Zoe placed the metal on her table workshop and began preparing her tools. A mana stone light lit her workspace. She had already drawn the curtains and let the others in the building that she was not to be disturbed. She began to pour mana into them they lit up and glowed with energy. The metal ingot had already been melted into the right shape and now she had to carve the rune formations on them.

Since last week she had been receiving the parts every time the new parts were finished. Torg’s factory had worked overtime and with few breaks to prepare these pieces for her. This one was her last for the day before the next shipment of pieces arrived and she would need to resume the process once more.

Zoe picked up her tools as she started her work. She covered her face with a simple mask and held the ingot steady as she began carving with the other tool. She poured mana into the tool as it began cutting into the metal.

There was some resistance as the metal resisted the force before caving to its power. Indentations began to form as the metal melted and was pushed away to form the grooves of the runes. Zoe was careful to keep the relative height the same as she circled the sides of the metal.

Each time she finished a rune segment she paused, took a deep breath, and resumed once more. Occasionally she switched to other carving tips to allow her to create wider or thinner segments.

Like a sculptor creating designs in pottery, she also made beautiful designs. Each of the runes was quite small in size and only varying slightly. Each rune connected and locked into place with the last as she finished them.

Occasionally the more volatile parts of the alloy would spark when interacting with her tools. When that happened, she had to be extra careful with it, so she didn’t ruin the rune she was working on. She only had one chance and if she messed up the metal would need to be reshaped and made from scratch.

Zoe had made sure to practice with scrap and worked on the smaller pieces before moving on to the larger ones. Moving her hand once more she finished the stroke of her rune and completed engraving the metal.

Zoe took another much longer break this time and glanced at the metal. The mage light reflected off the metal and it still glowed with no imperfections yet.

Once her break was over she began the final step in the process of turning this metal into something workable for the enchanters. After moving a bucket into place, she began pouring a premixed alchemical concoction into it before dropping in the metal.

With a plop, it sank to the bottom. The originally blue mixture began to drain away its color slowly as the metal began to change with its help. Zoe watched it closely for a minute before deciding that nothing was wrong and leaving it be.

Zoe began packing up some of her stuff before leaving the workspace and locking up the door. on her coat, she stepped into the hallway. Some workers walked past as she left the building. The others were similarly dressed like her in lab coats and protective gloves.

Outside the stone building, many people walked around the streets. Some carried carts in the afternoon sun trying to sell their wares. Zoe ignored their shouts and calls and followed the crowd towards Market Street.

The stalls on Market Street were just as loud but had much more interesting items to be sold. This was because the cost of renting a stall was much more than the cost of buying a cart and walking up and down the streets of Zaria. Walking down the street looking for some familiar faces she saw a food stall.

“Hi, Mrs. Zoe. Do you want your usual?” asked the shop lady.

“Yes, that would be great. Thanks, Mrs. Day.”

The shop lady began preparing the food and its ingredients. “It has been a while since I’ve seen you out here. Are they forcing you to work late at the Magic Research Lab?”

“I’m working more than usual recently, but I enjoy it. Though I wish I could visit your stall more often. These bread’s are the best.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Here you go.” She handed over the bread and Zoe handed over some money in return.

She bit into the warm bread. It was a cheese and spice-filled bread with toppings covering the top as well. With it is freshly baked made it even better. Zoe and the lady chatted for a bit longer before she finally left.

Zoe walked through the cobblestone streets until she passed the larger buildings in the densest part of Zaria. In between the streets, canals weaved between the blocks with bridges connecting either side of them. As she got closer to her destination the smell of the ocean picked up and a small breeze blew through the area.

Zoe finally arrived at the docks. Merchant houses lined the street and workers moved about the docks unloading or loading various goods in and out of the ships. She walked down Merchant’s Row until she saw the distinctive red sign of the Ruby Staff Merchant Group.

Knocking on the door as she entered, Zoe greeted the attendant for the merchant group. Inside the foyer were some simple art along the walls and a matching set of wood tables and chairs for visitors. The attendant sat at a simple desk with documents and some plants on either end of the desk.

“Hello, Zoe welcome back.”

“Hello. I had a break from my work and wanted to check if the shipments for the lab are here yet?”

“I’m sorry to say that they are delayed and won’t be here for another two hours. I can have a message sent to check their status, but I don’t think it has changed much.”

“It is not a big worry. I was just hoping I would be able to get this stuff done as quickly as possible. These deliveries have kept me up for the past week.”

“Well, we have your contact info on file if you want to be here when they unload, but I suspect it won’t be of use to you until it has arrived at the lab.”

“Have a good day then.”

“You as well.”

---------

When Zoe returned to the lab she checked on the metal that had been soaking in the mixture. The blue had completely drained away, and the now inert mixture was clear as water. Without the use of gloves, she took out the metal and lay it on some towels on the table.

It took a minute for her to dry it off before She could inspect it further. The runes and markings had disappeared from the metal and now a neon blue filling remained where they once were. Zoe felt the sides of the metal and inspected some of the runes she had found trickier to carve. The metal was now as smooth as before and when she put some mana into the runes they lit up as they should and began connecting to the others around them.

Satisfied with the work she left. Leaving the rest of her work till tomorrow.

The next day Zoe moved her work to a different workshop. Her old one was too small to hold the additional pieces she needed to carve, and her table would likely break if the chest piece was placed on it.

Zoe sorted through the remaining pieces and decided to carve them in order of size leaving the chest piece for last. The small pieces were easy to do and did not require much rune work as their only function was as appendages and conduits for the golem to perform magic.

After an hour of work, she moved on to the head. It was slightly larger than her own with simple elven-like ears, a small protruding nose, and an otherwise featureless face. The head did contain eye sockets for the implementation of optical devices at a later date and a hole near the back to connect to the spine and allow the head to be mostly hollow. The was deemed necessary by the dwarves because of weight consideration.

The head was one of the most complex pieces she had done when considering rune density and complexity. Many of the systems needed to be routed through the head for data and reaction for the golem. While the golem would be able to continue fighting headless its combat efficiency would drop significantly.

Zoe took several precautions to complete the head in one go. If she messed up it would cost an additional three weeks at least to have the head melted back down and reforged. She kept those thoughts mostly out of her mind as she worked. She was the best. The elven council had declared it as such. If she couldn’t create the runes for this quality of golem no one could.

As she sculpted around the sunken eyes she looked into them for some time. The golem seemed to stare back at her despite having no eyes. Those would be added later during the assembly process by the gnomes. Refocusing on her task she continued to carve runes. Some went inside the sockets while others went around the rims connecting the abilities of the eyes outward to the rest of the head.

The process continued monotonously as she put runes on all facets of the head with few breaks. Once she was finished she prepared the alchemical concoction like she had done with every other piece before it before taking a break.

The inside of the room was gloomy. It was only lit by artificial light with a large portion of the space taken up by the chest piece. It would be the longest piece to complete, but not the hardest. That honor went to the head.

The chest piece had been hoisted onto the table by lab workers for her and now waited for her to work on it. Zoe examined the chest piece like all the other parts that had come before it. The chest piece for the golem was perfectly cast and shimmered with color when view from certain angles.

Now fully rested, Zoe started on the process of adding the runic enchantments to the final piece of the golem.