“You what!?” Adam asked.
“I killed it,” Gladwyn said matter-of-factly.
Beck shook his head. “You should’ve tried talking to him first.”
“He jumped out at
in the darkness, of course I’d think it was an ambush!” the Defender argued.
“Adam and I didn’t try to fight it,” Beck said.
“You’re too trusting,” he shot back.
“Did you get anything?” Adam asked.
“You bet,” Gladwyn replied. “I got an inert version of the abyssal tooth, which was epic rarity. I sold it for five hundred points.”
Beck shook his head again. “You’ve lost access to that vendor forever now.”
“I still think it was worth it,” he said.
“Even if Sk??ll has so interesting stuff to buy, trying to get the currency to buy them is a bad idea. You’ll have to kill other players after all.”
Beck shrugged. “They’ll co back when we clear the Trials though, so what’s the issue? They might not even rember dying.”
Adam shook his head. “Actually, I don’t think they’ll co back. From how the octopus phrased it, it seems like the sacrifice is permanent.”
“I don’t even understand why we’d get sothing like this,” Gladwyn said. “So far the stages are just fighting NPCs. Are they planning on pitting us against each other?”
“More importantly,” Beck said, staring right at Adam, “how did you know about Weaver and the lucky stone? You also knew about how the goblins fight. How??”
“Soone else told ,” Adam lied.
“That’s suspicious,” Gladwyn said.
Adam shrugged.
“I know you’re not telling us the whole truth, Adam! Maybe you’re not actually a player, but instead sothing like the observer sent here to lead us astray and ultimately betray us when we least expect it!” Beck speculated wildly.
“That’s crazy,” Adam replied.
“Is it really?” Beck asked, raising an eyebrow dramatically.
“A little bit,” Gladwyn admitted.
“I’m watching you,” Beck said, gesturing with two fingers from his eyes to Adam’s.
Adam just laughed. “So, how did you do in stage two?”
“I got the flawless bonus again,” Gladwyn answered proudly.
Beck huffed. “I got the speedrun.”
“How many points?”
“1,415 points for ,” Gladwyn said. “I think my ti was sothing like 320 seconds overall.”
“I got a speed of 215 seconds,” Beck gloated. “But I took seventy damage, so my point total was 1,335.”
“Damn, wouldn’t that almost kill you as a Spellcaster?” Adam asked.
“It’s okay, I have seventy-five health.”
Adam frowned. “That’s pretty reckless, Beck.”
“That’s what my ex-wife always said when I was driving too, but a near-miss is still a miss!”
Adam laughed. “Well, regardless of how fast you went, the result is that you’re the loser,” he said.
“What!? Why? What did you get?”
Adam puffed up his chest a bit. “3,530 points.”
Gladwyn and Beck shared a glance.
“Liar,” Beck accused him, aiming the mustard-covered sausage of his hotdog at him.
“That shouldn’t even be possible,” Gladwyn agreed. “The seconds are clearly detracted from the overall score by one point per one second spent, and then there’s the fixed score for killing the enemies. So, even if you completed the entire stage in one hundred seconds without taking damage, that would only be 1,885 points with the two bonuses.”
Wow, he’s already figured out the math behind it? That’s quite impressive for just clearing two stages.
“It’s simple, I bought and activated the hardmode that Alivida sells, then I also killed the secret boss.”
“There are secret bosses??” Gladwyn and Beck both blurted out.
“This one required an item from the secret boss in stage one,” Adam revealed.
“I need to know…” Beck said. “How fast did you complete the stage?”
Adam grinned. “145 seconds.”
“Are you like a ti-traveller or sothing?” he asked sceptically.
Adam laughed it off. “I wish!”
Damn, these two are pretty smart… I need to be more careful.
He tried bullshitting his way out by saying, “If I were a ti-traveller, wouldn’t I already have known about the nickna system?”
Gladwyn shrugged. “You could just be kind of a slow learner.”
“Yeah, everyone knows that the heroes in ti-loop stories are all pretty clueless at the start. It’s a pretty common trope,” Beck added.
Adam tried not to let their comnts affect him. “If you don’t trust , you could ask the cube to look up any player that has looped back in ti,” he suggested, knowing such a query wouldn’t work.
“Don’t think I won’t call your bluff!” Beck exclaid.
Then he turned away and his hologram vanished.
Gladwyn shook his head. “He always gets fired up about random stuff.”
Adam smiled.
A mont later Beck rejoined them.
“The observer got really mad that I asked about ti-looping. Apparently, such a thing would defy the Trials.”
“Isn’t that the whole point?” Adam replied, playing along.
“So, no one appeared?” Gladwyn asked.
