Chapter 40: Merging golems

The Giant Alligator King had died, and at the hands of two seemingly insignificant beings!Leon ordered the Clay Golem to explore the corpse of the Giant Alligator King so he could gather some important materials, including an Earth Elemental core the size of an egg. After that, before all the other giant alligators could bother them, they hurriedly left the area.

After Leon disappeared at the end of the path, behind a Killing Tree less than 800 meters from the battlefield, Bleia was distractedly watching the giant alligators roaring furiously in the distance. Around her on the ground, fourteen broken bodies of Carnivorous Crows lay scattered.

She had witnessed the entire course of Leon's battle now, and she was filled with mixed emotions.

The Giant Alligator King was a terrifying demon that even she had not dared to provoke!

Although the Giant Alligator King was considered to be on the same level as an Advanced Apprentice, this was not a good representation of his true fighting ability. With his high agility, even if the Giant Alligator King had a pair of wings, he still wouldn't be able to think of catching her.

However, the thick and tough scales of the Giant Alligator King were also not something she could break through, as she was 'weak.'

If they fought, the Giant Alligator King wouldn't be able to do anything about her speed, and she couldn't do anything about his defense.

Bleia was aware of the limitations of her abilities. While they were weak, she might be able to intimidate most of those Apprentice Mages. But after the inevitable improvement, her advantage was, in fact, diminishing.

And now this seemingly insignificant 'subordinate' Apprentice of hers had actually been able to use that strange Clay Golem to kill the Giant Alligator King.

This… This brought a great confusion to her!

Turning her eyes back to those broken crow bodies, her eyes clouded, and her mind wandered.

He was a 'subordinate' that she had personally subjugated! Since when had he become the main combat force, and she had become the slave responsible for clearing out the spies in the perimeter? A flame of anger erupted in Bleia's mind, and a blood-red thread appeared in the middle of her green eyes.

She was the boss, and he was just a weak subordinate. That relationship could never be changed! It seemed it was time to teach this arrogant brat a lesson. Although he had treated her well in the past, she wouldn't allow him to take her to the top… Yes, she would give him a lesson when she got back! Sёarch* The Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Suppressing the growing anger and frustration in her mind, Bleia leaped into the air, transformed into a small bat, flapping her wings as she flew toward the tower.

When Bleia knocked on Leon's door, furious anger in her heart, she was surprised when the door opened to reveal Leon's dazzling smile.

Pulling Bleia into his room, Leon presented his gift to her as if offering her a precious treasure.

"Bleia, look at this! I know you like the blood of strong beings, right? Would this be useful for you?"

Pungent, sticky blood was inside a small jar. With both hands, Leon extended it toward Bleia. His face shone with anticipation, his expression like that of a small child begging to be praised.

"This… What is this?" Bleia stammered.

Somehow, even though she had come here to teach Leon a lesson, her anger instantly vanished, and she even stammered while speaking to him.

"Don't ask. Just try it first and see if you like it! I collected many of them this time. If you like it, I'll go to the lab to purify them and get rid of the pungent smell, and I'm sure it will taste better!"

Making a poker face, Bleia criticized him to cover her surprise at the situation.

"Who would give such a gift? You didn't even wrap it properly. You just put it in a rough ceramic pot. At the very least, you should pour it into a crystal goblet! And how did you get this blood? Don't you know that the sweetest blood of a creature is the blood from the heart?

For your sincerity, I'll forgive your rudeness this time. Remember! Next time, prepare your gift properly before presenting it to me!"

"I understand… I totally understand… But… Bleia! Look, it's going to take me a long time to prepare all this, and I think I don't have enough Knowledge Points at the moment…"

Her beautiful green pupils constricted, and a dangerous glint shone in her eyes.

"So… are you trying to ask me for a loan?"

"No… Well, yes, but just temporarily. As soon as I sell all the items I've listed, I'll pay you back." Leon couldn't help but smile awkwardly. The quality of the Earth Elemental core he harvested this time was better than the first, and thus he had more space to incorporate Magic Formations into it. So, he was worried about how to use it fully.

He didn't have much time until they had to leave for the mission, but he still had some urgent matters that needed to be resolved.

The newly harvested Earth Elemental core was definitely one of them.

Leon had come up with a unique plan for this new core. Since it was also an elemental core of earth, why couldn't he connect the energy of both the summoned Clay Golems? When separated, each Golem would work on its own, and when connected, they would share their energy. Wouldn't that be better?

Thinking about this, Leon had the Chip perform some preliminary calculations. What he needed now was to learn about energy connections and soul synergy. Once he acquired that knowledge, he should be able to create this new Golem.

