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Chapter 330: Perks of Prominence

Whoosh!

Arriving at the room he was previously in, Argentum went towards one of the sofas and sat down on it once more, wondering what he could obtain from the inheritance now that his grade has now improved to the highest level, the Prominence grade. Although he was somewhat excited to know what kind of skills and items he could obtain at the highest grade, he could not help but think about the increased difficulty of the trials after obtaining the things he needed.

Well, he couldn’t feel the increase in difficulty for now though. Nevertheless, he made sure to stay vigilant in every trial in the off chance that the trials he would undergo become harder. Placing the thought of the difficulty of the subsequent trials at the back of his mind, he then went ahead and sent out a thought, asking for a screen that contains all of the skills that could be redeemed at the Prominence grade.

Unsurprisingly, a screen made out of earth appeared in front of his field of vision, just like the previous times he called for the system. Taking a quick glance through the various skills he could obtain, he let out a sigh at the very end, thinking that they didn’t offer anything substantial even though they were skills only obtainable at the highest grade.

“Sure, these skills might be great for other people, but to me, I just don’t see a point in obtaining them,” Argentum muttered to himself, only to continue soon after, “Is it because I already experienced the feeling of having an elemental affinity at the True Element level? Is it because I know that putting in effort into these skills will become useless once I achieve True Earth Affinity?”

“Well, I guess that’s definitely the case,” he said to himself soon after as he ordered the screen in front of him to disappear. Soon after, he focused his attention towards the disembodied voice and asked, “What items can I obtain now that my grade has increased to the highest level? To be more specific, items that increase one’s affinity to the Earth element?”

“There’s only one item one grade higher than the Canatir Quintessence Crystal in this inheritance that does just that,” the disembodied voice replied. “I’m not certain if you’ve heard of it, but the name of the item is the Condensed Terra World Shard.”

“The Condensed Terra World Shard? Seriously? This inheritance actually has that?” Argentum’s reaction this time was more subdued since he knew that this inheritance had the Canatir Quintessence Crystal. Nevertheless, he was still surprised that the inheritance could procure an item that was normally sought after by Rank 6 Animates in ISE. 

Suppressing the excitement that he was feeling since he knew that even a single Condensed Terra World Shard would have enough energy in it to let him achieve the True Element level of affinity with the Earth element, he imitated the sound of one clearing their throat as he calmed his composure. After making sure that he had returned to his usual calm, he then asked the disembodied voice, “Is it possible to use both of my chances to obtain two Condensed Terra World Shards?”

“Normally, that would be the case,” the disembodied voice said in response to Argentum’s words, making Argentum become slightly disappointed since it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to obtain a Condensed Terra World Shards. Though, after listening to the voice’s next words, this disappointment was replaced with excitement once more as the disembodied voice said. 

“Unfortunately, the inheritance doesn’t have two Condensed Terra World Shards to give you as it has given one away to a previous inheritor. Is it fine if your one chance would be used to obtaining a Condensed Terra World Shards while your other chance would be instead used to obtain 5 Canatir Quintessence Crystals as replacement?”

“I’d be glad to,” Argentum said in response to the disembodied voice’s words. Although he was not sure what he was going to do with the Canatir Quintessence Crystals he would get, he thought that it would be a good backup in the case that the energy contained inside the Condensed Terra World Shard wouldn’t be enough for him to achieve True Element level.

It did not take long for the disembodied voice to comply with his requests as a large mass of Earth energy particles coalesced in front of him. Soon after, these Earth energy particles congregated in six places, with the first five revealed dark crystals that radiated the pure aura of earth. As for the sixth place, it revealed a shard that looked like broken glass. Though, if one looked closely, a small world could be seen inside the shard, giving off not only the aura of earth, but the aura of life and death as well.

Without hesitation, Argentum grabbed the 5 crystals and the shard, instantly feeling a few waves of Earth energy particles course throughout his body as he touched them. He then placed the 5 crystals inside the hole in his upper torso where the Tome of the Four Elements was. After that, he pondered over something for a bit, only to fixate his sense of vision towards the Condensed Terra World Shard he was holding as he said, “If I try to absorb all of them at once, I might explode from the energy.”

“The inheritor has obtained the rewards from the second trial, a Condensed Terra World Shard and 5 Canatir Quintessence Crystals.” Just as Argentum was about to start absorbing the energy from the shard to increase his affinity, the disembodied voice resounded throughout the room he was in, making him radiate an aura of slight annoyance, though he knew that the inheritance was just doing its thing. “The third trial’s doors are now open, though the inheritor may opt to start it at any time.”

Giving a perfunctory nod to the disembodied voice’s words, Argentum then closed his sense of vision once more as he attuned himself to the Earth energy particles in the surroundings. While doing so, he connected a lot of energy tendrils to the shard he was holding, allowing the energy contained inside the shard to course through his body. Naturally, the energy from the shard was energy that was inclined to the Earth element, so he redirected this energy towards understanding the Earth element to a deeper crystal.

And with that, quite a considerable amount of time has passed. When compared to the amount of time it took Argentum to absorb the Canatir Quintessence Crystal he obtained from clearing the first trial, it was around three times longer, taking him five hours. Since he entered the inheritance late at night, it was no surprise that the sun was now peeking out of the horizon.

