Apparently the gods could feel his worry through the dreamscape and came to visit him. The god of fishing gave a firm back pat, while the Grand Mother fussed over him, stroking the top of his head, and the god of knowledge babbled on incoherently in the background, clearly aggravated. The goblin was frustrated at himself because he couldn't stay awake any longer but he also knew that he was deeply in need of some sleep. Eventually the dreamworld faded away and the goblin stirred in his chair, lifting his face off the table.
He was horrified to see a puddle of drool had formed on the table but then sighed in relief when he saw that at least before passing out he had the wherewithal to push the book he was reading away to spare it from the moisture onslaught.
He got halfway through the book on scrying, of course after thoroughly reading through Magic Methods and How to Cast Correctly. That book in particular was a gold mine. Casting magic consisted of several things; most spells do not require much but imagination and understanding of the underlying concepts. This kind of magic was called novel and often varied day to day based on the caster’s mental state. However, for a spell to become standardized magic, it needs to have a repeatable method of casting that bypasses these required levels of understanding.
Invocation is the usage of verbal words to create certain magic effects, much like how Isolde usually casts magic. There were also magic circles; these are just drawings that, when created out of mana, could invoke the spell.
Both had their benefits and drawbacks. For long-sustaining magic, magic circles were the ideal choice because as long as they were supplied with mana, then they would continue being active versus verbal spells that required continuous chanting. In turn, it was much quicker to chant a spell than to create a magic circle. That explained the extremely detailed diagrams in the grimoires he was pursuing; it was describing the spell circle through ink.
For his purposes he would need to utilize magic circles since they needed to remain active for long periods of time. Next he needed to create some specific items, but to do that he needed to continue his research. His days had once again become a monotony of repetition. He would read the books on related magics, he would expend about half of his magic power to produce mithril every day; he never wanted to be caught low on the stuff should intruders reappear.
When he felt antsy or anxious, he would practice his spear techniques, utilizing many of the manuals unwittingly donated by the adventuring party. He couldn’t help but consider his odd position; he didn’t want adventures intruding on his dungeon for the sake of his own safety. However, to expand the library’s collection, people needed to visit. He also considered whether the visitations of extraplanar creatures would also bring in their knowledge; after all, many of them had lived for thousands of years and with that lifespan, they must have come across some fascinating reading materials.
"We can think about summoning demons another time," Amand reprimanded himself. There were bigger priorities at the moment. He continued to burrow through the books. He had gained a basic understanding of divination-based magic but now he needed to inscribe those magics into his creations. So the next book to analyze would be Enhancing Beyond Measure, Enchanting to the Maximum.
Reading through it, it was not really what he thought it was; enchantment was about creating lingering effects, granting powers to the friendly and inhibiting those who were far less so. But there was nothing about inscribing said spells into materials. He put that book to the side; he would have to read it later and moved to the next one. The book in question was Magic Machinery and You, Construct Construction Compiled. He specifically went to find the section on inscribing magic circles upon constructs. The goblin was happy to see that it wasn’t that difficult; all that was needed was to carve the spell onto any flat surface and fill it with mana-conductive material.
The best choice for the material was mithril. After all, it was the only magical metal in his possession. However, that took a lot of mana to create; perhaps steel would be sufficient. He summoned another beetle creature and, taking his scalpel, began to carve the observed spell circle upon it. Should he do this correctly, he would be able to use an observer magic circle to see through them. Once the grooves had been properly carved, he filled them with steel. He then tried to channel mana through the steel and into the magic circuit, the construct in turn promptly melted.
Good to know I can melt metal by overloading it with mana, thought the goblin. Okay, time to stop being a cheapskate. He summoned another beetle construct, and this time, after carving the design, filled the grooves with mithral. That worked, and while nothing happened, the sigil lit up and promptly faded as he stopped supplying mana.
Next he needed to gather mana into the constructs so they could be autonomous. Luckily the mana-gathering formation was standard in every wizard’s grimoire and each school had slightly different variations to choose from. He decided to go for one from necromancy, since it also supposedly nurtured the soul. The goblin began to carve this one but he made a slip-up and damaged the observation sigil, which made him frown. Overlaying these sigils on such a tiny creature was quite the challenge.
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He had enough mana to spare for a couple of attempts, after 4 or 5 of which he finally managed to get both the observation and mana-gathering spells carved onto the construct; all he needed to do was start it up. He input a little of his mana and it began to draw in mana that was then consumed by the observation spell.
