"Did I perhaps enter the wrong workshop?" Seeing a man donning a full set of crimson-black armor within the workshop he entered, Julian could not help but look at the number above the workshop's entrance to make sure. Thankfully, his confusion was quickly dispelled after the man let out a bit of laughter, placing the helmet he was wearing to the side.
"Oh. It was just you, Valyr." Letting out a faint sigh of relief as he did not get the wrong workshop, it was only then did Julian take full notice of the fact that the young man's aura had significantly strengthened. Of course, with the reason for the change being more than obvious, the man went ahead and asked what any person in his place would ask.
"Did you forge a new armor set? Or did you upgrade your old one?"
"Upgraded the old one," Valyr replied, asking Julian soon after what brought the man to his workshop. After hearing that the latter had come in to talk about the negotiation with the Nicholas clan, as well as his identification badge, he gave the man his seat from earlier, grabbing a box for him to sit on not long after.
"Wasn't your armor set Epic rarity already?" Thanking the young man for giving him somewhere to sit, Julian brought the topic of their conversation back to Valyr's armor, his eyes widening from the young man's response. "With how much difference there is from your aura before… did you upgrade it to Legendary rarity?"
"If I had the materials and the funds to do so, I would have already done that," replied Valyr with a wry smile. "Unfortunately, I was only to apply a plus modifier to the rarity… which, I guess you could say is essentially halfway to Legendary rarity armor."
"Mind if I take a look at it?" Though Julian had already come across multiple pieces of equipment that were of a far higher rarity than Epic+, the man was still left at a loss for words since such a level of equipment came from a young man that did not even seem to be above 20 years of age.
"Feel free." Not minding the request, the young man went ahead and gave the helmet he took off earlier to Julian, asking the latter not long after for his identification badge.
Ding!
[Your previous rank [Rank 2 — Legacy Core Member] has been improved to [Rank 2 — Honorary Lesser Elder]. Increase your rank or merit to improve your position.]
[You have received 2,000 Technology Points.]
'With this, I now have 10,000 Technology Points waiting to be used.' Receiving the upgraded identification badge from Julian, Valyr was not surprised to see the notifications that came along with it, inwardly smirking at his increase in authority. In fact, as he took a look at the notifications he had received, a sudden thought came to his mind.
Though, for the meantime, he decided to move it to the side as Julian was still around.
"This…" After taking a look at Valyr's helmet through his identification skill, the amount of admiration Julian felt towards the young man had increased by a great amount. After all, not only were the stats of the equipment far better than any Epic+ grade equipment he had seen so far, the craftsmanship, as well as the innate skills that came along with it were something even he had only seen for the first time.
"Is it possible for you to share the blueprints of this armor with the Blacksmith Guild?" Though the man thought about how such an armor would definitely fetch a high price if it was auctioned, Julian also thought about how the armor could affect the strength of the human race in the ongoing skirmish with the orcs.
Through his calculations, Julian surmised that if the guild were to get their hands on an armor set that had 50% of the strength of Valyr's armor and equip everyone on the front lines with it, the skirmish would undoubtedly be on the human race's favor from that point onward.
"What would I get in exchange?" In response to Julian's question, Valyr's expression became somewhat solemn. Though he was not averse to sharing information on the armor set he had been forging, he was not some kind of good samaritan who would share everything out of goodwill.
The only times he would do something like that was either when he owed someone else a favor, like those from Astarto Village, or when he knew that the person that he invested in would grow to be more than worth the items he had put in the first place, such as Wells and Edward.
'To be honest, why hadn't I thought about it in the first place?' As Julian pondered over the question Valyr asked back at him, the thought popped up in the latter's mind.
"Hmm… what would be your minimum conditions?" Pondering over it for a bit more, Julian eventually thought that it would be better for him to hear what Valyr wanted from them. After that, it was only would he prompt the two of them to talk about it until the two of them reached compromise.
However, just as he had heard the young man's requests, such thoughts swiftly disappeared from his mind.
"Would it be possible to gain access to all of the Blacksmith Guild's blueprints?" said Valyr to Julian. "Also, it would be nice if I get access to a lot of Technology Points every month."
"…that's all?" After a bit of silence, that was the only thing Julian could say in response.
"I guess access to the Blacksmith Guild's hidden knowledge as well?" Slightly confused as to what Julian meant by that, Valyr decided to respond based on how he interpreted the question. "…Is it also fine for me to request materials from the Blacksmith Guild whenever I want?"
"…" At that point, Julian stood up from his seat and left the workshop, leaving the latter to stare at the man's fleeting silhouette in confusion.
"I didn't even get to hear what happened to the negotiation with the Nicholas clan…" Briefly scratching the back of his head, Valyr let out a faint sigh as he tidied up the place, wondering for a bit whether Julian would come back later.
Taking a look outside the window to see how many hours remained before the sun would set, the young man eventually decided to not think about it for the meantime. Instead, he focused his attention on the idea that popped up in his mind earlier when he received his upgraded identification badge.
It was time for experimentation.
It was time…
For him to make a gun.
