For the past few days, Bai Shi had been anxiously awaiting Melina's rebirth. Truth be told, all he could think about each day was the matter of Melina's return. The process was taking far longer than Ranni had initially estimated. According to her original prediction, Melina should have emerged days ago. In reality, though, while Melina's body had been fully reformed, she had yet to emerge from the Rebirth Amber. For some unknown reason, her rebirth remained incomplete. This left Bai Shi incredibly anxious, fearing something had gone wrong with Melina. However, after Ranni examined her, she reassured Bai Shi. She confirmed that although Melina's rebirth was stalled, there was nothing unusual about her soul or body. The general sentiment was: "I know you're anxious, but try not to be." In essence: She was perfectly fine. There might be a slight complication, but it was nothing to worry about! After all, Ranni hadn't been present when Rennala discovered the seal on Melina and attempted to remove it. So now, Ranni could only speculate that Melina was a special case, and the fusion of her soul and body simply required more time. Despite his anxiety, Bai Shi knew that worrying would accomplish nothing. He decided instead to take care of his unresolved business. The Dragonblood Knights had long since escorted the sorcerers from the Town of Sellia back to Stormveil. Therefore, as previously agreed, Bai Shi had granted Hakan leave to attend to his own unfinished matters. With the Dragonblood Knights temporarily unavailable, Bai Shi dispatched his newly trained army to Liurnia of the Lakes. Incidentally, this new army was entirely outfitted in elite knight armor, while their commanders wore black knight sets. Bai Shi had originally intended to search for the Spirit World, but he had yet to receive any leads from his subordinates. Thus, he gathered his materials and decided to make a long-overdue trip to the Roundtable Hold to have Master Hewg forge some weapons for him. His current Crystal Staff needed strengthening, and he also wanted to forge a new sword-spear, both of which would require Hewg’s expertise. When it came to weaponsmithing, Master Hewg's skills were still a cut above the rest. The Roundtable Hold was as prosperous as ever; in fact, it was even more crowded than before. A while back, the Hold's numbers had dwindled by more than half, as most of its members had flocked to Bai Shi's side. Later, however, they realized that the Roundtable Hold still served a purpose. Why not have the best of both worlds? After all, neither Bai Shi nor Sir Gideon Ofnir had forbidden anyone from being active in both places. Coupled with the steady stream of new Tarnished who learned of this place and joined, the Hold's population grew. It could even be said that the Roundtable Hold now benefited from Bai Shi's grace, which had attracted more people. Bai Shi appeared in the Roundtable Hold and began to wander about casually. His strength was no longer comparable to what it once was, so he had long stopped worrying about Sir Gideon Ofnir. No matter how strong Sir Gideon and his men were, could they be stronger than the demigods he had already defeated? Looking back on his early games of cat and mouse with the All-Knowing, Bai Shi almost wanted to laugh. Flip the table? At this point, he could flip the entire building. As for the Haligtree Secret Medallion that Sir Gideon was so fixated on, Bai Shi had simply sent his forces to take control of the Albinauric Village after occupying the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Within the Lake of Liurnia, the academy's control was absolute. Under Bai Shi's direction, they had gradually settled the Albinaurics from the village and some of the second-generation Albinaurics from the lake itself. It seemed the tragedy of the Albinauric Village would now never come to pass. Arriving at Hewg's forge, Bai Shi waved and greeted the blacksmith. "Master, it's been a while." Seeing Bai Shi arrive, Hewg unhurriedly finished repairing the weapon in his hands before standing up. Hewg shooed all the other Tarnished out of the room and closed the door before turning his attention to Bai Shi. "Hmph. It has indeed been a long time." "I've heard quite a bit about you during your absence." "Defeating General Radahn, and then opening the gates of the Academy. Two grand feats." "You'll surely become Elden Lord." Hewg's perpetually stern expression softened, and he managed an unaccustomed smile. "Future Elden Lord, bring out the weapons you need mended." Bai Shi smiled and handed the Crystal Staff he had recently acquired to the old blacksmith. "Haha, you can call me that when it actually happens." "For now, please strengthen this staff for me." Hewg looked at Bai Shi with a sense of wonder. When Bai Shi first arrived, he didn't even have a decent set of armor. He had worn a standard-issue Storm Knight set, with no replacement available even when it needed repairs. But now, he was a powerhouse who had defeated one demigod after another. Hewg took the Crystal Staff from Bai Shi, and after a moment of examination, his face showed surprise. "What is this thing? It doesn't look like something forged by human hands." "It's a Crystallian's staff. They gave it to me after we talked." After interacting with them, Bai Shi discovered that the Crystallians were actually a rather friendly race. As long as you weren't hostile, they generally wouldn't subject you to their spear techniques. And after successfully using a certain sorcery, Bai Shi's intelligence had just reached the threshold to perceive their stony wisdom. As a result, he was later able to communicate with the Crystallians for a time. Hewg turned the unusual staff over in his hands. "A Crystallian's staff, you say? How surprising." Hewg was taken aback, but considering it was Bai Shi, nothing seemed strange anymore. For them to gift him equipment right away, they must have taken a great liking to him. "Hmph... This will require Somber Smithing Stones to enhance. I hope you brought them." "Right, there's one more thing." He then retrieved an enormous crystalline horn from his spatial disc. The crystal horn was hard and sharp, and its length was astonishing, nearly filling Hewg's entire forge. Bai Shi had taken this horn from the corpse of a giant glintstone dragon he found after using the waygate at the Four Belfries to travel to a mysterious cave in the Consecrated Snowfield. This glintstone dragon's horn was far larger than