Kristoffer Pauly

Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eleven

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Rare morning chapter!

Also, the previous chapter has been edited.

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eleven

The Erudition Barter. That’s the same name as the boon given for worshipping the Tome Keeper at the Altar!

Why would it be possible to use it like this??

“Is there a downside to this ritual?” Adam asked the floating tome sigil.

“As with any ritual, the toll must be paid. If it cannot be paid, certain adjustments are made to ensure equilibrium. If you do not possess knowledge to trade, then I shall take knowledge from you by other means.”

“That’s horrific.”

“You are the one who invoked me. I hardly think you are in a position to complain.”

Adam gritted his teeth and let out a steadying breath.

“I know what I wish to trade,” Adam said. “It is the fate that awaited Emelia and I at the bottom of the Floating Sea of Gold, inside Alepheria’s hidden laboratorium.”

“I have long wished to learn what transpired. I was surprised to discover that you both perished together. It goes against the will of the All-Seeing System, who values the fairness of its game, but there are other powers at play, and despite the All-Seeing System observing all there is and ever will be, it does not possess the power to control it all.”

“What do you mean you’ve long wished to know?” Adam asked, picking up on the specific wording.

“To you it may have felt like a few days ago, but much time has passed for those able to observe every universe you travel between.”

Adam froze.

He’s right…

Each loop I died in didn’t stop the universe in its tracks, and, since it seems all but certain that I travel up another layer when I die, each loop still plays to the end. Based on what Emelia told me about the length of the Stages, that is a lot of time.

Depending on how the Absolutes perceive universes and their layers, it’s possible that between my fourth and thirteenth loops, they’ve experienced the beginning and end of nine universes. That is an untold amount of time, and to beings such as the Tome Keeper, who clearly transcends my loops, it may be considered a ‘long’ time.

It brought an aching existential pain into Adam’s stomach to consider that his self-destructive ends to his previous loops were each aeons apart, perceived only by those living beyond the bounds of mortality and time.

Adam swallowed down the cascade of horrifying thoughts that naturally followed that line of thinking about existence.

Once he’d regained his composure, he went on to describe Emelia and him journeying into the underground of the Floating Sea of Gold.

During his tale, the hovering tome sigil did not move nor speak, but Adam assumed that one of the Tome Keeper’s many avian scribes was writing down the story for later internment in the Absolute’s grand library of knowledge.

Something he noticed belatedly as he came to the end of the story, was that the Eye was nowhere to be seen in the dark of the hidden chamber. Thinking back on it, it hadn’t even followed him down the well.

This place is like Nwetrou’s cave. It must be beyond the bounds of Interim Island…

Which means I am not safe here.

Any rituals invoked in the chamber could most likely harm him if he lacked the ‘tolls’, as the Tome Keeper had called them, or if he performed them incorrectly. It had truly been foolish to attempt the ritual to commune with the Tome Keeper, especially since he hadn’t yet reached the point where his death did not result in a horrific punishment by the All-Seeing System.

I’ve been too reckless with my own life.

This is exactly what Willow was warning me about.

“I believe I know whom Alepheria was communing with after abandoning her worship of me,” the Tome Keeper said.

“Who?” Adam asked.

“It should be obvious, even to you,” the Absolute replied.

Adam thought about it for a moment. Then he put all the clues together. The Dimensional Splinter, the painting wherein which the realm of the Floating Sea existed, and the ultimate goal of Alepheria’s masterpiece.

“The Realm Traveller,” Adam said.

“Indeed. He is a scheming trickster with tremendous power, but worshipping him is unwise.”

Given that Alepheria had summoned a Voidspawn Apex unintentionally, Adam was inclined to believe that warning.

“Now then, what would you like to receive in exchange for your offering?” the Tome Keeper asked.

Adam thought about that for a while.

I won’t be able to trade information forever, since eventually there will be nothing the Tome Keeper does not know, so I need to consider my questions carefully. That being said, I also want to know why he asked Beck to give me that message, even though it might not be very important to me.

Besides the knowledge of what Adam found in Alepheria’s laboratorium that led to him and Emelia dying, he also thought that he could trade his horrific tale of visiting Nwetrou, but he wasn’t completely certain. As such, he started with his most pressing question first.

“How do I reach a universe where my friends exist?” he asked.

“I cannot comprehend your power, since it was birthed from the corpus of the Realm Traveller. It is truly foolish to attempt to put reason to his existence and sphere of influence. It has not stopped curious minds from trying, such as my erstwhile adherent, Alepheria. But that way lies only the obliteration of one’s sanity.

“To answer your question in other terms. It is indeed possible for you to find such a universe, for they exist in plenitude. Many universes do not fall into the Abyss like this one, and it is only the Abyss that takes Players permanently away from the Trials.

“It is truly obscene that the All-Seeing System allowed Nwetrou such a prominent feature in its game, for he is nothing but a mindless devourer. There is no bottom to his ceaseless desire, and when he eats, he takes bites that reverberate through time. That which was becomes never-was, and the ripples created by the vacuums left behind are devastating waves that crash upon everything, violently distorting it and ruining much in the process.”

Adam frowned.

Is he saying that the sacrifices to Nwetrou are so devastating because they completely erase a person from existence? Is that why one death can lead to the loss of millions?

“But you don’t know how I can get to such a universe?” Adam asked.

“I do not. You may have to rely on luck, though that is hardly sound advice. Sometimes, however, good fortune is also a skill.”

Is that a hint? Adam wondered.

“You have more knowledge that I do not possess,” the Tome Keeper noted.

Adam nodded, though he wasn’t sure the floating sigil in front of him transmitted more than just his voice to the Absolute.

“It is the knowledge of visiting Nwetrou’s abyss and dying,” Adam explained.

“While I have seen the Leviathan of Leviathan’s bottomless black abode, I believe you may be the only mortal to have ever experienced death by his maw and been able to return afterwards. The novelty of such an experience is something I would gladly like to possess.”

Adam was happy to know that the gruesome end to his seventh loop had a point to it after all, and while he went into meticulous detail as he recounted it to the Tome Keeper, he thought about what he’d ask for in return. Most of his pressing questions had been about how to get to a universe where his friends were still alive, but since it was clearly not something in which he had much agency, aside from a vague hint about luck, many of his follow-up questions had essentially been rendered moot.

When the question came, Adam answered, “I want to know the entire reason behind why you had Beck pass a message to me in this universe. Why is it so important that I worship the Flayed Lady?”

“I have my designs set far into the future,” the Tome Keeper started. “Even when you cease to be, my designs will not have fully unfurled and taken hold. As I stated previously, the Flayed Lady and I are at war. The cause of it is petty, even for an Absolute, but she is the Primogenitor of Envy for a reason.

“In war, knowledge is key. The Flayed Lady is a cunning adversary and I wish to learn more about her. She would never willingly expose herself and her hidden powers, but to an adherent she might reveal a lot of secrets. Secrets that I wish to possess.

“Before reaching the Self-devouring Eye, Benjamin managed to discover something quite clever, which enabled him to worship me. Since I was aware that his timeline and yours would intersect, I saw an opportunity to learn something through you. After all, you are an enigma that neither death nor divine power can stop. This makes you the perfect candidate to infiltrate the inner circle of the Flayed Lady. To betray the Betrayer, so to speak.”

“How did you know I would be in the same universe as Beck? And how did you know that I would be in a position to worship the Flayed Lady?”

“You do not possess any knowledge to trade in exchange for that answer,” the Tome Keeper said. “I will just say, something as simple as the broad strokes of an individual’s fate is not so difficult to learn for those with a keen eye. Obviously, my interference alters the course of your fate and washes out the broad strokes, making future predictions less reliable, but that was my intention with the message passed on to you.”

Adam frowned. It was hardly an explanation, though he somehow didn’t doubt that the Tome Keeper could easily know of a person’s future if his adherent Alepheria had the means to understand anything she touched, such as with the Legendary Relic tied to her.

“So, what? I’m supposed to worship the Flayed Lady and learn everything I can about her?” Adam asked sceptically. It seemed overly optimistic to assume that would work.

“She is an Ascendant like myself,” the Tome Keeper explained, as though he could hear Adam’s thoughts even outside of his abode. “It means that we were once mortal like you. What you need to understand is that mortality, while easy enough to shed, does not entirely let go. We Absolutes are rules and laws and concepts given form, but when that form originally had a mortal shape, it is hard to entirely relinquish it. That is why we are drawn to our petty little games of influence. We seek the worship of mortals more than other Absolutes, despite their lives being insignificant to us. You are but ants in the garden we keep, and yet we admire the little nests you build, even when they disrupt our plants and destroy our soil.”

“So, she will want to share her secrets with me, because humans are like entertainment to you?” Adam asked, trying to wrap his head around what the Tome Keeper was saying.

“Perhaps. If I truly understood her motivations this would not be necessary, of course,” the Absolute admitted. “But if you undertake this task for me, and do your very best to serve the Flayed Lady and learn everything you can, then I shall gift you knowledge that will serve you well in the future.”

“She seems to be the type that would hold a grudge,” Adam remarked.

“Blame not the beast,” the Tome Keeper replied.

Then the magic holding the ritual together collapsed, and the floating sigil became dust that rained down onto the stone slab.

Adam knew he could easily invoke the ritual again, since it was quite simple. But the Absolute had outright said that Adam didn’t possess any more knowledge to trade. And though he might treat Adam with some manner of kindness and mercy, it was quite clear that it was driven by the fact that Adam was the perfect tool to learn about things that nobody was expected to survive. Attempting to stretch that leniency would not serve Adam well, and it was important he remembered that he was just a pawn in the Absolute’s game.

After all, why not just ask Beck to worship the Flayed Lady and then get the knowledge from him in the following loop? It’s clear that worshipping her is not conducive to survival…

The question is, do I take the plunge and worship her, in order to gain something that will hopefully benefit me later, or do I stick around with my friends and make an honest attempt to reach the end?

I guess even if I do worship the Flayed Lady, I might be able to go far if I do everything she asks.

But that means I’ll have to kill another Player in Stage Six…

And who knows what other requests she’ll have after that??

Adam sighed.

He left the ritual chamber, closing the fake wall behind him before climbing back up to his garden where the Eye awaited him.

“I noticed you didn’t introduce the garden well to me when I arrived,” Adam pointed out.

[I am not allowed to enter this domain nor am I allowed to speak of it.]

That’s unsettling.

“Is it for the same reason as the squid’s hideout below ground?”

[For the Deep Place, the All-Seeing System’s covenant with the Devourer of Suns prohibits me from entering. As for the garden well and where it leads, it is beyond the influence of Interim Island and cannot be observed by anyone except the Players who venture inside.]

That’s… odd.

So it’s basically a privacy chamber then?

I guess there are rules about eavesdropping on the conversations that might take place down there.

That should at least mean I’m safe from anyone spilling the beans about me potentially infiltrating the Flayed Lady’s circle.

Adam pushed the many thoughts to the back of his mind for now as he made his way to the Market. Unlike when he’d had the spell-tome, he didn’t particularly enjoy using blood and flesh magic to travel around the island.

Once in the Market, he passed by Yenna and the fountain with its statues of the Forlorn Captain. He walked past Thea, Belin, Karie, Lucca, and Nelly, before stopping in front of Weaver’s stall.

“Hello again, Adam,” said the small skittish spider. Without Belamouranthe present, she wasn’t quite as sociable, which spoke to the little Elphin girl’s natural power to get people to open up. “Would you like me to spin you something from my silk?”

“Actually, I wanted to give you something,” he told her.

He pulled the Vanity mirror out of thin air.

Weaver’s eyes locked onto the object.

“Are you certain?” she asked when he handed it to her.

Adam nodded.

“Thank you for this gift,” Weaver replied and looked into the mirror.

< < Vanity Activated > >

< Transforming Weaver into a humanoid >

Weaver’s grey, white, and black body shifted and changed. For a moment Adam feared the transformation was painful to her, but it seemed to be of a magical nature, rather than her body physically undergoing the big changes.

Once the power had fully taken hold and turned her into a humanoid, a young girl had replaced the poodle-sized spider. She sat atop the web-spun stall and stared directly at Adam with two big fully-black eyes. She had grey skin and shoulder-length white hair in a bob, and from her back sprouted four spidery arms with a black and grey pattern. From her shoulders and down was an off-white dress made of her own Spidersilk.

Adam suddenly understood why she was so timid and only opened up to Belamouranthe. It was because she was still a child. He had assumed that she was just smaller because of the type of spider she was, but that had clearly been incorrect.

“Thank you, Adam,” Weaver told him.

One of the limbs sprouting from her back reached down below the counter of her stall and retrieved something. As the limb came back into view, he saw that it held a spear-head or horn that was about the length of his arms. It had one long tapered point with three carved-out channels spiralling from the bottom to the point, and looked like it was made to be attached to a massive spear.

“I want you to have this,” she told him.

Adam gratefully accepted the item, unsure of what it was. As he took it into his hands, he saw that a spooled-up bit of ultra-fine string was attached to the opposite end from the tip, where a small ring protruded out of the bone-like material on the flat bottom of the object.

< < Secret Weapon Obtained > >

< Spidersilk Needle (Legendary) — The needle of a Spidersilk Weaver >

It’s a Legendary weapon!

[You are already carrying two weapons and cannot carry a third. Which of your equipped weapons would you like to swap for the Spidersilk Weaver?]

“Gram,” Adam said.

The stone sword disappeared from his back.

< < Second Sheath Activated > >

< Would you like to swap to the Spidersilk Weaver Weapon Type? >

“Let me see the stats compared to the base ones for Blood Mage,” Adam said.

< Spidersilk Weaver compared to Blood Mage >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 150 (-100) >

< Stamina — 50 (+25) >

< Mana — 50 >

< Damage — 25% (+75%) >

< Defence — 0% (+100%) >

< Speed — 50% (+150%) >

< Luck — 10 (-10) >

A lot less Health and no Luck, but better in every other way.

It’s curious that it also comes with Mana, but it reminds me a bit of the Beast’s stats.

“I’ll keep Blood Mage for now,” Adam decided.

I want to mess around with the weapon before I make the decision.

“Thank you for this,” Adam told Weaver.

“It is hardly enough for the gift you have given me,” Weaver replied.

She hopped over the stall and landed next to him, slowing her fall with the spider legs growing from her back.

“Can you take me to where Belamouranthe is?” she asked.

“She’s not on the island right now,” Adam told her. “But do you want to join me for some food? I know someone that might be happy to meet you.”

Charlie clearly had quite an affinity for children, and since it seemed that Weaver was now able to leave her stall, thanks to the Vanity, he wanted to introduce them to each other.

Weaver nodded.

“Then let’s get going. Maybe you can teach me a bit about this Spidersilk Needle on the way.”

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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Ten

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I kind of just kept writing, and now this chapter ended up rather long too. Over 4k words.

Since I have to get up bright and early tomorrow for the last week of my internship, I once again have to beg for your combined forgiveness, because this chapter is still unedited.

This chapter has now been edited.

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Ten

Adam looked at the Special Denizen that Luvicidix had manifested.

It was clearly part of the Forlorn army, but looked nothing like any of the enemies he’d encountered in the Stage. Then again, Finnian, Migraine, and Sylvia were all quite different from the creatures of their Stages too.

Like many of the Forlorn Knights, the Special Denizen wore tattered and old clothes dyed a royal blue that had faded with the passage of time. The denizen was the height of a child and had a hooded robe that obscured their figure, which, from the looks of it, was literally made of shadow. Two bright pinprick eyes shone out from within the hood, and the belt bags hanging from its waist were full of tools and materials.

“Is this the alchemist I’ve been hearing about?” Adam asked.

“He is an alchemist,” Luvicidix replied, clearly not wanting to confirm whether it was the same thing that Adam had heard about from Nova.

“And he’s not hostile?”

The white moth folded her arms, releasing her grip on the time-frozen denizen and managing to look quite offended at the suggestion.

“I’ve already told you I don’t bring hostile denizens to the island,” she said.

“He’s literally from the Forlorn Kingdom,” Adam pointed out.

“Sprite is different than them,” she insisted.

“Sprite? What kind of name is that?”

“He’s a shadow elemental that has mastered human speech and taken a fancy to alchemy.”

“I think Finnian might take offense to another elemental coming here,” Adam replied.

“I am sure they will get along,” Luvicidix said naively.

“Well, whatever. If he can make me potions, then I guess I don’t care.”

Luvicidix nodded.

“Now then, would you like to see my upgrades?” she asked.

“Do you have any new ones?” he responded.

“Not yet,” she replied.

“I’m good.”

“Then I shall take my leave for now,” she said and lifted up into the clouds with a flutter of her large wings. The orbiting silver scales returned to her and time resumed its natural flow the moment she was out of sight.

The Eye moved over to Adam’s side as the new denizen awoke in front of him.

[Congratulations! You have unlocked a Special Denizen due to your stellar performance in Stage Four — Siege of the Elphin Sanctuary.]

Since Adam had actually gotten all the bonuses in one go, the Eye didn’t glitch out like last time.

The shadowy alchemist looked up at Adam.

“Hello, Adam. I am called Sprite. Since you travel far and wide in your search for purpose and meaning, I would ask that you bring me a sample of plants to get me started on my alchemical endeavours.”

Goddamn it, Adam complained internally as he realised what was coming.

< < Quest Unlocked > >

< Plantastic Alchemy >

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

< Reward — Alchemy Services >

Nova didn’t say anything about a quest…

I also have no idea what kind of plants I should be looking for.

But, with this I at least have three quests I can complete to unlock the meta upgrade that keeps them permanently completed. It may be worth investing time into doing them in my next loop, since finding enough cores and trophies for Finnian and Migraine might be a bit difficult at this point.

After all, Migraine wanted 35 trophies and Finnian wanted 15 cores. The cores might not be too difficult to get from Stage Six, but the trophies would definitely be much harder to source.

If I’m willing to give up the extra Points from Stage One and Two, then I can probably knock out their quests quite easily in the next loop, but I guess I’ll see if I can get their quests done this time around.

I’ll save the hearts for now then, I guess.

“Anything specific I should be looking for?” Adam asked.

“Herbs, fungi, berries, seeds, nuts. Things of this nature, preferably fresh, though dried also works.” For some reason, Sprite’s voice sounded muffled, as though spoken from inside a cup. It was impossible to discern if it was a male or female voice, but it was fairly high-pitched, a bit like a child’s.

“Guess I’ll go foraging for you.”

“Fantastic. It will be so much fun when we can get started on alchemy together.”

“Do you know the recipe for Return to Sender?” Adam asked.

“Of course.”

“Can you teach it to me?”

“Once you have brought me what I seek, I will teach you all the recipes I know.”

Adam sighed.

Go figure.

“How are you with other elementals?” Adam then asked.

“I would avoid light elementals if they are here, but otherwise I have no preference for or against.”

“What about a slime elemental?”

The pinprick eyes inside Sprite’s hood blinked and then got bigger.

“Slime has fantastic properties. I should like to harvest it for my studies.”

“Don’t harvest Finnian,” Adam told him.

“Perhaps he will willingly donate his flesh to my cause,” Sprite suggested.

“It’s probably better you don’t ask, actually,” Adam said.

“Niceties shall not stand in the way of scientific progress,” Sprite remarked.

Adam frowned. “Pretty sure that’s something only a villain would say.”

“If villainy is required for my great breakthrough, then so be it.”

“Absolutely not!” Adam retorted. “No villainy, under any circumstances!”

“Alas, those who do not believe in the scientific method cannot comprehend the evils we must commit in the name of progress.”

“I will send you right back to Stage Four if you don’t behave,” Adam warned the elemental.

“We shall table this discussion for later, once you bring me the materials I require,” Sprite replied, dismissing his words. Then he started walking towards the Garden.

“You’d better not start a fight on this island!” Adam yelled after him.

Sprite waved a shadowy hand as he walked away.

Why are all the Special Denizens psychotic??

The fact that Sylvia, an actual blood mage, is the sanest of the bunch is not a good sign.

Adam let out a deep sigh.

Then he went towards his Player House, sending the hearts of darkness and Rotmaker Idol ahead of him by using the Eye to transport them. If he could find enough cores and trophies for Finnian and Migraine’s quests, along with the stuff that Sprite wanted, then he would complete them this loop. If it looked like it wouldn’t be possible, then he would just sell the collectibles he gathered.

As he reached the front yard of his Player House, he saw that the Glass Acorn had evolved.

< < Secret Relic > >

< Glass Sapling (Rare) — All Stats grow by 5% for every Stage completed | Grows for 5 Stages >

It’ll turn into a tree if I can make it past Stage Nine.

If that happens, I honestly want to use the Rotmaker Idol on it. It might lead to another secret.

He continued past his garden to the lighthouse.

It had grown wider and slightly taller, which made it easier to enter it and reach the flaming brazier.

< < Secret Relic > >

< First Light’s Brazier (Rare) — You and your allied Players gain a shield that absorbs 50% of the damage from the first hit suffered in a Stage >

That’s really useful!

If it’s upgraded in the same way as Emelia’s effect, then that means I could get this to 100% and basically have it work like the Shade Barrier spell.

Even at just 50%, this is a very powerful buff. If I’d had this in my fourth loop, then Hahn might’ve survived the fight against the octopus boss in Stage Six.

As Adam watched the flame dance in front of him in the brazier, a bit broke off and floated towards him. It was the same tiny white flame that Emelia had originally used to light his brazier and create the lighthouse.

< < Unique Relic Obtained > >

< Kindling Flame (Legendary) — Kindle a flame >

“Can I sell this?” he immediately asked.

[Unique Relics cannot be sold.]

I already knew that I guess, but for a second I thought I might be able to start each new loop with a lot more Points, since I should be getting a Kindling Flame from this thing at the start every time.

Adam left the lighthouse and headed for the Market, bringing up his currencies on the way.

< < Player Currencies > >

< Points — 14450 >

< Mastery Shards — 2 >

< Soul Drops — 1 >

Still freaks me out to see that Soul Drop there…

Adam greeted Yenna who sat in front of the fountain playing a handpan between her folded legs, producing a melody like metallic raindrops.

As he walked past the fountain, an announcement came.

< < Secret Relic Activated > >

The termite egg lifted out of his silken backpack and floated down past Weaver’s stall, planting itself on the other side of it. It quickly turned into a stall made from the same material as the termite hive he’d gotten the egg from, and Builder appeared within.

[You have unlocked the Builder. This vendor sells upgrades to your Player House.]

Adam went straight to her shop.

“How do you do, Adam? You can call me Builder,” said the termite in her southern twang. “I can make anything you might want for your Player House and its garden.”

I wonder what I’d get for turning her humanoid with the Vanity mirror, he mused.

“How much would a weapon rack cost me?”

“1500 Points.”

“And it was 4000 for a basement, right?”

Builder paused.

Woops, I wasn’t meant to know that before she’d told me.

“That’s what someone else said,” he lied.

“If you’d like a weapon rack and a basement for your house, then I can do both for 5000 Points,” she replied.

“That’s perfect,” he told her.

“Give me a couple hours, then I reckon I’ll be done,” she said.

< < Constructions Purchased > >

< Weapon Rack >

< Basement >

< 9450 Points Remaining >

That should unlock the meta upgrade to make her constructions permanent.

Before he returned to Luvicidix, Adam went over to Lucca’s stall and sold the Sanctuary Defender’s Robe.

< < Relic Sold > >

< Sanctuary Defender’s Robes (Rare) >

< 9700 Points Remaining >

“You didn’t bring me any hearts?” Lucca asked. “I can smell them on you, but you are keeping them to yourself?”

“I need them for something,” he replied.

“That goblin’s little request?” Lucca asked. “Give them to me instead! I will pay full price on any hearts you sell me.”

Kind of freaking me out how much she wants those hearts…

But I guess it’s good to know that she’ll pay me a lot for them.

Maybe I should sell the Dwarf Nightwing Heart to her, since she’d give me 500 Points for it.

Adam wasn’t completely sure he wanted to summon the Sloth Demon in Stage Six, since he had the knowledge of how to summon other entities, thanks to the tomes he’d absorbed in Alepheria’s study at the bottom of the Floating Sea. But he would decide later.

My four forlorn hearts would also sell for 600 if she’s paying full price for each. That’s pretty good actually.

“I’ll bring you some hearts later,” Adam promised and left.

Lucca leaned out of her stall to watch him go, but he did his best not to meet her many eyes.

When he reached the centre of the island, the white moth alighted before him and said, “A new upgrade has been made available for you.”

“Let’s see it,” he replied.

< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

< Mana — Increase Mana by 50 — 5000 Points >

< Permanent Expansion — Start every loop with previously built expansions to Interim Island already completed — 7500 Points >

< Scale of Remembrance — 2630/25000 Points >

It’s not 10,000 Points at least, but that’s still not cheap.

If I buy it now, then I can’t afford to get Beast from Nelly’s shop, but I would be able to afford Summoner, Warder, and anything else Rare and below.

Fuck it, this is a good investment.

“I’ll buy Permanent Expansion,” Adam said.

“Good choice!

< < Meta Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Permanent Expansion — Start every loop with previously built expansions to Interim Island already completed >

“Is that all for now?” Luvicidix asked.

“That’s right. But I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Luvicidix paused instead of taking off like usual.

“Be careful, Adam,” she said after a moment.

Before he could ask what she meant, Luvicidix lifted up into the clouds, pulling her floating silvery scales along with her.

I wonder what she’s trying to warn me against.

***

Adam had asked Beck many times if he was sure, and his answer had been yes every time.

So now, here they all three were, standing behind the Player House in Gladwyn’s dimension.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Beck told Adam.

“I also think Adam was right that you should be the one to have this,” Gladwyn said.

“I’ve already gone to the end without a boon like what he described, so I’ll be fine,” Beck replied. Unsaid in his words was the fact that he didn’t know what Gladwyn would be facing. Surviving to the end seemed to be as much about skill as it was about luck. Because if you ended up with a bad team in a Stage that was impossible to solo, then you were fucked, especially if you didn’t have the power afforded to a time-looper.

“You’ll have to give Beck your Kindling Flame later,” Adam told Gladwyn. Getting the Visiting Stone to enable him to trade it was another problem, but Beck insisted it wasn’t hard to grind out Mastery Shards after Stage Ten. For now he was mostly concerned with his friend getting to Stage Ten in the first place, which, according to what Emelia had told Adam, was definitely quite a challenge all on its own.

To really hammer home that point, Adam had asked the Eye how many people had survived Stage Four, and the answer had been 54 million. That was over 100 less than in Adam’s fourth loop.

Beck probably won’t admit to it, but he’s doing this to save his friend.

I can get behind that.

Adam asked Gladwyn to place the First Light’s Brazier down onto the grass while he fumbled with how to get the Kindling Flame to emerge from his hand. They’d dug up the Secret Relic from the ground next to the trees near the edge of the island, the same place it had been in Adam’s dimension.

“Do you think there’s a special reward for finding all the secrets on Interim Island?” Beck asked.

“That would be nice. There are quite a lot, after all,” Adam said.

“Besides the squid, Vanity stuff, and this?” Beck replied.

“Yeah,” Adam said. “There’s a big eye at the very bottom of the island too. And I think there’s something in the basement of the Player House.”

Beck shook his head. “It’s not the basement that’s special, it’s the well.”

“Shit,” Adam muttered. “I just bought a basement. I thought for sure it would be something special since it cost 4000 Points.”

“The basement gives you a kitchen that Charlie will appear in, and it works like the Interdimensional Tavern,” Beck said. “But the well has a hidden door at the bottom that leads to a ritual chamber or something. I haven’t been able to use it yet, but I’m still trying to learn as much as I can about this world’s magical rules. It’s similar to the ritual chamber in Alepheria’s Tower though, just without all the ingredients scattered around.”

Fuck, I really need that.

Adam finally managed to coax the Kindling Flame out from within his body and he brought it to Gladwyn’s brazier where it immediately took hold.

Then Adam pulled his two friends away as a lighthouse grew around the flaming brazier.

Gladwyn immediately started looking around and inside the new structure on his island.

“The First Light is one of the Absolutes, right?” Beck asked.

Adam was surprised he didn’t know.

“He doesn’t have a Stage dedicated to him,” Beck added when he noticed Adam’s confused expression. “Although I guess if his whole thing is light, then maybe Fifteen is kind of related to him?”

Emelia had said Stage Fifteen was called the Lightless City, but she hadn’t mentioned it having anything to do with the Absolute.

“I think he’s more of a pacifist,” Adam said.

“That probably explains why I’ve not heard of him until now,” Beck commented. “It’s hard to be a pacifist in the Trials after all.”

“Apparently, to make him appear for worship, you need to have found this brazier and not killed any Players in the Altar.”

“That’s a tall order,” Beck replied.

“His first weakness also makes you take damage if you hurt other Players,” Adam added.

“That just wouldn’t work for some of the later Stages,” Beck remarked. “Everyone always falls into one of three factions, and there’s a lot of Player-killing going on.”

That was something Emelia hadn’t mentioned, so it was probably just an issue in this universe, Adam thought.

“Who will you worship if not the Tome Keeper?” Adam asked.

“Good question,” Beck mused. “I’m not sure he’ll show up for me this time, so I was thinking Morrligt would be a good choice.”

“That eye at the bottom of the island, apparently if you can make it blink then an Absolute named the Keening will appear as an option,” Adam said.

“I know of him. He’s a God related to sound and vibration, and the Pride Demons worship him. The weird puppets in Stage Eighteen are part of his ‘choir’. They’re kind of terrifying.”

“More than the Voidspawn?” Adam asked.

“They’re scary in a different way,” he said.

Gladwyn returned from inside the lighthouse.

“It still needs to grow for 4 more Stages,” he said.

“So after you’ve kicked the shit out of the vampires in Moonport you’ll get your boon,” Beck replied. “That’s good timing, because Stage Nine sucks.”

That’s the Forlorn Kingdom. Emelia told me not to fight the Forlorn Shadow that my crown will trigger, as did Nova. From her descriptions, it didn’t sound like it was that difficult of a Stage, but I guess I’m underestimating it if even Beck says it’s bad.

After thanking Adam for giving him the lighthouse, Gladwyn and Beck went towards the Tavern. Adam still had things to do though, so he excused himself and returned to his own dimension. He promised that he would meet them in the Tavern later so that they could figure out the winner of their bet. Adam was pretty sure he had it in the bag though.

Once he landed in his own dimension, he went to the Player House to see what Builder had made. Near the shelves, mannequins, and storage chests was now a rack that could hold six weapons.

[You have unlocked the Weapon Rack. Unused weapons will now go here instead of disappearing if you are unable to carry them.]

“Does that mean even weapons I find during Stages?”

[Correct.]

Wait, that’s so much better than I thought!

Up against the left wall was a railing and staircase now, and as Adam walked down the steps, he came into a room that was like an open bar, kitchen, and tavern all in one.

Charlie immediately popped out of a door in the back, even though the door definitely led to nowhere.

[You have unlocked the Basement. Like the Dimensional Tavern, this place allows you to talk with other Players.]

There weren’t a lot of seats within the basement restaurant, so he wasn’t quite sure how it would work for displaying other Players.

Charlie stood behind the counter. “Can I get you anything, Adam?” she asked.

“Not right now,” he replied. “But I’ll definitely come back later.”

The red ant looked around for Belamouranthe, and he quickly told her, “Bel will come back after the next Stage.”

She looked relieved to hear that.

When Adam was about to leave the basement, a different door opened up in the back near the tables and all the special denizens filed in.

“You’re kidding me…” he groaned.

Sylvia, Finnian, Migraine, and Sprite all came in, talking loudly amongst themselves. Behind them followed Yenna, carrying a banjo in her arms.

I’m not prepared for this right now…

Adam hurried up to the ground floor and left his Player House, not yet ready to deal with the consequences of the island’s denizens having easy access to the floor below where he slept.

He went back to the Market, returning to Builder’s stall.

“Listen, I actually need to get the well for my house too.”

“No problem, hon,” Builder said. “It’ll be 1500 Points.”

There goes all my money…

“I’ll take it,” he said.

I’ll just get a new secondary weapon after the Altar.

< < Construction Purchased > >

< Garden Well >

< 700 Points Remaining >

“How quick can you have it finished?” Adam asked.

“Give me 30 minutes, and it’ll be done,” Builder replied.

While Adam waited, he talked to the denizens at the Market, still trying to decide who he should give the Vanity to. Yenna inexplicably returned to the fountain, so it seemed that she, like Charlie, only moved to the basement restaurant when Adam was there.

Once the time had passed, Adam had finally decided who he’d give the Vanity to, but first he wanted to see the ritual chamber that Beck had talked about.

He hurried to the Player House, and in the garden outside, behind the apple tree where the small slime, goblin, imp, and captain played around, was a circular tube made of dark bricks. Adam went over to it and found that it had metal runs down the inside and was quite deep.

Although it gave him flashbacks to the well that’d led him and Emelia to their deaths in Stage Seven, he descended into the darkness, reaching the bottom after about a minute and landing in a shallow bit of water.

Not much of a well if there’s no water in it. But I guess there wouldn’t be an aquifer for it to tap into on a floating island, which totally defeats the purpose of having it.

Even if Adam hadn’t known that the well had a secret chamber attached, he could see how someone might reach that conclusion, because as he stood at the bottom of the narrow tunnel, there was a faint bit of light spilling out from cracks in one side of the rounded wall.

After a few experimental prods and shoves, he found that one of the bricks rotated like a simple lock, allowing him to push a part of the wall to the side and walk into a round chamber with six lit candleholders surrounding a circular slab of dark-grey stone in the middle.

When he looked around, it didn’t really remind him of the ritual chamber in Alepheria’s tower, but the atmosphere was kind of similar.

Although Interim Island was nominally safe, Adam swept the chamber for any traps and hidden surprises, but found nothing.

As he approached the round slab, he felt power emanating from the stone.

It latched onto the blood sigils covering his hands and made them feel restless.

A thought occurred to him.

In Alepheria’s lab at the bottom of the Floating Sea of Gold, Adam had absorbed the knowledge of her tomes and learnt of many strange rituals. Some of them had revealed ways for him to summon alternate entities from the ritual chamber in Stage Six, but most had been impossible for him to utilise because of their esoteric tolls and ingredients.

There was one though, which seemed to relate to the Tome Keeper somehow, and its requirement was simple.

It needed a place of power.

And from where he stood, the slab in front of him very much felt like it represented just that.

Although he had no idea what the ritual would accomplish, Adam’s curiosity took a hold of him and he pulled blood out through his palms to recreate the sigil of the spell.

Once he was done and made sure his linework was solid, he knelt at the edge of the slab and placed both hands on the stone, activating the ritual.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the sigil he’d drawn with his own blood lifted up from the stone and took on the shape of an open tome. The air around Adam seemed to freeze in place as a voice came out from within it and filled the underground chamber.

“Adam. I was wondering when you would call upon me again,” said the Tome Keeper from the floating sigil of blood. “To think that you would summon me in this manner. Quite fitting, I should say.”

“I didn’t know what this ritual would do, to be honest,” Adam said.

“I assume you must have gleaned it from Alepheria’s library. She was wont to use it, whenever her studies hit a dead-end.”

“What does it do?”

“It is called the Erudition Barter. You will already be familiar with how it works. Now then, what new knowledge have you brought for me this time?”

-----------------------------

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Nine

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

This chapter, as predicted, got pretty long. It's almost 5,500 words...

Chapter 110 is mostly done and will be up tomorrow.

-----------------------------

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Nine

< < Now Entering > >

< Stage 4 >

< Siege of the Elphin Sanctuary >

< 20-minute Timer >

Adam awoke into the cutscene where he was driving the horse-drawn carriage through the gate of the Elphin Sanctuary’s stone wall. His mind sort of just glazed over as his body was puppeteered through the motions.

When he blinked, he was placed at the bottom of the ritual site in the centre of the city. In front of him was Belamouranthe’s mother, the Elphin Queen, holding her by the hand. Her golden hair and lithe figure didn’t seem as beautiful to him as the first time he’d laid eyes on her, and even her ephemeral silver dress and brightly-glowing eyes didn’t make him view her as anything other than a selfish monster.

I need to remember to give Bel the necklace at the right time, he reminded himself.

Adam’s mind once again glazed over as things repeated themselves just like in past loops. He found the cutscenes to be the worst part of repeating Stages, because it was an unnatural feeling to be moved through events and forced to say things, when all he wanted was to run towards the nearest enemy.

Finally, one of the Elphin men came running down the steps into the pit where they were gathered.

“Mine Queen!” he exclaimed. “The enemies are at our walls!”

Adam was puppeteered through a few more exchanges before being thankfully released. The warriors around him surged up the steps of the ritual site to respond to the imminent threat.

The Eye appeared between him and the queen, who was still holding Belamouranthe by the hand.

[Stage Four is the first Stage in the Trials that does not feature Waves. Additionally—]

“Skip,” Adam said as he moved up the side of the crater, heading north. The Hardmode orb floated in front of him, but he left it active.

< < Stage Objectives > >

< Defend the Ritual Site for 20 minutes >

< Defeat the Forlorn Captain >

< Slay all invaders >

The moment Adam reached the top, he used his boots to shoot himself towards the distant wall. He passed over the heads of most of the warriors on the ground and landed in a slide along the stone path between the houses and the wall.

[The 20-minute Timer has begun.]

“Everybody, stay back!” Adam yelled. “Defend the ritual site, and make sure to spread the word!”

The moment his words registered, all the warriors on the ground and archers above in the root-spun walkways came to a halt and retreated.

Suddenly Adam remembered the repaired crown he was supposed to have picked up from Thea’s stall and almost panicked, before realising it was on his head.

< < Secret Relic > >

< Dented Crown (Rare) — A regent must repel all invaders tainted with the lust for power, lest his kingdom fall to ruin | Subordinate allies gain 10% more Health | Subordinate allies gain Last Stand’s Fervour upon death, extending their lives by 10 seconds and increasing Damage & Speed by 25% >

Thank God, the system isn’t a total bastard.

Sometimes.

Although I guess the rule is just that, since I paid for it, I get to actually have it. Because the All-Seeing System is ‘fair’.

As the Elphin retreated further and further away, Adam activated both of his rings, taking control of the blood they manifested and using it to coat himself in a thin layer. It wasn’t enough to lift him, but it could push him across the ground at higher speed, similar to how he’d first used the Warder’s barriers to move faster.

Maybe increasing my Invocation Power would make it possible to lift myself with less blood.

He skated across the stones and moss to reach the wall, arriving just as the horn sounded from the invading force and a hole was blown open in the stone and root fortification.

Adam brought himself to a halt and pulled the blood away from the surface of his body, flinging it at the Forlorn Soldiers that barged through the opening. One thing he immediately noticed, was that they weren’t just wielding swords. No, thanks to the Hardmode being active, the footmen were split into archers, shield bearers, halberdiers, and dagger-wielding rogues.

But it didn’t matter what weapons they wielded.

Perhaps it was because they were already tainted, or maybe it was due to their undead-like state, but his blood was able to overtake the soldiers in only a few seconds, allowing him to immediately take control of three and fling them into their friends. He shoved the invaders back through the hole, assisted by the living roots, and then made the bodies he controlled explode, sending their blood outwards and coating those around them. The blood he pulled from them was black as tar and the mixture of his blood and theirs was no less dark, the crimson of the blood manifested by his rings totally overpowered with their tainted essence.

But even their tainted blood was blood no less, and he quickly tore through the ranks of the first group of invaders, filling his reserves by the time he reached the Forlorn Knight at the back.

The last two times Adam had fought him, the knight had made it through the breach quickly, but this time Adam had repelled the invaders to the point that the fight was taking place on the grass outside the Sanctuary’s walls.

Adam tried to inject his mass of blood into the mini boss, but it was either extremely ineffective or impossible, because nothing happened. All the while, the knight advanced towards where Adam stood just inside the breach the invaders had made.

The knight swung his greatsword through the air diagonally and Adam instinctively threw himself back behind the wall, just as a cleaving black shadow sheared through the opening, leaving black inky stains on the rock and withering any plant-life it touched.

I almost forgot! The knights gain special powers with the Hardmode active.

It had been so long since Emelia had told him, and it hadn’t seemed as important as some of her other warnings for later.

I don’t think it would’ve killed me, but I want that Flawless bonus.

As soon as he got back up, he lifted the exploded flesh of a nearby corpse and flung it at the knight who was only a few metres from the breach now. Adam shaped it into a hand with long razor-sharp claws, driving the disembodied limb through the armoured torso of the knight. Then he pulled the blood from nearby and drove it into his neck in a series of chopping strikes. It popped off with an explosion of black blood that he collected before it could hit the ground.

< Choose your Upgrade >

While the Eye dropped to the ground and turned into a podium, Adam could only focus on the weapon that the knight had dropped.

He reached out and touched it.

< < Secret Weapon Obtained > >

< Tainted Blade (Rare) — The greatsword of a Forlorn Knight >

< Unique Skill ( Shadowy Strike ) | Cleave the blade through the air to release a shadowy strike that travels until it hits a target, inflicting Taint on impact >

While it would be fun to try, he kept Gram since it had upgrades already and its unique skill was familiar to him.

But the fact that the shadowy strikes travels until it hits something, means it can probably go really far.

Adam picked an Uncommon Invocation Power from the upgrades before hurrying towards the next imminent breach in the east.

This one always makes me nervous…

The knight wielding the giant crossbow was terrifying because of its range and damage, not to mention the fact that it had been able to pierce his barriers last time he’d come to this Stage.

The explosion of the eastern breach came just as Adam triggered his boots and launched himself forward and up onto the wall. As he landed, he draped himself in the black blood he’d collected. It was enough to be able to lift himself briefly, but not enough to allow him to fly.

Next to him floated a large clawed hand, which was something new he was trying out. He normally shaped harvested flesh into arms, but limiting himself in that way, when the flesh magic really just wanted any kind of structure, was a bad idea. By making an anatomically-correct hand without the mostly useless arm behind it, it meant that he could go much bigger, and hopefully make it hit harder.

Plus, it looks fucking scary.

Up ahead on the wall came a glint from a shadowy shape and Adam used the blood coating him to rapidly move to the side. A split-second later, a massive bolt tore through the air next to him, trailing inky splotches.

He shifted his control sigil and used the blood suit to skate straight for the sniper, who gave up reloading half-way through the motion to swing the giant crucifix-shaped crossbow like a melee weapon. The weapon glowed with a shadowy power and Adam yanked himself backwards out of the way by tugging on the blood suit, avoiding whatever the hell it was. Then he surged forward again and triggered the Blood Fist Ring, aiming it right into the knight’s face. For good measure, he gave the Relic’s attack an extra bit of firepower by narrowing the spike it produced, while also driving his massive flesh-shaped claw down into the archer’s nape.

The ring’s attack alone was enough to blast a hole straight through the mini boss’ head and killing him, but the claw took off his head completely, just to be sure.

The forlorn soldiers who’d broken through the breach lost their composure, and the few with grievous injuries who’d been sustained by the power of the knight simply collapsed, dead on the spot. One of the soldiers raised his bow to strike Adam, but before he could pull back the string, Adam sent the floating claw right at him, shredding his body and weapon.

He shaped a second hand like it while tearing through the rest, and it was an absolute slaughter. Next to him the Eye started to unfold into a podium, but he couldn’t swap away from the sigils while he was dealing with the mobs, so it once again forced him into an upgrade for the weapon that was already fully evolved.

Goddamn it…

This time he picked a rare movement speed upgrade that appeared, since he felt very slow, even with his blood suit trick.

When the last of the soldiers were dead, he harvested their corpses, combining the mass of flesh into the two large hands he’d already shaped. He kneaded the materials together and created an unholy flesh broom that he rode towards the centre of the city.

Before going to where the next breach would appear, Adam flew up to the top of the giant tree and retrieved the Rotmaker Idol, startling the few Elphin children hiding there from the invaders.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Rotmaker Idol (Rare) — Turns a tree into a living monster for 30 seconds. Relic disappears after use >

“Stay up here,” he told them as he flew towards the tower-like house that had a Relic Chest atop it.

The moment he landed next to the chest, two explosions came from the west and north-west parts of the city wall.

Adam kicked the chest and it sprang open, showing him four options.

< < Relics Available > >

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

< Affliction Ward (Uncommon) — Negate any Affliction. Breaks after use >

< Sanctuary Defender’s Robes (Rare) — Increases Movement Speed by 25% | Increases dodge chance by 10%. Breaks after 2 hits >

< Tainted Oil (Uncommon) — The Player’s weapons are coated with the darkness of the Forlorn, imbuing their attacks with Taint, lowering target’s Stamina regeneration by 40% for 30 seconds. The coating lasts for 2 Stages, after which the Relic disappears >

< < Relic Selected > >

< Sanctuary Defender’s Robes (Rare) >

Adam grabbed the Rare and threw it in his backpack along with the Rotmaker Idol, before flying off to the north-western breach, where he immediately encountered more soldiers.

He transformed his demented broom into one massive arm as he landed a bit away from them, using it to crush and tear the forlorn invaders apart, while manipulating the blood he still possessed to deflect a few arrows shot towards him.

Suddenly his Blood Mage Choker activated, creating a protecting barrier directly behind him where one of the forlorn rogues had managed to sneak up on him.

Adam spun around, bringing the massive flesh-shaped limb with him and driving the guy into the ground, crushing his torso and head with ease, splattering black blood everywhere.

Then the halberdier knight came charging towards him from out of nowhere and he quickly planted the large limb and called on the blood he wielded to overtake the remaining soldiers, turning them into bombs that he flung at the mini boss.

As they exploded, he coated the knight’s dense armour with their black blood, but instead of trying to pointlessly infect the boss’ bloodstream, he instead quickly shaped the blood on his chest plate into a quick and dirty Push spell pattern.

Even though it was far from symmetrical, the magic somehow worked, though it was more chaotic than normal.

As the dirty trap triggered, it caved in the knight’s dark plate armour and drove long thin curling blood spikes through his body, causing him to stumble and slow down.

Adam took back control of the large flesh-shaped limb and pummelled the knight repeatedly until black blood and chunks of flesh and bone pushed out from the sides of his sturdy armour, like a can of whole tomatoes crushed by a car tire.

This time Adam managed to switch to Gram before the Eye turned into an upgrade podium, and he picked another Chip Stone for the weapon.

He switched back to his blood sigils and harvested all the flesh he could find, then used it to take off towards the western breach.

As he left behind the crushed body of the knight, he realised he’d forgotten about their collectible hearts.

I’ll see if I can get them after the Stage.

I really want the Speedrun bonus so I can complete all the achievements and get another Special Denizen.

