Chương 229: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Twenty-Nine

Nine belts of the harpooner landed in Adam's arms the moment the three copies and six ghostly clones of the wishing coin hit the fountain's bottom. The ghostly versions vanished, but the ones made by the barrage glove stuck around, which was curious. < < Wishing Relic Obtained > > < Belt of the Harpooner (Epic) — Enemies stuck by a projectile thrown by the wearer become immobilised for 10 seconds.

This effect can only activate once per target | When a thrown projectile is extracted, all afflictions active on the enemy have their durations refreshed > x9 Beck and Adam looked at one another.

"Did we just find a—?" Beck started to ask. [Duplication Exploit detected!] their cubes interrupted. Adam's cube took action, quickly beaming away all but one of the belts from his arms with its scary matter-deleting laser.

"Aww…" Adam complained. [It appears you have stumbled onto an unintended way to duplicate Relics. You are not advised to attempt this again. The punishment for doing so will be severe.]"Trials of Defiance my bunghole," Beck muttered in disgust.

"Back in my day, duping was valid!"

"I had no way of knowing that would happen," Adam argued.

"Couldn't you at least consider that instead of assuming I cheated?" [It was considered, and as such you were allowed to keep the Relic that you wished to obtain. Do not attempt this exploit again. The punishment will be severe.]"Can you believe this tyranny!?" Beck complained, incensed.

"It was the same way when I used my looping power to go through a bunch of loops in quick succession to farm points and mastery shards," Adam told him.

"Now I have to make it to the altar every loop or risk a mind-wipe…"

"They're definitely not sticking to the defiance theme," Beck grumbled.

"It's more like 'defiance within reason' or something stupid," Adam muttered in response.

"Still, I'm glad I didn't summon a bunch of Voidspawn with that trick."

"That wouldn't be possible on Interim Island," Beck reassured him.

"Though it is possible to obtain demon relics with the coins on Interim Island. I've gotta say though, I'm surprised the fountain counts as a wishing well equivalent."

"How do you normally do it if not with the fountain?" Adam asked.

"I had Builder make me a well in the last loop."

"The one with the secret entrance at the bottom?" Adam asked.

"Yep. The tiny bit of water at the bottom counts." That explains how he knew about the well, Adam realised. He'd wondered just how someone would naturally come across that particular secret.

"You know, something I'm curious about," Beck said.

"Yeah?" Adam asked.

"It's just, you can't unequip the tattoos, so how exactly do you plan on wielding two weapons to fuse them together?" Adam paused.

"I hadn't really considered that," he admitted. Beck turned to his cube.

"Is it a requirement to wield both weapons one wishes to fuse together?" [No. If a Fusion is possible between two Classes, proximity between the weapons involved is the only requirement.] Adam sighed in relief. [However, fusing two weapons is only possible for Players who possess the ability to wield more than one weapon at a time.] While the cubes couldn't perceive Alivida and Luvicidix, they could perceive the upgrades they offered, and from the cube's response it was clear that ' Second Sheath' was a requirement for fusion.

"Imagine if there was a way to fuse three weapons together," Beck remarked.

"That'd be cool."

"Like a mega fusion?" Adam replied. They both paused and turned to their cubes.

"Is such a thing possible?" Adam asked. [I cannot say.] Adam and Beck shared a glance.

"You don't think…?" Beck started. Adam grinned.

"I wasn't sure what I was hoping for exactly with these fusions, but if there's a way to accomplish mega fusions or gain a third weapon slot, then they'd have to be involved somehow, right?"

"Question is, what is the magic number of fusions required to unlock the option?" Beck responded.

"Maybe we can prod Alivida for clues," Adam said.

"But before we do that, I want to get a head start on the first fusion." With a mental nudge, he swapped his Ghost for the Summoner he'd bought earlier. The kunai in his hand was replaced with a wand, and the wraith lantern appeared on his belt.

"I hate this weapon," Beck muttered. Adam recalled his description of how someone had used the Necromancer evolution to revive one of his friends, forcing Beck to kill him to make him stop screaming.

"I won't be evolving it down that route," Adam told him.

"I've been thinking by the way," Beck said, changing the subject, "but do Class skills count as magic for your 'condition'?"

"I haven't tried yet," Adam replied.

"I'm assuming it wouldn't, but I'm a bit too scared to experiment, since I could lose my memories permanently." Beck frowned. Adam bought the eighteen upgrades needed to fully evolve the Summoner class. < < Select an Evolution > > < Elementalist — Unlock four elemental effect patterns to boost the versatility of spells > < Invoker — Increase summon count by 1 > Unlike the first time he'd had this Class in his fourth loop, Adam picked Elementalist.

