14: Cracking the locked box

[Year 15 Month 0: 3 Months have passed]

[Blessed: 2051 – 83 + 94]

[You have leveled up]

[You are level 36]

[You have gained another 3 Secondary Obelisk slots]

[You have a max of 15 Obelisks]

If one were to enter the warehouse, I had held my golems when I began creating them, they would find a whole lot of nothing. Yet, no golem had actually exited the warehouse.

No. I couldn’t have anyone knowing about these. They were to be the secret weapon and an extension of my will. Eventually, everyone would know, but not before I was ready.

As such, I had them dig. With only eleven golems, it took two months before I was satisfied with the depth. While they were literally always working, they were not provided any tools other than their metal hands.

Eventually, I had to place an obelisk at the bottom of the pit, as I discovered Golems couldn’t leave my influence for too long, otherwise the mana powering them would cease and become inanimate once again.

Five hundred and twelve meters is where I decided we had to stop digging further. The golems had worked tirelessly to go further, but the deeper we went, the denser the rocks became. It was at the point that one of my golems had blunted hands.

Honestly, I doubted the necessity of it, but I wanted to take into account any skills that could detect underground structures or creatures. Already, I had listened to several citizens of Runehold talk about one of their skills that was related to seismic detection.

Only when I was absolutely positive we were the deepest the golems could go, did I have them begin to dig out a large cavern. Progress would be slow, yet constant. The golems would chip at the walls while compressing the fallen debris into supports to prevent a cave-in. The automatons wouldn’t die from suffocation, but thousands of pounds of rocks would certainly crush them.

As I watched, a golem cleared out large boulders that were in its path. I couldn’t help but be excited for the next step in the growing facility.

Self-assembly.

[Year 15 Month 1: 1 Month has passed]

[Blessed: 2062 – 17 + 20]

Deep under the city of Runehold, there were a dozen forges running at full blast.

The low glow of flames illuminated the rows of steel golems moving with a tireless energy. The air filling the room was dry and hot; no humidity could survive down here, and if a human came down here without protection, they would die.

One golem stood at a large crucible, its arms welded in place as it guided molten metal into a waiting mold of stone. The liquid steel hissed as it came into contact with the much colder container, flaring white‑hot before settling into a dull, molten orange.

When the cast was completely full, the golem ceased its pouring without hesitation, not a drop spilling out of the crucible or mold.

Two golems stepped forward to grab the several-ton mold with their metal hands, while their hands glowed slightly as the heat from the liquid metal slowly seeped through its container.

Walking in perfect sync, the two golems marched down a corridor that had no illumination.

The golems did not slow when the dark grew oppressive and all-encompassing; their steps echoed.

Continuing their walk, the mold was delivered to a vast, pitch-black chamber.

Setting the container down gently, the two golems confirmed no metal had escaped during their move. Avoiding colliding with the other nearby molds, they carefully but quickly exited the chamber before taking stations right outside the room.

Dozens of molds were already lined up in neat rows. Most still glowed with a residual heat, with only a few having cooled, returning the stone to a matte gray.

For the boxes that had several days to sit and radiate their heat, there was another pair of golems that carefully extracted the metal parts with mechanical ease.

Taking tools made by the other forge golems, the golems assembled the extracted parts, and only once every hinge and joint was smooth did they open the next in line.

The quiet, tireless army growing beneath the city of Runehold.

While I may have gone overkill, overkill is underkill.

Unfortunately, I could not support the number of golems that were being produced, and with every spare mineral I produced being funneled into the project, I had to cease production after the 183rd golem.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Pretty much everything used in the construction of the facility had been sourced without revealing its presence to anyone. There had been a few rumors floating around, however, as several more observant individuals had noticed several gutters and chimneys that never stopped pouring out smoke.