elden ring World, The Lands Between.
Tarnished Xia Yu silently felt the spiritual power within his body; with the stacking of various powers, he had long ceased to be the simple mage he was at the start.
Yes, he was now a "stitched-together monstrosity," and these powers were perfectly fused without any conflict, as the source of these powers was ultimately himself.
Now that his study of glintstone Sorcery was nearly complete, it was time to push the plot forward.
The other two who belonged to Soulslike games had already progressed to their second or even third bosses; meanwhile, he hadn't even fought Margit the Fell Omen yet. This wouldn't do.
Although Xia Yu's original plan was to get his hands on the Moonveil Katana first, now that he shared the Foundation Establishment Realm from Cultivator Xia Yu, there was no rush to get it.
After all, the world of "do you want to cultivate immortality" had plenty of Dharma treasures, and there were also various weapons provided by soul knight.
If soul knight could drop the "One Punch" divine weapon, he would even dare to challenge Radahn right now. Under one punch, who could remain undefeated!
But for now, forget it; he was still in the early stages, so he would take it slow.
As for the Moonveil Katana, he would pick it up when he participated in Radahn's Festival of Combat, and stop by the Cathedral of Dragon Communion in Caelid while he was at it.
Although he didn't have a Dragon Heart yet, hunting a dragon when the time came wasn't out of the question.
As for the risk of turning into a Magma Wyrm from having too much dragon power? That wasn't a problem at all; at worst, he would just stuff the excess dragon power into a Red Envelope.
But that was for later; for now, he needed to stay grounded and go seize his first shard of the elden ring.
Thinking this, Xia Yu stood up from the square table in front of him, which was still covered with many sorcery books and a sorcery scroll.
That was a scroll from the Carian Royal Family—the leaders of the Raya Lucaria Academy.
He had found this scroll south of Agheel Lake in Limgrave, where Godrick's army was stationed, seemingly at war with barbarians.
The Lands Between was home to many races, not just the Golden Lineage of the Queen, but also the Ancestral Followers, Misbegotten, Demi-Humans, Trolls, Barbarians, and more.
There were constant wars between these races; at the beginning of the elden ring's existence, everyone bathed in the radiance of the erdtree, so there were no conflicts.
But the moment the elden ring shattered, the Shattering—a war that lasted centuries—began, a disaster that swept across the entire Lands Between.
There were no winners, only losers.
The one that suffered the most was the land itself, The Lands Between.
Races that could once coexist peacefully also engaged in long-lasting wars; even now, war still filled this land.
Stormveil Castle served as a border fortress, constantly resisting the incursions of these barbarians. Godrick's soldiers were also stationed in various parts of the land to fight them... Sellen was sitting at another square table, with a piece of glintstone that had turned grey and white before her.
As a glintstone Sorcerer dedicated to pursuing the Primeval Current, she studied constantly; despite already having the title of Witch, she still behaved like an apprentice.
And the reason Xia Yu knew this was naturally—
"My apprentice, do you have any more novel ideas today?"
Sellen lifted her head, which was almost always hunched over the table, and looked at Xia Yu standing before her.
She was very satisfied with this apprentice because he often proposed ideas that even she found amazing.
If it weren't for the fact that his knowledge of glintstone Sorcery was far too shallow, she might have been the one learning from him instead of teaching him.
Nevertheless, Sellen discussed the feasibility of magic with Xia Yu as an equal, never acting condescendingly as a teacher.
Hearing Teacher Sellen's words, Xia Yu took a deep breath and said seriously, "I'm sorry, Teacher, but I have to leave for a while."
"Hmm?"
Sellen was taken aback, but she quickly remembered her apprentice's identity.
A Tarnished.
Even a witch like her, who stayed in a cave silently researching magic, had heard of the mission of the Tarnished. Thus, she reacted quickly.
"Are you going to challenge the Demigods, my apprentice?"
Xia Yu nodded silently. Seeing this, Sellen said no more and simply bid him farewell.
"Good luck. If your strength is insufficient, you are always welcome to return here and learn."
"Yes... Teacher, could I ask a favor of you?"
Just as Sellen thought her apprentice would leave silently, Xia Yu suddenly spoke. Hearing this, Sellen looked up in confusion.
"It's about the soul magic I mentioned before."
Hearing this term, Sellen realized what he meant. Although soul magic was very rare in The Lands Between, it wasn't non-existent.
Whether it was Ranni attaching her soul to a doll or Sellen binding her own soul to a Primal glintstone, these were all applications of soul magic.
Thus, Sellen wasn't surprised that her apprentice knew about soul magic; she just couldn't understand why Xia Yu was bringing it up now.
"What about soul magic?"
Hearing Sellen's question, Xia Yu smiled silently. Her asking meant she wasn't entirely uninterested in soul magic. If she was interested, things would be easy.
