Chapter 228 - Seven Flame Road

After finding out that the rewards he had obtained from eating the slab of meat allowed him to increase his mastery of [Lesser Fire Magic] and increase his affinity towards Fire, he looked at the remaining four of slabs of meat with a gaze that exuded intense greed and gluttony as he said with elation, "Truly a reward befitting the S++ grade!"

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, he went ahead and moved onto the second slab of meat, widening his mouth to its limit as he hacked off larger chunks from the second slab of meat when compared to the first slab. Surprisingly, this move allowed him to experience a greater burst of flavor from the meat. Not only did he taste the salty and savory flavor with a hint of a spicy kick from before, but he also tasted a far deeper flavor from the meat, bringing out the uniqueness of each flavor and enhancing it even further.

This, in turn, made him wolf down the second slab of meat in record time, only taking around ten seconds or so for the slab of meat to disappear from the face of Erudinia and be absorbed by Argentum's body instead. Hearing a notification sound from the system not long after, informing Argentum that the mastery of [Lesser Fire Magic] and his affinity with the Fire element had increased once more, Argentum went ahead and moved towards the third slab of meat, letting out a sigh filled with slight melancholy as his view was filled with the slab of meat.

"If this were another time, I would have definitely savored every second eating these five slabs of meat," Argentum muttered to himself in a slightly melancholic tone. "Too bad I need to eat these slabs as fast as possible."

Just as he was about to open his mouth agape yet again, a thought related to the meat he was eating popped up in his mind, which fused with his goal of becoming a Super Animate, forming a new thought that made him more motivated to eat these slabs of meat as possible.

'The inheritance said that this meat I'm eating came from a Rank 4 Ignis Kaiser Lion…which is an Animate,' Argentum thought to himself, lightly chuckling as he started biting down on his third slab of meat. 'In other words, I need to become a Super Animate as fast and as powerful as possible so I can eat this kind of meat again!'

Whoosh! Whoosh!

And so, just with that thought in his mind, Argentum wolfed down the next two slabs of meat in less than ten seconds, setting a faster time than before as his mastery of [Lesser Fire Magic] had reached the Master level, which he had been informed of through the system. This prompted him to evolve the skill to its next grade, its name now being [Lower Blaze Magic+]. As for his affinity with the Fire element, it had now reached a point that his feeling towards flames and other things that were related to the Fire element was somewhat akin to what he felt with the Wind element.

In short, a close connection.

Naturally, the last slab of meat was wolfed down within a few seconds, increasing the mastery of his newly evolved [Lesser Blaze Magic+] to Basic level, eliciting a light chuckle from Argentum as he said, "I guess I'll have to grind less to reach the highest level of mastery for this skill."

After being notified of his skill mastery going up by a level, he then turned his focus towards that of his affinity towards the Fire element, reading the first few words of the notification with a cheerful aura radiating from him, only for it to change to that of elation by the time he was finished reading.

"You're kidding, right?" This was the first question that popped up into his head as he read the notification. This time though, he did not need to inflict any pain onto himself or need the inheritance to repeat itself since he now had a grasp of how unbelievable the rewards at S++ grade were. Taking in a deep breath to calm his emotions, which soon intensified not long after, Argentum let out a loud cackle as he said, "The skill that I wanted the most from the inheritance…is finally in my hands!"

Ding!

'Your affinity with the Fire element has increased once more, bringing out a qualitative change of your affinity towards it. Due to this qualitative change, the passive skill [Fire Affinity] has been obtained.'

Closing the notification screen after that, Argentum went ahead and commanded the system to open up its description since he wanted to know whether or not the inheritance added something onto it.

Ding!

As soon as the holographic screen appeared in front of his field of vision, Argentum hastily skimmed through it, letting out a light chuckle as he could not help but say, "I guess eating Animate meat has its perks."

________

[Fire Affinity] (Level 1/10)

Grade: Mortal (C)

A skill those who have a great affinity with the Fire element have. Normally, this skill is only available to those born with an innate affinity towards them, but even other beings can obtain it once they are exposed to the Fire element for a long time. Due to the Ignis Kaiser Lion's great affinity with the Fire element, plus its high existence level when compared to the user, the user's affinity with the Fire element had reached this level, giving the user a few special effects.

