I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 256: Blue Lightning Triad Tribulation

XXXX Continent, amidst the wilderness.

Whoosh!

On the vast plains that constituted a part of the wilderness, one would see a humanoid made out red energy dashing through the plains at great speeds. Sensing the aura radiating from this humanoid, one would instantly conclude that one could not easily mess with this being. Not only that, but if one looked closely on one of the being’s shoulders, one would notice that there was a speck of red sand on it, as if it had landed there for no reason.

Surprisingly though, this speck of red sand also radiated an aura that was a few notches weaker than the running humanoid. The humanoid and the speck of red sand were none other than Argentum and Blob, traversing the wilderness in order to arrive at Verdant Breeze Town.

So far, almost two days have passed since Blob and Argentum had left the Azure Shores. With Blob utilizing the route that was plotted out by Argentum, he had traversed a great distance within these past few days, only taking a few breaks in between. Unexpectedly, while he was taking those breaks, once he had replenished his energy to a considerable amount, he would extend the time of his break a bit more and fight against beings that were nearby, allowing him to enhance his stats by quite a bit.

Through this method, Blob had improved by around 10 levels or so, with the speed at which he ran being significantly faster than before. The same could be said for his offensive and defensive prowess.

And then…there was Argentum.

Although he would look at the surroundings for a bit after feeling that Blob went on a break, he would instantly go back to pondering over the skills he had and mastering his control over them. Unsurprisingly, this kind of mindset allowed him to achieve great improvements in almost all of his skills.

Throughout these past few days, he was able to improve the passive Animate skills he had to the Artisan level of mastery, increasing the efficacy and range of his senses. As for his active Animate skills, all of them had reached the Master level of mastery, thus prompting him to evolve them. Of course, he advanced them even further, stopping at the Expert level of mastery. Then again, the same did not apply to the active skills he had regarding the usage of weapons.

Regarding the other passive skills he had, almost all of them had advanced by a single grade, may it be through actively increasing their experience, or passively increasing it. The only exceptions to these skills were [Water Affinity] and [Water Resistance], which were only close to their respective maximum levels.

The skills that had obtained the most improvement were obviously the active skills he had obtained from the Tempest Cliff and the various inheritances he had entered. The first skill he put his focus towards was [Lesser Azure Magic+], the only spell-based skill he had that was not on the same level as the other two spell-based skills he had.

After it had evolved to [Intermediate Azure Magic++], he then put his focus on the Water and Fire counterpart of the skill as well, becoming satisfied after evolving them to the next grade. Their names were now [Higher Zephyr Magic+++], [Higher Ignis Magic+++], and [Higher Algor Magic+++] respectively, with Argentum only stopping after the three had achieved Adept level.

He then focused on the Wind-based active skills he had, with all of them advancing by a grade, stopping at either the Adept or Expert level of mastery. Then again, the same could be said for the other active skills that were based on the other elements. Almost all of them had advanced by one grade and achieved either the Adept or Expert level of mastery. The only exception to that would be [Great Sapphire Wave Art++], which did not evolve and had only achieved the Artisan level of mastery.

“Haah…haah…” Letting out a sigh as he ran at his full power for a few more minutes, Blob decided to head towards a nearby boulder, making it his temporary resting place as he felt that he had almost exhausted all of his energy. Sitting down on the ground while resting his back on the large boulder, he sent a strand of his energy towards the speck of red sand on his shoulder.

‘Hey, Argentum. I’m going to take a break, okay?’ This was what the strand of energy contained, which prompted Argentum to stop his session of grinding before opening his sense of vision soon after.

After taking in the surroundings around them, Argentum went ahead and asked Blob, “Do you know where we are right now? Just wanted to check if we’re moving at a pace faster or slower than usual.”

“Let me recall…” Blob said in response to Argentum’s words, closing his sense of vision for a bit as he put his full focus on recalling the route that Argentum gave to him. After a few seconds, he opened his sense of vision before replying, “After I recuperate myself and run for a few minutes, we would be able to reach the Iridescent Light Forest.”

