1152 A Chance Encounter


    Ever since Riekan was forcefully transported to the Rise to Prominence tournament, he thought his chances of seeing people he recognized was low.


    After finally being able to fulfill his side of a promise with an old friend that was long dead, the man decided to pay a visit to the n he came from after being away from it for over 200 years.


    Unsurprisingly, a lot about the n had changed after his departure, with the n now having a reputation on the continent that caused their presence and their words to have considerable sway amongst the general popce.


    Not only that, but all the people he knew from the n in the past now took up high positions both inside and outside the n. With him being the main ancestor of the n, it basically allowed him to rule over a certain territory if he wanted to.


    Then again, Riekan really didn''t have any aspirations nor thoughts of making use of that.


    After he was done checking in on his n, he then checked up on the other people he knew from the past. At some point, he eventually found out that a considerable portion of them had sumbed to the passage of time while he was away.


    Of course, it went without saying that the realization caused him quite a lot of grief. Even more so when he found out that some of them had died not long after he took the undertaking of fulfilling his promise to an old friend.


    Fortunately, most of the people he still knew were more or less there, making great strides in their path to power as they became ancestors, elders, or guardians within the respective factions they were a part of.


    Aside from that, he caught up with the Legends he''d be friends with over 200 years ago, with some of them bing Myths while he was away. Naturally, it went without saying that most of them were surprised that Riekan had not made much progress in his strength even though a lot of time passed since all of themst met.


    Thankfully, a quick exnation of what he''d done for the past 200 years was more than enough for them to understand theck in progress. To no surprise, many of them rescinded their initial thoughts as they began to look at Riekan with respect.


    After all, dedicating almost half of one''s life just to fulfill a promise to an old friend was definitely a level of dedication even they would think twice to partake in.


    By the time he''d finished catching up with the people he knew, he proceeded to continue where he left off on his path to power. Naturally, he spent most of his time honing his strength while learning about what happened while he was away for the past 200 years.


    23:10


    Surprisingly, it only took a few months after his return for great changes to his strength to happen, with Riekan finally obtaining thest piece necessary to take the next step on his path of power.


    With the protection of a couple people he knew he could trust, the man smoothly broke through the shackles of mortality only a couple weekster, bing a bona fide Myth that everyone in his n looked at with veneration.


    After that, he focused his attention towards increasing his strength as much as he could as a Myth. Fortunately, his new ss rank gave him ess to more avenues that would allow him to wield far more power than he ever could as a Legend.


    Sadly, his fast yet stable progression of power was interrupted at the veryst minute when he was transported to arge field all of a sudden. Once there, he found out that even people he vaguely knew was transported to the field as well.


    After learning that all of them were participating in a tournament that epassed the entire of Veldanyr from a man far stronger than him, Riekan decided to put in a bit of effort into it. Though, he only began to take it seriously once he heard they''d get rewards for doing well.


    And thus, making use of his highly enhanced strength now that he was a Myth, the man went through the first three rounds with great ease, allowing him to obtain the best rewards the tournament could give him.


    At the same time, he watched from afar as the number of people drastically reduced every time a round ended, prompting him to think to himself that this tournament was probably the most stringent tournament he''d been a part of.


    Then again, who could me him when a great portion of his friends that were Legends and Myths had been kicked out of the first round for not meeting a man''s criteria?


    By the time the fourth round began, Riekan felt that he''d only be able to encounter a handful of people by the time the round ended. That thought prevailed because each tform pitted a hundred of them in orer to only have one standing at the end.


    Unexpectedly, he was actually really close to being sent back to Veldanyr during the fourth round as almost half of the people on his tform were Myths just like him.


    Fortunately, most of them were those that had recently ascended to be one, or had not made much leeway into their new level of power, allowing him to clinch his position for the final round at the very end.


    Being part of the second batch of people to be transported back to the field after passing the fourth round, Riekan immediately raised his eyebrows when he felt a familiar aurae from somewhere all of a sudden.


    Moving around the field to pinpoint where the aura wasing from, the man eventually came face to face with a young man who did not look all that familiar to him.


