I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 244: What a Genius Pseudo-Animate!

Whoosh!

A few seconds have passed since Argentum had entered the inheritance through the method shown in Aurus’s memories. At this moment, he had appeared in the center of what seemed to be a rectangular room. Other than that small difference, there was nothing else that could be greatly discerned. Like the room he was in before, the confines of the room were made out of chiseled ice, radiating a chilling aura as usual.

Just as he was about to start walking to get a better feel of the room’s dimensions, a whirring sound akin to a strong breeze soon resounded from one end of the rectangular room. Hearing this, Argentum had no choice but to focus his sense of vision towards the origin of the sound, the aura surrounding him becoming that of confusion soon after.

The sound came from one of the walls, wherein a bulletin board of some sort had manifested on it. Not long after, multiple squares appeared on this bulletin board, which was then filled in with pictures, texts, and numbers. Slightly confused yet curious to see what it was, Argentum gradually made his way towards it, his confusion increasing even further as he arrived in front of it.

“[Water Armor], 15 points?” He started to read through the texts and numbers written on the bulletin board, realizing that the texts pertained to the names of Water-based skills, while the numbers under it pertained to the currency needed to obtain the said skills. Of course, this naturally led him to wonder as to where he would get the currency to obtain those skills. Fortunately, it would not take long for his queries to be answered as a masculine voice resounded throughout the rectangular room he was in.

“Welcome to the Grand Blue Inheritance, Pseudo-Animate,” the disembodied voice resounded, to which Argentum thought, ‘Ah. The Grand Blue Inheritance is finally starting.’

At that moment, he shifted his focus from the bulletin board in front of him to the disembodied voice instead, wanting to make sure that he did not miss a single word from it. As he listened to the disembodied voice’s next few words, he could not help but utter, “…eh?”

“I am the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, and I shall be the guide for your trials,” the disembodied voice continued to talk, introducing itself as the Grand Blue Master. Argentum was instantly in disbelief. A weak Pseudo-Animate like him would actually make the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance become his guide to the trials?

Although he wanted to ask the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance whether or not it was truly him Argentum was talking to, thanks to the great disparity in their strength, Argentum opted to suppress this urge…only to find out that he did not need to.

“Since you’ve been brought here by the Undying Flame Spirit, and you’ve even said the code word, the trials you shall undertake are a bit different from the normal trials I give out to beings,” the Grand Blue Master’s voice continued to resound throughout the room, shocking Argentum quite a bit.

‘That statement was a bona fide code phrase?!’ Argentum truly could not believe that defaming someone was actually a code phrase. Normally, the code phrases and code words he knew of, thanks to Aurus’s memories, were of words and phrases related to the organization or the person.

“Do you have any questions before we start the trial?” the Grand Blue Master continued to talk. “If you do, feel free to ask.”

“Uh…” In response to the Grand Blue Master’s words, Argentum hemmed and hawed for a bit, wondering if it was truly fine to ask such a lofty being like the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance questions. Eventually, he mustered up his courage and asked him, “Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, may I ask what the thing on that far end of the room is?”

“Good first question,” the Grand Blue Master said in response to Argentum’s words before letting out a light chuckle. “If you’ve already read through its contents, then you know what it already is. It’s none other than a shop screen. As long as you have enough points, then you can exchange those points for a skill on the shop screen.”

“Might I ask, Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, how do I obtain the points necessary to exchange for those skills?” Argentum asked with a follow-up question, still feeling slightly nervous inside.

“You’ll be obtaining them through the trials you’ll undergo,” the Grand Blue Master replied. He then continued, “Each trial, depending on how great your performance is, will reward you from 1 to 10 points. Since you’re the Undying Flame Spirit’s student, then the amount of trials you’ll undergo is 10. With 10 trials, you can obtain a maximum of 100 points and a minimum of 10. In other words, you’ll at least obtain one skill from this inheritance.”

Listening to the Grand Blue Master’s words for a bit, Argentum processed the explanation in his mind, eventually understanding what the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance was saying. With that, he then said in a grateful tone, “Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance.”

