Laughing until his stomach hurt, Lowen eventually settled down. As his frustrations melted away thanks to Nia, Lowen again dove into the Divine Blacksmith, flipping back to the chapter on golems.
(There's nothing I can do about Statues or Golmantiums as the requirements for them are way to high right now, while creating golems seem very simple.)
Looking it over, it seemed to be more of a combining recipe then smithing as there was no heat involved whatsoever. Lowen grabbed a clay jar and headed outside, in this way he quickly grabbed the few ingredients he needed. Sitting down outside, he placed everything in front of himself and began his experiment.
(First things first.)
Lowen using his hands dug a few small holes no bigger than 8-10 inches across and 8-10 inches deep. Taking the small pile of dirt he had gotten from the hole, he simply set it aside. Next, he took the clay jar which was filled with water and poured just enough into the hole to make mud, then, of course, he put his hands in the hole and began to shape a small ball out of the mud. In this way, he made several small balls of mud in various sizes, some were made with a little more water making them less clumpy, while others were made with the ratio leaning more towards dirt, causing them to feel more brittle. As a few villagers walked by, they couldn't help but notice Lowen mixing around in the mud and some couldn't help but think.
(This kid is supposed to help the Chief, how? Isn't he just a child, right now he's like any other kid playing in the mud making mud pies.)
Some of the villagers couldn't help but shake their head in confusion, while others simply walked away. Lowen didn't even notice them as he was too engrossed in his own experiment. After everything was said and done, Lowen had made 10 balls of mud from little to big. His smallest was no bigger than 6 inches in diameter all the way up to his largest being 11 inches. Looking at the completed bodies of his golems, it was now time to add the last piece.
To create a golem, its most important piece was its core, this was its source of power, it gave the golem its ability to not only absorb earth energy but to follow its users commands as well. Not in a way that it had free will or a conscious but in a way where the creator would think a thought and will the golem with his or her earth energy. To make a core for a golem was also quite easy, all one needed was an object which contains earth energy. For Lowen and anyone else that basically meant anything, as earth energy was nearly everywhere. The only real requirement was, whatever object you choose, you needed to be able to write on it, so although there are trace amounts of earth energy within a river or the air, you could not actually write with it. Lowen picked up 10 small rocks, in the Divine Blacksmith, there were certain symbols you would have to inscribe onto the cores in order to get them to function. Remembering the symbols, there were 2 basic ones that must be inscribed in order for the golem to work followed by another 700 or so optional ones. Giving a brief scan of these optional ones, Lowen saw many interesting things, there was one for causing the golem to explode, another for the golem to move faster and even bizarre ones such as making a golem capable of dancing on an enemy's grave. Lowen had to do a double take after he read that part and could only think to himself why.
Back to inscribing the two symbols, looking at the symbol, it was shaped almost like a heart and within the heart, there were, even more, smaller symbols. To Lowen, they all just looked like scribbles but next to this heart-shaped symbol the page read.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[Absorb].
With this symbol, your golem will absorb earth energy from its surroundings and will be filled with energy until the earth is no more or the golems core has been damaged, destroyed or has too many optional inscriptions.
In conjunction with [Flow], your golem will be capable of regenerating at incredible speeds as well as movement.
If you add optional inscriptions, your golem will consume more power and may not be able to operate at 100% efficiency.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at the second main inscription, next to it as well, Lowen read.
---------------------------------------------------------------
[Flow]
With this symbol, your golem will circulate earth energy throughout its body and with its creators will, the earth energy within the golem will allow the golem movement. This will continue until the creator has stopped controlling it, the core is damaged or destroyed, allowing its energy to run out or the creator themselves dies.
In conjunction with [Absorb], your golem will be capable of regenerating at incredible speeds as well as movement.
If you add optional inscriptions your golem will consume more power and may not be able to operate at 100% efficiency.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lowen had no ink or paint or anything he could actually write with, so he was forced to write in blood and although it seemed a little cryptic, he did so anyway. Cutting the tip of his finger, he wrote each symbol and all the smaller inner symbols within, onto each small rock and after each finished symbol, Lowen could already feel the earth energy within the rock cores rapidly increase. Lowen couldn't help but wonder if he wrote the symbols onto his own skin if the same would happen. So out of curiosity he stopped halfway on a rock core and wrote the absorb symbol on himself, unfortunately, nothing happened. It was also at this moment he also noticed another mistake he had made. Soon after he had written a symbol on the rock core, it began to absorb earth energy and then it would quickly stop. Lowen had been too excited about this experiment that he had totally forgotten that the ki energy within his blood cancels out earth energy. He couldn't help but slap himself on the forehead. He had literally just used that same trick on Sid and now he had forgotten. Lowen felt foolish indeed. Those few rock cores he had already written on were now nothing more than wasted ornaments. Ornaments which had taken him an hour to complete. Because Lowen didn't have a pen and he was writing very small intricate symbols with his finger, it had taken this long and now that he found out he had wasted his time, Lowen released a long depressive sigh.
*Sigh*
Throwing those rocks away, Lowen grabbed 5 more, he then raced to Roland's place to grab some ink and a pen. Seeing Lowen covered in mud, Roland thought something bad had happened but after a boring discussion about Sid, Roland understood but what was shocking for Roland, was the fact that Lowen had gotten the better of that weird old man. Although Lowen had told Roland about that, he didn't mention a word about the book. Lowen was still having trouble reading through Roland and didn't want to risk the chance of Roland seeing the specialness of the Divine Blacksmith. So when Roland had asked about why Lowen needed the ink and pen, Lowen had just kept his mouth shut in that regard and only said that after winning the bet, Sid had given him a guide on how to make golems and he needed the ink and pen for that. Roland didn't care at all and gave the two items without a fight, before quickly shooing Lowen away. With the items in hand, Lowen raced back to Nia's place, sitting down he once more began inscribing the rock cores. With the pen in hand, it took not even a third of the time to inscribe all 10 rock cores.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
(All right, I'm ready.)
