Day 9
You woke up feeling rather nice all things considered. You still had that strange feeling of course, but at this point you were fine with just ignoring it.
Still, as you stretched and walked out of your den, you couldn't help but wish you knew what it was.
So, the first thing you decided to do for the day was try and train your ability to turn to human form.
Specifically, you wanted to train it to be able to use your various true form abilities, such as fire breathing, safely in your human form. Mostly because of your experiences in the library yesterday.
Because while it hadn't been difficult, in any sense of the word, to go in and take the great rune. However, it could've been easier.
If you were able to use dragon abilities while remaining in full human form that is.
But what turned out not to be easy was trying to add dragon bits to your human form without immediately slipping into your, much larger, partial form.
So much so that, by the time it was time for Lansseax's lessons, you still hadn't managed to get more than one hand turned into a claw. And that too only after taking a moment to concentrate.
Still.
With the experience you got from this, you would surely succeed the next time.
Unfortunately, your learning with Lansseax didn't go that well either.
And as much as you'd like to say it was just the way it was, you knew that the reason, in truth, was your own distraction. Because your mind was still occupied with thoughts on how to integrate your dragon parts into your human form.
But regardless, you still learnt quite a bit from Lansseax, even if you didn't manage to get it in one go.
Which, oddly enough, actually seemed to cause her relief.
And just before the lesson truly ended, and she left, you even managed to ask the question you'd wanted to ask of her. The one about the strange feelings you've been having.
"In all likelihood it has to do with the great rune thou has… acquired, and I see thou has gotten another of those, other than that I haven't the slightest idea as to what it could be."
The answer though, wasn't exactly… illuminating.
It was an annoying thing, how every single thing in the day, so far, had managed to become a mess of disappointments and frustrations. It was to the point that, to an extent, it seemed that the universe had other plans for you.
However, there was one thing that went right in the day. That being your reading of the book you'd gotten from the weird lady.
Specifically, one section that contained a very specific spell.
"…my studies into the primeval current have been… testing. It is completely unlike glintstone sorceries, yet at the same time so similar to it.
Thus I have decided to do something I am sure Renalla would surely would consider reckless.
As, from my understandings of the records of the Graven school, the primeval current is considered the "sap of the cosmos". Thus, with how glintstone is considered the "amber of the stars", I should by all right be able to condense it into glintstone.
Ideally, this shall show me the missing link. I have even devised a theoretical spell to do so already, using the Carian cutter spell as a base."
What followed was a, surprisingly understandable, description on how to form this 'primeval current' into a sword shaped glintstone crystal. Which you followed easily enough, soon having a sword of blue crystal in your hand that rapidly began fading away.
What's more is that you noticed that, on top of the expected energy, this spell also seemed to be able to consume that pool of something inside you. The same thing you used to create your sword from nothing.
Ironically, this discovery was found by you completely by accident when you decided to use your normal method of creation in conjunction with the spell.
Which got you a sword far better than before, even if you didn't put much effort into it.
And it also no longer slowly disappeared. Which was very nice.
[Primeval creation] added to creation ability
[Glintstone] added to creation ability
[Gold (greater)] added to creation ability
After that single moment of good luck, your fortune decided to go back to how it had been for the rest of the day.
By that you mean quite bad.
Because all of a sudden literally everything in the world seemed to have decided that now, quite literally the very moment you decided to go out to hunt, was the time to go back to their den and hide.
Still, before having to come back and sleep, you did manage to get a couple of beings with well-timed breath attacks.
Even if it really only got you a handful of runes, it was better than nothing.
[Runes: 289,462]
Day 10
You woke up with the feeling of itching on your scales. Something which, when you opened you eyes, turned out to be a patch of crystal on your scales.
Or rather, in your scales. What with how it was embedded into your scales.
It took you a solid moment of thinking to realise what the hell it was, but you did eventually remember reading that this could happen in that book.
How interacting with the Primeval current could cause you to slowly crystallise into glintstone.
But you just ripped the chunk of flesh and the crystal off you, easily solving the issue. If it had been another being, that couldn't recover as well or as fast as you, you're sure it could've just crippled itself with that…
Your recovery ability was rather helpful sometimes.
[Causality: 10/10]
Anyways, you started this day the same as you did the previous day.
You began to try to use your draconic abilities in your human form. Something that you finally managed to do after coming to the very simple realisation that you could just… do it.
Of course it wasn't exactly as simple as that, but it felt like it when you finally managed it.
But, regardless of how dumb you felt, you could still use draconic abilities in your human form now. In a reduced form, yes, but you could still use them.
[You can now use all abilities in human form]
[This requires you to shift that body part]
[Abilities in human form are massively reduced in potency]
Then came the lesson with Lansseax.
And in this one you also managed, after completely devoting yourself to learning, to learn how to shroud yourself in red lightning.
…you'll ignore the difficulty you had with the learning, because in the end you still managed to learn it.
At least Lansseax thinks you learnt it quickly.
[Red lightning clad] spell learnt
[Range] category added to Red lightning magic
Red lightning clad
+15 melee combat rolls (+5 all combat rolls bonus), +10 your melee damage rolls
Start combat with this active by default
Cost: 100 Mp per turn active
Then, seeing as you were doing more or less the same things you did yesterday, you decided why not?
So you opened the book once again and sat down to begin reading again.
"…glintstone pebble, the simplest sorcery taught to every student here.
One of the more efficient spells known, and one that has the most obvious interaction with the energies of the primeval current. Being a spell that quite literally forms almost true glintstone to fling at targets.
Yet, why is it that the glintstone formed is almost true glintstone?
After all, the energies invoked for the spell still come from the primeval stream."
And, much like yesterday, you learnt a spell from the book today as well.
Except the spell you learnt from the section you read today was notably inferior when compared to the spell you learnt yesterday. Possibly due to the spell being from earlier in the book.
But a spell's a spell and so, after practising a few more times, you commit it to memory before moving on.
[Primeval spells] subsection added to glintstone spells
[Primeval pebble] spell learnt
And to make everything even more like yesterday, you then proceeded to once again barely get anything from your hunt.
Honestly, by the time you returned to your den, you were just frustrated and wanted the day to end.
Which it did. Once you went to sleep.
[Runes: 311,782]
Day 11
Once again you woke up, tore out some crystals from your body while placing them into your pouch, and stretched before leaving your den.
The hope today being that thing won't be as horrible as yesterday.
And it was with that hope that you turned into your human form, took a seat on some raised stone, and began reading the book again.
"… to and extent, the primeval current appears to possess a lifelike quality, a pulsating will that the senses can detect. Yet despite all indications, despite the pulsing will and the almost organic response, it remains impersonal.
More an autonomous, detached, entity than the outer god that some consider it.
Truly, with my own experiences and studying the manuscripts from the Graven school, the closest thing I have been able to compare it to is a stream of possibilities.
Possibilities of the entire cosmos.
Which leaves the question of how it converges into the golden order…"
What followed after that was a lot of things. A lot of really complicated things.
Which you tried your best to understand as much of, something you felt was possibly the hardest thing you've had to do for a while. So hard that, by the time Lansseax arrived back on the island, you'd barely understood an eight of the things you'd read.
Which was enough to know that it was likely a really powerful spell… probably.
You only got about an eighth of it after all, so you didn't know for sure.
[Regression of possibility] primeval spell (1/8) learnt
[Glintstone sorcery (2)] magic gained
But, putting down the book for now, you decided to go talk to Lansseax for now.
It was, after all, around the time she'd be back on the island.
And so you left your den, pausing only for a moment to turn back into your dragon form, before flying over to the location where you knew Lansseax would be.
"Ah, thou art here. Good," that was the first thing she said to you, "now, thou art capable of all that a dragon should be capable of and I cannot teach thee the more advanced subjects without further preparations."
It took you a moment, but you understood what she was asking you.
Since you could not learn something new, what did you already know that you wanted to improve?
Well, you weren't in the mood to learn something right now. Your mind still ached from the complicated mess from that book, not that you told Lansseax that.
Instead, you just asked her if you could do something like that one time she took you around and showed you nice looking spots.
"I…" which apparently cause her to be really unsure for some reason, "if… if that is thy wish. Come, follow me."
With that she lifted off the ground, heading in an unknown direction you had no idea off. Though you did still follow her, even as the land began to be covered in snow, eventually stopping with her when she landed on a particular hill overlooking a castle below.
It looked… nice, though not quite as nice as the sights she showed you before. And you voice that thought to her.
"Yes, I am aware it is not as great as it was before… but it was beautiful," there was a tone in her voice and an emotion wafting off her, one you couldn't quite place, "it was a castle Godwyn built, to have a place to stay when he came to visit the twins."
"Godwyn?" you asked her, your mind flashing back to the time she had called you that. The time you'd shown her your human form, the only time as well.
She just sighed at your question, before taking her human form and turning to you, "take thy human form again."
You did, of course, hesitate for a moment. But seeing as she asked for it herself you did so with a mental shrug, causing her to take a sharp breath.
"Come… sit," eventually, after a moment of closing her eyes and facing towards the sky, she said while taking a seat on a nearby boulder.
"Thy human form greatly resembles him, Godwyn that is," after seeing you do so, she resumed speaking, "it is the reason why I asked thee to not take his form around me."
"Did you hate him?" you asked, already knowing that likely wasn't the case.
"No, I did not hate him. In fact, he was someone I respected. The reason I asked thee not to turn into his likeness is because he is, for all intents and purposes, dead," she then turned to face you, looking you directly in the eyes, "my father, the knights I favoured, the few fellow dragons who bothered to visit me in exile, the order I had come to see as my home, and likely even my own brother. They are all dead."
By the end of her list, the singular emotion coming off her was so strong you could taste it. A dense and slick taste of coldness and bitterness, as heavy as it was cloying.
The closest emotions you felt it were similar to was sadness and tiredness.
"There is a reason I am helping thou as I am now, I wish for thee to become Elden lord and put an end to the farce this has become," she finished, breaking eye contact, "I just wish to rest, and go find the fate of Fortisax, and I shall be able to once thou sit upon that throne."
And with that there's silence.
With you thinking on what she said, and her thinking about something which was causing her emotions to rapidly shift around. Both of you still sitting on the snow covered boulder, unbothered by the cold.
"… thou truly possess an uncanny resemblance to Godwyn in that human form of thine," at least until Lansseax broke that silence, her emotions suddenly flashing positively, "even thy personality is somewhat familiar, if one were to squint. After all, for all his might and knowledge, Godwyn was still rather… naive at times. Like one time he…"
And so you spent the rest of the time she had free listening to her speaking of moments she remembered, you prodding her with prompts every time her emotions tilted towards the negative ones.
By the end though, she was releasing significantly less negative emotions and you know a lot more about this Godwyn person. He sounded… nice, you suppose.
She also told you that you were allowed to be in human form around her, which was nice enough.
[You've been to the Mountaintops of the Giants]
Now, you'll admit, you hadn't been having the best of luck in your hunts for the past few days.
It was beginning to really annoy you, actually.
But regardless, that was going to change today as, once Lansseax left and you got back to your den for a quick stop, you began your hunt. The plan being to hunt till you absolutely couldn't hunt any more.
And hunt you did, killing thousands, if not tens of thousands of creatures, quite literally, all over the place.
To the point that you once again began struggling to find prey to kill, this time because you killed everything, in a very literal sense too. Including a couple of those rare rune containing horses.
Still, when you went to sleep it was with a massive reservoir of runes in your minds eye.
So, in the end, it was all good.
