Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

Thinking of Baizhi, a figure I haven’t seen for a long time suddenly appeared in my mind.

—Oh, Little Red Riding Hood, my Roderica, I wonder how she is doing lately?

It just so happened that after buying a portable lantern, he still had some runes on him, and Laya and Burke seemed to be getting along very well. They gathered around the campfire in the middle of the camp, eating meat, drinking soup, and talking about something lively.

I also took this opportunity to find a secluded place outside the camp: "Melina, can you take me to the Round Table Hall now?"

“At your service, Master Zero,” as Meimei’s gentle words floated past my ears, a golden light gradually filling my field of vision.

When I opened my eyes again, the huge round table and the blessing of the shining staffs appeared before me.

——It’s still as deserted as ever here.

I ran to the passage on the right with ease. Xiu Gu, as usual, lit the stove beside him as soon as he saw the person coming.

Roderica was kneeling at the foot of the wall opposite him, studying a book carefully. There were various books around her feet... Perhaps they were borrowed from Baizhi?

Even though I gave the hound Changya to Xiugu to help maintain it, Roderica was still immersed in books and didn't notice my presence at all.

After smiling silently, I carefully moved closer to her and glanced at the book in her hand.

“······All living things in the borderland have souls and bodies······Under the glory of the golden tree, the Eternal Queen blessed all living things with rune magic, giving them nearly immortal bodies. The souls of all living things are mostly contained in their bones. Only through the absorption of the tree can they return to the furnace of life and be reshaped. Otherwise, they will wander alone and become wild souls. However, there are some exceptions······”

“How complicated,” I couldn’t help but mutter as Roderica flipped through the book.

"Ah!" Roderica was startled by the sudden words. She raised her head and patted her chest a few times after seeing me. She felt relieved and said, "It's Master Ling. Long time no see."

She closed the book and smiled at me again.

I also continued the greeting: "How are you doing recently, Roderica?"

"Well, under the guidance of Mr. Shugu and Sir Baizhi, I have learned a lot." Roderica asked me, "Speaking of which, Mr. Ling has a tool that can summon those wandering souls to help him fight, can you lend it to me?"

"Of course no problem." I took out the soul-summoning bell and handed it to the other party.

"This is..." Roderica, who took the Soul Summoning Bell, couldn't help but widen her eyes. "What a wonderful bell design. It can actually hold so many souls... Lord Ling, do you know who made this?"

——Uh... the original owner of the bell is also Torret's owner, so it should be Lani's teacher, the Snow Witch? Or Queen Marica herself, or... someone from the Zuling faction? After all, Torret seems to have some connection with the Zuling.

Anyway, I didn’t know and could only simply shake my head at Roderica.

"Lord Zero doesn't know either... Why don't I ask the lord later? Maybe he will know something." Roderica said to herself.

——By the way, judging from these borrowed books, Baizhi takes good care of Roderica?

——He started raising his daughter again? However, I don’t know what his relationship with his eldest daughter is like now?

As the instigator, I didn't dare to ask, so I could only change the subject: "By the way, Roderica, have you learned how to tune your spirit now?"

"Yeah." Roderica nodded, and then her face turned red with embarrassment. "No, but I just learned a little from Mr. Xiu Gu and read some books. To be honest, I can't guarantee how it actually works."

"Then it's just right for an in-class test." I took out a few cemetery lily of the valley and Lingyi cemetery lily of the valley from the blessing backpack and handed them to the other party.

—Well, let me sort out the ashes I have now:

——The ordinary ashes include: the three wolves I am most familiar with, Roderica’s little jellyfish Kurara, and the Wandering Noble and Noble Magician obtained a long time ago...Needless to say, it must be the enhanced ghost three wolves and Kurara.

——Special ashes include: "Lost Knight" Ingwill... Although Letina is in my body, she is also counted as ashes for summoning in the game.

——Finally, there is the puppet, the finger witch Serolina.

There are only two lilies of the valley in Lingyi Cemetery, and my runes may not be enough. I'd better upgrade Ingwill and Letina first. After all, as for Serolina, I only need her prayer to deal with ghosts for the time being, so the strength is not important.

