Advanced Training

Lucian was brought by Melina to the Grace behind the castle.

He glanced at the achievements panel and, sure enough, another achievement had lit up: Reach the Roundtable Hold.

Wind Spirit Moon Shadow had also recovered one use, bringing it back up to three.

After confirming that the uses had been restored, Lucian hurried back to his room without stopping.

Lucian was exhausted. Mentally exhausted.

After emerging from Grace, he felt invigorated, but the prolonged fighting lately had kept his nerves constantly taut.

He needed to get back to bed and sleep properly, or he was going to snap.

On the way back, Lucian also recalled what Nepheli Loux had told him at the Roundtable Hold about how the multiplayer items from the game worked.

They were similar to their use in the game, but there were quite a few differences.

The Tarnished's Wizened Finger could leave riddles in different places that only Tarnished could see, allowing them to pass along information.

The Tarnished's Furled Finger needed to be used together with a Furlcalling Finger Remedy.

He could leave marks in certain dangerous places, and anyone who used a Furlcalling Finger Remedy would be able to see them.

Touching a mark would alert the person who had left it.

But unlike in the game, the person who left the mark had to find a Grace, travel through it to a Grace near the mark they had left, then run over from there.

In other words, it was difficult to count on someone else's rescue in an emergency. They might not make it in time.

And they might simply refuse to come. They only needed to use a Finger Severer to sever their connection to the mark.

All in all, it was incredibly unreliable.

Lucian gave up on the idea of summoning a crowd to fight bosses.

Unless he could train a group of Tarnished subordinates who obeyed his every command, the efficiency of gathering them would be terrifyingly low.

But if he really had a group of Tarnished who obeyed him, why not just bring them directly to fight the boss? Using the Furled Finger to call people over would be completely redundant.

After thinking it over, this function probably only had one use: Lucian left a mark himself, then NPCs he wanted to save could summon him when they needed help.

Or he could arrange to explore with someone, scout the place out first, and wait for them to notify him by touching the mark once they arrived.

Sigh, it was too troublesome. Better to simply use the Tarnished's Wizened Finger, leave behind some messages, and mark his trail across the Lands Between.

Lucian soon returned to his room, removed his armor, collapsed onto the bed, and immediately fell asleep.

Lucian woke up in the soft, luxurious bed.

His sleep had been strangely unreal—serene and peaceful.

He opened his eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling, but did not get out of bed.

Instead, he lingered for a while, rolling around on the mattress. The soft bed gave him a faint sense of his previous life.

But Lucian did not dwell on it for long. He had already crossed into another world, so indulging in the past was meaningless.

Now, he needed to grow stronger. He wanted to become extraordinarily strong.

Strong enough to become the greatest fighter in the Roundtable Hold.

Strong enough to become the Elden Lord.

But after stepping out of his room, Lucian was lost.

Because he had no idea where Edgar was.

He wandered around the courtyard after leaving the room. By now, more than half the corpses in the courtyard had been cleared away.

Lucian quickly caught Julius, who was carrying corpses through the courtyard, and had him lead the way to Edgar's room.

Lucian knocked on the door, and Edgar's voice immediately sounded from inside.

"Come in."

Lucian pushed the door open. Edgar was not wearing armor, but a nobleman's robes with a blue overcloak.

It was the attire of lords, proof of status.

Seeing Edgar writing and marking documents on the table, Lucian suddenly felt that this was not a good time to interrupt him.

"Sorry, it seems I've interrupted your work."

When he saw that it was Lucian, Edgar was somewhat surprised and hurriedly stood up.

"No, it's fine. I've already arranged the short-term work, and the rest can't be scheduled all at once anyway. Please, go ahead."

The reconstruction work for Castle Morne had left him overwhelmed.

On top of that, there were too few hands, so he often had to do physical labor himself. He wished he could split himself in two.

But even so, returning to how things once were remained a distant prospect.

Since that was the case, he might as well hear Lucian out first. Edgar did not think Lucian had come merely to chat. He must have had something to discuss.

Lucian explained that he wanted to learn martial skills from Edgar.

Edgar's first reaction was: Was he joking?

In Edgar's eyes, Lucian's combat skills did not need his guidance at all.

Edgar could not possibly fight a hundred or so Misbegotten alone, then battle the Leonine Misbegotten for three hundred exchanges.

"Hmm, you're stronger than I am. I'm afraid my skills are not enough to guide you."

Lucian quickly explained.

"My fighting has no real method to it at all. My fundamentals are terrible. Only my combat instincts seem to be inexplicably decent."

"And I also want to learn the storm series of Ashes of War. I want to train until I can wield storms as freely as you do."

Edgar found this very strange. He had personally seen Lucian use a storm to block the Confessor's hidden arrow.

With that level of control, there was no way Lucian had not mastered storms.

At that moment, the Ancient King instructed Lucian in his mind to take out its spirit ashes.

Lucian took the Ancient King's spirit ashes from his small pouch.

A thread of magic was drawn out, and a pure wind blew toward Edgar.

After deciphering the message in the wind, Edgar suddenly understood. He immediately dropped to one knee and bowed to the Ancient King's spirit ashes.

"I never imagined that I would be able to behold the legendary Ancient King."

Edgar rose to his feet and looked at Lucian, his gaze completely changed.

"The Ancient King has just told me everything. As the Ancient King does not possess a human body, it can only release storms by drawing upon your magic, but it cannot teach you how to release storms yourself."

"So from now on, I will guide you. I will certainly do my utmost."

Lucian was dumbfounded. What exactly had the Ancient King said? Why had Edgar's attitude changed so completely? He was even using honorifics now.

"May I ask what the Ancient King told you?"

"My apologies. The Ancient King ordered me to keep it secret."

Speechless. Ancient King, were you a child? At your age, and you were still playing mysterious games.

Lucian did not dwell on it. As long as he could learn something, that was enough. He was looking forward to mastering it and then unleashing Lightning Whirlwind Slash while dual-wielding greatswords.

"Then when do we begin?"

Edgar stroked his beard and thought for a moment.

"Please wait ten minutes. I'll assign today's work, and change into my armor while I'm at it."

"Then we'll head outside the castle to begin your training."

Lucian went outside the castle first. The vast grassland was wide open, and Grace was not far away. If he ran out of magic, he could replenish it immediately. It truly was a good place to practice.

Before long, Edgar hurried over wearing Banished Knight armor. Its abdomen still bore the dent left by Singh's kick.

Seeing that Lucian was already prepared, Edgar assumed a stance.

"Then let us begin."

I changed quite a bit of Melina's earlier plot. After all, she had only just begun opening up a little in the previous chapter. In short, I toned down Melina's reaction so there was no sudden blushing or embarrassment, and adjusted a few other things as well. For example, the location of the Roundtable Hold was discovered from a map fragment. If you're interested, you can go back and see how it reads now. All I can say is that I did my best. And as usual, feel free to join the group—and please send some votes my way. ('')