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Chapter 326: Testing One’s Wits

Swoosh!

Walking through the doorway that had appeared after the end of the first trial, Argentum was finally back to the hall he was previously in, sitting on one of the sofas once more as he soon hastily called for the disembodied voice, “Are you there, guide?”

“What is it, inheritor?” Surprisingly, the disembodied voice did not take long to respond to his question. Hearing the disembodied voice respond to him, Argentum went ahead and clarified what he had heard from a while ago, asking, “If I remember correctly, you told me that I could obtain any skill or item from the inheritance, as long as it’s on or under the Prodigy grade, right?”

“Well, due to the feat you’ve done in the first trial, I’ve increased your grade to Chaos Prodigy, if you could recall. Other than that, the inheritor is correct. The inheritor has a chance to obtain any skill or item from the inheritance, as long as it’s on or under your current grade,” the disembodied voice replied.

Now that he had clarified his doubts, Argentum went ahead and used his thoughts to summon the screen made of earth from before, allowing him to look at the list of skills the inheritance had once more. Of course, this time, he added the message that he only wanted to look at skills at the Chaos Prodigy grade, which the screen hastily processed.

Whoosh!

It did not take long for the screen made of earth to show the outcome of Argentum’s thoughts, only showing about three or so rectangles on the screen, unlike before where the number of rectangles could be counted on two hands. Since he recalled that the disembodied voice said that the Chaos Prodigy grade was one grade higher than the Prodigy grade, he was somewhat eager to see the effects of the skills he could obtain at his new grade. Unfortunately for him, compared to the skill he had obtained from the inheritance before engaging in the first trial, the current selection of skills in front of him were only around 10% better at most.

Of course, to others, they would not pass up the chance of obtaining a better skill even if the improvement is only by a few percent, but to Argentum who had access to skill fusion, it wasn’t much. With that in mind, he sent out a thought to dispel the screen made of earth as he shifted his focus back to the disembodied voice. Getting the feeling that the disembodied voice was always listening to him, he then asked, “So, what items can I obtain from the inheritance?”

“As stated earlier, the inheritor can obtain any item it wished to from the inheritance, as long as it is inside the inheritance,” the disembodied voice said in response, to which Argentum could not help but let out a light chuckle as he asked, “In other words, it’s possible for me to obtain you?”

Surprisingly, the disembodied voice responded to him in a serious manner as it said, “Indeed, you can. Unfortunately, you would need the highest grade to do so.”

Naturally, what Argentum said was a joke, so he was left at a loss for words after hearing the disembodied voice’s reply. Lightly coughing to remove the awkward air surrounding him, he then asked, “What items are in the inheritance?”

“Many things,” the disembodied voice answered. “Resources that help speed up the growth of power, weapons, special items, etc, I’m definitely sure we have it inside the inheritance.”

“Is that the case?” Argentum said, a thought instantly surfacing on his mind as he listened to the disembodied voice. Although it would be fine if the inheritance didn’t have it, he would feel like he had shaved off quite some time if what he had in mind was available for him to obtain. With such a thought in mind, he then asked, “Hmm…do you have any items that increases one’s affinity to the Earth element?”

Fortunately for Argentum, the disembodied voice replied, “Indeed, we do. As the inheritor is someone at the Chaos Prodigy grade, the rarest item you can obtain from the inheritance that increases one’s affinity with the Earth element is the Canatir Quintessence Crystal. Would you like me to obtain it for you?”

“Canatir Quintessence Crystal?!” Argentum could not help but shout in surprise as he skimmed through Aurus’ memories, instantly recalling the purpose and power of what the disembodied voice said. In Aurus’ memories, the Canatir Quintessence Crystal was a crystal that would allow a piece of armor to increase its defense by a few times at the very least while giving one the ability to do some basic manipulation of the earth surrounding them.

Though it wasn’t really that rare in ISE, the Canatir Quintessence Crystal was still an item highly sought after by Rank 4 and 5 Animate players. As for those who specialized in the Earth element, the Canatir Quintessence Crystal offered a large boost to their elemental affinity. With that in mind, he hastily replied “Yes,” not wanting to miss the chance to obtain it.

Oblivious to what was going inside Argentum’s mind, the disembodied voice went ahead and obtained the Canatir Quintessence Crystal for him, teleporting it in front of his field of vision as a large mass of Earth energy particles started to coalesce in front of him. Soon after, a dark crystal that beautifully glistened under the light of the candlelit chandelier appeared in front of Argentum, to which he grabbed with both of his hands with care.

At the very instant he touched this dark crystal, he instantly felt like he was more connected with the Earth element than ever before. Not only that, but he felt like he now had a greater understanding of the Earth element and how it worked. Unfortunately, this feeling only lasted for a fleeting moment before disappearing. Nevertheless, Argentum could not help but look at the crystal he held with wonder as he muttered, “Wow.”

“The inheritor has now obtained their reward from the first trial, the Canatir Quintessence Crystal,” the disembodied voice said in a solemn tone coincidentally just as Argentum uttered out a sound of awe. Soon after, it then said, “The second trial’s doors are now open, though the inheritor may wish to start the second trial at any time.”

In response, Argentum lightly nodded as he conjured a large amount of tendrils on his hands to connect to the crystal he was holding. Since the disembodied voice told him that he could start the second trial at any time, he was going to follow the disembodied voice’s words and start the second trial once he was finished absorbing the Canatir Quintessence Crystal.

