Chapter 243 - Grand Blue Master

Whoosh!

In an instant, Argentum appeared near the wall of what seemed to be a large room. As usual, he was slightly startled by the sudden teleport. But after taking a deep breath and assessing his current surroundings, his emotions had calmed down. He then muttered to himself in understanding, "Ah. I'm finally inside the Grand Blue Inheritance."

As of this moment, Argentum was inside a large room that seemed to be made out of chiseled ice. From the aura he felt emanating from the walls to the feeling of intense frost he felt from the ground he was standing on, it could only be chiseled ice that made up the confines of this room.

"Hmm…that's cold." Seeing as he was currently stuck in a room where there was nothing to do, Argentum decided to sit down and rummage through Aurus's memories related to the Grand Blue Inheritance. Although the trials he would take in this inheritance might differ from what Aurus took in the memories, he was quite sure that the method to enter this trial was the same, remembering the words Eleanor told him in the past regarding the code phrase.

"Make sure to say this code word before you start the inheritance." This statement echoed out in his mind as he continued to rummage through Aurus's memories, eventually finding the memory that held the method to enter the Grand Blue Inheritance.

"I see," Argentum muttered to himself as he gradually what Aurus was doing in his memories. Unlike before in the Flame Spirit Inheritance where Aurus was accompanied by two other people, in the memories regarding the Grand Blue Inheritance, he was taking on it alone.

In the memory, Aurus waited for quite some time in the same room Argentum was in. Eventually, he felt the ground rumble as a small but wide pillar appeared in the center of the icy room, prompting him to stand up and head towards it. After arriving in front of the pillar, he then placed both of his hands on top of it and circulated all of his energy, just like how he entered the Grand Blue Inheritance in the first place.

A few seconds after that, Aurus had disappeared from the room as the small pillar gradually became flush with the ground. As for the memory that came after this, it was the start of the Grand Blue Inheritance. With that in mind, Argentum took in a deep breath and said to himself, "Guess I'll wait."

And so, Argentum waited.

And waited.

And waited.

At first, a few minutes had passed. Then, ten minutes. Then twenty. Eventually, half an hour had passed, yet the pillar that served as the only way to enter the inheritance had not appeared in the center of the room Argentum was in. Just as he was about to lose his mind from waiting for so long, he took in a deep breath and said, "Calm down, Argentum. Calm down. There's no point in getting angry over something like this."

Rumble…

Coincidentally, as he was in the middle of saying those words, the ground started to rumble as a small but wide pillar made out of chiseled ice appeared in the center of the room. Noticing the small pillar, Argentum was inwardly ecstatic as he spouted out a few curses that he kept to himself, allowing him to calm down. He then made his way towards the pillar, recalling the code phrase Eleanor told him. He wanted to make sure that he got the code phrase correctly when he said that, so he repeated it in his mind over and over again while making his way.

At the instant he arrived in front of the pillar, he took in a deep breath before placing both palms on it. Just as he was about to start circulating his energy from nervousness, he restrained himself from doing so, recalling the code phrase Eleanor told him.

This time though, unlike when he was recalling it while heading towards the pillar, he could not help but feel bad for the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance with every repeat he did in his mind. Argentum then muttered to himself in an extremely soft voice, "If I hurt your feelings, master of the Grand Blue Inheritance…"

"Let me apologize in advance."

He then took in a deep breath before yelling the code phrase at the loudest volume he could muster.

"Hahaha! The Undying Flame Spirit shall always prevail because the Grand Blue is a big f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"

After saying that, Argentum instantly felt a great amount of dread and remorse. He then went ahead and circulated his energy…only to stop as he wondered, 'Maybe the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance didn't hear it clearly?'

"I'll repeat it two more times just to make sure," Argentum said to himself before adding, "The master of the Grand Blue Inheritance will definitely hate me because of this. Is this really a code phrase, Eleanor?"

Taking in yet another deep breath, Argentum yelled out the code phrase two more times.

"Hahaha! The Undying Flame Spirit shall always prevail because the Grand Blue is a big f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"

"Hahaha! The Undying Flame Spirit shall always prevail because the Grand Blue is a big f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"

Now feeling an intense amount of dread and remorse from doing so, Argentum went ahead and hastily circulated all of the energy in his body. This formed a resonance with the ice pillar his hands were on, allowing multiple Water energy particles to manifest around him before enveloping his body soon after.

Whoosh!

Not long after that, the Water energy particles covering Argentum had disappeared, bringing Argentum along for the ride as he was transported to another place in the Grand Blue Inheritance.

…

In a deeper portion of the Grand Blue Inheritance.

A large blob of water started to jiggle intensely as it felt a wave of energy pass through its body.

"Eh? Someone has entered the inheritance?" the large blob of water muttered to itself in slight curiosity. Soon after, it transformed its body into that of a male with well-defined muscles. Lightly stretching his body in the process of acclimation, he allocated part of his mental energy to conjure up multiple screens that allowed him to see every nook and cranny of the inheritance.

Whoosh!

In an instant, this man made out of water was soon covered by a plethora of screens made out of his energy. Surprisingly, rather than becoming overwhelmed by it, he instead felt like he was in his natural habitat as he gracefully looked through the various screens.

"Aha." After a few minutes or so, the man was able to find the being that had entered his inheritance. He then used a bit more of his energy to make the image on the screen a bit clearer, radiating an aura of slight confusion as he asked himself in a slightly contemplating tone, "Why would a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate come to this inheritance, even though this inheritance is inclined towards the Water element?"

