3 oz of Iron Ore
11 oz of Bauxite Ore
1 oz of Silver Ore
I made myself settle down enough that I could get a good read of the situation. I cast Lesser Blood Drain on the rubble that was left of its body with no luck. I had gained about an eighth of a level killing just one Elemental thanks to it being fifty levels higher than myself. If I could find enough of these things my level was about to skyrocket.
What about the others? My original plan was to explore this place enough to know if it would be safe for them to fight here. Looking back, the first Golem hadn’t reappeared, so at least it would be safe in the first room where there was no respawn as far as I could tell. It would be a while before I knew if that would remain true for this room as well.
Seeing no way through the stone bars blocking me from the pair of golems on the other side of the fence, I turned my attention to the door to my left. Was it too much to hope for that there might be some nice loot behind this door?
It was time to do my first experiment with Animation. A big part of me wanted to start with iron, but I only had 7 oz of iron ore in total. I had 18 oz of bauxite.
Bauxite was the primary source of aluminum, but I doubted casting Animation on it would magically make it turn into an Aluminum Golem. I could be wrong.
How much I needed I didn’t know, but I would try not to waste what I had.
Tossing one Bauxite Ore that weighed about 1 oz. to the ground, I shrugged and cast Animation, which cost a base of 5,000 MP, or 3,000 with spell cost bonus. It was more expensive than any base spell I had, but I didn’t hesitate. I channeled more mana into Mana Sight and watched as a thick cord of Light Magic left my scepter and entered the Bauxite Ore.
The Ore started to expand and take shape. Instead of a smooth surface like the Earth Elemental, my Golem remained rough and uneven like rock. When it reached the height of one foot, it stopped growing and stood there with a barrel chest, tube-shaped arms and chubby fingers. Its face was that of a smooshed lizard with small slits for eyes. It had kept the pock marks that the Bauxite Ore possessed naturally and looked like it had large, colorful freckles all over.
What in the Underworld was I going to do with a foot-tall rock gnome?
I studied it with Mana Sight and noticed immediately that instead of a Dark Magic Orb floating about in its center there was a Light Magic Orb. Another difference was that my Golem had a strand of Light Magic coming from me that was constantly supplying it with mana. Perhaps that was the difference between an Elemental and a Golem. One was self-sustaining, and one was not.
That brought up another, much more serious question. Mel, our Dark Mage, was able to use Dark Magic, but it also didn’t harm him when I healed him with Light Magic. With the violent reaction that happened when Light and Dark Magics combined, how was it even possible that he was unaffected? It was only a theory at this point, but I suspected everyone had a Dark or Light Magic orb of some kind, even if it took on a different shape in more complex creatures like humans. Mel had to have a Light Magic Orb to be healed by me, or perhaps it would make more sense to call it his heart, or core. I would have to find him and figure it out.
Bauxite Golem
Level: 20
Health Points: 600
Mana Points: NA
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 66
Constitution: 33
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
I cut off the flow of Light Magic, and the Golem fell to dust.
Seeing that my first Golem was only level 20, I had to take a deep breath to settle myself. I feared it was going to take a while for this spell to become useful.
Quickly, I threw an ounce of Iron Ore to the ground and cast Animation to see the difference. It was still red in color, but with a dull reflective property that hadn’t been there with the first golem and a slightly grey tint. It was twice the size the Bauxite Golem had been.
Iron Ore Golem
Level: 60
Health Points: 2,000
Mana Points: NA
Strength: 60
Dexterity: 40
Constitution: 200
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Interesting. It was three times the level—I assumed this was thanks to the difference in ore—but only twice the size. That was a drawback, but something that could be managed. It gave me even more questions.
The smoky mana that swirled around in this little guy was brown mixed with metallic silver. It had to be the sub-element Metal.
I cut the Iron Ore Golem’s cord of Light Mana, and it fell into a crumbled pile of rock.
Afterward, I summoned another Bauxite Golem with 2 ounces of ore. This one was twice as tall.
Bauxite Golem
Level: 40
Health Points: 660
Mana Points: NA
Strength: 33
Dexterity: 100
Constitution: 66
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
It became obvious that the size of the Golem and its level depended upon the ore that I used. Two ounces of bauxite would not create a Golem of equal size to the Iron one. Also, the Bauxite Golem had a lower Strength and Constitution, but much higher Dexterity than the Iron Ore Golem. That could make things interesting.
If one ounce Ore made a Golem about a foot tall, did ten ounces Ores create a ten foot tall Golem?
At this point, I liked the speed the Bauxite Golem possessed since the Strength and Constitution of the Iron Ore Golem still couldn’t compete with a level 300 Earth Elemental.
Instead of cutting the Golem off from its life source, I threw two more ounces of ore at its feet and cast Animate a second time.
Spell Failure. You can only control one Golem at a time at Animation’s current level.
That wasn’t what I was trying to do, but still, it was good to test my limitations.
