They started off by visiting Weaver in the Market.

"Did the rope and sack come in handy?" the spider asked.

"They did. One question though, is the sack easy to stain? I'm planning on using it to carry hearts in the next Stage and I'm expecting it to end up quite bloody at the end…"

"It is water-tight, so the blood will not seep through. As for stains, it is hard to say, but with a rigorous wash it should be easy to clean."

"I love my dress!" Belamouranthe exclaimed. "Thou should come work in the Sanctuary, mine mother would reward you well for such high quality clothing!"

"Thank you," Weaver replied. "But I think I will remain here."

The Elphin girl turned and looked up at Adam. "Can mine mother come visit this place?"

He suppressed a frown. "I don't think so," he replied honestly.

"Can we bring her a dress from Weaver?"

The spider crawled forward on the spiderweb counter and looked down at the girl properly. "What colour should it be?"

That's new, he noted.

"Green!" Bel exclaimed.

Last time, the Queen wore a silver dress. Green would probably suit her though.

Weaver looked up at Adam. "That will be 100 Points."

He almost refused right on the spot, but stopped himself before the words could come out.

This is something new that didn't happen last time, and it's only 100 Points. I currently have 401, but it'll be 851 when I sell the cores I'm carrying.

Spending 100 here doesn't change what I can and cannot buy.

"Deal," he said.

He suddenly remembered what Emelia had said, 'There's a shortage of curious people who make it far.'

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, he quoted in his head.

< < Items Purchased > >

< Green Spidersilk Dress >

< 301 Points Remaining >

While Belamouranthe discussed the exact dimensions and design of the dress with Weaver, Adam went over to Lucca's stall.

He emptied the spidersilk sack onto her counter.

"Elemental Cores," she said in her sinister tone. If she had a real face, he was sure she'd be grinning to herself. "The slime is looking for these. I already resold the last cores you brought for a tidy profit, so I'll pay you 100 Points for any other Elemental Cores you bring me."

Adam blinked in surprise.

"Deal," he said.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Blood Elemental Core (Common) x6 >

< 901 Points Remaining >

150 more than expected! That's a pleasant surprise.

Still, kind of silly that I can't sell them to Finnian directly. He told me he had no money…

"What about trophies?" he asked. "Like goblin ears and such?"

"I have also resold the trophies you brought me yesterday to the goblin. I'll pay you 100 Points for any other trophies you bring me."

So this must be to balance out the fact that the collectibles have more value now that the Special Denizens have quests involving them. A 33% increase in profits is pretty nice. Gonna be even harder to get myself to not sell the collectibles now though, no matter how interesting Finnian and Migraine's special weapons might be.

"Would you like to buy some Relics with your profit?" she asked, clearly eager to earn back what she'd just paid him. He wondered if the Points actually had any meaning to the vendors or if they were just urged by the System to collect as many as possible.

"I'll definitely take a look," he replied.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Scroll-Preservation Talisman (Uncommon) — When a Spell Scroll is activated this Relic is consumed instead >

< Relic Renewal Stone (Epic) — Relics no longer disappear or break when all uses are exhausted | Restores the use of 1 Relic of Rare or lower quality. 1-Stage cooldown >

< Slothling Claw Bracer (Uncommon) — Can be used to perform an armour-rending slash. Breaks after 2 uses >

< Slavedriver's Kilt (Rare) — Sacrifice nearest summon to negate an Affliction. 1-minute cooldown >

Hmm, the Talisman is new and clearly tied to Sylvia's scrolls. It can't be a coincidence that it appeared immediately after I unlocked her.

I might eventually find a use for the Renewal Stone, perhaps if I end up going with some kind of affliction build that involves the Overflow Diadem.

The Kilt seems to be tied to my summons. It's not very strong since it'd be impossible to control what affliction is negated and the cooldown is long. If there was no cooldown it would be amazing for a counter-affliction defence, but alas.

Adam didn't want any of the Relics, but he also didn't want to use his Reroll since it would be worth more in the next Stage.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he told the spider.

He went over to the cricket's wooden stall next door. He had decided to buy 3 general upgrades since that seemed to be the best use of his Points.

"Show me your upgrades."

"Of course!" Karie replied. She waved one of her arms over the bubbling black cauldron next to her and four upgrades popped up.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

< Bleed (Rare) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 15% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds >

< Damage (Uncommon) — Increases all damage by 10% >

< Defence (Uncommon) — Increases all defence by 10% >

Hmm, Luck +2 or Defence +10%...?

