Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Forty-One

Adam wanted them all. The fated wishing stone would be perfect for literally any build, the conjuring stone would enable untold possibilities, and the slime emperor’s crown would allow him to gain a significant boost to health and damage with the cores he’d collected.

While he mulled over the options, he went over and picked up the crown collectible dropped by the emperor slime.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Rusted Crown (Common) — A crown does not a king make, but for some the symbolism alone is sufficient >

He briefly considered going for a summoner build with the true flame crown, but the best relics to make it work were tied to weapons he couldn’t wield. Still, he’d need the crown for the secret boss in stage two.

I’m guessing the two legendary stones aren’t specifically tied to stage one, so the better choice would be to pick the emperor’s crown. If the Flayed Lady is behind whatever Parvillo is warning me about, then it makes a lot of sense to ensure there’s no blood in my body.

And aside from weapons that deal true damage, such as the soul blade, there aren’t a lot of counters to having my health split across five cores.

Plus, I’d be able to hug things to death, like I did with Hiroshi Sakurai in my fifth loop.

“How does the cores-as-health thing with the crown work if I absorb more cores?” Adam asked Parvillo.

“And what about the buffs from adding more cores? Do they go away if I lose one of my cores? And do they disappear if I unequip the relic?”

[I would not advise you to unequip the slime emperor’s crown while inside a Stage, as the attempt may be fatal and thus is not conducive to our objective. To answer your questions, however, the boosts to your stats are permanent while you are wearing the crown. Should you unequip the crown, the boosts will disappear until you equip it again.]

That’s pretty strong then.

But if the fated wishing stone works like the coin, it could give me legendary relics…

“How does the fated wishing stone work? Do I have to throw it into a fountain like the wishing coin?”

[No, you hold it in your hand and make a wish.]

“Does it not have a special way to wish for legendary relics?” Adam asked, disappointed.

[That I cannot say.]

“Does that secretly mean ‘yes’?”

[It means that I do not know the answer.]

“I thought you would know everything?”

[I am not privy to every secret in the Trials of Defiance. Normally, I ensure that the sanctity of the Trials is inviolable. There are other Principal Eyes that deal with the Relics and Classes.]

Not exactly doing a great job then, Adam thought. Maybe him being sent here like a glorified messenger is punishment for allowing this universe to be compromised.

After a bit of deliberation, Adam had made a decision. “I’m picking the emperor’s crown.”

< < Relic Selected > >

< Slime Emperor’s Crown (Legendary) >

The crown appeared atop Adam’s head, glittering like gold. In an instant, his entire body changed and the world around him was washed over in new colours, as the spectrum of light he could detect broadened. Like last time in the fifth loop when he’d worn the slime king’s crown, Adam felt as if he could hear the trees breathing, but stronger than that sensation was the physical force of potential power from the thirty-two intact cores that lay nearby, wrapped in his white shirt.

It would be better to sell them, Adam thought. While he would be able to get a 320% boost to damage and health right now, the points would be able to buy him eleven upgrades that were far more likely to serve him better in the long run and wouldn’t be tied to the crown. If he hadn’t been able to guarantee epic upgrades, it would have been a different matter, but Adam still thought that using the cores to afford more well-rounded upgrades, like boosts to his speed, luck, and dodge were a lot better than going all in on damage and health. Later, when he had more abundant access to points, he could use the cores on himself.

How am I supposed to grab the shirt without dissolving it though? he wondered, since the rest of his clothes had been eaten by the milky-white acidic slime his flesh had been replaced by.

Then he noticed that the stone hand relic on his left arm was still the same as before. The shapeshifter’s claw was also unchanged, worn over his jelly-like hand.

He looked down at his own chest, but didn’t see the cheat death sigil anywhere, which was similar to when he’d worn the epic version of the crown. Weirdly, the appearance of his jelly body was the same as with the king’s crown, but he wondered if that would change when he added more cores, especially if he added ones that were different like those from the statue elementals.

Adam wondered why he wasn’t being teleported to Interim Island, when he realised that Parvillo was still unfolded into an upgrade podium.

Oh, right, there are two upgrades because I beat the secret boss.

