I opened my eyes months later, at least, it was supposed to be months later, to me it felt like mere seconds had passed. It felt strange, to be honest, and not in a magic weirdness way that I was getting used to, no, it was the knowledge that in what felt like an instant half a year had passed instead, and both surprisingly and thankfully, I was completely fine. It was after the moment had passed that reality sank back in, and I found myself in my core room, albeit changed. The floors and walls were still stone but were now polished, shiny, and smooth, the four statues were replaced by a large one that snaked across the room, its form that of the [machine mother], her arms spread out as metal vines wrapped around my core crystal. It was a piece of art, beautiful and well-made, the only thing to note aside from its greatness was the undulating movement of some of the more brambly vines hidden at the bottom, some kind of trap perhaps?

But I put my thoughts to the side, a message was ready for me.

Notice

Deep Sleep completed, resuming regular functions.

Real quick, any idea on what's with the statue, it's not bad or anything, just curious about how it got there.

Part of the deep sleep was the restructuring of the core room to increase mana circulation, the statue was designed to aid in that task alongside some defenses.

I thought I wasn't allowed to put traps or stuff in the core room, it never had any node or trap slots available.

The mobile vine units are not traps, they are instead circulation regulators, managing mana flow within the dungeon.

Hmm, neat.

Did I get anything new while I was sleeping, anything special or such, maybe a special point or two?

Because the dungeon has been stabilized the previously mentioned feature of [tinkering] has been permitted.

Oh, so that's why I could never figure out why it said that, but I was never able to use it, why exactly wasn't I allowed to use it then, it seems like it could have been useful in the past.

[Tinkering] allows for the creation of one-time customizable constructs, allowing the dungeon to create personalized monsters.

It was disabled due to mana arrhythmia.

Loading explanations...

Tinkering

Utilize mana to create varying constructs for different purposes.

The dungeon may also create unique parts from scratch or use existing parts from mechanical blueprints.

Requires manual mana control.

Created monsters and traps do not count against room totals and don't reappear after defeat.

System assistance may be taken at increased or additional costs.

Creations may be turned into blueprints for extra costs that increase with each additional purchase.

That... would actually have been pretty good at pretty much any point since I got here, why couldn't I use it again?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Due to the dungeon's irregular and explosive growth pattern, mana was beginning to accumulate dangerously, it was unnoticeable as it was being suppressed, however, for the dungeon to continue developing manual system intervention was required. This was the purpose of the deep sleep, if such a pattern continues then it will be likely that more and longer sleep periods will arise. It relates to [tinkering] in that such irregular mana fluctuations made it near-impossible to perform [tinkering].

Well shit, I guess that's on me then. So hey, if I did keep things going as they were, I might have to nap it off, but wouldn't that mean that I also lose access to this [tinkering] stuff for good? It truly does seem useful to me but I've been doing more or less ok without it aside from a few close calls.

Functionally, yes, however, future improvements and functions rely on stable, predictable mana flow. The dungeon is free to act as it pleases, but do be warned that actions have consequences.

Hmm, for now, I'll be careful but it is something to mull over. Right now I need to take stock of things, I was alive and I'm fairly certain I wasn't enslaved, so I'd say things were at least ok for now.

And a quick look around did confirm things, as well as bring others up. Overall the dungeon was fine, better of course, but largely the same, the biggest things to consider being that my water core was missing and that the forts were altered. The core wasn't something irreplaceable, but it was more of what it meant rather than anything, so for it to go missing could spell trouble later. As for my forts it seems that the residents took it upon themselves to redecorate, or rather, improve would be an appropriate description.

Before the stonework was largely just that, stones that made a building, but over my sleep it seems as though the rats of all floors have started to add onto it. I'm not sure what came first or last but it seems that the first fort took it upon itself to add sheets of metal around the base of the fort, perhaps to reinforce it, maybe to keep climbers off. Either way, that wasn't the only addition, the rats had also begun using more technological weapons. Before it was their mechanical weapons but now it was more steampunk in form and function. The sword and shield wielders now used a wicked scimitar that was coated in some toxic byproduct they harvested from the various machines, spears were replaced by other spears that could quickly and forcefully extend themself to a target. But the most curious change was the archers, rather than some improvement or perhaps a crossbow, they went directly for rifles. Unlike gunpowder weapons though, these were powered by steam, using pistons to rocket a spherical bullet out. While a demonstration told me that they weren't as deadly as Earth guns, they could and likely would hurt someone if used correctly.

How exactly did you guys figure out this, you're all smart but I doubt weapon schematics are just lying around.

The leader of the archers was the one to answer.

"Oh great master, we were gifted these incredible tools by our kin deeper into your domain, if they displease you we shall be rid of them immediately."

No, no, they're fine, I just needed to know where you got them.

And in retrospect, it did make sense for the deeper levels to have supplied them, I don't really see any workshops here capable of making such an oddly advanced weapon.

Heading down a level I was met with similar sights as before, additions to the fortress and steam guns, the riflerats there gave a similar story. Once I got to the fourth floor though, I found my answer, one of the ratkin decided to self-teach herself weapon engineering to incredible results. According to her, a bit after I fell asleep she had a massive epiphany about how to work with machines. According to her and the others around her, she started small, with toys and knickknacks but rapidly moved onto more practical applications in weapons, armor, and tools. The armor wasn't all that impressive, but they were pretty good for first tries, instead, it was in weapons that she shined. The earliest weapons made about a month or two, after I fell asleep, were simple ones, better swords and tools and the like, but her desire to make something bigger and better led her to create the 'steam rifles', an idea she came up with in a dream one night.

And while I was fully willing to explore the massive implications of this, I sadly have other more pressing concerns. One such concern is the developments on the outside, when I slept the mountain was full of woods and stone formations but now it was almost a shanty town of tents, ramshackle houses, and the much closer buildings behind a large wall. Some of them bore flags and standards, I didn't know any of them, but something told me they weren't good news. The entrance was still exposed but now it would be nearly impossible to get in without getting through the veritable castle in the way. I couldn't get too close to it but I was willing to bet that Arthur was somewhere inside.

Better get in contact again, we have a lot to talk about.

Looking through the eyes of my hounds, I pushed them to a sturdy door guarded by two soldiers.

Strange, they weren't the usual duo, and they weren't wearing the usual outfit of Arthur's people, has something changed?

As we descended the door the unknown guards were already there, leveling their spears at my hounds.

"Monsters, back to your pit before we make nails of you!"

Rude, but if they were new then I could let it slip. Slowly I had my hound throw over the message plate to them.

"Wha- Markus, get the Lord-commander, now!"

A moment later the doors creaked open, footsteps announced the arrival of a group, revealing...