'Wait… what?' Widening his eyes in disbelief as he read through the notification he had received, Valyr went ahead and opened up the notification screen, only to find yet another notification he did not expect to obtain.
Ding!
[Obtain a clue regarding the whereabouts of the last leader of humanity (1/1)]
Looking at this notification for a while, the young man closed his eyes for a bit as he thought back to the memory he had viewed.
Recalling how advanced the place looked within the part of the memory he could view, a frown slowly crept up onto Valyr's face as he felt that the completion of the objective did not make a lot of sense.
'Surely technology of that level would be from a time before the Great Cataclysm, no?' asked Valyr to himself as he continued to try wrapping his head around the matter. 'Since that's the case, why would the system consider it to be a clue?'
Pondering over the matter for a bit more, a far-fetched conclusion eventually surfaced in his mind. 'Is the system trying to tell me that a place with that level of technology still exists somewhere on Veldanyr?'
'Or is it telling me that the remnants of that place still exists somewhere?'
As he thought about it for a bit more, Valyr decided to bring up the description of the quest, considering that he did not really know a lot about the quest itself.
If anything, all he knew about the quest was through the notifications he received so far.
Ding!
[Traces of the Past] (Linked Quest)(Time-limited Quest)
Difficulty: S
Far before the Age of Darkness, humanity stood at the peak of the food chain. Having control over machines and technologies that faintly stepped on the level of divine abilities, it could be said that they were at the golden age.
However, at some point, disaster befell humanity, with next to no people from this civilization living to tell the tale. At most, only the name of the event lingered on, known by many as the Great Cataclysm.
With the passage of time, you, who inadvertently discovered the underground region of the city ruins, had eventually come across the Forsaken race, descendants of the human civilization that once was.
Ruling this race is a being known as the Sapient One, who had enlightened itself after experiencing over a hundred lifetimes that began from before the Great Cataclysm.
Though it knew of the bleak situation the human civilization of the past had encountered, the Sapient One still holds hope that the beacon of hope for humanity's past continues to linger on.
But with the measly amount of strength it could wield, it has passed on the task of finding this beacon unto you, someone who has already seen a glimpse of the past.
In essence, all the Sapient One desires is to see if the last leader of humanity still exists to this very day. Or perhaps, the existence of the plans that the last leader of humanity had enacted after its death.
Whatever discovery you might make, the Sapient One shall accept it either way.
Nevertheless, deep down inside, it hopes that you inform it of the former rather than the latter.
Quest Objective:
> Locate a trace of the last leader of humanity (1/1)
> Obtain a clue regarding the whereabouts of the last leader of humanity (1/1)
> Obtain knowledge regarding the last leader of humanity (1/4)
> Obtain items related to the last leader of humanity (0/3)
> Find the whereabouts of the last leader of humanity (0/1)
> Share the information you've gathered with the Sapient One (0/1)
Quest Reward:
> 100,000,000 XP
> Affinity +50 with the Forsaken race
> Affinity +80 with Ryvrthe, the Sapient One
> Reputation +1,000 within Ecalos and Dnal fo Nigiro
> Planetary Reputation (Veldanyr) +50
> ??? (Additional rewards dependent on performance during the quest)
Quest Penalty:
> Level -5
> Teleportation to the inheritance's entrance
[Note: This quest can only be obtained and completed within the Four Pillars' Inheritance. Leaving the inheritance is considered as forfeiting the quest.]
'So my earlier hypothesis was correct.' Going over every bit of detail the quest had given him, Valyr closed his eyes for a bit before eventually nodding in understanding.
'I guess that means I'll have to kill the three other quadrant leaders in the ruins,' thought the young man to himself as he focused on one of the objectives that the quest had prompted him to complete.
Though he wasn't fully sure whether or not the acquisition of knowledge regarding the last leader of humanity had something to do with the memory fragments, Valyr had still made up his mind to kill the other quadrant leaders either way.
After all, even if the memory did not complete one of the other objectives on the quest, the entire memory would still give him information that would aid in completing those objectives.
'Aside from that… obtain items related to the last leader of humanity…' Focusing on this unfinished objective, Valyr thought about the possible areas he would obtain such items.
