Right now, Brandon Jenkins has no real combat ability to speak of; his previous battle achievements can only be attributed to the decent stats of this body.

But that's not enough—he must work even harder to hone himself, because this place, the Lands Between, is far too dangerous.

When facing those powerful demigods, without using Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, he would most likely be crushed by their stats.

Not to mention the many elite monsters along the way—Brandon Jenkins can't afford to waste his uses of Wind Spirit Moon Shadow on them.

Given that, he must make this body perform to its full potential, even surpassing its own stats.

Brandon Jenkins needs advanced combat skills, so that when facing enemies with much higher stats, he can defeat the strong as the weak.

Brandon Jenkins needs someone to teach him how to fight.

The best candidate is, of course, the combat instructor Bernahl; he could learn many useful combat techniques from him.

But his fees are very expensive, and the road there is also quite dangerous.

One route is to force his way through, charging past checkpoints full of stationed soldiers.

Another is to rely on Torrent to leap up the soul currents along the cliffside to the top of the hill, but that hill is the Storm Hill, crawling with mountain trolls.

No matter which route he takes, the number of enemies is enormous, and their combat power is not low.

Although it's not impossible to reach Bernahl, Brandon Jenkins has another candidate for a teacher.

On the Weeping Peninsula, there is a castle called Castle Morne. Its lord is a highly skilled, exiled knight. Although not as good as Bernahl, he is already very strong from Brandon Jenkins's perspective.

If time is synchronized with the game, then right now, Castle Morne is probably in the midst of a brutal rebellion, with the mutinous misbegotten and soldiers clashing fiercely every day.

The misbegotten are numerous, but they're not particularly troublesome opponents—it's a perfect place to hone combat skills.

Moreover, there's a girl on the Weeping Peninsula, the lord's daughter, Irina, waiting for Brandon Jenkins to rescue her.

As Brandon Jenkins thought about all this, he unknowingly drifted off to sleep. The day's battles had left him mentally exhausted.

As a former shut-in, Brandon Jenkins's adaptability after coming to this world could only be described as terrifying.

In just two days, he had already become completely unafraid of fighting and killing.

Maybe he was never meant to live in peaceful times—peace only lulled the beast inside him to sleep.

Brandon Jenkins is someone who loves peace, and his wish to bring peace to the Lands Between is genuine.

But he hasn't yet realized that the road to peace is also filled with slaughter and bloodshed, and he is just as obsessed with it.

-----------------

Melina sat quietly beside the Site of Grace, while Torrent lay on his side on the ground, acting like a sofa so Melina would have something to lean against.

She had just fled in panic, frightened by Brandon Jenkins's actions.

In the Lands Between, putting on a ring offered by someone else on the left ring finger is also a marriage ceremony.

But Melina had only thought of the ring as a whistle—aren't whistles usually worn on the index finger for easy blowing?

Who would have thought that Brandon Jenkins would put it directly on his left ring finger?

It was only after Brandon Jenkins put it on that Melina realized that this action could easily be interpreted as a marriage proposal.

And it was Melina proposing to Brandon Jenkins.

She thought Brandon Jenkins was teasing her on purpose, got a little angry, and left without saying a word, turning into spirit form.

But then, seeing Brandon Jenkins's confused and clueless expression, Melina started to hesitate.

Could it be that the Tarnished don't have this kind of ceremony? Did she wrongly accuse him?

In the end, Melina decided to put the matter out of her mind—now was not the time to think about such things.

She still couldn't be sure whether he would truly follow the guidance of grace, or whether he would step up to face the challenges ahead.

Although Torrent had faith in him, Melina still had her worries. The journey to the foot of the Erdtree was perilous, and she had to return.

If he had no intention of fulfilling their deal, or if he was not up to the task, then Melina would have to find another way.

Looking at Brandon Jenkins curled up like a child as he slept, Melina shook her head.

This guy actually said he would definitely protect me or something...

Melina shook her head again. The word "protect" was far too distant from her.

She couldn't even imagine what that would feel like, because aside from the mission she had yet to recover, she had nothing at all.

But who wouldn't like the feeling of being protected?

To put it bluntly, Melina was just a pitiful girl.

Someone firmly saying they would protect her gave her a feeling she couldn't describe.

Clearly, she was already a spirit, so the idea of being protected shouldn't even apply, yet unexpectedly, she found herself longing for it.

For that word, so distant and unrelated to her mission, she felt a yearning for the first time.

It's not that she didn't yearn for a grand, heroic journey like in storybooks, nor that she didn't want to freely explore the Lands Between.

But she had to go searching—even with her body burned away, with only her soul remaining, she still had to find a reason to keep living.

There must be something, something very important, waiting for her to accomplish, even if only her soul remains.

-----------------

After a good night's sleep, dawn had broken. Brandon Jenkins felt completely refreshed—right now, he was frighteningly strong.