In any case, golems’ potential was limitless. The monster core contained a box of mystery still left mostly untouched. What I meant was how could it provide energy to the golem? In addition, how could it understand my words with just a simple adjustment from my Vocation? Maybe there was a link between the two somehow.

Species: Clay golem (small)

Sex: Nonexistent

Height: 51 cm

Stats:

STR: F- (5) AGI: F- (1) VIT: F- (6) MAG: F- (0) SPR: F- (1)

Accumulation Points: 4 [F-]

From this data, I concluded that the clay golem (small) would be no better than a laborer at most. Its agility stat was just too low, making it susceptible to enemy attack. Not good enough.

On another note, I realized that there were hidden stats placed on a separate status screen. The stats included luck, and dexterity, among others. And no matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t get them to reveal their value at all.

Above all else, the golem would need an overall structural change to make it usable in combat. I bet that the clay would have shown signs of breaking down if not for the mana supplied by the monster core keeping it together.

“Hm. This golem is just like a spineless creature.”

“Golems are typically sluggish in their movements, firstly. If you want to, why not just give it a solid material to act as a structure?” advised Lorelei, as she was playing with the golem.

Seriously? Mine is kinda, well, “special” in this case.

Assuming that was the case, the importance of strong material to act as an inner structure need not be discussed. Also, the Item Creation catalog, when I rechecked it again, did sell things like common metals: iron, copper, silver, gold, and so on. Though, I couldn’t find precious modern metals like cobalt, titanium, uranium, or even aluminum.

“Hrm? Magic metals! Mithril, orichalcum, and adamantium! So those things do exist in this world. Oh, shoot! Even a gram of mithril is awfully expensive!” The remaining reserve of CP we had after deducting our breakfast and the monster core expenses was 6,985 CP. With that, we couldn’t even get seventy grams. No need to say for rarer magic metal like orichalcum and adamantium, they were priced so steeply.

All this experimentation with golem-making had brought me numerous insights into [Programming]. Although I’d yet to tackle more about the offensive usage of it, I did know that [Programming] was fundamentally possible to bend or even violate the laws of physics to some extent. Hmm… I might even be capable of shaping iron by temporarily changing its density and composition, in theory.

“What are you fussing about? Oh yeah, I got another batch of clay from the monsters. Shall I send it here?”

“Sure. Thanks a lot.”

Because the pile of clay many times the size of the first one was delivered not far from me, I was restless to try this out. Consequently, to alleviate this burning curiosity, I purchased an [Iron Ingot (50 CP)].

The materialized iron ingot was a cuboid-shaped piece of metal that weighed around ten kilograms. The purity of the iron seemed to be very high since it was traceless of any fading colors. Truly something spectacular.

Not procrastinating, I used [Programming] and placed a condition to soften the material. The normally hard iron began to soften, and when I pressed it hard, it left a noticeable handprint. Great. It works. Still a bit hard though… Should soften it further.

Once it softened enough, I shaped the iron ingot into a thin humanoid skeletal frame. Obviously, I didn’t go into the smallest detail and left parts that were too tricky untouched. Honestly, the joints were so mechanical that they stood out. Thus, what became of the ingot was a simple skeletal structure over two meters tall.

Sweat trickled down my forehead, the form was finally finished. “Whew. This is the best I can do.” [Programming] sure could change things from their molecular structure. With this kind of ability, I could get rich in my world. Say goodbye to work!

When I took a deep breath as I fell to the ground in exhaustion, I realized the Artificial Realm seemed to have changed quite a bit. Clear blue sky above with a scorching, blinding sun that rayed down warming heat on my skin. Had this place been so lifelike before?

There were even sounds of whistling breeze hitting the canopy of trees. Soothing and calming. It was as though I’d been sent to the middle of a green plain surrounded by numerous trees.

“You’re done yet?” Lorelei’s figure was suddenly standing next to me; I could almost peek at what was below her ski—

“Oh, it’s you, Lorelei.” I rose to my feet and inspected my surroundings; we were still in the courtyard of the mansion near the umbrella table that somehow was now placed on a small new pavilion amid the garden. “What’s happened here? The last time I remember, the sky was as white as a sheet of paper.”

“Well, I got bored watching you for hours playing with clay, so I did some adjustments to the Artificial Realm. A minor matter.” She waved her hand, watering down the whole situation.

Naturally. Who would not get bored doing that? I didn’t pay her more attention since thinking about her rationally would just cause me a headache. But still, hours? What time is it…? I checked my phone, which had been set to this world’s time. Eh! It’s almost noon!

“Need me for anything? I feel a bit sorry for being unable to provide any assistance in this field.”

“It's fine; you need not trouble yourself.” Having been encouraged by someone with a flawless figure like her had my enthusiasm reignite. Weird. After becoming a Dungeon Master, I felt able to hold myself back more than ever…

“Ah! Just tell me when you see those people coming to this dungeon. Gotta get prepared as soon as possible.”

“Sure. Whenever those insects arrive… Hee-hee.” In spite of her flat voice, her tone was sinister, nonetheless. Scary…

Now, what remained to be done to the skeletal structure was to cover it with clay. So right away, I began welding the structure, transforming it into a golem. Due to material constraints and the limit of my meager ability, the golem only had some minimal characteristics and resembled a crude robot made out of clay.

As a matter of fact, its face was faceless and lacked any sensory organs, nor that it would need any. And to put the cherry on top, I put a new, larger monster core priced at 10 CP into the golem — right within its chest. Recently, I discovered that I was able to copy the conditions of the first monster core; it would have caused me hours of work otherwise.

