< < Wave One > >

  < 60-Second Timer >

  “How the fuck am I supposed to fight with just my fists!?” Adam yelled at the tesseract. Despite killing it with his attack just moments ago, it was somehow alive again. More confoundingly, he’d returned to the beginning of the despicable Trials of Defiance.

  And none of my upgrades or Relics came with me!

  [Failure to slay the enemy within 60 seconds will lead to Wave Two triggering.]

  A transparent-blue slime squeezed its way out of the treeline nearby and began hopping towards him. He didn’t know what to do. Punching and kicking it would only get his skin dissolved.

  “Shitbox! What the hell happened!?”

  [You failed to select a Weapon Type and thus were defaulted to ‘Fool’. This Type starts with the Epic Relic ‘Lucky Bracelet’, but has no weapon. The ‘Fool’ is incapable of wielding weapons and you cannot swap to a different Type later on. Would you like to see the information for the Relic?]

  “Will it help me fight??”

  [Perhaps.]

  “Then show me, quick!” he demanded, as the slime came closer.

  < < Relics Equipped > >

  < Lucky Bracelet (Epic) — All rewards are Rare quality or higher >

  Epic rarity?? I mean, sure, that’s really awesome. But how am I supposed to make use of its effect if I can’t kill anything!?

  Adam eyed the slime that just continued hopping towards him.

  Fuck…

  He made up his mind, knowing there was no other option. He needed to get his first reward before the Wave could lapse and the second one added two more slimes to the mix.

  This is really going to suck.

  From the previous life, he knew that the cores inside the creatures were like stones, but still able to be cut with a single attack. He was pretty sure he might be able to crush it with the heel of his shoe, so he charged forward and punted the blue slime as hard as he could.

  It did not go as planned.

  Because of the slime’s jelly-like flesh, it was extremely resistant to blunt force. Instead of his shoe travelling through its body and kicking the core out from within it, the slime just left the ground and flew like a football for a few metres. To make matters worse, its corrosive effect clung to the faux leather of his shoe and rapidly began dissolving it.

  “Argh, fuck!” he yelled, as it burnt the skin of his foot. Adam quickly pulled the shoe off and tossed it away. Within seconds, the whole thing was dissolved into nothingness. Angry red welts were visible on his naked foot.

  Fucking hell! That acid really likes fabric…

  The slime righted itself and began hopping for him again. Adam glanced to the big tree in the centre of the clearing, wondering if there was a branch he could use as an improvised weapon. The Healing Apple and its branch had yet to appear. The rest were high up and way too thick to easily break with his hands.

  The apple doesn’t appear until Wave Three… he then recalled.

  I guess I really did go back in time…

  Another dumb idea entered Adam’s mind as the blue slime came closer.

  If this doesn’t work, I’m so fucked.

  He waited until it was close enough that its next hop would hit him, then easily side-stepped it and rammed his right hand into its ‘back’, flattening it like the blade of the sword he’d had before he died. The tip of his fingers easily penetrated the jelly flesh, but immediately started dissolving in its acid body.

  Adam screamed while forcing his hand deep enough to reach the core in its centre. He closed his hand around it and then yanked it back with as much force as he could.

  A wet slurp came from the slime’s body as his hand was pulled free, the core clasped between the fingers.

  Adam immediately dropped the spherical stone on the mossy ground. He stumbled back a few steps while clutching the middle of his forearm. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t stop screaming.

  The skin on his right hand was gone, as was most of the flesh. The tips of his fingers were just tiny stubs of exposed bone, which had been pitted and damaged from the acid and looked like they might crumble into ash at any moment.

  “Fuck!!” he screamed, while tears of agony filled his eyes.

  Meanwhile, the slime deflated without the core inside it, becoming flat like a pancake. Then it just evaporated with a pathetic fizz.

  The core that he’d extracted lay on the moss, still intact. As he stared between it and his ruined hand and forearm, he knew it hadn’t been worth it.

  Maybe I’ll start back over again if I die? Just like the first time.

  That seems like wishful thinking though…

  And if I throw my life away just to try out that insane theory… I don’t even want to think about that possibility.

  He decided to keep going, despite the pain and the mounting despair.

  The trick to going back in time is probably to kill Shitbox. I’ll have to find a way to do that again.

