He sits on one of the benches, they would always break when he tried to sit on them in the game but this was not a game anymore, was it? "Ahh, this is so weird." He may have a goal now, something to strive for but, as tainted as he is now, he is still Kurushimi, a sarcastic and less than social man.
He knows the world will end soon, it will be him that burns it after all, so why not enjoy it as much as he can? Even just so he can say he had recompense for his suffering. It's only been ten minutes after he awoke here and only now is his situation really starting to set in. He is in the world of Elden Ring, created by Gorge R.R. Martin and Hidetaka Miyasaki. A dying world made of stragglers and demented demigods.
He really hopes he can respawn, or at least not die due to the sealed nature of the rune of death. Right now, he is thankful for Maliketh. "This is going to be hard. Very hard." He will die. That is certain. But how many times? It scares him.
He shakes his head. He awoke in the Samurai set, Uchigatana in it's sheath to his side and longbow on his back. The only thing that has not been as he knew it from the game was one item he had, one seal of incantation.
The Frenzied Flame Seal.
In his left hand lay a bright yellow and unmoving flame. As if stopped in time, the fire with a black core sits in his palm, floating and unmoving.
It's pretty obvious what this means, the three fingers have recognized him. Why else does he have this? He didn't know they had such a reach but it's appreciated nonetheless. "Can't stay here and look at my skills all day." He did not expect the yellow-ish menu that appeared, though he should have. This is Elden Ring and it's menu followed him here, just not as he is used to.
The god of your old world have gifted you this gift as a send off to this world, you are your world champion here.
-Message from G O D
You dude, I know you are all emo now so I thought this was a good advantage to give ya! You'll need it man, have you seen Radahn!?
[Skills]
[Sharingan] Level 1/100
"Peoples lives don't end when they die. It ends when they loose faith."
-Itachi Uchiha
The Bloodline of The Uchiha Clan and now your own. Due to the immense trauma you have already experienced, you have awakened the first stage. You are the progenitor of the Uchiha in this land, so you gain special advantages. First you have both the Eye of Insight and the Eye of Hypnotism.
Stage 1: Sharingan, 1 Tomoe.
The Eye of Insight, your left, let's the user see chakra (Magic) even through walls. Though not as detailed as the Byakugan the user can still se irregularities in a persons chakra (Magic), enough to see mental influence. Your Sharingan in particular is special, more powerful than normal. You can see on a very detailed level, like Sasuke Uchiha, on a cellular one if you focus enough and, if extra Mana is given and the sharingan is evolved to stage 3, even to an atomic level. This eye let's you also copy and remember moves just by a glance and, with your Sharingan, you can even obtain the muscle memory. Speaking of which, this eye let's the user glance into a targets memory, given eye contact and even erase them.
The Eye of Hypnotism allows the user to use what is commonly know as 'Sharingan: Genjutsu'. Through eye contact the user can suggest actions and thoughts into a person, possibly even without them knowing. At high levels, even taking control over them completely. This illusive trance is commonly indicated by the sharingan pattern appearing in the targets eyes, though this is avoidable with another Genjutsu layered on the eyes. Lastly, there is the 'Prediction'. Many sharingan users seem to know what attacks happen when and even perform the opponents moves before they even do. While it may seem like seeing the future, it is actually not. The user copies the targets fighting style, moves and memories of the opponent and then uses them. Then, through careful observation made easier by the Sharingan, the attacks of the enemy can be accurately predicted.
This is a gamer System and that is the Sharingan. "This situation cannot get stranger." But he supposed it fits, he is an avenger like most Uchiha where. Just not for his own vengeance, only partly. The revelation of a gamer system was half expected by Kuru but the different version it took here was a surprise to him.
Also, god is real. Cool, he hates that guy. If he's so sorry then bring him not to Elden Ring but to My Hero or something. "Why a from soft game? Frenzied Flame is cool, integral to my goal even but even so this sucks." He dismisses the screen and activates his special power, the advantage unique to him. He will need it, god was right he will.
Images of his family, of his eyeless father, flash before his vision and the last of his doubts are gone. "If I have to die then I will." He cracks his knuckles and neck, a habit he cannot rid himself of and then goes on to explore his advantages. He tries everything he can think of, status, inventory, traits, shop but none yield results. Not a single other screen opens. He can only see the Skills. "I guess I need to find a site of Grace."
