Let me tell you kids, your dad is strong. Super strong. Nothing can beat him. Even dragons go down with a single slice of my sword. There was only one time in his life that your dad has ever had trouble, and that was when he went against the dreaded, fifty foot tall diamond iron golem. It was a fight, and I almost lost, but your dad hacked and slashed with all his might, magnificently dodging each of its striking fists that were bigger than the biggest Gowrow by only a hair. After days of fighting each other to nearly a draw, I finally got behind its massive beast of a head and chopped it right off. If I hadn’t, I’m sure that its next strike woulda killed me right then and there. And that’s the only reason I’m alive to tell the tale.

– Calib Sorenson’s bedtime story

Alright, time to slap my cheeks. I can do this. So what, the world is against me. That’s nothing new. It’s been like this the moment I first woke up. All that’s been added to that list is the big chance that people I know will turn against me at any given moment. Honestly, if I’m expecting it, it’s not that hard to handle. I just won’t give them the chance to cause any lasting damage with it. And judging by Nattiq’s attitude when he snapped out of it, he felt guilty. With that puppy face, I can’t really blame him for what happened. Next time it happens, though, I’m going to punch him in the face. I’ll deal with that later though, the problem of why he was possessed. I think I have an idea, but… No, let’s not deal with that right now.

Thank heavens that Oroesi is doing okay now. For a minute it was touch and go. I don’t think he would have survived if he didn’t have [thick skin]. For now, his bleeding has stopped and his wound is looking much better. I think a lot of luck comes from it being a clean slice.

I really wish he hadn’t protected me, but with out that, I think I would have died. This won’t do. I’m simply too unprotected in this state. Heck, anyone could waltz up and poke me, and I’ll shatter to pieces. Let’s fix that then. I reach out and grab some ice and knead it around with imaginary fingers.

I could simply coat myself with a layer of compact ice. It’d work. My defense would go up significantly. I swirl the ice around myself like a jacket and pack it as hard as I can. Brr. This is cold. I’ll freeze to death. Quickly, quickly, cast |aura of warmth| and |aura of protection|. Much better. But, you know, it’s kind of stiffing. I feel like I’m wrapped up in a blanket. I almost feel like I have even less mobility than when I didn’t have it on, somehow. Besides, I want to move around! I stare at Oroesi with jealousy. He can move around, and he’s completely made out of ice, so why can’t I? Why do I have to be stuck in a body like this?

I sigh, pulling up more ice to play around with as I think. Let’s look at this from a different angle. I used to have a different body. I know that for a fact. I had… arms and legs. I had fingers that often curled into fists. I had feet that dug into the ground to get a grip before launching me into the air. A roundhouse kick… Did I use to fight?

I grow excited. This, this will work! If I can remember how I once fought, I’ll be able to protect myself. I won’t have to rely on anyone else and no one will have to get hurt in place of me. I look up at the ice I’m playing with and woah. Already there’s a basic body shape similar to Nattiq’s. Too, bulky, though. He’s a man. I’m a woman. I slim it down using my memories and the physique of the first eira I met.

Long legs, thicker at the thighs than the eira’s. Tone the calf’s. They look like a runner’s. Add little more to the biceps and thicken the wrists so they’ll take a punch. Athletic body is what I’m aiming for, so big breasts will just get in the way. I linger there for a second, though. The eira had nice ones. I’m jealous. I feel like I always wished I had big ones… But no, really, I can’t fight with them, not when they… I sigh in exasperation. Toned body, that’s what I’m looking for. One that’ll pack a punch.

To make myself feel better, I add some glorious hair. Long, but not too long, a couple of inches past the collar-bone, all made out of |ice silk|. It drifts in the wind. Let’s add a widow’s peak for the heck of it. The eyelids have a slight curve to them, tending to droop down near the corners. I couldn’t figure out how to fix that, but the eyes themselves big and glint prettily in the light, so I guess that makes up for it. It takes me a minute to get the eyelashes down and… I made them too long. They look way too much like a cow’s. I hope they won’t get in the way, but I like them too much now to start over. For the eyebrows, they need to be thicker than I would do normally, and straighter, for them to work well with this face. I can’t do them thinner. The face immediately turns doe-y. And week looking. I need some umph so people won’t pick on me, but still look pretty enough. I could do it with a harsher bone structure to the face, but… Eyebrows work good enough. Nicely shaped thick eyebrows that’ll look scary if I’m ever mad. Hehee. This is fun.

