The Dark Moon Greatsword in her right hand—a dowry from her wife Ranni—the Lusat's Glintstone Staff in her left, and the Crucible Knight set on her body... wasn't this her loadout before entering the DLC?
Xia Yu looked over her equipment, then removed her helmet, revealing long black hair.
As expected, it was the Tarnished she had customized herself.
This body was different from Furina's. Furina only had a Hydro Vision, but the Tarnished's physical capabilities were abundant. After sensing it carefully, she realized she could swap through a series of sorceries, incantations, and various weapons and armor instantly just by thinking of them... Just by standing there, she cycled through everything from the Carian Knight set to the Banished Knight set.
The body was also strong and powerful, unlike Furina's weakling physique. She could swing colossal swords with one hand and possessed ample mana. Combined with the recovery from the Crimson and Cerulean Flasks, Xia Yu felt she could bulldoze through an entire army!
'Wait, in a different world without Sites of Grace, how do the flasks refill?' She instinctively pulled the small red bottle from her waist... this thing...
Then, an instinctive guidance appeared from within. A golden Grace emerged from her hand, enveloping the flask.
'So that is how they refill? But why is the power flowing out of my own body?'
She inspected her body again but found no abnormalities until a warm current surfaced once more, leading her to the source.
Inside her chest, a Gold Needle was inserted, yet she felt nothing, as if it had fused with her body.
'Oh crap, right, I went to the Frenzied Flame just to save Melina... Now the gear, spells, and incantations from the game are all here, even the needle. Then the Frenzied Flame...'
Her thoughts followed the warm current deep into her body. Sure enough, at the deepest part of her soul, a weak cluster of flame constantly emitted sparks.
But the most important thing wasn't the flame, but the familiar golden object above it... isn't this the Elden Ring?!
'Wait, I remember I chose the Age of Stars ending in my last playthrough? Why is the Ring inside me? Shouldn't it be in Ranni's hands?'
No wonder the Frenzied Flame was so well-behaved; she couldn't feel even a hint of discomfort. It turned out there was a big boss pressing down on it from above!
'But why does this Ring feel strange? Shouldn't it be radiant gold? Why is the color so dim? Don't tell me it's out of energy? Is it also in a weakened state?'
Looking at this body made up of various strange things, Xia Yu fell into deep thought.
She hoped this world would be a bit kinder. Otherwise, if misery and despair were shoved in her face at every turn, the Frenzied Flame might truly start "May Chaos Take the World."
Thinking of this, she looked up at the vast snowfield. With a thought, she instantly switched from the Tarnished to Furina.
"So cold!!!"
Leaving the thick armor and switching to Fontaine's elegant outfit, a lethal chill made her face turn green with cold. She immediately switched back.
After feeling the warmth brought by the heavy armor and the Tarnished's robust physique, Xia Yu tried again, wanting to switch to her original body.
But no matter what, there was no reaction.
'Can the original body only exist within the Shack?'
Becoming Furina was one thing, and she had chosen the Tarnished's gender herself so she couldn't blame anyone else, but this trend... 'Am I going to be female in every transformation from now on?'
Xia Yu's lip twitched, and she sighed.
It was useless to think so much now. She needed to figure out where she was first. As for the future... she would take it one step at a time.
Thinking of this, she instinctively blew the Spectral Steed Whistle. Torrent appeared amidst a flurry of starlight, immediately bowing his head to nuzzle Xia Yu's chest. Seeing this, Xia Yu instinctively reached out to stroke his broad jaw, occasionally curling her fingers to scratch him, while pulling out a handful of Rowa Raisins to feed him.
Torrent enjoyed the raisins, snorting as he shifted two steps to present his side to Xia Yu. Xia Yu instinctively stepped into the stirrup and swung onto the saddle. By the time she realized it, she was already firmly seated on Torrent's back.
'This... I originally wanted to try the reward, Archwing ITZAL. The Tarnished body should be able to handle it, but looking at Torrent, then at this blizzard...' Xia Yu followed her heart and chose to ride the pony.
When she was a child, riding on the back of her dad's motorcycle to the county town for a doctor's visit in the dead of winter had frozen her face stiff. The cold wind had whistled down her collar. Flying with ITZAL at near-sonic speeds in this weather... even with armor, she wouldn't be able to stand it. It wasn't fully enclosed like a Warframe.
She rode the pony, wandering across the snowfield. Above were continuous dark clouds; she couldn't even see the sun, let alone tell directions.
She could only pick a random direction and move forward.
But in this vast white snowfield, it felt the same no matter which way she went... Forget it. Xia Yu patted Torrent, letting him choose the path.