And this one is all legendaries because I passed fifty points in luck, which guarantees epics, before the rarity increase.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Bleed (Legendary) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 50% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds >

< Damage (Legendary) — Increases all damage by 50% >

< Movement (Legendary) — Increases movement speed by 50% >

< Dodge (Legendary) — Grants a 50% chance to dodge a direct attack >

I wonder if I need to reach 100 points of luck to unlock the Realm Traveller in the altar.

It would be doable with the boost from the glass tree, since I’d have a 40% stat boost by the time I reach the altar, but that still means I need minimum 72 points of luck for the 40% boost to put me at 100.

Adam decided to spend one of his rerolls to get another luck upgrade, but this time fortune wasn’t favouring him, so he needed to spend his remaining three rerolls before luck finally appeared.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Luck (Legendary) >

With that, his luck was raised to 60, but the glass tree’s 10% boost from beating stage one would raise it to 66.

I wonder if I’ll be able to get legendaries to appear in Lucca’s shop if my luck gets high enough.

Instead of the black smoke that Adam’s cube normally used to transport him between places, Parvillo fired out golden beams from all his ancillary eyes, filling the world around Adam with golden bubbles and particles until golden light was all he could see.

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

The uneven cobblestones of the island felt odd to Adam’s senses, but then he saw that all the buildings around him were melted and incoherent shapes.

We’re back to this again, huh?

When do I get an upgrade to keep the island looking prim and proper from the get-go?

“How many players survived stage one?” Adam asked Parvillo, while he searched the skies for a familiar shape.

Glittering white scales started falling down around him, freezing time in place. Then the large white moth broke through the clouds and came in for a landing in front of him.

[A little over 900 million Players survived Stage One,] Parvillo answered.

Adam blinked in surprise, both at the fact that Parvillo wasn’t frozen in time like the cubes normally were, but also the insanely high number of survivors. Despite how promising that was, he immediately felt a deep sense of wrongness had to be at play.

Luvicidix looked between Adam and Parvillo.

“Hello again, Adam,” she greeted him like always, though there was a note of hesitation about her voice.

“Something the matter?” he asked her.

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“This universe feels wrong,” she muttered. “I cannot put it into words.”

[It is indeed quite troubling. It appears we underestimated just how deep the cracks run.]

Adam frowned. “Just once I’d like a normal loop without all the bullshit.”

“Misfortune appears to be following you,” Luvicidix noted.

[Many of the Absolutes find him quite fascinating,] Parvillo agreed.

“Do you have any new upgrades for me?” Adam asked Luvicidix, trying to escape this deeply unsettling topic.

“I do not,” she said.

I wonder if I should give her a vanity, Adam considered. He had three of them to use on new denizens, as well as enough mastery shards to buy a fourth, though he was saving the shards until he unlocked the third weapon slot.

“I might be back later,” Adam said and made to leave. He wanted to visit the market first to sell his cores and buy his upgrades before he investigated the surviving players. He had no idea who the time-looper in this universe would be, but if they were aligned with the Flayed Lady, he needed to be able to defend himself, and for that he needed more power.

“Be careful,” Luvicidix called after him before flying up into the clouds and disappearing from view.

Adam glanced at Parvillo who floated next to him. “I’m surprised you can shrug off the time-freeze from Luvicidix.”

[Unlike the Eyes that usually guide and accompany Players, I am of a higher power. Simple tricks will not suffice to stop me. In truth, forcing me to chaperone you is quite beneath me, although it will perhaps be an enlightening experience to see the world as you see it, for a time.]

Adam didn’t like the way that sounded, but he supposed that if Messimer had once been one of the Watcher’s eyes, and Parvillo was considered a principal eye himself, then he was perhaps quite close in power to that of an Absolute. His compact form likely belied his true power.

When Adam reached the market, Yenna sat on the edge of the fountain, strumming away on a guitar. The melody was mournful and sad.

Does she remember the last loop? Adam wondered.

“Hello Adam,” she greeted him, pausing the melody. “My name is Yenna. Do you like my melodies?”

Adam sighed.

I guess not.

“It sounds nice,” he replied and moved on down to the stalls.

Weaver, Builder, and Assassin were already here, thanks to the remembered secrets upgrade, and Sylvia, Finnian, Migraine, and Sprite stood around chatting near Assassin’s creepy booth. The only one missing from the special denizen bunch was Fisher, who was likely hanging out in the pond behind Adam’s player house.

