[Traversing to other world]

[Causality cost to maintain link paid by the keeper of the second gate]

Day 1

… directly into a building. Collapsing the roof entirely as you fall through it.

By the time you manage to get up and look around, you find yourself next to some sort of… swamp? And there's also a human garbed in all white running from you, but all that is not worth noting compared to one thing.

That is, the giant golden tree you see, towering, in the distance. Letting out a feeling of… you don't actually know what that feeling is.

But it's definetly hostile to you.

Eventually, after staring at the giant golden tree some more, you decide to move from your landing location.

Sepcifically, you move towrds the sawmp nearby as you smell something… odd. Something that smells similar to that fire dragon you fought before, except different.

So you follow it, with any living thing you see running the moment it sees you, until eventually you come to a couple of humans in front of a fire.

…that they were worshiping?

Yeah, that was the word you remembered from those lessons on culture. Though you distinctly remember the human saying that worshiping is for gods, so you-

*boom*

And your attention snaps back to the humans… or at least the burning husks left of them.

Instead, where they used to be is a drake that is about half your size, "lea…ve."

And it just spoke at you in human language.

"My… terri…torry…"

You just look at the smaller drake, before beginning to perform body movements in an attempt to ask a simple question.

Does it know the location of other dragons.

… and it just stared at you, with the feeling of pity(?) radiating from it, before speaking up, "ov…er…th…ere…"

It says this while pointing with the tip of it's wings over above where you knew the castle to be, "lan…saax…"

Then, after looking at you and shaking it's head, it just flew off again. Leaving you alone. But instead of following the directions it gave, you instead returned to the place you landed in here and lay down to sleep.

It had, after all, been a long day and at this point you were barely awake.

And so you went to sleep in these new lands.


Maidenless POV

She, the tarnished warrior descended from the great warriors that followed Godfrey, was currently on her sixth run against the soldier fo Godrick and she finally had him on the ropes!

Just… one… more… hit…

*Shlink*

And finally, her sword stabed through the chainmail of the soilder before her, finally killing it.

"You were a good opponent soilder, yet it was I who was victorious in the end," she couldn't help but say.

"I… killed… you… five… times… wench," and with those parting words he falls, dead. Leaving her no chance to retort to his final parting words.

Still, she carried on. Past the rapidly fading soilder and through the doors of the cave she was in. Until finally she climbed the stairs and saw the skies again… along with the giant eye of the dragon currently staring at her.

Really, it was painfull for her to die to her own sword to the throat. But at least she could actually return from a sword through the throat.

What she could not return from was dragon fire.


Day 2

You watch in confusion as the dead body of the human rapidly desolves away before you, leaving behind a pool of light. One that rapidly flows into you… leaving a feeling of something being present in the back of your mind.

You don't exactly know what though… so you ignore it, before getting up for the day.

[Runes: 1036]

[Causality: 8/10]

It was after careful deliberation that you decided to go towards where the drake had pointed you to.

Whether it was because of pure curiosity or because you wanted to hunt you didn't exactly know. But you still shot into the skies, almost into the clouds, and rapidly began flying, the castle passing under you within a few moments, and just kept going.

All the while looking below you for this dragon that was meant to be there.

And you found a whole lot of water, some small creatures, and a drake sleeping in the open. But what you didn't find below you was a dragon…

No, you found that when you suddenly heard the sound of beating wings above you, accompanied by claps of thunder and a voice, "halt!"

And then your way was blocked by white dragon, one covered in stone scale and with four wings, that just hovered in the air in front of you, forcing you to do the same. It was the one to speak, in a voice you'd say was… feminine?

"None shall enter the…" it stopped speaking as it stared at you,"What is wrong with thee, what has happened to thy wings? What did thee do to thy scales?"

You had no reply to the apparent questions… mostly because you couldn't speak.

"Thee can't speak, can thee?"

Deciding not to attack the dragon in front of you, for reasons, you do the other thing you could do… except turning away. That being answering the questions.

… or at least trying to answer them. Because all you, apparently, manage to do is confuse the dragon more as you try to tell her how you got your scales.

"…so thee can not speak?" she eventually says again, to which you just nod, "what is thy age?"

That question causes you to pause to think about it.

Because, while you'd learnt about the concept of time and age from that tutor, you didn't really… know your own age. Still, if you were to guess…

You hold up two of your claws, "two decades? It is stra-"

You shook your head side to side, "two years? Wel-"

Again, you shake your head, "… where are thy sires?"

Once again you're stuck thinking on how to answer that, but this time a solution comes to you quickly. Specifically, in the form of a motion you remember your tutor teaching you, the one where you drag a claw over the neck to say something is dead.

It only gets silence though.

"Lord help me," she eventually speaks again, before slowly beginning to fly away from you, "very well, follow behind me."

When she finally sees you following behind her she speed up, enough so that you have to actually try to follow her, and soon the two of you land on a small island in the waters. One that was nearer to the castle you'd seen.

Once you landed she immediately turned to you, "this is where thee shalt find me in the middle of each day, come here then and I shalt teach thee… if thee would be so inclined."

And with that she walked off, laying down on the nearby outcrop of rock and looking at you."I am a… dragon," speech, as it turned out, was incredibly strange.

Especially since, as you'd discovered, you could always do it… it just required you to use this weird thing in your body. One you wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't been explicitly told about it… or at least you wouldn't have noticed it without significant practice.

"That is enough for now," your teacher, Lannseax as she'd introduced herself, finally said while radiating a feeling of content, "now, come and sit. Now that thou art capable speech like a true dragon, it is time for thee to learn of runes."

You follow the instructions, more than willing to finally try something other than trying to speak, and once you were sat down she began the lesson.

