“You know you can ask the company for money, right?” Althea asked as she went through Lucas’s recent transaction records.

  He earned a hefty amount in the first few months of the release of Iris: Infantry and was still getting a steady number of orders until now. Doing customized orders also produced decent money, so Lucas earned quite a fortune. The repair fees were just an icing on the top.

  But he wasn’t exactly frugal. He barely spent money on himself, but he didn’t hold back on spending money on his family.

  A quarter of the money he earned was given to his mother, while another quarter was invested with Althea’s guidance. Lucas used the remaining money to buy gifts for his family and even placed a down payment for a property in secret and had a building constructed.

  Because of this, Lucas was hesitating to spend a lot of money on materials to create Ragnar’s golem. He would have used some merit points, but he used it all to get a whole indoor training and testing room for himself.

  “But this is a personal project. One that’s never going to be up for sale,” Lucas replied to Althea.

  “What about up for rent?” Althea suggested, making Lucas raise an eyebrow at her. “You haven’t been checking the forum in the mage network huh.”

  “I’m not a mage.”

  Althea sighed. “Regular people still check it to keep up with the news,” Althea said as she fished out her phone. “The Winterbelle family recently cleared a class 5 dungeon. During their statement, they mentioned that the golem you made for them had the greatest contribution.”

  Lucas shrugged. “Good.”

  “Just good?” Althea somehow looked offended. “A class 5 dungeon contains monsters that could wipe out half a sector if they got out.”

  “I’m just happy my golem saved lives,” Lucas replied. “It would be a different story if they were used in wars.”

  “The empire encompasses the whole continent. The only possibility of war would come from another continent,” Althea mentioned. “Additionally, the emperor despises war, so he’ll likely step in at the first sign of a civil war.”

  Lucas didn’t know much about the emperor other than he was the strongest mage in the continent, but he doubted such an important figure cared about the people. He was at the top of the continental rankings, and he had proved that he deserved that spot in multiple occasions.

  “Just keep in mind that you can request funds from the company. With your recent success, they’ll likely approve it,” Althea said as she was gathering her stuff. “I’ll see you next time.”

  With Althea gone, Lucas was left wondering how he wanted to proceed with everything. If he decided to spend his money, things would proceed quicker. But if he wanted to gather funds from other sources, it would take several months.

  “Time or money,” Lucas muttered.

  If all he needed was raw materials, he would have gathered it himself, except Ragnar would be using the same method as Percival. That meant he only needed to buy high quality runes that could handle a monster lord’s power.

  There was also the option of earning money through other methods.

  And Lucas just remembered the person to ask.

  Jasmine slumped down on her bed after returning from the dungeon expedition. With this expedition being on her record, she was officially recognized as a Viscount-ranked mage.

  “Welcome back!” Alliah slammed her door open. “I brought chicken!”

  “Did you get your allowance back?” Jasmine asked.

  “That was months ago and they only cut two weeks,” Alliah said as she placed down the chicken. “They also gave me a task to do to make up for it.”

  “Really? Is it hard?”

  Alliah looked away. “In a way...”

  Jasmine knew Alliah very well, and she knew that tone very well. “What is it?” she didn’t like that tone.

  “The family head wanted me to convince you to apologize,” Alliah revealed.

  “I’ll do it,” Jasmine replied.

  Alliah turned to her in shock. “You will?!”

  Jasmine sighed. “This was my mess and you got involved. I need to do this much.”

  Alliah grabbed Jasmine into a tight hug.

  Jasmine was regretting this already.

  “It’s been a while.”

  Lucas sat across an old friend he made during high school. Philipe Lyroan, the heir to the Lyroan house, a house primarily known for trading businesses. Philipe had hazelnut brown hair and eyes. He looked like the standard rich kid in school with the constant obnoxious expressions on his face.

  How they managed to become friends were a mystery.

  “Yeah. I heard you got really busy after high school Phil,” Lucas replied.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  They were currently in one of the restaurants his family owned. “Yeah, my father wanted me to get to know the businesses while also attending university.”

  “Sounds like a hassle,” Lucas commented.

  “Very much. Anyways, you mentioned you wanted to earn money,” Philipe said. “Didn’t you mention you were into building golems recently?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Made some good ones?”

  “I would say so.”

  Philipe grinned. “Then I know just the place.”

  In a couple of minutes, they found themselves in some kind of arena. The crowd was going wild as down on the field, golems were clashing with one another.

  “What is this place?” Lucas asked as he looked around, getting very uncomfortable with being around too many people.

  “It’s called the junk yard. You can earn money by fighting with your golems or betting on the fights,” Philipe explained. “Personally, if you want to earn a lot, winning fights pay more. You get a cut from the total pot depending on how much was bet against you.”

  Looking back down at the arena, Lucas noticed that both the golems fighting were custom versions of the Iris: Infantry. One had an emerald frame and axe, while the other one was modified to resemble a Viking.

  “Did you notice? The people working from the houses are all using the Iris golems,” Philipe pointed out. “You think you can beat them?”

  Lucas smirked. “It’ll be a piece of cake.”

  Camille watched from the comfort of her private booth as the golems in the arena destroyed each other. Her fight pit had been earning less recently with all her golems secretly placed in the pit being defeated by the customers.

