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Chapter 303: The Second Evolution

Ding!

Since the trial was over, then naturally, what came next was a notification resounding within Argentum’s mind. Without hesitation, Argentum opened up the notification screen in his mind, reading through the notifications he had just received while radiating an aura of slight interest. While reading through these notifications, his sense of vision was soon fixated onto a certain string of words, prompting the aura surrounding him to transform to that of curiosity as he muttered to himself, “An enhancement of two grades, huh.”

‘The trial taker has successfully cleared the bonus trial with flying colors!’

‘As the heavens are an entity that does not go back on its word, the heavens have decided to enhance the transitional evolution the trial taker is going to undergo by two grades.’

‘Though the heavens have decided to give the trial taker such a reward, the heavens do not know exactly which path of evolution the trial taker wants to proceed with.’

‘The heavens have decided to ask the trial taker as to what path they would like to embark in evolution.’

‘Obtaining the trial taker’s response…’

‘The trial taker’s response has been secured. The heavens are now adjusting the next evolution to the trial taker’s response.’

After reading through these notifications, Argentum continued to wait for a bit, seeing that the last notification he had received did not feel like it would end there. Unfortunately for him, he had not received a new notification from the system even after a few minutes of waiting, making him inwardly let out a soft sigh as he closed his notification screen.

He then focused his vision towards Herellia, who was currently reverting the thick petals surrounding her into the crimson petals from before. While this was happening, Horell, who remained vigilant all this time, could not help but radiate an aura of despondence as he made his way to where Argentum was. Letting out a slightly loud sigh, which attracted Argentum’s attention, Horell then asked him, “Argentum, didn’t you tell me that Herellia could be in possible danger in the round that just passed?”

In response, Argentum focused his sense of vision onto Horell and replied, “Emphasis on the word ‘could’. It just so happened that Herellia was able to survive the round that just passed without a problem. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Well, it is, but…” As Horell listened to Argentum’s words, he could not help but let out another sigh as he continued, “I feel like I’ve done nothing significant so far to help out Herellia.”

“Whenever you feel that way, remember that you were the one who saved Herellia from death,” Argentum told Horell as he noticed that the aura around him had slightly intensified. It was at this moment that he felt that if Horell’s feelings were left ignored, then the help he could offer to Herellia would become less flexible as the coverage of his skills were limited. He then continued, “If it wasn’t for your quick wits back then, then Herellia wouldn’t be standing out there undergoing her second evolution right now.”

At first, Horell could not help but feel warmed that Argentum made him remember what he had done to help Herellia, but then, after hearing the latter portion of his statement, the aura radiating from him was soon replaced with shock as he asked Argentum in a shouting manner, “What? She’s evolving again?”

“Yeah.” Argentum nodded before saying, “The round that she cleared without a problem just now was pretty much the final trial she had to face before she could evolve a second time.”

“And where did you get this information from?” Horell could not help but ask, feeling that it was slightly suspicious that Argentum seemed to always know what to do next. In contrast, he could only wallow in fear as he hoped that his companion would survive the rounds that came her way.

Listening to Horell’s question, Argentum knew that it would be stupid for him to say that he got the information from his system, knowing very well that only he and Herellia were the only ones he knew who had a system. Pondering over his answer for a bit, he took a brief glance at Herellia, who was sitting cross-legged as the crimson petals surrounding her slowly circled her body.

It was this quick look that gave Argentum an idea on what he should say, letting him give off an aura of slight confidence as he replied, “Herellia. Whenever a round of lightning is about to come striking down, she alerts me through energy strands.”

“Well…that’s unfair,” Horell could not help but say, only to become silent and mull over the reasons why Herellia was contacting Argentum instead of him regarding the next rounds of lightning. It did not take long for him to obtain the answer, prompting him to let out an inward sigh as he asked Argentum, “Is it possible if you could relay the information you get from Herellia to me as well?”

