The trio reached a clearing by nightfall and slept in the accommodations below the entrance to the cavern. Once they were up and about, the dwarves approached the markings on the wall that marked the entrance to the dungeon. Bones stopped them before they got too close and received a prompt to enter the dungeon and motioned to follow him outside.

"Where are ye takin us again, Boney?" Hem couldn't help but ask.

"Be patient Hem, it's around here somewhere! We're looking for a faint outline of an arch on a tree bark on one of the trees around us."

"Are we looking for an entrance to the second stage?" Darsumi asked and Bones turned to him surprised. "No need to be surprised, Hem and I used to delve into dungeons with a party back in the day. As with any dungeon, there's bound to be an entrance to the different stage or at least a prompt letting you continue from where you've left off. I guess this one has different entrances?"

Bones nodded and after searching for a while, found the tree they've been looking for. "Can you do something to cover up the entrance? I doubt anyone would find this exact tree but just in case? Also, make it so it's easier for us to discern the tree in the future!" Hem scoffed at hearing Bones. "Yer demendin awfully lot but I hear ye! I hav somethin in mind fer da main entrance but it will take time! Dar, do somethin wit da tree ye?"

*sigh* "Fine, you two go on ahead, I'll be with you shortly."

The two went back and waited by the entrance to the dungeon and soon, Darsumi returned. "Ready?" Bones asked and accepted the prompt. All three found themselves in the all familiar safe zone of the first stage. As much as Bones would like to skip the first one, he understood that their goal was to categorize the monsters and the items dropped.

It was again up to Bones to clear the way because the two dwarves were adamant to just follow and observe, saying that he needed to level up his skills. Roughly three hours and many ant monsters later, they were at the Queen's biodome. Bones rushed the way to here by spamming his Bone Nova and as the dwarves said, leveled up his skill.

"Anyone else want to take care of the boss?" He asked but already knew the answer. Both dwarves looked to the side, observing the biodome they've already seen and monsters they've already identified. They just couldn't be bothered with the low level boss…

Bones got to work and the boss was swiftly taken care of for the third time now. Loot were mana stones and body parts as usual. Once the portal to the second stage appeared, Hem rolled his eyes and exclaimed: "Finally!", to Bones' annoyances.

"Do you always fight in melee?" Darsumi asked after noticing Bones kept fighting in close combat with the summoned lance in his hands. Both dwarves thought it odd that Bones cleared the first stage by mostly fighting in close range. Even Bone Nova was somewhat of a close range ability.

"Not always but I often do." Bones replied knowing he should, as a caster, keep his distance when fighting.

*smack*

"Bah, no wonder ye managed to ruin da coat! Ye thought bout wut improvements ye want me to make?"

*smack smack*

"No not yet. I even considered fighting without gear." Just as Bones said this, both dwarves looked at him with odd expressions.

*sigh* "Not nude, I have Bone Armor on me at all times."

"At all times? You can keep it up permanently?" Darsumi asked, surprised.

*smack smack smack*

Bones thought for a moment before replying. "Out of combat? Yes, permanently. In combat? Only with proper mana management and if I don't push myself too hard. Anyway Hem…could you please stop smacking spy-quitos?"

"Sorry Boney, is hard to resist not to, ye? Belmus coulda make ye some lite weight robes, reinforced wit spider silk and da self-repair enchants ye? Just don’ git hit often and ye be fine!"

Bones approved. "Sure, anyway, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to test my golem's fighting capabilities from here on out?" Both dwarves shrugged and said they wouldn't mind. Bones took out the engraved bones he prepared in advance and started constructing the golem, while the two dwarves were wasting time doing their own thing. Darsumi was keeping notes while Hem was mutilating the corpses of the spy-quitos. Bones did his best to create the nucleus and it cost him a whopping five hundred mana once he was finished. He fused the nucleus with the construct and the golem was completed.

A few hours later, the trio was standing and watching as the golem was struggling to set free of the spiders swarming all over it. Bones turned to the dwarves beside him and asked. "Was it really better to wait until the second stage to test the golem?"

"Eh? Yer golem is doin great Boney! It mighta been easier in da first dungeon but ye wanted to level up faster ye? Dis is da way!"

Bones was giving him a doubtful look. It was true that he was gaining proficiency in golem mastery faster but his golem was struggling with every fight! The monsters far outleveled his golem. He looked to Darsumi but the dwarf just nodded, proving Hem's words to be correct.

