Chapter 289: False Visage of the Animate

"From the description of the skill, I should assume that its prowess is far greater than [Higher Algor Magic]," Argentum muttered to himself as he pondered over the last notification he had received for a bit. A few seconds later, he let out a short and soft sigh as he added, "Then again, it kinda sucks that I lost the progress of the Water-based skills I grinded for quite some time."

He then radiated a slightly curious aura as he continued, "I do want to see the limits of this new skill though, but…this place wouldn't be a good place to test it out. I should head outside of the inheritance to do that."

With his mind set, Argentum went ahead and walked out of the room, where he underwent his comprehension session in, and arrived at Felix's room, only to see a large cauldron situated at the center of the room as multiple empty flasks could be seen placed near the cauldron. In the cauldron were multiple materials that seemed to be in the process of decomposing and melding with the fluid that coated all of them, which took on a slightly dark blue hue.

Wondering as to why a large cauldron was in Felix's room, Argentum looked around the area to find Felix, only to see that Felix had come out of a corridor with a few materials in tow. Felix then went ahead and threw the materials he brought into the cauldron before utilizing his energy to form tendrils that mixed the components inside the cauldron in a vigorous yet gentle manner. At this moment, Argentum finally realized what was inside the cauldron. It was none other than the components used to make the Heaven's Water Potion!

As Felix was allowing his subconscious to control the tendrils that mixed the components in the cauldron, he could not help but look around for a bit, eventually noticing that Argentum was looking at him with an aura of awe and surprise. Letting out a light chuckle, Felix greeted Argentum by saying, "Did you make any progress?"

"I sure did," Argentum radiated an aura of slight glee before thanking Felix. "Thanks to the potions you've given me access to, I've finally reached the level of understanding beyond peak Animate."

"Hoh?" Making sure that the components in the cauldron were dissolving smoothly, Felix allocated a bit of his attention towards the cauldron while the majority was focused on Argentum, prompting him to radiate an aura of curiosity as he asked in a tone of slight uncertainty, "How can you be so sure that you've gone beyond peak Anima—"

Whoosh!

Just before Felix was able to finish his question, an aura that seemed to be both incomprehensible and mysterious soon surrounded Argentum's aura, giving Felix the feeling that he was looking at a large body of water that had a collective consciousness. At first, the aura gave off a calm feeling as it took on a semi-corporeal form, allowing Felix to see that quite a large area of the room had been covered in what seemed to be hazy dark blue energy. The dark blue energy bobbed up and down for a while, as if it was a true body of water.

But then, the bobbing gradually became more intense, forming into waves that seemed to span multiple meters in height. While this was happening, a violent intent radiated from Argentum, giving Felix the feeling that it was all-encompassing, as well as inescapable. Surprisingly, this intent was enough to shock Felix that he had to put in a bit more of his attention towards the manipulation of the cauldron's components. 

Fortunately, only one last change remained in Argentum's aura, which had the high waves of dark blue energy transformed into whirlpools of various sizes, giving off a feeling that Argentum had great charisma, as well as a mysterious air around him. Nevertheless, something remained constant within those auras, and that was a force that Felix had no grasp of. Although he had no grasp of it, he did know that once this force was activated, a great amount of power would surge forth, allowing Argentum to achieve levels of power unimaginable before.

Suppressing his aura after he was done showcasing it, Argentum noticed that Felix was radiated an aura of immense shock as his sense of vision was focused on him. Letting out a light chortle as he knew that he had blown Felix's mind away, Argentum focused his sense of vision towards Felix before asking, "So…do you believe me now?"

"Uh-huh," Felix uttered as he slowly nodded, still in disbelief. It was only after a minute did he snap out of his daze and looked at Argentum with a sigh of awe. Recalling the auras Argentum showed just a while ago, Felix could not help but ask him, "Could you tell me how to achieve the level of understanding beyond peak Animate?"

"As long as you give up something of equal value, then sure," Argentum let out a playful giggle, to which Felix could not help but laugh as well as he said, "I knew you'd say that."

"Anyways, I'm surprised that you're doing something like this with ease," Argentum said not long after, redirecting the topic towards the cauldron. He then asked Felix, "Are you well-versed in concocting potions or something?"

"I concoct potions from time to time. You can call it a hobby," Felix hastily replied as he focused his vision towards the cauldron, radiating an aura of satisfaction as he noticed that the components were melding quite nicely. "Although it's not at a level of a professional, I can say with great confidence that my skills are far better than those Animate apprentices."

'Well, you are a being who has lived for over 25,000 years, so I won't argue with that,' Argentum thought to himself as he listened to Felix's last statement. After that, the two of them soon bantered about their progress in understanding the entirety of the Water element. With Argentum achieving what seems to be the third level of understanding, Felix did not hesitate on asking Argentum questions regarding problems he had encountered while trying to improve his understanding of the element.

And so, about an hour passed thanks to their banter. At this point, the concoction in the cauldron was now done, taking on the dark blue hue that was in the flask Argentum originally obtained. Naturally, it also radiated an aura of the Water element, making both Felix and Argentum inclined to devour the contents of the cauldron in an instant. Then again, they were beings with consciousness, so they knew how to control themselves, with Argentum helping Felix fill up the flasks near the cauldron.

