I Reincarnated As A Stick

About an hour has passed since Aurus had agreed to Kurohana’s request of upgrading him. At the moment, a few instruments that starkly contrasted to the bright white of the place were hovering a few meters away from the two. Naturally, as Kurohana was a divine blacksmith, all of these instruments were related to forging. Looking at the sight, Kurohana deftly waved one of her hands to move the instruments around, quickly arranging them in a way that would normally be seen at a smithy in the mortal world.

Snapping her fingers, a fire was quickly started inside the furnace as she sat down in front of the anvil, placing Aurus on it as she gestured with her hands once more, allowing a large amount of materials to appear near the two, being placed into a neat pile just beside Kurohana.

While waiting for the fire to get up to temperature, Kurohana could not help but look at Aurus and say, “I’ve got to say, the blacksmiths in that kingdom have definitely gone all out in making you as sturdy and strong as possible. They even placed an enchantment that would allow you to quickly repair in the midst of battle, basically allowing you to be sharp at all times.”

“Is an enchantment like that difficult?” As Aurus was feeling bored, he decided to reply. In any case, the relationship between the two of them haven’t gotten any better. At most, the two were in a sort of business relationship.

Tilting her head left to right a few times, Kurohana replied, “It depends on the place, I guess. On the continent you were in, an enchantment like that is incredibly rare. But if you were in the Transcendent World, you’ll be able to find people that would be able to cast an enchantment like that, but one tier higher. Naturally, the Celestial Plane would also have people that would be able to cast an enchantment like that, but rather than giving you the option to quickly repair your damage, you just become immune to it.”

“I see…” Aurus said, becoming silent for a bit more before recalling the gray strands that enveloped him while he was in a fit of rage. “Now that I think about it, what were those gray strands that allowed me to calm down from my rage a while ago?”

“Law strands,” Kurohana indifferently replied. Though, her next words quickly angered Aurus once more. “To be more specific, the Law of the System. What I did was basically remove the system from you.”

“What did you do?!” he bellowed out, trying to accumulate power once more. However, unlike before, the aura surrounding him was far weaker, plus he felt like it was difficult for him to do such a thing. “And here I thought you feel guilty for making me your weapon!”

Guilty? Why would I feel something like that?” Kurohana said in response, though it soon dawned on her that she was talking to a mortal… well, a mortal in his previous life. Things like morality and values did not matter much to her, or any of the other gods for that matter. However, for a being like Aurus, it mattered a lot.

With that in mind, Kurohana quickly sent a strand of information towards the longsword on the anvil, quickly making the place silent. A few seconds later, Aurus asked Kurohana in a slightly surprised tone, “You did that with those strands?”

“…why?”

“I’ll answer your question after this. For now, keep that question to yourself,” Kurohana said in response, quickly grabbing a hammer from nearby as she told him, “Anyways, let’s start making you a better weapon.”

“After all, a god has to have a worthy weapon in hand.”

…

Maerr-viki Continent, Verdant Breeze Town, inside the town leader’s manor.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the time difference between the Celestial Plane and the world of Erudinia was in a ratio of 1 to 8, it was already nighttime by the time Kurohana started upgrading Aurus into a better weapon. Surprisingly, from the time Kurohana left until now, Argentum was still in a fit of rage, feeling like he was wronged this whole time.

Well, in reality, Aurus was turned into a weapon by Kurohana. In turn, as Aurus’s clone of sorts, Argentum could not help but feel immense rage towards Kurohana, with the thought of killing her as quick as possible being the only thing in his mind right now.

“THAT BITCH! I’M GOING TO KILL HER!” He screamed over and over again, seemingly in a trance of sorts as he slammed his fists down on anything he could. As a Magic-grade Pseudo-Animate, and someone who had undergone a Power Baptism on top of that, the force behind his fists wasn’t anything to be scoffed at, with the desk he used to work on now on the verge of breaking into bits.

Naturally, all of the other items in the room weren’t spared either, with a couple of fist marks on those that were prone to breaking. As for those that were more durable, they weren’t spared, also being on the verge of breaking like the desk he liked to work on.

