“How do you know about Stage Four?” Adam asked.
“The person who I talked to yesterday explained the future Stages to me. I didn’t follow her advice on Stage Three and failed to get the speedrun bonus.”
Adam narrowed his eyes.
This is suspicious as hell.
Wait… What if it’s the same person I briefly saw when I asked about the Self-devouring Eye?
That’d mean…
Adam turned to face the tesseract. “Shitbox, if someone blocks me, can I not see them when I query the Tavern?”
[No.]
Shit.
That means that whoever Ilya has been talking to is someone who’s gone back in time!
“Does this person call herself a prophet?” Adam asked.
Ilya nodded. “She is very peculiar.”
So, this same person told the psycho woman about me too.
She’s clearly trying to get me killed…
But thanks to that crazy woman, I learnt that Stage Six might involve other Players, which matches the Trials’ pattern of six.
I should be careful, but I also need to warn Willow about this, in case she gets targeted too.
“Did you question her about how she knew about what comes next?”
“Of course.”
“And?”
“She said it was a Legendary Relic that lets her see the future.” Ilya looked like he was telling the truth, but he’d probably been fed a lie.
“What’s it called?”
“I don’t know.”
It has to be the Eye. After all, if it’s the same person I saw when I queried the Tavern, she would know about it.
“What does she look like, this ‘prophet’?” Adam asked.
“I will tell you in exchange for how you beat Stage Three,” Ilya said.
Adam couldn’t understand why he wanted to know, but he understood that the info was important to him. That meant he had leverage.
“Tell me about Stage Four as well and we have a deal.”
The Russian nodded. “Deal.”
“First, tell me what she looks like. I’m pretty sure she’s blocked me, because I didn’t see her among the other flawless speedrunners.”
“She has shoulder-length black hair. She is pale and her face is very wrinkly, even though she seems to only be in her thirties. She also has bright-red lipstick. The most peculiar thing about her is her eyes. They are like purple spirals with a red glow. You would not mistake her for anyone else if you saw her. She has talked to all of the flawless speedrunners from what I understand, but I don’t know what for.”
Adam did his best to commit the description to memory. It definitely didn’t stand out to him as someone he recognised, but then she’d also blocked him almost immediately after Stage One.
Her eyes must’ve been changed by the Self-devouring Eye Relic. It’s good to know that there’s a telltale sign for that.
“What nationality is she?”
“I don’t know. She may be eastern European, or perhaps she is a mix of Asian and European. It is hard to say. She would blend in almost anywhere.”
“And her weapons?”
“That was not part of the deal,” Ilya pointed out.
Adam frowned.
“But I will tell you regardless. She uses the Priest Weapon Type, as well as the Brawler one. So, she has a mace and two metal gloves.”
Priest? I haven’t seen that one before.
“Now your turn,” Ilya said.
Adam recounted Stage Three as detailed as he could, but Ilya mostly seemed interested in how he fought and used his Relics.
After he was done, the Russian then held up his end of the bargain and explained Stage Four.
“It is a city built of stone and living wood. The horned elves live there, deep in some forest with dark-blue trees. The Stage is centred around a siege, with many different places that must be defended. The enemies are humans with iron armour and the boss is their captain. He uses a sword and a shield.”
“Why are they attacking the city?”
“She didn’t say, but it also doesn’t matter.”
Adam disagreed, but didn’t say so out loud. There were clearly a lot of hints in the story that were worth investigating. Stage Three had indicated that Belamouranthe was someone special and if humans were willing to attack the Elphin Sanctuary to get her, that had to mean something.
“What weapons do the enemies have?”
“None of them use bows, but there are apparently several different weapon types amongst the soldiers.”
Interesting. That would make ranged weapons very strong in that Stage then, at least if there’s a lot of space to work with.
“How are the Waves set up?”
“There are no Waves, only objectives.”
Hmm, that goes against the pattern of six. Weird.
Ilya continued. “We have to defend the centre of the city, but attacks will come from all sides. From how I understand it, the Stage can be completed in several ways. Killing the captain will make the enemies retreat. Defending the city for 20 minutes is the default way to win, but I think it would give the least amount of Points. Killing all of the attackers should also work, but there will be hundreds of them.”
“Hundreds!?”
“The horned elves are going to be there to even the odds, but they will lose without our help.”
That sounds really difficult. I need to warn the others.
“Wait, if there are no Waves, then how will upgrades work?”