Little bit of a longer nose, straight, slight upturn at the bottom, flare it out just a bit more. Moderate cupid’s bow for the upper lip, make the bottom lip a bit thicker and draw in the corners a bit more. Dimples are a must. Ears, make sure they curl in a bit more and don’t attach fully to the face at the bottom. Hm, step back, not bad, not bad. Took a while, but not bad.

The problem though… this won’t move. It’s a glorified statue. How do I make it move? The way it is now, it’s only one big block of ice with bits of |ice silk| attacked. Thick, compact ice. This won’t do. I really should have worked on the inside before the outside. What do I know about body structure? There’s a skeleton. That’s important. There are joints and muscles and tendons to move the bones. There’s a nervous system and a circulatory system. Both are needed to move the body. There’s also the organs that process fuel to make the body run. Do I still need that? I haven’t ever needed to eat anything since coming here. I used to eat? Huh. That’s a new fact. I wonder if I could run it with mana instead… I mean I can move ice around with my mana. This is just ice. I could move it around with by manipulating the ice, but I feel like that’ll just end up with tentacles for arms. I really don’t want that. So, skeletal structure it is.

Let’s get it as close to human as possible. I’ll probably be missing some, since I don’t know all the bones and stuff, but I know the basics. Compact snow, oh wait… I can’t just do that. If I make a solid bone, it’ll just break, won’t it? It needs to be able to take a lot of force, especially if I’m going to fight. Don’t bones have lattices in them? I experiment, weaving tinier and tinier latices, testing out the bones by launching them at the ground from the top of the tree and looking at the results. It takes me way longer than I planned for to be satisfied with the result. The trap schema surprisingly help when I got too frustrated. It has a lot more than just traps in it. It had everything from plumbing systems to bridge design. Looking at bridges really helped. But still, even with that I almost gave up. If it wasn’t for this last attempt succeeding, I would have.

The bone shattered in just the way I wanted. It didn’t shatter like glass, it didn’t shatter like a rock, it shattered more like wood, or better yet: bone. Perfect.

Few can create with their hands these days. Those towering monuments of ages past gather dust waiting, though no new ones join their ranks. – Yrek the Melancholy

Congratulations! Your success relies solely on your ingenuity.

You have unlocked the addable attribute —|Glacier Bones|: +10 path points to the {Ingenuity II} path.

|Glacier Bones|: Bones strengthened by the never melting hardness of a glacier. The cold is one with you, you will never be chilled to the bone. (+5% to ice based attacks; +15% to defense; resistance to cold; |Skeletal Schema|)

Yes! Now I’m pumped. Thank you, [Karma]! I got just what I needed! Bless the heavens for that schema, now I won’t be flailing around… much. An hour later, I have a working skeleton. All the pieces move just like I want them to. Nice skull, beautiful rib cage, long slender arms and legs, delicate fingers. Hehe. Okay, ignore that. I’m just sounding creepy, even to myself.

Now to join it with my sculpture. It’s actually kind of creepy to watch all the ice flow out-of-the-way so I can put the skeleton in. Kinda like watching a flower blossom… a very morbid flower. I really hope that image doesn’t get stuck in my head.

Honestly, making muscles, tendons, and ligaments was much easier than bones, but still, it was way harder than I thought would be. I had the perfect material to work with, the |ice silk|. Bundling enough of it together, it created a good rope like structure. Working a bit more on it and it worked almost like a muscle. Change the properties a tad near the bases of the rope, and I had my self some tendons. The problem was the word almost. Sure it was ropy, stringy, and even had some bounce to it, but it didn’t constrict. Not in the way that muscles do when you flex them.

