Dark King

Training field.

Dudian was standing in an inverted frog posture. The fingers of his left hand gentle rubbed the sand on ground. Although he couldn't percieve the sensations from his left arm but he could visually grasp them. He would use his fingers and feel the movement through his eyes. Although the effects of such an observation didn't bring a result but it was much better than blindly continuing to exercise.

The hardest problem that he faced in the absence of perception was that he couldn't determine the state of his own arm. He could even feel a punch or hit. The only option was to rely on visual aids. But how could he watch enemy's action and look after his left arm if he was on a battlefield? How could he have spare time to pay attention to his arm? Therefore he had to exercise so much that he would feel the activities of his left arm on instinct.

Time passed.

The gray radiatoin clous covered the sky. The sun light barely passed through the clouds. They were about to enter the black snow season. Everything was in a depressed state. Even the monsters outside the giant wall would be dormant in their nests and rarely go out. However this was the peak season for hunters to act. They wouldn't have to worry about tide of monsters to attack them.

In the blink of an eye it was afternoon.

Sergei was tired and sweating because he was expanding the training ground. Moreover he felt faint pain from the spikes on his shoulder. He didn't dare to act violently and tear the wounds. He looked back at Dudian who was standing on inverted frog pose. He was surprised to find that the kid was like a stone-like sculpture. His right arm would tremble slight once in a while but left arm was still.

There was a trace of appreciation in Sergei's eyes. As he was expanding the training field he would supervise Dudian from time to time. But he always found him practicing without taking a break. He never imagined that the kid would have such a self-discipline. Moreover the kid had strong endurance. According to Sergei's original speculation even a senior hunter couldn't adhere to a five hour training. It could be considered a very difficult thing to overcome. Moreover the whole body was positioned on arms and the longer the activity took the harder it would become.

Dudian was checking Sergei too. He saw that Sergei was resting so he shouted: "Don't' try to laze around. Seize the opportunity and time to expand the field!"

Sergei's eyebrows wrinkled: "Don't waste your concentration by trying to monitor me!"

"It would be much more efficient if you talked while you worked." Dudian indifferently said.

Sergei's face muscles twitched. He turned to carry the stone to make the pier.

Half an hour later Dudian stood up and checked at his swollen right hand. He looked at Sergei: "Let's go to eat. We will continue after the meal" He turned away and left.

Sergei spitted and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He quickly caught up with Dudian.

Dudian was surprised to find a refined middle-aged man in the living room of the castle: "Who are you?" Actually he had already sense the man's smell as the middle-aged man had come in the morning. It seemed that he was a lobbyist for one of the consortia.

The middle-aged man saw the sweaty figure of Dudian but still stood up from the chair. He smiled and said: "Architect Dean nice to meet you. I'm here on behalf od the Green consortium. I want to talk to you about the sale of the new invention."

Nicholas who was close by ordered the maid to bring a towel for Dudian to clean off the sweat.

Dudian nodded slighty as he walked towards the dining room. He got a cup of tea: "New invention. What about the price you want to offer?"

The middle-aged man didn't think that Dudian would be so direct but it already save him wasting time on meaningless talk. He replied: "Our price will absolutely satify you. We want to offer the minimum price for a three-star item. What do you think?"

Green consortium was on bad terms with the Scott consortium. So Dudian't didn't think that they would dare to open such a high price. However this also was proof of his value. The situation right now was totally different to the time when he had escape from the jail. He had to run around and spend a lot of effort and energy to earn 100000 gold coins to rent the passage. However right now he was sitting at home and the people would come to offer money to him.

He clearly understood the situation too. First of all he had only produced total of two inventions. First one was new type of textile machine which was a legendary level item. It reformed the thought style of this era. The second one was a top grade four-star item. It laid his identity that he was not simply relying on luck. These two items gave guarantee and strong confidence to these consortia to come up with such a high value.

"Three-star item ..." Nicholas's pupils shrank. He had reflected on his previous chat with the middle-aged man. He knew that Dudian was not an ordinary architect. But didn't think that he was higher than he had imagined! Such an offer was the proof of Dudian's attainments. Was he a master?

If Dudian was thirty years old he would think so. But the kid was a teenager!

Dudian slowly shook his head: "Thanks for the good intentions from Green consortium but you should forget about it."

The middle-aged man didn't expect that such an offer would be rejected. He couldn't help but say: "Why? Mr dean, have you already signed a contract with another consortium?"

"No." Dudian bluntly said as he saw the man to be so persistent: "I can't accept the offer because my invention is about to be completed but for an advance booking you have to offer the price of a five-star item."

