During the Shattering, by the shores of Liurnia of the Lakes. Emerald leaves fell with the wind, landing on the azure lake—a scene full of vitality, where everything competed for growth. A manor stood by the lake, its thick outer walls draped with the banners of the Carian Royal Family. Heavily armored warriors patrolled back and forth, the sound of sword sheaths hitting armor clanking with every step. Beneath their helmets, their expressions were grave.
Ever since Raya Lucaria Academy imprisoned their head—Queen of the Full Moon, Rennala—the flames of war between the Academy and the Royal Family had burned for a long time. Now, that group of mages and their minions had reached the last territory of the Royal Family. Once they crossed this manor, they would be at the gates of Caria Manor, just a few miles to the north. The entire Carian Army had mobilized.
From powerful knights to elite soldiers, even armed civilians and mages who had defected from the Academy—all had their swords unsheathed and bows strung, gazing at the uncollected corpses beneath the walls and the endless enemy camps in the distance.
Yet, on the side of the manor facing the lake, a young man dressed as a magic apprentice sat by the wall. He had short black hair. In the center of his pale blue eyes flickered the golden light of 'Grace'. He stared at the giant Erdtree in the distance and muttered to himself:
"Is there no end to this? How did I get involved with defending a city again?"
The blood and fire of Ashina were still in his memory; the sensation of his blade cleaving through the bodies of the Interior Ministry's Red Guard seemed to linger on his hands. Looking down slightly, he saw a metal nameplate hanging on his dark blue mage robe, inscribed with strange characters: Thorne Wright. Memories flooded in. This young man was originally a newly enrolled magic apprentice. Because his village had been looted by Cuckoo Knights, he had defected to the Carian Royal Family in a fit of rage.
However, he was cowardly by nature and had been slacking off ever since. "You could at least have given me a muscular body. What the hell is a magic apprentice?" The young man spat into the lake. But he had no choice from the beginning. What kind of crappy world did that god choose? The 'Souls' quartet—was that something a carbon-based lifeform could choose? Fortunately, after the torture of Sekiro, he had gotten used to it. "Forget it, a mage is a mage. At least this 'elden ring' isn't too bad." Thorne looked at the Erdtree in the distance again.
According to the memories of this body, The Lands Between was still in the midst of the 'Shattering', and the Tarnished had not yet returned. Even the manor beneath his feet had not turned into ruins. Of course, it wasn't much better. Because the elden ring was shattered, the flames of war swept across The Lands Between. From demigods to commoners, everyone struggled in blood and fire. This 'Shattering' could be summarized by a famous quote:
"The heavens have changed, the divine artifacts have been replaced, and it belongs to the virtuous... My ass." Thorne laughed at himself.
The big shots were merely trying to seize the shards of the elden ring to ascend to the throne.
Here by Liurnia of the Lakes, for a magic apprentice, the task was simpler—to survive. He took a deep breath, habitually resting his hand on his waist. Of course, he grasped at thin air. He could only smile bitterly as he looked at the short apprentice staff in his hand, tucked his hands into the wide sleeves of his mage robe, and strolled toward the center of the manor. Many tents were pitched there. He could see Carian soldiers in full armor, as well as trolls nearly ten meters tall.
Several long tables were set up in the center, and apart from the soldiers on duty, everyone was queuing for food. "Thorne, Thorne, over here, over here." Just as he stepped down from the platform, he saw a man dressed as a soldier waving at him. He wore his helmet crookedly, and a handlebar mustache grew on his slightly immature face. Thorne paused, recognizing this as his friend from the same village, Arnot. He shamelessly cut the line.
The people behind him didn't say anything when they saw his mage robe; mages who defected from the Academy were rare, and even apprentices were precious in a siege. "Say, Knight Bolls pointed you out for a patrol mission this morning. How come I didn't see you go?" Arnot stood on tiptoe with his tray to look ahead, appearing very lively. "Uh, I had to take the water route. I get seasick." Thorne searched through his chaotic memories, roughly understanding that this body was originally a slacker. "Seasick?"
