Chapter 244 - What a Genius Pseudo-Animate! (1/2)
Whoosh!
A few seconds have passed since Argentum had entered the inheritance through the method shown in Aurus's memories. At this moment, he had appeared in the center of what seemed to be a rectangular room. Other than that small difference, there was nothing else that could be greatly discerned. Like the room he was in before, the confines of the room were made out of chiseled ice, radiating a chilling aura as usual.
Just as he was about to start walking to get a better feel of the room's dimensions, a whirring sound akin to a strong breeze soon resounded from one end of the rectangular room. Hearing this, Argentum had no choice but to focus his sense of vision towards the origin of the sound, the aura surrounding him becoming that of confusion soon after.
The sound came from one of the walls, wherein a bulletin board of some sort had manifested on it. Not long after, multiple squares appeared on this bulletin board, which was then filled in with pictures, texts, and numbers. Slightly confused yet curious to see what it was, Argentum gradually made his way towards it, his confusion increasing even further as he arrived in front of it.
”[Water Armor], 15 points?” He started to read through the texts and numbers written on the bulletin board, realizing that the texts pertained to the names of Water-based skills, while the numbers under it pertained to the currency needed to obtain the said skills. Of course, this naturally led him to wonder as to where he would get the currency to obtain those skills. Fortunately, it would not take long for his queries to be answered as a masculine voice resounded throughout the rectangular room he was in.
”Welcome to the Grand Blue Inheritance, Pseudo-Animate,” the disembodied voice resounded, to which Argentum thought, 'Ah. The Grand Blue Inheritance is finally starting.'
At that moment, he shifted his focus from the bulletin board in front of him to the disembodied voice instead, wanting to make sure that he did not miss a single word from it. As he listened to the disembodied voice's next few words, he could not help but utter, ”…eh?”
”I am the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, and I shall be the guide for your trials,” the disembodied voice continued to talk, introducing itself as the Grand Blue Master. Argentum was instantly in disbelief. A weak Pseudo-Animate like him would actually make the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance become his guide to the trials?
Although he wanted to ask the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance whether or not it was truly him Argentum was talking to, thanks to the great disparity in their strength, Argentum opted to suppress this urge…only to find out that he did not need to.
”Since you've been brought here by the Undying Flame Spirit, and you've even said the code word, the trials you shall undertake are a bit different from the normal trials I give out to beings,” the Grand Blue Master's voice continued to resound throughout the room, shocking Argentum quite a bit.
'That statement was a bona fide code phrase?!' Argentum truly could not believe that defaming someone was actually a code phrase. Normally, the code phrases and code words he knew of, thanks to Aurus's memories, were of words and phrases related to the organization or the person.
”Do you have any questions before we start the trial?” the Grand Blue Master continued to talk. ”If you do, feel free to ask.”
”Uh…” In response to the Grand Blue Master's words, Argentum hemmed and hawed for a bit, wondering if it was truly fine to ask such a lofty being like the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance questions. Eventually, he mustered up his courage and asked him, ”Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, may I ask what the thing on that far end of the room is?”
”Good first question,” the Grand Blue Master said in response to Argentum's words before letting out a light chuckle. ”If you've already read through its contents, then you know what it already is. It's none other than a shop screen. As long as you have enough points, then you can exchange those points for a skill on the shop screen.”
”Might I ask, Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, how do I obtain the points necessary to exchange for those skills?” Argentum asked with a follow-up question, still feeling slightly nervous inside.
”You'll be obtaining them through the trials you'll undergo,” the Grand Blue Master replied. He then continued, ”Each trial, depending on how great your performance is, will reward you from 1 to 10 points. Since you're the Undying Flame Spirit's student, then the amount of trials you'll undergo is 10. With 10 trials, you can obtain a maximum of 100 points and a minimum of 10. In other words, you'll at least obtain one skill from this inheritance.”
Listening to the Grand Blue Master's words for a bit, Argentum processed the explanation in his mind, eventually understanding what the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance was saying. With that, he then said in a grateful tone, ”Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance.”
”You don't have to call me the Master of the Grand Blue Inheritance every time, Pseudo-Animate,” the Grand Blue Master said in response to Argentum's words of gratitude, letting out a light laugh afterward. He then said, ”Calling me the Grand Blue Master is fine.”
”Speaking of which, is it fine if I know your name?” the Grand Blue Master followed up with a question of his own, to which Argentum replied, ”It would be Argentum, Grand Blue Master.”
”Argentum, huh…” Grand Blue Master repeated Argentum's name a few times in a mutter before letting out a short sigh. After doing so, he then went ahead and asked Argentum, ”So why did the Undying Flame Spirit accept you as her student, Argentum? It's quite weird for a Fire-based Pseudo-Animate to accept a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate as their student.”
”Uh…” Argentum did not know what to say. Of course, he could not tell him that he knew of the code word because Eleanor told him about it to make the Grand Blue Inheritance easier for him. In the end, Argentum said, ”I cannot disclose the reason.”
”Cannot disclose, huh?” the Grand Blue Master said before pondering over the reasons why. After some time, he asked Argentum, ”Is it because the Undying Flame Spirit told you to not tell others about it?”
Argentum did not respond to the Grand Blue Master's question at all. He only remained silent. Noticing this, the Grand Blue Master let out yet another sigh before pondering over the possible reasons why Argentum became the Undying Flame Spirit's student.
”Is it because you're well-versed in the Fire element, even though you're a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate?” he asked, to which Argentum did not say anything in response.
”Or is it because you have a high comprehension rate?” the Grand Blue Master asked after that, to which Argentum still did not respond.
”Or rather…though this is near impossible…” the Grand Blue Master said before pondering over it for a bit. He then continued with his previous train of thought, ”You're not the Undying Flame Spirit's student at all, but she told you the code word so you could have an easier time in my inheritance.”
In response to the Grand Blue Master's last statement, Argentum maintained his silence. However, he was already screaming out inwardly that this was true. 'The reason why she told me the code word was because we're bound by a contract! She has a great amount of trust in me thanks to it! If not for this contract, then I wouldn't even know about this!'
Fortunately, Argentum suppressed his emotions to the limit, not showing any hint of shock or surprise in his aura. This, in turn, made the Grand Blue Master give up guessing as he let out a sigh. ”I guess I'll find out the reason why through the trials instead.”
Hearing that, Argentum let out a sigh of relief. He was now able to relax his vigilance…for now.
After a minute or so of silence between the two of them, the Grand Blue Master went ahead and asked Argentum, ”Do you have any Water-based skills?”
Argentum replied without hesitation, ”I have none, Grand Blue Master. I was originally only well-versed in Wind-based skills, but the Undying Flame Spirit gave me some Fire-based skills, allowing me to become slightly well-versed in the Fire element as well.”