To his surprise, the knowledge of how to alter any spell pattern towards the elements was injected into his mind.

"Holy shit," Adam muttered.

"What?" Beck asked.

"I'll have to try and teach you this," Adam said.

"The elemental patterns from this evolution lets the caster change basically any spell to give them fire, water, stone, or wind effects." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"What happens if you mix them?" Beck asked.

"I have no idea, but I bet it should give some interesting results," Adam replied eagerly. But then his enthusiasm died down.

"I need to get back the ability to use magic so I can take advantage of this…" Beck nodded in sympathy.

"Magic is great. I can't imagine having to use a… dagger. Ugh." Adam laughed.

"My dagger can copy wishing coins, so don't disparage it too much."

"I wonder what else you can exploit," Beck replied, giving a sidelong glance to their cubes. Adam's mind filled with dozens of possibilities.

"Healing potions? Maybe any consumable item, so long as it's thrown?"

"The real question is whether the exploit is thanks to the Ghost Class' effect or the barrage glove," Beck muttered.

"Also, what happens if you throw a player? Or a collectible relic?"

"I should've kept one of the collectibles from the last stage," Adam replied.

"This definitely warrants experimentation," Beck remarked.

"Only question is how to do it without…" He glanced at the cubes again. Adam grinned.

"I think someone at the garden might be able to help us." Beck seemed confused by the response for a moment, until he realised Adam was referring to Meilo and Alivida's ability to freeze the cubes in time. Adam returned to his selection of evolutions, his excitement about spells replaced with an eagerness to exploit his new build as much as possible to get an advantage. If I can duplicate enough items to sell, then I could fuse a lot more weapons.

The second set of evolutions offered even more potential that Adam couldn't currently utilise, but which would hopefully present a big bump in power once he regained the ability to use magic. < < Select an Evolution > > < Archmage — Unlock four casting effect patterns to further boost the versatility of spells > < Elemental Specialist — Effectiveness, damage, and area of elemental spells increase with every spell cast in the same elemental type.

The effect disappears when a new elemental type is used, a spell fails, or the caster runs out of Mana > Adam didn't need to think about it for long and picked Archmage. Like with Elementalist, Adam's mind was injected with newfound knowledge about spellcasting. In this case, he was taught patterns that, when added to the front of a spell, altered its type into be dispersed as a cloud, summoned as an elemental creature, buff a target, or curse a target.

"I can't believe I didn't consider just how powerful of a spellcasting Class Summoner could be," Adam remarked.

"It's difficult to use, right?" Beck replied.

"Yeah. It's not intuitive and you need a lot of upgrades to make the spells easy to cast efficiently and during a fight, but with this knowledge… I could make a spell for every situation I end up in!" Beck looked like he was on the verge of buying his own Summoner Class.

"I picked up the bone wand as well, so maybe if the fusion evolution is worth it, I will swap out my Spellcaster staff. I still have a lot of points left to spend." The last pair of evolutions followed the trend of giving skills instead of passive upgrades, and the ones for Archmage did not disappoint.

< < Select an Evolution > > < Erudite Archmage — Unique Skill (Instant Cast) | Instantly cast a spell pattern imagined in your mind at triple its Mana cost > < Mana Devourer — Unique Skill (Mana Siphon) | Drain Mana from a target on touch, replenishing 1 point of your own Mana for every 2 points of Mana consumed > It was likely that the Erudite Archmage's skill would count as Adam casting magic normally, so it was too dangerous, but the Mana Devourer's skill might still work for him, since it didn't use any mana.

Not to mention, after he'd seen what Summoner was capable of, he wanted to use the weapon in the future, so picking Mana Devourer, which he was unlikely to pick if he could actually use mana, meant he still had one more mastery shard to gain by picking Erudite Archmage at a later time. < < Evolution Selected > > < Archmage => Mana Devourer > Adam had just swapped to the Ritualist's bone wand when an announcement rolled across his island.

< < Visiting Stone Activated > > < Player Kateřina Černá has entered your Dimension > Beck cast Adam a scathing look.

"Adam, you dirty dog."

"I didn't know she was going to visit," he replied.

"I swear." A few moments later, Kat emerged into the market, running on all fours like a beast. She rose to her full height when she spotted them.

"I did not realise you had a visitor already," she said.

"We are trying to make sure Adam doesn't die in the Tower," Beck replied. Kat's bestial face narrowed.

"Are you going to die?" she asked Adam.

"Well, my main weapon is impossible for me to use safely," he replied.

"Why are you trying to use a wand?" she then asked, noticing what he was holding.

