"Hmm?" In response to the attendant's words, Valyr raised his eyebrow in curiosity as the confusion on his face continued to remain. Pondering over whether he knew anyone within the Algerie Kingdom branch of the Blacksmith Guild, he eventually came to the conclusion that he did not know anyone.
With that, he wondered even further as to who the person might be.
'He did say that someone is important within the Blacksmith Guild…' Scratching the back of his head for a bit as his mind thought about the elders he had met from the Imperial Production Guild, the thoughts in his mind eventually clicked as Valyr's eyes briefly widened, gaining an idea of who the person looking for him might be.
'I wonder if that person had something to do with the wave of tyrannical energy I felt earlier.' Feeling like the chances of the person he had in mind meeting him were high, Valyr nodded in response at the attendant's words, deciding to ask the latter about the person's identity to see if his thoughts were correct.
"Unfortunately, that person did not allow me to give you his identity." At those words, Valyr could only put on a bitter smile on his face, faintly nodding as he decided not to pester the attendant any further with the same question over and over. After all, the man before him was just doing its job.
With that, he instead asked the attendant where he could find the person that wanted to meet him, causing the attendant's body to visibly relax as the man quickly replied.
"All you need to do is to head through the corridor and enter through the door at the very end. There you will find the person who wants to meet you, sir." Hearing these words leave the attendant's mouth, Valyr nodded once more as he committed the directions to memory. After that, he asked the attendant once more to make sure if he had indeed gotten the rewards from submitting the weapons he had forged, to which the attendant replied that he did.
"What about the Technology Points? Didn't you tell me I could claim them?" Valyr asked after his first question, recalling that his question regarding the Technology Points had not been answered clearly. In response, the attendant let out a faint sigh as he adorned a faint bitter smile.
"Indeed, I did. However, the person that wants to meet with you has informed me earlier to tell you that it would be better for you to claim your Technology Points with him, sir."
"Can't you just process the Technology Points while I meet with them?"
"Sadly, that person has also told me to not process it, lest I were to be fired, sir."
"I see." Feeling a bit guilty that the attendant had been dragged into the current situation he had gotten himself into, Valyr decided to not make things any more complicated than they already were, thanking the attendant for his time before proceeding to head to the room the attendant told him to head to.
…
"That felt more like a maze than a corridor." Recalling the great number of twists and turns he had to pass through to reach where he was at the moment, Valyr could not stop himself from having a frown on his face, though it disappeared not long after he arrived at the door before him, hearing the sounds of metal clashing against one another on the other side.
Standing where he was for a bit, he closed his eyes and began to perceive the energy that was being released from the other side, quickly noticing that the energy was more or less similar to the wave of energy that washed over his body while he was talking to the attendant earlier.
Though this realization only made him more unsure of the identity of the person on the other side of the door, Valyr mustered up the courage to knock on the door before him, causing the sounds on the other side to quiet down as a gravelly voice resounded from the other side.
"Come in."
Taking in a deep breath, Valyr faintly nodded before opening the door, only to be instantly greeted by a sight that he did not expect to see at all.
Covering the entirety of the room were multiple machines tailor-made for forging, with each machine being made for a specific step in mind. All of the machines had runic engravings on their surface, prompting Valyr to think that all of them were powered through mana.
Forming a contrast to the advanced machines within the room was the furnace that could be found at the back end of the room, taking up most of the space in the back. Being made out of roughly cut stone that seemed to have melted from the heat it had been constantly subjected to, the furnace gave off a barbaric feeling as the heat it gave off at the moment made Valyr feel as if he was standing in front of a gate that led to the Underworld.
Eventually, his eyes landed on the man at the center of the room, who stood behind a large anvil that seemed to be made from refined Azure Iron, hammering away on the sheet of metal on its surface with all of its strength.
Taking a look at the man's face, Valyr thought that he looked to be in his early forties. However, now armed with the knowledge of how one's lifespan increased with every ascension, he felt that it wouldn't be far-fetched for the man before him to already be in his late eighties, perhaps even surpassing a hundred years of age.
Aside from that, the man's body seemed to be made for the purpose of blacksmithing, with every muscle on the man's body bursting out, filled to the brim with energy. This formed a contrast to the empty head of hair the man was sporting, with the only remnants of hair on his face being his eyebrows and his bushy mustache, both of which were reddish brown in color.
"I guess this is the first time we've seen each other face-to-face." Just as Valyr was continuing to admire the room he was currently in, thinking of it as the closest thing to heaven for blacksmiths in Veldanyr, the middle-aged man placed down his hammer before shifting his gaze towards Valyr, giving him a toothy grin as he chuckled.
"You might be wondering why I told the attendant serving you to have you head here, right?" At this question, Valyr merely nodded in response. However, once he heard the man's response, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he soon flared his aura in its entirety.
"Well, let's just say I want to talk about a couple of things with you…"
"Valyr Zeihardt."
