Chapter 257 - A Successful Baptism (1/2)

”What the heck?” Argentum could not help but mutter with a tone of utter shock as he read through the notifications he had received. ”Blue Lightning Triad Tribulation? What kind of trial is that?!”

Seeing as the blue lightning bolts haven't struck Blob yet, Argentum took this time to go ahead and ask the system regarding the severity of blue lightning. Fortunately, sensing that its user was in a race against time, the system hastily answered Argentum's question as a feminine-sounding voice resounded in his mind.

”A blue lightning bolt is made up of 10 purple lightning bolts. On the other hand, a purple lightning bolt is made up of 100 red lightning bolts. In other words, a blue lightning bolt has the force of at least 1000 red lightning bolts behind it,” the system said in his mind, increasing the amount of dread and remorse he felt with the sudden decision he had just made.

After asking the system the question he had in mind, Argentum pondered on what he could do to increase Blob's chance of succeeding in what seemed to be a hellish version of his own Power Baptism. It only took a few seconds for Argentum to come up with a good idea, muttering a few incantations as he extended his palm outward, aiming it towards Blob as he shouted, ”Hey, Blob! Make sure you succeed, okay?”

”[Higher Zephyr Magic: Zephyr Burst Omega, Second Verse]!”

”[Higher Ignis Magic: Ignis Burst Omega, Second Verse]!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Not long after, two large balls of energy, which were red and green respectively, made their way towards Blob's body, which was absorbed after that. At the very instant the two balls were fully absorbed, Blob instantly felt that his feet were incredibly light, making him feel that he would be able to traverse terrain at incredibly fast speeds.

Not only that, but he also felt that a tyrannical and oppressive force surged throughout his body, making him feel that he had the strength to cleave the heavens and tear the world asunder. Realizing that the spells cast at him were filled with the intent of helping him have an easier time in clearing the Power Baptism Argentum told him, Blob looked back at Argentum as he said with a grateful tone, ”With the spells you've cast on me, I definitely will!”

”Now I really regret doing this.” Hearing the grateful tone that covered Blob's words, Argentum felt even more remorse than before, wondering what Blob would feel when he found out that the blue lightning that he was going to defend against was far more dangerous than he thought. At this moment, he was now a few dozen meters away from where Blob was, making sure that he was not caught up in the middle.

The spells he had cast were spells that he had obtained after evolving the spell-based skills he had to another level. The only difference between these spells and the weaker versions of the same spells was their efficacy and speed of casting. Indeed, the spells he had could actually be cast on other beings. In actuality, before deciding to use Blob as his main method of travel, Argentum thought of casting [Zephyr Burst] or another version of the spell on Blob to lessen the travel time between places, but decided otherwise as it would, in a way, reduce the time he had to improve his skills before he arrived at the place.

As for [Aqua Burst], which was a spell that increased the efficacy of skills to unimaginable levels, he opted to not cast it on Blob right now. He was going to wait for the moment that Blob used a skill to mitigate the damage he would receive from the blue lightning.

Rumble…rumble…

The blue lightning lingering through the dark clouds continued to rumble, the aura radiating from each lightning bolt gradually increasing. Surprisingly, even after a couple of minutes, no blue lightning bolt came out of the clouds to strike Blob down, which allowed Blob to activate a few of his skills, which mostly focused on increasing his stats, especially defense.

Feeling that the blue lightning was not going to strike down any time soon, Argentum went ahead and asked the system, ”System, why is Blob's first Power Baptism composed of blue lightning? Wasn't mine only composed of red lightning? Does it have something to do with his current strength?”

Ding!

Accompanied by a notification sound, a feminine-sounding voice resounded throughout Argentum's mind not long after as it explained, ”The user's thought is correct. The power behind a Power Baptism has something to do with the being's current strength. In reality, even if the being decides to postpone their Power Baptism to when they become stronger, the difficulty of a Power Baptism would still stay the same.”

”So you're telling me that every Power Baptism is always insanely hard in difficulty?” Argentum asked in return, obtaining a succinct reply from the system a few seconds later.

”Yes.”

”…” Hearing the system's concise reply, Argentum was left at a loss for words, with a sigh leaving out of his mouth a few seconds later. He then asked the system, ”Is it possible to help the one taking the Power Baptism while it is happening?”

Ding!

Accompanied by yet another notification sound, the feminine-sounding voice of the system resounded once more, informing him that nothing was restricting him from helping out a being that was undergoing a Power Baptism. The system then added that most Power Baptisms were cleared in this fashion, with multiple beings helping out the being that was undergoing the Power Baptism through buffs and indirect attacks.

In an instant, Argentum felt a bit more at ease, knowing that he could help Blob out in clearing his first Power Baptism. Just as he was about to tell Blob that he was going to help him out in this Power Baptism…

The first blue lightning bolt had finally descended.

Bzzt…crash!

With the help of his enhanced senses, Argentum was able to make his vision feel like he was looking at everything in slow motion. Unfortunately for him, even though that was the case, the speed at which the blue lightning bolt descended was still multiple times faster than the red lightning bolt he faced up against. Seeing as he had no way to help Blob out before the lightning bolt would strike Blob, he hastily shouted, ”Dodge it, Blob!”

Hearing his name being called, Blob instantly processed the order that was given him, maintaining eye contact with the blue lightning bolt that was hastily making its way to smite him down. Without hesitation, he activated a skill that allowed him to conjure a barrier that protected his body as he exerted his full power towards his legs, increasing his distance from where the blue lightning bolt was going to hit by a few meters in less than a second.