elden ring World, Gatefront.
Tarnished Xia Yu sat by the site of grace to rest and chatted in the Chat Group. Of course, from an outsider's perspective, he was just sitting there in a daze.
"Hmm, psychokinesis?"
After chatting for a while, Xia Yu's consciousness left the Chat Group and returned to reality.
Although he could multitask, his world wasn't exactly safe. He had to stay fully alert; only by sitting next to a site of grace could he rest peacefully.
The vicinity of a site of grace was like an absolute safe zone. As long as he entered its range, the site of grace would mask his presence, preventing enemies from discovering him.
Xia Yu casually pulled out a throwing knife and attached his mental energy to it. Under the power of his strong mental energy, the throwing knife seemed to be picked up by an invisible hand.
With a whoosh, the throwing knife flew out fiercely, embedding itself deep into the nearby stone wall in the blink of an eye.
"It's a decent method for a sneak attack."
After pulling the knife out with psychokinesis, Xia Yu stared at the hole in the stone wall. This level of damage was okay for minor mobs, but for powerful enemies, it probably wouldn't do much.
"Forget it, forget it. Improving my own raw strength is the most practical thing."
After retrieving the throwing knife, Xia Yu picked up his Astrologer's Staff and stood up from the site of grace.
Now, it's hunting time!
A moment later... "Even though I knew this moment would come, it's a bit too fast."
Xia Yu knelt on the ground in a slumped posture, his voice filled with despair!
"I don't have enough experience to level up!!!"
That's right. As Xia Yu continued his killing spree, he suddenly realized that the Runes he obtained weren't enough to level up anymore.
As everyone knows, the 'Ten-Mile Slope Sword God' can only be achieved in old games. In modern games, the experience required for leveling up grows almost exponentially.
Even though the experience needed for level one was only a few dozen, after level ten, it jumped to thousands or tens of thousands. Once past level one hundred, it would take hundreds of thousands of experience points to level up again.
Xia Yu was facing this exact situation now. Although the Runes provided by the mobs at Gatefront hadn't decreased, his requirements had increased.
Originally, killing them all once would provide enough Runes to strengthen himself, but now he needed to kill them ten times over to gather enough Runes.
If it weren't for the golden order's refusal of death—where mobs would respawn with Runes shortly after being killed—he probably wouldn't have been able to keep grinding here.
The elden ring World has a type of law called the golden order, which is the foundation for the world's operation.
There is no death in the golden order, hence no concept of death. Therefore, those killed mobs aren't truly dead; when Runes descend again, the killed mobs will be resurrected.
This was why Xia Yu could farm Runes. However, now the experience the mobs could provide had finally reached its limit. He had to move toward stronger targets.
"But before I leave, there are still some things to get."
Xia Yu looked toward the distant horizon. If he remembered correctly, it should be in that direction. Someone was waiting for him there.
After summoning the spectral steed Torrent with the spectral steed whistle, Xia Yu flipped onto its back and galloped in that direction.
As a spectral steed, Torrent naturally excelled in speed. Riding atop Torrent, Xia Yu felt as if he were in a fast car, yet without the fierce wind hitting his face.
As expected of a spectral steed that can double jump; it's much better than a certain 'Power' man.
Vergil is furious!
"Whinny~"
After a while, Torrent came to a stop with a snort. They had reached the destination.
"Thanks for the hard work, Torrent."
Xia Yu patted Torrent's neck, and Torrent affectionately nuzzled Xia Yu's palm.
Then, Torrent directly turned into a blue soul mist and returned to the spectral steed whistle along with a light breeze. Xia Yu landed on the ground.
"It's already dark."
Landing, Xia Yu looked at the darkening sky with some emotion. Indeed, reality is reality, and a game is a game. In the game, it takes less than a minute to get here from Gatefront, but in reality, it took a full half-day of hard riding, even with Torrent.
Although he could have teleported directly from the site of grace at Gatefront to the one here.
But since the opportunity was rare, he naturally wanted to see this land with his own eyes—this place known as The Lands Between.
