There was no more time for edits, preparation, or regrets. I walked my golems, which were now known as unofficial knights, with me while I followed Larry
"What even is the challenge you are going to put them through?" I asked,
"Your golems will do a five-kilometer run and then fight another golem together. It's gonna have a time limit of two hours."
Larry didn't look at me, but I knew there was a massive smirk on his face, he chose one of the most grueling challenges to spring on a golemancer.
It wasn't a big deal to make an efficient golem or a strong golem or even both if you sacrifice something, but it is rarely useful to have both when there were more important things like speed or carrying capacity. This would make a big challenge for a novice golemancer given time and preparation.
Without time and preparation, it is the measure of a golemancer's well-roundedness because it needs good traits all around save for carrying capacity and coolant efficiency.
"Are you trying to call my bluff?" I asked
"You won't have to worry about that if you aren't bluffing."
'When did Larry get so clever?' I mind-poked Spirit
'He's always been like this, he expects you to excel. He doesn't want you to break a record, he wants you to absolutely obliterate it or he won't be satisfied.' Spirit eagerly responded
'Why are you suddenly excited?' I said
'Your golems are way more suited to this than you think. The knights have amazing teamwork capabilities and are fast enough at a brisk walk to get to the end of the course in less than an hour. This means they will have, like fifty or so minutes of energy if they go all-out from the beginning.'
'Yeah!' I explosively agreed. 'Their teamwork and overcharging will compensate for the sluggishness that happens when they run near depletion!'
I walked with a new spring in my step.
"When are we going to be there? The run is supposed to be five kilometers, not ten."
"Don't worry, we just arrived."
We stepped on an array that teleported us to stands nearby the fighting area, leaving the golems in the middle of the arena.
'It was preplanned? There is no way he assembled a proper teleportation array in such short order, it should have taken at least two days.'
Orin popped out of my shadow and looked down at the arena.
"Pay attention, your opponent is in the arena." He said.
With a thought, I activated the zoom function on my spectacles.
"Holy..." My jaw dropped. "Are we sure Larry isn't trying to ruin my career?"
In the arena was a heavily armored monster of a golem that couldn't possibly be being run by a lesser core. It walked on four legs, and unconventional decision because the spirit in the spirit core would have less experience dealing with having four legs if it were bound to a humanoid, and it is much easier to kill and harvest a natural than a spirit beast.
'If it's got a greater core then it can probably cast limited spells. I seriously doubt it's a superior core, but if it is, then it's over.'
"I'm just testing your golems, Ingen." Larry's voice materialized behind me, giving me the chills.
Larry disappeared and reappeared, standing on solid air above the arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Naturals and humans! Today we witness the brilliance of Ingen Meiung pitted up against the prize of Lost Golem Manufacturing: the Sentinal!" A Display projected the image of two empty locations, just waiting for the fight to start.
"The challenge will start when the golems are teleported to their starting positions, all the golems will converge on this point. The starting positions are five kilometers away and the arena will have strategic assets placed in it depending on who gets there first."
'This really changes my strategy, I can't dead sprint to the arena because my golems will run out of energy too fast, but I can't risk Sentinal getting there first and having some sort of fortifiable position.' My mind started to flip through strategies.
"With that out of the way. GO!"
Twin arrays teleported the golems to their respective positions.
'Run at 15 kilometers per hour to the arena.' I relayed my orders through the Telespeak
Two minutes later the Display updated, it was on a delay to decrease the effectiveness of espionage.
"Nice touch, making the Knights' swords look like the ones the royal guards carry."
A voice I didn't recognize appeared behind me.
"Who are you?" I turned my head to see a handsome man with an ample robe on.
"Oh, yeah, forgive me, my name is Pyne." He scratched the back of his head.
"Come, sit down, we have at least twenty minutes before anything happens." I went back into my normal sitting position.
'Sentinal is moving quickly, but its size is getting in its way.'
Sentinal crashed through a dead tree, not damaging itself, but slowing it down and hurting its makers' pride.
"So, what brings you here to see little ol' me?" I asked.
"Well, I wanted to see the man who broke my record so thoroughly in person." Pyne said.
"Ah, so you were the one who managed a golem in a week."
He sat next to me. "Yeah, and you managed to not only beat it. but also make two golems at once, establishing your own new record.
'The Knights are in the lead, but that might not last if Sentinal's team notices.'
"It was hell to do though, I wasn't sure I'd make it." I said, subtly distracted
'Wait a second, he's the old record holder, wasn't there something special about him? I remember his name from somewhere else too.'
"Yeah, I know the feeling, Sentinal took everything I had and more to make."
'Oh yeah, he's the fourth prince, and founder of Lost Golem Manufacturing. Nice.'