Chapter 523: Troubles

Beep. Beep. Beep.

In a massive basement undergoing redevelopment in the X-District.

An alarm echoed through the space.

As soon as it went off, Oliver, who had been working in front of a giant tank, deactivated Ptah’s Assistant and checked the time.

“Phew… Good, I finished just in time.”

Oliver, who had been working tirelessly to meet a tight deadline even by cutting sleep, rubbed his sleepy eyes and examined his progress.

His work involved a female wooden doll—Golem—floating in a blood tank, mixed with large amounts of blood, life force, and small amounts of potions.

It was a replica of the wooden Golem that worked for Merlin’s mansion.

The wooden Golem before him wasn’t fully connected at its joints but was loosely held together by the thin ‘sinew roots.’

If it absorbed the life force in the blood tank, it would almost be complete.

“So, Marie, could you manage it in my absence?”

Oliver asked Marie, who stood behind him like a statue.

Marie, standing with her knees together, back straight, and hands humbly gathered, bowed and replied.

“I will make sure not to disappoint.”

“I’m the one who should be asking for your help. As you know, this is for Eve’s body.”

Yes, the wooden Golem in front of him was meant to be Eve’s new body.

He made it out of personal guilt towards Eve, whom he had beaten, neglected, and helped in Lake Village without even properly thanking her.

Originally, he intended to make a Zombie Puppet like he did for Pandora and Lilith, but when Eve joined the Tower of Magic, he hastily changed to a wooden Golem instead.

The Tower of Magic is an institution in the open, not part of the underworld.

Using a zombie puppet, made from a human corpse, as a body would be inappropriate in many ways.

So, Oliver mimicked Merlin’s wooden Golem to create Eve’s body.

Using the World Tree’s wood he received from the Tower of Magic as a reward for succeeding in his mission, combined with the Golem research he had self-learned and Life School magic.

“I can’t say for sure, but it seems really impressive to me. You managed to combine Life School techniques into making a wooden Golem… it’s surreal as if the wood has gained life.”

Marie admired the sight of the wooden Golem absorbing the life force in the blood solution.

Exaggerated or not, as Marie mentioned, the wooden Golem’s absorption of the life liquid made it look like it was truly alive.

However, Oliver had a different reaction.

“It’s not as impressive as it seems. Adding Life School magic was actually a form of trickery to compensate for deficiencies.”

A statement that would make others tilt their heads, but Oliver was sincere.

To craft a body for Eve, Oliver had self-studied the Golem field, combing through books to learn the necessary knowledge, and discovered that purely using Golem techniques would take too much time.

The reason was simple: the core components of Golem crafting, the ‘Magic Nerve Circuit’ and the ‘Core,’ couldn’t be learned just from books.

Therefore, Oliver decided to save time by skipping parts he couldn’t immediately understand and filling in the gaps with Life School magic.

He made the nerve circuit using the Druid’s cells mixed with World Tree roots, the ‘sinew roots,’

and the core using the Druid’s flesh and World Tree wood mixed together into a ‘Core Heart.’

In short, it was a mix-and-match technique made on the spot.

Because of this, the wooden Golem Oliver created was more of a hybrid between a pure Golem and a Zombie Puppet.

“To my untrained ears, it sounds even more impressive.”

Marie shared her thoughts, and indeed it was.

Combining two different branches of knowledge is not an easy task. The fact that Oliver managed to do it without formal training was the strange thing.

Yet, Oliver himself didn’t agree.

“It’s not that impressive. All branches of knowledge overlap to some extent; I simply utilized that overlap.”

Oliver’s words made Marie smile as it reminded her of the past when she was with the Joseph family.

Back then, she had taught Oliver how to read, and in return, Oliver had improved her terrible dark magic skills.

He did it just by touching her fingers.

“Please turn this lever at specific times to inject liquefied life force.”

Before leaving, Oliver demonstrated by turning the lever of the machine connected to the tank, injecting liquefied life force into the blood tank.

As the liquefied life force was injected, bubbles formed in the blood tank, and the wooden Golem’s ‘sinew roots’ and ‘Core Heart’ absorbed the added life force as their nutrients.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The wooden Golem, gaining life force, started to pulse again. Marie bowed and promised to carry out the task accurately.

At that, Oliver felt a sense of relief.

