15 Angels in the Bedroom

After I left Solomon's room I felt like pieces to a grand puzzle were now in my fingertips as I gripped the book. This was everything I needed to fill some of the gaps where magic was placed in everyday life. We had argued for over an hour about the efficiency of the now water power plant that had a mana converter attached to it able to supply the nation's magic suits. In the end I conceded due to my lack of knowledge about what was currently accessible in this society.

Taking longer than normal walking back to my dorm, I flipped through hundreds of pages like a fanboy that had been waiting for the next book of my favorite novel. Hundreds of new ideas formulating, and being tested in my head that I nearly ignored the notification that tasks were complete.

Looking at my spoils I was happy, there was a lot of gold found this time, this was almost as lucrative as starting to sell wares as a real alchemist.

'Resources found: 168 gold, 18 upgrade tickets, 12 repair tickets, 1 growth catalyst, 120 iron, 14 fertile soil, 10 wood'

My theories were right, the more I dug the less potential the land carried. Eventually the ground would probably only have raw resources. Soon I would have to progress to another activity that would gain me an advantage otherwise it would be a slow grind making a strip mine of this place.

Turning my focus to the buildings I could make, a few more cake available that I didn't see before. I immediately bought one of them placing in front of the big hole in the ground separated by three squares.

'Farm: Requires 10 fertile soil, five iron, 10 wood. Start growing plants that don't require a biome other than grassland.'

Making one of the Orcs work on it, five hours would pass before it was built. This was probably the direction that this was headed, though I couldn't be sure without more information. Even if it wasn't I doubted there was anything useless within the system so everything would be worth it to eventually get.

The only question I had was where would I find seeds to plant for the farm, and if a basic worker could work the farm. I still lacked resources for any other building except foundation stones, and any of the basic castle features. Using my resources I added a few foundation stones to some of the holes I had dig, telling the building Orc to continue doing these jobs as the others were ordered to dig even more.

Tapping across the screen I noticed something had changed to the outside lands, tapping at the anomaly a screen came up.

'Budding ??? Tree: 14 days until mature.'

A thought came into my head, and I rushed to my room only to be stopped by the blinking red light ahead. Someone had activated my defenses.

"Deactivate!" I yelled at the door before swinging it open, the smell of various herbs were in the air which meant that quite a few poisons were used in this room. In the middle of the room was a man his body red and inflamed, twitching as foam came from his mouth. He wasn't restrained in any way, but there was no way he could move, bone locking poison spreading through his body.

———-

Two Hours Prior:

'This kid is giving me a headache, I've had to report things day in and day out.' Ever since he woke up from his deathbed Nikolai had been giving this spy daily exercises that would have him reporting in. First was his amazing growth in magic, then him calling out the name of the world tree, and today he created more healing products than a team of skilled alchemists.

A deep sigh spread throughout the hidden tunnels as the man skillfully made his way back to Nikolai's room. He was hoping that Nikolai would piss off Solomon in his first meeting, this would at least result in the kid being used for one of Solomon's Concoctions. The last one is still hospitalized, four months after the incident.

'At least the kid had good tea in his room,' the spy thought to himself as he undid the mechanism behind the painting. With a frown he scanned the room, it was messier than usual with things just thrown about that the kid had been messing with. If he wasn't part of a different faction, this would be a promising student as his knack of golem creation almost seemed inborn.

Flicking on the magical tool at his side an opaque cloud formed around the man's body making him seem to fuse with the darkness. In the dim rooms, with their constant lightstones shining inside of them the shadows were basically memorized by now. A curious new light though caught his attention as it glowed with a dim red light.

'The kid doesn't do anything without purpose, does he have some sort of sensor in the room?' The spy looked around, not seeing anything really out of the ordinary. Something buzzed closeby and tickled the back of his neck, and he smacked it absentmindedly. 'Flies this far into the dormitories?'

A slight itch came from the spot he had smacked, and he sighed, 'No a mosquito.' How could he be so unlucky to be bit by the one mosquito that made its trip down here? With a quick scratch he roamed the room, stepping carefully over small pieces of stone tossed to the side.

In his studies of the room he looked at three new golems that were in the room, they looked like deformed children which sent a chill down his spine. They were too far down the slope of the uncanny valley, luckily they were not up to par to be painted. With color these things could give nightmares, in the monochrome grey they only got nervous looks from the statues. "Little angel kids, what's this guy's problem?"

Looking away from them, he heard something move and glanced back at them, "Was that one always smiling like that?" The doubt made him take a few steps back into one of the shadows, scratching at his neck.

"I really need some tea." Quickly going to the heater and kettle, he gave a wide berth to the angel statues and started making tea. As he reached for the heater a flame burst forth catching the tips of his fingers. "Son of a.."

Movement!

He looked back, only to see the statues again all of them facing him. "Okay, this isn't my imagination. These damn golems are really getting to me." Setting the tea kettle onto the burner, he scratched the side of his neck.

The shadows weren't as comfortable to him as they once were, making him worry that something could be hidden in them. A series of curses rang out as he heard movement again, swearing that the statues were now about a foot closer.

'After this next report I'm done, I'm over this kid.' He knew that was a foolish thought as they would never let him stop spying on someone just because he asked. His nerves were really getting to him tonight though.

With a quick glimpse back he caught it, the golem was now mear inches from him with arms outstretched as if to hug him. "Son of a whore!" He yelled out in shock, taking a few steps back and grabbing the kettle. It's steps had been silent this time, he haven't noticed that it moved, a lump of stone moving quietly was impossible.

"No, it moved too quickly. You know what? I'll take the hit to my record." He kicked forward as hard as he could and he felt like he had just kicked a steel pole. That would surely bruise his leg for weeks to come, his eyes darting all around as he limped away from the statue. "Nothing that hard should be able to move, not with his mana reserves at least!"

Knowing they don't move when he watches them, he backed up slowly to the wall, keeping the two in his vision the whole time. He didn't know what to do anymore as he scratched at his chest, "Wait.." he retracted his hand looking at the small blisters along his chest. "When was I poisoned?"

Something hard suddenly pierced into his side, making him smash his fist into it, rocks crumbling under his fists. He knew it was too late though, the claws of the creature was almost definitely laced with poison. As he tried to rush to the painting he felt his body start to lock up. "Bone locking poison?"

With his body fighting off the other poisons this one went through his body at a record breaking pace. The last thing he saw before he passed out was the mocking glares of the angels at they stared at him.