So, it turns out that the Long Sword, while amazing, costs way too much time to buy (walking to the room with the shop + screen transition + walking to the door + screen transition + walking to the shopkeeper + selling the Wing Boots (140 frames of just gaining money) + another shopkeeper interaction + buying the Long Sword (160 frames of just losing money) + leaving the store + screen transition + returning to the screen with the Guru). At the point where I decided I had done the appropriate research, I was behind Lord Tom's run by 1724 frames. I went from a 12-second lead to a 30-second loss. I estimated that in order to most obviously make up the time, I needed to save five seconds in each boss fight just to tie. Checking Lord Tom's run, he beats the first such boss in under five seconds. So, as much fun as it was to theorycraft, and as much fun as it was to try, getting the Long Sword is, at time of writing, not viable.
With that out of the way, I had to see what I could salvage. I had the following issues:
- Not getting a second pair of Wing Boots in the Tower of Fortress meant that I wouldn't need to get hit by a bee after the screen transition, meaning that I had three more hit points to play with. Meaning that I wouldn't be able to die after turning the fountain on.
- Not getting a second pair of Wing Boots in the Tower of Fortress meant that I wouldn't need to kill that screen of bees, meaning that I didn't need to save a Deluge for them. Meaning that I would look bad for having one shot of Deluge that I didn't ever use.
Reconciling those two facts, I needed to end up with enough health to survive a mage's Deluge so that I wouldn't lose time against the triple bees. Further, I wanted to keep the Triple Kill because I think it looks amazing. I lose 23 frames in that room, but I have a lower health total because of the Mattock room's new strategy (which saved almost a full second) and can't tank a hit from the bee, so I consider it a win, both in terms of strategy and in entertainment, and had to find a way to just barely survive. Fortunately, the enemy that I chose to take damage from to save a Deluge earlier in the run (the room starting frame 18134) deals five damage, the bee I no longer get hit from deals three, and the mage's Deluge deals eight. Victory.
With that out of the way, and several other problematic rooms deciding to behave, everything is resynched up to the second death of the game, and I am starting the process of farming Golds for King keys.
The file currently ends at frame 35349, upon leaving the room the Wyvern dies in; for comparison, Lord Tom leaves that room at frame 36208, giving me an 859 frame lead, ~750 of which come from the beginning of the game, meaning 109 frames have been saved through optimization and routing.
Enjoy.