I Reincarnated As A Stick

While an incredibly important event that might change the future of Maerr-viki Continent was happening near Seraph Kingdom, something else was happening in the small town led by Argentum, which was being supported by Felix and the others, being strong beings in the own right.

After Argentum asked Herellia and Horell to come accompany him as they made their way back to the town he managed, the one and a half weeks of seemingly peaceful silence was not wasted by the town. First off, one of the initial development plans Argentum devised for the town related to supplying clean water had finally been completed, with the plan now moving onto an unexpected second phase. Surprisingly, all of them hadn't thought about the problem of waste management and water treatment, which was definitely important in keeping up the overall health of the town.

As for the plan to create a large farm that would allow the town to become self-sufficient, almost 80% of the plot allocated for it had now been turned into arable farmland, allowing those that have chosen to volunteer in growing food to plant the crops that the townspeople commonly ate. On the other hand, the remaining 20% was allocated for the farm animals. After all, even though it was fine for the townspeople to temporarily live off of only vegetables and fruits, they would eventually start to crave meat. Fortunately, Argentum's thoughts were right, with the town delighted that they wouldn't have to import meat from other areas from now on.

Naturally, with fresh food and clean water, the final development plan had gone smoothly, with all of the households undergoing a massive renovation on both their interiors and exteriors. In fact, if one entered the place, not knowing that it was previously a town, they would think of the place as a city that was just starting to expand.

Nevertheless, with all of those development plans more or less taken care of, Argentum now expanded on the other plans he had formulated during the time he managed the town, specifically the plan to turn the town into a town focused on blacksmithing. With those that were hired to find more ore veins being able to find a few more sources of iron, he was able to kickstart a small-scale production of iron weapons, hiring blacksmiths from other towns to come to his town and train some of his people in the process.

At this point, one would wonder as to what Herellia and Horell had been doing all this time? Well, since they were both leaders of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, it wasn't surprising to find out that the two of them had decided to help out in the management of the various plans that were going on. Surprisingly, Herellia helped out on the plan wherein the Tempest Regiment was being formed while Horell helped out on the plan wherein an academy for everyone was going to be constructed.

With all of that said, the three of them working in tandem was able to speed up all of the town's plans by quite a bit…until the fateful day arrived.

…

At the moment, Argentum, Herellia, and Horell were talking with Delmann and Valstra on what part of the plan they should focus on next, wanting to improve the foundations of the town for expansion until all of a sudden, a man urgently ran to where they were, only stopping when he arrived in front of Argentum.

Seeing who the person was, Argentum quickly remembered that this person was the one he appointed to look at the real-time information network he had created with Felix and the others at all times. Looking at the expression on the person's face, it was apparent that Aurus had done something big yet again. With that in mind, Argentum asked the man, "So, what's the news this time?"

"Very big news, Sir Argentum," the man replied, taking quick breaths of air with every word he spoke out. After catching his breath, he then took in a deep breath as he told Argentum, "We've obtained reports that The Great Calamity has been found circling the 27 provinces, only to eventually stop at the first province he had arrived before heading in the direction of the Seraph Kingdom. It is reported that The Great Calamity is aiming to destroy the entirety of the Seraph Kingdom itself."

Hearing the man's words, Argentum, Herellia, and Horell all wore solemn expressions on their faces as they had different reactions towards the words told by the man. Nevertheless, all of them still had the same base emotion in their minds, which was surprise and shock.

Taking in a deep breath, Argentum then asked the man, "How long has it been since this piece of news has been relayed?"

"Considering the distance taken for the message here, it would have taken around 5 to 10 minutes for the report to arrive here," the man responded, prompting Argentum to nod in response as he thanked the man. He then dismissed the man as he told him to head back to the real-time information network.

Sensing the aura that Argentum was emanating at the moment, Delmann and Valstra looked at each other for a bit as they had a hunch that he was going to leave the town for a bit once again. Then again, at this point, they could truly handle all of the things on their own right now. After all of the things they had done so far, they had gained enough experience to be confident in what they were doing.

With that, Delmann looked at Argentum and took the initiative as he told him, "Sir Argentum, if you're going to leave the town once more, then by all means, go ahead. If you don't want to tell us the reason as to why you're going to leave the town, we don't mind either. Just believe in our abilities to keep your plans going."

Hearing those words come out of Delmann's mouth, Argentum could not help but look at the pair that had stayed by his side once he embarked on this journey of becoming the leader of a town. Feeling the gazes of determination and confidence emanating from their eyes, he eventually let out a light sigh before nodding, telling them in response, "I apologize for being such a tardy leader."

"However, I thank you."

After saying those words, he then looked at Herellia and Horell, both of which nodded at him as the three of them soon left the town. Of course, they didn't head straight for Seraph Kingdom. With their current strengths, it would be a miracle for them to arrive near the outskirts of the kingdom within a couple of days, taking into consideration the distance separating the two of them.

