I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 285: Delegating Actions

Sensing the abrupt change in Horell’s aura after saying those words, Argentum could not help but let out a loud chortle. Finding it confusing that Argentum was chortling for no reason, Horell pondered over the reason as to why, eventually concluding that it might be due to what Argentum said earlier, which elicited a shocked response from him.

Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief after realizing that Argentum’s earlier words were just to make him feel anxious, Horell radiated an aura of slight infuriation as he focused his sense of vision on Argentum and asked him, “Should you really joke about something like that to someone who has just cleared a Power Baptism?”

“It’s not like you struggled through that Power Baptism, you know,” Argentum concisely replied after Horell was finished asking that question before adding, “Also, shouldn’t you be thanking me for buffing your power up to a level where you could disperse the bolts with one attack? At the very least, someone thankful should do that, right?”

“Eh…” Feeling the sudden change in Argentum’s personality, Horell was left at a loss for words as he did not know what to say. Scratching his head not long after, Horell decided to follow what Argentum asked from him a while ago, imitating the sound of one clearing their throat to catch his attention before saying, “Alright, you have my deepest gratitude for helping me out, Argentum. There, you happy?”

“Incredibly.” Argentum let out a light giggle as a slightly elated aura radiated from him. While he was giving off a cheerful vibe on the outside, on the inside, he could not help but closely examine Horell, utilizing the entirety of his enhanced senses to get a feel as to how strong Horell currently was when compared to him.

‘Since the buffs I and Herellia have applied on him have already dispersed, now’s a good time to check his base combat power,’ Argentum thought to himself as he continued to banter with Horell, allowing his senses to do their work as he eventually got a rough gauge of how strong Horell was when compared to his. Once he obtained the result, he could not help but become a bit surprised as he found that Horell’s current combat power, without all of the buffs, was only slightly inferior when compared to his.

Wondering as to why that was the case, Argentum thought that the easiest way to find the answer to that question was to command the system to show Horell’s stats, which was something he did a while ago to get a feel on how powerful Horell’s trial was going to be.

Ding!

As a notification sound resounded throughout his mind just as he was finished inwardly commanding the system, a small holographic screen soon appeared in his mind which detailed Horell’s stats. At first glance, Argentum found the effects of undergoing one Power Baptism as all of the stats now had the x10 multiplier beside them, which he also had. But then, just as he thought that he had answered all of the queries in his mind, a stray thought related to the current situation soon surfaced, prompting him to look at the original values of Horell’s stats.

After taking a cursory glance, Argentum could not help but inwardly mutter, “Well, that’s weird. His original stats are somewhat close to mine.”

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[Horell] (Level 10/10)

Experience: MAX

Species: Mana Spirit

Existence Level: Pseudo-Animate

Grade: Normal

Power Baptism: 1

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[HP]: 270

[MP]: 4260/4260

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Stats:

Vitality – 27 (x10)

Strength – 22 (x10)

Defense – 24 (x10)

Agility – 26 (x10)

Intelligence – 36 (x10)

________

Mulling over the possible reasons why Horell’s stats were this high, it did not take long for him to remember that Horell had undergone an Existence Tribulation to transform into a Pseudo-Animate, unlike him, who had just regressed to a Pseudo-Animate. Recalling what he knew about Existence Tribulations from Aurus’s memories, he then concluded that a part of Horell’s stats was due to his Inanimate stats, which was at the thousands at the very least, being converted to the stats of a Pseudo-Animate.

“But even if I consider Horell’s stats as an Inanimate to be pretty high, it still doesn’t add up,” Argentum continued to mutter inwardly as he continued to banter with Horell on the outside. Unsurprisingly, Herellia had already arrived at where they were, joining in on their conversation. Eventually, while the three of them were talking about matters regarding the alliance, Argentum finally remembered the only other thing that would boost Horell’s stats, which was his title as a Supreme Guardian.

‘Although I’m quite curious as to how much of a boost becoming the Supreme Guardian of an alliance gives, at the very least my curiosity has been satiated,’ he thought to himself as he slowly steered the topic of their conversation back to Horell’s Power Baptism, prompting him to look at Horell as he asked him, “So, after undergoing that Power Baptism, how do you feel?”

“Hm?” At first, Horell could not help but be slightly confused as to why Argentum would go back to that topic as they’ve already gone over that a while ago. But then, he thought that Argentum might be occupied by something else in his mind as they chatted, thinking that there was no harm repeating the same answer he said before as a slightly gleeful aura radiated from him. He then told him, “I feel great. If I were to compare my current combat power to something, then it would probably be around half of Chonk’s power back in the war.”

“But what if you activated all of your buffs?” Argentum asked soon after, prompting Horell to ponder over it as this question was not asked earlier. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to obtain an answer as he looked at Argentum and seriously added, “Then, it might be equivalent to the power you showed a while ago when we were fighting.”

“I see, I see.” Argentum nodded in understanding, albeit thinking that Horell’s answer was a bit on the conservative side. In Argentum’s opinion, Horell would definitely show a power far beyond the power he showed when they fought, as long as he activated all of his buffs. Nevertheless, he did not dwell on it too much as he remembered the main reason as to why Horell had done it, which was the Power Baptism.

“Why’d you ask Horell that question again?” Herellia, who was passively listening to their conversation from a while ago, could not help but chime in as she focused her sense of vision towards Argentum. In response, Argentum let out a light chuckle as he waved his hands before saying, “It’s nothing. I just kind of forgot what Horell said a while ago. Just wanted a refresher, you know?”

