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Chapter 257: A Successful Baptism

“What the heck?” Argentum could not help but mutter with a tone of utter shock as he read through the notifications he had received. “Blue Lightning Triad Tribulation? What kind of trial is that?!”

Seeing as the blue lightning bolts haven’t struck Blob yet, Argentum took this time to go ahead and ask the system regarding the severity of blue lightning. Fortunately, sensing that its user was in a race against time, the system hastily answered Argentum’s question as a feminine-sounding voice resounded in his mind.

“A blue lightning bolt is made up of 10 purple lightning bolts. On the other hand, a purple lightning bolt is made up of 100 red lightning bolts. In other words, a blue lightning bolt has the force of at least 1000 red lightning bolts behind it,” the system said in his mind, increasing the amount of dread and remorse he felt with the sudden decision he had just made.

After asking the system the question he had in mind, Argentum pondered on what he could do to increase Blob’s chance of succeeding in what seemed to be a hellish version of his own Power Baptism. It only took a few seconds for Argentum to come up with a good idea, muttering a few incantations as he extended his palm outward, aiming it towards Blob as he shouted, “Hey, Blob! Make sure you succeed, okay?”

“[Higher Zephyr Magic: Zephyr Burst Omega, Second Verse]!”

“[Higher Ignis Magic: Ignis Burst Omega, Second Verse]!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Not long after, two large balls of energy, which were red and green respectively, made their way towards Blob’s body, which was absorbed after that. At the very instant the two balls were fully absorbed, Blob instantly felt that his feet were incredibly light, making him feel that he would be able to traverse terrain at incredibly fast speeds.

Not only that, but he also felt that a tyrannical and oppressive force surged throughout his body, making him feel that he had the strength to cleave the heavens and tear the world asunder. Realizing that the spells cast at him were filled with the intent of helping him have an easier time in clearing the Power Baptism Argentum told him, Blob looked back at Argentum as he said with a grateful tone, “With the spells you’ve cast on me, I definitely will!”

“Now I really regret doing this.” Hearing the grateful tone that covered Blob’s words, Argentum felt even more remorse than before, wondering what Blob would feel when he found out that the blue lightning that he was going to defend against was far more dangerous than he thought. At this moment, he was now a few dozen meters away from where Blob was, making sure that he was not caught up in the middle.

The spells he had cast were spells that he had obtained after evolving the spell-based skills he had to another level. The only difference between these spells and the weaker versions of the same spells was their efficacy and speed of casting. Indeed, the spells he had could actually be cast on other beings. In actuality, before deciding to use Blob as his main method of travel, Argentum thought of casting [Zephyr Burst] or another version of the spell on Blob to lessen the travel time between places, but decided otherwise as it would, in a way, reduce the time he had to improve his skills before he arrived at the place.

As for [Aqua Burst], which was a spell that increased the efficacy of skills to unimaginable levels, he opted to not cast it on Blob right now. He was going to wait for the moment that Blob used a skill to mitigate the damage he would receive from the blue lightning.

Rumble…rumble…

The blue lightning lingering through the dark clouds continued to rumble, the aura radiating from each lightning bolt gradually increasing. Surprisingly, even after a couple of minutes, no blue lightning bolt came out of the clouds to strike Blob down, which allowed Blob to activate a few of his skills, which mostly focused on increasing his stats, especially defense.

Feeling that the blue lightning was not going to strike down any time soon, Argentum went ahead and asked the system, “System, why is Blob’s first Power Baptism composed of blue lightning? Wasn’t mine only composed of red lightning? Does it have something to do with his current strength?”

Ding!

Accompanied by a notification sound, a feminine-sounding voice resounded throughout Argentum’s mind not long after as it explained, “The user’s thought is correct. The power behind a Power Baptism has something to do with the being’s current strength. In reality, even if the being decides to postpone their Power Baptism to when they become stronger, the difficulty of a Power Baptism would still stay the same.”

“So you’re telling me that every Power Baptism is always insanely hard in difficulty?” Argentum asked in return, obtaining a succinct reply from the system a few seconds later.

“Yes.”

“…” Hearing the system’s concise reply, Argentum was left at a loss for words, with a sigh leaving out of his mouth a few seconds later. He then asked the system, “Is it possible to help the one taking the Power Baptism while it is happening?”

Ding!

Accompanied by yet another notification sound, the feminine-sounding voice of the system resounded once more, informing him that nothing was restricting him from helping out a being that was undergoing a Power Baptism. The system then added that most Power Baptisms were cleared in this fashion, with multiple beings helping out the being that was undergoing the Power Baptism through buffs and indirect attacks.

In an instant, Argentum felt a bit more at ease, knowing that he could help Blob out in clearing his first Power Baptism. Just as he was about to tell Blob that he was going to help him out in this Power Baptism…

The first blue lightning bolt had finally descended.

Bzzt…crash!

With the help of his enhanced senses, Argentum was able to make his vision feel like he was looking at everything in slow motion. Unfortunately for him, even though that was the case, the speed at which the blue lightning bolt descended was still multiple times faster than the red lightning bolt he faced up against. Seeing as he had no way to help Blob out before the lightning bolt would strike Blob, he hastily shouted, “Dodge it, Blob!”

Hearing his name being called, Blob instantly processed the order that was given him, maintaining eye contact with the blue lightning bolt that was hastily making its way to smite him down. Without hesitation, he activated a skill that allowed him to conjure a barrier that protected his body as he exerted his full power towards his legs, increasing his distance from where the blue lightning bolt was going to hit by a few meters in less than a second.

Bang!

