Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 467 Forerunner

The reality is harsh: we have no money!
As one grumpy dwarf put it, mithril is rarer than a bull's udder. It's not enough to forge divine weapons, so where would you find so many golems weighing tens of tons to squander?

Those so-called mithril golems are just intimidating with their name. If you really look at them one by one, they are all just mithril with the operating circuits engraved on them and the key components made of mithril. They are not actually forged entirely from mithril.

That's not a nouveau riche, that's someone who's lost their mind.

Who would be willing to let a golem created like that golem go into actual combat? If this thing stood guard in front of the vault, I'm afraid no one would care about the vault anymore. Everyone would be yelling and attacking the golem, and even breaking off a few pieces would be a bonus.

Conversely, the manufacturing and maintenance costs of this darling would certainly ensure that the maker's so-called treasure trove would be so empty that mice would starve to death.

Enchanted steel and alloys remain the main raw materials for various high-level golems, and among various magical metals, Shadowsteel is considered one of the most cost-effective, except that its manufacturing conditions are too demanding.

But now that Tutankhamun has fallen to the Shadow Plane and become the City of the Dead, these inconveniences no longer exist.

High Cliff is located southeast of Neverwinter, and is probably hundreds of kilometers away from where Netheril is, now the Bison, or the Enoch Desert. Even if the distance in the Shadowlands cannot be measured simply by the concept of the Prime Material Plane due to the distortion of the plane, it is still a considerable distance and has already left the area under the control of Shadow City.

Drezan came to High Cliff, a remote and isolated place, not because he was extremely bored. High Cliff in the Prime Plane has little to offer besides agriculture and ports, but in the Shadow Plane, it is a fertile land.

On the surface, Gao Ya in the film industry doesn't seem like much, just like any other desolate mountain wilderness, full of bare, exposed rocks.

What's valuable are these stones.

The essential ingredient for refining Shadowsteel is Shadow Liquid, an alchemical potion that must be prepared and used entirely within the Shadow Plane. The raw material for refining Shadow Liquid is Deep Pit Dark Rock.

The product obtained from this hard black stone after undergoing a series of processes such as crushing, erosion, and extraction is called shadow liquid.

The refined Shadow Liquid is still extremely unstable and will degenerate and revert to Shadow Source Energy and other components within a very short time. Preservation is not impossible, but in terms of cost, the best solution is to refine it into Shadow Steel in a timely manner to avoid the risk of deterioration.

This is the reason why Drezan came here to set up an alchemy workshop. Otherwise, he could have just stayed in his mage tower and comfortably started the machines. Why bother to come here and set up a branch base?

All of this has benefited a part-time tomb raider.

The only thing that disappointed Mr. Zhang was that, according to Drezan himself, what was built here was not a complete golem factory. The various pieces of equipment could be roughly classified into two types: one was used for crushing, screening, and smelting raw ore, extracting and refining shadow liquid, enchanting and forging shadow steel alloys, etc., which was the pre-production stage of golem raw materials.

Secondly, there is the casting and forming of each component and the overall assembly process. For example, the assembly of the limbs and torso, the construction of the drive mechanism and each joint, and the engraving of the magic circuits and nodes inside the golem's body. Only after going through a series of complex processes can a Shadowsteel golem's shell be obtained.

Yes, it's just a shell, because it's missing a crucial element:
Core hub.

Even the most advanced golems cannot generate power from nothing, and their intelligence requires the support of a thought core.

Compared to ordinary golems, which mostly use the imprisonment of elemental life as their dual core for power and intelligence, the Shadowsteel Golem, born in the Shadow Dimension, is more unique. As a sub-dimensional plane, the Shadow Realm does not possess the same inclusiveness in its rules of power as the primary plane. Elemental life forms can be managed in the short term there, but they are still lacking as a long-term, perpetual energy core.

Generally speaking, the shadow creatures native to the Shadow Plane, such as High Shadows, are the most suitable choice, as they are the only ones that fit the description.

Unfortunately, this most critical core component cannot be manufactured in the current workshop. It's like integrated chip manufacturing in the past; not every company or factory has the corresponding technology and processing capabilities.

Integrating a series of functions such as binding, control, and power supply into a relatively small drive core is not something that can be done by simply swinging a hammer. Don't be fooled by the fact that some ordinary mages who don't even have a mage tower can create golems, or that apprentices in academies can practice by assembling constructs. In reality, it's not that simple.
How can a contractor who uses readily available components to assemble products, and a giant with independent and complete technology and production chain, both claiming to be technology companies, be compared?

If the entire production line for the Shadow Steel Golem were to be moved here, the area of ​​the mausoleum would probably be insufficient.

This also gives us a glimpse into the high standards and basic requirements for manufacturing these unconventional golems, and the investment required for large-scale mass production would be astronomical.

This time, we didn't get a complete golem factory for free. If we were to start a similar industry from scratch, who knows when we would have a chance?

We can only hope that the craftsmen's skills and wisdom can shine in this other world.

Finally, the last chapter of the inscription mentions the crucial point:

"The staff I hold is the key to mysteries; the stone of wisdom hangs atop the stone tower; it speaks my words of wisdom."

Is this a legacy left behind?
Is he really that open-minded?

Mr. Zhang was filled with doubts. The later part of the obelisk inscription seemed to be the tomb owner making his final arrangements and passing on his mantle.

What tomb owner would be so friendly to tomb raiders who break into their rest and disturb their peace? They even prepared hints, just in case you didn't know.

But then I thought about it again. It was the same in Herbart's tomb. It seems that some spellcasters had become more detached when they were about to die, and did not care much about their knowledge being passed on.

Of course, most of those who couldn't let go of their attachments became liches or other undead creatures, so they couldn't leave behind any legacy.

Just… proverbs? What proverbs?

After surveying the entire obelisk, Zhang Yuan turned his attention to the inverted pyramid-shaped stone atop the obelisk.

With the white bull lifting him up, the mage stared wide-eyed, searching every inch of the obelisk's surface, while occasionally ordering the Soul Splitter beneath him to move and circle around the obelisk.

It wasn't hard to find; the mage, using arcane vision, clearly discovered a sentence inscribed in Loros language on the bottom side of one of the inverted pyramid's sides:

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(End of this chapter)