Chapter 39
I’m here, deep down, in my room.
I feel like I haven’t been back in a while.
I’ll just place Elibel (the skull) down here for now.
「Hey, be careful! What are you going to do if my skull break! Don’t you realize I’m the weakest of undead!」
I know, I know.
I gently placed Elibel (the skull) on the floor.
Now then, let’s begin.
In the meantime, I mixed the soil with Elibel’s bones (except for her skull) and kneaded them together.
「Interesting……」
All the while Elibel stared at me working.
Well, it looks like I haven’t lost my touch yet.
Anyway, I made a rough human shape with the soil.
Now, what kind of golem shall I make?
I’ve only been making animal-shaped Golems and Homunculus lately.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a humanoid.
Fufufu, let’s make a big one this time.
What should I make?
The biggest humanoid golem I worked on so far would probably be Senju Kannon.
Full of gimmicks and plenty of equipment.
I haven’t made a golem bigger than that for a long time now.
By the way, Ann came to report yesterday that there was something wrong with Senju Kannon.
I’ll go check up on it later…
Oh, right.
Let’s ask Ann to bring some of my skin and claw.
I finally molted the other day and got some new material.
This is a great time to use them.
While thinking so, as I was about to use thought transmission to call Ann,
「Hold it.」
『Hm？』
Elibel called out to me.
Hm, what’s wrong?
Oh, are you bored or something?
Do you want some magic stones for tea?
「That’s good enough.」
『Eh?』
I stopped kneading.
Good enough? What’s good enough?
「I said that’s good enough. That clay doll will do just fine.」
What?
Eh? You mean this mess?
But this is just soil, there’s really nothing in it. Are you sure?
The only thing I did was mixing it with your bones and make it humanoid enough.
『Are you sure? But I was about to make something amazing for you…』
「It’s fine. There’s something I’d like to try. A simple one like this work just fine.」
I got excited for nothing.
I was planning to make her wings like an angel and Asura-like muscle.
『Wings, tail, maybe horns? Are you sure you want none of those? Oh, how about arms? It’s much better to have eight arms, don’t you think?』
「I’m glad I stopped you earlier… Like I said, this is enough.」
Well, if that’s what she wants, I guess I can do nothing about it.
For now, I did as Elibel said and placed her skull on the head part of the body.
Then Elibel mumbled some kind of chant and joined herself with the soil.
GUGUGUGUGU
The body that was made out of soil until a moment ago becomes a perfect skeleton.
Eh, what just happened?
『How!?』
It becomes an anatomically correct human skeleton in instant.
She’s amazing. I can’t reproduce it so realistically with my imagination.
So that’s how a real human rib looks like. I should study more.
As expected of a sage.
Even her imagination is on a Soul King-class level.
「Somehow, I can feel you’re ridiculing me right now…」
『You’re imagining things. So, why did you make yourself a skeleton?』
「Eh, you’re asking me why I choose to be a skeleton? It is better, it’s just simple as that. After all, my head is a skull. That’s why I used earth magic “alchemy” to make myself a skeleton body, or should I say, a skeleton-shaped metal body to match with my head. 」
Elibel poses her skeleton body like a model.
Hey, is that all?
Don’t you want to put on flesh to look like a human?
But Elibel seems satisfied.
「Hm, not bad. My skeleton has a good ventilation. But what about the look? So cool, it’s so white! 」
Ah, that’s right.
She’s a weirdo.
I forgot about that.
「It feels like you’re making fun of me.」
『It’s just your imagination.』
「Alright, everything looks perfect.」
Elibel turned to me after a quick glance at her body.
「Hey, do you still have any left? I mean the evolution magic stone I left behind.」
『Hm? Yeah, there’s some.』
The evolution magic stone is no longer at Elibel’s ruin since I brought them with me to this floor.
I kept them in a box I made with alchemy so that the others wouldn’t eat them without permission.