"Five-star items!" The middle-aged man's eyes widened and he almost bit his tongue. He looked at Dudian: "Dean, Mr Dean. Did I hear it wrong?"

Dudian solemnly replied: "No, five-star item's price."

The middle-aged man was convinced that he didn't hear it wrong. He was startled for a moment: "Mr Dean...Even if you want to refuse you don't have to say it so. Alright, what about top grade three star item's price?"

Nicholas's heart almost broke and jumped out of his body. Was Green consortium giving a reserve price of a top grade three-star item? Is it so easy to earn money?

Dudian slightly shook his head: "Anything less than five-star item's price won't work."

The middle-aged man helplessly smiled as he saw the resolute apperance of Dudian. He thought that with that price it would be even possible to buy the devil himself!

However he didn't dare to say the words out loud. There was no reason to offend the other party. He shook his head and turned away.

Nicholas saw the man's reaction and looked at Dudian's eyes. He thought that Dudian was putting the pressure on man and tried to squeeze a bit more.

Dudian's saw through the intention behind Nicholas's eyes. He shook his head.

Nicholas saw that Dudian didn't prefer the blackmailing. There were doubts in his heart but on the surface he responded rapidly. He went with the middle-aged man to send him out.

Dudian had order the main to put the dishes on the side and prepare the lunch before Nicholas returned.

Nicholas was sitting in his usual position and watching the Dudian casually eat steak. He couldn't help but ask: "Master. Are you a master at the 'Temple of Elements'?"

Dudian didn't think that after racking his brain so much Nicholas would come to such a conclusion. He smiled: "Would I live in a condition such as this if I was a master?"

Nicholas contined: "Why did you refuse the Green consortium if you are not a master? The offer given by them was already a high number. It is close to two hundred thousand gold coins. Has your new invention is already submitted to the temple and evaluated? Is it already confirmed as a five-star item?"

Dudian smiled: "I don't have such a strong relationship with the examiners but I'm quite confident of my invention."

"Confident?" Nicholas murmured. Confident?

Gwyneth, Jin and other saw the surprise on Nicholas's face. Scar swallowed his salive: "What about two hundred thousand gold coins? What is five-star item?"

Sergei knew that Dudian was an architect as yesterday they had gone to buy raw materials. But he didn't expect to see such an outrageous claim. Even if Dudian wasn't a master he would be something very close to it if he really could produce five-star item.

Gwyneth's eyes lit up as she silently watched Dudian.

Dudian rested for a little after the lunch. However he returned to the training ground with Sergei. He was still going to practice inverted frog pose but he allowed Sergei to stack a few pieces of lead on his feat. The leads were almost half of his weight and would greatly improve the effect of exercise.

About two hours later Dudian felt the pain as his right hand trembled. He knew that the additional weight had increased the effect of the training.

Sweat began to flow down his nose to the eyebrows. After passing the eyebrows it went to his hair. Soon the sweat accumulated on his hair and began to drip down. The sand was soaked in bits of sweat.

Dudian couldn't think about anything else. The sense of time began to become slow. Every minute lasted like a long time and was difficult to endure. He focused his attention on his training. Regardless of the pain of his right arm he didn't feel slightest pain from the left one. However he was aware that the strain on his left arm was the same on his right arm. If he overworked he would damage his muscles.

Sergei sneered as he looked at Dudian's trembling body. He knew that he had reached the limit.

The sun faded away and the training field become dark.

Sergei was tired and sweating. He looked back as he wiped the sweat. He was surprised to see Dudian still maintain the inverted frog pose. Dudian's body was trembling slightly more than the previous time but he was still able to control his posture.

"Damned little devil!" Sergei clenched his teeth as he began to think about other difficult training methods.

After a moment Dudian flicked his feat and stood up. He was taking big breathe as he looked at Sergei: "Let's go and have dinner."

Sergei was dissatisfied: "I didn't say that you could stop! Who let you make that decision? Wasn't I the instructor in the training field?"

Dudian was startled: "Do you want to continue?

Sergei grunted: "Of course."

Dudian looked at him: "Alright!" Once again he stood in inverted froge pose. Sergei came over and put the leads on his feet. "You should go now too. Don't stop."

Sergei clenched his teeth and continued to build the stone pier.

It was dark but both of them were training in the field. Nicholas had come twice to call them over but was ignored on both occassions. At about seven o'clock in the evening Sergei felt wet on his shoulder. He reached out and found his hand touch sticky fluid. Although it was dark and he couldn't see the color but he knew that it was the blood from his scapula. The blood was oozing out from the wound on his shoulder.