[Runes: 2,003,235]
Day 12
You woke up in a particularly good mood, the massive pool in the back of your mind being the best thing you'd seen for the past couple of day.
Really, the only downside you could see was deciding what you were going to spend it on.
You slowly open your eyes, feeling your body shift as you adjust to the change that just occurred in your body.
Specifically, you got used to the rapid change in your strength, speed and durability. Along with the newly strengthened trigger in your mind and the eating instincts telling you that you can recover from things you shouldn't be able to just by eating.
All in all, runes well spent.
[Runes: 19,406]
"…thou seem to be quite insistent on socialising with me," Lansseax asks, or rather just states, her voice dry, "are you so confident in your abilities now?"
You obviously just shake your head at that, giving her the actual reason, "it is mostly to stop you stewing in your own negative emotions."
"Thou art a foolish child, to do this instead of improving thyself. Did thou forget that thy life may be in danger," she chided you, in response to your reason. Though her emotions, oddly enough, don't seem to be the negative emotions you'd associate with the chiding tone in her voice.
"I suppose however, that a break is not particularly overdue. Keep in mind however, that thou must not rest on thy laurels," with those final sharp words she took off and sat down on one of the hills nearby, one with a particularly good view of the whole island. An action you quickly repeated, coming to sit beside her.
Then, once again the two of you sat in silence. You waiting for her inevitable stories, and her thinking of what to tell you.
"Very well then, today I shall tell you of… Farum Azula," she eventually spoke, having decided on what she wished to speak off, "the great city in the sky, held aloft by the Dragonlord's mastery of time."
Just from those words alone you could tell that this held great importance to her. And not just because you could feel the emotions wafting off her when she spoke, though that too was a reason, but also due to the sheer… weight in the words themselves.
It was hard to describe, though the effect was obvious.
"But first, thou must know this. Farum Azula was not always named such," she spoke again, getting your attention, "it was, in the beginning, named only Farum."
"It used to be a beautiful place, Farum," once again, she had that nostalgic tone of voice as she spoke, "Unlike the human building their exteriors were just as sumptuous with the lavish use of columns, gravelstone, statues and carvings done of our human forms. All lit by lightning frozen in time."
You tried to imagine the sight, painting an image in your head based on what was described to you. Failing of course, you had no idea what some of those things would even look like, but it still sounded nice.
"It was a grand sight…" she sighed, "and then it fell apart, like wooden shacks before heavy wind."
And there's the negative emotions. Though, as you'd learnt was best for situations like these, you proceeded to prod her to continue, "how?"
"… how indeed… it was due to us losing the greater will's favour," you nodded along, though you had no idea what this greater will was, "something which occurred shortly before my birth, from what my father had said. All because the Erdtree was burnt down under dragon supervision."
Wait a moment, "isn't that the Erdtree?"
Your question was accompanied by you pointing a single claw at the giant golden tree in the distance.
"Indeed it is," was the confusing reply, followed by the actual explanation, "that tree in the distance is… a phantom, for all intents and purposes, of the original tree. One powered directly by the greater will's… will. It is not a physical entity, though it does possess physical presence."
You open your mouth, questions about that waiting to overflow, before closing it again after a moment. You didn't need to know about that right now.
Something which she seemed to have seen, as she then continued the original story. Describing how, in an effort to preserve the dragons rule, the dragon lord lifted the entire city and put it into the sky outside time. All with his own power.
Which, while you had no scale for, sounded very impressive. At least judging from Lansseax's tone it did.
Still, like any previous time, your time together came to a conclusion.
Though as you got up to leave she stopped you, about to say something but stopping.
"…it occurs to me that thou art lacking a name, isn't that right?" she asks you, to which you nod. You did not, in fact, have a name. Not that you'd really needed one.
It wasn't like you couldn't tell when you were addressed.
"I see…" and that was that, as she flew away with a thoughtful look on her face and emotions of… introspection(?) drifting off her.
…
Well, it seemed this whole thing turned out well. Even if you learnt a whole bunch of words, terms and things you had little to no clue about.
You spent a while after she, that being Lansseax, left to just… think about some of the things she said while talking.
But you did eventually get up, not wanting to spend the whole day mentally exhausting yourself, and took off. This time heading directly for the new, snow covered, location you'd been introduced to by Lansseax.
Once there you just hovered around for a bit, looking for things that caught your attention.
… other than the giant cracked pot in the distance, surrounded by chains. That you'll look into later.
No, what does manage to catch your attention is another red glint of light, one you were beginning to become really familiar with. Familiar enough to immediately recognise it without even going down to look at it.
Obviously you do go down to actually collect the thing, batting away the small human hands shaped spider… things, the covered it when you arrived.
Once you got it you began the process of casually flying back to your den, crystal in hand.
You felt like doing something other than exploring for now anyways, and this crystal was a good enough discovery for this exploration to not have been a waste.
[Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear] Gained
Once you were finally back in your den you immediately, after putting the newest crystal into your pouch, began the process of what you'd intended to do before going to sleep.
Specifically, you began cooking.
The theme, something you learnt was needed from the tutors, for this dish? Whatever blue thing you found in your travels in these new lands.
Which turned out to be a lot of things, including the dragon you'd killed. The dragon whose blood actually turned out to be a rather decent thing to disolve most of the crystals into. All of them, once you started to actually heat them up.
Which began to turn the red bubbling blood into an iridescent blue, which got even brighter when you created a bunch more of that glintstone and even threw in the thing that wolf left behind into the makeshift pot you made.
By the end you were left with a brightly glowing blue liquid in the pot, a layer of crystal creeping from it and covering the area around the pot at a slow rate.
However, before you gulped it down you first pulled out your pouch and began emptying some stuff out.
Because, not only was it getting a bit cluttered in there, if you were to be knocked out for the night you might as well eat the other things that make you sleepy, or may make you sleepy, with it.
Which you do, immediately stuffing everything into your maw before quickly gulping down the soup as well.
… and you were out the second the last gulp went down.
Day 13
When you woke up, it was to a strange feeling.
In fact, you woke up with two of them, though these weren't like the one you'd been ignoring.
They also weren't related to the ache in your skull, that you knew was coming from the knowledge of spearmanship currently pulsing in your mind. The source of that obviously being the grey lumpy crystal you ate.
No, it definitely wasn't that.
Though, it was easy to tell that one of those two had to do with the fact that you were glowing a soft golden glow. Which you turned off with a moment of mental focus.
And it was while you flicked that mental lever that you found the likely source of the second strange feeling.
Another lever in your mind, this one similar in feeling to the glintstone you ate… somehow.
You obviously flicked it… only for nothing specific to happen.
That is until you looked at one of your claw.
Because, under your strange new sight, every movement of one of your claws left a trail of glittering gold in its wake. Every small twitch causing more glittering traces to flake off, eventually forming into shapes similar to your claw. At which point the glittery smoke seemed to echo the actions of your actual claw, or at least the actions done with it before.
And when you reached out to touch it, the wispy tendrils of the smoky gold slipped through your claws, a sensation akin to light wind over your scales being all you felt.
It wasn't till you stepped out of your den, with the lever still flicked up, that you realised what this was. Seeing the grey and golden smoke echo's of, who you presumed to be, you and Lansseax sitting on the hill...
... and walking past you, and standing in the distance.
It seemed that you could see past events with this new thing. Hear too. judging by the faint indistinct whispering from one of Lansseax's echo's that went past you.
Which was... interesting you suppose. Even if you only really recognised the echoes because you knew who they were off.
But for now you, with some mental focus, turned that lever back off. Your vision was beginning to get cluttered with smoke.
[Spear combat (5/10)] gained]
[Spectral lance] added to Spear combat
With you no longer seeing the echoes anymore you once again went about your normal way.
Which, this time, meant that you turned into your human form before pulling out that book again.
Then, with the old pages rustling as you thumbed through them, you searched for the spot where you had last left off. Once you found the page, you began to practically devour the words, your mind rapidly working through what you read and slotting in the information with what you already knew.
After a certain point the letters even began to dance and twitch, almost giving the illusion that they were being written before you…
Except they were, weren't they.
Because you were the one writing them, all while practising what you wrote. You needed to complete this, the time for you to leave was soon approaching and you needed this to pacify Renalla.
As much as you loved her, and as cruel as you knew this would be, you couldn't allow her to harm the order.
And you snapped out of it, closing the book as you digested the knowledge in your mind. Which also stopped the leak that had started the moment you snapped out of it.
… well, you knew a lot more about that spell now.
[Regression of possibility] primeval spell (3/8) learnt
[Glintstone sorcery (8)] magic gained "Careful, careful," Lansseax instructed from the side as you tried to do the exercise she gave to strengthen your lightning, "put thy focus entirely on keeping it outside thy scales. Unless though has a wish to see how the extent of the pain of being struck by thine own lightning."
You took a deep breath, making sure to follow her instructions closely. The memory of that unpleasant jolt of electricity, along with the most soul searing pain you'd experienced, acting as more than sufficient motivation.
You really couldn't afford another mishap like that again.
"Wait, stop!" but, unfortunately for you, it seems that you were going to get a shock regardless of your wishes, "pull it back up! Quick, before yo-"
And that's the exact moment when you lost control of the lightning surging over your lower body, causing you perhaps the most pain you'd ever experienced in your whole life. Even as short as it was.
It being your life.
"…I feel that I must apologise for… that mistake," and as you were laying on the ground and recovering, Lansseax came up to you and began speaking," I had forgotten that the extra appendage thou art in possession off, down there, required you to condense thy lightning slightly differently…"
What she said did catch your attention however, causing you to lift yourself up with creaking limbs, "extra appendage?"
"Indeed, extra appendage? Which, if though were to look down, is currently hanging out," hearing that, you immediately looked down in interest…
And all you saw was an extra fleshy thing that you hadn't seen there before, something Lansseax seemed to realise.
"Thou art not aware of… oh, silly me. Of course thou were not aware," you nod which, oddly enough, seemed to cause a burst of negative emotions leave her.
"Which leaves only me too teach thee about this…" she put a claw up to her face, rubbing the space between her eyes, "just… just be silent for now and listen."
You had no problem with that request, so you just lay there after giving a nod.
"Right, well. Lets start this by telling thee the difference between I and thou."
…
"Wha- yes. Females are full of eggs, but that does not mean that they are naught but a thin piece of skin stretched over a mass of eggs!" the sheer shock, halfway mixed with scandalization, in her voice was… amusing to hear, "and no, male seeds are not insects which transfer between them."
You nod at that.
After all, you had killed a lot of both male and female creatures and hadn't seen any of those type of things. Still though…
…
"No, thou should not eat the eggs!"
…
"There! Thee understood that, correct?" Lansseax asks again, this time with a hint of desperation in her voice.
Which quickly disappears as you nod.
"Good," she sighed in relief, before stopping as she looked at you, "… put that away. It is a vulnerability."
You look down, seeing what she meant, before looking back at her.
"…thou has no idea how to do so, do thy?"
You shake your head.
[You know about sexual dimorphism and basics of reproduction]
Eventually you retracted your massive weak point, as Lansseax referred to it, and set off into the air.
Mostly to explore, seeing as there's a distinct lack of things to kill around. Hence why you were currently flying over the swamp beyond the castle, the Liurnia as it was called, looking down at the lands.
Then an idea hits you, and you activate that mental lever again. Your vision is immediately flooded by lines of smoke beginning to crawl against the ground. Some of them just went in random, but more than a few converged on certain locations along with a couple of other lines.
You knew were echoes of past actions, with each of the lines showing the movement of some previous creatures traversing the ground.
