Sure, this city is big, but it’s not as big as the hive. At least the streets aren’t uniform here, so I’m sure it would be more difficult to get lost.

All of them seem to lead toward several city squares, most of them with some kind of large broken fountain in the center made of a long-corroded metal. Those all feature what was probably once a statue of a human, but none of them are in any kind of condition to be recognizable.

Somewhat offset from what looks to be the city center, there’s a particularly large building with several round columns and arches and all sorts of other excess. From here I can just barely make out that it appears to be made of large flat stones.

“What do you think that is?” I ask no one in particular.

“What is what?” asks Izahne. She looks around in the direction I’m facing. “I don’t see anything special, just more roads and buildings.”

Huh.

Is that building not special then?

“The big one made of stones or whatever? The one over there.” I point in its general direction.

My party members look at each other before Abaris answers for them. “I don’t know what you’re looking at, but it seems to be too far for us to see.”

“How far can you see?” Omorth asks.

I look around to try to gauge the actual range. “A bit past the far walls, I think. It might just be because they’re high up and everything else is lower so all I can see is sky.”

“That is... very, very far, isn’t it?” Pearl asks.

“Yes,” Abaris answers. “Yes it is.”

“It’s probably either a god thing or, you know, True Sense.”

The others nod, but don’t comment further.

…

“It looks like a tall building made of stones, and it’s got all these columns and arches and stuff like that.”

My death knight turns to face me. “A castle? If there’s a castle, it’s usually where the government is, or was.”

“Yes, exactly that,” Abaris confirms.

“Let me guess, we’re going there next, aren’t we?”

***

After a long while of walking, I’m finally past the edge of my patience.

“Alright, we’re moving faster now.”

That’s all the warning I give them before I disperse, grab them all up with feelers, and get moving. At a reasonable speed, of course, having to wait for them to regain consciousness defeats the purpose of moving fast.

After a much shorter flight than it would have been as a walk, I free my party from their restraints and let them catch their breath. I take a moment to get a better look at this thing, this big overdone building, fancier than even the academy with all its decorations and arches and columns and carvings and whatever else.

The front gate is thoroughly barred and doesn’t budge even when I try to force it with dozens of feelers. I can obviously phase through it, but if I can’t get the mechanism to work then the others are going to be stuck outside regardless. It’s still worth a look though, so I begin to phase through it, and –

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Did that statue just move?

…

Yeah, it’s definitely moving. And attacking!

[Statue]

Yes, very helpful as always!

Its massive stone fists pass through me without resistance. It looks like I’m well balanced to fight this kind of – oof!

The bare stone statue is sheathed with a glowing layer of energy, rippling and sparking. A quick guess is enough for me to think that this was probably something the ancients tried to fend off the waves of wraiths...

Annoying. So annoying!

I hit it with both Aura of the Unwound and Will Surge, only to see it continue barreling toward me. I dodge by phasing through the ground and reemerging behind it. I try Will Detection, and find nothing. Now that I think of it, Abaris said something about golems not having their own will...

Then whose will is it acting on? Probably some long dead ancient!

I disperse my body and float above it outside of its range of reach and call out to my party.

“What are you all doing? Do something!”

“Just back away from it!” my death knight shouts back.

I don’t really see how that makes sense, but I try it anyway. And as soon as I’m more than fifty yards from the closed gate, the stone golem stops, seemingly stares at me for a moment, and then begins slowly backing up to its original alcove to the side of the gate.

Huh.

“So it’s just protecting the gate? It didn’t do anything until I tried to pass through it.”

Abaris nods. “Yes, it is not uncommon to program defensive golems to protect entry points, or the insides of buildings as well if they are advanced enough.”

I sigh. “So you expected this? I’m guessing the massive wave of mana is what’s keeping it working...”

We all just look at each other for a moment.

Well...

Hey Nyx, it’s an ancient golem thing, are you at all interested? Once we blow it up, I could try to take apart different things if you want me to.

…

I know that it’s probably my fault, whatever exactly is bothering you anyway. What do I need to do to fix it?

No answer. Alright.

I slowly reapproach the gate, watching the statue. It doesn’t seem to respond. Maybe it only reacts if you try to enter?

“So how are we going to get past this?” I ask. “We probably need to destroy it, but that might make any others around here attack us too... but they might already do that if we get close enough now that this one attacked me anyway.”

“That does seem likely,” Omorth replies.

Izahne takes a deep breath. “All in favor of destroying it?”

Everyone nods.

“Although... let me try something first,” I say, pondering my latest amazing idea.

I approach the statue and stop a handful of paces in front of it. And of course, since I didn’t touch the gate, it doesn’t react. Then I take a moment to get my thoughts in order.

No time to test it like the present.

“{golem control usurp},” I say, projecting my will.

For a moment, I feel a fierce pressure against my will, before I feel the connection completely dissipate and the statue takes an aggressive step toward me, winding up an arm for another swing.

I quickly relocate into the air above it, and try my second amazing idea, since the first was a bust.

“{stone dissolve}.”

Ah, that one seems more effective. As I and my party look on, the statue moves slower and slower as its body begins reducing to gray slurry, looking a lot like it’s sinking into the ground.

After a few minutes, it stops moving entirely, reduced to the remains of its torso slurping helplessly in the gooey mess of the rest of it. No System message though, so I guess it’s either not dead or not something that gives experience when you destroy it.

“How was that?” I ask, floating back down to my party and restoring Verum Corpus.

They look around at each other again with the sloppy sounds of the statue remains in the background.

Finally, Abaris breaks the silence. “I do believe we’re going to struggle to level if you simply reduce every challenge to soup. It doesn’t appear truly defeated, so I assume you haven’t received a System message?”

“Correct,” I reply. “Nothing at all. I’m guessing it’s either because it’s not really dead, or maybe because I used something outside of the Record to do it. I mean, I have Spellspeech, and I keep using it, but I don’t have a Skill for it or anything. It’s just something I know how to do.”

Abaris’ eyes widen. “That is a very interesting point! And something we will certainly need to explore later. In the meantime... We should finish what you have started so that this doesn’t become a complication in the future.”

I shrug. “You mean the statue? You think it’s just going to magically reconstitute –” I start, before I’m interrupted by the sound of the mostly liquified statue pulling the slurry and earth around it to reform its body.

“Oh. So uhhhh. How do we kill it?” I ask.

Izahne puts a hand on my shoulder. “Things like this always have a core, that’s where the runes controlling it should be. What did you try to do to it first?”

“I tried to usurp its instructions and make it mine.”

Abaris shakes his head. “That won’t work on a typical automaton, its instructions are etched into its core and immutable unless it’s been dismantled and reconstructed.”

“Shatter the core. Got it. So... how do we do that?”

As our strategy meeting has continued, the statue is just now finally starting to regain its footing, though its arms and head are only partially restored.

Omorth steps toward it and draws his massive sword. “Overwhelming violence.”