I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 270: Blossoming Lilac, Spiralis Tempestria

As he shouted at the sky after letting out a maniacal laugh, the dark clouds started to gather its energy in preparation for the Power Baptism that Argentum was about to undergo. Naturally, the dark clouds first formed red lightning as a red ball of light could be seen forming at the center of it all, radiating off an intent of destruction that Argentum was quite familiar with. But due to the fact that he had witnessed the unbelievable intent of destruction a blue lightning bolt held, which was the congregation of 1000 red lightning bolts, the feeling of fear he felt right now was more or less negligible.

“Ah, right. I should enhance my combat power instead of dawdling around,” he said to himself in realization while waiting for the first bolt to strike. He then went ahead and placed the shield he had just enhanced on the ground before going ahead and muttering incantations for a few spells. Of course, the spells he was muttering the incantations to were naturally the spells he used when he decided to increase Blob’s chances of clearing his first Power Baptism.

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

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

Whoosh! Whoosh!

With two balls of energy, which were red and green respectively, soon being absorbed by his body, the aura radiating from Argentum had intensified in pressure in an instant. He then closed his sense of vision for a bit to acclimate himself to the level of power he was going to use for this tribulation of his. Soon after, he took a glance up at the dark clouds, noticing that the condensation of red lightning wasn’t stopping anytime soon, feeling the intent of destruction from it exponentially increasing with every passing second. 

He then focused his sense of vision onto his limbs before focusing it on the aegis that laid on the ground, waiting to be held by Argentum. Looking at the aegis for a bit more, he decided to go ahead and mutter a few more incantations, thinking that the spells he had just cast might not be enough for him to successfully clear the Power Baptism, seeing that the lightning in the clouds was still brewing.

“[Higher Zephyr Magic: Zephyr Magna Acceliaris]!”

“[Higher Ignis Magic: Ignis Fervor Maxima]!”

Around ten seconds or so later, two more balls of energy were absorbed by Argentum’s body, intensifying the aura radiating from his body to a greater degree. At this point, Blob could not help but look at Argentum with slight surprise. The reason as to why he looked at Argentum with such an aura was because…the aura Blob felt from Argentum was surprisingly close to the aura he normally radiated. In other words, Argentum was giving off the feeling that he had the combat power of a Rank 2 to Rank 3 Animate.

Unfortunately for Blob, it seemed that his shock would not end there as Argentum went ahead and activated the two status boosting skills he had in his arsenal, which were [Zephyr Tempest Brilliance++] and [Grand Azure Transformation++], being the higher-grade forms of [Zephyr Ascendance+] and [Great Blue Ascension+] respectively.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

With the activation of those two skills, the aura Argentum was radiating was now at a level wherein Blob felt slight fear towards him. Noticing this, Blob could not help but close and open his sense of vision for a few times, wondering if the feeling he felt was true or not. Sensing that the feeling he got from Argentum did not disappear even if he closed his vision for a bit, or pinched himself to the point that a small part of his body gradually dispersed, Blob could not help but let out an aura of immense shock.

As for Argentum, it was the first time he had gone all out since the trial in the Grand Blue Inheritance. Feeling the enhancements brought about by grinding all of his skills to their current level, Argentum had a hunch that he would easily be able to hit the 5000 point mark on the strength tester Felix had if he had the chance to do so once more.

Acclimating to the current amount of power coursing throughout his body, he went ahead and looked up at the dark clouds once more, noticing that the red lightning that darted throughout the clouds was now replaced with the more powerful and more imposing purple lightning. Naturally, the light at the center of the dark clouds had also been changed to an intimidating lavender, making Argentum wonder if the lightning brewing in the clouds would intensify in its power once more.

Fortunately for Argentum, the lightning stayed purple, even after waiting for a few minutes. It was at this point that Argentum realized why the tribulation he was undergoing was called the Blossoming Lilac Lightning Tribulation. The word ‘Lilac’ in the name pertained to the purple lightning that was brewing in the clouds.

‘If that’s the case, then why is the word ‘Blossoming’ part of the name?’ he thought to himself soon after, only for him to hear a resounding clap as a lightning bolt soon descended from the clouds, signaling that Argentum’s Power Baptism had finally begun.

Bzzt…crash!

Unlike the insanely fast speeds of the blue lightning bolt that Blob had to withstand in his trial, Argentum was greeted by a purple lightning bolt that seemed to be taking its time. He did not know if it was because he had the experience of far more dangerous lightning bolts, or if it was because his strength had greatly increased, but either way, he felt that the purple lightning bolt was…too slow.