After all, getting the Tainted Blade had satisfied the requirements for the All Secrets achievement, even if he didn’t get all of the secrets in this run.

“How long do I have left?” he asked the Eye as he scanned the western breach and nearby area for the last knight.

[17 minutes 23 seconds.]

It might be doable, but I’ll have to use Beckoning Crimson to do it I think.

He also needed to get the Eradication bonus, which meant killing the forlorn outside the city too, so he’d have to be quick.

As he found the dual-wielding knight charging for the ritual site, Adam fired off his Blood Bolt Ring, leading the shot so that it hit the mini boss right in the back of his cowled head. The bolt exploded but didn’t kill the swordsman, though it did knock him onto his stomach.

Adam dropped down and landed on the knight with his large flesh sculpture, producing audible cracks. Then he went about quickly tearing off the guy’s limbs, leaving behind a torso and head that would stay alive until he returned.

But before he left, Adam made sure to deal with all the soldiers, splattering their blood all over the place before triggering the spell scroll he’d bought from Sylvia. The wooden trinket he’d gotten from the Market was consumed instead of the scroll and he stuffed the parchment back into his pocket for later use.

As Beckoning Crimson activated to pull in the black blood to coat him like armour, Adam also triggered Princely Raiment. The flesh he’d collected was pulled into his body and mixed with the blood armour, creating a brutal-looking dark suit around him that vastly bulked out his size.

Without wasting any time, Adam used his control sigil to lift the entire Raiment that surrounded his body, carrying him to the hut outside the wall where the last Relic Chest was found. It was close to the eastern breach where he’d killed the crossbow knight.

The soldiers protecting the chest tried to put up a fight, but in his raiment, Adam pulverised them with ease, adding their blood and flesh to his armour.

He opened the chest.

< < Relics Available > >

< Tainted Bracer (Uncommon) — Fire off a shadowy slash that penetrates armour and inflicts Taint, lowering target’s Stamina regeneration by 40% for 30 seconds. Breaks after use >

< Heartflame Robe (Uncommon) — All summons release a Heartflame on death which will seek out the nearest target and inflict Soulburn, doubling all Mana consumption for 10 seconds | Increases Mana by 50 >

< Overflow Diadem (Uncommon) — Activate to immediately deliver all remaining damage of Afflictions, dealing 10% increased damage for every Affliction affected. Breaks after use >

< Captain’s Cape (Rare) — Increases Movement Speed of allies by 10% | Increases Attack Speed by 25% >

< < Relic Selected > >

< Captain’s Cape (Rare) >

The cape immediately equipped itself, though it was hidden underneath the raiment.

Adam quickly sent himself flying towards the hill with the Forlorn Aristocrat, landing just behind the chair that the boss was sitting in and admiring the view of the invasion from afar. He wore a fancy nobleman’s outfit, but everything was decayed and old, and his bald and sore-covered grey head was impossible to hide with just his mask.

Adam pulled the Fetish of Sloth from his belt and activated it, causing the summoning to immediately take hold and creating a Slothling Imp that shot itself at the boss with a powerful kick. The Aristocrat got up from his seat, pulling a rapier from its scabbard on his belt as his mirthful porcelain mask fixated on the summon coming at him. The rusted blade trailed a dirty black smear in the air.

< < Secret Boss Discovered > >

< Forlorn Aristocrat >

With a simple flick of his weapon, he deflected the imp as it flew past. Thanks to the repaired crown, the imp didn’t immediately disappear since it triggered Last Stand’s Fervour, giving it 10 more seconds before it would expire.

But the imp was just a distraction, and by the time the boss had predictably parried the summon, Adam had already launched forward with his spring boots, propelling his powerful Princely Raiment forward and using a bit of his control to boost its speed. He had to hurry though, because it was already deteriorating despite resupplying with five soldiers’ worth of flesh and blood.

Adam drove his right fist directly into the Aristocrat’s mask, and before the boss could dance out of the way, Adam made grasping tentacles reach out from his raiment to lock the boss in place for a moment. Then he swung his left fist.

The Aristocrat tried to parry and send slashing black strikes through him, but all the damage was soaked up by the raiment and the fist struck. Then Adam triggered the blood ring hidden beneath the large fist of the armoured suit that surrounded him.

Once again he shaped the spike into a narrower shape, and it punched cleanly through the side of the Aristocrat’s head.

But Adam wasn’t satisfied with that, and he grabbed the boss’ head with one hand and his shoulders with the other, before twisting and pulling until the head and spine came fully free from the rest of his decayed body.

No sooner had he slain the boss than his skill completely fell apart and he was back to having very little material for his spells. He did his best to harvest the boss’ body, but it wasn’t enough for him to create another flying vessel. Still, there were camps around the city that he could deal with before taking on the Forlorn Captain, in order to refill his reserves.

Once he had harvested everything he could, Adam picked up the Relic the Aristocrat had dropped on death.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Skyblue Pearl (Rare) — Thine eyes hold a power oft forlorn, oft forgotten to time, oft lost to conflict. An unclouded gaze is the key to a world of secrets and thine eyes are a gift from on high >

After stowing it in his backpack, Adam slid down the steep hill with the stolen flesh and blood surrounding his body and pulling him forward with as much speed as possible.

I really do think that unlike the barriers of Warder, my sigil spells require Invocation Power to increase their strength and ability to lift and move me around, while the barriers required Barrier Durability to prevent them from breaking under my weight.

I just wish there was something that would increase how much blood and flesh I can carry at once.

If I had a larger capacity, I could do so many cool things.

Adam tore through the small camps outside the Sanctuary, grabbing Builder’s Egg on the way and gaining more speed with all the material he harvested. Then he returned to finish off the dual-wielding knight that he’d disabled to avoid triggering the final boss early.

Adam grabbed another Chip Stone upgrade for Gram as a wailing horn preceded three explosions from the north, and then he hurried towards the captain and his army.

“How much time left?” he asked, triggering the spring boots to get to the fight as fast as possible.

[15 minutes 56 seconds.]

Shit, I’ve gotta hurry.

The giant captain came into view, surrounded by thirty soldiers.

Adam swung three flesh-wrought clawed hands through their ranks, indiscriminately spilling blood everywhere, while using a nearby residential tower to duck out of the way of the arrows that came towards him.

Then the captain swung his sword into his shield and sent out an expanding wave of darkness. Adam dropped to the ground, but as soon as it passed over him, he sprang back up and activated Beckoning Crimson again, actually consuming the scroll this time. One of his flesh constructs had been sliced apart by the attack, but the other two were fine and he had plenty of corpses he could harvest from to quickly refill before triggering Princely Raiment a second time.

Given that the skill had a high cost of both Health and Mana, he figured it explained why it had no cooldown, though with the right setup that was obviously prone to abuse, just like what he was already doing. After all, if he knew how to cast the spell himself, he might keep the raiment active for as long as he had enemies he could harvest.

There were a lot more dead and their blood all over the place, so the armour that Beckoning Crimson made was much denser than the one from earlier, and when he mixed it with the collected flesh to form the raiment, he could feel that it had gotten stronger as well.

The Forlorn Captain charged Adam with a flurry of swings that sent shadowy strikes slicing through the air, but Adam avoided all of the attacks with the increased speed the raiment gave him, as well as some strategic use of his control to yank the armoured suit out of the way repeatedly.

Adam fired off his Blood Bolt Ring, sending the attack out through his large armoured right fist.

The captain raised his shield to block the attack, and Adam took that as his cue, using his control sigil to fling himself and his armour into the boss with a left hook while triggering the Blood Fist Ring to create a nasty piercing spike. He drove the spike through the captain’s neck, but it wasn’t enough to kill. So, Adam rained on the punches, shaping his bulked out fists while he pummelled the boss relentlessly, creating nasty barbs and claws that slowly but surely tore away bits of the black armour that covered the boss.

The remaining soldiers were pulled in by grasping tentacles that Adam instinctively shaped out of his armoured suit, and they quickly became a source of fuel for the violent beatdown he was inflicting on their leader.

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

It took Adam a moment to realise it was over, but as he came to his senses and looked down at the boss underneath him, he saw just a mangled suit of black armour with barely-recognisable humanoid remains inside.

The raiment withered around him and he stumbled back several steps, before collapsing exhaustedly onto his ass in the moss that carpeted the city.

“Time?” he asked.

The Eye didn’t respond, but instead the score rolled in, giving him the answer he’d been waiting for.

< < Score > >

< 4 Minutes 57 Seconds Completion Time >

< 800 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 500 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 500 Point Eradication Bonus added >

< 500 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 250 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 5150 Points Awarded >

I actually did it!

Just barely.

5150 fucking Points! That’s quite a haul, but I also really had to work for it.

Adam laughed.

My body is so fucking sore though.

Using the Princely Raiment is way more intensive than I thought it’d be.

I think I should get Beast as my secondary if I can. Or Brawler.

Something up close and physical would work really well with the Princely Raiment.

The crown atop his head suddenly popped off and burst into flames, landing on the moss next to him. It was now a flawless and golden-orange hue with a warm energy swimming along its reflective surface.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< True Flame’s Icon (Epic) — Only by the light of a True Flame may the Forlorn Shadow be truly banished | Subordinate allies gain 10% more Health | Subordinate allies gain Last Stand’s Fervour upon death, extending their lives by 10 seconds and increasing Damage & Speed by 25% | Subordinate allies are blessed with the True Flame, imbuing all attacks with 10% bonus fire damage | Become immune to Taint >

Stage Nine here I come.

Just gotta make it past Eight first.

And Seven, Six, and Five…

Adam sighed.

He spent a couple minutes just catching his breath while lying on his back in the moss, but then he got up to collect the hearts of darkness from the various knights he’d defeated in and around the city.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Heart of Darkness (Common) — A heart borne by those who gorge on darkness >

He’d been too rough in killing the captain and halberdier knight, so their hearts were in no condition to collect and his attempts to shape new ones out of the mush he’d turned their bodies into didn’t bear fruit. For the others where he’d harvested most of their flesh for his spells, their hearts were still intact inside their ribcages, which was fortunate. He even discovered that the Aristocrat’s heart counted, giving him a total of 4 out of a possible 6.

Hardly feels worth it to do all this brutal work for 400 Points though…

With about a minute left on the clock before he’d be automatically transported back to Interim Island, Adam went down to Belamouranthe at the bottom of the ritual site and gave her the All-Mother’s Wrath necklace. Then he returned to the Relic Chest, switching to Gram as he opened it and the Eye started unfolding into an upgrade podium nearby.

< < Relics Available > >

< Queen’s Pendant (Epic) — Sacrifice the nearest subordinate ally to negate the damage from an attack. 1-minute cooldown | Wearer is afflicted by Curse, increasing damage taken by 10% | Wearer is afflicted by Scorn, removing all beneficial effects of Worship >

< Scroll-Preservation Talisman (Uncommon) — When a Spell Scroll is activated this Relic is consumed instead >

< Forlorn Cuirass (Rare) — Reduces damage received against anywhere below the neck by 75%. Increases damage received against head by 200%. Breaks after 6 hits | Reduces Movement Speed by 30% >

< Glutton Collar (Uncommon) — Consume two potions within 10 seconds of each other without incurring toxic backlash, but toxicity build-up is tripled >

Hmm, the Queen’s Pendant appeared again.

Should I risk it and try it out in the Altar?

< < Relic Selected > >

< Queen’s Pendant (Epic) >

While it definitely made sense for him to have used it during his Warder loop, using it now for any other reason than to tempt fate, was meaningless.

I guess I’ll just keep it, in case I need the Scorn effect or something.

Like with the Hobgoblin Pendant, just selling the Relic seemed kind of short-sighted, especially since he wasn’t in dire need of Points, and the effect was unique, as far as he knew.

He grabbed two more Chip Stone upgrades for Gram and triggered its first evolution. The Eye reshaped itself into a cube and then his stone sword started to glow golden, before a large chunk of the stone covering the scabbard was sucked into the Eye, revealing part of the golden design hidden beneath.

[Your Mythical Hero Weapon Type has reached Level 6.]

[At Level 6, this Weapon Type receives the following evolution.]

< < Evolution > >

< Revealed Scabbard — Base Damage stat increased to 150% >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

That’s new.

I thought all evolutions would give me a choice, but I guess not.

Adam consulted his status screen, but nothing had changed.

“Is it just the damage of the weapon that increased?” he asked the Eye.

[Incorrect. With this evolution, the base Damage of 100% for the Mythical Hero Weapon Type is increased to 150%. This effect is only active while you are using the Mythical Hero Weapon Type.]

“Does that mean I can switch to it if I’d like? Even though I declined previously?”

[Correct. You may switch between Weapon Types during Stages where you find new weapons or do it freely at Interim Island, in order to find the Weapon Type that suits you best.]

They never told me that…

Though I guess I never asked either.

Depending on how the next two evolutions change the Mythical Hero’s stats, I may perhaps switch. But I would need more Mana, and giving up my 10 Luck would suck. I still think I’m better off with Brawler or Beast.

The Eye released a pulse of magic and Adam blinked.

He was transported to the ritual site where the Queen, Belamouranthe, and all the surviving Elphin were gathered. He ran his eyes over all of the people, pleased with the fact that he hadn’t lost a single one of them.

The rest of the cutscene proceeded just like last time, with Bel telling him, “Thank you, Adam, for bringing me home and allowing me to fulfil mine destiny.”

Puppeteered by the power of the Trials, he responded, “The All-Mother watches over you, Belamouranthe.”

Then the Eye released billowing black smoke and transported him away from the Elphin Sanctuary.

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

He arrived alone on the island as usual and was about to walk towards his Player House to finally check out what his lighthouse’s flame had evolved into, when silvery scales fluttered down from above, pausing him in his tracks.

Luvicidix alighted on the ground in front of him.

It took him a second to realise why she’d broken their usual pattern by arriving early.

“You unlocked another Special Denizen,” she announced. “Exciting, isn’t it? I was wondering if you would get this one.”

“It was definitely harder to unlock than the other three,” he replied. “Though the denizen from the Altar will also be a pain, because of the Pacifist achievement.”

Luvicidix nodded.

Then she put her black-banded arms together, creating a humanoid shape out of dark shadows.

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--Encyclopaedia---
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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eight

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--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

A little bit shorter today, but the next chapter is probably gonna end up a bit longer than usual, so it evens out.

On a sidenote, got the second animation in! Check it out here (link).

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eight

After getting kicked out of Gladwyn’s dimension for the mess they’d made, Adam had talked for a bit longer with Beck, asking for advice about how best to use the Vanity mirror.

Beck had argued that, since Adam already knew what he’d get from Yenna and Thea, it was a better idea to try out a denizen he didn’t know the reward for, since it was impossible to make the best decision without having a complete overview of all the options. He’d suggested Lucca, but Adam was honestly more curious about trying it on Weaver. A silk-based weapon sounded cool, after all.

Once he’d said goodbye to Beck and Gladwyn, Adam went to the Player House and started practising on something he’d been dreading but knew was important to master: self-manipulation.

He didn’t want to accidentally fling himself off the side of the island, so he stayed inside the house as he took the first steps.

It was extremely uncomfortable.

His first attempts tried to just lift all of the blood in his body at once, but his vision immediately started flickering and he felt like he was about to have a heart attack, not to mention his sense of balance got totally screwed up and a primal panic flooded his mind.

Despite only doing it for a split-second, it had him on his hands and knees for a while afterwards.

Okay, I should have thought a bit more about this…

Lifting my blood means I’m stopping it in its tracks. And if I do that, then it won’t send oxygen and nutrients to my organs… like my brain.

Which means…

Adam swallowed.

I have to lift my flesh instead.

But before that, he tried the most basic thing he could think of, which was creating a floating platform of blood under himself, similar to the way he’d used Warder’s barriers to fly.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite that simple, since he was dealing with a liquid that would shift and move even when under the lock of his control sigil. He could get a couple metres off the ground, but he wouldn’t trust his life with it, since it felt like treading water and his body kept sliding around in its grip. Not to mention the fact that it ate up all of his concentration.

Another idea had a bit more merit, but it required a lot of blood to pull off and it made him look like a psycho. It involved coating himself completely in blood and then lifting all of it together, like carrying an Adam-sized plastic bag made of water with an invisible hand. It had the same issue of the liquid slipping around his body, but since it was coating him completely, it was less precarious as a result.

Regardless, it wasn’t very comfortable and it required him to have an almost full reserve of blood, plus it also used up most of his concentration since he was controlling three separate spells in order to manipulate all of the blood necessary to lift his body weight.

Shifting away from blood, he tried to replicate the floating platform idea with flesh magic, but it didn’t work at all. Then he realised that it was because the strength of the magic was connected to how complete the flesh creations were. When he created three thick arms that grasped each other to form a platform, it was able to lift him quite easily, but the problems with this method was that sourcing all the required material wouldn’t be easy and he had to spend at least a full minute shaping to get constructs of a high enough quality that they would hold him.

Since using all three spells simultaneously maxed out his concentration, Adam attempted to make just one big limb to carry him, like a demented magical broom. The main issue there was the manipulation limit for the volume of flesh he could control with just one spell, and since the creation wasn’t that big, it was quite unsteady to fly atop. Using two spells with a maxed-out amount of flesh under their control and then weaving them together to form a large flying limb worked a lot better, but it still had the downsides of taking a lot of time to set up and requiring a lot of material.

Adam sighed and finally tried to lift his own flesh.

Unlike with the blood, it didn’t immediately make him feel like he was about to die and his organs were shutting down, since he stuck to lifting his muscles, fat, flesh, and skin. However, it was extremely painful even before he tried to lift up off the ground.

Within moments, Adam’s skin was bruised all over in a motley of ugly colours, and he was shaking uncontrollably.

He gritted his teeth and tried again.

Despite preparing himself for it, Adam let out an intense groan of agony as his feet lifted off the ground. Every nerve in his skin felt like it was being pulled apart, even though he wasn’t warping his own body at all and simply exerted a lifting force upward.

After only a couple of seconds he had to release the control, and he collapsed to the floor of the Player House, shaking violently as phantom sensations rolled over him, making it feel like every part of his skin and every fibre of his muscles were splitting apart like fraying rope.

He fished the Hobgoblin Pendant out of his pocket where he’d kept it since Stage Two, but he couldn’t get it over his head because his hands were shaking so bad.

“Equip!” he shouted.

[Understood,] complied the Eye and the necklace appeared around Adam’s neck, banishing all the pain in his body from one second to the next. The Blood Mage Choker he’d been wearing dropped to the floor.

It was scary how numb the pendant made him feel, but he would rather feel nothing at all than what he’d just been experiencing.

Trying to control my own flesh like that was a mistake.

“My Health, what’s it at?” he groaned to the cube.

[You are at 170 Health or 100%.]

It didn’t damage me at all?

That means it was all just in my head…

But I’d have to be insane to be able to endure that normally.

Adam hadn’t seen how other blood mage Players fought, but the guy from his fourth loop, Riccardo D’Alia, hadn’t used the Hobgoblin Pendant.

He gritted his teeth as he got up.

Since he couldn’t really feel anything, moving around was extremely uncomfortable and weird.

I have no idea how Lenard used this thing so easily.

Adam hadn’t truly realised how much he used his sense of touch to do really basic things, and it was weird to feel nothing at all from his body.

Although he knew it wouldn’t be feasible in Stage Four, Adam once again tried to lift himself with the flesh magic.

He was able to rise several metres into the air and put his hand against the ceiling, but then he saw something red running down his body. He lowered himself back down and ran the back of his hand over his face.

It came away covered in blood.

“Did I lose Health doing that?”

[Yes. You have 105 Health or 62% remaining.]

“How?”

[You seem to have applied your Flesh Shaper evolution’s unique power to tear open holes inside your own body.]

Adam blinked, horrified that he hadn’t even noticed.

[Do not worry. You will be healed back to full here on Interim Island, but proceeding with this manner of self-destructive spellcasting is inadvisable.]

I must be relying on my sense of touch to know what part of my own body I’m targeting, I think.

Losing that sense might’ve made me unable to target my internal flesh correctly…

Fucking hell.

I think I’ll be sticking with using some flesh construct to fly with for now.

Adam waited until he had healed back to full before he switched back to the Blood Mage Choker and put the pendant into his pocket. It was definitely too dangerous for him to try to lift or shape his own body without the senses of touch and feeling to guide him, but the pain was too immense for it to be doable. Even an hour after his training had concluded, Adam still felt random jabs of pain, despite the Eye assuring him that he was in peak condition.

The pain is lodged into my mind…

He leaned back in the bath, sighing deeply.

After drying off, he continued practising for a few more hours. This time his objective was not his own body, but rather the bodies of his enemies.

He quickly found that he didn’t need to actually drag the blood out of the target dummies he was using in order to control the rest of their blood. In fact, it was far easier to send his Mana-infused blood into their bodies through their skin and veins, and then mixing it with their bloodstreams to take over their entire system.

In Stage Four, where he’d be fighting against big groups, he’d been speculating about using the enemy soldiers as puppets. And since he could control both the flesh and blood of anyone whose body he’d permeated with his Mana-infused blood, he would be able to control up to three enemies at once, using them to fight on his behalf.

In order to fully test this, he had the Eye add more target dummies, shaping three into imps and the fourth into an ogre.

Once he’d taken over the three imps, which took about 10 seconds per imp so long as he already had energised blood ready, he made them attack the ogre. He tried his best to puppeteer them in the same way that they normally fought, but it was awkward and required quite a lot of concentration to do with just one, let alone all three.

It was far easier to simply fling their bodies at the ogre and then release their energised flesh and blood like bombs, using it to coat the big dummy and then be able to overtake it.

When he was controlling just one of the imps, he could make it do the spring leap and deal horrific damage to the ogre using its claws, but it required all of his attention to pull off, and it would easily leave him exposed.

But… it would be useful for an ambush. If I could for example takeover a pirate aboard an enemy ship in Stage Seven, I would be able to use him to create confusion.

That might be a useful way to sneak on board the Golden Slug and get to the captain without being spotted.

It could easily be applied in the same way to other Players of course, but that’s not a route I’m willing to explore.

When I fight the other Players in the Altar, I’ll make sure they don’t suffer. It’s too cruel to puppeteer a living person like that. I can’t imagine a more horrific experience than to lose the control of your own body.

I wonder how many blood mage Players realise the power can work like this. After just a bit of consideration, it must be quite an obvious conclusion.

Besides being able to create nasty traps, this must’ve been the reason why Emelia was so wary of this weapon type.

Adam had one more thing he wanted to practice before he called it quits, and that was using his new Relics to give himself a bunch of magical materials at the start of a Stage. His absolute biggest issue was that he needed to summon blood, which was Mana-intensive, even with his several cost reduction upgrades. Otherwise he needed to harvest it from corpses or drain it from himself. None of these provided him an easy way to get the resources he needed to be able to fight at the start of a Stage, which he thought was important if he ran into another situation like with Riccardo in Stage Seven, who’d been just about to attack him before Emelia had exploded his head with a punch.

Adam started off by activating the Fetish of Sloth, summoning the Slothling Imp, which immediately flew at the ogre dummy he still had active.

Before Adam could even try and harvest it for blood and flesh, it hit the ogre and disappeared.

Normally the Fetish had a 1-Stage cooldown, but on the island it was just one minute. Still, it made it annoying to test.

Next he tried the Blood Bolt Ring, and it was way easier to convert the bolt spell it fired into his own, since it came out already energised with his Mana for some reason. The same was the case for the Blood Fist Ring. The bolt had a 90-second cooldown, while the fist was half that, making them quite efficient to use to refill his reserves of blood. Although neither created a ton of blood out of thin air, when they were combined it was enough to at least get started, and the main benefit was that it cost him none of his Mana and Health to do.

When he resummoned the imp a second time, he immediately reached out and grabbed it. The moment his hand touched the summon, he could feel how it was full of his Mana as well, and he was able to immediately pull its flesh and blood to him, making the rest of the summon disappear without managing to get off its attack.

I hope the imps aren’t sentient, because I can’t imagine I get to go to heaven if they actually comprehend what I’m doing to them.

Although, to be honest, I’m sure the chance to go to heaven was kind of lost the moment I became pseudo-immortal. And even if I beat the Trials and get rid of this insidious looping power, I’ve already worshipped ‘false Gods’, so that probably means no dice.

Adam tested the Relics until there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find Yenna waiting outside, her everchanging instrument in hand.

They talked for a bit about music before he felt ready to go to sleep. One of the things she mentioned was that she preferred playing the violin, even though she was proficient in so many wonderful instruments.

I really want to give her the Vanity mirror, but I think Beck was right.

I can’t make the best decision about who to use it on, if I don’t check out all the options.

There are quite a lot of denizens though, so I can’t imagine checking them all will be very quick… Unless I get more Vanity mirrors, of course.

Adam yawned and readjusted himself in the bed. The light in the Player House was dimmed but not completely gone, just the way he preferred. Belamouranthe was still out there somewhere, but he was sure she’d find her way to the Player House when she became tired, or maybe she was sleeping in the Tavern, watched over by Charlie.

Despite the occasional twitch of phantom pain from using flesh magic on himself, Adam quickly dozed off as Yenna’s lullaby filled the Player House.

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--Encyclopaedia---
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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Seven

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Unlike the last chapter, this one has been edited at the time of publication xD

My friend Sieghiro is working on some new animations for me. You may have seen his work already on the RR chapters (the treasure chest and Eye blasting the croissant gifs), as well as on other people's stories on RR. Anyway, if you're interested in seeing what new stuff he's cooked up, here's one that's finished (imgur link) and one that's still a work in progress (imgur link).

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Seven

< < Relics Sold > >

< Blood Elemental Core (Common) x18 >

< Slothful Heart (Common) x9 >

< Greater Slothful Heart (Uncommon) x3 >

< 14450 Points Remaining >

All the collectibles had sold for a combined 3300 Points, with the greater hearts selling for 200 each. On top of that, he’d had 6780 Points leftover from before the Stage, and then he’d gotten 4370 from Stage Three.

I feel a burning desire to spend all of these Points!

But no… I have a plan and I will stick to it.

I need to keep at least 5000 for when I unlock the Builder, and depending on how expensive it is to get the meta upgrade for making her creations permanent, I may need another 5000, or maybe more.

Getting the rings, boots, and armour from Stage Three should only set me back 2000 Points, but I’d like to get a few Defence and Health upgrades too.

If I complete Hardmode on Stage Four and get all the bonuses, it should give me over 5000 Points I think.

But I need to find a way to move my own body with my magic, otherwise I won’t be able to go fast enough to get the speedrun or the secret involving the first knight. And getting the Rotmaker idol from the top of the tree would be out of the question without it, since climbing would take me too long and I don’t think I can use the Slothling Spring Boots to fling myself that high.

Adam looked at Lucca’s selection of Relics while Belamouranthe was talking to Weaver about another dress.

Since he’d gotten the vendors meta upgrade, the Relic shop had five options.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Slothling Ogre Eye (Epic) — Reduces Movement Speed by 50% | Increases Player Defence by 50% >

< Slothling Fur Coat (Rare) — Increases Player Defence by 25%. Breaks after 5 hits | Increases Movement Speed by 10% >

< 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 >

< Slothling Claw Bracer (Uncommon) — Can be used to perform an armour-rending slash. Breaks after 2 uses >

< Scroll-Preservation Talisman (Uncommon) — When a Spell Scroll is activated this Relic is consumed instead >

Wow, two Epics, that’s lucky.

The value of the talisman is actually quite high, since I was planning on also buying another Beckoning Crimson scroll. Spending 300 Points to be able to save 700 and have the ability to activate the scroll twice in a Stage is quite a good purchase.

“I will buy the coat and talisman, and then reroll.”

[You are already wearing an Armour Relic. Would you like to sell Bone Armour and replace it with Slothling Fur Coat? You may also send the unequipped Relic to your Player House for storage.]

“I’ll swap and sell,” Adam replied.

< < Relic Sold > >

< Bone Armour (Common) >

< 14600 Points Remaining >

< < Relics Purchased > >

< Slothling Fur Coat (Rare) >

< Scroll-Preservation Talisman (Uncommon) >

< 13800 Points Remaining >

The bone vest and braces vanished and were replaced with the black fur coat, and on his belt appeared the little talisman which was a wood carving of a stylised scroll with a red string tied around it.

The black chest next to Lucca closed and popped open again, showering the inside of the stall with golden light and showing five new options.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Paralysis Venom (Uncommon) — Paralyses target on attack. Relic disappears after attack >

< Barrage Glove (Uncommon) — All projectiles are split into 3, each dealing a 3rd of total damage >

< 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 Fist Ring (Rare) — Charge a powerful punch that shoots a blood spike through the target on impact. 45-second cooldown >

< Glutton Collar (Uncommon) — Consume two potions within 10 seconds of each other without incurring toxic backlash, but toxicity build-up is tripled >

“I’ll buy the ring and reroll.”

< < Relics Purchased > >

< Blood Fist Ring (Rare) >

< 13300 Points Remaining >

The chest cycled its inventory again.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Blood Bolt Ring (Rare) — Charge a powerful blood bolt that explodes on impact. 90-second cooldown >

< Spellburn Glove (Uncommon) — Spells are infused with fire. Breaks after 4 uses. >

< Mana-Fiend’s Mask (Rare) — Spells cost twice as much Mana to cast but inflict Mana Leech, siphoning the cost of the spell back to you from the target’s Mana >

< Slothling Spring Boots (Rare) — Charge a powerful and quick leap, accelerating Player to 3x Movement Speed. 60-second cooldown >

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

Nice, that completes the set of Relics I was trying to get.

The mask is a new one for me. Not really worth getting though, at least not for Stage Four.

The mask looked absolutely terrifying though, like the demon masks used in Noh plays, but pale-white with black needle teeth and six short dark-grey horns, as well as deep-blue eyes with holes in the pupils for the wearer to see through.

“I will buy the ring and boots,” Adam said.

[You are already wearing a Ring on your right hand. Would you like to sell Slime Ring and replace it with Blood Bolt Ring? You may also send the unequipped Relic to your Player House for storage.]

“I’ll store the Slime Ring,” he said.

[Understood.]

The ring disappeared from his right hand with a golden beam from the Eye, leaving behind a small ring of exposed bone where it’d been equipped. Adam gritted his teeth against the pain as it rapidly healed back.

< < Relics Purchased > >

< Blood Bolt Ring (Rare) >

< Slothling Spring Boots (Rare) >

< 12300 Points Remaining >

“Are you rerolling again?” Lucca asked.

“No, I’m done for now,” he told her.

He had replaced his silk slippers with the boots, and each of his hands had a red ring made from blood on them now. The rings seemed to interact with his sigils, which was curious. With just the slightest nudge of his control, he made the liquid rings shift around on his fingers like little slithering serpents.

Though I’m not saving a lot of Points, having 5 free rerolls from the start is pretty useful. I guess the biggest benefit is that it lets me reroll the starter weapons, but saving a couple hundred Points in the Market isn’t a terrible application either.

Although, it’ll take a long time before the Points I saved thanks to it will really add up to how much I spent to fully unlock the meta upgrade though…

It had cost 12500 Points to get all five tiers of the Rerolls upgrade, and since each reroll cost 100 Points it meant he’d have to do 25 loops before he broke even on the investment.

Just as he left Lucca’s stall, Sylvia and Migraine sauntered into the Market. Adam still hadn’t figured out why the goblin hung around the blood mage apprentice, nor why she let him.

“Hey Sylvia, I’d like to buy another one of those Beckoning Crimson scrolls,” he told her after approaching the pair.

“It’s a good spell, right?” she responded.

“It worked quite well,” Adam agreed.

“It’ll be another 1000 Points,” Sylvia then told him.

“Deal.”

< < Spell Scroll Purchased > >

< Beckoning Crimson >

< 11300 Points Remaining >

“Adam. Got any trophies?” Migraine asked. “Sylvia says she got a trick with hearts, but I ain’t got any to give her.”

“I just sold a bunch to Lucca,” he told the goblin.

“Missus Legs ain’t a fan of Migraine,” he muttered in response.

Me neither, buddy.

After stuffing the scroll in his pocket, Adam went over to Thea’s stall and paid her to repair the Damaged Crown he was still wearing. He wasn’t going to benefit much from its effects, since his only summon was the imp from the Fetish of Sloth that hung from his belt next to the talisman. But he needed to have the crown repaired before Stage Four so that it would evolve when he got the eradication bonus. It was necessary to get it transformed into the True Flame’s Icon, if he wanted to be able to use it in Stage Nine to trigger the Secret Boss.

The repair cost 500 Points, putting his total at 10800.

Next he went over to Karie’s stall and looked at the upgrades that appeared from her cauldron.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Movement (Uncommon) — Increases movement speed by 10% >

< Damage (Uncommon) — Increases all damage by 10% >

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

< Crush (Uncommon) — Increases the impact of attacks by 10% >

< Defence (Uncommon) — Increases all defence by 10% >

“I’ll buy Defence,” he said.

“Understood!” Karie replied excitedly.

< < General Upgrade Purchased > >

< Defence (Uncommon) >

< 10500 Points Remaining >

The holograms remaining fell down into the cauldron and it bubbled aggressively before spitting out five new ones.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

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

< Health (Uncommon) — Increases health by 2 >

< Movement (Uncommon) — Increases movement speed by 10% >

< Crush (Uncommon) — Increases the impact of attacks by 10% >

< Dodge (Uncommon) — Grants a 10% chance to dodge a direct attack >

None of these are worth the Points, I think. Though maybe Damage? Or should I get the Speed upgrade?

No, I think I’ll save my Points.

“Reroll,” he said.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Dodge (Uncommon) — Grants a 10% chance to dodge a direct attack >

< Health (Uncommon) — Increases health by 2 >

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

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

< Damage (Uncommon) — Increases all damage by 10% >

I think I used up all my luck on the Relics…

“Reroll,” he said again. He had one left after this and he wanted to keep it for Stage Four, since he wanted to get the Captain’s Cape. Attack Speed might benefit his spells, after all.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

< Bleed (Rare) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 15% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds >

< Venom (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict venom slowing target by 10% for 10 seconds >

< Force (Uncommon) — Attacks pierce armour by 10% >

< Health (Rare) — Increases health by 5 >

I was thinking of grabbing the Health, but actually, getting Bleed might work well. It won’t deal a lot of damage, since my sigils’ weapon damage is low, but making enemies bleed will allow me an easy way to defeat them.

I should probably try and get the Scoundrel’s Glove from Stage Seven as well, since it had a powerful bleed-based affliction tied to it.

As he considered the effects of bleeding out his enemies, he had a sudden epiphany.

If I make enemies bleed and then use Beckoning Crimson while they’re still alive, it might be a fast way to absorb enough of their blood to be able to control them.

I really need to learn how to cast that spell on command. I’d better save my Lucky Stone for Stage Six so I can get Alepheria’s Mandate.

“I’ll buy bleed.”

< < General Upgrade Purchased > >

< Bleed (Rare) >

< 10200 Points Remaining >

As the selection scrambled, another Uncommon Defence appeared, which Adam bought. From the following selection came an Epic Health, which he also bought. After that he was lucky and got an Epic Bleed, but the following options were all Uncommon duds, so he gave up for now.

< < General Upgrades Purchased > >

< Defence (Uncommon) >

< Health (Epic) >

< Bleed (Epic) >

< 9300 Points Remaining >

Since he’d swapped out the Bone Armour for the Slothling Fur Coat, Adam had lost 5% Defence, but with the two Uncommon ones he’d grabbed, he was now at 55%. His Health had also gone up to 170 thanks to the two Epic upgrades he’d gotten so far.

Belamouranthe stayed in the Market to chat with Weaver about the intricacies of embroidery as Adam went to the Tavern.

***

“I’m not even sure there’s a point for me to participate,” Gladwyn grumbled when he realised he’d lost their bet. “Isn’t it unfair for me to be up against two time-loopers?”

“You’ll be able to get your revenge in later Stages,” Adam assured him.

“Or I’ll just lie about my success after the next Stage,” he replied.

“We’ll know,” Beck said and Adam nodded.

Gladwyn sighed. “Fine… Lay it on me then, what’s my punishment?”

Since both Beck and Adam had travelled to Gladwyn’s dimension with their Visiting Stones, the bets they could put together, and the punishments for losing, were a lot more intricate and sinister than in Adam’s past loops.

This time the bet had been who’d gotten the most and rarest Relics, after they’d realised that Gladwyn wouldn’t be able to keep up with Points-based bets following Stage Two. Still, he’d taken his punishment bravely: asking Lucca for a dance at the Tavern.

The most surprising thing, besides the spider’s ability to carry any rhythm in her eight-legged body, was that she’d even accepted the invitation in the first place. Apparently, she’d been treating him strangely since, according to Gladwyn. For example, she kept leaving her stall when he was in the Market now.

Adam had won the Stage Three bet by getting the Nightwing Heart on top of the Blood Mage Choker and various collectibles, since neither Gladwyn nor Beck had known about the heart, though both had defeated the secret boss.

I’m still surprised by how handily Gladwyn is keeping up with us on the achievements.

I just hope he isn’t taking too many risks.

Gladwyn would of course never be able to match them in his Point total without the Hardmode unlocked, but he was making a damn good effort and had even gotten the Flawless bonus in Stage Three, which Beck had failed to obtain. Granted, Beck had used the Hardmode Orb like Adam, so it was little wonder he’d gotten hit with that many enemies, since he was still just rocking the Spellcaster staff with Gram as his secondary.

“I don’t like how long it’s taking you to come up with something,” Gladwyn remarked. “Can you at least not make me do something that’ll put a further strain on my relationship to the people on the island?”

Adam grinned. “Don’t worry, I was thinking something simpler this time. Seeing Lucca dance was kind of traumatising, to be honest.”

Beck grunted. “She reminds me a bit of my ex-wife the way she moves.”

“That woman was probably a spider in disguise,” Gladwyn remarked.

“Explains her skincare routine,” Beck deadpanned.

Adam called over Charlie and whispered his request into her ear, or whatever approximation of an ear that ants had.

The tavernkeeper giggled as she left.

“Okay, now I’m actually more scared than last time,” Gladwyn said with a frown.

Ten minutes later, Gladwyn had a blindfold on and there were ten different condiments, spices, powders, and bottles arranged before his seat.

Beck had laughed his ass off when he realised what Adam’s devious punishment was.

“I’d like to revise my earlier statement,” Gladwyn said. “Which bug-lady should I take dancing next?”

“Oh, you’re not getting out of this one, buddy,” Beck said with a grin on his face.

Adam stood behind Gladwyn and put his hands on his shoulders, partially to stop him from fleeing and partially to help guide him towards the selection.

With the blindfold on, Gladwyn selected two of the ten items from each of the four categories. Once the selection process was complete, Adam added the eight items into a large bowl that Charlie had happily provided, stirring generously with the wooden spoon she’d also brought.

Inside it were: spicy mustard and Cholula hot sauce; cinnamon and cardamom; grape drink powder and hot chocolate powder; and finally, monster energy drink and tequila.

Adam poured the evil concoction into a glass and handed it to Gladwyn, whose blindfold prevented him from seeing what was coming.

“How bad can it be?” he muttered ignorantly as he lifted the glass to his lips and took a questing sip.

There was a long pause wherein Gladwyn clearly contemplated a lot of things.

Then he went in for another sip.

“Not bad,” he said.

Adam and Beck couldn’t believe what they were hearing, and Beck immediately snatched the glass from his friend’s hand and took a long sip.

A second later he was dry-heaving on the floor while Gladwyn laughed so hard that he fell off his chair.

Adam took a small sip as well and a bone-cracking shudder rolled through him at the sensory assault he’d wilfully ingested.

“How the fuck did you take two sips!?” Adam asked, impressed.

“I’ve got an iron stomach,” he replied as he peeled off the blindfold.

Then he saw the glass that Adam was holding, the selected items, and the bowl behind him.

Gladwyn’s face turned pale and he suddenly covered his mouth with his hands.

Adam doubled over laughing.

“I’ll get you back for this, Adam!” Gladwyn yelled between animalistic sounds of projectile vomiting into a bucket that Charlie had helpfully provided.

-----------------------------

Did anyone else make 'magic potions' in their childhood and dare their friends to drink them, or are Danish kids just weirdos?

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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Six

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I'll have it edited tomorrow after work, but I just finished it and its 2:30 AM here and I've got a big presentation I need to be awake for tomorrow ^-^'

Anyway, didn't wanna leave y'all hanging for a day since I had said I'd have this out Sunday. But just be warned that I have no idea if this stuff's a mess or not <.< There's a reason I always do an edit-pass before I show people my writing after all, lol.

Alright, I'm off to bed.

This chapter has now been edited.

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Six

Adam planted two arms shaped loosely out of the collected flesh into the ground on either side of him. Then he split his ball of blood into three, forming each fragment into a flat disc that he’d easily be able to turn into a blade or spin up to carve through the enemies.

The moment the first Wave started, three Slothling Imps emerged from the dense treeline a few metres away.

Adam immediately shot his three spells forward, deciding in the last second to turn all of them into sharp blades.

With a downwards chop of his control sigil, the blades swung down through the seams between the heads and bodies of the three imps simultaneously, decapitating all of them at once.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 5 seconds.]

I didn’t even need to use the arms, he thought to himself as he quickly switched to Gram to force its weapon upgrades to appear from the rewards. It was kind of a waste to use boosted upgrades on chipping stone away from the sword, but he decided he would pick Health and Defence if they appeared.

The imps being easy to kill wasn’t that much of a surprise though, since they had never been dangerous because of their defence but rather because of their speed.

He merged the blood back together into a single ball while he brought the flesh-wrought arms over to the three corpses. The arms he’d made were simple, but had elbow joints and clawed rigid fingers locked into beak-like shapes. It seemed silly that making something closer to a functional limb with flesh magic was stronger than simply reworking the meat and skin into basic weapons, but from all his tests it was clear that the more accurate his flesh creations were, the more power they had.

If I could control bones too, then I’d be able to build my own creatures, he thought absentmindedly as he worked the disconnected arms through the imps’ bodies, butchering them up like captured prey.

If I went that route, then I’d probably end up like the Tome Keeper… After all, he is also known as the Fleshcrafter, based on the name of his realm when I entered it.

For how much the Flayed Lady and Tome Keeper seem to be at odds, their domains of influence are strikingly similar. But perhaps their similarities are the cause of the tensions.

For him to want me to worship her, it’s clear he’s after something specific.

But that thing might just be teaching me a lesson about his enemy.

Adam still didn’t want to do it, since her quests were clearly geared towards harming other Players. But a small part of him thought that she might be able to make his spells stronger, since she was tied to blood magic.

Trading my morals for power…

It would be easy to justify choosing her if it meant I could go further.

But that road is the same that so many of the murderous time-loopers followed I’m sure.

Justifying cold-hearted murder in the present for some future peace is just an evil spiral that will never end, because when does the future arrive, and if you give a little, it’s easy to end up giving a lot. And then, before you know it, you’ve left behind a bloody trail and lost sight of where the boundaries used to be.

He sighed and pushed away the speculation for now. But he would be lying if he wasn’t at least curious about why the Tome Keeper had gone through so much trouble to get such a message to him in this loop.

With the two flesh-wrought arms, Adam scooped up the black-veined heart of bone from within the first Slothling Imp.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Slothful Heart (Common) — A heart borne by an incarnation of Sloth >

As he started carving open the other two Slothlings, the Eye announced that he was running out of time on his upgrade selection.

He glanced over the options.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Chip Stone — Reveal a portion of the sword >

< Health (Epic) — Increases health by 10 >

< Defence (Rare) — Increases all defence by 25% >

< Dodge (Rare) — Grants a 15% chance to dodge a direct attack >

Health and Defence, not bad.

“Select Defence when there is 1 second remaining.”

[Understood.]

Adam spent the last bit of the break before Wave Two on pulling out the hearts and then collecting the floor and flesh into the air in front of him. As he put the hearts into his Spidersilk Backpack, three blood golems came out of the forest wall.

He sent his blood out as three separate projectiles, piercing them deep into the golems and merging their bodies with Adam’s Mana-infused blood. It took a few seconds to pull off, but it was way more effective than against flesh-and-blood enemies, since the moment he gained control, he simply pulled their blood-formed bodies away from the elemental cores they carried within.

As one, the golems were absorbed into Adam’s collecting orbs, though much of the blood that formed them sloshed away and disappeared into the grass when he reached the storage limit for each of his three spells.

It was a bit of a waste, but he’d beaten the Wave within 10 seconds and completely filled up his reserves.

During the following interlude, Adam went over to the two spawns for the Slothling Imps that would appear. Since the Hardmode clones emerged out of the same place as the originals, it was easy enough for him to draw out the traps in a way that he’d be able to catch most if not all of them. He drew the spell pattern for Push near both places in oversized versions, and then pulled the flesh he’d planted nearby to his side, since he didn’t have a ton of blood left afterwards.

He’d also gained a surplus of flesh from the imps he’d butchered, but unlike the blood he wasn’t actively manipulating, the flesh could just be loosely sculpted and placed nearby for when he needed it, making it a much more efficient thing to harvest and allowing him to go overboard with using it. Although, the fact that shaping it was more intricate and a necessity to gain the full effect of the magic, it wasn’t quite as straight-forward to use. And unfortunately, trying to make spell patterns with it had not been fruitful, since the patterns struggled to stay coherent when formed into skin or flesh, almost as if it warped the material.

Watching how Beck created his spells had also not really aided him much, since his staff did the majority of the work and Adam’s attempts to imitate its spell patterns had no effect, even though he understood what they did.

As Adam selected the Chip Stone upgrade from the options, Wave Three began and the treeline almost immediately exploded with shards of crystallised blood, shredding four of the six imps, but two made it out mostly unscathed since they’d been shielded by arriving last.

Adam sent a snaking projectile of blood after the one on his left and the two flesh-wrought arms after the other.

The left one immediately launched at him with a powerful kick of its legs, but he quickly turned the blood snake into a long blade that split the top of the imp’s body at the shoulders as it sheared through, diverting its trajectory away from him as the two parts pulled away from each other.

Before the right one could leap, Adam drove both of his floating arms through its round furry torso and pulled it apart with terrifying ease, releasing the collectible heart from within just like splitting open the husk of a chestnut.

I wonder if the strength of my flesh-shaped limbs is also controlled by Invocation Power, because they’re pretty damn strong.

This time an Epic Health upgrade was in the pool of options, so he selected it after preparing for Wave Four.

As the ogres burst through the trees, they immediately triggered two of Adam’s primed Push spells, blowing open their gorilla-like hands and causing two of them to stumble. He sent a slicing blade of blood through the third, carving deep wounds into its arms and making it falter too.

