Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Seeing the owner coming to greet him, Hill hesitated a bit.

He kind of understood why there were such environment-friendly golems.

A gnome was using his somewhat shrill voice to shout loudly, "Welcome! Is there anything you wish for, guest?"

"I want to take a look at golems." Hill turned to look at the stock in the store, wood golems, tin golems, to iron golems—the normal merchandise was still there.

"What kind of golem would the guest like? Aside from the ones up front, we also have the very popular wax golem~ Customizable appearance and tactile sensation, guaranteed satisfaction~" shouted the gnome, causing Hill's mouth to twitch with annoyance.

"Shut up, Bauer!" A rough voice rang out as a dwarf emerged from the inner workshop.

Having known that he had arrived in Ferun, Hill was aware that sooner or later he would encounter various dwarves, so he couldn't help but notice the dwarf's skin color while still maintaining a calm exterior.

This was a dwarf with brownish skin, a head of messy black hair, which like his matching beard, was braided.

"This is a young customer! And a mage at that, definitely going to like the wax golem, Aska!" The gnome turned and shouted to the dwarf.

Hill lightly tapped his small shoulder, hanging a piece of murder vine around his neck, "If you don't learn to shut up, you'll never be able to speak again~"

Bauer crossed his hands in front of his mouth stiffly and then crouched to one side, covering his mouth.

Aska hesitated, "Elf-kind?"

"Your golems should be available for anyone to buy, right?" Hill asked with a smile.

"Of course!" Aska looked at the vine hanging around the gnome's neck, speaking very sensibly.

Although he was a dwarf, he was also a businessman. He could drive a hard bargain when selling goods, but he couldn't refuse to sell.

Especially something as expensive as golems, no dwarf would dare say they wouldn't sell to elves.

Hill looked up and noticed they also sold books on the side: basic golem crafting, advanced crafting, and manuals for crafting wax golems, fungus golems, and environment-friendly golems.

Though there were only five books, each was quite thick.

Standing a little away from Aska, Hill said, "I'll take these books."

The gnome squatting on the side let out a laugh full of smugness behind his small hands.

Hill snapped his fingers, and the vine swiftly tightened, clamping his two hands firmly over his mouth.

Gnomes, a race whose nerves jumped too much, absolutely could not be given the chance to scatter their thoughts.

Aska turned to look and found that the mage in front of him was just not giving Bauer a chance to speak. He felt relieved. It was good that he couldn't speak.

Many who came to buy golems wanted to punch him. Even though they always told him not to spout nonsense every time, Bauer just couldn't help himself.

If their store wasn't the only golem shop in Silvermoon City, they would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Even so, many of the wealthy preferred to go to the store in Deepwater City. Aska hadn't encountered any material more valuable than steel for several years, let alone a mithril golem—the most attractive to a dwarf's heart!

Recently, there was a Great Noble who ordered a silver golem with mithril for his daughter, but they went to that inferior store in Deepwater instead of his own.

Akas felt that he would soon become the joke of his race. Indeed, choosing friends unwisely is a great taboo in the life of a dwarf!

Aska, looking at Bauer who was desperately signaling for help, turned expressionless and told Hill, "Buy a golem worth over 10,000 and get the production book; the book is a form of after-sales service. If your golem gets damaged while you're out, you can even do some temporary repairs yourself."

The dwarf suddenly noticed the mage's position. He had to look up slightly to see into the mage's eyes.

His tone was still stiff, but noticeably softer, "Business hasn't been very good lately, I can also give you a copy of my own crafting insights."

Hill smiled, "That would be wonderful, truly an honor."

The gnome Bauer next to him was frantically signaling his dwarf companion. He didn't understand why Aska would say business was bad when they were selling several wax golems every day!

Unfortunately, neither Aska nor Hill intended to let him join the conversation.

"I'd like to buy one of each type of golem," Hill said, turning to the golems in the shop, "that should be enough, right?"

"Of course, the wood golem is 4000, wax golem 2500, tin golem 6400, fungus golem 7000, environment-friendly golem 600, iron golem 10,000." Aska fell silent for a minute, probably counting the money, "That's a total of 31,500; we don't have any discount prices.

However, we do support processing with provided materials, which would be a lot cheaper.

You're a mage, that shouldn't be a problem."

Hill laughed and shook his head, "I'll just pay."

"Okay then, we'll deliver to your doorstep," said Aska gruffly, "Pay half upfront, and I'll give you the books. The rest you can pay on delivery."

Hill raised his left hand, "No need for delivery; my space equipment is enough."

Hill paid in full with no fuss, collected the books and golems, then walked out the door under Bauer's anxious gaze.

