//------------------------------//
// Level Up 
// Story: Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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"Well, that was definitely quite the experience." Rarity commented, though as she and Edric sat at their bonfire she looked at her arms, and whatever else of her body she could see at the moment, and found that her usual color had been restored, "Not only did we held Lucille out, but we also gained quite the number of souls and our humanity was restored."

"I'll admit that I was not expecting to be summoned by her for a second time," Edric admitted, because the first time Lucille had summoned them she was slain by that knight that had killed the two of them and he would have expected her to give up at some point, but he was glad to find out that she was still fighting, "We also got a token of some kind, for actually completing our duty, but we should focus on taking out that giant and seeing what that key goes to."

Rarity remembered seeing the key that Lucille had picked up, as it was quite hard for her to miss, and had to wonder what door it went to, and what happened to be resting behind that door. She was sure that some sort of enemy or treasure would be the reward once they figured out which door to unlock, though a part of her hoped that they didn't unlock a door that brought them to that terrifying knight. She could also tell that Edric had to be thinking about what they had just gone through, as if he was recalling the fight they had with the trapped giant and was making sure that he knew how to avoid its attacks. He was getting himself ready for the upcoming fight, because now that they knew where the giant was located it was only a matter of time until they were standing outside his lair... and then they would take him out, just like they did with Lucille.

After a few more minutes of rest Edric decided that it was time for them to resume their quest and headed towards the hole in the wall, though as he walked out of their sanctuary, and focused on the enemies on the level below them, Rarity followed after him and threw a Soul Arrow at the bomb thrower. It took them a few seconds to eliminate this group of foes, allowing them to approach the ladder and climb down into the lower area, where they patiently waited for the ballista to launch their volley before attacking the stunned hollows that resided in the chamber. When they cleared that area out they turned towards the pathway behind them and spotted the large armored enemy that had been blocking Lucille's path... though as Edric engaged the warrior Rarity focused on the two archers that were staring down at them.

Thanks to their prior knowledge of the area, and the fact that they knew how their enemies were going to attack them, Rarity and Edric were able to take are of both the armored warrior and the archers, allowing them to moved towards the doorway that they had spotted in Lucille's world.

They walked through the doorway that the armored warrior had been guarding and found themselves in the large corridor that Lucille had showed them, though this time around they also noticed another path on their right that they could take if they so desired. Instead of going to the right, and seeing what else was waiting for them, they both turned to the left of the doorway and spotted the door that the two hollows were guarding, to which they approached their enemies and dealt with them before they had a chance to fight back. Once that was done Rarity and Edric walked into the chamber that the hollows had been guarding, though this time around Rarity ignored the small room on the right, because all she had found in there was a hollow and nothing else. They wasted no time in approaching the elevator that they had discovered in Lucille's world, the one that would take them down into the depths of the ruined fortress... where they would find the forgotten giant.

They stood around the center of the elevator for a few seconds before it made its descent, taking them to the passage that would allow them to walk right up to a fog door, though as they walked forward they took out the hollow that was hidden in the locked doorway to their left... before they stopped in front of the fog door and prepared themselves.

Once they were both ready, and their weapons were prepared, they both walked through the fog door and stared at the gray skinned giant that was hunched over at the moment, which Rarity decided wasn't the best posture for anyone, but there was little she could do for the creature. They took a moment to take in all the damage that had been caused to the giant's body, which had no doubt been caused in a battle that was likely forgotten by the people of Drangleic, before they approached their foe. A few seconds later the giant's head started to move, which the two of them had been expecting thanks to their knowledge of what was to come, before the giant started to scream at them when it noticed that they were approaching him.

That was followed by the giant shattering the pillar that it was impaled on, leaving a good chuck sticking out of its back and the front of its chest, before it violently tugged on its right arm and pulled it out of the rubble that had buried its hand. Once it's right arm was free the giant focused on freeing his left hand, to which the creature simply yanked its hand in the direction of its body and freed its hand... though once that was done both Rarity and Edric braced themselves as the giant charged at them.

Rarity and Edric followed the same attack pattern they had used back in Lucille's world, to which they separated from each other and made sure that they were on opposite sides of the giant, where Edric focused on dodging the giant's hands while making himself into the largest threat available at the moment. Rarity put some distance between herself and the giant, which was why Edric was acting like bait at the moment, before she signaled to her companion and started using her spells on the giant's legs. She had determined from watching how Edric and Lucille had fought the creature, that attacking its legs might have done more damage than striking at its oddly shaped head, which was why she was attacking it in this manner. Of course they still had to be careful when the giant chose to jump backwards, though since there was only her and Edric this time around Rarity was a little shocked when the giant chose to continue chasing Edric, allowing her to focus her power into channeling more spells.

