The Mad Rat's Lab

Chapter 286 - You’ve got it all wrong


"My idea goes like this: we'll put the Mimic again as a door, but this time it'll occupy the entrance door to the security checkpoint instead of the exit. This way they won't expect it!"

Clara shakes her head at my plan.

"I don't think it's a good idea… They know we used it as the trigger to the monster arena, we can't expect them to kill the Mimic after this."

Oh, no, no, no, Clara. You missed the most important point! And that point is…

"What are you saying? Of course, we'll change the trigger to another monster, one they never expected. For example… yes. Let's choose the most dangerous one in the first laboratory. If they fight the Mimic, it'll be ok. If they ignore it, it'll be a pain to run away because it sucks its prey inside its body. It'll be a wasted effort anyway, as the trigger will be somewhere else…"

My sister slams the table with her hand. "Ah, we're playing with them again! They'll have no right choice!"

"You're right, hahaha!"

Aren't I smart? I'm always a step ahead! Hahaha!

We continue planning how we are going to defeat Ricard and Laura in our next match for a while, until we hear the door open, followed by the steps of someone walking in our direction.

"...what are you doing?" I hear Marta's voice behind me. "It's weird to see you two in the dining room like this."

Oh, that. There's a reason why we're here.

"Mom got angry at us because we've been spending too much time playing games lately, even if it's the summer break. So we're doing what we can do outside the game to appease her." I explain.

"Yeah!"

Clara nods, turning her head around to make sure our mom isn't nearby. Being a writer, she spends most of the time at home, so you never know if she's lurking nearby....

"She threatened to confiscate our virtual reality helmets! It's unfair that you can do whatever you want, but we can't…"

Yeah, yeah. Clara is right! It's unfair that, just because she makes money out of it, Marta gets different treatment from Clara and me. We get scolded for wasting our time playing games all day, while she gets to do whatever she pleases.

This is unfair! I demand equal treatment! Equal treatment for everyone!

'E, qual, treatment! E, qual, treatment!' I shout inside my head. This is the only safe way to protest without putting my gaming sessions into even more trouble.

"There's nothing I can do about that," Marta shrugs. "But I might be able to help you with whatever you're doing. I heard you talk about using a Mimic or something like that, I believe?"

"Yes. We have this monster arena and use the Mimic's death as the trigger…"

'E, qual, treatment! E, qual, treatment! ...'

I lose track of my surroundings, immersed in my life's injustice, repeating the same thoughts again and again. Meanwhile, Marta and Clara keep talking.

Suddenly, someone starts waving a hand in front of my face. "...hello? Earth to Andreu, is anyone here?" Marta says. "I don't mind it if you do it when you're alone, but can you at least stop making such stupid faces in front of me? I hate it when people think I'll be like you just because we're siblings."

It isn't until Marta slights me that I snap out of my internal conflict.

"Eh…? Uh, ah… yeah. I'm here. I'm sorry about that, I was… in deep contemplation. Hahaha!" I force a laugh, scratching my cheek.

My two sisters look at me with a weird look. Then, after a while of waiting for them to say something, anything at all, as they continue to stare at me, Marta takes the seat right in front of me.

"Tell me. I might be able to help you."

Marta offers to listen to us and provide assistance, acting all high and mighty. I make sure to put on a poker face, acting as if I'm not interested, and start to explain that we want to participate in the next event, how we plan to train for it, and what we did in the two matches. Clara also participates in the explanation.

Although I act as calm and collected as I can…

Hahaha! Ricard and Laura are in for a hard time! With a professional player on our side, our victory is all but guaranteed!

…yeah, those are my real thoughts on the matter.

As we explain, Marta's face starts to turn sour. Although it's clear there's something she wants to say, she allows us to finish.

"And this is why we're now planning how to beat Ricard and Laura in our next match." I end the explanation.

After we finish, Clara and I wait for Marta to talk. She's the one who offered to help, so she should be the one to say something first, right? But instead, she keeps hesitating. She opens her mouth just to close it right after a few times.