Which meant that the places that a bunch of those lines converged into pools of smoke were important. They had to be, for so many to visit them and stay long enough to create those smoke pools.
And so you used this new trick, turning the vision off and on, seeing which locations were important.
Which turned out to be quite a few places.
[Landmark finding mode added to Primeval senses]
You saw multiple things as you used this new technique.
Four towers of stone on a hill, all surrounded by a lake of blue smoke. A weird crater with a small circle glowing purple at the lowest centre, this one surrounded by pools of gold smoke. Finally, you even saw a village on fire under an arch in the hills, this one surrounded by a bunch of white and grey smoke along with the normal smoke from the fires.
You decided to go to the four towers, finding the blue smoke around them more attractive than the rest.
But regardless of why you chose to go there, once you reached the four towers you began to explore the place. Starting from the lowest tower on the hill.
From where you found nothing but a weird structure which, when you used your past sight, showed people disappearing when they touched it. Human sized people.
So you tried to touch it in human form, which again got nothing. But still, you continued exploring the towers in human form.
And you found two more of those structure on the next two towers, until the last one. There you found a chest containing a sword encrusted with glintstone, which you took and put into your bag, discovering a note under it.
'use to activate gateways in other Belfries'
Wait… is this the key to activate those structures in the other towers?
It takes you a moment to decide, but once you do you head down towards the second-highest tower on the hill.
The moment you got close enough to the tower you felt a vibration from your pouch which, when you ruffled through it, turned out to be the sword-key you'd just picked up. Which only served to further your surety on their use.
Then, once you finally reached the tower and stood before the strange structure, you held out the vibrating object in your hands.
Only for it to dissolve into blue motes. Blue motes that concentrated on the strange structure and formed a swirl in the hole in there…
You obviously stuck your, currently human, hand directly into that swirl. Which, after a sudden pulling sensation, had you rushing through a tunnel of the same glowing blue motes.
And then you were suddenly standing on stone, specifically the stone of a random outcropping of stone connected to a broken bridge, in your human form. Still wearing the last things you'd worn in this form.
Oh hey, that's a person over there. Facing off into the distance at the edge of the bridge.
Wait, now that you looked at your surrounding… were you in the skies?
There were stars everywhere and, looking over the edge of the outcropping you were on, there was only fog down below.
[You are in a place where you don't know how to get back to your den]
You shake your head, shaking the confusion at your current location from your mind.
Instead of dwelling on that, you hop down onto the bridge and head towards that person looking into the distance. You, first of all, needed to actually know exactly where you were, not just speculate on it.
And the easiest way to do so would be to just ask, which is what you were going to do.
"Hello," you greet, as Lansseax said you should, as you walk up to the person, "do you know where exactly we are?"
However, your polite questioning only gets a sudden turn from the heavily armoured person, followed by a moment of complete silence as they visibly look your human form up and down.
You do the same for them, examining them as they did to you.
And, while yes they seemed impressive with their intricately carved armour and faint golden flow, they didn't really feel that dangerous. Though, that might just be you underestimating them.
"Nokron," and they finally replied, just as you were finishing your examination.
Unfortunately, they told you nothing of what you asked so you had to ask again. Tough you stayed polite, "Where exactly is that?"
"…underground," again you got a single word response, this time followed by the person once again just staring at you.
Though his words did register with you, but only served to confuse you more as you looked up. You only saw a starry night sky… except when you concentrated a bit you saw beyond that.
And yes, you were underground it seems.
Turning back to the person you give your thanks, once again only getting a blank stare, before pausing as a question came to your mind, "what were you looking at?"
A blank stare, that is all you got in response.
You took that as a hint, turning around and hopping off the bridge as you took flight in your dragon form to explore these new lands.
All things told this place was a rather pleasant looking place, despite being underground, with plants and weird runes scattered everywhere. There also seemed to be people here, though they immediately scattered and hid the moment you flew overhead.
Though, as you watched another group scatter underneath you, a glimmer caught the edge of your eye. Coming from one of the runes at the edge of the cliff.
You couldn't resist the urge to investigate, so you immediately headed over to it.
Though, once you got there, you only found a single blob of silvery metal in the centre of this… courtyard like ruin.
Then it turned into a human, one with oddly grey skin, and bowed towards you while on its knees.
You could tell that the thing wanted to speak, so you decided to let it. Choosing to listen to what it says.
"Oh mighty dragon," it began, and you could already feel the awe from its emotions, "this pitiful mimicry greets thy great personage."
…you feel like you're being purposefully flattered now. But you let it continue speaking, which it did after raising its head slightly to peek at you. Immediately lowering it when it saw you still looking at it.
"It is my honour to be able to bask in thy presence," once again, you felt like this was leading somewhere, "for a being as flawed as I to be able to see a true favoured of the greater will… and should I be so bold, I wish to ask of thee something."
And there it is, the thing you were expecting, the thing you expected from the emotions it gave off and the tone in its voice.
Still, you gestured with your hand for it to continue. Only to do the gesture again, when it actually looked up to peek at you again.
"I wish to follow thee my lord, in hopes that I may complete the purpose of my kind," it states, after a relatively short period of silence, "even should it be as a mere accessory, even with the risks involved with such a thing, I wish to observe thee in thy most glorious moments. To perhaps be able to mimic even a fraction of thy brilliance."
It sinks even lower at the last few words, going silent. Leaving you to think on what you wish to do.
What it said (from what you understand)
It wants to follow you around as an accesory, hoping to see your fight.
It'll somehow mimic your brilliance through that
"What do I get from this arrangement?" you ask eventually, after a moment's contemplation. The reply to it being almost immediate.
"If it must be so I shall take any blow for thy," you make a sound of interest at that, "my body is weak, yet I am fast and capable of intercepting any blows that would strike thy body. I am incapable of death in my mercurial form, so I shall return to thee every time upon reformation."
You nod, actually interested now. Still, you had more questions.
"What is this… brilliance?" this question, however, get it to start shaking and emanate fear.
"I… I wish to mimic the power granted to thee by thy grace," it finally utters, "it is to mimic thy brilliance to gain the power, the inherent quality, to lead as the night sovereign."
"And does this harm me?" you asked… confused. Because, judging from the fear emanating from it, you expected something bad. But it didn't really sound that bad.
Because, from the sound of things, it just seemed that it wanted to try and do what you do by seeing you do it.
"NO! No," and judging from the outburst, you were more or less right, "I would never dare harm thy personage, I merely wish to mimic a fraction of the brilliance that thou were born with."
Yes. Sounds like your assumption was right.
"Alright, tell me. What is this place?" the question was one you asked as a finishing one, something that came to your mind as you decided, "tell me about this place."
"Ah, of course. As is thy wish," again, the response comes without delay. And as you think about the explanations it gave, you dedicate a portion of your attention to listening to it as it explains.
About how you were in the Eternal city of Nokron, of how it was now just a ruin due to the ravages of a malformed star, of how it was the origins of the starlight sorceries branch of glintstone sorceries, and how it's kind were created in this city.
Then it began to speak of the general locations around here, where you paid specific attention to when it mentioned the direction of an 'exit' which it'd never visited.
By the time it finished speaking, you'd come to a decision regarding its original request.
What it said (from what you understand)
It wants to follow you around as an accesory, hoping to see your fight.
It'll somehow mimic your strengths (though not fully)
In exchange it'll act as defence for you (you can direct what hits it'll intercept)
[You know about the general location of the exit from here]
"Very well, I accept your request," the moment the words leave your mouth the small silver human began to practically vibrate. All the while radiating waves of joy.
"Thank you my lord, I shall not disappoint thee," it said while collapsing into a puddle of silvery liquid. A puddle which then proceeded to turn into a sort of necklace.
It was more like a… clamp?
Yes, a clamp would be the closest thing you could compare it to.
"Merely place me on thy body and I shall take the form of whatever jewellery that would fit," the clamp spoke, which was somewhat strange as the sound just emanated from it. Still, you followed through on your words and picked the thing up, choosing to place it on your neck.
Once it'd transformed into a necklace, you set off into the skies again. This time making your way back to the outcropping you'd appeared here on, making yourself comfortable as you prepared to sleep.
And just before you did so you turned into your human form, causing the necklace on your neck to fall off and turn into a copy of your human form. Except grey.
"My lord," the grey copy of you said, immediately bowing before you, "forgive me for not tell thee of this. I had forgotten in my excitement and-"
"It is fine," you stopped it, waving off the apologies as you suppressed the yawn. Then you, after rummaging through your pouch, pulled out the red crystal you'd grabbed a while back.
"A crystal Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear?" you vaguely listen to its words, noting that it was likely the name of the crystal, words that quickly turned to panic mumbling as you turned into your true form and ate it.
Then, placing the now silver clamp on you again, you proceeded to slowly let sleep come over you.
[Crimsonwhorl effect added to Grand Auric scales]
Day 14
When you woke up it was to the momentary panic, as you realised that you weren't in your own den.
But that feeling passed quickly, with you remembering exactly what had happened yesterday. Then you focused on the other feeling.
The familiar feeling that you knew was signalling the time of you returning to your pre-transportation location.
Well, first thing first, you needed to get out of this area.
Because it was a new day and Lansseax's lessons were going to be in a short while. Meaning that, if you didn't find the exit to this place soon, you might miss them.
Something you did not, in fact, wish to do.
So you set off in the general direction of the exit, as you'd been told by your latest jewellery. And, after only a bit of searching, you found the exit.
Which was a plate of rock, a suspiciously protruding section in the centre letting off a light blue glow… the obvious activation button was pressed immediately by you stepping directly on it in your human form.
Your jewellery, in human form, standing behind you as the stone plate began ascending, spectral blue strings attached along the edges.
Then you waited, and waited, and then waited some more.
At a certain point you just decided to sit down on the floor, even as the elevator continued to rapidly ascend. Until finally it began slowing down and then, without so much as a jerk, you stopped.
Opening the door, of the building you found yourself inside, you were greeted by sunlight. You were outside.
…honestly? Easier than you thought.
[You know how to get back to your den now]
"Focus inward, attempt to separate the sensation of lightning in thy soul from the soul itself," the voice of Lansseax drifted to you, your eyes closed as you focused on what she told you to focus on.
As you took another deep inhale, the world around you slowly began to fade away. Every fibre of your being resonated with her words until, eventually, you felt it. The sensation she was guiding you towards.
Instantly you used the next part of her instructions.
"Good, that is it. Carefully guide it to him now," Lansseax's words confirmed you were doing it right. A single spark of mirrored lightning stretching from the centre of your head down towards the weird, demi-human like, creatures that Lansseax put in front of you.
You didn't exactly know how, or where, Lansseax had gotten these creatures. But judging by how obedient they were being, and the fact that she seemed to trust them, you just decided to use them for training as she told you to.
Or well, try to use them.
Because the small and fragile spark, the blessing as Lansseax called it, that was stretching from your head just fizzled out. It had only reached about halfway from your head down to its head.
"Again," Lansseax said, sitting in her place next to you, "this time, attempt to sharpen the mirroring in thy mind."
By the time the lesson ended for the day, you'd only managed to get it three quarters of the way to the creature.
Before she left however, you remembered to ask her about the thing you'd gotten from the first time you burnt that castle. Stormveil, you think it was called.
Apparently, it was a remembrance. Something which could be crushed to give you runes or, only with the help of something called a finger maiden, converted into items precious to what you got it from.
She also seemed like she wanted to question you, looking at the remembrance and your new necklace, after answering your question.
But in the end she seemed to decide against it.
