Survival in the game world begins with Biochemical 2

Chapter 837 The Amnesiac Thor?
—Inside Valhalla.

When Li You opened his eyes, he was already in the Upper Realm.

In the game, when Kratos enters Valhalla, the Nether is generated based on various Norse realms, while the Upper Realm is his former homeland, the landscape of Greek temples.

As for Li You, since he was not a Greek like Kratos, and given the changes in Valhalla itself, the scenery he saw was completely different.

Even knowing this beforehand, Li You never imagined that he would see such a scene after opening his eyes.

Enveloped in black and gold light, Li You traversed the air, breaking through the limitations of the clouds.

Nestled within a massive and isolated ring-shaped mountain wall lies a classical city steeped in history.

The terraced domed buildings, the solemn cathedral, and the orange-brown roofs reflecting the gentle sunlight filtering through the gaps in the ring-shaped mountain walls create the dominant color scheme.

The teleportation light from the Hall of Heroes transported Li You to the city, where the black-gold light dissipated on a wide and tall circular city wall.

Li You stood there, momentarily dazed.

Naturally, he couldn't possibly not recognize the city.

This is the edge of the Dark Souls world, a city isolated from the rest of the world: The Ringed City!
Recognizing this place is one thing, but Li You didn't expect, or rather, couldn't understand, why he was sent here by the Hall of Heroes.

Is this really the upper realm of Valhalla? Or have I been transported back to the world of Dark Souls?
It's not surprising that he had such doubts, because ever since he arrived here, all the powers within him had begun to pulsate and cheer.

The power that originally came from the world of Dark Souls now adapted to the environment here as easily as fish swimming in water.

As a result, his physical strength and magical power recovered rapidly, almost instantly, and even his divine power was mostly restored.

However, it was only for the moment he entered this world that he absorbed a large amount of power, and his recovery speed returned to normal afterward.

In addition, at this moment, a certain item in Li You's backpack was pulsating and calling out.

Within the Hall of Heroes, the system's inventory function can be activated once after each level is cleared, allowing a maximum of three items to be retrieved at a time. Li You has already cleared the lower realm, so he naturally has the authority to activate it.

So without thinking, he opened his backpack and found the item that made the call.

The Darkmoon Sword emblem, proof of his oath, and also the place where the remnant soul of his "master," Gwyndolin, slumbers.

Of course, initially, Gwyndolin's remnant soul slumbered within the Night Amulet that Li You had given to Kara. However, after returning to the Biohazard World from the Borderlands, Li You returned the Night Amulet to Kara and moved Gwyndolin's remnant soul into the Darkmoon Sword Emblem, carrying it with him and continuously nourishing it with his divine power to help him recover.

Although in theory his soul should have been slowly recovering, Li You hadn't seen any reaction from his soul for an unknown amount of time.

Especially after arriving in Northern Europe, because the foreign divine power would be suppressed, Li You simply put the Dark Moon Sword Badge back into his backpack.

At this moment, the Darkmoon Sword Badge, which had been silent for who knows how long, suddenly reacted. No wonder even Li You was a little surprised and unsure if he was still in the Hall of Heroes.

However, at this moment, a system notification also sounded.

【Ding! 】

[You have entered the Upper Realm of Valhalla. The Valhalla Challenge (Lower Realm) is now complete.]

It seems that, in any case, this place should still be considered part of Valhalla.

Li You felt a little more at ease. Then, looking at the items in his backpack, he thought for a moment and, sure enough, took out the Dark Moon Sword Badge.

As for the remaining two items, he thought about it and decided not to take out the other items for the time being, but to save the opportunity and take them when needed.

Of course, he also wanted to use a fragment of the world as his last trump card. However, not to mention the upper realm barrier in front of him, which was originally a mutation after the fragment of the world merged with the Hall of Heroes, the rules alone had already prohibited him from using items produced purely by the system. In other words, the fragment of the world was simply unusable.

So forget about having any trump cards up your sleeve. Instead of relying on those, let's see if Gwyndolin's remnant soul can give him some surprises.

Hanging the Darkmoon Sword badge on his waist as before, Li You walked forward following the route he remembered.

Needless to say, the first thing to appear in front is the Giant Judge, who will summon a large number of phantom archers to give the newcomers to Ringed City the warmest welcome.

However, Li You now has plenty of ways to get through this journey.

The spiral sword was drawn and then transformed into a burning bow, while Li You nocked the mistletoe arrows onto the bowstring.

The mistletoe arrows forged by the dwarf brothers are enhanced with penetrating power and automatic return. At the same time, because they are extremely light and smooth, their range is far beyond imagination.

