"Uh… sure." Hearing the words Valyr had spoken to him, Wells was briefly left at a loss for words. After all, those words weren't something he would usually hear from the young man, especially when he knew that this time would generally be the time when they would become privy to each other's progress.
Fortunately, sensing the seriousness in Valyr's tone, as well as the expression the young man had, looking as if he was conflicted in his thoughts, Wells went ahead and headed back to his portion of the room for now, telling Valyr to come meet with him after he was done sorting out his things.
Nodding as he thanked his good friend for being understanding, the young man then made way to his portion of the room they were staying in, lying down in bed as he gazed at the ceiling for a bit.
"Haah…" Hearing the hubbub that still continued to occur outside the walls of the inn at this time, Valyr took in a few deep breaths to sort out the multiple things that continued to clutter his mind after a certain question had surfaced. One by one, he moved most of them to the side, letting out a low sigh once he had made sure that what was left in the center of his mind were questions that he deemed to be the most important ones.
'I guess it's time to ask myself once more.' Muttering these words to himself, he focused yet again on the question that had surfaced in his mind earlier while he was making his way back, trying his best not to let other thoughts cloud his thought process while concentrating on it.
'Am I doing things too quickly?'
'…or is it because the deadlines of the things I plan on doing are close to one another that it feels like I'm doing things too quickly?' Asking this question to himself, Valyr went over the multiple things he planned to do in the following days, such as forging equipment in order to sell it through the Blacksmith Guild's channels, heading back to the Shadow Plane to complete his subclass promotion quest, and obtaining information regarding the family structure of the Zeihardt clan.
Of course, after pondering over this question for a bit more, he soon noticed that the things he planned to do would either fall under one of two categories: tasks that had been given to him, or tasks that he had made up himself.
Then again, it did not matter much which among the two categories the things he planned to do would fall under. Instead, after noticing this small detail regarding his upcoming tasks, he soon focused on another detail that revolved around the tasks as well.
'As far as I can remember, there aren't any deadlines to any of my tasks at all.' Recalling the second part of the question he had asked himself earlier, Valyr went through his treasure trove of memories to see if any of the upcoming tasks, whether planned himself or not, had any deadlines attached to them.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that some tasks did have deadlines attached to them, such as the upcoming tournament to determine the leader of the inheritance expedition happening in less than a week, as well as the actual expedition a week after that.
However, aside from that, almost all of the tasks he planned on doing did not have any deadlines. If anything, he instead looked at the tasks as if they had implied deadlines, such as the two World Quests he had obtained from Aster and An'xhur respectively.
'Then again, the threat of the War of the Three Sovereignties happening due to my failure in completing these quests is enough to make me feel like a deadline has been attached to them,' muttered Valyr to himself, pondering over the situation rationally as he calmed his emotions in slight turmoil. 'And I guess that's also what the system wants to imply, rather than give an actual fixed deadline.'
'But now that I think about it, the 'deadline' for these important things are still far away, especially now that I'm an NPC.' Letting out a drawn-out sigh as he focused on his current train of thought, the confusion that Valyr had in his mind was gradually being cleared up. 'Aside from the fact that there's still about a year left until the first version of Greater Beyond is publicly released, the climax of the War of the Three Sovereignties doesn't happen until after half a year has passed since the first version came out.'
With that in mind, he soon realized that he was scheduling all of the other tasks he planned under this implied deadline, with the thought of entering Point Devann's battlefield even though the orc infiltration was ongoing being a great example of it.
Of course, even though he now realized that he was planning all of his tasks under this implied deadline, he wouldn't change the plan he had come up with that easily, possibly just giving himself more time in between his tasks at most. After all, even though he had filled all of the upcoming days with tasks, it gave him a sense of purpose, a reminder of what he wanted to do with the second chance he had been given.
'But that still doesn't explain the feeling I have that I'm in a race against time, a feeling that no matter what I do, it would all be useless in the end.' As this thought surfaced in his mind, he continued to look at everything from multiple perspectives, trying to see if he could work out why he felt that way. Thankfully, it only took a bit more contemplation for him to get to the crux of the matter, feeling as if a light bulb had gone off in his mind after realizing it.
'The final battle…' Remaining silent as he closed his eyes, allowing the sounds from outside to enter his ears, Valyr reminded himself of the final battle he had put all of his heart and soul into, only for it to all bear no fruit and end up with all of them dead.
Though he was incredibly glad that the heavens had given him a second chance to make things right, the final battle was something Valyr felt like he would be able to vividly remember even after a long time has passed, considering his position and the circumstances that revolved around the matter.
Letting out a low sigh as he moved his memories regarding the final battle off to the side for now, Valyr pondered over the final battle for a bit, feeling like he was getting close to the answer he sought.
And then, it clicked.
'Starting from when the first version was released, it took a total of eight years or so until the final battle actually came to light,' Valyr inwardly muttered. 'Tacking on the fact that I still have about a year to go until the first version is released, I have a total of nine years to prepare until the final battle…"
'I've been looking at the time I still have from the wrong perspective!' Feeling as if he had finally and truly gotten to the crux of the reason why he felt he was rushing things, Valyr could not help but shout this realization in his mind, his eyes wide open as he inwardly admonished himself for it. 'I've been looking at the time I have from the perspective of a player!'
'But as an NPC, the time that's left until the final battle is far longer than that!' Taking in a couple of deep breaths to make sure that he did not lose his train of thought, Valyr computed the amount of time he had left until the final battle from the standpoint of an NPC, not factoring in the changes his actions might have to the timeline. 'Considering that I gain an extra year between each version… I still have almost 70 years to prepare for the final battle.'
'Of course, if I also factor in the possible changes my actions would cause to the timeline, then the amount of time I have left to prepare would also change. Then again, it's definitely better than the nine years I initially thought I had left.' Letting out a long sigh of relief as the shift in perspective reduced the overall burden he felt, he continued to ponder over his current situation a bit more, knowing that the remaining time he had left until the final battle was only one of the reasons why he felt like he was rushing through things.
'I guess I've also forgotten to take into account that I don't have a weak main class anymore.' Surprisingly, it did not take long for him to pinpoint the other reason why he felt everything was rushed, letting out a mocking chuckle as he thought about how the shift in perspective had also changed his way of thinking. 'With a Mythic class, I'm able to do more with less.'
'If it were the me from back then, he would have probably been forging a new set of armor and weapons by now, spending most of his time forging in order to gain a higher position within the Blacksmith Guild.'
'On the other hand, I already have an Epic grade armor set, as well as a Rare+ grade spear, even though I haven't been doing any forging lately.' Faintly smiling at this thought, Valyr let out a long sigh as he soon muttered a few words that only he could hear.
"The way you look at the world changes once you take into the consideration the overall scope of your actions."
"Well, as someone who has finally experienced it firsthand, it definitely changed for the better."
