MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"…Eh?"

Expecting Amauris to swiftly send a barrage of attacks at him the very moment he took flight to the skies, the young man was instead left at a loss for words after hearing the man concede so easily.

Slightly frowning as he kept himself in the air, Valyr looked at his opponent as he thought about their fight so far.

At first, the young man thought that the fight between him and Amauris would have a quick conclusion due to the difference in levels.

With that, he unleashed his strongest magic, following the limitations the older Zeihardt had given him.

However, in a twist of events, Amauris ended up coming unscathed from the attack.

Even though he still took quite a large chunk of damage.

Because of that, Valyr inwardly had a bitter smile on his face as his expectations been turned upside down.

After all, it seemed like their fight would end up becoming a battle of attrition.

Then again, it wasn't as if Valyr was prepared for a fight like that.

Having been into multiple wars of attrition in the past and in his past life, the young man relied on his overpowered set of armor, as well as his considerably high mana reserves to keep up with Amauris.

Then again, Amauris had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve, such as the fact that his attacks moved beyond the speed of light.

There was also the fact that the man's INT stat was higher than Valyr's by over a hundred points, evening out the playing field somewhat.

At that, Valyr thought about how the fight would have undoubtedly been over on the first move if his INT-based Attack stat scaled similarly if the Attack stat were basing it off DEX.

Nevertheless, that did not deter him from putting up a fight against Amauris, even going so far as to activate a couple of his stat boosting skills at some point.

In fact, their entire fight so far was the exact reason why Valyr felt that it was absurd for Amauris to surrender all of a sudden.

After all, if one could fight against a flying monster with no problems, then surely a flying human was of no problem as well.

Though, as he watched Amauris gradually take on a relaxed pose as he sat on the ground, an understandable reason eventually appeared within Valyr's mind.

'Well then. I never expected myself to become disgusted at what I'm capable of,' thought the young man, letting out a faint chuckle.

After that, he looked at Amauris once more for safe measure, deciding to return to the ground around a minute later.

Dispel the pair of wings behind his back, Valyr walked towards Amauris with a bit of laughter. "I'm guessing the air advantage was too much for you to handle?"

Amauris nodded as if it were a matter of fact. "Definitely the straw that broke the camel's back." 

"Put yourself in my shoes for a second." 

"Imagine you were fighting against an opponent that not only had near impenetrable defense, but also insane stamina, high combat power, as well as the ability to fly."

"If my strength weren't being restrained by the Gates of Awakening, I would have probably been able to deal with an opponent like that without a problem," said the man.

After that, the man let out a long and drawn-out sigh.

"In any case, I'm quite glad that there are still members of the clan that have great individual prowess."

Looking at Amauris for a bit, Valyr eventually ended up sitting beside the man, letting out a long and drawn-out sigh of his own.

"To be honest, if I wasn't wearing that set of armor I had, I would've been riddled with holes by your attacks by now."

In response, Amauris let out a faint chuckle. 

"You know, it's quite interesting to think about how I've ended up mastering magic based on the element of Light," said the man.

"If anything, I wasn't even planning to pick up magic in the first place."

"But I guess the heavens seemed to have different plans for me, considering how it made an apostle of a magical deity."

At those words, Valyr looked at the man beside him with interest, hoping that the latter would talk a bit more about his statements.

Yet, as if he was already expecting the young man to ask something like that, Amauris looked back at Valyr with an amused smile.

"There's not much point listening to how I've gotten to where I am," said Amauris. 

"After all, we all have our different paths in life. I might end up muddying the waters of your future if I were to talk about it."

Shrugging his shoulders at the thought, the man faintly grinned. "Speaking of which, for someone who only has a Rare grade subclass, you've sure put a good fight."

"You remind me of those members from the clan with inhuman strength, surmounting even the greatest margins with great ease."

At those words, Valyr slightly smiled, returning his gaze to the far horizon as the two of them enjoyed one's company in silence.

Unfortunately, just like with Sven, Amauris' body eventually began to turn transparent as well.

"My time is up, it seems." The man stood up, looking at the fingers on his hands gradually disappearing.

Looking up at the sky, he then closed his eyes before taking in a few deep breaths.

By the time the man's upper region remained, Amauris looked at Valyr with a slight grin.

"I guess it was somewhat nice to meet you, even if you're a part of the Zeihardt clan," said the man.

"If you could eradicate the clan's corruption from its roots, that would be great."

Whoosh!

And with that, the man in white and gold garbs thoroughly dissipated into thin air, causing Valyr to look back at the horizon as he faintly let out a sigh.

Sometime later, the monotonous voice resounded throughout the trial grounds, informing Valyr of the time he had to prepare before the third opponent arrived.

Thinking about the things he might have forgotten to prepare before the second fight began, the young man reassured himself that he had more than prepared everything he could for the upcoming fight.

Though, just as he said those words, an errant thought suddenly popped up in his mind.

Ding!

[Would you like to spend 253,356 XP to upgrade 'Arcane Shadow Serpent Magic Style', 'Arcane Shadow Serpent Movement Style', and 'Limit Break: Second Verse' to Level 10?]

Skimming through the screen that appeared before him, it went without saying that the young man confirmed the prompt.

'Okay. Now I've really prepared everything I could for the upcoming fight.'

Allowing the waves of information from upgrading the skills to inundate his mind, Valyr gave himself some time to digest his new understandings before opening up the party chat.

Once open, he then asked how the four were faring so far while updating them on his progress in the meantime.

Surprisingly, quite a few things had happened to the four whilst Valyr was taking on Sven and Amauris.

For one, Hal mentioned that he had been given the Trial of Nine Stars as well, having just finished fighting against his first opponent.

Talking about how the man's opponent decided that their fight should be a mix of profession and actual combat, Valyr felt a headache as he imagined a similar scenario happening during his fight with Sven.

As for Vera and Loreina, the two of them had successfully passed through the fifth trials, making great strides with their sixth.

According to them, it wouldn't take long for the two to catch up to both him and Hal, thinking, their thoughts salivating at the rewards clearing the sixth trial held.

Though Faulus was of the same mind as the others that he would also clear the sixth trial, the alchemist told the others that he would surrender after finishing the sixth trial.

After being asked by the others as to why he would make such a decision, Faulus soon explained to them that he had been given combat trials thrice in a row at this point.

With the others recalling about how Faulus did not excel in combat that much, the four eventually respected his decision, with the five bantering a bit more before returning to their own matters.

Whoosh!

Coincidentally, just as he had closed the party chat, the monotonous voice of the trial ground echoed throughout once more, prompting him to stand up.

'Your third opponent shall appear in 3… 2… 1…'

With yet another countdown, a ray of golden light soon appeared near where Valyr stood.

Distancing himself from the ray as caution, the young man watched the ray of golden light disappear as it was slowly being replaced with a person

Though, the person that appeared before him was quite a surprise.

Unlike the two opponents he had fought against earlier, his third opponent this time around was a girl that looked to be in her teenage years.

Adorning a set of gray martial gear, as well as a head of brown hair tied into a bun, the girl exuded a faint aura of sharpness as she looked around her surroundings.

However, it did not take long for that aura to increase in intensity as the girl unsheathed the sword on her back, revealing its dark crimson blade.

Tightly gripping onto its hilt, the girl soon focused her gaze towards Valyr with her lavender eyes.

"The name is Mariella Fuerza," said the girl, taking a few steps forward.

"The goal for this fight is simple."

"Defeat me."

Whoosh!