abcnovels
Chapter 1100: Windfall
Chapter 1100: Windfall
Chapter 1100: Windfall
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"Hey... isn't that the guild master? Who's the young man beside him?"
"Let me take a look. Wait... you don't recognize him?"
"I... uh... I don't. Just registered to the Blacksmith Guild recently."
"Well, I guess it's time for you to find out who he is. That right there is the Blacksmith Guild's pride, Ylvar."
"Ylvar... wait. That Ylvar?"
As Julian and Valyr made their way to the guild's main hall, it went without saying that their appearances caught the attention of all the blacksmiths that passed by them, causing them to erupt in discussions all of a sudden.
Hearing that most of the conversations were about Valyr and not about Julian, the latter looked at the young man with a slightly bitter smile. "Seems like you've become the talk of the guild. Then again, with all of the feats you've accomplished, I would've been more surprised if you weren't."
At those words, Valyr could only smile in response as he made sure that [Thousand Polymorph] still remained active.
Ignoring most of the blacksmiths that talked about the two of them, the two arrived at one of the vacant counters a couple of minutes later, causing the attendant on the other side to feel a bit intimidated from the thought of interacting with them.
Noticing how the attendant became stiff all of a sudden, Julian gave the young woman a reassuring smile as he told her, "We'll only take a bit of your time, don't worry. Just gotta process Ylvar's promotion here and we'll be on our way."
In response to those words, the attendant looked at Valyr, who nodded back at her to further confirm the man's words.
Taking a bit of time to compose herself, she went ahead and did what she was tasked with great efficiency, prompting Valyr to bring out his identification badge for her sometime later.
"This is for a promotion, right?" asked the attendant as she looked the two, to which both Julian and Valyr nodded back in response.
Getting the confirmation she needed, the attendant went ahead and interacted with the thin tablet she brought out, the contents of which eventually caused her to look at Valyr with a hint of surprise.
"Your current position is that of an Honorary Lesser Elder," said the attendant after a bit of silence. "With the amount of merit points you currently have, you meet the conditions to be promoted to a Lesser Elder."
Nodding in response to her words, Valyr watched as the attendant tapped a few more things on her tablet, only to stop as Julian caught her attention. "Before you do that, I'll be using my authority as the guild master to take charge of Ylvar's promotion."
At this point, most of the blacksmiths in the main hall were paying attention to the scene that was unfolding, their eyebrows raised as they were curious what Julian meant by that.
Fortunately, the attendant did not take long to understand what Julian meant by his words, prompting her to nod as she asked, "You'll be promoting him to an even higher rank, right?" "Correct." Julian grinned, glad that she easily caught on. "With my power and authority as the guild master of the Algerie Kingdom Blacksmith Guild, I now promote Ylvar to the position of True Lesser Elder."
"Whoa..."
"A True Lesser Elder... isn't this favoritism?"
As Julian made his declaration in the main hall, it went without saying that all of the blacksmiths tuning in on the scene were left at a loss for words after that, not expecting their guild master to make such a decision.
However, as they remembered the one getting the promotion, the blacksmiths gradually began to warm up to the thought, recalling all of the contributions Valyr had made thus far. "A True Lesser Elder... I think he deserves an even higher position than that."
"Ylvar's contributed a lot to the guild already. Didn't you know that most of the information packets given to us came from him?"
"Not only that, but from what I've heard from my older brother, he's even given our branch a lot of face in the recent meeting with the other directors of the Blacksmith Guild."
"...And what's your brother's occupation again to gain that information?"
"The Imperial Production Guild's head janitor, of course."
Oblivious to the discussions that were going on around them, Valyr looked at Julian with a raised eyebrow, curious as to what prompted the man to promote him to that level.
In response to the young man's gaze, Julian merely grinned as he looked back at him before letting out a bit of laughter not long after. "This is just part one of two."
Watching Valyr's expression turn into that of slight confusion after that, the man returned his attention to the attendant, taking note of the fact that the young woman was almost finished processing the promotion.
"Just to be sure, could you check how many months has Ylvar missed on claiming his monthly stipend of Technology Points from the guild?"
