Rumble…
By the time Arcaelus fully disappeared in front of the young man's vision, the ground surrounding the two workshops finally began to rumble.
Watching the equipment he had used for the past five days start to recede into the ground, Valyr blankly stared at it for a bit before recalling the words the man had told him before his disappearance.
With that in mind, he then swiftly made his way to the row of forged items in front of Arcaelus' workshop.
Seeing the items the man had forged being engulfed by the ground one by one, Valyr did not waste any time as he pushed his mana out towards the items as fast as he could.
Remembering that he only needed to make contact with the items, the young man manipulated his mana to where a bunch of strands would make contact with a single item, allowing him to make contact with more than one item at the same time.
Fortunately, his efforts had paid off, with a great portion of the items Arcaelus had forged returning to where they were the moment Valyr's mana made contact with it.
However, there were still a few amongst Arcaelus' items that had been engulfed by the Gates of Awakening, causing the young man to let out a low sigh.
"15 out of 18 items," muttered the young man, only to stow all the items he recovered into his spatial bracelet not long after.
"At least the effort I made wasn't for nothing."
Still feeling a hint of pain at the fact that the Gates of Awakening was faster than him when it reclaimed those three items, the young man made his way back to where his workshop stood.
After that, he stowed all of the items he had forged into his spatial bracelet, even though the Gates of Awakening did not seem like it had any intention to engulf the items he forged.
Letting out a faint sigh of relief once he was done, he returned his attention to the workshops that were still receding into the ground.
Staring at the material cache for a bit, Valyr soon extended a strand of his mana towards one of the materials, hoping that the same concept Arcaelus taught him earlier would work.
Sadly, just like his attempt at stowing away part of the organization's materials in the past, the material cache continued to recede into the ground as the mana he released dissipated into thin air.
With that, the young man decided to distance himself from where the two workshops stood, allowing the Gates of Awakening to do its thing as he got some long-needed rest.
By the time the workshops had disappeared from his sight, the monotonous voice of the trial grounds echoed out once more, informing Valyr of his achievements.
'Congratulations on clearing the second sub-trial of the Trial of Nine Stars.'
Once again, the voice explained that the strength of his opponents were severely restrained due to the mechanics of the trial.
However, unlike what the voice said in the first sub-trial, it instead mentioned that he had undoubtedly proved that his strength and skills were the real deal, marking him as an unparalleled personage.
After that, it went through its usual spiel of asking Valyr whether he really had what it took to see the trial to the very end.
At the same time, it encouraged Valyr to push himself to his very limits, reminding the young man that he always had the choice to surrender in the midst of a trial.
Of course, the young man did not care too much about those words, accepting them half-heartedly at best.
However, the same could not be said for the voice's last few statements.
'With that, the Gates of Awakening shall reward you for your efforts once more, hoping that you would reach the end of the Trial of Nine Stars and reach the pinnacle.'
At those words, a cloud of golden energy soon appeared before the young man, a few magnitudes larger than the cloud that appeared before him during the first sub-trial.
Standing up in response to the cloud's appearance, the energy making up the cloud soon revolved around him, feeling a great portion of stats undergo a considerable increase as it made its way into his body.
Ding!
[You have gained 7 points of Might.]
[You have gained 7 points of Tranquility.]
"Earlier, it was Vigor and Mana Purity. Now, it's Might and Tranquility," said the young man, faintly smiling as he accepted the rewards.
After that, he opened up his status screen, finding out that his Might stat was at 15 points while his Tranquility was at 17.
"Just need a couple more points before I unlock [True Rage]."
Satisfied with how much he had improved in the field of hidden stats during the Gates of Awakening's trials, the young man sat on the ground once more after hearing the voice's words.
'You have defeated the sixth opponent of the Trial of Nine Stars. Three opponents remain.'
'You have two days to rest before the next opponent appears.'
'Note that once preparation time is up, the final sub-trial shall begin. Prepare accordingly.'
"Two days?" Hearing those words echo throughout the trial grounds, Valyr's eyes widened in surprise, considering how the longest break he had been given so far was 30 minutes.
Then again, it did not take long for the young man to feel that it made sense, especially with the thought that he would have to fight three Myth-level beings in a row after the break was over.
Wryly smiling at what awaited him, Valyr opened up his party chat to ask the others how were faring.
While waiting for the others to respond to his question, the young man set up a temporary resting spot, deciding to make use of the time he had been given as much as possible.
Sitting down on his resting spot, the young man let out a faint chuckle as he read through the four's responses regarding his progress in the trial.
At the same time, he was left at a slight loss for words after hearing that almost all of them had already entered the Gates of Awakening to reap their rewards.
From what he could infer through their messages, Hal had surrendered by the time he had gotten through the first sub-trial of the Trial of Nine Stars, telling the other three about its difficulty by the time he got into the Gates of Awakening.
With that, it did not take long for both Vera and Loreina to change their minds as the two of them decided to do what Faulus and stop by the time they completed their sixth trial.
At the moment, only he and Loreina were the only ones still going through the trial.
Though, with how things stood, it would only be him proceeding through the Gates of Awakening's trials sooner or later.
Telling them to send him messages as to what kind of place the Gates of Awakening was, the young man closed his party chat before lying down on his resting spot.
After that, he let out a low sigh before closing his eyes, slowly drifting off into deep slumber sometime later.
"Just a bit more."
