Golden Experience

Chapter 179: “Damage From Rumors”

The zombies used for fusion experiments will first be those under my command. To be precise, they are under Sieg’s command, but like the skeletons, they are those who are spending their spare time idling in the royal capital.

As zombies are weaker than skeletons, they should have been used for experiments first. However, if resurrected, they can perform tasks closer to those of humans. Thanks to Sieg’s diligent work, about half of them had already been resurrected as Revenants. He thought it would be fine if that was the case, so he gave priority to the skeletons.

However, the fusion monster, the Warrior Skeleton, was a powerful unit because it required additional experience points. It surpassed even Queen-class entities.

In that case, creating monsters of equal rank using the remaining zombies could significantly strengthen our forces.

“Ten normal zombies make a Fresh Golem and ten Revenants make a Giant Corpse.”

“Squire zombies can turn into Fresh Golems too, huh?”

Squire zombies seem to be no different from regular zombies except for the unlocked route to becoming vampires.

Furthermore, once fused into a Fresh Golem, information about vampires is lost. Even when Blanc gave blood to the Fresh Golem that was originally a squire zombie, it could only be resurrected as a Giant Corpse.

In any case, Fresh Golems are more powerful than ten zombies, and Giant Corpses are more powerful than ten Revenants, so all the summoned creatures were grouped together. Although there are still many zombies in the capital, not all of them can be summoned here.

Attempts to create something with ten Giant Corpses failed, as approaching them to eggs resulted in no change.

This also applied to Warrior Skulls, and it seemed impossible to create even larger units from the remaining undead.

“So, what’s next?”

“Well, since it’s clear they won’t enter the eggs, maybe we should ask Yoroizaka and Kenzaki. As magical creatures, there’s a good chance they can do something.”

“By the way, why is Lyra in charge? Aren’t you going home?”

“Huh, isn’t that awful?”

I’m not telling her to go home, but she probably doesn’t have anything more to do here even if she stays.”

“So you’re free?”

“I’m not exactly free. Well, I’ve already done everything that needs to be done, and some things are waiting for results.

It’s fine to stay, right? Eh? Can’t I?”

“It’s not like that! I’m just genuinely wondering why you’re here.”

“…It’s that works the best, I guess.”

“Then, give me some Mithril. If you haven’t used it for anything other than cooking utensils, you probably still have some, right?”

“Well, what’s with that? It’s true that I have some left. Rare might not know, but in the market, it’s quite valuable. It rarely circulates.”

…I see, market value.

If that’s the case, asking Gustav or someone about Mithril might have provided the desired information. Since it was received directly from the management, the idea of asking an NPC didn’t come to mind.

Thinking about it, there might have been someone among Remy’s artisans who knew about it.

Since the performance could already be understood through [Appraisal], it wasn’t necessary, but…

“Lyra, the value of something is fluid, depending on the time and place. There’s no such thing as universal value. So, yeah, whether Lyra herself needs it at this moment speaks louder about its value than anything else.”

“Huh, didn’t I just say it’s quite expensive now?”

“Before that, you said you have some left. So, give it to me.”

“You’re like a spoiled little sibling in certain aspects. Well, whatever.”

“…You’re really indulgent with Rare-chan.”

Mithril, obtained.

I called Yoroizaka-san from the capital.

I want to move the Skeleton Warrior and Giant Corpse back to the palace instead, but I can’t just do that. I don’t want to put them in the wrong spot and make the difficulty of the royal capital 5 stars. They’re also too large in size to operate there, so they can only operate well on the main streets. It will be necessary to think of some effective way to operate them.

For now, we decided to send Sieg once to the Liebe Great Forest and leave the giant undead waiting in the meadow near it. It used to be frequented by novice rabbit hunters, but no one comes there now.

If we leave it as it is, it won’t be good for the health of the undead when the sun rises, so we remember to contact the queen who’s waiting nearby and instruct her to dig a cavity underground in the meadow.

There are still fresh golems and giant corpses under Blanc, but only a few of them were created for verification purposes. If we had them pull over to the edge, they wouldn’t get in the way of our work.

“Alright, let’s try it right away. [Philosopher’s Egg].”

I prompted Yoroizaka-san, but the egg showed no reaction.

Even after removing the shoulder-mounted Kenzakis, nothing changed.

It seems that Yoroizaka and the Kenzakis are not fusion materials. It seems that just because they’re magical creatures doesn’t mean then can be casually fused.

