Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Fifty-Nine

Although Adam wanted to roll through Lucca’s relics in search of slothling spring boots, he ended up spending his points on more upgrades. The sooner he reached the next evolution threshold, the better.

< < General Upgrades Purchased > >

< Bleed (Legendary) x4 >

< Crush (Legendary) x2 >

< Damage (Legendary) x6 >

< Movement (Legendary) x2 >

< 220 Points Remaining >

Adam now had 8,198% damage and 2,274% speed, with his bleed up to 1,440% and his crush at 1,750%.

I really need to test my newfound strength, not to mention figuring out the best way to utilise my Tinkerer skill.

But first…

Adam left Karie’s stall and walked towards the edge of the island. Yenna followed closely behind him until he reached the end of the land.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Down,” he replied. “I can bring you with me if you want.”

“I’d prefer to stay here,” she said.

It was a bit strange that, despite many of the denizens having wings, none except Luvicidix actually used them, and Yenna seemed uncomfortable with flying in general, despite being a wasp.

“I’ll be back in a moment then.”

Adam hopped off the edge, Parvillo following him as he flew down towards the very bottom of Interim Island.

Shitbox had told him he shouldn’t go near that place in the past, but Adam had long been wondering if the eyeball didn’t serve some higher purpose, and it had been a while since he’d last visited it. Given how open Parvillo was with most things that the cube had kept secret, Adam was hoping to squeeze some information out of him, since it was clear there had to be something special about it.

As he quickly reached the deepest point of the island, he came to a stop in front of the strange eye he’d first discovered during his fourth loop.

Three enormous seven-fingered stone hands grasped a stone orb with a toothy mouth within which was the familiar eye. It stared right at Adam, and he recalled how Alexander Nova had said that if he could make it blink, then the Absolute known as the Keening would appear in the Forbidden Altar.

To Adam’s surprise, something pulled itself out from his chest, floating to a stop between him and the giant eye.

They both looked at the black stone that had appeared. It was the core of the Voidspawn Adam had killed in the Tower of Mirrors on the fourth floor.

The large eye blinked.

[You have been deemed worthy by the Eye of Pride,] Parvillo remarked.

“What does that mean?” Adam asked, but he immediately got his answer as text formed in front of the eye.

< < Prideful Gifts > >

< Seeker's Map Sigil — Map out a Stage — 1 Voidspawn Core >

< Killing Sigil — Instantly kill a target — 2 Voidspawn Cores >

< Void Storage Sigil — Store up to 50 Relics — 4 Voidspawn Cores >

< Lightning Sigil — Obtain the Lightning Sigil weapon — 5 Voidspawn Cores >

Woah.

“Are these all permanent unlocks?” Adam asked.

[No. The Seeker’s Map and Killing Sigils both only have one use. The Void Storage and Lightning Sigils are permanently unlocked.]

“Seems kind of crazy to spend such a rare currency on one-time use items.”

[The Seeker’s Map reveals the entirety of a Stage. I believe its single use is balanced well with its powerful effect. As for the Killing Sigil, I should not need to explain its usefulness to you.]

“Can I use it to kill a Voidspawn?”

[Yes, but it will only work once per Loop, since Voidspawn can even adapt to resist sigil magic.]

“Is the void storage like the Unusual Hoarder evolution?”

[No. The Void Storage Sigil is engraved upon your body and has many limitations about what can and cannot be stored within it. The Unusual Hoarder has much fewer restrictions and may store anything.]

“What about the Lightning Sigil, can I use it even with Fool’s ban on weapons?”

[No.]

“So, it counts as a normal weapon?”

[Correct. It is tied to the Lightning Mage Class.]

“Do I get more Voidspawn cores from killing an Apex?”

[No.]

Guess that means it’s better just to avoid them altogether then.

Adam wanted to ask more, but Parvillo interrupted his thoughts by saying, [You should return to the surface. The White Moth’s Wings do not function without sunlight.]

Adam looked towards the sun, the colours dying the clouds in pinkish red hues.

“Thanks for telling me that.”

[It would be foolish to allow you to perish in such a preventable manner.]

