I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 357: An Unexpected Prophecy

Eventually, the two of them had arrived at the plaza where the pedestal showing the various Origin Factions were located. Surprisingly, by the time they had arrived, a large flock of people were dashing to where the two of them were, prompting Cardis to lightly grin from the sight while Argentum, on the other hand, could not help but let out a sigh in response.

With a slightly dejected aura surrounding him, he looked at Cardis and asked, “Is there really no way to escape this predicament?”

“Well, you are the Origin Sage, so you could always ask them to not do that,” Cardis responded with a light chuckle before actually giving a serious answer, “But that would just tarnish your reputation among those who want to learn from the Origin Sage itself. If I were you, I’d respond to a few questions regarding the Origin and then stop. I think that’s what Torvas did while he was the Origin Sage.”

Seeing as he could not escape this situation in any way, Argentum eventually accepted his fate, committing Cardis’s advice to memory as he radiated an aura of solemnity while responding to the questions that were being thrown at him every second. After some time, he politely told the crowd that had surrounded him to leave the premises as he had something else to do.

Surprisingly, Cardis’s advice had worked, with the people that came to ask him regarding the Origin not feeling any ill intent from his words. Of course, there were some that had frowns on their faces after hearing that, but that was because their questions hadn’t been answered. Nevertheless, the crowd had left the two of them alone, allowing Argentum to let out a sigh of relief.

Coincidentally, by the time the crowd surrounding Cardis and Argentum had left, the plaza started to tremble with great force, catching some off guard as they screamed out in fear. As for the majority, their eyes glistened with expectation and excitement as they focused their visions towards the pedestals at the plaza center.

Even Cardis had an expression of excitement on his face as he looked at the plaza center, telling Argentum, “Hey, Argentum. You better keep your eyes peeled for what’s going to happen to the pedestals.”

“Hmm?” Although Argentum did not have any eyes as a Pseudo-Animate, he still did have an enhanced sense of vision compared to other Pseudo-Animates, allowing him to clearly see what was happening at the center of the plaza.

By the time he had found his footing, the trembling of the ground had weakened by at least half, allowing everyone in the premises to focus their sights on what was happening at the plaza center. Fortunately, it did not take long for their curiosities to be satisfied as the outermost pedestals started to move outwards, with the inner pedestals doing the same thing as well.

Not long after, a gap large enough for another pedestal to be there had appeared in the centermost region of the pedestals, to which Argentum instantly realized what was going to happen.

Rumble…

Slowly but surely, a white cylinder started to protrude out of the gap in the center. With every passing second, the speed at which the white cylinder became taller would increase, eventually reaching a height equivalent to the pedestal that housed the Cycle within half a minute.

Unsurprisingly, this new white pedestal didn’t stop growing, surpassing the height of the pedestal that housed the Cycle a few seconds later. It had only stopped growing after it had reached the height of the pedestal of the Cycle, Unity, and Life…combined.

Naturally, such a sight left the masses at a loss for words as they did not expect that the Origin Sage some were talking to a while ago would be able to comprehend the Origin to an extremely deep level. Cardis could not help but look at Argentum after the white pedestal had reached its peak, asking, “Argentum…are you sure you’re not trained by some sort of large organization beforehand or something?”

“No?” Argentum tilted his head in confusion after hearing that question. “Even if I was part of some organization before entering the Origin Pantheon, why would they pay attention to a Normal-grade Pseudo-Animate like me?”

“Ah…fair point,” Cardis said soon after, with Argentum’s words instantly making sense. Although his words sounded harsh, Argentum was saying nothing but the truth. All of the prominent organizations in the world he was in was led by Animates, given how Erudinia was akin to the world of ISE. Of course, there were strong Pseudo-Animate and Inanimate organizations throughout Erudinia as well, but they were incredibly rare.

He soon added, “It’s just unbelievable that you would comprehend the Origin to such an extent. No one would really expect that a Pseudo-Animate like you would do such a thing. Even I, your friend, am in disbelief.”

“If you’re still in disbelief, then just attribute it to luck,” Argentum responded half-jokingly as he couldn’t be bothered to explain himself. After that, he redirected his sense of vision back to the central white pedestal, noticing that a white sphere was starting to form a couple of meters above it.

Soon after, this white sphere had taken on the appearance of Earth before radiating an intense aura of pure Origin towards the surroundings. This aura of pure Origin left some in a state of deep comprehension while some were left in a state of intense shock. If anything, Argentum was the only one that was unaffected by it.

Noticing that Cardis had frozen in place like a statue, Argentum tapped on his shoulders to snap him back to reality as he told him, “Hey, Cardis. Let’s explore the whole Origin Pantheon.”

“Ah.” With Argentum’s taps, Cardis was instantly brought back to reality as he slowly nodded while saying, “Y-yeah.”

But just as the two were about to turn around and head towards another portion of the Origin Pantheon, a man that exuded an aura of the Origin that was half as intense as the aura from before had appeared in front of them as he said, “How about I take your friend here for a tour instead?”

In an instant, Cardis and Argentum recognized who that person was. It was none other than the previous Origin Sage of the Origin Pantheon, Torvas.

“Torvas!” With a grin on his face, Cardis greeted Torvas before snapping his fingers as a rift appeared near where Torvas was. Not long after, a huge amount of Transcendent Stones dropped from the rift before closing up as he said, “Many thanks for the Transcendent Stones you’ve given me. If not for you, I might have not been able to pay for their bets.”

“Don’t mind it, don’t mind it,” Torvas waved his hands as he replied with a light chuckle, using a bit of his energy to transport the Transcendent Stones given to him to another place. After that, he looked at Argentum and asked with a slightly cautious tone, “Your name is…Argentum, right?”

