21 Caine Smith 1 (1/2)

Caine took a deep draught of the beer before launching into a narration on golems. He spoke for a quarter of an hour without pausing. As Edward listened, he left a mark of beer foam on his lips which he did not notice until Tiffany giggled.

Edward's thoughts began arranging themselves,

A golem mage's strength is judged based on the number of golems he can control.

100 is average while 1000 is exceptional. The strongest golem mage ever controlled 8,000 at once.

An average golem hovers around the iron tier strength but are superb for defending key installations.

A golem mage's level of control is determined by his Aether core rating, his aether manipulation ability and mastery of spirit magics. For auxiliary means, there is suitable monster core abilities and spirit beast contracts.

”How many golems can you control?” Edward asked as Caine finished his explanation.

”I can control up to 10 golems,” Caine answered with no hesitation.

Edward's face fell as he heard the answer. Caine appeared unruffled at Edward's expression,

Seeing Edward's reaction, Tiffany spoke up ”Caine is plenty strong even with 10 golems. He just took out seven class 4 beasts with nine golems.”

Edward's expression took a straight 180 degrees change as he reassessed.

”Isn't a golem's normal level of strength equivalent to an iron tier combatant? How could you take out Steel tier combatants on near even odds?”

” I crafted 9 of my golems personally,” Caine replied with a grin. ”Their strength is comparable to steel tier combatants.”

Tiffany added that many other golem mages would have needed more than nine golems to wipe out seven class 4 beasts.

”May I know what your golems are made of?” Edward asked as he leaned forwards.

”Sorry, trade secrets.” replied Caine.

Edward's body immediately returned back to his original position as he apologized stating that he was a layman for matters relating to aether magics.

Caine waved off his apologies and brought his mug up instead.

”Would it be possible for you to control 100 golems in a matter of 6 months?” as Edward's mug made a clinking sound.

At the side, Tiffany looked somewhat uncomfortable while Caine displayed no outward

emotions.

Edward noted Tiffany's reaction but kept his face blank as Caine replied that while It is possible , it is unlikely due to the high amount of resources required.

Edward than indicated for Caine to explain further by pointing out that the Astrea name had access to more resources than many.

”A grade 5 monster core of a spider queen with the ability 'Spirit Strands' or an overlord class spider queen spirit beast as my contract beast.” Caine replied.

The food arrived, and the trio tucked in with great gusto.

As they finished the meal, conversation on daily subjects could be heard from the trio's table.

As the wait staff cleared the plates from the table and refilled glasses, Edward queried Caine if the reason why he is aligned with Mercenary guild was to earn enough points to exchange for the relevant monster core.

”Indeed, amongst the various organizations, the mercenary guild stands in the best position to procure a grade 5 spider queen core. I am artificing golems for them on a regular basis to exchange for mercenary points too.” replied Caine while leaning back in his chair. ”Should such a core surface in the outer realm with the mercenary guild, I am confident of my ability in procuring it.”

Edward considered for a moment before asking for Caine's timeframe.

Caine replied that he expected the process to take a decade or longer.