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Chapter 233: Apologies and Wishes

“…eh?” This was the only sound the Undying Flame Spirit could utter after listening to the long string of harsh words Argentum said to her. To be honest, what she expected to hear from the Pseudo-Animate in front of her was instead words of gratitude or possibly an actual question. She truly did not expect to be lashed out by a Pseudo-Animate she had helped, and a weaker one at that, leading to the loss of words that she was experiencing right now.

After letting out all of the pent-up rage inside him to the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance, Argentum felt a new level of zen inside him, as if there was nothing that could bother him anymore. Unfortunately for him, that sensation only lasted for a while as his sense of vision slowly focused on the Undying Flame Spirit, who was radiating an aura of confusion as of this moment.

At first, he could not help but wonder as to why the Undying Flame Spirit was confused, as well as why the Undying Flame Spirit was not moving nor responding at all. Thankfully, it did not take long for him to realize that the reason why the Undying Flame Spirit was like this was because of what he had said a while ago. At the instant he realized this, his aura, which used to be the epitome of calmness and composure, was now replaced with the epitome of fear, anxiety, and terror.

Of course, this aura stemmed from the fact that he lashed out at the Undying Flame Spirit, the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance. This fear was greatly heightened since he had committed the information he learned from the Seven Flame Road into his memory, knowing very well that she was the only being in the continent he was on that could exert the power of the Lux Purity Flames, the fourth flame on the Seven Flame Road.

The power and heat he felt from the Lux Purity Flames was already suppressed to a great extent in order for him to survive such intense flames, but what if the Undying Flame Spirit became infuriated at his words and unhesitatingly decided to use such a flame on him, a flame that would easily wipe out billions of beings from its indirect heat? A flame that would not even need to be exposed for an attosecond in order for Argentum to disappear from the face of this world?

With that in mind, Argentum unhesitatingly prostrated in front of the Undying Flame Spirit as he hastily formulated an apology in his mind, using his most sincere tone to shout, “I sincerely apologize for what I’ve just said to the great Undying Flame Spirit!”

Surprisingly, this apology of his was able to make the Undying Flame Spirit come back to her senses as her sense of vision soon focused onto Argentum prostrating, making Argentum feel more fear and anxiety, wondering whether or not the Undying Flame Spirit was planning to kill him at any moment.

“It’s just that this lowly Pseudo-Animate is not used to having those kinds of trials in an inheritance, and I just need a place to vent it off…I sincerely apologize!” Argentum said not long after feeling the Undying Flame Spirit’s gaze at him become a bit cold. He then said, “If the great Undying Flame Spirit wants me to, I would gladly become the great Undying Flame Spirit’s servant, or perhaps even your sla—”

“You can stop talking, Argentum.” Just before Argentum was about to finish his last string of words, the Undying Flame Spirit interrupted him from doing so as she let out a short sigh. At this moment, the level of fear and anxiety Argentum felt as he realized what he had done was at a level far beyond what he thought was possible. As an incredibly tense silence ensued between the two of them, the Undying Flame Spirit could not help but notice the aura that Argentum was radiating, making him ponder for a bit before going ahead and saying, “Stand up.”

“Y-yes!” Still fearing the repercussions of what he had said to the Undying Flame Spirit, Argentum hastily replied to her words with a stutter as he stood up, making sure that his posture was as perfect as it could be. Noticing that Argentum still held great fear for her, the Undying Flame Spirit let out a sigh as she said, “I won’t punish you for what you’ve said.”

“Eh?” Argentum uttered as he listened to the Undying Flame Spirit’s words. He could not believe what he was hearing. He then cautiously asked if she could repeat it one more time, which she unhesitatingly did so. At that point, the amount of fear Argentum had for her was slightly lessened, but it was still at an incredibly high level. Mustering up his courage to wonder why, he told her, “But I badmouthed you…you’re way stronger than me…shouldn’t you be mad…?”

“Mad? Of course, I want to be mad,” she responded to his question before adding, “But I can’t be fully mad after hearing what you’ve said. I guess it was insensitive of me to give you those kinds of trials.”

Hearing her response to his words, the amount of fear he had was lessened yet again, now feeling great remorse for what he had done. In his mind, he thought that he should have thought about the reasons why the Undying Flame Spirit did what she did from her perspective and not just lash out from the perspective he had experienced. Letting out a short sigh, he mustered up his courage once more, saying, “I seriously apologize for what I’ve done. I guess you can say I was insensitive as well, not considering your perspective as I lashed out.”

