Chapter 95

Tom shut his eyes and reappeared in his system room. There were limited credits available and a huge number of products on the auction house. He needed to work out what were the most important items to purchase.

He remembered the challenge trial and what he had found useful then. Anything capable of storing a rechargeable spell, wire of some description, enchanted stone and then something like the bat to give the golem appropriate senses though above ground the hawk’s eye might be a better solution than echolocation.

Of those components, the first was the most important. If he got the mana engine, then giving the golem magic to make use of that power source was clearly the best strategic decision.

“Display items that can be infused with a spell form and will accept mana to cast.”

The wall converted to a series of lists. A dizzying array of options was presented. Tom scanned them, searching for an object like the one he had used in the challenge trial, a receptacle that he could imprint his own spells into. Nothing similar to the crystal was available. The closest were a couple of pieces that might accept most of a tier zero spell form. Artefacts existed for higher tier spells, but none of them allowed free form manipulation. The control module of the majority of the choices was locked to a point and then fire mode. No capacity for creativity was provided. Tom hadn’t realised how special that crystal had been, but he guessed that was easy when the trial created an entire reality for him to experience.

Efficiency was also a problem, and it was clear he was going to have to purchase something already imprinted with a Spell rather than using one of his own.

“Display all items imprinted with a spell, which function off channelled mana and are reuseable.”

A massive list appeared, and he studied them. He had not specified the sort order so what was displayed was random. There was tier four stuff mixed in with tier zero. Tom frowned as his mind found patterns in the objects presented.

The wands for one were too expensive. They seemed to carry a three or four times premium versus other options. That was a pity. A small part of himself had been imagining what a second tier mana engine and a diverse set of wands could create. He could have outfitted the golem with a dozen wands, and providing the elemental was competent and could accept strategic advice from Everlyn. The result would be like a master wizard targeting its opponents with the class of magic that it was vulnerable to. With that price premium, it wasn’t going to happen. Tom knew he shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course wands would be popular. Anyone with mana could use a wand to cast a fireball with a skill of sixteen or thirty-two, depending on the version. That was a lot better than buying the spell out right at least over the next couple of years.

“Remove all wands,” he ordered.

The wands disappeared, and the display was filled with rings and bracers. They were as expensive as the wand, and Tom understood exactly why. Firing a fireball from a set of bracers or a ring was intuitive just like with the wands. Doing the same from your foot was totally different.

“Remove rings and bracers.”

An array of ridiculous items presented themselves. There was a melted ring that still worked. Shoes that created swamp in front of them. Shields existed that gifted knock back properties or flames and most things in between. The variety was extraordinary, but that was what happened when a million people funnelled their random discoveries into a single auction house.

Tom studied the shields while imagining his golem using them. Get through the shield only to hit rock. The expression on the attackers’ face when they realised and then the shield would launch a magic effect, bathing them in flame. It was a cute thought, but he wasn’t going for style and those credit costs seemed extreme.

“Display average price comparison of these shields vs. the same spell on wands.”

Shields with a specific spell on average cost 99.4% of equivalent wand

His imaginary shield wielding golem vanished. For his purposes, they were almost as bad as a wand. Not as bad because the shield contributed to defence, which meant that it was an evidently better purchase.

Plus 0.6% cheaper!!!

Tom laughed at that thought. Jokes aside, they were basically the same price. In his mind, the decision was therefore the same as wands, too expensive and having a sheet metal to put between you and an enemy was not the best of boons when you were made of stone.

“Exclude shields.”

The list reorganised once more, and he smiled at the change. He had gone from chaos with recognisable names and images to a greater level of chaos where a variety of admittedly useful junk was displayed. Critically for his purposes he was buying this for a golem. It didn’t need to be pretty or even wearable. Providing the spell worked as functioned, which was mana in for a specified effect then the golem could use it.

“Sort by tier two and above spells with cheapest first.”

Instantly a flood of cheap tier two items appeared.

“Have a column for each tier above two, sorted by price and display spell effects and efficiency if available.”

The new list that emerged was exactly what he was after. Spell names ran down the page. Slowly, he worked through the list to sort the useful from the mass of useless junk and to form an idea of the tier of power that he wanted to target.

“Exclude illusions, attribute boosting, healing and utility spells.” The list changed. Tom sighed. “Enhanced shine is a utility spell.”

The list reorganised as the AI updated its classification rules. How Enhanced Shine could be anything other than utility was a mystery to him. Tom spotted other issues. “Remove melee enhancements like fire edge.”

Given how hard his golem hit, adding magical effects was pointless to its damage output.

“Remove contact curses similar to slow and weakness.”

The list shifted again and this time what was presented matched his needs.

Finally, the AI had sorted all the items in the human auction house into a series of entries that he could actually browse and make informed decisions with.

The first item in each of the three columns proved the benefit of his instructions.

Rusted and Warped Metal Plate of Repulsion (Tier 2)

This plate produces the spell repulsion at a skill level 7 and 120% of the spell’s usual mana requirement.

Current Price 140 (2 days reminding)

Buy out Price: 600

Useless, he decided.

Cursed necklace of mind whip. (soul binds on use) (Tier 3)

This necklace produces the tier 3 spell Mind Whip at a skill level of 5. The Mind Whip can impart a variety of effects depending on the victim’s mind defence stats.

The item is cursed.

Effect 1. When active abilities are used, there is a mental backlash which creates bleeding in the brain. This can cause secondary concussion, paralysis and occasionally death.

Effect 2. Owner is inflicted with necrotic damage (Tier 0) skill level 1 every two seconds.

