The news about tragedies and celebrations happening around the world moves slowly. Naomi and the Adventurers in On Taram Oasis were cut off from the outside world, and it will take a lot of time until news about them reaches them. Through the month after the first expedition to the sixth floor, things calmed down. Relatively. Mages train every day to grasp new magic. With tips from Naomi, even rare affinities started leveling up.

  “What is it, Nonisa?” Naomi asked, seeing a sorceress approaching her.

  “I wanted to ask about this alchemical knowledge, Dungeon Mistress.”

  “Ah. Sorry. I can't. God Junos was pleased overall, but forbade me from sharing this knowledge. And I agree with him. Step by step. Train and understand grand magic. Who knows, maybe you will be able to discover something yourself.”

  “Oh. If this is the decree of the gods.” Nonisa sighted.

  “Sorceress,” Naomi looks in her eyes. “I can’t tell you anything, however, it doesn’t mean you can’t try to learn it for yourself,” Naomi said, smiling mischievously.

  “But I don’t know where to start.”

  “Isn’t it obvious. You need to start by learning alchemy.” Naomi laughed.

  “Thank you, Dungeon Mistress.” Sorceress runs away.

  Outside the dungeon, the slow construction of the first buildings started. It was decided that nothing could be built closer than twenty yards to the wall. Temple of the Smith will be next to the southern gate and expand eastward depending on how many workshops will be needed. Naomi hoped that later, others would also appear outside the temple grounds.

  “They will, Dungeon Mistress.” Assured her dwarven Grand Priest. “The temple exists to ensure that all necessary workshops exist. It’s impossible to cover all needs, especially when the town will grow.”

  “Makes sense.” She agrees.

  Next to the western gate will be the temple of the Sun. The Grand Priest and the Paladin Commander debated for three days to decide where to place the temple. Other preferred places were a northern gate. Temple and his garrison of knights will be a shield for the dungeon if any forces of cultists show up. However, entrance to the dungeon is on the opposite side of the citadel, which could pose a problem for a fast response. They finally decided on the western gate next to the hospital and the temple of the Lady.

  Because of that, Lucius decided to place the Adventurers guild tent next to the temple of The Smith. It was near the entrance to the dungeon underground, and adventurers could play the role of guards if bandits or something approached the oasis. Every week, expeditions went to the sixth floor and brought back anything they could carry. After discovering the secret to obtaining high-quality rewards, the adventurers divided the workshops among themselves. Now, every run brings them a lot of useful goods. For now, those three temples were mostly big tents with some more solid pieces here and there.

  Naomi was enamored with how they looked. She even built a magical version of a camera. From the outside, it looked like the first cameras from 19th-century Earth. A black box with a lens on a tripod. Inside was a bronze metal plate covered with a photosensitive alchemical mixture, mixed with fine dust from the magic stones. According to the scrolls, without magic stones, alchemical substances were deteriorating rapidly.

  Jathur approached her when she was positioning the camera.

  “Good day, Dungeon Mistress. May I know what you are doing?”

  “Good day, Grand Priest. It’s a camera. It will create a small picture of your temple.”

  “Like a painter?”

  “No.” She shakes her head. “It will be black, white, and all shades of gray in between. And it could be very detailed, that is true. To create a photograph similar to a painting, you will need the skills and knowledge of a true painter. For example, you need to know from which side the light should fall. But if this works, I'll have a picture of how it all started.”

  “Understood. Regardless of the outcome, I suggest hiring a painter. They aren't cheap, but the paintings are full of color and life.”

  “I know. I added that to the list for Grand Merchant Venancijs. But the next caravan from the south will arrive in a month. Then it took two or three before they would be back. And Grand Merchant has a lot of things to do, not only for me, so he could miss it and will be back in half a year. In the meantime, so many things will change.” Naomi sighted.

  “That is true. I didn’t think about it, Dungeon Mistress.”

  “It’s all right. I didn’t either. If I do, I could have photos of the first people who visited me. Like priestess Sheva or Thuldir. I hope they are fine. At least nomads or elves will be back in the future.” Naomi smiled at the memory of her first meetings. “The past cannot be changed, but the future is for us to decide. So let's do the first photography in history.” She shouts.

  “I pray for your success.”

  Taking a photo takes almost twenty minutes. Naomi observed the process with her mana sight. Finally, she covered the lens and used a short mana pulse to capture the image.

  “I hope it works.” She whispered and opened the back of the camera. Then she removed the metal plate, carefully placed it on the thin glass, and secured the whole thing with a frame. Then she turned it to see the result.

  “It works.” She whispered. “It works!” Naomi shouted and started laughing and jumping.

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  The Minotaur priest approached the stool, and his eyes went wide. On a metal plate measuring twenty by twenty centimeters, there was a photo of the temple. Edges were blurry, but the center of the picture was crystal clear.

  “Congratulations.” He said. “If I see correctly, this picture belongs to the dungeon.”

  “Yes,” Naomi said. “Building a camera is easy. Maybe beside a lens, but glass makers know how to do them. But the real problem lies with the plate. I haven’t studied alchemy yet. Maybe after I build the seventh floor, I will compare my knowledge with the knowledge from this world. So, for now, I used one of the ready-to-use solutions prepared for us, dungeon masters. Without a proper alchemist, there is no way to create them. Sorry.” Naomi explained.

  “It’s just my curiosity. I admit, it will be a valuable memento, but I can wait for the painter.”