> Efficacy of abilities based on the Fire element shall be increased by 20%

> Damage of skills based on the Fire element shall be increased by 10%

________ 

Closing the holographic screen in front of him, Argentum could not help but let out a sigh of satisfaction. Although the trials he had undergone were incredibly weird for an inheritance, the rewards it had given were no joke. To be honest, he was expecting to obtain these rewards at a later trial since in Aurus's memories, he had only obtained them after finishing the seventh trial or so. He did not know why he had obtained these rewards at an early trial, but he was kind of grateful for it in a way.

"I've basically obtained all of the skills I wanted from the inheritance," Argentum muttered to himself in a satisfied tone. "Any other Fire-based reward I get from this inheritance will help me solidify my evolution choice in the future."

Coincidentally, just as he was finished saying these words, the disembodied voice of the inheritance resounded, telling Argentum, "Since the inheritor has finished ingesting the five slabs of meat, obtaining the trial's reward, the inheritance shall give the inheritor a ten-minute break to increase their affinity with the Fire element even further, which has something to do with the mechanics of the next trial."

"Hm? That's a bit odd." After processing the words said by the inheritance, Argentum could not help but find it odd that the inheritance wanted him to enhance the skill he had obtained from this trial. Sure, he did not find it odd when the inheritance told him to enhance his prowess with the [Lesser Fire Magic] skill since that was the first one he had heard of such a mechanic. But now that the inheritance was telling him to grind another skill this time, he could not help but feel that there was something a bit off with this inheritance.

Either way, the rewards from the inheritance was still great, so he put this suspicion of his at the back of his mind before going ahead and following the inheritance's words, increasing his affinity with the Fire element with [Lower Blaze Magic+] since that's how his affinity with the Wind element increased.

"Two birds with one stone," Argentum said with a slightly cheerful tone. "I max out and increase the mastery level of [Lower Blaze Magic] while I increase the grade of [Fire Affinity] at the same time."

"I wonder how high I can go before the third trial starts?"

…

In a deeper part of the Flame Spirit Inheritance.

The woman made out of flames radiated an aura of shock after witnessing what the Pseudo-Animate she was watching had done through the screen. She only came back to her senses at the very instant the Pseudo-Animate was finished cooking the five slabs of meat to perfection.

"For a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate, it has such exquisite control over the Fire element…" she could not help but mutter in awe, feeling that the Pseudo-Animate's affinity with the Fire element gradually increased with each slab of meat it ate. Although she knew that it was normal for a being's affinity with the Fire element to increase after ingesting the meat of an Ignis Kaiser Lion, she felt that the increase of the Pseudo-Animate's affinity with the Fire element.

It was as if the increase in affinity was natural. That was what she felt.

Getting this feeling from the Pseudo-Animate she was watching, she could not help but ponder as to why that was the case. After a few minutes or so, an answer appeared in her mind, which she thought was incredibly farfetched since she didn't know if it existed or not. But if she found out that her answer was actually half-correct, she would definitely become elated, giving the Pseudo-Animate on the screen even more rewards.

"Maybe it's a reincarnation of a previously dead Fire-based Pseudo-Animate," she muttered to herself with slight doubt. "That's the only probable reason that comes to mind for a Pseudo-Animate like that to come here."

"But does reincarnation exist in the first place?" she asked herself this question, placing this in the back of her head not long after as she stretched her body once more before lying down on the ground in a relaxed position. While keeping her sense of vision focused on the screen in front of her, she pondered over the trial she would have the Pseudo-Animate undergo through, as well as the rewards it would obtain once it clears it.

"Hmm…should I go and confirm whether or not this Pseudo-Animate is a reincarnation of a past Pseudo-Animate?" she muttered to herself as she thought out loud, thinking that if this Pseudo-Animate was truly a reincarnation of a past Fire-based Pseudo-Animate, it would be able to increase its affinity with the Fire element to a great degree within a short amount of time.

In the end, she decided to push through with this idea, letting out a light chuckle as she infused a lot of her energy towards the screen, surprisingly changing the size of the room the Pseudo-Animate was in by a lot. Of course, she decided to delay this change to the time before the start of the third trial, thinking that she would shock the Pseudo-Animate if it came at a time where it was still increasing its affinity.

