novelraw Chapter 18 : Chapter 18
Chapter 18 : Chapter 18
Chapter 18. Naming
Across from the shop where Riman had bought the golem.
Eliza was lost in thought, sipping a drink.
Her bitten hand was wrapped in a bandage.
‘What in the world?’
Eliza recalled the man she had just encountered.
The man who had covered half his face with the collar of his coat.
Riman.
Of course, Eliza didn't know Riman's name, so in her mind, he was simply ‘that man’.
She hadn't asked his name.
‘How in the world did he possess such mana?’
The mana Riman had emitted was clearly strange.
A completely alien power that could not be interpreted or analyzed.
‘I’ve met all sorts of people at the Magic Tower, but this is the first time I’ve felt mana like this.’
Her alma mater was the Arche Magic Tower.
A Magic Tower that boasted the most powerful influence among the so-called three great Magic Towers.
Its specialized field was natural elemental magic.
Meaning, it specialized in magic that dealt with water, fire, earth, air, lightning, light, etc.
As its influence was strong, it had many affiliated magicians, so Eliza had met all sorts of magicians there.
But even to her, Riman's mana was too alien.
‘I need to find out what kind of person he is.’
She had a gut feeling that he was definitely not an ordinary magician.
That was why she had been waiting in front of this shop.
To wait for Riman.
Whether to make an acquaintance, or at the very least, to figure out what kind of being he was.
Whatever she did, she intended to approach him first.
Sip-
With that thought, she took a sip of the drink she was holding.
‘Delicious.’
She looked at the female owner of the shop that had sold her this drink and asked.
“Excuse me, ma’am, what was the name of this drink again?”
“Sikhye.”
“Sikhye….”
Eliza nodded and said.
“Do you sell this in a large size?”
Just as Eliza was attempting to purchase sikhye by the liter.
Riman had already left the shop.
Through the back door.
So Eliza didn't even see Riman.
Ruger asked.
“By the way, why did you insist on leaving through the back door?”
“You saw that woman earlier, right?”
“You mean the woman whose hand was bitten?”
“Yeah. She was probably waiting outside to see me. That would just get annoying, so I avoided her.”
“Uh… would she really go that far?”
“She’s more than capable of it.”
Eliza Gray.
Riman knew what kind of personality she had, what kind of talent and abilities she possessed.
Her biggest characteristic was an obsessive level of academic fervor, curiosity, and competitiveness.
She was the type to latch onto someone and not let go if she found anything curious or suspicious about them.
And Riman had happened to reveal his mana in front of a person of that type.
Mana of a nature that even Riman himself thought was quite strange.
‘I deployed my mana in a hurry because I was afraid the golem would be shattered, but it backfired.’
Of course, Eliza was by no means a bad person.
She just had a bit of a foul temper, looked down on people a bit, and was the type of person who would be a nuisance to get involved with.
The surprising thing was that even so, Eliza's personality was in the upper ranks among magicians.
Because the magicians of this world were a race that fundamentally possessed a considerable sense of superiority and madness.
‘The only fortunate thing is that the graduation ceremony of the Arche Magic Tower is not far off. If I avoid her for a few days, she’ll go back to her country on her own.’
With these thoughts, Riman asked Ruger.
“Ah, can we also go to a shop that sells Magic Stones?”
“It’s right over there. Let’s go.”
Riman and Ruger moved on to the next shop.
The golem flew after Riman with a flutter.
And Eliza…
“Oh, what’s this? It tastes pretty good.”
“Sujeonggwa.”
“Sujeonggwa…!”
Was out of the blue, on a journey to taste traditional Korean beverages.
* * *
Two hours later.
Riman returned to his hotel room.
His money bag had gotten lighter, but his luggage had increased.
It wasn't much, he had just bought some clothes.
It was because the only clothes he had was a set of military clothes he had received from Kyle on the transport plane.
