The light of the setting sun stained the sky orange and pink. Adam was walking along the edge of the island, staring down at the cloud layer below. Since there were also clouds above, he was fairly sure that Interim Island moved through the middle of the troposphere. Strangely, none of the clouds actually moved through the island like what he’d expected. It was as if a barrier around the floating landmass was keeping them at bay.
While he looked out over the edge, he suddenly noticed a hole in the cliff-side about eight tres down. He was on the south-western side of the island, a part of the island he hadn’t visited before. The houses around here were the sa as everywhere else, so there was nothing that really made the place stand out as special.
Adam got down on his knees and leaned over the edge to get a better look. The landmass below the surface of the island went straight down for about twelve tres before tapering to a point that he couldn’t see but expected was there. The hole in the cliff-side wasn’t just so random chunk missing. No, it was a proper cave entrance with a flat landing poking out slightly, as though inviting people to investigate.
He suddenly realised that all that land beneath his feet had the potential to hide a lot of secrets.
After all, Alivida’s tent is already kind of a secret, so it makes sense there’d be other things hidden away on Interim Island as well.
But… how do I get down there to investigate?
I could use my barriers to slowly descend, but getting back up would be treacherous.
Then he had an epiphany.
Weaver! She’s gotta be the answer to this!
If I unlock her, I can get her to spin
a rope that’ll let
rappel down!
Adam looked around and saw that there were a few trees not too far away, almost as if he was ant to tie a rope to them and go down to explore.
I wonder if Elia knows about this.
He turned to look at the cube floating nearby.
“What’s down there?” he asked.
It did not reply, which was the sa way it’d responded to his past questions about Alivida’s tent.
That’s as good as any confirmation I could get. There’s definitely sothing down there.
Maybe another vendor that sells special items?
Adam got back to his feet and wiped the dirt and grass off his pants.
I’ll co back here after stage two when I’ve unlocked Weaver.
As he moved on to the garden, he continued looking over the edge for more cave openings but didn’t spot any others.
When he reached the dark-blue tent with the colourful dahlias planted around it, the sun was still creeping towards the horizon. He leaned against his barrier while waiting for it to fully set. Since he wasn’t putting his full weight on the summon, it didn’t seem to take damage, which was curious.
About ten minutes after he arrived, darkness rolled across Interim Island and the dahlias all lost their colour, becoming black like the night. A tiny shape descended from the clouds above, flying quickly. It paused for a second when it spotted Adam waiting in front of the tent, but then it zood inside.
Purple light started to emanate from within and Adam approached the flap, letting himself inside.
He found the black moth sitting on the chair behind the round table with the shawl and crystal ball on top of it. The purple light from the glass orb caught on the orbiting ashy scales that circled the interior.
“You’re back… Again.”
“Luvicidix told
you have sothing new in stock. I also brought another mastery shard.”
“I do. My inventory expands as you achieve certain thresholds.”
“Let’s see what it is.”
The moth waved a black arm over the crystal ball.
Mastery Upgrades For Sale
Hardmode — Unlock a toggleable Stage Hardmode — 1 Shard
Skipping Stone — Skip a Stage if eligible — 2 Shards
Orb of Insight — View info about the upcoming Stage — 1/3 Shards
Visiting Stone — Visit the Dinsion of a known Player — 8 Shards
Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid — 10 Shards
Skip if ‘eligible’, I wonder what that entails.
I’m also wondering if I should put my point into the orb again or maybe get the hardmode instead, since Elia might be able to tell
all the secrets and stage info, rendering the orb kind of useless.
“Explain the skipping stone to .”
“If you are wielding a weapon you have beaten a stage with before… and if you have found all secrets and completed all achievents, then you may… skip.”
“That sounds really powerful. How does it work with points and rewards?”
“In order to skip, you forfeit all points, upgrades, and relics.”
That makes it pretty useless… Lots of requirents and no reward.
“The hardmode, how exactly are the double points calculated? Like, what happens if I defeat a secret boss while it’s active?”
“Hardmode only doubles the score given by a stage, without considering the bonus rewards. Those are… added to the score later.”
So, I got 1,240 for stage one, but 700 of that were from bonus rewards. With hardmode active, that would an I’d have gotten 1,780 instead. That’s not exactly fantastic, especially if it makes a stage much harder.
