Chương 41: The Floor Charged Interest

Meno stood outside the Westmarket forge with the Charmsteel Rune Spire resting on his back and tried to think of a question mark enemy that deserved to be poked first. Then the answer came to him. Meno immediately tried to pretend it had not, then started walking toward the Mage Tower anyway. The idea might fail before it became content. It might fail at the entrance, at the first trash pack, at a door that required twenty players to stand on twenty circles and sing. Meno needed a question mark. The raid had those.

Even if he failed, the stream would explode. The world would remember he still existed. Guilds would panic for at least ten minutes wondering if PrayerBeadGod had found another hole in the floor. Killing a boss was probably impossible. He only needed one trash mob with??? beside its name, one enemy stupid enough to stand alone, one route through a place every major guild had already decided belonged to them. Westmarket's Mage Tower ring was busier than before, but the traffic had changed.

Players moved in groups, casuals clustered near the edge asking questions, and a few NPC tower guards kept everyone from leaning too close to the active gates. Meno stepped through the yellow portal and let the world fold into gold. The Lost Temple platform opened around him in cold sky and pale stone. Kaerthalan slept near the temple steps, ash-black body curled like a mountain. The four archmages had moved close to the dragon, sitting cross-legged on the platform in a loose square.

Red, yellow, silver, and blue robes spread around them, their hands resting on their knees, their eyes shut in meditation. None of them looked up. There were no players in sight. Chat expected him to cut across the platform toward another city portal. Meno let that expectation sit for three steps. Then he turned toward the raid entrance. NO HE'S GOING IN raid??? lvl29 btw common sense has disconnected guilds wake up waste of time AI director sweating code red at Feltforge Meno walked slowly on purpose.

"Relax," he said.

"I'm just clearing the raid real quick. Maybe five minutes. Ten if there's dialogue." lying streamer brain world first solo incoming wipe counter ready"Honestly, level fifty recommended is probably for bad players." He reached the huge swirling gate, stopped outside it, and planted the Rune Spire point-down against the stone.

"Also, I'm not going in yet. I need ten minutes." Chat hated waiting, which made waiting useful. Viewers: 52, 408. The number climbed in visible chunks while Meno backed away from the entrance and started testing the Rune Spire properly. The weapon was absurd in a way screenshots did not explain: almost his height, made of solid magical steel, and technically one-handed. In tight spaces it would be a nightmare to use. He held it out and tried a normal diagonal cut. The blade dragged him.

His shoulder pulled forward, his hip followed a fraction late, and the tip dipped low enough to scrape sparks from the platform. He caught the motion before it spun him fully out of stance, but the message was clear. This was not a sword he could bully with strength.

"Okay," Meno said.

"It wants to take me with it." Chat contributed coaching with its usual expertise. lamp post too heavy skill issue use two hands idiot spin build he made weapon for taller guy Poke first. The thrust worked beautifully, crossing a disgusting distance with almost no commitment if he kept his wrist tight and his elbow loose. Weave after poke. That worked too, because the blade's length let him draw a shallow line across imaginary ribs without stepping into melee.

Diagonal sweep into spin felt better than trying to cut diagonally, stop, and reverse the angle by force. Stopping was the problem. The Rune Spire punished hard resets. Every time he tried to yank the blade back against momentum, it pulled his shoulder, slowed his recovery, and left his feet late. When he let the momentum continue and moved with it, the thing started to make a weird, ugly kind of sense. Poke. Let the tip pass. Turn the wrist. Step around the weight. Diagonal into spin. Spin into shallow vertical.

Vertical into thrust. It looked ridiculous until the rhythm held. Meno jumped. False Wings buzzed under his boot at the top of the arc, and he kicked sideways while letting the blade keep moving. The Rune Spire's pull tried to rotate him off-balance. He leaned into it instead, using the spin to bring the tip around in a long crescent. The second air-step caught his falling angle and shoved him into a landing that only looked like he had meant it from the beginning.

"Reverse cuts need a kick," he said. what weirdly clean? make me one please dizzy just watching advanced cope He tried the same motion with a vertical slash after jumping, and the blade nearly turned him upside down. Immediate False Wings kick fixed it. Not perfectly, but enough. The fake foothold gave his body a moment to correct while the weapon finished arguing with gravity. The right method was not cutting like a swordsman.

It was moving around the opponent in fluid motion, letting the blade's absurd reach and momentum dictate the path while his feet and False Wings adjusted the body behind it. He had to dance around the target, which was a sentence he would deny ever thinking if chat repeated it. It was also dizzying. Using the Rune Spire meant looking away from the target during some spins, trusting peripheral timing, and remembering where the enemy had been half a second ago. Against simple mobs, maybe fine.

