Of course, the random ass elves just happen to have exactly what I need in their literal back pocket. Well, front pocket, but whatever.

  I watched as the male of the two elves – Elvis? whatever his name was – reached into one of the many folds of the very cliché fantasy cloak he had on and pulled out an acorn. He had a goofy grin on his face, and I could tell that he was pleased with himself, but I don’t see how a nut is going to help.

  Elvis turned and walked back to the gathering area I had made.

  “Great Tree, might I be so bold as to clear the room for my demonstration?” he asked.

  I could feel how cocky he was, thinking that I was going to love whatever he had to show off. I used a bit of Earth Magic to move all the furniture into one of the adjacent hallways and prepared myself to watch whatever spectacle he had planned.

  Elvis and his partner – girlfriend? – were both mildly shocked at the display of magic, but recovered quickly. They’d have to get used to me doing magic if they wanted to hang out around here.

  I wonder, will he use the acorn as a core for a golem? Will he use some sort of Nature Magic to grow a plant-based doll similar to how I make my puppets and form that into a golem?

  I could see a few possibilities for how this could go, but nothing prepared me for what happened next.

  Elvis set a pulse of mana to the acorn and tossed it to the center of the room before taking a few steps back. As soon as the nut hit the ground, a bunch of vines sprouted and grew at an incredible pace. It was almost scary how fast they popped up out of seemingly nowhere.

  The vines kept growing and growing, though I couldn’t tell what they were feeding off of. I could feel that there was some sort of connection to Elvis, but it wasn’t strong enough to support the level of growth I was witnessing from the acorn.

  Once the vines reached some critical point, they started to take shape, forming what looked like a basic carriage. The vines thickened and wove into each other to strengthen the structure it was making.

  From the bottom of the base came four wheels, with the back pair being larger than the front. At the top of the carriage, the vines started to grow into a green mossy texture that covered most of the roof. There were still some bare vine decorative pieces though, which I liked the look of.

  Once I thought the carriage was completed, I was surprised yet again.

  At the front of the vehicle sprouted another pair of vines. These vines grew very similarly to how I made my puppets. Four leg vines popped out of the bottom of each and started to grow more vines to wrap around them to give them the bulk of their mass. I usually just thickened the vines to make the legs, but this approach was actually pretty aesthetically pleasing as well.

  Actually, I could see this as being more functional as well, allowing for the flexing and relaxation of the vines to create movement instead of having to manually move each joint using either some form of magic or my Body Manipulation skill. I think I’ll have to try creating a few puppets like this to test it out. I could see it being mechanically better, mimicking human muscles and all. The two creature vines in the front finished growing into plant-based horses. The pair even had manes made out of vines, similar to how I used vines to mimic hair on my puppets.

  I was fully expecting the horses to just be motionless statues, but as I examined them, I saw a ripple of motion move through their chests. It wasn’t quite breathing, but it was more than just a shrug. I started feeling for mana, and the longer they stood there, the stronger and more stable I felt their mana become. After watching for what felt like an eternity, but was more realistically only a dozen or so seconds, the mana coalesced into what had to be a mana core.

  “How did you do that?” I demanded from Elvis.

  I finally understood why he was so smug earlier. This was magical engineering far beyond anything I had even considered before. To be able to grow what amounts to a car out of an acorn in under a minute was so far beyond what I had imagined possible that I hadn’t even considered using golems as modes of transportation. I mean, I didn’t really have a plan for what to do with the golems once I was able to make them, but I still thought it was an incredible idea.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Elvis strutted forward, gesturing with extreme showmanship to his ride. Every step he took, every word he uttered, just got more and more under my skin. Yet I couldn’t help but admit that this creation of his was impressive.

  “This golem is one of the elven capital’s most prized possessions. Only a few elves are considered worthy to gain access to it, and even then, they have to be added to a waiting list. Silvan and I were given priority placement, though, once we were informed of your existence. Partly due to the fact that it was one of my ancestors that crafted it.”

  I could feel the smugness oozing from him through our connection; he was extremely proud of this relative of his. This guy was getting on my nerves.

  Silvan, Elvis’s partner, spoke up at this point, clearly sensing my annoyance at his bravado.

  “Great Tree,” she started before I cut her off.

