Chương 226: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Twenty-Six

Once Beck had explained everything he knew about stage ten, they all split up for now. Kat wanted to visit the market and Lasse planned to talk to the survivors from his last group.

"I'm sorry I didn't mention the wishing coins," Beck told Adam. He had a frothing glass boot in his hand and a plate of hotdogs in front of him. Adam still hadn't ordered anything from Charlie yet, since he didn't want to interrupt her conversation with Weaver, Belamouranthe, and Yenna. The wasp wasn't really engaging in the conversation, but mostly just listening. So far, she hadn't brought out her instrument, and Adam wondered why.

"It's fine," Adam said.

"Everything else you told me came in handy. I was able to save Gothershall and kill all of the knights. Killing the last one dropped a cursed suit of legendary armour. The First Light worshipper in my group seemed to think it would allow the wearer to worship the Headless One."

"Interesting," Beck remarked.

"I met a few people who changed their patrons after finishing stage ten, and some of them had completely new options to choose from. Maybe the Headless One is one of those."

"Won't it risk scorn though?" Adam asked. Even if not all of the Absolutes tried to kill their worshippers with scorn, it was still unlikely to be worth swapping, since the effects were no doubt permanent.

"It's a bit different after stage ten. You can decide to continue as your original patron's 'Chosen' or you can seek out other Absolutes that have an interest in you. There is of course punishment to consider, but at that point, most of the Absolutes seem wary of starting a conflict with whoever a player chooses next, so I believe the scorn players receive is not as punishing." Adam thought back to how the Tome Keeper had defended him with his mercury spell-tome.

"I doubt the Flayed Lady would care," Adam said.

"She's definitely an outlier there. I'm fairly sure that Nwetrou doesn't want to go to war with other Absolutes though, so I'm expecting him to fuck off once I've been chosen by Messimer. Miredeep will still be quite a lot of trouble, I'm sure, but after that I should be right as rain."

"I don't know," Adam said.

"He's invested a lot into killing you so far."

"Trust me, it's different once we're chosen," Beck insisted. Adam let it go for now and brought them back to the previous topic by asking, "I imagine the wishing coins continue to be a problem down the line, right?"

"Oh yeah," Beck said.

"Most people will be aware of how they work of course, and the hidden effect with wells, but few people know the trap inherent to the coins. As you would expect, players exploit this to get others killed. In stage fifteen, when everyone is smushed together into the same dimension, some people will leave around used wishing coins like bait."

"Did you know that the Flayed Lady can use them like a portal to exert her power into a stage?" Adam asked. Beck nodded.

"I've seen it only once, but she's not the only one who uses them like that. If a wishing coin is used three times or more, it can summon Voidspawn." Adam frowned.

"Despite how low the odds for players making it past stage ten are, you still get a few people who just want to watch the world burn. There was one guy who totally snapped in stage sixteen last time. He managed to summon two Voidspawn before he died. We lost twenty-four players because of that…" Emelia had talked a lot about the ' Public Stages' that would start from fifteen and on, and from what she'd said, Adam assumed that everyone would be mostly working together, even though factions formed.

Although so many people were filtered out by the stages leading up to and including stage ten, the mortality rate dropped significantly from eleven and on, since players became so much stronger as a result of being 'chosen' by their patrons.

"I've gotta say, I'm surprised you encountered a Capgras demon," Beck added.

"Generally, demons shouldn't appear until after stage ten. I thought the only exception were the summoning rituals in Alepheria's tower and the chapel atop Oath Spire in stage nine, but even they can't summon Capgras demons." So that was a summoning ritual then, Adam realised, thinking back to the unfinished pattern that'd been made on the open floor of the chapel, in front of the empty reliquary he'd activated with the twisted symbol. There's gotta be something more to do there with the twisted symbol.

Just triggering the ritualist boss early feels too simple.

"You're lucky you defeated it," Beck continued.

"Once a Capgras demon fully consumes a player, they can even fool the system by pretending to be players themselves. They're smart enough to mimic the cubes too. The lack of a cube is usually the tell for human mimics. What truly makes them dangerous though is not only the camouflage, but the fact that they grow exponentially with every player they consume. They're a massive headache in Avaricia, but that entire stage is a paranoia-inducing nightmare."

"We also fought a hunger demon," Adam added. He hadn't explained that part in his retelling of the stage, since, quite frankly, too much had happened to recount.

"How?" Beck asked.

"The shark in the Silt Lake ate the body of the player with a demon ring relic."

"And it had a hunger demon inside?"

"I guess so." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"There are quests in some of the future stages involving NPCs turning into demons, and they always leave a demon relic behind, even if you kill them before they finish transforming. I just assumed it was a thematic reward, but maybe they were turning because they consumed demon relics," Beck muttered, mostly thinking out loud.

"It has to be restricted in some way, right?" Adam asked.

"If any living creature can turn into a demon by simply eating a demon relic, then that's quite troubling."

"Given that I've never heard about it before, I'm inclined to agree," Beck said.

"Likely it has to be a fitting vessel. Since Barnacle Barney eats everything he can get his hands on, turning into a hunger demon makes a lot of sense. What was the demon relic like?"

"It gave increased damage based on missing health and prevented conventional forms of healing," Adam replied, guessing that Barnacle Barney was the name of the Silt Lake shark.

"I've heard of that one," Beck said, surprising Adam.

"It's the emerald ring, right?" Adam nodded.

"I used a demon glove relic in my last loop, actually. It made all spells I cast track my target, but tripled mana consumption. It was worth it though."

"Did it speak to you?" Adam asked.

"It did. It was a greed demon that kept insisting I feed it precious metals, in exchange for spells. I never fed it though, since someone else told me demon relics change if you do."