He did his best to ignore them for now and went up to Lucca’s stall, but before he could drop the shirt with the cores and branch for Sprite, Finnian had already broken from the group and appeared right next to him.

“You brought so many cores,” Finnian said in his ASMR whisper voice, making the hairs stand on the back of Adam’s neck. “You’re also slime now. That makes me happy, but I will not share my cores with you.”

“I’m not giving you these,” Adam told him, dropping the shirt onto Lucca’s counter with the stone hand and using it to fish out the branch for Sprite.

“I’ll give you 2,400 points for the bunch,” Lucca said.

“I want 100 points per core,” Adam replied. “This guy will buy them, so it’s a good trade for you.”

“Give me the cores,” Finnian whispered.

Lucca seemed to consider it for a moment, before shrugging. “Fine. 3,200 for the lot.”

“Deal,” Adam said.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Slime Core (Common) x32 >

< 5780 Points Remaining >

Finnian made a sad sound. “I thought that we, as fellow slimes, would be able to reach some understanding.”

“Sorry buddy,” Adam replied. “Maybe next time I’ll finish your quest, but right now I need all the power I can get.”

“Would you like to buy any relics?” Lucca asked.

Adam thought about it for a moment. “Show me what you’ve got.”

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Duellist’s Glove (Rare) — Charge an attack for 2 seconds to enable it to pierce armour. 60-second cooldown >

< Slime King’s Crown (Epic) — Become the King of Slimes | Player turns into a humanoid Slime with four cores that each hold 25% of total health >

< Green Slime Glove (Rare) — Player can touch corrosive materials | Fire a glob of highly-corrosive green slime. 60-second cooldown >

< Slime Ring (Rare) — Infuse Player’s projectiles with Acid Burst. 60-second cooldown >

< Purple Slime Glove (Rare) — Player can touch corrosive materials | Turns Player’s hand into a spike for one attack. 60-second cooldown >

Like Adam had found out in his previous Fool run, there was only one epic relic available at stage one, meaning he was shifted down to rare options, which felt pretty bad. Still, a lot of rare relics were quite powerful.

I’ve got the shapeshifter’s claw already, which is better than the duellist’s glove, and while I could use a glove on my stone hand, spending 500 points on one of them right now seems a bit of a waste. My attacks are already corrosive because of the crown I’m wearing, and while the Fool should rely on relics, since getting up close and punching every enemy is dangerous, I think I’m currently fine with what I have.

Spending my points on upgrades seems a lot more important, at least until I brush up against the limit of how many I can buy per stage.

Since it was only possible to buy twenty-five upgrades between stages, excluding weapon upgrades prior to a weapon being fully evolved, Adam wanted to make sure to maximise his points to that end.

“I’m good for now,” he told Lucca and left her stall, going over to where the others were standing around near Assassin, talking about their favourite foods. Weaver stood atop her web-spun stall nearby, clearly wanting to be a part of the conversation, but unable to leave her stall.

I need to get enough vanities that none of them are slaves to their stalls, Adam thought. He hated how, despite being sapient creatures, they were forced to act like NPCs. At the end of his last loop, he’d realised just how cruel their fates truly were.

“Sprite,” Adam said, getting the attention of the shadow elemental.

“Yes, Adam? Have you brought me a plant?”

Adam handed him the branch. “This is from an apple tree.”

< < Quest Progress > >

< Plantastic Alchemy >

< Sprite would like you to bring him plants from 5 different Stages >

< Progress — 1/5 >

“Excellent. Apples are of course known for their restorative properties, but it is also possible to use their leaves to brew a potion of virility, which is quite valuable to the right buyer.”

Instead of attempting to figure out how to respond to that, Adam decided to just leave, going over to Karie’s stall.

“Hi Adam!” the cricket greeted him.

“Hi Karie. I’d like to buy some general upgrades,” he said.

“Of course!” she replied, gesturing to her cauldron which started to bubble, before revealing five options for him to pick between. All of them were epic, proving to Adam that fifty points of luck was the threshold to guarantee to ensure only epic or higher options appeared.

Adam spent 5,700 points to get nineteen upgrades from Karie.

