-----
As I decided to upgrade and relocate the walls, a huge commotion erupted. The walls transformed into a literal living serpent-like golem made of wood, stone, metals, and magic crystals. It leaped from its original position and coiled around the expanded territory, resembling an uroboros biting its own tail. Soul Essence surged wildly from it until it finally stabilized and settled.
Ding!
[You have exchanged 3200 Soul Points and a large quantity of other materials.]
[You have successfully fused and upgraded the [Reinforced Wooden Wall (E Grade)] x2!]
[You have created the unique building: [Spiritual Golem Walls (B+ Grade)]]
-----
[Spiritual Golem Walls (B+ Grade)]
[Building Type]: [Walls] [Spirit Walls] [Magic Walls]
[Building Capacity]: [Vast Territory]
[Building Durability]: [50,000/50,000]
[Building Abilities]: [Magic-Proof Golem Walls] [Shockwave And Damage Absorption] [Spirit Magic Ward Array] [Forest Spirit Protection] [Earth Spirit Protection] [Metal Spirit Protection]
[Upgrade Requirements]: [10,000 Soul Points] [Wood] [Stone] [Metal] [Magic Stones] [Spirit Crystals] [Spiritual Hearts] [Orichalcum Golem Heart Core]
-----
"I-It's almost as if we made a golem?!" I asked in disbelief. "And it only cost me 3200 Soul Points? Isn't that way too cheap?"
"It also required quite a lot of resources and materials," Freyja said. "But yes, I don't think I can make something like this again. It was a one-time thing due to the circumstances. Those two walls had absorbed a tremendous amount of divine energy from the temples you brought along."
"I see… that's really crazy," I said, gazing up at the walls in awe. "It gained so many new abilities. It truly seems tough now."
"It is," Freyja confirmed. "With this, you can safely build more things inside if you wish."
"Yeah… I may build more houses," I said. "For now though, I should tell the village about these new buildings and explain what they are and what they do."
It was going to be complicated to explain that we needed to place some faith in other gods rather than solely in the spirits or ancestors we usually prayed to.
But with the help of my grandfather and the elders, I managed to communicate everything in detail to the villagers.
Naturally, even as a hero, I received mixed reactions at best.
"Y-You're saying we need to worship two new gods?"
"That's insanity. Why would we do that?"
"Blessings or not, we cannot just abandon our ancestors and the spirits that protected us before…"
"Are these gods even real? I've never heard of them!"
"Me neither."
"I am their Saintess! Isn't that enough proof that…" I muttered, then fell silent. "No… I guess you're right?"
"...?"
"...?"
"...?"
"It's wrong to force people into another religion, and it's never something I'm going to stand for," I sighed, looking at them. "You're free to choose your religion, and I will not force you. It's wrong… and maybe I didn't think it through well enough. Though perhaps we could think of these gods as allies instead—not just figures to worship, but as guardians. New guardians. But even then, it's up to you. They offered us help, and I won't abandon them. But you don't share that burden and are free to do as you please. Thank you for listening."
I didn't want to force them, so the conversation ended there. I walked back to the temples and offered prayers again.
I was never a religious person, and even though they're "gods," I don't consider them the god. I just think they're stronger beings who want something in exchange for help.
It's a relationship of transaction and mutual benefit. There's no deep spirituality in me regarding them, and I think they know but don't really care, as long as my pleas are sincere.
"And it didn't go well. Sorry."
Ding!
[The Divinity: {Goddess of Nature and Spirits, Tierra} says there is nothing for you to worry about and that people are free to believe whatever they want. She appreciates your efforts nonetheless and explains that her authority will expand as you grow plants with love and honesty, regardless of whether there are pious believers or not.]
"Aw, thank you Lady Tierra. That's reassuring. I will make sure to spread nature and welcome as many spirits as I can."
[The Divinity: {God of the Sun and Pride, Solaris} clicks his tongue and says he doesn't quite agree with Terra's approach… He also dislikes your people for being too selfish, without thinking about their own future and the benefits the gods could grant them if they offered but a daily prayer that doesn't take longer than a minute.]
[He says, however, that as someone who governs Pride, their selfishness and traditions are also a great source of energy. As long as you bring him victories in his name, he will be content and support you.]
"I understand you may be a little annoyed, Lord Solaris. Thank you for your understanding regardless," I said with a smile.
I walked away from the temples after leaving some offerings to both—freshly caught Bicorn Hares and Horned Rabbits, which I had been hunting daily to complete the quest.
I had already completed the quest several times since my Physique evolved, but it hadn't grown noticeably. I bet it will take years to see real progress…
Still, every completion added a small amount of strength that accumulated within the Physique. Perhaps in a few months to a year or more, something would change.
Even so, +10 Strength daily could become overwhelmingly powerful after a year—3,650 Strength in a single year. In five years? That's 18,250!
That was already more than three times my current Strength stat. Yeah… it would grow. I just needed to be patient.
"Welp, now that I'm done with that, I should check on the farms and see if it worked."
I walked back to the farms and found my family examining the crops with interest. Sigrid and my friends were with them too.
"Brunhild! You're here!" my mother said. "Look! A big tree with those warm fruits began growing around the farm!"
"Wait, it worked?!" I ran over and saw that on the spots where I had planted the black seeds of the sunlight pears, spirit trees had grown incredibly fast. They were already bearing small Sunlight Pears. "Incredible… so the fruit can grow on the surface? I had no idea…"
"Aren't those fruits really warm? We could plant those trees around the village to keep it warm," my father suggested. "What do you think?"
