1997 Golem Crafting (Part 1)

"You are right. I have no sense of art, but I'm willing to learn." Morok replied with a gasp before dragging Quylla into a side room.

"I think it's out of the mind of an old drunken sailor as well." Nalrond pointed at the tower while looking at Friya.

"Very funny." She clicked her tongue, tilting her hips while putting her hands on them. "You already know about the tower and we've both seen Solus getting drunk. I've got no reason to sweet talk you out of this room."

"It was worth a shot." He replied with a sigh. "Attending a wedding brought back a lot of memories from my village and you are simply stunning in that dress."

He pointed at her attire that even though had been chosen in order to not outshine the bride it could do very little to hide her hourglass figure. The dull cream color just brought out her rosy skin and the lack of jewelry drew more attention to her eyes that sparkled like stars under the magical lights.

"Really?" Friya asked with a giggle.

"Really. Maybe it's because I saw how Lith changed from before to after getting married, but I wish I could be as brave as Kamila." He said.

"Are you proposing to me?" She asked in shock.

"Gods, no!" The flat refusal made Friya purse her lips in a thin line and steel her gaze. "I mean, we don't know each other for long and I've yet to find a way to fuse my life forces. Besides, without Lith's mines, I'm dirt poor and-"

"I'm rich enough for ten people." She cut his short with words first and then with a deep kiss. "You know what, maybe it's the wedding of my best friends or maybe I've drunk too much, but Quylla is right. I find the new tower romantic as well."

***

Between the drinks, the pleasant mood, and the jet lag, very few guests returned home after the end of the party. Most of them stayed for the night, enjoying Salaark's hospitality.

Lith, however, was on a clock and couldn't afford to waste time sleeping in. He woke up at dawn, ready for a long day in the Forge.

'Either the Royals summon me to make me a Magus or to help them with the war, I have to be ready for action the moment our deal is signed. A full pardon means having our home back and Dad needs good news.' He thought while dressing up.

Kamila was still deeply asleep from the moment she had touched the pillow the previous night. Between the stress from the marriage, the standing up all the time to chat with her guests, and the dance, she hadn't even managed to undress before going to bed.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." Lith said with a sigh.

"Mmhkay, love you." She replied from a corner of her lips.

"Since everyone is already here, we can finally start working on my golems. I've already learned everything I need about memory crystals from Jirni's research group. Also, with the new Fury, I can split the pseudo cores with the others and make a power core like I could only dream about until a while ago."

"That's great. Love you." She took Lith's unused pillow and used it to shield her head from the light and his annoying chatter.

"I love you too." Lith leaned over to kiss her, obtaining an exasperated groan in return. "You know, I was thinking that maybe later we could-"

"Get the heck out of here and let me sleep or I swear to the gods that I'll kick your ass!" Kamila wrapped herself in the blankets, disappearing in a makeshift cocoon.

'Sometimes I forget how much sleep regular humans need.' He thought. 'I'll better go now. The others are probably waiting for me at the tower.'

Yet even his Awakened friends didn't like seeing him that early in the morning any better and welcomed Lith with harsh words that would have hurt any man who didn't have a wallet for a heart.

"For the record, not killing you on the spot should be considered my wedding gift." Faluel rubbed her eyes while taking deep breaths to activate Lifestream. "Give me my Davross ingots back, please."

"I'll do it if you don't ask me any questions about memory crystals." Lith replied.

"I changed my mind, feel free to keep them." She said with a huge grin on her face at the idea of learning an unprecedented Forgemastering secret.

Even if Lith refused to share with her the entire procedure, just the crumbs would point Faluel in the right direction. After all, memory crystals were something not even Salaark knew about.

Every bit of knowledge about them was bound to be priceless.

Between the alcohol and the late night, everyone was a wreck, but no one fared worse than Solus.

"Somebody please kill me." She had a massive headache from the Red Dragon that not even her breathing technique could relieve. "I swear that I'll never drink again."

A human body would have needed but a few healing spells to get rid of a hangover but treating her tower half wasn't so simple. The liquor had spread to the tower's water reserves and she needed to flush them out as well to cleanse her system.

Luckily for Lith, none of the effects of her drunken stupor had any long-lasting effect on the precious materials stored on the various floors of the tower.

Lith brought everyone to the Forge, where the latest prototype for Trouble and Raptor waited for them. They were just the corpses of a three-eyed Balor and a Vagrash coated in Adamant inside out.

It enhanced the mana conductivity of their bodies, their durability, and replaced the parts that had been destroyed back when Lith had killed them.

The Balor was over 2.5 meters (8'2") tall, with a humanoid body covered by small silver-colored scales. His head had three empty sockets arranged in a vertical line where once the Evil Eyes had been.

The black eye would have kept drawing darkness energy even after Trouble's death so Lith had been forced to remove it even before crafting the Sage Staff to prevent the corpse from turning into an undead.

Three sets of black curved horns emerged from the Balor's head, cheekbones, and the sides of his chin. His massive upper body was completely exposed and seemed to be comprised solely of chiseled metal muscles.

Another hole had been opened at the heart level, to host the Spirit Crystal needed to fuel Lith's bloodline abilities.

His legs were reverse jointed like those of a cat and had talons extending out of his toes and heel. Two shining silvery membranous wings were folded around his neck, almost looking like a mantle.

As for the Vagrash, in life he had been called Iskha but Lith never bothered talking with his opponents and had killed him without waiting for the Emperor Beast to introduce himself.

He had named to corpse Raptor for no particular reason except that it rolled off the tongue well.

The Vagrash had the front body of a golden lion while its back belonged to something with hooves that seemed to be made of stone.