The Mad Rat’s Lab

Calm down, me. I can’t allow my opponent to humiliate me like this. He’s using the same trick again, using the Choose wisely to provoke me? I’m better than this. I should stand up and proceed carefully, without letting my emotions dominate my actions.

“Hmm. What a weird room.” I dust my clothes after standing up. “It’s like a… a mad scientist lair? More like an alien zoo, perhaps?”

The statues distributed in a circle on the edge of the room weren’t statues. They’re specimens inside transparent glass capsules, floating in some liquid. They’re… disgusting, to say the least. Every single one of them gives me the creeps.

Humanoids made out of parts of other humanoids…? Ugh!

As for the rest of the room, it has the same construction method as the rooms before. However, in this one, all the laboratory equipment and cables are on the outside, leaving an open area in the center.

Right at the center of the open area, there’s some kind of console with instructions, the only part readable from this distance being the words Choose wisely. I’ll have to get closer to read the rest.

It’s clear he intentionally exclusively wrote those two words in larger letters. To remind me of my previous error, assuming I would fail the first room.

“I won’t fall for it this time. I’ll check the exit door first.” I start walking, very carefully so as not to trigger any trap. “It's time to find some monsters, it’d be weird if there were none in the whole dungeon. This means…” I turn my head to the glass capsules, containing the disgusting monsters, “...there’s a high chance it’s those.”

Regardless, the first is to check the exit door.

As I come closer to the closed door, I notice there’s a gap between the floor tiles on the floor.

“A pressure plate… the door is trapped.” If I want to get close to the door, to check if it’s open or not, I’ll have to step on the pressure plate. “It could also be a fake trap…” I can’t say it’s impossible. I’ve been deceived twice so far.

Assuming this is an actual trap, I can’t check the door without triggering it. It’d be another thing if I could fly, but I can’t. Since the game forbids the use of traps that can’t be avoided, there are only two options here.

The first is that the trap is real and the door will open when I complete whatever is written on the console. When the door opens, I can jump over it, making it possible to avoid and thus a viable trap.

The second is that the trap is fake. In this case, the door might or might not be locked. There’s a chance it is the same as in the first room...but I don’t think it is, it’d be too easy. After all, if I survive the trap and the door is open, it’s GG for him.

I’m convinced. The safest choice is to follow the instructions written next to the console. The door will open after that.

“I can’t make any more errors. I can risk it with the pressure plate. Who knows what might happen…” I decisively go back, while continuing to check for traps.

On top of a table stained with a suspicious dark substance that reminds me of dried blood, there’s an old screen with a few buttons below it. The screen has nothing written on it, while each button has a number on it. They go from 1 to 10, though the eighth one is smashed and doesn’t seem it’ll work anymore.

Ten buttons. It’s the same as the amount of glass capsules surrounding me.

Hanging from the side of the table, low enough that it was on my eye level when I fell to the ground, escaping the giant ballista, there are the instructions. I bend down my knees to read it properly.

‘The poor, unlucky player finally reached this room. His next task was to fight the monsters in the capsules. But, since I’m so generous, I allowed him to pick the five he wanted to fight.’

Then, below the text, there are the dreaded ‘Choose wisely’ words, in significantly larger letters.

“As I expected, it’s a fight.” I nod and observe the capsules containing the monsters.

Each one has a small plaque with a number near the bottom. From one to ten, each capsule contains a single monster.

The eighth one, though, doesn’t. Similar to the button with the same number, it’s as if something smashed it to pieces. Taking into account how the metal is bent and the fact that the glass fragments are scattered outside the container, it doesn’t seem to be an external attack.

But it has nothing to do with me. The important ones are the other nine.

“Choose wisely, huh…? I have to choose which monsters I want to fight, right? I can’t think of it in any other way.”

For now, I carefully observe each monster, to assess how strong they might be. There are quite a few I don’t recognize… No, most of them I don’t recognize. I do recognize the Stitched, the Flesh Monstrositie’s basic units.