He couldn't stop Sellen from pursuing Primeval Sorcery; after all, it was her life's pursuit. Stopping her would be equivalent to denying her entire life.
This wasn't a good choice, and forcibly twisting Teacher Sellen's will wasn't what he wanted either.
But he also wanted to avoid Teacher Sellen's eventual fate of turning into a ball. In that case, he might as well give her a "preventative shot" in advance.
If he let Teacher Sellen know he was interested in soul magic now, it would be normal for him to extract a soul later.
When the time came, he could directly strip Sellen's soul from the Graven-School Mass and place it in a new body, allowing her to be reborn!
It was easier said than done, of course; the actual operation would certainly not be that simple.
So he also needed to research it first, and right now, he happened to have a witch teacher whose magical knowledge far surpassed his own.
"It's like this: I happened to obtain a scroll regarding soul magic a few days ago."
As Xia Yu spoke, he took out an exquisite scroll. This was a document recording soul magic from the Dark Souls World.
In the Soul World, life originated from the soul; therefore, soul research in that world was top-tier. Unfortunately, Ashen Xia Yu had yet to meet his own magic teacher and only knew some Miracles and Pyromancies.
Sellen curiously took the scroll Xia Yu offered. After opening it and scanning it, her expression gradually became serious.
"My apprentice, you've certainly brought me a difficult problem." Putting down the scroll, Sellen sighed, "But since you've asked me, I will do my best to decipher it. Soul magic... it feels quite interesting."
Hearing this, Xia Yu breathed a silent sigh of relief. Fortunately, Teacher Sellen hadn't refused; otherwise, his translation efforts would have been in vain.
Luckily, their memories could be integrated and synchronized, so he didn't have to learn the script of the Dark Souls World all over again.
Having handed over the soul magic scroll, there were no other issues. After bidding farewell to Teacher Sellen, Xia Yu left the basement.
Outside, the dead Miranda Sprouts had long since rotted into fertilizer; perhaps before long, new Miranda Sprouts would absorb these nutrients and grow once more.
After summoning Torrent, Xia Yu rode straight toward the nearest site of grace.
Since he had decided to find Margit the Fell Omen to test his current strength, he stopped taking detours and headed straight for Stormveil Castle.
Warping between sites of grace was very convenient; just a moment later, Xia Yu appeared at the Stormhill site of grace.
Stormhill was still buffeted by the never-ending gales, and the small shack standing on the distant plain remained sturdy, unyielding to the storm.
After a moment's thought, Xia Yu walked over.
But before he even entered, the sound of intermittent sobbing reached his ears on the breeze.
"..."
Hearing that familiar sobbing, Xia Yu facepalmed in exasperation. No way, are you really like an NPC, just staying here forever if the plot doesn't progress?
No, as a heartwarming big brother, he had to make Rodrika pull herself together.
At that thought, Xia Yu rubbed his face, put on an angry expression, drew two straight swords, and strode toward the shack.
Catching sight of the small figure in the red hood, Xia Yu gathered his breath and shouted loudly.
"Stop crying! If you keep crying, I'll beat you!"
The sudden shout startled Rodrika, who let out a soft cry; her body went limp, and she didn't even dare look up at the newcomer.
Seeing this, Xia Yu nodded with satisfaction. This trick really worked; it immediately made little red Hood forget to keep crying.
However, seeing little red Hood still weakly hanging her head, Xia Yu shook his head inwardly. This wouldn't do; she didn't even have the courage to look up.
As a heartwarming big brother, he should use words to encourage poor little red Hood.
*Thump!*
"What? You dare ignore me? Not giving me any face, are you!"
Xia Yu stomped his foot hard, making the dilapidated wooden shack seem to tremble, which caused Rodrika to shrink back even more pitifully.
But soon, Rodrika realized the words sounded familiar; it seemed not long ago, a strange "good person" had shouted at her like this too.
Thinking of this, Rodrika peeked up. Seeing that it really was Xia Yu, she revealed a smile.
"Mr. Xia Yu..."
But seeing Xia Yu's face full of rage, her voice trailed off, unsure of how to speak.
Mr. Xia Yu seemed angry; what should she do? Should she still greet him?
Xia Yu didn't think that much. Seeing Rodrika recognize him, he sat down casually and stared at her without a word.
The atmosphere grew tense. Being stared at like that, Rodrika was at a loss, wanting to say something but not knowing how to start.
Seeing the tension rising, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and speak: "Mr. Xia Yu, long time no see..."
"Why are you still here crying?"
"Huh?"
"I asked why you are still crying!"
Now, Rodrika seemed to understand why Mr. Xia Yu was angry; he was angry on her behalf.
At this thought, Rodrika opened her mouth to explain, but she found there seemed to be nothing to explain.
She could only lower her head in silence, quietly waiting for Xia Yu's criticism.
It felt like everything was piling up today; she was going to die...