“Who are you?” Adam asked, while staring right into the large black compound eyes of the white moth.

  “Why, I’m Luvicidix of course!”

  “I’ve got no fucking clue who you are. This is my first time here…” In this life.

  The moth lifted one of the four black-banded legs she was using as arms, touching her comb-like antennae. It looked like a nervous mannerism.

  “There must’ve been some mistake. I was clearly informed that I was to arrive here once you returned.”

  “I’m super lost,” Adam admitted.

  “Me also,” the moth replied.

  “That really doesn’t help… What kind of stuff do you sell? I’m guessing you’re a vendor.”

  Adam looked to the tesseract for guidance, but it was staying silent. Or rather, it was frozen in place. In the distance, the plume of smoke from the Tavern was unmoving, and even the ever-present guitar melody had paused.

  “Are you stopping time?”

  The moth nodded eagerly.

  He couldn’t tell which of his questions she was responding to.

  And I thought the normal vendors were bizarre, but this one takes the crown for sure.

  “Yes, yes, I can pause time. Handy isn’t it?”

  “Concerning, more like. Seriously, what is your deal?”

  The moth, which was about a head taller than him, leaned down slightly. “Is this really your first time here?”

  Adam sighed. “No,” he then answered.

  “Aha! I knew I wasn’t in the wrong place!”

  “Do you know why I go back in time when I die?”

  Luvicidix seemed confused. “Pardon?”

  “Weren’t you talking about my ability to go back in time?”

  “Yes, of course! But what’s this talk about dying?”

  “That’s how I go back!” he exclaimed, becoming quite frustrated with its nonsensical responses and reactions.

  “Peculiar. I’m only meant to show up for Players who find and utilise the Divine Relic known as ‘The Self-devouring Eye’. It doesn’t kill you when you use it.”

  “A self-devouring eye?” he asked. “What the hell is that?”

  “So you didn’t obtain the Relic and use that to go back in time?”

  “No!”

  The moth leaned in closer. “Then how?”

  Adam glanced back to the tesseract which was frozen in place behind him. Then he ran his eyes up-and-down the moth.

  Can I really trust this thing?

  But it seems like maybe it knows something useful…

  “Don’t tell anyone this,” he started.

  The moth nodded.

  “I managed to kill that floating box there during my first life, but it exploded and killed me in return. As soon as I died, I was sent to this black darkness with a big eye and a strange silhouette that looked like me. Then I woke up back at the start of the first Stage.”

  “Most bizarre,” the moth commented. “Certainly an unorthodox method of obtaining the ability to rewind time.”

  “I’m not rewinding time when I die,” he replied.

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yes! If I were, then my rewards would be identical right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well, they aren’t! First time I got offered things that never showed up during this life, like different starting weapons. The Relics awarded after killing the boss are different too.”

  The moth hummed speculatively, causing several silver scales to lift off her glistening wings and orbit around the two of them.

  “I think I might have a guess as to what has happened. But if you return to me after your next trip back in time, I should have figured it out.”

  “You want me to die so you can study me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah, I’m not fucking doing that. That’s psychotic.”

  “A shame. Some of my Upgrades are only useable once you start back over.”

  “Upgrades? What kind?”

  “The kind that spans more than one life,” Luvicidix promised.

  With a beat of her wings, a menu suddenly appeared in front of Adam. There were currently six upgrades available to him, though several more were greyed out and illegible.

  < < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

  < Damage — Increase All Damage by 10% — 1000 Points >

  < Rewards — Increase Reward Options by 1 — 4000 Points >

  < Vendors — Increase Vendor Options by 1 — 4000 Points >

  < Rerolls — Start every loop with 1 Reroll Dice — 2500 Points >

  < Relic Saving — Start every loop with 1 Saved Relic Slot — 5000 Points >

  < Cheat Death — Start every loop with the Cheat Death Relic — 10000 Points >

  “Woah.”

  Luvicidix nodded eagerly. “I am very good to know, right?”

  “I can’t afford any of those. The prices are insane.”

  Basically all of them were ones he wanted, except maybe the damage one. Getting more reward and vendor options would help a ton, but so would starting with a Reroll.

  “Worry not, Adam! You may pay towards unlocking the upgrades incrementally across several loops if you wish. Once they are unlocked, they will remain, even when you die and return!”

  “Loops?”

  “Is that not what you are doing?” the moth asked philosophically. “Are you not in a loop, returning to your starting point once it ends?”

  “I guess so…”

  “Would you like to buy anything at this moment?”

  “No, I’d rather spend my Points on Relics I think.”

  “I will be here when you come back,” she said, as though it was inevitable that Adam would give her his Points.

  “Actually, I had some questions.”

  “Of course.”

