Chapter 230: Chapter 142: Purchasing Golems, New Upper-Level Magic Tattoo
Puppets are mainly categorized into Wood Puppets, Earth Puppets, Stone Puppets, and Iron Puppets.
The first two types have almost no combat capability; any Apprentice Knight can easily defeat a Wood Puppet or an Earth Puppet.
As such, these two types of puppets are typically used for heavy manual labor, such as transporting heavy stones and lumber.
Stone Puppets and Iron Puppets are relatively more advanced.
These two puppet types possess decent combat power, roughly equivalent to a Junior Knight and a Senior Knight, respectively.
The City Guard Army is equipped with a considerable number of Stone Puppets and Iron Puppets, which are generally used as cannon fodder in battle.
Compared to puppets, golems are more powerful in combat and possess their own intelligence, allowing them to execute simple commands.
There is a wide variety of golems, which can be broadly classified by their materials into Flesh Golems, Clay Golems, Stone Golems, and Metal Golems.
Among these, Metal Golems can be further divided into Iron Golems, Refined Gold Golems, Shadow Steel Golems, Vajra Golems, and so on.
There are also special models like the Deep Dark Golem and the Strangulation Golem.
Generally speaking, the more valuable the materials used, the stronger the resulting golem.
Among golems, even the lowest-grade Flesh Golem has combat capabilities equivalent to a Tier One Legendary Knight.
As for mid- to high-grade golems like the Refined Gold Golem, they possess formidable combat power comparable to a Tier Five Legendary Knight or a Level 1 Crystalized Wizard.
As for the legendary Silver Sage, reputed to be one of the pinnacle creations among golems, it exists on an entirely different level.
Ordinary Wizards don’t even have the means to come into contact with one.
Naturally, the exchange does not have such a legendary golem.
The highest-level golem available for trade at the exchange is the Refined Gold Golem.
It’s worth noting that in a one-on-one fight, a cumbersome golem is usually no match for an equally-ranked Knight, who is more agile and has a more versatile combat style.
On the battlefield, however, a golem—which requires no rest or food, fears no danger, obeys commands completely, and even has self-repair capabilities—is far more useful than a Knight of the same rank.
For this reason, given the same combat power, a golem’s value is often higher than that of an Alien Race’s Knight.
A Flesh Golem costs 30 merit points, equivalent to a bottle of Resonance Potion.
A Clay Golem is valued as high as 150 merit points, making it more expensive than even Unicorn Essence Blood.
Moving up the ladder, the price of a Stone Golem soars to 800 merit points.
Looking at the astonishingly high prices of the mid- to high-grade golems, Pei Ze couldn’t help but shake his head and turn his attention to the Clay Golems.
The more sophisticated a Golem Puppet, the higher its daily maintenance requirements.
Therefore, he didn’t plan to trade for an overly expensive golem; there was no need.
Clay Golems would be sufficient.
They possess strength approaching that of a young red dragon and can carry objects weighing several tons. As long as they have a sufficient energy supply and regular maintenance, they can be used indefinitely, making them highly efficient laborers that will be immensely useful in the mining area.
Clay Golems can also be useful when combat breaks out.
They have combat capabilities equivalent to a Tier Two Legendary Knight.
Ten Clay Golems could rout a detachment of a Sect Knight Order on an open battlefield.
All in all, the Clay Golem is a highly cost-effective product, capable of both labor and combat. It’s a purchase he definitely wouldn’t regret.
’Twenty Clay Golems should be about right.’
Pei Ze made a quick mental calculation. Twenty was the perfect number.
Any more than that, and the number of Energy Cores needed for daily operation would be substantial.
Besides, he only needed the Clay Golems to help with labor in the mining area and to take on some of the guard duties for the resource point. He wasn’t trying to build an army, so he didn’t need too many.
Twenty Clay Golems would cost three thousand merit points.
Pei Ze then went on to trade for thirty Stone Puppets to be used for labor in the mining area.
These were very cheap; thirty Stone Puppets cost only three merit points.
Immediately after, Pei Ze also traded for a complete underground mining system worth one hundred merit points, which included mining rails, transport vehicles, power units, and more.
The last purchase was a group of Hill Dwarf slaves skilled in mining and smelting.
Slaves proficient in a special skill like this were far more expensive than those who were only good for fighting—like barbarians, for example.
