<624 – Oknodie's Guard Unit (5)>
Miini pointed at me, her anger more pronounced due to my unenthusiastic response.
“Anyway, I’ll smash your golem!! This Rolls Royce No. 2 is much bigger than some paper airplane, so I can inscribe plenty of spells into it over time. It may be small spells, but when it comes to variety, compatibility, and enchanting techniques, there’s no way I lose to some 12-year-old kid!”
“Oooo! If Miini’s ranking 3 golem from the Underground Fighting Arena battles, it might beat Oknodie’s golem. Well, I don’t know about Oknodie, but a golem isn’t as strong as its master, right?”
“Isn’t that usually the opposite…? The owner being stronger than the golem, feels kind of off…”
The spectators were confused, wondering whom to place their bets on.
Amid the expectant and tense atmosphere, while other golem owners hesitated and brought popcorn to the stands, Miini and I climbed into the arena.
“I lost when I was referred to as a senior, so isn’t it going to be even harder to win now that we’re classmates?”
“As I said before, Rolls Royce No. 1 and No. 2 are different sizes. Besides, my golems developed by the Production Department’s various artisans have outmatched the fighters and reinforced their parts. My golem, equipped with body-enhancing armor, is powerful enough to be used as practice material for fourth-years!”
…Should she be so proud of that?
Anyway, Miini certainly seemed very proud of it.
Thinking back to my middle school days, golem content made quite a bit of money.
Second or third year.
In a situation where I hadn’t experienced graduation season yet, my connections with the fourth years who had been through it were extremely rare.
Tips for spending your second or third years wisely.
Secrets to advancing to the fourth year.
How to choose your graduation project.
All sorts of useful information.
Secrets of the academy.
The fourth-year isn’t just a terrifying existence; for those prepared, it’s also an entrance to a treasure trove filled with tons of information and hidden pieces you can hear if you properly connect.
To pull a treasure from the treasure trove, you need to first gain access.
The most effective way to mingle with seniors is to create a golem and use it as their practice tool.
– “You installed an auto-shield on your golem? Nice job. That’ll help with shield destruction practice.”
– “You installed a flamethrower on your golem? Good job. That’ll help increase fire resistance.”
– “You installed a stealth detector on your golem? Well done. That’ll aid in stealth training.”
For the fourth years, who train like it’s a matter of life and death, a golem is treated as a perfectly strong yet easy-to-raise sandbag for gaining Function Experience Points!
– “Sorry. I hit it a bit too hard by accident, and it broke. I’ve used it well during that time.”
– “Oh, I see, Senior. When are you planning to send the repair costs…? Senior? Why are you suddenly using stealth magic? Why are you using flight magic? Senior?!”
Sometimes, if you get caught by a malicious senior, you might find yourself crying blood over repair costs that were taken and fled, but such cases are said to occur only once in a thousand, according to the veterans of the Production Department.
– “So you can rest assured to lend your golem to seniors from the same Production Department!”
Of course, it’s a given that my first golem repair scammer was indeed a senior from the Production Department.
“Anyway, it’s not worth the repair costs, and it’ll just become scrap, so I’ll dismantle it myself!”
With the blow of the horn signaling the start of the match, Miini’s golem extended one hand beside its cloak, and from the forearm, a gigantic golem weapon popped out.
The already 4m tall golem wielding a spear as tall as it is made quite the impressive appearance.
“The weapon of the Eastern Empire’s master Rei has a spell on it called [Magic Destruction], which crushes all magic. Your proud mana-control skills won’t save you here!”
Oh. Have I underestimated Miini too much?
The spell inscribed on the weapon and its power could easily shred through the tactical armors of empire nobles.
Barely tricked out tactical armors or golems coated in spells would get ripped apart like paper by such spells and power.
BAM!
As they witnessed my golem extend its hand against that vicious spear, the audience gasped.
“If that happens, the hand will get caught on the spear and get ripped off or shatter at the shoulder, right?”
“Better to just lose one arm. If it’s bad, the shock could mess up the insides of the golem completely!”
“It seems Oknodie is still young; the combat style of a golem integrated with weapon techniques is unfamiliar to them.”
A human-type golem no taller than 2m against a gigantic 4m golem.
Just by size, victory was clearly leaning toward one side.
THUD!
Of course, that was before they realized the true potential of the golem with the [Push] function.
“Wha-what was that just now?!”
“Did the golem just parry?!”
“The rotation power of the spear means that unless you hit it back with the same force, the weapon will misalign and get sucked in, causing irreversible damage?!”
“It looks like Oknodie’s golem has some martial arts training built in.”
“No way! Oknodie’s golem doesn’t have any special weapons like that!”