“You don’t have to call me the Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance every time, Pseudo-Animate,” the Grand Blue Master said in response to Argentum’s words of gratitude, letting out a light laugh afterward. He then said, “Calling me the Grand Blue Master is fine.”

“Speaking of which, is it fine if I know your name?” the Grand Blue Master followed up with a question of his own, to which Argentum replied, “It would be Argentum, Grand Blue Master.”

“Argentum, huh…” Grand Blue Master repeated Argentum’s name a few times in a mutter before letting out a short sigh. After doing so, he then went ahead and asked Argentum, “So why did the Undying Flame Spirit accept you as her student, Argentum? It’s quite weird for a Fire-based Pseudo-Animate to accept a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate as their student.”

“Uh…” Argentum did not know what to say. Of course, he could not tell him that he knew of the code word because Eleanor told him about it to make the Grand Blue Inheritance easier for him. In the end, Argentum said, “I cannot disclose the reason.”

“Cannot disclose, huh?” the Grand Blue Master said before pondering over the reasons why. After some time, he asked Argentum, “Is it because the Undying Flame Spirit told you to not tell others about it?”

Argentum did not respond to the Grand Blue Master’s question at all. He only remained silent. Noticing this, the Grand Blue Master let out yet another sigh before pondering over the possible reasons why Argentum became the Undying Flame Spirit’s student.

“Is it because you’re well-versed in the Fire element, even though you’re a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate?” he asked, to which Argentum did not say anything in response.

“Or is it because you have a high comprehension rate?” the Grand Blue Master asked after that, to which Argentum still did not respond.

“Or rather…though this is near impossible…” the Grand Blue Master said before pondering over it for a bit. He then continued with his previous train of thought, “You’re not the Undying Flame Spirit’s student at all, but she told you the code word so you could have an easier time in my inheritance.”

In response to the Grand Blue Master’s last statement, Argentum maintained his silence. However, he was already screaming out inwardly that this was true. ‘The reason why she told me the code word was because we’re bound by a contract! She has a great amount of trust in me thanks to it! If not for this contract, then I wouldn’t even know about this!’

Fortunately, Argentum suppressed his emotions to the limit, not showing any hint of shock or surprise in his aura. This, in turn, made the Grand Blue Master give up guessing as he let out a sigh. “I guess I’ll find out the reason why through the trials instead.”

Hearing that, Argentum let out a sigh of relief. He was now able to relax his vigilance…for now.

After a minute or so of silence between the two of them, the Grand Blue Master went ahead and asked Argentum, “Do you have any Water-based skills?”

Argentum replied without hesitation, “I have none, Grand Blue Master. I was originally only well-versed in Wind-based skills, but the Undying Flame Spirit gave me some Fire-based skills, allowing me to become slightly well-versed in the Fire element as well.”

“I see…” the Grand Blue Master said in a tone of understanding, thinking that the reason why Argentum became Eleanor’s student was that he was great in comprehending abilities.

“I’ll have to see if it’s true,” the Grand Blue Master muttered to himself as a wave of blue energy soon enveloped Argentum’s body. Just as Argentum was slightly panicking over this wave of energy, the Grand Blue Master’s voice calmed him down as he said, “Since you don’t have any Water-based skills, I’ll give you the most basic Water skill any being could learn, [Lesser Water Magic].”

Ding!

A few seconds later, a notification sound resounded in his mind, prompting Argentum to open up the notification screen in his mind to find out that, the Grand Blue Master actually gave him [Lesser Water Magic].

“Er…what am I going to do with this skill, Grand Blue Master?” Argentum soon asked after confirming that he had truly obtained [Lesser Water Magic]. In response, the Grand Blue Master replied, “This is your first trial in this inheritance, Argentum.”

He then continued, “I want you to master [Lesser Water Magic] as fast as possible.”

At first, Argentum was left at a loss for words thanks to what the Grand Blue Master said, thinking that he had to reach the Master level of mastery in order to pass this first trial. Fortunately, the Grand Blue Master added a few more words after that, allowing Argentum to have great confidence in clearing this first trial as fast as possible.