Kuru stands up from his seat, moves to the door and slowly pushes it open. It's quite a hassle. 'Now I know why it always takes this long. These things are heavy!' The door finally creeks open fully and reveals a sight to behold for his modern brain.
For a few moments the sights leaves him speechless, a small distraction from everything. The backside of the Stormveil Castle, the small showings of stone and rock below it, is all overshadowed by the Erdtree. The gigantic golden light that the almost translucent stump gives off reaches him even here.
He is here to burn it.
He shakes his head, the beauty does not overweigh the suffering. "Let's hopefully kill the grafted scion." He walks over the rocky path, avoiding the disheveled structures and corpses around him until he crosses the hanging bridge that leads to the large archway. "Let's do this." He draws his Uchigatana and, to hopefully take this thing down, activates his new Eye.
His vision clears, as if he was looking through muddied glasses all his life and had just now taken them off, he can see the small bugs and cracks in the stone floor below him, the structural inconsistencies in the pillars to his side and even the displacement of air as the mass of hands and feet crashes to the ground in front of him.
The cloak on it's back thankfully keeps the most of it's horror concealed and he swiftly focuses on the large shield and rapier that it wields. His new sight can thankfully track them well. He walks into the arena, a statue of Queen Marika looming over them from behind his enemy. He takes one last deep breath, making the adrenalin flow through his body.
His Sharingan sees a rapier strike hitting his abdomen and he dodges out of the way just in time to avoid the predicted fate. Though it was a sloppy dodge and the scion takes advantage of that, slapping him off the arena with the shield. The impact hurt a bit but the fall onto a sharp stone that definitely split his head in half was worse.
'Not even one bit of damage.' He groans as he stands up again, in the cave of course. The water seeps through his armor and wets the clothes beneath but he ignores it, while uncomfortable there are worse things then wet clothes awaiting him. 'Let's do soldier of Godrick. I should have as many Runes as possible when Melina shows up.'
So, he turns left to fall down the hole that presents itself in that cavern he woke up in. While he walks up to the first few enemies that lay ahead, Kuru feels for the Flasks that heal him and restore his MP. When he feels four hanging on his belt, a small roped thing that it is, he sighs in relief. 'I almost thought I missed them.'
He continues until he finds a site of Grace and a pale-skinned and lanky man, clothed in nothing but rags and a small dagger or rapier, he can't discern from the small distance he is away, in hand. He crouches and tries to stay as silent as he can.
CRACK SNAP
He steps on random breakable objects and even kicks away a few stones but the figure does not react. 'Maybe they have bad hearing?' With all the loud sounds in the lands between he wouldn't be surprised.
One stab through the back later and a decapitation while on the floor for good measure and Kuru feels the golden Runes flow into him, not necessarily making him more powerful but he certainly feels a bit more complete. Even if only slightly.
Through killing an enemy with your Uchigatana, you have gained a new skill!
Like a tutorial window from the very game world he is now living in, a dark golden screen takes over his vision.
[Sword Mastery] Level 1/100
This measures your skill in using a sword. At higher levels, sword techniques such as the 'Waterfowl Dance' can be learned.
Current techniques:
He feels his grip on the blades handle change, correcting itself to feel better in his grip and to be able to exert more force. 'Only level one and I already have instinctual knowledge of handling a sword?' He was fearing the moment when he had to learn incantations, especially the Frenzied Flame ones, as he has never even felt magic but this will make it easier.
'No matter, the stronger I am the faster I can end it.' He continues to walk, leaving his first corpse behind him. The first pebble that will soon become a mountain.
His Sharingan let's him see the Lordsworn's Greatsword flying at his shoulder. The soldier of Godrick tries to cut off his opponents arm, grunting and growling in the attempt, but Kuru, seeing it beforehand, raises his own weapon to intersect the soldiers blow.
This is his first real fight, the ones before was more him backstabbing or avoiding the enemy but right now he is required to actually put thought into his attacks.
The Greatsword overpowers his block but he has already dodged to the side while his blocking sword bought him the time to. 'This is getting risky. I can't fight a fully trained soldier as my unskilled self.' AN idea flashes through his mind as he realizes all the recourses at his beck and call.
"Hey." The soldier looks up at him and they lock eyes.
Kuru feels his MP drained to at least three fourths as he casts his first Genjutsu. The soldier goes limp and stops moving. A blue bar, a bit of it gone, reveals itself at the top right corner of his vision. He ignores it for now in favor of ensuring his kill.
