After everyone chose their respective mission difficulties, this time they didn't gather in the same white space but were each in a separate space.
Additionally, it was obvious that all their innate buffs were gone.
That is, the shields Kaito had given them were gone. From now on, they had to rely on their own efforts.
Even Kaito needed to reapply shields.
But to achieve the 5% maximum defense, he would have to drain his current mana.
This was no joke; 5% of an SSS-rank ability was incomparable to even an A-rank un-nerfed ability!
—Ding
[The following are the missions for Difficulty 3]
[Mission 1: Compete with group members. Upon clearing, gain 100,000 points.]
[Mission 2: Based on Mission 1, uncover hidden story, trigger the perfect ending, gain an additional 100,000 points.]
[Mission 3: Competition Mission. For each relevant BOSS defeated or killed in competition with other group members, gain 10,000 points per Great Rune obtained.]
[Mission 4: Reach level 10, gain 10,000 points. First to reach level 10 gains an additional 1,000 points.]
[Mission 5: Reach level 50, gain 50,000 points. First to reach level 50 gains an additional 5,000 points.]
[Mission 6: Reach level 100, gain 100,000 points. First to reach level 100 gains an additional 10,000 points.]
[Mission 7: Defeat field elite monsters. Gain 100 points per kill (these units respawn daily, unlimited times).]
[Mission 8: Defeat field BOSSes. Gain 1,000 points per kill (these units respawn weekly, unlimited times).]
[Mission 9: Defeat true BOSSes. Gain 50,000 points per kill (true BOSSes do not respawn).]
[All the above missions have a 3x multiplier based on difficulty and come with an additional 1x point reward.]
[Note:
1: Death is not possible to revive under any difficulty. You can temporarily return to the white space to observe the members still challenging.
2: This activity has no time limit and will continue until one group member clears it, or all members fail.
3: Regardless of what enhancements, curses, etc., or increased strength obtained, they will not be carried out after the activity ends. However, levels will be calculated for point rewards!]
Above are the relevant mission details.
Looking at the mission rewards, they were similar to the highest difficulty of the second parent-child activity.
But this time, the base point rewards were the same for everyone; only the difficulty multiplier differed.
In essence, it was defaulted to high difficulty, just further differentiated within high difficulty.
And because only one group member could clear, the others being competitors, the early missions clearly involved competing with group members over who leveled up faster, who defeated Great Rune bosses faster, etc.
Even respawning elite monsters and field BOSSes were to be competed for.
However, considering everyone would appear in different locations, competition over farming monsters for points wouldn't be a major issue. Unfortunately, common mobs weren't counted, only elites and above.
Otherwise, Kaito would cheat and farm like crazy.
He wouldn't need to choose the highest difficulty; under the easiest difficulty, hard farming alone could yield super high point rewards!
Although elite monsters could be farmed, they had respawn time!
"Alright, this will do."
After confirming the mission details, Kaito saw a new option.
Which was to choose his starting development.
This was like playing Elden Ring.
This was unique to the highest difficulty; other difficulties didn't have it, as they either had full strength or were just an 80% attribute reduction.
Their attribute templates would be automatically digitized based on their actual strength.
But Kaito was now a blank slate, as weak as an ordinary person!
He certainly needed a slight advantage, at least a bit of early developmental choice.
Of course, no character creation needed.
"Pretty similar to the game. I wonder what Maiden I'll be assigned and where my starting point is."
[Vagabond] [Warrior] [Hero] [Bandit] [Astrologer] [Prophet] [Samurai] [Prisoner] [Confessor] [Wretch]
Each origin had different starting blank slate attributes and different starting weapons.
Naturally, the innate 5% [God · Morax] was still there.
"Hmm, considering using this ability consumes energy, I can only choose [Astrologer]..."
[Starting Level: 6]
[Vigor: 9]
[Mind: 15]
[Endurance: 9]
[Strength: 8]
[Dexterity: 12]
[Intelligence: 16]
[Faith: 7]
[Arcane: 9]
[Starting Equipment: Astrologer Set, Scripture Wooden Shield, Astrologer's Staff, Short Sword]
[Specific attributes can be viewed by expanding]
No keepsakes to choose, which was a pity.
But it was okay. After confirmation, Kaito's strength changed slightly.
The others would undoubtedly start at level 1 with their original strength attributes, but Kaito was a blank slate. The benefit was starting at a certain level, so he might level up to 10 the fastest.
But that wasn't certain. Early strength meant faster farming, so leveling speed would also be faster!
Start teleportation!