By then it was already game over for them, because Adam sent his flesh-wrought arms up into each of their torsos, shaping them into unstable balloons that imploded violently, breaking open big holes inside each of them that sent down a deluge of blood and made all three ogres collapse.

He then mixed his Mana-infused blood with the ogres’ and though it took about 15 seconds in total, he was able to absorb and control enough that he could then simply pull the rest of the blood out of their bodies, causing them to die one by one.

Once again, it was way too much blood for him to wield all at once, but instead of letting it spill onto the grass and disappear, he coated as many of the trees around him as possible, setting himself up for the final Wave.

He butchered the remains of the ogres for more flesh, blood, and the collectibles within, but this time the hearts were of a higher rarity.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Greater Slothful Heart (Uncommon) — A heart borne by a greater incarnation of Sloth >

With tripled summons, the final Wave will be the biggest hurdle, Adam realised and prepared accordingly.

He set several Push traps at the various spawn locations, making sure to avoid the place Ezral would appear from, since he needed to be kept alive to summon the Nightwing. Setting all the traps required quite a lot of blood, so he used some of what he’d coated the trees in, and also set up a floating barrier that he could use both defensively and offensively, depending on the need. Given that Ezral was a blood mage, Adam was fairly sure the spell he’d been hit by last time wouldn’t be able to pierce blood barriers as easily as Warder barriers. But he did need to worry about the boss trying to take control of his spells.

I wonder if I can copy some of his by watching him when he casts them.

I’m pretty sure the thing he hit me with in the fourth loop was the Heart Lance spell that Sylvia sells.

With his preparations set and vaguely-shaped arms of harvested flesh planted around him, Adam selected the upgrade, another Chip Stone, and started the final Wave. He was sitting down to keep his Mana recovery as high as possible, since he would definitely need it for this.

Immediately, nine blood elemental wolves poked their liquid snouts through the trees and then all of them jumped out at once.

Bang! Bang!

Five exploded like balloons right off the bat as they triggered two of his traps, and he was already moving his blood spells through the rest, quickly assimilating their bodies under his control and sweeping the harvested blood through them to collect their essences, using the excess to coat the trees and his planted flesh-wrought arms.

Six more wolves quickly appeared from the trees, followed by Ezral the blood mage.

“A blood mage!?” the boss exclaimed in surprise. “You want the girl for your own devices!? You know not the forces that you meddle with!”

Adam ignored the mad ramblings as he moved his orbs of blood through the six wolves, stripping them of their bodies and leaving behind the stones. Their blood too went to the trees and creepy arms Adam had planted.

He had taken out the wolves so quickly that the boss stumbled back a step and yelled, “You have left me no other choice!”

He frowned.

That was quick. I won’t be able to get the collectibles from the rest of the summons he was supposed to bring out.

Ezral opened a hole in the palm squeezing the Fetish of Sloth, coating it as he summoned a large shape. Adam took the opportunity to spread the last of his collected blood onto the surfaces of the trees where it wouldn’t immediately vanish.

Then he pulled as much of the planted flesh to him as he could hold in the air at once, before retrieving the scroll of Beckoning Crimson from his pocket.

He triggered the spell scroll, causing a red glow to coat his entire body, and then he activated his Princely Raiment skill.

Blood flew to his body from the spell scroll, coating his skin in a flexible red layer of armour since he was already at full health, but then the skill activation brought him to 10% Health, which the Beckoning Crimson spell quickly started to heal.

All of the flesh he floated out in front of himself was pulled onto his body, and the layer of flexible armour mixed into it as it too joined the Raiment. He grew half a metre in height and his torso was covered in dark fuzzy hair, while his arms and legs were bulked out and covered in a dense layer of white bone-like armour.

At the same time, the rest of the blood that flew towards him from the coated trees and planted flesh-wrought arms healed him back up to 130 Health, which was about 80% of his total.

With a simple nudge of Adam’s left arm, which was warped by the Raiment into a pale off-white limb ending in a three-fingered claw with gruesome talons, he lifted a nearby planted arm and shot it at Ezral, just as he finished manifesting his ultimate summon.

The blood mage brought up a blood barrier, but Adam simply moved the limb around by bending it on the elbow joint, tearing its claws through Ezral’s arm, cutting the hand off at the wrist and dropping the Fetish of Sloth to the grass. The boss quickly used his magic to stem the deadly flow of his own blood, but with another command, Adam drove the flesh-shaped arm into Ezral’s eye and skull, killing him before he could truly fight back. Then he picked up the Secret Relic and threw it back to himself, hoping that touching it with his spell would count as having collected it for the bonus reward.

< < Secret Boss Discovered > >

< Dwarf Nightwing >

< Wave Timer extended to 150 seconds >

Adam grabbed the nearby tree trunks with his enlarged claws and caused them to splinter and crack, toppling them over just as the Nightwing flapped its wings to jump.

He sent up three flesh-wrought arms, grabbing the creature mid-air as it was briefly exposed to the sunlight and became corporeal. Then he pulled them in different directions, tearing off one of its wings, and destroying the other while also gouging a grievous hole through its abdomen.

The Nightwing collapsed to the ground at Adam’s feet.

Half of its body fell into shadow, but its neck and head were in the amber light of the setting sun.

In his transformed body, Adam reached down, grabbed its large head and twisted it around.

A bone-splitting and tendon-tearing cacophony came from the destruction of the Nightwing’s neck before he simply tugged, pulling the skin and flesh apart and decapitating the boss.

It was only once the boss was dead that Adam allowed himself a moment to truly appreciate what his transformation had turned him into. The Raiment was created with a mix of blood from the various summons, as well as the flesh of both the Slothling Ogres and the Imps, but the appearance was decidedly on the ogre-like side, since they’d seemingly ended up contributing the most flesh.

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

As he waited on the score, he started peeling open the Nightwing to reach the heart inside.

< < Score > >

< 60 Seconds Completion Time >

< 600 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 500 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 300 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 4370 Points Awarded >

60 seconds. That is so stupidly fast, though the timer reset caused by the Secret Boss is a big reason there, since the real time spent is more like 90 or 100 seconds I think.

But a solid chunk of Points regardless.

Not sure how the fuck I would’ve handled this Stage on Hardmode with some of the other weapons. I feel like this one was made to suit Blood Mage extremely well, but fighting that many enemies with something like Warrior or Backstabber would’ve been impossible maybe.

Even Beast might’ve had a rough go at it.

Although I guess if I didn’t care about the collectibles, it might’ve been fine.

Adam hadn’t gotten the imp and golem spawns off the boss since he’d killed the wolves fast enough to trigger the Nightwing, so he’d lost out on 12 collectibles, which was a shame. However, he’d managed to collect 3 greater hearts, 9 normal hearts, and 18 elemental cores. That was easily over 3,000 Points in total.

He finally managed to reach the Nightwing’s heart and pull it out, just as his Raiment started to deteriorate rapidly.

After dumping it into his backpack, he frowned and realised he’d once again have to use his shirt to carry the rest of the cores, since there was no more space inside the bag.

I hope the silk shirt is more stain-resistant than my original.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Dwarf Nightwing Heart (Rare) — The heart of the Dwarf Nightwing once owned by the Sloth Demon Glool >

After collecting the remaining cores into his shirt and picking up his backpack, Adam looked through the Relic Chest options, immediately picking the Blood Mage Choker since it showed up. One of the rings that he wanted appeared as well, but he would have to get it at the Market along with the other one later.

< < Relic Selected > >

< 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% >

Since he hadn’t switched to Gram in time, the upgrades showed ones for the blood sigils, but Adam didn’t mind, since he was able to get another Rare Sigil Effect to boost his shaping powers. From the second upgrade choice he got a Rare Defence.

With the choker equipped, that put his Defence at 40% with the Epic and Rare Defence upgrades he’d collected on top of the 30% from the Bone Armour. He was expecting to get a lot more Defence at the Market.

I wonder if Luvicidix will get upset that I won’t spend my Points with her for a while. There’s just too much stuff to grab at the Market this time, and after next Stage I’ll be buying a lot of things from the Builder too.

He briefly considered his stats and where he was best served to invest his Points, upgrades-wise.

My damage potential is obviously good, but I need more Health, Defence, and Mana.

Adam took a deep breath as the Eye teleported him back to Interim Island.

Although he hadn’t stayed near the carriage wherein Belamouranthe had waited for him, she arrived next to him in the centre of the island.

“Let’s go shopping,” Adam told her.

“I would like another dress!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Adam grinned and they set off for the Market. An upbeat melody of a hurdy-gurdy flowed through the air.

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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 41

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I was hoping to finish 5 chapters this week on Madman, but 4 is good enough given how little time I've had. Still, only 2 weeks left of my internship, so I should be able to time manage things a lot better.

Chapter 42 of Madman book 3 will probably be available in 2-3 weeks.

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Chapter 41

“That might work,” Panda said after I’d finished translating Lordie’s plan.

“I think the versatility is a good idea,” Bee added.

I looked to Cooper, Chris, and James.

The boy jumped up and down excitedly. “Mech! Mech! Mech!”

Chris put a hand on his brother’s head to calm him down. “I think it’s a good idea too. Given that it seems like getting a lot of the same material might be difficult, this compensates for it quite handily.”

“Did you mean to make that pun?” I asked him.

Chris grinned. “Possibly.”

“Meow,” Lordie said.

“He approves of hand-based jokes,” I translated.

Lordie’s idea had been quite brilliant, which was no surprise since he was an evil genius in a lot of ways. Fortunately, he was on our side. Although he had tried to get us killed once, so perhaps that wasn’t entirely true. And he was a creature born of literal sin, so…

Anyway!

Lordie had said that he was actually on board with Bee’s original idea of shoving him into a flesh mech. As for the design, he wanted to make a giant seven-fingered hand, basically just giving him a larger version of his own body that he could control from within. The main downside was that he would be piloting it, which meant that if our Monstrosity was defeated, he would die. And if Lordie died, then I would die.

Probably.

Unless Reap This or Rules of Anarchy protected me.

“Yeah, no chance,” Panda said.

The main benefit of his idea was that, since we didn’t know if we’d have a reliable source of Monstrosity materials, we could make each of the fingers from different things, in turn giving each finger a unique power. Or that was the general gist, at least. We didn’t really know if it would work that way or not, and though Mammon lounged nearby in a floating golden bathtub full of doubloons, he wouldn’t tell us if our design idea was possible.

“How big are we making it?” Cooper asked, looking at the pile of frog meat we’d collected. “If that’s just for one finger, won’t it become enormous?”

“The bigger the better!” I insisted.

“You cannot go above 10 meters in height and length. And girth, width, and whatever other measurements you have,” Mammon said.

“If we use all the frog meat for a finger, then it would be maybe 4 meters long, making the whole hand 8 or 9 meters,” Bee calculated roughly.

“Alright, let’s go get some more materials then,” I said. “Who’s coming with me?”

“Me, me, me!” James exclaimed.

He and Chris had been watching us from the screen that Mammon gave them, as per Panda’s advice. Despite what they must’ve seen, the little kid still wanted to come.

“Sorry, lil guy,” I said, patting his head. “When you’re 18 you can come along for a good old romp through a monster-infested city.”

James looked at Bee. “Why does she get to go? She’s a kid too, right?”

Bee frowned. “I’m not a kid.”

“She’s uh, a special case,” I muttered.

Bee smacked me on my left arm.

“I’ll stay here if you want to go, Chris,” Cooper said.

Chris gave him a disapproving glare for putting him on the spot like that. I knew he didn’t want to leave his brother and had a strong risk aversion, but it was hard to say that to Cooper who’d tagged along with us already. And if he didn’t go, he would fall behind in levels and become unable to protect his brother down the line.

“Fine, I’ll go this time,” he then ultimately decided. “Keep an eye on my brother.”

“Of course,” Cooper told him. He’d recovered most of his composure after returning to the base, but it was clear he would be hard to bring with us again.

Bee had a strange look on her face suddenly and then turned to me.

“What?” I asked.

“All-Mommy told me you should use your Whale Bacon before we leave,” she said.

Panda cringed at the nickname. “She’s talking to you?”

“Yeah.”

I brought the Whale Bacon out of my inventory. I’d been rewarded it for blasting through the CPS hive ship and striking one of the seas on Earth with my Pow Punch, killing a bunch of ocean wildlife.

[‘Whale Bacon’ x ]

Item

Popular in Japan, this bacon comes from a baleen whale and is eaten raw.

I don’t think papa approves, since most of his spawn are whale-like in appearance.

Don’t worry though, I won’t tell him.

To access the power within, you’ve gotta do the only thing you do with bacon.

That’s right, make a ball out of it and throw it at your nearest friend!

Weight: approximately one

“What a waste of good whale meat,” Panda muttered.

The whale bacon had appeared in my hands on a plate with chopped spring onions and grated radish on the side. I picked up the thin slices and rolled them into a ball, then I threw it at Cooper.

Quick as an insatiable labrador, he jumped to grab it in his mouth, swallowing before even registering what it was.

Cooper licked his lips.

“What did I just eat?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it.”

[Choose your reward! x ]

It may be worth telling Cooper that he is now marked for death by Nwetrou, Leviathans of Leviathans, Devourer of Suns, the Dweller in the Deep, and Lord of the Abyss.

I had no idea that papa could tell when someone ate a creature he liked, but apparently he can. I guess that’s why he’s the primogenitor of Gluttony Demons. Also explains why he’s so upset with me, since I’ve eaten a lot of Void Whales…

My bad on that one.

But don’t worry, your friend will probably die before papa can get to him.

Pick one of the options:

‘Skippy!’ | ‘Whale’ | ‘Let’s Go Whaling’

“Sorry about that, Cooper,” I said.

“What? Why?”

“Don’t worry about it, actually.”

[‘Skippy!’ x ]

Ability

You’re already familiar with Skippy, since you summoned him to kill one of the Flayed Lady’s pawns. He seems pretty cool with being summoned by you. Just keep in mind what summoning him entails.

Summon Skippy.

Cooldown: 5 hours

[‘Whale’ x ]

Passive

I wasn’t aware that this is also a word you call people when not referring to their literal size, but instead the figurative size of their affluence. Odd.

Immediately obtain 10,000 GAME Coins.

Every time you spend money, people will make fun of you and you will gain 10 kilos of fat, regardless of the amount spent.

[‘Let’s Go Whaling’ x ]

Passive

Both papa and PETA greatly disapprove of this Skill.

But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?

You have to crack some eggs to stick it to an Absolute sometimes.

Gain a 50% damage boost against enemies weighing more than 3 tons.

Gain a further 100% damage boost if they are peaceful.

Gain an even further 150% damage boost if they are whales or whale-based creatures.

Every kill of a whale or whale-based creature makes you receive an angry letter from PETA, and the Patron God of Whales will send his servants to hunt you down.

I showed Bee and the others the options.

“Who is Skippy?” Cooper asked.

“Remember that big black lake we reached before the event started?” I replied. “That was caused by me summoning Skippy and using him to kill this powerful enemy we encountered in our last dimension.”

Cooper gave me a look that said he only understood half of what I’d just said.

“I think you should grab the whaling passive,” Chris advised.

“It would work well against the Queen of the CPS too,” Panda remarked.

“I think you should pick Skippy,” Bee said. “I think that’s also why All-Mommy wanted you to use the Whale Bacon.”

I nodded. “He might be able to help us out against the big monsters in the Singing City,” I agreed.

“Or we could harvest him for materials,” she said. “It probably won’t kill him permanently and we would have enough time to harvest him twice before the Collection Phase ends.”

Everybody gave her a worried look.

Even Mammon was frowning.

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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 40

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---Next chapter----

Chapter 41 is coming right behind this one.

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Chapter 40

“Gargalob is here?” Panda asked. “What the hell is a demon doing in the Singing City? It’s bad if they’re letting demons roam free.”

“Aren’t the Absolute’s spawn more dangerous?” Bee asked.

“Well, sure, but demons are insidious and they change the world around them with just their presence. Actually… so do many Absolute’s spawn…”

“So, everybody is dangerous,” I summarized. “Nothing new there.”

Cooper looked between us, confusion on his face.

I quickly repeated Panda’s words to him, but it seemed to just trade his confusion for worry.

“I think I’d like to go back to our base,” he said.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Panda remarked.

“Maybe we can swap you for Chris,” I considered.

Bee was looking intently at one of the nearby pillars. Then she walked around it going left, but she never came out on the other side of the pillar.

A moment later she returned out from the left side.

“I found out how we can leave!” she said excitedly.

“How?” I asked.

“The pillars are like portals, they teleport you around according to the direction you’re traveling past them, and if you go in a clockwise circle around them, they bring you to an exit.”

“Hopefully Steve remains stuck down here,” I said. “That guy needs to chill the fuck out.”

Panda stared at me but decided not to say anything.

I picked up the net that Bee had made from an orange pear summoned by her Fruit Basket ability. Inside it was all the Frog Meat parts we’d collected.

Then we followed her around the pillar, and as we walked the surroundings cycled from the swamp to the moss-covered area we’d seen earlier, then to the place with the ramp where we’d arrived, before finally placing us in front of a spiraling staircase that screwed up along the pillar and through the tall ceiling above.

While we continued walking around the pillar as we followed the steps, the surroundings rolled through every possible destination we could’ve found inside the subterranean chamber. One of them looked like a picnic on a grassy lawn with creepy store mannequins standing around. Another had the floor covered in knee-deep water and octopuses shifted below its surface, probably searching for food.

Eventually we reached the ceiling and, as we moved through it, the light of the Singing City greeted us. We emerged from a drained fountain with a statue of a armored soldier carrying a child in his arms situated at its center. Though we’d followed the steps up, the way back down was gone when I looked behind us.

“This place is pretty weird,” I said.

“Understatement of the century,” Panda remarked. “Some of the buildings are miniature realms that you can easily get trapped in. As a matter of fact, I think the chamber we just escape from was one such place.”

“So they’re like dungeons?” Bee asked.

“Kind of. The main difference is that you can’t just kill a specific monster inside to get sent back out. They’re like tar pits that cling to you and never let go.”

“I really want to go back to the base,” Cooper said.

Despite his appraisal saying he was known for his calm demeanor, the Singing City was really putting that to the test it seemed.

“I guess it’s not a bad idea to drop off our materials too,” I said.

“Brock wants to fight!!” my balloon sleeve exclaimed.

“One thing at a time, Brock,” Bee scolded him.

A few blocks away, towering monsters slammed into each other, making the ground beneath us rumble.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said.

I hefted the net with the Monstrosity parts inside and then lifted Cooper up onto my shoulder with my left hand. No matter how many times I did it, the big man clearly found it deeply unsettling how strong I was. Then again, most adults weren’t used to being picked up like a toddler.

Bee took to the air and I brought out the sentient longboard. Then we headed back towards the walls of the city. Fortunately, the fountain we’d emerged from was just before the boulevard where we’d encountered the big swamp puppy, so it was relatively close to the place where we’d entered the city.

We didn’t encounter any other teams as we went through one of the big gaps in the wall, but I saw some Players in the distance grouped together. It was hard to tell if they were fighting or teaming up.

“I see the beacon,” Cooper announced from his vantage point on my shoulder.

It hadn’t been possible to see inside the city, thanks to the massive buildings and towering monsters, but out in the ashy wastes beyond the wall, we had a clear line of sight to it. It was strange that the big creatures didn’t venture beyond the walls, but it at least gave us an easy way to avoid them.

I turned my head to follow his gaze and saw the beacon for Samantha’s base quite far in the distance. If our base was true north, then hers would be southwest.

“Should we go visit her?” Bee asked.

“I doubt she’d be hiding in there,” I replied.

“Hopefully she managed to save the people in the mall,” Panda said.

Bee flew down to grab Cooper’s shoulders and borrow our speed as we zoomed across the ash-covered ground.

Although there was nothing to set it apart from the other hills, I felt a slight attraction towards our base. It was probably a slight concession the Great Game orchestrators had made so people wouldn’t get hopelessly lost trying to just participate in the event. After all, even if their ultimate goal was to kill off as many of us as possible, it didn’t make for good entertainment if everyone perished because they got lost.

In hindsight, that was probably the same reason why my urge to use the bathroom had completely vanished with the start of the Great Game. It would be easy to kill someone with their pants down, but it was less amusing than all the other imaginative deaths the Game featured for us…

“I don’t like it when you get all silently introspective,” Panda said, pulling me from my thoughts.

I skidded the longboard to a stop in front of the stairs down into our base and set Cooper down on the ground where he immediately sunk half a meter into the ash.

Chris and James came halfway up the steps to meet us as we went into our base.

“What’s that?” the boy asked when he saw the net full of rubbery flesh and a single wizard’s hat.

“Materials for our Monstrosity,” I told him.

I emptied out the net, leaving behind a mound of materials. It was all geared towards a Swamp Magic creature, though I wasn’t sure that’s what we wanted to make. Especially since the frog men had been really weak.

“We should probably discuss what kind of thing we want to build,” Bee said as she realized the same thing.

Before I could give my suggestions, Lordie popped out of his transport cage and appeared on my head.

“Me-ow!” he said.

“He wants me to translate something,” I explained.

“Meow, meow, me-ow,” he said in his deep voice.

I nodded along, liking the idea he was presenting.

“Alright, here’s what Lordie wants us to build,” I translated.

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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 39

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---Next chapter----

Was hoping to already have ch.40 done too, but I'll see how much I'll finish later tonight and tomorrow.

There are 2 weeks left of my internship, then I'll be able to focus on writing more again, though I'll have a big project I'll have to make for my exam, though I'm still expecting to end up with more free time.

It may end up with just 3 chapters this week for Madman, but I will try to push to 4 at least. It's just kind of slow going unfortunately. And with the majority of my patrons arriving because of Loopshard, I feel like I should keep focusing my attention on it. But I do need to wrap up book 3 of Madman fairly soon. I may just write a lot in the background and drop it all at once or something. Not sure yet. It's just hard to release two stories to schedule.

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Chapter 39

Cooper was rubbing his cheek as we continued south from where we’d encountered Steve.

“That was like one of my recurring nightmares,” he muttered.

“If he comes back, I’ll kill him,” Bee said. “His voice can’t affect me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Panda replied. “He’s become a lot stronger than before, and his Simon Says power can literally change reality now. It didn’t use to work like that.”

I got my longboard out and we used it to put even more distance between us and wherever Steve might be, tearing across the subterranean chamber full of pillars. After a while, it became obvious that there was something funky about the space, since we kept passing by the same set of puddles repeatedly.

We instead tried to go southeast, which changed the scenery a little bit as we started to encounter moss-covered pillars and ground. But then that too kept repeating endlessly.

Finally we went east and suddenly encountered curling trees with dilapidated and rotten wooden huts between them. It almost looked like a swamp with all the water and moss everywhere, not to mention the bugs.

We slowed down to inspect the place and were immediately attacked by weird frog guys. Specifically, they were humanoids that just had rubbery dark-green and brown skin, webbed hands and feet, and weird frog heads.

“This is our… RIBBIT …base!” exclaimed one and launched his tongue at me.

I dodged under it and it took out a big chunk of the pillar behind me.

Then I flew at him with SPRING_HEEL, smashing my fist up into his jaw, snapping his head back violently and killing him on the spot.

Bee used her Moth Dash to fly through two others, turning them into a fine mist and bits of rubbery flesh. Then she swung her Stinky Fish weapon into a fourth guy’s head, knocking him towards me. I immediately punched him to death, and Cooper joined in by body-slamming the fifth and final frog, knocking him to the ground. Before the guy could get up, I jumped onto his head, squishing and splattering it like a tomato.

Cooper looked down at the mess and swallowed hard.

There was a big hut in the middle of the weird swamp forest and a larger frog guy popped out from within, wearing a brown wizard’s robe and pointed hat.

“It’s a toadmancer!” I exclaimed excitedly.

“CROAK, CROAK, RIBBIT!” he exclaimed, swinging a staff in a half-circle above his head.

Hundreds of small frogs fell out of the air, dropping down onto us and producing a cacophony of noise.

Then they all started to jump on top of each other, quickly forming a ball.

Since the toadmancer was clearly the source, I punched the air and sent a blast of pressurized wind into his legs, knocking him over. Then Bee threw a Bounceshroom upside-down on top of him, bouncing his body into the floor about a hundred times in the span of 2 seconds, turning him into a paste.

Cooper gagged loudly.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered. “I didn’t know it could do that.”

“Me neither,” Bee said cheerfully.

The spell that the toadmancer had summoned didn’t stop though, and the noisy frogs continued to pile together, forming one large frog.

“Should we crush them?” Bee asked, though I could tell she wanted to see what they’d turn into.

“Not yet,” I told her.

The frogs’ bodies melded into one, the gaps between their bodies vanishing and their rubbery skin fusing into one piece that stretched across the creature they formed.

Then, when the transformation had completed, a bullfrog the height of a human remained.

I blinked.

“Kevin?”

“RIBBIT.”

“It’s Kevin!” I exclaimed.

Panda sighed. “There’s no way.”

The giant bullfrog looked me right in the eyes, his gaze locked onto mine. He had the same bulky and glistening shape as I remembered, with a dark muddy green on top and a brighter green on his belly, with a little bit of yellow and off-white at the front below his mouth.

He blinked his left eye and then his right, before croaking, “FATHER.”

Panda frowned.

“It’s really you, my chonky boy!” I shouted excitedly, running forward to embrace Kevin in a hug.

“Gambit, wait!” Panda warned, but I didn’t listen.

As I wrapped my arms around my boy, it felt like thousands of needles pushed out of his lumpy warty body and into my skin. Then time stopped.

SKILL TRIGGER!

Reap This! triggered.

Above Kevin and me, a large copper coin launched up into the air, spinning rapidly. It fell back down a second later, striking an invisible surface and coming to a rest, showing heads pointing down at us, meaning tails was on top.

Tails!

Before I could ask what it meant, Kevin exploded like a meat balloon.

“NOOOO!!” I screamed as his steamy remains rained down around us.

“Holy shit, touching that toad actually killed you and triggered your ability to survive death,” Panda muttered.

“MY BOY!! THEY KILLED MY BOY!!” I wailed.

“I don’t think that was Kevin,” Panda said while Bee and Cooper started scooping up the remains of the frog men, toadmancer, and Kevin.

“I’ll get whoever is behind this!” I vowed.

“It must’ve been a trap designed to get you,” Panda remarked. “Not sure who exactly would be behind it though.”

“I’ll take down all of the Absolutes and agencies!” I exclaimed furiously.

“Chill,” Panda told me. “How about we start with just the agencies and then work our way up from there? Fuck, what am I even saying…?”

That sounded like a reasonable plan, so I took a deep breath to steady myself, immediately feeling better by having somewhere to aim my righteous anger.

I looked at Bee and Cooper who both moved around looting stuff, unbothered by the gruesome murder of my beautiful boy. “What are you guys doing?”

“The toad flesh can be used for the Monstrosity,” Bee said.

I stooped down to pick up a still-steaming chunk of rubbery meat.

[‘Frog Meat’ x ]

Monstrosity Material

Dropped by: a frog, obviously

+1 to Athleticism

+1 to Magic Defense

+2 to Swamp Magic

Weight: approximately four and three quarters

I helped them pick up as much as possible, and then Bee showed me the wizard’s hat that the toadmancer had left behind.

[‘Toadmancer’s Wizard Hat’ x ]

Monstrosity Material

Dropped by: a Toadmancer

+4 to Intelligence

+3 to Wisdom

+10 to Swamp Magic

Weight: approximately two

“How did you know it was a toadmancer?” Bee asked.

“Lucky guess,” I replied with a shrug.

“I went up a level,” Cooper said.

“Nice.”

“Are you okay?” Bee asked me. “Your body is full of tiny holes.”

“His health is at 10.8902%,” Panda said. “Apparently Reap This healed him a little bit.”

“Should I try and get a fruit to bring your health back?” Bee asked, since she had her Fruit Basket ability.

“Can’t you heal me?” I asked Cooper. “Your appraisal said you had powers like that.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing,” he replied.

“Why?” I asked.

“I have to take my shirt off to use the ability.”

“Ah, because you’re a Care Bear,” I remarked. “That makes sense.”

“Do it!” Brock exclaimed.

Cooper looked at my balloon-covered arm.

Then he lifted his t-shirt, revealing that it was covered in pink fur.

“Okay, I wasn’t expecting that,” I muttered.

“Me neither,” both Bee and Panda said.

Cooper frowned but then started to scrunch up his face like he was fighting for his life in the bathroom.

A second later I was bowled over by a concentrated blast of what I was pretty sure was weaponized love.

“It worked!” Panda exclaimed. “That healed you for 40%!”

“It takes a lot out of me to do that,” Cooper said, sweat rolling down his face as he pulled his t-shirt back down.

“If you level up more, it’ll become easier,” Bee told him.

Just as I got up, an announcement by Billee rolled across the Singing City and the underbelly we were trapped within.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT!

Team ‘Samantha’ is the first to bring back parts for their Monstrosity!

For those wondering, they brought back metal scales from the serpent Slissiler that many of you will have seen from afar.

Until the next Phase of the Event, their base will be lit up with a beacon, so go say hi if you’re in the neighborhood!

I’m being told to also remind you that while you cannot enter other Teams’ bases in this Phase, nothing is stopping you from camping out in front of someone’s base, if you really want to say hello.

I think they want you to kill each other.

You don’t have to, of course.

But they definitely want you to.

Alright, that’s it. Carry on with the murdering and looting!

Also, tough luck to Team ‘Arny Bob Jr.’, who decided to fight around the feet of Big Ol’ Gargalob. You kind of asked to be stepped on, to be fair.

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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 38

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You know how it is. Shit's gonna get weird.

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Chapter 38

At the end of the large boulevard of smoothly-formed organic bone was a big beautiful swamp puppy.

“Oh my God, what is that!?” Cooper exclaimed.

“Gambit, that is not a puppy!” Panda yelled.

“I want to pet it!” Bee insisted.

“It’s coming closer!” Cooper shouted. “Turn around!”

The puppy had fifteen reptilian eyes and eleven legs. Each leg was a patchwork of various skin-tones, as though it had been wrought from the bodies of people from all over Earth. Its mouth was wide enough to span almost all the way around it spherical head, revealing hundreds of serrated dagger-shaped teeth. The curling toes on its legs grabbed onto the buildings as it pulled itself towards us, dragging a slug-like body from which the legs sprouted at random.

“Go the other way!” Panda yelled. “It’s gonna eat us!”

I frowned.

“Fine,” I grumbled and spun the board around as the giant creature hurried towards us, leaving a glistening trail of mucus on the ground behind it.

“Aww,” Bee muttered disappointedly, but flew alongside us.

I took us down a narrow alleyway between two tall towers and the organically-shaped houses that clung to them like barnacles. We quickly started speeding up as the ground in the alley sloped down rather aggressively, and before I knew it, we were flying down into the city, chased by the sounds of the swamp puppy eagerly wanting tummy scritches from us.

The sloping ground started to spiral as we dipped below street-level and, as we left the surface behind, the narrow tunnel we were in just carried us deeper and deeper.

“How are we going to get back to our base??” Cooper panicked as the sloping tunnel led us to a wide chamber with enormous pillars holding up the ground above. “And what the hell was that thing!?”

I brought us to a halt next to one of the pillars and lifted Cooper down from my shoulders. The chamber seemed to open up for hundreds of meters in every direction, and there were puddles of water everywhere, fed by fat droplets that fell from the high ceiling.

“I think that was one of the Flesh Sculptor’s creations,” Panda said.

“Looked like a cute little guy to me,” I said.

Bee nodded.

Cooper looked between us, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Where are we?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I have no idea, but I think we sh—”

Before I could finish, sounds of screeching rubber came from the tunnel ramp that’d led us down here.

Bee and I moved out in front of Cooper as something golden-yellow slid down the spiraling tunnel, carrying a figure on top of it.

“It’s the balloon guy!” Cooper exclaimed.

I frowned. He looked very different from before the initialization, which was a bad sign I thought.

And the thing he was sliding on was rapidly letting out air as its rubber burned from the intense friction along the ramp.

As the balloon creature reached the floor of the chamber, it simply popped and vanished, leaving behind an unscathed man in a strange outfit who was covered in clown make-up.

“He looks very similar to—” Panda started.

“Gambit!” the clown exclaimed.

I froze, because I recognized that voice.

“Ahh fuck…” I muttered.

“Steve?” Bee asked.

My Appraising Eye activated as I took in his features. Steve’s face was caked in white make-up and the skin beneath was an off-putting shade of purple. His torso was dilated like a pressurized balloon, and his legs were overlong like stilts and had two knees. He wore yellow-and-blue overalls, and his teeth were like needles.

[Appraisal x ]

Level 20 — ‘Steve McGiggles’ — Player

“Why not have a little joy?”

Class: Birthday Clown

Main Attribute(s): Vitality & Wisdom

So, it turns out that you and your moth-turned-Elphin friend aren’t the only two who completely violated the whole sanctity of timelines thing. I swear, the REPD have their hands full chasing down all the dimension-hoppers that followed you to our timeline.

Steve should’ve been dead.

He turned into a Boss Monstrosity named Joysworth McGiggles and he was destined to reap giggling terror on the Region of Castleburg.

But then your benefactor gave you a skill that frankly shouldn’t exist and all logic went right out the window.

Steves entire being was overwritten by the version of himself from your original dimension that’d turned into a Monstrosity, but since it happened before the GREAT GAME’s initialization, he stayed human, although he now permanently looks like this. Also, he has some scary Skills up his sleeve…

He’s been looking for you all this time.

“This is like what happened to Gambit,” Panda said.

“You know this guy?” Cooper asked me.

Steve glared daggers at the MLP Society captain. “Did you already replace me?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” I replied.

“You came to this world and collected all your friends, but not me!” he shouted.

“Uh oh,” Panda muttered.

Bee tensed up next to me. “Steve, where’s your team?” she asked.

“I don’t need them!” he yelled. “I can do this event on my own!”

He was giving off major clingy-psycho-girlfriend-defying-a-restraining-order vibes.

“It’s not like that,” I told him. “Cooper here is just someone we met while looking for Chris and his brother.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “Then you don’t need him, right?”

“Is he threatening me?” Cooper asked, glancing between Steve and me.

“We need him,” I said decisively. After all, Cooper had a powerful-sounding Class, and he was the glue keeping the MLP boys together. Plus, I kind of liked him.

“You never needed me!” Steve shouted.

I frowned. “Chill the fuck out, man. And yeah, to be honest, you are a fucking douchebag. And you got me killed while I was trying to protect Bee.”

“I was just trying to help!” he screamed, his voice changing tone and becoming warbly and weird.

“You shouldn’t push him too much,” Panda warned me.

Steve looked right at the plushie on my shoulder. “Are you afraid I’ll do something bad, huh, Panda?”

Bee changed her stance slightly, and it was clear she was contemplating using one of her skills to shut down Steve before he could do something. He was level 20, so not an insignificant threat, and the appraisal had warned of powerful skills in his repertoire.

His eyes flicked back to Cooper.

Then he said, in a voice that sent a chill down my spine and made the hairs in my ears wriggle uncomfortably, “Steve says: Cooper turns into a balloon.”

Before I could parse the words that’d left his mouth, Cooper’s body started to bloat, and his feet left the ground.

“Guys! Help!” he wailed as he floated up towards the ceiling of the large chamber, quickly gaining speed.

“Oh fuck!” I exclaimed. “Bee, Bounceshroom me!”

Bee tossed down a mushroom at my feet, and I jumped on and launched into the air, with her following right behind me.

I wasn’t fast enough to grab Cooper’s legs, but I reoriented myself mid-air and used Blink to go up above him, quickly falling down towards his massively-bloated body. Just as I was about to grab him, Steve’s voice sounded again.

“Steve says: The Cooper balloon flies south.”

Cooper immediately flew sideways, passing right under me before I could catch him.

I managed to grab a nearby pillar to slow myself and then used SPRING_HEEL to shoot my body after him. Bee flew past me, having picked up more speed, but Cooper was moving even faster than her.

“Goddamn it, Steve!” I yelled.

The freaky Birthday Clown started giggling to himself as we hurried after Cooper, the disturbing sound echoing through the underground chamber.

“I don’t want to pop!” Cooper wailed desperately as he outpaced us.

“We’re coming, Cooper!” I shouted, using Blink to close the distance, only to miss him by a finger’s breadth.

As I plummeted towards the floor, Bee swooped in to grab me by the shoulders and swing me towards a pillar that I could launch off from using SPRING_HEEL.

“Use your .fish ability!” Panda told me.

“Reel ‘im in!” Brock squealed.

“But it has a 3-hour cooldown!” I protested as I leap-frogged from pillar to pillar to keep up with the Cooper balloon flying south.

“Gambit!” Bee exclaimed in a scolding tone.

“Fine!” I replied and activated the ability.

A fishing pole of a bright-red material that felt like glass appeared between my hands. It had an obsidian hook at the end that connected to a spool of crimson energy, reminding me of the Red Pawn and the powers it’d possessed.

“Here we go!” I shouted and flung the hook after Cooper.

The hook flew at Mach 3 across the chamber, snaking around the pillars as it chased down its quarry. The line of crimson energy flickered and sputtered as it unspooled, but there seemed to be an endless amount of it still on the reel.

Then it caught Cooper by the mouth, instantly hooking him.

“Urgh!” he exclaimed as he came to a sudden halt, though Steve’s ability still tried to pull him south.

I reeled in the line, trying to get Cooper back to us, while Bee flew towards where he’d stopped.

Then the fishing rod transformed in my hands, the handle changing and sprouting four random doodads: something that looked like a large screw in bright yellow; a red button labeled ‘Smack!’; a cord with a green pull tab; and a blue motorcycle throttle.

“Uhh…” I muttered as I hung suspended in the air impossibly, looking at the stuff that’d appeared on the handle.

[Smack it!] yelled the fishing rod.

“It’s the Mini Game that the ability described,” Panda told me. “Hurry up and do as it says!”

I frowned but smacked the red button nevertheless.

A wet slap sound came from the fishing rod as though emitted by cheap speakers buried inside it. The sound was immediately followed by a man’s sexual groaning.

[That’s it!] encouraged the rod.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered.

[Rev it!]

I revved the blue motorcycle throttle.

[Vroom, vroom!]

[Yank it!]

I pulled on the green cord tab and the sound of a toilet flushing emitted from the fishing rod.

[Screw it!]

I turned the yellow screw. Polish cursing came out the speakers.

[You’re doing it!]

[Screw it, again!]

I screwed it again. This time it was some kind of Polish folksong.

[Again!]

“Ugh,” I groaned, repeating the instruction and getting applause in return.

[Yank it!]

I pulled the cord.

[Smack it!]

I slapped the button.

[Harder, daddy!]

“No!” I yelled. “I’m not fucking doing it harder!”

“Do it, Gambit!” Panda exclaimed. “Do it for Cooper!”

“Are you getting off on this, you fucking sicko!?” I accused him.

“Gambit, you have to smack it to save Cooper!” Bee yelled from where she hovered next to his bloated body. “I can’t help him!”

Cooper mumbled something incoherent.

“Goddamn it!” I shouted.

“It’s okay, Gamby. Brock’ll help yiz.”

I punched the shit out of the button.

The fishing rod groaned and vibrated a little.

I felt absolutely vile holding it in my hands.

[One last time!]

I punched the button so hard that the fishing rod spun out of my grip, and I immediately started falling down towards the floor. But then the rod made a little jingle, and the line was reeled in rapidly, pulling Cooper towards it.

I landed on my feet, cratering the floor of the chamber, and went over to grab the fishing rod as Cooper floated down towards me with Bee flying next to him.

The moment the big guy touched the ground, all the air left his body and he fell to his knees.

I carefully pried the hook out from the side of his cheek and then the fishing rod vanished.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here before Steve decides to chase after us,” I said.

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Also, yes, the reference is probably obvious, but did you know that the instructions to "Bop It!" are trademarked <.< so anyway, I'm not fucking with that sort of thing, so you get the knock-off version instead.

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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Five

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--Encyclopaedia---
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A little bit shorter than usual this chapter, but it was either that or finish it tomorrow at maybe double the size <.< I have to write chapters for Madman this week since I'm behind on that story, so I chose to wrap this chapter up today rather than delay it. Next Loopshard chapter will be Saturday or Sunday.

If you haven't seen it yet, I posted the first draft to a cover I'm commissioning. You can find it here.

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Five

“Are those silk slippers?” Gladwyn asked after Adam had joined their conversation in the Tavern. “And where is your shirt?”

“I used my shirt as a shopping bag,” he explained. “And I accidentally blew up one of my shoes… for science. I wanted to talk to you two about that, actually.”

Beck nodded, popping off the cap of his beer with his spell staff and clinking it against Gladwyn’s bottle.

Adam looked between them suspiciously.

“Are you two in the same dimension?” he asked.

“Don’t look at me!” Gladwyn said defensively. “He just came here without saying anything in advance. Freaked me out.”

Beck focused on chugging his beer and didn’t look either of them in the eyes.

Adam shook his head with a grin. “I’ll be right there.”

A few minutes later, Adam was sitting in the Tavern across from them on the second floor around one of the small tables.

“I don’t know how I feel about you coming to my dimension,” Gladwyn remarked. “You both just waltzed right in…”

“I like it here,” Beck muttered.

Between them sat Belamouranthe, who Gladwyn kept patting on the head as she ate dinosaur nuggets with rapturous glee.

“So what did you want to show us?” Beck asked.

“I’m not sure I should do it in here,” Adam said.

“Don’t worry, you can’t actually hurt us on the island,” Beck replied. “That’s why the Challenge Stone exists, after all.”

Adam wasn’t so sure about that, since it was definitely possible to hurt yourself on the island. But he supposed that the logic was sound, since otherwise the Visiting Stone would have become another tool of murder like the Challenge Stone, and he’d yet to see any of the psychotic time-loopers visit others’ dimensions for that purpose.

Still, as he made his demonstration, he did it far away from any of them, while also paying attention to where Charlie was standing. He chose to show them a primed invocation using the spell pattern for Bolt, drawing it on top of a round table and aiming it into a wall. Then he tossed his plate against the trigger part of the trap.

The table exploded along with the plate.

The large blood bolt it fired shot through two other tables, destroying them, and then it left a massive hole in the wall he’d aimed it at.

“Woops,” Adam said.

“What the fuck are you doing to my Tavern, Adam!” Gladwyn exclaimed in outrage.

Beck went over to inspect the damage.

“Interesting,” he muttered while pulling a table over to where the remains of the first one covered the floor.

“What are you doing?” Gladwyn asked him.

Before he could stop his friend, Beck used his staff to prime a spell onto the table as well. It looked like a glowing symbol drawn from Mana, but Adam couldn’t really distinguish the spell pattern from it.

Then Beck grabbed his own plate and threw it at the table to trigger the spell.

Once again the table exploded, but the released spell was closer to Adam’s push, since it created several projectiles that shot out in a wide arc. Unsurprisingly, four more tables and seven chairs were destroyed. The wall gained a few new holes as well.

“Is this why you came to my dimension!?” Gladwyn yelled.

“Don’t worry,” Charlie said as she arrived to survey the carnage they’d wrought. “Everything is replaceable in the Dimensional Tavern. Tomorrow, new tables and chairs will replace the broken ones.”

“I told you it was fine,” Beck told Gladwyn.

“I never should’ve agreed to let you come here,” he replied.

Adam laughed. “Anyway, that was what I wanted to show you. I don’t even have the ability to prime my spells, and the spell I used was actually one of the ones tied to the wand that Summoner starts with.”

Beck nodded. “I had thought that spells in the Trials followed some kind of consistent language, since the last Stages all have hints of a sigil-based alphabet, similar to the stuff on your hands.”

“You should pick Summoner as your secondary and get Alepheria’s Mandate from Stage Seven,” Adam told him. “That way you can pick up a bunch of new spells and have a huge advantage in your next loop.”

Gladwyn frowned. “It’s kind of uncomfortable to imagine you’ll be coming back through again and I won’t know.”

Beck shrugged. “Maybe I’ll let you have the Self-devouring Eye instead of me.”

“You won’t really lose your memories if he gives you the Scale of Remembrance,” Adam pointed out.

“It’s very expensive,” Beck said apprehensively.

“I think it’s worth it,” Adam said.

“I suppose that’s better than nothing,” Gladwyn remarked. “But still uncomfortable to think about for too long though.”

“If you survive to the end with me, then we can progress together and ignore the time-looping Relic,” Beck told his friend.

Adam paused.

Wait, what if that’s what’s destined to happen in this universe already?

If neither of them take the Self-devouring Eye, then the next layer will never exist, creating the scenario where I was the only person alive.

Maybe Beck isn’t destined to die in this loop.

While Adam wanted to go with his friends to the end, winning would feel hollow without all of his friends. Without Emelia.

He couldn’t prove it, but he had a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t come back from Nwetrou’s abyss even if he completed the Trials.

It’s too early to think about this sort of thing right now anyway.

Once I know I can make it to the Singing City, then I can start worrying about what I’ll do.

Adam pulled over another table.

“Can you show me how you prime a spell again?” he asked Beck.

Gladwyn glared daggers at him.

***

Adam spent the last bit of the day practising with Flesh Shaper in the Player House.

Something he hadn’t made much use of against the goblins in the last Stage was the fact that he could harvest their flesh similar to their blood, allowing him to float it out in front of himself and manipulate it at will. With the upgrades to sigil responsiveness he was also able to control the two different elements with quite a lot of fluidity and flexibility.

Flesh functioned differently than blood and was more arduous to shape however. It was somewhere between blood and the barriers of Warder in terms of the strain required to make it take shape. Unlike barriers, flesh didn’t try to spring back to some default shape, but it wanted to adhere to itself in a structured way, forcing him into making limb-like shapes out of necessity. If he tried to shape it into something abstract or to replicate swords, bolts, and spears, it simply wasn’t very strong. But he could strip the flesh off the goblin dummy and reform it into a simple arm with claws, which would mysteriously deal way more damage.

I need more knowledge of anatomy, he thought to himself. Maybe I can find a surgeon or someone with specialised knowledge about tissue to ask.

After breaking apart dozens of goblin dummies, Adam also found that there was a limit to how much of their ‘resources’ he could lift into the air at once. By volume it seemed to be something like 20 litres for each of the three spells he could wield simultaneously, which was a ball with about 35 centimetres in diameter. If he tried to merge two of these maxed-out balls of flesh and blood, then the excess simply slouched off and fell onto the floor. As a result, his Player House was absolutely foul with gore, though the Eye dutifully cleaned it up each time he told it to.