    However, the same could not be said for the ne the young man was wearing.


    ''Hmm...'' With the gears in his mind turning, Riekan slightly frowned as he recalled seeing the ne somewhere before. ''I''m pretty sure I gave that to a young man before I returned to the n.''


    Continuing to stare at the young man, he eventually had the young man staring back at him, causing the two of them to stare at each other for quite some time as multiple thoughts went on in their minds.


    Fortunately, everything eventually clicked in Riekan''s mind as he recognized the young man''s aura in its entirety, prompting his eyes to widen in disbelief.


    Surprisingly, the young man also recognized who he was, his eyes widening in disbelief as he eximed, "You''re...!"


    "The one back in the dungeon in that small vige!" continued Riekan where the young man left off, eliciting grins to appear on their faces as they finally realized why they felt familiar to one another.


    Though, with how loud they shouted at their discovery, the grins on their faces instantly turned into wry smiles as everyone on the field began to look at them. With that, the two did not hesitate to head to a slightly more secluded spot for them to catch up.


    "To think the young man back in that vige would actually be able to get this far." After making sure that no one was listening on their conversation, Riekan beamed a smile at the young man in front of him as he initiated the topic.


    "Honestly, I never expected to see you here as well," replied Valyr as he let out a faint chuckle. "Then again, with how everyone in Veldanyr was teleported here, I suppose I shouldn''t be surprised."


    "It really is nice to see you again, Sir Riekan."


    "Likewise." Riekan nodded in agreement, only for him to turn silent soon after as he donned a slightly bitter smile. "Now that I think about it, I haven''t really gotten your name back then, did I?"


    Slightly pausing at the question, Valyr recalled his encounter with the man back in the dungeon, only to shake his head sometimeter.


    "My name is Ylvar," said the young man after that, which unexpectedly made the man narrow his eyes for a brief moment.


    Nevertheless, the man eventually nodded in response. "I''m slightly curious as to why you''ve decided to make use of a different identity, but that''s not that important."


    "Then again, I''m quite surprised at how effective your disguise skill is," Riekan continued. "It took a while for me to realize that you were the young man I talked to back in that dungeon I made."


    "Speaking of which, what happened to the vige that old friend of mine founded while I was gone?"


    Hearing that question, Valyr gave the man a brief overview of how the vige expanded into a town after the dungeon was removed, talking about how it was well on its way to be a city sooner orter.


    Of course, he also gave the man a brief idea of how he was doing after clearing the dungeon, considering that it was a natural extension of the man''s first question.


    "I see." After Valyr was done giving a rough exnation of everything that went on with Astarto and himself, Riekan slightly nodded in understanding before deciding to give the young man a brief overview of what he''d done in return.


    Naturally, both sides withheld from sharing a few important pieces of information with one another as their rtionship only amounted to their interaction back in the dungeon.


    Then again, that did not mean that they didn''t find sce in each other''s existence, finding someone they somewhat knew in a ce where it was more likely to find someone they didn''t.


    "Congrattions." Hearing that Riekan had sessfully ascended to be a Myth sometime after they parted ways, it went without saying that Valyr was happy for the man. Even more so when he remembered that the man had been a Legend for far longer than he''d been alive.


    Though, with a bit more thinking, he thought that it was only a matter of time before Riekan became a Myth. After all, over 300 years was more than enough time for one to consolidate one''s foundations as a Legend to ascend to the next rank.


    "Say, Ylvar." Catching Valyr''s attention with his words, Riekan pointed at the ne he was wearing. "Has the Ne of Enlightenment been helping you out so far?"


    "It definitely has." The young man nodded in agreement, only to wryly smile soon after. "Then again, it was bound to fall out of use after I maxed out every Basic-level advancement I could unlock for my rank."


    "Makes sense." Riekan nodded in understanding. "After all, I made the ne with the purpose of helping someone who was at Rank 1."


    "Now that you''re one step away from reaching the peak of mortality, though..."


    "Want me to upgrade that ne for you?"


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