Chương 225: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Twenty-Five

Adam sat down on a seat near Weaver, Belamouranthe, and Charlie, who were in the middle of discussing the best way to make a stew. Weaver was mostly just listening. Charlie looked up at Adam, but he gestured for her to stay seated, since he didn't want to interrupt her. Yenna went over to join their conversation, knowing that Adam was going to be busy talking to other players. He watched her for a moment. I wonder what she meant by 'trapped'. Thea and Lucca both seemed very eager to get a vanity for themselves too.

I wonder if it's because there are a lot less players left in the Trials, or because I've handed out three vanities already.

"How many players survived?" he asked his cube, bracing himself for the answer. [3, 289 Players survived Stage Nine. Currently, 2, 812 Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.] Emelia told me her last loop had 3, 000 survivors, and the one before had 4, 500, so this is on quite the low end it seems, but still higher than I thought. Maybe the quality of the remaining players is the main issue, though it's hard to say.

Her goal had been to reach 10, 000 survivors after stage nine, but I wonder how that would be possible. Despite how many people had been eliminated by sacrifices to Nwetrou in this universe, it somehow still led to a similar amount of survivors when compared to Emelia's universe. Adam wondered why. Adam couldn't help himself and decided to search through the survivors to see which of his friends and past companions were alive. The answer was bleak.

Beck, Lasse, and Kat had all survived, but out of everyone else that Adam had been grouped with before, only Sarah Ayala had made it through the Forlorn Kingdom alive. Cathrine Boyle, Nicolas Sánchez, Mei Wu, and Momo Manalo were all gone, making his victory in saving them during the Forbidden Altar feel hollow and meaningless. He truthfully couldn't say if they had even made it to stage nine or not, since he hadn't been keeping up with them. Something he was regretting now that it was too late.

Luo Zihao, the Archer who had made it out of Moonport early after Sofia Olivares had died to an NPC, was also gone.

"Huh, you're back to normal," Beck remarked, appearing across from Adam. He paused, seeing his expression.

"What's with the face?"

"I was just thinking about how few people have survived this far," Adam replied. Beck nodded.

"It's a bit of a rude awakening for sure."

"I managed to break free from the Flayed Lady," Adam then told his friend.

"Really?" he asked, clearly surprised it was possible. Adam briefly explained how he'd been able to do it, and Beck's surprise turned into disbelief.

"I don't think you were meant to survive that. Scorn is nasty at the best of times, but for the Flayed Lady it's a death sentence. I've seen it, you know. One guy had a quest to kill one of his friends in stage fifteen and he ended up refusing, but because our connections to our patrons tighten after stage ten, it also means that they can more easily intervene if we behave in ways they disapprove of.

It's not very common, since most Absolutes want to keep their chosen ones alive, but the Flayed Lady is something else. So, anyway, the guy basically turned inside out, dying on the spot, and we had to kill his blood clone."

"I wish you would've told me that earlier," Adam replied.

"I didn't want to freak you out." [Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]"Who is it?" Adam asked. [Player Sourpuss.] He smiled.

"Add her to the conversation." A moment later, 'Legolas' made a similar request, and Adam added him too. Lasse and Kat both looked at Adam in surprise. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"You're back to normal," Lasse stated.

"It suits you," Kat remarked. She retained the bestial traits of her Bloodfiend Matriarch evolved Class, not to mention the vampire transformation from the potent blood wine she'd consumed. Beck grumbled.

"Now my clever nickname doesn't suit him anymore."

"It wasn't that clever," Adam replied.

"Why is it that you look different now?" Lasse asked. Adam explained what had gone down with the Godstone and his declaration to change patrons, as well as the fallout.

"We can swap patrons??" Lasse immediately asked in disbelief.

"I wouldn't advise it," Adam replied.

"Losing your ability to use magic is… not something I've heard of before," Beck remarked.

"Then again, I've also never heard of anyone breaking free of the Flayed Lady."

"The Absolutes transcend time, correct?" Kat asked.

"That's my guess," Beck replied.

"They do," Adam confirmed.

"Why?"

"The Lady, would she not just bide her time to strike back at you? You have said she is cunning and loves betrayal." Adam nodded.

"Yeah, I've definitely made an enemy out of her, that's safe to say." Beck chuckled.

"I wonder if she would be worse than Nwetrou."

"Speaking of," Adam started, "how did everyone's stage go?"

"More importantly," Beck followed, "who won the bet?"

"One player died in my group," Kat announced.

"We were five in total." Damn, that's quite the achievement.

"Three died in mine. We were six to start," Adam said.

