After spending the night drinking at the pub, Bones helped Solin return to the tavern in the morning and said his goodbye. It was time to finally clear the second stage of the dungeon. He had leveled up and had a combat ready golem by his side. He had no more excuses to avoid the confrontation with the Widow Queen.

Like he usually did, Bones stopped by the smithy and entered. It was around midday and Hemdus was too busy in the workshop with custom orders to hear the ringing of the bell at the front door. Bones stood at the entrance to the kitchen and found Darsumi sitting in the chair with his legs crossed on the table, reading the headline.

Darsumi glanced at the doorway with one bushy eyebrow raised and smiled once he saw Bones. He motioned with his hand to come in and join him at the table. The dwarves were expecting Bones would stop by any day now.

"So, think you'll be able to handle the Widow this time?" Dar probed, smirking.

"I better! If not, I don't think I have what it takes to be an adventurer."

Darsumi lowered his newspaper and gave him The look.

"Are you having a laugh?" He asked with a deadpan expression.

"What do you mean?" Bones asked.

Darsumi didn't reply. After a few seconds of making eye contact he humphed and went back to reading the headline.

"What? Honestly, I've no idea what you meant by that!" Bones said, not understanding why Darsumi acted that way.

Darsumi slammed his newspaper at the table and pointed finger at Bones.

"Your class and YOUR race are overpowered bullshit!" He exclaimed, spreading his arms.

"I don't know wh-"

"Oh please Bones…how many adventurers do you think can complete a dungeon solo?" Darsumi asked and paused, seeing Bones was muling over the question. Then he continued answering his question. "Bloody few! People do dungeons in parties and raids for a reason! Even if you don't manage to kill the Widow Queen this time, all it would take are a few levels and possibly another golem at your side before you do."

"I guess that is true." Bones admitted. He wasn't exactly comparing himself to others, but he knew the advantages he had.

"By the way, what's your golem like? What are its innate abilities? Did you find the materials for the second one? You CAN create two now right?" Darsumi asked question after question, changing the subject.

"Yes, I can create two now but I don't have the skeleton to make the second one combat capable. The one I have, seems to have weapon proficiency with the spear and is pretty agile."

Darsumi cocked his head and murmured, "seems?"

"Wut was dat bout innate abilities?" Hemdus pitched in while entering the kitchen and wiping his hands in a piece of cloth. "Boney…dun tell me ye didn't Idenitfy yer golem?"

…

Bones was speechless. It didn't cross his mind that was a possibility! The two dwarves burst into laughter while Bones summoned the golem by his side. Hemdus whistled seeing a golem in a full set of leather equipment with the hood covering its head. It kind of looked like Bones previously did, except for the lump in the back where the tail was.

"Mighta hav to redesign sum parts of armor to better fit da lizard."

Bones used Soul Link with Identify to get a better feel for his golem. The golem had two innate abilities. The first one was "Basic Spear Weapon Proficiency", just like he thought the golem had, and the second one was "Improved Reflexes", raising the golem's perception and giving it a slight boost to agility. The golem's attributes were agility oriented, like you would find in a rogue or a hunter class. Like Bones, it couldn't use stamina but it made sense since its main source of power was afterall, a Mana Core.

"Aye, t'was to be expected of da Lizard folk. Ye thought bout wut ye want fer ye second golem?"

"Something bulky! Capable of taking damage, probably. I already made an inquiry at the auction house but I'd like to ask you, Darsumi, if you could keep an ear out for any skeletons around silver rank for sale?"

"Will do! Did you think of a name for the golem?"

Bones turned to Hem and looked at him questioningly. He opened his mouth to speak but Hem spoke before he did. "Ye Boney. Naming a golem is a thing and ye cant name it golem!"

Bones shoulders slumped. Hemdus completely read his mind. He moved his hand to the chin and began stroking it, as if making a difficult decision. He turned towards the golem, observing for any traits to give him a clue what to name him.

"What about ska…no, skull? Skulls? Skully? Yes, Skully will do!"

The dwarves shared a look. "Bones, you…you're not good with names are you? I'm beginning to think your name wasn't a mistake." Darsumi said and Hem snickered by his side.

"What? What's wrong with Skully?And my name WAS a mistake!" Bones spread his arms wide and said in defense, as if hurt by what he had just heard.

" Ye ye, sure Boney!" Hem waved his hand dismissively.

*tsk* "What about you then? You have earth golems no? You gave them all names? Did you infuse them with mana cores, by the way?" This time, it was Bones who was asking questions.

"Of course Boney! Rocky one, Rocky two…all the way to Rocky six!" Hemdus exclaimed proudly. "And no, I didn't bother with the cores. I use golems temporarily and for utility purposes. The earth is all the material I need to create one"

Bones was baffled. And I'm the one with no sense of naming?!

Bones turned to Darsumi who, meanwhile, picked up the newspaper and continued reading. "Have you heard about the war?" Bones asked.

"Of course, they've been at it for years! It was only a matter of time before it escalated into a full blown war. What about you? Do you plan to join the front?"

"Didn't plan to." Bones simply answered. Dar gave him the look but continued reading, not commenting further.

"Well, it was nice seeing you, as always!" Bones stood up and stored Skully back in inventory.

Seeing as Bones was ready to leave, Darusmi added: "Be sure to stop by after you finish. We have matters to discuss regarding the acquisition of your mana core."

"Ye and I'll be dun before ye return so we couldva have a drink or twos!" Hem winked.

Bones chuckled. "Sure, I'll see you in a day or two."

