It's been a few days since my meeting with Lord Selvin. Since then, I've been able to fall back into my daily routine. The damage I've sustained has been repaired, though it was odd to look at once I removed the bindings around my chest and left shoulder. When I had taken a peak at it few days after the orc battle, metal-like fibers had grown over to cover the lacerations on the frame and the chest tubing. It had started pulling it closed, molding it back to it's original form like a spider was weaving it's web on it. As it continued, even my left arm's monoplegia had disappeared and was fully functional again.

When I was at Grigor's smithy do to some shopping. he rushed over to me when he noticed the repairs my body was doing. In fact, he was absolutely stunned at what he saw.

"Arlan! The way the metal is almost like a weave... is your body made of Living Metal!?" blurting it all out, he had a delirious look on him.

I wasn't sure what he was talking about, "Living metal?"

His eyes lit up, "It's a type of alloy that can repair itself! Weapons made from the stuff is extremely rare but they'll never dull and if they break, they'll reform back into it's original form after a few days! Unfortunately that means we can't melt it down and make a new weapon instead. Any attempts to break off the blade results in the broken blade being unusable and whatever was attached to the hilt will regrow instead."

Am I really made of this stuff? I didn't even consider there was a possibility of a new kind of metal here in this world. Was this some kind of new element that only exists here? Maybe Oracle knew the answer.

[The term 'Living Metal' is unknown. This frame was constructed from various synthetic metals derived from Asturite. This alloy, after a process of applying magical formulae and programming, can be molded into various forms and use the ambient mana to maintain and repair itself.]

Asturite? From what Oracle is telling me, most of my body is artificially made from this stuff. I relayed this back to Grigor.

"Asturite? That's not a metal I've heard of," he says curiously, "But Living Metal is made using it, right? Can that thing in your head tell us how?"

[Unknown.]

So the process of making 'Living Metal' isn't known to Oracle then. Alright, where can I find Asturite?

[Cannot detect Asturite within available search radius. Any attempts to query local mining nodes has come up with no results. No mining nodes for Asturite have ever been recorded in database.]

Wait, let me get this straight Oracle. I'm made of a metal that doesn't exist? How did they get their hands on it then?

[Unknown. Access of relevant information on database is forbidden.]

This is too strange... where did they get Asturite then? Is it some kind of weird space metal? Whatever answers I want is blocked by "Classified Info" nonsense. The Old Empire's government were keeping secrets that they didn't want their general public to know. Well, that sounds familiar. Not that I have to worry about it. As long as I can heal on my own, whatever Asturite is can stay in the dark. It's not like I need it for myself.

Grigor gave me another look over, "Now that I think about it, I wonder why you're in such bad shape. While a weapon made of Living Metal can break, it would take immense pressure to do so. If you are made of the stuff, Orcs shouldn't be able to make of a mess of your body like that."

I just shrugged in ignorance at him. I don't know the first thing about this body. It just give me the itch to head over to the northwest ruins as fast as possible so I can get some answers. Maybe that's why I need these upgrades. Maybe being the of golems wasn't all quite true. If it was, then the upgrades wouldn't even exist.

After some convincing, Tessa and Hina had left me back to my own devices as well. Of course I had to promise I wouldn't go off fighting anything in the meantime until I was one hundred percent again. Of course that meant I was extremely limited in my choice of requests. I had to forgo most of the lucrative C-Rank quests, the majority of which were monster subjugation and head back into the more gathering focused D-Rank quests. Oracle made most of these trivial and still profitable at the very least. My current amount of money was quickly dwindling from my purchases. The metal breastplate and chainmail alone was a good one hundred and fifty gold along with a new sword to compliment my new spear. I still had the two knives at least. Another pair of clothing to replace the ones that were torn to shreds at the Sty was also another expenditure.

By the end I was down to one hundred and forty gold. Still a hefty sum but I'm still in the red for the month. God, I was starting to have flashbacks to when I bought my first apartment. All those new expenditures and no thrift store in sight. I thought about asking if I could dip into the guild's equipment donation service but I decided against it. Those were for newcomers with abysmal starting equipment. The equipment I may be buying is expensive but I'm getting what I pay for compared to the rejected items that get donated by the blacksmiths to the guild.

I had also passed the days training with the Guildmaster. He was surprised when I showed him the gear I had received from Lord Selvin but encouraged me to use it all the same. Gear was gear after all. He had some skill with using a spear and decided to add it to my curriculum. I was pretty amazed at my growth so far. After finally getting some combat training in after repairing, my abilities had increased tremendously. I was still nowhere near Guildmaster Kurtz but even he had remarked on how much stronger I've become in such a short time. I took a look at my status to confirm his statement.

================

Name: Arlan

Race: Golem (Spirit)

Class: None (Species Based)

Status: Normal

HP: 250/250 MP: 100/100

Level: 9(10)

STR: 130

DEX: 100

AGI: 130

MAG: 120

VIT: 120

LUK : 50

[Active Skills]

[Passive Effects]

[Titles]

================

There were new titles added. I understood just by a glance but did I get recognized as a ? Titles are bestowed by the gods of this world so it would be their doing. Omnipotence is something that a god would have after all. These stats however were along the lines of someone in B-Rank would have according the Guildmaster. The passive effects were what set me apart and pushed me higher in effectiveness. My physical resistance alone would put someone in regular full plate to shame.

With my preparations complete, it would soon be time to start heading over to the northwest ruins. I met with Tessa over at the guild to discuss my plans. She seemed delighted when I asked her if she could come with me and show me how to dungeon delve.