"Boney, yer golem's gon break again!"

Bones turned to his golem and indeed, he would have to intervene again. Shit. He casted Bone Spikes, one after another, pinning and crippling the spiders around the golem. Then he started removing the ones on it, one by one.

The golem broke and undid itself from taking too much damage, which made Bones having more doubts that this was the fastest way to level his mastery. The dwarves had a lot more experience, however and he was going to have to trust them on this one.

"So, what do you think of the dungeon? By now, you should have the general idea if farming the dungeon for parts would be profitable, no?" Bones asked, changing the subject while he worked on the golem.

Darsumi was the one to answer and said that any natural dungeon would be profitable and this one is no exception! Plenty of monster parts dropped, which suit them perfectly. Chitin from the first dungeon, spider silk and salamander scales from the second one. Darsumi also stated they have two teams prepared to farm the dungeon. Bones asked why just two and Dar simply replied that they didn't have enough dwarves.

"We plan to hit both stages at the same time so they would come off the cooldown around the same time."

"Wait so…the stages within the dungeon have a separate cooldown period?" Bones knew dungeons had a cooldown but it didn't occur to him that meant that stages and floors had a separate cooldown.

"Of course. You could think of them as entirely separate dungeons if you'd like. We still don't know the size and limits of the dungeon and there are still many unknowns. I'm afraid, without the Runesmith to Identify the runes on the arch, we won't be able to find out unless-”

"-we go in and find out for ourselves!" Bones finished the sentence.

"Exactly!" Darsumi said and continued. "Since it's a small dungeon, we can only presume a few, but less than five groups of people can enter each stage at the same time."

"What about the enchanter in Stonefalls? Couldn't he identify the runes on the wall?"

"No. Rune Smithing is a broad term, Bones. Like crafting. Enchanting is just another branch of Rune Smithing. We need a scholar, a researcher! Someone with extensive knowledge of runes. A scholar like that would have a special add-on to Identify skill that would allow them to read the runes."

Bones nodded even though he didn't completely understand what Darsumi was talking about. He was still puzzled on how exactly more groups could enter the same stage at the same time. Wouldn't conflict often arise between different groups?

Darsumi explained that just because the dungeon had more entrances and more groups could enter at the same time, didn't mean that all the parties entering would be in the same instance of the same stage.

As to the limit to how many people could be in the same instance, Darsumi didn't have an answer. More accurately, there wasn't a correct answer as the answer wouldn't be found out without exploring and testing the limits of a dungeon. Most parties consisted of five party members but it wasn’t always the case. Most medium and large sized dungeons required more people to clear. Such dungeons are cleared by the raid groups consisting of up to twenty five people in a single raid. This limit has been tested thoroughly and accepted as a general rule.

"Alright, finished." Bones said after reconstructing the golem. The three continued exploring the dungeon. Bones got his golem mastery to level 5 and the small threshold reached already had an impact on the golem's behavior. His golem was still underleveled for the dungeon and its inhabitants, but its movements clearly improved. The golem used the mace Bones looted long ago, as it couldn't use his bone lance.

The choice of a weapon came down to golem's aggressiveness when attacking. It had no moral dilemma, hesitation nor fear and attacked with reckless abandon. With mace equipped, it pummeled the spiders it managed to hit to a pulp.

The party stopped at the miniboss. A Common Green Viper blocked their path and this time, Hemdus stepped up to fight it, to Bones' surprise. He wondered how the former adventurer fought and soon, his expression turned unsightly. The dwarf fought even more recklessly than his golem. With a giant hammer in his hand, Bones suspected it was actually a two handed warhammer, Hem kept charging the Viper, using a crushing blow against its hard scales. With each hit, the scales were dented or would crack and break apart. Even the Viper's poisonous fog didn't have much impact on the dwarf's high constitution.

Darsumi, watching from the side, kept shaking his head as he was writing notes down. "No good." He said. Bones turned to him and asked him what was wrong? Dar explained that the way Hemdus fought would ruin the scales. “You'll see! We need strong classes in our farming party sure but with enough precision so as not to damage the crafting materials. We will need a proper defender, preferably a peak bronze or early silver rank, an archer would be nice and the rest could be mages. An earth and ice mage, no fire mages though."

