“I haven’t been approached by her,” Willow said after Adam told her about the ‘prophet’ who had it out for him. “But I’ve also never gotten both achievents.”
Her description was also unfamiliar to Willow, which Adam thought was curious, since if the Prophet was a ti-looper then she would surely have obtained many, if not all, of the achievents for the previous stages.
“But why would she go after you?” Willow speculated.
“I’m pretty sure it’s because the way I loop is different from using the ‘Self-Devouring Eye’,” Adam replied. “After all, the rewards and such change with every loop of mine. Apparently, that isn’t the case with the divine relic.”
“Are you going to a different universe every ti?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“And because of that, this other ti-looper considers you a threat?” Willow asked.
“Think about it. If they know all the odds when they go back to the start, they can plan ticulously for the outcos they want. They know what will happen, so they can feed information to certain people to control outcos and so forth. I’m not sure whose loop takes precedence here, but
appearing in their universe is probably screwing with their plans.”
“That actually makes sense,” Willow said, before frowning. “I can’t imagine reliving the sa thing repeatedly is good for your ntal health though. I an, you have to be pretty disturbed to manipulate people like you said she’s been doing.”
Adam nodded. Though I guess I’ve sort of been doing that too?
He went on to describe what Ilya had told him about stage four, as well as the secret relic.
“I don’t get why he’d tell you that in exchange for just learning how you beat stage three,” Willow replied. “What does he really gain from that?”
“Yeah, I don’t know either,” Adam said. It had been worrying him a fair bit the more he thought about it.
“Adam! This boar at is delicious!”
He looked down at Belamouranthe who had grease all over her face from eating roasted slices of pork belly. On her plate was a pile of dozens more slices yet to be consud, as well as a side of baked potatoes with a white parsley sauce. She hadn’t eaten a single one of the potatoes.
“Eat your vegetables,” he told her. “Also, it’s pork, not boar.”
“I refuse!”
“With all the at you’re eating, you need fibre.”
“No!”
Belamouranthe sprang upright, grabbed the plate of food and threw all the potatoes at him before storming off to eat it at the far end of the table.
“Did you just get hit with a potato?” Willow asked, laughing.
Adam wiped so parsley sauce off his face and sighed.
“Let
guess, you told Bel to eat her vegetables?”
He smiled. “How’d you know?”
“She threw a carrot at
yesterday. Her aim is really good…”
Adam laughed. “I wonder if she’s on a carnivore diet.”
“That would explain it, but I think she’s probably just picky.”
“You know,” Adam started, his tone getting serious, “I think stage four is gonna be bad, in more ways than one. If what Ilya told
is true, then a lot of players will die.”
“Did you see how many died in the last one?” she asked.
“Yeah…”
“I think it must’ve been because of the imps and the blood wolves.”
Adam nodded, even though he’d defeated them all fairly easily thanks to the fiendbarb.
“That first imp was made to catch people off-guard,” he agreed.
“How did you do in the stage?” she asked. “I only got the speedrun bonus. One of the wolves tore my left arm up pretty badly.”
“Damn, how’d you win after that?”
“I got the healing potion from the dead driver, along with the secret necklace. Thanks to the necklace’s effect, the blood wolf was made super sluggish, giving
enough ti to heal.”
“There was a potion too??” he asked, surprised. “I only found the necklace.”
“It was in the little pouch he dropped onto the road. It wasn’t considered a secret though.”
“I didn’t even notice that…” he said, disappointed in himself.
“How did you do?” she asked again.
“I actually got both achievents. The fiendbarb turned out to be a hard counter to the elentals.”
“How many points did you get?” she asked.
“Just over two thousand,” he said. “I bought the blood mage choker and blood bolt ring after rerolling like five tis.”
“I was wondering about the weird collar you were wearing.”
“It increases damage with blood attacks and also protects
once every two minutes.”
“That sounds very strong,” she said.
“It is. Although it lowers my defence by 25%.”
She frowned. “That’s a risky trade.”
“I got flawless last stage, so I think I’ll be fine.”
Willow looked unconvinced.
“By the way, did you notice the trophies in the player house?” Adam asked.
“What about them?”
“Well, since flawless is silver and speedrun is bronze, it makes it clear there there’s another achievent we don’t know about.”
“I was wondering why flawless was silver,” she admitted. “What do you think the last challenge is? It would have to be harder than not taking damage.”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. Maybe Lenard has so ideas.”
“I tried adding him to the conversation,” Willow said, “but he’s not here right now.”
“Guess I’ll ask him later.”
“By the way, I found out that there’s a side-effect to my echo earring,” she said. “It doesn’t just trigger my acid burst twice, it also triggers enemies’ effects twice. It ended up making the large blood guy really dangerous because of his ranged attack.”
