I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 304: A Glimpse of Hell

While Argentum and Horell were inside their own little worlds, Herellia closed her sense of vision for a bit, acclimating herself to the power currently coursing throughout her body. A minute later, she opened her sense of vision before focusing it on the puddle of blood below her, only to radiate an aura of disappointment as the puddle below her was mostly gone. Nevertheless, she was able to get a rough idea of her current appearance by looking at her arms and the robe covering her body, eventually coming to the conclusion that she most likely looked more like a human than before.

After that, she focused her vision onto the sky, silently staring at the iridescent bolts of lightning being swallowed up by the dark blue bolts of lightning surrounding it. Naturally, as the dark blue lightning bolts engulfed the iridescent bolts, the intent of destruction radiating from them underwent a change. Unlike before, the intent of destruction surrounding these bolts felt suppressed, yet at the same time, enhanced to a certain extent. If one were to describe it, then the previous intent would be akin to a blade covered in blood, while the current intent would be akin to a sheathed greatsword slung behind one’s back.

Other than that, no other change happened to the dark clouds. No new type of lightning was being formed, nor did a rumble resound from the dark clouds as an act of arrogance. Only pure silence prevailed at the moment. This thought made Herellia stop looking at the dark clouds as she commanded the system to list the changes that had happened to her body. It did not take long for the multiple notification screens that appeared in her mind to overwhelm her, causing her to sit cross-legged as she soon closed her vision.

It was only after ten minutes or so was she able to process and organize the information she had received from the system, radiating an aura of wonder as she said, “To think that my body has undergone this much change. Is this because of the response I gave?”

“Wait a second…was that me talking just now?” As she was talking to herself about the improvements brought about by the evolution she had undergone, her sense of hearing could not help but pick up her voice, causing her to become shocked for a bit. She then went ahead and made a few random sounds, making her let out a sigh of awe at the end of her experimentation as she soon muttered to herself, “If I were a man, I might have fallen for my voice just now.”

“Anyways, I should really familiarize myself with these new skills I’ve obtained,” she said not long after, letting out a sigh of dismay as she continued, “This evolution removed all of my skills from the past evolution, as well as my skills from before the past evolution.”

“Then again, from what I’m seeing through the system, these skills are far more potent and flexible than the other ones,” she added, letting out a chuckle as the aura around her changed to that of expectation and curiosity. She then went ahead and closed all of the notification screens in her mind before replacing it with a screen listing all of the skills she had at the moment. After that, she commanded the system to remove all of the passive skills on the skill list, leaving only the active skills on it.

Just as she was about to go ahead and immerse herself in the familiarization of her new skills, a thought surfaced on her mind, prompting her to redirect her vision towards Argentum and Horell before sending a strand of energy towards them.

Whoosh!

In less than an instant, this strand of energy had arrived in front of its recipient, which was Argentum. Hearing a familiar voice resound in his mind, Argentum moved the thing he was doing aside before focusing his attention on the voice.

“Hey, Argentum,” Herellia said to Argentum, to which he replied, “What’s up?”

“I’m going to familiarize myself with the skills I’ve obtained from the evolution, so that means I’m tasking you to keep an eye out if there’s any change to the dark clouds,” she responded to his question soon after. She then continued, “Is there any problem with you doing that?”

“Well, wasn’t I doing that in the first place?” Argentum replied to her question, letting out a chuckle as he added, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye out on the clouds while you go ahead and familiarize yourself.”

After that, he looked at the dark clouds and noticed that the dark blue lightning bolts seemed to move in a sluggish manner relative to their previous speed, prompting him to wonder what kind of hardship Herellia would have to go through next. With that in mind, he decided to tell her, “If possible, familiarize yourself with your new skills as fast as possible. I have a feeling that the next trial would be incredibly deadly.”

“Then again, the next trial is your final trial. If you survive it, then you would have successfully cleared the Existence Tribulation,” he continued. In response, Herellia radiated an aura of determination as she replied, “That’s good to hear. Alright, I’ll try my hardest.”

“I’ll be going now,” Herellia said soon after, to which Argentum replied, “Good luck.”

Whoosh!

After that, the connection between the two was severed, leaving the two to their own devices. Taking in a deep breath, Argentum then went ahead and started with what he was told to do, which was to keep an eye on the dark clouds while Herellia was familiarizing herself with her skills. At first, Argentum was determined to focus most of his attention on the dark clouds, keeping track of the movements of the lightning bolts…only to get bored of it around ten minutes later.

“Well, since nothing significant has happened inside the dark clouds, then that means that the next trial wouldn’t come for quite some time,” Argentum muttered to himself, only for him to radiate an aura of slight fear as he felt that he had jinxed the next trial. He then waited for a few minutes after saying those words, wondering if his words were about to bite him in the back. Fortunately, even after waiting for quite some time, nothing changed in the dark clouds, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief.

As he felt that he should be doing something while waiting for the next trial to arrive, Argentum went ahead and closed his sense of vision before tinkering around with the spell creation feature of [Sage’s Water Magic]. It did not take long for him to stop tinkering with it as he felt that the current arsenal of True Water spells he made was quite a perfect fit for the Existence Tribulation.

Unsurprisingly, this made him let out a sigh of boredom as he wondered what he could do while waiting for the next trial to come down. Although he felt like he had a level of patience that far exceeded normal beings, it was at this moment that he felt like his patience was finally wearing thin after his senses were extended to the fullest throughout most of the trials so far.

Nevertheless, he was someone who did not want his emotions to affect the grand scheme of things, separating the frustration he felt from what he had done in order to help Herellia out in her trials. Without delay, he went in and took a deep breath to regain composure as a random thought surfaced in his mind.

