20 The Smithery

Danny looked at the wall clock. It was 3.30pm in the evening.

After a usual boring day in school, he went home and got ready to take off to the Longwood mansion. 

Danny got his phone and texted Hannah. She asked for Danny's number at the cafeteria at lunch. 

( Hi... Are you ready to go Hannah?)

Danny texted her. 

After some minutes, Hannah sent a reply. 

(I'm ready Danny! Come now!)

Danny quickly got dressed in his jacket and rushed outside. Clara was sitting in the living room, watching the TV.

"5 more murder cases have been reported! All are teenagers from Calliberone high!" 

The breaking said as Danny walked down the stairs. Clara suddenly heard Danny and turned to him.

"Bro!!! Where are you going??" 

She asked in a worried tone. 

"Just going out with some of my new friends Clara!! I'll be right back little sister!! Don't worry!" said Danny.

"I'm just worried about you!! 5 guys from our school were murdered yesterday!! And it looks like the murderers are targeting teenagers!!"

The girl uttered again. She was a very caring sister, although she was his cousin. 

Danny looked up at the girl. Deep down, he knew he had murdered the teens. But he couldn't tell her that he murdered some teens.

"Yes Clara! I heard! But don't worry sis.. I'll take care of myself.." said Danny as he waved at Hannah. 

Hannah waved him back and Danny went out of the house. 

Hannah was waiting for him standing in the middle of the road. 

Hannah was looking worriedly at Danny. "I saw the news Danny.. Those guys were total losers anyway!!" 

Hannah was trying to make him feel better. 

"Yes.. I know.. I'm over it already.." said Danny. Danny looked like he had changed. It only took him 2 days to forget everything about the deaths. 

It was surprising. 

He knew that he had to do far worse things in the future. The words from Claus echoed through his mind. 

"Good.. you're stronger than I thought Danny!" praised Hannah. 

They were already in front of the Longwood mansion. Since it was about 7 houses away, it didn't take them more than 5 minutes to get there.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Danny knocked on the door of the Longwood mansion. 

"Coming!!!"

Draco's voice came from within the house. 

Suddenly, the door opened and Draco came out. 

"Hi guys! Welcome! We have some plans for you guys today!!" said Draco.

"That's good.. where's Claus?" asked Danny from Draco. 

"By the fireplace, doing some research about the Hunt..." 

Danny walked in and went through the hallway, to the living room.

"Wow.. he seems surprisingly well.. I mean he looked like he was depressed yesterday!" whispered Draco.

"I know right! He's surprisingly well!!" Hannah beamed. 

"Yep.. come in then.. let's see how Conor's doing.." said Draco inviting the girl in. 

Danny sat on the couch beside Claus's chair. Claus was doing something on his Mac. 

"Hey Danny! How are you feeling? Everything's good right?" asked Claus. 

"Yes.. I'm feeling good now.. And what's the reason you bought us here today?" 

Claus slowly closed his Mac. "Oh that! Remember about the claymore I told you about? We're going to get some weapons for us!" 

Danny laid back on the couch. Hannah came and sat right beside him. 

"And where do we find weapons?? There's no one selling them!" declared Danny. 

"Who said so? There's a trader in the city.. He only let's in system users.. people get to know him after they are used to this game!"

Claus said as he placed the Mac on the table and got up. 

"We'll get going after the other boy comes.." said Claus. 

"So.. Draco said you were researching the Hunt.. What were you researching about?" asked Hannah. 

"Hmmm.. It was about the missing people.. You see.. When the Witch Hunt begins, all the people in the world gather around "Torion", this country, to play the Witch Hunt.. This event only runs within Torion. Nowhere else!"

Claus explained to the two. 

"But... How? Why only Torion?" asked Danny, suspiciously.

"Ohhh.. because the systems were first found in this country.. Torion is the birthplace of all systems.. Systems have a long history.. I'll tell you that later.." answered Claus. 

Torios was the country they lived in. It consisted of 6 main districts including Mandorin. It was one of the largest countries in the world.

*Knock* *Knock*

Another knock came from the front door. 

"It must be Conor!" yelled Reno from up stairs. Draco went and opened the door again.