As Lowen was about to put the cores in, Ben had come back, followed behind him were a small group of children of both boys and girls all looking to be around Ben's age, with a few looking to be slightly older, all of them younger than 8. Seeing Lowen covered in mud with a bunch of different looking mud balls in front of him, Ben and the other kids immediately wanted to play.
"Big bro, can we play too?"
Lowen looked at this group of kids and wanted to say no but found that there was really no need to. Either this would work or not, it didn't matter if this group of kids wanted to watch or even pick up any of these mud balls and play. Lowen nodded and said.
"Sure, but first, who wants to help me with my experiment?"
Immediately all the kids were jumping up and down shouting, me, me, me.
"Ok everyone, come and take one of these rocks."
Right after Lowen said that each kid ran up in excitement. Ben as well ran up, him being much more fit then all the other kids, he was of course first, even compared to the slightly older kids, Ben was still quicker. As they each grabbed a rock core, Nia had finally returned, her face no longer contained embarrassment and humiliation but instead anger. She had rolled up her sleeves and was ready to throw some harsh words at Lowen if he kept making fun of her but when she arrived, she was surprised to see all these kids outside her home. Walking up to Lowen, she was about to ask him what all of this was about but before she could, Lowen had shoved something into her hand. Looking down, it was just a normal rock with some scribbles on it, Nia glanced at Lowen in slight confusion but Lowen just ignored her confused look and instead said.
"Alright, does everyone have one of these rocks with these two symbols on them?"
Each kid glanced at their rocks turning them over once or twice and almost in unison they nodded and said.
"Yes."
Even Nia became caught up in the flow of things and answered without thinking.
"Ok, everyone, pick a mud ball and push that core into the middle of it, when you do, the magic experiment will start."
Hearing this, all the kid's eyes lit up in delight, at their ages none of them knew what was possible or not, so while some of them truly thought this was a magic experiment, others simply thought it was just playing. Only Nia and Ben understood Lowen's meaning. The things they've both witnessed from him, they each looked at the inscribed rock in their hand and could feel their hearts race with excitement. If Lowen said they were doing a magic experiment, then Nia and Ben believed him.
All of the kids instantly grabbed for the nearest mud ball and shoved the rock core deep within. At this time, a few of the passing adult's interest grew and they began watching as well. After the cores were entered, the mud balls all took on a green glowing hue for a second before the glows quickly dissipated, after that, something absolutely beyond belief ...........didn't happen. There was no reaction whatsoever. The light in each of the children's eyes dulled and became lackluster, some of them truly believed that beyond a small glow something magical would happen. Out in the stix, these children lived very boring lives and every night before bed their parents would tell them bedtime stories about adventurest mages slaying dragons or mages flying high in the sky making miracles. They were told night after night about magic and how amazing it truly was but never did they ever witness or experience it. So when a mysterious boy comes out of the mountains one day and the adults had said it was miraculous, the kid's assumed that Lowen was special in some way, like a mage. But when only a small glow came about from his so-called magic experiment, the disappointment they all felt was immeasurable. Even Nia and Ben were looking at Lowen wondering if something had gone wrong.
One of the adults watching suddenly burst out with laughter, he couldn't help it, his simple thoughts were.
(Hahaha, kids will be kids.)
This villager was just about to say something when suddenly the balls of mud began to tremble. Each golem began to wobble and shake slightly. Lowen at first thought that something was wrong but he remembered something simple, in order to move, these golems needed arms and feet. Lowen had forgotten something so simple and had only shaped his golems into balls. Looking at his golems, Lowen could feel their earth energy, using his will, something special started to happen. One by one these balls of mud started to sprout feet and arms. The kids watching once more grew thrilled, finally, the last one sprouted limbs and the golems began to move in unison. The villager laughing instantly grew quiet, his jaw had hit the ground as he stared in awe. Even the other adult villagers couldn't believe their eyes. One of them was a young couple and the wife couldn't help but shake her husband while shouting.
"Look, look at that. Magic, the boy used magic."
Nia and Ben seeing this, simply nodded their head, Ben, even turned to the villager who was laughing and stuck his tongue out at him.
"Blegh."
As the small little golems moved around left and right, Lowen noticed something. Each golem seemed capable of only moving in synch with the other. Lowen wondered if he could move them separately of themselves. With a thought, he tried to move a small one to the left while at the same time he willed another to move to the right. As the golems followed his will, Lowen Immediately felt a wave of dizziness wash over his mind. It felt similar to wearing the amulet from Roland but this, this was 10 times worse.
(What the hell, this feeling of mental exhaustion is insane. Just making 2 golems perform 2 separate actions uses up this much energy.)
In order for Lowen to move the golems separately, he has to think about two different things at the same time, he has to will them separately on the individual level. To control 2 individually was already tough for Lowen, to then make all 10 do different things at once, for Lowen, there was simply no way. Thinking of the amount of mental fortitude and energy one needs to do this, Lowen couldn't help but think about Sid controlling his statues. Not only can he do this but statues are an evolved form of golem, for him to do this. Just thinking about it caused Lowen to shudder.
(That old man, to split his thoughts so many times and still be comprehensible, he truly is insane.)