This is why I don’t like playing against the Flesh Monstrosities, as they can create their own units… It’s worse than with other factions with similar customization options, as theirs is way too versatile. I can at least guess what’s up with the golems and other stuff, but it’s hard to identify one of their monsters unless I’m sure which units are used to create them.

The problem is that the capsules prevent me from inspecting the monsters, I can only guess what they are.

Regardless, I circle the room as I inspect every single one of them. A total of three Stitched. Then, there’s a Goblimp and a Lab Assistant, which I recognize from when I invaded my opponent’s dungeon. There’s a Fleshling too, but I have no idea if it’s a Hauntling or not because they all look the same.

Inside the number five, there’s a single rabbit. From all those monsters that could transform into rabbits, I have no idea which it might be. It could range from a useless critter to the dangerous Not A Rabbit.

As for the remaining two… I’ve never seen them before. One is like an orc mixed with a dwarf, and the last one looks like a normal human, which makes no sense. Why would he use two human units to create a monster? Don’t all Flesh Monstrosities players hate them because they have no innate skills? Why would he use not one, but two of them?

Confusion fills me. I have no idea what he was thinking when capturing human units.

It doesn’t help that I’ve been betrayed by my logical assumptions twice before in this dungeon and I’m not sure what to do. In any other dungeon, I’d have a clear idea of how to proceed, but I don’t want to fall for their antics another time.

“Hmm…” I start thinking. “The easy choice is to assume everything will work perfectly and I’ll fight those I choose. It’d be foolish to think everything will go so smoothly, so… I should pick very carefully.”

Given what I’ve seen so far, my opponent likes to play mental tricks. I’ll assume there’s a high chance I’ll have to fight those I don’t pick. This means I must divide the monsters into two equally difficult groups.

I start by splitting them into hard and easy monsters.

The Stitched go to the easy group, followed by the Goblimp and the Fleshling. The Fleshling’s skills may be dangerous, and I don’t know what they are, but as a 200 cp cost monster, its stats are pretty low.

The Lab Assistant goes to the difficult group. Same with the Not A Rabbit. Since I don’t know which monster it actually is, I must assume the worst.

Those were the easy ones. It’s harder to decide where to put the last two monsters since I don’t know what they are, though I can make assumptions.

The orc one looks dangerous: orc plus dwarf make for a very nasty melee combination. I guess I’ll put it on the hard group. On the other side, the human looks weak. Also, I don’t expect him to have wasted too many resources on a ‘useless unit’, as all Flesh Monstrosities like to call the humans. I’ll put it on the easy group.

After thinking about it for a while I decide to divide the groups.

In the console, I’ll press the buttons for the Lab Assistant, the rabbit, Fleshling, Goblimp, and the human; leaving the orc and three Stitched free.

There are two reasons for doing it like this. The first is that I prefer knowing about my enemies, so I’d rather face two stronger monsters I know about than a single one I don’t. The second reason is that I believe there’s a higher chance everything is another lie and I’ll have to fight those I don’t choose. If I’m right, I’ll have an easier fight since I’ll have to fight a single strong monster.

I smile. It feels good to have everything under control, as it should always be. Furthermore, I haven’t used my special move. With it, I’m sure I’ll win the incoming fight.

“Hahaha, I outsmarted you this time, Evil Mastermind. Watch as I crush all your plans!” I’d love to see his face when he realizes I’m smarter than he expected.

Slowly, making sure I press the correct numbers, I introduce the numbers on the capsules containing the monsters. The previously empty screen starts changing, displaying my choices.

“And the last one is the nine…”

After pressing the last button, the fifth digit appears on the screen, followed by a congratulatory sound coming from who knows where. Then, the screen flickers and the numbers disappear. The screen doesn’t remain empty for long, though. Soon, letters start to appear, as if somebody was writing.

