I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 198: An Unexpected Trial

Whoosh!

After doing what he had to do in the Tempest Cliff Inheritance, he soon left the place through teleportation, only taking a few teleports to do so. Nevertheless, the aura that was radiating from him was the same at the time when he was about to leave the Tempest Cliff Inheritance.

Dejection.

The reason why he was dejected was that the number of unused experience points that he could use right now was less than the amount he was told before, even though his personal assistant, Theresa, told him that the number given to him was an educated guess and was not the exact amount it would use.

He was positioned on the center of the magic circle that led to the insides of the inheritance, letting out a low sigh as he looked at the ruins that surrounded the magic circle. He then focused his sense of vision towards the sky, taking note of the fact that the sun was close to setting. While looking at these things, he was pondering on what he could do to increase the number of unused experience points he had by a lot in a short amount of time.

Of course, he thought about killing Inanimates to solve this problem, but the amount of experience they gave was minuscule when compared to the needs of Aurus. He also thought about killing Animates, having the feeling that he would be able to easily kill them as long as he hid wisely and killed them in one shot. But then, his rational side took over the majority of his thoughts, thinking about the consequences if he got caught killing Animates.

Rather than having a grudge towards him, they would pursue him even more due to the power he held and turn him into a weapon that would allow them to wield the same level of power, or perhaps even greater.

“I could go ahead and kill Pseudo-Animates since that would be the perfect existence level to kill at my level of combat power,” Aurus muttered to himself as he continued to think of ways to alleviate his problem, adding, “But Pseudo-Animates are incredibly rare by the looks of it. When I came with Herellia to the inheritance that gave Comprehension Leaves, I did not even see any Pseudo-Animates roaming around in the wilderness.”

“Haah.” Aurus let out a sigh of slight frustration at this problem. Just as he was accepting his fate of killing a massive amount of Pseudo-Animates at once, he remembered something that he had activated inside the Tempest Cliff Inheritance a while ago, a skill that had a description that could alleviate his problem.

“[Reward Sharing]…would Argentum even kill a few beings along the way to Verdant Breeze Town?” Aurus pondered over it, his aura of dejection being replaced with slight happiness not long after. As a thought related to Pseudo-Animates flashed across in mind, he then said with slight confidence, “If he wants to become strong, he has no choice but to kill a few beings. I almost forgot that Pseudo-Animate skills have mastery levels just like Animates.”

With that in mind, Aurus was more or less at ease about the success of his third plan. Of course, he also had a back-up plan in the off-chance that Argentum’s killing spree would come later than sooner, killing a stray Animate…or even a few of them.

“Let’s head to the second inheritance,” Aurus said to Theresa with a more composed tone this time, to which Theresa replied with glee, “As you wish, Master!”

Whoosh!

And just like that, both Aurus and Theresa had disappeared from the center of the magic circle, heading towards the town that housed the inheritance that gave Aurus not only Comprehension Leaves, but a title as well.

…

Whoosh!

Around an hour later, Aurus and Theresa had finally arrived at the outskirts of the town where the inheritance resided, with Aurus radiating an aura of slight shock as he tested out the new and improved movement skill he had obtained after fusing all of those skills to their limit.

“[Omnipresent Movement]…to think that this movement skill that leaned towards flying rather than teleportation back then would turn into a teleportation skill that far eclipses the range of [Nebulous Tempest Blessing],” Aurus muttered as he recalled the distance he had traveled with a single teleportation of both skills. While still in awe, he added, “Even without activating [Zenith Nihility Dash], I could travel a distance that’s farther than [Nebulous Tempest Blessing] and [Zenith Nihility Dash] used in tandem.”

“The only downside is the amount of FP consumed per teleportation,” Aurus muttered with a chuckle before adding, “Then again, I have tons of FP to use anyway.”

Whoosh!

Unlike before, where he would have morphed into an inconspicuous object so that he would not attract the attention of the Animates that were guarding the perimeter of the town, as well as the Animates that lived inside the town, Aurus believed in the range of [Omnipresent Movement] as a lot of his FP was consumed, with him and Theresa appearing inside a dark and secluded place not long after.