Oliver wasn’t assigning this task to Marie solely because he was short on hands.

He could have left it to Child if necessary.

But he entrusted it to Marie because he wanted to keep her safe while he went to Gallos.

If he hadn’t given her this task, she might have moved on her own when something else came up.

Who knows, another mysterious hand could appear above her head in the process.

Oliver thought back to when Lilith and Marie fought.

Back then, a mysterious hand had appeared above Marie’s head as if blessing her.

Oliver had subtly asked Marie indirectly if she knew the hand’s identity, but she seemed unaware.

Well, she didn’t even know why her power suddenly increased after Oliver left.

Marie credited Oliver’s blessing, but that explanation didn’t make sense.

Of course, Oliver was just as clueless, but he had one realization.

That mysterious hand gave off a similar feeling to The Burned One. It wasn’t much, just a feeling, but it was a strong impression.

That’s why Oliver was going to Gallos.

He was hoping that by finding a demon’s tome in the Flesh Cook’s legacy, he might find something useful… and, well, he was personally curious as well.

‘Do I lack awareness of my own identity? Should I show you? You don’t value people as much as you think. Just your words and attitudes give it away… People are nothing more than machines that evoke interesting emotions for you… You have no precious person in your life, just cherished emotions… Now answer me. When I threatened your loved one, were you worried about the person? Or was it the emotion that concerned you?’

‘It’s fine. You are an esteemed and fascinating entity, but that’s all. I don’t necessarily respect you.’

‘Even beings from outside this world, demons even, treat you with respect and reverence, bowing to you, the lord of a land once devastated by great catastrophe… Why don’t you seek the truth about yourself?’

Words that Oliver didn’t care about and didn’t want to know flashed through his mind.

Cursed questions that wouldn’t leave his mind no matter how much he tried to forget them.

To shake them off, Oliver shook his head quickly and packed the luggage he had prepared in advance.

Since it could be a long journey, he brought extra clothes, a tent, outdoor cooking tools, various food ingredients, communication devices for Eve, and steel rods ordered from the black market.

All of them were swallowed up by Big Mouth, so it wasn’t much different from his usual bag.

Creak.

As he opened the secret passageway from the basement, a stairway led him to a warehouse.

It was located in the center of the X-District, recently redeveloped, and owned by the redevelopment company.

The warehouse housed items Oliver had previously seized, such as a half-destroyed Golem, exoskeleton gloves acquired during the Tower of Magic mission, magic weapons, dark magic items, and custom weaponry from Y-District.

It was essentially a treasure hoard.

Oliver had three main reasons for storing these valuable items in this warehouse.

Forest’s advice about simply having a cache of gold drawing attention, the fact that storing valuable items here helped conceal the basement lab’s existence, and it allowed for the natural placement of guards.

After taking a look around the inventory to ensure nothing was amiss, Oliver stepped outside.

Outside, Forest and Joe were waiting, already aware of Oliver’s plans.

“Ready to go?”

Forest reached out his hand and asked. Oliver shook his hand and responded.

“Yes, Mr. Forest. Sorry for constantly leaving work to you.”

“Don’t worry about it. My role is management, yours is to live up to your name. By going to Gallos and making a name for yourself, you’re doing your job. No need to apologize.”

Forest spoke, knowing that Oliver would be going to seek out the Flesh Cook’s legacy with Ewan.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly going to make a name for myself.”

“That may be, but if you get what you want, your fame will follow. That’s just how it works.”

After contemplating Forest’s words, Oliver nodded.

Indeed, acquiring the Flesh Cook’s legacy would naturally lead to some level of fame.

Many factions were after the Flesh Cook’s legacy.

“Millieu, mercenaries, treasure hunters, troubleshooters, and even black magicians… It seems quite noisy. The black magicians are especially troublesome, I hear.”

Forest, who had already gathered information about Gallos, said, although the details were scant given the information came from across the sea, he had heard that the royal family couldn’t even contain the rampant black magicians.

“Like filthy rats.”

“I’ve heard about it too.”

“I know it’s insulting, but be careful… Though rats may seem insignificant, they’ve killed more people than predators like lions.”

“I understand. I’ll be cautious.”

Satisfied with Oliver’s response, Forest let go of his hand.

Oliver then extended his hand to Joe.

