"You thief!" Gladwyn exclaimed, though it was mostly in good humour. Mostly.

Beck was busy eating a plate of pancakes covered in butter and syrup, while Emelia and James just watched the exchange, sipping from their drinks and snacking on stuff Charlie had brought them.

Emelia pointed a carrot stick at Gladwyn. "It's not Adam's fault you two touched the painting."

"How were we supposed to know!?" he replied, but then paused. "Oh right, you told us…"

Beck sighed. "At least three of you survived. My group at the end was just me and this girl who absolutely hates my guts."

"I told you not to fight the Tower Crawler," Emelia scolded them.

"It wasn't the Crawler that screwed my team," Beck replied. "The Cell Warden took care of that. Lost three people to its first trick. Our fourth death was from the Crawler, but that's just because the idiot had like 30% Speed or something…"

"We lost a guy to the Warden too," James added.

Adam frowned. "Yeah. We didn't even have a chance to save him."

Emelia lowered her head. "I didn't realise it was that big of a challenge. I've been able to kill it quickly every time."

"Let me guess, you target the arms first," Beck replied.

"You guys didn't?" she asked.

"No," all four of them replied.

"I only avoided getting death-slapped because I wasn't right up in its business," Beck added.

"But it's like an octopus," Emelia said, as though her point was obvious. "They have brains in their arms."

"I didn't think of that," he replied.

"Me neither," James said.

Gladwyn changed the subject and asked, "How did you get so many extra Points, Adam?"

He grinned. "Well, I found this extra thing after you two left."

"We didn't leave…" Gladwyn grumbled.

"It turned out to be a Secret Relic," Adam continued, producing the telescope.

"Wait, was that thing one of the legs for the table next to the painting?" he asked. Gladwyn was quite observant, so he must've noticed it just before James touched the painting and he got pulled in alongside him.

"I found it too," Beck announced.

"Shame you don't have the Golden Map," Adam said. "They work together to show a special trail."

Emelia's attention piqued at the mention of the map. "You figured it out??"

He nodded. "I guess I'll show you in the next Stage."

"Can't you just show me now?" she asked, looking him right in the eyes.

Adam suddenly felt flustered, an awkward expression on his face. "Erm…"

Gladwyn laughed, but neither Beck nor James understood why.

"I was told by Gladwyn that we were doing a bet," James then said, changing the topic again.

"We are," Beck said. "I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty sure I won it."

Adam shook his head. "Always so confident."

"Once again, I believe I am the loser," Emelia started. Like Adam, she could see what bonuses people had gotten thanks to the constant query she was running in the Tavern.

Gladwyn hadn't gotten Flawless, All Secrets, and MVP like Adam, but he had a pink sphere over his head, which was probably the Defender bonus. It gave 1500 Points for the Stage according to Emelia. James had the same minus Defender, and Beck was missing the All Objectives, Flawless, Defender, and Secret Boss bonuses. Emelia was missing just All Secrets and Eradication, but she had both MVP and Defender, so it was hard to tell if she had actually lost or not.

"How much did you get?" Beck asked.

"12200 Points," she replied.

"I got 12250," he said.

"Then I lost," James admitted. "Mine was 12000 exactly."

"I got 13500 and Adam got 14950," Gladwyn said. "But! If we had gotten the telescope, then Emelia would have lost instead of James."

"What happens to me now?" James asked, sounding slightly worried.

Beck gleefully explained the concept of nicknames to him and he eyed Adam warily.

"Since I won," Adam said, basking in Beck's disapproving glare, "I declare that James' new name will henceforth be 'Mana Hog'!"

James laughed. "I suppose I earnt that title."

"I don't get it," Beck said.

"He's using Spellblade, so he's probably always out of Mana," Emelia explained. "It's quite difficult to use, since you're always at risk of Mana Exhaustion. Not a lot of Players have survived with that weapon evolution to this point."

"I swapped some stats around thanks to Nharlla's power, so Mana is not as big of an issue for me," Mana Hog replied.

"I would like to disagree," Gladwyn said.

"Me too," Adam added.

"Alright, fair, it's still an issue. But it could be worse," James admitted.

The conversation naturally switched to talking about how exactly each group had fared. Emelia had been able to protect every member of her team, hence why she had gotten less Points, since the objective rewards were split amongst the survivors. This mechanic continued into future Stages and was a large contributor to Player-killing, further incentivised by each kill rewarding 500 Points until Stage Ten.

At least I know that Stage Seven doesn't have that stuff going on, thanks to the Scale of Remembrance. It's more than likely the reason why I never survive Eight though.

They also talked about their Quest Objectives. However, both Emelia and Beck had failed theirs. Emelia was supposed to have found a time-frozen egg, and Beck had to create a certain kind of flame to obtain a special ember.

"But," she said, "none of us are locked out of future Quests, and you should all have received the next one for Seven. If you haven't, go interact with the Altar on the island."