"Hmm… how do I say this…" she finally speaks, "you're approaching it from the wrong angle."

I tilt my head. "What do you mean?"

Marta is the one who has emerged victorious from that event, in the single-player mode at that, which is the most competitive one, so she should know best. But I don't understand what she means if she doesn't explain further than that.

"The training, those matches you're doing. You're looking at it from the wrong angle." She repeats.

Clara slams the table. "I knew we shouldn't have followed everything Ricard said without questioning! He isn't reliable at all! We should have looked for detailed information instead of believing everything he said!"

She's right. I'll never admit it, mostly because I'm too lazy to spend time searching for that, but she's right.

"Yeah, Ricard is so unreliable..." I nod, focusing on the part that matters. For now, let's put all the blame on him. "So… what are we doing wrong, Marta?"

"Hmm… it isn't that what you're doing is completely useless, but there are several parts that won't help you."

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After saying that, Marta crosses her arms and leans back on the chair. She's adopting that know-it-all attitude that I hate so much. Just wait and see, I'm sure she'll start any time now.

Ugh… how much I hate it when she does that. I hate it, but I need to listen. So I'll have to put up with her for now.

"For starters, it's pretty useless to train 2vs2 when the matches you want to participate in are 4vs4. Not only the complexity but also the teamwork you require are completely different. What you practice on 2vs2 matches will have little to no use in the 4vs4 ones."

"Oooh…!"

Contrary to my current feelings, Clara seems to appreciate Marta's explanation. She really admires our older sister, huh?

I kind of admire her too…

…!? Who said that!? Come on, raise your hand, don't be scared... I'm just going to kill you…!

"But that isn't the most problematic part. Although your teamwork will suffer if you don't train together and your tactics won't be adequate, it isn't the worst part." Marta pauses and looks straight at me, locking her eyes with mine. "Putting so much effort into designing your dungeon defense is a good thing to do, but why are you wasting so much time on it when you don't know if you'll reach the point where it matters?"

"?"

Clara and I tilt our heads at the same time. I'm sure there's a huge interrogation mark on top our our heads right now, but I can't see it because I'm looking at Marta and there are no mirrors behind her.

"...what do you mean?" I tentatively ask.

Marta heavily exhales, shaking her head. For some reason, I feel like she expected my question, but at the same time, she's disappointed I asked it.

"Why do you think this tournament is so important? Why do you think so many people watch the battles, unlike the other ones?"

"Isn't it because it's the one that bears the game's name?" Clara asks tentatively.

After hearing Clara's assumption, Marta covers her face with one hand and groans. "Ugh… No, no. While it's true it's called Dungeon Masters Arena, that isn't the reason."

Marta takes out her phone and starts fiddling with it.

"I have it here because I'm participating too… Here it is," she turns her phone in our direction and points somewhere in the middle of a large wall of text. "It says it here: 'Only the best 50 teams for each category will be allowed to participate in the tournament…' That's why there are so many spectators, they know the matches will be worth it."

Wait, what!? Why did nobody tell us about this!?

Our sister observes my and Clara's behavior. Mine in particular must be quite amazing, as my mouth is hanging open so low it's almost touching the table.

"Your teammate, the one who asked you to participate… He isn't very reliable, huh?" Marta sends me a pitiful look.

I shake my head. "He… he isn't."

Fuck Ricard! I'm going to skin him alive after this! I'll throw him into my sister's dungeon and watch him despair as all his precious MP is drained away. No, wait. Now that I think about it, there's no need for me to suffer too. I'll throw him inside and ask Clara to make sure he doesn't leave. Yeah, that's a lot better.

"Tsk! You should know to choose your teammates wisely, Andreu…"

Marta shakes her head. She sounds pitiful, but for some reason, the tips of her lips are tilted upwards. She's enjoying this, isn't she?

Then, as if a light bulb had suddenly turned on inside her head, Marta grabs my arm, as well as Clara's, and, her eyes gleaming dangerously, locks eyes with me.

