"Frank?!" After the white sparks disappeared, Darien rushed forward to catch the blacksmith who was falling, "Are you okay?"
"Of course! In fact, I've never been better!" The blacksmith looked at the weapon inside the smelter and his eyes burned with joy, satisfaction and pride. Then he whipped his head around to look at Ye Qi, yelling, "Kid, there's one last step remaining! What's its name?"
"I don't think I've given it a name," The young Demon Hunter answered truthfully.
"What? How can the first Hallowed Artefact I've made in my life doesn't have a name?!" The blacksmith shook his head to show his disappointment, "Kid, your power is fire control right? So why not call it Flame? No wait, that's too pedestrian! Demon Flame? That's also too common… How about something mythical… Like Agni! Yes, Agni, the name's perfect…"
The blacksmith who was still laughing turned to pull open the counter behind him. He retrieved from it a bottle of dark-golden liquid and poured it onto the weapon inside the smelter following a pattern.
The liquid reacted furiously with the flames within. When the sound disappeared, the sword floated up into the air, it had a hilt that could be grabbed by both hands and a glistening blade that was 4 feet long.
The familiar humming sounded again as the sword flew directly at Ye Qi. Ye Qi reached out to reach it as if on instinct. Instantly, a sense of familiar rushed through his heart. Even though the shape had changed, the young Demon Hunter recognized it as the magical short sword that had accompanied him for years.
"Agni, is it?" Ye Qi whispered as his finger traced the edge of the blade, "Well no matter what form you take, you are still my trusty companion! Nice to meet you, Agni, I shall be relying much on you in the future!"
The humming that for some reasons sounded joyous reverberated through the backroom.
Is this the resonance and bond mentioned by the weird wolf that is between an awakened Hallowed Artefact and its user? It's… spectacular!
The sword was like a natural extension of Ye Qi's limb. Even the attraction he felt to the Jade Leaf before couldn't rival the sense of belonging that the young Demon Hunter felt when he held Agni in his hand.
Out of curiosity, Ye Qi silently opened the character screen.
Agni (Star): An awakened magical short sword that was reforged into a Hallowed Artefact using a large amount of Star Dust Iron. Effect: Sharp Steel; Demonic Fire Slash 3 times/ day.
Sharp Steel: A blessed blade that could cut through steel like butter.
Demonic Fire Slash: The energy absorbed from the stars and sky was released from the blade in the form of a slash. Able to cause Armourbreak.
Armourbreak: Ignore defence provided by all forms of physical light and heavy armour. Damage against magic armour increase by 50 percent.
Ye Qi waved Agni around with a smile—we'll be able to "surprise" our enemy both in close range and long range in the future!
"Kid, you satisfied?"
The blacksmith who was supported by the big bloke said to interrupt the young Demon Hunter's thoughts.
"Very!"
Ye Qi put Agni behind his back and bowed deeply at the blacksmith—after all, the blacksmith was instrumental in helping his sword gain a new life. Of course, Ye Qi wouldn't forget the kindness shown to him by this blacksmith.
"Very good! Thank you for your business, that'll be ten thousand Gold Doubloons!"
Ye Qi's body froze and the sense of appreciation dropped out of his mind immediately. Frank added, "Even though I've promised to help you reforge the weapon, I didn't say the ingredients are free! The minerals that I've used to help forge your sword was a block of Star Dust Iron, do you know how expensive those are? I've already given you a big discount—ten thousand Gold Doubloons! Also, your friend might have forgotten to tell you this but this establishment does not accept any debt, or pawning of assets like houses, lands, cars or…"
Staring at the blacksmith's wicked grin, even though the young Demon Hunter knew Frank was more than he appeared, the urge to test out Agni still materialized in the young Demon Hunter's mind…
However, with Darien's help, the price of ten thousand Gold Doubloons was eventually discounted to one thousand Gold Doubloons. With the young Demon Hunter's haggling skill, he even managed to rope in the debt owed by Darien into that one thousand Gold Doubloons and even managed to swipe one black sharkskin sheath from the blacksmith as a "gift".
As the blacksmith roared the house down, cursing them out, both Ye Qi and Darien ran out of Sacred Hammer Weapons Collection as fast as they could—after all, staying out through the night as a Demon Hunter headquarters' Apostle was not a good idea. If they were discovered by the instructors, lectures and punishments awaited.
Of course, if the instructor was Titan, then everything would be fine but if the instructor was Noah…
Just thinking about the cold-faced man's by the book personality, the young Demon Hunter's hand that dragged Darien tightened and he picked up pace as they dashed towards the headquarters.
The weather at Summer Crinkle was always nice, the sun was warm but never too hot. Rows of bookshelves were illuminated by the sunlight that filtered through the Tower of Knowledge's windows.
The young Demon Hunter flipped through "The Dark Origin of Sorcerer" in his hand—he was lucky that morning. With the help and cover from A Wa and Tatum, both Ye Qi and Darien managed to sneak into the Tower of Knowledge without arousing Noah's suspicion.
"You sure are lucky!" This was the ninetieth time the weird wolf had lamented his good luck since he left Sacred Hammer Weapons Collection. Even though the young Demon Hunter purposely rubbed his ear as sign of irritation hoping that it was a good enough signal for the weird wolf to shut up, it was obviously not obvious enough, "Kiddo, do you know how momentous the awakening of a Hallowed Artefact is? Each Hallowed Artefact has its own unique power and effect, there wouldn't be two Artefacts that are the same! Furthermore, only their first wielder could enable their maximum potential to manifest! You are so lucky! I remember the last Hallowed Artefact's awakening that I witnessed, it was 900 years ago…"
When his hand landed on Agni's hilt, the young Demon Hunter realized it was different from the other Hallowed Artefacts he had come across, therefore when the weird wolf started commenting on it, Ye Qi listened to him carefully, hoping he could get some insight on the nature of Hallowed Artefact. The young Demon Hunter soon regretted that decision, like a broken record, the weird wolf had repeated the same comment 19th times—in fact, it had become some sort of a torture for the young Demon Hunter who had memorized the comment from the first word to the last.
The young Demon Hunter tried his best to ignore the weird wolf and focused fully on the book in his hand. Ye Qi though had underestimated the weird wolf's persistence and his ability to get under his skin.
"What are you reading? 'The Dark Origin of Sorcerer?!'" The weird wolf's scoff echoed in Ye Qi's brain before he continued with condescension, "Haven't you heard, history are written by the victors, the real history of the dark arts has been lost a long time ago…"
"Shut up!" The young Demon Hunter finally exploded, "I just want to look at the spell system of the sorcerers! I don't care about the twisted history! So please, shut the f*ck up! Don't tell me all creatures have the tendency to become long-winded as they grow older?"