Chapter 324 - [Golem Creation]

Mercury wore a thick leather glove, he slowly put it onto the funnel in front of him before he spoke

"[Metal assimilation]..."

The funnel in front of the scout boat soon turned into dust, then Mercury heaved a sigh and showed a rather excited look on his face as he spoke to the rowers

"Alright, lads onto the next one!"

The two rowers looked at each other before both of them shrugged and did as he commanded, around noon however they returned to the main ship and switched out with another two sailors as they had been too worn out to continue rowing, Mercury, however, was all smiles as he whispered

"[Essence shop]..."

[Essence shop]

Current essence: 252.221

Available skills: none

Available purchases: [Metal gamble, cost: 1.000] [Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation, cost: 100.000]

Random status point, cost: 100

Specific status point, cost: 500

Level up, cost: 1.000

Mercury's smile widened slightly when he saw that sweet, sweet number, then he made a quick decision and spoke

"Level up ten times"

Soon the essence shop updated

[Essence shop]

Current essence: 242.221

Available skills: [Golem core creation, cost 100.000]

Available purchases: [Metal gamble, cost: 1.000] [Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation, cost: 100.000]

Random status point, cost: 100

Specific status point, cost: 500

Level up, cost: 1.000

"[Golem core creation] huh… Unlock that skill"

Mercury didn't even bother seeing what it did before he unlocked it, he had essence points to spend anyways

"Status"

Name: Mercury

Age: Error

Race: Null

Class: [Metal]

Class level: 21

Titles: [Last member of the ********* ** *** ******] [First of the ********] [Sinner of the ****** race] [Cursebreaker] [Iron ranked hunter] [Partially reinforced right leg and hand]

Strength [52/1050 *UP*] - Constitution [52/1000 *UP*] - Dexterity [53/500 *UP*]

Intelligence [53/100 *UP*] - Wisdom [55/100 *UP*] - Carisma [55/10 *UP*] 

Class skills: [Metal assimilation, lv--] [Essence refining, lv--] [Essence consuming, lv--] [Essence shop, lv--] [Golem core creation, lv-- *NEW*]

Active skills: [Earth magic, lv10] [Lesser metal weaving, lv--] [Metal domination, lv--] [Blacksmithing, lv4] [Swordsmanship, lv3] [Forging blows, lv1] [Meditation, lv--]

Passive skills [Cursebreaker, lv--] [Pain resistance, lv03]

Mercury nodded and 'clicked' on the [Golem core creation] skill

[Golem core creation]

Makes a golem core out of essence points, the core is useless on its own but can be inserted into a piece of metal to make a golem, cost per core: 1.000

"This seems… neat"

"What are you talking about Mercury?"

Mercury looked up from his status and saw Maire looking at him with curiosity, then he showed a smile and spoke

"This: [Golem core creation]"

Mercury felt his essence points being drained briefly before a core appeared in his hand, it appeared the made of glass and in the center was what appeared to be a red gem that was inscribed with various ancient symbols, Maire peeked at the core before she asked

"What's that?"

"It's a core, well it's useless on its own, but…[Essence consuming]"

Mercury made a bar of aluminum before he pressed the core against it, then his mind quickly made a blueprint, and then the core began shining before the metal bar quickly changed form to that of a metal bird the size of a palm, the bird spread its wings which had metal helicopter blades inside them that quickly began spinning before it took flight much like a normal bird and began flying around the ship while 'singing' a melody, Maire stood and looked at the metal bird flying around with her mouth wide open before she spoke loudly

"Amazing Mercury!"

Then the metal bird landed on Mercury's shoulder before it opened its beak and out came Marie's voice

["Amazing Mercury!"]

"What!? That's my voice!"

Mercury showed a smile and confirmed

"That it is, smart right? Though be careful it has very sharp wings"

Maire looked a little skeptical as she gazed at the metal bird before her expression eased up

"Well it's cute so whatever"

Mercury laughed before he gave the metal bird a command

"Keep Marie company would you?"

