I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 313: Downsides of Being Human

“It seems it has begun,” Argentum could not help but mutter as he looked at Herellia’s current plight. For someone like him who had access to Aurus’s memories, the condition in which an Animate would clutch their hands around their stomach as a soft growl could be heard was all too familiar to him. On the other hand, listening to his words, Horell could not help but ask him in a panic, saying, “What do you mean it has begun? Shouldn’t you help Herellia out?!”

“Calm yourself, Horell. There’s no point panicking over something that could be solved easily,” Argentum looked at Horell as he responded, allowing the calm aura that he was exuding to extend towards Horell. Surprisingly, the aura he had exuded had helped Horell calm down, prompting him to take in a few deep breaths as he apologized not long after.

“So, what should we do?” Horell asked Argentum once again, this time, in a calm manner. At this moment, a light chuckle resounded from the latter as he replied, “Well, if you mean ‘me’ by saying ‘we,’ then I’m going to have to do two things.”

“First off, let me conjure something,” he added not long after as he soon fiddled with the spell creation feature of [Sage’s Water Magic]. Inwardly chuckling at what he was doing due to its hilarity, he could not help but think to himself, ‘To think I’m going to have to discard one of my True Water spells for one that allows me to conjure a water ball. It’s like giving a stick to a soldier.’

Nevertheless, that feeling only lasted for a fleeting moment as he soon created the spell he needed to help Herellia out. Not long after, he started to mutter the incantations needed for the spell to be activated as a cyan magic circle manifested in front of him. Gradually, droplets of water started to appear from the magic circle, eventually transforming into a large ball of water that hovered around half a meter off the ground.

Swoosh…

Utilizing his control over the water ball, Argentum removed a small part of the water from the ball before moving it towards Herellia. While doing so, he replenished the lost water from the ball through the conjured magic circle, converting his energy into more droplets of water.

“Hey, Herellia,” Argentum said to Herellia to catch her attention. In response, Herellia looked at Argentum with a slightly pained expression as she instantly noticed the blob of water hovering in front of her face. She then asked her, “Why is there water in front of me?”

“Drink it,” Argentum succinctly responded while Herellia tilted her head in confusion, wondering what Argentum meant by ‘drinking.’ As a newly evolved Animate, she was still unfamiliar with most of the functions and features that came with ascending to the Animate level, which Argentum fortunately noticed after seeing Herellia tilt her head in confusion.

Coming closer to her, he slowly moved the blob of water towards her mouth as he instructed her, “Open your mouth.”

Knowing that Argentum didn’t want to harm her in any way, Herellia did what she was told, opening her mouth as Argentum manipulated the blob of water to enter her mouth. In an instant, a refreshing sensation covered the entirety of her mouth’s insides. However, she still had her mouth open all this time.

“Now close your mouth,” Argentum said after that, not minding the fact that he was teaching Herellia how to drink water step-by-step. Although ISE did not go too in-depth into this dilemma according to Aurus’ memories, Argentum knew that tons of books were written about this problem in the various libraries Aurus had gone to in the past.

Seeing Herellia obediently close her mouth, Argentum subconsciously nodded as he then said, “Now, swallow the water.”

At this moment, Herellia was about to ask how she would do that, but soon remembered that her mouth was filled with water, which was the place where her voice originated. The pain she felt from her stomach had slightly subsided as she focused on trying to swallow the water. After a minute or continuous rummaging through her memories and sheer trial, a vocal gulping sound could be heard coming from Herellia as the water in her mouth had gone through her esophagus, landing in her stomach.

With that, the pain inside her stomach had been totally removed, which made Herellia look at Argentum as if he was some sort of savior. Noticing the way Herellia was looking at him, Argentum scratched his head as he told her, “Just so you know, what you just did is a temporary fix for your problem. I’ll still have to do one more thing to make sure that it would take quite some for the problem to arise.”

“Horell.” After telling Herellia what he had to say, he then shifted his focus towards Horell as he said, “Take control of the water ball I conjured. If Herellia does that again, just remove a decent portion of water from the water ball and give it to her, okay?”

“Alright,” Horell replied as he nodded. He then conjured multiple mana tendrils, sending it towards the water ball to take control over it and make sure that it was still hovering off the air. Seeing that Horell’s control over the water ball he had conjured was now more or less stable, Argentum went ahead and bid farewell to the two of them as he activated all of his movement speed boosting spells before heading in the direction directly opposite the path that led to the Verdant Blossom Breeze Alliance.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

As he started to run, he commanded the system to bring up a map of Tempest Cliff and the area surrounding it, pondering over the location he would stop at. Eventually, he made up his mind, setting a marker on a location a couple of kilometers away from the Tempest Cliff’s borders.

…

With his understanding of the Wind element at the Animate level, it only took a few minutes for Argentum to arrive at the place he had marked, taking in a deep breath as he made sure that he was in his peak condition. He then utilized his enhanced senses to search for a particular thing in the area.

