Before the statue of Queen Marika, the Grafted Scion dropped from above.
Staring at the monstrosity with four legs and three arms—like a giant spider—Arthur raised his hand and fired off a Glintstone Pebble.
Then he started kiting.
His starting FP let him cast Glintstone Pebble 15 times, and with auto-lock on the spell, he whittled the Scion's health down by nearly half while weaving through its attacks.
When his FP ran dry, Arthur swapped to his shortsword, waited for the boss's post-attack stagger window, and darted in for a slash.
With a Physique equivalent to 30, his physical damage now outstripped his magic; that single hit dealt twice what his spells did.
Seeing numbers like that, Arthur stopped dodging altogether and went straight for backstabs, pouring damage into its weak spot. With the triple multiplier on weak-point hits, he rushed in during the boss's stagger and chopped away.
The Grafted Scion collapsed on the spot, muttering, "Despicable Tarnished!"
He scooped up the drops: an Ornamental Straight Sword and a Golden Beast Crest Shield.
Arthur looked around—and suddenly realized a problem: how was he supposed to leave?
The return portal from the Chapel of Anticipation sits at the Four Belfries on the eastern side of Liurnia of the Lakes. In a normal run, you only get back there later via teleporters.
He wandered the area helplessly, and when he reached a cliff edge, the ground gave way beneath his feet.
As he fell, consciousness fading, he vaguely heard wooden-faced Melina talking to Torrent.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in the Cave of Knowledge.
Arthur glanced at the tutorial pit ahead.
"A tutorial? In a fully immersive game?"
Back in his first playthrough, he'd died three times to the tutorial boss—only to discover it was basically a trash mob out in the world.
Even so, he couldn't help himself; he jumped down. Time to settle old scores.
In under fifteen minutes, he cleared the tutorial—thirteen of which were spent running.
He picked up his first achievement on the way:
[Novice's Initiation: You've fully grasped the basics. Go forth and adventure! Materialization Attempts +1]
He also snagged the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman.
In a hyper-real immersive world, you don't always need to take the "intended" route to grab items; if a pickup looks reachable, you can just climb.
The talisman's damage negation buffs weren't that useful to him, since he could just tank a few hits of any damage type to build resistance until immunity. But he's a hamster-type player—if he sees it, he hoards it.
Leaving the Cave of Knowledge, he lifted his gaze. Six Divine Towers rose at varying distances, and the lush Erdtree blazed on the horizon.
As he took in the familiar-yet-strange landscape, something felt off.
White Mask Varre stood by the Site of Grace ahead—normal.
But why was there no Tree Sentinel patrolling the basin behind Varre?
"System, what's going on? Explain."
[Reminder: The current Elden Ring is a virtual world constructed by the System.]
[As a complete world, its landmass cannot be as small as the game you played before.]
"So you're saying even getting from place to place will take actual time?"
[Correct.]
"Then tell me: at my current speed, how long would it take me to sprint to the Gatefront Ruins to get my beloved Torrent?"
[At your present pace, an all-out sprint would take approximately 16 hours.]
"Bloody hell! This game is too real!"
Arthur trudged to the Site of Grace ahead.
"...Oh? You are… Tarnished, are you not?"
He ignored White Mask Varre, kindled the Grace, and ran toward the Guidance of Grace.
He even forgot he had a Golden Seed in his starter inventory to increase his Flask of Crimson/Cerulean Tears charges.
Varre watched the shrinking speck that was Arthur and was briefly at a loss for words.
What was with this generation of Tarnished, not playing by the script?!
After an exhausting run-around of the area, Arthur skirted the Tree Sentinel, lit the Grace at the Church of Elleh, and finally reached the Gatefront Ruins.
He sat at the Grace, and Melina's form coalesced from vague to solid.
Arthur suspected she existed only in a soul-like state now. After all, some fans speculated she was the Gloam-Eyed Queen—an Empyrean once chosen by the Two Fingers, who lost out to Marika and ended up relinquishing even the Rune of Death.
"Greetings, you who have crossed the fog."
Arthur cut straight in: "Alright, wooden one, I'll take you to the foot of the Erdtree. Hand over Torrent."
He couldn't help it. Even if his body didn't feel fatigue in-game, as a former ordinary guy he'd never run sixteen hours straight. Now his mind felt numb; he just wanted to log off and sleep.
Melina, thrown by the interruption, blinked. Why was this Tarnished so… practiced?
(Arthur: The confidence of a New Game+ player.)
"Hurry up, I need to rest."
Urged again, Melina snapped back to herself, took out the Spectral Steed Whistle, and handed it to him.
Arthur tucked the whistle into his inventory. "Alright, I'm off to rest. Remember my name—Arthur. I'll get you to the foot of the Erdtree."
Without waiting for a reply, he called up the System panel and logged out.
Upon logout, the System hides his in-game body in the void, so Melina watches him vanish in an instant, her right eye widening in shock.
"An interesting Tarnished. He seems… unusual."
Back in the real world, Arthur shut his eyes the instant he opened them, slipping into a deep sleep.
Two hours later, he woke fully refreshed.
That's one perk of a powerful physique—rapid recovery. Two hours was enough to restore his mental energy.
Staring at the 4 Materialization Attempts on his panel, Arthur pondered how to maximize their use. There were too many good things in the game, and as a dyed-in-the-fur hoarder, he wanted them all.
"Hey! System, can I materialize my in-game character?"
System: …Why does this host always go off-script?!
[Detected the host's intent. Assessing feasibility…]
[In-game character deemed a special "item" belonging to the host. Materialization possible.]
[Two materialization schemes available:**]
[Plan A: Fuse with your current body; the character's attributes are fully added to the host.]
[Plan B: Materialize the character as an External Avatar.]
"I was just asking on a whim—and it actually works?"
System: Thank you so much for your 'whim,' truly!
"So what's the difference? And what happens to the in-game character afterward?"
[After Plan A, you will enter the game in your true body. Pros: your growth speed doubles, and you can rapidly strengthen yourself through in-game leveling. Cons: you lose the 'revive after 24 hours' feature upon death; you will rely only on Twelve Trials for resurrection. Once the charges run out, you die for real.]
[After Plan B, the created game character can travel between game and reality. As long as your Spirit is sufficient, you can control the character to play while your real body acts in the real world. Con: it provides no direct upgrades to the main body.]
"B! B! B! I pick B!"
He chose the second option without a shred of hesitation.
If it were any other game, he might consider A.
But this was a Miyazaki soulslike. Twelve lives? Try a full run and check your death count—see if twelve is even the first digit!
As for Plan B's downside? Please. Twelve Trials can carry his real body's growth. Worst case, he suffers a bit from it.
[Command received. Materialization successful.]
Seeing [External Avatar] appear under his Talents, Arthur felt an extra point of view open in his mind. He sank into it to sense carefully.
It was the perspective of his in-game character—no, his External Avatar—currently suspended in a void.
That was the character space the System had opened, so his avatar wouldn't get gored by wild boars while he was offline.