The return of the expedition caused commotion as predicted. Rewards, as expected, were strange, but people realized that they would be beneficial for building a real town outside the oasis. Two perfectly flat, transparent sheets of glass could be worth a few gold. An active fire mana stone even in a container makes people nervous. Naomi tries to reassure them it’s safe, but no one believes. Elemental mana stones were dangerous. To stabilize and direct their mana, a specialized magic array is needed. In theory, an elemental mana stone removed from the source of its element and left alone will slowly lose power. But you can't use a mana stone like that. Only shards are sometimes used in that way. In noble homes, they heat or cool rooms, or produce crystal clear water or fresh air.

  It will take some time to estimate the value of the prizes. Meanwhile, the expedition leaders began to talk about their discoveries. Naomi sat on the site and listened attentively. It was important to her whether her work was perceived positively or not. Happy adventurers will return and tell their friends about her dungeons. There was also the issue of workshops and the influence of intentions on the production of goods made in them. Brief inspection of the goods supports the theory.

  “So that is that. Anyone want to add something?” Nurmela asked other leaders, but they also said everything that they wanted. “Good. There is one more thing to report. But it's something that found Nonisa. We talk among ourselves and agree that she is up to something. So she should explain it.”

  “Yes. Actually, I have two things to say. “Nonisa started hesitantly. “They are related, but I should discuss them separately. And they are just a guess that they needed to be checked.” She takes a deep breath. “So, I probably know how to get better products from the workshops. It’s quite easy. We need someone who knows how to work in the chosen workshop. Someone with a crafting path will be the best, but general knowledge could be good enough. For example, Nurmela is a warrior, but she knows how a stonemason works. And stones turn good-looking. I think it is because of intent, or will. Golems are magical artifacts and somehow react to a person observing work.”

  “Yes. You are most likely right.” Grand forge master said. “It’s a well-known phenomenon. Crafter skills through mana influence his work. It also acts in reverse. Any achievement influences your path.”

  “And seeing a grin on the Dungeon Mistress' face, we can assume we are guessing it right,” Pinera added.

  “Truth to be told. All of that is something I learned just recently. I’m looking forward to seeing what you will find. I’m dungeon core, and golems are my creation, so they can react differently when I command them.” Naomi answered.

  “And second thing, sorceress?” Jathur asked.

  “After what Dungeon Mistress said, I have some doubts.”

  “Please tell us. Dungeons are mystical places, and any strange occurrence should be noted. Even if later it will be dismissed as a mistake.” Minotaur priest encourages her.

  “Understood. So I think floor six and floor five could be a warning.”

  “Warning? I didn’t place any warning there.” Naomi was genuinely surprised.

  “It’s an overall filling. We all know that by pushing some mana into Dungeon Mistress's creation, we can sometimes have a glimpse of history. And in the city's ruins, I saw happy people and bustling streets. And also an unexplained disappearance. And then we found workshops on the sixth floor. When I first saw them, I understood this was what the ruined city lacked. I have not heard of someone finding anything resembling a sawmill or a forge. And in them were golems instead of people. Golems that were created to work instead of people. And everyone knows that you need to work personally to gain new skills and make them grow. Just looking is not enough. And I realize why the city from the fifth floor falls. People have become too reliant on golems, and over the generations have begun to lose crafting skills and perhaps even entire paths. Quality of goods dropped, and the city couldn't sustain itself. So it’s a warning about overreliance on the golems. I think.” Nonisa explained.

  Silence fell, and all eyes were focused on Naomi. She was sitting bent over, resting her head on her knees and hiding her face in her hands.

  “Is everything all right, Dungeon Mistress?” Pinera asked.

  “Yes. I am just so embarrassed right now.” Naomi took a deep breath and looked at the gathered people. Her cheeks were deep red. “You see. It’s all a coincidence. I didn’t do it on purpose. I wasn’t aware of that at all.”

  “But is she right?” Jathur asked.

  “Yes, but it is just a story.”

  “A story?” Pinera asked.