"Status," he said.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Shaper >

< Level 21 >

< Stats >

< Health — 50 >

< Stamina — 75 >

< Mana — 200 >

< Damage — 65% >

< Defence — 140% >

< Dodge — 10% >

< Speed — 85% >

< Luck — 15 >

< Upgrades >

< Luck +10 >

< Dodge +10% >

< Crush +15% >

< Damage +15% >

< Defence +15% >

I'm only 10 short on Luck reaching the next threshold, so I think that's worth more right now.

It would be nice to get Defence to 200% though, since that would effectively double my total Health.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"I'll buy Luck."

< < General Upgrade Purchased > >

< Luck (Uncommon) >

< 601 Points Remaining >

The upgrades disappeared from above the cauldron, before it bubbled and a new set popped up.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

< Venom (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict venom slowing target by 10% for 10 seconds >

< Bleed (Epic) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 25% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds >

< Dodge (Uncommon) — Grants a 10% chance to dodge a direct attack >

Luck is shining on me it seems.

"I'll buy Luck again."

< < General Upgrade Purchased > >

< Luck (Uncommon) >

< 301 Points Remaining >

Last one, let's see if the extra Luck helps here or not.

The cauldron did its thing a third time.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Force (Rare) — Attacks pierce armour by 15% >

< Crush (Rare) — Increases the impact of attacks by 15% >

< Health (Uncommon) — Increases health by 2 >

< Damage (Uncommon) — Increases all damage by 10% >

Ah, shit…

I guess I'll buy damage.

I could Reroll but I'd rather save it.

Actually… Maybe I should just buy 3 Rerolls. It's not really damage holding me back right now I think.

"I might be back later," he told Karie.

Let's see how much my stats improved with that.

He mentally prompted the status to appear again.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Shaper >

< Level 23 >

< Stats >

< Health — 50 >

< Stamina — 75 >

< Mana — 200 >

< Damage — 65% >

< Defence — 140% >

< Dodge — 10% >

< Speed — 85% >

< Luck — 19 >

< Upgrades >

< Luck +14 >

< Dodge +10% >

< Crush +15% >

< Damage +15% >

< Defence +15% >

Not bad. Just 6 more Luck to go and I'll be guaranteed Rares every time.

Adam returned to where Weaver and Belamouranthe were still talking. The spider had several silken fabrics arrayed on her counter for the girl to choose from. Each piece had a different pattern. At some point Bel had crawled up onto the counter and she was now kneeling over the samples like a discerning clothier.

"I'm going to the Tavern," he told her.

"I shall find thee when I am done with mine task," she replied. It was the first time he'd experienced her care deeply about something other than food, so he didn't want to disturb her and quickly left.

He stopped past the imp-statue fountain where Yenna was playing a cello. The current melody was Bach's 'Cello Suite No. 1' and she was in the middle of the 'Sarabande'.

Adam listened until she finished playing the rest of the suite.

"Hello Adam, did you like the melody?"

He nodded. "You played it magnificently."

"Are you a fan of classical?"

"A bit," he replied. He didn't mentioned that he'd tried for years to learn how to play the piano. He'd never been very good unfortunately, but he'd come to love classical music as a result, as well as gaining an immense sense of respect for those who could master instruments.

"Is there a melody you would like to hear?"

"Could you play Faure's 'Pavane'?"

"On the cello? I could attempt to play it by myself, but it would be incomplete."

"Ah…"

"I could play it solo on the piano instead. I would not have to compromise the melody."

Adam paused. "You have a piano!?"

"I have all the instruments you could desire."

"That's a lie," he replied. "I know for a fact you don't have a Theremin or a Stylophone!"

"Are these culturally-significant instruments from your world?" she asked, instantly giving him a sense of déjà vu. "I have practised with all those provided to me by the All-Seeing System. Those two were not included as part of your world's heritage."

He shook his head. "I'll have a talk with the System about this. Clearly there are gaps in your resume."

The wasp stared at him wordlessly for a few seconds.

"So, would you like me to bring out the piano?"

He grinned. "Sure, I'd love to see where you're hiding it."

