Chapter 254 - Second Attempt? (1/2)
In a deeper part of the Grand Blue Inheritance.
Whoosh!
A large ball of fiery red energy passed through the solid ice walls that made up the inheritance, heading towards where the Grand Blue Master sat. Noticing that the ball of red energy had arrived, he hastily sent a strand of his energy towards the ball, allowing a connection to be formed in his mind as a familiar voice to him resonated a few seconds later.
”This is the third time you've called me as of recent,” the voice said, which was quite feminine in tone. It then took on a hint of teasing as it continued with a giggle, ”Does the Grand Blue Master miss the Undying Flame Spirit that much?”
”If your student wasn't too exemplary, I wouldn't have even called you once, Eleanor,” Felix responded to the voice's words, which was Eleanor's. ”Let me ask you something, Eleanor. Did you tell your student to aim for skills of the four foundational elements or was it really his own idea?”
Only a few minutes have passed since Argentum had left the Grand Blue Inheritance. Naturally, Felix would head back to the room where he usually resided since no other inheritor was inside his inheritance at the moment. Then again, it was rare for him to come out of his room and greet the inheritor personally.
With the thoughts related to the four foundational elements and Argentum circling in his mind, the urge to contact Eleanor regarding what he had in mind had reached a zenith, prompting him to send a ball of his energy towards her. That decision led to the conversation that was happening right now.
”Huh? Why do I feel like you're trying to accuse me of something?” Eleanor said in response to his question. With a feeling of being wronged, she added, ”Did you really think I would give my student the idea of learning skills from all of the foundational elements? That would just hamper their growth rate, you know.”
From the point when Argentum was indirectly mentioned, Eleanor made sure that she did not slip up, making sure to reveal to the Grand Blue Master that their relationship was that of teacher and student, not that of co-owners.
”Who knew the Undying Flame Spirit would actually use her brains for once?” the Grand Blue Master joked, only to realize the awkward atmosphere that resulted from his joke. Imitating the sound of a being clearing their throat, Felix continued with the topic he had in mind, which was to inform Eleanor about what Argentum was planning.
”Anyways, haven't you ever wondered that it was weird for a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate to aim for the skills related to every foundational element and not the Wind element only?” the Grand Blue Master asked, to which the Undying Flame Spirit replied, ”Of course, I've wondered about it before. But you know his qualities, his high comprehension rate makes up for the number of skills he's learning.”
Although it seemed that Eleanor was replying to Felix's questions with confident answers, in fact, she was wracking her brains to the limit, trying to piece an answer that seemed believable from a teacher's perspective. Fortunately, Felix bought her answer, letting out a light giggle in the process. Hearing the light giggle resound throughout her mind, Eleanor could not help but ask, ”What are you giggling about, Grand Blue Master?”
”I told you to call me Felix, no?” Felix said in response to her question, only for him to imitate the sound of one clearing their throat once more as he changed the topic in an instant, taking on a mysterious tone as he told her, ”I'm surprised you haven't seen the limit of Argentum's ambitions.”
”Ambitions? What ambitions?” Eleanor asked as a response to his question before adding, ”Mastering every skill from every foundational element?”
”Nope,” the Grand Blue Master replied in an amused tone. ”Something more ambitious than that.”
”What ambition would be more ambitious than mastering every skill from every foundational element?” Eleanor muttered to herself, squeezing her brain dry to eventually end up with no answer in mind. Feeling that Felix was messing around with her with his vague responses, Eleanor took on a slightly infuriated tone as she said, ”Just get straight to the point and tell me already, Felix.”
Radiating an aura of amus.e.m.e.nt, which was felt by Eleanor through the ball of energy, the Grand Blue Master did not hesitate to ask the Undying Flame Spirit, ”Have you heard of the Lesser Origin element?”
”Well, yeah,” Eleanor unhesitatingly replied. ”How could I not know about it? It's an element that considered the element that triumphs over the four foundational elements.”
Not getting what Felix was trying to say, she could not connect Argentum to his question, prompting her to ask him, ”What does the Lesser Origin element have to do with Argentum?”
”Let me ask you another question in response to yours,” the Grand Blue Master replied to her question before asking, ”According to legends, how does one come to know the Lesser Origin element?”
”According to legends?” Hearing that phrase, Eleanor could not help but recall what she knew about the legend of the Lesser Origin element, eventually saying, ”When the four elements of foundation unite into one entity, one shall ascend through the stairway of heaven, becoming one…with…Lesser Origin…”
”Huh…” As she recited the quote that referenced the Lesser Origin element in the legends, she noticed that the first part of the quote was similar to what Argentum was trying to do. With a surprised yet insanely curious tone, Eleanor asked Felix, ”Are you telling me that Argentum's trying to transition from the Wind element to the Lesser Origin element?”
”To be honest, I thought you already had such a thought in mind,” the Grand Blue Master said in response to her words. Eleanor then replied, ”Who would expect a Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate to aim for such a heavenly element? I thought he was just going to transition to the Fiery Tempest element when he entered my inheritance. When he mentioned that he was going to enter your inheritance, that thought changed to Tri-elemental Tempest.”
”Who would automatically think of the Lesser Origin element in that scenario other than you,” she added. Going silent for a bit as she pondered over it for a bit more, she eventually said, ”Then again, he might not be aiming for the Lesser Origin element at all. He could just be aiming for Tetraelemental Tempest for all we care.”
Listening to Eleanor's explanation, Felix thought that her words did make some sense. He then said, ”Sure, let's say that he's aiming for the Tetraelemental Tempest element right now. But theoretically, what if he was actually aiming for the Lesser Origin element? Do you think he could pass through the Origin Trials?”
The Origin Trials. Hearing the phrase come out of Felix's mouth could not help but make Eleanor shudder a bit as she remembered how monstrous those who traversed the Origin Trials were. The Origin Trials, from its name, was a set of trials made for those who had unified the four foundational elements inside the body and wanted to fuse them together into the Lesser Origin element. Unfortunately, it was said that the trials had a 99.9% failure rate, wherein failure meant death.
Knowing a few being that traversed the Origin Trials throughout her life and never seeing them again after they entered the last part of the trials, Eleanor could not help but think that the Origin Trials were insanely difficult. With that in mind, she hastily said, ”At his current state, definitely not. He'd probably need to go through at least three Power Baptisms to have a fighting chance.”
”Don't you think his grade is quite low for someone who's attempting the Origin Trials?” the Grand Blue Master said in response to the Undying Flame Spirit's question before adding, ”I think he needs to be at least Epic-grade to make sure that he could at least pass through the first few trials.”
”Yeah, I think so as well,” the Undying Flame Spirit replied, agreeing with what Felix had in mind. A few seconds later, she chuckled as she said, ”Of course, he's not aiming for the Lesser Origin element, right?”