Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Fifty-One

Before he went to check the relic chest, Adam retrieved his two bear traps and the many scattered collectibles, and then he broke open the nightwing’s body to grab its heart.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Dwarf Nightwing Heart (Rare) — The heart of the Dwarf Nightwing once owned by the Sloth Demon Glool. The lifeblood trapped within may awaken a slumbering power >

This won’t fit in my bag…

I need to have Weaver make me a bigger one.

He also looked around for a plant to bring Sprite, and ended up with a small bit of fuzzy dark-brown moss that grew atop one of the large rocks further up the slope.

With no small amount of excitement, Adam finally approached the relic chest, while Belamouranthe poked her head out of the carriage door to look down the slope at him, now that the danger had passed.

As he pushed open the chest, rainbow light surrounded a jittering ball of pure brilliant energy. Although he stared right at it, it didn’t hurt his eyes in the slightest, despite washing out the light of the setting sun that lit up the forest slope.

Alongside it was a cloak that was made of the same reddish-brown hide as the nightwing corpse next to him, and it had long bristly black hairs growing from it. The fated wishing stone and the conjuring stone both appeared again, since the pool of available legendaries was still rather slim, and it didn’t seem like previous stage legendaries could reappear.

< Spark of Creation (Divine) — Deny the Void >

< Nightwing Cloak (Legendary) — Activate to make all physical attacks pass through you for 10 seconds if you are fully submerged in shadow. 1-hour cooldown | Take 25% more damage while standing in light, but take 25% less damage while submerged in shadow >

< Fated Wishing Stone (Legendary) — Wish for any Relic of Epic rarity or lower. 1 use >

< Conjuring Stone (Legendary) — Combine 2 Relics of Epic rarity or lower to produce a new unique Fusion Relic. 1 use >

There it is!

The spark of creation. The divine consumable that allows its holder to instantly kill a Voidspawn or bring back a dead player.

“How much is the creation spark worth if I sell it to Lucca?” he asked, wondering if it’d let him buy several legendaries.

[Divine Relics cannot be sold. They are Soulbound and may not be discarded once obtained. Likewise, they may not be fused nor traded away to other Players. Even if you perish, another Player cannot take the Divine Relics on your body. Should you loop with a Divine Relic in your possession, it will not travel with you, unlike other Soulbound items, such as your Visiting Stone.]

So much for that thought…

“Can I use the creation spark to bring back a dead person whose body isn’t right in front of me?” he asked.

[You can use the Spark of Creation to bring back any Player cast to the Void of Death.]

Any ‘player’, huh? Guess that means those who died outside the Trials don’t count.

“If I use it on a player in this universe, will they come back still compromised by the Flayed Lady?”

[I do not know the answer to that question.]

So perhaps it’s better to wait until I’ve spoken to the Chaotic Convergence and patched whatever loophole allows her to possess players like she does.

“Wait, is it possible to bring divine relics back with the relic saving chest?” he asked.

[In most cases, yes. The Relics obtained from Fal and Meilo would not be possible to send back, but the Spark of Creation would work.]

Hmm, so I would be able to bring one back to the start of a loop to ensure someone who dies in stage one still survives.

“Does it save players who were sacrificed to Nwetrou?”

[Yes.]

That’s really important. I wonder if there’s a way to duplicate the sparks with the Ghost and barrage glove exploit?

While it brought a lot of interesting ideas to mind, and potentially gave him a way to save a doomed universe, he knew he needed to focus on things that he could use here and now. He would be up against at least four other players in the Forbidden Altar, possibly five, and he needed as much power as he could get his hands on in order to make it through, given how powerful all of them would be, thanks to the Flayed Lady’s interference.

Adam looked at the new legendary and its description.

The nightwing cloak giving ten seconds of immunity to all non-magical attacks is really powerful, even if the activation requirement could be a bit of an issue in most situations.

If I just destroy the lights in the chambers of the Forbidden Altar, I could easily use it there, so it would be a good pick.