[Dragon blessing] 1/5 Learnt
Stretching your limbs, yawning as the creature Lansseax brought scattered, and quickly flew back to the activity you were doing, seeing as the lesson had ended.
Which you got to, after another annoyingly long wait in an elevator. Then you were, once again, flying through the fake stars underground.
Something which felt… right. In a way you couldn't really describe.
But ignoring that feeling for the moment, you had to actually decide what you were going to do. Which didn't take long, with you deciding to activate your special vision and seeing that most of the smoke went along the rivers.
At that point it was just a matter of following the smoky trails.
Sure, it got a bit more complicated when the smoke trails split halfway down the river. But at that point you just chose one of the two trails, at random, and began following that instead.
The place you arrived in… well, you could tell that it was probably a great place. A long time ago that is, at least judging from the feeling you got from it.
But now?
The air was thick with the scent of decay as nothing but ruins remained, with debris scattered around the area. But what caught your eye was the crimson red hue that covered everything as far as I could see. The ground was soaked with blood, the walls of the buildings were painted with it, and the air seemed to be filled with it.
It had more or less seeped into every crevice of the land. Honestly, It was as though the land itself was giant bleeding wound.
There was even a swamp that was completely made of blood here, which was pretty interesting.
[Mohgwyn palace] Found
However, as interesting as the place seemed, you still wanted to go back and follow that other trail you hadn't chosen.
So, committing the location of this place to memory, you turned back around and began to trace the river back. Then, once you got back to the fork in smoke trails again, you took the other way.
Which soon led you diving into fog as the river became a waterfall for a bit.
You also heard a few things following you, flying things judging from the sounds of wing beats, but you ignored that. You wanted to see where the river led. Not like you couldn't deal with that later.
Still, the waterfall eventually fed back into a river and you were once again following the river. Until eventually you hit a place that wasn't just rock around a single river.
Specifically, you found an island.
One that emanated an eerie aura, one strong enough to cause an unsettling feeling within you. It was entirely covered in grey plantlife too, with the occasional glimpse of twisted and gnarled tree roots, which you could barely make out under the dense fog that hovered above it.
In all likelihood it, the fog that is, would've been good at concealing the island's secrets from your eyes before. But now, with your new special sight, you saw through it relatively easily.
What's more, you could spot flashes of a bright sickly yellow under it. Which only beckoned you to explore it.
But you decided not to.
Not because you were afraid or anything, but because you were way too mentally exhausted to deal with any possible surprises. And so you returned to your den, nearly falling asleep on the elevator, to sleep for the day.
You'll go and explore it tomorrow.
[Deeproot depths] found
Day 15
You woke up slowly, but with surety.
You knew exactly what you were going to do today… right after you did some stretches. While you were feeling perfectly fine, you still felt like stretching.
It was nice, even if the impending feeling of going back was still present in the back of your mind.
But before you did what you wanted to, you were going to go to the snowy area to hunt for some runes.
Why the snowy area in particular?
Well, because you were fairly certain that the amount of runes you got from killing something was related to how strong the creature you killed was. And the snowy area had the, relatively, strongest enemies.
… not that it mattered though, with how there seemed to be very few things to kill here anyway.
Still, you got about the same runes as you did when you had a good hunt in other places.
So that was great.
[Runes: 476,195]
With your hunt over, even as disappointing as it was, you made your way back to your den for your daily lessons with Lansseax.
"Hmm, another failure. Again."
This time, you were once again attempting to endow your blessing on one of the creatures. And so far, while you'd managed to make contact with them the blessing spark, it didn't go so well.
Because, for some reason, your blessings just didn't seem to stick.
It was very frustrating.
"Do not get frustrated, this is an advanced skill," and apparently Lansseax could tell that, "thou art even making considerable progress, despite thy young age. Now, again."
You sigh, before beginning another attempt.
[Dragon blessing] 2/5 learnt
Then, it was finally time for the thing you woke up knowing you wanted to do.
And while you didn't exactly enjoy yet another long elevator ride you did realise halfway through descending that you could just… jump off while descending. What with how the elevator no longer had the front wall.
Which you did, and will be doing every time after this, and began following the river again, not bothering to use your special sight.
And, after a short flight, you were at the island again. Only this time you actually plunged through the grey fog that surrounded it, feeling a shiver run down your scales as you did so.
By the time you were fully through the fog you found yourself a short distance over the land itself, able to see a good chunk of it.
So you began investigating those golden flashes you'd seen, the first of which turned out to be from the interior of some giant hollow tree stump. Though you ignored that for the moment, because your attention was attracted by the next thing.
A literal walking building, one that you could see was surrounded by golden translucent humans. You ignored that too, but this time due to the fact that a stray breath from you did absolutely nothing to it. You'd come back to it later, when you had time to spend on it.
And then came the final, and most interesting, thing that gave off golden flickering.
The only way you could describe the being that loomed before you was monstrous. With its body, seemingly made of boiled and decaying flesh, being bloated and having veins filled with dark fluid visibly pulsing all over.
The lower half of its body, or what you assumed to be the lower half, resembled that of a grotesquely deformed fish. With scales that looked as though they could flake off at any moment, yet also looking as if they were deeply dug in.
But it was the branches that jutted out from its rotting skin that truly caught your attention, in all the wrong way. Each branch looking as though it had grown out from inside the body, worming out through flesh as it did so, now shrivelled yet still writhing and churning as they grew from the body.
In fact, you could faintly hear the squelching from within the thing, presumably more of those branches writhing internally.
The feeling of… decay, being the closest thing you could describe it as, was overpowering. Enough to cause your stomach to twinge as you looked at it.
It was disgusting to look at, yet also mesmerizing in its… grotesqueness.
"M-my lord…" your attention snapped away from the thing, instead going to the necklace around your neck, "t-thou must be c-careful… t-this place…"
It didn't finish, but you understood what it was trying to say anyways…
Though just because you understood didn't really influence what you were going to do.
"M-my lord?" your necklace stuttered out, seeing you walk towards the bloated thing, which was soon tinged with panic, "my lord, w-why are you going toward it my lord?"
"It's fine," you reassured it, "I've got this."
"My lord, no!"
Then you sink your fangs into the swollen flesh in front of you, causing a deluge of putrid liquid to spurts out. Completely covering your taste buds with a blend of bitter black and sickly yellow blood, or at least what you assumed to be blood.
And, quite frankly? It was absolutely foul tasting.
So foul tasting that you almost stopped eating right there and then, but you didn't. No, instead you stuck to it, taking and swallowing bite after bite from the disgusting thing.
Even as your stomach began to protest, something you'd never quite experienced before, you continued eating.
… though you'd admit that, as you ate, you were somewhat surprised.
Because you'd honestly expected the deathly aura, that you'd sensed around the thing, to be a problem for you eating it. You were prepared for it even.
But, as it turned out, that wasn't the case. In fact, it was the exact opposite, with the dark aura actually helping you eat and integrate what you ate. It didn't alter the horrible taste, but you were grateful for the lack of additional discomfort as you consumed the… meal.
It was only once you deposited the last scraps of it into your stomach that you stopped fully concentrating on it… and realised that your necklace was screaming in panic.
"Be quite," but, seeing as you still had that horrid taste in your mouth, you weren't in the mood to hear it scream, "I'm fine, so you don't need to worry."
"Your highness…" it seemed completely shocked at that, letting off waves of the emotion,"how… thou just consume the PRINCE WHO LIVES IN DEATH!"
Is that what it was?
You repeat the same question, voicing it toward the thing around your neck.
"Yes! How has thy body not ceased?" and now it was… hysterical? Well, you might as well answer that question.
"It's fine, I ate it," and you could still taste it too.
"… ah yes, of course. You ate it. It's fine then," you nod as it seemed to understand. It wasn't like you were going to eat something you couldn't handle… not that you ever encountered such a thing.
… other than that glowing blue liquid you vaguely remembered eating through your stomach.
But regardless, with your necklace pacified, you decided to head back to your den. It had taken you quite a while to eat all of that thing, and just thinking about it caused the taste to return to your mouth and stomach to churn, so you should return to your den.
"He ate it… of course he wasn't affected," your necklace did however keep muttering as you made your way back, all the way to your den even.
[?: ?/10]
[?: 1/1]
[Mimic tear is mentally distressed]
Taking a seat back in your den, you turn into your human form.
Something which causes your necklace to follow suit, turning into a grey copy of your human form next to you. Only to then immediately go into one corner of your den and crouching into one of the corners.
From what you coud hear, it was still hung up on your consumption of that thing back underground.
So you left it to that as you, instead, pulled out the book from the pouch and began reading it again. This time, you were prepared for the feeling of sinking that came over you.
And you were once again writing the book.
Staring at the cerulean threads weaving through your fingers, you could hear the hints of the imminent, fated juncture.
It had been an ordeal, but you could feel that you were on the cusp of connecting the possibilities fuelled power of the primeval current with your law of regression. It was inevitable now.
…and with it, your separation from Renalla.
Once more you were back to normal, mending the leaks of knowledge in your mind. Then you lifted you hand, familiar cerulean threads dancing between the fingers.
You were close to getting it… but for now you needed to sleep.
Soon though…
[Regression of possibility] primeval spell (5/8) learnt
Day 16
As you opened your eyes, you couldn't help but feel a strange sensation deep in your chest. It was like... you'd had recalled a long-forgotten memory in your sleep, only for it to quickly fade away as you tried to grasp it.
You couldn't help but wonder if this was what dreams were like - fleeting, intangible, and impossible to hold on to.
You whip your head around at the glint of gold beside you…
And stood there, beside you, was a replica of your human form. One that, unlike the replica the necklace turned into, was far more accurate in colour. Only it was also translucent, and surrounded in a golden glow.
Then it met your gaze and a a smile appeared on it's face, your face too if you thought about it, as it started to fade away into a shower of shimmering golden dust.
You simply continued to stare, the thought of movement nowhere near you mind.
Those same motes of gold then began to whirl around you, almost like there was an invisible wind, and you felt more than a few land on your scales before fading away. A sound reaching your hearing as the last of them disappeared.
A whisper telling you that you could do it better this time… something you didn't understand, but felt that the idea seemed good.
And then you promptly put that whole encounter out of your mind as you realised that your body had changed significantly again.
The most obvious change, obviously, being the notable increase in your size. Which, while not significant, had grown by a noticeable amount. Enough to make the lower top of your den barely skim the horns on your head.
You'd also changed more, visually, than just your size too.
Now, your claws and various other parts of your body were lined with a line of pure black. One so dark that you couldn't even see the contours of the parts they highlighted.
It gave your claws and highlighted parts an eerie and cruel quality, despite not actually changing their shape, as if they held a power beyond what they showed.
Actually, no.
You knew they should have power beyond what it showed. Except you could also feel something inside you seemed to almost be restraining that power.
It felt… strong, but incredibly weathered.
But regardless of what it felt like, you knew that you'd have to remove it to gain the full power behind your latest changes.
[5 days left in Elden ring]
… you'll admit, you were tempted to try and deal with the thing restraining you from within.
But something stopped you, a feeling in the back of your mind.
So instead you went back to the book with spells inside it. And, unlike the previous times you'd done this, you didn't find yourself having a vision. No.
Instead, as you delved deeper into the book, you felt as though the words pouring directly into your mind. As if every sentence was a key, unlocking doors that blocked pure understanding. It was to the point that your thoughts raced and your heart pounded as you tried to keep up with the new flood of ideas that were swirling around in your head.
Frankly, you couldn't believe just how easy this was.
