I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 235: The Next Destination

“I’m glad you accept,” the Undying Flame Spirit said in response to Argentum’s words, eliciting an aura of happiness from her. She then stood up and stretched her body as she went ahead and moved towards the corridor that led to the large stone room where Argentum was attempting the trials. Noticing this as he focused his sense of vision towards her, he asked her, “Where are you planning to go, great Undying Flame Spirit?”

“Outside,” the Undying Flame Spirit responded to his question in an instant. She then added, “It’s the best place to form a Spirit Contract since we’re closer to the natural laws that way.”

“Of course, that means you have to come with me as well,” the Undying Flame Spirit said as she focused her sense of vision on Argentum, gesturing with her hands to follow him. Fortunately, Argentum did not make a fuss this time as he went ahead and followed behind her, with the two ending up in the center of the stone room not long after. A few seconds later, the Undying Flame Spirit then told Argentum to hold her hand, which Argentum did, feeling a bit shy since this was the first time he held hands with someone else. But then he remembered how old the being he was holding hands with, and soon, his embarrassment went down the drain.

Thankfully, the Undying Flame Spirit was oblivious to what was going inside his mind, snapping her fingers as a mass of Fire energy particles soon enveloped both her and Argentum.

Whoosh!

Not long after that, the mass of Fire energy particles in the large stone room had disappeared, bringing along the Undying Flame Spirit and Argentum with it. It did not take long for them to appear in another location, a location that Argentum was familiar with since it was the location he was in before he entered the inheritance.

“We’re actually outside,” Argentum could not help but mutter, noticing that the red orb that led him into the inheritance was still where he moved it. As for the Undying Flame Spirit beside him, she could not help but take a deep breath as she let out a sigh of satisfaction not long after. “Haah…it’s been a long time since I’ve gone outside of the inheritance. How long has it been? Five hundred years or so?”

Hearing that the Undying Flame Spirit was cooped up inside her inheritance for the past five hundred years, Argentum could not help but subconsciously shiver as he thought to himself, ‘This Undying Flame Spirit must be the epitome of introversion. Sure, I can handle being alone for a few days…well, weeks since I’m occupying myself with stuff. But I’m definitely sure that I’d give up on the first year.’

After taking in a breath of fresh air, the Undying Flame Spirit then went ahead and walked outside of the abandoned building where the red orb resided, with Argentum following behind her along the way. Even though Argentum expected that the Undying Flame Spirit would probably head out to a place that was far away from the Flame Spirit Inheritance, surprisingly, the Undying Flame Spirit stopped at a place that was only a hundred meters or so away from the inheritance, still being inside the hotter area of the Inferno Plains. Of course, Argentum was now oblivious to this heat, feeling nothing from it at all.

Walking in a few random directions for a while with her eyes closed as Argentum watched her, the Undying Flame Spirit eventually opened her eyes a few minutes later, placing both of her hands on the ground as she muttered, “This seems like a good spot.”

Whirr…

Contrary to the element she was inclined to, the sound of a large breeze resounded throughout a certain radius around the Undying Flame Spirit, with the Argentum radiating an aura of confusion as he eventually found out that this sound was coming from none other than her. Although he wanted to ask what she was doing, he had a hunch that it would be better for him to stay silent and watch from afar, lest he wanted to infuriate the Undying Flame Spirit from what she was doing.

Whoosh!

After a minute or so, the sound of wind abruptly stopped as the Undying Flame Spirit raised both of her hands into the air before slamming into the ground as she shouted, “Spirit Contract, form!”

Bang!

Accompanied by a loud bang, a magic circle that spanned over 50 meters in diameter was conjured on the ground in an instant, with the Undying Flame Spirit at the center of said magic circle. Every line constituting the magic circle was made out of orange energy that radiated an intense aura of heat, which Argentum could not help but think came from the Unworldly Sol Flames. As for the magic runes that were inscribed in the magic circle, holding power that was even unfathomable to Argentum, these were made out of white energy that radiated a more intense aura of heat, which Argentum automatically thought were the Lux Purity Flames that only she had control over.

