The sight of the symbols immediately piques my interest, as I lie down in front of the core fragment and start investigating it with my soul. I almost immediately notice several symbols that I've never seen before.

'Wow, nice! This'll sure help with my boredom!'

The structure of these symbols, the way they're arranged, is completely different compared to anything I've seen so far. Though, I guess that's not too surprising, as I've only ever seen barriers and traps until now.

I can't tell exactly what everything does, since this is just a fragment of a core, and especially because there's no qi running through it. But just by looking at them, I can tell that most of the symbols are the types that control and interact with other symbols.

'Then that means...'

I turn my attention to a destroyed golem near me. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, I see tiny symbols on the miscellaneous parts. Some only have a couple, while others have dozens, but every single piece has symbols.

'Heh, couldn't I just destroy them with my soul, then? No, wait, that would be way too suspicious...'

I continue studying the symbols, lost in my own world, until I feel something tap my back. Awoken from my trance, I stand up and look behind me.

"Ah, Mama, what's up?"

"Everyone has finished recovering."

She gestures around the room, where everyone is already standing up.

"I tried calling you, but you did not answer."

"Sorry. Oh right, look! I found symbols on the golems!" I point at the inside of my golem core fragment.

She looks at me quizzically, "Is it not boring, staring at those symbols for hours?"

"Nah, I actually really enjoy it. Don't you get bored of meditating all the time, though?"

She shakes her head, "I do not. I like the feeling I get while meditating; to be able to actively make myself stronger, instead of being forced to wait as I my cultivation grows naturally."

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that. It still seems kinda boring to me, though."

Mama just smiles in response.

"Is everybody ready?"

Soon, Trista asks what seems to be rhetorical question, since everyone starts heading towards the next room without answering it. As we travel, I notice that Mucky is walking near me and Mama, instead of his sister like he usually does.

Mama seems to notice as well, as she calls out while smiling, "Hello, Stephan."

He starts, and then looks at her, "Oh, hi Bloodcat, ma'am."

Mama nods and bends down, whispering, "What is 'ma'am'?"

"Oh, it's like a respectful way of addressing a lady."

Mama nods her head and stands up again, grinning, "Do you wish to battle alongside my daughter again?"

He looks confused, "Daughter?"

She nods her head and points at me, "Yes, my daughter, Lyna."

"Oh, uh, yeah, if you don't mind."

"Of course I do not mind. Rather, it makes me happy to see her making friends."

I bump her on the leg, "Come on, you're going to embarrass him, Mama."

'Embarrass both of us, more like.'

Mama just smiles and continues walking forward silently. We soon reach the next room, where Mama stays behind while everyone else enters.

As the golems start charging, and everyone else rushes forward to meet them, Mucky bends down next to me and whispers, "Sorry Lyna, I didn't know you were a girl."

'But Mama already said I was the other day...'

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

I smile at him, "It's alright."

He suddenly looks a little frightened, "Sorry, I won't do it again!"

'Why is he so scared? All I did was smile...'

We join in the fight as well. As I back Mucky up, disabling and destroying golems when possible, I suddenly think of something. I look sideways, where tight-fit clothes lady is wielding a whip, fighting three smaller golems by herself.

'What if I could control them?'

As soon as the thought enters my mind, I can't get it back out. I know I shouldn't be so petty, but... it's just so tempting! Making sure to at least keep up a facade of fighting, I split my attention, sending my soul over to one of the golems fighting tight-fit clothes lady.

Unlike the destroyed golems, these golems actually have qi pulsing through them, giving me a much better idea of how they work. As soon as I'm confident enough, I single out a golem and envelop one of its arms with my soul, cutting off its communication with the core. As the arm lifelessly droops down, to my delight, I find that it's still being supplied with qi by the core.

With the arm now under my control, I start experimenting with the symbols, trying to figure out how to move it. I'm finally able to wiggle one of its fingers, when suddenly, the arm gets twisted off by a whip! Somehow, even though it's detached from its body, the arm is still being supplied with qi. That is, until tight-fit clothes lady destroys the golem's core.

'Curses!'

I once more turn my attention to one of the golems fighting tight-fit clothes lady, and it's once more destroyed before I can make any significant progress.

"Gah! Can't you just- woah!"