At first, he had a feeling that the unexplored areas of the underground would house the items that the system wanted him to obtain.
However, after recalling a brief incident that occurred whilst he was collating information on the four quadrant leaders, such thoughts swiftly disappeared.
"It definitely has something to do with the statue at the center of the city ruins," muttered Valyr to himself, vividly recalling the words that were spoken to him by a disembodied voice.
'To seek what you wish to obtain, ascend past the Gates of Enlightenment and enter the ranks of the Gates of Awakening.'
'Until then, the world's mysteries shall remain shrouded before your gaze.'
"If I were in Ryvrthe's shoes, what I want to obtain would be the traces of the last leader of humanity," Valyr continued to mutter.
"With that, the most tangible traces of the last leader would be the items he had used… or something along those lines."
Faintly shrugging his shoulders at the slight tangent he had gone off on, he took a brief look at the two final objectives he had to complete, the former of which caused a bitter smile to creep up onto his lips.
'Would I even find their whereabouts?' asked Valyr to himself, letting out a faint sigh as he closed the screen before him.
Then, after briefly scratching the back of his head for a bit, the young man closed his eyes as a few thoughts began to linger in his mind.
"Should I join the others and attempt the trials of the Gates of Awakening tomorrow morning so I don't get left behind?"
"Or should I postpone that for the meantime and fight against the remaining quadrant leaders for their memory fragments?"
Muttering these words to himself for quite some time, Valyr eventually drifted off to sleep as he continued to think of the problem in his dreams.
Yet, even at the final minute before his consciousness woke up, he had yet to reach a definite conclusion.
…
"In about an hour, I'm going to attempt the trials the Gates of Awakening would throw at us."
As the five gathered around a campfire as they ate their breakfast, Hal spoke up all of a sudden, prompting the others to look at him in response.
"Guess I'll attempt the trials at the same time as you." Taking a bite of the remaining food on her plate, Loreina looked at Hal for a bit before speaking up as well.
"There's not much point in delaying it anyway."
After the two, Vera and Faulus had also voiced their agreement in attempting the Gates of Awakening's trials at the time Hal had mentioned.
With that, Valyr was the only one among them that had not yet voiced out his decision regarding the matter, causing everyone to look at him with a hint of curiosity.
"What do you plan on doing, Valyr?" asked Faulus. "Are you gonna take the trials with us or are you going to do it at a later time?"
"Speaking of the trials…" Just as Valyr seemed to have made up his mind on the matter, the young man was interrupted as Faulus gave everyone a few vials that most of them had become familiar with thanks to the previous trial.
"Here's some vials of rousing," said the alchemist, to which everyone accepted without hesitation. "Since I don't know how long we'll be staying in there, I made sure to concoct a lot more than needed."
"After all, it's better to be safe than sorry."
Though Valyr felt slightly annoyed at the fact that he had been interrupted just before he could answer, the young man inwardly composed himself as he had become more determined in seeing his decision through till the very end.
With that, the others remained oblivious to the choice Valyr had made up to the point the four had prepared themselves to tackle the Gates of Awakening.
Standing around the fire pit with all of their gears equipped, Hal and the others had a screen in front of them, with Valyr surprisingly following suit.
"Alright." Asking the others if they were ready to enter the trials, Hal took in a deep breath to calm himself before beginning to count down.
"3…"
"2…"
"1…"
Whoosh!
In less than an instant, the entire group had pressed on a certain button on their screens at the same time, causing their bodies to disappear from where they were standing.
Except… for one person.
"And they're gone." Touching a part of the screen far away from the screen the very moment Hal finished his countdown, Valyr let out a low sigh as he closed the screen before him.
After that, he took out the equipment that made up his temporary workshop from his spatial bracelet before working on one of his armor pieces.
"I'll make it up to you guys once you come back." Taking out the Hammer of Beginnings and activating [Breath of Beginnings], Valyr began to hammer down on the armor piece he had chosen, feeling its properties gradually grow stronger.
"But for now…"
"I'll be taking on the quadrant leaders myself."
