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Imperious, Chapter 023 - The Tyrant's First Golem (Patreon)

Published:

2024-06-21 19:15:40

Edited:

2024-06-21 19:24:37

Imported:

2024-06

Tags:

Imperious

Content

While having a skill streamlined the process, it still wasn’t easy. That was exactly what Anna had come to expect, though. So she toiled, refining core after core until the essence vessel was empty only to turn around and refill it by dismantling more items. She barely paid any attention to the glowing warmth that occasionally blossomed at the back of her head. She felt like she was in the home stretch, just a bit more practice, just a bit more experience.

Level up! You have reached Level 8 in your Engraving Profession
+1 Ins, +1 Int, +1 Pre, +2 Free Points

Level up! You have reached Level 9 in your Engraving Profession
+1 Ins, +1 Int, +1 Pre, +2 Free Points

Her focus was so intense, driven by that growing heat in her veins that craved to advance and take, that she didn’t notice she’d run out of unrefined cores until she reached for the next one. She stared at the empty box for a while before nodding to herself and going to the storage room. There she scooped up the boxes of pre-prepared refined cores, carrying them all in to the workshop and setting them up around her workstation. She then went back into her room and grabbed her bag, setting it down and pulling golem cores out one after another.

She analyzed every single one, studying the internal workings of the inert golem cores first. Each of them had problems that varied from core to core. If she’d only had one or even a dozen she may not have been able to piece together the full blueprint in her head. With fifty of them? It didn’t take long to get it down. It wasn’t a design one could just write down, an engraver had to internalize it and understand it intimately. That was where the analysis skill came in clutch. At times it felt like it was shoving the image of the damaged core right into her mind for her to compare against others.

Fifty cores analyzed before she took up her first refined core. She held it in her hand and closed her eyes while she gripped the essence vessel in her other hand. Draw, imbue with mana, guide to the core, begin engraving. Let the essence follow the path of the engraving. It felt like her brain had turned into a three dimensional printer. Her point of focus darting about rapidly inside the core until it cracked and crumbled in her hand. She frowned but didn’t complain, she had plenty to work with.

Again.

Another broke.

Again.

Physically stable, runes were wrong.

Again.

Lattice of mana pathways was a mess.

Again.

Mana pathways are too wide.

Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.

A little closer each time, a little better, small improvements here and there. It was beyond harder than anything she’d done before. This wasn’t writing the humble engravings of a campfire or a flash bang grenade. It was like she was trying to draw out the circuitry of a computer. It was far simpler by a vast degree, but the more she examined the lines and wrote them the more she saw the way they doubled back, repeating now and then like if/then commands. Creating a golem was about hard logic but also artistic flair. Every core was slightly different and the material needed to be handled with a delicate touch. Every one had a chance for failure.

Yet success for Anna was inevitable. She willed it so. Demanded it of herself. Just like everything else this too would be something she would conquer and dominate, make her own. She felt the blood boiling in her veins and let it refine her focus even more, clear her mind and push her to the limits of what her brain was capable of.

Success came so suddenly, almost twenty hours into her near mechanical pursuit of her goal that she nearly dropped it when she felt the change. A buzzing hum rippled through her fingertips in a single pulse before fading and pulsing again. Like a little humming heartbeat. She opened her eyes and looked down at the core in her hand.

Active Unattuned Golem Core (Common-Grade)
The core of a golem. This core was crafted by an aspiring engraver and rendered active. A golem activated with his core will be able to understand and perform simple tasks. Unattuned, it must be introduced to either a primary material or a pre-fashioned body in order to serve its purpose.

Anna let out a breath as she read the notification, a tear forming in her eye as she cradled the tiny thing in her hands. This was the result of all of her hard work, all of her studying and toil and struggling. A functional golem core. She admired the engravings on the surface and the faint latticework that looked like a blurry web inside its transparent body. She wanted to use it right away but held herself back, she had an ultimate goal to pursue, she could play later.

