~Rod, Run 7, Entrance, Floor 2, The Fallen Merchant City of Aerlyn~

I had thought there would be a pause before the next memory, given that I had never experienced any in quick succession. But as the core descended from the ceiling, I braced myself for the next memory. This one, however, took me by surprise.

{Memory core 20/???}

~~~~~{Memory Core 20 Start}~~~~~

I thought the next memory would be of what happened after I put on the ring, but I was wrong. Instead, I was back in the alleyway where Peckolin and I had stopped the guard with the ridiculous armor, and things had gotten weird. When I received these new memories, it was not as if I was viewing the memory for the first time; instead, it was as if I was viewing them with all of the knowledge they imparted solidly back in my head, so I understood the context and emotions perfectly. And this one was a doozy.

As I stared into the distance, the guard stopped and fell asleep, and then he was in front of me. And then I killed him. I stabbed him over and over. Each thrust was fueled by a misplaced rage, a desperate attempt to silence the laughter of Malikap. The knife in my hand felt foreign yet disturbingly familiar, its blade slick with blood. My breaths came in ragged gasps, each one echoing with the ghostly laughter that filled my head.

Peckolin’s face was twisted in agony, his eyes wide with shock and betrayal. The guard’s ridiculous armor, which once seemed so laughable, now lay in pieces, revealing the vulnerable flesh beneath. Blood seeped from Peckolin’s wounds, pooling around his body and staining the cobblestones. His lips moved, but no sound came out, his final attempt to communicate lost in the chaos of the moment. The light in his eyes dimmed, replaced by a hollow emptiness that mirrored the void growing inside me.

I was so confused because it felt real and seemed like something that could have happened, but instead of betrayal in his eyes, I heard the same laughter I heard from Malikap as he overtook my spells. The laughter echoed in my mind, a twisted reminder of my own helplessness. It wasn't just the guard I was stabbing; it was every failure, every moment of weakness. The world around me felt tilted off-kilter, as if reality itself was slipping away.

The sky turned a yellowish gray, casting an eerie pallor over the scene. A specter rose from my friend's corpse, its form wreathed in shadows and dripping with spectral blood. Its eyes, hollow and accusing, locked onto mine. "Traitor!" it yelled, blood falling from its ghostly lips like an accusation. Each drop of blood was an attack against the last vestiges of my innocence, a physical manifestation of my guilt and shame.

My heart pounded in my chest, a wild drumbeat of fear and confusion. The weight of the knife in my hand became unbearable, and I dropped it, my fingers slick with blood. I wanted to scream, to deny the reality of what I had done, but no words came out. The specter's taunts echoed in my ears, mingling with Malikap’s laughter, creating a cacophony of torment that threatened to shatter my mind.

~~~~~{Memory Core 20 End}~~~~~

{For unlocking 20 Memory cores, you received 5 Library Checkpoint Tickets. This allows you to set a respawn point on the 3rd floor. One-time use. You will also receive The Ring of Lifting. This will allow you feats of incredible strength at a 4-point penalty to vitality while the ring is equipped.}

I awoke with a shout; the ghostly specter of my now-dead friend haunted me and my thoughts. I had been certain that when I arrived on the second floor, there was something wrong with the memories. And not just the one where I had managed to kill my friend. There was something off about the one with Jamie, too. But dwelling on the memories never brought more clarity, so instead, I thought about my new items. I was certain the Tickets would be valuable later, but That ring could maybe come in handy on this floor, especially if I had to collect a bunch of corpses again. As my thoughts wandered, my feet did too, and before I knew it I was in the market square.

The city had respawned anew, pristine and untouched by the item or the chaos of the battle with the wolves. The clean slate felt surreal, a stark contrast to the turmoil inside me. I needed to pull my item out of the bank and get a hold of the bonuses that nighttime would bring me, but I hesitated. I knew how powerful this class was, especially with the new buffs that Malikap had brought me, but did I really want to use the provisions of this class? Did I really want to cause so much pain and horror for these people who just wanted to live out their meager existence?

What was the point of penance if I wasn't actually getting better? I made my choice. As I walked to the vault, a sense of foreboding settled over me. The air seemed to grow thicker, charged with an unspoken tension. When I reached the vault, my hands trembled as I put the amulets away. Everything in me screamed that I was making the wrong choice, but every choice I had been making lately had led me down a sinister path that I knew I did not want. No, while I had to use the power of the class to succeed, I would not use other powers that only brought more harm.

As if my choice wasn't hard enough, time froze, and suddenly, two figures materialized before me. Aurentum and Rellum stood side by side, their presence both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Aurentum’s form shimmered with an unnatural light that made my skin crawl, his voice undercurrented with greed and frivolity. My ears shook from just being near him. Rellum, in contrast, exuded a calm, divine aura, his eyes filled with a wisdom that seemed to see through me.

"We have come to an understanding," Aurentum started, his voice echoing with a hint of malevolence.

"We need you to continue on your current path, though I am proud of the choices you are making. Harming innocents for our own expediency is never the right course of action," Rellum said, his voice imbued with sagely wisdom and divine calm.

"Then what are you here to do except harm me for your expediency?" I demanded, frustration and fear boiling over.

"Though you see yourself as an innocent, nothing you have done here has been the act of an innocent. Demanding an item that would go better with an ally. Letting your allies be killed. Turning the whole city into night and unleashing that devilish plague are all things you could have made better choices with. Now, it is simply the consequences of your actions. You don't get to choose the right thing at the last second and think it absolves you of everything."

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“What do you even want me to do?” I asked, feeling cornered and desperate.