"He's not. He's insisting on fusing weapons," Beck replied.

"How will that help you survive?" she asked.

"I've already got a new build figured out," Adam said, switching back to the Ghost's kunai.

"Is that an evolution of Backstabber?" she asked. Adam nodded, then he flicked the throwing dagger into the air, creating eight copies, six of which were ghostly.

"Let me hear what else you have to boost it with," she said. Adam quickly went through the entire build explanation, and when he was done, she nodded and said, "You should sell the mantle of atrophy." Adam frowned.

"That's what I've been saying!" Beck added.

"You should sell it and buy as many stamina and speed boosts you can," she said.

"I've already got 200 stamina and 213% speed," he told her. Kat scoffed.

"That's nothing. Have you actually fought a long battle with a stamina weapon before?" Adam paused. He had, back in stage four, when he'd used the spear. He remembered how big of an issue lack of stamina had been.

"And from what you said, your entire build is geared towards damage," Kat went on.

"Only your boots can be considered defence-oriented." Adam knew she was right, but he also knew that no matter how perfect his build was, he might not make it through stage ten. There were too many variables, and he didn't have a build that would let him win every encounter, plus being tied to just one weapon significantly reduced his adaptability. I've done enough to make a competent build, so I want to invest the points I have into something that will benefit future loops. It's what makes the most sense.

Kat pushed past Beck to stand right in front of Adam.

"You cannot die in the next stage. It is unacceptable," she said. Beck stepped away, but didn't leave Adam's dimension.

"We think there may be a way to unlock another weapon slot," Adam told Kat.

"Liar," she said.

"I'm not," he insisted.

"Fusing weapons might be the requirement to obtain it."

"We will go talk to Alivida," Kat told him. Beck came back into frame.

"Good idea," he said.

"Adam still has to use his orb of insight as well." Adam was glad for his friend's assist. He knew Kat had a codependent side to her, given how she'd latched onto Adam following Aeran's death. But Adam couldn't promise her that he'd keep surviving, so sooner or later she'd have to learn to rely on her own power. I'll need to have a real talk with her about this. About everything. Even if I die, she needs to push on.

And if Beck somehow falls, she'll need to pick up the torch and start the next loop in this universe so that it doesn't die out. I think she has so much more potential, and given how well she performed in stage nine, she could truly become someone great. A part of Adam also thought that, if he told her what he knew, when he used the scale of remembrance on her in the future, she would be adequately prepared.

If I can manage to relay the information in a way that doesn't violate the censorship that the scale imposes on visions of the past.

"We still have some time left before the sun sets," Adam started, "so I'll evolve the bone wand and see what kind of fusion it creates."

"What if there is no fusion?" Kat asked.

"Then it would be a lot of points wasted," Adam replied with a grin. He swapped the Ghost for the Ritualist again. Holding the weapon didn't teach him any new spells, so he guessed it came with the same three spell patterns as Summoner. Hopefully its evolutions are similar to Elementalist. Adam bought the eighteen upgrades required to fully evolve it, reducing his remaining points to 15, 942.

< < Evolutions > > < Ritual Weaver — Unlock three ritual patterns to summon three types of entities > < Warlock — Spells and rituals become more powerful with increased complexity > < Magus of Convergence — Spells and summons that have been combined are evolved to a higher form > The Warlock evolution would work quite well with the complexities offered by the Summoner's Elementalist and Archmage evolutions, incentivising long spell patterns with lots of effects, which would make up for the fact the wand spells were quite mana intensive to cast.

The Magus of Convergence evolution also seemed intended to synergise with the relic that came with the bone wand. < Mask of Convergence (Rare) — Combine a spell or summon with another spell or summon in exchange for 15% of your Health, cannot be performed with spells or summons that have already been combined > I wonder how that would work with Alepheria's Mandate and Evolutionist that Summoner could be evolved towards. It should be possible to evolve a summon three times that way. I wonder what that would lead to.

However, the most interesting evolution was the Ritual Weaver, since it taught Adam the spell patterns required to summon three unique entities. A fiend, a brute, and a witch. If I summon them without adding an element, they might just be based on mana, creating something like the mana fiend I've heard so much about, and the mana hoarders from stage six. Not sure what the witch would be like though.

With elements added on top, and things like the true flame's crown, making a very powerful summoner build should be quite easy. That's definitely something I want to explore in future loops.

"So?" Kat asked when Adam's wand didn't spontaneously start a fusion evolution.

"We'll have to go to the player house," Adam said.

"Since I can only hold one of the wands at a time, I need to bring the wands close together to perform the fusion."

"What are we waiting for then?" Beck asked.