Chapter 237 - A Small Detour

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Around twenty minutes or so have passed since Argentum had parted ways with Eleanor, bringing along with him the code phrase he learned from her, as well as the new skills he had obtained from the inheritance. As of right now, he had already exited the inner area of the Inferno Plains, feeling that the aura radiated by the outer area of the Inferno Plains was akin to a fleeting breeze, unlike the inner area.

"Then again, my flame resistance is at a pretty high level right now," Argentum muttered to himself as he thought about it. "Once it reaches the peak of Transcendent level, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to stupefy any being inclined towards the Fire element that's eyeing me."

As he laughed at the thought of the shocked faces of the beings once they found out that he was more or less immune to Fire-based attacks, Argentum continued to move about, this time at greater speeds. Although his original movement speed was already pretty fast with [Zephyr Ascendance+] and [Zephyr Burst], his current speed was further enhanced thanks to him obtaining partial ownership of the Flame Spirit Inheritance.

"Now that I think about it, how much of a boost does the title even give me?" he asked himself as the thought come to mind. Although the greater portion of his attention was still focused on the map he had conjured from the system, marking the shortest route he would have to take to reach the Azure Shores, he still could not help but think about it since he had not checked.

Fwoosh!

With the urge to check the effects of his newly obtained title gradually intensifying, Argentum decided to stop and check his title rather than suppress the urge, stopping at an area of the Inferno Plains that was close to the area where he obtained his [Flame Resistance] skill. Noticing that this was the case, Argentum could not help but subconsciously shiver, remembering the large number of slimes he had killed.

"Then again, I have over a million unused experience points right now so I guess it wasn't all that bad," Argentum muttered to himself to remove the slight fear he had towards the area. Although the Fire Slimes were only at the lowest rank of the Animate existence level, thus only giving fellow Animates a few experience points, to Argentum at the Pseudo-Animate level, it was amplified by a hundred due to the conversion factor. Add in the fact that he killed a lot of Fire Slimes to raise [Incredibly Inferior Flame Resistance] to its final form, then it wouldn't be weird for him to have such a great amount of experience points.

He then went ahead and commanded the system to open up the description regarding the title he had obtained, pondering as to how much of a boost in stats he truly obtained from it. He did remember that when Eleanor asked him as to how much stronger he had become after obtaining the title, he told her that he felt like he had become twice as strong than before, but that was only a feeling. Sometimes, what he felt differed from what the system told him.

Ding!

Soon after, a holographic screen regarding the description of the title had soon appeared in front of his field of vision. At first, he was quite enthralled by the flavor text that came along with the title, letting out a giggle at times as it more or less narrated what happened between the two of them. But then, after his sense of vision focused on the lines that told of the title's effect, he could not help but ponder the boost that Aurus had obtained from the Area 52 Inheritance, only for him to realize that the boost he had received was slightly bigger than Aurus's.

"Although I don't know how much of the inheritance Aurus has control over, I have a hunch that it might be less than mine. Around 5% or something?" Argentum muttered to himself as he thought out loud. "Taking that into consideration, then the boost I obtained for every percent of the inheritance I control is far greater than what Aurus has!"

________

[Flame Spirit Inheritance: Partial Ownership]

A title given by the master of the Flame Spirit Inheritance, Eleanor, after being asked by the user if it was possible for him to obtain partial ownership of the inheritance since it was said that Eleanor could grant almost any wish he had. Surprisingly, Eleanor did not decline the user's wish, allowing him to even decide on how much percentage he wanted control over, only for the user to respond that it was up to her on how much of the inheritance he had control over. As of late, the user has control over 35% of the Flame Spirit Inheritance.

> Increases all stats by 70%

________

"70 percent, huh…" Argentum muttered to himself as he closed the holographic screen after he was finished reading, pondering on how much a 70% increase truly was. After pondering over for a few minutes, he concluded that if he were to face the humans that were out to kill him for their own gain with such a boost, then he would not even need to hide in front of them, fighting against them head-on. And that's without the skills he had evolved as of late!

With his curiosity regarding the title he had obtained now satiated, Argentum unhesitatingly went ahead and looked at the map again, calculating his current location. After doing so, he then continued to run along the markings he made on the map, allowing him to move through the Inferno Plains at great speeds once more.

He continued to do this for around ten minutes or so, his current location now more or less away from the area filled with Fire Slimes and more or less close to the boundary of the Inferno Plains that led to the wilderness again. Just as he was pondering as to whether or not he should grind all of his skills to the next level, a thought related to Eleanor appeared in his mind, prompting him to stop just as he was about 10 kilometers or so away from the boundary.

"Hmm…even though Eleanor and I are quite far apart, the connection I feel from her through the contract is still strong," Argentum could not help but mutter, closing his sense of vision as he used his other senses to sense the feeling of the connection he had with Eleanor. While he was doing so, another thought related to Eleanor appeared in his mind. This time, this thought was of that regarding what Eleanor told him before he left her to head to the Azure Shores.