Regardless of your thoughts though, you quickly found yourself approaching the end of this spell. Until finally, after comprehending the final sentence, you closed the book with your eyes closed.
Then you used the spell you'd spent so much time learning, feeling pure satisfaction as you felt the effect occur as the book described.
[Regression of possibilities] spell learnt
Regression of possibilities
Has multiple functions:
Possibility collapse: Reduce the roll amount by a 1/3 (rounded down) (i.e. Bo3 - Bo2) and mutliply each remaining final roll by 1.2, reduce roll amount by 2/3 (rounded down) (i.e. Bo3 - Bo1) and mutliply remaining final roll by 1.5 [Cost: 3 causality per reduction]
Success attainability: Increase dice roll amount by 1 [Cost: 33% max causality (rounded to nearest whole)]
Fate conflux: Fudge roll (increase or decrease any rolled roll by 1) (can do it retroactively) [Cost: 90% max causality(rounded to nearest whole)]
Lansseax looked at you. Then she began rubbing the ridge between her eyes.
"I shall not ask what thou ate to become… just…" she tried to say, but lost her words halfway through. Instead she just stared at you more.
"… just prepare thyself for practice."
…
…
"Well done," Lansseax says from the side, examining the creature before the two of you as it released another bolt of red lightning, "yes, thou have managed to do a proper blessing."
The confirmation caused pure satisfaction bloom inside you.
This lesson with Lansseax had continued as normal, after she recovered from whatever it was that apparently annoyed her, except for one thing. The fact that the increased ease to learn had also applied to this topic.
Something which allowed you to finally learn the process of blessing things just now.
"Now, rescind thy blessing," you snap out of your satisfaction fuelled fugue at Lansseax's words, seeing that she was looking at you expectantly.
… you didn't manage to rescind the blessing by the time the lesson was over.
Though Lansseax did leave the creature you'd blessed behind with you. To practice on your own.
[Dragon blessing] Miscellaneous spell learnt
Dragon blessing
Allows you to bless beings with the ability to use one of your abilities at a heavily reduced level. Multiple blessings can be given, and multiple of the same ones allow them more of that ability.
Each blessing lowers your max MP by 5%, you recover 5% of your max MP (till you're back to full) each time you sleep.
Enemies killed with the abilities you blessed someone with give 5% of thier runes (or XP) to you. This can be toggled for each individual blessing.
Honestly, by the end of the lesson, you were mentally exhausted.
And, while yes you had some plans to go and explore that blood filled area you'd found two days ago, you… just didn't feel it at the moment.
So you just lay down and just stayed laying there for the next chunk of the day. All the while just staring at the grains of the stone of your dens roof, your mind lacking any thought.
At a certain point your tongue flopped out of your mind, so empty was your mind, and covered one of your eyes.
You could feel your tongue on your eyeball.
You didn't care, just continuing to stare at the ceiling with the remaining eye.
As time went on, your eyes began struggling to stay open as you lay on the floor of your den, your mind slowly getting clouded with a thick layer of lethargy. Honestly, you were struggling to find the energy to get up, from your comfortable position on the floor, and do something.
Yet, as much as you wanted to give in to this feeling, there was a small voice inside your head urging you to push through it. To not succumb to the lure of an early sleep, and instead actually use your time well.
Eventually, this voice managed to convince you to get up. So, after what seemed like an eternity, you mustered the strength to sit up, swinging your body around to prop yourself up on all four limbs. After that, it was merely a simple process of going back to the elevator in the woods.
Your destination being the same underground island as last time.
Which your necklace didn't actually seem to like seeing as it just crouched into the edge of elevator, when the two of you were going down, mumbling something.
Still, that didn't stop it from getting back around the neck of your dragon form and go to that island like the last time.
However, it did get off once you did get to the island.
Mostly due to the fact that you turned back to human form some distance away from the tree stump, instead of going directly to it.
You didn't exactly know why you did so, other than the fact that you felt that it was something you felt like doing. Though, it did for a moment feel as if some distant feeling was… telling you that it would be better this way.
But that moment didn't really last long, so you were hard-pressed to believe it.
Regardless though, since you already knew where the stump was, this wasn't really going to waste much of your time, so it wasn't like it was a bad thing.
And so that's what you did, starting on the other side of the root filled ravine you landed in your human form in. Wondering, as you did so, whether these roots were in some way related to that tree stump you were making your way towards"Your highness, what are we…" your necklace, though, had questions about this sudden change in plans. Questions that you answered… right after you stomped the head of another large ant.
"We're exploring. I felt like exploring," you tell it, as yet another ant dies, this one from a lightning bolt shot by you.
For some reason they'd just seemed to e swarming you as you hopped across the ravine, from protruding tree root to protruding tree root, to get across. Not that they did more than get killed… and one of them even dropped something over there.
"Ah, a numen rune, an incredibly rare find my lord," and it seemed that the necklace was way more talkative in its current form, a copy of your human one, and even seemed to know what you'd just picked up from the dissolving ant corpse. Even seemed excited upon seeing the thing.
"So you know what this is?" you ask it as you come to a stop on the other side of the raving, now rapidly shooting primeval pebbles at the horde of ants, including flying ants, coming your way.
"Of course, sir. That is a numen rune, a rune of incredible value," it replied, staring at the floating golden thing held out in your hand, "it, like any other solid rune, can be turned into lesser runes. Though the true use for it can only be utilised through a finger reading crone."
"True use?" once again you ask while killing the latest horde of ants, these appearing from behind you.
"They could, in the distant past, be used to strengthen attributes permanently my lord. Now a days, you'd have to find a crone willing to do it for thou on top of finding them. Something easier said than done with how rar-" but before the necklace can finish its sentence you interrupt it.
Specifically, by hopping off the cliff edge you were standing near.
The reason being that one of the flying ants you'd just killed, one that was hovering over the seemingly bottomless ravine, seemed to be dissolving into an item.
An item which you, after sprouting wings mid air and flying back with the dissolving corpse, found to be yet another of those Numen runes.
Something which made the necklace forget what it was saying when it saw it.
A Short While of Killing Even More of those Ants
You hum happily as you place yet another Numen rune into your pouch, along with the rune arc you found from one of the melting ants.
Once you make sure no other nearby ant left behind anything you turn back to your grey copy, "come on, we've still got some exploration to do.
"A rune arc… A. Rune. Arc… How? How!" however, the grey copy of your human form just stayed crouched a bit away from you, muttering. Something it seemed to do a lot.
Still, it did eventually perk back up enough to begin following you.
It even decided to take the responsibility of killing the bear that attacked the two of you when you went through a cave, doing so with its bare hands. Unfortunately it then began mumbling, for a bit, again when the bear left behind a sort of… mass of flesh.
A talisman, it explained to you. A rarity.
You just put it into your pouch and moved on, right up until you found… well, you would generously call it a human.
[3 Numen runes, 1 Rune arc, Prince of Death's Cyst]
[Runes: 523,381]
"You… it cannot be…" were the first words the oddly deformed 'human' said to you.
"A finger reading crone… how?" and they were followed swiftly by the necklace next to you speaking. But what it said caught your attention.
A finger reading crone? Was that not what it said would be needed to make use of the Numen runes you'd just gotten?
However, before you could think more on it, the finger reading crone spoke once more, "you. Please. I must read your fingers. Your fingers, please, your fingers…"
You just shared a look with the grey copy of you next to you.
"… they are known to be able to sense great destiny in people my lord. If she wishes to read thou finger… it must mean that something large is within thy future."
You perked up at that, could it be that she'd tell you about something good to eat?
"Oh…ohh! Oh so similar yet… different," after staring at your presented hand for a moment, the finger reading crone spoke, "could it be… a true rebirth? Who else but he, to be reborn as dragon…"
Then, silence. Just long enough for you to consider pulling back your hand. But you didn't as words began pouring from it again.
"Go… to the top second tower in the branches," a shuddering breath, "the dead branch, studded with the sullied amber. The piece of the greater whole, bring it to me with your hands… and you shall have my service."
Well… it sounded like it'd make good food, not to mention the you were interested in that 'service', especially if it let you turn those Numen runes into power.
And, oddly enough, you had an idea of where she was talking about.
So, with your next actions decided, you turn to the necklace, "stay put here, I'm going to go get the thing."
"W-wait! My l-" it tried to say something, but you were already flying away. Wings sprouting from the back of your human form as you went directly towards the tower you, somehow, knew she told you to go to.
It didn't take you long before you reached the top of the tower in question, and once there you found the single thing laying in the centre of the roof. A dead looking branch, encrusted with yellow gemstones all along it and a large one right at the end.
Presumably what you were told to get, seeing as it was all that was actually there.
… and it was definitely good food, with the way it caused your mouth to salivate as you looked at it.
However, you had to get it to the crone first. So you reached down and picked it up, preparing to slide it into your pouch…
Except the moment you grabbed the thing the gems all along the branch began to glow, before beginning to grow and merge with the branch they were encrusted in. By the time it settled down, the whole branch had grown to be about half again as long as your human form was tall and was entirely made of yellow gemstones with the occasional streak of black.
It also refused to go into your pouch, bouncing off an invisible barrier when you tried to put it in.
[Prince of Death's Staff (awakened)] gained
The temptation to eat the thing became infinitely stronger as you continued to stare at the branch, now staff, as it refused to enter the bag.
But that was for after you showed it to that crone.
For now, you simply grew out your tail, and wrapped it around the staff, before taking flight once again. Or you would have, if your eyes didn't catch a glint of blue out of their corner.
Causing your gaze to fall on something that caused lightning to go up your spine.
[1 Nascent butterfly (sligh- no, very mushed)] gained
Frankly, you were tempted to just throw the mushed up remains of the blue b̵u̴t̶t̸e̵r̸f̵l̴y̵ onto the ground and stomp it into non-existence. But in the end you just put it into your pouch, before moving on.
Regardless of its… origins, you could likely still use it. Especially since the thing glowed before your mushed it.
And once you'd put the mashed remains into your pouch, you actually set off. Heading towards the crone and your necklace, that you left behind to keep an eye on the crone.
Once you returned however, you were met with a strange sight.
Your mimic was crouched a distance away from the crone, arms covering its head, while the crone just seemed to be… singing?
Something about night, failure, and other such stuff from what you heard, before she stopped upon seeing you were back.
"Ahh, the staff… give me the staff…" was the immediate request upon you landing near the crone.
You were tempted to reject, but in the end you handed it over to her bony grasp. Watching as she, with her arms shaking wildly, examined the staff, running her fingers along the edge.
"Ha… ha ha! Oh what irony!" and suddenly she became far more animated, speaking with sudden loudness and with emotions filling her voice.
Though, notably, none of the emotions actually seemed to come off her.
"The most tragic of ends, an eternity of suffering," she was cackling now, "oh… how wonderful! How joyous! The humiliation, the cruelty… reversed! Disgraced no more!"
And then she stops, hacking and sputtering as she tries to breathe. Dropping the staff as she does so, which you pick up immediately. Returning it to your possession
"Oh… how magnificent you are, my lord Godwyn," the crone eventually speaks again, recovering from her fit, though still trembling.
"Does this mean that I have your services?" You ask, more or less ignoring all she said.
"Of course… my services are yours, as they had always been," she confirmed, and no sooner had she done so that she faded to ashes. Ashes that, before you had time to comprehend what happened, flowed into your pouch. A voice drifting to you as the last of it went in, "I, Gisèle... am at your disposal my lord, pour me should you be in need my services."
Then silences...
Yeah, you think that this is enough exploring around for now. You're beginning to get sleepy after all... though, you do still have to go to the tree stump.