  “Can you tell me what lies ahead? If you’ve seen past ‘loops’, you must know what the next Stages are.”

  “While I work beyond the scrutiny of that thing,” Luvicidix said, pointing an arm at Shitbox. “I am yet bound by the All-Seeing System’s rules. I cannot tell you anything that would be deemed advantageous.”

  Adam sighed. “It was worth a try.”

  “If you have questions that do not run afoul of this rule, I am happy to answer.”

  He thought about it for a moment. Most of his questions were things that would probably be deemed advantageous to know the answers to.

  “Why are you stopping time?”

  The moth rubbed her antennae again.

  Adam gave her a suspicious glance.

  Is she avoiding the question?

  The moth seemed to sigh, before answering. “Things are complicated by it knowing I exist. The All-Seeing System deemed it to be for the best that I remain ‘undetected’.”

  “I don’t understand,” Adam replied, confused. “Isn’t the tesseract a part of the System?”

  “Tesseract? Is that what you think it is? But, I cannot answer that.”

  “How is the answer advantageous!?” he exclaimed. “That makes no sense!”

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  “Do you have any other questions?”

  Adam frowned. He hated that none of the creatures in Interim Island were allowed to be forthcoming, even though they possessed so many answers.

  Calm down. It’s not her fault she can’t answer.

  He realised he had a different question.

  “Will you remember me if I die?”

  Although Luvicidix’s face was that of a moth, she still managed to convey a smile. Somehow.

  “Of course, Adam!”

  “Even if I don’t return in the way that you expect?”

  “Certainly! I transcend—”

  The moth stopped mid-sentence.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I cannot say.”

  “Of course…” he groaned.

  “Do you have other questions?”

  “I guess not… Or wait, I do have one last one. How do I find you again? Do you disappear when time resumes?”

  “In a way, but I will wait here for your return. However, I must leave when night falls on Interim Island.”

  “Why?”

  Luvicidix rubbed her antennae.

  “Can’t say?”

  “Indeed,” she replied.

  “Well, I’m off then. But I’ll probably be back before nightfall if I have any Points left.”

  “See you then,” she said cheerfully.

  The floating silver scales returned to the white moth’s wings and Adam blinked involuntarily.

  In that split-second, the moth vanished from sight.

  The tesseract floated over to him.

  “Shitbox, did you see that?” he asked.

  [I don’t know what you are referring to.]

  “Nevermind then.”

  Adam walked towards the Tavern in the distance.

  [This is the Dimensional Tavern. Here you may—]

  “Skip,” he said as he walked through the door.

  The long wooden tables appeared along with the scent of baked bread.

  Adam breathed in deeply.

  The red ant approached as he walked over to a stool.

  “Hello Adam, my name is Charlie.”

  He nodded. “I’ll have eight croissants from Jameson’s Bakery.”

  “Anything else?”

  He thought about it for a moment. “A strawberry milkshake.”

  “Of course,” she replied and left.

  Speaking of…

  He sat down and the stools filled with people. A cacophony of voices filled the interior.

  “Mute all the voices not speaking to me,” he told Shitbox.

  The voices died down at once.

  [About 500 million Players survived Stage One. Currently, 12 million Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.]

  That’s not a lot… I guess I am early.

  [It is possible to state your in—]

  “Skip. Show me Willow from Australia.”

  Hundreds of people appeared along the tables. None of them were the woman he’d met during his first visit to the Tavern. The holograms flickered and were replaced. This happened a few more times before it had cycled through everyone matching his query. Then it went back around.

  There was no sign of her.

  She might’ve died.

  No, that’s unlikely. She seemed resourceful after all.

  Maybe she’s still at the vendor?

  During his first life, he’d taken his time exploring and gotten here late. There’d been over 80 million people in the Tavern when he arrived.

  Maybe she’ll be here later.

  He thought about what other queries he had for the Tavern and figured there was an obvious one.

  “Show me everyone who has looped.”

  [Your query cannot be executed. You may need to rephrase your question.]

  Adam frowned.

  “Show me everyone who has completed the first Stage more than once.”

  [Your query cannot be executed,] Shitbox repeated.

  Maybe it isn’t possible to see those who have gone back in time. Or maybe I am not allowed to search for them?

  But wait, there’s a way I can maybe ask without breaking the rules.

  What was that thing called again?

  Oh right.

  “Show me everyone who knows about the Self-devouring Eye.”

  The tesseract seemed to stutter in place. [What is this object? I am not allowed to learn its nature. How do you know of a restricted item? And your previous questions. Why are you searching for people who fall outside the rules of the Trials of Defiance?]

  Adam still had no idea why the tesseract wasn’t allowed to know about Luvicidix and the fact that Players could loop, but he figured it was probably for the best that he didn’t enlighten it. After all, Adam was not following the rules of time-looping that the System designed. Drawing too much attention to himself was obviously a bad idea.