Although Argentum was slightly shocked to hear such a request from Horell, he did not feel that it was an out of topic request under the current circumstances. With a nod, he replied, “Sure. For now though, we won’t obtain any news from her for quite a while. As I’ve said a while ago, she’s about to undergo her second evolution.”

Rumble…rumble…

Just as the two had finished their conversation, a loud rumble resounded throughout the clouds. This time though, there was no intent to it, unlike before. Sensing that there was no intent in the rumble, Argentum proceeded to focus his sense of vision towards the dark clouds. He soon noticed that a type of lightning, which formed before, was being formed once more.

Of course, this type of lightning was none other than the iridescent lightning that struck Herellia quite some time ago, allowing her to undergo what seemed to be an instant evolution. While looking at the iridescent lightning, Argentum could not help but feel that the intent of life and nourishment that surrounded the lightning bolts was amplified by multiple degrees. With this in mind, he wondered if the intent surrounding these iridescent lightning bolts had something to do with the lightning bolts surrounding them.

On the other hand, Horell was left in a state of awe as he clearly sensed that the intent radiated by the iridescent bolts had intensified to a higher level, making him feel like if he were the one struck by these bolts, then the improvement in power he would get would not be meager. Nevertheless, he knew that he had already undergone an Existence Tribulation. Plus, he was more eager to see how much of an improvement the recipient of the bolts would get.

Naturally, the recipient of these iridescent bolts would be Herellia, who opened her sense of vision after feeling a familiar intent emanating from the clouds. Once she noticed that the iridescent lightning bolts were being formed in the middle of the dark clouds once more, she went ahead and dispelled all of the crimson petals surrounding her as she stood up. Letting out an aura of slight expectation and elation, she focused her sense of vision directly onto the iridescent lightning bolts before saying, “So this is why I was asked by the heavens sometime ago. It’s because I’m going to undergo another evolution.”

With this in mind, she could not help but redirect her vision for a bit towards Argentum, who was currently looking at the iridescent lightning bolts just like she was a while ago. Sensing the aura of calmness and composure surrounding Argentum, which also had hints of expectation and elation surrounding it, she then questioned herself, “Did Argentum know that I was going to undergo another evolution?”

She then pondered over the question for a bit, eventually concluding that it was highly likely for it to be the case. Not only that, but she also felt that Argentum knew about the trials she was going to undergo, thus allowing him to give the right level of help necessary for her to clear the trials. It was at this moment that Herellia felt that something had changed in the way she looked at Argentum. She did not know in what way her perspective of Argentum had changed, but she did feel that it had indeed changed.

Bzzt…crash!

Just as she was about to talk with Argentum, the iridescent lightning bolts had finally come crashing down. Knowing what these bolts entailed, Herellia did not resist these iridescent lightning bolts as she allowed these bolts to be absorbed by her body. Coincidentally, a notification appeared in front of her field of vision, something she had never received from the previous swath of iridescent lightning bolts that surrounded her.

Feeling that there was a reason for such a notification to appear, Herellia unhesitatingly went ahead and read the notification she had received, eventually radiating an aura of understanding as she said, “So that’s how it is.”

With a light chuckle, she then continued, “I guess I should have been more specific, but eh. Too late for regrets.”

Ding!

‘The user is currently undergoing an assisted evolution.’

‘Thanks to the power inherent in the tools helping you out, the species that you shall evolve into has been enhanced.’

‘The species you shall evolve into shall be…’

Ding!

While this was happening, Argentum had received a notification from the system as well, informing him that Herellia was now undergoing the evolution process. After reading through the notifications he had received, he then took a look at Herellia, noticing that the process of evolution was quite slow when compared to the first transitional evolution she had received. With that in mind, he slightly pondered over the reasons why it was slower, easily finding the answer as he remembered that the heavens gave Herellia a chance to enhance her evolution.

