem was impatiently urging me to finish already.

With ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that strange sensation lingering, I slotted in the final mana core.

This time, a small-statured golem with vivid silver hair and green eyes emerged from a swirl of light.

"Alright. You're Unit 3."

Thankfully, there were no issues like incomplete activation or defects in the final product.

If anything, it seemed exceptionally well-made.

Those sparkling eyes gave off such an enthusiastic vibe that I felt even more certain of it.

"Understood, Master! Unit 3 online! Weren't there patients that needed treatment?"

"Huh? How did you know that?"

"I sensed it while you were creating me, Master! It's wonderful that you refuse to turn a blind eye to people in need!"

Maybe golems could still perceive sensations even when their core was detached and the magic circle was exposed—like a fetus sensing the outside world from inside the womb.

Or maybe it was because this one used a healing core. Who knows. This magic is cursed.

I still didn't know much about its quirks beyond that personality.

"I'll follow your example and work hard too, Master! Zombies to smash! Patients to heal! Just call me anytime!"

She seemed a bit... airheaded.

And those sparkling eyes reminded me of Unit 1, which was honestly a little scary.

But I liked her enthusiasm.

The real question was her performance.

"By the way, do you actually know how to heal?"

When I asked, Unit 3 grew a small, adorable vine from her fingertip.

At the tip hung a pure white fruit that practically screamed "magical." Its shape looked remarkably similar to a healing core.

"This will heal people!"

"Can it heal golems too?"

"If consumed together with a mana core, it should greatly increase automatic repair efficiency!"

I'd have to test the actual effectiveness on the patients and golems, but just the fact that it could generate something like a healing core on its own was fantastic.

Man, she succeeds with this every single time. I'm jealous.

Still, judging by first impressions, she looked strangely simple and innocent. If I told her I was turning water into gold, she'd probably believe me...

Wait.

Could this be it?

"It works!!! Uuuu......"

As I kept muttering those words out loud while making healing cores, they started forming faster and more accurately than ever before—more than twice as efficient.

Why the hell does this actually work?!

I never imagined something this stupid would solve a problem that had been annoying me for so long.

Ah... I'm losing brain cells.

No.

I'm a guy, and sure, maybe I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat, but still... I mean...

Suddenly, a wave of self-awareness hit me like a truck.

The feeling of losing all human dignity.

But the effect was real.

I guess I'd better save this forbidden dark magic for when I'm actually casting White Magic.

If I keep doing this randomly, I'm going to lose my mind.

"I'm heading down to the patients now!"

Whether she noticed my pathetic state or not, Unit 3 didn't seem to care at all.

She adjusted the nurse cap sitting neatly on her leotard and headed down to the lower floors.

I wondered if Unit 1 would be happy to have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a new underling.

Unit 2 seemed too gentle to care much either way.

That's what I imagined, anyway.

Unfortunately, all the golems were too busy treating patients to give any particularly fun reactions.

"This will make you feel better!"

Unit 3 darted around busily, creating her fruits and feeding them to the patients.

According to the survivors, unlike the bitter, unpleasant healing cores, these tasted like berries—sweet and actually enjoyable.

The healing effect was... slightly weaker than a healing core.

Still, the fact that it works on golems is huge. And it makes them automatically. Nice.

They removed bandages, disinfected remaining wounds, reset broken bones, applied splints, put on fresh bandages and new clothes, fed them warm porridge and water, and tucked them comfortably into bed.

With Tosiki and Unit 3 running around tirelessly, and the strong Unit 1 and Unit 2 doing the heavy lifting, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠three survivors successfully transformed from war refugees who looked like they'd rolled through a pigsty into something resembling civilized people.

Meanwhile, the mass-produced golems had returned from another round of duty.

I turned the relay switch off again and waited.

I don't know where these spores are spreading from, but if I want to clean them up properly, I should use these guys too.

Since I didn't know when they'd be needed, I left the mass-produced golems on standby.

While the golems were occupied with the patients, I planned to think of a way to deal with the spore problem.

First, handling the spores.

There was the wide-area White Magic Protection of the Law, even if the duration was a bit concerning.

And even if it costs some mana ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cores, if I run the water trucks with Unit 1 and Unit 2...

Thanks to the attribute selection, even normal attacks would deal bonus damage. It might not be as difficult as I thought.

After clearing out the spores, the zombified insects and such... well.

I'd just need to keep them from getting too close to the building.

For the time being, I'll check mana detection frequently and keep the Magic Tower Defense System running at full power.

It was basically a building-sized bug zapper.

That seemed like the best approach for now.

The question was whether I could brute-force clear spores that covered not just a block or two, but the entire area.

Wait a second.

There had to be a main body somewhere.

The spores were probably just one of its abilities.

Hmm.

If I could find it quickly, things would get a lot easier.

If I advanced while clearing everything in my path and just took out the main body, the spores should disappear too.

Mana Detection.

Unfortunately, my mana detection range didn't reach that far.

Should I go myself? Headbutt the ground until I find it? Or raise my mana detection level even higher?

I had a decent amount of experience points right now.

But if the range expanded any further, I was worried my brain might actually fry and kill me.

Then again, now that I'd raised the tower's rank, maybe it would be fine.

While I was lost in those thoughts, a few posts on the Free Archive caught my eye.

Apparently, killing the main body wouldn't end it.

"Ask the two conscious survivors how fast the spores are spreading."

I asked through Unit 3, who had come upstairs to move medicine, food, and water.

The answer came back: it had already spread heavily on the first day, and after that, it consumed one block per day.

With the dark mage zombie, we'd been attacked first so there was no choice, but this time was different.

I needed to finish treating all the newly rescued survivors, teach them magic, get the golems to level 10 and do a full maintenance run, and solve the mana detection issue.

To be honest, I wanted to head out after doing all that.

"I need to go clean this up as soon as possible."

The longer I waited, the harder the cleanup would become.

Having made up my mind, I opened the remaining experience points window and the magic archive.

I'd do whatever immediate preparations I could, then activate Protection of the Law right away and send the golems out.