Hum—
Kaito disappeared from the white world.
When he awoke, he was in a wilderness area with bushes.
Beside him was a small campfire, warming him and serving as a stove for breakfast.
As Kaito got up, there were two rustling sounds from the bushes, and a woman appeared. She wore a black robe and skirt, had ashen-blonde hair, and wore a strange silver blindfold covering her eyes.
"My Lord (Tarnished), have you awakened?"
"It's you! The Fire Keeper!?"
"F-Fire Keeper? My Lord, what are you saying?"
"Uh... you are my Maiden?"
"Yes, I was guided here, to wait for the Tarnished to arrive, to guide the Tarnished to become the Elden Lord."
She explained her purpose concisely. She was indeed a Maiden, knowing most of the world's secrets, and also the primary person guiding the Tarnished to become the Elden Lord.
Because as Maidens, they could grant blessings to the Tarnished, allowing them to convert 'experience rules' gained from defeating monsters into strength.
What 'experience rules' were could only be described as a term unique to this world.
Perhaps it wasn't a game, yet it was similar to a game, so this term was created to allow Kaito, as a Tarnished, to gain experience from killing monsters and then level up with the Maiden to choose attribute enhancements.
Yes, no problem.
Hmm...
Kaito thought he would start like the game, with his Maiden dead, then encountering Godrick...
He didn't have that Maiden who 'always believed the protagonist would become Elden Lord' and so on. Instead, he had the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls 3, who ended up in this world as his Maiden.
Hehe~
Good thing!
Melina?
We'll talk about her later!
At least the Fire Keeper before him didn't seem like the one from DS3... ah no, her personality was a bit different, but her appearance, figure, and clothing were exactly the same!
"I see. I'll leave things to you from now on."
"It is my honor, my Lord."
Yes, every Maiden firmly believed her Tarnished would become the Elden Lord.
This was the choice of fate, they could not refuse.
Since they couldn't refuse, they would believe.
"Do you have a name?"
"No... but in my memory, I only recall the name 'Fire Keeper'. I wonder if that can be considered my name?"
"This..."
Fire Keeper indeed had no name. Kaito was also troubled.
Well, it wasn't a big deal. Names were secondary.
"Then let's call you Fire Keeper from now on."
"Okay, my Lord."
The Fire Keeper nodded slightly, then sat down beside him, putting freshly picked wild vegetables into the pot.
"Fire Keeper, can you fight?"
"Yes, but my combat ability isn't very strong. My main ability is granting blessings, allowing you to convert experience rules gained to enhance your strength."
"I see... Are there other Maiden in this world?"
"Yes, there are. I am just one of them, but I am indeed your only Maiden. Fate brought us together, and fate made me choose you."
"Hah, is that so..."
Kaito smiled and sat down beside her.
With her personally cooking porridge, Kaito didn't need to help.
But even sitting next to her, she showed no reaction. Perhaps because her choice meant she was willing to devote everything.
Because the bond between Maiden and Tarnished was one of mutual binding.
If the Tarnished died, she wouldn't live on.
But if she died, the Tarnished could choose to adventure alone, just without another Maiden.
Because one Maiden only had one Tarnished, there wouldn't be a second!
Thus, Kaito sitting beside her caused no refusal or resistance from the Fire Keeper, nor any joy.
'Good grief, was she brainwashed by her Maiden mission?'
'Perhaps doing anything to her, she wouldn't refuse, or would even take it for granted.'
'Because of post-war trauma and such, there needed to be an outlet, right?'
'Too bad, we can't communicate with the others.'
He looked at the chat group, and found he couldn't do anything.
Since he couldn't access the chat group, he naturally couldn't contact the others.
He also didn't know what Maidens they got, or where they were adventuring now.
Or how big this world was, if it was just one area from the game map.
But Kaito didn't need to worry.
Everyone's situation was probably similar to Kaito's. They all met their Maidens upon awakening and started friendly chatting.
However, among these Maidens, there were none Kaito knew. Only his Maiden was special: the Fire Keeper.
In other words, their Maidens were truly ordinary Maidens.
Currently, they were exploring nearby after breakfast.
And obviously, they were in low-level areas. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Only Misuzu, with her straightforward personality, started charging around...
Logically, even Mamako, who also chose Difficulty 2, wouldn't do that...
She was actually studying cooking with her Maiden, looking for ingredients nearby!?!?
Incidentally, Kie was doing the same.
Fortunately, Kaito didn't know this, otherwise he wouldn't know how to react.
It seemed these two ladies had cooking etched into their DNA!!