Hearing his name being uttered out of the man's mouth even though he had [Enhanced Polymorph] activated, Valyr instantly showed a hint of aggression towards the man, as well as a bit of suspicion towards the man's intent as he flared his aura in its entirety.
"What a ferocious aura." However, rather than respond to the showing of aura by releasing his own aura as retaliation, the middle-aged man instead allowed Valyr's aura to wash over his body as a grin soon crept up on his face, causing the man's face to look somewhat nefarious. "Then again, with how I knew of your true identity without you knowing mine, this response is normal."
"With that, how about I introduce myself?"
Whoosh!
At the very moment the man was finished with his words, he instantly let the entirety of his aura out, causing Valyr's aura to quickly contract as the young man shuddered in fear at the ferocity and power that was contained within the man's aura. Of course, he still tried to fight back against it through his willpower, but with the disparity in their strength being as wide as a chasm, such an attempt was eventually futile.
"I guess that's enough show of force." Just as the middle-aged man had begun to move closer to him, prompting Valyr to think that there was a chance he would die under the man's hands, the man instead retracted his aura as his expression changed into an amicable smile, the air around him now giving off the feeling that he wanted to become friends with Valyr.
Naturally, Valyr still remained wary and vigilant of the man's next move. Fortunately, these thoughts disappeared once the middle-aged man slightly bowed to Valyr.
"Well, let me preface this introduction of mine by saying sorry," said the middle-aged man to Valyr, causing the expression on the latter's face to gain hints of confusion. Though, this expression quickly returned to normal once he heard the man's next words, inwardly becoming jubilant that his feeling from earlier was actually correct. "And now, my introduction."
"The name's Julian Arthur Pyrrhia, but you can call me Julian. On second thought, just call me Guildmaster Julian. Wouldn't want others to try and find out the relationship we have."
"Anyways, from my words alone, I'm sure you've already inferred that you're talking to the Guildmaster of Algerie Kingdom's Blacksmith Guild, though I guess it would be more accurate to call me the guild's branch leader."
"I hope that's enough to wipe out any suspicion you might have against me, Herald of the Zeihardt clan." At the very moment Julian was finished speaking, Valyr took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, composing himself as he stared at the man before him for a while.
Taking note of the young man's silence in response to his introduction, Julian pondered over what he might have done wrong, only to ask Valyr soon after, "Too formal?"
"Just give me a second to process all of this." In response, Valyr told the man that he was in the midst of taking everything in, prompting Julian to merely nod in response before allowing the young man to take his time digesting the information he had just received.
"Haah…" Letting out a deep sigh, Valyr looked at the man in front of him for a bit before asking, "Why did you want to meet up with me?"
"Well, Herald of the Zeihardt clan…"
"You could just call me Valyr."
"Well, Valyr…" Nodding in response to Valyr's brief interruption, Julian soon gave the young man the answer he wanted, giving him a toothy grin. "How could I not check on the person I've nominated as a candidate for the Four Pillars' Inheritance?"
"Mn?" At those words, Valyr's eyes widened as he raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "You're the one who nominated me?"
"Yep." Julian nodded. "Choosing candidates for the Four Pillars' Inheritance isn't really done through a tournament. Instead, the branch leaders of the Blacksmith, Alchemist, Tailor, and Sage Guilds nominate people to the Imperial Production Guild for candidacy. Of course, the Imperial Production Guild has set criteria for what people should have before being nominated as a candidate, which you fortunately happen to check all the boxes of."
"Speaking of which, the branch leader of the Blacksmith Guild you registered in was the one who gave me a heads-up of your identity," added Julian not long after, causing a frown to appear on Valyr's face. "However, he did not know anything about your identity as a member of the Zeihardt clan. Instead, he recommended you solely due to your class alone."
"Why the beating, then?" Though Valyr already had an idea to the answer to the question he had given to Julian, he still felt a great level of indignance at being unable to fight back at the man he fought against. With that, he decided to ask the man before him, wondering if there was a greater reason for it aside from checking his combat capabilities.
"To check your combat capabilities." Hearing more or less the same words he had heard from Aster back then come out of the man's mouth, Valyr inwardly let out a faint sigh as he wondered why he was expecting to hear more in the first place. Though, once he listened to the man's next words, this thought of his quickly changed.
"According to the Imperial Production Guild's criteria, those with the greatest combat capability among the four candidates chosen to enter the inheritance would become the leader of the exploration, allowing them to take a greater share of the loot once they leave the inheritance," said Julian, only to look at Valyr with a bitter smile soon after. "Unfortunately, at that time, your combat capability was only second to the candidate with the highest combat capability, hence you were not chosen as a leader."
"Hence the small tournament a week before the inheritance?" Connecting the information he had heard so far with the information he already knew, Valyr eventually asked Julian a question, to which the latter nodded.
"Yep. It's a tournament to reassess everyone's combat capabilities."
"I see." Nodding in response, Valyr went silent for a bit as the thoughts in mind continued to swirl. Eventually, a single thought out of all of the thoughts in his mind rose to the surface, causing him to look at Julian with curiosity as he asked, "Now that I think about it, why me though?"
"Pardon?"
"Why me? Why choose me as a candidate? Isn't the criteria something along the lines of having a Mythic blacksmith class?" Although he found the inheritance a great boon to his plans, Valyr had already expected to go through most of the things he had in mind without an inheritance like the Four Pillars' Inheritance, considering that he didn't know anything about it. With that, he asked the man who nominated him in the first place, only for the man to look at him with a bitter smile.
"That is indeed the criteria." Julian nodded. "As long as the person has a Legendary or higher class corresponding to either the Blacksmith, Alchemist, Sage, or Tailor class, they would be considered a potential candidate for the inheritance. In fact, I already had someone else in mind to take the blacksmith candidate spot."
"However, you're ultimately a far better choice."
"A Herald of the Zeihardt clan, the owner of a Mythic grade blacksmith class, plus superb combat capability for your rank."
"How could I not choose you…"
"Especially with the orc outbreak continuing to bring danger to the kingdom?"
