Worries

As the golem's body writhed through force of will, practicing its manipulation of metal, it noticed something off with its core.

'𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥? 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦?'

Without hesitation it pulls up its status.

[ 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬: 𝐀𝐝 𝐎𝐦𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦 ]

Race: Canine?

Vitality: 800

Energy: 15̷̄0̴͔̇0̵͖͛

Core: Lapis Crystal, Sacred Silver, Re҉si̷l̶i̴𝓔nt S̸ol

Durability: 238/∞

Skills: Adv. Earth Magic - Adv. Water Magic - Adv. Lightning Magic - Gravity Magic - Adv. Identify - Energy Manipulation - Energy Vision - Flee - Harmonize - Hazard Storage - Lock Picking - Vacuum

~-~

"...?" It lets out an audible noise of confusion.

'𝘌𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘮𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 12 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺?!'

Panic sets in for a minute, it had to figure out the reason for the sudden drop, core durability is both the key to getting stronger and its literal lifeblood.

'𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨... 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭? 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.'

It looks down to its frame, noticing some of the cracks from releasing energy had not closed up yet.

'𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺?'

"Wolf?" A voice cuts his thoughts and he turns to the woman, seeing her and the other prisoners are dressed as best as they can manage.

"Call me Omni, not Wolf." It corrects.

"Oh, of course. We're ready to go, you will escort us back to the city, right?" She asks.

It nods. "If there are any that cannot or have trouble walking, you can ride on my back."

They look between each other and all shake their heads except for the therian woman who has been the only one talking. "I'll take you up on that. My name is Kaida." She states proudly, carefully climbing atop the back of the stone wolf. Omni smooths down its fur so she doesn't get stabbed or cut from the stone and begins leading the way out of the burrow.

"How long were you in there for?" Omni asks.

"A few days. Thankfully those dirty things were too malnourished to do anything to any of us other than throw rocks." Kaida explains with a smile.

"Then how did they capture you?"

"That... We got drunk and forgot to designate someone as night watch." She says nervously.

"... How amateur. They probably would have eaten you since they couldn't hunt with such frail bodies."

The stone wolf arrives outside. During the walk, it had slowly replaced its claws with the metal from the bars, and easily tears through the vine barrier circling the small clearing. "Most things in the forest seem to know enough to steer clear of me, but still stick close just in case." It addresses to the following group, who all nod quickly without looking at Omni before it begins leading the way.

Kaida sighs, "Sorry about them, they don't know about Krave, so they're not able to trust you, even though you rescued them."

"I do not blame them. Strong golems are a rarity, especially a sentient one." It responds with little regard for how they feel. It looks up to see the suns slowly inching through the gaps in the canopy. While it had lost track of time, it still remembers the direction it came from and how fast it was moving. "It shouldn't take too long to get back to Formeldr at this pace, so long as everyone manages to keep up."

Kaida hums thoughtfully at its words. "I admit I'm quite curious about you, but I'm too tired to try and squeeze your for exposition, you mind if I sleep on your back?"

"... Fine. I'll make sure you don't fall off." It responds, shifting its back to be more comfortable with small railings to ensure she doesn't topple off as it walks. She falls asleep surprisingly fast, despite laying on what amount to moving stone. The rest of the group look worried now that their leader is asleep, but they have no choice but to continue to follow.

As it had guessed, they encounter no animals on the way back, especially since it had gone back up in size and has much heavier footfalls with the metal tucked near the center of its body. Checking in with its golems in the city through Harmonize, all were functioning as intended and sending clear signals despite the distance from the city, causing Omni to wonder just how far it could maintain the connection.

Thinking of its golems, it does a mental facepalm as it realizes it can do more in this situation. It commands John to write down its current situation and rough direction from the city before heading to Krave to show him. Some time later, the action proves fruitful, as there is a group of guards with a lizard-horse drawn carriage navigating the woods. The group behind the stone wolf throw up weary cheers, causing Kaida to wake up.

