Bai Shi took Melina's hand with practiced ease.
Even though Melina already knew Bai Shi could use that miraculous power to multiply his acquired runes by a factor of five, she was still shocked by the enormous amount of runes within him.
"It's... 1.28 million!"
Bai Shi nodded. After all this time, he could more or less count the runes within his body.
After defeating Morgott's projection, Bai Shi had activated his five-times rune multiplier.
Morgott's projection had yielded 250,000 runes, and miscellaneous soldiers added up to another 40,000.
The Tree Sentinel and his horse were worth 100,000.
Godrick gave him a considerable amount, a full 750,000 runes.
He wasn't sure if it was because Godrick had grafted a piece of Godwyn's flesh onto himself, or if all demigods were simply worth that much.
On second thought, it was probably just the standard rate for a demigod.Without the five-times multiplier, Godrick would have been worth 150,000.
Mohg's projection had been worth 40,000 last time, and Morgott's projection was worth 50,000 this time, so it made sense for a demigod's actual body to be worth well over one hundred thousand.
There was also a Remembrance, which had materialized from the direction of the Erdtree after Bai Shi vanquished Godrick.
But Bai Shi had crushed it immediately while the five-times multiplier was still active, gaining another 100,000 runes.
Remembrances were fragments of battle, carved by the Erdtree itself.
In the game, they could be exchanged for items related to a boss, such as weapons, sorceries, or incantations.
But in this world, the effects of a Remembrance were quite extraordinary.
If not immediately consumed for runes, one could immerse their consciousness within it to re-experience the great battle recorded by the Erdtree.
This was an incredibly powerful effect. It meant Bai Shi could fight a powerful enemy over and over again within the Remembrance, learning from the experience each time.
He might even be able to learn his opponent's sorceries and incantations.
However, this effect had its drawbacks.
The Remembrance couldn't recognize Bai Shi's true power.
The strength Bai Shi had used in that battle was with Fengling Yueying activated, and the Erdtree had recorded it as such.
Yes, the Erdtree knew nothing of Fengling Yueying, so it took Bai Shi's power level at the time as the standard for its record.
Bai Shi, in his normal state, had no way to train in combat using that Remembrance.
In the end, Bai Shi just spent his time trying out different ways to obliterate Godrick.
Within the Remembrance, he took the opportunity to test out the effects of his different moves at that level of power.
The results could only be described as shockingly immense.
The storms he summoned could have easily erased Stormveil from existence.
The slash from his Lion's Claw could split the entire cliff on which Stormveil stood in two, from top to bottom.
Bai Shi had his fun for a while, but ultimately decided to crush the Remembrance.
While it was certainly a great stress reliever, even allowing him to feel the long-lost satisfaction of playing a hack-and-slash game from his past life...
...crushing it for runes would help him turn the entire Lands Between into a hack-and-slash game.
Bai Shi also went ahead and consumed the runes bestowed upon him by the Two Fingers.
The amount was smaller this time, only 110,000 runes.
All told, Bai Shi now possessed a total of 1.39 million runes.
Bai Shi thought for a moment before he began to allocate the runes to strengthen his attributes.
First, Vigor went up to 40. There was no hesitation; it was a universal truth.
Next, he added two points to Mind, bringing it to an even 20.
He put three points into Endurance, also bringing it to 20.
He didn't bother with a round number for Strength, simply adding five points to reach 28.
Dexterity received no points.
Then came the main event.
Bai Shi poured all the remaining runes into Intelligence in one go. Just like that, his Intelligence shot up from a measly 9 all the way to 30!
Now who would dare call him an idiot?!
Sir Nine-telligence? Who was that? Never heard of him.
Of course, Bai Shi had not allocated his stats randomly.
He had a lot of runes, but he couldn't afford to be wasteful.
Bai Shi wanted to learn sorcery, and he happened to have teachers available.
Both Sorceress Sellen and Sorcerer Thops were masters he could begin learning from right away.
Having lived in the Lands Between for so long, he had discovered that sorcery was inextricably linked to almost everything.
He wanted to understand the principles behind magical energy. This wasn't a game; simply knowing how to use spells wouldn't get him very far.
That way, he could analyze the similarities and differences between sorceries, incantations, and weapon skills.
And in that regard, he had the perfect person to learn from: Lanslet.
The man was a true genius, a hybrid of martial and magical talent who had even managed to convert storm-based skills into sorceries.
Stormveil would have its own corps of sorcerers in the future.
It seemed Lanslet had even created some original sorceries, which Bai Shi could learn from him in the future.
Bai Shi had another, bolder idea as well.
If his own mastery was high enough, could he become like Radagon, capable of deflecting any sorcery or incantation with a wave of his hand?
Besides, there was another, more immediate benefit to raising his Intelligence and starting to learn sorcery.
Because, if all went according to plan, his next destination was Liurnia.
And there was no better teacher than battle.
Bai Shi was going to tear through the Academy of Raya Lucaria using their own sorcery against them.
"That should be interesting, hehe."
——
The 1.39 million runes were all spent on strengthening Bai Shi.
Factoring in the natural growth from combat and the effects of Radagon's Soreseal, Bai Shi's current stats were:
Vigor 43, Mind 22, Endurance 26, Strength 33, Dexterity 24, Intelligence 30.
Faith and Arcane remained untouched, at a pitiful 9 and 7 respectively.
This was equivalent to a level 115 character in the game, and it was already showing the beginnings of a well-rounded build.
Although the increases outside of Intelligence weren't massive, Bai Shi could still clearly feel he had grown much stronger.
The power-up felt incredible, but unfortunately, he likely wouldn't experience such a satisfying boost again.
This was purely the result of defeating every available enemy at once while his five-times rune multiplier was active.
Even with the power difference among the demigods, he doubted any of the others would yield more than double the runes Godrick had.
Acquiring runes would become more difficult, and the amount needed for future upgrades would increase dramatically.
Even if he managed to save up this many runes again, it would be impossible to gain so many levels at once.
Bai Shi released Melina's hand and took a deep breath.
He suddenly had the urge to imitate a certain character and declare, "Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one."
But Bai Shi had no desire to be cut in half, so he thought better of it.
——
In a hard-to-find sorcerer's tower in the far-off land of Liurnia...
Ranni gazed into the distance through a window.
In that direction, she could see the hazy silhouette of a castle shrouded in storms—Stormveil.
It was so distant that she could only make out a shadow, much like the elusive rumors that had just reached her ears.
Ranni had just received a report from one of her subordinates.
The massive column of wind that had strangely appeared several days ago had been unleashed by the new King of Stormveil during his battle with Godrick.
It was said that this new king rode a spirit steed named Torrent, fighting his way through the main gate to defeat Godrick.
A thoughtful expression crossed Ranni's face.
"Could it be him? To think he's grown so strong so soon after we last met..."
"Torrent, you truly have a knack for choosing your masters."