I take out the evolution magic stone from the box and give it to Elibel.
「Hm, okay. And do you have any regular magic stones, like the ones you usually eat? I’d like to have quite a few if possible.」
『Sure. I mean, you can find plenty around here.』
I unearthed a lot of magic stone.
Yes, I found them.
I dug around the place and handed Elibel the magic stone I found.
I gave her about twenty pieces of them.
「To dig up magic stone this easily… You really are a monster—even more so when you’re unaware of it…」
『What are you saying?』
You can get as much as you want if you dig, right?
It’s all over the place.
「Sigh, forget what I just said.」
Elibel observes the magic stone I gave her, rolling it around in her hands.
「Seriously, this magic stone is ridiculously pure. I knew about the magic stones cycle in the Eld Mine, but I never realize that there were so many of them in the Eld Desert….」
『Wasn’t that the case two hundred years ago?』
「Yes, when I was alive, the concentration of magical energy around here was a little lower than average. And yet, it has changed so much in the last two hundred years… Is it because of the earth vein? Given the concentration, it could also be a star pulse… But… the conversion efficiency is higher at the Eld Mine…. But then…」
Elibel mumbles to herself again.
Hey, snap out of it.
「Oh, sorry. I got caught up in my thoughts.」
It’s fine.
I was digging for another magic stone during that time.
For dinner.
『So, what are you going to do with that magic stone and the “evolution magic stone”?』
「Hm? I’ve decided. I’m going to eat them.」
『Eh?』
With that said, Elibel ate the magic stone I gave her.
What, you’re just hungry?
That’s what I thought, but Elibel kept eating the magic stones and lastly, she put the evolution magic stone in her mouth.
What are you doing?!
『Don’t do it!』
I was surprised to see her do that.
Well, of course I am, since the success rate of the evolution magic stone is only at ten percent.
Ten percent. If you fail, you’ll die.
I’m sure she knows that better than anyone else.
After all, she’s the one who created it.
What should I do?
But the next moment, something even more amazing happened.
Elibel’s body was enveloped in a dazzling light.
『No way!』
I know this phenomenon.
It’s the evolution.
Just like with Ann and Pururu.
Which means the evolution was a success.
After a few moments, the light stopped and Elibel stood with her arms crossed.
「Just as I thought…」
There’s no doubt about it. She had evolved.
Her magical power feels different now.
What species did she evolve into?
「Hmm, it looks like I’m an Arc Skeleton now. Guess I didn’t become a Lich after all. Still, it is a General-class designated species. Well, this is more than I could ask for, especially when I just got resurrected as lower-class. 」
Elibel took a careful look at herself.
It’s like she knew beforehand.
『You knew it’ll be going to be a success from the start…』
「You can say so.」
She says it like it was nothing.
「First, do you know how the evolution magic stone works? You’ve seen my research, right?」
『That it has a ten percent chance to evolve a monster? 』
「That’s the effect of the magic stone, not the process!」
『Ermm…』
Don’t be mad.
I get it. I understand, okay?
But if you ask me to explain it again, I can’t…
I have the knowledge and I know what it means.
But if you ask me to explain it properly… It’s difficult.
This is one of the reasons I wanted Elibel to be my advisor.
Elibel, who could no longer bear to see me in distress, sighed and spoke.
「Sigh… Now listen carefully, okay? The evolution magic stone is a magic stone that forcefully changes the physical structure of a monster. Evolution is essentially a process that takes place over hundreds of generations, but with the evolution magic stone it’ll shorten those periods into a single generation. Do you understand so far?」
『Yes.』
「And for force evolution to happen, you need a lot of energy to transform the cells and magical power. This is the reason for the high mortality rate. To put it simply, the body does not have enough energy for evolution, so it runs out of fuel and dies. The effect of the stone cannot be stopped once it starts. When the energy is empty, the body will try to squeeze out everything it has, causing itself to collapse. I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to fix that, but I never really found a way, that is until I saw your memories… 」
『What, my memories?』
Could it be that time?