"Runes, as they exist in their greater form are things that define, and represent, a specific thing," she pauses, visibly thinking on her words, "an example of this can be the hero's rune. Which defines, and represents, the concept of being a hero, making it so that the original holder of the rune shall possess the qualities of a hero."

You nod, absorbing the information.

"Now, thou may ask why thou can not just take one such rune to gain the properties of a hero, why it has to be the original holder? Well that is due to certain runes being borne of experiences, meaning that they shall only affect the one whose experience that formed them."

A short while later

"- therefore, due to the undefined nature of lesser runes, they are able to be used to define your own attributes, strengthening them. An act the lesser races require maidens to accomplish, yet our kind is capable of doing so on their own."

You immediately perked up at the mention of a way to strengthen yourself.

"Unfortunately that shall have to wait till tomorrow," unfortunately she decided to get up then, causing you to sink back down, "I must return to safeguarding the Altus Plateau."

[You can speak now]

[You know about the usage of runes]

[You know how to convert consumable runes to normal runes]

With Lansseax gone you didn't really have much reason to stay on the island and so you set off to do something else.

That something being to finally go ahead and investigate the castle you'd seen, if for no other reason than the fact that you yourself had lived in the castle.

And so you reached the castle, finding that it was one that was barely standing, and began descending…

"Dragon!" only to avoid a harpoon that whizzed past your head, one that would've one through your eye had you not avoided it.

… you block another harpoon, just as it was about to hit you. Then you look between it and the castle in below you, the one that still has humans shooting things from it.

Slowly, your chest begins to light up a brilliant white as white pearlescent smoke starts leaking from your mouth.


The All-Knowing POV

Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing, was someone who had eyes and ears everywhere. Which, in the end, meant that he had an almost constant stream of knowledge.

Which meant that he had much experience with hearing outrageous news, and just as much experience using other information to find the truth behind that outrageous news and discover the truth. Yes, it was something he was well-versed in.

"Pardon? Can you repeat that," which was why he was so stumped when another of his informants came back with information that, in fact, supported the preposterous news.

"My lord, the castle of Stormveil has collapsed, with much of its structure being melted down," once again, his informant said the same thing.

"I see… this is troubling," and it was, because now it meant that the ancient dragons had either betrayed the golden order or were suffering a schism, "very well, you are dismissed."

…and no sooner had his eyes and ears left that he felt the entrance of another tarnished into the roundtable hold. One coming from… Caelid, of all places.

"Oh lord, normal ground! Oh how I missed you!"

…it appears that he may regret making the round table hold his base of operations.


Lizard POV

Looking back down at the castle, or at least what's left of it, you note the strange thing you saw through one of the holes as you descend.

You don't go investigate it just yet though. Instead, you go down to where you could hear shouting, coming to a scorched dirt path with a human crawling around on the ground.

And you saw human in a vague sense because, while it had the relative shape and sound of a human, it was little more than a log of blackened meat.

"I… am… the… l.o.r..d…" then it's dead… and leaking a golden light?

One that condenses into a shape above its corpse, one that seems similar to the runes that were inside you, that you could see due to Lansseax's teachings, except… more.

[Runes: 369,986]

Instinctively, you reach out, touching the glowing golden image with your claw. Something which caused you to, for a moment, have your mind go completely blank as it flowed into you.

[Valid module for status found]

[Integrating…]

[Integrated]

Anchor Great rune [Unranked] [Passive]

+10 to all stats

Eating substances (and other abilities intergration) rolls are automatic nat 100's while this is active

Inactive

And then you snapped back and didn't really feel anything odd, only an itch in your chest that immediately faded. That, and the feeling that you'd gained something…

You'll ask Lansseax next time you see her.

[Remembrance of the grafted] gained

The next time you see her being as soon as possible as you decide to go to her island straight away… only to remember that she wasn't there yet.

But since you were there anyways you decide to dig a new den to wait for her. Which you do after spending a long time searching for just the right place.

And what you get is… questionable in quality. Really, it was more a dirt hole in the side of the hill than anything. But since you were too sleepy to bother with improving the den, it'd have to do and so you squeezed in and went to sleep.

Strangely enough, you had felt disappointment radiating outside your den just before you went to sleep. But, since it felt like Lansseax, you just went to sleep.


Day 3

When you wake up it's to the dirt wall of you den, and with that you immediately began backpedalling out of the dirt hole you made.

Eventually, after you manage to back out without collapsing the dirt cave and shake off the dirt, you were ready for the first thing for the first thing, in this case, being to go explore this new place.

Which you did by once again taking to the skies, shaking off the last of the dirt you hadn't been able to shake off, and looking below you while hovering around at a casual pace.

And, as it turns out, there wasn't much in this new world.

All you manage to see, or at least the interesting stuff, is a small glowing golden tree, a village full of giant orange glowing rats and another castle in the distance, this one releasing a bunch of smoke.

And out of those three things, you chose to investigate the smoking castle.

Mostly because that was the thing that seemed most interesting.

Still, regardless of your reason for choosing to investigate it, you began to head for it, seeing that the smoke was coming from piles of bodies that seemed to have been lit on fire.

You could also see that the humans in the castle seemed to be fighting with what looked like demi-humans?

And then, as you were still examining the situation, an arrow whizzed past you. Coming from what looked like a giant, stone covered, human. One with its arms and legs glowing gold and its mouth releasing light smoke.

Your reply to the arrow, and the ones it kept firing at you, with a torrent of fire from your maw. One that quickly engulfs it in a pillar of flame that persists for a good while as you keep breathing out.

When you finally stop, all that's left of it is a slightly molten, but surprisingly intact, corpse.

Which leave you free to finally go back to looking over what was happening in the castle. Which, after observing for a bit, you understood was a fight between the demi-humans and the humans, with their leaders being at the beach and one of the towers respectively.

Of course, you didn't really care about the conflict. No, you had something far more important to do.