"We were six as well, and two people died," said Lasse. Beck sighed deeply.

"What?" Adam asked.

"I was the only survivor in mine." They all blinked at that.

"How?" Lasse asked.

"All of my five other team members worshipped Nwetrou…" Beck replied.

"Holy shit," Adam remarked.

"Yep…"

"Do you think you will encounter more in stage ten?" Kat asked.

"Most likely," Beck replied. Adam frowned.

"That'll be an issue."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Beck said.

"I think I'll get the ' Orb of Insight' to check out the competition though."

"I'll be doing the same," Adam replied. He looked at Kat.

"How did you manage to only lose one player?"

"We followed your advice and avoided undue risks. It helped that I could disable forlorn knights during night time and prevent most corpses from reanimating by eating them. The player death was inevitable, however. A worshipper of the Flayed Lady was in my group and sought to take me out for 'stealing' his patron's gift," she explained. Adam wondered if part of Kat being targeted was also that he'd let her live during Moonport, despite the Flayed Lady clearly wanting him to kill her.

He kept this theory to himself though.

"We lost two players to infighting over the weapon dropped by the forlorn bulwark after we fought him near the old church," Lasse said.

"One of them killed the other with a surprise attack, and then I dealt with the killer." He sighed.

"Things were going so well too…"

"So, your build was strong against the forlorn knights?" Adam asked.

"It was. I could overwhelm their defences quite easily with my barrage combo. It was quite effective against the king as well." Beck nodded.

"While the shadowy protection they all use is quite tough and resistant to a lot, it's not impervious."

"We mostly relied on a Morrligt worshipper's sun flare to deal with it in our group," Adam said.

"But we also discovered that water could repel it somewhat, at least the Blue Vein river and the relic that creates an echo of it."

"Speaking of the river!" Beck said excitedly and pulled out a fish of the exact same blue colour as the water, with golden eyes and a sleek salmon-like body, though with two extra dorsal fins and a much longer tail fin. < < Collectible Relic > > < Blue Vein Spirit (Legendary) — An elusive and nimble fish thought to only exist in legend and which personifies the raging current of its namesake river >"I remember seeing a quest for this," Adam said.

"It took me three days to catch it and I had to cheat using magic, but it gave me a permanent 10-point buff to my Luck," Beck replied.

"What? I didn't know that was possible," Adam said.

"Fishing is actually a viable way to grow stronger…" Lasse remarked in a mix of horror and disgust.

"I can't wait to catch the legendary fish in Miredeep," Beck said, already looking towards stage eleven as though beating the Tower of Mirrors was a foregone conclusion. Adam wished he could share his optimism.

"How did you lose three people?" Kat asked Adam, bringing the conversation back to their bet. Adam explained the rather convoluted events involving Heiner, Diwa, the demon ring relic, and the wishing coin.

"The third guy was a First Light worshipper, and he foolishly stayed behind to keep fighting the Forlorn Shadow when we had a chance to escape together," Adam finished.

"You fought the Shadow?" Beck asked surprised. Adam decided to just explain all the events of his stage in broad strokes, and when he was done, Lasse's only comment was, "You doubled my point tally…"

"Mine too," Kat said. They were acting like it was a major defeat, but it meant they'd both gotten at least 20, 000 points, which was no small thing. Beck didn't say how many points he'd gotten, but based on the fact that he'd been the only survivor out of six players, which would greatly increase the point reward for objectives, and that he had several bonuses, including flawless and secret boss, Adam was willing to bet he'd earned as many points as him, possibly more.

Kat had the defender and MVP bonuses, as did Lasse, but none of the others had the eradication bonus from killing all of the forlorn knights. I guess that's because of the forlorn horsemen.

"So," Beck started, looking at Kat.

"What are our new names?" She grinned.

"Your new name will be ' Grandpa'."

"What about us?" Lasse asked after she didn't immediately give them their names. She turned to look at him.

"You will be ' Little Brother', and Adam will just be ' Adam' again." Beck frowned.

"That's unfair."

"My name for him does not make sense now that he is back to normal," she argued. Before anyone could protest any further, Adam quickly changed his name.

"Well, since I lost, I get to pick the next wager," Beck said. Kat, Lasse, and Adam prepared themselves.

"You all need to make it through the Tower of Mirrors."

"That's it?" Lasse asked.

"70% of the current survivors, if not more, will be eliminated by stage ten," Beck said, his tone serious.

"I don't want y'all to mess up because you're trying to win a bet. But! For Miredeep, we will absolutely do a fishing wager!" Adam laughed. I'm glad some things never change.