At the instant Aurus and Theresa had arrived at this dark and secluded place, Aurus took a look around his surroundings and radiated an aura of satisfaction after noticing there were multiple planks of wood blocking the entrance behind him. In other words, he had successfully entered the abandoned mineshaft where the inheritance resided without having to pass through the Animates.

He then went ahead and teleported to the innermost portion of the abandoned mineshaft, eventually ending up in a corridor that led to a dead end. He looked at the dead-end of this corridor, radiating an aura of slight elation as he noticed that an inconspicuous magic circle was etched on the wall. Cross-referencing the memory he had of the magic circle that led to the inheritance from before, he was certain that this magic circle was the one he wanted to enter.

“If I remember correctly, to enter the inheritance, I should reply to the words said by the magic circle,” Aurus muttered as he slowly made his way towards the magic circle, eventually standing a decent distance away from the magic circle. He focused his sense of vision towards it, waiting for a voice to resound so he could get into the inheritance and obtain Comprehension Leaves.

Whirr…

“Eh?” Surprisingly, rather than that being the case, without any warning or sign beforehand, the inconspicuous magic circle started to glow a faint white as a suctioning force gradually enveloped Aurus, leaving no trace of him ever crossing the corridor a few seconds later.

Whoosh!

Around a minute after Aurus was abruptly sucked in by the force of the magic circle, he and Theresa had soon appeared in the center of a large stone room. At the instant he had arrived in this room, he looked around and noticed that it was the stone room he was in when he first attempted the inheritance, but considerably bigger than the one he was in when he first attempted the inheritance.

Realizing that this was the case, Aurus could not help but be confused, asking himself, “How the heck did I enter the inheritance so easily? Is it because I entered the inheritance before. No, that wouldn’t be the case since Herellia had been here before, yet she had to reply to the magic circle to enter the inheritance.”

“Seriously, how?” Aurus muttered not long after as he tried to make sense of the situation he was currently in. Just as he was about to enter a deep state of thinking, a voice he was somewhat familiar with resounded throughout the whole stone room he was in, prompting Theresa to snap him back to reality and shout, “Master, listen to the voice!”

“Hm?” Although he was slightly annoyed at the fact that he was interrupted from his train of thought by Theresa, at the very instant he heard the voice resounding throughout the room, a certain memory surfaced in his mind as he muttered in disbelief, “Is that…the Inheritance Ruler’s voice?”

“Welcome back to the great Ruler Inheritance, Substitute Ruler of the Void!” This was what the voice was saying as it resounded throughout the room it was in. A few seconds later, a chuckle resounded before it was followed up with, “Oh? It seems I was mistaken. Welcome back to the great Ruler Inheritance, Assistant Ruler of the Void.”

“The Inheritance Ruler?” After making sure that the voice came from the Inheritance Ruler that allowed him to obtain the title of Ruler of the Void, Aurus could not help but shout out his question before adding, “Is that really you?”

“Of course I am! Why would it not be me?” the Inheritance Ruler, which was the voice resounding a while ago, replied to Aurus’s question with a cheerful tone before abruptly changing into a slightly melancholic tone as it added, “It has only been over a week or so since you came here, but you’ve already forgotten me? How unpopular must I be…boohoo.”

“Haah.” In response to the Inheritance Ruler’s words, Aurus could not help but let out a loud sigh as he recalled the weird phenomenon before he entered the inheritance a while ago. Since the Inheritance Ruler was directly communicating with him at the very instant he had entered, he would be able to obtain the answer to his question easily. This was the thought in his mind.

“Er…Inheritance Ruler, I have two questions,” Aurus said out loud, which attracted the attention of the Inheritance Ruler as it stopped its melancholic facade before responding with, “What is it?”

“First off, how the heck did I enter this inheritance without going through the usual process of replying to the magic circle’s words?” Aurus replied to the Inheritance Ruler’s question with a question of his own before following it up with, “Second, are you really okay with me calling you the Inheritance Ruler? It’s quite a long name.”

