I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 340: Signs of Awakening

“Are you sure about your choice, Argentum? Although I’m repaying kindness with kindness, don’t go too overboard,” Melzarin responded through the connection they had, emanating a surprisingly strong combat intent, which was aimed towards Argentum. Eleanor and the others could not help but look at Melzarin with slight shock, wondering what was going on.

As for Argentum, he went ahead and applied all of the buffs he could onto himself with the amount of energy he currently had in his body to resist the pressure. Even though he had the option of binding Melzarin in place if ever he made a move on him, he felt that there was no need to do so since in the first place, he was in the wrong…in the moral sense anyway.

Scratching his head as he let out an awkward chuckle, Argentum went ahead and removed the connection connecting him with Melzarin, Felix, and Rosalia as he looked at Melzarin and said, “I know not to go too overboard, but considering what I’ve done for you is almost fatal to any other Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate out there, don’t you think such a reward is fitting?”

“What’s going on between the two of you?” Rosalia could not help but look back and forth between Argentum and Melzarin before asking. While that was happening, Eleanor arrived to where Rosalia, Felix, Argentum were standing, an aura of curiosity radiating from her.

“Argentum, after what you’ve done for me, I’ve already considered you as a good friend of mine,” Melzarin said in a solemn tone as the combat intent surrounding him gradually intensified. “If you still want us to stay as friends, then I’d suggest asking for a reward other than the ownership of my inheritance.”

“Huh. Surprisingly, I was expecting something like this to happen between the two eventually,” Felix could not help but say. Not long after, Eleanor chimed in as she said, “Then again, the reason why he can achieve that strength is due to what he has done, though his buffs are no joke.”

“What are the two of you talking about?” Rosalia’s ears perked up as she listened to the conversation Felix and Eleanor were having, prompting her to ask the two this question. In response, Felix imitated the sound of one clearing their throat as he answered through a strand of energy while pointing at Argentum, “You can hear quite well that Argentum is asking for ownership over Melzarin’s inheritance, right? Although I’m not sure if he’s serious or not in that regard, all I know is that he’ll definitely settle for a partial ownership…since that’s what he asked from us two quite some time ago.”

“Are…are you serious?” Rosalia could not help but mutter in response, utilizing the connection Felix had created. Soon after, Eleanor butted into the conversation as she sent a strand of energy of her own, saying, “It is true. Haven’t you noticed that we’ve become slightly weaker than the last time you met us?”

“Well, Felix has his own ways of strengthening himself so I wouldn’t even notice the difference,” Rosalia replied to her question with a tone of confidence. “As for you Eleanor, your strength is like that of a gorilla even if part of the ownership over your inheritance is given away, so I wouldn’t notice the difference as we—”

“Hm? Did you just say I’m a gorilla?” Eleanor hastily appeared in front of Rosalia, grasping her tightly by the head before lifting her up. Not only that, one could even see that the flames surrounding her body were gradually turning dark. With that, Rosalia hastily replied as she waved her hands in disapproval, “I didn’t say anything! I didn’t say anything!”

Soon, Rosalia was brought down as Eleanor let out a light chuckle as an aura of glee exuded out of her.

“I see,” Eleanor soon said, which gave both Rosalia and Felix the shivers.

While that was happening, Melzarin and Felix were having a different conversation.

“You did tell me that I could ask for anything in exchange, right? If that’s the case, why are you barring me from gaining ownership over your inheritance?” Argentum asked in response to Melzarin’s previous words, prompting the combat intent surrounding Melzarin to intensify once more as a layer of armor was gradually forming over his body. With a slightly cold tone, Melzarin looked at Argentum and said, “Don’t push your luck if I were you.”

Hearing that, Argentum let out a light chuckle as he said, “I guess this is what I could consider as the limit. Alright, I won’t ask for you to give up your ownership over the inheritance anymore.”

With Argentum’s words resonating around his sense of hearing, Melzarin could not help but let out a sigh of relief as his combat intent started to gradually disappear. But just as it was continuing to dissipate, it gradually returned once Argentum said his next statement.

“Although I can’t ask you to give up your ownership, how about a partial ownership instead?”

Seeing as there was no way for him to dissuade Argentum from eyeing his inheritance, Melzarin felt that him asking for a partial ownership was still leagues better than asking for full ownership. With a light sigh as the combat intent surrounding him had truly disappeared, Melzarin then asked him, “How much control do you want over the inheritance?”

“You sure you want me to choose that?” Argentum could not help but ask, to which the dark skeleton replied with a nonchalant shrug, “Well, I did say that you could choose anything, though I rejected your offer of full ownership over my inheritance. I still want our relationship to become good, so wouldn’t giving you control over how much of a share you want over my inheritance be a step in the right direction?”

“I like the way you speak, Melzarin,” Argentum said while laughing with slight glee. Soon after, he asked him, “How about a 50-50 cut?”

“Lower,” Melzarin succinctly replied. Although he was fine with Argentum asking for a specific amount of share from him, that didn’t him he would hastily agree to it.

“40?”

“Lower.”

“35?”

“Lower.”

“30?”

“Even lower than that.”

“Man, you told me I could choose the amount of control I have over the inheritance. How come you’re being so stingy?” Argentum could not help but say as he had a hunch that this final offer of his would possibly work out. “25 percent. Surely, this amount would be fine, right?”

