“You know, Master,” Larry said, his mouth curling into a small, coy smile as he spoke. “I wish you had called me back sooner; all the chatter in Hell says things are going insane here.”

Colin quirked an eyebrow at his Familiar Incubus and crossed his arms. “Chatter in Hell? How does Hell know what’s going on?”

“The IRNN or the Interdimensional Radio News Network if you feel pretentious. Do you know what that is?” Larry asked, smirking at his Master.

Said Master simply shrugged, “no, I don’t, and I don’t have time to worry about it now. Though expect me to ask you about it later, I am curious. So, guys, If we keep doing things as is, I think the city is screwed, there is now question about it in my opinion. Thoughts so far?”

Larry and Rielle nodded while Nox merely shrugged. Colin stared at him expectantly, and the Goblin answered, “you never know, DevilWalker. It would not surprise me in the least if some Outworlders are planning something to defeat ALAN, and it could work. You’ve come a long way in a very short time, DevilWalker, but you still are not that impressive yet.”

Colin shrugged. There was nothing he could do about that right now, “agreed, but not my point. I don’t want to leave yet because we don’t know how powerful ALAN is yet and the reward for beating him is sure to be fantastic,” Colin told them.

Rielle nodded, “yes, but I’m with Nox here. We’re getting stronger, but he is creating more and more of these Golems really fast. I would not be surprised if he had a way to get all the resources he needed for this army. It could be infinite.”

Larry sat down onto Rielle’s bed and shook his head, “while possible, it is improbable. There are skills, abilities, and spells for nearly anything. Still, if something like that exists, it would be very mana heavy, to say the least.”

“I know of a skill that lets you sacrifice experience points for resources like Gold or Copper,” Nox told the group. “I have no idea how the Goblin got it, but I’ve heard of it.”

“Okay,” Colin interrupted. “So, we need to be more… creative in our approach, and I have a few ideas for it. Seeing the new Corpse Golem made me rethink my approach to the world and how I view it. If ALAN can reimagine a way to use Golems, then I can rethink my approach. So, I was hoping to get some fundamentals on what some magicks can do.”

The Antagonist continued, “the four elemental magic skills are reasonably self-explanatory. They can manipulate the rules that govern the ways the elements work and shape them using mana. But what about the others?”

Nox decided that now was an excellent time to speak, the glint in his yellow eyes evident. “May I explain some things you may not be aware of?”

Colin nodded to the Goblin, who immediately jumped to stand on the desk, which sat opposite the stairs. “As I am sure most people here know, minus DevilWalker, there are fifteen types of magic skills that are known. Fire, Water, Earth, and Air are known as the elemental magic skills because that defines them the easiest. Then we have the Manipulator Magicks, which are Kinetic, Mental, Empathetic, and Spiritual. These manipulate something in the enemies or ourself, thus Manipulator Magicks.”

“Then we have the Ethereal Magics. Shadow, Light, Infernal, and Divine which control forces that can not be properly controlled without magic. You can move Earth with a shovel, throw incendiary bombs, or reverse gravity with science. But the closest I’ve ever heard of someone manipulating Ethereal elements without magic was something called light bulbs. From what I understand, that just causes a reaction in the device when electricity passes through it. It’s not strictly Light Magic.”

“Then we have the great magicks; Dimensional, Time, and Death. I wouldn’t include Time Magic if I didn’t know it existed. These do have effects that can be, to a very limited degree, used by other magic skills. Dimension is the most straightforward example. With my Shadow Magic Level, I can create a spell that will take me to the Halls of Hallowed Shadow, otherwise known as the Plane of Darkness. “

Nox noticed Rielle’s had go up, “yes?”

“The Fey have a sixteenth magic that they categorize as Mythic Magic called Reality Magic,” she told him, smiling at her contribution.

Nox shrugged, “the Goblin’s had a similar Mythic Magic called Wish Magic, but I think it’s just a myth. It is nothing but a fanciful story of people using a single spell to alter the world or want it to be possible. I’m trying to deal with known facts, Darielle, not myth.”

She nodded, and her happy expression disappeared with minor agitation replacing it.

“I will try to make this as short-winded as I can and give you short lessons as we continue on, got it!” Nox asked, glaring at Colin, who promptly nodded. “Good, Some magicks encompass other elemental effects, like Air Magic also deals with lightning. Earth can deal with some amount of gravity, nature, acid, and magnetism. Water deals with ice and general cold. Fire deals with magma and overall heat and most explosives.”

