Chapter 211 - A Slight Inconvenience

XXXX Continent, Tempest Cliff.

A few hours have passed since Aurus had enabled [Reward Sharing], allowing Argentum to obtain some of the skills that Aurus was learning from the Tempest Cliff. In total, he had obtained 5 skills from the Tempest Cliff Inheritance, with 4 of them combining with the existing skills he already had, bolstering their power even further.

At this moment, the sun had already set, with the dim light of the moon illuminating the path for Argentum as he slowly made his way towards Verdant Breeze Town. Of course, since he wanted to make his journey to Verdant Breeze Town as productive and as interesting as possible, he continued to grind all of his skills to their maximum levels before he reached Verdant Breeze town.

"[Lesser Wind Magic: Wind Bolt]!"

Whoosh! Bang!

While one part of his mind was focused on traversing the terrain, the other part of his mind was focused on using the optimal combination of skills he had created before starting his grind. Of course, after the amount that has passed from the first time he had used this combination, the power of his skills from back then was nothing in comparison to the power it exuded right now, with all of them reaching their maximum levels.

As he threw out a bolt made out of wind, this bolt seemed to be propelled by a greater force, allowing it to pierce through the trunk of the tree Argentum aimed at like cutting through butter with a hot knife. Then again, the bolt of wind did not stop there. It continued to pierce through another tree's trunk…then another…then another…only stopping once the bolt had pierced through 5 trunks, losing its energy and dissipating.

Looking at the holes the bolt of wind had made, Argentum could not help but stop and stare at it for a bit as he muttered, "Wow…the difference between using the Bare-bones variant and the full output of that spell is akin to an ant's power versus an elephant's."

He then turned his vision towards the palm where he conjured the bolt of wind, clenching it a few seconds later as he closed his eyes, remembering the sensation he felt before, during, and after he threw the bolt of wind. After a while, he soon opened his eyes before letting out a sigh.

"Man, raising the masteries of active skills sure takes a lot of activations," Argentum said to himself as he continued to traverse the terrain, his vision slightly hampered by the lack of bright light. He then added, "Then again, in terms of power, if I were to compare the original body's skills at X-grade Mortal level to my skills at X-grade Mortal level in the future, disregarding the difference in stats, I'm pretty sure my skills would be far stronger thanks to the masteries."

Since the Pseudo-Animate existence level is right in between the Inanimate and Animate existence levels, that meant that the progression system of the skills was a mix of the two existence levels. The skills of a Pseudo-Animate would still mostly rely on leveling and evolving for the increase of power, but in terms of active skills, they also have another requirement needed to be met in order for them to evolve.

That requirement is none other than Skill Mastery. Unlike the Skill Masteries of Animates, the Skill Masteries of Pseudo-Animates rely on the number of activations of said skill, though the number of activations needed for a skill to achieve complete mastery varies. Any skill at the Pseudo-Animate level has five tiers of Skill Mastery. From lowest to highest, those tiers are Basic, Adept, Expert, Artisan, Master.

So far, after grinding his skills nonstop for these past few hours, the highest tier of Skill Mastery Argentum has achieved on his skills was Adept level, with the [Lesser Wind Magic] having the said level of mastery. Thinking about how many more activations he had to do in order for these skills to reach the peak, Argentum could not help but ask himself, "Should I just go ahead and evolve my active skills once they reach the Adept level of mastery?"

Fortunately, this thought was soon replaced by another one in a matter of few seconds, prompting him to say, "That would just mean I'm taking the shortest and weakest route to this path of becoming a Super Animate. Didn't Aurus want me to become the strongest Super Animate possible? Then that means I should aim to have all active skills at the Master level before evolving them!"

"But how long would that even take…?" Argentum muttered not long after, letting out a sigh. After that, he continued to ponder over this dilemma as he continued to traverse the terrain, utilizing his optimal combination of skills while pondering since it would be a waste if he just pondered while moving.

Eventually, he decided to go ahead and let all of his active skills reach the Master level of mastery before evolving since that would result in the strongest variant of skills possible. And with that decision now set in stone, he increased the speed at which he used his skills, increasing the speed at which he obtained masteries for his active skills while his passive skills continued to reach their max levels and evolve.

…

A few more hours have passed since then, with the moon now at the peak of the sky, illuminating even more of the terrain Argentum was traversing. At this moment, the aura emanating from him had significantly strengthened since a great portion of his active skills were now at the Adept level of mastery, with some even at the Expert level of mastery. Not only that, but he had also received the skill [Instant Comprehension] from Aurus while he was grinding, thinking that it would be a handy skill to have once he reached the Animate existence level.

Of course, the first one to achieve the Expert level of mastery was the skill [Lesser Wind Magic]. At the very instant he had achieved this level of mastery, he tried firing another bolt of wind at his maximum power. The conclusion of that experiment was him being left at a loss for words as the bolt of wind had pierced through 12 tree trunks this time, over double the number of tree trunks it had pierced from before.

Thanks to this small experiment he had done, his drive to grind his skills had been ignited even further, making him imagine the power he would wield once all of his skills were at the Master level. He wondered if that would be enough for him to stand at the same level of power as his original body, Aurus.

"System, open the map." While Argentum continued to grind his skills, he went ahead and commanded the system to bring up a map. It did not take long for the system to move on his command, bringing up a holographic screen in front of his field of vision, which did not hinder the view in front of him in any way. 

