Blacksmith

[Volume 2: World Of Ordinary, begins.]

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Chapter 4 — Blacksmith

Two days later.

"...I'm hungry…" A groan leaked out from my mouth.

And not only hunger, I also feel my body screaming in pain after some beggars poured their pent up stress against me.

I haven't eaten for two days. At first, the thought of eating made me feel very nauseous. It was only bearable to drink whatever water I could find.

My mind and body were exhausted after experiencing everything that had happened so far.

I don't clearly remember what happened after I ate Tang Jin. My brain wanted to forget what happened. Maybe It was for the best.

No… I'm just running away from it like a coward.

All I remember was the sensation of regenerating a new heart. After that, I defeated the Devil and escaped from that place since the pursuers of the Dark Spirit Master were still around.

I didn't want to get caught in another problem, so I ran and escaped with all my might.

After two days of wandering aimlessly, I have stumbled upon a town. A fairly small seaside town called 'Sunset Town'.

Pitter patter.

The rain soaked my body and washed away the filth.

I was shirtless with my upper body exposed. I was so skinny with my pale skin stuck to my bones, making me appear like a skeleton or a human stick.

My body had regenerated under the power of the Devil. However, it couldn't erase the burnt skin on my chest that vaguely resembled a charred sun.

I was awakened by the falling rain, making my mind feel sober and clear.

I'm thirsty.

Opening my mouth, I started to gather the rainwater before gulping down a mouthful of it.

Ahh… my parched throat feels alive.

Again and again.

I repeated the process of opening my mouth to gather rainwater before gulping it down my throat.

It was an inefficient process, but it was enough to slowly satisfy my thirst.

Live… Live…

My heart pounded vigorously and pumped warm blood across my body. It drove the coldness away.

I feel my heart beating with life.

Yes… I need to live.

As the rain stopped, I slowly stood up from the cold filthy ground of the alley. I moved like a dead zombie. My eyes were about the same as them.

A pair of dim red eyes that were already dead with no signs of life.

And yet, I was alive.

I reached inside my ragged pants and took out a tattered black book from my crotch.

This book…

Yes, it was the black book from the Dark Spirit Master. I took it with me as I escaped from that place.

It was a dangerous object to take, but it contained important knowledge.

On my way here, I have sometimes read it when I rested.

Surprisingly, I could read what was written as long as I looked at it.

I opened the black book, skimming through its contents.

Soon, I closed the book while sighing heavily.

An evil book. It contained all kinds of horrifying rituals that needed inhuman sacrifices.

Burn it.

My mind told me.

"I must burn it. This thing would bring calamity."

Once I have the time, I will burn it until nothing is left of it.

I thought of the mysterious 'Abyssal Plane' mentioned in the book. It seemed there existed other dangerous planes other than my current world.

It fueled me with determination to grow stronger. If I explore those mysterious planes, maybe I can find a way to bring them back to life.

There were no dark rituals to bring back someone alive in the book.

If it did, I wouldn't have chosen to burn it away.

However, I found a useful dark method in the book to increase my current strength. It also forcefully increases my chances to awaken a Soul Power.

Poison Sect: Poison Blood Refinement.

"To cultivate it, I must first develop small poison resistance…." I muttered while remembering the contents to cultivate it.

This was really a dark method.

To cultivate it, you need to endure a spirit poison that will ravage your heart. If your heart manages to endure and adapt to the spirit poison, it will reproduce the unique characteristic of spirit poison. Therefore, it will start to pump Poison Blood throughout the body.

Why am I risking my life for this? It was because I have had terrible luck since birth.

I need to gain Soul Power to become stronger.

And no one from my family ever managed to awaken Soul Power. Without Soul Power, you can't become a Spirit Master in this world.

This dark method was the only method to change my fate.

How ironic.

But that's why…

"I'll do it. I have already defied death once, so what do I have to fear?"

I spoke cruelly with madness evident deep within my dead eyes.

First…

"I need money."

I need money to buy spirit poisons which came from Spirit Herbs. It was too expensive for me. I also need to buy ordinary poisons to develop some poison resistance.

It is impossible to find Spirit Herbs around this town nowadays. So, the only option left was to earn enough money to buy them.