At one point the giant stood still and started tugging on its left arm, to which Rarity and Edric watched it pull its arm off and started using it like a club, though they continued to repeat the same movements they had been using since they started this fight. Rarity had expected that with there being only two opponents the giant would have focused on them equally, though instead she found that the giant preferred to attack Edric and ignored her completely, which only made this fight a lot easier for Rarity. Thanks to the giant's tactics, or lack of them in some cases, they eventually caused it to stagger for a few seconds, to which the duo watched as the giant collapsed on the ground and stopped moving... to which Rarity happily cheered over their victory, while at the same time they gathered the same souls that Lucille had gained when they helped her beat the giant.

While she cheered in her mind, however, Edric collected the key that Lucille had grabbed, though they both knew that they would soon find out where the key went and what secrets it unlocked.

"So how many souls did we get from that guy?" Rarity asked, because while she was still getting used to this world, and how the soul system worked, she was sure that Edric might have an answer to her question.

"Besides his actual soul... I think somewhere around ten thousand points for both of us," Edric replied, though when he turned and looked at his companion, however, he found that she was completely shocked by what he had just told her, "What's wrong?"

"T... ten thousand souls?!" Rarity exclaimed, as she had never expected such a creature to possess so many souls, which meant that the giant must have killed quite a lot of people before being reduced to this state, "What are we going to do with all of these souls?"

"Well, let's head back to Majula and see what the Emerald Herald has to say about what we've accomplished," Edric stated, knowing that there was a quick way to determine whether they had collected one of the four Great Souls or not, before something came to mind, "Though we should rest at the bonfire before we do anything else... there's something I feel like trying before we head through the forest again."

Rarity had to wonder what her companion was thinking about, before she nodded her head and followed him back to where the elevator was waiting, to which they took it back up to the area that it had been waiting at originally. Once the elevator stopped they walked off of it and spotted something that they had missed, as to their immediate right was a door that they could open without needing a special key. On the other side of the door rested the ladder they had climbed down several times, to which they climbed back up to where the bonfire was resting and sat around it for a few moments, allowing their bodies to recover from what they had just gone through. After they had rested Rarity got up to leave, but Edric shook his head and beckoned for her to kneel by the bonfire, though when she did so Edric focused on something and the world around them seemed to disappear, leaving them and the bonfire in a sea of darkness... before they reappeared in Majula, around its bonfire no less.

Rarity looked around in confusion for a moment, as it almost appeared that they had used a teleportation spell of some kind, though Edric was smiling at her, indicating that his trick had worked.

"I had heard that these special bonfires allow the Undead to travel from one to another," Edric explained, though at the same time he picked himself up and stretched his arms, while Rarity did the same thing as she stared at him, "and honestly I wasn't expecting it to work out quite so well, but at least this save us time if we wanted to travel from one location to another... like from the forest to some other part of Drangleic."

"A little warning would have been appreciated," Rarity said, though as she spoke she sighed and spotted the Emerald Herald sitting nearby, almost like she was ignoring them, before she beckoned to her, "Let's see if we've made any progress in our quest."

"Bearers of the curse, it is good to see you again." the Emerald Herald said, to which she got up and faced the duo, almost as if she had been listening to them and had gotten up the moment they approached her, "What may I assist you with at the moment?"

"We killed a powerful creature while we were in the Forest of Fallen Giants," Edric explained, though at the same time he withdrew the soul essence that the giant had left behind, which indicated that it was a powerful creature since it left something like this behind, "and we were wondering if this was one of the four souls that you had tasked us with locating."

"That is the soul of a powerful creature, that cannot be denied," the Emerald Herald said, to at the same time she shook her head as she stared at the duo, though the motion told them more than words could, "but it is not one of the four Great Souls that you need to acquire. I also sense that the both of you have acquired a fair number of souls since the last time we saw each other."

"We got a fair number of them when we killed the powerful creature that dropped that soul," Rarity replied, though as she spoke Edric put the soul of the giant back in his pack, before she turned her full attention to the Emerald Herald, "only we have no idea what to spend them on, save for healing items and lost keys."

"I can help you in that regard," the Emerald Herald stated, to which both Rarity and Edric looked at her with surprise on their faces, though at the same time she actually smiled at them for a moment, "Since you have learned that you can trade souls for goods, judging by how we have a new merchant in Majula, allow me to share with you another purpose that the souls you have acquired can serve. I can harness the power of the souls that you have acquired to boost a certain aspect of your choice, whether that aspect is Vigor, Endurance, Vitality, Adaptability, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Attunement."

"Um... can you explain what these 'aspects' are?" Edric asked, though at the same time Rarity nodded, because she was already lost thanks to everything that she had learned so far and all of these aspects just added to her confusion.

"Certainly," the Emerald Herald said, to which she took a seat for a moment, before looking up at the duo as they stared at her in turn, "Vigor increases the amount of health you have, meaning that you can take more hits and survive longer in combat, as long as your smart about the battles your in. Endurance also increases your health, but at the same time it increases your stamina, allowing you to do more attacks, and raise your physical defense. Vitality increases health and physical defense, like the last two, but it also allows you to increase your equipment load, which will become apparent to you at some point in the future. Adaptability will, unlike the previously mentioned aspects, increase your resistances to the elements, curses, and poisons, while at the same time increasing your agility.

