Even after Balmy’s slap, I still can’t believe the description of the items that appeared inside the golden and black box. The box, lined with red velvet, has two compartments, each one containing one of the items.

“Wow! I never expected to find something like this…!” I say, rubbing my cheek. “We hit the jackpot! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

In the left compartment, there’s a yellow crystal shard. Its size perfectly fits my hand. The window displaying its information goes like this:

Buddug’s Daze When activated, stun the target unit for 10 seconds. Has a single use.

There’s only one way I can express my thoughts when reading it. It goes like this: WHAT THE FUCK!?

Crowd control skills are considered the strongest in DMA because of the disadvantages they create. Not being able to defend, avoid, or attack properly is worse than any damage you could take, as long as it isn’t a lethal amount. That’s why most crowd control (CC) skills have low damage output, are difficult to control, or have some type of drawback.

In fact, the strongest CC in DMA is an Abyss-exclusive skill that forces another unit to stay immobile for five seconds.

But even that has a chance to backfire!

Furthermore, it just immobilizes, it doesn’t stun!

In case you’re curious, when affected by either, you can’t move or use skills, although you can keep using those skills that were already activated during immobilization. But the biggest difference between the two is your perception of the surroundings. When you’re stunned, you can’t perceive your surroundings.

That’s a HUGE difference. That’s why there isn’t a single stun in the game that lasts for more than one or two seconds.

But this one lasts ten!

During combat, ten seconds is an eternity. Most battles don’t last that long.

…although I must admit that most battles are against weaker enemies, so maybe it isn’t the best example. Fights against bosses can, and usually do, last several minutes.

This item is busted! OP! And it doesn’t have any drawbacks at all!

Well, it isn’t like you can yolo and achieve miracles with it. If this were an RPG, it wouldn’t be possible to use this item to defeat the final boss when you’re at level 1. It simply wouldn’t work. Even if stunned for ten seconds, the boss would laugh at your pathetic attacks, which would inflict no damage to it.

I salivate, imagining all the things I could do with this item. The possibilities are endless. But I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve any of my wild fantasies. After all, I’m sure we’ll have to use it when fighting the Calamity in the lava region. I’m sure it isn’t possible to bring it out of this Mystery Event anyway.

All Calamities must have one or two hidden aces they use when the situation turns dire. That’s why using Buddug’s Daze without a plan could be useless. We’ll have to put the Calamity into a situation that forces them to use their hidden ace, and then strike back with this item.

If we do it properly, we’re sure to win! Hahaha!

The other item is a bit more mysterious. It’s a pure white orb, with intricate patterns not only on the surface but also on the inside. It shines when the light hits it, creating a fascinating spectacle. What captivates me the most is the material it’s made of. For some reason, I can’t stop thinking it looks like water droplets stopped in time, intricately connected to maintain an impossible structure in three dimensions.

Is it made out of ice…? I’m not sure. But it looks like it’d break if you were to touch it. Its description is even more mysterious.

Tears of a Fallen Kingdom (Incomplete)

This item couldn’t be finished because it required a special component. When you feed it the component, it’ll become complete and its functions will be revealed. This item will break if it takes damage.

Missing component: Soul of a Calamity.

Think about it carefully. A hidden item that requires you to kill one of the strongest players in DMA for it to work, and that you have to protect because it’ll break if it takes damage…

I don’t know what kind of effect it will have, but it must be something that would put Buddug’s Daze to shame. I’m sure of it. I can feel it in my bones.

So… As I was saying, we’ve hit the jackpot! Fufufu! Hahaha!

“This doesn’t make any sense…” Thunder Thighs, who’s right next to me, observing the items inside the black box, has the word ‘impossible’ written on her face. “There was nothing inside the box when I opened it before.”

“Is that so? Maybe you didn’t check it properly?” I haven’t finished talking and a shiver runs down my spine. She’s glaring at me. “I’m joking, alright? Don’t take everything I say seriously…”

She relaxes her expression but continues to glare in my direction. Come on, Andreu! You must quickly make something up.

