With how tired Valyr was after spending more than a day doing quite a lot of things within less than a day in the real world, it did not take long for the young man to be greeted by the morning sun once more, getting up at the very instant he had a chance to.
"Mngh…" Lightly stretching his arms as far as he could after sitting himself upright, Valyr sat by the side of the bed for a couple of minutes to allow his consciousness to become fully awake. Once he felt awake enough to do his things, he then went about doing his usual daily routine.
'Since I'm finally back from the Shadow Plane, I guess it's finally time for me to upgrade all of those unleveled skills of mine to the max level.' Allowing the cold and refreshing water from the shower head to relax and rejuvenate his entire body, Valyr opened up his skill list in his mind, deciding to upgrade his unleveled skills in batches to make sure his mind not be overwhelmed by an influx of information once again.
'Guess I'll start with the important ones first.' Continuing to soak his body under the cold and refreshing water, Valyr retrieved a few Uncommon grade Skill Keys from the spatial bracelet he still wore into the shower and gripped them tightly, commanding the system soon after to upgrade 10 Uncommon grade skills in a row.
[Would you like to consume 10 Uncommon grade Skill Keys and 9,499,860 XP to upgrade the 10 skills you have chosen to their max level?]
"Yes."
Ding!
Obtaining a notification sound from the system as confirmation of his prompt, Valyr prepared himself for the wave of information that would come… only to still be incredibly unprepared for it as a far greater influx of information than he had expected surged into his mind without hesitation.
Thud.
Due to the suddenness and the volume of the information he had received from upgrading 10 skills to the max level, Valyr temporarily lost control over his body, prompting his legs to buckle as he fell to the ground with the water still streaming down his body. Thankfully, it did not take long for him to regain control soon after as a relaxing feeling soon washed over his mind, brought about by the Skill Keys he had consumed to break the limits of the skills he had chosen.
Then again, he only had a limited time to stabilize himself before being bombarded by yet another wave of information, stumbling for a bit before eventually regaining his footing. If not for the fact that the second influx of information was considerably weaker than the first wave, then Valyr was certain that he would land on the bathroom floor once more with a solid thud.
"I'll… upgrade another batch of skills later." By the time the mental strain brought about by the skill upgrades had subsided, Valyr had already dried himself off and put on a fresh set of clothes. Activating [Enhanced Polymorph] as he went over the things in his mind that he still wasn't finished doing, Valyr headed to Wells' room first to notify his friend where he was going for the day before he truly left the inn, walking along the streets of Algerie City a couple of minutes later.
…
"This should be a nice spot to test it out." Though Valyr had planned to head to the Blacksmith Guild to meet up with Julian regarding his journey to the Akashic Battlefield, the young man decided to head into an empty alleyway for the meantime as he recalled the thought that had appeared in his mind just as he was about to fall asleep.
"Ih pyn'ah tt'wagg k'ahn haap nmal'kas at meht'tagg."
"[Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts]…"
"[Summon Arx'has Boar]."
'I really hope they aren't stuck in the Shadow Plane.' Thinking about how he had forgotten about the boars' existence after he upgraded his Shadow Energy quality by two grades, Valyr felt bad for them, especially with how he and the group had formed an intuitive understanding of what the other side wanted to do.
Whoosh!
As the magic circle before him became saturated with mana, Valyr looked at the boar that was appearing with expectation, only to be filled with worry not long after as the boar that had appeared had stats at Level 1. Taking in a few deep breaths to make sure his emotions did not cloud his rationality, Valyr tried to summon an Arx'has Boar once more, but this time utilizing the skill's growth summoning method.
"Ih pyn'ah tt'wagg k'ahn haap nmal'kas at meht'tagg."
"[Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts]…"
"[Growth Summon Arx'has Boar]."
Ding!
Surprisingly, rather than the magic circle he had created through the skill being saturated with mana, a small screen instead appeared in front of his field of vision, prompting him to read through it as he wondered why it had appeared all of a sudden.
"Oh, thank goodness." Unexpectedly, the contents of the screen contained information regarding the five boars he had summoned within the Shadow Plane, their stats and levels the way they were at the end of their Shadow Tiger hunting spree. Letting out a long sigh of relief as he found out yet another feature of the [Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Art], Valyr went ahead and dispelled the Arx'has Boar he had just summoned, retrieving part of the mana he had consumed to summon it in the process.
"I should really get going." Leaving the empty alleyway with greater knowledge regarding a skill he thought to himself he would use more often in the near future, Valyr returned to the streets of Algerie City, hastening his footsteps as he arrived at the Blacksmith Guild a few minutes later.
…
"I'm guessing Noel wasn't too harsh with you, considering you've become stronger in just one day." At the very moment he stepped foot into the Blacksmith Guild, one of the attendants quickly recognized Valyr's appearance and told him that he was allowed to head to the Guildmaster's room whenever he wished to. With that, the young man did just that, being greeted by a middle-aged man's chuckle just as he had arrived.
"It's mostly because I've finally reached the peak of Rank 2, but yeah. Elder Noel taught me a lot about the subclass I've gotten from him." In response to those words, Valyr let out a bit of laughter of his own.
"Is that so?" Grinning, Julian placed his hammer on the anvil in front of him before turning around to look at Valyr, a faint smile adorning his face as he took a brief glance at the young man's Nascent Wyvern Armor. "Anyways, I presume you're here to get an update on the Akashic Battlefield, right?"
"Well, you did tell me I could come by tomorrow."
"True. I did tell you that." Julian nodded with a soft smile. "Well, fortunately for you, I was able to arrange an escort that would accompany you along the way and within the Akashic Battlefield."
"In fact, that person volunteered to escort you there after hearing that you were the one they would be escorting."
"Ah! Speak of the devil. Your escort is right behind you."
At those words, Valyr turned around in curiosity, wondering which person would be eager enough to escort him after hearing his name being mentioned. However, rather than his expression be that of surprise or delight, the young man's expression turned into that of slight fear, his pupils dilating as his body slightly quivered.
"Well then." The man grimly chuckled. "It seems you've gotten stronger."
"Then again... it wouldn't be interesting if you didn't."