We sat at the lounge and discussed the plans for the coming expedition. However, we had run into our first problem.

"Kleid and Jude won't be able to make it," said Tessa, "Kleid is helping with the rebuilding over at the Southwest Village and Jude can't leave the Orphanage overnight. The current nun in charge of it had to return to Rudelia and won't be back for a month."

"Well, that puts a damper on things," I replied, "Can't we just recruit people who want to go there too?"

Tessa seemed worried about my suggestion, "Well... we could but going into a dungeon with strangers isn't usually a good idea. People could start fighting over any items that are found. It's even more important that you fight with people who you trust with your life."

I can understand where she's coming from. In a fight for your life, you need to trust the people around you. If one person doesn't pull their weight or panics during a firefight, the chances of everyone coming back alive drops dramatically.

Tessa brightened up a little bit, "It shouldn't be a problem for where we're going though. The dungeon we're going to isn't all that dangerous. It's only a beginner dungeon after all. Most of the monsters there are only D-Rank sentry golems."

"Are all dungeons like that? Do they all use golems?" I was curious to know. These dungeons are suppose to be training areas, "Or can they make other monsters?"

"Some of them can make monsters like goblins or orcs. The tougher dungeons can even make high ranking monsters! But they don't ever leave the dungeon for some reason. If you try to capture one created by the dungeon, the moment you take it outside they just turn to dust. Like they can't exist outside. The researcher over at Weiss say that it's because they're not really true monsters but like... copies made from by the dungeon itself."

It seems these dungeons can make artificial life or even something similar to cloning. Just how advanced was the Old Empire anyway?

"Should we go on our own?" I asked, "If it was only D-Ranked monsters, you and me should be more than enough." She's a magical prodigy after all and I can handle the physical side of things on my own.

"Well, if this was any other time I wouldn't mind but we should find someone who can teach you everything about dungeon delving. I have some knowledge, Arlan but I can't teach you how to properly disarm traps or unlock doors," she started giggling from some memory, "Jude tried to teach me that stuff but I kept messing up and triggering the traps anyway. He kept getting hit with poison darts or gas. I can't have you learn that from me."

"Did you go to that ruin before to practice?"

"Oh, umm... we tried for a few weeks but Jude gave up after I kept failing to open even a simple lock," she said sheepishly, "I don't have much experience with dungeons either. I'm afraid I've been relying on Jude and Kleid for their skills. I was enrolled in the Weiss Magic Academy and I've only been part of the guild for a year now for practical training."

No wonder she can't teach me. I can guarantee it's probably her clumsiness getting in her way. Anything besides magic she seemed to struggle at. At least anything requiring fine dexterity.

"Hmm, then I guess we'll just have to find someone who can." I rested my head on my hands, defeated.

"We could help you with that, Arlan!"

We were so busy thinking that we hadn't notice people approaching. It was the same group of adventurers that I had saved in the forest those weeks ago.

"Yo, Arlan!" Erwyn called to me, "We couldn't help but overhear you were looking to go to the northwest ruins."

I nodded in confirmation, "That's right. I wanted to start training in dungeon delving and the Guildmaster told me it's the best place to start since it's low leveled. My friend Tessa here can't really teach me."

He pounds his fist in his palm, "That's perfect! Me and Aelinor were thinking about going to the ruins for Johann's first dungeon run. Did you want to come with us?"

"If you're willing to teach me, sure. But..." I looked over at Tessa.

She seemed to have read my mind and started waving her arms frantically, "Oh, I don't mind if you want to go with them, Arlan! I-I can't even teach you anything else that they wouldn't know anyway..." Despite her protest, I can tell she was a bit heartbroken about all of this.

Erwyn was able to pick up on it as well, "You're Tessa, right? You know, we don't mind if you come with us. We can teach you as well!" The rest of their group spoke up in agreement.

Tessa's face turned red in embarrassment, "A-Are you sure? I'm not very good at stuff like disarming traps or unlocking doors..."

Aelinor stepped in, "I'm pretty good teacher when it comes to traps. My techniques may be better suited for you since we have the same size hands."

"She's also a really good mage," I chimed in, "Probably one of the best in the city. She's actually my instructor in magic."

Johann gave me an incredulous look, "Is she really that good?"

"Of course. She's already practicing Tier 4 magic." I stated.

"T-Tier 4!? I can only manage Tier 2! She doesn't even look much older than I am so how can she-"

"Well, there ya go! Now you have to- huh?" Erwyn and Johann were cut off by the sight of Tessa in a complete daze with a stupid grin on her face. It seemed the idea of me being her student got to her head and now she was off in her own little world. She probably has ambitions of being an instructor like Hina and now I'm giving her just a little taste of her dream.

"Is... is she going to be OK?" Aelinor asked.

"Probably. We should leave her be for now," I said, "When were you all planning on going?"

We left Tessa alone while the rest of us worked on the details. We agreed to meet up in a few days time as everyone else needed to make some preparations for the trip. Since we were two groups coming together to do this dungeon, we had to come up with some rules specifically when it comes to items we find. I agreed for myself and Tessa who was still stuck in her daydream to pass on any gear we find. Anything we find in there wouldn't be as good as the gear me and Tessa already have. In exchange, I told them that there was something in that dungeon I was looking for. When they asked what it was, I told them it I wasn't sure but it could be golem parts for myself. They didn't inquire further but agreed on their end to leave it to me. They had no use for it themselves either.

In the end, we separated for now while satisfied with the terms we came up with. In only a few days I'll finally find out what it was that Celecia wanted me to find in those ruins. Getting stronger was still the goal, after all. I need to be prepared to face whatever's next to come.