"Come in! Come in, Conor!" Draco invited Conor inside. "Thank you.." said Conor and went in. 

"I think everyone is here.. Let's go!" said Reno, rushing downstairs. 

Danny and the other two got up from the chairs.

Reno had a large key in his hands. Conor came into the living room. 

"Guys! Let's go! Head to the garage!!" yelled Reno. All of them went into the garage and Draco pulled up the door. 

There was a large van in the garage. It wasn't there before. 

"Where the hell did this come from??" asked Conor, surprised. 

"We have our ways!" bragged Reno with a grin on his face. All of them got in the van and Claus sat on the driver's seat. 

The three newbies and Draco was sitting at the back. After Claus pulled out the van from the garage, Reno closed the garage door and got in beside the driver's seat. 

"Let's go!" 

*VROOOM*

Claus drove away from the neighborhood. Danny looked at his wrist watch as the van sped up. 

[ 04:18pm ]

The sun was setting down and it was almost nightfall. 

"And... One more thing.. Where's this trader? And is he a system user?" asked Danny from the three seniors.

"He lives in Calliberone, in a shop. He's a mage too." answered Reno. 

*Hmmm.. mage.. I can't wait to see the other systems* thought Danny with a smile in the corner of his mouth. 

Claus drove to the city within 15 minutes. He was a fast driver. 2 or 4 police cars passed them, going in the opposite direction, heading for the forest. 

Danny had gone through the streets of Calliberone millions of times. He could remember every single building of the town.

Claus passed through the bridge and turned into the main street. Millions of buildings filled the city. 

A sea of people were always scattering along the roads. The pavements are filled with pedestrians. 

"What's the shop?" asked Conor from Reno. 

"It's called Barney's Iron Works!" said Reno. 

As soon as Reno said the words, Danny remembered the shop. He had gone to it once or twice before. The man had made iron statues and many more iron works. 

"Ahhh yes! I remember the place!" said Danny. 

There was a huge board saying "Barney's Iron Works", near the 2 pastry shops. Claus pulled up near the road and all of them got off from the van.

There were a lot of metal statues in front of the shop. Some people were buying things inside it. 

Claus and the two seniors went inside. Danny and the other two followed. 

"Claus!!! Long time no see!!" yelled the old guy at the counter. One of his workers quickly rushed to the counter as he walked up to meet Claus. 

"Hey brother! Well you know what I came for!" said Claus, giving the old man a handshake. 

The old man was wearing two black goggles like glasses. He had a long white beard and the old man was short and fat. 

"And looky here!! 3 more new teammates!! And now I know why you came!"

The old man beamed showing it's fallen down teeth. 

Danny could feel an immense aura emitting from the old man. It was even stronger than the aura coming from Claus. 

"Follow me humans!" yelled the old man and went through the shop to a door that said "staff only!".

The old man opened the door and went in.

"Come along my lovely friends!" uttered the old man as he opened the door and stepped in. All 6 of them stepped in along with the old guy.

The whole room was lit up with only one light. 3 long and empty racks took up all the space inside the room. 

Suddenly, the old man summoned a long staff to his hands. It was a yellow staff, with a hammer like end. The long staff was even taller than the man himself.

"Hold on guys!"

The man lifted up the staff, and brought it down to the ground with great speed. 

*BOOOM* 

The whole ground shook and the light inside the room went out. 

Danny and Hannah were shocked. Hannah quickly jumped and grabbed Danny's arm.

Danny tried to duck but the girl was preventing it. 

Suddenly the lights came back on. Conor was ducking down, hiding his head under his knees.

"Get the fuck up boy!" howled Reno patting the boy in the back.

Danny suddenly felt shy when the girl grabbed Danny's hand. Hannah's face went pink. Hannah quickly jumped back. 

Claus saw this and grinned. 

"Wow.. I think these guys are newbies!! Hahaha!!" howled the old man. Then, the old man opened the door they came in. 

He went out and the whole team followed him. 

Danny took a look around.

"What the fuck!" 

Danny, Hannah and Conor were shocked. They were in another place. It was the same door and the same room, but they came out into a utterly different place.

They were inside a huge smithery!