Organizing everything in the foundry takes Hyrra five days. She needed a lot of tools, mostly tongs to move red-hot metal, or a special three-meter-long tong to catch and move the crucible in and out of the furnace. There was also a set of hammers to make the rivets, and chisels to clean the mold made from the stone. Hyrra also ordered two wooden tables. The small one was for storing tools, and the bigger one will be for sorting metal scrap. Only someone who works with metal can properly recognize them. And when you add alloys and enchanting, your inspection skill needs to be on grand mastery level.

  “Don’t worry, girl.” Grand Forge Master said. “For now, Dungeon Mistress is using normal iron, steel, or brass. You shouldn’t have a problem with inspecting scrap metal. And when you find something unusual, set it aside. In my free time, I can take a look at it, and maybe even buy it from you.”

  “Understood, Grand Forge Master.” She politely answered.

  Hyrra also placed a wide wooden box filled with sand next to the furnace. It will be a place to store a hot crucible to cool down. She also organized a big barrel and filled it with drinkable water. The heat of the desert and furnace will make her and her coworkers thirsty. And speaking of them, she hired two of them for now. Layra, a human woman, and Skovolin, a dwarf. Both of them were just helpers and worked as porters for now. It was a temporary job for both of them. Layra was thinking of a job in the tavern or bakery, or something like that. Skovolin was planning to help in any workshop or maybe become a guard. It would be ideal if he were a warrior, but it wasn’t necessary. To a degree, anyone knows how to fight, and through daily training, their skill can become decent enough. However, because of joint patrols of sun elves and paladins, no one was thinking of forming city guards. Layra was assigned to the crank of the rolling press, and Skovolin will be hammering rivets. Both of them together will be cutting rods, while Hyrra would be operating the mana furnace and preparing the next portion of molten metal.

  On the sixth day, the Grand Forge Master decided they were ready.

  “I will be watching you all. But don’t expect my help. Only if one of you screw things badly will I intervene. And don’t be hasty. Good quality is what counts. Quantity will come over time.”

  “Understood, Grand Forge Master.” All three of them confirmed.

  They gathered early in the morning. Hyrra started by sorting the scrap metal she had bought the day before. She created three piles: one for steel, the second for iron, and the third for scraps containing traces of mana for further sorting. In a natural environment, ores rarely contain mana, but in dungeons, it happens much more frequently. Hyrra, looking at the pieces of scrap metal with traces of mana, realized that she had something expensive for free. Normally, smelters mix ores with mana stone dust and then smelt them to get the desired metal. Grinding the mixture in a mortar was a long, difficult, and precise process. She skipped all of that, and right now she needs to smelt those scraps to have low-grade enchanted metal. If she gets mana stone dust, there is a chance to get decent-quality enchanted metal and some extra money. But that was for later. Now she needs to focus on her job. She filled the crucible with enough scraps to get one ingot or five rods for rivets.

  The whole process was full of nervousness and awkwardness, but Hyrra had ten years of experience working in a foundry. As a ten-year-old girl, she was already helping her father. When the first rivet landed in a simple metal bowl made from scrap metal, Hyrra immediately took it away and put it aside. The first ingot or, in their case, first rivet needs to be taken to the temple of the Smith as an offering. The same goes for any other newly established workshop. No matter what was produced there, the first successful production was always brought to the temple as an offering.

  While Hyra’s helpers were making rivets, she began preparing the next crucible. By noon, they managed to smelt almost four ingots of steel and make rivets from them.

  “Great job, all of you.” Grand Forge Master nodded approvingly when they finished. “No one died, and there wasn’t even one accident.” He turns to Hyrra. “Good eye. Indeed, there is a lot of scrap that is more valuable than the rest. Study it and try to do something with it. There will be a lot of people wanting to buy it.”

  “I know, Grand Forge Master. I need mana stone dust to strengthen the magic in it.”

  “Then you know, good.” He turns to Layra and Skovolin. “Both of you also did a good job. You both should consider working here long term. You girl, I liked it when you cleaned and checked the press before running it.”

  “It was a reflex. I worked in taverns before, and we were always starting work from cleaning.”

  “And the same needs to be done in every workshop, too. And you, kid, should be more confident in your skills. Blacksmithing may not be your path, but you knew how to swing the hammer.”

  “I don’t deny, Grand Forge Master, that I like the sound of forges, but blacksmithing is not for me.”

  “There is nothing wrong with that. Helpers made the world run. Look at our young smelter here. She needed both of you to accomplish today's work. And when we talk about work.” He looked at Hyrra. “Girl, how much for all those rivets?”

  “It will be four silver, Grand Forge Master. One silver for one processed ingot.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Fair price.” The dwarven priest nodded and gave her money, and she immediately paid the daily wages of her helpers. “I will need more rivets tomorrow. But this time, make a bucket of each length.”

  “Yes. Grand Forge Master.” Hyrra nodded.

