Adam blinked in surprise. The girl looked no older than seven or eight and spoke with a British accent that had a slight lilt to it. She wore a white dress and her skin was ashen. Her hair was golden like sunshine and her eyes glowed orange. Two black horns sprouted from her temples.

  “What the hell?” he asked, looking to Shitbox who was still unfolded in the middle of the floor.

  [As part of completing Stage Two, you have saved the daughter of the Elphin Queen,] the tesseract explained.

  “Mine name is Belamouranthe.”

  “I’m Adam,” he replied, confused as hell.

  He went over and untied her bonds, then he looked back at the podium.

  “Is there like a recurring storyline between the Stages?”

  [Yes.]

  Does that mean that Stage One would be somewhere nearby then?

  I hadn’t even considered that possibility.

  Adam frowned, realising what had to come next.

  I’ll probably have to bring her back to her mother…

  “Wait, how does this work? Is she going to come to Interim Island as well?”

  [Yes.]

  That seems odd. Almost like a narrative break.

  I mean, if I can teleport to Interim and bring her along, couldn’t I also just teleport her straight home?

  “Will thou take me to mine mother?”

  “I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” he replied. “Though before we go, I have something to do first.”

  “Is it outside? I wish to see the sky and trees again.”

  “I suppose you could tag along.”

  While Shitbox remained unfolded in the chamber, Adam quickly moved through the tunnels that led outside. The grimy elf dogged his heels.

  Definitely didn’t think this was how the Stage would go.

  But if all Stages are connected, it should make it easier to predict future encounters.

  I thought for sure it would be nothing but meaningless waves against new types of enemies. It might be worth paying more attention to the environmental story-telling to find clues.

  The girl gasped as they emerged from the cave.

  “How long were you in there?”

  “I do not know how many moons passed, but it was a long time.”

  “Good thing I came along then.”

  Belamouranthe dropped to her knees in the grass, running her hands through it while smiling. She wore a white dress of spun silk, but it was tarnished by dirt and grime. Her arms and legs were skinny, but her face had some childish plump to it, which was a good sign.

  Adam let himself be distracted by the sight of her frolicking in the sun.

  She looks healthy enough at least, so if I were to consider the implications, that means the goblins were keeping her alive for something.

  He didn’t like where his imagination was taking him though, so he shook his head and continued past the trees to the village. When he reached the raised platforms, he realised that they’d been rebuilt.

  The girl ran to catch up with him.

  “Do you know why they were keeping you captive?” Adam asked as he retraced his steps to the hut with the hole in the floor.

  “The red goblin said I was to be sold. He fed me to ensure I would not perish.”

  He frowned. “Why the hell would anyone want to buy a kid…” he muttered in disgust.

  “Mother says we have magic in our veins.”

  What the hell does that mean?

  But she’s very eloquent for a kid.

  “How old are you?”

  “Twelve.”

  “And where do you live?”

  “In the Sanctuary. Mine mother is its Queen.”

  “Sanctuary? For what?”

  “For Elphin.”

  I guess that’s what her species is called? But I mean, she just looks like an elf with horns…

  “Do all of you have horns?”

  “Yes. Mother’s are the most brilliant of all.”

  He nodded, not knowing how else to respond to that.

  “We’ve arrived,” he announced as he entered the hut.

  “Is this thy home?” the girl asked.

  He laughed. “Do I really look that dirty?”

  “I am not familiar with thy kind. Are you human?”

  “That’s right. Do they not have those at the Sanctuary?”

  “No. Mother forbids them entry.”

  “Well… I’m sure to receive a warm welcome then.”

  “Fear not, Adam. As mine saviour, no harm shall befall thee.”

  “Good to know,” he muttered, while getting on his knees in front of the hole. He scooted forward so he could look straight down to the bottom. There was a glint of something down there, but he couldn’t tell what it was for all the spiderwebs in the way.

  Belamouranthe knelt next to him.

  “Are thou a fan of spinners.”

  “Hell no.”

  Adam pushed himself to his feet and pulled the spear from his back. Then he moved it around the edges of the hole to clear the webs away.

  The Elphin girl stared down the hole as he worked.

  “Further,” she urged.

  He pushed the spear deeper.

  “More?”

  “No.”

  Adam stared at the cobwebs tangled around the end of his spear after pulling it out of the hole.

  No spiders at least.

  “I see what lies at the bottom,” announced the girl. “I must say, the quality of this Spidersilk is tremendous.”

  He looked down at her. She was holding some of the cobwebs between her tiny fingers, splaying the strands like a true connoisseur.