He thought it was strange that the dummies disappearing and resetting didn’t remove the flesh and blood that he’d collected, but it was a good thing since otherwise his practice would’ve been pretty much impossible.

After getting a good feel for some simple ways to use Flesh Shaper offensively, Adam finally tested out his special skill, Princely Raiment.

The moment he activated the skill, he felt the energy and warmth drain from his body and seep out through his pores as Mana-infused blood that immediately latched onto the three orbs of goblin material he’d collected from the dummies. There were at least two seconds where he was fully exposed with 90% of his Health missing while the skill pulled the flesh and blood around him to form a shell. He knew this meant that timing the skill would be important since otherwise he could easily be defeated.

It was an uncomfortable feeling as the foreign substance caked itself onto the skin of his upper torso where the Bone Armour didn’t cover, as well as when it applied itself on top of his jeans and silken slippers. Like he’d thought, it created a suit of flesh and blood, but he hadn’t truly understood what the Eye meant when it said the ‘nature’ of the material mattered. As the skill finished, Adam had grown 20 centimetres in height and about 40 in width. His arms, legs, and chest were bulked out with the goblins’ flesh, which had coiled and shaped itself into approximations of muscle, over which a filthy-red skin had formed, making him resemble the Hobgoblin boss, except a roided-out hulk variant. Everywhere except for his head was covered, although a crown of blood hovered above his hair and spun around lazily.

It was not lost on him that his Raiment’s appearance was due to the fact that the dummy he’d been using was made to look like the Hobgoblin.

Already, the suit was losing its volume as he stood idly admiring its appearance.

With a single punch of his hulk form, Adam crushed the dummy into the floor, and as it died its flesh and blood were pulled into his suit, replenishing the lost volume and adding onto it with the excess.

He pummelled his way through nine dummies before the entropy inherent to the suit became too rapid for the kills to replace.

As it fell away from his body in large pieces that turned darkened and exhausted of Mana, Adam was glad to find that his body was not covered in gore. In fact, even the skin of his torso was pretty much spotless, perhaps even slightly exfoliated after the fact.

It seems to last about a minute with a kill every 5 seconds.

I’m not sure what the Damage is like or how exactly it’s calculated, but my normal punches right now are not that strong, while in the Raiment they one-shot the hobgoblins.

Perhaps it’s a volume-based Damage boost.

Regardless of how it works, I’m willing to bet that the initial amount of material is a big factor in how long it’ll last and the damage it’ll do, so if I can find a way to increase the amount I can hold, then it would probably get stronger.

I should be able to combo it with the Beckoning Crimson spell I bought from Sylvia, allowing me to incorporate the flexible armour that the spell forms with the excess blood not used for healing. Depending on how the healing works, I might be able to get all my Health back if I time the skill and spell properly.

Just a shame that learning it costs 18,000 Points…

Adam continued practising into the night, changing the dummy into the blue goblin variant.

When he’d recovered his Health and accumulated three floating balls of flesh and blood, he activated Princely Raiment again.

This time he grew 40 centimetres taller, but not any wider, and the suit was slimmer than before. As he moved around, he found that it also made him faster.

Adam went through the other goblin variants, but the standard green one was just like a less powerful version of the red hobgoblin, and the yellow type seemed similarly underwhelming. But then he remembered that the yellow goblins were archers, and when he applied that logic to the Raiment’s transformation, he found that any spell projectiles he made became more powerful, gaining both an impact boost and more speed.

Okay, there’s a lot of depth to this skill. Makes me wonder how many skills I never fully explored.

He really regretted not practising more with Necromancy, since it was sure to have a lot of powerful secrets to it.

Once I’ve unlocked the Builder, I should probably get Summoner. Beast would also be cool, but I feel like I need more fundamental spell knowledge to properly utilise the blood sigils.

I guess I’ll just see what I can get when I reach that point.

Adam concluded his training session with a bath.

Unfortunately, the exact moment he got into the hot water Yenna came through the door to the Player House.

With some quick thinking, Adam had the Eye create a curtain around the bathtub to obscure him and he avoided flashing the wasp all his flappy bits.

For her part, Yenna seemed to not really care, and while she waited for him to finish soaking, she played on a harp to pass the time.

Adam never made it out of the bath, because her music lulled him right to sleep.

< < Now Entering > >

< Stage 3 >

< Forest Escort >

< 5 Waves >

Adam awoke seated inside the carriage heading through the forest to the Elphin Sanctuary.

Somehow, despite experiencing it several times, he was surprised to find that he was wearing the shirt and silk backpack that Weaver had made for him, even though he’d fallen asleep in the bath.

As soon as the cutscene ended, Adam exited the vehicle and looted the necklace and healing potion from the dead drivers.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< All-Mother’s Wrath (Rare) — When Player is damaged by an attack, curse attacker with Lethargy for 30 seconds. 1-minute cooldown >

He stuffed the necklace into the backpack, since he wasn’t sure whether he could trigger it on himself by using his blood magic.

The Hardmode orb floated in front of him, but he left it toggled on, since he wanted the double Points from the Stage. He hadn’t experienced it before, but Emelia had told him that it meant all summons were tripled and that the boss had more moves.

He was about to start summoning blood, but then he spun around and looked at the dead drivers.

I hope Belamouranthe won’t get upset about this…

With the drivers harvested of flesh and blood, Adam walked down the slope in the sunset-lit forest to where the first Wave’s enemies would spawn.

-----------------------------

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Loopshard Book 3 cover - First draft

Chapter 105 is coming later today, but before then I just wanted to share this first draft I got back from the artist. I will be getting two more variations on this premise, but I think it's already super cool.

Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Four

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

We're now 10 chapters ahead of RR. Hoping to keep pushing this backlog more and more each week.

I'm working 105 today, but it probably won't be up until tomorrow.

-----------------------------

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Four

Adam slashed a flowing blade of blood through the green goblin’s neck before grabbing it by the head as it died and attempting to activate the Flesh Shaper evolution’s power.

The result was horrific.

The skin and flesh shot off from the goblin’s head, splattering into the other goblin that was charging Adam. It was struck in the head and bowled over, smacking back-first into the dirt.

Adam tossed aside the bare skull of the goblin he’d been holding and quickly formed a pentagram with his blood, aiming it down at the downed-but-alive creature. Then he punched his left hand through the middle, releasing a close-ranged blast of blood shards that pulverised the goblin’s diminutive body.

That was a bit too much… he thought after the fact.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 10 seconds.]

As the upgrades appeared, Adam looked over at the goblin he’d used as an improvised weapon.

I destroyed the collectible ear…

The one that lay crushed by his feet still had its head intact, and Adam reached down to grab its ear. With just a small application of his Mana, he was able to pull off the ear by unmaking the bond formed by its skin, like a seamster unravelling the threads of a shirt.

Adam sent his remaining glob of summoned blood into the goblin’s body, swirling and mixing it with the creature’s blood, applying more Mana to help take it over.

[Warning! Mana below 30%.]

He repeated the step with the skinned goblin he’d tossed aside, ending up with about 4 litres of blood floating in front of him. He still couldn’t control three separate spells simultaneously, but he was able to hold on to two and even shape them slightly.

After spending the last bit of the interim before Wave Two to recoup Mana, Adam went over to where the nearest goblin would appear, preparing the pentagram pattern for Push.

Then he picked his upgrade.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Sigil Effect (Rare) >

The moment the blue goblin appeared, Adam punched his control sigil through the pentagram and exploded its torso with the resultant blast. As it died, he swung a liquid blade out from his floating ball of blood to catch the next one through the mouth and popping its skull from within, then he grabbed the first one’s right arm, unravelling the bonds of its shoulder joint and hurtling it at the last blue goblin while shaping it into a simple spear mid-flight. It struck like a heavy stone, crushing the creature’s face and instantly killing it.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 5 seconds.]

Adam grinned to himself.

Okay, I think I’m onto something here.

Adam tore his way through the rest of the goblin village, going even faster than when he’d used the bow. It was only the Hobgoblin that gave him a second of pause, because it possessed the Fiendbarb that could instantly kill him if it got in contact with his floating glob of blood. But the skill from Gram easily dealt with the boss after it turned into a Hobgoblin Lord.

I need to practise a lot more in the Player House, he decided. Flesh Shaper has so much potential, but right now I have no idea how to finesse it.

His application of the power was crude and messy, but if he could become more precise, then he would be able to perform some truly insane feats of bodily magic. Not to mention, he might be able to use his own body in unconventional ways. He hadn’t yet tried to use his blood magic as a way to fly around, but he thought that his efforts were better spent trying to master both blood and flesh magic so that he could utilise them in concert to fly, rather than relying on a vehicle made of his own magic.

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

< < Score > >

< 55 Seconds Completion Time >

< 500 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 400 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 250 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 3870 Points Awarded >

Adam was glad to see an Epic reward amongst the options in the Relic Chest as he kicked it open, and he immediately grabbed it without bothering to check the rest.

< < Relics Available > >

< 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 >

< Hobgoblin Pendant (Epic) — Player becomes immune to pain | Survive a fatal hit. Relic breaks if triggered >

< Curse-Giver Necklace (Rare) — Magical attacks inflict Curse, increasing damage taken by 10% >

< < Relic Selected > >

< Hobgoblin Pendant (Epic) >

The pendant appeared around Adam’s neck on a string made from hair. Three carved finger bones were attached to it.

It was his first time actually equipping the Relic, but he could immediately feel something was off about it. Or, more precisely, he couldn’t feel anything at all. At least not physically. Along with its pain immunity was clearly some kind of numbing of his sense of touch.

This is too dangerous to wear casually, but might be useful if I end up wanting to test flesh shaping on myself, he thought, taking off the necklace and stuffing it in his pocket.

He then went over and picked up the crown that the Hobgoblin Lord had dropped on death.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Damaged Crown (Uncommon) — With the proper care, even a tarnished symbol may rekindle its former glory | Subordinate allies gain 10% more Health >

Next, after selecting the last pair of upgrades from where the Eye was unfolded into a podium, he was shown the final evolutions for his branch of Blood Mage.

< < Upgrades Selected > >

< Sigil Effect (Epic) — Increases sigil responsiveness by 50% >

< Invocation Power (Rare) — Increases invocation effectiveness by 45% >

< Sigil Effect (Rare) — Increases sigil responsiveness by 35% >

< Sigil Efficiency (Rare) — Reduces sigil activation cost by 15% >

< Invocation Range (Epic) — Increases invocation range by 50% >

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Red Prince — Unique Skill ( Princely Raiment ) | Expend 90% of Health and Mana as well as all collected Blood and Flesh to encase yourself in the Princely Raiment >

< Red Priest — Understand the flesh and blood of another when imbued into yourself >

The two holograms showed variations on the sigil Adam already possessed. The Prince version swapped the arrowhead in the trigger sigil’s palm for a small stylised splayed hand with a thorny crown above it, while the Priest’s control sigil gained swirling patterns of thorns along his fingers. Both sigils were jet-black with swirls of neon-red mixed in sporadically.

I wonder if those names are related to the Flayed Lady somehow. Luvicidix called her the Blood Witch, and Lady and Prince are similar titles. None of the other Absolutes I know of have names like that.

Both of these evolutions are potentially very strong.

Red Priest almost sounds similar to how Alepheria’s Mandate worked, though I’m not sure what it means by ‘imbue’…

“The Princely Raiment, is it like a suit made of blood and flesh?” Adam asked the Eye.

[Correct. It empowers your physical Damage and Speed, while providing you with a full suit that has its own Health separate from yours. The Princely Raiment will deteriorate rapidly if not continually supplied with more material. Its power varies based on volume of material supplied, as well as the nature of the material.]

So the type of blood and flesh matters, as well as how much I have collected. Possibly it scales with my total Health and Mana too.

It sounds really cool, but it’s also very risky given how it nearly kills me just to use it.

If I got the Beast weapon type as a back-up, I wonder if they’d work together. That could be really cool. Like some werewolf hulk type thing.

“As for the Red Priest, what’s meant by ‘imbue’?”

[To imbue yourself with the flesh and blood of another, you must merge it with your body.]

“Awesome…” he deadpanned.

No way that’s healthy.

Brings to mind the Ship of Theseus. After all, if I mix my body with the creatures and humanoids I kill, will it still be my body that’s left?

Knowledge is a powerful tool, but I don’t know if this sort of sacrifice is worth it.

“I’ll pick Red Prince.”

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Flesh Shaper => Red Prince >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

Adam winced as the sigils were applied to his hands. It actually hurt this time, as though the iconography was seared into his skin and made a permanent part of him.

Then the Eye vomited out a deluge of black smoke, transporting him back to Interim Island.

He went to the Market with Belamouranthe in tow, selling off the 22 goblin ears he’d managed to collect and activating Weaver yet again, triggering Bel’s conversation with the spider about a dress.

I wonder what happens if I give Weaver the Vanity mirror.

According to Nova, Yenna’s instrument weapon is really difficult to learn, so I do want to get started on it early, since I’m sure it’ll accomplish something awesome when I master it and bring it through Stages.

But still, I feel like other denizens have something cool to offer in exchange for the Vanity.

After ordering a Spidersilk backpack and shirt for a total of 100 Points, Adam went over to Lucca’s stall and brought up his currencies while browsing her five Relics. None of them were immediately useful to him though.

< < Player Currencies > >

< Points — 7180 >

< Mastery Shards — 1 >

< Soul Drops — 1 >

Wait, why the fuck do I have a Soul Drop??

Without thinking, Adam ran all the way back to the middle of the island, which took a bit of time since his Speed was terribly low.

In response to his return, Luvicidix fluttered down from above and alighted on the cobblestones in front of him.

“Why do I have a Soul Drop!?” Adam immediately asked her. “I didn’t sacrifice anyone!”

“I am not the resident expert on Nwetrou’s offerings, but I would presume that it was given to you after you sacrificed yourself to him.”

Adam blinked. “Are you serious…?”

She nodded.

“I guess it’s better than the alternative,” Adam muttered dumbly.

“The Absolutes must follow the rules of the All-Seeing System if they wish to participate in the Trials of Defiance,” Luvicidix explained. “Even if it is nonsense to be rewarded for sacrificing yourself, it does fall within the rules governing rewards.”

“I guess I’m the only one who could exploit that particular loophole,” he mused.

“I hope you aren’t serious,” Luvicidix replied disapprovingly.

“Are you kidding? That was the worst experience I’ve ever had,” Adam told her. “There’s no way I’m willingly tossing myself into Nwetrou’s abyss ever again.”

“The first time was done willingly?” she asked, a surprised look on her face.

“Well, no. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just following a sudden impulse.”

“I would advise you to refrain from such impulsivity in the future,” the white moth remarked.

“Yeah, no shit.”

“Was there anything else you wished to ask me about? Or are you here to spend your Points on my upgrades?”

“No, that was all,” Adam replied.

Luvicidix took to the air and pulled her silvery scales with her, resuming the natural flow of time again.

I guess I’ll just hold on to my Points for now. I want to spend the 5,000 Points on the Builder required for the meta upgrade to appear, and then however much it needs to be fully unlocked.

Buying Beast or some other secondary weapon once I’ve got the weapon rack in my house is also a priority, but I seem to remember weapons of Rare and Epic rarity being pretty expensive in Nelly’s shop, so I’ve gotta save up to afford all of that.

It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy some general upgrades to Speed and Luck though.

Adam brought up his stats to figure out where exactly his Points were best spent.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Blood Mage >

< Level 18 >

< Stats >

< Health — 150 >

< Stamina — 50 >

< Mana — 75 >

< Damage — 125% >

< Defence — 0% >

< Speed — 50% >

< Luck — 10 >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

What I really need are Health and Defence. Those will show up after the next Stage.

I should try and get the Slothling Boots or Fur Coat to boost my Speed, but I really want to get the Blood Mage Choker and both of the rings.

Getting the whole kit is probably unreasonable though.

Adam absentmindedly swirled around the blood he was floating out in front of himself as he thought about what to do.

Even with the Hardmode tripling the number of enemies, I’m not scared of Stage Three. I’m pretty sure I can totally overtake the blood elementals too, so it should make things a lot easier for me. And Princely Raiment hopefully gives me the ability to shrug off any hits I might take during the boss Wave.

Maybe I should just buy the Bone Armour from Lucca, since that gives me 30% more Defence. I might survive a direct hit with that, thanks to my Health points.

Adam returned to the Market, and while he walked he continued swirling around the blood in front of him in three separate globs.

It took him a moment to even realise he was doing it.

Those Effect upgrades I picked were enough to push me over the threshold to allow me to move all three spells independently.

But I think it’s mostly system-assisted, since I don’t feel like anything about my mind really changed.

He brought up his weapon stats, just to figure out where the magic threshold might’ve been.

< < Weapon Status > >

< 1 >

< Blood Sigils >

< Epic Quality >

< Level 18 >

< Stat Upgrades >

< Invocation Power +190% >

< Invocation Range +50% >

< Invocation Speed +140% >

< Sigil Damage +10% >

< Sigil Effect +175% >

< Sigil Efficiency +50% >

< 2 >

< Gram >

< Rare Quality >

< Level 0 >

< Stat Upgrades >

< — — — >

Didn’t realise I’d actually gotten Sigil Effect all the way to 175%, but it certainly explains why it has become so easy to form the spell patterns.

Adam halted.

I should try and make the barrier again.

He carefully pulled the three separate globs of blood out into strands with meandering lines and interconnecting them as they took on the three-dimensional maze pattern shaped into an orb.

After about three minutes of minor adjustments, Adam was certain he’d gotten the pattern right, but nothing happened.

Maybe it needs more Mana, he theorised and started supplying energy into the blood, using up at least 50 points of Mana.

Then the spell took hold and a large three-metre wide and tall red circular disc formed out of the energised blood, floating in the air with the bottom part barely a centimetre above the ground.

That’s way too inefficient…

I won’t even have time to cast it between Waves, let alone use it on the fly.

He thought about the abbreviated version he’d been able to cast in 15 seconds with the wand and tried to replicate that. But first he had to meditate to get his Mana back, while also summoning more blood, since it’d all been consumed.

Once ready, he was able to build the abbreviated version in just under a minute, and when he supplied it with Mana, it took a bit less to complete, about 35 points or so.

The resultant barrier was about two metres in diameter.

Still too slow, but I think that’s just because I take too long to build the pattern.

He rapped his knuckles on the barrier, producing the sound of hollow glass.

It feels pretty robust at least.

With a finger wrapped in Mana, Adam drew the Push spell pattern onto the barrier, darkening the blood it was made from. With a punch of his left fist through the middle of the pentagram, the entire barrier turned into a shotgun blast of fragments.

Seeing it gave Adam an epiphany.

I don’t think I have to draw all the patterns in the air as three-dimensional constructs.

Something like the Push and Bolt patterns should work when drawn on a flat surface, and I’m sure there are other spell patterns that can be drawn like that too. Maybe the three-dimensional patterns like Barrier and Snare can be flattened somehow.

If I can find a way to modify how the spells are activated, then I might be able to make traps by imitating priming.

Adam thought back to the knowledge he’d absorbed from the tomes in Alepheria’s study at the bottom of Stage Seven.

There was something…

He started drawing out the pentagram for Push onto the side of a building, finishing it by adding a mouth with an eye inside to the middle, similar to the one that Flesh Shaper had added to the control sigil on his left hand.

With an injection of Mana into the drawing, the blood turned dark.

I think that did it.

But eh… how do I test it without blasting myself?

He looked around for something, but the cobblestones underfoot were firmly locked into the ground.

Guess I’ll use my shoe.

He didn’t fully comprehend the trap he’d made, but he instinctively knew it only triggered on physical contact, so using his blood to trigger it wouldn’t work, but a shoe would.

Before he could really question what he was doing, Adam tossed his right shoe into the side of the building he’d drawn the pattern on.

Bang!

The wall, along with the shoe, exploded in a blast of crystallised and acidic blood shards. Left behind was a hole into the house and the shredded remains of his shoe.

That was quite powerful. I wonder if that’s because of my Invocation Power being so high.

Adam peered into the hole he’d made in the building, finding that the house was completely hollow on the inside. It didn’t really surprise him that they were hollow, but he was confused about the fact that he could damage them.

Anyway, I think I have quite a useful tool at my disposal now. It’s not as efficient as priming and probably takes a while longer to set up, but it’s essentially the same.

And being able to lay traps will definitely come in handy.

Adam was about to go to the Tavern to talk to Beck and Gladwyn about his discovery, but then he took one step and stopped, looking down at his right foot and the sock covering it.

I shouldn’t have used my shoe…

Adam sighed and went to Weaver’s stall in the Market, asking her to make him a new pair of shoes. Fortunately, she made them right there on the spot so that Adam wouldn’t have to go barefooted across the island. While he was there, he also bought the Bone Armour Relic from Lucca, putting his Point total at 6780.

Then he went to the Tavern.

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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Three

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--Encyclopaedia---
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Man, this chapter got pretty long.

Anyway, start of book 3, yay.

-----------------------------

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Three

“What part was I supposed to laugh at?” Adam asked, after Beck had finished his story.

“I thought it was funny,” he replied, despite the harrowing descriptions he’d provided.

Beck had told Adam how, in the previous timeline, he’d been up against a time-looper who called himself ‘Diviner’. The guy had been a menace, killing off many of Beck’s friends and acquaintances, though apparently he’d never used the Abyssal Tooth. Most troubling was the fact that he’d apparently possessed some kind of power to travel to other Players’ dimensions while they were inside Stages.

It was by this power that he’d come to Beck’s dimension, while he and his team were deep into Stage Thirteen. The Stage was called The Valley and required Players to hunt down some kind of dangerous monster, but at the time of the Diviner’s arrival they’d been following the tracks for a Secret Boss that Beck had discovered. Everyone except Beck had been slaughtered, but he’d managed to survive and lead the Diviner on a long goose chase full of traps, eventually getting him to fight the Secret Boss, only to swoop in and kill the time-looper the moment the boss had died. Beck had used some kind of Relic from the Tome Keeper to capture the Diviner just as he revived thanks to the Cheat Death, ferrying him off to the Absolute’s laboratorium, which sounded insane.

From there, Beck had continued to survive through the Stages thanks to the guidance of the Tome Keeper and his own ingenuity. It was highly likely a lot of it was played up for Adam’s benefit during the retelling, since Beck’s description put him in a very positive light even though he was objectively just bumbling through the challenges.

When Beck had reached to the Singing City, the Absolute taught him how to obtain the Self-devouring Eye, and he’d passed on the message that he would meet Adam when he restarted in a new loop.

“Why did he need you to meet me?” Adam asked suspiciously. He trusted Beck, even though in this universe he was a stranger. It was hard to explain why, but the main reason was probably just that he hadn’t immediately reacted to Adam’s presence with hostility, like every other time-looper he’d encountered since Alexander Nova.

“He wanted me to explain something I didn’t fully understand,” Beck replied. “He wanted me to say that he had no idea that his quest would get you killed along with your friend. And that he does not wish to make an enemy of you and hopes you will pick him again in the future.”

“Bullshit,” Adam replied. “If he’s all-knowing, he should’ve known what I was going into.”

“He told me he doesn’t know everything,” Beck replied. “Which is hard to believe since he predicted that I would meet you. And he knew how to deal with the Diviner. Anyway. He did say that you probably wouldn’t believe him, and to that his answer was that there would be no sense in getting you killed, since his library only grows from his adherents surviving his tasks.”

Adam frowned.

I guess it doesn’t make sense for him to kill me, but it could’ve easily just been a ploy to get to Emelia, and maybe he has far-reaching plans I don’t know of. I don’t think it’s a good idea to blindly trust the word of a God that transcends time like this, because clearly he is many steps ahead if he’s willing to save Beck just to get a message to me.

“There was one more thing,” Beck added. “He says you need to worship the Flayed Lady and do all her quests in this loop. He somehow knew you’d become a Blood Mage.”

“I’m not doing that,” Adam said. “The Flayed Lady is evil…”

“She’s pretty crazy,” Beck agreed. “Did you know that the first weakness from the Tome Keeper makes it so all of her adherents try to murder you? Took me a few Stages to realise, but man, my Stage Nine was a shitshow because of that. What are the odds that two out of five members of my team worship her… I’m not looking forward to doing that again.”

“That explains what happened in my Stage Seven last time,” Adam realised.

“It gets real bad in the big Stages where all Players appear together,” Beck added.

Emelia told me about those. That’s from Stage Fifteen and onward.

She called them Public Stages.

“Is Gladwyn still alive in this universe?” Adam asked.

“William?” Beck responded, clearly surprised. “Yeah, he’s here. He shows up to the Tavern around nightfall, at least if he’s repeating the pattern from last time. During my previous loop, Diviner killed him in Stage Three with his weird power. With him gone, I’m hoping William can survive to the end with me.”

“William?” Adam asked. “That’s his name?”

“Yeah, William Gladwyn. It’s funny you know us only by the online personas we used to use. Most people call him Will in the real world, but in the MMOs we played together, he was always Gladwyn.”

“I met you in my fourth loop,” Adam explained. “You both went by those names back then. Also, I fought alongside Gladwyn in Stage Six during that loop. He was a good friend of mine.”

“Which loop are you on now?” Beck asked.

“Thirteenth.”

“And why is it your eyes are normal?”

Adam grinned and imitated the tone that Beck had used earlier as he repeated, “It’s actually a funny story.”

“Hah hah,” Beck deadpanned.

Charlie arrived with Adam’s croissant and milkshake, and he quickly devoured the flaky pastry.

“Do you have the Visiting Stone?” Adam asked.

“Not yet, but I also didn’t have anyone I wanted to visit,” Beck replied. “Hopefully that’s different this go around.”

Must’ve been hard to lose his best friend, Adam thought. Though I doubt he’d ever admit it.

“Well, I’ve got it,” Adam said. “And I’ve also got the lighthouse. After Stage Four I can give you the flame to unlock it as well.”

“Lighthouse? What the hell is that?” Beck asked.

“It’s something that provides a buff to you and your team when it’s evolved, and you can pass the power on to other Players too.”

“Well, I won’t say no to something like that,” Beck replied. “But seriously, how exactly are you looping back in time alongside me? I never met you in the last loop, and I’m sure the Diviner would’ve been after you if he knew of your power.”

“How do I put it?” Adam considered, before explaining, “I’m sort of skipping across universes as I loop, while you’re confined to this one. The downside is that every universe is different. Also, when I loop I erase myself from that universe.”

“In how many universes did I get the Self-devouring Eye?” Beck asked.

“Just this one,” Adam replied. “This is only my second time meeting you. But it was also impossible to find you two, since you used nicknames the first time.”

Beck frowned. “Damn, I thought for sure I would’ve accomplished that in other universes too.”

“If there’s an infinite amount, then there’s an infinite number of universes where you did,” Adam pointed out. “But right now only this one matters. This is actually my second time coming here. But the last time was after you died and no one else found the Divine Relic.”

“Don’t tell me you were sent back in time to save me,” Beck said with a frown.

“Sorry, pal.”

“Man, that’s so cliché.”

Adam laughed.

“But how is it going to work if we’re both time-loopers and there’s only one Self-devouring Eye?” Beck wondered.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Adam assured him. “My looping is non-traditional as you might’ve guessed. I actually loop when I die.”

“That’s unfair!” Beck exclaimed. “How can I get a power like that?”

“You can’t,” Adam said firmly.

The Realm Traveller had to do some trickery to make it happen, after all, he thought but did not say.

Beck cast him a suspicious look. “You’re not holding secrets from me, are you?”

Adam laughed again as it reminded him of how Beck hadn’t noticed Emelia and Adam in the same dimension during the fourth loop. It was nice to feel something other than the existential dread of being a tiny ant in the game of cosmic Gods for a change.

“If I knew how to replicate it, I’d tell you.”

“I see,” Beck replied. “Well, I guess I ought to give you my real name so you can find me when you eventually go to your next universe. It’s Benjamin Sharpe.”

“My full name is Adam Fischer,” he replied. “Although, as I said, after I die you won’t ever see me in this universe again.”

“Bummer.”

“Yeah.”

Charlie arrived with some food for Beck, and while he took his time eating it, Adam went through his list of names to see who had survived.

Besides William Gladwyn, everyone else was gone, even James and his son Benjamin.

He tried some of the names of people he’d teamed up with during Stage Six and Seven, as well as those he’d fought against in Five. Hahn, Maggie, Maalia, Riccardo, and several others were still alive. But all of his good friends except Beck and Gladwyn were gone, so he figured he was better off just trying to meet new people by looking at who did well.

For Stage One there were two people besides Adam and Beck who’d gotten the Flawless and Speedrun bonuses, and a dozen who’d gotten just the Flawless, with about a hundred getting only the Speedrun. No one besides Adam and Beck had gotten both Secrets, but a few thousand had obtained the Glass Acorn.

One of the two who’d gotten both Flawless and Speedrun was someone Adam recognised from his third loop. He was an old guy with a scraggly black beard who wore a dark winter coat and was sleeping next to a bunch of bottles. He had the spell-tome for Warder and was using it as his pillow. The other was a tall and blonde youth with very little meat and muscle on his bones. He had picked Lancer based on the spear he was hugging.

I’ll keep an eye on those two.

“Do you know the real name of the Diviner by the way?” Adam asked Beck sometime later.

“David something,” he replied. “He had a British accent.”

“What did he look like?”

Beck shrugged. “No clue, he wore a suit of armour when I encountered him. Like a silvery mask with no face or even eyeholes, a plate-armour suit, and a cape of metal.”

“What weapon did he use?”

“The Soul Blade from Stage Six,” he replied.

“I met another looper with that weapon,” Adam said.

“It’s powerful,” Beck remarked. “It lets you bypass Defence since it deals true damage.”

“Yeah… I had the Slime King’s Crown when he killed me with that sword. He did it without even breaking the cores in my body.”

“Interesting. I thought you had to destroy the cores if someone wore that, but good to know there’s a workaround. I’ll keep it in mind for Stage Sixteen.”

I think Emelia said that Stage had a lot of elementals, so maybe that’s what he’s referring to.

“Have you done all the bonuses for the early Stages?” Adam asked, seeing that Beck had every achievement for Stage One.

He shook his head. “I didn’t find out about the Hobgoblin Lord until later, and I was too focused on speed to get the Nightwing to appear in Stage Three. This was also my first time getting Gram from the apple tree. And I got everything except Flawless and Eradication in Stage Four.”

That’s a lot better than when I met him in my fourth loop.

“Do you know how I’m meant to die?” Beck then asked, returning to what Adam had said earlier. “You said you had to save me, right?”

“I have no fucking clue,” Adam replied. “Unless you were going to explore something new this time around that was dangerous, like the bottom of Stage Seven.”

“I was actually thinking of going there,” Beck replied.

Adam frowned. “Don’t. That’s how the Tome Keeper got me killed.”

“What’s down there? Alepheria’s lab?”

Adam nodded. “And a Voidspawn Apex.”

Beck laughed. “Holy shit!”

“If he sends you after Alepheria’s body, ignore the quest.”

“Last time, he wanted me to complete Iffen’s request,” Beck said. “I couldn’t do it. My team wasn’t strong enough to defeat the Golden Slug.”

“What punishment did he give you?” Adam asked.

“It was a weird one,” Beck answered. “He took away my memory of the thing I knew that allowed me to unlock the Tome Keeper at the Altar in the first place.”

I fucking knew it! His punishments are tied to memories!

That’s so fucked up.

“Alright, I’ve gotta hop to the Market really fast before Gladwyn gets here,” Beck said.

“I was actually planning to go practice with my new evolution as well,” Adam replied. “But I’ll be back here later to say hi to Gladwyn.”

Beck grinned deviously. “Let’s freak him the fuck out by talking about the future and looping,” he said.

Adam laughed.

“By the way,” Beck quickly added before he stood up. “Is there anything I should know about the Hardmode of Stage Two? Do I need to get something specific to deal with it?”

“All the goblins get bone armour, and the boss has the Fiendbarb Relic on his weapon.”

“That’s the one that makes your blood explode, right?”

“Yeah.”

“No problems then,” Beck said.

“Don’t forget to collect all their ears for extra Points afterwards,” Adam added. “And if you perfect the Stage, then you’ll get a special denizen you should speak to first, since that’ll make Lucca up the amount she’ll pay for trophies.”

Beck looked at his staff with a dumb expression on his face.

“I need to get a knife or something,” he muttered.

“Don’t you have the stone sword?”

“Sure, but it’s really dull.”

“That’s true,” Adam muttered, remembering that he’d had the same issue in his eighth loop with the bow.

“I’ll figure something out,” Beck said. “I was planning on swapping out Gram for a different magical weapon anyway.”

“Try and see if you can get Warder,” Adam suggested.

Beck nodded. “Alright, let’s talk later.”

Then he got up and vanished.

Adam let out a deep sigh of relief.

Finally I get to reconnect with my past friends.

But I’m not too excited about the Tome Keeper having a vested interest in me after getting Emelia and I killed.

And why the fuck does he want me to worship the Flayed Lady??

***

Adam spent the next few hours practising spells in the Player House against the target dummy. He’d realised he could get a head-start on experimenting with Flesh Shaper by changing the dummy into one of the slimes from Stage One, but this avenue quickly turned into a dead-end when it became obvious that the slimes didn’t count as having ‘flesh’, likely because they were made from an element. This also meant that the Statue Elementals in Stage Five would be a hard counter to his magic.

After Stage Two, when he could turn the dummy into a goblin, he was hoping to utilise it a lot to broaden his knowledge of blood and flesh magic.

As for casting spells with the blood sigils, he quickly realised the way to do it, though yet again he ran into a wall, since the manner in which the spells were cast required a lot of finesse with his blood control, eliminating all but the simplest spell forms until he obtained more Effect upgrades.

Like the Summoner’s wand, he had to draw out the spell patterns, but instead of using his sigils like a pen or moving the blood through the motions, he had to literally build it as a lattice of blood. The intricate form that the barrier spell required made it impossible for him at this point, since maintaining so many individual floating lines following unique curves was not possible for him.

However, he was able to use the base spell of the wand to fire a bolt of blood, and when it worked, the spell was considered a projectile, which then gained the effect of the Slime Ring, empowering the spell with the corrosive effect. This obviously didn’t work against the slime dummies, but against the strawman it was highly effective, destroying it in just one hit. Unfortunately, he couldn’t recover the blood used to fire the bolt, so it seemed less effective than just shaping the blood like he’d done in the first Stage.

The pattern for the Bolt spell was much more complex than the one for Push, since it required him to hold very specific curves. It was a spiral shaped into a square, meaning it had sharp corners as it swirled around, and it ended in a half-moon in the middle.

Push required him to just make a pentagram, where the only difficulty was making each line the same length as the rest. Actually activating it stumped him for a bit, since for the wand version he had to stab the wand itself through the middle of the spell pattern. But he eventually figured out that he had to punch his control sigil through the middle, and it worked on the first try.

The effect of the Push spell was much stronger than it’d been with the wand, since it actually fired off the blood used to build the pattern, creating a shotgun blast of small blood shards, though lacking the wind effect that actually did the pushing.

Up close this one is very devastating, he mused, after having blown apart both the straw dummy and the slime one with the spell. Even if the acidic effect of the projectiles from the shotgun blast was harmless against the slimes, the sheer force and many blood shards it released was like a grenade that split apart their acidic flesh, instantly killing them.

The Snare spell had been the hardest to use out of the three spells that the wand had come with, but it wasn’t much harder than the Push one, once he figured it out. The pattern required a swirling spiral that got wider as the line went down, creating a dome of sorts. To release the spell, he had to swipe his control sigil through the pattern, which released the blood as a featureless serpent that flew at the target dummy and coiled around it tightly. This too counted as a projectile, so it was devastating against the straw dummy. It had no effect on the slime though.

I wonder if I can perform these spells with flesh magic too, Adam considered as he ate the Bœuf Bourguignon that Charlie had brought to his Player House. It was a stew made with chuck beef, bacon, cremini mushrooms, pearl onions, and herbs in a rich red wine sauce. It was served with creamy mashed potatoes and was the exact thing Adam needed after using his own blood to cast several spells.

He’d tried to summon the blood he needed, but it slowed down his testing speed by an order of magnitude since he didn’t have a lot of Mana and even expending all of it in one go barely summoned enough blood for two attempts. Meanwhile using his own blood wasn’t as Mana intensive, and he wasn’t in any serious danger either, since the island ensured that lost Health was quickly recouped. But it did put him in the bad habit of using his own blood as a resource, which was dangerous.

I should try and get the Beast as my second weapon, Adam considered.

After all, it has much better Mana regeneration, and I think it’d be possible to have both the claws and sigils active simultaneously, since they’re applied to my hands directly rather than being something I equip.

Otherwise maybe Summoner would be a good idea.

If he went with Summoner, he definitely wanted to explore the Elementalist route, since it would expand on his spell pattern repertoire and might even enable him to use other elements mixed with his blood affinity.

Just a shame I don’t know anything else that uses sigils or invocations. It would’ve been nice to be able to maximise my upgrades across two weapons.

After he’d finished eating, Adam left the Player House feeling quite confident about his weapon choice.

He went to the garden on the southern part of Interim Island, following the streets by the silvery moonlight until he reached the tent that glowed with a purple light from within.

As Adam entered, the Eye floating behind him paused, its cube body frozen in place by the moth’s magic.

The human-sized black moth perched on a high-backed chair behind the round table with the violet-glowing crystal ball on it.

“You were quite… foolish,” she said as soon as she saw him.

Adam nodded. “No disagreements there. Of all my deaths, that one was by far the worst,” he said.

“Mortals are not meant to stand before the Absolutes.”

“I did just fine in the presence of the Tome Keeper,” he pointed out.

“The Ascended Ones were humanoid before they became Absolutes. Their presence is not as harmful to reality as those birthed from the abstract concepts inherent to existence.”

Adam blinked. “I have no idea what you mean by that.”

The black moth watched him silently for a moment before she said, “I do not know of a way to make you… comprehend. I am simply stating a fact.”

“Uhuh… And how is it that you know so much about these Absolutes?”

“My sister and I are amongst their endless horde of children. It is a child’s wish to know their parents. An undeniable curiosity imbued within us. Within you as well, I imagine.”

Trying to follow Alivida’s logic was making his brain hurt, so he changed the subject. “I’ve brought 10 Mastery Shards with me, so I’d like to buy something.”

“Please do,” she replied, showing him her upgrades with a gesture of a black arm over the glowing crystal ball.

< < Mastery Upgrades For Sale > >

< Scale of Nihility — Make everyone forget you — 1 Shard >

< Skipping Stone — Skip a Stage if eligible — 2 Shards >

< Challenge Stone — Challenge a Player to a battle to the death — 3 Shards >

< Lucky Stone — Flip to increase the rarity for the next reward options — 3 Shards >

< Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid — 10 Shards >

The Challenge Stone is only 3, so I could get it quickly if I needed to.

Think I’ll stick with my decision and buy the Vanity.

“I will purchase the Vanity upgrade.”

“A mirror to reveal the depths of another’s soul is certainly a tool worth possessing,” Alivida commented mystically.

< < Mastery Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid >

A hand mirror appeared in front of Adam on the round table. The mirror itself was silver, but what it reflected had a violet tint to it. The metal and handle that surrounded it was made of a pale black-veined wood that shifted around like it was alive.

He picked it up and saw his own reflection within. The violet tint made his eyes look a bit like those of a time-looper.

“How do I use this?” Adam asked.

“Aim it at an island denizen and its power will take hold when they see their reflection.”

“Can I use it on you and Luvicidix?”

“You cannot. We are ineligible since we are not true denizens of this island.”

That’s weird.

Maybe she means the fact that both of them only come here for half of a day at a time.

“What about Finnian and Migraine?” he asked. They were both technically humanoid already, but that was no reason to assume it wouldn’t work.

“The Vanity only works on those who are not already akin to humans,” she replied.

“What does that mean? Is that a yes or a no to my question?”

“That would be a no,” she clarified.

“So it works on all the insects, but not things that resemble humans already?”

“Correct.”

I guess that means the special denizens are a no-go, since they’re all humanoid already. But it would work on Weaver and Builder, as well as other vendors I might find later I guess.

“But wouldn’t the insect people already be classified as humanoid since they act like humans?”

“No,” she replied without explaining why.

“I guess I’ll just experiment with it,” Adam muttered, mostly to himself.

“Be forewarned, the Vanity has but one use per loop,” Alivida said.

“Fuck… I forgot about that.”

That explains why Nova didn’t know all the different things you could get from the denizens with the mirror.

Still, it feels kind of like a waste now since it cost so much to get.

“You are welcome to buy more. You may possess a total of five.”

“I feel like I just got scammed.”

“I did not misrepresent the truth,” Alivida replied. “It is not my fault that you have a bad memory.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Adam picked up the Vanity mirror and it disappeared. Just like the Visiting Stone, it went somewhere when he wasn’t using it, but was brought back the moment he needed it.

I think I’ll hold off on using this, since I want to use Gram to easily defeat the Hobgoblin Lord like usual. It may also be worth holding off until I have the Builder’s upgrades so I don’t lose Gram if I want to evolve it to get more Shards later. After all, getting another weapon when I already have two means that one will be replaced and lost.

Adam said goodbye to Alivida and went back to the Tavern to meet back up with Beck and reintroduce himself to Gladwyn.

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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-Two

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--Encyclopaedia---
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I was planning on finishing and posting this yesterday, but then I got the news that my dad was rushed to the hospital with a blood clot in his arm and it just felt so fucking weird to be writing about a blood mage, so I decided to just take a break from writing yesterday. From last I heard, he's doing fine, but I can't visit him since he's at some specialist hospital that's pretty far away.

I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but Adam's father in the story is kind of styled off my own. He had this risky brain surgery that basically made him forget who he was and who everyone else really was. It's been super weird, because I didn't like him before, but I could actually tolerate hanging out with him after he lost his memories, because it was like a different person and not the monster I knew from my childhood.

Honestly, lately I've just been dealing with so much bullshit. My girlfriend was assaulted by some racist asshole last weekend and when I found and recorded the guy responsible for the police, him and a friend ran after me, and I almost lost my cool and got into a slugfest. But self-defence laws in Denmark are iffy at best. Also had a run-in with a thief two weeks before that who almost stole all my shit, like my laptop with my stories and such. That was pretty traumatic, because I've got this weird attachment to inanimate things I've collected through life and of course my stories are my lifeblood. And then just you know, general life anxieties and stresses on top of that, so it's been rough.

Anyway, I'd like to focus on the positives, otherwise I'll end up a dour son of a bitch, and I'd just like to say a big thank you to you reading this right now and anyone who's read the story on Patreon or RR in the past. It has felt super rewarding posting here and on RR too, since y'all are so supportive of the story. We also had a surge of new subs following Loop Four ending on RR last Friday. Something like 16 new patrons in the span of the weekend, which is big for me.

Didn't mean to make this like a life update thing about how miserable I've been, so I'm sorry about that, but I think I just prefer being straight with y'all about what I'm dealing with. Certainly preferable to just stone-walling y'all and not explaining shit that's bothering me.

Alright, last thing I'll say before the chapter.

Believe it or not, but this is the end of Book 2! As with the end of Book 1, there's no break or intermission between posts, and I might even have Chapter 103 up later today or sometime tomorrow, since I'm already working on it.

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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Two

< < Relics Sold > >

< Slime Core (Common) x29 >

< 5410 Points Remaining >

I think I’ll just keep going and evolve Blood Singer, Adam decided while absentmindedly swirling his three balls of blood around. He still wasn’t able to move them independently, which made the evolution kind of pointless, but he figured he’d get there with enough practice and some upgrades.

< < Weapon Upgrades Purchased > >

< Invocation Speed (Epic) >

< Invocation Speed (Rare) >

< Invocation Power (Uncommon) >

< Invocation Speed (Uncommon) >

< Sigil Damage (Uncommon) >

< Sigil Effect (Uncommon) >

< 2710 Points Remaining >

With the single Sigil Effect upgrade giving a 20% boost, Adam could suddenly move two of the three blood orbs independently from each other, while the third randomly followed one of them. It felt like the threshold for how much of a responsiveness boost he needed was much lower, thanks to the training with Warder.

Although I wish I’d relied less on Alepheria’s Mandate. I might’ve not needed any effect upgrades at all if that were the case.

It kind of feels like responsiveness is more of a mental gymnastics thing than something that’d be impossible for me to practice, like increasing my speed beyond what’s possible for a human. Given enough practice, I should be able to fold a barrier several times without even needing the Effect upgrades at all.

This time the evolutions gave Adam a grim insight into the potential of his chosen weapon type, as well as hinting at something he’d yet to actually experiment with.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Flesh Shaper — Unlock the ability to manipulate flesh as well as blood >

< Blood Speaker — Halve the threshold of target blood required to manipulate them >

This explains why Yenna gave me such a disapproving look earlier.

Thea also seemed to regard him somewhat differently than in past loops.

But when I have the potential to literally warp flesh and blood, it is no surprise.

The sigils for Flesh Shaper were black like soot and the control part had changed completely. It was no longer a flower with three music notes in the middle. Instead it was like a recursive pattern of fingers that got smaller and smaller as it wrapped around his hand and reached to his palm, like a messed up Mandelbrot set. In the palm part of the tattoo was a detailed mouth with an eye partially obscured by blocky teeth.

Blood Speaker was pretty similar to what he already had, except the music notes were shaped into teardrops that swirled around each other to form a ball, and in the palm the circle with the gap was exchanged for a jagged half-moon symbol. It had also turned bright red, making it much more noticeable than the dark-crimson from before.

The description of Blood Speaker makes it clear I can do something when I’ve absorbed enough of an enemy’s blood. If it was currently 1 litre, then with this it would be 5 decilitres. It doesn’t seem that profound of a difference, but I’m willing to bet that it is. After all, if I can ‘manipulate’ an enemy, only my imagination would hold me back. Just off the top of my head there are a bunch of fucked up ways to kill people that I can think of.

And more, I probably don’t even need proximity.

Say I found the blood of someone in Stage Five. I could just use that to kill them from afar.

Perhaps.

I’d need to figure out how exactly to do that, but it must be why Emelia was so worried about Blood Mages.

“How would flesh manipulation work on enemies?” Adam asked the Eye.

[Flesh manipulation follows the same rules as blood manipulation.]

That’s not super helpful.

Although I guess that means I could theoretically do the same trick of using a part of someone’s body to harm them from afar.

It might be powerful against bosses that have a lot of limbs, like those weird octopus monstrosities from Stage Six. I could probably cut off a limb and use it to destroy the rest of their body or something. Or turn it into a spear to send flying back at them. The possibilities seem endless.