Walking over to the Bauxite Golem, I stooped down and picked up the 2 ounces of ore I had tried to add to it.
Holding my hand out, I offered it to the Golem.
It didn’t move.
Since I was supplying the creature with its life force, I guessed it would only move if I controlled it as well. Being a puppet master had never really appealed to me.
I commanded my golem, not with words, but by imagining what I wanted it to do and trying to project the thought toward my minion. It worked.
The two-foot rock doll reached out with its chubby rock fingers and took the ore I set in its hand.
Again, I cast Animation and this time it had the desired effect. The Bauxite Golem shot up in height. It was now four feet tall.
Bauxite Golem
Level: 80
Health Points: 1,220
Mana Points: NA
Strength: 66
Dexterity: 200
Constitution: 122
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
That was more like it. Instead of looking like a pudgy little statue with a squashed face, it was now starting to resemble a humanoid. There was a little more definition in its arms and legs. Instead of a barrel, there was a refinement in the Golem’s stomach and chest. Its head was still too round to be human, but its eyes had widened, showing white pupils instead of black.
My mana was starting to get low. I had used 3,000 MP to learn Animation from the Elemental, about 1,000 MP to suck it dry with Flame Thrower and 2,000 MP with Wail of the Banshee to shake it apart. It would only take a few minutes to recover with my mana per minute, but because I had used meditate to double my MP, mana per minute wouldn’t restore the excess MP.
Each of the three Golems I had made cost another 3,000 MP and an additional 3,000 MP when I had upgraded my current Golem. One of the benefits for the large mana cost was that there was a small drain of 60 MPM to my mana cost. Once I cast it, it looked like it would remain alive until I was through with it, or it died.
There was one last thing to try. I cast Skeleto
n General’s Defense on the Bauxite Golem. I didn’t bother supplying it with a weapon for what I had in mind for it.
It was like having the Skeleton General’s kid brother as a horned pet. I was so pleased that I would have shared bacon with the creature if it could have eaten it.
As annoying as it was, I sat down in the corner and meditated again. It took me about ten minutes to restore my 38k MP. Once I got a feel for the place I probably wouldn’t bother, but I wasn’t sure I trusted the guy philosophically meditating about being a rock.
Fighting and remembering to send the Golem commands wasn’t going to be easy. I hoped my minion was able to take fairly general commands like my Skeleton Warrior who was too low of a level to help out. If I lost my Skeleton, I would have to Dominate another Undead creature and level it up again. I wasn’t going to take any chances. There were other places where I could level him up quickly and safely.
As I opened the next door, I commanded my Golem to run in first.
Another Earth Elemental stood there to greet us.
Earth Elemental
Level: 310
Health Points: 10,550
Mana Points: NA
Endurance: 5,270
Strength: 400
Dexterity: 100
Constitution: 1,050
Intelligence: 50
Wisdom: 20
The walls to my left and behind the Elemental were made of bone, meaning it was a part of the outer wall of the palace. The wall to the right was the same red stone as the other internal walls, with what looked to be a large switch at its center.
I channeled more mana to Mana Sight again, so I could give my Golem extra attention. My first command was for it to run in circles and dodge the enemy’s attacks.
The Earth Elemental became animated much faster this time with my minion running right for it.
As it turned, encircling the Elemental, it ducked quickly enough to evade the Elemental’s first attack.
The enemy stepped back and spun, putting itself in a better position to throw another punch.
I commanded the Golem to jump away.
Before the Elemental’s fist collided with its head, my Golem obeyed. It had superior speed, but it wasn’t enough to distract the mob without the danger of getting hit if I didn’t guide its movements. Even with the added armor, I doubted it could take more than a single hit.
Stop. I sent the thought to my minion, who obeyed without question.
A stone fist drilled into the side of my Golem’s head as the Elemental extended its right fist. A crack sounded, sending a shiver up my spine. That was not something I wanted to get hit by.
My Golem spun to the ground. The Skeleton General’s Helm was intact, but for a moment the Golem didn’t respond, even when I commanded it to get up.
-892 HP
When it did get to its feet, I saw a crack that started by its temple and zigzagged toward its jaw on the other side of its face.
With low HP, did it lose mobility? I commanded it to dodge.
It ducked below an overhand left that the Elemental leveled its way, then sidestepped a right and bounded back from a front kick.
That was enough.
I ordered it to skirt around the Elemental and run to stand behind me.
As it passed, Flame Thrower billowed into the enemy, followed soon after by a Wail of the Banshee. I picked up my loot off the floor.
6 oz of Iron Ore
2 oz of Bauxite
1 oz Firazite
Seeing the experience and drops, I was starting to finally feel like I was on the right track. It seemed Iron Ore and Bauxite I could expect to drop from each Elemental. Ore like Firazite and Silver I better save for Russ. He could probably make better use of them than I could at this point.
