I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 301: Blitzkrieg of the Century Abyss

With the same question in her mind, she could not help but follow it up with another question, saying, “Where did Argentum get this type of ability?”

While pondering over this question, she wondered if Aurus asked Argentum to obtain this type of skill before he underwent his evolution process. Thinking about it, she could not help but imagine Aurus telling Argentum to obtain it just in case he was the one chosen to help Herellia out in her Existence Tribulation instead of Aurus. Before she went too deep into the rabbit hole of this question, she felt that there was no point in thinking about it any further. She also felt that there was no point asking Argentum about it since he would definitely not tell her, so she let it be.

Concurrently, just as she was finished thinking over it, her body had now fully acclimated to the swath of royal blue strands that were absorbed by her body, making her feel that her strength has greatly improved once more. After that, she focused her sense of vision towards the dark clouds, making sure that another round of clouds was not going to head her way any time soon.

Seeing that the dark clouds had gone to a lull, Herellia let out a sigh of relief as she slowly made her way back to her original position, allowing her health and energy to recover as she allowed herself to get more used to the feeling of the burden that three rafflesias brought. Letting out a long breath at the very moment she arrived at her original position, she took another glance at the dark clouds once more, making sure to be vigilant at all times.

Surprisingly, even though her sense of vision was fixated on the dark clouds for a few minutes, nothing special happened within the clouds whatsoever, making Herellia wonder if the clouds were giving her a chance to recuperate. Looking at the dark clouds for a few more seconds, Herellia eventually let out a sigh as she radiated an aura of nonchalance before closing her sense of vision, deciding to use this time to become more familiar with the skills she had in her arsenal.

On the other hand, Argentum and Horell were looking at Herellia with auras that could be summed up as general surprise. Horell could not take away his sense of vision from Herellia, noticing that the aura radiating from her, which came from her combat power, was multiple levels above the aura she radiated before. Right now, he felt that if he and the current Herellia were to fight against each other, then she would win ten times out of ten.

As for Argentum, he looked at Herellia with slight surprise, surprised that the effect of the spell he cast a while ago was more or less similar to the spell it was based on. Of course, its efficacy was slightly lower due to it being created after [Sage’s Water Magic] was evolved to the level of A-grade Mortal, but it was still a strong spell nonetheless.

He then took a glance at the dark clouds, wondering if another round of lightning bolts would come crashing down as he had not obtained a notification from the system yet. With the royal blue lightning bolts remaining dormant inside the dark clouds, Argentum thought that the heavens were just giving Herellia some time to rest and reflect upon the combat experiences she had accrued. With that in mind, he decided that it was alright for them to relax their alertness for a bit as nothing wrong would happen any time soon.

After that, he went ahead and sat down on the ground, stretching his body as he made himself comfortable in the cross-legged position. Horell, on the other hand, noticed what Argentum was doing, sensing the change in his aura. He then went ahead and asked him, “Why are you relaxing? The tribulation isn’t over, right?”

“Of course, it isn’t,” Argentum nonchalantly replied as he decided to change some of the True Water spells he made a while ago into other support spells that had a more specific purpose. While opening up the spell creation feature in his mind, he continued, “But the dark clouds became silent, thus it means that the heavens are giving Herellia some time to rest.”

“In other words, the heavens are also giving us time to rest,” Argentum added as he looked through the 9 True Water spells he had made, discarding around half of them without hesitation. In response to Argentum’s words, Horell could not help but berate him for not being vigilant at all times, only to stop before he could say it as he thought that Argentum was probably the most vigilant out of the three.

Letting out a sigh as he thought that he should become more like Argentum, Horell scratched his head as he sat beside Argentum in silence. At first, the two of them went ahead and did their own things, with Argentum modifying the True Water spells he had in his arsenal, while Horell was attuning himself to the mana in the surroundings. But after a few minutes or so, Horell became sick of attuning his body to the mana, prompting him to focus his sense of vision towards Argentum.

As he looked at him, he could not help but remember the change he noticed in Herellia’s aura a while ago. It was only at this moment did he realize that such an abrupt change in combat power would only be the result of the buff Argentum sent to her, prompting him to wonder as to what kind of buff it was. Wanting to know what it was, Horell unhesitatingly tapped Argentum on the shoulder and asked him, “Hey, Argentum. What kind of buff did you cast on Herellia?”

Being interrupted by someone while he was preoccupied with modifying the spells in his arsenal, Argentum could not help but radiate an aura of slight infuriation as he looked at Horell. Although he wanted to somewhat berate Horell for interrupting him while he was busy, he decided not to as he took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down before recalling the words Horell told him while he was preoccupied.

He then scratched his head for a bit as he pondered over the words he should use to describe the buff he cast on Herellia. After finding the right string of words, Argentum eventually responded to Horell, saying, “Well, it’s a buff that improves almost every aspect of a being.”

Hearing Argentum’s response, Horell could not help but think that he was joking around with him, prompting him to question Argentum, “You’re kidding, right?”

To which Argentum responded with a shake of his head, “Nope.”

“No?” Sensing the serious aura radiating from Argentum at this moment, he turned his vision to where Herellia was, taking a closer look at her current aura. It was then that Horell accepted the fact that Herellia’s current aura was due to Argentum’s buff, only to wonder as to why Argentum was still fine right now.

He knew that in order for a buff of that caliber to be cast, then the one casting the spell should have to sacrifice a great number of resources, may it be energy or catalysts, in order for it to be successfully cast. But while he was looking at Argentum, there was no change to him whatsoever. The color of the energy making up his body did not change, the aura radiating from him did not change, it was as if the buff Argentum cast was nothing to him at all.

