"…" With the last memory ending at what was a bittersweet note, Valyr had a blank expression on his face as the world around him turned dark for one last time.
A few minutes later, this darkness thoroughly disappeared as his consciousness returned to his body within the inheritance.
However, even though his consciousness had returned to the inheritance, the information he had gained from the memories still continued to linger in his mind.
Especially the one regarding the being that Vaughn considered to be a partial success.
'Considering how the aberrations could be found in the plains while the primitive humanoids are in the quadrants, I think it wouldn't be surprising if those beings are in the center of the city ruins.'
'After all, with how each being is inching closer and closer to an actual human, it would only make sense for the center to house the ones that seem the most human,' thought the young man.
"Then again, with how the memory ends at that point, I still have one more question," murmured the young man as he got out of bed.
"Was he ever successful in recreating humans?"
Doing a few basic stretches after noticing his body had not moved for what felt like hours, Valyr continued to mull over the question, thinking about the multiple tidbits of information he had obtained within the inheritance so far.
Though, just like many of the other questions he had obtained within the inheritance, it seemed that such a question would remain unsolved.
Of course, that was only the case if he had no plans to search through the Triad Gates' secrets.
"One more question to answer in the future, then."
With those words, it was only then did Valyr leave the tent after storing the orb into his spatial bracelet, briefly squinting his eyes from the rays of the sun.
Taking a bit of time to acclimate to the sudden change in brightness, Valyr then took a look at the sun's current position. "Damn. It's only afternoon?"
"Or… is it next day's afternoon?" muttered the young man with a hint of doubt, recalling the same thing happening back when they got out of the inheritance.
Thankfully, a quick peek at the timer on his status screen allowed him to obtain his answer, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank the heavens it's only afternoon."
"But still… I felt like I spent a long time there," said the young man to himself, only for his stomach to begin grumbling.
Letting out a faint chuckle soon after, Valyr began to whip up lunch for himself, starting a flame in the fire pit before proceeding to take out some of the ingredients he had brought along with him.
While doing so, he brought up the party chat, wondering whether or not the four had sent a message while he was in the middle of going through the memory orb.
"Huh. Only a couple of messages."
From what he could infer through the brief messages the four had sent to him, the four had become successful in passing the third trial, overcoming what was basically the first bottleneck of the trials.
Then again, such success came at a cost.
After they sent messages as to how they cleared the third trial, the four soon sent messages as to how they were now going to tackle the fourth trial.
Though, unlike their earlier message, most of their messages regarding the fourth trial were now made up of broken words meant to get the thought across.
The only exception to this was Hal, who only became a bit more concise when sending his messages.
"Well, he isn't called the Lord of All Trades for nothing," said Valyr as he began to eat his food, letting out a bit of laughter at the thought.
"I guess that's also part of the reason why he's considered the future Monarch of Innovation."
With such thoughts continuing to linger in his mind, Valyr eventually satiated his hunger, killing the flame he made as he took a brief look at the south quadrant.
"After this, I'm certain the Triad Gates would force us to head to the center," muttered the young man as he let out a faint sigh.
Recalling his brief trip into the center of the city ruins and how most of the beings there were equal to the quadrant leader in strength, a faint shudder ran over Valyr's body as he thought about how he would have to constantly fight beings of that level.
"Then again, such thoughts should be better saved for after I take the trials to enter the Gates of Awakening," said Valyr, opening up his notifications to access the rewards he had gained from an earlier quest.
Though, at the very moment he glanced at his notifications, he noticed that the first few notifications were quite different from what he thought.
Ding!
[You have made progress on a requirement for the quest: Traces of the Past.]
[Obtain items related to the last leader of humanity (1/3)]
[Due to the user having accessed the item 'Memory Orb of the Forsaken Ones', the item's name has been changed to 'Remnant Records of the Lone Researcher'.]
"So the fragments I collected from the quadrant leaders actually turned out to be one of the items related to him, huh." Reading through the notifications he had unexpectedly obtained, Valyr slightly grinned.
"Then again, with how he's the focus of all the memories within the orb, it does make sense."
After saying those words, Valyr took out the item from his spatial bracelet, noticing that the higher-leveled energy contained within the orb had seemingly grown in size.
Sensing this higher-leveled energy for a bit, the young man eventually shrugged his shoulders and returned the item into his bracelet as he felt that he would not be able to glean anything from it.
With that, he returned his attention to the notification screen he had brought up, moving past the notifications he had gotten related to the item.
"To attempt the trials to the Gates of Awakening or to take a look at the Gates of Enlightenment with my heightened level of authority…"
Looking at the two options available to him, a flurry of thoughts whirled in the young man's mind, weighing the pros and cons of choosing one over the other.
Fortunately, it did not take long for the young man to make his choice as a gate to what looked to be a courtyard manifested before him.
Ding!
[You have obtained an Entrance Token to the Gates of Enlightenment. Would you like to use it now?]
"…"
"Yes."
