"Well, that wasn't so bad." Gasping for air after finally landing a strike against the 300 aberrations he was up against, Valyr watched as his maelstrom of attacks dispelled the enemy forces one by one. Supporting the offensive with a series of magic spells, the entire group eventually fell to the ground lifeless, prompting him to let out a sigh of relief.
After making sure that all of the aberrations were truly dead, the young man distanced himself from the field of corpses once more as he took out a stamina and mana potion from his spatial bracelet. Downing both of them in one gulp, he took a brief look at his current condition, which was considerably better than the 2,000 kills he had gone through earlier.
"Definitely a well-needed lesson, that one." Nevertheless, with all the running around he had to do to make sure he wouldn't get by the aberrations, Valyr had worked up quite the sweat, making him feel like the insides of his armor had been filled with water all of a sudden. Fortunately, a quick removal of the armor set was more than enough to resolve the problem as he sat on the floor, waiting for the voice to tell him of his reward.
'Congratulations on reaching six thousand kills on the Trial of Myriad Aberrations. At this point, the Gates of Enlightenment is more than confident in the level of strength and willpower you've shown. If anything, only a scant few could match up to the tenacity and wit you've shown while dealing with the aberrations, your abilities at the pinnacle of what is achievable at your current rank.'
Hearing the disembodied voice speak words of praise about how he had passed the halfway point for the trial, the young man slightly chuckled as he briefly wondered whether or not the voice would run out of words to say when it came to boosting his ego. However, just as the voice began to talk about his rewards, there was one part within its statement that had piqued his interest.
'As you have successfully achieved a total of 6,000 kills, the Gates of Enlightenment shall allow you to obtain another portion of the power you'll earn through your own merits in the future in advance. Aside from that, the Gates of Enlightenment has deemed you eligible for a special opportunity.'
"What opportunity are you talking abo—!" Asking the voice more information regarding the latter portion of its statement, Valyr was unfortunately forced to put it aside for the meantime as a large amount of information suddenly entered his mind. Quickly realizing what was going on, he swiftly laid down on the ground as he endured the mental pain the experience brought as best as he could.
Sadly, even the earlier experience of having to endure three waves of information was not enough for the young man to consider the current pain to be negligible. Being made up of seven waves in total, the only thing he could think about was when the entire process would end.
Ding!
Hearing the notification sound resound in his mind, Valyr inwardly let out an audible sigh of relief as his mind swiftly got to work on organizing and processing all of the information he had obtained. Naturally, it took a while for him to take a look at what he had gotten from the Gates of Enlightenment since a bit of pain still lingered in his mind after the entire process had ended.
Nevertheless, once the pain subsided, he did not hesitate to open up his notification screen to view his gains, slightly grinning as the rewards were far better than he had initially hoped.
[You have received an inordinate amount of information from a mysterious source.]
[All Basic-level and Intermediate-level advancements making up the Ancient Age on the Technology Tree's Innovation branch has been unlocked and upgraded to their max levels.]
'If the Gates of Enlightenment helps me unlock all of the advancements in the Early Middle Ages, there's no doubt in my mind that I would be able to improve the arquebus I forged multiple times over.' Letting out a peal of laughter as the voice had given him some more time to rest, the young man closed the screen before him as he allowed his mind to recuperate.
Though the Ancient Age did not seem like much in the grand scheme of things when it came to technological eras, quite a lot of inventions had actually been made during this age that gave rise to the important technologies one would take for granted in the modern age. Because of that, an amount of Technology Points far greater than the amount of Technology Points Valyr had gotten from the Blacksmith Guild so far was needed to unlock and upgrade all of the advancements within that age to their max levels.
Thus, it went without saying that Valyr greatly appreciated the Gates of Enlightenment's aid in that regard, even though he knew of other ways to gain a windfall of Technology Points within a short span of time.
"Say, what kind of special opportunity are you talking about?" Feeling like he had gotten enough rest to move onto the final portion of the Trial of Myriad Aberrations, Valyr decided to ask the voice about the thing it had mentioned earlier. For some reason, he felt like the opportunity the voice was talking about had something to do with the Gates of Enlightenment's emphasis on strength and willpower.
And, unsurprisingly enough, it was.
'As you have achieved a total of 6,000 kills within the Trial of Myriad Aberrations, the Gates of Enlightenment has deemed that you have met the minimum requirements necessary to trek the path of a legendary being that has taken on a similar path as you,' said the voice to Valyr. 'Though the passage of time has made almost everyone forget their identity, their achievements still remain standing to this day.'
'After all, none could surpass the feats of the first forger in human history.'
Ding!
[You have obtained a new quest: The First Forger.]
Slightly surprised that the voice's response had triggered a quest to pop up, Valyr went ahead and took a look at the quest' description. By the time he was finished reading through it, he went silent for a bit as a thought soon popped up into his mind, feeling like his struggle in the Gates of Enlightenment's trial grounds had finally gained more purpose.
'I get it.'
'I finally get it.'
