The looming presence of the golem's attack causes me to turn around and flee in panic, shielding my back with my sword. Soon enough, the golem finishes charging the attack and swings down its arms like an ark of light onto the ground.
*BOOOM!!!!*
*CRACK!!!* *BOOM!* *BOOOM!!!*
After the initial impact, shockwaves began to form from the point of contact between the golem's fists and the ground. The shock waves appeared one after another, blowing up from the ground like blow holes near an ocean, moving outwards at an amazing speed. Soon enough, the shockwaves that spread out like a semi-circle from the point of impact reached my position and sent me flying, like a balloon spinning in the air from deflation. It took me a few moments to stabilize myself in mid-air, my mind was clouded from the sudden pain. As I recovered from the shock, I stared at the golem with wide open eyes.
WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!!?!
It hurt like hell!!
If I didn't use my sword to cover myself I would probably be an exploded glowing puddle of gooey green on the ground right now...
Ok maybe not.
But the point is, I don't wanna be here.
The golem began to stomp its way towards me, shaking the rocks and crystals in the surrounding area with each step. Its huge glowing yellow eyes stared at me as it used its stubby legs to step over the mini pit it created with its first attack.
Come on!
All I did was pick the pretty flower off the ground!
Is it really worth fighting over???
As if answering my question, mana so dense that it was visible to the naked eye began to swirl around the golem's fists. Little sparks of electricity once again crackled up and down the golem's arms and gave off the vibe of complete danger.
Apparently, the answer is yes.
I still wanna gonna keep the flower though...
Alright.
I've decided!
*Whoosh!*
Flying as fast as a bird, I turned and speeded down the cave section towards the direction where I came from. Realising that I had decided to run, the golem began to up its pace from a snail to a tortoise. The slow speed of the golem confused me as I came to a halt to observe the situation.
Eh?
It's so strong but it moves so slow...
...
Ha.
Haha!
GAHAHAHA!
What the heck!
The baby is taking its first steps!
The only sensible thing to do right now is to sit here and laugh at it. Yep.
*Crackle* *Crackle* *BOOM!!!*
Clearly annoyed behind that expressionless rock face and yellow glowing eyes, the golem pulls back its fist and punches the air in a wild manner. Destructive ripples formed in the air from the fist and lightning shot out in a line towards me. As the attack drew closer, the ground below the rippling lightning caved in and formed a long ditch that trailed behind the projectile. During the last moment. before the attack hit me, I somehow managed to bring Arondite in front of me and used it to block.
*BANG!!*
Like a stream of water landing on a leaf, the line of lightning landed on the sword before shooting into the area around me in the form of multiple smaller lightning strikes. The air shook from the impact and cracks began to form on the ground below me as I struggled to stabilize myself. I floated there unscathed but shocked as I stared at the golem, already charging its next attack.
...
Ah.
Crap. Gotta run.
*Whoosh*
Without looking back, I flew down the cave section again but this time without stopping to admire the toddler's first steps. During this time, another line of lightning came thundering in my direction. The attack barely missed as it landed on a large boulder only a few meters in front of me. The debris of the boulder exploded in all directions, causing me to flinch and pick up the pace of my escape.
I flew forward at a high speed and turned right into a tunnel, finally out of the danger of the golem's ranged attacks. I continued to rush and backtrack on my mind map until a was atleast a kilometre away from where I last saw the golem before coming to a stop and slumping down in the air.
Gweh...
That was nerve-racking.
I'm such an idiot, I should have run straight away instead of stopping to laugh at the fatty.
Good thing my body recovers energy fast.
If I didn't have Arondite I would have been popped like a balloon for real...
What's that? Give back the flower?
It's pretty, so it's mine.
No room for negotiation.
Absolutely not.
To be honest, I don't even know if it was after the flower in the first place...
Looking around for a few moments, I found a safe place to settle down and brought my attention to my mind map. After travelling in the dungeon for a few days now, a small portion of this dumb tunnel system has been recorded in my skill. On the thre-dimensional map was what can only be described as a bunch of noodles tangled together. Seriously, the design of this dungeon is an absolute mess. If I had been exploring horizontally instead of concentrating on travelling deeper, it would have been much messier. But I guess that's to be expected of natural underground caves, its sheer size is already crazy enough. With time to relax, I thought about my dangerous encounter with the golem just now and felt a tint of fear but quickly brushed it off.
Crap. That golem was super strong.
...Or is it because I'm just weak?
Geez...