This man made out of water was none other than the master of the Grand Blue Inheritance, the Grand Blue Master. Unlike Eleanor, who had obtained the moniker 'Undying Flame Spirit' due to her tenacity when fighting against a ton of enemies alone, the Grand Blue Master had obtained his moniker thanks to the inheritance he had created, the Grand Blue Inheritance.

Also, unlike Eleanor, who held a grudge against Animates for killing her brethren, the Grand Blue Master turned a blind eye to the death of his brethren as he only focused on his personal power first and foremost. This was also the reason why he did not care whether the being that entered the inheritance was a Pseudo-Animate or an Animate, since he would give them the same trial to finish. Of course, that did not mean that the Grand Blue Master would not help out his fellow Pseudo-Animates.

Every once in a while, if a highly talented Water-based Pseudo-Animate entered his inheritance, he would make sure to make the trial slightly easier for them, and even increase the quality of the rewards they obtained. Nevertheless, this was only a rare occurrence.

At the moment, the Wind-based Pseudo-Animate he was looking at was sitting by one side of the room, waiting for the pillar that allowed it to enter the true inheritance to pop up. Concurrently, he was also pondering over the reasons as to why a Pseudo-Animate of a different element would enter an inheritance that highly favored those of the Water element. Surprisingly, this session of contemplation delayed the appearance of the pillar by quite some time, increasing the time the Pseudo-Animate had to wait, from 10 minutes…to half an hour.

Fortunately, the Grand Blue Master's session of contemplation did not last that long, or else the Pseudo-Animate would have lost it. Realizing his blunder, he muttered to himself, "Once this Pseudo-Animate enters the inheritance, I'll have to increase the grade of its rewards by a bit."

Whoosh!

He then hastily made the pillar appear in the center of the Pseudo-Animate's room, allowing him to notice the inward sigh of relief coming from it. It then gradually made its way towards the pillar in a calm manner, before eventually placing both of its hands on the pillar.

Just as the Grand Blue Master thought that the Pseudo-Animate would go ahead and circulate its energy to enter the inheritance, he instead heard a statement come from the Pseudo-Animate itself, bringing it into a state of great shock.

"Hahaha! The Undying Flame Spirit shall always prevail because the Grand Blue is a big f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"

"…eh?" At first, the Grand Blue Master was left at a loss for words, wondering if what the Pseudo-Animate was real or not. Fortunately for him, the Pseudo-Animate repeated the statement two more times, allowing him to realize that he had not heard wrongly. What the Pseudo-Animate was saying was, in fact, real!

Fwoosh!

In an instant, an aura of intense fury surrounded the Grand Blue Master, covering the enormous room he resided in his wrath. A few seconds later, spikes made out of ice started to manifest throughout the room, congregating with other spikes to form balls made out of ice spikes.

"That Pseudo-Animate dares to call me a coward?!" the Grand Blue Master was incredibly furious. When was he ever humiliated like this? "I've changed my mind! I'll give this Pseudo-Animate the hardest trial it would ever go through!"

"Telling me that I'm a coward while the Undying Flame Spirit is always prevailing…how impudent!" he added onto his words, only to realize what he was saying. "Wait a second…the Undying Flame Spirit shall always prevail…?"

"Did she really tell this Pseudo-Animate to use that code phrase?" Realizing what was happening, the Grand Blue Master let out a long sigh as to what was happening. His fury from before had now settled down, being replaced with an aura of contemplation over the words the Pseudo-Animate said.

"I told her that the code phrase was a joke from the start, but she didn't believe me," he continued to mutter to himself, feeling a bit of remorse from telling the Undying Flame Spirit, Eleanor, about this. The Grand Blue Master let out yet another sigh as he added, "Then again, I was serious about making a code word in case we take in students."

"I almost put this innocent Pseudo-Animate into a living hell," he said before adding, "Temper, Grand Blue. Temper."

After undergoing a series of emotions in that short instant, the Grand Blue Master then pondered over his next move regarding the Pseudo-Animate that entered. "Since this Pseudo-Animate said the 'code word', then that means the Undying Flame Spirit took it in as a student.��

While saying that, he scratched his head as he used more energy to enhance the quality of the image on the screen he was looking at. At the moment, he was looking at the Pseudo-Animate traveling through space to arrive at the first stage of the inheritance. "What makes this Pseudo-Animate so different from other Pseudo-Animates that even the Undying Flame Spirit would be willing to take it in? It's just a measly Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate."

"Oh well, I'm bound to find out sooner or later," the Grand Blue Master said to himself, formulating a plan on how he was going to treat this Pseudo-Animate in its trials. "For now, I'll make the trials easier and increase the quality of the rewards it would be able to get."

With that in mind, he then manipulated a great amount of energy from the inheritance towards certain places. Concurrently, this energy also manipulated the travel path of Argentum, since the trial he was going to undergo was a trial tailored by the Grand Blue Master himself.

Just as he was feeling satisfied with his arrangements, a thought surfaced in his mind, easily making him ecstatic as he said, "Yeah, I should add that as well! It's been a while since I've used it anyway, so why not use it on a fellow friend's student?"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Manipulating a bit more of the inheritance's energy, the thing that he wanted to happen had now been implemented in Argentum's trial, making the Grand Blue Master let out a light chuckle from satisfaction.

"Hmm…what else can I add?" the Grand Blue Master muttered to himself in a questioning tone, wondering if what he had done so far was more than enough. Eventually, a nice idea came to mind, prompting the Grand Blue Master to chuckle once more as he muttered, "You know what, I'll do that as well. It would allow me to adjust the difficulty of the trials when needed."

"Plus it wouldn't hurt to talk to a Pseudo-Animate anyway."