Leon also needed to find a suitable defensive magic spell.

At present, he had mastered two Fire magic spells: one used for close combat with minor defensive uses, and the other was a pure long-range offensive spell. Thus, he still had a significant weakness in dealing with his defense. If he didn't resolve this issue, he would likely die on the next mission.

Using his insect fusion ability, Worm Controller was like an unbeatable cockroach, and he never feared enemy attacks.

The Super Girl had an incredible physique, and her offensive strength was nearly invincible, so she never had to worry about her own safety.

The abilities of Fatal Shot were unknown.

Bleia possessed inhuman agility and the frightening ability to suck blood, which granted her powerful regeneration. Therefore, she was also as invincible as a cockroach.

All these Advanced Apprentices had their own complete and systematic paths of magic. It didn't matter if it was offensive or defensive; they possessed their unique skills and therefore differed greatly. But regardless of whom he had to face, Leon had no confidence in surviving their attacks.

This was Leon's current weakness.

Due to a lack of knowledge and resources, Leon was considered an underdog, even among the Beginner Apprentices, and he had yet to decide on his development path. Thus, he had not developed a systematic way to cultivate his magical ability.

Although he had wished to become a Principle Mage before this and had even learned some Deep Mage skills, the damn mandatory mission had interrupted his original development plan.

According to his initial plan, he was supposed to invest most of his resources in learning elemental knowledge and theories of Fire Elementium magic spells, trying his best to increase his Spirit so he could reach the same level as most of the other Apprentices his age, advancing to the Intermediate Apprentice grade. By his estimates, this process would take at least three months.

But now, that mandatory red mission was pressing down on him like a nightmare. If he didn't have any appropriate countermeasures before starting, he might die in that terrifying Underground Cave. Because of this, Leon had no choice but to readjust the allocation of his resources, putting all of them into the Golems.

As a direct result of this, Leon was nearly bankrupt!

He didn't have enough Knowledge Points to rent the Alchemy Laboratory; he didn't have enough Knowledge Points to learn defensive spells; and he didn't have enough gold coins to buy suitable items for anything…

Setting aside the gold, without enough Knowledge Points to support the creation of a new summoning core, Leon had no hope of surviving in that cave. If it weren't for this, he would never have swallowed his pride to try to obtain something from Bleia.

Bleia looked directly at Leon's face with her dazzling eyes. Finally, she nodded without saying anything.

After receiving an 'investment' from Bleia, and unaware of the beating he had narrowly escaped, Leon rushed to the Alchemy Laboratory and, like a spendthrift, rented the high-quality Alchemy Station for seven hours.

The Earth Elemental Core obtained from the Giant Alligator King was as large as a pigeon's egg. According to the Chip's designs, in addition to some basic magical control formations, he could add a few more energy nodes in the extra space. Thus, while the previous summoning core could only have four energy nodes, this one could have nine.

More energy nodes meant a more complex magical formation and countless modifications throughout the structure. So, from the moment Leon obtained the core, the Chip had been busy calculating and testing the design.

When Leon finally prepared all the magical materials, the Chip completed the task.

"Beep!"

"The latest structural design for the Golem summoning core has been completed."

"Start data transfer?"

"Transfer!"

After the data transfer was completed, Leon closed his eyes and saw the customized three-dimensional design of the magical formation.

After these calculations, he needed to carve fifteen magical formations of all sizes onto the surface of the pigeon-sized summoning core. He also needed to connect them all together, forming them into a larger and more complex magical formation. A design task like this could only be completed by the Chip in such a short time. For Leon, he could barely recognize any of the runic structures on it.

After spending a few minutes trying to understand it, Leon stopped trying and turned his attention to the problems he would face later during the carving process.

With the help of the Chip, Leon was able to completely avoid the issue of insufficient knowledge and skill and was capable of breaking down the entire complex task of creation into numerous simple and straightforward operations.

Through these small and trivial operations, Leon, who was just a novice in Alchemy, could complete the intricate runic structures all at once, something that would typically only be possible in the hands of those Master Alchemists.

Therefore, at this moment, what Leon was concerned about was not whether he was competent enough to complete this project, but whether his Spirit was strong enough to withstand the enormous strain he was about to place on it.

But he had no alternatives.

He had to build his army of Golems as quickly as possible to optimize his offensive capability. Then he had to find time to learn a suitable defensive magic spell to give himself both offensive and defensive advantages. And this was the key to his survival in the mandatory mission!

Leon took a deep breath and once again stood before the Alchemy Station. He cleared his mind of any disturbing thoughts and focused entirely on creating the new summoning core.

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1921 Words