“The Manipulator magicks are simpler but more… complex in that regard. They can stay strongly within their purview and enhance other magic and sometimes techniques if you have weapons skills high enough. Like… imagine using a technique that you created with Mental Magic that creates a distracting effect every time your weapon is blocked. Whoo, sounds nasty to me,” Nox chuckled, thinking of it.

“Okay, but what about the Ethereal Magicks? Why are Light and Shadow mixed in with Infernal and Divine? There has to be another reason other than what you describe.” Colin stated firmly, he had two of those Magic types, and he felt something was off about the explanation like something had yet to be said.

“Indeed there is, DevilWalker. Ethereal magic also draws its power more specifically from a different dimension. Infernal magic comes from Hell, Divine comes from Utopia, Shadow comes from the Plane of Darkness, and Light comes from Elysium. The theory in my day said that when you use one of these types of magicks, you use the mana in your body to draw out power from the Plane the power originates. It might be outdated, but I think it rings a little true.”

“I think you know a little more about what Infernal Magic is capable of than the average user, Master,” Larry stated nonchalantly. “Your Demonology Skill should give you knowledge of Demon powers and abilities. Almost every Demon has some skill in Infernal Magic Manipulation or some equivalent that is close enough.”

You have gained a new skill, Knowledge: Magic Level 3. You get a 3% increase in charisma when applying this knowledge to other people. Gather or discover more knowledge in this area to level this skill and get more detailed prompts towards anything related to magic and its uses. Also, experience towards this skill also grants experience to the Spellcraft Skill.

“Alright,” Colin said, the gears turning in his head. “I have a few new ideas of things I can do. Now for the other important questions. What can you tell me about Golems and their construction?”

“Some,” Nox stated. “It wasn’t my specialty, and I personally tended to avoid them.”

“Anything you can tell me would be good,” Colin assured him.

Nox nodded and explained the basics. “Golems need three basic things to function; literally everything else just adds to their functionality. They need a Command Matrix to act as their brain, a Golem Core to act as their heart, facilitate Mana cycling, and Mana Veins transport the mana. Straightforward concept, just like a mortal’s body but with magic and metal.”

“Go on,” Colin urged.

“If you just do those three things, A Golem will just have the ability to listen to you and absorb information. Depending on the quality of the three pieces, maybe they will talk back or have other powers or uses. The Golem in question could be a simple cube that is classified as a monster. It usually gets more dangerous as more stuff is added, like legs, Skill or Ability Shards, or Spell Capacitors. Or one could just add unique equipment like giving them spikes for calves. Golems are some of the trickiest monsters to fight because you never know what to expect.”

Colin continued to question Nox about any of the specifics he knew about. What were Golem Cores made of, how fast did Mana Veins transport magic, could Golems heal naturally, literally anything he could think to ask, he did. Most of the specific questions were things that the Goblin did not know about, but still, he gave his best shot at answering.

“Enough,” Nox ordered, jumping down from the desk after a literal hour since the discussion about magic then Golems had begun. Now exasperated from the questions, Nox turned to face his own shadow and looked into it. “If you want to inquire about my own craft or something else I am more familiar with, DevilWalker, go right ahead. But enough about things I have barely inquired about myself!”

You have gained a new skill, Knowledge: Golemcraft Level 4. You get a 4% increase in charisma when applying this knowledge near other people. Gather or discover more knowledge in this area to level this skill and get more detailed prompts towards anything related to Golems, their craft, and what they can do.

Then he fell into his own shadow, the darkened piece of the floor remaining even though the source of the shadow was gone.

Colin could only smile at the creature he knew was a friend. “Alright, so, I have a few ideas of things we could do. But first, let’s see if those Imps have brought me anything good!” Colin stated, heading for the Hotel Room door.

“Imps?” Larry questioned, aghast at the idea. “You summoned Imps instead of me?”

“Of course,” Colin told him. “The Imps actually had a use at the time. At the time, I had nothing that needed a pleasant distraction or horrible murder. Trust me, that is coming up,” Colin told the Incubus as he headed down the stairs to the Lobby. “Now put your human face on; I don’t want the crowd to know that I am in league with Demons.”

