Mutagen

<strong>Day 189 - 4:23 PM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Province of Quezon</strong>

The last days of the barrier were already coming. It was already a month since the world changed.

While it would not be surprising that the barrier just vanished without warning as it had been waning for a few days now, it was still holding on.

It might be that the Observer and the Eyes tried to make a few days leeway. This thought was just speculation, however. Fourth or any other Eyes never made an appearance since the day the world changed to confirm it.

As far as everyone in the base was concerned, they were now ready to face the upcoming events. Yesterday, Louis and the workers finished building the outer walls. Everyone cheered as they watched the finishing touches of the walls, more than doubling the safety of the entire base. As it had been expected, Louis and the workers worked more efficiently as they got used to building the walls, and it was finished even faster than expected.

With the outer walls finished, it could be seen that the residents of the base had more confidence in surviving this dying world.

Aside from the walls, there was another good event that happened.

The amount of radiation outside the barrier was practically gone. Even regular people could go outside without experiencing the side effects of radiation. It showed that even if the barrier had yet to vanish, people could already travel outside. Of course, that was if they could wave through the dangers that they would need to face upon leaving the barrier.

In fact, there were signs of radiation in the air thinning. There were more and more instances that animals were seen near the vicinity of the Mountain Base. Furthermore, not all the animals were that were seen were mutated. Some were animals that had never been seen on Earth, or at least, in the [Mortal Dimension].

It was a mystery where these animals went during the time the radiation was high. However, it was a bit nice to see non-hostile creatures wandering the mountains.

And today, another good thing happened.

"DONE!"

Inside the subdimension of the Night Everred Spirit Tree, Mark's voice echoed loudly.

After about three weeks of research, trial, and error, Mark's efforts finally bore fruit.

At the side, both Annica and Berrak also watched in anticipation. Even Illia and Chimetrice were present, considering that they were more familiar with actual golems than everyone else present. And to say, the two were both amazed at the current situation.

In the lost era, creating golems was not something that could be done in a few weeks. It was even more impossible if one started from scratch. Yet, Mark achieved something that the people of the past were never able to.

Yes, Mark relied on the research started by the [Black Duendes] and the Creator and used the broken golem and the floating vessel as a basis. However, even with that, Mark's current achievement was still outstanding.

Mark stood in front of his first creation.

Following his tastes as an Otaku, the golem had a rather unique design.

It was a humanoid, less than five feet in height, with a rather feminine shape. Yes, it was a female golem. In fact, Mark did not hesitate to make it look human. He even used the skin-like [Blood Metal] from Miracle to make the skin of the golem.

If one did not know, they would think that what stood in front of Mark was a human. Well, if they looked from afar. If one was to look closely, the clothing of the golem was a part of its body, although detachable. Furthermore, the clothes were made of different kinds of [Blood Metal] stiched together.

"Annica, one last check before we activate it."

Mark called Annica as they began the final check of the circuits inside the golem.

Stretching his hand towards the back of the golem, Mark released his [Magical Energy] into its circuits.

At the side, Annica observed the flow of [Magical Energy] inside the golem.

"It's all good! Everything is flowing perfectly!"

Annica exclaimed, making Mark remove his hand.

"Then, it's the last step."

Mark said as he held out an orb in his hand. He then walked towards the front of the golem.

"I still can't believe that you had a working [Golem Core]. Three at that. Even the Creator only had five of those, which he had to sacrifice many of his creations to obtain. All of them were broken now, though."

Alia spoke, to which Chimetric agreed.

Mark was not paying attention to Illia, however. He was focused on the final step of bringing this golem to life.

The [Golem Core] in Mark's hand was, of course, one of the gifts they received from Bathala. Specifically, this one was the [Golem Core] that Iola received.

That was Mark's goal for making a female humanoid golem. Since he was making golems for his three daughters, he asked them what they preferred to have. Both Miracle and Abbygale gave their requests. The two little girls wanted something similar to pets. However, Iola did not seem to have any preferences. Just like Keeper, she was not choosy and was fine with anything given to her.

And since that was the case, Mark made something that Iola would definitely need.

With those thoughts, Mark pressed a button on the center of the golem's chest. It opened the chest of the golem, revealing a spherical indent surrounded by several circles of mechanisms with different [Magic Circles] carved unto them. The mechanisms then separated, opening enough space where the [Golem Core] could fit into.

Mark then put the [Golem Core] into the space. It began to glow brightly as the mechanisms began to close. Then, the glow from the core slowly spread to the [Magic Circuits].

Taking his hand away from the chest of the golem, everyone watched it close.

Like the tests, Annica observed the flow of [Magical Energy] across the golem's body. And like the few tests before, she did not see anything going wrong.

