< < Now Entering > >

  < Stage 2 >

  < The Goblin Village >

  < 5 Waves >

  Adam opened his eyes and found himself standing on the light-brown dirt street of the goblin village.

  Waking up like this will never feel normal.

  Wonder why I didn’t dream this time around. Not that I’m complaining.

  Perhaps the dreams were simply a manifestation of the System trying to get in contact with me?

  If the ‘humans are fuel’ theory is correct, maybe it simply didn’t have the power to contact me after I died the first two times.

  He recalled the words it had told him. “The suffering fuels me.”

  What a horrifying prospect. It’s like some kind of sadist that gets off on people’s despair, fear, and pain.

  Adam hadn’t indulged in the despair, since he was a very pragmatic person, although he was quick to anger. Perhaps the System enjoyed that he wasn’t easy to break.

  I wonder if it enjoys all our emotions, not just suffering.

  It makes sense that it would set up the Trials in such a cruel way if the ultimate goal is to harvest our emotions. And maybe it wants us to ‘defy’ it, because defiance is born of strong emotions.

  What a sick fuck…

  [Stage Two is different from Stage One. Players must—] the Eye started to announce.

  “Skip.”

  [Wave 1 will begin in 60 seconds.]

  In front of Adam was something new. It was a floating stone orb with an eye in it that was facing him. The iris was glowing green.

  Is this the Hardmode toggle?

  He reached out and touched it. The iris turned red and the whole world shuddered.

  < < Hardmode > >

  < Activated >

  He took a deep breath.

  I can do this. No matter what Emelia says, I’m not some pushover anymore.

  I’ve gotta be prepared to risk my life if I want to take full advantage of my unique power.

  Adam summoned the barrier and immediately started shaping it. The square pane became a circular disc and, as he focused, it took on the shape of a massive throwing star. It was the most complex shape that he could switch to in an instant. He concentrated and the four points split to become eight.

  No matter how much I practice, it still feels like my brain is doing backflips in my skull every time…

  With a casual motion he moved the barrier in front of himself and with another he made it spin.

  It doesn’t matter how much armour the goblins have, my buzzsaw will carve through them.

  I hope…

  He hadn’t actually tested it out in the Player House.

  I need to get more speed. Right now the edge is a bit too thick, since it’s difficult to make it thinner and still maintain the coherence. If I can spin it faster, the thickness doesn’t matter as much.

  [30 seconds remaining.]

  Adam practised flinging the sawblade around in the air while walking towards the boundary by the fourth row of huts. Since the barrier was pretty big, he could easily flip it vertically and use it as a shield in a pinch. The versatility of the spell-tome was hard to deny, but the mental gymnastics needed to utilise it fully was a definite issue. He had to not only visualise the shape in his mind and then project it onto the barrier, but he also needed to keep it mentally consistent, otherwise it would revert to a simpler shape. Fortunately, instead of turning back into a disc, the buzzsaw would revert to the throwing star shape, thanks to his nonstop practice on Interim Island.

  He looked inside one of the huts and saw that the basket that’d had worms and bugs on his first time through was now empty, just like Emelia had said it would be.

  It’s fine. I won’t need it.

  He rolled his shoulders while playing around with the buzzsaw, warming up his body and mind.

  First Wave has two green goblins with clubs. Even if they now have bone armour, it might not protect their heads or necks. If it does, I’ll go for their arms I guess.

  [10 seconds remaining.]

  “Just start it already,” he said impatiently.

  [Understood.]

  < < Wave One > >

  < 60-Second Timer >

  Huh, didn’t know you could actually do that.

  Adam walked back to the second row of huts, just as a small goblin emerged from within. He immediately sliced the buzzsaw down into the diminutive creature.

  The spinning barrier produced an awful scraping sound as it collided with the creature’s armour. Fortunately, the bone protections only covered the torso, front of the neck, upper arms, abdomen, and thighs.

  With a quick flick of his right hand, the buzzsaw spun around, bounding off the bone vest it’d initially struck to carve through the goblin’s head.

