"Technologies beyond the Early Middle Ages, huh?" Muttering the words Valyr had asked her to herself, Nila rummaged through her memories for a bit before looking at the young man with a mix of curiosity and slight suspicion.
"And you're asking this… why?"
In response, Valyr let out a faint chuckle. "Let's just say it's for the sake of innovation."
"You do know there's no point in having information on those kinds of technologies if you don't have the means to make use of them, right?"
Though Nila knew that such an answer was definitely right for her question, there was something about the young man's body language that told her that Valyr was asking it for something else.
"Unlocking technologies from beyond the Early Middle Ages would take a near incessant amount of Technology Points to unlock, especially with the average level of technology that exists within Veldanyr," she said.
"I'm not even sure if you've unlocked all of the technology the Early Middle Ages has to offer on the Innovation branch. Even that already costs over a hundred thousand points to unlock in total."
Listening to her words, Valyr merely smiled.
After that, he activated [True Prodigious Mana Arm] again, utilizing the mana arms to proceed with the next step of the upgrade process.
While his mana arms were busy preparing the materials needed for the next step, he opened up his spatial bracelet before grabbing something out of it, causing Nila to give him a stunned look.
"Now… is this enough of an answer for you, Ms. Nila?"
Bringing out the newly upgraded arquebus for the woman to see, Valyr took in a bit of delight at the former's reaction.
"Is that… an arquebus?" Taking in a few deep breaths to compose herself, Nila soon activated a skill similar to Valyr's mana arms, making use of them to continue the forging process.
In the meantime, she moved closer towards the young man, allowing her to get a better look of the young man's handiwork.
Seeing that Valyr was allowing her to hold it, Nila received it with both hands before examining every part of the arquebus in great detail.
"It really is an arquebus…" muttered the woman after she was done examining.
Giving the weapon back to Valyr, she looked at him with an astonished expression before asking him a question.
"Has the average level of technology in Veldanyr really improved that much that arquebuses are already being crafted?"
At those words, Valyr shook his head.
"It has improved, but not to the point that arquebuses are being crafted… or any predecessor of the arquebus for that matter."
"Then… how?" Asking this question, Nila looked at the young man with immense curiosity.
In response, the young man merely grinned as he pointed at the ground.
Fortunately, that alone was enough for Nila to understand.
"The Gates of Enlightenment and Awakening, huh…" Uttering these words, Nila let out a faint chuckle. "I had a slight hunch it had something to do with that."
"But to make use of the knowledge given by them to this extent… how did you do it?"
"I'll have to keep that a secret," replied Valyr as he let out a bit of laughter, stowing the arquebus back into spatial bracelet.
"In any case, I hope that's more than enough proof for you to believe that I'm not asking for information without reason."
Nodding back in understanding, Nila soon asked out of curiosity.
"Judging by the mechanics you used in the arquebus, I'm guessing you've already unlocked all the technologies up to the Late Middle Ages?"
"Mhm." Valyr nodded in response. "I also have access to technologies from the Renaissance Age, but I haven't unlocked any of them yet."
"The Gates are truly serving its purpose well," said Nila as she nodded before letting out a sigh that held a slight hint of sorrow.
Remaining silent for a bit as she reminisced over the past, Nila then gathered and organized her thoughts regarding the information Valyr wanted to know.
However, before she could even tell it to the young man, Valyr asked her a question first.
"Now that I think about it… you're a memory image, right?"
"In a way, yeah." Nila nodded back, looking at Valyr with slight confusion. "Why?"
"Well…" Valyr scratched the back of his head for a bit as he thought about how he would phrase his response.
"It's just that all of the things you've mentioned so far line up with what's going on in the world right now."
"I even get the feeling that you know where the Gates of Awakening is currently located."
He continued, "All of the memory images I've talked to so far seemingly have no knowledge of what's going on in the world at the moment… yet it feels like I'm talking to someone who does."
"How?"
"How… do I know what's going on?" asked Nila for clarification, to which Valyr nodded in response.
"Well, I guess it does seem weird that an image of someone from the past has knowledge regarding the current state of things." Saying those words, Nila let out a bit of laughter.
"However, the reason for that is far simpler than you might think."
"Use an identification skill on me."
Though he had no clue where she was taking the conversation to, Valyr still did what he was told, activating [Superior Analysis] on the woman before him.
Ding!
[Nila Hephaista] (Memory Extension)
Class: Sole Inheritor of the True Hephaista Forge (Rank 3 — Ancient)
Subclass: Sole Inheritor of the True Hephaista Arts (Mythic)
Species: Human (3rd Unsealing)
Level: 45
Power Level: 69,162 (S+)
HP: 56,448/56,448
MP: 123,115/123,115
Attack: 14,117 - 14,117
Defense: 7,350 - 7,350
Stats: 1960 VIT, 1924 STR, 1888 AGI, 4092 DEX, 3946 INT, 1634 WIS, 1542 PER, 226 LUK
Skills: [True Hephaista Forging Arts], [True Hephaista Forging Vessel], [True Hephaista Forging Mastery], [True Hephaista Equipment Enhancement], and 139 other skills.
Remarks: Though slightly weakened by the rules of the Gates of Awakening, this memory extension is a true mirror image of the true Nila Hephaista, a forger many know to be the closest to the ancestor of the Hephaista clan in terms of blacksmithing skill.
This memory extension also serves as an extension of the true Nila Hephaista, allowing her to remain cognizant of the happenings within the Gates of Awakening.
"Wait a minute…" Though Valyr was left at a loss for words at the obscenely high stats someone with Myth-level strength had, the young man still took note of the main differences Nila's screen had over the others he had seen earlier.
Feeling that he now had an idea of what Nila was hinting, he soon asked her, "So, if I'm getting this correctly…"
"You're connected to this image from the outside world?"
In response, Nila merely chuckled.
"I'm glad it didn't take you that long to understand."
"Spot on."
