I Reincarnated As A Stick

“A real-time information network? Now what would you need that for?” Rosalia could not help but ask, not understanding how a real-time information network would be related to The Great Calamity. In response, Felix went silent for a bit before asking Argentum, “What do you want to do with the real-time information network, Argentum?”

“Primarily to track down the location of The Great Calamity, as well as be notified of any news related to what he’s doing,” Argentum replied, to which all four instantly got an idea as to what he wanted to achieve with it. If they were to think of it from the standpoint of a town leader, being updated as to where a catastrophic event might befall their town at any time was an advantage not all towns had. If they knew of such an event beforehand, then they would be able to evacuate all of the inhabitants of the town, with the only damage done being material losses.

Fortunately, that was indeed the perspective at which Argentum was thinking of when using the real-time information network. But of course, there was also another reason that only he could think of since Aurus was The Great Calamity. Allowing him to be notified of what was happening to Aurus meant that he would be able to react and respond accordingly, specifically whether or not he had to get closer to Aurus or stay far away.

At the moment, the only thing he could do was still far away since Aurus had lost all of his sanity. But if there was ever a chance that Aurus regained his sanity, then with the help of the real-time information network, he would be notified of such a thing as fast as possible.

Seeing that Argentum had regained his focus, Eleanor then asked, “How wide would the coverage of the network be?”

Pondering over the potential path Aurus would take when destroying settlements, Argentum could not help but focus his attention on what was the nearest kingdom to both him and Aurus, which was Seraph Kingdom. Commanding the system to bring out a map of the Maerr-viki Continent, he double-checked that the closest kingdom to them was indeed the Seraph Kingdom.

Closing the screen, he then said, “Hopefully, the information network must cover the entire Seraph Kingdom, as well as the cities and towns surrounding it. Though, if possible, have some focus on the two other kingdoms on the continent as well.”

“And how frequent do you want to be updated?” Rosalia asked, prompting Argentum to go silent for a moment before replying, “Would being updated every 10 minutes be possible?”

“It would, even being updated every 5 minutes would also be possible. Though, this divine being right here recommends my greatest fan to choose a longer duration like half an hour or an hour. That way, it would cost less money to achieve the same result.” Surprisingly, Helios was the one who answered the question, making everyone remember that he was well-versed in the art of saving money. After all, for someone like him to having all of those statues and paintings in his liking, he would need to have a lot of money.

Though, rather than accept Helios’s suggestion, Argentum merely smiled in response, thinking to himself that he didn’t expect to use that offer so soon. Nevertheless, wanting to make sure that it was feasible and within budget, he asked Helios, “How much do you think it would cost for a real-time information network with those preferences to be created?”

“To be honest, the amount of manpower needed for such an information network would be quite grand, considering how you want to cover the entirety of Seraph Kingdom, as well as have some focus on the two other kingdoms. Nevertheless, this divine being excels at problems like these, so a conservative estimate would possibly be around one to two Rank 7 Mana Stones at the very least,” Helios responded.

He then continued, “Just so you know, a Rank 7 Mana Stone is a priceless item only being sold at auctions. To save you time, just think of one Rank 7 Mana Stone as being equivalent to 10 million gold coins. Of course, if you don’t mind lapses, it would cost less. But if you want to make sure they don’t slack off, that’s the bare minimum.”

“Hmm…” Argentum went silent for a bit, slightly worried that his question would surprise the four. Nevertheless, he still asked, “Then, how much is a Rank 9 Mana Stone worth?”

“If you get your hands on something like that, then this divine being would instantly buy it from your hands for a billion gold coins,” Helios replied, to which Rosalia, Felix, and Eleanor nodded in agreement. That price was what they considered the lowest price for the stone, instantly stupefying Argentum. Though, soon after, a wide grin appeared on his face, telling them, “In that case…”

“Allow the information network to update me…”

“…every single minute.”

…

While Argentum and the others had decided to create a real-time information network that would allow them to track Aurus’s each and every move, the person mentioned, on the other hand, was still currently fighting against Vytalis and Mannelyn…if instilling despair into them was still considered fighting.

“[Spellsword of Ruination: Extended Ultimate Art].”

“[Ten Millennium Sword Embodiment].”

“[Nine Realms’ Gehenna Claw].” 𝘧𝔯𝑒𝒆𝓌𝘦𝘣𝓷𝘰ѵ𝑒𝘭. 𝐜oｍ

Increasing the power behind his attack, Aurus attacked once more with the claw behind him growing in size. With a single swipe, a strong shockwave was formed, blowing both Vytalis and Mannelyn back by a few hundred meters. And that was only from the shockwave of the attack alone.

As for the large claw, they naturally did not want to receive it head-on, prompting Mannelyn to hastily conjure a great amount of defensive barriers in front of them. On the other hand, Vytalis utilized her control over the power of life to give the barriers the property to regenerate and work as one unit. Unfortunately, even with such a move, all of the barriers they conjured had still been shattered in an instant by the claw, sending them flying for over 30 kilometers before they could come to a full stop. Not only that, but they weren’t even able to stabilize their bodies properly, only for Aurus to appear in front of them once more.

