Chương 240: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Forty

Adam sat up with a startled jump. Soft green grass cushioned his body and in front of him was a large apple tree. As far as deaths go, that one was not the worst. I got to really show off there at the end. He gritted his teeth, holding back the flood of emotions that threatened to burst out of him. There were thousands of ways he knew he could've done things differently. I really wish I could've gone as far as the public stages with Beck, Kat, and Lasse.

Despite the horrors that awaited them, going through it all together was something Adam had truly wanted. I shouldn't have let Beck convince me to go to a new universe. I should have stayed. I hope they succeed against Nwetrou and that one of them continues looping. Adam's body shook with pent-up rage and frustration. He grasped handfuls of grass and let out his emotions in an angry shout that echoed back to him a half-second later. [Urrr—] the black cube groaned.

Adam immediately got to his feet, just as the cube itself turned briefly red, only to flicker and go back to obsidian black. The eye on the front of it warped and grew, the cube around it bulging and taking on the shape of an icosahedron. Smaller golden eyes appeared on each face of the floating twenty-dimensional dice, but the large one on the front glowed with a pale green-blue light. It had a triangular iris that was surrounded by two thin black rings. [Hello, Adam. My name is Parvillo. I am one of the Principal Eyes of the Watcher of Worlds.] Adam blinked.

"What's happening?" he asked. [It seems you have brought something with you to this Universe. The Watcher of Worlds bade me intervene and pass on a message. You must seek the Chaotic Convergence in the Forbidden Altar. The integrity of the Trials of Defiance is in danger.]"Fuck your integrity," Adam replied. [I am aware of your feelings, Adam. However, if you wish to save your species, it would behove you to comply.]"I was already planning on worshipping the Realm Traveller," he said.

"But I'm not doing it to save your hides." [Our goals are aligned, Adam.]"What exactly do you mean by integrity anyway?" [I cannot yet say how deep it runs, but this Universe has been compromised.] Adam frowned. It didn't take a genius to guess who might be behind that.

"Since you're aware that I'm looping across universes, you won't try to stop me from doing what I must to survive?" [I am bound to follow the All-Seeing System's rules, but I have been allowed to show leniency in this instance.]"What's stopping me from just ending myself here and going to a different universe?" [Nothing. Although, the All-Seeing System will stay true to its promise and erase your memories and progress, since you would be perishing before the convergence of dimensions. Further, whatever is clinging to you, poisoning this Universe, will travel along with you, dooming the next Universe you reach. I do not believe that you are willing to sacrifice everyone to such a frivolous display of defiance.] Adam frowned. He didn't like doing what the System wanted him to, but if he was being shown 'leniency', he might be able to get away with some things he normally wouldn't, which, considering he needed to rely on the Fool to reach the Realm Traveller, would likely be a necessity.

"Fine," Adam said. [I shall remain by your side until the All-Seeing System recalls me.] The chatty icosahedron is staying… Adam looked down at the saved weapons and relics that had appeared in front of him.

"Since I will be using the Fool this time, can you send those weapons to the weapon saving chest on Interim Island?" [Understood.] With a golden beam, the Defender and Bulwark weapons were sent elsewhere. Adam picked up the two relics he had saved specifically to use with Fool. < < Relics > > < Shapeshifter's Claw (Epic) — Perform a transforming attack with the hand wearing this Relic, doubling Impact and Damage inflicted.

20-second cooldown | Successful attacks inflict Lethargy, slowing target's Movement Speed by 50% for 5 seconds > < Wizard's Stone Hand (Uncommon) — Turns your hand to stone and allows you to manipulate it up to 3 metres away from your arm. Relic disappears if destroyed > He equipped the stone hand to his left arm, where it replaced the hand completely, turning it to dark-grey stone. With a simple thought, he could pull the hand from the wrist and move it around him, so long as it didn't move too far from his arm.

The stump left behind was capped with a flat stone surface. The claw glove went on his right hand, but he was planning to mostly use the stone hand for stage one. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. [To confirm, you are skipping the selection of weapons, correct?]"I am," he answered, guessing it was some weird kind of formality. Parvillo hadn't even turned into a weapon podium to show him what he could have taken.

