The last two months were intensive for Naomi. She had a mix of feelings that almost overwhelmed her. She was euphoric because she finally had a boyfriend. It took her time, and she needed to die, but she finally found one. On the other hand, she was sick with worry when he was exploring her maze and fighting the golems. What's worse, she couldn’t tell him anything about the hidden dangers or the influence of golems. Rules do not permit that, and it would not be nice to her boyfriend. She could only watch how she was doing, and it actually eased her fears. He wasn’t recklessly charging forward despite leading the team and being the first to attack. Alduin always ensured that his team was fully committed and that their attacks were well-coordinated. Although golems weren’t especially dangerous for them, they took them seriously each time. After the fight, they examined the destroyed golem to find a better way to fight them.

  The three of them spent three days on the tenth floor. King Alduin was amazed by the underwater sights while guarded by Naomi. He also eagerly trained and hunted with Itylara. Just a few short sessions pushed some of his skills further than a whole year of training.

  The break, however, was short. Alduin needed to prepare for the upcoming expedition, and Naomi almost gathered mana for the next floor. And she had plans for the next floor.

  Again, Naomi got an idea on how to help with the war in the north. And her solution and consequences terrified her. Fighting with the necromancers, warlocks, and demon summoners was very similar. All three factions heavily rely on vast numbers of enslaved monsters for attacking. Defending against numerous opponents, not feeling fear or pain was hard, but the cultist strategy had one weak point: the cultists themselves. When a slave master dies, the monsters they control also die, or they rebel and attack everything around them. Cultists know that, and hide far beyond the range of even the most skilled mage, and are usually covered in a magical shield. Bows, or slings, weren’t used against undead at all. Only when repelling orcs and goblins, archers supplemented the mages to kill some extra monsters. Even trebuchets and balistas weren’t able to reach cultists hiding far away from the frontline.

  But there was one weapon that could do that. Artisans such as the Grand Forge Master's assistant, Aki, attempted to build it. They already re-created Naomi’s air gun, and the results were promising. The power and speed of the projectile were able to shatter the standard magic shield. Regrettably, the range was short, and the device was cumbersome.

  Naomi wasn’t a chemist, so there wasn’t a way for her to improve gunpowder or create a new explosive material. Recreating a real gun from Earth was pointless anyway. One fireball or similar spell will cause the immediate explosion of stored gunpowder.

  Naomi, however, knew other methods by which projectiles could travel fast and far. For the past six months, she has been intensively studying and experimenting with runes and magic. Her skills right now were on par with Grand Master Unroth. The only difference was that he had more practical experience, and she had almost infinite possibilities of experimenting and testing any crazy idea she had. So she came up with the terrifying concept of ??creating a magic rifle. It was a magical derivation of a rail gun, where instead of electromagnetism, she was using magic. And the final result was much more than she expected. In perfect condition and with the support of proper skills, they could hit a target as far as two thousand meters. Right now, the best mages, or the biggest trebuchet, had a range of around four hundred meters. For Naomi’s rifle, at shorter distances, even the best mages wouldn’t be able to stop the bullet. In the pistol version, they were not as deadly, but their firing speed and compact size made them useful as well.

  Naomi placed prototypes on the bench and curled up in the chair nearby, terrified by her invention.

  “Please tell me I went too far,” Naomi asked the Smith who came to inspect her guns.

  “There is no answer for your question.” He answered. “Sometimes we need to decide for ourselves and face the consequences of our decision. Your recent creations ensure the safety of the northern border. War will not end for a few more years, but cultists will not win it.”

  “And through that time, people will die.” Naomi clenched her fist. Angry with herself for her cowardice. But the invention and mass production of firearms on Earth had a tremendous impact on society and culture. And Naomi could be responsible for all of that.

  “You can create something to improve people's safety, or just wait until we find a person who will lead armies against the cultists, but until then, the war will continue. Only when the war stops, and twisted gods will be banished, peace will come.”

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  “But what if not?” Naomi asked. “I can convince myself of using them against cultists and other monsters. But what if, after that war, nobles start using my creations to wage their own wars?”

  “They will.” The god agreed. “But you are not responsible for how someone uses your creation. You build a weapon, a thing that needs to be dangerous or even deadly. Even if you could build in some control mechanism when it’s used, how would you do that, and who would decide when it’s right or wrong to use them?”

