Arthur was a little disappointed. Turns out he really did have to get to Caria Manor and the Three Sisters to properly start Ranni's questline.
Still, it wasn't a big deal—he hadn't even killed the Tree Sentinel yet.
At least he'd already taken out the Grafted Scion and farmed through Gatefront Ruins, stockpiling enough runes to level up five times in a row. Naturally, he dumped them all into Mind. As for the rest of his stats? Well, that's what the "Twelve Trials" trait was for—getting beaten up until the numbers went up.
First rule of being a gamer: before you fight, get your gear.
And Arthur had his eyes on a certain broken starter weapon: the Meteorite Staff.
He still remembered how painful his first Elden Ring playthrough was—dying on repeat until he rage-quit and googled "best mage weapon early." The moment he learned about the staff and Rock Sling? Absolute game-changer.
So this time, he was going straight for it.
Riding south toward Dragon-Burnt Ruins, Arthur casually nuked mobs with Glintstone Pebbles and Glintstone Arcs, harvesting runes as he went. Unlike in the game, his mana slowly regenerated on its own—and thanks to the Twelve Trials, it came back faster the longer he fought. He hadn't touched a single flask since logging in.
Everything was going perfectly… except something was nagging at him.
"Wait… what did I forget?" he muttered.
"Staff… Rock Sling… Dragon-Burnt Ruins… dragon…"
His face was drained of color.
"Sh*t. The dragon!"
The sky darkened. A furnace-hot wind slammed into his back.
"DAMN IT—Agheel, you overgrown lizard!"
In the game, Flying Dragon Agheel only spawned when you wandered into its arena. But in real life, the Elden Ring? Yeah, dragons actually fly around looking for food.
A tidal wave of fire swept the wetlands, cutting off all vision. His health bar melted. Arthur bolted on Torrent, scrambling for his life.
Halfway through, though… something felt off.
"…Wait a sec. Why does this not hurt as much anymore?"
His HP drain slowed. By the time he reached the fire's edge, it was barely ticking like a poison debuff.
"Oh. Right. Twelve Trials. Why am I running again?"
Grinning, he chugged a Crimson Flask, wheeled Torrent around, and spotted Agheel looming ahead, waiting to feed.
"Sorry, big guy. Dinner's canceled."
A Glintstone Arc slashed across the dragon's wing. Arthur locked on, spamming spells at its joints—cripple the wings, keep it grounded.
Agheel roared, slamming claws down, but Arthur rolled under its belly.
"Heh. Big target, weak underbelly. Classic."
Pebble. Arc. Pebble. Arc.
Spells hammered its scales in rapid fire. Agheel tried to take flight, but its injured wings couldn't carry it.
Every time the beast opened its maw for dragonfire, Arthur shoved a Glintstone combo straight down its throat.
Minutes later, the flying terror of Limgrave collapsed in the mud with a pathetic groan.
Arthur, panting, immediately tested his theory. He reached out and—
Schwip!
The corpse blinked out of reality, reappearing in his inventory.
"Yessss! I knew it!"
He'd already asked the system why enemies disappeared in this world. The answer: their souls returned to the Erdtree, leaving behind items as a sort of divine drop table.
But Arthur had something no other Tarnished did: a system backpack that intercepted those corpses before the Erdtree could recycle them. Which meant…
A full dragon corpse, stashed in his bag.
He chuckled darkly. "This baby is worth a fortune in the wizarding world. One trip to Diagon Alley and I'll be filthy rich."
[System Notice: To extract game items into reality, Host must spend manifestation charges.]
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just peel out the heart for now—I need it for Dragon Communion."
[Command received. Dragon Heart obtained.]
"Oh, and where's my achievement reward? I just killed a dragon, you know."
[...]
[Achievement Unlocked: Dragon Slayer]
[Reward: Title — Dragonslayer (Increases damage to dragons by +10%, Upgradeable 1/10).]
Arthur's eyes gleamed.
If one dragon gave this much… What about a whole graveyard of them?
For now, though, he reined himself in. Caelid's Dragonbarrow wasn't going anywhere.
He pressed on to the Ruins trap, warped into Caelid, grabbed the Meteorite Staff, Rock Sling, and Traveler's set. With a grin, he dunked himself in the Scarlet Rot swamp to grind resistance.
Hours later, soaked in corruption, stats skyrocketed:
Vigor: 47
Mind: 28
Intelligence: 36
Not bad for a day's work. He briefly considered diving into Mt. Gelmir to "bathe in magma for fire resistance," but decided against it. One power trip at a time.
Logging out, Arthur lay in bed, pulling up his system panel:
Host: Arthur
Talents: Extraordinary Aptitude, Twelve Trials, External Avatar
Stats (IRL): Vigor 28 | Mind 15 | Intelligence 10 (Fresh Graduate Wizard Standard)
Game: Elden Ring
Manifestations Remaining: 4
Inventory: Flying Dragon Agheel's Corpse
He stared at the dragon corpse entry, torn. Should he cash it out now or wait for something rarer?
Then an idea hit him.
"Hey, system. What if I manifested the entire inventory?"
The system froze.
[…Host's brain must be overheating.]
[Analyzing…]
[Inventory detected as a unique Host artifact. Fusion with system backpack possible. However, due to item categorization, only one tab can be manifested per attempt.]
[Tabs: Consumables / Materials / Spells / Ashes / Weapons / Armor / Key Items]
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "You're just trying to scam me into burning more charges, aren't you?"
[Who's scamming who here?!]
Rolling his eyes, he decided. "Fine. Materials and Weapons first."
[-2 Manifestations. Fusion complete.]
The dragon corpse gleamed in his material tab, safe and sound. Arthur's smile widened.
"Tomorrow, Diagon Alley. Step one to becoming stupidly rich."
That night, he dreamed of selling Elden Ring loot to Gringotts, rising to power, marrying Hermione, and becoming the greatest legend the wizarding world had ever known.