Current Price 1 (2 days reminding)

Buy out Price: 810

Tom re-read the description and paid careful attention to the cursed effects. It was a hundred percent clear why it was so cheap. A human could not use this. Tom could easily heal from the necrotic damage. The problem was the mental backlash when you used the item’s active ability. Even Tom’s healing would not protect him, as he might be knocked out before he could engage Healing Tranquillity. The question was whether a golem would be impacted by either of the damage types.

He probed his memory.

The prim and proper golem construction group he had worked out in his memories rarely used cursed items in their construction, at least at his relatively low level. There was a single conversation in the break room that was a discussion around them using a crystal that created a powerful necrotic field within a golem. The collective belief was that while it could not be ignored in totality, the impact would be reduced, but significant counter healing would need to be introduced to manage the long-term strain.

There was nothing to guide him on the mental backlash, but the curse sounded like it was constructed to damage flesh and blood creatures. If so, the cursed object might be just what he was looking for and was probably worth a test even if he removed it at a later point in time. He updated it to be included in his short list and then moved onto the next item.

Crystal Eye of Ice Spike. (Tier 4)

This ninety kilogram crystal can absorb mana to launch the spell Expert Blue Ice Spike (Tier 4) every six seconds at a cost of 115% of the base spell. Ice spike has an effective range of twenty metres.

Current Price: 3105

Time remaining: 7 hours

Buy out Price 4,999

Tom immediately purchased it - for a tier four spell, it was ridiculously cheap. Plus, it matched his needs.

This particular artefact had two weaknesses. The first was that it was so bulky it was best positioned as a static defence. However, for a siege weapon, its power was lacklustre. Its range was pathetic and then if something closed within it the six second delay between shots limited it to getting a single shot off in each engagement.

The second issue came about if it was used in direct combat. The Crystal Eye lacked portability. From the description and picture it was large, bulky and with a weight of ninety kilograms a lot of humans would still struggle to move it easily. Most but not all, of course. Fighters who had prioritised strength and magic could make use of it. They weren’t on Earth anymore. Ninety kilograms was no longer the insurmountable hurdle it had once been. Tom remembered what he was like when he was on earth. A cumbersome object weighing thirty kilograms would have been annoying, but he would have been able to lug it from spot to spot. He would just have to remember to bend his knees when lifting it and given its magic, it didn’t sound like something that he would need to aim or swing to use. A thirty-kilogram eye with his Earth body would have been workable and there would be humans out there on Existentia that had three times his Earth strength. That was only Rank twelve in strength. Tiny had possessed those attributes.

That and the price meant he purchased it immediately. Encased within a golem both those weaknesses were mitigated. Even the six seconds was not that much of a problem because the eye would only be one of its tools and it would take three seconds to recharge the spell anyway, so the slowdown was not that huge of an impact.

There were other items further down but first he opened his eyes. “Everlyn I’m going to create a golem to help fight. It will probably be tier two. Can you see how much budget I can get from everyone else. I don’t have sufficient auction credits for the minimum, let alone the more exciting addons.”

“I’m on it.”

“Great. Let everyone know that I’m personally investing thirty-five thousand. Another ten should let me bump it up several ranks.”

“I guess I’ll send another message to Michael.”

“What?”

“I’m way ahead of you.” She grinned mischievously. “You better get used to it. Now go do your researching.”

He shut his eyes and checked for gold wire. Then silver, then copper, then he had a thought.

“Show cheap wire-based jewellery, necklaces, tiaras.”

A huge amount of junk appeared. Everyone who had got into the final million was all about results and they did not want jewellery for appearance and apparently across the large numbers of humans they had found trinkets without magical properties and that wealth now clogged the auction house.

Tom would have done exactly the same.

He rubbed his hands together in glee. This might not end up too bad.

“Sort into columns by metal and cost per metre of separable wire providing no individual wire is thinner than two millimetres or thicker than six.”

Options flashed up, and he scanned across the different columns, trying to weigh the price against the magical advantage of various metals. It was a close decision and eventually he focused on a form of tin with high magic capacity. It was a weak tier two material and priced closer to the mid-tier one. What differentiated it in the end was the consistency of the wire used in the jewellery. It was all three millimetres thick, and that uniformity was valuable in of itself. He bought up six metres of it while pondering on who or what had created the strange wire. The pictures of the jewellery were sort of like coiled springs, some wide enough to fit onto his thigh, others over his fingers and further ones large enough to encase a tree trunk. It was weird. The wire was on the underneath layer with the outer surface having a series of spiked trinkets soldered onto the outside and no matter how wide the cylinder the thickness of the wire stayed consistent.

Tom shook his head, imagining some sort of race that at least personality wise was dwarf like and exhibiting very little creativity and a regimental approach to forging where everything was created to defined standards and measurements.

Boring. But for his purposes extremely useful.

“List enhanced stone with a price per kilogram and quantity.”

A huge number of options appeared for him to purchase. Some of the rarer types had an asterisk next to them that listed extra volume was available at higher prices. The selection was impressive. Apparently, not everyone had been fighting. Some humans, at least, had started mining and were generating numerous exotic materials. There were enhanced stones from tier one up to tier four in acceptable bulk to make a golem exclusively out of all of them. Though the more exotic stuff would take over a million credits and was well out of his capacity to purchase, and then he guessed even beyond his magic levels to use. After all, he lacked the mana to create any golem more powerful than what he had done in the challenge trial. If the Event wasn’t hanging over them, he was confident that Harry could up with a solution for the second problem of having sufficient mana to enchant them.

He opened his eyes to see Michael running over.