I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 350: Familiarizing Oneself

Whoosh! Whoosh!

As time gradually passed, more and more Wind energy particles started to condense and appear around Argentum’s body before going ahead and circling around him as if he was the center of orbit. Every once in a while, the orbit of these particles would change into something else, but it would constantly return to an orbit that seemed perfectly circular.

Aurus looked at this happening for a few minutes or so before deciding to stand up and head to where his companions were. Of course, with all of them noticing that Argentum was in the process of enhancing his understanding of the Wind element, they knew very well not to disturb him, opting to converse with one another through the connection they had with the system instead.

Eventually, Aurus and the others ran out of topics to talk about, although only an hour or so had passed. Pondering on what he could do to pass the time, he eventually thought of familiarizing himself with the skills he had obtained from his evolution, making his way to the door that led outside the room, with his companions following suit.

They then walked along the corridors of the Tower of Seclusion for a while, deciding to head to another floor to make sure that Aurus wouldn’t be able to disturb Argentum even if he went all out. After choosing a room at a floor that was a few floors above the floor where Argentum currently was, Aurus went ahead and opened one of the rooms, allowing his companions to enter first before closing it behind him.

Of course, although he said that he was going to familiarize himself with his skills, the first thing he truly needed to familiarize himself with was his new body. Although he had been doing well all this time while relying on the information he had obtained once he had evolved, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to achieve the same level of combat power if he did not get used to his new body.

So, with that in mind, he looked at the companions he had with him and asked, “Is it fine if you guys head into the system for a while? I need a large space to practice my skills.”

Surprisingly, none of them were opposed to the order. In fact, some of them even preferred to be inside the system, like Charisa and Fenrir due to how long they’ve stayed in the system for. As for Eu, Phoria, Terrence, and Marielle, they were made at a time where Aurus did not place them into the system, so they were more curious to what the inside of the system was rather than oppose the order.

“Take as much time as you need, Master,” Fenrir said in response to Aurus’ words. Soon after, Charisa said the same thing as Fenrir, uttering, “Yeah, yeah! Take as much time as you need, Master! Me and Fenrir will go ahead and tour the four around the insides of the system while you just do your own thing. Don’t worry about us, okay?”

“Well, if you say so…” Although he felt a bit guilty that he would be placing them in the system for quite some time, he was also thankful for the fact that they were understanding of what he wanted to do. And so, with their approval, Aurus went ahead and commanded the system to keep Fenrir and the others inside. Not long after, any traces of the six disappeared in front of Aurus’ field of vision, leaving him alone to himself a few seconds later.

Well, although he said that he would like to be alone, he still needed someone to keep him company while making sure that he would be as productive as possible. Hence, with a bit of trepidation, he went ahead and asked, “Theresa, are you there?”

Whoosh!

Not even an instant later, a small woman wearing a maid outfit appeared on Aurus’ left shoulder, sitting on it with a grin on her face as she replied to Aurus’ question, saying, “Why would I disappear, Master? Theresa is always here to help you out!”

Seeing that he could still summon Theresa, a light smile appeared on his face, which was something he couldn’t do in his previous form. Although it felt weird to him that an Inanimate could emulate emotion, it still felt more natural than being able to just radiate auras, given that he had lived as a human for far longer than a stick.

“What skill amongst the new skills I’ve obtained do you think I should familiarize with first?” Aurus went ahead and asked Theresa beside him, prompting Theresa to ponder over the matter for quite some time. Eventually, Theresa answered, “In my opinion, Master would have the most fun familiarizing with [Flux Knight]. Naturally, I’ll tell Master everything he needs to know about the skill.”

“[Flux Knight] it is, then,” Aurus said in response before going ahead and doing a few basic stretches with his new body. Surprisingly, he found out that his body was more limber than the body of a human, wondering if it was due to his body being made out of Flux and Anima. With that in mind, he decided to contort his body to weird poses, finding out that he had the ability to do so, though he would not be able to hold the position for long. Either way, he was still satisfied to know that he had the ability to contort his body if need be.

Soon after, he went ahead and did a basic combat routine, mixing in punches with kicks and some other moves. Of course, he did this to find out how much force his body could normally exert, which was unexpectedly far greater than he had initially thought. 

Eventually, he felt that he had become accustomed enough to his new body, thinking that it was now a good time to move onto the new skills he had learned from his evolution. Since Theresa told him that [Flux Knight] was an interesting skill to start familiarizing with, he went ahead and commanded the system to show the skill’s description.

Ding!

________

[Flux Knight] (Lv. 1/3)

Grade: C (Mortal)

Once a Spiritas becomes a half-noble at the very least, one gains the ability to create their own legion of protectors that would guard them until the very end of their lives. These guards are commonly known as Flux Knights, given how they are formed from the Flux that is binding the body of a Spiritas whole.

Unlike other knight summoning skills wherein their strengths are fixed, Flux Knights, on the other hand, are able to level up and evolve into stronger forms given enough time. Some say that once a Flux Knight reaches a certain level, they would not be tied to the skill anymore and become beings that exist in the world of Erudinia permanently.

