"Jilax, something happened?" Maxwe said who was the clerk responsible for Adventurers Guild documents, after seeing dwarf a little more tired than normal.

  "Fucking the second floor happened." He answered and dropped the bronze head of a rat on the desk and added leg. Thankfully the furniture was very sturdy, built especially for that kind of occasion.

  "I need a full report." Guild Master said, calm and stoic as always. He was sitting before the desk at the end of the tent.

  "Yes, Guild Master. But better first calling the Grand Forge Master. He needs to hear that."

  "Maxwe, go find the grand priest." Guild Master simply said and started inspecting the rat's head.

  The news about the new floor spread quickly and soon almost everyone gathered around the tent.

  "Jilax, you can start." Guild Master said indifferent to commotion.

  "So. We finished our run on the first floor and went down to return. But there was a second floor instead. It was built from bricks. Looks a little like an underground vault of some palace. The room was larger than the rooms on the first floor. Not bad lighting and pipes on walls here and there. Very thick, like my leg, and some look fine, but they are hot and others are rusty and look like they can break at any moment. That's it about the room I think."

  "On the floor in the middle was a plate. Dungeon Mistress writes on it that those responsible for forcing bandits to seek death in her halls will be brought to justice." Meadia added.

  Juntar nodded, feeling rather reviled. It was a useless gesture, however, it shows that the Dungeon Mistress holds value in justice and not seeking just vengeance.

  "Yeh. I forgot about that." Jilax shrugs. "Anyway. We don’t see any traps. Only in the middle of the floor was this sculpture of a giant sleeping rat. Hiki sensed magic from it so we assumed it was a trap or sort of test. It was neither. When we go in this thing wakes up and starts attacking us like a real fucking rat."

  "You're telling us that the Dungeon Mistress has living metal creatures?" Surprised Lucius asked.

  "This thing wasn't alive. I didn't see even the tiniest spark of life in it." Elven healer denaied.

  "It didn’t have guts like normal things. Only gears and enchantments under its armor." Jilax explained.

  "You are bullshiting us!" Excited Grand Forge Master shouts. "You are telling me that Dungeon Mistress built a mechanical living rat?"

  "Good imitation Grand Priest. Little clumsy and anyone who saw some rats will see differences." Wed added.

  Priestess Pinera touches the rat's head lying on the table.

  "This thing carries a touch of The Lady. Goddess saw and approved whatever that is." She said no less surprised than others gathered.

  "But The Smith doesn't do that. Why?" Grand Forge Master looked flabbergasted. "Golem Rat mk 1." He read an engraving on the leg, made with dwarven runes. When he started examining the head he saw something. Small hexagonal indents around the top of the head. They were in the middle of a small circle almost seemingly fitted to the surface, but it was a different element. "Could be that a head of screw?" He mused. "Give me a moment." He ran to his field workshop. Screws were known but hard to make. Sets of good tools for making them were one of the most valuable things that you can get from your master. Because they are always made by hand, every set was different, and if one part of it would break it was enormously hard to recreate it. The heads of screws also were usually rectangles. Easy shape for creating both parts and tools for rotating it. After a few minutes, the dwarven priest was back with a piece of thick wire, and a few tools. After some work on making the end hexagonal and feeling he got a tool for trying to unscrew the screws. Carefully he passed the first one in the left direction and it moved. When he took the screw to hand he was impressed by how precise it was. However for now this screw was useless. Only when someone creates a tool for drilling grooves can these screws be used. He smiled. His small team of four have their first real project.

  "Can I see it?" Grand Scholar Vecto asked.

  "Sure." Grand Forge Master handed him a screw. "What are you doing?" He asked curious seeing that the scholar checks the dimensions with a compass on a short ruler.

  "Oh. Trying to confirm our hypothesis. It looks like Dungeon Mistress is using a decimal measuring system. Probably this mysterious metric system that was mentioned in the past by other dungeon masters."

  "I think I heard about it as a kid." Dwarf mused. "There were some tries I think."

  "Yes. And scholars in their private works sometimes use it. If it someday will spread worldwide everyone will benefit immensely." The scholar starts fantasizing.

  "And how it works?" Pinera asked.

  "Very simple. There should be this absolut length called a meter and then you just divide or multiply it by ten to get your measurement."

  "And this meter is how long?" Guild Master asked.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "One yard and a few inches."

  "That very not precise answer for something that should be absolute," Juntar observed.

  "And that is the problem. No dungeon master remembers exactly the difference between those two measuring systems. On top of that, there is the question of which yard and inch should be used. But our Dungeon Mistress uses it just fine. That means she knows how it was created."

  "Her wisdom and skills could prove that." Juntar nod.

  "Great for her. I managed to unscrew the last screw. Let's see what our Dungeon Mistress hides in there." Grand Forge Master said and carefully pried the lid. In light of the sunstone, he saw a destroyed array of magic stones, gears, and enchantments. He laughed.

  "Grand Forge Master?" The minotaur asked.

