I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 231: Undying Flame Spirit

Knowing that it was more or less a game of hide and seek, Argentum decided to go ahead and clear the trial in the fastest way as possible as stated by the inheritance, which was to touch the back of the Reconnaissance Spirit. Although he was already near the Reconnaissance Spirit at this moment and could touch its back at any time, he still decided to hold back since the Reconnaissance Spirit was still counting up to 30. He had a feeling that he would be punished by the inheritance if he decided to go and touch the Reconnaissance Spirit’s back before it was counting.

And so, it waited. Fortunately, it did not take long for the Reconnaissance Spirit to count up to 30, deciding to hasten its counting of 20 and above by a few notches as an aura of excitement radiated from the Reconnaissance Spirit. Not long after, it then imitated the sound of an Animate clearing their throat as it shouted in its childlike voice, “Ready or not, Inheritor, here I come!”

Step. Step. Step.

At the very instant Argentum was about to go ahead and revert to his flame incarnation form to touch the Reconnaissance Spirit’s back, he instead stopped in his tracks and watched the Reconnaissance Spirit start to walk through the large stone area as he could not help but think that the way the Reconnaissance Spirit walked was kind of cute. The cuteness he felt from it had intensified to an extent that he radiated an aura, but he hurriedly suppressed this aura, continuing to look at the Reconnaissance Spirit from a decent distance.

“Where are you?” the Reconnaissance Spirit said as it used the full extent of its sense of vision to search for Argentum, not knowing that he was just behind it. Since it was oblivious to where Argentum was, it continued to walk throughout the area, its manner of walking akin to a young child that was strutting, which would make adults look at the child with smiles on their faces. Of course, Argentum was looking at the Reconnaissance Spirit with a ‘smile on his face’ as well, radiating an aura of happiness, which he suppressed to a great degree as he maintained a decent distance between him and the Reconnaissance Spirit.

For the first two minutes or so, the Reconnaissance Spirit strutted through the room, asking Argentum where he was every once in a while. Seeing this made Argentum feel a sense of therapeutic calm, feeling that everything was going to be alright in the world. But then, by the third minute started, the Reconnaissance Spirit lost a bit of its confidence, its back slightly arched as its voice when calling out for Argentum had a hint of desperation in it. Not only that, but Argentum could also hear a hint of sadness from it, as if it was going to cry at any time.

Once the fourth minute came, the Reconnaissance Spirit lost all of its confidence to try and find Argentum since it wasn’t able to do so, sitting down on the floor and sniffling, which eventually turned into crying as it wailed, “Where are you, Inheritor? Sniff sniff…I want to see you…”

“Please tell me you’re still here, Inheritor,” the Reconnaissance Spirit continued to wail, its tone filled with desperation and intense longing for Argentum. A few seconds later, all of the desperation was soon replaced with intense longing, its crying intensified as it said, “Don’t tell me…you’re not here…?”

Tap.

“…eh?” Just as the Reconnaissance Spirit’s crying was about to reach a new level, it felt a tap on its back, prompting it to turn its sense of vision around. Once it did so, it saw Argentum in his flame incarnation form. He looked at the crying Reconnaissance Spirit and said, “No need to cry anymore. I’m here.”

“You finally revealed yourself, Inheritor!” Instead of obtaining a heartwarming response from the Reconnaissance Spirit, Argentum instead obtained a cheerful response from the Reconnaissance Spirit as it stood up with glee. The feeling he felt from the Reconnaissance Spirit at this moment was quite conflicted, eventually letting out a sigh as he sorted his emotions out.

“This is an inheritance after all. They can also use our emotions to our advantage,” Argentum muttered to himself, letting out a light chuckle not long after. He then scratched his head and looked at the Reconnaissance Spirit once more. He then went ahead and asked, “So…did I clear the trial?”

“Yep!” the Reconnaissance Spirit replied to his question in a cheerful tone, the melancholic aura surrounding it a while ago now gone. Not long after, it said to Argentum, “Wait for a bit, okay? The reward shall be coming to you very soon!”