"Should I steal?"

I soon shook my head. In that case, I wouldn't be much different from the bandits I hated so much.

A strong raging urge to punch myself appeared. I could feel my rage slowly awakening from deep within me.

I changed my train of thoughts.

"What if I steal from bad guys?"

That sounded good. But It was still stealing from people.

A good idea was to learn some kind of job to earn money. It proved more effective in the long run.

Growl…

I'm hungry.

My eyes fell on the place where cats were scavenging for food.

A trash site placed in the dark alley where many people dispose of their trash.

I quickly approached it but a pungent rotting smell quickly assaulted my nostrils.

However, seeing the cats getting their food from the trashs, I gulped down before scavenging for food that I could eat.

It was fine if it tasted gross, disgusting, or rotten.

I don't mind now.

Who am I feel that way?

I was as filthy as the trash on the inside.

But I wanted to survive and live.

I need to live.

Until I can get revenge for them.

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A shop.

A Blacksmith Shop.

As I stood in front of the shop, the heavy smell of flame and metal assaulted my nostrils.

I then gazed at the recruitment poster I was holding, making me certain that I came to the right place.

'Hu Yu's Blacksmith Shop: Now looking for an apprentice to teach. Food and salary benefits included.

"This is it."

I entered the shop, causing a bell to jingle softly.

Upon entering the shop, I was greeted by the smoldering hot air smashing directly into my face.

The sound of thunderous poundings resounded throughout the shop.

It gradually came to a halt.

"What do you want, boy?"

A gruffy old woman approached me.

I showed her the recruitment poster I was holding.

"I want to apply."

"..."

The old woman looked at my dead eyes with a frown.

Silence.

The atmosphere was silent as she now looked at me weirdly.

"BWAHAHHA!"

The woman started laughing wildly as if she just heard the biggest joke of her life now.

"Boy, you want to join my smithy?"

"Hahaha, what a good joke! Tell me why you came here. Is it to collect protection fees for the gang, huh?"

The old woman still continued to laughed while questioning me.

I remained unfazed, looking straight into her black eyes that reflected my weak-looking image.

"I want to become your apprentice."

Another silence.

But it was heavy this time.

"...you were not joking?" The old woman wore a surprised look.

I nodded my head seriously.

"I don't mean to ridicule you, but forging would be too hard for you."

She grabbed my arm harshly with a sharp expression.

"You're as skinny as hell. I can't even see your fats, nor your muscles. All I can see is your bones."

After listing all my weaknesses one by one, the old woman stopped for a moment to take a deep breath.

And shethen continued with a powerful voice,

"Come back once you have muscles! Only then will I give you a chance!"

But I remained expressionless. My face was like a stone that was always unaffected.

"I am strong." I said dully yet it had a conviction within it.

The old woman couldn't believe the words from such a skinny boy that looked like a homeless beggar.

From her own view, I really looked like a weakling. Moreover, my body was small and too young to start forging.

"Fine." The old woman reluctantly agreed due to my stubbornness. "However, you must first pass a test to become my apprentice."

She then pointed her fingers towards an anvil.

"Refine that metal."

I glanced at the heated lump of metal on the anvil.

"Understood." I nodded as I walked towards the anvil. "Where's my hammer?"

"Wait a second." The old woman left for a moment before coming back with a small hammer appropriate for my size.

"This is my smallest hammer that weighs about 5 kilograms. Can you even lift it with your skinny body?"

"Watch."

I took the hammer from her hands with my both hands. Upon holding and lifting it, I found it to be lighter than it looks.

After seeing me raising the hammer with ease, the old woman looked quite astonished.

"You're indeed quite stronger than what you look outside."

She inwardly wondered where my strength to lift the hammer came from.

"All I need is to pound the hammer against the metal to refine it, right?"

I asked while positioning myself againsts the anvil and metal.

"That's right." The old woman nodded her head.

I closed my eyes, my grip tightening around the hammer's handle that was wrapped with thin leather.

Give me strength…

Strength…

I took a deep breath, causing my pitiful amount of muscles all over my body to tighten intensely. My eyes slowly opened while glowing dimly as my concentration sharpened.

"He concentrated so fast…!" The old woman mumbled while watching me closely.