  It died in gruesome spasms as the barrier carved through its jaw and into its cranium.

  But then the barrier broke.

  Shit!

  Adam summoned a replacement as the other goblin shrieked and swung for him, having closed the distance quickly.

  They’re faster than last time!

  That has to be another effect of the Hardmode.

  Emelia didn’t mention anything about that…

  The barrier caught the wild swing and the wooden club bounced off. Adam quickly shaped it into a throwing star and flung it around behind the goblin, while making it spin around. As it struck its unprotected nape, he added more teeth to it.

  Although it wasn’t spinning super-fast, it still cut through the spine in seconds, killing the goblin which screeched as it died.

  [Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 10 seconds.]

  Adam let out a deep breath.

  That was brutal. Gotta be careful with where I aim my blade, since it clearly took a lot of damage from striking the armour and cranium.

  Fortunately, it has enough health to survive a direct hit from one of the green goblin’s clubs.

  I wonder if they do less damage than the blue slimes. I suppose that would make sense, given that they are faster and less predictable. Maybe they do like 30 or 40 damage, since the spear goblins deal 60.

  Still, I should replace my damaged barrier.

  He summoned a replacement.

  [Warning! Mana below 60%.]

  < < Wave One Complete > >

  < Choose your Upgrade >

  He sat down to recoup his Mana before the next Wave.

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  “Can you tell me how much damage the green goblins do?” Adam asked the Eye as it unfolded itself into a reward podium.

  [I cannot reveal such advantageous information.]

  Adam sighed.

  Guess the Orb of Insight would tell me, perhaps, but it might be easier just asking around about in the Tavern. I’d like to have a better idea of what to expect.

  He looked at the three options and frowned despite them all being Rare thanks to him clearing the Wave quickly.

  < < Upgrades Available > >

  < Barrier Size (Rare) — Increases maximum barrier dimensions by 15% >

  < Manipulation Range (Rare) — Increases manipulation range by 35% >

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

  The only two weapon upgrades I don’t really need. Range might be useful, but so far it hasn’t been necessary. 10 metres feels like more than sufficient for now.

  I’m also not really in a hurry to collect more Mastery Shards, so I guess I’ll pick Crush since I feel like a general upgrade here is better than an unwanted weapon upgrade. Besides, I want to get better at shaping before I add another evolution on top and potentially complicate things more. Maybe I’ll stick to only picking Manipulation Speed and Effect if they pop up.

  Adam waited until 5 seconds remained on his upgrade decision, then selected Crush.

  < < Upgrade Selected > >

  < Crush (Rare) >

  < < Wave Two > >

  < 90-Second Timer >

  Adam got to his feet and sent the already-spinning buzzsaw barrier towards where the first of the three blue goblins would appear.

  It shouted in a shrill voice as it hopped out from within a hut. Further down, past the fifth row of huts, appeared two additional goblins.

  Unlike the green ones, their bone armour covered the top of their heads with a finger-bone headband, and they had additional cover on their forearms and lower legs. However, the bone vest didn’t protect their longer necks at all.

  Adam immediately exploited this oversight and tore his spinning barrier through the spear-wielding goblin that’d appeared from the first-row hut.

  In a single pass, his buzzsaw had shorn through its carotid arteries and windpipe.

  He didn’t stop and immediately flung it down towards the two others that came charging for him. As he swung for the one on the right, it quickly reacted and hopped back out of reach. Its friend was not as observant and he flung the barrier into its neck, sending it to the dirt in a spray of blood.

  When he swung for the last one again, it weaved out of the way and stabbed the spinning barrier, immediately breaking it.

  Shit, this one is clever!

  Adam summoned another and sent it forward without shaping it, hoping to utilise his Crush upgrade to deal some blunt damage and put the goblin off-balance.

  It once again struck the barrier, causing it to crack, but the two collided before it broke apart, and the goblin was knocked onto its back.

  Adam summoned a new barrier in the air above the downed creature and swung it down like a guillotine while shaping it into a triangle, with the narrow point aimed right at its exposed neck.