  “Just do as I ask,” he demanded.

  The holograms of Australians named Willow flickered and disappeared. The tables all emptied out.

  No one, huh? he thought, while looking around the interior.

  But then he blinked and saw that there was one. Seated up above on the first floor in front of a small table was a single figure. Their body was submerged in shadow. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.

  “Hey!” Adam called.

  The silhouette turned to look down at him. Then it flickered and vanished.

  What the hell.

  “Shitbox, who was that?”

  [I cannot inform you about other Players. They must share their information with you themselves.]

  “Why did they just disappear?”

  [If a Player so desires, they can be made inaccessible to others in the Tavern.]

  “So, like an anti-harassment feature?”

  [That is one of its functions, yes.]

  Adam frowned.

  They didn’t want me to ask questions…

  If they blocked me, I doubt I’ll ever find them again, no matter how I search.

  But how did they do it so quickly without saying anything?

  “Is there a way to block people without speaking?”

  [Yes. You may access the commands and queries using your mind.]

  “How does that work?”

  [By prompting with your thoughts and forcing the intent.]

  I guess I’ll give it a try.

  Adam concentrated, furrowing his brow.

  Show me everyone who received the Speedrun bonus.

  Holograms flickered to life on the stools. All of them filled up.

  It worked!

  “How many people is that?”

  [There are 32,098 Players matching your query.]

  If there’s still 12 million in here, then that’s not a lot. About 1 in 400.

  Adam suddenly felt quite good about himself.

  That was actually a good run then?

  I wonder how many found the secret.

  Before he could ask the question, Charlie the Tavernkeeper showed up with a plate stacked with the magical croissants and a tall glass of milkshake.

  Adam took the plate and glass gratefully.

  He ate two croissants immediately, shivering with delight. Then he washed them down with the strawberry shake.

  Holy crap!

  He looked around and spotted the red ant nearby. “Charlie, where is this milkshake from!?”

  She came over and answered, “I made it myself, Adam.”

  “Well, it’s delicious!”

  “Thank you,” she said, her voice bubbly and warm.

  After eating his third and fourth croissant, he turned his mind back to querying the Tavern.

  “Show me everyone who found the Glass Acorn,” he said, pulling the Relic out of his pocket.

  In the warm golden light of the tavern, tiny particles danced inside the glass with the light.

  He looked up and saw that, across the three long tables, only about 63 people were seated. It was a lot less than he had expected. Several of them had thousand-yard stares and were eating without seeming to pay attention to anything. A few were openly crying. Only about seven people were seemingly unaffected, and most were talking into the air, perhaps chatting with others they’d queried to find.

  “Remove everyone who didn’t get the Speedrun reward.”

  The holograms flickered and winked out until only two people remained seated at nearly opposite ends of his table. They were men, and European both, from the looks of them. One wore a black t-shirt and the other had a straw-brown sweater.

  “What weapons did you use?” Adam asked them.

  They both turned to look at him. One said a few things into the air, as though bidding farewell to another person. Then they flickered before reappearing opposite him.

  “Did you find the Acorn as well?” asked the one to his right. He had a square face with oily-looking brown hair, thick eyebrows, and green-blue eyes. Based on his accent, he was probably German. Still, he was perfectly-understandable to Adam.

  Language wasn’t something he’d thought about until then, but it would’ve been an issue if people were supposed to trade info and couldn’t understand one another.

  Adam nodded. “I got both the Speedrun and Acorn. It seems only the 3 of us accomplished that. I use a spear by the way.”

  The other man nodded. He had an angular face and shoulder-length grey hair. His brows were arched and thin, and his eyes were golden-brown. A bushy moustache crowded his upper lip and stubble ran down the sides of his mouth, ending on his chin.

  “I too use the spear. It is a good weapon.” He spoke around a burger he was eating, muffling his voice. Next to the plate for the burger was a basket full of breadsticks.

  “I picked the bow,” the German guy said. “My name’s Lenard.”

  “I’m Adam.”

  Burger guy finished swallowing his bite and said, in a Russian accent, “I am Ilya.”

  “Are you French?” Lenard asked Adam.

  He saw where his eyes were looking and laughed. “Oh no, I just really like these croissants. You should try them. Just ask Charlie for croissants from Jameson’s Bakery, she’ll know.”

  “If you are hungry later, ask her for the homemade cheeseburger. It is very delicious,” Ilya recommended.

  “I will order the croissant first,” Lenard decided.

  “What Relics did you get from the Boss?” Adam asked them. Since the Tavern had been focused heavily on ‘trading’ info the first time he’d come here, he figured they might not be willing to share the info freely. To ease them along, he shared his own reward first. “I got the Bark Armor. It increases defence, but only for a few hits.”