Surprisingly, as if he had run out of steam, Argentum stood in the middle of his room, taking in a few deep breaths as he thought that there was no point in him venting out his grievances right now. What he needed right now was a plan that would allow him to reach the Divinity level as fast as possible and behead the bitch that turned his original body into a weapon.

However, just as he was about to finally calm himself down and think of the situation from a rational perspective, a few notifications popped up from the system at that exact moment. As he read through it, the rage, which he thought was finally waning at first, had quickly returned and even surpassed it previous level, reaching a new zenith as he yelled out with great anger, “KUROHANA!!!!”

Ding!

‘A divine entity has reconfigured your system, transferring the ownership of the Transcending Existence System from [Aurus] to [Argentum].’

‘As the ownership of the system has been transferred, the following skills have been removed from the Transcending Existence System: [Sense Sharing], [Automated Clone Control], [Clone Possession], [Clone Hibernation], [Mental Communication].’

‘As the ownership of the system has been transferred, the following systems have been removed from the Transcending Existence System: Ally system, Genesis Tree system, Soul Enchantment system.’

‘As the following systems have been removed, the current owner has no access to these systems from this point onwards, with the previous owner only having the effects of these three systems remain in them.’

‘A divine entity has reconfigured your system, modifying the system to fit your current knowledge and experience.’

‘A divine entity has left a message for the current owner, saying, “If you really want to kill me, then you better head up the Celestial Plane and become a god as fast as possible! If you can’t even do that, then you’re no better than your original body.’

Bang!

“KUROHANA!!!! I SWEAR TO THE FUCKING HEAVENS THAT I’LL KILL YOU NO MATTER WHAT!! YOU HEAR ME?! I, ARGENTUM, WOULD EVENTUALLY ENACT REVENGE FOR MY ORIGINAL BODY!! FOR MYSELF!!!”

Yelling out with greater fervor than before, all of the items had finally succumbed to the strength behind Argentum’s fists, crumbling down to the floor as the room now looked like the aftermath of a termite infestation. Coincidentally, at this very moment, the door to the room had been opened, revealing two beings that Argentum was familiar with.

“What… the hell happened here, Argentum?” Horell could not help but say as he entered the room with Herellia behind him. Noticing the seemingly crazed state Argentum was in, Horell looked back at the people that had accompanied them and shook his head, non-verbally telling them to step back as he thought they would have no way to help their town leader.

After those people left, Horell closed the door to the room before letting out a light sigh, asking, “So, what happe—”

Unfortunately, before Horell could finish his question, Argentum, who was yelling out with all his might before the two arrived, quickly kneeled on the ground as tears started to fall out of his eyes. At first, he was silently sobbing, sniffing from time to time. However, within the matter of a few seconds, it turned into a full-on bawl, wailing out all of his grievances.

“I failed you, Aurus… I’m sorry… I should have focused on getting stronger… I should have aimed to be as strong as you… and now… now… you’re in the hands of that goddess that deceived you… that lied to you… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

As those words resounded throughout the room, Horell and Herellia could not help but only listen to him in silence, making it seem like they weren’t there in the first place. With that, Argentum continued to cry for a bit more, thinking that everything that had happened to Aurus was all of his fault. However, that did not last for long as a type of realization hit him, prompting him to stop crying as he stood up.

Wiping off the tear stains on his face, Argentum looked at Horell and Herellia before lightly nodding. Although he had stopped crying, it was slightly difficult for him to stop sniffling. “T-thank you…”

After that, he took in a few deep breaths as his emotions gradually calmed down. Eventually, he had seemingly returned to normal. Though, from Horell and Herellia’s perspective, they felt like the aura surrounding Argentum had become more stable, as if they were looking at a person that had experienced a lot.

Slowly making his way to the large window, Argentum then said something that left the two of them at a loss for words.

“Unless I achieve my goal, I shall never use the name Argentum again.”

“From now on, I shall take on the name of my original body, with the goal of having his name be known by everyone, not as the puppet of a deity, not as someone who killed innocent people for his own goals, but as a legendary figure that everyone can look up to.”

“From now on, my name is…”

“Aurus Verdante.”