"Hm… I think it looks great." Said Will, looking at what appeared to me a human sized statue of poop. Unless one paid careful attention to it, they would never think that this was a golem, but a giant deformed, golden poop.
It was made out of gold. There were other types of 'poop' statues behind it, some were made in silver, copper, dirt, stone, Each one worse than the other.
"Now… for the test." Will took out the low-tier golem core and placed it on top of the golem's head, but the golem core rolled over.
"I thought that would go differently. Welp, live and learn."
Will carved a tiny hole inside the statue's head. Then he properly placed the low-tier golem core inside the head, and covered the hole using more gold ore. He had so much gold to spare it was insane.
"Stand back, Adaline, just in case." Will placed himself in front of Adaline to possibly protect her from any harm.
He doubts that this golem would harm him, but he has learned to be prepared for the worst.
"Hmmmmm."
A low vibrating noise came from the gold statue. It made Will jump a bit from fright. Honestly speaking he didn't think it would work.
The statue sprung life, and started to move in an unnatural way, like a penguin would walk. This was because it's legs weren't properly functioning.
There were even a few numbers and words on top of the golem.
{Golden golem}
{HP: 1444/1444}
"IT'S ALIVE!" Will cried like a mad scientist would.
The statue continued to walk like a penguin and stopped in front of Will. Adaline was growling, preparing to attack it at any moment. She didn't know what that was, but if it was dangerous she'd destroy it.
"Hmmmmmm." The statue let out a deep vibrating noise.
"Can you understand me?" Will asked.
The statue did not move an inch. It merely stood there.
"The book did say that it would be dumb, so I expected some intelligence… I'm an idiot! I didn't add a mouth!" Will said.
He touched the golden statue with the tip of his finger. Additionally knowledge about the statue appeared on a screen in front of him.
{Golden statue-ish (Low-tier golem)}
{It's barely functional, can't even be called a golem, more like a disaster}
{It will heed the command of only the system user, the one who created it. It will do anything you tell it, even if it means destroying itself. The golem core is the heart, and soul of the golem. Destroying it is the only way to completely destroy it. Make sure to properly guard it at all times. It's more fragile than it seems}
"So, it'll heed my every command. Golem, walk over there." Will pointed to a wall.
The golem very slowly and awkwardly walked to the spot where Will pointed.
"Faster." Will said.
The golem did go faster, but it tripped and fell over. It couldn't even get up and struggled to walk, it was missing proper functionable limbs.
"Looks like I need to make a few, tiny adjustments to your body. Hold still." Will commanded.
Like Will said, the golem stopped moving.
Will took out the low-tier golem core from it's head. The numbers and letters that were floating on top of its head disappeared.
"This definitely beats mining. It's WAY more interesting. Still is it worth it? I have to put a lot of work and effort into building one golem. I don't even know to properly make one. And if I want to make more, I have to go down the hole and mine more mana ore, which is boring and tiring as hell. If only I had someone else do it… for me."
Will had an idea. Looking at the statue, and the mining hole, a brilliant idea came to mind.
"The answer was right in front of me this whole time! YES! Golems are awesome! It's like those minions in Skyblock Hypixel. They will work for me without ever complaining, or having me pay them or worry about their health. They're the perfect slaves! Should I call them slaves? Nah, golems sound better."
Adaline watched from afar how Will was acting like a lunatic, talking to himself.
And then Will began seriously working on the statue. Making improvements on it. However soon he will learn that was easier said than done.
Meanwhile…
Josh, somehow made it back to the enchanted forest where he lost his group. But made sure to keep his distance in case it tried to attack him again.
"Maid? Felicia? Sorceress? Where are you?" Josh yelled.
"Hero?" A familiar voice called out to Josh. It was none other than Felicia and Naveah.
"You're both alive! Wait, where's Maid?" Josh didn't see his favourite one there with the others.
"She fl-"
"Died. Maid died." Naveah cut Felicia off completely.