Grabbing the aegis on the ground in a nonchalant manner as he watched the purple lightning bolt gradually make its way to hit him, he soon positioned the aegis above his head as he firmly gripped on it with one hand. Surprisingly, after he was finished doing so, he could not help but notice the aura Blob was radiating before focusing his vision on him and asking, “What’s wrong?”

Bang!

But just as Blob was about to answer his question, the purple lightning bolt had finally connected with Argentum, striking with great force on the shield Argentum positioned over his head…or well, it was trying to.

Due to the amount of strength coursing throughout Argentum’s body at the moment, the shield did not move from its position at all, as if it was part of a statue. On the other hand, Argentum noticed that the purple lightning had collided with the aegis he held, feeling that a simple push on the aegis would shatter the bolt in an instant. Deciding to have a go, Argentum went ahead and did just that, only to realize that this feeling of his was actually correct.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The shattered remnants of the purple lightning bolt then made their way towards Argentum’s body, filling with him a greater sense of power as the aura he was radiating had intensified by onefold in mere seconds. Looking up at the clouds to see whether or not the second lightning bolt was striking down soon, Argentum eventually concluded that he would be fine even if he did not pay attention to it.

Recalling the question he had asked Blob just a while ago before being interrupted by the lightning, Argentum repeated the question one more time, to which Blob replied as he scratched his head, “Well…I feel like the amount of strength you have right now is more than enough for you to clear the Power Baptism easily. Do you still need my help at your current level of strength?”

“Hey, we can’t be too sure about that, okay?” Argentum replied before adding, “A Power Baptism is always unpredictable. You don’t know what could happen ne—”

Bzzt…crash! Crash!

And soon, the second lightning bolt had finally struck down…as well as the third? Seeing this, Argentum briefly radiated an aura of confusion for a bit before deciding to go ahead and take on an offensive approach to shattering the bolts this time. Before the two lightning bolts were about three-fourths of the way to hitting Argentum, with his free hand, he conjured a bolt of wind, to which he threw at the bolts, making sure that both of them would be hit by it.

Surprisingly, even though the bolt of wind was one of the weakest offensive spells he had in his arsenal, thanks to the number of buffs he currently had active, as well as the infusion of power the first lightning bolt gave him, the bolt was able to easily shatter the two lightning bolts, allowing Argentum’s combat power to rise once more.

At this point, Blob was left at a loss for words. Although his creator told him that he needed his help just in case any mishaps happen in the middle of the tribulation, by the looks of it, it seemed like Argentum would not have any issues with the trial at all. Without hesitation, Blob went ahead and distanced himself from Argentum, making sure that the distance between them was still enough for him to dash into action, even if he felt like he wouldn’t be able to contribute anything.

Around the time when Blob was halfway to distancing himself from Argentum, Argentum could not help but feel a bit sad that Blob distanced himself, prompting him to shout to catch Blob’s attention. Unfortunately, before he could do so, the next round of lightning bolts came around, this time consisting of three purple lightning bolts. It was at this point that Argentum realized the pattern of the lightning bolts, with each consecutive round of bolts gaining an additional one when compared to the previous one.

With that in mind, he then went ahead and used the offensive approach and sent a bolt of wind flying towards the three purple lightning bolts without hesitation. Unfortunately, the bolt of wind was slightly off-trajectory, only shattering two of the three lightning bolts, allowing the remaining one to hit the aegis Argentum was wielding. Of course, with the amount of strength coursing throughout his body, a simple punch with the aegis as a fist was enough for the last bolt to shatter, increasing Argentum’s strength by a notch yet again.

“Well that was slightly disappointing,” Argentum muttered to himself as he recalled how his throw of the wind bolt was not enough to shatter the three lightning bolts at once. Not long after, he told himself that he should practice aiming magic spells in preparation for situations where he needed precise aim.

“Hmm…” Noticing that the lightning in the clouds was still brewing with great ferocity, Argentum could not help but ponder over how easy it was for him to crush the first three rounds of purple lightning bolts without a problem, even though the first red lightning bolt from back then was enough for him to admit defeat. He muttered to himself in a questioning tone, “I wonder what are the factors that decide the difficulty of a Power Baptism? Is it the innate strength of a being? Or does it include the being’s skills as well?”

After thinking about it for a bit, he had a hunch that it was more likely for it to be the former. But then, he decided that if he could clear the Power Baptism or not, he would ask the system this question.

