The Mad Rat’s Lab

 

I’ve connected to DMA and checked a few messages. Most of them went directly to the bin. I’m ready to start preparing for the Mystery Event. Now’s the time to create my Champion.

As I’ve said before, I will copy Mad Rat’s aspect. I don’t want to change my build too much, but I’ll take out Shared Voltage because I want to be able to kill my enemies without trouble. And since I’ll be level 10, I can test new skills that complement my build, planning for the future…

*Tiring!*

After a short fanfare, a game window appears before me, interrupting my thoughts.

“Let’s see what’s going on…” 

“...this is…” As I read the first line of the text, a shout escapes my mouth. “... Nooooooooooooooo! Not now, for fuck’s sake! Not when I’m about to spend the rest of the day occupied with the Mystery Event!”

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why today? Why NOW?

“Aaah, so many ideas. So many plans. I’m itching to start, but I must focus on the event…”

This is so annoying! Why couldn’t I level up yesterday? Or even better: tomorrow? I won’t be able to focus at all, thinking all the time about my next boss and dungeon changes.

The last time I checked, I was close to level up. But given the Mystery Event, I didn’t expect a lot of players to come to my dungeon. I thought I would level up after receiving the event’s rewards and not right before it started.

I’m sure it’s because of those damn maniacs. The Mad Cultists! They must have been invading my dungeon as usual, completely disregarding the Mystery Event.

Why are they so fixated on giving me headaches all the time!?

“Aaaah…” I grab my head and apply pressure, trying to calm down and focus.

By the time I recover my usual calm state of mind – haha, as if that ever existed – and take a look at the clock, I realize I only have twenty minutes left to finish creating my Champion before the Mystery Event starts. And I haven’t started yet!

“This is all those madmen’s fault… it’s always them… No, no! Stop thinking and focus, Andreu!” I punch my face. “Where was I…? Yes, copying the champion. Let’s do this quickly.”

Copying the champion is easy. I just need to select it as the base for the new one. This way, the Champion I’ll use in the Mystery Event will look the same as my usual champion.

The only differences will be the skills and stats I’ll have. And this brings me to a difficult decision.

“Which innate skill do I want?”

I can pick whatever skill I feel is the strongest. I can pick a dragon’s breath, for example. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll properly synergize with my build.

For those who don’t know, synergies, even when coming from weaker skills, are usually stronger. And I’m not stupid enough to intentionally create a weaker Champion, so this method is discarded.

I’d never be so stupid as to pick a useless skill. Not for myself, at least. As for my monsters… that’s another matter.

This leaves me with two options: to either pick one of the innate skills I’m used to; or to pick one I’d like to use in the future when I upgrade my Champion with a fourth unit.

But I’m not sure how long it’ll take until I can fuse my Champion again… It’s best to stay with what I know for now. This way I can show off during the Mystery Event.

“It’s best to stay with what you know.”

From my three inmates, Rat Transformation is immediately discarded. For… well, obvious reasons. This leaves Mana Attuned and Mana Core.

“Hmm… a 10% increase in damage plus 10% MP cost reduction, or straight MP recovery that costs EP? Which one is better?”

If you ask me, both are equally valid. Mana Core is more powerful, but it’s risky to have an EP drain effect active permanently. Doubly so when I expect we’ll have to run around all the time.

I may eventually find myself unable to run because my EP falls to zero. If that happens when a Calamity is near… I shiver.

“Usually this isn’t a big problem because I can take rests during Dungeon Invasions. But this isn’t a valid strategy this time.”

So… Cool and risky? Or safe but boring?

You know me. I’d 1.000% go with the cool and risky any day.

But I can’t today. It hurts me, but I can’t. Not after angering Marta. I know she’ll be roaming the labyrinth searching for Clara, but after taunting her, she’ll be paying extra attention to me. If she spots me or detects my presence, she’ll do everything she can to beat me to a pulp. I can’t take unnecessary risks today.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have provoked her… Next time I’ll be more cautious…” I start laughing uncontrollably when I remember her angry face. “Pfft…! Fufufu… Hahaha! Who am I trying to deceive? I’d do the same a hundred times over.”

Furthermore, I can give myself other MP skills. Like MP Boost.

‘Didn’t you say you would stop giving every single unit you create that skill?’

Ugh… Fine. No MP Boost.

It’s Mana Attuned then. This is the innate skill I’ll pick.

“Now I must decide the other skills.”

I’ll keep my build as close to the one I’m used to as possible. The biggest differences are going to be the disappearance of Shared Voltage, the single innate skill, the stats… and Grand Finale.

Yep, I can’t bring that skill with me either, for similar reasons to Mana Core.

“Aaah, this hurts so much! My heart is about to explode! A mad scientist, without a way to blow itself up!? Where are we!? Are we in reality or what!?”

When I check the remaining time, it says fifteen minutes. The lack of time forces me to stop complaining and focus on selecting the skills.

“The other skills are the same. Since the Champion will be level 10, it means I can assign a total of 12 sp… I’m using seven, so I have to assign the remaining five. Hmm… let’s see what skills I can take and try for my future build.”

After looking around for a while, I decide where I’m going to spend the first two. One will go towards upgrading Chain Lighting, my spell of choice. My signature spell! The spell everyone relates to my Champion!

The second one… I’ll spend on Fireball.

Don’t look at me with that face! I know! I know it perfectly! It’s boring. It’s cliché. It’s the most common spell in the whole history of fantasy!

It’s lame!

But, and this is a big BUT! But I have a very good reason to pick it. And that reason is none other than the following: if I can’t explode myself, I at least demand the tools to explode the others. And what better option than the most boring and common? When I use Fireball in the future it’ll be like ‘Yeah, I don’t care about you. That’s why I won’t bother with you and use the most boring spell to get the job done.’ with a disdainful look on my face.