The newly decapitated head of the knight falls to the floor, his spewing blood tainting the puddle below them. The rest of the body follows soon after and Kuru sheaths his blade, knowing no more enemies await him in the cave. He looks down at the man for but a moment, emotions flowing through him that he can't discern.
He shakes his head to dismiss them and continues on.
After a while, he arrives back at the start of the cave, where he awoke after his first death. The memory causes him to flinch, it's not fun to die. Now, tough, he is at the top of a cliff face where a corpse overshadows a talisman he was awaiting to pick up.
Walking over, he finds the 'Haligdrake Talisman' and another screen opens up for him.
[Inventory]
Frenzied Flame Seal (Equipped)
Formless sacred seal bestowed by the maiden of the Three Fingers.
Enhances incantations of the frenzied flame.
This seal is the mark of the Lord of Frenzied Flame. Scales incantations using strength, dexterity, intelligence, and faith all together.
Haligdrake Talisman (Equipped)
Reduces holy damage taken by 13%
'So I don't see my equipped items in a separate window...' The only thing he has yet to see now was a status window as he didn't sit at the Grace he found a few minute earlier, only activating and walking past it. His mind was still somewhere else back then, he did get a Sharingan and all. The Uchigatana, Longbow and his armor lay further down this window but he ignores them, not too much to see there.
Kuru jumps down the small drop, opens the large door further down the cavern and walks through the catacombs. The white and gray stone bricks around him paint a dull picture, boring to his mind as he just blurs out everything until he reaches the elevator.
A ride up and another open door later and Limgrave reveals itself in all it's glory. "Ah. Wow." The lush landscape, overshadowed by the Erdtree in the distance make him feel at peace for just a minute before he remembers what tragedies will occur here. 'Poor poor Irina. Just another example for why I must be the Lord of Frenzied Flame.' And he wont regret a second of it.
He walks past the man clad in white, wearing a mask, Varre, Kuru knows him. But he does not need to talk to him, he already knows his deal and he can get to Mohg in the Consecrated Snowfield later on. But his true enemy lay behind him, The Tree Sentinel.
With a crash and rumble of earth, the Halberd of the sentinel cuts him in half, sending his dead body flying through the air due to the low arc of the blow.
Kuru awakes a moment later, phantom pain all along his body. 'God, I was alive for half a second after being halved.' Not fun, if he where to say. Was this Dark Souls, he would've hollowed a while ago. The pain is agonizing. But what does a man do when he has already wept plenty? "I continue."
This perpetual agony, is this the fault of Marika or perhaps Maliketh for keeping the Rune locked? No one can die, that is torture is it not? 'What was Marika thinking?' No matter, he will simply ask before he frees them all from the torture, when he forgives humanity for their crimes.
"I should probably try the Sentinel later." He had tried to hypnotize it but the helmet simply didn't let him see the eyes or he can't cast the illusion on foes much stronger than him, either or really.
For now, he simply dodges the Sentinel, stalking through bushes and hiding behind the tree line until he ends up at the broken church right behind the tree sentinels patrol. It's night already, he took the punishment of trespassing on the sentinels grounds for two days before he gave up, not without leveling his skills and obtaining a new one, dodging.
So, when he arrives at the chapel, two figures greet him. The witch Ranni, sitting atop an elevated mound of ruin parts, though she will tell him a fake name and all, and The merchant Kale.
Oh god Kale.
If even the cut content rings true still, then his story is one of the most tragic. 'He will beg me to burn it all when he finds his tribe, all mad and buried.' The words still haunt him, even when he heard them through the lens of a game.
'Did you see what they did to my ancestors?'
A faint voice rings through a distance, only heard by him, so filled with sadness and rage. A reminder, perhaps? By the three fingers? The flame?
But Kuru did not need further encouragement, the song of despair still echoes through him. He knew his goal, his destiny.
He first walks over to Ranni, Kale deserves his full attention, Kuru plans to give him the answers he deserves. Even if it will brake the merchant, he deserves to know. The injustice done upon his folk.
"This way, Tarnished. May I have a word." She calls out before he can begin to approach. Her puppet hands move deceptively smooth, one could doubt her humanity. Kuru looks over to her direction and does as asked of the spirit possessing a doll.