> Maximum number of Flux Knights: 1

> Minimum level of Flux Knights: 1

> Maximum level of Flux Knights: 10

FP Cost: Dependent on the initial strength of the Flux Knight being created

________

After reading through the description of the skill, he now had an idea of what the skill did and what he could do it. Naturally, a few questions came to mind as he read through the skill’s description, prompting him to ask Theresa, “Can these Flux Knights level up if I allocate my unused experience points on them?”

“Yes, these Flux Knights do indeed level up once you allocate your unused experience points on them…” Theresa said in response, making Aurus more and more excited to test the skill out, only for this excitement to slightly disappear as she continued, “…but at a cost.”

“You’d need a thousand unused experience points to increase their experience by one point, Master,” Theresa said, prompting Aurus to ask, “Isn’t that equivalent to the conversion rate between an Inanimate and a Pseudo-Animate.”

“Exactly,” Theresa said, leaving Aurus in a state of confusion, only for him to realize what Theresa was hinting towards soon after as he asked, “So, you’re telling me that the existence level of these Flux Knights are at the Pseudo-Animate level?”

“You got it correct, Master,” Theresa let out a light giggle as she replied. As for Aurus, he pondered over using the skill right now or at a later time, even though Theresa told her that if he wanted to familiarize himself with something first, it would be this skill. In the end, he decided to postpone the first usage of the skill at a later time since the summoned Flux Knight wouldn’t even be able to do much inside the alliance.

“Since [Flux Knight] wouldn’t be able to do much inside this stone room, while the other skills are more or less straightforward, how about I shift my attention to the other skills I’ve obtained that offer new effects?” Aurus soon muttered to himself as he opened up his skill list through the system, focusing his attention on the new skills he had obtained.

Eventually, his eyes landed on two skills, one active and one passive. The first one was the active skill named [Noble’s Mark], giving him the ability to pass on his blood of nobility onto other beings, boosting their stats in the process. As for the second skill, it was the passive skill named [Purification of Noble Blood], which did what the name of the skill implied. It was pretty much a skill that increased the concentration of noble blood inside his body…which made him ask Theresa a question.

“Is there really blood flowing throughout my body?” he asked, to which Theresa replied, “Yes, Master. You do have blood flowing throughout your body, but not the type of blood you’re familiar with. The type of blood inside your body is more viscous, which means it doesn’t really move that much.”

“Well, as long as my power increases, I guess,” Aurus said to himself with a shrug of his shoulders before sitting down. He then went ahead and activated [Noble’s Mark], only to stop midway as he remembered that he could only cast it on those he wanted to pass his blood of nobility onto. Of course, he could summon one of his companions back so he could try the skill out, but he felt bad summoning then keeping them in a short amount of time, so he decided to shift his focus onto the second skill he had chosen.

“[Purification of Noble Blood]…” Aurus muttered to himself as he closed his eyes, allowing the skill’s magic to take place as he felt that the blood flowing throughout his body had become less viscous, becoming more and more akin to the other type of blood he was more familiar with. While that was happening, every once in a while he would feel that a clogged-up area inside his body had cleared up, allowing the blood to flow more freely, giving him a wave of pleasure that spread throughout his body.

Not only that, but with every clogged-up area that was freed up through the activation of the skill, he would obtain a notification that the purity of his noble blood had increased by 1 point, with the maximum amount of points possible for him being at a million.

Just as he was about to stop the skill after increasing his progress bar to around 15 points or so, he remembered that it would still take a couple of days or so for Argentum to finish enhancing his understanding of the Wind element to the True Element level. With that in mind, he decided to let this skill continue operating as it would increase his overall power due to the purity of his noble blood, as well as increase the efficacy of [Noble’s Mark]…though the latter was more of a speculation.

…

With the two doing their own things, around two days had passed since Argentum had started grinding out his understanding of the Wind element while Aurus had started grinding out the [Purification of Noble Blood] skill.

At the moment, around 10 clogged-up areas in his body were freed up at once, giving him wave after wave of euphoria that washed over his body as he obtained a notification that his progress bar was now at around 11,000 points. Although it may not seem like a lot when compared to the grand scheme of things, considering that he had obtained 11,000 points within the span of 2 days, it meant that he could obtain the 1 million points in about 6 months or so.

But that was not all. He also noticed that with every point in the progress bar of the skill, the speed at which the clogged-up areas were being cleared gradually became faster and faster. At the beginning of this process, he could only remove one clogged-up areas after around a few minutes or so. But right now, he could remove around 10 to 12 clogged-up areas with every cycle.

Just as he was about to let the skill continue operating, a massive surge of energy spread throughout the whole Tower of Seclusion, prompting Aurus to stop the skill as he stood up and hastily went out of the room he was in. While dashing to where he knew the origin was, he could not help but let out a light chuckle as he muttered, “Argentum finally did it.”

“He finally achieved Lesser Origin!”