  [Warning! Mana below 60%.]

  It managed to just barely roll out of the way as the triangle embedded itself in the dirt.

  Son of a bitch!

  Adam switched to Gram and swung the heavy blade into the goblin’s head before it could react. The impact was enough to fracture its skull and kill it.

  He switched back to the spell-tome to avoid getting the upgrades for the sword. With a gesture he pulled the barrier out of the ground and shaped it back into a spinning buzzsaw.

  Hopefully that was quick enough.

  [Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 15 seconds.]

  Nice.

  < < Wave Two Complete > >

  < Choose your Upgrade >

  Adam moved down the row of houses to get closer to where the third Wave’s enemies would spawn, then he plopped himself down. Thankfully, the Eye constructed its podium nearby so he could see the options.

  This time one of them was Epic, thanks to the quick completion and his Luck rating.

  He was glad to note that the upgrades were for his spell-tome and not the stone sword.

  Looks like it’s based on what weapon I hold when the completion message pops up.

  < < Upgrades Available > >

  < Barrier Size (Epic) — Increases maximum barrier dimensions by 25% >

  < Manipulation Speed (Rare) — Increases manipulation speed by 35% >

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

  Hmm, this is a tough one… Force would definitely be a great choice, but increasing my Manipulation Speed by 35% is bound to have way more armour-piercing potential than a straight 15% boost.

  At least if physics have anything to say about it…

  He contemplated the decision until the Eye announced that 5 seconds remained.

  < < Upgrade Selected > >

  < Manipulation Speed (Rare) >

  Like Manipulation Effect, there wasn’t any visual changes caused by the upgrade. However, the speed increase was immediately noticeable on his spinning barrier as it spun a lot faster now and produced a noticeable hum.

  Two archers and four clubbers this time. Think I need to focus on the green ones first, particularly since they’re so much faster than normal.

  < < Wave Three > >

  < 120-Second Timer >

  Adam swung his arm and the buzzsaw moved to obey. While its reaction to his command wasn’t faster, it moved through the air at greater speed. Before the four green goblins had even fully emerged, the barrier had already carved through the neck of one.

  He moved it into the goblin right next to it, but when it was halfway through the meat of its neck, one of the spinning teeth caught the edge of the bone neck-guard and kicked back violently, managing to get itself completely stuck.

  Adam shook his hand and pushed and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Meanwhile the last two club-wielders charged for him. Not too far away, the two yellow goblins climbed up onto the platforms.

  Instead of continuing to struggle with the trapped barrier, Adam just summoned a new one, but before he could form it into a throwing star, the goblins were on him.

  He shifted the barrier so that it shielded his left side, then pulled out Gram and smacked the first one in the head. It fell to the side and banged against the barrier edge, cutting itself along its cheek.

  Oh right, can’t forget about collecting the ears, he reminded himself as he smacked the other one hard enough to send it onto its back.

  He switched back to the tome and finished them off with two quick chops. Barely a second passed from the death of the last green goblin, before he heard the thrum of a bow and instinctively covered himself with his barrier.

  An arrow struck the pane of white magic and bounced off, leaving behind a big crack. Then a second arrow hit it and it broke.

  Adam ran towards the nearest of the two platforms, while summoning up a new barrier.

  [Warning! Mana below 60%.]

  This time he formed it into as thin and narrow of a shape as he could manage without folding the barrier. He sent the 6-metre-long pole towards the furthest platform and the yellow goblin on top, while hiding beneath the other one.

  Above him, the archer stomped around while screeching. The other across the way managed to hit the tree trunk that he hid behind and which the platform rested on, but then his stretched-out barrier struck it square in the stomach and pushed it off the edge.

  It was too far for him to finish it off with the good old guillotine chop and it was out of sight from where he stood, also making it impossible to use his long barrier to do anything.

  Adam called the barrier back towards him and tried to spin it around to hit the goblin above him, but that was easier said than done. Not to mention, spinning the long barrier while maintaining its coherence was extremely difficult and it quickly began to revert back to a simple square.

