The Golem Mage

"So what's it going to be?" Damien asked, staring at the snow-furred lion, but the beast merely shook its head.

"No," the lion replied casually, closing its eyes again with lazy indifference, clearly uninterested in whatever offer Damien had brought.

"I'm sure you're well aware of how your pride fares against the other rising forces of the High Region," Damien continued calmly.

"Though your pride resides mainly here where the mana concentration is at its peak, however you're the only reason they've survived this long in the High regions, and that is because not only are you only a high-rank demonic beast, but you've also awakened an exceptionally rare bloodline."

He leaned forward slightly, his tone growing colder.

"Now, imagine what would happen to your pride if — let's say — you were to be injured or killed. If your bloodline is wiped out, who will protect them then?"

At those words, the lion's lazy eyes snapped open, and the aura surrounding him changed instantly, as a hundred meters around them turned into a frozen wasteland, with Damien standing right at the center of the encroaching frost.

The lion's piercing eyes locked onto him, radiating a primal menace.

"Never, ever think you can threaten me," the snow-furred lion growled, his voice layered with a roar-like vibration that unleashed waves of sonic pressure outward as its light blue mane danced furiously like it could detect its mood.

"And the next time you speak to me like this, know that you will not leave this forest alive."

Though Damien stood his ground, seemingly unfazed, however the five priests behind him were not as fortunate.

A deep, irresistible drowsiness crept over them as a frigid chill invaded their bodies, despite Damien bearing the brunt of the lion's aura, they were still caught in the edge of the oppressive energy and could barely keep themselves upright.

"Well, I've heard you. We'll take our leave now," Damien said as he walked towards the priests.

In the next moment, a green flame engulfed them all, and when the flames vanished, they were gone without a trace. The snow-furred lion calmly lay back atop the mountain, closing his eyes once more not even acting like it was just threatened.

—

In another sector of the Mid regions, Alec and his two companions crouched behind a cluster of rocks, peering down at what appeared to be a mining site, outside the mine stood two lion-type demonic beasts.

The one on the left was sleek, with fur so dark it seemed to absorb all surrounding light, while the one on the right bore the familiar golden-brown fur of an ordinary earth lion.

But nothing about these creatures was ordinary, both stood as tall as cars, and Alec could easily sense that each was at Tier 6 due to his high mental strength despite them being far.

And he knew for such high-ranking beasts to be guarding this place, it was clear they had stumbled onto something valuable, the only question that kept troubling him now was how many more powerful beasts might be lurking inside.

"We definitely hit a jackpot here, guys," Alec said, turning to face his friends.

But the moment Brandon and Arthur saw the glint in his eyes, an uneasy feeling settled over them.

"From the moment I stepped out of the city gates with you, I had a gut feeling I'd regret not interrogating you more. And look at us now — my decision not to badger you is biting me right in the ass," Arthur complained, shooting Alec a wide-eyed glare after hearing his assessment that those two demonic lions were both in the Tier 6 realm.

Beside him, Brandon simply nodded in agreement, sharing Arthur's growing apprehension.

"You fucker, stop nodding like an agama lizard and say something for once! You can't expect me to be the only one talking to Alec," Arthur snapped, slapping Brandon's arm.

"Look at us—we're just low Tier 6 mages, and here's Alec, who's been restricted to Tier 5. And as if that's not enough of a disadvantage, he's even forbidden from summoning his golems to 'put pressure on himself.' But why do we have to share in the pressure? This madman dragged us to a mine guarded by Tier 6 beasts! If the guards are Tier 6, what the hell do you think the boss inside is ranked?"

"You don't have to act like that," Alec replied calmly.

"It's not like we're going to charge in head-on like idiots. We're just sneaking in to steal a portion of whatever they're protecting. I don't want to fight a Tier 6 lion either, not in my current situation. I'm tired of running around the second dimension like I have nothing better to do."

Though his reasoning sounded fair, but it still didn't ease their worries.

Both Arthur and Brandon continued staring at him with blank expressions, making it clear they weren't convinced.

Seeing their reactions, Alec sighed and slapped his hand over his face, he could tell they had been with him for too long; they'd grown thick-skinned to his usual nonsense, and his old tricks didn't work anymore.

"Look, it's obvious this is a mine they're guarding. I've read about the kinds of resources found in second dimension mines, and every single one of them is priceless. Just think about the materials we could get, how rich you could get... or the Tier of demonic beast I could capture..."

He stopped mid-sentence, realizing they weren't buying any of it, with that, Alec dropped the act and got straight to the point.

"Okay, you fuckers, I believe whatever is in there must be either a power stone mine like the one we fought over the last time we were here, but definitely on a much higher level, because if demonic beasts of this level are working together to guard it, that means two things—it's not some low-rank deposit like that one, and they've definitely got a boss that's even stronger." Alec paused before finishing.

"So, we'll report this to the academy, earn some good points, and get famous while at it."

"Good plan. Now let's hurry back to the outpost and give them the location of this treasure we've so kindly discovered," Arthur said sarcastically.

However Alec laughed nervously, as his face gave him away; Arthur had guessed right.

Just because Alec was willing to let the academy have a shot at it didn't mean he wasn't still planning to steal a portion before it fell under academy control.

Besides, there was no guarantee the academy would even secure it, the mine was too deep into mid-region territory where human jurisdiction barely held.

If the academy tried to claim it, their best option would be to extract the veins quickly because prolonged mining would not only draw attention from the current beast occupants boss but might also trigger another large-scale conflict as other races and beast overlord factions might moved to prevent humans from securing such a valuable resource when they see how the humans were moving.

"Come on, just say it already. It's obvious you're not planning to leave this place," Brandon finally spoke up, tired of the pretense.

"Simple," Alec grinned.

"We're robbing the mine clean, and leaving the veins for the academy, we all know that the academy can not mine it due to the location and the vigilance that is on every big movement of theirs by the second Dimensional races and demonic beast lords, but we can. Prepare for Operation Heist."

As Alec let out a sadistic laugh, Arthur immediately regretted ever following him, knowing full well that once Alec started something like this, there was no way to back out.