While people were having fun in the tavern, a meeting of adventurers was held on the sixth floor.

  “We had all we could get. Only one final room was left. It's time to decide who will go with me to check if the seventh floor is ready,” Jilax started. The sixth floor was relatively easy, so it was decided that another team would take over leadership of each expedition.

  “It’s the second week, It could be ready.” Nurmela agreed. “Anyway, healers Abby and Targada are tasked to reach the final floor. So you already had half of the team.”

  “I want to go too.” One adventurer stepped forward.

  “I recognize you. You are part of the healer Abby team. Right?” Crall asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Ok. Billy, yes? I don’t see a problem. The last weeks showed that you can be a true adventurer, you can go. Then we need scouts. Maybe one mage won’t hurt.”

  After briefly tossing around names, they chose the elf Hranfast, a mage, and Thora, a scout from Crall's team. From Achille's team, Danae was selected as the second scout. Wolfkin Thora and Danae, a dryad, should work well if the seventh floor is ready.

  The fight with the golems guarding the fire mana stone went smoothly. All adventurers were cautious and watched each other. No one wanted to be the fourth name on the pillar. Last week, two adventurers died. One was unlucky, one wolf golem managed to sneak up on him. However, the second one was just overconfident. He goes solo, despite warnings, and obviously, he never returns. No one even knows what happened because his body also wasn’t found, absorbed by the dungeon after the reset of the room where he perished. Pillar accidentally makes adventurers unable to forget about follen, and because of that, they were much more careful.

  “Alright. We have half an hour to clear this room of anything valuable.” Jilax said after the fight. “In the meantime, those selected yesterday for the reconnaissance group, start checking your gear. We will descend after the last person returns to the surface.”

  They needed only a few minutes to prepare for the return, because the room was familiar.

  “Last check. And we go too.” As the last of the expedition disappeared, Jilax said. Because everything was in order, they descended to see if something had changed.

  “Looks like you girls will have work to do.” The dwarf spoke to Thora and Danae.

  Both women nodded and slowly started checking the nearest vicinity. The whole floor was a ravine, several hundred paces wide. Down below, where they stood, the air was warm and humid. However, on top of the wall were snow and ice. Wind sometimes pushes clouds of loose snow over the edge. Melted water was gathered in many cracks in the rock and on the ground, creating ponds with crystal clear water. Right next to the entrance was a patch of short grass reaching the bank of the biggest pond. The patch was big enough to accommodate the expedition.

  “So, what do you find?” Jilax asked after the scouts returned.

  “Short grass is a sort of safe space.” Started Danae. Thora nodded to the dryad to continue.

  “In the biggest pond are fish. And probably we can safely cache them.”

  “Probably?”

  “On the far end is a pillar. Around it is coiled a golem snake. He guards the mana stone.”

  “Any sight of golems?”

  “No. We suspect they hide in the tall grass. Maybe even from underground.”

  “And traps,” Thora added.

  “Right.” Jilax mused. “Snake is no go for us. But stirring a tall grass to see what hides in it should be fine. Any objections?”

  All gathered shook their heads.

  “I will go forward,” Jilax said, preparing his shield. “Danae and Thora, you will be going with me and trying to find the golems. You're both taller than I, so you'll have a better chance of seeing it. Billy, you guard the healers, and you're my backup.”

  Everyone gathered, nodded, and Abby and her senior Targada started preparing bandages and healing potions.

  “I don’t see anything suspicious, and you?” Jilax asked before stepping into the tall grass that almost reached his neck.

  “No. No visible patches of trampled grass. There are some boulders and short trees.”

  “Well, it couldn’t be so easy,” Jilax answered and entered the grass holding his shield in front.

  “Stop!” Danea said after they had made three steps. “That rock on the left moved!”

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  “Be ready!” Jilax prepared to take on the attack, but instead they heard a muffled bang and Thora fell, screaming.

  “I got hit! My leg!”

  “Retreat!” Jilax stands between the rock golem and the scouts. There was another muffled bang, but he managed to shield it.

  “How bad is it?” Jilax asked when he exited the grass.

  “Small wound on her thigh.” Senior healer reported. “There is only a little blood, so all major veins should be intact.”

  “I think there is something inside her wound. Piece of metal.” Abby, who was tasked with patching the wound, said.

  “Agree,” Targarda said, after checking the wound with mana. “Bandages then. We need to go to the hospital.”

  “Go,” Jilax commanded, and one by one they vanished.

  An hour later, leaders of all teams gathered at the adventurer’s guild. They need to discuss how to prepare for the next expedition. According to Jilax's description, Dungeon Mistress decided to raise the difficulty.

  “To summarise, we have those rocks that shoot iron balls. It's probably a trap. Next is a golem snake guarding a mana stone. And food isn’t easily available anymore,” Lucius started.

