"Haah…"
Waking up from what was a long slumber, it took a while for the young man to get up, giving his consciousness time to acclimate to its current surroundings.
Remembering that he was still inside the Gates of Awakening's trial grounds, a wry smile appeared on his face as he cleaned himself up with the use of the items in his spatial bracelet.
Cooking up a bit of food for himself after that, Valyr soon thought about how much time had passed since he had fallen asleep.
Sure, he had taken a look at his status screen a few times, taking a look at the timer that told him how close he was to the public release of Greater Beyond.
However, with it moving far slower than he initially expected, the young man felt that there must be a difference in time between the trial grounds and the inheritance, just like how there was a difference between the inheritance and the outside world.
In fact, he felt that it was indeed the case, recalling the experience he and the others had back when they were clearing the Gates of Enlightenment's trials.
Even though he and the others felt like they had spent a long time within the trial grounds, only a day had passed in the inheritance, which equated to two weeks in the outside world.
'I wonder how long it'll be before I get back to the inheritance?'
Thinking about the time he had spent in the trial ground so far, he was certain that the duration already went past a week, perhaps over a week and a half.
At the same time, it made him think about how much time he and the others had already spent within the inheritance, prompting him to wonder how Julian and the others were faring back at Astarto.
"Knowing them, I'm sure they'll be fine," said Valyr to himself, though he himself was somewhat doubtful of his claims.
Deciding not to think about the outside world any further, the young man returned his thoughts to the matter at hand, wondering once more as to how much time there was left before the third sub-trial began.
In the end, he thought about asking the monotonous voice for the remaining time.
And surprisingly, it worked.
'1 day, 10 hours, and 36 minutes remain before the seventh opponent appears.'
"Damn. I've slept for over half a day," said the young man with slight surprise after hearing the voice's words.
Finally having a reference on how much time he still had left, the young man decided to make use of the remaining time by reforging the remaining pieces of his True Wyvern Armor with [Breath of Enlightenment].
With each use of the skill needing him to wait 12 hours in between, Valyr decided to go through the blueprints he had obtained from the Gates of Awakening while on cooldown, coming up with a few ideas that might prove useful in the outside world.
Other than that, the young man spent all of the remaining time on rest and recuperation, especially after sustaining himself on vials of rousing for days on end.
…
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
"And… done." Landing a few more hits on his greaves, Valyr widely grinned as he felt the piece of armor return to its previous state of harmony.
After that, he stowed away all of the items making up his temporary workshop back into his spatial bracelet, equipping his greaves not long after that.
Whoosh!
Sensing the considerable increase in defense the reforge brought to his greaves, the young man faintly smiled as he began to walk around for a bit to acclimate himself.
At the same time, he used [Superior Analysis] on his True Wyvern Armor, taking a look at the changes the final reforge brought to the strongest skill on the armor set.
"Definitely a far cry from what it was before."
Letting out a whistle in admiration as he read through the skill's description, Valyr recalled the first time he had used the skill, wryly smiling as he remembered the immense weakness he felt after the skill naturally dispelled on its own.
"At least, I won't be as much of a burden on the others after using this skill."
Ding!
<Innate Skill 4: Descent of the True Wyvern - Allows the user to tap into the entirety of the Wyvern Core's power, awakening part of the spirit of the True Wyvern. For 2 minutes, the user's physical and magical stats are empowered by 50%. In exchange, all of the user's stats are reduced by 50% for 10 minutes after. Cooldown: 3 hours. Cost: 50% of the user's HP and MP.>
Though reforging the last two armor pieces only reduced the cooldown of the skill by six more hours in total, they still reduced the cost and consequences of the skill by 10% each.
From what was a skill that he would only use as a last resort, the skill now seemed more viable to use in actual combat, considering that it now looked like he would pay a more than equal price for the considerable boost in power.
"I'll probably get great use out of it by the time the last three opponents appear," muttered Valyr to himself, feeling somewhat giddy at the thought of going all out against Myth-level beings.
After all, if he were to defeat them in combat while going all out, then that meant that he had the capabilities to fight against a Myth-level being toe-to-toe.
Then again, that also meant that he only had the capabilities to fight against a Myth-level being for a short while.
With how the opponents in the Trial of Nine Stars so far, have been greatly restrained in terms of strength, the young man even began to wonder whether there was even merit in thinking of these last three opponents as true Myth-level beings.
Though, before he could begin to delve deeper into the rabbit hole, the monotonous voice resounded throughout the trial grounds once more.
'The third sub-trial begins.'
'Your seventh opponent shall appear in 3… 2… 1…'
"Eh, already?" Not expecting the two days to have passed that quickly, the young man hurriedly kept all of the items he brought into his spatial bracelet as he watched the ray of golden light appear a fair distance away from him.
Whoosh!
Watching the ray of golden light gradually get replaced by a person, Valyr wondered whether his first fight in the third sub-trial would be combat-related or forging-related.
However, such a question quickly disappeared from his mind the very moment he laid eyes upon his opponent.
"Hello there."
"The name is Nila Hephaista."
"I apologize for asking, but… how many opponents have you fought against so far?"
Apologies for not being able to post anything yesterday. Was feeling incredibly sick yesterday, but now I'm back into a somewhat stable condition.
