Chương 180: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eighty

Adam left the well and its secret chamber feeling somewhat disappointed. The tenth stage was likely to be the biggest hurdle in every loop going forward, given how its design took a lot of agency out of his hands. From what Emelia had said, it was a series of connected towers, each belonging to a separate player. Every floor was a challenge and choice, which would affect whichever tower it was linked to, meaning another player could sabotage Adam's climb if they so wanted, and he could do the same to someone else.

There was no way to speed through it, fly around it, or otherwise cheat its design, and the Tome Keeper had confirmed as much. That obviously doesn't mean such a thing doesn't exist, but only that he does not know of any. After every floor, which concluded simultaneously for everyone, there were three stairs to pick between, with each going up one more floor than the last, raising the challenge of the subsequent floor as a result.

What the Absolute had shared was less like a solution to this design and more like a series of warnings, such as not going up three floors at a time, since that had a high chance of manifesting an encounter with a Voidspawn. Even if such a challenge was overcome, it would result in all future Voidspawn encounters becoming much harder. Adam sighed. Still, he actually taught me demonic. I wasn't sure that would even be possible.

I want to try out the alterations to the Covetous Vessel ritual, but I'll wait until I'm done with everything else. He left his player house still wearing the raiment from earlier, pausing to look at the glass sapling that would finish growing after the Forlorn Kingdom. Its melody was getting stronger, though outwardly it looked no different than it had after the previous stages. I really hope there's some unique thing involving this and the rotmaker idol.

It would be silly if there wasn't something at the end of all this waiting. Once he arrived at Thea's stall, he switched his spidersilk needle for the fire glove that Charlie had gifted him after he gave her the vanity. He'd been curious about its evolutions since first trying it out, because he'd been able to manipulate the fire quite well thanks to his practice with the blood sigils.

Part of him was still curious as to whether the glove would fuse with his blood sigils, but he doubted he'd be able to fuse a fused weapon again. I will reach ten mastery shards by evolving two weapons, so maybe I should save the remaining points for stat upgrades, like defence, speed, mana, and such. Unless the next denizen weapon I get is one I want to upgrade. But if I can get enough luck, then swapping to the Spidersilk Weaver's stats would be a pretty good idea, I think.

Still, the fire glove would be good against the forlorn, since they're weak to fire, but I would lose my ability to prepare most spells, especially the Shade Barrier and Beckoning Crimson. I can of course cast them without the spell constructs, but it's less convenient. It's also possible that the effect from the Golden Loom evolution of Spidersilk Weaver would make the Covetous Vessel spell much stronger. I suppose I will just have to contrast and compare against the target dummy.

Adam bought eighteen upgrades to max out the fire glove. Surprisingly, it had a mix of Summoner and Blood Mage upgrades, specifically the sigil and spell sets. This meant there was no way to upgrade its range, since that was tied to a different set like invocation or casting. It also offered a new upgrade called ' Spell Duration', which had replaced the ' Spell Damage' upgrade, since sigil already offered a damage boost in its set. I think duration must be tied to burn effects created by the glove's fire.

< < Weapon Upgrades Purchased > > < Sigil Damage (Epic) x2 > < Sigil Effect (Rare) x4 > < Sigil Effect (Epic) > < Sigil Efficiency (Rare) x4 > < Spell Duration (Rare) x2 > < Spell Duration (Epic) > < Spell Size (Epic) > < Spell Speed (Rare) x3 > < 16192 Points Remaining > With the upgrades came three sets of choices between evolutions. The first set didn't change anything about the glove, but the sigils on the back were different.

The one on the left looked like a group of flames, and the other looked like the head of a beast. < < Select an Evolution > > < Cannon — Increase maximum range by 50 metres > < Fire Fiend — All flame-based attacks leave behind lingering flames > Although the Forlorn Kingdom stage was much more open, making the cannon upgrade quite useful, Adam thought there was more utility in lingering flames, especially since their duration could be increased with upgrades. From the Fire Fiend came the next set of upgrades.

The left option this time had swirling lines going in front and behind the flame sigil, while the other turned the flames into something more spiky and dangerous-looking.

< < Select an Evolution > > < Flame Dancer — Become immune to the burn of your own flames > < Pyromaniac — The potency of flame-based attacks goes up based on the volume of fire surrounding the caster > While Pyromaniac sounded powerful to Adam, the ability to be unharmed by his own flames had much more potential, especially since he could shape the flames to his will, opening up the possibility of a fire-coated Kingly Raiment, which sounded insane.