  “For traps, we will need shields and plate armor.” Nurmela shrugged.

  "The scouts will need to prepare traps for hunting animals. Usual sneaking with a bow won't work with those shooting traps.” Achille added.

  “There is still a question about what kind of golems are guarding this floor,” Jilax said. “We didn’t see anything. I hope there are only those traps, because there are a lot of nasty animals who love to hide in tall grass.”

  “Just cut the grass.” Crall shrugged. “You just need a sharp sword.”

  “So, we will need a few extra weapons and food supplies, because it is hard to say how easy it will be to hunt or catch fish,” Nurmela said.

  “Looks that way.” Jilax agrees.

  “Next expedition in three or four days?” Crall asked.

  “Three should do it,” Nurmela said, and others agreed.

  While the adventurers discussed and prepared to explore the seventh floor, Naomi began work on the promised shrine to the goddess Tabitha.

  “Any special wishes. Goddess?” Naomi smiled at the goddess of fun when she entered the workshop on the core floor.

  “Golem! I have a lot of sculptures, but I don’t have a golem.” She said.

  “What, a coincidence. I also was thinking about the golem fox.” Naomi smiled. “Then let's start. Oh, one more thing, Goddess. It could take me a few days to build it.”

  “Don’t worry. I will not disturb you until you finish it. But I want to see how you will build it.”

  “No, problem, Goddess. But it could be boring.” Naomi answered and started work.

  First, like always, she checked what species of foxes were available. It turned out that they were all very similar to each other. The biggest differences were the size of the ears or tail, depending on where the fox lives. So, Naommi chose a generic one. Then she, like always, prepared a metal skeleton inside which she placed all the needed machinery. This part went quickly because it was similar to the wolf golem. Just smaller. However, a spring as a drive will not be a good solution. It needs to function without anyone's help. Turning the key every few hours could be problematic. But Naomi had alternatives. One was magic. She was certain that after a few tries, she could build a magical version of an electric engine, powered by mana stones. Lisusa will only need to feed a fox with small mana stones. Naomi takes a sip of water while thinking about what to do. Suddenly, she smiled, looking at the cup.

  “Yes. That way it will be better.” She said, and renewed her work. This time, she started building a miniature steam engine. Because if mana stones will imitate treats, so why not make this golem drink water too? Building boilers and cylinders was easy, but creating an array that would boil water wasn't. Naomi spent the whole day, and dozens of boilers were scraped before she succeeded in engraving a properly working array.

  “That was hard.” She stretched. “Let's see how it works before we cover everything.” She pushed some mana into the golem to activate it. She immediately found some problems and spent a few hours correcting them until everything began to move smoothly and as intended. After the final check, she began to shape body parts from thick sheet metal. There were dozens of them, larger and smaller, which, when put together, created the silhouette of a fox. One more day passed before Naomi was satisfied with the final result.

  “Time for some magic.” She used all the parts as templates to create porcelain copies of them. Again, some adjustments were needed, but after a few hours, everything finally fit.

  “And it's done!” Naomi said, turning to the waiting goddess.

  “It's so cute!” The goddess jumped to see the porcelain golem up close.

  “It is indeed beautiful.” Goddess Iliana, agree.

  “Real masterpiece!” Her husband laughed.

  “Thank you,” Naomi said, embarrassed. “I managed to build it exactly how I wanted, and I'm a little proud of the result. However, it’s just dungeon creation. I don’t have the skills to build it for real.”

  “For now, my apprentice. For now.” The Smith nodded. “But this is still a masterpiece. You build it with your hands. Step by step, piece by piece.”

  “There wasn’t another way,” Naomi answered.

  “Yes. To create a masterpiece, there isn’t another way.”

  “Goddess, since I built a shrine for the Goddess of Fun, shouldn't I build one for you and the other gods as well?” Naomi asked.

  “Thank you for your thought, but you built one for me already. Anything that is beautiful or inspires artists and artisans is considered dedicated to me. And you already had a few such things. Now also a true masterpiece.”

  “The same goes for me, Dungeon Mistress.” God Juno appears. “You and your dungeon inspired many people to seek new knowledge.”

  “The hospital is my temple. Soon, it will be officially dedicated to me, and new healers will have a place to follow their path.” God Nedo answered.

  “And I had also my place in your dungeon, Dungeon Mistress.” God Varo grinned. “Monument to commemorate the fallen is my shrine.”

  “As you see, my daughter, you, one way or another, made a place to worship all of us.” The Lady finished.

  “Understood. I asked, because it wouldn't be all right to build a shrine only for Goddes Tabitha.”

  “Like you see, for those who create, it’s hard not to build a place or object dedicated to one of the gods.” The Lady smiled.