Before Clover could turn the giant bone t-rex into a Golem, he had to figure out what to do with Mr. Cat - he could only have one Golem active at a time. Luckily, when he had gained [Lesser Golem Creation], the System had provided a vague but useful outline of how to fix the problem.
“Yell if you see something coming; I’m going to be distracted for a bit,” Clover said.
Claire nodded, then hefted her sword over her shoulder. At this point, she knew not to question Clover’s strange actions - it would only lead to a headache.
Clover closed his eyes and, after a moment of concentration, delved into his soul space. With all the Levels he had gained, or perhaps Stats, the space was a bit brighter and more defined. A new structure was beginning to reveal itself in the center of the area, but to his hazy perception, the details of its construction were a mystery. As it were, all he could tell was that the new structure contained a dense concentration of mana. Wisps and strands of the energy occasionally drifted off of it in bursts.
For now, he was on a time limit, so he ignored it in favor of focusing on the crescent moon of rock that represented [Lesser Golem Creation]. He followed the soft blue strand of energy to its bottom, where Mr. Cat's core, or at least his inner representation of it, rested.
He grasped it with his will. Immediately, he could tell that the static charge inside of it - its energy level, had decreased. Which, considering all the activity he had run the Golem through, made sense. Eventually, he’d have to learn how to recharge his Golems. Right now, it wasn’t a pressing issue. Mr. Cat had more than enough mana in reserve to continue operating for the rest of the day.
Following the System’s vague instructions, he tugged at the thread, trying to dislodge the disembodied cat-head sculpture from it. After multiple attempts, most accomplishing nothing but sending the stone figure bouncing around his soul space, he succeeded.
He opened his eyes. At his feet, Mr. Cat had frozen mid-stride. It was still a Golem - the upgrades it had experienced hadn't reverted, but when he tried to control it, nothing happened.
Paranoid that he had broken the Golem, he closed his eyes and tried to reattach the thread. With some effort, he managed the task. Though, it took in excess of ten seconds - not something he could manage in the middle of a fight.
Satisfied that he hadn't ruined everything, for one last time, he detached the thread and then wheeled over to the giant bone t-rex. Leaning forward out of his wheelchair awkwardly, he placed his hand on it.
"[Lesser Golem Creation]," Clover said excitedly.
Mana surged through the thread, twisting into strange shapes and patterns, but unlike last time, it felt insufficient - much too weak to accomplish what he wanted. He pushed the strange instinct aside and watched as, at the end of the string, sigils and symbols pieced themselves together.
However, by the time the stream of mana had run dry, his premonition had been proven correct. With the 25 MP he had spent, less than the top quarter of the sphere had been constructed. Unstable, the structure rattled, and then, with nothing to support them, the sigils and symbols fell like drops of rain, disappearing into nothingness in the darkness of his soul.
Maybe it was a problem of size or complexity; he was unsure. Whatever the case, a mere 25 MP was not enough to turn the giant skeleton into a Golem.
Clover opened his eyes with a groan. He had really wanted a badass pet dinosaur!
Congratulations! Lesser Golem Creation has reached Level 4. +1 Skill Point.
At least, as a consolation prize, [Lesser Golem Creation] had leveled up; now he had enough Skill Points in reserve to complete a Path. In terms of upgrading his Golems, he had two options: [Bones Break So They Can Mend] and [Skeleton I].
They both sounded useful, but at least in immediate utility, [Skeleton I] had the upper hand. From its name, [Bones Break So They Can Mend] sounded like its reward would be related to fixing broken Golems - a useful ability, no doubt, but at the moment, he didn't have any broken Golems.
Clover resolved to eventually finish both Paths, but for now, he chose to invest his Points into [Skeleton I].
In the bleak plains of bone, stretching forward into the distant horizon, there are countless roads. Signs weathered beyond recognition mark the way, leading those who follow them in aimless circles, and pale rays of light without a source paint the sky in a dull monochrome. To humans, there are two paths out of this purgatory that have legible markings.
Exoskeleton: The first road, comprised of short and stout cobble steps, tunnels into the ground. Any hint as to where it may lead is blocked by a suffocating and dense darkness. Only the hurried sound of tapping limbs echoes from its well-worn entrance.
