The wandering merchant certainly knew how to make conversation. He recounted the entire story to Fang Zheng like a storyteller, and from Gael's account, Fang Zheng finally understood the background of this world.
Simply put, this world had originally been ruled by the Golden Law and the Elden Ring. But later, the Elden Ring shattered, and its fragments were seized by the demigod descendants. In order to reforge the ring and claim dominion over the region known as The Lands Between, they began fighting one another in a struggle for supremacy.
As for those neither-human-nor-ghost things Fang Zheng had seen, they were also a consequence of the Elden Ring's shattering. According to the Golden Law, after those blessed by the Golden Tree died, their souls returned to the Golden Tree before being born from it anew. But with the ring shattered and the laws thrown into chaos, those who had received the blessing became trapped in between—put simply, they were much like the undead Fang Zheng had encountered in the City of the Dead at the third coordinate point. Neither born nor dead, neither alive nor truly deceased. Thus, people gradually went mad. Aside from a handful who barely retained their sanity, most became warmly welcoming lunatics—meaning that the moment they saw you, they wanted to rush over and give you a loving hug.
But honestly, Fang Zheng had no interest in any of that. Runes, Rings, whatever—he couldn't care less. There was only one thing he wanted to know.
"Flames. I want to know whether this place has any legends about flames, or... seals of some kind?"
"..."
At Fang Zheng's question, Gael fell silent for a moment.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Fine. Perhaps we'll discuss this again someday."
Seeing that Gael did not want to