"Mnuh~...? Oh, guards, in the middle of the forest? How did they...?" She asks, still half asleep.

"I have a method of transmission for long distances." Omni curtly explains. "You and your group can get in the carriage." It states, looking at the carriage with curiosity. It had managed to traverse large roots and uneven terrain. The design looked rather interesting, somewhat reminiscent of a large ATV.

"Hmm~... I prefer it up here, carry me back." Kaida retorts.

"... No." It gives a firm answer.

"Come ooooon, I'm a damsel in distress, aren't I~?" She says, tighting her grip on the wolf's back as it tries to lightly shake her off.

Omni sighs. "Fine, but I'm speeding up, as I have issues I need to deal with. Better hold on if you don't want to get thrown off." It relents, to which Kaida pumps her fist. True to its word, once it is sure the group and guards have properly got things sorted, it begins bounding through the huge forest back towards Formeldr. Despite being so sleepy, Kaida seems to have no issue clinging to its back, even laughing.

"So fast! I would have thought something made of stone would be sluggish~." She states, her eyes clearing up as the adrenaline brings her back to wakefulness.

"... You are a weird one." The wolf sighs, slowly increasing the pace further as it gets used to the additional weight of the ores and metal.

"Pfft~, like you get to say that. What kind of thing even are you? You're certainly unlike any golem I've ever seen~."

"That's a little rude. I am a living soul inhabiting a golem core, created by the Phycaster kingdom of eld. And you? I am unable to place your specific species." It retorts.

"Ah~, interested in me are you~?" She teases, to which Omni scoffs. "Anyways, my species are called Maned Wolves, though we don't really have anything to do with wolves."

"Then why use that name?"

"Dunno, that's just what the Myth Monoliths list us as, so that's what we go by."

'... 𝘈𝘩, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦.'

"Formeldr has one of those, right? It had completely slipped my mind." It asks.

"Hey hey, don't change the topic, we're still talking about moi~." She says, wiggling her large fuzzy grey canine ears.

"Haah, you're quite the headache, aren't you?"

"Ahaha~, yes, I am. Thanks for noticing~."

"That was not a compliment." Omni groans. Past or present, it was always bad with dealing with people like Kaida.

Formeldr soon comes into view as Omni leaps out of the tree line, skidding to a stop and nearly tossing Kaida off, but she manages to hold on. "Woah! Why're you stopping so suddenly?"

"Because it would cause a ruckus in the city if I went in like this." It states flatly.

"What do you mean 'like- Wah!" She is interrupted as Omni shifts its back to the point she can no longer hold on and tumbles to the ground. Before she can get up the stone wolf had already begun shifting back to a humanoid form.

With the extra metal, its form would be too bulky, at least if it wanted to maintain the androgynous look. Injecting energy into the ores in order to store them in Hazard Storage seemed impossible at the moment, as the metal just rejected it, so Omni resorted to slowly shrinking its body while storing the regular stone after saturating it with energy. It still had to make its body a bit larger than before as the amount of ore was just too big, which it saw as fine. Once it learned how to process it it would be able to do major upgrades.

Kaida gasps and claps as Omni settles into its androgynous humanoid form, her eyes practically sparkling at the powdered gold metal acting as make-up. Internally, the metal bars from the cages has been shaped to act as a skeletal structure, though several cracks and snaps can be heard as Omni separates the metal at its joints in its legs and spine, though keeps the joints in the arms solid so it can practice manipulating and bending the metal with its energy.

"There. We can now proceed. I am heading to the wizard's tower..." It says, realizing how intently Kaida is looking at it. "... And I'm going to assume you're going to continue to follow me?" It sighs helplessly.

"Of course~! How could I not? I'm out of town for a little bit and that old coot got his hands on something so cool~?" She exclaims.

"Uh-huh, and treating your wounds doesn't take priority?" It says, hoping to ditch her.

"I'll just get Krave to fix them, he knows healing magic."

'... 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰.' It sighs internally, and then externally. "Do as you will." It states, heading towards the gates.