And so, with that in mind, Horell could not help but ask Argentum, “Uh…Argentum. I was just wondering…”

“Why didn’t you cast that buff on Herellia at the start of the tribulation?”

In response, Argentum pondered over it for a bit before responding with a calm tone, “If I were to cast it at the start of her tribulation, then the current difficulty of her trials would be way higher than what it is now.”

Following up on Argentum’s response, Horell then asked, “So…is that the strongest buff you can cast?”

Although he could not help but wonder why Horell was asking him such a thing, Argentum decided to pay it no heed as he pondered over his choice of words before responding, “In terms of buffs that I can give to others, yes. If I were to talk about every buff I can cast, then the buff I cast a while ago isn’t the strongest.”

“Heh…” Horell uttered as a response to Argentum’s words, although he was incredibly shocked within, wondering what Aurus had undergone to obtain a clone like this.

As for Argentum, after finishing his conversation with Horell about buffs, he could not help but become curious as to whether or not the buffs he cast before [Supreme Aqua Benefica: Selfless Variant] were still active on her body. With that, he utilized his enhanced senses to its maximum potential to check if they were still there, only to be left dumbfounded as he found out that only the latest buff he cast was active.

This gave Argentum immense shock as he pondered as to when the buffs he cast at the start of the tribulation had dissipated. After about three minutes of contemplation, he felt that the evolution Herellia underwent wiped all of the buffs on her body clean, which meant that she more or less tanked the ‘Myriad Calamity Shower’ without any help from him or Horell at all.

“To think that her current evolution is incredibly strong,” Argentum could not help but mutter inwardly before adding, “And this is just the first transitional evolution that would lead to her final evolution. Her current combat power is already above Horell’s, even without the buff I cast.”

Predicting the turn of events after this one, Argentum had a hunch that Herellia would have no problem clearing the Existence Tribulation, taking the possible improvements in power her next transitional evolutions would give her. But then, just as he felt that the current situation was quite positive, a notification sound resounded in his mind, reminding him that trials like these were not consistent. Without delay, he went ahead and opened up the notification screen in his mind as the aura surrounding him had turned into that of slight dread.

Ding!

‘The trial taker has successfully passed through the second trial given by the heavens with flying colors. In response to this amazing achievement, the heavens have decided to give the trial taker a chance to improve the transitional evolution they would undergo…through a trial!’

‘Adjusting the difficulty of the trial to the trial taker’s strength, as well as the interferences made along the way…’

‘The heavens have decided that the bonus trial the trial taker is going to undergo shall be…’

‘The Blitzkrieg of the Century Abyss!’

“Ah, shit,” Argentum could not help but curse inwardly as he read the last line of notifications he had received, wondering if the heavens were mocking him for what he was thinking a while ago. Seeing that the purpose of the trial was to improve the transitional evolution Herellia was going to obtain, then it meant that he and Horell had to do what they could to make sure that she would clear this trial.

“Abyss-level lightning…” Although it was within Argentum’s expectations that Herellia was going to clash against Abyss-level lightning, he did not expect these lightning bolts to come so soon. He recalled that their destructive power was multiple levels above the Calamity-level bolts Herellia was facing a while ago. To give a rough comparison, if a single Calamity-level bolt and a single Abyss-level bolt were to hit a tree, the former would crack the trunk of the tree, while the latter…would turn it into ashes.

Ding!

Just as Argentum thought that the system was finished notifying him about the next move the heavens were going to do to Herellia, another notification sound resounded in his mind. This prompted him to think that there was more to it than he initially thought. Like before, he unhesitatingly opened the notification screen inside his mind, radiating a brief aura of excitement as he read the first few notifications he had received.

‘As this trial is not a trial meant for the trial taker’s tribulation, the heavens have decided to give the trial taker a tip to surviving this next trial.’

‘Unfortunately, the trial taker is preoccupied with another task, thus the heavens have decided to send the tip to the user instead.’

‘The heavens say: “Focus on the defensive in this trial. Although the trial taker would not die when they are touched by the lightning bolt in this trial, their chance to obtain an improved transitional evolution would be gone forever. In other words, it would become harder for the trial taker to survive the next trial meant for their Existence Tribulation.”‘

“To think that the heavens decided to give Herellia a heads-up on what she should do for the next trial,” Argentum muttered to himself in a slightly gleeful tone, wanting to tell Herellia about the next trial as soon as possible. But then, another notification soon appeared on his screen, making him wonder whether or not the heavens had a grudge on him or something.

‘The heavens have noticed that the user has some powers that are akin to the powers of heaven.’

‘The heavens have decided that the difficulty increase to the trial taker’s subsequent rounds would be far greater if the user directly interfered. The heavens are warning the user to not directly interfere with the trial taker’s tribulations, lest the user wants to see the trial taker disappear from the face of the world.’

After reading the last few notifications he had received, he then went ahead and closed the notification screen in his mind before taking in a few deep breaths. He then stood up and looked at the dark clouds, noticing that the lightning bolts within the dark clouds were now starting to make a move.

With a grim tone, he muttered to himself, “So…the heavens are threatening me, eh?”

He then let out a chuckle filled with malicious intent as he continued, “Very well, then.”

“If that’s what the heavens tell me to do…”

“Then I…”

“…shall not make a move. Not worth the risk.”

——–

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