And with that out of the way, the fourth and fifth round of lightning bolts were easily cleared, with Argentum using both the enhanced aegis he had obtained from Blob, as well as the massive array of offensive spells he had, but only limited himself to using the bolt type spells.

At this point, the amount of power coursing throughout his body was far beyond Blob’s after he finished his Power Baptism. Blob could not help but agree to that notion as well, feeling immense fear even though a decent amount of distance separated the two from one another. He could not help but feel that even if 100 copies of himself at his peak were to fight against the current Argentum, Argentum would still come out victorious at the end.

On the other hand, Argentum was looking at the clouds, wondering how many rounds he had left to undergo through to clear the Power Baptism. While he was doing so, he could not help but think about the name of the tribulation he was undergoing once more, muttering to himself, “I’ve already realized that the part ‘Lilac’ in the name was the purple lightning I had to defend against, but so far, the ‘Blossoming’ part hasn’t appeared yet.”

Rumble…rumble…

Letting out a loud rumble, as if it was calling for Argentum’s attention, the dark clouds soon underwent a great change as the type of lightning darting through the clouds was not purple anymore. This shocked Argentum as he now felt like he would be in a bit of danger.

In mere seconds, the purple lightning had transformed into the blue lightning bolts that Blob went up against in his Power Baptism, with the ball of light at the center following suit.

But that was not all.

The blue lightning bolts went ahead and transformed into another color as the intent of destruction was at a level far more powerful than all of the blue lightning bolts combined.

Bzzt…crash!

Unfortunately for Argentum, before he could go ahead and look at the color of the current lightning bolt, a lightning bolt struck down at him at incredible speeds, leaving Argentum no choice but to go fully defensive as he activated [Grand Azure Armor++], the evolved version of [Great Blue Armor+], donning him in a suit of beautifully designed armor made out of Water energy particles.

Bang!

In less than an instant, the lightning bolt arrived in front of Argentum, colliding with the aegis he held as Argentum felt himself sinking to the ground from the sheer force behind the lightning bolt. Then again, this current situation allowed Argentum to look at the color of the lightning bolt that collided with the aegis, briefly radiating an aura of confusion, which was soon followed by fear as the lightning bolt was a hue of incredibly dark blue.

Argentum mustered all of the strength inside his body to push back on the lightning bolt, but no matter how much force he exerted, even going so far as to unleash 120% of his full strength, he was not able to gain an advantage. Instead, he sunk deeper and deeper as his legs were now half-submerged into the ground.

Fortunately, the force behind the dark blue lightning bolt gradually dispersed, making Argentum feel like the hard part was over. But in actuality, the hard part was just about to begin.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, the dark blue lightning bolt changed directions as it flew into the air, before exploding into 10 blue lightning bolts, which then exploded into 10 purple lightning bolts each. In other words, 100 purple lightning bolts were now heading towards Argentum’s way.

But instead of looking at the sight with fear, Argentum uttered out a sound of understanding before saying, “Ahh…so that’s where the ‘Blossoming’ part comes in.”

“Hup!” Finally understanding the reasoning behind the name, Argentum went ahead and jumped out of the ground before hastily chanting the most powerful offensive spell he had in his arsenal. As he looked at the 100 purple lightning bolts gradually making their way towards where they were, Argentum could not help but think, ‘If an outsider were to look at this, they’d definitely want to paint it.’

‘Unfortunately, it’s pretty late at night so I’ll keep this sight to myself,’ he thought soon after as Argentum threw the aegis in the air before pushing both hands to the ground as he shouted…

“[Higher Zephyr Magic: Zephyr Spiralis Tempestria]!”

Whoosh!

Radiating out of his hands, a vortex of Wind energy particles soon formed around Argentum, hastily growing to a great height of around 20 meters as it attracted the purple lightning bolts that were supposed to head towards Argentum. After feeling that the spell he had cast had attracted all of the purple lightning bolts, he then stood up and loudly clapped before shouting, “[Spiralis Form: Supreme Collapse]!”

Bang!

And just like that, the vortex surrounding Argentum had exploded, allowing a loud explosion sound to resound throughout the area, with the citizens living in Verdant Breeze Town being able to faintly hear the explosion sound. Nevertheless, accompanying the explosion was the disappearance of the 100 purple lightning bolts as a surge of energy soon filled Argentum’s body, increasing the strength he felt by multiple notches.

Wondering if there was still more, Argentum could not help but look at the dark clouds above him, noticing not long after that the energy behind the lightning bolts darting through the gradually weakened, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief as he soon sat down on the ground.

In that manner, Argentum’s first Power Baptism was finally over.

——–

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