I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 242: Arrival

“Let’s set off to Azure Shores!” Argentum shouted, waking up Blob’s eagerness to head to the Azure Shores to its peak. With that, he then mustered all of the strength flowing throughout his body before remembering the path Argentum gave to him. Channeling all of that strength towards his legs and feet, Blob then dashed off towards the boundary of the Inferno Plains, officially kickstarting Argentum’s journey to power once more!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

While Blob was moving at insanely fast speeds, Argentum, who was a speck of red sand that blended in with Blob’s right shoulder, could not help but let out an inward chuckle. Muttering to himself, he said, “This is seriously a good idea! With Blob fully focused on heading towards the Azure Shores and protecting me, I can fully focus on grinding my skills! How many skills would I be able to grind to a high level this time?”

Although Argentum was able to grind a lot of skills while splitting a part of his attention towards the terrain and where he was moving, the efficiency at which he enhanced those skills was pretty subpar. It was only due to Aurus’s high comprehension speed that he was able to maintain a rate of improvement that would shock others.

But now that he did not need to allocate part of his attention towards the path he was taking, he could now grind his skills at full efficiency. Of course, he would still take breaks from time to time, guiding Blob whenever he deviated from the path he gave him.

And with that, a full day has passed.

Throughout the journey, it was pretty silent. Argentum was engrossed in grinding his skills, while Blob was focused on maintaining a high speed while following the path his creator had given him. The only time that it was not that remotely silent was when Argentum would tell Blob that he had deviated from the right path, which only happened quite a few times on the trip.

Other than that, even when Blob was tired, taking a rest to replenish his stamina, Argentum was fully engrossed in enhancing his skills. Unsurprisingly, this state of being immersed in improving his abilities had given him great leaps in his combat power.

The two skills that allowed him to wield magic, [Lower Tempest Magic+] and [Lower Blaze Magic+], had reached the Master level of mastery throughout this trip. He unhesitatingly evolved them to their next grades, which were [Intermediate Tempest Magic++] and [Intermediate Blaze Magic++] respectively. Naturally, with his high efficiency this time around, he was able to max out their levels and even increase their masteries to the Basic level.

As for the skills that were previously at the Artisan level of mastery, they had naturally reached the Master level of mastery. After evolving all of them, they were then brought up to the Expert level of mastery. Of course, this only applied to the Wind-based active skills Argentum had.

Regarding the Fire-based skills Argentum obtained from the Flame Spirit Inheritance, excluding [Intermediate Blaze Magic++], they had surprisingly reached the Master level of mastery as well thanks to this trip. Argentum also went ahead and evolved them, but due to their use to him not being that important, he was only able to enhance their mastery to the Adept level.

His passive skills, on the other hand, had made great strides in improvement. Argentum could proudly say that all of the passive skills he had were now at the Transcendent level. With all of them at the Transcendent level, he imagined that he would be able to showcase a higher level of power unseen in Normal-grade Pseudo-Animates.

Surprisingly, he did not neglect the skills he had obtained from the Animates he killed during this journey…well, except for those skills that relied on weapons. Although he was not able to reach the Master level of mastery for the active Animate skills he had, he had still raised them to the Artisan level. Even an Animate skill at the Artisan level would bring a decent improvement to his combat power.

Then again, the same did not apply to his passive Animate skills, which all of them had reached the Master level of mastery. After being evolved to the next grade, Argentum realized that these passive skills were more useful than he once thought, prompting him to raise all of them to the Basic level of mastery after being evolved.

Whoosh!

As the wind breezed past Blob’s body, slightly making Argentum shiver as he was on his companion’s shoulders, Argentum felt that Blob had stopped moving. This prompted Argentum to stop grinding his skills and open his sense of vision before focusing it on Blob. He then asked him, “What’s the matter, Blob? Why’d you stop?”

“We’re here, Argentum,” Blob said in response to his creator’s words. At first, Argentum was muddleheaded since he was still engrossed in grinding abilities a while ago, making the word he heard come out of Blob feel slightly hazy. In response to that, he asked Blob to repeat his words after he had a clearer sense of mind, leading to him radiating an aura of slight surprise.

“That fast?” Argentum could not help but mutter to himself in surprise as he jumped off of Blob’s shoulder, reverting to his previous humanoid form. He then lightly stretched his body afterward and took a good look at his surroundings. While doing so, it did not take long for Argentum to realize that Blob was saying the truth, with the closest view in front of them being that of a world of water.

“Damn,” Argentum said in a tone of slight wonder, his sense of vision focused on this world of water. “We’ve truly arrived at Azure Shores.”

“How long did it take you to get here?” he then asked Blob, who was beside him. Scratching his head for a short bit while recalling, Blob then replied, “Factoring in the few breaks I took…around a day?”

“A day?!” Argentum knew that an Epic-grade Pseudo-Animate was faster than him, but he did not expect the gap to be this huge. The distance between the Tempest Cliff and the Inferno Plains was the same as the distance between the two areas he planned to enter, so it was a good gauge of how fast a being was. For Blob to cross this distance in around a day while Argentum traversed it in almost two days…Argentum then decided in his mind to use Blob as a mount whenever they were going somewhere.

Taking in a deep breath to calm his emotions, Argentum then told Blob, “Well, we’ve arrived at Azure Shores. As I’ve said before, you won’t be able to protect me in this area. You’ll be heavily disadvantaged thanks to your element.”