Against bosses with layered telegraphs, awful. Meno would not recommend the design to almost anyone. Advanced players only. He jumped again, spun too wide, and nearly clipped a passing player who had arrived through the silver portal. The player froze, stared at him, then hurried toward the red portal without asking a question. Two more players came through yellow, saw a Level 29 streamer practicing aerial polearm ballet outside the world raid, and stopped long enough for their own streams to turn toward him.

Meno landed, lifted the Rune Spire, and pointed it at chat.

"Don't copy this unless you have hands." he has hands apparently feet questionable this is content Viewers: 61, 903. By the time the ten minutes ended, he could move without the weapon stealing his spine. He stopped in front of Kaerthalan and rested the blade across his shoulder, angled carefully so it did not jab an archmage by accident and cause another world event.

"Hey," Meno said.

"I'm about to go into the raid. Shouldn't you provide assistance?" Kaerthalan opened one molten eye. The dragon looked at him like a sleeping king disturbed by a worm.

"You are not qualified." The eye closed. The archmages did not react. Seravaine's face stayed calm, Orren's beard rings hung still, and Maelira seemed carved from silence. Caldrin breathed once through his nose, maybe because the wind had changed, maybe because Meno existed.

"Great," Meno said.

"Very supportive raid NPCs." He walked to the entrance. The gate shimmered, blue-violet dream light turning inside a gold-edged arch. Meno rolled one shoulder, adjusted the Rune Spire grip, and stepped through. [World Raid: The Lost Temple] Recommended Level: 50+ Maximum Party Size: 20 Loot Classification: Legendary I–III Apex Drop Potential: Mythic I crafting materials from Vervenzal — Extremely Low Raid Reset Cycle: 7 days Meno stood inside a vast doorway opening onto a wide circular ring.

The ring curved left and right around another temple structure nested inside the first, like someone had built a cathedral, then placed a smaller, meaner cathedral in its stomach. Pale marble walls rose high overhead, ridged and gothic, with gold inlays running through the stone like veins. The ceiling disappeared into shadowed arches where blue-violet light pulsed faintly behind stained glass. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. No enemies stood in sight.

The floor in front of him was square marble tile, ivory and gold arranged in a pattern that looked intentional until he watched it. The gold tiles shifted. Then the ivory ones shifted. The pattern rearranged itself under his eyes with a slow, soft slide, trying to make his focus follow it deeper into the ring.

"Hallucination floor," he muttered.

"Cute." He stepped onto a golden tile, and the world snapped white. [Death | Lost Temple — Dream Pattern Misstep] [Currency Lost: 5 gold] [Respawn: Lost Temple Platform] Meno reappeared outside the entrance, standing on the sky platform with the raid gate in front of him and every piece of dignity behind him. He stared at the notice.

"Five gold?" PATCHED junk padding dead apple exploit cooked currency first now LMAO Meno blinked.

"What do you mean patched?" patched PATCHED read notes BeadGuard update Meno opened the forum overlay stiffly, like he was reaching into a trap already closed around his hand. The top pinned post sat there, neat and official. [Patch Notes: BeadGuard Update] PvE death drops now prioritize currency before inventory items. Currency Drop Floor: Level 1–9, 10 copper; Level 10–19, 10 silver; Level 20–29, 5 gold; Level 30–39, 50 gold; Level 40–49, 100 gold; Level 50+, 500 gold.

If available currency is below the drop floor, equipped items may be selected next. If no equipped items are available, inventory items may be selected. Drop priority favors gear and materials before junk. PvP Extension: PvP death uses the same priority order. Currency is transferred first, then equipped items if currency is insufficient, then inventory items. A defeated player may provide PvP death rewards only once per hour. Unlawful kills apply karma penalties and may trigger bounty status.

Meno read the notes once, then again. The third read confirmed the AI hated fun.

"My death cost just got increased by five times?" His voice rose before he could stop it.

"And next bracket is fifty gold? Level forty is a hundred? Five hundred gold after fifty? Are they insane?" safe players win BrineSaint buff economy nerf apple investors ruined"Was BrineSaint sponsored by Feltforge Systems?" Meno snapped.