"Sounds like an amazing idea, but I don't know if they'll grow…" I muttered.
[The Divinity: {Goddess of Nature and Spirits, Tierra} says that with the combination of abilities and blessings, they have a high chance of growing healthily as long as you feed them enough fertilizer and water them properly.]
[The Divinity: {God of the Sun and Pride, Solaris} says he's bored and may give some sunlight to show your people he's real (he's still mad about their comments that he doesn't exist).]
Huh, they're more focused on me than I expected… It's such a vast world, and yet these two supreme deities are dedicating their time to help me solve these mundane problems. It feels a little wrong.
"I think it can work. The gods told me it's fine," I said.
"Really?!" Sigrid wondered. "Wait, you can talk with the gods directly? What were their names? Solaris… and Tierra?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "It seems they're invested in us and are watching attentively."
"W-Wha…?!" my father gasped. "Does that mean they're watching now? Hello? Hello, gods? Are you there?"
"Cut it out, Ragnar. It's not like they'll ever give a damn about you," my mother sighed, shaking her head.
"WHAT?! Why not? I'm a great warrior and the father of their beloved Saintess, right?" my father said proudly, making his children burst into laughter—including me. "W-Why are you laughing? I'm serious! I deserve some recognition and reward, right?"
"Ignore him," my mother said. "Anyway, sweetheart, before doing anything like that, I think most of these crops are ready to harvest! We've been surviving on just meat and milk for too long. The mushrooms and other fruits and things you brought were all great, but we need more of these… especially bread! I miss eating bread so much."
"Alright, I understand. Let's call the whole village. It's harvest season!" I said.
After that, the entire village gathered once they heard they could harvest crops. Although it wasn't a free-for-all, everything was distributed evenly, with priority given to families with many children.
Everyone came with scythes to harvest what they could. People brought baskets and filled them with fresh tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, carrots, and more.
Some also harvested the spirit herbs and medicinal herbs that had grown. My family and I carefully gathered the Sunlight Pears, which were a little dangerous for the average person.
The day ended with the entire village celebrating once more at night, this time over a bountiful harvest.
The windmills worked to turn wheat into flour, and several fresh vegetables and fruits were cooked into all sorts of recipes I had taught the people.
While having dinner together with my family and several other villagers, including the families of my friends, I quickly informed everyone about the Old Forges and the Alchemy Studios.
It didn't take long for several people to show strong interest.
"I'm not a blacksmith, but I am a carpenter. Still, I'm quite curious about learning blacksmithing."
"I'm one of the few village crafters. I'm interested as well!"
"Me too, dear," my mother said.
"Hey, we're made for that job," my big sister nodded.
"Alchemy, huh?" Ylva wondered. "I've dabbled a little in potion-making and such, so I'm in. I'll bring along my magician friends."
"Sigrid, how about you try to learn Alchemy with me?" I asked. "You're very talented with magic, so Alchemy shouldn't be too hard."
"R-Really? Well, sure!" she nodded.
"Can I help with something, Brun?" Kara asked.
"You've been giving Sigrid all the attention. Can't we help?" Ulf asked.
"I think you two might be good at blacksmithing, maybe?" I wondered. "You both have the fire element, so you're naturally aligned with it. Let's try forging and doing alchemy tomorrow then."
After discussing things with the chief, the elders, and the people, I was able to recruit a good number of volunteers.
Eight people for the Alchemy Studio to work and learn, and twelve who wanted to become blacksmiths and train in the Old Forges.
A solid start.
♢♢♢♢
The next day, after a quick breakfast and playing with little Krarlak for a while alongside Fenrir and Huginn, I headed outside with my family and friends toward the Alchemy Studios and the Old Forges.
There, my grandfather and Ylva brought our potential blacksmiths and alchemists, among them my friends Sigrid, Kara, and Ulf.
I also noticed Ivar had joined the blacksmiths. They were led by the village's best crafter, a man who knew some blacksmithing arts but had never had the equipment to practice until now.
He was an old-looking man with a short gray beard, a very beefy and muscular frame, dark brown skin, short hair, and gleaming blue-and-emerald eyes.
"This old man's Viggo, the village's greatest crafter and blacksmith," my grandfather said, presenting him to me.
"Nice to meet you, young one," the old man said, shaking my hand with his large, calloused grip that felt as hard as stone. "I've heard a lot about you lately. These Forges—I've been wondering, how do they work?"
Huh, straight to business. I liked that.
"They use special furnaces that run on Mana Crystals and Spirit Stones," I explained. "The better the quality of the fuel, the stronger the results."
"Huh, interesting," he rubbed his chin, carrying his heavy backpack full of tools, materials, hammers, weapons, armor—everything. "Mind if I settle down in one of them? They're larger than houses."
"Of course, you're welcome. Let's go inside, everyone. I'll guide the alchemists afterward, so please have some patience," I said.
We entered the first Old Forge. It was a beautiful structure of gray stone bricks with a cozy interior. The furnace burned strongly, and there were even some working tools available—though they couldn't be stolen.
"Well, it's hot in here!" he laughed. "Looks like my kind of place!"
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Author's Note:
Hello and thank you for reading so far! I am the author PancakesWitch and wanted to say that this is a novel I'm writing with a lot of love. I will publish 5 chapters a week, or sometimes 4.
There will always be an additional chapter on Patreon though, and you can also join it right now to get +23 Advanced Chapters for only $10! The number will keep increasing every week as well!
https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch