Thondin looked at the large mechanical contraption that was before him and scratched his head. He started recalling how he ended up in this situation in the first place.
He was the oldest son from the Hillmane household. His father was already too old to compete for the position of a king and he didn't really want it either. Their noble house was considered to be on the lower end of the high noble families and no one was really considering them to win or even to participate.
Out of necessity, he was there during the meeting and his house would be bringing over a champion just so they wouldn't lose face. Even though he didn't want the position of the king his father that was on his deathbed pushed him towards it. His plan was to not stand out and just lose during the combat portion.
At least this was what he intended to do but fate had something different in store for him. After the meeting was over and the hero left with the winners he had stayed to discuss some business with the other noble dwarfs. It was a good opportunity to foster good relations as all the influential families were here.
Then the strange feeling washed over him, he felt like someone was watching him. Even on the trip back home, it felt like there was something in the air. He asked his bodyguards to check but no one could find anything so they just continued.
Back at home, he went over to his old father's bed chambers to disclose some information about his new business ventures. The old man was more interested in the heroes and the tournament where the king candidates would be gathering.
After a slow conversation and him lying about him taking this tournament seriously, he left the room. Thondin only used the bare minimum on the golem that his side would be using as he didn't want to get his family into financial problems. From his perspective, the power-hungry idiots could just fight for the position of the king.
In his eyes the family business was more important, he never thought that they had a chance of winning in the first place which made this the correct way to progress. With that, his family would be out in front while the others would put themselves in debt and overspend on their golems.
His well-thought-out plan didn't come to fruition as after leaving his father's bed chambers they heard a rumble. The guards were alerted to this and everyone rushed inside only to see his sickly father standing upright and filled with energy.
At first, they thought it was some kind of miracle, with a trembling voice he called out to him.
"Father… how can this be…what is that?"
While in a confused state he finally noticed that his father wasn't alone in this room. There was a small creature of about twelve inches floating around and giving off a golden light.
He wanted to order his men to capture it but was stopped by his father. With him back in the picture Thondin was put in the backseat once more. His father was still the one in the position of power as he had never given it up. Only when the family head died would the position be passed down.
"Halt, this is my saviour!"
The old man replied when asked about this being's origins.
"Saviour?"
Thondin asked while fearing that this small being could be a demon in disguise. There were rumors of such beings offering contracts with the people of the races. They would grant magical power, riches and even heal people at some cost. Mostly the person would give up their soul or give information to the demons involved.
"I know what you are thinking my son, but this is not a demon, it's a friendly spirit that is a part of the Hero party!"
"Greetings mortal, you may refer to me as Lightning Emperor, Leigong."
Right after his father finished speaking the small humanoid gave his name. This was a well-known name in this world by now and was associated with the twin summoners that had defeated many demonic beings. Thondin also knew that they were in this city at this moment along with the party of the heroes.
"Leigong?"
"Show some respect boy, he cured your old man!"
Thondin was hit on the back of the head by his own father that had surprisingly a lot of strength left behind. It was as if he had never been sick, to begin with.
"Now give me some food!"
Things went by fast as his father took over. The two golden-haired girls that were the supposed twin priestesses arrived soon after. They were all allowed into the dining room with his father and himself.
"Thondin, The Lightning Emperor will help us achieve victory in this coming tournament, you will be the Dwarven King!"
Thondin after hearing this, promptly spit out the red wine that he was drinking.
"Me? The king?"
"Yes, I'd do it myself but these old bones don't have much life left in them. I can at least see this through while I have the chance!"
The old man's eyes shone brightly as he talked about putting his son on the throne. This would be a great honor for his own house. His name would be remembered as the father of a dwarven king, immortalized in the history books.
"H-how would the honorable Emperor help us? The tournament will be starting in less than a week."
"Don't worry young one, just show me your machine and I'll bring you victory!"
The small appearance of this Leigong had shifted into a tall white-haired man after the party of people arrived. He looked a lot more imposing than he did before and was radiating magical power.