He then looked at the map that was brought up for a while before going ahead to look at his surroundings. He then repeated this process a few times as he split a part of his mind on pondering over the matter, letting out a small chuckle as he muttered, "It seems I'm making good progress. I might just get to Verdant Breeze Town a few days earlier than I thought I would. After around half a day or so, I would probably reach the Inferno Plains, the larger portion of the Inferno Grounds the original body had gone to back then."

"I hope the inheritance there doesn't take a long time to clear though," Argentum muttered not long after before continuing to grind his skills, only to stop as he heard a few voices coming from a place not far away from where he was. He took in a deep breath to make sure his impulsiveness did not get the better of him. After that, he then went ahead and moved towards the origin of the voices he was hearing, activating his polymorph skill along the way, transforming into a tall yet inconspicuous plant.

Rustle…rustle…

Fortunately, it did not take long for Argentum to arrive near the origin of the sound, being slightly surprised at the fact that he had discovered humans in this area of the wilderness, gathered around a campfire made in the center of what seemed to be an artificial clearing. The first thing that came to Argentum's mind as he looked at the appearances of the humans was that these humans might be bandits.

With that in mind, Argentum could not help but radiate an aura of slight elation as this thought intensified, only for him to suppress this aura as he did not want to be found by these humans, lest he wanted to be captured by them instead. Nonetheless, that did not stop him from thinking about his plans of becoming a Super Animate.

'Should I go ahead and kill these Animates for the sake of becoming a Super Animate?' Argentum asked himself in his mind as he recalled the process of transforming into a Super Animate. 'Erea did say back then that in order to become a Super Animate, one must need the flesh and blood of about five Animates at the very least.'

'I can't help but feel a bit guilty if I did that though,' Argentum continued thinking as he looked at their appearances more closely, making him think that they looked more like adventurers rather than bandits. 'If I killed them, then that would mean their families would be left with a loved one gone from the world, turning into materials for my own gain.'

In the end, Argentum inwardly let out a short sigh, muttering to himself, "I just happened to come across them. I won't kill them. I'll just kill those who deserve to be killed in that Verdant Breeze Town to solve that problem."

And with that, he turned around and left the clearing those humans were in, reverting to his original appearance after making sure he had created enough distance from them. Not long after that, he went back to grinding his skills in a monotonous manner as he traversed the terrain in the fastest speed he could muster…only for him to hear the voice of a human gradually get louder.

"To think we've come across a rare Wind Spirit," the voice said as it resounded throughout the area, a deep chuckle following it soon after. It then continued, "How much do you think would it sell for in the Black Market?"

"Definitely around three million gold coins at the very least," another voice responded to the previous voice's query, its tone being slightly shrill.

It was then that Argentum realized…that he may have just fallen into a trap set up by those humans in that clearing. Unsure as to whether or not these humans had planned this all along, Argentum could not help but ask, "I wonder what made all of you hunt me."

"Money. What other reason would there be?" a voice different from the previous two responded to Argentum's question, as three people finally revealed themselves to Argentum, two men, and one woman. After the woman was finished responding, one of the two men continued where the woman left off, saying, "It seems the heavens have decided to take pity on us, allowing such a rare Pseudo-Animate to come close to our clearing. To be honest, you're quite the lifesaver, you Wind Spirit. Selling you would definitely pay the massive debt we have while allowing us to live lavishly as well."

"Hoh?" Argentum could not help but say in response. He then asked the three, "Where are your other companions then? There were 7 of you in that clearing, right?"

"We're not that stupid, you know," the man with the shrill voice responded to Argentum's words before letting out a haughty chuckle. "The 4 of them have their skills and weapons prepared, ready to capture you at a moment's notice. Why would they reveal themselves to you, you inferior being?"

"I feel like you have a grudge against Pseudo-Animates. Well...it's not like I have anything to do that," Argentum said before letting out a chuckle of his own. This prompted the three to look at each other for a bit, with the woman proceeding to ask Argentum in a slightly furious tone, "Why are you laughing? Aren't you supposed to be scared?"

"Scared? Why should I be?" Argentum responded to the woman's words in a slightly arrogant tone. "I could leave this place at any time."

"Fire!" Hearing Argentum's words, the man with the shrill voice shouted all of a sudden, prompting four arrows to head towards where Argentum was…only for Argentum to disappear in an instant.

Whoosh! Clang!

Due to their positions and trajectories, plus the fact that Argentum had disappeared, the four arrows collided at a single point, snapping into multiple pieces as their fragments let out soft noises. Alongside this, the faces of the three had expressions of shock.

"Where did that Wind Spirit go?!" the man with a deep voice asked the other two in slight surprise and fury. To think that their ticket to freedom was now gone!

In response, the woman went ahead and conjured a magic circle, letting out a sigh of relief not long after as she replied, "The Wind Spirit is still within the vicinity, but we have no clue where it is!"

"Go and find it as fast as possible!" the man with the deep voice said in response before shouting, "Everyone, find any traces of the Wind Spirit! As soon as you find them, relay them to me!"

"Well, well, well. How the tables have turned," a voice familiar to them resounded throughout the area, prompting the man with the shrill voice to shout, "Wind Spirit!"

"Good thing I'm still within the vicinity, right? I hope you try your best to find me," Argentum's voice continued to resound, letting out a slightly arrogant chuckle after his statement.

"Also, I've changed my mind," Argentum's voice resounded once more, not letting the humans respond to his words. "Back when I checked your clearing, I was supposed to kill all of you."

"And now it seems…I've decided to continue with that idea."

"How about..."

"We play a game?"