He then let out one more sigh as he continued, “It’s just that the trials I’ve undergone in the past were vastly different from the trials you’ve let me undergo in this inheritance. The trials I’ve undergone felt…uh…what’s the word I’m looking for again?”

“Normal?” the Undying Flame Spirit asked in response to his question, to which Argentum nodded. Letting out a sigh of her own, she then said, “To be honest, I was contemplating whether or not to let you go through the normal trials at first, but seeing as you were a Pseudo-Animate, I gave you preferential treatment. This inheritance was made to help bolster the power of Fire-based Pseudo-Animates in the first place.”

“But I’m not a Fire-based Pseudo-Animate,” Argentum said to her, his fear and anxiety gradually disappearing as he continued to talk. “So why would you still give me preferential treatment?”

“Because you’re a Pseudo-Animate. That’s all there is to it,” the Undying Flame Spirit replied succinctly. In response to that, Argentum could not help but feel even more remorse than before, saying, “Now I feel like scum.”

“Don’t beat yourself up like that,” the Undying Flame Spirit said after listening to his words. “We just have our own preferences in life, it’s just that our preferences did not match up.”

“I guess you could say that,” Argentum let out a light chuckle as he responded, which was soon followed up with a sigh. After that, a moment of silence ensued between the two of them, which was broken by Argentum as he directly looked at the Undying Flame Spirit and said, “Thank you.”

“Hm? What was that?” Although she had a feeling that Argentum thanked her, she wanted to make sure. Fortunately, Argentum was not that shy when it came to showing gratitude, saying it once more, “Thank you for giving me great rewards with the trials being easy.”

“You’re welcome,” the Undying Flame Spirit said nonchalantly, but she was inwardly happy that the Pseudo-Animate was truly what she expected in the fourth trial. Unfortunately for her, she let that slip out as she said, “I guess my impression of you from the fourth trial was correct. You’re a kind Pseudo-Animate at heart.”

“Huh? Fourth trial?” Hearing the Undying Flame Spirit say those words, Argentum could not help but recall what had happened in the fourth trial, trying to find anything that connected the fourth trial to what she was saying. Thankfully, it did not take long for Argentum to realize that there was a chance that the reason why she would say that was because of what he did to the Reconnaissance Spirit.

Wanting to know if it was true though, Argentum mustered up his courage and said two words.

“Reconnaissance Spirit?”

“Exactly,” the Undying Flame Spirit said in response to his question, letting out a chuckle not long after as he felt a bit embarrassed. “Anyways…”

Just as Argentum thought that he had apologized enough to the Undying Flame Spirit for what he had done, the aura of the Undying Flame Spirit gradually intensified as the color of her body transformed from a crimson red color to an orange one. Not long after, it was replaced with a yellow flame, before being replaced with a white flame, radiating an immense level of killing intent in the process.

At that moment, the amount of fear and anxiety Argentum had, which he thought was already gone, was soon revived as it had reached an even greater level than before. The level of his fear and anxiety was not just far beyond what was possible, but farther beyond what was far beyond the possible. Noticing Argentum’s reaction, the Undying Flame Spirit was inwardly happy as she said in the most murderous tone she could muster, “Never badmouth me like that ever again.”

“Y-yes,” Argentum could only timidly respond to her question, feeling that the flames surrounding her body were the Lux Purity Flames he had come across in the Seven Flame Road, but its power of destruction was greatly suppressed. Fortunately, the Undying Flame Spirit did not stay in that form for too long. After making sure that she had left a long-lasting imprint on Argentum’s memory to not badmouth her ever again, she reverted to her original form, which was the one made out of crimson red flames.

“Haah…even though I could use the Lux Purity Flames at full power, it still takes a lot out of me to do so,” the Undying Flame Spirit muttered to herself as she let out a sigh, focusing her sense of vision back to Argentum, who had subconsciously prostrated due to the immense fear he felt from her full power.

“I just wanted to give you a small punishment, that’s all,” the Undying Flame Spirit said to Argentum as she let out a light chuckle. A few seconds later, she told him, “If you don’t stand up at this instant, then I won’t grant any wish you want.”

Whoosh!

Surprisingly, even though Argentum’s fear and anxiety were still at a high level thanks to what the Undying Flame Spirit had done, he unhesitatingly stood up as he knew that any wish he asked for to the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance, who truly looked like an incredibly strong Pseudo-Animate to him, would definitely be granted in one way or another.

Taking in a few deep breaths to reduce his fear and anxiety to tolerable levels, Argentum eventually regained his calm and composure as he focused his sense of vision towards the Undying Flame Spirit, imitating the sound of an Animate clearing his throat as he asked her, “You said that you could grant any wish I want, right?”

