6 First [Knight]

Getting up and re-summoning his Soldiers, Jason noticed that they appeared more solid and less 'murky' than before. Upon gathering some shadows in his hand, he could just barely see the changes in them as well.

Assuming it had to have been due to the level up, he decided that it was about time he delved into the Attribute descriptions instead of just assuming they acted the same as in the game. He probably should've done this by now, especially before investing souls in leveling, but he'd been so excited at the time that it'd just slipped his mind… for a few months.

So, sitting back down and ignoring the stomping of the Asylum Demon that shook dust off the walls, Jason pulled up his system. After reading through the extensive descriptions, he summarized them well enough to have a firm grasp on what they entailed.

[Vitality] was his health, no surprise there. VIT worked like a healing factor that rapidly restored any damage received at the cost of HP. The greater the damage, the more HP it would take to heal. He wouldn't die from reaching 0 HP but if the injury was severe enough, he would shortly thereafter.

[Attunement] was his MP stat, one of three that governed his Mana alongside both [Intelligence] and [Faith]. The higher he raised ATN, the greater his reserves of mana, the higher he raised INT, the more dense his mana became, and the higher he raised FTH, the more pure his mana was with it maxing out at 100%. They thus covered capacity, efficiency, and potency, respectively.

[Endurance] governed his maximum stamina, or SP. The more he raised this stat, the longer he could last and the faster he could recover, pretty obvious.

[Strength] and [Dexterity] were just as self explanatory as END. STR determined the amount of raw force Jason could exert, while DEX governed over coordination and agility.

Lastly, [Resistance] was the stat that had gone through the most shocking change from the game, it was actually useful. Since his system already made Jason immune to all status effects, RES instead helped his body by strengthening its skin, bones, organs, etc, to 'resist' damage, similar to some cultivation novels he'd read in his past life. At a high enough level, his body would even become impossible to dismember without the attack just outright killing him as well. Obviously raising this and VIT congruently was the way to go.

Standing up, after some thought, Jason noticed that his skin did indeed feel a little thicker than before. It wasn't much, but he could tell the difference. As he walked down the hallway and avoided an arrow flying at him, he idly wondered if he'd ever be able to brag about having 'skin like jade' to all the other young masters in the future.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, he rounded the corner and struck the Hollow with a blast of God Slaying Magic to the face. It had been his favorite [Slayer Magic] since day one, the purple and black color scheme always appealed to him more than the silver or blue. Though, if Devil SM ended up working on the demons here and Dragon SM on the drakes or wyverns, he often wondered if God SM would have enough targets to not fall behind.

"Further testing is required," Jason mumbled as he sidestepped the rolling boulder that smashed into the room where Oscar was located. He sent his, now 3 Soldiers, up to deal with the Hollow atop the stairs while he went through the newly made hole in the wall to meet everyone's favorite armor set.

"…Oh, you… You're no Hollow, eh?" Oscar spoke before pausing. "You… You're not like me? No… You haven't begun to succumb to the curse like I have…"

The knight coughed and Jason grimaced as flecks of blood sprayed from the vents of his helmet. He didn't speak however, only observing the knight closely. There was always something that bothered him about how Oscar just died in the game. From a gameplay perspective it made sense, but he wanted to see if anything would happen differently here.

"…Well, no matter. I'm done for anyways, I'm afraid… I wish to ask something of you…" Oscar said weakly while raising his head. Jason frowned at the knight following along the same script he already knew but Oscar took it differently and raised a shaky hand before continuing, "You and I, we're both… Human? Hear me out, will you?"

Jason nodded and leaned against the caved in wall while he listened to Oscar's spiel about Bell's, pilgrims, and prophecy, "…Well, now you know… And I can die with hope in my heart... Oh, one more thing... Here, take this... An Estus Fla-"

By this point, Jason had had enough. Raising a hand to interrupt, he finally spoke, with more than just a little irritation in his voice, "Here's an idea, why don't YOU use the Estus Flask's? I mean, you've been holding onto like five of them this whole time right? What's stopping you from just, I don't know, not dying?"

While he got a bit heated by the end of his rant, Jason couldn't tell if he'd angered the man with the helmet in the way. The bemused chuckle and sigh that followed did confuse him however, "Hah… How old are you, lad?"

