Chapter 7: Heart of the Colossus

The return journey was uneventful.

Feeling a bit bored, I kicked at the bodies lying on the roadside.

‘I’d like to take these guys with me and make use of them somehow.’

Maybe I could sneak a couple away.

Even if they were wretched addicts, they were still mages.

As raw materials, they could be extremely useful.

But I couldn’t carry out that idea.

These guys were practically the property of the Swordsmaster’s Guild.

They siphoned their own magical energy daily to buy drugs.

They were like parasitic insects for the gang.

Killing them recklessly would undoubtedly provoke the swordsmen into a frenzy.

In the distance, a sign reading <Evron’s Doll Workshop> came into view.

It was the home I had painstakingly built over ten years.

Excluding the slum’s central district, it was arguably the most intact building around.

How much had I suffered to claim this building? The memory of those damn swordsmen threatening me with their blades still made my heart tremble.

I opened the door and stepped inside.

The interior, densely packed with various dolls, immediately put my mind at ease.

The first thing I did was head to the reception desk, where a doll resembling a monkey lay sprawled.

I poked it with my hand.

‘Not broken, good.’

I infused magic into the doll, and it straightened its crumpled form in a hurry.

Standing on the reception desk, it began staring blankly at the store entrance.

This was the receptionist doll that managed the shop in my stead.

I had forgotten about it last night as I got drunk the moment I returned.

I took a walk around the shop to check for any malfunctions.

***

It had been two weeks, so something could have gone wrong.

Luckily, everything was in perfect order.

‘Hm, as expected of my craftsmanship. Flawless.’

Leaving it to its work, I headed to the basement workshop.

‘Time to repair the dolls that were damaged during the trial.’

The recent trial had been a duel-based one, which was extremely challenging.

For someone like me, whose only offensive magic involved exploding my dolls, it had been a grueling ordeal.

Out of thirty duels over two weeks, I had only won twice, and that too by exhausting every doll I had.

Once all my dolls were destroyed, I just rolled around and forfeited the rest.

‘I’m not built for combat, okay?’

This time, my luck had truly run out.

I had prayed desperately for anything but a duel trial, only for it to appear.

Next time, I would pass for sure.

From beneath my robe, I retrieved a spatial pouch hidden within my steel corset.

This tiny pouch, enchanted with space-expansion magic, could store about a hundred dolls.

These dolls weren’t just my tools; they might as well have been more precious than my entire net worth.

I had stumbled upon this pouch through a stroke of fortune.

It wasn’t something that belonged in a slum.

If anyone ever saw it, bloodshed would surely follow, so I always kept it tightly hidden.

When I turned it upside down, the dolls broken during the trial tumbled out in heaps.

The sight of their wreckage made me sigh deeply.

‘Agh, it breaks my heart every time I take a trial. To think I have to put these kids through this.’

Sorting through the debris, I began selecting the relatively intact ones.

The most critical component was the magic core.

As long as the core survived, I could rebuild the body.

After searching, I found only three dolls with intact cores.

The rest were all beyond saving.

Many cores had been cleanly sliced.

‘That damn swordswoman.’

She had ruthlessly cut down my dolls without any regard.

At first, I had underestimated her because she was a woman, but as soon as the duel began, her eyes turned wild, and she started slicing my dolls without restraint.

She was the reason this trial had been a disaster.

I set aside the three salvageable ones and dumped the rest into the incinerator to burn.

They had lost their magic and were now just lumps of wood, completely worthless.

Trying to recycle them would only result in unusable scraps, so it was better to dispose of them like this.

As I watched the dolls burn into firewood, an unexplainable sadness welled up.

‘Ah, how it pains me to send you off like this. I’m sorry, kids. Next time, I’ll make you even stronger.’

I retrieved the insectoid dolls from my pocket as well.

Originally, I had carried a few hundred of these, but the trial had reduced their numbers to just ten.

Once again, that swordswoman came to mind.

I had painstakingly gathered about fifty of the insectoids together to execute a multi-explosion spell, but she stopped the explosions with just a few swings of her sword.

‘Damn swordsmen. They’re nothing but brutes who think of nothing but fighting!’

Grumbling, I used my magic to place the doll materials scattered throughout the workshop onto the crafting table.

‘Today, I’ll focus on laying a solid foundation. Let’s improve the broken dolls and create something better.’

First, I inspected the wood.

Saturated with magic, it had turned into a pure magical substance.

Magic oozed from its surface like liquid between my fingers.

‘Hm, perfect.’

My irritation dissipated, and my mind quickly calmed.

When creating dolls, I couldn’t afford to let stray thoughts interfere.

My entire focus had to be on the dolls, infusing them with all the potential of their materials.

I pushed all thoughts and emotions aside, awakening the tree within me.

Magic seeped from the leaves of the sapling and formed a steady current.

It flowed through my fingers and etched intricate patterns onto the magic-infused wood.

Following these patterns, I began carving the wood.

The designs pulsated lightly, as if breathing.

Achieving such ‘magical respiration’ had taken countless hours of practice.

I had spent days and nights carving, seeking the life energy’s essence the old man had spoken of.

Through that grueling training, I finally came to understand the flow of life energy.

It wasn’t just a matter of learning but a realization that transformed my innate magic to a higher level.

The magic coursed along the patterns of life and mana, gently breathing life into the dolls.

The magic within the wood was drawn into the patterns, transforming dozens of wooden pieces in the same way.

While the patterns absorbed magic, I extracted the cores from the three broken dolls.

Shaped like small wooden hearts, these cores were withered as though on the brink of death.

‘Their condition is dire. I’ll have to proceed with transplantation immediately.’

I placed the cores onto selected wooden pieces.

They were the most beautiful and solid among the materials, with the thickest and most intricate patterns.

The enchantments on the magic cores resonated faintly with the wood beneath them.

Soon, the patterns on the cores and wood intertwined, exchanging and circulating magic.

The cores absorbed magic from the wood, regaining vitality and lifting themselves upright.

‘Marvelous.’

I guided the fusion carefully.

However, I couldn’t control the entire process.

If I did, the magic cores would degrade into useless scraps.

Just as a mage must stand on their own, so must these magic cores.

The cores revived quickly, merging into the wood.

Thus, the foundation of new dolls was formed.

Now I had to craft bodies that matched them perfectly.

Observing the wood they had merged with, I rummaged for suitable materials.

Did they instinctively realize they had been given a second chance at life? The cores displayed stronger preferences than before.

One exhibited a wild, primal force, circulating magic aggressively.

Another enclosed itself tightly, like armor, protecting its essence.

The last one scattered its patterns leisurely, as if unconcerned with the world.

I named them First, Second, and Third, respectively.

This phenomenon wasn’t uncommon.

Magic cores bonded with my unique magic often developed distinct characteristics over time, and those resurrected after destruction showed such tendencies even more prominently.

‘Alright, let’s give you kids the perfect outfits.’

Imagining their future appearances, I started carving wood to suit their personalities.

For First, a wild beast-like form would be ideal.

Perhaps something akin to a leopard? No, its primal force far surpassed what a leopard could embody.

What about something like a burrowing monster? Or a mighty, multicolored eagle? None of those felt right.

The wild energy First exuded was unlike anything I had ever encountered.

‘I need something stronger. The most powerful creature on this entire continent.’

As I thought about it, one particular creature came to mind: a turtle. Yes, a turtle.

***

Twenty years ago, during my travels aboard an airship, I encountered a moving turtle.

The airship had immediately landed and hidden.

The mages on board had suppressed even the tiniest hint of magic, lying motionless as if dead.

Back then, I had never seen a turtle and didn’t understand the fear.

Curious, I had looked in the direction of the ground-trembling sounds.

Then, I saw it.

In that instant, I understood their terror.

When the turtle moved, mountains were crushed underfoot.

Tall peaks crumbled into the earth, and vast lakes disappeared.

To the turtle, no matter how deep or wide a lake was, it was nothing but a puddle.

The turtle destroyed everything in its path, heading towards the sea.

After witnessing that, I collapsed and remained unconscious for ten days.

A turtle was a powerful entity that roamed both land and sea.

It was a natural disaster in the shape of life itself, with a body rivaling a dragon’s and an untamed ferocity.

‘Yes, that’s the perfect form for First.’

But First alone wasn’t enough.

Its primal energy was unparalleled, but that was all.

Then, inspiration struck.

‘What if Second could act as armor, wrapping around First?’

The thought was exhilarating.

‘This could be beautiful.’

There was no way I could leave Third out of the equation.

Third would act as the bridge connecting them, serving as their second heart.

When these three hearts were joined together to create a single core, the ultimate turtle doll would be complete!

The harmony among the three hearts unfolded amidst a torrent of inspiration, sending chills down my spine.

And what if I built a shelter inside Third’s body, which would form the turtle’s interior?

I’d have my own moving workshop.

‘Why didn’t I think of this before?’

The thoughts kept flowing.

And if these three weren’t enough, I could always add more hearts.

By combining hearts with individual characteristics and uniting them, the turtle could become even more complete.

I continued carving a body that would suit them.

Piling up wood, I kept working with my blade, embedding rare materials into the structure.

