Arthur had a mild case of cleanliness obsession. He genuinely couldn't stand the environment down there.
He knew full well that he would eventually have to explore that place thoroughly—but the later, the better. Besides, with Melina around, he didn't want to get too close to the Frenzied Flame and risk that blockhead overthinking things.
At the entrance leading toward the waterfall deep within the aqueduct, Arthur spotted a naked man sitting quietly on the ground, silent and unmoving.
Arthur knew exactly who he was—D's twin brother.
If Arthur were to hand over D's armor, this man would inherit his brother's will and become a Hunter of Those Who Live in Death.
But Arthur had no intention of doing that.
What a joke. That armor was his reward for "handling" D's corpse. Why would he give it to some naked stranger?
More importantly, Arthur had already chosen to stand on the side of the Deathbed Companion. Helping someone opposed to her was out of the question.
Stepping into the aqueduct, Arthur defeated the two Gargoyle bosses guarding the way. Then he lay down inside the stone coffin at the base of the waterfall.
As crushing gravity pressed down on him, the coffin surged upward against the torrent, carrying him into Deeproot Depths.
From a geographical standpoint, Deeproot Depths lay above the underground Siofra River, while the ruins of the Eternal City were buried beneath it. That alone spoke volumes about how ruthless the Greater Will had been—ordering Astel to smash the Eternal City straight into the depths of the earth.
Deeproot Depths sat directly beneath Leyndell, the Royal Capital. It was the region where the roots of the Erdtree spread and grew.
Thus, when Arthur stepped out of the coffin, what greeted him were massive, tangled Erdtree roots—and an Erdtree Avatar wandering not far away.
Across the Lands Between, every minor Erdtree had one such Avatar guarding it, a monster born to protect the Erdtree itself.
But as the original Erdtree, it was guarded by the Elden Beast within. It had no need for something as minor as an Avatar. And so, this one had been cast down here to guard the roots instead.
After dealing with the Erdtree Avatar, Arthur pressed on, walking along the colossal Erdtree roots.
Even the thinnest of these roots was over a meter wide. Arthur reckoned you could gallop a horse across them without issue.
Before long, he noticed a cave opening ahead and to the right. Drawing closer, he found it wasn't particularly deep—he could see the end from the entrance.
At the far end floated a cluster of golden light.
Arthur reached out and touched it.
Golden radiance flashed, and a new incantation method appeared in his mind.
Elden Stars.
If Arthur hadn't played the game in his previous life, he might've wondered why such an incantation was sitting here with no explanation whatsoever.
Elden Stars was the most ancient of Erdtree incantations. It wasn't created by humans—it had naturally formed in this place.
Long ago, the Greater Will sent a beast to the Lands Between upon a golden meteor. That meteor became the Erdtree, and the beast itself became the Elden Ring—the Elden Beast.
Elden Stars was the lingering power of that golden meteor, crystallized into an incantation. Its effect was simple: it released countless golden stars to bombard everything around the caster.
Arthur wasn't lacking in crowd-control spells. And compared to incantations, he preferred sorcery.
So even though Elden Stars was the oldest Erdtree incantation in existence, it was destined to gather dust in his spell list.
Leaving the cave behind, Arthur continued toward the Erdtree's main root.
After crossing a sheer drop, he unexpectedly came upon a cluster of submerged ruins, half-soaked in stagnant water.
Judging by their architectural style, they were eerily similar to the structures of the Eternal City—which immediately puzzled him.
Deeproot Depths lay directly beneath Leyndell, so why were there ruins of the Eternal City here?
Had there once been another Eternal City in this place?
Arthur couldn't verify the theory. The other Eternal Cities at least had surviving descendants and relics that could be studied.
This nameless Eternal City had left behind nothing.
Nothing, except swarms of Basilisk-like death frogs endlessly spewing deathly mist—and gigantic ants, each larger than a rhinoceros.
What made it even more unsettling was that when Arthur killed those ants, he could loot Numen Runes from their bodies.
It was hard not to wonder whether those ants had fed on Numens.
According to legend, the Numens were the descendants of the Eternal City.
Arthur couldn't help but suspect that the inhabitants of this nameless city had been completely devoured by the ants.
