"Hey Rory, where are… oh."

"Oh, hey," Rory waved at Zoey as she appeared, covered in monster guts and other viscera. "You look like you went through a blender."

"This thing is sweet," Zoey held up her newest shield, the outer rim looking like the teeth of a chainsaw. With a quick pulse of pneuma, the chains briefly began to rotate, dying off a moment later as she cut off the energy. "Shields are just more my thing than spears or swords."

"Glad you liked it," Rory said with a nod as he turned back to what he was working on.

"That aside…. What are you doing?" Zoey asked, incredulously.

"Stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Stuff," Rory repeated.

"Because it looks a whole lot like you're currently being bent in half by a minotaur statue."

"It's a golem," Rory said, correcting her. "And uh, I will admit, it does look a little strange."

Rory was currently bent over the knee of the ox-headed golem, looking as if it were trying to snap his spine in half.

"Yeah, yeah, it does."

"Oh, be a good sport," Rory finally sighed as he snapped, the golem releasing him. "I was testing its combat capabilities. They're still not ready, but they're close. They can't 'learn' but they can ingrain certain patterns of recognition. So, sparring with the golems helps them ingrain those patterns, which will allow them to perform at a higher level, and I can gather more data."

"Hence why it was trying to snap your back in half?"

"Basically."

It had been nearly seven months since Rory had begun the golem project, and he'd found himself making substantial progress since those first few prototypes. Rory knew effectively nothing about coding, but he did understand conditional statements. By etching nearly every inch of the golems with scripts of conditional statements alongside the central core that acted as the heart of each golem, they were nearing the point where they could respond to nearly any situation, the hundreds, if not thousands, of inscription conditionals creating a theoretical near-infinite web of executable options they could choose between.

Day by day, he was getting closer to achieving a truly usable golem, having forgone sleeping for weeks at a time. There were still significant issues, such as the fact that pearlescent cores weren't just a boon, but a straight-up necessity for a golem to function; a basic monster core wouldn't suffice.

Second, purely artificial golems also didn't work, at least not at his current skill level; he required parts from butchered monsters. The problem with that was that interfacing between flesh-and-blood and what was essentially bionic components wasn't something that played nicely with one another. In a sense, Rory had been the very first test bed for that process, and part of the reason it had worked for him was that he was still alive; his body and soul actively 'mended' themselves when his prosthetic hand was attached.

This, this wasn't the same. Over time, they would break down; the inability to properly 'mend' into one another meant that overlapping areas eventually broke down from energies passing between, like a poorly soldered microchip.

While Rory doubted that he could fix the rejection issues anytime soon, almost every other problem could be ignored or worked around for the time being.

And then.

Both he and Zoey were pushing themselves hard, preparing to face the Deep Chambers once more, but not just one floor; they wanted to try to handle two, the third, and fourth floors. At the point of the fourth floor, it was very likely that they would face down their first high-tier-seven foe, and that would require both of them to be at their absolute best.

For Zoey, that meant polishing her skills to the max, constantly throwing herself into the fray against monsters and trying to earn new combat skills in the process.

For Rory, it was far more academic, working on his golems, as well as another idea he was flirting with that would hopefully make his golem project that much better.

Seven accolades. Rory wasn't sure how, when, or why, but he'd earned seven accolades after the initial two he'd received from his tier three and tier six ascensions, and he planned to use them. Two accolades could buy a skill, and one accolade could be used to modify a skill.

Of the seven, he planned to spend four on purchasing two new skills. With the remaining three, two would be used to modify those newly purchased skills.

And the final accolade would be used to integrate two skills that had been split far too long.

But before he touched the accolades, he needed to bring his golems online.

"Hey, earth to Rory the Builder?"

"Not my name," Rory rolled his eyes as he was dragged from his thoughts. "What's up?"

"I got this, figured you could make better use of it than me."

Tossing him something, Rory caught it mid-air, examining it.

"Orikalcite? Did you come up with this name?" Rory asked as he turned the greenish, aquamarine-colored rock around in his hand.

"Nope, no idea where the name came from, it was a reward from a recent portal delve."

"Oh, you found another one?"

"Yeah, but not as strange as that one with the tier nine. Anyway, besides the point, it gave me this rock, it mentions being extremely conducive to energy and blah blah blah, stuff that you know and care more about than me."

Staring at it, a spark lit up in Rory's mind, an idea of how to use it.