  “You are right, but I can do the next best thing!” Naomi jumped from the chair. “I will make it so hard to copy, so costly to build, that any greedy noble will resign from trying to use them for war.”

  “With time, they will learn how to build them.”

  “Yes. But with that time, people will learn how to defend against them. New kind of magic shields, tactics on the battlefield. By the time someone builds a crude copy of those guns, the advantages of having them will diminish. Thank you.” Naomi concluded.

  “I’m glad to help. And don’t be too hard on yourself. Even healing potions can be used to cause harm. Follow your values and beliefs as you have done so far. They will guide you well, no matter how hard a decision you will face in the future.”

  “Thank you.”

  Nami returned to her work immediately. She did as she said and used rare or unusual alloys for the barrel and other parts. All parts were made with precision never seen before, and impossible to achieve without specialized milling machines and high-level skills. Runes utilize unknown knowledge and require unprecedented precision to function properly. The bullets were made of high-quality enchanted steel and had to be perfectly fitted to the barrel. A set of mana stones powered everything. Marksman could fill them with his own mana or replace them when needed. The final product was a masterpiece, and even Naomi, despite herself, couldn't help but admire her deadly creation. Her hard work, however, ensured that for years to come, maybe even decades, only her dungeon would be the source of this weapon.

  Now all she needed was a shooting range. She began by creating three interconnected caves, each three kilometers wide and with a ceiling nearly five hundred meters high, supported by stone pillars. In every cavern was a small town built high above the ground around trunks and on the branches of tree-like structures. But they weren't trees. They were tangled brass pipes that carried heat and steam from the unknown depths. The steam was used to heat homes and move countless devices around the towns. In the large ceramic pots, the glowing vines from the town grow, covering an underground city. On the ground, Naomi created a fungal forest. The biggest mushrooms were reaching thirty meters high. Mushrooms also grow constantly, and an old one was replaced by a newer one. Adventurers were also allowed to cut them, creating trails and shortcuts. But it also meant that the forest layout was constantly changing. Creating a map was impossible.

  The only source of light there were glowing fungi and mosses, so it wasn’t a dark place. Naomi selected various animals that could survive in such conditions and tweaked them a little to ensure those creatures could thrive there.

  When a place for adventurers and food supplies was ready, Naomi began working on golems. This time, she doesn’t want to use orc golems. Instead, she selected rats, spiders, and centipedes, creatures associated with dark, damp places. Rats and spiders she already had, but it was time to upgrade them. It takes her a lot of time, but each of the finished golems is now almost a masterpiece itself. Intricate patterns, a combination of plant patterns and gears, decorated their armour. The entire appearance has been refined and polished so that no traces of tool use are visible. Naomi pushed herself because she was working on a very special golem. However, the golem must look perfect, so this type of training allows her to gain the necessary experience. It will take her a lot of time until she finishes it, but she doesn’t plan to reveal it until it looks decent enough.

  After some thought, she added pistols to the list of rewards. They weren't as deadly as rifles, and the amount of mana needed to be charged before a shoot should alarm all people nearby, making assassination attempts hard. However, to obtain one, the team must kill a hundred golems on a single visit. Naomi left only one vague mention of this challenge.

  For finishing touches, she hid in every nook and cranny some coins, lost jewelry, or even pieces of armor. But the main reward will be a magic rifle and a box of bullets, placed in the guard room next to the exit from the floor. The building was covered in fungus. Finding it was also a challenge. Finally, Naomi covered every available surface with images of soldiers fighting in the war. But it wasn’t any known war to the people. Naomi remembered all the war films and photos from the wars she had ever seen, and showed people what war with guns could look like. Soldiers crawling in the mud, hiding from flying bullets. Soldiers hiding in trenches and praying to the gods for one more day to be alive. Battlefields are scorched with spells. Naomi hoped this would scare people into seriously considering going down that route. Wars with swords and spells were bad enough. After adding guns to the mix, it will become a nightmare.

  When she checked how long it had taken, she was surprised to find that a month had passed. People weren’t surprised by her long absence. Two weeks for a new floor was the shortest time she needed. And from now on, everyone expects that floors will be exceptional.