pick the hammer!

Inside Lumia castle on the 5th floor, was a special wooden door with different strange symbols increased on it. There was no special biometric scanner, optical scanner or security of sort, making it stand out among others.

'He's bluffing, there's no way he can possibly see me.' Kyle thought, staring at Darwin who was looking in his direction. He was currently still in shadows, and the room gave a perfect opportunity for him to blend in, so how could Darwin possibly spot him from this distance?

"Hmm.. I see you still have doubts I can't see you." Darwin frowned, gently brushing his bushy braided beard. In an instance he swiftly grabbed the burning hammer, throwing it fast at Kyle.

'Shit!' Kyle cursed, seeing the hammer approaching faster than a bullet. Moving his legs he lept out from his concealed spot, just in time before the gigantic hammer crashed to the wall.

'Boom!!'

A small explosion occured, sending Kyle skidding back a bit from the force into the more lit area of the room. Dust of clouds formed, along with the destruction of the sturdy wall into smaller pieces.

"Did that clear your doubts boy?" Darwin calmly asked, indifferently staring at Kyle with a dull expression.

"Y-you bastard! I could've been killed if I didn't react in time." Kyle blurted out in anger, seeing his life flash before his eyes. Shrugging, Darwin then waved it off. turning, as he examined some silver swords lined up side by side on the table.

"How dare you ignore me!" Kyle was enraged, seeing this stupid short man disrespect him. He had killed many stronger opponents before, and he was confident he could beat this scruny old man.

'His aura is very low, compared to eldren's and Boris.' Kyle could clearly see Darwin's aura, excluding from him. And the energy it was giving off was really low, compared to that of Troy's, eldren, and Boris.

Cancelling shadow walk, since there wasn't any need to conceal his presence anymore. Kyle clenched his fists, as he charged straight at Darwin with terrifying speed.

"Die.." Kyle muttered reaching Darwin in the blink of an eye, his fist sent forward to the man's head.

"Idiot. no wonder you easily lost against eldren and Boris." Darwin calmly said, shifting his head to the side a bit avoiding Kyle's fist. Enraged as Darwin dodged his attack, Kyle attempted to grab Darwin and slam him but the latter was one step ahead of him.

Grabbing Kyle's hand, Darwin forcefully pulled him slamming Kyle's head hard to the wooden table.

'Bang!'

[-3hp]

Kyle's head slammed hard to the table, drawing some blood from the cut which had now appeared on his forehead.

'Just how strong is he?' Kyle didn't expect Darwin to be this strong, as he'd clearly underestimated the short man for a weakling and it cost him.

'It doesn't matter.. I'll just have to use my speed against him.' Kyle planned to overpower Darwin with his speed, since he was really good fast. Although he'd gone down some levels and stats points, he was still confident he could beat Darwin with his speed.

Sending his legs out, he attempted to kick Darwin's gut to which the latter simply stepped to the side, throwing out a fist.

'Too easy..' Kyle grinned, seeing Darwin's attack approaching. just as he'd expected he was faster than Darwin, which meant he could see the latter's attacks. Blocking by lifting his hand up, Kyle then attempted to kneed Darwin.

The space between them was very little, so Kyle was confident his attack would hit Darwin. He was confident Darwin couldn't dodge, and even if he tried to block he'd just continue with an onslought of fists.

'I've got you now.' Kyle grinned evily, his fist just meters from Darwin's head. Just as Kyle thought it was over, he suddenly saw Darwin swing his hand forward.

'Bang!'

"Argh!!"

[-4hp]

[User's hand is damaged! Regenerating..]

Kyle screamed in pain, falling to the floor clutching his hand. Looking at it, he could see it was mangled as multiple bones in it were broken, along with his knuckles caved in. Now he knew what it meant for something, or in his case someone to be crushed to a pulp.

"Dumb boy.. you'll never defeat Lynn this way." Darwin shook his head, clutching an item in his hand. Looking at it made Kyle's eye to widen in shock, staring in disbelief.

'How did he retrieve the hammer?' Kyle wondered in shock, seeing the burning hammer in Darwin's hand. He could clearly recall the hammer was still stuck in the wall, Darwin sent it too. And he didn't see any instance Darwin could retrieve the hammer, without his knowledge.

"Wait.. there's two of them?" Kyle uttered, staring back seeing the hammer still stuck in the wall. And another one in Darwin's hand.