  “And now, all of you, come with me. We need to bring an offering to the shrine.” Grand Forge Master ordered.

  Next to the entrance were two paladins waiting for them to help them through the first floor to reach the shrine. The way turns straightforward, as if the god was waiting for them. When Hyrra placed the rivet on the anvil, and all of them finished their prayers, the rivet vanished in bright light.

  “Grand Forge Master?” Hyrra whispered, shocked.

  “Relax. We are in the dungeon, it’s nothing special.” He lied smoothly because shimmer contained divine energy. “Time for celebratory ale, young smelter.”

  He brings them to the tavern on the fifth floor.

  “Tavern keeper, is there a place in the forge?” He asked Lisusa.

  “Yes.”

  He ushered Hyrra’s team to go with him.

  Inside, Hyrra saw two dwarves drinking with a young female human adventurer. They laughed and joked.

  “Grand Forge Master!” The adventurer waved. “You finished your work for today?”

  “Yes, Dungeon Mistress,” Eriser answered, and Hyrra froze. “I almost forgot.” He placed a small wooden chest. Naomi opened it. Inside were broken rivets.

  “That is a right box?” She asked. “There are broken rivets.”

  “Those rivets were made by you, Dungeon Mistress. We can’t resmelt them or worse, throw them away.”

  “Again, made by Dungeon Mistress nonsens.” Naomi sighted. “I guess I will use them for some of my own works. I also see that you bring a company.”

  “Yes. I present to you Hyrra. She will be our smelter. Also, Layra and Skovolin, her helpers.”

  “Hello, I’m Dungeon Mistress, and this is my path.”

  “Good day, Dungeon Mistress. I’m Hyrra. Oh, and this is my path.” The rabbit girl stammered, not understanding what was happening. Her helpers followed, no less shocked.

  “Wow, you are so young, but I see you have some promising skills.” Dungeon Mistress said. “All of you, please sit. First round is on me.” She ushered them to the table.

  While in the tavern, Naomi tries to get to know the rabbit girl on the twelfth floor, a team of adventurers reaches the gate to the next floor. It was a small plaza next to the tunnel. In the middle of it was a path of dirt, where one of the veins grew.

  “Stop!” their scout ordered. “Look.”

  When they looked, they saw a dwarven warrior. He was kneeling, his armor was destroyed, and his weapon was broken.

  “Fuck!” The leader swore. “Dungeon Mistresses aren’t shy about using dirty tricks.”

  “Yes. It’s definitely one of those illusions.” Their mage confirmed. The whole floor was full of them. There was a cat thief who had a collection of small jewelry. And some people asked you to run various errands. All of that while fighting golems. The priests assured them that everything was fine, but the sight of people living in the dungeon was still disturbing.

  “We are doing it, or return?” Someone asked.

  “How are our supplies?” The leader asked.

  All adventurers started checking everything.

  “I think we are good. We found some extra supplies on the way, so one fight should be doable.” Their healer said.

  “Anyone against going in?” The leader asked, but all were confident they could do it.

  “Protect, flower.” The dwarven warrior whispered before vanishing when they approached him.

  “Flower?”

  “There.” The scout pointed at a large, beautiful flower three meters above the ground.

  “And there are also orcs.” The leader spat, looking at the gates. The fight was brutal, but they won.

  “That’s it?” One of the warriors gasped.

  “I think we're doing something wrong.” The mage looked at the flower and didn’t see any changes.

  “Can we do a second run?” The leader asked.

  “I think so. But nothing more. I’m spent.” One of the warriors answered.

  After the second fight, nothing happened either. Unable to fight any longer, they decided to return, but their struggles attracted the attention of other adventurers.

  “You down there! What's going on?” A sun elf scout shouted from one balcony above them.

  “We stumbled upon a dungeon test. You need to fight the waves of the orcs to accomplish it. We have fought two battles so far, but the task is still unresolved. We can’t fight anymore. We are retreating.”

  “Understood. Tell me how it starts before you go.”

  “Right, almost forgot about that. It was a dwarven knight. He asked us to protect that flower, and the golems really want to cut down this tree."

  “Wait!” This time, a female sun elf appeared. “How long to the next wave?”

  “Almost an hour.”

  “Don’t return. We will help you.” She pleaded.

  “Ok. But we are at our limits. With your help, we could try one more time, but no more.”

  “Understood.” The leader of the sun elves said and ordered to use ropes to slide down. Usually, no one did that because it was risky, but this time they needed to hurry.

  The whole test lasts six hours. They only managed to win because, in the middle of the fifth wave, another team of adventurers arrived. But after the sixth wave, all of them were barely alive. The quest ended when the last of the golems was destroyed.

  On the surface, healers led by the Great Priestess Pinera waited for them.

  “You fools. You should retreat. You are barely alive.” She was scolding them.

  “But it was worthy, Grand Priestess.” One of the healers said and unfolded a piece of fabric.

  “Is that…” Pinera gasped.

  “Yes. It’s a seed of a glowing vine.”