Legend of the Evil God Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Dwarven Axe Style

As I began preparing for a long night of cultivating, I heard footsteps right outside my door, followed by a couple of knocks. Hmmm… Who would visit me at this unearthly hour?

Opening the door cautiously, I saw the chief standing patiently. Looking at me serenely, he asked, “I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting a little abnormally during the past few days in the training ground. Is there anything that’s been bothering you?”

Without replying to his initial question, I ushered the chief into my house frantically. After presenting a gla.s.s filled with clear water, I sat facing him respectfully. I had nothing but respect for this elder, over three hundred years old, who commanded the respect of the entire village!

Gathering my thoughts, I starting speaking, “Chief, I’ve been thinking… Our axe techniques are pretty subpar. Hence, I’ve been trying to improve on the basic stances! Thus…”

A look of consternation appeared on the chief’s face. Eventually, he answered plainly, “So this was the reason behind your actions being so heterodox… Be that as it may, you have to understand that the ‘Dwarven Axe Style’ was created to teach the Dwarven race the basics of smithing. OH!

Upon hearing this, my jaw dropped to the floor! Who would have ever guessed that the ‘Dwarven Axe Style’ contained such mysteries? Hmmmm… So that was the reason why I felt that the movements were interlinked with their everyday lives!

He continued, “Our crafting techniques, undisputedly at the pinnacle of our continent, were a result of tens of thousand of years of experience and tempering!”

Sighing, the chief phonated pridefully, “I’m not indulging in any self-praise, but our smithing techniques have definitely reached the apex. No matter what we want to craft, any shape and size, our trusty hammers accompanied with the ‘Dwarven Axe Style’ will complete it without any flaws! Our skills had reached the zenith of our craft long ago!”

With respect written all over my body, I gazed at the chief, while pondering the fact that the Dwarves have indeed survived for the past tens of thousands of years. At their peak, the Dwarven race consisted of over one billion individuals! Unfortunately, they hated fighting, and even more so, warring. Gradually, hunted by the other races, their numbers dwindled, culminating in their current sorry state.

I might be a child prodigy. However, in countless years that have pa.s.sed, geniuses even smarter than me have lived. Hence, I had no confidence in improving their craftsmans.h.i.+p, which they poured all their blood, sweat and tears into!

The smelting techniques in the world that I came from were very advanced. However, their smithing skills were subpar, unable to hold a candle to the skills of the ‘Dream World’. At the end of the day, cultured humans have only been around for roughly five thousand years. On the contrary, the Dwarves have lived for over one hundred thousand! In addition, the G.o.ds of this world had provided the Dwarves with innate crafting talents!

There was n.o.body more adept at smithing than the dwarves. Even the best grandmasters of the outside world couldn’t compare with the worst Dwarven smiths. If we were to use the best smiths of the Dwarven race as a comparison, they would be tens, or even hundreds of times better!

The chief continued proudly, “With tens of thousands of years of research, our ancestors came up with eighteen different forging styles. These eighteen styles are one and the same with the ‘Dwarven Axe Styles’. As long as anyone practices hard, and achieve mastery in the ‘Dwarven Axe Style’, they will be able to attain great mastery in the craft!”

I stood up animatedly, with my eyes sparkling with excitement. Confidently, I replied, “Chief, I’ve understood! Please rest a.s.sured as I will put in 120% into learning our ‘Dwarven Axe Style’. I can guarantee that I will practice our art to mastery! Thanks for your unending patience and guidance.”

Stroking his beard pa.s.sionately, the chief beamed at me and said, “Good, good… good! Since you’ve made up your mind, I can thus be at ease and leave in peace. Do know that if you have any other queries, you can just ask openly, and not think randomly. At the end of the day… I’ve eaten more salt than you have rice!”

I nodded my head hurriedly and thanked the chief for his kindness and generosity and rea.s.sured that I won’t let him down anymore!

The chief nodded in satisfaction. However, he looked at me and asked worriedly, “Oh yeah Xiao Mo, it seemed like you’ve been feeling a little unwell these few days… During practice, you’ve looked listless and lacked energy in your movements. Is there any problem? Do you need any herbs from our warehouses?”

I looked at the chief gratuitously, and started to untie my sash. Upon revealing my weight vest underneath, I replied shyly, “Chief, my fatigue stemmed from all these weight laden upon my body. I’m not feeling unwell at all! Also, I believe that I’ll get used to this very quickly. Thank you for your concern!”

The chief halted, and reached out his hand to see how much my vest weighed. Astonished, he looked at me and said, “Goodness! It’s actually this heavy! You’re so young, how can you possibly handle this? Child… the path of training is a long and arduous one. What are you going to do if you overwork and injure yourself?”

I blushed upon hearing his words and answered shyly, “Actually chief, it’s no big deal! I only wanted to increase my body’s strength quickly! Rest a.s.sured… I’ll not push myself too far! If my body shows signs of breaking down, I’ll stop immediately!”

The chief slowly got to his feet while nodding and said, “Alright… Since you’ve insisted, I’ll not say anything else. However, you must know that getting injured due to overworking yourself is definitely not worth it! Not only will you waste your efforts, you might even ruin your future!”

Touched by his attention to detail, I walked out of the house together with him. After walking quite a distance, I finally stopped sending him off due to his insistence. At that point, the chief heaved a sigh and said, “Since you’re so diligent and tough, then… If you have any doubts or queries, feel free to head over to my residence and look for me!”

Turning around without waiting for a reply, the chief started walking off. Gazing at his silhouette in the distance, I clenched my fist, determined to improve myself!

Returning to my small house, I jumped onto the bed and started cultivating the ‘Art of the Nine Suns’. Even though it didn’t have much of an impact on my strength, it had otherworldly rejuvenating capabilities. As long as I managed to relieve my body of its fatigue, I could continue with my hardcore training!

As the sun rose, blanketing the skies in orange light, I primed myself for another day of training. Moreover, there was a small increase in my body’s condition as compared to the previous day!

After cultivating for two days, I clearly felt the slight improvements in my body’s capabilities. These improvements were very slight, to the extent that it would go unnoticed without probing. Nonetheless, I was still improving, no matter how minuscule it was!

As long as I could continue enhancing myself this way, how far would I be able to go? I was really interested in that…

Donning my weighted vest, I made up my mind. For the next year, I would put forth all my efforts into the ‘Dwarven Axe Style’, taking advantage of the fact that it had gone through countless improvements by the ancestors, and it being the smithing technique of the Dwarven race!

Hefting my trusty axe onto my shoulder, I felt that it had become lighter than it was two days ago, when I first started. Undeterred by the fact that I still was quite some ways off from being able to use it as an extension of my body, I believed that time was all I needed to achieve that!

This time round, I was super attentive to all the moves that the chief showed us, down to the smallest detail. I knew that all techniques were based on their small details! They were the essence of the improvements that the Dwarven ancestors made to the ‘Dwarven Axe Style’!

As a born genius, I knew deep in my heart that the crux of all techniques always laid in the least eye-catching portions. Without grasping all of these minute details, I would never be able to truly stand at the pinnacle in smithing! This logic applied to all fields in this world!

On the other hand, the chief was shocked to his bone. Just yesterday, I was swinging about the axe awkwardly. Today however… it seemed as if I was a totally different person! Every action of mine was akin to the chief personally executing it, even the most trifling elements!

Copy! Imitate!

This was the only way to describe his practice and cultivation. However, the depth of his imitation could be nothing but a…  ‘PERFECT COPY’!