Chapter 250 - Crossroads

In a deeper portion of the Grand Blue Inheritance.

The Grand Blue Master looked intently at the screen in front of him, with Argentum and the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate he had summoned for this trial on it. The two of them looked at each other from opposite ends of the arena, with Argentum activating all of the status boosting skills and spells he had that was inclined towards the Water element. Noticing that Argentum followed his instructions to a T, the Grand Blue Master could not help but lightly nod in slight satisfaction, muttering to himself, "Eleanor has truly picked a good student to teach. Great comprehension rate, great combat power, and even obedience when it comes to orders."

He then let out a light snicker soon after as he said, "Unfortunately for you, Argentum, this is where you shall find your true limits."

"Surely, you wouldn't be able to defeat a Pseudo-Animate one grade higher than you, plus with someone who has an elemental advantage against you, with skills at an elemental disadvantage, right?" the Grand Blue Master muttered to himself with a slightly expectant tone. Throughout the tens of thousands of years that he had lived so far, he only met a few Pseudo-Animates that were able to beat those with an elemental advantage against them in the same grade. He had never heard of a Pseudo-Animate that not only beat those with an elemental advantage against them, but were also of a higher grade than them.

As he muttered this to himself, two thoughts lingered in his mind. The first one was a thought regarding him being slightly envious over Argentum's performance. He could not help but take out his anger on him for a bit, letting him undergo a trial that could be said to be nigh impossible to clear unless one was a true genius.

The second thought, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. Although he knew that he made the trial to take out a bit of his anger on Argentum, he also made that trial to see where Argentum's limits were. He was also somewhat expecting Argentum to break through his limits and defeat a Pseudo-Animate of a higher grade with a great disadvantage.

Eventually, after he was finished mulling over his thoughts, he finally announced the start of the third trial. Soon after that, the two started brandishing their skills and spells towards one another in a cutthroat manner. At first, the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate he had summoned was the one with the advantage, forcing Argentum to dodge every attack thrown at him.

Looking at the current scenario, the Grand Blue Master's expectations slightly became lower as he let out a soft sigh. Concurrently, he also felt a bit of happiness seeing such a genius Pseudo-Animate being beaten up. Fortunately, this happiness only lasted for a short bit as he felt a bit of remorse for what he had done. Scratching his head in contemplation, he asked himself, "Should I stop the trial? I did tell him that this trial was just for the sake of keeping up a few formalities."

Just as he was about to decide on doing so, he noticed that something peculiar was happening on the screen. After a while, this peculiarity made the Grand Blue Master slightly surprised, then excited as he could not believe what was happening. At this moment, it dawned on him that even though the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate looked like it was the one with the advantage…in actuality, Argentum seemed to be the one with the advantage!

Through the screen, he could vividly see that Argentum was sent flying with the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate's attack. Unfortunately for the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate, the result was that Argentum was left unscathed from that attack, allowing the distance to widen between the two of them as he started to mutter a few incantations that were unintelligible to the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate.

Infusing a bit more energy to the screen to enhance the volume of Argentum's voice, the Grand Blue Master was slightly stupefied as he realized what Argentum was muttering. With a tone of slight stupefaction, he muttered to himself, "He actually bought the ultimate art from the shop screen? At his current level, he has already met the requirements to use one?"

According to the Grand Blue Master's memories, ultimate arts were skills that showed a level of combat power far beyond what a being is normally capable of, allowing them to surmount the gap of power between the being and its enemy and fight on a level playing field. Of course, there were a lot of caveats when it came to using ultimate arts. 

First, all ultimate arts needed the being to have an immensely high level of affinity towards the element the ultimate art was using. Second, the being needed to have a body capable of withstanding the backlash brought by the usage of the ultimate skill. In other words, a high Vitality or Defense stat was needed to use an ultimate art. And lastly, one must have an enormous amount of energy to utilize ultimate arts to their full potential.

While he was still suspicious of Argentum's abilities regarding the utilization of ultimate arts, the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate noticed that it felt an ominous feeling from Argentum, prompting it to attack him with the strongest move it could muster.

Unfortunately for the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate once again, Argentum was already finished muttering the incantations for the ultimate art, allowing him to slice the attack the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate into two with just one move. Seeing the move Argentum utilized, the Grand Blue Master was left speechless.

Concurrent to the Grand Blue Master's speechlessness, Argentum decreased the gap between him and the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate through the usage of the ultimate art, even though the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate frantically attacked to widen the gap between them, but to no avail.

Eventually, the gap between them was near non-existent, allowing Argentum to cripple the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate by hacking off its limbs. It was also around this time that the Grand Blue Master snapped back to reality, announcing Argentum's victory over the third trial he had given him.

"Haah." After announcing Argentum's victory, the Grand Blue Master could not help but lean on his chair as he let out a long sigh. This sigh was filled with multiple emotions, with the most prominent emotion being awe. He then pondered over something for a bit, letting out a chuckle a few seconds later as he muttered, "Argentum truly is a genius Pseudo-Animate. Who knows how strong he'll become in the future."

"Now that I think about it, there might even be the possibility that he could even stand on the same level of power as me and Eleanor in the future," he continued to mutter, thinking that it was not impossible with the prowess Argentum had shown in the third trial, even with a great disadvantage.

"Anyways, I should think about the reward I'll give him for clearing this trial," the Grand Blue Master said to himself as he changed his train of thought. "Even though this trial is for the sake of keeping up formalities, Argentum has already done his part to keep it up, so I'll keep my part as well."

"The question is…what reward would fit Argentum?" he asked himself, mulling over it for about half a minute or so. After a while, he noticed that he had not told Argentum what was to come after the third trial. Add on the fact that he did not decide on a reward to give him yet, the Grand Blue Master decided to just keep Argentum in a facade for now, making him think that the trials were not over.

