It had been three months since the dissolution of my and Kirito's party. I wandered around each floor as it opened, ignoring the assault team's efforts to try and get me to return to the front lines.
For all intents and purposes, I was a nomad wandering from place to place. Each time a new floor opened up, I headed there immediately and searched for the best farming spots. With each farming session, I grew stronger. With each mini-boss I fought, I got smarter. With each passing day, I soon came to realize that this world was my future.
That was why I had given up any hope of ever leaving. Fighting for a goal that only grew more dangerous as time passed on was foolish to me. Survival was more important than escaping and I seemed to be the only one that understood that.
My travels had brought me to Floor 40 where I found a hidden cave. With a torch in my hand and my greatsword in the other, I walked through the cave. The only sounds were the clanking of my armor and the quiet roar of the torch.
As I walked, I began to notice something. Every cave I had found before was filled with enemies waiting to ambush me around every corner, except this one. As I turned down the corridor, I was half expecting a skeleton with a rusted falchion to jump out at me. I'd been seeing a lot of those lately and I didn't know why. I suspected it was because of the extra content that Kayaba added, but I wasn't sure.
*There better be some sort of loot at the end of this cave.* I thought
Suddenly, as if my thoughts had been read, I turned another corner and saw light spilling out of it. I hurried toward the light as fast as I could without tripping. When I did, I was blown away. Off in the distance was a perfect replica of Firelink Shrine.
"Holy shit. Is this what Kayaba was talking about?!" I exclaimed
If Firelink was here, then that also meant Iudex Gundyr should've been as well. Sure enough, when I looked down and to the left, I saw the kneeling silver figure of Firelink's once-proud guardian.
*I hope no one else has found this yet. This is a huge discovery and if the wrong person found it, they'd abuse it as a base in the middle of Floor 40.* I thought
I walked down the steep hill, dispatching every single one of the robed skeletons that were waiting to ambush me. Due to my level and equipment, I one-shotted them all.
After they were cleared out, I went through the gate and approached the dormant guardian. Right as I was about to pull the coiled sword from his chest to initiate the fight, a message popped up.
Do you have what it takes to uphold the linking of the First Flame?
I pressed yes before being hit with another message.
In order to link the flame, one must prove they are pure of heart and possess unbreaking convictions. If you prove insufficient, you will be stripped of your abilities and become hollow. Do you accept the risks?
I once again pressed yes. This time there were no more messages. Prepared for a battle, I gripped the hilt of the coiled sword and pulled with all my might. It came out rather easily, which was nice. I got a notification saying I had claimed the sword, but I wouldn't be allowed to simply walk past. No, this was a Dark Souls area. Nothing was ever easy or as it seemed.
Gundyr's armor creaked and groaned as he stood up, grabbing that halberd in the ground next to him. He took one look at me and raised his weapon high.
Once Gundyr had been destroyed, I was rewarded with enough XP to level up five times and my HP was replenished to the max.
With the roadblock cleared, I opened the metal doors and proceeded up the path into the main hall of Firelink. Inside and directly across from the center checkpoint, were five thrones. They belonged to Aldrich, Ludleth, Prince Lothric, the Abyss Watchers, and Yhorm. Ludleth was a small being for such a large throne. His only use to me was serving to transpose the boss souls into weapons and spells. Per each boss soul, I usually had a choice between two weapons, a weapon and a spell, or two weapons and a spell. The ones I was going for were the Farron Greatsword, Lorian's Greatsword, and the Lifesteal Scythe. Each of them was decent weapons that would serve as endgame gear. If the base game content had been ported over, it wasn't too far-fetched to think that the DLC had been as well. If that was true, then I was going to grind like hell until I had the entire Ringed Knight set. Both cool and durable, it would provide good protection against most things.
Once I was done gawking at the thrones of the lords, I descended and placed the coiled sword on the ashen pedestal at my feet. It was instantly covered in flames the moment its tip touched the ash. Now, I hopefully had exclusive access to this area for as long as I needed.
With the important things taken care of, I decided to level up. Sure enough, the Fire Keeper was awaiting me on the steps near the hallway leading to Andre the blacksmith. I approached her and removed my hood.
Fire Keeper: Welcome to the bonfire, Unkindled One. I am a Fire Keeper. I tend to the flame and tend to thee. The Lords have left their thrones and must be delivered to them. To this end, I am at thy side. How may I serve thee?
"I'd like to increase my attributes," I said
Fire Keeper: Very well. Touch the darkness within me and give nourishment to these sovereignless souls.
She offered her hand and I took it. When I did, a screen appeared in front of me showing my current level, my stat levels, how much stamina, FP, and HP I had, my resistances, as well as how much weight I was carrying. I chose to level up my intelligence since everything else was in the high eighties. The attributes I was focusing on leveling up now were intelligence, faith, and luck. With those three, I could use powerful magic items and farm equipment or weapons easier.
Once I had leveled up my intelligence to 20, I pressed the back button and the screen disappeared. The Fire Keeper bowed but said nothing. Now that I was done leveling up, I decided to reinforce my sword, so I walked down the hall to Andre, ignoring the merchant on my right. When I reached the blacksmith, he stopped working and looked up at me.
Andre: Well, a newcomer I see. I am Andre, I serve in this shrine as a humble smith forging new weapons. You're in search of the Lords of Cinder, I trust? A toilsome journey, I wager. You'll require good arms. Let me smith y' weapons. I am a smith, such is my purpose.
"I'd like for you to reinforce this sword please," I said
I reached behind my back and grabbed the sheath to my sword, taking it off my back and handing it to Andre. He leaned his hammer against the wall and grabbed my sword, buckling under its weight.
Andre: By the lords, where didst thee come across such fine weaponry, Ashen One?
"I killed a spectral knight and took it from his corpse," I said
Andre: I see. 'Tis an excellent weapon for one such as you. I shall smith until your weapon has reached a satisfactory condition.
I was expecting to be hit with dialogue about the cost and item requirements to upgrade it, but to my surprise, Andre removed my sword from its sheath, placed it on his anvil, and started hammering away. I was astonished. It appeared like he was upgrading it for free. Initially, I got my hopes up, thinking I could use this to instantly upgrade my weapons to max without having to pay, but I soon realized it was probably a one-time thing. If I was lucky, it would be similar to how Yoel would give you five free levels, the catch being that you turned hollow.
A few minutes later, Andre stopped hammering and shakily held the sword up to me while kneeling. I grabbed it with one hand before putting the sheath back on my back and sliding the sword into it. With a satisfying sound, the sword clicked into place.
Andre: Safe travels Ashen One. May the flame guide you.
I nodded and walked back the way I came. As of right now, the only inhabitants of Firelink were Andre, the Fire Keeper, the merchant, and Hawkwood. I decided to ignore Hawkwood and the merchant for now and instead opted to save them for later.
Approaching the bonfire, I reached out to touch it and just as I hoped, I was shown a menu with all the available places I could teleport to. There were many blurred out, which I quickly realized were areas I would unlock as I continued the quest. In addition, there were also destinations for every teleport monument, floor boss arena, and major city or town in Aincrad. I selected the High Wall of Lothric as my destination and waited as I was teleported away.
(A/n: The first major part of the Dark Souls part is complete. To save time, I decided to just put videos of each boss fight instead of writing it out. Some of the endgame boss videos will be from my own playthrough, so you'll all get to see how I play. I suck big time at writing large-scale fight scenes, so that makes it less tedious, and I can write more as a result.)