“Iridescent Light Forest,” Argentum repeated the name of the landmark Blob told him, recalling the route he gave to Blob a few seconds later. Making sure that the calculation he made in his mind was not wrong, he muttered, “So…we’re around halfway there to Verdant Breeze Town. Estimating the level of improvement Blob would make along the way, we’d probably be back at Tempest Cliff just a few days more after two weeks.”

“Alright,” Argentum responded to Blob’s reply before saying, “Go take a nice break. We’d probably reach Verdant Breeze Town after a couple more days or so. Do you think you could do it?”

“Believe in me, Argentum,” Blob replied with a light chuckle as he added, “With the number of beings I kill every time I take a break, we’ll definitely get there within two days or less.”

“Good to hear,” Argentum responded to Blob’s statement, letting out a chuckle of his own as he closed his sense of vision. He was about to return to his usual grinding session.

But unfortunately for him, just as he was about to expound upon the skills in his arsenal, a random thought surfaced in his mind, occupying most of the concentration he had in mind. Seeing as it was slightly hard to push this thought away and focus on his skills, he decided to look at the thought, which had something to do with the first Power Baptism he had.

‘My first Power Baptism, huh…’ he thought to himself as he recalled the strength he could now unleash after clearing the Grand Blue Inheritance. ‘Speaking of which, I still haven’t checked the stat boost the Grand Blue Inheritance gave me.’

Whoosh!

Commanding the system to reveal the title’s info in his mind, it did not take long for Argentum to realize that the Grand Blue Master’s words were correct when he said that 15% of his inheritance’s power would be equivalent to a greater portion of a small inheritance’s power.

________

[Grand Blue Inheritance: Partial Ownership]

Description has been omitted.

> Increases all stats by 75%

________

With his curiosity regarding the stat boost of the title now being satisfied, his thoughts shifted back to the first Power Baptism, wondering if he could clear it without much difficulty after everything he had been through so far. Surprisingly, even though he had a feeling that he would be able to do it, after recalling the power of the first bolt that almost killed him, he could not help but have a slight fear towards the Power Baptism.

Rather than forcing himself to do it right now, he increased his determination that he was going to attempt his first Power Baptism after he had ransacked Verdant Breeze Town.

‘Now that I think about it…can Blob undergo a Power Baptism?’ With the thought regarding his own Power Baptism now gone, he thought that he could continue grinding his skills, only to find out that another thought had taken its original place. This thought was now filled with the question as to whether or not Blob could clear his first Power Baptism.

Letting out an inward sigh, Argentum focused his thoughts onto this new thought, thinking about the upsides and downsides of Blob undergoing his first Power Baptism. Unsurprisingly, the pros outweighed the cons, with the only con in undergoing a Power Baptism being the chance of being caught by an Animate.

‘With Blob undergoing a Power Baptism, the speed at which we’d reach Verdant Breeze Town would increase exponentially, while his strength would undergo a great upheaval as well…’ Argentum thought to himself.

‘But would a being made by the system have the ability to undergo a Power Baptism?’ With this question in mind, he asked the system this question, obtaining an answer that made him satisfied.

Ding!

“Although the user’s companion is made through the usage of a skill, the world still considers the user’s companion as a real being of the world, thus giving it the ability to undergo Power Baptisms and Existence Tribulations like any other being could,” the feminine-sounding voice said to Argentum as it resounded in his mind.

“Hmm…” Argentum pondered over it for a bit more, asking the system if he could transfer the excess energy for Power Baptisms onto Blob. Surprisingly, the system said that it was possible for that to happen, but the being where the user transferred their energy towards would instantly undergo the Power Baptism in exchange.

Although he felt a bit of remorse for having Blob undergo a Power Baptism at the very instant he transferred energy, he thought that this would allow his plans to become a bit more flexible once he arrived at Verdant Breeze Town.

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, Argentum reverted to his previous form as he opened his sense of vision, surprising Blob, who was just gazing at the sky while resting.

“Eh? Why’d you turn back to your original form?” Blob could not help but ask him, to which Argentum replied as he sat beside him, “What? Can’t your creator sit down and gaze at the sky with you?”

“Well, I have no problem with that, but usually, you’d still be enhancing your abilities, Argentum,” Blob said as a response to his creator’s question. After that, the two went silent as both of them gazed at the sky, looking at the clouds that slowly moved.