“Indeed,” the Undying Flame Spirit responded to his question. She then added, “Of course, the wish should be something that I’m actually capable of doing. No wishing the revival of a being. I have no methods of doing so.”

“No wishing for immortality as well, I haven’t achieved that,” she continued explaining the limitations of her wishes. “Well…if you wish for long life, then I can help with that. Although those methods would use up a lot of my rare materials, it would definitely allow you to live for an additional 1000 years or so.”

“A thousand years?!” Hearing that she was able to extend his lifespan to a great extent, Argentum could not help but become tempted. Then again, he remembered that he still had a ton of years left in his lifespan, thinking that it would be useless for him to increase his lifespan at this moment. It would be incredibly useful if he had a foot in the grave though.

Nevertheless, the thought intrigued him, prompting him to ask her, “Have you used such methods on yourself? If so, how old are you?”

“First question, yes; second question, a few thousand years,” the Undying Flame Spirit unhesitatingly replied. “Of course, I won’t tell how long I’ve been exactly alive. That’s a maiden’s secret~”

“Sure…” Argentum said before going ahead and pondering over the wish he wanted for the Undying Flame Spirit to fulfill. The only limitations he had in terms of the wish he wanted her to fulfill was the revival of the dead and immortality. It occurred to him not long after that he could go ahead and wish the Undying Flame Spirit to make him incredibly strong, prompting him to ask her, “Is it possible for the wish to make me incredibly strong in an instant?”

“How strong to be exact?” the Undying Flame Spirit asked him. “If you want to obtain a level of strength below mine, then I could do that. As for a level of strength on the same level as mine or a higher level than mine, that I cannot do.”

“Then again, there’s a big downside to this, being that it would take a long time for you to adapt to your newly obtained strength. At your current level, it would probably take you over ten thousand years to eventually adapt. In other words, you’d be dead by then,” she added not long after, prompting Argentum to discard the idea in his mind.

‘A wish that would allow me to obtain a great boost in the short term, as well as the long term.’ This was the kind of wish Argentum wanted the Undying Flame Spirit to fulfill. Thinking about this thought even deeper, he went ahead and rummaged through Aurus’s memories.

Surprisingly, thanks to Aurus’s memories, Argentum was able to find the exact type of wish he wanted the Undying Flame Spirit to fulfill, though he was not sure whether she would allow it in the first place.

Attracting her attention by imitating the sound of a being clearing their throat, he went ahead and told her, “I would like to ask if this wish is possible.”

“What kind of wish is it?” the Undying Flame Spirit asked, yawning before manifesting a chair made out of her own energy, which she sat on soon after. Feeling a bit nervous, Argentum went ahead and mustered up all of his courage to ask her, “Is it possible for you to give me partial ownership of this inheritance?”

The ownership of an inheritance. According to Aurus’s memories, once one obtained ownership of an inheritance, they would instantly obtain a decent boost to their stats, which fulfills Argentum’s needs of a great boost in the short term. Not only that, but the owner of an inheritance would also gain access to the various rooms of the inheritance, like the skill room in the Tempest Cliff Inheritance Aurus owned. That fulfilled Argentum’s needs for a great boost in the long term.

Of course, since the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance was still alive, he could not go and ask her if he could become the new owner of the inheritance, that would just be rude. Instead, he opted for the second type of ownership Aurus had obtained from the Area 52 Inheritance, a partial ownership.

“Hmm…” The Undying Flame Spirit pondered over Argentum’s question for quite some time, increasing the level of nervousness Argentum felt with every second. Fortunately, after a minute or so, the Undying Flame Spirit was finished pondering, focusing her sense of vision towards Argentum and saying, “To be honest, you’re the first Pseudo-Animate I’ve met to ask me to fulfill such a wish.”

At that point, Argentum instantly concluded that the Undying Flame Spirit would decline his wish. Then again, it made sense. This Flame Spirit Inheritance was the inheritance she had made to help out Pseudo-Animates become stronger in a short amount of time. Someone like her would definitely enjoy controlling every nook and cranny of the inheritance. By giving him partial ownership of the inheritance, that meant that she was giving up a portion of the control she had over the inheritance. But then, the Undying Flame Spirit continued to talk as she let out a light chuckle, making Argentum radiate an aura of elation in an instant.

“Then again, it’s not impossible for me to do so. Sure, I’ll fulfill your wish.”

“Becoming a partial owner, that is.”