Mutagen

Day 172 - 2:14 PM - Night Everred Pure Spirit Tree Subdimension, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Province of Quezon

Another three days passed. Mark's research was progressing smoothly.

Since yesterday, he moved his working area inside Chiyo's subdimension. It was due to various reasons, although for the most part was because the five-meter tall golem would not fit inside his workshop.

If Mark just needed it for a work reference, he did not need to work in front of the broken golem. He could perfectly recall everything he already saw and observed from his subconscious. However, it was not what Mark needed the broken golem for at this moment.

"How is it?"

Mark asked as he touched the golem's arm with his right hand and a glowing diagram on a table with his left.

In front of Mark, it was Annica and Berrak. They were his assistants for his work since yesterday.

After breaking more than half of the magical equipment his group brought back from the Kingdom of Black Duendes, Mark was confident that he collected enough [Magical Energy Conductor] to make three small golems or one human-sized one. The only thing Mark needed to do was figure out the functions of the [Magic Circuits] and how these things work in technical ways in particular.

In that case, one of the things that Mark needed to know was the flow of magical energy within these [Magic Circuits]. And the best people to get help from, in this case, was the two people in front of Mark.

Annica was recognized in the base as its animal tamer and animal handler. However, only a few knew that her eyes could see more than a regular human or even a [Mutator] could. As her eyes could see energy as colors, she would be able to see the energy flow within the [Magic Circuits] without problems.

As for Berrak. He was here due to his familiarity with [Magic Formations], also known as [Magic Circles]. He might not be a fully established magic user since he was a [Summoner], but, in the least, he was the most familiar with these kinds of things here in the base.

Mark also tried asking Teremillio and other magical races in his base if they had familiarity with [Magic Circles] and stuff. Unfortunately, none of them had a positive answer. In the first place, magical races could use magic naturally. They had no reason to rely too much on [Magic Circles]. However, it seemed that some of them knew some [Ritual Magic] in the least.

Nonetheless, [Ritual Magic] had nothing to do with Mark's current research. Mark also wanted to hear the details about this stuff, but definitely not now.

At Mark's question, Annica was concentrating on both the arm of the golem and the small replica on the table. As Mark poured magical energy into both mediums, Annica carefully observed the flow.

"The energy flow looks identical, but the consistency of the flow in the replica is unstable," Annica said and pointed at a certain part of the replica. "Right here. The flow weakens."

"It doesn't get cut off or scatter?"

Mark asked.

"No." Annica shook her head. "It just weakens from this part, but the rest looks the same."

"Then, it's good," Mark said as he stopped pouring magical energy on both items. "The consistency can be fixed later on. The most important thing right now is if the flow is correct."

"I guess that's true." Annica agreed. "But this is better than yesterday. The flow yesterday goes either backward or scatters out of the medium."

This was the second day that they were testing the [Magic Circuits] that Mark replicated. And the results yesterday? It was bad.

Mark's first attempts in recreating the [Magic Circuits] that he copied from the golem's body, and the documents went wrong in one way or another. Like what Mark had mentioned, some circuits got the energy flow cut off while some scattered out of the circuit causing disrupting the flow heavily.

One of the reasons was either the circuit in the golem being damaged because of its age. There were also errors within the diagrams in the documents.

And that was where Berrak's duty here started. Using his knowledge about the complex symbols of [Magic Circles], he would try to draft replacements on the broken parts of the non-functioning [Magic Circuits].

From the cooperation of the three, they managed to fix and recreate some of the [Magic Circuits] successfully. Well, of course, not everything.

Berrak's knowledge was not enough. The [Magic Circuits] used in the golem and the documents were also old enough to be called lost knowledge. That was why there were some of the circuits that had no success yet.

After testing and succeeding in recreating the replicas, the next part was determining the [Magic Circuit]'s specific function. Each part of the golem had different circuits interconnected with each other. It was not wrong to say that the golem's circuitry was as complicated as the motherboard of a computer.

For the golem to function correctly, each specific [Magic Circuit] had to be in the proper places. It was a hard endeavor if one had no experience in electronics or programming.

Fortunately, Mark had experience in both. He was a Computer Science Graduate. As such, Mark studied several programming languages. Although he did not learn anything useful in college, in the least, he could follow the programming language and syntax as a reference.

As for electronics, Mark had basic knowledge. He had to learn it to make some props he created as a living to function properly.

It was an unexpected but really good thing that he could make use of this knowledge with studying and building a golem.

"Bro, this is a new one, right?" Annica said as they tested another [Magic Circuit]. "The energy gets cut off in half. There is no energy flowing on the other."

"I thought so too when I'm making it," Mark said. "Is the energy stopping at this point?"

Mark then pointed at a certain part of the circuit. He then put his other hand on another part of the circuit.

"How about now?"

Mark asked.

"Ooooh!" Annica said, amazed. "The whole thing is glowing now."