"Don't want to scorch and damage the materials?" Bones asked and Dar nodded. After he finished the fight, Hem proudly approached. "Did ye see dat? Haha wut an easy fight, barely a stretch!"

"Really? What about the loot?" Darsumi asked. Hem stopped, said "gimme a sec", turned around and ran to loot the body.

"Lemme see, Pauldrons of the Viper, some mana stones and uh, ahem..."

"Hm? What was that? What about the scales Hem?" Darsumi inquired, sounding not as pleasant.

"Right, the scales. Few intact, pristine looking scales of the viper!"

"A few? What about the others?"

"Ruined." Hem admitted, embarrassed.

"Ruined!" *sigh* "Thought they would be seeing as if you weren't pulling any punches."

"Sorry Dar, couldnt help mahself ye know? Its been sum time since ive stretched me legs!"

"No matter, I think we have all the data we need from the dungeon except for one, the boss." Bones slumped his shoulders just as Daraumi said that and thought, finally, the boss!

"There's one more Viper, roughly in that direction." Bones said and pointed with his hand but Darsumi waved his hand dismissively. "I'm sorry Bones, we will be finishing the dungeon shortly so we can return as soon as possible. There’s still a lot of work to be done when we return. You only need to wait a month to return to the dungeon and grind skill levels to your heart's content! Core's content?"

Bones nodded in agreement, Darsumi was right. This run wasn't as much about clearing the dungeon as it was to gather information. The three continued deeper through the jungle and toward the ruined temple.

It didn’t take long until they found their way out of the jungle and stopped in front of the temple. "We're here." Bones said as he turned to the dwarves . Hem nodded and after clearing his throat, added: "Arright, we be waitin for ye so go rite ahead!"

-_-

"Stop teasing him and go inside Hem, we'll follow behind you and this time, don't damage the body too much!" Darsumi rolled his eyes and warned him.

"Aye, aye." Taking out his "one-handed" hammer and a shield, Hem stepped inside the temple and continued down the corridor and into the main hall. Bones warned them about the sneak attack beforehand but Hem didn’t seem fazed and overly worried as he approached the center of the hall.

Bones soon witnessed why, as The Widow's sneak attack was stopped abruptly by a shield bash. The impact barely made Hem take a step back. Bones turned to the side and saw Darsumi wasn't there, already disappearing somewhere in the shadows. He too prepared and casted Bone Lance. This time, he would fight like a proper mage, from a distance.

The Widow was assaulted by the barrage of attacks from all sides. Hem's blunt attacks knocked the boss around and kept her from switching targets to a caster and Darsumi’s precise attacks crippled the boss so it couldn't get away. And Bones? He had it easy by having to avoid the acid projectiles and safely attack from a distance. The Widow screeched her last not long after and unfortunately, mana core didn't drop.

"You'll get it next time, Bones!" Cheered up Dar. Two pieces of armor dropped, along with crafting materials and mana stones. A new portal opened up and without time to spare, the party entered the third stage.

The new area was hill-like with lots of valleys and forest stretching far and wide. The entrance was located on a cliff overlooking a valley and the first monsters they saw, far in the distance, were goblins. Bones groaned while Dar frowned and Hem had no reaction whatsoever.

"Hm...this one could prove to be difficult." Darsumi stated, stroking his beard. Bones nodded, thinking humanoid monsters and their levels presented higher difficulty, but Darsumi had other worries. "Looking at the goblins in front of us, they seem organized and properly geared. No doubt the result of the dungeon remaining untouched for who knows how long."

Now that the dwarf mentioned, Bones did notice the goblins had a different air about them. They moved differently and in formation. They were too far to Identify, but among a dozen goblins, a few had bows strapped on their backs, a few had a shield and a club and the one that just appeared visible was riding a wolf sort of creature.

"Worg rider?" Hem exclaimed in surprise. Bones questioned what worgs were. They looked like some subspecies of wolves. They were indeed a species resembling the wolves only larger and much more vicious. Dar frowned and added that worgs ridden by the orcs were even larger. The worg rider was also different from the other goblins. Larger, better equipped and had a heavier air around him. An elite maybe?

"Let's finish here. We've seen enough and it'll be awhile before we gather a proper team to tackle the third stage." Both Hem and Bones agreed to Darsumi's suggestion and they left through the same portal that brought them here. They appeared again, not too far away from the clearing. A few kilometers away at best, where the forest met rocks, leading to the mountain range in the distance.