Chapter 322 Challenge in the Forging Department
New Survivors found their way to their camp ever so often. There were many days when dozens of Survivors and also powerful Ascenders found their way to the base in search of food, shelter, and protection. Most of the time, Dilan’s people accepted them which slowly increased their numbers.
But that was a necessity. They needed more people to build up a stronger defense and a society that worked together to become stronger. The more the merrier was Dilan’s opinion, especially since they didn’t know when huge armies of foreign races might attempt to raid the Shikan plains or Milarn in its entirety.
Dilan wanted everyone to work together as it would result in an efficient and mutually benefiting work environment, where everyone would receive something. Unfortunately, black sheeps kept popping up in the new batch of Survivors every now and then. They were quickly taken care of but Dilan was still pissed off at them.
He allowed himself to get treated, while he sized up the other patients, whose injuries were tended to with great care.
‘These kids seem quite powerful. Are they new Ascenders?” Dilan wondered as he looked at the teenage boy and girl.
“Did you two fight on your own before you joined us, or are there others in your group then you two?” He asked straightforwardly while throwing them a scrutinizing look.
Their expression twisted when they heard Dilan’s question and the young girl’s eyes got teary while the boy clenched his fists.
“We are the last ones…but we were together with others…our entire class,” The boy answered in a depressed voice, avoiding Dilan’s gaze.
“Sorry for your losses, but the two of you did great. If you want to continue fighting, join the Elite Combat Unit after you two complete the basic training with Jeremy and Michael,” Dilan advised calmly and his encouraging voice reached the two young teenagers, who lifted their heads to look straight into Dilan’s sky-blue eyes.
Usually, they would get blamed for abandoning their classmates, even though that was not the complete truth. They had been betrayed and thrown out to fend for themselves and not the other way around. Thus, it was quite surprising that Dilan didn’t ask them any further after he found out that they were the ‘last ones’ in their group.
He didn’t think that it was important to pry into details, especially since Dilan’s intelligence department already knew that they were worth being trusted. Every single new Survivor in their group had to go through an interview, where several Ascenders with special abilities and occupations would ask questions. If they passed by answering the questions honestly to a certain degree by telling the truth most of the time, they were accepted.
However, if they tried to trick or lie their way through the interview or answer certain questions in the wrong way they wouldn’t be accepted. Weeding the liars from those who were genuine was quite simple as they had quite a few Ascenders in their group who possessed lie-detecting abilities, body language reading abilities, knowledge, and more.
Because of this, Dilan was not really worried about anyone in his group, not anymore.
After Dilan was fully tended to, he ruffled through the silky hair of the boy before he left their group. There were certain things he wanted to do, including increasing his level and his stats.
As his special condition with the Cursed Blessing [Will of the Primordial] restricted him from increasing his stats in a short time, Dilan chose the second-best option to become stronger; he picked up new equipment!
“Old Jeff, where the hell are you?” Dilan asked loudly when he reached the alloy factory where Old Jeff was supposed to be. He looked left and right but couldn’t find the old man. Dilan frowned deeply when he could only see a few other blacksmiths working hard on the ores they forged to turn into weapons and other goods.
All of them could be considered Old Jeff’s apprentices because he handpicked them to help him forge when they were in high demand for certain goods and he was falling short to keep up. After they were able to choose their occupation to advance to Tier-1, some of them chose a blacksmithing-related occupation, while others picked a different path.
Those who stayed behind were now considered knowledgeable blacksmiths with various great abilities to improve the quality of their goods.
Old Jeff was not the best blacksmith anymore but he was definitely the most intelligent one. His comprehension ability was unmatched and if someone was able to create new goods, then it was definitely Old Jeff!
That was also why he had high hopes of improving his equipment because Dilan was pretty sure that Old Jeff was done researching Wands, and that he had already created a product that combined the best of both; a weapon and a Wand in one!
“I’ve heard about your new invention, come here and let me see it!” Dilan shouted out loudly and in excitement.
However, Old Jeff didn’t seem to be anywhere. Only when a young and frail-looking man reached Dilan did he slow down as he turned his head to the man with short black hair.
“I-I’m sorry L-leader….but Old Jeff went somewhere to study more…” the frail man seemed to be on the verge of crying as he looked at Dilan’s unreadable expression. He was afraid of being punished for telling the ‘bad’ news.
“Oh? And where is he?” Dilan asked in return, astonished that Old Jeff went somewhere. It was not usual for him to leave the alloy factory.
“He…he bought a new ability from the trading hub, something called [Dimension of Enlightenment], or something similar…He can open a portal to an isolated dimension for a few hours a day using all the mana he has…He won’t return until late at night…” The frail man’s voice had started to quiver by now. Dilan only squinted his eyes because he was pretty sure that he was not that frightening.
‘I look quite normal right now, don’t I? I’m even wearing a pretty normal shirt…’ Dilan thought and he shook his head lightly.
Another man saw how his colleague acted in front of the leader and he couldn’t take it anymore. He approached Dilan and his colleague with a calm expression before he greeted them in an informal manner.
“I’m sorry for my colleague, Brian. He doesn’t have much self-esteem. We’re still trying to make him be more confident because his forged goods are extraordinary but that will probably take quite a while,” The newly arrived young man interjected before he stretched out his hand.
“I don’t know if you know me, but if don’t, I will introduce myself. My name is Huan Iglav, I’m the Inscribing Blacksmith, or precisely, the man, who inscribes most of the runes on all the forged goods you find in the trading hub,” The young man introduced himself with a prideful expression, which caused Dilan to smile wryly as he grasped Huan’s hand.
He shook it lightly but quickly noticed that Huan wanted to turn this into a challenge.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Dilan said calmly and with a faint smile on his face.
“I’m sorry but I want to see how strong you are, leader!” Huan said as he began to use more and more force in his arm, and prepared himself to crush Dilan’s arm.
“What a hassle, but okay, if you want to do it then test my strength,” Dilan said with a shrug just before Huan used all the strength in his arm to overwhelm his leader.
His face was flushed red in a moment, and he began sweating heavily. Seeing that he wasn’t going to win easily, his second hand reached out as well. He wanted to squash Dilan’s hand but failed miserably.
Huan looked at Dilan’s face which had turned expressionless as he quietly asked,
“Are you done playing around? If so, it’s my turn.”
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