“The thought of continuing never even crossed my mind.” With his eyes briefly widening in response to Zeik’s suggestion, Valyr adorned a wry smile as he responded. “Well, it did at first while I was waiting for you.”

“As long as you understand my intentions.” In response to the young man’s answer, Zeik let out a faint chuckle. “After all, it wouldn’t be great if you were trying to increase your combat experience while death was lurking in every corner. Plus, even if you did want to continue, you’d be forced to leave the Akashic Battlefield either way, considering my somewhat precarious state.”

“I mean… you did consume almost half of the health potions I bought. Even with that, you’re still considered to be in a precarious state?” Raising one of his eyebrows, Valyr looked at the man with a knowing smile.

“Oh, definitely.” Slightly grinning, Zeik took in a deep breath before standing up, proceeding to do a variety of basic movements in order to gauge how much he had recovered thanks to the health potions Valyr gave him. “All jokes aside, as someone who has fought against the orcs, it would be better for us to leave as soon as possible.”

“…” Looking at the man in silence, Valyr eventually nodded in response, prompting Zeik to take the lead as they made their way back to Point Devann, with the young man following behind him. After listening to a couple more reports that had just come in at the very moment they had arrived near the teleportation point, the two of them eventually disappeared from Point Devann, appearing outside the Akashic Battlefield a few moments later.

…

“Even though you’re already a Rank 5 class holder, you were still at a disadvantage against the orcs?” Once both Valyr and Zeik had left the Akashic Battlefield, a few people in guard uniforms quickly surrounded them as they asked the two a series of questions regarding the orc infiltration, as well as a series of questions to ascertain their identity. Knowing the intentions of the guards in their questioning, the two were highly cooperative, allowing them to make their way back to Algerie Kingdom a few minutes later.

“It’s not surprising for some at the lower class ranks to be able to surmount the gap to fight against those at a higher class rank, considering that someone like you exists. In any case, even though the orc I fought was one rank lower than me, I was still at a disadvantage in many aspects.” Naturally, as one of the many protectors of Algerie Kingdom, Zeik gave the guards more information regarding the orcs before they left, with the man narrating his experience against the orcs to Valyr not long after as they made their way back.

“Was the orc really that strong?” Still somewhat doubtful as to whether or not he had made the right choice in not continuing to head to the battlefield, Valyr threw Zeik a question.

“Definitely.” Zeik nodded without hesitation. “Not only were his stats on par against someone like me, the Intent he had control over had a nature that was the exact opposite of the Intent I have control over.”

“If not for that, I would have been able to escape only slightly injured.” At these words, Valyr remained silent, trying to calculate in his mind the strength of the orc Zeik had fought against. After that, he pitted himself against this orc in his imagination, wondering what his chances of winning against such a foe roughly were.

“Haah…” Letting out a low sigh as he came to the conclusion that he would still undoubtedly lose even with his Mythic class giving him greater stats, Valyr decided not to think about more what-ifs for the meantime, instead asking Zeik more about the orcs and the orc infiltration along the way.

…

“Well, I guess this is where we’ll be truly heading our separate ways.” Standing near the entrance of the Blacksmith Guild, Zeik looked at Valyr with a slightly awkward smile. “Of course, that’s just for the meantime. After all, as a commander of the Combat Specialist Division, I need to report the happenings within the Akashic Battlefield and aid the kingdom in its retaliation against the orcs.”

“Naturally, I’ll try to find time for when we head out to the Akashic Battlefield again and finish that journey of yours.”

“Take as much time as you need,” said Valyr in response as he nodded. “I still gained quite a bit from the Akashic Battlefield, even though I only did a bit of fighting there.”

“Anyways, please do keep me up to date on the situation regarding the orc infiltration if possible.”𝑂𝒱𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

“I’ll definitely try to do so.” Leaving Valyr with these parting words, the two finally went on their separate ways, with Zeik heading deeper into the Blacksmith Guild, while the young man made his way back to the inn where he and Wells stayed.

“What should I do next…?” As he made his way back to the inn at what was an unusual time for him to head back, Valyr began to think about all of the things that he still needed to do aside from heading to the Akashic Battlefield. Though, after going through these tasks of his, his mind briefly went blank, only for him to wonder why he was doing the tasks in the first place.

‘As far as I know, I’m doing these tasks in order to become stronger,’ thought Valyr to himself, inwardly nodding as the answer made sense. However, as he pondered over it a bit further, looking at the tasks he had set himself to accomplish from a different perspective, he quickly noticed that there was something odd about how the tasks were arranged.

With that, another question arose from deep within his mind.

‘Am I doing everything too quickly?’

“Haah…” With multiple thoughts swirling in his mind just as he asked this question, Valyr eventually arrived at the inn, with Wells greeting him on how his day was just as he had entered. Though, rather than respond to it like he would usually do and catch up on what the other side was doing, the young man looked at Wells for a bit before giving him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry. Could you just give me a bit of time to think over some things?”