Swoosh…swoosh…

Within a matter of seconds, multiple Earth energy particles started to surround Argentum as some of them were gradually absorbed by his body. With such a monotonous thing being done, it wasn’t surprising for quite a long time to pass. Unexpectedly, by the time about two hours or so had passed, only the dredges of the dark crystal he was previously holding had remained connected to the tendrils he conjured, signaling to Argentum that he was now finished absorbing the Canatir Quintessence Crystal.

“I’ve definitely progressed a lot,” Argentum could not help but say as he retracted the tendrils on his hands. As for the dredges that remained from the dark crystal, he went ahead and used his newfound understanding of the Earth element to make them disappear. Surprisingly, he was able to do so, making him let out a sigh in awe as he thought about the progress he had made with the crystal.

“I don’t know how much time has passed, but that crystal alone was enough to push my understanding of the Earth element almost halfway to the True Element level,” Argentum muttered as he stood up from the sofa, facing the doorway that led to the second trial. Wondering if he could share the recipe of the Heaven’s Earth Potion with the owner of the inheritance after he had gone through all of the trials to obtain a production line, he went through the doorway, being engulfed in white light once more.

By the time the white light surrounding him had disappeared, he was greeted by a sight he wasn’t expecting to see from an inheritance. Hastily using his enhanced senses to take a look at where he was, it did not take long for him to find out that he was standing on what seemed to be a well-made balcony, with the doorway that led back to the hall still behind him. Although he wondered why the doorway was still open behind him, his sense of vision was instead focused on what he could see from the balcony he was on.

At the moment, with his enhanced senses and his current position, his sense of vision allowed him to see what seemed to be a giant chessboard. Of course, it wasn’t just a chessboard that was scaled up to an enormous size, the number of tiles available on this chessboard was at least a hundred times more numerous than a normal chessboard. As for the usual 16 chess pieces that came along with a chessboard, this time, there were at least 200 of them on both sides, the pieces on his side taking on the color of red.

“Soldier…Strategist…Spy…Reconnaissance…” As Argentum looked through the red pieces near his balcony, he noticed that although the pieces looked like something one would see from chess, the names of the pieces were instead different. Naturally, with such a setting like this for his second trial, it was impossible for Argentum to not ask the disembodied voice, inquiring with an incredibly curious tone, “What’s the second trial about?”

“The second trial shall test the second characteristic that Lord Calcifas looks for in an inheritor. There’s a saying that goes, ‘One can make others submit to them through pure strength, but only will the heavens bow to them once this strength is controlled.’ In this trial, the characteristic that shall be tested is intelligence. To be more exact, your ability to formulate strategies and adapt on the fly,” the disembodied voice replied before asking Argentum to redirect his attention towards the large chessboard.

“In front of you is the standard field for Zechys, a game normally used by strategists and other beings that want to test the commanding and strategizing ability of those they’re testing,” the disembodied voice continued. “On the field are pieces that are close equivalents to being one would see in a war. Naturally, there’s a side that attacks and a side that defends in a war. In this game, you’re the attacking side.”

“Wait for a bit, I’m trying to wrap my head around this,” Argentum could not help but say, feeling that the disembodied voice would continue explaining if he did not say something like this. After a while, he finally had a feeling that he could understand the next words of the disembodied voice, prompting him to say, “Alright, you can continue.”

“Got it,” the disembodied voice replied. Not long after, a wave of Earth energy particles appeared in front of Argentum, manifesting into a decently thick book filled with text. On its cover were the words ‘Guide to Zechys’. Letting out a light sigh as Argentum thought that he shouldn’t have stopped the disembodied voice was actually going to do this, the disembodied voice said, “Since there is a high chance that the inheritor does not know about the rules of Zechys, the inheritance has given the inheritor a guide to how Zechys is played. Once the inheritor feels like they have understood its rules, only then will the second trial start.”

Scratching his head as he felt like it would take him quite some time to understanding the rules of Zechys, he went ahead and picked up the book that had manifested in front of him before going ahead and flipping through its pages. At first, the information written on the pages were somewhat complex for Argentum, wondering if it would take him at least a day to understand all of it. But as time passed on, he found that his speed of understanding the information contained in these pages gradually sped up as he continued to flip through the pages.

It did not take long for him to come to the conclusion that it was the heightened comprehension speed he obtained from Aurus taking effect. Silently thanking him while he continued to read, he went ahead and processed all of the information contained in the book as his mind organized the rules of Zechys from the simplest ones like the movements of the pieces, to the most complex, like exceptions in situations when one side is trying to tackle the home base while the other side is in recuperation.

Eventually, he had arrived at the final page of the book, closing it with a satisfying snap. Placing the book on the ground of the balcony, he then focused his sense of vision towards the giant chessboard in front of him, recalling all of the information he had obtained regarding Zechys. Taking in a deep breath, he then muttered, “I’ve finished digesting all of the information.”

“Really? That fast?” Although the disembodied voice responded to his words, it instead responded with a hint of surprise. Nevertheless, since the inheritor said that it had understood all of the rules of the game, the disembodied voice went ahead and announced, “Apologies for my previous blunder. The second trial, a game of Zechys, shall now begin!”

“On the attacking side, is one of the potential inheritors of the Desecrated Inheritance!”

“On the defending side, is a being considered as one of the greatest players of Zechys in the Desecrated Inheritance!”

“The Lord of Strategies, the Monarch of Zechys Victories, and other titles that could span for hours…”

“The so-called God of Zechys…”

“Claudius ‘Hot-headed Bastard’ Ardvelion!”

“…”

“…”

“Oi! What do you mean by hot-headed bastard, you damned announcer?!”

“Exactly.”