At this distance, it would be impossible to hit him under any circumstances in the game, but Li You's methods are not limited by the rules of the game.

He soared into the sky beyond the giant judge's watchful eye, then channeled divine power into the great arrow and bow in order to defeat his enemy in one fell swoop.

First came the Sakura Dragon's Lightning, followed by the power of the storm. Lightning and storm swirled around the arrow, and as Li You released his grip, the Mistletoe Arrow shot out with a whoosh!

"Boom——!!"

At that moment, it sounded as if thunder had echoed in the sky.

The mistletoe arrow, already boasting an exaggerated range, was further enhanced by Li You's wind and thunder power. The distance between the city walls was almost instantaneous, and it appeared in front of the giant judge in a flash, piercing his chest with extreme precision!
However, this arrow, which was already enhanced with penetrating power and imbued with a considerable portion of Li You's divine power, still failed to penetrate the giant judge's broad body!

The arrow blasted a huge hole in his chest, even exposing his internal organs, but the giant judge did not fall.

Instead, he saw Li You in the sky and immediately raised his hands, letting out a long roar!

“Ughh ...

With his roar, a large number of phantom archers began to appear above the city wall, and they were all vaguely looking in the direction of Li You in the sky!
However, at that moment, the second mistletoe arrow flew in again, still carrying the power of wind and thunder, and landed precisely in the same spot as the first arrow!
This time, the giant judge's chest was pierced through, and a flashing point of light exploded behind his body!

The judge let out a mournful cry, his body slowly collapsed, and he disappeared.

As for the phantom archers, those that had been summoned raised their longbows and shot arrows at Li You, but most of the phantoms disappeared again with the death of the giant judge because they had not fully appeared.

The remaining few archers fired only a sparse volley of arrows, which Li You easily dodged, and then flew over the top of the city wall.

As the second DLC for Dark Souls 3, the Ringed City has incredibly high stats. Li You still remembers the experience of having his defenses broken during his early playthroughs.

Moreover, this is essentially the upper realm of Valhalla. Considering the strength of the enemies in the lower realm, he will not be careless in the slightest.

Therefore, at the same time as he fired the first arrow, Li You was already charging up the second arrow. He had long been prepared that one arrow would not kill the giant judge—and the fact was exactly as he expected.

After testing his skills on the giant judge, Li You had a general understanding of the strength of the enemies within the Ringed City, and what he needed to do next was quite simple.

Since the Hall of Heroes has thrown him here, it means there's only one thing he needs to do—clear the stages!
Li You casually picked up the secret medicine and the goddess's blessing that had been left under the giant judge's corpse, and then walked down the stairs to the bottom of the city wall.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fly there, but mainly because a dark dragon was hiding behind a church, observing them, and Li You didn't want to attract too much attention. ...

The city of Huanyin that Li You visited this time was almost identical to the map in his memory, and even the enemy configuration was exactly the same.

Perhaps the Hall of Heroes was also worried that the power level given was too high, making it too difficult for Li You to pass the levels, so they completely replicated the game configuration?
Knowing the level setup in advance, Li You could clear the levels with great ease, many times faster than when he had to explore cautiously in the lower realm.

So Li You easily dispatched the sycophantic bug hiding by the roadside, and then continued deeper into the area.

To his slight surprise, upon reaching the interior of the circular wall, he heard a familiar sound—a muffled, questioning voice emanating from a person.

"Onion Bro? No... Patch?"

In the Souls series, the most typical character who makes this sound is Onion Knight. However, in the Ringed City storyline, Patches, who lost his memory due to the curse of the Undead, replaced Onion Knight's role.

Li You remembered that in the game, Patch, who wore a suit of brass heavy armor and called himself "Lapp," would wait for players by a small window in this city wall.

However, in the game's DLC, the first thing you have to do is the story in the settlement, where players first encounter Lapp. But Li You was clearly sent directly to the Ringed City, so will Lapp be there too?
However, Li You was somewhat curious about what the NPCs from the original game would become under the evolution of Valhalla.

So after thinking about it, he followed the sound and walked to the small balcony.

Sure enough, there was a man dressed in heavy armor sitting cross-legged there.

He gazed at the Ringed City swamp below the balcony, his stiff, frog-shaped helmet half-lifted, roughly covering his head. He held a glass of onion wine in his hand, taking large gulps, with several empty onion wine glasses lying beside him.

Li You found it amusing; how come this guy was drinking himself?
Li You had a fairly good impression of Patch, who was using the alias "Lapp," so he didn't think much of it and went up to him, patting him on the shoulder: "Hey, what are you doing drinking here all by yourself?"

The man stopped, turned around, and revealed a rugged face with messy reddish-brown hair and a beard.

