"Clatter."
From afar, Gandalf, witnessing the scene, was so shocked that his pipe slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.
Only then did he react, revealing a pained expression, as the tobacco in his pipe was all top-grade Shire-grown.
Gandalf's expression was clearly no longer calm; previously, he had been observing Arthur's actions with an air of composure. Now, Arthur had performed a 'live transformation' right in front of him, a wizard, which made Gandalf's expression quite a sight.
Moreover, judging by the other party's agile and natural expression, this person still possessed his own soul.
This was something Gandalf needed to ponder on how to communicate with Arthur.
However, Arthur, on the other side, did not realize how much internal drama Gandalf was experiencing at that moment.
He took the axe, emblazoned with a Stormhawk carving, that Nepheli Loux held up, pulled her to her feet, and asked her, "Nepheli, I'm glad to be able to fight alongside you again. Speaking of which, how's your memory? Have you remembered anything? Like repeatedly experiencing the same thing?"
Arthur wanted to confirm something: if Nepheli Loux's memory included those of previous cycles, then it could be inferred that the people summoned later would also possess these memories of the cycles.
Facing Arthur's question, Nepheli Loux gave a wry smile. She raised her hand and stroked her forehead, saying, "If you're referring to our encounter in Stormveil Castle, then your help in resolving my emotional knot with my adoptive father, and finally my swearing allegiance to you to face Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, together. Yes, I have those memories, and it seems… there were eight of them."
She then lowered her hand and looked at Arthur with respectful eyes: "With these memories, I admire you even more, Arthur. Putting myself in your shoes, if I were you, I'm afraid I would have gone mad by the fourth… no, by the third cycle. That feeling of powerlessness, where no matter what you do, nothing ultimately changes, can truly drive one insane."
Arthur cleared his throat, a little embarrassed by Nepheli Loux's praise: "That's a bit exaggerated. In the sixth cycle, I still chose the path to become the Lord of the mad flame. At that time, my mental state was actually almost delirious."
Nepheli Loux, however, shook her head: "But the memories that just flooded into my mind tell me that in the seventh and eighth cycles, which are the last two, you chose to re-seal the mad flame and, with the 'Goldmask,' discovered the 'Rune of the Perfect Order.' If you didn't deeply love The Lands Between, you wouldn't have made those choices."
No, what I truly loved was not The Lands Between, but a certain girl in The Lands Between who chose to sacrifice herself.
It was because of her that I fell in love with that land.
As for why Arthur didn't summon the other party immediately, it was because he was afraid of not seeing her name on the summonable list.
Because that girl's soul no longer existed.
Arthur smiled, then said, "Anyway, we've already left The Lands Between, so let those things remain in our memories."
Nepheli Loux nodded, then looked up at the Erdtree behind her, her crimson eyes examining it for a few moments: "Is this the Erdtree? Its size compared to what I remember is far too small."
Arthur stood beside Nepheli Loux and said, "Yes, I just planted it. I summoned you because I need a helper to guard it with me. But besides you, I also need to summon some other helpers."
Nepheli Loux nodded, not asking Arthur who he intended to summon, but instead directly took the axe from her waist back into her hand and moved to the side to guard Arthur.
"It's a pity my hawk didn't come with me, otherwise it could scout from the air," Nepheli Loux said, half-jokingly, half-seriously.
Arthur also smiled: "I won't forget it."
Subsequently, Nepheli Loux began to observe her surroundings, realizing she was in a city swallowed by time, and began to move around.
But she had barely taken a few steps when her sharp eyes spotted the distant bonfire and Gandalf, sitting beside it and looking at her.
Nepheli Loux frowned, turned her head, and asked Arthur, "Arthur, is that old man in the distance also your friend?"
Hearing Nepheli Loux's voice, Arthur replied, "Well, he's a friend of my friend. We can temporarily trust him not to do anything unfavorable to us. Just let him sit there; I've agreed with him that I'll have a good chat once I'm done."
"I see, then I understand." Nepheli Loux turned her head back, her gaze meeting Gandalf's eyes.
She didn't speak, just simply gave him a faint nod, as a greeting.
Gandalf was full of questions at this moment, but seeing Arthur busy again, he could only nod in response.
Arthur still needed to summon friends from The Lands Between, as he sensed that after summoning Nepheli Loux, the elden ring within the Erdtree still had enough power to summon others.
Nepheli Loux possessing the memories of those eight cycles made him glad that he hadn't rashly summoned the people from the original Roundtable Hold before.
Otherwise, if they appeared before him with memories of being killed by him, the scene might not be so pleasant.
Especially Vyke and Bernal, two tarnished of near-Lord level, would cause him considerable trouble.
But the friend Arthur was about to summon, though perhaps slightly inferior to Nepheli Loux in combat prowess, would not be inferior in the degree of friendship with Arthur.
He was one of the kindest and gentlest people he had met in The Lands Between, and his first friend from whom he received help.
Rogier, the Sorcerer, a dear friend who died on the path of exploring the truth of the Black Knife Night.
Soon, Rogier's figure, like Nepheli Loux before, materialized from golden particles beside Arthur.
He lifted the brim of his sorcerer's pointed hat, adorned with a blue feather, revealing the clear blue eyes beneath the hat, and greeted them with a humorous and witty tone.
"I feel as if I've awakened from an eternal slumber, but it seems I don't need to reintroduce myself. Moreover, I'm not the first one to come to help, am I?" Rogier glanced at Nepheli Loux and said to Arthur casually.
He then politely greeted Nepheli Loux: "It's an honor to meet you, Child of the Storm."
Arthur's mood lightened considerably upon hearing the familiar voice of his dear friend.
He pulled out a finely decorated, high-quality rapier from his backpack, extended it forward, pointing the hilt, which was inlaid with an oval ruby, towards Rogier.
"It's best to use your own weapon; it doesn't feel right in my hands," Arthur said.
Rogier skillfully took the rapier, twirled it, and smiled: "But it's much sharper than I imagined."
Arthur raised an eyebrow: "Because the Battle Skill it comes with really helped me a lot, so I had Old Man Hugh reinforce it a few times."
Rogier felt the almost perfectly refined state of his rapier, reinforced to its limit, and didn't dwell on the matter. Instead, he extended his other hand to Arthur and said solemnly, "I'm back."
Arthur took a deep breath, then firmly grasped the other's hand and shook it vigorously: "Welcome back."
And as Rogier's summoning concluded, Arthur also received the message from the elden ring that he could no longer summon anyone else.
If he wanted to continue summoning, he would have to wait for the Erdtree to continue growing.
However, with the appearance of Nepheli Loux and Rogier, Arthur, having two reliable friends and warriors to help him, had enough confidence and patience to wait for the Erdtree to grow.