I was a lord farming, how did I become an emperor?

Chapter 360 Construct Guardian
……

……

Melos is considered a wizard of the summoning faction.

His interests include monsters and life sciences, necromancy, mechanics, and constructs.

He enjoys creating puppets such as magical guardians, golems, and animated armor.

Ordinary puppets are mindless; they are simply marionettes. Intermediate puppets, on the other hand, are driven by magical spirits.

The spirit of magic has no intelligent thought and acts based on specific instructions.

Just like the guards at the entrance to Melos.

Advanced puppets naturally possess their own consciousness, their souls originating from the constant battles and lives they share with their masters, evolving by chance from magical spirits.

Another type is the heroic spirit created after the heroic death of a person with a strong consciousness; such a spirit can become a puppet.

But both high-level magical spirits and heroic spirits are rare and hard to come by.

Even the materials needed for magical spirits that can control intermediate-level puppets are very rare, making mass production impossible.

Therefore, Melos wanted a way to quickly create puppet souls.

Melos proposed a theory based on the characteristics of high-level magical spirits and heroic spirits.
"Lower-level souls exist entirely through energy, while higher-level souls exist through consciousness."

"For higher souls, energy is merely food, not the foundation of existence."

Therefore, Melos boldly hypothesized whether it was possible to completely remove the necromantic energy of the undead without destroying their consciousness, and replace it with magical energy to create a magical spirit.

"That's quite similar to my idea."

Rod couldn't help but say.

The difference is that Professor Melos has already started experimenting, while Rhodes is still brainstorming.

Rhodes was very interested in the experiment and sat down to look through it.

Melos's first thought was the power of holy light.

However, Holy Light is very harmful to the undead, and Melos only obtained a crystal containing Holy Light from the church.

A small amount of holy light was infused into the Soul-Binding Orb during its creation.

The so-called Soul-Binding Orb is the small skull that Rhodes found on the table.

To distinguish it from ordinary Soul-Binding Orbs, Melos named it the Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb.

Then, Melos began his experiment.

To speed up the experiment, Melos, along with his top apprentices, created two Holy Light Soul-Binding Orbs at once.

The first Soul-Binding Orb contains 20% Holy Light power, and the second Soul-Binding Orb contains 10% Holy Light power.

Then, Rhodes saw the experimental record:

February 10th, First Experiment

The No. 1 Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb: The evil spirit is in good condition, with 100% necromantic energy.

The second Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb has the evil spirit in good condition and 100% necromantic energy.

The third evil spirit is in good condition, with 100% necromantic energy.

[February 11th, Second Observation]

The No. 1 Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb has caused the evil spirit to clearly go mad, with 30% of its necromantic energy remaining.

The second Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb has reduced the evil spirit's strength, leaving 50% of its necromantic energy remaining.

The third evil spirit is in good condition, with 100% necromantic energy.

[February 12th, Third Observation]

The No. 1 Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb has been destroyed; the evil spirit is dead, and the remaining necromantic energy is zero.

The second Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb has been used to kill the evil spirit, leaving five percent of the necromantic energy.

Evil spirit number three, state zero, necromantic energy 100%.

……

It is obvious that the Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb was a failure; the evil spirit is completely dead.

Even if the second evil spirit dies more slowly, it still has remaining necromantic energy.

The third evil spirit serves as a comparison, placed within a regular Soul-Binding Orb.

This was just the initial experiment; Melos later modified the plan and created three pairs of Soul-Binding Orbs.

All of them were Soul-Binding Orbs related to Holy Light, and they all failed.

Without a doubt, the Holy Light Soul-Binding Orb is not a suitable path.

Melos seemed to realize the crux of the problem and immediately began experimenting with the second type of Soul-Binding Orb.

This time, Melos named it the Life-Binding Soul Orb.

As the name suggests, it contains life energy, which is used to fight against necromantic energy.

[June 13th, the first observation of the Life-Binding Soul Orb]

The number one evil spirit is in good condition, with 100% necromantic energy.

The second evil spirit is in good condition, with 100% necromantic energy.

The third evil spirit is in good condition, with 100% necromantic energy.

……

[June 19th, the seventh observation of the Life-Binding Soul Orb:]

"The number one evil spirit is in a low state, with 30% of its necromantic energy remaining."

"The activity of the second evil spirit has decreased, and the necromantic energy is 50% remaining."

“Evil spirit number three... 100%.”

……

The Life-Binding Soul Orb will not kill evil spirits, but it cannot completely dispel necromantic energy.

Such evil spirits still harbor resentment and possess an instinctive aggressiveness.

In the final experiment of the Life-Binding Soul Orb, the necromantic energy was reduced to only 30% at its lowest point.

Melos ultimately used Holy Light to purify the last 30%, but a certain amount of necromantic energy had to be preserved.

Otherwise, the evil spirit is likely to die completely.

Melos proposed the following conjecture:
"To completely eliminate that last bit of necromantic energy, we must provide the evil spirit with another kind of energy."

"The evil spirit's consciousness is not strong enough; it will die completely if it leaves the necromantic energy."

"The new energy must be able to continuously circulate and generate, and be highly integrated with the consciousness of evil spirits, rather than being a short-lived and independent energy."

