Chapter 404 Returning To The Grind



Whoosh!

"Welcome back to the Blacksmith Guild's Algerie Kingdom branch, sir." Though he was gradually getting more and more used to the feeling that accompanied teleportation constructs, Valyr still felt a bit lightheaded a few seconds after he had appeared within the Blacksmith Guild's Teleportation Hall, standing in place for a bit to let the dizziness subside.

"Thanks." Once he was certain the dizziness he felt had disappeared, the young man went ahead and thanked the person who had greeted him, giving the token Julian had given him just before he teleported to the Lesser Meltierre Mountains to the latter.

"Would you mind telling the Guildmaster that I have returned?" Receiving the token from Valyr, the person that greeted him gave the young man a respectful bow in response before proceeding to exit the room. However, just as the latter was only a few steps away from fully leaving, Valyr stopped the man in his tracks, asking the person to do him a favor.

"I'll make sure to relay your concerns, sir." Seeing as Valyr only wanted him to relay a message, the man did not mind doing it, faintly nodding at Valyr in response before leaving with the token.

"Haah." Gazing at the man's silhouette as it eventually disappeared from his field of vision, Valyr made his way out of the Teleportation Hall, deciding to roam the corridors in the meantime as he waited for the man's response to his favor. 

While doing so, he pondered over the other tasks he had yet to finish, causing him to let out a long sigh as he realized that there was now a lot more things for him to do than he realized.

"There's not much point in overthinking it." Scratching the back of his head as he wondered how he was going to go about doing all of them, Valyr took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down, realizing that he was feeling a bit overwhelmed with how much there was on his plate. "Step by step, Valyr. Step by step."

"Order your tasks by how long their deadlines are at the moment and work from there." Muttering these words to himself, the young man continued to roam the corridors as the gears in his mind continued to turn. "My current plan aside, I would have to talk with Elder Noel first regarding my decision on whether to kill a Shadow Serpent or not."

"After that, I would have to head back to Anadhar City to obtain the next part of Jekyll's legacy." Recalling his interaction with Jekyll, a bitter smile appeared on Valyr's face. "Then, there's the small tournament that would happen amongst the four candidates for the inheritance, and then the inheritance itself a week after that."

"There's also the World Quest and the Main Quest, but with how their deadlines are still pretty far away when compared to the other tasks I have, I could work on them while doing the others." Feeling a bit more at ease after collecting his thoughts regarding his approach towards the tasks he had still yet to finish, Valyr continued to roam the Blacksmith Guild's corridors for a bit more, only to stop at the main hall after being told that his presence was needed in front of the Guildmaster.

…

"Back so soon, no?" Appearing within Julian's personal workshop once more, Valyr watched as the man repeatedly swung his hammer on the piece of equipment he was working on, hammering out the imperfections on it that the young man could only see through [Gambler's Discerning Eyes].

"So, I take it that you returned to the kingdom since the dungeons are too hard?" Satisfied with the progress he had made, Julian placed the hammer to the side as he posed a question to Valyr, chuckling not long after.

"Remember how I said I'd try my best to get all the keys I needed in one?" As he pondered over making a personal forging hammer to use in his future crafts, Valyr responded to the man's question with a slight grin, taking out a certain something from his spatial bracelet soon after.

Whoosh!

"Well, here's that Uncommon grade Skill Key I owed you." Letting out a bit of laughter of his own, Valyr gave the Uncommon grade Skill Key he took out to Julian, leaving the latter at a slight loss for words as he stared at the young man for a bit.

"You're full of surprises, you know that?" Eventually, Julian let out a cackle as he patted Valyr on the shoulder. "Not only are you able to forge an Epic grade armor set on your own, you're even able to clear the dungeons of the Lesser Meltierre Mountains in one day."

"I take it you only entered the first two?" asked Julian for clarification, causing a proud smile to appear on Valyr's face in response.

"Why would I stop there if I have the strength to clear the Rare Abyss?" Valyr chuckled. "Then again, that demilich at the final room posed quite a bit of a challenge to me."

"You even defeated the demilich?" At that point, Julian could not stop himself from letting out a loud cackle, with it instantly becoming the only thing that could be heard from his workshop. "Since that's the case, I think you have a shot at taking the leader position for the inheritance."

"Talks of your journey in the Lesser Meltierre Mountains aside, what do you plan on doing before the tournament and the inheritance?"

"Well, I'll definitely have to make a stop at the Spearman Guild to talk with Elder Noel." Listening to Julian's question, it did not take long for Valyr to respond, considering that he had been thinking about it while waiting for the middle-aged man to call him. "Speaking of which, did he respond back after you gave him a heads-up of my whereabouts?"

"He didn't say much, but he did say that he was wishing for your safe return," said Julian in response, which unsurprisingly caused Valyr's impression of the elder to improve.

"Anything else?"

"Well, seeing as I now have the keys to evolve my skills, I now need to obtain an obscene amount of XP to go along with it."

"Already got a place in mind?" Julian looked at Valyr with a slightly curious expression. "If you don't, I have a few spots that I could recommend to you."

"Though I already have a place in mind, I definitely don't mind listening to your recommendations." Valyr smiled in response. "Anyways…"

"Do you know how to get to the Akashic Battlefield?"