After bidding farewell to Thorin and the four dwarves, Arthur resumed his journey towards Minhiriath.
Although he still encountered dozens of orc attacks on the way this time, he no longer pursued the fleeing orcs as before, but continued along his path.
And these scattered orcs who luckily escaped also spread Arthur's deeds.
At least among the orcs, they knew that on the way to Minhiriath, there was a human knight dressed in armor like a white wolf, riding a horned warhorse that seemed to command the wind, effortlessly wielding an enormous greatsword, tearing apart the bodies of orcs and wargs alike.
A small team of a dozen orcs and wargs had no power to retaliate against him, and if more of them attacked this human knight, he would begin to slaughter them with sorcery.
In short, Arthur's reputation among the orcs and wargs grew increasingly terrifying, so much so that human merchant caravans who had encountered and captured orcs heard one or two rumors about Arthur from them.
If Arthur knew that he had scared these orcs and wargs, he would only find it amusing and speechless.
After all, it was these orcs and wargs who actively attacked Arthur upon seeing him, and then ran away when they couldn't win, spreading such terrifying rumors about him—that really made no sense.
However, the one or two rumors about Arthur learned from the orcs did not cause a stir in the human kingdoms; they were merely taken as news that a brave Dúnedain Ranger had appeared in Minhiriath.
All of this had nothing to do with Arthur. After another half a month since bidding farewell to the dwarves, he finally set foot on the land of Minhiriath.
Because when he crossed the Brandywine River and stepped onto the damp soil on the other side, Arthur felt the activity of the elden ring within him.
In the ethereal realm, someone seemed to be telling him that this was the place where he would rebuild his homeland, The Lands Between.
"—!"
Torrent snorted very humanely, for it also felt its master's heartfelt joy.
Arthur gently stroked Torrent's back, suppressing his inner joy, and said, "Let's keep going, Torrent. This isn't the place to rebuild our homeland yet; we still need to learn more about this land."
According to the map Bilbo gave him, the Brandywine River was the border of Minhiriath, and it was clearly not a good choice to rebuild The Lands Between in a border area.
At least for now, that was the case.
Arthur first walked along the Brandywine River for a day, then began heading east, towards the central part of Minhiriath.
Minhiriath, as the dwarves he had met before said, was indeed desolate, with only nature's green covering up the traces of human life from the previous age with time.
After walking for two days, Arthur stopped before a rocky ruin.
Clearly, a magnificent city once stood here, but now the buildings had collapsed, covered in dark green vines, and from time to time, the roars of wild beasts could be heard from within.
However, Arthur thought this was a good place, because since it had once been chosen as the site for building a city, the surrounding geographical environment must be fine.
He quickly circled the city ruins on Torrent, which took him nearly half a day, bringing the time to dusk, but it also allowed Arthur to understand the surrounding terrain.
To the east of the ruins was a small river, which he speculated was a branch or tributary of the Brandywine River.
The overall terrain around this city ruin was relatively flat, and he could still see roads built by humans in the past, though they were now almost covered by grass.
But this indicated that there were no major problems with transportation; by repairing and patching along the traces of the old roads, a new road could be formed.
So Arthur thought this place was quite good, and he gently patted Torrent's back and entered the ruins.
Due to the warnings from Thorin and the dwarves, Arthur initially maintained full vigilance, expecting orcs or human bandits to be hiding within the vast city ruins.
But to his surprise, apart from occasional wild wolves, there were no other creatures that could be considered threatening within the city ruins.
And when those wild wolves encountered Arthur, the lead wolf smelled the scent of blood on him, kindly provided by orcs and wargs, bared its teeth, and growled a few low threats before leading its pack away from Arthur.
Arthur shrugged, watching the wolves flee with their tails between their legs. Since they didn't actively attack him, he had no interest in pursuing them.
Because he noticed that these wild wolves were not the same species as the wargs that had attacked him before, otherwise Arthur would have actively pursued them, letting them know what it meant for a tarnished to pass by and even slap a dog twice.
He then arrived at the very center of the city ruins, where something had stood before but had been destroyed, leaving only a shallow, overgrown pit.
This shallow pit, however, perfectly met his needs, as Arthur intended to plant the Erdtree in this spot.
Arthur dismounted, stroked Torrent's forehead, then approached the shallow pit. A golden light emanated from his chest, illuminating the surroundings.
The elden ring thus appeared before Arthur, allowing his spirit and thoughts to immerse themselves within it.
One after another, architectural images suddenly appeared in his mind: Stormveil Castle, the Caria Academy, even the Volcano Manor, and at the same time, beneath each building were the names of the enemies he had encountered in these places, including the tarnished he had defeated, and even demigods.
But these images were temporarily dimmed, and when Arthur's spirit touched them, there was no reaction.
However, a thought arose from the depths of his heart, letting Arthur know that he must first plant the Erdtree before touching these images for a corresponding reaction.
His thoughts shifted again, and the images in his mind transformed into a Erdtree seed, which was the seed of the Erdtree.
Arthur carefully noticed that this Erdtree seed was slightly different from the seeds he had picked up next to the small illusory Erdtrees in The Lands Between.
If the latter were dimly lit seeds scattered in life's final struggle, then the former were clearly vibrant, healthy, and brilliant seeds.
Arthur's spirit touched this golden seed, and the next moment his thoughts returned to reality, with the Erdtree seed now in his hand.
He instinctively shifted his gaze to the elden ring, only to see the golden ring floating to the center of the shallow pit, and the tree seed in his hand floated along with it, finally landing lightly on the soil of the shallow pit.
At this moment, the Erdtree seed seemed to lose its physical form, directly sinking into the soil, rapidly beginning to absorb nutrients, taking root and sprouting.
Soon, a golden-glowing sprout broke through the earth, trembling slightly towards Arthur, as if joyfully waving to him.
The next moment, the elden ring, also glowing with golden light, floated back to Arthur, circled once, and then returned to the top of the golden sapling, drilling into it.
The golden sapling grew at a visible rate, taking on the preliminary shape of a tree, but stopped growing when it reached about Arthur's knee.
At this point, Arthur naturally understood that he needed to find a way to carefully cultivate the growth of this golden sapling, as it carried his hope of rebuilding The Lands Between.