You needed to find some spare metal lying around to eat, you hadn't eaten some in a long time and seeing the fighting going on below had caused you to crave some. Especially since they were mostly using metal weapons to attack each other.

So you descended upon the castle, ignoring the few humans and demi-humans who fled from where you landed, and began to sift through the corpse piles.

Because you didn't really feel like eating the meat and so, as tedious as it was, you separated their metals from their corpses. And you kept separating until you had a pile of metal next to where you were sitting.

Which you then crabbed and popped into your maw in one go, before repeating the process with a new pile. Only pausing when you felt something click inside you.

You could make sword steel, at least that's what it's called, now. Great.

But, anyways, you were now out of spare metal and so you got up to leave. Though you didn't actually leave until you grabbed the corpse of the giant human too, after which you flew rapidly to your den on Lansseax's island.

[Runes: 370,830]

[Sword steel added to creation]


Lansseax POV

Lansseax was incredibly tired.

She has been tired ever since the failure of her and her kin in overthrowing the golden order, the greater wills newest favoured. The attempt that had resulted in the death of her father. The same one that she, along with her brother, survived only by becoming subservient to the golden order.

Sure, it was made more palatable by their friendship with Godwyn and the dragon cult they were allowed to form under the golden order.

But they'd still started the war, in spite of lord Placidusax's wishes, and lost many of the few remaining true dragons, now ancient dragons, because of what was essentially a last hurrah. Only to then make peace with the golden order in the end anyways.

A wasteful and pointless effort that her current tiredness could be traced back to.

Of course, back then it hadn't felt like that. At least not after the initial discomfort of their new position as helpers of the order and essentially being exiled from Farum Azula.

It had been refreshing even, because her and Fortisax were actually doing something after a long time period of doing absolutely nothing that bore fruit. Their actions were having a very tangible effect on the golden order as a whole.

And then it all fell apart as the night of black knives happened.

Godwyn was dead, her brother refused to accept his death and disappeared somewhere, and Marika shattered the Elden ring in her grief. The golden order she had begun to truly see as her home was destroyed.

It didn't hurt as much as the first time her home was destroyed, when Farum became Farum Azula, but it did cause her to begin to truly feel tired of her lot in life.

But there had been some hope in her heart back then. It came in the form of Vyke.

… oh Vyke, you foolish boy.

And it was boy, not man. His actions had shown that.

When she had purposefully neglected her duty, given to her by Morgot in an attempt to help the order, and aided Vyke in getting to the capital it had been with the understanding that he was the ideal tarnished to take the throne of Elden lord. One that was even part of the dragon cult, and hence a way for the dragons to regain the favour of the greater will.

… and perhaps her emotions had clouded her judgement.

Not that she had loved him. No, a true dragon's love was a thing that happened over a time period far larger than the one she'd known Vyke for, owing to their scales granted immortality. But she had certainly been fond of him, something that may have changed in the future had he become Elden lord.

"Had" being the word, because he'd failed mere moments before reaching the goal.

Then she was stuck doing her duties as he rotted in an evergaol, flesh burnt and mind driven insane by the frenzied flames. Even as things continued worsening in the lands between and less of the dead returned to the Erdtree by the day.

So she just fell into a routine of patrolling the plateau, resting, and then patrolling again.

Only for her routine to change when she saw what appeared to be another true dragon at first glance, and she was right… to an extent.

Well, he was a true dragon anyways, if a heavily deformed one, judging by how she could sense his nature of being untouched by time. He even had the stone scales, unlike their lesser kin, even if they were similar in nature to the body of the star beasts…

… considering the dragon in question, it might truly be because he decided to eat some falling star beast.

But certainly, the only true difference he had from the average true dragon was the detail that he only had a single set of wings. That and the complete lack of grace-signifying gold within his eye.

And wasn't that just laughable. A dragon without grace.

Truly, the greater will had decided to abandon them.

Still, she wasn't sure whether it was because of some draconic pride, or because she'd spent too much time amongst the humans and now felt pity, but in the end she decided to take the child under her wings and teach him some of the fundamentals of being a dragon.

The experience even ended up being enjoyable enough, with him learning fast enough not to frustrate her.

… and then the child comes back with a greater rune embossed upon his chest scales, invisible to his own grace deprived sight, while asking to be taught further. With absolutely no understanding of what he'd done.

The dragons had lost the greater wills. The elden ring was forever beyond their reach, changed even to deny any but the newly favoured by the greater will from even touching it.

This should be intact even with the ring shattered as it was, meaning that any of the greater rune's should be untouchable by any but the humans.

For him to be able to touch one of the greater runes, let alone actually absorb one, meant that he'd possibly committed an act of utmost heresy… or that the current situation was such that the greater will was willing to let dragons return to rule once again.

Even after their failure, one that resulted in the burning of the erdtree… which she honestly didn't care much for at this point.

Maybe when she was younger, filled with hubris and wilful spirit, she'd have cared about it. But, quite frankly, she was tired of this age of shattering and any way to end it sooner was a good one.

That it was a dragon that got the great rune was even better, both because of the possible resurgence of the dragons and due to the strength of the dragon meaning that they'd be able to get the other greater runes necessary far easier than any tarnished.

The only issue being that it was the child before her who got the great rune.

Don't get her wrong, she was perfectly fine with him as a candidate. It was just that, while he was impressive in both size and strength for his age, he was severely outmatched.

Because even her father, a dragon the size of a mountain and mystical might second only to Placidusax, was killed by a demigod without a great rune.

He would need to kill at least another demigod, or contend with the might of the entire academy of Raya Lucaria, to barely fix the Elden Ring. Not even mentioning how he'd have to fight the likes of Malenia or Radahn if he wanted to truly solidify himself as Elden lord.

And yes, the rune he currently had would improve his chances, but only barely. What with it being the anchor rune, the greater rune that offered the least in the way of power.

