< < Challenge Stone Activated > >
< You have forcedPlayer John Smith into fighting you >
Adam landed on a hard floor made of crimson glass, and it easily held the massive weight of his Princely Raint. He had once again used the slothling ogre as the source of his transformation material, and this ti he was even bigger than before, making him capable of wrestling a slugwhale. Even his tail had grown, becoming thicker than the man facing him down on the other side of the arena.
John Smith sounds like such a fake na, he thought. I wonder if it’s a chosen Nickna or a fake na from before the start of the Trials.
Around him were the sa audience as last ti he’d entered the challenge arena, with humanoids of glass, flayed ones dripping their blood onto where they sat, and bloodfiends who now looked like mirror images of Adam.
His opponent’s half of the arena reminded him of the Forbidden Altar, as stalagmites pointed up from the uneven stone floor like the teeth of so giant beast. On the seats were statues and golems made of rocks and crystals, so slugwhales similar to Iffen, and strange animals with petrified skin and horns of diamond and ruby. There were a few humanoids amongst them who wore armour of cracked brown stone and carried stone coffins on their backs, and there was even a boy who looked to be made entirely of crude oil, which was odd.
I think he’s worshipping Septen. I should’ve checked to make sure beforehand, since I don’t know what he can do, but if he has so kind of petrification power, then I need to be careful.
The Warder didn’t even question why Adam had challenged him, and quickly summoned nine small barriers, commanding all of them to fly towards Adam on strange unpredictable trajectories. Even though he had Alepheria’s Mandate, his barriers looked like slabs of stone instead of the dark-blue Adam rembered.
He must’ve gone the Splitter route, rather than Shaper.
But it didn’t really matter, because Adam just swept his giant fist through the air, slicing John Smith and several of his barriers in half with an empowered Heart Lance beam. Since he could obfuscate the spell within his Princely Raint, he was able to hide the fact that he was charging a spell, and from simply looking at him, anyone would think he had a lee-focused build.
Just like Beck had said, it was perfectly acceptable to cheat if it benefitted humanity.
Still, why does it feel so bad?
< < Challenge Stone Deactivated > >
< You have defeatedPlayer John Smith in the arena >
< < Victory Pearl Obtained > >
The remaining stone barriers continued along their trajectories and Adam jumped out of the way using a double-activation of his Cloud Skimr Jacket before they could hit him. As they struck his side of the arena, they turned the crimson glass to stone in a one-tre radius around their impact sites.
His barriers can carry petrification powers!? Adam realised in horror.
That’s actually insane…
Splitter must have sothing similar to Fusionist to let it carry an effect like that, unless it’s a specific type of boon spell from his patron.
John Smith’s attack had seed so simple, but Adam was sure that a single impact from a barrier would’ve turned him to stone. Given Adam’s appearance, it hadn’t been a bad move, and he’d co up with it on the spot.
Before Adam could give it too much thought, he was transported back to the basent restaurant.
He quickly returned to his room on the floor above and shed his raint as ashy clumps.
Next ti I need to consider the potential toolsets of my opponent before I just jump in.
I hope Beck is fine.
It was probably a good thing that I took on the Warder, since Beck would no doubt have had a harder ti against him, given his weapons.
Adam went back down to the restaurant once his raint was fully gone and took a seat where he’d left his milkshake.
A mont later he’d reconnected with Beck and Lasse.
“Another easy victory,” Beck said smugly.
“The Warder guy almost petrified …” Adam said. “I think he was worshipping Septen.”
“What a coincidence,” Beck said. “Did you manage to ask him how he unlocked that Absolute before he died?”
“He wasn’t really the talkative type.”
“A sha.”
“But I have noticed the guy before. He’s always sleeping next to a bunch of bottles in the tavern. Since Septen is the primogenitor of Sloth, maybe it’s tied to that?”
“Not a bad theory,” Beck replied.
“Sleeping through an entire day on Interim Island does seem like the kind of secret they’d have in the Trials,” Lasse said. “Especially after we found that vendor by just throwing the fishing line into the middle of an island.”
“You found her too!?” Beck exclaid, suddenly full of excitent, which was amusing given his outward appearance and apparent age.
Lasse and Adam shared a glance.
“I take it you’re a fishing aficionado?” Adam asked.
“It’s basically all Gladwyn and I would do together,” he said. “And every ti we searched for a ga to play, the main criteria was always how in-depth the fishing system was. I an, you’re looking at the first person to catch the elusive crab-slaughter-crane!”
“What?” Lasse asked.
“What he said,” Adam agreed.
“Here’s what we’ll do!” Beck went on, ignoring their questions. “You will both get a fishing rod from Fisher, and then we’ll travel to Lasse’s dinsion and fish together!”
“Aren’t we supposed to talk about Moonport?” Adam asked.
“We can talk and fish at the sa ti!” Beck said, his excitent only seeming to grow.
“I don’t know how to complete Fisher’s quest,” Lasse replied.