"Of course there are.. a good blacksmith should never have one work hammer." Darwin smiled, dropping the hammer to the table which enraged Kyle the more, as Darwin had now turned his hand into a mashed up meat paste.

He wasn't worried about his damaged hand, as the cells in his body had already started working. Replacing dead layers of skin on his arm, and restructuring his broken bones to what they once were.

"We can continue to do this all day, which I highly find disadvantageous to both of us. Or we can get on with our training, and bid good riddance to each other." Darwin calmly said, seeing Kyle was still adamant on fighting him. Pausing, Kyle deliberated on Darwin's words pondering about it for a while.

It's true he still wanted to exact revenge for what darwin did, but deep down he knew it was pointless. He didn't know what sick tricks Darwin was hiding under his sleeves, and he honestly didn't want to experience the same fate again.

"Fine.. I'll refrain from killing you for now." Kyle coldly said, making Darwin raise a brow scoffing a bit.

"What sick training do I have to undergoe this time? Burning hammers, annoying short dwarves?" Kyle sarcastically said in a mocking tone. He already had a glimpse idea what he was going to do, but he didn't know what sick things Darwin had in store for him.

"I knew you were dumb boy but I didn't know you were also blind." Darwin smiled, causing Kyle's face to contort to a frown.

"Anyways.. as you can see this is a blacksmiths workshop, and am going to teach you everything I know about weapons. Forging them and so on." Darwin softly said with dull eyes, proceeding to walk towards the hot furnace. Opening it the excruciating heat enveloped the area again, garning beads of sweat from Kyle as Darwin simply remained unfazed.

'just how many hammers does this maniac have?' Kyle wondered, seeing Darwin casually pull out another burning red hammer, with the strange glowing purple cloth. Walking over, he dipped the hilt of the steel hammer in water.

'Shhhhhhh!! szzzzzz!!'

A sizzling sound emitted, followed by the emerging of light translucent clouds of water going upwards. Pulling it out Darwin then dropped the cloth, firmly gripping the hammer in his hands giving a few light swings.

"That creepy shadow form of your's, is it related to your ability?" Darwin asked, intrigued witnessing Kyle in that form. He didn't know what the latter's ability was, as there was just a wide variety of abilities popping up by the day.

"It's none of your business." Kyle indifferently spoke with a hint of rage. He sure as hell, wasn't going to tell this annoying dwarf about shadow walk nor any of his other skills.

"Hmm." Darwin scoffed, irritated by Kyle's proud and arrogant nature. Stretching his hand out, he handed over the hammer to Kyle earning a wary look from the latter.

"Before we begin our training on weapons forging, maintaining, and enhancements you must first be able to hold your hammer." Darwin said, gesturing Kyle to take the hammer from him. Hesitating a bit, Kyle was reluctant to take the hammer from Darwin as he didn't trust the short dwarf one bit.

"Are you going to take it or not?" Darwin frowned, seeing Kyle still deliberating. He knew Kyle didn't trust him, and he felt the same way.

'You owe me big time for this troy.' Darwin inwardly thought.

After pondering for a while, Kyle finally decided on accepting the hammer from Darwin. His senses were on high alert, for if Darwin had a change of heart for any ulterior motive. Stretching his hand forward, Darwin proceeded to place the hammer in Kyle's hand.

"Shit!" Kyle grunted, his eyes widening feeling the full weight of the hammer. Unable to hold the big hammer, it fell from Kyle's hand crashing to the floor with a thud.

'Just what the hell is this hammer made of.' Kyle wondered staring at the hammer. He'd hoped for a system notification to appear, updating him on the description of the hammer, but nothing of such occured.

'There's no way he's been lifting that up so easily. Fucking cheater, he's desperately doing it on purpose.'

"What the hell you darn dwarf.. do you have something against my hands or what!" Kyle frowned, as this was the third time Darwin had attempted to crush his hands again.

"Do you know what your problem is boy? You're naive, arrogant and spoilt little brat with your childish attitude. You may pretend to be a peasant, but your eyes tells much more."

"You jump into fights without accessing your opponent, and that's why you lost to eldren, Boris, and even me." Sighing Darwin then picked up the other hammer on the table, proceeding to clang away at some steel shields.

"I assure you there isn't any foul play at hand. all the hammers weight are equal, including this one." Darwin said, dismissing Kyle's suspicions.

"Though whether you can lift the hammer, depends solely on you and your will." Darwin calmly spoke continuing, making Kyle frown a bit.