The last two evolutions based on Flame Dancer were both unique skills. The sigil on the left glove had turned into a soft narrow pyramid with lines flowing out from its tip like sunlight. The other had a bunch of criss-crossing lines below a large flame. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

< < Select an Evolution > > < The Cleansing Beacon — Unique Skill (Cleansing Flame) | Create a brightly-burning flame that lasts for 1 minute and negates the effects of all afflictions suffered by those in the vicinity. 75 Mana cost > < Burial Blaze — Unique Skill (Funeral Pyre) | Summon the kindling flame of a funeral pyre which grows with every sacrifice fed to it and increases all Players' Mana and Stamina by 1 point for every 10 sacrifices made.

1 use per Stage > Both are quite useful, though nothing that seems overwhelmingly powerful, which is a shame.

"By negating, does it mean that all afflictions are removed?" Adam asked the cube. [No. Negation means that for the duration of the skill, afflictions have no effect. They will resume after the negation ends, if they have duration remaining.]"And what's the cooldown on the ability?" [10 minutes.] Hmm. That's not terrible, but it doesn't really help that much. Some afflictions are likely to last the entire stage after all, but I guess that in a pinch it could save someone's life.

The funeral pyre has a lot of potential for long stages with a lot of enemies, but if I place it in a bad spot, then it's unlikely to be that useful, since we'll have to return to it often. I do like that it buffs everyone, but I think in the last stage we killed maybe 150 enemies, which would be a really insignificant buff. After a bit of consideration, Adam picked the Cleansing Beacon, gaining his seventh mastery shard. He looked up above Thea's stall and saw the sun was at its zenith.

I think I'll go to the tavern before I buy anything else. I need to check on everyone, and I want to try and use my newfound knowledge of demonic to read the list that Kat picked up from the Patriarch's secret cache. As Adam headed for his house, he used the fire glove to coat himself in flames, finding that it didn't even feel very warm to him. Additionally, mixing the flames with his blood, flesh, and bone changed their qualities.

Fire and blood made a deep-crimson flame that he could manipulate with his blood sigils and even crystallise. Flesh made the flames oily and dark, which gave off a lot of smoke and burned with great vigour. Bone and fire created white-hot fire that, although short-lived, was probably able to melt metal with ease. I wonder if it's possible to use fire to fly as well.

He gave it a few tries, but the most he could manage was to launch his body upwards, a bit similar to the spring boots, but without the inherent protection from falling back down. When he used the fire alongside his usual flight where he lifted his body, he was able to achieve much greater speeds, shooting through the air with each explosion he created under his own feet. Without Flame Dancer, I would likely have burnt to death. I'm glad my imperviousness extends to my clothes and relics.

Since he moved through the air, the effect from Fire Fiend quickly dissipated, since the flames were only able to linger on surfaces. It was a good thing though, since otherwise he would've carpet-bombed the island with napalm-like flames. It would be useful if I wanted to destroy all the buildings. Adam landed in front of his house, quelling the flames on his body as he walked through the door. I think I might keep the glove.

It prevents me from wearing a relic on my right hand, but I am planning to put the Shapeshifter's Claw and Wizard's Stone Hand into the relic saving chest anyway, so it doesn't matter. If I need to use a different relic than the scoundrel's bloodied glove, then I will just swap it out. I'm also curious if I can cast spells with the fire glove. It would be quite interesting and open up even more possibilities. Charlie came over as Adam went down the steps into the basement.

"What would you like today, Adam?" she asked.

"I think I'll try some huazontles today," he replied and found a seat. He had randomly thought of the dish, even though he'd only tasted it once on a trip to Mexico City.

"And to drink?"

"Whatever you think fits the meal," he answered.

"Very well," she replied and went to the kitchen. Belamouranthe and Weaver were already in the restaurant, talking excitedly about something Adam couldn't discern, though the happiness radiating from their melodies was infectious. Finnian and Sprite were in attendance as well. The slime slouched onto the table and passively absorbed the contents of the plates that Charlie had placed on top of him.

Meanwhile the alchemist was stealing a few samples from Finnian's body and mixing them into a ceramic mug with a thin metal rod, creating blue-green smoke and giggling eagerly to himself.

"Sprite!" Adam exclaimed.

"No experiments in the tavern!"" I am close to a breakthrough, do not disturb my work." Adam got up from the chair and went over to their table.

"What are you even making?" he started to ask before he caught a whiff of whatever was producing the strange smoke. It smelled like burnt hair and plastic melted in a microwave." I am constructing my favourite airborne carcinogen!" Sprite remarked cheerfully.

