Although I knew I needed to kill Godrick and begin my quest to become the Elden Lord like any worthy Tarnished, I wasn't going to go in there half-cocked. I didn't know if I had extra lives and I sure as shit wasn't going to treat myself like I did.
No, this was going to be a fucking deathless run as I had no idea even if I had extra lives as a Tarnished. All I knew was that my 'cheat' in this reincarnation was just having all my foreknowledge of Elden Ring.
So I was going to take every single advantage I could and being as shameless as possible to become the god-king of this damned world.
I headed south from Sellen's underground home that I really didn't want to call a cellar as it was filled with her lives work. But it certainly couldn't be called a bunker or anything.
Either way, riding Torrent I made my way down towards the Weeping Peninsula and I soon reached the fortifications for the Limgrave Soldier's that were built upon a large cliff overlooking the massive bridge spanning the continent of Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula.
"Ok... A special rapier is here, along with the Royal House Scroll." I mused as I took in the soldiers of Godrick as I thought on how I could get past them.
Then I paused as I just changed my entire fucking thought process. Why did I need to fight them all? Especially when I only wanted to get the Royal House Scroll? Why in the world would I want to assault a fort where I have to fight uphill through people with siege crossbows?
And even spellcasters as well who were mounted atop several collapsed buildings who were just idly staring into the void.
So I quickly got changed out of my clothes and into some of the looted armor and heraldry of Godricks Limgrave soldiers so I could go over there without facing as much danger.
Once I got close the wretches of people who had long given up on life due to their immortality focused on me and one of the higher up guards croaked out with a voice clearly unused to speaking.
"Halt! Why have you come here?"
And I called out frankly. "Lord Godrick has sent out messages and scouts to evaluate the land and its fortifications! The Demi-Gods of the Shattering now pulled back to their foul abodes and now Lord Godrick is seeking to understand what in his kingdom needs to be fixed!"
The guards shared looks and a loud clatter of armor rang out as I walked up to the fortress and from beyond the wooden wall came a knight wearing thick plate mail and a large tower shield and armed with a large spear.
The knight that was clearly in charge took one look at me and her voice spoke through their armor-clad form. "Remove your helmet soldier."
And as I went to do it I mentally growled as the knight came closer and I realized the fucking issue.
I was a Tarnished, I had eyes filled with the light of Erd Tree and Godrick's soldiers would automatically become hostile towards me when they saw I had the golden eyes Tarnished had.
As they served Godrick the Grafted and to say nothing of the damage the Tarnished had done to Godrick and the other demi-gods in tearing apart their armies and lesser soldiers. But in reality, I would stab myself in the heart before I let myself get captured by Godricks forces.
So even as I went to take off my helmet I was already thinking on what I needed to do. And after the couple of moments I had to take off my helmet I got a pretty good idea...
The moment I took off my helmet I saw the leading woman's grip on her spear tighten and she brought the spear towards me as I she inhaled so I sprung into action first.
With helmet in hand, I smashed my own helmet into her own with a loud clattering noise and then using my spatial ring I took out my Academy Staff and I infused my magical energy from the Glinstone Core inside my chest to create a Glintsone Arc.
Me bashing the leader upside the head with my own helmet did have a purpose though beyond just stopping her from shouting out I was Tarnished instantly. No, I did it at an angle to make her head snap back so that her helmet came back exposing the ragged worn flesh of her neck.
The Glinstone Arc sailed out into the air and the thin magical horizontal line sliced through flesh, bone, and cartilage with a soft cracking noise with the spell breaking apart as it hit the back of her armor after it went all the way through her neck.
'Whelp, so much for simply stealing what I needed.' I thought as I summoned a shield to block a flintstone pebble that flew towards me from the collapsed surrounding buildings.
Using the shield I blocked the blows of several sword-using soldiers of Godrick before I used my rune-enhanced strength to push them back to allow me to send another couple of Glinstone Arcs that sliced through their chainmail-covered forms.
"Tarnished! Kill the Tarnished before he devours our Runes!" One of the magic-casting nobles shrieked from the collapsed building and in response I just yeeted a firebomb grenade at him.
With the firebomb hit the edge of the railing near him and it exploded from the impact with its flammable contents coating the noble and making him scream and writhe in agony.
