So, now that everything I did this past week has been explained, there’s still something that I need to do. And it’s upgrading the units that were already created, my Champion included.
The player level 3 allows for units to be upgraded up to level 4. It’s always up to one level higher. But I don’t have enough cp for upgrading every unit, so I’m going to focus first on the Champion, and then on the rest of the units until I’m out of cp.
The Mad Rat is currently level 2, so to reach level 4 I need to upgrade it twice. 25 cp for level 3, and 45 cp for level 4. A total of 70 cp. It isn’t a very high amount, but it quickly adds up when upgrading a lot of units.
“After the upgrade, I now have two skill points. And since I already have one non-innate skill of each type, I can either choose to add new skills or to upgrade the ones I already have…”
I’m very interested in the upgrades for the Maniac skill… please, keep the secret between us… but this last week I died twice more because of this skill. Yep, the 10% cost as HP seems nothing the few first casts, but when you are taking damage from enemy attacks at the same time… it’s not that easy to prevent the suicide from happening.
So I look at the upgrades for the Maniac skill. There’s only three, and all look good. But no way I’m going to take the Extreme upgrade. It would go in the exact opposite direction to what I want to achieve.
Maniac (Passive skill) Skills that need MP to be casted deal 30% more damage and the chance to inflict status effects is doubled. When using those skills, 10% of the MP amount used is also reduced from the current HP. This skill can kill you. Available Upgrades Expert: Reduces the HP loss by 5% of the MP cost. Extreme: Increase damage by another 15% and the HP loss by another 5% of the MP cost. Unpredictable: The chance to inflict status effects increases by 3 times instead of having a double chance.
With the Expert upgrade, I will reduce the amount of HP lost by half, which is exactly what I want. So it’s a no-brainer to pick this upgrade.
“Maybe, if it was a mob from the dungeon, the Extreme upgrade would be more interesting… But I NEED to survive or whatever I’m doing is lost, so no thanks…”
The Unpredictable upgrade is nice too, a simple upgrade, but it’s not what I’m looking for... and having the Expert upgrade as an option, I would never pick the Unpredictable upgrade.
“So one skill point is gone with the upgrade.” I say after upgrading the Maniac skill with the Expert upgrade. “Now for the last skill point. Should I upgrade another skill? Or obtain a new one?”
In the last dungeons, I only found a problem with the Maniac skill. Too much HP damage coming from it. But regarding the rest of the skills I’m pretty much satisfied. They deal enough damage, and the stun is working perfectly… as long as I plan it ahead of time, that is. Otherwise it can be useless.
“So yes, let’s look for a new skill! I don’t want to be stuck with only a few options if possible, even if they are very powerful. In fact, let’s look for another triggered skill to balance the amount of each skill!” Why do I want to balance things? Because yes. No particular reason.
I’ve found a perfect triggered skill to prevent suiciding myself with the Maniac passive. At least for the first time in each invasion or dungeon battle. It’s called Indomitable Will. But it isn’t the only interesting skill I found.
Indomitable Will (Triggered skill) When you are reduced to less than 10% HP, recover 20% of your maximum HP. You can’t be killed until this skill is triggered, if you would be killed, this skill is triggered instead. Can only be triggered once per Dungeon Invasion or Dungeon Battle.
Lightning Shield (Triggered skill) Cost: 10 MP per activation When you receive a melee attack, the attacker takes (5 + 0,5 * SPI) lightning damage and there’s a 20% chance that the enemy is pushed 5 meters away from you and is stunned for 1 second. This skill can only trigger once every 5 seconds against each enemy.
Eternal Prison (Triggered skill) If an enemy unit is immobilized, stunned, asleep, charmed or frightened by your skills for more than 10 consecutive seconds, extend the duration of the status effect by another 10 seconds. The time counter is independent for each type of status effect. This skill can only trigger once each minute for each enemy unit.
“Hahahaha!” I laugh. “If I get this Indomitable will skill, I can forget about killing myself again! At least, I’ll have a second chance!”
It’s a perfect way to not commit suicide anymore. But man, I like the other two skills way more.
“I mean, who cares about not dying when you can stun or immobilize enemies for so long that they are going to cry? Because I’m sure that both Cold Blast and Shared Voltage have upgrades that increase the immobilization and stun times, respectively.”
“And the Lightning Shield…” My drool starts dropping. Metaphorically, because this is a game, and I can’t actually produce drool. Except for the drool that’s continuously dropping from my character, but this and that are different things. “... free extra damage, deterrent to attack in melee range against me, it’s affected by the extra damage and double status chance from Maniac, and can also trigger Shared Voltage…”
I can already visualize mobs coming to attack me, triggering the shield, and then getting stunned by the Shared Voltage skill. “It’s a free body capture machine!”
A fun thing is that this type of shield can be picked for every elemental type. Fire, ice, lightning, etc. But of course I only look at the lightning one because it’s the one that complements the skills I already have.