Ilya smiled, seeming impressed with Adam’s way of thinking. “I asked the same thing. She told me that there will be four upgrade podiums hidden around the city, as well as one at the end of the Stage. There will also be a hidden Relic chest somewhere.”
“Is that all you know?”
“I can tell you about one of the Secrets. There are apparently three, but she only shared one with me. It is an idol that is found at the roots of the largest tree in the city.”
“What does it do?”
“It summons something, but I don’t know what.”
Adam nodded. “Thank you for telling me all that.”
Ilya stared at him.
“What?” Adam asked, after several seconds passed in silence.
Is he about to go psycho like the other lady?
“I was just trying to find out why she is targeting you. What makes you special?”
Adam frowned.
Cut the connection, he prompted the Tavern.
Ilya’s hologram disappeared.
He might catch on sooner or later, so I’d better avoid him for now, especially since he’s talking to the time-looper who clearly wants me dead.
I guess she’s upset that I know about looping back. Maybe it puts a stick in her wheel if she’s trying to control the outcome of Stages. Although, I can’t tell how my existence would be an issue to her. Perhaps it’s nothing more than her wanting to be the only time-looper?
[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]
Once again, the suddenness of the announcement made Adam jump.
“Fucking hell! Do you have to announce it so loudly!?”
[I will lower the volume of future announcements.]
“Thank you… Who is it?”
[Margaret Tulsom.]
“Is that the crazy lady from earlier?”
[Yes.]
“Block her.”
[Understood.]
Adam sighed.
“Show me Willow Martin.”
[This Player is not currently seated in the Tavern.]
Guess I’ll try again later.
But first…
“Show me everyone who got a Secret in Stage Three that isn’t the All-Mother’s Wrath and who doesn’t know about the flawless achievement.”
[Understood.]
The benches were completely filled with Players, then the holograms flickered and were replaced. This repeated every 5 seconds. Even after a full minute, it hadn’t looped back around.
“How many Players match the query?”
[239,438 Players.]
Huh!? How can it be that many?? It must have been super obvious.
“How many Players are left overall?”
[173 million Players survived Stage Three. Currently, 31 million Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.]
Holy shit. That means about 250 million died in the Stage!
That’s such an unfathomable number of deaths…
Adam sighed and tried to think of how to narrow down his query.
“Show me only those who understand how they got the Secret Relic.”
The holograms flickered.
[202,099 Players match the updated query.]
Adam shook his head.
How the fuck did I miss something that over 200 thousand people discovered?
“Remove everyone who got the speedrun and those that didn’t get seriously injured.”
The holograms flickered.
[87,246 Players match the updated query.]
“Eh… Just pick someone at random and tell them I’d like to trade I guess.”
[Understood.]
All the holograms vanished and a moment later an overweight guy in a sweat-stained black Judas Priest t-shirt appeared opposite of Adam. He had oily dark-brown hair and was maybe in his forties, though it was tough to say for sure. He looked German.
“Hello?” he greeted, as though they were talking through a phone. “The robot told me you wanted to trade.”
“You got the Secret Relic from Stage Three, right?”
He nodded slowly. “Do you want to know how? It was really easy, I just---—”
“Hold up,” Adam interrupted him. “We need to make a deal about what you get in exchange.”
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“Why? Don’t you want to know?”
“Well, if you tell me without making a deal first, I could just leave.”
Based on his expression, it was clear the guy had some sort of realisation after Adam’s explanation. “I was wondering why people kept disappearing when I tried to trade.”
I wonder how many people there are like him. I’m not surprised that others would take information and give nothing in return, but it does sadden me.
“I’ll give you some advice and tell you about some hidden mechanisms of the Trials in exchange.”
“Okay.”
“But first,” Adam said and reached his hand across the table. “I’m Adam.”
The guy reached over and tried to shake his hand. Their fingers passed through each other.
“I’m Carsten,” he replied.
“What weapon do you use?”
“A two-handed sword. The type is called Warrior. It was a bad choice for the last Stage since it’s not very fast and it’s hard to defend with.”
“I use a spear.”
He nodded slowly. “Do you want me to tell you about the secret first?”
“Sure. And don’t worry, since we are doing a trade, neither of us can leave before we have fulfilled our part.”
“I see. Well, the Relic was pretty easy to get. I just cut off the bad guy’s hand and the dried worm fell to the ground. Then I picked it up and used it to kill him. It summons one of those fast black-and-white demons, which does a single attack and then disappears. It can only be used once every Stage, but I’m glad I found it.”
