A bell jingled as Emil entered the store. Around him were rows of shelves filled with all sorts of magical goods. Enchanted items, powders and liquids for alchemy, and more. To his left, there was a section dedicated to the parts of different kinds of magical beasts. It would seem he had certainly come to the right place.

“Hello there and good morning to you. My name is Cecil, I welcome you to the M.A. Emporium. Is there anything in particular you would be searching for today?” From around the corner of a shelf stepped out a woman. She wore an all-blue cloak with multiple amulets. On every finger, she wore a different kind of ring. On her shoulder sat a brown lizard, looking around as its tongue flicked out of its mouth.

“Maybe. But before that, I was actually hoping to sell something.” Emil pulled out one of the bones and held it out to her. She grabbed the bone and began to inspect it from multiple angles.

“Hmm, this wouldn’t happen to be the bone of a flame boar, would it?” She asked, glancing back at him. When he nodded in confirmation, she continued to speak while beginning to walk. She led him to a counter at the back end of the store.

“Well then, I’ll need to run a couple of tests to ensure its authenticity. If it turns out to be the real deal, then I would be glad to buy off any amount of them that you have. If you have more bones, could you go ahead and put them all on one of these trays. It would be easier that way for me to check them all at once, as well as confirm how much magical essence they still contain. This process should only take me a few minutes.”

Nodding along, Emil followed her instructions. When he took out the skull and placed it down, he noticed her eyes widen. But it was just for a moment, before she returned to a neutral and professional expression. After he put all the bones onto the tray, Cecil carefully picked up the tray.

As she did, the lizard hopped off her shoulder and landed on the counter, curling up. Keeping it balanced, she then carried it through a back door. But as promised, it was only a few minutes before she returned and placed it back down.

“First, I would like to thank you for waiting. These bones do all belong to the flame boar, a kind that’s a local breed too. And they seem quite fresh, so the amount of power within them is still quite potent. Here is my offer: I can give you fifty silver pieces for the skull, and thirty silver for the rest. How does that sound?”

Emil began to do the math in his head. One enchanted scroll for checking his Sheet would cost two silver. A few new pairs of clothes would probably cost somewhere around thirty bronze pieces. He assumed he would buy winter clothes specifically. Even if the cold itself wasn’t an issue for him, it would be weird if people saw him not wearing any as it only got colder.

Emil also did want to find a place to sleep that had an actual bed, for however long he stayed in this town. Then lastly, there was food and drink. Water was easy enough to collect from the river, but it felt like it had been forever since his last cup of coffee. As for food, he still didn’t feel hungry.

However, there was the possibility that his sense of hunger was only diminished and slowed down, not fully gone completely. But even then, he still wanted the chance to taste good food whenever he could. Since even that was a privilege that, one day, he would no longer have.

But in any case, he believed he had taken into account everything he needed. Her offer would be more than enough to take care of his expenses for a long while. However, when given a chance to haggle, one might as well take try and take it.

“So, that’s eighty silver pieces in total, huh? That’s already so close to one full gold piece. I got lucky when I found this guy already freshly dead, likely just due to old age.” Emil lied as he spun a story. “But as you already mentioned, this is from a local pack. The rest are still strong and would be hard to kill. So it might be a while before any more of their parts come through here.”

“We don’t carry gold pieces here in the Emporium. So even if I were to accept your proposal, it would be in the form of one hundred silver. Now, flame boar are hard to come by as an ingredient, that much is true. However, there are groups that specialize in the hunting of magical beasts, so there is a steady flow in the national market. How about this, are there any shards or ground-up bits of bones in your bag?” The shopkeep asked.

Emil rummaged around in his things, pulling out tiny bits of bones he had missed before. He then turned it upside down over the tray, and shook out the dust or anything else that was left. When that was done, Cecil looked over the small pile he had created.

“Alright then, this isn’t too much, but it does have some potential value. So here’s my updated offer: I can give you an extra five silver pieces. That would net you eighty-five in total, and that’s the best deal I can give you.” She stated, making it clear that it was her final offer.

“Okay, eighty-five silver pieces then. I think you have a deal.” Emil smiled, glad to have at least squeezed some extra money out of that. With that now settled, Cecil informed him that she would take it all to their backroom storage. And when she returned, it would also be with a bag of the agreed-upon silver.

After she did come back, Emil counted the silver and tied the pouch to his waist. He let the shopkeep know that he would browse around for a bit, and would ask for assistance if he needed it. She remained behind the counter as Emil walked to the section with enchanted items.

‘Hmm, you know what? Better safe than sorry.’ He thought to himself as he had an idea. He opened the pouch, and moved the majority of the pieces into his main bag. That way, on the off chance the pouch gets stolen, most of his funds would be safe. But at some point, he would probably find a place to stash away the pieces he didn’t plan to spend any time soon.

It didn’t take long for him to find the enchanted scroll he wanted to buy. However, it was after he grabbed it and was on his way back to the counter, that something caught his eye. It was as Emil passed through the section for alchemy and general arcane reagents. Out of everything for sale, it was one ingredient in particular that grabbed his attention. There on the shelf was a bright blue crystal, only about as big as his thumb.

‘A mana crystal. According to its tag, it can hold a charge of ten points of Mana.’ He looked around, there was another item. ‘And here’s a false heart. There are a lot of things here that people use to make golems. Hold on, wait a second, what if…’ An idea hit him. Emil had no clue if it would work or was feasible in any way. He had only become proficient in the basics of alchemy, and had only learned the theory behind golem crafting.

‘Fundamentally speaking, what difference is there in me bringing a corpse back as undead, and someone making a golem? Both are simply the act of giving a kind of false life to something, right? One is through Mana and a series of parts and ingredients. While the other is with death magic and Mana. And for the latter, it will eventually not even need Mana. But Alterum’s been cut off from the outside world for years upon years now. Golemnancy likely didn’t even exist as a concept back in the time of dragons.’ The more he thought about it, the logic behind it became increasingly sound.

In his head, it made sense as a concept. To effectively combine golemancy and necromancy into something new. Necromancy was something only he could develop as he practiced his abilities. And while he lacked the actual skills needed for effective golemnacny, as long as he knew the steps, he could adapt them into making undead instead. He would need to buy textbooks on golems first. So that he could teach himself the actual process of making them, beyond just the theory.

If it was possible, just if, then it would likely require a lot of trial and error on his part. But that was fine, after all, he had just acquired plenty of funds to spend. Emil scanned around the store, and quickly hurried to the section with books. If the Emporium didn’t have what he was looking for, then perhaps a dedicated bookstore would. He began to look through the titles of each book, searching.

His heart raced inside his chest, for the first time since his transformation furthered. Emil felt excited, like he was on the edge of a cliff. But it wasn’t a cliff to fear falling down. No, below it was a sea of untapped knowledge. One whose secrets he was on the precipice of diving into and unlocking. He could just feel it. And it was through that potential, he currently felt more alive now than he ever had throughout his entire life.

“Yes, they have it!” Emil could barely contain his enthusiasm. He grabbed the book from the shelf and looked at its cover. A Beginner’s Guide to Golem Crafting, it was exactly what he needed. He flipped it open to the table of contents, and with that, went the list of needed supplies. While he was already here, Emil would purchase everything required to create a basic golem.

Keeping the page for the list open, Emil rushed back to the ingredients section. There was the chance this path was just a dead end. But if it wasn’t and actually led somewhere, then he had to follow it. He was probably the only person on the planet he even could go down it. As he found and grabbed each thing on the list, his desire to at least try only grew.