"Thondin, show him your golem. The costs don't matter, give them all the resources that our house can offer to make it the strongest golem the world has ever seen!"
He wanted to cry as he specifically used the least amount of coin to have the golem built. Now his father wanted to bankrupt him by spending all of their money on this venture with no future.
"Well, what are you waiting… go! There is no time to lose!"
After being forced to go into the building where the combat golem was stored he was met with stares of disdain. The stare was coming from this Emperor of Lightning. He had gone through the golem that he prepared and had apparently looked through the outer shell.
"What is this? Who put this nonsense over this last-gen crap? This won't do at all!"
Leigong shouted out while rubbing his chin. Thondin knew what he meant as he had gotten a cheap old model of a golem and made it look next-gen. The outer shell made it look modern and strong but the power that it could output would be far behind the competition that spent a fortune on their models.
"We need to remake the internals… replace these joints… update the mana engine… this could take a while…"
He could hear the spirit mumbling while looking over the large battle golem. After moving around it for a few minutes he arrived at where Thondin was standing.
"I have looked over the schematics here, I'll need these, please bring them over within two days."
When he looked at the list of parts that this Leigong spirit wanted his eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets.
"Orichalcum and adamantium?... Spirit silver… how many liters of mana fluid?"
The items and materials that were listed here were all from the top shelf. If he bought this all he would have to expend most of his estate's reserves. This was not something that he could allow to happen.
Due to this he hatched a scheme of stalling, if he told them that he couldn't get the materials they would not be able to go through with the golem renovation. This plan didn't go into fruition either as the white-haired spirit did something peculiar.
Leigong started to shine in white before splitting into many round balls of light. These balls of light then turned into miniature versions of himself similar to his previous chibi form. They looked more humanoid in shape and had better proportions than the old versions.
There were about a hundred of them, they all started moving towards the large golem and taking it apart while also working very fast. It dawned on him that this was how this spirit was hoping to hasten the changes on the machine. He could split into many smaller versions of himself that could customize this battle golem in just a few days.
"Okay, let us go get those materials then."
One of the smaller versions appeared next to him while floating. He started sweating while rolling up the scroll with the list of items. It seemed that he would not be able to stall him as one of the small Leigongs would be going with him. A few members from this side of the hero party also stuck close. They all made sure that he got all the expensive stuff that Leigong wanted.
After two days he was looking at an empty treasure room that only had a couple of golden coins left. It all went into the blasted battle golem that he wasn't even being allowed to see. His plans had already been ruined by this point and if they lost during the tournament the only thing left would be to sell those golem parts for some profit. He had no trust in this spirit but was forced due to his father recovering from his sickness.
Time continued to go by and no one was allowed to enter the building where the combat golem was being reconstructed. All that the people could hear were thunderous sounds as Leigong was utilizing his lightning to construct this golem. Only at the crack of dawn before the tournament started was the machine finally completed.
"This should do it…"
Zhang Dong looked at the 'golem' that he reconstructed. It was a lot less bulky than what the dwarves liked to build due to him implementing some puppet technology that he was familiar with.
"Now let us perform a little test girls, fire it up!"
The thumping sounds of something were heard by the people from this noble house. Thondin and his father awaited outside the closed building while the golem moved towards them. They were shocked by the sleek appearance of this combat golem, it was not a design they were very familiar with.
Zhang Dong being himself had taken inspiration from the many mech-focused anime he had seen. The golem was mostly white with its feet having a red tint to them. The chest part was blue at the top with red at the abdomen area. This machine had clearly a humanoid shape, the head part looked like a samurai helmet with wide yellow fins coming out of the forehead.
In one hand the golem had a large shield while in the other he was holding a tube of some sort. When activated this tube would turn into a sword of light akin to Zhang Dong's thunderlight sword skill.
"It's time to have an old-fashioned robot battle…"
Zhang Dong's voice could be heard from the robot's head as it moved forward. First, they need to perform some tests and then the time for battle would be upon them.