The young man blinked, turned his head, and put on a serious expression: "Thorne, I know you're scared, but just being alive in this world is good enough. If the manor is breached, do you think those goddamn Cuckoos will listen to your excuses?" "Naturally not." Thorne nodded along, revealing an expression of sudden realization, thinking that this friend had good emotional intelligence. The magic apprentice was naive and cowardly, but the man-slayer of Ashina was already mature; there was no need to explain this logic.
Arnot was stunned, not thinking too much about it, assuming his friend had figured it out. While getting food, he kept chattering on. "It's good that you know. Don't look at how hard it is to live here, but outside there's the madness disease and the demigod wars. Many towns have been reduced to ruins. At least we have food to eat serving Lady Ranni." "It's precisely because I have food to eat that I get scolded. You can't raise a coward in a war." Thorne looked at the cook's disgusted expression and immediately knew what state this body was originally in. "Don't worry, don't worry.
"Find a way to survive, and you can do research in a big house in the future." Arnot offered the only comfort he could.
As he spoke, the cook ladled food into their trays. Boiled crab meat, bread, and a bowl of meat soup made from Altus Bloom. Arnot held the crab meat in his hand, grinning to show his white teeth.
"Look, the food is pretty good today. I heard from the guys in the second squad that they were preparing to catch lobsters, but they got blasted back by a water cannon."
"Daring to provoke the Lobster King—you guys are tough." Thorne forced a smile. He found an empty spot with the young soldier, sat cross-legged, and ate heartily.
The Carian Army's cooks were skilled, using some kind of spice to suppress the fishy smell of the crab meat. The meat soup had a rich and peculiar aroma. Tearing off a piece of bread, sandwiching the crab meat, and swallowing it with the soup made Thorne's appetite surge. He'd been eating rice balls until he wanted to vomit. He used the opportunity to think about the 'madness disease'.
He remembered that when he was a player, The Lands Between was already full of lunatics, and the living were emaciated to the point of deformity. But now, it seemed normal people were the majority, which indirectly showed it was much earlier than the era in the game.
He subconsciously looked toward the Erdtree in the distance, and the spoon in his hand stopped.
"What are you thinking about? Are you still eating the bread? If not, I'm taking it." Arnot's voice came from the side again, his hand sneaking out.
Thorne tossed the bread to him, looking at that grinning face. "Thinking about how not to become a lunatic."
"Why think about that so much? How the madness disease appears and how to solve it are things for the big shots to worry about. We just need to think about driving back the damn Cuckoos to the village. Hey, I wonder if Mary is married yet."
Thorne had heard similar words many times, but a scummy samurai and an old man had taught him one thing: regardless of status, if you want to live, you have to fight.
Just as the village youth chewed happily, the sound of iron boots rubbing against the ground came from afar. Thorne followed the sound and saw a black figure walking along the wall. It had a robust build, wore grey armor, a fur cloak, and carried a greatsword on its back. The most peculiar thing was its head—it was a ferocious wolf's head.
"Lord Blaidd is here." Arnot whispered, quickly standing up, and wiping the grease from his mouth. This werewolf was a general of the Carian Army, an existence serving the Princess of the Moon, Ranni.
His status was, of course, countless tiers higher than these little soldiers. Thorne also hurriedly stood up. Such a powerful aura. Even though he had just come out of a Shura field, Thorne still narrowed his eyes slightly. In the end, The Lands Between was not for ordinary humans, and this werewolf was a one-man army. Moreover, he was very familiar with this appearance.
Blaidd? The source of that wolf-man appearance for Ranni's sake??
"Everyone, there's a scouting mission this afternoon. I need five volunteers."
