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Chapter 251: The Final Reward

Around two hours have passed since the Grand Blue Master told Argentum that he had three hours to do whatever he wanted. Argentum decided to use the three hours he had obtained to its fullest by grinding the skills he had. To be more specific, he opted to grind the Water-based skills he had obtained from the inheritance since he had a feeling that he would use it after the three hours were up.

Ever since two out of the three hours allotted to him had passed, he made great strides in his Water-based skills, with the most prominent one being the [Azure Wave Art]. Due to the power it showed at the Artisan level already being comparable to the [Viridescent Zephyr Blast] from [Intermediate Tempest Magic++], this skill was the skill that he invested most of his time in. Not only did it evolve to the next grade due to the amount of time he had invested in it, but it went beyond that and evolved one more grade, taking on the name of [Great Sapphire Wave Art++]. He stopped grinding the skill after letting it reach the Basic level of mastery.

After becoming satisfied with the improvement of his [Azure Wave Art], he then went ahead and invested his time towards the more important skills he had obtained from the inheritance, which were [Lesser Azure Magic+] and [Great Blue Ascension+]. This time around, he became satisfied when [Lesser Azure Magic+] reached the Artisan level of mastery, seeing that [Azure Wave Art] now dealt even more damage at its current form. As for [Great Blue Ascension+], he stopped grinding the skill just when the skill was close to achieving the Master level. In other words, the skill was also at the Artisan level of mastery.

As for [Azure Armor], which was raised to the Artisan level of mastery before the start of the third trial, he spent some time on improving it, allowing it to reach the Master level and evolve to the next grade, taking on the name of [Great Blue Armor+]. He then went ahead and improved it a bit further, becoming satisfied when the skill had reached the Adept level of mastery. He felt that at this level, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to defend against attacks at the Grand-grade Pseudo-Animate level as long as he had [Aqua Burst] activated.

On the other hand, even though [Water Affinity] and [Water Resistance] were passive skills that he did not focus on grinding, they had unknowingly reached the next grade due to Argentum focusing on grinding his Water-based skills. It was only when Argentum got a notification from the system that these two passive skills reached the maximum level did he realize that they improved as well.

Just as he decided that he was going to focus a bit more on [Lesser Azure Magic+], thinking about the effects of the improved [Aqua Burst] simultaneously, a familiar voice to Argentum resounded throughout the room, making him radiate an aura of surprise and confusion from it.

“Argentum, although only two hours have passed, your break is now over,” the voice said. Of course, this was none other than the Grand Blue Master’s voice.

Hearing those words, Argentum stopped what he was doing and stood up as he faced the ceiling. Scratching his head, he could not help but ask the Grand Blue Master, “Why did you stop the three-hour break early? Did something urgent happen or something?”

“Nope, not at all,” the Grand Blue Master succinctly replied to his question. He then told him, “Give me a second, Argentum. It’s better for me to talk about it with you face-to-face.”

After that, the Grand Blue Master’s voice did not resound throughout the room anymore, leaving Argentum with a question in mind. With it in mind, he asked himself, “What kind of topic would it be better for the Grand Blue Master to talk about face-to-face?”

He then pondered over it for a bit, trying to imagine himself in the Grand Blue Master’s place. After half a minute or so, two conclusions came to his mind. The first conclusion was related to the reward that he had not yet obtained from finishing the third trial, while the second conclusion was related to the remaining trials of the inheritance as a whole.

“I wonder which one he’ll talk about,” he muttered to himself soon after with a tone of slight expectation.

Whoosh!

Not long after, a corridor soon opened up on the room where he was, prompting Argentum to peek through the corridor. He was surprisingly greeted with the hovering body of a man made out of water, who let out a sigh of relief at the very instant it had arrived where Argentum was.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this,” the man muttered as he let out a light chuckle. “I should do this more often.”