"…15?" Jason replied in an unsure tone. If he was going by purely his body than 15 was indeed the number, but his mind obviously had a couple centuries on it by this point.

"15… I was, still but a squire at that age," the knight said with another choked laugh, "You see… *cough* …I'll go hollow soon enough, whether I die now or later… This place, this accursed land… was to be my purpose, my… reason to hold on."

Jason was listening intently by this point. Not just because this was something he'd never heard before, but because this proved that these were real people, with real lives and stories. It should've been obvious seeing how he now lived in a world from an anime in his first life, but something about this world being represented through a video game had always disconnected Jason from it in a way that DxD never really had.

"…Before coming here, I was already on the verge of hollowing…" Oscar continued, "Only the fate of the chosen undead, drove me to retain my sanity… Now, since I was not fated to carry that mantle… I'm afraid my time has ran out."

It was hard for Jason to keep the pity from his gaze as he listened to the knight's tale. Honestly, he didn't know how long he'd last in a world like this, Gwyn really screwed the whole thing over for everyone.

"What if I gave you the chance to stay sane," Jason offered, coming to a decision, "albeit, in a different form than you are now. You won't have to fear ever going hollow, but you'd come under another Lord, so to speak. However, if you really wanted it, I could also release your soul to the void… where you'd find some peace."

After hearing of Oscar's plight and just how tired of life the man was, Jason wasn't heartless enough to not give him both options. He knew full well what the Shadow Monarch powers did to someone and while for a knight that might not be an issue, he wasn't just going to force the few remaining sane individuals within Lordran into his army.

If they didn't want to join it didn't really matter in the long run either, he was bound to pick up plenty of capable Shadows anyways. Now, if they attacked him first or were already Hollow, they didn't get a say in the matter and Jason had no qualms forcefully drafting them into the Shadow Army.

"Heh-" Oscar began to laugh softly but was unable to finish due to lacking the strength and it came out more akin to wheezing.

"…No, no need, lad," he muttered as he slumped against the wall. "…Run along now, please… I have not long to live, and I may harm you after death..."

Jason was disappointed but quickly got over it. He'd offered and that was enough in his eyes. If people thought he was full of shit that was their problem, it wasn't his job to convince them otherwise.

Shaking his head, Jason pushed off the wall and gave Oscar one last look before he left. He'd let him die as he wished now, but after he came back to the Asylum and killed his Hollow, he'd release his soul to the void. Jason knew Oscar would probably thank him for it but if not, by that point he'd lost the right to object anyways.

"Oh, and here take this…" Jason heard over his shoulder right as he turned away. "…It won't be of any use to you but, if you can find the chosen undead… please, give it to them."

As he said those final words, Oscar's head dropped and his body went still.

Jason sighed as he felt the 100 souls flow into him, before walking over and grabbing the Estus Flasks where he flinched upon touching them, their temperature hot enough to singe his fingers. Somewhat expecting this, Estus was supposedly a form of liquid fire after all, Jason instead turned his hand into shadows before grabbing the Flasks and swiftly storing it directly within his inventory.

He looked over the armor, sword, and shield, briefly pondering over taking them for himself. In the end he turned away, he wouldn't be able to use them until long after he reached the point where he'd find the other set out in the world and he didn't really care that much about the Elite Knight Set personally anyways.

He felt that way about most items in this world to be honest. Outside of three or four weapons and like, two armor sets, he didn't feel a desire to get his hands on anything in particular. Maybe that would change one day in the future, but for now he was content with just picking up the items from normal drops.

Walking out the room, Jason looked around to find his three Shadows just standing over a corpse at the top of the stairs. He sighed at their stupidity and couldn't wait to get out of here to grab some real soldiers.

Heading up the stairs, he extracted the Hollow at the top before recalling his summons and Shadow Stepping through the locked iron door. Leaving his summons within his shadow, Jason killed the three Hollows on the balcony alone and extracted them as well.

Seeing a Fog Gate for the first time was, odd. He didn't think they'd actually exist in this world since that felt more like a game mechanic, so he was somewhat dumbfounded. He had so many questions about the logic behind them but seeing he didn't have anyone to ask, he had to shelve them for later.

Instead of entering right away, Jason continued along the balcony until he came into the room with the Hollow Soldier. Equally as unimpressed with it as he was towards the other Hollows, Jason just sent three Shadows at it while he passed by and phased through the locked gate.