Yenna leaned off the stool she always used. Then it shaped itself down to something smaller and more suitable for a piano. She laid the cello out in front of her and it immediately started unfolding like a piece of origami, but with clearly way more mass inside than was possible.

Within just a few moments, the cello had unfolded and refolded itself, taking on the shape of an actual piano.

"Have you always been able to do that?" he asked, not believing what he'd just witnessed. It was even more impressive than when the Eye did its podium unfolding trick.

"Yes. This instrument was gifted to me by the All-Seeing System."

I wonder if it has its own dimensional core like the Eye.

Before he could comment on how overkill it was for her to possess, she started playing 'Pavane' on the keys. Despite her lack of fingers, she was able to leverage her four arms to play the notes perfectly, while her two legs worked the pedals.

Adam shook his head with a smile before continuing on his way to the Tavern.

When Adam walked into the Dimensional Tavern, Finnian was literally shovelling food into his face. Migraine was talking to Sylvia up on the floor above by one of the small tables. They seemed to be having fun, which was worrying.

Charlie came over and he could tell she was looking for Belamouranthe.

"She's busy at the moment, but she'll be here later," he told her before she could ask.

"I see. What would you like to eat?"

Adam thought about it for a moment, before saying, "Insalata di polpo, a Weissbier, and some fries with lots of salt."

The red-brown ant nodded and went to the kitchen.

Instead of sitting down on an available seat, Adam brought out his barrier and shaped it into a chair, although it was really just an upside-down U-shape.

He cleared away a stool and moved his improvised seat down into its place. Then he sat on it. A few cracks appeared, but it held.

Maybe it works because the weight is distributed evenly?

Around him, the seats filled with Players. A few of the ones nearest to him noticed his strange chair and pointed. Then they flickered and were replaced. This went on for a few moments until Adam made them all go away.

Show me Emelia, Gladwyn, and Beck.

Only Emelia appeared and Adam felt a blip of panic flow through him. He verbally queried the Eye to get a response.

"Show me Gladwyn and Beck."

[These Players are not currently seated in the Tavern.]

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank God, they're still alive.

He looked at the time-looper and, unsurprisingly, she was looking back at him.

"What are you sitting on?" she asked.

Adam laughed. "It's my barrier."

"I've never seen Arturo use it like that," she replied.

"Well, I'm not Arturo, no matter how much you compare me to him."

Emelia paused. "Sorry. I shouldn't get stuck in the past. It's a bad habit of mine."

"No worries," he said.

"So, how did it go?" she asked. Based on her question, it seemed she wasn't querying the various achievements non-stop to find out herself. Or, if she did, maybe she was simultaneously searching for Adam and confusing the results she got by the queries overlapping?

Unless there's a way to colour-code the queries?

Adam mentally queried the Tavern, while Emelia stared at him, waiting for a response.

"One moment," he told her.

Show me all the Players who received a Flawless, Speedrun, All Secrets, or Secret Boss bonus. Give them each a separate colour and, if they achieved more than one, show all their colours combined.

To his surprise, the complex query worked and the tables filled with people. There were a lot of Players with a white pillar encapsulating them, some had a green pillar, and only a few had a red one. Three people had both a green and a red light. Emelia, unsurprisingly, had a red, green, white, and orange light pillar.

So the queries shouldn't actually interfere, he realised. Maybe that means she already knows how I fared, if she's got a query like this running all the time.

Adam added to the mental query. Maintain this query until I cancel it.

"You already know how I did in the Stage, don't you?" he then asked Emelia.

She nodded. "Of course. I just wanted to hear it from your lips."

He wanted to ask 'Why?' but he already knew the answer. It was because she cared about him, or well, the previous him.

"I just did a complicated query that shows me people with various colours based on achievements. It's pretty cool. I hadn't even realised it was possible to do something like that."

"There's no manual for the Tavern, which can be frustrating," Emelia replied. "But yes, it's an invaluable tool."

"Do you also see coloured lights over my head?"

"I have mine set to show coloured dots that appear on people's foreheads."

What the hell?

"Let me guess," he said. "I have three of them."

She nodded. "Speedrun, Secret Boss, and All Secrets," she said.

"For me you have all of them," he replied.

"There are more than just four achievements," she said. "Stage Four introduces the Eradication achievement since there are no more Waves from that point and onward. You have to kill all enemies before the last boss to get it. Although the Secret Boss doesn't count into that."