“There… done.” I gazed up at my creation, had my shoulders held back, feeling the itches all over my skin. Coincidentally, the heat from the sun solidified the clay, and yet there were no cracks whatsoever — the monster core might’ve prevented that.

“Wow. I cannot be more surprised. You can make golems indeed.” Without any wind or sound, Lorelei was already close to me as if teleporting.

“Eek! You’re still here? Oh please, don’t startle me like that.”

“Of course. How can I miss the time for your finished product?

“Mm. Then let’s call this thing ‘self-improvised clay golem,’ shall we?” Curious, I used [Developer Interface] to check the golem’s stats.

Species: Clay golem (self-improvised)

Sex: Nonexistent

Height: 227 cm

Stats:

STR: D+ (54) AGI: E- (23) VIT: D (46) MAG: F- (0) SPR: F- (2)

Accumulation Points: 26 [E]

Incidentally, I didn’t know how strong an E-rank golem like this was when it came to the inhabitants of this world, nor did I know how great a fifty-four strength was.

“Now then, lift that boulder and throw as far as you can.”

The golem, standing tall and strong, responded and raised a large boulder about its size with relative ease before throwing it several meters away. We were still currently inside the Artificial Realm, so adding a boulder could be accomplished easily by a simple intention.

The boulder was definitely at least five hundred kilograms… So, I could say that its load limit was about ten times that of mine. One thing for sure though, my creation had exceeded its creator in terms of strength by far.

“Oh my, is that still a clay golem?” Lorelei stared at my proud creation, blinking her eyes. “Gosh. Smaller than normal it is, but I don’t think a normal clay golem is that strong since it was made out of clay.

“But of course, that’s a given. In addition, it’s way cheaper, costing about 60 CP for a single one. Can’t say for sure, but the price of the iron may possibly be removed if I can get my hand on an iron vein.”

“Iron vein?” She held her chin in thought. “I… may be able to search for one, but I don’t think it’s that effective.”

“How so?”

“It’s a thing I never really done. But I could extend my — the dungeon’s — influence while paying minimal CP. I only need to gain control of a thread of land and…”

According to Lorelei, the expansion she meant was by converting a small thread of land into part of her dungeon. However, the connection was more likely than not to become unstable the farther the area was. She told me that the reason might be due to the distance to the Core that weakened her influence.

To my way of thinking, the concept would be like how humans constructed a building. One could build the building as big as one wanted, but it required a strong foundation to support the building itself.

CP and CP again. This dungeon business never strayed away from the “CP problem.” I better think of more ways to get CP soon, or else.

Anyway, it was past noon, so we had lunch to fill our stomachs— Or more like, I was having lunch since I forbid her to eat anything until we resolve the CP problem. Her reaction was to sit frozen solid while staring daggers as I was eating, even while her expression did not change a tiny bit… I’m just eating a baguette, alright... since it’s the cheapest size-wise.

“Hey, I may need more clay…” I awaited Lorelei’s response.

Silent.

“Um… Lorelei?”

She was silent.

“You know what, never mind.” It wasn’t that I couldn’t get the clay myself… though I couldn’t transfer it straight to the Artificial Realm like what she did; the Dungeon Menu just didn’t have that kind of function, or I simply didn’t know.

She was still dead silent.

The freezing atmosphere emanating from her caused me to sweat nonstop. At first, I thought that it was because I wore a thick hoodie, but then I noticed that the sun was twice as big… Holy! Was the world ending? While it should have burned me alive, other than feeling slightly hot, I didn’t feel anything, as if it was all an illusion.

“Okay, okay. Here, have a slice of blueberry cake.” I swiftly opened the menu and selected [Small Blueberry Cake Slice (5 CP)].

“My. You don’t have to.” She said that, but she was already expressionlessly munching the cake. In exchange, a pile of clay suddenly emerged beside me. Better take note not to eat in front of her later, just in case…

Soon after resting a bit, I continued making more golems. The consecutive golems required less time the more I made. From the original four hours went down to three… then to two. I worked tirelessly until there were five of those self-improvised clay golems in total.

Whenever I had to do my “business,” I went inside the mansion and took a leek inside the toilet there. Even though I made sure to make a modern bathroom, it barely functioned since my knowledge was limited — understanding the principle was the key.

It was no trifling matter when Lorelei was indifferent about me doing all this. I mean, strictly speaking, I was doing this inside her… Better to think of making a living room outside the Artificial Realm soon enough then. But that was a plan for later.

With each fifteen minutes rest I took between making the golems, it was already almost midnight when I finished those five. Having experienced the same exhaustion as when I’d abused [Programming] too much, I laid down for a bit and decided to check the golems’ statuses while they were working on digging more clay. Holes of numerous sizes strewed the entrance ground.

There was one intriguing thing I found: Every golem didn’t possess the same stats. The difference was negligible, and although it was a given, it made me wonder whether monsters summoned from the catalog would be different like having the same exact status, or was there something that I’d call a “random factor”?

“From all these stats… I don’t understand SPR the most…” I murmured and read its description.

SPR (spiritual power)

The limit of which spiritual energy accumulated in the body and its subsequent output power in performing a Vocation.

Ah… So it indeed has something to do with this. Hm? I now have six points on my SPR! Good, good, good. I finally got a better hang of how stats worked. Practice did bear fruit.

I was about to continue making more golems like the maniac I was, but Lorelei’s sudden alert prevented me from doing so.

“There’s something quick approaching the dungeon.”

“Come again?”