Elden Ring: Advent of the Game-Given (SI/Multiverse)

"We shalt be leaving now."

"Sure, just make sure to check in with me in a few hours," Gordon said, yawning momentarily. "I'll prepare somethin' for you then, but for now, I'm gonna take a nap."

"Worry not, for we shalt," I replied in confidence.

"Also… if you happen to run into Garm…" he trailed off as he eyed me uncertainly.

I shook my head, easing his worries. There was no need for him to fret over that particular matter.

"I shalt provoke him not. I hath enough on my plate; I need not add any more."

As I reassured him, he patted my shoulders in appreciation, an apologetic smile on his face.

"Thanks, kid," he stopped, the smile still present on his face, though this time it didn't reach his eyes, "And don't worry, I'll make sure to talk to that fool again… properly."

I nodded, feeling a very, very small amount of pity for Garm, knowing he was in for one hell of a scolding.

Saying our goodbyes, I left his room, dragging Mehg with me, my hand holding hers.

At this time, the Shunning Grounds were mainly silent, as most Omens were out hunting, while some were off sleeping, hoping to stave off some of their hunger and exhaustion.

Glancing behind me, Mehg walked along, though she looked to be in a daze, as the sound of footsteps was the only thing she made.

Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, I called out to her in a soft voice, "Sister, art thou alright?"

Hearing my voice, she blinked, her eyes focusing on me.

"Hmm?" After a beat of silence, she answered belatedly. "Ah, yes! I a' quite alright!"

I didn't sense any quivering in her voice. Her demeanor felt calm, much calmer than before.

Looks like she's completely calmed down now.

"Good," I let out a relieved sigh, "That is good to hear."

She didn't say anything after, and the conversation died as we walked over to the resting quarters and quietly entered the place.

Carefully maneuvering around the sleeping Omen, we found our makeshift bed in the barely illuminated room.

I sat against the wall as I always did, and unexpectedly, Mehg sat beside me instead of lying down.

"...'rother." I heard her voice quietly reaching my ears.

"Yes?"

"Were thou going to 'ight that O'en?" she asked, her tone unusually soft.

"Well, I didst want to fight him, knowing thou almost died because of him," I said, answering her honestly.

Hearing that, she looked like she was on the verge of blurting out many not-nice things, but I didn't give her the chance and continued speaking.

"Yet… I relented. I realized I was utterly outmatched. No matter what I did or what manner of tricks I pulled, I could never best him, as I am now."

I heard her take a breath, and a moment later, her shoulder touched mine, her body leaning on mine.

Her head fell on my shoulder, with some of the horns digging into my skin, but I made not a peep or grunt.

Looking over, her eyelids began falling shut as her voice got dimmer and dimmer.

"Thou didst well… no 'atter what… thou 'ust never 'ut thy li'e at risk… 'ore than… what is necessary…"

Her words ended there, yet her breathing was even, indicating she'd fallen asleep.

I stayed in place without moving an inch as I sat ruminating in place.

Today was probably quite surprising for her, wasn't it? First, my ability, and then that near-death experience.

[I'd say it was rather shocking than surprising. Most people wouldn't find themselves almost on the receiving end of an axe head.]

Rusty, how long do you thing it would take for me to reach that Omen's level?

[It depends. Suppose you were to take on the dungeon right after it resets every time, it would take you about three weeks, at a minimum.]

I see… wait, reset? What do you mean by reset?

[...Did I not explain it to you before?]

Although his words could be taken as accusing, he sounded more confused than anything else.

I'm pretty sure you didn't.

[Oh… my apologies.]

His tone was apologetic, and if he had a face, I'm pretty sure he'd be looking straight down at the ground in embarrassment.

It's fine. Just tell me what you meant by that.

[Well, the dungeon has a 'cooldown timer' that lasts about six hours. During this time, you can only return to the dungeon that you'd already cleared prior, but nothing will spawn until the timer expires.]

