He picked up three items in total: Radahn's Great Rune, the Remembrance of the Starscourge, and his Enhanced Philosopher's Stone.
At this moment, the Enhanced Philosopher's Stone had absorbed everything from Radahn and actually turned into a golden-red color, dazzlingly beautiful.
What surprised Arthur even more was that inside the crystal, there was a complete soul imprint.
He speculated that this was likely because a demigod's soul was too powerful, making the imprint impossible to filter out. Instead, it had been drawn inside as part of the soul itself.
Of course, Arthur wasn't worried about the crystal being polluted by it. On the contrary, he thought this opened up a new possibility—
The possibility of resurrecting Radahn.
Since Radahn's soul imprint was intact, Arthur could easily separate it and preserve it on its own. When he upgraded his resurrection technique in the future, Radahn could be brought back again.
At the very least, he had also scooped up a handful of Radahn's ashes.
Inspired by those modders from his past life, Arthur wanted to test whether he could use a summoning bell to call Radahn back.
"Forget it, no point overthinking. The entrance to the Eternal City, Nokron, has already opened. Time to go find my big brother."
By "big brother," Arthur was actually referring to an Ash Spirit—
the Mimic Tear Ashes.
Its effect was to consume a great deal of mana to summon a doppelgänger identical to himself.
Players affectionately called it "Big Bro." It had excellent combat awareness, and felt no fear of pain or death.
With him around, you didn't even need to fight bosses yourself. Just ring the bell at the door and strike a pose on the sidelines.
This trip to Redmane Castle had gone surprisingly smoothly. Arthur barely had to lift a hand.
A casual chat about life with his brother-in-law, and the whole affair was over.
Sigh. If only the rest of the demigods and empyreans would quietly let me absorb them like this too…
The gods and demigods (collectively): Stay away from us!
For once, Arthur didn't teleport via a Site of Grace. Instead, he rode his flying broom south toward the Mistwood.
(Torrent: So… does love really fade away?)
This place had once been a plain, but was now blasted into a massive crater by the stars.
Under the influence of starlight, countless shards of rock floated irregularly in midair within the pit—
a testament to how the land itself had been shattered.
At the bottom was a cave entrance. Passing through it would lead him to the Eternal City, Nokron.
This had once been a dazzling civilization. Sadly, its people had committed the taboo of reaching for the stars.
For this, they were punished by the will beyond the cosmos.
That will cast down the "Fallen Star" Astel, who used gravity magic to drag the entire Nokron into the depths of the earth.
And not just Nokron—
two other Eternal Cities as well: Nokstella and the Nameless Eternal City.
All three were buried underground, never again to see the light of day.
As for what those people had done?
Well… they crafted the "Finger-Slayer Blade."
It was said this weapon could even harm the Greater Will.
But these people didn't have the strength to back up their defiance.
Now look at them—nothing but moles living underground.
See how clever Ranni was? She never said what it was, only called it her "fated item."
She waited until the Elden Ring shattered, when the Greater Will could no longer make contact with the Lands Between, and then made her move.
As expected of my wife, thought Arthur. She's brilliant.
While Arthur was entering Nokron, Hermione and the others had already reached the fourth trial.
This one was a giant game of Wizard's Chess, designed by their Gryffindor Head of House, Professor McGonagall.
Yes, this was her hobby.
Remember in the original story, when she commanded "Knight to E5"? Her expression—
for once, she looked genuinely excited.
Clearly, she had a deep fondness for these enormous stone chessmen.
"Whoa, cool! I've never seen Wizard's Chess this big before." Ron gawked at the colossal chessboard before them.
"This isn't the time to be impressed—we need to move forward quickly." Harry was shocked too, but he hadn't forgotten their goal.
Yet the moment he stepped onto the opposite side of the board, the soldier pieces lowered their weapons to block his way.
"Obviously, we'll have to defeat them first," Hermione quickly deduced.
"Haha, just my specialty." Ron puffed up his chest proudly.
"Yeah right. By the time you finish your game, someone else will have already taken the Philosopher's Stone." Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically.
From her pocket, she pulled out a handful of second-generation magic grenades.
"Step back."
After warning the boys, she lobbed them forward.
"I remember my cousin said the trigger was this… Art is an explosion! Ha!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
A dozen explosions thundered one after another, blasting up clouds of dust and rubble.
Luckily, Harry and Ron had listened and ducked behind their own side's pieces, or they would've had their skulls split open by flying stone shards.
Now, Ron was trembling behind Harry, voice quaking:
"Harry, I remember on Christmas Eve, didn't Hermione say Wizard's Chess was barbaric?
If our play style is barbaric, then what on earth is this?"
Harry wasn't doing much better himself. For the first time, he realized Hermione had actually been kind to them all this while.
"…Why are you two standing so far away from me?" Hermione turned around and saw Harry and Ron keeping their distance, puzzled.
The two of them glanced at the enemy's side—half the chess pieces had been reduced to rubble.
"N-nothing," they stammered in unison, terrified she'd whip out a few more of those things and blast them sky-high.
"Alright then, let's go."
The little witch strode forward with a commanding gait, exuding the air of a gang boss.
Harry and Ron trailed behind, whispering to each other:
"We'd better not piss her off again… otherwise we might not live to see tomorrow's sun."
"Yeah, you're right. But I think there's one person we really can't afford to cross."
"Who?"
"Arthur."
"—Hiss!"
Ron sucked in a cold breath, remembering the muttered words Hermione had let slip earlier.
Those grenades were almost certainly something Arthur had made for her.
The two exchanged a look and nodded heavily.
They entered the next chamber. Inside was only a simple table.
On it stood seven bottles of potion, with a piece of parchment lying in front of them.
The far door was engulfed in flames.
Hermione stepped up, picked up the parchment, and read aloud the riddle written upon it:
"Danger lies ahead, safety behind,
Of us seven, two can help you in kind.
One will move you forward, one sends you back,
Two are nettle wine, three deadly attacks.
Choose well, unless you wish to stay—
For only the right sip clears the way.
First: no matter how slyly poison may hide,
It's always found on nettle wine's left side.
Second: the ends are different, neither will aid,
If you forward your goal, their help is forbidden.
Third: the bottles' sizes give you a clue—
Neither giant nor dwarf hides death for you.
Fourth: though second left and second right disagree,
Their contents taste exactly the same to thee."
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