“No, there was a person who showed up when I asked it to display everyone who had all the trophies for stage three. It was this blonde chick with creepy purple eyes.”
Damn, I didn’t know that would work…
If he had asked for any player that had trophies for stage three, then I would’ve appeared, since I got the flawless one last ti.
Adam decided to shift their focus away from himself and did his best to pretend to be shocked. “Did she wear a red sweater?” he asked.
“She did.”
“That’s the person who told
about stage two!” Adam exclaid.
“Crap…” Gladwyn muttered. “She’s definitely a ti-traveller then.”
“I’m gonna confront her,” Beck decided.
“Hold up,” Adam said.
“What?”
“First you’ve gotta change your nickna.”
Beck blinked several tis in quick succession, then his excited expression morphed into a frown. “Shit.”
“You made the rules,” Gladwyn told him.
“You did,” Adam agreed.
Beck sighed deeply. “Get it over with, just tell
what to switch it to.”
Adam grinned deviously.
“Becky,” he said.
While Becky and Gladwyn went off to the market to spend their points, having decided to delay their confrontation of Elia, Adam leaned back in his recliner and absent-mindedly played with the barrier floating in the air. At the sa ti, he was watching Belamouranthe and Finnian running along the tables.
The two of them were duelling for so reason, using the bones from the girl’s boar stew as weapons. She was surprisingly adept with the improvised weapon as she deftly deflected and riposted the sli humanoid’s swings and jabs.
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Migraine ca into the tavern and waddled over to sit down next to Adam. He slled like dirt and cooking oil, and he seed down.
Adam sighed and finally asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Is already dark and nobody want shag.”
The answer caught Adam so off-guard that he lost his concentration on the barrier and it unfolded itself with a loud woosh.
“Actually, forget I asked.”
“Nobody love Migraine,” sobbed the goblin.
“You’ve probably just gotta tone it down a bit. Maybe you’re coming on too strong.”
“Bulge said strong the only way.”
Adam sighed deeply, unsure of how to get himself out of this conversation.
[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]
Oh thank God!
“Who is it?” he asked, glad for the interruption.
[Player Elia.]
No last na…
She must’ve set her nickna like , all just to avoid
finding out her full na.
That’s kind of suspicious.
“I’ll talk to her.”
Elia appeared opposite him.
“Great timing!” he said. “Migraine was starting to ask so uncomfortable questions.”
“That one is a nace. I’ve banned him from the tavern,” she said.
“Didn’t know you could do that.”
“I thought you said Weaver would make you a shirt,” she comnted, looking at his exposed torso.
“It might be at the player house, I just haven’t picked it up yet,” he said and grinned. “Is it making you uncomfortable?”
She ignored his jab and looked at his right hand, before moving her gaze to his eyes. The purple swirls pulled him in and he couldn’t look away.
“You accepted the abyssal tooth,” she stated, clearly having noticed the scale on his thumb. “Are you going to use it?”
“I don’t know,” he replied.
The challenge stone appeared in Elia’s hand.
“I will stop you,” she said decisively.
“Have you ever used it?”
“No. Arturo warned
against it.”
Adam nodded. “Because it sses up your universe.”
“Exactly. He dealt with soone that got to stage twelve by hoarding all the points from the group stages. After killing the player, he used the tooth on her. In his next loop, all the groups ended up composed of different people. Even the rewards he got were changed, all because just one player didn’t exist in the Trials anymore. If you kill soone in a loop, like with the challenge stone, it doesn’t drastically alter everything that cos afterwards, like drops and rewards.”
This ans that the seed is planted at the start of the Trials, Adam realised.
But that’s quite an impact. I guess this is Nwetrou’s way of usurping the perceived unfairness of the self-devouring eye.
But if you’re confident enough in your own power and have enough ta upgrades, then it can be a great way to mix up the odds and try to attain a better outco. Of course, if you don’t know, aren’t prepared enough, or just get bad luck, then it could ruin your chances of getting the divine relic again.
“Wait, what do you an killing soone doesn’t drastically change things?”
“As far as I can tell and from what Arturo has told , the groups are decided at the beginning of the Trials sohow. In my last loop, soone that I have to fight in stage five died earlier because of my actions sohow indirectly changing his decisions. When I got to stage five, the rest of the group was the sa, but that person was missing and soone who normally never survives to that point had replaced him.”
Weird. I wonder what Mórrígan ant by my actions making her run unsalvageable then. I guess it’s just because a small ripple of change can lead to bigger consequences?
“But even if I don’t use the abyssal tooth, soone else might,” Adam remarked.
