Though the Half Wyvern Armor didn't really grant him anything significant that would improve his fighting efficiency, perhaps save for [Wyvern's Breath], which he didn't really know how effective it was since he hadn't used it in the life and death duel against Leron, it did grant him something that made him regret not wearing it before coming to the Experience Pit.
'Then again, if I think about it for a bit more, most of the stats the armor boosts are based on survivability.' With him utilizing [True Prodigious Equipment Attribute Awakening] on all the pieces that made up the Half Wyvern Armor, the amount of stats that he got from having the armor on was more than enough for him to fight someone at Level 30 at an even level, even aiding him in victorious till the very end.
Naturally, Valyr knew that he had the capability to fight monsters above his own level even without having the armor on, but with it, he would be able to fight against monsters at Level 30 without much problem, allowing him to gain far more experience than he would have if he were to continue entering the pit without the armor on.
'Now that I think about it, with the strongest monster available to fight against in the pit being Level 35, I could have probably upgraded [Signs of a True Elite] if I had brought my armor along.' Though, with how relaxed his duel against Leron went, even with the gap between their levels being slightly above 10, he had a feeling that he could fight monsters at Level 31, perhaps even higher.
'On second thought, probably not.' As the thought of upgrading [Signs of a True Elite] to a higher rarity entered his mind, he went ahead and asked the man that attended to him if it was possible for him to fight against Elite monsters. In response, the man shook his head, informing him that all of the monsters available to fight against in the pit are all common monsters.
Though surprisingly, the man went above and beyond, telling Valyr not long after that if he wanted to fight against Elite monsters in a safe and controlled environment similar to the Experience Pit, he could head to Algerie Kingdom and enter the kingdom's Akashic Battlefield.
Hearing the man utter out the phrase 'Akashic Battlefield', multiple memories surfaced in Valyr's mind in response, all of them reminding him of the various Akashic Battlefields he had gone through in the past, only to come out of them with insane amounts of XP once he was done.
Pondering over his dilemma a bit more, Valyr eventually made his decision, deciding to enter the Experience Pit without the armor for now, though he made a mental note to not forget it whenever he went outside next time. For now, he decided that this current situation would be a great chance for him to find out how strong he was in comparison to him having the Half Wyvern Armor equipped.
'I wonder if I could find a mage specializing in spatial compression once I arrive at the kingdom?' With his mind made up, he then told the man beside him that he would start off with Level 22 monsters for now, wanting to see how well he fared against them. 'If I don't, then it'll be a while before I can carry the armor with me at all times.'
'After all, it ain't easy to fabricate your own method of communicating with Type 1 civilizations if you're in a medieval world. Sucks that they're hard to find, even though they're the easiest way for me to get my hands on the material folding and compression advancement.'
Letting out a low sigh as he placed the tangential thought he went through at the back of his head, Valyr was just about to head to the pit, only to be stopped by the man as the latter asked him a question.
"Did sir not hear the question I was asking?" The man lightly frowned. "I was asking you as to what type of monster you would like to fight against."
"What monster types are available?" Hearing the man's words, Valyr quickly apologized for his somewhat rude behavior, allowing the frown on the man's face to smoothen out. "Did the pit gain more monster types it could handle alongside the increase in monster level limit?"
"It has." The man nodded, only to give Valyr a brief rundown of how much the Experience Pit had changed since his last visit. "Aside from the monster level limit now being Level 35, the Experience Pit now offers energy-type monsters and elemental-type monsters to fight against. Naturally, if sir could also choose to fight against flesh and blood-type monsters, as well as golems."
"What kind of monsters could I choose from if I were to go with flesh and blood-type monsters?" Valyr posed a question to the man in response, thinking that he could skip fighting against golems for now. As for energy-type and elemental-type monsters, he decided that he would not fight against them at all, considering that they were only weak to magic.