Adam flew back up to the edge near the market, the trip back taking three times as long as before. When he landed, he felt the wings lose much of their mass, turning wilted and weak along with the setting sun. He tried to lift off again, but they wouldn’t even allow him to glide.

That’s a pretty major downside. I guess that means I should still try to get the wings from stage six, so I have a back-up.

“Will more prideful gifts appear later?” he asked Parvillo as he walked towards his player house. Yenna was waiting by the fountain and fell in beside him as he passed.

[As with other special vendors, there are requirements for unlocking further upgrades and gifts. In the case of the Prideful Gifts, the requirement is simple.]

“Kill more Voidspawn?” Adam guessed.

[Correct.]

Getting the lightning sigil seems like a good idea, but the storage might also be handy.

If I can get the Return to Sender potion before stage seven, then I could try and take down the Apex Voidspawn in Alepheria’s secret lab for another core.

It would be useful to have the killing sigil as a trump card if shit hits the fan, so perhaps I should buy that as my first gift.

“What happens if I use the killing sigil on someone who has ‘Cheat Death’?” Adam asked Parvillo.

[Cheat Death allows the Player protected by it to survive True Death. Therefore, they would survive at the loss of their Cheat Death protection.]

Hmm.

I guess that makes sense, and it’s good to know that I would be protected too.

Although, it does make using the killing sigil on another player seem like a waste, given its cost, since my most obvious targets would be time-loopers, and they’ll for sure have that protection.

Adam reached his house and stopped in front of the door, turning to look at Yenna.

“It’s probably for the best that you stay out here,” he told her.

She didn’t question it and just went over to the apple tree with the tiny stage creatures playing around nearby. “I will be here when you are finished,” she said.

Adam went inside and started testing his new power against the target dummy. Although he’d normally only be able to test out the Euphoric Tinkerer’s skill once, given its one-day cooldown, Parvillo overrode that restriction, so long as he promised to only use it for testing his combat prowess.

“And it won’t be used up when I entered the challenge arena?” he asked.

[Again, I must reiterate the foolishness of attempting to use the challenge stone when the Flayed Lady may predict your movements.]

“That’s not what I asked.”

Parvillo seemed to sigh in annoyance, though no sound escaped from him. [The Challenge Arena resets all Players’ cooldowns. It does not, however, refund Relic uses or Skill charges.]

With the assurance in place, Adam tested out the four second cooldown elimination skill with his bear traps.

Each trigger was like a grenade, sending a powerful shockwave through the player house, but nothing survived past the first activation of a trap, thanks to Adam’s insane damage, even when standing still and being too far for the pugilist’s belt to boost his power. Still, with the constant rearming of the traps, it meant that every time the dummy was replaced, it immediately exploded.

Then Adam discovered that the ‘target’ mentioned by the pugilist’s belt didn’t explicitly have to be the target dummy, at least not when using his traps, since they mirrored his damage stat regardless of what target he was focusing on. As such, Adam was able to focus on a floating mote of dust in front of his face and gain the doubling effect of the belt, which then transferred to the traps and made the explosions so powerful he didn’t hear the boom anymore, and instead just felt a violent force that flung him backwards into a wall. If he’d had ears, the blast would surely have caused irreparable hearing damage.

[It would be inadvisable to be anywhere near your Bear Traps when they are triggered.]

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Adam replied.

He went through his other relics, testing them with the Tinkerer’s power. The cloudstrider boots were easily the most interesting, given that he was able to create a bunch of clouds that lingered after the skill expired, which might save his ass in stage seven if he wasn’t able to use his wings or night bracelet.

Unfortunately, he discovered that Tinkerer did not allow him to use the night bracelet or white wings, since both operated on a charge system and not cooldowns. This meant that Leering Prankster’s ability to reactivate relics was still uniquely powerful, since it let him use the teleportation from the bracelet even if it was uncharged, and it also allowed him to activate the white moth’s wings at night, although it only let him glide for a couple of seconds before the wings wilted.

