After settling his bill and leaving the blacksmith shop, Li Xiuman was once again dead broke.
Refining that batch of pink-melt talc wasn't complicated, and Kuntu had already finished it.
Repairing the battered magic items stolen from Orfen would still take some time. However, a few were severely damaged, so whether any could be restored depended entirely on luck.
Damn it, just thinking about that dragon Orfen brought bad luck.
The leather collected from the troll was barely enough to piece together a single set of leather armor. He could pick it up in three days alongside the repaired magic items.
Still, his absolute favorite was Second Princess, Crystal Orchid.
Crystal Orchid was currently strapped to his waist. Under the sunlight, the hilt gleamed with a beautiful silver luster.
Because Crystal Orchid was so eye-catching and gorgeous, Li Xiuman had bought her a pitch-black scabbard.
That scabbard alone had cost him a full twenty gold coins.
He was incredibly generous with her.
When it came to himself, he couldn't even bring himself to spend three silver coins on an inn room.
There was no helping it; he couldn't let his cute, charming Second Princess suffer.
Now, Li Xiuman held Crystal Orchid in his arms, terrified she might drop, treating her like the most fragile treasure.
“Speaking of which... when I use Crystal Orchid to chop monsters, does it hurt her?”
“For monsters as absurdly tough as trolls, I really can't bear to cut them with Crystal Orchid.”
“Can Crystal Orchid touch water?”
“Is the scabbard too hard? What if it scrapes Crystal Orchid?”
“Ah, there's a speck of dust on the hilt. Good thing I noticed with my sharp eyes.”
“Such a strong gust of wind... Will Crystal Orchid get cold?”
He was acting exactly like someone who had just gotten a brand-new smartphone.
Returning to his inn room, he carefully aligned Crystal Orchid and set her down on the table.
After that, Li Xiuman retrieved the refined pink-melt stone.
Despite harvesting so much pink-melt talc, the refined pink-melt stone yielded only enough to equal ten bars of soap.
It was translucent white with a pink hue, resembling top-tier suet jade.
Li Xiuman grabbed a piece of pink-melt stone and squeezed it.
It felt fantastic—extremely soft.
Then, Li Xiuman squeezed hard with sudden force, and its texture instantly became as tough as an alloy.
“This really is interesting.”
Li Xiuman tried infusing mana into the pink-melt stone.
Next, he wanted to draw Crystal Orchid to give it a test slash.
After a moment's thought, he drew the Rib Sword instead.
What if he hurt Crystal Orchid? Rough work like this was better left to the Rib Sword.
He struck with a swift slash.
A magical light flashed over the pink-melt stone with a sharp ding, deflecting the Rib Sword away.
Once infused with mana, the pink-melt stone's strength increased even further.
On top of that, its magic conductivity was exceptionally smooth.
The perfect choice for Number Zero's skin!
He retrieved Number Zero from his storage space.
Number Zero's battle against the troll in the dungeon had caused a fair amount of damage.
Before crafting the skin, he needed to repair the damage first.
Li Xiuman took a deep breath, fetching a piece of Red Dragon Alloy—specifically that small pink piece—along with some magic steel and molten refined iron.
“I'm really pulling out all the stops here.”
“Golem Creation!”
He completely repaired Number Zero.
The pink Red Dragon Alloy elevated its durability and Strength to a whole new level.
It gained even stronger Fire Magic, and its [Fire Resistance] was further enhanced.
Thanks to the Red Dragon Alloy's incredible durability, Number Zero's size could be shrunk even further than before.
Ultimately, Li Xiuman reduced its height to 175 centimeters.
Next was the skin creation stage.
Li Xiuman grabbed a piece of pink-melt stone, then drew the curtains closed.
Choosing Number Zero's exterior gender...
Did that even need to be said? Li Xiuman had no interest in sculpting muscle on a buff guy.
Step one: sculpting the face and hair.
For the hair, Li Xiuman had asked Kuntu for a type of metallic wire—slender and supple like hair strands, yet remarkably tough when infused with mana.
Because of its excellent magic conductivity, it could be controlled with mana, and could even absorb mana and metal to regenerate.
“Golem Creation!”
At first, Li Xiuman intended to just casually sculpt something decently cute.
As he worked, however, he became completely obsessed, determined to make her peerlessly beautiful by the end.
When he finished sculpting, Li Xiuman nodded in deep satisfaction.
Exquisite facial features, snow-white skin, silver hair, and crimson eyes.
It was the classic white-haired, red-eyed aesthetic that no one could resist!
Moreover, the area around her eyes and brow held an eighty percent resemblance to Ilu.
Because Ilu's eyes were the prettiest he had ever seen, he hadn't been able to stop himself, making them look more and more alike as he worked.
And since Number Zero's eyes were crafted using Nine-Angled Fire Crystals, they were naturally crimson.
Next was the body.
Dammit, this was a blind spot in his knowledge.
He could only sculpt what he liked based on his past "study materials."
...
After dressing Number Zero in clothes, light leather armor, long stockings, and fitted boots, he fastened her belt and tied her silver hair back into a ponytail.
Perfect!
Should he add cat ears...?
Never mind, better not add unnecessary features.
“Number Zero, come here.”
Number Zero walked over.
Perhaps because she now had a human face, Number Zero looked far more lively than before.
Holding a massive shield in her left hand, a greatsword slung across her back, dressed in light armor, and possessing eyes and brows similar to Ilu's, she radiated a heroic aura just like Ilu's.
She was tall, her pants accentuating her long, shapely legs.
Her chest wasn't grand, but it had a pleasing curve.
After all, the supply of pink-melt stone was limited; how could he waste it on such frivolous places?
The skeleton who had spent so much effort on finer details earlier was truly shameless.
Next, Li Xiuman handed the [Troll's Mallet] to Number Zero.
The greatsword Number Zero was currently carrying was just a generic weapon Li Xiuman had stripped off some unlucky fellow.
Number Zero handed the greatsword back to Li Xiuman, took the mallet, gave it a few practice swings, and slung it onto her back.
“What a pity she doesn't have a voice function.”
Li Xiuman felt a little disappointed.
Number Zero was missing only a voice function from becoming his ideal mech-girl.
However, his current Golem technology couldn't implement a true voice function at all; he could only manage a crude recording function at best.
Besides, Number Zero hadn't yet developed the intelligence to use language.
Number Zero did possess a capacity for learning.
For example, she could improve herself by accumulating combat experience through battle.
As long as he maintained her existence continuously without letting her collapse and dissipate, perhaps she might eventually develop the intelligence required to speak.
Besides, the reason he kept maintaining Number Zero instead of letting her disappear wasn't just because he kept pouring more and more precious materials into her, feeling so pained by the sunk cost that he couldn't bring himself to stop...
Which resulted in him pouring in even more resources, making Number Zero's value skyrocket, and causing him to feel even more pained to let her go...
There was also the fact that he used Number Zero as a test subject, maintaining her existence long-term to observe her changes.
These changes allowed him to learn, comprehend, and advance his own Golem technology.
For instance, once Number Zero's intelligence developed to a certain level, he could use her as a base template to create high-intelligence individual Golems.
Rate on N.U.
