The carriage was a little stuffy.
The large, four-wheeled iron carriage required two enslaved giants to pull it. It was enclosed on all sides, and Zhao Si had found no mechanism for opening the windows. All he knew was that someone had thoughtfully put a skylight in the roof.
Otherwise, he might have suffocated inside this "iron cage."
Thinking back to the enslaved giants, he couldn't help feeling sorry for them. They hadn't taken on the appearance of Those Who Live in Death, but the gaping holes in their abdomens, the iron stakes driven through their bodies, and their complete lack of clothing were inhumane by any measure.
If giants weren't so resilient-perhaps Grace played a part as well-any other race would probably have died long ago.
Even if giants really were like primitive humans, that was no way to treat them.
These feudal lords really didn't have much humanity.
But from another perspective, those of another race could never be trusted to share your heart. Leaving giants aside, those uncivilized Demi-Humans certainly weren't good sorts.
The tragedy at Castle Morne was still vivid in his mind.
Zhao Si leaned against the carriage wall and let out a long breath. "Is there a system or something? Even an inventory would do. I really can't get used to this."
"Ding. Elden System unlocked. O Tarnished, fulfill your mission."
At the sound, Zhao Si perked up and sat straight. The scene before his eyes changed, and new knowledge appeared in his mind.
The stat allocation screen and status screen he'd hoped for didn't appear, but he really did have an inventory now.
He quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Life was far too hard for someone transported to another world without a cheat. No matter how difficult Elden Ring was, the protagonist could still level up and allocate stats. You could always overpower enemies with levels, right?
Grinding in the starter area until he became a sword god wasn't just a dream.
Unfortunately, he couldn't allocate stats. In an action RPG, stat allocation was a pretty straightforward way of getting stronger. Different priorities in allocating attribute points created different builds.
The Vagabond, for example, was an obvious melee choice, investing in health, strength, and the like.
The Astrologer, meanwhile, could comfortably pursue a magic build and become an absolute spellcasting powerhouse.
Here was the problem: Zhao Si didn't know what he could do or where his strengths lay. He only felt that the original owner of his body had been a total weakling.
Bored, he could only keep putting the fruit on the small round table into his inventory, then taking it out again. He repeated this over and over, as though he had a fourth-dimensional pocket.
Thinking about it, that was actually pretty outrageous. After all, his inventory could hold all sorts of things, with no restrictions on type, unlimited slots, and no weight limit.
That alone put him far ahead of the people in this world.
"But it doesn't help me fight..." Zhao Si was deeply troubled. "Surely I'm not some kind of support character."
While he was grumbling, he heard the carriage door open. He immediately tensed up, all sorts of workplace bullying scenarios flashing through his mind.
This was a world where strength ruled. Whoever hit hardest was basically the boss, and the Elden Lord was about the strongest fighter among humans.
If the Tarnished coming in was unfriendly and beat him up, there would be nothing he could do.
Thump, thump, thump.
A fully armored Tarnished walked in, his twinblade wrapped in a leather sheath and carried on his back alongside his shield.
A chill and the smell of blood washed over Zhao Si's face, making him shiver and raising goosebumps all over his body.
The man sat down opposite Zhao Si without ceremony. With his face hidden behind his helmet's visor, it was hard to guess his expression.
The armor's helmet sported conspicuous white fur. It looked very familiar.
"H-hello." Zhao Si shrank back, but still worked up the courage to greet him first.
The Tarnished nodded. "Hello. My name is Blaidd?."
"The White Wolf War-Witch?" Zhao Si blurted out.
Blaidd? visibly paused. "Am I that famous?"
"Uh..." Zhao Si didn't know what to say either.
If he said the man was famous, he didn't actually know anything Blaidd? had done.
But saying he wasn't famous wouldn't be right either. The White Wolf War-Witch set was very popular. It was no exaggeration to say that Zhao Si had originally thought of it as the "protagonist's armor."
Ugh, this was all that old bastard's fault for making the story so vague.
"I heard you're pretty strong. Really brave, I mean."
Zhao Si offered a safe, generic compliment. Blaidd? showed no particular reaction, merely nodding slightly.
Awkward. The atmosphere had become painfully awkward.
He had to think of another topic, or he'd lose his chance to learn more.
By now, the carriage had slowly begun moving.
Zhao Si thought of a new topic as well. "I heard you really want to serve an Empyrean. Is that right?"
"Yes." Blaidd? admitted it openly.
It was no secret. The white wolf fur on his helmet expressed his heart's desire.
In ancient legends, wolves were the shadows of Empyreans-and that was what Blaidd? longed to become.
Empyreans had "beast" companions granted by the Greater Will, such as Blaidd at Ranni's side and the Black Blade at Marika's.
"Unfortunately, I'm human." There was a hint of disappointment in Blaidd?'s voice.
"The Greater Will hasn't made the rules completely rigid." Zhao Si offered a token word of comfort.
Then he asked, "You defeated all the other Tarnished, right? So how did you get so strong?"
He still wasn't used to saying "killed."
Blaidd? spoke slowly. "You wanted to forfeit back then because you felt you were weak?"
Zhao Si nodded. There was no hiding that fact. It might not even have been an hour since he'd arrived in this world. He really couldn't imagine someone who had lived in peaceful times going toe-to-toe with people from a fantasy world.
Especially without a cheat.
"Hmm..." Blaidd? pondered for a moment. "Tarnished can draw strength from Remembrances."
"Remembrances." Zhao Si repeated the word.
"Yes. Your memories of battle. Turn your memories of fighting powerful enemies into spiritual nourishment. Consume them, digest them, make them your own, and you'll grow stronger," Blaidd? said. "Of course, if you know you can't win, retreating for the time being is also wise."
Zhao Si knew perfectly well that Blaidd? was making sense, but as someone who had actually followed that advice, he still found it a little grating.
Who didn't know that facing a powerful enemy head-on looked more heroic?
"I've never fought a powerful enemy." Zhao Si was thoroughly dejected.
Blaidd? reached out and rested a hand on Zhao Si's shoulder. "As long as you're willing, you'll have your chance."
"I'm afraid of dying." Zhao Si's brow furrowed deeply.
Even though Elden Ring had written "resurrection," a very common game mechanic, into its backstory, explaining to some extent why the protagonist revived and ordinary enemies respawned,
that didn't mean the world he was in now really allowed people to come
back to life whenever they liked. Otherwise, wouldn't Godfrey have been leading an immortal army?
Blaidd? squeezed Zhao Si's shoulder firmly. "Trust me. Almost everyone fears death at first. Those who don't are the truly exceptional ones. But remember this: death is nothing to fear. In the end, we will return to the Erdtree's embrace and await the day of our rebirth."
Zhao Si understood now. The laws of life and death in the golden age formed a cycle of reincarnation, and they might not have included anything like a memory-erasing soup along the way.
The Erdtree was essentially a massive cloud server for consciousness, uploading and storing the "souls" of the dead, then downloading them into new bodies when they became available.
He couldn't judge whether that was good or bad yet. It just seemed as though there wouldn't be any truly new babies.
That would explain why Tarnished revived at sites of Grace and statues of Marika.
To let the Tarnished fulfill their mission, the Erdtree skipped the complicated steps and sent their souls straight back into their bodies, reviving them immediately.
"That's brutal. Even dying for good is hard."
Zhao Si couldn't help making the observation.
Before you continue