*build doll*

  *add mana water*

  *place core in chest cavity*

  *doll explodes*

  *build doll*

  *add mana water*

  ……

  The cycle of golem development continued for quite a while, only interrupted when I had to take time to find more cores to experiment with. Thankfully, BBW and his pack have been leaving plenty of orc remains for me to fund my research with.

  They have been hunting orcs as their primary food source for quite a while now, given how much of a pian I’ve made it for them to hunt rabbits with my thorny bushes. Doing so has had some interesting effects on the pack, namely that their number has been reduced dramatically from around 80 down to a dwindling 15, and the ones that have survived have grown incredibly strong. The pack used to have to fight 7 to 1 in order to bring a single orc down, but now they are almost to the point of being able to take them 1 on 1.

  I shake my head and go back to ignoring the fury brutes to focus on my experiments, but not before using a miniature mouse construct made of twisted roots to grab the core the devouring wolves had flung to the side and drag it to my underground lab.

  It has been a while since I used the lab. Since the Laughing Viper trio left, it’s been mostly forgotten; it was to the point where I started digging out a second lab to experiment in before I remembered this one existed.

  The lab had grown dusty, mainly from all the surface explosions shaking some loose dirt from the ceiling. A quick application of Earth Magic fixed that, as well as using it to expand the lab to have more room to work with.

  I made a few variations of the doll I plan on making into a golem, with most of the changes being on the intended circulatory system. For the most part, they all contained the basic leaf/vine hair, the retractable claws in their hands, and a spike that can come out of their knees. When I do figure out how to make this damn golem work, I’ll have a whole army of golems at the ready.

  As I continued my experimentation, I pondered on what it was I was missing. If I thought of it like a robot in my old world, then I had the battery (mana water), I had the control unit (the core), and I had the circuits to bring it all together (the xylem and phloem (my tree blood vessels)). When I put them all together, though, it ends in catastrophic failure. I have noticed that the cores that I let hang out in storage in the mana water room last longer than the ones that I pop in straight from an orc. So, I’m starting to wonder if I’m missing out on the programming part of the golem creation process. I just don’t know how, yet.

  One of my experiments has been to let the core soak up as much mana water as it can before placing it inside the golem-to-be body. I’ve seen some success in it where the golems I attempt to make with these cores last a few minutes longer before exploding than the rest. However, if I let the cores soak for too long in the tank, then they start to dissolve.

  A different experiment has been with the acorns. I’ve seen the trees around me create acorns and other seed types, but I haven’t been able to figure out how. I’ve tried creating them myself by combing different types of energy within a Resource Berry, but they all just end up as wasted resources. It’s fine, though, as I have more than enough to spare.

  Frustrated, and having wasted over a hundred cores in the last week, I gave in and devoted all my effort into creating the acorns. They were the closest thing to a core I’ve seen an actual working golem have, so I’ll go ahead and put all of my eggs in this one basket, so to speak. The only thing it’ll actually waste for me is time, and I have plenty of that. I still devoted a small portion of time to gathering cores for storage though. Call it an obsession.

  “Okay, what is needed for a core? Mana? Okay, I’ll add just a tiny bit of mana berry juice to this new berry. Health? I feel like there should be plenty of that, so I’ll fill it half way. Stamina? I can’t think of anything g else to add, so I guess I should fill the rest of it with this.”

  Finishing this latest rendition was a bit of a bore, to be honest. I’ve tried so many other variations of the berry that it’s hard to get excited anymore for it.

  After moving the last drop into place, I released my mental grip on the juices I added to this berry and watched as they all dissipated into my body; the mana juice left the fastest, since there was least amount of it in there. In a fit of annoyance, I threw what health juice and stamina juice I could back into the berry and slammed a bunch of mental energy in as well with one order.

  “DO AS I COMMAND!”

  I had to resist adding in profanity. Given my prior enchanting experiments, I knew that language had quite the affect on the outcome, even if it was telepathic in nature.

  Through repetition and variation, you have successfully learned the skill [Acorn Creation (C)].

  Due to dense energy levels, skill [Acorn Creation (C)] has been upgraded to skill [Acorn Creation (R)].

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “OF COURSE my outburst leads to success. Why do I even try the normal ways anymore?”

  Despite how annoyed I was, I was equally, if not more, excited about the new skill. I eagerly pulled up the description and hoped for the best. Interestingly enough, I was able to see the description for the Common variation of the skill by focusing on the notification first. I wanted to see how exactly the “energy level” affected the upgrade for the skill.

  Acorn Creation (C): Active. Combine Health and Stamina energies with mental energies to create the basic potential for new life. Acorns can be planted to created new plant life that possess the basic [Photosynthesis (C)] skill.

  “Alright, seems pretty basic. That was the only skill I was born with as well. Now what does the upgraded skill have to offer?”

