Volume 7, Chapter 14 – Pepe’s Revenge

Although she had a convenient “carving knife” like [Foundry Platform – Tier 4], making tools like chisels and mallets seem redundant, Yisi had still prepared a set just in case.

“It’s a good thing I asked the fat head priest for a large enough warehouse. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to fit all this stuff.”

The foundry platform and various stone materials occupied about two-thirds of the room’s area.

Yisi picked up the instruction manual and looked at the first sentence.

“Divide a square stone block into four smaller cubes, and then hollow out a magic circuit inside. This sounds much more difficult than forging a magic weapon.”

Just from the first sentence, Yisi realized that making a stone golem was much harder than making a magic weapon. To cut a large block into four smaller ones with one vertical and one horizontal cut, and then to carve a magic circuit within those four cubes that would allow magic to flow smoothly when they were finally assembled—the effort required was definitely several times that of a magic weapon. An ordinary person would spend a considerable amount of time just getting the patterns inside the four small cubes to align. Not to mention, to ensure the smooth flow of magic, the internal lines had to be of equal thickness.

If just four cubes were this time-consuming, it was hard to imagine how much work would be needed for a humanoid or an even larger dragon-shaped golem.

“Good thing I didn’t just dismantle the church’s stone golems right away. I definitely wouldn’t have known where to start.”

To make it easier to observe the internal magic circuit, Yisi chose to place a transparent glass cube, the size of a normal Rubik’s Cube, on the [Foundry Platform – Tier 4]. The platform’s own magic blade cut without shattering or cracking the glass. She cut it into four equal pieces. It was worth noting that the tutorial only said to divide the stone into four parts with a vertical and horizontal cut; it didn’t specify that the pieces had to be of equal size. Yisi guessed this might be related to the craftsmanship of this world. Without proper measuring tools, making equal divisions would be too difficult for a beginner, so as long as the golem could be activated, it didn’t matter if the cubes were of different sizes.

“And then inscribe the magic circuit on the surface of the four small cubes… huh, they actually drew three-dimensional diagrams of each cube from different perspectives? That’s a huge help. In that case, as long as I ensure the lines are of consistent thickness and that they eventually connect, I just have to draw everything else proportionally according to the diagram.”

Her five gold coins were not spent in vain.

Scrape, scrape, scrape…

Even with the assistance of the foundry platform, it took Yisi nearly two hours to complete the magic circuits for the four small cubes. It actually could have been done in just over an hour, but during a trial assembly, she discovered that the lines on one of the small cubes didn’t align with the other three, preventing the overall circuit from forming a whole. Yisi had to carve a new one. In addition, measuring the proportions also took up a lot of her time.

Reаⅾ οո ΚatReαԁіոɡСаfе

“Next is to mix the magic liquid needed for the internal magic circuit…”

This process took Yisi less than ten minutes. The difficulty with magic liquid was in collecting the materials; the mixing process itself was not troublesome.

Yisi glanced again at the tutorial placed on the foundry platform.

“The last remaining step is to evenly coat the magic circuit with the magic liquid, and then assemble the cubes… huh?”

She remembered that stone golems were supposed to require a magic crystal or a magic core as a power source, but the tutorial didn’t mention anything of the sort.

It must be because the golem she was making was too low-level, so the magic in the liquid alone was enough to power the cube for a while.

After finishing all the preparations, Yisi assembled the four cubes in a way that would allow the magic circuit to function properly. According to the book, if there were no errors in carving the circuit and applying the liquid, the cubes would stick together on their own after a while. To save time, Yisi used the [Solidify] spell to skip this step.

“What are you doing?”

Pepe, dressed in black pajamas and seemingly ready for bed, walked up behind Yisi.

Yisi waved the glass cube in her hand at Pepe.

“Making a stone golem. Why are you here, Pepe?”

“I passed by your room and noticed the lights were off. After asking a nun, I found out you were here. Wait, did you say you’re making a stone golem? Isn’t that a lost art?” Pepe flapped her wings a couple of times in excitement and hurried forward, her loose white hair and the hem of her nightgown fluttering slightly. “Let me see.”

