Giant Blacksmith: Friends, Free of Charge

"I see. You're feeling lost about the future and unsure how to decide about your friends."

Before the campfire, under the downcast gaze of the Gwyn statue, Solaire, now a golden spirit, spoke these words after Elsa finished recounting her troubles.

Elsa admitted that she had blurted out her request for guidance in a moment of excitement, and when asked why she wanted power, she recounted the troubles she had previously shared with the Onion Knight.

I didn't feel anything when I said it, but now I feel a little ashamed.

As for the reason, it's probably because Solaire was too gentle and approachable, and he was seriously helping her analyze the problem and find a solution.

Listening to others seriously analyze her self-consciously embarrassing problems made her feel genuinely ashamed and awkward.

"Your problem is that you feel your team and leaders have changed a lot compared to before, making you not want to stay there, but you can't let go of the familiar people," Solaire said. "And you don't have a clear goal for the future."

Elsa nodded repeatedly, almost asking, "What are your thoughts?"

"Sometimes it's not that people have changed, but that you've come to your senses and realized that the other person was always that kind of person."

Solaire stood up and said, "The most important thing about these problems is figuring out what you want to do in the future. Once you find a worthwhile goal to strive for, the other worries will be easily solved."

Elsa nodded, "So how do we find the target?"

Unfortunately, Solaire cannot make a decision for her on this matter at the moment; ultimately, she has to solve this important life decision herself.

Elsa felt a little regretful, but she also understood that her problem couldn't be solved with just a few words of conversation. The reason seemed to be that she was too fussy.

If I could be more decisive and have more initiative, I wouldn't have encountered this situation.

While he couldn't solve emotional problems, Solaire could certainly provide guidance on martial arts training.

Moreover, he is also very willing to help others.

Anor Londo has many advantages, but let's just mention one: the monsters here are very strong, so the souls they can provide to adventurers are naturally plentiful.

The number of souls a Giant Guards here can provide is equivalent to killing his way in and out of the Ghrū horde seven times in Farron Keep. Of course, this is also because Gong Qiying deliberately reduced the number of souls appearing in the earlier areas.

Elsa, as a Brave, is considered a monster with low stats when facing most ordinary people, but she is not good enough in the Painting World everyone has strong stats, and can only sit at the same table Gargoyle.

She herself hadn't been aware of the need to level up before, thinking that her current strength was enough, but now she realized that she was still far from it.

Set a short-term goal: first, raise your strength by five levels. As for vitality, it's not important; it's just a matter of whether you die in one or two hits. And Ornstein can definitely kill the adventurer with a single shot without a doubt.

However, upgrading is something Elsa needs to consider herself; what Solaire needs to do is provide her with technical guidance.

Elsa is currently a pure greatsword brute, so is it possible to teach her something different?

She's sworn to be Sun Warrior, so how can she not use her signature Thunder Spear?

With her lightning spear, which is thrown in a parabolic trajectory using only arm strength, she might be better suited to her superhuman strength than magic like the Glintstone Pebble.

So, Solaire had already come up with a special training plan for her.

One hundred throwing postures for the Thunder Spear, sixty-six rolling techniques, and the power exertion when drawing the sword...

Every special training must be conducted through practice, and the Giant Guards of Anor Londo are the best sparring partners. Their Greatshield are enchanted by some kind of magic, so weapons cannot even leave a scratch when they strike them, as if they are completely harmless. However, the Giant Guards will react to the force of the attack, making them the perfect punching bag.

Before training began, Solaire took Elsa to the castle again, exploring the paths that the two had never explored before fighting Ornstein and Smough, training through practice.

Then they saw another friendly "person".

"Clang clang clang"

He was a giant, or rather, a giant blacksmith.

His massive frame sat on what looked like a small stool, his large hand holding a hammer that was probably no bigger than one of his fingers, earnestly forging weapons.

The scene looked somewhat comical, but judging from Elsa's perspective, she found the giant blacksmith quite adorable.

I just got some Somber Smithing Stone from defeating the Giant Guards, so I might as well upgrade the Sword Remains Greatsword right here.

Before she could speak, the giant blacksmith suddenly turned to look at her, extended his hand, and said in a somber tone:

"Weapons, give them to me, forge them."

"Huh? Oh." Elsa handed over the Sword Remains Greatsword and was about to take out the Somber Smithing Stone from her pocket, but the giant blacksmith started forging on his own.

Eh, do adventurers not need to provide their own Forging Stone here?

The giant blacksmith said as he hammered:

"Haven't seen anyone in a long time, forging, free time, making friends."

Giants don't seem to be very good at speaking, but at least they can make people understand what they mean.

"Okay, we're friends now, hahaha!" Before Elsa could even process what was happening, Solaire responded cheerfully.

The giant blacksmith looked at Elsa, and she quickly nodded, "Friends, friends, we're friends now."

So the blacksmith hammered the weapon even faster. It would take half a day for the blacksmith Andre to strengthen a weapon, but the giant only hammered it a few times before returning it to Elsa, and also took Solaire's weapon to start forging it.

The Sword Remains Greatsword seemed to have become sharper and stronger; this was her first impression upon receiving the weapon, and she couldn't help but thank the blacksmith with delight.