In the midst of the drifting snow, five days passed in a flash.
Xia Yu leaned against Torrent while biting into roasted venison, complaining about what kind of hellhole this place was.
Five days! A full five days! She hadn't seen a single person!
She had already followed her heart and swapped the Crucible Knight set for Blaidd's Set, using the Raging Wolf Helm for the head—prioritizing warmth.
It had to be said, Blaidd's fluffy Greatcloak was truly warm when wrapped around her.
It wasn't that there were no signs of civilization at all. She found massive tire tracks on the ground, proving this world had civilization, but where were the people?
The venison in her mouth was so hard to swallow. There were no seasonings at all... just pure fire-roasted, as natural as it gets.
Three days ago, she encountered a herd of deer. It had to be said, Night Shard was truly useful. Although it cost a bit of mana, she was now powered by the Elden Ring and didn't need to worry about that. No matter how those deer ran, they couldn't dodge the invisible shards coming from the front.
Night Shard was a Night Sorcery from Sellia, Town of Sorcery, specifically used for sneak attacks during internal mage wars. It was impossible to guard against.
Relying on this spell, she had five roughly processed adult deer in her inventory. She didn't know how to dress game, so she could only crudely gut them, bleed them, and stuff them into the inventory. She wasn't a professional.
Anyway, time inside was basically frozen. No matter when she took it out, it would be a hunk of fresh meat. She would just set up a fire and start roasting. If she couldn't find firewood, she used spells as a substitute.
No need to worry about preservation.
Speaking of this inventory, it didn't have many restrictions, much like in the game. But there was one catch: she needed to be switched to the Tarnished to use it; Furina couldn't access it.
Even so, it basically solved the problem of the Shack. It was just a bit troublesome that she could only take things out one by one.
She had also done many experiments over the past few days. For example, her envisioned "Infinite Comet Azur" was successfully realized. She would first swap between staves and sacred seals to layer buffs, drink a Cerulean Hidden Tear, and cast Comet Azur.
In the game, you can't drink potions while casting, but in reality, if she was casting with one hand, who cared what her other hand and mouth were doing? So she simply cast with her left hand while her right hand chugged the Cerulean Flask. When the flask was empty, she used the Elden Ring to replenish the Grace and kept chugging.
That day, a Comet Azur lasting a full five minutes pierced the clouds and churned the sky. She only stopped because she felt it was enough; otherwise, she could have looped that combo indefinitely.
Xia Yu took a bite of the gamey venison and thought gloomily, 'Sigh, if I don't find any sign of habitation today, I'll just take off with ITZAL.'
Mainly, she had flown a bit the previous days. The Tarnished physique was qualified to withstand the pressure of near-sonic flight, but that pounding freezing wind was truly unbearable. This godforsaken place was too cold.
After finishing the venison and extinguishing the campfire, she mounted Torrent again and let him pick a direction to continue.
From time to time, she leaned down to feed him a Rowa Raisin.
It had to be said, Torrent was truly useful—hardworking, carrying her hundred-plus pounds while running like the wind, and he could double jump!
As a spectral steed, he didn't actually need to eat; the raisins were just for his enjoyment.
She continued to wander the boundless snowfield.
Meanwhile, in a snow-covered forest not far away...
Alina clutched a basket of grain she had traded for, fleeing stumbling through the snow.
"Block her! We absolutely cannot let her escape back to the camp!" The three Infected behind her felt no less fear than she did. They were exiles who had been banished for stealing camp food. They happened to encounter Alina on her way back from trading for supplies, and seeing the food in her hands, they hatched the plan to kill her and take the goods.
But they also knew how much that Talulah valued Alina. If news got out that they had laid a hand on her, they would surely be burned to death!
"Damn it, I told you to relax a bit so she wouldn't notice, but you're useless!"
While running, the leader of the three still had the mind to scold his subordinate.
"And she actually got away!"
"I... I..." The subordinate was at a loss for words. He really didn't have the acting skills; his stammering had been seen through instantly.
"Hurry up!" The leader was still urging when he suddenly saw Alina trip into a snow pit and fall to the ground.
"Ha, got you at last!" The three panted as they caught up. Looking at Alina, whose leg was covered in blood, they said fiercely, "Let's see where you run now!"
"Hmph, that bitch Talulah, acting like such a good person. She claimed to spare our lives, but kicking us out in this frozen wasteland without giving us a thing is just sending us to our deaths!"
"It's lucky we caught you. We'll take the food in your hands as compensation."