With that, the three of them stopped at around ten kilometers away from the walls of the town, wanting to make sure that none of the citizens would see what they were going to do next. After that, Argentum circulated a bit of the energy in his body as he contacted two beings at the same time. While the connection was being formed, Argentum noticed that Horell was going to deactivate [False Visage of the Animate]. Before Horell could fully deactivate it, Argentum stopped him, prompting the former to ask him why.

In response, Argentum replied, "It'll only take us a while to arrive at the kingdom. Plus, you'll turn into a treasure Animates would chase after to the ends of the world if you don't activate the skill in time."

Ignoring Horell's response to his words, the connection between him and the two beings was finally established. Before the two beings could ask him what was going on, Argentum had a solemn expression on his face as he told them in an urgent tone, "Come to where we are as fast as you can. I'll fill you in once you get here."

After that, he cut off the connection, basically ending the call. Just as Herellia and Horell were going to ask Argentum what he had done, two powerful beings had appeared from different directions, heading to where they were. One of those beings was a gentleman in a blue tuxedo, who currently had a tired expression as the rift he had created was superbly unstable. On the other hand, the other being was a beautiful woman wearing a dress made out of gray flames. From how the flames flickered, it was apparent that she had overused her mana.

Naturally, these two beings were none other than Felix and Eleanor, the two closest inheritance owners to where Verdant Breeze Town was. Although the two of them were slightly angry as to why Argentum would ask them to come to where they were as soon as possible, their anger instantly dissipated as he told them the reason behind his call.

"We've received news that Aurus is making his way to Seraph Kingdom. From the looks of it, he's planning to destroy the whole kingdom, as well as kill all of the people that live in it."

Hearing those words, Felix and Eleanor instantly went ahead and opened up a small rift above their hands, allowing a few precious Mana Stones to drop on it as they madly absorbed all of the mana contained in the stones dry. After that, they looked at each other and nodded as Felix asked Argentum, "From the looks of it, you want us to take you three to the Seraph Kingdom as fast as possible, right?"

Argentum could only nod in response. Seeing Argentum's reaction, Eleanor could not help but say, "I wonder sometimes if you're just turning us into your transportation, but at this point, I can only place this thought at the back of my head. We may be Pseudo-Animates, but the future of the whole continent is at stake here."

With that, Felix and Eleanor fused their powers, allowing Felix to form a spatial rift that allowed them to traverse a long distance, thanks to the inherent strength of Eleanor's flames while in Samsara form. Thanks to it, the five of them were able to arrive near the outskirts of the kingdom within three or so long-distance teleport, with each teleport needing both Felix and Eleanor to recover their energy for a while.

Nevertheless, by the time they had arrived, all of them that they were right on time as the five of them could sense two sides fighting against each other, radiating large waves of power that could even be felt from where they were. Although Herellia and Horell couldn't see what was happening due to the distance between them and the two sides fighting, from what they could sense through the aura, it was obvious who the being on one side was.

"Aurus," both Herellia and Horell muttered, with Argentum utilizing his enhanced senses to the maximum as he looked from afar. From what he could see, his original body was currently fighting against a group of uniformed guards, all of them at a level that he could only look up to.

Thinking that it was better for them to get a better view, Felix went ahead and enveloped all of them with his energy as they started to make their way to the kingdom's walls, only stopping as they hovered a few meters on top of it, surprising some of the guards that were stationed near where they appeared. However, they did not make a move on the five as the five did not make a move on them.

"Aurus." With a better vantage point, Argentum could now clearly see what was happening between the two sides. At first, he thought that Aurus was on the losing side as the guards had surrounded him, fixing him only to one spot. However, this soon changed as Aurus was able to turn tides in one go, killing all of the guards that previously had an advantage over him with only a couple of skills.

Seeing how merciless Aurus was, not even sparing a thought to the guards he had killed, it was only then did he realize that the Aurus he and the others were looking at was not the Aurus they knew anymore. It was as if he was already a different being.

However, even though he knew this, he still wanted to try and help Aurus regain his sense of rationality. But before he could even do that, Felix and Eleanor stopped him as Felix told him, "There's nothing you can do to help out, Argentum. Even we can't help out in this regard. At most, we can only be bystanders."

Just as he was about to ask Felix why he couldn't help out, Eleanor continued where Felix left off, telling Argentum, "His combat power is already beyond what we could handle, Argentum. At his current state, he can already fight against a Pseudo-Transcendent head-on, perhaps even a true Transcendent. The greatest strength we can muster is only at Pseudo-Transcendent level, and that's only if we're willing to sacrifice everything."

"I seriously apologize, Argentum. But there's nothing we can do at this point," she continued, a solemn yet sad expression on her face.

Hearing those words, Argentum could not help but let out a long sigh. Back then, he was made to help Aurus out, and was able to do so. Now, even before he was going to try and help Aurus one more time, he could not even take the first step. In the end, he could only look up at the skies and mutter inwardly.

"Please…if there's anyone beyond the heavens listening to me right now…"

"Please make a miracle happen."