Arthur asked the System first. The answer: the plan would work—after all, the avatar's power was his to begin with. But the double had already hit its ceiling; fully reclaiming it would take years, and once he started he couldn't stop or be interrupted.
With the Zen Garden, that wasn't really a problem. Worst case, he'd step out of seclusion and be… a legal adult.
That night he notified the Grangers and Snape that he'd be "away" for a while, and had Severus arrange a month-long leave. Since the Erdtree had fused with Rykard's Great Rune, the Garden's time dilation topped eighty-fold—a few years inside would be just under a month outside.
The tree's latest dew—heal-on-kill—was useless to him. When you could mint Life Stones, who needed a vampiric trinket? And where was he supposed to find that many enemies to farm?
Back to the point. After tying up loose ends, Arthur carved out an isolated pocket inside the Garden. He summoned the avatar and pressed a magic crystal into its heart. Power streamed into the crystal. The "older him" began to flake away into motes of light.
"Does this count as me killing… me?" he muttered.
He shook the thought off and swallowed the crystal.
With the crystal as a buffer, the energy was gentle, a warm tide spreading from his core into every limb and bone. Winter sun on a drowsy afternoon.
His eyelids got heavy. He lay down. The last thought before the dark took him was: No wonder the System said 'do not disturb'.
When Arthur woke again, he could feel the difference—like stepping into a room and realizing the air was made of magic.
His mind felt ten, twenty, thirty times louder. One stray thought skimmed across the entire Zen Garden like a pebble over water.
He flicked his wrist and summoned a full-length mirror—don't ask why his inventory had so many random things; collector's itch was real.
In the glass, his already fair skin looked like flawless jade; his features had sharpened into something almost unfair. Not the soft beauty of a girl, but the bright, clean force of a boy king. He'd grown his hair out while sleeping; the long, inky fall made him look even more heroic.
One thing felt off, though—his height. He eyeballed it. Barely a few centimeters taller than before.
"System, this your idea of 'slept for years'?"
[Yes, Host. You have been asleep for over five years.]
"…Then what's with the height?"
[Open your status.]
He did.
[Host: Arthur (Qi/Granger)]
[Talents: Extraordinary Aptitude, Twelve Trials]
[Realm: Demigod]
[Known Magic: Glintstone Pebble, Glintstone Arc, Rock Sling, Comet Azur, Transfiguration, Apparition…]
[Current Game: Elden Ring]
[Mini-Games: PVZ 95, 20 Minutes Till Dawn]
[Materializations: 2]
[Inventory: +15 Yew Wand, Dark Moon Greatsword (Ranni), Lusat's Staff, Meteorite Staff, Zen Garden Key…]
The external avatar talent was gone.
More importantly, his numeric stats were gone—replaced by a single word: Demigod.
[At Demigod level, lifespans are long. A few years is a nap.]
[Your small height gain came from the fusion itself.]
Arthur blinked. Come to think of it, Ranni hadn't looked taller all year either.
"Hold on—doesn't that mean I'll be the shortest in class in a few years?"
[You can accelerate your growth by absorbing energy.]
"…That sounds suspiciously Erdtree."
[It is. Note your magic crystal is gone?]
He probed inward—no crystal. He should've had an empty shell left over, reusable. This one had been the same crystal that once sipped Rykard's life.
[While reclaiming your avatar, you accidentally absorbed the crystal and gained Erdtree traits.]
"Ah. That tracks."
His crystals were rooted in Erdtree material. With a dash of divine tree and a full tank from the avatar, he'd vaulted into Demigod. Since the double had been hard-capped, the merged Arthur now outstripped even Ranni by a margin.
Arthur stretched and left the pocket space. "Time to head out."
He'd slept five-plus years—in the world outside, just twenty-odd days. For long-lived folks, time really was the cheapest thing there was.
He stopped outside Ranni's room. Before he could knock, the door swung open.
