Chapter 50: Arrival at Far South
【????? Steel Element】
【Race: Unknown Race · Minion】
【Racial Skill: Steel Body】
【Level: Lv20 Silver, Elite】
【Challenge Level: Lv18】
【Attributes: Omitted】
【Skills: Metal Assimilation, Transformation, High Physical Damage Reduction, Energy Jet】
【Description: A completely new, unknown lifeform. Its form of existence is similar to an Earth Elemental, but harder than those mindless stone golems. The energy core in its head can jet pure energy streams, and is also its greatest weakness. Because it was created and does not exist naturally, it will instinctively obey its creator's commands—of course, do not overestimate the intelligence of these fellows; after all, a stone head and an iron head have no essential difference.】
【Zz, zzzzz, zzz.】
【By—Steel Element】
"Touching spiritual bodies freely."
Looking at the steel humanoid that had expressed submission to him, Joshua couldn't help but recall the incident not long ago when he touched the No. 3 magical projection. The warrior repeated the system's description of Residual Steel Shards, nodding thoughtfully as he spoke: "And by paying some price, I can also bestow life upon matter."
"Because I infused the power of authority into steel, what appeared was a Steel Element? If what I had touched earlier was water, fire, or even air, perhaps the results would have been different."
After a moment of contemplation, the warrior revealed a smile: "Although I don't know what price I paid, it's interesting, truly interesting."
One must know that even summoning mages do not summon Water Elementals and Wind Elementals out of thin air; they rely on mediums in their hands to call upon beings from other worlds. While mages specializing in constructs can also create steel golems, they are vastly different from this Steel Element.
Although it seemed somewhat dull, this was 'life' after all.
"Get up."
Although the steel humanoid looked like a mindless puppet, it could understand some commands. The black-red light spot on its head flickered briefly, as if responding, and then, obeying Joshua's words, it stood up steadily.
It was over two meters tall, a head taller than Joshua when standing straight. Its massive body resembled a giant door shimmering with light patterns, clearly sturdy and an excellent material for withstanding pressure.
Meanwhile, Ying had activated the magic within the Shape-Shifting Pendant. A faint but extremely precise fluctuation surged out, covering the half-dragon's massive body. Under the influence of this magic, Hei's form gradually shrank, finally turning into the size of an ordinary horse amidst a shimmer of fluorescence.
He was still in a state of extreme seasickness-induced discomfort and hadn't woken up even during this transformation. However, feeling that his surroundings had become 'spacious,' Hei instinctively stretched his body, extending his coiled tail. The long tip touched the warrior's foot and even wrapped around it once.
"...Ying, go call Lin over."
Shaking off Hei's tail helplessly, Joshua turned and instructed the silver-haired girl. Ying, who was curiously touching the now-shrunken Hei, extended her fair little hand and tapped the golden core on the half-dragon's chest, then exclaimed in surprise: "Master, this thing isn't hot at all! I always thought it would be scorching!"
"...Be careful. That's because I suppressed the energy inside Hei just now. Don't touch it next time; it really is very hot."
How could the energy core of a fire-attribute dragon not be hot? Even metal would melt and vaporize upon contact. Seeing this, Joshua frowned and shook his head. The warrior repeated: "Go call Lin down. Have him help take care of Hei together. He should be in my room organizing documents; he's easy to find."
"Oh, okay."
Obediently agreeing, the silver-haired girl immediately stood up and headed toward the residential area of the Gale. Before leaving, she curiously glanced at the silently standing metal humanoid and asked softly: "Master, what exactly is this? It feels like it has a trace of your aura."
My aura? Is it because of the 'Minion' attribute?
Although he suspected as much, the warrior couldn't be sure, so he shrugged and casually replied: "I'm not sure either, but since I created it, it's normal for it to have my aura."
"As for what it really is... I'll need to experiment."
With the sound of footsteps, Ying quickly ran toward the residential area, while Joshua began his experiments.
Strength, intelligence, speed—the warrior tested the Steel Element from all aspects, and the final results were somewhat subtle.
