Chương 38: 38 loop 1 part 18

But before we actually got started, the Keeper forced me to meditate for two hours. Even though I realistically could have stopped at an hour and a half. I wasn't sure if she hated me. But I had a theory. [Ambient Draw] had done some of the work while I focused on not dying of boredom. My pool sat at 390 usable, which was as full as it got with the tether holding its portion. I had stopped being annoyed about it. Mostly because being annoyed required mental energy I didn't want to spend.

And it seemed like my uncle was doing slightly better, given that the pulsing was nowhere near as frantic as it'd been last night. Despite the Keeper expanding the room, it hadn't gotten any less cramped or chaotic. Benches were pushed against benches. Batteries were in columns at odd angles. Fifteen golem frames in various states of put together stood between the mess in uneven lines. The parts to make even more were in front of each one. The Keeper was staring at me when I opened my eyes.

"Ready?" I asked.

"I have been ready for considerably longer than you have," she said. I pointed at the nearest frame.

"Which one do I start with?"

"None of them. Not yet." She crossed the room with her little golem steps, gold boots striking against the floor. She stopped beside the nearest frame and rested one stony hand against it.

"The beginner's manual that you read is accurate, as far as things go. It will take you through the four steps of putting together a golem. [Align], [Slot], [Bind], and [Wake]. But the problem with the manual is, it seems to suggest that the best way to create a golem is one at a time. This is quite the mana-heavy expenditure. These spells combine for upwards of 500 mana. But as I have mentioned, there is a more efficient way to do this." I waited for her to continue.

The nice thing about the Keeper was that waiting was always more productive than asking leading questions, which meant there was less work for me to do in the conversation." [Mana Tether] is the foundational spell of Golem-craft. Somewhere along the line, it was lost to history, and most enchanters moved on to other more expensive means." She crossed to the nearest frame and rested one stone hand against its chest cavity, where the battery sat dormant in its cradle.

"When Queen Therumia first discovered the Lost Library, she led her golem army down into the lower levels. It was there she found a spell book devoted to tether magic." I didn't ask what happened to the golem army. I had a feeling that answer was also somewhere in the lower levels." [Mana Tether] and [Soul Tether] were the obvious finds. The alteration spell [Tether Link] was more obscure.

[Tether Bomb] was also present, though I don't suppose I need to explain why that is not one I will be teaching you how to use." She moved her golem mouth in a crude attempt at a smile. I did not ask her to explain [Tether Bomb]. I was reasonably sure I already knew.

"What [Mana Tether] gives you is the ability to link up to sixteen golems into a single unit. [Wake] activates all the mana cores at once. [Mana Tether] is what ties them together so that [Wake] has something to activate." That left me with one question.

"I only have 390 mana I can cast from. How the hell am I supposed to cast all of this, and [Wake], if all of the spells together cost 500 mana?"

"Normally, your rather inadequate mana pool would be a problem. However, there is no need to be alarmed."

"Why wouldn't I need to worry?"

"Because you, unlike most mages, have a teacher that is willing to be patient and allow you to rest between casts." She moved back from the nearest frame, the one she'd been standing beside since I walked in.

"Golems work on enchantment, and as you well know, enchantments seldom decay. This is true of golems as well. A finished golem does not need to be held together by ongoing mana investment. You build it once. The enchantments hold. Which means there is no rule requiring you to activate all four in a single session." She paused.

"You will build the frames first. Prepare them. That work costs very little. When your pool is full again, you will handle what remains." I looked at the row of golem supplies with slightly more attention than I'd given it when hauling it all in alongside everything else. During my hauling, I hadn't been making individual assessments. I'd been more concerned with grabbing everything I could and playing with my new passives. There were more than a dozen unbuilt golem frames to choose from.

I walked the back line slowly, as if considering. But once I had looked at them, I had made my choice. The longer I spent on this, the longer it would be before I meditated again. I involuntarily shuddered. The three smallest frames were out almost immediately. They weren't even to my knees. I had no idea what kind of work such tiny things could be used for. Except maybe for propelling a bed. Well. There was an idea. I could line the golems up at the corners of a bed, and the bed could take me around.

I put that away for later. The large frame at the end gave me pause. It was twice as big as I was, and half again as wide. I was pretty sure the added mana cost of enchanting something that size would end up biting me in the ass if I went with it. That left me with four midsized frames and one rather large frame. Within moments of looking at the line, I said, "I choose these four." The Keeper moved down the line, one golem hand brushing each frame in turn before shoving the others aside.

When the four I had chosen were the only ones left standing, she spoke. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Good. The battery cavities are compatible. None of them have warped enough to cause problems during alignment." She paused.

"I'm curious, though, as to why you chose these specific four."

"I chose these four because they looked right." I could tell she didn't like my answer, because she tutted. But then she continued." [Mana Tether], as best as we can tell from our research, was built by early practitioners of the craft. They needed to activate more golems than a single mana pool could individually support. During a violent, brutal war."