Firming her resolve she made more, pushing herself to nearly a hundred mana tolerance before going to get some rest. She ate and slept, refreshing herself before returning to continue. She understood the inner workings of a core more and more with each creation. Studying them wasn’t enough, she had to make one, feel how it felt to craft it, if she wanted to appreciate the small details and intricacies. Another day or two, then she started the last phase of her training. She started repairing the fifty cores she had taken from the mine’s golems.

She re-engraved runes, erased broken lines using refined cores as material before creating new connections, she filled cracks, restored essence, and brought them back to life one by one. When she finished the last of the fifty she set it down with the others and let out a weary breath. She ran her fingers through her hair and went to rest one more time, showered one more time.

Tomorrow I do the overseer and the guardian cores. She told herself as she slipped off into dreamless slumber.

She woke with the giddy nervousness of someone knowing that they were going to have a life changing experience. It felt like a childhood birthday and a college entry exam rolled all into one. She prepared as she usually did, feeding herself, checking her resources and pointedly ignoring her level up notifications. They were a distraction she didn’t need. Not yet.

Anna sat down at her workstation and retrieved the Overseer core, the fight against the powerful golem feeling like so long ago. Her mind wandered, wondering how long it had been, but she pushed the thoughts aside. Worry about that later. She reminded herself as she used Analyze. It was more complicated than the standard cores of which there were now over a hundred with the repaired and personally made cores. She turned the core over in her hand, getting a feel for the damage, the runes that needed redrawing, and the latticework needing re-engraving.

“Not as bad as I’d expected,” She muttered and grabbed a handful of refined cores, setting them next to the overseer core before reaching for the essence vessel. She closed her eyes and set to work. It took three hours of painstaking and cautious repair before she felt the essence flow through the entire core and the buzzing heartbeat of an active core to hum against her hand. She’d expended five unrefined cores to have enough material to replace what had been lost, but she was done with it.

Active Unattuned Overseer Golem Core (Common-Grade)
The core of an overseer-type golem. This core was repaired by an aspiring engraver and rendered active. An overseer golem with this core will be able to understand and implement plans and more complicated tasks issued by the creator. It can be assigned a number of golems to control on behalf of its creator. Unattuned, it must be introduced to either a primary material or a pre-fashioned body in order to serve its purpose.

She blinked at the description, “Holy shit,” She said, turning it over in her hands, “It’s literally an overseer,” She glanced from it to the metric buttload of ready and waiting golem cores set off to the side and back at it, “Nice,” She said with a grin and set it down. It was as if that action was a trigger that set off butterflies in her stomach, nerves racing through her arms and legs. She tapped her foot and forced herself to glance over at the pedestal where her final task waited for her. She let out a sharp breath and licked her lips, caving to the temptation of checking her notifications if only to give herself a little more time to mentally prepare.

Level up! You have reached Level 10 in your Engraving Profession
+1 Ins, +1 Int, +1 Pre, +2 Free Points

Level up! You have reached Level 11 in your Engraving Profession
+1 Ins, +1 Int, +1 Pre, +2 Free Points

Level up! You have reached Level 12 in your Engraving Profession
+1 Ins, +1 Int, +1 Pre, +2 Free Points

Anna cleared her throat, Damn, I’m almost twice my class level in my profession. She thought, glancing at her current attributes.

Twenty-four points. She crossed her arms and considered her profession skills. Her engraving skill based its efficiency on her presence. She was fairly certain her stat was obscenely high for someone of her level and she wasn’t struggling with the actual process. What she needed was more clarity when she was using Analyze Engraving. That meant increasing her insight. It seemed a little crazy but she decided to go all in. Twenty-four points dumped straight into insight. That shot her stat right up to fifty two.

Title Earned!

Little Powerhouse (Rare)
You have managed to reach 250 total stats before your primary class has reached level ten. +5% to all stats.

Anna was taken aback, “That’s a thing?” She barked out a laugh, “Alright, I’ll take it!” She checked her new stats and resources.

