Ranni gazed at the ancient weapon, dust of ages still clinging to its surface, and sighed softly.
"This sword is one of Caria's greatest treasures," she said. "It was forged in ages past, when the astrologers yet dwelt upon the mountaintops beside the Fire Giants. One of the legendary arms of the Lands Between."
A legendary weapon meant more than fine craftsmanship. It meant renown, stories that endured through centuries—victories so great that they became myth. There were, of course, other weapons no less powerful, yet lost to obscurity because no tales were told of them. Without legend, they never entered that hallowed category.
Lucian lifted the Sword of Night and Flame, studying it closely.
Its hollowed design made it light to wield, but that did not mean it was fragile. Any common arm—no, even his own Dragon Slayer Swordspear, would shatter instantly if struck against it.
This blade had passed through countless hands across endless years, yet it had already been strengthened to +7.
In the Lands Between, weapons of special power could only be enhanced with Somber Smithing Stones, and never beyond +10. At that peak, a weapon was fit to slay gods. Unlike in games, one could not casually refine a blade to its utmost. In fact, Lucian doubted any weapon at present had reached that fabled limit. If any existed, they were relics of ancient dynasties—or perhaps works yet to be wrought by Master Hewg in some future time.
For ordinary arms, +25 was the pinnacle. For somber arms, +10.
And yet this sword, already brimming with unique power, already possessing superb innate attributes—had been raised to +7. Without doubt, it could serve as Lucian's main weapon.
Compared to it, his Dragon Slayer Swordspear had no ground to stand.
Lucian turned the sword in his hand, deeply satisfied.
Ranni continued, her voice tinged with pride. "This blade hath passed from champion to champion. And with each bearer, the Carian line gathered rarest materials, to see it strengthened further. Save for the arms borne by the demigods, it standeth unmatched among the weapons of the Lands Between. And I daresay… thou mayst prove its strongest wielder yet."
Lucian nodded. She was not wrong.
Demigods' arms were peerless, refined with the full might of their domains, often to +8 or +9 at the very least. Even Godrick, for all his wretchedness, had poured every effort into raising his golden axe to +5. Surely Radahn and Rykard wielded weapons of higher refinement still, or at the very least, weapons that suited them more perfectly.
But for Lucian? This was nothing to quibble over. A priceless gift freely given—how could he complain?
"Oh, and one more thing."
Ranni turned suddenly and drifted toward another shelf. From it, she drew a small, ornate coffer, inlaid with gemstones and gold.
Lucian blinked in surprise. Another treasure?
He nearly laughed aloud at himself. He had once teased that Ranni would be too poor to bring dowry should she marry. How mistaken he had been. She was wealthy beyond measure.
She returned to him, lifted the lid, and golden light spilled forth, flooding the cavern with brilliance.
Inside lay a pile of Rune Arcs—curved shards shining like fragments of crescent moons.
Lucian's eyes widened. By a rough count, there were at least thirteen or fourteen pieces within.
"Thou hast already laid Godrick low, and claimed his Great Rune." Ranni said. "Yet to wield such a rune in its fullness, Rune Arcs are needful. In the days of the Shattering, I gathered many. After my brothers had filled theirs, these few remained. I wonder… shall they suffice to complete thine own?"
Lucian weighed the coffer. His Great Rune was already nearly filled, needing only a few more fragments. Even if the requirement proved greater than expected, this trove was more than enough.
With these, he could finally complete the Great Rune and awaken its true power.
He accepted the coffer without hesitation. They were allies now, bound to the same ship. His strength was hers to share. There was no reason for false courtesy.
"Perfect," he said. "This is exactly what I needed. I've already filled most of it, but there was a small gap I couldn't close. With these Rune Arcs, I should be able to complete it."
Ranni smiled faintly. "Then all the better. I look forward to beholding what power thy Great Rune shall unveil."
Lucian crushed the arcs one by one, their essence flowing into him, merging with the Great Rune within his body. Slowly, the vast crescent-shaped rune filled, piece by piece.
At last, with the ninth shard, it was whole.
The central ring of the Elden Ring itself stirred—and the true power of the Great Rune revealed itself to Lucian.
His expression, however, grew strangely complicated.
Ranni noticed at once. "What is it, then? What power doth it grant? Yet if thou wouldst keep it close, 'tis well enough…"
Lucian shook his head. There was no reason to hide it, not when she had provided the means to unlock it.
"It is… Blessing."
Ranni froze. "A Blessing, sayest thou? Dost thou mean, the very same blessing of which I think?"
Lucian inclined his head. "Yes. I can bestow blessings, just as Queen Marika once did upon her warriors."
For once, Ranni's composure shattered. Her eyes widened in shock.
