Chapter 219: Flesh Golem
Chapter 219: Flesh Golem
After resting for a while, Liam brought out another Dementor and restrained it on the Altar. This time, he focused his research on understanding how the Dementor could emerge from a chaotic mix of energies.
As for the aspect of soul absorption, Liam didn't need to delve into it deeply, as Life Magic offered several methods to achieve this, which were far more sophisticated and practical than the Dementor's instinct-driven approach.
While studying the second Dementor, Liam made an unexpected discovery: the Dementor's ability to draw out positive emotions from humans was due to the inherent attraction between negative and positive emotions. This was why humans, whose emotions are tied to their souls, which are protected within their physical bodies, could not replicate this ability. Unlike humans, Dementors are purely soul-based beings, with their souls in constant contact with the external environment.
Through his research, Liam finally understood how Dementors could gather scattered soul energy from the environment and coalesce it into a complete soul.
Soul energy can originate from various sources, such as the energy emitted by living humans during intense emotional experiences, or the residual energy left behind after a person's primary soul enters the soul cycle upon death.
In most worlds, this soul energy is widespread but short-lived, typically dissipating within twenty-four hours unless there is a specific reason for its persistence. Dementors, by chance, utilize this energy along with a large amount of negative emotions to form their monstrous existence.
Now that Liam had this knowledge, he could finally create a Flesh Golem. Previously, even the weakest Flesh Golem required a complete intelligent being's soul, and without a suitable substitute, Liam had no choice but to put his plans on hold.
With the biggest hurdle overcome, Liam wasted no time. He headed straight for the dimensional gate leading to the Radiation World to begin the process of creating a Flesh Golem.
The Radiation World had undergone significant changes over the past six months. The Glowing Sea had been partially cleaned, greatly reducing the frequency of radiation rain and nuclear storms. As a result, the vegetation coverage in the wild had increased.
Liam emerged at an underground facility repurposed from Vault-111. After burying the victims from the cryogenic chambers in a cemetery, the Shelter was transformed into an underground command center for the Federal Armed Forces. With the help of the Grave Buster, the Shelter underwent a massive expansion and now resembled a small underground city.
First, Liam went to his office. As soon as he sat down, Preston walked in with a thick stack of documents.
"General, you've been away for a long time. There are many matters that require your attention", Preston said. Liam spent the entire afternoon buried in paperwork, finally finishing everything by nine in the evening.
After a long day of work, Liam joined the on-duty personnel for dinner in the cafeteria. The menu had improved significantly over the past six months, especially in the vegetarian options, with a variety of fresh vegetables and dishes. However, meat dishes were still limited to small amounts of Dual-Headed Bull meat and various insect preparations. The only new addition was fish provided by Far Harbor, which had joined the Federation after the Atomic Cult was cleared out.
Liam ordered mashed potatoes with a vegetable salad and a small piece of grilled Dual-Headed Bull meat. To his surprise, the beef was much better in texture than the last time he had it.
"General, everyone is very grateful to you. The Plants you brought have greatly enriched our dining tables. At least, no one among the permanent residents within the Federation has starved to death in the past month", Preston said from across the table. Only then did Liam realize why many of the staff eating with him kept stealing admiring glances in his direction.
The next morning, Liam took the elevator out of the underground facility. After stepping out of the Fortress built on the hill, he discovered that the adjacent shelter town had become a bustling place, rivaling even Diamond City in the Wasteland.
Liam was pleased to see the progress and vitality in the Wasteland. After leaving the Fortress, he first went to the communal cemetery to perform a Soul Soothing Ritual for those who had recently passed away. He then gave a speech to mourn those who had recently sacrificed their lives for the Federation.
The Magic Array installed here had indeed absorbed a large amount of energy from the souls of the deceased and the intense emotions of the living.
He then used this energy as a catalyst to gather enough emotional energy from the daily lives of humans. Since Liam had set the Magic Array's absorption efficiency to the minimum, it had no adverse effects on the people.
Knowledge truly is power. In just one day, the energy Liam absorbed through the Magic Array exceeded what a Dementor could gather over twenty years by instinct alone. From a purely energy perspective, this amount was enough to evolve one or two Dementors.
With these precious gains, Liam headed straight to his house. In the dedicated laboratory at the deepest part of the house, he began his first attempt at creating a Flesh Golem.
Theoretically, any animal could be turned into a Flesh Golem. However, since this was for combat, Liam chose a stronger creature from the Wasteland as a template, such as the dead Deathclaw now lying on the table before him.
The morning passed in the process of transformation. Liam used the Mausoleum Corpse Control technique to preserve the Deathclaw, then employed the techniques obtained from the Temple to enhance the Deathclaw's body. He also embedded Runestones created with Life Magic into the Deathclaw's body. Finally, he dipped his fingers in his own blood and began drawing runes on the Deathclaw's surface.
With the final stroke, the preparations were complete. After a lengthy incantation and gestures, Liam placed his left hand between the Deathclaw's horns and slowly injected the mixture of soul energy and emotions stored in his Mind Sea into the Deathclaw's body.
Liam chose the Flesh Revival technique from the Flesh Golem arts. This magic revives a corpse, turning it into a puppet for the caster to control. The corpse's strength directly correlates with the puppet's combat ability. Unlike the top-tier Life-Death Reversal Ritual, which creates a puppet that retains all its former intelligence, this method produces a puppet with limited autonomy, retaining only basic instinctual memories. Fine control during combat requires the master's guidance.
However, the advantage of this method is that it doesn't require a fresh corpse with the soul still attached; other souls can be used as substitutes. Additionally, the requirements for the caster are less stringent.
He chose this method for two reasons: the lower difficulty ensured a high success rate, and the puppet was a monster, not a human, so retaining only instinctual memories wouldn't significantly reduce its combat effectiveness.
After the final soul injection, Liam watched with satisfaction as the Deathclaw on the table stirred to life.
(End of Chapter)
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