16: Bad Omens

[Year 16 Month 3: 3 Months have passed]

[Blessed: 2151 – 102 + 542]

[You have slain 5 Dire Bears]

[You have leveled up twice]

[You are level 42]

Over the past half year, the adventurer population of Runehold had surged. This was caused by the discovery and subsequent exploration of another segment of the dungeon.

The new segment was made up of 7 floors. It was thematically elemental in nature, with each floor having its own element, including a floor for earth elementals, which meant that, every once in a while, a natural earth golem would spawn and had the potential to be different materials, both mundane and magical.

Naturally, the magically appearing golems drew my interest, as I had yet to find ways to get large quantities of ‘magic’ metals, and Astrid was getting a little terse about my purchases.

Especially when I requested more magisteel…

Safe to say she was not happy.

I, on the other hand, was very happy when I scrounged together the magisteel and other materials to create another [Runic Assistant].

[You have created a Runic Assistant]

[Runic Assistant lvl 1]

[Please assign a name]

Already having decided on the name, it came easily.

“Codex”

[Name Accepted]

Once again another psudo-[sapient] rune was engraved into my main body, right next to the other one. I wondered if there would be a day I ran out of space on it. It would make sense that I could, while the runes only took a small bit of surface area, if I had enough mana regeneration and materials, I could completely cover myself in [Runic Assistants].

Breaking me from my thoughts was the thin connection that snapped into place after the rune had completed its formation.

“Hello User Gol, I can perform the following tasks-” The new assistant completed its spiel, having listened to it once, and since nothing had changed, I just tuned it out, waiting for it to finish.

“I want you to focus on the Research and Development. New golems, alloy mixtures, anything. I know some pretty good science from my old world, but I need to begin adapting.”

So far, I had really only experimented with a few skills, and while this was the most important thing, there was so much more I could discover and use. When I was eventually discovered or revealed my presence, I wanted to have an advantage.

Codex responded, “If you wish, I can focus on all of these at once, but if there is anything in particular, I can accelerate the research by devoting my complete processing power to the research.

Hm. What would I want first? “Higher-level golems, level 15 [Steel Golems] are acceptable for my labor force, but I need actual combat units that were much higher leveled. “Research stronger golems. If it’s faster to not focus on form but function.”

The runic assistant acknowledged my order.

I was a little worried a few months ago when a large group of the kingdom’s soldiers arrived at Runehold’s gates and came with a letter directly from the king stating they were to investigate for mystical influences.

Fortunately, I had hidden the various pillars and obelisks that I used to expand my influence underground when first setting up Runehold as an outpost.

The only visible obelisk was the one at the entrance before the dungeon; while it attracted some attention, it was more due to its inherent value and not suspicion. It was obvious they didn’t know exactly what to search for, but they were searching nonetheless.

It took another month before they returned to the capital, having found nothing. The closest they came to finding Gorn was also here, and I was forced to halt the Steel Golems running to channel more mana into the wards around the village.

Once or twice, their scouts ran into the barrier, and although they looked a tiny bit confused, the overclocked wards did their job and made them believe they turned around intentionally.

When the soldiers left my sphere of influence, I sighed and reactivated my golems. One of which had been partially melted as its hands were frozen when coming into contact with a running smeltery.

Oh well. I guess we can get that one replaced.

Regardless, based on the increase in scrutiny from the adventurers’ guild, the church, and the kingdom itself, Metis predicted a few more years, which I would use to my advantage.

[Year 16 Month 3: 3 Months have passed]

[Blessed: 2591 – 63 + 73]

Codex had made good progress over the last few months, and I was quite pleased.

It was interesting to watch Codex and Metis grow, both having leveled a few times, with the latter having a few more as she had been around a little longer. It seemed that their rune constructs were capable of limited growth, and while I doubted they would ever truly be ‘alive,’ they were close enough to leave me surprised.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Codex, having been hard at work for the past three months, had developed a few other types of golems, but for the most part, very little other than their visual appearance changed.

Yet the first breakthrough was when he attempted to inlay wires into the metal of golems. These wires would help shape the mana currents that gave the golems life. The first few golems that he had attempted it on were almost completely ruined, coming out at level 5 [Junk Golems], but once the runic scientist had a few more attempts

Yet he had foreboding news.

“User Gol, as my research requires precise control of mana and the environment, I have tracked a slow accumulation of unnatural mana. It is extremely minute in concentration, and possibly represents less than half a percent of the ambient mana, but it is growing.”

“What do you mean by ‘unnatural?”

“I apologize for the lack of explanation. It is what the locals call ‘corruption’ mana. Otherwise known as the mana that Vexus produces when replicating.”

Oh. Wait, wasn’t this early for another invasion cycle?

I checked my clock, and sure enough, it hadn’t even been 5 years since the last boss was slain. As neither Codex nor I knew, I called Metis. Her administration job was honestly more of a constant monitoring of Runehold, so she was much more likely to know the answer.