A great man once said that the only true difference between science and messing around, is writing things down. That was a fact that Seth was experiencing all too well as he carried out his experiments over the next few days.

His initial action throughout these days was truly the one that seemed like he was messing around the most, as it was dedicated to seeing what kind of commands the prototype puppet could perform when the crystal in its chest was charged with mana.

Still unsure of the upper limit, and possible ramifications of over charging it, Seth stuck to the previous charge amount that he had imbued, since it would also serve as a metric for whether more complex actions took up more charge. Something that was definitely intentional and not something he thought up after the fact to give himself a more legitimate excuse for performing it this way.

The variety of actions he programmed into the proto-puppet were vast, ranging from small motions such as a simple waving motion like some kind of greeting animatronic at an amusement park, to an entire boy-band dance routine that he had unfortunately memorised because his little sister had made him perform it with her so many times.

Programming that one was painful, if he had to be honest. The idea came to him all of a sudden, before his mind could even realise where it came to him, but once he realised as much as it pained him... he couldn't bring himself to stop until it was completed.

Anyways, once that little pity part was over, Seth had some interesting results. As far as he could tell, the complexity of the action did, in fact, not contribute to the drainage of the 'battery life' so to speak. Of course, he didn't let every action run for the entire 5 hours, but with the amount of actions he was switching between, if there was any extra drainage the time still wouldn't have been the same. Yet it was.

However, whilst that was good news, it wasn't all like that. His next discovery, and the only reason he stopped for the day, was that after it drained its charge the crystalline core slowly incurred more and more damage, until eventually it simply wouldn't hold charge at all.

After that, and after replacing the core, he did some experiments on whether or not he could keep a sustained charge. This meant keeping the core in his grasp and giving it the smallest possible charge, then constantly feeding it more so that it couldn't run out.

Surprisingly enough, not only did this work, but it seemed to prolong the life of the replacement core, as it lasted an entire day of continuous actions and didn't suffer from any damage despite the constant power flowing through it as it suckled at Seth's proverbial teet.

At the very least, this was good news for the core that was situated in the centre of Seth's chest, powering his lovely new arm. So long as he didn't let it run out of charge, he could keep it going for longer and not have to replace the cores as much.

It was just like charging his phone back in the old world, never letting the battery fully run dry.

All of that, and a few more experiments, was what led him to where he was now. Holding a few strings of pure gold, while he was watching a group of wooden proto-puppets performing a K-pop dance routine for him, like his own private concert.

Gold, as it turned out, was a wonderful conductor not just of electricity but of Mana too. By holding the gold threads, which were created from gold they had... ahem, procured from a local bank, Seth was able to transfer his mana into the multiple cores simultaneously and from a distance.

It was this experiment, that was the final nail in the coffin for Seth's discoveries. With this, he knew exactly what he could do with these proto-puppets.

***

DINGDINGDINGDING

The rhythmic sound of metal clanging against metal echoed throughout the 'Spiders-Lair' as Seth examined the product of his week-long experimentation and work. Laying in his hands now, was a sword.

It wasn't a product of the system, not a Requital that he had earned from slaying some beast, but something that had been forged. It was not a masterpiece, in fact it was a slight bit better than the most amateur work possible.

The hammering wasn't the best and the design was simplistic, with a standard cross-guard and a wooden handle carved from the same wood as the proto-puppets had been made of.

The metal of the blade itself was not, however, the same type of metal as Seth's arm was made out of. He didn't have nearly enough of a supply of those beast bones yet to create weapons out of them. Maybe a small knife, but not a sword.

Instead, this sword was made out of one of their most plentiful sources of metal so far. Steel from ruined cars, as well as from the multiple buildings they destroyed to make room for their bustling new civilisation.

There was a series of runes carved into the flat of the blade, although these runes were completely inert. Not a single sign of life or magic flowing through them. This was not because he had yet to imbue them with such magic, he had tried, nor was it a flaw in the runes carving. According to his eyes, they were perfect. Carved exactly as he had instructed them to be.

The problem lay in the process of their creation itself. Placing the sword down, Seth sighed softly as he looked up at that said process. A production line of his own creation, starting from the burning forge, in which he had smelted the steel, there was simply a series of tables, with wooden proto-puppets lining either side. The only exception to this was the one at the forge, which was a stone golem instead of a wooden golem.

After all, only an idiot would let something made entirely of wood try to work a forge.

Each puppet was responsible for different parts of the sword creation process. Forging the steel, sharpening the blade, adding the hilt, carving the runes. It was a fully functional production line, and this was the test product of it.

And it was completely useless. Well, not completely. But it was a 'mortal' sword, meaning a blade completely inert of magic. It was useful in the past, and possibly against powerless people, but against those with defensive powers, or the hides of more powerful beasts it would be completely useless.

Before he had let the production line do its thing, Seth had used his new arm and forged a sword himself, so that he could get the process down and have a reliable control to compare it to. But looking at those two swords laying side by side, it was like night and day.

After all, it was hard to miss the shimmering magic of the runes he had carved himself, especially when comparing them to the powerless lines of the proto-puppets work.

While both had been given a socket for the cores to be placed, and were currently both under their influence, One could carve through concrete like it was butter while the other would shatter easily if he used the full extent of his strength.

As much as Seth hated the outcome, it would be impossible to say he wasn't expecting it. Even if it was only a small doubt in his mind. The problem was simple, intent. A mindless puppet, no matter how well created, simply couldn't bestow anything with its intent.

It was like asking a robot to create a masterpiece, the best it could do was copy what already existed, but it would just be a soulless copy, created without intent or desire. Just because of instruction.

Rubbing his eyes in frustration, Seth turned away from the pair of swords and put the issue out of his mind for the moment. He knew he was going to have to find a way to work around this issue, since large scale production was what he seriously needed if he wanted his own personal puppet army.

But this issue was going to have to wait, he had been awake for the last 30 odd hours, having become lost in his work, and there was no way he was going to figure this out on such little sleep. In a mood to treat himself, Seth decided to forgo the lair's cot, and actually return to his room for a proper sleep in a proper bed.

He was the leader after all, he deserved such amazing luxuries such as a proper bed. It was only natural.

Making his way through the tunnel system, Seth came to a halt at the secret door and turned to the wall beside it. Tracing his hand in a circle on the wall, a circular pattern of runes began to glow golden as a constellation of stars lit up in the middle.

It was a similar concept to the stone he had on Corvus, except this one was designed to scan the room on the other side, so that he didn't reveal the door to anyone who happened to be in the room for whatever reason.

Once he got the all clear, meaning none of the stars on the constellation stayed a solid light, Seth pushed open the secret door and clambered his way out of the fireplace.

'Ugh, Do I go back to my room or do I just crash here instead? Ah screw it, one time won't hurt.'

Stifling a yawn, Seth sauntered his way over to Corvus' bed, daring to sleep in the Lord's bed. With every step he lost another piece of his clothing. Yet even as he was in the process of stripping completely down, he was blissfully unaware of the pair of emerald eyes staring at him from the shadowy depths of the bedrooms corner.