"What?!" Unsurprisingly, everyone else was left speechless from what Valyr had told them. After all, a single day within the inheritance was already equivalent to two weeks in the outside world. With that in mind, having stayed for two months in the inheritance equated to over two years!
In mere moments, looks of panic appeared on the faces of the other four, thinking about how their loved ones were doing now that over two years had passed. Some of them even began to think of the skirmish against the orcs that arose before they entered the inheritance, wondering whether they would even have a home to return to once they got out.
"Does the trial grounds have some sort of extreme time dilation?" Eventually, with all of them wanting to know how Valyr obtained his answer, Faulus looked at the young man and asked. "Or better yet, how did you end up with the conclusion that we've already been in this inheritance for over two months?"
Hearing Faulus' question, Valyr's eyes widened in surprise. "We've been in this inheritance for over two months?"
Thankfully, it did not take long for him to put two and two together in his mind, finally understanding why the others were panicking all of a sudden. With an apologetic smile, he then told them, "I forgot to clarify that the over two months thing was in relation to the outside world."
"If we're talking about the time we've been in this inheritance, we're on our fifth day so far, which means that we've spent roughly a day within the trial grounds," he soon added.
"…" At those words, everyone glared at the young man with death-filled intent, wanting nothing more than to inflict a bit of pain to Valyr to appease their worried hearts. Though, with how all of them had gone through the wringer thanks to the Gates of Enlightenment's trials, they eventually realized that they were partly to blame as well for that conclusion, considering their current physical and mental states.
"You know, you could have said that earlier." Letting out a long sigh, Hal looked at Valyr, who looked back at him with an apologetic smile. "But still… to think that we've spent over a day in that barren space separated from one another…"
Hal slightly smiled as he looked at the others. "I guess you could say I'm really glad to see you guys again."
As everyone else echoed the same sentiments Hal had, the topic of their conversation eventually returned to the rewards each of them had gotten from the trials, with Faulus surprisingly taking the initiative to talk about the rewards he had gained.
With a boastful expression, he said, "Thanks to the trials, aside from getting a ton of alchemical recipes that would definitely be useful in the outside world, I also unlocked information regarding a lot of advancements from the Alchemist Knowledge Repository."
"However, if you were to ask me the greatest reward I got from the trials, then that would be the Intent Seed of Alchemy I comprehended." Faulus grinned with great glee. "With this, I guess you could say I'm the second among us to have comprehended an Intent Seed."
Though no one was sure who among them was the second to comprehend an Intent Seed, the fact that everyone else had comprehended an Intent Seed related to their class instantly made Faulus feel incredibly glum…
Only for the feeling to worsen after hearing from Valyr that his Intent Seed had advanced to the First Stage thanks to his trial rewards.
"I know he went through the hardest trial out of all of us, but still…" Tracing circles on the ground with his fingers, Faulus looked downcast as the others could only laugh at his reaction.
…
With Faulus taking the initiative to talk about the rewards he had gained from his trials, each of them shared information on the rewards they gained from the trials as well, talking about how they gained information that was beneficial to their class or advancements to their Technology Tree that would make their path easier in the long term. Unsurprisingly, Hal's suspicion regarding Valyr hiding secrets had reduced thanks to the latter sharing more information about his rewards.
But then again… who wasn't suspicious of the others hiding some other reward they obtained from the trial?
"With that out of the way, what's next on the agenda?" Seeing that everyone was more than eager to move on from talking about the hell each of them went through, Hal steered the conversation onto the next topic. "Are we going to head straight to the quadrants?"
Listening to Hal's suggestion, Valyr looked at him before bitterly smiling. "Though that would be the ideal choice, all of us are physically and mentally exhausted after all of the things we've gone through. Sure, you could say that we can rely on the vials of rousing Faulus gave us before we entered the trial grounds, but that might just make us take more time to complete the inheritance overall, especially if one us falls ill."
"Plus, keep in mind that Loreina hasn't gotten her hands on the vials of rousing at all," he added, prompting everyone's attention to briefly focus on her. "I'm more than certain that she's just barely hanging on right now through sheer willpower. If you think about it, it's a miracle that she could still talk about her trials and her rewards with us in great detail."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Though Hal already knew what Valyr was going to tell them, the man still felt the need to have the thought be vocalized, especially after seeing that the others were now more than eager to hear the possibly sweet words that would come out of their leader's mouth.
Chuckling at the question, Valyr looked at the others before smiling. "Well, what else should we be doing? With how everyone has been basically running on fumes for over two days at this point, I say that all of us should get some long-needed rest."
"For the remainder of today, feel free to take much as rest as you want. Then, if you feel like you've gotten enough rest even though the entire day hasn't passed yet, you're free to do whatever to pass the time. You could go fight against the aberrations to get some more XP, cook some food, do a couple of hobbies, or heck, even rest again inside your tents if you want."
"For now, don't think about the inheritance whatsoever. Don't think about the implications of what we're doing either," said Valyr with a peal of laughter. "Because once the next day begins, we're returning to our exploration in full force."
Seeing the relieved yet excited expressions on everyone's faces after he relayed his orders for today, the young man grinned as he continued, "Now you might be wondering… what will we be doing tomorrow exactly?"
"Well, for one, we're going to head out of the plains."
"As to where we're heading next?"
"The four quadrants, of course."