He then focused his sense of vision towards Argentum, who was looking at him with an aura of slight curiosity and confusion. Noticing this, the man took on a slightly mysterious tone as he headed to where Argentum was before saying, “It’s nice to meet you face-to-face, Argentum.”

“Ah.” Hearing his name being called by the man made out of the water, it did not take long for Argentum to greet him back with a bow. Taking on a slightly respectful tone, he then said, “It is nice to meet you as well, Grand Blue Master.”

In response, the Grand Blue Master nodded at his words before asking him, “I presume you have an idea of what we’re going to talk about?”

Instead of replying that he did, Argentum decided to keep his conclusions to himself as he shook his head. Since he was not sure that these conclusions were correct, it was better for him to not say it at all.

“I, unfortunately, do not,” Argentum replied.

“I see,” the Grand Blue Master said before letting out a light giggle. “While heading here, I had a feeling that you’d be able to infer the conversation we’re going to have with the things I’ve said before your break started. I guess I was mistaken.”

“Anyways, what we’re going to talk about is your reward,” he continued, which made Argentum’s aura turn to that of expectation and excitement.

Just as Argentum was going to ask about what reward he was going to get from the trial he had just finished, the Grand Blue Master interrupted him from doing so, saying, “To be honest, I didn’t expect myself to be doing this.”

“I thought that the inheritor that entered the inheritance this time was just like the others, but who knew that it would be the Undying Flame Spirit’s heaven-defying student,” he continued, letting out a wry chuckle in the midst of it.

“I did tell you that the third trial was for the sake of keeping up a few formalities, right?” the Grand Blue Master asked Argentum. In response, Argentum nodded.

“Well, this reward is for the sake of keeping up formalities as well…” he said afterwards before adding, “…and I guess, it’s also considered as an apology for what I did to you in the third trial.”

“Apology?” Argentum did not expect to hear this word come from the Grand Blue Master. He thought about why the Grand Blue Master brought this word up, eventually asking back, “Is it because I fought against the Earth-based Pseudo-Animate?”

“Yeah.” The Grand Blue Master nodded. “You could say that I felt a bit jealous seeing how heaven-defying you are while you cleared all of my trials without a problem. Fortunately, I realized that I was not being impartial anymore, thus I came here to say sorry to you while I give you my reward.”

“Oh, and also, I’m glad you defeated that Pseudo-Animate without a problem,” he added as he spoke with a tone of gratitude.

“I see,” Argentum said in understanding. He then went ahead and asked the Grand Blue Master, “So…what’s my reward going to be?”

“Uh…” In response, the Grand Blue Master let out an awkward chuckle as he responded, “Let me tell you what happened before I told you that your break was over.”

“Just as your three-hour break started, I went ahead and contacted your teacher, the Undying Flame Spirit,” he started to narrate the happenings from a couple of hours ago.

“I then went ahead and talked with her about what happened in the third trial,” he said before adding, “Did you know that she was ecstatic to hear that you had cleared the third trial without a problem?”

As he listened to this, Argentum could not help but think, ‘Eh? We have a spirit contract binding the two of us, so she could just go ahead and ask me directly about it. Why did she go all through that just to hear about my progress?’

‘Unless she’s just making sure that our relationship as co-owners of the Flame Spirit Inheritance is not known by the Grand Blue Master?’ Coming to this conclusion, Argentum could not help but laugh inwardly. Then again, after thinking about it for a bit, he thought that Eleanor’s decision did make sense since he did not know if the Grand Blue Master could intercept their conversation.

“Anyways, I then asked her regarding the reward you’d get from clearing the third trial that I purposely made more difficult for you,” the Grand Blue Master continued with his narration. “I gave her two choices. The choices were to either give you your reward right now or let you go through a fourth trial, but the quality of your reward would be enhanced.”

Argentum pondered over the Grand Blue Master’s words for a bit, remembering that he was taking on the facade of Eleanor’s student. Just as the Grand Blue Master was about to continue, he interrupted him by asking, “So…what did my teacher choose?”