It could be that the current success is specific to undead creatures, a phenomenon unique to them.

“…Too bad, let’s give up on this idea for now. Now, what about the others—”

However, it might just be a coincidence that Yoroizaka-san and the others can’t fuse. From Rare’s perspective, Yoroizaka-san and the others are unique. It’s necessary to verify with more normal or common magical creatures, like the Adamant Team, the Carknight Team, or perhaps the Rock Golems.

“Hey, Rare-chan? If you’re not going to use it, can you return the Mithril?”

“I’m going to use it now! [Summon: Rock Golem].”

I summoned a regular-sized Rock Golem, and placed it inside the egg. It was easily taken in. The hypothesis that only undead creatures can be used was proved wrong.

Next, the Mithril confiscated from Lyra was put in, and it was exposed to the flame of [Athanor]. When the Philosopher’s Stone was ingested, the usual beautiful rainbow pattern appeared.

“Good. Golems seem to work. [Magnum Opus].”

Although only one Mithril ingot was input, the process proceeded without any issues. Eventually, after crushing the crystal, a majestic warrior made of shining silver rocks appeared. Instead of being made of ore, it seemed as if Mithril had been deliberately shaped into the form of a rock, a natural shape with an unnatural shine. Since Rare had never seen natural Mithril ore, this might be how it looks.

“Small! What’s this! It’s cute!”

Lyra pointed and laughed, which is not surprising. The form is that of a Golem, but the size has become considerably smaller. It’s only up to Rare’s waist.

While it is larger than the input Mithril, it has undergone significant downsizing compared to the original Golem. Where did the rocks that composed the Rock Golem go? However, the Warrior Skulls and Giant Corpses have clearly grown larger than the total weight of their original minions. There’s no room to complain. The most notable change was with Skeletal Ghidorah.

This small warrior is called [Mithril Golem]. It’s a Golem, so there should be no problem. If experience points are poured into it, it should grow larger on its own. Even at this size, it has higher overall stats than the Rock Golem, especially in INT and MND. Despite its appearance, the high magical affinity characteristic of metal is evident.

AGI is relatively low, typical for a Golem, making it suitable for use as a mobile artillery. I’ll take it back to the capital instead of the Warrior Skulls and Giant Corpses, and use it as a defensive weapon.

All the Mithril ingots that Lyra had were transformed into Mithril Golems.

Next is the main event in a sense. Clearing enough space, Ururu was [Summoned].

The World Tree is towering nearby, and with Skeletal Ghidorah, it doesn’t seem that large, but that’s just an illusion. It becomes apparent when compared to the nearby Mithril Golem. Well, this is not the correct comparison either.

“Is this the king-size they talk about? I still think the royal castle is bigger. But where were these things?”

“At the foot of a volcano.”

Using the familiar process, Ururu was placed in the crystal egg and exposed to the flame of [Athanor].

It was found through [Appraisal] that the other metal’s official name was Adamas. The Adamas left in my inventory was a surplus, after an amount was given to the craftsmen’s discrict of Rifure, and it was all thrown in.

Because of the size, it consumed as much additional MP as the Skeletal Ghidorah, but the process proceeded without problems.

It is the only one and a named subordinate. I was excited here and decided to use a Great Philosopher’s Stone. I wouldn’t want it to turn out smaller because I was stingy with the item I used.

Furthermore, I imitated Blanc and mixed in some of my own blood.

Like before, it was sucked vigorously by the process, but not to the point of it being life-threatening. This seemed to be recognized as a cost instead of damage, and was collected from LP even though [Demon’s Armor] was active.

“[Magnum Opus].”

?The subordinate has met the conditions for reincarnation.?

?Do you permit the reincarnation into [Elder Adamant Golem]??

?Do you permit the use of your experience points (1500) for the reincarnation into [Adamantalos]??

Naturally, the choice is [Adamantalos].

From the consumed experience points, it seems to be some kind of calamity-class monster.

After crushing the crystal, Ururu was reborn.

“… What… is this?”

“Can’t you see the race? It’s [Adamantalos].”

It looked as if an ancient Greek temple had taken human form. The arms and legs were designed like temple columns and the chest was directly in the shape of a temple. Inside the temple, a glowing red crystal can be seen as if enshrined. The head is also made of a short pillar, with a horizontal slit in the middle. Perhaps it has eyes there. And all of it was covered with a back metallic luster.