See? It all makes sense now.

By the way, this is the upgrade I chose for Chain Lightning.

It isn’t common, but a few times I’ve found myself in trouble because I needed to inflict damage upon a weakened enemy but I didn’t have a clear line of sight to it. At those times, using Chain Lightning didn’t always work because of the reduced damage. With this upgrade, it won’t happen anymore, as all enemies will take the same damage.

If I like it during the Mystery Event, I might upgrade my Mad Rat with it in the future.

“I don’t want more active skills. The three remaining sp, I’ll spend them on triggered or passive skills.”

What should I look for? Damage? Survivability? Utility?

“Hmm… Ah, I know!”

Since I’ve picked Indomitable Will, I’ve died a lot fewer times by ‘accidental suicide’, as I like to call it. But I still find myself at low HP after fights, forcing me to take extra breaks. Of course, I could remove the Maniac skill to avoid those problems, but… where would the fun be if I did it? No self-harm? I’m not a saint!

So I’ve been thinking for a while that the Survival Instinct skill could help me solve those problems. And now is the perfect chance to test it! Furthermore, it’ll help me stay alive in this Mystery Event without slowing down my party.

“Nice and simple. I like it! Hahaha!”

It’s a little bit boring but it’ll have to do. This leaves two skill points.

“There’s another skill I’ve been considering for a while but didn’t dare pick up because it was too bland… Might as well test it today.”

I’m talking about Sniper.

This is one of the most common skills for ranged players, both for archers and mages. For a very simple reason: range is everything. Even more so in PvP.

Extra range against melee enemies means you have more time to attack before they can touch you. Against ranged enemies, it is even more important. If you can keep attacking the enemy from outside its range, you’re bound to win.

“I’ll reluctantly accept all those ‘boring’ skills, but… at least the last one, I want it to be incredible. Unexpected! Annoying! The least the enemies will expect it, the better! But which one can I pick…?”

I’ve got one candidate I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It’s none other than the famous Too Gross to Look At.

I can’t count the number of times players have despaired in my dungeon because of suddenly missed attacks. Attacks that should have hit suddenly deviated from their trajectory. I’m thrilled at the possibility of this happening when another player attacks me today.

But at the same time, the other day I found this stupidly overpowered skill that I’d love to test: Capacitors.

As you can see, it only works for skills that deal lightning damage and the charges can’t be accumulated. Only the charges from the last skill count. But this doesn’t make this skill any less ridiculous.

Can you imagine the potential behind this skill? It’s limitless! LIMITLESS!

Furthermore, if you apply the bonus damage to Chain Lightning, a skill that deals damage to multiple enemies, the potential extra damage is ridiculous!

Let’s do some numbers.

Chain Lightning costs 200 MP, so it’ll net me 40 charges. When I have no Champion’s buff – I forgot to say it, but we won’t have it during the Mystery Event –, my SPI is 71, so the total damage from Chain Lightning is 81.

An extra 40 damage is about a 50% increase! Ridiculous! And assuming it hits all ten targets, the bonus damage rises to 400!

The downside is that it requires a special setup for this to work, added to the fact that the first skill will deal normal damage. This, and my MP banishing in an instant. But let’s forget about this ‘minor’ inconvenience.

This skill is the perfect excuse to chain Chain Lightnings. An endless lighting chain, surprising the enemy with a sudden burst of damage when they least expect it!

Lightning! Lightning everywhere! Hahaha!

“This is hard… What’s best? Extreme discomfort and despair, or unpredictable and ridiculous damage bursts? Ugh, it’s hard to choose…”

After a while of delivering, when I watch the clock and realize five minutes are remaining, I end up choosing Capacitors. The reason is that I’ve seen Too Gross to Look At in action a lot of times but have no idea how useful Capacitors will be. I have to test it now that I have the perfect chance.

“I must assign the stats quickly. I have no time to waste!”

When I open the character sheet, it displays a 60 on all the stats; except for HP, EP, and MP, which are multiplied by ten; and SPD, which is divided by ten. I test the limits, and I can move each one down to 20, or up to a maximum of 100.

I’m sure the minimum and maximum are to prevent any player from completely screwing up their Champion; while, at the same time, preventing experienced players from min-maxing the hell out of it.

My dump stats are DEX and AGI, so I leave them at 20. I then raise the most important stats, SPI and MP, to the maximum of 100. I raise SPD to the usual 7 to keep it the same as I’m used to. As for the rest, I balance them the best I can according to my needs.

This is how my character sheet ends up looking after everything is finished.

If you’re curious, the reason I don’t leave STR at 20 is that I sometimes rely on my staff to fight melee enemies. A hit here and there between casts can do wonders and save a lot of MP.

“And save. Ok, this should be all… Huh? Choose the role?”

After saving the Champion, another screen pops up in front of me, asking for the roles I want to take in the party. It explains they will be taken into account when assigning everyone to the parties.

I’m sure it was explained in the rules they published about an hour ago. I must have skipped it.

“Well, it isn’t anything complex.” I just have to choose ‘ranged’, ‘mage’, and ‘AoE’. “...here, aaaaand… Done!”

Right before the time ends, I finish the process of creating my Champion for this Mystery Event.

 

The DMA developers wanted to create a game where each unit felt unique instead of being a copy of all the others, just with a different appearance. That’s why they created the Innate Skills, and also the reason they locked the stats of each unit.

Given the chance to assign stats freely, every Champion would have ended up having the same stats and feel as all the others with a similar role. This way, players were forced to adapt and improve their Champions in unique ways… which, in the end, created a more appealing experience. Players, especially roleplayers, loved this approach.