"Ban Sprite from entering the tavern so long as he is planning on experimenting inside," Adam told his cube.

"And scrub the table and tavern air of harmful materials." [Understood.] With a pop, Sprite vanished along with his cup of carcinogenic material and the smoke. That little freak is up to no good. Hopefully his madness can work in my favour whenever I clear his quest. Adam sat down opposite Finnian.

"Squire Adam, have you brought me some cores?"

"Not this time," Adam told him.

"Hurry up and bring them to me. I am bored." Adam ignored him, slightly regretting his choice of seat, but then the cube announced, [Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]"Is it Beck?" [No. It is Player Luo Zihao.] I wonder why he wants to talk.

"Let him through." Luo appeared opposite of Adam.

"The cube told me you killed Sofia," he immediately said. Adam frowned.

"Do you really think I would do that?"

"I don't know," Luo said.

"It's not that I trust the cube, but I don't know if I trust you either. The way you killed Aeran was scary."

"Did the cube tell you how I supposedly killed Sofia?" Adam asked.

"With your magic."

"She died while I was trying to save her, and as a result I was given credit for her death. The cube is attempting to frame me and to make you distrustful."

"You sent me and Kat outside before she was attacked, so I have no idea. I just saw you flying out with her bleeding in your arms, and then she died while I wasn't there."

"If I just wanted to kill people for points, I would've killed you too," Adam told him honestly.

"I don't know," Luo muttered. Adam didn't need to be able to hear his melody to know what had him so rattled.

"Handing in your patron quest must have gone poorly, I'm guessing." Luo paused and looked down at his hands.

"I was shown a vision of Nharlla's domain. My fingers started to melt into a lake made of mercury, and I saw the reflected faces of all the players I've killed. I was shown Aeran and Sofia's faces as well." Emelia mentioned that those who worship Nharlla and go to his domain end up permanently changed by it. It sounds like some insane acid trip.

"My patron showed me all of the bloodfiends I'd killed. They were tortured and flayed before my eyes, and then turned into living furniture," Adam replied.

"That sounds horrible."

"It was pretty bad," Adam admitted. Luo sighed.

"Sorry, Adam. I think I'm just confused. I also realised that we only collected one Changeling mask, so if Sofia had survived, she and I would've had to fight over who got to keep it… I honestly feel relieved it didn't have to happen. It's pathetic, I know."

"The Trials do this to us," Adam remarked.

"Either we fulfil our absurd patrons' requests, or we suffer."

"I actually spoke to someone who failed Nharlla's quest, and his punishment was an affliction that lasts until after stage nine. It makes him hear and see things that aren't real, like schizophrenia. Apparently the things he sees can hurt him." That sounds like a nightmare.

"If I had failed my quest, my most cherished memories would've been turned against me," Adam replied.

"I'm not surprised you completed it," Luo admitted.

"Part of me wished I had stayed after I saw how many points you two received."

"It's best not to dwell on it," Adam replied, although he knew that Luo would've easily doubled his points if he had. They talked for a bit about what would come in stage nine, and Adam lied that he and Kat had found clues that pointed to the forlorn being involved, mentioning their weakness to fire and holy damage in case Luo didn't already know.

Adam also recommended what secondary weapon Luo should get to benefit his build, since he was planning on getting the second sheath upgrade from Alivida later, as well as the relics that would work best for him. Afterwards, Luo left to visit the market and Adam sat staring into the empty seat for a moment. He hated that even someone who he had assumed was a friend had so easily turned towards mistrusting him, all because of what the cube had told him and what he had been subjected to by his patron.

Adam let out a deep breath.

"How many players remain?" [52 thousand Players survived Stage Eight.] That's not even 10%… Which means less people survived Moonport than the Forbidden Altar. I don't even know of a good way to ensure more people survive, since it's so based on randomness and finding clues. Adam pushed the thoughts aside for now. He was in no position to try and safeguard the remnants of humanity, when he himself had only a vague idea of what lay ahead.

"Show me Becky," he said. The time-looper appeared opposite of Adam, scratching his nose while trying to read the same glass tome that Adam and Kat had found. Adam immediately noticed it was upside-down, though Beck clearly didn't know. He had many of the same achievements as Adam, minus the two for all secrets and eradication.

"You speak demonic?" Adam teased him. Beck looked up.

"Is that what this strange language is?" Before Adam could answer, he threw the tome over his shoulder and pulled something up from under the table. It was a vicious-looking fish with red eyes.

"What the hell is that?" Adam asked.

"My winning ticket for our bet," Beck said. Then the description popped up and Adam knew they'd all lost.