Rеαd on ΚαtReаԁiոɡCаfе

“You can, but… a lost art? I learned this from a book. If it were a lost art, it would be impossible to buy a crafting book from a traveling merchant.”

Ignoring Yisi, Pepe’s attention was completely focused on the glass cube in her hand. She lifted her blue eyes, which were particularly bright at night, and looked at Yisi seriously.

“How do you use this?”

“Place it in a spot with stable lighting.”

Edith took the glass cube to a magic lamp near the foundry platform.

“And then?”

“Try putting your hand between it and the magic lamp.”

Without hesitation, Edith waved her hand between the glass cube and the magic lamp. When her palm blocked the light, the cube flickered with a very faint white light.

Although she noticed the change in the glass cube, Edith continued to wave her hand.

After repeating the motion five or six times and the cube still only flickered with white light, an impatient Pepe raised an eyebrow.

“And then what?”

“And then it flickers with white light. Didn’t you notice, Pepe?”

“Huh? That’s it?”

Rеaԁ oո КаtRеaԁіոgСαfe

“Of course. I’m just a beginner. It’s already quite an achievement to have made this on my first try.”

“Tch, and here I was, getting my hopes up.” Instantly losing interest, Edith pushed the cube back into Yisi’s hand. “What’s this book you mentioned? The method for making stone golems has been lost since the beginning of the war a thousand years ago. Otherwise, humanity wouldn’t have been so defenseless.”

“Just wait a minute, Pepe. I should be able to make something that looks more like a golem tonight.”

If every item had a complete three-view diagram, she could definitely make a stone golem that would interest Pepe more before she got sleepy.

However, when Yisi turned the page, she froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.

Apart from the first five pages, the following pages only contained the history of stone golems, such as a certain king from the Age of Gods who, on the verge of his kingdom’s destruction, used an angel golem obtained through a desperate struggle to defeat the enemy. Or the hypotheses and debates among scholars about why stone golems disappeared. If Yisi could still find this acceptable, then when she flipped to the middle of the book, she felt the urge to put a knife to the author’s neck. The author had apparently gotten too lazy to even copy historical stories and had just left blank pages. No, to be precise, Yisi felt that there were words written on them, and those two words were “Fool”, visible only to idiots.

A book as thick as her thumb contained only five pages of useful content.

Hmm…

I’d better not run into you again.

Yisi couldn’t help but curse the scammer who sold her the fake book in her heart. Although she felt that a curse from a level 427 person might actually take effect, even if it did, the scammer deserved it.

Beside her, Edith frowned slightly.

“What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve eaten something you shouldn’t have.”

“Ah-ha-ha~, it’s nothing~ I just remembered something, so I have to leave for a bit. You can go back to sleep first, Pepe~”

Rеаd оn ΚαtRеаԁіnɡCafe

“Is that so,” Edith pursed her lips and turned towards the door. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly stopped and glanced back without turning her head completely. “Do you need to go find that scammer? Getting information out of people is Refina’s specialty—the same goes for gold coins.”

“Uh.”

She saw right through me.

Yisi could only give a wry smile while twirling the end of her hair.

“I appreciate the thought, Pepe… but it’s okay. That guy has probably run off long ago.”

“Suit yourself,” without turning back, Edith waved her hand at Yisi. “I was just standing up for my cute and stubborn fiancée. By the way, your etiquette is very standard. You don’t need me to teach you anymore.”

Etiquette?

Yisi tilted her head, then a blush appeared on her cheeks.

She was standing at the door since I was making all those faces in the mirror?!

But Edith would not hear Yisi’s protest. As she turned a corner out of Yisi’s sight, a sly look gradually spread across her exquisite face.

“This is payback for you seeing me rolling around on your bed last time. Now, we’re even.”

Her voice gradually faded into the warm air of mid-spring.