Chapter 330: Perks of Prominence (2/2)

As he said this, a notification sound resounded in his mind, which accompanied a screen filled to the brim with notifications.

'[Animate Earth Affinity] has been upgraded to [True Earth Affinity]. Due to the inherent limits brought about by the upgraded skill, [True Earth Affinity] has replaced [Animate Earth Affinity] while regressing down to C-grade Mortal level.'

'Thanks to [True Earth Affinity], [Earth Resistance] has been upgraded to [True Earth Resistance], regressing down to C-grade Mortal level.'

'Due to the user understanding more of the Earth element thanks to [True Earth Affinity], all active Earth-based skills and spells have been considered as incredibly inferior, prompting the system to fuse the multiple skills as one with the help of [True Earth Affinity].'

'The active skill [Sage's Earth Magic] has been created. Due to the properties of the skill, the user is now able to create their own Earth-based skills and spells, using this skill as a basis. Improving the grade and level of the skill would allow the user to craft more complex and powerful spells.'

Although he was eager to test out the spells he could use now that he had access to [Sage's Earth Magic], he knew that this was not the right place to test something like that out, unless one of the subsequent trials he had later on would need him to fight. Even though that was the case, he had a feeling that he could manipulate the Earth energy particles forming the room and mold it into anything he wished to.

Of course, he did not do that since that would incur the wrath of Lord Calcifas and possibly send him out of the inheritance. Although continuing the trials from here on out wouldn't mean much to him since he had achieved his goal, he could still give the items and skills he obtained from this inheritance to members in the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, or perhaps Aurus once he woke up from his evolution process.

Taking in a deep breath, he then looked at his body, remembering how his appearance changed after he had achieved the True Element level of affinity for the Water element. Unsurprisingly, the middle part of his upper torso, which used to be the boundary between the green and blue portion of his body, had now taken on a light brown, which signified the fact that his affinity with the Earth element had now reached the True Element level. After that, he looked at the door that led to the third trial, which was seemingly in the same place the door to the second trial was. Wondering if he would be led to another balcony, he then walked through the doorway, only to be blinded by white light for a short while.

Naturally, the white light gradually disappeared as he continued to walk. But instead of a wide view from a balcony greeting his field of vision, what instead greeted his sight was bookshelf upon bookshelf, filled to the brim with books that had covers in various shades of brown. Scratching his head as to what he would do in this next trial, he went towards one of the bookshelves and grab a random book to read its cover.

”[Earth Spike]…” Argentum muttered to himself before grabbing another book, only to find out that the title of the book had something to do with the Earth element. After some time, he came to the conclusion that this room he was in was filled to the brim with bookshelves that contained skill books focused on the Earth element. Just as he was about to ask the disembodied voice if he was finished with all of the trials, the disembodied voice resounded throughout the room as it said.

”The third trial shall test the third characteristic Lord Calcifas looks for in an inheritor. Sure, strength and intelligence are two important characteristics a being should have to be domineering. But only with enough comprehension would one be able to utilize both strength and intelligence to their fullest, removing all obstacles in front of them.”

”In this trial, the inheritor needs to learn as many Earth-based skills as much as possible in the span of three hours,” the disembodied voice continued. ”The number of Earth-based skills the inheritor learns within this span of time will dictate the reward the inheritor shall obtain once time is up. Of course, the inheritor can also opt to expound on these skills, improving their original powers. This would also be considered in the reward of the inheritor for this trial.”

”And so, the third trial has now…begun!”

Whoosh!

At the very instant the disembodied voice was finished talking, a large mass of Earth energy particles coalesced near the ceiling of the room Argentum was in, transforming into large numbers that served as a timer. At this moment, Argentum was confused. He was confused not because of what he had to do, but because of the sheer difficulty of the trial he was undergoing.

”Is this…really a trial someone with the highest difficulty grade would take?” Argentum could not help but ask himself as he picked up a couple skill books from the bookshelf in front of him. Just as he was about to learn these skills, he then wondered if these skills would automatically fuse with [Sage's Earth Magic]. If it did, then that meant that it would be impossible for him to obtain a hefty reward from this trial.

With that in mind, he went ahead and asked the system this question, to which the system responded that it would only fuse the skills once he decides to do so. Having this doubt gone, he let out a light sigh of relief as he allocated a portion of his attention to learning all of the skills on the various bookshelves while the remaining portion was allocated to the difficulty of the trial he was currently taking.

”A trial that focuses on the amount of skills I could learn within a certain span of time…”

”Although I know that this trial appears in other inheritances as certain skills do need a certain level of comprehension in order to be learned…”

”Why do I feel like this trial was intentionally made for me?”