Chapter 198 - An Unexpected Trial (1/2)
Whoosh!
After doing what he had to do in the Tempest Cliff Inheritance, he soon left the place through teleportation, only taking a few teleports to do so. Nevertheless, the aura that was radiating from him was the same at the time when he was about to leave the Tempest Cliff Inheritance.
Dejection.
The reason why he was dejected was that the number of unused experience points that he could use right now was less than the amount he was told before, even though his personal assistant, Theresa, told him that the number given to him was an educated guess and was not the exact amount it would use.
He was positioned on the center of the magic circle that led to the insides of the inheritance, letting out a low sigh as he looked at the ruins that surrounded the magic circle. He then focused his sense of vision towards the sky, taking note of the fact that the sun was close to setting. While looking at these things, he was pondering on what he could do to increase the number of unused experience points he had by a lot in a short amount of time.
Of course, he thought about killing Inanimates to solve this problem, but the amount of experience they gave was minuscule when compared to the needs of Aurus. He also thought about killing Animates, having the feeling that he would be able to easily kill them as long as he hid wisely and killed them in one shot. But then, his rational side took over the majority of his thoughts, thinking about the consequences if he got caught killing Animates.
Rather than having a grudge towards him, they would pursue him even more due to the power he held and turn him into a weapon that would allow them to wield the same level of power, or perhaps even greater.
”I could go ahead and kill Pseudo-Animates since that would be the perfect existence level to kill at my level of combat power,” Aurus muttered to himself as he continued to think of ways to alleviate his problem, adding, ”But Pseudo-Animates are incredibly rare by the looks of it. When I came with Herellia to the inheritance that gave Comprehension Leaves, I did not even see any Pseudo-Animates roaming around in the wilderness.”
”Haah.” Aurus let out a sigh of slight frustration at this problem. Just as he was accepting his fate of killing a massive amount of Pseudo-Animates at once, he remembered something that he had activated inside the Tempest Cliff Inheritance a while ago, a skill that had a description that could alleviate his problem.
”[Reward Sharing]…would Argentum even kill a few beings along the way to Verdant Breeze Town?” Aurus pondered over it, his aura of dejection being replaced with slight happiness not long after. As a thought related to Pseudo-Animates flashed across in mind, he then said with slight confidence, ”If he wants to become strong, he has no choice but to kill a few beings. I almost forgot that Pseudo-Animate skills have mastery levels just like Animates.”
With that in mind, Aurus was more or less at ease about the success of his third plan. Of course, he also had a back-up plan in the off-chance that Argentum's killing spree would come later than sooner, killing a stray Animate…or even a few of them.
”Let's head to the second inheritance,” Aurus said to Theresa with a more composed tone this time, to which Theresa replied with glee, ”As you wish, Master!”
Whoosh!
And just like that, both Aurus and Theresa had disappeared from the center of the magic circle, heading towards the town that housed the inheritance that gave Aurus not only Comprehension Leaves, but a title as well.
…
Whoosh!
Around an hour later, Aurus and Theresa had finally arrived at the outskirts of the town where the inheritance resided, with Aurus radiating an aura of slight shock as he tested out the new and improved movement skill he had obtained after fusing all of those skills to their limit.
”[Omnipresent Movement]…to think that this movement skill that leaned towards flying rather than teleportation back then would turn into a teleportation skill that far eclipses the range of [Nebulous Tempest Blessing],” Aurus muttered as he recalled the distance he had traveled with a single teleportation of both skills. While still in awe, he added, ”Even without activating [Zenith Nihility Dash], I could travel a distance that's farther than [Nebulous Tempest Blessing] and [Zenith Nihility Dash] used in tandem.”
”The only downside is the amount of FP consumed per teleportation,” Aurus muttered with a chuckle before adding, ”Then again, I have tons of FP to use anyway.”
Whoosh!
Unlike before, where he would have morphed into an inconspicuous object so that he would not attract the attention of the Animates that were guarding the perimeter of the town, as well as the Animates that lived inside the town, Aurus believed in the range of [Omnipresent Movement] as a lot of his FP was consumed, with him and Theresa appearing inside a dark and secluded place not long after.
At the instant Aurus and Theresa had arrived at this dark and secluded place, Aurus took a look around his surroundings and radiated an aura of satisfaction after noticing there were multiple planks of wood blocking the entrance behind him. In other words, he had successfully entered the abandoned mineshaft where the inheritance resided without having to pass through the Animates.
He then went ahead and teleported to the innermost portion of the abandoned mineshaft, eventually ending up in a corridor that led to a dead end. He looked at the dead-end of this corridor, radiating an aura of slight elation as he noticed that an inconspicuous magic circle was etched on the wall. Cross-referencing the memory he had of the magic circle that led to the inheritance from before, he was certain that this magic circle was the one he wanted to enter.
”If I remember correctly, to enter the inheritance, I should reply to the words said by the magic circle,” Aurus muttered as he slowly made his way towards the magic circle, eventually standing a decent distance away from the magic circle. He focused his sense of vision towards it, waiting for a voice to resound so he could get into the inheritance and obtain Comprehension Leaves.
Whirr…
”Eh?” Surprisingly, rather than that being the case, without any warning or sign beforehand, the inconspicuous magic circle started to glow a faint white as a suctioning force gradually enveloped Aurus, leaving no trace of him ever crossing the corridor a few seconds later.
Whoosh!
Around a minute after Aurus was abruptly sucked in by the force of the magic circle, he and Theresa had soon appeared in the center of a large stone room. At the instant he had arrived in this room, he looked around and noticed that it was the stone room he was in when he first attempted the inheritance, but considerably bigger than the one he was in when he first attempted the inheritance.