“Once you can fire out a [Water Bolt] from the skill, then you shall be considered to have cleared the first trial,” the Grand Blue Master said. “Let the first trial begin!”

With the Grand Blue Master signaling the start of the first trial, Argentum instantly put all of his focus towards [Lesser Water Magic], focusing his sense of vision towards the other end of the rectangular room. He then extended his right hand, allowing a mass of Water energy particles to manifest around it before congregating over his palm, forming into a ball of water.

“[Lesser Water Magic: Water Ball]!”

Whoosh!

After forming it, he then threw the water ball towards the other end of the rectangular room, exploding into multiple particles of water. While doing so, he could not help but mutter to himself, “It seems that any kind of magic I learn would have a ball and a bolt as the first two spells.”

On the other hand, the Grand Blue Master looked at Argentum throw the ball of water towards one end of the rectangular room, thinking to himself, ‘I’m surprised his control over the Water element ain’t that half bad.’

Not long after, his surprise turned into that of shock as he watched Argentum throw out a second water ball. Although there was no difference in the water ball in terms of appearance, the power that was hidden inside it was multiple times higher than the first water ball Argentum threw.

Just as the Grand Blue Master thought that his shock would end here, it had instead reached a higher level as he noticed that the spell Argentum was conjuring over his extended palm was not a ball of water anymore. It was instead in the shape…of a bolt!

“[Lesser Water Magic: Water Bolt]!”

Whoosh! Bang!

Although the bolt of water looked pretty scary, thanks to the low level of mastery Argentum had over the skill, the spell did not really pack that much punch behind it. Of course, this kind of attack was more than enough for him to kill a fellow Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate in one hit. Perhaps, he would even be able to kill a Magic-grade Pseudo-Animate in one hit. As for Grand-grade Pseudo-Animates, it would be doable if he employed his offense boosting skills and spells.

After casting that single water bolt, Argentum’s sense of vision was focused on the ceiling as he said, “Grand Blue Master, I’ve fired out a [Water Bolt].”

“Could you fire out one more?” the Grand Blue Master asked Argentum, his tone slightly skeptical. He could not believe that such a Pseudo-Animate was able to enhance their understanding of a skill to such a level in just two attacks. He muttered to himself, “Is this the reason why Argentum was taken in by the Undying Flame Spirit as her student?”

Oblivious to what was going on in the Grand Blue Master’s mind, Argentum went ahead and conjured another bolt of water, which he fired towards the same end of the rectangular room. At the instant he was finished doing so, the Grand Blue Master said in a tone of slight disbelief, “Y-you’ve truly fired out a [Water Bolt]…what a genius.”

“You’re a genius Pseudo-Animate, Argentum,” the Grand Blue Master said to Argentum in a tone of awe, to which Argentum replied, “I don’t think I’m a genius at all, Grand Blue Master. Beings like you are the true geniuses.”

“I’m already 26,587 years old,” the Grand Blue Master replied. “With that in mind, do you still think I’m a genius?”

“Yes.” Argentum nodded. Listening to Argentum’s response, the Grand Blue Master let out a sigh before being replaced with a chortle. 

He then took in a deep breath to calm down his excited self before saying, “Since you’ve fired out a [Water Bolt], you’ve cleared the first trial. Due to the fast speed you’ve cleared the trial, I’ve decided to reward you with 15 points.”

“Eh? 15 points?” Argentum was slightly confused. “Didn’t you say the maximum was 10 points?”

“Are you going to accept the 15 points or not?” the Grand Blue Master radiated out a slightly irritated aura. Of course, in actuality, he wasn’t really irritated.

“I’ll accept, I’ll accept it.” As for Argentum, he was inwardly elated to have obtained more than 10 points in the first trial. He had a feeling that these 5 extra points he had received would be the border between a powerful skill and a weak one.

“With the first trial now over…” the Grand Blue Master said after announcing Argentum’s reward.

“Let’s move onto the second trial!”

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