“I’m glad you asked,” the Inheritance Ruler said before letting out a light chuckle. The sound of someone taking in a deep breath could be heard resounding throughout the room Aurus was in before the Inheritance Ruler’s voice could be heard, saying, “I’ll answer the second question first. You can call me the Inheritance Ruler and I wouldn’t mind it since we’re not that close. But since you find it a slightly cumbersome name to say, how about calling me Inhee? It’s a name I made up from the word ‘inheritance’.”

“Inhee…” Aurus muttered it in response as he repeated this name in his mind multiple times. A few seconds later, he replied, “Inhee is fine. Anyways, the first question?”

“It’s quite simple, really,” the Inheritance Ruler…or rather, Inhee replied to Aurus’s query before adding, “The reason why you entered this inheritance without needing to go through the usual process is that you already have a Ruler title. Only those that don’t have a full Ruler title must go through the usual process.”

“I see,” Aurus said in response to Inhee’s reply, thinking that this did indeed make sense. Just as Aurus was about to ask Inhee a question, Inhee took the initiative to ask Aurus a question first, asking him, “Anyways, why did you come to this inheritance again, Assistant Ruler of the Void?”

“I need more Comprehension Leaves,” Aurus responded to Inhee’s question before adding, “Also, calling me Aurus is fine with me.”

“Hoh? You need more Comprehension Leaves?” Inhee said with slight curiosity. It then added, “What for?”

“To increase my comprehension speed to the limit,” Aurus replied without hiding anything. 

“Well, since you’re an official Ruler, I wouldn’t mind giving you as much Comprehension Leaves as you want,” Inhee said after pondering over Aurus’s words, which made Aurus radiate an aura of gratefulness and elation. But then, this aura was instead replaced with curiosity as Inhee said, “But…”

“But…?” Aurus wondered why. Thankfully, Inhee satiated his curiosity as it continued, “After sensing your presence in this inheritance, the Supreme Ruler of the Void, which is more or less your teacher, wanted to test you out. He noticed that you were acting in a way that was unbefitting for a Ruler of the Void, using the inferior element of Wind rather than the superior element of Void.”

“Huh?” Aurus was somewhat confused as he added, “You did tell me that I could choose any Ruler I wanted to learn under, right? When did he become so demanding?”

“His words, not mine,” Inhee replied to Aurus’s query as it added, “Nonetheless, after looking at what you were doing secretly, he was slightly infuriated that you were using the element of Wind instead of the Void to fight against others, making him ponder whether accepting you as a Ruler of the Void was a right choice.”

“Since the power you hold as an Inanimate far surpasses the average power held by the Inanimates that came here before you, the Supreme Ruler of the Void has decided to give you a second chance and let you undergo a trial that would remove his doubts.”

“…” Aurus was left at a loss for words, wondering what he did to tick this powerful Ruler off. Although it seemed that since a Supreme Ruler was doing this so he had no choice but to accept, Aurus went ahead and asked Inhee just to clear his doubts, “Can I decline?”

“Declining the trial means you give up the title of Assistant Ruler of the Void, according to him. Are you sure?” Inhee replied to his question, to which Aurus could not help but let out a long sigh.

“Fine, fine, fine. I accept the trial,” Aurus said with a slightly annoyed tone before adding, “There better be good rewards in this trial.”

“As the Inheritance Ruler, how could I not give you rewards that are equivalent to your efforts?” Inhee said in response to Aurus’s words in a cheerful tone. It then cleared its throat before continuing, “Anyways, this trial is composed of three stages, just like what you took back then when you first entered the inheritance.”

“Well, let’s not waste any time since it seems you’re more or less ready to get this trial over with,” Inhee added a few seconds later. It then continued, “The first stage of this trial shall test your prowess in the element of Void. Namely, the infinite spaces it has.”

“And with that, the name of this stage is…”

“Myriad Void Dimensions.”