"This is for the children!" Alina clutched the basket of food tightly. "You... you... the Guerrilla Shield gave you shelter! How could you..."
"Bah! What shelter!" The leader spat and cursed. "Controlling this and that... my dead parents didn't nag as much as you guys!"
"Big brother, let's just grab the stuff and run," his subordinate said, shrinking back. "I'm afraid Talulah will find us. You know how powerful her Arts are..."
"No, we can't just run," the leader's eyes darted around. He looked at the snow pit Alina had tripped over and reached out to pull out a sharp stone. It was stained with blood; it was what had just slashed Alina's leg.
"If we just take the stuff and run, she can still go back and tattle. If the Guerrilla Shield catches us then, we won't escape." He smiled cruelly, looking at Alina with the stone. "Maim her. Tear off an arm and a leg. When Talulah sees her in this state, will she still have the heart to chase us?"
All that talk was simply to incite his subordinates for the sake of venting his anger.
"You... you!" Alina didn't expect these three to be so insane.
"You two, each of you take a stone," the leader ignored her and looked at his two subordinates. "Number Two, go for her arm. Number Three, go for her leg. I see a gold ornament on her horn; I'll smash her horn off to take it. It might be worth some money."
"Okay, big brother." The two subordinates also picked up stones. They weren't good people to begin with, or they wouldn't have ended up together.
They slowly approached Alina with stones in hand. They had claimed to be in a hurry, but now they weren't; this was clearly about pure retaliation and savoring her despair.
Alina saw this and knew they didn't intend to let her go. She hadn't expected to die here...
Just then, the sound of a heavy object treading on snow echoed from a distance.
"Not good, someone's coming! Hurry!"
Hearing the sound, the leader didn't care anymore. He raised the sharp stone and lunged toward Alina. "The sound is still far. Smash her mouth first so she can't attract others!"
Seeing this, Alina opened her mouth to scream, but the leader was too close. The stone was about to come crashing down.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Xia Yu saw three men with weapons lunging at a girl with menacing faces. Was there any need to think about what to do?
She instinctively raised her staff. The combat memories left in the Tarnished body spontaneously drove her movements. Most spells wouldn't make it in time, but there was one spell that could arrive in an instant.
She only needed to control the range to avoid collateral damage to the girl. Her body's well-honed muscle memory told Xia Yu that controlling a spell was something she could do with ease!
No incantations needed, and dealing with a few common thugs required no fancy setups. A beam of azure light erupted directly from her raised staff, crossing a hundred meters in an instant to reach the target.
Alina's pupils reflected the distorted face of the Infected leader lunging at her. Her heart was filled with despair. In that moment, Talulah's silhouette surfaced in her mind.
'Ata, sorry, I can't stay with you...'
Before her thoughts could finish, a beam of azure light sliced through the sky and slammed heavily into the Infected leader.
From Alina's perspective on the ground, she could clearly see the body of the man lunging at her being hit by the azure pillar of light and disintegrating. His sneer remained on his face as if he hadn't yet realized his body was already dissolving. Then even that face, and the stone he held high, turned into fly ash under the wash of the light beam.
Thud.
In just an instant, the Infected leader's upper body vanished from the world, leaving only two thighs with charred cross-sections falling in front of Alina.
"AAAAAH!!!"
His two subordinates were a beat slower, so they didn't immediately become Xia Yu's targets and survived for the moment. But seeing their leader reduced to just two legs under that terrifying spell, they both began to scream.
But was screaming useful?
No.
Xia Yu simply waved her hand slightly. The beam of Comet Azur instantly blasted the two subordinates, sending them to the same fate as their leader.
The light beam didn't just disintegrate the three Infected; it also shattered a large tree behind Alina. The tree began to fall toward her. Seeing this, Xia Yu tilted her staff upward. It would be a joke if she saved someone only for them to be crushed by a tree.
The azure beam swallowed the entire trunk along its trajectory. Only after it sliced through the clouds did Xia Yu stop the spell.
Then she took out her Cerulean Flask and chugged.
Only then did she ride Torrent toward that direction.
Alina stared blankly at everything before her.
Crashing branches and snow fell on either side of her. Because she was lying on the ground, she wasn't affected by the spell, and she had witnessed the entire process of that azure beam's divine power.
First, it blasted three Infected scumbags, then it effortlessly reduced a tree trunk that two men couldn't encircle to ash. Countless branches and snow fell around her.
Alina struggled to stand and looked ahead.
A figure riding a steed (actually not) and wearing vintage armor was slowly approaching.
She carried a greatsword on her shoulder and a staff in her left hand, walking toward her one step at a time.