Just as the system stated, this Steel Element possessed Silver-rank strength. Its body was incredibly hard, even tougher than the ship's armor. But aside from that, the Steel Element had no other abilities. The Metal Assimilation skill required several minutes to charge; when Joshua ordered it to try assimilating other metal walls in the cargo hold, he waited a full five minutes and only saw a palm-sized portion of the wall disappear. It was completely useless in actual combat and could only rely on brute force.
Transformation was the same. Just like when it changed from a large steel plate into a humanoid form, if Joshua hadn't helped, this lump of iron would have taken at least ten minutes to complete the transformation—far too slow.
In terms of intelligence, the Steel Element had simple intelligence. It could understand commands like attack, defend, and standby, but anything more complex was beyond it. Without instructions, it would just stand still like a statue, truly a solid lump of iron.
Speed, however, was a pleasant surprise. Although the Steel Element looked very sluggish and stiff, it was actually surprisingly fast. The warrior had it run back and forth in the cargo hold, and it covered eight hundred meters in just over a minute. Even a Silver-rank warrior in full armor couldn't match that speed. Moreover, like an Earth Elemental, the Steel Element had endless stamina as long as its energy was sufficient.
As for the Energy Jet skill, since it couldn't damage the ship, Joshua ordered the Steel Element to attack him. The massive steel humanoid didn't hesitate. With a sound like an electric current surging, a dark red energy stream shot straight out from the light spot on its head.
The warrior caught it easily. He assessed the power and found it acceptable. The impact force was roughly equivalent to a Qi-Infused Strike from a warrior of the same rank using an ordinary weapon. The temperature, while not enough to melt steel, reached several hundred degrees—enough to cause severe burns to an ordinary human.
Overall, the Steel Element's strength was indeed decent. With its hard body and endless stamina, it might perform even better on the battlefield. If it could be mass-produced, it would be an excellent helper.
"Indeed, it's similar to ordinary elemental lifeforms, with only the most basic intelligence... I wonder if it will gradually become smarter over time, like the various elemental elders."
Clenching and releasing his left hand, Joshua's expression showed some regret: "And after that earlier disturbance, the power of authority completely disappeared. This kind of power is truly elusive. Is it because I haven't found the right way to use it, or is it simply unreliable?"
If he could continuously use this authority, he could keep creating Steel Elements. Although somewhat dull, they would be excellent as shields and vanguards during wartime. A warrior could never have too many.
"Come to think of it, you don't have a name yet."
Patting the Steel Element's shoulder, Joshua said with a hint of a smile: "Let's call you Chu Hao, how about that?"
"Zzzzz."
As if responding to Joshua's words, the light spot on the steel head flickered, emitting some static noise. At that moment, with somewhat chaotic footsteps, Ying brought a weary-looking Lin into the cargo hold.
As the warrior's steward, the black-haired boy had indeed been in Joshua's room earlier, organizing the documents transmitted from Moldavia. In truth, Lin's ability to handle administrative affairs was far superior to the warrior's, so whenever Joshua wanted to relax, he would have the boy take over his work.
The warrior was relaxed, but it was tough on Lin. The Divine Mechanism boy usually had to take care of Hei with Ying, handle the cultist incidents with Miss No. 3, occasionally prepare his master's lunch and dinner, and clean the study in the Lord's Manor due to its confidentiality. Lin was busy every day, barely having a moment to rest, and now he had to deal with administrative affairs.
So, occasionally during his busy moments, the boy would fall into self-doubt just like his sister.
—Aren't I a weapon?
—Why am I doing all these things?
—What is the meaning of my existence...
Of course, unlike Ying's occasional confusion, the silver-haired girl mainly doubted her existence because she had too much free time, while the black-haired boy was too busy and wanted to escape reality.
"Oh, this big guy..."
As soon as he opened the door, Lin saw the Steel Element. His eyes widened, and he subconsciously said: "Why does it carry a trace of the master's aura?"
"Ying said the same thing."
Rubbing his chin, Joshua turned around and asked somewhat puzzled: "Sorry to trouble you, Lin. But is the aura on this thing so obvious that you can tell it's related to me at a glance?"
