Grant entered the basement and crates of varying sizes neatly arranged on the farthest end greeted him. A humanoid mass of rocks lay quietly to the side. Its head slumped down but the makings of a dull-colored white crystal was on its forehead.
"A golem!" Numen squealed in excitement. A blade of hair popping up from his head. It pulsated and swished side to side.
Grant looked at Numen in a strange light. It seems to him that a god may be a god but a child is still a child.
Numen flew and fused into the golem. Making Grant open his mouth. Wanting to question Numen but he stopped himself.
The golem stood up abruptly and made poses. Punching and kicking every now and then.
"Finally I have something that will let me interfere with the mortal world on a higher scale! Hahaha!" The golem stood proud and tall. Hands resting on its waist sides and head looking up, Numen's slightly altered voice came from it. His childlike voice sounded as if it was coming from a metal funnel.
Grant pursed his lips seeing Numen's antics. He shook his head seeing the golem piloted by the little god run around the spacious basement.
It was entertaining to watch but he had to stop Numen or he might break something valuable to him.
"Numen get out of that thing before you break something." Grant ran to Numen who was whizzing about in the basement. The golem was three meters tall and its arms and legs were two times thicker than a gnarly human leg.
The amount of damage it could deal with would certainly be a lot. The thing was durable as well. Even D ranks have trouble damaging the golem.
Strength was strictly ranked in this world. Starting from E to S class.
E class was an average human being who was fit and healthy.
F class amounted to rookie soldiers to elite soldiers. They possessed the peak strength a normal human could achieve.
D class were those who broke through their limits. They were superhumans.
C class can topple huge trees and tear apart large boulders
B class would always ruin an area whenever fighting. The mere shockwaves between two B class fighters fighting can send others flying.
An A-class... They were rare. Mountains would fall and seas would part from their strength.
While the last time an S class fighter moved, a small continent sank from their fury.
Magicians were ranked the same but with different specifications.
The ranks may seem like a level only in difference from one another. But that one level makes all the difference. It is the gulf between heaven and earth. What makes one cross these ranks and grow stronger?
Mana.
Mana exists all throughout the world. It is present in both living and nonliving things. The purer and more mana a living being possesses, the longer they can live and the greater their potential be it in the path of magic or the path of strength.
Mana also serves as fuel for magic. The higher quality it is, the stronger the magical output. The stronger the spell, the more mana it needs to be cast.
Simple to say, the golem the little god was playing around with can easily demolish the whole basement if it accidentally hits the ceiling. Causing the floor up above to fall down.
"Right!" Numen stopped and saluted, his long arm nearly hitting the ceiling in the process.
Grant's right eye twitched. That was a close call.
"Get out of that thing now!" Grant commanded, only for numen to shake his head. He thumped his chest loudly.
"With this, I'll be able to protect you no matter what!" Numen cheered loudly, pumping his fist up again. And this time, it connected with the ceiling.
Rumble~
The room shook and the ceiling cracked, splintered and started sinking slowly after losing its strength. Grant's worries became true. But as he was about to jump up the golem and hold up the ceiling, Numen raised his arms and held up the collapsing ceiling.
"I'm sorry!" Numen cried out while trying to stabilize the ceiling while using the golem as a temporary foundation.
Grant pinched the bridge of his nose while sighing.
"Damn... How am I supposed to fix that?" Grant questioned himself. A bright light flashed from the golem and Numen popped out into the open once more.
"I got this..." Numen flexed one arm and tapped it a few times with a smile. He looked at the ceiling and spoke lowly.
"Restore..."
The cracked and broken ceiling slowly returned to normal right before their eyes. Numen spiled smugly at Grant who glared daggers at him.
Pinch~
"OWWOOWWOW!" Numen groaned in pain after Grant seized him from the air and started stretching his cheeks apart.
"Never. Act carelessly again... You hear me?" Grant's voice had taken a low and icy tone. His terrifying golden eyes became unnaturally hollow and devoid of emotion.
"Yes yes yes I understand!" Numen felt genuinely scared of Grant's eyes. They reminded him of a past memory that had deeply haunted him. And those eyes of Grant resembled "that thing"'s eyes.
Grant let go and let out a breath of relief. Numen popped into the Golem again and obediently sat in a corner. Grant shot Numen a curious look.
"You are seriously going to keep on using that?" He questioned and Numen nodded.
"Yes of course! My current ability is limited and if I interfere too much, those idiots up above would catch on to me being on the mortal world." Numen reasoned, his voice although altered, carried with it the tone of being tired and worried.
Grant understood. Gods weren't supposed to interfere with the mortal world too much. Numen already accompanying him and staying in this mortal world was already a violation of their rules. The gods who descended to bless his classmates had said so themselves.
"I guess that's a good way of using whatever your ability is without getting detected. Say, what really is your ability?"
"Mn... I am a god and I can do a lot of things but right now I can't do much except using my own unique power!"
"And that is?"
"Rule..." Numen's tone became serious. Grant found it odd.
"Rule makes it so whatever I say would be followed by beings lower than me. Right now I can't use it to its full potential and living things are unaffected but as for inanimate objects?" Numen stood up again.
"Dismantle..."
The body of the golem fell down piece by piece and melded into the ground.
"Mold..." A thick slab rock surfaced from the ground and from it, cracks started riddling its surface.
Grant stepped back and the rock shattered into numerous fragments that came flying off. Dust filled the basement, making Grant waved his hand before his nose to scatter away the dust drawing closer to him.
A tall muscular stone man was revealed before him after the dust settled down. It was posing in such a menacing way that Grant felt the air inside the basement grow colder.
"What do you think?" Numen's voice sounded out from the newly reformed golem. It was still three meters tall but its form resembled a bulky man carved out from a stone pillar.
"Not bad..." Grant nodded while examining the golem from head to toe. It looked more durable compared to the past version. The head was devoid of any facial features as the mana crystal had vanished. He passed it off as Numen hiding the crystal inside the golem.
If a golem's crystal got destroyed, it would lose its heart and stop functioning.
Grant was pleased to see Numen being able to do something more than scouting and helping with cooking. He turned around and surveyed the crates. Each crate had a piece of paper nailed to its side with writing and doodles on it.
Armor, weapons, mana crystals, each paper labeled the different crates and made checking them easier. Everything was neatly arranged, earning a nod of approval from Grant.
Tir was doing a better job than he expected. He looked at Numen who had left the golem to float aimlessly about.
'I need to buy another golem...' Grant thought after remembering that Numen had claimed the previous golem as his. Tir used the golem to sort out heavy boxes downstairs before selling them to the buyers.
Grant walked up to a crate sitting quietly in a corner of the room. Away from the rest. He opened it and inside was a pair of black metal gauntlets and a pair of black metal boots. Grant wore them on and felt the metal clinging onto his skin.
They were his weapons... Others would choose sharp or heavy blunt objects but to Grant, a pair of strong, durable metal gauntlets and boots fit for knights was enough.
"Numen let's go..." Grant had looked at the gauntlet adorning his left arm. Runes started being inscribed on it and they turned into a small holographic watch. Courtesy of the magical watch that had melded in with the armor.
It was already 5: 40 am. 20 minutes before members of the dispatch team were called in for mandatory missions. 20 minutes before Grant would have to go to the world outside of the prison.