“Argentum, head to the center!” After the magic circle was made, the Undying Flame Spirit went ahead and looked around for Argentum, finding him a few seconds later before going ahead and shouting these words. In response to this, Argentum hastily went to where the Undying Flame Spirit at his highest speed, only taking around ten seconds or so for him to arrive.

With Argentum now beside her, the Undying Flame Spirit then told her, “This magic circle is the medium wherein we contact with the heavens, forming the Spirit Contract that binds us together. I want you to repeat after every statement I say, okay?”

“Is there a catch to this?” Argentum could not help but ask, to which the Undying Flame Spirit replied, “Why would I fool a weak Pseudo-Animate like you? I swear on behalf of my strength, there’s no catch to this.”

“Alright then.” Seeing that the Undying Flame Spirit was even willing to make a promise like that, Argentum unhesitatingly decided to follow her commands, telling her, “I’ll repeat after you.”

In response to Argentum’s words, the Undying Flame Spirit nodded her head before taking in a deep breath. She then looked up at the sky before shouting, “Great heavens of above, please bear witness to a pact between two beings!”

Taking in a deep breath as well, Argentum decided to follow what the Undying Flame Spirit was doing before repeating what she said. “Great heavens of above, please bear witness to a pact between two beings!”

Rumble…rumble…

In response to their statements, the sky started to become dark as clouds filled with lightning started to form above the magic circle. Although Argentum was somewhat worried that this phenomenon wasn’t part of the Spirit Contract, noticing the calm aura radiating from the Undying Flame Spirit, he forced himself to stop becoming skeptical, thinking in his mind to repeat whatever words the Undying Flame Spirit would say.

“I am a being that wishes to form a pact witnessed by the heavens.”

“I am a being that wishes to form a pact witnessed by the heavens.”

“This pact shall operate under the natural laws of the heavens.”

“This pact shall operate under the natural laws of the heavens.”

“This pact shall allow both beings to be in contact, no matter where they may be.”

“This pact shall allow both beings to be in contact, no matter where they may be.”

“If the heavens disapprove of such a pact, may the heavens strike its lightning now!”

“If the heavens disapprove of such a pact, may the heavens strike its lightning now!” After repeating this statement, Argentum could not help but look up at the clouds filled with lightning, slightly fearful that a bolt of lightning would indeed strike down on them. Fortunately, even after looking at the lightning-filled clouds for a minute, no bolt was sent down towards them, letting Argentum inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he attentively listened to the Undying Flame Spirit’s next words.

“With the great heavens as the arbiter and the magic circle as the pact’s medium, let the Spirit Contract be formed!”

“With the great heavens as the arbiter and the magic circle as the pact’s medium…”

“Let the Spirit Contract be formed!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, the white magic runes, which made up most of what was inside the magic circle, started to hover off the ground under the intervention of an external force. These runes then went ahead towards the bodies of both the Undying Flame Spirit and Argentum, branding every nook and cranny of their body with these runes.

Although Argentum had a feeling that these runes would hurt as he noticed that it branded their bodies, surprisingly, he did not feel any pain at all, prompting him to wonder what was next.

After every rune inside the magic circle was branded on their bodies, the lines that made up the boundaries that separated each layer of the magic circle started to hover off the ground as well, radiating an aura of divinity not long after. Since these lines were actually circles, they transformed into halos which hovered over the heads of both the Undying Flame Spirit and Argentum, imbuing them with a sense that a divine entity was manipulating a few things inside their bodies.

Crash!

A few seconds later, these halos then shattered into pieces like broken glass, instantly making the runes that were branded on their bodies disappear, making it seem like nothing had happened on the bodies of the two. Of course, even though there was no change externally, there was a great change internally.

As Argentum focused his sense of vision towards the Undying Flame Spirit, he could feel a strong connection that bound them together, with the Undying Flame Spirit feeling the same thing as well when she looked at Argentum. They then decided to increase the gap between the two of them, still feeling a decently strong connection between the two of them. After a few more minutes of experimentation, the Undying Flame Spirit let out a sigh of relief as she said, “And with that, the Spirit Contract is now complete.”

Ding!

