Chapter 148 – Testing the new creation.

The sound of some kind of liquid being poured could be heard. It was then followed by the sound of metal being singed.

“There, that should do it…”

“Are you sure boss? What if it explodes like the last time?”

“That’s why we are doing it outside this time around, just hide behind those metal plates if something goes wrong.”

Roland and Bernir were standing outside his home and where an empty unoccupied field was. On the ground was a four-legged contraption that looked similar to a very blocky insect. Ten meters from it were thick slabs of metal shoved into the ground.

“Okay, I’ll activate the bug-bot mark 2 now.”

Roland proclaimed while Bernir ducked behind the protective metal. Agni was also there and was ordered to keep his distance and alert them if any people came too close to their testing area.

“You sure come up with interesting names there Boss.”

He frowned a bit after Bernir started chuckling, he was not sure how to name this thing but it needed something to distinguish it from others. Everything that he learned from making it would be written down later into his notebook so that he would have a point of reference. The prototype looked like a big metallic bug so it was named like one, it seemed just natural to him.

After placing the wand that he used to close the golem’s ‘fuel tank’ he was ready to activate it. Previously he used something that should have been powering a heavy-duty golem or a train. He truly made a blunder due to being actually excited to see if he would be able to produce a real magical robot

‘Click’

This time around a remote was used to turn the creation on. Then Roland quickly ducked behind the other slab of metal to cover up. Even though he survived the previous explosion with some minor injuries it didn’t mean that he enjoyed it.

The small insect-like golem activated and rose up. Roland started giving it a few voiced commands to move back and forth. This time it didn’t look like it would be exploding. Previously the compartment that stored the mana fluid had gotten orange from overheating, this time around it looked fine.

“By Solaria’s tits, you’ve done it boss, you’ve made a golem!”

Bernir peeked out from behind the cover as he saw the small metallic contraption shuffling its legs around. It followed Roland’s instructions and didn’t seem to be falling apart either.

“It seems to be working but I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

“Hah, don’t sell yourself short boss, any craftsman could make those parts but almost none could actually bring life to them.”

Bernir had a certain strange look to him, his eyes were glued to the golem and they were sparkling. While this was a large achievement to Roland it was even a bigger deal to Bernir. Dwarves were born craftsmen, they strived to further their craft and golems were right on top of that totem pole.

While there weren’t that many runesmiths that could actually put runes to metal, it was enough for these dwarves to just be part of the creation process.

“Heh, I don’t think those old scruffy-bearded bastards would actually believe that I helped a runesmith create a golem!”

While Bernir was in his own little world Roland approached the small runic robot that he made. It didn’t seem that it would be exploding so he started to inspect the joints and the power source.

“It looks to be holding, I guess we can move onto phase two now.”

“Phase two?”

“Yes, we need to stress test it, if you notice something be sure to tell me during the test.”

Just like with any other prototypes, they weren’t the finished product. While this small golem was now working he needed to try to destroy it. It needed to push it as hard as he could, thanks to this he would figure out the limits of his new creation.

Thus the testing continued, first the little golem needed to run as fast as it could. It shuffled its legs back and forth. The first problem was spotted as after a certain threshold the magic robot started fumbling over its own legs.

It also had a problem in keeping itself steady on uneven ground. The generic program that it had did a bad job at letting it detect smaller obstacles like rocks. Sometimes it would trip over them or fall into smaller holes.

Going over softer ground also posed a problem as it got stuck and couldn’t get itself out. Only when following some specific voice commands was it able to dig itself out.

Throwing rocks at it also proved unsatisfactory as the golem was not able to react to anything in time. It was clear that even a weak adventurer could easily dance around this contraption that he made.

Next came the strength test. They started putting large rocks and then boulders onto the golem to see if it could move the same with added weight. It was actually surprisingly sturdy but the slowdown was quite noticeable after a certain threshold was reached. Next was an easy pull test where the golem had to try pulling a large rock behind it which was quite surprising as it did have some pulling power.

This was then followed by a flipping test. This was one of the tests that it outright failed. It remained on its back like a turtle with its legs flailing around. It was clear that if he wanted it to be able to function after getting flipped he would need to add some changes.

One such change could be to add a wider range of motion to the legs. The joints could become looser if that was attempted so he could also add something to the golems back that would flip it over instead.

“Are you sure about this boss?”

“Yeah go ahead.”

Bernir gave out a sigh while hefting a sledgehammer over his shoulder. Soon he swung it down on the golem that he helped make. The hit forced the metallic construction to buckle under pressure and Roland was quick to note everything down.

“Put some strength into it!”

This would be the last test of the day and Bernir clearly was saddened by the fact that he needed to destroy the bug-bot mark 2. Following the instructions, he delivered a hard blow to the body which now left a clear mark.

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The golem’s legs gave out and one of the joints came loose. Roland kept looking as after the damage was done the golem started acting strangely. It was all over the place, it couldn’t keep its balance and the three working legs were spasming out.

“Interesting, even though it should be able to keep itself upright with only three legs, it can’t.”

It was clear that the runic program that was responsible for this golem’s functions was not designed to take losing even one leg into account. If it shifted its weight and let the other three legs take some load off, it should be able to still function.

“Try hitting the other side now but don’t damage the golem core.”