I wonder if I should get it for stage two. Last ti I got about one thousand points for clearing it and that was without any bonuses, so I’d probably get two thousand for beating it with hardmode, plus whatever bonus the secret boss gives. If I’m careful, I might be able to get flawless as well. So that’d be maybe like three thousand points in total.
I’ve gotta do it. I’ll ask Elia how to best defeat the hobgoblin lord so I’m fully prepared.
“I’ll buy the hardmode upgrade.”
“Thank you,” Alivida said.
The pyramid gem erged from Adam’s chest, moving through his white shirt as though it wasn’t there. It was absorbed by the crystal ball on the table and the purple glow blinked once.
Mastery Upgrade Unlocked
Hardmode — Unlock a toggleable Stage Hardmode
“I’ll be back when I have more shards,” Adam said.
“My twin will inform you… if you unlock more upgrades… in my shop.”
“Gotcha.”
Adam left the tent and was about to return to the tavern when he rembered sothing.
I never checked out what upgrades are available for Gram.
Even though he didn’t have any points to spend, he still wanted to know what kind of upgrades the weapon could get. He expected it to be similar to what the Defender got, just minus the shield.
The bright light of the moon cast everything in a silvery glaze and Adam couldn’t help but think of Belamouranthe, and how she’s talked about the moon.
I really hope I can save her.
Right now, all I can think of is giving her the All-Mother’s wrath necklace.
I should ask Elia about it though.
He made it to the market, but this ti he didn’t walk in on all the vendors standing about outside their stalls.
Yenna was playing the harp softly as he walked past her and she gave him a slight nod.
He stopped in front of Thea’s stall and pulled Gram from his lower back. In the light of the moon, the incandescent-green beetle looked almost black.
“Welco back, Adam,” she greeted.
“I’d like to see the weapon upgrades for this weapon.”
“Sure thing.”
The beetle waved a hand over her anvil, and it lit up with four identical symbols. They all depicted a chisel striking a rock.
Weapon Upgrades For Sale
Chip Stone — Reveal a portion of the sword
Chip Stone — Reveal a portion of the sword
Chip Stone — Reveal a portion of the sword
Chip Stone — Reveal a portion of the sword
What the hell?
“Shitbox, why doesn’t this have normal upgrades?”
[To unlock the potential of the Mythical Weapon ‘Gram’, the stone must be carefully chipped away.]
Let
guess, I’ll need to pick this upgrade six tis to get it to evolve before I can use it as a normal weapon and get normal upgrades?
Maybe I should try and find a different weapon to replace this with, because that seems like a waste of upgrades. Perhaps it makes sense if I end up with more points than I know what to do with, but even then I’m sure investing those in ta upgrades is a better use.
Disappointed, Adam said his goodbyes and returned to the tavern.
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everyone who got the flawless achievent for stage one, Adam prompted the tavern with his mind. He figured it was best to use the ntal prompting for the tavern, since it appeared to be faster and would avoid the cube catching on to anything he wasn’t supposed to know.
Nearby sat Finnian, devouring everything that Charlie placed before it. The sli was totally absorbed in its mindless consumption.
A true glutton that one…
Six people appeared at random spots around the table, but none of them were ones he recognised, except for Elia. She was currently talking to soone Adam couldn’t see.
The others were: a short tan guy in his fifties who had picked Defender, based on the recognisable shield leaned against his chair; a spear-wielding black guy with short curls and a white polo shirt; an Asian woman who had a bow and wore a cocktail dress for so reason; an Asian guy with shoulder-long hair and glasses whose weapon he couldn’t see; and a muscular white guy with a spray-on tan and chemically-white hair, who it seed had picked Brawler.
Show
everyone who got Flawless and Speedrun.
Everyone except Elia and the Asian guy disappeared.
I wonder if that’s Haoyang.
Guess I could try and befriend him perhaps, but what would I talk to him about? I don’t need any knowledge he could possibly have…
Show
everyone who got the secret boss.
Only Elia was left.
Figures.
Show
everyone who knows about the self-devouring eye.
Again, only Elia.
So, she hasn’t told anyone. I an, I’d have done the sa, since there’s only one and sharing its existence potentially complicates relationships.
Wait, why did she have the challenge stone? She’d probably have to buy that from Alivida, and even if she’s done two full loops, would she really have enough shards to spare on sothing like that if she wasn’t planning on using it?
