Bai Shi left the well-fed Shivr, who was already fast asleep, in the tent and walked out with Senessax.
Before leaving the Dragonblood Knights' encampment, Bai Shi paid another visit to Hakan's tent.
He had left too quickly yesterday and had forgotten to give Hakan his blessing.
However, Hakan's tent was empty.
Bai Shi went out and found a Dragonblood Knight on guard duty, who told him Hakan's whereabouts.
It turned out Hakan organized training for the Dragonblood Knights every day.
Aside from those on rotating shifts or injured, all other Dragonblood Knights had to participate to maintain their standards.
Bai Shi quickly found the training grounds behind the camp.
It was a hastily cleared area with not much in it—just some training posts made from trees and stones for weightlifting practice.
Besides physical conditioning, most of the training consisted of sparring with sword and shield to practice combat techniques.During these sessions, they wouldn't attack with full force. Instead, they would engage in offense and defense at a moderate pace, pulling their punches without intending to cause real harm.
Practicing moves this way prevented damage to armor and weapons and almost completely avoided accidental injuries.
When Bai Shi found Hakan, he was sparring with another Dragonblood Knight on the makeshift field.
The standard equipment for the Dragonblood Knights was a medium shield in one hand and a Dragonblood Greatsword in the other.
Although in Dark Souls, the Dragonblood Greatsword was mockingly called the Dragonblood Dagger due to its length being out of place for the greatsword class.
Bai Shi had also found it quite awkward to use in the past and had suffered for it many times.
That was why Bai Shi had specifically designed the Dragonblood Greatsword to have the proper length of a greatsword.
Its current length was on par with the standard Lordsworn's Greatsword.
However, Hakan hadn't equipped himself with the standard-issue shield, instead opting to wield his sword with both hands.
He was a Kaidan Sellsword, long accustomed to aggressive offense.
So he had replaced his cavalry saber with a Dragonblood Greatsword a size larger than the other knights', almost on the scale of a colossal sword.
Seeing Bai Shi's arrival, they stopped what they were doing.
"Working hard, I see."
"Haha, just daily training."
Hakan took off his helmet, waved the other Dragonblood Knight away, and walked over.
When he stood before Bai Shi, he saw Bai Shi extend a hand toward him.
"Hakan, I will now bestow grace upon you. Let the golden light guide you."
Hakan was startled.
"Grace?"
Bai Shi nodded.
"Yes, grace."
"The very same grace you know of."
"What? Are you unwilling to accept it?"
Hakan didn't waste words on pointless chatter. Since Bai Shi had asked, he simply needed to answer.
"No, how could I refuse?"
"No one who lives in the Lands Between doesn't long for grace."
Hakan solemnly knelt on one knee, looking up at Bai Shi and waiting for him to act.
Bai Shi nodded.
A golden radiance emanated from his hand. The Runes, transformed by the power of a Great Rune, became the light of grace.
The Runes slowly flowed into Hakan's eyes.
Then, a brilliant golden light shone from Hakan's eyes.
This time, Bai Shi once again used the power of a Great Rune to bestow thirty thousand Runes upon Hakan as grace.
Hakan stood up, clenching his fists, feeling the new power coursing through his body.
This grace not only allowed him to see the sites of grace across the Lands Between, but it also increased his strength.
He could feel that every aspect of himself had been enhanced.
It seemed the bottleneck that had long troubled him was now within reach of being broken.
A bit more accumulation, a chance encounter, or some kind of stimulus—any of these could now help him break through his current plateau.
The commotion here also attracted the attention of the other Dragonblood Knights present.
When they saw the brilliant golden light glittering in Hakan's eyes, all the Dragonblood Knights were invigorated.
They wanted to raise their arms and cheer, but they were afraid of disturbing Bai Shi and Hakan.
So they could only silently suppress their excitement.
The excitement in their hearts was now beyond words.
That was grace! The grace that everyone in the Lands Between longed to possess once more!
Since Lord Bai Shi could bestow grace, he was the most legitimate heir in the Lands Between, the best candidate for Elden Lord!
Without a doubt, this act of bestowing grace brought an unparalleled boost to the Dragonblood Knights' morale.
They became even more convinced that what they were doing was right and just.
Hakan looked at Bai Shi.
Bai Shi had brought him countless shocks along their journey.
In the beginning, when he first met Bai Shi on the beach.
Bai Shi had still been quite naive, a newcomer to the Lands Between whose strength was roughly on par with his own at the time.
But now, things were completely different.