After saying those words, the Reconnaissance Spirit went ahead and ran towards one of the walls of the large stone room, eliciting a response from Argentum, telling the Reconnaissance Spirit to be careful. Fortunately, just as the Reconnaissance Spirit was going to collide with the wall, it instantly transformed into a mass of Fire energy particles as it dissipated into thin air not long after.

Seeing this transformation, Argentum could not help but scratch his head yet again as he let out an awkward chuckle.

“Ah, right. That Reconnaissance Spirit is made by the inheritance,” Argentum said to himself.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After the Reconnaissance Spirit disappeared from the large stone room Argentum was in, the flames that were of the same color as Argentum’s flame incarnation form, which covered the whole room, disappeared into thin air as well, prompting Argentum to revert to his original form after that.

Around a minute after that, the disembodied voice of the inheritance resounded throughout the room, informing Argentum of the rewards he had obtained from the trial.

“The inheritor has successfully avoided the detection of the Flame Reconnaissance Spirit in the Great Flame Hunt. Not only that, but the inheritor has also touched the back of the Flame Reconnaissance Spirit, thus enhancing the quality of the rewards obtained.” This was what the disembodied voice said to Argentum, eliciting a response of slight doubt from him. The first time the inheritance told him that his reward from the trial was enhanced, he obtained a skill that allowed him to transform into a burst of flames. Although it did increase the experience of [Grand Flame Affinity] passively and increased the power of Fire-based skills, that was all.

Ding!

Hearing the notification sound resound in his mind, he could not help but mutter to himself, “I have a bad feeling about this skill I’m getting.”

Not long after saying those words, he then opened up the notification screen in his mind and read through the latest notification he had received. Surprisingly, he was at a loss for words yet again, just like how he was at a loss for words when he obtained that flame incarnation skill.

But there was something different.

This time, Argentum radiated an aura of curiosity and slight enthusiasm to use the skill he had received. Reading the name of the skill alone, he could not help but mutter to himself in a slightly excited tone, thinking out loud, ���If this skill is what I think it is, then can I consider myself someone who has an Ally of his own?”

‘You have obtained the skill [Flame Companion].’

From the word ‘Companion’ on the skill’s name, Argentum instinctively thought that the skill he had obtained was quite similar to the Ally feature Aurus had, which boosted his stats to incredible degrees while giving him access to a few of his Allies’ skills as well.

‘Now that I think about it…why am I not affected by the Ally skills Aurus’s Allies have?’ Argentum thought to himself as he thought about the Ally feature. ‘I may not have access to the Genesis Seed System and the Soul Enchantment System, but I do have access to the Ally System.’

“Weird,” Argentum said to himself not long after, deciding to talk about it with Aurus once he finishes evolving. Realizing that his train of thought had gone off-course, Argentum unhesitatingly went ahead and commanded the system to bring up the description of the skill he had just obtained.

Ding!

It did not take long for the system to respond to his command, a holographic screen appeared in front of his field of vision not long after. Hastily skimming through it, it did not take long for Argentum to formulate an opinion on the skill.

“In short, an Ally, but more independent…in a way,” was what he said.

________

[Flame Companion] (Level 1/10)

Grade: Mortal (C)

MP Cost: 200 MP

A skill that allows the user to create a companion made out of Fire energy particles. This companion fully obeys the commands of the user, and has their own intelligence to make decisions when the user decides to give them broad commands. Note that the method of enhancement for this companion is for the user to fight its own battles and obtain experience. The user only has to dictate what path of evolution it takes.

> Number of summonable companions: 1

> Maximum number of companions: 1

Note: Increasing the level and grade of this skill enhances the base stat of the companion.

________

“Hmm…” Argentum pondered over the possible uses of the skill, thinking that this skill allowed him to have a real pet in a way. Not only that, but he also thought that such a companion would be a great meat shield in fights as well.