Based on how Mórrígan threatened
with it and used it to kill Lenard, it seems like it’s designed to let you fight other players between stages… So is there soone she wants to take out? Maybe she’s already used it after eting ?
Then he realised a possible explanation.
Since there were future Stages where players were forced to work together, there were bound to be plenty of murderers as well. If she was really trying to save as many people as possible, going after those sorts of players was necessary.
Adam thought of the person he’d killed in his last loop.
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Charlotte Hayes.
The pale woman with auburn hair, freckles, and large glasses appeared nearby. She was eating sushi while talking to soone. It kind of looked like she was having fun. He couldn’t see what weapon she had.
I wonder if I have to fight her again.
Show
Ilya Sokolov.
The long-haired Russian appeared while Charlotte’s hologram vanished. Next to Ilya leaned a spear and he was in the middle of eating soup. Unlike last loop, the print on his band t-shirt was different, which was odd.
That raises a lot of uncomfortable questions.
Does that an that it isn’t just the odds that change in every universe, but also things prior to the start of the Trials??
Maybe so people didn’t even enter the Trials because they died just before they began?
Adam shook his head. He realised it was better not to focus on stuff like that, since he had no control over it.
Wait, there is sothing I can ask others about.
Show
everyone who found the cave on the south-western cliff-side of Interim Island and plan to explore it.
Ilya vanished and all the tables filled up with holograms, then they flickered and were replaced, again and again.
“How many people is that?”
[6,703 Players match the query.]
That’s quite a lot.
Hmm…
Filter out everyone who didn’t find the glass acorn.
The holograms flickered until about twenty were left, which was still quite a lot.
What else can I do to narrow it down?
Oh right, what about this…
Filter out everyone who hasn’t discovered Alivida.
All but one hologram vanished, leaving behind a tall white guy in his fifties or sixties, with short frizzy greyish-white hair. He had the gnarled wooden staff of the Spellcaster Class leaned against his chair. It was turned into a recliner like Adam’s, which was a funny coincidence.
“Hey,” Adam said. “How do you plan to get down to the cave?”
The guy, who had been in the middle of talking to soone else, turned to look at Adam.
Then he flickered out and reappeared opposite him.
“Are you planning to investigate it too?” he asked. His voice sounded a lot younger than his appearance and had kind of a playful quality to it, which sohow imdiately made him seem likeable to Adam.
Reminds
a bit of one of my bosses.
“I am, and I know the way to do it too.”
The guy gave him a curious look, then said, “I’m bringing soone else into the conversation.”
“Okay?”
Next to the tall guy appeared the short tan Defender who Adam had just seen earlier when he queried for the flawless achievent. He looked a little younger than the other guy and his hair was pale-blonde. Unlike the tall guy who had a narrow face, his was rounder and radiated kindness.
“I recognise you,” said the short guy. Like the other man, he sounded a lot younger than he was.
“Really?” Adam asked.
“I rembered the weird crown on your head. You got the flawless bonus too, didn’t you?”
Adam nodded. “That’s right.”
The short guy turned to his tall friend. “See Beck, it wasn’t that hard to get!”
“Shut up. At least I got the speedrun.”
“Flawless is worth more.”
“Well, who found the moth!?” the tall guy replied.
“You did.”
“That’s right,” ‘Beck’ said, nodding to himself smugly.
“Did either of you get a mastery shard to pay Alivida with yet?” Adam asked, interrupting their back and forth.
They shared a look.
“No, what’s that?” asked the short guy.
“I’ll tell you after you introduce yourself,” Adam said. “For starters, I’m Adam.”
“I’m Beck,” said the tall guy.
“And I’m Gladwyn,” said the short guy.
“Are those your real nas?”
“No,” replied Beck. “You haven’t discovered the nickna feature yet?”
“The what?” Adam asked.
“You tell the observer that you want to change your nickna and then give it an eligible na. It’s pretty simple.”
“Observer?” Adam asked.
“He’s never played D&D,” Gladwyn said. “What a tragedy.”
“Young people these days,” Beck agreed, shaking his head.
“I’m thirty-two,” Adam told them.
“My point still stands,” Beck insisted.
Guess I’ll give it a try.
Adam turned to the cube. “I’d like to change my nickna.”
[Understood. What would you like your new Nickna to be? If a Nickna is already in use, you will be unable to claim it.]
Maybe soone already took it, but I might as well try it.
“Adam.”