“Talos was some sort of bronze automaton, right? Does Adamantalos mean a Talos made of adamas? Is that even possible?”

“As you can see. But if it’s called Talos, does the red light in its chest mean it has god’s blood? In other words, paradoxically, I am a god.”

“I don’t know whether Rare-chan is a god or not, but it’s seems like an obvious weak spot. In legends, Talos died of blood loss after the blood vessels in his torso were destroyed.”

“I thought it was, <If they remove the nail from its heel>, right? Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything like that. Or maybe it’s just not exposed.”

“Amazing! Hey, hey, hey, want to fight my Burgundy?”

“… Where?”

“Ehh? You wanna do it? Don’t do it, you’ll definitely be in big trouble.”

The monster showdown was wisely canceled.

?Disaster creature [Adamantalos] has been born.?

?[Adamantalos] is already under the control of existing forces, so the issuance of the standard message has been canceled.?

Even though they had just acquired [Divine Wisdom], verification was impossible because the message was canceled. However, the fact that it doesn’t say “Specific Disaster Creature” means Adamantalos is considered a legitimate raid boss.

It doesn’t sit well with Rare, who is aware of the various strange processes she went through.

Or perhaps Adamantalos is a species that can eventually be reached through a smooth reincarnation from Adamant Golem. In that sense, it might be legitimate. By forcefully changing the trajectory from Rock series to Adamant series with [Magnum Opus], the reincarnation itself followed the normal route.

“Did it become Adamantalos because we used Adamas? If we had used Mithril, would it have been Mithriltalos, and if we used bronze, just Talos?”

Certainly, there should be metals beyond Adamas in the game.

If so, there might be a Talos with performance surpassing Adamantalos somewhere. It seems like a magical creature with a short lifespan, and it wouldn’t be surprising if it was buried somewhere, perhaps underground on this continent, without anyone noticing.

“What’s next? What are you going to do next?”

“When is Lyra really going back?”

“Since I can go back in an instant, it doesn’t matter!”

Blanc is playing with Skeletal Ghidorah and Fresh Golem.

While the Fresh Golem is not that strong, it seems to have high VIT and LP, as it doesn’t die in one hit even with Ghidorah’s intentionally reduced attacks. On the other hand, Ghidorah doesn’t take any damage from the attacks of the Fresh Golem. Rare confirmed this using [Appraisal] when she activated it on Ghidorah, and there was no sign of her noticing.

Since the result notification of resistance checks is a system message, NPCs probably can’t hear it. In the case of actions that cause status abnormalities, even if messages can’t be heard, they would notice something is happening. But for skills that don’t cause any changes to the target, the reaction indicates whether the entity is an NPC or not.

“Well, whatever. Next is probably the Adamant Team. It was pretty dangerous when I let the Hiers knights fight them last time. Now, with the equipment changed to Adamas, it should be somewhat better, but…”

The so-called suppression team soldiers from La Colinne who survived are almost all dead due to the bombardment, but the knights who fought against the Adamant squad were strong. When Adamants were dropped in the royal capital, there were knights holding them back. However, it wasn’t to the extent that they were one-sidedly defeated. It is reasonable to assume that those knights were the top-level ones in the old Hiers Kingdom.

The Hiers Kingdom’s military, mainly composed of humans, can be considered a nation relying more on quantity than quality. So, if it’s a country ruled by a different race, there is a possibility that they have even more powerful knights. With the current combat power, it’s a bit worrisome.

However, like with Yoroizaka, the crystal egg didn’t swallow them.

It seems like their reinforcement has to be done individually with the Philosopher’s Stone.

In the end, only undead creatures were successfully combined this time.

While Golem types might still be a possibility, there are not many Golems left near the volcano. If left alone, they will likely increase over time, and it would be sufficient to go and capture them once they have multiplied to some extent. With the desired metal and a large amount of MP, it seems possible to create any Golem. So, as long as she secures more golems, it should be fine.

There is no schedule set for the next tea party, but the location is decided to be the town of Rifure. If someone has something to do, they will be summoned.

As for the Skeletal Ghidorah, I wondered what to do, but it seems that Blanc simply brought it back. That thing probably won’t enter the lord’s mansion, and if it’s released in the town, it would be a disaster.

Upon later confirmation, as expected, the difficulty level of Erntal had become ?5.

It seems that the city is considered to be related to the calamity, and on the forum, I was being blamed.