He had been wearing only that for several days, and it smelled no matter how much he showered.
In any case, after changing into his new clothes.
Riman turned his gaze to the golem he had bought today.
It was rolling around next to the TV.
Riman gestured to it.
“Could you come here for a bit?”
Flap!
It quickly flew towards Riman and nestled into his hand.
The more he looked at it, the more bizarre it was.
Its shape, its temper.
Its shape was a jet-black sphere with bat-like wings.
It had a foul temper, biting the fingers of others without hesitation, but a strange personality that only fawned over Riman.
He could say with certainty that this thing was never like this.
In the game, it was a dangerous creature that had to be handled with constant anxiety, wondering when it would bite its owner, even after desperately taming it.
‘But why only to me….’
Riman suddenly looked at the mirror hanging next to the TV.
In the mirror was Riman.
Riman Solaris, the great sinner of Mugan, the world's worst prisoner, the mass murderer.
Riman looked at the person in the mirror, at himself, and muttered inwardly.
‘Who in the world are you.’
Even though it was his own body, there were still so many things he didn't know.
The history of this body, the identity of this body, the abilities of this body.
Of course, he knew some of its abilities, but everything else was still a mystery.
‘Well, even if I want to know, there’s no way to find out right now.’
What he could do now was to find out what he could and could not do with this body.
And to activate the link with this golem.
“Hey.”
When Riman called, the golem responded by tilting its head.
“First, I need to give you a name.”
The first step in activating the link with a golem, naming.
A magician imprints the master-servant relationship between them by giving the golem a name.
Of course, this one wasn't a real golem.
But there was no problem in treating it like a golem.
In the first place, the golem itself originated from automatons that imitated Summoned Beasts such as dragons and phoenixes.
On top of that, it was still in its egg state, so there wasn't much difference from a golem.
“What should I name you?”
Generally, when a gamer plays a game, there are two areas where they put the most effort.
First, character appearance customization.
But since customizing Riman's body and this golem's was impossible, that was a pass.
Second, creating a nickname.
Although it wasn't his own nickname but the golem's, the importance was no different.
It was well worth careful consideration.
Riman closed his eyes for a moment and pondered this one's name.
And a conclusion was reached.
This jet-black, round thing.
Since it’s black and ball-shaped, using the Chinese characters for black and ball —
“Heuk-gu (Black Ball).”
This is it.
“Heuk-gu, how about it?”
The moment Riman asked the golem for its opinion.
Crunch.
“Aaaaaargh!”
This thing suddenly bit Riman's hand.
“Hey, I’m sorry! I’ll give you a different name!!”
The deliberation began again, and then a conclusion.
“…Heuk-ja (Blackie)?”
Crunch.
“Alright! Something else!! Uh… since it’s a dragon, Yong-yong (Dragon-dragon)?”
Munch.
“Aaargh! Hey! Kkamdung… no, Kkam-sik (Darkie)?”
Crunch, crunch.
“Ah, that hurts, you bastard! What the hell do you want! Huh?! In the game, you just took whatever name I gave you, didn't you?”
“Sahiiiiiiyak!”
It bared its teeth and hissed like an angry cat.
And the moment he saw that, a word flashed through Riman's mind.
“Did you say Sahiyak? Sahiya… Saya?”
Saya.
It was a word with no particular meaning, but the sound of it wasn't bad.
Of course, the naming sense was on the level of ‘you bark ‘woof woof’ so your name is Woof Woof’.
“Saya, right, how about Saya?”
This time, it didn't bite.
Rather, it seemed to like this name, as it started spinning in place.
“Sigh, you like it?”
Still, seeing it bite him just because it didn't like the name, its temper hadn't died down.
“Alright, then let’s start the linking process. Saya, come here.”
Thap!
Saya flew into Riman's outstretched hand and sat down.
Riman closed his eyes and began to channel mana into Saya.
Zzzzzzz-
Saya also folded its wings and calmly accepted Riman's mana.
