The Garbage Woman

 The man ran around the corner and stopped once he was out of view. Looking ahead, mountains of things were littered all over the place, obscuring any obvious avenue. Even the path from which he came was covered up in an instant, making it impossible to retrace his steps. To the manaforms, this is where they dumped garbage. A good half of them were tools Smith discarded. The rest were an assortment of previous jewels, advanced technology, skins, rubble – basically anything that failed to sell in the market. However, one manaform’s trash is another person’s treasure. Given their value or mana quantities, any of these were enough for countries to wage a war over. Well, if the world wasn’t already within an eternal one, the man thought.

The man scrounged through the garbage, tossing away anything he didn’t need. He wasn’t looking for anything too fancy – just a sturdy rock he could use to carve a body from. This would be the key to one of his plans, assuming he could find what he was looking for. While he could go to a stall, he would’ve had to pay something in return. It was hard to justify spending money on a simple rock, even if it was stronger than adamantite: the hardest metal known to the world. It was much easier to find a suitable piece to use himself, especially since he already knew one was here from a previous trip.

The man continued clearing away the trash, only stopping to pocket a random chisel Smith made. From a few tests, the chisel could carve any surface, regardless of whether it was visible or inside. While it wasn’t exactly necessary, as there were a few ways to form an object, it would make the task much more efficient.

After a few hours of searching, the man found a perfectly sized piece of rubble – large enough to encompass the body of a kid, but small enough to be carried around with ease. It was quite difficult finding a piece this size or larger, especially since stalls mainly sold goods that could be carried. Why that was the one thing the manaforms got right, the man had no idea.

Moving the rock, with a hefty ‘humph’, to a clearer location, the man used the chisel to shape the outside. He closed his eyes and focused, recalling every detail he wanted to transcribe. With a nostalgic yet sorrowful smile, he was ready to start.

First, he whittled away the rock, creating the rough outline and proportions of a female body just before adulthood. She would only be about half a head shorter than him. Even at this stage, her figure was modest. But one could tell as she aged, she would grow into a beautiful woman. Of course, if a nonliving thing could age.

He began removing excess rock. Blocky feet turned into slender, long legs, each with five toes. Her buttocks were made slightly curvy while her waist was chiseled inwards, giving a modest hourglass figure. For the arms, he left a bit of flab near the biceps. For the breasts, he made them quite a bit larger than average. He could shave it down later if desired. Though, it will probably be left up to her.

Then, he quickly sculpted ten spindly finger–

Crack!

…nine spindly fingers. He had accidentally used too much force, taking off the pinky on the left hand. There wasn’t much he could do about it except start over, but the man decided to remove the stump and leave it be. It wasn’t likely he could find another rock that fast, given the whole infinite nature of the market.

Making sure not to break anything, her face was fashioned with extensive care. He created eyeball sockets, a nose, a mouth with moderately plump lips, and ears. He made sure to keep the face well proportioned, so that each feature would work well with the others. This ended up with a slightly plain face, but with a bit of makeup, it would pop, grabbing anyone’s attention. As for the eyes itself…

Ah! The man went back into the dumpster pile before pulling out two pearls – more white compared to its normal cream color – and a diamond as clear as glass, providing the perfect window to look through. The pearls were turned into hollowed eyeballs while parts of the diamond were used for the iris and lens, giving the eyes a sort of crystal look. They were easily slotted into the openings.

Finally, the man cut through the hair, meticulously separating each strand. Some pieces snapped due to how thin it was, but most remained attached as the man’s skills improved with each motion. It was awe-inspiring and terrifying watching him dexterously move his fingers in ways no person could.

Once that was done, he chiseled out the inside, using the tool’s innate abilities. Although it didn’t look as though anything was happening, the insides were being carved with the same level of care as the outside. With some final touches, shaving off the breasts to make them a cup size smaller, she was complete.

The result was a hyper-realistic woman. If it weren’t for her almost entirely gray body, rough texture, and unnatural pose, it was easy to mistake her for a person. Even her joints and hair moved flexibly – something a rock shouldn’t be able to do.

Nevertheless, even with all the man’s intricacies, the woman was just a rock, or a golem to be more appropriate. He was still missing two things to make her fully a person: a heart to move her body, and a consciousness to perform actions. Normally, either would be impossible to obtain, but this was the Mixing Market. All the man had to do was go buy them.

So, hoisting the rock girl atop his shoulder, the man walked back towards the stalls, her body swaying back and forth as if it were a ragdoll.