Chapter 391 - 294: The Legend of the Sun

After finishing his arrangements with Iji regarding the forging, Lucian had no intention of staying any longer and prepared to set out once again.

Afterward, he and Melina would go ahead first and split up from Rellana and the others.

Following a brief resupply, the Carian army would soon be ready to set out once more.

While they were in Stormveil, Lucian had even generously dispatched a large number of dragonbeasts for them to use as temporary mounts.

As for the road from the gates of Stormveil to Liurnia, Rellana and the others had been familiar with it for a long time, so there was no need for anyone to lead them.

As for rebuilding Caria Manor, there was no need for Lucian to get involved yet. They did not even have enough people back yet.

Rellana still had to discuss the reconstruction of Caria Manor with Iji, and she also wanted to learn more about everything that had happened to Caria in the past.

Afterward, she planned to go to the Academy first to see how her sister was doing, while having Moonrithyll lead the army directly to the manor.

So Lucian and Melina went ahead first, preparing to head directly toward the Altus Plateau.

However, just after Lucian had walked some distance away, Hettis, who had been silently observing everything from the side, suddenly caught up with him.

Outside Iji's residence, Hettis called out to Lucian.

"Lord Lucian! We have something we'd like to give you."

Lucian stopped and turned around, looking at Hettis with interest.

Could it be some new glintstone device?

Or perhaps some weapon with a special effect?

Lucian had no idea what Hettis had prepared for him, but if he was willing to bring it to him, then it was certainly something useful.

Hetis took out a square, golden-carved ornament. Holding it respectfully in both hands, he presented it to Lucian.

Looking at the extremely familiar golden pendant, a look of surprise appeared on Lucian's face.

Beside him, Melina's eyes gradually widened as well, and she could not help blurting out,

"Is that... a Talisman?"

Lucian had not expected Hettis to actually produce a Talisman for him.

He and Melina had traveled together for so long, yet until now, they had never personally witnessed the birth of a Talisman.

This truly was beyond both of their expectations.

Lucian looked at the Talisman and could not help asking,

"Did you make this?"

Hettis hurriedly shook his head and bowed even more respectfully as he explained,

"No, I would not dare take credit for it."

"This was forged through the faith of all your followers, myself included."

"After witnessing that dazzling, resplendent radiance, we found this miracle within the sun."

"Almost all of the followers in Stormveil wear one, as proof of their determination to follow you and their faith in the sun."

"It was merely this particular one that I happened to forge."

Hettis's voice trembled slightly with excitement, but his words came out from beneath his glintstone helm with absolute conviction.

"At the very beginning, although I yearned for the beautiful world you described, I simply could not imagine what such a world would actually look like."

"But after watching the changes taking place throughout Limgrave and Liurnia, I finally came to understand it."

"And after all the miracles brought about by the later appearance of the sun, all of us finally understood something."

"The Lands Between are now moving toward an unprecedented age of glory under your guidance."

"Your radiance is shining upon the Lands Between, and in the future, it will illuminate every corner."

"No matter what happens, all of us will follow you until the end of our lives."

"Please accept this as our humble token of respect."

Lucian solemnly and carefully accepted the Talisman from Hettis.

Feeling the completely genuine emotions contained within it, Lucian was deeply moved. So moved, in fact, that his fingers unconsciously tightened around the Talisman.

Melina gently placed her hand over Lucian's.

Only then was the Talisman spared from being accidentally crushed.

After taking a deep breath and calming himself, Lucian carefully examined the Talisman.

Its name appeared before his eyes.

[Sunscion Heirloom]

Like the other Talismans of the "Legend of XX" series, its appearance was a square golden pendant.

But the image carved upon it was unique, belonging solely to the sun.

A radiant sun hung high in the sky, gently spreading its light.

Around the sun, thick layers of clouds gathered. They resembled both a surrounding storm and dark clouds that had only just been pierced apart by its radiance.

Under the light of the sun, the followers moved forward with unwavering determination, chasing the sun's trail.

Lucian gently rubbed his fingertip over the carvings on the Talisman, his heart filled with indescribable satisfaction.

Lucian walked upon a road bathed in radiance.

He was the brightest light in the world, the sun itself.

But at the same time, he was not walking alone.

Countless sparks followed closely behind him.

After realizing this, Lucian was especially moved.

His desire to make the Lands Between a better place was not merely wishful thinking or self-satisfaction.

There were so many sparks willing to follow behind him and advance together toward the world he had envisioned.

