Chapter 351: The Long-Awaited Goal

Whoosh! Bang!

Without a care for the world, by the time Aurus had arrived at the room where Argentum currently was, he utilized the entirety of his strength to push the stone door aside, revealing Argentum, who was looking at him with an aura of excitement and joy surrounding him.

Of course, seeing Argentum stand like that in front of him made Aurus realize that he had been waiting for him to arrive for quite some time. Ironically enough, it was at this point that Aurus remembered that he had a skill that allowed him to teleport for long distances without consuming too much of his FP in the process. Remembering this, he could not help but let out an awkward chuckle as he asked Argentum, "Am I late?"

"You're just in time," Argentum said in response, letting out a chuckle as he allowed the aura that came along with one's understanding of an element reaching the True Element level to spread around, making Argentum give off the feeling that he was the source of every breeze and storm throughout the alliance. Aurus, who had an affinity skill related to the Wind element being at the Transcendent level, could not help but feel that this was the case as well, making him wonder if this was due to the difference in their understanding of the Wind element.

"Is affinity different from understanding?" Aurus muttered to himself, wondering if it would be worth it for him to increase his understanding of the Wind element to the True Element level as well. In the end, he decided to place the thought at the back of his mind for now as he was still trying to acclimate to his new body and new level of combat power.

"So, are we going to head to where Herellia is?" Argentum asked Aurus, to which Aurus lightly nodded as he responded, "Yep. Since you've achieved the True Element level for all four elements, you should try and check if you can become the owner of the tome first before going ahead and achieving Lesser Origin."

"Of course, only do that once we get to where Herellia is," Aurus added soon after with a light smile on his face.

"Speaking of which, should we meet up with Horell along the way before we leave the alliance?" Aurus asked not long after, prompting Argentum to ponder over the matter for a bit as he said, "I'd suggest not meeting up with Horell for now."

"Hm?" Expecting a certain answer but getting another one instead, Aurus could not help but look at Argentum with slight confusion. Fortunately, Argentum explained his reasoning to Argentum, telling him, "If you meet up with Horell right now, I'm sure he'll force you to take his place as the de facto leader of the alliance through any means possible, even if it meant your impression of him would change."

"Why would he do that, though? The Horell I know isn't like that?" Aurus responded to Argentum's words with a question of his own, eliciting Argentum to reply, "Well, I guess it has something to do with Herellia's Existence Tribulation. Ever since we finished her Existence Tribulation, Horell has become more fearful of things… even though he's strong enough to take care of them."

"Since I haven't really experienced an Existence Tribulation before, so I can't really say if Horell's shift in personality is warranted," Aurus said. After that, he shrugged his shoulders while lightly sighing as he said, "Alright, then. Let's do as you say. We'll head straight for Herellia."

"You're definitely not going to regret this decision," Argentum let out a light chuckle as he responded before saying, "Alright. Gimme a few seconds to cast movement speed buffs on both of u—"

"There's no need," Aurus interrupted Argentum before he could finish his sentence, prompting Argentum to look at him with a hint of confusion surrounding him. "Hm?"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Not long after, Aurus disappeared from Argentum's field of vision…only to appear in another part…then another…then another.

Of course, after appearing here and there for a few times, he eventually stopped in front of Argentum once more as he said, "I can teleport. Don't you remember me having that ability?"

"Ah…right. Haha." Rummaging through Aurus' memories, Argentum finally remembered that Aurus did have the ability to teleport, making him let out an awkward chuckle before imitating the sound of one clearing their throat to change the topic.

"Can you teleport me along with you?" Argentum asked Aurus soon after, to which Aurus replied, "I'm pretty sure I can, though let me double check."

"Theresa, can I teleport other beings with me through [Omnipresent Movement]?" Aurus soon asked as if he was talking to the air, prompting a small woman in a maid outfit to appear on Aurus' left shoulder, which surprised Argentum.

"As long as you're willing to spend more FP, then I don't see why not, Master," Theresa replied to Aurus' question with a hint of nonchalance before disappearing a few seconds later. With his question answered, Aurus then looked at Argentum and said, "As you've heard, I can bring you along with me while I'm teleporting."

"Who…" Argentum was about to ask who that small woman that appeared on Aurus' left shoulder was, but fortunately, Aurus knew what was going through his head thanks to [Sense Sharing]. Without any hint of suspicion, Aurus replied, "That's Theresa. Think of her as the personification of the Transcending Existence System we both have."

"I'm not sure if you can summon her, though," Aurus added, to which Argentum placed at the back of his head for now since he could try summoning her later.

And so, with Aurus telling him that he had the ability to teleport, Argentum went ahead and grabbed Aurus by the arm as he went ahead and summoned the system's map feature to place a marker on it. He then shared this marker through their connection, allowing Aurus to find out where he had to teleport.

After closing his eyes for a bit to figure out where he would have to appear and how many teleports it would take for him to reach the place, Aurus soon opened his eyes as the two of them disappeared without any trace from the room they were in, hastily making their way to where Herellia was.

…

Naturally, teleportation was multiple times faster than running at insanely high speeds. With that in mind, it only took around ten minutes or so for the two of them to arrive at the inner region of the Inferno Plains.

Surprisingly, at the very moment they appeared in the inner region, Aurus did not seem to be affected by the intense heat of the Inferno Plains at all. It was as if he could not feel any heat at all.

"Don't you feel like your insides are burning up, Aurus?" Argentum could not help but ask, wondering if Aurus was just forcefully tolerating the pain he felt from the intense heat. In response, Aurus lackadaisically stretched his body as he said, "No, not really. I just feel a warm yet soothing heat covering my whole body."

