Hero of Darkness

Everyone watching the blacksmithing duel throughout the vulcan empire was too perplexed to even react to this new information quickly. First, it was Kahn winning the second round, the one no one thought about happening. Secondly, his forged weapon being of higher rank than the expected one. 

These two surprises hit them in succession and billions of people were left flabbergasted on the spot. This progression was something not even the judges of the duel expected to see. 

"Impossible! How can that be? The materials were clearly suited only for a gold rank weapon! He must have cheated?!" shouted Tawerik who sat on the right side of Kahn. 

Even in the pavilion of the imperial clan, Hector and Venessa were also left speechless. Even though they had no grasp of the blacksmithing craft, they knew how hard it was to make quality weapons with limited grades of materials. 

While everyone was unable to accept this fact, Kahn gave a command to his subordinates hidden in his shadow. 

[Note down everyone's reaction and give me reports from now on. This round was to gather enough attention and see all of their reactions.] he ordered. 

[Yes, master.] all of them replied collectively. 

"Hmph! Do you think we are fools? 

He has no space ring or an artifact on him. 

How could he have cheated? And all of us were keenly watching both the challengers. If he cheated, then a majority of us would've noticed a long time ago." rebuked master Druvagar, clearly feeling offended after the decision of the judges was questioned. 

Tap! 

Tap! 

The next second, master Ivaldi walked forth, gazing around the quiet colosseum as he revealed his wisdom to those who couldn't decipher how Kahn's halberd turned out superior. 

"The secret lies not in the materials but the Runes." he spoke in a gentle tone. 

"Challenger Helsi could make only two runic inscriptions on the limited space on the halberd while challenger Kahn made four." he calmly revealed this information. 

Gasp! 

Even someone with two brain cells could piece information together after this revelation. They could easily guess why Kahn won this round. 

But among the experts including the dwarven blacksmiths, another wave of discussions rose instantly. At the same time, Tawerik also shut up and Helsi had his eyes wide open. 

He was a semi-saint blacksmith himself. He too could make 4 runes on the halberd. But the issue wasn't the number of runes but how Kahn managed to balance their effects. 

Weapons and Runes were different identities in the end. One used Runes to add additional effects to a weapon such as an element, some type of attack buff or a boost that helped the user to perform desirable moves and techniques. 

In terms of crafting… the difference between the quality of the weapon and grade of the runes differed greatly. 

Each rune was like an infinity stone. Not everyone could wield it. Thus, the more stones added to a weapon aka the wielder in this case… the greater the burden on them will be. This pressure was enough to explode the user itself. A gold-grade material would not be able to sustain a rare rank rune according to this logic. One had to be either Hulk or Thanos to wield them all at once. 

But what Kahn did was he used 4 of such infinity stones and gave them to a normal human. And somehow, he managed to achieve synergy without obliterating that user itself. 

This level of mastery only meant one thing to all the experts. That Kahn was at least a semi-saint blacksmith. A very experienced one in using Runes at that. 

At this moment, some of the top-level Elven artificers of the Vulcan empire who were seated in pavilions of VIP guests also gave an incredulous look at Kahn, completely out of their wits. 

Because if he could achieve that level of skilled rune casting on a weapon of lower grade which resulted in rising one rank above in terms of quality… It meant only one thing. 

That Kahn was already a Semi-Saint Artificer! 

[This human… Where the hell did Oakenshield find this monster?!] thought the head of the Elven Artificing Association of the empire. 

Many people tried to question the quality of the weapon, still unable to accept the fact that Kahn won. But as soon as the Trinity revealed their angered saint pressures, all of the displeased voices stopped.

Going against the decision of the top 3 saint blacksmiths… even the Dwarven Council will have to choose their words carefully lest they end up offending these three mighty figures. 

Thus, the second round concluded and after an hour break, the third round began. 

----------------

Soon, the sound of clangings against metal reverberated in the surroundings as the spectators could feel small vibrations from each of the hits made by the challengers when they hammered down the weapons being forged. 

This time, the expected weapon was a Rare Rank war Scythe. The materials given to Kahn this time were also trash quality again but he showed no qualms or even a surprised expression as if he didn't even care at this point. 

But inwardly… he was laughing like a maniac. 

[Good, good, good. You idiots are walking into my trap just like I expected.] he thought. 

4 hours later, both sides were finished with their weapons… 

Many people in the audience had indignant and anxious expressions just like that of Tawerik and his people. 

The judges didn't beat around the bush and followed the same order of inspecting and personally testing the weapons. 

Just from the glimmering aura alone, Kahn's scythe seemed superior to the one made by Helsi. And during the testing, the scythe made by the latter exuded a sharp and deathly aura as it instantly slashed apart an iron pole like a hot knife through butter.

And there wasn't a single bulge or scratch on the edge of the blade. This was enough to assess how well made this scythe was. 

Finally, the judges tested the scythe made by Kahn, the one they had even more expectations from after Kahn revealed his talent in Artificing. 

But in the following moments… even the three judged had their jaws dropped on the ground as soon as they tested the scythe against the iron pole. 

Forget cutting through the pole… as soon as they made the strike and the scythe touched the target… 

It shattered into small pieces!