Unbeknownst to Jin and his companions, the calendar of this world had already rolled over to a new year.
"I’m sick of this," Jin groaned.
Day after day, he had been eating nothing but fruit and nuts.
"Man, I want a bowl of rice. Or even bread at this point."
Having finally grown tired of the local fare, he found himself pining for his old diet.
"Maybe I should head out and buy some wheat somewhere."
"In that case, Father, let us clear some fields on this island," Reiko suggested.
Jin nodded. "You're right. We'll have to find some seeds, but we should definitely get the fields ready."
"Yes. I believe it would be best to leave that task to the maid golems, Topaz and Aqua."
"Topaz handles the earth attribute and Aqua handles the water-attribute, right? That sounds like a plan."
Reiko continued, "Then we will also require more golems to work under them."
"Ah, right. Let's make some."
And so, they decided to create a workforce to serve under each of the five maid golems. Jin sat down with Reiko to hammer out the specifications.
"No need for magical skin, and they won't require clothes either," Reiko noted.
"Yeah, you're right. Instead, let's plate their surfaces with light silver and vary the colors."
"Pardon?"
Jin explained that light silver was essentially an isotope of titanium, and that the color of titanium could be altered by adjusting the thickness of its surface oxide layer. This was knowledge he had retained from the metalworking factory where he had worked back on modern Earth.
"I see. I understand. As expected of you, Father."
They immediately set to work. The basic forms were modeled after the maid golems, but the internal structures were significantly simplified. Jin focused his attention on the control systems; he adjusted them to possess a basic autonomous intelligence while ensuring they would obey their respective maid golem superiors, as well as Reiko and Jin.
"I will handle the bodies, Father. Could you please take care of the ether converters, mana drivers, and cores?"
"You got it."
They divided the labor: Reiko handled the repetitive manual work while Jin managed the complex, critical components. Two days later, they had completed five sets of ten golems—fifty in total.
"I believe it would be wise to assign specific roles to each of the maid golems," Reiko suggested.
Jin agreed. "Good idea. Topaz will handle land development. Aqua will manage water management. Perido will take care of housework. Ruby and Amez will be in charge of island defense. How does that sound?"
"I believe that is excellent."
"Alright then. Topaz, Aqua, Perido, Ruby, Amez. I'm assigning these subordinates to you. Continue to work hard, and as for you new golems—I'm counting on you."
"Understood, Master," the five maid golems replied in unison.
"We look forward to working with them."
The maid golems bowed to Jin, and the new subordinates bowed first to Jin and then to their respective superiors. Topaz and Aqua headed out of the laboratory with their teams, while Perido began a tour of the interior rooms. Ruby and Amez also led their subordinates outside to begin their patrols.
Reiko looked at two remaining golems that had yet to be activated.
"Father, there are two more left. Who are these for?"
"Ah, those are your subordinates, Reiko. You're going to be getting busier from now on, so I made some help for you."
"My subordinates?"
"Yeah. They should have performance equivalent to the maid golems, even if they look a bit different."
Indeed, the two golems still lying on the table were smaller than the others, standing about the same height as Reiko.
"I want to link them with you before activation. Is that alright?"
"You created them while thinking of me, Father. I have no objections."
As she spoke, she looked slightly pleased. Jin felt a wave of relief; he had been worried she might take it as a sign she was no longer needed and require another round of persuasion.
"Alright, come here....Mana linkage... That does it. 'Activate.'"
The two golems sat up. One was plated in a shimmering gold, the other in a sleek silver.
"Nice to meet you, Father. Nice to meet you, Big sister."
The golems greeted them. Naturally, "Big sister" referred to Reiko.
"Yes, it is nice to meet you....Father, what are their names?"
"Hmm, let's see... Since they're your direct subordinates, why don't you name them, Reiko?"
Prompted by Jin, Reiko thought for a moment.
"Very well. You, the gold one, shall be Soleil. You, the silver one, shall be Luna."
Her naming sense was considerably more elegant than Jin's.
"Yes, I am Soleil."
"Yes, I am Luna."
With the labor shortage largely resolved, Jin could finally turn his attention to other pressing issues.
"Reiko, if we're going to make effective use of this island, we need to know the terrain. Don't we have a map?"
Reiko looked slightly troubled. "The thing is, the land has changed considerably since the time Mother was here. We will need to create a new one."
She explained that the island appeared to have undergone significant geological uplift over the last thousand years.
"I see. In that case, getting an overview of the entire island is our top priority."
Jin crossed his arms, lost in thought.
"A proper survey can wait, but I want to know the general layout and size."
Aerial photography would have solved the problem instantly, but there were no means of flight in this world yet. After thinking for a few more moments, Jin's eyes lit up.
"That's it! Reiko, give me a hand."
Having been struck by an idea, Jin hurried toward the workshop.
"Father, what are you planning to do?"
To the puzzled Reiko, Jin replied, "I want to observe the island from the sky. To do that, I'm going to build a golem that can fly."
"F-Fly in the sky?"
Even Reiko was caught off guard. Not even the previous Magi Craft Meister had considered such a thing.
"Well, yeah. Even though I say 'flying,' it'll really just be gliding after a mana-assisted launch."
In short, a glider. He would build a model glider, turn it into a golem, have it observe the terrain while soaring through the air, and then use that data to draw a map once it returned. For now, an approximate scale would be plenty.
"I understand the theory, but can it truly stay aloft?" Reiko asked. Since only a portion of Jin's knowledge had been transferred to her, she remained skeptical.
"Well, proof is better than theory. Let's give it a try."
Using light silver, Jin constructed a single glider. He fitted it with a small golem core and a magi-crystal to serve as its eyes. Since its only tasks were to operate the elevators, rudder, and ailerons, the core didn't need to be complex. It didn't take long to finish.
"This is going to fly?"
"Yeah, watch."
Jin stepped out of the laboratory and into the courtyard, which Topaz and Aqua had already leveled. It was the perfect place for a test flight.
"Alright, I'm throwing it."
He gave the glider a light push forward. It cut through the air in a straight line, gliding for about fifty meters before touching down smoothly.
"It really flew."
Reiko seemed genuinely moved, even if her expression remained mostly stoic.
Jin repeated the process several times, allowing the glider golem to learn the controls. Finally, it was time for the real test.
"Reiko."
"Yes, Father."
"Throw this upward as hard as you can."
With Reiko's full strength, the glider would likely reach an altitude of three kilometers.
"Understood."
Reiko wound up for the throw.
"Glider golem, observe the island and memorize everything you see. Then, return here."
The moment Jin finished his instructions, Reiko let fly.
"Here I go!"
The glider golem shot into the sky like a rocket. In an instant, it was so high it had vanished from the naked eye.
"How is it?" Jin asked Reiko, who could still track it.
"Yes, it is still ascending. Still... ah, it has entered a glide. It is descending slowly now..."
The glider golem finally touched down in front of the laboratory two hours later.
By the following day, Jin had a complete map of the island based on the visual data stored within the golem's core.