The time when Ann and Pururu evolved.
Hmm, but what does that have to do with this?
You’re telling me it wasn’t a coincidence?
「This is my armchair theory, but I think that those energies can be supplied by ingesting large amounts of ultra-high purity magic stones. Except that I never imagined there would be someone whose stupid enough to actually do it.」
Ingesting large amounts of magic stones?
Ah, come to think of it, it’s true that both Ann and Pururu ate a lot of magic stones before they ate the evolution magic stone.
「Moreover, if the magical power needed is still insufficient for evolution, it will be drained from the subject’s master instead. I see now. That could explain your abnormal sleep pattern and appetite….. Or there could be more to it than that. Interesting…. It’s a method that would never be possible under normal circumstances. Besides, it’s impossible to find a high purity magic stone like this, or someone with a ridiculous magical power like you. At least, not when I was still alive. It’s quite an unusual method. Well, this is still a meaningful data for my research. 」
『Ah, I see. Is that so….』
「And to think that you did it on accident.」
Elibel was amazed.
To be honest, I don’t understand what she’s saying at all. Anyway, Elibel evolved.
Yeah, that’s good enough for now.
「You just gave up on thinking, didn’t you?」
She caught me!
Sharp. As expected of a sage.
「Giving up thinking is the most foolish thing you can do. Thinking, worrying, and regretting are the duties and happiness given to thinkers. It’s not something you waste. 」
『You’re saying something decent for once. As expected of a sage.』
「Oh, come on. You’re embrassing me.」
This sage is so simple.
「Now that I’ve got a proper body, let’s continue where we left off, shall we?」
Finally.
So that body is good enough after all…
It’s been a while since I’m this motivated.
Stone statue series.
Yeah, let’s do it after this.
「Let’s discuss my pay first.」
『Oh, that was a bit of sudden, but okay.』
Elibel holds up three fingers in front of me.
「I will work with you on three conditions.」
『Three? What are they? Don’t go too crazy, okay? 』
「Don’t worry, they are not that big of a deal. First, you must let me dissect you.」
That is a big deal!
You’re going to kill me!
『I’m sorry but that’s impossible.』
「So I can’t. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a living earth dragon, and I thought maybe I could get a lot of meaningful data from you. 」
Judging by the way her hands were moving, she’s really meant it.
This is bad. She is dangerous.
Those are the eyes of a murderer.
『Dissection is a real no. How about I give you my scales and skin instead?』
「What about the eyes? Or maybe your internal organs? Brain is fine too.」
『Please let me go.』
I get down on my knees.
I’m going to die!
「Well, it doesn’t have to be now. Later is fine too.」
Later? What do you mean by later?
Hey, what do you mean by that?
「The second one is I want my lab in this dungeon」
『A lab, like the one you were in? 』
「Yeah, I’ll work out the equipment and stuff with alchemy. But for now, I’d like a room, or at least an entire floor. Can you do that?」
Well, that should be no problem.
I nodded to her request.
「Okay, then. This is the last one.」
『Yes.』
「Thirdly, well, it’s for personal reasons, but I need your help with something.」
『You need my help?』
「Yes.」
A black aura oozes from Elibel’s body as she says this.
What on earth?
Is this anger?
「I need to take care of some personal matter from two hundreds years ago. It’s something I must do. It’s the reason I tried to immortalize myself in the first place.」
She sounds like a different person than she did a moment ago.
『So what do you―――――――』
As I was about to ask her.
I received a call.
The communication magic stone that I had placed beside me shines.
Una?
I pick up the communication magic stone.
『Father, it’s Una! 』
Una sounds in a hurry.
『Una, what’s wrong？』
『Father! It’s an emergency! An army…』
『Eh?』
『An army… There’s an army of human in the Eld Desert marching towards you!』
What?