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Chapter 275: Returning to Tempest Cliff

Ding!

As a response to Argentum’s answer, the system went ahead and let a notification sound resound throughout his mind, which was soon followed up with the feminine-sounding voice of the system. It said, “Since the user has decided to not fuse the four elemental affinities into one for now, the system will not force the user to accept the request as the system has noticed that the user has greater intent behind the decision.”

“Though if the user wishes to fuse the four affinities into one, the user may do so at any time,” it soon added before finishing, allowing Argentum to come back to reality. Just as he was about to tell Felix that he was going to head back to the unoccupied room to enhance his understanding over some other stuff, he could not help but notice the shocked aura Felix was radiating, as if he was at a loss for words.

“Is there a problem, Felix?” Argentum asked Felix, which seemingly brought him back to reality as Felix uttered, “Huh?” Looking around for a bit, Felix eventually let out a sigh of relief before focusing his sense of vision onto Argentum. As he looked at him, he took in a deep breath as a faint aura of elation radiated from him, prompting him to ask Argentum, “Did you…do it?”

“Do what?” Argentum asked in response, not understanding what Felix was trying to say. Seeing that there was no point beating around the bush, Felix went with a straightforward approach this time, asking, “Did you obtain the Lesser Origin element?”

Thinking that Argentum was going to mystify the fact that he had indeed obtained the Lesser Origin element, Felix went ahead and prepared himself for such an outcome…only for it to be shattered as Argentum succinctly answered, “Ah, no.”

“No?” Felix could not understand why Argentum had not obtained the element yet. Explaining what he sensed from him while he was talking to the system, he said, “If that’s the case, what did I sense a while ago? A while ago, I felt something like four entities about to fuse to harmonize with one another, only for it to separate and continue existing as separate entities. What happened?”

Listening to Felix’s narration of what had happened while he was talking to the system, Argentum decided to not hide anything from him, though he would still hide the existence of the system from him. Imitating the sound of one clearing their throat, he answered, “It is as you’ve sensed. I was given the chance to fuse the four elemental affinities, but decided otherwise as I was aiming for a better outcome.”

“A better outcome?” Felix asked, not understanding what Argentum meant. “What could possibly be a better outcome than obtaining the Lesser Origin element?”

Rather than giving Felix the answer directly, Argentum responded, “Do you remember what the Tome of the Four Elements contains?”

“Well, I did hear some things about it, talking about how becoming its sole owner would allow the wielder to obtain a version of the four elements that’s far better than the commonly used ones,” Felix said as a response to Argentum’s words, only to realize what Argentum was hinting. With the statement he just said in his mind, he went ahead and asked in a slightly cautious tone, saying, “Are you telling me…you want your control over the elements to be far better before fusing them as one.”

“More or less,” Argentum answered, thinking that there was no point explaining further since that was the easiest way to put it. Hearing Argentum’s response, Felix could not help but mutter, “I’ve met a few Pseudo-Animates in the past fuse their understanding together and obtain the Lesser Origin element, but never have I heard of one postponing their fusion in order to obtain a better version of the Lesser Origin element.”

After saying all of that, he went ahead and looked at Argentum before asking in an uncertain tone, “Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know, but there’s no harm in trying it out,” Argentum said in response with a light chuckle, radiating an aura that seemed to be at the pinnacle of self-confidence. And with that, Argentum went ahead and headed back to the unoccupied room after telling Felix that he’ll be improving his understanding of the four elements.

On the other hand, Felix could not help but look at the fleeting silhouette of Argentum as he scratched his head, muttering, “I think I might lose my mind if my expectations of Argentum are low.”

…

After a couple of minutes, Argentum was finally back at the room where he first attempted to obtain [Earth Affinity]. With that thought in mind, he remembered that there was still around an hour’s worth of effect left from the potion. He then wondered whether he should focus on learning Earth-based magic spells since he now had an affinity with the Earth element.

Surprisingly, it did not take long for Argentum to conclude that although his perception of the Earth element was still at an all-time high, and that he had obtained the [Earth Affinity] skill. It would still be better for him to enter an area filled to the brim with Earth energy particles before doing so since that would allow him to improve in Earth-based skills the most.

“I guess I’ll improve [Water Affinity] then,” Argentum soon muttered to himself as a determined aura radiated from him. Of course, this was the most natural conclusion one would come to after realizing that one was in an area filled to the brim with Water energy particles. As he thought about improving his [Water Affinity] skill, he could not help but remember that he had a Heaven’s Water Potion, removing it from the system’s inventory soon after before chugging it down through his torso. Naturally, the Tome of the Four Elements was placed on the ground before doing so.

Ding!

‘You have ingested the Heaven’s Water Potion.’

‘Your perception of the Water element has increased by 200%’

‘Time remaining before buff wears out: 1 hour 59 minutes’

In less than an instant, the feeling he felt from the Water energy particles in his room alone was that of a big family that all thought of him as the best person in the family. With that kind of feeling, he went ahead and estimated the amount of progress he would obtain from the two hour buff of the Heaven’s Water Potion, in tandem with his already high level [Water Affinity].

