The Magma Wyrm’s massive body broke apart upon the sharp stone blades, its dragon blood drenching the towering rock spires.
Though it was once a human hero who had transford into a wyrm, it was, in truth, a real dragon.
The dragon heart it possessed was the best evidence of this.
The very ones who had once devoured the flesh of dragons through communion now shed that sa blood.
This flesh and blood had the sa properties as that of the dragons they consud—perhaps even better.
After all, before becoming Magma Wyrms, they had already devoured the hearts of nurous dragons.
Bai Shi had no intention of letting it go to waste. It was a valuable resource, and he would have soone co and collect it later.
After Selinsax spread the teachings of Dragon Communion, many warriors in Stormveil were eager to partake in the ritual.
Even setting aside the doctrine, the sheer promise of becoming truly stronger was alluring enough for anyone in the Lands Between.
And beyond these individuals, Selinsax had also cultivated a group of warriors who were true believers in Dragon Communion.
They were the Dragonblood Knights and the Storm Knights.
Having once gained their strength by bathing in and drinking dragon blood together, the Dragonblood Knights knew full well the power Dragon Communion offered and were eager to delve deeper.
And Stormveil, in the distant past, was a power that the ancient dragons had helped develop; its Storm Knights had once commonly practiced Dragon Communion.
If the opportunity arose, Bai Shi planned to continue nurturing their strength. Every little bit helped.
The Dragonblood Knights and Storm Knights needed more resources to advance, and the Magma Wyrm’s corpse was perfect for that purpose.
After mapping out a plan for the wyrm's corpse in his mind, Bai Shi turned his focus to the system panel.
In the list of achievents, another one had just lit up.
‘Magma Wyrm’ Makar.
With another achievent unlocked, Fengling Yueying recharged, adding one more use to its count.
Counting the achievents he had unlocked so far, Bai Shi suddenly realized he had not even completed half of them.
In other words, he still had plenty of uses for Fengling Yueying left.
However, among the locked achievents, many could not be obtained simply by defeating enemies.
For example, there were collection-based achievents like gathering all ‘Legendary Armants’ or ‘Legendary Talismans’.
Unlocking these was far more troubleso than just finding an enemy and killing them.
But more than these, Bai Shi was puzzled by so of the other achievents.
Looking at the blackened-out icons that read ‘Continue playing to unlock,’ Bai Shi pondered silently.
He hadn't thought about it carefully before, but now he recalled that there was more than one achievent related to the ga's endings.
The ‘Age of Stars’ and the ‘Lord of Frenzied Fla’ were both completely independent ending achievents.
Once he beca Elden Lord, he certainly wouldn't be able to reload a save to grind achievents, unlocking every ending in a single run as one would in a ga.
So, what would happen with those two achievents after he beca Elden Lord?
Would they beco completely unobtainable?
Or would they be replaced by different, hidden achievents?
There was no way to be sure, and it also affected the potential for an 'all achievents unlocked' achievent.
Besides, he wasn't necessarily going to follow any of the ga's endings for his own conclusion.
Or rather, he was certain he *wouldn't* follow any of them.
None of the standard endings were particularly good.
Among them, the best was likely the perfect Golden Order ending, restored with Goldmask’s help.
The ‘Lord of Frenzied Fla’ was definitely a path Bai Shi would not take.
And as for Ranni’s new order, he was not entirely satisfied with it either.
Since he now had the power to choose, Bai Shi wanted to try and forge his very own ‘Age of the Sun’.
——
Bai Shi turned and walked back to the group, each of whom wore a different expression.
Well... that being said, it was really only Patches and Millicent whose expressions were varied.
After all, one couldn't read the expressions on Alexander or Great Horned Tragoth at all.
Patches still wore that sa smarmy, wicked grin.
Although he had not seen Bai Shi in a long ti, he was not the least bit surprised by the battle that was more of a slaughter.
‘Well, it's Bai Shi, after all. Nothing he does is surprising anymore.’
In a way, it was a strange sort of trust, similar to how Bai Shi believed nothing Patches did could ever be considered surprising.
Millicent, on the other hand, was staring blankly at the Magma Wyrm’s corpse.
Seeing the dazed Millicent, Bai Shi walked over and waved a hand in front of her eyes.
At his motion, Millicent finally snapped out of it and looked at him.
She couldn’t help but look Bai Shi up and down.
‘He has the body of a human, yet he can do sothing like that...’
