Riku's Offer and Training

Vallynor, upon hearing him, was ready to agree. Such knowledge would never hurt – like how to kill and escape. But all of this seems too good. Vallynor already knows that there's always a catch, like that whore who eventually killed him. A trap? No, why bother? Too much effort would be spent on a weakling like him. He didn't even notice when they took him. Nonetheless, it's necessary to check.

"What are the conditions?" Vallynor asked, indicating his interest but not fully agreeing, to see how the interlocutor would react if he refused.

"No conditions. I will teach you everything I know. Whether you have talent or not is your business. My techniques won't disappear. If you decide to kill a whole city or even more – go ahead. A killer kills targets. Reasons for killing can be money, power, things, or even lives. A killer has only the victim to kill. I've been killing for centuries, so I even stopped killing for fun. I'll give you a free lesson. Remember, a killer can become the killed."

What's this? Was there a hint that he'll be killed? But even if they kill him, he won't die. After all, the concept of death was shattered in this world. But a killer can still cause harm somehow.

"Alright, I'll become your apprentice," Vallynor accepted the stranger's offer without revealing his face.

"Right choice," a black silhouette appeared ten meters away from Vallynor, a man dressed all in black. "Call me Riku. I don't need titles like 'teacher' or 'master'."

"My name is Vallynor... I'll be glad to learn from you, Riku. I want to know why you brought me to this remote place instead of talking to me right away."

"I wanted to understand who you are. You ran away immediately once you realized you were kidnapped. You made a foolish decision, not even trying to understand the situation. You showed that you're a fool. Screamed like a hysterical girl. Showed that you're hysterical. Every choice you made showed me who you really are. I won't say you're an ideal, because that would be a lie. But even an average level is beyond your capabilities. But I have no choice."

"You don't spare words. You speak everything as it is."

"Better the bitter truth than sweet lies. I'll talk to Caesar. But you need to return to Henry. He's soon going to achieve the status of Horkim's blacksmith. I'll take you to Horkim, and I'll tell you the rest later."

After Riku finished speaking, shadows enveloped them both, and then they disappeared. In the next moment, Vallynor woke up in a room filled with weapons, armor, and various strange items.

A shop? Vallynor looked around and realized he was alone. Where's Riku? He left me. After thinking for a moment, Vallynor started to inspect the shop more carefully. As he examined the items in the shop more closely, Vallynor almost imperceptibly heard the sound of a hammer striking iron.

Looking towards the entrance to the adjacent room, Vallynor wanted to enter and see. When the door opened, he heard:

"Neafan, you're already in my eyes. Move your fat ass. Because of you, I'll turn as black as a miner's toilet."

"Oh, come on, you're more like... hic... a mutant sea monster, ready to use its tentacles to get under men's skirts."

"Do you remember that unfortunate incident? I'm not to blame that a drunk wanted to sleep with a girl. But who could have thought that the idiot would come dressed as a woman and use magic to change faces and body forms? And then he even turned into Mia."

"But you touched his 'manhood'... hic... And after you yelled, there's even a video... hic... Do you want to watch it?"

"No, where do you have a video? I destroyed all the recordings," Henry yelled in a frightened voice.

"It seems not everyone... and... you were right, Vallynor is indeed in Horkim's forge," Neafan said, entering the forge and looking at Vallynor in amazement. Then he fell to the ground.

Henry closed the door behind him and kicked Neafan in the rear. Then he took out twice the amount of slime and began smearing it on his skin to get a slight tan.

"Can we have the details?" Vallynor asked, looking at Henry strangely.

"Of course! Once upon a time..."

"Shut up," Henry screamed hysterically, hitting Neafan directly on the lips.

Horkim from the adjacent room stopped hammering the sword and, picking up a bottle, prepared to take a sip when he heard shouts:

"Who's there, damn it? You're about to get a beating if it's you again, cursed advertisers, with your dirty comrades and offers."

Vallynor looked in the direction of Horkim's voice and saw him entering the room with a bottle. In his other hand, he held a sword emitting light, ready to strike.

"What are you doing, old drunk?" Neafan yelled, seeing the dangerous sword that could fall on all three of them.

