As he made his way out of the passage that led out of the pit, he eventually came face to face with the staff once more, with all of them looking at him with a hint of gratitude written on their faces. After all, he had allowed them to watch as he surmounted an 11 level gap between him and his opponent with ease, as well as watch his weapon ascend to a higher level of power.
Oblivious to the fact that the staff had made up their minds to share what they had witnessed Valyr do with other staff, Valyr made his way to the table of refreshments and rejuvenation potions, grabbing a large cup before filling it up with the same drink he had chosen earlier, downing it within a few large gulps.
After that, he grabbed a stamina potion, as well as a health rejuvenation potion before downing its contents, swiftly returning his body's condition to how it was before he even began the grind for XP. If none were the wiser, it would seem like he had just gone to the Experience Pit for the refreshments and potions they offered.
Allowing himself to catch his breath, Valyr remained where he was as one of the staff made their way to where he was, opening their mouth to inform him of the cut of XP he had to give back to the Experience Pit.
Lightly nodding towards the staff as he already knew what to do, he went ahead and opened up a screen before him in preparation for the transfer. Though, once he did, he was left at a loss for words after seeing the amount of unused XP he currently had, only to be silenced even further once he heard the words that came out of the staff's mouth.
"I shall not mention the number of monsters you have killed throughout the entire session, though I should say that the level of the monsters you killed started at Level 22, only for you to stop once they had reached Level 30," said the staff to him, reminding Valyr once more that the level he stopped at was the same level Leron was before he died.
"Taking the disparity in level into consideration, you have earned a total of 12,592,740 XP from this session." Bringing out a thin tablet to make sure the number he had just mentioned was correct, the staff looked at the tablet for a bit before faintly nodding. "As 30% of the experience earned is needed to be given back to the staff as per the policy, that means that you need to give us 3,777,822 XP in order to reach that 30%."
Sucking in a bit of cold air through his teeth, it took a while for Valyr to finally transfer the amount of XP the staff had been requesting from him, feeling a great amount of heartache from what he had just done. Of course, in comparison to what remained after the transfer, Valyr still had a lot of XP he could allocate wherever he wanted to.
But that didn't mean he didn't want more XP.
After the staff confirmed that the amount of XP he had received from him was the exact amount he had asked, the staff then politely bowed towards Valyr before thanking the latter for his patronage, only for the other staff still surrounding the pit to follow suit not long after.
Feeling a bit of awkwardness from the current situation, considering that he had not gotten this type of treatment the first time he came to the Experience Pit, Valyr let out an awkward chuckle as he scratched his head, reciprocating the words of gratitude he had received from them before making his way out of the room.
Once he had left the room he had reserved, he then made his way to the entrance of the building, only to find out that Wells had already gotten out of his room before him.
Pacing back and forth as he wondered when Valyr would leave the Experience Pit, a smile appeared on Wells' face as Valyr came up to him, with the latter suggesting that they eat dinner earlier than usual.
Though Wells agreed with the suggestion, he decided to ask the man beside him as to why he had the sudden urge to get dinner early. In response, Valyr told him that he still had to craft weapons for the group of five that was going to accompany the two of them to the kingdom, grinning as he mentioned that there was a high chance he wasn't going to get a wink of sleep tonight.
Of course, Wells felt that the excitement Valyr had towards the idea of not getting even a wink of sleep later was quite odd, though he just shrugged it off as the two of them eventually found themselves at the entrance of a considerably lavish restaurant.
Being led to one of the tables by a waiter, the two of them quickly gave their orders, feeling their stomachs rumble as the effects of pushing their bodies to their limit finally kicked in. With bitter smiles on their faces once they noticed they were experiencing the same thing, Valyr looked at Wells before letting out a soft chuckle. "I guess there are things a stamina and a health rejuvenation potion can't solve."
"You could definitely say that again." In response, Wells nodded in agreement as he let out a bit of laughter. "Anyways, what made you decide to eat at a fancy restaurant all of a sudden?"
"Well, it is our last day in this city, after all." As these words came out of Valyr's mouth, he let out a low sigh. "Might as well treat ourselves a bit before we depart for the kingdom."
At those words, Wells let out a sigh as well, feeling that the atmosphere surrounding the two of them had become somber all of a sudden, even though they were just going to head someplace else. Fortunately, this somber atmosphere swiftly disappeared as the slight frown on Valyr's face was replaced with a curious expression, asking Wells a question he wanted to know the answer to.
"So, how much XP did you get from the pit?" Hearing this question, the slightly somber expression on Wells' face was replaced with that of curiosity and interest, answering Valyr's question with a light smile on his face.
With that, the two of them talked about the amount of XP they had earned from the Experience Pit, as well as the amount of XP they had to give to the staff. By the time the meals they ordered were served to them, Wells felt a great amount of heartache once Valyr mentioned to him that he had to give almost 4 million XP to the staff due to the policy.
Nevertheless, the two of them enjoyed their meal to the fullest, savoring each and every moment of their meal as they discussed about a few topics, such as how they were going to allocate the XP they had just earned. Eventually, the two left the restaurant with satisfied expressions on their faces, making their way to the smithy sometime later.
Once at the smithy, both Valyr and Wells instantly felt a wave of drowsiness hit them, simultaneously letting out a yawn as they forced themselves to stay awake for a bit longer. Making their way to the living quarters, Wells made his way to his bed before bidding good night to Valyr, who instead made his way to the bathroom to take a cold shower.
"Brrr…" Slightly shivering from the cold water coursing down his body, Valyr's mind quickly returned to full alert by the time he had gotten out of the bathroom, shivering once more as a cold breeze passed by him.
Drying himself off, he then changed into the set of clothes he used whenever he was forging before making his way to the workshop portion of the smithy, feeling a bit of sadness at the thought that he would have to part ways with it tomorrow.
Taking in a few deep breaths to regain his composure, Valyr looked through the various stacks of metals and miscellaneous materials he still hadn't used, pulling up a screen in front of him that contained the message Braum had sent to him regarding their preferred weapons and current levels.
Mulling over what kind of materials he should use, Valyr eventually made a list of things he would use for forging in his mind, starting a fire in both of the large furnaces as he kept an eye on their temperatures. In the meantime, he skimmed through the memories of various weapons he had come across or had used in the past, wondering if any of the weapons he would be forging for the five could become an Emulation.
Eventually, he finalized the specific weapons he would be making for the group of five as he went over the blueprints for each of the weapons, with someone of them warranting the usage of [True Prodigious Blueprint Creation].
Making his way to the storage section of the smithy, he picked up the materials he had listed down earlier, as well as the additional materials the blueprints he made needed before returning to the workshop section, chucking a great portion of the materials he had brought along with him into the furnaces as he waited for them to reach the optimal forging temperature.
"Since I feel like I'm not gonna get a wink of sleep tonight, I should probably do a few tasks from the Blacksmith Guild as well. I am pretty close to running out of contribution points, after all." Feeling a hint of boredom from waiting for the materials to melt, Valyr opened up a screen before him to take a look at the tasks the Blacksmith Guild currently offered.
Though, as he continued to look through the available tasks he could take, he noticed that most of them were referencing a common event, causing a question to form in his mind soon after.
"There's an orc outbreak?"
