The Mad Rat’s Lab

“K-krut…? W-where are you? S-sir Orc? …Anyone? Aah, this is bad… Hmmm… Mhah?”

In a quiet voice, I call the names of my missing comrades. I don’t dare raise my volume to prevent the monsters from knowing where I am.

Krut and I split up when the raptors attacked us. I suppose they dealt with Mhah and decided to chase after us. Like a pack of hungry hyenas, they relentlessly chased us for a while. Krut said we would have a higher chance of surviving if we split up, so we did. The raptors chased after him, and now I’m alone.

I look around. Trees, bushes, and flowers are everywhere. There’s no sign of animal life, but after the Pixie ambush and the camouflaged raptors, I can’t be sure anymore. Anything could turn out to be a monster.

Is that flower a real flower, or a ‘flower’? And that tree, will it attack me if I get close? What about those leaves? Is there a Pixie swarm hidden in plain view?

When the leaves move, I can’t be sure if it’s because of the wind, or because the raptors found me.

“Ahaha, haha, haha…” Laughter leaves my mouth. “...am I turning crazy? I wouldn’t be surprised after all I’ve gone through.” I hear something and quickly turn around, but I see nothing. “I, I must find sir Orc. Yes! I’m s-s-sure he’s still alive. If I find him, everything will be alright… ahaha, haha, haha…”

My solitary journey continues for a while. Any sound puts me on edge, and I don’t dare get close to anything that looks remotely dangerous. Trees, flowers, and leaves included. My careful approach makes my journey very hard and slow, as the path between the two edges of the forest is narrow.

I have no idea where I am. The barely visible sun shining through the tree canopy doesn’t help either. Shining from above, it makes the shadows as small as possible, which helps with visibility but doesn’t give me any clue of where the north is.

“Ooh, that… I-I recognize, t-that! Aha, haha, hahaha… The last time I saw it was near the place where sir Orc fought that monster! H-he must b-b-be, nearby…!”

What I see is a patch of beautiful red flowers.

From this distance, I have no idea what kind of flowers they are, but they were close at that time. I’m sure of it because I haven’t seen such a striking color since then.

I gulp and start walking in that direction, making sure there are no enemies on the way.

“S-sir Orc… P-please, give me support… and guidance. I’m lost… and scared…”

The leaves shift with the weak wind, putting me on edge. My whole body trembles at the prospect of an invisible enemy watching me fall into its trap. But I continue forward regardless. My only hope is to find sir Orc.

“T-this must b-b-be, where he f-fought the mo-mo-monster.” There’s no mistake, as the fallen trees are a clear giveaway. “S-sir Orc must be, near… I hope so…”

I cautiously step into the devastated clearing. There was no clearing here before. The piled-up fallen trees and plant remains are a testimony of the fierce fight that occurred not too long ago.

“S-sir Orc…?” I call him. “A-are you here?”

There’s no response. Did he leave this place? But there are no corpses. I can’t see his corpse, nor that of the monster he was fighting. They must have moved somewhere else to finish their fight. Maybe the monster fled because sir Orc was too strong, or maybe he chose to move to a better place to fight the monster.

“Fiuuu…!” I release the breath I was holding. “A-at least I’m s-s-safe. For now, at least…”

But I can’t relax yet. I must find a clue of what happened here and go find sir Orc, wherever he is. Until then, I won’t feel safe.

“Alright, I-I-I can d-do it…” I pick up what little courage scraps I can find and continue moving toward the red flower patch. There must be something there. “S-sir Orc? Can you, hear m-m– …uaaah!? W-what’s go-going on…!?”

Suddenly, the ground starts moving. A wall rises from the ground, surrounding me. When it reaches a certain height, the wall starts to come together, completely enclosing me.

N-no! This isn’t a wall! I-it’s… it’s a MOUTH!

Everything turns dark, and a disgusting smell fills my nostrils. When I realize it, my body has been submerged up to the knees. That liquid is the cause of that smell.

“Uaah! Nononono! This can’t beee!” In a panic, I start fumbling around. “I don’t want to die like this! S-sir Orc, s-save, m–”

A chill runs down my spine when I feel something hard hit my leg. It floats, bumping onto my body repeatedly with the monster’s movements.

“S-sir Orc…? Is this you…?” I feel the body’s shape with my fingers, as there’s no light inside the monster. “T-these muscles, those protruding tusks… I’d recognize you anywhere! Sir Orc, we finally meet again! S-stop joking and let’s defeat this monster together! I know we can do it! Ahahahahaha…! You told me, right? With enough will, you can achieve anything, right? RIGHT!? Ahahahaha!”

I found sir Orc at last.

