After walking through multiple corridors, Valyr and the attendant serving him eventually arrived at the end of the corridor, coming face-to-face with a slightly weathered yet intricate wooden door. Taking a few steps forward, the attendant went ahead and opened the door, allowing Valyr to take a look at the room behind it.
In an instant, his field of vision was greeted by the sight of multiple shelves that were seemingly filled to the brim with scrolls of parchment. Naturally, once Valyr saw this, he quickly understood that these parchments were the blueprints this branch of the Blacksmith Guild owned.
'If I remember correctly, the prize given to me was the freedom to choose a recipe from the Blacksmith Guild's blueprint archives…' As he entered the room, the overall state of it was revealed to Valyr. The shelves near the wooden door seemed to only have a fine layer of dust on the surface, while those farther away from the door were caked in dust and cobwebs.
Although Valyr thought that this guild branch should have someone clean this place every once in a while, he placed the thought at the back of his head as he looked at the attendant waiting behind him. "Just to clarify… by the Blacksmith Guild's blueprint archives, that means the entire guild's blueprint archives, right?"
"That would be correct." The attendant nodded.
In response, Valyr headed closer to the center of the room, which was surprisingly the only part of the room that seemed clean. At the center was a dark gray orb no more than a meter in diameter, being held up by a somewhat intricate pedestal. Pointing at it, Valyr inwardly smiled as he asked, "Is this where I can access the entire archive?"
Hearing the question, the attendant nodded once more. "Correct. Just place your hand on it and infuse a bit of mana to gain access. The ones controlling the orb have already been informed that you've been given the right to choose one recipe from the archive, so feel free to choose as you see fit."
'I guess that's why the attendant used a tablet earlier.' With such a thought in mind, Valyr inwardly shrugged his shoulders as he placed his hand on the surface of the orb before infusing a bit of his mana into it. As he already had experience releasing mana while activating his skills, it was not difficult for him to release a sliver of it on his own.
Whoosh!
Within seconds, the dark gray orb came to life, taking onto an iridescent color as the room instantly brightened up from the light the orb gave off. While that was happening, a small screen appeared in front of Valyr's vision, giving him access to a list of blueprints far more extensive than the one he could access in this room.
Looking through the list, a wave of nostalgia could not help but hit Valyr, reminiscing the times he used to peruse the same orb in his previous life. If anything, this orb in front of him was the thing he recognized the most from the Blacksmith Guild, feeling a light yet carefree smile creep up his face as he continued to scroll through the list.
'Most of the blueprints I've come across in the past are all in this list, yet some of the important ones haven't been added yet,' Valyr inwardly muttered. 'Well, there's the fact that Veldanyr hasn't experienced the age of industrialization and modernization yet. Aside from that, they've yet to make contact with other planets, where the most important blueprints come from.'
'Well, there's no point thinking about that just yet since it's somewhat still far away.' Placing the thought at the back of his head, Valyr went ahead and asked the attendant what grade of blueprints he could grab from the archives, being told that he could only grab a Common+ grade blueprint at most. Nodding, he perused through the list once more as he returned his train of thought to its previous topic.
'Then again… it would be kind of interesting to think that I might become the reason why the planet's technological revolution was moved forward in the future. I can't wait.' Inwardly chuckling, Valyr eventually stopped on one blueprint, thinking that it was the best choice one could make when given the chance to grab a Common+ grade blueprint from the archives.
'Of course, it would've been better if I got the higher grade versions of this blueprint, but oh well. It'll still help out a lot.' With that, he called the attendant over to confirm his blueprint choice. Once the attendant was able to view the choice Valyr had made, the man nodded before bringing out a tablet, infusing mana into it as he told Valyr to obtain the blueprint.
Hearing that, Valyr went ahead and infused a bit more mana into the orb, recalling the steps of claiming a blueprint from his past life as a notification resounded in his mind soon after.
Ding!
[You have obtained the blueprint for 'Tier 1 Upgrade Alloy'.]
Feeling the influx of information regarding the blueprint enter his mind, Valyr removed his hand from the orb, which returned it to its original state. After that, he nodded at the attendant once he was certain he had committed the blueprint's information to memory, prompting the attendant to nod back as the two made their way back to the main hall.
While making their way back to the hall, Valyr thought about the choice he had made, pondering whether any other choice was better suited for his current circumstances. Eventually, a conclusion was formed in his mind. 'Nah, this is definitely the best choice I could make.'
From the name of the item itself, Upgrade Alloy was an item that allowed one to upgrade any type of equipment they wanted to a higher tier. With that in mind, Tier 1 Upgrade Alloy allowed one to upgrade Common grade equipment to Common+ grade equipment, which meant that one could keep their equipment for longer before needing to switch it.
Although there were many caveats to using Upgrade Alloy on old equipment, many players who did not have easy access to high-level dungeons and the like opted to use the item, ushering in a brief era where many players at the early to early-mid game of Greater Beyond wore Common grade equipment that was upgraded with Upgrade Alloy.
But naturally, as time passed, players started to rely less and less on Upgrade Alloy, resorting to the original methods of obtaining equipment instead. For one, Upgrade Alloy only went up to Tier 5, which was equivalent to Rare+ grade equipment. Aside from that, Upgrade Alloy could only be used on Common grade equipment, which limited players on what equipment to upgrade even more.
However, the greatest reason why people stopped using Upgrade Alloy was because Upgrade Alloy only upgraded the equipment's stats. Compared to other equipment at the same grade, the one upgraded with Upgrade Alloy would only have the stats on par with other equipment, but not the innate skills and other perks, which only widened the gap between them.
'Well, I'll only be using the Upgrade Alloy to upgrade the armor set I got from Tristan once I start crafting it. Gonna need all of the defense I could get before tackling the dungeon, after all,' Valyr muttered to himself. 'Hmm… I could also upgrade Damian and Tristan's weapons to Common+ with the alloy.'
'I'll have to ponder over that one.' With this thought in mind, Valyr appeared in front of one of the counters once more, with the attendant that had accompanied him all this time giving him his newly upgraded copper identification badge. Seeing that the position written on the badge was now Elite Member, Valyr thanked the attendant for his time before turning around to leave the premises, walking to find where Tristan was.
