Whilst Hal had declared the winner of the fight between him and Valyr, Loreina and Faulus looked at the crater, then at each other for a bit before wryly smiling.

“It seems we’ve still underestimated Ylvar even after he had revealed the strength he had been hiding,” said Loreina, prompting Faulus to nod in response as he recalled the faint hope he had that Valyr would be able to triumph over Hal in their fight.

“He’s really hidden himself quite well, don’t you think?” asked Faulus in response, to which Loreina nodded in agreement. “At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still hiding a bit of his strength in his fight against Hal.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised either,” replied Loreina, only to go silent for a bit as she pondered over the thought. “Though, if you think about it, with how Hal unleashed his Intent Seed towards Ylvar, the chances of the latter still having strength to spare is quite low.”

“In any case, both of them are truly monsters in combat.” Thinking that their conversation would eventually end up going nowhere, Faulus decided to end the topic of their conversation with a statement he and Loreina could agree on, only to see that the two combatants were making their way to where they currently sat.

“With the fight between me and Ylvar done, I suppose we only have three fights left before we figure out who will be leading the group during the inheritance.” As the two combatants waved at Loreina and Faulus with smiles on their faces, Valyr and Hal sat down next to the two just as the latter began to speak.

“Rest first before talking about that,” said Loreina in response as she turned around to look at Faulus.

Fortunately, Faulus swiftly understood what the young woman meant by her gaze, rummaging out a couple of vials from his spatial bracelet before giving it to the two that had just fought. “Here. Some leftover potions from the batch I concocted earlier.”

“Thanks.” Thanking Faulus as he flashed a toothy grin, Valyr received the potions he had been given before consuming them one by one, allowing his energy reserves to swiftly return to their peak condition as he felt incredibly refreshed.

“Haah… I needed that.” Of course, Hal had done the same thing as Valyr, with the only difference being the fact that he began to lay down on the ground after doing so. “It’s been a while since I’ve gone all out to that extent.”𝒪𝗏𝑙xt.𝐂𝞸𝑚

“You should probably take the time to get more used to it after this tournament is over,” suggested Valyr after hearing Hal’s words, prompting the latter to look at him for an explanation. “After all, we don’t know what we’ll be up against in the inheritance, so it would be better for us to be in the strongest state we could possibly achieve.”

“Which is why you should really spend more time learning combat,” said Loreina to Faulus as she agreed with Valyr’s words.

“You don’t have to tell me that twice, you know.” Feeling a bit embarrassed from Loreina’s words after hearing Valyr and Hal laugh in response to it, Faulus decided to shift the conversation to another topic before he would possibly get humiliated again. “So, what are the three remaining fights after your break?”

“You versus me.” Answering Faulus’ question, Hal sat up straight. “You versus Loreina, and then Ylvar versus Loreina.”

“Yeah… make that only one fight left.” Hearing the remaining match-ups for the tournament, Faulus did not hesitate to abstain his participation, bitterly smiling as he compared his current combat strength to the three. “With the conclusion of my fight against you and Loreina being more or less obvious, I don’t really see a need for me to fight against you two.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you think there might be a slight chance for you to turn the tides and triumph against us?” Raising his eyebrow in slight doubt, Hal looked back at Faulus with a calm expression as he asked the question.

“If it were any other person, sure. But against you or Loreina… I stand no chance.” In response, the bitter smile on Faulus’ face only became more bitter. “For now anyway.”

“Well, if that’s what you choose…” Though he found it a slight shame to not be able to fight against Faulus, Hal understood the other side’s concern, faintly letting out a sigh as he nodded. After that, he turned to look at Valyr. “How about you, Ylvar? Are you planning to cancel the fight as well?”

“I’ll be the one to answer that question.” Just as Valyr was about to respond that he wouldn’t mind continuing to fight, Loreina interrupted the young man before he could do so, taking the initiative to respond to Hal’s question.

“I’ll be conceding my participation in the fight against Valyr,” said Loreina without a single shred of hesitation, her expression telling Hal as if she had already made her mind up on the situation. “Though I may have a chance at winning the fight if I were to go all out, I would rather save that energy for the upcoming inheritance instead.”

“Well… understandable.” Listening to the young woman’s reasoning, Hal turned his head to look at Valyr, who could only shrug his shoulders as he understood the woman’s perspective. Letting out a low sigh after seeing that Valyr was fine with it, Hal briefly scratched his head as he thought to himself that the end of the tournament seemed incredibly lackluster when compared to his fight against Valyr.

“With Loreina and Faulus conceding their participation in the remaining fights, the leader of the expedition into the upcoming inheritance will be…” Taking a brief glimpse at the sky before deciding to stand up, Hal took in a deep breath as he announced the overall winner of the tournament.

“Ylvar.” Closing his eyes for a bit, he eventually turned his head to look at Valyr, who gave him a wide grin as he stood up before jokingly giving a speech to the others, thanking them for giving him the opportunity to lead the group in the upcoming inheritance.

Then, after talking with one another regarding their preparations for the journey into the inheritance, the four of them went their separate ways, all of them meeting up with the escorts that had accompanied them to the crater.

“Julian’s going to be ecstatic once he hears about this.” Wrapping his arms over Valyr’s shoulder by the time the latter had appeared before him, Zeik widely grinned at him as the two of them made their way back to the Blacksmith Guild.

“Hopefully, this nets me some sort of reward from the Guildmaster,” said Valyr in response, to which Zeik responded with a bit of laughter as he told the young man that Julian would undoubtedly reward him with what he’d achieved.

However, just as he was about to continue his conversation with Zeik as they made their way back…

Ding!

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