In any case, the skills [Basic Crimson Flame Manipulation] offered to him were far from enough to make fighting against them in the pit worthwhile.
"You could choose to fight against ferocious beasts, such as wolves, jaguars, bears, and lions," said the man in response to his question. "Or, you could choose to fight against other flesh and blood-type monsters, such as snakes, birds, scorpions, spiders, and so on."
"Hmm…" As he listened to the man's words, Valyr pondered over whether he should just fight against one of the ferocious beasts and get it over with. However, just as the man told him that he could fight against other creatures, the crimson spear he held started to faintly vibrate as a connection was formed between him and the spear.
His eyes briefly widening in response to this abrupt connection with his spear, Valyr waited on what it had to tell him in silence, only for him to obtain a short response from the system not long after.
[Go with spiders.]
'Is it because the Lesser Tidemother looked like a giant spider?' Though he wondered the reasoning behind the spear's request, Valyr eventually followed the spear's advice, thinking that choosing it might improve the weapon bond that had remained stagnant after he imbued his spear with a great amount of Lesser Tidemother Blood.
With that, he told the man that he would fight against spiders, prompting the man to nod in response as he informed the other people within the room of the choice Valyr had made.
Making his way to the pit, Valyr was then asked by one of the staff as to how many Level 22 spiders he would choose to fight against at once. By the time he had appeared at the center of the pit, he responded that he would be fine fighting against five of them at once, the same number he chose back when he used the Experience Pit for the first time.
Obtaining a response from the staff around the pit that it would be a while before the monsters would start appearing, Valyr faintly nodded as he brought up the chat function in his mind, recalling the list of things he had made last night regarding what he would do today.
"Hey, Arcenne. Are you free at the moment?" Preparing for what he was about to do by doing a few basic warm-ups in the meantime, Valyr shot Arcenne a message through the chat function.
"Currently testing someone's spear proficiency at the moment, but I can manage. What's up?" Surprisingly, it did not take long for him to receive a response from Arcenne back, causing him to let out a soft chuckle as he read through her message. After all, he was about to do the same thing soon enough.
"Remember what I told you yesterday regarding the group of five?" As Valyr sent a question to Arcenne, the staff above the pit told him that the monsters were about to appear soon, causing him to nod back at them in response as he got into fighting stance.
Not long after, the sounds of gears turning faintly resounded throughout the walls of the pit as some of the gates opened, revealing the monsters that Valyr had decided to fight against.
"[Analysis]." At the very moment the spiders noticed his presence, all five of them charged towards him, prompting a light grin to appear on his face as he activated [Offense Aura].
Whoosh!
Ding!
————
[Pit Spider] (Level 22)
HP: 590/590
MP: 280/280
Stats: 49 VIT, 49 STR, 38 AGI, 38 DEX, 23 INT, 23 WIS, 23 PER, 23 LUK
Remarks: Do you really enjoy fighting against weaker enemies? What are you? Some kind of psychopath?
————
In response to all five of them charging at him, Valyr swept out with his spear, controlling his spear in a way that punctured some of the eyes these enlarged spiders had as they were sent flying to the wall soon after with faint thuds. Coincidentally, it was at that same moment did Valyr obtain a message from Arcenne in response.
"Yeah. I asked my father about it and he told me that he couldn't believe the possibility he mentioned was actually true. Of course, I asked him about what he meant by that, eventually telling me that you're a candidate for the Four Pillars' Inheritance."
"That's pretty much what I was about to tell you, actually. But since your father decided to tell you before I could, let me ask you a question instead." After he was finished reading through the message Arcenne sent, Valyr then went ahead and increased the pace, swiftly killing all five spiders without much difficulty as he asked the staff above to increase their level by one.
"What is it?" With Arcenne's response arriving just as the staff were in the midst of adjusting the spiders' strength, it did not take long for Valyr to send a message back, a message that contained a question that lingered in his mind from earlier.
"Do you know any mages that specialize in spatial compression?"