“Does that mean I can shape my own body too, since I can already use my own blood.”

[Correct. Imbuing your flesh with Mana would allow you to manipulate it if you chose the Flesh Shaper evolution.]

So, theoretically, I could fire off my fingers like missiles.

Adam laughed.

Why was that the first thought I had?

That’s so dumb.

I bet it would be very unpleasant though. Like, sure, I could shape my arm into a sword, but I don’t think I’d be able to make the transformation painless. Might even damage my Health a fair bit.

But maybe, with enough practice, I could simply manipulate my body in a way that the nerves didn’t get sent any pain signals.

Leaning into that power would definitely send me down a dark path though…

Adam scratched his stubble.

I think Flesh Shaper is much more versatile, and probably applies to enemies that don’t have blood too, broadening my options for enemies I can fight.

Whether or not that includes elementals like the Statues in Five is a good question though, but I’d assume not.

Wait…

If I can manipulate my own flesh and blood, wouldn’t I be able to move my own body like a puppet?

I could make myself move faster than my stats currently allow.

I might even be able to lift myself and fly.

Just gotta keep the experimentation light, since I have to survive until Stage Five or I get Neuralyzed by the big guy. So, no accidental self-implosion from straining the power too hard. At least not until after the Altar.

He knew it was probably a safer bet to go with Blood Speaker, given the Stages that were coming up before the Altar, but if he was going to survive that long, he figured he might as well go as far as he could.

I should probably start thinking about what Absolute I want to go with, since I’m in for the long haul.

No way I’m picking Tome Keeper again though. He’ll just send me off on another quest to get myself killed, and if I refuse he might fuck up my memories or something as a punishment.

If I use Sylvia’s Conflagrate scroll again, I can unlock Morrligt. He might work well for me.

The Eternal Serpent might be good too. After all, he didn’t punish Emelia for not finding the egg for her quest in Stage Six. And his boon allows me to pause time.

He had no idea when Emelia had used the boon, but guessed it had been during their final fight before they both died. It didn’t seem like an ability that let you move around while time was paused, since that was clearly way too powerful compared to the rest of the boons he’d seen. It was more than likely just a useful tool for when a situation got too hectic and you needed to take a breather to figure out your next move.

Such as when a Voidspawn is about to stab you to death with its tentacle…

Adam sighed and finally picked his evolution.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Blood Singer => Flesh Shaper >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

This puts me at 10 Shards. I think I will buy the Vanity tonight and use it on Yenna. Even if the instrument weapon is difficult to use, I’d like to just see how it works.

Although maybe I should get the Challenge Stone instead? I might have to eliminate someone ahead of Stage Five, since I’m thinking I’ll use the Orb of Insight to get a read on my opponents. After all, the All-Seeing System didn’t specify whether or not I had to survive the convergence of dimensions, so I’d like to play it safe.

I guess I’ll decide between the Stone and Vanity when I go see Alivida tonight.

Before he left the Market, he went to Lucca’s stall and bought a slime glove that was available from her options, putting him at 2210 Points. Specifically, it was the purple glove that could create a spike.

Since he couldn’t equip the Relic due to the black sigils on his hands, it dropped to his feet and he was forced to use his orbs of blood to carefully transport it with him to the Player House. The acidic nature of the Relic slowly dissolved the blood, but on the island he had plenty of time, so he could just summon more, though it was prohibitively expensive in terms of Mana per volume, even with his several cost reduction upgrades.

Strangely, the Slime Ring didn’t imbue his blood with any acidic element that might have negated the corrosiveness of the glove, but it was perhaps due to the way projectiles were categorised. After all, when he moved his blood around like he was currently doing, it was doubtlessly classified as a spell rather than a projectile, and thus the ring’s effect wouldn’t take hold. If he instead fired off the blood, it could possibly change, though he wasn’t sure. It would require testing.

I suppose I could try and shape my hand into something resistant to acid maybe, but I’m not too keen to try, since it’s bye-bye skin and flesh if I get it wrong, and I only get one attempt…

When he reached the Player House, the Glass Acorn lifted out of his pocket and planted itself in the garden. Once again, Finnian was hanging upside-down from the apple tree while the little blue slime bumped into him repeatedly.

I should do his quest too at some point. But I think I want to wait until I have three of the special denizen quests, such that I can unlock the ability for the quests to be permanently completed. Spending cores and trophies to get weapons I’m not gonna use just seems like a waste right now.

I wonder what denizen I’d get for perfecting Stage Four. Maybe it’s the alchemist that Nova told me about.

Adam looked at the little hole in the garden where the acorn was embedded firmly.

That thing turns into a tree when it’s fully done, according to Emelia.

I wonder if I can use the Rotmaker on it to summon something special.

He’d only seen the Glass Sapling it turned into, but apparently the Glass Tree that it would become after Stage Nine would give +10% to all his stats after he cleared a Stage. The only downside was that it was based on the base stats, so there’d be no multiplicative shenanigans going on, sadly.

After dropping off the Purple Slime Glove into the Relic Saving chest as insurance for his next loop, he went towards the island’s centre.

If I should die before Stage Five and the All-Seeing System wipes my squishy hard drive, hopefully the Saved Relic will persist and give me a leg up in Stage One despite having no memories.

He had three more slots left in the chest, so he was hoping to find another Rare Relic to drop in there.

I think the Fool has to be the answer to defying the Trials. The Realm Traveller seems quite integral, and I’m pretty sure I need the gimmick weapon type to get him to appear. After all, the Tome Keeper told me, ‘Only a fool would seek him out. And they would be lucky to even survive the encounter.’

I think that means I have to do a loop as the Fool that reaches the Altar in order to see the Realm Traveller. I might have to pump up Luck as well.

His thoughts were interrupted by silvery scales lazily drifting down from the clouds above and the Eye floating next to him freezing in place.

The large white moth fluttered down towards him, alighting atop a nearby roof. Adam belatedly realised that the buildings were all back to being their dumpy selves, and not melted like candlewax like in the previous loop.

“Adam,” Luvicidix said, her tone cold.

“Sorry about before,” he immediately told her. “I should’ve heeded your warning.”

Her expression brightened, insofar as it was possible for a moth to smile.

“I was afraid the All-Seeing System would punish you more severely. This punishment is fitting however.”

“Punishment?” Adam asked.

“Oh, you were not aware?”

“Aware of what?” he replied, not liking the sound of what she was about to reveal.

“You are in the same universe as the one where you were the sole survivor. But the All-Seeing System used its great power to shift you back to a previous timeline. Specifically, the last timeline. I believe it is a challenge made for you.”

“So I was right!” Adam exclaimed. “The time-looper in this universe must’ve died without leaving a successor! And without a time-looper, there can be no new layer, or timeline as you call it.”

Luvicidix nodded. “Exactly.”

“But why is it a punishment?” he asked.

“I cannot say,” she replied. “But you must know what the All-Seeing System wants you to do.”

“It wants me to keep the time-looping going,” Adam said, picking up on what she was implying.

Which means that I either have to save whoever is the time-looper here, or become the time-looper myself… I’d imagine the former is easier than the latter, since I haven’t gone past Stage Seven yet.

Luvicidix didn’t confirm his guess and instead just said, “Would you like to see my meta upgrades?”

“I’m good for now, actually,” he replied and added, “I will be paying Alivida a visit later though.”

“She was quite pleased with your last purchase, though she blames herself for how you used it,” Luvicidix said.

“I guess I should apologise to her as well,” Adam replied. “I completely brushed you two off, despite your very real warnings.”

Luvicidix nodded. “She would be happy to hear that.”

“By the way, is there a specific reason all the other denizens treat me weirdly because of being a Blood Mage? Or is it just general disdain for this type of magic?”

“It is because of who the school of magic originates with. The Blood Witch is not an Absolute many tolerate, for good reason.”

“Do you mean the Flayed Lady?” he asked.

Luvicidix nodded. “Take care, for she surely has her eye on you, as well as any who possess the art of blood.”

With that, the moth returned to the clouds and Adam continued on to the Tavern, a queasy feeling in his stomach.

That Absolute seems to only bring trouble.

If she shows up at the Altar, I’ll just not pick her.

She might hold a grudge, but she’d hardly be the first.

Adam took a deep breath.

Since I’m sticking around, I should check out which people, if any, got the achievements for Stage One.

He’d been ignoring it for the most part in his recent loops, but he knew that he’d go crazy if he didn’t talk to anyone at all for the next several days.

And I might get a bead on potential allies and threats, for this loop and the next.

As he walked through Interim Island, he continued to play around with the balls of blood. He didn’t feel ready to experiment with manipulating his own flesh until after he’d gotten a feel for it against the goblins first.

Sylvia was coming out of the Tavern as he went up to the door and nearly bumped into him.

She paused the moment she saw his blood sigils.

“You have chosen a fascinating path, Adam,” she praised.

Given that she was the apprentice of the blood mage Ezral, boss of Stage Three, as well as a practitioner herself, she’d know.

“If you’d like, I can sell you some special Spell Scrolls for your unique affinity,” she said. “They wouldn’t work without the Blood Sigils as the catalyst though.”

Adam blinked.

“The sigils are a catalyst for spells??”

“You weren’t aware?” she asked. “It is how my master casts his summoning spells.”

This changes everything!

I can use the blood sigils like the wand to cast spells!

“What can you teach me?” he asked.

“Since the sigils are bound to a specific affinity, not all of my common spells will work, specifically the Frost, Conflagrate, and Zap spells. Blink and Shade Barrier can effectively accomplish the same with a blood-focused catalyst, but they function differently. Tangle and Desiccate work like normal. But have a look at my scrolls. Aside from the three I mentioned, I can teach you the rest.”

Sylvia flung out her right arm and revealed scrolls hanging on the inside of the cloak. There were three new ones amongst the rest, their parchment bone-white and covered in glowing-red curling script.

< < Spell Scrolls For Sale > >

< Frost — Your next attack inflicts Frostbite, halting all of target’s regeneration — 200 Points >

< Conflagrate — Your next attack inflicts Conflagration, dealing periodic burn damage to target — 200 Points >

< Zap — Your next attack inflicts Electrification, periodically draining target’s Mana — 200 Points >

< Desiccate — Your next attack inflicts Wither, increasing damage inflicted to target by 50% — 200 Points >

< Tangle — Snare indicated target — 500 Points >

< Blood Crystal — Crystalise targeted blood — 600 Points >

< Heart Lance — Launch a beam of pressurised blood — 600 Points >

< Blink — Teleport to indicated location within your line-of-sight — 750 Points >

< Beckoning Crimson — Pull all spilled blood within 10 metres to you to replace lost health. Excess blood turns into a flexible layer of armour — 1000 Points >

< Shade Barrier — Negate the next attack that deals damage to you — 2000 Points >

Blood Crystal seems to work like Fiendbarb’s Blood Burst effect, so it should be super powerful. Heart Lance might be a good anti-armour spell, since it’s pressurised, which is something I’ve yet to really figure out how to do. And Beckoning Crimson is probably a must-have since I have no Defence and can’t buy upgrades for that until Stage Three.

“How would Blink and Shade Barrier change with the blood sigils casting those?” Adam asked.

“If you just use the scroll versions, they would work like normal, of course, but if you were to learn them from me and invoke those spells with the sigils, then Shade Barrier would use your own blood to help you negate an attack. Blink would require that you swap places with your own blood or the blood that is familiar to you.”

“Familiar?”

“If you infuse your Mana into a sufficient volume of another’s blood, you may manipulate their blood like it is your own.”

“Are you saying I could use Blink to teleport inside their bodies?” he asked, slightly horrified.

“Indeed.”

“How much to learn it?” he asked with a grin.

“15,000 Points for Blink.”

“Sheesh,” he muttered. “And Beckoning Crimson?”

“18,000 Points.”

“But Shade Barrier was 20,000 to learn?”

“Yes.”

“Why the discount?” he asked.

Sylvia shrugged. “Do you want to buy my lessons or not?” she responded.

“No way I can afford those,” he replied. “But I will buy a scroll of Beckoning Crimson.”

“That one is my favourite,” she said. “So much hidden versatility in the spell.”

< < Spell Scroll Purchased > >

< Beckoning Crimson >

< 1210 Points Remaining >

“The other two blood spells, how much were they to learn?” he asked.

“12,000 Points each,” Sylvia answered.

Man, learning her whole catalogue of spells would cost a fucking fortune.

But wait…

If I can get Alepheria’s Mandate again, then I can use its power to learn the spells by simply touching the scrolls.

As he said his goodbyes to Sylvia for now, Adam hovered outside the Tavern door, thinking about how to try and recreate the Wand spells and the Spell-Tome barrier with his blood sigils. It would probably take a lot of experimentation.

I’ll check out the roster of Players with potential real quick and then go back to the Player House to practice, he decided.

After Adam entered the Tavern, Charlie came over to him.

“Hello, Adam, my name is Charlie,” she introduced herself. “Would you like something to eat?”

“I’ll have a croissant and strawberry milkshake.”

“Coming right up,” she replied cheerfully.

Adam quickly stopped her from running off. “Wait, do you do deliveries?”

“Certainly!” the red ant replied.

“Can you bring me something hearty and full of iron in a few hours when the sun has set? I’d like it delivered to my Player House.”

“Anything specific on your mind for what kind of food?” she asked.

“I’ll leave that up to you,” he said. “I’m not a picky eater, so I’ll be fine with whatever.”

“Understood!” she acknowledged and strode towards the kitchen that didn’t actually exist.

Adam watched her go before finding a seat.

I wonder what I’d get for giving her the Vanity.

Probably something cooking related.

He found a stool, shaping it into a recliner as usual, and immediately his old query caused another Player to appear opposite him.

It was a tall white guy in his fifties or sixties, with short frizzy greyish-white hair. The wooden staff of the Spellcaster weapon leaned against his chair, which was a recliner like Adam’s.

Adam felt a pang of nostalgia at the sight of the guy.

“Beck?” he asked, confused.

At his words, the old guy turned to look at him, his spiralling purple eyes boring into Adam’s.

“Adam,” he replied as a way of greeting. “I was wondering when you’d show up. The Tome Keeper told me you’d find me here, but he didn’t specify when. I’ve been waiting for like two hours, you know.”

Adam swallowed on instinct, not knowing what to say.

“It’s strange that you know my gamertag though,” Beck went on. “The Tome Keeper said you knew me, but it’s still weird.”

Adam finally found his voice. “What’s going on?” he asked. “How do you know the Tome Keeper? How did you know I’d be here!?”

Beck grinned and it was like Adam was back in his fourth loop again, surrounded by friends.

“It’s kind of a funny story, actually.”

-----------------------------

I'm aware that my way of ending books in this series is kind of dogwater, lol, but I think it's serviceable for now xD If it makes you want to keep reading, then it works right?

When I eventually publish the story down the line, that's maybe something I'll address. Leaving a book on a cliffhanger like this is kind of rude if the next book isn't already available, haha.

Also, apologies to our resident wasp-lover, SUPAH_SCRUMPEH, but ya gurl might turn human-ish for a bit.

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred-and-One

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

We're starting to reach the point where I regret writing the chapters in words and not numbers.

This chapter got a bit longer than expected. Also, if you've seen the cover I made for book 2 on RR, it will finally make sense with this chapter :p

-----------------------------

Chapter One-Hundred-and-One

“How the hell does that even happen?” Adam asked, still reeling from the revelation that he was alone in this universe. “How many people entered Stage One??”

[1 Player entered and survived Stage One.]

That makes no sense!

Or did I replace myself in a universe where I was the time-looper??

But how would that lead to only me being alive?? Thousands, maybe millions, of Players had to have been sacrificed to achieve something this devastating.

Around him, the houses were melted like candles, barely even coherent. The ground lacked texture and definition. Without Players dying, the System didn’t have the power to give the island much structure.

He looked up into the clouds, but Luvicidix didn’t fly down to meet him.

Is this what she was warning me about? he wondered.

Or maybe this is what happens when I go to a universe where nobody looped the ‘layer’ before.

Without a time-looper, there would be no new layer added to the universe and thus all the people wouldn’t exist since this layer technically doesn’t exist.

Adam started walking towards the Market, but almost immediately stopped going any further despite moving his legs.

It was the same sensation as what he’d first felt in Stage Two when trying to go beyond the invisible boundary lines of the Goblin Village.

“What the…?”

He turned around to look at the cube.

It was stopped in the middle of the island where he’d arrived after the Stage.

It always stuck to his side, except for when it gave rewards and evolutions, but now it was just floating there mid-air, its eye looking at him.

< < ADAM > >

A quake rolled through the ground, and the incoherent cobblestones under his feet became a flat sheet of obsidian black that expanded outwards in a ring from the centre, travelling across the entire island and deleting all its features. When it was done, the island had transformed into a plate that hovered between the layers of clouds.

With a loud thud, the Eye fell to the ground. The sound made it clear it was far heavier than its small cuboid body had any right to be.

Adam didn’t dare move any closer, and he brought his single barrier out in front of himself, shaping it into a pathetic attempt at a lance. He didn’t have nearly enough Manipulation Effect upgrades to make anything better and he was fairly sure it wouldn’t matter anyway, though he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The cube started to bulge outward as something pressed against its walls from within.

A tortured screech of metal preceded a large black limb emerging from inside the cube. It was made of curling smoke given physical mass and it had three large claws, with its palm the size of Adam’s torso. Attached to its forearm, elbow, and back of the hand were eyes of varying sizes.

Then another limb emerged.

And another.

More and more emerged from within until a fully-formed entity had broken free of the metal shell of his companion cube. The sight almost reminded him of the Voidspawn, but he knew it was different.

Adam’s eyes immediately caught on the sphere that filled the large eye in the middle of its body. It had the shifting hues of dimensional glass, identical to the shard he’d seen within himself, and the splinter that was located at the top of Alepheria’s Crooked Tower.

It’s the dimensional core.

The Eye’s visage was nonsense, and it kept warping and growing as more of its real body pulled itself from an unseen fourth dimension. Even as it grew, the central part of its body was like a weirdly elongated and uneven clump of smoke dotted with eyes that glowed violet and sprouted large arms.

It just hovered there in the air, every last eye of its body bearing down on him.

Then the All-Seeing System spoke through the entity.

It was not the gentle human voice that it had used when he’d talked to it following his third loop.

No, it was its real voice.

Every syllable of every word sent a cascade of lightning crawling across the inside of Adam’s skull, tickling his brain and making his vision flicker with staticky artefacts like on an old CRT TV. Blood drippled out of his ears and nostrils, as though the sound itself was full of sharp edges.

< < SUCH A MESS YOU HAVE MADE > >

< < PERHAPS I WAS FOOLISH TO BELIEVE YOU WOULD HEED MY MANY WARNINGS > >

< < EVEN STANDING AT THE FOOT OF THE GREAT DEVOURER WAS NOT ENOUGH TO DETER YOU FROM YOUR SELF-DESTRUCTIVE WAYS > >

The Eye spread out its body, widening like a net while moving closer to where Adam was pressed up against the invisible boundary.

He flung his barrier projectile at it, but it just vanished mid-air along with his spell-tome, then went Gram, the cores wrapped up in his shirt, and the Green Slime Glove Relic he’d gotten from the Magical Forest. All of them were erased, just like that. It really hammered home the fact that the All-Seeing System ruled the Trials and could do whatever it wanted.

< < IT IS FORTUNATE THAT THE REALM TRAVELLER IS NOT THE SORT TO HOLD A GRUDGE DESPITE ALL THE CLEAN-UP REQUIRED OF HIM > >

< < HOWEVER > >

< < THIS CANNOT PERSIST > >

< < I WILL GIVE YOU ONE FINAL CHANCE > >

< < LET IT NOT BE SAID THAT I AM NOT POSSESSED OF MERCY > >

The Eye pressed its massive black hands against the boundary around Adam, blocking him in as the giant eye bearing the dimensional core moved closer.

< < IF YOU PERISH BEFORE THE CONVERGENCE OF DIMENSIONS > >

< < THEN I SHALL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU > >

< < I AM ALLOWING YOU TO EXIST OUT OF FASCINATION > >

< < BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY IF YOU REFUSE TO COMPLY WITH MY SIMPLE RULES > >

The smoke-born entity pressed its enormous eye into Adam and its many arms wrapped around him. Immediately his hearing, sense of touch, and ability to breathe all ceased.

After it swallowed him whole, Adam saw the galaxies and stars of outer space.

And they looked back at him with their light, blinking like observant eyes as he plummeted and spun through the void of space.

Then he felt a familiar sensation.

Below his knees were soft grass.

Adam immediately collapsed.

[Before we proceed, you must select a Weapon Type.]

[Failure to select a Weapon Type within 60 seconds will default you to the Weapon Type ‘Fool’.]

I’m back here again.

This must be a new universe.

Or perhaps it simply sent me back to the start of the last one.

I really fucked up.

Believing the System couldn’t stop me was a mistake.

I only thought I was defying it, but I guess there’s a limit to how much it’ll play along.

Adam suddenly had the sobering thought that what he’d done was truly as self-destructive as the System had said, both figuratively and literally.

I left an Adam-sized hole in a lot of universes just because I thought it was easier to get Points this way.

He thought about the warning that the System would take everything from him.

It might mean my memories, my upgrades, and perhaps even my power of looping. Though it’s likely it can’t stop me from looping on death, since that power was borrowed from the Realm Traveller.

The words of the leviathan Absolute in the black ocean suddenly came to the front of his mind.

‘The Realm Traveller told me about you. He was very proud of his little trick.’

That’s what he said.

The first time I met the All-Seeing System, it also said ‘It is possible that someone played a trick on me and wanted this outcome’ when referring to how I gained my power.

Does that mean the Realm Traveller, who I suspect is the final of the big four Absolutes at the Altar, deliberately gave me this power?

And if so, could he take it away if the All-Seeing System asked?

[10 seconds remaining.]

Adam sat up with a groan. He felt the warm blood from his nose and ears trickle down his face, which was an uncomfortable and poignant statement of the System’s ability to reach back in time to hurt him.

The takeaway is clear. I cannot die before the dimensions converge. Which I think means the Forbidden Altar where Players’ dimensions are merged together.

I’ll have to steer clear of time-loopers until then.

It will slow down my meta and mastery upgrade progress, but I was already starting to hit the limit for my current meta upgrades, so unlocking some more by sticking around longer in each universe isn’t a terrible idea.

I just hope this one isn’t as bad as the last few.

[3… 2…]

Oh shit!

Adam finally looked at the weapons available. It was similar to the one in the last loop.

He saw something he hadn’t tried before and immediately picked it.

< < Weapon Types Available > >

< Warder (Rare) >

< Duellist (Uncommon) >

< Blood Mage (Epic) >

< Lancer (Common) >

< Spellcaster (Uncommon) >

“Blood Mage!”

< < Weapon Type Selected > >

< Blood Sigils >

< Epic >

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Blood Mage >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 150 >

< Stamina — 50 >

< Mana — 50 >

< Damage — 25% >

< Defence — 0% >

< Speed — 50% >

< Luck — 10 >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

Adam almost panicked when he saw the stats. Aside from the Health and Luck, they were absolutely garbage.

The dark-crimson tattoos appeared on his hands. ‘Blood Sigils’ they were called.

Unlike most other weapons, the information that came along with the weapon type was dangerously sparse. Beast had been similar, but it wasn’t exactly difficult to understand how to utilise claws.

Blood magic on the other hand was completely alien.

No wonder it came with so much Health… he thought as it started dawning on him exactly how he was meant to use the Blood Sigils tattooed to his hands.

The sigil on his left hand almost looked like a musical note surrounded by petals like some kind of flower. The petals curled down to his palm and around his fingers, making the full pattern a bit harder to distinguish. On his palm was a circle with its line broken by a small gap at the top.

Unbidden, knowledge he’d absorbed from Alepheria’s study in the bottom of Stage Seven came to his mind. There had been several books about sigils, and though none had exactly described the ones on his hands, he could make an educated guess at their abilities.

My left hand is the control.

The tattoo on his right was like an abstract grin with a saw-toothed smile from which sprouted curling tentacles. These too coiled around his fingers and met on his palm where there was a narrow triangle with an inwardly-curving bottom, looking like the broadhead of an arrow.

My right hand is the trigger.

The Stage had already begun, but Adam was barely paying attention to the two slimes hopping his way.

“Will using my magic and draining my own Health count as taking damage?” he asked the Eye.

[No.]

If he’d asked about the Flawless achievement, he likely wouldn’t have received an answer, but this question was vague enough that the Eye had been allowed to respond.

Then I guess there’s nothing to it.

Just gotta not think about it too much.

What he had understood from the tiny bit of insight he’d received upon accepting the weapon, was that he could use Mana to summon blood or use his own by imbuing it with Mana to make it possible to manipulate.

Adam activated the trigger sigil and felt his Mana rapidly deplete as a small globule of Mana-infused blood grew in front of his right hand.

[Warning! Mana below 50%.]

He forced himself to stop before he could exhaust his meagre reserves.

With his left hand he made a shaping motion, folding his pinkie and ring finger while pushing his hand forward. With his right hand he grabbed the blood as it took shape, and suddenly he held a strange organic blade made of blood.

With rapid slices through the slimes, Adam separated their flesh from around the cores, killing them and safely extracting the collectibles.

The blood-made blade was slightly dissolved by contact with the acid, but with another shaping motion he remade it.

[Well done! You cleared the Wave within 40 seconds.]

Damn, I won’t get the rarity upgrade.

But this weapon has quite the learning curve.

He looked at the blood as he manipulated it out of his right hand and into the air in front of himself. He swirled it around and then shaped it back into a globule.

My experience with Warder is paying off.

There’s a lot of versatility and potential with this weapon, but I think I have to use more blood to really get the most out of its effect, and shaping blood into a melee weapon is a terrible idea.

Emelia also said it was possible to prime things like the Spellcaster, and mentioned doing something with other people’s blood.

Perhaps those are from evolutions, or things I can do if I fully master the sigils.

He looked at the upgrades available to him.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Sigil Efficiency (Uncommon) — Reduces sigil activation cost by 10% >

< Invocation Power (Uncommon) — Increases invocation effectiveness by 30% >

< Movement (Rare) — Increases movement speed by 15% >

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

Weird, the sigils have two upgrade types I’ve never seen before. Invocation and Sigil. But maybe there are weapons later on with those same types.

I could stack luck to try and reach 25 for guaranteed Rares, but I still think picking weapon upgrades inside Stages is more efficient, since I can buy general upgrades cheaper on the island.

He paused.

Wait… What if I’m back at the start of the same universe?

After all, it would make no sense for the System to kill me and make another mess for the Realm Traveller to fix.

But if that’s the case, will I come back to an island devoid of Players?

How would the Altar even work without other Players? And would it even count as reaching the convergence of dimensions if my dimension is the only one??

Adam looked up into the apple tree.

I have to get the Glass Acorn before I get the sword.

“Select Sigil Efficiency when there’s 1 second remaining.”

[Understood.]

He splayed his hand with the control sigil and the glob of blood responded accordingly, turning into a flat disc.

Adam had collected the Glass Acorn so many times that its location was seared into his memory.

With a throwing motion of his control hand, he sent the blood disc into the tree, aiming for a specific branch.

Although he hit it, the strike wasn’t powerful enough to actually break the branch or shake loose the nest within which the Relic awaited.

Guess I’m doing this with my own blood, he decided. It was something he had to get used to sooner rather than later.

He focused on his trigger sigil and the arrowhead tattoo started glowing. Mana flowed backwards from his palm and up his arm, preceding a hole forming in his skin within the arrowhead shape and his blood emerging as a rapidly-growing blob in his right hand.

The Mana required to use his own blood was much less than summoning blood directly, but there was a serious downside to it.

[Warning! Health below 50%.]

Adam stopped as soon as he got the alert.

In his hand was a football-sized ball of his own blood.

That’s a lot… he thought with a grimace, while feeling light-headed from the sudden exsanguination.

I’m not even sure losing this much blood is meant to be survivable…

“How much Mana did that cost?”

[It cost 10 points of Mana to convert 75 points of your Health into Mana-infused blood.]

Way more cost efficient, but using my own Health as a resource is fucking dangerous.

He was running out of time before the next wave, so he quickly shaped the massive ball of blood into a lance that he shot up into the air, aiming for the branch with the Relic.

The spell struck and then broke apart, snapping the branch and sending his own blood raining down on him.

But with a flurry of controlling gestures of his left hand, he’d collected the blood back to himself, just in time to grab the falling Glass Acorn before it struck the ground and broke. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket. Maybe he’d finally get to see its full evolution this time.

With the Healing Apples, I can afford to use even more of my own blood, but it’s kind of unwieldy to have this much all at once. Especially since I can’t shape it with very much precision.

Adam continued through the next Wave with ease, clearing it quickly. The third wave was also dealt with quite handedly, since he could shape his blood into impossibly-thin blades that the purple slimes had no real defence against, though his first attempt broke the core inside its body.

Between the Waves, he used his ball of blood to carve his way through the tree and get the stone sword. It had dissipated a bit with every attack against the acidic enemies, but he still had a fair amount left.

One of these loops he wanted to evolve the sword to see what it did, but he felt pretty confident in the Blood Mage after the first few Waves, so he wanted to stick with it for now.

Wave four was quite easy as well, although attacking the green slimes used up a lot of his blood, since their brand of acid absolutely devoured organic matter, liquids included.

For the boss fight, he killed the Slime Emperor like every time before by using Anvil-Splitter as soon as it appeared. But unlike the loop with the bow, and even with some of the melee weapons like the Backstabber daggers and Berserker axes, killing the Slime King that remained was an absolute cakewalk, since he was able to slice up its body in a rapid series of slashes with a floating hair-thin blade formed of his own blood.

Melee weapons are fun, and I definitely want to revisit Beast and Brawler, but something like this seems to suit me supremely well.

Already he was moving the blood around with incredible finesse despite not having a lot of the Sigil Effect upgrades that improved responsiveness.

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

< < Score > >

< 90 Seconds Completion Time >

< 400 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 300 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 150 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 2510 Points Awarded >

Could’ve perhaps been better if I hadn’t fucked up the first Wave by taking too long, but I’m still learning this weapon.

Surprised that using my own Health really didn’t count negatively towards my Point total or the Flawless achievement, but I suppose it would be unfair if it did.

From the Relic chest, he got the Slime Ring, which he hoped would combo with the blood magic. He’d wanted to grab the Green Slime Glove which had appeared again, but the Eye had informed him that he would not be able to wear gloves over his sigils, which was odd. Rings were fine somehow, even though they also covered parts of the sigils.

He’d managed to complete all Waves except the first extremely quickly, getting upgraded rarities on the rewards that were already guaranteed to be Uncommon thanks to his Luck.

< < Upgrades Selected > >

< Sigil Effect (Rare) — Increases sigil responsiveness by 35% >

< Invocation Speed (Rare) — Increases invocation speed by 35% >

< Sigil Efficiency (Epic) — Reduces sigil activation cost by 25% >

< Invocation Power (Epic) — Increases invocation effectiveness by 70% >

< Invocation Power (Rare) — Increases invocation effectiveness by 45% >

He’d picked Invocation Power twice, despite not fully knowing what it did. The vague explanation from the Eye seemed to suggest it was related to how strong the invocations were, and as far as he understood that definition, anything he created with the sigils was an invocation. It seemed to possibly be an alternate version of the Impact upgrade for Woodsman that improved the power of attacks, but it was also possible it affected how well he could do stuff with other people’s blood.

There had also been Sigil Damage and Invocation Range as options, but range didn’t seem super important at the moment, since he could recollect his blood fairly easily and his default range was 15 metres or something like that. Damage also seemed less important when he’d been able to just slice through the enemies with ease, but he was sure he’d find out soon enough how important it was when he went up against the goblins.

The Eye dropped to the ground after inhaling his sigils, and Adam had a sudden adverse reaction to seeing it, immediately believing it was about to unleash its true form on him again.

But then it turned into a pyramid and flashed two holograms of his possible evolutions.

The one on the left showed the music-note symbol on the control sigil split into three, while the one on the right had the music note shaped into something like a shuriken. Both were the same dark-crimson as the original tattoos had been.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Blood Singer — Manipulate up to 3 separate invocations simultaneously >

< Blood Adept — Prime invocations for later activation >

“Would priming an invocation allow me to create a new invocation afterwards or would I have to wait for the first one to activate?”

[Priming invocations does not lock you out of invoking more spells. However, priming a spell expends the Mana and blood involved.]

So, I can’t recover the blood from something like that.

But it would work well as a trap, and since I know all the enemy spawns in the next few Stages, I can do a lot of damage that way.

Having up to three invocations would be very useful, though I’m guessing I’d have to tie my brain into knots to be able to move all three simultaneously.

I struggled with that exact thing when I had the Warder, and it wasn’t until I got Alepheria’s Mandate that I could really utilise multiple summons effectively.

That being said, it does feel easier to manipulate blood instead of barriers, maybe because it’s my blood?

Adam was torn on what to pick.

Priming would clearly be very effective early on, but he wondered if it would still be useful after Stage Five. And if the following evolutions built upon priming, then it could lock him into an inflexible fighting style. Of course, it would also enable him to set up something like a barrage of spells, but he’d have to commit to their form ahead of time, if he understood the idea of priming correctly.

A lack of flexibility had gotten him killed more than once already, such as when he over-committed to the Fiendbarb in his third loop, or when he focused too heavily on fusing his barriers in his fourth.

I think I’ll pick Blood Singer.

Learning how to multitask with several spells is something that will benefit me later on as well.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Blood Mage => Blood Singer >

The blood sigils returned to his hands, and now the control sigil on his left hand had three of the music notes on the back.

Adam still had a ball of blood, though greatly diminished in size, floating in front of him, and with a single thought he split it into three. As expected though, manipulating all three independently was no simple feat.

The cube lifted up off the ground and exhaled a bunch of black smoke, transforming his surroundings.

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

No sooner had Adam appeared in the centre of Interim Island than he asked the Eye how many survivors there were.

[278 million Players survived Stage One.]

Fucking hell.

Adam let out a sigh.

It’s better than the last one though.

But I wonder who the time-looper will be.

With this small a group of Stage One survivors, I bet there has been an absurd amount of sacrifices performed, and whoever is ruling this universe has to be some kind of cold-hearted psycho.

But whatever. I have my plan, and I will stick to it.

If I don’t engage with the time-looper, then they can’t harm me if I keep them blocked.

I just need to keep my head down until Stage Five.

Adam took his 29 cores and went to the Market.

-----------------------------

Anyway, yeah, the 2nd cover of Loopshard (which is currently the cover on RR) shows this event with the Eye revealing its true form.

Speaking of covers, I am working with someone called Nick Romario to make a new cover for the story. I will keep y'all posted when it's done. You might even get some progress photos before then.

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Loopshard - Chapter One-Hundred

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--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

100!

This chapter took a little while to finish since I had to do a lot of math behind the scenes and actually write out a lot of the things I never wrote out for weapons.

-----------------------------

Chapter One-Hundred

Adam woke up with a yell, finding himself back on the soft grass of Stage One.

I never thought I’d be happy to return to this place.

But man…

That was really stupid to try that.

I don’t even know why I thought visiting a sacrificed Player’s dimension would be a good idea.

I guess I just wanted to be closer to Emelia, even though I knew I wouldn’t find her.

He let out a deep breath.

It was a stupid way to waste a loop, and I could’ve gotten a lot more information out of Alexander Nova if I’d stayed. Not to mention, the Beast setup would’ve been really good once I got the Pugilist’s Belt and Pit Fighter evolution for Brawler.

Adam looked at the weapons available to him this time.

< < Weapon Types Available > >

< Brawler (Uncommon) >

< Warrior (Common) >

< Archer (Common) >

< Berserker (Uncommon) >

< Defender (Common) >

“Reroll,” he told the Eye.

[Understood.]

Wasn’t actually sure that would work for weapons, but that definitely makes the Rerolls meta upgrade a lot more useful.

< < Weapon Types Available > >

< Backstabber (Common) >

< Warder (Rare) >

< Berserker (Uncommon) >

< Woodsman (Common) >

< Archer (Common) >

He heavily considered selecting Warder again, but ultimately decided to pick Archer, since he’d used melee weapons back-to-back and wanted to try his hand at a different kind of ranged weapon. Not to mention, he needed more Mastery Shards.

Unlike the other weapons Adam had used, the bow wasn’t quite as straightforward for extracting the cores from the slimes, since he needed to shoot around them to tear away the flesh. But with the proper technique and a sufficiently-powerful draw, he could pierce their jelly flesh and destroy the cores, even against the tougher purple slimes, though they required several hits to pierce. But it meant that he only collected about half of the cores possible.

At the end, he beat the Stage with a time of 105 seconds, getting a total of 2480 Points and 16 intact cores. As usual, he killed the Slime Emperor with Gram’s special skill. For the Relic, he got the Slime Ring.

< < Relic Selected > >

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

The evolutions were not a surprise to him either, since Lenard had gone through it during his third loop. The left hologram was a longbow and the right was a shortbow.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Ranger — Sacrifice draw speed and efficiency for a boost to damage and range >

< Quickshot — Sacrifice damage and range for a boost to draw speed and efficiency >

That’s a very binary choice. Slow and powerful or quick and efficient.

The upgrades for the bow were all pretty simple too, but interestingly it offered Projectile upgrades for Damage, Speed, and Range, which meant that they’d apply to other weapons that utilised projectiles, similar to how Summoner broadly upgraded Spells. On top of the three Projectile upgrades, the bow also gave Draw upgrades that reduced stamina cost, increased draw speed, and improved accuracy. Unlike so many other weapons, none of the upgrades felt like they’d be less useful than the rest.

Adam ended up picking Quickshot, since both of the following evolutions were known to him, and Trickster in particular enabled a lot of crazy stuff, since it made arrows able to ricochet.

He continued on to Interim Island, selling his cores and hitting 4080 Points, before buying out the rest of the fourth tier of Relic Saving and putting the remainder into the next rank up.

< < Meta Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 4 Saved Relic Slots >

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 5 Saved Relic Slots — 3830/5000 Points >

At the Tavern, he saw that the time-looper in this universe was none other than Anri, aka Mórrígan. She looked just as crazy as during his third loop and a spike of anger flushed through him as he observed her.

The Eye revealed that a little over 500 million had survived Stage One which made Adam hopeful, but out of everyone on his list, the only survivors were James’ son Benjamin, and Lenard.

This universe is a bust too…

I’m starting to think my theory about each new loop being a new layer up the stack was quite spot on, since these universes are getting worse and worse.

Adam didn’t stick around for long in the Tavern before he headed to the Player House and promptly went to sleep to Yenna’s lullabies.

In the following Stage, the Quickshot shortbow turned out to be quite fantastic, since he was able to kill all the goblins with a single arrow to the eye. He also realised he had quite a knack for the weapon, which hadn’t really been that obvious during the fight against the slimes. The Acid Burst effect from the Slime Ring also helped him a lot, since it made the projectiles pop a bit of acid into the wounds they created, which meant it was game over if his arrows hit just the goblins’ faces, since even if they didn’t pierce all the way to the brain the acid would do the trick.

The main difficulty Adam faced was actually with cutting off the goblin’s ears as trophies, since the stone sword wasn’t sharp enough and the arrows given to the Quickshot had narrow heads that didn’t cut super well. Nevertheless, he managed to get them all, and every Wave was a total breeze.

By the end, he finished off the Hobgoblin with Gram, and cleared the Stage in a record time of 60 seconds, gaining 3870 Points, 40 more than the previous loop.

One of the Relics that showed up was new to him, clearly based on his bow.

< < Relic > >

< Shattering Quiver (Rare) — All arrows are replaced with Shatter Shots, which break armour on hit | Projectile Speed and Damage reduced by 50% >

It would probably be strong in Stage Four against the Forlorn, as well as in Five against the Statue Elementals. And maybe it can combo with Fiendbarb, since that Relic just prevents armour piercing, but doesn’t say anything about armour breaking.

Still, the demerits are way too high, even if it’s a useful effect in many situations.

Though I wonder if it would break an airship.

He ended up selecting it with the plan to sell it later.

With the six upgrades from the Stage, he got yet another choice between evolutions. The left one was a different kind of shortbow, which had an exaggerated curl of the limbs at the end, looking almost fantasy-like with its pale wood. The other option was the large crossbow that Lenard had shown him. It had dark-brown wood and silvery metal, and its bolts had a very narrow shape, perfect for penetration.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Trickster — Arrows can now ricochet when hitting surfaces >

< Bounty Hunter — Projectiles that hit a target's head deal double damage >

Since I’m not planning on sticking around in this universe, I’ll pick the evolution I’m least likely to use in the future.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Quickshot => Bounty Hunter >

With his shirt yet again sacrificed to become an improvised bag, Adam went to the Market with Belamouranthe. He sold all the goblin ears, as well as his new rare quiver, the ring, and the damaged crown he’d gotten after killing the Hobgoblin, getting 2950 Points and putting his total at 6820 Points.

I’ll end this loop here.

Still, he saved the Lucky Stone to send back, so he had it for whenever he found a universe he wanted to stay in.

He’d done the math on Stage Three, and while he might be able to get around 4000 Points with Hardmode and all the bonuses, as well as maybe 3000 Points if he could collect all the Blood Elemental cores and the trophies that Slothlings apparently possessed, he also knew it would be much harder to pull off.

Adam was a lot stronger and much wiser, but it felt like it wasn’t worth spending the time on Stage Three since he could just continue looping back and grinding the first two Stages easily. After all, he wasn’t looking for a challenge, he was just simply looking to become stronger while he searched for a good universe to stay in.

Luvicidix showed him a worried expression after she’d descended from the clouds and landed in front of him on the street.

“I don’t like the look in your eyes,” she told him. “What you’re planning on doing isn’t right.”

“I’m here to get upgrades, not to receive a lecture,” he said, dismissing her words.

“Alivida told me what happened,” Luvicidix said.

“I wish she’d warned me better.”

“You know we are not allowed to break the rules,” Luvicidix chided him.

Adam sighed. “You’re right. That was my fault.”

“Will you stop throwing your life away then?” Luvicidix asked, seeming hopeful.

“No. I will keep going until I find a universe where my friends still exist.”

“The All-Seeing System will stop you,” she warned.

“We’ll see,” he replied.

It has less strength in the beginning, so I don’t think it can stop me, even if it is threatening me in this roundabout way through Luvicidix.

“Now, let me buy the upgrades so I can be on my way,” he said.

The moth looked at him disapprovingly but acquiesced nevertheless.

< < Meta Upgrades Unlocked > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 5 Saved Relic Slots >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 6 Saved Relic Slots >

“You have now maxed out the Relic Saving upgrade,” Luvicidix announced.

That means I should be able to send back a Divine Relic.

Or two Rares, or three Uncommons.

Actually, I wonder if I could use the trick Nova told me about to send back one of Weaver’s tailor-made items. Bringing a backpack to the start with me would be handy.

“I’ll put the remaining Points into Damage.”

“Very well.”

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 50% — 650/5000 Points >

He left the island’s centre and headed for the Player House where he put the Lucky Stone into the Relic Saving box.

A shame I can’t pull the Glass Acorn out of the garden and bring it with me.

With all his errands done, Adam walked north past the lighthouse until he reached the edge of the island. Then he stepped off.

< < ADAM > >

Adam went through three more loops in the same manner, finding every new one to be no better than the last, with all of the people on his list eliminated. In those three loops he tried Berserker, Warrior, and Backstabber. All of them were very standard fare, though it was to be expected given their rarities.

Berserker had one evolution path called Dervish that allowed him to change the dual axes for swords, and later to chain whips, according to Emelia. He’d picked Raider instead, which increased offence at the expense of defence, and then in its second set he’d gone with Blood Mongrel which had a unique bleed effect, instead of Wolf Spawn which gave him a 15-second buff like the Player he’d fought in his fourth loop during the Altar Stage.

Warrior had given him a choice between Frontliner, which increased the impact of attacks when he was running, and Soldier, which doubled the effectiveness of defensive moves. He’d gone with Frontliner, since impact wasn’t something he’d messed around with a lot, but it basically let him obliterate the goblins with heavy swings of the sword. In Frontliner’s evolution set, it had been a choice between One Man Army and Colossus. The first one boosted attack speed and damage when outnumbered at least 3-to-1, while Colossus gave a stacking 10% Defence buff with every kill made, which lasted as long as he killed something within 1 minute of the last. He’d picked One Man Army, though Colossus seemed like a super powerful background buff for another melee weapon.

Adam was quite familiar with the first set of evolutions from the Backstabber. The man who’d killed Willow in his fourth loop had been an Assassin, and the woman who’d betrayed them in Stage Six had been an Opportunist. Assassin lost one of the two daggers in exchange for all afflictions dealt with the remaining dagger becoming 50% stronger. Opportunist had its off-hand weapon turn into a parry dagger, which came with the parry disorient upgrade, which was quite strong. Adam ended up picking the latter, which then evolved into Exploiter and Disarmer. They both had effects tied to parrying, with the first making it so a successful parry made the enemy take double damage from the next attack, while Disarmer just disarmed the enemy on a parry. He picked Disarmer, just because he doubted he would ever use it and thus wanted to get the Shard from it now.

As for the time-loopers he encountered, the ninth loop where he picked Berserker finally revealed Arturo to him, but he looked nothing like what Emelia had said, since she’d described him as a nice man from El Salvador, and instead he looked like someone with a serious mean streak. There’d only been 480 million survivors after the first Stage and Adam didn’t feel like risking a conversation with the guy once he saw him pull out the Challenge Stone in the Tavern.

The tenth loop’s ‘ruler’ was Hiroshi Sakurai yet again, and it was much the same as with Arturo.

In the eleventh loop he was surprised to find that the time-looper was Willow, but no sooner had he tried talking to her than she’d pulled out the Challenge Stone, forcing him to quickly leave the Tavern to avoid ending his loop early.

Since none of the universes had yielded anything satisfactory in terms of their population, Adam had just kept passing the Lucky Stones back in time, since he had room for two in his Relic Saving chest now. He wondered if he could use them both at the same time to go up two tiers of rarity rather than one, but it seemed a waste to try it until it mattered.

Across those three loops he’d amassed 37,820 Points, which he’d used to max out the upgrades for Damage, Vendors, Rerolls, and getting the first two tiers of Mana, with the rest going into the Scale of Remembrance.

< < Meta Upgrades Unlocked > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 100% >

< Vendors — Increase Vendor Options by 1 >

< Rerolls — Start every loop with 5 Reroll Dice >

< Mana — Increase Mana by 25 >

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Scale of Remembrance — 2650/25000 Points >

In the twelfth loop, Adam selected Warder since it appeared, and evolved it into Shaper, even though he’d already gotten this evolution once and thus didn’t get any Mastery Shards.

