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Chapter 267 will be up on Monday. I'm hoping to return to 4 chapters per week next week, but I'm not done with my edits, so it kind of depends on how it goes. I'll keep you updated though.

Since ending loop 13 on RR two days, I've gotten a 10% bump in total patrons, which is pretty insane and definitely a first for me. Anyway, welcome to all the newcomers on here o/

Reminder, since I've seen a bit of confusion on discord about this and new patrons may not be aware: my Patreon follows the posting schedule of RR, with a new chapter Mon/Wed/Fri, and then usually a 4th on Sundays. The posting times can be a bit all over the place, depending on how quickly I'm able to finish the chapters. Since I've been editing book 2 recently, I've only been able to get 3 done weekly, but I'm hoping to return to normal and keep pushing the gap between RR and patreon to 30 chapters.

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Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Sixty-Six

After the silence between Adam and Parvillo began to stretch, Luvicidix spoke up, “You managed to complete all achievements within the Forbidden Altar, which means you have unlocked a new special denizen!”

Adam nodded.

“Additionally, I have a new upgrade available for you.”

“Really? Why?” he asked.

“I am uncertain, but I believe you will like this one.”

Before showing him what the new upgrade was, she pressed her black-banded arms together and pulled them apart to reveal a tall and imposing elphin deathguard, identical to the secret bosses from the stage, with black eyes, a bald hairless head, dark-grey skin, a muscular body, and a simple white skirt.

“This is Lev. He has taken an oath of silence, but he will instruct you in any form of melee combat you desire to deepen your expertise in.”

“Won’t I just kill him if I hit him?” Adam asked.

“Lev possesses a skill that disables all damage inflicted, allowing him to effectively teach anyone, without risk,” Luvicidix answered.

I guess he’ll be useful if I want to master Tisa’s strange weapon, but maybe he can also make me better with my fists and more efficient with sword and shield.

“Now then, for my new upgrade,” she said, seeming more excited about it than Adam. With a gesture, her upgrades appeared.

< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

< Mana — Increase Mana by 50 — 5000 Points >

< Stamina — Increase Stamina by 25 — 2500 Points >

< Defence — Increase Defence by 50% — 5000 Points >

< Luck — Increase Luck by 5 — 5000 Points >

< Saved Weapon — Start every loop with a saved Weapon of Legendary rarity — 10000 Points >

< Scale of Remembrance — 3092/25000 Points >

Luck as a permanent stat boost??

I hadn’t even considered that to be possible.

“Did it unlock because I’m worshipping Chaos?” he asked.

“Possibly, though I am unsure,” Luvicidix replied.

[It did,] Parvillo confirmed.

I definitely want to get that, now that I’ve seen all the special legendaries hiding in the early stages.

“What does it max out at? Fifty points?”

[25 points is the maximum,] Parvillo answered.

So, guaranteed rare to start off, meaning all rarity-boosted upgrades will be epic rarity in the first three stages.

“And it’s split into four upgrade tiers?”

[Five.]

“That’ll get expensive,” Adam realised, since the first tier alone was one-thousand points per every one point of luck.

[The price is meant to counterbalance the obvious benefit it will provide.]

I should still be able to buy it completely in this loop, since I’ll be the only one to walk out of the group stages alive.

“I’ll be back to invest some points in it later,” Adam told Luvicidix.

“I will look forward to your return,” she replied. But instead of leaving, she gave him an odd look.

“What?” he asked.

“Is your eye in pain? Why do you cover it?”

Adam pulled his hand away from his skyblue eye, but the visions immediately returned along with the pain, forcing him to cover it again.

“Chaos gifted me something that I’m still struggling to control,” he said.

[You possess the ability to shape your own body. You have the power to hide it without using your hand,] Parvillo reminded him.

Oh, right.

With a concentrated effort, Adam was able to pull part of his beige slime body up and over the unclouded gaze relic eye, allowing him to lower his hand.

“That is better,” Luvicidix remarked. “I will be leaving now.”

“See you later,” Adam replied.

As she took off, Lev awoke from her time freeze, and Adam greeted him with a nod, which the stoic deathguard returned.

“I’m going to the market,” he told Lev. “You can follow me if you’d like.”

The deathguard didn’t respond, but when Adam started walking, Lev fell in behind him without a word.

[It appears that the Chaotic Convergence gifted you many things.]

“Are you going to take them from me?” Adam asked, worried he might lose his spider ring and hammer pendant.

[No. While my objective has been achieved, I will allow you to retain your leniency. Your objective to take revenge on the Flayed Lady is futile, but given the imbalance of power, it is only fair you are allowed to put your finger on the scale. Rest assured, however, that at the conclusion of this Loop, you will no longer be given such boundless discretion to upend the rules.]

“Then I’d better milk this loop for all that it is worth.”

When Adam reached the market, Yenna was holding the small Kotsuzumi drum, eyeing Finnian who leaned on the fountain’s edge and watched the diminutive Sprite precariously perched over the top, scooping some of the water into a small glass beaker.

“Hello Adam,” she greeted him, glancing briefly at the deathguard behind him.

“What are they up to?” he asked.

“Experimentation!” Sprite exclaimed excitedly, pulling himself away from the water with his beaker mostly full.

“I brought you the mushroom you wanted,” Adam told him, pulling the Wiltercap out of the spidersilk bag with his stone hand.

“Excellent. I was hoping you would find this.”