Ah! This makes sense. No, it must be the truth.

“This place was hidden, right? And we got here thanks to you. But the box was empty until Balmy opened it… It must be a secret piece. Something that wouldn’t appear unless we, a team with the objective to ‘Defeat a Calamity’, were guided by another team into this place. Furthermore, both items have to do with Calamities, don’t they? There was no way we would find this place without your help… So it’s thanks to you too.”

“Hmm… it makes sense…” She nods.

Fiuuu! Dodged the bullet!

I look at the items inside the black box one more time and greedily extend my hand in their direction. “Now, I’ll secure the items. They’ll serve us well in the future, I’m sure of it.”

Give me the OP! It’s mine! Mine and only mine!

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Nooooooo!” Balmy puts herself between my hand and the box. “I found them, so they’re mine!”

“You mean, they’re ours.” I make sure to emphasize the word ours so she understands. “You were the one who opened the box, but they are for our team, not just for you. For both our teams, I mean.”

She struggles to find a way out.

“Hmm… Fine. They’re ours. But I found them, so I’ll carry the box!”

“This box is almost as big as you. You should give it to me instead.” Gimme the OP! Come on!

Balmy crosses her arms over her flat chest, furrowing her eyebrows. “I may be small but I can do it. If I said I’ll carry the box, is because I can.”

Oho, so you want to play this game, huh? So stubborn… But I know a way to break in kids like you.

“I was saying it because I’m worried, you know? Moo and Muribelle can’t take it because they’re in melee range most of the time. What if they break it by accident? And you’re too short to carry it properly. But not me. I, who stays in the back, can easily carry it, without risk of it breaking. Can’t you see it’s the best?”

“...”

Not sure what to say to counter my argument, she continues to glare at me but doesn’t say anything.

It’s time to bring the big guns out, it seems.

“Also… it says it here, right? It says that it can break. Since the box is so big relative to your size, what will you do if you have to run from a monster?” I make a nasty, sly grin. “Will you leave the box behind? Can you ensure the safety of the items? And if they break because you were so stubborn, and we end up dead because of it, will you take responsibility?”

She shivers. I’m sure she’s imagining everyone blaming her for her mistake. It takes a while, but she ends up moving to the side.

“... you can have the box.” Balmy finally relents, lowering her head. “But you must tell everyone I was the one who found them.”

“Yeah, sure, sure. I’ll do it.”

Heh! Easy. Too easy. Like stealing candy from a child.

I snatch the box away before anyone can complain, keeping it safe in my robes. I put a hidden pocket precisely for this kind of stuff.

OP items, acquired!

Just in case, we search the rest of the room for more hidden pieces, but we find nothing of note. We can now leave this place and go fight the Calamity. With Buddug’s Daze, it’ll be easy.

Calaban’s party must have completed their mission. Now it’s time for them to keep their part of the deal.

As we leave, I ask Calaban. “By the way, Calaban. What’s up with your quest? Did you receive the points? Is there an extra reward, perhaps?”

“Oh, uh… The quest was completed as soon as we climbed down the stairs,” he says. “The reward was the one we expected. We could have left, but Thunder Thighs insisted on investigating this place, saying there must be something else… It turns out she was right.”

“Yeah…”

Could it be there were more hidden pieces in the other places? If so, I’d have loved to get one of the golems from the golem forge. They must be quite powerful, given how strong that rogue golem was.

“Should we try to find more parties? We can go back and search for more hidden pieces.”

“No,” I shake my head. “It’d be a waste of time. Remember that the Mystery Event has a time limit. We have slightly more than an hour left now, we don’t have time to retrace our steps. Though we can try to recruit more players on our way.”

“You’re right.”

“So… how many points did you get for completing the quest?” The info about the event said there would be extra points, but not how many.

“Wait a moment. Let me check… Huh? What’s this?” Calaban tilts his head with a dumbfounded look.

“What’s what?”