[Understood. The System will now refer to you as ‘Adam’. Other Players may locate you using this Nickna and it will be used if you try to connect to soone in the Tavern.]
So that’s how Mórrígan got her na!
Still, I’m surprised that I’m the first to claim that nickna.
Wait, I wonder if it can be exploited sohow.
“Can I connect to people who blocked
by changing my nickna?”
[No.]
I guess that’s good.
But so much for trying to clear up the misunderstanding with Willow…
“What did you change your na to?” Gladwyn asked.
“‘Adam’,” he replied.
Beck made a face. “He’s one of those people. Well, hello, Adam0001, Lord of Imagination.”
Adam laughed. “You’ve gotta do better than that if you want to hurt my feelings,” he said with a grin.
“I’ll think of sothing,” Beck replied ominously. “So, what’s a mastery shard?”
“You get it from evolving your weapons,” Adam said.
“Is that at level 6?” Beck asked.
“Yep.”
“That explains why the beetle only sold upgrades up to that level,” Gladwyn realised.
“What did you use your points on?” Adam asked.
“I spent my points on a luck upgrade and two rerolls. I’m saving the rest to do that again after the next stage,” Beck said. “I think it’ll pay off.”
“I spent mine on a damage upgrade and this glove,” Gladwyn said, showing off the duellist’s glove.
“I still think that was foolish,” Beck muttered.
“Bite .”
Beck fixed Adam with a look. “So, you said you knew of a way to get down to the cave?”
“We looked around and couldn’t find any rope,” Gladwyn added.
Adam leaned forward conspiratorially.
“You’ll need to trust , because I can’t tell you how I know this, but…”
After Adam finished talking to Beck and Gladwyn, he tried to connect to Elia. She didn’t accept his request until almost two minutes had passed.
When she appeared opposite him, the first thing she asked was, “Why did it not include your last na in the connection request?”
“I set my nickna to ‘Adam’, that’s why.”
“Nickna? I didn’t know you could do that.”
Adam tried to hide his surprise.
“Don’t look at
like that,” she said, seeing through his poker face. “I can’t be all-knowing.”
“I didn’t say anything,” he replied, raising his hands in mock surrender.
“So? Why do you want to talk to ? I’m busy helping others and there’s only four hours before the tavern closes.”
“I bought the hardmode upgrade from Alivida and I need to know what it does in stage two.”
Elia stared at him for a mont. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” she asked.
“I need the points for the ta upgrades.”
“Don’t use it. You’ll die.”
“Not if you tell
what it does.”
She frowned. “If you use it and survive, you’ll just want to use it again.”
“Listen, I’m not trying to die, but I need the points. You’re using it too, aren’t you?”
“That’s different,” she replied. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Can you please just tell ? If you want
to survive stage eight, I need your help getting stronger.”
She froze and Adam knew he’d found her weak-point.
“Fine,” she then said. “But don’t use it for three and four, you’ll die. I’m serious.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
“Hardmode in stage two gives all the goblins bone armour, which makes them harder to kill.”
“That’s not so bad,” he replied.
“I wasn’t finished. It also removes all the healing insects and slugs you can normally eat. But most importantly, the boss has the fiendbarb relic equipped. Are you familiar with how that one works?”
“Intimately.”
“Then you’ll know that taking on the hardmode is a foolish idea. It’s doable in stage one because it just doubles the number of slis and gives the boss two extra moves. But, if you’re doing the hardmode in stage two, then you’d best get rid of that crown. The hobgoblin lord is plenty dangerous without hardmode active. One hit from fiendbarb with your low health points and you’re dead. Doesn’t even matter where it hits you.”
“How do you know how much health I have?”
“Because that’s the weapon that Arturo used. He always complained about near-death experiences because of its terrible stats.”
“It’s versatile and strong,” Adam said.
“Sure, if you know how to use it. Have you mastered shaping yet?”
She even knows about the evolution, Adam noted.
“Not yet.”
“Arturo told
that unless you can learn how to fold the barrier, it’s a useless weapon.”
We’ll see. I don’t think she has enough experience to really make that judgent herself, and I don’t know this Arturo guy.
“I also have Gram as backup,” Adam said.
“You’d be better off getting the Spellcaster as your secondary Class and switching to its stats. It has more health, damage, and speed. It’ll also increase the likelihood of mana- and spell-based relics appearing if you have two magical weapons.”
