Chapter 724 Four Pillars: The Next Bottleneck
With him moving the notification screen to the side beforehand, Valyr did not take long to take a look at the new notifications he had obtained, all of which left at a loss for words.
By the time he had recovered from the slight shock the notifications gave him, the young man took in a few deep breaths as a question eventually surfaced in his mind.
'So... the rewards that corresponded to the question marks are the hidden stats I just obtained?'
Wanting to know whether that was indeed the case, Valyr moved the screen to the side once more, waiting for the voice to start talking in the hopes of obtaining more rewards.
Yet, no voice was heard whatsoever even after he had waited for a few minutes.
With that, the young man could only wryly smile, thinking about the specific hidden stats he had just obtained.
'Might and Tranquility...'
Though obtaining only hidden stats paled in comparison to the rewards he had obtained earlier, Valyr knew that the latter would only be of aid to him in the short term.
On the other hand, the hidden stats he obtained would accompany him to the very end of his journey, with potential to become more terrifying as he found ways to increase such stats in the future.
'Even though Might is one of the more common hidden stats, it's still pretty good.'
Bringing up descriptions of the hidden stats before him, Valyr began to read through them as he thought back to his past life as a player.
Just like Vigor and Mana Purity, Might was considered one of the more common hidden stats one would obtain around the boundary between Legends and Myths.
Though, with how Vigor was usually attributed to those with Defender-based classes, while Mana Purity was usually attributed to those with Arcanist-based classes, Might was actually a staple attribute for two classes.
The Warrior-based classes and the Assassin-based classes.
Of course, this was due to the fact that the Might stat gave a considerable boost to all physical stats aside from VIT.
Not only that, but it also increased one's Attack stat as well, which could very well define the fine line between life and death for those that mainly dealt damage.
However, if one were to ask what made the Might stat incredibly good compared to the other common hidden stats, it was the fact that it would give the user a certain skill after having enough points in the stat.
'[True Rage]...' thought the young man, recalling the many times in the past where his friends would have a red aura around them all of a sudden.
Though similar in concept to [Berserk] and other power boosting skills, [True Rage] was a skill whose strength was more or less tied to how high one's Might stat was.
The higher one's Might stat was, the greater the boost one would obtain from [True Rage]. At the same time, the less the consequences one would get from using the skill.
In fact, he had even heard that there were a few players in the past who had gotten their Might stat to absurdly high numbers that their versions of [True Rage] had no drawbacks whatsoever.
At the thought, he briefly imagined himself using such a skill in the future, decimating all his foes with one hit.
'Let's move onto Tranquility...' Shaking his head as he realized he had begun to daydream, Valyr then focused his attention on the description of the second hidden stat he had obtained.
Compared to Might, Tranquility was a hidden stat that he had heard of in the past, but did not know that well.
Nevertheless, even though he didn't know much about it, there was still one thing about Tranquility from his past life that stuck out like a sore thumb.
And that was the fact that those with the Tranquility stat have the ability to enter a state similar to [Flow], ignoring all of the unnecessary things before them as they focus all of their attention towards a certain thing.
'Is that the state the old man was in during the memory?' As he asked this question to himself, Valyr proceeded to read through the description of the hidden stat, nodding in understanding by the time he was done reading.
'With Might giving a considerable boost to physical stats, Tranquility can be considered the magical counterpart of Might, giving a boost to INT, WIS, and PER.'
'However, unlike Might, Tranquility does not affect any of the general stats at all,' thought Valyr. 'But in exchange, it allows one to enter a state similar to [Flow] at any time.' nove(lB.1n
"Whether or not that state makes a difference in combat is something I'll have to find out later," muttered the young man, closing the screens he had brought up with a satisfied expression.
At the same time, the monotonous voice of the trial grounds resound out once more, prompting Valyr to think that the reason why the voice hadn't said anything earlier was because he was busy going over the rewards he obtained.
But of course, that wasn't the case.
'Though your strength in combat and forging have undoubtedly caught the Gates of Awakening's attention, that does not change the fact that you have only passed the first bottleneck.'
'With the Gates of Awakening's trials being made up of nine trials in total, there is still the second bottleneck and the third bottleneck that you must clear.'
'However, the Gates of Awakening shall not force you to continue to proceed onto these succeeding bottlenecks.'
'Instead, the Gates of Awakening gives you the choice to either proceed and aim for the second bottleneck...'
'Or stop your attempts at the further trials here and claim the other rewards that have been mentioned earlier.'
'Naturally, aiming for the second bottleneck shall bestow upon you the opportunity to receive far greater rewards than the ones you have received.'
'But as mentioned before, the choice is ultimately yours.'
'Now... what shall you pick, trial taker?'
Listening to the words the voice had told him, Valyr went silent for a bit as a few thoughts swirled in his mind.
After some time, he brought up a screen in front of him, its contents being the description of a quest he had just received.
Reading through it, a bitter smile gradually crept up on the young man's lips, lowly sighing as he reached the end of the text.
'Well... it would definitely be stupid for me to stop here with more rewards ready for the taking.'
'But with a carrot like that dangling in front for me to grab...'
'I just can't not take the bait.'
"...Alright."
Taking in a deep breath, Valyr spoke out to the voice. "I have made my decision."
"I would like to continue taking the trials."