“I wonder if the buffs I cast on her before the evolution are still there,” he muttered to himself as he felt that this was something he could do while waiting for the next trial to come down. And just like that, he extended his enhanced senses towards the cross-legged Herellia, wanting to know if the buffs he had cast were still on her.

Surprisingly, just like the hunch he had before from Herellia’s past evolution, the buffs he had cast on Herellia’s body had disappeared without a trace. At this moment, he could not help but radiate an aura of immense shock as he now knew that Herellia had tanked through most of the previous trials without any help from either of them.

With that in mind, Argentum’s hunch that Herellia would be able to tank through most of the lightning bolts in the next trial had become more certain. On the other hand, that also gave Argentum greater hope that she would be able to clear her Existence Tribulation without a problem.

“Should I cast that strong buff on Herellia again before the next trial starts?” Argentum muttered to himself in a questioning tone, weighing the pros and cons of the decision. Of course, the strong buff Argentum was talking about was none other than [Supreme Aqua Benefica: Selfless Variant], a Blessed Water spell he had created in order to cast a buff with around the same effects as [Aqua Imperium Universalis] on other people.

In the end, he decided to not cast the buff on Herellia as he felt that the trial would be able to hastily adjust to her heightened power, thus increasing the difficulty of the next trial to a higher level. Taking a quick glance at the dark blue lightning bolts covering most of the dark clouds’ insides, he could not help but inwardly shiver at the possibility that the next type of lightning bolt would form with his buff.

Other than that, he also thought about the decision from Herellia’s perspective, thinking that she would have preferred to get used to her newfound power first before going ahead and asking buffs from the two of them.

“Then again, I have a feeling that she doesn’t know that the buffs on her body have already disappeared,” he said to himself not long after, letting out a slightly playful giggle.

“Hey, Argentum. You there?” Just as he was about to bring Horell back to reality, Horell had already come back from his daze. In response, Argentum replied, “Yeah. What’s up?”

“Can you sense the power that Herellia’s radiating?” Horell soon asked Argentum as his sense of vision was focused on Herellia, to which he replied with a nod, “Of course. Her current combat power is already beyond our current combat powers without buffs. She would definitely be able to defeat us in one move as long as we don’t use our buffs.”

While listening to Argentum’s response, Horell could not help but mull over something before soon asking Argentum, “Don’t you think that with her power increasing, the difficulty of the next trial would increase to a far higher level?”

“Well, of course I do,” Argentum replied as he looked at the sky, noticing that the dark blue lightning bolts were finally moving at the original speed. Not long after, he noticed that they were moving faster than before, faintly emanating an intent of destruction far stronger than ever before.

“Is there anything I can do to help on the next trial?” Horell focused his sense of vision onto Argentum and asked soon after. In response, Argentum looked back at him and replied, “For now, be incredibly vigilant. This time, I seriously mean it. I have a feeling that this next trial would be—”

Ding!

Before he was able to finish his response to Horell’s question, a notification sound resounded in his mind, prompting him to abruptly go silent as he commanded the system to show the notifications he had received in his mind. As for Horell, after seeing Argentum abruptly go silent, he could not help but radiate an aura of worry as he called out for Argentum, only to get no response.

In actuality, Argentum could hear Horell’s words of concern quite well, but due to the notifications he had received from the system, he opted to ignore it and focus all of his attention on the latter. It did not take long for Argentum to read through all of the notifications, radiating an aura of graveness as he closed the notification screen in his mind.

Noticing the change in Argentum’s aura, Horell stopped speaking words of concern at him. Instead, he asked him, “What’s wrong?”

“Horell,” Argentum said in a grave tone. “Change of plans. This next trial is going to be a hellish one.”

“Go to where Herellia is and directly help her out in the next trial,” he continued, leaving Horell at a loss for words. After a few seconds, Horell imitated the sound of one loudly coughing as he asked, “Argentum, are…are you serious?”

“As serious as I could be,” Argentum succinctly replied to his question, the serious aura surrounding him slightly intensifying. In response, Horell could not help but go silent for a bit as he weighed over the pros and cons of him following Argentum’s decision. In the end, he could not make a choice and asked him, “Just to be sure, once I directly interfere with Herellia’s trial, that means that the next trial would undergo a spike in difficulty, right?”

“Yeah,” Argentum replied before continuing, “But would you rather help her out and reap the consequences afterward or just let her die right now?”

Hearing Argentum’s words, Horell now took it seriously as he asked, “Is the next trial that serious?”

In response, Argentum slowly nodded as he said in a slightly whispering manner, “I’ll fill you on what the next trial is later. For now, head to where Herellia is.”

“Alright,” Horell said in response to Argentum’s order before hastily making his way to where Herellia was.

On the other hand, Argentum looked up at the dark clouds and saw that the dark blue lightning bolts, which were darting around at greater speeds a while ago, were now bunching up towards certain areas on the dark clouds. Letting out a sigh that had hints of terror in it, he then muttered to himself, “This next trial…the heavens are really going ham on this one.”

“If this trial doesn’t offer us three a glimpse of hell, then I don’t know what hell truly looks like.”

‘Thanks to the massive increase in power brought about by the trial taker’s enhanced transitional evolution, the difficulty of the next trial shall be adjusted accordingly, taking into consideration the interferences made by external parties beforehand.’

‘The heavens have finally decided on the next trial given to the trial taker.’

‘The name of the next trial shall be…’

‘Force of a Hundred Thousand Abysses!’

——–

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