Chapter 236 - Heading to the Azure Shores (1/2)

”Huh?” This was the only sound that came of Argentum's mouth after listening to what Eleanor was saying. After that, he processed her response inside his mind, eventually formulating a proper response as an aura of fear radiated from him. He then asked her in a stupefied tone, ”Are you serious, Eleanor? The Grand Blue Inheritance has a 99.9% death rate?”

”How could I not lie?” Eleanor responded to Argentum's question before adding, ”That's the reason why I asked you what inheritance you were heading to do in the Azure Shores. Anyways, I've got a few long-lasting experiences from that inheritance that they feel more like traumas rather than proper memories.”

”Since you've undergone the Grand Blue Inheritance back then, could you please shed some light on the trials and other miscellaneous things regarding the inheritance, Eleanor?” Argentum asked her not long after she finished talking, a thought filled with doubt gradually forming inside his mind, screaming at him to not enter the Grand Blue Inheritance at all.

”Are you sure you want to know?” Eleanor could not help but ask him, to which he nodded in response. After that, she let out a long sigh before saying, ”I guess I'll tell you all I know regarding the Grand Blue Inheritance then. But don't tell me after I'm done narrating that you've decided to not head to the Grand Blue Inheritance, okay?”

Argentum hastily nodded at her words, inwardly thinking to himself that he was going to avoid entering the Grand Blue Inheritance altogether, choosing another inheritance in the Azure Shores that would offer the same rewards instead without the high death rate.

Noticing that Argentum went silent, Eleanor inwardly laughed as she had an idea on what Argentum was thinking. Nevertheless, she pretended that she did not know what was going on inside his head as she said in a slightly horrified tone, ”First of all, the Grand Blue Inheritance is composed of 10 trials, with each trial being exponentially harder than the previous one. I was lucky that I was given the choice to escape the inheritance at around the 6th trial. If I wasn't given that choice, I might have been dead by now.”

Listening to Eleanor's explanation, a feeling of dread filled Argentum's body, making him rethink his decision of heading towards the Azure Shores to enter the Grand Blue Inheritance. Alongside this, the seed of doubt in his mind gradually became larger as he continued to listen to Eleanor speak.

”To be honest, the first trial was already incredibly difficult,” Eleanor said, letting out a sigh as she radiated an aura that she was reminiscing those times. Taking in a deep breath, she continued, ”Although the mechanics of the first trial were hazy to me, I could still vividly remember its difficulty.”

”I presume that even a peak Rank 1 Animate would die from the sheer difficulty of this first round,” she added, sensing the intense fear that was radiating out of Argentum at this moment. As she noticed this, in her mind, she could not help but think, 'He's gonna ask me regarding the different inheritances in Azure Shores sooner or later.'

With that in mind, she inwardly laughed as she continued to speak in a slightly horrified tone, telling Argentum even more of her experiences regarding the Grand Blue Inheritance.

”You know, I wouldn't recommend someone at your level to head to the Grand Blue Inheritance,” Eleanor said. ”You might get lucky in these first few trials, but what if your luck runs out? Who else would you blame in that situation but yourself?”

”Uh…” At this point, the fear Argentum felt had reached the level of fear he had felt inside the Flame Spirit Inheritance when he had just badmouthed Eleanor. Mustering up his courage, he timidly asked her, ”Um…can I uh…can you tell me about the uh…other inheritances in Azure Shores…?”

”Hoh?” Eleanor uttered as an aura of slight fury radiated from her before saying, ”Didn't you agree that once you heard about my experiences from the inheritance, you wouldn't opt to head into another inheritance instead? Are you breaking our agreement?”

”Well, I…er…” Argentum said in a stuttering manner, not knowing what to say in response to the words. Just as he found the right words to say though, Eleanor started to laugh loudly, confusing Argentum as the intense fear he felt subsided, prompting him to ask her, ”What's so funny?”

”Your reaction,” Eleanor responded to his question as she continued to laugh. At this moment, Argentum felt intense confusion rather than fear since he did not know what made Eleanor laugh. Fortunately, she stopped laughing after quite some time, letting out a sigh as she said, ”And I thought I couldn't make you become fearful for the safety of your life again. Everything I've said about the Grand Blue Inheritance has been fake.”

”Huh?” Argentum could only utter this sound in response to what she had said, taking quite a long time to process the words she had said in her mind. After fully processing it, he focused his sense of vision towards her and asked with slight uncertainty, ”So…everything you said so far…was fake?”

”Yep, as fake as it could be.” Eleanor nodded in response to Argentum's words. Hearing those words, Argentum could not help but let out a huge sigh of relief as he asked with a hint of infuriation, ”Why did you have to scare me though?”

”Well, why not?” she responded to his question in a slightly teasing note, letting out a light chuckle afterward. At this moment, Argentum could not help but become dejected as he realized that he fell for lies, sitting on the hot ground in a cross-legged fashion. Eleanor looked at the dejected Argentum for a bit before feeling slight remorse for her actions, deciding to come closer to Argentum before placing her hand on his shoulder as she apologized.

”Alright, I apologize for what I've done,” Eleanor said as an apology before adding, ”I won't do something like this ever again.”

”How can I be so sure that you would keep your word though?” Argentum asked her, still in a dejected mood. This question made Eleanor ponder over the answer for a bit, eventually coming up with a good one a few seconds later as she answered, ”I'll seriously tell you everything I know about the inheritance, plus I'll even tell you some tips to make the clearing process easier.”

As his sense of hearing perked up from the word 'tips', Argentum focused his sense of vision towards her as he asked her one more time, ”Promise?”

”I promise,” Eleanor said in a solemn tone, prompting Argentum to let out a sigh as he stood up, facing Eleanor. Scratching his head, he then went ahead and asked her, ”So…are you truly going to tell me everything you know about the inheritance?”

”Yeah.” Eleanor nodded in response to his words before adding, ”First off, although I did say that the Grand Blue Inheritance has a 99.9% death rate, in reality, it isn't that far off, having a death rate of 80 percent.”

”80 percent…” Argentum could not help but repeat this in his mind a few times, eventually calming himself down as he reassured himself, thinking that a 1 in 5 chance of survival was far better than a 1 in 1000 chance of survival.