Horkim recognized familiar faces, but it didn't make him angrier, unlike those who tried to sell him alcohol.

The sword, which could strike at any moment, instantly disappeared... flying sideways and demolishing one of the weapon racks.

"Oops! I got a little mixed up," Horkim said, approaching the wrecked shop. He kicked the weapons with his foot, then turned and looked at Vallynor, saying:

"And here's the first material for learning."

"Learning?... From whom?" Neafan asked in confusion, looking at Vallynor and Henry. "So this is Henry?"

"You fool, of course it's not going to be me. I hate the heat, and working in a forge would be torture for me," Henry quickly corrected the misunderstanding. He wouldn't want new rumors to spread that he's trying to deceive Horkim by sucking up as an apprentice.

"But there are other methods that have been around for a while. There's the art of blacksmithing that uses cold or water, as well as cutting-edge technologies," Neafan said, doubtful of Henry's words.

"Actually, Vallynor is my newly minted apprentice... Did you forget that you're in my forge?" Horkim reacted, not willing to listen to this nonsense.

"So, you became Horkim's apprentice," Neafan said, stopping his laughter and looking at Vallynor, contemplating.

"Well, wasn't it obvious right away?" Henry asked annoyed, looking at the chubby dragon.

"Hmm," Neafan disregarded Henry's words and pondered. His clear eyes were fixed on Vallynor, who couldn't even claim to be drunk. Even the hiccup disappeared. "Do you want to learn martial arts from me?"

"Young dragon, what are you plotting?" Horkim asked discontentedly.

"For what payment?" Vallynor wasn't against learning something new that would make him stronger. As a necromancer, he would need to raise the dead to fight for him, while he observed from the sidelines due to his frail body. However, just one person like Riku could sneak up behind him and deliver a fatal blow. Riku's killer skills and techniques would greatly assist him.

"I'll talk to Caesar," Neafan replied, implying that Caesar would be the one paying.

"Alright," Vallynor responded, then turned to Horkim and said, "I want to settle the debt."

"So quickly?" Horkim asked in surprise, but at the same time, he felt joy and doubt. Had Caesar already managed to prepare the payment?

"Yes, but I don't know the exact value of each item, and as a blacksmith, I want to get advice," Vallynor said immediately, as after the battle with the Forest Queen, he quickly gathered all the treasures but couldn't analyze and evaluate them carefully. After that, he had to leave with Alexander for the city. The quest is still waiting to be completed.

"Mmm, alright. Follow me. And you two idiots, stay here," Henry, who had stepped away and began wiping slime off his skin, nodded. Neafan took the bottle from Horkim's hands and sat on a chair, starting to drink from it.

Horkim pointed to Vallynor to follow him, and they moved to the adjacent room where Horkim's angry voice could be heard.

Vallynor expected to see a traditional forge, but instead, he found a vast room filled with tools similar to those he had seen in his own world. Even something resembling a drill was hanging on the wall. Could they really use such tools for work here? And did these tools really exist in this world?

In the corner, he finally noticed furnaces and an anvil. They had a modern touch of magic and science. For Vallynor, it was a visual delight. He loved creating things, and he enjoyed games with extensive crafting systems, like Minecraft with various mods. Now he could create anything himself in this world, and, most importantly, he wasn't limited by anything. He could craft items with various effects and attributes.

"Have you looked around? Soon you'll be living here. But now, let's talk about payment. But first, let's go somewhere where we won't be observed," Horkim said, stomping his foot on the floor twice. A doorway appeared in one of the stone slabs.

"Let's go in. We'll talk about everything in there," Horkim ordered, pointing to the entrance.

With some hesitation, Vallynor followed Horkim, descending down a stone staircase. He noticed that the room was well-lit, although the source of light wasn't visible. There were no lanterns or torches, yet light was present. Vallynor understood that this wasn't due to his ability to see in the dark, as the difference between the illuminated and unilluminated room was noticeable.

"It's the light from stones known as moonstones. They emit a gentle light, similar to the Moon's glow. Oh, how I dream of sitting with her again, admiring the Moon... Are you sure you want to become a blacksmith?" With every step, Vallynor and Horkim delved deeper inside. Finally, Horkim asked Vallynor.

