Bai Shi returned to his room, but no matter how he tossed and turned on the bed, he couldn’t fall asleep.
He had accomplished a lot today. First, he had a satisfying battle with Erlisa, and then he went to rescue Sorceress Sellen.
Afterward, he had gone to Roundtable Hold to repair his equipment, been summoned by the Two Fingers, and even received a large sum of items and runes, leveling up quite a bit.
The journey had been quite tiring. On any other day, he would have fallen asleep the moment he hit the bed.
But Arnogo’s words echoed in Bai Shi’s mind.
Arnogo was a contradictory fellow.
He would help a stranger like Bai Shi when he was in grave danger, but he would also sell out information about Patches, with whom he had a connection.
Bai Shi could tell that his relationship with Patches was more than just a fleeting acquaintance. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked Bai Shi what he was planning to do, nor would he have hesitated.
Was this a problem unique to his nomadic people? At least, not entirely.
But in the current Lands Between, in this shattered and chaotic land, a few more runes could mean the difference between life and death.
The Bai Shi of the past had never seriously considered this.
He had just been following a gamer's mindset, wanting to pursue the perfect ending, and so he had set the goal of bringing peace to this world.
But as he met one living, breathing person after another, he had truly found a sense of belonging in this world.
Especially after witnessing the tragedy of Castle Morne, Bai Shi had come to further understand just how screwed up this world was. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
The Elden Ring was shattered, and the Shattering had brought devastation to all living things.
Those who should go mad had gone mad, those who wished for death could not find it, and ordinary residents had to live in constant fear just to get by.
At first, he had simply wanted to save all the NPCs from the game and make up for its regrets.
But now, Bai Shi genuinely wanted to change the fate of every living being in the Lands Between and bring true peace to the land.
Before, he could have deceived himself by saying his strength was still lacking and he couldn’t change anything, or that "it’s still a long way off, I’ll think about it later."
But as Bai Shi's strength grew day by day, ideas had gradually begun to form in his mind.
His wings had gradually become full-fledged; perhaps it was time to start doing something for the people of the Lands Between.
Although he couldn’t change the world with his current strength, perhaps he could bring a glimmer of hope, couldn't he?
Bai Shi didn’t know why this thought had occurred to him.
But he didn’t need any other reason to justify it. He wanted to do it, simply because he wanted to.
It wasn't for gratitude, nor was it out of pity. He simply saw the world for what it was, and thus wanted to act.
Perhaps, after defeating Godrick, he could try to set his plans in motion.
With these thoughts churning in his mind, Bai Shi gradually drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Bai Shi followed Arnogo to the Bridge of Sacrifice, which had once blocked his path to the Weeping Peninsula.
As they arrived, a soldier ran over for a routine inspection.
The soldier seemed to know Arnogo well; they just nodded at each other, and he was allowed to pass.
Then he looked at Bai Shi, who took out a token Edgar had given him a long time ago.
Upon seeing the token, the soldier respectfully let him through at once.
They crossed the bridge without issue and galloped along the main road.
Arnogo’s little donkey wasn't carrying any cargo today, so it ran quite fast, though in Torrent's eyes, it was no different from a crawling snail.
Torrent easily kept pace behind the little donkey at a very slow speed.
Led by Arnogo, the two quickly rode along the wetlands of Agheel Lake and arrived near a cave.
Arnogo began to search the area for the cave where Patches was hiding.
Patches had once told Arnogo that the cave was very well hidden. It now seemed that was true, as it required a thorough search. Bai Shi also rode Torrent around the vicinity to help, but it was mostly because Torrent seemed eager to stretch his legs.
Not far away, a pool of blood crept ominously through the grass.
He was the notorious Bloody Finger, Nerijus. Driven mad by cursed blood, he had killed his own maiden and joined the Mohgwyn Dynasty.
He was granted the title of Mohgwyn Dynasty Knight and relentlessly attacked his fellow Tarnished.
The Tarnished active in Limgrave had suffered greatly at his hands. Many were killed instantly during his ambushes.
The few Tarnished who managed to escape were left with severe psychological trauma, and so Nerijus's infamous reputation spread through Roundtable Hold.
Nerijus stared at Bai Shi for a long time, confirming that he was a Tarnished and not one of Godrick’s soldiers.
Besides, in his experience, Tarnished who dressed were generally very weak.
He licked his lips, already anticipating the taste of blood.
The weak little Tarnished hadn't even noticed he was being targeted, heh heh.
But had Bai Shi really not noticed at all? He actually hadn't.
Bai Shi had felt a very faint killing intent locked onto him, but it was so weak that he thought it was from the large dragonflies flying nearby.
'Strange. This isn't a game anymore, so why is everything still so hostile?'
'Godrick's soldiers and the Kaidan Sellswords attack Tarnished on Godrick's orders, but what are the dragonflies getting in on the action for?'
Suddenly, a crimson projectile shot toward Bai Shi.
Without even summoning a storm, Bai Shi dodged it with a casual turn of his head.
Bai Shi turned to look at the flying object. It was a blade of blood, which splattered against a rock behind him.
Bai Shi finally remembered; there was supposed to be a Mohgwyn Dynasty Knight invasion here.
But Bai Shi wasn’t fazed in the slightest. He was about to teach a lesson to this punk who did nothing but bully newbies in Limgrave.
But in this world, where even cooperative summoning was a system tied to the Sites of Grace, how did they manage to invade?
Surely they didn't just find a place to camp and wait, right? That would be pathetic.
Nerijus was stunned for a moment when he saw Bai Shi dodge the first sneak attack.
He hadn't expected this Tarnished, wearing a full set of Godrick soldier gear, to be able to avoid it.
But seeing him still dazed on his horse, as if scared stiff, Nerijus decided it was just luck.
'It's happened before. Whatever, I'll just rush him and cut him down.'
Nerijus emerged from the pool of blood and rapidly closed in on Bai Shi.
Bai Shi dismounted Torrent, partly to prevent his steed from getting hurt by accident, and partly because he wanted to play around a bit.
Seeing Bai Shi dismount voluntarily, Nerijus sneered.
'Fool. Fleeing on horseback was your only chance of survival, and now you've given it up. You must be truly scared stiff.'
He clutched two daggers that dripped incessantly with blood, exuding a thick, sanguine odor as he quickly rushed in front of Bai Shi.
And yet, Bai Shi remained motionless, not even drawing his sword.
'Too scared to even draw your sword? Hehe, looks like I'll get to torture you for a bit.'
Nerijus brandished his daggers. It had been a long time since he’d encountered such a weakling.
Nerijus was going to use his Reduvias to carve countless wounds into his body until he slowly bled to death!
But when Bai Shi sent him to his knees with a single punch, Nerijus finally realized that things were not as simple as they seemed.