"Knew it..." Mark nodded as he let go of the circuit. "This one needed two inputs at the same time to function."

Mark then looked at another circuit.

"This one also has two inputs. But one input is just enough to light the whole thing." Mark mentioned. "It's like logic gates."

Finishing the test on another circuit, Annica looked at the broken golem.

"Do these things really make this golem move? It's hard to find the logic. How can just combinations of lines and symbols be able to move this thing?"

"From the perspective of a regular modern human, magic won't really make any sense." Berrak chimed in. "But think about it. Most humans don't know how technology works. They just knew that it works, and accept the fact without question."

"Hmmm..."

Annica fell silent, looking at Berrak with eyes annoyed by his words.

"Don't look at me like that, little girl. I'm telling the truth."

Berrak reacted, having the same annoyed expression.

The two were now the animal handlers of the base. Annica for the [Mutated Animals] and Berrak for the [Magical Creatures]. Thus, it was already expected for the two to work together. However, with Berrak's straightforward nature being relentless with his words and Annica being a somewhat annoying energetic girl, the personality of the two did not really match each other as a team.

There was no need to mention that Berrak was an old-school middle-aged man while Annica was a modernized teenager. The two really would not mix well.

Thus, the two would always end up getting annoyed with each other. It was not to the extent of being impossible to cooperate, but the two better work separately than working together.

"You two should stop quarreling in front of me." Mark sighed. "If you two don't behave, I'll make sure to make you two as a team from now on."

""NO!""

The two exclaimed at the same time.

"Then behave," Mark warned. "I don't want my work to be hindered because you two keep quarreling."

And at Mark's words, the two looked at each other one last time and just stopped interacting. There was really no need to as they only needed to respond to Mark's orders and questions.

Because of the two concentrating on the work, it became faster. It seemed that the two really did not want to be lumped together, despite both Berrak and Annica having talent and skills with animals.

In any case, there was really no need for the two to be forced to work together. Both [Mutated Animals] and [Magical Creatures] might be considered as animals. But the two kinds were still extremely different in nature. The taming procedure and even the way to care for them were also different. Thus, even both kinds of animals needed to be put in separate places.

And in terms of value, both Berrak and Annica had pros and cons.

Annica could transfer her contract with animals with other people. Thus, anyone who wanted and could care for an animal helper could benefit from it. In this case, Berrak lost as only he could make use of the creatures he tamed.

However, Berrak could call upon his tamed animals anywhere, anytime. It was something that Annica could not do, of course. Thus, in terms of fighting capability and utility, Berrak won.

If the two could only work together, it would be better. However, there was no need to force the two as it would only impact things negatively.

As the quarreling stopped, Mark's study of the golem progressed further. From what they found out, there seemed to be three kinds of [Magic Circuits] within the golem. One was to relay commands from the core. The other was to transfer the commands. And lastly, the circuits that execute the function of a certain part.

Looking at it, the [Magic Circuits] were installed following a certain syntax. It was really similar to programming.

And with the knowledge they acquired today, Mark was sure that he would be able to start making prototype golem parts in the next few days.

"Say, big brother," Annica called out. "Are you really making something like this?"

Annica was currently looking at the broken golem. She was thinking that Mark was going to make an exact copy of this giant piece of metal.

"Definitely not."

Mark bluntly replied.

"Why not?" Annica asked. "Won't it be easier to just copy this thing? Since you are steadily figuring out how these circuits work, isn't it just fine to make a copy or just replace the broken parts?"

And in this thought, Berrak also seemed to agree.

"I think making a new golem would be really hard. From what I learned from my master, crafted golems like this are really rare because of the difficulty to build one."

Mark looked at the golem. Both Annica and Berrak had a point here. However, Mark never intended to fix or make a similar one to this broken golem.

"I'm making a new one because this thing is extremely outdated." Mark sighed. "I already checked the insides of the golem. While the mechanisms inside the golem are state of the art in the past, it's nothing but antique compared to similar mechanisms made with modern technology. So, I'm making a golem powered by [Magic Circuits] and had modern mechanisms. That way, the result won't be some clunky piece of metal that can barely move."

Berrak and Annica fell silent. They could not fathom how Mark could think of such things. However, what he said did make sense.

Golems portrayed in literature and any other media were large, clunky, and slow-moving. But why was that the case? Remember the settings of such pieces of entertainment. It was either the era of gods or a fantasy world. Both had low technological advancements, and the golems were either made of magic or the old technology they had.

However, there was one thing identical to golems in more futuristic settings.

That was right. Robots.

And what Mark was aiming for was the fusion of a high-tech robot and a crafted golem.

But what was the main reason for Mark to attempt such an ingenious but almost impossible idea?

Well, it was the [Mechids].

From what Mark knew, [Mechids] could take over and other hack robots. Well, robots made with modern and future technology in the least. If Mark used a magical system of a golem and the mechanical parts of robots, then he would be able to create something that was as strong as the [Mechids] but immune to their hacking.

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