The partial experience that Mud collected from the few higher tier beasts in the crowd was minuscule, but the sheer volume of enemies meant that they quickly added up. By the end of the hallway, the golem had collected enough experience to level its race once more, as well as making substantial progress towards its next level.

As the crowd of delvers and city officials waited for the Great Magician Magnus to cast an intricate spellwork to restore the collapsed staircase, Mud took the time to examine its Akashic Record.

Name: Mud Golem

Level 9 Mud Golem

Class: Level 4 Master Butler ®

HP

12/13

SP

0/0

MP

154/260

Spells: [Psionic] Force Bolt, Lesser Telekinesis, Paracusia, Skate

   [Home] Repair Structure, Ward Structure, Kill Pest

Skills(7): Detect Malice 2, Bodyguard 4, Climbing 4, Cooking Max, Domain Control 1, Etiquette Max, Hidden Weapon 6, Household Magic 2, Household Mastery 4, Mathematics 5, Psionics 3, Sneak Attack 6, Stealth 6, Service Max, String Manipulation 7, Torture 1, Unarmed Combat 9, Amorphous Form ®, Servant's Loyalty ®, Almanac (U)

Status Effects: Incomplete (Articulation Runes)

A large volume of Skill Points had amassed. Taking a long view of things, Mud had conspired to horde Skill Points to repeatedly advance its most useful skills. After all, they had appeared to be limited in availability, and Mud was confident it could overcome the challenges it currently faced with its current strength.

The golem's recent one-sided defeat at the hands of Shin had crushed that naive optimism. More strength was required now if it was to fulfill The Master's instructions. Immediately preceding that very duel was another event that caused Mud to reconsider its stance on Skill Points; the reward for authoring Blind Spot Removal.

Based on the timing and context of receiving the reward, it appeared that the skill being accessed or used was the qualifier for receiving the reward. That being the case, Mud could potentially farm large amounts of Skill Points in the future. Within Mud's mind, plans slowly formed for great Skill Point farms, where Sapients would be imprisoned and forced to learn useless skills that Mud would systematically design.

Unfortunately, such grand plans were far in the future, and would require massive amounts of ground-work to start. In the short term, Mud could use Jericho to learn Skills. Perhaps Bark, if his current mental state was still capable of such things. Perhaps even Novus would be useful in that regard.

Refocusing itself from its flight of fancy, Mud decided to spend some of its hoarded Skill Points. First, it would mutate the skills it already had at max level; so far, each such mutation had been thoroughly useful.

Without bothering to second-guess itself, Mud purchased the enhancements for Cooking, Etiquette, and Service.

[Cooking Skill mutated into Taint Food Skill at level 1]

[Etiquette Skill mutated into Preternatural Grace Skill at level 1]

[Service Skill mutated into Empathetic Service Skill at level 1]

Once again, the mutation of a skill felt distinctly different from purchasing a new skill. Beyond simply granting new knowledge, Mud felt as though it had unlocked a new avenue of control over the world itself. A shift had taken place in its very soul. The only skills purchased new from the Record which had felt similar was its Rare skill, Amorphous Form.

Already, large chunks of stone floated up from the maw of the dungeon, merging together in the shape of a spiral staircase. Mud didn't have much longer to take care of its personal business before the Great Magician Magnus finished his restoration of the dungeon entrance.

For now, more magic skills would likely be a waste. Mud already didn't have enough time to properly meditate on the Ideals it already possessed. Learning more ideals would simply stretch its focus even farther, resulting in having many weak magics. Mud would much rather have fewer but more powerful magic.

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Instead, it searched for available Rare skills which might be useful.

Skill Name

Requirement

Substance Integration ®

Amorphous body composed primarily of a single homogeneous material

Division ® Amorphous body and ability to survive losing half of body mass Consume Malice ® Marked for death by a large organization

Only three Rare skills were available for purchase, and the third one concerning. Presumably, the requirement related to the priest trying to smite Mud. The golem turned its head towards the nearby head priest, who was currently healing small wounds a few of the delvers had suffered during the initial charge. It seems he had given up on killing Mud for the time being, likely due to the Delver's Association's protection.

Mud diligently checked the descriptions of the available Rare Skills.

All three skills appeared useful, even if the actual purpose of Consume Malice was unclear. Without further hesitation, Mud purchased the three skills.

----------------------------------------

Novus nervously fiddled with the straps on her leather armor. Remaining in the back with the other melee-focused delvers, she had witnessed the power of Mud. While his combat abilities in the arena had been impressive, the casual ease with which he slaughtered the denizens of the dungeon was breathtaking.