  Then the tesseract announced his success.

  < < Wave One Complete > >

  < Choose your Upgrade >

  The four-dimensional box flew out in front of him and began to rearrange itself into the podium shape, dragging additional mass from some other space. Even though he’d witnessed it quite a few times already, it still hurt his brain to look at.

  “Shitbox, can I pick this thing up?” he asked, pointing at the core.

  [Yes. You may collect any intact ‘Slime Cores’ you are able to extract. They are considered a Common Relic. Here is the Relic’s information.]

  < < Collectible Relic > >

  < Slime Core (Common) — The brain and heart of a Slime >

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  It’s a Relic? Doesn’t seem like it does anything though. I guess the idea is that you can sell them to Lucca and get 75 Points per each you collect. That might be a good strategy, although I can’t really use my hands for it. Yeah… that was way too reckless.

  He looked at the options that appeared over Shitbox’s podium. All of them were glowing blue like Rares. The three symbols were: a four-leaf clover; an arrowhead going through a wall; and a shield with cracks in it.

  < < Upgrades Available > >

  < Luck (Rare) — Increases luck by 3 >

  < Force (Rare) — Attacks pierce armour by 15% >

  < Crush (Rare) — Increases the impact of attacks by 15% >

  Can I even use any of these…?

  I guess Luck? Maybe it’ll give me a Rare or even Epic Damage boost next time around.

  < < Upgrade Selected > >

  < Luck (Rare) >

  < < Wave Two > >

  < 60-Second Timer >

  Adam frowned as two blue slimes emerged from the treeline opposite where he stood in the clearing.

  “Shitbox, is this actually meant to be doable without any weapons?” he asked, while stooping to pick up the ‘Slime Core’ Relic and putting it in his pocket.

  [Yes. However, the ‘Fool’ Weapon Type is deemed the most difficult option.]

  “Awesome…”

  He was pretty much screwed with his right arm out of commission, so he chose the only way forward he could think of: running out the clock until the branch with the Healing Apple appeared.

  Fortunately, he didn’t have to run in circles to evade the pair of blue slimes, since they were uncoordinated and slow.

  [15 seconds remaining of Wave Two.]

  [5 seconds.]

  [The Wave Timer has run out! You were unable to defeat the enemies fast enough. Unfortunately, this means that the next Wave now begins. You must defeat all enemies from both Waves before the Timer runs out again. You will not receive rewards until you successfully defeat all enemies within the allotted time.]

  < < Wave Three > >

  < 90-Second Timer >

  [During Waves you may take damage. Although you can purchase consumable health regeneration after this Stage, there are also ways to acquire them from within the Stages themselves. Look towards the tree, where a Healing Apple is awaiting you.]

  Adam grimaced, when a purple slime appeared, quickly followed by two blues. It was now five-on-one and he had no weapon.

  Before any of them could catch him, he ran to the big tree and jumped to reach the branch with the Healing Apple. It snapped off easily, giving him a metre-long stick that would hopefully work as a weapon.

  But first he took a bite out of the fruit. Relief and warmth flooded up his right arm and restored it back to full. It was almost enough to make him forget how much it’d hurt in the first place. Almost.

  Adam shifted the branch from his left hand to his right, and then charged for the nearest blue slime. The purple one was much slower than the rest, so it was not yet a problem, but it would prove the biggest challenge for his pathetic weapon.

  With a mighty roar, he jabbed the branch right into the blue ball of jelly, spearing through its flesh to strike the core. Nothing happened when it hit and the branch was immediately dissolved by its acidic body.

  “Shit!” he exclaimed and quickly retracted his weapon, but it was already too late to save it. Adam had to drop it to the ground as the acid ate through it. And just like that, his hope was gone.

  The only idea he had left was to try and bait the purple slime into hitting the blues. Even if that worked, however, he had no clue if he could kill it with his hand. And should that work, by some absurd miracle, he would then be faced with wave four and the green slimes, which would definitely dissolve his hands faster than he could yank out their cores.

  Yeah… I’m fucked.

  But he didn’t want to just give up, so he spun around and bolted for the great tree. Despite his missing shoe, he scrambled up the bark as best he could, managing to climb up into its crown, while the slimes were unable to follow. Since they couldn’t reach him, they instead began slamming into the tree below him. Their strikes slowly ate away at the dense bark.