By the time he had taken a little bit over five hours to absorb the energy from the Condensed Terra World Shard, a wave of energy soon radiated from his body, covering the room with the feeling that it was all made out of earth for a few seconds. Fortunately, this feeling disappeared not long after, returning the room back to its previous state as the Condensed Terra World Shard was nowhere to be seen on the tendrils Argentum made.

With an aura of immense excitement and joy, Argentum opened his sense of vision as he retracted all of the tendrils that were connected to the Condensed Terra World Shard. Standing up and doing a light stretch as he had been sitting all this time, he then muttered to himself with glee, “I finally achieved the True Element level for the Earth element. Kinda ironic if I think about it.”

Ding!

As he said this, a notification sound resounded in his mind, which accompanied a screen filled to the brim with notifications.

‘[Animate Earth Affinity] has been upgraded to [True Earth Affinity]. Due to the inherent limits brought about by the upgraded skill, [True Earth Affinity] has replaced [Animate Earth Affinity] while regressing down to C-grade Mortal level.’

‘Thanks to [True Earth Affinity], [Earth Resistance] has been upgraded to [True Earth Resistance], regressing down to C-grade Mortal level.’

‘Due to the user understanding more of the Earth element thanks to [True Earth Affinity], all active Earth-based skills and spells have been considered as incredibly inferior, prompting the system to fuse the multiple skills as one with the help of [True Earth Affinity].’

‘The active skill [Sage’s Earth Magic] has been created. Due to the properties of the skill, the user is now able to create their own Earth-based skills and spells, using this skill as a basis. Improving the grade and level of the skill would allow the user to craft more complex and powerful spells.’ 

Although he was eager to test out the spells he could use now that he had access to [Sage’s Earth Magic], he knew that this was not the right place to test something like that out, unless one of the subsequent trials he had later on would need him to fight. Even though that was the case, he had a feeling that he could manipulate the Earth energy particles forming the room and mold it into anything he wished to.

Of course, he did not do that since that would incur the wrath of Lord Calcifas and possibly send him out of the inheritance. Although continuing the trials from here on out wouldn’t mean much to him since he had achieved his goal, he could still give the items and skills he obtained from this inheritance to members in the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, or perhaps Aurus once he woke up from his evolution process.

Taking in a deep breath, he then looked at his body, remembering how his appearance changed after he had achieved the True Element level of affinity for the Water element. Unsurprisingly, the middle part of his upper torso, which used to be the boundary between the green and blue portion of his body, had now taken on a light brown, which signified the fact that his affinity with the Earth element had now reached the True Element level. After that, he looked at the door that led to the third trial, which was seemingly in the same place the door to the second trial was. Wondering if he would be led to another balcony, he then walked through the doorway, only to be blinded by white light for a short while.

Naturally, the white light gradually disappeared as he continued to walk. But instead of a wide view from a balcony greeting his field of vision, what instead greeted his sight was bookshelf upon bookshelf, filled to the brim with books that had covers in various shades of brown. Scratching his head as to what he would do in this next trial, he went towards one of the bookshelves and grab a random book to read its cover.

“[Earth Spike]…” Argentum muttered to himself before grabbing another book, only to find out that the title of the book had something to do with the Earth element. After some time, he came to the conclusion that this room he was in was filled to the brim with bookshelves that contained skill books focused on the Earth element. Just as he was about to ask the disembodied voice if he was finished with all of the trials, the disembodied voice resounded throughout the room as it said.

“The third trial shall test the third characteristic Lord Calcifas looks for in an inheritor. Sure, strength and intelligence are two important characteristics a being should have to be domineering. But only with enough comprehension would one be able to utilize both strength and intelligence to their fullest, removing all obstacles in front of them.”

“In this trial, the inheritor needs to learn as many Earth-based skills as much as possible in the span of three hours,” the disembodied voice continued. “The number of Earth-based skills the inheritor learns within this span of time will dictate the reward the inheritor shall obtain once time is up. Of course, the inheritor can also opt to expound on these skills, improving their original powers. This would also be considered in the reward of the inheritor for this trial.”

“And so, the third trial has now…begun!”

Whoosh!

At the very instant the disembodied voice was finished talking, a large mass of Earth energy particles coalesced near the ceiling of the room Argentum was in, transforming into large numbers that served as a timer. At this moment, Argentum was confused. He was confused not because of what he had to do, but because of the sheer difficulty of the trial he was undergoing.

“Is this…really a trial someone with the highest difficulty grade would take?” Argentum could not help but ask himself as he picked up a couple skill books from the bookshelf in front of him. Just as he was about to learn these skills, he then wondered if these skills would automatically fuse with [Sage’s Earth Magic]. If it did, then that meant that it would be impossible for him to obtain a hefty reward from this trial.

With that in mind, he went ahead and asked the system this question, to which the system responded that it would only fuse the skills once he decides to do so. Having this doubt gone, he let out a light sigh of relief as he allocated a portion of his attention to learning all of the skills on the various bookshelves while the remaining portion was allocated to the difficulty of the trial he was currently taking.

“A trial that focuses on the amount of skills I could learn within a certain span of time…”

“Although I know that this trial appears in other inheritances as certain skills do need a certain level of comprehension in order to be learned…”

“Why do I feel like this trial was intentionally made for me?”