"Mhm! A trial like that would allow me to see how inclined it is towards the Fire element," she said with glee. "Should I go and inform it of the different types of fires as well?"

"Yeah, I guess I should," she answered her question not long after, infusing a bit more energy into the screen, radiating an aura of happiness soon after that.

"As for the reward…" With the setting for the trial now done, she then pondered over the reward she was going to give to the Pseudo-Animate. Surprisingly, the reward she had in mind was related to the thought of the Pseudo-Animate being a reincarnation of a past Fire-based Pseudo-Animate, grinning from ear to ear as she said, "This reward is…hahaha!"

"If it finds out what reward it's getting…I'm sure it'll be radiating an aura of intense joy!"

…

Exactly ten minutes have passed since Argentum started grinding out both [Lower Blaze Magic+] and [Fire Affinity]. The results? Quite a great improvement.

Within ten minutes, he was able to max out [Lower Blaze Magic+], unlocking a total of three spells from this grade, exactly the same number of spells he had unlocked from [Lower Tempest Magic+]. After testing out the new spells he had obtained, he let out a sigh of relief after finding out that the spells at this grade for [Lower Blaze Magic+] were different from [Lower Tempest Magic+]. If [Lower Tempest Magic+] had a movement boosting spell as its support spell, then [Lower Blaze Magic+] had an attack boosting spell. It went without saying that his mastery with the skill had increased as well, but it was not enough for it to reach the Adept level just yet.

As for [Fire Affinity], it had evolved to the peak level achievable for Mortal level skills, the X-grade Mortal level. Its current name was [Superior Fire Affinity], increasing Argentum's affinity towards the Fire element by a great amount, as well as the damage a Fire-based skill would unleash. Of course, it still lost to his affinity towards the Wind element, with the skill that increased his affinity being at the Transcendent level already due to the amount of grinding he had done.

Letting out a sigh of satisfaction after looking at his progress within ten minutes, Argentum was now prepared for the third trial from the inheritance, pondering as to what kind of trial he would have to undergo this time.

Whoosh!

Rumble…

As the ground of the room shook, Argentum was soon teleported to one side of the room. At the very instant he appeared in that location, he looked around with slight confusion as he soon found out that the room…had turned into a corridor. Of course, it was no ordinary corridor for it was…

An extremely long corridor. Definitely not ordinary.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Quite some time later, the sides of the corridor had transformed into red flames, prompting Argentum to head towards the center. Surprisingly, only a narrow strip of the center had not transformed into flames, making Argentum wonder as to what kind of trial this one was. He used his [Keen Vision] to look further into the corridor, noticing that after some point, the color of the flames surrounding the narrow strip of ground had changed. He also felt that the aura of the flames had intensified as well after the change in color.

"I can't see the end of the corridor," Argentum said after he pushed [Keen Vision] to its limit, making him wonder how long the corridor truly was. Fortunately, just as he was about to start moving through the narrow strip of ground, the disembodied voice of the inheritance resounded throughout the corridor, explaining the mechanics of the third trial.

"With the inheritor's ten-minute break now done, the inheritor shall now move on with the third trial, aptly named the Seven Flame Road. The corridor the inheritor is in spans a hundred kilometers, but that does not mean the inheritor must cross this 100 kilometers as fast as possible. As stated before, the inheritor's affinity towards the Fire element shall have something to do in this trial."

"The higher the inheritor's affinity with the Fire element is, the farther they can go through this Seven Flame Road. Of course, that does not stop the inheritor from enhancing their affinity with the Fire element along the way. In fact, the inheritance encourages the user to do so. The goal of this trial is for the inheritor to reach the end of the corridor," the disembodied voice continued to talk.

"Let the trial…begin!" After the disembodied voice was finished explaining, it then signaled the start of the trial, leaving Argentum at a loss for words as he processed the explanation of the disembodied voice in his head. It took around a couple of minutes for Argentum to finally understand the mechanics of the trial, looking at the narrow strip of ground at the center of this seemingly unending corridor before going ahead and looking at the different colored flames from far away.

After doing so, he then asked himself…

"If I'm getting this right, the inheritance just wants me to…"

"Walk through this path to the end of the corridor…"

"…eh?"