After learning about the situation with the Caelid dungeon, even Lloyd himself could barely keep it together.
The so-called Horse Girl Challenge, to put it simply, required him to choose a horse girl of his own and, over a set period of time, train and raise her through various methods as her trainer.
Once she grew stronger, she would compete in a series of races. If she managed to win several of the key events set as objectives, the challenge would be considered a success. Fail to do so, and it counted as a loss.
It sounded simple enough. In practice, it didn't even seem that difficult.
The real problem was—Lloyd wasn't exactly what you'd call a horse enthusiast. Forget horse girls; he'd never even owned a horse. Sure, he'd spent plenty of time with Torrent, but the truth was, that spiritually attuned creature had spent more time taking care of him than the other way around.
After all, while horses weren't entirely absent from the Dark Souls world, the "horses" there differed quite a bit from those in the Lands Between. And before his Strength had been restricted, Lloyd had never needed a mount anyway. For short distances, he'd just run. For longer ones, he'd fold space itself and teleport by brute force.
So, despite his power and vast experience, when it came to dealing with horses, his skill level was… limited. At best, comparable to Godrick—and honestly, Godrick might've been better.
After all, before fleeing the Royal Capital, that idiot had still been a proper nobleman. He might have been hopeless at battle, administration, or grafting, but when it came to indulgence and leisure, he'd been world-class.
Building from that, Caelid's regional boss—Starscourge General Radahn—was, notoriously, a horse fanatic.
His knowledge of horses, his skill in training them, and his ability to nurture bonds with them were all top-tier in the Lands Between. And after Lloyd had... modified him, he'd been placed inside the "Shining! Caelid Maiden!" instance for a long period of practice. His partner steed was also one of the finest warhorses in the realm, their bond so strong it could only be described as one mind, one body.
Bluntly put, in almost any other field, Lloyd could outmatch or outright crush Radahn.
But when it came to horsemanship... the gap between them, while maybe not as vast as their overall power difference, was still like comparing a prime Marika to a random roadside vagrant.
Could he win? Win what, exactly? Not a chance in hell.
So, ridiculous as it sounded, the difficulty of this dungeon actually surpassed even that mess with the magical cannons in Liurnia of the Lakes.
And that was exactly what broke Lloyd's composure.
He didn't mind losing per se—but this?
"Great. I'll clear every other zone, only to get eliminated by horse girls. That'd be peak absurdity."
Still, complaining didn't solve anything. Once he finished grumbling, Lloyd got to his feet, looking over the group of Redmane Knights—or rather, Redmane Trainers—in front of him, and began thinking through a plan.
The setup here might be absurd and the difficulty insane, but the basic rules were still the same. He didn't have to challenge Radahn right away, which gave him some room to maneuver.
But even with that leeway, one crucial problem remained.
"Where the hell am I supposed to find a horse girl?"
Looking at the empty roster under the [Party] tab, Lloyd fell into deep thought.
Yes, forget training proficiency—he didn't even have a horse girl.
Because of this dungeon's unique mechanics, the rules had been altered: summoned entities in "horse girl" form couldn't participate in battles elsewhere, but they could remain here until the entire training cycle was complete.
The issue was, when he checked his long list of connections, he found all kinds of strange allies—Shadow Beasts, Black Knife Assassins, even a few Finger Maidens—but absolutely no horse girls.
It wasn't for lack of trying. He'd attempted to drag in a few dragon girls to pose as horse girls, even considered pulling in the Two Fingers to serve as mounts—but every attempt ended with the same result: [Does Not Meet Requirements].
If this were the outside world, Lloyd could have simply bent the rules—whipped up a horse girl from scratch, maybe even created some custom "Super Horse" just for laughs.
But here, inside a dungeon, under heavy restrictions? Forget crafting horse girls—he could barely move freely himself.
So what now? Was he seriously going to fail the dungeon just because he didn't have a horse?
...Huh?
As he pondered, golden symbols suddenly began to glow before him.
And not just one or two—three appeared at once.
[Summon Assistant: 'Torrent']
[Summon Assistant: 'Regal Ancestor Spirit']
[Summon Assistant: 'Asimi']
The first two made perfect sense. Torrent was, after all, his little calf-horse. Though rarely noticed, in terms of time spent together and bond forged, it surpassed that of many of the women in Lloyd's life.
The only issue was that, until now, Lloyd had never reincarnated Torrent—because the little horse seemed perfectly content being, well, a horse. So when he was thinking earlier, Torrent had come to mind, but he'd dismissed the idea since a mere "horse" didn't qualify as a "horse girl."