It was blessing that had allowed the Golden Order to triumph. With Marika's hand, blessed warriors became nigh invincible. Ordinary soldiers healed from wounds in battle; heroes rose to even greater heights. That power had swept aside all rivals and made the Erdtree's law supreme.
"To think… it is in sooth a blessing…" Ranni whispered. "No wonder, then, that Godrick's Great Rune was held as central."
But as swiftly as realization came, so too did understanding. Lucian's troubled look now made sense.
For though blessing was mighty, it required fuel. Marika had drawn upon the endless grace of the Erdtree, pouring its bounty over her armies. Lucian had no such fountain to draw from.
In the Lands Between, every living thing bore the Erdtree's blessing. But for a Tarnished, grace was faint, nearly gone. To spread blessing himself, Lucian would have to burn his own runes.
And how many spare runes could a Tarnished afford?
Yes, the ability was powerful beyond question. Lucian could bless anyone under his command, of any race or kind—so long as they bore not the madness of the Frenzied Flame. Tarnished without grace could see it again; those who had never known it could be granted its light for the first time. He could even pour runes into a single individual, raising them to monstrous heights. With enough, he could elevate the Storm Knights to rival the Night's Cavalry themselves.
In truth, aside from lacking the Erdtree's grace, Lucian now possessed nearly all the abilities of Marika's blessing.
But the cost… was runes. Always runes.
With limitless supply, this was the greatest Great Rune of them all. With it, he could recreate Marika and Godfrey's conquest—an army made unstoppable, victory inevitable. For it was blessing that had been the very foundation of the Golden Order, the root of every Site of Grace across the realm.
Yet Lucian's reality was harsher.
He scarcely had enough runes to strengthen himself. How could he lavish them upon an army? Without the Erdtree's bounty, blessing was a burden more than a gift. To wield it fully, he would first need to claim the Erdtree itself.
But by then, he would already have defeated Radagon and the Elden Beast. What use was it afterward? Raise an army to sail beyond the Lands Between? It seemed absurd.
Until he solved the matter of rune expenditure, the power of blessing was a double-edged gift. For now, he would grant it only sparingly, to trusted retainers as a safeguard. Unless he discovered some substitute for the Erdtree's grace, he would not squander his runes.
From all he knew of the Lands Between, such a thing did not exist.
Ranni, meanwhile, was thinking quickly. His revelation had solved many mysteries that had long plagued her.
"Lucian. If thy Great Rune holdeth the power of blessing, then reason would suggest the runes neighboring it may share its aspect. Such a power cannot be bound within a lone fragment."
"In the days of the Shattering, there arose in Leyndell a figure most mysterious—the so-called Grace Given Lord. Since he reigned o'er the capital, his Great Rune must needs have been counted among the central. I deem his gift to have mirrored thine own. For beneath his command, the soldiers of Leyndell waxed ever stronger."
She paused, recalling further. "And then, in that war, the Night's Cavalry came forth. Heroes in might they were, yet never had such a force been spoken of in the capital before. I understood it not… until now. If that king's Great Rune bore the selfsame power of blessing, then with the Erdtree at his back, he could well have raised them from naught."
Lucian frowned. The logic was sound.
Blessing in its entirety, bound in one rune, did seem too much. Morgott and Mohg, too, possessed central Great Runes. That their powers included blessing, in part, was reasonable.
Morgott's vast Night's Cavalry—could they have been born not of mere training, but blessing itself? His defense of Leyndell had been desperate, nearly broken, until his arrival. Then the tide turned, the army not only holding but pressing the Volcano Manor. Strategy alone could not explain it.
As for Mohg, he had his accursed blood-rites, reshaping his servants into omen-born horrors sprouting horns. Perhaps the Mother of Truth played her part—but perhaps, too, his Great Rune had lent its hidden blessing.
"Ranni," Lucian said at last, "how much do you truly know of the Great Runes?"
She folded her arms, thoughtful. He was right to ask. She had studied them long and deeply, though their nature was far from simple.
At last she spoke, careful to make her words plain.
"Great Runes are not born solely of the shattering of the Elden Ring. Nay, laws themselves are wrought of them—each fragment a rule that doth shape the world. Whate'er world a law declareth, it is founded upon these runes.
In the age of the Golden Order, thy rune was its very heart. Yet beneath another law, another rune might well hold the place of center.
My mother's rune… and the Rune of Death, kept by Maliketh, were ne'er a part of the Golden Order's Elden Ring. When the Ring was broken, all law was unmade, and the runes returned to their state of being.
But the Greater Will, through its Two Fingers, would not suffer such chaos. And so were the runes placed in the hands of the demigods, that one among them might arise as Elden Lord.
Yet in the end… all was for naught. The Shattering brought forth no king."