Melos's next phase of experimentation involves designing and creating such magical items.

However, the experimental records were blank when you flipped through them.

"it's a pity."

Rhodes stared at the blank parchment and shook his head.

Melos was just one step away from completing his envisioned magical spirit.

"Hmm... an item that can continuously generate energy..."

Rhodes couldn't help but start thinking, "Would the Seed of Nature work?"

Rhodes's gaze fell on the small skull on the table.

This is Professor Melos's final achievement.

"There are no evil spirits. Otherwise, we could really give it a try."

Rod couldn't help but smile wryly.

Just now, I slapped the last evil spirit to death.

"Why do we need evil spirits?" Vivian asked curiously.

Although she had just looked at the experimental records with Rhodes, Rhodes read them too quickly, and there were some parts that she hadn't noticed.

"Ordinary undead, like skeleton ghosts, have too weak a sense of self and their soul fire is too weak."

Rhodes explained, "Simply put, once that soul fire dissipates the necromantic energy, nothing is left."

"And slightly more powerful evil spirits have a stronger sense of autonomy."

"Although most of those consciousnesses are evil, if their negative energy can be purified, a certain amount of normal consciousness can still be preserved."

"Oh."

Vivian nodded, seemingly understanding, "Then where did this evil spirit of Melos come from?"

"He used quite a lot of it in his experimental records."

"There's no record of it, so it's possible they were arrested."

Rhodes guessed, "There must have been many wild evil spirits in ancient times, right? And he had so many high-ranking wizard apprentices serving him."

Rhodes saw some wandering soul energy at the mass grave last time.

In ancient times, the intense energy might have turned them into evil spirits.

"Ok."

Vivian replied helplessly, "I thought he could make it."

"It's hard to say."

Rhodes stood up. "Let's go to the library inside and see if there are any other books or experimental records related to this."

"Ah."

Vivian responded and followed Rod inside.

Having gained experience in Kevin's wizarding realm, Rhodes was already familiar with the layout here.

Rod stepped straight into the library.

The number of remaining texts here is significantly greater than in Melos, and many of them are about golems and magical guardians.

“Zoya and Sainda should like it here.”

Rod said with a smile.

The golem is actually somewhat similar to the magic-powered mechs that Rhodes envisioned, especially in terms of energy drive.

However, golems are still too mechanical, especially when they lack independent consciousness, and their combat experience is almost zero. Many golems' fighting styles are pre-programmed by the wizards, and their attack patterns are relatively simple, lacking any combat skills.

However, if knights could pilot magical mechs to fight on the battlefield, that would be a completely different story.

There are still many problems with this concept, such as the knights' spiritual power being insufficient and needing to be supplemented by magical spirits.

Whether the knight's physical strength is sufficient, and whether he needs to supplement it by taking physique-enhancing drugs, etc.

This is a complex research process; these were originally concepts from Rhodes.

But now that he has Melos as his mentor, Rod feels he can have some expectations.

Rhodes was in high spirits when he saw the book he wanted in the library.

He immediately led Vivian to the bedroom next door.

As soon as the door was opened, a two-meter-tall figure instantly appeared in Rod's field of vision.

Rhodes instinctively raised his hand and looked closely to see that it was a magic guardian, or a construct guardian.

It looks like a half-finished product.

Rhodes stepped forward and carefully examined the golem from all sides.

The construct guard was fixed to a metal bracket in the corner of the wall, like an empty suit of armor being forcibly stretched into the shape of a human.

Its chest was half-open, and inside were bones similar to those of a human skeleton, but much larger.

It is engraved with dense runes and inlaid with some extraordinary gems, which look like magic gems.

The guard's head resembled a helmet, revealing empty eye sockets.

The left arm is already assembled, and it's similar to the gauntlets of a full plate armor set.

The right arm, however, was just a bare metal skeleton, empty and without any protection.

The waist area is also an empty skeleton, only the lower limbs are complete.

"It's a pity, I wonder if anyone can complete this now," Rhodes remarked.

Although construct guards are relatively ordinary golems, their construction process is extremely complicated and involves many disciplines.

"My lord, look at this."

Vivian interrupted Rhodes's admiration and handed him the other two Soul-Binding Orbs.

Rhodes took it and examined it carefully, comparing it with the moment he discovered it earlier, and found that it was exactly the same.

“There are three more here, but none of them seem to contain any evil spirits,” Vivian said.

"They may have left before we even had a chance to catch them."

Rhodes said.

"That's not necessarily true, my dear."

Vivian picked up a scroll from the bedroom table, which listed the wizard Melos's to-do list for November 7th.

There were about ten of them, densely packed together.

The one Vivian was pointing to was the one that attracted Rhodes's attention the most.
"Issue a task to the outer apprentices: capture five hundred skeleton monsters to be used to refine evil spirits."

"Can skeleton monsters create undead?"

Rod looked at the to-do list on the scroll in surprise, "But the library didn't have any recipes."

Rhodes looked around, but found no books or scrolls in the bedroom.

"Look around, maybe Melos didn't take it with him."