And under everyone's anticipation, the lowered head of the golem began to move up. The golem then slowly opened her eyes, revealing her crystal eyes.

With Mark standing in front of her, he was the first person that the golem saw. Of course, it was not something that mattered. As the maker of the golem, he was already registered inside of its database.

Yes, database. As magical as it might be, the [Golem Cores] from Bathala were made with user-friendly mechanisms. A regular [Golem Core] from the lost era was rather hard to use. A golem builder back then needed to imprint their will into the core using magic circles which were then stored inside the core. The core then served a database, executing those will as commands, making full use of every [Magic Circles] connected to the core.

The golem stared at Mark, recognizing him as her creator. And as Mark programmed the core, the golem lowered her head, acknowledging his presence.

"WOW!!!" Annica exclaimed happily. "She moved!"

Not only Annica. Berrak, Illia, and Chimetrice were glad to see the first movements of the golem.

And here, Mark executed the command that would mark the birth of the golem.

"Your name is Brynhildr," Mark spoke. "Alias, Hild."

As Mark executed the command, the crystal eyes of Brynhildr glowed. She then nodded in acknowledgment, recording her name and alias into her database.

"She can't talk, can she?"

Annica asked, stepping beside Mark.

In response, Brynhildr stared at the unfamiliar presence in front of her.

Yes, presence. The golems would not recognize only the appearance of a creature in front of them. They also record the creature's magical energy and, for Brynhildr, even their [Mental Fluctuation]. This way, even if the person in front of them looked the same as their master, they would not follow their orders. It was a way to prevent golems from accepting orders from other beings aside from their maker and master.

It was a locking mechanism that was also present in golems in the past. After all, many creatures were capable of shapeshifting. One could shapeshift and take control of their golems if this mechanism was not created.

At least, for [Crafted Golems].

Summoned and natural golems did not need such function since they only responded to the owner of [Magical Energy] that created them.

"She can't talk." Mark shook his head. "The core can probably handle that function, but none of the [Magic Circuits] and the [Magic Symbols] in the documents and the broken golem had that function."

It would have been awesome if Mark managed to create a golem capable of speech. It would make Brynhildr look more human. Still, the current creation was not bad at all.

"This is really different from the golems we saw before," Chimetrice spoke, observing Brynhildr closely. "The golems in our time are bulky and rough-looking. Even their movements were slow and gruff. This is the first time I saw a golem this intricate. Not to mention, small."

"It's not surprising, really," Mark replied. "Talking about your time, golems are probably treated as nothing but destructive weapons. They were used either to guard something or attack something. They don't need to be intricate since their purposes are simple, and they are bound to be destroyed and repaired sooner or later."

"That's true."

Chimetrice nodded. Even their Creator did the same thing, although he made the golems as sturdy and as strong as possible.

In any case, they saw how Mark made this golem piece by piece. Compared to the lost era, the parts that Mark made looked advance and incomparable to the past. Those small but complex parts made the difference. Since in the past, those kinds of mortal technologies did not exist.

While Mark and the others were talking, Brynhildr was looking around, following the voices that entered her ear. She seemed to have been recording the appearance and presence of the people around her creator.

"Well then... Now that she activated without problems, I should start some more testing."

Mark said.

"Hild." Mark then called out to his creation. "Take several steps forward."

As Brynhild heard the command, she immediately followed. Since it was her first activation, it seemed that her core was still calibrating the functions of her body.

It took a few seconds. Finally, Brynhildr moved her right leg. It was slow. She looked like a human trying to get used to her body as she took her first steps.

The right led then was lifted and landed forward. Brynhildr's body then followed the momentum. Then, the next was the left leg.

At first, her momentum and movements were slow. But as she took more steps, her movements became faster, comparable to a human of her size. It was a bit stiff, considering that her insides were made of metal. Nonetheless, it was far better than what a modern robot could do.

"Stop," Mark commanded after he saw the results of the first test. "Move backward back to your initial position. Then walk in circles. Twice both towards left and right."

Mark gave the commands as he began testing the results of his work. Everyone also watched in anticipation.

Something amazing was born in this place. It might still be in the testing phase and still far from the final product. But the fact that it was moving and responding to orders was a big step all in all.

Furthermore, this was not the last that Mark would make. There were still two golems in line to build.

The parts and circuits were already made. The only thing left was to piece up everything together.

Although only Mark knew of what the other two would be, the other still anticipated the outcome of his work.

Furthermore, it might not look like it, but Brynhildr was not just some humanoid golem. She had a far more complex function that would address one of Iola's weaknesses.

The testing of that function would come later, however.