< < General Upgrades Purchased > >

< Bleed (Epic) >

< Crush (Epic) >

< Damage (Epic) x3 >

< Damage (Legendary) >

< Dodge (Epic) >

< Force (Epic) >

< Luck (Epic) x3 >

< Movement (Epic) x6 >

< Movement (Legendary) >

< Venom (Epic) >

< 80 Points Remaining >

Adam felt that he’d gotten a pretty good spread, and thanks to his luck, he’d even snatched a total of two legendary upgrades, which all had double the values of the epic versions.

He looked at his stats to see what he was dealing with now.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Fool >

< Level 25 >

< Stats >

< Health — 165 [+15] >

< Stamina — 231 [+21] >

< Mana — 28 [+3] >

< Damage — 468% (+125%) [+43%] >

< Defence — 83% [+8%] >

< Dodge — 28% (+25%) [+3%] >

< Speed — 440% (+200%) [+40%] >

< Luck — 83 (+50) [+8] >

[ Modifiers ]

< Glass Tree +10% >

< < Upgrades > >

< Bleed +28% (+25%) [+3%] >

< Crush +28% (+25%) [+3%] >

< Force +28% (+25%) [+3%] >

< Venom +28%(+25%) [+3%] >

Adam nodded appreciatively at his stat spread.

83 points in luck, nearly 500% speed and damage, 28% dodge, and then my base stats which are quite high thanks to my meta upgrades.

This may be the start of the strongest build that I’ve had, stat-wise at least.

He could feel how his potential speed had climbed a lot, and he was looking forward to decimating his speedrun record in stage two and beyond.

Dodge was something he hadn’t used a lot before, since he didn’t like risking his defence on a ‘maybe’ and didn’t like the way that it grew unconventionally, but starting off with almost 30% was going to be quite valuable.

Once I have more points, I’ll also be able to take advantage of the legendaries that’ll appear in Lucca’s shop.

Right now, spending 5,000 points on the fated wishing stone or conjuring stone was a bit too distant a prospect, though he would no doubt encounter them again in the following stage’s rewards.

Wait, if I get to a point where legendaries are guaranteed, does that mean that I’ll get divine options from the upgrade and relic chest rewards if their rarities are levelled up?

Adam couldn’t help but grin at the prospect. The true benefit of luck was definitely how it boosted every upgrade option he was given, and if legendary upgrades were twice as powerful as epic rarity, then he thought that divine upgrades might be double that again, or even higher. It meant that his upgrades between stages, as well as those within, were going to become absurdly valuable.

But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself here.

Parvillo said this universe is compromised, and I’m sure it has something to do with whoever is the time-looper.

Adam squared his shoulders and made to leave the market, but then Thea stopped him with a wave. “Hello Adam, my name is Thea.”

“Hello Thea,” he replied, wondering why she had called out to him.

“I am unsure how I came to obtain this, but I have finished repairing something you entrusted to me.”

Adam gave her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

She reached under the counter of her stall and pulled out a folded cloth that surrounded a heavy metallic shape.

Adam unfolded the cloth and his eyes boggled at what he saw.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< The Hero’s Blade Pendant (Rare) — This symbol marks the wearer as a Hero | Infuse the next attack with Holy Burst, delivering a small holy nova on impact. 5-minute cooldown >

[You are an endless source of fascination,] Parvillo remarked. [It would seem your looping power allows for a strange sort of continuity exploit.]

Adam turned to look at the icosahedron. “You mean to say that because Thea started working on this in my last loop before I died, its progress was carried over to this new universe?”

[That is my assessment, yes.]

I guess that only I could accomplish that, unless time-loopers using the Self-Devouring Eye have the forethought to start Thea’s repair of the broken blade or something else before going to the Singing City and looping.

“Are you going to prevent me from doing it again?” he asked.

[I am not currently at liberty to prevent such an exploit, but yes, when the All-Seeing System recalls me, this logical gap in continuity shall be patched.]

Maybe that means I could hold onto the crown I get from the hobgoblin lord and have Thea start working on it before I loop next time. Of course, it’ll only work if I know when my loop is coming to an end.

Adam picked up the blade relic and put it around his neck.

“Thank you, Thea,” he said.

This will be useful against the Flayed Lady’s worshippers.

Although, I thought it would turn into a weapon. Perhaps that’s only possible if it’s repaired in the fishing village of stage nine.

Adam went towards the tavern in the basement of his player house, mentally and physically prepared to take on whoever was this universe’s time-looper.