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nIn response to the man’s question, Valyr could not help but let out a light chuckle as he gestured towards the seat on the opposite side of the table. “By all means, be my guest. Then again, you’re already occupying it, Tryndall.”

nListening to Valyr’s reply, Tryndall let out a brief peal of laughter as he called for the waiter that was serving Valyr, informing the latter of his order. Just as the waiter nodded in response to his words and headed to the kitchen portion of the restaurant, Tryndall looked back at Valyr with a light smile. “I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

n“Same goes for me.” Nodding in response with a light smile, the expression on Valyr’s face somewhat became solemn as he looked at Tryndall with a hint of curiosity. “So, what brings you here aside from having lunch? After all, we’ve agreed that the time we’ll meet up everyday regarding the quest would be around an hour before sunset.”

n“You’re not wrong in that regard.” Tryndall nodded in agreement. “However, as I was walking through the streets to find a place to eat, I inadvertently noticed you sitting here. Lo and behold, we’ve ended up in our current situation.”

nLetting out a light sigh after listening to Tryndall’s words, a slightly wry smile appeared on Valyr’s face as he told Tryndall soon after that they wouldn’t meet up later in the day, considering that they were already talking to each other right now, which the latter agreed with.

nWith that, Valyr decided to make the most of the time waiting for their orders to be served to ask Tryndall if there was any progress in their quest. “So, have you made any headway into the quest?”

nHearing the question that came out of Valyr’s mouth, Tryndall flashed a bitter smile before shaking his head. “Ever since we’ve met up yesterday, I’ve been asking around the city regarding the various people that have classes related to cooking, following the lead the Adventurer’s Guild had given me. Unfortunately, after watching them work for a while, none of the people I’ve asked so far match the proficiency of the Clossbay Killer.”

nAs they were in a restaurant, Valyr reminded the man opposite him to talk in a hushed tone midway the latter’s response, to which Tryndall nodded as he finished the remainder of his statement in a softer voice.

nPondering over Tryndall’s words for a bit, Valyr went silent as he rubbed his chin. Just as all of their orders were served in front of them, a thought popped up in his mind as he looked at Tryndall, who looked like he was just about to dig into his meal. “Those people you’ve asked and watched, what class rank were they?”

n“Most of them were at Rank 0 and at the beginning of Rank 1, though there were some in the middle of Rank 1,” Tryndall responded, only for him to go silent as he realized what Valyr was trying to say. “Are you telling me to check those at the peak of Rank 1 and beyond?”

nIn response, Valyr nodded. “Think about it. If the Clossbay Killer was still at the beginning or at the middle of Rank 1, he would need to have a class that’s at least Rare in rarity in order to be able to do those sharp and clean cuts. If that were the case, we would have already found a few people that fit that criteria.”

n“However, if he were at the peak of Rank 1 or higher…”

n“I see.” Saying these words, Tryndall went ahead and dug into the food he ordered as he nodded sometime later. Seeing that, Valyr went ahead and dug into his food as well, his eyes slightly widening in surprise from how delicious the food he ordered was.

n“In short, we should expand our range to those at the peak of Rank 1 and above.” With his mouth still partly filled with food, Tryndall said these words, only for a slightly bitter smile to appear on his face as he swallowed the food in his mouth. “Then again, it would be somewhat risky since we’re not even peak Rank 1 yet.”

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n“We’re just going to check if they fit the criteria with Analysis. Nothing more, nothing less,” said Valyr as he finished one of the plates of food he had ordered. “If you want, I could help you out with the search.”

n“Though, if you agree, that would have to wait for a bit since I have to return to Astarto Village for a short while.” Hearing Valyr’s words, Tryndall nodded before shrugging his shoulders, telling Valyr to take his time since there wasn’t a time limit to the quest anyway. Aside from that, he told him that he would keep record of the people he had already checked, which Valyr appreciated.

nWith their talks regarding the quest they both took now done, they then changed the topic of their conversations to their lives, laughing every once in a while as they continued to fill up their stomachs with the food they ordered. Eventually, the two of them were done, going on their separate ways after each of them paid their respective bills.

nHeading in the opposite direction of where Tryndall was heading, Valyr recalled the directions Arcenne had given him earlier regarding where the Experience Pit could be located, employing a bit of his AGI to slightly speed up his walking speed. Although he had gotten lost at the start of the journey, going through a few twists and turns that led him to a dead end, he eventually found the path Arcenne talked about earlier, which was a path that led straight to the Experience Pit.

nAround ten minutes later, Valyr had arrived at the place Arcenne mentioned where the Experience Pit could be found, which looked like a dozen meter tall block of rough cut stone that had a hole cut into it to serve as its entrance. Seeing that there was no signage above the entrance that mentioned the Experience Pit, Valyr felt like he would only find a few people inside, which meant he would be able to enter one of the pits quite easily.

nHowever, it was, in fact, quite the opposite.𝒪𝗏𝒍xt.𝓬𝒪𝐌

nJust as he had taken a couple steps inside the building, he was greeted by the sight of multiple doors spanning a long corridor, with sounds of metal colliding against flesh, screams, and overall clamor swiftly resounding throughout the place. Although they were all muffled by the stone walls that spanned at least a third of a meter thick, it made Valyr realize that the simple external appearance of the building was not because the Experience Pits were being kept hidden or were not popular.

nInstead, the Experience Pits were so popular that there was no need for a sign. In their eyes, advertisement through word of mouth was more than enough.

nLooking around his surroundings to see where he could get one of the pits for his own, he eventually found a counter at the very far left of the corridor, with a young man in his late twenties manning it.

nHeading there, the young man instantly looked back at him with a slight frown before letting out a long sigh. “I’m guessing you’re here to book an Experience Pit?”

nSensing the apparent disinterest the young man had while manning the counter, Valyr could not help but ask himself a question as he nodded in response.

n‘Am I even in the right place?’

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