Hours later, maybe even days--I lost track--I had something of a solution. By now the whole patio was covered in strands of |ice silk|, but finally, I managed it! This! This is my pride and joy! This single limp strand of |ice silk|! It may look simple, but behold! Once I fill it with mana, it goes rigid! Hehe. It contracts!

Oh, man. Give me a few moments. This whole business of working so long has given me a massive headache. Urg. I don’t think I’ve concentrated so long on one thing before. I’m not really sure if I’m meant for this kind of business. How long have I been working for, anyway. Well, however long I worked for doesn't matter. What matters is that I discovered two new things.

What are the uses of soft ice, you ask? Nothing. Really, there’s nothing you can do with it except sleep on it, if you want to freeze to death. – Scholar Joab

Congratulations! Your success relies increasingly on your ingenuity and familiarity with ice.

You have unlocked the addable attribute —|Soft Ice|: +10 path points to the {Ingenuity II} path.

|Soft Ice|: Ice that is supple and soft while still strong and damage resistant. (+5% to defense; resistance to cold)

I say that the hardest part of creating an automaton is the control center. That idiot La Angle says it’s the muscle structure, but clearly he’s never heard of pistons. – Yaksha inventor

Congratulations! Your success relies increasingly on your knowledge of the workings of mana.

You have unlocked the addable attribute —|Glacier Muscle|: +10 path points to the {Ingenuity II} path; 10% less mana to work a muscle system.

|Glacier Muscle|: Muscles strengthened by the freezing run offs of a glacier. The cold is one with you, your muscles will awaken with the chill. (+10% to ice based attacks; +5% to defense; resistance to cold; +10 movement speed in cold weather;|Muscular Schema|)

Gosh, I’m glad that’s over. I rub my imaginary temples. Overall, it’s a super simple structure containing only muscles, bones, and |soft ice|, which I used for skin, but even if the muscle system is super childish, I’m pretty proud of it. I tweak it a bit more now that I have the schema for it, and for a finishing touch, connect all of it together by threading it with mana strands, as I call them. Honestly, I’m surprised that the System didn’t give it to me as an addable attribute, because I have to say, the mana strands are awesome. Basically, they are threaded all throughout the body, straight down into even the bones. What do they do? You guessed it. Once I fill them with mana, they’ll work exactly like a nervous system with the added bonus of also working like the circulatory system.

It was a bit disappointing learning that my rib cage is basically obsolete now, but I guess I’ll hang onto it. It and the stomach I ended up filling with a mixture of |ice silk| and |soft ice|. I did the same for the skull, except I left a bit of hollow space. But I must say, when I was experimenting with the mana strands, I was really surprised. The first time I connected with them, I nearly screamed. After all, it was weird to feel everything they were touching! So creepy!

I step back and look at what I’ve got. It doesn’t really look that different from before I started on the inside. It’s fleshed out a bit more, I guess, but even though it’s pretty much opaque, you can still almost of see the bones through the skin. Kinda creepy, but in a way, kinda cool as well. Well, anyway…

One last touch. Auras. I must have auras. First add |aura of protection|. Don't want it somehow melting if I come across a balmy day. Next is |aura of warmth|. I'd hate to be freezing everyone I come across with a touch. Hm, I could add |aura of fury|, but I have a feeling that that would just end badly. |Calming aura| is probably a better idea. It makes life easier when people are less inclined to attacking you. I'm not sure what |aura of the lost| would do. It seems to affect domains rather than singular things. I don't think I want to have lost people randomly stumbling onto my body at the moment, but I do want to experiment with it sometime. Hm. I could also add |aura of light|, but I'm not sure I want to be glowing all the time. I see how it could be useful at certain times... but...

Speaking of which, might as well add all these auras to my tree as well. I think I only have |aura of the soul| and |aura of the lost| on it at the moment. Yes! Let's make the whole tree light up too! Make it glow at night! How cool! Why didn't I think of it earlier! And |aura of warmth| to make it all toasty everywhere underneath it. Maybe a bit less at the roots though. I don't know if my animals down there could handle the warmth. Again, no |aura of fury|. I kinda never want to use it again. It's awful. Final touch to the tree |aura of protection|, and to the body, the big moment where I hope something awesome will happen, |aura of souls|.