“That’s easy,” Beck told him. “Tell her to use one of the houses near the eastern edge of the island and to throw her line into the sea of clouds below.”
“That works?” Adam asked, confused.
“Worked for . I didn’t even have to pay Builder to make anything!”
Wish I’d thought of that. That’s 3000 Points I could’ve saved right there…
“Oh, oh, I’ve got another great idea!” Beck went on.
“I’m scared to ask,” Adam remarked.
Lasse nodded.
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“We’ll do a wager!” Beck exclaid. “The person who catches the rarest and most expensive fish in Moonport will win. They’ll get to pick the other two’s nicknas.”
“You seem very confident about winning,” Adam remarked.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t take that wager,” Lasse said.
“I get it. You’re scared,” Beck muttered and shook his head disappointedly.
“Yes,” Adam and Lasse both replied.
“Wait, really?” Beck asked.
“I’ve never seen you like this before, so yes,” Adam explained.
“What if we discuss the wager and the specifics while we do so fishing together?” Beck suggested.
“We really should be talking about Moonport,” Adam reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll get to it. Now go on, get your fishing rods.”
Adam sighed but Lasse just laughed. “I guess we don’t have a choice,” he said. “The ti-traveller has spoken.”
“I’m changing your na to Master Baiter when I win,” Adam warned Beck.
Adam went to the Market and sold the Relics he’d looted from Julie’s body.
< < Relics Sold > >
< Blood Mage Choker (Epic) >
< Blood Fist Ring (Rare) x2 >
< Fetish of Sloth (Rare) >
< 1725 Points Remaining >
For so reason, the Benevolence of Blood Sigil that Julie had worn as her armour was missing, but he knew the Flayed Lady was to bla for that, since she clearly had no qualms about taking his things without asking.
At least she didn’t take my Chimaera Stone.
Adam was contemplating selling one, but he felt like he needed to keep the other to at least try and give him so defence against the Flayed Lady, since he was pretty sure consuming it would knock her ‘gift’ out of his body, along with setting his Mana to 0. It would be a run-ending decision, but he wasn’t sure how else he could get out of her clutches and avoid her fucking up his mories.
But then the ssage he’d sent to his Player House returned to his mind.
Maybe it holds the solution, he thought, though he wasn’t sure. A part of him wanted to read it right away, but he figured there had to be a reason he’d given that specific order to the cube.
Sothing happens after the Ninth Stage.
But I can’t focus on that too much right now. I need to keep my eyes on what’s right in front of
and not get distracted.
He’d returned the Ambergris trophy to his Player House, but now considered selling it, along with the other items he’d been holding on to.
I may be able to get the trophies from Stage Eight and Nine to satisfy Migraine’s quest, but I don’t think I’ll find more cores before Stage Ten to fulfil Finnian’s. And to clear Sprite’s quest, I need to get past at least Stage Ten, possibly Eleven as well if there are no plants in Ten.
Perhaps it’s better to just turn the ones I’m holding onto into Points and complete the quests in my next loop. Given that buildings are permanent, I would be able to imdiately clear Fisher’s quest from the start, especially since she’ll be unlocked from Stage One thanks to the Rembered Secrets ta upgrade.
Granted, I may get another secret or special denizen with an easy quest before Stage Ten, but Elia at least didn’t know of any, so it seems a long shot, though I do have the compass to help …
“Bring all the cores and trophies I stored in the Player House to ,” he told his cube, having made up his mind.
[Understood.]
When the items appeared in his hands, Adam was surprised by how few things he’d actually managed to save.
While he wanted to gamble on himself and see how far he went, he knew it would be incredibly optimistic to believe he could go all the way to Stage Eleven, given everything stacked against him. Not to ntion, luck was a significant factor in who made it far, and he hoped that Beck’s fortune hadn’t changed too drastically as a result of all the sacrifices in his last loop.
“A Rare trophy,” Lucca chittered as she lifted the ambergris into the air in front of her many eyes, interrupting his thoughts.
“How much will you pay
for it?” Adam asked her.
“300 Points,” she said.
She bumped the price on Commons and Uncommons up by 33%, so that’s definitely a rip-off.
“Make it 400,” he told her. “It’s a Rare trophy, after all.”
“I’m not a fool, Adam,” she chided him. “I will give you 350 for any Rares you bring. That is my final offer.”
“Deal,” he said with a grin.
< < Relics Sold > >
< Ambergris (Rare) >
< Crystallised Mana Core (Uncommon) x3 >
< 2675 Points Remaining >
“Do you want to see the Relics I have for sale?” she asked imdiately after their transaction had concluded.
I guess I would still like to get the Scoundrel’s Glove, since the next two Stages deal with mostly humanoid enemies.
“Sure, let’s see what you have.”