  With her secretly owned golems losing, most of the prize money is given to someone else.

  “It’s all that golem crafter’s fault,” Camille grumbled.

  All the golems that had been defeating her were made by the same person. She would have ordered custom golems herself, but they conducted serious background checks to identify how the golems would be used. Because of that, she was rejected from commissioning a custom golem.

  Thankfully, only the fighters from houses have the Iris golems, so it was only matter of making them fight each other to reduce their numbers.

  “Madam, you have a visitor,” one of her employees whispered to her.

  “Bring them in,” Camille ordered.

  The door to her private booth opened to reveal Philipe Lyroan and a new face. Black hair styled into a pomade and black eyes. He wore a fancy black suit with a red vest. He looked like the silent type.

  Camille licked her lips.

  That was her type. “Mr. Lyroan. What brings you here?”

  “We want to request a ranking match,” Philipe revealed.

  Ranking matches were considered as main events where one golem would face nearly impossible odds. Facing multiple golems at once, fighting a horde of monsters, powerful monster, and many more similar situations.

  “What did you have in mind?” Camille asked, keep her gaze at the young man beside Philipe. “And who’s your new friend?”

  “This is Lucas. A friend from high school.”

  “A pleasure to meet you Madam,” Lucas bowed.

  Camille bit her lower lip. “Pleasure is all mine.”

  “We wanted to take on anything you have available madam,” Philipe spoke.

  “Very well.”

  Camille smirked.

  Lucas stood on an elevated platform, while over a dozen golems surrounded his own. The latest golem he created for potential commercial use.

  Iris: Gun slinger

  Made out of mana steel and lightweight materials to prioritize its mobility. After making the Iris: Winterbelle, Lucas decided he needed a golem that he could use incognito. This golem was designed to face to deal with multiple weak enemies. It was equipped with two hand cannons capable of mid-ranking monsters with one shot.

  It just so happened that he tested them against the Iris: Infantry.

  “Considering they send it to me to get repaired, this might be a good business plan,” Lucas muttered as he counted how many of the custom Iris: Infantry was on the other side.

  The sound of a gong rang out and the fight began. Iris: Gun slinger immediately took action and shot down four opposing golems. Two speedy golems tried to end things quickly by dashing for his golem, but Gun slinger was faster. It easily avoided and maneuvered around its opponents and shot down anyone that showed an opening.

  The crowd was going crazy as they watched a single golem taking down everyone with ease. To Lucas’s surprise, his opponents began working together, attempting to drive his golem into a corner. Unfortunately for them, his golem had another trick up its sleeve.

  When a giant golem reached for the cornered golem, they were surprised by Gun slinger phasing through its body and appearing behind it. Gun slinger blasted the giant golem’s head off before using its body as a spring board to get out of the corner and began shooting down the remaining enemies.

  When only one enemy remained, the crowd began cheering even louder, waiting for the climactic finish. The last golem fell to its knees as a hole was blasted through its chest. Gun slinger finished it off by blasting its head to pieces.

  The crowd roared as Gun slinger made its way out of the arena, leaving nothing but destroyed golems behind it.

  The mage network exploded with articles about a golem succeeding in a ranking match in the junk yard fight pit. The owner of the golem had their identity hidden by a crow mask. But it was highly suspected that the creator of the golem was Iris due to its material being mana steel.

  “Man... this dude is always on the news,” Monique commented as she scrolled through her phone.

  She is a tan-skinned woman of average height. She has narrow red eyes with long, defined eyelashes, and straight white hair reaching her thighs with bangs that extend to the left of her face. While slender and curvaceous in frame, she also sports a lean, athletic, and well-defined build, especially in her arms and legs.

  “I mean if you can make golems that slaughter other golems with ease, you deserve it,” Shina responded without looking from her book.

  Shina is a tall woman with a mature physique. She has long black hair, tied into a spiky ponytail with a large strand hanging on the right side of her face. Her eyes are big yet sharp, dark in color, and paired with short eyebrows set in a determined expression.

  “Uhm... have you guys decided on who to interview for our final project?” Aurora asked.

  Aurora is somewhat short, her round face is framed by a long mop of fluffy dark-green hair which curls up at odd angles around her head, casting noticeably dark shadows onto itself. her eyes are large and somewhat circular and her irises are the same shade of green as her hair, which at times are very watery, and are usually stretched quite wide, giving her an innocent, energized appearance. She has a set of four symmetrical freckles in diamond formations, one on each cheek.

  “We can’t just interview someone random,” Shina replied. “They need to have at least been featured in the mage network once.”

  “Well, we can’t find someone like that here,” Monique spoke up. “Why don’t we go to your hometown Shina?” Monique suggested. “A lot of stuff is happening there recently. We’re bound to run into someone we can interview.”

  Shina leaned back on her chair. “That could work. I could visit my mother too.”

  “Ooh, I can meet your brother,” Monique winked at her.

  That made Shina groan. “You’re a fucking virgin. Stop acting like that.”

  Monique looked offended. “It’s not my fault I’m not an easy woman.”

  As the two began bickering, Aurora just sighed.