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I had thought I might finish 285 today as well, but this chapter got a bit longer than expected and I'm heading to bed early since I've been dealing with a migraine all day.

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Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Eighty-Four

With the seven soul drops Adam had obtained from the flowers and Sköll’s plant, he was now at a total of twelve, which would allow him to buy the ‘Abyssal Raiment’ from Sköll in his next loop. Although, if he collected three more soul drops, he would be able to buy the ‘Dweller’s Claw’ sword or ‘Maw of the Deep’ shield instead.

I hope they remain permanently unlocked after I purchase them.

Since Builder still wasn’t finished with the planter, Adam went inside Alivida’s tent while Yenna stayed outside. The black moth girl greeted him with a bored expression.

“What are you making… outside?” she asked.

“It’s a planter for a heart spire tree.”

“I hope it will not damage my tent as it grows.”

“Maybe it’ll be an upgrade,” Adam joked.

Based on the look she gave him, she didn’t find it very funny.

“I wanted to check if you had any new upgrades for me,” he quickly said, changing the topic.

“I do,” she replied and gestured to the purple-glowing crystal ball in the middle of her table.

< < Mastery Upgrades For Sale > >

< Scale of Nihility — Make everyone forget you — 1 Shard >

< Skipping Stone — Skip a Stage if eligible — 2 Shards >

< Relic Encyclopaedia — Obtain an encyclopaedia with all discovered relics — 2 Shards >

< Lucky Stone — Flip to increase the rarity for the next reward options — 3 Shards >

< Wishing Stone — Throw into a body of water to obtain a Relic of Rare quality or lower — 3 Shards >

< Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid — 10 Shards >

There it is. The relic encyclopaedia.

“Did I unlock that by having a certain amount of relics equipped?” he asked.

“It is made available once you possess a relic in almost every available slot, without counting grafted… limbs.”

“Is this encyclopaedia part of something special as well? Like a triple fusion of relics?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the point of getting it?” he asked.

“There are thousands of relics and fusion relics available in the Trials of Defiance. It can be helpful to have a list, in case you become… forgetful.”

She means in case I lose my memories? Is it a hint at how Nova was able to save his own memories by journaling in his encyclopaedia and using magic to preserve it even after death?

“I see,” he just replied. “I also wanted to use the orb of insight while I’m here.”

Alivida moved her hands in front of the orb and it started to glow. “Peer into… the Orb of Insight.”

Adam leaned in close.

< < Orb of Insight Activated > >

< Viewing Stage Seven — The Floating Sea of Gold >

Adam’s mind was pulled into the orb and his vision went black for a second before he found himself soaring through gold-tinted clouds. His perspective was like that of a bird, and as he flew with great speed across the enormous stage, he quickly found the Golden Slug airship, which he dove down into, reaching its bowels where the compass was hidden away behind a large door.

He flew out through the walls of the ship and quickly reached the recognisable island that was home to the mad captain wielding the cursed sword, Golden Prince. Adam got a quick glimpse of the gold-coated man, before flying off again, reaching another island that had a mountain on it that looked like an enormous skull. He knew it had to be the Death’s Head island that Kat had mentioned. There was an objective tied to it, and he made sure to absorb as much information as possible as he moved down through a tunnel buried in the mouth of the skull mountain. Tunnels branched off seemingly at random, and his path through them was zigzagging and confusing. Eventually, he reached a sealed-off chamber, passing through its gate and flying above traps and hidden pitfalls before arriving at a room filled to the brim with gold coins and treasure. Instead of stopping, he continued through the piles of gold until reaching a small wooden box that popped open to reveal a silver skull the size of his fist.

With a blink, Adam was outside and flying amongst the clouds again. He came upon a sleek airship moving through the floating sea at tremendous speed, hunting down fleeing pirate ships. On the tip of the bowsprit stood a man draped with a tattered cloak and time-worn leather jacket, holding an enormous crossbow in his hands like it was a bazooka.

That must be the crossbow that Beck mentioned. I guess it’s a secret weapon and maybe an objective as well.

From there, Adam peeled off from his pursuit of the rapid airship and quickly arrived at Iffenguard, where the enormous slug dragon lay perched across the abandoned stone buildings. Next he flew to the island shaped like a capitalised I, where the ritual for the Pride of Captain Fallow secret boss would take place. He was shown the half-circled formed by six short pillars where candles had been placed atop each and then lit, releasing the ghostly airship of the infamous captain.