The warrior himself couldn't sense it. In his perception, the Steel Element's aura was very pure. If not for the dark red energy flowing on its body, it would simply be a large lump of iron.
"Very obvious."
The black-haired boy nodded seriously. He struggled for words for a moment, then slowly said: "It's not exactly an aura, but as soon as you look at it, you immediately know it must be related to you, Master. It's almost instinctive."
"Is that so..." Squinting his eyes, Joshua turned to look at the still-motionless Steel Element: "It seems to be because of that 'Minion' attribute."
But this matter was trivial, and the warrior didn't dwell on it. At that moment, the attribute card for Chu Hao also underwent a slight change.
【Chu Hao Steel Element】
【Race: Steel Element · Minion】
Just then, the entire Gale began to vibrate slightly. A powerful surge of mana emerged from the core at the front, seemingly activating some massive array.
In an instant, space-time twisted, accompanied by intense spatial fluctuations spreading in all directions.
"The teleportation has begun," Ying said softly. The silver-haired girl's eyes sparkled with excitement: "I wonder how long it will take to reach Far South. I can't wait!"
Ever since she learned that Joshua was going to Far South to help the Church of the Seven Gods resist the Mad Dragon, the silver-haired girl had been very happy. Although Lin didn't express it, his demeanor showed the same.
Ying was so happy because, after being idle for so long, she could finally fight and stretch her limbs, while Lin felt he could finally escape the hell of administrative work and relax his mind.
Watching the jubilant Divine Mechanisms, Joshua also revealed an expectant smile. Ying and Lin wanted to prove the meaning of their existence, and wasn't he the same? Thinking about the endless hordes of Mad Dragons he would soon be fighting, the warrior couldn't help but clench his fists, eager to try.
Of course, he quickly snapped out of this anticipation. Joshua glanced sideways at Hei, who looked much better and was now wagging his tail in his sleep, and shook his head: "He's much more energetic after shrinking. It seems his size was too large, causing oxygen deprivation at this altitude."
Regardless, Hei's issue was resolved, and it had brought about the mutation of the authority's power. The warrior had gained quite a bit this time.
However, the next few days were somewhat uneventful.
Along the way, Joshua kept trying to mobilize the authority's power within him, while also having Chu Hao cooperate with the mages on board for various experiments.
These mages from the Imperial Royal Mage Association were very interested in the unknown lifeform of the Steel Element. They didn't ask when Joshua had brought this thing on board; they simply conducted a full set of magical examinations on the silent Chu Hao. The appraisal results were roughly the same as what the system had described, with little difference.
But aside from that, these mages discovered an interesting phenomenon—the spiderweb-like black-red patterns on Chu Hao's body could absorb magical energy from the atmosphere to sustain its existence. In a high-concentration mana environment, the usually statue-like Chu Hao would actively seek out metal to assimilate, increasing its size.
"This is probably how they grow. By absorbing mana for self-enhancement, they indeed possess the characteristics of elemental lifeforms."
This was the conclusion of one mage, who was optimistic about Chu Hao's future: "But generally speaking, the most similar Earth Elemental takes nearly a hundred years to grow from Silver-rank to a Gold-rank Giant Earth Elemental. This Steel Element's growth rate is about ten times faster, and in a high-concentration mana environment, it can accelerate even further."
Joshua was also satisfied. This meant that Steel Elements could grow, and at a much faster rate than their counterparts.
Through the activation of large teleportation arrays, the Gale continuously made teleportation jumps. Since the Empire had already informed the powers along the route, there were no incidents. However, aside from occasionally needing to fly to the teleportation range of the next large array, Joshua and his party spent the entire journey repeating the process of 'opening a space-time gate,' 'passing through the space-time gate,' and 'opening another space-time gate,' barely seeing any outside scenery.
After passing through the Empire's southern fortress zone, the Western Mountain border, the hilly dwarf settlements, several kingdoms in the Western Mountains, and the Nake Mountain Range, they finally neared their destination.
Year 833 of the Falling Stars Era, July 1st.
Joshua arrived at Far South.