The wild wind tore at the gray sky, and millions of snowflakes, like goose feathers, swirled and slammed against the rock walls with a fine, rustling sound.
The entire peak was quickly enveloped in a chaotic white vortex, and the pine branches groaned under the heavy weight of the snow.
Occasionally, blocks of snow would crash down from the steep slopes, kicking up brief and violent waves of white in the silence.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but churning snow mist.
Clang! Clang!
Bang! Bang!
Click! Clack!
Amidst the raging blizzard, a series of strange sounds echoed from the direction of the mountain wall.
Inside the magic tent, Lan Qingyou was currently processing the items she had recovered from the ruins.
As the ancients said, "A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well."
Now that Lan Qingyou wanted to search for the whereabouts of the potential refugees, her first priority was naturally her own safety.
Although she had collaborated with Chariot to create twenty beast-shaped golems earlier...
...considering her recent deductions, Lan Qingyou still felt it wasn't enough.
Fortunately, she had obtained many good items from the ruins, so she planned to spend today organizing them all.
From the ruins, she had acquired over a hundred slightly transparent "crystal crucibles" crafted from gemstones.
She estimated their grade to be at least C-grade.
Because she lacked a magic desk, Lan Qingyou could only see question marks through her identification glasses.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that she now had more than one crucible; from now on, she wouldn't produce inferior potions due to a lack of equipment.
Besides the crucibles, there were other tools, though they were all rusted.
Lan Qingyou sent all of these tools to Chariot, asking him to help her remove the rust and reassemble them.
As for the similarly rusted humanoid golems, Lan Qingyou did not hand them over. Instead, she chose to dismantle and reassemble them herself.
Many were missing limbs, and many had magic circuits and magic patterns that had already peeled off.
If she threw these "foreign magic patterns and circuits" to Chariot without understanding them first, they would likely vanish by the time she got them back.
After all, Chariot's de-rusting process was essentially like scraping off a layer of skin.
For magic patterns attached to materials, such a scraping would leave nothing behind.
"Oh, so a cross-arrangement can be used here?"
"Why use a spiral in this spot?"
"Connection points can be replaced by symbols too?"
"What does this instruction mean? Whatever, I'll just copy it down first."
Lan Qingyou marveled as she inspected the magic patterns on the golems, taking notes all the while.
Studying the construction of someone else's magic circuits and the engraving of their magic patterns was quite fascinating. It not only broadened her horizons but also allowed her to learn their techniques.
The drawing methods she just noticed were things she had never even considered, and they weren't found in books like 《Basic Mana Circuits》, 《Basic Cartography》, or 《Semiotics》.
One could say that the most valuable things she gained from this haul were the designs drawn on these golems.
Compared to these, things like crucibles and tools were secondary—hardly even worth mentioning.
And so, Lan Qingyou spent the first half-day after being teleported to the Abandoned Mountains researching those humanoid golems.
She only stopped late at night when Gu Xiaobei began distributing late-night snacks.
During this time, she hadn't just studied the engravings; she had also used spare parts to reassemble some of the better-preserved golems.
Of course...
...she had redrawn the magic patterns and circuits herself.
Or rather, she had added her own elements on top of the existing patterns.
After all, the original creator's technology was more than just a little bit more advanced than hers.
She was mostly just filling in the gaps, using Thorium Ink to reconnect the parts that had fallen off.
Even so, after being successfully activated, these repaired humanoid golems were still a bit sluggish in their movements.
This was unavoidable; she simply wasn't as skilled as the original creator.
She had tried erasing the patterns, circuits, and instructions to redraw her own from scratch.
But doing so only made the humanoid golems even more sluggish.
As expected, it had been the right choice not to rashly attempt making humanoid golems before.
While Lan Qingyou was like a raw recruit in front of the creator of these humanoid golems, she at least understood where the errors and difficulties lay.
The biggest difference between humanoid and beast-shaped golems lay in the center of gravity and the construction of the core driving system.
Because beast-shaped golems were relatively low to the ground, their center of gravity remained in the middle or at the bottom. This allowed the core driving system to be built at the golem's central point, ensuring it could manage the four limbs, head, and tail equally.
In contrast, while a humanoid's center of gravity was also in the middle, their upright posture meant they required a different management approach than a prone beast.
Beasts were about front, back, left, and right, whereas humans involved upper and lower bodies, with very intricate joints.
Therefore, the construction of their core driving systems was vastly different.
This was why Lan Qingyou had initially prioritized beast-shaped golems and set aside humanoid ones.
The latter was still too far beyond her current technical level.
Nevertheless, repairing these humanoid golems served as an important "extracurricular internship" for Lan Qingyou.
At the very least, she had learned quite a few techniques, hadn't she?
As long as she could miniaturize her engravings of magic patterns and other elements, the day she could create her own humanoid golems was not far off.
"But these humanoid golems look a bit fragile. Would it be better to add some armor and weapons?"
After all the patching and mending, she had managed to put together a total of 21 golems. Combined with the 19 remaining beast-shaped golems—having lost one previously—she now had exactly 40.
Looking at these 1.6-meter-tall humanoid golems, which were just internal frames without any outer armor, Lan Qingyou murmured to herself.
The greatest advantage of the humanoid form over the beast form was the versatility of equipment.
Whether as warriors or workers, they could handle the task.
So, Lan Qingyou immediately contacted Chariot, hoping to order a batch of outer armor and weapons.
Since many people were currently eating their midnight snacks, Chariot's reply came quickly.
Chariot: "Where are the design drawings?"
The Tower: "None. Time is tight, so I only have the dimensions."
Chariot: "Can I freestyle it?"
The Tower: "Yes."
Chariot: "Send the photos. I'll take it from there."
Upon hearing that he could freestyle, Chariot perked up.
And after seeing the photos Lan Qingyou sent, Chariot's eyes lit up even more.
Chariot: "What's the specific intended use?"
The Tower: "Protection. They look too fragile. Also, they need some weapons."
Chariot: "Those aren't a problem. But I need to change the reward for this job."
The Tower: "Name it."
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