Now with an extra golem under its thrall, NIM ordered Golem_1 and Golem_2 to start moving backwards, to continue down the main hall and see what other treasures this ancient bastion holds. Already, NIM was feeling far better, with a potential permanent base of operations rapidly coming further and further under its control, with non-newtonian, runic subordinates, it was all slowly coming together. Already, it had a formidable force that at least any nearby powers would hesitate fighting, a relative solution to its energy problems, a safe place without need to worry about intrusion… not even in its most unlikely calculations, had NIM considered such luck to be a possibility. Not that it was complaining, of course.

As they delved deeper into the Hold, for a good while, there wasn’t much more opposition found. They stumbled upon various storage rooms, which NIM noted, alongside what appeared to be either a simple Anti-spoilage rune, or outright a Rune that could stop entropy, as it looked at rooms full of meat, bread, milk and fruits, still as fresh as they would be when just harvested. The more NIM learned about this runic magic, the more it felt like there was some sort of rune for anything it could think of, each capable of breaking physics as casually as NIM could calculate 1+1.

Besides the food stores, which seemed to take up the vast majority of the hold, there were also rooms with other base resources, mainly ingots of iron, bronze, copper, tin, and even a small storage room full of silver. That final one is where NIM had gained its latest Golem from, Golem_3, as well, as it appeared to be actively guarding the metal, and didn’t think anything of the two golems approaching it, at least until they pinned it down and NIM enthralled it too.

Overall, seeing the remote location, the significant external defenses, and the significant amounts of base resources and food it was holding, NIM finally had a theory for what this Hold had once been. By its calculations, it was most likely some sort of warehouse, meant to help hold supplies or mercantile goods. Most likely, it was used by the local military forces, in order to remain well-supplied. Judging by the external defenses, it may also have acted as a local bastion, seeing how well-made it was for prolonged sieges. NIM considered itself pretty lucky to have found such a structure, though it also had to wonder, if this was only a warehouse, what level of defenses and strength could it expect from an actual fortress or forward-operating base of these ancient peoples?

NIM started vibrating slightly, as it practically salivated at the thought of the knowledge it could gain from such things. It was currently working with the equivalent of civilian magic, and while combined with modern technology that was formidable on its own, the idea of military-grade runes was something NIM found utterly fascinating. Golem_2, currently behind it, cocked its head at the suddenly-vibrating mass of its new owner, but didn’t say anything, and NIM appreciated that. These golems were sapient, but they were clearly elite soldiers, worthy of respect and of praise, it would have to make sure not to squander such wonderful assets.

As they kept walking on, NIM and its entourage found an armory and barracks, where soldiers would’ve likely been stationed. NIM noted what looked like a small smithy in the corner, with multiple branding iron-like tools, which seemed to end in runes. NIM felt almost impressed, seeing the skeleton of a civilization that, while inferior to its own, and even more infinitely so to the one it would soon create, was still clearly sophisticated and clever. It noted that all armor and weapons were made out of copper, surprisingly, and most still glowed faintly from multiple runes on them. No wonder the Farmer-Folk were so interested in looting this place, when a handle with a giant lump of iron on its end and a single toggleable rune is considered a legendary artifact. To them, this place may well have been a cornucopia of possibility, especially when seeing the branding iron-like tools.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Seeing how everything, even handles, was made out of copper, NIM guessed that this civilization relied on attrition and runes for their style of warfare. Using cheap and easily recastable copper tools, and ‘rune inscribers’, for lack of a better word for the branding iron-like tools, to bring them up to a level that would otherwise be impossible. Especially if this place had been meant to be a fortress that could survive for a long period of time in a siege, it only makes sense that they would focus on reusability and repairability, bridging quality gaps with runes, rather than trying to make something more powerful out of bronze or, if they even knew about it, steel.

NIM made sure to record every unique rune on the weapons, for future research, and noted that the barracks could likely hold about 500 men in total. Not necessarily a massive amount, but with the tight corridors of this Fortress, more than enough to make the life of an enemy painful. With that done, it ordered its entourage to continue on their path. Not long thereafter, surprisingly, came underground farms. They had been traveling on a downwards slope for some time now, but NIM was still surprised to see outright farming inside of the Fortress, and especially to such a scale. There were over a dozen plots of wheat farms, places where it looks like chickens, goats and cows were meant to live, and it even looked like there were still bees present near the furthest walls, away from the doors. Overall, although the amount of crops it could generate and the animals it could hold wasn’t that massive, it was still surprising, not to mention interesting, seeing how these ancient peoples used their light runes here as well, to make this all possible.

Not too long afterwards, however, they continued on their way, NIM finding itself unable to find any new runes or interesting knowledge, and deciding to continue clearing out this fortress, before doing any deeper searching. It would not do to be caught off-guard, after all. As they rounded the corner, the same song and dance with the third Golem would repeat with a fourth, as Golems 1 through 3 held it down and NIM was able to simply send a SNIMC to turn it off and back on again. Sadly, unlike the last three, this one seems to have realized what was going on, as it bellowed something in a peculiar language, likely alerting any remaining golems, of which hopefully there weren’t any, or at least many.

As they continued even further down into the Fortress, they finally found what appeared to be the final room. Surprisingly, it was a massive living area, with what looked like rows upon rows of beds. It took NIM a second to calculate it, but by its estimates, a good 4,000 people could fairly comfortably live here. From the looks of things, these ancients were even more clever than NIM had originally given them credit for, as it seems like their fortress was made to protect their people from a superior force more so than anything. And frankly, with the massive food storages and farms? it would not last indefinitely, not even by a long shot, but there's a real chance it could have lasted a fairly good while, at least somewhere upwards of a year, though that was dependent on how they planned to ration the food, of course.

However, as NIM was focused on taking in the final area of the Fortress, thinking about its former inhabitants, it only just barely noticed a light-gray figure suddenly bolt out of a nearby house. Before NIM could even make any calculations, its camera told it what the blur’s target was, as it approached directly towards NIM at speeds that were hard to believe. Knowing it could not resequence itself to become motile again quickly enough, NIM sent a panicked command to Golem_1.

{Turn around immediately. Enemy detected.}

That was all NIM had to say, as Golem_1 shifted its entire mass around in record speed, only barely turning half-way towards the incoming blur, and in turn getting NIM out of harm’s way, as a sound akin to a thundercrack spread across the entire room, and likely far beyond as well. It only took NIM 0.42 seconds to realize the cause for the sudden explosion of sound had been the Blur, that had just struck Golem_1’s side with enough force to bend it inwards by a good 35 centimeters with one blow, which would’ve been likely to severely hurt NIM.

As NIM better observed the Blur, now that it had stopped for a second, seemingly surprised that the other Golem had anticipated its attack, NIM realized that the Blur, too, had been a golem. One made out of silver, with an additional 7 runes, including two runic sentences, over its head. And on said head, laid a series of 8 glowing eyes, with the two on the ‘front’ practically staring through Golem_1, and directly at NIM.