‘You’re right! The monsters he chose to fight were the 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9. And since he fought them, this means they were defeated a long time ago. Good luck with the rest! Hahaha!’

As the last words appear on the screen, there’s a mechanical buzz coming from all around me. The capsules with the numbers I chose start to emit sparks, followed by smoke. The previously transparent liquid turns green, and the monsters inside them start to dissolve.

Following the disgusting spectacle, the remaining four containers start buzzing. The glass breaks, liberating the monsters inside.

“I knew it! Finally, something that goes according to what I expected!”

I prepare for battle. Three Stitched and one orc-dwarf hybrid. Given how weak the former are, this is going to be extremely easy.

With my staff raised, I start casting my first spell. “I won’t allow you to get close. I’ll win this flawlessly–”

My words get interrupted when the Stitched, having just emerged from the containers, all open their mouth at the same time. Fire bursts out, flooding my surroundings in a fiery embrace.

When the fire clears up, I see the Stitched’s corpses on the ground.

“W-what!? Wasn’t that the Dragon’s Breath? How can mere Stitched use it?” I quickly snap out of my surprise, being used to similar situations. “This isn’t enough to stop me. Thank god their stats aren’t up to par or they’d have killed me.”

The saving grace is that there are three fewer enemies to worry about. Only the orc remains now.

I cast Entangle to immobilize it, followed by Poison Cloud. Before the orc gets free of the vines, I cast Ice Prison and cancel Entangle. It is more efficient than the former since it’s a single-target skill, but it’s also harder to land. Casting one after the other makes this irrelevant.

You know what’s the best way to defeat enemies? It’s to never allow them to fight back. Immobilize them, put them to sleep, inflict slows, stun them, make them run away in fear, paralyze them, or, in extreme cases, teleport them away. Whatever you do, if they can’t fight back, the fight is won before it starts.

“Heh, so easy. And now, to finish this off, a little bit of fear…” I try to raise my staff to cast my last spell, but I can’t.

...Why can’t I move?

I try to look around in a panic. I can’t turn my head. I can’t move my arms or talk. I can’t use skills, either. But I’m not in my phantasmal form, and my body didn’t fall to the ground, so I’m not paralyzed…

Ah, I know what’s going on! Together with charm, this is one of the two least common status effects: petrify.

But when? And how? There’s only one monster in front of me, and it's clear the orc didn’t do it.

It’s then that I notice something is moving close to the ceiling. Protruding from the wall, there’s a worm with chicken features. A worm the same size as the hole in container number eight, the one that was disabled since the beginning.

The last monster wasn’t dead, but escaped! I made a huge mistake assuming I didn’t have to worry about it!

‘Noooooo! I lowered my guard and allowed him to fool me again!’

I try to shout, but nothing comes out.

 

“...

You told me you have already used the Blood Power skill, and I’m sure you know it can kill the unit using it. But do you know how it works exactly? No? Then allow me to explain!

As you already know, this skill allows you to spend HP instead of EP or MP when using skills. And if the HP required to use the skill is higher than your current HP, you die. This allows you to cast spells that cost more than your current HP, even if it kills you. But did you know there’s a cap on how much HP you can spend? For example, if the skill costs 200 MP but you have no MP, you must have at least 150 HP to cast it.

Yes, you’re right! The maximum cost of the skill you want to cast has to be at most 50 over your current HP! Otherwise, it won’t activate!

Hahaha, I’m amazed at how much thought the developers put into DMA sometimes. As I’m sure you suspect by now, this limit was implemented to prevent players from abusing it on weak mobs. So that they can’t use skills that cost absurd amounts of EP or MP easily.

Though there’s the option to give them the MP Boost skill and raise their level to upgrade it, so that they can use that skill, it’ll cost you enough cp that it’s generally not worth the effort.

…”

- Random ‘knowledge drilling’ done by Ricard. Nobody asked him, but he explained it anyway.