Soilless Cultivation

"Nothing, nothing." Lich Old Man gave a hearty laugh, his face beaming as he tried hard to look like he had merely done something insignificant.

Waving a hand, Lich Old Man said, "It's really nothing. While you were away, I was bored and just tinkered around a little. This was the result. It's not good for much besides doing odd jobs, digging holes, carrying things, and the like. Sometimes it makes mistakes while working, too. Don't think too highly of it."

Even as Lich Old Man spoke, the skeleton digging in the distance used too much force and flung its iron shovel away. Grasping at empty air, the skeleton continued digging in place several more times before it realized what had happened. It slowly turned its head, scanned around, located the iron shovel, then trudged over, bent down to pick it up, and returned to the edge of the Dirt Pit to continue digging.

Richard could not help smiling inwardly at the sight, but he did not underestimate it because of that. He said to Lich Old Man, "Perhaps this skeleton works roughly and makes mistakes easily, but its internal structure is still quite precise. Especially the design of the rotating mechanisms and the weight balancing. In my opinion, those required no small amount of mathematical knowledge—Mr. Afu, I underestimated you before. Your learning is greater than I thought."

"Hehe, it's nothing, nothing," Lich Old Man said dismissively. "Actually, I was planning to add another arm to this skeleton, installed at its chest. That would make it more convenient for it to work."

"Three arms? Not a bad idea." Richard paused before adding, "But with an extra arm, you'll have to rebalance the weight to keep it from affecting the center of gravity. The structure of its back will need