Chapter 26: Mud, Stone And Beyond
Sitting inside Nia's shack, Ben continued to cry about the meat that was stolen at Sid's place. It wasn't until Nia made him some snowberry juice that he finally settled down. Lowen heard none of this as he was completely focused with the book laid in his lap. Looking at the first page, it was left utterly blank, where had those words gone, Lowen wondered.
(These first 50 pages are blank and empty where did those words vanish to? Is there some hidden secret to make the words reappear?)
Lowen had flipped through these 50 pages, again and again, trying everything he could think of. Turning the book upside down, holding it under the light or in the dark, scanning through, he looked for keywords but nothing seemed to work. He might have even dripped some blood on it or try to channel his ki in it but the risk of damaging it was too great, in the end, he found nothing. It was only now that he noticed Ben was sitting in front of him sulking while at the same time sipping his juice and staring.
"Eh, Ben what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Ben saw that Lowen was no longer focused on his book and felt slightly happy on the inside, he was about to smile before he remembered what he wanted to say to Lowen.
"Big bro, how could you let that stinky old dummy keep our meat, now what are we gonna do?"
Lowen had been way too preoccupied with the new book he just won from Sid that he had totally forgotten about the meat.
(Haha, this kid.)
Lowen stood up and gently rubbed Ben's head.
"I'm sorry Ben, I was too focused that I forgot but don't worry I know exactly where the rabbits are, so I'll go get some more first thing in the morni...."
Lowen paused for a moment, he didn't just forget the meat, that wasn't the only part of the bet he won.
(Shit, his statues, he was supposed to teach me their secrets if I won but because of the situation I was just relieved to get out of there without having to fight, damn.)
Leaving without learning the secrets of Sid's statues, even though Lowen had won the bet was equivalent to leaving a small fortune behind, Lowen felt a slight heartache. He and Sid had not left on very good terms, for Lowen to go back today and say.
("Hey even though I've already taken your most valued treasure, you still owe me more so pay up.")
For Lowen, that felt like too much, even for him. If he really did go back today then a fight would surely ensue, even if Lowen had Chief Rolands backing. Lowen could only sigh to himself and wait a few days for Sid to cool off.
"Big bro, what were you gonna say big bro? Big bro."
Lowen was gonna reply to Ben when suddenly a thought struck him, once more he sat down and began flipping through the book. Ben being ignored pouted and stomped away, going outside he quickly found himself busy playing with the few other children his age. With Roland's words, the villagers no longer scorned Nia and Ben outwardly and because children aren't born to hate but are taught it instead, all of the children around Ben's age didn't feel the way their parents did and gladly played with Ben.
Meanwhile, Lowen had his butt glued to the floor as he turned over page after page. Disappointingly there was no table of contents so Lowen had to manually scan every page until he either found what he was looking for or not. After about 10 minutes, Lowen found exactly what he wanted to, he couldn't help but smirk as he read the title for the chapter.
[Golems-Statues-Golmantiums]
Flipping a few pages ahead, Lowen read over the basics about Statues.
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[Statues]
Magical Statue first invented in the year 2427 M.M
[Height] 1-9 ft, made from any type of rock or stone.
[Weight] 90-2,000 lbs
[Strength] 100-1250 lbs
[Requirements] 2nd circle Earth Mage or 3rd circle Mage of any element but an additional magic tool is required to use.
The statue, although it's very slow, however, with its great strength and regenerative capabilities, it easily substitutes for 10 men.
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Glancing over this basic information, Lowen became slightly disappointed. In order to use a statue you first have to be a 2nd circle earth mage. Lowen wasn't even a first circle mage let alone a 2nd, he remembered when Roland was testing him with a blue neixin magic crystal. When Lowen was first tested with it, it had shown one incomplete circle. This clearly meant that he was not yet a mage. Roland, on the other hand, when he had first used it on himself it showed 4 circles indicating his level in magic. He had two complete ones and 2 more that were broken in several places, this was due to Roland's injury, however, that was over a month ago and Roland had now healed one of his circles of magic. So if he were to use another neixin crystal today, then 3 would be complete and his fourth would still be broken. So as it stood, he could currently use 3rd circle magic if he wanted and if he had a certain magic tool, then he could use and control magic statues as well.
Seeing as how he couldn't do much of anything when it came to statues, Lowen decided to go back and take a look at the golems. Once more he just skimmed over the basics.
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[Golems]
Magical Golems were first invented in the year 2313 M.M
[Height] 1 inch up to 2ft tall, made of dirt mud and debris.
[Weight] 0.3-50lbs
[Strength] 2-7lbs
[Requirements] Earth Energy
The Golem, ball-shaped by design, unlike the Statue and the Golmantium that can be shaped into nearly any form, the Golem, besides hands and feet, the rest of its body is entirely shaped like a ball. With its body shape, it can barely walk so it mostly just rolls.
Golems due to their small stature and weak strength, most find it too troublesome to even bother with them but when they are made, their function is usually for small labor such as sweeping floors, gathering firewood or drawing water.
Although not very useful, with their nearly instantaneous regenerative capabilities and very little energy used, they are far easier to maintain than a Statue or a Golmantium.
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(Hmm, interesting, this Golem is pretty weak but the requirements just say it needs earth energy. I should try this out.)