  “Stop with the whole ‘Great Tree’ shenanigans; it’s getting on my nerves. Call me Willow.”

  Silvan bowed her head and started again.

  “Willow, then. This artifact has been used for generations as a sign of how advanced us elves are when it comes to magical crafts. The gnomes have their trinkets and the dwarves had their weapon craft, but thanks to the Verdant Grove and the generosity of the Great Trees living there, our crafts can easily outdo…”

  Silvan gave a whole speech bragging about her people’s ingenuity in regards to crafting using wood, but all I heard was that if I accepted their proposal to move to the grove, I would be basically forced to act as their renewable energy source. She might not have realized this yet, but she just cleared any doubt in my mind that I would be refusing their offer. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I would be leaving with them.

  Don’t get me wrong, I have come to love crafting over the last few months. It has been a rather fun way to pass the time. The weapons I made for the Laughing Vipers felt inspired. Once I figured out how to make golems, I would be going back to enchanting to make an even better staff for Aspyn or even a magical bow for Archy. Axel would be stuck with his axe though, as Blacksmithing and Metal Magic just weren’t as fun for me as the other two. Maybe if he brought me something nice back.

  But one thing I refuse to do is become a resource node for the elves to pick wood from. I might be open to considering trade with them, but there’s not a chance in hell I’ll be leaving with them of my own volition.

  Not that they need to know that yet though. I’ll milk these suckers for everything they got before I send them on their way.

  Silvan kept on her speech for a few minutes bragging about the elves and calling me a Great Tree a few more times, and I was getting sick of it. When she started reiterating how subpar humans and other races were in comparison to elves, I interrupted her.

  “Yes yes, elves are great. Now show me how the damn acorn golem works already. I grow tired of the two of you bragging.”

  Silvan quickly quieted down, and I could see that Elvis was none too happy about my bluntness. Yet despite this, they still continued with an explanation.

  “Simple,” Elvis said. “It works by drawing on energy stored in a subspace that holds the majority of the structure’s mass. When I send my mana through the primary core – or, as you called it, acorn – it triggers the activation sequence, causing the carriage and horses’ mass to start being pulled from the subspace into the main world. The subspace also houses the energy required to construct and use the golem in the form of a mana battery. The battery works by decreasing the mana regeneration of the elf it is connected to by half while the connection is maintained, pulling the mana into the battery for later use.”

  Right, simple my splintery ass. He’s probably trying to show off since I basically told his girlfriend to shut up. Well jokes on you, I understood at least 90% of that.

  “I see. So, the golem requires the use of multiple skills to craft, including what I assume is Spatial Magic or something similar to create the subspace that houses everything, Enchanting to create the mana battery and the draining effect, and a few other odd balls to wrap it up. I can see that your ancestor was quite the craftsman.”

  Elvis seemed impressed that I was able to name two of the skills likely required to make it, but also pleased that I was aware of how great the construct was.

  I can clearly see how awesome it is. I just don’t like you two. I can also see that the way to get this guy to do what I want is by flattery. Brown-nosed, long-eared bastard. But there’s no way that I’ll get what I need from this. It’s so far beyond what I can do right now that I don’t even want to think about it.

  As Elvis continued bathing in my praise and Silvan was sulking at my earlier comments, I continued to examine the creation in my greeting room. It really was a remarkable piece of equipment. But it would be quite a while before I came even close to getting something like this made.

  Maybe I should give up on making golems until I acquired the skill for it. I mean, I’m only like 11 levels away, right? It’ll come in no time.

  I continued trying to contemplate the methods necessary to create such a thing for several more hours. The elves eventually got over themselves and started to talk to each other. I eventually disconnected from them, at which point they took it as a sign to head to their room.

  When night came, with its partner darkness, I gave up. There was just no way I was going to get something like this done, and I didn’t want to probe it with my mana in case I messed something up and the elves used that as an excuse to force me into leaving with them.

  I spent the rest of the night just making copious amounts of mana water and contemplating other skills to work on. I had gotten so good at the mana condensation skill that it no longer requires my full attention.

  Well, I can condense mana and dirt, so what else can I condense?

  Once morning came, I decided to take that question and roll with it. It was time to squish some things.

  Discord Here!