"Is it because of the effects of his evolution…ah, right. He obtained [Fire Affinity] from me," Argentum muttered to himself, eventually laughing the thought off as he felt that he had become less composed when thinking while around Aurus. Of course, he just thought that this was because it has been quite some time since Aurus had appeared, making him feel giddy from excitement.

Nevertheless, with the two of them appearing in front of the abandoned building that housed the Flame Spirit Inheritance, Argentum went ahead and formed a sigil that controlled the inheritance, only for him to stop midway as he felt that a connection between him and another being had been formed.

"What made you stop in front of my inheritance all of a sudden, Argentum?" Eleanor asked Argentum out of nowhere, leaving Argentum at a loss of words for a bit as he replied, "Ah, I just stopped by to let one of Herellia's friends meet up with her."

"Hoh? Is the friend an Inanimate?" Eleanor could not help but ask, to which Argentum replied, "Uh-huh."

"Alright, give me a second," Eleanor replied before cutting off the connection between them as she used her energy to teleport Argentum and Aurus into her room.

Whoosh!

Not long after, both Argentum and Aurus appeared inside the room where Eleanor usually stayed, with Eleanor already standing in front of them.

"How did your week with Rosalia go?" Argentum asked, to which Eleanor could not help but lightly shudder as she replied, "Please don't remind of it for now."

"Anyways, who's this Inanimate friend you brought with you?" Eleanor soon focused her vision onto Aurus, prompting Aurus to communicate with Argentum through the connection they had with their spirit as he asked, "What should I say?"

"Whatever you do, don't reveal the fact that I'm your clone or you're my original body," Argentum hastily replied before adding, "Then again, no one would believe us, but you know, just to be safe."

Scratching his head as he let out an awkward chuckle, Aurus responded to Eleanor's question, saying, "I'm uh…Aurus, one of Herellia's close friends."

"Hoh? An Inanimate that could move like a human? That's something you don't see that often," Eleanor could not help but say after Aurus was finished responding, making the two become nervous for no apparent reason. Eventually, Eleanor let out a light chuckle as she said, "Alright, Aurus. Give me a few seconds. I'll let you meet up with Herellia."

"As for you, Argentum. You stay here, okay?" she then said soon after, focusing her vision onto Argentum, who nodded in agreement to her words.

Whoosh!

Not long after, a corridor that led to Herellia's room was opened, prompting Eleanor to tell Aurus to just walk along the corridor to meet up with Herellia. With a light nod, Aurus went ahead and walked through the corridor, only for Eleanor to close up the corridor once Aurus was deep inside for quite a bit.

After that, she looked at Argentum for a bit with a solemn aura surrounding her, only to let out a boisterous laughter as she asked, "You're about to achieve Lesser Origin, aren't you?"

"I was planning to keep it a secret, to be honest," Argentum said in response, scratching his head as he let out a chuckle before saying, "Anyways, yeah. Once I exit the inheritance, I'll be going all in to achieving Lesser Origin and then proceed with the Origin Trials after that."

"How long do you think it would take you to finish it?" Eleanor asked, to which Argentum replied, "I don't know. Maybe days, weeks, even months. In any case, if I'm still not finished with the trials after a week, please send Aurus out of the inheritance."

"I'll keep that in mind," Eleanor nodded in response before going ahead and using her energy to teleport Argentum out of the inheritance. Of course, she left a few parting words along the way, saying, "I hope you succeed!"

"Thanks!" Argentum hastily replied before he fully disappeared from Eleanor's room.

…

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, Argentum appeared in front of the abandoned building that served as the entrance to the Flame Spirit Inheritance. Not long after, he went ahead and took out the tome that was hidden inside his upper torso all this time. After that, he then allowed the affinities he had with the four elements to interact with the tome, doing the same thing as what the player did back then in ISE when he first obtained the Tome of the Four Elements.

Fortunately, the binding process had successfully begun, allowing Argentum to let out a large sigh of relief as he watched the tome form tendrils of energy that extended towards his body, while his body went ahead and formed tendrils imbued with the four foundational elements of the world, gradually extending to meet up with the tome's tendrils.

Around half a minute later, the tendrils from the tome and the tendrils from his body had instantly contracted, bringing the tome to Argentum's body in less than an instant as it looked like the tome was fusing with his body as a whole. At first, Argentum was afraid that he would lose the tome forever, but after some time, he found out that the tome was now converting to its true form, a form that could switch between the physical and mental.

Eventually, the connection between him and the tome had been successfully established, now giving him the ability to summon the tome whenever he wanted, and peruse through its contents whenever he wanted as well.

With that taken care of, he then got to the main matter at hand, which was to fuse the affinities he had with the four foundational elements into the higher tier element, Lesser Origin. Fortunately, he had already obtained a notification from the system a few seconds after he had achieved the True Element level of understanding with the Wind element.

Without hesitation, he went ahead and summoned the notification from the system, allowing the system's feminine-sounding voice to resound throughout his mind as it asked.

"You have postponed the creation of [Lesser Origin Affinity] in order to achieve something greater, going ahead and increasing your understanding of the four foundational elements to the True Element level. Would you like to create the [Lesser Origin Affinity] skill based on this heightened understanding of the four elements? Note that by creating this, you'd instantly start the Origin Trials."

Taking in a deep breath, he eventually responded with a firm tone, "Yes."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ding!

'Congratulations! You have obtained the passive skill…'

'[Lesser Origin Affinity: Sophos Veritas].'