"What, what, what? Died?" Josh couldn't believe it.
Felicia only looked at Naveah with shock, and confusion in her eyes. Is she actually lying to a hero?
"The forest, I think it knew that Maid was a dragon. So it killed her, because it was afraid that Maid would injure the elves." Naveah said in a serious and sad tone.
"No, it can't be. Felicia? Is this true?" Josh asked to be sure.
"Um… Felicia looked at Naveah and Josh.
"Yes, it's true."
"Goddamn it! Where am I gonna find another loli dragon? And just where I thought we were actually progressing our relationship!" Josh punched the ground hard. He had heard that the odds of a loli dragon appearing before him is basically almost 0% meaning that he was very, very, very lucky to have found Maid.
This might be what made him think he was the main character. Since most if not all main characters in these kinds of scenarios stumble on fortuitous encounters, like a powerful companion, a powerful weapon of some kind, or something else.
"We're sorry, hero. We couldn't protect her." Naveah said in a convincingly sad tone.
"No, this forest it's too strong. If it could even beat me, a hero, the main protagonist, then a bunch of side characters like you two would never be able to hurt it.'
"It's true. We're nothing compared to the heroes." Felicia and Naveah nodded. It seemed like a few of them had a superiority and inferiority complex.
"Well, never thought I would say this, but I would have to settle for a regular elf. Ugh. Where can I buy one?" Josh said as if buying a life is something you would find in a convenience store.
"Ssshhh… Hero, if the forest hears you, it'll attack us again!" Naveah said, very scared.
"Oh, shit, you're right. We'll discuss it when we go back to the kingdom!" Josh and the two others left the forest as quickly as possible.
A few hours later.
Will, wiped the sweat off his head. He was carrying many, many tools on his hand that weren't there before.
Hammers, nails, sledgehammers for some reason, chisels, rasps, banker, grinder, many tools that were required for sculpting.
"Oh wow, it's coming along nicely." Will said.
Looking at his marvelous creation, he wasn't satisfied one bit. Somehow, he made it worse than before.
"Is what I would SAY IF I WAS BLIND!" Will began kicking the golden statue to release his pent up anger.
"These sculpting tools are useless. I should have known better than to have gotten my hopes up. I was never good at making things. If I remember, Sandra was the one who would build those amazing buildings and structures when we played minecraft and Terraria. And Alex would kill everything he saw. Ah, good times."
Will sat down, looking at what no different than a lump of gold, he took a huge piece.
"Maybe I should just start with the head. It's not like I can do any better."
First, he was able to mold it into an egg shape using his portable crafting table.
"Oh, hey, that worked. Shame I can't properly build a statue or golem or whatever it's called using this. It has to be by hand."
Will took some of his sculpting tools, and carved out some eyes, a nose for some reason, and a mouth.
This took him hours to make. He had to restart over again multiple times in order to get it right.
"I guess that's okay." Will looked at the statue's head. It's eyes, nose, and mouth, and even the shape of the head was out of place, but definitely an improvement compared to the first time.
Will inserted the low-tier golem core inside the head, and placed it on the ground in front of him.
The head actually sprung to life. It's face started to move.
{Golden Golem-head}
{HP: 222/222}
"Can you understand me?" Will asked.
"Master!" The golden statue head said in a sort of raspy tone.
"Woah! Didn't think you could actually talk. Can you say anything else?" Asked Will.
"Master!" The head responded.
"Guess not. Just hold on for a while, I'll make you a body once I learn how to."
Will took the low-tier golem core and proceeded making the other parts of the body.
He started with the arms, he used his own arm and carved one as an example.
"I should make the limbs a bit thicker and stronger than mine. I bet that way he will be able to mine faster and better than I could."
Will continued to experiment with the rest of the statue's body.
Meanwhile…
"Dad, maybe we shouldn't-"
"We will and we are."
The two who were talking are Grace and Arbor.
"Grace, I'm sorry, I had to tell him." Rias apologized, after all she was the one who created this whole mess.