  Are they able to destroy the tree? he wondered absentmindedly as he pulled himself as high as he could go.

  The branches up here were much thicker than the one he’d used before, but he had no easy way to break them off, so he couldn’t even attempt to use them as weapons.

  [30 seconds remaining of Wave Three.]

  Adam sighed.

  Guess I’ll be putting that reckless death loop theory to the test after all…

  As he sat up in the canopy amongst the branches and leaves, he suddenly spotted something glinting in the sunlight. It was a small object inside a bird’s nest, but it was situated precariously at the end of a thin branch.

  Adam looked down below to see that the purple slime had joined the other four in attacking the tree. He estimated that he’d reach the fifth Wave before they were able to deal any serious damage to it.

  With nothing to lose, he began to slowly work his way towards the glinting object. As he came within two metres of it, he realised it was an acorn made of glass.

  What’s this doing here? he wondered.

  This has to be something special! I can feel it!

  If I get it, maybe I can complete this Stage!

  [The Wave Timer has run out! Starting next Wave. You must defeat all enemies before the Timer runs out.]

  < < Wave Four > >

  < 90-Second Timer >

  Adam carefully scooted his body across the branch to reach the bird’s nest and its prize, while he heard the plop-plop-plop of the green slimes firing off their projectiles. None of them had enough power to reach him though and each just collided against the trunk of the tree with a loud hiss before evaporating.

  Come on, just a little bit more!

  He reached out and cupped his hand around the glass acorn.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed, feeling a small victory amidst the heavy despair of his situation.

  < < Secret Relic Obtained > >

  < Glass Acorn (Rare) — Grows for 3 Stages >

  “Ah shit…” he muttered, realising that this wasn’t the salvation he’d been desperately hoping for.

  Then the branch snapped and he plummeted to the ground.

  Despite the mossy understory of the clearing, the landing was anything but comfortable. From the series of snap, pop, crack, and crunch sounds, as well as the indescribable pain, it was obvious he’d broken several bones and possibly dislocated the shoulder he’d landed on.

  The air was punched out by the impact and he was quite sure his lungs might have collapsed as well, given that he was unable to draw in a new breath.

  A figure loomed over him, while he tried to utter just a single word of defiance.

  Schiiing!

  Adam returned to the darkness, where a colossal eye opened and gazed upon him. Its pupil was the silhouette of a man and he was walking towards where Adam floated.

  < < ADAM > >

  He gasped as he was returned to his feet in the clearing of the Magical Forest. Then he collapsed to his knees and hurled, while tears stung his eyes.

  That was a much worse death than the first… A shard to the heart beats falling from the top of a tree for sure.

  But it worked!

  I’m ba—!

  He hurled again, only bile and acid coming out. The taste of croissant was gone. Nearby, Shitbox was unfolded into the podium with the choice of weapons. His vision was blurry both from the tears in his eyes and the disorientation of been flung back in time.

  [30 seconds remaining.]

  Adam scrambled to his feet, not wanting to be defaulted to ‘Fool’ again. He immediately slipped in his own vomit and landed on his back with a loud thud.

  “Wait…!” he groaned breathlessly, as he tried crawling towards the podium. “Tell me… the options!”

  < < Weapon Types Available > >

  < Lancer (Common) >

  < Defender (Common) >

  < Duellist (Uncommon) >

  < Backstabber (Common) >

  < Warder (Rare) >

  The Defender was available again, but the rest of the options were different, which was peculiar. Of the new options, their weapons were a rapier, twin daggers, and a book. He immediately knew which he’d pick and screamed it out loud.

  Fortunately, he didn’t need to touch the weapon to select it. Instantly, a metre-and-a-half caramel-brown wooden spear with a dark metal tip appeared in front of him on the moss.

  < < Weapon Type Selected > >

  < Spear >

  < Common >

  < < Player Status > >

  < Adam Fischer >

  < Lancer >

  < Level 0 >

  < Stats >

  < Health — 100 >

  < Stamina — 150 >

  < Mana — 0 >

  < Damage — 100% >

  < Defence — 100% >

  < Speed — 150% >

  < Upgrades >

  < — — — >