I stood in my workshop eyeing up Fultz's broken husk.
I sighed. "Assess"
[Severe damage detected, displaying proper repair path.]
My spectacles showed a hologram of the golem and the process of slowly repairing it.
"This is pointless, I'll just make a new one. I have to solve some problems with the knights anyway."
I used intuitive manipulation to pull apart all of the materials used in the husks and set them in neat cubes nearby.
"I liked their old roles as defensive protectors, but short-ranged offense is not the answer." I pulled from the wood cube and realized a crossbow from it. "Perhaps a crossbow, it would be easy to use and since it's part of their body they only need one arm to pull it back."
I tapped my foot on the ground and stroked my beard. "They would lose one of their hands if I did that, which would violate one of the principles of golemancy. 'There is no such thing as a combat-only golem.'" I paced the room and picked up one of their old swords. "Perhaps a polearm." Some metal from the cube flew over to me and I combined it with the ryustitite from the sword to make a spear.
"A piercing weapon wastes much of the golem's strength against unarmored opponents." I reformed the sword but then paused. "Then again, a slashing weapon would waste its strength against armored targets." I kept the sword's blade how it was and attached it to a pole. "This way they can use both types of attack, the only question is how they will use it in close quarters."
It was like a light bulb went off in my head. "I can use my greater spirit core to make a defensive fighter, then have my normal spirit cored golems use ranged weapons, that way I can make this weapon shapeshift between shortsword and swordstaff since greater spirit cores can use enchantments all on their own!" I grabbed both of the swords and started merging them into one. "Hell! Why stop there! I can make it shapeshift into anything!"
I went into a frenzy with spirit paper, scribing for hours. When I was done I started on the greater golem.
"I'll have to make the ranged golems later, this one will cost far too much material." Then I paused. "I'm getting too excited, if I make the greater golem first, then I'll have to work around my current materials for the golem that has to be the most sturdy. A better idea would be to make the lesser golems first."
I set my stack of spirit paper down into my safe and locked it. "I'll come back to that."
All the rest of the day I worked on a skeleton for the new golem.
"Instead of separating golems into limbs or pieces, why not look at the golem the same way we look at people. The skeletal system, muscular system, circulatory system, and nervous system are all applicable. The first two are self-explanatory, but the nervous and circulatory systems are essentially the same thing since the fluid in the golem is how it controls itself and how it delivers Eneru to its constituent parts."
I left the skeleton hanging on its gantry and went to bed. I woke up the next morning to my door slamming open.
"I did it! Ingen! I did it!"
I opened my eyes a bit and cracked my neck. "Huh?" I sat up to find Laveki standing in my face. "Whoa!" I backed up against the headboard.
"Look!" She cranked the handle on the brass box and a tune played, then another, until I recognized a lullaby from my childhood.
I blinked and focused my eyes, it became clear to me that she had been up all night. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess, and I swear she had coffee shakes.
"You're in, I'll teach you," I said. "Now go to bed, engineering is not something to do while tired."
I stood up and started my walk to the workshop. Laveki fell onto my bed.
"I guess she can stay there, I'm not exactly using it right now."
I took a detour to the deck to check the time. I opened the entrance and sat down on a chair. The air was still, and the stars were out, Teo was asleep, and his golems were in sleep mode since he can't steer.
"She woke me up in the middle of the night. This is going to be a long day." I quickly fell asleep in my chair.
I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes and a little furball in my lap. "I'm awake again? Ugh." I felt the wind in my hair.
'Teo's up early.' I picked Orin up and made my way downstairs.
As I walked through the halls, I could hear faint whispers from the crew. Keywords that kept popping up were "room," "sleep," and "Laveki"
'Knowledge damn it! Now I've gone and started a rumor.'
I made it to my workshop and started building the muscles for my new golem.
"This is the slowest part since I have to consider the circulatory system while designing the muscles intelligently."
I worked on it for the entire day, working from the feet up. I molded a first draft up to the thighs that I would revisit later. Laveki was still sleeping on my bed when I got back to my room.
"She has really been sleeping in here all night? I can't be bothered to move her, I'll just sleep on the floor. It's not like the rumors would have died anyway."
And so I did, I laid down and after a little while of adjusting for my horns, I fell asleep.
The next morning Laveki had returned to the dorm and the rumors got stronger. I spent the day working on the golem's legs until I roughly sculpted both of its legs.
After a while, Laveki showed up.
"Ah! I see you're here. Get a good rest?" I said
"Yes, although people seem to not like that."
"Don't worry about them, I'm your teacher now, but we need to set rules."
"Ok, what are they?"
"First, don't go invisible in the workshop. Second, don't hide creations from me, I can probably help you with them. Last, don't be afraid to ask for one of my blueprints, the worst you will get is a no."
"Works for me. When do you want me here?"
"Whenever you're stuck."
She pulled out a scroll.
"Alright, these are my trouble areas."
"Let me see it."
I took the scroll and unrolled a long list of engineering issues.
"First lesson: The principle of 'work'"