Adam wasn’t given much time to take it in, before his perspective suddenly dove down to the bottom of the world, reaching the sea floor covered in writhing parasites. No matter how many times he saw it, it was no less off-putting. He flew above the parasites until he reached the large well, which he plummeted down into until he came to Alepheria’s secret laboratory. Once inside, Adam zipped through the room full of books and experiments and the tunnel leading deeper, stopping when it emerged into the large chamber, where Alepheria’s masterpiece golem waited above the entrance, sticking itself to the ceiling as it held her dead body in its hands. He was allowed a few moments to take in its appearance, before his attention was pulled through the next tunnel and into the small bedroom with the legendary paintbrush weapon. This was where he and Emelia had shared their final moments before dying in his fourth loop.

As Adam’s perspective flew back out of the tunnel, he expected to see the Apex Voidspawn in place of the masterpiece, but it was still just the golem, though now it was standing in the middle of the chamber.

With a blink he was back amongst the clouds, before reaching a donut-shaped island with a fishing line cast into its centre. This was where he’d found Fisher’s egg with Lasse during his last loop. Adam continued on, a golden trail suddenly appearing in the air and leading him to an island high up in the clouds, where next to a small pond was a wooden table and chair, and the ‘Golden Horn’ relic waiting for someone to grab it.

Adam thought that would be the end of the vision, but then it rapidly showed him the headquarters of the various factions, including the three safe havens run by the White Flags. Even though Fallow’s Fallen were supposed to be replaced by the ‘Void Fallen’ when hardmode was active, Adam was just shown their usual base. He also wasn’t shown anything about ‘Petunia’ the giant slime, nor the other slug dragons besides Iffen.

As the vision came to an end, Adam saw six faces in quick succession. It started with his real face, then his actual slime face, and then four more identical versions of his real face.

< < Orb of Insight Deactivated > >

Adam came out of the vision and stumbled back a step.

The Flayed Lady made each of the players in my group look exactly like me…

That’s certainly an interesting strategy to try and weird me out, but fortunately I’ll be able to see their real faces with my true sight.

“Thanks,” Adam told Alivida and left the tent.

Outside, Builder and Yenna were exactly where Adam had left them, meaning the progress on the great tree planter hadn’t changed at all.

Guess I’ll go visit Sprite instead.

Yenna followed him out of the garden and over to the alchemist’s workshop.

“Everyone in my group next stage looks like me…” Adam told her and Parvillo.

“A simple trick made to distract you,” Yenna said.

[I agree. It may be to prevent you from easily gauging which foe to target first.]

“My true sight defeats that ruse, so it’s not gonna work, and besides, I’ll just kill them all like I did in the last stage.”

[Given that the Flayed Lady can no longer directly control her adherents, she will likely have changed her strategy, opting for opponents that are highly optimised to counter your build.]

“Even if they can parry and block me, none of them will be fast enough to keep up,” Adam replied. When he saw the way Yenna looked at him through her mermaid visage revealed by his true sight, he amended his statement slightly and added, “But I will be careful.”

They went inside Sprite’s hut, finding the little maniac holding a potion that had a mercury-like liquid inside its bottle.

“Right on time,” Sprite said. “I have just now completed your requested potion.”

He tossed the mercury-filled bottle over his shoulder and Adam caught it out of the air.

< < Concoction > >

< Return to Sender (Epic) — Reflect 100% of damage taken back to its source >

Epic rarity? Interesting.

“How much do I owe you?”

“Let us say 1,000 points.”

“Sure,” Adam replied.

< < Concoction Purchased > >

< Return to Sender (Epic) >

< 6,300 Points Remaining >

That’s a relief. My goblin tooth still works on these transactions.

“I brought you some other stuff,” Adam told Sprite and pulled out the two chimaera stones and the sun mana crystal from the vivarium.

Sprite hopped off his stool and came over to where Adam stood, immediately grabbing the crystal.

“I can make a fire core from this,” he said.

“Not a sun core?”

“For that I would need a legendary relic tied to the sun element,” he replied.

Damn.

“For your purposes, the fire and sun elements overlap, so it should not be an issue.”

“My purposes?” Adam asked. “You mean collecting every type of core?”

“Precisely.”

“What about these chimaera stones? Consuming one would be a bad idea for me, right?”

“Not unless your objective is a swift death.”

Adam laughed. “Parvillo already made that joke.”

[It was not a joke. I was being sincere.]

“Can you do something with it?” Adam asked.