Rhodes searched the bedroom thoroughly, and then carefully looked through the library and the drawing room, but found no information.

Without any hesitation, Rhodes took Vivian straight to Melos's laboratory.

The layout of all the laboratories is the same: a circle of workbenches, with shelves along the surrounding walls.

The difference is that in the center of Melos's laboratory is a large black cauldron, about one meter in diameter.

The surface of the large cauldron was covered with deep purple runes, and the bottom of the cauldron had a metal foot like a goblet, which was also inlaid with some extraordinary gems.

The large cauldron had a hemispherical lid covered with runes, surrounded by a ring of metal spikes, making it look ferocious and terrifying.

It looks like some kind of alchemical tool.

Rhodes didn't have time to pay attention and began to search carefully in the laboratory.

Melos left many things behind in his lab; the shelves were filled with bottles and jars containing various liquids.

Unfortunately, Rhodes doesn't recognize them and doesn't plan to touch those things for the time being.

Rhodes only applied to parchment and cardboard that could record information.

"found it!"

Rhodes looked at the parchment scroll in his hand, the title of which was "Detailed Explanation of the Method of Making Evil Spirits," followed by dense text.

Before he could even read the text, Rod was drawn to the illustrations beside it.
—The picture above shows the large cauldron in the laboratory!
"Soul Forge..."

Looking at the enormous cauldron in front of him, Rhodes couldn't help but smile.

He immediately read the text next to it to see the refining method.

The method is simple: throw in the soul fire or ghosts of hundreds of skeletons, and then infuse it with magic.

These soul fires or ghosts will devour each other, eventually forming an evil spirit.

"Ok?"

Rod suddenly realized what was happening.

Isn't this the banner from those cultivation novels from my past life?
No, this thing is even more evil than that banner.

The souls inside the banner seem to still be alive, but only one of the soul flames thrown in here can survive.

This is practically poison cultivation...

Of course, Rhodes wouldn't feel sorry for the skeleton monster's soul fire.

"It takes hundreds of skeletons to create one evil spirit."

Rhodes pondered for a moment, "It seems that the war against the Western Alliance's Church of the Dead must be accelerated."

The nobles surrendered too quickly; the imperial army was still being reorganized, and order in the various territories was being rebuilt.

Therefore, Rhodes has been focusing on resource allocation these days and hasn't yet conceived of war; he's only sent out some scouts.

But now, for Rhodes, the Church of the Dead, which possesses an army of undead, is likely a large resource repository.

Of course, what Rhodes needs to do now is to have Zoya summon about a hundred skeleton monsters for the experiment.

Rhodes was instantly in a great mood.

If the magic spirit can solve this, then everything else is just a matter of time.

Rhodes carefully examined the so-called Soul Forge with the scroll in his hand, and then began to examine the laboratory closely.

This place is definitely different from Kevin's; he didn't take many things with him.

It seems that Melos left in a hurry.

"Oh right, and the warehouse!"

Thinking of this, Rod quickly led Vivian to the warehouse on the other side.

Just to be on the safe side, Rhodes used his mental tentacles to sneak in and check it out beforehand.

As soon as he entered, two construct guards suddenly appeared in front of Rhodes.

Rhodes quickly extended his mental tentacles towards them, but the two construct guards did not react.

"Can't you detect the mental tentacles?"

Rhodes found it strange; logically, this shouldn't be the case.

After all, there are some simple magical spirits among the construct guards.

Rhodes withdrew his mental tentacles, opened his eyes, and reminded Vivian, "Have Avril bring Doron and the Winter Knight over. There are two construct guards among them."

"Yes, my lord."

Vivian immediately bowed her head and passed the message to Avril. Soon, Avril and Doron arrived with the Winter Knights.

"Construct Guardians are similar to legendary knights, but they have no intelligence and fight based on instinct."

Rhodes instructed, "Doron and Avril, you two hold one back, and Vivian and I will quickly take care of the other."

"Be careful not to pull it."

"Yes, my lord!"

The crowd responded in unison and formed a battle formation in the three-meter-wide corridor.

"Open the door!"

At Rod's command, Doron slammed the door open.

Two construct guards appeared in front of everyone in an instant, standing there dumbfounded without any reaction.

"on!"

"Wait a minute!"

Rhodes called out to Doron, staring at the motionless construct guard, and casually tossed out a small ball of flame.

The flames landed on the construct guard, flickered briefly, and then quickly dissipated.

The construct guards did not react at all.

"There doesn't seem to be any magical fluctuation." Avril looked at the construct guard with a puzzled expression.

"Hmm, there shouldn't be any magical spirits at all."

Rod smiled helplessly, realizing he had been too cautious.

The key point is that who would have thought that the two constructs standing in the warehouse in a guarding posture were unfinished products without any magical spirit?

"No wonder he was so eager to refine evil spirits and create magical spirits."

Rhodes looked at the two construct guards and said, "It seems that this arduous task will ultimately fall on our shoulders."

Once Zhuoya arrives, quickly find a burial ground and summon some skeletons to try it out.

and many more.

Rod suddenly remembered something.

A powerful, conscious soul—it seems there really is one in my own territory!

(End of this chapter)