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The Halloween Horror Shorts event I hosted came to an end yesterday, with the winners announced. There's also a poll for people to vote on next year's topic. If any of you are considering joining in 2027, go vote for what theme you wanna see: link

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Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Ninety-One

Adam grinned as he saw how high his stats had gone just from the removal of the pugilist’s belt speed-halving effect. His speed was now nearly 8,000% and his damage was a little over 23,000%. If he activated his cloudstrider spring boots, he’d reach 24,000% speed and his base damage would jump up to 40,000%.

The new belt had replaced the one around his waist, rather than the potion belt around his arm, and it looked like a world champion’s belt, all gaudy and gold, with the emblem of a punching fist holding a potion. On its right side were three loops for potions, which were filled with the return to sender and two small healing potions, and on the left side were two empty loops.

Since it was now categorised as a belt and not a utility, Adam couldn’t wear it on his arms to abuse the indestructible effect on his potions for spontaneous defence, but the fact that it would make his fists indestructible so long as he had an active potion effect was a good trade.

Especially because I have four fists, and it’ll likely effect my crawler arms as well.

“Will I take damage if I use my fists to block attacks while they are indestructible?” Adam asked.

[No.]

His grin spread beneath his mask.

While he likely wouldn’t be able to permanently block against a Voidspawn, since they would adapt to literally anything, it would be an effect he could broadly use to easily defend himself.

Adam flew from the shipwreck and over to the edge of the island, circling Fallow’s Glory until he found the cave that he and Emelia had used to stage an ambush on the Golden Slug from, during his fourth loop.

In the back of the cave was a tunnel system that would lead to a hidden temple blocked by a slugwhale. Adam was surprised to find that the internal structure was the same as back then.

It seems that while the locations of islands change, they themselves remain the same.

This means that the Godstone Temple will be the same on the inside, as will every other place I’ve been to before.

He flew through the tunnels while Fallow’s treasure trailed after him, pulled along as though it was on a tether.

Once he reached the tunnel leading to the toxic slugwhale, Adam came to a halt and gestured for the floating sword to attack.

Nothing happened.

“Why isn’t it doing anything?”

[It appears you are too far away.]

“It’s like thirty metres at most.”

The slate-grey slugwhale covered in neon-pink spikes turned to regard him, alerted by his voice, but it made no move to close the distance, and it fortunately wasn’t one of the ones with ranged attacks.

Adam reached out and grabbed the sword, figuring that if it wouldn’t attack on its own, then he’d do it himself.

As soon as his hand touched the floating blade, the whole thing melted like gold, immediately encasing his balloon glove.

[You have been afflicted with the Gold Curse. Reaction speed lowered by 50%.]

Adam shook his fist, but the gold stayed put.

“How do I get it off?”

[It appears that you cannot, unless you transfer it to a different weapon.]

He let out a sigh.

Then he leaned down to take a running start, turning into metal before immediately pumping his wings and creating a cloud behind his feet with his boots, launching himself forward with his gold-encased fist pointed ahead of him like a lance.

As he zipped towards the slugwhale, sound took on a bizarre high-pitched quality and his vision blurred.

Then he skidded to a halt in the chamber that the slugwhale had been guarding with its body.

“That was… fast.”

[Correct.]

He turned back to look at the hostile slug, only to find it pasted across the floor and nearby walls as a colourful and explosive smear.

I didn’t even feel any resistance.

“What happened to its skeleton?” he asked.

[It appears that it was pulverised into dust.]

“What about its ambergris?”

Parvillo stared at him with what could best be described as an exasperated expression.

“Dust, right…”

Fortunately, Adam’s explosive entry into the cavern temple hadn’t destroyed the upgrade and relic chests, but they had been pushed up against the walls, while the normal treasure chest were turned into debris and their gold coins were scattered everywhere. Of the pillars that’d been inside the room, only one had survived, and the many dead skeletons were likewise ruined. The floor had a spiral in it, which had drawn Adam’s attention the first time he’d seen it, but given that the man-eaters on the island had a quest, he figured it was part of that storyline.

Maybe I’ll try that next time I’m here.

Adam wasn’t sure if he needed the coins, but he still took the time to pick them all up and put them in his spidersilk bag. Collecting them also made him feel strangely at ease.

When he happened to look at one of the dead skeletons’ heads while stooping to grab a coin, it curled its toothy smile into a grin, making Adam reflexively pulverise it with a punch.

“That was a hallucination, right?”

Parvillo didn’t answer.

I need to get this golden turd off my hand…

Adam went over to the upgrade chest and pushed it open.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Defence (Divine) — Increases all defence by 100% >

< Crush (Divine) — Increases the impact of attacks by 100% >

< Damage (Divine) — Increases all damage by 100% >

< Force (Divine) — Attacks pierce armour by 100% >

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Damage (Divine) >

Next he opened the relic chest.

< < Relics Available > >

< Conjuring Stone (Legendary) — Combine 2 Relics of Epic rarity or lower to produce a new unique Fusion Relic. 1 use >

< Fated Wishing Stone (Legendary) — Wish for any Relic of Epic rarity or lower. 1 use >

< Heavenly Wishing Stone (Divine) — Wish for any Relic of Legendary rarity or lower. 1 use >

< Heavenly Conjuring Stone (Divine) — Combine 2 Relics of Legendary rarity or lower to produce a new unique Flawless Fusion Relic. 1 use >

Adam retriggered his choice ring and grabbed the two wishing stones and heavenly conjuring stone.