Yet he was still the best chance for this whole… thing to end.

He was stronger than Vyke had been, actually possessed a great rune, and none of the demigods currently holding the runes seemed to be trying to get the other runes.

"Very well, but first thee will learneth of what thee has't stumbled into. Then we shalt see about the runes thee holdeth, greater and lesser both."

… so she fell to the temptation once more. To attempt to end this era of chaos by aiding an aspirant for the throne.

And as she finished her explanation on the greater rune, the Elden Ring, and what trying to become Elden lord meant, she couldn't help but hope that it went better this time.

Whether that hope would last remained to be seen, though she wasn't holding her breath.


The Kindling Maidens

She watched over her tarnished, her immaterial form hovering behind them, as they returned to the site of grace they'd just set off from. The moment they reached it, she immediately materialized before them.

"I am sure you have questions on what has happened."

"Oh well nooo," was the acerbic reply of her tarnished, "I definitely don't need to know why the castle, that I was repeatedly told to go to, suddenly decided not to exist anymore. Not. At. All."

She, of course, ignored their tone. It was something she expected even, with how much they had died, and so she simply continued unperturbed, "the great rune you had searched for has been stolen from beneath you. Your path to becoming Elden lord blocked… by a singularly unique ancient dragon."

As she spoke, she tried to keep the emotions from her voice. Because it wasn't just her tarnished's goals that had been stymied by way of dragon, but hers too. The ones she has had ever since she awoke as nothing but a spirit without a body.

Even if they were as vaguely defined as 'aid a tarnished to become Elden lord' and 'to burn something'.

"Oh. Well first, Fuck!" she once again ignored her tarnished's rudeness, "second, going to assume you learnt this all while you were disappeared to where you disappear to, just dragon? It wouldn't happen to be purple by any chance, would it?"

"Indeed, it had scales that were purple in colour. Do you perhaps know of it?" she couldn't help but ask, wondering if her tarnished knew of it from before their first death.

"Right, okay. Don't want to fight the giant dragon so it looks like I'm not getting that great rune, you mind telling me where the next ones are?"

"Unfortunately, that would not be possible for you. The rune that has been taken is the anchor rune."

"…and that's important why?"

She held back a sigh, "without the anchor rune to act as a intermediary, you will not be able to repair the Elden Ring. Thus you cannot become Elden lord without it."

"Weeelll, you say that buuut-"

"No," she ended the foolish question before it even started.

"…fuck."


Lizard POV

You look down at the glowing rune you could see shining on the scales of your chest, one that was completely invisible to you before you'd touched those weird looking things on the tower.

"If thou art quite done staring at it, we shalt return to the lesson," Lansseax's voice however cut you from your staring.

"Ssoorry," you reply, accidentally slurring your words, getting back a nod.

"Now, the art of turning runes to strength is one which requires focus over a long time…"

So you spent a good while listening to Lansseax as she continued to explain the process of sensing, manipulating, and converting runes. At the end of which you had to quickly demonstrate it for her which… was easy, all things considered.

A bit too easy, if you were honest.

But still, you will say it's strange to suddenly know so much about yourself.

[You can now convert runes to powers by spending one quarter of the day]

[Anchor rune is now active]


[Current runes: 370,830]

Your ER level: 1 (each level gives 2 free stat points)

2 levels: 2,857 || 6 levels: 9,375 || 10 levels: 17,023 || 20 levels: 41,571 || 40 levels: 118,048 || 76 levels: 370,573

Abilities:

Astral dragon body: 50,000 per level

Space warp catching wings: 120,000 per level

Elemental nullification: 65,000 per level

Dragon breath: 45,000 per level

Grand celestial scales: 55,000 per level

Undying dragon vigour: 80,000 per level

Environmental rejection: 100,000 per level

Perennial dragon heart: 175,000 per level

Draconic burst: 250,000 per level

Forge of stars: 275,000 per level

Astral musculature: 125,000 per level

Devouring: 300,000 per level

Eternal sovereign foundation: 500,000 per level

Inherent understandings: 300,000 per level

Helel: 1,250,000 for one level

Creation: 180,000 per level

Manipulation: 150,000 per level

Deicide: 1,000,000 per level


You let out a breath, tinged gold with the runes currently flowing through your blood, and open your eyes.

"Excellent, it appears that thou has't completed the process," you nod at her, "very well, now I must get going. I shall teach thee more tommrow, till then I suggest acquiring more runes to strengthen yourself till then."

With that, she took off without another word.

[ER level increased to 41]

You, of course, decided not to follow what Lansseax said. At least not immediately.

Instead, you flew over to where you remembered seeing that tiny glowing gold tree, noticeably faster than last time, which you managed to reach after only a bit of scouring.

Once you found it, you took a moment to just examine it first.

Noting how there were some small brightly glowing things, what you assume to be seeds, on the ground under it.

Then you just eat the whole thing in one bite, taking the soil it was buried as well as the seeds, before swallowing it after a few chews. Then you suddenly felt a surge of energy go through you before subsiding…

And then you flopped onto the ground, falling asleep before you even touched it.

You awoke from your little nap a short while later, feeling refreshed and with a lightly golden lustre to your scales… which, all things said, actually looked rather good.

[? 9/12]

[+20,000 max HP]

Of course, you immediately stopped admiring your new scales when you realise exactly how close the day is to being over. You still had to go hunt for some runes after all.

And you did so in the most efficient way you could think of.

That being flying up into the air and blasting anything that moved below you with a thin beam, instantly killing them. Which you continue doing with extreme prejudice until you were too tired to continue doing so.

Then you did it some more, one time even hitting a human on a horse, before finally going back to your den to sleep.

Your mind abuzz with the runes you'd saved up as you went to sleep.