Huh… that's strange though. I don't remember putting in something like that.

[That is because it was my creator who implemented that feature. He reasoned that you would spend most of your time in the dungeon grinding and burn yourself out.]

Seriously? That can't be the only reason.

[And… he wanted to ensure that you wouldn't end up becoming too strong, too quickly, as that would 'completely ruin the fun,' if I were to take his words.]

Hmm…

Well, that's quite irritating.

A limit on how many times I can clear the dungeon per day… fuck; this reminds me of Genshin and its shitty resin system.

The only thing missing is a wishing system, and it would turn into Genshin 2.0, aka gacha hell.

Ah, I'm getting angry just thinking about that fucking game, the amount of times I lost the 50/50…

Deep breaths, Morgott. Think happy thoughts, happy thoughts only.

Is there anything else I should know before I jump in there?

[No, I believe that is all for now.]

Good to hear.

Now that the conversation is over, I can get to work.

The grind truly starts, from here on out.

Gently grasping Mehg, I slowly moved her, avoiding waking her.

Laying her on the bed, I quietly left the resting quarter and went deeper into the sewers.

A few minutes passed, and once I ensured there weren't any Omens in the vicinity, I pulled up the {Dungeons} section from the {Menu}.

{ – Dungeons – }

{Rank 1: Rats | Requirements: Level ≥ 1}

{...}

Like before, I selected the only dungeon available, but a new alert popped up this time.

{Active Party Member Detected!}

{Would you like to bring them along with you?}

{Yes/No}

Active party member… it's probably referring to Mehg.

I selected the second option, declining the offer. The world went black a moment later, and I was teleported to the dungeon.

I smelled the stench of sewage and muck, slightly stronger than the smell from the Shunning Grounds. 

Taking out my dagger, I wasted no time and pulled out the map, searching for the closest enemy.

I bolted towards the closest red dot as soon as I spotted it. It took no more than a minute for me to find it, as I saw it after rounding a corner.

Hitting a quick {Observe}, I was a bit taken aback by what I saw, but it didn't deter me one bit.

{ – Observe – }

{Lesser Rodent}

{Level: 4}

{HP: 450/450}

{MP: 25/25}

{SP: 65/65}

Its Level is higher this time… is it because I leveled up?

I pondered over it for a moment, letting the thought pass as I focused on what was before me.

Its back was facing me, giving me the chance for a sneak attack.

I capitalized on the opportunity, covering the distance within seconds. I didn't give it any time to react, kicking it into the wall and stabbing it in the skull.

Squelch!

{Critical Hit! | -450 HP}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{You have gained 3 EXP, 12 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x1), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x1).}

What's this? It's the same amount of EXP I got last time… that sucks. Well, at least there is an increase in Credits, however small it may be.

I also felt that I could execute the surprise attack much better than I had before.

I was faster and could cover more ground in a shorter timeframe.

Those increased attributes were no joke.

Choosing the next target, I quickly booked it in its direction, arriving at its location within a few minutes.

It was facing in my general direction as it came within sight, and its eyes quickly found me just as I rounded the corner.

With murder on its mind, it ran at me and tried to jump in a vain attempt at my throat, but I nipped its efforts in the bud, my dagger shooting out faster than it could react and ending its life then and there.

Squelch!

{Critical Hit! | -450 HP}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{You have gained 3 EXP, 12 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x1), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x1).}

As its body disappeared, I stared at my hand holding the dagger in wonder, feeling taken aback at how easily I dealt with that rat, even with its increased Level.

Even though I didn't have the opportunity for a sneak attack, I could still kill the rodent without much effort and without using my {Skills}.

So this is what four points in strength get me… and this is only after a single level-up…

Absolutely-fucking-amazing.

My body trembled with excitement and anticipation as I didn't waste a second and ran towards my next unfortunate victim.

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{...}

{Lesser Rodents slain x24.}

{You have gained 72 EXP, 288 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x24), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x24).}

Within the next hour, I ended up dealing with the majority of the mobs present.