That actually makes a lot of sense. I might do that after stage two when I have more points.
“Have you tried using Gram?” he asked.
“Yes. Every evolution increases its base stats, but it doesn’t beco a true weapon until its third evolution when all the stone is gone. It’s not a bad weapon after you get to that point, but it’s a waste of upgrades to use it early on.”
“But won’t I lose it if I get the Spellcaster instead?”
“You can just put Gram in your player house.”
“In the player house? I didn’t know you could do that. Shitbox made it sound like it’d be gone if I bought another weapon.”
Elia paused. “Wait, never mind, you don’t have the weapon rack yet…”
“How do I get that?” he asked.
“From the builder found in stage four.”
I should probably get that.
“I see. Are there any other hidden weapons to find?”
“Of course. I know of the ones in stage five and seven. The one in five is a stone spear with a special attack that’s pretty good. The one in seven is cursed though and always turns people into monsters, so I won’t be telling you how to get it. There’s supposedly one in stage four as well, but I have no idea where it’d be. It’s the only thing I’m missing from that stage.”
“What about inside the great tree?” Adam suggested.
She shook her head. “I already tried chopping it down. I’ll try turning it into a rotmaker this ti around, maybe that’ll do the trick.”
That seems like a crazy idea. That tree is enormous, after all.
“By the way, what weapon do you use?” Adam asked. “I can’t really tell.”
“That’s because I hide them, which you should make a habit of doing as well. If people don’t know what you have, they won’t know how to easily counter you later on. Learnt that the hard way.”
For all her talk of wanting to help people, she sure cos across as jaded at tis.
“You won’t tell ?”
“I use Priest and Brawler.”
Adam frowned.
“What?” Elia asked.
“That’s what Mórrígan used in my previous loop…”
“It’s very hard to beat for the first nine stages,” she said. “Priest obviously works well in groups, but the Zealot evolution is what makes that particular combo powerful, since it increases damage based on proximity to an enemy. Brawler has a similar evolution called Pit Fighter and the two damage increases interact multiplicatively, allowing you to kill everything in just a few punches.”
“Why isn’t it good for stage ten and later?”
“There are better options at that point, plus a lot of the fights end up requiring superhuman reflexes to keep up with the enemies at close range. Alright, I’ve spent enough ti with you, I’ve gotta go.”
“Thanks Elia,” he said, and ant it.
She paused and a soft expression flowed across her face so quickly that it was gone a split-second later.
“Don’t die,” she told him.
Then she vanished.
Connect
to Beck and Gladwyn again, Adam prompted the tavern.
He spent the rest of the night talking to the pair and getting to know them better.
When the tavern was eventually about to close, Beck quickly issued a challenge and said that whoever got the least points in stage two would have to change their nickna to whatever the winner decided.
Adam played along, even though he was confident that he’d crush them both. Still, he’d told them about the secrets like Weaver and the lucky stone, as well as what to watch out for, so he was sure they’d both end up with pretty high point totals by the end.
After leaving the tavern, Adam went by the player house to drop off his cracked sli core in the storage. He noticed that all three trophies for stage one were now featured on the shelves, even though he hadn’t attained the speedrun in this loop. As predicted, the secret boss trophy was gold. However, there was also a glass trophy that read ‘Magical Forest Secrets’. That one hadn’t given any bonus points, but perhaps it would’ve if he’d gotten both secrets in the sa run.
He left the house and went to the market where he found Yenna taking a break from playing her instrunt to watch the fountain. The other vendors were out of their stalls and were busy talking and eating until they noticed him.
He felt bad for disturbing their peace, but part of him knew he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep without the wasp’s lullaby.
Adam laid down on the wonky cobblestones next to the musician’s stool, his arms behind his head while he stared up at the stars. This loop was already so far off the rails from what he’d expected it to be, but he hadn’t given up on trying to get things back on track. First off, he needed to find a way to get in touch with Willow and clear up the misunderstanding. He’d thought to ask Gladwyn for help, since he had a warm personality and atmosphere that’d no doubt work to convince Willow to unblock Adam. However, he was wary of making such a request before properly getting to know the guy.
I just hope Willow makes it past stage two…
Yenna knelt down next to Adam, and his nose was filled with the scent of honey.
Then she began to sing her lullaby.
For once, he didn’t see the eye in the darkness. In fact, he didn’t dream at all.
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