Chapter 57 - Crafting Teacher.

The supervisor dwarf looked at him "Imfrim, are you sure?"

Imfrim replied with a smile, "Yes,"

The supervisor pulled his grey beard as two other dwarves dressed in leather armor appeared from the crowd and came to inspect the work of the artisan.

A small black pointed dagger with the incision on its hilt as two curved lines interlocking.

Imfrim used a holder to grab the dagger before dropping it into the water bucket near him, allowing the dagger to cool down for a while before bringing it out again and cleaning it with a small cloth.

The grey beard dwarf approached Imfrim and looked at his dagger for a while before discarding it. M

"Too brittle,"

"Even an ordinary animal won't die by its thrust,"

The young dwarf's heart sank upon hearing those words and without a word, he left the tournament.

Meanwhile in the realm of the Higher beings, Dulgol and some of his counterparts watched the happenings of the dwarf in a lake.

Each of the higher beings had a separate but small lake assigned to them from which they could view the happenings in the race they came from.

For now, Shawn hadn't thought about what to do concerning cross racial followers existing.

"Out of all of the races only the dwarves don't have any magical prowess that can help them out," said Urkezi.

"Because we weren't built for magic but for strength and crafting of powerful weapons" Dulgol responded.

"If that is so then maybe you can create a system or power that allows your race to up themselves because even the mindless beasts that roam the world are starting to become enchanted." Blan said.

Semna joined in "Even the humans with their affinity more focused on strength still have shamans that are capable of using mana"

Dulgol pulled on his red beard and sighed. "Let me think,"

The other higher beings nodded and left him to his own thinking.

"I'm I capable of crafting or creating an artifact or power that will up the dwarves enough to help them?"

"No even if that i can, once the medium is taken off they all will become powerless"

His eyebrows furrowed together as he continued to think.

"The best way to go about this is to ensure that each of the dwarves or a group can draw from a power source,"

Then it hit him, "I don't have enough knowledge to use for…"

He then started clapping his hands like he had found something great "That's it" he said as he immediately sat up on the grassy field and crossed his leg while his arms were open and placed on his leg.

A deep blue light pulsated from him while the other beings wondered what was up.

"He's traversing the realms,"

"I wonder what he thought of that he quickly left,"

On the flat yellow floor, a key guardian looked at the flat earth. His hands were holding a small red orb and his eyes traced the paper earth to the roots of a large tree, each vine or branch holding an orb in its place.

There were other key guardians near the tree who were bringing orbs of different colors to it.

All of a sudden, a blue figure appeared above the tree. His eyes focused on the key guardians especially.

"Who are you?" said a key guardian with a crown.

"King Keystone, fear not for I am not a foe"

Keystone didn't not flinch at the strange figures' appearance and was still carrying a serious expression on his face "I'll ask again, who are you?"

"I am a higher being I…"

"Regardless of who you are, you are not supposed to be in the realm of the technology tree. Only we can grant access to those worthy of entering,"

Dulgol was starting to get annoyed at Keystone's constant interruptions and hostility but he wouldn't want to start a fight with him.

He wasn't sure what level of power Shawn had placed Keystone under. Similar to the leaders of the Jury realm whose status of power was still unknown.

Even if they were weaker, they could still pose a threat.

"I am aware of this which is why I used my soul piece form to come here,"

Keystone continued staring at Dulgol's soul for a while before he calmed down.

"What do you want?"

Dulgol smiled and responded with "A bargain"

It wasn't long until Dulgol's soul piece sat at the front of the tree quietly meditating as the orbs on the vines pulsated.

When he finally opened them, a grin appeared from his right cheek and immediately dissipated into pieces of light that vanished and appeared behind Dulgol's real body.

Back at the south central hills, Imfrim had strode towards one of the nearby hills and watched the sun setting.

"It's been two weeks since the competition ended, the fifteenth time and yet, I still failed to win the contest among blacksmiths"

With his arms stretched he bellowed a loud cry saying "Why have I not progressed?!"

The subtle winds blew his small beard allowing him to enjoy the relief from the tension he had just released.

When the winds stopped a voice said to him "It is not that you have not progressed but rather you have restrained the need to challenge yourself even further.

The strange voice came from his back and upon turning, he was surprised to see a dwarf with a red beard looking at him.

All of a sudden the scenery around changed to that of a paper earth.

"Who are you?!" he panicked.

"Fear not young dwarf for I am Dulgol,"

"Dulgol, the legendary dwarf who held and defended the title of 'master of smiths' for thirty years in a row?"

Dulgol replied with a nod, a response which shocked the dwarf.

He got on his knees and bowed his head "I have always revered you for your dedication, creativity and innovation!"

The higher being of crafting felt flustered at the kneeling and lowered himself to raise Imfrim up.

Imfrim realized what he was doing and quickly cooperated.

"Why did you bring me here?" he questioned.

"I didn't bring you here," Dulgol pointed at the front.

Imfrim's eyes widened at the sight of golden keys with hands, heads and wings staring at him and one even had a crown, all standing in front of a weird tree with vines.

"W..ho ar...e they?" he stammered.

"They are key guardians the keepers of this realm and the ones that allowed you access here,"

At this point, he felt pity for the poor dwarf who now had to take all of this info in.

"Dwarves have a strong mind. Hopefully it's strong enough for this?"

Imfrim felt that he had been stunned to the extent that he was now lifeless. First a stranger, then a change in environment and now it was flying humanoid keys and a tree so big unlike any he had seen before.

He took a deep breath and stabilized himself for a while before saying "Shouldn't a legendary dwarf like you be past your prime already?"

"Indeed you are correct. In Fact, I am already in the grave and there are secrets that cannot be told to you but as for why I am here, I'll explain it to you"

He touched the dwarf's shoulder and led him towards the tree as he tried to dumb things down.

"You see, the world in which you live is changing. There are many races out there than your fingers and there are also beasts of incredible strength and power,"

"The current strength of you dwarven lands is no match for them…"

Dulgol kept quiet for a while, trying to see if the latter was getting the message he was trying to convey.

Upon receiving a nod, he continued, this time pointing towards the tree "I on my own have managed to gain insights from the tree that you see with orbs on its vines,"

"But I would like to teach you to teach it to the others in your land. It will be very helpful to you all in the future,"

Imfrim's put up a tough front and touched his chest "I pledge to help you in growing the dwarven race,"

"Good,"

And with that Dulgol led him forward to the tree.

"The tree will decide if you are worthy or not. All you have to do is step forward towards its root and wait"

The black beard dwarf felt a small quiver in his spine due to the intense gaze of the key guardians.

He stopped in front of a tree root and closed his eyes as a blue halo formed from over his head and entered into the tree's bark.

After a while of waiting, the halo shot back into his body and a vine of the tree with a red orb stretched towards him and as if by instinct, his hands were put forth for the orb to touch