Rebuilt

𝘔𝘮𝘮, 𝘢𝘩, 𝘩𝘶𝘩? 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦...?

... 𝘖𝘩, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

Thoughts rang out in a murky black space.

... 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘕𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦...

𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘢𝘮.

The voice tried to move about and found that it could.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭...?

'𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴!' It shouted.

[ Name: Ad Omne Argentum

Race: N/A

Vitality: 600

Energy: 850

Core: Lapis Crystal, Sacred Silver, Resilient Soul

Durability: 0/∞

Skills: Advanced Earth Magic - Advanced Identify - Energy Manipulation - Energy Vision - Flee - Harmonize - Hazard Storage - Lock Picking - Vacuum ]

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴...

𝘔𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘹 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥?

𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 '𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭' 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 '𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭'... 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭.

The voice then activated Energy Vision in an attempt to figure out where it was. Once activated, it received a near blinding flash of light, but it could 'feel out' the room around it once it adjusted. It was in a large empty room with runes lining the roof, walls, and floor, preventing it from seeing past. The Energy Vision was strange; it was reminiscent of echolocation, but with Energy Manipulation, it could blanket the area in thin energy and 'see' all of it simultaneously; it took some time to get used to.

… 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵.

It turned the vision inward out of curiosity, but to its surprise, there was nothing where it was, causing a little bit of panic. It reaffirmed itself by rolling around; it could still physically feel the floor, though its sense of temperature didn't work.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘕𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩. It complained.

But after a bit of testing, it realized why it didn't work. It could move energy around inside the core without its own Energy Vision detecting it, but the moment it left the core, it became visible.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬.

With nothing better to do, the little core began studying the runes making up its large cage, they were crystal clear in the Energy Vision, and perhaps if it learned enough, it could break out. It also tried out the other skills, Adv. Earth Magic was useless; the runes blocked any manipulation of whatever material they were on. Adv. Identify didn't work on itself or the runes. Harmonize gave it a fuzzy feeling but didn't do anything aside from that. Hazard Storage was a bit weird, and it felt like a spatial ring did, but something was off; it couldn't figure it out. Vacuum was just what the name implied, it could feel the wind in the room moving towards it, and that was all.

𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴? 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨?

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?

. . .

Outside of the ward stood Krave, he had rushed down to the basement because he felt the energy storm the magic item was generating suddenly stop, and now it was rolling around on the floor acting strangely. He scratched his overgrown beard, thinking of possibilities.

After observing the marble for a while, he realized that all the cracks and gouges were gone, with it acting so differently. Does that mean that while it was damaged, it was dormant and acting on instinct? Then that means it's awake now, Krave frowned. It probably wouldn't like staying in an empty room, even though it was the one that consumed everything within the wards.

The old demon went back upstairs to prepare a few things in case the marble lashed out. And just his luck, the front door of the mage's tower swung open just as he returned from the basement.

"You look a few years younger, old man; something good happen?" Elizabeth teased, walking in followed by Christoph and Valentina.

Krave coughed, "A few things, uh, what are you three doing here?"

Valentina beamed, "We're here to check up on our little friend; how's it doing? Have you made any progress? Can it talk?" She railed off a few questions in fast succession, not giving time for a response. The sheep-woman was in a great mood lately; the progress in getting the store going was smooth.

The old demon shrugged, "W-well, the magic item is fine, progress is slow like I told you, and there has been a complication," he stated, wringing his hands, unsure as to whether he should reveal everything.

Both Elizabeth and Christoph narrowed their eyes; the demon was clearly in a rush about something and had just come from the basement. "Can we see it?" Christoph asked.

"Uhh... that might not be the best idea; I think it's awake now and-" The old demon cuts off mid-sentence, his eyes going wide. At the time, Elizabeth also feels something off and looks down.

"No, no no no!" Krave shouts and rushes around the office, grabbing a few magic items and rushing to the basement entrance, and deactivates the magic wall entirely, "Elizabeth, I might need your help!"

Elizabeth doesn't argue and follows, while she can't feel what's going on in the ward, that only applies to when it's working, and the entire ward surrounding the basement ceased to function all at once.

. . .

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴.

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘯𝘥...

𝗣𝗢𝗣!

𝘏𝘢! 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭!

The core had rolled to a particular corner of the room, and in the Energy Vision, the runes had started to come off one by one in a string like a rope and was being pulled into the core. The Hazard Storage skill had activated automatically after pulling and sucking in the runes like spaghetti.

Once the process started, the entire room dimmed, all the runes deactivated, and the core could now push its Energy Vision through, though it was inefficient at seeing through solid mass. It could detect a magic door of sorts on one end of the room but was more concerned about the material around it; it wanted to be able to move properly again.

Unlike the Labyrinthine Stone it didn't feel that 'connection' to the stone around it, but through its newfound Vision and Manipulation skills, it shortly found the 'trick' to manipulating the regular non-magical stone with its Adv. Earth Magic.

It couldn't be bothered with style, and with a combination of Energy Manipulation and Adv. Earth Magic began 'pulling' a stone mannequin from the wall as if it was inside the wall the whole time. The core was surprised at how well the two skills worked together, though it realized it probably wouldn't be as easy to manipulate magical materials.