Looking down at the glowing orb before him, Jason picked it up and crushed it while feeling particularly smug about getting it early. The [Rusted Iron Ring] wasn't some wonder item and he'd probably hardly ever use it, but there was just something about doing what you shouldn't be able to that felt oh so good.

"Gotta take the time to enjoy the little things," he muttered with a smile as he Shadow Stepped back through the locked gate. He looked at the four beings, mindlessly beating on each other, blankly before sighing and walking up behind the Hollow Soldier. Taking the [Bandit's Knife] out his inventory and grasping it with two hands, he plunged the blade into the back of the Hollow's neck with a squelch.

Jason grimaced at the smell and once again reaffirmed his decision to not use daggers. He wasn't squeamish towards blood and gore, it was just that personal space and undead do not mix well for his senses. It was everything disgusting about the human body multiplied by a factor of, a lot. He wouldn't put himself through that when he had other options.

After adding another Hollow to his forces, this one only a [Soldier] as well, Jason walked back towards the fog wall and paused before entering. He had a plan that may or may not work, but now was the perfect time to test it.

Looking down at all the shadows around him, he sucked in a deep breath as his eyes glowed a deep blue. Stepping through the fog wall, Jason locked eyes with the Asylum Demon and smirked. "Shadow Devil's…"

"Roa-!" "WAIL!"

Drowning out the Asylum Demon's roar with one of his own, Jason's [Shadow Devil's Wail] ripped through the boss's fat body like someone had dropped a blender atop the poor thing. It kept going until it carved into the floor before shattering it right after Jason received 2,000 souls.

Jason looked on with a daze as the mangled corpse of Dark Souls' first boss fell down atop its stronger cousin. He knew that the Asylum Demon was weak but, he hadn't expected to one shot it.

He didn't even need to call out the skill name but, 'Damn if it didn't feel good.'

Jason looked around at the wreckage with a grin of satisfaction while he rubbed his nose and inwardly vowed to never call out skills in DxD. It was fine when there were no witnesses around but he'd never hear the end of it back home. Hell, he'd never let someone hear the end of it if it was the other way around.

Peering down into the hole he'd made and pointedly ignoring the glare the Stray Demon was sending up at him, Jason saw the corpse of the boss he'd just slain. Thinking that distance shouldn't be an issue, he spoke with anticipation, "Arise."

[The Mana of this target is contaminated.]

[Shadow Extraction is not possible.]

Jason sighed at the notice. This was going to be a pain back in DxD, if devils are also 'contaminated' then maybe youkai or fallen angels are as well? He could at least understand the issue in Dark Souls, demons are essentially walking contamination and corruption, but it's something that needs to be investigated back home.

Jason was preparing to Shadow Step down to the ground floor when his head throbbed and he was assaulted with nausea. Looking at his [Status], he noticed that his MP was sitting at a whopping 2/60 and grimaced as another wave of pain rushed around in his skull.

This wasn't the first time he'd attempted to use more mana than he had but it was by far the worst. If he had to guess, it was due to him overcharging his MP reserves by consuming shadows before the attack and then going straight to empty thereafter. Any thoughts he might've had about attempting to kill the Stray Demon were thus swiftly cast aside, if he was so drained after killing the Asylum Demon, then he stood no chance against its stronger cousin.

There was also the chance it could jump out of that hole, in which Jason was pretty much screwed in every outcome thereafter.

Not wanting to take the unnecessary risk when he had all of Lordran waiting for him, Jason instead took the long way back around the stairs and into the courtyard. While in the stairwell and corridors that followed, he consumed as many shadows as he was able and brought his MP back up to acceptable levels. The headache was still there, but it was now more akin to a phantom throbbing that remained to warn him against similar recklessness in the future.

Jason gave the hole in the floor a wide berth as he walked around the edges of the boss room. The Hollows that tended to meander around in here, seemed to have been eaten by the demon earlier as there were reminiscent bloodstains yet no bodies to speak of.

Jason checked his MP as he came up to the large doors that led outside. Seeing them at about 3/4th's full, he Shadow Form'd under the exit and reformed outside.

While he could still hear the Stray faintly roaring and stomping around down below, the first thing he noticed about the outside was the cold. Jason shivered and swiftly grabbed a hoodie out of his inventory to keep himself warm.