Fresh demigod or not, he hadn't learned to entirely mask his presence. Ranni had felt the familiar signature from afar—only stronger, threaded with traits that belonged to gods.
Her first thought: He's back. Her second: He grew again. The man she called king never ran out of secrets; he was a night sky of hanging stars, each one begging to be chased.
She opened the door and froze—just a beat—at his face.
Then, the seasoned immortal returned, and she stepped forward and hugged him.
"Welcome back, my king."
Ranni's link to this world ran through Arthur; once he'd gone into seclusion, she'd barely bothered to manifest outside, preferring to haunt the Garden and wait. Now that he stood here, she was—rarely—thrilled.
Arthur didn't quite feel the same passage of time—five years had been one long sleep—but he didn't spoil the moment. He wrapped her in and murmured, "I'm home, little princess."
They stood like that until Rya broke the quiet.
Rya had missed him too, but she had friends: Mrs. Norris the cat and Claudia the unicorn. With two high-wit beasts in the Garden, she had daily tea parties and gossip sessions.
She bounced back into the courtyard, looked up—and pounced, lizard-form, onto Arthur's shoulder—her favorite perch.
"Lord Arthur, you're back!"
She peered up, tail swishing. "And you seem even handsomer."
Arthur laughed. Whatever burdens she'd carried in her old world, she'd shed them here; she was simple, bright, and it was contagious.
"Come on. Let's go say hi to the others."
He took Ranni and Rya out of the Zen Garden. Before seclusion he'd anchored the Garden to Hermione, so emerging landed him right at her side.
It happened to be Dueling Club hour; half the school was packed into the hall.
"Cousin!" Hermione cried, turning—and then she saw him.
Her brain shorted.
The shout drew every head in the room. Then everyone's brain shorted.
Beautiful face, that faint smile, the unintended aura of a demigod—he was a walking AOE charm. Students swayed. Jaws dropped.
They hadn't had that reaction to Ranni; she was cold to strangers, and she'd learned to mask her presence. Arthur hadn't.
A hundred boys stared too, which made Arthur's skin prickle. Note to self: haircut. Keep this up and he'd start bending orientations by accident.
Not the time. He flicked a Disillusionment Charm over himself, grabbed Hermione's wrist with one hand and Ranni's with the other, and slipped out.
Snape and Lockhart exchanged a glance. Student (…boss) privileges, then. Fine. They cast a pair of Sonorus to shut the hall up and resumed order.
—
Outside the castle, Hermione finally rebooted.
"Cousin, you look… um… pretty?"
Arthur sighed, amused, and pinched her cheek. "Isn't the headline that I'm back?"
She flushed. What could she do—her cousin had walked out of the Garden looking like a myth.
"Sorry. How did closing up make you that good-looking?"
"Short version? My realm rose, my body optimized."
Hermione's eyes sparkled. "Can I… do that too?"
"Nope. Mine was a chain of accidents."
She sagged—adorably. Arthur reached into his coat and pulled out a necklace.
"Then maybe this."
Hermione's gaze locked on the red gem. She'd seen one exactly like it at Snape's house a month ago.
"A Philosopher's Stone necklace?"
"Mhmm." He looped it around her neck himself. "Wear it always. It'll strengthen you—and keep your skin glowy."
The second half worked like a charm. Hermione tucked it inside her blouse, patted it down securely—and then hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
She didn't let go for a long time. Long enough that Arthur suspected deliberate thievery.
Ranni's stare finally made Hermione pop off like a guilty cat. "Thank you, Cousin!"
Arthur mussed her hair with a grin.
Ranni sidled up, fingers finding Arthur's free hand; jealousy wasn't a look she wore often, but she wore it well. He blinked, then laughed, freeing his hand only to ruffle her hair too.
"Come on," he said, wrapping an arm around each of them and steering toward the Black Lake. "I'm in a great mood. Let's go fishing."
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