“Veriona Astarto?” At the very instant Valyr heard the name that came out of Riekan’s mouth, a slightly perplexed expression appeared on his face. “Who’s that?”
“The name of that man’s daughter, as well as the current leader of Astarto Village,” Riekan said in response, only for him to ask a question soon after as he felt like Valyr was doubting his words. “Veriona is the name of the village’s current leader, right?”
In response to the question, Valyr lightly shook his head. “It’s not. Alfaera Astarto is the current village chief. I’m not sure if you remember her, but she did tell she attempted this dungeon sometime in the past.”
“What does she look like? That might help jog my memory a bit.” As a slight frown adorned his face as the gears in his mind gradually turned, Riekan posed the question to Valyr, prompting the latter to inform the man of Alfaera’s physical characteristics.
After rummaging through his memories for a bit, Riekan eventually recalled a woman with the same characteristics Valyr mentioned delve through the dungeon in the past, though she was unable to get past the final boss’ second form.
With a wry smile, he looked back at Valyr. “Fortunately for you, I can still remember a woman with the appearance you described attempt the dungeon before. However, if the person you mentioned is the current leader of Astarto Village, then why hasn’t Veriona attempted the dungeon yet?”
“Unless…” At that moment, a thought surfaced in Riekan’s mind, prompting the frown on his face to be replaced with a grim expression as a screen appeared in front of him. Then, turning to look at Valyr, he posed a question to him.
“What day is it today?”
“It’s…” Commanding the system to show him the exact date, Valyr casually read through the contents of the screen that had appeared in front of him before looking back at Riekan. “The 7th day of the 3rd Winter Month, Year 25 of the 100th Caelestis Era. Is there something wrong?”
“I had a feeling this might happen.” With Valyr’s words only reinforcing his earlier thoughts, Riekan could not help but spew out a couple profanities before letting out a long sigh. “300 years have already passed since I finished building this dungeon.”
“Did you just say… 300?” Hearing Riekan’s words, Valyr could not help but widen in surprise as he looked at the man before him. After all, he looked more like someone in his mid-30s.
Nevertheless, he placed this thought at the back of his head for now, the gears in his mind constantly spinning as he pondered over how Riekan was unable to recall Veriona delving the dungeon over that much time.
“Well, at this point, it’s no surprise why she hasn’t delved the dungeon. She’s long dead.” However, before Valyr could even come to a conclusion, Riekan came to a conclusion of his own, thinking that Veriona had forgotten to enter the dungeon in the first place.
Unsurprisingly, Valyr disagreed with the statement, being more privy as to how many people in the village knew of the dungeon. With that, he informed Riekan of what he knew. “It’s impossible for her to not delve it at least once. After all, Alfaera asked everyone that ascended to Rank 1 in the village had been asked to try clearing the dungeon. She told us to do so since it was the only thing hindering the village from expanding to a town.”
“In any case, I’m certain that the other village chiefs before Alfaera would have done the same thing, including Veriona,” he continued. “You’ve had a lot of people enter the dungeon in the past, right?”
“Yeah…” Riekan slowly nodded. “Now that you mention it, I thought it was kind of odd that many people tried delving the dungeon everyday… but now that I realize that 300 years have passed, it’s probably closer to people attempting it every three to six months. Time truly passes faster the older you get.”
Letting out a light sigh at his final statement, Riekan pondered over the question once more. “Well, if that’s the case, then why don’t I recall Veriona ever attempting the dungeon?”𝑜𝐕𝓵xt.𝗰𝞸𝐦
Fortunately, at that moment, a memory from the recesses of Riekan’s mind had surfaced, reminding him of something from the past that finally answered the question he currently had in mind.
However, rather than be joyous at obtaining the answer, he instead became furious, letting out a rage-filled scream as his voice bellowed throughout the large room.
“Damn you, Alveron! You forgot to tell your fucking daughter the secret phrase!” Riekan shouted at the top of lungs, the aura he suppressed earlier faintly leaking out, instantly making Valyr feel as if something was pressing down on his body.
Thankfully, Riekan noticed this slip-up, swiftly suppressing the aura that leaked out before distancing himself from Valyr, heading towards one of the walls before punching it numerous times.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Rumble…
After the room quaked for a bit, everything eventually returned to the way it was, with the exception of a large and deep crater on one of the walls.
After that, Riekan returned in front of Valyr with a somewhat glum expression. Sighing, he sat once more as he bitterly smiled at him. “I finally know the reason why Veriona hasn’t received the inheritance yet. It’s not that she hasn’t attempted the dungeon before…”
“It’s because her father forgot to tell her the secret phrase that would’ve allowed me to find out she was his daughter.”
“Ah…” Listening to Riekan’s words, Valyr could only utter out a sound in response as he lightly nodded, his mind faintly wondering what Astarto Village would have been like if Veriona did obtain the inheritance she was supposed to get from the dungeon. Though, he decided to cut his train of thought short, instead wondering what Riekan would do, now that he knew the truth.
“You said the current leader of the village is Alfaera Astarto, right?” Surprisingly, after feeling glum at the realization, Riekan’s expression swiftly returned to normal as he focused on making amends instead. “Is she still alive?”
Though Valyr could not help but find the question even though he knew why Riekan asked it, he still nodded in response to the question. “Yes.”
“Is she a sword user? The subclass I was supposed to give to Veriona is best suited for a sword user. Now that I think about it, any blade could work, really.” Nodding at Valyr’s response, Riekan asked yet another question.
“I don’t think so, no.” Unfortunately for Riekan, Valyr shook his head, causing the former to scratch his head for a bit as he figured out a compromise.
“How about you? Are you a—” Being told that the current village leader was not a sword user, Riekan decided to give the subclass to Valyr instead, only to stop himself midway as he looked at the blood red spear Valyr owned that poked out of his back. “Never mind.”
“On second thought… how about I do it this way?” Saying these words, Riekan extended out his hand as a small piece of parchment manifested above it. Not long after, thousands upon thousands of words in a language Valyr did not understand appeared on the parchment, with the words briefly emanating a faint white light before swiftly dimming.
Grabbing the parchment from midair, he rolled it up before giving it to Valyr as he told him, “Well, It’s already been 300 years since I first established this dungeon. With the main recipient of the inheritance long dead, there’s not much point in me keeping this dungeon here any longer.”
“With that, I’ve decided to give you this scroll that contains the subclass instead. You could choose to use it on yourself and switch over to a sword, or you could choose to give it to a sword user in the village, specifically one that would help the village out during a time of need.”
“After all, the main reason why I offered to give a subclass in the first place was all because that damn Alveron was afraid of monster tides destroying the village.”
Ding!
[You have received a Subclass Change Scroll.]
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Valyr nodded in response as he stashed the scroll he had obtained into the bag around his chest.
“Say… if I use it on myself, what kind of subclass would I get?” Though, not long after, he asked Riekan the subclass the scroll contained out of curiosity. After all, if it was a powerful subclass, even if he had to change his main weapon of choice, he wouldn’t mind doing it as long as he got more stats.
“The subclass embodies the culmination of my journey so far.” Hearing Valyr’s question, Riekan could not help but recall the memories of his past.
“I have sought to reach the pinnacle of blade arts. I yearned for all my strikes to be everlasting and unyielding, for it to carry the weight of the world. I wanted the blade I wield to instill great fear to all my enemies, and great relief to all of those I know.”
“With that in mind, I’ve named the subclass…”
“Perennial Blademaster.”