She looked down at her.
Silently.
Alina's heart was very apprehensive. Mainly, this look was a bit strange; even knights in the countryside had abandoned this traditional attire nowadays.
The reason Xia Yu was silent was that she saw the horns on Alina's head.
And this girl looked quite familiar.
"Lord, thank you for saving my life," Alina struggled to stand and offered her thanks. Regardless, the other person had saved her life.
Xia Yu looked at her ankle, where a gruesome wound was still bleeding.
Seeing this, she swapped the Dark Moon Greatsword in her right hand for the Golden Order Seal and cast Blessing of the Erdtree.
Mainly, recovery incantations restored HP in the game, and Xia Yu wasn't sure if they healed physical wounds in reality. So she used a blessing; even if it couldn't fix the wound, it would continuously restore health and help her hold on.
But the effect was clearly delightful. Under Alina's shocked gaze, golden light accompanied by a sigil enveloped the area. She felt a surge of warmth through her body, and the weakness caused by blood loss vanished instantly. Even the wound on her leg gradually healed.
"Thank you, Lord!" She bowed her head to Xia Yu again in gratitude.
"No need to thank me." Hearing this, Xia Yu asked, "Your name."
She kept thinking the girl looked familiar, but she couldn't quite remember for a moment.
But Alina froze upon hearing her voice. She looked up at Xia Yu on Torrent. Was there actually a woman beneath that hulking armor?
"Alina, Lord," she answered. "My name is Alina."
'Oh boy.'
Hearing this name, Xia Yu first froze, then fell silent.
Terra... No, man, can this get any more坑? According to the Anchor's description, she was bound to this world and needed to return often.
But is this a place for humans to stay? Don't let the surface fool you; it seems like a plain post-apocalyptic setting, but think about it: what turned a civilization like the Precursors—who spanned star systems and had tech advanced enough to interfere with causality and time—into a post-apocalypse?
Are the Observers something a normal person can fight? Even an Emanator from Honkai: Star Rail might not be able to handle them!
According to Arknights lore, Priestess's first meeting with the Doctor was when she threw her consciousness beacon into a planet's atmosphere during her leisure time, surfing around the planet with gravity over and over. Then the passing Doctor thought a compatriot had met with an accident and performed an emergency salvage. That was their first meeting.
What were the Doctor's usual hobbies? Projecting their consciousness to any primitive civilization outside a distant star system to become one of them, participating in their sacrifices and lives, just for leisure research and relaxation.
What is Originium? Initially, it was just a language developed by the Doctor and Priestess, a language used to communicate with all things. It was only because the Observers arrived too suddenly that it was emergency-modified into its current mode using results from other plans.
It can even constitute an inner universe where all consciousness swallowed by it will live forever—well, permanently frozen in Priestess's eyes also counts as continuing to exist. At least it's better than civilization ceasing to exist after the arrival of the Observers, who are called "Lumberjacks."
Even a civilization of that height was beaten to pieces by the Observers. In fact, the Observers probably didn't even specifically target them; wherever their gaze passed, civilization naturally collapsed.
Otherwise, people like Priestess wouldn't be so desperate. If the Observers truly had a physical form that could be defeated, then gathering the strength of the entire universe might offer a glimmer of hope. You should know, in this universe, the Precursors weren't the only ones beaten down.
But there truly isn't any hope. Countless advanced civilizations are blown away like fragile grains of sand before the Observers... Priestess was so desperate that she hardened her heart to execute the Originium Plan.
At the very least, she had to leave something behind for civilization, even if it was just a tombstone.
If there were even a shred of hope, with their abilities, they wouldn't have lived like this.
And now, she was bound to this universe. Which meant, from today on, the Observers were also the Damocles' sword hanging over her head.
'Damn!'
'Could you not have given me Stardew Valley? Wouldn't a happy, harmonious, and healing journey be better?!'
Alina watched the knight before her fall silent after hearing her name, her heart drumming with anxiety.
'What should I do? Am I a wanted person? That shouldn't be right... there are so many people in the Guerrilla Shield, why would they want a simple teacher like me?'
'Is this leaving the tiger's mouth only to enter the wolf's den?'
Meanwhile, Xia Yu sighed wearily, dismounted, stowed her weapons, and handed her a handful of Rowa Raisins.
"Eat something first to calm your nerves."
Seeing this, Torrent nudged her lower back with his head in dissatisfaction.
'How can you give my rations to someone else to eat?'
'There's no other choice,' Xia Yu looked back at him. She didn't have anything else on her.
That pile of venison without any seasoning made her feel miserable even eating it herself.