Chapter 65: Mithril Golem.

Chapter 65: Mithril Golem.
The air inside the cave was particularly murky, indicating that it hadn't been refreshed by the wind for a long time. Xi Si and the others walked forward slowly, advancing only when they felt that the air quality was acceptable, and only for a short distance.
In this cave, there is surprisingly no miscellaneous items. There are no spider webs, no scattered trash, and the ground is clean - except for a thick layer of dust.
As Xisi and the others turned a corner, something that surprised them appeared in front of them.
That is a colossal golem, presenting a metallic silver hue throughout its body, with sporadic areas of rust-colored copper. Magic runes are carved all over its body, crawling densely in every corner. Both arms and half of a leg have already fallen off its torso, lying beneath a thick layer of dust. The entire golem lies silently in a recess of the stone wall, its lifeless eyes staring at the cave ceiling. The shape of the recess perfectly matches the golem's figure, as if it had been forcefully crashed into the wall, resulting in this damaged state.
In the corner near the golem, there lies a box silently. The box is half-opened, filled with papers and scrolls. By estimating the thickness of the dust here, Caesar concluded that no one has been here for nearly a millennium. Those papers and scrolls haven't decayed, indicating only one possibility: they are either enchanted with magic or are magic scrolls themselves.
Gago stepped forward and carefully examined the broken leg of the golem, then turned to the crowd and said, "This is mithril, the entire golem is made of mithril! But it's strange that the quality of this mithril seems subpar."
"According to records in ancient texts, long ago, the goblin civilization possessed the ability to create silver golems. These were a new concept of constructed beings: they had unmatched speed compared to other mechanical creatures, swiftly demolishing any obstacles in their path. What made them even more terrifying was their near-immunity to all forms of magic. Their design purpose was to protect their masters, the great magicians, even in the face of light spells. Even the most accomplished arcane practitioners would not choose to engage in direct combat with these creations. They could essentially be considered the most powerful killing machines on the battlefield. Of course, there were other types of golems made from different materials, such as stone, steel, gold, and diamond... but none could match the overall capabilities of the silver golem. After the goblin civilization was wiped out, the methods for creating these creatures were also lost."
Xisai borrowed the already extinct goblin civilization to reveal the golem technique of the Northland High Tower Alliance mages of Eshiraya. Looking at the familiar runes, Xisai could almost be certain that this golem and its creator must also come from Eshiraya. Translated:
"It sounds like this thing can be mass-produced?" Gago looked at the colossal object in front of him. "But this would require a large amount of genuine mithril!"
"Don't worry, those are not real mithril. They have been transformed from iron blocks into mithril using a peculiar spell. Nowadays, this spell is basically lost," Cisse told Gago.
"'Basically...lost, what does that mean?'" The gray mist drifted to the front of the golem, slowly saying to Cessy.
Cessy looked at the mist and the magical inscriptions on the golem's body, slowly understanding the general idea of the situation. He carefully chose his words and said, "'I guess no one in this world knows this spell anymore, right?'"
"This world?" The gray mist floated motionless in mid-air, its two black eyes fixed on the sorcerer. After a while, it spoke again, "If...if you have that spell, could you fix this...golem?"
"Can!"
A gray mist swirled around the statue, drifting towards Westley and his companions. "Can you swear..."
Westley smiled as he looked at the red smoke. "Can."
"Then...that's good."
"I--Seth Eis, I swear I will do everything in my power to help you repair this golem." Seth raised his right hand and tapped twice on the spot where his heart was located---a gesture of oath.
"Are you the statue beneath this gap?" Xisi pointed to the wreckage below the statue and asked.
"..." After a moment of silence, the cloud of dust slowly spoke, "I am actually not this statue, but I am also him."
Huiwu slowly began to tell his story:
Thousands of years ago, in the midst of a war, I was a mage - although in reality, I couldn't really cast any spells. I only held the title because my father was one of the most powerful mages in the world at that time. I was born in the year when the war started, and my entire childhood was spent amidst the flames of battle.
At that time, all the children of the wizards automatically entered the Magic Academy to learn the secrets of spells. We looked at hundreds of thick books recording profound knowledge, trying to discover our own connection with the magic source. But I couldn't find anything. I was just a foolish child with no understanding of spells. However, I was the child of a great wizard, and I "must" have magical abilities.