  “Yes. Side effect of how I create dungeons. Let me explain. What I will say could be frustrating for mages, so sorry in advance. So, to cast a spell, you need to visualize an object and/or process. Right?”

  “Yes, Dungeon Mistress. A fire is a process, a stone is an object, and throwing it is a process. Because of that, there is and/or in description.” Minotaur priest answered.

  “I had similar thoughts at the beginning. But the outcome was lacking something. I know that even a dungeon core can’t create a real object, but I had this feeling.” Naomi created a round pebble similar to those you can find in a stream. She gave it to the Grand Forge Master, sitting next to her.

  “Yes. It is a typical stone you can find in any dungeon.” He checks it, and others do the same, then agree.

  “Yes. Then I had that crazy idea and did this.” Naomi created a similar stone. When Pinera pushed some mana to it, she gasped.

  “It has history! I saw how he rolls in the stream. How he was polished by sand.”

  “You combined object and process,” Jathur whispered.

  “Nonisa, what are you doing!” Nurmela shouted, seeing her friend casting a spell. It failed, but for a moment, they saw ice shards like no others.

  “I’m sorry. I cannot stop myself.” Sorceres said, breathing heavily.

  “Are you all right?” Pinera approached her.

  “Small headache, and I used a lot of mana. Besides that, I’m fine. Thank you.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Sorceress, can you tell us what you did?” Minotaur priest asked.

  “I imagined a cup of water freezing and forming an ice shard. Not just a shard.”

  “It can be done,” Pinera whispered.

  “What about warning?” Lucius asked.

  “There is no warning.” Naomi shakes her head. ”It’s a story that was created by accident. I needed to build a ruined city. So I imagined it full of people, how they built and lived in it. Then I imagine what would happen when they disappear. The workshops are located on a separate floor because they contain a challenge. So they need to be on a different floor than the fifth.”

  “But you, Mistress, said that it could happen.” Grand Forge Master pointed out.

  “Yes. But it’s unlikely. The more I think about it, the more problems I see. Let's take golems, for example. It’s tempting to imagine they can do all the hard work for us. We can drink ale, and they work, and we will earn a lot of gold doing nothing. But golems are expensive to build. And the harder the work, the more frequently they will break. Repairing it will cost you money. And they can’t do anything complex, like enchanting. And because of this mana link, the golem's operator must demonstrate some decent skill. So you can use golems only for simple, mundane work, while you are busy with your real job. Then we have guilds. I want to see a king or some noble who will try to substitute the craftsmen with golems. Good luck with that.”

  “I agree with Dungeon Mistress.” Eraser nod.

  “We should still inform guilds and churches about the sorceress story. Although it was created by accident and is unlikely to happen, it’s still a warning and shows the importance of our everyday work.” Grand Priest of the Sun decided.

  “What about spells?” Pinera asked.

  “We need to test it. It works, that is true. But we need to know more.” Jathur said.

  “We need a few days for preparation, before we send the caravan north,” Lucius added.

  “Then it’s decided. We train until the caravan is ready. The day before caravan departure, we will gather all we learn and send it north with the caravan and south by bird.”

  “I made it before the rain!” Raider laughed, jumping from the horse, when he entered the gatehouse. Outside, the sky indeed was dark, heralding the coming storm.

  “True.” Guardsmen agree with him while checking the messenger's path. “Everything looks good. Something important in the packs?”

  “Definitely. They are heavy and addressed directly to the Archpriest.”

  “I need two guards for escorting!” The soldier shouted, and soon two more appeared. “Importnant messeg for arch priest.” The guardsmen said, and both nodded.

  When the messenger reaches the entrance to the Citadel, drops of rain start falling.

  “And it starts.” Messenger sight. “Greetings, I’m a messenger with delivery for Archpriest.” He told the guard next to the gate and presented his path and letter.

  “Everything is in order. You can enter.”

  An hour later, the paladin knocked on the Archpriest's office.

  “Enter.”

  “Archpriest, it’s urgent delivery.” Palladin entered carrying two mid-sized chests.

  After opening one, they found a stack of scrolls, and in the second one, two heads of rats cast in bronze.