‘A Spirit Contract has been formed with the Undying Flame Spirit.’ Just as the Undying Flame Spirit said those words, a notification resounded in his mind, informing Argentum that a Spirit Contract has been formed between the two of them. Closing the notification screen in his mind, he then looked at the Undying Flame Spirit and asked her, “So…what now?”

“To be honest, I don’t know,” the Undying Flame Spirit said in response to his question before adding, “This is the first time I’ve actually made a Spirit Contract.”

“I see…” Argentum said in response to her words, feeling that an awkward tension was forming between the two of them. Surprisingly, just as Argentum was about to initiate a conversation, the Undying Flame Spirit took it upon herself to initiate the conversation, asking Argentum, “Hey, Argentum. Do you want to know what my name is?”

“What’s with the question all of a sudden?” Argentum could not help but become a bit confused. “A while ago, you told me that your name was a secret.”

“Well, er…” The Undying Flame Spirit pondered over her words for a bit before replying, “Well…after thinking about it for a while, I kind of realized that it was rude of me to know your name, but not let you know of mine. To be honest, I feel embarrassed whenever I tell others my name.”

“Surely, it wouldn’t be that bad, right?” Argentum said to her in response before radiating an aura that he wouldn’t tell others about it. “Go ahead and tell me.”

“…” The Undying Flame Spirit was at a loss for words, feeling somewhat nervous that she was about to tell a Pseudo-Animate, which she only knew quite some time ago, her name. Fortunately, she mustered up her courage to say her name, only for it to partially fail.

“E…anor…”

“Hm?” Argentum heard something come out of her mouth, but did not know whether she was talking about her name or not. With that, Argentum went ahead and asked her, “Could you repeat that one more time?”

In response, the Undying Flame Spirit took in a deep breath before mustering up her courage once more to say her name, only for her to end up saying it in a soft voice.

“My name is…Eleanor…”

“Eleanor, huh,” Argentum could not help but say after hearing it. After a while, he radiated a cheerful aura as he focused his sense of vision towards her and said, “Eleanor’s a beautiful name.”

Ba-dump.

At that instant, Eleanor felt something thump inside her body, as if her body was that of an Animate’s. She could not help but take in a deep breath before responding to Argentum with a cheerful aura of her own, saying, “Thank you for the compliment.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Argentum said in a slightly happy tone. Not long after, he added, “Anyways, now that the Spirit Contract has been formed, what are you going to do next?”

Fortunately, Eleanor only took a while to regain her composure, promptly replying to his question with, “Well, what else can I do. I’ll head back to the inheritance and wait for other Pseudo-Animates to come. What about you?”

“I’m going to head to the Azure Shores,” Argentum replied to her question, deciding to not hide anything from her since they were bound by a contract. “I need to obtain some abilities there in order for my evolution to become better.”

“The Azure Shores, huh,” Eleanor could not help but say with a slight longing tone. “I went to that place quite some time ago to obtain something in it as well, but it’s been a long time since then that I don’t remember what the thing I obtained was anymore.”

Just as she was going to end their conversation here, a thought that seemed to be plausible popped up in his mind, prompting her to ask him, “I don’t know if this is just my gut feeling or not, but are you planning on entering an inheritance inside the Azure Shores? Just like how you entered mine?”

“Hm?” Although Argentum was slightly surprised that she got to that conclusion, he nodded his head in response as he said, “Yeah. Inheritances are the places where you could obtain abilities the fastest anyway.”

“Might I ask which inheritance you are planning to go to once you get there?” Eleanor asked, having a feeling that the inheritance Argentum had in mind was something she personally knew about

In response to her question, Argentum scratched his head before saying, “Uh…I’m heading to the Grand Blue Inheritance. Is there a reason why you asked?”

“Grand Blue Inheritance…” Hearing this name, Eleanor could not help but radiate an aura of slight surprise as she looked at Argentum head-on. With a tone of slight disbelief, she then asked Argentum, “You’re actually heading to the Grand Blue Inheritance? The inheritance that’s famed for its 99.9% death rate even for beings inclined to the Water element?!”

“…” Listening to Eleanor’s reply, Argentum was left at a loss for words. It was only after a few seconds or so did a sound come out of him.

“…huh?”