  “I bet he can create a copy of the photo on canvas. It will be even better because of the colors.”

  “That is true.” He smiled. “When the painter arrives, Dungeon Mistress, I will ask for this photo.”

  “And I promise to show it to the painter.” She nodded, smiling too. “Now, let's take more photos.”

  Naomi intended to make only four or five photos. When adventurers heard about instant paintings, they almost mobbed Naomi. Grand priests and palladins, seeing what was coming, instantly acted and restored order.

  “Well, I should expect that.” Naomi sighted.”Oh well. So be it. Commander, Guild Master, please organize people. Every team will have its photo. Also, explain that it will belong to me, but I will hide it somewhere within the dungeon to be found, and anyone could see it. When the painter arrives, they could hire him to make a copy.”

  “It’s not necessary, Dungeon Mistress.” Protested Serator.

  “I know. One word from me and all will end. But you know, I agree with them. And in that way, it could be more interesting for adventurers to explore my dungeon.”

  “Understood, Dungeon Mistress.”

  Selphie, too, finally found a time to talk with the Grand Forge Master.

  “Grand Forge Master, can I talk with you?” She said timidly.

  “What? Ah, it’s you, lass. What is it?”

  “I want to buy a pouch with steel balls from the first floor.”

  “That will be two silvers for the pouch. There should be ten balls inside it.” He grabbed from one chest a leather pouch, and she immediately gave him money.

  “Thank you. Also, Grand Forge Master, I have a question to ask.”

  “About what?”

  “I talked with Dungeon Mistress about magic and how to measure it, or at least some aspects of spells. Measuring how far spell flay or how strong it is, is easy. However, accurate time measurement is difficult.”

  “Yes. Mana clocks aren’t especially accurate. There are water clocks. That could work. Maybe a special kind of hourglass? So what, Dungeon Mistress suggested?”

  “She gave me a riddle. She said the answer lay in the golem's heart.”

  Grand Forge Master turns serious.

  “Come with me, Sorceress.” He said, and led her to the workshop. He took a large fragment of the golem mechanism from one of the crates. She recognizes it as part, with the spring inside, which makes the golem move. The Grand Forge Master took a specially prepared tool and turned it once. Some gears were making fast clicking sounds.

  “Now, Sorceress, listen.” He said, taking away the wrench. Gears immediately started turning and making a rhythmic sound, Tick, tock, tick, tock.

  “It’s like beating of the real heart.” She gasped.

  “Yes, sometimes we even call it that.”

  “How much does it cost?” Selphie was scared to know the price.

  “Two gold, but I can drop the price around one gold if you bring me a golem heart. Rat golem is good enough.”

  “Uff.” Selphie sighs with relief. It was expensive, but not as much as she had thought. “I don’t have that kind of money right now. I will come back in a week or two. I will also try to bring my own golem heart.”

  “No problem.”

  Selphie wants to say goodbye, but something comes to her mind.

  “Grand Forge Master, I have one more question.”

  “Yes?” He asked, turning from her while putting the golem heart into the chest.

  “I got this, though. Is it possible to attach something to the golem's heart that shows the number of heartbeats? Like in the dungeon lifts?”

  Eriser stopped, then slowly turned to the sorceress.

  “I will buy this idea for five gold. I still need a new golem heart, so you will need to put an order for it, or acquire one yourself.” He said, giving her money.

  Selphie didn’t understand what happened.

  “Listen, Sorceress.” Dwarven priest said. “Until now, we all were thinking about how to use a golem's heart to move things. None of them works too well. Counting heartbeats was a nice idea, but it’s similar to counting drops in a water clock. You can do it, but there is no chance of not making a mistake. And you came up with a solution. We add extra gears with numbers to see how many beats pass. That way, we will get the real and accurate clock. That is something that could be sold.”

  “Understood. I will bring golem heart ass soon as I can.” She answered.

  Outside, she stopped to think what to do. She didn’t expect anything like that.

  “Ekhm. Good afternoon, Selphie.” She heard a familiar voice. When she turned, she saw Bily, accompanied by two other boys from her past team.

  “Good Afternoon to you all.” She answered, and a plan started forming in her mind.

  “Yyy. You looked like something had happened.” Billy tried.

  “Actually, yes.” Selphie gathered all her courage. “Can you three help me?”

  “Why…” Conor tries to say something, but Stirr kicks him.

  “Maybe. You know, we work for the guild and all.”

  “I know. I will place an official request to hire you for the run on the second floor.”

  “I guess we can do that. But we don’t have a healer.”

  “I will go and talk with Abby.”

  “Then what about carriers?”

  “I need one golem heart. Maybe two if I can carry them. The rest will be yours. We could hire someone if you need to bring as much as possible.”

  “Nah. We collect all small parts and stones. Maybe take a few bigger ones if there will be space for them.”

  “So, can I count on you all?”

  “Sure thing. We do similar things all the time.”

  “Thank you. I will go looking for Abby then.”

  “Ok. And Selphie?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry for all in the past,” Billy said. “We all want to apologise.” He looked at his companions.

  “You know how it is. You screw something and you get angry.” Stirr said.

  “At least you chose a place far away from all the people,” Conor added.

  Selphie stopped, surprised.

  “I know.” She said finally. “I’m happy that we can talk again. I need to find Abby, but maybe we met in the evening in the tavern?” She was genuinely smiling.

  “Sure thing. We need to do that before the run anyway.” Bill nodded.