As they filled up the flasks with the viscous blue fluid inside the cauldron, Felix could not help but radiate an aura of gratitude towards Argentum as he said in an awkward tone, "Although I should be the one teaching you about stuff, our roles have been reversed." Letting out an awkward chuckle, he continued, "Then again, my mind is flexible like water, so I don't mull over things like that."

"I do feel like the things you have given me as far more valuable than the things I've given you," he added soon after. With a solemn and serious tone, he then told Argentum, "If you have any request from me, as long as it's within my capabilities, I'll make sure to do my best."

"Is that so?" Argentum radiated an aura that gave off the feeling that his interest was piqued as he continued to fill up the flasks with viscous blue fluid. With Felix's words lingering in his mind, Argentum went silent for a bit, eventually opening his mouth after a minute or so as he recalled the evidence he had obtained back at Verdant Breeze Town.

Imitating the sound of one clearing their throat to attract Felix's attention, Argentum then asked him, "Felix, do you have any methods or ideas on how a Pseudo-Animate could transition into an Animate?"

"Hm?" Felix uttered as he did not expect such a question to come from Argentum. Nevertheless, it was not outside the realm of his knowledge, prompting him to ponder over it for a bit as he said, "Give me a second to think about it."

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In response, Argentum lightly nodded as the two of them went ahead and continued to fill up the flasks in silence. After a few minutes, Argentum and Felix were finally finished filling up the flasks with viscous blue fluid, giving them a total of about 25 Heaven's Water Potions. Coincidentally, Felix was finally finished pondering over the question as he hid the cauldron he used for concocting potions in another place.

Conjuring two chairs for the two of them to sit on, Felix faced Argentum as he asked, "Just to make sure that I did not misinterpret your question, are you asking about methods that would allow a Pseudo-Animate to evolve into an Animate, or are you asking about methods that would allow a Pseudo-Animate to disguise as an Animate?"

"Well, now that you say that…" Argentum hemmed and hawed for a bit before responding, "The first thought I had in mind was the former. But now that you told me about the second choice, I think it would have great use before I transition to the Animate existence level. Do you know methods regarding them?"

"Fortunately, I do," Felix said without hesitation, to which Argentum radiated an aura of glee as he now had a back-up method when the method he had in mind to transition to the Animate existence level would not work. But then, this aura was replaced with slight disappointment as Felix continued, "Unfortunately, all of the methods I have in my memory, for the first choice at least, needs one to be at the Grand-grade Pseudo-Animate level."

"And that's the method with the laxest requirements," Felix added. He then continued, "The other methods I have in mind mostly need you to achieve a grade of Epic or Legendary while successfully undergoing over 3 Power Baptisms. Of course, the upside to it would be that you would be able to forge a body far stronger than a normal Animate."

"The only slightly good news I have for you is the second choice I asked about," he said afterward. "To disguise as an Animate, you would only need to be a Magic-grade Pseudo-Animate as the vibe you're giving off is already close to a normal Animate. For others, they would need to be Grand-grade at the very least."

Hearing that the second method only needed him to evolve to the next grade, Argentum could not help but radiate an aura of slight glee as he felt that his return to the Animate world was now brought earlier thanks to this method. Trying his luck, he went ahead and asked Felix, "Regarding the second method, is there any way for me to learn of it so I could use it once I evolve to Magic-grade?"

"You want to learn it right now?" Felix radiated an aura of contemplation as he weighed the pros and cons of giving Argentum the skill early. Unsurprisingly, it did not take long for him to come to a conclusion as he felt that Argentum would heed his warnings. With that in mind, he shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Well, I don't see the harm in giving you the skill early."

Whoosh!

Soon after, Felix extended his right arm towards Argentum and pointed his index finger at Argentum's forehead. A light blue energy soon manifested at the tip of the extended finger before shooting out towards Argentum like a beam. In an instant, Argentum's mind was hit with a sudden influx of information regarding a technique that seemed to be esoteric at first, but was actually intuitive once he organized the information he had obtained.

Ding!

'You have obtained the active skill [False Visage of the Animate].'

As a notification sound resounded in his mind, telling him that he had obtained a new skill, Argentum could not help but radiate an aura of elation as he had the urge to try it out once he left the inheritance. But just as he was about to tell Felix that he was going to leave, a thought related to what he had just done soon surfaced in his mind, prompting him to try his luck once again.

"Is it possible for me to learn the first method as well?" Argentum asked in a slightly pleading tone, but unfortunately for him, Felix's decision, in this case, was firm as he shook his head. "It's better for you to not know of it right now. Just focus on getting stronger."

"Alright, then," Argentum shrugged his shoulders as he did not feel disappointed in being rejected. After that, he then bade farewell to Felix before leaving the inheritance, appearing just a few meters away from the ice castle. Looking at the castle for a bit, he then went ahead and activated all of his movement speed boosting skills before heading towards a random direction.

"This seems to be a decent spot," Argentum said to himself a few minutes later as his surroundings were now barren. Other than the occasional howls of the native beings slightly far away from where he was, it was the perfect place for him to test his new skill out. Rubbing his hands together as he took in a deep breath, Argentum then went ahead and commanded the system.

"System, identify [Sage's Water Magic]."

"It's time for me to see what it has to offer."

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