Soulbound

Extra 5 chappies on P@treon or just Buy me a Coffe

***

(EXP 1970/10,000 -> Gained 1 stat point and 1 skill point. Soulbound Weapons Unlocked)

What?!

Godrick blinked as he suddenly felt a familiar surge of energy course through him, knitting his wounds together and restoring his strength. His broken nose reset itself, and his bruised and battered body healed rapidly. The pain he had endured moments ago faded away, replaced by a feeling of intense vigour.

But all that was dwarfed by the new notifications on his Character Sheet. The required EXP for his next level-up had doubled, while he had gained a new skill out of the blue. Was Level 10 some milestone?

[Gained Soulbound Weapon (Passive): Permanently bind your weapon to your soul, granting you the power to sense its presence and summon it at will. With each fivefold rise in Levels, the weapon shall choose two items upon your person, fusing with them to enhance its might. Should it be broken or shattered, it shall retreat into the depths of your soul, where it shall slumber and mend itself until whole once more. Available slots 0/1. Every 50 stats in Faith unlocks another slot.]

Sure enough, the metaphysical hollow within him that deepened each time he leveled his Faith now felt strikingly tangible. It was a sensation beyond words, but all it required was the slightest reach, a mere thought, to envelop a weapon and bind it to him.

He looked at his Crystal Greatspear lying on the grass, the golden lines of [Order's Blade] fading away to reveal a bright blue. It was a weapon that had been with him for most of the journey. Unlike in-game, it was worth far more than its weight in gold.

It was crafted with beauty, carved from Crystal Glintstone, which should allow him to cast Sorceries with it. It increased in sharpness and durability with every stat point in Intelligence. Sure, he also had his eye on the Greataxe, but he could always get another slot.

He focused on the Crystal Greatspear on the ground and willed his soul into action.

[Crystal Greatspear permanently soulbound to Godrick The Golden.]

[Slots 1/1]

[Next Upgrade at Level 15]

The weapon shuddered and trembled before vanishing and materializing into Godrick's waiting palm. He could feel every nook and cranny of it as though it were a part of his body. The best way to describe it was that his body's proprioception had extended to the weapon, making it just as much a part of his body as an arm or a leg.

"Gilika, you may have its sword," Godrick said, loiking at the Demi-Queen who looked at him with gratitude and wonder at his ability to teleport his weapon. They had all given up on trying to comprehend his power. "Earnan, take a few men and confiscate as many books from the Tower as you can when I'm done with it."

"Yes, My Lord," Earnan bowed and began to give orders, while Gilika gingerly picked up the Troll's Greatsword and held it up, the Chiefs and whelps oohing and aahing.

Meanwhile, Godrick ripped away the mangled armour, going back to being shirtless. Frankly, he preferred it this way, as he could feel every hit and cut. Every drop of blood and every minute change in the wind. He loved it. It made him feel alive.

'Something is wrong with me,' he thought, amused. He'd always known that he wasn't right in the head, but he realized the extent to which it differed only when he arrived in this world.

He took in the large, intricately designed Tower. It was Raya Lucarian Architecture, with a long winding spire with pointy tips, jagged windows, and dull colours. Very Gothic. But before he set out, he assigned his stat and skill points.

(Strength: 21 -> 23)

His muscles wiggled and stretched as he felt his power increase by yet another margin. His Great Rune was truly paying dividends.

[Order Meditation (Active -> Passive) Level 9 -> 10: Use a visualization of the Elden Ring to greatly increase your FP regeneration (+5 -> 5.5 FP/s). Every level increases Mind and Intelligence by 0.5. Mind +0.5. Intelligence +0.5.]

(Mind: 20.8 -> 21.8

Intelligence: 19.2 -> 20.2)

The image of the Elden Ring permanently carved itself into the walls of his mind as it expanded, while his Greatspear trembled in joy as its strength increased once more.

'At last, it's passive,' he sighed, enjoying the feeling of his Focus being constantly topped off.

Shaking himself out of the Focus high and hefting his Crystal Greatspear, he walked into the doorless archway that was the entrance. He was met with an octagonal room with a large statue of Marika the Eternal surrounded by small wax candles. Some lit, many put out. If it weren't for the shelves upon shelves of books surrounding him with odd stargazing instruments, he would have thought it the headquarters of a Fundamentalist cult.

