MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"Before I answer that…" Although Dalton indirectly agreed to explain more about the tournament he mentioned to Valyr, the old man decided to make sure of something first before continuing.

"Did you really not register to the guild with the tournament in mind?"

"I did not." Valyr shook his head. "As I've said, I only came here to register because it was necessary to do so to establish a guild."

"Really now…" said Dalton in response, only to give Rinea another glance after that.

Seeing that Rinea still gave him a shake of the head in response to Valyr's words, the old man finally accepted then and there that he had truly misinterpreted the situation, looking at Valyr with immense embarrassment and guilt.

"Once again, I would like to apologize for implicating you in a situation that you didn't know was going on," the old man said to Valyr, letting out a low sigh as he inwardly admonished himself for his actions.

"Well, it's not like you harmed me in any way," replied the young man in return, finding the old man's apology a bit too much. "Plus, it's not like you had any malicious intent towards me in the first place."

"I did not." Dalton faintly nodded, taking in a deep breath after that to calm down his nerves.

Feeling like he'd sufficiently calmed down from his earlier outburst of emotions, it was only then did the old man explain what Valyr wanted to know in great detail. "Now, the tournament I'm talking about is called the Nine Prodigies of Astella Tournament."

"From the name alone, I'm sure you already have an idea of how the tournament would work, right?"

"I guess?" replied Valyr back, somewhat getting the feeling that the name of the tournament sounded familiar to him.

"Wait…" Fortunately, it did not take long for him to find out why he felt that way as a passing thought involving Mystia surfaced in his mind. "Does this have something to do with the Myriad Prodigies Tournament?"

"You've heard of the Myriad Prodigies Tournament?" Dalton looked back at him with slightly widened eyes.

"I have." Valyr nodded. "However, I only know of the name."

"Well, that's not surprising." The old man nodded in understanding. "After all, the Myriad Prodigies Tournament is only set to happen around three months from now."

'…Three months from now?' thought Valyr to himself in response, briefly looking at the old man in confusion. 'But shouldn't the tournament be finished over a few months ago?'

Pondering over the question he had in mind for a bit more, the young man was eventually able to recall the conversation he had with Mystia back at the Imperial Production Guild.

Confirming that the Myriad Prodigies Tournament should have happened over a few months ago by now, Valyr soon had an idea as to why the same tournament was only about to happen a few months from now.

'I'm guessing it's a similar case with the Elite War Squad tournament,' said Valyr to himself inwardly. 'Due to the war with the orcs now involving the elves, the empire decided to postpone the tournament for now or something like that.'

'But now that begs the question… why did they think it was a good idea to continue holding the tournament amidst an ongoing war?'

Certain that neither Dalton nor Rinea would have the answers he sought in that area, the young man decided to save those questions for the time he could contact Mystia in the future.

At the same time, he decided to focus his attention on the other tournament for the meantime. "So, what's the difference between the Myriad Prodigies Tournament and the tournament you just mentioned?"

"Well, you could say that it's the precursor to the Myriad Prodigies Tournament," Dalton explained. "The reason why it's called the Nine Prodigies of Astella Tournament is because the top nine winners from it would be the ones eligible to go on to the next tournament."

"Is the same tournament being held in the other cities?" asked Valyr.

"Not all of them," replied the old man as he slightly shook his head. "A great majority of the cities decided not to hold the tournament and just handpick their city's representatives from the get-go."

"But of course, there are also cities that decided to hold a precursory tournament for the representatives just like us. After all, we think it's only fair that everyone in the city gets a chance to become the city's representative."

"And I'm guessing one's affiliation is important to the tournament?" asked Valyr after that, being reminded of the man's offer long before even their discussion began.

"For the individual participating, no." Dalton gave him a straightforward response. "Whatever affiliation the individual has does not affect the prizes they get whatsoever."

"However, with the empire giving a bit of support to these precursory tournaments, the organization that the individual is affiliated with get special rewards on the side depending on how well the individual does."

"And that's why you decided to ask me if I wanted to become a core member of the guild," said Valyr in response, faintly nodding as he finally understood what was going on.

"Exactly." The old man did not deny it. "Rinea and I decided to make our move to recruit you the moment we saw a glimpse of your results in the final test."
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"Of course, your results during the first two tests alone would have been more than enough for us to consider the thought," said Rinea by the side. "However, someone here thought that it was better to be safe than sorry and have you take the final test."

"And it paid off, didn't it?" Dalton looked back at Rinea with a slight frown. "Now we know that we have someone that wouldn't just win this tournament with ease, but also place highly in the Myriad Prodigies Tournament!"

"Er…" Getting the feeling that the two would continue bickering if he didn't do anything, Valyr decided to interrupt the two as there was still a part of the current situation that he didn't get.

"I don't really mind representing the Mage Guild in the tournament or anything, but why does it feel like the two of you are rushing to have me on your side as soon as possible?"

"Well, that's because we aren't the only ones wanting to recruit you for the tournament," replied Dalton, his tone solemn.

"The Three Houses want to recruit you as well."