“So that’s why such a strong effect was tied to an uncommon relic,” he said. “Did you buy any relics from the market?”
She lifted up her left leg and showed off the spring boots. “I got these, and also the blood fist ring.” She showed him a liquid red band around her left thumb. She was already wearing the sli ring on her right hand.
It really only allows one relic per hand…
Seems kind of dumb, but I guess that since rings can be super powerful, having up to five per hand would trivialise the challenge of the Trials.
And it’s clear they want us to struggle.
Adam thought about the ti-looper. Clearly she too was struggling, despite knowing what ca next. After all, she wouldn’t be concerning herself with Adam if it wasn’t necessary to ticulously plan ahead.
Or would she? Perhaps she’s just a control freak who doesn’t like interference?
It’s a sha she won’t talk to
face-to-face. If she’s seen the future, her knowledge would be a huge boon.
Then he realised sothing.
“I think I just figured out why the ti-looper wants
dead…”
“Why?”
“She knows the rewards that people get, right?”
“Depends on how many tis she’s gone through, but I guess so.”
“Well, from her perspective, she’s the only one who changes, so people always make the sa decisions unless she interacts with them.”
Willow nodded. “I see what you an. Because you’re different this ti, she’s noticing it affecting how people act. That would definitely ss with her plans.”
“It gets worse,” Adam said, speaking quickly. “One of the flawless speedrunners I talked to said she’d kill
in stage six. It was clear that the ti-looper made her target .”
“Kill you?” Willow asked. “How?”
“They might change the stage design so that players appear in the sa place. Like being forced to work together to complete the objectives and kill the boss.”
Stolen story; please report.
She thought about it for a mont, before saying, “That actually makes a lot of sense. It would explain why they are encouraging player cooperation with the tavern.”
“And the stages up until then are probably designed to weed out those who aren’t strong enough.”
Based on Willow’s expression, it was clear she wasn’t a fan of his phrasing, but she knew he was speaking the truth.
“It’ll be a problem if they don’t organise the rewards and upgrades properly though,” Adam said.
“Because people will fight over them if there’s only one?”
“Yeah, it’ll lead to a lot of arguing, which in turn will lead to people murdering each other. After all, everyone who has made it this far knows the importance of relics. And if you can kill people and loot their relics, it would matter a lot to this ti-looper what other players buy from the market or loot from the chest at the end of a stage. That’s gotta be why she wants
dead. My actions and the fact that I’m different than before is changing people’s decisions, which has a rippling effect.”
“That’s a pretty wild theory, but it does make sense,” Willow remarked. “But considering the nature of the Trials so far, I think they would definitely pick the type of reward distribution that would create the most friction.”
“Especially since there’s an ‘audience’ watching,” he added.
“Audience?” she asked, looking horrified at the prospect.
“Shitbox told
that we’re being observed.”
“By whom?”
Adam thought about the giant eye in the darkness, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t just so re observer. “I don’t know.”
“I heard a rumour, by the way,” Willow said, switching topic. “Apparently, hurting Belamouranthe is fatal. The person who told
said they heard it from soone else whose friend was going to try it.”
“What the fuck… Why would anyone wish to hurt her??” Adam asked, appalled. He looked at the elphin girl who was glaring at him from the far end of the long table, three slices of pork belly in her mouth.
“I don’t know. But I wonder how many people accidentally died that way in the last stage. I was pretty close actually, since one of my attacks broke through the carriage.”
“It does seem like Bel is integral to the story, so I suppose it makes sense that players would die if she dies.”
“The magician boss talked about her a lot,” Willow noted. “Did he also warn you about her?”
Adam nodded. “I think sothing will happen when she returns ho. The next stage will probably be the last stand before its completion.”
“You think it’ll be sothing like a ritual?”
He frowned. “Yeah. And I think I have an idea of what kind too…”
After all, Belamouranthe had said she had magic in her veins.
Adam returned to the garden and entered the dark-blue tent. The elphin girl had insisted on joining him and now stood ti-frozen in the doorway next to the tesseract.
“You’re… back.”
“I got another mastery shard,” he told Alivida. “I’ll put it into second sheath.”
“Thank you,” she said.
The pyramid gem erged from his body and floated into the crystal ball. The purple light blinked once.
Mastery Upgrade Unlocked
Second Sheath — Carry 1 additional Weapon
“I don’t feel any different.”
“You remain the sa as before. My upgrades do not change your person, only your capabilities.”
He nodded. “Well, thanks.”
After leaving the tent, Shitbox and Belamouranthe ‘unfroze’ and followed after him without any comnts about the garden.