Adam frowned.
“Something wrong?” Carsten asked.
“I got the boss to drop the worm, but I couldn’t pick it up.”
“Did you cut off his arm?”
“No.”
“Perhaps that was the requirement. But why do you want to know about the last Stage? It’s not like you can go back and get it.”
Adam hesitated, before saying, “I just like to know all the secrets.”
“Are there more?”
“Yeah, there was a necklace hidden on one of the dead carriage drivers.”
“I didn’t even think to search them,” Carsten said, sounding impressed.
Adam went on to explain about the Speedrun and Flawless achievements, as well as giving him some advice for Stage Four.
“I heard that the next Stage has allies fighting alongside us, so you should try to rely on them. Ranged attacks and armour penetration will also be useful. Try to save your special attack with the imp for the boss.”
Carsten nodded. “Thank you, Adam. By the way, you should ask Charlie for the Danish dish of pork belly and potatoes. She makes it well.”
“I’ll give it a try later.”
On his way to the Market, Adam stopped at the Player House. In the fenced-in garden next to the apple tree a new critter had appeared alongside the slime and goblin. It was a mini Slothling Imp. It was hanging upside-down from a branch like a bat and was fast asleep.
Adam checked on the Relic he’d planted after Stage One.
< < Secret Relic > >
< Glass Acorn (Rare) — Grows for 1 Stage >
One more Stage and I’ll see what this thing does.
He went inside the house as well, since he wanted to check out the Flawless trophy. It was shaped like an imp mid-leap and was silver. It read ‘Forest Escape Flawless’.
Ah, I completely forgot to investigate what the last trophy could be. I should ask around in the Tavern.
It’s probably tied to finding all the Secrets, meaning it would be easy to obtain in the first three Stages, since they seemingly only have two each.
Before he left, he tried out his Spring Boots. He flew around the room for about thirty minutes, while trying to figure out how to attack while retaining his momentum. It was a lot harder than anticipated. The faster he moved, the harder it was to swing and stab his spear, since it felt like it weighed five times its normal weight.
Out of roughly 20 attempts, he landed a hit only four times.
He left the Player House and went towards the Market, considering the sort of things that could help him in the next Stage.
One thing I need to try out is whether Spear Dancer’s effect increases the damage of all my attacks. If so, I could make good use of a Relic like the Claw Bracer.
Speaking of, I need something that can pierce armour.
“Shitbox, is it possible to unequip a Relic when I don’t want to use it?”
[Unequipping a Relic will drop it at your feet. Be careful about unequipping Relics inside Stages, since they will not be returned to you if you leave without them.]
I guess if the Fiendbarb ends up being really bad for Stage Four, then I’ll leave it somewhere and fight on without it. Good to know.
Adam got to the Market just as Yenna the wasp musician was changing instruments. He hadn’t really noticed what she’d been playing before, but she now had a small two-stringed instrument and a bow in her ‘hands’.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It is called an Erhu. Would you like me to play anything with it?”
“I don’t know the instrument, so just play whatever you’d like.”
He stopped to listen as Yenna started playing a hauntingly-beautiful melody. He recognised the sound of the instrument but couldn’t say from where. It had a very unique tone.
Past the wasp, the fountain had changed again, with the small statues shooting water into it now being imps. Adam shook his head and walked past the wasp.
The shops aside from Lucca’s was of little interest to him, since none of them had expanded their inventory between Stages.
“Back as always,” the spider chittered.
“Yeah, yeah, just show me the Relics.”
Lucca gestured to the chest, and it started to rumble.
“Currency,” Adam said.
< < Player Currencies > >
< Points — 2103 >
< Mastery Shards — 1 >
Awesome, plenty of Points to play around with here.
The Relic choices popped up and he couldn’t help but frown.
< < Relics For Sale > >
< Barrage Glove (Uncommon) — All projectiles are split into 3, each dealing a 3rd of total damage >
< Slothling Claw Bracer (Uncommon) — Can be used to perform an armour-rending slash. Breaks after 2 uses >
< Committed Attack Ring (Uncommon) — All Cooldown-based Relics gain a second use that can be triggered within 10 seconds of the first activation, but the cooldown is tripled >
< Blood Elemental Core (Common) — The hardened soul of a Blood Elemental >
While the Claw Bracer might be okay, the limited uses make it a bad investment. The Barrage Glove might combo well with the Green Slime Glove, but I don’t want to build my setup around a 60-second-cooldown attack.