But now, seeing its golden symbol shine here meant Torrent had willingly accepted the dungeon's rules—choosing to become a horse girl of its own accord, just to help him.
Truly, it was his Little Cow Horse through and through.
As for the Regal Ancestor Spirit—she was a fusion of many beings. Though she looked like a deer, she could transform into a horse.
And after Lloyd reincarnated her into the form of an Ancestor Spirit Maiden, her horse form automatically shifted into a horse-girl version—barely meeting the summoning criteria here.
But Asimi...
After summoning her, Lloyd stared silently at the liquid-metal horse girl standing before him.
"A mimic horse still counts as a horse, right?"
Of course, this mimicry came with restrictions.
Beyond the earlier rule that forbade participation in combat, Asimi couldn't use any other mimicked forms until they left the dungeon. Doing so would result in instant failure.
Still, regardless of the limitations, at least now—after summoning all three—Lloyd wasn't completely horseless anymore.
And with Stormveil still busy upgrading equipment and producing new troop types, he had no pressing matters elsewhere.
So he decided to remain in Caelid for now—studying, of all things, horse training.
Speed training. Strength training. Endurance training…
Diet plans, daily routines, race schedules...
Since this was a non-combat dungeon, Lloyd's movements in Caelid weren't restricted. And though the Laws prevented anyone from directly conceding or rewarding him early, sharing horse-breeding knowledge was still allowed.
However, after some time studying the subject, Lloyd ran into a problem.
The Redmane Knights were eager to help—some even shared their most prized techniques—but after mastering those, Lloyd looked at the three beings before him and suddenly realized none of it applied to them in the slightest.
Forget Asimi, the mimic horse— even the Regal Ancestor Spirit beside her was just pretending to be a horse girl. And once inside the dungeon, instead of focusing on training or racing, she preferred to sit around playing cards with Lloyd. Sure, she'd train if he asked her to, but one look at her half-hearted effort, even without a system prompt, told the whole story—she was permanently stuck in a "completely unmotivated" state, her efficiency scraping the floor.
As for Torrent...
Among the trio, the little cow-horse looked the most horse-like.
But real horses don't grow horns, and during their journey, Lloyd had kept feeding Torrent soul energy. Back in the Eternal City, she'd even absorbed part of the Regal Ancestor Spirit's power.
So despite being the most horse-like of the group, Torrent wasn't exactly a proper horse either.
In truth, Lloyd didn't have a single normal horse in his entire team—just three impostors. The standard training techniques for horses or horse maidens didn't translate here at all; even using them as reference points was a stretch.
Still, it wasn't all bad news.
Though he had no idea how to train them properly, these "impostors" were monsters in their own right. Each one possessed absurd physical stats that put normal horse girls to shame. Even without training, their ridiculous base values were enough to stomp through any ordinary opponents with ease.
The issue was, that advantage wouldn't last. The dungeon still operated under certain balancing rules—none of their original stats carried over directly. Without proper training and growth, they wouldn't just lose to Starscourge Radahn and his prized steed; even mid-to-late-tier elite horse girls could outpace them.
So the real question was: how was he supposed to train them?
Lloyd didn't understand horses to begin with, and now he couldn't even rely on borrowed experience.
And while he had the time to raise them now, once the preparations at Stormveil were complete, he'd need to return to command and combat. Things would only get busier from there—he couldn't afford to spend forever on this nonsense...
"I see..."
Seeing Lloyd's troubled look, the three approached to ask what was wrong. After he explained, they all fell silent in thought.
Then, after a while, Asimi turned toward the nearby window. Her gaze fixed on her reflection—more precisely, on the glowing crimson sigil on her forehead. Her expression sharpened.
Before Lloyd could react, her soft, fluid form melted forward and flowed into his arms.
At first, Lloyd thought it was just Asimi's usual way of clinging to him and didn't think much of it.
But before long, he noticed something—an odd sensation that made him lift his head, puzzled, to look down at the mimic horse girl in his arms.
"You…"
"I've thought of a method," Asimi whispered softly, nestled against him.
"A method of cultivation unique to you—a special one."
Lloyd froze. His eyes shifted to the crimson sigil on her forehead, realization dawning.
"Wait… you mean—"
"Yes."
Asimi nodded gently.
"The Covenant."
"Though current restrictions prevent you from supplying us with soul essence directly, by continuously deepening the Covenant, we can not only draw greater power—but also weaken this place's rejection of us..."
As she spoke, her silver-white fingers traced down his chest, leaving behind a faint, chilling sensation.
"What do you think...?"