Maerr-viki Continent, Tempest Cliff, Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance's ecosystem, within the Tower of Seclusion.
Seeing that their master was now awake, the six companions that Aurus had with him instantly surrounded him as they all radiated auras of joy and excitement since they knew that they would be able to adventure with him once again. Of course, noticing this, Argentum knew that it was a good time to step back for a bit and allow the two sides to catch up on stuff they've missed out on.
Fortunately, Aurus thought about it the same way, allowing them to shower him their love and concern for him as they went ahead and narrated everything that had happened in the alliance while he was unconscious for around a month.
Naturally, they did not skip the time when Argentum told them to leave him alone with Aurus and said a lengthy monologue to him. In response, Aurus looked at Argentum, who was radiating an aura of embarrassment at the moment, and asked with a light chuckle, "To think you care about me that much?"
"I'm you in a way so how could I not care about you?" Argentum hastily replied before continuing, "Plus you have access to my memories, shouldn't you be the first one to know if what they said was true or not?"
Hearing this, Aurus could not help but let out a peal of laughter while his companions soon followed suit. Not long after, even Argentum was letting out some laughter as he felt that it was great for Aurus to be back.
Ding!
While Charisa and the others were still in the process of narrating what had happened while he was gone, a notification sound resounded in Aurus' mind, prompting him to stop the others as he asked them to be silent for a bit. Unsurprisingly, with the connection they had, Argentum knew that Aurus had obtained a notification from the system, prompting him to come closer to Aurus and ask, "Is it the new skills that came from your evolution?"
"Uh-huh." Aurus nodded in response as he commanded the system to open up a notification screen, even going so far as to share the content with Argentum.
'[Nine Flux Transformation] has been upgraded to [Royal Flux Reformation], increasing the limit as to which Flux could be refined up to 99 times.'
'[Flux Equipment Fabrication] has been upgraded to [Royal Flux Equipment Fabrication], increasing the durability and the power of equipment crafted by the user.'
'You have obtained the active Class skill [Domain of Nobility].'
'You have obtained the active Class skill [Noble Awakening].'
'…'
'You have obtained the passive Class skill [Semis Regulus Seed].'
'You have obtained the title [Spiritas Half-Noble].'
Just as Aurus thought that the notifications regarding skills would be over, he soon received a few more notifications, which somewhat surprised him as he did not expect that it would still be possible to do such a thing while he was unconscious.
'Due to the [Reward Sharing] skill, you have learned the passive skill [Fire Affinity].'
'Due to the [Reward Sharing] skill, you have learned the passive skill [Water Affinity].'
'Due to the [Reward Sharing] skill, you have learned the passive skill [Wind Affinity]. Since your affinity with the Wind element has already reached a higher level thanks to another skill, [Wind Affinity] has been fused with the higher-tiered skill.'
'Due to the [Reward Sharing] skill, you have learned the passive skill [Earth Affinity].'
'Due to the four elements being imbalanced inside the user's body, the possibility of forming [Lesser Origin Affinity] has been calculated at zero.'
"Lesser Origin…" Aurus could not help but mutter as he read this term from the notifications he had received. He then looked at Argentum beside him and asked, "Are you close to achieving Lesser Origin, Argentum?"
"To be honest, I could already learn it a week after you started your evolution process, Aurus," Argentum said in response, prompting Aurus to ask, "Then, why…"
Before Aurus could finish his question, Argentum went ahead and manipulated the energy surrounding his upper torso, revealing the cavity that contained the Tome of the Four Elements he had received from Verdant Breeze Town. At first, Aurus was confused as to why a book would be inside Argentum's body, only for him to recognize the symbol on the cover of the book as he rummaged through his memories.
Not long after, Aurus looked at Argentum with a hint of expectation and asked, "So…have you become the owner of the tome yet?"
"Surprisingly, not yet," Argentum responded before continuing, "According to your memories, the tome would automatically be mine once I reach an Animate level of understanding on all four elements. Three of the elements are already at the True Element level of understanding while the Wind element has already gone past the Animate level. Are you sure your memories are correct?"
"Why would they be wrong? Of course my memories are correct. They're the culmination of 6 nonstop years of playing Infinite Stick Evolution, you know?" Aurus could not help but say in response, though his tone became unsure as he continued, "Then again…there has been a few updates ever since the being that found the tome had shared his experiences…so I guess the requirement has been changed?"
"Well, I hope the requirement is reaching the True Element level on all four elements at least," Argentum said before adding, "If reaching the True Element level on all four elements unlocks more levels of understanding and I need to reach those levels before being able to become the owner of the tome, then I'll just give up becoming the owner of the tome as a whole."
"Well, who knows?" Aurus said. Just as he was about to expound on his statement, he had obtained another notification from the system, which was naturally accompanied by a notification sound. At first, he was annoyed to have obtained a notification from the system since he thought it was over. But as he skimmed through the notifications, he was left at a loss for words as an aura of excitement washed over him.
Sensing this excitement, Argentum went ahead and asked, "What is it?"
Without hesitation, Aurus went ahead and shared the notification screen to Argentum, allowing him to view the same notification screen he was seeing. Unsurprisingly, after skimming through the notifications for a bit, he looked at Aurus and asked, "That's actually possible?"
'You have obtained the title [The Thirteenth Spiriveritas].'
'As you have become the thirteenth Spiriveritas of Erudinia, you have obtained the passive Species skill [The Thirteenth Spiriveritas: Verdante].'
'As you have become the thirteenth Spiriveritas of Erudinia, you have obtained the passive Species skill [The Thirteenth Spiriveritas: Epiphany of the Tempest].'
