Crystal Palace from Infinite Anime

"Use your mental power to look inward, then use it to meticulously control the power of fire, and eliminate the scarlet corruption in one fell swoop! I can definitely do it!"

The new understanding gave Lin Zhiyu great confidence.

At this time, Lin Zhiyu was encouraging himself in his heart and was about to put it into action.

He sat by the campfire, slowly closed his eyes, relaxed his body which still felt a lot of discomfort, and tried to calm his mind.

But for some reason, after breaking through and reaching a new realm in the spiritual field, Lin Zhiyu always had a strange feeling.

A feeling as if someone is watching you.

Following this feeling, Lin Zhiyu frowned slightly, slowly opened his eyes, raised his head, and looked straight ahead over the campfire.

Busujima Saeko had been observing Lin Zhiyu carefully. Seeing that Lin Zhiyu seemed to have discovered something, she immediately looked forward like Lin Zhiyu, but saw nothing.

So Busujima Saeko used her extraordinary eyesight to look carefully again, and was surprised to find that less than five meters ahead, a human outline could be faintly seen in the air!

"who!"

Busujima Saeko subconsciously got up from the ground, her body tense.

The next second, a person appeared out of thin air in front of him and slowly walked to the campfire.

Busujima Saeko wanted to stop this person, but Lin Zhiyu grabbed Busujima Saeko's hand and signaled her to sit down with his eyes.

Saeko still trusted Lin Zhiyu very much. Even though Lin Zhiyu didn't say anything and just gave her a look, she still sat down on the ground again, staring at the person walking towards her, ready to use her extraordinary eyesight to freeze the other person for a short time at any time.

"Greetings, two travelers from a land far, far away."

Immediately, the man in front came to the campfire and sat opposite Lin Zhiyu and Busujima Saeko.

She was wearing a black robe, with most of her face covered by a hood.

But after sitting down and greeting Lin Zhiyu and Busujima Saeko, she took off her hood, revealing her fair and delicate face.

This is a young girl with medium-length brown, slightly curly hair.

Her eyes closed and opened alternately. The pupil of the open eye was amber, and the closed eye had a strange black mark around the eyelid, which seemed to be some unknown symbol.

At this time, across the bonfire, the girl continued to speak to Lin Zhiyu and Busujima Saeko in her soft and cold voice:

"My name is Melina, and I hope to make a deal with you."

……

Melina?

Melina!!!

How come she is here?

Looking at Melina who was sitting in front of him, Lin Zhiyu remained calm on the surface, but was actually quite surprised.

In the game Elden Circle, Melina is to the player's Faded One what the Fire Keeper in Dark Souls is to the player's Undead.

Although some developments in the plot do not match the players' psychological expectations.

As a result, Melina's reputation among Circle of Magic players is not as good as Fire Keeper's reputation among Dark Souls players.

It even gave rise to a very classic meme, which Lin Zhiyu can still recite by heart:

[Melina, I hate you like a piece of wood!]

Even if you asked me to "help me," I would happily die. But you said this was a deal. Who do you think I'd be jumping up and down for?

[I don't want to clean up the mess left by a demigod, nor do I want to go through a high-intensity dungeon to kill duplicate fillers. I just want to feel that you are needed (crying)]

I've hacked my way from Galid to the Yatan Plateau. If a staff could curl, I'd be wielding a chainsaw right now. I've been killing miners for ten years, and my heart has grown colder than the crystal ore in the dungeon. Melina, what's the repayment for what you owe me?

……

In short, in terms of plot, Melina did not accompany the players to the end.

Even if the player is willing to make an enormous sacrifice for Melina, Melina will not accept the player's kindness, because compared to the player's love, she has her own mission that she must complete.

And all of this started with Melina saying to the player, "I want to make a deal with you."

The issue is--

Lin Zhiyu and Busujima Saeko are not "faders"!

According to the plot, shouldn't Melina be in the neighboring Nimgufu, finding the Faded One who has returned from overseas and negotiating a deal with him?

...Because he couldn't figure it out, Lin Zhiyu remained silent for a while.

Melina, who was sitting in the front, continued to speak and asked Lin Zhiyu and Busujima Saeko if they knew about the "Finger Witch"?