Looking at the map, only five enemies remained, one of which was most likely the Boss.

However, one thing did stand out as I gazed at the map–four of the red dots were grouped up together.

That's right, the last group of mobs numbered more than three, higher than what Lord Gaben could count.

That's definitely gonna be fun to deal with… not.

Slowing down my pace, I jogged briskly toward the remaining group of mobs instead of running in their direction, giving me enough time to recharge the SP I had spent prior.

I approached closer and closer within the next few minutes, sifting through multiple ways I could deal with this situation.

Unfortunately, brute force was the way to go since I didn't have many tricks in my arsenal.

Sneaking up to a corner, I observed the group of rodents–four in total, divided into pairs.

The part of the sewer they were in was a long, tunnel-like passage. The group moved in a practical pattern, the two pairs approaching each other in parallel, covering each other's behind.

I couldn't pull a sneak attack on the pair closer to me since the other pair would end up seeing me.

Which left me only one choice.

Patiently waiting for the closer pair to reach the end of their path, I stepped out of the corner just as they turned around.

As expected, I was spotted by the two other rodents as they screeched loudly, alerting their kin.

But by then, it was already too late.

{SP: 130/140}

{-12 HP}

Squelch!

{Critical Hit! | -450 HP}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{You have gained 3 EXP, 12 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x1), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x1).}

Covering most of the distance using {Slide Step}, I got in range and kicked the first rat into the wall while stabbing the other in the skull, killing it on the spot.

Immediately after, I stepped towards the one I'd kicked and brought the dagger down on its head, ending its life.

{Critical Hit! | -450 HP}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{You have gained 3 EXP, 12 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x1), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x1).}

Watching their corpses disappear, the sound of screeching forced me to look toward my remaining foes, the two other rats skittering toward me simultaneously.

I ran toward them, keeping both in my field of vision. I watched their movements carefully, trying to determine which one would attack first.

Would they both jump at me? Or would they try to go for my legs? Maybe one of them would try to distract me while the other goes for the kill.

Questions cycled through my mind as I waited to see the pattern of attack they'd choose.

I didn't get any more time to ponder it as the pair went on the offensive, the two rodents lunging for my neck simultaneously.

I ducked under, watching them soar through the air with reckless abandon, only to crash into each other as their combined assault was aimed at one spot, now occupied by nothing but air.

As it turned out, I ended up overthinking their actions. My opponents were nothing but hungry beasts incapable of much thought.

Capitalizing on the opportunity created by their impulsiveness, I gave a {Heavy Strike}-inforced kick to one rat while gutting the other one with multiple stabs, dealing enough damage to kill it.

{-128 HP}

{-55 HP}

{Critical Hit! | -444 HP}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{You have gained 3 EXP, 12 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x1), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x1).}

The rat I kicked went flying, hitting the ground with a thump, splashing dirty water everywhere. It tried to recover quickly but failed, its body falling over as it moved deliriously. 

It looks like my kick hit harder than expected.

I was on it within seconds, going for the kill as I stabbed it in the eye and pierced its brain.

{Critical Hit! | -450 HP}

{Lesser Rodent slain.}

{You have gained 3 EXP, 12 Credits, Lesser Rodent Pelt (x1), and Lesser Rodent Meat (x1).}

Seeing the corpse begin to disappear, I sighed in relief, wiping beads of sweat that trickled down my furry skin.

Phew, that was easier than expected. Wouldn't you agree, Rusty?

[I would be surprised if you had struggled there. The difference in your attributes and theirs has widened considerably after you leveled up, even considering their increased Level.]

…A simple yes would have sufficed, you know?

[I know.]

…

[...]

…Moving on, that was the last mob I had to deal with, which left only the Boss.

Considering that it might be at a higher level than the one from my previous dungeon run, I shouldn't struggle as much as I did before.

So, it should be easy to deal with... right?