'As you have become the thirteenth Spiriveritas of Erudinia, you now have the option of ascending to the Divinity level of existence without having to evolve to the Animate and Transcendent level. You can ascend to the Divinity level of existence through the Epiphany feature.'
Although Aurus was ecstatic to find out that he now had the option to ascend to the Divinity level without even needing to ascend to a higher existence level, he still could not help but feel curious as to where these skills came from. Fortunately, Argentum had an idea on what was happening thanks to Horell, deciding to explain everything to Aurus not long after.
…
"In short, Horell saw me with a white thread that extended from my body to the ceiling before hearing a voice that announced that I was the thirteenth Spiriveritas?" Aurus asked as he tried to sum it up in a nutshell. In response, Argentum lightly nodded as he said, "Yep. Pretty much it."
"I do have information on what the Spiriveritas are, which according to my memories, is an organization that covers the entirety of Erudinia. But from the looks of it, it seems that there is more to the term?" Aurus soon muttered to himself as he went ahead and identified the first skill he had obtained from becoming a Spiriveritas. It did not take long for him to realize that a Spiriveritas was indeed far greater than what he initially thought after one pass through the description of the skill.
________
[The Thirteenth Spiriveritas: Verdante] (Lv. MAX)
Grade: Unknown
Ever since the Spiritas has existed, there are those who yearn to achieve greater power while still being able to stay as an Inanimate. Fortunately, one of those Spiritii had achieved the impossible, forging a new path of evolution that would allow one to achieve Divinity without having to ascend to higher existence levels. Although the limitation was that one would have to be a Spiritas in order to be eligible, it was still greater than having no choice. Of course, to differentiate from the normal Spiritas, this Spiritas had named himself as the first Spiriveritas.
Currently, there are twelve Spiriveritas in the world of Erudinia, with the user becoming the thirteenth Spiriveritas after the twelve have unanimously agreed that the user has met the minimum requirements. Not only that, but they've given the user a codename based on the Epiphany the user has unlocked, which is Verdante.
> Gain the ability to ascend to the Divinity level as an Inanimate
> Gain the ability to achieve greater power through Epiphanies
> When fighting against those at an existence level higher than the user, the user will deal more damage to them, up to a 200% increase in damage
________
Although he was happy that he had obtained a way to gain even more power, he could not help but let out a sigh as he muttered to himself, "When I thought of myself as being too broken, I end up becoming even more broken once my evolution finished."
"Is that a bad thing? Isn't it cool to be able to fight against those at a level far higher than you without breaking a sweat?" Argentum asked him before saying, "Just so you know, I'm in the same boat as you, but it feels nice to be able to stand equally against those at a higher level."
"Well, it's not really a bad thing, but…" Aurus replied before going silent for a bit. Naturally, this made Argentum lean closer in order to listen to Aurus' next words. Unsurprisingly, Aurus' next words left Argentum at a loss for words as he now understood why Aurus felt that way.
"…don't you think being able to show a level of power akin to Transcendents as an Inanimate is a tad too broken?"
"I…I see…" Argentum said in response before going silent. After a while, he took the initiative to ask Aurus a question, saying, "So, what are you going to do next?"
"I guess I'm going to take it easy for a while," Aurus hastily replied as he remembered that he promised Herellia that he would help her obtain an All-Seeing Comprehension Leaf once he was finished evolving. With that in mind, he asked Argentum, "Speaking of which, where's Herellia? I still have a promise to fulfill."
"She's currently in an inheritance of a friend of mine," Argentum replied not long after, prompting Aurus to ask in response, "Why?"
"So she could learn the basic things an Animate should know," Argentum answered before adding, "Speaking of Animate, she finished her existence tribulation to the Animate level around two weeks or so before you woke up."
"She's already an Animate?" Hearing that Herellia was now an Animate was a slight surprise to Aurus. Of course, with Herellia in mind, he then thought of Horell, prompting him to ask, "What about Horell? Is he still in the alliance?"
"Yep. Before Herellia left, she designated him as the de facto leader of the alliance," Argentum replied, making Aurus lightly chuckle as he said, "Herellia made the right choice. Horell is definitely fit to be the leader of the alliance while she's gone."
"Anyways, how about you? Do you have any plans?" With him answering all of Argentum's question, it was time for him to ask his questions. Of course, Argentum replied with the obvious answer to the question, saying, "Well, I still need to ascend the Wind element to the True Element level of understanding. After that, I'll achieve Lesser Origin, and then evolve, I guess."
"Hmm…" Listening to Argentum's response, Aurus pondered over something for a bit before saying, "How about this? Achieve the True Element level of understanding for the Wind element first then we can head to where Herellia is. While I'm there, you can go ahead and do what you need to do for Lesser Origin. Does that sound like a good plan?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Argentum said with a light chuckle before going ahead and conjuring tendrils to bring the remaining flasks of Heaven's Wind Potions closer to him. Not long after, he went ahead and consumed the contents of one flask as his perception towards the Wind element increased as usual.
Just as he was about to close his sense of vision to increase his understanding, he said to Aurus, "How about you explore the limits of your skills and do something in the alliance while I'm still enhancing my understanding. It'll still take me a couple of days to achieve the True Element level."
"Don't mind me, Argentum. I know what I need to do. Just focus on what you need to do for now," Aurus said in response, a light smile appearing on his face.
With a light nod, Argentum soon fully closed his sense of vision, returning to his grind of achieving the True Element level of understanding for the Wind element.