"…"
For a while after the old man's disappearance, Valyr stood frozen in place, gazing at the final spot where Sven stood.
It was only when the monotonous voice resounded throughout the trial grounds did the young man begin moving again.
'You have defeated the first opponent of the Trial of Nine Stars. Eight opponents remain.'
'You have 15 minutes to rest before the next opponent appears.'
Rumble…
As the voice informed him that he had time to do whatever he wanted, Valyr took in a deep breath before moving away from where the two workshops stood.
Briefly watching the workshops recede into the ground, the young man soon took out a couple of items from his spatial bracelet as he set up his temporary workshop.
"Though the fight against Sven might have been easy thanks to the skills and knowledge I have, who knows what the remaining fights would have in store for me?"
Muttering these words to himself, the young man made up his mind to improve his newly crafted matchlock pistol as much as possible.
Taking out the Hammer of Beginnings from his bracelet, the young man began to refine the pistol to +10.
"Perhaps they might put me up against an opponent known for their unparalleled combat prowess."
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
"Or perhaps they might put me up against an opponent known for their divine-level method of forging."
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
"In any case, the only way I can finish the Trial of Nine Stars is by preparing as much as possible."
At those words, the young man let out a sigh. "I really have to thank Sven for going through the trouble of explaining the trial in more depth."
"Who knows when I'd realize how the trial worked if he didn't?"
After he was done refining the pistol to +10, Valyr then proceeded to awaken the all of the weapon's attributes, getting a perfect awakening after emptying his mana reserves a couple of times.
After that, the young man then thought about advancing the weapon's foundation to the 1st Tier.
However, recalling how much time it took for him to advance one item to the same level, he decided not to push his luck, feeling that his next opponent would be appearing soon.
With that, the young man proceeded to store the items making up the temporary workshop back into the spatial bracelet.
While doing so, he used [Superior Analysis] on the upgraded pistol, wanting to see how much damage it could now deal.
Ding!
[(+10) True Matchlock Pistol] (Level 55)
Rarity: Rare
Foundation Tier: None
Attack: 5,882 - 9,804
Cooldown: 12 seconds (8.15 seconds)
Forge Quality: Exceptional
Additional Attributes:
> STR + 41
> DEX + 78
> PER + 32
————
Looking at the upgraded stats of the matchlock pistol, Valyr nodded in satisfaction.
"Once I advance its foundation to the 1st Tier, it'll undoubtedly match the arquebus in terms of attack power," said the young man to himself.
"Then again, since it already takes less time to arm, in a way it's already better than the arquebus."
"It's a shame that the pistol's [Extended Charge] only boosts its Attack stat by 50%, though." Valyr let out a sigh.
Faintly shrugging his shoulders as it was something that he couldn't change, the young man stored the pistol in his spatial bracelet for the meantime.
At the same time, a thought surfaced in his mind all of a sudden, prompting him to take a look at his notification screen.
Ding!
[You have completed part of the requirements for the quest: The First Gunslinger (Veldanyr).]
[Create a new type of firearm [Note: must be at least Uncommon grade] (1/1)]
"And here I thought the system wouldn't consider it a new firearm."
Chuckling as the notifications gave him slight glee, Valyr soon closed the screen before him as he thought about the other objectives needed to complete the special subclass quest.
Though, it did not take long for his train of thought to be disturbed as the voice from earlier resounded throughout the trial grounds once more.
'Your second opponent shall appear in 3… 2… 1…'
Whoosh!
Having already experienced Sven's sudden appearance, the ray of golden light that appeared was not as much of a surprise to the young man.
Adding the fact that the voice began to count down towards his new opponent's appearance, Valyr instead distanced himself from the ray of golden light as he watched it slowly disappear.
In less than a minute, a young man in a set of white and gold garbs replaced the ray of golden light, his facial features making him seem to be in his late twenties.
Though, with how long the Gates of Awakening had been up at this point, he was certain that the man before him could be anything but that age.
"How many have you fought against so far before my appearance?" Looking around his surroundings for a bit, the man in garbs eventually focused his attention towards Valyr.
"One," replied Valyr. "You're my second opponent."
In response, the man faintly nodded. "I see. So that's why I feel like a bit of my power has disappeared."
"Well, no matter." The man shrugged his shoulders.
"That wouldn't stop me from achieving my purpose anyway."
"Care to tell me your name before we begin?" asked the man.
After learning from Sven that his opponents would not remember much details regarding their fight, Valyr decided to oblige.
"The name is Valyr Zeihardt."
"Oh? A Zeihardt, huh?" Unsurprisingly, the man's eyebrows raised up in surprise at the young man's surname.
"Well then." The man grinned.
"That's quite interesting."
Hearing those words, the young man slightly tilted his head in confusion, wondering what about his words were interesting.
Fortunately, the man's introduction was more than enough to dispel such thoughts.
Though, at the same time, more thoughts surfaced in his mind, containing questions related to the man's introduction.
"Well, Valyr Zeihardt… allow me to introduce myself."
"My name is Amauris Zeihardt."
"I don't know how long of a time has passed between my appearance and your appearance, but I'd presume that it's over a couple hundred years at the very least."
"In any case, I don't associate myself with the clan anymore, especially with how the clan declined during my time."
"Instead, I call myself by another name."
"With that, please call me… the Lightbringer."