'Don't let anyone behind you Jake... These fuckers are slow and weak from how long they been rotting here without purpose.' I thought as I kept my back to empty spaces and made sure the other noble couldn't hit me with any glintstone spells.
Allowing me to slowly and methodically deal with the other soldiers of Godrick with and then climb up to deal with the last noble by throwing his spell-casting ass off the cliff and down into the ocean below between the continent of Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula.
"Ok... Now to just find the Royal House Scroll." I mused to myself as I stretched out my sore muscles on my left side from where I had been holding the shield. And boy was I glad I had sunk the majority of my runes so far into my Strength and Endurance.
A soft gurgle rang out and I paused as I was going through the camp as I realized the leading knight woman was still 'alive' as it were so I walked over and with a dagger I pushed up her visor to see her leather skin like face glaring at me with hate in her dark grey eyes.
"Sorry about that... I am still new to this whole." I paused before exhaling and brushing a hand across my face as I said quietly. "Yeah, I am not really good at this whole murderhobo thing, let me just... Put you out of your misery, maybe I will see you in a couple of years though."
A soft crunch rang out as I stabbed my dagger through her skull and I grimaced as I rooted it around a bit to make sure she was dead and I only pulled the dagger out when I felt the runes of the woman shoot into my body.
I stood back up with a sigh and I took a deep breath as I got back to work looting the bits of runes in the surrounding area, and then I got the Royal House Scroll from a chest that also had the Great Epee that promptly went into my inventory to probably be forgotten.
"Alright, I got the Royal House Scroll... Now do I head back to Sellen with this? Or do I go across the valley and help the second-best boy in Blaidd?" I mused before I realized that the Forlorn Hound Evergoal was Blaidde's second location where you found him on the system of progression.
But honestly, this world although following the events of the game and being a reflection of it... I very much doubted Blaidde was just crouched atop a destroyed building howling as he waited for a Tarnished to pass by to tell them he is hunting someone.
So I summoned up Torrent and I made my across the valley separating the cliff sides and the bridge leading across to the small southern continent and I went to where I knew the Evergaol was supposed to be.
And after a hearty ride I reached the dimensional prison and as I got there I could already see Blaidde the large wolf-man was prowling the Evergoal with tension in his strides.
"Hello there!" I called out strongly and Blaidde's head snapped towards me as I rode in closer.
Though I couldn't exactly see his expression but he let me approach without hostility until I got close and his deep voice hit my ears as he asked bluntly. "What do you seek here Tarnished? Do you seek conflict with me or are you merely a wanderer?"
To which I shook my head and said quite frankly. "Nay good hound, I have come for two things. One to aid you in your quest to deal with Darriwil, as I desire his blade for myself!"
I was going to be a fucking loot goblin as I wanted to one day be able to use gravity magic to launch my collection of weapons at enemies Gilgamesh style... I honestly don't know, hoarding things right now was kinda my method of coping with Fromsoftware's brand of suffering.
Blaidde gave me a long gaze atop Torrent before he said calmly. "I see, then very well. If you know me as the 'Good Hound' then I will be obliged for your aid in dealing with this traitor, and in return for your aid you may have the traitor's weapon for yourself."
I nodded and then climbed off Torrent as Blaidde huffed and said. "In either case, I myself can't get into the Evergaol... He locked himself in to avoid my wrath and only Tarnished may enter and leave Evergaol's after slaying the occupant."
I blinked hearing that bit of knowledge and after a moment I wondered how Vyke was locked in his own Evergaol right next to the Giant's Flame.
But either way, I refocused as I walked over onto the glowing stone platform leading to the dimensional pocket that held the Evergao's occupant. And with a flex of my will that drained a tiny hint of my mana my view was obscured as the sky darkened when I entered the pocket dimension.
"Am I to assume you are a mage then stranger?" Blaidde asked as he took in my Academy Staff with amusement in his eyes making my lips twitch as he looked down upon my weak-as-hell staff.
I coughed and said with a roll of my eyes. "Correct, and my name is Jake, Jake Barriss. Now-
My words were cut off as a cracking noise rang out and I saw in the distance just off the platform we were on came a tear in what could be only space and from the void came the humanoid form of Bloodhound Knight Darriwil that was spat onto the ground.