“Hmm…” After pondering over it for a bit, Argentum went ahead and concluded that although he may not reach the level of [True Water Affinity], which was the highest possible level of affinity obtainable from the Tome of the Four Elements, he would still be able to reach the Animate level of [Water Affinity], which he termed as [Animate Water Affinity] to differentiate from his current [Water Affinity] skill.

In actuality, for one to become the sole owner of the Tome of the Four Elements, one needed to have an affinity with the four elements at the level of an Animate. Argentum knew this very well as he rummaged through Aurus’s memories, remembering that the holder of the tome in ISE told everyone about the requirements to become its sole owner, which was to have an understanding of all four foundational elements at the Animate level.

This holder also said that a Pseudo-Animate could become the owner of the tome, but would still need an understanding of the four elements at the Animate level in order for it to happen.

Conjuring a few tendrils to go ahead and skim through the tome, Argentum went ahead and obtained information regarding [Water Affinity] and [Animate Water Affinity], organizing it soon after, just like what he did for [Earth Affinity].

After doing so, he went ahead and sat down on the cold ground, allowing him to become more connected with the Water energy particles in the surroundings. He then closed his sense of vision before attuning his body to the energy of the Water energy particles, starting his two-hour session of improving his affinity with the Water element.

…

Exactly two hours have passed since Argentum has started in his journey to improving his affinity with the Water element. At this moment, if one were to look from afar, one would think that Argentum was a part of the room, as if he was made out of the Water element itself. To be honest, one would not be wrong in thinking that as after two hours of contemplation and understanding, the green energy that made up his body now took on a light blue hue, turning into a shade of blue-green.

Ding!

‘The effect of the Heaven’s Water Potion has now dissipated.’

With a notification sound resounding throughout his mind, Argentum was brought back to reality as he opened his eyes. A few seconds later, he went ahead and stood up, lightly stretching his body as he currently felt like he was being tightly hugged by the Water energy particles in the surroundings. While lightly stretching his body, he noticed that the energy making up his body was not fully green anymore. Instead, the lower half of his body had taken on a dark blue hue, with a few spots popping up on his upper body as well. With a sight like this greeting his sense of vision, he could not help but ponder as to how such a thing happened.

Fortunately, it did not take long for him to speculate as to what the reason was, remembering what he had achieved in these past two hours.

“Well, it does make sense,” Argentum muttered to himself. “With [Water Affinity] now being at the Animate level, it would make sense for it to overwhelm to the Wind element in my body.”

Indeed, Argentum had achieved [Animate Water Affinity] in these past two hours. Of course, it was not just any simple [Animate Water Affinity], but rather, [Animate Water Affinity] that was about one-fourth of the way to transforming into [True Water Affinity].

Although that progress of one-fourth did not seem like much, after achieving it, Argentum felt that he could peer through the elementary particles that made up Water energy particles, as well as understand their innate intent. After understanding their innate intent, he could not help but think that he was emulating it, being as calm and flexible as the flow of water.

Now that he was finished with stretching his body, he headed out of the room he was in, only for him to coincidentally meet up with Blob and Eleanor, who had just gotten out of the room as well.

“What happened to you while I was in Blob’s room, Argentum?” Eleanor could not help but ask, noticing that the energy Argentum was made out of now felt like two elements instead of one. In response, Argentum let out a light chuckle as he responded, “My understanding of water has improved to a level wherein I can even consider it as my main element.”

He soon radiated the full extent of his aura, allowing Eleanor and Blob, as well as Felix, who was in the background, to sense the aura of water. At first, it was as calm as a lake without impurities. Soon, it turned ferocious, akin to a river raging amidst a storm. And eventually, it was a mix of both calm and ferocious, giving the three a feeling like they were going to be hit by a tsunami.

Sensing Argentum’s aura, Felix could not help but mutter in disbelief, “Animate level…”

“Did you say something, Felix?” Eleanor asked Felix, who faintly heard Felix muttering.

In response, Felix imitated the sound of one clearing as he responded in a tone of awe, “To think that a Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate would be able to bring their understanding of an element to the Animate level…truly unbelievable.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re right,” Eleanor pondered before saying. She then looked at Argentum and said while happily giggling, “Hey, Argentum. Just so you understand where Felix’s shock is coming from, it took him around 15,000 years to achieve the Animate level. And here you are, achieving it in what? Three hours or something?”

Argentum lightly chuckled in response to Eleanor’s words, not knowing what to say. He then went ahead and focused his sense of vision towards Blob, noticing that the aura he was radiating was now akin to a sheathed blade, ready to slash out at any instance. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from feeling a sense of danger from him, making him radiate an aura of excitement as he asked, “How was your session with Eleanor, Blob?”

“Superb,” Blob replied succinctly as an aura of happiness radiated from him. He then looked at Eleanor for a bit before continuing, “She’s truly a great teacher.”

“I know, right?” Argentum giggled as he responded. “Anyways, Blob. I think it’s time for us to leave.”

“Leave?” Blob tilted his head in confusion. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere I should have headed to after I was done with what I needed to do in Verdant Breeze Town,” Argentum responded in a serious yet calm manner.

“Where I originally came from…”

“Tempest Cliff.”

——–

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