Unfortunately for Blob, even though he acted at the very instant he had heard his creator’s order and tried to dodge the bolt, he was only able to mitigate the damage he had obtained by around 60% with the barrier shattering as a result, feeling an immense amount of pain as the ground where he stood on tore apart. Due to the force behind the bolt, he was sent flying for a few meters before landing with a thud. It took him a few seconds or so for him to finally get up.

Although Blob’s current condition could be considered to be greatly injured, Argentum looked at Blob with an aura of immense excitement as he shouted, “Hey, Blob! Get up! Do you feel your body becoming stronger?”

“Huh?” Blob, who had just gotten up from the ground, briefly radiated an aura of confusion before noticing that something was off. Even though his body was filled to the brim with injuries, which were signified with parts of his body lacking in energy, in actuality, he felt that he had more power than ever before. He tried punching out in his currently injured state, only to find out that the force behind this casual punch was enough for him to create a strong gust of wind, surprising him.

He also went ahead and started to dash around the area he landed, finding out that he was moving a few times faster than before. Realizing what had happened to his body, he exuded an aura of immense elation as he looked at Argentum and shouted, “I’ve gotten stronger!”

In response, Argentum let out a loud chuckle as he used his skills to heal Blob’s injuries before the second lightning bolt struck down. In contrast, Argentum was glad to find out that surviving the first bolt of lightning would increase the being’s strength by a few times already. It was then that he understood the reasoning behind the second and third bolt being far more powerful than the first bolt. It was because with each bolt of lightning that was withstood, the greater the improvement the being would obtain.

‘I wonder if the improvement in strength stays even if a being fails a bolt in the middle of the Power Baptism,’ Argentum thought to himself as the second lightning bolt had finally descended.

“[Aegis of the Grand Ignis]!” Now knowing very well how much pain a single blue lightning bolt inflicted on him, Blob was now more prepared than before. He unhesitatingly went ahead and used the strongest defensive skill he had in his arsenal, conjuring a large shield that looked like the coat of arms of royal clans. He then moved this shield upward to cover his head, which would be the first part that would be struck by the blue lightning bolt if it came down.

Fortunately, Argentum noticed the shield that Blob had conjured, hastily casting the strongest movement speed boosting spell he had to close the gap between him and Blob in an instant. He then extended his right palm as he shouted, “[Higher Algor Magic: Aqua Burst Omega, Second Verse]!”

Whoosh!

A short instant after that, a blue ball of energy hastily made its way towards the shield before being absorbed, expanding the size of the shield by a few notches in an instant as the aura it radiated now gave off the feeling that it was impenetrable. And it was this moment that the shield and the second lightning bolt collided.

Bang!

Due to the force behind the blue lightning bolt, the shield was pushed down, hitting Blob’s head in a split second. Surprisingly, even though the shield and the bolt collided, the shield had not cracked from the force at well, making Blob inwardly wonder as to what Argentum cast on the skill to make it incredibly sturdy. Alongside the thought, he went ahead and pushed on the shield with all of the strength coursing throughout his body, counteracting the force from the blue lightning bolt.

At first, the force from the blue lightning bolt was the side that had the advantage, but gradually, with every passing second, the force from the blue lightning bolt decreased, allowing Blob to slowly be at the advantage after some time. Feeling that the strength behind the blue lightning bolt was now at a level where it could be ignored, Blob went ahead and exerted all of the force from his force towards the shield, dispersing the weak blue lightning bolt as he felt his body improving in strength.

With Blob safely withstanding the second lightning bolt, an aura of extreme happiness radiated from both Argentum and Blob. Argentum felt immense joy since Blob was close to clearing the Power Baptism, which meant that Blob would soon step on a new level of power that would allow him to fight against Animates equally. As for Blob, he felt immense joy since to him, it meant that he would become more useful to Argentum since he now had more strength.

“Just you wait, Argentum!” Blob shouted with immense glee as his sense of vision was focused on Argentum. “I’ll make sure to clear the remaining lightning bolts with e—”

Bang!

As if it was interrupting him, the third lightning bolt had now descended and struck at Blob. Fortunately, the shield that was enchanted with Argentum’s spell was still over his head, allowing Blob to utilize the newly obtained strength he had obtained as he pushed on the shield. Surprisingly, even though the third lightning bolt was far stronger than the first and second lightning bolt combined, Blob was able to push back the force behind the third lightning bolt and even overwhelm it. Due to such a move, the third lightning bolt was dispersed without a problem as a feeling of improvement enveloped Blob’s body once more.

“Damned lightning bolt,” Blob said in a tone of annoyance as he placed the shield down on the ground. Just as he was about to look at Argentum once again, he noticed that Argentum was radiating an aura of extreme disbelief. Wondering why Argentum was radiating such an aura, he then asked him, “What’s the matter, Argentum?”

Hearing his name being called, Argentum snapped back to reality as he responded to Blob’s question with a stammer, saying, “Y-you finished the Power Baptism…”

“It’s already finished?” Blob asked as a response to his creator’s statement, to which Argentum slowly pointed above Blob before responding with a stammer, “L-look at the clouds…”

“The clouds?” Although he was not sure why Argentum wanted him to look up, he still did what he told, only to realize why Argentum told him to do so.

With the third lightning bolt being withstood by Blob, there was no more point for the dark clouds to be there anymore, gradually dispersing as the blue light that radiated from the center of the dark clouds dispersed as well. After a few more seconds, the dark clouds were not there anymore, as if it was not there in the first place.

“Huh.” Blob could not help but utter as he scratched his head in awkwardness, dispersing his shield a few seconds later. He then slowly made his way to where Argentum was before letting out an awkward laugh. “I guess…I finished the Power Baptism.”

In response, Argentum let out an awkward laugh of his own as well before saying, “I guess so.”

And just like that, the first successful Power Baptism within Argentum’s band of companions had been done.