"It's fine." Grace said.
'At least you didn't tell dad about the exotic seed.'
"We're… here?" Arbor said in a very confused tone.
Looking at the spot where they last saw Will and Adaline in that huge base, it was now gone and empty. The hills and dead greenery were the only thing they could see.
"Did… they move?" Grace said.
"Drake, go down." Arbor said.
Drake landed on the ground. Once it did, Adaline heard it. She immediately became ecstatic.
"Adaline, are you okay?" Will noticed the sudden mood change in Adaline, like a happy puppy running around.
"Oh, you're bored. Hmm… fine, we can go outside." Will put the golem core inside his inventory in order to not lose it.
"Sentry mode {On} Attack mode {On} set the perimeter to only within these walls." Will learned a fun feature from these sentries, you can adjust how far they can shoot targets. He had to learn this feature by himself because the book did not tell him about it for some reason. Nothing new. This system is more about him figuring out its functions by himself.
There were now more sentry turrets compared to last time. Over 50 this time, all of which were diamond sentries. It was all thanks to Will's endless grinding that let him have enough to make so many sentries, and still have enough left over.
It might seem like a waste of resources to craft that many turrets, but Will couldn't see why not?
"Let's see. Guns? Check. Pickaxe? Check. Armor? Check. Adaline? Check. Healing pills? Check? Seems about everything. Adaline, is there anyone outside?" Asked Will.
But Adaline kept running back and forward near the walls.
"I'll take that as a no."
Will made a hole on the wall using his pickaxe.
Arbor, Rias, and Grace were examining the area.
"You don't think something happened to them?" Grace asked.
"I don't know. This dead grass cannot be a good sign. I think Adaline must be in trouble." Arbor said very worried for Adaline. He wasn't as concerned for Will since he could respawn when he died, but Adaline couldn't.
Then, they heard a loud noise coming from the giant hills. It was Will and Adaline.
"Will?" Grace said.
"Grace?!" Will was surprised to see Grace and the others.
"Adaline." Arbor happily said.
"Arbor? And… Rias, I think? What are you doing here?"
Adaline ran outside and immediately started playing with Drake, like a couple of children.
"Didn't I say I didn't want to see any of you here again?" Will said.
"You did, but."
"Grace, Rias, apologize to him. I want you two to settle this right now."
"We're sorry." Grace and Rias said apologetically.
Will was confused. Why bother apologizing?
'It seems like Arbor doesn't know about the exotic seed. So Grace didn't tell him. That's good.' Will thought.
If they were here for the seed, Arbor would have most likely proposed a deal like last time.
"Don't bother apologizing. I only came outside because Adaline was bored."
Will saw Adaline having fun with Drake, but Drake was sitting around doing nothing. It looked like a tired adult and a child who was only annoying him.
'Then again it would be cruel of me to take her away from the only friend she's made.' Will decided to stay out for a while.
"Will," Rias said, "I know what I did was wrong. I don't want there to be any tension between you, Grace, or Arbor. Just stay mad at me."
"Hmm… no."
"But, Will."
"No buts… Rias. You or that other elf who shot me with an arrow are the sole reason I had to hide my entire base."
"Wait, what?" Grace asked unsure of what he meant.
"Don't tell me like you don't know." Will said in an annoyed mood.
"No, I don't know."
"After I banned you and the others from this place, no sooner than later did rumors about me start to circulate. And these rumors were WAY too accurate. It can only mean that someone who knows about me spread those rumors."
"Rumors? But that can't be. We made sure not to tell anyone… oh, no." Grace slapped her face, and Rias came to a realization.
"I already knew it was you or some other elf, Grace, who spread my information."
"Not us directly… it was most likely our Goddess, who did." Grace admitted.
They made sure to force Radix to never utter a word about Will. However, Arbor told Silvas about Will's abilities long before, most likely during when Grace was absorbing the exotic flower.