Following a slanted root upward, Arthur discovered a corpse near a structure resembling a mage tower. Beside it lay a staff with an unusual design.
He picked it up, and the system immediately scanned it.
[Prince of Death's Staff]
The upper end is set with a mottled amber—part of the Prince of Death's body. A heretical staff not acknowledged by the Academy. Greatly enhances death-related sorceries and significantly boosts overall spell power.
Arthur was stunned.
Just who had been insane enough to come to a place like this and craft a staff from part of a demigod's body?
Could it have been the very mage lying dead at his feet?
If so… that was tragically ironic. To possess such mastery—capable of forging a staff from a demigod's remains—only to die here.
Still, Arthur was the one benefiting now.
A staff made from a demigod's body—its amplification effects worked on him as well.
Gripping the Prince of Death's Staff, Arthur could immediately feel it.
Its boost surpassed even Lusat's Glintstone Staff.
And this was without any reinforcement.
If he took it back to the Roundtable Hold and had Smithing Master Hewg reinforce it to +10—combined with its death-magic amplification—Arthur might well be able to cast spells capable of instantly killing demigods.
The only pity was how scarce death-related magic was in the Lands Between.
So far, the only death sorceries Arthur possessed were Tibia's Summons, which he'd found early on in Stormveil Castle, and Ancient Death Rancor, obtained after killing a Deathbird in Liurnia.
Both spells summoned vengeful spirits to assail enemies. It was hard not to suspect a deeper connection between them.
Having obtained such a powerful staff, Arthur naturally wanted to reinforce it immediately.
Perfect timing—some time ago, he'd acquired a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone in Mohgwyn Palace.
He'd been saving it because he hadn't found a weapon worth using it on.
He'd even considered using it on the Dark Moon Greatsword Ranni had given him.
After all, it was a weapon from his wife—hardly a waste.
But now that he had the Prince of Death's Staff, reinforcing the Dark Moon Greatsword could wait. Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones were rare, but not unique. There were enough to reinforce all of his primary weapons to +10 eventually.
As an aside, aside from Somber Smithing Stones, there were also standard Smithing Stones used for normal weapons, capable of reinforcing them up to +25.
The two stone types belonged to entirely separate upgrade systems and weren't interchangeable.
And despite the higher reinforcement cap, most +25 normal weapons were still weaker than +10 special weapons.
Arthur's Purpleheart Wand was reinforced with standard Smithing Stones and currently sat at +24. The final level required an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, which was even rarer than the somber variant. To this day, Arthur still hadn't found one.
Even so, his +24 Purpleheart Wand was still weaker than his +9 Lusat's Glintstone Staff.
Back to the point.
Having secured the Prince of Death's Staff, Arthur had already spent a long time exploring the Lands Between. He temporarily left Deeproot Depths, returned to the Roundtable Hold, and had Hewg reinforce the staff to +10.
After that, Arthur logged off to rest.
...
The next morning, Arthur was eating breakfast in the Great Hall when he looked up and saw Harry walking in—supporting a Ron whose face was swollen and bruised.
The two sat down across from him.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "What happened to Ron? Fall down four or five flights of stairs?"
"Even falling down the stairs wouldn't do this," Ron complained angrily. "It was Malfoy's two lackeys. They asked me out alone last night, said they wanted a duel."
"But the moment I stepped into the empty classroom they'd chosen, they ambushed me. They threw a sack over my head, beat me up, and ran."
The more Ron spoke, the angrier he became. Finally, he shot to his feet.
"No. I'm going to the professors. I'm going to report them!"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Forget it. You don't have any evidence. Take a guess why they covered your head before beating you? So you wouldn't know exactly who hit you."
"But it was obviously them!" Ron protested.
"Obviously doesn't count," Arthur said lazily. "Even if you pulled your memory out and put it in a Pensieve, the professors still wouldn't see who attacked you. And they're definitely not going to break out a Pensieve over something this trivial."
He waved his hand dismissively.
Honestly, Ron had brought this on himself.
If he hadn't given Harry that underhanded advice in the first place, Draco wouldn't have retaliated like this at all.
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