Bones reached the clearing before nightfall and found fog obscuring the visibility in the area. Darsumi did such a fine job concealing the entrance, Bones had difficulty finding it. He flicked his wrist and a few meters away from him the hatch opened up, revealing stairs leading down the cavern. He descended the spiraling staircase and the moment he stepped on the stone platform at the base, it faintly lit up. Formation? Darsumi did it!?

Soon, different sources of light illuminated the cavern around him. He turned to the right and approached the small wooden cabin built in the corner. He opened the doors and took a peek inside. The cabin had a small living area with a kitchen, bathroom and bunk beds, but the dwarves made themselves comfortable. Bones saw they left their belongings inside while they were farming the dungeon for the monster parts.

Over the past few months, the dwarves worked on improving the cavern area bit by bit. One of the dwarves' cousins was a woodworker and he had done the finishing touches on all the wood structures. Bones had to admit, the dwarves were master crafters.

Bones left the cabin and climbed the stairs out of the cavern, and started running in the direction of the entrance to the second stage. This would be his last dungeon run in that stage. The dungeons were interesting and a great way to gain experience but Bones was quickly getting bored and losing interest doing the same stage over and over again. He reached the familiar tree and touched the bark with his hand. Runes dimly lit up and Bones disappeared after accepting the prompt.

He summoned the golem by his side and rushed through the tunnel, jumping and disappearing into the thick jungle.

He didn't plan to waste time on low level monsters. He outleveled every monster in the stage apart from the boss and wouldn't gain experience worth his time. The only exception being the minibosses.

The miniboss was different from normal and elite monsters. There was value in killing the miniboss. Both crafting materials and items dropped were valuable but what Bones wanted was to see was how well his golem would fare against it. His golem was made from the level 39 Lizardmen, but due to his low level golem mastery, its level was reduced by half. Each level in golem mastery raised the level of his golem, up to the maximum level of 39. Eventually, Bones will have to construct a new Skully. From what he understood, the golem core that is now Skully could be transferred to a new construct.

Bones turned to the golem, running by his side and after identifying it, saw number 29 written above its head. His golem mastery was at level 12 now and Bones looked forward to level 15 where he would reach another threshold, improving his golem further. It will take a while until level 20 and he hoped to get the third golem but who knows. He might be offered something else when upgrading from basic to advanced mastery. In any case, he thought he made the right choice in having minions.

Bones wondered if other classes with golems and other minions were this powerful. He commanded his golem to attack any monster that crossed their way. After an hour of running, they stopped. Bones motioned for Skully to stand in the middle of the clearing and wait while he climbed the nearest tree and sat on the branch, leaning against the trunk of the tree. He focused on the skill and established Soul Link with his golem.

It was eerily quiet and still. No rustling of leaves and piercing sounds heard in the distance. They didn't have to wait long. The Viper detected them entering his zone and slithered toward them. It moved silently, without making a sound. Bones noticed its long body moving while looking down from the tree and marveled its ability to prey and stay hidden in the grass reaching his knees. Now then…

The moment the snake striked, the golem moved. Skully didn't have Quick Dash or any other movement skills, but he had fast reflexes and was light on his feet. With a slight jump to the side he avoided the Viper's strike and with casual thrust he damaged its scale. Bones grinned, Skully was capable…

Bones got used to directing the golem by now and did it effortlessly. The Viper was fast and vicious but its attack was fruitless against Skully. Bones' golem didn't care about getting hit, it did as instructed and moved and attacked as it was its nature. It continually attacked, never breaking the pattern and Bones noticed the difference between him and Skully. He still fought like a human would and Skully was more proficient in the spear than he was!

Enough playing around. Finish it! Bones commanded and Skully obliged. The intensity of his strikes increased and after a series of rapid thrusts, the Viper collapsed.

The fight wasn't as smooth of course, Bones wasn't just watching and staying idle. He coordinated with Skully and used Soul Gaze on the Viper, leaving it vulnerable and open to attacks.

The second miniboss was killed in no time as both Bones and Skully engaged the snake together and dealt with the Viper effortlessly. Bones noticed the problem though. The spear Skully used wouldn't last if the golem continued to rapidly attack with his spear at full power. He made note to command Scully to attack weak spots and aim to weaken the foe rather than do the most damage. The lucky boots drop replaced the boots Skully wore. They were used and had signs of tear.

In only a few hours after entering the dungeon, Bones was standing in front of a familiar temple. He pushed Skully in front of him and directed him to take the lead while Bones followed a few steps behind. Torches flared up and the two continued down the corridor and into the hall.

Bones stopped at the entrance to the hall and Skully continued until he reached the middle and stopped as well. Bones looked around, then circled the hall, positioning himself. A shadow swooped in and swept Skully off his feet, sending him sprawling a few meters away, just like Bones did the first time.

This time however, Bones saw the attack clearly and immediately Quick Dashed until he was behind the Widow and imbued his lance before thrusting it forward, blasting one of the spider's legs away.

The Widow shrieked and turned around but Bones already backed away, putting some distance between them. The spider moved towards him but the impact in the leg from behind made it lose balance for a moment. It quickly recovered and spun, hitting Skully to the side and sweeping him off his feet but not before Skully managed another hit. The Widow didn't forget about Bones. She turned around, prepared to strike but he wasn't there.

Bones predicted the Widow's action and circled to her blind spot. He commanded Skully to move in the other direction and when they were opposite of each other, they jerked into motion at the same time and flanked the Widow. Bones smirked and concentrated, drawing her attention. Right before she lunged at him, he stunned her with Soul Gaze. The skill worked briefly on boss monsters, but a brief moment was all they needed to take a leg each.

The Widow trashed around, spraying green blood all over the hall. Her blood sizzled, corroding the ground. Bones and Skully kept their distance and stayed opposite one another. With her focus split, the Widow had a hard time keeping up with the two.