Blaidd looked grim and terrifying, his voice solemn, carrying an aura of majesty without even being angry. Many of those still fighting like cornered beasts here were Carian loyalists. As soon as he finished speaking, several people stepped forward. However, Blaidd did not speak; he only cast a deep glance toward a corner and quietly walked away. It just so happened that lunch had ended, and the soldiers gathered there were dispersing.
Thorne and Arno were about to leave when a soldier approached them. "Thorne Wright, come with me."
There was no politeness in his tone, nor did it sound like a request. Arno immediately realized something and hurriedly went to meet him with a forced laugh, rubbing his hands together. "Sir, actually, about what happened this morning..." Before he could finish, a hand pressed down on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw no trace of panic or similar emotions on his friend's face. "Don't plead. I'll go."
"Hey, are you crazy? Scouting missions are dangerous!"
"It was your words just now that suddenly enlightened me. If I'm eating Caria's food, I should do the work. Wouldn't it be worse if I were punished by military law?"
Thorne didn't care. Taking advantage of Arno's daze, he picked up the straight sword leaning in the corner, drew it half an inch, and closed it with satisfaction upon seeing the cold, brilliant glint and the layer of grease coating it. The sword was three feet long with a slightly blue hilt and a cross-guard. It was the most common two-handed straight sword in The Lands Between. He weighed it in his hand; he could only say it was barely usable. "Please lead the way." The soldier hadn't expected this apprentice to be so polite and kind.
But thinking that the other party had no choice anyway, he led him away, leaving Arno scratching his head, feeling that after a mere lunch, this friend of his had become different from usual. The manor was a fortress, positioned exactly on the mandatory path to the Carian Royal City. The outer walls cut off the mountain pass, while the inner side was flat and open, with the lake to the right and woods to the left. A tent was pitched by the woods. The wolf-man Blaidd sat on the ground, surrounded by the corpses of Cuckoo Soldiers.
Conscripted civilians were swiftly stripping off armor and weapons, piling them to the side.
He had already received the report.
Seeing Thorne approach, he recognized this slacker apprentice.
His first reaction was that the other party wanted to flee.
His brow furrowed, revealing a few pale fangs. "Have you made up your mind? Trying your petty tricks in front of me won't work."
Faced with the questioning, Thorne leaned his sword on the ground, breathing in the faint scent of blood in the air, his mind clear of distractions.
It was nauseating, yet familiar enough to be nostalgic.
Figures couldn't help but flash through his mind: the silent shinobi, the wild and unrestrained Sword Saint, the samurai fighting for their nation's survival—everything overlapped with the armored soldiers and the fortress before him.
Thinking of this, the former Sword Ghost, now an apprentice, straightened his back and answered proudly, "I'll go."
A full moon rose quietly, hanging in the sky and casting a vast silver light onto the calm surface of Liurnia of the Lakes.
The Great Erdtree, which towered into the heavens, dimmed slightly, its faint golden light vying for brilliance with the silver moon, together forming the strange night scenery of The Lands Between.
Splash—
A small boat drifted on the lake.
No torches were lit, nor was magic used for illumination; it moved forward in the dark, relying solely on this strange night light.
Looking to the right, there were stretching military camps. The glow of braziers dispelled the moonlight, making the area as bright as day.
Outside their wooden walls stood high watchtowers, where Cuckoo Soldiers in deep blue surcoats were searching the lake surface.
Fortunately, the small boat stayed close to the cliffs along the lakeshore, positioned exactly in a blind spot.
Thorne looked to the left. Besides the various islands on the lake, he could also see a massive 'city' built on an island in the center of Liurnia of the Lakes.
Majestic buildings rose up the mountainside, and the clock tower at the top was likely hundreds of meters high. This was Raya Lucaria Academy, also known as the Carian Royal Academy.
Ever since the conquest by Rennala, the Queen of the Full Moon, it had belonged to the Carian Royal Family. But now the Queen was imprisoned, and the two sides had parted ways. A war had even erupted, sweeping through all of Liurnia.
The low overthrowing the high—Thorne was all too familiar with it.
