Chapter 352: Entering the Origin Pantheon (2/2)
Swoosh!
After some time, Argentum had appeared in the middle of a certain place, though he could not help but feel a bit motion sick. While he was being transported to the place where the Origin Trials located, he felt like he was being pushed and pulled at certain parts of his body from time to time, with the most often target on his body being his head. Fortunately, he was a Pseudo-Animate. If he was already an Animate, then he would've already vomited all over the place he had appeared.
To hastily remove the nausea he was feeling, he closed his eyes for a bit as he sat down, allowing him to become more and more in-touch with the surroundings around him. Eventually, after a couple minutes or so, the feeling of nausea was finally gone from his body as he stood up and opened his eyes, wondering where he had been transported. Surprisingly, the place where Argentum had ended up was far beyond what he had expected.
”Am I…am I…in actual heaven or something?” Argentum could not help but ask himself as he allowed his enhanced senses to spread as far as possible. At the moment, he was currently standing on what seemed to a circle where people usually appeared on, being located on what seemed to be a decently high hill.
Beyond the hill, all he could see were plants and trees that were as vibrant and healthy as they could be while the feeling of harmony of the four foundational elements could be felt all over the place. Although the path that led to the place he was on was only a dirt path, that dirt path felt like it was not out of place at all, as if it was there from the start.
”Where…am I?” Argentum asked himself, only for a man's voice to respond to him as he said with a light chuckle, ”It seems like you're a newcomer, huh. In any case, welcome to the Origin Pantheon.”
”The Origin…come again?” Argentum tried to repeat the term that the voice had used, only to fail as he forgot the final word. Fortunately, the voice was understanding as it repeated, ”The Origin Pantheon.”
”The Origin Pantheon…” Argentum muttered, this time being successful in reciting it. He then turned around to the direction of the voice's origin, eager to thank the man for telling him what the name of the place was. At the very instant he turned around, though, he instantly felt an aura probably millions of times more terrifying than Eleanor's aura at her fully berserk form emanating from the origin of the voice.
Noticing that Argentum was left at a loss for words…and even action, the man that was talking to him a while ago could not help but say, ”Ah, sorry.”
Swoosh!
Not long after, the incredibly intimidating pressure pressing down on Argentum had disappeared without a trace as he looked at the man in front of him with a hint of fear. In contrast, the man looked at scared Argentum with a large grin on his face as he laughed.
”My bad, my bad. I didn't expect that the being that appeared in front of me would be a Pseudo-Animate,” the man said soon after before asking, ”Speaking of which, what's your name?”
”A-Argentum…” Argentum timidly replied, wondering if the man in front of him would lash out at him. In response, the man placed his hands over both of Argentum's shoulders before gently rubbing them as if he was telling him to not be scared. Soon after, the man directly looked at Argentum and said, ”Argentum, huh? That's a nice name. The name's Cardis. Nice to meet ya.”
”Nice to meet you too, Cardis…” Although Argentum was gradually removing his fear of Cardis, the unintentional show of power he had done still lingered in his mind. Naturally, Cardis had a hunch as to what was going on in Argentum's mind, prompting him to say, ”How about this? I take you on a tour of the Origin Pantheon and we become friends. Does that sound good to you?”
”Sure, I guess?” Argentum asked, making Cardis grin with glee as he grabbed onto Argentum's arm before dragging him along.
Soon enough, the two of them were out of the place where Argentum had first appeared as they then made their way to the other parts of the Origin Pantheon. For the most part, the Origin Pantheon looked more like a garden rather than a place that seemed to house the Origin Trials, a set of trials that, according to what Argentum had heard from others, had a high chance of failure and death.
Of course, while they were touring the entirety of the Origin Pantheon, Cardis went ahead and asked Argentum, ”So what brings you to the Origin Pantheon? Have you undergone through the Origin Trials yet?”
”No…not yet,” Argentum shook his head, prompting Cardis to stop in his tracks as he looked at Argentum with a curious gaze. Naturally, Argentum could not help but feel uncomfortable that Cardis was staring at him like that. And so, he asked him, ”Why are you looking at me like that?”
”What Pseudo-Animate grade are you at?” Cardis asked before adding, ”I'm already at Rank 9 Animate, which means I can see through your grade in less than a second…but for some reason, I can't. Are you at a grade far higher than I expect?”
”The opposite, really,” Argentum responded before going silent as he pondered as to whether or not he should tell someone he had met for the first time his grade. With that in mind, he asked, ”Speaking of which, what do you need this information for?”
”Once you answer my question, I'll tell you why I asked you your grade,” Cardis said in response, only to add soon after, ”I'll let you know for now that it has something to do with the Origin Trials you're going to take.”
”I see…” Argentum said in response with a light nod. Taking in a deep breath, he went ahead and said, ”Well, I'm a Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate.”
”…” In an instant, Cardis was left at a loss for words as he did not expect that kind of answer. Thinking that he had heard wrongly, he asked him, ”Did you just say…Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate?”
”Yes? Is there a problem with that?” Argentum responded to Cardis' question with a question of his own, only for Cardis to utilize all of his strength as they zoomed through the dirt paths at breakneck speeds.
Being dragged along as if he was a flag being waved around in frenzy, Argentum endure the strain he felt from his arm as he asked Cardis, ”Why are you running so quickly all of a sudden?”
Rather than respond to his question with a normal smile, an incredibly excited expression could instead be seen on face as he looked at Argentum and said, ”You're gonna bring a big change to this place, that's for sure!”
”I'm sure you'll forge a new faction once you're finished with the Origin Trials!”
Although he was kind of happy to hear that he would be able to do something that others couldn't, he could not help but fixate on a certain part of Cardis' statement as he asked.
”Cardis, I have a question.”
”What is it?”
”…what the heck are factions?”