  After kneeling next to the hole again and peering down, he couldn’t help but frown at what he saw.

  It’s an egg sack? That’s the Secret Relic?

  At the bottom was a round cocoon of tightly-packed spiderweb. He knew enough about spiders to know it would be teeming with tiny babies.

  Adam shuddered.

  Looking at it now, that hole is way too narrow for me to fit down.

  Belamouranthe suddenly crawled feet-first down into the hole.

  “What are you doing!?” he exclaimed, horrified.

  “It is no trouble for me to get it.”

  A couple seconds later she was down at the bottom, the hole only slightly taller than her. She crouched and grabbed the egg sack, before handing it to him.

  “Thanks,” he said and pulled her up with one arm. She weighed barely anything.

  < < Secret Relic Obtained > >

  < Weaver’s Egg (Rare) — Wriggles with inner life >

  [2 minutes remaining.]

  Shit. I don’t have any more time to look around.

  “We’ve gotta hurry back,” Adam told the girl.

  He stuffed the egg sack in his jeans and sprinted from the village to the cave. Surprisingly, the little girl was able to keep up with him, despite his increased movement speed. They moved through the tunnels so quickly that Adam felt confident he could grab the Speedrun Bonus next time.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Next time…? Am I planning on dying and coming back here again??

  [30 seconds remaining,] Shitbox stated as they reached the boss chamber.

  He scanned the upgrade options again.

  < < Upgrades Available > >

  < Spear Growth (Uncommon) — Increases spear length by 30% >

  < Bash Damage (Uncommon) — Increases shield bash damage by 10% >

  < Damage (Rare) — Increases all damage by 15% >

  It's less damage if I pick Bash, but I want that next Evolution.

  “Select Bash Damage.”

  < < Upgrade Selected > >

  < Bash Damage (Uncommon) >

  The chest immediately started to glow the moment Adam picked the upgrade, but he still felt like it was taking too long. With a pop, which startled the Elphin girl, the bone chest sprung open, revealing three Relics.

  < < Relics Available > >

  < Fat Grub (Common) — Eat to restore health back to full over 60 seconds. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

  < Reroll Die (Uncommon) — Allows the Player to reroll Reward or Vendor Options. Relic disappears after use >

  < Bone Armour (Uncommon) — Increases Player Defence by 30%. Breaks after 6 hits >

  Goddamn it, none of these are useful.

  “Shitbox, if I take the Bone Armour, what happens to the armour I’m already wearing?”

  [Only one Armour Relic can be equipped at a time. Selecting a new Armour Relic will unequip your current one. You can choose to carry it around or I can stow it in your Player House.]

  Guess I can sell the Bark Armour to Lucca. Hopefully it’ll still be worth 150 Points even though it only has 3 hits left before it breaks.

  “I’ll pick the Bone Armour,” he decided.

  < < Relic Selected > >

  < Bone Armour (Uncommon) >

  The flexible bark plates vanished from his body and landed by his feet, folded up like a towel. A bone vest similar to the Hobgoblin’s appeared over his white shirt, along with a skirt, a headband of finger-bones, and bracers for his arms and legs.

  This seems to cover less than the Bark Armour…

  Still, it increased his Defence by 5% which wasn’t insignificant, given that taking less damage meant less pain and less Points lost.

  He stooped to pick up the unequipped Armour Relic.

  Belamouranthe made no comment about his new attire, though she also hadn’t remarked upon his clearly otherworldly outfit, so maybe she wasn’t the type to judge.

  Wait… Why am I considering her a real person?

  If the Trials take their cue from games, wouldn’t that make her an NPC?

  He looked down at her. She was staring back at him with a smile.

  Oddities aside, she does seem very real. But so do the insect vendors…

  The tesseract let off a pulse of magic and the cave interior was swallowed by darkness. As the dirt walls became dumpy buildings and the oppressive ceiling turned to azure sky, the little Elphin only stared at Adam.

  < < Now Entering > >

  < Interim Island >

  A spirited hurdy-gurdy melody welcomed him back and a warm breeze ruffled his hair.

  The surroundings had changed somewhat, Adam realised. The melted clay structures pretending to be houses looked slightly less crap than before, and the cobbles underfoot were a bit more orderly. Even the errant plants and trees seemed less like invasive growths, somehow.

  Odd. It’s like this place is becoming more coherent.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked Belamouranthe.

  She nodded eagerly.

  He hefted the Bark Armour that was folded up in his arms. “I’ve just gotta sell this, then we can go to the Tavern. You can eat whatever you want there.”