He simply watched the waves stirred by the small boat and fell into thought. 'It's different from my memory. I remember you didn't need a boat for Liurnia of the Lakes at all; you could cross it on horseback.'
There was no habit of keeping chronicles in The Lands Between, which was quite a headache.
It was impossible to tell how long it would be before the Tarnished of destiny arrived. One could only estimate from the natural scenery that they were still far off. Precisely because of this discrepancy in time, many events couldn't be judged by past experience.
Thorne could only trust what he saw with his own eyes. He stopped overthinking. While everyone on the small boat held their breath, he began to calculate what cards he had in his hand.
'The stats of this body are decent. As expected of a high-magic world with gods, even a sorcerer's physical power is quite good.'
His fingers on the straight sword opened and closed, as if activating every muscle, simulating those thousand-fold tempered killing arts in his mind. As long as his physical stats were within a certain level, technique could compensate for some deficiencies. This straight sword could still take a life if thrust into flesh.
Of course, besides swordsmanship, this magic apprentice's body also came with some skills. 'Academy-style sorcery Glintstone Pebble, and then learning Carian Slicer from the Royal Family side? Hmm, slacker or not, this person's aptitude is actually quite good. At least his Intelligence is over 9.'
To summarize briefly, Thorne Wright was indeed a magic apprentice with good aptitude—insignificant cannon fodder in a war. But the other Thorne was different. "My hand won't shake when I cut someone." The former right-hand man of Sword Saint Isshin Ashina smiled, revealing grim white teeth.
He felt that everything was still under control and was even somewhat eager to test if his blade was sharp. "Attention, we've broken through the blockade." A muffled voice came from the bow. Blaidd rose slightly, his fur cloak fluttering in the night wind. Several people on the boat breathed a sigh of relief. Besides Thorne, there were a few other soldiers: two carrying swords and shields, one with a halberd, and one with a shortbow. They all looked quite capable.
"Lord Blaidd, what are we scouting this time?" a sword-and-shield soldier asked.
"We're circling around to the rear to ambush the Cuckoo supply caravan," the wolf-man replied in a low voice, then glanced sideways. "Why, are you afraid?"
Thorne clearly heard the sound of someone swallowing hard. In fact, one only needed to look at the map to know that the lands surrounding Liurnia of the Lakes were not that vast. A dozen miles away sat a high cliff, where the belfry could oversee everything around it, serving as the vantage point of the west bank. It was highly likely that as soon as they made a move here, the Cuckoo cavalry would arrive as reinforcements.
The risk was quite high. "We're not afraid! With Lord Blaidd here, unless we encounter an ambush by Cuckoo Knights, there's nowhere in Liurnia we can't go!"
"Right, as long as we destroy the supply caravan, maybe those damn Cuckoos will retreat."
For a moment, battle intent ran high as they rubbed their hands together in anticipation.
Blaidd nodded with satisfaction. If it weren't so difficult to break through the blockade, he would have suggested the Princess lead troops to harass them long ago. The difference in numbers between the two sides was too great; they could only win by surprise.
Even if War Counselor Iji were to stop him, he had to try.
Thinking of this, he used the corner of his eye to glance at the magic apprentice at the stern. Seeing the latter staring at the lake surface without speaking, he gave a light snort and turned his head away. This Thorne Wright had always been sly and lazy. If he didn't draw some Cuckoo blood this time, he would inevitably be suspected of being a spy.
The group fell silent. Amidst the slight sound of water from the oars, the small boat headed south along the lakeshore. Around midnight, a patch of shallows finally appeared ahead.
Blaidd was the first to step onto land. He directed everyone to hide the boat in the grass, then lay prone on the shore and pulled out a telescope to observe. In the distance, the braziers atop The Four Belfries burned brightly. That was a Cuckoo outpost, and it was impossible to hide any combat commotion from them. Right below the cliff where the belfries were located, a supply caravan was slowly moving forward.