It becomes apparent to all those who are learned that the physical body is nothing more than a flesh prison for the divine spark within us all. In the millennia since the creation of the Akashic Record, much has been learned of the mundane methods by which these vessels for the soul operate. Blood circulates vital nutrients, the brain stores wisdom, muscles provide strength; all this is known. This is not the true form of life, however. Such physical contrivances are merely crutches to ease the burden on the soul as it actualizes your existence within the domain of the demiurge. Even those of you here for the first time should be familiar with this concept; the soul's ability to reflect its own Ideal form upon the mundane is innumerate in each of your Records as your statistics. As the soul grows in strength, physical reference points are unneeded, and the small effects that the placeholder systems provide become trivial. If one has the will and strong enough power of soul to decide they live even with all their blood spilled, they will live. Surely you've heard the legends of the Elder Dragon Diluvia who lived and recovered after being reduced to only bones? Such is the power of a strong will which can maintain its emanation to the mundane realm even in the most extreme of circumstances. And, should someday we reach the realm of the Gods, the vaunted tenth tier, no physical aspect will be needed at all.

-Sermon of the Church of the Venerable Gnostics, City of Geltheas

Mud carefully sliced off another Goblin ear and absorbing it into its chest cavity. In the distance, it could hear the excited yelling of the two living humans.

"He's not waking up, why isn't he waking?" the sobbing voice of a woman echoed down the tunnel to where Mud continued removing ears.

A shacky male voice followed. "Clare, he's dead. We need to get out of here before more show up. And be quiet, they might hear you."

"No! Hale! No, you can't be gone!"

Such arguing continued for some time. It didn't seem a very efficient use of time to Mud. Heedless, the golem continued removing ears.

The male voice yelled out again, but this time sounded much closer. "Hello, is there a hunter around here that killed these Goblins? Please take us back to town with you! We're just merchants, we can't make it alone. We'll reward you!"

Mud stopped in its efforts to dislodge an uncooperative ear and returned its dagger to its muddy sheath. Extracting its carefully folded robe from its rather stuffed torso, Mud carefully draped it over its shoulders and proceeded towards the voice.

Orders from humans are a curious thing. Before getting them, Mud wanted to avoid them as much as possible. After all, any new order was likely to make it much more inconvenient to follow The Master's orders, or get in the way of some current subgoal. Once the order was actually received, however, it was a joy to fulfill. Mud felt an immense amount of satisfaction fulfilling The Master's will in such a direct and unambiguous fashion.

Recently, many of the golems actions have been several layers removed from The Master's orders, a rather frustrating situation. For example, it was currently removing Goblin ears, so that it could sell the ears, so that it could use the money to get stronger, so that it could win the Dungeon Festival contest, so that it could prevent powerful individuals from taking The Masters sword, so that it could follow an order. This is entirely too many layers! At a time like this, a straightforward task like "do what humans tell me to do because The Master said so" was very welcome.

Rounding the small entrance to the main tunnel, Mud proceeded a short distance until it saw the ragged, scared-looking human it had passed before. The human leaned heavily against the nearby cave wall, seemingly having difficulty with the mere act of standing. Quickly forming a mental bridge between itself and the two humans as it rapidly approached, Mud sent a mental message.

"I killed the Goblins here. I will escort you to Geltheas. Follow me."

The man was startled by the voice that seemed to come from no direction. Looking around rapidly, it took a moment for him to spot the black-cloaked figure approaching in the dark tunnel. "Oh, thank you. I'll go grab Clare, just a moment."

Mud waited patiently outside the small cave. Of course, it removed more ears as it waited.

"Come on Clare, the hunter is going to take us back to town."

"No, we can't just leave Hale!"

A short argument ensued, and a moment later the man returned to the door.

"I'm sorry but... it seems our friend died. Could you carry him with us back to the city? He deserves a proper burial... but we're too weak to carry him."

"I will carry the body to town." Saying that, Mud proceeded into the cave and immediately hefted the corpse of the somewhat short man onto its back. With its recently increased strength it was easily manageable.

Between sobs, the filth covered woman managed to choke out words of gratitude. "Th-thank you."

As the three left the cave, they immediately noticed a group of four living Goblins examining a corpse. Judging by the rabbit they were carrying, they had just returned from a successful hunting trip. Both the goblins and the humans reacted with shock and fear at the appearance of the other group. Mud, however, calmly continued walking. A moment later, one of the Goblin's heads exploded, followed shortly by another. Force Bolts finished off the other two before they could flee to the safety of the forest.

The male captive stared in wide-eyed bewilderment. "Wow... hunters are crazy. I didn't even see your attack."

Mud continued at a steady pace, slicing off the ear of every beast it passed, the corpse of Hale held fast to its back by the ribbons of Mud's cloak.

Stepping rapidly and dragging the still despondent female by the arm, he caught up to the golem a moment later. "Did you kill all of these by yourself? There's so many..."

"I killed all of the Goblins."

"Such power... and you look like you're less than ten years old..."

"I am less than ten years old."

Taking one more look around at the carnage, the man noticed that each corpse only had a single, clean wound on the neck. Looking back at his savior, he noticed that there wasn't even a single drop of blood on the boy's cloak. Even as they walked, carrying the corpse of an adult with no apparent burden, the child was effortlessly slicing off the proof of subjugation of each Goblin they passed, not even slowing down. What kind of life would make a child so powerful at such a young age? And to be so unmoved by a corpse. This kid wasn't ordinary.

"What's your name?"

"I am Mud."

The trio traveled into the woods towards the City of Geltheas. Unfortunately, Jabrax was long gone and could not assist with this job. Mud felt the demon return to its Domain not long after it began killing Goblins. The golem would need to educate her about the importance of staying within support range during an infiltration when it got home. Readjusting the stiff burden on its back, Mud led the way.