“Hmm…what’s a good first animal to kill and cook?” Argentum muttered as he hummed a small tune, moving here and there every once in a while to get a better view of the surroundings. At this point, it was quite obvious as to what Argentum was doing. Herellia was experiencing hunger, so Argentum was going to catch an animal and cook it to satiate her hunger.

“Ah, found a decent one.” After trekking the surroundings for a while, he eventually found an animal that seemed to suit the criteria he made in his mind. Without hesitation, he activated all of the skills that boosted his offense as he replaced one of the True Water spells in his arsenal with a spell that allowed him to conjure a thin yet sharp needle made out of water.

Swoosh…

Conjuring the magic circle that allowed him to create a water needle, he then made sure to aim the needle on the head of the wolf he had seen from afar. After feeling that the time was right, he then shot the water needle at the wolf with full force as he muttered, “Go! [Aqueous Pierce]!”

Fwoosh!

Due to the force contained inside the water needle after being boosted by multiple buffs, the needle seemed to have arrived at its destination in a flash, piercing through the wolf’s skull without making a sound. Not only that, but it even pierced through to the other side with tons of energy to spare, which eventually caused multiple trees from afar to have a needle-sized hole on their trunks. However, Argentum did not care about that.

Looking at the wolf from afar for a while, he waited to see if there was an adverse reaction from the wolf due to what he had done. Fortunately, there was none, with the wolf eventually landing on the ground on its side with a dull thud.

Seeing this, Argentum could not help but radiate a relieved aura as he made his way to where the wolf was before using his control over fire through magic to cauterize the small wound he had made. He had done this so that blood wouldn’t trickle out of the wolf’s body while he was carrying it. If he did not do that, then it basically told others to follow him through the trail of blood he made.

Making sure that there were no other spots on the wolf’s body that would allow blood to trickle out, he then lifted the wolf’s body, placing its abdomen over his left shoulder as he cast buffs on himself once more. Unsurprisingly, the buffs this time all had something to do with increasing strength. After that, he started to dash back to where Herellia and Horell was.

…

While making his way back to where the two of them were, he started to think about Herellia’s next steps. Although he had a hunch that Herellia would head back to the alliance once this problem was temporarily solved, he knew that this would hamper her in the long run, stunting her speed of improvement. 

Recalling all of the memories Aurus had from ISE in the past, he knew that Animates who stayed in areas made for Inanimates would have a slower speed of improvement than those who stayed in areas made for Pseudo-Animates or even Animates. Of course, that was all because Inanimates would offer lower experience than the other two types of existences.

With that in mind, he pondered on what he could do to help Herellia speed up her growth while making sure that the alliance was well-maintained. Unsurprisingly, the gears in his mind had started to turn, eventually formulating a plan that would not only benefit Herellia, but him as well.

Wanting to prepare for the plan, Argentum then channeled some of the energy inside his body towards a specific area inside it, allowing him to connect with one of the two people he had made a contract with. A few seconds later, a connection was made, with the familiar voice of a woman being heard soon after as she asked, “Argentum! It’s been a while since you last contacted me. What’s up?”

“It has indeed been a long while, Eleanor,” Argentum said with a light chuckle as he continued to traverse through the forested part of the Tempest Cliff. He then got to the main reason why he called Eleanor as he told her, “I have a favor to ask you.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve money, then I’ll try to help,” Eleanor responded, prompting Argentum to explain the circumstances that surrounded him and Herellia. After a few minutes, Argentum was finished explaining his side, allowing Eleanor to ask her own questions.

“So, if I’m getting it correctly, one of your Inanimate friends had just evolved to the Animate level, and you want me to help her out in getting used to the life of an Animate?” she asked, to which Argentum subconsciously nodded as he replied, “That’s pretty much the gist of it, yeah.”

“Hmm…what do I get in exchange?” Eleanor questioned Argentum, making the latter stop in his tracks for a bit as he realized that he was now asking for too much from her. In less than an instant, he had made up his mind that he would share his secrets regarding how one could achieve an Animate level of understanding in the Fire element. Unexpectedly, just as he was about to say that, a light chuckle could be heard from the other side as Eleanor said, “I’m just kidding. It’s fine, it’s fine. Just send her here, and I’ll handle the rest. I have been feeling that the inheritance has been lonely lately, though that has been mitigated with Blob around.”

“I’d still rather talk with girls, though, so sending her here is just right up my alley,” she added, only to ask him soon after, “Speaking of which, do you want me to help train her?”

“Well…is it a nuisance to you?” Argentum asked, to which Eleanor replied, “Not at all. In fact, I’d be glad to teach her a thing or two regarding Animates!”

“I see,” Argentum said as he let out a sigh of relief. After that, he told her, “I’ll let you know when we’re there.”

“Got it,” Eleanor replied as the connection between the two of them was now cut off. Feeling that he had given Herellia a better future, he continued to speed off to where they were, eventually arriving after around ten minutes or so.