Chapter 133: Construct and Blueprints

The building before him had a strong alien sci-fi style reminiscent of his past life, with a form similar to the modern high-tech residences of that era. In the courtyard, there was also a strange humanoid statue that wasn’t present in the previous buildings.
As soon as Donald stepped into the courtyard, he saw the statue tremble slightly, shaking off the dust stuck to it before standing upright.
“What is this? A golem?” Maelis, who was behind Donald, immediately shook her head. “No, it’s not a golem. It’s likely a magical construct similar to one. Be careful—magical constructs created by ancient archmages are far more powerful than those made by modern mages!”
While being cautious, Donald was also extremely excited. This building was quite different from the others he had seen before!
Looking at the magical construct, it stood about ten feet tall—roughly the height of two average-sized adults. It had a clearly humanoid shape, its body composed of sturdy stone, metal, and a small amount of wood. It resembled more a Gundam from anime in his past life than a full-body medieval knight’s armor, except it had no pilot to control it.
From the first glance, Donald really liked this construct and decided to take it intact. However, the construct clearly had no intention of showing mercy. A red light flashed in the eye-like part of its helmet for a few seconds before it raised its heavy arms and attacked the three outsiders.
With his agile skills, Donald could easily avoid being hit by a construct that was even slower than a black-iron warrior. But the stone pavement in the courtyard couldn’t withstand the full force of its attack, breaking into pieces and creating a three-foot-diameter crater in the ground.
“I remember now. This is an archmage’s construct used for self-protection—its offensive capabilities aren’t outstanding, but its defensive power is extremely strong. Also, don’t cast spells on it; it can absorb and replicate your spells…” But Maelis’s warning came too late. As the Shield Guardian attacked Donald, Kaelthas unleashed his magical flames nearby. Sure enough, when two red flames lashed at the Shield Guardian, one disappeared instantly, while the other shattered like a fireball hitting cold stone. The deadly flames splashed downward, causing no harm to the humanoid construct at all.

“Ordinary Shield Guardians can resist spells of level four and below, and spells of mind control, poison, and curses have no effect on them either.” While dodging the Shield Guardian’s next attack, Donald took the chance to ask, “Then how can we subdue this giant? Spells won’t work—what about using warriors to attack?” The stronger the Shield Guardian, the more he liked this mechanical construct and the more he wanted to possess it. Although Water Soul Mage Puppets were quite powerful, they were heavily constrained by their environment; any mage above bronze level could instantly see through their weaknesses and defeat or even capture them. Along the way, he had also captured a few Water Soul Mage Puppets, but their combined value was likely not as great as that of this magical construct.

Yet this magical construct seemed to have no weak points. Even enemies of the gold rank could only destroy it through brute force, with no chance of winning quickly with clever tactics.

The old mage said from behind the battlefield, “No. The heavy blows and slashes of warriors below gold rank cannot harm a Shield Guardian with solidified magical shields and damage absorption capabilities. It’s like an unbreakable iron bean. The simplest way to subdue a Shield Guardian is to find the magical amulet that controls it. Shield Guardians always follow their master, so the amulet controlling it must be nearby. Once you get it and wear it, it will regard you as its master and obey all your commands…”

Hearing this, Donald immediately turned around. Seeing that no one was outside the courtyard—everyone else must be fighting in other buildings—he decided to have Kelthas distract the Shield Guardian first, then use energy and soul power to summon a war puppet covered in metal armor.

“War puppet, tie this guy down!”

The fifteen-foot-tall war puppet was a medium-sized metal puppet from the Warcraft series, half as tall as the mechanical construct across from it. Upon receiving its master’s command, it immediately engaged the Shield Guardian in combat.

The war puppet’s silver-tier combat strength seemed slightly greater than that of the Shield Guardian, but its defense was weaker. After all, the Shield Guardian had been endowed by its creator with various powerful abilities, while the war puppet only had magic immunity; it relied on its own metal armor to withstand physical attacks. If it fought the Shield Guardian repeatedly, the metal armor on its body might deform and break.

After Donald stepped back into the building in the courtyard, only Maelthas, Kelthas, and the war puppet left behind remained in the field.