[Runes: 299,705]

[Breath weapon combat] +1 lv - (1/15)


Day 4

You woke up once again to the feeling of being covered in dirt and once again having to squeeze out of your dirt hole.

… you really have to improve this den.

So, instead of putting it off for later, you immediately began to work on your den.

The first thing you did being compact the dirt that made up the walls by using your wings, which stopped the borderline collapsing walls from… well, collapsing.

After that, you did something you… just felt would be good. That being lightly breathing lightning infused fire breath onto some stone you found and coating the walls with it.

And it actually turned out quite good, at least when it finished cooling, making your den far less messy and even allowing you to make a slab to block the entrance.

"Well, that is an improvement over thy previous… work," even Lansseax seemed to approve, when she arrived back on the island.

[Den will no longer collapse]

"Thou… wish to socialise?" Lansseax gave you a look, the one with narrowed eyes. You didn't need your ability to sense emotions to know what she was attempting to convey through that look.

"Yes," you still confirmed her words, even if they weren't exactly what you said.

"Does thy… thou do understand the situation…" she kept trying to say something, before stopping and looking at you. Eventually though she decided to speak, "Very well, but first thou must show thyself capable of using this."

And with that she burst into red lightning.

"Once thou art capable of it I shall take you around the… lands…" her words trailed off as you too burst into red lightning, though it was noticeably less intense than hers as well as being sparser.

It was actually rather easy for you to do so in fact, with something having just… clicked in you when you saw her coat herself in the cloak of lightning.

It was almost like… you knew time was passing around you and it wasn't for you, and then you took the time that should be passing for you and turned it into lightning. Somehow.

"… Good now just…" you heard her sigh while radiating exasperation, "just follow behind me."

And so you did follow behind her as she took off, continuing to do so for the next chunk of the day that followed. Occasionally she'd slow down somewhere and tell you about the locations or show you a sight that she said was "beautiful still."

Some time into the tour the exasperation she let off even turned to what you thought was nostalgia as she guided you. Which, after you asked, turned out to be because she did this frequently when she was younger.

Still, by the time she had to leave, she was noticeably happier.

To the point that she told you that you could go to the Altus plateau, though cautioning you against going near the capital due to the defences there.

[Temporal lightning ability unlocked]

[Lansseax is willing to socialise without lessons now]

[She's willing to let you into the Altus plateau]

[You now have a basic overview of Limgrave, Altus plateau, and weeping penninsula]

With the permission to explore this new location, which you didn't even know you needed, you, of course, set out to explore it straight away.

And you immediately found another golden tree on the way though you chose not to eat it immediately, to not be knocked out for a while, and instead chose to continue exploring a bit more.

Which turned out to be the right thing to do as, when you were flying in the clouds, a glinting object below attracted your attention.

Which turned out to be some sort of… red crystal? One that smelled a lot of blood.

There was also another human there that tried to attack you, but a casual swipe of your claws was enough to deal with them. Though you still looked around afterwards to ensure there weren't more around that'd attack you while you were distracted.

Lansseax had said that the humans could get quite powerful here with the help of runes.

… and that led you to finding another crystal, this one at the base of a statue of a human with their limbs splayed.

So all in all, you felt this whole exploration turned out quite well as you returned back to your den with the two crystals and the golden tree you uprooted on the way back.

The question then being whether you ate everything now…

Of course the answer, as it was for every time you were going to eat something, was yes.

Yes, you were going to eat the crystals and golden tree… right after you quickly do a hunt.

One Short Hunt Later

Unfortunately, your quick hunt wasn't quite as fruitful as you had hoped, and so you weren't exactly in the best of moods… but it was nothing that quickly scarfing down the food you'd stowed didn't solve.

And as you flopped onto the ground you say the golden lustre on your scales grow slightly stronger.

[? 14/12]

[? 9/9]

[+20,000 max HP]

[Runes: 356,099]


Day 5

When you woke up it was to the feeling of something… being different.

And it wasn't till you stepped out of your den, and your eyes were hit by the light reflected by your golden scales, that you realised what that was. Still, you didn't dislike the new colour of your scales, a part of you deep inside feeling an instinctual satisfaction.

The towering tree in the distance also seemed less hostile, if that can even be applied to a tree, but that didn't really interest you.

Anyway, after moving around to ensure your new scales didn't hinder you, you set off to explore like you'd intended to.

This time though, you had a specific place you wanted to explore. That being the swamp that la beyond the castle you'd decimated, which you saw was once again filled with life when you'd flown over it in passing.

But still, noting that for later, you began exploring the swamp.

Which immediately paid off for you, in the form of another crystal in your den almost immediately after you started your exploration. This one a faint green in colour.

And even better is that, since you found it so quickly, you still had the time to explore the swamp even further.

Which is how you found yourself staring down at the large wood creature below you. One that was definitely aware of you, with the way it was positioned to face you and the way it held the weapon in it's hands.

You look down at the creature staring at you, casually flying around the bolts of glowing yellow it shoots at you.

Then you begin to take a deep breath which, by itself, caused the surrounding clouds to instantly solidify and fall down.

Then you hold that breath while quickly aiming down at it.

And then you release a pure white breath… turning a good chunk of the land below a pure white, with the creature itself being turned into an ice statue that goes flying into the tree behind it, cracking into two fairly intact halves.

You, of course, proceeded to take that corpse back to your den, along with the two crystals you found behind it. But that was only after you explored the area, now turned pure white, for more interesting things.

Interesting things like the strange glowing insect you saw, one that apparently survived the after-effect of your attack. Which died with nothing but a, comparatively, light tap from you… and turned into a grey lumpy crystal.

… there were a lot of crystals in this new place.

Not that you minded though, you did after all now have four crystals and two corpses in your den. Which, at the end of the day, was a good thing.

