“Welcome back. How was your trip?”

“You should know by now the trip was successful. A group from the undead army arrived at my location as you would expect, and I fought them off for a bit before escaping on my ship. At least the trip back was quick because I knew the path much better this time.”

“Yes. It was nice to meet some new people after so many years. I assume you saw their housing arrangements?”

“I flew by it but did not visit.”

“You should later once our meeting is over. Follow me to the main room. The others are waiting for us there.”

Ethan followed the Elder through the familiar corridors and to the room. It was much the same as the last time he was there except three more seniors sat around the table. One was a woman and the other two were men. They were all similarly as aged as the first Elder and adopted mages robes of different styles and colors.

“Welcome back Ethan,” said the woman as the first elder found his seat. “We will try and make this meeting short as not to delay your arrival at the Gnome outpost.”

“We have gone over the blueprints that you have brought, and the High Elder discussed various modification possibilities for several days with us. We ultimately decided that there should be no changes to the runes on the control sphere. If you could’ve changed them soon after the dungeon started repairing then the risk would have been low enough that we would have you consider modifying them,” said the Elder on the right.

“What he is trying to say is the fractured dungeon core has healed and repaired itself thanks to the control spheres runes that they should not be changed. You must also make sure that it does not mess with them,” said the Elder on the left

“I had already started implementing a cover story for the golem and the false memories to go with it. Is there anything else I could do?”

“Other than trust those under the project to keep the narrative going and discourage the golem from experimenting with this subject, then no,” said the right Elder. “It is a fine balance because the golem should be curious and daring as it explores its powers, abilities, and environment. It also must be loyal and trustworthy. If you or the researchers find that it is lying or hiding the truth at times then you should follow the Plan B you set out.”

“Enough talking about what future possibilities might happen. We have instruction to give and changes to be made to the current golem and not some hypothetical thing from nightmares,” said the female Elder. “We have decided to combine and adjust the runes here, here, and here.” She pointed to several spots around the chest piece of the golem near its hips. “The damage and force negation isn’t as important due to its metal shell and magical attacks done by the dragon and undead mages can be dealt with its other runes and properties. They should be removed and replaced with these runes.”

She picked up a new piece of paper and passed it to Ethan. He picked it up and looked it over as she continued.

“I know they look a bit weird and that is because they create an optical illusion when drawn in two-dimensional space. When it is carved into the golem with depth the effect will mostly disappear. You can also close one eye at a time to make the effect disappear.”

“Interesting. The way the light rune interact with the rest of the parts is great, but I don’t quite see how it all fits together.”

“Because the golem is disadvantaged with light and dark magics those pieces will act as a conduit for the dungeon’s pure mana to exit its body without the metal tainting it with impurities. The golem will still have some issues learning the spells even as it incorporates the new runes into its body.”

“I will make sure to start its learning process with these spells as soon as possible. The implementation of the runes will take some time, but I will make sure it goes smoothly.”

“We do not worry ourselves,” said the High Elder. “I have gathered here some documents for Zoe Selah to look over and pass along to her elven superiors. From what my birds have whispered to me I hear she did a great job carving the runes to your specifications. I am sure she will create great works again with you guiding here on this repair and any other future adjustments that may be needed.”

Ethan took the additional documents and papers from him and placed them in his bag without looking. “I will see to it that they are delivered to her safely.”

“We decided to ask one more thing of you for the time being,” said the Elder sitting on the right side of the table. “The humans that are now living in the mountain regions will need some barriers. We showed the mayor the path that extends to us and the restricted areas, but now that they are here we would like you to make sure that they don’t wander back down the mountain. Patrols will and already have tried scouting the mountain trails and if they catch wind of the humans here they may send for more undead to help make a path up the mountain for them. After you pass through the human marked area in the mountains use your magic to block off the paths and set traps where you find it appropriate to do so.”

“Thank you for the advice. I will make those changes as I fly through.”

“Yes. That is another thing we wish to speak with you about,” said the High Elder. “Your use of the flying ship is wasted on you, and we will need to borrow it for the time being.”

Ethan held his emotions inside and his face the same after hearing the news despite his dislike for the action. He shifted his hands from his front to his back and closed his fists.

“We don’t mean to punish you after your task, but we hope your experiences traveling through the undead territories and the forests will teach you some more skills. You have been too reliant on external tools to help you get out of dangerous situations and you should begin to better understand the importance of internal power. Why do you think the kingdom fell? The King did not have our power. His children barely had any talent for our powers as well.

“When the capital was met with strife from within and all around there was no clear strong leader. After the capital fell while you were in jail the chain of command broke down causing further problems as people fought with their own strength for once instead of the might of the kingdom. Long ago the noble houses were barbarian tribes, and we needed a strong unified leader was needed to prevent our extinction to the other races, but people forgot over time how to fight for oneself.”

“Thank you for sharing your wisdom.”

“We will be here when you need us,” said the female Elder. “Now hand over the ship. I haven’t had a chance ever to see it in person since it was built. I was meaning to visit the armories for some time, but now that you have it I would like to study it.” Ethan took out the ship from his back and it stayed in its smaller form like a model ship. “I have already arranged for a horse in the human campgrounds to be given to you. Do not kill this one. It is hard to get horses on this side of the forests anymore. You better not waste this opportunity.”

“Thank you for the gift, Miss Elder.”

“We will send communications to you if anything else comes up. And don’t forget to follow up on the gnomes' current battle plans. Being able to utilize the golem to its fullest will be very important as the war continues.”

Ethan finished up the pleasantries with the Elders before returning down the mountain. After some traversing, he found the current campgrounds area that the people of the town had started setting up in the week and a half since he left them. They had several fires going in the camp and tents of various sizes had been set up. He wandered through the camp for a while before reaching the makeshift stables. After meeting with the stablemaster he received his new horse for the journey. With everything packed and ready to go he set off for the gnome outpost.