As Riekan thought about how strong Valyr might become in the future, he eventually placed those thoughts at the back of his head before lightly chuckling. "Well, even if he doesn't become a Legend, as long as he has enough strength to weather the tides that shall come in the future, that's more than enough."
"Anyways, it's been over 200 years since I last checked on my clan," Riekan muttered to himself, a mischievous smile appearing on his face. "I wonder how they're faring as of late? Or better yet, are they still around?"
Thinking of his clan as nothing more than a pastime, Riekan let out another chuckle as he went ahead and conjured a magic circle beneath his feet, disappearing from the vicinity of the room a few seconds later.
…
Whoosh!
Appearing in what seemed to be a place with its surroundings covered in full darkness, Valyr could not help but think to himself that Riekan had teleported him to the wrong place. However, this thought was quickly discarded as he felt a faint amount of mana swirling quite a distance away behind him.
Turning around to see where the mana came from, his sight was quickly greeted by the entrance to the dungeon, the light emanating from it barely illuminating a one meter radius around it. Though he felt that the mana it exuded was gradually weakening with every passing second, recalling Riekan's earlier words, he soon oriented himself in the direction that led him out of the area, eventually being greeted by the vast plains surrounding Astarto Village a few minutes later.
"To think it's already close to becoming night," Valyr could not help but mutter with a chuckle, noticing that the sun was around an hour away from setting. After that, he opened up the bag around his chest, taking a look if he had brought everything given to him by Riekan out of the dungeon.
Seeing the vials of Intermediate Physical and Mental Reinforcement Elixir in his bag, Valyr went ahead and counted them to see if any were missing, letting out a sigh of relief once he had double checked that all 10 vials of both elixir types were in there.
"Well, I should probably head back to the village as soon as possible. Pretty sure Damian and the others are waiting for me to tell them the good news." With this thought in mind, Valyr lightly stretched his body, recalling that he had been sitting cross-legged for quite some time as he conversed with Riekan.
Ding!
[You have completed the quest: Roadblock to Expansion.]
[Head to Alfaera to receive your rewards.]
Obtaining a couple notifications that the quest he had gotten from Alfaera was finally completed, Valyr became even more eager to return to the village as soon as possible, wondering if some of the rewards listed on the quest would be increased.
Finishing his stretch, Valyr decided to take a look around his surroundings, specifically the cave to see if he had forgotten anything before returning to the village. However, just as he did so, his peripheral vision instantly caught the vision of three people on the ground, all of them deep asleep.
"So, they didn't return to the village, huh." Lightly scratching his head at the sight, Valyr moved closer to the three of them before nudging the three of them awake. The first person he had woken up was Alfaera, who was fortunately a fair distance away from the other two sleeping.
Wondering who had woken her up from a somewhat peaceful nap, Alfaera's consciousness was swiftly jolted awake once she noticed a man in faint crimson red armor standing in front of her.
"V-Valyr!" Alfaera could not help but exclaim as she hastily stood up, her expression that of part concern and part excitement. Though, just as she was about to ask Valyr if he had successfully cleared the dungeon, the latter placed his finger over her mouth before pointing towards the other two that were still asleep.
At that instant, a mischievous smile appeared on Alfaera's face as Valyr could not help but smile as well, nodding at each other as the two of them stood on opposite sides of the two. Surprisingly, Tristan was hugging Damian as if he were a huge stuffed toy, while the latter snored without a care for the world.
Finding it a slight disappointment that they could not save this memory in any form, Valyr and Alfaera soon went ahead and made a great amount of noise, instantly waking the two up to the point that they stood up and entered a vigilant state.
However, just as their groggy minds were wondering what had occurred, both Damian and Tristan soon heard giggling coming from their left and right, being greeted by the sight of Alfaera already being awake and that Valyr already out of the dungeon.
Feeling a hint of embarrassment from the fact that the two of them were seen sleeping, Damian and Tristan excused themselves for a bit as they got a bit of fresh air, returning to the two of them were fully alert minds.
"So, what happened in the dungeon, Valyr?" By the time the two had come back, Tristan went ahead and asked the question that the three of them were dying to know the answer to.
In response to the question, Valyr went ahead and recounted his experience through the dungeon, with the three of them surprisingly nodding in agreement at the mention of two mini-bosses. Though, while discussing about the two mini-bosses, Tristan accidentally mentioned the name of first mini-boss, instantly fearing the repercussions that might arrive.
But there were none.
Deciding to say the mini-boss' name a couple more times, the three quickly found out that the oath disallowing them from mentioning any of the mini-bosses, as well as the final boss had become null and void. Naturally, Valyr thought about it for a bit, eventually coming to the conclusion that Riekan had probably disable the oath now that the dungeon's purpose had finally been fulfilled.
"So, what did you choose at the pedestal room?" Damian asked Valyr sometime later, prompting the other two to perk up their ears.
"The one that cost five Dungeon Key Fragments," Valyr said in response, to which the three of them asked him why he had chosen that item if any of the other four on the left would help him out in the long run. In response, Valyr asked them if they had identified the item before choosing, only for him to receive the simultaneous shaking of the three's heads.
Letting out a sigh after seeing their responses, Valyr then explained that the rightmost item decreases the final boss' HP by 99%, causing Tristan and the others to look at him with faces filled with incredulity. However, this expression was swiftly changed into that of expectation and excitement as it did not take long for them to put two and two together.
"Did you… clear the dungeon?" Being the village chief and the one who gave Valyr the quest in the first place, Alfaera decided to ask.
Hearing the question, Valyr lightly nodded in response, causing the faces of the three to light up with glee.
Rumble…