The metal bird let out a chip before it flew over and landed on Maire's shoulder, Mercury spent the rest of the day consuming funnels around the area and soon the path was cleared for the ship, Mercury's smile widened as he looked at the 524.156 essence points he had available, then he looked at the metal bird that still flew around and 'sung' a melody, the reasons why Mercury didn't make more was that he didn't completely trust the royal family of Julantia yet, and as close as he was to Darius he knew that he probably reported directly to them and hiding things on your report due to personal feelings was a fast track to prison or worse, he had already thought up several blueprints though

'It's probably part of the skill that I am able to design golems with ease now…'

Mercury sighed as he looked over at Maire, Julia and Max that were enchanted by the metal bird as his eyes turned slightly cold

'I don't care who they are, if anyone wants to disturb my peace and quiet I'll make them pay'

Mercury's eyes soon found their warmth before he joined the girls and Max…

A few days later Mercury woke with a set, his head was splitting

'---Immortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal, mmortal---'

He took a deep breath before he began meditating, soon his head cleared up and he opened his eyes again as he noticed his stomach rumble slightly, he patted his empty stomach and got out of the cabin before he walked over to the small mess hall and got some food, deciding that he wouldn't eat while staring at a wall Mercury walked upstairs and out on the deck before he walked up to the helm where Darius stood as usual, however, Mercury detected a faint scowl on the face of Darius and followed his eyes to a faint dot on the horizon, he then asked in between munching on some bread

"That friendly?"

Darius remained silent for a bit before he spoke

"Doubt it"

Mercury shoveled the rest of the food into his mouth before he swallowed, nodded, and spoke

"Got it, I'll go get my gear… Where are the girls?"

"Doing the same thing as you just suggested"

"Good, what about Max?"

"He's playing below deck"

Mercury nodded and walked back to his cabin with brisk steps, there he put on his aluminum gauntlets and wore the adamantite sword on his hip before he walked up on deck again, now the spot on the horizon had turned into a ship with… Black sails, Darius's voice boomed over the entire ship

"All sailors, battle stations!"

Then he walked down from the helm, as he did a sailor walked up to him and handed him a cutlass, Darius took it, and when he did the air around him changed, Mercury felt it like the ambient temperature fell a couple of degrees

'He's slightly dangerous…'

Mercury removed his gaze and looked towards the pirate ship as the two ships began maneuvering into firing positions, Julia and Maire stood next to him, a few seconds of silence followed before Darius's voice boomed again

"PORT SIDE CANNONS: FIRE!"

""""""""""""FIRING!""""""""""""

Roars of cannon fire flew through the air before it accurately hit the pirate ship, though most of the cannonballs bounced off a mana powered shield around the pirate ship, in only 4 seconds the cannons were all reloaded by the trained sailors and Darius's voice once again boomed with might similar to that of the cannon fire

"FIRE!"

""""""""""""FIRING!""""""""""""

Another volley was sent out, this time the effect was greater as more cannon shells penetrated the energy shield around the pirate ship, the navy ship got off another 2 salvos before the pirate ship with less effective and maintained cannons opened up, Mercury used [Essence consuming] and made a shield in front of him and the girls a moment later the cannon shells impacted a mana powered energy shield around the navy ship, the shielding unit was a newer model than the one on the pirate ship and it was better maintained thus no shells made it through from the first salvo, the pirates knew they couldn't win in a gunfight from the start, their plan was simple: boarding

"FIRE!"

""""""""""""FIRING!""""""""""""

Darius's voice boomed again before he immutably yelled afterward

"BOARDING POSITIONS!"

The sailors yelled

""""""""""""BOARDING POSITIONS!""""""""""""

The navy ship dodged the attempted ram from the pirate ship which brought the two ships side to side, instantly harpoons with ropes attached was fired from the pirate ship, the sailors were ready, however, and removed the harpoons as quickly as they hit the side of the ship as they returned fire with bows, Julia was also quickly engaged with her self-loading crossbow sounding out twang after twang as it sent bolts flying across to the pirate ship, each bolt found their target, meanwhile, Mercury blocked return fire from the pirates with the shield he had made and Maire dexterity swiped down incoming arrows and bolts with her long spea