Agheel's; the section Bai Shi had taken wasn't even half of its total length. Even if Bai Shi had wanted to take more, the spatial disc Ranni had given him wouldn't have been able to hold it. "I want to make a new sword-spear from this horn. Can you forge it for me?" Hewg eyed the massive horn with some difficulty. "If you leave this here, where am I supposed to do any forging?" Bai Shi silently put the giant horn away. Indeed, he had realized that the moment he placed the horn in Hewg's forge. He had thought he could get it done since he was already here, but it seemed that wasn't an option. Oh well. He would have to entrust it to Master Iji; his size was better suited for the task. Hewg tapped the ridiculously large horn and couldn't help but nod in approval. "The quality of this is even better than the last one. I don't know where you find these things." "But let me warn you, this horn is different from the previous one. It can't be made into a standard weapon." "This dragon horn is saturated with magic. It can only be fashioned into a special, somber weapon with magical properties." Bai Shi nodded, unconcerned by this detail. The horn's inherent quality was excellent, and in any case, it was intended for potential aerial combat, not as a primary weapon. After all, flying on his own was too slow, and he couldn't pull off something like Radahn's meteor crash. So, if he ever encountered a highly mobile enemy in the air, it was best to just ride Senessax and play the part of a dragon knight. While Master Hewg was enhancing the Crystal Staff, Bai Shi decided to take a walk and ran straight into D. He saw that D's Twinned Armor bore several deep gashes, in desperate need of repair. It seemed he had come to see Hewg for that very reason. "Lord Bai Shi, you came to the Roundtable Hold? A rare sight indeed." Bai Shi glanced at the scars on D's armor and asked: "What happened to you?" D looked down at his own disheveled state and shook his head. "Rogier and I have partnered up for now and set out on a journey again." "We are trying to find the cursemark left behind when Lord Godwyn died." Hearing this, Bai Shi's expression shifted slightly as he began to take the matter seriously. In the game, D had a hidden questline. Players couldn't participate in it, but it progressed alongside the main story. He had tasked the player with hunting Those Who Live in Death and collecting Deathroot so that he would be free to search for an item intimately related to the cursemark—the centipede mark. That item, similar to the black knife mark, was supposed to point to the other half of the Cursemark of Death. In the game, D did indeed find that half of the cursemark, and as a result, he was targeted by Fia. After Fia cursed D to death, she took the cursemark, which was how she obtained the half seen in the game. Bai Shi asked D earnestly: "Have you made any progress?" Bai Shi did not want D to die a mysterious and premature death. D shook his head with some regret. "We found some traces that pointed us to Lord Godwyn's followers." "After clearing out one of their strongholds, we didn't find the mark, but we have a faint clue for our next step." Bai Shi let out a sigh of relief. That was good, then. He wasn't surprised that D had mentioned Godwyn's followers. Their presence could be felt in almost any place connected to death. "I see. I am also looking for Godwyn's followers. If you find anything else, please send word to me." "Even if I am unavailable, I will send people to aid you." "Supplies, manpower, military strength—you can ask my people for help with any of it." D was pleasantly surprised to hear this, not expecting to secure a sponsor. With Bai Shi's support, things would surely be much easier from now on. "Wonderful. Thank you very much." D suddenly remembered the 'Beast Clergyman' Gurranq he had mentioned to Bai Shi before. Bai Shi still had three Deathroots meant for him. Who knew when they would next meet? It might be best to introduce them now. "Lord Bai Shi, are you free right now?" "Why don't I take this opportunity to introduce you to that friend I mentioned before, the 'Beast Clergyman' Gurranq?" Bai Shi thought about it. He had yet to visit that place, so it would be a good time to meet him. This was, after all, an alias of Maliketh, the 'Black Blade'. Besides, these Deathroots were useless to him. He could trade them with Gurranq for some items. The incantations he offered were very useful, and the exchangeable items even included an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 "Alright, take me to see him." With their decision made, D no longer rushed to repair his armor, instead teleporting with Bai Shi directly to the Third Church of Marika. Just then, the Two Fingers' messenger, who had been tasked with delivering their decree, finally arrived. Watching the two of them vanish before his eyes, the messenger was lost in thought. They were gone. His mission couldn't be completed. What was he supposed to do now? The two of them teleported to the Third Church of Marika and used the hidden waygate behind it to travel to the entrance of the Bestial Sanctum. However, upon their arrival, both were stunned by the sight before them. The Bestial Sanctum was in a state of disrepair, as if it had been attacked. The Black Blade Kindred that guarded the entrance was now a corpse, emitting a faint stench of rot. Its helmet was caved in, its bones shattered and twisted into unnatural positions. The body lay crookedly on the stairs, like a common stray dog by the roadside. But in truth, the Black Blade Kindred was one of the most powerful beings in the Lands Between. The two looked toward the Bestial Sanctum and saw that the heavy iron doors had been smashed open, leaving deep dents in the metal. The entrance was wide open, revealing the scene within. The interior of the Bestial Sanctum was in no better shape; stone pillars had toppled and statues had crumbled, stripped of its former solemn mystery. A figure in black robes sat hunched in the very center of the sanctum. D breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Gurranq was alright. Bai Shi examined the traces around the Bestial Sanctum and found them somewhat familiar. Could this have been Bernahl's doing? He had mentioned having unfinished business in Caelid before leaving and hadn't even attended the celebratory feast. The more Bai Shi looked, the more he felt it was possible. Both the power required and the state of the scene matched up.