Let's Build a Better Golem

'Is the condition for gaining experience using magic, not killing things?'

Because of the strangely game-like system, I had naturally assumed that killing zombies would increase my experience. But looking at it now, it seemed like the act of using and researching magic itself was what granted experience.

'Should I make another golem?'

After pondering for a moment, I decided to take it slow and focus on farming for now. It felt wiser to gather a bit more experience and information first.

After that, I kept sending the golem back and forth between my apartment and the Convenience Store to farm food and water. During that time, I browsed old posts on the Free Registry to gather information, or spent my time observing the behavior patterns of the zombies outside the window.

There was still no sign of any other survivors. Even if there were people alive, it was only natural they'd be hiding inside their homes holding their breath in a situation like this.

Sure enough, the condition for obtaining experience was indeed magic usage. There were also posts saying that rather than repeating the same action over and over, you received more experience when you discovered something new or pushed yourself particularly hard.

'Huh? What's this post?'

In the midst of my searching, I stumbled upon a peculiar post dated a whopping ten years ago.

'Heavenly Demon Wannabe? Is this a different person from Heavenly Demon Wannabe 2?'

I recalled the username of the person who had replied when I asked about learning Golem Creation. The arguments of both users were almost identical. That in a ruined world, those kinds of magic performed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exceptionally well.

Since Earth was currently a massive shitshow, I was honestly drawn to those words. And so, I tried to search for more informative posts written by this person.

"......"

Only a few posts came up, and his username was flagged as deleted.

'Hey, you said you'd write a guide on how to build a school with Alchemy.'

What on earth did a deleted username imply? Having no other choice, I closed the window.

Thanks to the golem making a few more round trips between my apartment and the Convenience Store, my experience had gone up a bit. Along with that, instant foods like canned goods and ramen were steadily piling up next to the sink.

"What is this? It's dog food."

Because I had only instructed it to bring "canned food" and "bagged food," there were a few unfortunate mishaps where the golem kept bringing pet food from the pet aisle instead of human food.

I did want to send it further out to farm a clothing store so I could get some clothes to wear right away, but once you left this alleyway, it was a wide-open main road, and there weren't many flower beds or parked cars to hide behind over there.

'Honestly, I do need clothes...'

My baggy T-shirt was now practically evolving into an off-the-shoulder top. Even if survival was the priority, I couldn't live wearing only this forever. I really needed to start learning something new or upgrading.

'Let's upgrade the golem spell.'

And right now, I figured that upgrading the golem was better than raising Mana Absorption. According to what I saw on the forum, even raising it to level 3 would give it decent combat capability. If I upgraded it just a bit, it might be possible to raid a clothing store, or even a large supermarket a bit further away.

And if I could kill zombies and travel further, I should raid a Gold Jewelry Shop too, right? After all, the upgrade conditions for the Magic Tower required gathering Mana Cores and gold.

"First, level 3..."

Going from +1 to +2 required 2 experience, just like with Mana Absorption, and going from +2 to +3 required 6 experience. The curve was quite steep. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before I'd have to spend tens or hundreds of experience points for a single upgrade. Sure enough, when I searched, the forum was packed with mages talking about 100 or 1,000 experience points like it was pocket change.

'If I get that strong, will zombies be nothing to me...?'

Maybe by then, I could look for my family and friends. Though I didn't know what the chances of them being alive were. And even if we did meet, it would probably lead to all sorts of complicated situations.

"So..."

I organized the knowledge that had entered my head along with the level-up. It was obvious, but the most important thing when making a better golem was better materials. Next was more Mana Cores. And now, my head was filled with information on all kinds of high-grade magical materials.

'Silver-scale wood, ebony glass, Magic Stones, Mana-infused Iron, soil soaked in demon's blood...'

Some existed in nature, some were created when existing substances absorbed mana, and others were crafted through alchemy or magic engineering. But there was a problem.

'How on earth am I supposed to make those here?'

A tree called silver-scale wood exists on Earth? I'd never heard of such a thing. Isn't that stuff only in fantasy worlds?

In the end, I opened the Free Registry again.

'Not here... not here either...'

However, when I searched the names of the various materials, the issue was that instead of useful guides, only all sorts of shitposts popped up. Only after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠digging for a long time did I manage to find one post. The title was "How to Make Magic Stones." I needed to find a way to obtain Magic Stones for the upgrade anyway, so this was a relief. Great. Then the material of choice would be Magic Stones. The post wasn't very long.

"Quartz?"

Come to think of it, I recalled hearing that even ordinary stones or sand contained quartz.

"Could you go grab whatever stones you can find nearby?"

I handed the eco-bag back to the golem and sent it out. For now, I'd have it gather as many as possible, throw them all in water, and wait. The moment my command finished, the golem set off in a flash.

By the way... what about the water with a high concentration of mana?

After some thought, I opened a bottle of water and poured it into a rice bowl. My studio apartment had now transformed into a Magic Tower. Since the mana density here was high, wouldn't the water become infused with mana if I just left it here for a while?

"..."

Time passed. Yet, even when the golem returned from gathering stones and set the eco-bag stuffed with rocks onto the bed, the water remained just water. The rice bowl sitting on the floor. Seeing me huddled miserably beside it, staring at the completely still water, the golem shook its head.

Its artificial intelligence... was surprisingly excellent.

"Yeah, I guess not."

When I posted a question, the replies were flooded with people shocked by the desolate environment of my trash-tier dimension, which didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even have mana in the atmosphere. There was only one piece of advice that seemed remotely useful.

'Inject it directly?'

Below that, the thread was filled with comments saying it was impossible. But I had no other choice.

"......That's not helpful at all."

Still, what else could I do but try? Resigned, I pulled the rice bowl closer, widened my eyes, and began to concentrate.

But then...

'Why on earth is this supposed to be hard?'