He entered the market, where Yenna was still playing the erhu in front of the fountain. He stopped by the stall of the jittery silverfish Nelly.
“Show
what weapons you have for sale,” he said, even though he didn’t have any points left.
The stone block next to her ca to life and showed a large axe, a bow, a sword and a shield, and a rapier.
Classes For Sale
Woodsman (Common)
Archer (Common)
Defender (Common)
Duellist (Uncommon)
I think that, even if I had saved my points after buying relics and potions, I wouldn’t have been able to afford any of these.
“What was the price of each rarity again?”
“Common is five hundred, uncommon is one thousand, rare is two thousand, and epic is five thousand. They are not upgraded. You want sothing else, use a reroll.”
Ah yeah, I was right.
If I hadn’t bought potions, I could’ve bought sothing like the bow, which will probably be useful next stage. But I’m not sure that would’ve been a better move to be honest.
“I’ll co back tomorrow,” he said.
“Bye for now, Adam!” Nelly replied.
There weren’t any other vendors he felt the need to visit, but then he rembered the clothier that he’d unlocked and walked down to her spiderweb stall.
“Hi Adam,” greeted the smaller spider.
“Hey Weaver, thanks for the clothes. They’re very comfortable.”
“I love mine dress!” Belamouranthe exclaid.
“I am glad you find them to be to your liking,” she replied ekly. “Would you like
to spin sothing else for you to wear?”
“No, that’s okay,” Adam said. “I don’t have any points right now. Just wanted to say thanks.”
“We are going to the Sanctuary! I will tell mother about thee and thine silk!”
“Thank you,” Weaver replied. “But I think I will remain here.”
Belamouranthe looked poised to argue back, but Adam put a hand on her head, stopping her.
“We’ll co back when I have more points,” he said.
Weaver waved one of her arms. “Bye Adam.”
“Show
everyone who has gotten the golden trophy,” Adam queried the tavern.
[This query cannot be perford.]
“Why not?” he asked.
[Unspecified queries are not possible.]
“What’s that supposed to an??”
Shitbox did not respond.
“Alright, then show
everyone who got the trophy for collecting all secrets in a stage.”
[This query cannot be perford.]
“Is that your way of saying such a trophy doesn’t exist?”
Once again, the tesseract would not deign him with an answer.
“Fine!” he said, annoyed.
He thought of how he’d queried for the secret he’d missed and rephrased his demand.
“Show
everyone who got a trophy that isn’t the speedrun or flawless trophy.”
[This query cannot be perford.]
“Fuck you and your bullshit logic!” he shouted at the cube in front of him.
I guess I’ll try and see if Lenard has any ideas, instead of wasting my ti with this…
“Show
Lenard Schulz.”
A mont later, the German appeared opposite Adam with Willow next to him. They were already talking to each other it seed.
“Hey guys,” he said.
“Lenard thinks he knows what the last trophy could be,” Willow imdiately said.
“I thought you’d wait until I got back. I was only gone for like twenty minutes.”
“Aren’t I allowed to do things on my own?” she asked, sounding offended.
Lenard looked between the two awkwardly.
Adam sighed. “You’re right, sorry. Tell
what you think it might be, Lenard.”
He cleared his throat, clearly wanting to dispel the sudden tension between them. “Well, I was thinking, since there are secret relics, there might be a trophy tied to collecting them all.”
“I’ve already tried querying for it, but Shitbox won’t tell ,” Adam replied. “Either it doesn’t exist or we need to unlock it ourselves to be allowed to search for it.”
“Weird,” he replied.
“There are a few things like that which the cube won’t tell us until afterwards,” Willow said. “For example, it won’t say what the speedrun ti is until after a stage.”
“What about a secret boss achievent?” Lenard asked.
Adam thought about it for a mont.
That’s actually not a bad theory.
“How would they be triggered?” he countered. “They obviously can’t have been hidden in the stages we’ve seen. They’re all too small. Unless there’s a way to get them to appear from beyond the boundaries of the stages.”
“Well, I was thinking, if my theory about the cores is correct, then taking the core from a blue sli and putting it inside the sli king would make it beco even stronger.”
Adam grinned.
That has to be it!
“Lenard, you’re a genius!”
Adam turned to the tesseract floating next to where he sat.
“Show
everyone who evolved the Sli King using a sli core!”
Lenard and Willow vanished, and the tables all cleared out.
[There are no Players in the Dinsional Tavern who match your query.]
“Not even a certain soone who blocked ?”
[I cannot say.]
Adam’s grin widened. This was the answer to the last trophy. He was sure of it.
“Reconnect
with Lenard Schulz and Willow Martin.”
[Understood.]
His friends reappeared opposite him.
