Asimi stepped forward, holding a flat silver-white chalice in her hands.
Within the vessel, a dense liquid form of "Mystery" gently swirled.
Lucian accepted the Tear Chalice from Asimi and nodded.
Since Asimi had successfully recovered the chalice, what ca next was obvious.
It was ti to drink the liquid within and ease Asimi's thirst.
Under Asimi's eager gaze, Lucian raised the chalice and drained the deep-purple liquid in a single gulp.
The liquid Mystery had a texture almost like molten tal, giving it a remarkably strange mouthfeel.
As the contents of the chalice entered Lucian's body, he once again experienced the peculiar sensation he had felt when he first drank from a Tear Chalice.
An endless darkness unfolded before his eyes.
Everything fell into complete silence.
All things gradually drifted away, as though both ti and space had lost all aning.
The sensation was identical to what he had experienced during his first encounter with the Outer Gods.
And now, after drinking the liquid contained within the chalice, he had entered that state once more.
The difference was that the previous ti, the sensation had lasted only a fleeting instant before disappearing.
This ti, however, the state endured.
Lucian imrsed himself within it, concentrating fully as he experienced this unique and mysterious power.
It felt as though he had beco one with heaven and earth.
Yet before long, the state began to fade, slowly pulling him back toward reality.
Although he had no idea what practical use this state served, Lucian instinctively tried to preserve the lingering sensation, unwilling to let it disappear so easily.
After so ti, he finally erged from the experience completely.
Though it felt as if a considerable amount of ti had passed, reality had not moved at all.
The mont outside still remained at the instant the liquid had first entered his mouth.
Within his body, Asimi's core continuously writhed, absorbing every drop of the chalice's contents.
The core contracted and expanded rhythmically, almost like breathing.
Now all Asimi needed to do was fully digest the power contained within the Tear Chalice.
Another transformation awaited her.
While Asimi focused on absorbing the chalice's power, Lucian attempted to recall that mysterious state he had just experienced.
After repeated attempts, he finally succeeded in entering it once again.
This ti, ti no longer stood completely still.
Instead, it flowed at an incredibly slow pace.
It wasn't quite as profound as the state induced by the Tear Chalice itself, but now that he had experienced it once, reproducing it had beco far easier.
With enough practice, he would eventually master it completely.
Lucian began pondering its potential applications.
Perhaps it could be used to communicate with the Outer Gods?
But what else?
As he maintained the state, he suddenly perceived a cloud of silver mist surrounding Asimi's core within his body.
The mist continued spreading outward, resembling liquid rcury overflowing from a vessel.
At the sa ti, Lucian noticed that an even larger mass of energy had appeared around himself.
His own manifested as a blazing solar fla.
Storm-charged lightning and gravity-infused thunder circled around it like attendants.
Not only Lucian and Asimi, but seemingly every living creature around them possessed a similar aura.
Lucian imdiately realized what he was seeing.
This was not the force he used to manipulate the Regalia of Eochaid.
This was the aura of life itself.
No matter how small a creature was, as long as it possessed life, Lucian could perceive that aura.
Not only could he gauge the strength of living beings, but he could also identify the origins of their power.
Everything Asimi possessed stemd from imitation.
As such, her aura contained only the pure essence of the Silver Tears.
Lucian, on the other hand, embodied a mixture of solar power, storms, gravity, and nurous other forces.
Because the power of the sun was his strongest aspect, it occupied the center while the others revolved around it.
So this was the true application of the Arcane attribute.
Arcane was a rather abstract stat.
Unlike other attributes, its effects were not imdiately visible through straightforward nurical increases.
Only now had Lucian finally begun to understand how to utilize it.
In future battles, this ability would allow him to understand an opponent's power before the fight even began.
At the sa ti, Asimi's core began growing and expanding within his body.
Its size increased noticeably.
Having absorbed the power of the Tear Chalice, she continued evolving and completing herself.
Asimi's combat power was still rising.
Feeling the activity within his body gradually settle down, Lucian asked:
"Asimi, how do you feel?"
Asimi's core spun excitedly in place.
"My lord, I've beco so much stronger!"
"The weak old is gone!"
