I am not dumb enough to leave the golems without some form of safety measures. Part of their programming that can't be changed is a shutdown command. They can only learn to a certain extent, just enough to improve their movements and gardening.

This is important for me to test out before I make any combat capable golems. Combat golems being able to learn is important, but I also need to be sure they won't go nuts. The gardening golems are the ones that I expect to have problems, they are the test models.

However, even if something goes wrong with them, they can't do much damage. In fact, if something goes wrong then it will give me the chance to test the safety measure. Although so far, the golems are operating just fine, but that is just for now.

I will have to wait a while to see how the programming holds up over time and if any errors occur. It will also take some time to see if the plants are going to grow properly in this environment. With the amount of mana in the castle, that is not a concern, but the air is.

For one thing, I don't know if this number of plants is going to be enough to keep the air fresh. I also don't know if the few of us who spend time here will generate enough CO2 for the plants. Unfortunately, I just don't know enough about plants and how they work.

Since I have nothing else that I need to do, I start working on the weapons that Zachariah brought over. I keep an eye on the golems while I am working, but they are still doing fine. Once all the seeds are planted and watered, the golems go into a standby mode.

After all, it's not like they can work continuously, there is nothing left to do. Until the seeds start growing, all they have to do is water them once in a while. Although, I should add more tasks for the golems to do, that way any problems will show up faster.

The problem is that since the castle cleans itself, I can't think of any tasks for them to do. The golems passively absorb mana from the surroundings, so they don't need to recharge. If there was something for them to do, they could stay active at all times without a problem.

They aren't capable of anything that would use mana faster than they can absorb it. When I build some combat golems they will probably be a different story. For now I just leave them in standby mode and finish enchanting the weapons.

All of the weapons are done by the time Lin comes back from the library. While we are eating dinner I explain to her my plan to go visit the empire. I also teach her the spell that I redesigned, just in case Almort needs to destroy the wall while I am gone.

Lin says "How long will you be gone? Do you want me to go with you?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I should only be gone for the day, I will gate back at night. I want you to stay here and keep an eye on things. I don't know how long it will take the council to decide what they want to do."

Lin says "Alright. Just be careful, okay? Watch your back around all those politicians."

"Don't worry. I won't be trusting anyone, not even the emperor."

Lin says "I saw that the gardens got planted. I take it the golems are finished?"

"Yeah, they are. So far they are working properly."

Lin says "That's good. It also explains why you weren't hidden away down in the workshop. So, what's the next project?"

"Next I am going to try to make the artificial spirit for the castle, but I don't want to start it until I get back."

Lin says "I completely understand. I hate being interrupted when I am in the middle of something."

"Yeah. Anyway, once I get the elves we can start planning to leave. Zachariah told me today that there is a delegation from the Magic Kingdom heading this way and I want to leave before they get here."

Lin says "There is? The kingdom doesn't send out delegations, they must be coming for us. Leaving before they get here is probably for the best, but they may not let that stop them. You told the council about the peninsula, so it is possible for them to try and follow us."

"Yeah, it is possible, but if they do then I will kill them. If they turn back, then they get to live. This way it is their choice."

Lin says "Fair enough. I am ready to leave at any time. It just means less books will be copied."

"Zachariah is going to find out when they will be arriving. We should have a few more days at least. I would prefer to help Almort and the council deal with the wall before we leave if possible."

Lin says "Okay. I will keep copying books until it is time to leave. Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment. If there is, I will let you know."

Lin and I finish eating, then I open up a soulscape and invite everyone. I start the next movie and then take Brightfire aside and tell her to prepare for a lot of elves to gate in tomorrow. I can leave it to her to inform Stillwater and get everything prepared.

After that, we rejoin the group and go back to watching movies with them. After each movie I still have to answer a ton of questions, so it is a relief when I end the soulscape. Lin goes to put the books she copied into the tower and I go down to take a bath.

Making myself this lava bath was definitely one of the best ideas I have had. Not that my life has been all that stressful lately, but it still feels great to relax. After my bath I go find Lin, then I carry her to bed, and after a couple of hours we go to sleep.

I decided to sleep just to make sure that I don't make a mistake tomorrow. If some elves got hurt because I was tired and did something stupid I would never forgive myself. Besides, delaying working on my core for a day won't make much of a difference.

In the morning I wake up, have breakfast with Lin, and then send her off to the library. After she is gone I drop shapeshift, take off from the roof, and fly towards the east. I know where the capital is from maps and it should only take me a couple of hours to get there.

I fly high and don't bother scanning for resources, all I do is keep an eye out for beasts. There shouldn't be many flying beasts that want to challenge something my size, but there might be a few. Besides, on this trip it is probably going to be safer to be paranoid the entire time.