I Have to Survive

Death was a heavy subject. People always believed it was far away from them, but when death truly descended upon them, they realized in shock just how suddenly it had arrived.

Lucian was just an ordinary person. Although his parents had divorced early and each started new families, they had humanely left him a small apartment. Raised healthily with the support of relatives, he attended an unremarkable university and, after graduating, found an easy job close to home that required almost no interaction with others. The pay was not high, but the hours were short, leaving him plenty of time to play games after work.

Since he did not need to pay rent, he had gradually saved up quite a bit of money. Aside from everyday expenses for food and clothing, nearly all of it went toward gaming. By his twenty-eighth birthday, he had acquired most gaming equipment, such as an Xbox and PS, and turned his bedroom into a gaming room.

Naturally, he had installed a brain-computer interface as soon as it appeared. Unfortunately, it was also because of that interface that his life had ended at twenty-nine.

Because of his childhood family circumstances, Lucian had turned to games for comfort at an early age. Whenever something happened in his life, he would hide in virtual game worlds to seek shelter. The virtual world was where he belonged—or so he had once believed.

It was not as though he had never imagined death, but he had never expected it to come this way, at this moment, so suddenly.

"Please... whoever you are, just let me go back..."

Yet the Chapel of Anticipation remained desolate and cold. Only the statue on the wall watched him indifferently.

In these Lands Between, where hope had long since vanished, everyone was too preoccupied with themselves to answer his call.

Lucian understood that waiting for such a miracle was impossible. He merely needed an outlet.

"This won't work. How am I supposed to survive in a world like Elden Ring...?"

"But I don't want to die again. I want to live."

"I have to survive."

Lucian thought about many things. He had not fully accepted reality yet, but staying in the Chapel of Anticipation meant nothing more than waiting to die.

He laid the Maiden's body flat on the ground, then placed her hat over her face. That was the greatest respect he could offer her.

After arranging the Maiden's remains, Lucian found the last item in the room: Tarnished's Wizened Finger.

Once he had scavenged the room clean, Lucian took stock of what he had: a damaged helmet he could not remove, a full set of weathered but still reliable armor, a straight sword, a halberd, a metal medium shield, two stone keys shaped like swords in his belt pouch, a bag of white meat slices, two pieces of Jerky, some scattered Runes, and the Tarnished's Wizened Finger he had picked up last.

Aside from the extra meat and Runes, this was the standard Vagabond starting loadout from the game. If he really had transmigrated, then bringing food and Runes as travel funds made sense.

After taking stock of his supplies, Lucian's mood was grim. He was only slightly better off than at the start of the game—so slightly that it was negligible. For now, he could only take things one step at a time.

He pushed open the doors, and light poured into the room, finally bringing a trace of brightness. Yet the cloud-choked sky and the Storm that never dissipated seemed like ominous signs.

The wide-open view before him did nothing to lift Lucian's spirits, because he knew what kind of opponent awaited him.

That was the Grafted Scion, a genuine elite enemy in the game. Judging by game stats alone, it could even beat its boss, Godrick the Grafted, so badly that he could not fight back.

If this were a game, Lucian had many ways to defeat it. But now he had to challenge it with this human body of his.

He knew absolutely nothing about fighting.

Besides, even if he really won, the Chapel of Anticipation had been built in the middle of the sea. He would still have to jump off a cliff to leave. The game's protagonist could resurrect infinitely, but he might not be able to. He did not want to test that with his precious life.

At the end of the day, Lucian did not even know whether he had truly transmigrated or whether this was merely a hallucination before death.

"Have I really transmigrated? I'm afraid I'll have to wait until I learn sorcery, incantations, or weapon skills with other powers before I can know."

"If I can truly feel supernatural power, instead of simply activating skills like pressing buttons, maybe that will prove I'm really alive."

As Lucian stepped out of the room, he suddenly remembered that two important in-game items were behind the side door nearby. Following the game's normal progression, he would need to teleport back after leaving this isolated building to obtain them. Right now, they should have been inaccessible.

But with the Maiden's hat as precedent, he wanted to try. He went to the side door, pulled the ring handle, and attempted to open it, but it still would not budge.

However, the wooden door looked as though years of wear had already made it unstable.

Lucian first took out the halberd strapped to his back. A halberd combined the traits of a spear and an axe, and he initially wanted to use its axe blade to chop the door apart. But after giving it a test swing, he realized it was too long. The side door was wedged between two walls, and using it would inevitably strike them. He did not want to damage his weapon in a place like this.

So Lucian drew his straight sword. He had not planned to use it in the coming battle. The Grafted Scion was enormous and incredibly agile, so the longer halberd would be more effective. Therefore, it did not matter if the sword suffered some wear now.

Lucian gripped the sword with both hands, stepped forward with his left foot, twisted his waist, and swung with force. One fierce diagonal slash shattered the wooden door.

"What's going on? This body is so nimble. Is it this body's muscle memory?"

Even Lucian was stunned by that slash. Someone who had never touched a sword in his life had swung it with such smooth precision. Such muscle memory could only come from relentless training. The Tarnished truly were descendants of warriors.

Lucian carefully inspected the straight sword. Finding no obvious damage, he sheathed it and walked through the doorway.

After descending a mere twenty or thirty steps, he saw a ruined terrace. At the edge of the terrace closest to the sky sat a small stone box. It was the Spirit Ashes of the Stormhawk King.

In the distant past, the Storm Lord had ruled the southwest of the Lands Between, and the Stormhawks had been one of his powerful armies. Though they were hawks, the strongest among them possessed combat strength equal to that of human heroes. They circled through storms, summoned tempests, and tore apart every enemy. The Stormhawk King was the ruler of the Stormhawk flock, so naturally his ashes rested closest to the sky.

Lucian stepped forward, ready to pick up the ash box. But as he approached, the undying Storm above the Chapel of Anticipation abruptly grew more violent. A few seconds later, it subsided again, as if it had all been an illusion.

Lucian waited for a few more seconds. When nothing else happened, he stepped forward and placed the ash box in his bag.

Lucian assumed it was merely an ordinary change in the weather. He did not know that even time could not erode the Ancient King's pride. Anyone without the qualifications of a king could never earn the Ancient King's recognition, and not everyone could reach the Chapel of Anticipation.

Spirit Ashes were an item in the game. Using another item, one could summon the souls within them to assist in battle.