“Joe, I’ll be counting on you. Sorry for always delegating tasks.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Joe respectfully shook Oliver’s hand and spoke. As they shook hands, Oliver gave Joe a look, and Joe casually leaned closer to Oliver’s ear.

“Please assist Marie to avoid overexertion. Just until I return.”

“Understood.”

A brief but firm reply. After thanking Joe, Oliver immediately moved towards the meeting point.

It was none other than Y-District, so Oliver crossed the bustling X-District and the vast River Sem.

Rrrrrmm.

A small boat with a loud engine crossed the brown waters of the River Sem.

Upon reaching the opposite shore, he was greeted by the usual muddy ground, piles of scattered garbage, and shantytowns barely holding together.

“Hello, Mr. Ewan. Have you been waiting long?”

Oliver asked as he saw Ewan sitting among the makeshift shelters that even garbage piles surpassed in quality.

Ewan rose, revealing his dirty beard, dark circles, and matted hair, along with a heavy cloak draped over his shoulders.

“Been waiting quite a while… You must’ve had a lot to do.”

“Yes, a bit… But, thanks to your patience, I managed to wrap things up. Thank you.”

“You better be thankful. I thought I’d be waiting forever. I hope you’ve prepared well since I’m only waiting for that.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve packed a tent, extra clothes, various food supplies, and even cooking gear.”

Oliver said, as if visiting a campsite. Hearing this, Ewan scowled and stared silently at Oliver.

“… …”

“Is there a problem?”

“Hmm… I’d say the problem is I don’t even know what the problem is. But whatever, it’s too late to regret now. Let’s get moving. They say to strike while the iron is hot.”

With that, Ewan pulled out the Battering Ram, no, the Skull Crusher, from under his heavy cloak.

A dark magic item that could strike at spatially and cause destructive cracks.

It was indeed a sight defying physical logic for such a large object to come out of the cloak, but Oliver wasn’t surprised.

Ewan’s cloak was likely also a dark magic item, so anything could come out or go in without it being strange.

Ewan grabbed the handles with both hands and swung the Skull Crusher, striking directly at the shack.

Thunk!!

When the Skull Crusher hit the shack, an overwhelming sound that was hard to describe echoed.

The shack seemed as though it might collapse from the impact.

But surprisingly, the shack didn’t fall. Though unaffected, something else had changed.

It was unbelievable, but cracks had formed in the space of the shack, not the structure itself.

Using the walls of the shack as a medium, it had fractured the space.

It wasn’t quite the same as the space magic Merlin used, but it was by no means inferior.

Oliver instinctively focused his attention, analyzing how Ewan’s Skull Crusher was creating those spatial fractures.

Thunk!!

As Ewan swung the Skull Crusher again, the crack widened with another loud sound, which eventually broke open the outer wall like an eggshell.

Beyond the crack, instead of the shack’s interior or Randa, a vast forest, chaotic as if ravaged by war, stretched out before them.

Even before Oliver could ask what was going on, Ewan hurriedly stepped into the rift, and Oliver instinctively followed.

Whoosh!

As soon as they entered, something flew towards Oliver to greet him.

“A crossbow bolt, infused with magic.”

“And you caught it with your bare hands?”

Ewan observed Oliver, who had caught the flying crossbow bolt while holding a quarterstaff.

By the way, the crossbow bolt still held enough magic to explode at any moment.

“Explode!”

[Black Cube]

Responding to the voice coming from deeper within the dense forest, Oliver cast dark magic, summoning six small Black Shields to encase the crossbow bolt.

The magic-imbued bolt exploded, but the Black Cube contained the blast, preventing any collateral damage.

The forest that had been full of chaotic clashes suddenly froze, with everyone’s attention turning toward them.

“What the hell are those guys?”

“Seems strange… They used space magic to come here. They’re not ordinary.”

“Goddammit… Just when things were settling down, more weirdos show up. Fucking hell.”

“Grrrrrr… Attack!!”

At those words, a group of people started charging towards them.

Judging by the life force, magic, and emotions radiating from their bodies, each one was considerably skilled.

In this sudden situation, Oliver turned to Ewan and asked.

“Mr. Ewan, where exactly are we, and what the hell’s going on?”

“What do you mean? We’ve arrived right in the middle of a feeding frenzy.”