“I guess the heavens wanted her to slowly adjust to her improvements in power while she’s undergoing evolution,” Argentum muttered to himself with a tone of slight uncertainty before looking at the dark clouds once more. After looking at the clouds, he then focused his sense of vision towards a slightly far-away location before going ahead and casting all of the movement speed boosting buffs he had in his arsenal at himself.

Noticing that the aura surrounding Argentum had intensified, Horell could not help but look at Argentum and ask, “What are you doing?”

“I’m just going to check how much time has passed since Herellia’s tribulation started,” Argentum briefly responded to Horell’s question before dashing out to an area that was not covered by the dark clouds. Due to the compounding effects of the movement speed boosting buffs he cast on himself, it only took a few minutes for him to arrive at the area he looked at a while ago. Without delay, he focused his sense of vision onto the clear sky, seeing not long after that the sun had now passed the peak position.

“I wonder if the speed at which Herellia is clearing her tribulation could be considered as fast,” Argentum muttered to himself as he made his way back to where Horell was. Along the way, he went ahead and utilized his enhanced senses to check the changes that were happening to Herellia’s body, only to retract it soon after. The reason why he retracted it was that he did not see any significant changes to her appearance or power at all while heading back to where Horell was.

This was also the reason why when he came back to where Horell was, he went ahead and sat cross-legged before closing his sense of vision. He presumed that it was going to take a long while for Herellia to finish her evolution.

And a long time did it take indeed.

Bang!

After about an hour or so since Herellia was first struck by the iridescent lightning bolts, the cocoon, which was made out of the iridescent bolts that struck Herellia, burst into multiple pieces as a loud explosion sound resounded throughout the area. This loud explosion alerted Argentum, who was fiddling with the True Water spells in his arsenal. Of course, Horell was alerted as well, who was immersed in attuning himself to the mana around him.

Without hesitation, the two of them stood up before focusing their senses of vision onto where Herellia was, only to radiate auras of intense shock soon after as the current Herellia in front of their fields of vision was unlike the Herellia from before the evolution.

Although the general appearance of the two was the same, the current Herellia could be likened to that of polished jade, while the previous Herellia could be likened to that of a diamond about to undergo polishing. The color of her surface now took on a fleshy hue, while a hint of red could be faintly seen as well. Not only that, but the proportions of her body were now more well-defined while the shape of her limbs had become more detailed. It was as if she was not made out of wood anymore, though her eyes said otherwise.

Although they looked like the eyes of a normal Animate, there was no life to them. It gave off the feeling that one was looking at a lifelike statue instead of a real person. Nevertheless, the aura of power radiating from her was multiple levels higher than before, even giving Argentum the feeling that her current combat power was equivalent to his in his base form.

The robe that draped over her upper torso now had the appearance of red silk, with a few exquisite designs on the edges of the robe being visible. As for the hair on top of her head, which was previously made of crimson red strands, it now looked more lifelike, which greatly complemented Herellia’s already beautiful face.

Ding!

While the two of them were still in a state of shock, Argentum was brought back to reality as a notification sound resounded in his mind, prompting him to focus his attention on the notification screen as he took one last glance at Herellia. While reading through the notifications he had received, he could not help but mutter, “Although the system says that her existence level is still that of a Pseudo-Animate, the aura surrounding her is not something a typical Pseudo-Animate would radiate.”

“It feels like something an Animate would radiate instead.”

“Oh. So that’s why.”

“I wonder how strong she is right now.”

‘The trial taker’s second transitional evolution is now complete.’

‘The trial taker’s existence level is maintained at the Pseudo-Animate level, though the heavens have decided to bestow her power close to that of an Animate.’

‘Due to the bonus trial being successfully cleared by the trial taker, the trial taker’s current species has been enhanced and adjusted to the power given by the heavens.’

‘Taking the trial taker’s responses into consideration, the trial taker’s new species is…’

‘Sanguis Imperatris Primio — Lucus Minor (Legendary+).’

——–

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