"Hmm? Did she notice I'm here?"
Xia Yu looked at the light blue mist spreading around and immediately reacted. The person he wanted to see had arrived. However, the other party wanted to see him as well.
Following the traces of mist into the ruined church, Xia Yu scanned the area and spotted a petite figure sitting on the ruins.
It was a blue, four-armed doll wearing a snow-white witch's set, draped in a fluffy fur-lined robe, and wearing a large, pointed white floppy hat.
The doll seemed to notice Xia Yu's gaze. She turned her head and spoke in a cool, feminine voice: "Tarnished, come hither."
"Shall we have a word?"
"Who are you?"
As Xia Yu walked over, he secretly used the Chat Group's built-in camera function to take photos. This was his first meeting with his wife Ranni; he definitely had to record it.
[elden ring]: image.jpg
[elden ring]: image.jpg
...[dark souls iii]: For Ranni, I become a werewolf~ For Ranni, I've caught the madness~
[elden ring]: For Ranni, I put on a thick... Bah! Get lost! I almost started singing along!
"Hmm?"
Ranni looked at the suddenly muttering Xia Yu with some confusion, but she continued her introduction.
"A pleasure to meet thee, Tarnished. I am the witch Renna. I'd heard of a Tarnished traveling with a spectral steed, and so I sought thee out. It seems it was indeed thee."
"That spectral steed named Torrent—thou canst summon him, canst thou not?"
Hearing Ranni's question, Xia Yu shifted his focus back to her. At this point, it was their first meeting, so she was hiding her true name.
"Yes, I can indeed summon Torrent."
Xia Yu gestured to the spectral steed whistle on his finger, which made Ranni smile slightly.
"Mm. 'Tis well."
"I have a gift for thee. It was entrusted to me by Torrent's former master."
As she spoke, Ranni suddenly produced a bell and a small stone box out of thin air and handed them to Xia Yu.
Seeing this, although Xia Yu was excited inside, he suppressed his expression. He finally got it—the strongest equipment in the game, the spirit calling bell.
This bell functioned differently from the spectral steed whistle. If the whistle was the best travel gear, the spirit calling bell was the best support gear.
"That item is called the spirit calling bell. It allows thee to summon spirits from special ashes—spirits that have not yet returned to the erdtree."
Seeing the Tarnished before her examining the spirit calling bell and the box of ashes, Ranni explained further.
"The summoned spirits will recognize thee as their master and aid thee in battle. The stone box I gave thee contains the ashes of three lone wolves; thou canst summon them to assist thee."
"...Mm. Use them as thou seest fit."
Having finished, Ranni's figure gradually became translucent, as if about to dissipate into blue particles of light.
"Tarnished, I have troubled thee. I doubt we shall meet again. Savour the taste of The Lands Between."
No, we're getting married later. You're speaking too soon, Xia Yu complained in his mind, rolling his eyes.
"I am curious—how long will you Tarnished remain obedient to the Two Fingers?"
"I only obey myself. Also, my name is Xia Yu!"
Taking advantage of the last moment before Ranni vanished, Xia Yu spoke those words.
The moment the words fell, Ranni's body had completely transformed into blue particles of light and drifted away in the wind.
But at the moment the blue glow completely vanished, Xia Yu seemed to hear a soft chuckle and a cool, feminine voice.
"I shall remember..."
Ranni, my love for you is like dry wood meeting fire.
For the sake of your "lend me thy hand," I would gladly die. Simply because you said I cannot refuse. I've been jumping up and down from the heavens to the underground for you, cleaning up the messes left by demigods, and grinding in dungeons all day long to kill copy-pasted enemies... all because you make me feel needed (﹃).
I've hacked my way from Caelid to the Altus Plateau. If staves could get chipped, mine would be a chainsaw by now. I've been killing miners for ten years; my heart is hotter than the frenzied flame. Ranni, I love you so much. For you, I will bring about the Age of Stars (*﹃*).