Chapter 746 Four Pillars: To Pursue Consistency
"Haah…"
Having fought against his opponents four times in a row, there was no doubt that Valyr felt somewhat exhausted.
Even though the bit of reprieve the monotonous voice had been giving him in between each fight was of great help to him physically, the same could not be said mentally.
"I seriously hope I get a forging fight sooner or later," muttered the young man to himself, memories of his fight against Amauris and the others surfacing in his mind.
By all accounts, Valyr should have lost from his opponents from the get-go.
Whether it be the insane light magic Amauris had, the gravity and force control Mariella had, or the ability to conjure matter like Mikael had, those things were definitely something that were nigh impossible to defeat.
Yet, against all odds, he had found a way to do so.
Sure, the young man knew that his current skill set had something to do with it. After all, he wouldn't have gotten this far if he only had a basic skill set at hand.
However, what truly allowed him to reach this point was the fact that all of his opponents were restricted in strength one way or another.
With the fact that all of his opponents had main classes and subclasses that were at least Mythic grade, it should've been him that was getting ruthlessly pummeled by his opponents.
Though, that did not happen at all.
"It would really be nice to just go back to forging," said the young man, only for him to let out a sigh as the monotonous voice resounded throughout the trial grounds once more.
'Your sixth opponent shall appear in 3… 2… 1…'
Whoosh!
Seeing a large ray of golden light appear before him, Valyr stood up from where he sat and began to distance himself.
Thinking that he would have to fight against his opponent one more time, the young man took the initiative and brought out his pistol as the golden ray was being gradually replaced.
However, once the ray of golden light disappeared, all thoughts of combat instantly disappeared.
Instead, Valyr looked at the man before him in shock, his appearance reminding him of what had happened during his first fight.
Sporting a head of dark brown hair, the man looked to be in his early twenties.
Though, with his frail body, the man looked more like a young teenager than a proper adult.
The only thing that reminded Valyr of the man being an adult was the shifty expression the man sported, reminding Valyr of the time the man in front of him had opened the door to a large ritual place.
"Er…" While Valyr was left at a loss for words as he looked at the man before him, the latter eventually shifted his gaze towards the young man as he scratched the back of his head.
"Mind telling me how many opponents you've gone through so far?"
Snapping back to reality, Valyr faintly nodded before responding. "Five opponents."
"So, I'm the final opponent for the second sub-trial, then," muttered the man, nodding in understanding soon after.
After that, the man took in a few deep breaths, his expression turning calm as he looked at Valyr with a slight smile.
"Anyways, where are my manners?" said the man with a slight bow. "My name is Arcaelus Sachondeis. I hail from the Sachondeis clan within the United Leventeine Nations."
"Though I may only be an image of the true Arcaelus, I must ask you. Does the United Leventeine Nations still stand to this day?"
In response, Valyr slowly shook his head. "They do not."
At those words, Arcaelus flashed a wry smile at the young man before nodding.
"Mind introducing yourself before we continue?"
Nodding, Valyr replied. "Valyr Zeihardt, hailing from the Zeihardt clan. Glad to become your acquaintance."
"The feeling is mutual," replied Arcaelus, though that did not hide the surprise evident within the man's eyes.
"You're really from the Zeihardt clan?" he asked, to which Valyr nodded in response.
After that, the man asked whether Valyr was part of a branch of the Zeihardt clan or the main clan.
Naturally, with the fact that his opponents would not recall much of what had transpired in this place, Valyr responded with the latter.
"I see," said Arcaelus as he nodded in understanding.
For a while after that, the man wondered whether or not to ask if Valyr was part of those special people from the Zeihardt clan, considering the unique aura the young man was radiating.
Though, in the end, he pushed those thoughts to the side as he noticed Valyr intently staring at him throughout their conversation.
"Is there something on my face?" asked Arcaelus with a slight frown.
In response, Valyr shook his head. "My apologies. It's just that I feel like I've seen you before."
Arcaelus slightly widened his eyes in surprise. "Seen me before? Where?"
With that, Valyr took it as his cue to explain the memory he had seen including Arcaelus within the Chambers of Enlightenment.
Of course, there were a few things about the memory that he had omitted in his explanation, such as the fact that he possibly knew more about the identity of the High Priestess than Arcaelus did.
However, other than that, he more or less told the story to Arcaelus word for word, explaining about how he watched him prove himself to become an official member of the Eternal Flame.
Recalling what had transpired between him and Sven after he told a similar story to the latter, Valyr felt that Arcaelus would possibly find the memory entertaining or embarrassing to hear.
Though, what covered Arcaelus' expression was neither of the two at all.
Instead, he looked at Valyr with a frown.
"Are you sure you saw it at the Chambers of Enlightenment?" asked Arcaelus.
Although he was slightly confused, Valyr still nodded. "I am certain."
At those words, Arcaelus let out a somewhat exasperated sigh, prompting the young man to ask what was wrong.
In response, the man told Valyr that the memory was something he shouldn't be able to access from the very start.
With Valyr's mouth agape at the truth, Arcaelus then explained that a memory should either only been accessible to those that were part of the Eternal Flame similar to him…
Or to those whose authority within the Gates of Enlightenment were at the peak.
Hearing that, Valyr instantly put two and two together in his mind as he understood what was going on.
Though, even if he knew the reason why he was able to view such a memory, the young man kept it to himself, seeing that the man before him wanted to move onto the main topic of his appearance.
"Well, even though I wasn't expecting someone from outside the Eternal Flame to view that memory, that does not mean I'm not glad that you've learned something from the memory," said Arcaelus.
"In any case, let us move onto our fight, shall we?"
Rumble…
At the very moment Arcaelus said those words, the ground before them started to rumble as a series of tools and equipment began to protrude out of the ground.
However, rather than be met with the two workshops Valyr had familiarized himself with during his fight with Sven, what appeared before him was far better in every aspect.
"Wow…"
Before the two of them appeared two workshops that were on a league above their own, even when compared to the private workshops of the Blacksmith Guild.
Housing multiple equipment that seemed to have reached the pinnacle of technology for the planet, almost everything within the two workshops seemed to have been created with a set purpose in mind.
Sensing a trace of mana emanating from every piece of equipment within the workshops, Valyr's eyes widened in surprise as he understood what that meant, heading towards one of the workshops in the process.
Seeing that, Arcaelus let out a faint chuckle as he occupied the other workshop, giving Valyr time to familiarize himself with the one he took over.
"A mana-powered power hammer, a mana-powered furnace, and even a set of mana-powered tools," muttered Valyr as he committed every piece of equipment he picked up into memory.
After that, he made his way towards the material cache and blueprint cache located within the workshop, only to be left at a loss for words at how much both caches contained.
Fortunately, the young man returned to normal after that, his mind coming up with multiple thoughts related to the workshop with every passing second.
However, that did not stop the young man from listening to what Arcaelus had to say.
"For this fight, we'll be fighting against each other through our skills in forging," said Arcaelus, prompting the young man to inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
"This fight could either range from a fight between who could forge a higher rarity item, or who could forge more items in a set amount of time, but that's not really something that embodies what a blacksmith could do."
"Instead, it should be consistency," added the man. "If you could forge a great number of items with all of them having the same rarity, then you're undoubtedly a good blacksmith."
"With that, the goal of our fight is simple."
"For the next few days, forge as many items as you can with their rarity being at least Rare grade."
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