Lin Zhiyu looked into Melina's eyes and then spoke:

"The Golden Dynasty began with the Elden Circle, and the Elden Circle began with the Supreme Will. At the border, there exists a being called 'Two Fingers,' the Supreme Will's messenger in the borderland. The so-called Finger Witches are a group of people who serve Two Fingers and are responsible for helping and guiding the 'Faded Ones.'"

With the shattering of the Elden Ring, the Golden Dynasty crumbled, and the borderlands desperately needed a new king. As the messenger of the Supreme Will, Two-Finger naturally hoped that the Elden Ring could be repaired as soon as possible and that the Golden Dynasty could be stabilized again.

The Faded are a group of Golden People, long ago stripped of their blessings by the Everqueen Marika and banished beyond the Reach. They are formidable warriors who have fought for their lives in exile, possessing a will and strength far beyond that of ordinary men.

Especially the power that the Faded Ones possess.

At the border, a great man once said: Strength is the reason for being a king!

Not to mention, at this time when the Elden Ring was broken and almost everyone in the border area lost the blessing, the Faded Ones, for some reason, regained the blessing they had lost and became even more powerful!

Even many faded ones who had long since died overseas, crawled out of their coffins because of the return of the blessing! They were directly brought back to life!

It was as if there was some mysterious force pulling the Faded Ones and pushing them back to the border area to compete for the throne of the new king!

All in all, even Two Fingers chose to bet on the group of Faders, and the Finger Witch is the best gift that Two Fingers gave to the Faders.

Just ask yourself, which faded person would not like a witch sister who is understanding, gentle and considerate, and can help increase strength?

Having said that, Lin Zhiyu felt very strange when Melina talked to him about the Finger Witch. After all, he was not a fader, so what did the Finger Witch have to do with him?

Melina seemed to see doubt in Lin Zhiyu's eyes and then said to Lin Zhiyu:

"Since you know about the Finger Witch, you must also know how important the Finger Witch is to the Faded Ones."

"Although you're not a Faded One, and I'm also curious why Torret chose you in the end, I still choose to trust you and promise to help you, just as the Finger Witch followed the Faded One. For example, I can help you collect runes and transform them into power to enhance your strength."

"But all this is based on one premise. You have to promise to take me to the foot of the golden tree."

The "Rune" mentioned by Melina here is a resource in the game that can be used as currency to purchase items, or as experience to increase levels.

As for what exactly runes are in the real world of the Circle of Magic, Lin Zhiyu couldn't quite explain it. The only thing he knew was that George R.R. Martin, the screenwriter of Elden Circle and the author of such masterpieces as "A Song of Ice and Fire", had definitely referred to the story of Odin and the runes in Norse mythology when he wrote about the runes.

"Legend has it that Rune is an ancient magical rune that contains infinite power. Odin is the god of knowledge and he has a strong desire to pursue knowledge. He once hung upside down on the Tree of Life (Golden Tree) for nine days and nine nights, and finally gained the wisdom of the Rune." - Although this mythological story reads incoherently and is too brief.

But whether it is the "Rune" or the "Tree of Life", they both have corresponding existences in the Elden Circle.

However, obtaining runes and gaining power through them is not something that just anyone can do. In Norse mythology, the only person who can do this is Odin.

In the story of the Elden Ring, those who can do this are the finger witches and Melina who is now sitting in front of Lin Zhiyu.

Now Lin Zhiyu only hopes that the runes of those big wild dogs, big crows, and corrupt dragons he killed before have gathered on him invisibly after their death.

Just like in the game, you will automatically gain a corresponding amount of runes by killing monsters.

But it must not be the case that he must have Melina's help to absorb Rune, otherwise he would have lost 100 million in vain.

Well... that's what I said.

So Lin Zhiyu would certainly not refuse Melina.

Isn’t it just taking Melina to the foot of the golden tree?

This was the path he would definitely take in order to pass this world!

Chapter 25 Female Voyeur

Just less than three days ago, Melina was actually in the Nimgfu area next to Galid.

She had not thought about coming to Gaileed.

But her good friend, the spirit horse named Torret, brought her all the way here for some reason, and carried her to find Saeko Busujima, who was seriously injured and unconscious on the shore of the Ionian swamp.