As he walked out over the snow-covered stone pathway, he made two small detours to both grab the [Soul of a Lost Undead] and check to see if Snuggly would respond to his appearance. She didn't, sadly, leaving Jason wondering if she could tell that he had nothing to trade.

He ventured up towards the end of the stone path, passing through scattered cemeteries and the ruins of buildings that had crumbled long ago. When he came to the end of the line, he took it slow, being wary of the narrowing ground and high mountain winds.

Coming to the cliff, Jason marveled at the view that could've came straight from Earth's Himalayas for all he could tell. It was so 'normal' in its beauty, that you could forget that there was an Asylum filled with demons and undead just a few hundred meters behind you.

As he became lost in his thoughts by the marvel of nature before him, a sharp cry of a bird startled him just enough that Jason, in a moment of panic, launched a blast of [Slayer Magic] forward to push him away from the cliff's edge.

"SCREE!"

Looking up, Jason caught sight of an enormous crow, the very one that's supposed to take you to Firelink, flapping its wings angrily and ascending to leave in outrage at being attacked. Watching it get higher and higher, Jason panicked once more. If the bird left he'd never be able to get off this mountain and would be stuck in the Asylum forever!

Swiftly coming to a decision, he activated a power that he used all the time back in DxD but hadn't yet in Dark Souls. Transforming his hand into shadow, he reached out towards the bird and pulled with the gravity of his Devil Fruit harder than he'd done ever before.

"Squak!?" the crow cried, as its torso was seemingly grabbed and pulled by an unseen force. No matter what it tried, it couldn't overcome the weight pulling it towards the cliff.

With a maddened roar, Jason drained his SP at a frightening rate as he pulled the crow from the sky. The bird, never having experienced such a thing before, fell to the ground like a rocket while screeching and flapping its wings in terror.

Flailing and panicking, the crow was helpless as it crashed into the ground sending rocks and snow flying in its wake. It twitched and lifted its head weakly only to see the human who'd just attacked it, bent over his knees and panting near exhaustion. Unable to move, it could only glare hatefully as the human said something before dark figures exited his shadow and stalked towards its broken body.

Jason watched as his summons beat down the near helpless crow while it screeched and weakly resisted. It surprised him that even its glancing blows were enough to destroy the Shadows a few times, but after some thought it made sense. Shadow summons are weaker than their living counterparts, until they level up, and these Hollows specifically are just about as weak as they come.

Remembering that this crow has a ton of health and seeing the struggle in its giant black orbs, Jason started to feel like the bad guy. Sure it was an accident when he initially attacked and he only did it again so that the bird wouldn't leave him stranded here, but who told the damn thing to screech right in his face out of nowhere? It could've just landed calmly and then picked him up. Honestly, Jason thought it could learn a few thing from the Eagles in Lord of the Rings.

After recovering his stamina to a decent amount, Jason walked over to where his Shadows were still mindlessly beating on the crippled bird who by now just had a hollow look in its eyes. Seeing that, Jason felt even worse and decided to put it out of its misery. He still needed a ride after all and didn't think it'd offer one willingly anytime soon.

Remembering some of the theories he'd listened to about the lore of this world, Jason switched over to God Slaying Magic and his eyes glowed violet. If this crow was really some kind of agent for, or actually was, Velka, then GSM should make things easier.

Jason then ordered his Shadows to stop attacking and just hold down its wings. He didn't want to use an attack like [Shadow God's Bellow] or he'd risk launching the body far off the mountain and be unable to Extract. Instead, he brought out the [Bandit's Knife] and coated the edge with black and purple shadows that roiled around the blade like wisps of smoke.

With his summons restraining the body, he cautiously walked towards its neck and jumped on its back. The crow thrashed weakly but Jason clamped down hard with his thighs and ruthlessly stabbed his knife into the base of its skull.

The thrashing soon ceased and an influx of 5,000 souls had him breathing out a sigh of relief. He climbed down and flicked the blood from his knife while recalling the Shadows who'd still been dumbly stabbing the corpse even now.

Looking down at the body, Jason was nervous. He hadn't really fought the bird so he didn't have a good read on how strong it was. If it was anything above a [Knight], he might be stranded on this mountain forever, or until he got a way to fly from DxD but neither was preferable.

He took a slow breath to calm himself before locking eyes with dead black ones and commanded, "Arise."