Only after walking a few hundred meters did Hill cancel the spell.

Hearing the shrill cursing from behind, Hill turned around and walked back.

Bauer scurried away with a look of helplessness in Akas's eyes.

Hill cast a Silent Spell on him, "Your mouth is too foul, gnome. Enjoy 8 hours of silence."

The dwarves and gnomes who found out Hill could cast spells in Silvermoon City all stiffened up.

They had thought that the vine was a pet that the mage carried with him, as many mages who entered Silvermoon City would choose to have a contract pet with them.

Akas walked up to his gnome friend and smacked Bauer on the head with a thick manufacturing manual.

Hill shook his head and turned to leave.

He had just stuffed his pendant into his black robe in order to blend in with ordinary people and buy various meat products.

And this kind of simple and plain robe was actually worn by many mages; as for the face, Hill had also chosen a rather ordinary appearance. Maybe he looked like a nerdy male mage from the university?

That must have been why that gnome Bauer dared to recommend that kind of artificial doll to him.

However, Hill thought that the story about attending a ball with a wax golem was just a rumor. Could it be true that someone actually used such a fake doll as a dance partner?

It really brought back a lot of his past memories; no matter the world, homebodies seemed to have a plethora of bizarre maneuvers.

Hill remembered an advertisement in a business newsletter: In a certain club in Silvermoon City, the starting price for a female companion was only 50 gold, and she came with her own dress.

But a homebody would rather buy a wax golem that could change its appearance using magic, and that cost over 6000 gold!

Thinking of all this, Hill suddenly felt a bit tired when he got home; he didn't really want to deal with the mages of Silvermoon City anymore.

The golem was just Hill's backup plan; he intended to combine it with his own puppet when he had some spare time and study ways to improve it.

He just wanted to see what this environment-friendly golem was all about.

But after disassembling that messy golem and nearly getting sprayed in the face with poison gas, Hill understood that this golem seemed to have no power source, but was actually moving by means of the toxic gas.

Just like the so-called steam machinery, only that the exhaust was toxic.

The only thing worth praising was the core. Referring to the manufacturing manual, Hill could sense the elegance of a junior programmer.

The core of the golem was merely infused with a basic golem manufacturing manual, and then various material replacement priorities were set.

The reason so much knowledge could be infused into such a poor core was because it used Draconic.

No wonder it was primarily gnomes who excelled in making such golems; this diminutive race might be a bit neurotic, but many were masters of languages.

Hill's Draconic was not very good; he only knew some simple everyday phrases.

Teraxil didn't have dragons, and the old ancestors of the elves were academically challenged too, only proficient in God's Language.

Hill temporarily gave up on researching golems and decided to quietly learn Dragon Spell Magic later. The arrival of Terry was not bad either; at least he was not being maintained for nothing.

Silvermoon City was recently on edge. The professors at the Magic University started to teach actively, hoping to divert the attention of the junior mages from how to fight dragons.

Mages below level 8 shouldn't go to their deaths; not everyone can be a hero.

Hill was actually quite happy; he could finally attend his university audit classes.

Just as he expected, when Hill was reading in the university library, many mages brought their students nearby to teach small classes.

Moreover, his library pass was high-level. If the professor did not refuse, he had the right to enter the classroom and audit.

No professor at the Magic University would turn away a paying student.

Hill had already gone through their recent textbooks. Listening to lectures every day, combined with his own understanding, gave him many new insights.

Hill did not miss any of the classes he wanted to attend. The days he spent in the library gave him some understanding of these professors.

He only slightly altered his own appearance when a certain female professor from the Enchantment Department was nearby.

It seemed that Lady Xinen Haihe already knew about Hill's auditing activities at the university. She patrolled the campus every day.

Because of this, Hill confirmed her uselessness.

Elaströ had already begun gathering people to rescue his unlucky allies. Yet she, who claimed to be a faithful follower of the current City Lord, could only stroll within the campus grounds.

It looked like the City Lord didn't take her seriously at all.

Being a level 12 master of the Enchantment Department, she showed such stupidity after getting involved in political struggles.

High intelligence doesn't mean one can adeptly navigate politics.

Hill had no sympathy for her; those who engage in power struggles deserved whatever fate they got, and besides, she was hostile towards Hill.

Although it seemed like she wanted to invite Hill to join their faction, the malice radiating from her heart was so obvious that Hill felt like vomiting whenever he passed her by.

She was worried that Hill's allegiance to the Lord of Silvermoon would diminish her status.

But the way she aimlessly wandered around the university was enough for anyone with clear eyesight to realize that she really had no status to speak of.