Endoskeleton: The second road of crushed gravel spirals up the desolate side of a white mountain, growing ever stranger as it climbs toward the heavens. Its banks are steep, and from the fields below, you can not see its summit. Though, from its heights, you spot the occasional blur of movement as objects too small to specify tumble down from its peak.
Clover narrowed his eyes at the cryptic wall of bullshit the System had spewed at him. For what felt like the millionth time, he wished the System would be more direct. But he knew his wish would never be granted; he had to work with what he had.
Feeling like a detective, he tried to piece together some semblance of meaning from the message. Aside from their being two diverging roads, it struck Clover as strange how the System spoke of the fields of bone as if it were a real place that he might someday have the opportunity to visit. Maybe, like all the other things the System referenced in its cryptic messages, it was real. He hoped it wasn't. It didn't sound like the type of place he'd want to go to on vacation.
He spent a moment combing through the message for any hints. However, he didn't make progress - it was hard to do so when he wasn't sure what parts of the message were literal and what parts were symbolic.
In the end, the only concrete hints he could go off were the markers at the start of the Paths: endoskeleton and exoskeleton. To be honest, he didn't know what an endoskeleton was; he had never been the most attentive student. However, he did know what an exoskeleton was, or at least he thought he did - he couldn't Google the word's definition, so he couldn't be sure.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The clearest example of an exoskeleton would be an ant - they had their skeletons on the outside. In the context of the Path, he assumed that [Exoskeleton] would allow him to form a suit of bone armor around his Golems. It was a funny image - Mr. Cat running around in a suit of armor, but he figured it would be effective. His Golems would most likely be significantly harder to damage with the extra layer of protection, but he could also see the added bulk weighing down the Golem, limiting its speed and flexibility.
Logically, he assumed that an endoskeleton was the opposite, or in simple terms, a skeleton that was on the inside - what a normal human had. For Clover, the two different designs were hard to compare. In the animal kingdom, he was sure they both had unique advantages and disadvantages - he wasn't scientifically minded to know all of them, and even if he did, he wasn't sure how closely the designs would track onto golems.
He scratched his head, seconds ticking by as he weighed his options. Without a doubt, he enjoyed thinking about his options; it filled him with childish glee, but the repercussions of being wrong also stressed him out.
No matter how hard he looked at it, one option wasn’t significantly better than the other. There was no way of knowing what the optimal choice would be without the benefit of hindsight.
In the end, Clover made his choice based on one stray thought: across the broad array of life on the planet, more creatures had their skeleton on the inside than the outside. If more organisms had evolved to be that way, it indicated to him that it was a more efficient configuration.
Unsure if his scientific observation held any weight, he made his choice.
Endoskeleton: Rolling Random Reward… Gravel crunches under your feet as you climb the white mountain. A harsh howling wind whips against its slopes, but despite that, life, or at least an approximation of it, has begun to sprout at the higher elevation. Spines of bone stick out of the ground like trees, and nerves made of strands of mana stretch out from the stalwart trunks, acting as branches and leaves. The strange sight has inspired your golem-making.
Congratulations! Your Golems have grown a Spine. As a result of this evolution, Golems under your control will experience increased stability and movement coordination - alongside other minor auxiliary benefits. This change is not yet entirely physical. For now, it manifests as a mana construct. However, as more pieces of the Skeleton are assembled, the manifestations of the results of this path will change.
Well, Clover hadn’t expected that. Not to say that he was disappointed in the reward, but it had certainly come out of left field.
As a result of finishing the Path, [Skeleton II] had unlocked itself. Though, without first testing how much of a difference a Spine made in his Golems, he was unsure if he would immediately invest in its continuation.
He dusted off his hands. There was no point in delaying. He wheeled around the room, searching for an appropriate target. He stopped in front of a miniature recreation of a triceratops made of bone. It was the perfect size - not much larger than a dog.
At least in terms of size, [Lesser Golem Creation] should work. However, he did not know if the material would give the Skill problems. In its description, the Skill had not mentioned any material restrictions, but it also hadn't mentioned any restrictions relating to size, so he couldn't be sure.