  Acorn Creation (R): Active. Combine large amounts of Health and Stamina energies with large amounts of mental energies to create the basic potential for new life. Acorns can be planted to created new plant life that possess the basic [Photosynthesis (C)] skill as well as up to 2 additional skills of the users choosing with the cost of additional mental energy. Skills are determined during creation by the parent tree during the time of creation. Parent tree must possess the skill in order to pass it on. This skill is unable to be passed on.

  “Now THAT is an upgrade! You mean to tell me I can create an acorn that when born will know Rapid Growth right off the bat? Or any of my magics? How will this affect the usage of the acorn for my golem experiments? Will the golem have the skills I choose to give the acorn? Ooooh, this has so much potential!”

  I immediately used the skill to create a dozen acorns, all with different skill combinations. When I tried creating the thirteenth acorn, though, I felt a sudden surge of exhaustion hit me. It felt like I just worked a 90-hour week, surviving solely on energy drinks and gas station snacks.

  I felt like my mental form was slipping by the second, and as I slipped, time seemed to move differently. It was like I stretched myself too thin, spreading my body through y canopy like I used to back in the less complicated days.

  I quickly crammed my mind into my trunk, doing my best to confine my mental movement. As soon as I did, time seemed to flow back normally, but the exhaustion was still there.

  I stayed huddled together for almost 3 whole days before the tiredness left my mind. As the days passed, I felt my mind growing strong again. It was like all the mental energy I used… shrunk… my mind. Huh.

  “The more trees I take over using Parasitic Takeover, the larger my mind grows. But that mental energy can be spent on both this and enchanting. Interesting. And a good reason to keep taking over more and more trees, I guess. I wonder how my mental size influences the rest of my magic.”

  I pondered the subject for a but before going back to golem creation. I had wasted enough time over the last 3 days being unable to do anything for fear od passing out. It wouldn’t be such a big fear anymore when I have an army of autonomous golems defending the area I currently lay claim to, but that wasn’t the situation I was in yet. Time to get back to work.

  I brought my attention to my branches where the acorns I grew were located. I had forgotten which acorns had which skills, but that was remedied by a quick use of Identify.

  Advanced Acorn

  

  
• Parent: Willow


  
• Skills
  
    
  
  
    
  • Iron Bark
  
  
    
  • Body Manipulation
  
  
    
  
  
    


  

  This was the first acorn I made after gaining the skill. I went with the obvious defense of Iron Bark, but I supplemented it with Body Manipulation so it would have a way to heal itself if it got injured. The others were a bit more of a mixed mess, with some having different magics, some having the combat skills I obtained, and the last one just having Improved Digestion and the second slot being take up by a +1 modifier to Photosynthesis. I was trying to get that one to have the epic version of the skill like I have, but that was the best I could do for it.

  I went ahead and grabbed the first of my dozen acorns and prepared a puppet to be its host. I added around a cup of mana water to the chest cavity, then slowly lowered in the acorn.

  “Alright buddy, you’ll be my first success, okay? Do as I say, and we can have a grand ol’ time, alright?”

  I obviously didn’t get a response, but I like to think it heard me.

  I attached the acorn to the puppet via an application of Body Manipulation, and closed the chest. I waited with baited breath, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.

  After several minutes of the puppet just laying there, I gave up. It felt like a step in the right direction, given the lack of explosion, but it wasn’t –

  New skill obtained, [Golem Creation (R)].

  [3] unit(s) of skill improvement/obtainment have been refunded. Applying [3] upgrades to a random skill.

  Skill [Mana Condensation (R+)] has been upgraded to skill [Mana Condensation (E)].

  A flood of information entered my mind, showing me exactly what I was doing wrong, and how exactly I had messed up all the previous times.

  While I was focused on sifting through all my wrongdoings, my first successful golem creation was busy getting up and getting familiar with its body. I only noticed when I saw it start doing burpees and some other stretches.

  I reached out a tentative tendril of thought, scared that my attempt to make a connection would screw up its… practice? I didn’t know what t call it.

  “Hello there,” I offered as a greeting.

  “General Kenobi…” it responded with a mocking voice eerily similar to my own. It appears to have a personality similar to mine, as well, given its attempt at humor.

  “I see you’re getting used to your new body. How do you like it?” It was still jumping around a bit, apparently still getting used to its body.

  “It’s interesting. It’s not exactly right, some of the joints being stiff and all, but I can feel the potential to change it. But… I don’t think I can do so without your permission? Do you mind?” It rolled its right arm, like a baseball pitcher getting over an injury.

  “Absolutely! I give you blanket permission to change anything you need to in order to survive!” I got the feeling of relief as I watched it morph its shoulders. I could feel it draining its resources to adjust its arms and legs, and when it was done, I could feel the exhaustion rolling from it as well. The poor guy doesn’t seem to have inherited my incredible resource generation.

  “Hey dad – nope, that feels wrong. I also can’t go around calling you Kenobi, either. What should I call you?”

  I also thought ‘dad’ was wrong. While I was technically its creator and father, I felt more like its boss than its parent. So that’s what I landed on.

  “Alright, boss then. So, boss, what did you have in mind for me today?”

  Oh, what wonderful plans I had. This was going to be fun!

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