  "My bad. I couldn't resist. No wonder The Smith don’t touch that thing. This mysterious array is as wondrous as sloppy. Dungeon Mistress just cram inside whatever she needs and just make sure it works. She doesn't care about quality."

  "Mysterious? You mean you don’t know what is for?" Pinera was stunned.

  "Yes and no. The short version is it’s needed for moving this golem rat. Long version, yes, I don’t have any idea how this array works. Even how it should look is a mystery because it's half destroyed. It will take me months if not years and a lot of gold to repair it and understand it."

  "And about gold. I need to make a prize tag for this." Guild Master said.

  "For this one, I give five gold. But for the next head, you only get five silvers. Better try prying rubies from its eye sockets. For bronze, I will tell you when and how much scrap for resmelting I will need. For now, I and my apprentices will assist as support. I need to rebuild one of these golem rats. I will be paying one gold per run."

  "I will issue an official quest in the morning," Lucius answered.

  The next day adventurers start waking up with the first rays of the rising sun. They were too excited to see the new floor. Traps were ok, some even funny but on the second floor were monsters to fight. Adventurers after a hearty breakfast start entering the dungeon. The first team was led by Nurmela. This time without Guild Master, who will need to compile reports from teams after each run. However, they were supported by the Grand Forge Master and two master-level adventurers. Those two will be fighting alongside them and carrying bags with spoils between rooms.

  "Everyone ready?" Nurmela asked. "All of you have the return amulet?" All in the team confirmed. "Good. Move out."

  They go fast through the first floor. Take only prizes that were easy to get and ignore anything else. When they descended to the second floor Nurmela smiled.

  "Jilax said that only the right and left corridors were open. Right?"

  "Yes. And now there is also an open corridor across, too." Iason nod. "Dungeon Mistress likes to gamble. I'm curious about side corridors."

  "There is only one way to find out." Paoli smiled.

  The fight lasted only five minutes. They were prepared and indeed this golem rat was clumsy. It jumps, bites, and attacks with claws and even runs just fine. However also was big and its attack was simple and repetitive, making it easy to hit and evade.

  "Nothing special, but still fun," Paoli said checking her mace.

  "I like no blood part," Nonisa said. "Sometimes even on the back line, you can get hit by splat, not to mention harvesting parts."

  "I agree." Iefer nod. "But I think this dungeon should be your second or third. You should see and get used to all the usual mess."

  "Iason take a look about which corridor we should take next. Old man how dismantling is going." Nurmela started issuing commands.

  "I’m Grand Forge Master, you little shit," Erirser answered. "And it’s going good."

  "Are you planning to sell these fancy wrenches," Nurmela asked, seeing how screw after screw was unscrewed.

  "That could be a good idea." The grand priest answered. "I could spend my time in a workshop doing something meaningful and not in a dungeon wasting my time."

  "Without a dungeon, you will just sit and rot in your workshop." Nurmela quipped.

  "And you will freeze your tits in the north." He answered. And stand up after dismantling rat legs. "I’m good for now. I can't wait until we end this run and start trying to assemble this golem rat."

  "Have fun." Nurmela shrugged. "Iason where next?"

  "Forward. There are two rats, on the left are three, and the right is blocked."

  "Time to have more fun." Nurmela smiled.

  "Yes!" Paoli shouted.

  For the third room, they need to choose between four and five rats. They chose the first one and the fight was hard. They ended with lots of scratches and bruises. Iefer had a lot of work to do to heal every wound. Even the Grand Forge Master joined the fight. They were almost ready to check the next room when the light turned red and started pulsing rhythmically.

  "What is happening?" Nonisa shouts.

  "How the fuck should I know?" Nurmela answered. As suddenly as the red light appeared it returned to white.

  "And that’s all?" Paoli was confused.

  "Everyone report!" Nurmela ordered and all adventurers started checking everything, but all was unchanged. Until Iason found one thing.

  "I know what happened. It was a sign that corridors were changing. Before the red light, we can go forward or back. Now we can only go on the left or right side.

  "Fucking great," Nurmela swore. "With way are less rats?"

  "Right, there are four of them."

  "Damn. How we stand with our supplies. Nonisa Iafer, how's your mana?"

  "I think I can keep us safe." The healer said.

  "My mana also looks good."

  "And you two?" Nurmela asked their supporters.

  "We can do it. But our backpacks are almost full."

  "We need to be more picky or get more support." Nurmela sight. "So, one last room?"

  "Yey!" Paoli shouts happily. Rest also nods in agreement.

  Almost an hour later they appear in the return ring. They were visibly beaten and tried, but two backpacks were also full of metal parts.

  "How was the run?" The Guild Master who was waiting nearby asked.

  "A lot of fun!" Paoli was really happy. At last, she was able to fight for real.

  "Good. Rats are indeed a little clumsy and their attacks are simple. When there are four or more you need to be careful. But I guess it’s mostly because it’s something new. In a few days, people should have an idea of how to handle them. Oh, and every hour the maze is changing. Some corridors are getting closed and others are opened. You will get a warning with red lights when that is happening." Nurmela reported.

  "Good. Maxwe is waiting for you. For today, get rest."