Elden Ring: Miquella's Consort

Alistair :"This is either gonna be the best idea I've ever had or the worst one.

Miquella :"Knowing you, it will be the dumbest idea you've ever had instead."

Alistair :"Hey!"

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"So I guess we have to say goodbye to ever reaching max level then." Miquella sighed through his teeth, accepting the sad truth with his chin on his palm :"Forget about reaching max level, we'd be able to buy the entire Lands Between and the Shadow Lands at the same time and still consider the runes we'd spend as loose change."

Alistair chuckled :"Not exactly. Actually, it's going to be very easy reaching that level. It's just going to take several days, weeks or a few months of constant mass... ahem ahem, fighting."

Miquella frowned in disbelief :"nearly 1.7 billion runes in just a few months at most? Is that even possible?"

"*Smirking* Is time travel, traveling between existences and reincarnation possible? If so, why wouldn't getting a bit of runes be possible?"

"Hmm... you know what? You do have a point." Hope returned to Miquella's eyes, making him smile in interest :"But that amount of runes... wow, just the thought of ever having that much blows my mind."

"Heh, right? Well, in the game, being max leveled was honestly more of a commitment thing rather than it actually being useful. The growth in any of the attributes past 80 is so meager that it's barely worth the runes, and it wasn't like you could utilize all of the attributes at the same time anyway.

It was just for being able to try all the builds without any issues. But honestly, just getting and using Larval Tears was worlds easier. It would save hours and days of farming."

"Builds?"

"It's like choosing between being a warrior, priest or sorcerer. See how I stack my attributes on strength? That's because I'm going for the strength build."

"Ooh, okay. So going for max level isn't worth our effort?"

"Not exactly. That was in the game, and this is reality. The game was meant to be challenging no matter what, because it was a genre of games that needed skills first and foremost. But now? The attributes actually mean something here."

"So the attributes didn't have much effect in the game?"

"Not that much, no. Definitely not as much as they should have in max level. But even when all of your attributes were at max level, they didn't have much effect at all. Instead of the effects of attributes increasing from Lv 80 and above, the effects decreased significantly instead. That's why we call Lv 80 the hard cap."

"Hmm, I get it. But that's not the case here?"

"Nope. Here, they actually do something. Strength makes me stronger and dexterity makes me faster when I level it up. Remember how I call them lore accurate attributes?

But Vigor is the same as always though. Let's hope that changes when I level up, because Vigor is definitely the most important attribute. As long as you're alive, you can kill even the gods with every attribute at 10 and a stick in hand."

"I see. I'm glad to hear that then. By the way, can you explain these "builds" to me in detail, please? How do they work, how do the attribute distribution work, etc.

Unlike you Tarnished, everybody else is born with a talent for something. We don't just develop in one field by changing a few numbers."

"Hmm, true. Alright, I'll explain. You see, in a casual play, players wouldn't focus on leveling up as much as possible. Instead, they would level to somewhere between Lv 150 at most. Maybe around 200.

But even at Lv 200, the attributes you can focus on are very few. So what would they do? They would focus only on three attributes at most. Two of which would be Vigor and either Mind or Endurance.

Mind is necessary for ranged fighters, meaning Incantation and Sorcery users, while Endurance is necessary for melee fighters, since attacking consumes a lot of stamina and better armor is needed.

Other than those, you would invest in the damage dealing attributes like strength. The first two would be raised until their soft cap, while the main attribute would be raised to the hard cap. After all, levels were limited, and you really couldn't have that much Vigor, Mind or Endurance even at max level.

So the best option was more damage. *Smirking* As a wise man, well... rat, specifically, once said, "more damage, more gooder." Why worry about dying when your enemy is already dead?

So at Lv 150 for a strength build would be 80 Strength, 40 Vigor and 30 Endurance. After the hard cap for Strength, the runes would be invested in the other attributes. Specifically, into Vigor first. They could go for other attributes such as Dexterity to make a quality guild too. That's the gist of it."

"Hmm, I see." Miquella smiled in interest :"You really did keep it organized despite it just being a game, huh?"

"Miquella, Elden Ring wasn't just a game." Alistair's gaze turned serious :"It was an absolute masterpiece. It gave so many options to the player as to how they wanted to fight, and the game needed so much skill that you HAD to keep it organized.

If you didn't know how to distribute your attributes correctly and make a decent build, you wouldn't go past Godrick. And that guy's a joke."

The golden femboy chuckled :"How amusing. So he isn't ridiculed just to us, huh?" He was growing more interested. They had ignored the subject of the game in the past. Alistair because he wanted to be considerate, Miquella because he didn't want to think that their entire world, the suffering they had gone through, was just entertainment.

Well, entertainment for any beings other than the Outer Gods he hated so much. But he couldn't contain his curiosity about the game itself anymore. Sure, it was a hurtful thought that their existence wasn't much, even if Alistair had explained that wasn't the case.

