Ball of Nothing 345 Garden Golem Army 2

Check.

Rune-inscribed metal plates birthed from Sleepy Cave drops?

Check.

Dragon-fire furnace?

Check.

Divine beast blood?

Check.

Zero was finally ready to start creating his golem army vessels. He spent two full days getting everything together once he formulated his new plan. The mana he received from Endow Hill alone wasn't enough any longer. Hence, the doctor took a trip to the borders of Hell to find miasma and even chaos energy when it wasn't too dangerous. It could be said that by the time Zero was done with his expedition, a huge area of wilderness in the abyss was experiencing a new quality of life breathing in miasmfree air.

Zero's initial plan required each golem to have three different mana crystals of different elements to complement the core's elemental magic. However, in Zero's revised design he thought that he might as well create one powerful mana crystal capable of producing any kind of elemental mana and some other materials that can act as mana batteries. Hence, the idea of using mana metals to store mana was created.

After the raid in Hell, Zero visited Sleepy Cave once again with Bob and Kerberos. This time, they didn't just stay near the dungeon's opening. Instead, they ventured into the deeper lairs and provoked Sleepy Cave. Naturally, the enemies were stronger but Zero was satisfied with the drops he received. A special kind of armoured rhinoceros army allowed Zero to collect many magical metal scraps. Mana metals had to be forged with mana crystals by a skilful blacksmith. However, why trouble Tambolt for it when Zero could reap the benefits of asking Sleepy Cave to produce natural magic beasts that were born with mana fused metal of the highest grade?

After Zero collected the loot, he made his escape with Bob and Kerberos. Then, he asked them for a favour. In order to write powerful runes, powerful blood was needed. While Bob was strong, Kerberos was a creation by a Great God who shared a fragment of Hades' soul in some ways. Zero didn't have blood to spare so he extorted a small jug full of Kerberos' blood he pricked from the dog's paws. On the other hand, he told Bob to shrink a little and follow him back to Hua Tuo's hut.

"Master, how can I help?" Bob asked politely. In his half-human form, Bob was a pale boy with snowy white hair and frosty blue eyes.

Zero grinned and picked up a few scraps of rhino metals. "I need you to help me forge them into golem bodies before I can use Kerberos' blood to write rune inscriptions on them. Normal fire won't be able to bend them so I can only count on you to help out."

Bob didn't know if he should be happy or disappointed that his first official task from his master was to use his dragon breath to melt metal. Still, he complied obediently.

The bending and shaping of thirty sets of golem parts took about half a day even if Zero worked at his fastest speed. Bob needed time to rest in between so it couldn't be helped. While they took turns between forging parts, inscribing and fusing crystals, Zero started thinking of names for his thirty level-two mindscape assistants.

One thing he noticed about the spirits birthed from the crystal cores was that they were all female for some reason. Now that he thought about it, Zero didn't really know many male pixies and fairies or dryads if any at all. Maybe they were rare or non-existent but Zero didn't really mind. Still, the doctor didn't have very good naming sense even though giving names to familiars or golems was part of the ritual. Named golems were always more powerful than named ones simply because they shared a portion of their master's power.

After asking the villagers for ideas and suggestions, Zero had over a hundred names for the spirits to choose from. Then, a strange thing happened. Zero couldn't understand why the golems could not appreciate individuality. All the medical assistant golems chose the same name and all the garden assistant golems chose the same name. The medical golems were called Talia and the garden golems were called Melissa.

Even in golem creation, there seemed to be a natural pecking order. Zero had a total of five gardens and the teams were split into six golems per garden. In the small group of three medical golems per garden team, one would evolve into a leader of the team. The same thing happened with the garden golems. These evolved leader golems had an extra name behind them called "McGarden". In other words, Zero had five Talia McGardens, five Melissa McGardens, ten Talias and ten Melissas to take care off and add to his mindscape connection.

Once the mana metals were bent into shape and inscribed with runes using Kerberos' blood, they started to assemble themselves naturally with the sage crystals and crystal cores. Zero smiled at the birth of every new golem, naming them carefully just moments after their creation. Like the small army that they are, the golems lined up neatly outside of Hua Tuo's hut and reported their attendance, awaiting further instructions from Zero.

After almost a week, the preparations were finally done. Still, Zero didn't know if these golems would be able to work properly right off the bat. Hence, he assigned them their very first task.

"Melissa McGardens, listen well. I will be assigning you and your teams to your respective gardens. Your task is to check the water and soil conditions of the land and report back. Do not touch the plants. If there are any special properties in the air within your garden's area, include that into your report to Lily. For now, team one will head to Half Moon Village. The person in contact should be Cleo. If Cleo isn't available, look for Latitia. Team two head down to the Abyss, Coux or Beelzebub should meet you at the Ten-Path Crossway. Team three, stay behind to tend to the garden outside of Hua Tuo's hut. Team four head to the pastures in Heaven and tend to the new batch of crops. Meet up with Cleo or Merlin should you require assistance. Team five should go to the Spring of Vitality and assist Robo Mike with his chores. Should you require assistance, approach Buddha or send a message to one of the followers in Nirvana."

The Melissa golems quickly obeyed instructions and left through the portal for those that needed to travel. Zero was impressed that they were able to access shared knowledge from Zero's mindscape library. Everything he knew about medicine was now shared across thirty golems and four mindscape assistance without restraint. Of course, to avoid destroying a sane individual's mind, Zero had Lily set permission perimeters according to the categories of the library that Mii had arranged. The garden golems were able to access all botany related knowledge.

Before Zero gave his orders to the Talia golems, he equipped them with special talismans. Zero made an agreement with Truen that he wouldn't do charity work. The talismans were a kind of portable payment system that absorbs mana, sins, qi or unique abilities that Zero didn't currently possess as payment from the patients they cured. While most of the golems will not be curing patients directly, the people in charge of them who are using their services will offer up periodic sacrifices for their services. Hua Tuo was secured from having to pay simply because his shifu had offered to sponsor for half of the material costs and Zero fully intended to bill his teacher to the very last innite.

"Talia McGardens, listen up. Your main task and priority is to process my medicine orders assigned by Lily, Wii or Mii before doing your daily routine. When there are no orders, your job is to maintain the inventory pharmacy and replenish stocks that are running low first. McGardens are also in-charge of informing Lily if a certain medicine herb is not being produced enough for immediate use. Other than that, your jobs are to process herbs ready for my use and creating medicine according to my instructions."

Zero was stricter with the Talia golems simply because he didn't want to face the problem of using too many precious resources for pills and medicine that didn't require immediate use. Although medicine didn't spoil in Zero's void inventory, they would be utilising crucial herbs that should be saved for pandemic cases. Right now, he prepared a list of basic pills that the Talia golems could start making. They consisted of pills for pain, digestion issues, hangover and cold. Unlike Melissa golems, Zero did not send them out to specific locations. His only command was for medical golems to always stick together in teams of three and follow a McGarden golem leader.

Zero didn't give them specific locations simply because he wanted to see if McGarden golems were able to rise to the occasion and take initiative instead of blindly following orders. After he dismissed them, Zero was glad to see that the higher-ranked golems were discussing the priority of tasks to be fulfilled. Currently, Zero had nothing in his inventory that the golems could use to prepare the medicine required from them. They would have to source for herbs, prepare them, replenish the empty stocks and create the pills Zero needed within a day. If these golems could pass his final test successfully, Zero would have no worries about leaving Half Moon village immediately. For now, the doctor decided to head back and take a well-deserved nap.

Chapter end