[Runes: 366,099]

[Dexterity-knot Crystal Tear] gained

[Cerulean crystal tear] gained

[Rupturing crystal tear] gained

[Sword dance ashes of war gained]

"What did thee… no, I do not wish to know," were the first word Lansseax said upon seeing you in your new golden form, "since thou art capable enough, I shalt allow thee to choose what thee wisheth to learn."

You listened as she then proceeded to list out the things she was willing to teach you, but it was only one thing which caught your attention.

"Human form?" you asked, interest peaked.

Because, while yes the humans were quite weak, they did have one major thing you'd possibly be interested in. Specifically, they were small, and you were large enough that you had trouble dealing with small things. Not even mentioning how you were having trouble with sneaking around with your new size.

"Yes, a human form is something I can teach. A rather useful thing too, especially so when trying to use the human sized items 'round the lands between," she seemed to be in deep thought as she said that, before snapping to you again, "very well, are thou sure you wisheth to learn that?"

You nod, and thus begin the next chunk of the aggravating day.

One aggravating chunk of the day later

"Focus on the image in thy mind," Lansseax's voice reached your hearing, even as you kept your eyes shut tight, "Clearly now!"

It had been a… difficult endeavour turning into a human, at least in comparison to how things normally were for you, with this being the best attempt so far.

And it seemed to be a successful one, as you felt something click into place and the strain of maintaining your changed shape disappeared, letting you open your eyes to look at Lansseax. A much larger looking Lansseax.

"An excellent first transformation," she said, gesturing you to the lake you were practising near, "while thou have not gained a purely human form it is only a matter of practising now."

You nod, showing you heard her, even as your eyes examine the new form you see reflected at you.

"Good, now, before I leave," Lansseax continued to speak, even as she took off from the ground, "thou shall feel a tad weaker in this form but that too can be improved with practice."

And with that you were on your own again.

[Partial form gained]

[You lose 30 in all physical stats in partial form]

Instead of practising your human form however, you instead decided to do something to relax.

Because this whole "human form" thing has been rather aggravating for you and you really needed something to calm down. That something being killing anything from a comfortable altitude.

The rune you got, and you got a lot of them, were just a good bonus.

So, by the time you returned back to your den, you were in an incredibly good mood. One only improved through eating the crystals you'd found and dropping into a deep sleep.

[Runes: 938,189]

[? 10/7]

[MP surge added to Perennial dragon heart]


Day 6

When you woke up it was to your mind being filled with knowledge on how to wield a hand and a half sword. Which was incredibly strange for two reasons.

You'd never touched a sword, for more than eating it, before and you didn't even know what a hand and a half sword was when you went to sleep. But, like much of the things in your life, you shrugged it off and went about your day.

And you moved on to trying to get the human form once again, this time with the advantage of being far more rested than the last time you did this.

Which, as it turns out, was just the thing you needed as you almost immediately managed to shrink yourself to a size you hadn't been… in a long time.

Still, now that you were in human form a lot, and you do mean a lot, of your sudden knowledge about sword fighting made a lot more sense.

Because human bodies? They did not move at all like your actual body did at all, with weird nuances to moving it all over the place. It was also weaker than your real form, but that was already expected.

Still, as you inspected your appearance in the lake, this human form did seem pretty good for sword usage. At least according to your knowledge.

Even if your hair, as it was called on humans, didn't quite have the same sheen as your true form.

[Complete Human form gained]

[-40 to physical stats in complete human form]

[-15 to physical stats in partial form]

Soon though, as you were still examining your human form, you heard the sound of Lansseax's wings above you and thus decided to go over to her.

Still in your human form too, to show her that you'd learnt what she had been trying to teach and could now move onto the next thing.

"Godwyn? H-how…" except the moment you appeared in front of her she just froze and blasted you with a torrent of negative emotions, enough to cause you to step back.

"I learnt the human form fully. I'd like to learn something new now," you clarified, making her shake her head.

"Thou art… not… I…" the tone of voice she had was one you don't think you've heard from her since you met her, her actual voice fraying near the end, "… I need to be alone. Do not follow me."

And then she just took off without a word more, the emotions from her still lingering in the air.

… you don't have any idea what just happened.

For a bit, you just sat there. Unsure of what exactly happened.

Though that doesn't really last long, with you quickly getting back up to just go about your day as you'd planned to after the lessons… which is where you hit a minor snag.

You didn't remember how to turn back in to your normal form.

Because it wasn't exactly like turning into your human form but in reverse, but a lot more complicated.

Eventually though you do manage to figure out how to do it, even if you wasted a lot of time, and you were once again exploring the swamp beyond the castle.

And once again you almost immediately found something good… or at least you think it was good.

Because you'd only really noticed and decided to pick it up due to the way the great rune on your chest pulsed when you barely noticed the strange looking… rune thing.

It even sank into you when you touched it, causing something in the back of your mind to tell you that you could use it at any time you wished. The same part that told you it'll strengthen your great rune, for a bit at least, if you use it.

But regardless, you then proceeded to find a couple more of the things, as the sun began to reach the horizon, which all followed the first one and just fused into you.

[3 rune arcs] gained

All that aside however, you also found something else right as you were about to return to your den.

Or well, you found someone interesting. In the form of a human whodid notsmell like a human, and even walked up to you.

"I suppose a dragon is strong enough for lady Tannith…"were the words you heard from her before she approached you, "A-ah, are you perhaps enjoying the chill of the Liurnia too, sir dragon?"

You, however, just stared at her, trying to figure out what she actually was.

"I-I see… could I, perhaps, bother you with a task?" again you do not reply, "y-you see, a thuggish tarnished stole my necklace from me and I need it to accomplish my mistresses task. If you could retrieve it for me, I am sure the lady would be willing to reward you h-handsomely…"

It was the mention of a reward that actually caught your interest.

