The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 675: That time I become a power plant in another world

When I came to this world with a dying body, I had never thought that I would have a huge amount of mana in my body.

Actually, I didn’t know I had a lot of it until recently. If you knew me, you would know that I was very bad at self-assessment. I mean...I knew how much mana I needed to do this or that, instinctively. But I didn’t really know how much mana I had compared to other people.

But then again, it wasn’t like there was a measurement tool for counting someone’s mana quantity. There was no numerical indication or fancy concept like first circle and five circles for a druid. In the first place, we needed mana to survive only, but we could use the mana in the environment for other things.

So...yeah. That was my justification for not knowing how much mana I had.

But the ’pregnancy’ changed things. Experiencing mana deficiency again made me more sensitive and aware of this stuff. I could still remember Natha’s terrified expression when I almost collapsed from it. And well...it didn’t feel nice either.

"How much energy would you need?" I asked carefully.

"I’m not sure..." Neel tapped the end of her pencil on her chin in contemplation. "We can pause the process if you run out of juice, but--ah!" she pointed at me again--with her pencil this time. "Don’t you have an emergency mana container or two?"

Oh, that was true! I had forgotten about them, but there were two containers filled with Natha’s mana, and another two of mine. I had been carrying them around since the start of this search mission because my husband was such a worrywart, but there were no circumstances that forced me to use a huge amount of mana like...ever.

Thankfully, my high-quality storage kept these containers sealed in pristine condition. There was no degradation and not even a speck of dust on them as I took them out.

"Never thought this could come in handy," I muttered. "I almost forgot I had these, even."

Neel stared at the containers lining up in front of me. "Can you put the device yourself?"

"No need," I smiled smugly. "It was needed before because I was too weak. In this condition, I can absorb it directly--although some will leak to the surroundings in the process."

This was something we found after racking our brains about how I could use this by myself. Neither my clumsy self nor Natha had faith that I could do self-injection. Especially one where precision was needed. Through trial and error, we found that I could absorb it myself after the mana went through the calibrator device.

It was too bad that around ten percent would leak outside in the process, but Natha would rather have that than me stabbing myself with a needle.

But then, Neel came up with an even more brilliant suggestion. "In that case...can’t Stan just consume it directly?"

I blinked. "...Huh? That’s possible?"

Neel scoffed and replied haughtily while moving her pencil to design the new rune code. "It is because I am here."

"Oh! Lady Neel!" I clapped in astonishment.

Surely, Natha would prefer that too, right? I didn’t want to get scolded again when I got back. I looked at Stan up and down, trying to figure out if there was a power socket somewhere.

Neel rolled her eyes at my ridiculous thought that put golems and robots in the same category. What was wrong with it, anyway? The principle concept was the same.

"Anyway, what kind of commandments do you want to create?" she asked.

"Hmm..."

Oh, this was a tough one. I had been thinking about it while waiting for Neel to finish her analysis. Honestly, I did not have a particular task I wanted Stan to do. This whole code rewriting stemmed from my own frustration.

I didn’t like the thought of being ridden after one’s task was finished because I didn’t want that to happen to me either. I didn’t want to be someone who could be thrown away after I was done ’birthing’ Shwa.

But...this kind of thought could not be attached to golems who moved in a certain set of commands. Complex as they might be, golems were pretty simple in fundamentals: they existed for a certain task.

Whether it was to help their masters’ work or guard an ancient site, they had to have a purpose. Golems could not just ’exist’. Even ’learning about the world’ had to be inserted in order for the golems to do it. Otherwise, the rune code could not be made.

Honestly, it was hard to decide. Especially because Stan didn’t seem to reach any decision regarding where he wanted to go after this. But, well...the important thing was to give him an order that could bring him out of this place instead of vanishing.

"To preserve the harmony of the three realms," I decided after thinking about it some more.

Stan was a fighting golem. We never fought, but I knew his body was designed for advanced combat. When thinking about this, the first thing that came to my mind was a guard or...a police.

But if there was to be a police, wouldn’t it be good to have one unbiased of the three realms? That was probably what Shwa...no, the Primordial One wanted, right? If somehow, in the future, Shwa regained his past memory and decided to act on it, I hope Stan could help him somewhat.