“It worked,” he announced.
In return for giving Adam the answer to the last trophy, he told Lenard about stage four. He was obviously confused about how Ilya had learnt of the future, but Willow was able to cover for Adam by ntioning that he’d been told by soone with a legendary relic. It was the sa lie that Ilya had been fed.
“It sounds like my crossbow will be strong for this stage,” Lenard remarked.
“I was thinking the sa thing,” Adam said.
Willow looked like she wanted to reiterate her opinion that bows were stronger, but she didn’t. It was likely that Lenard had already told her how bad stage three had been for him.
Adam shared Carsten’s food recomndation with them and they all ate together and talked about the past for a couple hours until Adam rembered how he’d won the bet for the Goblin Village’s enemies.
“That’s old news,” Willow said with a grin.
“I won the bet for the escort stage,” Lenard remarked.
“Nuh uh!” Willow protested. “I said humans and the summoner guy was human!”
“Regardless!” Adam interjected. “What’s my reward!?”
Lenard and Willow both looked at him.
“We can’t really bet points or items, so I’m not sure what you could get for winning,” Lenard said.
Willow just shrugged. “Maybe you can demand so kind of food we have to try. Or a drink, or cocktail, whatever.”
“That’s a good idea,” Adam replied. “Alright, both of you have to order surstr??mming from Charlie and eat it.”
Lenard frowned. “That’s evil, Adam.”
Adam laughed.
They both ordered it and while they waited, Willow thought about what she’d make them eat or drink. Then it seed she had an epiphany, and the look on her face scared Adam.
“You have to order a vegemitini in a shot glass and down it in one go,” she told them.
Adam frowned. “What the hell is a vegemitini?”
“It’s a martini with vodka, vermouth, and ArchieMite, which is basically like distilled vegemite on buttered toast.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“I wish we could bet on sothing for the next stage,” Lenard said. “I lost twice, but four sounds like one I could win.”
“We could bet on who gets the most points,” Adam suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Lenard conceded.
A few minutes later, Willow and Lenard were both gagging and cursing at Adam for the surstr??mming they had been served.
“When I win, my revenge will be severe,” Lenard warned through pained gasps of air as he finished the awful al. Even Charlie’s skills in the kitchen couldn’t make up for what was surely a cri against God.
Adam was laughing so hard he thought he might puke.
When his vegemitini ca out, he downed it in one swig and found that it was nowhere near as bad as what he’d subjected the others to.
“Charlie has a way to dispel bad slls from the tavern,” Willow said in relief after also finishing her al. “That was truly awful, Adam.”
He’d only just stopped laughing, but the remark set him off again.
Eventually, Charlie kicked them out of the tavern when it got too late, and they all went their separate ways, with the agreent that whoever got the most points in stage four would win. It seed a fair bet given that they all knew more or less everything to expect.
I angered a German. I don’t expect his revenge will be fun…
Still, that was truly worth it.
I haven’t laughed that hard in years.
Belamouranthe had fallen asleep in the tavern and wouldn’t wake up, so Adam carried her in his arms as he returned to the player house.
After putting her to bed, he spent a while practising with the blood bolt ring. It was triggered by closing his hand over his thumb with the ring and then opening it again to reveal a ball of blood that was the size of a glass marble. The longer he held his fist closed, the bigger the ball would get, with the max being the size of a tennis ball.
When thrown, the blood bolt would shoot in a straight line at whatever it was aid at, zipping across the air quickly. Thanks to his fiendbarb, the explosion on impact was like that of a shrapnel grenade and, against the goblin target dummy, death was instant. Each fragnt from the blood bolt would cause the fiendbarb effect to trigger wherever it hit, aning he could apply it in several areas on a target’s body, all at once.
It’s a bit scary to hold such a volatile thing in my hand though…
One wrong move and it’s bye-bye to this loop.
Adam was glad to now have sothing that would be effective against a group of closely-stacked enemies. Especially since stage four might have hundreds of enemies he needed to defeat, according to Ilya.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t test out the defensive ability of his blood mage choker with the dummy, so he wasn’t quite sure how it would work and had to operate off of the assumption that it was similar to Ezral’s barrier spell.
However, when Adam went to bed, he felt quite prepared for what was to co.
In his dreams, Adam saw a giant hooded eye. It opened to reveal an iris with the pupil of a serpent. The slit in its eye was like a rend in the cosmic backdrop, and from within ca reaching arms.
The arms ca closer, grasping at him.
He couldn’t run.
He couldn’t even move or look away.
The hands ran across his body and their touch was cold.
Then the eye blinked and Adam started falling.
Now Entering
Stage Four
‘Siege of the Elphin Sanctuary’
20-Minute Tir
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