Elia looked grim. “I always keep an eye out for anyone who obtains the abyssal tooth. Besides you and your two friends, there was one other. I have already dealt with him. So long as I can get rid of Nwetrou’s adherents before stage five, there is very little chance they will use it. Of course, they might use it on one of the Island’s denizens, but that doesn’t affect anyone else.”
Adam felt uncomfortable at the ntion of Gladwyn and Beck, and the casual way with which she talked about having killed soone else.
I should probably warn them about Elia…
“My friends won’t use it. Also, only Beck got the tooth, Gladwyn killed the octopus.”
“He killed Sk??ll?” Elia asked, sounding concerned for so reason.
“Is that bad?” he replied.
“It will cause problems in stage eleven. But he won’t make it that far.”
Adam frowned.
“I could be wrong,” she then said. “After all, his friend survived stage two thanks to you.”
Holy shit, Beck was supposed to die to the goblins…
“They’re both quite clever,” Adam said. “I think they can go far together.”
“Did they find the deep place without you?”
“Kind of, although I told them about Weaver. They found Alivida on their own.”
“There’s a shortage of curious people who make it far,” she said. “It’s almost always the sa type who makes it to stage ten, those that are resilient to despair and don’t take unnecessary risks.”
“How many make it to stage ten usually?”
“In my last loop it was about three thousand players. Before that it was forty-five hundred.”
“Holy shit.”
“I’m hoping for at least ten thousand this ti,” she said.
“Why is it so few?”
“Well, stage five is a big reason. It cannot be defied. Even Arturo couldn’t do it, and he looped more than twenty tis before handing
the reins. It always reduces the player count by at least 80%.
“After that, most survive stage six, but then they learn how the points are distributed for group stages and greed takes over. Don’t get
wrong, the stages themselves beco quite difficult and barely anyone would be able to beat one alone. But the number one issue is always the player factor. There’s also a lot of paranoia going around since many players choose to worship Nharlla, and his first boon randomly introduces the human mimic to stages.”
Human mimic??
And who the hell is Nharlla?
“What do you an by worship?” Adam asked. “Is that what Sk??ll was talking about?”
Maybe it’s tied to the Forbidden Altar?
Elia paused, as though realising she’d revealed too much.
“I’ll explain more after stage four,” she then said.
“What about the point distribution? What’s the issue there?”
She shook her head, so he dropped the topic for now.
I think Willow and I were right about the reward distribution for group stages.
I hope she’s alright. It feels weird not having her here.
I think I’ll try and ask Gladwyn to approach her on my behalf later.
“I ended up picking Summoner,” he said, breaking the silence. “Before you say anything, it’s a lot stronger than you think.”
Elia paused, mouth half open. Then she smiled at his prediction. “Why was I wrong?”
“It works with the dented crown, and it can trigger itself. Stage four is going to be a bloodbath since I’ll be able to just burn through the waves of enemies.”
She contemplated it for a mont. “So, you’re going for a summon-based setup?”
“That does seem to be the way it’s going.”
“Arturo used the Shaper very offensively. He could fold and warp the barrier into a needle. It was able to pierce and kill almost anything in a single hit. It was essentially just a glass cannon setup that prioritised damage, but it worked well. A lot of setups are like that. They focus on damage for the most part, either through stacking multiplicative buffs or by boosting speed and impact. Although a few defence-oriented ones do appear after the rules for the flawless achievent change in stage six. I haven’t seen anyone make it far with summon-based relics though.”
“I think it can do well.”
“We’ll see,” she replied sceptically.
“Do you know what the evolutions are for Summoner?”
“Only the first set. They’re Elentalist and Invoker. The first one, as the na implies, adds four elental boosts to the set of wand spells.”
“What about Invoker?”
“It increases total summons by one,” she said.
Adam grinned. “Guess I know what I’m levelling next.”
“If you have a reliable way of triggering the wraith lantern, then it could potentially be strong,” she admitted.
“It should also give
another barrier,” he said.
“It’s hard to say for sure,” she replied. “I don’t know the exact wording. For both the Zealot and Pit Fighter the descriptions just say ‘Weapon Damage’, which is why they apply multiplicatively to whichever weapon you’re holding.”
“I’m surprised their effects work even when they’re not equipped.”
“It’s one of the quirks that’s good to know. Normally, the evolution descriptions are either specific, such as with Shaper which only says you can shape the barrier, but a few have broader wording. It’s all about figuring out the loopholes.”
“The Spear Dancer applied its effect to all damage.”
She nodded. “That one is popular. It combos well with a lot of stuff.”
“I used the spring boots in my last run,” he said. “It worked really well with my relics.”