“Hoh…” Herellia uttered as a response to Argentum’s answer, outwardly letting out an aura that she was satisfied with his answer. Naturally, she had a different feeling inside, somewhat having the urge to interrogate Argentum as she felt that Argentum was hiding something. But after a while, she decided to leave the matter be as she thought that she shouldn’t be too privy when it came to these things.

On the other hand, while Argentum looked at Herellia, a thought surfaced in his mind, eliciting him to radiate an aura of realization as he could not help but wonder as to why he did not ask Herellia that question earlier. But then, that moment of contemplation was soon finished as he muttered to himself, “Then again, I’m not really fighting against anything, so there’s no point as to whether I ask her right now or in the future. Of course, I should ask her right now to not disturb in the future.”

The question that Argentum had in mind was related to the alliance, specifically, the title the members had when they joined the alliance. Although he found out the caveats of not being a part of the alliance a while ago when he tried to find Herellia by blanket searching through the whole small ecosystem, only now did he remember that he was not a part of the alliance. In his mind, if he had access to the Alliance feature of the system, then it would only take him a couple of minutes to arrive at where Herellia was instead of taking more time to find her.

Imitating the sound of one clearing their throat to attract Herellia’s attention, and unsurprisingly, attract Horell’s attention as well, Argentum focused his sense of vision on Herellia before telling her, “Uh…Herellia, I got a question to ask you.”

“What is it?” Herellia responded without delay, wondering what made Argentum ask her a question all of a sudden. Fortunately, she found out the reason why not long after, making her mull over the reason why she did not do such a thing earlier.

“Could you make me a part of the alliance? I’ve just realized that I’m not a part of it at all” Argentum replied to her question with a question of his own, letting out an awkward chuckle after that. In response, Herellia told Argentum to wait for a bit as she closed her sense of vision for a bit before muttering out incantations that seemed to be unintelligible to both Horell and Argentum.

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, a ray of light, which appeared out of nowhere, beamed down on Argentum as the amount of power coursing throughout his body had increased to a decent degree, enhancing the aura Argentum radiated in terms of its pressure.

Ding!

‘The leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance has given you the passive skill [Unified Power of the Alliance (Pillar-level Variant). Due to the difference in existence level, the effectiveness of the skill has been greatly diminished.’

‘The leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance has given you the active skills [Alliance Call] and [Judgement].’

‘Due to becoming a member of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, you have gained access to the Alliance feature of the system.’

With the system notifying him that he had officially become a member of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance once more, Argentum could not help but let out a soft sigh of nostalgia as he recalled Aurus’s memories of how he had entered the alliance as an Executive-level member.

‘I wonder if I could obtain Aurus’s titles of Vice Leader and War Commander,’ he thought to himself not long after as he rummaged through Aurus’s memories related to alliance titles, making him ponder as to how much of a boost those titles would give him, even if their effects were greatly suppressed thanks to the difference in existence levels.

After Argentum thanked Herellia for making him a Pillar-level member of the alliance, Herellia went ahead and asked Argentum, “So…what should we do next?”

“By next, do you mean in terms of preparing for your Existence Tribulation?” At first, Argentum was slightly oblivious to what was going on in Herellia’s mind. Fortunately, he recalled that they did Horell’s Power Baptism as preparation for Herellia’s Power Baptism. Mulling over what would be the next best move for a short while, Argentum finally answered Herellia’s question in a tone of certainty and solemnity, saying, “Well…we head back to the alliance.”

“Head back?” Herellia could not help but say in response to Argentum’s answer. After sensing Horell’s aura at the exact moment he was finished with his Power Baptism, she could not help but feel like the chances of her succeeding in her Existence Tribulation was greatly improved, as if she felt like the Existence Tribulation was in the bag. But now that she had heard from Argentum that they were going to head back to the alliance instead of moving on with her Existence Tribulation, she could not help but ask as to why Argentum said that.

Fortunately, Argentum had a rough idea of what was going on in her mind, prompting him to answer, “Let’s say we follow your plan of having your Existence Tribulation right now. Sure, your chances of succeeding are higher, but what if a change in your Existence Tribulation occurs, giving you a trial that’s far beyond our current combat powers?”

Listening to Argentum’s explanation of what he had in mind, Herellia went silent, thinking that she might have made a hasty decision due to being subconsciously jealous of Argentum and Horell’s current combat powers. Oblivious to what Herellia was feeling, Argentum continued with his explanation as he said, “We need to prepare a lot more if we want to assure that we cover all possible situations that may occur in the middle of your Existence Tribulation. For now, let’s head back to the alliance as I have a feeling that Horell’s not used to wielding the amount of power he currently has just yet.”

In response to Argentum’s words, Horell lightly nodded, which was not left unnoticed by Herellia. Seeing Horell lightly nodded, Argentum then focused his sense of vision on Horell before saying, “Once you consolidate your control over your current power, go ahead and evolve to the next grade. I think you’ve already reached the highest level of power possible for your current grade.”

Although Horell was curious as to how Argentum knew that he was already at the limit in terms of power, he could not help but recall Herellia’s mysterious methods as well, coming to the conclusion that it would be beneficial for him to follow Argentum’s words. With a nod, he told Argentum, “Alright.”

“What should I do?” Herellia soon asked Argentum, to which Argentum pondered over for a bit before responding, “I guess you improve your control over your skills. I can’t really tell you to evolve since you evolving means the Existence Tribulation would be triggered.”

“Got it,” Herellia replied to Argentum’s words, only for her to ask Argentum not long after with a tone of slight curiosity, “How about you? What are you going to do?”

“Me?” Argentum pointed at himself in response to Herellia’s question before letting out a light chuckle. He then replied, “Well, let’s just say that…”

“It’s time for me to do something I’ve delayed for quite a while.”

——–

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