At this point, the conversation between Rosalia, Felix, and Eleanor had finished, prompting the three to look at the current state of Melzarin and Argentum’s bargaining session. Hearing the offer that Argentum gave to Melzarin, Felix could not help but radiate an aura of slight mockery as he let out a malicious chuckle.

“Knowing Melzarin, he’ll definitely accept that offer,” Felix said, to which Eleanor pondered over for a bit before speaking her mind. “Yeah, pretty high chance.”

As for Rosalia, since she did not know the feeling of having someone else own a part of her inheritance, she just watched, eager to see if Argentum’s offer would be accepted.

Fortunately for Argentum, after remaining silent over the offer for quite some time, Melzarin let out a light sigh before lightly nodding. Scratching his skull, Melzarin looked at Argentum and said, “Alright. I’ll settle for 25 percent. Of course, I’ll only agree if we create a spirit contract.”

“Why would I reject something like that?” Argentum asked a question in response to Melzarin’s words before letting out a light chuckle. Soon after, the two of them underwent the usual procedures of a spirit contract. After a minute or so, both of them felt that they had a faint connection to one another, signaling that the spirit contract was a success.

Letting out an aura of glee, Melzarin then said to the new co-owner of his inheritance, “I’ll make sure to give you your share of the inheritance once I head back to the inheritance. For now…”

He then looked at the three that were listening to their conversation and said, “How about you guys help me tidy up this area?”

Felix and the other two then looked at each other before letting out a light chuckle, tacitly agreeing that they would help out. As for Argentum, he went ahead and rubbed his hands as he felt that restoring the landscape in front of Melzarin’s inheritance would be a good way for him to become more familiar with manipulating earth.

And so, the five of them went ahead and started to fix the landscape, chatting about their lives while doing so. Naturally, while they were talking about themselves, Argentum could not help but mention about his goal of achieving the element of Lesser Origin, which the other four felt that he had a high chance of doing so, given how he was more powerful than peers at his current grade.

Some time later, while the others were still helping out in removing the charred bits of earth from the area, Felix went closer to Melzarin, who was taking a break, and said, “You know, Argentum would’ve probably accepted a 20% share of your ownership. Don’t you feel a hint of regret from doing such a move?”

“Naturally, I do feel regret,” Melzarin said in response as he continued to recuperate his energy. Soon after, an aura of slight excitement surrounded him as he continued, “Nevertheless, that little Pseudo-Animate might just do something that we couldn’t. I’ll just think of it as a worthwhile investment in the long run.”

In response to his words, Felix went ahead and conjured a ball of cold water, which he then dropped over Melzarin’s head, instantly making Melzarin shiver. Without hesitation, Melzarin hastily stood up and started to conjure spikes made out of dark earth, seeing how Felix was running farther and farther away from him.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

“Catch me if you can, slowpoke!”

And with that kind of atmosphere covering the whole restoration process of the area, the five of them had finally finished restoring the landscape to how it was by the time the next day’s afternoon had arrived. At this moment, the five of them were lying down on the ground, recovering their energy with auras of satisfaction around them.

Soon after, all five of them stood up as they decided that it was time for them to separate. Melzarin went ahead and headed back to his inheritance, telling Argentum that he would get it sorted out as soon as possible. As for Felix, he left the other three after telling them that he had to prepare something for the market, or whatever it was.

With Eleanor, Rosalia, and Argentum being the only ones in the area, Rosalia then looked at Argentum and asked, “So, should we go?”

“Sure.” Argentum nodded, prompting Rosalia to cover him in her energy. As for Eleanor, she went ahead and cover him in her energy as well, saying, “I’m coming as well.”

Hearing that, Rosalia could not help but let out a light chuckle before saying, “Alright, then.”

Whoosh!

And just like that, the three of them then made their way to Rosalia’s inheritance, the Supreme Terra Firma Inheritance.

…

While that was happening, something else was going on in the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance.

Horell nonchalantly walked through the corridors of the Tower of Seclusion, making sure to scan each and every room if there was a being there. While doing so, he could not help but let out a light sigh as he muttered, “Why did Herellia and Argentum choose me to do this? Cermalia and Harriott are still here, wouldn’t they be better off as the acting leader instead of me?”

Although he said that, he was making sure that he was doing his job properly, even going out of his way to greet the members of the alliance when he came across them. After some time, he arrived at a certain floor of the Tower of Seclusion, instantly feeling a large spike in energy in the surroundings.

Normally, Horell would panic since he did not know where such a large spike would have come from. Fortunately, before Herellia and Argentum delegated the job of acting leader to him, Argentum, in particular, told him of what was going in the Tower of Seclusion.

Scratching his head as he continued to walk through the corridor, he muttered to himself, according to Argentum, “There’s still about a week or so until Aurus finally finishes his evolution to X-grade Inanimate.”

“Haah. To be honest, if Aurus wasn’t evolving, I’m pretty sure he would’ve been chosen as the acting leader of the allian—”

Whoosh!

Out of nowhere, a large wave of energy washed over his body, prompting him to instantly sense where it had originated. Unsurprisingly, it did not take him too long to find where it had come from, given how he was close to it from the start.

“Aurus…” Horell muttered as he looked at the direction of the room Aurus was staying in. Just as he thought that it was over, the floor he was in started to rumble loudly, making him think that there was more to what was happening to Aurus.

And so, without hesitation, he dashed to where Aurus was staying, wanting to find out what was going on.