The tunnel was high and wide, about three meters. Tracks were laid along one of the walls, making the rest of the tunnel easy to traverse. The first workshop Nurmela's team found was of a stonemason. Four golem monkeys, little shorter than dwarves, were trying to chisel some limestone into blocks. The fight with them took a moment. Golems had long arms and were armed with hammers. One standing in the back throws at adventurers pieces of discarded rock. The workshop itself wasn’t especially shocking. They were mainly used to Dungeon Mistress constructs already. Different chisels and hammers were stored on the shelf. Then there was a saw for cutting limestone boulders. It was built from cast iron and with a round saw. It wasn’t linear, like in some stonemasonry could be found. The second thing was how it was powered. It wasn’t a waterwheel or animals. It was a mysterious shaft hanging on the ceiling and disappearing into the darkness of the tunnels. The gearbox moved by the shaft moved to an enormous speed. It cuts stone like it were a block of wood.

  “What do we do with these four extra golems?” Iason asked, pointing at the four statues standing in alcoves.

  “Nothing. It could be a trap.” Nurmela asked.

  “True.

  “Oh. What is that?” One adventurer picks up something from the floor.

  “What had you found? Nurmela asked.

  “It's Hard to say. It’s so dirty," he said, starting to clean it. After a few minutes, they saw a rectangular plate with holes in rows and engraving on one end.

  “Let me try to read it.” Nurmela took it because it was written in dwarven runes. “Master key. Standard order, five stones.”

  “On the chest of this golem is a hole with a triangle like on this plate.” Iason pointed out.

  “Key. Huh.” Nurmela scrach her beard. “Do we try it?”

  “We should.” One of the scholars accompanying them said. “I think Dungeon Mistress left it on purpose.”

  “As a trap.” Nurmela nodded.

  “No. Like someone said earlier. The floor resembles a dwarven city full of workshops. Dungeon Mistress wants to help us start building a town.”

  “It sounds like our Dungeon Mistress.” Nonisa agrees.

  “So be it. Everyone, move out of the room. Then I will use the key.” Nurmela ordered.

  After inserting it, something clicked, and the golem monkey's eyes shone green. She moved to the side, ready to run, but she wasn’t attacked. Instead, all four monkeys went to the pile of stones and started cutting it into elongated blocks. After cutting, it was brought to the strange drilling machine with a set of drills in a rectangular pattern. After drilling four sets of holes in rows on each side of the block, the monkey carefully chiseled dents to look like an inverted pyramid. To Nurmela's surprise, the stone was carried to the saw. Then, after chiseling the top of the block again, pyramids appeared, identical to the depressions on the bottom. Nurmela wasn’t stonason, however, she was the dwarf. As a kid, she saw stonemasons work, and she always could count on her dwarven blood for guidance. So she scrutinized every move of the golems. They were fast and precise, but the whole process lacked something she could not name.

  “Move out of their way!” Nurmela shouted at the adventurers, seeing golems carrying blocks to the entrance. The adventurers immediately retreated, and the golems placed the stones on a cart waiting at the workshop entrance. The blocks were stacked one on the other, and the golems returned to the workshop.

  “Don't enter!” Nurmela warned of seeing the golem’s eyes turning red. “Room just got reset!”

  “Fascinating. Golems just build a wall.” One of the scientists walked around the cart, taking measurements and notes.

  “Wall? Don’t joke. You will need much more for an even foundation for the small hut.” One dwarf scoffed.

  “True.” Scholar agrees. “However, imagine transporting these four stones through the desert, not mentioning dozens of carts.”

  No one answered, because they knew it was impossible.

  “Can we even take it with us?” Nurmela asked.

  “Yes. It’s a prize.” Scholar confirmed

  “Take it with us? That’s foucking stones!” One supporting adventurer protested.

  “Right.” Nurmela nodded.

  “What about moving the cart. At the end of the expedition, we can take it.” Nonisa proposed.

  It was such an obvious solution that no one even thought of it.

  On the second day, teams started bumping into each other. They shared notes, observations, and maps. Adventurers estimated that they would need one more day before they attempt to enter the final room at the end of the maze.

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  Nurmela approached Nonisa in the middle of the third night. Even after founding these relatively safe rooms with a lot of food, they still organize guards.

  “You should eat something. And relax. Golems can’t sneak, they are too noisy.” Nurmela said, sitting next to the sorceress.

  “I know. But I can’t stop thinking about what we found here.”

  “Workshops?”

  “That too.” She smiled. “But I think about the whole floor. I think it’s a warning.”

  “Warning? About what?”

  “Golems.”

  “Golems? They are a masterpiece of Dungeon Mistress.”

  “I know. But I was thinking about different outcomes from the workshops and why. And I realize it is because of the golems.”

  “How?”