I don’t really see a point in grabbing the creation spark if it won’t benefit me right now, and using it to bring someone back from the dead, only for the Flayed Lady to seize control of them again… That seems profoundly counterproductive to what I’m doing.

I will have many more chances to get it later.

“I’m taking the cloak,” he said.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Nightwing Cloak (Legendary) >

The red-brown hide cape appeared around his neck to hang down his back, and along with the belt squeezing his mid-section and the fact that he was now flesh-pink from the mix of slime and blood cores, he was fairly sure he looked completely ridiculous.

Adam went through the options for the upgrades and ended up picking a divine crush upgrade as his first choice, which put his total at 423%, since he now received a 30% boost from the glass tree. It would quadruple the impact of all of his punches and further increase the explosive snap of his bear traps, which seemed to amplify the usefulness of the upgrade.

His sixth and last upgrade was a divine bleed, which put his total to 260%, but he was planning on raising that number more later, since he was sure not all enemies he ran into would continue to die on the first hit. Not to mention, his bear traps benefitted from his afflictions, and being able to do more than double his normal damage as a bleeding effect after an attack was just absurdly strong.

Parvillo activated his light show and transported Adam back to Interim Island alongside Belamouranthe.

Adam immediately had him send the large nightwing heart to his player house, before he headed to the market. Finnian and Migraine weren’t anywhere to be seen, which was fortunate, since Adam wasn’t in the mood for their antics.

“Currency,” he said, bringing up the tracker for the various currencies he was collecting.

< < Player Currencies > >

< Points — 6,270 >

< Mastery Shards — 8 >

< Victory Pearls — 8 >

< Soul Drops — 2 >

< Voidspawn Cores — 1 >

That’s more than enough points to get me to level ninety and my third evolution.

I think I should be able to buy something from Tisa when I get to ten pearls, so I need to find her again.

Still no idea what the Voidspawn cores are for, and I haven’t seen any signs of new vendors around Interim Island.

“How many points did I get from my traps in the last stage?” he asked Parvillo.

[You triggered 15 traps, rewarding you with 1,500 Points.]

Giggling Trapper was an excellent pick, Adam thought, satisfied with his evolution choice.

He stopped by Lucca’s stall and sold all of his trophies, though he kept the cores for now, still contemplating whether or not to keep his slime crown.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Greater Slothful Heart (Uncommon) x2 >

< Slothful Heart (Common) x10 >

< 7,670 Points Remaining >

Adam looked to Parvillo. “If I put all twenty-four blood cores into my body, will it turn me completely into a blood slime?”

[No. Visually and physically, you will not change, unless you control your body to invoke the specific element to appear. Your appearance and body composition will always be considered slime, but it is based on the mix of all the cores inside of you.]

“So, if I added a single statue elemental core to my body, I’d be able to turn to stone?”

[Yes. Although, I do not believe the resultant colour would be pleasing to the eye.]

“White plus red and brown might make a beige almost skin-like colour,” Adam mused.

[With your appearance, it would likely be deeply unsettling.]

Adam laughed. What a dumb thing to worry about.

“But just to be clear, if I consume all of the cores I have, Blood Mages won’t be able to manipulate my body as if it was made of blood, right?”

[Not unless you transform yourself into blood, no.]

A 240% boost to damage and health on top of all my other boosts would be quite nice, Adam thought.

And there are some uses for being able to use blood that I can foresee, so perhaps its worth it. I guess I can always take it off if I change my mind later, but I think that, despite how much damage Helena did in the arena yesterday, I survived it only thanks to the cores splitting my health.

Although, selling the cores would allow me to buy a lot more damage… The health boost from the crown would be the main benefit, since even legendary health upgrades should only be something like twenty-five points each. To get a 240% boost to health through upgrades would currently require ten upgrades or so, which is more points than I can sell the cores for.

Adam decided to finish his shopping before he figured what to do with the cores, but cost-wise, using them on his crown did seem like a good idea, particularly since he wouldn’t be able to afford enough upgrades for his fourth evolution before stage four even if he sold them.

“Let me see what relics you have for sale,” he told Lucca, who was more than happy to oblige. She was probably feeling antsy since he hadn’t bought a single thing from her in this loop so far.