When he arrived to Interim Island and asked his usual question about survivors, he got an answer that surprised him.

[1 Player survived Stage One.]

Adam blinked.

“I’m the only survivor??”

[Correct.]

Well…

Shit.

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Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Nine

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--Encyclopaedia---
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(The urge to make a 99 Problems or 99 Luftballons reference is crushing me)

Click here to found out which reference I chose.

-----------------------------

Chapter Ninety-Nine

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

< < Score > >

< 80 Seconds Completion Time >

< 500 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 400 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 250 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 3830 Points Awarded >

Better than last time.

Adam had managed to cut down the time on Wave Four by using his Leap to cross half the distance to the yellow archer, and while the blue goblins were good at avoiding attacks, the skill didn’t seem to extend to claws. But Adam’s flurry of swipes would probably be difficult for most simple enemies to deal with. Even their armour hadn’t really been much of an issue, since his right hand could tear through it, thanks to the acid effect from the Green Slime Glove and his Shifter power letting him increase the force behind an attack.

He’d killed the Hobgoblin Lord with the Anvil-Splitter skill from Gram, finishing the wave with the same time as the previous loop.

I’m getting pretty consistent at these first two Stages.

From the Relic Chest, he picked the Blue Trophy.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Blue Trophy (Rare) >

After selecting the last two upgrades, this was what he got from the entire Stage:

< < Upgrades Selected > >

< Claw Damage (Uncommon) — Increases claw damage by 10% >

< Leap (Uncommon) — Increases leap distance by 10% >

< Claw Speed (Uncommon) — Increases claw attack speed by 20% >

< Claw Growth (Uncommon) — Increases claw length by 30% >

< Leap (Rare) — Increases leap distance by 15% >

< Claw Speed (Uncommon) — Increases claw attack speed by 20% >

The six upgrades of course led him to his second set of evolutions. The hologram on the left showed a clawed hand that was light-grey with the same talons as before, while the one on the right was covered in black fur and its talons turned pale white.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Pack Wolf — Gain the Wolf Tooth Relic >

< Lone Wolf — Increase Damage by 50% when fighting alone >

Lone Wolf would combo really well with the build I’m heading towards.

“What does the Wolf Tooth do?”

[It allows you to summon two wolves that both attack once before they disappear. It has a 60-second cooldown.]

So it’s basically the Wraith Lantern, but on a 1-minute timer.

Interesting that Beast has a summon-type path. The evolution of Pack Wolf might expand upon it too.

But that’s not what I’m going for.

Still, maybe a Summoner Beast build could work, depending on what comes after Pack Wolf.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Shifter => Lone Wolf >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

Adam admired his arms as the fur that covered his body turned from dark-grey to black and his talons became white.

Then he returned to Interim Island. He had all the collected trophy ears wrapped up in his white shirt, and the two Secret Relics waited in his pockets. Belamouranthe also came with him, dutifully following him to the Market like in the previous loop. After Adam had sold his ears and gotten 2,300 Points, they went over to Weaver’s stall. Adam ordered a new shirt, as well as a backpack, parting with 100 Points.

Then he went over to Thea’s stall.

Good thing I didn’t listen to Nova and sacrifice her.

He bought six more upgrades, putting him at 3,330 Points. But it was well worth it because he could get the last Mastery Shard he needed for the Visiting Stone.

< < Weapon Upgrades Purchased > >

< Claw Damage (Uncommon) >

< Howl (Uncommon) >

< Bite (Common) >

< Claw Damage (Common) >

< Howl (Common) >

< Leap (Common) >

< 3330 Points Remaining >

[Your Lone Wolf Weapon Type has reached Level 18.]

[At Level 18, your Weapon Type can be evolved in one of two possible directions based on your previous evolutions.]

The claws on Adam’s hands turned golden and were sucked up into the Eye, momentarily returning his real hands to him. Then the cube dropped to the ground and folded itself into a pyramid with his final evolutions visible as holograms on either side of it.

The one on the left showed a black-furred claw with curved golden talons and the other showed a black claw with pristine crimson talons.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Apex Hunter — Killing a boss permanently increases Damage by 5% >

< The Beast of Moonport — Gain double Speed and Damage at night >

Both of these are really strong, but I’m leaning more towards Moonport Beast.

If I’m lucky, I can get up to 25% per Stage from Apex Hunter, at least in later Stages, and while it would snowball alongside the Glass Acorn’s final evolution, it wouldn’t end up as potentially broken as with the Moonport Beast. Doubling all Damage, depending on how it’s applied, would really lead to some insane numbers. If it’s added at the end of the chain of all the other buffs, I would be able to hit 1500% Damage and more once I get Pit Fighter and the Pugilist’s Belt.

It would also allow me to do some of the side objectives in Stage Eight that Emelia warned me against, since the vampires are active at night.

She’d told him that night time in the Moonport Stage was all about hiding from the monsters, who became incredibly powerful once the sun went down.

But with this, I wouldn’t have to worry as much.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Lone Wolf => The Beast of Moonport >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

Eight Shards. Now I just need the Kindling Flame to mature.

But he wasn’t done in the Market yet, since he still needed to get the Brawler weapon from Nelly’s stall. She greeted him as he came over, and it seemed luck favoured him as the weapon was right there in the first set of options.

< < Weapon Types For Sale > >

< Backstabber (Common) >

< Archer (Common) >

< Brawler (Uncommon) >

< Berserker (Uncommon) >

“I will buy Brawler,” Adam said.

The Eye piped up. [You are already carrying two weapons and cannot carry a third. Which of your equipped weapons would you like to swap for Brawler?]

Shame I don’t have the weapon rack.

“Gram,” he said.

The stone sword disappeared and the Brawler’s metal gauntlets appeared over his clawed hands, which was odd. Somehow the talons did not poke through, even though they should be too long to be contained inside the gauntlets.

< < Weapon Type Purchased > >

< Brawler (Uncommon) >

< 2330 Points Remaining >

< < Second Sheath Activated > >

< Would you like to swap to the Brawler Weapon Type? >

“Show me the stats compared to Beast.”

< Brawler compared to Beast >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 125 (+50) >

< Stamina — 125 (-25) >

< Mana — 0 (-25) >

< Damage — 125% (-25%) >

< Defence — 75% (+75%) >

< Speed — 125% (-75%) >

I would lose a lot of Speed in exchange for a bunch of Defence and Health. Losing Mana would lock me out of using Leap and Howl, but maybe that’s a decent trade?

If I get the Body of Sloth though, then stacking speed makes sense. Not to mention, it would combo super well with Moonport Beast’s bonus during the night. I’d be able to hit truly absurd amounts of Damage. And without the finnicky setup of Warder.

I also wonder what I’d get if I used the Chimaera Core with this. Fist-focused weapons with what I’m assuming is a transformation into a lizard person should work really well.

Adam laughed to himself. I might as well get the Grafted Tail to complete the look.

He went to the island’s centre with the remainder of his Points and spent them on the Relic Saving upgrade, trying to get it to Epic tier.

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 4 Saved Relic Slots — 4750/5000 Points >

Almost there.

Adam continued on to the Tavern, where he ordered himself a meal and spent some time watching Lenard and James, as well as Nova. He still had his query that automatically blocked him from those who knew about the Self-devouring Eye, so Nova had no way to observe Adam or use the Challenge Stone on him if he suddenly had a change of heart.

Now I’m the paranoid one.

He looked through the top performers in Stage Two, but none of them were familiar to him, and none of them had accomplished the Secret Boss. A few had gotten both of the Secrets, and there were a scattering of Flawless and Speedrun achievers, though nobody had both.

Quite a poor grouping…

He ended up leaving the Tavern early after finishing his meal, since he wasn’t in the mood for talking to Nova nor anybody else for that matter.

Since it had turned dark outside, Adam moved across the island’s narrow streets with tremendous speed. It was less running and more like staggered one-footed hops that propelled him forward several metres each. Interestingly, his crimson talons also seemed to glow in the dark.

He entered Alivida’s tent and saw that she too was back to being a moth like her sister.

“You returned. How… surprising.”

“I’ve been busy,” Adam said.

“Too busy for a little visit?” she asked.

“I guess so. But not to worry, I have brought plenty of Shards for you,” he said.

“That is… fortuitous.”

< < Mastery Upgrades For Sale > >

< Scale of Nihility — Make everyone forget you — 1 Shard >

< Skipping Stone — Skip a Stage if eligible — 2 Shards >

< Challenge Stone — Challenge a Player to a battle to the death — 3 Shards >

< Lucky Stone — Flip to increase the rarity for the next reward options — 3 Shards >

< Visiting Stone — Visit the Dimension of a known Player — 8 Shards >

< Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid — 10 Shards >

Adam’s eyes lingered on the Vanity upgrade.

I only need two more for that, then I can get a Divine weapon.

No.

I should get the Visiting Stone for when I reach a universe where Emelia still exists. Plus, I made a deal with Nova.

“I’ll buy the Visiting Stone,” Adam decided.

“Thank you,” Alivida responded.

< < Mastery Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Visiting Stone — Visit the Dimension of a known Player >

The dark tablet-sized flat round stone appeared in the palm of his hand. A pattern of organic swirls were carved out of its surface, exposing blue-glowing gems.

“Can I visit the dimension of a Player even if they are dead?” he asked.

“It would be inadvisable,” Alivida replied.

So it’s possible?

Adam put his hand on the Visiting Stone.

“Take me to Emelia Bell’s dimension.”

< < Visiting Stone Activated > >

< Travelling to the Dimension of Player Emelia Bell >

Adam didn’t land on his feet in the middle of an alternate Interim Island.

No. He appeared in the middle of a dark ocean, immediately struggling to breathe under the intense pressure exerted upon him.

A force like a thousand hands pulled him deeper, and titanic blue-glowing shapes circled him as he plummeted. As two of them passed by each other, he saw the outline of the closest one and it was like a whale shark, except its proportions were impossible and it had too many fins and glowing eyes.

Despite crushing depths of the abyss he was in, he tried to bring out the Visiting Stone so that he could leave, but it wouldn’t manifest. He also saw that his hands were back to their human selves.

But there was one thing that wasn’t part of his original body.

It was like a tiny scale under the nail of his thumb that he felt more than saw.

The glowing leviathans came closer, clearly hungering for his flesh.

Adam focused on the scale on his thumb, even as he felt himself drowning.

With a pop of brilliant blue light, a bubble formed around Adam’s body when the Abyssal Tooth pulled itself free from under his nail. It was no more pleasant than the first time, but its presence enabled him to breathe in the dark water and push away the crushing pressure.

The circling leviathans didn’t back away as he brandished the Relic that surely belonged to their master. Instead they guided his glowing bubble down into the deep.

I’m in Nwetrou’s domain. I must be.

The Visiting Stone sent me here, because Emelia was sacrificed to him in this universe.

I can’t bring the Visiting Stone back out though, so maybe I won’t be able to leave…

He continued down into the deep for what felt like hours.

The circling leviathans increased in number as he plummeted, and all he could see were their swirling gigantic forms.

Then he finally reached the bottom and they all swam back up.

Adam’s bubble landed on a soft hill and the little light cast by his bubble illuminated down the sides of it, partially catching on small marbles on two nearby hills.

No… those aren’t marbles.

They were the eyes of dead people.

Adam looked down.

He was standing on corpses.

They were blue-skinned, water-logged, and bloated. They wore the clothes of normal everyday people, and their faces were locked in expressions of horror, fear, despair, and anguish.

Suddenly, a massive round sun appeared in the far distance, casting a blue glow across thousands of hills like his.

But it wasn’t a sun, of course, because he was in the depths of an enormous ocean.

And it had a round pupil surrounded by four rings.

A visitor?

What a rare pleasure.

The attention of the unfathomably-large eye was like the scalding heat of a furnace and Adam’s skin started to rot and boil on his body, and he could feel his eyesight faltering just from the merest glance.

He quickly supplicated himself, covering his head from the direct light of the Absolute’s gaze.

“Lord Nwetrou!” Adam screamed while more of his body rotted on his bones. “Send me back! I came here by mistake!”

Adam Fischer.

The Realm Traveller told me about you.

He was very proud of his little trick.

“Please! Send me back!” he exclaimed as more of his body turned blue and dead.

You do not worship me.

As such, the Watcher’s rules do not permit me to send you back to your little island.

The abyss will be your resting place.

Alas, your death is not permanent, so I am certain I will meet you again.

Nwetrou’s gaze did not turn away, and Adam screamed until his voice failed him and he was reduced to a rotten water-logged corpse.

He became just another body amongst the millions upon millions that festered in Nwetrou’s abyss.

-----------------------------

This chapter got kind of fucked up.

What can I say? I go where the story leads me, and if Adam wants to use an item despite being warned, then this is his just deserts.

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Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Eight

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I should have 99 done tomorrow.

Anyway, Patreon might act weird today, since it was super broken a few hours ago. Idk what the hell their development team is doing...

-----------------------------

Chapter Ninety-Eight

Nova was on his twenty-third loop, and his approach to ‘ruling’ his universe with the Self-devouring Eye was similar to Emelia’s, except less naïve and more selective. He selected people he knew made it far and gave them the information he thought they might need to grow just that extra bit stronger to make it even further.

He was like a gardener who oversaw his crops and let them grow without his interference for a bit, and then the ones that flourished were given fertiliser to grow even stronger, while the rest would be left to wither as a matter of course.

It was brutally efficient, but it made a lot of sense.

Emelia had tried something similar, but she’d been giving out information in a much broader way, trying to spread it to as many people as possible.

Both had reasons they could work, and it seemed mostly that the time-loopers behind these philosophies shaped them according to their morals. Nova didn’t seem like a bad guy, but he didn’t care about those who wouldn’t reach Stage Ten, and that alone basically excluded 99.9% of all Players.

The problem with humans is that we’re really bad at conceptualising big numbers. It’s really easy to write off 400+ million people because it’s too big of a number to imagine.

And if Emelia was right, and only three to five thousand make it to Stage Ten, then those people represent 0.001% of all Players. And Nova is selecting from the ones who survive, which probably means even less than that.

Putting it into perspective like that is actually insane.

I’m still struggling to understand how hundreds of millions can be reduced by that much.

After all, 22 million survived Stage Six in Emelia’s universe. If what happened to us in Stage Seven wasn’t out of the ordinary, I suppose it explains why a lot of teams just got straight up wiped out. And Stage Nine and Ten were harder than that.

Maybe it does make sense when I think about it that way…

Emelia and I both died, and that was despite knowing almost all the challenges.

I can’t imagine how those doing it blind would ever survive for any other reason than dumb luck. Even those competent and skilled enough to make it far have to get lucky with their teammates.

Adam was standing in the centre of the island, thinking about some of the things they’d discussed, when the announcement came through.

< < Visiting Stone Activated > >

< Player Alexander Nova has entered your Dimension >

The time-looper materialised right in front of him.

He was taller than Adam had expected, standing at 2 metres and some change, easily a head above him. Unsurprisingly, he wore an Epic Relic from a later Stage. It was the Body of Sloth that came from a Secret Boss in Stage Six. Like the Spear Dancer evolution of the Lancer, it increased damage based on movement speed. Nova was clearly taking advantage of this, since he also had a spear on his back. But his main weapons were a sword and a shield, both of which were made of some dark metal that swallowed the light around itself.

“It has been a while since I used the Visiting Stone,” Nova admitted as he stepped forward and offered Adam his hand.

Adam shook it willingly.

Even though they hadn’t talked much, Adam had a very favourable impression of the guy, though his philosophy for how to spread his guidance seemed overly selective. Adam knew that it didn’t take a lot to turn someone destined to die into a potential asset. After all, Gladwyn and Beck had been full of potential, and all just because they’d been given a helping hand early on.

“Shall we?” Nova asked, gesturing towards the west where the Market lay on the island.

Despite his friendly demeanour, Nova had turned out to be fairly paranoid, which surprised Adam somewhat. His entire explanation for why he wanted to use the Visiting Stone was that he didn’t want anyone to spy on them as they talked. Though he also said he wanted to show Adam something.

They’d only gone a few steps when Nova paused and look towards the north, where the tip of the lighthouse poked above the other buildings.

“What is that?” he asked.

“You’re unfamiliar with that particular secret?” Adam replied.

Nova nodded. “It seems so. If you tell me about it, then I will share something you may not yet know.”

Unlike Emelia, Nova hadn’t really asked any clarifying questions when Adam had told him he was a time-looper. But he seemed smart, so he would’ve easily picked up on the fact that Adam was using a starter weapon, and that his Saved Relic was a Rare from Stage Two.

When they arrived at the lighthouse, Adam explained its purpose, though he did not yet know what effect it would gift him. He shared the effect that Emelia’s flame had possessed.

He had almost entirely forgotten about it now, but she’d told him that her effect was that anyone on her team would recover 75% of the health lost from the first attack they suffered in a Stage.

I think I triggered that on taking fall damage in Stage Seven…

And the first attack Emelia suffered was the one that killed her…

“How can I get this flame?” Nova asked.

“I think it’s possible to get it by worshipping the First Light,” Adam guessed. “But I can gift you a Kindling Flame when mine has matured. I need to travel to your dimension though, and for that I need two more Mastery Shards.”

Nova nodded. “I would appreciate not having to worship the First Light. It would complicate matters.”

The weakness from the First Light would damage him if he hurt other people. And I guess he’s planning on fighting other Players…

Nova led Adam to the Market and they stopped in front of Yenna by the fountain. She was playing a cello in a melody Adam wasn’t familiar with. The sun was setting in the horizon and it would soon be night.

“Hello Yenna,” Nova greeted the wasp.

“Evening, Alexander,” she replied.

Nova turned to Adam and said, as though Yenna wasn’t right there and listening, “If you gift her the Vanity mirror, she will grant you a Divine weapon called The Everchanging Melody.”

Adam froze.

There was a point to that shallow Mastery Upgrade after all!

“Have you tried it?” Adam asked.

Nova nodded. “Though I didn’t bring it into a Stage with me. It’s difficult to use and I’ve spent the last six loops just trying to master it here on Interim Island. You need to get the Builder to make a weapon rack though, otherwise taking the weapon will delete the one you have in your hand.”

“In my last loop, Yenna turned Finnian into a puddle with a small drum.”

“Finnian? Is that what you call the slime denizen?” Nova asked. “I’m familiar with the drum. It’s called a Kotsuzumi. If you use a high-pitched flute against the Sloth Demons in Stage Three and later, like a piccolo, they go berserk, even when it’s just a dummy in the Player House. There are a lot of other things like that, and I think, in theory, you can beat each Stage with Yenna’s Everchanging Melody by using the right instrument. But you need to know how to play each instrument, since Divine Weapon Types don’t give you the insight that other weapons offer upon touch.”

A weapon that takes several loops to master… It’s literally made for time-loopers then. And not my kind of loops either, but full-on loops going through twenty Stages.

“Yenna, play Rachmaninoff’s ‘Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18’,” Nova told the musician.

She looked to Adam for approval, since it was his dimension, after all.

He nodded and she transformed her cello into a piano and immediately started playing. The melody started out sombre but brightened as it continued.

Nova smiled slightly. “I had the pleasure of witnessing the great Nobuyuki Tsujii play this with an orchestra.”

They stood there for a while, just listening.

“Do the other denizens offer similar weapons?” Adam asked once Yenna had finished and the sun had set.

“I have only used the Vanity on Yenna and Thea, but Thea gives you a hammer. I haven’t yet started to unravel how it works, but it is not Divine rarity, only Epic.”

“Have you tried using Alepheria’s Paintbrush?”

Nova shook his head, and led Adam down through the Market. “I have seen it only once and I will not be going back. To put a Voidspawn Apex in such a small chamber is the most insidious trap I can think of. I always make it a habit to avoid them until Stage Eighteen.”

“How did you escape it in Stage Seven?” Adam asked.

“I killed it,” he replied.

That statement alone sent a chill down Adam’s spine.

“How?”

“Do you have access to the Alchemist?”

Adam shook his head.

“Well, she can craft a potion called Return to Sender. It redirects 100% of the damage you take back to its source. The ingredients are not easy to find, but if you send back seeds with the Relic Saving chest then you can cultivate them between Stages.”

Adam gaped. “You can do that??”

“Anything without rarity can be sent back through the chest,” Nova explained. “It’s kind of an exploit, I think. Flower seeds and very small items can go in without issue, but I tried sending back spell scrolls and flowers, and it didn’t work. They were just spat out as ash on the other end.”

“Isn’t the potion an easy way to deal with Voidspawn though?” Adam asked.

“Voidspawn are a hivemind,” he replied. “I guess you haven’t gone far enough to see that in action, but the issue with them is that they adapt to anything they encounter, and if something kills a Voidspawn, then the others will know it and build countermeasures. The potion trick is easy, but using it early on is a waste. It’s better to save it for Stages like Eighteen where you can’t avoid encountering them.”

Damn, so even if you find a way to defeat them, it won’t work twice…

Now I understand why Emelia felt so sure we would lose. Even if we had found a way to defeat the Voidspawn, the next encounter would’ve become so much harder.

“The best way to fight them is to have a way to kill them in one blow, right?” Adam asked.

Nova nodded. “That’s right. But there are still hundreds of Players around when they start popping up, and they will fight as hard as they can against the Voidspawn, making the future ones that much stronger. I always try to warn the Players after Stage Ten, but it doesn’t really work. Overconfidence as a side-effect of surviving against the odds is the biggest problem once you get that far into the Trials.”

Adam looked at Thea’s stall where Nova had stopped.

“What’s the thing you wanted to show me?” Adam asked.

The time-looper’s expression darkened and his expression flattened, which worried Adam.

“Thea, would you come out here,” Nova asked.

“Of course, Alexander,” she replied and stepped out from under the blue overhang.

“You are not likely to use her services much, correct?” Nova asked Adam.

He frowned. “What are you trying to show me. And I do need her. For the crown after the Goblin Village.”

“Don’t fight the shadow in Stage Nine,” Nova told him. “Now, pull out your Abyssal Tooth and jam it into her heart.”

Adam took a step back. “I’m not doing that!”

“Would you rather we sacrifice a different denizen?” Nova asked.

“I’m not sacrificing any of them!”

“They will come back in the next loop,” he said. “Sacrificing denizens isn’t permanent like with Players.”

“Why do you want me to do this?” Adam asked suspiciously. Thea was just looking between them, but either she didn’t understand the danger she was in or she’d already resigned herself to it.

“It’s to open a door in the Deep Place,” Nova said.

Adam suddenly remembered the doors that’d been carved into the cavern wall behind Skǫll. They’d had round holes with some engravings at the back that he’d been unable to see.

“Thea’s door is not as powerful as the one Lucca opens with her core, but it is still useful. The last door should be possible to open with the core of Alivida or Luvicidix, but I have yet to try it since I am unsure if they come back.”

Adam frowned. “What do the doors lead to?” he asked, gesturing for Thea to return to her stall.

Nova cast him a blank stare. “You won’t do it?”

“No.”

“If you give me your Kindling Flame, then I will tell you. Or no, better yet, I will show you.”

I might need to reevaluate my opinion of this guy.

I know the denizens are not people, but they aren’t just NPCs either.

To just sacrifice them for some small reward is psychotic.

I don’t want to treat my time-looping power as a tool to erase my sins.

“Will you tell me how your time-looping works?” Nova asked.

Adam had been waiting for the question all this time. He’d thought there was no harm in telling him, but now he wasn’t so sure.

“Maybe later,” he replied. “I will tell you something you’re unlikely to know however.”

Nova’s expression softened and his eyebrows lifted in interest.

“What would you like to know in return?” Nova then asked.

“I want you to tell me how to save weapons between loops.”

“Deal,” he replied.

“Have you ever been to the bottom of Interim Island?” Adam then asked.

“Deeper than Nwetrou’s cave? No. I thought there was nothing there.”

“At the very bottom is an eye,” Adam said. “The whole island is alive.”

Nova seemed to reach some sort of epiphany. “Souleyman told me that to gain the attention of the Keening, I must cause the island’s eye to blink.”

“The Keening?” Adam asked.

“It’s a powerful Absolute,” he said. “I thought Souleyman’s guidance was just another puzzle. A lot of his advice was like that.”

That’s one of the missing Absolutes at the Altar.

No wonder it’s such an unknown with an unlock requirement like that. I only happened to find the eye because I could fly with my barriers.

“I wonder if Weaver will make me a rope long enough to go down there,” Nova muttered to himself. Then he met Adam’s eyes. “Thank you, this was valuable.”

“So, how do I save weapons across loops?”

“You have to fully evolve five weapons in the same loop,” Nova replied.

“Do the upgrades carry over?”

“Of course not,” he answered.

Still, with the six upgrades from Stage One, along with 5,400 Points from the Stage and Cores, it’s possible to have a fully-evolved weapon before the Goblin Village. That’s crazy.

Maybe I should invest Points into reaching this upgrade.

Emelia also said that if I spend 5,000 Points on the Builder, then I get access to an upgrade to save all the things she builds. And there’s also the thing to complete three denizen quests to permanently unlock the rewards of quests I’ve completed.

It feels like I’ve hardly made a dent in all the potential upgrades.

I need to survive past the Sanctuary to evolve my Kindling Flame, and I need two more Mastery Shards to get the Visiting Stone.

I guess I’m staying in this universe for a while longer.

“You should get the Brawler weapon and replace Gram,” Nova suddenly said. “That will almost guarantee that the Pugilist’s Belt appears in Stage Four.”

“What does it do?” Adam asked.

“It’s similar to Brawler’s Pit Fighter and Priest’s Zealot evolutions, since it increases damage dealt the closer you are to an enemy, except specifically for fist-based weapons and up to 100% instead of 50. It’s worth using a Lucky Stone to get.”

So, if I get Pit Fighter and this belt, that means I can get my Damage multiplied by 100% and then again by 50%. That’d mean my current damage of 175% plus the 40% from my weapon upgrades, would become either 645% or 735% depending on whether weapon and general upgrades are additive or multiplicative.

“Looks like you figured out why I’m telling you,” Nova said.

“Yeah, that would be an insane boost to damage,” Adam replied.

“What’s the Beast like?” Nova asked.

“A bit hectic,” he replied.

He went on to share the stats and how the Mana worked with Howl and Leap, as well as what he knew about the evolutions, not to mention how he’d used it in the Magical Forest

“I usually favour a speedy tank build,” Nova replied. “The Forlorn Knight’s sword and shield from Stage Nine has a special skill that allows me to ram at double my speed. Coupled with the Spear Dancer evolution’s damage boost from speed and the boost from the Body of Sloth, it means I can instantly kill anything until Stage Twelve. And all that without sacrificing Defence.”

It’s interesting how many different possibilities there are.

I guess if I follow his advice, I would achieve something similar to Emelia’s setup, just without the Priest weapon.

“Let’s talk again after Stage Two,” Nova said abruptly. “The Tavern is still open and I left my steak unfinished, plus I’ve got someone else to talk to.”

“Wait, before you go,” Adam said, stopping him from pressing his hand against the Visiting Stone he was holding.

“What?”

“Can you help James and Benjamin Kvarnström survive? And Lenard Schulz?”

“Lenard already makes it far,” Nova revealed. “I don’t know the other two, but I’ll give them a chance I suppose.”

“Thanks,” Adam said.

< < Visiting Stone Deactivated > >

< Player Alexander Nova has left your Dimension >

Ultimately, I think Nova is a good guy.

But I think he doesn’t view the island denizens as real if he’s willing to sacrifice them so easily.

That’s a mistake, I’m sure of it.

Adam sighed. Despite the brief scare, his conversation with Nova had been quite fruitful.

He headed towards the Player House, wanting to practice with his claws a bit more before facing the goblins.

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Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Seven

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Yesterday was very hectic, which is why I had to finish editing this Monday morning.

Anyway, I'll be trucking along with Loopshard this week too. Hoping to continue growing the backlog a good amount.

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Chapter Ninety-Seven

Adam opened his eyes. He was back in the Magical Forest.

I fucking hate this place.

In front of him the Eye was unfolded, showing his new selection of weapons. The Hardmode Orb floated next to his head, its eye glowing red.

Falling off the island was actually a pleasant way to go out, he mused.

I didn’t even feel it when I died.

It’s as if I just ceased to be the moment I left the island’s sphere of influence or something.

Like an object in a game falling outside the render distance.

I simply stopped existing.

He got up from the grass, surprised that he didn’t feel the need to puke.

Maybe that’s because I went willingly?

Or am I getting used to this?

Loop Seven though. Maybe it’s the one. Seven is a lucky number after all.

Adam looked down and saw that by his feet were the Skittish Skaters. He picked them up and put them on.

Then he approached the Eye and its holograms.

< < Weapon Types Available > >

< Summoner (Rare) >

< Backstabber (Common) >

< Brawler (Uncommon) >

< Priest (Rare) >

< Beast (Epic) >

Well, shit, that’s quite a stacked selection.

Summoner would be a good pick, but I want to get more Mastery Shards, and Emelia said that repeating evolutions won’t reward me a second time.

Brawler is one I’ve wanted to try, especially after seeing Emelia using it to great effect. Priest also seems interesting.

Beast being Epic means it’s probably super difficult to use. Or dangerous. Probably both.

But I kind of want to try it.

“I’ll pick Beast.”

It turned out the Beast weapon type worked quite differently from how he’d thought. His whole body underwent a painful transformation of bones popping and cracking, muscles flexing and growing, and worst of all, his fingers turning into his new weapons. Since the hands had one of the densest areas of nerves in the body, he felt that last part acutely as the bones of his hands grew, pushing through his flesh and skin to extend forward into jutting talons. His nails fell off and his fingers grew thicker, along with the palms widening and his forearms bulking up with muscles. Adam’s shoulders also broadened more and his calf muscles expanded as well. He felt something change about his face, but he couldn’t see what, though his hearing became sharper, his sense of smell widened and flooded his head with thousands of inputs, and his jaw and mouth grew.

It’s turning me into a monster!

When it was done, he had a naturally hunched posture and his body trembled with power.

< < Weapon Type Selected > >

< Claws >

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Beast >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 75 >

< Stamina — 150 >

< Mana — 25 >

< Damage — 160% >

< Defence — 0% >

< Speed — 200% >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

0% Defence… That means a direct hit from a slime will kill me, since that would be 90 Damage.

The rest of the stats are good though, aside from Health.

Not sure why I get Mana though.

“Why do I have Mana?” he asked the Eye, surprised at how deep and gravelly his voice had become. And as he spoke, his teeth felt like they were too big for his mouth.

[The Beast Weapon Type has accessed to Howl and Leap, both of which require Mana to activate.]

“What does the Howl do?”

[Howl causes a momentary discombobulation in a target. Sometimes it may cause fear and terror. It is situational and its effect can depend on how you utilise it.]

You’re being very forthcoming.

< < Wave One > >

< 60-Second Timer >

Here we go, I guess.

Adam surged towards the spot the slimes would appear from.

It was disturbingly natural to run on all fours with his reformed body. He had no clue what others would think if they saw him.

If I swap weapon, will I go back to looking human?

As the blue slime appeared and split into two, Adam activated his leap quite naturally, shooting himself forward with a wide slash of his claws.

[Warning! Mana at 0%.]

That leap cost all my Mana??

But I don’t feel any exhaustion.

His sharp talons went right through the jellied flesh of the slime, sheering through the core and popping it the moment he landed.

Shit, okay, this is a lot harder to aim than I thought.

I wonder if Beast is immune to Overconsumption and Mana Exhaustion. That would be quite insane.

He surged for the last one and swung his claws down through its body on either side of the core, killing it but leaving the valuable little stone intact.

I’m glad my hands can’t feel the acid burn of their flesh when I attack them.

I suppose this Stage would be impossible if I could.

Adam hadn’t seen anyone with the Beast weapon before, but he guessed that having no Defence was a big part of the reason why.

I’ll be careful.

In the end, he managed to clear the Stage by treating his transformation like it wasn’t really there, and mostly using his claws like he would any normal weapon. Except, of course, they were literally a part of him.

He dealt with the Secret Boss in the same way as the last loop, using the special skill from Gram to split it down the middle and release its four cores. Weirdly, he couldn’t ‘unequip’ or retract his claws when he swapped to the stone sword, and it felt weird to hold the thing in his enlarged hand tipped with talons. He hadn’t swapped to Gram’s stats, since he felt that Beast had something pretty solid going on, though Mythical Hero did offer more Health, Stamina, and Defence.

The Slime King that remained after he’d killed the Emperor was quite troublesome to handle with just his claws, and though he avoided taking damage, in part thanks to his dodge boots, he had to rely on the howl a lot to get the slime to stop moving so he could tear it apart. The howl also cost 25 Mana to use, but it was clear his passive regeneration was stronger than usual, so he recovered it within 10-15 seconds. While it took longer to defeat the boss this way, he did discover that he could slice off the king’s flesh and expose the cores, allowing him to remove them without triggering its splitting effect. The end result was that he ended up with 33 cores, despite the one he’d destroyed in the first Wave.

The upgrades for the Beast were quite interesting, three of them being the standard fare, but the other three representing the more beastly aspects of his transformation with Leap, Howl, and Bite upgrades.

< < Upgrades Selected > >

< Leap (Uncommon) — Increases leap distance by 10% >

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

< Claw Speed (Rare) — Increases claw attack speed by 35% >

< Howl (Uncommon) — Increases howl effectiveness by 10% >

< Claw Growth (Uncommon) — Increases claw length by 30% >

< Claw Damage (Epic) — Increases claw damage by 25% >

He’d been offered the Bite upgrade to increase his biting attack damage, but he wasn’t planning on using that, since attacking with his teeth would make him extremely vulnerable to a blow to the head, which would surely kill him.

His choice of evolutions was between a dark-red claw with curved talons and a dark-grey claw with slightly wider talons.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Monster — Devouring a corpse imbues you with a fraction of its power for 1 minute >

< Shifter — Channel Mana into a part of your body to briefly increase its power >

Devouring corpses… The name is certainly accurate.

“How does the Shifter effect work? Can I channel Mana into my claws to hit harder? Or into my legs to leap further and run faster?”

[Correct. However, you must channel Mana into specific body parts. You cannot simply choose a region of your body, such as your legs. It would only work on your right leg for example, meaning you would have to channel into both legs simultaneously.]

“Which would reduce the effectiveness, since I wouldn’t be able to charge them up as much as if I focused on just one limb.”

[Correct.]

“What is meant by the Monster’s effect when it says ‘a fraction of power’?” he asked. “Like, what would’ve happened if I used it to eat a slime’s body? Also, when it says devour, how much exactly do I have to eat?”

[In your example, devouring a slime would make you resistant to corrosive effects and add corrosive damage to your attacks. As for the limit to how much you are required to devour until the effect takes hold, it is not based on the creature’s body mass, but rather the size of your stomach.]

In other words, I’ll have to eat my fill…

Cool… Definitely not picking that.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Beast => Shifter >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

From the Relic Chest, Adam got the Green Slime Glove. With four options and a guaranteed rarity upgrade from beating the final Wave within 50 seconds, he was basically ensured he would get at least one Rare to show up, which was handy.

Interestingly, as the glove transformed his hand into slime, it retained its claw shape, which meant he now had a permanent acid upgrade to his attacks.

Beast makes gloves quite a lot more useful, since my hands are my weapons.

He went to Interim Island with 33 cores, both of the secrets, and 2510 Points.

Luvicidix had apparently learnt his MO by now, since she did not show up when he arrived in the centre of the island.

Adam asked the Eye how many survivors were left as he leapt up onto a roof and ran on all fours along the top of the wonky houses. They didn’t look like thrown-together playdough this time around, which is why its answer didn’t come completely out of nowhere, though it still stopped him in his tracks.

[410 million Players survived Stage One.]

That’s not a good sign.

He continued onto the Market where he sold his cores and got 3300 Points in return, then he went back to the centre where Luvicidix finally showed up.

“Did you really end your last loop by yourself?” she asked, clearly appalled.

“What worth is there in staying in a universe that’s doomed?” he replied. “All my friends were dead. And my power lets me just come back to the start regardless of where or how I die. I’m better off traversing across universes until I find one I actually want to give a proper go at.”

“That is a very bizarre way to treat your own life,” she remarked. “Normally, time-loopers I meet are all focused on avoiding injury and damage, treating their lives as highly precious.”

“Wait, are you responsible for the other time-loopers too? I thought we each got a copy of you to deal with.”

“It doesn’t work like you think,” she answered vaguely. “Regardless, I think you should cease your strategy before the All-Seeing System gets upset.”

“The System can go fuck itself,” he replied bluntly. “I am using the power at my disposal as best as I can.”

“Well, it is not for me to adjudicate, but I thought I should at least warn you.”

“Thanks, but I don’t need to hear it,” he said.

“Understood. Now, would you like to buy my upgrades?”

Adam nodded. “Show me.”

< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 25% — 2500 Points >

< Mana — Increase Mana by 10 — 1000 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 4 Saved Relic Slots — 1610/5000 Points >

< Scale of Remembrance — 25000 Points >

“I’ll buy Damage and Rerolls, and put the last into Relic Saving.”

“Excellent spread!” she praised him.

I do want to get the Scale, but it’s too expensive to justify while I still have other more worthwhile things to invest in.

< < Meta Upgrades Unlocked > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 25% >

< Rerolls — Start every loop with 1 Reroll Dice >

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 4 Saved Relic Slots — 2420/5000 Points >

“Can I upgrade Damage and Rerolls further?” Adam asked.

“You can,” Luvicidix replied. “These are the next tiers.”

< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 50% — 5000 Points >

< Rerolls — Start every loop with 2 Reroll Dice — 2500 Points >

Might be worth boosting Mana next.

But I’d really like to get Relic Saving up to Legendary rank, since that would allow me to send back two Rares or something like Alepheria’s Mandate, opening up a lot of future possibilities.

With all his Points spent, Adam finally went to the Tavern, bracing himself for what was to come.

He ordered a Wagyu steak and some beer as Charlie met him by the entrance, since he was craving meat for some reason.

As he sat down, he thought he had to give the Tavern his commands again, but his previous queries seemed to carry over now. It was as if the System had bent its rules again for his benefit.

The result was that this universe’s time-looper appeared on the other side of the table the moment his butt touched the stool. He also had the coloured dots above his head and the red X.

It was someone new this time, and though Adam had never seen the guy before, he matched one of the descriptions that Emelia had given him to look out for.

“Show me Alexander Nova,” Adam told the Eye, just to make sure.

[You are already viewing this Player.]

So this is ‘Nova’, huh?

He looked like a quarterback, his body all shoulders and muscle with a neck like a tree trunk and a head that might survive a direct hit from a cannonball. His hair was golden-brown, puffed out, and parted down the middle. It was slightly long, covering his ears, but it didn’t touch his shoulders. He had large round eyes that were a piercing purple, and he looked quite approachable somehow.

Looks are probably deceiving, given how badly things are already going in this universe…

Although Emelia said he was a nice guy.

Adam kept tabs on him while he ran through his list of friends and other notables.

Everyone were gone except James and his son Benjamin, as well as Lenard. Neither Adam’s sister nor her husband had survived either.

James gets to be with his son, at least. Shame it’s in such a shit universe.

Lenard looked much the same as in the previous two loops and Adam didn’t hold any hopes for being able to befriend the guy.

Even if I find the perfect thing to say to him to introduce myself, he doesn’t look like he’d want to talk to anyone.

Lenard was just sitting there, staring into his beer, his eyes darkened by loss.

Adam glanced towards Alexander Nova. The time-looper was laughing while talking to someone.

No marble in sight.

Fuck it.

What do I really have to lose here?

“Hey, Nova,” Adam said, catching the guy’s attention.

The time-looper’s eyes flicked to him. He seemed to pause for a moment. Then he turned back to whoever he was talking to and said, “Sorry, I’ve gotta talk to someone else real quick. I’ll get back to you in a bit.”

“How many people have you sacrificed to Nwetrou?” Adam asked when he had Nova’s full attention, not bothering to sugarcoat his interrogation.

The time-looper frowned. “I haven’t sacrificed anyone who didn’t deserve it.”

“Then why is the survival rate in your universe so shit?” Adam demanded to know.

The time-looper narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”

“I’m just passing through,” he answered.

“I’ve never seen anyone else get all the achievements for Stage One,” Nova remarked. “You’re a time-traveller too?”

“Something like that.”

“To answer your question, I inherited this timeline. I don’t know what you mean about my universe, but I do know that there are a lot of people who are gone who shouldn’t have been. My predecessor told me as much.”

“Who came before you?”

“Souleyman.”

That name again…

“What’s his full name?” Adam asked.

“I have no idea, actually,” Nova said. “But he told me that the guy who came before him, Ilya Sokolov, was responsible for permanently erasing many people from our timeline.”

“I know the guy,” Adam replied.

“How many normally survive Stage One?” Nova asked, genuinely seeming like he wanted to know.

“Most I’ve seen was over 600 million. Usually its just above that or slightly below if there haven’t been a lot of sacrifices. All the top Players are gone from your universe though.”

“Souleyman warned me about the power of the Abyssal Tooth,” Nova said. “He told me it had far-reaching consequences. I didn’t listen. I used it once to get rid of someone bad. The things he did…” Nova sighed. “Anyway. The following loop, 2 million less people survived Stage One.”

That explains why some worlds have been super low in survivors, but still, this is the worst I’ve seen so far.

“Would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?” Nova asked. “It’s my first time meeting another time-looper since Souleyman went through the Gate of Nihility. I’ve also always wanted to know how the Beast works.”

Adam grinned. “Sure, why not. I’ll tell you what I know. In exchange, I want some information too.”

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--Encyclopaedia---
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Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Six

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--Encyclopaedia---
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I'm working on 97, but I don't know if it'll be up today or tomorrow.

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Chapter Ninety-Six

Adam told Willow everything he knew to prepare her for the Goblin Village. Even though she had a grim expression when he described the best way to kill the goblins, he knew she was a fighter. When they parted ways, she promised she would practice against the target dummy as much as possible to get used to her sword and shield.

While Adam was worried, he remained hopeful that she’d be fine. If she could get enough Points to be able to afford switching weapons again after the Stage, then there was a good chance she might get the bow. She would be behind in terms of upgrades and Relics, but it was a small price to pay for survival.

As he walked back to the Player House, he felt a weird mix of feelings in his chest. He had already resigned himself to this universe not panning out, but his friend was here, and he owed her so much, even if she might never know it.

In the end, Helena had never showed up at the Tavern, though Adam constantly checked to see that she was still alive.

If she survived the first Stage, she might survive the second.

But I really wish I could’ve seen her.

He’d tried talking to Lenard as well, but no sooner had Adam struck up a conversation with him under the pretence of the Brawler weapon he’d picked than the guy had just got up and left the Tavern.

It’s like this universe is cursed.

Though I suppose it’s not the first one that’s this bad.

When he got to the house, Yenna the wasp musician was waiting outside. She obviously couldn’t remember anything about him, but she’d nevertheless agreed to come sing him a lullaby.

As he walked up to the door, the Glass Acorn he’d been carrying lifted up out of his pocket and planted itself in the grass near the apple tree and the little slime that appeared after the first Stage. For some reason, Finnian, the special slime denizen he’d been awarded for perfecting the Magical Forest, hung upside-down from a branch with his arms slumped against the ground. The little slime kept bumping into him.

“Adam, have you brought me cores?” Finnian asked in his strange ASMR whisper of a voice.

“Already sold them,” he replied and went through the door, holding it open for Yenna to follow him in.

Annoyingly, Finnian slipped through the opening just as he was about to shut it.

“Mind if I use your bathtub?” Finnian asked.

Adam massaged the bridge of his nose. “Why?”

“Even slimes get dirty. We pick up a lot of detritus when we move about, you see.”

“Are you going to leave when you’re done?” Adam asked.

“Do you not want me here because I don’t look like a wasp?” Finnian replied.

Adam frowned. “That’s not…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the white humanoid slime shaped itself into a pretty good replica of Yenna.

“Now I am a wasp as well and I can stay,” Finnian said.

Instead of getting offended or annoyed at the mockery of her appearance, Yenna simply spun her magical instrument around in her hands, turning it from a flute into a small drum that looked Japanese and had ropes that she grasped with her other hand. She struck it once and it produced a strange sound unlike anything Adam had ever really heard before.

Instantly, Finnian’s body lost all rigidity, turning into a puddle on the floor of the house.

“My body!” he exclaimed in horror.

“This is a private party, so scram slime spawn,” Yenna hissed at him.

Finnian was somehow still able to move as a puddle, and he quickly escaped by going under the front door and disappearing out into the garden.

“I had no idea you could do that,” Adam said in surprise.

“Don’t underestimate the power of the right melody,” Yenna replied. “Now, am I singing you a lullaby or what?”

When Adam awoke in the Goblin Village, he was moving the second his eyes opened, telling the Eye to skip the buffer period before the first Wave.

With the Hardmode still active, the two goblins that appeared were armoured. But Adam knew all the spots their bone defences didn’t cover, and his axe chopped into their necks and heads in a rapid flurry of motion, killing the two green club-wielding goblins within just a few seconds of their arrival. Adam collected Weaver’s cocoon from the hut with the hole in the floor in the interim, as well as the ears of the two he’d slain.

He continued into the next Wave, dealing with the first blue spear-wielding goblin before it could even react, and managing to get the second just as it was about to swing. The third and last of the Wave was a bit more trouble though, as it put its spear to good use and dodged one of his attacks to strike its head. But then he turned its weapon into firewood and smacked the back of his axe-head into its skull with enough force to kill it.

After collecting the ears, he started the third Wave early, flying down through the village to the two raised platforms upon which the archers stood. He activated his Duellist’s Glove and chopped right through one of the trees holding up a platform, crashing it down onto two of the green goblins and disabling the yellow archer atop it. Then he hurried up the other one and dealt with the archer there quickly, before hopping back down, landing on the last two club-wielders as they tried to get up to him, killing one with his body weight and chopping the head off the other. With a confident stride, he reached the downed archer, killing it with a single hit.

He once again collected all the ears, but this time he also took a moment to clean his axe-head and handle, since they were slick with blood.

Adam knew he was playing it pretty fast and loose, but he didn’t have that much to lose in this universe, and it was making him reckless. Still, it was worth it for the extra Points, and the Woodsman certainly benefitted from blitz tactics. And besides, he’d gotten three upgraded rewards so far, so it was hard to argue with the results.

