Advance Reader Copy

Every screen in the galaxy except the center system's shows a slow scroll across what Rosetta reads as a tunnel node, then Earth, then the Pacific off the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and finally a yellow-brick road over an endless grass plain under a countdown captioned that viewing is mandatory. Donut's tenth-floor prize is the Tome of Gatekeeper, a paperback advance reader copy that installs now but will not fire until the twelfth floor and that strips a target, gods included, of everything its class provides. Mordecai has taken up residence in the safe-room table and can hear but not answer unless he moves into something with a mouth, which he is not yet good at. Donut works through her box backlog, mostly Bronze and Silver Adventurer Boxes, and pulls a saddle upgrade called Legendary Steed plus an unnamed legendary box for spotting the shadow mimic before it revealed itself. Carl leaves his own boxes shut, sews a four-leaf-clover patch above the Midnight Epicure patch for the Lucky Shot benefit that redirects a fatal blow into a party member, and Jurgen interrupts to report that Donut's flowers have finished blooming.

First appearances (3)

• Legendary Steed (Item) — Mongo's saddle upgrade · a cart that weighs nothing
• Lucky Shot (Four-Leaf-Clover Patch) (Item) — Jacket patch · deflects one fatal blow into a party member
• Tome of Gatekeeper (Spell / Skill) — Donut's tenth-floor prize · advance reader copy, street date the twelfth floor

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