The Mad Rat's Lab

"Aagh…" I groan. "Why did it have to be this, today?" My gaze wanders around, inspecting every single imperfection in the corridor in front of me. "Why couldn't you put instant-death monsters instead of this…?"

I'd rather have to fight monsters that can kill me with a single touch, or even just their voice, than this. At least with those, I can intentionally make a mistake, get killed, and be done with it.

"Shut up and do it." Marta's voice comes from above. She, as well as my teammates, are watching me from a viewing platform raised about four or five meters above the ground. "This is an important part of the training, too. Basic motricity and reflexes, both indispensable for good players."

I know, but still…

"Sigh. Yes, sir. I'll do it…"

My eyes scan the passage for the umpteenth time. Traps, traps, traps… and you guess what? Yes, even more traps! From the basic spike and arrow traps, to more special ones like the moving walls and laser beams – some of which are invisible, by the way –, the whole passage is filled with traps.

If this were all, I'd happily shuffle forward, letting whatever comes at me hit my body and be done with this… But no, of course not. This wouldn't count as training, and Marta would kill me if I were to do it.

…In real life, I mean. If it were inside the game, it'd be okay; it'd free me from this suffering.

As you might have already imagined from my tone of voice and grumbling, the training isn't that simple. 'Cross the passage without getting hit once.' That's what I must do. It sounds simple, but…

Do you want to take my place? …no? I thought so.

Furthermore, even if I get hit, I'll have to complete the course until the end. And then, once I complete it, Marta will rearrange the traps, and I'll have to start again, repeating the process as many times as necessary. I can't even take it leisurely after getting hit because she'll get angry at my lack of effort.

"Brother, you can do it! Go, go, goooo!"

"Good luck, Mad Rat."

"Hahaha. What are you hesitating for? Are you scared? If it were me, I'd first start by analyzing every trap's positions and creating a mental map to find the fastest and easiest path, and then…"

But that isn't the worst part. The worst part is that I'm not alone. The fact that Marta is watching me is fine; there's nothing I can do to lower her opinion of me. The problem is that Laura, Clara, and Ricard are watching too.

According to Marta, 'Learning from others' failures is as important as learning from your own'.

If so… Why do I have to be the first to do this!? I want to learn from my teammate's errors, too! Let me watch – and enjoy – their miserable attempts at clearing this before my turn comes!

And what if I do it worse than even Ricard? Wouldn't I be the laughingstock? I can't be the laughingstock! That's Ricard's job!

Ugh… This isn't just physical torture (also called training), it's psychological!

Tired of analyzing the traps ahead of me, I turn my head upwards to look at the 'spectators', particularly at Marta.

I glare at her upturned lips. Look! Look at her smile, watching everything from above with her arms crossed! That evil, awful smile! She's fooled everyone! She isn't an angel, she's the Demon Lord!

"Sigh… Let's do this…" Without any way out, I'm forced to try it.

Before I take the first step, I remind myself that the most dangerous element I must keep my eyes open for is the 'pressure plates'. According to Marta, all traps that trigger automatically when we approach or touch them, and those that are always on, like the lasers, are visible or have something that reveals their presence. But, as she said, 'There might be hidden traps triggered by pressure plates, which you must avoid at all costs. Be careful where you step.'

The smile she wore when she said that was even nastier than the one she's currently making, so I can't take it as a joke even if I want to.

Two arrow traps at different angles, followed by a hanging pendulum blade and a classic spike trap, are the first traps in my path. The thing is that, even if I say 'followed', there's almost no space between them: all the traps are within the first meter and a half, right next to the entrance.

Hmm… if I put my right foot here, then twist my body, kick the wall with my left foot to propel myself forward, and do a triple somersault, I should be able to avoid all of them…

Sounds easy, right? Riiiiight…!? Please, kill me.

With feigned confidence, I shake my body a bit to relax my muscles, do a few small jumps, and get ready for action. Then, fully concentrated, I take the first step…

*Click!*

…and a burst of fire comes from above, burning me.

The unexpected outcome makes me flinch, and the two arrows land on my thigh and abdomen. Hit by three of the three traps, I've failed already, and one of my legs hasn't even left the starting zone!

I can hear laughter coming from above, but don't feel ashamed. What I feel is something else: frustration.

"...the fuck!?" I shout. "How am I supposed to clear this if you put a pressure plate right next to the door!? Are you trying to make a fool out of me, Mar–"

A hand covers my mouth before I can say her full name.

"Shht!" Marta whispers next to my ear. "Never say the real name in-game, regardless of the situation."

H-huh!? W-when did she come here!? …no, this isn't what matters.

I push her hand away and start complaining. "Sorry for that, but how do you expect me to react when you force me to go through something like this!? I'm sure you're just doing this to piss me off! There's no way to clear this by dodging all the traps!"

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Instead of getting angry at my accusations as I expected, Marta just looks at me with a serious and thoughtful expression, her index finger on her chin.

"Hmmm… Alright." She nods to herself. "I was expecting you to realize it on your own, but I guess I was expecting too much. I thought if anyone would pick it up without me having to explain it, it would be you... "

Did she just belittle me, or was it some form of distorted praise? I'm not sure…

Without waiting for an answer, Marta goes around me and approaches the 'trial'. She waves her hand to get everyone's attention.

"Listen well, everyone, this is very important." She grabs my arm and drags me closer. I can't resist; her strength is ridiculous compared to mine. Tsk, OP Champion… "Today's training is different from all the others because there are two things you must learn before we continue. Two indispensable skills for any good DMA player."