It was because of Melina's rescue that Busujima Saeko was able to survive until now.

But in fact, Busujima Saeko was not the person who could help Melina complete her mission. After she secretly followed Busujima Saeko and discovered Lin Zhiyu, she realized that Lin Zhiyu was the one Torrett really chose because of Torrett's hint.

Don't underestimate Torrett, he's just a horse.

It has actually served several legendary masters.

Including Malika, the "Eternal Queen".

The second king of Elden - Radagon, the "Golden Rule".

And the demigod who is incredibly talented but never grows up and can only appear as a child - Michaela, the brother of Marennia.

So Melina believed that the person Torret chose would definitely not be wrong.

Even if this person is not a fader.

Now, the deal has been proposed.

Melina just waited for Lin Zhiyu to give an answer.

However, because of the defensive shout that Busujima Saeko had just given to Melina, Laura and the others who were sleeping in the tent nearby were all awakened.

They crawled out of the tent one after another and found a strange woman sitting by the campfire. They all became alert immediately. Only the sleepy Seresa seemed relatively relaxed. She came to Lin Zhiyu's side and whispered to him, "Who is this big sister in front of you? Why does this big sister have one eye closed?"

"Don't ask so many whys, little kid~"

Lin Zhiyu pulled Theresa into his arms and pinched her fair, tender, and slightly chubby face. Then he looked at Melina and said to her, "If Theresa's words just now offended you in any way, I hope you don't mind."

Melina certainly didn't care about what a child said. Her gaze lingered on Theresa for a moment, then she turned her gaze back to Lin Zhiyu and said slowly:

"I await your reply."

Lin Zhiyu nodded slightly, looked at Melina with interest, and asked Melina if she could show her skills now and turn the runes in his body into power?

Melina stared at Lin Zhiyu for a while, then shook her head and said:

"You don't have any runes on you yet."

The one-eyed girl spoke in a cold voice, and the meaning of her words made Lin Zhiyu's heart suddenly turn cold.

Depend on!

My Rune!

Along the way, I killed so many monsters, including big wild dogs, big crows, and corrupt followers.

It even includes a BOSS-level flying dragon.

Where have all these runes gone?

I have so many runes!!!

This feeling is like playing a game. You worked hard to kill a lot of monsters and even defeated a very powerful BOSS, but you didn’t get the rewards you deserved.

If Melina hadn't appeared and if Rune hadn't been mentioned, Lin Zhiyu wouldn't have thought about these things. He just thought it was normal that reality wasn't like playing games where you could kill monsters to gain experience.

But Melina came anyway, and just like she told the players in the game, she told Lin Zhiyu that she could help Lin Zhiyu transform rune into power.

Now, Lin Zhiyu was full of expectations, but the answer he got was, "You don't have Rune in you"!

Translate, translate, what do you mean, damn, I don’t have any runes on me!

"Ahem... No, I don't quite understand what this Rune is. Melina, can you explain it to me?" Lin Zhiyu looked at Melina with a bitter face.

Melina can’t be described as an ice goddess, she can only be described as a girl with expressionless face.

If other people from the border area who can still think were here, they would definitely be surprised why Lin Zhiyu knew about the Supreme Will, the Two Fingers, and the Finger Witch... but didn't know what Rune was?

But Melina's facial expression did not fluctuate at all.

After listening to Lin Zhiyu's question, she just patiently and slowly said to Lin Zhiyu:

"Runes originate from the blessing of the Golden Tree. Although most people in the border area today have lost this blessing, a portion of the power of the Golden Tree's blessing has long since completely merged with everyone's lives, becoming an inseparable part."

"In the Nimgefu region, right next to Galid, it's not as desolate as Galid, and you can still find many livestock there. If you have the chance to observe those livestock, you'll find that some even excrement is golden—this is the power of the Golden Tree, a manifestation of its complete integration with life."

"It's important to note that runes are attracted to blessings, so a Faded One who possesses blessings can automatically absorb runes. But you're not a Faded One, and you don't even have the slightest aura of the Golden Tree. So you probably can't even sense the existence of runes, right?"

"Well...that's why you need me. As I said before, I can help you collect runes and transform them into your power."

……