I'm brought back to reality by a golem's foot making contact with my side. The kick sends me tumbling several feet, and although I'm able to take blows like that without much trouble, it still stings. As I glance around me, I realize that I split away from Mucky at some point, and now I'm all alone with a single smaller golem. As I look back over at tight-fit clothes lady, I find that she's already destroyed the core of the last golem she was fighting.

"Stupid golem, you ruined my plan!"

I'm about to vent my anger, when I realize; I could just practice controlling this golem, while pretending to fight it! Putting my plan into action, I decide to start smaller this time. I first take control of a single finger.

I continue dodging the golem, lightly attacking it once in a while for aesthetic value, while grasping how the symbols work. Eventually, I move from one to two fingers. Once I feel comfortable controlling two, I move onto three, four... soon, I'm controlling its entire forearm.

'Hand, opposable thumb, oh how I've missed you guys!'

After grasping control of both arms, I move onto simpler things, such as the neck and body. That is, I thought they would be simple; while the neck is fairly easy to manipulate, the body is actually very complex. It turns out the body is very important when it comes to balance.

The golem winds up falling down on multiple occasions. Luckily, I'm in control of its arms, so the golem always "blocks" me whenever I try to "take advantage" of its situation. The farce continues for some time, with me basically fighting myself, until I finally gain rudimentary control over most of the golem's body.

'Haha, only the legs to go!'

I'm about to move on to the legs when, suddenly, I see a sword covered with a green glow pierce through the golem's core from its back.

As the golem collapses, I see Mucky grinning proudly, "Don't worry little fella, I got your back! Oh right, you're a girl... uhhh... Lyna! I got your back."

I laugh and shake my head, "Thanks Mucky."

As I look around the room, I notice that all but one of the golems have been destroyed. The single golem still standing is an exceptionally large one, wielding a massive sword. But even though it's the only golem left, the creepy couple are fighting it all by themselves.

Their bizarre movements make me feel almost sick, but I press the feeling down and keep watching. Their strategy quickly becomes apparent to me. One of them draws the golem's attention, while the other attempts to slip through its defenses and strike it in the chest. They keep up this tactic, switching places every once in a while. So far, though they've failed every time, they keep getting closer to the golem's core area.

Finally, as the golem slashes at the man, the woman rushes in for the kill. The golem has no other choice but to drop the sword and swing an arm at her, but she switches from attacking to defending, and forcefully blocks it by grabbing its arm.

'That's the first time I've seen either of them receive an attack head-on.'

The man had already started moving before the woman even came in contact with the golem's arm; by the time she grabbed it, he already slipped past the golem's other arm. With a single precise attack, he stabs his open hand through the golem's chest like a sword, as effortlessly as Mucky did with a real sword.

He seems to have hit its core, as the golem soon falls lifelessly to the floor. They don't seem to take a single shred of pride in their victory, as they walk away from the golem and then sit down to meditate, still looking as emotionless as ever.

Looking at the huge golem, I nearly start drooling.

'That's the biggest golem I've seen yet. I wonder if it has any new symbols on it?'

Suddenly, as I'm about to send my soul over to investigate, I hear tight-fit clothes lady start talking to nobody in particular.

"I just destroyed three golems effortlessly. I must have had a breakthrough and didn't even notice it! I can't believe I'm still getting paid as much as that thing, which needed help defeating a single golem."

My good mood spoiled, I turn to tight-fit clothes lady, "You must really want to fight me, huh?! Alright, come on! Let's fight!"

I start walking towards toward her, when I hear Mama shout, "Lyna!"

"Yes Mama?"

She points at the ground in front of her, "Come here. Do not attack her."

I sigh and glare at tight-fit clothes lady, "Okay."

"I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to cause trouble. You have already agreed to the amount I am paying. If you want any more or less, you would have more luck talking to me about it. Alright everyone, from here on out, we will rest after every room. Please recover your qi."

Surprisingly, Trista actually says something this time. Tight-fit clothes lady just humphs and sits down cross-legged.

I make my way over to Mama Bloodcat and lie down beside her. I'm honestly still pretty annoyed at tight-fit clothes lady, but that annoyance quickly fades as my attention is attracted once more to the huge golem on the floor.

'Now then, let's see what you have in there.'