One Hill Dwarf slave was worth five merit points.
Pei Ze bought fifty of them in one go.
After all was said and done, he had just over five hundred merit points left.
Pei Ze thought for a moment, then traded for twenty Level 2 Energy Cores.
The purchased golems came with Level 2 Energy Cores already inside them, which served as the power source for their daily activities and combat.
Under normal circumstances, one Level 2 Energy Core was enough to power a Clay Golem’s daily activities for about half a year.
However, if they encountered combat or were damaged, their energy consumption would increase dramatically.
Sometimes, a single Level 2 Energy Core could be completely drained after just two or three mid- to high-intensity battles.
Therefore, it was best to have spare Energy Cores ready.
Twenty Level 2 Energy Cores were worth four hundred merit points.
After this trade, Pei Ze was left with just over one hundred merit points.
’To use up over three thousand merit points all at once... such a huge expense... No wonder other Wizards have to team up to develop a single resource point.’
After a silent sigh of emotion, Pei Ze casually gave 50 merit points each to Su Ya and Peng Yan, planning to use the rest for purchasing supplies later.
Pei Ze didn’t withdraw his goods immediately. Instead, he temporarily stored the purchased Puppet Golems and slaves at the exchange, planning to transport them over after securing the resource point.
In any case, he had no intention of relying on the Puppet Golems to attack the resource point.
Leaving the exchange, Pei Ze headed straight for the Magic Laboratory.
The Divine Statue and the Eye of Cold Winter he had acquired today needed to be refined into Faith Crystals.
’I have six Faith Crystals left from last time. I got three from Defensive Fortification No. 17. The statue and the Eye of Cold Winter from today should yield eight more. That’s seventeen in total, which should be almost enough.’
Breaking through to the Liquefaction Stage had consumed five Faith Crystals. Following this trend, Pei Ze estimated that breaking through to the Crystallization Stage would require at least ten Faith Crystals.
And after conquering the resource point, he estimated he could refine another two or three Faith Crystals from the spoils. In any case, it should be enough.
’Next, I just have to wait for my Spirit level to reach 64.’
"Omniscience, check my current status."
[Spirit: 39.35]
[Constitution: 30.78]
’I still have four Sacred Spirit Buds left. Consuming them all and dispelling the Power of Faith will take about two months and should increase my Spiritual Power by about 8 levels.’
’If I supplement my training with the Resonance Potion during that time, I should be able to reach the limit of the Liquefaction Stage in about two months.’
A hint of delight appeared on Pei Ze’s face.
It had only been a month, all told, since he had broken through to the Liquefaction Stage.
Even with another two months, advancing from the Liquefaction Stage to the Crystallization Stage as a Level 1 Wizard in just three months total was a terrifyingly fast pace.
Even a Level 1 Wizard from a Bloodline Clan probably couldn’t improve their strength as quickly as him.
After leaving the Magic Laboratory, Pei Ze made a stop at a shop to buy Gemstone materials.
After advancing to Tier Three Legendary Knight, his constitution had skyrocketed, and the number of Magic Tattoos he could handle had increased accordingly.
’Based on my current constitution, I can definitely handle seven Intermediate Magic Tattoos.’
Theoretically, a Wizard can have a maximum of seven Magic Tattoos, with locations including the head, chest and abdomen, back, both arms, and both legs.
Pei Ze already had five, leaving only his right arm and head untattooed.
However, after careful consideration, he decided to abandon the idea of getting a Magic Tattoo on his head.
For one thing, it would be too conspicuous. For another, he really didn’t want to cover his face in tattoos or have to shave his head completely bald.
’It’s fine to have one less Magic Tattoo. I’ll just make up for the lack of quantity with quality.’
Pei Ze immediately decided to choose an Upper-Level Magic Tattoo for his sixth one.
He already had a target in mind—not the Light Spirit Magic Tattoo for enhancing speed that he had almost gotten before, but the Tough Magic Tattoo for enhancing constitution.
For the current Pei Ze, improving his constitution meant he could withstand more Lightning Runes, which in turn meant an increase in his combat power.
Compared to the Light Spirit Magic Tattoo, the Tough Magic Tattoo would undoubtedly provide a more immediate and tangible boost to his combat abilities.
"This is the one!"
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