Just as Helos was so shocked she couldn’t say a word, the analysis screen flickered again.
New lines of text slowly appeared:
[Confirmed Conclusion: The owner of this blood does indeed possess the ability to resist the “Vow of Silence.”]
[Moreover, the blood itself has a special property, allowing it to be immune to interference from external mana.]
[If this blood is fused with a Mana Core, the core will be able to release mana without being suppressed by the “Vow of Silence.”]
Helos stared blankly at these words, her pupils suddenly contracting.
“Is this for real? Isn’t this too unbelievable?”
So, even though she still hadn’t unraveled all of Julius’s secrets, she had accidentally discovered a new use for his blood.
Well, there would be more opportunities in the future; one day, she’d completely unravel this mystery.
Helos pursed her lips and smiled. The gloom in her heart instantly faded quite a bit.
In any case, she could now continue advancing her own plans.
Helos took a deep breath and raised the glass bottle of blood to her eyes. The crimson liquid inside appeared thick and viscous.
“Since your blood can negate the curse’s suppression, it’s time for you to be put to real use.”
She glanced at the Mana Core sitting on the table.
Right, a single core wouldn’t be enough to power everything. Relying on just one probably couldn’t support the entire golem.
The girl pondered for a moment, tapped her finger, and brought out three more pure white cores in succession. She also separated the previously fused core and lined them up neatly on the workbench.
“Let’s try fusing them all together.”
She carefully poured the fresh blood evenly over the cores. Beads of blood rolled slowly down the smooth crystal surface, eventually being absorbed into them.
Helos immediately closed her eyes, focused her mind, and activated Fusion Alchemy:
[Alchemy: Fusion.]
The cores suddenly lit up, and at the boundary where blood and core met, a blinding light burst forth, flickering like a flame.
Helos’s face was illuminated in shifting brightness and shadow. She stared intently, not daring to relax for even a moment.
The blood began to seep into the cores. Scarlet patterns started to appear on the once-lustrous surfaces, weaving and intertwining, spreading to the other three cores.
The four crystals started to tremble, then slowly drew together, as if some invisible force was pulling them tightly together.
***
Moments later, the light flared up with a roar.
When Helos opened her eyes again, she was no longer looking at several scattered crystals, but at a single core radiating interlaced red and white light.
It pulsed gently, as if breathing, with faint rhythms sensed within.
Helos held her breath and reached out to gently cradle the core.
A prompt from the analysis alchemy soon followed:
[Composite Life Core]
[Formed by fusing multiple Mana Cores with special blood, it can stably supply a large amount of mana and is immune to external interference.]
The girl paused in astonishment, then couldn’t help but curl her eyes and lips in an irrepressible smile.
“It worked…”
Her voice was barely audible, yet full of irrepressible joy.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, Helos slapped her forehead and hurriedly opened her recipe directory.
Doesn’t this count as a brand new recipe?!
She held her breath, eyes full of expectation as she stared at the floating directory list, eyes sparkling.
Yet in the next second, her smile froze on her face.
The new entry that had appeared was unexpectedly classified under the [Mana Core] submenu.
“Damn it—!”
Helos stamped her foot in frustration, nearly flipping the table. “Why isn’t this considered a new recipe!!”
She slumped into her chair, cradling her head in both hands, her chest feeling tight and uncomfortable.
She had clearly thought of and researched this result herself, yet it was only counted as a variant of an old recipe?!
How is this not cyber fraud?!
“Forget it… Let’s just finish the task at hand first.”
The girl sighed helplessly, temporarily suppressing her complaints and focusing her gaze back on the center of the workbench.
There, the Life Core hovered quietly—created from the fusion of four Mana Cores and fresh blood, its surface shimmered with interlaced red and white luster.
It pulsed softly, like a real heart breathing, radiating a faint warmth.
Helos picked up the core, feeling the subtle tremor beneath her fingertips, her own heartbeat unconsciously accelerating in rhythm with it.
“All right, next, let’s have you become one with the golem.”
She walked to the golem’s chest, carefully embedding the core into the newly repaired magic array.
With a light click, the core immediately lit up with a dazzling circle of light.
Helos instantly activated Fusion Alchemy. The light spread at once, expanding from the core throughout the entire golem.
The girl held her breath, so tense she nearly forgot to blink.
In the next moment, from deep within the silent golem’s chest came a low, steady pulse.
Helos’s pupils contracted sharply, her eyes locked on the golem before her.
That sound—it was like a real heartbeat.
The golem’s incomplete fingertips trembled ever so slightly.
It moved?!
The only remaining left arm trembled, the fingers clenching and unclenching.
Then, the golem’s head slowly lifted, and in its hollow eye socket, a faint flicker of light appeared.
It seemed to be trying to stand up, but with its missing right arm and incomplete legs, even a slight movement was a struggle.
Its stiff left leg twitched slightly, but then, losing its balance, it crashed heavily back to the ground with a dull “thud.”
The golem lay on the ground, its left arm still trembling, as if subconsciously trying to support itself. But each attempt ended in failure due to missing components.
Helos’s heart clenched. She hurried forward, half crouched, and placed her hand gently above its chest.
“Don’t move!”
As soon as she spoke, she realized she had shouted almost by instinct.
But then, something incredible happened.
The trembling left arm stopped immediately. The broken joint froze midair, not making another sound.
Helos froze, barely daring to breathe.
“It really understood me?”
She tentatively withdrew her hand, her eyes locked tightly on the golem.
It remained motionless, making no further attempts to move, nor showing any sign of defying her command.
Helos had still been crouching to observe, when suddenly, she felt something strange.
Slowly, she looked up—
In that only remaining eye socket, the faint light flickered on and off.
Like an unsteady candle flame, yet unmistakably carrying a sense of “watching.”
The girl’s heart tightened sharply.
It was clearly just a broken golem, never supposed to have emotions or awareness. Yet, at this moment, that sole eye socket was fixed steadily on her.
Helos took a deep breath, a flicker of hesitation passing through her heart.
But that flickering light was still watching her closely, as if waiting for something.
“…Don’t be afraid, I just want to check something.”
She murmured, slowly reaching out her hand.
The instant her fingertips touched, she felt cold metal.
The shell had long since lost its former luster; to the touch it was rough, with faint cracks.
At that very moment, the light in the golem’s eye socket suddenly brightened.
Helos reflexively wanted to draw back, but then stopped in surprise.
Because it didn’t move.
No struggle, no rampage.
It just maintained its broken, rigid posture, as if enduring with all its might. In that only eye socket, the tiny light quivered ever so slightly, but followed her every move unwaveringly.
Poor thing.