In response, the Grand Blue Master let out a short chortle as he replied with just one word.

“Neither.”

“Neither?” Argentum repeated the Grand Blue Master’s words with a confused tone.

“Her response to my question was neither of those two choices,” the Grand Blue Master started to explain Eleanor’s answer. “She told me that it was not up to her to choose between the two, but instead, it was your choice to do so.”

“She also told me that it was of your own volition to come to this inheritance,” the Grand Blue Master added. “Is that true?”

Deciding that there was no use hiding this information, Argentum nodded as he replied, “That would be correct, Grand Blue Master. Before becoming Teacher’s student, I’ve decided to learn skills from the four foundational elements, knowing fully well that the goal I’ve set for myself would be a hard one for me to achieve.”

“I see,” the Grand Blue Master said in response, committing Argentum’s answer into his mind. He thought that it was weird for a Wind-based Pseudo-Animate to learn skills from all of the foundational elements. He knew that there was a reason for it, but he could not seem to remember what it was.

“Anyways, with her telling me that you should be the one to choose, which choice are you going to pick?” he asked Argentum not long after. “Are you going to grab your reward right now, or are you willing to trudge through a fourth trial, but the quality of your reward shall be increased?”

“Hmm…” Argentum pondered over the two choices for quite some time. From his perspective, the first reward would allow him to leave the inheritance early, which in turn would allow him to arrive at Verdant Breeze Town earlier than his expected time through the help of Blob. Then again, he remembered that there was still over three weeks until his original body would be finished evolving, allowing him to take his sweet time and continue onward with the fourth trial.

‘Now that I think about it, the fourth trial would also be a trial for the sake of keeping up formalities,’ Argentum thought to himself while pondering. ‘He has already seen everything that I could do, so would there be any point in letting me undergo through what seems to be a fruitless trial?’

‘Not only that, but I also have a feeling that I’ve already obtained the most precious reward from the inheritance. If my guess is correct, then that skill should be the most precious reward,’ Argentum continued to mull over the two choices. Eventually, he came to a conclusion. With the conclusion in mind, he unhesitatingly focused his vision on the Grand Blue Master as he said, “I choose the first choice.”

“Haah…thank the heavens,” the Grand Blue Master said as he let out a sigh of relief, which caught Argentum a bit off-guard. Seeing that Argentum was looking at him with an aura of confusion, he went ahead and explained his response, saying, “To be honest, my mind is devoid of ideas for your next trial, so you’d have to take another break for you to undergo through your fourth trial.”

“Not only that, but you’ve also taken the most precious reward from this inheritance already,” he continued to explain. “The [Azure Wave Art] is a skill I’ve created and perfected throughout my 26,000 years of living. Of course, I’ve only given you the most basic version of the skill. Once your understanding of it reaches the peak, I’m sure that you’ll come back here and ask if the skill becomes more powerful than that.”

“As expected,” Argentum muttered to himself softly, letting out an inward chuckle as he found out that his thoughts were correct.

“In other words, I have no reward left that’s more precious than the [Azure Wave Art],” the Grand Master said after that. “Instead, I’ve decided that your reward shall be any single item from this inheritance. As long as it’s inside my inheritance, I’ll give it to you without hesitation.”

Hearing those words, a thought instantly surfaced in his mind as his memories of what happened in the Flame Spirit Inheritance surfaced as well. Although he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be easy to obtain it from the Grand Blue Master, the improvement it would give him would surely be a lot.

Taking in a deep breath, Argentum told the Grand Blue Master, “I’ve decided on what I want as my reward.”

“Oh?” The Grand Blue Master was slightly surprised that Argentum had already made his decision. “What reward would you like from the inheritance?”

“I would like…” Argentum opened his mouth to reply to the Grand Blue Master’s question.

“…to become a partial owner of the Grand Blue Inheritance.”

“…”

“…”

“…huh?”