  “You see, the golems are tools. You need to know how to use them. But when you don’t work, you don’t gain skills.”

  “Use them? How? You just turn this key and they're doing their job.”

  “Mana. They are magical artifacts. I don’t know how, but they connect to the person who turned a key and his path.”

  “I’m not an expert in magical artifacts. But the stone blocks came out pretty well when I turned the key. And I don’t have skills related to stone cutting.”

  “Relly? You don’t know anything about stone cutting?”

  “I won’t say I don’t know anything.” Nurmela hesitated. “Shit. Maybe you are right about that. But where is the warning?”

  “Ruins of the city on the fifth floor are a warning. They show what would happen when you overrelate to golem work. You see, when we work, we gain skills. But when a golem works for us, we don’t. And your apprentice will never learn anything that way.”

  “Fuck. You are right. At least about skills, I don’t know about the city. You need to report this to the grand priests.”

  “Yes.”

  The next day, the expedition gathered next to the entrance of the last room. Even from the corridor, it was seen that whatever there was, it was something never seen before. Also, there were at least seven golems inside.

  “It looks like Dungeon Mistress, prepare this especially for us.” Crall laughed.

  “Agree. You will need at least half of us to clear this room.” Jilax answered.

  “Are you surprised? Our Dungeon Mistress is smart, maybe even smarter than other dungeon masters.” Nurmela said.

  “But she lacks experience. Dungeon Mistress should place more golems here. We are far but not far enough from the necromancers.” Crall shakes his head.

  “You don’t reach the core floor yet?” Jilax asked.

  “I came with my men recently. And what I heard, it’s just poisonous jungle.” He shrugs.

  “We need to take you there immediately.” Nurmela smiled.

  “Don’t want to spoil your fun, but we prefer to return after clearing this room. Some of things found here are fucking heavy.” Leader of supporting adventurers interrupted.

  “No problem. You can use amulets. We just want to show newcomers what's there.” Nurmela answered.

  “Good.”

  “I have one warning before we enter.” An older assistant of the Grand Forge Master said. “There is a lot of strange machinery. Keep away from it. We don’t have an idea what they are.”

  “Right. It will be bad if something explodes.” Nurmela agrees. “Gather your teams. We will enter one after another and disperse throughout the room. When someone is done with their part of the golems' assist, the nearest team.” She ordered.

  The fight was relatively quick. All adventurers know what to expect from golems.

  “Now that we are clear the room, someone can explain me what the fuck is all of that?” Jilax asked, pointing at strange machinery. There was an enormous steel cylindrical tank with covered holes on one side. One was, however, opened, and from the inside was pulled out a shaft with something like a stone ladle on the end. On top of the cylinder were two thick pipes moving toward something. It has three cylinders of different sizes, from which the steel rod moves the crankshaft above, which moves the shaft, moving all machines on the entire floor.

  “No one touch anything! There is a lot of fire mana inside!” One of the assistants shouted, and everyone stiffened. Those machines really can explode. “And get away from that barrel too!” Two adventurers almost run away. The low number of golems makes sense now. This room was a dead trap.

  Both assistants knelt beside a small barrel made from iron.

  “It’s hot. But not as much as it should be.” Observed a tall human.

  “Do we try to open it?” Rabbit beastmen asked.

  “Risky. But I think better here than outside. We don’t know even if we can move it.”

  “True. Mages, we need shields around us!” Adventurers complain immediately, mages cast protective barriers, and some with shields get ready to cover people if the barrel explodes.

  Unbuckling clamps was easy. Next, a human assistant with long tongs slowly lifted the lid. Surprisingly, inside was filled with sand, and in the middle was a ceramic jar. The lid of the jar was connected to the exterior lid with a short chain. It was two jars. External holds internal, which contains a fire stone. This one can be taken out with tongs.

  “Brilliant.” Rabbit beastman said, seeing the intricate yet simple construction. “I don’t see anything that could destabilize the mana stone. You can lift the lid a little more, I want to see the mana stone.”

  “No problem for me. It’s you who could lose your head.” The human laughed and slowly pulled a lid. Until now, the air in the room was as hot as in a forge. After opening the ceramic jar temperature started rising rapidly.

  “Close it!” Rabbit beastman shouted. “Nice find. It could be used for mana forge.” He said after securing the iron lid.

  “Two or three more and we will have a proper furnace working nonstop.” The human agrees.

  “I find more barrels, but all are cold, and my mage said he doesn’t see any mana in them.” Said Achille, who approached them.

  “As expected. One elemental mama stone is a big prize in itself.” Shrugs human assistant.

  “You two are ready? Because we clear the room, and time is running out.” Nurmela remained.

  “We are,” they answered.

  “Good. Everyone, grab your packs and return to the surface. Mana stone goes at the end. Jilax and I will take Crall and his team for a little sightseeing.” Some of them laughed before disappearing.