‘There isn't a single burn mark on his hands. Only his clothes are a little singed.’
‘Mm... such powerful muscles...’
Seeing Millicent acting a bit strangely, Bai Shi grew concerned.
“Millicent, what’s wrong?”
Hearing his question, Millicent shook her head.
“I-I’m fine.”
“Nothing’s wrong!”
Sighing, Millicent spoke in a small, dejected voice:
“It's just... after seeing the gap in our strength, I feel lost.”
“Never mind
as I am now; even my forr, whole self could never have been of any help to you...”
Bai Shi was surprised that Millicent would voice her inner turmoil so directly.
He quickly understood her dilemma.
It seed he had gone a little overboard, causing Millicent to lose all hope in her already distant goal of repaying her debt.
She had only just declared she would beco his blade, only to find that he didn't even need a weapon.
Bai Shi quickly replied:
“This has nothing to do with strength.”
“You are willing to fight for . Why would I dismiss your resolve because of your strength?”
“Besides, your own strength and potential are by no ans lacking.”
Millicent shook her head and retorted:
“It’s because of Malenia, isn’t it?”
“My body, my skill... it’s all because of her... and that’s why you have expectations for .”
Bai Shi hadn't expected Millicent to feel so negatively about her own existence and imdiately declared:
“The one I saved has always been Millicent, a unique individual, not so offshoot of Malenia.”
“This has nothing to do with Malenia. I believe in *you*. I believe you can grow to stand equal to her, or even surpass her.”
“You have that kind of potential. That is what I believe.”
Hearing Bai Shi's affirmation, Millicent lifted her head, her spirits restored.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at him with determination.
“Perhaps it’s childish for
to make such a vow with my current strength, and perhaps it has no real weight...”
“But no matter what, I will honor the oath I have made.”
Bai Shi nodded, satisfied.
He didn’t care about any tangible benefit from her repaying the favor; what mattered to him was her resolve.
As long as Millicent could rally her spirits, that was enough.
Patches, listening from the side, found the whole exchange rather odd, and his expression changed.
Worried about not being able to repay a favor? Just stay indebted, then.
Besides, a little thing like this was less than a trifle for Bai Shi. As long as you were on friendly terms with him, he wouldn't split hairs over it.
Did they not understand the concept of providing emotional support?
And besides, unlike a big oaf like him, didn't this little lady have a much simpler, more direct way of repaying her debt?
He truly couldn't understand why she was having so sort of existential crisis over it. Ah, the pride of a little knight~
——
The long climb through the cavern had already brought them very close to the Altus Plateau.
The Magma Wyrm’s lair, in fact, was only a few dozen ters in vertical distance from the surface.
All they needed to do was ride the lift behind them, and they could ascend from this abandoned mine to the Altus Plateau.
Walking past the Magma Wyrm’s corpse, the group boarded the lift bound for the plateau. As the lift ascended slowly, Bai Shi and the others finally set foot on the Altus Plateau.
Stepping off the lift, they were greeted by the sight of a swamp filled with abandoned rolling coffins.
Countless enormous caskets had been carelessly discarded here, many of them already damaged or overturned.
Because of this, nurous bodies had spilled from the coffins, long since turned to brittle bones by the passage of ti.
The environnt was just as Bai Shi rembered. This was the place.
After walking a few steps forward and lighting the Site of Grace, Bai Shi looked up at the sky.
From here, he could clearly see the Erdtree towering between heaven and earth.
Gazing at the colossal tree, Bai Shi couldn’t help but marvel at its staggering scale.
Looking up at the Erdtree from the plateau was a completely different experience than looking at it from below.
It was no wonder the people of the Golden Lineage, who lived at its base, were so proud.
Patches looked at the towering Erdtree in the distance and spat casually on the ground.
“Phew—, since I brought you guys up here like you asked, it’s about ti I headed back.”
“The Magma Wyrm’s been dealt with by you anyway, so I’m not gonna bother with the rest of the people Raya recruited.”
“They can’t be that useless, can they?”
“If they are, then they have no right to see Tanith.”
Bai Shi turned and looked at Patches.
“Will that be alright?”
“It’s a mission from Volcano Manor, after all.”
Patches shrugged.
“Volcano Manor?”
“That place is a ghost of its forr self!”
“Right now, it’s just a task Tanith asked
to do.”
“And even for a task like this, most of the others couldn’t be bothered.”
Hearing Patches ntion Tanith every other sentence, Bai Shi felt a little helpless.
