“Twenty,” Rick rested back on the chair. “Let’s stop here for now.”

He pushed his chair back and walked out of the room. The morning sun was in the sky as he stretched his hands and yawned.

“That makes twenty of them,” he said looking at the newly crafted golem in his hand.

He had stayed cooped by his desk for most of the past week, crafting golems continuously. In that time he crafted twenty golems while ruining six other beast cores in the process.

But that wasn’t all. He raised his finger and touched his right temple

[RICK HANIQUE]

[Strength: 17

Stamina: 15

Concentration: 29

Perception: 21

Vitality: 2.3

Agility: 19

Mana: 24.5]

His perception stat had crossed beyond twenty-one points after which Rick had a realization. He could see finer details of things impossible to see before if he concentrated a little.

Right after that, the next golem he crafted turned out to be a common tier golem!

Rick looked at the Common Ranked Golem core in his hand.

Even though all the golem cores looked practically the same, but for Rick who has a consciousness thread attached to each golem, it was like telling apart a carrot from a pen.

Besides, right after creating the Common ranked golem, the level of his skill increased as well.

[Rune Craftsman- Apprentice]

[Proficiency: 82%]

[The mastery over crafting low-level runes]

[Golemancy - Apprentice]

[Proficiency- 2%

The host can craft Common ranked golems.]

Of his six skills, there were only two still stuck in the Novice level now, [Weapon Enhancer] and [Stealth Walk]

After checking his gains, he closed the notifications and looked out at the changed Herb Garden.

“Good job guys, keep at it” he called out.

Of the twenty golems he had toiled to make, there were four of them hard at work in the fields. There were two earth golems with the responsibility of keeping the grounds and two water-golems for watering the plants.

The herbs had very strict requirements for its care, but after some digging, Rick found a possible solution. After two failed attempts, he realized that if he crafted the [Logos] Rune in the beast core, the golem created would be able to perform certain set duties as instructed.

The Lemegeton contained such precise information about how to take care of each plant, that he quickly selected a few herbs with simpler functions and set the golems to work.

‘I need to find good material for a combat-golem,’ he thought.

Although he had created an assorted range of golems, they were all worker-golems. Even the Common-ranked golem he had crafted was a worker golem. “I would really feel so much safer with a combat-golem with me.”

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The only reason Rick left the crafting of the golem midway with twenty-four beast cores still remaining was that today was the day of his appointment with Dale.

Dale wanted to meet “Kir” on the day right after returning from the Blessed Exchange for delivering the beast cores. Rick managed to postpone the meeting for six days now. But finally, he had to stop working today.

“Let’s get it over with,” Rick murmured putting the Common ranked Golem Core in his pocket.

He packed his things and walked over to the Transfer Portal Circle.

“Pip, let’s go,” he said, calling her over.

Hearing Rick call for her, she immediately trotted over to him.

“Peep! Peep!” she asked.

“Back home,” he replied with a smile.

A flash and at the next moment, he was in his bedroom.

“Peep! Peep!” Pip’s drowsy voice called out from his head.

“Hey what happened to you?” Rick immediately put Pip down from his head and onto his bed.

“Peep!”

“But you were fine just a second before,” Rick asked.

“Peep Peep!” she nodded her head yes.

Even she herself didn’t realize how she could get sick all of a sudden.

“Was it because of travelling through the Entrance Portal?” he said.

Pip though for a while and then bobbed her head yes.

“Will you be fine?” he asked patting her head.

“Peep! Peep!” (Yup! My fire element is not compatible with the Space Element of the Portal ) she replied.

“Oh okay. It's like getting food poisoned,” he said. “You get some rest. I have some work okay. I will come back later.”

He picked up his back and closed the bedroom door.

“Hello, I am Kir,” Rick practised as he put the Golem Mask onto his face, becoming Kir once again.

He locked the front door and darted out through a back ally. The roads were empty as ever, but after his run-in with Eira that time, he was cautious not to take the main road.

The place that they had agreed to meet up in was an office building before, a local landmark.

Although the place was a little far away, he did not feel tired after the tensed jog he had to take. His body was as good as, if not better, that of athletes before the Heaven’s Dictate!

After thirty minutes the building finally came into view, and true to his words right at the entrance, Dale was waiting for him by the stairs.

“You are late,” Dale said.

“Sorry, the traffic was bad,” Rick replied with a grin, wiping the sweat off his face.

Dale’s face stayed stone-hard, not a crack of a smile appearing on it.

“Let’s do it inside,” he said, leading Rick in.

“How did you find this place?” Rick asked looking at the spacious building.

There were a lot of empty buildings now, but people did not rush to claim them, because any one of them could have become a dungeon after the Heaven’s Dictate.

“My brother used to work here,” Dale replied.

“Did he,” Rick was not sure how to ask.

“I think he died, this place was a dungeon when I came,” Dale said.

“I am sorry,” he could not believe how hard it must have been.

‘I can’t imagine loosing Samira,’ he thought.

“I have the beast cores you asked for,” he said patting the backpack on his back.

“Thanks,” Rick said reaching for it.

Dale took a step back.

“But I want something in return.”

“Oh yes, of course,” Rick realized.

“The Cilliacs will be useless to you,” Rick rummaged through his bag. “How about a golem? Or maybe-”

“No” Dale stopped Rick. “Kir, I want to fight you.”

The place turned eerily silent.

“What the hell do you mean you want to fight me?” Rick was confused.

“I am on a quest to become the strongest in the world,” Dale explained. “And you are someone who was strong enough to entice the one person I wanted to take on as my protégé under you. I want to see how strong you are.”

”I do not understand what you are saying? Whom did I take?” Rick asked.

“Let’s not fight to the death, I just want to spar. It will be training for the both of us,” Dale offered.

“Uff” Rick articulated, dropping his bag. “Fine, let’s do it.”

Dale broke into a smile.

‘I want to try out some things too’ Rick smiled pulling out his staff.

“I thought you had golems,” Dale asked as he put down his own bags.

“I can’t have you destroy them,” Rick shook his head and replied honestly.

“Then I won’t use my guns either,” Dale nodded his head.

“What the hell? You were thinking of having a spar with your gun?” Rick nearly screamed. How much of a blockhead could someone be!

“But, I am only using a knife now. See,” Dale said holding his military knife up.

“Fine,“ Rick said. “Let’s just start.”

Rick clenched the staff under his fingers, his hands were jittery and his breaths became longer.

“Let’s start,” Dale said charging over.

Rick immediately brought the staff down in Dale’s direction, keeping him at bay.

“What is this?” Dale chuckled as he dodged it easily and charged ahead.

Before Rick knew what was happening, Dale landed a punch on his face, sprawling him away.

“Damn it,” Rick grunted touching his swollen face before getting back up on his feet.

“Is that all you have?” Dale said. “You disappoint me.”

‘He is definitely stronger than Eira’ Rick noted as he took his stance.

“You better have something better if you want the beast cores,” Dale chuckled.

“Fine,” Rick said.

He closed his eyes and circulated his mana along the Fire circulation path.

“Adolebitque Huoagni” he said as he used the Hot Hands Spell.

He directed the Mana to the tip of his finger. But it did not stop there.

Suddenly, the staff emitted a crimson glow through its length, as runes etched on it came to life.

‘Now let’s see’ Rick smiled at the thought.

This was his upgraded Hot Hands Spell. After his talk with Samira, he decided to see if he could expand his Fire Mana to other things with runes. That’s when he found the [Mana Conducting Rune]

That along with the Fire Rune as its base made the staff an extension of his hand for the sake of using the Hot Hands spell!

“Come now,” Rick called Dale with his finger.