“Reroll.”
Lucca chittered gleefully.
< < Relic Purchased > >
< Reroll Die (Uncommon) >
< 2003 Points Remaining >
The chest closed and popped open again. His eyes immediately locked in on the Epic that appeared. There were also two Rares in there.
< < Relics For Sale > >
< Relic Renewal Stone (Epic) — Relics no longer disappear or break when all uses are exhausted | Restores the use of 1 Relic of Rare or lower quality. 1 Stage cooldown >
< Duellist’s Glove (Rare) — Charge an attack for 2 seconds to enable it to pierce armour. 60-second cooldown >
< Glutton Collar (Uncommon) — Consume two potions within 10 seconds of each other without incurring toxic backlash, but toxicity build-up is tripled >
< Slothling Fur Coat (Rare) — Increases Player Defence by 25%. Breaks after 5 hits | Increases Movement Speed by 10% >
Hmm. The Renewal Stone would actually make Relics like the Claw Bracer useful, but again, I’m not sure that’s worth building towards. I want something that bolsters my blood effects.
I wonder if I could use the glove or if it’ll be cancelled out.
“Shitbox, what would happen if I used Duellist’s Glove while the Fiendbarb is equipped.”
[When it comes to contradicting effects, Rarity takes precedence. In this case, the Fiendbarb Relic would overrule the Duellist’s Glove.]
Alright, so that’s out of the question.
I could grab the Fur Coat for the Defence and Speed boosts, but I might not have enough Points for what I really want to buy.
“Reroll.”
“Excellent,” Lucca chittered.
< < Relic Purchased > >
< Reroll Die (Uncommon) >
< 1903 Points Remaining >
The chest closed and opened.
< < Relics For Sale > >
< Paralysis Venom (Uncommon) — Paralyses target on attack. Relic disappears after attack >
< Blink Ring (Uncommon) — Charged attacks are performed instantaneously when you blink >
< Goblin Ear (Common) — The trophy of a dead Goblin >
< Blood Fist Ring (Rare) — Charge a powerful punch that shoots a blood spike through the target on impact. 45-second cooldown >
Huh, the Venom doesn’t have a timer on it. Does that mean it lasts forever? That’s pretty powerful. Even though it’s only one use, putting that on a secondary weapon and using it on a boss would make the fight completely trivial.
The Blood Fist showed up again. It might be useful if coupled with Fiendbarb, but I think it may be a bad idea to be that close to whatever I’m hitting. After all, Fiendbarb’s effect can be rather explosive at times.
Weird that the Goblin Ear showed up. I’m guessing it’s a collectible from Stage 2. If I go back, I should make sure to cut off all the goblin ears I can, since it seems like they can be sold.
Anyway, I can’t use any of these.
“Reroll again.”
“Of course,” Lucca said.
< < Relic Purchased > >
< Reroll Die (Uncommon) >
< 1803 Points Remaining >
The chest closed and popped open again.
When Adam saw the options, he sighed in relief.
Finally, something I can use!
< < Relics For Sale > >
< Potion Belt (Uncommon) — Carries up to three potions and makes them indestructible | Uses the right-most potion when its associated resource is exhausted >
< Blood Mage Choker (Epic) — Creates a pane of blood to protect the wearer. 120-second cooldown | Increases damage with Blood-based attacks by 25% | Reduces Player Defence by 25% >
< Blood Bolt Ring (Rare) — Charge a powerful blood bolt that explodes on impact. 90-second cooldown >
< Fragile Impact Glove (Uncommon) — Thrown objects shatter armour. Breaks after 3 uses >
I’ll get both the Choker and the Ring. Although I do have to wonder how the blood defence works. Maybe it isn’t affected by the Fiendbarb since it’s not an attack? It could be dangerous if it blows up in my face and causes the blood crystallisation to trigger in me…
Maybe I should buy a healing potion, just in case.
“I’ll buy the Ring and the Choker,” he told the spider.
Shitbox took over the transaction. [You are already wearing a Relic around your neck. Would you like to sell All-Mother’s Wrath and replace it with the Blood Mage Choker? You may also send the unequipped Relic to your Player House for storage.]
Ah, I can’t wear both… Well, I guess I don’t really need the Elphin necklace anyway. If I was doing a tank build, perhaps it would be good, but the Trials don’t incentivise taking damage, so that’d be foolish.
