Chapter 461: Golem Creation [Bonus - ]

Chapter 461: Golem Creation [Bonus Chapter]

’However, lingering too long while she’s unconscious would be a massive disrespect,’ Silas reminded himself firmly. ’Especially considering the fact that when she eventually wakes up, Thor could effortlessly punch my head completely off my shoulders if she catches me staring.’

He decided to leave the Thunder Goddess exactly where she was as the heat of the Keep would keep her warm.

Instead, he turned back to the Pirate Queen.

Morwenna was hanging dangerously close to the edge of the velvet cushions with her arm dangling toward the floorboards.

Silas stepped up to the couch, sliding his left arm carefully beneath

Morwenna’s shoulders and his right hand firmly under her bare thighs.

As he hoisted her upward, his hand accidentally slipped higher, his palm pressing directly against the soft firm curve of her bare ass.

"Mmmgh..." Morwenna groaned aggressively in her sleep, her brow furrowing as she instinctively shifted her weight closer to his chest, seeking the warmth of his body.

"Easy, Morwenna," Silas muttered softly, adjusting his grip as he carried the naked Pirate Queen away from the living room and began the trek up the central wooden staircase.

He navigated the winding halls of the second floor, pushing open the heavy oak door to his master bedroom.

He had fully expected to find Eluned hiding under the sheets, waiting to ambush him with her camera.

But as he stepped inside, the room was completely empty.

The bed was perfectly made, and the windows were shut tight against the winter storm outside.

’She actually ran off somewhere else?’ Silas thought, a bit confused by the Goddess’s restraint. ’Probably went to go show off the picture to someone as perverted as her...’

Silas walked over to the edge of the mattress, gently lowering Morwenna down onto the soft fur-lined sheets.

He quickly pulled the thick, heavy duvet up over her shoulders, tucking the edges securely around her sides to keep the winter chill at bay.

Morwenna grumbled something completely unintelligible in her sleep, her face twisting into a grumpy agitated scowl as she tried to kick the blankets away.

Silas leaned down, pressing a soft lingering kiss directly against the center of the grumpy Pirate Queen’s forehead.

Like magic, the deep crease between her eyebrows instantly vanished.

Morwenna let out a long quiet sigh, her body going completely limp as she relaxed fully into the mattress with a peaceful smile touching her lips.

"Just get some rest, Morwenna," Silas whispered, stepping back from the bed.

The physical and mental exhaustion of the Umbral Basin expedition was finally catching up to him.

’And it’s going to be much more tomorrow...’

He reached up, unfastening the leather clasps of his dark tunic as he pulled the heavy shirt over his head, tossing it carelessly onto the empty side of the bed.

He unbuckled his heavy combat trousers next, stepping out of them and leaving himself in just a comfortable pair of dark linen shorts.

’But I’ll make it through, I’m their Lord after all... though it’s weird, I could have sworn someone was watching us while we were out in the forest or something.’

But when he had turned around... there was nothing.

Silas rolled his broad shoulders, his joints popping in satisfying succession as he walked across the bedroom and pushed open the door to his en-suite bathroom.

The air inside the marble-lined room was cold.

Silas walked over to the sunken soaking tub, twisting the polished brass knobs.

A heavy rush of steaming boiling-hot water immediately poured from the faucet, filling the room with thick soothing clouds of steam.

’Before I go down to the forge to see Thora and Rowenna about the new equipment,’ Silas thought, testing the scalding water with his fingertips and letting out a satisfied breath. ’Let’s take a bath. I need to wash the stench of blood off my skin.’

Two hours later, the climate outside the Keep had completely deteriorated.

Silas stood outside the massive, reinforced iron doors of the Blessed Land Foundry.

The climate control of the Spirit Trees was struggling to keep up with the chaotic intensity of the Umbral Basin blizzard raging just beyond the territory walls.

Heavy, wet flakes of snow were falling in thick sheets, accumulating rapidly on the cobblestone paths and coating the roof of the forge in a blanket of white.