  He tapped the bark helmet he was wearing.

  Lenard was turned away, presumably speaking to the Tavernkeeper though Adam couldn’t hear him.

  “I received the Boomerang Pendant,” Ilya said, pulling it out from under the oversized black band t-shirt he was wearing. “It returns thrown objects. I have not tried it yet, but it is Rare.”

  “You can test it out on the dummy in the Player House,” Adam told him.

  “That is good advice, thank you.”

  “I got the Blink Ring,” Lenard said, having finished ordering his food.

  “It pairs well with the bow,” Adam told him.

  “I tried it out a little bit, but it’s hard to get used to.”

  “If you can find the Duellist’s Glove, you’ll have a very powerful setup,” he advised. “The spider vendor might sell it in your world.”

  “What does it do?”

  “It makes charged attacks go through all armour.”

  Lenard nodded thankfully. “I will look for it in the Market.” Then he seemed to feel guilty for receiving info in return for nothing and said, “It may be too late to test this, but I had a theory in the first Stage that I couldn’t try because of my bow.”

  Adam leaned closer. “What kind of theory?”

  “You saw how the cores inside the slimes are what makes them stronger, yeah? I thought that maybe, if you could take out the core from a blue slime and put it inside one of the others, they would evolve.”

  That actually makes a lot of sense, Adam realised.

  “How would you get a core?” Ilya asked. “No matter how gently I poked them, they would always break.”

  “I pulled one out with my bare hand,” Adam admitted. In my previous loop…

  Ilya laughed. “Very crazy, your hand must not have been happy.”

  “It was really foolish,” he replied. Ilya just laughed more. “But it was possible to recover it intact. It becomes a Relic simply called Slime Core.”

  “I am glad you are both so knowledgeable,” Ilya said. “I talked with some others and they do not know much. Many are just crying.”

  “Have either of you managed to upgrade your weapons six times?” Adam asked.

  They both shook their heads. It was clear neither had visited the Market yet. In a way, it did seem smarter to start with the Tavern before going to the Market.

  “I think I may know something to trade,” Ilya said. “You have both been so useful to talk to, so I will share it with you. It will be useful for you in the future I should think.”

  Adam and Lenard looked at him in anticipation.

  “There were not many who accomplished this besides me in the first Stage, but there is a bonus reward for avoiding damage. For the first Stage, it was 300 Points.”

  Damn, he must have gotten a lot of Points, Adam considered. I nearly would’ve pulled it off too.

  This Ilya guy must be quite proficient and level-headed, given that he did both the Speedrun and avoided taking damage.

  Since the Speedrun Bonus was 150 Points, I’m better off going for no-hit runs than fast ones.

  “I think I have a guess at what the next Stage could be,” Lenard said, as a Jameson’s croissant, big frothing glass of beer, and a burger appeared in front of him. “It seems very much like a game, these Trials.”

  Adam nodded. He’d thought as much himself.

  Lenard continued. “If we go by that logic, then Slimes are the weakest monsters an adventurer will encounter. They are not intelligent but still pose a danger. However, considering many people survived, it is safe to say most can handle them. Next should therefore be a type of dangerous animal that poses a bigger risk, such as Wolves or Boars. They are often recurring enemies in games, right?”

  “I do not know much about games, but I would think Bandits are next,” Ilya said. “To me, the first Stage was made to separate those too weak-willed to fight from those willing to do what must be done. Now that the culling is done, the real challenge will begin.”

  “Could also be humanoid,” Adam suggested, trying to ignore the bone-chilling words coming out of the Russian. “Like Orcs.”

  “Or Goblins,” Lenard added. “But if I’m right that the first Stages are tutorials, then I do not think they would introduce intelligent enemies that quickly.”

  “Shall we make a wager?” Ilya said. “I say Bandits.”

  “I’m picking Wolves then,” Lenard said.

  Adam thought about it for a bit. Internally, he hoped Lenard had the right of it, but his guess was they’d toss humanoids at them next. “Goblins,” Adam decided.

  Ilya nodded. “We will return here after the next Stage and decide the winner.”

  Adam grinned. Even if the other spear-wielder was quite scary, he had the right mindset required to win the Trials.

  “I will go to the Market now,” the Russian said, picking up the basket full of breadsticks and putting it under his arm. Then he stood up and disappeared.

  Adam looked across at Lenard. “Thank you for the chat. I will go to the Market as well.”

  “Goodbye for now,” he replied.

  Then Adam got up from the stool and the German’s hologram flickered out. He looked down at his plate with four croissants remaining. With a shrug, he picked it up and went out the door of the Tavern.

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