Bai Shi stopped thinking about the achievements. After all, the system panel came with no instruction manual, so no amount of thought would yield an answer.
Instead, he began to review his recent battle with Mohg.
What had left the deepest impression on Bai Shi from the fight was, without a doubt, Mohg's Blood Domain.
In the game, Mohg didn't use anything like that.
While his ability to move as a being of blood also wasn't in the game, it had at least been shown in his cinematic introduction, so it was somewhat explainable.
But this domain was simply on another level.
It not only sealed off the area but also allowed for constant attacks with blood from every direction.
It was a world apart from a simple environmental effect like Erlisa's ice storm.
And this was just the result of teleporting a small amount of cursed blood using the Reduvia.
One had to remember that the Mohgwyn Dynasty had a massive lake of cursed blood, containing a nearly endless supply.
Moreover, the one who had appeared was only a clone; it was unclear how much of the original's power it even possessed.
From what he had seen, the clone couldn't use the power of the Sacred Spear, nor could it use the spear to communicate with the Formless Mother; otherwise, he wouldn't have refrained from using it even in death.
And the power of the Sacred Spear and the Formless Mother accounted for at least half of Mohg's total strength.
However, although he couldn't gauge the strength of the Sacred Spear and the Formless Mother from this clone, it had already shown Bai Shi some of Mohg's capabilities.
These were abilities completely different from those portrayed in the game—far more bizarre and powerful.
Take the bloodflame that had burned along Bai Shi's own blood, for instance.
The bloodflame Mohg used in their battle was completely different from the in-game version.
The game's bloodflame was just a splash attack that would leave a patch of fire on the ground for a short time, hindering movement.
But the bloodflame in their fight could invade the body as soon as it touched blood, burning from the inside out.
It could burn a person to death in a matter of seconds, and because it was internal, it was difficult to resist.
To be capable of something like that, Mohg's control over blood was simply terrifying.
If Bai Shi had faced Mohg's true body instead of a clone, he might have been able to directly control the blood within Bai Shi's veins.
Bai Shi felt he had to re-evaluate the combat prowess of the demigods.
The power their Great Runes granted them was likely far beyond his imagination.
In the game, the Great Runes didn't seem to have any obvious effect on the demigods, appearing more as a qualification for vying for the title of Elden Lord.
But what was the true nature of a Great Rune?
It was a fragment of the Elden Ring.
That meant it possessed a shard of the various laws of the original Golden Order.
And that was a law that influenced the very workings of the world.
For these demigods, in addition to the physical enhancement the Great Runes provided, they must have all, to some extent, mastered the laws contained within them.
However, the only demigod with a Great Rune that Bai Shi had encountered so far was Mohg, so he still had too little information.
The only thing he could be sure of was that Mohg's Great Rune contained a law related to blood.
Furthermore, Bai Shi was certain that the blood law on Mohg's Great Rune was connected to the Formless Mother.
Because Mohg originally had no blood-related abilities; he only learned to conjure bloodflame after meeting the Formless Mother.
The Golden Order didn't seem to contain any laws related to blood either.
It must have been the Formless Mother who used some method to alter Mohg's Great Rune.
By embedding a blood law that did not exist in the Golden Order onto Mohg's Great Rune, she had allowed Mohg to gain complete mastery over blood.
Bai Shi suddenly felt a little grateful for Mohg's unexpected arrival.
Thanks to this visit, Bai Shi had gained a new understanding of the demigods' power ahead of time.
While Bai Shi lay in bed thinking, Melina sat on the sofa, hugging her knees. The wooden sofa was a bit hard, but the woolen blanket on top compensated for it well.
Melina quietly watched Bai Shi on the bed. She suddenly felt that the man before her was a complete stranger.
Melina realized that she seemed to know nothing about Bai Shi at all.
Even though she had been with him ever since he first entered the Lands Between.
Even though she was by his side every day, watching his every move.
But the abilities Bai Shi had displayed during the fight just now were simply too strange, too abrupt.
That bizarre healing ability—Melina couldn't find a single trace of its origin.
It was like an ability that had appeared out of thin air.
Such an ability was unheard of. In all her time with Bai Shi, she had never seen him learn or demonstrate anything like it.
Even if it were some forbidden art, it couldn't possibly have been acquired without a process.
Unless... it was something Bai Shi had brought with him from outside the Lands Between, something that didn't belong here.
But when Bai Shi had first arrived in the Lands Between, he had been very weak and knew nothing. That wasn't an act; Melina could tell.
If he had truly mastered such an ability back then, his previous battles would never have been so arduous.
After all, from what Melina had observed, she couldn't see any price Bai Shi had to pay for using this ability.
Bai Shi's constant and rapid growth in strength during this period, while astonishing, had a clear and visible trajectory.
But this ability was completely different. It was too strange.
Just like the last time, with that inexplicable flood of runes.
A group of Misbegotten had somehow yielded an enormous amount of runes for Bai Shi, a phenomenon that was utterly impossible to explain.
Thinking back, it wasn't just this time. It seemed that in every action Bai Shi took, he had a sense of knowing what was going to happen in advance.
When he decided to go to Castle Morne, Bai Shi had said he heard its castellan was a Banished Knight and he wanted to seek him out to learn martial arts.
Melina wasn't with him before that, so it was highly possible he'd heard that information from someone else.
But what about afterward?
Melina had been by Bai Shi's side constantly, and she never heard anyone tell him that there was a powerful talisman in the evergaol in the Weeping Peninsula.
Yet, that was exactly what Bai Shi had told Erlisa.
The Witchbane Ruins, too. Melina certainly didn't see any sign that the witch recognized Bai Shi.
But Bai Shi knew that someone was sealed down there.
Bai Shi's actions always seemed to have a clear and definite purpose.
To say it was the guidance of grace was far too much of a stretch.
The guidance would lead him toward becoming a lord, but it wouldn't act like a nanny, telling him where to find people and things.
Melina buried her head in her lap, curling into a ball.
She was truly distressed right now.
She didn't know how to act around Bai Shi anymore. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝕟𝕖𝕥
Should she continue as before, telling herself that everyone has their secrets, and pretend nothing had happened as they continued their journey?
They were partners, after all. If they trusted each other, a few secrets shouldn't matter, right?
Or... would asking Bai Shi frankly be a sign of true trust in him?