This was the way to create a link between a master and a golem.
To inject and imprint the master's mana into the golem, synchronizing their mana frequencies.
This work had to be done to prevent another magician from taking control of the golem.
And this link was also necessary to enable the golem's main functions, ‘sense sharing’ and ‘magic transmission’.
Meaning, a golem did not become the buyer's property just by being purchased.
Only when the link was fully activated could one become its master.
Zzzzzzz-
Riman calmly proceeded to activate the link.
* * *
Four days passed since then.
An alley about two blocks away from the hotel where Riman was staying.
A crime was taking place there.
“I-I’ve given you everything I can… now please….”
A middle-aged man was kneeling, and three thugs were surrounding him.
The middle-aged man had already been robbed of everything.
His wallet and bag, of course, but also his watch, cell phone, and even his belt had been taken.
“So please, just let me go….”
“No. You still have something left to give us.”
“W-what else is there…?”
Just then, a group of people walked out from the inner part of the alley.
The moment he saw them, the middle-aged man's face froze.
“I-Intestine Hunters…!”
The thugs had even called the Intestine Hunters.
To sell off his organs as well.
One of the thugs said to the Intestine Hunters.
“Hey guys, we’ve got fresh organs here, so just take what you need. Just give us a commission.”
“No! How can you do this!!”
The middle-aged man screamed and grabbed the thug's pant leg.
“Let go, you bastard!!”
CRUNCH!
The thugs stomped on the middle-aged man who was clinging to their pant leg and shook him off.
Then they spoke to the Intestine Hunters again.
“What are you doing? Get to work.”
“Work? Are you guys crazy?”
“What?”
The Intestine Hunter snapped at the bewildered thugs.
“We don’t take the organs of the living. We don't kill people to take their organs. We are scavengers. Not murderers.”
“What the….”
“That's our work ethic, you brats.”
“Hah….”
Click-clack.
One of the thugs pulled out a pistol and said.
“Then we’ll just kill this one, and you guys can take them. Division of labor, OK?”
The moment he said that and pointed the gun at the middle-aged man's head.
A voice was heard from the empty air above.
“Put the gun down, you bastards.”
Everyone's gaze simultaneously turned to the sky.
Floating above their heads was a jet-black sphere with wings.
“Get lost from around my hotel, you thug bastards.”
The voice had come from that sphere.
The thug holding the gun said, as if in disbelief.
“What the hell is that…?”
“Isn’t it a drone?”
“What’s with the sudden… agh, damn it.”
The thug turned the gun towards the sphere.
At that moment.
CRUNCH!
The sphere, which had suddenly dived, bit the thug's neck.
A speed that was difficult for an ordinary person to follow with their eyes.
“Keokeok… keok….”
The thug whose neck was bitten collapsed to the ground.
Instant death due to a fractured cervical vertebra and a severed carotid artery.
The other thugs' faces turned white at the death of their comrade.
“W-what the…!”
“You bastard…!”
The remaining two thugs picked up a gun and a baseball bat.
One of them frantically fired his gun at the sphere.
A couple of stray bullets hit their mark.
But not a single scratch was left on the sphere.
The sphere flew straight at the one who had fired the gun and bit his neck again.
CRUNCH.
That made two kills.
The remaining thug completely lost his will to fight and chose to flee.
“Hwaaaaaak!”
He ran like mad into the alley.
But the sphere did not chase him.
It just quietly opened its mouth towards him.
And a moment later, mana gathered inside the sphere's open mouth.
[Electric Bullet]
A jet-black electric bullet was fired towards the back of the fleeing man.
Zap!
And it hit its mark.
The fleeing man collapsed to the ground with his back scorched black.
And Riman was watching this whole situation from his hotel room through this sphere, no, through Saya.
Golem control, sense sharing, and magic transmission were all successful.
“Final test complete.”
With a slightly relieved voice, Riman muttered.