  “Even boar meat!?” she asked excitedly.

  “I’m sure that’s an option. Heck, they’d probably even serve you Dodo meat if you wanted.”

  “Is that a type of pig?”

  “No, I think it’s like a fat pigeon.”

  She shook her head. “I will have boar.”

  Adam couldn’t help but smile at her intensity.

  He expected Luvicidix to stop him before he headed north for the Market, but it seemed the White Moth was observant enough to know when her services were wanted.

  The moment Adam arrived in front of the wasp Musician, something happened.

  < < Secret Relic Activated > >

  The egg sack lifted itself out of Adam’s pocket and floated past the wasp and the fountain behind her. It continued past the flowerbeds and all of the Market stalls, before pausing in front of the trees on the island’s edge. Then the cocoon ballooned in size and grew into a vague facsimile of the other stalls.

  Another spider appeared within, though this one was only the size of a poodle.

  “So there are Secret Relics to unlock more vendors?”

  [Correct. You have unlocked the Weaver. This vendor sells non-Relic attire.]

  “What, like underwear?”

  [Yes.]

  Adam laughed. “Amazing… I’m so glad I found that,” he deadpanned.

  He gave Yenna the wasp a nod as he passed her. She had the hurdy-gurdy in her arms and was winding the lever while playing the keys. He paused for a moment as he saw that the sculptures of the fountain had become goblins instead of slimes.

  What an odd attention to detail…

  Belamouranthe tagged along behind him while he looked at the stalls, but didn’t seem too bothered by the giant insects all around them.

  The vendors all greeted him as he perused, but aside from Thea, whose upgrades now matched his evolved Weapon Type, there were no differences. He’d kind of hoped that Belin the cockroach would be selling more types of consumables, but it was still only the three types of roots and potions.

  I should probably buy a health potion though.

  “How much does a small potion heal?” he asked.

  “Small ones, regardless of type, recover 40%. Medium recovers 60%, and Large recovers everything.”

  “And it was 100 for a small?”

  “Correct. Medium is 500 and Large is 1200.”

  That makes no sense though, he realised.

  I could just buy three small ones for 300 Points to achieve the same effect, while saving 900.

  There’s gotta be some reason for it.

  “Is there a cooldown to using potions?”

  “Potions do not work like Relics,” she answered. “They do not have cooldowns, but rather toxicity build-up. This means that consuming two potions back-to-back will raise your toxicity to dangerous levels. Consuming three in quick succession is lethal.”

  Goddamnit…

  “And how long before it’s safe to consume a second one?”

  “10 minutes.”

  “That’s stupid. Stages don’t even last that long.”

  She gave him a look that, despite her unsettling cockroach appearance, seemed to indicate that there was something she couldn’t tell him.

  “Is it the same with the roots?”

  “Correct. However, the root toxicity is separate from potion toxicity. You can consume one root and one potion and you would be fine.”

  “But it’s regardless of type? Like, would I get poisoned from drinking a health potion right after a stamina potion?”

  “Yes. You would also be poisoned if you consumed a health root right after a stamina root.”

  Adam frowned.

  Suddenly they don’t seem that useful… But I guess the health-boosting root might be worth using.

  “How much were the roots?”

  “250 Points.”

  “Eh, I’ll think about it,” he told her and continued on to Lucca’s stall.

  The grey spider was leaned out of her stall and all eight of her clustered-together eyes stared down at the newcomer’s shop.

  Adam froze at the sight of the giant spider.

  They can move out of their stalls!?

  The spider slowly turned to face him.

  “Hello again, Adam.”

  Adam swallowed. “Hello.”

  “You have brought a weaver here,” she said, matter-of-factly. There was a sinister tone to her words that unsettled him.

  He frowned. “Will that be an issue?”

  “My kind eats other spiders. But fret not dear, I am civilised.”

  “Well, if you are so civilised, would you go back inside so I can look through your wares?”

  A chittering laugh emerged from the spider as she pulled her long legs and head back under the red overhang. She tilted her head slightly as he came closer.

  “Show me your Relics,” he said.

  Two of her long legs gestured to the black treasure chest next to her.

  “Have a look.”

  Golden light cascaded from the chest as it popped open. Adam immediately stared at the Epic-rarity option that appeared.

