"Ma'am, you're insane if you think I'm fighting that after the monstrosity I fought not even twenty minutes ago." The Reaper muttered to Melina.

The two were crouched over in the foliage of the forest, eyeing a massive unit of a humanoid knight, coated in golden armor, atop a horse the size of said trees they stood around, coated in the same golden metal.

The knight held a long golden halberd that emanated a yellow glow, and shield that had very obvious wear to it.

"You lack confidence. Would you be more comfortable if I turned the runes you held into strength?" Melina asked.

"Runes? The things I get when I kill an entity, right?" The Reaper asked.

"Indeed. To Tarnished, I believe it comes in the form of white smoke that enters the body. It fuels the flame, or light of Grace, that gives Tarnished the ability to return from the dead." Melina explained.

"Okay. So I'm immortal here. Noted."

"The runes you receive can be turned into what you may know as levels. With each level, you can allocate a skill point towards one of eight stats. Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane. Respectively, that's Health, Mana, Stamina, Power, Speed, and the three categories of magic of this world." Melina explained, smirking at the Reaper's child-like wonder on his face.

"Holy shit... wait, how do I see my stats?"

"That is knowledge I do not posses. I for one, am not Tarnished." Melina shrugged.

"Then how do you know so much?" The Reaper asked, trying to pull up a menu with his hands— basically poking at air.

"I simply know what I know. My memory seems fit for guidance, so guide I shall. I too wonder where I've learned this." Melina wondered.

"Fair enough. Oh! I think I found it... Can you see this?" The Reaper pushed a menu in front of the two, and she could actually see the stat values.

________________

Vigor: 15
Mind: 20
Endurance: 12
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 20
Faith: 7
Arcane: 10

________________

"Hmm. For where I've found you, these stats are exceptional. Thou should be able to combat the Tree Sentinel with ease. Lucky day." Melina smiled.

"Why's that?" The Reaper asked, tossing the screen into particles.

"I've been meaning to sell that damned Tree Sentinel's halberd for many moons. After it's recent spree of killing new Tarnished, it has a bounty. The loot we'd get would make for a great reward." Melina smiled despite how dark the topic was.

Not only did she mention the genocide of Tarnished at its hands, but killing it, stealing its armor and weapon, and selling it...

"And... you want me to do it?" He asked.

"Defeating this would guarantee someone of my caliber by your side. Is that not reward enough?" Melina asked, eye closed as she turned to him.

"...fine. You've proved your worth, I guess it's only right I prove mine!" The Reaper stood up and summoned his scythe, Melina having explained what the inventory system was.

The Reaper dashed out of the foliage, directly for the horse the Tree Sentinel sat upon.

Melina stood up with a smile.

"I should have informed him of Ashes of War. That scythe surely would help him in battle if he knew what it was fully capable of." Melina commented, before fading into a blue mist.

•

The Tree Sentinel turned its head slightly towards the direction of crunching grass and swift foot steps. Before it could even grasp what was coming, it had arrived.

The Reaper had his scythe reeled high overhead as he leapt into the air.

Unfortunately, he was attacking the shielded arm of the Tree Sentinel, making for an easy block.

Sparks flew as the metals clashed, but the Tree Sentinel's steed lowered its body and jerked towards the Reaper, sending him flying back.

The Reaper skid back and stabbed his scythe into the dirt of the plains, looking up to see the two units closing in.

The Reaper gulped as the swing of the massive golden halberd rushed for him. With an idea, and the recklessness of someone new to the idea of immortality, the Reaper rushed forward.

Melina's brow rose immediately in shock.

The Reaper leapt over the halberd like a hurdle, but threw his scythe back as the halberd was cleaved upward. His scythe was caught by the halberd, jerking the Reaper back and sending him back before spinning around the handle of the halberd with his scythe and towards the Tree Sentinel as he pocketed the weapon.

With one swift motion he had avoided damage, swung around using the momentum of his enemies own swing and got into close quarters with little effort or resistance.

With a kick to the Tree Sentinel's helm, he summoned his scythe again and spun it just into the small crevasse of thinner armor around the joint of the Sentinel's shoulder, earning a boisterous cry of pain.

Hopping over it's shoulder, he grabbed the scythe and tore down as he fell past, nearly cutting off the limb.

The Reaper panted as he slid around and faced the Tree Sentinel, but it seemed that alone was enough pain to make it sit in a daze.

The horse it rode upon was lightly trotting around to face the Reaper, since it's master had given no order.

The Reaper took advantage of this and swiftly closed in, stabbing his scythe into its head from its jaw, before spinning it back out and slashing its left hind leg.

The Tree Sentinel was left to fall forward as it's right arm hung limp at its side, letting it crash head first to the ground with its fallen steed.

