The Land: Monsters

by Aleron Kong

  Now that he could see the energy hidden within the golem, he knew exactly why his enchantment efficiency was so low. The construct wasn’t just an automaton made of dirt, roots and stone. What could be seen with the naked eye was actually the least important part in some ways. What Richter could now see was a rudimentary nervous system comprised entirely of green Earth magic. As soon as the blue mana coming from him touched the golem, it was absorbed and converted into energy that the golem could use.

  The hidden network of light looked like a stick figure. Richter could also now see that the canister of elemental earth stone was in the center close to where a heart would be. Radiating out like a starfish, there were five lines extending to the head, arms and legs. At the end of each line was a glowing cluster of energy. Pulses of light flowed up and down each pathway.

  He could now see that the reason he’d been wasting mana was that some parts of the golem were more brightly lit than others. The pulses of light were also irregular in some areas, making the lines of light shake. It was obvious now that the mana he was supplying wasn’t being distributed equally. Because his mana had to be both converted and redistributed when it entered the golem, it was causing some of his energy to be lost to the ether.

  After a bit of experimentation, Richter found that while the lines connecting the clusters of energy to the elemental earth stone could absorb his mana, it was a much better idea to channel his power into the main nodes. Now that he could actually see where his power was going, the mistakes he’d been making were so obvious!

  Richter slowed the mana transfer even further and let both of his hands hover over the cluster of energy in the lower leg. This section of the golem was the darkest. After only a few seconds, it started to glow brighter. The pulses of light flowing between the energy cluster and the elemental earth stone also steadied. He checked his progress, and let out a very satisfied sigh.

  Inferior Golem being constructed. 14% completed. Enchantment Efficiency: 68%

  Just that one change increased his efficiency by 20%. Excited, Richter poured more mana into the left leg, but quickly slowed back down. When he’d increased the flow, the pulses of light had grown more chaotic. That was when he realized that it wasn’t just where he was placing the energy, but at what rate. The pulses evened out again, and Richter saw that the node in the right arm was beginning to darken compared to the rest. He held one mana tether over the arm’s cluster and, again, the pulses of light started to flow more regularly. Not only in the extremities, but through the entire golem.

  Inferior Golem being constructed. 15% completed. Enchantment Efficiency: 73%

  Richter kept experimenting, sometimes keeping both hands in the same place and other times keeping them separate. Once or twice he stopped the mana flow altogether when he saw the lines of light growing unstable, the matrix needing time to assimilate the energy he had provided. As soon as he saw conduits begin to darken or the pulses of light begin to slow, he would start the mana flow again. It was clear now that the process of golem creation was as much art as science. If he didn’t have the monocle, this would have just been a process of blind experimentation and blinder luck, but with it, he was able to achieve something great. The prompts he received confirmed it.

  Inferior Golem being constructed. 97% completed. Enchantment Efficiency: 90%

  His efficiency had catapulted. Richter kept trying new things, looking for that solid three-digit one hundred, but once his efficiency hit ninety, almost nothing he did seemed to get it any higher. Since he’d done so much better than before, he wasn’t complaining. A minute later, he got an even better notification.

  Congratulations! You have created a Rank 1, Inferior Earth Golem with a 90% Enchantment Efficiency. At this point, you can finish and claim your golem, or you can invest more mana to increase its rank. It should be known that by achieving a 90% efficiency, your current golem will be awarded a bonus. If you attempt to increase its rank further, only the final Enchantment Efficiency will be considered.

  What is your wish, Enchanter?

  1) Cease transferring mana

  2) Continue transferring mana to increase your golem’s rank

  You have 1 minute to decide. During this time, you can cease the mana flow with no decay of the golem’s body or matrix. 60, 59, 58, 57…

  Richter took the break gratefully. Not only would it let him replenish a bit of his MPs, but he could also examine his creation. During its growth, it had just looked like a loose collection of dirt, pebbles and roots, albeit in roughly humanoid form.

  Now that its first rank was achieved, its surface grew pebbly. The spaces between its constituent parts grew smaller, and it looked more cohesive. It was four feet long and he could see the faint aspect of a face on its head. It lacked any distinct sensory organs, but had a knob for a nose and faint slit for a mouth.

  While the exterior was unimpressive, the glowing matrix underneath was beautiful to him. All five nodes and the cylinder core were glowing in sync. Packets of energy flowed up and down the five lines of its frame. They all met in its center, glowing in perfect harmony. Richter couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride as he looked at his creation. Any craftsman would understand.

  As much as he liked it though, he was hungry for more. The chaos lord chose the second option. He watched, mesmerized, as the golem’s matrix evolved. New clusters of energy appeared on the stick figure, five in all. Four of them were positioned where elbows and knees would be. The fifth formed a groin. Whereas the inferior golem looked like a star, the magical framework of the lesser golem looked much more like a man.

  The energy that had been flowing languidly in the inferior golem grew chaotic as the new nodes fought to siphon energy from the whole. Thanks to the monocle, this situation did not last long. Richter started pouring his mana into the new nodes a bit at a time. He had to move his hands frequently to balance out the energy, but soon the power inside of the golem had evened out once again.