"Why are you asking? I said I want to learn," Vallynor didn't understand.

"I know how you youngsters think. Always striving to become stronger, seeking various masters of magic and warriors. But what can a blacksmith do? Create weapons and armor, that's what you think. I want to know what made you wish to learn blacksmithing when Caesar isn't around."

"I want to create weapons," Vallynor answered.

"Just to create?... That's unbelievable," Horkim muttered to himself.

"I feel that I won't always be able to turn to you to make weapons. I want to be capable of creating them on my own," Vallynor explained.

"I haven't even made a single thing for you, and you're already talking as if I'm your blacksmith. It's hard for me to believe. Well, I have some thoughts myself. Caesar's help isn't accidental."

When they reached the end of the corridor, Horkim touched the door, which had no handle. The door shattered into pieces and vanished. Entering the room, Vallynor saw the doors instantly restore themselves to their places.

"Well, take it out," Horkim said, pointing to the floor.

With some hesitation, Vallynor began to take out everything he had collected from the old woman using the ring. There were ingots of various metals, thousands of coins, dragon eggshells, dragon claws and scales, as well as many different items with unclear functions.

Looking at all these treasures, Horkim's eyes sparkled. But then he sighed and said:

"You can return the gold and artifacts back into the ring... But you have a fragment of the Forest Queen's dragon soul, if I understood correctly?"

"Yes, is there something wrong?" Vallynor asked in confusion.

"Return it to the space of the soul," Horkim said.

"What?" Vallynor heard Horkim, but couldn't understand what he was talking about.

"You don't know? Dragons naturally possess their own miniature dimensions that expand with the strength of the dragon's soul. They can use these dimensions as their hands. The most important thing is that no one can steal your treasure hoard, not even a god, unless they shatter the soul into tiny pieces and infiltrate each of them to find the entrance to these dimensions. That's why a dragon's treasures within its inner space are the most secure," Horkim explained.

***

Caesar sat at his desk, looking at the empty chair across from him. He waited for a few minutes, then said, "You can appear now."

"You already knew I would come. As always," Riku appeared on the empty chair, dressed in black.

"You will be able to train Vallynor in the evenings," Caesar said, taking out a few sheets of paper. He handed them to Riku, adding, "Here's your payment. Train him well."

Riku looked at the sheets of paper. They had unfamiliar words and symbols on them. He studied them slowly and then, enlightened, looked at Caesar and said, "Now it's clear. I'll do my best." After saying these words, Riku disappeared.

Caesar took the sheets of paper back and returned them to their place. He muttered to himself, "This is just a small part."

Reflecting, he no longer wanted to spend time on futile attempts to combine all the spells into one. He knew he would soon achieve the desired result.

At that moment, there were three knocks on the door. Caesar frowned, looking at the door, and said, "Come in."

A man entered the room, appearing to be around thirty years old, with golden glasses and dressed in a classic men's suit. Smiling, he bowed and asked for permission to sit at the table.

"What do you want?" Caesar asked with an unfriendly tone.

"I want to understand your so-called plan," the man said.

***

"And how do you do that?"

"Neufan once mentioned that it's almost the same as using a ring or artifacts with subspace functionality. To gain access, you need to infuse a bit of energy into the soul, more precisely, into the area where the entrance is located."

"And you don't need to create a subspace first?" Riku asked, stepping out of the shadows and startling Horkim, who was stroking his beard and assessing the metals.

"Where did you come from?" Horkim said, trying not to exclaim or sigh.

"I came to tell Vallynor that Caesar approved my offer for evening lessons," Riku said, relaying the information. Then he disappeared, turning into black mist and leaving Horkim and Vallynor alone again.

After a few moments, Horkim understood everything. He looked at Vallynor and asked, "You became his apprentice?"

"The odd one?"

"Yes, the odd one. So much time has passed, and he rarely showed his face. He said that an assassin should hide their identity. But sometimes, in exceptional cases, he allowed his face to be seen. You should have seen it, his face was that of a teenager. Very beautiful..." Horkim continued thoughtfully stroking his beard. "In the past, many girls ran after him," Horkim's last words sounded a bit jealous. Vallynor immediately understood that Horkim was jealous. Perhaps the great blacksmith had problems with women.