Lowen was curious to see if he could actually make one and control it but before he did, he was still interested in one last thing. Looking it over he read.
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[Golmantiums]
Magical Golmantiums were invented in the year ???? B.M.M - M.M
Magical Golmantiums were Discovered in the year 1032 M.M
[Height] 4ft up to XXXX
[Weight] 400lbs up to XXXX
[Strength] 2,000 lbs up to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
[Requirments] Magic Beast heart & piece of a soul, also needs a huge source of energy at the initial start, afterward, it will absorb energy by itself.
With this creatures creation, it comes with intelligence, how much is dependent on the original soul donator.
Warning !! This creature is truly difficult to control.
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Reading over this basic bit of info, what stood out the most to Lowen wasn't the requirements the creature needed nor the warning on the difficulty in controlling it. What stood out for Lowen were the dates. Apparently, no one knew who or when these creatures were invented, only when they were discovered. Not only that, the Golmantium predates both the golem and the statue.
(How can something so advance come more than a thousand years before the golem and the statue?)
Reading further in, Lowen discovered that not only did the Golmantium come a thousand years before the golem and the magic statue but also that all research and advancements for the golem and the statue were made from studying the Golmantium itself.
(It seems that after all this time the ones who have made improvements did so from researching some lost ancient Magitek. I wonder who could have invented such an advanced creature and if they had such capabilities then, where are they now? What happened to them?)
With so many questions but absolutely no answers, Lowen became more and more frustrated. Finally, he had had enough and slammed the book shut in frustration.
(What's the point of a book if it tells you nothing, hmph.)
Nia saw this and sat down next to Lowen.
"What's the matter?"
Lowen looked at Nia's gentle smile and he didn't know why or how but seeing her kind expression, he could instantly feel a soothing calm wash over him.
*Sigh*
"Its this book, no matter how much I read it, it won't..."
Lowen shook his head.
"No, it can't tell me what I want to know, and it's just very frustrating."
Nia listened quietly to all of Lowen's frustrations and thought for a while before she replied.
"Hmm, Well, it sounds like if you can't get the answers from that book, then maybe you should just try another one."
Lowen started to laugh at himself.
*Hahaha*
Nia was, of course, right, so what if you don't get all the answers from this book, there are a million others and one of them has to have what Lowen's looking for, it would just take time. Besides, Lowen was getting frustrated over unimportant matters, it's not like he needed this info, he was just really curious. To Lowen, this was an entirely new world and so far he had been stuck in a very small portion of it. Everything was new and interesting to him and it just felt like all of the adventure and all the mysterious were hidden from him, locked away by his own understandings. Right now in order for Lowen to unlock these things, he needed 2 important things. First what he needs was to gain great strength, enough strength to go out into the world and not die. The other was information, if Lowen didn't understand the world around him then even with the strength to lift a mountain, it would only take a pebble more of something he didn't know to crush him underneath.
After a good laugh, Lowen noticed Nia staring at him in displeasure but for the life of him, he couldn't understand why.
"Nia, what happened? Why do you seem even more upset then I just was?"
Nia looked at Lowen and said with pouted lips.
"I thought I was being helpful but then you laugh at me. I didn't think you were like that."
Lowen suddenly realized his mistake. Nia had given him genuine advice and then he immediately burst out in laughter. To Nia, it would seem as though she were being made fun of. Lowen realized he had a bad habit of slipping into his own thoughts and ignoring those around him because of that, misunderstandings would follow. Lowen made a mental note of it before trying to comfort her and once more realized that him making a mental note was again leaving Nia out to dry. Looking at her face, it seemed like she had just bit into a lemon, the way her lips scrunched up made Lowen once more want to laugh, thankfully this time, he controlled it. Waving his hands in the air in defense, he almost choked on his own words.
"No no no no, I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at myself, I swear, I swear."
But Nia just continued to pout giving Lowen a look that said, can I believe you.
"Nia I'm telling the truth, really. there's no way I could laugh at you honest."
Nia shook her head.
"But you've done so before."
"What when?"
"Hmm, so you don't remember, how can I ever believe in you, if you don't even remember tha...tha... that time."
Nia stumbled out the last bit of her words recalling those events but Lowen was still stumped.
"Nia, I truly don't remember, please just tell me already."
Nia's faced blushed ever so slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest she pouted some more before saying.
"A month ago down by the river, you went to bathe and you, you, you accused me of being a peeping tom. You even made me say some embarrassing things about my brother, do you remember now?"
Lowen thought back to that time, he remembered Nia following him to the river treating him like a child so, in a prank, he acted like she was a pervert. In the end, Lowen had burst out with laughter for several minutes and Nia had run away. Thinking back to that, a small smile crept up on Lowen's face, recalling that moment, suddenly, Lowen couldn't hold it in, remembering that scene, he once more burst out into gut-busting laughter.
*BWAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHHA*
Nia's face immediately flushed a deeper darker red, she yelled out angrily.
"SEE YOU DO REMEMBER! YOU WERE MESSING WITH ME AGAIN!!"
Nia then turned around and raced outside like a gust of wind, the only thing left behind were her fading words.
"You big dummy, I hate you I hate you I hate you."
Lowen wanted to say something, anything but found himself lacking air. All he could do was roll to the ground in laughter.
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