"You are going to relinquish your pact with Aurentum and fully enter into your pact with Malikap. If you choose to do so, we will allow you to continue your runs in this dungeon so that we may track Malikap. As dangerous as Aurentum's escaping would be, Malikap's escaping would be the end of all existence. That is his very goal. And does he need an icon/minion/lackey in order to leave? That would be you."

“And if I refuse?”

"Then I crush your skull, and we take away any remaining runs that you have."

"So I would lose my Death Boons? Why would I choose to do such a thing? Why would you," I paused, putting a finger in Rellum's face, "want me to do the wrong thing? I thought your shtick was that you never led people astray?"

"I am not leading you astray; you have already led yourself astray and become irredeemable."

The words were like a sword to my heart; in fact, it felt very similar to when Drip stabbed me, and I bled to death. My mind flashed back to the memory of Jamie. Where she said I wasn't at fault. Where she said I was innocent. Where she said I was not lost.

"I am my own person. I don't have to do what any so-called god tells me I must do, and besides, I know the truth now. So no, I won't relinquish my pact, but I also won't be serving you—either of you. You have no power here. You are all prisoners in the same cell, squabbling over the only pillow."

I walked past them, not certain my gamble would work. Two gods now had killed or claimed people under my control or near me, but they had yet to touch me, and I think I finally knew why.

Aurentum was the one who took Elric's place; I already knew this, of course, but I didn't realize the boon this brought me. I hadn't become his when I picked up the coins; I had been his the entire time I was in Penance. That's why I had immediate access to Death Boons. And because I had been his the whole time,

However, their powers could only negatively affect their direct opponent. Like pieces in a game of Ozball, Red beats both, Green beats red, and red beats blue, but if the two teams work together, they can overcome Red. The other pieces could not play against each other. Malikap could help me get stronger and hurt Rellum's minions, but Aurentum and Malikap could not harm me; because neither teamed up against Aurentum. I was hedging a bet that Rellum was testing me. He wanted me not to accept but to force myself to see who I was, not just the magically enhanced anger.

I walked and walked. I passed by the spice tables and then down an alleyway. As I exited, they appeared again in front of me. The pile of coins was smaller than before, and I filed that away for later. But I just walked past them again, their complaints falling on deaf ears.

I followed the map, and they appeared again. This time, Aurentum struck with a lantern, but it phased through me, and I almost cackled. However, after Malikap's laughter kept echoing in my ears, I shuddered and ignored the temptation.

As I passed the merchants, I was tempted by the displayed potions and armor. In my rush to clear the first floor and now to avoid literal gods, I hadn't grabbed a single piece of armor. Sure, my defense was now at 7, and I was probably good for this floor, but all of my spells, not just fireball, took HP to cast now, and I knew there were bigger threats lurking on this floor that I still hadn't tested.

I ignored the stalls and marched forward into the second room.

~Run 7, The Wall of Riddles, Floor 2, The Fallen Merchant City of Aerlyn~

Somehow, the first room had been textiles in the past two runs. So far, my luck had exceeded all possibilities. The last time I had run through and got the gluttony question wrong, I was rewarded with a difficult fight for three people. But now, I had spells on my side, one of which I was excited to test out. It was no longer called Mana Drain; it was called Mana Battery. It had a 1d4 chance to turn an enemy into a "mana battery," a mindless mob that I could consume for mana or, you know, hide behind if I needed to avoid attacks because I ran out of moves.

I went through all seven tents looking for my target. It was the same as before; I now realized depicting the engorged glutinous goblin that I would fight. I repeated Thumb’s cry of "Glutyeknee" and ran away from the tent as fast as I could before time froze.

The green tent collapsed under the weight of the giant angry monster, and time froze. I grinned.

"Mana battery," I shouted. The spell, this time, was closer to the shadow spell, except it started in my head. A ball of static invaded my mind, and I saw stars as I fell backward to the ground with a splitting headache. I feared I had gone blind as the mana escaped through my eyes. I heard rather than saw the dice roll. And then the monster screamed. Was I really that lucky? Afraid the timer would run out, I asked, "Did it work? I can't see." My vision finally started to clear as Crystal said,

[No, Rod, hurry!]

I had almost no way to aim the spell, as the blurry shapes of the tent and the monster all blended together. So, instead of wasting a cast, I ran forward, and while my vision didn't clear, I could tell the monster was in front of me. I didn't have the luxury of waiting or trying to figure out how to clear my vision. Making a snap judgment, I picked an object that looked close enough like the goblin and cast.

The pain was worse than before, and this time, I felt blood drip down my face as my eyes bled from the mana toll. The dice clattered on top of my fallen form, but the blast connected. As I passed out, I heard Crystal say,

[Congratulations, you have turned gluttony into a mana glutton. This unique minion will devour creatures for you and turn their life force into mana.]

"HUNGRY!!!!" the voice screamed, and I jolted awake. My eyes wouldn't open, and I remembered how badly the spell had damaged me.

"Crystal, I think I messed up. I still can't see."

[You're fine; stop being so dramatic.] Crystal punctuated the statement by dropping a canteen of water on my head. It hit so hard that I felt like I blacked out again, but I instead grabbed the container of water and opened it. After a refreshing sip, Crystal prompted me again.

[Are you going to try and summon another floor guardian? It won't get you any more boons.]

“What? No, I just can’t see.”

[I gave you the stupid canteen so you could flush the dried blood out of your eyes. How obtuse can you be?]

“Oh.”

"HUNGRY!!!" The giant goblin smashed the floor with his hammer, and I jumped.

I started flushing my eyes with the water and then grabbed a handful of cloth from the destroyed tent nearby. I rubbed my eyes clean and blinked them clear a few times. It's nice to see that I can actually see again.

I got up off the ground and patted Glutyeknee on the back. I left the room, not bothering with the other tents. Something I’m sure won’t come back to bite me in the butt later.