"Damn this snow," Silas cursed, shivering slightly as a rogue gust of freezing wind slipped past the Spirit Tree canopy and bit at his exposed neck.

He didn’t waste another second as he grabbed the heavy iron ring handle and hauled the Foundry door open.

FWOOOOOOSH!

The instant the seal broke, a suffocating wall of pure, blistering heat slammed directly into his face.

It was like stepping into the mouth of an active volcano.

"Haah... Much better..."

Silas quickly slipped inside and slammed the heavy iron door shut behind him, cutting off the freezing wind and trapping the magnificent heat.

The interior of the Foundry was a sprawling network of elevated catwalks, bubbling crucibles of liquid steel, and heavy hydraulic hammers pounding rhythmically against glowing metal.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The dozen of dwarven women were scurrying across the floor, their muscular arms slick with sweat as they carried heavy crates of raw ore, shouted measurements over the din of the machinery, and channeled pure elemental mana into the roaring furnaces.

"Lord Silas! Welcome back!"

Silas turned to see a stout muscled female dwarf approaching him with a wide, soot-stained grin.

She wiped her grease-covered hands on a thick leather apron, her eyes raking up and down his current attire with genuine appreciation.

After his bath, Silas hadn’t bothered to put any combat armor on.

Instead, he was wearing a set of loose-fitting, elegant dark robes that wrapped comfortably around his torso and draped past his knees.

The dark silk fabric was embroidered with runic patterns.

"Those are some incredibly sharp robes, my Lord!" the female dwarf complimented enthusiastically. "You look exactly like one of those high-tier cultivators from the Eastern Realms in books! Though, you’re missing the ridiculously long flowing hair to complete the look!"

Silas smiled, looking down at his dark attire.

"Thank you. It’s significantly more comfortable than wearing some tight clothes to a meeting."

"The Boss is already expecting you!" the dwarf shouted, gesturing for him to follow her as she turned and began marching down the central aisle of the forge. "Right this way!"

Silas followed her through the chaotic, beautifully organized heart of the Foundry.

As he walked past the blazing anvils, dozens of dwarven workers paused their hammering, offering him sharp respectful salutes and cheerful greetings, which he returned with easy nods.

They bypassed the main smelting floor entirely, heading toward a reinforced isolated corridor at the far back of the facility.

The female dwarf stopped in front of a massive armored vault door constructed entirely from several kinds of alloys.

Warning runes were etched into the metal frame, pulsing with a cautionary crimson light.

"They’re waiting inside, my Lord," the dwarf said, reaching out and pulling the heavy lever to disengage the magical locks.

The thick vault door swung open with a heavy pressurized hiss, revealing the interior of the secure chamber.

Silas stepped over the threshold, and the dwarf immediately pulled the door shut behind him, the locks engaging with a heavy final clank.

"Welcome, Lord Silas!" Thora’s booming voice echoed across the room. "Welcome to the primary testing chamber!"

Silas looked around.

The testing room was big, easily the size of a small gymnasium.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were completely plated in thick reinforced metal designed to absorb catastrophic kinetic impacts and magical detonations.

And currently, the entire center of the room was filled with rocks.

There were massive jagged boulders weighing thousands of pounds, smooth river stones, dense blocks of granite, and piles of coarse gravel-like shale.

The volume of raw unrefined earth was a bit too much.

Standing on the elevated observation platform alongside Thora was Rowenna.

The brilliant Rune Master of Blessed Land had dressed for the oppressive heat of the forge, completely discarding her usual formal attire.

"Haah..."

Rowenna was sporting a tight form-fitting black singlet and a pair of extremely short denim cut-offs, an outfit so casual it made it look as if she were preparing for a lazy afternoon nap rather than conducting a high-tier magical experiment.

Her long, gorgeous black hair, tinted with striking streaks of deep violet, was tied up into a messy bun, secured casually with a steel caliper.

Her bright piercing blue eyes locked onto Silas the moment he entered, a warm excited smile breaking across her stunningly beautiful face.

Rowenna raised a hand, waving enthusiastically at him from the platform.

