Though the man before him laid down on the ground visibly out of breath, that could not conceal the immense shock that Arcenne felt when the man before her had reached the Adept stage, even if it was only barely. Out of all the people she had tested in the training hall so far in regards to the spear, almost all of them failed to break through the Novice stage, while a scant few of them did pass through the Novice stage, only to concede soon after.
In her eyes, the latter was possibly the greatest talent the city had to offer when it came to spear wielding. However, in front of her was a man that defied all odds, not only breaking through the Novice stage without so much as a problem, but even going so far as to push himself to his limits in order to pass the Adept stage.
At this point, thoughts of him being part of the noble circle she knew of suppressed some of the shock she felt, thinking that this was something to be expected from someone that came from a noble clan like hers. However, when she utilized [Analysis] on the man and had become privy to his current level, the shock she felt was instead magnified hundred times over, wondering how and where he had learned his spearmanship in order to be able to achieve his earlier feat.
'Though he only barely passed through the Adept stage with the spear… for him to do it at Level 11?' Arcenne truly could not believe what she had read as she spared a glance at the still exhausted Valyr. 'Aside from the fact that he came from a noble clan, he's definitely a prodigy with the spear.'
Just as she was about to go ahead and ask Valyr regarding his secrets about how he had achieved what he had achieved, the latter gradually sat upright and looked at Arcenne before giving her an awkward yet bitter smile. "Er… I know this is too much to ask, but could you give me a stamina potion?"
Rather than find it dubious that a noble like him did not have a stock of potions at all times, Arcenne lightly nodded and told him to wait where he was for a bit before leaving the room. After a couple minutes, she returned with a small glass vial that contained a liquid that reminded Valyr of the energy drinks he used to drink back then, which he caught with both hands after she tossed it.
Pulling out the stopper from the vial, he went ahead and identified it with [Analysis] before downing its contents, only for him to briefly stop drinking it midway as he found out that he had been given a Greater Stamina Potion. To him, it was already more than enough if he had gotten an Inferior Stamina Potion or a Lesser Stamina Potion since she was someone he didn't know that well.
But a Greater Stamina Potion? Though they existed in cities of this scale, there were only a few of them in circulation in each city… and he had consumed one of them.
'Is it because she's a noble?' With this thought lingering in his mind, Valyr eventually downed the remaining contents of the vial, but not without feeling a bit of heartache from the fact that he wasted a ton of the potion's effects with his current class rank. Nevertheless, from what the name suggested, a Greater Stamina Potion was truly great at replenishing stamina, with Valyr feeling revitalized and ready to fight once more only a few seconds later.
Standing up, he grabbed the spear he had dropped before affixing it to his back. After that, he gave the now empty vial to Arcenne and thanked her, to which she responded with a nod. Thinking that it was the best chance to ask about the questions she had in mind earlier, Arcenne went ahead and opened her mouth once more, only to be interrupted by Valyr as he asked her a question first.
"I reached the Adept stage, right?" he asked.
"Although you only fought against me beyond that stage for a brief moment, you did indeed reach the Adept stage." Though she felt a hint of annoyance at being interrupted twice now, Arcenne held it in and responded to the question, which elicited a light smile to appear on Valyr's face as he let out a chuckle soon after.
"Thank goodness." Valyr let out a light sigh of relief, feeling that pushing his body beyond its limits was worth it. After that, he thanked Arcenne once more as he made his way to the entrance of the room, thinking of taking on the combat test since he had returned to prime condition. However, before he could do so, Arcenne stopped him in his tracks as she asked him a question.
"Before you go, can I ask you how you train in order to be able to reach the Adept stage while being at the start of Rank 1?" She looked at him, her gaze telling the latter that she was curious. In response, Valyr let out a wry smile, instantly giving Arcenne the feeling that the answer she was going to get wasn't the one she wanted.
"As a Spear Elite yourself, I'm pretty sure you know the answer to that already," Valyr replied. "Relentless training."
Feeling that it would be pointless to force him into giving her a real answer, Arcenne decided to ask another question she had in mind, which was related to her and him being nobles. "I see… now that I think about it, how have I not seen you in the noble galas before? With that kind of talent, you would have naturally garnered everyone's attention and become one of the rising stars among the younger generation of nobles."
Hearing her next question, Valyr could not help but let out a chuckle, inwardly thanking her for giving him information regarding his Zeihardt noble clan, albeit indirectly. With his knowledge of the Stelyra noble clan from his past life, he was able to extrapolate the level of nobility his Zeihardt noble clan held, thinking that it was at least at grand as Arcenne's clan since she had mentioned the noble galas.
For reference, noble galas could only be attended by noble clans that governed over core cities at the very least, which was a tier above Clossbay City in terms of splendor and prestige.
"I wasn't really interested in attending any of the noble galas," Valyr replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a wry smile. After that, he asked Arcenne if she could move aside since he had to go somewhere.
"Where are you going? Are you planning to certify the results you've just obtained during our test?" At this point, Arcenne's opinion of Valyr was far different from what it was earlier, giving him the respect he had earned from her during the test.
In response to the question, Valyr shook his head, dropping a statement that made Arcenne feel as if a bomb had detonated in her mind. "Although I could do that, I'm not planning to anytime soon."
"After all, I still have another test to take."