Has Patches fallen head over heels for Tanith? It felt even more extre than being bewitched.
“So, you’re planning on staying there for a while?”
Patches nodded and, with an air of untamable bravado, jabbed a thumb at himself.
“Of course! I’m the future and hope of Volcano Manor!”
“Tanith is relying on
to keep the whole place afloat!”
Bai Shi shook his head. He knew at once that it was just Patches blowing his own horn again.
Patches hopped onto a large rock and pointed towards a slope ahead.
“There. Head that way and you’ll get deep into the heart of the Altus Plateau.”
“I’ve taken this road many tis. It’s safe.”
“But I’ll give you a heads-up, a lot of Erdtree army soldiers have been stationed there lately.”
Just then, Alexander suddenly spoke up.
“Mr. Patches.”
“Since you’re from Volcano Manor, I have a request.”
“I was wondering if you could show
the way to Volcano Manor?”
Hearing Alexander suddenly address him, Patches felt a bit strange.
Soone... or so jar, is interested in Volcano Manor?
More than genuine interest, Patches suspected another possibility.
Could it be soone who has a grudge against Volcano Manor and is looking to settle a score?
Given Volcano Manor’s usual style and conduct, that felt far more likely.
Patches raised an eyebrow, his eyes darting about as he replied to Alexander:
“Well, you tell
what it is first.”
“I’ll have to hear it before I can say yes or no.”
If this jar really held a grudge, Patches was fully prepared to make a holy separation from Volcano Manor.
Alexander crossed his arms over his chest and explained:
“My body suffered heavy damage before, and I’ve only just barely managed to piece it back together.”
“But to fully recover, and perhaps even grow stronger, I need to be fired in a great heat.”
“However, ordinary flas are completely insufficient for my needs, which has been quite a predicant.”
“I’ve heard that Mt. Gelmir has flowing, searing magma, so I wish to go there and give it a try.”
“I wonder if you might be able to lead the way?”
Patches breathed a sigh of relief. That was all.
“So that’s what it is.”
“Simple. You don’t even have to go to the Manor. I can take you to a quiet spot on the volcano.”
“And don’t go near Volcano Manor if you can help it.”
“The folks there won’t be friendly when they see you’re a Living Jar.”
Alexander patted his chest and laughed heartily.
“Haha, thank you for the warning.”
“But I’ve been roaming the Lands Between for quite so ti now, and I’ve t all sorts of people.”
Millicent thought for a mont and said:
“In that case, I will travel with you all for a while longer.”
“It’s a good opportunity to gather information regarding Malenia's Prosthetic.”
Seeing that Millicent also planned to go with them, Bai Shi advised her:
“Volcano Manor is not a good place. Be careful when you’re near the volcano.”
“The people there hunt their own kind, fellow Tarnished, using that primitive and barbaric thod to increase their strength and rebel against the Erdtree.”
“Although none of you are their targets, it’s best not to get too close.”
“After all, the minds of madn are not sothing ordinary people can comprehend.”
Patches nodded, deeply agreeing with Bai Shi’s words.
“If you want information, just co to . No need to go to Volcano Manor.”
“Of course... that kind of information will cost a few runes.”
“Anyway, seeing as you’re friends of Bai Shi, you’re friends of mine. I’ll help you out.”
Since things had co to this, Bai Shi said no more.
With their strength, they probably wouldn't run into any serious trouble.
After bidding farewell to the group, Bai Shi used the Site of Grace to return directly to Stormveil.
Now that he had activated a Site of Grace on the Altus Plateau, traveling would be much more convenient.
After Bai Shi left, Patches turned to the quietly standing Great Horned Tragoth.
“What about you?”
“Are you going off sowhere to help another Tarnished?”
Great Horned Tragoth nodded, then shook his head.
A low voice rumbled from beneath the heavy helm:
“I think... I might head to the capital.”
“I want to go back, for myself and for those who never could.”
Patches pursed his lips, turned his back, and waved a hand dismissively.
“What a bleeding heart.”
“A guy like you is pri picking for Volcano Manor. Try not to get yourself killed!”
Though they hadn’t known each other long, after spending this ti together, Patches had grown rather fond of the good-natured oaf.
Even a scoundrel can’t bring himself to dislike a truly good person.
Great Horned Tragoth watched as Patches led Millicent and Alexander away. Only then did he hoist his Giant-Crusher over his shoulder and begin the slow walk toward the Erdtree.
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