He stands before her now, awaiting further dialogue. She obliges, seeing that he does not speak first. "A pleasure to meet thee, Tarnished. I am the Witch Renna-"
"Ranni. You are Ranni. A demigod and slayer of Godwyn the Golden." He interjects. His stoic features state that he is confident in what he speaks, his black hair showing slightly behind the samurai helmet he wears, as if stating that what he say is fact, no delusion about it.
Ranni is stunned, shouldn't newly awoken Tarnished not know about the Lands Between, did she catch the wrong person? But even she, with her limited allies, has enough of an intelligence network to know when a Tarnished first arrives here. She can feel that he has barely felt the touch of grace, as loosely as she is connected to it these days. "Is thee of a noble family? Or perchance, did somebody else tell thy newly arrived self of my deeds?" She questions him, her doll face cannot display complex emotion but she would otherwise be livid.
Caught in a lie? She, Ranni? Such a shame she could not bare.
Kuru shakes his head. "It doesn't really matter how I know but more what I know." He pauses, waiting to see if Ranni would try and leave already after his dangerous gambit. She does not. Well, curiosity killed the kat, or demigod in this case. "I know how to get to the Finger slaying Blade and I also plan on Killing Radahn, while that is only an empty promise from a nobody to you."
Ranni is adept at all sorceries, while some more than others, she can say with much certainty that even in a weakened doll form she can be classified as a masterclass of casters only privet to her and her mother. And magic, at least the mana, is deeply connected with emotion and the conscious, intelligence and wisdom come to mind, and so she can tell a lie from truth.
This man knows entirely too much.
"And what does thee demand in exchange for such information?" She says, demands more like. Her tone is one of no bullshit, this is serious and he should know that.
He chuckles, a smile on his face. "Didn't know you could frown in that body."
And so it seems she has. An expression that furthers it's progress along her face at his words.
He waves her off with a hand. "Oh calm down lady. I'm joking." His face keeps a small smirk but returns semi-serious otherwise. "I don't need much from the perspective of a demigod such as yourself. For one, allies. Just entering into your service would be enough for me, should I require it I would like aid. Not in battle, though some times that would be appreciated, but more in the alley of sorcery and magical talent." He bows in some form of respect, completely contrasting his actions until now, is he being sarcastic? Ranni could only wonder.
The doll in the image of a dear friend and teacher of hers does not take much time to think about it, such a man with such information willingly offering himself to her? She already has nothing but three servants, so all help is good. "You are Tarnished and so thee will adapt to mine teachings. Though, I shall direct thee to mine servant, Se-"
"-levus, I knew you'd say that." He interjects again, he is not making this fun for her. "No, I want to learn from you. The cold sorceries of your moon are powerful and I think with something special of mine it wont be so hard to teach me." A gamer system for broad stroked versions of abilities and the copy aspect of his sharingan make him a perfect student.
That is why he did this, Ranni is a demigod you can meet so early and, if it wasn't a game and you could actually talk and do everything possible here, learning from her would be a god-sent early lead in power for him.
Ranni narrows her eyes at the Tarnished who has suddenly become such a thorn in her side, she is hoping her senses betray her and he was lying so she can leave him be. "I shall allow it under two conditions." One of her porcelain hands reveals themselves form her white feathered cloak, her large witch hat tilting upwards as she gazes more directly at him. The hand gestures upward two fingers, irony perhaps? "First, tell me the location of the blades."
He rolls his eyes, bored with her games after only one turn. "I'm not stupid, doll." A nickname changed to fit the situation. "But I can come to a compromise, I'll tell you part of it and the other at the end of my training."
Ranni thinks for a moment. "Agreeable. Go on." She withholds the second part so that, on the off-chance the Tarnished disagrees with her second condition and brakes off the deal, she will still walk away from this already too stressful ordeal with something.
Kuru knows this, he is- was the son of a pioneer of technology and his smarts are not to be underestimated but he knows he will agree to anything she could say, his future knowledge gives him certainty even if he is already changing things. The thoughts of his father send the image of the man, blind to the world through his mind making him flinch in response. If Ranni noticed, she did not say anything on the matter. "Fine. You cannot reach Nokron currently. Radahn needs to die." Enough to make it last but withholding the real location to ensure safety in the deal.
He was even generous with what he told her, he would say.