And since Silvas is the king of the elves, he must have told the forest, the forest spread this news to the other elves, and those elves who had connections to men most likely told them what they heard. But without proper evidence, they were only stated as 'rumors' by everyone.
"Either way, it's your guys' fault. All that hard work I put into hiding would have been all in vain." Will said angrily.
"But-"
"Will, isn't there a way to pay for my mistakes? Like you forgave Radix when he shot that arrow on your head." Rias cut Grace.
"I never forgave him. I only spared his life… for now."
"But, is there nothing I can do to, you know, like you humans say, bury the hatchet?"
Will went into a deep thought. Rias offered him a magical bracelet that has worked well for him even till now. Perhaps she can do it again.
"I can forgive you, Grace, but I can never trust you again. I am only doing this because it would be cruel to separate Arbor and Adaline." Will looked at how Arbor was making conversation with Adaline, just happy to see each other.
'Alex would have killed to have a loving dad like that. Who am I to take that away from her?' Will thought.
"Thank you, Will. That's all I asked." Rias said thankfully.
"Yes, but I haven't forgiven you yet, Rias."
"Pardon?"
"There is actually something I need. Do you by any chance possess a magical item that can find or locate other magical items?" Asked Will.
If they have one, it'll save him the trouble of spending half a month away from his base in order to travel to the Empire. He needs it to find the magical item that can control the weather, as he read about it in Christopher's diary.
"A magical… my grandfather does, actually." Grace said.
"Good, I need that. Bring it whenever you can." Will walked towards Adaline.
"But, that magical-"
"Sshh." Grace interrupted Rias.
"It's okay, Rias. I don't want to create any more tension between us. I mean look at my dad and Adaline." Grace pointed at her father and Adaline.
They were all happy, like a family.
"I guess. But, are you sure your grandfather will give it to you? It's one of his most valuable magical items."
"I know he will. But, do not say anything to him or my father, okay? Not one word." Grace said in a serious tone.
"I promise you I won't say a word."
Will was keeping an eye out, in case people were still trying to see if the rumors about him were true.
'It's not wise to stay out here for too long. It'll give away the location of my base, my identity, and quite possibly put Adaline and the others in danger.'
Meanwhile, not too far away, were two people running at this location at an amazing speed.
"What do you expect to find, Sandra? It's not like anybody can build a house in the middle of this hot desert. I don't know if Will is even capable of surviving in this part of the world even if he is a hero." Bruce said.
Right now they're in the deserted lands, and were basically running around in circles to find Will.
"You might be right, but it's the only lead we could find about him. If I don't search under every single stone here, I might regret it." Sandra said not to lose hope.
"I think it might be faster if we split up. We'll cover more ground." Bruce recommended his idea.
"Hm, good idea. Do you have your communication stone?" Sandra took out a whole stone from her pocket.
"I do. The king gave us ones before we left." Bruce took out another stone.
They both touched stones and a small glow enveloped their stones for only a second.
"We'll both let each other know if we find something." Sandra said.
"I know. Be careful."
"You, too."
The duo spread to find Will faster.
Meanwhile…
"Okay, guys, we all need to get out of here." Will said as the mood died down.
"Why? What's wrong with this spot?" Asked Rias.
"People keep searching these deserted lands because they think that I live here. Adaline and I have been living underground for the past few days now in hiding. I don't want people to see us."
Will made sure to cover the hole in the hill he made where he came out from.
"We flew here a while ago, and we didn't see anybody on the way. So you don't have to worry about that." Grace comforted Will.
*Hiss*
Adaline, out of the blue started to hiss loudly as she got on guard.
"What's wrong?" Will asked.
Adaline was staring at the very top of the hill.
On the very top of the hill, was a man wearing a black gi. It was none other than Bruce.
"If only this place weren't a complete wasteland, this would actually be a good view. Hm?"
Bruce looked down, and noticed a bunch of people. The two creatures did catch his eye, but the one who caught his eye the most was the one wearing a wooden mask with eyes glowing blue.