Strength and Dexterity do the same thing, increasing your attack damage, but depending on which type of weapon your interested in investing your time into mastering will determine which one of them you'll want to pick. Intelligence increases the damage you can deal with magic, fire, and dark type spells, while at the same time raising your resistance to damage from those elements and increasing your casting speed. Faith does pretty much the same thing, only it focuses on boosting your damage and resistance for fire, lightning, and dark type spells, increases cast speed, and raises your resistance to petrification. Attunement increases casting speed and your agility, though all three of those aspects will also raise your health as well, much like the physical aspects."

Rarity could tell that Edric, as a warrior, was likely going to go for Vigor, Vitality, and Strength, because he was the tank of their group and he would be demanding the attention of their foes almost all the time. She thought about what she could choose and realized that she would likely choose Intelligence, Faith, and Attunement, allowing her to increase the power of her spells as well as her resistances to the same elements. It was an interesting system, one that actually reminded her of the various games that she overheard Spike talking about when Twilight wasn't around, but she was pleased that she quickly determined which aspects she should invest points into. She also had to wonder where she could find the other types of spells, since all she had would be classified in the 'magic' type of category, but determined that she would find them in the future.

Edric, deciding to be the first one to use the points he had acquired, knelt in front of the Emerald Herald and the lady focused her unique power on Edric, to which Rarity watched her companion for a few seconds, but she didn't see any noticeable changes occur. After a few seconds the Emerald Herald lowered her hand and nodded to Edric, who stood up and walked a few steps backwards, allowing Rarity to take his place and see what she could do with the various aspects that they had been told about. From what she could tell she could, based on the Emerald Herald's unique power, she had enough soul points to increase an aspect ten times, to which she determined to use four of those 'points' on Intelligence, three on Faith, and the last three on Attunement. Her thought process was that because Edric was the warrior, and stood at the front of the group, she should focus her efforts on increasing the power of all of her spells... even those that she hadn't acquired yet.

Once she was done she discovered that Edric was already talking with the blacksmith, no doubt informing him that they had found the key to his shop and was inquiring as to how long it would be before they could begin enlisting his services and improve their armor. While he did that Rarity walked over to Shalquoir's shop, where she found the strange cat resting on the table again, almost as if she hadn't moved during the time Rarity and Edric had been inside the ruined fortress. The sound of her hooves walking on the floor, however, caused the cat's ears to twitch and she opened her eyes, to which she noticed Rarity was inside the building again, where she yawned and picked herself up.

"Ah, my favorite otherworldly customer has returned," Shalquoir commented, a smile, or what Rarity assumed was a smile, appearing on her face a few moments later, "and it appears that you and your companion have killed the 'Last' Giant. Congratulations on taking out your first powerful opponent, though he won't be the last one you'll face."

"Yes, Edric and I are sure that we'll face more like him on our quest," Rarity said, though it took her a few seconds to realize something very important, to which she raised an eyebrow at Shalquoir for a moment, "Wait... how in the world did you know that we took out that giant, especially since you weren't there?"

"Oh, I have my ways of knowing when a powerful creature has been taken out." Shalquoir replied, to which she raised a paw to her mouth and shook her head, almost in a laughing fashion, before turning serious once more, "but I'm guessing you came here for more than idle chit-chat. You came for a second opinion on where to go after beating that giant, instead of hunting for that knight that slaughtered you and several of the other Undead that summoned you two. I can tell you that the Pursuer is still lurking around the ruins you were just in, looking for you and Edric, but near my house is another path that will take you to Heide's Tower of Flame... where you'll find two more powerful creatures and a surprise."

"Really?" Rarity said, though at the same time she was a tad bit surprised to hear that Shalquoir knew the knight's name, though she determined that being called a 'Pursuer' was fitting for the knight, "Well, I'm sure that Edric will be happy to know that there's another path for us to take, besides remaining in the ruined fortress and crossing paths with that... Pursuer knight."

"Sooner or later you'll have to face your fears," Shalquoir commented, though at the same time the smile from earlier returned, once again making Rarity wonder what the cat knew and what she was withholding from her, "though when that days comes... well, let's just say you'll be surprised by what happens."

Rarity nodded as she bid Shalquoir farewell for the moment and headed back outside, knowing that there was something strange about the cat, something that she couldn't put her finger on. Apparently Shalquoir knew what was happening in the world around her, without her even leaving her house by the looks of it, and could easily name enemies they have fought and locations they could go to next. She was fortunate to have befriended the cat, if she could call it that, because her advice may be invaluable in the future... and she was sure that some of those rings she was selling would come in handy at some point in the future.

Rarity sighed as she returned to the bonfire and informed Edric of the fact that the second path existed, to which she told him about the fact that Shalquoir was willing to share the information with her... to which Edric decided that they could use a change of scenery and determined that Heide's Tower of Flame would be an interesting place to check out. Rarity only hoped that they didn't find someone like the Pursuer in the new location, otherwise they were going to have a hard time getting anywhere close to one of the four Great Souls... and whoever was holding them at the moment.