"You didn't bring your armor with you?" Braum raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, stopping in his tracks for a bit, which prompted Valyr to look back at the man who had a slight frown on his face. "When you sent me a message earlier that you wanted to meet up with me, I instantly thought that you wanted to meet up about the items you had me procure."
"Well, I initially had something else in mind when I was planning to meet up with you earlier." In response, Valyr faintly nodded back at Braum, informing the latter that it wouldn't be surprising for him to come to that conclusion. Letting out an awkward chuckle as he briefly apologized for having Braum expect something else, he then continued talking.
"The items I had you procure for me was an afterthought I had once I arrived at the entrance. Then again, that's because upgrading the armor with the items would help out in the task I want to do, which is something I need your help again." Listening to Valyr clear up the slight misunderstanding Braum had towards Valyr coming to meet him, the two of them eventually left the Imperial Production Guild, slowly but surely making their way towards the inn where both Wells and Valyr were staying for the meantime.
"Something you need my help with?" Once more, Braum raised his eyebrow, curious as to what Valyr meant by that. "Aside from helping you procure items from the guild or acting as a sparring partner of some sort against you, what other thing would you need my help with?"
"Finding a suitable method of travel," replied Valyr in a calm tone, gazing back at the man. "To be more specific, a method of travel that would allow to travel from this kingdom to a faraway village within a couple days at most."
"A couple days? From the kingdom to a faraway village?" Hearing Valyr's request, a frown adorned Braum's face as he briefly scratched his head, letting out a faint sigh soon after. "Let alone two days, even two weeks on carriage probably wouldn't be enough."
"Which faraway village are you planning to head to anyway?" the man asked Valyr a question he wanted to know the answer to, wanting to find out if the village in the mind in the young man in front of him was more or less similar to the village that he knew was connected to Valyr in more ways than one.
"Astarto Village." As these words came out of his mouth, both Valyr and Braum slowly made their way through the various corridors laid throughout the inn they were staying in, eventually being greeted by the sight of Wells at the room's central space while being in the midst of improving his technique once Valyr had opened the door to the room. "We're finally here…"
"Not bad." While Braum tried to make himself comfortable, his focus eventually shifted towards Wells, prompting the former to close his eyes for a bit before inwardly nodding to himself not long after. At some point, Valyr mentioned to Braum that his friend was aware of what was going on within the room at all times even though he was in an introspective state, causing the latter's impression of Valyr's friend to improve even further by a couple notches.
"What's with you saying 'not bad' earlier?" As Valyr made his way to his portion of the room to grab the set of Half Wyvern Armor he had placed on the side of the bed that wasn't easily visible, the words Braum muttered earlier as he looked at Wells surfaced within Valyr's mind, which elicited a question to come out of the young man's mouth as Braum pondered over his response for a bit.
"Well… ever since I've met the two of you, I've been getting a vague feeling from this friend of yours," replied Braum as he watched Valyr grab the pieces of Half Wyvern Armor before chucking a couple of them into the spatial bracelet. "At first, I was unsure if the feeling I got was coming from him. However, now that I've seen your friend in this state from up close, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he's definitely the one giving me the feeling I've been getting."
"Mind telling me what feeling you're getting from him exactly?" Unsurprisingly, just like what Valyr had concluded back when he first had the idea, only his boots and vambraces could fit within the bracelet. With that, he asked Braum if he could keep the remaining pieces making up the Half Wyvern Armor within his spatial bracelet, to which the latter did not find any problem with.
While placing the four other pieces making up the entire Half Wyvern Armor set within his spatial bracelet, which had far greater space than Valyr's bracelet, Braum mulled a bit over the question Valyr asked him just a moment ago before eventually responding, briefly scratching his head in uncertainty in the process. "If I were to describe the feeling I'm getting, it feels like I'm looking at someone who could turn into a spear at any time. Or better yet, your friend feels like a human and a spear to me at the same time."
Though Valyr gained an idea of what Braum was trying to convey through his description, causing Valyr to come up with a few possibilities that would explain the phenomenon the man helping him out was feeling, all of the possibilities that came to his mind had more or less the same broad explanation Braum had given regarding its effects. With that, he was unsure whether the man beside him was telling him if his friend had achieved something rare or something far greater that had the possibility to shake the world.
"In any case, there's a high chance we could find out this exact feeling I'm getting as long as your friend is fine with heading to the Spearman Guild for registration," said Braum as he informed Valyr that he had stored the remaining pieces making up the Half Wyvern Armor within his bracelet and that they could head back to the Imperial Production Guild at any time. In response, Valyr nodded back before telling Wells that he was going to head to the Imperial Production Guild once more, which only elicited a faint nod from the latter.
Taking one last glance at Wells, who had a pensive expression on his face as he sat cross-legged, Braum eventually shifted his attention back to Valyr as the two of them were now heading their way back to the Imperial Production Guild.
While both Braum and Valyr were taking in their surroundings as they made their way back to the guild, the two of them looked at each other, causing a train of thought that previously dissipated into nothing in their minds to reappear once more, with Valyr taking the initiative to kickstart the conversation. "So… got any idea on how I could get to Astarto Village from here within a couple of days?"
"Is it fine if you could tell me the reason why you have to head back to a faraway village on such short notice?" In response, Braum looked back at Valyr, a blank yet solemn expression covering his face as the gears in his mind turned.
"A monster tide will hit the village within a couple of days." Finding no problem with Braum's request, Valyr briefly shrugged his shoulders before giving the former a bit more information regarding the latter's need for swift travel. "I made a promise to the village before I left that I'd return to the village before the monster tide began, but with how things are turning out at the moment, I feel like there's a high chance I wouldn't be able to do that."
"Well… there is a network of teleportation constructs within the guild that would allow you to head to Astarto Village in an instant." Fortunately, just as Valyr thought that the possibility of him upholding his side of the promise was bleak, Braum shone a bit of hope on the young man as he informed him of something not a lot of people within the guild knew. "In fact, it's what my team and the other reconnaissance teams used to get a head start on the search for your whereabouts."
"However, if you're not part of the reconnaissance team, then you'll have to reach a high position with the guild in order to be able to use these teleportation constructs within the first place. After all, it costs a lot of mana to activate the teleportation constructs." Though, just like how Braum quickly instilled hope within Valyr that he'd be able to fulfill his promise, the former also took the same amount of time to crush his dreams beyond ruin, leaving a bitter smile hanging on the latter's face after Braum was done talking.
However, as if Braum was playing with the heartstrings of the young man beside him, he instilled hope within the man one more time, with a confident smile adorning his face as he said, "Of course, that doesn't mean teleportation constructs are truly off-limits to normal people."
Stopping in his tracks, he then turned around to look at Valyr before asking.
"Ever heard of the Underground Transport Network?"
