The person was dressed in a very festive manner: a bright red coat with a white scarf, orange-yellow pants, and a big red plush hat adorned with a few strange feathers.

He held a peculiar instrument, playing it while humming an unknown little tune.

When he saw someone suddenly visiting this dilapidated church, his body stiffened and the tune stopped.

Seeing that Brandon Jenkins had no intention of attacking, he gradually relaxed.

“You’re a Tarnished, aren’t you… And it looks like you won’t attack me. In that case, how about doing a little business?”

He put away his instrument and introduced himself:

“My name is Kalé. It might not look like it, but I’m a merchant.”

Kalé looked at Brandon Jenkins. His hair was long and streaked with white, and the lower half of his face was covered by a mask, making him look nothing like a shrewd merchant.

Brandon Jenkins nodded. He remembered that Kalé had quite a few useful items available early on.

“Sure, let me see what you’ve got.”

Kalé stood up, unloaded his goods from a skinny donkey nearby, and spread them out in front of Brandon Jenkins.

“By the way, that Tree Sentinel patrolling outside won’t come in here, right?”

“Oh, don’t worry. He doesn’t bother anyone except Tarnished. I’ve been here for quite a while. As long as you’re careful not to be seen, you’ll be fine.”

Knowing the Tree Sentinel wouldn’t come in, Brandon Jenkins breathed a sigh of relief. Back in the game, he’d been killed by the Tree Sentinel more times than he could count, and it had left a bit of a psychological shadow.

Brandon Jenkins began to browse through the various items in front of him.

After some careful selection, Brandon Jenkins finally chose a torch, a monocular telescope, a tool pouch for crafting, and two crafting recipe notes left behind by wandering warriors.

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Chapter 12: Runes

The items Brandon Jenkins picked out were all of great importance in the early stages.

Nights in the Lands Between are full of danger. If you want to move around at night, a torch is essential, and it’s also useful in caves and underground tombs.

The monocular telescope was just for sightseeing in the game.

But now, with the map being so vast, using the telescope allows you to scout the terrain ahead and spot enemy positions.

As for the tool pouch, it’s extremely useful. It contains knives, cutting boards, mortars, and all sorts of tools, making it easy to process prey and craft items.

It could be considered an essential item for living in the Lands Between.

The various crafting notes for different professions record methods for using the tool pouch to make items—knowledge that can help you survive when you have nothing.

For example, these two recipe notes: one records how to make beast bone arrows, fletched beast bone arrows, and beast bone bolts.

The other records how to make glowstones, robust dried meat, and robust white dried meat.

“Thank you for your patronage. That’ll be 2,000 runes.”

Brandon Jenkins only had a few scattered runes on him, definitely not enough to pay.

Earlier, after Brandon Jenkins killed the Grafted Noble, a surge of runes had floated into his body. Brandon Jenkins remembered that as an elite enemy, the Grafted Noble was worth several thousand runes.

But Brandon Jenkins didn’t know how to use 6〵」q【un⑨冷（六）si鹨qi〸疤弍虾〩 of these runes.

“Um, actually, I just arrived in the Lands Between. I defeated enemies and got runes, but they’re inside my body, and I don’t know how to use them.”

As expected of a wandering merchant, Kalé was indeed knowledgeable and began to explain to Brandon Jenkins:

“I see. Let me tell you about runes.”

“Runes are actually the blessings contained within the inhabitants of the Lands Between. They can be condensed into coin-like objects for trade, or crushed to let the blessing return to your body.”

“When you kill a resident of the Lands Between, the lingering golden resonance flows into your body—those are also runes.”

“Give me your hand.”

Kalé extended a hand, signaling for Brandon Jenkins to place his hand on top.

Brandon Jenkins put his hand on Kalé's, and then saw a stream of golden energy float out of his body and flow toward Kalé.

Brandon Jenkins didn’t feel particularly connected to this energy, but he had a sense that if he wanted to stop the transfer, he could do so with a single thought.

After receiving about half of the golden runes, Kalé stopped on his own.

“All right, I’ve taken 2,050 runes from you. The extra 50 is my fee for the explanation.”

“You still have over 1,800 runes left in your body.”

Brandon Jenkins nodded. He hadn’t expected runes could be traded this way.

But a new question arose.

“Runes are the blessing of the Erdtree, but why didn’t I feel weak or uncomfortable when they left my body?”

Kalé thought for a moment, as if organizing his words.

“Hmm, let’s put it this way: runes are a symbol of status and position among the golden inhabitants of the Lands Between.”

“It’s not that you’re powerful because you have runes, but rather, you have the corresponding blessing of runes because you’re powerful.”

“But I’ve heard that the heroes blessed by the ‘Eternal Queen’ Marika did have their strength truly enhanced by the blessing… Though there’s no point talking about that now. The heroes are far too distant from us.”

“If you lose the blessing of runes, you’re no longer recognized by the Erdtree. For the golden inhabitants of the Lands Between, that’s equivalent to losing their life.”