Hero of Darkness

While the spectators who were vocally and vehemently expressed their support for Helsi didn't stop… Meanwhile Kahn, the loser of the first round had a tranquil expression as a devious plan hatched in his mind on the spot after receiving another set of trash materials for the 2nd round. 

Now that everything was evident about the intentions of the organizers, Kahn also didn't mind discarding his ethical values as a Blacksmith in this competition. Since they didn't plan to play fair and square… he had no reason to follow his moral code either. 

Kahn then looked to the left, his gaze landing at Throk sitting in a pavilion among the other high valued audience group. He gave a look at his master and nodded.

Sigh! 

Throk let out a sigh and understood what Kahn's gaze meant. And in return, he raised two fingers. This was a code between him and his disciple. 

Before the blacksmithing duel started, there was a sort of agreement between them. That Kahn wouldn't go all out from the start.

As for the factors of him receiving trash materials or some sort of disadvantage, Throk already predicted that something like this might happen. And once it did… he would allow Kahn to use his real skills without holding back. 

At this moment, Kahn understood the signal and quickly started forging. While everyone was under the impression that he would fail again… without anyone noticing, Kahn finally decided to use his 3 gifts given by the Blacksmithing Deities aka Eitri and Brokkr. 

He used Blacksmith's Intent and Prometheus' Forethought, two of the three gifts. 

The former was a passive ability that allowed him to figure out characteristics of the metal or material and decide the most optimal temperature to use the said material in order to refine and forge a weapon out of it. 

The latter was an active skill that allowed Kahn to focus and predict the quality of the end product. It was more of a guide that would help him decide on the final outcome of weapon or armor by carefully showing Kahn the possible outcome of his forging techniques. 

There was another gift called Mimir's Eyes that could help him appraise any material's quality, grade and purity, a crucial part that would decide the rank of the product. But currently, he didn't need one as this was just a basic level forging. 

The weapon for this round was a Halberd and the metal was turquoise jadeite. This metal was mostly used to make ice elemental weapons and armors. As for the rank of the weapon, the judges decided to go for Gold Rank. 

Kahn had already mastered using the three gifts during his training so this wasn't his first rodeo either. Without anyone knowing, the iris in his black eyes turned faint golden but it was well hidden due to red and yellowish glistening light coming out of the furnace. Thus, not a single soul including the saint blacksmiths noticed this change in his eyes. 

One by one, Kahn went through the process of melting, casting, sweltering, tempering, elongating and finishing. These were the necessary steps in forging a halberd while creating three different pieces. 

He joined them all later by performing welding and finally, he refurbished them and started with the rune encrypting process. 

As the pole, he used a bone of a monster that was sturdy, lightweight and 2 meters long. Any trained halberd user would prefer it over some random wooden pole to support the blades of the halberd. 

4 hours passed in a blink of an eye. And finally, the judges decided to assess the finished weapons in front of the eyes of the audience. 

Just like before, they inspected Helsi's halberd first, decides its quality and tested its damage output by pitting it against a wooden block. 

Crack!! 

The entire wooden block was slashed in two with a single swing while traces of ice shards appeared on the area that was separated after receiving the attack. 

Afterwards, Kahn's turn came and the judges did the similar test. 

This time, it was Druvagar who used Kahn's weapon in combat by moving it in the air via his saint aura alone. 

BANG!! 

A loud noise resounded in the colosseum as not only the audience but even the judges had their eyes wide open. 

Because unlike Helsi, the halberd forged by Kahn not only cut apart the wooden block but also froze it entirely to the point it crumbled in seconds. 

Thousands of splinters fell on the ground like broken glass shards after the swing was made. 

"What kind of rune did he use?" questioned master Fili and quickly infused his saint aura in the halberd. 

A well-polished golden rune was perfectly inscribed over the flattened blade of the halberd that glowed golden. To normal onlookers, it appeared as a single rune but to true experts like the Trinity… they found the real cause in just 10 seconds. 

[Hehe! Looks like they noticed. Let's see which side they pick now.] 

At the present moment, all three judges quickly noticed that there were a total of 4 different runes interwoven perfectly on the blade without hindering each other in the slightest. And their collective power completely exceeded the expectations of the judges. 

The judges tried their best to hide their surprise and looked at Kahn with eyes full of amazement. Because what this human blacksmith just achieved now was something only an experienced individual of their profession could do. 

The Trinity conversed between themselves telepathically and reached a common consensus. 

"The winner of this round is…" spoke master Fili and his sentence was completed by master Ivaldi as they declared the result in front of the whole Vulcan empire. 

"Challenger Kahn!" 

Instantly, the audience went silent as they gasped in surprise. Whether it was the colosseum or people watching from different corners of the empire. 

But before their shock and bewilderment subsided, the judges quickly chose to reveal the reason. 

"The materials provided for this round should've allowed both challengers to create a gold rank weapon. 

But the one created by challenger Kahn is of…" said master Druvagar and rose the halberd in the air using his aura as he revealed why they declared Kahn as the winner… 

"Rare Rank Halberd!"

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[[Author's Note : Apologies to my readers. Health issues have resurfaced again and I need proper rest. At best, I will be able to provide 1 chapter daily. But I will make it up with a mass release next month. Creating a stockpile is already a big challenge in my current condition.]]