“Yep, who cares about not dying when you can get an all-in-one skill that covers most of the things I would like to have right now!”
Without thinking about it any more, I pick the Lightning Shield skill. My status now looks like this.
Mad Rat (Lv 4) HP 286 (220) STA 19 (15) SOU 22 (17) EP 234 (180) MP 286 (220) STR 22 (17) CON 22 (17) AGI 24 (19) SPI 28 (22) WIL 24 (19) DEX 26 (20) SPD 7
Mad Rat - Skills Active Triggered Passive
Rat Transformation (Innate)
Chain Lightning
Cold Blast
Shared Voltage
Lightning Shield
Mana Attuned (Innate)
Maniac - Lv 2 (Expert)
Now that I finished upgrading the Champion, it’s time to go for the dungeon mobs. And the most important mobs are going to be the first ones I upgrade: the Lab Assistants. They are the cornerstone and last line of defense in this dungeon, so of course they are the most important mobs.
The assistants are currently level 2, so I upgrade them to level 4 and they get two extra skill points. I must spend the first of them in a passive skill, so that it has a skill of each type that isn’t innate, and then I can do whatever I want with the other skill point.
“The assistants already have good stats, so I’m not going to give it a stat rising passive. Those are discarded. Some kind of aura maybe? They are decently fast and the laboratories aren’t very big, so enemies are going to take damage from it for sure… Also, paired with the immobilization from the Frosty Retribution trigger, it could make a good combo.”
“Fufufu!” A very nasty idea just came to me. “What if I put an aura skill AND spend the other skill point into an active skill that allows the assistants to move through the lab? This way the enemies won’t be able to avoid taking damage from the aura, and if unlucky, the trigger will activate right next to them! Hahaha!”
And a movement skill would also solve the problem of not having any way to spend EP, because the current assistants have a lot of EP but no way to spend it other than basic attacks and running around.
“So an aura passive. Then it must be the Fire Aura skill. Both to keep the fire and ice thematic, and because the triggered skill already deals ice damage.”
I don’t want to use the In Flames passive, the one I gave to the Fiery Flies, or something similar because I don’t want the Lab Assistants to kill themselves.
Fire Aura (Passive skill) Cost: 1 MP per second (cannot be deactivated during combat) Deal (2 + 0,1 * SPI) fire damage to all units other than yourself that are within 5 meters.
The cost of the Fire Aura is something that you need to balance with the unit stats, because if it doesn't have enough MP regen, it’s going to be a constant drain that won’t allow the unit to use any other skill.
And you may say, then isn’t it an active skill? No, because it’s something that you can’t deactivate even if you want. So it’s a passive effect that consumes MP continuously. But the Lab Assistants have enough SOU and MP stats so that the aura cost isn’t going to be a problem.
I select the Fire Aura and move to look at the active skills that have movement incorporated. I find one that I like, called Jumping Smash.
Jumping Smash (Active skill) Cost: 50 EP Jump towards a place within 5 meters and deal (5 + 1,2 * STR) damage to all other units within 2 meters of the landing place.
“With this skill, the Lab Assistants can freely move through the laboratory even when taking into account all the equipment blocking the path. No one can run or hide behind the lab equipment now! Hahaha!”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
This is how the Lab Assistants look right now. I’m envious of their high stats…
Lab Assistant (Lv 4) HP 442 (340) STA 29 (23) SOU 32 (25) EP 312 (240) MP 364 (280) STR 33 (26) CON 41 (32) AGI 24 (19) SPI 41 (32) WIL 44 (34) DEX 49 (38) SPD 6 INT 5 COM 3 Skills
Active: Fireball, Jumping Smash Triggered: Frosty Retribution Passive: Mana Attuned (Innate), Stoneskin (Innate), Fire Aura
Regarding the rest of the mobs, the Demonic Swarmers are already level 3, so I’ll leave them like this for now. But the Stitched are level 1 except for the leaders, who are level 2 right now.
“I think I can upgrade them all to level 2. Maybe the ones that will come with me to the dungeon invasions can be level 3? I can now bring up to 300 cp value units with me when I start a dungeon invasion. Also, I don’t have enough cp to upgrade them all to level 3…”
For now, I upgrade all the Braindead Mobs to level 2 and add the same skill I gave to the Braindead Leaders: Toxic Spit. In this way they will blend together and it’s going to be more difficult to differentiate them.
Braindead Mob (Lv 2) HP 66 (60) STA 5 (5) SOU 3 (3) EP 55 (50) MP 33 (30) STR 5 (5) CON 7 (7) AGI 2 (2) SPI 4 (4) WIL 4 (4) DEX 1 (1) SPD 3 INT 1 COM 0 Skills
Active: Toxic Spit Passive: Too Gross To Look At
Now all stitched inside the dungeon are going to have a way to defend themselves from ranged assaults.
“The stitched that come with me into invasions are the only ones remaining.”