“But you are,” he stated blandly as he shapeshifted into the same humanoid form that he had earlier.

“Yes, but I don’t want them to know that!” Colin hissed as they stepped past someone resting on the stairs. He took little notice of the person; who they were didn’t matter as much as the reason they were there. The closer Colin got to the Lobby, the easier it was to hear why.

People, and a lot of them, were fighting in what Colin could only describe as frenzied panic. He couldn’t blame them considering what ALAN had shown them earlier, and he was sure this was the reason why. People were shouting, arguing about what they should be doing. Many were just complaining about how nothing was getting done.

PC and NPC alike were just shouting, trying to be heard. Some NPC’s wanted to be escorted out of the city, while some Players wanted to work in groups to go get their things. It was actually kind of disconcerting to try to listen to all of them at once, and he had no idea how any of them were doing it. All Colin knew for a fact was that all of them were being useless, which saddened him given the purpose of the meeting only a little earlier today.

Colin got to the front doors and opened his Information Tablet, finding a message from Paladin.

From: ContraryPaladin

Sent at: 13:41

Message: Hey Walker, I talked to your wife, and she hung up on me the moment I told her where you were. I don’t know why but I think she’s coming, Brother. I’ll be back in BriarThorn in half an hour; hope I’ll find you in the Hotel or message me the location, and I’ll try to meet you there.

“Well, we have time before Paladin gets back, so let’s go,” Colin told them, stepping out the front door. Colin could hear the room go silent as his group walked out the door, and he smiled as no one even attempted to stop him. It wasn’t that they were afraid of him. They were just stunned that anyone would willingly go out in this situation.

Once they hit the street, Colin oriented himself to the building they wanted and jogged towards it to avoid any ambushes or groups.

To his annoyance, two of the Corpse Golems were waiting only a moment away and around a corner. Though, unlike the one that the Crusader had to fight, dressed simply and unarmed, these were more prepared. One wore chainmail under a quilted doublet, leather gloves, and wrist guards and carried a bow in one hand. The other wore a set of cumbersome-looking plate mail armor and bucket helmet that left the two-handed sword he carried free to look scary.

“Larry, take the armored one! Rielle, help him. I’ll deal with the Archer,” Colin said, activating Kinetic Vigor and drawing his Mythic Xiphos.

Larry conjured a pair of his HellRime gauntlets and bracers before a thick kite shield, jumping into combat with a smile plastered onto his face. Rielle started firing her bow at the Armored Corpse Golem, with the first shot simply skittering off his pauldron. Conjuring a mace in his free hand, Larry caught the first blow of the greatsword and swung the mace towards center mass. The Armored Golem taking a step back in the exchange.

Colin sprinted towards the Archer, jumping into a rolling dodge a second before it fired the freshly drawn arrow. He avoided the attack but immediately started running again the moment he regained his feet. The Archer readied his shot, and Colin raised his hand, shouting, “Shadow Bolt!”

The bolt of corrosive shadow fired towards the Golem. It impacted its string drawing arm, causing it to almost drop the arrow. It did, however, have to take a moment to ready itself again to fire, and Colin heard it announce, “Skull Arrow!”

A skull made of smoky purple energy appeared over the arrow’s head and glowed as the Archer held it. It released, and a scream tore from the skull’s open mouth as it flew towards him. No time to dodge and just taking it was not an option, oh that horrid scream-

Colin reacted a second before the technique hit him, drawing up his Indestructible sword deflecting it with the blades flat. His attempt was half-assed at best, stopping the arrow, but the technique’s added impact and extra effect still hit him hard. The skull exploding with sickly green and amethyst light.

You have taken 52 points of damage and now have 548/600 Health remaining. You have been afflicted with the Fragile Skeleton Debuff for the next 30 seconds; it is now 50% easier to apply any broken bone debuff.

“Shit,” Colin groaned, getting to his feet as he watched the timer tick down to twenty-eight.

He looked up and found that the Archer Corpse was drawing two arrows back this time and opened its mouth to announce something. With a sound like escaping steam, it yelled, “Double Shot!”

Both arrows flew from the string and moved towards him with deadly precision. In the second before the arrows would have hit him as he half-stood, his Psionic Trigger submenu activated his spell ‘Inspire’, on cue.