"Weren't girls chasing after you? After all, you're a great blacksmith," Vallynor couldn't resist and asked Horkim.

"There were so... many..." Horkim began to proudly answer, but then hesitated and added uncertainly, "Some were terrible, like devils. It's good that most of them are no longer with us. But almost all of them asked me to create something for them. For a while, there was a trend with bikini armor, because of which many girls came to us, blacksmiths, for us to make not just one set, but dozens of sets for them. I was a leader among the blacksmiths, so many initially came to me. Yeah, then I started dating my beloved. But that's in the past... Let's first gather all the coins and everything unrelated to iron."

Vallynor pondered and summoned a few undead. Then, taking a sample of each metal, he showed them to his minions and ordered them to gather everything except those samples.

Horkim looked strangely at the walking corpses, then noticed the metal ingots with glowing eyes.

Before Horkim were just a few dozen ores, both normal and magical: iron, gold, copper, mithril, orichalcum, and other metals.

Deep in thought, Horkim picked up a magical iron ingot. This iron was saturated with mana, which he slowly absorbed. Magical gold was the same as magical iron, but used in different items.

Setting the magical iron ingot aside, he took mithril in one hand and orichalcum in the other. Under his breath, he mumbled:

"99.99% purity. Ideal ore. If the impurities were 100%, it couldn't be called mithril or orichalcum anymore. It would just become trash."

"Why?" Upon hearing Horkim, Vallynor couldn't hold back and asked this question. He already knew that impurities in ore could affect the metal's hardness or fragility.

"Mithril and orichalcum at 100% purity would become so brittle that they would quickly turn to dust and disappear."

"Mmm, turn to dust?"

"Yes, the impurities contained in these metals bind the molecules... You know what molecules are, right? They're very tiny particles..."

"I know that they're molecules and atoms," Vallynor interrupted Horkim.

"Alright! You see, orichalcum and mithril contain so much mana that they're very similar to mana veins. Mana veins are places where a huge amount of mana accumulates, and it always strives to spread evenly in all directions. Impurities prevent it from doing so. And purity of 99.99% allows for the combination and creation of new types of metals without turning into dust."

"Understood," Vallynor slowly replied. "Can anything be done with 100% pure mithril or orichalcum?"

"Hmm, if I remember correctly, they turn to dust. And mithril and orichalcum are very valuable metals. Using them for experiments with unknown results is not practical. It's better to use them for something else. And if something goes wrong, you can always return the metals. The ones that have turned to dust can't be brought back."

"Can you use magic related to time to bring back mithril or orichalcum?" an intrigued Vallynor asked.

Horkim looked at him strangely and asked, "Do you understand what you're asking about? Magic related to time barely exists."

"What?"

"Well, how can I put it... There's magic that achieves the same result you're talking about, like time acceleration. This spell makes molecules move faster than they should, which leads to time speeding up. The same thing happens with time freezing – it simply makes molecules stop. It's like an icy prison. Returning, for example, a burned leaf is not time manipulation, just a trick. The spell makes all the molecules return to their original state."

"So, magic that controls time itself doesn't exist?" Vallynor asked, pondering Horkim's words.

"Of course, it exists. But only a few beings in the entire universe can use it. And even they have limitations. Understand, even the God of Time can't simply go back into the past and change it." Horkim sighed, looking at Vallynor's face, and continued, "Playing with time is not granted to anyone. Think about what would happen if gods could change the past at their will. For example, you could become a monster that brings doom to all the gods. If they could time-travel, they could come to you when you were just mortal and destroy you. But in doing so, they would alter the present, and every god would do the same if they could. But they're not allowed to violate the laws of time. Perhaps only the Creator and his security system are permitted. But that's just legends," Horkim said, waving his hand.

"Um, that was a strange example," Vallynor was a bit surprised by Horkim's words.

"It's just an example! Of course, it can't become reality. It's too crazy. I gave it to make it easier to understand the meaning of my words."

"So, time travel is impossible?"