I know I'm making progress from this hunt but...
Is it really enough?
GAH! Don't get discouraged idiot!
I stayed hidden for the next few minutes, waiting for my mana to recover from my previous fight while also wiping dirt off my weapons. As I was about to pull out the book of light attribute spells, a strange sound started to sound throughout the area. The sound was loud but not loud at the same time. The sound was something similar to vibrations you hear when you put your ear onto something solid. It was as if the air itself was rippling.
Curious, I peeped out from my hiding spot and looked around for the source of the sound. A little distance away, there was a white light being emitted from a small point in the ground. The air around the light was waving like what you would see above a fire except it's more gentle and elegant.
Strange. What is that?
Could it be an attack from the big golem from before?
Damn. To think it actually chased me this far.
As I'm contemplating what to do next, the point of light began to fade and the waving air around it slowly ceased. Along with the fading light, the strange sounds echoing in the area became quieter and quieter. Soon the light completely faded, as if it was never there, and in its place appeared a small shiny rock. This small rock had four tiny and stubby rocks for legs which it used to waddle around. On the rock also appeared a yellow glowing spot of light, the light moved around on the front of it as if inspecting the area.
Oh...OH. OHHHH!!!
Did the dungeon just spawn a monster!?!
That's so game-like!
Amazing!!!
Although the library from the underground castle did supply me with lots of information about all sorts of things, it didn't have anything about dungeons. The only thing I know was that dungeons had never appeared before the fall of the Morvas kingdom so the only information I have is from the letter. In other words, aside from there being lots of monsters in the dungeon, I have basically zero knowledge about dungeons. Excited, I floated over to the moving rock as fast as I could and stared at it in anticipation.
「Appraisal」
---
Name: None
Race: Golem Seedling
Skills: None
Race Skills:「Weak Endurance」
---
It's a newborn golem!
It's so small!
Chibi golem!
I floated very close to the newborn golem and used my own size as a reference to measure it. It was about half my size which was already small. Since my size was about half the size of a volleyball, the little golem is probably only a little larger than a tennis ball. Talk about small!
I searched through my inventory for a monster encyclopedia as the little golem stared at me. Its big yellow chibi eye looked at me without blinking, as if it was both trying and not trying to process what was going on.
Cute.
It's hard to believe this little guy is the same race as the crazy strong golem from before!
If this thing existed back on earth it would definitely make a popular house pet.
Ahhh. This little guy reminds me of my pet rock that I had when I was ten.
That very pet rock was lost forever after my older sister chucked it into the ocean during a fishing trip...
*sigh*
I miss my pet rock.
After finally finding the monster encyclopedia in my storage and pulling it out, I flipped through the pages at a high speed and stopped at a section on golems. Golems are inanimate beings who are generally made from things such as rocks, metal, and other forms of solid materials. Just like most inanimate beings, golems are highly hostile to creatures that are not native to their environment, which is probably why that big golem attacked me in the first place.
Wait, it wasn't because of the flower?
I made a good choice picking that flower then.
Yep. No regrets.
Also according to this book, baby golems are supposed to spawn by growing out of the ground like plants. But this little guy popped out from the light from earlier.
Is this another unique phenomenon of the dungeon?
Seeing that I wasn't doing much, the golem seedling tutted around and began to waddle its way towards a large crystal with its tiny legs. I floated behind closely matching its adorably slow pace, I continued to read the encyclopedia floating in front of me.
Natural golems are also described to slowly absorb materials of either the environment or materials they happen to come by, increasing their size over long periods of time. The materials golems absorb at their early age often determines what type of golem they'll become and how promising their potential will be.
Basically, the more powerful the material the better.
Is that what the little guy is doing right now?
After finally reaching the large crystal sticking out of the ground, the golem seedling began scraping off tiny pieces of the stone. It seems to be trying to make a cavity within the crystal but progress proves to be very slow.
At this rate, the little rock will be found and killed by other monsters before it can even make a hole that fits half its body...
Mmmm...
I wonder if this will work?
Opening my storage, a pulled out a large chunk of adamantite ore that had a size comparable to a large bedside table. The light from the surrounding glowing crystals shined onto the giant piece of ore, revealing the dark red colour of the powerful metal. Just as I placed the ore on the ground, as if it had sensed something amazing, the little golem turned around and waddled as fast as it could with its tiny legs towards the ore. It tripped a few times but after a few seconds, the tiny golem finally reached the ore and started to frantically scratch at the ore, hoping to create a cavity big enough for it to fit in.