"Wait," Adam said. He brought out the description of his crown.

< < Secret Relic > >

< Dented Crown (Rare) — A regent must repel all invaders tainted with the lust for power, lest his kingdom fall to ruin | Subordinate allies gain 10% more Health | Subordinate allies gain Last Stand's Fervour upon death, extending their life by 10 seconds and increasing Damage & Speed by 25% >

"Is the Eradication required to unlock the next evolution of the crown?"

"Sort of, but for that one you have to kill the Secret Boss as well, and he leaves after the captain dies. It's quite difficult. The reward is worth it though, since the crown gains two new bonuses. One is additional fire damage and the other is immunity to taint."

"Is that the highest it goes for evolutions?"

"It is, but you actually need that final evolution, called the True Flame's Icon, to take on the Secret Boss in a later Stage. I tried it thanks to Arturo's help, but it was tough. We were the only two survivors of our team of six. And the fight is unavoidable if you have the crown on you. Plus, once you beat the Secret Boss, the crown loses all its power. Arturo said he always used the crown, but he usually avoided evolving it the final time, since you're forced to bring it to the Stage with the Secret Boss it triggers."

That's way more complicated than I realised, Adam thought to himself. He had just assumed the next evolution was the final one, but to know that it was required for a Secret Boss down the line was exciting.

There's gotta be other stuff like this just waiting to be found.

"Does the Secret Boss in Stage Four drop something special like the crown? The giant bat didn't give anything, which was disappointing…"

Emelia paused. "Shit," she muttered.

"What?"

"I forgot to tell you about the Nightwing's heart."

Adam frowned. "You didn't expect me to be able to trigger the Secret Boss, did you?"

"No…"

"Goddamn it. I knew I should've chopped up the boss," he said, annoyed that he'd assumed she wouldn't withhold information.

"It's okay though," she continued. "You wouldn't have been able to use the heart until much later anyway and the ritual is quite dangerous."

"I really thought you would tell me everything you knew," he said.

"I just underestimated you. I wasn't deliberately keeping secrets."

"Tell me about Stage Four. Does the hidden boss give something special if you kill him?"

"You really shouldn't fight him. He's fast. Way faster than you expect."

"Emelia, just answer the goddamn question and stop coddling me."

She paused at his tone.

"If you want me to survive Stage Eight," he continued, "then you have to trust me."

"I do trust you," she said. "But I'm being serious. The Forlorn Aristocrat is a challenge if you've never faced him before. Unless you've got fire damage, you can't really defeat him easily."

Aristocrat? That matches what Lenard told me he saw. He described the boss as a nobleman after all.

Adam sighed. He missed his friend.

Wait, fire damage? I can get that with Sylvia's scroll. I should have enough to buy a Conflagrate scroll.

Perhaps Emelia thought his sigh was because of her, because she finally answered his actual question. "He drops a round pearl. You use it to unlock a secret chamber in Stage Five by slotting it into the empty eye socket of a statue. Inside the chamber is a chest with a map. I never found out where it leads or what Stage it's made for. That's one of the things I'll be trying to figure out in this loop."

Adam nodded. "Thank you."

Just then Belamouranthe came into the Tavern.

As though she had been waiting for this exact moment, Charlie came forward with Adam's octopus salad, fries, and beer. She also had a casserole with some kind of stew and a bowl of mashed potatoes.

Bel sat down in front of the boar stew and immediately dug in, not even uttering a word to the tavernkeeper ant. Nonetheless, Charlie looked immensely satisfied.

"What kind of stew is that?" Adam asked. "It smells delicious."

"Since you were having an Italian dish," Charlie started, "I thought it was fitting to also prepare cinghiale in dolceforte for Belamouranthe."

"Delicious!" the girl exclaimed.

Charlie giggled, the sound was like bubbles in water.

Emelia was looking down at Adam's food.

"That looks good," she said.

Adam stabbed his fork into a bit of octopus and pointed it at her. "Wanna try?" he teased.

Emelia paused for a moment, her purple spiralling eyes locked onto his.

Then a dark tablet-sized round and flat stone appeared in the palm of her right hand. It had a strange patterned carved into it, which exposed blue-glowing gems under the stone's surface.

She put her left hand on it and then vanished without even standing up.

< < Visiting Stone Activated > >

< Player Emelia has entered your Dimension >

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