‘I must pursue perfection.’

***

Several days passed.

I worked without rest, ignoring food and sleep, until I realized something.

‘Ah, this is a failure.’

It was a failure and it came at the very last step.

Each magic heart possessed its own individuality.

Like mages, they each had their own sense of completeness.

The turtle’s body was finished.

I had implanted the three hearts into various parts of it and connected them using my ‘magical respiration.’

I was confident of success.

But within the massive flow of magic, the three lost their individuality and merged into one.

Then, they were ejected from the doll.

‘I should have anticipated this.’

I reflected deeply.

I hadn’t maintained enough composure while crafting the doll.

My excitement had led me down the wrong path, and in the end, I failed.

But failure must be left as it is.

Since becoming a mage, I’d experienced countless failures.

This was just another one of them.

Calming my emotions, I took a deep breath.

The three hearts had been absorbed by the most encompassing flow—Third’s.

This didn’t make Third particularly stronger.

It merely gained temporarily heightened magical energy.

Over time, it would revert to its original state.

My body went limp with exhaustion.

I had created an enormous turtle doll large enough to fill the workshop, but there was no controller to operate it.

I stared blankly at my masterpiece.

Nearly all the materials I had stored in the workshop had been poured into it.

Its mountainous shell, the heavy legs capable of crushing terrain, and the void-like mouth that inhaled magic like mist—every detail of the turtle I had seen long ago was brought to life.

‘And yet, this is a failure?’

It was immensely frustrating.

All I needed was a suitable magic heart to bring this turtle to life.

But the three hearts had already merged into one.

Since the doll was built to fit only those three, no other heart could power it.

It had become nothing more than an enormous decorative statue.

***

Suddenly, a faint vibration stirred in my chest.

Startled by the intense pulse from the tree within me, I delved inward.

The sapling inside me was trembling with excitement, its leaves spilling magic and forming a grand spell.

‘Magical respiration.’ The tree was casting the spell on itself.

A sudden thought struck me like lightning.

No, it wasn’t my thought—it was the tree’s revelation from within my chest.

‘The magic heart!’

Every magic heart I created originated from the tree within me.

Despite their unique characteristics, if traced back to their roots, they all stemmed from my tree.

That meant the tree held the potential of all magic hearts within it.

Placing a hand on my chest, I felt the tree yearning to emerge.

‘Fine, I’ll become the magic heart myself.’

No doll could surpass the original source of all possibilities.

“I will become the turtle,” I whispered, linking the tree in my chest with the turtle’s flow.

A powerful pressure began to overwhelm me.

The turtle’s immense magic surged into this new connection, tearing my body apart.

My bones shattered, veins burst, and my body swelled as if ready to explode.

Desperately, I embedded the tree’s roots into my flesh.

The roots, which had previously intertwined with my bones and muscles, extended further, replacing them entirely.

Only when my skeletal framework had been wholly substituted with roots did the flow of magic stabilize.

My body was cracked all over, but I could endure better than before.

The deeper roots voraciously absorbed the turtle’s magic.

The sapling refined the absorbed energy and sent it back out, which then flowed along the connection and returned to the turtle.

‘What a beautiful cycle.’

I had become a magic heart, merging with the turtle.

Slowly, I and the turtle became one.

In this surreal state, where I could feel both my human body and the doll’s structure, I focused on the turtle’s sensations.

Lifting one leg, I took a step forward.

The workshop floor buckled under the turtle’s weight.

This overwhelming mass—this was exactly what I had been striving for.

A deep satisfaction made my body tremble.

The sapling in my chest quivered with joy as well.

Never before had it absorbed such immense magic.

Using the massive turtle doll as its foundation, the sapling began to grow rapidly.

It nearly doubled in size, radiating even more powerful magic and enhancing the ‘magical respiration.’

This, in turn, strengthened the bond between the turtle and me.

The once-separated entities were fusing into one.

But that was as far as I could go.

I instinctively knew I couldn’t proceed further.

My abilities were too underdeveloped.

If I tried to go beyond, I would lose my reason and become just another component of the doll.

Though it pained me as a mage to halt with enlightenment so close, I consoled myself with the thought that I had glimpsed the path forward.

Calming the tree, I naturally withdrew from the turtle’s body.

Examining myself, I found my body riddled with fractures, as if hastily pieced together.

I could feel the fragile cracks threatening to break apart at any moment.

‘I’ll have to spend the next two months recovering. No stepping outside the shop.’

Caught between immense fatigue and deep fulfillment, I collapsed onto the turtle’s back.

I was so exhausted.

As soon as my back touched its surface, I lost consciousness.