"Bai Shi, I won't bother with worthless words of thanks."
"You treat me as a friend, so my life is yours."
"Since you trust me enough to let me command the Dragonblood Knights."
"Then I will ensure the Dragonblood Knights become the sharp edge of Stormveil's campaigns."
"I will do everything in my power to help you realize that wish."
Bai Shi, of course, knew what wish Hakan was talking about.
Back then, he had made a wish to bring peace to the Lands Between, and Hakan had been the sole witness.
Probably not even Melina knew about it; it was a pact between Bai Shi and Hakan.
Bai Shi patted Hakan's shoulder.
"Haha, then I'll wait for that day."
"And you can wait for the day I become Elden Lord and make that wish come true."
Without another word, Bai Shi prepared to leave with Senessax to learn the incantations of the ancient dragon faith.
Just before leaving, Bai Shi called out to Hakan one more time:
"Oh, right, take care of Shivr..."
"The egg I was carrying yesterday."
"A little wolf hatched from it. I named him Shivr."
"He's in my tent right now. If he wakes up, feed him the meat chunks in there."
Hakan also had a white wolf companion, so looking after a wolf cub shouldn't be a problem for him.
Even though its life form was a bit different, at least it looked a lot like a wolf...
Besides, Bai Shi had also left Torrent in the tent.
Torrent could certainly help look after Shivr, and he seemed to like him a lot.
Anyway, he would be riding Senessax for a lot of the time to come, so he could let Torrent rest.
Hakan nodded in agreement.
The Dragonblood Knights were stationed here with nothing to do anyway.
Things could only proceed after Bai Shi went to Sellia to fetch their mounts.
He didn't know why a wolf would hatch from an egg, nor why a newborn cub could eat meat.
But since Bai Shi said so, it should be fine...
Bai Shi and Senessax continued on their way, gradually leaving the Dragonblood Knights' encampment behind.
They soon arrived at a deserted, open field.
Bai Shi took a deep breath and channeled his magic into the Ancient Dragon's Seal.
Recalling the feeling of being guided by Senessax to cast the incantation yesterday, Bai Shi circulated his magic.
He controlled the magic to follow the same path, and red lightning instantly crackled from the seal in his right hand.
Bai Shi had successfully unleashed the same red lightning as yesterday.
The red lightning spread from the seal, darting rapidly over Bai Shi's body and enveloping him completely.
Senessax was quite surprised that Bai Shi had mastered the incantation so quickly.
"Wow, you managed to use it on your own today."
"It seems your power is even greater than I imagined, Master."
Bai Shi felt the red lightning clinging to his body.
"I just remembered the feeling from yesterday, and it came out naturally."
"By the way, is this red lightning your own creation?"
"It seems the red lightning of different ancient dragons varies."
Senessax said with a touch of pride:
"Mhm, this is my unique red lightning."
"It can't compare to my famous brethren, but it's still of a certain quality."
Bai Shi nodded. Senessax's dragon lightning manifested similarly to Vyke's, a special incantation gifted by a dragon maiden.
The stats were likely not too different, but the type of buff it provided was unlike Vyke's dragon lightning.
Senessax's blessing added lightning damage and attack power with no negative effects.
Vyke's blessing, on the other hand, which he received from Lansseax, increased lightning damage and equipment load limit but lowered lightning damage negation.
This type of blessing incantation was considered quite advanced among the various incantations.
Bai Shi asked Senessax curiously:
"Speaking of which, what's your power level among the ancient dragons?"
Senessax once again twirled a lock of hair around her fingertip.
"Hmm... how should I put it."
"I definitely can't compare to the top-tier ancient dragons."
"Like the ones you mentioned before, Master, the ones who waged war against the golden dynasty."
"'Great Ancient Dragon' Gransax, and the siblings Lansseax and Fortissax—they are all legendary figures among the ancient dragons."
"Gransax is known for his immense size."
"His sheer physical advantage gives him a much greater edge against other creatures than his fellow ancient dragons."
"Although Lansseax and her brother are much smaller than Gransax, their strength is only slightly inferior."
"As for me, while I don't really have a famous name among the ancient dragons,"
"both my size and my lightning abilities are considered to be in the upper echelons of our race."
"That's why I qualified to be a proselytizer."
"Of course, I'm more than a little behind the truly powerful ones."
Bai Shi nodded, getting a general idea of Senessax's status and power among the ancient dragons.
She was basically one of the more powerful among the common ancient dragons.
