After a moment, the two of them put away their weapons and sat facing each other.
Lloyd glanced at the cold, expressionless girl in front of him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
How do you even talk to people again? What do you say?
He'd spent too long in that other world, where his daily life was nothing but slashing monsters and cutting down anything in his way. There was never anyone to talk to.
Over time, he'd all but lost the ability to hold a conversation. Aside from his final goodbye to the Fire Keeper, his last spoken words probably dated all the way back to when he first arrived in that world.
And clearly, the pale-haired girl didn't seem like the talkative type either.
So even though the tension had faded, silence still hung between them—just quiet staring.
"My name is Lloyd."
Eventually, he broke the silence.
"I think I've lost my memory. I don't know why I'm here, or where this place is, or what happened. All I remember is my name... and how to fight. What about you?"
"I don't know either."
The light-gold-haired girl was succinct.
"I'm only here to investigate something. Everything else doesn't concern me."
"Investigate what?" Lloyd asked curiously.
"The abnormalities in this world."
Her tone remained calm.
Ever since someone broke the router that connected her here, she hadn't looked back at this land. But recently, she'd sensed strange fluctuations. And with the link broken, she couldn't observe or understand what was happening—so she came herself.
Beyond that, she didn't know much about this world either. In that regard, she wasn't much better off than Lloyd.
After listening to her, Lloyd paused for a moment.
"Then... want to team up?"
Even if she wasn't his Fire Keeper, the strength she showed earlier was more than enough for him to offer.
And considering he had just stepped out the metaphorical front door and already ran into a boss-level opponent, it made him question how dangerous this world actually was.
When he first arrived, with his level 802 and a complete item set, he figured that even in a totally foreign world, he wouldn't be invincible—but surely not just anyone would be able to smack him around.
But now...
He looked at the girl again, suddenly unsure.
Coincidentally, the girl seemed to be thinking something similar.
She had assumed this Incarnation's power would let her breeze through this place, but the first thing she ran into was that monster...
"Alright."
She nodded, looking at Lloyd with a calm expression.
"If you're willing to help me investigate and resolve these anomalies, I'll compensate you accordingly."
She raised her left hand and snapped her fingers.
The next second, a familiar "ding" echoed in Lloyd's ears.
[Elden Ring System Activated]
"...What did you do?"
"The laws inscribed on you weren't quite compatible with this place. I made a few adjustments," she said casually, like she was commenting on dinner plans.
That... was not "a few" adjustments.
Lloyd stared at the newly appeared system panel with a complicated expression. In his mind, he bumped the estimated threat level of this world up a few more notches.
He examined the new interface. Structurally, it looked nearly identical to his old Dark Souls system—same layout, same item slots, same menus.
The only real difference? The attributes section.
Instead of nine, there were now eight stats. And instead of Souls, upgrades now required "Runes."
[Character Name: Lloyd]
[Origin: Wretch]
[Attributes: Vigor: 10, Mind: 10, Endurance: 10, Strength: 10, Dexterity: 10, Intelligence: 10, Faith: 10, Arcane: 10]
Looking at those all-too-familiar numbers, Lloyd's eyelid twitched.
Isn't this just Dark Souls' deprived starting class?
Do you really think I won't recognize it just because you combined stamina and endurance, and renamed Luck as Arcane?
After confirming the system details, Lloyd looked up at the girl once more.
"So, if I have Runes, you can help me level up?"
The girl frowned slightly. "What do you mean by 'level up'?"
"I mean turning Runes into my strength."
"That's not possible." She shook her head.
Well, guess she wasn't his Fire Keeper after all.
Lloyd had suspected as much—if a Fire Keeper were that powerful, there'd be no need for the Ashen One in the first place. Still, having it confirmed made him sigh.
But if she wasn't his Fire Keeper... then what happened to his Fire Keeper?
Wait!
A sudden thought struck him.
The corpse in that room!
Realizing what he'd overlooked, he rushed back to the starting chamber and knelt by the body.
This time, with the Elden Ring system now active, he noticed a message lingering in front of the corpse the moment he entered.
"Though the guidance is long shattered, may you become Elden Lord."
Lloyd had no idea what this "guidance" was, or what an Elden Lord even meant.
But as his fingers brushed the carved letters, he could feel a lingering sorrow hidden within.
His Fire Keeper... gone before the story even began?
Lloyd stared at the body, stunned. Could it be that his long stay in the simulation led to her death?
No—maybe it wasn't too late.
A sudden memory surfaced. He reached out and gently touched the maiden's face. The moment his fingers made contact, he felt a faint soul still residing within the cold body.
Good. There was still time.
Lloyd didn't know any resurrection spells. Even if he did, the fragments of soul and this long-dead body wouldn't be enough to meet the requirements for revival.
But still, there was something he could do.
A soft spark flickered at his fingertips—not the usual searing, unruly flame, but a warm orange glow, gentle and calm.
The flame settled on the maiden's body, slowly seeping in, enveloping the faint soul within.
"...Tarnished?"
The fading soul responded on instinct.
"It's me," Lloyd whispered.
At his words, the soul stopped resisting the light. Moments later, a cloud of ash-like powder drifted into his palm.
[Acquired: 'Incomplete Finger Maiden' Spirit Ash]
The powder vanished from his hand, replaced in his "Key Items" tab by something labeled "Incomplete Finger Maiden."
Good—an item meant hope.
Confirming the soul's preservation, Lloyd finally let out a breath of relief. He stood and turned toward the girl who had silently observed everything.
"Any questions?"
"Yes." She nodded. "What do you plan to do now?"
Lloyd blinked, then replied with a question of his own. "Weren't you going to investigate the anomaly?"
"Yes. But I have no idea where it is."
Silence.
Lloyd looked at her. She looked back at him.
After a pause, he glanced at the message left on the floor and sighed.
"Well... first things first. Let's get out of here."
That was easier said than done.
After carefully searching the area, Lloyd found no visible exit.
The place seemed built atop a mountain, surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs. No matter which way he went, the bottom was a yawning abyss.
The girl followed silently, watching him search in vain before shaking her head.
Even with her ancient existence, she'd seen all sorts of oddities. But someone twisting the world's laws so badly that they boxed themselves in?
That was a first.
She understood, of course—this was likely some kind of "limiter," where power in one domain was traded for restrictions in another. But this method...
She had never seen anything quite like it.
And what really tested her composure was what he did next.
After circling with no success, Lloyd's gaze landed on a protruding rock behind the statue of the goddess. Something about its shape struck him as oddly familiar.
He walked over, stood at the edge, and stared at it for a long moment.
Then he remembered.
In a place called the Ringed City, there had been a similar cliff—a corpse lay at the edge, a glowing item resting on it to draw attention.
Anyone who approached to collect the item...
Bang.
The cliff would collapse.
...
As she watched the edge crumble and Lloyd vanish from sight, the blonde girl exhaled softly.
"Your way of descending a mountain is... certainly creative."