Chapter 56: Who is the Master? Who is the Servant? (Please keep reading)

Chapter 55: Who is the Master? Who is the Servant?

It was her.

The moment Gawain made his decision, the spirit crystal sphere began to move violently, stretching, shaping, and setting.

Perfect body proportions, slender yet with muscular contours, even the female characteristics were fully present. Dazzling long golden hair was braided up, and especially the ahoge atop her head, which looked incredibly lifelike. On her translucent crystal body, one could even see the texture of skin. She stood just over seventeen centimeters tall.

This was no mere spirit crystal figurine; it was essentially a human shrunk ten times, with only the skin retaining the unique luster of crystal.

If one looked closely, the face of the spirit crystal servant still bore about thirty to forty percent of Zaranda's charm.

Feeling a bit awkward, Gawain closed his eyes and attempted to reshape the spirit crystal servant. However, the image was burned into his mind; after seven or eight attempts, he hadn't only failed to change it, but the resemblance had actually increased. Terrified, he hurriedly stopped and reverted it to the first version.

Gawain felt he was a lost cause.

The final step: injecting the soul.

Gawain felt something being drawn out of his consciousness, though he couldn't quite say what it was.

The spirit crystal servant, suspended in mid-air, suddenly opened her eyes and slowly drifted down to the tabletop.

With emerald green eyes staring at Gawain, she spoke: "Greetings, Master. Please grant me a name."

Though her voice was not wooden, it lacked the expected vivacity, which left Gawain slightly disappointed. He didn't bother thinking of other names and said directly, "From now on, your name shall be Artoria."

"Thank you for the name, Master." As soon as she was named, the spirit crystal servant seemed to be activated; her expressions and movements became much more lively.

Since the vivacity wasn't as great as he had imagined, Gawain could only focus on her actual abilities.

Spirit Crystal Servant: Artoria Micro-Construct Hit Dice: 10 (Half of the Master's) Traits: Construct traits, Hardness 8 Attributes: STR 1, DEX 15, CON -, INT 9, WIS 13, CHA 15 Skills: Climb +14, Listen +6, Stealth +6, Search +2, Spot +6 Construct Traits: The spirit crystal servant is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromancy effects, effects that influence the mind (charm, coercion, phantasms, mental illusions, and morale effects), and any effect requiring a Fortitude save (unless the effect also applies to objects or is harmless).

It is unaffected by critical hits, nonlethal damage, attribute damage, attribute depletion, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain.

It cannot heal damage but can be repaired. The spirit crystal servant does not possess the standard darkvision or low-light vision typical of constructs. Special Abilities: Alertness, Improved Evasion, Shared Extraordinary Abilities, Telepathic Link, Clairvoyance, and special abilities unique to the spirit crystal servant's personality.

Gawain gasped at her actual capabilities.

This sorcerer-like familiar was far more powerful than an ordinary familiar.

The construct traits allowed her to ignore many situations and threats.

In the late game, he could use these traits and the shared extraordinary abilities to perform many clever maneuvers.

The Alertness ability was easy to understand; it was like having a tiny, twenty-four-hour guard who never slept and acted as an automatic alarm to help him stay vigilant of his surroundings.

The Telepathic Link and Clairvoyance turned the spirit crystal servant into a telepathically remote reconnaissance device, capable of scouting from a distance.

Artoria reminded him from the side, "Master, the time has come. The soldiers should be rising for training."

Gawain looked at the sky outside; it was indeed time for assembly and training, so he reached out his hand toward her.

Understanding his intent, Artoria ran up his arm, settled onto his shoulder, and sat down, demonstrating superior balance.

Although Artoria was not as lively as Gawain had expected, she had integrated the background and personality of the anime character; she could not be viewed as a mere inanimate object.

In particular, once Gawain issued an order, she would merge with the personality he injected, becoming more extreme and one-sided.

For example, during training, her requirements were far more rigorous than Gawain's, and she paid much more attention to detail.

Gawain previously lacked the energy to manage such details.

While he wasn't sure about other things, Artoria knew a great deal regarding military training.

With a thought, Gawain attempted to use the Telepathic Link to transmit the *Seven Military Classics* to Artoria. To his surprise, she accepted them in their entirety. The training methods she subsequently proposed were clearly of a higher standard and carried the distinct flavor of military treatises.

Gawain was overjoyed. He had been worrying about having no energy to train the army; from now on, she could handle these matters for him.

With the long-distance Telepathic Link, he could treat her entirely as a mouthpiece to remotely command the army.

Gawien did not explain Artoria's condition in detail to Fangtooth, the chief kobold warrior; he simply told him that she was a new communication tool through which new orders would be passed, and that he only needed to follow and execute the training tasks issued through her.

Under Artoria's leadership, the militarization training of the Black Well Tribe entered a more formal stage.

Every day, at the appointed hour, rhythmic and synchronized shouts would ring out around the Black Well Tribe—sounding, no matter how one heard it, like a kobold version of "one, two, three, four."

Artoria's military training methods were a complete medley; she studied ancient military classics but implemented modern training techniques.

Gawain didn't care much about the specifics; as long as it was effective, it was fine.

"Lord, Lord, Lord!" Goss ran up to Gawain in a frantic rush. "Lord, those goblins from the spirit crystal mine are back. They want to trade for grain again."

"How much?" Gawain was not surprised in the least; this was inevitable and well within his expectations.

"Three wagons," Goss said, gesturing with his hands.

"Three wagons?" Gawain paused, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold smirk. "Aren't they afraid of stuffing themselves all at once? Fine then. Our soldiers happen to need some bloodshed. Go, trade with them. Use the original agreed-upon price."

"Are we really trading with them?" Goss hesitated.

"Are you afraid that trading away so much grain will leave us with nothing to eat?" Gawain saw right through Goss's thoughts.

Goss nodded repeatedly. He had now transitioned into the role of Logistics Director for the Black Well Tribe, and the statistical supervision of grain was the bulk of his work. He now lived and slept alongside the grain; he had never seen so much food in his entire life.

With their population growing larger every day, the daily consumption of grain made Goss's heart race. The grain piles were diminishing at a visible rate, and selling three wagons at once was something he found hard to accept.

"Don't worry. Barring any accidents, the next batch of grain will arrive in the next ten days. Our grain supplies will only increase," Gawain assured Goss.

Those unscrupulous merchants had finally found a place where they could sell moldy grain for a good price, so they would be shipping it here relentlessly.

Whether it was the Dalelands or Cormyr, both were famous granaries. The Dalelands, in particular, consisted mostly of farming communities. Many of these communities had the help of Druids and suitable climates, resulting in staggering grain yields. Previously, due to a lack of markets, grain prices were quite cheap compared to other regions in Faerûn.

"If you say so, Lord, it certainly won't be wrong. I was short-sighted. I'll go handle it immediately." Goss's trust in Gawain was now unconditional; whatever he said, Goss believed.

As soon as Goss left, Gawain issued a military mobilization order via telepathic remote control: "Artoria, have Fangtooth assemble all troops. They are to be at my disposal at any time."