< < Quest Complete > >

< Plantastic Alchemy >

< Brought Sprite plants from 5 different Stages >

“All I require now is a laboratory,” Sprite said.

Adam groaned. “Are you serious?”

< < Quest Unlocked > >

< Poor Alchemist Seeks Housing >

< Sprite needs a laboratory to deepen his research >

< Reward — Advanced Alchemy Services >

“Let me guess, it’ll be a super expensive building that Builder has to make.”

[Correct.]

Adam sighed.

“I did unlock alchemy services though, so you must be able to do something for me,” he told Sprite.

“Of course!” he replied eagerly, and shadowy smoke emerged from his body to showcase three unique potions.

The first was a vial of glowing blue liquid, the second was a thin test tube holding orange fluid, and the last was a tiny tear-drop-shaped ampule with translucent oil inside.

< < Alchemical Concoctions For Sale > >

< Alchemical Precursor — When a plant is added to the concoction, it becomes a weak potion based on the properties of the plant — 500 Points >

< Evolving Solution — Add to a potion to increase its potency — 1000 Points >

< Liquid Luck — Your next Reward has its rarity increased by one level — 5000 Points >

The first two are potentially quite interesting, but I’ll experiment with it later, when I have a lot of points to spare. The last one is like a lucky stone, but with a point cost instead of mastery shards.

“What about brewing potions?” Adam asked.

[For that you will need to complete the laboratory Quest,] Parvillo informed him before Sprite had a chance to speak.

At least I’ll unlock the upgrade to make denizen quests permanently completed when I finish it, Adam thought, trying to look on the bright side, even though he was pretty annoyed he wouldn’t have immediate access to potion brewing.

“I look forward to having a roof over my head,” Sprite remarked. Then he ran off with his beaker of fountain water, and Finnian went after him, clearly worried about drawing Yenna’s ire again.

Adam walked past all the stalls until he reached Builder’s.

“Howdy,” she greeted him.

“How much will the little madman’s laboratory take to build?”

“The Alchemy Lab? 12,000 points,” she replied.

Adam frowned. “How big is it?”

“No bigger than the other houses on the island. The main cost comes from the specialised equipment that goes inside the building.”

Adam scratched his chin. “I guess I’ll be back later.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Builder call after him, as Adam went over to Lucca’s stall with his two spidersilk bags.

Before he reached her, he noticed Belamouranthe standing in front of Weaver’s stall. Charlie stood next to her, holding a tray of sliced meats that the small spider and elphin girl continually snatched pieces from.

“When did you get here?” he asked Bel.

She turned to look at him, but then turned her gaze away the moment she saw his right eye and the eyes of the deathguard who followed behind him like a shadow.

“We must not speak with the dead,” Belamouranthe remarked.

“What?”

[In Elphin culture, the Deathguard symbolise Death. They are sacred warriors, but it is deemed a bad omen to acknowledge them directly,] Parvillo explained.

So, this is the downside to the eye, Adam realised.

“Is it just amongst elphin people?”

[No.]

That could be an issue in future stages then…

As he turned towards Lucca’s stall, a bit frustrated with Bel’s cold treatment, he nearly bumped into Sylvia.

“You seem distracted,” she noted.

“I’m fine,” Adam replied.

“Good. I have a request to make, seeing as you have been helping other denizens of the island.”

Is she referring to my quests for Fisher and Sprite that I’ve completed?

Fisher’s quest had required Adam to build a pond and shed, which he’d completed in his last loop. As a result, they were immediately constructed from the very start of every loop, thanks to his permanent expansion upgrade, so the quest was automatically completed as soon as Adam stepped foot on the island.

“What do you need?” he asked, wondering if maybe helping Sylvia would be a quicker way to unlock the upgrade to have quests be permanently completed.

“I was told that you will visit the crooked tower. It is said to be a repository of great knowledge. In particular, there are rumours of my former master’s personal spell-tome ending up within its library. Would you find it for me? In exchange, I will be able to sell you new spell scrolls.”

< < Quest Unlocked > >

< A Master’s Legacy >

< Sylvia wishes to obtain her former master’s spell-tome >

< Reward — Expanded Spell Scroll Selection >

“I’ll try and find it,” he told her. “But no promises. I’ll have a lot of angry Flayed Lady adherents on my tail, after all.”

“She is growing desperate to prove your victory against her was nothing but dumb luck,” Sylvia remarked.

“How can you tell? Is she speaking to you?”

“I am no adherent of hers, but the Blood speaks to me. I can hear her voice raging within its melody.”

“Be careful that you don’t listen too closely. Her voice is a corrupting seed that takes root deep within,” Adam warned her. “I will do what I must to keep this island safe.”

Sylvia nodded. “Perhaps my master’s spell-tome will contain the ritual that allowed him to break from her worship completely.”

“I wish you would’ve told me such a thing might exist before I went and pissed her off,” Adam replied bitterly.

“Apologies. The All-Seeing System would not allow me to speak of it unless you accepted my quest, which you did not fulfil the requirements to unlock.”

“Don’t worry, I’m used to its bullshit,” he replied, sparing a glance at Parvillo.

For once, the icosahedron remained quiet.

“When you return with the spell-tome, let us delve its secrets together,” Sylvia said, before heading over to Assassin’s stall to talk to the vendor inside.

Adam hefted his bags before placing them on Lucca’s counter. “I’ve brought a lot for you today,” he told the spider.

“So it would seem,” she chittered.

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