[Finger reader crone, Gisèle] gained(?)
In the end though, you decide not to waste any more time and just get this over with.
So, turning into your dragon from and grabbing your necklace, you take off towards the direction of the stump. Getting there in a few short moments. And once there you immediately began eating.
Which got what sounded like a sigh from your necklace, but you couldn't be sure since you were a tad busy biting on the surprisingly hard bark.
And when you bit through it, revealed a shimmering gold amber leaking from the wood. Which you also ate, feeling a rush of energy in you as you swallowed the golden crystalline sap down.
But eventually, the entire stump, except some of the roots and stuff in the dirt, was in your stomach.
After that? Well, it was just a simple matter to fly back to the elevator and then, after another long elevator ride, back to your den. But before you went to sleep you did remember to do one more thing.
That is, crush a rune arc and absorb its power.
[Great rune of the unborn] +1 - (4/9)
It wasn't like there was a good reason for putting it off.
And with that final thing you lay down and let sleep claim you.
[? 15/12]
[Max HP +500]
[Tree is pure life force, no gain to Devouring and Forge of stars]
Dragon breath Evolves to Vitae halitus [Legendary] [Active] (1/40)
+110 to damage rolls with breath, +50 to combat rolls with breath
Breath types (can be fused):
Entropy: Destroys physical matter (can wither heavily, permanent Minus 300 max HP if all rolls failed)
Origin: If enemy rolls below 70 in defence (and has no origin defence) you ignore the base defence modifier, when higher they take a Minus 5 to thier defence rolls
Crucible fire (life): Heal those hit by 1/10 of the damage, heals double for fire attribute target. Can't use on self yet. Inherent AOE
Crucible fire (bruning): Burn away thier max SP. Inherent AOE
Crucible fire (soul): Burns soul. Inherent AOE
Fire: Normal fire, but gold. Inherent AOE
Using a magic spell with [range: internal] will allow you to breathe it out as a breath attacks
Range: Triple current speed per round
Has a AOE mode which reduces range to a 1/3 but hits everything in a cone ahead of you.
Consumption: 500 MP
Phantom heads: Create phantom heads that do a normal breath attack at anything you want them to. Only affected by passive self caused effects [Cost: 30% max HP per head, per turn]
Shaper of life: Can alter a being by bathing it in your crucible flames (life). [Equal to Biomancy [10]]
Undying flame: At will, the flames breathed out can be made into undying flames (Possesing legendary tier perpetual concept). Can only be snuffed by your will (or by an equal coneptual ability)
[Mutation soft cap reached]
Day 17
When you woke up, it was to the sensation of a strange sort of… itch. One in the back of your throat and mouth.
And then you shot out a beam of gold light from your mouth when you tried to use that staff, which had grown a bit when you turned into dragon form, to scratch the back of your maw.
Well… you discovered that the staff seems to be able to regenerate, and you had a new hole for light to get into your den.
The necklace also seemed to like it, judging by the lack of shock or any other negative emotions coming from it.
[4 days left in Elden ring]
Your new, and improved, breath attack aside, you out down your, still healing, staff and left your den once more, going once again to explore the underground.
However, this time you weren't going to explore that island once again, no, this time you were going to go explore that location filled with blood.
More for the sake of your necklace than anything else. Because, the moment you began going in the direction of that island, it began blasting out negative emotions.
So here you were, going around the blood mist filled air above the blood lakes below. Looking at the various, grotesquely deformed, creatures below.
And it was as you were looking at one of those creatures, a strange deformed bird creature with open rotting wounds, that you glimpsed something interesting
So you dove down and, after killing the bird thing and the other one that was nearby, you examined the thing in your human form.
"That is another talisman," your necklace helpfully informed you, its expression void of emotions. You could even sense pure apathy coming from it.
Still, leaving it to its emotions, you thanked it and put the talisman into your pouch before once again taking off.
By the time you'd left the bloody area, returning to your den to socialize with Lansseax, you'd even found another Numen rune. This one just sitting there in the open.
So, all in all, a very fruitful exploration.
"Godwyn… he was too good to have been sired by who he was sired by," Lansseax said, laying on a rock as you sat on one another rock to the side of her.
You didn't even know how you got into this situation.
You had only asked her if she just wanted to talk, something she agreed to do with some reluctance, and the next thing you knew you were listening to her talk about why she was always so sad.
You…weren't sure why, but since it was happening you just went with it.
Though oddly enough, your necklace remained in its necklace form when you turned to human form. Something that got it a curious look from Lansseax, and only a curious look.
"Godfrey and Marika, ruthless rulers and as merciless as is possible to be for a being," oddly enough, you found yourself believing those words, "they were, in many a ways, the exact opposite of Godwyn. Always willing to forgive, always helpful, and always giving his enemies a chance. No matter what."
You watch as she seems to scratch her stomach area at those words, specifically as she scratches a barely visible line across her stomach.
A thought crossed your mind for a moment, the words of the finger reading crone.
You were the reincarnation, whatever that meant, of Godwyn?
… you consider telling her that, but eventually you decided not to. It just… did not feel like something you should tell her now. At least according to your instincts…. which you didn't know the origin of.
Still, you listened to Lansseax.
Listened as she continued to talk about how Godwyn helped her when she made, what she now knew as, a mistake, how he tried to convince Marika to allow thesemisbegotteninto the golden order, how everything broke apart on the night of black knivesbecausehe died.
It was that last story that you paid the most attention to, it causing the faint echo's of something to stir in you. Not enough to actually do anything more than cause you to be interested in that story though.
"Thy patience is much appreciated…" but eventually the whole 'session' ended as Lansseax had to go, and so she spoke to you. Only to freeze partway through the vocalising of gratitude.
But eventually she did start speaking again, "thou art in need of a name. I… no. Not right now."
Then she took off after thanking you again.
With Lansseax gone you once again had free time to do what you wanted, which is what led you to grabbing the staff, because you wanted to see if it could be used as a spear, and going to the bloody underground area again.
This time though, you intended to explore the area as you had with Raya Lucaria. That is, in your human form.
The only choice was the one on where to start exploring.
Something you eventually decide to be the ledge where a bunch of silver and red human looking things seemed to be sleeping. One from which you could see that place where you grabbed that golden talisman from, along with the burning palace on the hill.
You even grab a couple of faintly glowing plants growing near that ledge once you turn into human from, the necklace trailing quietly behind you.
[You are at palace approach ledge area]
[2 dew kissed herba] gained
[Currently equiped: Blue Cloth Vest Armor, Warrior Greaves Armor, Death prince staff (awakened)]
Obviously, seeing the amount of sleeping creatures, you decided that this would be the ideal time for you to test out if using the staff as a spear was viable.
And you did so by just walking up to one of the sleeping ones, and then stabbing the staff down into their bulbous heads. Instantly killing them with a loud squelch.
A 'textbook execution' according to the knowledge of spearman ship in your head.
But whatever it was, you continued to do it on the rest of the sleeping things all along the ledge, with one of them even dropping a clump of something that you just put into your pouch. What's more is that part way through the stabbing it, specifically the stabbing procedure, suddenly got a lot easier, causing you to stop and look at the staff in your hand.
Or rather the spear in your hand.
What with the tip now being a sharpened point. Meaning that your idea of using it as a spear was definitely feasible now.
To 'celebrate' you continued executing the sleeping creatures as you continued advancing. That is until you managed to, in a moment of complacency, not kill one of the creatures in one go.
Which caused it to scream loudly enough to wake up the rest of the sleeping ones. And they, upon waking up, took one look at you and immediately ran away. That is, except some red ones.
Those began twitching and convulsing before having spikes of blood burst out of their body, which seemed rather painful, before they began rolling at you. Using the spikes as some sort of… makeshift wheels.
Obviously they couldn't really harm you, but they were annoying. Especially since your spear tended to bounce off them when they were spinning.
All together that ended up meaning that, by the time you dealt with the red bulbous creatures, the silver ones had run away and hid.
Quite honestly, you couldn't be bothered to chase them. So you just moved on with your necklace.
Speaking of which, your necklace had just been wandering behind you… perhaps you could order it to do something while you fought next time?
Wait, is that…
Stepping into the swamp of blood you kill another couple of those red creatures with bulbous head, grabbing the thing they were guarding. Something similar to the numen runes you had… except it looked different.
"That is a hero's rune, it contains a heroes talent…. can be used to temporarily boost learning speed of the skill it contains… if that is thy wish…" fortunately, your necklace knew exactly what it was. Even if it also seemed particularly unenthused.
Still, you thanked it and looked at the new area you were in. The swamp made entirely of blood, the exact type of blood being a mystery to you.
[1 Albinauric bloodclot] gained
[Hero's rune (4)] gained
Prince of death staff (awakened)
Will, after a short time, change to suit your purpouse for it as best it can. You can then turn it into that form at will.
Current forms:
Spear: +15 to Dmg, +5 to combat
Once again you decide to move onward in this exploration, but instead of doing that straight away, you first turn to your necklace.
And you asked it if it too wanted to fight.
"I… I do not wish to fight, no. At least not at the moment my lord," it denied, before speaking again with a thoughtful expression, "… I could however, go and explore? Find things to bring back to thee?"
You consider that for a moment, before nodding. More things was always good, though you also made sure to tell it not to get killed.
Then, as it left to go do its search for things, you proceeded to finally get back to actually moving onwards. This time killing any and everything with a mixture of primeval pebbles and lightning bolts.
Some, seeing you just murdering everything, even tried to run, allowing you to finally use the gravity spell to pull them towards you to kill them.
Eventually though, you reached the end of the blood swamp and then, after s a bit more waling, stood at the entrance of a cave. The necklace having returned to you with a couple rocks, which you put into your pouch.
[2 formic rocks] gained
The next step of your exploration with you splitting up with the necklace as the two of you enter into the caves, splitting up to go different ways.
Then, as you enter the caves and see a random shambling corpse approach, you prepare to fight again with your magic spells. But you don't, instead you stop and stare at the staff, now spear, in your other hands. An idea, one based on your knowledge of glintstone sorcery, forming in your mind.
Beause, if you weren't mistaken, the original form of this spear-staff had been that of a catalyst. And while you hadn't used one before, not really needing it, it should be stronger to cast spells through it…
And so you began killing thing with spells cast through the staff. Which, initially, didn't bring that much of a change to your spells.
That is until it suddenly did change, with your spells getting suddenly stronger as the staff became a lot thiner and grew a gem at the top.
Whats more is that any spells you cast with it were tinged with a yellowinsh edge. One that made them particularly good at instantly killing things.
[Catalyst form unlocked]
Then, with your new staff form unlocked, you proceeded to slaughter your way through the cave. Killing anything you saw as you went on, even the random human that teleported in from a pool of blood on the floor.
That specific one did seem to have been stronger than the rest though… so you used the new function of this form of your staff to hit it with an empowered cast of glintstone pebble.
Instantly killing it by crushing it with a large boulder sized blue crystal.
After then you continued, only to hit a dead end. Except there also sat a familiar looking figure.
"Oh, deary me. I'm ever so thankfull to you for dealing with that gastly sanguine noble," the merchant, one that looked and felt exactly like that one you met in Raya Lucaria, said upon seeing you, "hey, why don't you come over here and look at my wares? I'll even give you a discount for helping me out of a pinch."
You consider it, before eventually nodding and going over to the merchant and watching as he spread out the contents of his bag.
It was as you were checking though, that you realised exactly how many runes you'd accumulated. Making you note that this place was actually rather good for accumulating them.