"This change favors safe farming so hard it should come with a shield logo. I finally get gold, and the AI decides dying should charge rent." Meno got angry enough to open his inventory, grab an apple, and throw it at Kaerthalan. The apple spun end over end across the platform. Kaerthalan lifted his head just enough to open one massive eye, caught the apple in his jaws with a movement too small to count as effort, chewed once, and swallowed. A notice appeared.

[Buff Acquired: Kaerthalan's Blessing] Mind-control effects resisted. Chat went from mockery to religious panic. APPLE TECH DRAGON FEEDING BUFF FOUND MIND CONTROL RESIST throw all apples new meta"I meant that as an insult," he said. The buff sat quietly in the corner of his vision, indifferent to intent, and Meno turned back toward the raid entrance.

"Fine. Five gold poorer. We learn." He entered again. [World Raid: The Lost Temple] The doorway returned, pale marble and gold inlays and that awful nested-cathedral silence. This time, Meno did not step on gold. He waited until the tiles shifted, marked the ivory route, and moved. The floor did not simply change color. It rearranged intention. Gold tiles slid into the path where his eyes wanted to land. Ivory tiles opened just far enough apart to tempt a jump.

The pattern tried to pull his attention into rhythm, then break that rhythm under his feet. Meno jumped to the next ivory tile. False Wings caught under his boot before the gold square beneath him could change, and he kicked sideways to another ivory tile. He landed with the Rune Spire angled behind him, waited through the next shift, and skipped forward again. Viewers: 78, 624. Meno took the left side of the ring, staying near the outer wall.

The inner temple loomed to his right, its smaller doors sealed beneath pointed arches. Farther ahead, one door stood open, leading deeper into the structure. Three figures waited in front of it. They were tall, cloaked, and too still to be statues. Their hoods hid their faces in pale shadow, and each held a large wooden mace that looked rough and simple in a way that made it more threatening, not less. Sleepwalkers had felt like people hollowed into dreams.

These looked like someone had taken monks, removed mercy, and left the posture. Meno inspected the nearest. [Hostile: Dream-Censured Monk | Type: Dream-Bound Humanoid | Threat:??? | Trait: Punishing Silence] The other two matched.

"Three question marks," Meno said softly.

"Melee. Tall. Big sticks." three is too many pull one monk bonk silence aura? you are not a caster jump though Meno backed up tile by tile, avoiding gold as the pattern shifted beneath him, and returned to the doorway. Then he took the right side. The setup mirrored the left, but not perfectly. Another inner door opened farther along the ring, and in front of it stood only two enemies. One was another tall humanoid with a bald head, a golden-veined scalp, a white robe, and bright golden eyes that did not blink.

It held a long staff in both hands. The other looked like someone had built a nightmare incense burner out of a sphere and way too many hands. Sculpted arms stuck out from its round body in every direction, each open palm framing a central hanging thurible that smoked blue-violet dream incense. [Hostile: White-Eyed Cantor | Type: Dream-Bound Humanoid | Threat:??? | Trait: Hollow Hymn] [Hostile: Drowned Thurible | Type: Dream-Bound Construct | Threat:??? | Trait: Dream Incense] The monsters stood on gold tiles and did not die.

"Cheaters," Meno said. The Cantor's golden eyes remained fixed ahead. The Thurible's many hands shifted slowly around the incense core, smoke curling in rings that did not spread beyond the pack. Hollow Hymn sounded like stacking damage. Dream Incense sounded like crowd-control. Fighting both while the floor tried to turn under him would be a challenge.

"Bad pack," Meno said.

"Hate the ball." ball hates you go deeper gold tile immunity unfair this is impossible go back to vulcano Meno returned to the entrance again. The obvious outer ring was blocked both ways. The raid wanted groups to clear trash and push deeper along the first ring. Meno was not a group. Meno was a Level 29 Swing Master with a weird weapon, a dragon fruit buff, and a death bill that had started charging in gold. He looked straight ahead.

Past the first shifting floor stretch, a central doorway led deeper into the nested structure. Meno moved toward it carefully, stepping only ivory, jumping when the pattern shifted, kicking off empty air when a gold square tried to slide beneath his landing point. The doorway opened into a second ring. Same structure, smaller radius. Circular passage left and right around another inner temple. Pale marble. Gold inlays. High gothic arches. The same square floor tiles rearranged between ivory and gold under his gaze.

Meno stepped forward, and metal sounded from the right. A gigantic chain erupted from the right-hand passage like a train launched through a cathedral. Links taller than Meno's torso slammed through the ring at impossible speed, dragging blue-violet sparks where they scraped the marble. He had one second to inspect it. [Hostile: Chain of the First Dream | Type: Dream-Bound Construct | Threat: Raid Boss | Trait: Living Seal]"Oh." The chain hit him.