Now, time for a soul. He went to the dungeon core and pulled out the decently sized soul; after all, he wanted to see if having a larger soul would make the construct capable of following more sophisticated orders. He settled on one that was about the size of the old wolf’s soul. This one had been wiped clear but it could have been something of similar complexity. He then placed the soul within the completed construct. The final design was a metallic beetle covered in lines that emitted a faint green.
“Go through the dungeon and come back.” He said to the construct and it proceeded to try and move but then fell over. Yes, he had to teach it how to move. He imagined how the beetles moved and sent that image to the construct. It seemed to figure it out and then went hurtling down the tunnel.
He couldn’t see the beetle but he could sense its general location within it. It did not take very long to navigate the maze as it meticulously explored every pathway along the way. Before long and after several double backs, it returned to him and waited before him expectantly; it took the construct about an hour to explore every crevice of the labyrinth. Now for the next major task, he summoned an oval sheet of iron and began carving the observer rune into it; once carved, he filled the gaps with mithral. He then channeled some mana into the sheet; it allowed him to see the beetle's perception. He expected a line of sight but rather he could see around the construct in a decent-sized radius.
This is not how he expected the scry spell to work, but it was more than sufficient for his purposes. His first prototype spy construct had reached its conclusion with more than satisfactory results. With his vision issues corrected, he could now begin working on defenses. He went to his workshop and looked at the large construct hanging on hooks; he originally wanted to make creatures purely out of mithril. However, after days of putting mana into the creation of this creature, he wasn’t even a tenth complete. So he moved into making one from iron; he wanted to take the best aspects from the many creatures that inhabit his dungeon.
He began to think favorably and finally decided on what he wanted to create. He began summoning a body made from steel; the frame was about halfway the size between the boar and wolf, he took front claws and head of the wolf, but brought the bulk of the boar with large front shoulders and hooved hind legs, then he took the long muscled tailed of the lizards and their armored scales. The goblin finished crafting his abomination and he was extremely satisfied. The thing hulked over him but should just barely fit through the doors and passageways.
While he wanted to get to inscribing magic into the beast, he was long exhausted by this day of work so far. Now that he perfected the beetle construct, he used some of his extra mana to summon some extra; with what he had left, he could create 10 of the little guys. To truly cover vision in the whole dungeon, he would probably need a couple hundred. After a quick and light meal, he went through the shelves looking for something in particular.
Okay, he found it! He pulled a large leather-bound tome, Death by a Thousand Elements, death by fire, water, and everything ice. He also wanted to take another bit of inspiration from the lizard. So he began to research some of the spell circles within. This continued till he nearly collapsed from exhaustion; with a mind full of plans, he fell asleep. He was so tired that nobody visited him in the realm of dreams, or at least he didn’t remember any visitors.
He awoke refreshed the next day. It was time to begin the next phase after his morning routine, of course. First he started by carving the rune for observation, which was much easier since he had a lot more room to work on with the increased size of this construct. Then he moved to creating some power enhancers, increasing speed, strength, and durability. Next he decided to inscribe a special spell into the construct's mouth; he decided to add the lightning bolt spell. While not as damaging as some other elemental magics, it was least likely to cause damage to his books. He really had no desire for accidental mass book burnings; the thought sent shudders down his spine.
Finally, he moved into making the mana gathering array. After carving all of the magic circles, he filled in the carved grooves with mithral and added a little mana to jumpstart the magic. A faint glow began to emanate from under the plates and scales and he couldn’t help but sport a giant grin across his face. But he quickly had to sit down; the amount of mithril required to fill those gaps used almost all of his mana. He sat down and marveled at his creation. There is only one last thing to do: select an appropriate soul.
The goblin took slow, careful steps to the dungeon core. He had a soul in mind; it was the old wolf. He thought of using one of the blank souls but he would have to teach it everything and it lacked many instincts. He found the old wolf soul and reached out to it. It violently trembled at his attempted connection, but the goblin persisted. “You have two choices: serve me and have a new life or be purified.” The goblin wasn’t sure if the wolf would understand his request but he hoped it would get the general idea.
The soul trembled a bit longer but eventually stopped, and Amand finally grasped it within his hand. He returned to the construct and pushed the soul into it. The dull eye began to glow an eerie blue as it stood upright. A tense standoff commenced as the goblin stared down the behemoth, which ended as the beast bowed its head at its new master.