"Oh, I see you have a bag of holding too. Though… it doesn't seem to be soul bound… Would you like me to do that?" you look at the merchant at those words, "oh, no need to worry. Its merely a security feature. It shall make it far harder for it to be stolen from you. Far, far, harder."
You consider that. It did sound good.
[Runes: 962,153]
Eventually you decided that added security to the thing you kept a lot of your things in, was definetly a good investment.
That didn't mean you felt great about losing such a large chunk of the rune. But still you handed them over to the merchant along with your bag, acceting the rune arcs in return.
"Now, this'll take a minute so if you'd just wait," with that, and a nod from you, the merchant began to work on the bag, surrounding it in a golden fog.
And as he continued doing that, you decided to use the rune arcs you'd just gotten right away. Though, as you did so, you made sure to kee an eye on the merchant.
[Anchor Great rune] +2 - (3/9)
[Great rune of the unborn] +1 - (5/9)
By the time you'd used all the rune arc the merchant, too, was done with your pouch and thus you accepted back the, now shimmering gold, pouch. THe moment you touched it however, something dee in you clicked and the ouch dissapeared.
[Inventory] ability intergrated
Except you now knew that you could store anything into that pouch and take out anything without needing it anymore. Even if you could summon it.
With the transaction out of the way you then just left without much fuss, meeting up with the necklace as you went back from the dead end.
Who then handed you a strange white, translucent, plant.
Which you just put in your pouch and proceeded onward till you finally exited the caves. Killing the horde of shambling corpses that immediately attacked you.
[Great ghost glovewort] gained
Once again, after taking a moment to look around, you continue onwards. The necklace once again going a different way, without you needing to even tell it.
Still, you let it go as you focused on doing you own thing. Which was trying to use the staff as a sword to kill enemies.
After all, your actions, of using it as a sear, previously had unlocked the spear form of your staff, and using it as a catalyst had unlocked a catalyst form of the staff. So really, there was actually a high possibility that your attempt to use the staff as a sword.
A possibility that ended up being true as, part way through your slaughter, your staff began to shift and flatten, it's edge tapering into an edge. Until, eventually, you were holding a yellow crystal sword by its handle shaped end.
[Sword form unlocked]
And once you got the sword… well, you just began killing everything. And, while admittedly, the thing you killed were just walking husks, it didn't really matter because you ended up with a pile of things that the enemies dropped upon their death.
There was even a rune arc, which fell from the disembowelled stomach of a rotted dog.
[3 Albinauric bloodclot, 2 beast blood, 1 rune arc ] gained
You, obviously, picked those things up and transported them to your storage space while still progressing onwards.
Until eventually you ascended a lift and found yourself in a dead end. In a courtyard of the marble ruins that seemed particularly significant. Especially with that… egg like thing at the other end.
The one with a human like, though obviously not human, arm sticking out of the crack in it. The same one immune to your attempt to test it with a stab.
In fact, when you used your special vision, you say a figure appearing and disappearing from that very egg, seemingly fighting another one until the entire yard was indistinct with the amount of smoke from the echoes of the past.
You continued examining it, even as the elevator behind you activated again and your necklace returned with a rune.
Prince of death staff (awakened)
Will, after a short time, change to suit your purpouse for it as best it can. You can then turn it into that form at will.
Current forms:
Spear: +15 Dmg rolls, +5 combat, ?
Catalyst: +15 Dmg rolls with spells cast with this, all spells cast with this gain death element
Sword: +20 Dmg, +5 combat, causes death status (reduce max health)
For a moment you contemplate eating it…
"No, thou should not eat the eggs!"
But the memory of your lesson with Lansseax flashes through your mind, specifically on how you shouldn't eat the eggs… you couldn't remember whether she had meant only the eggs inside females or the ones outside too…
Regardless, you chose to refrain from consuming in it. Just for the sake of being caution.
Which left you with nothing to do with the egg. That is, until you heard a voice, one you deduced to be coming from your storage.
"Young lordling, I can sense the presence of an empyrean," it took you a second to remember, but you realised the voice was that of the finger reader crone, the one that had become a pile of ash in your pouch, "please. Summon me so I may look upon… the empyrean."
You, seeing that she seemed to know what this was, decided to summon her as she wished… right after you remembered that you had a rune arc and used it.
[Great rune of the unborn] Plus 1 (6/9)
"Ah, it is as I feared. Miquella," the old crone began, after being summoned and grasping the hand like protrusion, "indeed, this is Miquella. The Empyrean cursed with eternal youth… oh what irony."
"So do you know what this is?" you ask, wondering if that hand was from this Miquella.
"Do you not feel it, do you not recognise him?" but instead of answering your question she just asks her own instead, staring at you with those hollowed eye sockets.
To which you reply honestly with a negative.
"Ah, what tragedy. To be even less of what you were despite returning," you could practically hear the disappointment in her voice, despite it being the same scratchy, halting, speech.
Not that you particularly cared, instead only repeating your question.
"This is Miquella, one of the two twin prodigies. Child of Marika and Radagon, maker of unalloyed gold, Empyrean, your brother," you felt confusion at the last one.
You were fairly certain you weren't related to him according to what you learn from Lansseax. You were a dragon and it was definitely not… though it was in an egg? Though you remember that Lansseax said that this Marika was also the mother of Godwyn, so maybe the crone was saying that you were actually Godwyn.
But you weren't exactly convinced of that, seeing as you had no recollection of any of that… though the crone said something about reincarnation too. Was that related?
Honestly, this was all very confusing for you.
"But that no longer matters, young lord Miquella is stuck. Trapped in the grips of evil, the attempt to bypass the curse he was born with… corrupted," you were snapped out of your confusing thoughts by the crone once again turning to ashes. Which then flowed towards your hands, letting you easily put them back into storage.
Well, you now knew what the egg thing was… even if you didn't actually understand what you knew.
After thinking about it you decide that this is good enough for the day.
So, turning into your dragon form, you grabbed the non-resisting necklace and put it on. Then you grabbed the egg thing, Miquella, and proceeded to fly away back to your den.
Or at least you tried to, because you ended up stumbling instead. The sheer weight of the egg thing, which you hadn't been expecting, causing you to not put enough force into your wings, and thus falling flat.
Still, you managed to get it the second time, and quickly made your way back to your den. Placing it in a corner once you returned, before then taking a moment to stretch your strained wings and review that exploration.
It'd been pretty good, you concluded.
Especially with you finding the usage of the staff, and specifically how good it was for your human form. Making it more than just food.
[Runes: 891,856]
As you looked at Miquella sitting in the corner of your den, you decide it was time to go out and hunt. This time, your goal being rune arcs.
After all, you could feel the time when you would leave this place was fast approaching. So, before that time came, you wanted to strengthen your great runes fully.
Even more so than before, due to the knowledge in your head from upgrading the great rune you got from Rennalla.
How it'd let you get stronger by 'reintegrating' possibilities through a rebirth.
So you prepared yourself to go hunt the things, specifically those giant ants, you knew dropped the rune arcs upon death… until you remembered the other thing they dropped as well. Numen runes.
The things you could convert into strength through a finger readying crone, according to the necklace. And you had a finger reading crone in your storage.
…
"Ah, it has been a long time…" the crone spoke, holding the four numen runes you'd handed her as you sat in front of her in dragon form. Something she didn't seem surprised by, despite this being the first time she saw you like this, "very well, I shall turn these runes into strength for you."
With that she crushed the runes, before extending a withered and shaky hand out to you. Which you touched with one of your claw tips.
A short while later, once the golden glowing stopped, the crone returned to your storage, and you were off to the deaths again.
And you did kill the ants. A lot of them in fact.
Enough that, by the time you returned to sleep you'd gotten another two rune arcs and numen runes. The obtaining of which helped you sleep rather well, especially after you used the rune arcs and were flooded with energy.
[2 numen runes] gained
[Great rune of the unborn] +1 lv (7/9)
[Anchor great rune] +1 lv (4/9)
[Runes: 1,236,943]
Day 18
The sun was just starting to peek through the curtains, and as you opened your eyes, and the first thing you could feel was the weight of the limited time you had left in this place. Something you felt very acutely.
Enough so for you to ask yourself a question.
How could you make the most of my remaining time here?
Eventually you decided that, the best thing to do with your time is, to go back to hunting those ants in the underground.
And, as you'd have it, the ants also decided that they wanted to attack you. Which really only meant that you didn't have to go search for them and could instead stay in one place, waiting for the horde of ants to come to their death.
You even got to use your new breath attack, in you partial form, finding exactly how powerful it was with the way it vaporised the ants.
Thankfully it still left the rune arcs, and numen runes, in their ashes. Undamaged.
[3 rune arcs, 2 Numen runes] gained
[Runes: 1,842,109]
You returned to your den shortly after checking the last of the dissolving ant corpse, just in time for you to meet Lansseax. However, before you actually met Lansseax, you first pulled out the rune arcs and immediately used them.
Not like there was a reason for putting it off.
[Great rune of the unborn] +2 lv - (9/9)
[Anchor great rune] +1 lv - (5/9)
And it was once the warmth of the rune arc that you finally went out to meet Lansseax. Bringing the egg thing, Miquella, with you too, since it'd be very relevant in the ensuing conversation with Lansseax.
"I see that thou wish to ask me something before we get on with what I have planned," you nod, "very well, lets see it then."
*boom*
She doesn't even flinch as you put down the very heavy egg in front of her, before looking at her expectantly… and she only lets off exasperation.
"I do not know what everything is, thou has to give me something more than a…" she looks at the egg you placed in front of her, obviously trying to think of the word to describe it, "…thing, being place in front of me if thee wishes for me to comment on it."
"It's Miquella," you say, agreeing with the point she made and deciding to elaborate, to which you just get her staring at you, "got it from the blood filled place underground."
"… why, why must thou do this to me," the sheer defeat in her voice was surprising, and it disappeared suddenly as she suddenly got up, "no, we will do this later. For now, follow. I wish to get your naming out of the way first, before this headache."
With that she soared high into the sky, her wings flapping with burning red lightning, and you followed quickly after.
And soon the lightning around her wings lowered, before she then descended with you behind her. Eventually landing in front of a… stone church?
"To truly name thee there is a need for the ancestor to witness the process," she pointed to the side at that, specifically at what you assumed to be a statue of a dragon, "however, I am barred from Farum Azula and thus must use this… distasteful place."
Curiosity filled you at that, causing you to observe the surrounding area. Which revealed to you a… well, you'd call it an aura.
An aura that caused you heart to palpitate and a shiver to go up your spine.
"Ignore that, it is the result of this being a church of dragon communion," Lansseax voice snapped you back, just as you began to focus more on that aura, "while I have destroyed the altar, dwelling upon the remnant will is not good for thy mental state. Now come, stand here while I set the weather."
Reluctantly, still wanting to satisfy your curiosity, you followed her instruction. Standing in front of the head of the dragon statue as Lannseax once again set off into the sky, specifically the clouds.
It was a short time later, though it felt far longer, before she came back, and once she did the whether had completely turned. Something you suspected was due to her.
Because you very much doubted that the lightning in the sky was meant to be red…
"Now, step forward," but you didn't dwell on it, instead following Lansseax's instruction and coming to a stop in front of her.
… you hadn't really had a proper comparison before, but you were really large weren't you? At least compared to Lansseax.
"Young dragon. I Lansseax, weilder of the red-gold lance, daughter of Gransax, the posseser of immeasurable might, deem thee worthy of a name." her voice was oddly double layered and echoey as she spoke, lighting rumbling in the clouds with the inflections of her voice, "and it is so that I name thee…
"… Votusax, for the one who carries innumerable wishes."
