After building tools for the foundry, Naomi needed a few more days to accumulate enough mana. She mostly rested but also observed from the walls how the Grand Forge Master and his team were building foundations. The whole foundry will be mostly open, especially around the furnace. They don’t plan to build the walls, only the canopy, mostly made from thick fabric, to protect from the sun. The heat of the furnace combined with the heat of the desert will be unbearable for anyone if there are walls and a roof. Also, there was a question of the future expansion of the foundry. For now, plates are acquired from the dungeon, but it’s just a few daily. When construction of the city really begins, they will need much more. One plate weighs roughly seventy-five kilograms, and until now, no one has ever built that big magic furnace. People know how to build even bigger furnaces, but they were heated by burning coal and wood. Noami already has some ideas about how to build it, but for now, she needs to concentrate on the next floor. The twelfth floor was perfect. The three-dimensional maze, along with a large number of orcs, successfully halted the progress of the adventurers. Three months have passed, and they still haven't reached the exit. They were close, and perhaps within the next month, they would have a complete map showing the road. However, even then, Naomi estimated that they would still need a few days to cross the floor. Maybe even a whole week if it's a full expedition.

  For now, however, she has a floor to build. Since the issue of how the city should look had been resolved, Naomi decided to try something new. She decided that on this floor, sun elves and paladins could train their skills. Adventurers will most likely do whatever they want. For them, she hid some treasures, and looking for them should provide the adventurers with some additional entertainment beyond destroying orc golems. Her golems will also pose a greater challenge to the warriors. They finally have typical legs to walk, and she makes them imitate some wolf behaviors. Things like tracking, working in the group, and sneaking. She had previously used the behavior of rats, and it was a complete success. Her golems didn’t have a problem navigating in an urban environment, and posed a lot of trouble for adventurers. Now it will have a dense forest floor, and wolves will be a better choice.

  Naomi pushed the boundaries of the floor almost to its limits. She added six stone columns to support the ceiling to reduce the amount of mana needed to maintain the ceiling. It gives her a space six kilometers wide in all directions. The borders she marked with stone cliffs, and the floor was covered with dense old forest, teaming with wildlife. On the entrance side, she built a stone keep embedded into the face of the cliff. On the opposite side, where the exit was, she placed a shabby-looking wooden palisade and inside a golem orc camp. In the middle of the floor was a fast-running river with only one bridge to cross, guarded by golems. In the woods, there were dozens of animal trails and paths, but they were also patrolled. Moreover, the main road was blocked in several places by fallen trees, making a frontal attack difficult. Naomi added a few places where you could get crafting materials in addition to wood. It wasn’t anything special, just a clay deposit, gold nuggets in the small stream, or small deposits of various ores in the abandoned mines tunnels made in the cliff. Useful stuff for enchanters, but not enough to do anything else. Naomi didn’t expect many porters to be showing on this floor. Only several necessary helpers are required to carry essential equipment and to work around the camp and support adventurers. The payment for them was negotiated before the expedition, and it was the adventurers' task to find enough treasures to pay for everything. At the end of her work, she added some tips on where the real treasures are hidden. Like usual, she checked everything once more before summoning golems, and after some minor improvements, she confirmed the creation of the floor.

  When Naomi was building a new floor, work in the foundry neared its completion. It was a small and inconspicuous structure, consisting only of a floor and a canvas to provide shade and protect against the sand, but it had everything it needed. It had a metal smelting furnace and machinery supplied by Naomi. Grand Forge Master only needed to find people to work there.

  Like every day, helpers and porters gathered before the Adventurers Guild to see what work they could get today. The queue was long, but the clerks working in there were fast, so people moved steadily and no one complained.

  “Hello Hyrra.” The clerk at the counter greeted a two-meter-tall, muscular rabbitkin woman.

  “Hi. I think I’m ready for the expedition to the sixth floor.” She answered. After two weeks running on the first floor, she got approval from the adventurers' guild overseer.

  “Let me check.” The clerk grabbed the scroll with the approved names. “Yes, you are on the list. Do you want something bulky or heavy?”

  “Dosyn’t matter.” She shrugged.

  “Ok. Wait. I remember something. You mentioned that you worked in a forge, yes?”

  “Foundary. Why do you ask?” Hyrra tried not to get excited, but her ears perked a little. When she arrived, she went to the temple of the Smith to ask if they didn’t need one more apprentice. Unfortunately, they didn't need it, and even if they did, they would have preferred to hire a blacksmith rather than a smelter like her.

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  “Give me a moment.” He stands and takes note from the wooden board behind. There were special orders, and clerks were responsible for finding someone suitable for this task. Caring sacks of flour, or other goods, could be done by anyone. However, some jobs require additional skills, such as dismantling or sneaking. “Hey, it’s about smelting, actually. Grand Forge Master needed someone who knew how to smelt metal.”