"You know, this might be exactly what I was looking for," Rory said. "The problem with my golems has been that excess energy I mentioned, it slows down the entire 'sequencing' if you want to call it that, degrades over time, and generally makes it that much more of a hassle. Methods I would normally use to ground out those excess energies would cause the entire system to slow down further; this is my first live-acting creation after all, so it needs to be able to 'act' with speed, far more complicated than a basic construct project. Suppose this works like I suspect it might. In that case, this orikalcite might be usable for a 'faraday cages' around important components, protecting the more delicate golem components so that they wouldn't be burned by those excess energies overloading them."

"Rrrrrright," Zoey nodded slowly, everything he'd just said going straight over her head. "So, I did a good?"

"You did a good job," Rory sighed.

"Great. Oh, also, new skill, look." Throwing a jab, for a moment, it was as if her skin hardened and light-reflecting scales appeared, fading a moment after.

"And that is?"

"Crystal Skin," Zoey smiled, winking at him. "I guess spending so much time observing Eia on some of our hunts allowed me to piece together what she was doing."

"But… you don't have scales?"

"And I don't see how that matters?" Zoey responded, shrugging as if that were a small matter.

"Alright, yeah, why not?" Rory muttered. "So, what does it do?"

"Well, it's a defensive skill."

"And that matters to you of all people… why?"

"Because it scales with my durability."

"So, you're double-dipping?"

"Yeah, which is nifty," Zoey said, borrowing Rory's favorite phrase. "I'm pretty sure if you dropped your Dragon's Fall on me now when I've got this skill running and this armor, I could no-sell it."

"Chant-boosted and magic circles, though?"

"Ehh, let's not whip our dicks out and measure them," Zoey snorted. "Besides, that's not the real kicker. The real kicker is that it doesn't lose potency when I invert my attributes."

"Oh, okay, that's pretty fucking impressive."

"Right? Anyway, I'm heading back out, just wanted to drop off this rock."

Waving, she quickly left, gone as fast as she had appeared.

Cat. She's definitely a cat in human skin.

With the distraction of Zoey gone, Rory once more looked at the rock she had given him.

But even cats drag in goodies from time to time.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Four months later

"So… that's it?"

"That's it," Rory confirmed as he waved at his grand unveiling.

"Why is it so… small?"

"It's not small."

"It's you-sized."

"I don't like that implication."

"Don't be a guy," Zoey rolled her eyes, shaking her head a moment after. "I mean, your last golem I saw was that big ox-headed one."

"Yeah, I scrapped it."

"So why is this golem you-sized?"

"Because-" Rory smiled as if she had walked into a trap. "It is me."

"Huh?"

Throwing a punch, the golem copied his movements exactly.

"How?"

"With that orikalcite, my golems improved by leaps and bounds, but they were still limited. At best, they could tackle a low-tier six on their own. At best."

"Which isn't what we wanted."

"No, and the only reason they could even handle that was because they were made of +1 promethium, and few monsters below mid-tier-six are punching through that. The golems were a success, but not to the level I needed them to be. While I had some thoughts on how to improve them, the reality was the results would be… marginal without years' worth of work."

"So?"

"So, I took a shortcut. Seven minor accolades. Four spent on buying new skills, two on modifying those recently bought skills, and a final accolade to integrate two skills that I've been using as essentially one skill for some time now."

"That explained nothing."

"Patience."

"You just like the sound of your voice," Zoey sighed, but begrudgingly let him continue.

"I'll start with my skill integration first—Ghost Image and Architect's Reality. Ghost Image is nothing more than a literal projection of a ghostly image. I've used it for so long to facilitate my projection magic that it's become second nature, the concepts at play basically fully understood. Because of that, using a minor accolade, it was pretty easy to shift the conceptual 'structure' of the skill into Architect's Reality. In truth, it doesn't really 'change' anything, except that now it's truly a singular skill, meaning it takes less mental burden, freeing up some mental bandwidth for elsewhere."

"Right, that's great and happy for you, but that seems minor."

"Oh, it is, more of a thing I did for my own sake, but it does have a benefit with the next things I did."

"Oh?"

"Skill number one: Mind Map. It allows you to map your mind onto something else. Useful if you're bad with directions, you can map the visual imagery as sets of instructions to follow directly."

"But that still seems like a gimmick skill."

"Oh, it most definitely is." Rory agreed. "Hence why it was freely buyable for only two minor accolades."

"But you figured a way to abuse it?"

"Spoilers," Rory tsked at her, feeling smug. "Skill number two: Ghost Message."