“At first, I tried my best to not believe such a thing,” Blob said as he subconsciously nodded. He then continued, “But now that I’ve come face to face with the atmosphere of the Azure Shores, I now see why you say that, Argentum.”

“So…what should I do, then?” Argentum’s companion asked him after that before adding, “Should I head towards another area to improve my strength even further?”

“Hmm…” Although Argentum knew what he was going to do with Blob, he still put up the facade of contemplation. It was only after a few seconds of this facade did he answer with a light chuckle, “I have a better idea than that.”

“System, keep Blob inside,” he soon said in a serious yet playful tone, which elicited Blob to tilt his head in slight confusion.

Whoosh!

Not long after, a wave of white energy soon enveloped Blob before he disappeared from Argentum’s field of vision. In response to that, Argentum took in a few deep breaths before asking in his mind, “Hey, Blob! Can you hear me?”

“Eh? Where did you take me, Argentum?” Soon after, Blob’s voice resounded in his mind, making Argentum lightly chuckle. He then responded to Blob’s query, saying, “You’re inside a special space wherein only I can take you out of it.”

Just as Blob was about to ask why Argentum would do that, Argentum continued, “The reason why I did this is that I’ve decided to have you keep me company while I’m traversing the Azure Shores. I can’t let myself be weaker than my companion, now can I?”

Blob went silent after hearing that, before letting out a loud cackle that resounded in Argentum’s mind. He then said, “Alright, then. Whenever you want to talk to me, I’ll always be here. This place ain’t half bad, to be honest.”

After that, Argentum’s companion went fully silent, allowing Argentum to take in the surroundings of the area he was going to enter. Letting out a long sigh a few seconds later, Argentum then said to himself, “Time to enter the Azure Shores!”

Step! Step!

“Damn that’s cold!” Argentum had just taken a few steps inside the Azure Shores, but his body was instantly pervaded by an aura of frost, giving Argentum the feeling that he was inside a large block of ice. Fortunately, unlike the aura of intense heat that the Inferno Plains radiated, which damaged Argentum from time to time, this aura of frost was just a slight nuisance to Argentum. It only took a few minutes or so for Argentum to become acclimated to the frigid winds blowing throughout the Azure Shores.

After that, he commanded the system to open up a map, zooming into the Azure Shores afterward. He then zoomed in and zoomed out of the map a few times to assess where he currently was. Finding out his exact position about a couple of minutes later, he then marked a path that led to the place he told Eleanor before he left the Inferno Plains, the Grand Blue Inheritance.

Remembering what he had done in the Inferno Plains before entering the Flame Spirit Inheritance, Argentum could not help but let out a small chuckle. He then activated [Zephyr Burst Alpha], a stronger movement boosting spell he had obtained from [Intermediate Tempest Magic++], and [Zephyr Ascendance+], but at the Artisan level of mastery.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Thanks to his new and improved movement boosting spells, he was able to traverse the Azure Shores at far greater speeds than when he was in the Inferno Plains. He presumed that with these spells activated, he could move faster than Blob. Then again, he did not know whether that was true or not. Blob was only at Level 1. He still had tons of room for improvement.

“Fortunately, I can focus on heading towards the Grand Blue Inheritance this time, instead of taking a small detour to obtain a resistance skill to the Water element,” Argentum muttered to himself as he continued to traverse the area’s terrain. Surprisingly, with his current speeds, he had arrived in front of the Grand Blue Inheritance within an hour. As to why, unlike the Flame Spirit Inheritance, which was located near the center of the Inferno Plains, the Grand Blue Inheritance was located in an area not far from the center of the Azure Shores, but not far from the boundary of the area as well.

After arriving in front of the Grand Blue Inheritance, the first thing Argentum did was to take a good look at the place, cross-referencing it with the memories Aurus had of the place. He then let out a soft snigger as he said, “Just like the Flame Spirit Inheritance, the Grand Blue Inheritance maintained the same appearance. It still looks as imposing as ever.”

Unlike the Flame Spirit Inheritance, which was housed within a charred abandoned building, the Grand Blue Inheritance was housed within an exquisite castle made out of ice. The spires adorning the top of the castle radiated rays of various colors as the sun’s rays hit them, giving the castle a majestic and ethereal feel.

Taking in a deep breath, he then recalled the code phrase Eleanor whispered to him before he left the Inferno Plains. To be honest, Argentum did not know why Eleanor told him that it was a code word if it was actually a string of words in reality. He decided to think that it was just done to mystify the importance of it. After recalling it, he then pondered over Aurus’s memories regarding the Grand Blue Inheritance.

“Now that I think about it, with the code phrase given by Eleanor, the layout of the trials might change,” Argentum said to himself in contemplation. He then shrugged his shoulders before saying, “Ah well. Still a good reference nonetheless.”

Step. Step. Step.

As he continued to mutter to himself in contemplation regarding the Grand Blue Inheritance, he gradually made his way towards the gates of the ice castle. After doing so, he then placed both of his hands on the gate, feeling a strong chill pervade his body in an instant.

Rather than resisting this chilly feeling, Argentum decided to circulate the energy inside his body in a way that mimicked the chilly aura. A few seconds later, a layer of frost soon enveloped his body, which then shattered into pieces like broken glass a few seconds later.

Whoosh!

Accompanying the sound of shattering glass, Argentum’s body had instantly disappeared from the gates of the ice castle, heading towards the start of the Grand Blue Inheritance.