Before him stood a human and a... "monster." Both had passed in front of him several times.
One was called Roche, or Master.
The other was called Teacher, or Caster.
"Let's try adding Magic Circuits."
Teacher spoke.
Roche nodded in agreement.
"Then let's use the Artificial Lifeforms in this section..."
He pondered the meaning of those two sentences.
Magic Circuits were the simulated nerves required to use magecraft. Artificial Lifeforms, himself included, were creations whose bodies were built around them.
Then what did adding mean?
What did "adding" mean...?
Suddenly, a chill crawled up his spine.
Memory search results:
The conversation between the individual "Roche" and the individual "Teacher" indicated that their objective was to create Golems capable of using magecraft.
Golems were not Artificial Lifeforms made of flesh and blood, but mechanical Dolls assembled from earth, stone, wood, and paper.
Creation entailed "consumption," and "consumption" meant both gain and loss.
If they were creating "Golems capable of using magecraft," then the "consumables" used to add Magic Circuits to them must be "Artificial Lifeforms with Magic Circuits," like himself.
He finally understood what that chill was.
"Consumption" meant destruction, and "destruction" meant death.
Although they were born knowing that word existed, they had never understood it.
"Then let's start with... uh... this one, this one, and this one."
He had been selected.
He was about to become the next material to be "consumed."
He would soon "die."
In an instant, that inexplicable terror seemed to clutch his throat to suffocate him, to seize his heart and send him into shock.
Somewhere within his mind, the sixty percent that had originally accounted for everything suddenly shifted from silence to turmoil and began warning him.
Now, as those two people left, he realized he still had a brief reprieve before he would