[Death | Chain of the First Dream — Living Seal] [Currency Lost: 5 gold] [Respawn: Lost Temple Platform] Meno respawned outside, turned, and walked straight back into the raid without giving chat the satisfaction of a pause.

"Raid boss hallway chain," he said.

"Good. Normal. Excellent door design." 0g speedrun chain train go again raid boss not? has to count way stronger The entry hall returned again, and Meno stood on the safe starting slab before the tile field. He breathed once through his nose. The second ring had a patrolling raid-boss chain. The outer ring had packs blocking both side routes. The left pack had three melee monks. The right pack had cantor plus incense ball. Going deeper meant chain death.

Therefore, he needed to get past a trash pack on the first ring. The monks seemed like the better bet. Tall melee enemies. Big maces. Punishing Silence was bad, but maybe the design assumed casters and healers cared more. With the Rune Spire's reach, he could hover above them, poke downward, use False Wings to stay out of mace range, and land only on ivory tiles between jumps. He could not fly, but he could make ground contact rare. Raid design oversight, maybe. He navigated the shifting tiles faster now.

The pattern still tried to bait him, but the first ring had become a little less foreign. Ivory, jump, kick, land. Wait through shift. Step. Kick. Set. The three Dream-Censured Monks stood before the inner door, motionless until Meno crossed a line. Their heads turned together.

"That's close enough," Meno said, already backing. The monks rushed him. They moved faster than their size allowed, cloaks whipping behind them, wooden maces held low and ready. Meno jumped before the first reached him. False Wings buzzed under his foot, and he kicked upward, Rune Spire angled down for a test poke. The front monk raised one hand. A pale resonance spread outward in a woven dome, silent enough that the lack of sound made Meno's ears hurt.

He tried to kick again for the second air-step, but nothing caught under his foot. False Wings failed.

"Oh, that's what—" He fell straight into range. The nearest monk's wooden mace swung once, slow and certain, and hit him in the chest hard enough to make the world fold. [Death | Dream-Censured Monk — Punishing Mace] [Currency Lost: 5 gold] [Respawn: Lost Temple Platform] Meno stood outside the entrance again.

"Punishing Silence is punishing." no skills monk says grounded 5g bonk try again Meno flexed his hands around the Rune Spire grip.

"So jumping past monks is impossible unless I'm outside the weave before it hits. Which I wasn't." He turned toward the raid gate again.

"Cool. Right side." Cantor and Thurible waited in front of their inner door, white and gold and smoke. Meno stayed at the edge of the tile field, watching the shifting colors and measuring the pull distance. The Cantor did not rush when he crossed into range. It raised its staff and struck the marble once. Gold circular weaves rippled outward across the floor, expanding in stacked rings.

The Thurible rolled forward on its many hands, incense smoke spilling from its center in a low cloud that moved faster than it should. Meno jumped. The first gold weave spread beneath him. He kicked upward with False Wings, clearing the visible ring, but the effect still passed through his body like a bell note. [Debuff Applied: Hollow Hymn] At 10 stacks, detonate for holy damage. The Cantor struck the staff again. Another wave expanded.

Meno kicked sideways toward an ivory tile, trying to keep above the floor while the Thurible rolled closer. The incense smoke reached him midair. Kaerthalan's Blessing did nothing. His limbs stopped agreeing on who owned them. His shoulder locked, his left leg pulled wrong, and the Rune Spire tilted him backward as if his avatar had become a puppet with cut strings. [Status Effect: Dream Incense] Motor control disrupted.

"Not mind control, apparently." He fell onto a golden tile. [Death | Lost Temple — Dream Pattern Misstep] [Currency Lost: 5 gold] [Respawn: Lost Temple Platform] This time, Meno respawned and stayed still for two seconds. 120K VIEWERS this is so expensive gold tile assist dragon buff did NOTHING mind control lawyer needed go again go again raid debt arc Viewers: 120, 334. Meno looked at the number, then at the raid gate. Twenty gold gone. One apple gone.

The AI had patched death padding into a gold faucet running the wrong direction, the floor killed for choosing the shiny tile, the monks turned off False Wings, the cantor stacked holy bombs, the incense ball made Kaerthalan's fresh blessing look decorative, and the inner ring had a raid-boss chain moving like public transit. He should stop. Instead, he rolled his shoulder, adjusted the Rune Spire, and walked back into the Lost Temple.

"We go again."