The main power of the Tinkerer wasn’t measured in just individual relics though, no, its power was the fact that he could use all of his cooldown-dependent relics in symphony. He could have his aristocrat’s mask show him the future actions of his target, the fetish of sloth could fire out imps to attack and distract, his hero’s pendant could turn every attack into one that produced a holy nova, the shapeshifter’s claw could be used with every swing, and he could move around in unpredictable ways by filling the area with clouds he was able to stand on.

Once he was done messing around with Tinkerer, having a good idea of how to use it and practically salivating about how much stronger it’d be with relics available to him later, such as the mirror mask, Adam tried his simplest and most powerful combo to gauge his full strength.

He took a running start from the far end of the player house, while charging up his shapeshifter’s claw, and then punched the slothling ogre he was using as his target dummy.

As Adam’s fist struck the ogre, the sound was like a thunderclap and there was a tiny bit of light produced by the impact, as though he’d created a miniature explosion. A powerful backwash of wind filled the room, fluttering Adam’s cloak and wings, but he was able to stay on his feet. Where the ogre had been was a blackened crater in the floor and tiny bits of aerosolised matter trailed down from above like ash.

So that’s what it’s like to deal over 30,000% damage.

When I evolve again, I’ll pick Dancing Jester, which will let me go to 60,000%… That’ll be insane.

Even if my punch’s base damage is only one, it won’t matter with all of these insane boosts.

The effect looks much stronger with my bear traps, probably because of how crushing manifests, but likely also because their default damage is higher than my punches, even though they’re not affected by my shapeshifter’s claw.

[There is one hour left before the end of the day,] Parvillo announced.

“Damn, I was at this longer than expected.”

Adam poked his head out of the door, spotting Yenna still sitting by the tree. She was playing a piccolo with her gaze tilted up to watch the night sky, while the tiny slime, goblin, imp, and captain sat in front of her, listening to the adventurous melody.

Those tiny things are another mystery waiting to be solved I’m sure.

Adam went back inside and asked Parvillo to help him test the aristocrat’s mask.

[If you fail to avoid my attacks, it will harm you.]

“I thought you said I couldn’t be harmed on Interim Island.”

[My power overrules that safety measure.]

“Can you throw something at me instead?”

[I am able to manipulate the interior of the Player House. I could produce obstacles for you to avoid.]

“You mean I can set the target for the mask to be the entire house?”

[Yes.]

That gives me a lot of ideas.

“Let’s do that.”

Adam activated the mask, just in time to see the ghostly outline of a box rising up under his feet. He immediately hopped backwards as the box actually came up out of the floor. Parvillo must have expected the move, because where Adam stood suddenly turned to a pit in his vision, forcing him to jump to safety again, only for the entire floor to suddenly vanish, except for a distant tile that Adam teleported to with his night bracelet.

No sooner had Adam landed than the floor actually fell away into an impossible chasm below the house. The spot he stood on started rising up towards the ceiling in his vision, and he jumped away and activated his cloudstrider boots to have something to keep him from falling.

Then his mask’s effect ran out.

[Was that sufficient?]

Adam was panting, despite having no lungs nor the need to breathe.

“I didn’t realise you could do all that.”

[The Player House is highly customisable. Although, if you wish to obtain specialised furniture, you must have Builder create it for you.]

The floor returned to normal, and the bed, bath, and target dummy, all of which had fallen away into the dark depths of the chasm, were put back to their original spots.

Adam got down from the floating cloud, putting his boots on the floor carefully, wondering if the chasm might open up again.

“Can you change the interior into mimicking stages? Like the clouds of the Floating Sea?”

[No.]

“So, it’s a purchasable house upgrade then?”

[Correct. Player House Themes may be purchased from Builder.]

“Themes?” Adam asked.

[Indeed.]

She never told me about those.

I wonder if they’re expensive.

[Are you thinking about turning your bed into an airship?]

“I’m not a little kid.”

Parvillo stared at him with all of his eyes.

“Okay, maybe I was considering it.”

[You had best save up your Points. It will be expensive.]

“What isn’t?” Adam asked with a sigh. Then he headed for the stairs to the basement restaurant. “Help me find someone to kill before the day is over.”