Two massive creatures were fighting fiercely in the courtyard, and no one else could intervene. If it weren’t for the Shield Guardian’s duty to protect its master’s residence, the surrounding buildings would have long been destroyed by the two of them.
Messerel indeed had the ability to subdue this construct, but if he intervened, the Shield Guardian would likely be reduced to mere parts—its creator could not restore it to its original state even if revived.
Messerel understood Donald’s intentions. He also didn’t want to destroy such an ancient arcane creation, so he merely cast some auxiliary spells from the side to help the war puppet hold off the Shield Guardian, buying as much time as possible for Donald.
Once Donald entered the building, he faced danger right away. It was a trap left by the previous owner in his own home. Though Donald was prepared, he was still caught off guard by the incoming metal arrows.
Fortunately, so much time had passed that most of the traps set by this archmage, which relied on elements and magic, had failed. Only a few purely mechanical traps were still functional.
In his opinion, the owner of this residence seemed more like an alchemist than a mage—there were numerous traps outside, and the inside was filled with various alchemical material components.
With little time left, Donald didn’t care what these materials were and hurriedly searched for the magic amulet his teacher had mentioned. After several minutes of searching, he finally found a palm-sized bronze amulet in a room that resembled the master’s bedroom. Thinking it must be the right one, he immediately put it on and rushed out of the room.
“Stop! I order you to stop!”
As soon as Donald stepped outside, he shouted at the Shield Guardian.
The Shield Guardian, which was pressing down on the war puppet, sensed Donald’s presence. A red light flashed in its eye area, and it stopped attacking immediately, turning to face Donald head-on.
Although it couldn’t understand Donald’s human language, it could sense its master’s mental commands through the amulet.
From the moment they were created, these constructs were linked to a specific magic amulet, which made them regard the person wearing that amulet as their master.
Seeing that the Shield Guardian obeyed his commands, Donald excitedly issued more orders, directing it to move forward, turn, stand, crouch—enjoying himself immensely.

After all, in his past life he had been a playful big boy; even at twenty-seven or twenty-eight, he didn’t appear as mature as those young people who started working right after graduation. Coming to this world and merging with Donald’s original soul memories, he took on the identity of an underage boy. Despite going through many hardships, he still retained a childlike heart. Now that he had obtained a magic construct similar to a Gundam, which he had long desired in his past life, he was naturally extremely excited.

It was Miesel who couldn’t stand it any longer and reminded him, “Enough! Once you’ve had your fun, go see if there’s anything else of value inside. We don’t have much time—don’t waste it here!” Hearing this, Donald immediately calmed down. He ordered the Shield Guardians and the War Puppets to continue guarding the spot while he, along with the teacher and Kelthas, re-entered the former archmage’s residence.

As magic constructs created by spellcasters to serve as bodyguards, the Shield Guardians’ primary goal was to protect their master using their magically crafted, durable bodies. Although they had no other special abilities beyond fighting and simple tasks, they would still do their best to follow any orders from their master, protecting and accompanying them anywhere, unless ordered otherwise.

This time, when entering the residence, Donald didn’t just pass by quickly. He collected all items where weapons were well-preserved, as these alchemical materials and construct parts might be useful in the future. Many ancient artifacts had become mere curiosities for research and display due to a lack of materials for repair. With these findings, he might even be able to create even more value for himself.

Soon, the three made a significant discovery. Looking at the three sheets of parchment in the teacher’s hands, Donald’s mouth barely closed from excitement.

The ancient language on them described the methods for creating three types of construct creatures. Besides the Shield Guardians Donald already had, there were the lower-tier Steel Guards, as well as the more advanced magic construct, the Rune Guards.

Magic constructs like Shield Guardians were masterpieces of ancient archmages. In today’s mage world, only the creation of various golems has been passed down; advanced magic constructs had been lost for thousands of years.

However, lower-tier golems moved slowly, had low intelligence, and were prone to damage. While advanced golems were powerful, their cost was so high that it would bankrupt most mages, who also lacked the materials to create them.

In comparison, the alchemical puppets summoned by Donald using the Book of Truth were cheaper and more convenient to use.

However, compared to the war puppets created by the Book of Truth, the advantage of these three magical constructs is that they all possess a certain degree of spellcasting ability, as well as higher levels of intelligence and flexibility. Although they may not be as extreme in terms of absolute physical attack power as the war puppets, their advantages in areas such as physical durability more than make up for this slight weakness.