"What is… a tarnished?" was the first thing you decide to her, after taking a moment to think about the words she said.

"W-wha- Oh! Yes, I see," which seemed to surprise her, if you understand the emotions coming off her right, "well, you see… the tarnished are those not blessed with grace. They are here, in the lands between, to try and collect the Elden ring and become Elden lord…"

… you barely understood that, though you did get one thing. Something you remember from Lansseax's lessons after you got the great rune, "so they are like me?"

However, it seemed that your observation wasn't correct as it seemed to cause her to go into a panic, "w-what no! They are nothing like you, your beautiful golden scale by themselves show your status as beloved by the erdtree."

"I see… you smell not human, but look like human. Why's that?" deciding to move on from that, you ask your next question. Which again causes her to explode into a haze of panic.

Something you feel like she does a lot.

"T-that must be b-because… there are a lot of animals in my ladies home! That is why."

You think on that… it does make sense to you, yet it also feels wrong for some reason.

"Where is the tarnished?" but again you move past it, mostly due to the fact that you were beginning to feel sleepy and didn't want to waste more time.

"Oh, thank goodness,"which seemed to cause her immense relief apparently, "thank you, sir dragon. The tarnished is in that direction, next to a shac-"

And before she can even finish you fly up and rush in the direction she pointed, immediately finding the "tarnished" she was speaking about. Who was a human, that actually smelled human, in a black armour and in front of a bowl of rather nice smelling food.

"Oh FUCK me thats a dragon," you heard as you landed in front of the human.

"Give me the necklace," that was what you said immediately upon landing, not wanting to destroy the necklace but also feeling sleepy and thus being in no mood to play around.

"Sure, here it is," and, fortunately for the tarnished, he immediately handed over the necklace, "here, take the shrimps and crabs too."

Along with the food in front of him too, which you ate in one quick bite.

Then, after making sure to remember where the tarnished was for later, you took off back to the weird smelling human to hand over the necklace.

"Oh, thank you!" the human seemed to be rather thankful for it at least, not that you particularly cared at this point.

"Reward?" you were, after all, getting rather tired.

"Oh, of course. Here," you gingerly accept the thing she hands you with two of your claws, examining it to reveal that it was a lightly glowing letter… which also sank into you. For some reason, "take this invitation to the volcano manor and my mistress shall reward you handsomely for sure."

You nodded at that, taking off to return to your den to sleep.

It wasn't till you were laying down to sleep that you actually realised that, in your haste to sleep, you'd forgotten to ask where exactly this "volcano mansion" was…

Well, you could always ask Lansseax.

[Volcano Manor Letter Gained]


Day 7

You woke up once again to the feeling of something being different. This time though it wasn't as easy to discover as your scales turning golden.

Still… you knew something was different

Obviously, something feeling different wasn't enough to stop you from actually going and hunting some more. Far from it.

In fact, it even pushed you to hunt even better than before. With you killing things, ranging from large bears to a fast horse galloping around, with razor sharp precision.

You even remembered that the castle, which you'd destroyed on your first day here, was filled with people again and so went over there again.

Specifically, to kill everything there again.

By the time it was time for Lansseax's lessons again the amount of runes you'd collected was enough to nearly double what you already had. Or about that, at least that's the feeling you got.

[Runes: 1,569,061]

Fortunately, Lansseax did not decide that there would be no lessons today. Though that wasn't to say it went back to how it was before, because it didn't.

"Do not. Just… do not ask me about it," because for one she very harshly stopped you asking anything about yesterday, "and do not turn into thy human form in front of me again, does thou understand?"

Of course you just agreed, it wasn't like you could do much more if you still wanted to learn from her.

"Good. Now, what is it that thou wishesth to learn?" at least she seemed to give off noticeably less negative emotions with your agreement.

But, moving past that, you thought on what you actually wanted to learn, eventually decide on learning this temporal flight.

"Ah, very well. That is a rather significant thing for you to learn."

And with that the lesson starts, as Lansseax guides you on how to use the red lightning to enhance your flight. Something which, while complicated, you managed to get about halfway into your lesson.

What's more is that the speed with which you were able to use it seemed to make Lansseax far less… intense? Yes, less intense than before.

Like she wasn't actively trying to ignore something, at least while she followed you around as you practised the augmentation.

Even if she did still occasionally leak negative emotions.

[Flight augmentation] added to Red lightning ability

[Red lightning] magic skill added

Still, the lesson with Lansseax soon ended and you were once again left to your own devices. Which meant that you were, once again, off to explore the swamp on the other side of the castle.

And as you flew over the swamp you saw something that you had almost forgotten. A blue, crystal covered, drake that you'd seen when you first flew over the swamp.

You, obviously, went down to meet the drake… and then immediately flew back as it woke up and, immediately, chose to attack you with blue fire.

…well, there was only really one way you were going to respond to something attacking you and so, a few moments later, you had a drake corpse on hand.

So you took it back to your den, but not before examining the suspiciously glowing human corpse behind the now dead drake… and you got a crystal sword out of it.

Which also fused into your body, because of course it did.

Still, you put the drake back into your den and got back to flying over the swamp.

And then, as is customary at this point, you went ahead and found a couple of crystals. These being some barely glowing blue shards.

Oddly enough, the crystals reminded you of stars.

Especially when you compared them to the actual stars before sleeping.

[Runes: 1,589,061]

[2 starlight shards gained]


Day 8

You woke up to the feeling of something in your chest pulsing for a moment, before once again going back to normal. Still, it woke you up and it wasn't like you were going back to sleep.

So you began your day slightly sleepy, but that wore off quickly enough.

But since you were awake anyways, you decided to go hunt for runes, planning to prepare for the conversion you planned to do later in the day.

And, as it turned out, the hunting was incredibly fruitful for you. Particularly so due to you getting a sudden surge of runes from killing a fast, and particularly familiar, horse racing around.