Dang!

A powerful sound emerged, then another, and another, and another—until it continued to make similar sounds as I repeatedly raised and swung my hammer down against the lump of metal.

So hot and heavy…!

I could clearly feel the blistering heat that sparked from the metal that I struck constantly with my hammer.

Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!

I repeatedly raised and swung the hammer.

Over and over again.

Without stopping.

Drip…! Drip…!

All over my body, droplets of sweat slowly oozed out from my skin, splattering all over the place with every violent movement I did.

I could feel my body, my muscles, and my bones slowly being strained to their limits with every strike.

I pounded my hammer.

And pounded.

And pounded.

And pounded.

I pounded with all my might.

Against the metal.

Until I slowly lost feelings over my two arms.

Until I finally strained my body to its very limits.

Until my every breath grew haggard and distorted.

Slowly, blood dripped down from my hands and hammer with my palm's soft skin getting torn.

My body was soaked with pungent sweat from head to toe.

The way I strike, my form with the hammer, and my body—All of them were messy beyond any means.

Yet I continued moving my hammer.

Even with my stamina already being depleted to the limit.

I acted strong

I know I was weak.

Yet I wanted to be strong.

I need to try my best. I need to surpass my limit. I need to endure and persevere. To pass this trial. To learn to forge and earn proper money. To eat delicious foods. To sleep comfortably.

And to get my revenge…

As I remembered the death of my parents and sister, I felt my heart being instantly consumed with overflowing rage.

My heart pounded furiously as my seething rage spread throughout my entire body.

It gave me strength.

A blood-boiling strength.

My pounding changed.

It became more brutal, violent, and completely filled with bloodlust.

"Kill!!!"

I roared deeply as my red eyes burned darkly with rage.

My dead eyes became alive with rage.

I pounded.

And pounded.

Full of wrath.

And bloodlust.

Instead of life, I granted the metal the aura of death.

I raised my hammer high for one last time, swinging it down with a gaze full of rage looking down at the metal and flames.

Bang!

With that sound, I finished refining the lump of metal.

The rage gradually receded, making me feel extremely weak and exhausted.

Thud!

"Haaaa…. Haaa….." I panted heavily as I dropped the hammer to the ground with my arms trembling harshly.

It hurts.

My arms and chest hurts.

I desperately gasped for air as I felt dying from not being able to breathe properly.

My hands were swollen terribly with my palm's skin torn apart, dripping down with blood.

However, while being covered with my own sweat and enduring the pain, I turned towards the old woman.

"...did I pass…?"

The old woman was now looking at me in a new light.

From what she saw earlier, I was quite strong even with my skinny body. I also have strong mental fortitude upon seeing my state.

She then looked at the metal I recently refined with interest.

Clearly, It was not the best she had seen before. No, I might even be the worst she had seen.

But,

She saw something different from me.

Other than my strength, willpower, and techniques.

Something so unique.

It was my pure yet twisted intent as I forged with the hammer.

My rageful intent.

She could feel various things within that raging intent.

Bloodlust.

Hatred.

Darkness.

Desperation.

Death.

It contained a lot of dark essence.

And despite that, even though my rage contained so much negativity, rather than feeling coldness—It felt warm to her.

It felt warm.

Like the flames she used when forging, a flame that brings warmth during her pain, loneliness, and darkest day.

"You pass. Barely though." The old woman finally said after contemplating.

"I see…"

That was enough. At least, my current situation will become more stable.

"What's your name?"

I flinched for a moment. I pondered for a moment before responding with the name Tang Jin called me.

"Nine."

"Nai An?" The old granny repeated after me.

I nodded.

Although she pronounced it rather weirdly, it sounded the same.

"Okay, Nai An. From tomorrow onwards, you'll become my apprentice."

"I'm your master, Hu Yu."

"Understood."

I nodded but felt my stomach growling.

"...do you have any food?"

"..."

And so, I ated delicious foods for the first time after experiencing so many tragedies at the same time.

….

The old ordinary blacksmith, Hu Yu, examined the refined metal of her new apprentice after a long time of not accepting one.

It was a 'warped' refined metal.

A smile appeared on her face.

"How amusingly terrible."

.....

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