After learning that Arthur had already mastered time acceleration and time reversal, Hermione was genuinely delighted.
It wasn't because she wanted to grow taller—on the contrary, she actually wanted to become shorter.
By frequently using the Zen Garden's time dilation to rapidly accumulate knowledge, her growth had also been accelerated in the process. Although the total lifespan she had consumed was only around two years, Hermione still cared deeply about it.
She wanted her body's lifespan to return to what it had been two years ago.
After Hermione voiced her thoughts, Ranni and Arthur reacted very differently.
Ranni couldn't understand Hermione's way of thinking at all. She herself had gone to great lengths—dreaming day and night—just to grow a little taller.
Yet Hermione was moving in the exact opposite direction and actually wanted to shrink?
Arthur was equally surprised by Hermione's idea, though he could understand it to some extent. After all, women—no matter the stage of life—tended to care about their age.
Hermione wasn't a long-lived godkin like him or Ranni. She didn't possess an extended lifespan by nature, so naturally, she would be concerned about those two years.
That said, Arthur still refused her request.
From Arthur's perspective, he wanted the fruit he personally nurtured to mature as soon as possible. Forget letting it regress—he hadn't even force-ripened it yet. How could he possibly allow it to grow backward?
So Arthur rejected Hermione outright.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," Arthur said. "My control over time isn't precise enough yet. I can't fine-tune it to reverse just two years."
His words were half true and half false. While it was true that his control wasn't yet perfect, reversing time by whole years was already within his capabilities.
Hermione puffed up her cheeks in displeasure.
"Then why can Ranni accelerate her growth?"
"Strictly speaking, Ranni isn't a pure human," Arthur explained. "Her lifespan is extremely long, and her growth rate is incredibly slow. I only need rough control when accelerating her time. Don't be fooled by the" ten-plus centimeters she grew—that alone consumed over seven hundred years of her lifespan."
Since the topic had come up, Arthur decided to explain his own situation as well.
"I'm similar to Ranni. The difference is that I can accelerate my growth by absorbing various special energies. That's why you sometimes see me suddenly grow taller."
Hermione stared at him in disbelief.
She hadn't expected that there were two long-lived beings right beside her—and that one of them was her closest cousin.
"So… are you two actually magical creatures?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
She had read that some magical creatures possessed extremely long lifespans.
Arthur rolled his eyes.
"What nonsense. We're godkin—beings who have broken through certain limits and undergone true transformation."
He then gave Hermione a simple explanation of what godkin were.
Hermione stuck out her tongue apologetically, then looked at Arthur with sparkling eyes.
"Then do you think I could break through and become a godkin too?"
She knew that with Arthur around, she didn't need to worry about lifespan at all. But being a godkin wasn't just about longevity—it also meant overwhelming power.
There was a reason she lost every sparring match against Ranni so miserably: Ranni was a godkin.
Hermione was quite competitive by nature. Even if it was just to defeat Ranni once, she wanted to become a godkin herself.
Arthur pondered this seriously.
He realized that he really could create a godkin—and not just one way.
The simplest method would be to go to the Lands Between, kill a couple of demigods, turn them into magic crystals, and then use them to forge a godkin body for Hermione.
However, that approach had drawbacks.
Hermione's soul would need to be fused into the godkin body, and the soul energy within the magic crystals would forcibly elevate her soul to match the body. This would be a soul-level metamorphosis, requiring an extremely long period of adaptation.
Moreover, godkin created this way would have limited future potential.
And besides—there were barely any demigods left for Arthur to kill anyway. The only ones remaining were Malenia and the god Marika within the Erdtree.
So Arthur focused on a second method instead.
That was to first push Hermione's attributes to their absolute limit using Runes, and then help her break through naturally.
Back when Arthur first entered Leyndell, Melina had taught him how to convert runes—essentially experience—into raw attributes before parting ways with him.
Ever since Arthur became a godkin, the runes he obtained in the Lands Between had become useless to him. He had accumulated a massive amount, but still nowhere near enough.
After all, the maximum level in Elden Ring was 713, requiring nearly 1.7 billion runes. A normal playthrough only reached around level 200 at most.
