Back in his dorm room, Herad took the Magic Crystal out of his pocket, set it on the desk, and began meditating to restore his mana.
Processing a Magic Crystal was not particularly demanding, except that it consumed quite a bit of mana.
The mana output might have been steady during the process, but it was like a pump drawing water.
The pool was only so large. Keep pumping, and sooner or later it would run dry.
Herad only had the mana reserves of an intermediate mage.
He had to work on it in fits and starts, over many sessions, to produce a single Arcane Core.
Every time he resumed after stopping, he had to patiently locate the magic energy node he had left off at.
That was why mages only learned to make arcane golems once they reached the level of an advanced mage.
How much mana did an advanced mage have?
Even ten intermediate mages put together could not compare to one advanced mage!
Their mana reserves were immense, allowing them to finish etching over ten thousand magic energy nodes in a single session.
Mana was a mysterious substance, a wondrous product of the fusion of mental power and magical energy.
It could not be used directly for offense or defense, but it could activate all sorts of magical elements.
Magical elements were like flames, while mana was the fuel.
Once a spellcaster supplied mana, the magical elements would unleash their power.
In Quel'Thalas, where magical energy was abundant, High Elf mages could restore their mana with ease.
As a result, magical items cost far less to make there than in the Human Kingdom.
In the Human Kingdom, producing a single Arcane Core would cost at least a thousand gold coins.
Even in the Magic Kingdom of Dalaran, built atop a ley line node, production costs were only slightly lower.
The Sunwell was a fountain of magical energy, while a ley line node was merely a point where it leaked out. The two were nowhere near comparable!
After his brief meditation, Herad went back to working on his Arcane Core.
Several sessions later, the complete Arcane Core was finally finished.
He had no intention of selling this Arcane Core, which was suitable for use in an arcane golem.
He already had all the magical materials needed for an arcane golem.
It was time to make an arcane golem of his own!
Owning an arcane golem as an intermediate mage was a little conspicuous.
But Herad's full name was Herad Dawnblade.
As a member of a prominent family, he had considerable resources at his disposal.
It would be perfectly plausible for him to buy a finished one.
The Arcane Core on the desk rapidly absorbed the surrounding magical energy to fill itself.
As magical energy poured in, the Arcane Core's arcane glow grew increasingly dazzling.
Glancing at the ever-brighter arcane glow, Herad casually placed a cover over the Arcane Core.
With that light pollution dealt with, he began concentrating on shaping the arcane golem's body.
Under the effects of Turn Fossil to Mud, the granite softened and could be molded at will.
Before transmigrating, Herad had been a game programmer.
He had also studied art on the side, reaching a level where he could work as a game artist.
Although those memories had lain dormant for years, they were still perfectly clear once awakened.
All sorts of gorgeous, stylish game models were right at his fingertips!
Still, an arcane golem with too outlandish an appearance might well attract the attention of important figures.
In the end, Herad's first arcane golem retained a fairly abstract overall style.
What distinguished it from a traditional arcane golem was its complete torso.
Traditional arcane golems had much of their torsos missing, with only the upper section intact.
That half-torso served to connect the shoulders and head.
The abdomen below the chest was hollow, with a Magic Crystal connecting the upper and lower body.
The arms were likewise connected to the shoulders by Magic Crystals.
This bizarre design was the result of research by specialists in ancient times.
Supposedly, it saved materials without affecting functionality.
In ancient times, the Elves had not yet split into High Elves and Night Elves.
The Elves of that era were far more powerful than their present-day counterparts!
As such, arcane golems had never even seen a battlefield.
Since they did not have to go into battle, leaving their Magic Crystals exposed was naturally no problem.
Besides, the arcane energy gathered within the Magic Crystals kept them from being easily destroyed.
Herad, however, could not stand that design.
He made a few small alterations to his arcane golem, adding armor to protect the gaps.
After those minor alterations, the arcane golem looked more human.
Standing still, it would look like a suit of stone armor.
What this arcane golem shared with traditional ones was the arcane energy flowing through the arcane runes on its body.
An arcane golem using arcane energy-there was certainly nothing wrong with that!
Surveying his masterpiece, Herad nodded in satisfaction.
Yes, a golem ought to look like a golem.
What kind of golem was one that was all bits and pieces?
The enormous arcane golem sat quietly beside the desk.
Without orders from its master, the arcane golem was almost indistinguishable from a stone statue.
Only the constant flickering of arcane light in its eye sockets showed that it was functioning normally.
At present, Herad had no suitable work for the arcane golem.
The dorm room was only about four meters high, so the arcane golem could not even stand upright.
It therefore sat on the floor, answering Herad's various questions.
This peculiar question-and-answer session was meant to gauge its intelligence.
Herad would never have dared put the arcane golem at the entrance to the Moon Temple through this.
Constantly hovering around it and asking questions would trigger its alarm.
Before long, the person in charge would come over and start yelling.
With his own arcane golem, of course, he could ask whatever he pleased.
After gathering data through repeated questions, Herad arrived at an objective assessment of the arcane golem's intelligence.
It was roughly on the level of a kindergarten child.
Kindergarten children could distinguish familiar people from strangers.
They knew they could do one thing but not another.
Although their way of distinguishing good from bad was overly rigid, there was nothing wrong with acting according to that set of standards.
Once he had obtained the data he wanted, Herad put the arcane golem into sleep mode.
He then began considering ways to improve the arcane golem's intelligence.
The intelligence of arcane golems depended on the grade of their Arcane Cores.
The more magic energy nodes an Arcane Core contained, the more intelligent the arcane golem would be.
A hulking brute that guarded doors and patrolled in peacetime, then charged mindlessly into battle, naturally did not need much intelligence.
Herad was not entirely satisfied with his arcane golem's intelligence.
He opened the concealed hatch in the arcane golem's chest, reached inside, pressed his hand against the Arcane Core, and began making the necessary modifications.
A highly intelligent program was a vast system composed of one piece of logic after another.
The more logic it contained, the more demanding its chip requirements became.
An Arcane Core worked much the same way.
Only after the hardware improved could its intelligence be increased.
While Herad was busy enhancing the Arcane Core, a Dragonhawk hatchling landed on the windowsill and gently tapped the glass with its beak.
Seeing the Dragonhawk hatchling, which was smaller than a rooster, Herad opened the window in puzzlement.
The instant he reached out and touched it, the Dragonhawk hatchling abruptly vanished.
All that remained was a scroll emitting an arcane glow.
"A Magic Messenger! Who's being this extravagant?"
Muttering to himself, Herad tapped the scroll on the windowsill.
Once activated, the scroll slowly floated up and unfurled before him.
The purple lettering formed from arcane energy was strikingly vivid, as though it intended to etch itself into the reader's mind.
After skimming the sprawling, several-hundred-word letter and skipping its opening and closing flourishes, Herad turned it back into arcane energy and let it dissipate.
Most of the letter consisted of flowery embellishments, and its contents rambled on at length.
Once boiled down, however, there was very little substance.
Herad's condensed version was simple.
"Kid, I've noticed you're quite capable. I've already signed you up for this year's Spell Tournament."
The Spell Tournament was held every year.
Magic Academies throughout the High Elf kingdom took part.
The Spell Tournament divided contestants according to their year of study.
Although dark horses occasionally emerged, the odds were extremely low.
After all, High Elf mages trained so little that such coincidences were unlikely to occur.
Herad, however, who had advanced to intermediate mage, happened to be precisely such a dark horse.
And the biggest dark horse of them all!
Before you continue