A shame it doesn’t trigger on blocked attacks.
“Sure, I’ll swap and sell the necklace.”
“A pleasure doing business,” Lucca chittered sinisterly. Her whole body trembled, which was deeply unnerving.
< < Relics Purchased > >
< Blood Mage Choker (Epic) >
< Blood Bolt Ring (Rare) >
< 553 Points Remaining >
The choker appeared around his neck. It was a piece of pliable black leather with a teardrop-shaped red gem in the front. The ring surrounded his left thumb and was a red liquid loop made of the same material as the elementals he’d just fought.
Hmm. Now that I have two ranged Relics, the Barrage Glove wouldn’t actually be a bad idea.
“Shitbox, can I wear both rings and gloves on the same hands?”
[No.]
Okay, then it wouldn’t work… That’s kind of dumb.
I guess it’s like a slot-based equipment system, but it’s hard to visualise without some kind of interface to tell me what I’m wearing where.
Adam ran through the list of Relics in his head. He was wearing the Spring Boots, the Green Slime Glove, the Blood Mage Choker, and the Blood Bolt Ring. There was also the Fiendbarb on his spear. If it really was a slot-based system, then that meant that his hands, feet, neck, and weapon were ‘full’. He could equip an armour Relic as well, but it was hard to say if that only took up his chest ‘slot’ or if it also covered head and legs.
I suppose it depends on the type. The Bark Armour covered a lot, the Bone Armour was a bit less, and the Imp Fur was probably only torso and perhaps arms.
It’s too bad that I had to reroll a lot to get what I was looking for. If I hadn’t wasted all those rerolls, then I could’ve afforded another rare Relic. I should’ve bought the Fur Coat and then sold the All-Mother’s Wrath.
Oh well.
“Status.”
< < Player Status > >
< Adam Fischer >
< Spear Dancer >
< Level 15 >
< Stats >
< Health — 100 >
< Stamina — 150 >
< Mana — 0 >
< Damage — 100% >
< Defence — 90% >
< Speed — 165% >
< Upgrades >
< Force (Rare) >
< Movement (Rare) >
< Defence (Rare) >
Good thing I grabbed that Defence upgrade. I would’ve been down to 75% without it. With my low amount of Health, having that little Defence is a death sentence.
Now, the question is whether I should reroll to see if I can get something like the Echo Earring to boost my attacks or if I should buy potions instead.
It might also be a good idea to invest some points with Luvicidix.
Too many choices make it hard to tell what the best path forward is. The problem with investing into Luvicidix’s upgrades is that I’m basically just preparing for when I die and giving up on this current loop… I think I’m better spent using my Points to advance, but maybe I should invest some Points with her, just in case.
After thinking it over for a bit, Adam decided to visit the stall of the red-brown cockroach Belin. He bought two potions and stuck them into his belt. They were secure enough that moving around shouldn’t dislodge them, but they could obviously be destroyed if they were hit.
< < Potions Purchased > >
< Small Healing Potion x2 >
< 353 Points Remaining >
“Thank you for your purchase!” the cockroach called after him as he left the Market.
He then returned to the centre of Interim Island, and, without warning, the giant white moth descended from the sky.
Her white scales circled around in the air and the tesseract was frozen in place behind Adam.
“Welcome back, Adam. I see you met my sister.”
Adam nodded. “I did. I will go visit her again when it gets dark.”
“She is glad to have a visitor,” Luvicidix told him. “Even if she doesn’t act like it.”
“I’ve come to invest some more Points,” he said.
The moth ran a hand along her comb-like antennae nonchalantly. “I know,” she replied. With a wave of an arm, her upgrade menu appeared.
< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >
< Damage — Increase All Damage by 10% — 1000 Points >
< Rewards — Increase Reward Options by 1 — 93/4000 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 >
“I’ll put my remaining points into Rewards again.”
“Of course.”
< < Meta Upgrades Progress > >
< Rewards — Increase Reward Options by 1 — 446/4000 Points >
“Since you have no Points left, I will take my leave. See you tomorrow,” she said knowingly.
“Maybe,” he replied.
The white moth collected her floating scales back into her wings and then took to the sky. As she vanished, time resumed and the tesseract floated over to Adam, ignorant to what had just transpired.
There was still an hour or more until it got dark, so Adam decided to return to the Tavern in the hopes of meeting up with Willow. He had a lot to tell her after all.