“That would be me,” Argentum said in response, lightly nodding. Letting out a sigh of relief, Torvas then looked at Cardis and said, “Cardis, if you don’t mind, can I be the one that would take Argentum on a tour of the Origin Pantheon?”

Without hesitation, Cardis lightly smiled in response as he said, “But of course! Of course! Since you helped me out on the betting session, then it’s only natural for me to reciprocate the favor.”

With that, Cardis left the two to themselves. Of course, that was after he left Argentum a few more words.

“May we meet again, Argentum. If you need me, just call out my name!”

Whoosh!

And with that, he had disappeared from their fields of vision in less than a second.

“Ehem.” Lightly coughing to break the awkward silence between the two of them, Torvas looked at Argentum and asked, “So…shall we start our tour?”

Although he did not know why Torvas opted to become his tour guide for the Origin Pantheon, he wasn’t someone who rejected goodwill. In response to his question, he nodded as he shrugged his shoulders, saying, “Sure. Why not?”

And so, the two then explored the entire Origin Pantheon, with Torvas acting as Argentum’s tour guide along the way. Surprisingly, Torvas did not skimp out on explaining the purpose and history behind each place, giving Argentum a good impression of the man. Even when Argentum had some questions that needed clarification, he would have an answer prepared beforehand.

Eventually, after another week or so, the two had finally explored every nook and cranny of the Origin Pantheon, finally allowing Argentum to create a mental map of the area for himself. Not only that, but he felt that he had become closer with Torvas throughout this week. Now, even if someone told him that Torvas used to be an Origin Sage and was someone at the Transcendent level, he wouldn’t care about that since he knew that Torvas would recognize him.

Sitting on a bench under a large tree, the two of them looked at the vast blue sky with smiles on their faces, feeling their souls being healed by the wondrous sight in front of them.

After some time, Torvas took in a deep breath and looked at Argentum, asking, “Hey, Argentum. Did I tell you before that I dabble in divination?”

“I think you mentioned that a few times along the way,” Argentum said in response, recalling Torvas’s words throughout the tour.

With a light nod, Torvas then asked him, “How about I give you a prophecy? No, wait. Make that two prophecies.”

“Two prophecies? What for?” Although Argentum felt that Torvas’s offer was somewhat suspicious, the feeling Torvas gave him this past week was enough for him to think that this suspicion was unfounded.

In response, Torvas lightly smiled as he replied, “Just take it as a token of thanks for spending time with me this past week. So, how about it? Do you want the two prophecies or not?”

“Well, why not?” After mulling over it for a bit, Argentum eventually agreed to the offer, seeing as there was no harm in having his future predicted. Who knows? He might benefit from such a prophecy in the future.

With Argentum agreeing to his offer, Torvas nodded in response before closing his eyes as a series of magic circles started to appear around him. Not long after, these magic circles then connected with one another through a large chain of mana as the aura of peering through everything surrounded Torvas at this moment.

These linked up magic circles then gradually became smaller, eventually being absorbed by Torvas’s forehead as he opened his eyes. Giving off the atmosphere of a wise sage, Torvas solemnly looked at Argentum and said with a serious tone, “The first prophecy.”

“Within a short amount of time, you shall surprise the world by exuding strength far beyond your existence level. Although this would make everyone fear you, it would also make some of them covet you.”

“Eventually, one of them shall succeed and capture you for their own benefit. Naturally, you would try to escape it as much as possible, but due to your state of insanity, that was deemed impossible.”

Hearing Torvas’s prophecy, Argentum could not help but feel that he had heard something familiar in the past. After rummaging through his memories, he eventually realized that the prophecy gave him the same feeling from another person’s warning towards him. Well, to be more exact, it was Kevin’s warning to Aurus, telling him how he was going to be in danger in the future.

In the end, Kevin’s warning had turned out useless as Aurus did not fall into danger at all. With that in mind, Argentum instantly thought of Torvas’s prophecy as something he should take note of, but not take seriously.

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind,” Argentum said after Torvas was finished speaking. In response, Torvas nodded as he said, “Do keep it in mind for it is not a prophecy for you, but for your original body.”

At that instant, multiple red flags set off inside Argentum’s mind as he did not mention even once that he had an original body to Torvas. Hearing those words come out of his mouth, he could not help but think to himself with a hint of uncertainty, ‘Perhaps…this prophecy might be true?’

Nevertheless, he had no way to prove that it was true as it had not happened yet. In the end, he made sure to keep it in mind and relay it to Aurus once he left the Origin Pantheon. After becoming silent for a bit more, he then looked at Torvas and asked, “How about the second prophecy?”

“This prophecy is targeted towards you,” Torvas said as he took in a deep breath. Not long after, the aura one would feel from someone who had lived for thousands of years exuded from him as he solemnly recited.

“Unlike your original body, you shall change the landscape of the world itself with your might and wits. You shall become recognized by the masses, but at the same time, you shall be despised by the great powers. Nevertheless, in front of a great enemy, you shall turn into their greatest might.”

“Your presence shall continue to spread throughout the world, only to be stopped by those of a higher realm. If you surpass this obstacle, then your future journey shall have no problems.”

Hearing this, Argentum noticed that this prophecy contained a way for him to make sure that it wouldn’t come true. With that in mind, he then asked Torvas, “Is there a way for the first prophecy to not become true?”

In response, Torvas let out a light sigh as he responded, “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you any more than that for I might be smitten down by the heavens.”

After that, Torvas stood up from the bench and started to walk away, leaving Argentum only a few words before he left.

“I can assure you that once you enter the Transcendent World, I shall tell you even more. For now, just remember that once you enter the Transcendent World, find the Lost Origin Pavilion.”

“Only there shall you find out how to stop the first prophecy from happening.”