Colin’s perception of time slowed for a moment, long enough for him to get a new bearing on this and actually work. But first, Colin dropped to the floor, letting his already precarious balance loose and falling as the arrows passed over him.

His Perceptions started moving at average speed again the second he hit the ground and immediately got to his feet. He turned off Kinetic Vigor, glad for the speed boost that it gave but finding it a waste of mana. Instead, Colin drew a throwing knife in his free hand. He threw it before continuing to approach, pulling another as he moved.

The throwing knife impacted the Corpse and ignited the Undead Golem’s doublet; the Golem ignored the flames for a moment too long. Its Golem parts and unfeeling flesh felt none of the damage as the flames lapped at everything around it.

Including the bow’s drawstring. As the Archer drew the next arrow and notched it, the flames latched onto it and started eating through it as it pulled back. As it reached back, the string snapped, and the Archer recoiled at the shock.

The Antagonist didn’t give the Corpse Golem a chance to recover. He threw the next knife he drew and was a little disappointed when it wasn’t a Kinetic Enchanted one. Instead, a burst of frost swept over the Golem, slowing the Undead and coating it in a layer of thin ice. Next, Colin threw a Lesser Knockback to throw it the rest of the way off its feet and to the floor.

An arrow from Rielle pinned the Golem to the stone road by its stomach, and Colin hurried over to try and finish it.

The flames were still eating away at the body when the Corpse died, letting the Golemized Skeleton come out from the disintegrating, ashen flesh and clothes. With greater speed than a moment ago, the Skeleton broke the arrow shaft pinning the clothes it was still wearing, and got to its feet.

The Undead drew back a fist and threw the punch at Colin’s head, Only missing due to sloppy form. Pulling his Mythic Sword close in towards his body, the Antagonist spun around as close to its body and swung with as much momentum and cutting force as his indestructibly sharp sword and his body was capable of.

The attack sheared through the doublet, helping the cloth off its torso, revealing several metal-coated ribs that he’d also sliced cleanly. Several ribs fell free from the Skele-Golem, exposing shimmering wires within the ribcage interconnected to its several pieces of crystal and one moss-colored glowing square.

Taking a deep breath, Colin announced, “Burning breath!” and let out a torrent of flames that started somewhere in his throat and burned out his mouth. The fire swept over the SkeleGolem, and whatever instinct drove the thing caused it to try and defend its innards from Colin’s flames. But that was the reason Colin chose this attack; it swept past defenses and slipped through cracks, heat and wispy flame pouring into the Golem’s hardware housing and destroying it.

The Golem fell to the floor as the components powering it were fried, and Colin stopped his spell. Flames stopped pouring out of his mouth, and the back of Colin’s throat felt raw as if he’d been screaming his lungs out.

Larry was still battering away at the Armored Zombie Golem and was having a blast. His Shield was gone, shattered and on the floor, replaced by giant gauntlets that he seemed content to just punch and jab away with.

Colin shrugged, intending to let Larry have his fun unless it looked like he would lose. It wasn’t a big deal if the Incubus lost, but he could just resummon him later. That did not mean he wanted to waste time to not expend the effort.

Eventually, the Armored Corpse Golem fell down and did not get back up. Colin waited to see if it would rise again, but no such event occurred.

You have defeated a Knight Corpse Golem and an Archer Corpse Golem and have gained 1140 EXP. you now have 100,323/256,914 to level 21. Fire Magic Manipulation is now Level 7. Psionic Trigger is now Level 3. More options for automatic functions are available. You have gained a new Skill, Weapon Block Level 1. While holding a weapon in hand, you have a chance to raise whichever weapon you are holding to deflect an attack. To block an attack, you have to be aware of it coming.

“Huh,” Colin said, unsure of what happened. “Did you knock it down once already?”

Larry nodded, panting as he smiled at his Master. “Oh yeah, that was one tough fucker, sir,” he added lamely at the end. “How was yours?”

“Tricky, but easier to take than yours. Admittedly, that’s why I had you two take that one, and I got this one,” Colin admitted, shrugging. The thought occurred to Colin that if there had even been a third of these creatures to fight them, there was a strong chance they would have lost. The thought sent chills down his spine but moved on, determined to figure out a way to more effectively kill these things.

“Good job,” Colin said, looking at Rielle.