Surprisingly, this thought soon became the only thought that circulated in his mind, prompting him to open his sense of vision once more as his focus of vision turned to look at the direction of the area where the Fire Slimes resided, causing him to slightly shudder, which disappeared not long after. He pondered over the thought for a bit and asked himself, "Should I go ahead and do what Eleanor told me to do? Should I go use [Flame Companion]?"

The reason why he did not unhesitatingly decide to do it was because of the place he was going to, the Azure Shores. The Azure Shores, from the name alone, could make one instantly infer that the place was superbly inclined to the Water element, which meant that anything that was inclined towards the Fire element would be heavily disadvantaged there.

The train of thought in his mind was that if he did create a Flame Companion and nurtured it to a decent level, then it would become more or less a burden to him once he did enter the Azure Shores. Of course, he thought about it from a different perspective, thinking that a Flame Companion would allow him to focus on his specialties while it would focus on the parts where he was lacking, like reconnaissance or debuffing or whatever. Then again, in front of the elemental disadvantage in the Azure Shores, the cons outweighed the pros…until a question he asked the system in the past surfaced in his mind.

"Ah, right. The system did tell me that I could keep the Flame Companions I made inside the system," Argentum muttered to himself, only for his thoughts to head towards an optimistic direction soon after. Thinking about these optimistic thoughts, an aura of happiness started to radiate from him, then an aura of elation, then an aura of intense elation. It did not take long for these thoughts to affect Argentum's opinion regarding the Flame Companions, with his current conclusion being…the pros of a Flame Companion outweighed the cons!

"Why am I so focused on the Azure Shores, I should think about it from a long term perspective," he muttered to himself with a mocking chuckle. "Although a Flame Companion would be useless in Water-based areas, that doesn't mean they would be useless in the other elemental areas as well."

"That's it, I'm going to head back!" Argentum shouted inwardly as he turned his body around without hesitation, setting a new marker on the map he had as he dashed towards it at maximum speed. Where was he heading? The only place where a low-leveled companion would be able to obtain experience without worrying about death. The place where he would subconsciously shudder if he remembered it.

The area of the Fire Slimes.

…

Taking around ten minutes or so to get back to the boundary of the Fire Slime area, Argentum could not help but slightly shudder once his field of vision was filled to the brim with the sight of the Fire Slimes yet again. Fortunately, he tricked his subconscious to calm down, repeating the thought that he was here to raise the power of his Flame Companion and not grind the [Flame Resistance] skill.

After repeating this thought in his mind for a few times, he took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, looking at the Fire Slimes that were jumping as their bodies jiggled with an indifferent aura. Surprisingly, if one sensed Argentum's aura closely, one would even feel that behind the indifference was a hint of excitement. As for the reason as to what caused Argentum to be slightly excited, it was unknown.

"We meet once again, Fire Slimes," Argentum muttered to himself, letting out a snicker filled with slight malevolent intent in it afterward. He then added, "Fortunately for you, I'm not here to kill all of you to obtain a skill again.��

"[Flame Companion]!" Argentum soon said with slight fervor, eliciting a response from the system as a notification screen resounded in his mind, telling him that his MP had been consumed. A few seconds later, a mass of Fire energy particles started to manifest along a certain radius around him, prompting Argentum to think that this was the creation process of a Flame Companion.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Soon after, these Fire energy particles soon coalesced at an area a few meters away from Argentum, transforming into a ball made out of Fire energy particles. No, wait. To be more exact, it looked like a ball made of Fire energy particles at first, but after a while, it exuded a few of the properties of a liquid, making Argentum think that this ball of fire was more like a blob of fire.

'A blob of fire…are you telling me that I got a Fire Slime as a companion?' Argentum thought to himself, but after using his senses to examine the blob of fire, he found that that was not the case. Just as he pondered on what he had to do next, a holographic screen appeared on top of the blob of fire, prompting Argentum to focus his field of vision on it as he skimmed through its contents.

"What would you like to name your Flame Companion?" Argentum said as he read the question on the screen. He looked at the blob of fire for a bit and soon pondered over possible names soon after that. At first, the names he had in mind were along the lines of Aurus's allies. Marielle, Terence, Eu, Phoria, Charisa, Fenrir, he could not help but think that his Flame Companion should have a good name as well.

But then, he thought about these kinds of thoughts for a while, only for him to decide otherwise after some time. He could not help but think that if he gave his Flame Companion such a name, he would want his Flame Companion to become as strong as he was. Sure, he was aiming to become as strong as possible before becoming a Super Animate since that was what he and Aurus wanted, but unlike Aurus, he felt that his companions should have a choice on what they want to become. Of course, he would guide them at the start, but after that, he felt that letting them decide whether they wanted to grow stronger or not was better.

"Hmm…I should give it a name that's not that attention-grabbing then," Argentum muttered to himself before adding, "Then again, this name shouldn't be so mundane that it would make others feel like my companion's weak…"

"No, wait. That would be better!" Thinking along that train of thought, Argentum let out a light cackle as he eventually thought up of a suitable name for his first Flame Companion.

"System!" Argentum said with a tone of elation and glee.

"I would like to name this Flame Companion…"

"Blob!"