To Lucian, the meaning represented by this Talisman was incredibly romantic.

Perhaps during battles or major events, the light of his followers might appear insignificant.

But that did not mean they were unimportant.

In Lucian's eyes, every single one of them was vital to the Lands Between.

In countless small corners of the world, they too were following the sun, gently releasing a light that belonged uniquely to themselves.

Lucian took a deep breath, raised his head, and smiled slightly at Hettis.

"I am very happy to feel your wishes, yours and theirs."

"Don't worry. I will shoulder everything and lead all of you toward the world I dream of."

"It may not be perfect, but it will certainly be a world worth being satisfied with."

"Our future is bright."

Only then did Lucian begin examining the power of the Talisman.

It could slightly increase Vigor, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Mind, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane.

At the same time, it could slightly reduce the damage he received.

The effects of the Talisman were not particularly powerful.

After sensing it, Lucian found that each attribute seemed to increase by only one or two points.

And that was with the frequent manifestations of the sun's power providing an additional boost to its Faith.

Even though it increased every attribute, the actual numbers were simply too low, making the effect seem rather ordinary.

Besides, not everyone was like Lucian, who could make use of every single attribute. For most people, even fewer of those bonuses would actually have an effect.

But considering that these Talismans could be mass-produced, the improvement they provided to the warriors was already quite considerable.

There had once been many Talismans belonging to the same "Legend of XX" series, but nowadays, they had become so rare that they were almost impossible to see.

Meanwhile, the miracles of the sun had only just begun spreading their radiance, and their legend was already being passed from mouth to mouth.

With the support of faith, these Talismans could practically be mass-produced with ease.

However, only those who possessed faith could draw power from them.

As for Lucian, those attributes were not what mattered to him.

There was something else that caught his attention.

Holding the Talisman born from faith in his hand, Lucian gradually sensed a force continuously gathering toward him.

At this moment, Lucian truly felt the existence of something called faith.

That elusive spiritual force, something so difficult to explain through ordinary means, had finally taken on a tangible form.

He could even sense where it was coming from.

The followers were densely concentrated around Stormveil and the Academy, while the rest were scattered sparsely throughout the Lands Between.

It was not only Limgrave, Liurnia, and Caelid, where the Tarnished frequently traveled.

Even as far away as the Altus Plateau, there were quite a number of followers.

Countless points of starlight-like flame gathered together into a stream of light, surging toward Lucian's soul.

In truth, this power had been gathering for a long time.

It was simply that Lucian had only noticed it now.

Feeling the sheer number of these followers, Lucian was even more surprised.

Without realizing it, he had already gained so many followers.

At first, perhaps they had gathered under Lucian because of his strength in defeating demigods.

Perhaps they had come because they yearned for survival.

Perhaps they had been motivated by profit.

The Tarnished had gathered beneath Lucian for all sorts of reasons.

But now, they were genuinely following him.

There were even many places where Lucian had never once set foot, yet people there had spontaneously begun placing their faith in him.

After silently sensing this power for a while, Lucian smiled.

A sun once again appeared in his hand.

Slowly, it rose into the sky, scattering its radiance in every direction.

Following Lucian's movement, every single Sunscion Heirloom began radiating a wave of scorching warmth.

The blazing sun carved into the Talisman gradually warped and rippled, as though being given life.

Then, an additional effect was bestowed upon every Talisman worn by the faithful:

Gradually recover HP and stamina from dawn until nightfall.

The effect is enhanced when affected by any form of solar power.

At the same time, Lucian's words appeared within their hearts:

"I am the light of the world. I have come so that you may have light, and have it more abundantly."

"Those who follow me shall not walk in darkness. They shall have the light of life."

"There will be suffering in this world, but take heart. I am destined to overcome this world."

"My heart yearns for light, victory, and peace."

"This is mercy. Raise your heads."

"Speak my name. Praise the sun. And then, bask in this light."

Throughout the Lands Between, the followers reacted differently as the miracle descended upon them once again.

But there was one thing without exception.

They all raised both arms, making a gesture as though they were embracing the sun itself.

"The Radiance of the King of the Sun shall never set!"

"Praise the Sun!"

After bidding farewell to the tearful Hettis, Lucian and Melina walked side by side along the roads of Stormveil.

Melina looked at Lucian's profile before suddenly taking one of his arms.

Resting her head against his shoulder, she could not help asking,

"Are you happy?"