“No, well…” He says, pointing at a screen I can’t see. “...under our original mission, there’s something else written now. Another mission…? But it wasn’t there when we cleared our first one…”

“Another mission? Was it unlocked when we found the items?” I quickly check my mission list, but there’s only one, the one that says to ‘Defeat a Calamity’. “It shouldn’t be because of it. I only have the original one.”

“Yeah, me too!” Adds Balmy. “I just have our original one.”

“That’s weird…”

Calaban starts thinking about how could this happen, but I have an idea. “Maybe it’s because you already cleared the first one. Maybe we’ll get it after defeating a Calamity. But more importantly. What does this mission say?”

“It… it doesn’t say anything? Both the title and the objectives are filled with interrogation signs.”

“No luck here, huh?” I exhale.

It’s a shame. And here I was, hoping to get an important clue from it. Well, we at least know that there’s something more in this Mystery Event. Something we can try to solve to get more points and possibly, extra rewards.

----------------------------------------

“Shhh. Don’t make any noise from here on.” With a finger over my lips, I order everyone to stay silent. “We’re getting close.”

Everyone nods and shuts up. We resume walking.

We’re right next to the lava-filled cavern. To be precise, we’re in the same tunnel we used to approach the Calamity the first time. Soon, the tunnel will turn to the right and we’ll be face-to-face with him.

“Is that a player’s corpse? It’s the first one I’ve seen!”

Moo, walking in the lead, is the first one to notice. Laying in the middle of the connection to the lava-filled cave, there’s a humanoid corpse.

“You’re right. It’s the first one.” Muribelle agrees in a low voice.

“It isn’t!” Counters Balmy. “We found a skeleton in the last place we visited.”

“Everyone shut up,” I repeat. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first or the hundredth. We’re here for something else. Stick to the plan.”

Like the first time, we stick next to the cave opening and take a peek inside. The corpse is just one meter away from us now, which makes me realize something I didn’t see before.

The corpse, it’s black. No… it’s turning black.

“Why is it turning black…?” I mutter. “It reminds me of those monsters in the ghost ci– What!?”

Suddenly, the corpse twitches.

This should be impossible. Unlike in real life, where corpses might move because of a multitude of reasons, in the game corpses never move.

When I look at it, I can see in real-time how the corpse’s appearance changes. It grows a beastly mouth and claws. Its lower body swells up and enlarges, turning it into a grotesque being.

Then, an HP bar appears on top of its head and it stands up. When it sees us, standing right next to it, it growls and jumps at us.

Moo jumps back, surprised. “Fuck!”

“Aaah, don’t hit me!” Balmy quickly hides behind me.

So that’s why there are no corpses left! Because they awaken as monsters after a while. Yet another mystery solved by the great rat detective.

It isn’t time to congratulate myself for the discovery. We’ve been discovered.

“More intruders? I just got rid of another group… Well, I must do my job.” A man’s voice reaches us from inside the cave.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]

“...

I’m sure you already know, but weapons, armor, and everything else you can customize your Champion with are just cosmetics. Even the different weapon types do little more than change your reach and the skills you can use. But did you know there are exceptions to this rule?

For starters, there are the quest items, puzzle pieces, and similar stuff. Things that players can create for the invaders, to make the dungeon more interesting and appealing. They usually don’t give extra powers unless the dungeon owner wants to.

Other items do change one’s performance, though they’re restricted to certain factions. The one with the most options of them all, the Stone Lords, the dwarves, can create their own weapons and armor and give them special effects. They can’t raise stats with items, though, but they can give them special properties like elemental types. The most appealing of them all are firearms. They can change the barrel size, the ammunition before reloading, the fire rate… The more expensive they can make a weapon, the stronger their Champions and monsters can be. That’s their biggest strength.

Of course, the game balances it by adding the cp cost to create the weapons to the Champion’s and monster’s costs. It’d be too imbalanced otherwise.

…”

- Random ‘knowledge drilling’ done by Ricard.