Ranni knows that, with enough time, Blaidd could certainly find the city but if he can get there is another question. Answered by the look on the mans face, truthful again. Ranni could say that he has deluded himself so far that he believes his own lies or those told by others but he came to her specifically, spoke about her destiny and knew plans that no mere commoner could conjure from their mind, no matter how crazed.
"Now, the other. A test. Here and now." She smiles, an actual smile on a face that should not be able to smile. "It is tradition in my family that our students must pass a test, crafted in the hands of the queen of Raya Lucaria herself. My mother, as thee knows." The test was made as many strived to become the students of one of the royal family, even she herself was asked a few times while she still stayed in the castle. It is, after all, a school and many where to be taught but private tutelage was highly sought after as just one powerful spell, many of which where held secret in the royal families hands, can elevate a fighter to heights unseen.
They failed, of course and so will this Tarnished.
Kuru shrugs. "Go on."
She obliges, even in a projection such as she is currently using to converse, her power is large. A demigod she is even still. "Very well. Thee have chosen to try for the honor of a student of mine. Thy first test is one of the mind." Ranni waves one of her four arms and, in a bright blue light, a small dark moon floats in her palm. "Perform this spell. I shall repeat it once more." It has an illusion placed on it, no man should notice it. The moon is dark in color but it has another larger moon behind it, her mothers, that is hidden from any but the caster.
If he can truly cast this spell from seeing only a fraction of it then he shall fail, because he will cast only that fraction.
But something strange happens when she dismisses her small trinket spell, his eyes turn red, a small rune orbiting along a line in the iris. Ranni has never seen such a power, she can feel that mana is being directed to his eyes but she cannot, for the life of her, discern it's function.
She ignores it, his vanity is of no importance to her.
She cast the spell again and waits for his next move.
Kuru copies the spell with perfect accuracy, he small trick is quickly revealed by his all-seeing eyes. 'God, I love this thing.'
Normally, you need specific incantations in the Lands Between but the gamer system stream-lined the process a bit for comfort and accessibility.
Due to being taught a great spell, you have gained +10 levels in this skill!
[Dark Moon Sorcery] Level 11/100
Aligned with the cold and illusions, the dark moon now shines on to you. You can cast anything that can be considered 'Ice magic' and physical illusions not centered around ones mind.
The knowledge flows into his mind and what he knew would previously take all his MP, he can now cast without too much difficulty. How to efficiently use the new energy in his body becomes a common thing to him, as if he was doing it for a few years already as he casts the exact same spell that Ranni showed, Illusion included.
She would know, of course. That is the test and she also created the spell, it's owner should know what the spell does.
So, he performs the spell, exactly as Ranni made it. She is stunned silent, if her body allowed for more extreme expressions then her mouth would be hanging wide open. He even mirrored small habits of hers, the way she let's her mana flow into the spell slowly but thoroughly, how she always starts to create the shell of the spell firs before infusing it with power rather than the more common way of doing both at the same time, something that she knows is worse if you want to be efficient with your mana use.
"W-Wh- No. Thee have proven thou self as good enough." She would normally do another test, one where she would send her shadow to fight him but this is magical talent that she has not seen since her own mothers. She needs to grab this one while it is still blooming, before another faction can get him, whatever that eye was, whatever skill and talent he has for sorceries is something that she is sure will help her.
She just needs to nurture it.
She has been a passive player since the shattering but maybe this one can help her out of that limbo, to help her brake her shackles. Ranni smiles, maybe this will be more worth than it seemed.
Kurushimi Uchiha.
VIT: E
DEX: E
STR: E-
INT: E+
FAI: E+
Student of:
Ranni the Witch
The status that greeted him at the site of grace was appreciated but didn't help much, that he didn't even get the standard numbers of the regular Elden Ring status is cause for rage.
No matter, just one more to talk to here and then he shall continue.
I just wanted to throw the status window in there after I realized I forgot it back at the beginning but I hope this is good.
Next chapter will be a good talk with Kale.
Btw. It is down right criminal that Kale's storyline was cut, it was a fucking masterpiece of tragedy and it made me feel like the frenzied flame ending was justified, which, despite what this story will say at first, it just isn't.
I really hope they re-add it back when the DLC drops because when I watched Vaati's 'Lord of Frenzied Flame' a few months ago, I almost cried when Kale's dialogue dropped.
Well, anyways, next chapter will be cool. Not finishing with Limgrave, I know how most Elden Ring stories are writing, rushing through areas and skipping past bosses with one sentence, but this one will take it's time with everything.