But… but why isn’t he answering? If he plays dead, we won’t be able to defeat this monster.

 

---

 

“Alright, alright, I know… I know I’ve been postponing this for too long… But the day has finally come! The day when I create the new dungeon area: the botanical garden!”

*Clap, clap, clap!* I applaud myself.

I act as the imaginary audience. “Finally! I was looking forward to it!”

“I’m sure it’s going to be amazing. I can’t wait.”

“It was time already. You’ve been bragging for so long about how amazing it will be, but you’ve yet to actually lift a finger…”

“...Hey! Who was the last one, huh? Who was it!?” I angrily look around, but nobody dares to raise his hand. “WHO WAS IT, I asked!?” I shout.

Again, no one raises the hand. I’d be more surprised if there were, as I am currently alone.

Because I am alone… I am, right?

“So, where was I…” I awkwardly scratch my head. “Ah, yes! The new dungeon area.”

As all of you already know, the new dungeon area will be a botanical garden. Or an area inspired by one, to be more precise. A normal botanical garden would be too lame for my dungeon. It requires ‘something’ more.

“But for now, let’s start with the location and the building itself. I can come up with monster and trap ideas later on, once the botanical garden has been created and populated with plants.”

Yep, you’re right. I haven’t gone to capture any of the monsters yet, except for the very few monsters I’m 100% sure I want to add… Hahaha…

Okay… you got me.

I didn’t go to capture most of the monsters because I’m too lazy. So I’ll add only three monster types for now. But I’m sure you’ll be impressed when you see them!

“Khm! Anyway, let’s start.” I quickly move to the place where I’m going to create the botanical garden.

The idea behind this area is that this is where I, the Mad Rat, keep all the plant samples required for my experiments. In the botanical garden, I breed, experiment, and mutate plants to fit my needs. And as it couldn’t be in any other way, it’s also the perfect place to test some of my experiments, particularly those that relate to plants and those that like to use them as a hunting ground.

I intend to keep humanoids inside this place at the absolute minimum and use animals and other monsters to fill it instead. So Sitched are forbidden. The same goes for Goblimps, Demonic Swarmers, Lab Assistants, etc. Even the Monster Train won’t be allowed to come inside.

For now, the only exceptions to this rule will be the Hunters and the Sexy Secretary. For obvious reasons.

But even with this, I had a huge dilemma: where should I put it? Obviously, not connected to the Sealed Area, as they have nothing in common: one is supposed to be off-limits and the other is used constantly. But other than this, I had three options.

The first was to incorporate it next to the tunnels filled with mushrooms and make it look as natural as possible. As if I had taken a naturally occurring plant paradise and modified it to suit my purposes. But I wasn’t too convinced, because, for some reason, I couldn’t stop imagining it filled with mushrooms instead of plants. It’d also need direct sunlight for it to make sense, which would make it a headache to create.

And for those of you who don’t know, plants and fungi are completely different. They’re as different as plants and animals, if not more.

So… yeah. I immediately discarded that option.

The second option was to create a laboratory area created specifically for breeding plants. Imagine hundreds of high-tech pots placed in perfect lines, each one with a different kind of plant growing in them. Transparent tubes filled with water running through the walls and ceiling, watering the plants as needed. For the light needed for the plants to grow, I could create an advanced lighting system, with enormous light panels on the ceiling, maybe the walls too.

I got really excited at the idea until I realized something.

You see, in the future, I plan to create a lot more laboratory areas. But too many of them will make my dungeon boring.

I’ve already got the Sealed Area; the miscellaneous rooms occupied by the Lab Assistants, which connect the diverse dungeon areas; and the gigantic storing area guarded by the Minitaur Queen. And in the future I plan on creating more, like the ‘stasis capsule area’, where all the captured monsters will be; the ‘central control’ where I and the Hunters will control everything; the ‘testing arena’, where I make monsters fight to test their prowess; the ‘disposal area’ where the waste generated by all the experiments goes to…

There are even more I have thought of, and adding yet another one, only this time filled with plants instead of other stuff, would make it too repetitive.

So I discarded the second idea, which left me with the last one.

The last and third idea can be described with a single word: greenhouse. A glass-covered dome filled with plants, with the sun shining from above.

And what better place to put it than outside, right next to the Rabbit Paradise?

I’ve been trying to break the dungeon’s linearity since a long time ago, and this was a perfect chance to do it. Until now, the Rabbit Paradise was used as a shortcut to the laboratory areas in case the players didn’t want to go through the Tunnels, but… This area is so risky that most players avoid it if possible.

But what if… what if there was another reason to go there?

Like another way to reach the dungeon core when the Panicky Spitters escape? Or another way to try and hope to avoid the Minitaur Queen?