Since he wanted to be able to use his glove in the last Wave against the boss, Adam didn’t hurry through the wait before Wave Four, instead letting it pass by normally.

When it started, he sprinted down the open space in the forest past the village, running down the archer, two spearmen, and four club-wielders. The yellow goblin clearly panicked, because its first shot went wide and he easily dodged the second. Then it was dead, its neck hacked open.

Again, the blue goblins gave him trouble, and while they dodged out of the way of his attacks, the green ones tried to mob him, forcing him to deal with them. He managed to block a club aimed at his knee, and a little after, when all four green goblins were dead, he deflected a thrust at his groin, sending the spear sliding between his thigh and left hand without touching him.

That’s certainly not the way I’d like to go out, he thought with a grimace.

Once the spear-wielders were dead too, the Eye announcement revealed he hadn’t been quite fast enough to get the upgraded reward.

This Wave always gives me trouble…

Adam waited out the interim again, since his glove still needed more time to finish its cooldown.

The moment the final Wave started, he sprinted down through the tunnels, avoiding all the ambushes that lay in wait on the way. Once he reached the final chamber with the Hobgoblin, he pulled off his crown and threw it at his feet where he sat on his throne of bones. While the boss went through his transformation, Adam ran into the room adjoined to the chamber, finding Belamouranthe kneeling on the smelly weeds in there.

“Have thee come to aid me?” she asked.

“Definitely,” he told her. “Just give me a second.”

He grabbed the Lucky Stone before returning to the boss chamber just as the Hobgoblin turned into a Lord by putting on the crown.

The moment the Secret Boss announcement arrived, Adam finished charging his Duellist’s Glove and swung his axe at the boss’ neck. Thanks to the Relic’s special property, his blade moved through the bone armour protecting the Hobgoblin like it was just smoke, and it even sheared his spinal column, sending the boss’ head flying into the ceiling before bouncing down onto the seat of the throne.

The six green goblins from the tunnels had come into the chamber just as he killed their leader, and the sight made them all pause long enough for Adam to kill three of them. But then the remaining three suddenly went feral and psychotic, forcing him to take defensive manoeuvres and carefully strike them down one by one.

He let out a sigh of relief when they were finally dead, his axe-head dripping blood onto the ground.

Thanks to switching to Gram’s stats, he had an abundance of Stamina, and it was only really now he felt any sort of exhaustion looming.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 15 seconds.]

That charged attack worked incredibly well.

I guess you can’t really survive a lethal strike if it removes your head. Good to know.

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

< < Score > >

< 90 Seconds Completion Time >

< 500 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 400 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 250 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 3790 Points Awarded >

I did all that in just 80 seconds??

3790 Points is quite the accomplishment too. I really doubt I can do it much better than that, though maybe if I find a way to clear Wave Four a bit faster, but that’s only a difference of a few dozen Points in the end.

Belamouranthe came out of the side room and into the chamber as the Relic Chest appeared and the Eye unfolded into an upgrade podium. One of the options from the chest were new to him. It looked like a pair of wooden clogs with small metal spikes underneath.

< < Relics Available > >

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

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

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

< Skittish Skaters (Rare) — Dodge the next attack aimed at you. 90-second cooldown >

Adam looked at the Potion Belt intently.

I might have been able to block one of that Voidspawn’s attacks if I’d actually used the belt defensively at the time.

He thought back to that moment, losing himself in the memory of Emelia’s gruesome death.

There’s no way it would have worked, he concluded. Even if it’s possible, I wouldn’t have had the reflexes to pull it off.

He picked the Skittish Skaters, both because they were new to him, but also because the ability seemed useful.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Skittish Skaters (Rare) >

Then he went through and picked his upgrades. From the entire Stage, these were the six upgrades he ended up with:

< < Upgrades Selected > >

< Impact (Uncommon) — Increases the power behind attacks by 10% >

< Axe Speed (Epic) — Increases axe attack speed by 50% >

< Axe Damage (Uncommon) — Increases axe damage by 10% >

< Impact (Common) — Increases the power behind attacks by 5% >

< Block (Rare) — Increases block effectiveness by 15% >

< Deflect (Uncommon) — Increases deflect effectiveness by 10% >

Adam once again reached an evolution milestone as his axe hit level 12, and finally the evolution he’d been waiting for appeared.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Huntsman — Gain a Bear Trap Relic >

< Predator — Turn the blade into blood-drinking metal that can track any creature whose blood it has imbibed >

The Huntsman axe was the same as what he already had, but next to its hologram was the bear trap. The weapon for Predator was like something that belonged to a cruel vampire as its axe-head was pulled down into a deeper and more brutal curve at the front, and a spike poked out at the other end that’d been blunt before. A round red jewel was embedded into the middle of the blade, which had turned a dark-grey, and it looked almost like the eye of a serpent.

Still, even though Predator surely had some interesting uses, Huntsman was the one he wanted.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Forester => Huntsman >

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

Now I can start focusing on getting affliction-based upgrades to really take advantage of this.

He quickly inspected the Relic after it appeared on his belt in a miniature version.

< < Relic > >

< Bear Trap (Common) — Inflicts 100% Player damage to anyone who triggers the trap, along with the Trapped affliction, marking the target until their health is restored to full. 2-minute cooldown >

Adam had once again sacrificed his shirt to carry the trophies, but since he’d gotten Weaver’s cocoon, his impropriety would only last a short while. And besides, he’d gotten 23 ears, so even though they were disgusting and soiled his white shirt, all he really saw them as were a boatload of Points.

The Eye transported him back to Interim Island, and though Luvicidix paused time to say hi, he told her he’d be back after selling his wares and ran off to the Market. It was fortunate that the price he could get in exchange for cores and trophies still remained at 100, since it hadn’t been a sure thing, due to Lucca obviously forgetting him when he looped. But it seemed that the special denizen quests were the triggers for the value rising, so he didn’t need to fear losing his 30% increased earnings, since Finnian and Migraine weren’t going anywhere.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Goblin Ear (Common) x23 >

< 6610 Points Remaining >

Excellent.

His arrival to the Market had also summoned Weaver, who he dropped by to visit so that he could order a free replacement shirt delivered to his house.

I should also check on the lighthouse, Adam realised.

There hadn’t been any announcements or alerts about it, but he thought it might finally have evolved.

Belamouranthe had, like every time before, followed him to the silk-weaving spider’s stall. She was already busy describing the dress she’d like to have made.

A dark part of Adam’s mind wondered what Stage Six would look like if he didn’t save her, but his curiosity was not worth permanently losing her, and he felt guilty to even have considered it for a second.

He left her in the Market as he returned to the centre of the island. Sylvia passed him on the way, and he almost stopped to buy one of her permanent spells but ultimately decided against it for the moment.

Adam spent another 5,000 Points with Luvicidix, getting his Relic Saving up to the third tier.

< < Meta Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 3 Saved Relic Slots >

Think that’s a good place to leave it for now, he decided and saved his remaining 1610 Points.

After she took off into the clouds again, he went to the Tavern, eager to hear how Willow had fared and hoping his sister was still alive.

On the way he asked the Eye how many had survived.

[434 million Players survived Stage Two.]

More than my third loop, but way less than my fourth.

When Adam made it to the Tavern, he sat down on a stool, transforming it into a lounge chair by habit, and said, “Show me Willow Martin.”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

“No!” he yelled in frustration and slammed the table.

A few seats down, Haoyang sat like an immovable rock, purple eyes scanning his surroundings with a cold and calculated gaze.

He thought about challenging the time-looper, since he had enough Mastery Shards to afford the Challenge Stone. But then he remembered his sister.

“Show me Helena Fischer.”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

Damn it!

Fuck this fucking universe!

“Show me Lenard Schulz.”

The German appeared almost directly opposite him. He had two beer bottles next to him and was absentmindedly scraping his thumb against the edge of his weapon, a large terrifying axe. It was part of the Berserker’s kit, Adam realised. He had clearly swapped his weapons after Stage Two.

Then he saw the coloured dots above Lenard’s head. He had obtained the Flawless and Speedrun bonuses.

“Lenard,” Adam said, addressing his friend.

The German policeman turned to regard him. He had a dark look in his eyes, like he wasn’t really there.

Then he vanished.

He just fucking blocked me…

Adam kicked his chair away as he stood up and marched out of the Tavern.

He returned to the island’s centre and yelled into the sky for the white moth.

It took her a moment, but then her scales started orbiting him, freezing the Eye in place.

“Three times in a day. You must be really into me,” Luvicidix teased.

“Put my remaining Points into Relic Saving,” he told her, not bothering to play along.

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 4 Saved Relic Slots — 1610/5000 Points >

“Excellent choice,” she commented, but Adam had already left to go to the Player House, while unequipping his Skittish Skaters.

Once he got inside the house, he put the boots into the Relic Saving chest. Because he had increased the meta upgrade they weren’t rejected, unlike when he’d tried with the Cruel Summoner’s Gloves.

< < Relic Saving Activated > >

< 1 item >

< Skittish Skaters (Rare) >

He cast a glance across the wall of Stage awards he’d gotten. There was a new black one for Stage One, given to him by the Hardmode completion, although there hadn’t been any tangible reward to accompany it, besides the doubling of Stage Points.

After leaving the Player House, he went to the lighthouse, crawling inside to check on the brazier.

< < Secret Relic > >

< First Light’s Brazier (Uncommon) — Grows for 2 Stages >

It reset…

I have to beat four Stages in a row to evolve it, I guess.

Next time, maybe.

Once he left the flame, Adam went north, coming to a stop on the edge of the island. Clouds floated past below and above.

The sight reminded him of Stage Seven.

I wish I could’ve stayed in that world with Emelia for longer.

Pretending to be a pirate was a lot of fun, even if we caused our own mutiny through sheer pig-headed stupidity.

He sat down on the edge, continuing to look at the clouds.

[If you fall off Interim Island, you will die.]

“That’s kind of the point, asshole.”

[If you die, all of your loved ones die too.]

“I know you’re lying. My sister’s dead and I’m still here aren’t I?”

The Eye went on, clearly trying to stop him. [If you are dead, who will save your family?]

“Can you just shut the fuck up?”

[Understood.]

Adam sighed.

This is harder than I thought it would be.

Sorry Willow.

I couldn’t keep my promise.

Adam slowly leaned forward.

Then his body left solid ground.

Within moments, he passed through one of the clouds he’d been watching from above.

< < ADAM > >

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--Encyclopaedia---
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Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Five

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--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Working on ch. 96 already, should probably be up tomorrow.

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Chapter Ninety-Five

Adam looked at the first friend he’d made in the Trials of Defiance.

She looked slightly different from back then, since her brown hair hung down freely instead of being tied up in a ponytail like the other times he’d seen her. It didn’t take him long to realise she had picked the Summoner weapon type.

It’s a wonder she survived the first Stage with the wand.

In front of her was a strawberry milkshake, which gave Adam a strange pang of nostalgia and sadness.

Starting over from scratch really sucks…

He already knew that he couldn’t make his perfect loop happen in this universe, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t at least gather more knowledge about the Trials and the people who had been his friends.

Although it feels awful to build up relationships that I know won’t last, and treating people like they’re just study material for future loops is clearly wrong…

Adam sighed and kept an eye on Willow for a while longer. She didn’t have any bonuses, and based on her hunched shoulders and pinched face, she probably hadn’t fared well.

How do I talk to her without making her think I’m a stalker like last time? he wondered.

Also, what the hell was that even about?

As Willow leaned in to take a sip of her milkshake, Adam saw the Slime Ring on her hand.

She was lucky to receive that.

Adam took a deep breath.

Alright, here we go.

He focused on her and said, “Hello. Do you have a second?”

Willow jumped in her seat, her hair swishing around as she looked at him.

Before she could take charge and block him, he continued, “I saw the Slime Ring in the Market, but I wanted to see how it worked first. When I told Shitbox to show me a Player who understood how it works, you popped up.”

“Oh,” she said. “I don’t know it that well. I haven’t practised with it much.”

“What’s your weapon?” Adam asked. “I got an axe. It worked well for chopping up the slimes.”

“I got a wand, and something called the Wraith Lantern. That item is the only reason why I survived. The wand is really difficult to use, and I haven’t been able to find anything to get more Mana. I ran out twice during the Stage, and it nearly killed me both times.”

“Do you have Points left?” Adam asked. “You would be better off getting a different weapon from the Market. A Common one is only 500 Points. You can sell your Slime Ring if you don’t have enough to afford it.”

Willow looked at the Relic on her finger.

“I don’t know,” she muttered uncertainly.

“A bow or something else might work better for you,” he said, trying to push her in the right direction. He wasn’t sure why, but she seemed to favour the bow the most out of all the weapons.

Her eyes lit up. “They have bows?”

“They do. I saw one when I went there.”

“I haven’t spent my Points yet,” she said. “I got 375 from beating the Stage, but I didn’t know you could sell items like this ring.”

Only 375… I think I got 425 or something my very first time through, and that was a really rough run. Maybe she ran out of time on several waves or something. Summoner only has 50 Health and 75% Defence, but that should be enough to survive a glancing blow, although a direct hit would’ve killed her, so she must’ve at least been able to avoid taking a lot of damage.

“I will go check,” Willow told him and left the Tavern.

While Adam waited for her to return, he went through his list of people to see who else had survived in this universe. A dark thought occurred to him when he discovered that Anri Tsiklauri aka Mórrígan, Alexander Nova, Arturo Molina, Ilya Sokolov, and Hiroshi Sakurai were all gone.

The only reason why Willow wasn’t eliminated is because she isn’t a threat in this universe.

It was a depressingly-straightforward equation that most time-loopers went through it seemed. Even though they had made it to the end and obtained the Self-devouring Eye from the Singing City in Stage Twenty-One, they were so concerned with losing access to this power that they always eliminated the other Players who made it that far. After all, they had to keep acquiring the Relic to continue looping back to the start, unlike Adam who looped on death. But as a consequence of this selfishness, beating the Trials became so much harder, at least according to what Emelia had speculated and what Arturo had told her before handing over the power to her.

The twenty-second Stage, apparently accessed through the Gate of Nihility found in the Singing City, was beyond the point that any time-looper could go, Emelia had said. And she guessed that since she’d been allowed to loop then Arturo had failed to complete the Trials.

But Adam had a different idea about that, though he hadn’t told her.

It’s more likely that using the Divine Relic and looping back to the start is resetting the universe to the beginning of the Trials, or creating a new ‘layer’ that would be unaffected by anyone beating this sick game. If Emelia looped on the same attempt that Arturo beat the Trials, it’s possible that she went and created a new dimensional layer to the universe in which that event hasn’t happened yet.

In essence, it would trap the time-looper in the Trials, even if someone were to beat the final Stage, whichever number it may be…

As Adam thought more deeply about it, he found that the layer theory made a depressing amount of sense.

After all, time-loopers must grow so incredibly powerful by the end that they should be able to beat whatever comes next. I don’t believe the Trials would be truly unbeatable, since why even have rules and ‘fairness’ to begin with, unless the objective is only to harvest our despair, which I suppose can’t be entirely ruled out.

But if that’s the case, then I’m screwed I think.

If my looping power operates similarly to how I believe the Divine Relic works, then every time I die I go to a new universe and advance up another layer, making the odds of finding a ‘perfect’ universe slimmer with every loop…

And further, if this layer theory is true, then the first loop I remember wouldn’t actually have been my first at all. After all, when I arrived in the third loop, quite a lot of loops had already happened, based on how powerful and in control Mórrígan seemed to be. Similarly, many loops had already passed in the universe where Emelia was the time-looper, based on how many times I saw the same events within the Scale of Remembrance.

Adam was absentmindedly curling his hands into fists while his mind worked.

I’m dealing with universes here though, and if they’re infinite, or even near-infinite, then there has to be more than one where nobody has been sacrificed to Nwetrou by some power-hungry time-looper.

The real question though is, what happens if I end up in a universe without a time-looper?

If I am in layer 100 and I enter a universe that has had a time-looper since layer 30, then what will I find?

Will I even find anything?

All this thinking was giving him a headache and making his heart pound in his chest, shaking his body with its powerful beat.

Thankfully, Charlie arrived with his croissant and milkshake, and it helped dislodge him from the spiral of pessimistic conjecture.

There I go, doing the thing I said I wouldn’t do…

Adam decided to continue through his list.

He couldn’t find Gladwyn and Beck by searching their nicknames, and going through the people who matched their descriptions, as well as those Players with bonuses or who had discovered secrets, turned up nothing. Likewise, James Kvarnström hadn’t survived either, though his son Benjamin had, which was tragic. Even though Adam had only known James for Stage Seven and the Tavern afterwards, he considered him a friend.

I wonder if using the Abyssal Tooth on someone affects other people too somehow. I’m guessing it does, given how many fewer people were in Mórrígan’s universe compared to this one.

Lenard Schulz was alive in this universe, but he looked much like in the previous one. It was clear that, unlike the first time Adam had met him, he had been quick to discover what happened to his wife and child.

That made him think about his own immediate family. He was ashamed to leave them for last in his search, but a pathetic part of him was also terrified of finding out they were fine and feeling the need to stay in this unsalvageable loop just to keep them alive for as long as possible.

When he searched for his brother-in-law, he got the same message as so many times before.

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

But when he searched for Helena Fischer, he received a different response.

[This Player is not currently seated in the Tavern.]

Adam paused. She’s alive. My sister is alive!

“Highlight her for me when she gets to the Tavern!” Adam told the Eye.

[Understood.]

While Adam waited for Willow and Helena to get to the Tavern, he watched Haoyang.

Unlike Anri, and Emelia to some extent, he seemed a lot more put together. He was maybe similar to Hiroshi, although Adam hadn’t learnt much about the guy that’d killed him in the last loop, so the comparison was only surface-level.

After maybe ten minutes, wherein Haoyang hadn’t spoken to anyone a single time, the time-looper suddenly lifted a marble and pointed it at someone.

Then he vanished from his seat.

He just used the Challenge Stone!

“Who was Haoyang Sun just talking to!?” Adam demanded to know.

[I cannot say.]

Fuck.

Is he going to sacrifice another Player?? Just like that?

Wait…

“If I kill another Player using the Challenge Stone, do I get their Relics?”

[I cannot say.]

“Of course…”

Maybe he’s not going to sacrifice them to Nwetrou. Maybe he’s just going for a specific Relic that someone obtained, without caring about having to kill another person to get it. Although I suppose Skǫll does reward Players for bringing them the Soul Drops they obtain when they sacrifice someone.

I can’t remember exactly how much those Abyssal Gifts cost, but combined they were over at least 100 Soul Drops. That’s a lot of sacrifices.

“I’m back,” said a voice opposite him and Adam nearly jumped out of his seat.

He turned around to look at Willow.

“Did I surprise you?” she asked, a grin on her face. It was the first smile she’d shown him this loop.

“A little bit, yeah,” he admitted. “How did it go? Did you get the bow?”

Willow shook her head. “He didn’t have it in the selection, and after selling the Slime Ring I couldn’t afford to reroll the options. I ended up getting this instead.”

Willow hefted a sword and a shield.

Adam nodded. “That’s a safe choice. If you can get the Points for it, you should try and get the bow after the next Stage. Try to focus on only picking the upgrades that aren’t tied to the weapon, since those will persist even if you swap.”

Willow gave Adam a strange look. “You know a lot.”

“I’ve been talking to people while you were gone, and someone lost all their weapon upgrades when he swapped,” Adam lied.

“How did you know I prefer the bow?” she continued.

“You told me,” he replied a little too quickly. He hoped he didn’t sound like he’d been caught in a lie.

“Oh, right…” Willow replied, a guilty look on her face. Then she sighed. “Sorry. You’ve just been trying to help and I’m acting all suspicious.”

Your bullshit radar is quite on point though, he thought but didn’t say.

“Are you okay?” he asked, hoping she wouldn’t think he was prying, though he most definitely was. He really wanted to find out what the hell was going on with her, and why she’d called him a stalker last time.

“It’s really embarrassing,” she started.

“I won’t judge,” Adam said.

She smiled a little at that.

“I have practised archery for a really long time. I won a lot of competitions when I was a teen, and just kept training and training, even during my high school years when everyone else was busy partying and being kids. Australia has a really strong presence in archery during the Olympics, and after I finally went professional and got sponsors and everything, I managed to join and win bronze in the last Summer Olympic Games. But then I started to get these weird messages online. And my apartment was broken into once… I stopped going to competitions, because I’d always feel like someone was following me. I ended up moving back in with my parents after my sponsorships stopped. But it just didn’t help at all. Day after day I would get new disturbing messages. I threw away my smartphone and instead they started calling the landline to my house every night. After we unplugged it, they kept shoving letters under the door…”

“Holy shit,” Adam muttered.

“It was really bad. I thought that maybe this whole thing with the cubes and weird monsters would at least make it stop. I honestly felt kind of relieved. But then when I got to this Tavern, not even five minutes passed and then he was there, talking to me like he’d known me forever, and saying all these things like we belonged together and that he knew I loved him because I always looked at him during my competitions.”

Adam swallowed down the disgust he felt.

“He’d been following me ever since I was fourteen… I never even knew. But a lot of the fan letters I responded to back then… They were from him.”

She looked like she might throw up, or have a panic attack, or both.

“Did you block him here? You can do that,” Adam told her.

Willow nodded. “I did.”

“What’s his name?” he asked.

“Felix Kelly.”

When I find the perfect universe, I’ll make sure this guy isn’t in it.

“Thank you for telling me about it,” he said. “I’m really sorry all that happened to you.”

Willow smiled weakly. “I haven’t ever told anyone before. Only my parents and brothers knew about this. None of them are here now though…”

“If you want, I can tell you my deepest darkest secret in return,” Adam offered.

Willow laughed. “That’s okay. I don’t really enjoy those kinds of conversations to be honest. But it does feel good to finally talk about this with someone.”

“Well, the offer stands if you change your mind,” he replied.

“Thank you,” she said. “How did your first Stage go? Was the axe any good?”

“It went well,” he replied honestly. “I didn’t take any damage, so I got extra Points.”

Adam didn’t tell her about the other bonuses, since he’d learnt from Emelia that it was best to not expose people to more risk than they could manage, even if she’d been incredibly tight with some information because of this way of thinking.

“I hope my new weapons will be good in the next Stage,” Willow remarked.

“They should be,” he replied. “We’ll be going up against goblins.”

“Really? How did you find that out?”

“Someone told me. Apparently they have a way to see future Stages,” he lied.

“What’s a goblin like?” she asked.

“Like a short human with a big head.”

“Are they hairy?”

“Imagine a 50-year-old Italian plumber and you’re on the right track.”

Willow laughed.

“If you want, I can tell you what happens in Stage Two,” Adam offered.

-----------------------------

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Four

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

I've been a bit sick lately, but I should have ch. 95 up tomorrow.

-----------------------------

Chapter Ninety-Four

< < Weapon Type Selected > >

< Axe >

< Common >

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Woodsman >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 150 >

< Stamina — 100 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 110% >

< Defence — 100% >

< Speed — 100% >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

That’s a very solid spread, Adam mused as the weapon appeared in his hands. It had a light-brown wooden handle that was about a metre long, and the head at the end was made of dark metal with the majority of its blade curving down.

He had picked it because of what Emelia had told him about its Huntsman evolution that gave a special trap Relic, but also because he remembered talking to Mori Toshio, who was the first person to tell him about the sword trapped inside the tree.

This time I won’t fuck up.

The first step should be to find out who, if any, is the time-looper in this new universe, and then I should block them so that they can’t see me. If they can’t see me, then they can’t mark me with the Challenge Stone.

He thought about how even Emelia had possessed the item and threatened him with it.

I will find her.

He wanted to find all his friends. And given the new chance in this universe, he was hoping to lay the foundations for an ideal perfect loop. A loop in which all the people he’d met would be there and where they could work together to defy the All-Seeing System and its Trials.

But that’s probably naïve.

I still don’t fully understand the implications of looping, but I fear that every new loop makes the odds of finding a universe without a homicidal time-looper harder and harder.

Adam hefted his axe as he strode towards the spot the first enemies would appear from. The Hardmode was still active from the last loop, since it operated on a toggle system for some reason.

Something Adam realised as he chopped through the jelly flesh of the slimes, safely excavating their cores and killing them, was that his muscle memory was retained across loops. But not just that, it was like he became surer of his movements too.

It may be that the upgrades to my Speed, Damage, and other stats are affecting my mind, but when I loop the effect doesn’t go away.

It wasn’t that he dealt more damage or swung faster, in fact it was noticeably worse than before since the axe had very balanced stats. Instead it was just like his body retained those impossible to quantify elements that belonged to increased stats, such as the quickened reflexes that followed a growth in Speed, or the improved posture and swing optimisation that came from Damage. Added on top of the fundamental weapon knowledge simply touching a new weapon imbued, it was making him a far more proficient fighter.

It may be a good idea to pump up my stats as much as possible to take full advantage of this nebulous effect should I need to loop again.

Unsurprisingly, he managed to beat the first Wave fast enough to get his upgrade rewards to go up a tier.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Axe Growth (Uncommon) — Increases axe size by 30% >

< Deflect (Rare) — Increases deflect effectiveness by 15% >

< Venom (Rare) — Attacks inflict venom slowing target by 15% for 10 seconds >

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

The axe has access to deflection? Odd.

But it doesn’t seem like it’s the same as the one from the Hoplite and Opportunist which stuns when successfully parrying.

Adam looked down at his weapon. It moved a lot faster than what he’d expected, since movies and games always portrayed axes as slow, unless they were dual-wielded. He figured that deflection would be quite difficult, since the blade was relatively small compared to a sword’s. And in terms of fighting other armed opponents, the axe lacked the sort of protections swords offered with their cross-guards. In short, the axe was actually a finesse weapon, though it offered quite generous power.

I think I want to start gathering as many Mastery Shards as I can, so I’ll focus on evolving the weapon. I already have 3, but I need 5 more for the Visiting Stone.

Bleed and Venom will be good upgrades once I get the Woodsman to level 12 and unlock the bear trap Relic.

He climbed the tree to get the Glass Acorn, something he’d become quite adept at already, and then went back down to the ground, beginning to chop into the large tree.

“Select Deflect when there is 1 second remaining,” he told the Eye that was unfolded nearby.

[Understood.]

He only managed to get four good hits in before the next Wave started.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Deflect (Rare) >

He continued through the Stage, collecting all the intact cores he could, while focusing on clearing the waves quickly enough to get higher-tier upgrades. Between the Waves he chopped at the tree as fast as he could, managing to knock it down before the start of the third Wave. He pulled out Gram from within, and this time it didn’t turn to ash in his hands.

< < Second Sheath Activated > >

< Would you like to swap to the Mythical Hero Weapon Type? >

“Show me its stats compared to Woodsman,” he told the Eye.

< Mythical Hero compared to Woodsman >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 200 (+50) >

< Stamina — 200 (+100) >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 100% >

< Defence — 50% (-50%) >

< Speed — 100% >

Yeah, that’s a lot better. The reduced Defence won’t matter that much since I’m pretty sure I can breeze through the early Stages and raise it by the time I reach the Forbidden Altar. And 200 Health is quite a lot, so even if I do get hit it’s not the end.

“I’ll swap.”

In the third Stage he realised how weak the purple slimes were to the chopping power of his axe, and he easily opened them up and removed their cores without issue. Although he possessed the Secret Weapon, he relied on the axe instead, since he still felt like he had a way to go to truly understanding how best to utilise it in a fight.

However, when he got to the final Wave, he swapped to the stone sword and used its Anvil Splitter skill to immediately kill the Slime Emperor after he’d evolved one of the two Slime Kings that appeared. Then he methodically dismantled the remaining boss and finished the Stage.

Adam ended up taking off his white shirt and using it to carry the many cores he’d extracted. He had been unable to get any out of the Slime King, but the Emperor had dropped four, putting him at a total of 30 cores, which was literally the perfect score.

I also won’t make the mistake of not selling and upgrading before I go to the Tavern, he told himself. I can’t believe how many Points I lost because of Hiroshi Sakurai…

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

< < Score > >

< 80 Seconds Completion Time >

< 400 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 300 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 150 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 2530 Points Awarded >

400 Points over last loop. It really is worth going for all the bonuses.

From the Relic Chest, the reward from which had gone up a rank, he got the following options:

< < Relics Available > >

< Bark Armour (Uncommon) — Increases Player Defence by 25%. Breaks after 5 hits >

< Scope of Insight (Rare) — Any target viewed through this Relic has their weaknesses laid bare >

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

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

Adam ended up selecting the Duellist’s Glove since it would work well with the weapon.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Duellist’s Glove (Rare) >

From the Wave upgrades, all of which had gone up a tier due to his speed, he selected the following:

< < Upgrades Selected > >

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

< Axe Speed (Epic) — Increases axe attack speed by 50% >

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

< Block (Rare) — Increases block effectiveness by 15% >

< Impact (Rare) — Increases the power behind attacks by 15% >

The axe had three quite surprising secondary upgrades, since it offered Block, Deflect, and Impact as options. Impact in particular seemed like it could be really strong, since it wasn’t just straight damage, but instead something like how deep that damage went into a target, based on his few test swings against the remains of the apple tree.

With the sixth upgrade he was also offered the chance to evolve his weapon.

[Your Woodsman Weapon Type has reached Level 6.]

[At Level 6, your Weapon Type can be evolved in one of two possible directions.]

The axe hologram that appeared to the right of the pyramid shape was slimmer and looked to be weighted more towards the centre of the handle, rather than towards the chopping head. Its blade was also silvery in colour.

The one on the left had a dark-green handle that was curved slightly to make it more ergonomic, and there was the symbol of a leaf engraved into the side of the axe-head.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Forester — Take 25% reduce damage from nature >

< Aggressor — Trade weapon finesse for throwing capabilities >

Emelia hadn’t mentioned which route he had to evolve along in order to get the Huntsman to show up, but Adam was certain it was Forester.

And besides, reduced damage from nature feels like it could have quite a broad application, while being able to throw my axe but having to give up Deflect, Block, and Impact feels like a terrible trade.

Just to make sure though, Adam asked his Eye to clarify what Forester’s effect entailed.

[The Forester takes less damage from all natural sources, whether they are creatures that call nature home, toxins, plants, traps, or other things related to the wild.]

Okay, that’s way broader than I anticipated.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Woodsman => Forester >

The axe with the dark-green handle and leaf engraving appeared in his hands, followed by the floating pyramid gem that manifested in the air and flew into his chest.

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

Then darkness spread out around him, and he was transported to Interim Island.

After greeting Luvicidix briefly, Adam ran to the Market to sell all his cores. He considered selling the Rusted Crown, but then realised he needed it to unlock the Secret Boss in Stage Two.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Slime Core (Common) x30 >

< 5520 Points Remaining >

Adam was grinning like he’d just gotten away with robbery in broad daylight as he hurried back to Luvicidix to spend all his Points.

“You look happy, all things considered,” the moth remarked.

Adam paused. “If I can’t celebrate the small victories, then I’ll literally go insane.”

Though I suppose I need to do something about the swirl of emotions in my head.

Ignoring them won’t make them go away.

But I can’t let myself be consumed by negativity.

If not for his mental endurance though, Adam would easily have cracked already. He hadn’t ever been any good at talking about his emotions with people, and in the past he’d built up a tolerance to tragedies, like when his father had lost all his memories following his brain surgery a few years back. He had made the conscious effort to block out all his fears and anxieties at the time, and that effort was still serving him now, though he knew it couldn’t last forever.

Even the strongest materials will eventually crack under enough pressure, and I’m certainly not as strong as I’d like to be.

But he also knew that everything he’d lost would eat away at him if he let it. All the friends he’d made, Emelia, his family, and his hard-fought progress. All of it was like smoke in his hands. He had a scant few upgrades from Luvicidix and Alivida that still persisted, along with his memories and improved physical awareness. But it wasn’t much.

Adam remembered how Willow had brushed him off during the fourth loop because he’d messed up the introductions.

Even if I do find the perfect universe, I could so easily screw things up…

But when I find such a place, I will follow Emelia’s guidance to the Self-devouring Eye and go back until all the stars align.

Beating the Trials of Defiance may very well demand perfection.

Even though I know that Divine Relic has got to be a trap.

Luvicidix poked Adam in the forehead.

“Hellooo?” she asked, concerned. “Are you going to just keep staring at me or will you buy something?”

Adam swallowed, blinking himself out of his reverie.

I hope this universe is the one.

He sighed. “Show me your upgrades.”

< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 25% — 2500 Points >

< Mana — Increase Mana by 10 — 1000 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 2 Saved Relic Slots — 5000 Points >

< Scale of Remembrance — 25000 Points >

“I’ll buy Relic Saving again,” he said. He wanted to get the Scale of Remembrance, but he couldn’t get it at this point, and besides, he didn’t think it was a good idea to focus on getting it yet, especially since there was no guarantee this loop would be the one. Adam also wasn’t a fan of how it worked, even if he had promised Emelia he would give it to her.

“Good choice!” she told him.

< < Meta Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 2 Saved Relic Slots >

“You’ll now be able to bring back two Common Relics or one Uncommon Relic to the start of your next loop.”

“The next step, to get three slots, is 5,000 Points too, right?” Adam asked.

“That’s right.”

He nodded to himself.

I can get that after Stage Two, though I might focus more on upgrades if my friends are alive in this universe…

“How many Players survived Stage One?” Adam asked the Eye after the white moth disappeared into the clouds above.

[A little under 600 million Players survived Stage One.]

I have no idea if that’s a good or a bad sign…

He had a pit in his stomach as he went to the Tavern. Part of it was the fear that he was too late to save them yet again, but it was also because he worried he might botch the introduction or do something that made them consider him in a different light. A lot of the time, the first impression someone had of you was the one that dictated how things would go, and it was so easy to say or do the wrong thing without realising it.

But before I worry too much about that part, I need to figure out how I’ll deal with the time-looper in this universe. If there is one.

Charlie came up to his side as he entered the Tavern, but he zoned out her words as he carefully prepared the queries.

Show the bonuses completed in the last Stage by all the Players I see in here, represented with coloured dots for each bonus, and displayed over their heads.

Simultaneously, show me any Player who knows about the Self-devouring Eye and mark them with a red X, while also blocking them so they cannot see me.

There was no confirmation of his queries working or being rejected, since such announcements only came when he directly asked the Eye to query on his behalf. But these things were too sensitive to trust it with, since alerting the Eye to the fact that he was a time-looper could have catastrophic consequences, at least if Emelia was to be believed.

And yet it never seems to care when we speak about it out loud to each other in the Tavern or during Visiting Stone visits.

Adam finally regarded Charlie. “I’ll have a croissant from Jameson’s Bakery and a strawberry milkshake.”

“Coming right up,” she said cheerfully and went towards the kitchen.

He took a deep breath and sat down on a stool, absentmindedly shaping it into a lounge chair with his mind.

Immediately, a man popped up a few seats down to his right with a red X flashing above his head and all the coloured dots for the bonuses. White, Green, Red, and Orange.

I recognise that guy from the fourth loop. It’s gotta be Haoyang Sun.

He was Chinese, with a shaped jaw, pale yellow-brown skin, muscular upper body and neck, hair that was long on the top but shaved to a fade on the sides, and a face with thin lips, thick eyebrows, and calculating eyes filled with purple spirals. Next to his chair leant the black Solbor spear from Stage Five, and it was yet another verification of the fact that it was possible to bring weapons back, although Adam had yet to unlock whatever Meta Upgrade enabled this.

That would be definitely worth investing into.

If I could bring back the Legendary staff from Stage Seven, I could probably dominate all the Stages with ease.

Adam turned to the Eye that floated next to him. “Is that guy’s name Haoyang Sun?”

[Correct.]

I’ll keep an eye on him.

Show me Emelia Bell.

Nothing happened, so he turned to the Eye again and repeated the query out loud.

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

Adam sagged in his chair.

This universe is no good either.

Part of him wanted to find a way to kill Haoyang, since he was surely responsible for her death. But there was no point, since he couldn’t bring her back.

He went through the names on his list until he finally got a hit.

On the opposite side of the table, a few seats away from where Haoyang’s hologram sat, Willow appeared.

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--Encyclopaedia---
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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 37

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Chapter 37

We climbed the fifty steps that led out of our base, the red-tinted light from above growing stronger the higher we climbed, until we reached the top which emerged out from a hill in an ash-covered landscape.

Hills like ours ringed around a gigantic city. The sky above was a mix of bruise colors, and there was a single large eye emanating the red light that covered everything. For some reason, I was completely certain this eye didn’t belong to Messimer.

The city was surrounded by a towering wall, but it was like a large mesh of off-white bone, full of meters-wide diamond-shaped holes that we could easily pass through. The buildings within its border were skyscrapers and spiraling towers of the same material, and even from here it was possible to see some of the things roaming its streets.

They were colossal in stature, heads reaching up over the buildings. One of them looked humanoid, except its blue-skinned body was covered in holes that went all the way through it, within which crawled enormous parasites. Another was just a knot of beige arms, swinging between the buildings to smash into a different giant, a silver-scaled snake with three eyes and horns.

It looked like a chaotic mess, and I wasn’t really sure how we were meant to collect anything from those entities, since they made the Lord of Sinners look like a small child by comparison.

“James!” Chris exclaimed and we all looked back down at the stairwell where his brother was trapped.

“He can’t leave,” Panda realized.

James was trying to push against an invisible barrier that the rest of us had passed through without noticing.

“Gambit, I need to stay here with him,” Chris told me.

I nodded, understanding that we couldn’t just leave his brother alone here.

“Tell him that Mammon can give them a screen to spectate us through the drones the broadcast department is using,” Panda said.

“They can do that?” Bee asked, surprised.

“Yeah. They just don’t tell you,” Panda replied.

I passed on the words and Chris had the same reaction as Bee.

“Do you want to stay here too?” I asked Cooper.

“I have to find my friends,” he said resolutely.

I finally decided to appraise him, since I actually had no clue what he could do.

[Appraisal x ]

Level 3 — ‘Cooper’ — Player

“Friendship is magic.”

Class: Care Bear

Main Attribute(s): Strength & Intelligence

Before the GREAT GAME, Cooper worked at a Dairy Queen as a manager of a small team. He has often been viewed as a leader amongst his friends and coworkers, thanks to his calm demeanor and excellent conflict resolution skills.

When he wasn’t working, he spent much of his free time moderating a forum for a children’s show that was uncomfortably popular amongst a large group of adults with a variety of behavioral disorders and stunted mental growths. He easily became a local leader for members of this forum in the Castleburg and Madeville region, since he was the only one who had a steady job and had ever been in a relationship with a real woman.

If not for your interference, he and his gang of cloppers would have been transformed into monsters by the Sweet Dreams Dungeon.

His Class is actually quite powerful, since it has access to healing abilities and gives him a strong resistance towards insanity. It is also one of the fun Classes that turn into something truly special if they hit 100% insanity.

For some reason, he respects you.

A group of frightened-looking people emerged from the stairwell to the right of ours, but the moment they saw us they dove back down into their stairwell.

“Let’s get going,” I told the others. “We should put some distance between our base before more people see us.”

“Brock wants to punch that big-ass snake!” my balloon arm exclaimed.

“Please don’t do that,” Panda told me. “I’m pretty sure that’s one of Septen’s children. Which means it can probably turn you to stone, or crystals, or some other form of solid…”

“I wasn’t really planning to,” I replied. “Even I know how foolish it’d be to fight one of those giants.”

“Oh, thank the Gods,” Panda muttered.

Bee lifted into the air, and I summoned my longboard.

Cooper looked between us. “I don’t think I can keep up with you on foot,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied and picked him up, setting him on my shoulders.

“This is deeply humiliating,” Cooper remarked, putting his meaty hands on top of my head.

“No time to complain!” I said and took off down the hill.

The ground around the Singing City was covered with at least a meter of ash, if not more, but thanks to my physics-defying longboard, I was able to just skim across it without sinking in.

[‘Skater Boy’ x ]

Ability

Admit it, you’ve always wanted to be that guy. Well, now you can be! Skate! Do a flip! Grind a railing! Sustain eighteen compound fractures to your skull! Wooh!

Summon a semi-sentient Skateboard that works like normal but picks up speed if you perform tricks. It has a slight disregard for the laws of physics so long as one of your feet is on it.

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Duration: 10 minutes

I felt as Cooper turned around to look behind us. “There are only a few other teams going towards the city,” he said. “Wait, I see someone who is flying!”

“Flying?” Panda asked. “Could it be…?”

“Does he have a red mask?” I asked, realizing what Panda was suggesting.

“Yeah. How did you know?” Cooper replied.

“Shit,” I muttered. “That’s gotta be Matthew Twine.”

“How?” Bee asked, floating down besides us, putting a hand on Cooper’s shoulder to borrow our speed.

“He got that Red Pawn mask in the last dimension,” Panda said. “Since the Flayed Lady has shown she disregards the rules of the Great Game, and really wants to kill you two, it’s little surprise she’d pull something like this.”

“If he tries anything, I’ll tear his wings off,” I said.

“You should just try to destroy the mask,” Panda advised. “All of his borrowed power is sealed within that thing.”

“I also see someone riding a golden balloon giraffe in the distance,” Cooper announced.

“That’s gotta be John Ritter, the looner guy,” I said.

“Looner?” Cooper asked.

“I know I shouldn’t be judgmental here,” Panda started, “but how does the weird pony guy not know what a looner is?”

“He really likes balloons,” I just replied.

“He tried to molest Gambit’s balloon,” Bee added.

“It was really traumatizing!!” Brock squealed.

“Is he coming this way?” I asked.

“He is,” Cooper said. “I think he’s waving at us, but it’s a bit hard to tell. His clothes look really strange.”

I chained a few tricks to speed up the longboard. It would be too awkward to deal with the guy right now, and we had to focus on the event objective, at least until I found a way to break the rules.

“I don’t think Breezy will let you,” Panda remarked as we passed through one of the countless openings in the wall.

On the other side, the ground was made of polished white bone that looked like porcelain. There were no breaks anywhere, as though all of it was formed of one solid piece, which was unthinkable. There were also features like fountains, benches, pillars, and humanoid sculptures scattered around the street that we sped through. Huddled between the large towers and skyscrapers were smaller organically-shaped buildings that looked like parasitic growths, though they were also made from bone.

I grinded along a bench and did a 180 heelflip to dismount, getting a lot more air than was normally possible, enabling me to hook a front wheel on the nose of a statue to spin the board 360 degrees before I landed. The longboard kicked hard from the sudden burst of speed and Cooper yelped where he sat on my shoulders.

An achievement appeared when we rounded a corner onto a large boulevard.

[Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement! x ]

‘Playground of Monsters’

Entered the Singing City.

Mortals really do not belong in this place.

It is clear that the organizers of the GREAT GAME really want to cut down the number of Players left so they can more easily control the outcome going forward.

Although this was scheduled to be the Second Event, it was shifted to be the first, since you were deemed to have too big of an advantage if they did Weaponlution again. Plus, I think they’re scared of you and Bee getting unique weapons, since neither of you follow the rules in the slightest.

However, this screws things up a bit, and means that the Regions will be opened up a lot sooner than intended, since the Third Event, which will be your Second, pits Regions against one another.

Anyway, the end result of all this is that the Castleburg Region will be the only one that gets to experience this Event.

If I were you, I would use this fact to my advantage.

Because, although the Singing City is a dangerous place, it is also full of buried power.

I will be hanging out in the central tower, commentating from there.

They are short on Announcers for this Region, so they are calling in all the favors they can.

If you stop by, I’d really like to try what one of those giant creatures taste like.

Happy hunting!

Reward: ‘Singing City Commemorative Poster’

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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 36

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Book 3 just hit 69k words.

Nice.

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Chapter 36

I landed on my feet inside a room with stone walls, floor, and ceiling. Bee, Chris, his brother James, and Cooper all appeared around me. As I looked around, I realized that the place was like a fucked-up fusion between a garage and an operating room. There were large surgery slabs with wheeled trays overflowing with wicked-looking tools next to them, hooks on winches hanging from the ceiling, a workbench with nasty sewing needles and pitchers of glue, and one corner seemingly dedicated to ritual magic given the sigils on the floor and strange esoteric materials nearby.

But there was no door leading out.

“Where’s everyone else?” Cooper asked.

“They were probably put into a different team,” Bee told him.

“I hope they’ll be alright,” he muttered, his tone worried.

“Are you okay, James?” Chris asked his brother.

The boy nodded. He had a strange hazy shell around his body, like a magical warmth encasing him and blurring his features a bit. I guessed that it was how the System was protecting him from harm during the event.

“I wonder if this is the place we’re meant to use for the crafting phase,” Bee said, already rifling through the tools next to the surgery slabs, brandishing hooked knives, scalpels the size of swords, and something that looked like an ice-cream scoop with teeth.

Before anyone could respond, a puff of golden smoke that smelled expensive came from above one of the slabs.

A golden-scaled imp appeared in the air, flapping two large wings.

“Mammon?” I asked, recognizing his appearance, though he’d undergone a bit of a transformation.

“Boy, this gig you landed me sure came with a lot of perks,” he immediately said. “Thanks to Lord Breezy, I’m now working as the Guide for this whole event. He did some kind of weird magic on me, and it split my mind and body into about 4,000 copies, all of which are speaking to each of the teams at this very moment.”

“He became a Squire-Lord,” Panda remarked, surprised.

“That’s right!” Mammon said proudly, puffing up his chest. “You’re looking at the new Squire-Lord of the Shining Hoard!”

He’d grown about a foot in size, becoming slightly taller than Panda. Two curving horns sprouted from his forehead, and his body was now more proportional to his large head, but he still had a slight bobblehead look about him. The contract ring was strapped around his right wrist like a bracelet, and his eyes glowed an ominous orange-gold. His wings were like those of a crow, except with feathers of gold, and his tail had a shining arrowhead shape at the tip.

I had no idea how Demon ranks worked, but Mammon had been a Footman when I’d first met him, and he’d been serving someone called Gargalob who had himself been a Squire-Lord. It sounded a bit like he’d gone from being a low-wage grunt to a regional manager.

“Didn’t know you could just swap families like that,” Panda commented. Mammon had originally been part of the RNG family, which explained why he’d been tied to my lottery ability.

“It is all by the grace of Lord Breezy. He gave me my own family and is helping me grow more powerful.”

“I’d like to take some of the credit for that,” I said.

Mammon ignored me.

“Alright, I bet you simian wimps are truly lost and need my guidance! I will graciously explain things in more detail and guide you through the crafting process. You are welcome to worship me, but donations of gold and other valuables are also accepted.”

“Man, you think you know someone, but then they get rich and suddenly they forget where they came from,” I muttered.