The Death Fey was looking through her quiver of arrows and seemed to be counting them, biting her lip as she seemed unsure of the number. This was something he could help her with a little later; if she ran out, he was sure she could make do with her sword until he got her taken care of.

Gesturing to Larry and waving his hands to get Rielle’s attention, he ushered them into the building next to the Hotel, which happened to be an apartment complex. Turned out that getting to the roof was the easy part since the stairwell was right in the center of the building, and only a single Rogue Golem met them on the way up. Dispatching it was swift since they caught it by surprise, and Colin was able to Assassinate it.

They reached the roof and found half a dozen Charcoal-covered Imps surrounding a pile of fifteen to twenty books of various sizes, colors, and designs. They were dancing, jumping, and gyrating around the volumes in ways that would make Colin groan at videos on Earth. On these Imps, the act somehow looked infinitely worse.

One of the Imps stopped twerking as soon as he got within around five meters and hurried over to him. “Hello there, Candidate Summoner! We got you are many Quality ten books we could find!” he told him excitedly.

“What happened to the rest of the Imps?” Colin asked, gesturing to the rest of the still moving creatures.

“Eh, they were killed and sent back to Hell. Not to worry though, Candidate, we will see them again as soon as the Summoning time ends in a few minutes,” he informed Colin, bobbing his head once with a sure nod.

Colin shrugged, “alright, let’s see what you got.”

The Antagonist and the Imp walked through the tide of Imps to the pile, and it handed him a book with a colorful animation of a unicorn on it. Appraising it gave him the information he dreaded.

Book: Jaken the Unicorn. Weight: 156 grams. Item Quality: 5 (10 for Artwork)

A children’s book about the journey of a Unicorn that gained the Monk Class to help a Dwarf friend fight an Evil Wizard. Drawn in a very childlike medium, the artist is well known for their popular art within this genre and is known for quality work for her books. While the story is a very fanciful representation of a supposedly true folk tale, this should not be taken seriously.

Grimacing, Colin set the book aside as a last resort. He wouldn’t mind Appropriating the book if it worked; Quality ten for the art alone might be pushing the border on what the power could allow.

Next was a book called ‘The Ten Qualities of a Successful House Husband’, which he promptly threw away from him. The book looked to be a self-help book for horny power wives, given the very revealing cover. He kept checking the books, and one by one, he threw them away. One was even in the pile just for having the word 10 in the title, which really pissed Colin off. He didn’t necessarily expect the little Demon’s to succeed in his task, but he got a little excited when he saw the pile of books.

Grabbing the next book with low expectations, he read the cover and appraised it. Praying to any god that was listening that his luck was good.

Book: The Battle Bards of the Sandalwood Basin. Item Weight: 479 grams. Item Quality: 10.

A book that contains the story of the Legend of the Battle Bards and the findings of D. Kota, a Research Clairvoyant. This book is one of seven copies of a book made to the highest standard to survive the ages so that the Legend of the Battle Bards may one day be revived in another worthy troupe of Bards. Copy number 4.

Colin grinned at the book. Admittedly, it was not one of the books he requested from the little Demons, but it was a quality 10 book. And it was also a book on a legendary troupe of Bards that must have been notable for the conflicts they won. Why else would they be called Battle Bards if not for their prowess?

Setting it on top of the Children’s book, Colin checked the rest and found an Item Quality 5 book on Rituals and a Quality 7 book on Spellcrafting. He planned to appropriate both but was disappointed to only have one. Mentally shrugging, Colin knew he was lucky to even have this one book found on his first try with the Imps.

“Thank you, guys,” Colin said, turning to the Imps to find a small hole in the floor of the roof. The hole was a perfect circle with hellfire leaping out along the edges but was otherwise the kind of deep black that implied untold depths. Above the circle stood one of the Imps, who was grinning as he gave Colin a mock salute. “Your welcome, Sir.”

The Imp then jumped into the portal, cackling as he fell into the flame-lined void.

Looking down at the three books he planned to appropriate and the children’s book he planned to bring with him. He stuffed them into his Dimensional Bag and hurried down to street level. If he hurried, he could Appropriate the books and be ready when Paladin showed up in another… oh, twenty minutes.

With that thought, Colin hurried down the stairs. A little jump in his step as he sprinted into the Hotel to avoid any more encounters. He had a career to advance.