All around, a very satisfying hunt just before you started the lesson with Lansseax.

[Runes: 2,011,318]

And speaking of Lansseax's lesson.

This time you chose to learn how to shape the red lightning, something that you quickly got the basics down for rather quickly. As usual.

But it was immediately after you got how to shape the lightning that you then decided to ask Lansseax of the multiple things you'd gotten through your exploration. Mostly because you had no idea what most of them actually were, or what they did.

Fortunately though, it seemed that Lansseax knew what most of them were and seemed far more willing to reveal what they were after she realised what you wanted to talk about was them and not about your human form.

"Now these," she began, pointing to the star-like crystals and the golden arcs, "are what thou may call starlight shards and rune arcs. They are both consumables, with the starlight shard slowly restoring focus and the rune arcs shall temporarily empowering thy great runes. Though… that is what they do for humans…"

You just silently listen, not saying anything while she lets off negative emotions all of a sudden.

"No… I shall not dwell on it," You also ignore the muttering under her breath, "anyways, allow us to move onto this."

This time she pointed, with a single claw, towards the glowing red letter.

"This is an invitation from the volcano manor, specifically the demigod known as lord of blasphemy, Rykard," she gives you a stern look suddenly, "wherever thee got it from does not matter. Do not go near the Volcano manor or thou shalt be killed, I will not repeat myself on that. Now, as for this…"

This time she pointed at the sword embedded with crystals.

"I will not bother asking from where thee got this, or even how, but it is what thee shall need to enter into the academy of Raya Lucaria," she paused and got a thoughtful look on her face, "… and I supppose thou shalt be going there to obtain the greater rune from Renalla?"

You nod at that.

Though, obviously, you had no actual clue about what the things she said actually were. But you did want anything that would strengthen you… or taste good, either or.

"Very well, then. I shall explain about the academy for when thee decide to enter it," with that, she once again sat down in front of you in the familiar teaching position, "now, the very first thing you must know is that you must not be in your dragon form if you enter there."

You couldn't help but blink at the sheer… surety in her voice, curiosity filling you, "why?"

"Because, the academy of Raya Lucaria, even past its barriers possesses many dragon repelling defences from the time they were against the golden order," a burst of negative emotions again, mostly sadness, "in all likelihood, they are once again active. Should thy enter as a dragon in spite of my warning…"

The look she gave you was enough to tell you of the results of that.

"Thou understand, good. Now, there are two main entrances usable with that key, though only one is truly usable…"

[You know how to use the academy key]

[You know that becoming a dragon in the academy is a bad idea]

[Lightning bolt] added to red lightning magic

[Current runes: 2,011,318]

Of course you were going to go to Raya Lucaria.

But before proceeding to do that, you first decided to strengthen yourself with runes. Something that took a chunk of time.

Although you did end up using a considerable portion of your runes in strengthening your stomach… but you also strengthened your body itself. At least to the point where you were significantly tougher and more limber by the time you left.

[Runes: 50,605]

Still, you shot up into the sky to quickly arrive at the sigil that marked the entrance. Exactly where Lannseax had told you it'd be.

And after a considerable amount of time, once you finally deciphered the proper method of utilizing the key, you held the key out in a particular spot just beneath the sigil while taking human form.

Then you found yourself being rapidly enshrouded in a fog, which cleared as quickly as it arrived to reveal that you were now in the academy of Raya Lucaria.

Specifically in front of the lift that'd take you into the actual academy, according to what you remember from Lansseax's lecture.

However, instead of going up the lift immediately you instead decided to explore off to the side first.

Mostly due to the fact that you could hear the distinct sound of fire crackling off to the side, down the path with a sigil floating there.

But just as you were about to go down that path you realised something as you saw your hands. Specifically, you saw that you did not have any claws… which made you also realize that you did not have scales in this human form either, even if that wasn't as much of a problem with your still tough flesh.

Which made sense, humans didn't have those things. But it was an entirely new, and unpleasant, experience for you.

Because for the first time in a long time you, when you tested your fingers on a wall, had to put effort into damaging stone.

Which is why you deided to use something you hadn't used since you got it, that being your ability to create things by using that pool of something in you, to fix that.

By creating a sword, something you actually knew how to create, if barely, thanks to the knowledge in your head.

And so, after a short burst of concentration and much wasting of the pool in you, you had what the knowledge in your head called a bastard sword. A dull one, but still the ideal size and durable enough to survive some usage.

So, with the replacement for your claws in hand, you once again continued on your way to the sound of crackling fire. Coming to the form of a human curled near a fire.

"Ah, I see that you're a new face… a strange one too. To be going around like that," the strange human, one that sent unease up your spine, said upon seeing you… despite never turning his head directly at you, "I am but a humble merchant, and I can tell you got runes on you. Here look at my wares, see if you want to buy anything."

With that he lay out the contents of the bag near him in front of you, which you cautiously looked at. Him commenting on the things your eyes lingered on for too long.

Eventually, after hearing all his comments, you decide to exchange your runes for a couple of things from the human.

Chief among which was the bag he'd offered, into which everything else went.

"Well, that is that," he said, absorbing the golden fog composed of runes as he did so, "come back if you want something else, I might find something while you're away."

You nod at that, before slowly backing away without fully taking your eyes off him, until finally he disappeared around the bend and you were able to quickly run back to the elevator.

Then, it was just a matter of figuring out that you needed to step on the protruding section in the centre, which you did quickly, before you were ascending. During which you quickly put on the clothes and armour you'd gotten, as beast as you could anyways.

Mostly because you didn't have any scales in this form and so any protection, no matter how small compared to your flesh's toughness, was good.

And so you stepped onto the bridge leading into the academy, already being able to see the enemies Lansseax warned you off from this distance.