At this point, the initial nervousness the attendant had was gone, causing her to nod as she tapped a few things on her tablet. "If we also include this month, then he's missed 11 months of the stipend, Guildmaster."
"Use my authority to give him all of the Technology Points he missed," said Julian as he nodded at her words. "Of course, make sure that the payout matches his current rank and
position."
"Will do." The attendant nodded, letting out a long exhale before looking at Valyr. "Just to confirm, what rank are you currently at, Sir Ylvar?"
"Rank 4," replied Valyr before briefly releasing his aura.
Whoosh!
For less than a moment, a great portion of the blacksmiths within the hall could not help but pale at the aura Valyr exuded, with some of them even kneeling on the ground from the
pressure.
As for those that were barely able to endure the aura he briefly released, all of them began to look at Valyr in a new light as they asked themselves what kind of blacksmith would have such
a terrifying aura.
With Julian protecting the attendant from most of the young man's aura, the latter was able to do her job properly, allowing her to finalize everything as she tapped a few more times on
her tablet.
"Alright, I think that's done." Stowing away her tablet, the attendant soon gave Valyr's identification badge as she thanked both of them for the time. "Congratulations on your
promotion, Sir Valyr."
Ding!
Receiving his updated identification badge with both hands, Valyr smiled back and thanked her for her time, only to be bombarded by the system with a couple of notifications not long
after.
[Your previous rank [Rank 4 — Honorary Lesser Elder] has been improved to [Rank 4 - True Lesser Elder]. Increase your rank or merit to improve your position.]
[You have received 1,100,000 Technology Points.]
"...Huh?"
After reading the notification that confirmed his promotion to his new position, Valyr's attention immediately shifted to the next notification he received, only to be left at a loss for
words.
"Am I... am I reading this correctly?" Faintly wondering whether he was dreaming, the young man briefly pinched himself on his inner thigh before looking at Julian for more information.
"Did I just get...?"
"Over a million Technology Points in one go? Yes." Julian nodded in response, grinning at Valyr's reaction. "Just to clear up any confusion you have, remember that the amount of Technology Points you get from your position doubles whenever you ascend in class rank." "If I remember correctly, the last time you got your stipend as a Honorary Lesser Elder was when you were Rank 2," the man continued, prompting the two of them to move back to the private workshops now that they've fulfilled their tasks.
"If my math is correct, you got 10,000 Technology Points because of it," said Julian, to which Valyr nodded after a bit. "In comparison, a True Lesser Elder at Rank 2 would get 30,000 Technology Points as a stipend."
"With that, at Rank 3, a True Lesser Elder would get 60,000 Technology Points, while a True Lesser Elder at your rank would get 100,000 Technology Points."
"Of course, there's a limit to how much the doubling of points goes, but it still increases every rank," said Julian as he noticed the change in Valyr's expression, hastily explaining himself with a wry smile. "The Blacksmith Guild can only give so much Technology Points, after all."
"So, with over 1.5 million Technology Points now under your belt, what do you plan on using them on?" Returning to the private workshop Valyr was occupying after some time, Julian went ahead and threw this question at him.
"Hmm..." In response, Valyr fell into deep thought, rubbing his chin as he seriously pondered
over it.
Thanks to the [Herald of the New Era] title he got from being the first to bring back the arquebus to Veldanyr, not only was the efficacy of his Technology Points doubled when unlocking advancements, but the cost of unlocking said advancements was also reduced by
30%.
With that, Valyr effectively had over 4 million Technology Points to spend at this very moment, which was an amount that would undoubtedly make a ton of blacksmiths envious.
However, with the various plans he had in mind for the future, he knew that this massive amount was merely a small drop in the ocean, considering that the amount he had was just a
bit more than enough to get the advancements he needed.
Ding!
'Hmm?' Just as Valyr more or less finalized what he planned on doing with all of the Technology Points he now had, the system sent him a notification out of nowhere, telling him
that he'd received a message from someone.
Curious as to what the message contained, he went ahead and took a look at what he received, only for his pupils to shrink in realization as a look of slight panic appeared on his face.
'Oh shit.'
'I forgot.'