As they made their way deeper into the dungeon, the battles fell into a steady rhythm—one slime after another, nothing that felt truly dangerous, especially with Ethan constantly trickling mana out to the team. Whenever someone’s reserves ran low, he just sent a steady stream of his own, and the Pack fought on without hesitation.

  Ethan also started noticing something else. The more mana he pushed into his sword, the faster it repaired itself. There was something about his mana that wasn’t just odd—it felt fundamental, almost like it was made of the building blocks that magic and mana drew from. When he fought slimes, the sword reacted differently depending on how he used it.

  He tested his theory: first, he swung at a slime without channeling mana into the blade. The sword pitted and hissed where it touched the creature, and the slime barely reacted. Then he took another swing, this time forcing his mana through the sword as he struck. The blade started repairing itself immediately, and the slime recoiled from the hit—popping and dying in a way the others hadn’t.

  Ethan filed that away, quietly fascinated. It was another puzzle for later, but for now, it meant they had a real edge.

  Finally, they ran into something that wasn’t a slime—a hulking golem, almost nine feet tall, built from dirt and rough-cut stone. The moment it lumbered out of the darkness, Moose jumped in front of everyone, hackles raised.

  “Let me,” he said. “I can feel it—I’m supposed to fight this one.” Before Ethan could say a word, Moose pounced. Wherever his paws or teeth struck the golem, the stone and dirt simply crumbled away, breaking apart almost instantly. The rest of the team watched in awe as the two earth-aligned creatures squared off. It looked less like a brawl and more like a contest of wills. Moose explained later that he could feel the magic or intent running through the golem’s body, and he could disrupt it every time he made contact. It was as if he could just take over the golem’s mana and shut it down piece by piece, thanks to his own strong affinity for earth.

  By the end of the battle, the golem had shrunk down to a squat two-foot-tall figure, still with its limbs and head, but now its core was clearly visible, half-exposed in its chest. Moose gave one final swipe, and all the remaining dirt and stone crumbled away, leaving the core sitting there on the stone floor—completely whole, but depleted, as if it was struggling to pull mana back into itself.

  Ethan knelt down and picked up the core, feeling a faint resonance in his hand. There was something about it—a subtle tug at the edge of his awareness, like an unfinished thought or a half-heard whisper. It left him with the sense that, somehow, this core could be more than just loot. Almost like it was waiting for someone to do something with it. He handed it to Lyra and nodded for her to appraise it.

  A soft shimmer of light as she used her skill, and the readout popped up:

  [Appraisal – Earth Golem Core (Pristine)]

  Type: Earth-Aligned

  Size: Medium

  Description:

  A dense, crystalline core formed at the heart of an earth golem. This core holds the structure’s animating intent and all gathered earth mana.

  Status: Depleted of earth mana. Core integrity undamaged.

  Ethan frowned, the idea nagging at him. His mana had done strange things before—changed system windows, triggered extra options. He glanced at Lyra. “Try it again, but let me channel some mana through you while you use Appraisal.” Lyra nodded, focusing as Ethan sent a thread of his mana along their bond. As she cast the skill, the system window shimmered—expanding, growing clearer, lines of text unfolding until the message was twice as detailed:

  [Appraisal – Earth Golem Core (Pristine)]

  Type: Earth-Aligned

  Origin: Dungeon Construct – Entry Golem

  Size: Medium (2.7 in / 6.8 cm diameter)

  Description:

  A dense, crystalline core formed at the heart of an earth golem. This core holds the structure’s animating intent and all gathered earth mana. Can be used as a high-grade crafting material, as a mana battery, or as the nucleus for a new earth-aligned construct. Fully intact—contains the complete magical signature required for reanimation or bonding.

  Status: Depleted of earth mana. Core integrity undamaged.

  Special: May be recharged or “attuned” by supplying new earth-aligned mana. Bonding or direct control possible under the right conditions.

  Lyra’s brow furrowed as she studied the window. “It’s never shown this much detail before. That’s not normal.”

  Ethan grinned, heart thumping. “Guess we just unlocked the advanced version.”