< < Relics For Sale > >

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

< 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% >

< Fated Wishing Stone (Legendary) — Wish for any Relic of Epic rarity or lower. 1 use >

< Conjuring Stone (Legendary) — Combine 2 Relics of Epic rarity or lower to produce a new unique Fusion Relic. 1 use >

< 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 >

“Do you not sell the nightwing cloak?” Adam asked her. “Actually, are none of the past legendaries available?”

[Legendaries tied to Secret Bosses are only available within the Stages where they are defeated,] Parvillo answered before Lucca could say anything.

“So, if I don’t grab them from the relic chest at the end, I won’t be able to obtain them again?”

[You will not be able to purchase them, no, but there is another way to obtain them later.]

“How?”

[I am not allowed to reveal that to you.]

“I thought you were gonna help me win.”

[That has never been my stated goal. I am helping you reach the Forbidden Altar to worship the Chaotic Convergence. This alternate way to obtain Legendary Relics is not available to you until later, and thus I am not going to reveal it to you, as it cannot contribute to the goal.]

Whatever.

I definitely want the renewal stone, and though I can afford it alongside my upgrades to reach level ninety, I also need to have Thea fix the damaged crown.

Wait…

I get a 10% discount because of my golden tooth, so I can afford it all if I just sell two of the blood cores.

Granted, I could also do some fishing to earn the points, but I need to work a lot more on controlling my slime body if I plan on continuing to use it.

“I’ll sell two of my blood elemental cores and buy the relic renewal stone,” Adam said, deciding on the spot. The renewal stone would become an integral part of his build thanks to the Prankster evolution’s ability to retrigger relics on cooldown, and the fact that the renewal stone normally only worked once per stage. While he could wait to get it until later, there was no guarantee it would appear, and there were already some interesting ways to potentially abuse it, such as with a potion, or, more interestingly, legendary relics like the fated wishing stone.

“Excellent,” Lucca chittered, happy to have finally made a sale.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Blood Elemental Core (Common) x2 >

< 7870 Points Remaining >

< < Relic Purchased > >

< Relic Renewal Stone (Epic) >

< 6970 Points Remaining >

He next went over to Thea and asked her to fix the crown.

“That’ll be 450 points,” she said.

The golden tooth might be my favourite relic so far…

< < Relic Repair Purchased > >

< Damaged Crown >

< 6520 Points Remaining >

“I’ll be done in a couple hours,” Thea told him.

“Thank you,” he said and continued on to Karie’s stall. “I’d like to buy a lot of general upgrades again.”

“Of course.”

< < General Upgrades Purchased > >

< Bleed (Legendary) x2 >

< Damage (Legendary) x4 >

< Defence (Legendary) x7 >

< Health (Legendary) x6 >

< Movement (Legendary) x4 >

< Venom (Legendary) >

< 40 Points Remaining >

As Adam’s body started to glow, he looked at his status.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Giggling Trapper >

< Level 90 >

< Stats >

< Health — 390 (+150) [+90] >

< Stamina — 273 () [+63] >

< Mana — 33 () [+8] >

< Damage — 1,365% (+750%) [+315%] >

< Defence — 553% (+350%) [+128%] >

< Dodge — 154% (+118%) [+36%] >

< Speed — 1,495% (+950%) [+345%] >

< Luck — 111 (+60) [+26] >

[ Modifiers ]

< Glass Tree +30% >

< < Upgrades > >

< Bleed 390% (+300%) [+90%] >

< Crush 423% (+325%) [+98%] >

< Force 195% (+150%) [+45%] >

< Venom 163% (+125%) [+38%] >

A big shit-eating grin spread across Adam’s flesh-pink slime face.

Karie made a sound of discomfort, and Belamouranthe, who’d silently followed after him, said, “Thou are doing it again, Adam.”

“It’s even worse than when Finnian tries to smile,” Karie remarked scathingly.

Adam ignored them and turned to Parvillo, just as he announced the third evolution.

When Adam saw the evolution options, his creepy grin grew even wider.