  “Dungeon Mistress, please come. They are from On Taram.” The elven priest said to the young woman working with some documents.

  “They look almost alive,” Chino whispered after taking one from the chest.

  “Palladin. Please bring us the Grand Forge Master. We need his expertise.”

  “At once.” Knight saluted and left the office.

  Half an hour later, two people entered the office. One was a muscular human, and the other was a slender elf with a steel gauntlet on his right hand.

  “Grand Forge Master, thank you for your fast arrival,” Archpriest said to the human.

  “After hearing that you have a golem from On Taram, I will be foolish not wanting to see it. But let me introduce First Forge Inqizitor, Narbeth the Steal Hand.” The human pointed at the elf.

  “Dungeon Mistress, Archepriest.” He bowed first to the Chino then to the elven priest.

  “Inqizitor. Splendid. Opinion of two great masters will be invaluable.” Archpriest smiled. “However, we got only two heads. Dungeon Mistress managed to open one head. Turns out we can’t fully understand the array hidden inside.” He pointed at the desk. There Dungeon Mistress placed head next to it cover then screws and key. Everything is evenly spaced, almost as if using a ruler. Inquisitor was pleased to see this orderly arrangement. Both guests leaned forward to inspect the array, and both were amazed. It looks ready for work. The question was what work. The layout and the use of small gears made it hard to understand.

  “I see where the problem is.” Said Grand Forge Master.

  “Yes. I need to take one of these heads to the First Forge.” Narbeth said. “From which floor does this artifact come?”

  “Second floor, sir,” Chino answered.

  “Unbelievable.” Inqizitor shaks his head.

  “And according to this scroll, it’s a crude first attempt,” Archpriest said, pointing to one of the scrolls.

  “Dungeon Mistress, can you create a golem rat?” Inquisitor asked.

  “We all forget about the simplest solution.” Chino smiled. “I should be able to recreate anything that was once created in this world. But maybe we move to the court.”

  “And a few knights for safety.” Added Archpriest.

  The Dungeon Mistress stands in the center of the court. Around her, a few knights stand with swords and shields ready, and behind them is the Archpriest and two guests. Chino concentrates on her task. Just like she said before, her materialized silhouette of a giant rat. But something is wrong. Only the head is solid; the rest of the body isn’t.

  “Right. It’s a magical artifact.” Chino whispered to herself and concentrated once again. But she failed. It was a shock for her. So far, she has managed to create copies of every object. She slumped on the floor.

  “Dungeon Mistress, everything all right?” Archpriest immediately approached her.

  “I can’t recreate this golem.” She said, shocked.

  “Let’s move back to the office, and calmly try to think about it.”

  Chino sits on the chair thinking intensely.

  “Dungeon Mistress. Can you explain to us what happened?” Archpriest asked.

  “Yes. I was training to imagine a golem like usual. So, it should be made from metal, full of mana stones and enchantments, maybe some gears just like inside its head. But I failed. I can copy only its head.” She summoned an exact copy of the head of the golem rat.

  “Dungeon Mistress. To my understanding, dungeon masters can only recreate something that exists or existed in the past?”

  “Yes, Inquisitor.”

  “I think, I know the reason then.”

  “Please tell.”

  Elf takes one of the heads and kneels before the girl.

  “Do you see this line. It begins from the nose and goes between the eyes. And here we have it on the back.”

  “Yes, it's faint, but after you point it out, now I can see it.”

  “It’s a place where two pieces of mold were put together. After opening the mold, the craftsman needs to remove excess metal. The presence of this line means that the golem was built from nothing. Our new dungeon mistress builds molds, pours liquid metal inside, most likely hammered parts that need to be hammered, and so on.”

  “Dear gods. She put so much work into building it.” Chino gasped, and others were also amazed.

  “Her work and skill are prizeworthy. However, how does that explain our Dungeon Mistress' plight?” asked Archpriest.

  “To create a spell, it needs to understand an object or process. Golems are something completely new. Until Dungeon Mistress, or any other dungeon master, acquires an intact golem, she won’t be able to summon it.”

  “Understood. I guess I will need to wait until I get one.”