  The upgraded appraisal left Ethan with a new idea. If the golem core could be recharged—and especially if he used his own mana—maybe he could bond with it or control it somehow. Since Moose had dismantled the creature so easily, Ethan figured it wouldn’t be too risky to try, as long as he kept it small. He explained his plan, asked everyone to give him space, and knelt by the core.

  Even though his mana wasn’t earth-attuned, the Academy scholars always said his magic was foundational—the raw stuff that made up every kind of mana. And his own supply seemed to have odd effects on everything it touched. Carefully, he pushed a thin thread of his mana into the depleted core.

  The instant his mana touched the core, the connection snapped wide open. Instead of just accepting a thread, the core yanked hard, drawing a rushing flood out of him—nearly his entire mana pool, gone in seconds. Ethan’s vision blurred and his limbs went cold. He tried to clamp down, but the drain had already happened.

  Instead of forming a tiny, two-foot golem, the core floated up from his hand, spinning and glowing with a purplish-white light. Stone and dirt from the broken golem swirled around it, building and rebuilding the construct until, for a moment, it was nearly as big as the original—maybe ten feet tall—before the entire mass compressed down, shrinking and tightening itself into a squat, three-and-a-half-foot form. All the gathered material fused into a gem-like shell—almost crystalline, shot through with faint purple light. The golem stood perfectly still, not attacking, not reacting, just waiting. It had a head, arms, and legs, but no eyes—just a smooth, faceted face.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Ethan’s knees buckled. He hit the ground hard, heart pounding, hands shaking. His head buzzed with static, skin gone cold. His whole body felt hollowed out.

  He fumbled for his belt pouch and pulled out a mana potion, uncorking it with shaking fingers. The first bottle barely touched the edge of the emptiness, so he drank a second, then a third—gulping each one faster than he meant to.

  “I don’t think you’re supposed to drink three of those at once,” Buster said, eyeing him from a safe distance.

  “Didn’t have much choice,” Ethan managed, slumping back against the cold stone floor. His pulse finally slowed as the potions started to hit, but his whole body still tingled from the drain.

  A system prompt flashed in Ethan’s vision:

  Arcane Earth Golem

  Minion Automaton Construct

  The air in the dungeon was dense with ambient mana. Ethan closed his eyes and let himself breathe it in, sitting absolutely still as he tried to refill his reserves the old-fashioned way. “This place actually feels… good,” he admitted, voice rough. “If you’ve got to run out of mana somewhere, this isn’t bad.”

  He let the weight of the dungeon settle around him, eyes half-closed, finally starting to feel human again.

  Ethan stared at it, the thrill of possibility running through him. Whatever he’d done, this was something new—a construct made with his mana, bound to him.

  He tried out a few simple commands. “Jump up and down.” The golem obeyed instantly, and the cracks that appeared in the floor were a little alarming. “Guess it’s still as heavy as it was at nine feet tall. If it didn’t lose any mass and just compressed, I wonder how heavy this thing really is…”

  Curious, Ethan walked over and tried to lift the golem. Even with his enhanced strength, he could barely budge it a few inches. “This thing weighs a ton,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  He tested a more complex command—finding a medium-sized rock and tossing it to the far side of the room. “Bring me back that exact rock.” The golem lumbered over, picked up the stone, and brought it back, but when it opened its chunky crystal fingers, the rock was almost completely crushed to powder. Pebbles and grit spilled everywhere.

  Ethan whistled. “Yeah, we’ll have to be careful. But if it listens this well, it could be a huge help in here.”

  Pixie zipped over, sniffing and circling the golem. “I like the color. It’s pretty.”

  Moose sniffed as well. “It smells and feels like my earth mana. But not quite.”

  The Pack poked, prodded, and gave the new golem a thorough inspection. “We have to name it,” Pixie declared. “I vote Purple McPurpleson!”

  Everyone groaned.

  “No? Okay, what about Steve?”

  Lyra blinked. “What?”

  Buster piped up, “What about Mason?”

  Ethan grinned. “Mason. Like masonry, working with stone. I like it.”

  He addressed the golem, “Okay. Your name is now Mason. Shake your head if you understand.” The golem’s head vibrated so violently Ethan quickly added, “Okay, stop!” The golem froze in place.