Silas grinned, raising a hand in return as he climbed the metal stairs to join them on the observation deck.

"So," Silas said, leaning his forearms against the railing and looking down at the massive pile of rocks in the center of the room. "I take it we are ready for the first trial?"

"Exactly right, my Lord!" Thora grinned, her thick dwarven beard practically bristling with raw, unadulterated excitement.

She slammed a heavy fist against her leather apron. "Today is a monumental day for the Blessed Land industrial sector! This is going to be our very first, fully functional attempt at synthesizing and forming a Stone Golem!"

Silas nodded, his blue eyes turning serious.

"This is a desperately needed asset, Thora. We located a massive geode in Sector KB-22 today. It’s completely encrusted with raw, uncut Mana Diamonds but the entrance is narrow, and the structural integrity of the cavern is fragile. If we send regular infantry in there with pickaxes, we risk a cave-in or shattering the diamonds. We need automated tireless heavy machinery that can extract the ore with precision and also for carrying..."

"And that is exactly what we have built," Rowenna chimed in, her voice buzzing with pride as she stepped up beside Silas, pointing down at the boulders.

"Every single one of those rocks has been meticulously carved with microscopic interconnected runic arrays," Rowenna explained, her blue eyes shining. "Kinetic suspension runes, gravity wells, and a rudimentary artificial consciousness rune anchored to a central core stone. If the mana circuit connects flawlessly, the rocks will magnetically assemble themselves into a bipedal autonomous extraction unit."

"It’s time to see if the theory holds up to the heat of reality!" Thora bellowed.

The dwarven forge master reached beneath the control console, pulling out three heavy padded metal helmets equipped with thick, tinted glass visors.

She jammed one over her own head, securing the chin strap.

She shoved the second helmet into Silas’s chest, and tossed the third to Rowenna.

"Put these on!" Thora ordered, her voice muffled slightly by the metal casing. "If the runes fail and the gravitational core collapses, those rocks are going to detonate like a thousand pounds of shrapnel! Protect your eyes!"

Silas didn’t argue. He quickly slipped the heavy metal helmet over his head, adjusting the tinted visor as Rowenna did the same beside him.

Thora slammed her hand against a massive red lever on the console, engaging the thick transparent sky-glass blast shield that rose from the railing, completely separating the observation deck from the testing floor.

Thora looked over at Rowenna, raising her thick, calloused hand and giving the Rune Master an enthusiastic, aggressive thumbs-up.

"Clear for ignition, Rowenna!" Thora shouted. "Give it the spark!"

Rowenna took a deep breath, her violet-black hair shifting slightly as a terrifyingly dense concentrated aura of pure runic mana began to gather around her slender frame.

She raised her right hand, her thumb and middle finger pressed firmly together.

For a single breathless second, the entire testing chamber went dead silent.

Rowenna snapped her fingers.

SNAP!

VUUUUUUUUUM!

The instantaneous reaction was apocalyptic.

The instant the sharp sound echoed through the chamber, every single rune carved into the thousands of rocks below violently ignited.

A blinding incandescent surge of neon-blue magical energy erupted across the testing floor, linking the massive boulders and the tiny pebbles together in a glowing, geometric web of pure light.

KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sudden violent shift in gravity generated a concussive shockwave of displaced air.

The blast pressure slammed into the transparent shield with the force of a harsh gust, violently rattling the metal framework and blasting Silas, Thora, and Rowenna with a terrifying backdraft of pressurized wind that whipped their clothes and hair.

KRRRRRRRR-CRUNCH! GRIND!

Down on the floor, gravity ceased to exist.

The massive thousand-pound boulders began to levitate, tearing themselves from the pile and smashing together mid-air with deafening ear-splitting crunches of grinding stone.

The smaller rocks swirled around them like an asteroid belt, fusing into the gaps and sealing the joints as a massive, glowing blue core stone anchored itself perfectly into the center of the chaotic maelstrom.

Silas gripped the metal railing, his golden ringed blue eyes completely wide behind his tinted visor as the blinding runic light reached its zenith.

It was time to see if it would work...