While Blob was looking at the clouds with a pure intent, Argentum, on the other hand, was looking at the clouds while pondering over the Power Baptism, wondering if the lightning that would befall Blob would be red or not.

Thinking about Blob’s chances of succeeding through his first Power Baptism, he concluded that as long as he was up against the red lightning Argentum was previously up against, with him being at Epic-grade, it would not be a problem for him to succeed.

Making up his mind after that, Argentum then focused his sense of vision towards Blob beside him before initiating a conversation as he asked him, “Hey, Blob. Wanna become stronger in an instant?”

“Huh?” Being caught off-guard by Argentum’s sudden question, Blob radiated an aura of confusion. He then asked him, “What kind of question is that?”

“I’m just saying that…” Argentum instantly replied to his question. “…if there was a way for you to become stronger in an instant, would you like to do it?”

“Well, sure but—” Blob agreed with an uncertain tone, only for his response to be interrupted as Argentum stood up, exuding an aura filled with exuberance. Looking at Blob, Argentum then said, “Alright! Let’s make you stronger in an instant!”

“System, transfer a full bar of Power Baptism Energy to Blob!” Argentum shouted not long after, only for multiple strands of multicolored energy to vigorously make its way towards Blob where was. Not long after, these strands of multicolored energy were absorbed by Blob’s energy, imbuing him with a sense of greater strength.

“Argentum, what are you doing?” Blob asked Argentum as he stood up, wondering what the multicolored energy did to him. Still radiating an aura of excitement, Argentum replied, “The energy I’ve given you will allow you to undergo something called a Power Baptism! Once you clear this Power Baptism, your power would instantly improve by ten times!”

Rumble…rumble…

Coincidentally, just as Argentum was finished explaining what he was doing, dark gray clouds started to manifest a few thousand meters above Blob’s head, radiating a feeling that the energy inside it could destroy anything. With the help of his enhanced senses, Argentum noticed the dark clouds, pointing towards it as he told Blob, “Do you see the dark clouds over your head? These clouds are filled with a certain color of lightning, and some of them will strike you down, making sure that you would fail the Power Baptism.”

A few seconds later, a red light emanated from the center of the dark clouds as red lightning started to crackle through the clouds. Noticing this, Blob could not help but look at Argentum and ask, “So…all I have to do is just defend against the bolts of lightning that want to strike me down?”

“Exactly,” Argentum said in response as he continued to look at the dark clouds. At first, he expected the bolts of lightning that would strike Blob would be red lightning, but as he looked further, the amount of red lightning crackling through the clouds were far more numerous than the amount he had on his first attempt.

Although he felt that something bad was going to happen, he continued to think optimistically, thinking that Blob would just have to withstand a numerous amount of red lightning bolts.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Whoosh!

Not long after, the red light that emanated from the center of the dark clouds had instantly transformed into a purple hue, the aura of destruction emanating from the bolts now enhanced by a grade. Seeing that the red lightning bolts were transformed into purple lightning bolts, Argentum could not help but feel dread as he noticed that Blob was looking at the lightning bolts with eagerness, radiating an aura that seemed to say that he was wondering whether he could defend against the bolts without a problem.

“Please don’t become worse. Please don’t become worse.” With the red lightning bolts now purple, Argentum could not help but mutter these words, hoping that the lightning bolts that would strike Blob down would be purple at most. He had a hunch that Blob would be able to survive an onslaught of purple lightning bolts with injuries, but any further than that and there was a high chance that he might dissipate into thin air.

Sadly, contrary to the mumbling he had done, the purple lightning bolts crackling through the clouds had undergone the same process as the red lightning bolts from before, becoming more numerous by the second before the light at the center of the dark clouds changed.

In an instant, the purple light radiating amidst the clouds had turned into that of a dark blue hue, carrying an aura of destruction far more condensed than the purple and red lightning bolts combined.

“Blue lightning����?” Argentum could not help but mutter in an incredibly dreadful tone. At this moment, he was truly regretting his decision…which was further enhanced by obtaining a notification from his system.

Ding!

‘The user’s companion has attempted a Power Baptism!’

‘Due to the power stored inside the user’s companion, the decided baptism trial shall be…’

‘The Blue Lightning Triad Tribulation!’