“No wait, I might have to raise them from scratch again if I did that.” Thinking that the last idea he had in mind was actually bad, he discarded it and thought up of more possible uses for the skill, eventually coming to the conclusion that he would definitely not regret raising such a skill to a high level since it would allow him to create an army of companions that would obey his every command in the future.

“Now that I think about it, would the system be able to keep them inside itself?” Just as he was about to end his thinking session regarding the purpose of the skill, a thought suddenly flashed in mind, making him wonder as to whether he could keep his companions in the system just like how Aurus kept his Allies in the system. With that in mind, he went ahead and asked the system whether or not it was possible, and surprisingly, it said yes.

With all of his questions answered for now, Argentum now eagerly waited for the disembodied voice to resound throughout the room and inform him about the mechanics of the next trial. But for some reason, even after a few minutes of waiting, the disembodied voice did not resound at all, making Argentum wonder as to whether or not this was the end of the trial. Nevertheless, he still decided to wait for the disembodied voice to start speaking, even though he was a bit worried.

Fortunately, his waiting led to fruition as an opening appeared on one of the walls of the stone room, leading to a corridor wherein its end led to a room larger than the one Argentum was currently in. Utilizing his [Keen Vision], it did not take long for Argentum to find out that the room radiated an intense aura of the Fire element, slightly feeling uncomfortable, which somewhat surprised him.

But what happened next surprised him even more. At the very instant an opening on one of the walls appeared, the disembodied voice resounded throughout the room, informing Argentum of what he had to do next. After listening to the disembodied voice’s instructions and processing it in his mind many times, the only thing that came out of his mouth was…

“Huh?”

“The inheritor has finished the four trials of the inheritance with flying colors. Due to this achievement, the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance, the one who has obtained the moniker of ‘Undying Flame Spirit’, has decided to allow the inheritor to meet with them in person.”

“Not only that, but the Undying Flame Spirit has decided to grant one of the inheritor’s wishes as well once the inheritor passes through the corridor,” the disembodied voice added.

The disembodied voice needed to repeat its words a few times in order for Argentum to understand that he was not hearing it wrongly at all, filling Argentum with a ton of questions regarding the Flame Spirit Inheritance he had just undergone. One of the questions he had in mind was regarding the wish he wanted the master of the inheritance to grant.

As for the other question he had in mind…

“The master of this inheritance was actually alive?” Argentum muttered to himself in a disbelieving tone as he passed through the corridor, entering the large room where the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance was in.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

At the very instant Argentum had entered this room, a woman made out of flames, who had the right curves at the right places, appeared in front of Argentum, radiating an aura of happiness and elation, which Argentum slightly found peculiar.

“Hello there, Pseudo-Animate!” the woman in flames said to Argentum in a cheerful tone. “I’m the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance. You can call me the Undying Flame Spirit. As for my real name…”

“That’s…a…secret~”

“Er…hi there, I guess,” Argentum said in a slightly stiff fashion, finding it odd that the master of an inheritance would talk to him in this way.

“Can I know your name, Pseudo-Animate?” the woman in flames asked Argentum not long after before adding, “Oh, it’s alright if you don’t want to tell me. I understand~”

“My name is Argentum,” Argentum unhesitatingly answered the Undying Flame Spirit’s question, intensifying the aura of happiness that surrounded her. Not long after, this aura was replaced with curiosity as Argentum asked her, “Uh…I have a question.”

“Hm? Go ahead and ask!” the Undying Flame Spirit said in response to his question.

Seeing that he had the consent of the Undying Flame Spirit, Argentum went ahead and took in a deep breath as the aura surrounding him turned to that of slight rage. He then focused his sense of vision towards her before asking, “You bitch, are you trying to turn me into a play toy or something? Do you get a kick out of making me look like a fool in those trials, huh?”

As for the Undying Flame Spirit’s response to Argentum’s question, it was…

“…”

“…”

“…eh?”