"Practical people," I said.

"Desperate more than practical, I'm afraid. They lost their war. It's a miracle any records of this civilization survived. We aren't quite sure what took them out, but it is believed they are the civilization that built this library." She did not explain further. Instead, she raised one stone hand, wand produced from somewhere in the golem's chest cavity, and cast." [Mana Tether]." [Mana Tether — Enchantment] Cost: Variable mana. 20 mana per link.

Links the mana reserves of target batteries or mages into a shared network. Duration: Until dispelled or network exhausted. Four lines of pale blue light threaded out from the tip of her wand, connecting to each battery in sequence—one after another, quick and precise. The lines held for a moment and then faded, leaving something that wasn't visible but was nonetheless present. There was a faint pressure across all four frames at once, like a room where the temperature had shifted without warning.

She let the link sit for a moment, then dispelled it.

"Now you," she said. I looked at the four open chest cavities and the batteries sitting dormant in their cradles, then raised my wand." [Mana Tether]." Four blue lines congealed around the mana batteries and then ran directly to my manacore. She moved down the row, checking each frame briefly.

"Your link is stable. You cast that faster than I expected."

"I'm motivated," I said. She looked at me.

"Apparently." She spent a minute studying the tether, walking around and waving a golem hand through it.

"Now. Before the activation sequence, the frames need to be prepared, and you need to refill your mana. So back to meditating you go." If looks could kill, well, I'd be the only person left on the planet. But since they didn't, the golem remained standing in front of me. I wanted to say something, but at this point it was easier to meditate than it was to argue with her. An hour later, I was back in front of the golems.

"Now. In order, you must properly align the parts of the golem. Make sure the joints are locked in place, the batteries properly seated, the arms and legs bound to the body." She walked to the first frame and took hold of its arm at the shoulder. She rotated the joint once, testing the range of it. The stone ground quietly against itself. She let go and moved to the next one.

"Then [Wake]. That is the expensive one."

"How expensive?" She stopped at the third frame and looked back at me.

"150 mana. Per golem." She let that land.

"Get ready for a long night of meditation and proper enchanting." I felt like I had just been kicked in the gut—and then, when I was down, someone had stepped on my neck. There was no way in hell I was meditating two or three more times tonight. No. No fucking way. I was going to regret this. The Keeper didn't know about the passives, and I hadn't corrected her. It had been easier to let her assume I'd need another four meditation sessions before I could do anything useful.

But 150 mana for a single [Wake] cast, times four golems, was enough to make me reconsider my commitment to the bit. As I sized up the golems and the additional impending meditation exercises, I came to a realization. I'd only have to meditate once. I wasn't a fan of coincidences. But I did like it when they went my way. And it was pretty convenient that there were four golems, and a bunch of spells I needed to cast. Since all of them were enchantment, [Recursion I] and [Cascade I] would build off each other.

I decided to add a fifth spell to the sequence. If my math was right, I would be able to enchant two of the golems before I needed to meditate. Especially if I added a cheaper enchantment spell into the mix. The arms and legs for each frame were laid out on the workbench to my left. Keeper had sorted them by size with the precision of someone who had spent centuries with nothing better to do. I appreciated that. But I didn't say so. I glanced at the dust covering all four golems and started to cast." [Dust]."

[Dust — Enchantment] Cost: 5 mana. Clears surface debris, grime, and particulate from a target object. I cast it four times in a row. [Cascade] triggered. The spell swept across each frame, and a gray cloud built up before dissipating into the open air. Before the last cloud had settled, I was already pointing at the first frame again." [Slot]." [Slot — Enchantment] Cost: 8 mana. Seats a prepared battery into its cavity and anchors it against displacement. Duration: Until dispelled or removed.

I aligned the battery into place, then repeated it three more times. Next came the arms. I only had about three seconds per cast. I cast [Align] and quickly clicked the arm into place. Of course it did. I cast [Align] three more times, repeating the process. [Align — Enchantment] Cost: 8 mana. Allows for the controlled movement of objects. Duration: Until dispelled. By now, [Recursion I] was firing on all cylinders. My mana was almost a quarter depleted, but I was making good progress. Then came [Bind].

I bound all four arms and legs onto the golems. [Bind — Enchantment] Cost: 9 mana. Binds attached objects to target location. Duration: Until dispelled or dismantled. Judging by my mana pool, I would have just enough to align the arms and legs on the second frame and then cast [Wake] twice. So I did just that." [Align]." I cast it four times, and the arms and legs clicked into place. As soon as I heard the last click, I cast [Wake] twice, watching as my mana drained faster than I'd ever seen it.

And I saw the blinking red that meant I was about to run out. [Wake — Enchantment] Cost: 150 mana per object. Activates a mana battery. Duration: Until dispelled.

"Did it work?" As if in answer, the two finished golems began to shake.