"A lot of spooky-sounding skills,"

"Hush." Rory scowled. "Anyway, Ghost Message is simple, you can prick your finger, put a drop of blood onto something, and leave a message imprinted within that will fade over time."

"Again, sort of a gimmick."

"Yep,"

"So…. How do they all come together?"

"That is the million-dollar question," Rory said with a grin. "Architect's Essence Inscription is a two-in-one skill that I have, the fusion of my essence projection skill and my Inscription skill. While it handles both of their functions, it also makes it easier for me to directly instill essence into an inscription, allowing me to bend an inscription in ways that the ordinary script wouldn't."

"Uh huh, and?"

"I have two affinities. Lattice affinity, an affinity that generally takes the form of a crystalline structure, isn't relevant for the current predicament. And my second affinity is blood, which as you should know-"

"Encompasses blood as an element, and as essence," Zoey said, eyes widening, beginning to see the linkage point.

"You're catching on," Rory grinned wildly. "So, to recap: My affinity is for blood and therefore blood essence. I can take my thoughts and map them as direct instructions. I can use a drop of blood to store a message. Oh, and lastly, I can store thoughts or images or the likes within my Mind Palace."

"You're taking a full-intentioned action and forming it into instructions, capturing the full scope of your mind's intent. Usually, that wouldn't be useful for anyone except yourself. Except, you're then storing that within your Mind Palace, like a large file compressed into something a fraction of its real size."

"Mhmm."

"After that, you've got Ghost Message, but because you've got an affinity for blood essence, you can alter it so that rather than just a basic 'text message' contained within your drop of blood, you're able to directly implant that 'packet' of information, so that rather than a basic message, it contains the full scope of intent, like receiving a full movie instead of just the basic script."

"Bingo."

"So, your golem, which, based on your prior rantings-"

"Lectures," Rory amended.

"Rantings-" Zoey said, ignoring his correction. "-are made up with hundreds and hundreds of individual inscriptions. Each one is vested with the full expression of your true intent and not just what you can dignify through the limitations of your runes available."

"Look at you, piecing all that together. Almost makes me think you are smarter than a fifth grader."

"I can be smart," Zoey said, puffing herself up before glancing to the side, "Sometimes."

"Uh-huh. Anyway, it's all rather genius, isn't it? While the golems still aren't truly intelligent, each inscription is now like a minuscule CPU, understanding the context of why rather than just executing the command." Rory said proudly.

"So, the difference between a computer that only does exactly what it was told, and a small child with actual logic, limited as it may be, as far as decision making goes."

"Bingo."

"That's…. damn," Zoey whistled, even she was impressed. "Is that why they need to be you-sized, though?"

"Yeah," Rory said with a sigh. "Unfortunately, the downside is that the operational memory contained within is based on my mind, my thoughts, and so if the executable is 'throw a punch,' it will throw a punch with all those internal calculations or whatever based on my size and shape, the internal 'math' approximated on the spatial awareness that my body understands intuitively."

"This still feels like cheating. You're skipping all the middle-stage complications with robots, aren't you?"

"A little," Rory admitted. "And they aren't robots, they're golems. Technically, it's not some unique ability either; you just need to obtain the specific skills involved, blood affinity, and probably the hardest part, breaking down the boundary between essence and inscription, something that, as far as I know, only I have achieved so far. At least no one else had achieved as much before I left."

"That sure sounds like it might as well be a unique ability."

"For now, but what about a thousand years from now, or ten thousand years when the population has likely exploded from dozens to millions, billions, who knows how many? The law of significantly large numbers states that the probability that someone else is bound to have those same qualities is all but guaranteed."

"You assume."

"Sure, but it seems like a safe assumption."

"Fine, whatever, it feels like we're getting sidetracked debating hypotheticals," Zoey muttered before frowning. "Hey, did you have others practicing inscription back… wherever you came from?"

"Er, yeah," Rory said, eyes shifting as he realized he'd accidentally referenced home.

It's probably safe at this point. I mean, didn't Eon even recognize us as part of a team?

He hadn't formally explained Ehkorrus to Zoey to date, and it was something he still planned on keeping close to his chest if he could. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but sometimes prudence was the better part of valor. For all she knew, Rory had come from a small collection of similar-minded folk, having a few underlings much as every founder had been assigned many years back.

Maybe one day I'll let her in, but for now, I think I owe it to the people of Ehkorrus not to be running my fat mouth.