It's not even leaving a mark...
I lifted up the piece of ore and used my sword to carve out a hole big enough to fit the little creature before placing it back on the ground. The small rock waddled over again once more before settling into the hole with its face facing the outside. Soon, my「Mana Sense」begins picking up signs of mana being released from the golem and resonating with the adamantite ore.
From the looks of it, the golem likes the ore.
It's even making itself at home. Strange.
I stared at the eye of the golem seedling as it stared back at me from the inside of the hole, seemingly having no significant emotion. It's inanimate after all, probably won't have emotions...or maybe it does? I have no idea.
Come to think of it, what was my pet rock's name again?
Something like...Pebble?
Mmm, alright!
From now on little golem, your name is Pebble!
---
Name: None
Race: Golem Seedling
---
Ahhh bummer.
I guess I don't qualify to name monsters yet.
It didn't work but it was worth a try, right?
Staring at the little rock, I began to think of what to do next before a new idea sprung up in my head.
「Dimensional Storage」
Out from thin air, I pulled out what looked like a glowing light-blue coloured finger sized crayon. As I waved the item around and inspected it, slight trails of light blue mana can be seen lingering in the air.
---
Object: Mana Crayon
Enchantments:「Mana Ink」
Description: A luminescent tool used to either draw or write. The markings created are composed of mana and take a long time to fade.
---
Using the mana crayon, I drew the letter P on the top of the golem seedling's body. The P letter glowed in the dark slightly and was positioned above the seedling's big glowing yellow eye. Next, I lifted the entire ore with the golem inside it and brought it to a hidden area of the cave before setting it down in the corner.
P for Pebbles.
Although I can't give it a true name recognised by the world, I can just give it a nickname.
Thus, a new monster from a new world has inherited the name of my pet rock!
Be grateful little rock!
You have inherited the name of an individual who once dominated the world!!!
Grovel before me!
As if confused about my strange behaviour of swirling around in the air in excitement, the rock slightly tilted its body and stared at me without looking away. Reacting to this, I simply lowered myself to the eye level of the golem and stared at it with a giddy emotion. No matter what I do, the golem seedling doesn't seem to have any emotional reaction. Nevertheless, I still felt happy interacting with another being after a long time. Geez, how long has it been since I interacted with something living?
About a month ago when I was still on earth?
I have no idea, there's no way of telling how long since I've been underground this whole time.
Speaking of which, this little guy barely shows anything it feels on its face.
It's a little unsettling to get no reactions but...could this also be how other creatures view me?
Although this whole time I haven't really paid much attention to it, emotion barely shows on my simple glowing face.
If you don't pay attention closely you'll miss it...
Could all monsters be like this?
Mmm...
Maybe its just me.
Whatever, no point thinking about it now.
I guess its about time I left. I won't be bringing Pebble with me though.
It's too dangerous, especially when I'm always on the hunt for strong monsters.
Plus, living things can't be placed in the storage.
This little guy can probably look after itself anyway.
Looking at the golem seedling in the corner one last time, I felt a warm feeling in my chest and the urge to take the golem with me surged within. Forcefully suppressing the urge, I lowered myself to the eye level of the little rock once more and stared at it. Subconciously, my eyes smiled as I gazed gently at the seedling and a few last thoughts flew through my mind. Just like always, the little golem stared back with its large yellow eye without blinking, showing no emotion at all. Seeing this, I giggled before breaking out in a laughter in my mind. One that was very loud but made no sound. One that echoed in my mind but not in the cave. It was as if the world had become small and safe.
Hehe, how peaceful.
Maybe when we meet again you'll big as big as a bus? Haha no way.
Well. Time to say goodbye.
Live on little rock!
The wide world awaits you!!!
Without looking back, I turned around and headed off to the deep caverns of the dungeon once more. In a good mood, I wondered where I should go next to continue my hunt.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author note:
Hiya, I'm alive! Suprised? I'm surprised too.
Just an update on wats gonna happen with this book. Good news and bad news.
Bad news, I failed one of my courses on my first ever term at uni ;-;.
I been working too much and didn't have much time to study, let alone write this novel.(which is why I haven't uploaded in around four months.)
Good news, I asked to get less shifts at work so I can focus on studying and now all my uni classes are all learn from home. That means I'll have more free time to write chapters!
Welp. theoretically atleast.
Who knows? maybe I won't be alive to upload anymore chapters. Right now I'm on break and am literally just playing games cus I didn't get to play much during the term. haha.