Unlike before, Valyr was the first one to enter the rift leading to the Shadow Plane, feeling the ever familiar Shadow Energy envelop him in an instant. However, rather than envelop his body in a way that felt more like a dog greeting their owner, it was as if the Shadow Energy had bound him in place, rendering all of his senses useless.
Fortunately, the sensation only lasted for a brief moment, with the Shadow Plane recognizing his connection to it. With that, the glum yet topsy-turvy landscape appeared before the young man once more, the small incident he had experienced just as he had entered already forgotten.
"So, how long do we have till we have to leave the Shadow Plane, Elder Noel?" Seeing as Noel had also made his way to the other side, Valyr went ahead and took the time to ask a question while acclimating himself once again to his current environment.
"Roughly two days, give or take," said Noel in response, also having undergone the same check from the Shadow Plane as he went in. Though, with his control over Abyssal Energy rather than Shadow Energy, the Shadow Plane had recognized his existence far earlier.
"Since you've already accomplished the other objectives of my quest the previous time we were here, the only thing left for you to do is to slay a Shadow Serpent and make its Shadow Energy your own." Looking around their surroundings to sense where a Shadow Serpent could be lurking about, Noel eventually stopped moving in place, soon focusing his sights in a certain direction.
Taking in a deep breath, Noel summoned a considerable amount of Abyssal Energy before using it to create a solid platform that would allow him and Valyr to stand on it. Willing it to hover a couple of meters above the ground, he then hopped onto the platform, beckoning Valyr to get on it not long after.
Nodding in response, Valyr swiftly jumped with a calculated amount of strength, the force behind it being more than enough for him to land stably on the floating platform of Abyssal Energy. Feeling part of the platform moving around his feet to affix him in place, the young man did not put up any resistance as he looked at the old man in front of him and asked a question.
"Are we heading for a Shadow Serpent already?"
"Mhm." Noel nodded, soon propelling the platform forward once he made sure that the two of them were fully affixed. "With the amount of time we have in this place, it would be better for you to fight a Shadow Serpent as soon as possible in order to accrue experience fighting against it."
"Speaking of which, it seems like your strength has improved compared to the last time we met," added the old man after sensing the change in Valyr's aura.
"Well, I did mention that I'll be heading to the Akashic Battlefield before I left." Valyr let out a bit of laughter. "In any case, I didn't spend the past few days idling around."
"Definitely not." Noel let out some laughter in response as he nodded in agreement. "The fact that you forged an Artifact while only being in the peak of Rank 2 already says a lot about your potential. It's a good thing you decided to use another identity while partaking in that forging duel."
"Wait… how did you know that was me?" As the feeling of being spied on returned to envelop his body, Valyr asked what was an obvious follow-up question to the response.
"How could it not be obviously you?" Turning to look back at Valyr, Noel shook his head as he let out a low sigh. "With how brazen you were in using your Shadow Energy, it wouldn't even take a second for someone like me to figure out that you had another identity underneath."
"Right…" Recalling how he had used Shadow Energy to refine a few materials during the forging duel, Valyr let out an awkward chuckle as he scratched his cheek. "Does that have something to do with the issues you've mentioned earlier?"
"Somewhat." Stopping in midair as they had already traversed a great distance across the Shadow Plane, Noel looked around their current surroundings for a bit before continuing to move in another direction. "For one, all those that have picked up Shadow Energy, whether they learned it from me or not, have been pestered by a great number of people these past few days."
"Aside from that, many people have been heading to the Blacksmith Guild to inquire about you… or the identity you had during the duel, rather," Noel continued.
"Hmm…" Though he felt somewhat guilty for the innocent people that had gotten involved in the mess, it did not take a lot of thinking for Valyr to figure out a couple more reasons why people wanted to see him, excluding the ones he had already figured out during his conversation back then with Julian.
"Political power, huh…" As Valyr muttered these words, a faint expression of surprise briefly appeared on Noel's face, only to remember that the young man's existence revolved around political power in the first place. If anything, it was nothing more than a usual day for the young man if one took the young man's true identity into consideration.
'I wonder what's going on in that brat's mind at the moment…' Feeling curious after Valyr had gone silent all of a sudden, Noel placed those thoughts at the back of his head for the meantime. Instead, he focused his attention towards finding a Shadow Serpent to fight against, eventually finding one half an hour after they had arrived at the Shadow Plane.
"Alright." Slowly willing the platform to descend to the ground, the two eventually stood on solid ground once more as Noel told Valyr to focus his sights on the large creature before them.
"Before you engage with the Shadow Serpent before you, keep in mind that what you're up against is considered the weakest type, a Juvenile Shadow Serpent," said Noel as he noticed a faint blue haze appear around Valyr's eyes. "Because of it being young, its combat style leans more towards relying on its instincts rather than utilizing tactics."
"In any case, as long as you're able to kill it, you'll be able to absorb its Shadow Energy and become a true Shadow Serpentine Lancer," he added, noticing that a slight frown gradually crept up the young man's face.
"Say, Elder Noel." Valyr looked at him.
"You mentioned earlier that the serpent before us is the weakest among the Shadow Serpents, right?" asked Valyr, pointing at the large creature before them.
"Yeah? What about it?"
"…in what way is that the weakest?"