Hero of Darkness

Kahn had a different outlook on the entirety of Blacksmithing Craft now. Because before he started the real training 2 months ago… he only had respect for this profession from the perspective of an outsider or an onlooker.

But the past two months had greatly tested his mind, tenacity, commitment, perseverance and patience throughout his daily routine and continuous yet precise efforts to embed these skills and knowledge in his body and soul.

Unlike the time when he was focusing on weapons and combat techniques training or how he studied magic and space law… they all were done in order to ensure his survival and help him rise higher in ranks and strength.

Blacksmithing was something he chose on the accord of an opportunity showing up when he saw Throk's predicament back then and he wanted to save his future wealth on making his weapons and armors by himself.

This wasn't something he felt the urgency to learn, just something that was on a bucket list. He had Alchemy, Magic Formations and Runes in his list too. But none of these were a necessity for him.

However, now that he had spent the past two months learning the ins and outs of this craft, even though they were only a form of basic training… Kahn had a completely different mindset about it now.

The craft itself wasn't about just making armors and weapons for the sake of battle or killing your enemy. Instead, the fundamental concept that gave birth to it was…

Creation.

Yes, the blacksmithing craft presented a branch of creativity that came out of your mind. You spent blood, sweat, hard work along with hundreds of hours of intense forging process just to create a piece stemmed out of your imagination and taking a real appearance and body.

Like how an artist brought his imagination, feelings and creativity together to make a painting that was the culmination of everything that inspired him…

Like how a math genius spent years creating formulas and equations to quantify and solve the problem at hand… ending up setting a standard that would help future generations.

Like how a scientist spent decades to solve mysteries of the world and nature or how an architect spent years to build a building that became a monument of inspiration and hope to the people of their country.

In Kahn's eyes… Blacksmithing was the same; making you bring your ideas, creativity, aspirations, emotions and hard labor into a physical form.

Let it be an eloquent sword to a crude and terrifying-looking battleaxe… to a blacksmith, all of them were beautiful and praiseworthy creations.

And now… Kahn wasn't in a hurry like before.

Because he was multitasking using the doppelgangers, which was already a huge burden on his kind while soaking in a lot of knowledge and experience at the same time through his daily training.

And even if he was learning and unlocking skills by himself through hard effort… it was going to take him a long time than directly absorbing skills from someone.

He didn't plan to kill some innocent blacksmith just to get their skills. Unless someone tried to kill him, he wouldn't go looking for blood by himself.

This was a land where he couldn't get away with killing anyone since his identity was already in the limelight and he was certain many people… whether they belonged to Hector or Venessa's faction; whether they were from the Church of Hetrax, imperial family or even the Dwarven Council… he was aware that there were many eyes on them.

But none of these hidden spies provoked them so Kahn and the gang also had no reason to pick a bone with them since they all planned to lay low in this empire from the very beginning.

And one day…

Kahn was completely immersed in forging an armor set and dual-wielding swords under Throk's supervision. However… he was lost in his thoughts while quenching the hot sword's blade but suddenly, his steps stopped.

Kahn had his eyes wide open yet he couldn't see anything in front of him. The forge was full of scalding heat yet he couldn't feel anything on his skin.

The hot blade that Kahn held by using tongs was leaking vapors, yet he didn't move an inch from his.

To Kahn, the whole world around him had turned into background while he entered a space existing in a different plane.

This plane of existence was nothing but a combination of black and crimson red.

Every building, every object regardless of their shape and size in this plane was made of these two colors while he was completely naked and barefooted.

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

All he could hear was the loud sound of metals and tools clanging against each other by themselves while no people were performing these repeated movements.

He turned around and saw an enormous black and red castle behind him that appeared like it was made around a ginormous mountain.

Ting!

Clang!

The sound of metals and hammers never stopped but Kahn suddenly felt like there was some invisible force calling out to him. As if telling him to enter through this endless castle's main door and venture inside.

Kahn was puzzled yet he seemed to have lost his ability to think or question anything. And without a second thought… he started walking towards this castle where the floor was made of sizzling stones.

Yet Kahn kept walking towards this castle and followed behind the echoes of these noises as if he wanted to find any answers… he'd only get them inside.

Suddenly in the real world, Throk shouted…

"What the hell are you doing brat?!

Who said you could space out during your training?" exclaimed the dwarf blacksmith and walked towards Kahn.

But suddenly… he was completely shocked because at the same time…

He saw Blackwall in the same state as Kahn.

Both of them were frozen on the spot as if they didn't exist in this place and were lost in time.

"Impossible! How can that be? And both of them at the same time?" asked Throk to himself with a completely flabbergasted expression.

This was something he had read and heard about once. And there was no mistaking it… Both Kahn and Blackwall, who had entered a state of trance, were going through…

An Enlightenment!