After retrieving the loot, I turned to my Golem and had it march over to me. I handed it an ounce of Bauxite and cast Animate. Its stats didn’t change, but its HP shot up by 305. It seemed additional ore would heal it. I gave it another two ounces that healed it to its max HP. Well, it looked like I was going to have to start storing ore on me at all times. I hoped the 3,000 MP cost of animation would go down because healing was going to get expensive.
I handed it an Iron Ore this time and cast Animate once again. It grew in size, but its stayed the same except for becoming more reflective.
Bauxite/Iron Golem
Level: 100
Health Points: 1,820
Mana Points: NA
Strength: 106
Dexterity: 200
Constitution: 182
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
With the addition of Iron Ore, the Golem now stood over five feet tall with the same Dexterity as before but an increase in Constitution and Strength. Now it could hopefully take an additional hit.
Walking over to the lever that stuck out of the wall like a torch waiting to be lit, I saw an engraving on the wall.
It read:
Pull this lever only when you are ready to move on to the next challenge. If you want to face one Earth Elemental at a time, it will respawn sixty seconds after it is defeated.
Note: Be sure to close the door when you leave so that the Earth Elemental doesn’t attack you if you don’t want to face it again.
Now that was better than I could have hoped for. I would face two Earth Elementals if I pulled the lever as it opened the barred gate that had been shut to me before. That meant there should be a room like this one where I could camp two Earth Elementals at a time. With any luck, I would be able to face three at a time and get a level for every three battles. Four would be better. Then I could level every two.
It had almost been a minute, so I would fight the solo Elemental one more time, then pull the lever and move on. My mouth watered at the thought of leveling!
Chapter 8 – Leveling
After pulling the lever and defeating the two Elementals in the next room, I handed my Golem another Bauxite and Iron Ore, casting Animation once again. Not only did my Golem grow in size and power, but I got an additional surprise.
Animation has reached Level 2!
Taking a look, it seemed like I had some more experimenting to do.
Bauxite/Iron Golem
Level: 162
Health Points: 2,500
Mana Points: NA
Strength: 164
Dexterity: 350
Constitution: 250
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Either the level of Animate was limiting the level of the Golem I could make, or the ore was. I assumed my level was also affecting it. If it had continued to grow and level at the same rate as every time before it, this one would have been level 240. There was so much to learn.
“Of course, a level 2 spell wouldn’t granted me a golem the same level as I am,” I muttered to myself.
After meditating, I quickly finished two more Elementals in a side room nearly identical to the first. This one also had another lever to the next section where I would face three Earth Elementals if I so desired. There was a two-minute cool down in the current room before the two Golems respawned. I didn’t hesitate to pull it to move on.
I had my Golem run interference as I closed the door behind me. If I wasn’t fast enough, it was likely my Golem would die, and I would have to create another.
The sides of my mouth rose into a grin as I channeled extra mana into Flame Thrower and caught all three of the Elementals in my spell. Channeling even more into Wail of the Banshee, it was time to test how well it would work as a true area of effect spell.
I amped up Wail of the Banshee, which didn’t just rattle the Elementals into dust but caught my Golem and everything else in the room in its wake.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said aloud.
I didn’t complain when I saw a level up stream up from the floor and I reached Level 263.
I used 6 ounces of Bauxite and 1 Iron Ore from the loot the three Elementals had dropped to create a new Gol
em with the same stats as before. This time it cost me one less Iron Ore. The spell was definitely restricting what I could create.
It took approximately 3k MP to clear the room with three Elementals. Even with my Golem, I had plenty of mana per minute refilling my pool to completely make up for the mana used. I didn’t bother using Meditation. Enough caution. It was time to speed things up.
I made sure to give the Golem the command to run forward, then run off to the flank before circling back. It was a cheap move, taking advantage of the Elementals’ low Intelligence, but it redirected their attention and let me safely clear the room without destroying my own Golem in less than seven seconds.
With close to the same amount of mana I had used to clear a room of three Elementals, I ate through the rooms with four of them. It took a second or two longer to kill them. With another level up, I didn’t stop.
Pulling the lever, I commanded my Golem to run out of the room to face the horde of five. I hurried to close the door to the side room behind me. I would have to thank the Head Mistress for creating this place that made leveling up so easy.
Exiting the room, I let Invisibility settle into place and took in the five Elementals that had just taken their first steps to rush after my Golem.
As the Golem circled back, I cast Flame Thrower, duplicating the strategy that had been working so well. I spent an extra second to bake them, just to be safe.
Decreasing the flow to Mana Sight, I experienced time at a quicker rate. When experiencing each second as three, even battle gets boring.
With my Golem safely behind me, Wail of the Banshee screamed.
One thing that had not become tedious was watching the Elementals shake apart.
I would level again after killing one more group.
Looking up, I saw a stone fist barreling toward me like a cannonball. Of all the times to have lowered Mana Sight.
One Elemental had survived my attack and had tried a desperate assault on its own. The rest were already piles of dirt.
Underworld - Through the Belly of the Beast: A LitRPG Series Page 7