The Guardian of the Mine

Confirmed, of course I confirmed. Finally being able to open my own private space—I always thought I didn't have one, but it turns out it only unlocks at level 10. Now I'm officially a qualified professional.

As soon as he confirmed, he felt a white light shine down from above, just like leveling up, incredibly soothing. In his sea of consciousness, where the Book of the Dead was stored, a small square-shaped thing appeared. He tapped it lightly, and it opened. Eight across, eight down, sixty-four small compartments appeared before him. So this was his storage space.

He eagerly took out the mining contract and placed it inside. Sure enough, it fit perfectly. With a thought, he retrieved it again—incredibly convenient. "Heh, not bad. Finally, I can live a decent life. No more worrying about starving or dying of thirst out in the wild." Li Shaolin suddenly thought of his days by Stone Tablet Lake and couldn't help but tear up.

After the excitement, he suddenly remembered that giant golden-named golem. How was it even created? And wasn't he only supposed to be able to have one golem? What was going on? Thinking back carefully, he had summoned three golems total. The first was shattered by Hogger, the second got lost, and the third was right beside him. It seemed this was the lost golem, which must have returned to the mine later. But how did it level up to 17?

Wait—"created from the blood and souls of all living things"—could it mean the tens of thousands of Kobolds in the mine? Those Kobolds were all slaughtered by the Ghoul Legion summoned by that Death Knight, blood flowing everywhere, corpses covering the ground. Later, he remembered the adventurers talking about it at the inn, saying there wasn't a single corpse left. Could the golem have absorbed them? And after absorbing the blood essence of tens of thousands of creatures, it mutated?

Suspicious, he mentally commanded the golden golem to move, but it stood completely still. A thought came back to him: "Master!" It seemed this golem could no longer fully accept his control, or perhaps it couldn't form a spiritual connection. Did it have a mind of its own? Still, at least it still recognized him as its master and hadn't turned rebellious. Right, he should ask that thing in his sea of consciousness—it seemed able to answer questions. Though he didn't know how it existed in his mind, it felt emotionless and mechanical, like a computer. Could it be my computer? Or maybe the Buddha arranged it to answer my questions? He thought maliciously.

"Hey, are you there? I've got a question!" Li Shaolin shouted in his mind. He shouted twice, but no one answered. Strange! Forget it, I'll just say it directly: "Do you know where this golem came from? How did it evolve to gold? Can a golem betray me?" When he asked the third question, that deep voice finally spoke: "Your summons can never attack you, betray you, or disobey your commands."

"Hey, hey," finally a response, he quickly added, "Then do you know why it won't follow my orders?" But it was like a stone sinking into the sea—no matter how he called, there was no reply.

"Does this thing only answer specific questions?" Li Shaolin groaned inwardly. Still, at least he knew the golem couldn't betray him, which was a relief. Even if he couldn't command it now, probably due to his level or something, he should be able to fix that after leveling up. Sigh, this thing looked incredibly powerful, but he couldn't store it in the Book of the Dead. What a shame.

A sudden idea struck him—why not have it guard the mine? He waved at the golden golem, signaling it to come over. Sure enough, it understood his gesture. The soft mud beneath it rippled, and without a sound, it was right beside him. He pointed at the ground, wanting it to lower itself, but the golem seemed to misunderstand. It softened into a puddle of mud, spreading on the ground, and in an instant merged with the earth, leaving no trace.

"Didn't think it had this trick!" Li Shaolin was overjoyed. If he could control it, this would be a perfect ambush move—too awesome. He tried calling out to the ground, and sure enough, the golem slowly emerged again. It could actually understand his speech.

After trying to communicate for a while, he finally figured it out. The golem could only understand simple commands, couldn't form a spiritual connection with him, couldn't speak or initiate communication, and its only conscious thought was "Master!" It had about the intelligence of a three-year-old child. What he didn't know was that the golem's faint intelligence came from the many professionals who had died in the mine. Their blood essence was absorbed by the golem, granting it a spark of wisdom. And the golem's mutation and ability to exist independently beyond summoning limits hid a huge secret—it wasn't just about absorbing the blood of all living things.

