Endless

Never-Ending

Verek looked at Dole and wiped the sweat from his brow. Repairing these swords was no easy task. Sitting on a stool beside him, he felt a little gratified. Dole was a fine prospect—willing to endure hardship and eager to learn. If he stayed in this trade, he would surely amount to far more than Verek ever had.

At noon, Supervisor Harley came out from inside with heavy steps. He first went to the other two smithies, then finally came over to Verek's place. He gathered the swords together and directed several other apprentices to place them by the entrance.

Once everything was done, Harley let out a breath. Putting on the air of a chief steward, he stood beside Verek, looked at Dole, and smiled faintly. "Are you interested in becoming a contracted blacksmith here?"

Dole scratched his head. "I haven't even become a first-rank blacksmith yet. I'm only an apprentice. Isn't it a little early, Lord Harley?"

Harley continued smiling. "As long as you're willing to endure hardship and put in the effort, becoming a first-rank blacksmith is only a matter of time. I saw the hoes you forged. They were quite good."

Verek rose from his stool and gave Dole a thumbs-up. "Dole is the most gifted child I've ever seen. It's only been a few days, yet he can already forge farm tools. He'll definitely have a bright future."

Dole stood off to the side, a little bashful.

Harley nodded. "Advancing as a blacksmith is the same as advancing as a warrior. The process of forging iron—tempering metal—is also tempering yourself. Train well and strive to cross into the ranks of beginner warriors soon. It'll make forging easier."

Harley could tell that Dole had practiced martial skills before, so he mentioned it casually.

Dole answered with a smile, but inwardly he shuddered. He had only casually wielded the battle sword, yet they had seen through him.

Training in martial skills was no easy matter either. At the very least, he had only just begun. Using the advantage of blacksmithing to train every muscle in his body, he was advancing step by step toward becoming a beginner warrior, but the distance was still great.

Verek patted Dole on the shoulder. "The large and small hammer techniques are also a kind of martial skill. They train your muscles, tendons, and bones, and the fire of the furnace can temper your skin very well too. Train hard."

Dole nodded. He could naturally feel it himself.

Verek possessed the strength of an advanced warrior apprentice—Dole had heard him mention it long ago. All he lacked was a book on battle qi, and then he could find a way to keep improving. But books on battle qi were far too expensive. Even the lowest-level introductory battle qi manual cost twenty gold coins.

That was twenty gold coins.

After encouraging Dole a few more times, Harley stood outside. Before long, a military carriage arrived, followed by a squad of soldiers. Several soldiers came over and discussed matters with Supervisor Harley, collected the weapons, paid the gold coins, and quickly vanished at the end of the road.

Seeing this, Dole felt even more driven. How wonderful it would be if he could forge battle swords someday. Then he could begin wizard training. The records Naluye left behind about wizards all required vast quantities of medicinal herbs and supplementary materials. With his current means, he could not afford a single one of those things. For now, he could only carry out basic physical training.

With nothing to do that afternoon, Dole began practicing with scrap metal again. He forged several small tools that were already beginning to look the part, though he was still not skilled enough, and they sold for rather low prices.

Even these cheaply priced items had buyers. There were plenty of poor people outside the city who could not afford fine goods and could only buy things of ordinary quality, so Dole was not afraid that no one would buy his work.

Twenty days passed by in the blink of an eye.

Over those days, Dole forged quite a few farm tools, and their quality improved steadily. He also began earning copper coins, giving his life a basic measure of security.

With each day of forging, Dole's skin, already dark to begin with, grew even darker. Yet beneath it, his muscles had begun to bulge, already taking on a certain shape, despite it having only been a few days.

After work, Dole greeted Verek and several other blacksmiths he knew, grabbed the clothes set beside him, and headed toward the slums. He was in a rather good mood because he had been paid today—twenty copper coins.

He needed to hurry home and study. Though he had had a dictionary for some time, the words themselves were a major problem. He could only learn a few dozen new characters a day, and it would probably be quite a while before he could read normally. Whenever he thought of the things recorded in Naluye's Legendary Path of the Magic Warrior, Dole's heart surged. Whether one became a warrior or a wizard, once one entered the ranks, the future would be broad indeed. An ordinary first-rank warrior could casually find a job that paid in silver coins every month. If he could become a warrior, nothing else needed to be said. As for wizards, there were only a handful in all of Duomeng City; they were figures of legend. Though wizards had little combat power at first, with their wisdom, all manner of alchemy, and medicines, they were even more formidable than warriors.

Thinking of the future, Dole nearly cried out as he walked down the road, so excited he could barely contain himself.

Very soon, he reached the entrance to the slums. Looking up, he saw several people standing there, apparently watching him. The moment he recognized them, his face stiffened. The fire in his heart was instantly doused by a bucket of icy water, cold seeping straight to his bones.

Damn it. It was Aoduo.

He had not seen this guy for so many days. How had he run into him again?

Aoduo saw Dole as well. The instant he spotted him, he remembered the miserable state he had been in that day, and his face immediately twisted. "Catch him! That damned lowborn dared resist me—I'll break his legs!"

Upon hearing that, the people on both sides were puzzled for a moment, but someone quickly remembered. Wasn't this the kid who often snatched money at Bianchi Mine?

"Let's see where you can run now! You dared hit our Brother Aoduo!" One person immediately threw himself forward.

The others also recalled who Dole was. They grabbed whatever they could and charged toward him.

Dole was stunned. Damn Aoduo, would this never end?

As he hurriedly pulled the clothes in his hands on, he spun around and ran for his life. He did not head toward the place where he had been staying these past few days. Instead, he turned and fled deeper into another part of the slums.

The roads in the slums twisted and tangled like a maze, with heaps of garbage everywhere—perfect for escaping.

Aoduo looked at Dole's clothes, and his face immediately turned red with fury. "Chase him! He must have made money, or he couldn't afford clothes that good!"

The others were instantly energized at those words.

They felt no psychological burden whatsoever about robbing a slum dweller. Even the constabulary and the guards were unwilling to come here. More slum dwellers died every day than were murdered in the city in an entire year. Killing one slum dweller would not make anyone care.

Besides, the money on him was what they truly wanted. And this was far from their first or second time doing such a thing—they had long since grown accustomed to it.

After such a long period of training, Dole's strength and agility were no longer what they had once been. Running at full speed, he quickly darted into the slums and slipped into a narrow alley.

The alley was filled with water and mud. After running through it, his feet were completely caked in mud.

Complaining as he ran, Dole did not pause in the slightest. After leaving the alley, he rushed toward another one. He knew that with water and mud on his feet, he would certainly be unable to shake off their trail. He could only run forward with all his might, planning to find a dry road.

Yet no matter how fast he was, Aoduo remained close behind in relentless pursuit. Aoduo's physical condition was not poor either. With the instructor his father had paid for and his usual training, he was actually somewhat stronger than Dole.

Dole glanced back. Aoduo was pursuing him without letting up, so he could only keep running desperately.

He soon ran out of the alley and onto one of the main thoroughfares in the slums. Looking up, he saw that the place was crowded with people, so he deliberately ran toward the densest part of the crowd.