Beck then brought up the hidden chamber in the library, talking about the Chimaera and the stone it dropped. Beck's team of three had found the chamber and killed the mini boss, thanks to his proficient use of traps. The reason why the only other survivor hated his guts was because he had forced her to cut open the panther serpent to get the Chimaera Stone. She had taken the Secret Relic for herself, but it seemed Beck had let her since he was just interested in marking the Secret for the bonus Points.

Adam was surprised that Emelia hadn't known about the library chamber nor the hidden lever for the treasure room that gave them the Slugwhale Key. Her explanation was that it was hard to get information about the secrets, but Adam guessed that she just hadn't invested enough time in talking to other Players about it. He figured that she was usually preoccupied with other things, such as helping as many as possible for Stage Seven and trying to figure out how to save him.

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However, she knew about a different Secret Boss in the tower, which surprised them all. It was a Sloth Demon that was summoned by using the Nightwing Heart from Stage Three, part of the crystallised body from the tower basement, and the skinned face. She said it was really fast, like a mix of the Slothling Ogre and Imp enemies they'd fought.

"Why did we get the bonus for defeating just one of them if there were two?" Adam wondered.

"I think it's a way of encouraging Players to take risks, since Secret Bosses are so much more dangerous," she replied.

"The one we were up against was pretty bad," Gladwyn commented.

Adam nodded. "If not for my Stone Mask, it would have killed me."

"I knew there was a hidden chamber at the very top of the tower, but I had no idea it was used to trigger a special encounter," Emelia commented.

If you knew, why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me?

But Adam could guess the answer. If she'd told them, they might have tried to take the Dimensional Splinter, which in turn might've collapsed the tower on them.

"How are you normally supposed to fight the Crawler?" James asked. "I thought I might be able to use the Aspirant's Cowl to absorb the Mana keeping it ethereal, but we never got to try it."

"There are a few ways," Emelia said, only now giving them the strategy, after initially telling them to avoid the boss altogether. "There's special ash in the ritual chamber that can be used, otherwise the easiest way is to take the Mana crystals from the various enemies and throw them at it. You can use the Cowl too, I think, but it's dangerous."

"What about Blue Shard?" James asked, producing the crystal sword.

"You got that from the Stage?" she asked, surprised.

"I thought you were a time-looper?" Beck commented.

"I haven't gone through that many times," she defended herself. "And I'm not fucking omniscient! I have a lot of other stuff to think about too."

Adam wanted to put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, but they were still in separate dimensions.

"Stage Six is behind us anyway," he said, dismissing the matter, even though he and Emelia would get to see the Stage again and again. "How about we focus on what's next?"

Emelia sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get heated, but I feel like I let you all down."

Beck shrugged. "Nothing we couldn't overcome, clearly."

Gladwyn swung his hand through his friend's hologram. "Learn some humility you arrogant bastard."

"Am I wrong though?" he retorted.

Adam grinned. Maybe it's true you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Or manners, I suppose.

Although, the fact that Beck had survived the Stage with just one other person at the end and gotten several bonuses along the way, proved that he wasn't just all talk.

I should try out the Spellcaster, Adam thought. Laying traps sounds pretty good.

"So," Emelia started, regaining her composure and aura of confidence, "Stage Seven is called the Floating Sea of Gold. As you'll know from the end of Six, the Stage takes place within a painting. This actually doesn't really make much of a difference to how it works, aside from a couple secrets, and it's best if you treat it like just another Stage. Since it takes place in the clouds, each team is traversing its floating islands and areas with an airship."

"Like the ones you could see in the painting?" Adam asked, having wondered about it already.

"Exactly. They are literally ships that travel through the air using propellers, fins, and sails," she replied.

"And we've gotta operate those?" James asked.

"Shouldn't be an issue," Gladwyn commented.

"You can operate them on your own, if necessary," Emelia told them, "but it's most effective with at least three people, since you need a navigator, captain, and at least one person handling the sails and fins. Doing it on your own, especially in the starting ship, makes you pretty vulnerable to other ships."

"We're fighting other airships!?" Beck interrupted.

"That sounds pretty fun actually," Gladwyn said.

"It is a much different pace, since there's a lot more exploration than fighting," Emelia added. "However! The fights you will encounter are much more difficult. I will tell you everything I know about the elites, objectives, and secrets, but please do not underestimate the enemies you will go up against. And while there are ways to get different airships, as well as a glider to save you if you fall overboard, most of the time you are completely screwed if your ship goes down. I have heard a lot of stories about teams that got stranded and only had one Player survive because of some Relic they had."

"Please go into as much detail as you can about the enemies," Adam urged her.

She nodded. "I've learnt from my mistakes in keeping information from you, and I'm sorry about that. Clearly you can all handle more responsibility than I realised. Just be careful, okay?"

Adam flew towards the centre of the island after their morning meeting had concluded. Emelia had urged them all to upgrade their weapons and defences in preparation for Stage Seven, and to not focus too much on spending money on Relics. She had also told them to get medium healing potions and to have Weaver craft them bags and clothing to carry stuff, similar to what Adam already had, although she insisted that backpacks were better than a sack like his.