  Ethan rubbed his chin, half amused. “Gotta be more careful how I give instructions, or things are going to get weird.” He glanced at the core in Mason’s chest, now fully encased in crystal, and mused, “I wonder if I could enchant him, too…”

  Then Ethan tried something a little crazy. He touched Mason’s head and willed the golem into his ring storage. It took longer than usual, but finally the golem shimmered and disappeared.

  “Cool,” Ethan said, grinning.

  A moment later, Ethan held his hand out, palm down, and willed Mason back out. He misjudged the height; Mason dropped out and landed with a massive thud that shook the floor. “Oh—Gotta be more careful. I keep telling myself that, but one of these days I might squash someone.”

  Ethan spent another five minutes testing commands, seeing just how much Mason could learn or do. The Pack relaxed nearby, snacking and watching the show. When he was satisfied, Ethan waved everyone over. “Ready to keep going?”

  Everyone nodded—Buster with his mouth full—and they got back into formation.

  Ethan instructed Mason to stay up front and protect the team. Mason followed orders almost too well, blocking every slime that tried to get close. The Pack could barely get in a shot; every attack was intercepted by Mason’s dense frame.

  Frustrated, Ethan changed tactics. “Okay, Mason—go grab me that slime core.” The golem dashed in, reached straight into the slimes, and plucked out their cores. Without their cores, the slimes collapsed instantly, leaving behind nothing but harmless goo and—at first—several cores that were crushed or cracked from Mason’s grip.

  They continued with Mason leading the way. Cores kept ending up crushed in Mason’s grip, so Ethan quickly started giving more careful instructions. “Be gentle with the cores, Mason. Don’t crush them—just take them out.” The golem paused, then carefully scooped up the next one, holding it out with perfect precision.

  Pixie darted over to sniff at the first intact core, tail wagging. “It even gets the loot for us. That’s awesome.”

  Moose rumbled, “Efficient, at least.”

  It only got more obvious in the next room, which held at least thirty slimes. Mason ran up, grabbing cores left and right, and each time the slimes dissolved on the spot.

  Then a massive, six-foot-tall slime oozed forward, towering over the others. Mason didn’t hesitate—he darted straight into its side, burrowed halfway inside, and plucked out the core. The giant slime collapsed into a tidal wave of goo as Mason trotted back to Ethan, proudly depositing the undamaged basketball-size core at his feet like a puppy bringing back a prize.

  Pixie burst out laughing. “Okay, that was adorable.”

  Ethan could only grin. He wondered if the dungeon was ready for them, not the other way around.

  As Ethan popped all of the cores into his dimensional storage, he took out the rest of their jars and walked over to the lake-sized puddle that used to be the six-foot slime. “I don’t know if we have enough bottles,” he said, eyeing the mess. “Wish I had more jugs.”

  He mused out loud, and to his surprise, Mason began pulling dirt and stone from the ground, compressing it into the same crystalline form as his own body—but now shaped like bottles. Ethan felt a steady pool of mana being drawn from him through the link with Mason. Since he needed the bottles, he figured, why not? After Mason had made about twenty, Ethan told him to stop.

  Working together, they got the majority of the goo into the new bottles, using the scooper to funnel the mess inside, then stored everything away.

  “I think Mable is going to be really surprised,” Ethan said, capping another jar. “We’re bringing back a lot of slime goo. We’re going to make some alchemists really happy.”

  Moose nodded his head sagely.

  Buster was grinning. “I wonder how hard that big giant slime would have been to fight if Mason hadn’t just run inside and grabbed the core.”

  “I’m glad we didn’t have to find out,” Lyra said.

  Ethan glanced back at the bottled goo and pile of cores. Lyra arched an eyebrow. “We’re either very lucky or something is seriously off with this dungeon.”

  “Well, we do have more luck with you around,” Ethan said, flashing her a grin and a quick wink.

  Lyra rolled her eyes, but a small, reluctant smile tugged at her mouth.

  Ethan laughed. “Honestly, I feel like we’re cheesing the whole thing. Not that I’m complaining.”