Since he couldn't take it out anyway, why not have it guard the mine? For one, having someone of his own here gave him peace of mind. For another, it would serve as a deterrent to the Stonefield Family, keeping them in line. Decision made, he left the golem there and went out to talk to Homor.

He dismissed the golem and Skeleton Warrior, then walked out along the path to the mine entrance. Unnoticed, it was already noon. The miners were eating lunch. Groups of them sat on the ground, holding black bread and pumpkin soup, chatting about this and that. Big Homor was eating the same way, with no air of a supervisor at all. When he saw Li Shaolin come out, he grinned sheepishly and hurried over: "Having lunch? Want some? There's better white bread over there, but I'm used to this stuff, heh." He waved his black bread, a little embarrassed.

"Sure, just grab me a couple of bread rolls. I'll take you into the mine to meet someone," Li Shaolin said.

Homor smiled, turned, and walked into a nearby wooden shack. The workers, seeing their supervisor so polite to him, assumed he was some high-ranking family member and quickly moved out of the way, afraid to cause any trouble. Of course, Li Shaolin had never held any petty official post, so he had no airs about him. Homor came out in no time, holding two fragrant white bread rolls and a small flask of water. He grinned and said, "So, shall we go now?" This guy was clearly impatient.

Taking the bread and biting into it, Li Shaolin led Homor into the mine. As they walked, the seated miners greeted Homor, showing he was well-liked. "My Lord Li, do you have another servant in charge here? Why inside the mine? Let him come out and eat too," Homor said. He wasn't surprised at the idea of another person—after all, the two families were partners, so sending someone was expected—but going straight into the mine seemed pointless, since work hadn't started yet.

Li Shaolin smiled without explaining. "Just go in and see."

It didn't take long for them to reach the spot where the golden golem was. By then, it had dissolved into the earth, nowhere to be seen. Li Shaolin shouted twice into the mine, and the echoes spread. Homor was puzzled. What was this master doing? Shouting at an empty place with not a bird in sight?

Just as Homor was wondering, the dirt on the ground slowly piled up, as if drawn by some force, and in moments formed a three-meter-tall green-skinned giant before them. Its sharply defined muscles radiated explosive power—even a casual wave of its hand would carry immense destructive force. Homor's vision went dark, and he quickly grabbed Li Shaolin's clothes, shouting, "Watch out!" while stepping in front of him.

"Uh, don't worry. This is the person I wanted you to meet," Li Shaolin said, seeing Homor's misunderstanding. He was actually impressed by Homor's courage to face the golden golem head-on.

"Him? A monster?" Homor's mouth fell open in shock, completely confused.

"You know I'm a mage, right? This is an earth elemental servant a friend helped me summon using the power of the earth. Not a monster," Li Shaolin explained.

"Heh, I don't understand all that high-and-mighty stuff. If you say so, then it's so. Is it dangerous?" Even though the Green Earth Giant just stood there silently, Homor was still uneasy.

"Yeah, this earth elemental can understand human speech but can't talk. I want it to help you watch over the mine. What do you think?" Li Shaolin said.

"Helping is fine, but will it listen to me? And it might be bad if the workers see it."

Li Shaolin thought for a moment. "I can make it obey you, but it can't leave the mine. It usually turns into flowing earth to guard inside, so the workers won't notice. But you must promise not to tell anyone else—except your family's patriarch, of course." After all, fooling ordinary people with the golem was one thing, but if a high-level mage saw through it, that could cause trouble. Still, unlike a Skeleton Warrior, this thing was made of pure earth power, so it should be fine.

Homor nodded. "Alright. This mine is huge, and having it guard it will save me a lot of worry. Don't worry—your word is the patriarch's word. I won't tell a soul."

They discussed a bit more. Li Shaolin called the golden golem over, let it get familiar with Homor, and gestured for it to obey Homor. True to its nature as an essence of all things, it quickly understood his meaning without much trouble.

He ordered the golem to dissolve into the earth and guard the mine, then the two quickly walked out. The workers had already started their shift. Just then, Homor tugged at his sleeve and said, "There's something I want to tell you. It's about the Makrolen Family."