Lucian laughed heartily.

"Mm. I'm very happy."

Lucian rarely experienced a feeling like this.

It was more than happiness.

It was closer to an indescribable sense of being deeply moved.

"What I want to do won't change because of how the outside world sees it."

"Even if there wasn't a single person supporting me on my path, I would still walk it to the end, even if it turned out to be the wrong path."

"After all, I'm a stubborn person too. I have my own convictions."

"But if I can receive everyone's recognition and have them choose to follow me, then that is also the highest praise I could ever receive."

"My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror. Everything I do is justice."

Melina looked at Lucian and revealed an equally radiant smile.

She did not really understand what he meant.

But if Lucian was happy, then that was enough.

"That's wonderful. Seeing you happy makes me happy too."

Lucian and Melina returned to the Site of Grace before the throne.

Next, they would be heading to the Altus Plateau, so they needed to make some preparations.

Although they could simply fly there, using a Site of Grace to teleport first would still save them quite a bit of time.

Lucian quickly found the Site of Grace on the map that he and Melina had visited before, the one closest to the Altus Plateau.

It was the Black Knife Catacombs, hidden within a cliff at the very edge of Liurnia.

It was also the place where they had picked up Selyra back then.

Lucian stroked his chin and selected it without hesitation.

Although the catacombs were located beneath the cliffs, that was no problem for Lucian now.

As it happened, there were also a few things waiting for him on top of those cliffs.

For example, there was the Frenzied Flame Village, where the symptoms of the Frenzied Flame sickness continued to spread.

And then there was Festering Fingerprint Vyke, who was guarding the corpse of a maiden inside the Church of Inhibition.

In the past, Vyke had been a Roundtable Knight of the Roundtable Hold.

He was one of the Tarnished who had come closest to becoming Elden Lord, essentially one of the foremost contenders for the title.

Yet one day, he infiltrated the depths of Leyndell and was ultimately burned until his flesh was horribly scarred by the Frenzied Flame.

A former contender for Elden Lord had fallen to such a state.

It was truly lamentable.

And yet, the bond he still held toward the maiden was deeply moving.

Lucian planned to clear out the Frenzied Flame Village while he was there, then see whether Vyke needed to be dealt with.

Lucian was also rather puzzled by the Vyke who appeared outside the Frenzied Flame Village.

Because in the game, Vyke appeared twice in total.

Once as the invading Bloody Finger outside the Frenzied Flame Village, and once as his true body inside the Lord Contender's Evergaol in the Mountaintops.

In the game, Vyke's existence in this form was not particularly strange.

It was simply one of FromSoftware's traditional invasions.

But if Lucian could still encounter Vyke in the real Lands Between, that would be quite strange.

Vyke had surely been sentenced for his grave transgression after coming into contact with the Frenzied Flame, and imprisoned inside the Evergaol in the Mountaintops.

His power should have been completely isolated.

Yet outside the Evergaol, the Festering Fingerprint who had come into contact with the Frenzied Flame could still move about freely and protect the maiden's corpse.

Up until now, Lucian had never encountered anything resembling the Red Phantoms or Purple Phantoms from the Souls series in the real Lands Between.

This clearly was not a common power in the Lands Between.

He had encountered Morgott and Mohg, both of whom could produce alternate bodies.

But that was a power belonging to their own bloodline and could not really be used as an example.

Regardless, once he witnessed it personally, he should be able to figure out what exactly was going on with Vyke.

After leaving the Site of Grace at the Black Knife Catacombs, Lucian took Melina and flew directly across the nearby cliffs.

The moment they rose above the cliff edge, a blinding blaze suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.

On the hillside, a watchtower had raised a Frenzied Flame Sun, continuously casting down twisted and maddening light.

Upon seeing that Frenzied Flame Sun, Lucian paid it no mind.

With his right hand, he firmly shielded Melina.

Then the Frenzied Flame in his left hand began to unleash itself, spreading up his arm.

Once the power of the Frenzied Flame within his entire arm was released, the unique pressure of the Lord of Frenzied Flame spread outward without restraint like ripples across water.

In an instant, that force made the Frenzied Flame Sun submit, causing its light to dim.

Yet what awaited it was an unprecedented wave of Frenzied Flame that tore through the sky and instantly annihilated it.

Under that enormous streak of Frenzied Flame, its thickness rivaling even Comet Azur, the Frenzied Flame Sun had only one possible fate.

It returned to chaos.