Billowing clouds of strange yellowish gas had spread forward from Mud as they made their way down the hallways. Each Giant Caterpillar caught in the path was quickly reduced to a shriveled corpse. With the hordes of weak monsters cleared, the other mages easily picked off the now isolated high-tier monsters.

Mud's attacks were certainly not the most powerful, but in terms of total kills, he was without question the top contributor. Around a quarter of the way down the hall, a fire using mage had gotten agitated by Mud stealing the glory. In an attempt to keep up, he had increased his fire magic beyond his ability to properly control, nearly burning some of the surrounding delvers. A sharp reprimand from Leader Ghul had him back in control, and he sulked the rest of the way down the tunnel.

Perhaps the greatest difference between Mud and the other delvers was his professionalism. Without an eye for glory, he simply did the task in front of him. He didn't push beyond his capabilities, or grandstand, or gloat. He merely continued to do his job steadily. Exactly how a delver should work.

Novus was growing more optimistic about working with this creepy, silent construct. Sure, he looked like the specter of death and was cursed as a blasphemous existence by the church. That was bad. But on the other hand, he seemed professional and clever. Working for him would likely be very lucrative.

The swordswoman looked down at Mud as Magnus finally completed his spell, restoring the stone staircase. A short time after they had arrived at the dungeons infamous mouth, Mud had began staring off into space. By the looks of it, a Record Trance. Perhaps he had gained a level while clearing the tunnel, mused Novus.

Hopefully, he would stop being distracted by his Record when they actually entered the dungeon. Nothing was more dangerous than a foolish delver taking his eyes off the fight to take a peek at this HP or MP, or distracting itself with build theorizing, only to be ambushed. Many amateurs died from such mistakes, or so her master had told her.

Thagi Ghul patted the old man in an orange robe who had restored the staircase, then turned towards the delvers. "Alright everyone, we'll be sweeping this place as quickly as possible, but stay safe. Again, do not go below your own level of safety. Whoever the weakest person in your group is, only go to the depth that they are comfortable with."

Some groans came from the delvers at this comment. Foolish, thought Novus. Going beyond your depth and hoping your teammates would make up for it was an easy way to get everyone killed.

At that time, Mud began moving again. The familiar monotone voice of a young boy again filled her mind. Since she had gotten to know the curious construct, it now felt considerably less terrifying.

"We will begin in the first floor. If we find it too easy, we will proceed to the second floor. We will go no deeper than the second floor. Do any of you oppose this plan?"

"No, that's perfect." Novus agreed immediately. Next to her, Jabrax nodded vaguely and made a light "hmm" sound.

Cob shrugged. "Eh, whatever. I don't want to work too hard anyway."

Novus scowled at the scarred man. If there was anything about working under Mud that made her unhappy, it was working with this man. Something about him just felt off, like he was constantly up to something. He acted as if he was insane, but to Novus, it came off more of a mask. A tool he used to hide his true intentions from others.

Heedless of her concerns, Mud advanced towards the staircase, following the retreating backs of Thagi Ghul and the guard captain down the newly-repaired stairs.

Quickly reaching the bottom of the long spiral staircase, Novus was greeted by the sight of pulverized and burnt caterpillar corpses. The foul chemical smell of the worms acid mixed with burned bug flesh filled the enclosed space. An urge to vomit crawled up her throat again, but she swallowed it down.

"Novus, you will be in the front and focus on blocking enemies. Cob and Jabrax, you will take a position to the right and left and kill enemies with your weapons. I will remain in the back and attack when an opportunity is open. I will crawl on your body in combat."

That last bit was a little strange, but the rest seemed like reasonable tactics to Novus. Taking up the suggested formation, the group proceeded down a tunnel picked arbitrarily by Cob.

What followed was a one-sided massacre of monsters. The group's coordination was excellent, due largely to the constant relaying of information by Mud. Somehow, Mud was able to keep everyone informed of the entire battlefield situation at all times, and he reacted immediately to any newly arriving enemy.

Even when the group stumbled upon a Corpse Worm, it was swiftly defeated by their coordinated assault. After nearly an hour of slaying enemies, the group took a break to catch their breath at Cob's suggestion. Strangely, despite his excellent leadership ability, Mud seemed legitimately surprised by the concept of 'taking a break'. It quickly granted the request, however, claiming he "understands that human biology is limited in functionality."

While the group waited, Mud again spoke to them. "Our combat ability is suitable. We will proceed to the second floor."