If I put the greenhouse on the side of the mountain, right on top of the laboratory areas, it can serve as a connection between the Rabbit Paradise and the laboratory areas, giving players another reason to discover how ‘fun’ it can be to ‘play with rabbits’.

I’m sure Clara will be happy to hear this.

“Let’s start with the construction.” I roll up my sleeves. “This is going to take some time.” The first part is adapting the Rabbit Paradise.

Since the last dungeon reform, the Rabbit Paradise has been split into two valleys separated by a sharp mountainside, a cliff on each side. There’s a tunnel connecting the two valleys, the place where the Not A Rabbits and the rest of their comrades have their burrows.

I leave the burrows alone and start by smoothing the mountainside. I then create a path that starts from the valley and goes up the mountainside. The last step is to create a flat terrain, where I’ll place the greenhouse.

“Hmm… it looks decent.” I change the 3D view of the dungeon to a top view to see it better. “Maybe I’ll increase the flat area. I want the greenhouse to be very big...”

Having finished with the terrain, I start the greenhouse’s construction.

I create several metal strips. They start at the ground and bend upwards. They meet in the middle, creating a hemispherical dome. The size of the dome? I’m not sure about it, but it’s at least twice the size of a football stadium.

I create glass panels filling the gaps between the metal stripes as well as several other decorations. Finally, I add a door near the path coming from the Rabbit Paradise.

Once the exterior is done, I move to the center and create a spiral staircase that connects to the room with the Minitaur Queen. To be precise, to the opposite wall to the one that has the entrance to the Sealed Area. I then create a double-door system to ensure no specimen escapes to the laboratory when visiting the botanical garden.

“Alright…” I swipe the non-existent sweat off my forehead. “...this was a lot of work. I didn’t expect it to take so long.” I furrow, looking at the clock. “I must finish the next step fast.”

Without wasting time, I move to the last part of this monumental project: filling everything with plants.

How am I going to fill this absurdly big space with plants, you ask? More importantly, how am I going to ensure they look good?

Ah, my friend. This is a nice question. A question to which I can confidently answer this: I won’t.

I open the dungeon menu and go into the decorative plants area. From there, I pick a random one, sprinkle a few of them here and there, pick a second one and do the same, then a third…

Like this, I randomly fill every single spot inside the greenhouse with plants.

I make sure to put the tallest trees near the center, where they have the most space to grow, but other than this, it’s all up to luck and my mood.

Once the whole place is filled with randomly distributed plant life, I plan the layout of this place. I start carving dirt paths between the vegetation, moving the plants or deleting them as needed. I want the paths to be wide enough for two people to walk side by side, while still looking as if overgrown. To achieve this effect, I carve a two-meter wide path, but only remove the plants that are in the middle, leaving at most a meter to walk through.

Some dungeon elements, like trees, can be set to be indestructible or breakable, depending on the dungeon design. For a more dynamic environment, they’re generally set to breakable, but they aren’t always. When it’s needed for aesthetic reasons or when the trees must work as obstacles, they aren’t. In my case, I leave all the plants as breakable, because I want the environment to feel realistic.

When I finish, I pause and observe my work. It feels like being inside a weird and extravagant jungle, surrounded by dense vegetation everywhere.

“Hahaha… the more I look at it, the more I like it! This is so amazing!”

The randomly distributed plants give this place a surreal vibe. Having tropical plants right next to tundra flowers, growing in perfect harmony, makes it quite fascinating. But at the same time, it makes you think something’s wrong.

“Well, now it’s time for the next stage! The monsters! But…” I make a dramatic pause and put a serious tone.

“...To be continued in the next episode. Fufufu! Hahaha!” I burst out laughing. “What did you expect? I told you I didn’t have time today.” I wink to the non-existent public. “See you another day! Hahaha!”

 

“...

Every faction has its own set of decorative elements they can use when creating the dungeon. Though, and I’m sure you already know about it, there’s a basic set that can be used by almost any faction at the same time. Basic plants and such things, for example.

But the interesting part is when it comes to faction-specific decorations, don’t you agree? The easiest example I’m sure you know about is the fact that your faction has access to electric devices that most other factions don’t. I believe the only other faction that can is the Magic Engineers. Hmm… or maybe not? I’m not sure now, I’ll have to check when I go back home.

Then there are the Sylvans with their colossal trees; the dwarves with their astonishing stone carving; the undead with their spooky, skeletal structures; or the gooey, gelatin-like stuff from the Amorphous faction. Ah, and what about the demons? Did you know they can…”

- Random ‘knowledge drilling’ done by Ricard. Andreu regretted asking him for advice, doubly so when he decided to place the plants randomly. He could have saved himself a headache.