So in the short term, Arthur couldn't help Hermione reach the limit through this method.
Still, he had an idea.
Once he entered the Erdtree, he could siphon off a portion of the runes within it.
Everyone knew that the power of the Lands Between was deeply tied to runes, and the so-called "return to the tree" was essentially the Erdtree reclaiming runes—reclaiming power.
Arthur was certain that the Erdtree contained an enormous amount of runes. Perhaps enough to create a godkin outright.
After learning that she couldn't become a godkin anytime soon, Hermione was a little disappointed—but not overly so.
Because Arthur promised her that once she turned eighteen, he would use time to maintain her body at that age.
In practice, this meant repeatedly reversing her body's state through time.
Compared to strength, Hermione clearly cared far more about her age.
...
A few days later, Li Xuanjian arrived with his junior brother.
Arthur and Li Xuanjian had kept in touch through letters. A few days ago, Li Xuanjian's junior brother had arrived in Chinatown and officially taken over the task of guarding it.
Li Xuanjian's visit had two purposes.
First, to introduce his junior brother to Arthur and ask Arthur to look after him.
Second, to discuss plans for returning to China.
Arthur had mentioned last year that he wanted to return for a visit.
Officially, it was a vacation—but in truth, he had another goal.
He wanted to capture a few phoenixes.
His collector's instincts simply wouldn't allow him to go without owning such a magnificent creature.
During the school term, Arthur's Zen Garden had expanded significantly. He had already captured several magical creatures from the Forbidden Forest to enrich its biodiversity.
Of course, he only chose relatively normal magical creatures. Things like Cornish Pixies were absolutely out of the question.
After entering the house, Li Xuanjian exchanged pleasantries before enthusiastically introducing the young man beside him.
"Long time no see, Xiao! You're even taller than me now. Come—let me introduce you. This is my junior brother, Lin Luo."
As he spoke, Li Xuanjian patted the young man's shoulder.
Lin Luo nodded toward Arthur but said nothing.
Arthur immediately noticed the faint arrogance in Lin Luo's gaze. It was the look of someone who hadn't yet been tempered by reality—his edges still sharp.
And indeed, that was the case.
Lin Luo had just descended from the mountain, brimming with confidence.
Li Xuanjian had already told him about the situation in Britain, and after learning that most local wizards were mediocre at best, Lin Luo's arrogance only grew.
Before coming, his senior brother had emphasized that Arthur was a prodigy with immense power.
But after hearing that Arthur was only fourteen or fifteen years old, Lin Luo dismissed him internally.
No matter how strong Arthur was, Lin Luo believed he would at most be at the Qi Refinement to Spirit Transformation stage.
As for Lin Luo himself—he was a genuine genius.
He had entered the Mount Shu Sect at eight, reached Essence Refinement in under a year, and broke into Spirit Transformation at twelve.
He should have gone down the mountain to gain experience then, but his master had doted on him and delayed it until adulthood.
Now that he had finally come of age, he had been sent to replace Li Xuanjian.
Lin Luo had already touched the threshold of Spirit Refinement to Void Return. In his eyes, even his senior brother might not be his match—so naturally, he didn't take Arthur seriously.
Li Xuanjian saw through Lin Luo's indifferent attitude and sighed inwardly.
His junior brother had clearly been spoiled by their master and lacked any polish in dealing with people.
This wasn't an era of constant conflict anymore. The cultivation world no longer revolved around killing—it revolved around human relationships.
Li Xuanjian genuinely feared that Lin Luo's personality would cause him serious trouble.
That was precisely why he had brought Lin Luo to meet Arthur.
On one hand, it was to let Arthur recognize him and keep an eye on him.
On the other, it was to let Arthur wake Lin Luo up—to show him that beyond every mountain, there was always a higher one.
Li Xuanjian laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! Xiao, I told my junior brother how impressive you are, but he doesn't seem convinced. Why don't you show him a little something?"
As he spoke, Li Xuanjian winked at Arthur.
Arthur immediately understood.
Li Xuanjian wanted him to deliver Lin Luo's first lesson in the real world.
Arthur looked at Lin Luo with pity.
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