“Of course I can,” Sophie smiled. She started patting the wooden seat next to her. “Sit with me.”

Yuki snapped his fingers and the seat gained cushions before he sat down. 

“Now, what do you need help on?” she asked.

“I just wanted some ideas,” he replied. “The golem I was making based off of your design is almost completed. But I wanted to see if I could add one last function before I’m done.”

“And that function is?”

“Is there a way for me to alter the golem so that is can use spells?” he asked. Spreading his right hand, he gathered sand and created a model of Fred. “Here’s the golem.”

Sophie took the model and examined it. She frowned as she turned the golem about in her palm.

“What exactly do you have in mind?” she asked, turning her attention back to Yuki. 

“Fred was made with the idea of training being its main focus,” Yuki said. “He was going to be used so that I could practice my single combat skills. But as I was making him, I realised that it wouldn’t be practical to practice against an opponent that is unable to use magic. So I want the golem to be able to cast magic flexibly and in an intelligent manner.”

“So you want to create a golem that can think and use magic simultaneously,” Sophie summarized. Yuki nodded his head. “That’s going to be difficult.”

“I know.”

“You see, in order to do what you’re thinking, you are going to have to find a way to create a golem that actively uses mana and spells,” she explained. “Normally, what we would do is engrave a few basic runes and run a program for the golem so that it chooses a few combinations of those runes. What you are trying to do is have the golem create specific runes for specific situations.”

“Yes. Is it possible?”

“I honestly do not know,” she shrugged. “My intuition says that it’s impossible to do with the skills we have right now. If you can make something that thinks and can harness mana, then you’ve essentially created life.”

“Well, maybe I can work around that,” Yuki replied. “Let me think.”

Sophie had brought up a point of view that he hadn’t considered. What he was trying to achieve was akin to creating life. And the more he thought about it, the more he realised that it was impossible.

‘But I don’t need to create something that advanced. I can cut some corners.’

“Sophie,” he said looking up. “What if I utilize a system of a few basic runes like you had said, but run that along side of an outside processor that would make all of the decisions. Would that work?”

“Based off of what you’ve described, maybe. What’s this outside processor?”

“Uriel. I’ll be using her to do the decision making. I’ll just need to alter Fred so that she can assume control when she wants.”

“That seems possible,” Sophie nodded. “For the spells, you only need a few of them. You can inlay them on the metal of the golem or you can create some sort of selector that Uriel can operate.”

“I can put them on a rotating ball of sorts,” Yuki mused. “Maybe insert that on the palms. The ball will rotate depending on what spell Uriel wants to cast and when they’re infused with mana they’ll activate.”

“Do you know what sort of spells you’ll be using?”

“A few basic ones to start off such as a barrier, enhancements, and simple elemental attacks,” he listed. “With this ball idea, I can create different sets that can emulate the different skill sets of certain classes so I’m not too worried.”

“How does Fred operate?” Sophie asked. She turned the model of the golem in her hand. “What’s his power supply?”

“He runs off of electricity. When he’s not in use, he plugs himself into a specialized charging station that draws power from the nuclear reactor. Then a spell converts the electricity in Fred’s battery into mana.”

“You’re going to need to boost that up. The spells will be drawing a lot of power from his battery.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Then you should be fine,” Sophie smiled. She placed the golem model on the table and leaned back on her wooden chair. “What else are you going to be using your golem for?”

“Security,” he replied as he snapped his fingers. The golem turned into dust and scattered. “Once I’ve completed Fred and tested him thoroughly, I’ll be producing more of him and placing them around the facility.”

“I see. How’s your training been coming along?”

“Training? It’s been advancing at a decent pace,” Yuki shrugged. “My progression has gotten considerably slower compared to how it was when I first began training.”

“That’s only natural,” Sophie said. Gesturing with her hand, a book flew off of a shelf and landed gently on the table in front of her. “You’ve reached rank A, correct? It only took you about half the year from mid rank B. That’s very quick already.”

“I know. My growth is most likely because of my passive.”

“Demonic growth? You’re quite lucky to have that actually. Do you know the conditions to unlock it?”

“No.”

“It’s both simple yet extremely difficult. All a person needs to do is grow a number of ranks within a relatively short amount of time and the UR will recognize it. But that type of growth is difficult and gets harder the older you become. And a person needs to have the potential for the passive to even unlock in the first place.”

“So going up two whole ranks in less than a year was enough to trigger the passive then.”

“It better. I unlocked mine when I went from rank C to mid rank B in couple of months,” Sophie said. 

“Is demonic growth a common ability?” Yuki asked. 

“As far as passives come, I would say yes,” she replied. “But it’s just difficult to unlock. There are quite a few people that have the capability for explosive growth, but there are only a handful of them that actually achieve it.”

She picked up the book she had summoned a few minutes ago and flipped it open.

“How do you like your job as a librarian so far?” Yuki said. “It seems like you’ve adjusted quickly.”

“Ah yes. It’s quite comfortable actually,” she smiled. “All of this new knowledge that I now have access to is quite amazing. Though I was surprised when I woke up here at first.”

According to Sophie, when she had given Yuki her blessing she had lost consciousness. When she awoke, she was lying on the floor of Yuki’s skill. She came to the conclusion that Yuki’s Ancestral Knowledge had absorbed her when her body had dissolved into mana and her soul was freed. Yuki didn’t quite understand how something like that could happen but he accepted the explanation.

“Oh, by the way,” Sophie said suddenly. “Have you been practicing with your skills lately?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Have you tried to upgrade any of your skills?”

“Upgrade?”

“Yes, upgrade. Based on your question, I assume that you haven’t tried to do that yet. Upgrades are quite simple,” she explained. “You take existing skills you have and try to improve them. If the improvements are enough, than the UR will recognize it and the skill will reflect those improvements.”

“How do I upgrade skills?”

“In whatever way you can really,” she shrugged. “You can add new aspects to the skill, improve the power of the skill, or alter the skill into something else completely. There are an infinite amount of possibilities. Your mana capacity should be improving as you grow so skills that utilize more power should be possible.”

“I see.”

“You can start off very simple,” Sophie instructed. “Just increasing the input of mana into a skill can alter it immensely.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Yuki replied. “When I find the time, I’ll try. I’ve been lagging in my skill development anyway. I need to try and come up with new techniques. And there are a few that I haven’t found the right time to try.”

“Good. Was there anything else you needed beside advice on your golem?” she asked. 

“No, I’ll leave you to your reading for now,” Yuki said as he rose from his seat. “See you later, Sophie.”

The library around him warped as Sophie waved farewell to him. The guild training room reformed around and Fred was still crouching in front of him. Yuki stood and stretched his sore legs.

‘I shouldn’t have squatted before talking with Sophie.’

“Ah, boss, you’re back,” Uriel said as she appeared beside him, an energetic ball of golden particles. “You’ve received a request. And Akira has a question.”

“Give me the question first.”

“She wants to know what mission you will be assigning Yuna,” Uriel said. “Do you have anything in mind? Espionage, combat, strip poker maybe?”

“She’s at the Academy so just give her an espionage mission at the Academy,” Yuki replied, ignoring the last option. “Tell Akira to make up something that sounds reasonable. What’s the request?”

“It’s a commission,” Uriel said. “A commission for you.”

“Type?”

“Assassination.”