How..

"Ah?"

As if struck by lightning, Exia's body starts to tremble furiously, while countless pieces of information like a needle tried to penetrate his mind, resulting in his body get jolted.

...

Biting his lip until it bleeds, Exia forced himself to be awake from the endless pain he suffered and quickly jerked his hand from the orb. Instantly, the hammer he held fell to the ground, producing a loud thud noise.

Sweating profusely, Exia slowly returned to normal as his vision gradually cleared up. Unlike yesterday, this time, Exia's more curious instead of scared. Therefore, he didn't immediately scurry away and perceived his body condition first to check whether he's suffered fatal injuries or not. However, this action of his leads him to be astonished.

"What the actual thing that orb did to my body?" Exia muttered softly after sensing his body's stamina restored to its prime. Rather than a feeling of soreness, Exia was welcomed by the vigorous state his body exhibit.

"Are you okay?" Ardelt's voice full of concern entered his ears.

Recovered from his daze, Exia replied assuringly, "Yeah, my hand just slip a little just now."

Heaved a sigh of relief, Ardelt said, "Let's call it a day. I've promised to Bernard that I'll give you another chance later."

Closing his eyes for a few seconds as if contemplating something, Exia opened them after resolving his dilemma. With a smile, he replied, "It's fine. I can continue."

During the period, Exia recalled his experience after being hit by the scarlet-orb yesterday. It turns out his stamina perhaps also recharged by the scarlet-orb that time. Nevertheless, since he was blinded by his fear that day, he failed to sense that feeling. Henceforth, he's quite confident he could beat Ardelt's challenge if he could recharge his stamina over time by letting the scarlet-orb touch him.

'Why do I feel like my idea makes me look like a masochist? The concept of harming myself to retrieve extra stamina really does sound weird.' Exia mused inwardly.

Frowning his eyebrows, Ardelt spoke with a tone of anger, "Please don't try to act tough. It makes my impression of you gone bad now."

Shaking his head, Exia smiled mysteriously, "I'm not trying to act, though. Just watch, mister."

"Heh, really a reckless brat. I wouldn't be responsible if you got harmed in the process, then. I've warned you enough, and I think it'll be a good lesson if you learn something from your rash decision." Ardelt said coldly while crossing his arms in front of his chest. Watching Exia lifting the hammer from the ground, he turned his head to Bernard and said with a tone of sarcasm, "The boy you brought surely is a genius, huh. Just pretend I didn't make any promise before. He's just another stubborn fool. Can't even detect his own limit and wouldn't admit his defeat."

Bernard could only laugh awkwardly at Ardelt's remark and didn't know how to answer it. He just met Exia a day before and didn't know he was this stubborn.

While they talked, Ardelt didn't try to lower his voice the slightest. Thus Exia could hear clearly what he's been talking about.

'Well, if I didn't discover this fact by accident, I'd surely didn't dare to try to continue forging. However, since I have been granted an unlimited likelihood of endurance, why should I not use this benefit completely!?'

As he said those words to himself, Exia swung his hammer to the gauntlet's surface that had dents formed already on some of its parts.

*Clank*

*Clank*

The hammer's sounds colliding against the steel continue to resonate in the area, creating a unique rhythm on its own. As time flew by, the rhythm decreased and eventually stopped, indicating the forging's action came to an end. Unfortunately, the thing is, the gauntlet had yed turned into a flat-metal completely.

"I guess this is the end," Ardelt chuckled in mockings, knowing Exia failed the test despite the tenacity he showed.

"I guess 16 blows of a hammer is my body's limit, huh? It's sure increased by one from the last time." When Exia first time forging, he was counting the blows he delivered to the gauntlet simultaneously. And now doing this for the second time, Exia realized that his hand start aching only after the 16 blows. That was a number ahead from the first.

Now having his stamina cleared out, Exia stared at the orb and mumbled feverishly, "Now it's your turn!"

Directly shoved one of his fingers against the orb, Exia felt his body trembled in pain once again. But since he composed himself beforehand, he could now react pretty well and withdraw his hand instantly before damaging his mind further.

Immediately, the previous feeling of powerlessness disappears, replaced by a surge of mysterious power that rapidly recharges his strength.

"It really worked," Exia clenched his fist excitedly and tried so hard to suppress himself from squealing loudly in the spur of delight moment.

Without bothering to say a word to Ardelt and Bernard, Exia starts to lift the hammer and smash it once more on the gauntlet. The initial quietness regained its lively again when the sounds of hammer smashing echoed after pausing for a few seconds.

*Thump*

*Thump*

*Thump*

...

"Take this last blow from me!" Exia spoke as he hit the gauntlet, which looked pretty unrecognizable now.

*Thud*

"F-Finally did it..." Exia said between his panting as he gazed at the thing above the anvil that had an appearance of metal thin as sheet.

Wiping his sweat with his left-hand, Exia turned around and said proudly, "How's my performance?"

Instead of greeted by applause, he was welcomed by total silence. Shifting his eyes, Exia saw both Bernard and Aldert had their jaws dropped on the floor and could only utter a word after they regained their consciousness, "How..."