Chapter 1165 Returning to Veldanyr
Then again, after mulling over it for a bit, he knew that their separation was inevitable, considering that Scho\'doxa was an Arbiter.
Inwardly taking in a deep breath to calm his emotions, he looked back at the man before asking him a question. "So… I guess you\'ll be sending us back to Veldanyr now?"
"Pretty much." Scho\'doxa wryly smiled as he nodded. "Though I did say at the beginning that the 15 days that remain before the new version were allocated towards the tournament, I\'m still obligated to return all of you back to your home planet as soon as possible."
Listening to those words, it did not take much for Valyr to understand why. "I\'m guessing it has something to do with those beings?"
"Yep." The man nodded back. "I was told that if the tournament were to end earlier than the alloted time, I\'d give everyone on the planet a reminder to prepare for the beings that would arrive once the new version arrived."
"Of course, the same reminder goes for you, Valyr," continued the man as he smiled. "As a blacksmith and an alchemist, I\'m sure you know how to make the most out of that circumstance."
Hearing those words, the young man merely smiled.
After all, Valyr was waiting for this day to eventually come.
\'I\'ll definitely prepare a lot for when they come,\' thought Valyr to himself as he inwardly chuckled. \'Might even finally take that first step towards making that alliance I\'ve been reminding myself all this time.\'
\'Well, I\'ll see what happens.\'
After talking about the upcoming version a bit more, Valyr eventually mentioned to Scho\'doxa that he felt a bit of remorse at the thought of having to part ways with him.
Surprisingly, the man told him that he felt the same way, telling Valyr that he appreciated the friendship they\'d forged while the tournament was going on.
Thankfully, neither of the two had any thoughts of cutting that friendship whatsoever, reminding themselves that they\'d still meet up in the future for the Galactic Eminence tournament Scho\'doxa invited Valyr to.
With that, the two eventually decided to add each other as friends, prompting a new name to be added to Valyr\'s friend list.
[Scho\'doxa Kr-khran\'zar (Lvl. ???)] n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"Now, I really think we\'ve done everything we needed to do to conclude this tournament." Looking at Valyr\'s name at his own friend list, the man began to faintly smile as he looked back at the young man. "Let\'s keep in contact."
"Definitely." Smiling back, Valyr nodded as he told Scho\'doxa he was ready to head back to Veldanyr.
Whoosh!
Nodding in response to his words, the man proceeded to conjure a cocoon of energy around the young man, deftly manipulating the energy he sent out with a few complex gestures.
Seeing as the young man was watching him complete the cocoon he was making, Scho\'doxa decided to make use of the opportunity to tell him something he forgot to tell earlier.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot to tell you that there\'s another reward for the ultimate winner of the tournament."
"It has something to do with the visit to the extraterrestrial planet."
Unsurprisingly, Valyr raised his eyebrows in response, focusing all of his senses to what Scho\'doxa had to say next. "And that would be…?"
"Something about visiting the planet for a longer duration," replied the man with a slight shrug. "There\'s a bit more to it as far as I\'ve heard, but I haven\'t really been given the specifics."
"In any case, I\'ll contact you and the other lucky winners when that opportunity comes."
"Alright then." Though he was curious as to what Scho\'doxa meant by that, the young man was left with no choice but to keep it to himself for the meantime, seeing that the cocoon of energy around him was finally complete.
Whoosh!
Then, with a snap of Scho\'doxa\'s fingers, the young man soon disappeared from the arena, prompting the man to faintly smile as he glanced at where Valyr once stood.
"Zeihardt, huh…" Thinking about returning the other winners back to Veldanyr, the man began to murmur to himself. "To think he\'s a descendant of that guy."
"And from the looks of it… it seems like he\'s inherited a lot more than just his blood."
"…I\'ve definitely lucked out this time around."
…
Swoosh!
Appearing at the center of a vast plains, Valyr immediately let out a sigh of relief once he realized he\'d been returned to the exact point he stood before being transported to the tournament.
Taking a quick look at his surroundings to make sure his thoughts weren\'t wrong, he then decided to make his way to the Blacksmith Guild for the meantime, hoping to obtain updates on the planet\'s overall situation along the way.