Marta locks eyes with me and makes another one of those nasty smiles.

"First lesson: the best way to deal with traps isn't to avoid them, it's to trigger them at your convenience."

Suddenly, she pulls my hand forward, right into one of the arrow traps' paths. With a thud, the arrow leaves the hole in the wall, but before it can touch my hand, she pulls back, lets the arrow pass by, and puts my hand in the path once more, almost as if playing with it.

It all happens in a fraction of a second.

But what catches my attention isn't Marta's ridiculous skill and coordination – I swear I could feel my hand touching both ends of the arrow without suffering a single scratch – but something else.

For a short time after the arrow is shot, she holds my hand inside the arrow's path, but no arrows come. It isn't until about three seconds have passed, when the next arrow leaves the hole in the wall, that Marta pulls my hand back and releases her grip.

Realization strikes me as Marta resumes her explanation.

"I didn't create this trap course to torment you with impossible trap configurations. There's no way to avoid all the traps, that's true. But that's why it's good for learning. If there's no path, you just have to create your own!"

Nobody dares say anything, and silence prevails.

"Ooooh! So amazing!" Well, it doesn't. Clara can't stay silent after listening to Marta. "And what's the second lesson?"

Before answering, Marta turns back to look at me. I have a bad feeling about this…

"The second lesson is…" She intentionally pauses mid-sentence. "The second lesson is to learn to expect the unexpected!"

Before I can run away, a winged shadow appears behind me. My body is then lifted and thrown into the trap course.

"U-uaaah!"

"Or, if you aren't good at it, at least be quick enough to avoid the dangers once they pop up." I hear Marta add something, but I'm too busy flying through the air to listen.

As my body falls, I hear multiple traps activate. Several blades, spikes, and arrows pass right behind me, grazing the tips of my clothes, but none of them hit me, and I miraculously land on the ground without a single scratch.

The flight went well, but the problem is when my feet touch the ground and I hear the dreaded sound.

*Click!*

"Fuck!"

Without time to stabilize, I throw my body to the ground just in time to avoid two pointed metal bars, coming from below and above at the same time. They clash in the middle with a metallic sound before retracting back to their original positions.

Didn't Marta just try to turn me into a skewer!?

But I don't have time to express my opinion, because I hear the swishing sound of arrows coming my way. I make another roll and somehow avoid them, when the corner I end up on starts moving. The walls come closer and closer, constricting me…

My vision is suddenly replaced by bright white wings. Marta must have swooped in to rescue me from the trap hell.

"Hey, aren't you going to thank me for saving you?" She says with a sarcastic smile.

"If you hadn't thrown me inside, you wouldn't have had to save me!"

Marta clicks her tongue as she drops me into the viewing platform. "Tsk! You're no fun."

There's a bit of chaos when we arrive, mostly caused by Clara getting way too excited. Meanwhile, Laura pats my back to console me.

Ricard… Ricard is grinning like a fool. I'm not sure if he's laughing at my failure or if he's just happy that he can directly learn from Marta, even if it's just a consequence of her wanting to teach Clara and me.

"Alright, calm down, Lemon." Marta pats Clara's head to make her shut up. "What I meant with the second lesson is that you must learn to predict where traps and other unexpected elements are before it's too late. A good player can get the feeling that something isn't right before it happens."

Yeah… I know what she means. I got a bad feeling before she threw me…This is what she means, right?

"This goes hand in hand with identifying dangerous zones. It's easy to predict which path the enemies will usually take in a dungeon, and putting traps right there is a common practice. You must learn to identify those places before it's too late to react."

Marta gives us time to assimilate what she said before pointing towards the trap course.

"This is why I put the pressure plates. When you create your path, you will inevitably gravitate towards certain zones, those that seem easier; but with the pressure plates in the mix, you'll never know if that area is easier on purpose, because it has a hidden trap, or it's a simple coincidence."

Everyone nods after she finishes. Everyone but me.

"What I don't understand is why we need to learn the two together. Why can't we do one first, then the latter?" I ask.

For a moment, I can feel as if Marta were about to explode at me, but just as quickly as that feeling appears, it disappears as if it were an illusion.

"That's because it's worthless to learn one without the other," she says. "But don't worry, I'll show you first how it's done so you can copy and learn from me."

"Yes! Show us, sister! I want to see you in action!"

If she was going to show how it's done before we start the real training, why did I have to make a fool of myself at the start? Did she plan all this just to take it out on me!?

…It can be. I can believe it. I don't want to believe it, but it must be the truth. Damn Marta.

While Marta flies to the start of the trap course, Laura approaches me and asks, "Isn't this the first time we'll see your sister in action since she started training us?"

"Yes, it is."

"We were only diving into her dungeons so far… You said you were training with her long ago. Was it always like this?"

"Hmm… more or less. She made us do most of the work while she watched and just intervened when she–"

"Amazing! I get to see Anthemia playing in person, and taking a full trap course head-on, not less! Hey, Mad Rat. Is there any problem if I record everything and share it with all my friends later?"

Shut up, Ricard. I'm not in the mood to indulge your antics. Also, if you record it without her consent, she'll kill you.

Hmm… maybe I'll let him discover the truth on his own… It can work as 'stress relief', hahaha.

"No, Baldy, don't do it! Our sister doesn't like these kinds of things. She'll get mad at you if you record this."

Tsk! Clara, don't spoil the fun!

Ricard, you have no idea how lucky you are. If it weren't for Clara, your life would be over by now… You have no idea how scary Anthemia's fans are. A single word from her, and you'll have thousands of geeks aiming for your life… Fufufu! Hahaha!