  After that, it was only a matter of continuing to supply the mana it needed to reach its 2,500 MP threshold. There was only one real problem. To create the inferior golem, he’d been able to limit his mana output to only 5 MP/minute. Once he’d learned about the hidden framework, that had been all that was required to keep the matrix stable. He’d found that he could safely increase the flow rate to 15 MP/minute before the structure began to degrade.

  That would have been no problem, but using the monocle required 1 MP per second. He’d had to turn the epic device on and off to keep his mana expenditure lower than his regen. The strain of doing so had worn at him though, and the problem only got worse now that the golem he was trying to craft was of the second rank.

  The lesser golem required a minimum of 10 MP to be invested per minute. He also found the new framework could take a flow of 20 MP/min. That was good and bad. Good because every second he spent doing this was eroding his concentration. It had taken almost an hour and a half to reach the inferior rank. A headache had started to form thirty minutes in, and it was a steady throbbing by the time he’d finished. Being able to invest mana faster meant he could be done faster.

  The downside was that using more mana increased the strain on his mental reserves. It would get harder to focus, and his headache would worsen into true pain. Still, he proceeded as quickly as possible. It wasn’t just the strain of prolonged magic use he had to worry about. He needed to find food and water. Right now, his hunger and thirst were making him angry and causing him pain. If he ignored them, the debuffs would kill him.

  Another hour-and-a-half later, his enchantment efficiency had dropped by several points. His headache had evolved into a full-blown migraine. He could hear a faint ringing in his ears, and his arms were aching. Feeling within himself, he saw that his own mana channels were getting “sore” for lack of a better word.

  He’d never kept a sustained flow of magic up for this long before. It was like asking an MMA fighter to hold up a five-pound weight. At first it would be laughable. Af
ter several hours, it would be painful. If you forced it long enough, tendons could snap.

  Thankfully, all his hard work wasn’t without reward.

  Congratulations! You have created a Rank 2, Lesser Earth Golem with an 87% Enchantment Efficiency…

  The rest of the prompt was the same as before, including his one-minute grace period to decide what to do next. His efficiency had dipped a bit, thanks to the new structure being harder to keep the energy flows balanced in, but he’d still done a good job in his estimation. The final matrix was just as stable as when he’d completed the inferior golem. In contrast, the exterior of the construct had changed a good deal.

  The “skin” of the golem had progressed from just being a loose collection of rocks to looking like it was composed of grey mortar. It had also grown a foot in height. All told, it was a little over five feet in length. The facial features were more pronounced and three stubby digits now tipped each appendage. If the chaos lord had to guess, it must weigh at least another hundred pounds compared to its previous rank.

  Richter didn’t hesitate long before making his decision. He’d spent nearly 3,000 MP to make this golem, taking the waste into account. His mana pool was still full, but the mental strain was taking a serious toll on him. He’d almost lost his concentration twice. Both times, the framework had started to vibrate violently, but he’d regained control. The threat of failure was much more real now that he knew he was looking at something that contained thousands of points of mana. It only cost thirty mana to throw a lightning bolt or eighty to summon a fireball. He didn’t want to be sitting next to the golem if the thousands of MPs went wild all at once.

  In spite of all of that, Richter felt he could still handle the next rank. It would have been impossible without the Monocle of Niclewis, but with it, he was in control. Besides, when his back was against the wall, that was when he shined. It had definitely been harder to stabilize the flows for the second rank, but Richter knew he could do more. Even down in the depths of The Land, forgotten and outgunned, he was still a goddamn boss!

  Richter chose to advance his creation to the third rank. As soon as he made his decision, the matrix evolved to a higher level of complexity. It had the same basic stick figure structure, but more nodes were added. Four went to where someone’s shoulders and hips would be. The largest change, however, was the number of lines connecting the nodes. Now there were two lines between each cluster of light. One line had pulses travelling away from the elemental cylinder, and the other had pulses travelling toward it.

  With these changes, the matrix immediately grew unstable again, and Richter had to scramble to stabilize it. It quickly became apparent that this was more difficult by an order of magnitude. For the lower ranks, all he’d needed to do was pour energy into the nodes, and the packets of energy flowing between them would equalize. With two distinct links between each cluster, one might flow faster than the other. That made one node too strong, triggering instability, and the other two weak, darkening that part of the matrix. He swiftly found that in addition to putting mana into the junctions, he had to delicately add energy to the linkages themselves. With so many new nodes, there were more than a dozen energy tethers.

  One final detail made it even worse. The bare minimum mana flow the matrix could accept was 25 MP/minute. With needing to use the monocle as well, his regen rate was pushed to the limit. It took all of Richter’s focus just to keep up with the framework’s demands. He felt like a man bailing water out of a sinking ship. Nearly every move he made to correct an imbalance caused another part of the matrix to become unstable. His enchantment efficiency fell.

