Chương 1295: 1294. Rún

The smooth, well-sculpted face of an androgynous man, separated in sections to allow movement and expressions, but covered in a thin white enamel, making it look like pristine porcelain. As Seth's eyes wandered over the body of his(?) new creation, he found this was the only, purely decorative part of the golem.

He classified it as golem, because it was clearly a golem, Overall it existence was closer to Ceres who had become a living golem, than the Faer or Asterion who became artificial life forms, as proven by a simple look at the rest of its body. The delicate frame Seth had created was now covered in a shell that gave the wiry skeleton a human silhouette, but closely resembled something like a clockwork warrior or robot like Strix.

Most of this shell was made up of the <Refined Fey Steel> Seth had dropped, but it seemed to have mixed into an alloy with the dusts and parts the storm had swallowed, giving it a slight golden tint. Creating a stylized contrast to the streamlined metal parts, were colorful inlays of translucent stone, created from the elemental crystals, gem dust and gem cuts it had picked up around the workshop, the storm had probably scavenged their recycling bin...

But unlike the face, the clockwork automaton's outward appearance that gave a distinct steampunk vibe was not just for show. Seth only needed a glance to find that the beautiful inlay work of precious stones was actually covering complicated magic circuits that worked in a similar manner to his own engraving and inlays.

Seth couldn't instantly appraise their exact effects, but he was able to tell that they were meant to further enhance the power of magic, cast by the golem, which would further empower its skills when casting magic and enchantments. He was so fascinated by the unexpected turn of events that he was not even disappointed that his attempt of outdoing Forgebrand by creating a workshop assistant of flesh and blood had ended in failure.

As if waiting for the blacksmith to finish giving it a once-over, the golem took a step back and gave a deep, formal bow to its creator. Then it looked up at him, a gleeful smile on the porcelain face.

"Thank you for giving me a body, Master," the golem said kindly. Seth was instantly reminded of when he contacted the soul's ego using <Telepathy> to try and see whether it still remembered anything. After all, he had his doubts whether this was the soul of Augur Ursson. Considering the happening he just witnessed, Seth had an epiphany as he finally understood why this happened as he remembered his worries.

Any human soul, with even an inkling left of their former self, especially one with an ego, would yearn for a body of blood and flesh. But a soul, purely made up of enchantment knowledge, and no personality whatsoever, what kind of body would it create? Evidently, one as perfectly suited to performing enchantments as possible. This not only greatly surprised him, but it also calmed his worries, as it meant this was most likely not the true soul of Augur Ursson.

"Well, we are not done yet. Are we?" Seth said with a relieved smile and summoned the Waters of Styx. A large ball of clear water appeared beside him, and he motioned the automaton to step inside. The golem halted for a moment before it nodded and smoothly walked straight into the water. <Ding! You have finished a fascinating work! > <Ding! A synergy between materials has changed the work. > <Ding! You have earned 1000p of Power of Existence. > This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road.

If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Seth's eyebrow rose a little, hearing the notification. A fascinating work, yes, it was, but where did the 1000p come from? Usually, he only got those when he used a legendary material in building a golem, making the golem a being close to a legendary existence, somewhat. Had it incorporated the dust of some of the legendary materials Seth had used in the past?

He had not seen any signs of that on the outside, had it utilized some parts made of legendary materials below its shell? Interesting. <Ding! Your skill <Engineer lv. 7> has become <Engineer lv. 8>! > <Ding! Your skill <Golem Artisan lv. 9> has become <Golem Artisan lv. max>! > The other two announcements were even more surprising. Seth's <Engineer> skill had just recently leveled up during the crafting of the mounts for the Horsemen, and now it leveled up again already.

It seemed that if he wanted to raise this skill, just using the golem forge would do it. His legacy skill <Golem Artisan> which was the basis for this very method of creating a golem based on a soul instead of just using the soul as a power supply. Seth had not expected for it to level up anymore after reaching lv. 9. But since it finally reached the max level, Seth felt a little disappointed, as it didn't evolve into a higher skill.

At first glance, the only improvement it brought was making the skill more efficient. This was great in case he had to use this skill on the fly, but to him who already had all kinds of trump cards he could use on the fly, it was not that great of an improvement.

"Will you give me a name, Master?" the golem asked expectant, interrupting his thoughts. Although the soul seemed to have no human influence, it didn't mean that the ego was without emotions. It seemed eager to receive a name. Seth focused back on the situation at hand.. Had the golem taken a human form, the blacksmith may have felt inclined to give it the name it had when it was alive, but now he was convinced that this was not Augur Ursson. He had given this situation some thought, but not enough.

He currently had no name in mind.

"Do you have a name you would like?" Seth asked to buy some time. Maybe, if the automaton had an idea, he could go with that. However, the new assistant only cocked his head, giving him a confused, questioning look. Of course, an ego without any life experiences may not have any preferences or even a knowledge of names.

"How about Rún? I always liked the sound of that, and it can have various meanings that tie in with your talents, " Seth finally suggested. The name could be translated to Rune, like magical runes used in enchantment, but it could also mean hidden wisdom or secret. Maybe it wasn't the most fancy or creative name, calling the enchantment golem Rune, but Seth didn't think it was too bad either and he was honest when he said that he liked the sound of the name.

"Run, Rune, Rún...." the golem phoned in its new name." I like Rún, too. From now on, I'm Rún," the new assistant introduced himself after practicing his name. The Genius Enchanter's Soul had gotten a new body, but there was one decision left to make. Disregarding whether he could or not, should Seth add Rún to the <Spirit Smithy>? This would make the golem summonable and more convenient if he needed him, but it also meant fixing its skill level to his own." Rún, what is your current level in <Enchantment>?"

the blacksmith asked Rún.

Although appraising a soul could tell him the amount of knowledge and the number of skills, it rarely quantified what level the skills were. Seth guessed that the skill would probably be on the same level as Augur Ursson, even if this was not his soul, but the blacksmith couldn't remember it for the life of him. he knew that he read it when appraising his items, but that was half a lifetime ago.

"My <Enchantment> is level 9 of the journeyman tier," Rún answered without hesitation. A moment after he said this, he vanished into thin air and reappeared the next moment. Seth had used <Eyes of the Maestro> the same moment he asked, and his decision was instantaneous when he saw that Rún was not even a craftsman. How was he supposed to help him if he was not at least on his skill level?

If it didn't work, he would have had to raise the golem on the side and ask Al'Zalsar for help in the meantime, however, the addition to the <Spirit Smithy> worked on his first try, as he still remembered how it felt to add Neloth. <Ding! You have added Rún to the <Spirit Smithy>. As a new assistant, its skill levels will be adjusted to fit yours. > A similar notification to when he added Neloth rang in his mind, but this time, the system function worked in his favor.

The skill levels were not corrected down, but upward to meet his own. As he watched the changes in Rún's status window, Seth found a few other interesting things.