"The current is terrifyingly powerful!"
However, the core soon began wriggling again, appearing sowhat dejected.
"Umm..."
"Sorry, My lord."
"I think my previous judgnt was wrong..."
"Although my thirst has been almost completely satisfied, there's still a little bit left."
"Before, I was certain that the power contained in this single chalice would be enough to satisfy it entirely..."
Asimi erged from Lucian's body and ford a physical shape.
She then released all of her strength and presence without holding anything back, allowing Lucian to clearly sense her current level of power.
Feeling the aura radiating from her, one that was nearly identical to his own, Lucian silently shook his head.
He already understood the problem.
Asimi's strength had beco extraordinarily close to his own.
Very, very close.
But still not equal.
There remained a tiny gap.
And that tiny difference was now the only imperfection left within Asimi.
Asimi spoke as well.
"My lord, I can now reproduce more than ninety percent of your power."
"Once I've completely digested and absorbed everything, my imitation will beco even more perfect."
"At that point, I might be able to draw out another five percent."
"The power of the Silver Tear Chalice is beyond question. The improvent is actually very close to what I originally expected."
"But I can feel it."
"This final gap can no longer be filled by an ordinary Tear Chalice."
Suddenly, Asimi seed to rember sothing.
"No..."
"Perhaps I know what's going on."
"In my mories, there seems to be another chalice entirely different from the others."
"A special Great Chalice, sothing akin to a mother."
"That's right."
"This final deficiency is no longer a matter of quantity."
"Please find the Great Chalice."
"The Great Chalice that contains the mysteries of the Great Star..."
Faced with Asimi's pleading gaze, Lucian had no reason to refuse.
After all, he had already promised to help her evolve to completion.
Moreover, a fully evolved Asimi would be an enormous asset to him as well.
"Alright."
"We've already found two of them."
"Finding one more shouldn't be much of a problem."
"When we learn where it is, I'll take you there."
If his mory served him correctly, the final Silver Tear Great Chalice should be located within the Naless Eternal City in the Deeproot Depths.
Asimi nodded before dispersing her body once more, returning to the core residing within Lucian.
She still needed so ti to fully digest the power of the Tear Chalice.
However, she also provided another piece of information.
"Oh, right, My lord."
"When I was searching for the Tear Chalice, I found a strange place."
"It seed to carry the sa aura as your sword, but I was focused on retrieving the chalice and didn't investigate it closely."
"Maybe you should go take a look?"
Lucian was sowhat surprised.
Could he really have found a clue regarding Shadow of the Stars?
Then again, it made sense.
There were only three Eternal Cities in total, and he had already explored two of them.
If neither of the first two contained even the slightest clue, then unlocking the seal on the blade would have been little more than wishful thinking.
After so thought, Lucian decided to head there imdiately.
Ranni had already said she would contact him once she was ready.
After pointing out the location, Asimi entered a dormant, standby-like state.
She needed ti to absorb all the power contained within the Tear Chalice.
Once the process was complete, the strength she could bring forth would increase even further.
Although she still could not perfectly replicate him, Lucian was already satisfied.
For Asimi, achieving perfect imitation was the ultimate goal of her evolution. Anything less felt like an unbearable flaw she simply could not accept.
But from a practical combat perspective, being able to reproduce over ninety percent of his strength was already more than enough.
As he traveled toward the destination, Lucian also began planning his next steps.
First were the matters that still needed to be dealt with in Nokstella.
He would investigate the location Asimi had discovered, then help Ranni eliminate the Baleful Shadows.
After that, depending on the circumstances, he might take a dip in the Lake of Rot.
As for what ca afterward...
Although Ranni wanted him to head to the Altus Plateau, there was no particular rush.
At present, she still hadn't located the exact position of the Two Fingers, aning the problem couldn't be resolved in one stroke anyway.
Delivering a gift wasn't sothing that required such urgency.
The greater issue at hand remained the Shamans in the Land of Shadow.
Not only could Lucian not ignore their plight, but lina herself was deeply pained by the suffering her people had endured.
Naturally, Lucian couldn't bear to let lina watch them continue suffering.