< < Relics Selected > >

< Fated Wishing Stone (Legendary) >

< Heavenly Wishing Stone (Divine) >

< Heavenly Conjuring Stone (Divine) >

Adam had thought to fuse his body of sloth with the body of chaos he’d gotten from the hydra goose, but the chaotic reflection effect slightly terrified him, since it would be truly random what it would do. Parvillo had mentioned it might even be able to hurt him.

Maybe I can fuse the body of sloth with the cloud skimmer jacket? They’re both movement related, so it could perhaps lead to a stronger fusion, like with my hand of the mad witch.

No matter what, I need to get rid of the weakness from the body of sloth. It’s clearly too risky.

Adam squeezed the legendary wishing stone after making a decision.

< < Relic > >

< Cloud Skimmer Jacket (Rare) — Increases Player Defence by 25% | Increases Movement Speed by 10% | Enables the wearer to rapidly dash forward while moving, consuming 20% Stamina >

< Body of Sloth (Epic) — Increases Player Defence by 25% | Increases Movement Speed by 25% | Increases Damage by 1% for every 3% Movement Speed | Taking damage reduces all Movement Speed bonuses to 0% for 1 minute >

Here goes nothing.

Adam unequipped his body of sloth and activated the heavenly conjuring stone, bringing the two armour relics together.

< < Fusion Relic > >

< Armour of Celerity (Legendary) — Increases Damage by 1% for every 3% Movement Speed | Dash forward while moving, doubling Movement Speed. 10-second cooldown >

Goddamn.

Flawless fusions are so powerful.

The new armour was a sleek and lightweight suit of black segmented metal plates, sharing none of the characteristics of either relic used in the fusion. When Adam put it on, it covered his body from throat to ankle and wrist, each layer of segmented black metal sliding and moving easily with his body.

Adam wasn’t sure what to use the divine wishing stone on, so he asked Parvillo, “Can I wish for fusion relics with this?”

[No.]

“Can I at least store this relic in my relic saving chest?”

[No. Fusion relics may not be saved, similar to how Fused Weapons may not be saved.]

“I can store a divine conjuring stone though, right?”

[Correct.]

Hmm, that might be an option then.

Adam used the dash to shoot himself out of the chamber, enabling his wings to lift him off the ground and continue with the speed as he dove around corners to make his way back outside.

I’ll be able to hit 47,000% speed with both the dash and my cloudstrider spring boots, pushing my damage to over 65,000%.

That means… I’ll be able to hit at least 700,000% damage with all my damage multiplying buffs.

Adam was extremely pleased with himself that he’d found this on his own.

The only downside was that he clearly couldn’t make full use of the speed, because he was going faster than he could react, especially while the golden glob was stuck to his hand, cursing him.

However, the issue was quickly resolved once he was back out into the fresh air, because when he resummoned the Hippogriff and went up to one of its cannons, Fallow’s treasure peeled itself off of his hand and attached itself to the cloud cannon, turning it from a fluffy cloud and into a shiny lump of gold.

With the gold curse affliction lifted from him, Adam suddenly realised that he’d been clutching the spidersilk bag full of gold coins tightly to his chest, and he immediately threw all of the coins into the captains quarters of the airship, before unsummoning the vessel.

Although it was technically attached to the airship, Fallow’s treasure wasn’t desummoned with the ship and instead popped off, turning back into the captain’s cutlass and floating over to Adam.

I was kind of hoping it would stay put. It feels kind of useless, but maybe that’s just because I’m so strong on my own and don’t have any weapons I could use it on. It would probably be quite useful if it was paired with the Healer staff or the forlorn banner, since those are support weapons.

Maybe if I find a weapon, I can use it on that instead of sending the weapon back to my player house. It’s worth trying with Alepheria’s paintbrush at least.

Before he continued northbound in search of the Golden Slug, Adam flew over to the volcano, hovering above its peak and staring down at the bubbling molten mass within for a few minutes, trying to see if he could spot anything.

Just as he was about to leave, a long obsidian-black ridge fin and angular snout poked out of the surface, instinctively making him dash out of the way. But then the creature dove back down under again.

< < Quest Unlocked > >

< The Goddess of Fire >

< Find a way to appease the Volcano Goddess >

I think this is the quest I was supposed to get from talking to the man-eaters.

Apparently, there is more than one way to unlock it. That’s good to know.

Although Adam was always keen to explore new secrets, he knew that it was currently more important that he deal with Chaos’ quest to find Petunia. Not to mention, he had to somehow obtain a slug core, as well as Alepheria’s paintbrush that was guarded by her Voidspawn-infested masterpiece.

So, as much as it pained him, Adam left Fallow’s Glory behind and flew north, his speed now four times that from before thanks to his two new fusion relics.

As such, it didn’t take him long to locate the Golden Slug as it sailed southwest. According to his memory of Chaos’ map, that course would send it towards the Morgan’s Rest settlement. Adam was unsure if the Whale Eaters were on friendly terms with the other factions in the Void Fallen pattern of the Stage, but it didn’t really matter as much to him as obtaining the compass and completing the objective.

Adam descended towards the airship helm from above, his sleek black figure like an obsidian spear falling out of heaven.

< < Optional Stage Objective > >

< Defeat the Golden Slug airship >

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