Whoosh!
"Since not everyone on the planet was returned to Veldanyr at the same time, I\'m sure a lot of drastic changes have occurred while I was gone." Activating [Flash of the Azure Dragon], Valyr went ahead and gave Julian a heads-up on his visit to the Blacksmith Guild.
After that, he focused his attention on [Thousand Polymorph], manipulating the skill to change his appearance once more.
"I suppose this is enough." Feeling like he\'d shifted his appearance away from the Ylvar identity he\'d been using so far, the young man nodded in satisfaction as he briefly thought back to the attention he got back at the tournament.
Thinking about how even the orcs and the elves knew of his identity as Ylvar thanks to what happened during the first round, Valyr could not help but shake his head as a wry and bitter smile appeared on his face.
Fortunately, it did not take long for the smile to disappear, allowing him to maintain a calm expression the moment he arrived at the Blacksmith Guild\'s entrance around half an hour later.
…
Whoosh!
Dispelling his movement skill just before arriving at the entrance, Valyr was immediately greeted by the sight of a serious and slightly imposing Julian, his appearance making many of the passersby hasten their footsteps in response.
Getting the feeling that the current Julian had something to do with his message from earlier, the young man quickly gave him a heads-up through another message, which made the man\'s serious visage instantly disappear.
"You\'re finally here." With Valyr also giving him a quick heads-up on his appearance, it did not take long for Julian to find the disguised Valyr, leading him into the guild before heading straight to his private workshop.
Once there, the man let out a wide sigh of relief as he sat on a nearby chair, causing Valyr to let out a slight chuckle in response. "Was it really that nerve-wracking?"
"If only you knew how much clamor your identity has caused because of the tournament," replied Julian with a slightly concerned expression. "Though I wouldn\'t say I\'m confident that everyone on the planet knows of your identity, what I am confident about is that almost every human on the planet already knows of your identity as Ylvar."
Hearing those words, Valyr\'s expression turned solemn as he asked the man what he meant by that.
In response, Julian gave him a brief overview of what happened, starting his explanation from the moment the man returned to Veldanyr.
"When I failed to pass the fourth round, I was brought back to my workshop here in the guild," said the man, to which Valyr perked up his ears in response. "I think everyone was brought back the same way. Being returned to where they were before being transported, that is."
"In any case, once I got back, I went ahead and asked everyone in the guild on updates regarding the overall situation. After all, you could say that the entire planet was brought to a standstill for at least a week."
Seeing that Valyr nodded in agreement to his words, Julian continued. "Aside from a few updates that weren\'t all that surprising because of the mass disappearance, there was one update that instantly caught my attention." "And that was the fact that a certain clan is looking around for your current whereabouts."
"Wait…" Valyr slightly frowned at those words. "Hasn\'t the Zeihardt clan already done this? Didn\'t they stop doing it because of the war?"
"They did." Julian nodded. "However, the clan I\'m talking about is not the Zeihardt clan. It\'s a different clan altogether."
Valyr frowned even more. "Are they looking for me? Or are they looking for Ylvar?"
"Both," replied Julian, causing Valyr\'s expression to turn grim. "They were constantly talking about how the prodigious young man during the first round of the tournament was connected to the man named Valyr Zeihardt."
"There were also claims that the prodigious young man was Valyr Zeihardt himself, but the message was more or less along the same line."
"Do we know which clan that is?" Scratching the back of his head at Julian\'s words, Valyr let out a faint sigh before asking his own set of questions. "Also, has the Zeihardt clan made a move because of it?"
"Answering your second question first, they\'ve indeed made a move." Julian nodded. "They\'re currently working in conjunction with the clan that began to spread the news about the connection in the first place."
"As for your first question… I\'m sure you\'re familiar with the Nicholas clan?"
"The Nicholas clan…" Feeling that the name of the clan was familiar to him, Valyr began to mull the name for a bit, only for his expression to turn even more grim once he realized what was going on.
Though, just before he could voice out his speculations to Julian, a familiar voice began to echo throughout the planet of Veldanyr.
The mystery is totally intentional.
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