There was a moment of silence as the words, your brand new name, resonated with you… and then you were struck by a massive bolt of lightning.
One that kept you engulfed in light, not even feeling the pain despite feeling the power behind it, and cause your body to relax for a moment or two.
Eventually though, the lightning ceased engulfing you and you were left in the middle of a crater, sparking and smoking slightly, as you stared at a solemn looking Lansseax.
"Alright that is that, now," and then she was no longer solemn, instead just tired and vaguely reluctant as she talked to you, "what was it that thou wished to ask?"
… you could tell that she wished you'd forgotten that, both from her emotions and your own understanding of her body language.
"Miquella," but you were practically bursting with curiosity, so you asked anyways.
"Ah, yes. Miquella, who thou think is an egg," she sighed, "very well, let us first get back to the island. I do not wish to linger in this cursed place."
You nod hurriedly, quickly following behind her. Because as curious as you were in this place you were more curious about your original question the most.
And so, once you were back, you began to question her, carefully listening to her answers.
And you learnt about who Miquella was, how he was related to Godwyn, but most importantly you learnt about the fact that he had his great rune hidden somewhere in the snowfields.
"It was something Godwyn had mentioned in passing, I assume now that it is in that tree visible form castle sol," she spoke as she stared at the egg thing," however, there is no way to know. The tree is protected through a barrier, one that blocks those who wish to enter from the skies and makes it invisible for those on the ground."
You consider that… something deep in you making you think that it wouldn't be as much a problem for you.
"Presumably Malenia is also in that tree, but if thou has found Miquella in this form," she looks at you as you, again, nod, "… then I can only assume she is dead or unable to protect her brother."
"With what she has done to Caelid however? It would be better if she were dead."
[You know who Miquella is and about the Haligtree]
[You know Miquella was someone who helped people and was close to Godwyn]
[Malenia is likely in the Haligtree]
[You know Malenia and Miquella's great runes are likely in the Haligtree]
Name: Votusax (+5 to rolls depending on peoples wishes for you)
Great rune of the unborn [Unranked] [Passive] (9/9) [Changes only]
Mutation and evolution cheat both gain a +50
Special mutation (v.1): Select one of three random previous mutation, that you didn't pick, to get. Knock on effect will occur, strengthening current version of it.
Special mutation (v.2): Reroll any previous mutation roll, effect carries over to current version of it.
Anchor Great rune [Unranked] [Passive] (5/9) [Changes only]
+30 to all stats
You were tempted to immediately go to this tree that Lansseax had described to you, one that may possibly have another rune.
But, for the moment, you refrained.
Because, from what you understood from what Lansseax said, you were fairly certain that you'd get killed if you were to go there as you were now. Without being able to fight back either.
Whether from the defences or Malenia, if she was alive there, didn't matter. You'd die with your current strength.
So that's why you decided to dedicate the entirety of the rest of the day to collecting runes from enemies. So that you could use those runes to strengthen yourself.
And it was as you were flying above, killing things and absorbing the runes they let off, that an idea came to you.
You could use multiple breaths at one time and, when you did so, you'd get another, new and unknown, breath. However, recently, you'd gained multiple new types of breaths…
And you hadn't really tried these breath fusions that much.
So why not try to use these fusions in this hunt for runes? Which is exactly what you did, discovering multiple new types of breaths by the time you returned to the den.
Some that cause more damage than before, others that just caused things to stop moving despite being alive, and even one that just… caused things to disappear and you to forget the details on it. A particularly dagerous looking black breath that you used to kill one of those rare horses.
You even discovered quite a few breaths that actually healed those hit by it!
… which you suppose would help some time in the future. Probably.
Still, you were satisfied as you went to sleep. Both with the amount of runes and your new discoveries.
[Runes: 3,317,420]
Element combos
Entropy + Crucible fire (life) = Black blight : Deal half of the original damage next turn, then half that the turn after, and so on. Minmum damage delt is 1/1024 of the original damage. Infinite duration. Can deal max health damage. Replaces the status on each hit.
Origin + Crucible fire (life) = Vital origin : Heals max health damage, Heal 1/5 of damage for first contact, half of the original damage next turn, then half that the turn after, and so on. Minimum heal is 1% hp per turn. Infintite duration. Cures status effects. Replaces the status on each hit.
Entropy + Crucible fire (burning) = Entropy consuming : Consumes the entorpy to burn, normal fire(?) otherwise, ?
Entropy + Crucible fire (soul) = Soul rupturing : Acts like normal fire except it doesn't burn anything, living being hit just cease moving after enough hits but are still alive, destroys runes, ?
Entropy + Fire = Disintergrating flames : Flames that do devestating physical damage, cause things to disintergrate into nothing
Origin + Crucible fire (burning) = Origin burning : Normal flames… except things killed cease existing suddenly, you forget some details of the things that die to this (for now), ?, ?, [paradox]
Origin + Crucible fire (soul) = Birth stilling : Things killed just flop down dead, ?, ?, ? [paradox]
Origin + Fire = Origin fire : Origin element but with inherent AOE
Fire + Crucible fire (burning) = Golden Lazer: Just really hot, golden, lazer , ?
Day 19
You woke up with far more quickness than any other time you'd woken up, distinctly aware of the time limit on your stay here.
You'd give it… about two days and a bit more, before you had to return.
First thing first, you wanted to go to the snowy mountaintop. Because a part of you was sure there would be something that'd strengthen you there.
And as you explored you found this feeling to be correct as, almost immediately, you saw a glint of shining red from your place in the sky. A glint which, once you went to explore it, turned out to be a crystal thing you vaguely remember.
It noticeably increased the rate of your recovery from injuries last you ate it, if you remembered correctly.
Seeing as there wasn't really a point to putting it off, and with an increase to injury recovery rate being welcome, you just swallowed the thing in one bite.
[+1% hp regen/turn]
Then, with there still being time, you went back to exploring.
And fortunately, for you, you managed to find another interesting thing before time was up. Specifically a book, filled with writings on spells. Something you found after slaughtering a bunch of large humans when they decided to throw fire at you as you flew over them.
You weren't hurt of course, the flames just splashed off your scales, but they did still attack you.
The only issue was that the book was written in a language you couldn't read… not much of a problem admittedly, seeing as just holding it, and studying for a bit, had you understand more and more of the book.
Partially due to the visions of someone writing it causing you to rapidly gain the writers understanding of the language.
[Giant's prayerbook] Gained
"More lightning in thy left lung," Lansseax told you, jabbing the left side of your torso as you floated there.
It had been a while since you'd started this healing trance training, and you were already regretting it.
Originally, you'd picked it due to your plan to go fight Rykard. After all, Lansseax had said he had a great rune, but also that he was incredibly dangerous. Because, while your natural recovery rate had healed most things, you didn't mind the safety that a guaranteed recovery provided.
And so far you'd… well, you'd done well. It was, after all, pretty simple.
Just let the red lightning flow through your body in an even manner, and then float there in a position that's most comfortable. The issue came in the fact that you had to stay incredibly still, otherwise the lightning spread through the body would become uneven.
And it was just strange for you, to sit so still and not go to sleep.
Still, you managed for the most parts. Other than the occasional slip up.
"Alright, that is enough," you let out a sigh of relief at that, immediately retracting the lightning and landing on the ground, "thou art more than capable of using the healing trance. Now thou need only refine what thou art capable of. Which means practice, Votusax."
The last bit, especially with the tone in which she said your name, made it obvious that she expected you to train. And that she likely suspected that you didn't exactly… train for most things, beyond learning them once.
Which was true, so you only nodded. Getting another nod in reply from her, this one in satisfaction, "thou art talented, but not taking the moment to focus and reintegrate your lessons will only result in thy skills failing thee in the worst of times."
Again you nodded, though you were beginning to feel a little… chaffed, under the attention she was giving. It felt strange, and she'd been doing it throughout the lesson today.
If you had to describe her new actions, the closest thing to describe them would be… babying. Something you'd learnt from one of your lessons you could no longer remember.
It wasn't exactly that of course, but it's what it felt like.
"Good, now. I'll be going n-" she made to leave, but you stopped her with a call.
Because you'd just remembered the last time you'd gotten a great rune from killing something, how she'd taken you to the tower and said that you'd need to 'awaken them' to get the benefits from it. Which, seeing as you intended to get another great rune through killing, was something you needed to know.
"Do you know where the tower to activate Rykard's great rune is?" you ask her, to which you get a flat look.
"I…" and a sigh, "look, I am not one to stop thee from picking a fight with something. I would be a hypocrite if I were to do so. But thou do not need to rush to get great runes, thou art growing at unprecedented speeds and will likely be able to get the great runes easily should thee just wait another month or two."
Well, you knew that she was likely right about the fact you could grow strong enough to easily get the great rune in a month or two. But she wasn't correct about you not needing to rush, seeing as you could feel the time you had in this place running out even as you sat there.
But you didn't exactly know how to explain your… returning, especially why it happened. So you just nodded and stared at her.
Until eventually she spoke again with a sigh, "very well, follow me. I shall show thee the location as I fly by it. Ensure not to come too close to the walls of the capital."
You readily give your agreement, flying behind her in excitement.
Soon, you'd have another great rune.
[You know where the divine tower for Rykard's great rune is]
[Lansseax SL improved]
[Healing trance] 4/5 learnt
Once you were back from the flight with Lansseax, now knowing the location of the divine tower, you stayed only for a few scant moments. A few moments in which you used your numen runes through the crone and strengthened yourself.
[+8 spirit]
Then you were off again, heading towards the blood swamp area.
This time though, instead of going down in human form, you instead did something else.
Specifically, you rained down fire and other breath, depending on your mood, as you circled above the swamps. Killing countless amounts of grotesque creatures and getting a massive chunk of runes.
Unfortunately, near the end of your hunting, some of the preys started to get smarter and hiding inside the caves and out of your breaths range.
Which was annoying but, seeing as you were running out of times anyways, you ignored them and just continued killing those still outside.
[Runes: 4,031,003]
Once you were finished with your little flying killing spree, you were flying back to your den.
And once you were there something drew your attention, specifically the corpse of that creature that was protecting that giant tree. And speaking of that giant tree, you knew, instinctively, that you'd gotten quite a bit tougher from eating that giant tree stump.
So, surely, eating that tree, that's still whole, would probably be better.
And it was with that idea that you grabbed that corpse and flew over to that giant tree. Then you began eating, both the tree and the corpse itself.
Now, out of those two things, eating the corpse was perfectly fine and easy. You ate it in a couple of simple bites. But it was eating the tree that was the problem.
Because, it had been a long time since you found something that resisted your bite and this tree was one. But you still managed to eat it, each bite sending spikes of pain down your neck, even if your jaws ached by the end.
Then you forgot about the pain entirely as you were filled with warmth unlike any you felt before, and even that pool of energy within you, the one you use to create things and use the regression of possibility spell, was overflowing.
… wait, it was actually overflowing.
Well, it didn't seem to be causing you any problem, so it'd probably fine for you to return and go to sleep. Which you then did.
[?: 10/10]
Forge of stars HP increase: 7%
Devouring SP increase: 6%
Devouring MP increase: 10%
Day 20
You woke up feeling… well, the best way to describe it would be 'instinctively invincible'.
Because how else would you feel, when you knew suddenly that you could recover from almost anything in mere moments?
Though you quickly tempered that down, you didn't need another repeat of that stupid bird again.