…

Whoosh!

After a few seconds of looking at each other, the crippled Earth-based Pseudo-Animate disappeared from Argentum's field of vision, allowing him to finally let out a sigh of relief as he disabled all of his skills and spells.

"Ultimate arts are really great," Argentum said to himself as he sat down on the ground, slightly shivering from the cold at first. "I think I should focus more of my time on the ultimate art I got. Even at the Artisan level of mastery, the power it outputs is already equivalent to [Viridescent Zephyr Blast]."

"Imagine if I used it in tandem with all of my status boosting skills, how monstrous would my level of damage reach by then?" Argentum muttered, laughing from the thought he just had.

"Speaking of which, shouldn't the Grand Blue Master be announcing my rewards around this time?" he asked himself, wondering what was taking the Grand Blue Master so long. He pondered over it for a bit, thinking over the Grand Blue Master's words from before.

"Well, he did say that this trial was to keep up a few formalities, so perhaps I might not get a reward from this trial," he muttered to himself as his thoughts converged to form a conclusion. "Then again, there's still a chance that that won't be the case."

Eventually, after a minute or so of waiting, the Grand Blue Master's voice resounded throughout the large room he was in. After listening to what he had to say, Argentum was left at a loss for words.

"Congratulations for clearing the third trial, Argentum," the Grand Blue Master said to him. "Your reward for this trial shall be delayed by three hours or so. For now, use the three hours I've given you in whatever way you want to."

After saying those words, the Grand Blue Master's voice did not resound throughout the room anymore, leaving Argentum alone once again. Standing up, Argentum scratched his head as he processed the words the Grand Blue Master told him. A thought soon surfaced in his mind, making him think that the Grand Blue Master was probably going to do some gimmick with his rewards.

"Ah, well," Argentum said to himself as he shrugged his shoulders. He then took in a deep breath before saying to himself, "I don't know if there's another trial after this one, but better to be safe than sorry."

And with that, Argentum started to grind all of his skills. Surprisingly, he still focused on the Water-based skills he had received, with most of his attention focused on the [Azure Wave Art].

"I should probably ask Eleanor for an ultimate art of the Fire element."

"Who knows if what I have in mind would also apply to ultimate arts."

…

In a deeper portion of the Grand Blue Inheritance.

Whoosh!

After telling Argentum what he had to do for the next three hours or so, the Grand Blue Master unhesitatingly conjured a large ball of energy. He then sent it flying towards a certain direction. Around a minute or so later, a ball of energy the same size he sent penetrated through the inheritance's walls and arrived at his room, prompting him to infuse his energy into the ball.

"What is it this time, Grand Blue Master?" After infusing his energy into the ball, Eleanor's voice could be heard resounding in his mind, initiating a conversation with him. "Are you going to ask me for money? If so, I won't let you borrow any."

In response, the Grand Blue Master let out a sigh as he responded, "Why do you always think I'm going to ask you for money? Haah…forget it. I called you to talk with you regarding Argentum again."

"Oh?" Eleanor said in a tone of curiosity. She then made a few hemming and hawing sounds after that before asking him, "Now that I think about it, you told me some time ago that you had increased the difficulty of the third trial my student was undergoing. How did he fare?"

"Surprisingly, he exceeded my expectations and cleared the third trial without a problem," the Grand Blue Master replied to her question with a tone of slight awe. "Do note that I've only limited him to Water-based skills, plus his opponent was an Earth-based Pseudo-Animate of the Magic grade."

"Even with those restrictions, he was able to defeat the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate," he added soon after.

"What the heck?!" Eleanor could not help but shout from sheer shock. She thought that Argentum would barely win the third trial in her expectations, but never did she think that he would be able to clear it without a problem. "Argentum's too amazing!"

Realizing that she made a slip of the tongue, Eleanor imitated the sound of one clearing their throat as her train of thought shifted towards the restrictions the Grand Blue Master gave Argentum. "Anyways, that's quite a harsh restriction you've imposed on Argentum."

"I know. I'm feeling some remorse from doing it, to be honest," the Grand Blue Master said in response, letting out a wry chuckle. "I told him that the third trial was a trial for the sake of keeping up formalities, but my mind is conflicted whether or not to end the trials here and give him a giant reward…"

"…or continue with the trial and give him an even greater reward."

"In my mind, he has already kept his side of the deal, so it's time for me to keep my side," he added, his tone taking on the hints of a slight rant. Eventually, he let out a long sigh, apologizing to Eleanor soon after regarding him going off on a slight tangent, to which Eleanor forgave him.

"So…in short, what do you want to tell me?" Eleanor asked him, to which the Grand Blue Master went silent for a bit. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth and said, "As his teacher, should I go ahead and reward him right now, or let trudge through another trial and enhance his rewards even further?"

Surprisingly, Eleanor already had an answer in mind as she listened to his question. Letting out a light giggle, Eleanor replied, "I'm not the one who decides on these things, Grand Blue Master. Remember that Argentum decided to go to the Grand Blue Inheritance on his own."

"In other words, you should let Argentum make the choice."

"…" The Grand Blue Master went silent after hearing Eleanor's last statement, pondering over it for a bit. After some time, he let out another wry chuckle as he said to Eleanor, "Thanks, Eleanor. I think I know what I should do now."

"No problem," Eleanor said in a sweet tone. "Don't you dare make Argentum go through that kind of hardship again, you hear me?"

"Hahaha. I won't," the Grand Blue Master said in response before saying farewell to her. He then went ahead and cut off the connection between the two of them as an aura of conviction radiated from him.

"It's time for the real Grand Blue Master to appear once more."