“It would be unorthodox, but I can rearrange the power of the stone to craft a core. I am uncertain what it would become, and given that there is no mana within this, I will have to source it elsewhere.”

“Do you need me to give you another epic relic?”

“That shall not be necessary this time. I have the ingredients to produce a potion that acts as a stand-in for mana.”

“You mean a normal mana potion?” Adam asked.

“Indeed.”

“Belin sells those, I can run and get you one.”

“It shall have to be quite strong.”

“So, a large mana potion then?” Adam asked.

“Indeed.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Adam flew out of the building and landed in front of Belin’s stall, buying the potion from her for 1,080 points, saving 120 points thanks to his goblin tooth. After the transaction he was left with 5,220 points.

He returned to Sprite and handed him the potion, before asking, “What about the other chimaera stone?”

“I can repurpose it and fill it with my shadow magic to create another elemental like the one you ate. This time I will name it, so please do not eat it.”

“I won’t consume another,” Adam replied. “I already got what I needed.”

“Besides your fire elemental core and whatever shape this chimaera stone may take, I can also craft you a wind elemental core, given that Interim Island is flush with powerful wind magic.”

“Really?” Adam asked. “I never noticed any particularly strong winds.”

“Sprite is referring to the barrier that surrounds Interim Island and allows it to glide through the clouds,” Yenna said. “It keeps powerful winds at bay.”

Interesting.

“What do you need to make it?” Adam asked.

“A rare relic would suffice.”

Adam pulled out the rotmaker idol and recharged it with his relic renewal stone. “This will work, right?”

“Definitely.”

“How long before you can have them all done?”

“A few hours,” Sprite replied. “I will start with making myself an assistant. That should hopefully speed things up.”

Adam was about to leave when he remembered that he’d also brought the chimaeral transmutation notes with him. He pulled the pages out of his bag and handed them to Sprite. “You might find this interesting perhaps.”

“Exciting!” Sprite exclaimed after reading through them quickly. “I hear tell that you have just brought a flesh smith to Interim Island, so perhaps I will consult these notes to craft a chimaera with her aid.”

Adam paused. That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected, but I guess maybe this could lead to something useful.

“Just don’t experiment on anyone.”

“There is no point standing in the way of progress,” Sprite proclaimed, clearly ignoring Adam’s demand.

Adam sighed and just left the alchemist’s lab, knowing the elemental would do whatever he pleased no matter what he said.

As he went outside, he appraised the potion with his true sight. He saw himself as though in a mirror, imbibing the concoction and turning mercury-silver like the liquid. An arrow struck him in the head, but it was absorbed into his reflective body, before an identical arrow shot out from where he’d been struck, flying back at its source.

That seems pretty strong, but I wonder how it would reflect the damage from an attack much bigger than my body. Although, I guess it doesn’t really matter how, so long as it just reflects the damage.

They went over to the great tree planter that Builder had finished constructing. Meilo had already inserted the heart spire seed into the soil, and she was in the middle of shedding glass scales, which whirled around the planter, visibly making the seed sprout and grow into a small sapling.

She looked over to Adam while continuing her growth magic and said, “It may take me a day or two to complete. Thanks to the vanity mirror you gifted me, I can continue nurturing this seed while you are away in your next stage.”

I didn’t realise the vanity could have such a benefit, but that’s good to know.

The tree should be fully grown when I’m done with stage seven.

While Meilo continued nurturing the heart spire, Adam turned to Parvillo and asked, “How many players survived stage six?”

[135 million,] he answered.

That’s almost a fourth of the players who survived the altar. I guess this big drop is thanks to Chaos limiting the Flayed Lady’s power.

Adam then asked the question that had been nagging him for a while.

“Are Emelia Bell and Benjamin Sharpe alive?”

[Yes. They appear to have been resurrected with the Spark of Creation following Stage Five.]

Shit.

There’s no way she doesn’t try to use Emelia against me in stage seven.

Adam was about to head for the basement restaurant to take her out with the challenge stone, when suddenly Meilo, Yenna, and Parvillo froze in place. Curiously, Meilo’s magic continued to swirl around the planter.

Adam looked around for whatever Flim Glorbanorb imp was going to bother him now, but then he saw two massive black fluffy paws the size of houses grab onto the edge of the island.

He lifted into the air on his four wings, just as two fluffy ears poked up over the edge, followed by a mountain of white fur, within which were two large marble eyes surrounded by black fur.

As its snout and mouth came into view, Adam realised what he was looking at.

It was a gigantic panda.

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