"Anyway, don't worry. Andreu, Clara. I'm going to help you train for the Dungeon Masters Arena tournament. I'll make sure to train you up to the point you're guaranteed to get one of the fifty places."

I… I have a bad feeling about this. I wonder why…?

"Ooooh! Thank you, Marta!" Clara jumps from her seat and hugs Marta. "I love you!"

"Hahaha, calm down, Clara." Marta happily hugs her back. "I'm busy preparing for the 1vs1, but I'll do my best to help you two."

"If you're so busy, there's no need for you to–"

Cutting me off before I can finish speaking, Marta starts explaining what we need to know. Unlike Ricard, who tends to waste time with unnecessary details and forget the important parts, she knows how to keep it short and never misses the point.

"We'll talk about it in more depth in the future, but what you need to know for now is this. All teams must first compete between them to get one of the fifty places. For this, you'll be assigned to random dungeons and will have to clear them before the other team does. You'll obtain points, and those who obtain the most, the top fifty, will be the ones participating in the phase everyone will watch."

She explains it as if it were something incredibly novel, but it sounds familiar.

"You'll set up a dungeon that the other teams will have to invade. The game will then assign you another team as your opponents, and you'll enter each other's dungeon."

"…Isn't this the same as the other event?" I ask.

"Not really."

Marta, struggling to talk because Clara is still stuck to her like glue, shakes her head.

"Unlike that time, you'll have time to prepare before the invasion starts. The game will give you information about 50% of all the monsters, traps, etc, as well as fill the map by the same amount. Using this, you'll have to plan how to invade the dungeon."

Aha, so we'll have information from the start. This certainly is different.

"The points you obtain will increase the better you perform, and, unlike the other event, it doesn't matter what the enemies do inside your dungeon for the points you get. The DMA staff wants to get the best teams. They want to know how good you are at planning and working with limited information to ensure you'll perform adequately in the real event."

"Aha, aha…"

If what she says is true – which I assume it is, she wouldn't lie to Clara. To me, maybe, but not to her –, this will be a lot harder than I thought.

"Can we change our monsters during the event?" Asks Clara.

"Not during either part, but you'll be able to between the two parts. At that point, you'll know the other forty-nine teams and must strategize to deal with them. That, too, is part of the challenge."

Marta then explains that the rules Ricard told us are those that will work only after the fifty teams are chosen.

"This is why your training isn't good. You're mostly taking into consideration the defense of your dungeon when you won't be able to modify anything at all during the classification."

"Damn…"

As I said before, I'm going to skin Ricard alive.

After a bit more explanation and answering a few questions, Marta's phone starts ringing.

"Oh, I must leave right now." She says. "Tell your friends I'll help you, okay? The best way will be to imitate what you'll find. I'll create a special area in my dungeon, give you the information about 50% of what I put there, and you'll have to manage the rest on your own."

She's right. There's no need to waste more time with that training now. Thank god, because I was starting to run out of ideas…

Suddenly, my thoughts stop.

Ah, wait! If we don't have a third match, I'll never know what happens after we put the three pendant pieces together! This can't be! I can't allow this! I need to knoooooooow!

…Sigh, I'll have to make do with reading the dungeon's description we wrote at the start.

Before Marta leaves, call her. "...Marta."

"Yes?"

She turns around, waiting for me to continue.

"...thank you."

Instead of giving a proper answer, the turns around with a sly smile. Then, she leaves the dining room, leaving Clara and me alone in the room.

"Let's see if you say the same after my training… Hahaha."

I can't properly hear what Marta says, but for some reason, a shiver runs down my spine right at that moment.

"There are three things you must never do:

You must never ask Ricard for his opinion about the undead faction. Your body will have long turned to dust by the time he finishes.

You must never use the words 'Mad Rat' and 'Despair' in the same phrase in the forums, unless you want to summon them.

And you must never accept your older sister's offer to help."

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