The archway to the next room was sealed by an annoyingly complex mural, forming a bright blue wall that took a fully powered stab from his spear without a scratch.

[Observe]

[Seal: ???]

He turned to the books, ignoring the seal for now. They were nearly everywhere, forming mounds on the ground while also being stacked on unusually dusty shelves. The knowledge that this single Tower in a far corner of the world contained must be incredible. It begged the question: just how valuable was the Library in the Academy of Raya Lucaria?

He walked up to a particularly thick book on a shelf before realizing that it lacked a title. He looked at the books again, and sure enough, their spines lacked any sort of indication of their contents.

Do sorcerers not use titles?

He carefully pulled out the book and dusted it off, but when he flipped through the pages, he found...nothing. It was blank.

He frowned and pulled out another book. Blank again.

Moving over to one of the mounds of books on the ground, he flicked through a book from one of them. And another. And another. And another.

All blank.

He looked around in confusion before noticing the seal once more.

[Seal: ???]

'Perhaps the sorcerer who cast the seal did not want anything valuable before the seal,' he mused and looked up at a large opening that emphasized the winding structure of the tower. It was quite high up, completely impossible for even a well-trained warrior to reach, but he was more than that.

He jumped onto the statue, using Marika's head to push down as hard as he could, straining his 23-Strength as much as possible. He blasted off it and barely made it by three fingers. He pulled himself up, only to hear the sound of breaking stone.

The Marika statue had crumbled under his weight and strength.

Well, it's more accurate to her current form.

He smirked at his bland joke before finding a lever before himself, surrounded by instruments and more books that were, once again, blank.

Cranking the lever brought down a levitating platform, which was a large improvement from the wooden lifts from the Altus Plateau. It was far more stable, and blue runes extended out from its centre as he rode it up. He walked out to a minor balcony and had his breath sucked away from him.

A gigantic wall of rock, with rough protrusions and jagged edges, took up the entirety of the skyline and his vision. The orange-gold trees at the bottom were mere pinpricks compared to the enormous behemoth before him. He was looking at the Altus Plateau—the place where his journey began.

He shook himself out of it, climbing the stairs with no railing beside him for an entire minute straight before finally arriving at a room at the very top of the Gothic tower. It was decorated with red and surrounded by blank books, most definitely a practical joke by the sorcerer, a giant chest.

He poked open the chest with his Greatspear to be met with two dusty books that were, thankfully, not blank.

A Haiman Guide to the Gavel.

A Concussive Counsel on the Cannon.

"Finally!" Godrick grumbled, snatching them up. There was no way he could begin his Sorcery journey here with such a complicated spell—he needed a teacher.

***

And so, their journey continued, with Godrick having to call off the book-stealing operation much to Earnan's disappointment for some reason. The platformed cliff wasn't far, and they managed to reach it within the day.

The cliff was shaped in the form of a U, with a Catacomb built into the cliff wall at the bottom and a path to Eastern Liurnia. Its structure made it nearly impossible to see the bottom, looking akin to an abyss more than the ground.

"I'll clear the way," Godrick cracked his neck and prepared to jump down to the stone platforms, only to be stopped by Gilika.

"My Lord," she spoke, now carrying the Troll Greatsword on his back. "Let me go. For the past few weeks, I have not done anything meaningful. I beseech you, let me prove myself worthy of your blessing."

He raised an aurous brow at her before shrugging and nodding. If she failed, there was no point in recruiting her in the first place.

The Demi-Human Queen's eyes lit up with joy, and she prepared to descend but was halted by Godrick instead.

[Order's Blade]

The Troll's Greatsword gleamed gold as Gilika fully unsheathed it.

"Go, prove your worth," Godrick said with a small smile, which further strengthened her resolve.

Gilika would show the strength of the Demi-Humans. She would show them all.

***

[Powerstone Begging->Request (Passive) Level 2->5: Esteemed sirs and ladies, may I request you fine people a humble donation of the useless trinkets that we call 'Powerstones'?. Useless to you, but invaluable to me. Please, take this chapter from this undeserving fool as compensation.]