< < Visiting Stone Activated > >

< Player Hello, my name is Emelia and I'm a time-looper has entered your Dimension >

Adam laughed at the stupid name that Gladwyn had cursed her with, then drove his barrier down towards the Altar where she appeared, waiting for him. She was wearing just her normal clothes this time, all her Relics somewhere else.

No sooner had he gotten off his barrier than she jumped forward and hugged him tightly.

Adam was caught off guard for a second, but then hugged her back. The moment his obsidian hand touched her body, a zap rolled through him and a tsunami of emotions overtook him. Fear, happiness, anxiety, excitement, despair, and hope.

He gasped and she quickly let go of him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking him right in the eyes.

Somehow, those purple spirals were no longer off-putting to him, but perhaps that was because she had shown him that not all time-loopers were evil like Mórrígan.

"I got the Legendary Relic," he said. "But it has a weird side-effect."

Emelia grabbed him by the forearm and lifted his hand to look at it. "I've only ever seen Arturo wear this, but he never mentioned anything about side-effects."

"It lets me understand whatever I touch. Sort of."

"Understand?" she asked before noticing the black band just below the wrist. "What's this?"

"My Patron gave it to me. It helps me with the side-effect."

"Does that mean that when you touch me, you can tell what I'm thinking?" she asked, sounding slightly disgusted.

"I could feel your emotions," he replied. "But I don't think it lets me read minds. I tried it on the Blue Shard sword that James got and it just gave me a sense of how long the sword had been waiting for someone to find it. I also used it on Gladwyn's Grafted Tail and I got a flashback sequence of the tail being cut off from its original owner."

"Have you tried using it on that key you found in the tower?" she asked. Even though she didn't say it, she was clearly relieved that he could not hear her thoughts.

"I haven't," he replied.

"You should try it. I think that hidden effect might be meant to help with finding secrets. Would explain how Arturo knew so much."

Adam pulled out the Slugwhale Key and squeezed it with his obsidian hand. Emelia watched him expectantly.

A zap flowed through him and he saw a painter adding colour to a canvas, creating a figure. The perspective shifted to the figure, who was a skeleton made of gold and obsidian. He used special tools to create the key from the bone of a dead giant behind him. The key was fitted into the lock of a large grey door pockmarked with green spots. The perspective pulled away, revealing a massive airborne ship made entirely from bone with veins of gold running through it.

Adam gasped.

"It's for a door on a ship made of bone and gold," he said.

"I know that ship!" Emelia exclaimed. "It's called the Golden Slug. It's supposedly made from the skeletons of dead Slugwhales, just like the key you're holding. It's one of the many optional objectives in the Stage, but normally you're just supposed to sink it. Boarding it to get to that door is going to be very difficult."

"What's a Slugwhale?"

"Do you know what a nudibranch is?" she replied.

"No."

"Well, it's the name for a group of sea slugs that have a ton of variations and are very colourful. They're also often venomous. Anyway, a Slugwhale is a giant version of a nudibranch and they have a skeleton inside them. If you kill one you can harvest ambergris from them, like the thing they harvest from real whales to use in perfumes."

"Are they dangerous?" Adam asked.

"Usually they're not, but there are a few of them that are very territorial. There is also a flying evolution of them called Slug Dragons and those are always hostile."

"A flying slug? Really? That sounds kind of absurd," he replied.

"When you see one, you won't be laughing," she said. "They're very dangerous."

"Hmm."

Adam started walking towards the Market and Yenna's violin melody. "Do you mind helping me pick the best upgrades?"

"Of course. I think you should also get the third evolution of your weapon if you haven't."

"I was thinking of buying the 25% Damage increase from Luvicidix," he said. "I already got the Cheat Death Relic."

"You spent all your Points on that!?" she asked, mortified.

"Just 5000," he replied. "I'd gotten the other half already."

"You had me worried there for a second."

"Was it not a good upgrade to get?"

"The Cheat Death Relic is really good," she said.

"But?"

"But if you trigger it now, you can't use any effects like it later on where it might be worth more. It's basically a one-time use across the entirety of the Trials. It only resets after you loop back. And, knowing you have that to fall back on might make you take unnecessary risks, leading to you using it much sooner."

It sounded like she spoke from experience.

"I'll be careful," he promised.

"What you should be focusing on right now is Health, Defence, and Movement Speed, I think."

"Speed?"

"It makes you move faster, not just when you run, which in turn makes operating the airships much more efficient."

Oh, that's right. I did notice that in my last loop. Didn't think it would apply to operating a ship though.

"So I shouldn't focus on Damage?" he asked.

She glared at him. "Having a lot of damage won't matter if you can die in a single hit or let your ship sink because you were too slow to act."

He grinned. "Good point."

Emelia shook her head.

"Alright, let's go shopping."

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