  “I have the right skills.” Hyrra showed her path. Smelting under Grand Forge Master supervision will be a dream come true.

  “Then take it, and good luck.”

  “Thanks.” Hyrra almost ran to the temple of the Smith.

  She stopped in front of the entrance and took a deep breath to calm herself.

  “Do as your father taught you, and everything will be fine." She muttered to herself.

  Because there were no doors, she entered the workshop and loudly announced.

  “Where is Grand Forge Master! I came here to fulfil his order!”

  “Scram! I’m busy right now!” She heard from the back. For Hyrra, it was a good sign. For now, everything is going like her father told her.

  “If I go away, you will need to wait the next hundred years before someone will come here. This place is at the end of the world, and I know a few things about that because I came from the North!”

  “Oh, really?” Eriser said when he appeared. “Girl, you are big. What did you eat as a kid to grow so much?”

  “Scrap iron in my father's foundry.” She hated that question. Hyrra doesn’t understand why it's so bad to be big. Work in a foundry is hard. You need to be strong to work there, and when you are big, you have a lot of strength. Not mentioning it helps with dealing with cultists. One punch to the guts and the problem is gone. But this time, she was talking with the Grand Forge Master, so that was a bad thing to say. But instead of being kicked out, the dwarven priest laughed.

  “That was a good one. Now, girl, tell me about what order you are talking about?”

  “About smelting, sir. On the missive is written that you are looking for someone with smelting skills.”

  “That one. You said your father owns a foundry. Then show me what you learn from him.”

  “Yes, sir. This is my path.” Hyrra answered.

  “You are an apprentice? I was counting on someone on the master level.” He sighted. “Wait, you are still a kid. You run from home?”

  “No, sir, I left my home with a blessing from both my parents. I’m just their third child, sir.”

  “Good. Like I said. I expected someone with more experience, but the job will be simple, so maybe you could do it too. You have a decent amount of mana and skills to use it. Did you try to smelt enchanted metals?”

  “Yes, sir. I even once managed to produce a small nugget of enchanted iron.”

  “Congratulation. Are you willing to push your path?”

  “Yes, sir! That is exactly the reason I’m here!” She vigorously answered. “I promise to learn everything diligently from you, sir!”

  “You are still an apprentice, and I will help you, but I expect independence from you. Now come with me. I will show you your workshop.”

  Hyrra hurried behind him silently, confused by what she heard. No one was giving an apprentice a workshop to run independently. And what’s more importantly, he doesn’t know her.

  She followed the Grand Forge Master to another tent not too far away from the temple. Even from a distance, she saw it wasn’t a typical tent. It was open on one side, and that side was surrounded by a short fence made from plates from the dungeon. Hyrra saw people carrying metal plates from the dungeons and heard rumors of a city built of metal. She was curious, but also sceptical. Metal loves heat, and anyone knows that. To her surprise, it turned out that the fence was a low wall and the entire floor was also made of metal. On the right side, under the canopy, stand three machines, one of which looks like a strange anvil. But on the right side was a tall construction made from the stone blocks secured with metal stripes bolted to the floor.

  “Mana furnace,” Hyrra whispered, recognizing it immediately.

  “Despite your young age, it seems you know a thing or two.” The Grand Forge Master said approvingly. “Yes, that’s a mana furnace. Nothing big. Just enough space for two crucibles, big enough to hold two ingots each. It will also be used to reheat rods you will be making here. Tomorrow I will start teaching you. Depending on how smart you are in a week, you should be able to work independently.”

  “Me? But I’m an apprentice. Shouldn’t I have someone who will oversee my work?”

  “I don’t have time. You are a smart girl with the right skills, and the job is simple. Smelt some scrap steel from the dungeon and make rods and bars.” He pointed at the machine with the crank. “Listen carefully, because I will not repeat it. You're young, so if this job proves too much for you, I expect you'll let me know. Then I will find someone else.” Hydra clenched her fists.

  “I can do it.” She answered as calmly as she could.

  “Good. Because if you don’t give up, there will be a great reward for you. All of this is just a start. We built it because we needed rivets. And a lot of them, like dozens daily. In the meantime, we need someone to start making steel plates, golem parts, enchanted metals, and who knows what else. This foundry in the decade or two could rival any dwarven one. And it will need an owner.” He looked at her.

  “I need tools, a lot of them. This place lacks everything.” Hyrra answered, looking straight at him.

  “I like that answer.”

  "And someone who could tell me how to do all of that, because I don't have an idea even where to start."

  "I know someone who will help you with that. Fair warning, her ideas are crazy."