The moment the aura seeps into the body, I shiver. A chill runs through me. I watch as a light begins to shine in its eyes. It feels very alive right now, like it could move any second.

Of all the ruins I have traveled to, by far the most annoying would be those in the northwest corner of the Rou Ban highlands. I believe it was called the Automated Temple of Kor’ha? — Leviathan Adventurer

Congratulations! Why gather servants when you can make them?

[Golem Creation]: You’ve created your first working automaton completely out of one of the natural elements. Use it as a servant or to house your own soul. (Can be programmed; Can be controlled remotely or directly driven for a total of 20 hours at a time (cool down: 4 hours); If creator is a dungeon, golem cannot move outside of dungeon’s influence)

The industrial city of Grendle (at age 150 years)–period: 33 CE (otherwise Hynafolian Era); population: 0; automatons: 1,056 and growing; location: has since been lost. In short: a city in all senses of the word. The birth place of the Clockworks — D21-FCA, Clockwork Scholar

Congratulations! Even if you were to disappear, your empire will continue on into the ages.

Level [19]!: You have created your first automaton. (|Automaton Body Schema|; |Automaton Programming Schema|; 5% less mana consumed when creating multiple automatons.)

Please name your Golem: |« »|

Behold my creation! Oops, wait, wait. Don’t look at it yet. It needs some clothes. Quickly I weave some with |ice silk|. Ok, now you can look. Behold my creation!! Muwahaha! It’s! ALIVE!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

Forget that! Let’s try this baby out! I manipulate the mana strands in the body remotely. It feels a bit weird. Even though I normally manipulate ice like this, it feel a bit different somehow. Maybe it’s the way I can see the body move. It feels like I’m having an out-of-body experience.

Anyway, I lean the over to pick up the core. For a minute or two I just let myself sit there in its hands, taking it all in. Then, here comes the kinda nasty part. I basically shove my core into the skull. It felt like I’m being submerged underwater for a second, but after I settle in, it’s nice and cozy.

I then connect my core directly to all the mana strands. Yup, I’m now a glorified brain. It’s the craziest thing once I connect. I feel… alive. For the first time, I can feel everything perfectly clear. Everything tingles, everything all the way down to my toes. I blink, then flex my fingers. I lift my hand to look at them. This is… this is it. This is what I’ve been missing. A tear rolls down my face.

Don’t look at me like that! Yes, I put tear ducts in. I even made it salt water. I see your judging eyes. I just missed crying okay!

Whatever. I’m going to go for a walk now, so I can get used to this new body.

Oh, wait name first. Hehe, let’s go with this.

You have named your Golem: |« Devin »|

Success! This thing is now officially me! I grin my hardest with my new pearly white teeth.

Status Menu Name: Haven [Locked]–Devin Race: Legendary Dungeon Level: 19* Attribute: Green Health: 309/309 (2.6/min) Mana: 195/318 (2.6/min) State: Normal Biomes: 2 Floors: ?%Ξ] Named Monsters: 4* Monsters: 42* Animals: 24,944* Plants: 131,600+* [Ξ] Path Points: 23 Paths: {Beginner V (0/20)} {Ingenuity II (30/60)}* {Valiant II (0/120)} {Defender IV (2/30)} {Architect I (0/50)} Skills: [Influence V] [Incorporation III] [Ambient Aura VII] [Plant Growth I] [Green Thumb I] [Tamer II] [Karma II] [Natural Projectile III] [Core Teleportation] [Epithet] [Elemental Manipulation X] [Biome Creation] [Fluid Floors] [Golem Creation]* Achievements: |Ingenuity!| |Powerful!| |Dauntless!| |Against the Odds!| |Crack Shot!| |Breeder!| |Safe Guard!| |Creator of Wonders| [Ξ] Auras: |Aura of Light|, |Aura of Warmth|, |Aura of Fury|, |Aura of Souls|, |Aura of Protection|, |Aura of the Lost|, |Calming Aura| Fire: Main Water: Main, Ice Earth: Main, Plants, Minerals Air: Main