Krave rushed down the short spiral staircase and arrived at the basement to see the marble sitting in a corner, and a stone figure slowly coming out of the wall, "Stop!" He shouted, wary of whatever it was doing. Elizabeth arrived shortly after, followed by Christoph and Valentina.

The marble paused, the half a mannequin flopped slightly, then broke at the joints without the support of its Manipulation. Krave shivered slightly as it felt the marble's energy probe him and paled a little, seeing that the ward was not just deactivated but gone.

"I mean no harm. Are you able to talk?" He asked, pocketing the magic tools he had grabbed and raised his hands a little.

. . . 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮?

The marble double-checked each skill, then focused on Hazard Storage; all the runes from the ward were in there, sectioned and cordoned off in different compartments.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?

The marble shuddered as it opened up the Hazard Storage and pulled out the inactive runes corresponding to the letters for "No," then "Can Understand," then finally "Require Assistance," waving the words above itself with Energy Manipulation like a sign.

𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦...

Krave felt the energy movements but didn't understand; he stood there for half a minute and, seeing no response made a realization. He chanted the Energy Vision spell and asked the marble to repeat. He gasped lightly, seeing the runes he had written so long ago being used in such a way and translated for the other three behind him.

Anyone could see the runes normally if they were on a surface, but they were like solid energy in the marble's hands; it had pulled the energy that made up the runes off the wall, leaving engravings on the wall that didn't do anything.

Krave calmed down a bit with the marble not appearing hostile, for now.

Valentina perked up when Krave relayed that the marble 'required assistance' and moved into the room towards it, the marble retreated into the corner of the room. Valentina crouched a little, "Hey, it's okay, I'm just going to pick you up, okay?" she burbled, speaking to it as if it were a cat, but the marble rolled away to a different corner with surprising speed.

Christoph went in and stopped her from going after it, and the marble began spelling in runes again. "Move," then "Create Body," and finally, "No Hostile," it waved towards Krave, the only one who seemed to understand the runes.

Krave nodded, "Make room for it; it can move around itself just fine once it makes a body, right?" he asked towards the marble, and it pulled out the runes for "Yes."

Christoph made Valentina back up, and the marble returned to focusing on the wall.

𝘔𝘺 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.

The marble began envisioning a mannequin and adding features to it to make it a bit more human-like. It could sense metals inside the walls and slowly took control of them, turning them into embellishments. Once it had finished its mental design, it began to pull, and the wall began to writhe.

Under the influence of the marble's vast energy, a figure walked out from the wall, similar to how Krave walked through the magic wall he had set up. The figure was standing at six feet tall, had doll-like features, and the face was androgynous. The lips were burnished with thin gold, the corners turned up slightly into a smile, and the eyes were closed with powdered gold acting as eye-shadow.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺... 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴-𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭...

"Pretty..." Valentina smiled; of course, such a pretty magic item should have a similar vessel.

The marble manipulated the figure to pick it up and push it into the chest, melding seamlessly and taking full control. It nodded to Krave and motioned towards the exit.

Krave coughed and nodded back, "Alright, let's uh, go back upstairs and get acquainted, I suppose."

The doll-like golem followed behind the old demon, followed by the trio. On the first floor, the doll-like golem sat down on the comfiest chair it could find, a sofa in the corner, and began fleshing out the energy channels and functionalities of its new body, regaining feeling, hearing, and sight.

Krave sat down at his desk while the trio sat on the wooden chairs opposite the desk; all eyes were on the doll-like golem. The old demon coughed again, "So, uh, hmm," he didn't really know where to begin.

"Do you have a name?" Valentina asked excitedly, to which the golem nodded, then tapped its throat.

"Right, speech, old man, surely you have one of those harnesses laying about the tower, right?" Elizabeth questioned.

Krave nodded sheepishly, "Well, yes, but they're all in use by the other mages," he responded.

Elizabeth scoffed, "Come on, where's your drive? You were so excited last time we were here. Who cares if other mages are using them? Just go take one; you're the superior around here, are you not?"

The old demon sighed and got back up, trudging up the stairs to the upper floors.

The golem folded a leg and ruminated on its situation.

𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘩𝘮𝘮, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘈𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘴? 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵...

𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵...

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯, 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘋𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘶𝘩𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 '𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥' 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 '𝘈𝘥', 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

The golem nodded to itself; it was probably a foolproof plan. It was a bit thankful that most of the World Library entries on Lapis were extensive history books. However, it did still wish there was useful information about the present world, not just flavour text about what happened before.

With its story straight it focused on refining its body, adding more aesthetics and engraving magic veins on the inside like blood veins, increasing the smoothness of its movements and refining the control it had over its own energy.

Seeing as it couldn't respond until Krave returned with the harness the trio sat and watched the doll-like golem as its features slowly became more defined. Despite the eyes being closed, they could also feel it staring back at them, but it didn't seem wary of them at all. Occasionally it let out a wisp of energy to feel around the room, brushing over the three people and moving towards the bookshelves.

They felt the staring sensation stop as the golem turned its attention to the books, opening them and reading as if it was a person. The golem got up and made its way over to the bookshelves, grabbing a couple of books, and sitting back down on the couch

Five minutes passed by, the occasional flipping of pages the only sound in the room, at some point Valentina also grabbed some books and started to read, sitting down on the couch with the golem instead of returning to her chair.