“Then why didn’t you make it past stage five?” she asked.
“Part of it might have been because of the fiendbarb relic I was using.”
Elia gave him a look as though she thought he was stupid. “You do understand that the main benefit of going fast and increased damage is that you can tear through armour, right? Using the fiendbarb basically negates the main purpose of Spear Dancer’s boost. You can use paper-thin armour and you’ll survive against that relic… Even the stuff Weaver makes can protect you from the fiendbarb.”
“Alright, I get it. It was stupid to use it.”
“It’s good in certain situations, certainly, but the fiendbarb mostly gets players killed because it becos a crutch.”
“In my defence,” Adam started, “Mórrígan basically hand-picked the person who killed
in the Forbidden Altar. She knew he would be in my group, so she taught him everything he needed to kill . I had no chance of surviving that. And even if I had, there was another hitman waiting for
in stage six.”
“Did she find out you were a ti-looper?” Elia asked. “Is that why she was after you?”
“Yeah. She was talking about the loop being unsalvageable because of .”
Elia frowned. “I hope I don’t end up like that…”
“I don’t think you will,” Adam said sincerely. “Your goal is to help people. I think Mórrígan wanted power more than anything else. I don’t think she was even trying to complete the Trials.”
Elia smiled at his words, but then her expression hardened. “Arturo said that the power of the divine relic was addicting. So far, all I feel is this great responsibility to use the power well. I don’t like experinting with people’s lives, but I have to help as many people survive as possible. Even just one or two extra people making it past stage twenty could make a huge difference.”
There’s quite a lot of stages it seems…
“You won’t tell
how many stages there are, right?”
“If I knew, I would.”
“So the furthest you’ve gone, the place where you found the divine relic, it’s not the end?”
“No.”
Adam could tell she wouldn’t reveal what stage it was and, though he understood why, it still frustrated him. She had all this knowledge, and he was the ideal person to impart it to, and yet she was unwilling to do it.
With a small sigh, he decided to ask about sothing else. His eyes briefly shifted to where Finnian had turned into a big blob and Belamouranthe was splayed out on top of it, fast asleep. They were like two kids who’d played until their bedti, with their improvised bone weapons on the floor nearby.
“How can I save Bel?” he asked.
“You have to get the secret relic from stage three. It’s on the driver’s body.”
“The ‘All-Mother’s Wrath’.”
“That’s right. It has several hidden effects. One of them is that it breaks and permanently curses you with lethargy if you’re wearing it and act with malice towards a child. Another is that any child who wears it will be protected from harm thanks to the All-Mother’s benevolence. If you want to save Belamouranthe, you have to give it to her.”
“That’s what I thought,” Adam said, relieved.
“It’s not completely straight-forward,” she continued. “If you give it to her before stage four, it will disappear during that stage when her and the queen are preparing the ritual. My guess is that her mother knows it will interfere with the ritual, so she gets rid of it. You have to give it to Belamouranthe just before you take the final chest after killing the boss and ending the stage. That’s the only way to save her.”
“Does it change anything?”
She nodded. “It’s one of the variant triggers, although a minor one.”
“Variant triggers?”
“That’s what Arturo called them,” Elia explained. “Basically, it’s possible to alter stages in certain ways. The most common one is by every mber of a group fulfilling the sa requirent. Anyway, it’s not important to you right now. The variant from saving Belamouranthe doesn’t co into play until stage six.”
Elia paused and looked to a seat further down the table. “It seems your friends just returned.”
She’s keeping tabs on them? Does she have so kind of query going just to inform her when certain people arrive?
Suddenly two holograms appeared opposite Adam, then Elia flickered and reappeared next to him. The two older guys were both wearing newly-spun clothes, courtesy of Weaver. Both of them had bought relics as well, with Gladwyn getting the bone armour and avalanche boots. Beck had bought the curse-giver necklace and probably spent the rest of his points on upgrades.
The tall guy looked between Adam and Elia suspiciously, while Gladwyn said hello. Beck fixed Adam with a stare.
“I knew you’d betray us,” he said.
“It’s not like that at all,” Adam defended himself.
“Hello Beck and Gladwyn. My na is Elia,” she greeted.
Gladwyn was looking at her eyes, while Beck continued to stare at Adam.
“Actually, he recently changed his na,” Gladwyn said.
“Oh right, I almost forgot,” Adam added.
Beck deflated. “I’ll win the bet for the next stage, I swear.”
“That’s actually what I wanted to help you with,” Elia revealed.
“You’re a ti-traveller, right?” Gladwyn asked.
She paused for a mont, then smiled slightly.
“That’s right,” she said. “So listen up, unless you want to die.”
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