  Again and again, Richter had to dip into his mana pool to shore up a weak part of the golem’s structure. Sweat ran down his face. The monocle protected his right eye, but he was forced to close his left. He couldn’t even wipe the sweat free for fear the golem would destabilize. Both of his hands played over the construct’s body like a pianist playing Flight of the Bumblebee. An hour passed, then another. Richter’s attention began to seriously wander.

  After months of using magic, channeling his mana wasn’t difficult. Richter thought of it like driving a car. When you were learning to drive it seemed impossible to keep track of all the other cars, but in time it became like second nature. Just like being on the road though, a certain amount of mental focus was required. If you didn’t pay attention, you could still wind up in a ditch. Given enough time, your brain power got exhausted and the chances for mistakes increased exponentially.

  The problem was, using magic had a cumulative negative effect on one’s concentration. The longer you used it, the more of a toll it took. Richter had heard from the new village magicians that they had to rest between spell castings, even if they had enough mana for a spell. They just couldn’t focus enough to ensure they wouldn’t miscast. That was one of the first times he’d really understood how powerful the mental focus boon of Alma’s Psi Bond could be.

  Richter had never really had a problem with the mental drain of casting. Between his training with Alma, his Psi Bond ability, and the fact that his spells were all low level, he rarely had a spell miscast, and almost never had a spell feedback, the true bane of casters. If that happened, a mage was rendered helpless, unable to move, let alone use magic.

  Even when Richter cast several spells in quick succession, each time he channeled mana lasted only for a few seconds. The cumulative time was never more than a few minutes between his depleting his mana pool and his spells’ cooldown times. Creating the golem was different. The same way the monotonous road could make your mind drift, so did investing his mana in a gradual way over a period of hours.

  The situation was actually even worse than that. It was not only because the increased mana flow required by higher-ranked golems was harder to control, but also because his mana pool was getting ever closer to being depleted. There was a physical effect to bottoming out your MPs. While a drop in stamina would make you feel exhausted, a decrease in mana caused headaches, decreased concentration and even loss of consciousness. Put another way, while the demands on Richter’s concentration were growing, his mind was growing more fatigued from overuse and his mental energy was draining.

  He still didn’t quit. The main thing keeping him going was his Psi Bond ability having advanced to level seven. The actual description of the bonus to his mental abilities was “Tasks that once required great mental discipline are now laughably easy. Massively reduced risk of spell miscast.” He certainly wasn’t laughing, but despite his Dehydrated and Ravenous debuffs Richter forced his mind to stay focused. Failure was not an option.

  More time passed. Ultimately, more than two hours had elapsed in the tunnel and his Light spells had long since faded away. The only light now came from the flow of mana into the golem. Richter wouldn’t have noticed even if there was no light at all. All of his focus was on the golem’s glowing matrix. Almost in a fugue, the chaos lord forcefully ignored the pain in his head and body. He was as helpless now as when he’d passed out, but there was no other choice. He had to finish the golem’s framework. If he faltered for even an instant, all the magic it contained could go rushing back into him.

  Sweat beading his brow, the chaos lord poured his very essence into his creation. He lost his concentration several times. Near the end, he poured too much mana into a node. It had flashed wildly, shooting power through the entire system. Energy leaked out of the construct, lost to the ether.

  The elemental cylinder had started flashing dangerously and, in his heart, Richter knew he was only seconds away from complete failure. It was only with quick, nearly intuitive, actions that he’d managed to stabilize the energy matrix. His breath came in wild huffs and his heart thudded in his chest. The golem creation counter dropped by 5%, but moving deliberately and with great care, Richter regained the lost ground.

  After more than four hours, it was finally done.

  CHAPTER 28 – Day 151 – Juren 2, 0 AoC

  Richter fell back on the g
round, pulling in deep, shaking breaths. His sides heaved liked he’d just finished a mile-long sprint. There was such relief that he didn’t need to focus anymore that tears fell from his eyes. When he wiped them away, the sweat finally found its way in and stung him terribly. A prompt awaited his perusal, but the chaos lord ignored it. The next few minutes were for him. He lay there, celebrating that he hadn’t blown himself up, and just breathed.

  If any other enchanter knew that Richter was able to successfully make a third rank golem with no support, or potions to replenish his mana, they’d faint from shock. That feat would make him desirable in any kingdom’s court. The fact that he had done it on the first try would make them look at him like he was a monster.

  Golem creation was a demanding and exacting art that ended in failure as often as not. Even finding an elemental resource with a respectable mana level was difficult. The chaos lord didn’t know it, but the cylinder he’d just used could be sold for several hundred gold. Most Enchanters wouldn’t be able to obtain one even if they had the money. People did not often sell these kinds of precious resources.

  Even if someone managed to procure such an item, having it and being able to unlock its potential were two completely different things. Richter’s augmented psyche, the use of the monocle, his bloodline and his Limitless ability made possible something that should have been beyond the capabilities of a new Enchanter. If any one of those had been lacking, he would have failed, most likely with tragic results.

  After long minutes, he finally composed himself enough to see the fruits of his labor.