Since the two of them were Inanimates, both Vytalis and Mannelyn did not feel any pain from the attacks at all. In any case, they still knew that a large chunk of their vitality had been hacked away from that attack, hastily prompting Vytalis to heal both of them up through the usage of their skills. Aurus, on the other hand, seemed to have stopped after seeing them heal themselves, allowing the side of his primal instinct that sought pleasure in inflicting pain to become more prominent.

Though, while waiting for them to heal, Aurus could not help but think as to why he hadn’t used all of these skills while eradicating the towns before. Of course, it did not take long for him to realize why, knowing that showing greater strength would turn into a greater threat, making a lot of strong individuals come to where he was to defeat him. Then again, he could proportionally adjust his speed of improvement, eradicating entire cities in exchange for a higher chance to be caught by those strong individuals. After all, with higher risks come higher rewards.

With that, he decided to only activate one or two skills that enhanced his attributes, not like what he was doing right now that intensified his strength to a level that would make incredibly powerful individuals to move. By the time the two Spiriveritae were fully healed, Aurus increased the amount of blades making up the large claw behind him, increasing the number of blades by tenfold.

At this point, a hint of an otherworldly aura could be felt from the claw, immediately instilling a sense of dread and fear into the two as they hastily thought of a way to mitigate the damage they received from this next attack. If they did not mitigate it, although they would feel no pain, the amount of vitality they would have remaining would be next to none. At that point, they would be no different from punching bags.

And so, the two of them quickly conjured a large barrier that covered the two of them. Naturally, Aurus thought of it as a mere defensive barrier, indifferently using the claw that had gotten larger to break it and inflict more injuries to both Vytalis and Mannelyn. However, at the exact moment the claw and the barrier had collided, the two instantly infused a great amount of energy into it as a portion of the attack power was reflected back to Aurus!

“[Transcendent Spirit-Vitality Unification: True Mirror Bulwark]!”

Whoosh!

Bang!

Bang!

At that instant both Aurus and the two were sent flying in opposite directions, increasing the distance between the two to over 50 kilometers just from this attack alone. At this moment, it was quite surprising that Aurus had not come across any town as of yet as he was sent flying. Well, to be more exact, he actively ignored all of these towns for now, giving them a false sense of security that The Great Calamity had ended…or something along those lines.

As for Vytalis and Mannelyn, they could not help but let out a sigh of relief that the amount of vitality that was shaved off of them was something they could heal within minutes if they fully focused on recovery. Naturally, they did just that, with Mannelyn manipulating the energy circulating within their bodies to allow them to recover faster.

But of course, they didn’t just stop there. While healing their injuries, they thought about the next move, with Mannelyn muttering, “At this point, the level of power he’s showing is equivalent to someone with a comprehension level of 70 or above. Only one being could stand up against that strength among the Spiriveritas.”

“So, you’re saying we should call him?” Vytalis asked in response, to which Mannelyn shook her head as she replied, “Yes and no. We always make sure that we can call him, but let’s test our limits first. After all, our pride as the Spiriveritae that came before Verdante is on the line here.”

“Sure, I guess,” Vytalis said, shrugging her shoulders as she continued to heal their injuries. “But what if his strength increases yet again on the next attack?”

“Then, there’s only one thing left for us to do, right?” Mannelyn said, a wry smile appearing on her face. “To think a younger Spiriveritas would be stronger than us two, it’s quite embarrassing.”

“We’ve just slacked on our comprehension, that’s all,” Vytalis said in response, comforting Mannelyn. “I’m sure that as long as we focus on increasing our comprehension, there will eventually come where we—”

Bang!

Unfortunately for Vytalis, just before she could finish comforting her friend, the sight of a dark red being with a large claw made out of blades soon appeared in their field of vision. Not only that, but it seemed like the being was increasing the size of the claw even more, the otherworldly aura emanating it getting even stronger.

Eventually, the being had increased the size of the claw to the limit, with the claw now looking quite similar to the claw of a being famed for its strength in another world. Looking at the size of the claw that was about to hit them, both Vytalis and Mannelyn knew that they truly were left with no choice but to do…that.

“Let’s get this over with,” Aurus said to the two of them in his hoarse voice. Soon after, the entire claw turned pitch-black as the illusion of a large demon aiming to smash them into pulp soon appeared in the vision of both Vytalis and Mannelyn as he said, “[Spellsword of Ruination: Ultimate Lost Art].”

“[Million Sword Embodiment].”

“[Otherworldly Summoning: True Lucifer Claw].”

Swoosh!

Using the same move as before, Aurus commanded the claw to do a simple swipe on the bodies of the two, aiming to end this faux game of cat and mouse. But before the claw could hit the bodies of the two, both Vytalis and Mannelyn soon shouted the name of a being that made Aurus stop for a bit.

“Erudis!”

Bang!

“You called?”