One of the reasons he had returned to the Lands Between was precisely to find a solution for the Shamans.
Earlier, during his conversation with Ranni, he had briefly described what he had seen in the Land of Shadow.
He had also asked whether she knew of any way to solve the Shamans' condition.
Unfortunately, even Ranni had never heard of such a thing.
Without seeing it herself, she couldn't offer any conclusions, and she currently lacked the freedom to investigate personally.
That said, Lucian could always bring the miniature Ranni doll there and let her examine the situation directly.
Aside from that, there weren't many people who might be able to help.
Later, he could probably drag Hildegard out of Redmane Castle as well.
Admittedly, perfuming likely wouldn't be enough to cure such a condition.
Still, Perfurs were legitimate physicians.
Surely they could contribute sothing.
Even if all they could do was create perfus to help restore the Shamans' ntal and emotional well-being, that would still be worthwhile.
Speaking of Caelid, progress over there seed painfully slow as well.
Thinking about it, Lucian sighed.
At present, the only matter whose progress truly inspired confidence...
Was repairing the Elden Ring and becoming Elden Lord.
Leaving aside the Land of Shadow, all that remained was dealing with Mt. Gelmir and Leyndell.
After that, there would be little left standing in his way.
Outside of the Altus Plateau, nearly every region in the Lands Between had effectively already welcod the King's army.
Once he visited Ranni later and assessed the situation, he could gather information about the Plateau as well.
He could also clear a few achievents and collect more opportunities to use his "cheat" abilities.
After spending so additional ti developing his strength in the Land of Shadow, he intended to march directly onto the Altus Plateau and take his place in the Royal Capital.
—
Not long afterward, Lucian arrived at the location Asimi had indicated.
It was an isolated structure far removed from Nokstella itself, shrouded in black mist.
The mont Lucian saw the ominous fog, he knew he had co to the right place.
The haze carried a dreadful, blasphemous power completely at odds with the atmosphere of Nokstella.
And that was precisely why it interested him.
The aura emanating from the black mist felt remarkably similar to the sensation given off by the Fingerslayer Blade.
Without hesitation, Lucian stepped inside.
A pool soon appeared before him.
It was an elegant circular basin.
Though the surrounding structure had fallen into ruin, this particular area remained perfectly preserved.
At the center stood a statue of a Nox monk holding a stone basin in both hands.
Upon seeing it, Lucian imdiately thought of another location elsewhere in the Lands Between.
The basin inside the Church of Vows seed almost identical.
There, the basin could be used for absolution and radiated a sacred atmosphere.
This place, however, was entirely different.
Not only did the surrounding black mist exude an ominous presence, but the pool itself was filled with corpses.
Countless bodies stretched their arms toward the sky.
Their lower halves had dissolved into a deep-purple sludge, rging together into a grotesque mass.
This certainly didn't look like a place ant for absolution.
Yet Lucian's anticipation only grew.
The Fingerslayer Blade had been born from a corpse and served as the treasured relic of Nokron, Eternal City.
Wasn't this place perfectly aligned with that the?
The material composing Shadow of the Stars was identical to that of the Fingerslayer Blade.
The two weapons could practically be considered counterparts.
If this truly was the location needed to remove the seal, then it fit perfectly with the paired relationship between the two Eternal Cities.
Lucian stepped forward until he stood at the edge of the pool.
Drawing Shadow of the Stars, he imdiately felt a yearning emanating from the blade itself.
The katana seed eager to have its seal broken.
After a mont's thought, Lucian took out a Celestial Dew.
Since this place shared the exact sa structure as the Church of Vows, perhaps Celestial Dew could be used here as well.
Floating toward the statue of the Nox monk, Lucian carefully poured the Celestial Dew into the stone basin it carried.
Starlight gradually erged within the black mist.
A mysterious force began to take hold.
Shadow of the Stars trembled continuously.
Lucian released his grip.
The sealed katana floated into the air entirely on its own.
The surrounding black mist slowly converged.
The corpses and violet sludge within the pool rose against gravity itself.
In the end, everything was drawn inward as though consud by a vortex.
The mist.
The corpses.
The sludge.
All of it surged into the Shadow of the Stars.
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