I told Roderica my idea and handed over all my runes at the cost of my entire fortune.

"Then I'll try." After saying that, I saw Roderica crush the rune I gave her, condensed it in her right hand, and then picked up a cemetery lily of the valley.

Just like plants absorbing water, the silver lily of the valley gradually emitted the golden light of rune.

Roderica closed her eyes and shook it gently. Even I seemed to hear the clear sound of bells coming from the lily of the valley. Then, she picked up the soul-summoning bell with her left hand and shook it gently, as if responding to the sound of the lily of the valley.

Jingle bell bell~

Jingle bell bell~

"Don't be afraid, children, come and eat~" Roderica said softly, "Don't you also want to help Master Zero and do more? Then please take my strength and become stronger together~"

As she spoke, the lily of the valley gradually turned into fragments of light and merged into the soul-summoning bell.

"...Oh, Kura, my lovely child, long time no see. How was it? How was your trip with Master Zero? He didn't seem to like summoning you for help. I'll have to talk to him about it for you later. And this flower, consider it Master Zero's apology to you."

--Amazing!

When summoning the spirits, a blue light shone in Roderica's eyes. Every soul in the soul-summoning bell seemed to be in front of her, whispering to her.

She listened gently and kindly, responding and smiling from time to time, just like a nun listening to people's confessions in the church, or like an angel guiding souls.

"... As expected, she is very talented." Even Xiu Gu, who was standing by, couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Roderica who was concentrating on training her spirit. "Not only that, her diligence in learning with an open mind is also impressive... I underestimated Roderica at the beginning."

I couldn't help but sigh like an old father: "Rodlika has also walked out of the state of mind that trapped her and is growing up slowly. I have to thank you for this, Xiugu."

"Nothing. I just happened to work with a spirit trainer in the past, and I told Roderica what I knew... She was able to learn so quickly, and it was because of her own understanding." Xiu Gu handed the hound's fang back to her, and asked casually, "Have you given this weapon to anyone else to cultivate?"

——As expected of an old blacksmith, you figured it out, didn’t you?

I nodded honestly. "It was a blacksmith from the royal family of Kalia who helped me... What do you think? Would you be unhappy, Xiu Gu?"

After hearing my question, Xiu Gu couldn't help but snorted, "No, from the way he used the weapon, I can tell that he has great skills... He is better than me in tempering the toughness and endurance of the weapon. Even if it's just maintenance, I can learn a lot from it."

Seeing the rare joy on Xiu Gu's face, I spoke carefully and asked tentatively: "If I say I can take you to find that blacksmith, Xiu Gu, are you willing to leave the Round Table Hall?"

“...” Xiu Gu looked at me. The firelight seemed to light up for a moment in his almost gray and dark world, but was quickly covered up again. “No, I...have not yet fulfilled my promise with that person. Before that, I must stay here.”

——The agreement with that person should be the agreement between Shugu and Queen Marica in the game to create a weapon to kill gods.

But when I thought about the fact that he would meet his end in this hall that was on the verge of collapse and burning with eternal fires everywhere, I couldn't help but continue to persuade him, "Then, it is necessary to exchange experiences on weapon forging and learn from each other..."

"Cough cough cough." Xiu Gu interrupted with a cough.

Roderica seemed to have hit a bottleneck as well. She raised her eyes, tears overflowing from her full eyes and sliding down her cheeks: "...Oh! This, this is too cruel. What on earth did you use to torture you, the miko, into this state...Zero, Master Zero."

There was a hint of resentment and disbelief in her tone.

——Huh? Did the finger witch Cerolina say something to Roderica?

To be honest, I didn't quite understand what was going on, and for a moment, I didn't know how to explain it to Roderica.

"This method should not be done by Zero. Besides, I can roughly guess who did it. So, Roderica, you don't have to blame him." At this moment, a voice helped me out.

——But this is a voice I don’t want to hear, at least, not now.

Sir Gideon Ovnir, the Hundred Wise, was walking over leisurely with his cane, and took the initiative to greet me: "Long time no see, Zero."