Resources:
HP: 137/137 | SP: 79/79 | MT: 16/131

“Nice,” She murmured with a grin and a nod before glancing again at the Guardian Core, she let out a sharp breath, “Alright, I’m as ready as I can be,” She said and prepped her materials. She refilled the essence vessel, grabbed the whole box of spare refined cores, and marched her way over to the podium. She set down everything and put her hand on it, using Analyze Engraving and closing her eyes.

Fresh information poured into her brain, she saw the engravings and latticework with more clarity than before. She could see minor flaws in the runes that weren’t noticeable before. Little details that if she’d missed them would have created a failure. She nodded to herself. Alright, Anna, now or never. She psyched herself up, feeling for the source of that inferno that gave her focus and as if summoned it began to flood its way through her blood, determination and a hunger to succeed filling every cell of her body. Her eyes fell shut and she got to work.

One near microscopic lattice at a time, cracked, twisted, misaligned, they were erased and replaced. She worked her way through the core with the precision and steady mental ‘hand’ of a surgeon. She cut out what was broken or unnecessary, filling in the gaps from the material she’d worked so tirelessly to craft. Runes were restored with painstaking effort. She didn’t know all of the runes but they were complete enough to estimate where the lines should and shouldn’t go.

Sweat beaded on her brow as one hour turned to two, then to three. One refined core after another dissolved, the essence vessel dropping down to half capacity as more and more of the strange fluid energy moved through her body, was ignited by her mana, and sent pouring into the core. She felt the growing heat-ache of mana building in her body as the fifth hour came around. There still was so much to do, so many small problems that stacked on top of one another. It looked like a shockwave had pulsed through the core from multiple angles.

That thought nearly derailed her as she realized her own attacks had been the reason why this was so goddamn hard. She grit her teeth and regained her focus, the fire in her blood growing more and more intense as her heritage demanded perfection, demanded conquest. This was a challenge worthy of it and it seemed to let out a howl of delight as she reached more and more delicate parts of the core, a bit of coppery blood dripping down from her nose. Almost there… She pushed, Just a little more.

Erase, Fill, Re-engrave. Over and over the cycle went until she felt her knees buckle beneath her. She’d lost track of time, she knew her mana tolerance was getting closer to the limit. It had been barely over fifteen when she’d started but now- she shook her head and reigned her thoughts back in. She wouldn’t let anything distract her. She wanted this victory more than anything. She had to have it. She would have it. She squeezed her eyes shut. Come on, come on, come on!

BFFFFFFZZZTTT

The pulse was so intense she whipped her hand back instinctively, fearing the worst. Yet when she’d opened her eyes and nothing happened, she could only glance down at the sizeable sphere sitting in front of her.

Active Unattuned Guardian Golem Core (Rare-Grade)
The core of a guardian golem. This core was restored by an aspiring engraver and rendered active. Guardian Golems are highly customizable semi-intelligent entities that exist to protect their creator and their interests. Guardian golem cores can be improved with the right materials and their cores safely removed by their creator for modifications and even the implementation of skills. A guardian golem will behave autonomously if given orders and is fully capable of making decisions during combat situations. Guardian Golems cannot be bound to a primary material and can only be attuned to a pre-fabricated body.

“...I did it,” She breathed.

Quest Complete!

Truth of the Lumbering Mines, Part 5

You have claimed the legacy of the master of this Dungeon.

Restore the Guardian Core (1/1)

Rewards: Profession Upgrade, Improved Final Rewards, Experience

“I did it!” She shouted.

A new profession upgrade will be made available for your level 25 (first milestone) advancement. Calculating…

Tyrannical Golem Master (Epic)

Her eyes went wide, “Oh…”

Level up! You have reached Level 8 in your class, Caster.
+1 Int, +2 Wil, +3 Pre, +1 Ins, +1 Awa, +9 Free Points

The floor beneath her feet rumbled and she spun on her heel, the core clutched tightly in her hand. Before her, the vault began to open, the doors sliding apart of their own accord and revealing the room of treasures beyond. Her heart caught in her chest, her smile growing even wider. There were shiny things in there, for sure, she could see a few things just from where she was standing. Yet the only thing she had eyes for was the eight foot tall mass of lovingly crafted metal standing at the entrance.

“Perfect.”