  Fortunately, luck was on his side.

  Thwack!

  The smacking sound of his long spinning magic stick preceded the yellow goblins fall from the platform. It landed with a loud grunt next to him and he switched to Gram, before smashing its head repeatedly. Unlike the other goblins, the yellow one had the front of a skull strapped to its face like a hockey-mask, but it broke under the strikes of the heavy weapon. It also had a bone vest and arm protections, but nothing on its legs, which was curious.

  The moment it was dead he switched to the tome again and ran towards the other platform, where the archer had picked itself up and was looking around for him. His barrier had a big crack on it as he reformed it back into a shield and moved it in front of himself as cover.

  When the yellow archer spotted him, it quickly sent an arrow right at his face, but Adam easily stopped it with the barrier, although it broke immediately after.

  He summoned a replacement but suddenly felt a wooziness come over him and nearly tripped mid-step.

  [Warning! Mana below 40%.]

  With a punching gesture, Adam sent the barrier forward and smashed it into the goblin hard enough to crack its skull mask. It tumbled onto its back and lost its grip on the crude bow.

  He was wheezing like crazy and realised that a lot of the wooziness he felt was actually due to him running low on Stamina. He slowed down to allow his breathing to catch up.

  As the archer got back to its feet, Adam spun the barrier so that it was horizontal and shaped it into the buzzsaw, before spinning it through the goblin’s neck, decapitating it in three gruesome seconds.

  [Well done! You cleared the Wave within 30 seconds.]

  Adam had a sudden realisation, as he looked around at the dead goblins.

  “Do the corpses stick around after I kill the boss?”

  [No.]

  Shit, that’s right… Can’t believe I forgot that!

  I’ve gotta collect the ears now!

  < < Wave Three Complete > >

  < Choose your Upgrade >

  As the Eye unfolded into a podium, Adam spun the barrier vertically and sliced through the yellow goblin’s ear, before stooping to pick it up.

  I don’t have enough time to get them all, I should prioritise the ones furthest away, and get the rest after the next Wave.

  Goddamn it, I can’t believe I completely forgot about the enemies despawning…

  Wonder how that works for the boss. Maybe I just have to grab his ear quickly after he dies?

  < < Collectible Relic > >

  < Goblin Ear (Common) — The trophy of a dead Goblin >

  He stuffed the ear in his pocket, but knew there wouldn’t be enough space for all of them.

  After I unlock Weaver, I should have her make me a pouch so I can carry stuff. Would be useful for Stage Five as well, since I might end up looting a lot of Relics.

  Even if I’m not the one to kill the Players in that Stage, I might still be able to loot them after claiming the Altar.

  Adam got the ear from the other archer, then grabbed the four green ones as he moved back down towards the beginning of the Stage.

  [15 seconds remaining.]

  “Tell me the options,” he told the tesseract.

  < < Upgrades Available > >

  < Barrier Durability (Uncommon) — Increases barrier health by 20% >

  < Manipulation Speed (Uncommon) — Increases manipulation speed by 20% >

  < Movement (Rare) — Increases movement speed by 15% >

  Hmm, Rare movement boost…

  Still think Manipulation Speed is the best choice here. My barrier can survive two hits from the small enemies, which is good enough for now. Besides, there’s no telling how much health it would have to get to for me to be able to ride it like a magic carpet.

  He sliced off one of the blue goblins ears and was forced to stuff it in his left front pocket, since his right front and back pockets were already full.

  “Thank God for jeans,” he muttered and chopped off another blue ear with the barrier.

  [5 seconds remaining.]

  He cut off the last blue goblin’s ear and said, “I’ll pick Manipulation Speed.”

  < < Upgrade Selected > >

  < Manipulation Speed (Uncommon) >

  He didn’t have time to grab the ears of the two green goblins from the first Wave, so he ran back towards the end of the huts as the next Wave started.

  I hope they don’t all come at me at once…

  < < Wave Four > >

  < 150-Second Timer >