“Is there some different material? Some method of teaching it martial arts? That’s not a weapon; that’s the golem itself learning a technique.”
The audience gasped.
“No way!”
“You mean to tell me you equipped a learning module to the golem? How long would it take to teach it before it could even mimic a human?!”
“Any little hiccup would make it a dummy flinging spears into the air!”
“Unless it’s fitted with an automatic aiming correction, why go through the trouble of inscribing that instead of just giving it a weapon with an automatic aiming spell, right?”
“That might be true for amateurs like you. However, if you don’t throw tricks on the parts from the start and only engrave learning assistance spells and basic techniques, you’ll end up making an entirely different level of golem.”
Just when a particularly sharp observer stood out among the crowd, the shocked voices erupted quickly.
“Wait a second. Isn’t that person the second-ranked fighter in the Underground Fighting Arena, Mantos?!”
“That cursed Mintchoco family’s golem owner, Mantos Mintchoco, has entered the arena?! That guy didn’t volunteer for the Northern Subjugation mission?”
“Thanks to that irritating kid over there, the Northern battlefield has been quickly subdued. I lost a great opportunity to make a name for myself, so I figured it would be better to return to the academy and focus on my studies. And don’t badmouth my family before I turn your golem into dust.”
“Yikes!”
The spectators were terrified, closing their mouths or fleeing as Mantos Mintchoco’s threatening gaze promised he could crush them whole.
In front of such an absurdly powerful golem owner, the pathetic golem owners could only hope they wouldn’t get drawn into a fight, reduced to mere shuttle materials for golem modification.
“Oh. That golem is much more properly made than Miini’s! Is it because the war-generation route has opened up?”
In Ishtar’s Era of Peace, it was rare for the armors of nobles or the golems of knights to emerge.
That’s because there was no chance for students to mess around with such brutal tactical weapons during friendly matches or tests.
But in Astarot’s Era of War, it turned into a state of everyone fighting against everyone, allowing every organization to freely unleash their concealed weapons.
After the war ended, to become the new elite class.
To keep existing powers from being taken away.
Or simply to survive against the oppression of the mighty.
There were the pitifully undersized zero-class golem without decent parts.
Golems that had some decent parts pieced together thanks to the support of small countries or organizations.
And the knight-class golems, main characters of the battlefield packed with strong techniques.
Miini’s Rolls Royce No. 2 happened to fall into this knight class.
Just the fact that they were able to compete with my golem, which is equipped with [Function], is telling about how well Miini knows her stuff.
SWISH!
But there are limits to how the parts can be used.
No matter how many times you thrust and swing a spear with rotation power, it just hits like a herbivore using a few tactics.
What if you attach a function, though?
You can push the ground with [Push] to unleash surprising agile movement, and you can infuse a shock from a distance using the mana shielding with [Push].
With a brief opening to push the attack back with [Push], it can break and divide the attack according to how much it was pushed back, and if you push back the opponent’s target, you could easily deflect their attack!
Even if a knight class goes all out, they can experience an impenetrable wall of skill made manifest by a golem likened to a sturdy castle wall; it’s known as a look-class golem.
Naturally, possessing such a golem is recognized as an act of rebellion against the Empire, and simply being found with one could invite invasion from the Empire itself.
Gift Academy.
Especially in the Underground Fighting Arena.
To see a golem up to look-class in typical scenarios, one would need to place in the top one or two in the Underground Fighting content.
[Your escort golem has destroyed opponent Miini’s Rolls Royce No. 2.]
[Control Skill Experience Points +20]
[Mana Technique Experience Points +20]
“My, my Rolls Royce No. 2… Uwaaaah!”
As I shredded and stuffed the partially destroyed golem into pieces small enough to fit into a backpack, the look-class golem owner Mantos Mintchoco approached.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“The fact that you, who crowned the empire’s new emperor, have started to command a golem means this generation of the empire is hinting at lifting the taboo designation against golems and permitting their official use, right?”
Huh? How would I know that?
“You can just ask Masugaki!”
But that actually seems possible.
The Underworld has opened, and the Demon King’s army is stirring due to the recent Northern invasion.
The Empire has split into factions with the new emperor.
The world’s nations have begun to cautiously observe.
“Everyone who matters already knows that you are the hidden hand behind Masugaki’s ascension. You sure love to put on an act.”
“Even if you say that, I really don’t know!”
I only exchange greetings and messages with Masugaki’s subordinates, so how would I know?
Despite denying it in front of him, just a few days later, breaking news reached the academy.
Even though it was designated a taboo by the empire, reports began to surface that golems were being used more and more, and fearing the continuous strain on national power, Masugaki had declared the lifting of the taboo designation on golems.