"Hmm...yeah, I think that’ll be good," Neel nodded.

"Also...can you make it so that he doesn’t immediately go into self-destruct mode if he feels like he has fulfilled his goal?" I asked in a whisper.

"That will be hard," Neel frowned slightly. "We can’t leave the end of the line ambiguous in a rune code."

"Ugh..." I chewed the inside of my cheek while contemplating. "Then...instead of self-destructing, have him...sleep? Umm...shut down?"

This time, instead of rolling her eyes, Neel was chuckling. I mean...as far as tech stuff goes, I only ever used a phone and laptop, so...

"That is possible," Neel nodded, writing something more in her little notebook. "It will probably take forever for that harmony anyway."

"Hey! I’m trying to achieve it here!"

She just replied with a smirk--which meant she was in an extremely good mood. At any rate, we talked more about the details of the commandment, covering as many loopholes as we could, and designing some backdoors in case Stan got corrupted or something.

I had no idea, just nodding along to what Neel was saying.

When the rune code design was completed, both Jade and Shiny were already sleeping on the spread of pillows. I covered them with a thinner blanket I took out of my storage ring, while Neel approached the golem.

"Stan, I will have to deactivate you while the process is happening," she told him.

"Understood. If someone crosses the lake--"

"I’ll give them a trial on your behalf," I spoke confidently. Eh--I should have this much confidence at this point, right? Anyway, even the combination of Alveitya and Jade would be enough to give anyone a ’trial’.

Stan nodded without any doubt, since he had already told me he couldn’t beat me, and proceeded to obediently be ’turned off’ by Neel. The crystal eyes, which were shining before, dimmed considerably. It was the only sign that Stan could no longer move.

"Isn’t it dangerous to have the access point on outside like that?" I muttered curiously.

"But would someone with any ability to decode the program be able to climb to his neck?" Neel sneered.

Oh, true. If you could make Stan kneel down long enough like that, you were probably already shutting him down in another way.

"Just connect the container here, and be ready to step in if it’s not enough," Neel pointed at the tip of Stan’s index finger.

After looking at it clearly, there was a small formation written in dark ink at the tip. Following Neel’s instruction, I proceeded to place the tip of the calibrator--the one that was supposed to be connected to the needle going into my body.

Automatically, a stream of mana flowed from the container to the golem. The circuit lights up in a blue glow, like before. I had worried before that a demon’s mana would not be suitable, but then again...golems shouldn’t have any problem receiving any kind of energy.

Since Neel didn’t say anything and immediately focused on her work, it should be alright. After checking for half an hour, the energy consumption seemed to be normal; the mana in the container only decreased by one-fifth. If the rate was consistent, the whole stash should be enough for ten hours.

...it wouldn’t take more, right? I didn’t think it would be healthy for Neel to work more than ten hours nonstop.

Anyway, I was a bit bored in the middle, so I patrolled the place and meditated in front of the lake like a gatekeeper. But no one came so I returned. When I was done changing the first container, Jade and Shiny woke up, so I took them outside so we could have a meal and chat without disturbing Neel. We even swam around the lake out of boredom, trying to figure out the maze inside the lake.

Right--I should work on the puzzle box after we were done with Stan.

Approximately six hours after starting, Neel let out a long sigh and stretched her arms up. She told me to disconnect the mana container before re-activating the golem. As Stan whirred alive, she jumped to the floor.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!" I nodded eagerly. I was starting to get sleepy, so this was great.

"Alright, here we go," Neel took a deep breath; her sparkling eyes were both filled with excitement and anxiety. "Stan, activate self-compression mode."

"Understood."

A line of blue circuits glowed for two seconds before a creaking sound filled the room that forced me to cover my ears and squint my eyes. It was akin to the sound of a metal can being pressed and...I guessed that was what happened?

The huge body, as big as the giant robot in Earth’s children’s show, was shrinking like a compressed tin can. When my eyes finally blinked at the end of the process, I couldn’t help but exclaim.

"Whoa..."

There’s a rob*cop in front of me!