So, I had no friends in my childhood - they were all busy frolicking in the ocean of sorcery; no family - they were constantly engaged in conflicts. All I had was a gift: this statue. As the situation of war grew more intense, dragons and demons started wreaking havoc, burdening the great mage and making them weary. That's when my father made this mithril statue as my eighth birthday present.
That was the only time I saw my father's face. As for my mother, maybe I saw her once when I was born. People I know say she was the owner of a magic tower. But as someone without magic, I could never reach that legendary tower.
My childhood and youth were spent with this idol, whose sole command was to protect my safety at all costs. It never left my side, silently accompanying me wherever I went.
The thing I love doing the most is chatting with it.
I can talk to it about snacks bought on the street, cute little animals, and even the clumsily made clay sculptures I create; instead of tangled curses, obscure magical runes, or any nasty mythical creatures! When I feel like going fishing, it's by my side; when I want to go for a stroll in the countryside, it's right there beside me; when I want to climb up a high mountain and see the end of the world, it's standing by my side.
I think, this is enough, this is what I want.
But I've always been a "great magician" child. When our enemies couldn't threaten my "invincible and profound" parents anymore, they came after me.
During an outing, my movements were discovered by enemies, and the only thing standing in front of me was this statue.
They fought relentlessly, as the statue swung its fist again and again, attacking the monsters with razor-sharp claws, sharp teeth, and spewing flames.
I cried, for the first time since the day I received this gift. I was sixteen that year.
The golem may have believed that it couldn't protect me while eliminating so many enemies, so it tightly embraced me, and we kept running, constantly escaping... It always held me in its arms, using its back to withstand the attacks of the villains, one by one.
I commanded him to let go of me, but he didn't listen - he used to always listen to me. We escaped to a dimensional portal, ready to pass through, when we were struck by the tail of the enemy leader, a gigantic black dragon. Under the immense impact, I passed out... When I woke up, I found myself lying here, and the golem was also in ruins.
In this secluded, dark cave, I am not afraid of the presence of the golem. However, there is no water or food, and the golem is severely damaged, almost falling apart. There is no way for me to escape this cave with it... In the end, I died. But even after death, I did not disappear, my spirit still lingers here, still watching over this golem.
After the golem realized that I was not making any movements, the magical runes on its body suddenly dimmed. I knew that it had voluntarily deactivated its self-repair spell... It wanted to continue accompanying me... I know...
Finally, I saw the soul of the golem! Yes, this golem has a soul! It lacks sensations, doesn't understand resistance, never contemplates, knows nothing of magic, and can't even speak; all it does is silently follow me. But, it has a soul.
Throughout my entire life, I had one wish...
The only thing I don't feel regretful about is that this wish came true.
And so, I became what I am now. No one can see me, and I wander here all day long, unable to stray too far from this place. This is the story of this statue, and it is also my own story.
"Wait a minute..." Gago, with red and swollen eyes, suddenly noticed a loophole in Grey Mist's words, "According to our dwarven records, there's no mention of such a century-long war." Translate the above Chinese into English and keep all @ matches.
"One more thing, according to the records of various long-lived species, thousands of years ago on the continent of Nord, humans were still primitive tribes... so where did the grand sorcerers come from?" Following that, the half-elf ranger voiced his doubts. Reply: It seems that the existence of powerful sorcerers in an era when humans were still primitive tribes raises questions.
“Nordic Continent?” Grey Mist was also a little confused.
“What he said should be true,” Xavier decided to vouch for Grey Mist, "As for the specific reasons, I apologize, but I can't reveal them right now..." After finishing his sentence, he sat on a rock, silent.
"Thank you, all of you..." Grey fog happily said, "So are we friends now?"
"Well, since you're so certain that it didn't lie, Sisi," Gago didn't continue asking about the plans for future actions, "So what do we do now? Do we continue investigating the powerful orcs in the mine?"
"Are you going to stay here all the time? Would you like to join us in finding a way to repair this statue? I think you would be happy to contribute your efforts in this process!" Nino turned to the broken body of the statue with swollen eyes and said, "Come along, you are too lonely here by yourself."
(End of this Chapter)