He reached out and touched the statue's horn. His impression had been wrong; it was not made of bone but rather something else more similar to plastic in nature. Clover frowned, disappointed. It made sense that the museum wouldn't display an actual fossil out in the open where anyone could damage it, but it was still a letdown.
“[Lesser Golem Creation],” Clover said as he closed his eyes.
As his mana surged into action, he was tempted to take control of the process, but ultimately, he decided against it. He had yet to see what the System could do. His earlier attempts had been prematurely aborted.
Like last time, sigils and runes coalesced, forming a shimmering sphere of potential. Inside of it, the System painted a blurry scene of a windswept savanna. What it lacked in detail, it made up for in emotion - something Mr. Cat's creation had lacked. The picture emanated a sense of calm. No. He paused; it was not a picture. The grass was swaying in the wind. It was more reminiscent of a scene from a movie than anything else. With the scene finished, the System encapsulated it, hardening its edges and cutting it off from the rest of the canvas.
The first time Clover had used [Lesser Golem Creation], he had been so caught up in the experience that all of these small details had gone over his head.
A moment later, the sphere rumbled, and a pressing force crashed down on the construct. Somewhat knowing what to expect now, Clover pushed back against it. He was shocked at how little effort it required compared to the creation of Mr. Cat. Of course, if he sat back and did nothing, the core would be destroyed, but the border the System had created around the scene massively increased its resilience. He would have to incorporate the design into his next Golem.
The sphere of energy cracked open in his soul space, and out of it, a horn of bone was revealed. Mana surged into the triceratops skeleton, turning it into something greater. For a moment, he became aware of the inside of the Golem as strings of mana threaded through its limbs and congregated along its back to form a pseudo-spine.
His eyes blinked open, and the awareness faded away, the process finishing soon after.
Congratulations! Lesser Golem Creation has reached Level 5. +1 Skill Point.
The bone Golem had not significantly changed in size or shape for a few minor alterations that aided in its overall stability and connectedness. Eager with excitement, he commanded the Golem to walk forward.
Compared to Mr. Cat’s idol, when he touched the horn with his will, there was a distance between him and it, a certain lag or sluggishness to his commands - perhaps a side effect of using a sculpture not of his own making to make the Golem.
Additionally, inside his soul space, he noticed that a second thread now dangled down from [Lesser Golem Creation]’s structure. Curious, Clover summoned forth the Skill’s description.
Lesser Golem Creation - Lvl 5 (Common)
Imbue a Sculpture or Object with threads of magic, transforming it into a Lesser Golem. A maximum of 1/2 Golems can be controlled from a range of up to 75 meters. An initial cost of 25 MP is required to turn a Sculpture or Object into a Lesser Golem. No further cost is required to control them. Though they do not have infinite stamina, each command, varying on how complex, will drain their energy.
Raising the Skill's Level had increased the maximum number of Golems he could control by one and its range by 25 meters. Not wasting a second, Clover delved back into his soul space and reattached Mr. Cat to the string. A surge of magic threaded through the smaller sculpture as it woke back up - a spine of magic forming within it.
Now, armed with two Golems, Clover felt confident he could obliterate any weak monsters that came his way - at least in a fair fight. He walked back his initial statement a bit, he didn't want to grow overconfident. With all the Golems he had made, he was running low on mana - he'd have to watch out for that.
Clover used [Appraisal] on his newest Golem.
Congratulations! Appraisal has reached Level 2. +1 Skill Points.
Lesser Golem
Durability: 100/100
Mana: 25/25
Traits: [Pseudo Skeleton], [Wind-Swept I]
Before he could fully appreciate the dinosaur Golem’s Traits, Claire hollered while waving her sword at a trio of Two-tailed Squirrels, “Uh, guys. We have company.”
Clover snapped his head to the side. Across the exhibit, on the other side of the room, three monsters stood on all fours. Two were Level 1, the other was Level 3. Not waiting for them to prepare, the Two-tailed Squirrels charged forward.
Clover's blood rapidly pumped through his veins. It seemed he'd be testing his new Golem sooner than he thought.