The Reaper walked up to the Tree Sentinel and quickly brought down his scythe in an overhead slash, decapitating it.

It's body turned to white smoke that fanned the flame on the Reaper's chest, making him shiver and cringe from the feeling.

His scythe seemed to glow just a bit more, and turned just a smidge more blue.

The Reaper hunched over with a loud sigh and sat down, panting from the exertion. Melina appeared behind him and took a seat on his back, making him hunch over further.

"The swing of that Halberd was insane. I think the pressure I felt being dragged back did damage." The Reaper noted.

"Toss aside your comments. That was remarkable. Your hand-eye coordination and resourcefulness is splendid. To use the inventory system in such an unpredictable manner? Remarkable." Melina commended in shock.

"And with no Ash of War. Truly remarkable. I believe you've earned a Maiden, Tarnished." Melina appeared crouching in front of him, hand extended to help him up.

"Nice! So, is this like... just information, or do I just kill things for you?" The Reaper asked.

"Oh, this is beyond simple partnership. I'll get into the details later— I'm selling its loot. If you'd like, you could venture further. I shouldn't be absent longer for more than a few moments."

"I guess I should be okay to explore. You explained the whole guidance part of the grace, so I guess I'll let it do just that." The Reaper smiled.

Melina faded into blue mist with orbs of loot in her hands, before disappearing. The Reaper looked around and noticed there was a ruined church further up the hill the plains rolled into.

•

Leaving the ruined church with a several worn papers of collected info, the Reaper smiled at how friendly the merchant stationed there.

The Reaper peered into the forest further up the hill and along the cliff side, noting a cave against the cliff, and several knights camped within the trees, campfires spread throughout the trunks.

"Godrick soldiers are what the merchant called them. Devotees with no reasoning. I'll avoid them if possible, but if can become stronger by getting runes, should I...?" The Reaper muttered.

As much as he'd rather avoid the trouble and exertion, he needed to be prepared for the trials to come.

•

Twirling his scythe as he stared down the forested hill, the Reaper groaned seeing the actual encampment the soldiers occupied. It was a ruined outpost where they set up a much more elaborate camp.

Soldiers were stationed at each entrance, and tamed wolves seemed perched at their sides to alert them of factors they couldn't detect.

The Reaper needed to plan this carefully. He couldn't ask questions he wanted to, so he'd need to be smart.

The flame over his heart was displaying a small trail of light that directed him towards a Site of Grace Melina referred to.

"I'll clear out this camp and see my way there." The Reaper nodded.

With a dash, the Reaper seemed to favor getting a jump on his opponents, cause he was quick to kick the rectangular shield of the knight posted at the stone archway entrance.

The kick sent the unsuspecting knight staggering back into the archway, but their grip on the shield held strong.

The Reaper quickly slashed the face off the wolf lunging at him, before continuing the spin to slash away the knight's shield.

They gasped at how easily it's defense was disarmed, and so they pulled out a short sword, quickly drawing it into a upward slash.

The Reaper blocked with another slash, before partying away their attack and shoving them to the ground, before slashing their neck.

The Reaper stumbled from his own speed, but watched as the Runes seeped into the flame on his chest.

"I'm at nearly 16,000. I wonder how that will fair." He commented.

•

Rolling aside from the lunge of the Captain's spear, the Reaper slid to his feet and dashed for their back.

The captain spun his shield around, blocking the Reaper's horizontal slash. With a clatter of their armor, the Captain shifted and sent a rapid stab towards the Reaper's torso.

The Reaper reeled his scythe back after it was shoved aside, blocking the first stab.

He swung it back again to block the other, before weaving to the side and dodging the last before kicking off and  tackling the Captain's shield.

Staggering back to a knee, the Captain wasn't expecting the sudden full body weight on his shield.

The Reaper brought his scythes blade behind the Captain, before jumping off his shield and ripping towards him.

With a clean cut, the Captain's head was taken right off.

The Reaper let out a long sigh as he turned away from the fading body. As the Runes flew into his flame, he glanced at the decimated encampment. He had cleaned out the entire camp just waiting for Melina, and with that he now had around 17,000 Runes.

After looting the caravans and carriages they had, he had stumbled across a few weapons he could make use of, or sell, if Melina would allow it.

Speaking of, Melina suddenly appeared standing on his shoulders.

Resisting the urge to look up at her sudden appearance, the Reaper smiled.

"How'd it go?" The Reaper asked, taking a seat at the Site of Grace as she hopped off his head.

"Splendid. Seeing as I can't utilize Runes the way you can, I believe you'd make use of these." Melina held out her hand, and took his.

With a flash of white, the Reaper watched the counter in his peripheral increase by another 6000, setting him at a total of 23,000.