Then Li You was immediately stunned.

"So...Sol?"

There's absolutely no mistake, the man wearing the armor that should have belonged to Lapp is not the original Patch, but Thor, the thunder god of the Norse world!

"...Do you know me?"

Although he was quite drunk, a glint of shrewdness still flashed in Thor's eyes as he looked at Li You.

Although Li You hadn't called his name aloud, Thor still noticed something in his eyes, and Li You's initial greeting was completely like talking to an acquaintance.

So Thor asked, "Do you know who I am?"

He only said two sentences in total, but he revealed a great deal of information.

It seems that he not only put on Lapp's armor, but also inherited Lapp's amnesiac persona. Now it seems... he has even forgotten who he is?
Looking into Thor's sharp yet bewildered eyes, Li You knew he wasn't lying. To be honest, the Thor in the new God of War universe didn't have that kind of intelligence.

This left Li You somewhat amused and exasperated. Previously, when he discovered that Thor might have forcibly entered Valhalla, Li You was worried that he would see the scenery of the lower realm and that he might encounter him inside.

As it turned out, Thor was indeed punished for forcibly entering Valhalla, or perhaps because there weren't enough actors. In any case, he was directly pulled over by Valhalla, given a sudden blow that caused him to lose his memory, and then given the script for Lapp.

Isn't this a bit... too awesome?
Li You's mind raced, and then he spoke decisively, his voice carrying just the right amount of doubt and regret: "You've forgotten me? It's me! We were fighting side by side before!"

Thor was stunned: "...Huh?"

Then, Li You slightly modified the story of "Lapp" and applied it directly to Thor in front of him.

He told Thor that they had both come to the "Ringed City" to find something, but Thor was under the "curse of his father," and his memory had become very blurry, sometimes even forgetting what he was looking for.

Li You himself had met him by chance on the road earlier, and they became comrades-in-arms by chance.

“When we parted, we said we’d have a drink together next time we met, but…” Li You said, glancing at the ground next to Thor, where empty wine glasses were scattered everywhere.

Saul believed him to be about 70-80% because he spoke with such sincerity and his description of his situation was accurate.

He glanced down at the ground, then at the last bottle of onion wine in his hand, which was only half full. He scratched his head somewhat sheepishly. "Well... what you said seems to make sense, but I really forgot about you. This wine... is almost all left. How about you take this half glass?"

Li You: "..."

Are you being so informal, buddy?
And doesn't your persona seem a bit off after you lost your memory? Why do you look so silly and naive?
So Li You deliberately sighed and said, "Forget it. You promised to treat me last time, but since you've forgotten about me, I won't hold it against you."

He used the second of his three item-removal opportunities and took out the Endless Wine Jar from his backpack.

"Let me treat you this time. This is wine I brought all the way from an Eastern country; you can't get it anywhere else!"

Perhaps it was the effect of Sigriun's lucky blessing, but today the Endless Wine Jar was filled with Dragon Spring wine. Just smelling its rich aroma made Thor's stomach rumble, and his eyes lit up: "Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony with you!"

The two then sat down on the balcony. Saul finished the rest of his onion wine in one gulp, and Li You poured him a glass of Longquan wine from the empty bottle, while he himself simply picked up the pot and poured some down.

"Dry--!"

After downing several large mouthfuls of Longquan, Thor's attitude became much friendlier.

In this strange city, every creature's first reaction upon seeing him was to attack. But Li You not only didn't immediately attack him with a knife, he even offered him wine. Thor was almost convinced that Li You was his ally.

After losing his memory, he became so honest and simple that he was nothing like the mad killer who struck fear into the hearts of the giants of the Nine Realms.

Amidst the hearty drinking, Saul spoke up, asking, "...By the way, I haven't asked your name yet. Also, do you know what my name is?"

Li You exhaled a breath of alcohol before replying, "You can call me Lao Li. As for you, you've already forgotten your own name since the last time we met. You told me to call you... 'Wang Dachui' back then."

"Wang Dachui?" Thor repeated the name to himself, seemingly feeling that something was off, but also that it seemed to make sense.

He touched the Mjolnir hanging from his waist and laughed loudly: "Great name, I like it very much! From today onwards, I will be called Wang Dachui!"

Even after undergoing rigorous training, Li You almost couldn't hold back.

You really scream!

But since the words had already been spoken, and Thor had taken them seriously, he could only call him that from then on.

So Li You stepped forward and patted Thor on the shoulder with a normal expression: "Alright! Big Hammer, it's time to see you again, old friend. How about we work together? This city looks pretty weird."

Without a second thought, Thor nodded in agreement: "No problem!"

(End of this chapter)