"Speaking of size, is there a big difference in size among ancient dragons?"
In the game, aside from the 'Great Ancient Dragon' whose size was ridiculously large, all the other ancient dragons used the same model.
Although Fortissax had a different skin, his size was unchanged.
Senessax nodded. "Yes, the sizes of ancient dragons vary greatly."
"The largest of all is Gransax; his body is like a mountain."
"As for those born smaller, some are even half my size."
"Besides size, it's also normal for their forms to differ."
Senessax recalled some of the oddities among the ancient dragons.
"Some ancient dragons are born with forms different from the others."
"A normal ancient dragon should have four legs and four wings, but it's not unusual to have more or fewer limbs."
"As long as they have scales of stone and possess eternal life, we consider them ancient dragons."
Although Bai Shi hadn't seen these different ancient dragons, he could generally understand their method of identifying their own kind.
After all, their Dragonlord had five heads.
Who would dare say he wasn't an ancient dragon just because he looked different from the others?
Compared to morphological similarity, eternal life and scales of stone were the true characteristics of an ancient dragon.
Bai Shi brought his thoughts back to the business of learning incantations.
"Alright, let's get started then."
Senessax thought for a moment and said:
"By the way, Master, have you had contact with the power of lightning before?"
"There are still traces of lightning on you."
Bai Shi nodded.
"One of my previous weapons was imbued with the power of lightning."
"And I also infused it with the Lightning Slash Ash of War, which I've used quite a few times."
Senessax nodded, understanding the general situation.
"Okay, I understand."
"In that case, let's start with Lightning Spear from the ancient dragon faith."
"Lightning Spear and Lightning Slash are almost the same power."
"They are both very basic incantations and skills in the ancient dragon faith."
Then, Senessax began to instruct Bai Shi personally.
---
After half a day of training, Bai Shi had completely mastered Lightning Spear, Electrify Armament, and Honed Bolt.
That was all for today's lesson.
Although Bai Shi still had strength to spare, he didn't need to learn everything in one day.
Bai Shi planned to take Senessax with him to Caelid first.
On one hand, he needed to survey the route from the Siofra River Well exit to Sellia from the air to plan the path.
On the other hand, he wanted Senessax to see the current state of the Lands Between.
She had been underground for too long; it was time for her to get some fresh air.
Since the Dragonblood Knights were encamped near the well exit, Bai Shi and Senessax easily found the elevator for the Siofra River Well.
It was only a short distance, so Bai Shi didn't have Senessax transform into her dragon form to carry him.
Besides, Bai Shi liked to ponder things while traveling.
On the way, Bai Shi and Senessax saw some Ancestral Followers.
Upon seeing the two of them, these Ancestral Followers immediately retreated and disappeared from sight, seeming somewhat afraid.
Bai Shi remembered that he had specifically instructed the Tarnished who came here to avoid conflict with the local inhabitants.
But it seemed that a rather intense conflict had broken out before.
Bai Shi thought the Tarnished who had come were quite obedient, and there had always been Warhawks monitoring from above.
If any of them had truly disregarded his orders and initiated an attack, he should have heard about it by now.
It was likely the Ancestral Followers who had attacked to defend their land.
The subsequent arrival of the Dragonblood Knights had backed up the Tarnished.
Although Bai Shi didn't know what had happened back then, it looked like the Ancestral Followers had surely left behind many bodies.
Bai Shi shook his head. The grand goal of racial harmony was still a long way off.
He wondered what it was like in Miquella's Haligtree, where creatures who hated each other could gather together.
Within the scope of Bai Shi's current power, the various races lived together without any major problems.
Except for Castle Morne, which wasn't very welcoming to the Misbegotten due to the past rebellion, everything was fine.
But in the future, as more and more races joined, the conflicts between them would become increasingly sharp.
Some races might be born with an innate hatred for each other.
These were all problems to be solved in the future, but Bai Shi couldn't think of any good solutions.
Sigh, what a hassle.
He didn't know why, but whenever he read novels, the protagonists seemed to know everything after transmigrating.
They knew astronomy and geography, could dabble in scientific research, or handle politics and military affairs.
Since transmigrating, Bai Shi had basically just been enjoying the thrill of battle.
He really didn't know how to handle anything else.
Things like producing building materials, researching gunpowder, glass, paper-making...
It was hilarious; the raw materials in the Lands Between were completely different, and many things already had similar substitutes.
Haha, it was indeed more convenient to discover talent among his subordinates.
The Lands Between had to be managed in its own way.
