MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"…Oh?"

Though he'd begun to doubt whether Valyr would be called by the organizer before the first round neared its end, the young man made sure to push his senses to the limits every time an organizer came down to announce the people that made up the next batch.

Because of that, he was only slightly caught off guard by the fact that his original identity was finally called.

"Looks like it's your turn," said Ataraxia to Valyr the moment the organizer was done, giving the latter a knowing grin.

"Seems so," replied Valyr, giving his other identity a knowing smile in return. "Wish me luck."

"As if you'd need something like that." Ataraxia let out a slight chuckle in response, only to then give the young man a few words of well wishes.

Faintly shaking his head at the young man's contradictory response, Valyr beamed a smile at him one last time before heading up to the surface, eventually leaving Ataraxia off to his own devices.

"…Well then."

Having made sure to enter a tavern beforehand, Ataraxia went ahead and ask for a new drink as he shifted his attention towards the large magic screen at the center.

Looking through the various participants that made up the batch Valyr was in, his expression briefly turned into that of surprise as he noticed that one of the participants in the same batch as him was actually someone he knew.

'To think she'd be here…' thought Ataraxia to himself, rubbing his chin as he continued to look through the other participants of the 214th batch.

Not finding any participant within the batch that he might recognize, the young man instead shifted his attention towards the crowd, immediately smiling the moment he noticed how the audience slowly began to focus their attention on Valyr.

'I'm surprised people still recognize me even though the tournament is close to being half a year ago.'

Deciding to save the other thoughts he had in mind for another time, Ataraxia glanced at the screen one last time before moving similarly to Valyr back when it was turn.

'Speaking of which…'

'I wonder what kind of reaction Erika would have towards me?'

…

Whoosh!

Feeling like he could pay greater attention to his surroundings, Valyr briefly clenched his fists to calm himself as he and the other participants got into formation.

Along the way, he noticed that over half of the audience would cast glances at him every once in a while, the soft conversations many of them held more than clear to his otherworldly sense of hearing.

"That's Ylvar! The one who killed a hundred Myths during the Rise to Prominence tournament!"

"Wait… that tournament where everyone on Veldanyr was forced to join? He's that Ylvar?"

"Pardon me for asking… but who's Ylvar? I also participated in the tournament, but I've never heard of him during that time."

"I guess your information network wasn't too wide, hence you didn't pick up on him. However, Ylvar there is someone recognized by the godlike arbiter of the tournament."

"Being able to kill a thousand Myth-level beings while still at Rank 3… how cool is that?!"

"But aren't there many people in legends and myths that achieve the same feat? I admit Ylvar is more talented than us, but he isn't really all that."

"Hoh…? If that doesn't win you over, then have you heard of what he did while he was at the frontlines?"

"Though he had the assistance of the Heavenbreaker War Squad, Ylvar singlehandedly killed the Grand Chieftain of the Khagarax Empire, as well as decimated a great portion of the orcs' higher-ranked troops!"

"…He did that?"

'I don't know where they got the numbers from, but at least they're still talking positively about me.'

Faintly shaking his head in amusement at the conversations he was unintentionally eavesdropping on, Valyr eventually shifted his attention away from the audience, focusing it instead on the four main arbiters of the tournament.

Whoosh!

Surprisingly, at the very moment his gaze landed on the four of them, the four immediately looked back at him, all of them giving him different expressions in response to his gaze.

Of course, it went without saying that Julian reciprocated his gaze with a wide smile, considering the amount of prestige and assistance he'd brought to the Blacksmith Guild.

On the other hand, the representative of the kingdom's military gave him a look of respect, faintly nodding at the young man in acknowledgment.

As for Eliathaea, she suffused a bit of fighting intent in her gaze, causing Valyr to briefly feel as if a pack of wolf kings were baring their fangs at him.

Yet, rather than quiver in fear from the intent, the young man remained unperturbed, instead returning the gaze with a bit of combat intent of his own.

Whoosh!

"Interesting." Sensing a similar level of intimidation from the intent that was sent at her, a slight smirk began to tug on Eliathaea's lips, prompting her to pay more attention to the young man.

After all, although his feats had become well-known to almost everyone, there was no visual proof of his feats just yet.

Seeing that three out of the four main arbiters gave him positive looks in response to his gaze, Valyr faintly smiled at them in gratitude before moving onto the only arbiter he had yet to gaze at.

'Back when I first stared at her, I first felt as if I needed to devote my entire existence to her,' thought the young man to himself, his gaze carefully landing on Erika. 'Then, the second time around, the gaze she gave me made me feel like she was trying to read me like an open book.'

'Now… what kind of gaze would she give me now that I'm using my original identity?'

"Hmm?"

Feeling someone intently gazing at her, Erika slowly turned in the direction of the gaze, eventually meeting eyes with Valyr a few seconds later.

"…"

Wondering what would happen now that they locked gazes, the young man was slightly confused when he didn't sense anything from her for a few seconds.

However, it did not take long for that train of thought to change.

Whoosh!

Not long after the thought came to mind, an overwhelming series of emotions began to emerge from deep within him, causing him to frown in return.

Trying his best to rein and suppress these berserk emotions as quickly as possible, the young man's attempts were quickly foiled after the emotions inside him seemingly combined and solidified into a more powerful force.

'Submit your flesh and soul…'

Devote your entire existence…'

'…And only then shall the Chosen One save you.'