  < < Relics For Sale > >

  < Blue Trophy (Rare) — Increase Player Damage by 15% for 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown >

  < Chaos Fragment (Epic) — All Player’s equipped Relics are randomly changed to something of equal Rarity. Disappears after use >

  < Parry Bracer (Uncommon) — Can be used to parry physical attacks. Breaks after 3 uses >

  < Fat Grub (Common) — Eat to restore health back to full over 60 seconds. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

  The Chaos Fragment looked like a shard of rainbow-hued glass.

  Depending on how ‘equal rarity’ is considered, it might potentially be an upgrade for some items, if it picks from options that don’t become available until later Stages.

  If that’s the case, it has the most potential power in the early Stages, but, at the same time, it would be better to use when I have more Relics.

  But I don’t like the random chance of it.

  He scanned the other options. The Trophy was literally just the torn-off ear of a blue goblin. The Bracer was made of bronze and looked cool, but it was clearly not super useful. The Grub was, as expected, just a fat worm.

  I have 1028 Points. If I can sell the Bark Armour for 150, then I can buy a Reroll and maybe get lucky with another Epic Relic. Or I could buy two Rares.

  Before he got too ahead of himself, he lifted the folded-up armour in his hands and said, “I’d like to sell this.”

  “Of course,” Lucca replied. “You will receive 150 Points in return.”

  He nodded. “Deal.”

  The Armour Relic vanished from his hands.

  Before he could even ask, Shitbox explained, [You can view your Point Total by uttering the word ‘Currency’.]

  “Currency.”

  < < Player Currencies > >

  < Points — 1178 >

  < Mastery Shards — 1 >

  Oh, this shows the Mastery Shards too.

  I wonder if there are other types of currencies.

  Maybe I should visit Alivida again. If I remember correctly, she had something that cost just 1 Shard.

  “I’d like to buy and use a Reroll,” he told Lucca.

  < < Relic Purchased > >

  < Reroll Die (Uncommon) >

  < 1078 Points Remaining >

  “Excellent,” she chittered.

  The black chest closed, before popping open a moment later.

  “Adam, I am hungry.”

  He blinked and looked down at the Elphin girl.

  Crap, I completely forgot about her for a moment.

  “Give me like 10 more minutes, then we can go to the Tavern.”

  “Understood.”

  Adam had a look at the new set of Relics.

  < < Relics For Sale > >

  < Avalanche Boots (Rare) — All kicks inflict disorientation on normal targets for 2 seconds >

  < Yellow Trophy (Rare) — Increase Player Speed by 15% for 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown >

  < Potion Belt (Uncommon) — Carries up to three potions and makes them indestructible | Uses the right-most potion when its associated resource is exhausted >

  < Blink Ring (Uncommon) — Charged attacks are performed instantaneously when you blink >

  Damn. No Epics this time…

  The Boots could be useful though. The Yellow Trophy as well.

  The Belt might be okay if I can find a Relic that does something about toxicity build-up, but on its own it seems more likely to get me killed by self-inflicted poisoning… Plus I’d have to buy potions to keep it stocked.

  “I’ll look around some more and return later,” he told Lucca.

  “You will be back,” she replied knowingly. “Bye for now, Adam.”

  Since he wasn’t interested in the other vendors, he went straight to the new one he’d unlocked.

  The stall was made entirely of spiderwebs, but was otherwise indistinguishable from the rest. Dresses, shirts, pants, underwear, socks, and every other type of clothing imaginable hung down from the ceiling on imperceptibly-thin lines of silk. Unlike the off-white stall, they were full of colour.

  The weaver in charge crawled up the back of the counter and peered over the edge at him. Then with a little hop it landed on top.

  “Hi Adam. My name is Weaver.”

  “Hello there.”

  “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said. Her voice was timid and small.

  “What do you sell?” he asked.

  “Clothing spun from my own silk.”

  Adam gestured to Belamouranthe. “She says your Spidersilk is very high quality.”

  The girl nodded eagerly. “Mother would love to welcome thee to our Sanctuary I am sure.”

  “Thank you,” Weaver replied. “If you would like, I can spin new clothes for you both. For free.”

  Adam considered his jeans and shirt. Both were stained and damaged.

  “I wouldn’t say no to that.”

  “I would like a green dress!” insisted the Elphin girl.

  “I’d just like replacements for what I’m already wearing,” Adam added. “If you can make those with just silk.”

  “Understood,” Weaver replied. “The finished clothes will be brought to your Player House. Any subsequent sets of clothing will cost 100 Points.”

  “Thank you, Weaver.”

  Belamouranthe looked up at Adam expectantly. “Will thou take me to where boar is served?”

  “Yes, yes, we’ll go to the Tavern now.”