"Woah! All in a days work, I guess." The Reaper smiled, holding up his fist. Melina tilted her head in confusion, before knocking her fist lightly against his, catching the gist with ease.

"Shall I turn your runes to strength? Though, I see your strength is quite adequate for now." Melina asked, scooting closer.

"Well, first, I think we should go over my stats and see what I'm best suited for." The Reaper suggested. "A fine choice." Melina agreed, watching as he slid over a holographic screen.

"Based off of my starting stats, I guess I'm fast and smart. Do weapons have stat allocations as well?" The Reaper asked.

"Less allocations and more scaling. The damage your weapon deals is tied to one, two, or three of your stats. They are often graded. S being the highest, and E the lowest. Your Scythe?"

"Uh..." The Reaper flipped through a few tabs before showing his scythe. The two looked over it for a second, before tilting their heads.

"That damage... with such low scaling... Such latent potential. It's very similar to you. Fitting." Melina chuckled.

"So, with damage that high at an E scaling, means this scythe is just naturally that strong?" The Reaper asked.

"Certainly. With the proper resources, this scythe will become an even more formidable weapon, Reaper." Melina nodded.

"I see. So, it scales off of my Intelligence and Dexterity. Those are my highest of the damage stats, so that's good. It's only up from here." The Reaper smiled.

"So, how does leveling up work? Is it a set amount of runes?" The Reaper asked.

"In a way. After each level the required runes are multiplied by two. Your requirements start at 500 regardless of your starting level, so with your current runes, you could level up 6 times." Melina explained.

"Hm. That's not a lot. I'll level three times and put them towards intelligence." The Reaper decided.

Taking his hand again, the flash between their palms was gold this time, and the Reaper felt a small pain in his head.

"Ugh, it's like the start of a headache." The Reaper whined.

"It'll pass. Let us find shelter for the night. The chilling winds can be quite severe." Melina stood up, gesturing him to as well since their hands were still locked.

•

Walking back towards the ruined church on the hill before the encampment, the Reaper and Melina spotted Kalé's fire via the smoke rising above the ruins.

However, as soon as the duo closed in, another appeared in a blue mist, similar to Melina.

The Reaper spun his scythe out and stood in front of Melina with a glare.

Eyeing the two arrivals, one was a woman with porcelain blue skin, a white dress-robe, a large white witch hat with fur underneath, and had ominous ghastly image of the right side of her face mimicking her own.

Standing a step before where she sat atop the ruins, was a large individual who stood twice the size of the Reaper. In armor fit for battle and plated well along his body, the head of a wolf stared calmly back at the Reaper, a noticeable scar around his left eye.

"Know them?" The Reaper asked Melina.

"Can't say..." Melina's smirk never left.

The Reaper decided to keep spinning his scythe, making the witch smirk herself in amusement of his caution.

"Goodnight, Tarnished, Maiden of thee. I offer thee an accord—" the witch began.

"That's my line..." Melina muttered with disdain.

"—I present the our assistance. We sensed a great astral presence in Limgrave, and it directs us to your blade. If we could trouble you with an experiment, I can confide in thee a way to unlock the skill tree of your weapons." The witch revealed, making Melina's brow rise with suspicion.

"There's a system beyond Ashes of War?" Melina questioned.

"A study done under the stars. Shall we demonstrate?" The witch asked her shadow.

The wolf man pulled up a scene, showing a squared slots branching from his weapon slot. There was a circular slot beside his weapon where a talisman was. Sliding the screen a few feet towards the Reaper, he stopped spinning his scythe and analyzed it with Melina.

"This thing forged?" He asked with squinted eyes.

"I wouldn't know how. I don't see the Flame of Grace, so he's not Tarnished. Best we play by ear." Melina replied with her own eye squinted.

"Alright, what's this demonstration?" The Reaper asked.

"A spar. Should you agree, we'll unlock your skill tree, while simultaneously seeing whether or not you posses the astral presence we've been looking for." Ranni explained.

"If I'm supposed to get stronger, I'll need these skills, right?" The Reaper asked Melina.

Hearing him ask her for guidance brought a smile to her face. A devious one, but albeit a smile. She felt he was wrapped gently around her finger, so she would play her cards right to make sure he was snug.

"I say we agree to their proposition. Should you gain access to these skills they will surely help you adjust to your scythe's true potential." Melina agreed, rubbing his back soothingly.

The Reaper smiled and slashed through the skill tree window, smirking at his opponent with confidence. Not in his current skills, but in what could be now that a skill tree was unlocked. The faster he got stronger the more comfortable he'd be in this new world.

"Blaidd. Should a semblance of that presence return... don't hold back." The witch commented, making the Reaper sweatdrop at such a request.

"Alright. Here we..." The Reaper and Blaidd crouched low, both weapons drawn.

"GO!" The two disappeared and clashed with blue sparks.