Thus, after a challenger passed the three trials, he would set aside his research and smithing and arrive at the scene within five minutes at most to accept the challenger's challenge.
When he said five minutes, he meant not a second more, not a second less.
Dark waited patiently in the temple until the time was up, when divine fire suddenly surged from the fire pit. It spread outward, forcing open a door of flame, and a Dwarf smith in forging clothes hurriedly leaped out from within.
The moment he jumped out of the fire pit, the time was exactly up.
[Holy Swordsmith] Aiden Ezekiel had finally appeared.
"Are you this time's challenger?"
After landing steadily, Aiden turned to Dark and asked directly.
Dark nodded. "Yes."
"Fine. Enter the arena first."
Aiden quickly pointed at the ring-shaped arena surrounding the fire pit. Then, as he turned and walked toward the other end of the field, he said, "The rules of my challenge are simple. Defeat me, and you'll receive the badge of the Hephaestus Divine Kingdom. Then you may choose one sword from among the [Holy Swords] I've forged. I've forged quite a few [Holy Swords] in the past, but their quality varied greatly, and they basically possessed no divinity. However, after becoming Hephaestus's God's Chosen, I made further breakthroughs in forging [Holy Swords]. Every [Holy Sword] I forge is at least demigod quality. Naturally, there are divine artifacts among them as well. But you'll have to choose for yourselves. Whichever one you pick is yours. Mm, because [Holy Swords] can automatically conceal their power, it depends greatly on fate."
By the time he finished speaking, Aiden had arrived at the other end of the arena.
He turned to face Dark, then seemed to suddenly remember something. "Right, what's your