It’s true… the Death Butterflies are also on the list, but I don’t want to upgrade them. They are useful as they are, so why should I spend cp into them?
“Let’s start with the Kidnapper!”
For the Kidnapper, I still don’t want it to enter combat, so I’m going to look for skills that increase its survivability only. And I think I already know which triggered skill I can give it. I found it when looking for my Champion skills.
God’s Intervention (Triggered skill) When you would be killed, you are reduced to 1 HP instead and ignore all damage and status effects for the next 5 seconds. Can only be triggered once per Dungeon Invasion or Dungeon Battle.
“See? Very similar to the Indomitable Will, right? But at the same time there’s enough difference so that they are used in very different circumstances. This one is almost useless when paired with Maniac. But if I want the Kidnapper to survive combat, it’s actually way more useful.”
Without doubting anymore, I select the God's Intervention skill.
With the last skill point I must pick an active skill. Ideally a defensive skill that can be used both outside of combat and during combat.
Fortify (Active skill) Cost: 20 EP Reduce the damage from the next attack or skill by (5 + 2 * CON) points.
“Simple, but effective. It only works for one attack, so it’s a little flimsy. But it can be used outside of combat and lasts until it receives damage, so it’s a nice skill to add to the Kidnapper since I want it to survive as much as possible.”
This is a nice skill for units that aren’t supposed to receive a lot of attacks. In intense combat, activating this skill would cost you more EP than the damage reduction is worth. And you also need some time to activate the skill, so it’s even more useless in melee.
Braindead Kidnapper (Lv 3) HP 72 (60) STA 6 (5) SOU 3 (3) EP 60 (50) MP 36 (30) STR 6 (5) CON 8 (7) AGI 2 (2) SPI 4 (4) WIL 4 (4) DEX 1 (1) SPD 3 INT 2 COM 0 Skills
Active: Fortify Triggered: God's Intervention Passive: Intelligent
Now the only thing remaining is to level up the Followers. I calculated the cp value of the stitched after reaching level 3 and it’s 55 cp. So, including the cost of the Kidnapper, I can bring exactly 5 other level 3 stitched with me in invasions. Which is one more than the amount I was already bringing.
“Nice! I can create one more stitched, and can level them all to level 3 and still bring them with me!”
This time, again, I don’t bother looking for another active skill and select the Toxic Spit. “Why change what I already know it’s working?”
Only the triggered skill is missing. I mostly use them as a meat shield, so I select one that will help them to do their work better.
Survival Instinct (Triggered skill) When you have less than 30% HP, regenerate 1% HP per second.
“Again, simple but effective. Now I won’t need to be so preoccupied about them dying to weak mobs.”
This skill is incredibly good against weak opponents, but utterly useless against strong enemies that can deal more with a single attack. This makes the skill very good for invading dungeons, which are usually filled with weak mobs; but utterly useless for defending dungeons and dungeon battles, because of the powerful Champions.
“Well… Not exactly. Because there’s an exception. A strong character with lots of HP and this skill can be quite annoying, and the skill isn’t useless anymore even versus Champions. What I was saying applies only to weak mobs.”
Braindead Follower (Lv 3) HP 72 (60) STA 6 (5) SOU 3 (3) EP 60 (50) MP 36 (30) STR 6 (5) CON 8 (7) AGI 2 (2) SPI 4 (4) WIL 4 (4) DEX 1 (1) SPD 3 INT 2 COM 0 Skills
Active: Toxic Spit Triggered: Survival Instinct Passive: Intelligent
“Well, I finally finished upgrading the dungeon! And I’m poor again!” I say after looking at the cp value. Currently I can’t even create a new stitched.
Maybe you would be asking yourselves how could I get so many cp to build new dungeon parts, create new units, and even upgrade so many units…
It’s easy to understand. Really easy. My dungeon is being invaded by other players all the time, so even if they manage to beat the dungeon, there’s a constant influx of cp and xp from so many invasions.
“Though I don’t really understand why this is happening… From what I could read in guides and other player’s comments, my dungeon should be too new to have so many players diving into it. It’s not about being good or bad, it’s that not enough players should know about its existence yet.”
“Suspicious… Well, it’s good for me, so who cares! Hahaha!”
[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
“If you see an innocent rabbit, suspect it might be waiting for you to look away to attack you.
If you see an unassuming rock, inspect it to make sure it is not a camouflaged creature or trap waiting for you to step on it and blow you up.
If you see an entrance to a simple dark corridor, make sure it’s not the inside of a creature waiting to swallow you whole once you step into it.
And if you see a very creepy tree with eyes that’s clearly following you… that means… it is probably a critter. ‘Critters aren’t dangerous’, you say? In this dungeon EVERYTHING is dangerous!! Step on it, cut it, and then burn it until not even ashes remain!”
- Extract from the Chapter ‘Relearning exploration’ from ‘How to Stay Sane in The Mad Rat’s Lab’.