"Oh, interesting. Anyway, how strong are they?" Zoey asked, turning to look at the nondescript golem, already moving past the mention of Rory's prior home. Poking it a few times, she examined its body, almost entirely metal except for the joints, which were made up of monster components that could flex, as well as a few patches near the shoulders and underarms.

"By my calculations? They should be able to put down even a high-tier-six monster, albeit not easily, and it does depend on what skills the monsters may have. As golems, they don't have any skills themselves; they're just really fucking durable."

"Like me?" Zoey perked up.

"Sort of. Pound for pound, you're tougher, but these guys can't be taken out by stabbing them through the heart, as they don't have a heart."

"You know, I could probably survive a heart stab at this point if I escaped right after."

"Right, not the point," Rory rolled his eyes. "They can also do limited 'magic', except it's probably closer to likening them to energy discharges. They can infuse punches with energy or otherwise release it all at once in a self-destruct function."

"So then…. We're ready?" Zoey asked, raising her eyebrows at Rory.

"I think so," Rory said.

Between the two of them, they'd improved leaps and bounds. Crystal skin allowed Zoey to take a more offensive role in a battle. Rory's continued practice with magic circles and direct pneuma manipulation meant that even without storing something inside his Mind Palace, he could respond nearly on the fly. Toss in a few ultra-durable meat shields, and they just about had a proper party going.

Hell, even Rory's armor, powerful but heavy on his spirit, had been acclimated to, strengthening his overall ability to withstand oppressive metaphysical forces.

They were ready.

Or almost ready.

"So, about Eia?"

"Yeah?" Rory turned to face Zoey directly at her prompting. Between the two of them, Eia truthfully spent more of her time around Zoey than she did Rory, and the two would often hunt or tackle delves together. It made sense, given Eia was a snake, she didn't exactly have opposable thumbs, meaning there wasn't all that much she could help Rory with.

Not like she would have wanted to, anyway.

"She isn't ready," Zoey said plainly.

"Oh, really?" Rory asked, surprised. With how often Eia hunted other monsters, he had fully expected her to remain ahead of the curve compared to himself.

"Well, let me rephrase that. She's just not suited for working in a group. She's an ambush hunter, an assassin. Pound for pound, she's got more attributes than most monsters of her equal standing, but she still falls below an alpha variant monster. She can take a few hits, but even with her crystal scales, I'd put her relative durability beneath even what you can withstand with your armor. Her strength is solid, and her innate flexibility as a serpent is rather insane. But none of that changes the fact that she doesn't have the tools to hit up the tiers enough to justify bringing her."

"What do you suggest, then?" Rory asked, curious. His path was atypical. While he spent most of his time working on projects or crafts, he could just as easily set out on a hunt by capitalizing on his creations and constant cutting-edge innovations, whether in magic or the like. Eia was a pure combat type, and being a monster, he couldn't deck her out in equipment to give her more of an advantage; it would instead get in the way.

"She's formidable but unpolished. She's heavily reliant on her aural toxin to sap the strength from her opponents or prey, but if, for whatever reason, that fails, she's forced to pit her attributes against theirs directly. Like I said, she has more pound-for-pound attributes than most of her exact equals, but punching up is just out of the question. She's going to have to solve that fundamental problem herself. I mean, speaking honestly, not like either of us is a battle fanatic or something, so neither of us is going to have the answer for her."

Rory frowned, not seeing errors in anything she had said. It was easy to forget, but combat wasn't Zoey's forte; she was at the core of her spirit, an adventurer in the purest sense, constantly seeking new sights. She even had a skill that passively accumulated and boosted her ascension energy gain while exploring areas outside of 'settled' lands. Trapped within the floating volcanic isles, she'd been forced to take a more typical combat focus, but she wasn't a true fighter who did it for the love of the game.

What that meant was, while both she and Rory were quite formidable, they weren't experts regarding the flaws Eia would have to overcome. Rory's answer would have been to seek a new angle to view things from and then create something to shore up the problem, whereas Zoey would have focused on highlighting her singular strength; a mistake couldn't be fatal if you never got damaged.

"So, we're not bringing her with." Rory finally said after a moment's pause.

"No, I think it would be best if we didn't."

"Fair enough," Rory said, largely unbothered. It would be Eia who would be upset, after all.

"Well, with that addressed, is there anything else? You've obtained the desired combat skills you thought would be necessary, and I have some functional golems."

"Seems about right," Zoey said in agreement.

"Then, if nothing else, back to the Deep Chambers we go."

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