The giant blacksmith was the third person to show her care since she entered Anor Londo, the first two being the Brass Woman and Solaire, which made her feel that the fatigue of the adventure was disappearing.

Although the monsters here are strong and troublesome, everyone you meet here is a good person. Solaire goes without saying, the Brass Woman looks like a cold and aloof girl but she will give you serious advice, and the Giant Blacksmith will give you a free upgrade right away.

It makes one sigh that the people were so simple and honest in the past, but now their morality has declined and the world is going downhill. How did a guy like Patch survive?

"Forging, we must do it again."

"Yes, yes, I will definitely come back again!" Elsa made a note of this place, waved goodbye, and if we were to describe it in the classic words of a student essay, she would feel a warm feeling in her heart.

She realized that helping others and being helped were both such joyful things, and she began to like this feeling.

The giant blacksmith gave it a free upgrade, and with all the Forging Stone, the Sword Remains Greatsword was upgraded twice. When it struck the Gargoyle's tough skin, it left very obvious marks, making it much more powerful than before the upgrade.

With her enhanced weapon and guidance and protection from Solaire, she dared to engage three Giant Guards at the same time.

When she defeated three Giant Guards at the same time for the first time, and earned a sweat and praise from Solaire, a confident and dazzling smile appeared on her face.

"I've made up my mind," Elsa murmured.

"What's wrong?" Solaire didn't hear clearly.

"It's alright, it's alright, let's move on to find the next enemy!"

She waved her hand, silently adding the unspoken words to her mind:

Elsa won't leave until the Leyndell explodes!

She will quietly grow stronger here, and become the Shili Slope Sword God when she gets out!

With Solaire as our teacher, none of these problems will be a problem.

And so, Elsa was to be "lost" in the Painting World for a while.

Meanwhile, are there other people entering the Painting World?

Yes, my friend, yes.

Gong Qiying used his Spirit Power to modify the "A World You Can't Leave Without Victory" permission. Instead of changing the effect of the permission, he copied dozens or hundreds of the Painting World created using the permission and placed them at the campfires in Irithyll, except for the one at the bridge campfire at the beginning.

Although adventurers can still only enter the Painting World alone to explore, fortunately, it's not just one person who can explore. The whole world is waiting outside the painting. As long as the adventurer separates from the adventurer who has entered the painting, they can enter a dungeon called "World" that no one has entered the Painting World yet.

And now, this is how an ordinary adventurer has entered.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

He had finished today's Invasion Hunt with Fingel and had just collected enough Proof of Concord Kept Ears to exchange for rewards at the Dark Moon Altar.

Ten ears can be exchanged for a Darkmoon Ring, and twenty ears can be exchanged for a Miracle Dark Moon Blade. As the Darkmoon Swordsman, he had been eyeing those things for a long time, but to be honest, twenty ears were not so easy to accumulate.

Especially now, adventurers who frequently participate in invasion activities have become very skilled. They are proficient in using the common invasion tricks and their Forge Fire -and-seek skills are also superb, which means that he might not even get a single ear in a whole day. It's that exaggerated.

They're all disciples trained in the same dungeon, so they can't counter each other's moves at all.

Having finally collected enough ears today, he happily offered them to the altar, but what he received was not the Darkmoon Lightsaber, but something unexpected:

[Dark Moon Priest Ring]

[A ring granted to the priests of Gwyndolin, the god of the Shadow Sun and dark moon; the wearer's understanding of magic is enhanced.]

Gwyndolin Dark Sun, is one of the ancient gods who remained in Anor Londo, and his followers are extremely few.

No, he specializes in melee combat, so why give him a ring related to magic?

In despair, he leaned back against the wall, unaware that the wall had been transformed into a painting.

When he came to his senses, he was already in Anor Londo.

Before he could even be awestruck by the magnificent scenery he had never seen before, he found himself in a terrifying situation being chased by Giant Guards.

Fortunately, he is a Hound Step player and also an Assassin-turned- Warrior, so he also knows Weapon Skill like Malu's that allow him to infiltrate into the shadows.

In terms of parkour skills, he was actually better than Elsa overall, but while being chased by the Giant Guards, he didn't even have time to sit by the campfire with the Brass Woman.

Not only did he not sit by the campfire, but when he saw the Brass Woman, he mistook her for a monster and slashed at her with a few quick strokes.

As a result, the campfire became unusable, Brass Woman continued to chase and attack him. Upon seeing the Darkmoon Lightsaber she was wielding, the adventurer realized that she was also a Dark Moon Blade user.

Now, in his panic, he turned the spiral staircase mechanism and arrived at the lowest level of Anor Londo, where he finally found a campfire that he could use.

However, Solaire, who appeared later, was his adversary.

As for the reason, it's the same as the reason he just gave for killing the Brass Woman; he also killed Solaire when he was in Oolacile.

"Please, I apologize, please stop chasing me!"

In his panic, the adventurer's hand, adorned with the Dark Moon Priest Ring, touched the statue of Lord Gwyn.

The next second, the statue vanished, revealing a downward staircase.

At the end of the road was a white Fog Gate.