But as he spent time with Alistair, he grew to find it interesting. How their world was a game where people of other worlds could interact with theirs in the form of a game would of course be interesting one way or another.

And even if it was just entertainment for them, according to the words of Alistair, they at least adored it greatly. With the people who loved it being in the tens of millions in just Alistair's previous world and in a single universe. Why else would it be one of the very few games Alistair would come to?

He wanted to know more about it. About the point of view of these outsiders. About the charm of their world as a game. And even if not for being interested, the in-depth knowledge his consort had about the power system of their world would be of great help.

He smiled curiously :"Were there many builds?"

"Of course. A lot, actually."

"But weren't there only a few attributes to raise?"

"Yes, but just the attributes didn't determine the build. There were only five attributes after all. That would only mean five builds. But the attributes are just the requirements for the build you want, not the entire build.

For example, someone who invests in Faith has a Faith build, but what kind of Faith build? There are Fire incantations, Dragon Communion incantations, etc.

Or for Strength and Dexterity builds, there are straight swords, greatswords, curved swords, hammers, etc. All of these options made so many builds for each attribute."

"I see. And which one was your favorite? Strength build, I take it?"

"Nah. Actually, that's not the case." Alistair grinned :"My favorite attribute was always Faith and my favorite builds were the two dragon schools of Dragon Communion Incantations and Dragon Cult Incantations!"

"Huh?" Miquella was caught off guard before smiling, sadness and happiness mixed together in his eyes :"I see. The Dragon Cult Incantation school, huh? So you also cherished the cult that my brother, Godwyn, loved so much. He is the reason that the Dragon Cult Incantation school was founded and developed in Leyndell by the Ancient Dragons, Lansseax and Fortissax, you know?"

"Yeah, I do! And that's why I loved the guy! Not only was he loved by all for his kindness, he loved both you and your sister, along with the Omen twins, and made the strongest incantations available for humans! Honestly, coolest guy in the Lands Between. Even Malenia and Radahn got nothing on that man."

"Hahaha that was my brother." Miquella chuckled, pride replacing the sadness :"Strong, kind, and loved by all. A warrior known as a true champion by humans, dragons and demigods. Truly, he was the one who shone golden brighter than all of us."

Alistair smiled at his happiness and pride, stroking his hair, making him hum comfortably :"Did you know, even Queen Marika, who was merciless even to her own children, loved lord brother Godwyn as well?"

"Really? Even Queen Marika?"

"Hm, even Queen Marika. Don't misunderstand, she still considered him a tool like the rest of us. But even tools can be loved. And she loved him dearly. Very, very dearly. Even if she didn't express it.

He was the only person who she truly considered her child. He was the only one among us who came close to receiving a mother's love. Why do you think Malenia and I stayed alive even after our curses blossomed?

Especially Malenia, who, as the bearer of the Scarlet Rot, one that was inherited by a fallen Outer God at that, was spared despite the ones to be afflicted with scarlet rot would be burned to destroy their curse?

Why do you think I was able to live even after the Haligtree was discovered by Queen Marika? Why do you think I was able to study the corpses afflicted with scarlet rot, even though it was of utmost shame as a child of Queen Marika? Why do you think the Omen twins, Morgott and Mohg, were spared and merely imprisoned instead of being killed?

I told you before that it was because Queen Marika needed to save her honor as the god of the Golden Order. But... that was the complete truth. If she was determined enough, she wouldn't have a single care about honor or saving face.

After all, if she wanted to perform even the cruelest acts, nobody would dare to question her, their god. And believe me, our mere existence was more than enough to give her that determination."

"But you survived... because of Godwyn?"

"Hm, that's true. She loved him like a mother, but never brought herself to show it. It was only through his pleads that we all survived. We lived thanks to the grace of lord brother Godwyn, not the grace of Queen Marika's or the Erdtree.

When the Omen twins were born and she wanted to kill them straight away, it was only through lord brother's begging that his younger brothers lived. Even after they were imprisoned in the sewers, he would secretly visit them to bring them food, medicine and clothes. I would know, I once caught him by accident and became his accomplice in helping our brothers later on.

Heh, did you know, the clothes that both twins wore to the end were gifted by lord brother? Morgott took little care of his cloak to keep it clean. He also saved the top quality clothes lord brother gifted him to wear only for special occasions. Fearful to ruin them if he wore them too much.

Mohg was different. He wore the clothes his beloved brother gifted him with pride. He wouldn't go anywhere without them. They were his treasures. Most prized treasures. They owed their lives to him, and they never shied away from that fact.

And later on, me and Malenia were graced by his kindness as well. When mother just about ignored my existence, it was lord brother who showered me with love. When Queen Marika wanted to kill Malenia, it was him who begged once again for his younger sibling's life.

We all survived only because of him. Only because of the love and care Queen Marika had for her son. The love that she kept hidden. The love that once dear Godwyn died, shattered the Elden Ring from sadness and anger."