"What kind of change?" Adam asked.

"I don't know, truth be told," Beck admitted.

"Felt a bit too precarious a thing to experiment with, plus, I liked the effect it had and didn't want to lose it."

"Oh, I almost forgot, but I found out what happens to Moonwell Village if you eliminated all the bloodfiends in Moonport," Adam said. Beck's face lit up with interest.

"Do tell."

"There was only one bloodfiend left, and she'd disguised herself as a vendor. After we killed her, we obtained a key to a shed, which let us complete the ' Vanished in the Woods' quest."

"Interesting. I wonder why there was just one left. It's a neat trick though, since that quest is a massive pain to complete normally."

"I never got to ask her, since my team mate killed her immediately," Adam replied.

"That's a shame. But it's good to know. Once those vampires are turned forlorn, they become a real pain in the ass during the night."

"I think it helps having ways to make sure the dead stay dead," Adam said.

"We had two ways. One was with my kingly raiment allowing me to absorb an endless amount of corpses, and the other was because of the Priest in our group who evolve into Lightbringer. I guess another way is devouring them like Kat did."

"And blessing them," Beck added.

"I tried it with the hero's gauntlets this time. It worked on the forlorn knights too, once they'd been defeated." Chien discovered the same thing against the twins, Adam thought, glad to have another confirmation that it worked. Adam nodded.

"It'll be good to know for the next time. Getting those gauntlets early will make a big difference." Beck noted his word choice.

"How do you reckon you'll do in the Tower of Mirrors?"

"Not great," Adam replied honestly.

"The Tome Keeper gave me a good reward though. I'm now able to decide if I want to stay within a universe when I loop." Beck laughed.

"Don't tell me you're planning on staying here."

"Why not?" Adam asked.

"Are you serious?" Beck replied.

"The next loop is going to be a fucking nightmare. Do you have any idea how many people have been sacrificed to Nwetrou?"

"I can't just leave you alone. The Watcher tasked me to make sure you survive to obtain the Self-Devouring Eye."

"I don't need you to babysit me for that to happen," Beck replied.

"I've already obtained it once despite the odds. Compared to fighting against the Diviner, these pathetic Nwetrou worshippers are nothing." He fixed Adam with a hard stare.

"You have the option to get the hell out of his doomed universe. I recommend you take that ticket and don't look back. Besides, you said yourself I exist in other universes, so you can just feed me a scale of remembrance and it'll be like I never left, right?" Adam frowned. He knew Beck had to be smart enough to know it wouldn't be that easy. It's the same thing Emelia said. But it's not that simple. He won't be the same person.

"I'm serious," Beck said, reading Adam's thoughts on his face.

"If I see you at the start of the next loop, I'll kill you myself. I'll keep doing it until you move on to a better universe. You've already laid the groundwork by helping Lasse and Kat obtain strong builds, and you've helped me deal with most of the Nwetrou worshippers. If I don't make it to the Singing City with an advantage like this, then I never will." Adam sighed.

"Fine. But then you'd better help me get through stage ten." Beck grinned and pulled out his visiting stone." That I can do," he said and vanished. < < Visiting Stone Activated > > < Player Grandpa has entered your Dimension > Adam laughed and got up from his seat and headed for the player house's door upstairs. Yenna got up and followed him.

"You can stay if you want," Adam told her.

"I am unsure about how to engage with them," Yenna remarked.

"They have received the vanity and are so full of life now." Adam paused halfway up the stairs.

"What did you mean when you said you were trapped? And why were Thea and Lucca so obsessed with obtaining the vanity?"

"I suppose you do not know what goes on when you are not here. At first, it was bearable. Only a day at most, but lately, you are gone for many days in a row. Meanwhile, for those of us bound to this place who are hollow within, we are stuck in waiting." Adam frowned.

"By some cruel trick, we are aware of this time, but unable to act. The longer it lasts, the more unbearable it becomes," she said.

"Like dolls in a dollhouse," Adam remarked.

"Yes. Just like dolls. We are not truly real, but our minds are."

"And when you receive a vanity, what then? I thought it just turned you more human in appearance," Adam said." Everything has secret meanings and powers in the Trials of Defiance," Yenna replied. If he didn't know what he did, and hadn't seen the things he had, it might've been quite the revelation. Still, Adam was surprised to realise he hadn't fully considered what other hidden effects the vanity might have besides granting unique weapons.

"We are given our dignity," Yenna continued.

"We are allowed to venture elsewhere when you are absent, and we are not slave bound by the entirety of the All-Seeing System's rules. The Weaver and Charlie follow the horned girl to the demesne of the All-Mother when you are absent. It sounds like a cheerful place to visit, but I cannot go with them." I never realised… Adam met Yenna's large compound eyes.

"Your music, you're not doing it because you want to, are you?"

"I enjoy the music," she said.

"But I am forced to play unendingly, or until you ask me to stop. Even the brightest most colourful things become grey and deadened upon the thousandth repetition." Adam had a small epiphany.

"The points, are they part of this too?" He imagined that the vendors who made enough points were rewarded with the ability to leave Interim Island while Adam was inside a stage, and that this was why they cherished those points as much as they did.

"I am not part of their system, so I cannot say," she replied. Loud knocking drew Adam's attention to the door. Oh shit, he's probably been waiting for a while out there.

"Come on," he told Yenna, pulling her by the arm to the door. As soon as Adam opened the way for Beck, the old guy stared at Adam and how he was holding on to Yenna. Beck sighed.

"I mean, seriously, Adam? Can you not do this every time I come here?" Adam ignored his dumb joke and said, "You've gotta hear this."