Wait, I think I vaguely remember Luvicidix saying that if I sent back two weapons, I wouldn't be able to choose a starting weapon. [Very well. You have failed to select a Class within 60 seconds, and have therefore been defaulted to the Class 'Fool'.] < < Weapon Type Selected > > < Bare-handed > < < Player Status > > < Adam > < Fool > < Level 0 > < Stats > < Health — 150 > < Stamina — 210 > < Mana — 25 > < Damage — 300% > < Defence — 75% > < Speed — 200% > < Luck — 25 > Since he had a 100-point boost to health and damage, as well as a 25-point boost to mana and defence, and a small 10-point boost to stamina, it meant that the overall stats for Fool were now much better and more well-rounded than any other Class he could have picked.

Along with the Class came the unique relic. < < Relic > > < Lucky Bracelet (Epic) — All rewards are Rare quality or higher > Before the first wave started, Adam had enough time to ensure that the hardmode orb was active. He was planning to get the hardmode in every stage he could, mainly for the extra points, but also because he was certain there was a unique reward for getting every hardmode clear. Parvillo floated to Adam's side as he got ready.

Unlike the last two times he'd used the Fool, he now had the perfect tools for dealing with the slimes. The first two slimes jumped out and Adam was on them in an instant, using the stone hand to pluck out their cores before they could even jump a single time.

From the upgrade reward, Adam rerolled once since luck didn't appear, snatching it from the second set of options, and since the fast clear of the first wave increased the rarity by one level, it meant the luck added five points, immediately putting his total at thirty. Adam went through the next three waves with ease, since the purple slimes were as susceptible to his wizard hand as the blues and greens.

From every single wave he picked up an epic luck upgrade, and he didn't even have to reroll to get them, leaving him with four rerolls still remaining. He even managed to do most of the damage to knock down the apple tree himself, using the shapeshifter's claw. Though he only did it after checking that the glass acorn wasn't there. True to Meilo's word, it was already collected, thanks to the ' Remembered Secrets' upgrade.

Like in his previous Fool run, he wasn't able to pick up Gram, but Parvillo let him send it to his player house, which Adam thought might be useful. In the boss fight, Adam threw one of his many collected cores to evolve one slime king into an emperor, and then he defeated both bosses by pulling the cores out of them. Unlike his previous two Fool attempts, this one had been disgustingly easy to pull off.

Last time he'd relied on the cracked cores to damage the slimes, but now he was able to defeat them without losing any of the cores he collected. < < Wave Five Complete > > < < Stage Complete > > < Tallying Score > < < Score > > < 45 Seconds Completion Time > < 400 Point Secret Boss Bonus added > < 300 Point Flawless Bonus added > < 150 Point Speedrun Bonus added > < 150 Point All Secrets Bonus added > < 0 Damage Received > < 2580 Points Awarded > Adam grinned to himself.

Despite using Fool, this was the best run through stage one he'd had so far. The stone hand was quite frankly the perfect counter to the slimes. It had also enabled him to collect thirty-two intact cores, each of which would sell for a hundred points to Lucca, more than doubling his point total from the stage. Adam went over to the upgrade podium that Parvillo had unfolded himself into.

Unlike the normal podium, this one had all of his many golden eyes dotting its black surface and tiers, which was somewhat unsettling.

< < Upgrades Available > > < Crush (Epic) — Increases the impact of attacks by 25% > < Force (Epic) — Attacks pierce armour by 25% > < Venom (Epic) — Attacks inflict venom slowing target by 25% for 10 seconds > < Bleed (Epic) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 25% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds > Adam just needed one more upgrade to hit fifty points of luck, so he rerolled, despite crush, force, and bleed all being excellent upgrades for his fists.

< < Upgrades Available > > < Crush (Epic) — Increases the impact of attacks by 25% > < Dodge (Epic) — Grants a 25% chance to dodge a direct attack > < Luck (Epic) — Increases luck by 5 > < Damage (Epic) — Increases all damage by 25% > After grabbing the epic luck upgrade, Adam went over to the chest, hoping he'd get something nice.

I've never had fifty points of luck before, but it should hopefully guarantee only epic rarity and higher show up, and since this chest is raised in rarity maybe I'll even see a legendary? Adam hadn't heard anything about a legendary in stage one, but it was also impossible to get up to fifty luck without Fool and rerolls to spare, two things that excluded literally everyone except suicidal time-loopers. As he pushed open the lid, the light from three of the four holograms sparkled like gold.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

< < Relics Available > > < Slime Emperor's Crown (Legendary) — Become the Emperor of Slimes | Player turns into a humanoid Slime with five cores that each hold 20% of total Health | Additional cores can be added to Player's body to increase Health and Damage by 10% > < Slime King's Crown (Epic) — Become the King of Slimes | Player turns into a humanoid Slime with four cores that each hold 25% of total health > < 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 >