< < Relics For Sale > >
< Portsmith’s Goggles (Rare) — Identify weaknesses in armour after looking at it for 3 seconds | Lowers Player Relic cooldowns by 5% >
< Golden Mask of the Fallen (Epic) — Gain 1% Attack Speed & Damage for every 10 pieces of currency in your possession | The potency of the Gold-cursed affliction is twice as potent and can be triggered by all currencies >
< Heavy Belt (Rare) — Increases Player Defence by 50% | Reduces Movent Speed by 50% >
< Skirt of the Elentalist (Rare) — Spells fired by the wielder have a 20% chance to activate twice and a 5% chance to activate thrice. If either effect triggers, they cannot be activated again for another 30 minutes | Every spell fired gives a lasting 5% Magical Disturbance affliction. Once this affliction reaches 100%, the next spell fired will be wildly uncontrollable in nature and the affliction will disappear >
< Drake’s Wing (Epic) — Deploy mid-air to gain the ability to control your flight | Take 25% less damage from Slug Dragons >
“Reroll,” he said, using the last reroll dice from his ta upgrade.
< < Relics For Sale > >
< To of the Acolyte (Epic) — Activate to split a spell in two, halving all of its stats. 30 Mana cost | Enemies you kill have a 1% chance to reanimate as a Mana Fiend >
< Scoundrel’s Glove (Rare) — Surprise attacks against humanoids made by a weapon wielded in this glove inflict Haemorrhage, dealing 2% Health in damage per second for 30 seconds >
< Whale Eater’s Snap Gauntlet (Epic) — Punch the gauntlet against a target to trigger the spring-loaded chanism to snap and latch on to their flesh, inflicting 100% weapon damage. 30-second cooldown | Afflictions delivered with this Relic are twice as potent >
< Treasure Hunter’s Well-Worn Boots (Rare) — Allows for the wearer to traverse any terrain, mostly ignoring gravity >
< Cloud Skimr Jacket (Rare) — Increases Player Defence by 25% | Increases Movent Speed by 10% | Enables the wearer to rapidly dash forward while moving, consuming 20% Stamina >
There we go.
“I’ll buy the Scoundrel’s Glove,” he said.
“Excellent,” Lucca responded.
< < Relic Purchased > >
< Scoundrel’s Glove (Rare) >
< 2175 Points Remaining >
[You are already wearing Relics on your hands. Would you like to sell Blood Bolt Ring or Blood Fist Ring and replace either with Scoundrel’s Glove? You may also send the unequipped Relic to your Player House for storage.]
“Put it on my left hand and unequip my Blood Bolt Ring.”
[Understood.]
Adam looked at the dark-grey glove that appeared on his hand. It was made of so kind of pliable leather and was mostly unassuming, except for a stitched symbol with red string in the palm depicting a dagger.
It should work with my blood sigils, since they’re on my hands, but I’ll need to test its limitations, and it may be better to wear it on my right. I also need to see how the Cloudmaker works, and I want to check out the weapon vendor since Beck said she sells weapons from the last Stage.
Adam had considered using his Orb of Insight on the eighth Stage, since it would have gone off cooldown, but he was fairly sure the compass and Mandate of Blood gave him a huge advantage in terms of finding the bloodfiends. Not to ntion that, in terms of luck, Stage Ten was by far the biggest hurdle, since it was another deathmatch-styled Stage like Five, but with teamwork being incredibly important.
If I use the Orb after Stage Nine, then I can hopefully find out who I’m going to be grouped with in Ten, and that should make it possible to find them in the Tavern, since there won’t be a lot of Players left by then.
Elia said 3,000 and 4,500 had made it to Ten in her universe her previous two loops, though she was hoping for 10,000 in the loop where we both died. I wonder if it’ll be less in this universe or not. Below ten percent would have to survive the next two Stages in a row, which seems really unlikely, though I’m guessing that because many of the stronger Players were eliminated by the ti-looper who ca before Beck, it might make it possible? And given how many Player-killers that appeared from my query earlier, it’s very likely the next two Stages just totally collapse.
Adam pushed his dark musings aside as he went over to Nelly’s stall.
“Hey Nelly, I’d like to see the weapons you have for sale,” he said.
“Oh! I got new ones! Weapons, I an!”
Like Adam had observed in the past, Luck didn’t affect the options for Nelly’s shop all that much, which was pretty annoying. Fortunately, the Vendors ta upgrade worked on her options.
< < Weapon Types For Sale > >
< Lancer (Common)>
< Harpooner (Uncommon)>
< Rifleman (Rare)>
< Duellist (Uncommon)>
< Berserker (Uncommon)>
I wonder if it’s worth spending a bunch of Rerolls on finding out what other weapons were available from the Floating Sea. They’d all be Rare and Epic, I’m guessing, so it probably would cost
a fair bit to find out.
I’ll just ask Beck and save the Points for later.
Adam returned to the Player House, but not before paying Fisher to sell him the entry-level fishing rod.
I guess it’s ti to find out if it’s really possible to catch anything from the clouds below.
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