Bai Shi thought that maybe he should go to Miquella's Haligtree for some pointers in the future. After all, he had already found the Consecrated Snowfield.
Speaking of which, Miquella had the innate ability to make people like him.
Bai Shi had personally witnessed the power of the Bewitching Branch before, which raised some questions.
Could Miquella's Haligtree be held together by his personal charisma, forcibly uniting those races?
But that didn't seem quite right.
After all, in the game, Miquella was abducted by Mohg, yet the Haligtree remained peaceful.
As for this world, Miquella had appeared after the Battle of Aeonia.
But with such a great distance, could the effect at the Haligtree still be maintained?---
Lost in his thoughts, Bai Shi arrived at the elevator with Senessax.
Inserting the Stonesword Key into the Imp Statue seal, the elevator was fully reactivated.
When the faint blue magic appeared on the elevator's patterns, Bai Shi and Senessax stepped onto it.
The two rode the elevator, passing by a sky full of stars, then through a layer of dark, silent rock, and arrived in a canyon in Caelid.
Senessax looked up at the long-unseen sky, feeling emotional.
From within the canyon, the view of the sky was very limited.
But the branches and leaves of the Erdtree still covered most of it, making even Caelid's fiery red sky seem dim in comparison.
Senessax looked at the magnificent Erdtree and sighed with emotion:
"Is that the Erdtree?"
"It's so magnificent."
"To possess such power..."
Bai Shi also looked at the brilliant Erdtree under the fiery sky.
"Yes, that's the Erdtree."
Senessax tilted her head back to gaze at the Erdtree.
"The power of the Erdtree is much greater than I imagined."
"I thought it was just another fleeting dynasty in the Lands Between."
Bai Shi nodded. The Erdtree's power was likely one of the most dominant forces in the history of the Lands Between.
The essence of the Golden Order was eternity and immutability.
Furthermore, the military might of the Erdtree's domain was considerable, which was what created such a powerful dynasty.
Bai Shi glanced toward the end of the canyon.
At the end of the canyon path, there was the silhouette of a massive figure.
This figure was Caelid's mysterious Great-Jar.
It stood guard at the entrance to the Caelid Colosseum, waiting for something unknown.
Bai Shi pointed to the cliff above, and Senessax understood his meaning.
She transformed back into her ancient dragon form and let Bai Shi mount her.
With a powerful flap of her four wings, Senessax leaped from the canyon floor into the sky in an instant, making Bai Shi once again marvel at the flying speed of ancient dragons.
Senessax circled and soared freely in the vast sky.
But suddenly, Senessax cried out in alarm.
"M-Master!"
"Is this Caelid?!"
Bai Shi didn't expect Senessax to still be able to recognize this place.
But her surprise was probably due to the Scarlet Rot.
"Yes, that's right. Caelid changed drastically because of a past war."
"The whole of Caelid was infected with Scarlet Rot, which is why it looks like this now."
"It's normal for you to be surprised..."
But Senessax's next words made Bai Shi's brain shut down.
"No, it's not about the Scarlet Rot."
"Where's the Spire of Spike next to Caelid?"
"Was it destroyed in that war?"
"What happened to that huge Spire of Spike? Why is it gone?"
Bai Shi froze for a moment, unable to process what she'd said.
Spire of Spike?
What was that?
From the name, it was definitely a place, but Bai Shi couldn't remember such a location from the game.
Bai Shi quickly asked Senessax:
"Spire of Spike? What's the Spire of Spike?"
"Is it next to Caelid?"
Senessax was even more surprised that Bai Shi didn't know.
She continued to ask him:
"Huh?"
"The Spire of Spike, the one where the drakes gather."
"The Spire of Spike where the race of drakes lives, the one the ancient dragons once counter-attacked."
Now Bai Shi was completely baffled.
Wasn't the place where dragons lived supposed to be Caelid's Dragonbarrow?
In his memory, there was no such place at all.
Bai Shi swallowed and said to Senessax:
"Senessax, can you point to where the Spire of Spike used to be?"
Senessax hesitated, seeming unsure.
She stretched out a foreleg and pointed north of Dragonbarrow.
"Uh, if I remember correctly, it was over there."
"But now it's turned into sea..."
Senessax looked north along the inland sea in the center of the Lands Between, growing more and more incredulous.
"Eh?"
Forget the Spire of Spike, why was there a huge chunk missing from the center of the Lands Between?
The Lands Between... what happened to it?
Why had the surface world become like this?