Mammon glared at me. “I am not allowed to play favorites, Gambit. This is a golden opportunity for me, and breaking the rules will get me punished.”

“Fine,” I muttered, annoyed.

“If you are in 4,000 places at once, how do you keep track of all your clones?” Bee asked.

“No idea,” he replied. “Anyway, I am here to answer questions about the Event.”

“Has anyone tried to hurt you?” James asked.

The flying demon looked down at the boy. “What are you doing here? And yes, several. But I cannot be harmed in this event. I am level 100, after all.”

“Can you see and hear what your clones are experiencing?” Bee continued.

“Yes. And no, I do not know how it works.”

Cooper asked, “Can you tell the other guys with My Little Pony t-shirts that I’m alright?”

“I am not your fucking gopher, you Glutton wannabe!”

“I can pay you,” Cooper replied, pulling out a handful of coins and small bills.

Mammon used some kind of golden telekinesis to bring it to him, but then he frowned as he looked closer at the money. “This paper is worthless,” he spat, tossing aside the bills. “And these coins are alloys with cheap metals mixed in…” He groaned. “Fine! I have told your fat friends. But that is it! No more requests!”

“So, what happens now?” Chris asked.

“Finally, a question related to the Event!” Mammon exclaimed in relief. “As the Great and Mighty Messimer announced, the first phase is the Collection Phase. Once I am done instructing all of the teams, the stairwell to the surface will open in that wall.”

We all looked to where he was pointing. It was the wall behind us, the only one which wasn’t right up against any of the ‘furniture’.

“All teams have 12 hours to collect parts for their Monstrosity by scouring the Singing City. You can also hunt the creatures that live in the city and roam its streets, but I personally wouldn’t advise it, since they are quite strong and merely encountering them will increase your insanity gauge.”

“There’s gonna be 4,000 stairwells scattered around the city?” Bee asked. “Doesn’t that mean that people can just enter our base?”

“Firstly, the stairwells are all outside the city. And secondly, no. Other teams cannot enter your base until the Crafting Phase. You can of course still fight them inside the city if you’d like, and ambushing teams once they’ve collected parts is a strategy I would highly recommend.”

“That’s a coward’s way to fight,” I replied in disgust.

“Fight smarter not harder,” Mammon shot back.

“To be honest, that’s probably what I would’ve done too,” Chris admitted.

“I agree with Gambit here,” Cooper said.

James nodded eagerly as well. “We have to fight like heroes,” he told his big brother.

“Things aren’t that simple,” Chris said. But when he saw the look on James’ face, he quickly added, “But Gambit and Bee are both very strong, so we won’t have to fight like cowards.”

“Can we use other Players as parts for our Monstrosity?” Bee asked, immediately shattering the illusion Chris had been trying to sell his little brother.

All of us turned to look at her with a horrified expression on our faces, even Mammon.

“What?” she replied. “I’m just asking.”

“Moving on,” Mammon said, clearly refusing to answer the question. “In the second phase, you must use your collected parts to build a Monstrosity. You once again have 12 hours for this step.”

“That’s a long time,” Bee said.

“Besides crafting, you are also expected to test out your creation and fine-tune it,” Mammon explained. “And you will have to defend your base from other teams that might not have gotten enough parts themselves, or who wish to sabotage you.”

“You definitely need to be careful about leading people back to this place then,” Panda advised. “You two have a lot of enemies…”

I repeated his words to the others since they couldn’t hear him, but left out the last part.

“Good idea,” Chris praised me.

Panda frowned, clearly upset I got the credit for it.

“How does the collection work?” Bee asked. “Can we just stick everything in our inventories?”

“No,” Mammon replied. “Parts must be carried back to your base manually.”

Bee looked at Lordie who sat on my head. “Can we add things we already have to our Monstrosity?” she asked.

“Me-ow!” he exclaimed and disappeared into the transport cage.

“You are actually scaring me,” Mammon told Bee.

“Don’t chop up Lordie,” I said. “I’ll die if he dies, you know.”

“That’s not what I was planning!” she replied. “I was just wondering if we could add Lordie to a Monstrosity in order to control it from within or something.”

“Like a flesh mech?” I asked, surprised. That actually sounded like a cool concept.

“Huh, there might not be any rules about that,” Mammon admitted. “I will have to ask and get back to you on that later.”

“How is the tournament bracket decided?” Cooper asked. “Can we avoid fighting other teams we’re affiliated with?”

“No. It is randomly chosen,” he replied.

Before he could go on, I cut him off. “I don’t trust your RNG! It’s literally all run by demons!”

“Wow, racist much,” Mammon muttered.

“Yeah, that was kind of racist,” Bee agreed.

“He has a point,” Panda said.

“I had no idea you guys were so full of bigotry,” the Greed Demon commented.

“Wouldn’t it technically be speciesist?” Chris asked.

“Let’s just all be friends here, okay?” Cooper suggested, taking the high road. It was easy to see why he was the leader of his little gang of pony lovers.

“Alright, final words here, because I am running out of time before the Event starts. The final phase, the Tournament Phase, will last 12 hours or until all the winners have been picked. If your team’s monstrosity is defeated before the semi-finals, then you will be eliminated.”

“How many semi-finalists will there be?” Bee asked.

“Maybe a fourth of all the teams will make it there,” Mammon answered. “Though it will probably be less, given how many are projected to die leading up to the final phase.”

I frowned. “Maybe I should use my Dungeon-Break after all,” I said.

“You can’t,” Panda told me. “We aren’t inside a Dungeon Barrier. We’re literally here, in the realm of the Singing City…”

“Well, shit.”

“Alright, count down with me now!” Mammon exclaimed.

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

The wall unfolded and revealed a stairwell leading up into a red-tinted light. Distant roars and heart-wrenching screams immediately flowed back down to us.

“Begin!” the demon yelled excitedly.

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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Book 3 - Chapter 35

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Chapter 35

“Where are we going?” Chris asked me, worried. He and his brother had been staying in the back with the MLP guys since getting on the bus, and unlike the last loop, he seemed a lot less inclined to adventure now that he had his brother to protect.

“Yeah, where are we going?” I asked Panda.

“I want to know too,” Bee said.

“None of you have figured it out?” Panda replied.

We all shook our heads.

“Then I guess it’ll be a surprise,” he said.

“Speaking of surprises,” I added, looking out the window and seeing the dark night sky. “There can’t be a lot of time left until the first event.”

Chris frowned. “What happens if we don’t want to participate?” he asked.

“You don’t get a choice,” I told him.

“What’ll happen to James?” he continued.

“He’ll be fine,” Panda said. “He’s a Wayward Minor after all, so they’ll want to protect him.”

I repeated his words since Chris couldn’t perceive the plushie.

“Isn’t Bee a minor too?” he asked.

“All-Mommy told me that because of her choosing me, I am eligible to join,” Bee replied, looking pretty excited about that. I remembered how bummed she’d been about not getting her own weapon during the first event.

Panda cringed at her nickname for the Absolute. “I think they’ll probably do the event they planned to do next.”

“Best in Show!” Bee exclaimed. “Oh! I heard the announcement when I was on the hive ship and really wanted to join!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Panda cautioned. “They mentioned it would take place in the Singing City. That place is infamous.”

“Why?” I asked. Chris looked at us like we’d lost it, but then again, he was missing a lot of context from not being able to see and hear Panda.

“It’s like a playground for the Absolutes,” Panda explained. “A sort of No Man’s Land where they all send their creations to conquer as much as they can. The ruler of the place changes all the time. It’s literally a warzone between all the Absolutes and it’ll be filled to the brim with their spawn. Given that a lot of the spawn are basically deities in their own right, that means you have a ton of factions all over the place. And all of them are fucking scary.”

“That sounds like fun though,” I remarked.

Bee nodded. “Like a safari for eldritch kaiju is what I’m imagining.”

Panda frowned. “I don’t know why I even bother with you two,” he muttered, frustrated.

“I mean, it’s not like we can not go there if they send us,” I replied.

“Sure, but at least have some sense of self-preservation.” He sighed. “I’ll be surprised if even a hundred Players are left at the end.”

I turned back to look at Chris. “Anyway, it’ll be fine.”

He looked like he was going to pass a kidney stone with the face he was making.

The highway between Madeville and Castleburg was like a pipe clogged with shit, and by the time Greg managed to shove and push his way through the abandoned cars to get to our destination, night had come and gone.

Most of our passengers had spent the night sleeping in the bunk beds, which were now inside a cavernous chamber that clearly shouldn’t be able to exist within the Humanbus, and yet somehow its strange pocket-dimensional properties enabled it.

However, Isabella and the other guards had taken turns standing atop the bus to practice their new skills, as well as rotating in shifts on the turrets. There hadn’t been that many enemies on the roads, but that would definitely change after the first event. Still, kills with the turrets counted for levels, so we now had a decent number of people above level 3.

Cooper had talked Isabella into helping him and the other MLP guys with leveling, but he was the only one actually awake to join in with the drills.

When we finally reached the ‘bottomless’ hole, everyone was up and awake. A part of me couldn’t help but feel like we’d wasted a lot of valuable time just driving, but I also knew how important finding Otto was.

“We’re here,” Panda announced as Greg rolled to a stop.

In front of the Humanbus, seen through the windows at the front, was a massive black lake. The water was so dark that even the light of the sun didn’t reflect off its surface. As I scanned the surroundings, seeing part of the industrial area nearby and the dusty shrubbery-strewn landscape, I got the sense that I’d been here before.

“This is where we fought the Mayor and the Red Pawn!” Bee realized. “And the CPS!”

I blinked. “Wait, does that mean…?”

“Yep,” Panda said. “This lake is the result of the Spin the Wheel effect you used to take out the Flayed Lady’s trap with Skippy.”

“It’s a lot bigger now,” I remarked.

“Yeah, well, one of the costs of invoking Nwetrou’s powers is that you create a pond that expands endlessly. Also, yes, it’s a bottomless hole that, if you manage to reach down far enough, leads directly to his domain.”

“It’s uncomfortable being faced with the consequences of my actions,” I muttered.

Panda sighed.

“Otto!” Isabella screamed, running off the bus with Tanner and Tyler on her heels.

I looked out through the window, and sure enough, at the edge of the black lake stood a human-sized otter.

“It’s a costume,” Panda told me.

“We have to ge—!” I started to say before my whole body froze in place.

Messimer’s voice suddenly filled the air, and everyone around me was as stuck in place as I was.

Although I considered trying my Wake Up trick again, I actually wanted to join the event.

It has now been exactly 1 day since the GREAT GAME concluded across all Regions. Thus, the First GAME Event must now commence.

Considering that there are no Announcers to explain this Event, I will briefly describe it before you are transported to the venue. However, I have secured substitute Guides who will meet you before you begin, which should hopefully alleviate any issues arising from the fact that the majority of Players in this Region are significantly under-leveled for the Event.

Now, without further ado.

The First GAME Event is called ‘Best in Show’. Players will be required to work together as teams in order to manufacture the most powerful Monstrosity possible. Teams are created based on current proximity, meaning that you are highly likely to end up on a team with those next to you at this exact moment.

There are three phases in the Event:

The Collection Phase, where Players must scour the Singing City for parts and hunt its denizens for materials. Hunting other Players for materials is also highly encouraged.

The Crafting Phase, where collected parts and materials must be combined to create a Monstrosity. Players who lack parts and materials may use this time to hunt down other Players to steal theirs. Teams without a Monstrosity at the end of this Phase are eliminated.

The Tournament Phase, where Teams will pit their Monstrosities against each other in a tournament bracket. Players may not interact with other teams or Monstrosities during this Phase. Any team whose Monstrosity is defeated before the semi-finals will be eliminated.

I am unable to answer many of the questions you have, but you may direct these at the substitute Guides at the venue.

Good luck, and may the best teams win.

As soon as the announcement ended, I was encased in darkness and fell through the floor.

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Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Three

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--Encyclopaedia---
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Had hoped to have this up yesterday, but spent a lot of this weekend celebrating my fiance's birthday.

Anyway, it's here now, and almost 4k words long.

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Chapter Ninety-Three

Adam wiped his eyes and mouth. He’d spilled his guts onto the grass. Not because the effects of travelling back in time had been too much for him like before, but because the emotions had been so overwhelming that he’d felt the need to purge his insides.

He felt like he hadn’t eaten in two days, which, judging by everything that’d come out of him, was incorrect. It was hard to reconcile the fact that the person he now was, the body he returned to, was an old version of him. A version that’d only just had breakfast an hour prior to the cubes’ arrival. What returned in time was not his body. It was only his mind and the memories inside.

I need to find Emelia.

He didn’t have the Scale of Remembrance yet, but that didn’t matter.

That desire to find her again was simply overwhelming, all other thoughts pushed to the background.

[10 seconds remaining.]

Adam looked up at the Eye that’d unfolded into a podium with a selection of weapons.

Then he noticed the stone orb right in front of him. The iris was lit up green.

With a touch, he switched it on.

< < Hardmode > >

< Activated >

This will double the number of slimes, and in turn double the Points I get from them, as well as the number of cores I can get.

He looked down at the thing that had appeared in his pocket, brought back with him thanks to Luvicidix’s upgrade.

Or maybe not. If I use this, then I will damage all the cores, since I need them to defeat the slimes.

< < Collectible Relic > >

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

It would be better to have a Slime Glove to send back, but for that I need to upgrade Relic Saving more.

Adam got up, just as the Eye packed away the offered weapons.

[Failed to select a Weapon Type within 60 seconds. You have been defaulted to the Weapon Type ‘Fool’.]

< < Weapon Type Selected > >

< Bare-handed >

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Fool >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 50 >

< Stamina — 200 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 210% >

< Defence — 50% >

< Speed — 200% >

< Luck — 25 >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

With the cracked core in the palm of his hand, Adam moved to the spot where the first wave of enemies would appear.

A single slime hopped out from the wall of trees that surrounded the clearing, and he thought for a second that his information about the Hardmode was incorrect. But then it wriggled and split in two.

Adam threw his core into the one on the left and it almost popped immediately, leaving behind its cracked core. The other slime hopped towards him, but he jumped over it, grabbed the core and hurled it into its back, popping it as well.

He picked up the cracked core it left behind.

Yeah, I won’t be collecting a lot of them to sell with this strategy… It’s a waste of Points.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 5 seconds.]

[Completing a Wave this quickly results in the rewards going up one rarity level.]

Adam approached the Eye after it unfolded into a podium and was glad to see only Epic options, and four of them no less. As predicted, since the Fool did not use a weapon, all of them were general upgrades.

I guess that means I won’t be able to evolve the Fool at all.

But when I get Gram, I can retain the Fool’s stats, which should be really strong.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Bleed (Epic) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 25% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds >

< Movement (Epic) — Increases movement speed by 25% >

< Force (Epic) — Attacks pierce armour by 25% >

< Luck (Epic) — Increases luck by 5 >

Adam climbed the large apple tree in the middle of the clearing while his 30 seconds for selecting an upgrade ticked down. Thanks to the high speed of the Fool, he was able to rapidly make his way up to the branch with the Secret Relic.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

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

Then he scaled back down, recklessly dropping from branch to branch while trying to avoid taking damage from falling.

“I’m picking Bleed,” he told the Eye.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Bleed (Epic) >

Despite its wording, it works with Relics, so the definition of ‘weapon’ is definitely very broad.

Maybe my shoes are considered weapons too. And my fists.

The next Wave started, and he was now up against four blue slimes, but it was still over fast enough for him to get an upgraded reward.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Damage (Epic) >

Adam thought the third Wave, with its two purple slimes and four blue would be a struggle, but it too was over quickly, giving him his third Epic upgrade, as well as two extra cracked cores.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Bleed (Epic) >

When the purple slimes died, they dropped two of the cores instead of one, leaving him with a total of three. He was planning on saving those for the boss. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to evolve the boss without hurting himself to extract an intact core, but the difference between the Flawless and Secret Boss bonuses was only 100 Points.

Although I would get the crown…

He frowned, realising he had to go for it.

I’ll use my left hand, he decided, and picked up the Healing Apple that had spawned with the third Wave.

The moment the fourth Wave spawned, bringing four blue and four green slimes with it, Adam was right next to a blue slime as it popped out, diving his left hand into its body and pulling out its intact core with a wet squelch.

Fuck!

[Warning! Health below 25%.]

Then all four green slimes started launching their barrage of acid.

Plop-plop-plop!!

Adam gritted his teeth through the pain as he sprinted from the treeline to the large tree. The bones on his left hand were visible, and it felt like the entire hand and forearm were engulfed in flames.

[Healing Apple consumed! Recovering Health back to 100%.]

“How much damage was that?”

[The attack dealt 25 points of damage, which was increased to 38 due to your Defence rating. That means you now have 12 Health or 24% remaining.]

His left hand quickly healed back to full, and he was able to uncurl his fingers from the intact core, stuffing it in his left pocket for later. Then he hurried around the tree as the green slimes fired another barrage.

With four of them hammering their acid into the tree, it only took a couple of volleys for it to start creaking.

Adam leaned against it from the other side and pushed as hard as he could.

The tree collapsed and struck two of the blue slimes and one of the green, killing them.

From the ruined trunk rose the stone-covered sword.

Here we go!

Adam reached out to touch Gram.

< < Secret Weapon Obtained > >

< Gram (Rare) — The ancient sword of a Mythical Hero >

< Unique Skill ( Anvil Splitter ) | Perform an overhead slash powerful enough to cleave an anvil in twain >

[You have discovered a Secret Weapon. This weapon starts with the Unique Skill ‘Anvil Splitter’.]

[Since your Weapon Type is ‘Fool’, you are unable to wield any other weapon.]

“But I have Second Sheath!” he exclaimed as the sword turned to ash in his hand.

[You are unable to wield any other weapon.]

Son of a bitch!

Well, there goes that plan…

Adam zipped around the side of the tree and started hurling cracked cores at the remaining slimes, quickly popping the three green ones, before having to run over to carefully retrieve more ammunition from their acidic remains to deal with the last blue slime remaining.

He ground his teeth in frustration as the next set of upgrades appeared. In his pockets he had six cracked and hissing cores, and by itself in his left front pocket was the intact core he’d use to evolve the boss.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Damage (Rare) >

Although it wasn’t Epic, since he had spent too much time getting the tree chopped down, the upgrade put him at 250% Damage, which meant he could probably punch and kick his way through Stage Two with ease, not even needing Relics.

Adam took a deep breath as the tremors in the ground announced the arrival of the slime king, and then suddenly it landed with an explosion of dirt and grass in front of him.

A second later it split into two.

Oh…

Shit.

He hurled the intact core into the rightmost one, even as the other leapt for him.

< < Secret Boss Discovered > >

< Slime Emperor >

< Wave Timer extended to 300 seconds >

No sooner had the boss evolved into the white humanoid slime than Adam had thrown four of his six cracked cores into its body.

There followed four quick pops and then the boss was dead, dropping the Rusted Crown and four cracked cores just as the unevolved slime king landed next to Adam, sending him tumbling.

But Adam was incredibly fast and landed in a tucked roll before it could jump again, and then he zipped over and scooped up the cores, throwing three at the slime king just as it jumped.

The boss was mid-air when it popped, sending a shower of acidic slime all over the clearing and it was only through luck that Adam avoided getting hit by one of the globs.

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

Adam let out a sigh of relief.

Aside from having to fuck up my hand to get an intact core, that actually went really well.

Still, not being able to pick up a secondary weapon really limits what the Fool can do.

I guess the only way to make this work is by getting Relics that can act as weapons, like the passive corrosive effect from the slime gloves, or stuff like the grafted limbs.

Actually, maybe I should try the Chimaera Core this time, that could be interesting.

But from what Emelia told me, the way to keep up with the rising difficulty is to swap to stronger weapons. Although Warder was apparently strong enough to bring all the way to the end, considering that’s what she said Arturo did.

< < Score > >

< 95 Seconds Completion Time >

< 400 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 150 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added >

< 38 Damage Received >

< 2181 Points Awarded >

Good enough.

Just a shame I’m only left with five cores to sell. I could’ve had 26 or something if I didn’t have to use the cracked cores. At 100 Points per core, that would more than double the Point total from the Stage, meaning the potential for this Stage, if done perfectly and if I harvest all the cores, is about 5,000 Points.

By contrast, I’ll only get about 2,700 this time.

Adam scratched the back of his neck absentmindedly as he walked over to the Relic Chest.

[Since you have slain the Secret Boss, two upgrade choices are available to you.]

[Additionally, as you also completed the Wave quickly, your rewards have gone up one Rarity level.]

“Oooh,” he exclaimed, excitedly.

This means…

Adam pushed open the slime-themed chest.

< < Relics Available > >

< 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 >

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

“Wait… Why is there only one Epic Relic?” Adam asked. “Shouldn’t all four be Epic?”

[There is only one Epic Relic available at Stage One. The pool of available Relics goes up with every new Stage you complete.]

That’s bullshit…

Well, whatever, at least I got an Epic out of this.

Question is, should I equip it?

Adam recalled Sven, a guy he’d talked to in his third loop who had picked the Relic and used it. It effectively turned a Player into a slime, replacing their total Health with four cores regardless of how much Health they had. Adam suspected that cracked cores were a really easy way to deal with someone wearing the Relic, and from how Sven had described it, its special effect was better for ranged attacks, since it turned projectiles into slime.

But, I also think it’s possible to change the nature of the slime by swapping out cores, not to mention, using different cores should broaden my abilities.

Fuck it, I guess I’ll try it out.

Not like I have anything to lose anymore…

Adam reached out to grab the Relic.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Slime King’s Crown (Epic) >

[You are already wearing a Relic on your head. Would you like to unequip Rusted Crown and replace it with Slime King’s Crown?]

Adam gritted his teeth, preparing himself for what was coming.

“Do it.”

[Understood.]

The Rusted Crown landed in his hands, and then, in a flash, the world changed. The trees around him lit up in a multitude of colours, and he thought he could hear them all breathing. He could also feel the void that the apple tree had left behind from being chopped down.

Strangest of all was the fact that he didn’t feel any pain.

Maybe this was a bad idea, he considered. I mean, how am I meant to make friends with people if I look like a slime…?

He pushed the thought away for now and went through the two Upgrade Chests, picking up another pair of Epic upgrades.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Damage (Epic) >

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Bleed (Epic) >

I should probably buy one of the gloves from Lucca.

Something ranged could be good.

And with all these Bleed bonuses, I can no doubt kill stuff absurdly fast.

Although I can already just punch things to death, since my whole body should now basically be corrosive slime.

Adam looked down at himself. He still basically looked like he was wearing clothes, even though his real shirt and pants had obviously dissolved. For some reason, his slime legs even had pockets in them, but the cracked and hissing cores lay on the grass below him, ejected from his body with the transformation.

I didn’t even think about how dangerous these things are to me now…

Then darkness flooded the area.

“Wait, stop!” he yelled at the Eye.

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

Adam appeared in the middle of the island, his five cracked cores gone.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered.

Silvery scales fluttered down around him, and the Eye was frozen in the air. He looked up and saw Luvicidix descending towards him from the clouds. She was back to being a huge moth, which was odd, he thought.

“Hello again, Adam,” she said.

“Hi again,” he replied. “Let’s just skip the pleasantries for now. I need to check up on my friends first.”

“Do you want to buy any of my upgrades?”

“Later,” he said and started running off towards the Dimensional Tavern.

Adam declined Charlie’s offer of food as she greeted him by the door.

He immediately found a seat.

“Show me Emelia Bell,” he told the Eye.

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

Adam froze.

“No…”

After that unbeatable and unfair trap…

After promising I would find her and remind her of how she’d felt…

Why is she dead!?

Adam didn’t realise it until he looked down, but his hands were gripping the table with enough strength to damage the wood, his corrosive body blackening the top layer.

“How many survived?” he demanded through gritted teeth.

[A little over 600 million Players survived Stage One. Currently, 42 million Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.]

“Then why the fuck is she dead!?” he yelled.

The Eye did not answer.

“Show me Willow Martin.”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

He slammed the table hard enough to crack it.

“Show me Arturo Molina!”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

“Anri Tsiklauri!”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

“Alexander Nova!”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

“Haoyang Sun!”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

“Ilya Sokolov!”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

“Seriously!? How are they all dead??”

Adam took a deep breath.

“What about Lenard Schulz?”

Finally something happened.

The German policeman from Munich appeared a few seats down. He was already drinking and looked miserable.

Before Adam could call out to him, he stood up and took his large glass of beer with him, vanishing from the Tavern.

What the fuck is happening!?

There are over 600 million Players alive, and yet none of the people that Emelia told me about have survived. Not even Willow…

Adam frowned as he realised the reason.

Then someone nearby asked, “How did you do that?”

He turned to look at the guy. He had straight neatly-trimmed black hair, caramel skin, two black beauty marks right under the corner of his left eye, and purple swirls instead of his natural eye-colour.

Maybe he noticed the way Adam’s expression changed or maybe he’d been prepared to do it from the start, but either way, the guy pointed a marble at him.

< < Challenge Stone Activated > >

< Player Hiroshi Sakurai has forced you into fighting him >

The seat under Adam evaporated as the surroundings changed. The wooden floor became sand, and the ceiling became an open sky showing clouds lazily floating past. The walls broadened and turned to stone, and above them were seats that wrapped around the area. On those seats sat people made of black shadow, all of them staring intently.

It was an arena.

And at the opposite end stood the time-looper. He wore black formal pants, a white shirt, and a blue tie.

In his hand was a sword that Adam recognised.

Fuck…

He recognised it because they had fought hard in the last loop to obtain it.

It was the Avatar’s Shattered Blade. The sword belonging to the Secret Boss of Alepheria’s Crooked Tower. Except it was restored back to full, and the length of a claymore.

So, it is possible to bring weapons back to the start. Somehow.

“How did you beat Stage One as the Fool?” the time-looper asked, his voice easily carrying across the arena as he walked towards Adam.

“Luck,” he replied.

“No one is that lucky,” Hiroshi said flatly.

“I have a question too,” Adam said, trying to remain calm despite the maelstrom of anger in his chest. “Why did you kill Emelia, Willow, Arturo, Anri, Alexander, Haoyang, and Ilya?”

Hiroshi stopped mid-step.

“How do you know those names?”

“Answer the question,” Adam demanded.

“Are you a time-looper too?” Hiroshi asked. “That shouldn’t be possible…”

“Answer me!” Adam roared and surged across the sand, quickly closing the distance between them.

But Hiroshi didn’t miss a beat.

The moment he came within 10 metres, Hiroshi just shot forward, slicing his sword right through Adam.

It didn’t hit any of the four cores that swirled around in his body, and which had replaced his Health.

But it didn’t matter, because Adam collapsed, instantly dead.

However.

A single death no longer stopped him.

Adam’s consciousness returned quick as lightning, but he remained where he’d fallen.

The crunch of sand alerted him to the time-looper coming closer. Still he didn’t move.

He’s going to use the Abyssal Tooth on me.

It was a gamble to remain still, but he was almost certain the Relic would fail to work against a living target.

“Where the hell did you even come from?” Hiroshi Sakurai muttered to himself as he stopped in front of Adam.

“And how did you know all those names, I wonder.”

He’s talking to himself, and I guess to what he presumes is a dead body.

That’s a good sign…

He is also not taking any risks, like explaining his plan to me or going easy to get more info out of me.

This guy has been doing this for a long time, I’m willing to bet.

After all, Adam had figured it out. All of those people who he’d searched for always made it far, according to what Emelia had told him before they died. And yet, not a single one was still alive in this new universe. It was not a stretch to imagine that Hiroshi was behind it.

But I think he’s only focusing on those who might get in his way directly and steal the Self-devouring Eye. So he’s not exactly the same as Mórrígan, if the total number of Stage One survivors is anything to go by.

Adam felt something hit his back, but it failed to pierce through his slime body.

“Why is it not working?” he heard Hiroshi mutter.

Then Adam lunged up and grabbed him in a bear hug.

“This is for Emelia,” Adam growled and squeezed.

Hiroshi screamed, but was able to kick Adam away.

Then he collapsed, his burnt and dissolving body struggling to keep him upright.

A second after that he died.

Only for his own Cheat Death Sigil to bring him back.

And unlike Adam, he was much faster to recover.

Before he could even try to kill him a second time, Adam was sliced through with the soul blade.

***

Adam gasped, finding himself back on his knees in the soft grass of Stage One.

“Fuck!” he shouted.

That whole loop was a waste…

I didn’t even invest my Points with Luvicidix…

He let out a deep sigh.

I just have to try again.

At least I managed to fuck up that guy’s plans by triggering his Cheat Death. He won’t be able to ever loop again.

Adam looked up at the weapons he could choose between.

< < Weapon Types Available > >

< Spellcaster (Uncommon) >

< Warrior (Common) >

< Lancer (Common) >

< Woodsman (Common) >

< Priest (Rare) >

What should I try this time?

-----------------------------

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Ninety-Two

-Previous Chapter-
--Encyclopaedia---
---Next Chapter----

This is a big boy chapter, clocking in at 5k words.

-----------------------------

Chapter Ninety-Two

They descended into total darkness, but fortunately the slight glow from Adam’s barriers caused by the fire effect from the crown was lighting up a tiny bit of the walls around them.

“I’ve never heard of this place before,” Emelia whispered, her voice echoing down the walls of the well.

“Hidden in plain sight,” Adam muttered. “I wonder if the eels were all created by Alepheria to hide this place. Making the eels capable of corrupting the slugs no doubt also helps to keep people away.”

“Not to mention that getting a ship that can even go this deep is impossible,” Emelia added.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yeah, even with an Anchor Shot, you can’t go below the cloud layer, because there are no islands floating below it to grapple to. I think the floating effect is also tied to the clouds, so even if you could get close, your ship would be freefalling from the clouds to the bottom.”

Adam frowned. “So it’s meant to basically be suicide to go here?”

“If not for your barriers, then yeah. Although I guess there are some Relics later that can make you fly, but that means that only loopers could come here, since you’d have to pass those back to the start with the Relic Slot upgrade.”

“Should we turn back?” he wondered.

“If we do find Alepheria, let’s at least make sure we don’t overcommit to a fight with her,” Emelia cautioned.

“At least my barriers make it easy enough for us to escape.”

“Alepheria has wings, right?” Emelia asked.

“Her avatar did,” he replied.

“That may be an issue if we have to run.”

Suddenly the glow from his barriers illuminated the bottom of the well. There was a round opening in the wall that led into more darkness.

They both looked back up to where they’d come from, seeing a small bright dot. They had to be a kilometre or deeper within the bedrock of the Floating Sea. No mortal hands could’ve created something like this, but if Alepheria had indeed painted the world into existence, then she could’ve easily made this impossible well.

Adam sent one of his barriers ahead of them, shaping it into a ball to maximise its glow.

As though triggered by a proximity sensor, sun gems in the ceiling came to life and lit up the interior.

Like Adam had expected, the light revealed a laboratorium. Large slabs serving as operating tables, spider-like apparatuses in the ceiling armed with saws and other tools, dried out vats that might once have fostered new life, sealed vivariums with the skeletal remains of their former inhabitants, and a library filled with books and scrolls. Basically, it was Alepheria’s Tower rebuilt in miniature, though it was missing a ritual chamber.

“It looks abandoned,” Emelia remarked.

They remained outside on Adam’s barrier while he moved his ball-shaped spell around, trying to trigger any traps that might lie in wait for them the moment they entered. He even transformed it into a hand and started disturbing the things inside, but nothing came of it.

At the back of the lab was a rounded archway that led to a tunnel snaking deeper into Alepheria’s secret hideout.

“It would be a good idea to turn around and head back, right?” Adam asked.

“If you don’t do the quest, you’ll get a punishment,” Emelia said.

He frowned. “I definitely don’t want that, but there’s no way this isn’t a trap.”

“We’ll just be careful,” she replied.

“Wait, I have an idea,” he said.

Adam stepped off the barrier and started tapping his obsidian hand against the ground, walls, and the equipment inside the lab as he proceeded slowly, flashing images through his mind from its special power. Perhaps thanks to the gift from the Tome Keeper, he was able to quickly sort through the flashes without leaving his conscious mind behind.

Although he saw a lot of grim experimentation through the flashes, there were no signs of traps, and as he advanced, with Emelia by his side for support, Adam started picking up clues as to what might’ve happened.

“Alepheria was building something,” he said.

The glimpses of the past showed her wicked form hunched over workbenches and surgery slabs, transforming her victims into something that was to be part of a new greater whole.

“It’s like she came here to build her magnum opus,” he continued.

Emelia followed him as he went around, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

He went through the vivariums, but they turned out to be unrelated to her grand work, and more of a side project for the mad fleshcrafter, since she had a deep passion for making chimaera.

Eventually he reached the library. The benefit of the Legendary Hand was most prominent when it came to books, since with a single touch he could absorb all the knowledge.

A lot of what he gleaned from the tomes and scrolls that Alepheria kept was esoteric knowledge of ritual magic that he doubted he’d be able to put to much use, since most of the ingredients were impossible for him to obtain. Although, it did teach him how to summons six new bosses into the ritual chamber of Stage Six, not that it would do him any good now.

When he reached the end of the library, he found a large metallic scroll. Emelia tried to lift it so she could unfurl its contents, but she struggled to even get it off the ground.

“What the hell is this thing made out of?” she sputtered indignantly.

Adam touched his hand to it.

“Tungsten,” he said.

Then the rest of the knowledge within was absorbed and he felt his entire being quake, along with a cold spike lancing into his mind.

“Argh!” he exclaimed and dropped to his knees, clutching the side of his head.

“Are you okay!?”

“Don’t try to read that scroll,” he told her. “It’s not meant to be understood by humans.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“It’s some kind of…” Adam grimaced as the very act of recalling its contents made the spike in his brain hurt even more. “It’s a ritual. A powerful one. It’s what Alepheria was trying to accomplish.”

“What does it do?”

“It creates a new G—,” he said, gasping as the pain intensified.

Emelia pulled the rosary from her belt and touched it against his head.

A warm feeling flowed through him easing the pain and clearing his mind.

“Thank you,” he said.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to use this,” she said.

Adam looked at the Relic in her hand.

< < Relic > >

< Rosary (Rare) — Store a mote of holy energy within this Relic with every kill you perform | When the Relic is touched against yourself or someone else, discharge the holy energy within, healing 1 point of Health for every mote of holy energy >

“That doesn’t seem like it’s a very effective healing item,” Adam remarked.

“It isn’t,” she replied. “But it has a lot of unlisted uses, like the ability to heal emotions and cure headaches, even if you’re at full Health. It can also deal damage to undead or anything else that’s weak to holy magic. I usually wrap it around my gauntlet when I fight the final bosses in Stage Eight and Nine, since it works against them both.”

Heal emotions? That sounds convenient, although troubling. Like, can she just heal away her guilt?

Adam was reminded that Mórrígan had used the Priest weapon too.

“What were you about to say?” she then asked. “Alepheria was trying to create what?”

He gritted his teeth, preparing for another jab of pain. “A God,” he then said, but the spike of ice never came.

Adam let out a sigh of relief.

“She was making all the parts for it from pirates she captured, Slugwhales, Slug Dragons, and even from things she summoned, like Demons. And she was bringing them to the ritual chamber.”

Emelia followed his gaze to the archway into the tunnel.

“Do you think she failed?” she asked. “This place is abandoned, after all.”

“She might’ve summoned something that killed her,” Adam said. “I didn’t see her finish the creation in any of the visions, so I don’t think she was able to. Some of the requirements for the ritual were very obscure. Like ‘the hope of salvation crushed’ and ‘the essence of childhood bliss’.”

“There are a few rituals like that later on,” Emelia commented. “A lot of the Absolutes love esoteric bullshit.”

Adam grinned. “Should we make ourselves a God then?”

“I’m good,” she replied with a chuckle.

“I think we should go deeper,” Adam then said decisively. “I saw something in one of the visions that looked like a magical weapon.”

“Is it a staff?” Emelia asked.

Adam nodded. “How did you know?”

“Arturo said he was never able to find Alepheria’s staff.”

“I guess he didn’t utilise his barriers to the fullest then,” Adam remarked.

He brought his barriers out in front of him and split two in half with his trinket. The one he didn’t split he kept closest to him, since that would be their getaway ‘vehicle’ if shit hit the fan. The rest he moved out in front of them as they went down the tunnel.

Like with the rest of the hidden facility, the tunnel was carved out of the bedrock, which was surely a feat impossible to replicate with any tool. It was doubtful even his barriers could do much to break the dark rock.

At least we don’t have to worry about the tunnels collapsing, sturdy as they are.

Being underground in tight spaces was not something Adam was a huge fan of, despite the many times the Trials had already subjected him to this exact scenario, so he was glad when the tunnel opened up into a large domed chamber.

At the other end was another tunnel opening, but this was clearly the ritual chamber.

Adam repeated the step with his barriers, sweeping for hidden trap triggers, but once again finding nothing.

I should’ve been using them like this from the start, though sweeping every chamber would probably slow down progress a lot.

Perhaps I can just command the barriers through Alepheria’s Mandate to do it automatically when I enter a new room.

They walked across the chamber, finding it entirely barren. Adam touched his hand around at various spots, but all he got out of it were a few glimpses of past summonings, but none of them had led to Alepheria’s death.

“I guess we just keep going,” he said after looking up at the domed ceiling. A large sun gem was placed at the top, illuminating the entire chamber.

They went through the next tunnel and reached a smaller room that was like a study. There was a bed and some old rations. But most interestingly was the staff leaned against a mirror.

Adam swept the room just to be sure, and then they went up to the staff.

“Holy shit,” Emelia said.

< < Secret Weapon Obtained > >

< Alepheria’s Paintbrush (Legendary) — The magical staff used by Alepheria to paint the Floating Sea of Gold >

A Legendary weapon??

Emelia ran her hand along it. “Should I take it?” she wondered out loud.

I was thinking the same thing…

But my combo right now is really good, and I have no idea how this thing would work.

But maybe…

Adam touched his obsidian hand to the staff, trying to understand it.

Knowledge shot up through his arm to his brain.

“It can create things by literally drawing them,” he realised, “a bit like how the wand works, except the creations come to life. But they’re not considered summons, which is a shame.”

“Legendary weapons are extremely powerful,” Emelia said. “To the point that it may be worth it to abandon your entire setup just to use one. The one from Stage Eighteen is literally the only reason I could go to the Singing City.”

She mentioned that place before. I wonder what Stage that is. Maybe it’s the place she found the Self-devouring Eye?

“If you’re not taking it, then I will,” Adam said. “I’ll swap my wand for it.”

She nodded. “I think that might be a good idea. I don’t want to mess with the path I’m already on, since I know it works.”

Adam was about to take it when he stopped mid-motion.

He’d been so absorbed by the weapon that he’d forgotten why they’d even come here.

He looked around.

“Alepheria isn’t here.”

“Maybe she left,” Emelia argued.

Then a loud crunchy thud echoed up through the tunnel from the ritual chamber.

Adam frowned.

“Shit.”

“Don’t grab the staff yet,” Emelia told him.

“We definitely walked into a trap…” he said.

Emelia poked him in the cheek. “Stop being so pessimistic. Let’s go check.”

They slowly left the study and legendary weapon behind as they retraced their steps to the domed chamber.

Unlike before, there was now something on the floor in the middle.

It was the corpse of a person with four arms, two tails, and two wings.

It’s Alepheria!

“How did…?” Emelia started to ask while looking up at the ceiling, but she never finished her sentence as she quickly took up a fighting stance, moving in front of Adam.

He saw the same thing she’d seen.

Up there on the ceiling, almost directly above where they’d entered, clung a humanoid figure. Except it was a giant, and its body was obsidian with golden veins throughout. Its hands had seven fingers, two of which were thumbs, and its body was bulky like that of a golem. Unlike a normal head, it had the beginnings of a neck, which then transitioned into a vertical ring.

“What is that?” Adam said with a frown. His wandering eye was locked firmly onto it.

The entity dropped from the ceiling to the floor, landing on its feet with an impact so powerful it made Adam stumble.

Emelia didn’t flinch in the slightest.

< < Secret Optional Stage Objective > >

< Defeat Alepheria’s Masterpiece >

The sound of collapsing rocks made Adam realised that his thought that the tunnel out of the chamber was safe had been a misjudgement.

Emelia was already on the move, and Adam contemplated using Necromancy on Alepheria’s dead body. But then he remembered how it’d gone when he’d tried to resurrect the mad captain.

Instead he brought out his wand and started to summon a fourth barrier.

He quickly went through the steps to obtain a quadruple-fused barrier, and then he Mana Infused it.

Emelia had already managed to create massive cracks in the reflective surface of the obsidian statue. It swung wildly to try and catch her, but she was way too fast for it.

“Watch out!” Adam yelled as he spun up his barrier, the powerful thrum making his body vibrate from the proximity.

Emelia jumped over the statue’s arm as it swung for her again, and then a click from her stilts preceded an explosive crunch as she kicked off from the upper torso of the boss and flew through the air, sailing over Adam’s head. She activated Drake Wing and quickly landed behind Adam.

Then he fired his projectile.

In the confined space of the domed chamber, the sound of the impact was like a lightning strike hitting right next to them, blowing out their hearing and replacing it with a loud whine.

Dust from shattered obsidian glass filled the back of the chamber where the statue had been, obscuring it from sight.

Emelia touched her rosary to Adam’s head after doing it to herself, and his hearing returned.

“That’s a useful Relic,” he said.

Then something shot out of the dust cloud, a dark shape snaking through the air so fast that Adam barely had time to react, only managing to summon his barriers to defend himself.

The shape pierced right through all three of them.

Adam coughed, tasting iron on his tongue.

The air in his lungs was gone, and he was unable to draw in a breath to refill it.

Behind him, Emelia screamed.

His vision narrowed until it went completely black.

***

Adam gasped, waking up on something soft.

No! he screamed internally, but then he realised it wasn’t grass that was under him, but instead the blanket on the bed in Alepheria’s study.

I’m alive! The Cheat Death saved me!

Emelia sat on the edge next to him. She smiled weakly as he sat up.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Have your cube replay the most recent announcement.”

Adam passed the command to the Eye floating next to him.

< < Secret Optional Stage Objective > >

< Survive the encounter with the Voidspawn >

“The boss had a second stage?” he asked with a frown.

“It’s nothing so simple,” Emelia told him.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Our run is over, Adam,” she said.

A look of utter defeat settled onto her face. “We’re going to die here.”

Adam swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

He went over to the mirror and grabbed the Legendary staff. His wand disappeared as it was swapped out, turning to dust and fading away, along with all his upgrades for it.

“We’re gonna get out of here,” he said. “Give me Fallow’s Treasure.”

< < Second Sheath Activated > >

< Would you like to swap to the Paint Magician Weapon Type? >

“Show me its stats compared to the base ones for Warder,” he told his cube.

< Paint Magician compared to Warder >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 50 >

< Stamina — 50 (-25) >

< Mana — 100 (-100) >

< Damage — 100% (+50%) >

< Defence — 0% (-100%) >

< Speed — 150% (+75%) >

< Luck — 10 (+5) >

More Luck, Damage, and Speed, but way worse in all the others.

“I’ll keep what I have,” he said.

[Understood.]

“Alright, I’m ready,” he told Emelia. “Give me the Relic. I’ll put it on the staff so it can cast its unique magic to back us up. I’ll be a bit less powerful without all my wand upgrades, but that’s fine.”

“Adam, sit down,” she told him.

He remained standing.

“I fucked up,” she said.

“If it’s about Ruimin and the others, then now’s not the time to worry about that. The boss is trapped in the ritual chamber, right? We won’t get out without travelling through there, I’m guessing.”

“It’s not about that,” she said. “What I mean is: I already died once.”

Adam blinked, surprised. “How? When?”

“In Stage Four. I turned the great tree into a Rotmaker, thinking it was the trick for getting the last secret, but it was much stronger than I expected. It hit me into a building, killing me and triggering my Cheat Death Sigil. You saw it yesterday. You must’ve noticed that mine was different from yours.”

Adam had seen the tattoo in the middle of her torso and wondered why it wasn’t moving like his, but at the time he had been too focused on what they’d been doing to question it deeply.

He lifted up his jacket and the shirt beneath, finding that his tattoo had also stopped spinning.

“But so what?” he asked.

“You need the ability to cheat death in order to get the Self-devouring Eye. After I died, I gave up on trying to go for it myself. I was thinking of looking for someone else to do it. Then we did this Stage together and I thought you could take over.”

“But then I died just now.”

“And we’re trapped, so the point is moot.”

“I’ll dig us out of here then,” he said.

“Even if you could break the rock, we’re under kilometres of the stuff. You wouldn’t make it out before the Stage ends.”

“Then help me!” he yelled. “Stop sitting there all defeated!”

“Adam!” she said forcefully, stopping him before he could truly get started. “It’s a Voidspawn that’s out there. And not a small one. They’re not supposed to show up until Stage Fifteen. It takes a group of extremely competent Players to kill one, or a Divine consumable we don’t have. Even the strongest Players avoid them if they can. The only person I’ve ever seen defeat one by themselves was Arturo, and that’s only because he had mastered his weapon and could deliver enough damage to kill one before it noticed him.”

“What makes them so difficult?” he asked, frowning at the description.

“They adapt to everything you throw at them. You and I basically only have a handful of moves, and it will have memorised them all before we could deal enough damage to kill it.”

“You won’t know that until we try.”

“The only way we’d get out of here would be to run past it. For some reason, it can’t leave the ritual chamber.”

“So why don’t we?” he asked, frustrated.

“It’s not just rocks blocking the tunnel,” she said. “The statue shell it was wearing crashed into the opening, blocking it too. It would take a lot of time to shift it out of the way and allow us to leave. Time that the Voidspawn won’t give us.”

I did that… I pushed it into the tunnel with my attack…

Adam frowned. “So, what are we gonna do? We can’t just sit here and wait for the Stage timeout to kill us.”

“You’re gonna sit your ass down on this bed next to me,” Emelia said. “And then I will tell you everything I know about the Trials of Defiance.”

“You’re certain we’ll die if we take it on?”

“I’ve seen these things kill a lot of Players more prepared than you and me,” she replied. “I don’t think our chances are great.”

I should’ve kept the wand and used the Necromancy to make Alepheria’s corpse into a distraction…

But I guess that the Paintbrush staff can create distractions too.

“So, you want to tell me everything you know, to prepare me for my next loop?” he asked, frustrated.

“Yes. I want you to find me again and remind me of all the ways I feel about you now, by giving me the Scale of Remembrance.”

Adam frowned.

“You won’t return.”