MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"…"

For quite some time, Valyr stared at the notification he had received with great amounts of confusion. After all, from how Ryvrthe had phrased it to him, finding the whereabouts of the last leader of humanity was going to be incredibly difficult.

Yet, through a series of coincidences, he had come across something that gave him traces of the last leader of humanity's existence.

"In an area like this, it would be incredibly difficult for someone to overlook this place," muttered the young man to himself as he brought up the description of the quest he had gotten from the Sapient One.

Reading through the objectives he had to complete in order to mark the quest as complete, the young man eventually nodded in understanding as he stared back at the statue. 

"Then again, finding the traces of a being is different from locating the whereabouts of a being," said Valyr as he shrugged. "After all, one is more difficult than the other."

"In any case, this gives me a lead on where to look if I want to complete the other objectives of Ryvrthe's quest."

Staring at the statue for a bit longer, the young man soon noticed that a layer of faint blue light had briefly appeared over the statue, causing it to glisten under the rays of the sun.

Though, just as quickly as he had noticed it, the faint blue light had quickly disappeared as well, returning the statue to what it looked like before.

Getting a hunch that the layer of light had not appeared for no reason, Valyr went ahead and looked at the statue from head to toe to see if anything had changed because of the light.

Unsurprisingly, there was.

"Vaughn Darkstar." Gazing at the plaque near the statue's feet, the sequence of characters carved on the plaque that previously looked like chicken scratches to him now looked like the work of a great artisan.

Aside from that, he now completely understood the words that were written on the plaque, each of them seemingly imbued with great amounts of intent.

"The leader that gave humanity the cosmos." Staring at the name that was written on the plaque for a while, Valyr soon noticed a small line of text written underneath.

Reading through it, a solemn expression soon appeared on his face as he took yet another look at the remaining objectives needed to complete Ryvrthe's quest.

"Haah…" Faintly sighing as he composed his thoughts, the young man began to wander around the barren area in the hopes of stumbling across a clue or two that would allow him to complete the other objectives.

Unfortunately, it was as if the barrier surrounding the barren area was only protecting the statue of the last leader of humanity at the center. Aside from that, there was nothing else within the area at all.

At least… nothing tangible.

"To seek what you wish to obtain, ascend past the Gates of Enlightenment and enter the ranks of the Gates of Awakening." 

Just as he was wondering whether looking around the barren area was futile, Valyr stopped in his tracks as an imposing voice echoed within his mind.

"Until then, the world's mysteries shall remain shrouded before your gaze."

"What do you mean by that?" Wondering if the voice was any similar to the voice that accompanied him in the Gates of Enlightenment, Valyr decided to ask out loud.

Yet, even after waiting for a few minutes, he had received no response whatsoever, prompting him to let out a slightly defeated sigh.

"I need to enter the Gates of Awakening to obtain what I seek." Committing the words that echoed in his mind to memory, Valyr began to repeat the words he had heard as the gears in his mind started to turn.

"Considering that this place is where I completed an objective related to Ryvrthe's quest… does that mean the Triad Gates have something to do with the Great Cataclysm?"

"Wait, that sounds incredibly absurd." Valyr shook his head, wondering how he had come up with the thought in the first place. After all, as far as he knew, the Triad Gates and the Great Cataclysm had nothing to do with each other.

However, as the idea began to brew in his mind, thoughts that seemed to be separate in the past now gradually seemed to connect together in his head, allowing him to get a glimpse of what looked to be the greater picture.

Though he was undoubtedly entranced by the thought of the two being connected, Valyr quickly shelved the thought for the meantime as he had no basis to back up his claims.

"In any case, I think I already know what I need to do next." Gazing at the statue one last time, Valyr prepared for his return to the south quadrant as he activated [False Wings of the Shadow Wyvern].

Whoosh!

Then, with all of the strength he could muster, he swiftly flew out of the barren area, inwardly thankful that he had spent far more time than he liked in this place to remove the skill from cooldown.

"Hopefully, the next time I come here, I would have more answers than questions." Briefly wondering how he would have fared if he were to leave the center through [Traceless Slither], the young man faintly shuddered as he focused his thoughts towards his return.

…

Taking a look at the sun's current position, Valyr briefly glanced at Hal and the others to see what they were doing.

Unsurprisingly, with the four of them having not done much after completing the thousand kill objective, the four were animatedly discussing on their strategies in fighting the north quadrant leader.

Though most of their discussion revolved around fighting against the north quadrant leader in varying group sizes, they also discussed the possibility of fighting against the quadrant leaders on their own, taking Valyr's words back regarding the ambiguity of the objective into consideration.

"Alright, let's head out." Feeling like he had fully returned to his peak combat condition, Valyr interrupted the conversation the four were having as he gestured towards the north quadrant.

With how all of them had made up their minds on fighting the north quadrant leader after their talks, the four did not take long to pack up the things they had temporarily placed down while resting.

In just a couple of minutes, the place they were previously occupying now looked spotless, showing no signs of human inhabitation whatsoever.

Asking the others a couple of times to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, it was only after triple-checking everything did the group depart from the south quadrant.

And with that, they began their journey up north.