"Is that… actually?" Bruce couldn't believe it. He had found Will. The description from the kids fit him perfectly. If he was in a dark room with that glowing mask staring at him, he could understand why the kids would call him 'Mr. Scary eyes.'
"You know him?" Grace asked Will.
"I don't think so." Will did not recognize Bruce. Since they weren't exactly friends, Will did not bother memorizing his face or name. And since Bruce was standing at the top of the giant hill, Will couldn't properly see his figure.
Bruce jumped down a hill and did a superhero landing in front of them.
Looking at him closely, Will now knew his identity.
{Hero}
{HP: 300,000/300,000}
That title above his head gave it away. It's exactly like the time he encountered Josh back then.
'He even has a little less than 3x more health than Josh. But nothing compared to the Great Sage.' Will thought.
Adaline hissed at Bruce. Even Arbor could tell that Bruce was powerful, and so he unsheathed his swords. He purposefully hid Adaline, Grace, and Rias behind him to protect him.
But Adaline quickly ran beside Will to protect him.
"Hero." Will said to the elves in their elven language. Since he was studying the elven language, he can only say a few words. One of the many words he learned was 'hero' and he was glad he did.
Grace, Rias, and Arbor's eyes were wide open in shock. He said one word but they knew what he meant: there was another hero standing in front of them.
Grace and Rias did not carry their weapons because Arbor dragged them without giving them a chance to prepare.
"Will, I know that's you underneath that mask." Bruce said.
"..." No one responded to him.
"You may not know who I am, my name is Bruce Man. I changed my last name from Miller to Man."
'Bruce? Yeah, don't know who that is.' Will thought.
"But I do know that you know Sandra. She's here, Will, looking for you right now." Bruce said.
Will's facial expression changed but couldn't be seen behind his mask.
"Who's Sandra?" Rias asked Arbor and Grace.
"I don't know. Maybe his sister?" Grace responded.
'Sandra. So now she does know about me.'
Will didn't take out his weapons because he didn't know if Bruce was an enemy or not. He had a hard time trusting people thanks to his past experiences in this world.
Bruce took out his communication stone, but realized he forgot to carry ink.
"Dammit! I forgot about the ink!" Bruce said.
Bruce took a good look at Arbor and the others. The swords Arbor was carrying caught Bruce's attention.
"Listen, Will, I don't want any trouble. I only came here to help Sandra find you, that's it."
"So... where is Sandra?"
Will took off his mask. He had a serious expression.
Bruce was surprised to see Will's new look. If he didn't have his mask on there was no way he 'would have thought that it was Will.
He has previously seen Will a couple of times, he was skinny, average in looks. But now his face was tanned thanks to the sun, and firm because of all the mining and work he had done all this time.
"Yes, she is here. We split up to cover more ground."
Will thought that his words seemed reasonable. Still he had no reason to trust him.
They were standing still, not one of them spoke. It was awkward.
"So… what do you think of the, um… dragons?" Bruce said to break the mood. He felt weird with everyone watching him.
"...not too great." Will responded.
Bruce could tell that he just made it even more awkward somehow.
"Do you have ink? I promised Sandra that I would write to her if I found anything." Bruce took out a communication stone from his pocket.
"Give it. I'll write to her." Will said.
Bruce was a bit hesitant but gave it to him anyways.
Will took out some ink from his bracelet and wrote down something on the stone,
{Hey.}
The ink disappeared, which meant that someone just read it.
{Bruce, did you find Will?}
Will saw the most beautiful handwriting, it was neat, cursive, he recognized that handwriting as it was something he'd seen many times.
He was hesitating on what to write to her. She most likely knew he had been avoiding her all this time. He was sure she would be mad at him.
{Yes.}
{Really? You're not lying to me?}
{I am not.}
{Wait, that messy handwriting… Will, is that you?}
Will was ultimately surprised that she knew it was him. He laughed a little bit out of pure joy. She even remembered his own messy writing.
{It's me.}