"So tell me, boy, what game do you wish to play? Hehehe."

With the deal struck, it was now time for Lowen to actually come up with a game. He had a few ideas but he needed a little more information. As he looked Sid up and down, he wondered...

(Looking at this old man, I can see many strengths as well as weaknesses. His intellect doesn't seem to be too high so I could choose a game of thinking and logic, but if I step up and challenge him with the mind, he may see it as some kind of trick and back out of the deal. No, with him it would probably be better to go head-on with him, that way the results are clear as day and he can't back out.)

"Before we start the game can I ask you a question?"

"Hehehe, I'd say yes, but you already asked me a question just now, hehehe."

Sid was going to continue to tease Lowen, but seeing his annoyed reaction made it much less fun, instead, he cleared his throat with a businesslike demeanor and said.

*Ahem*

"Go ahead."

Lowen could see through many of Sid's weaknesses and strengths and he was even able to understand small portions about Sid's personality. This told Lowen a lot but what he couldn't figure out for the life of him, was how Sid seemed to be able to see even with his eyes bound shut. Maybe with this answered, it would give Lowen the edge he needed to win but he wasn't for sure, so in the end, all he could do was ask.

"It's about your eyes, I'm quite curious, how can you see us with them bound and shut?"

Sid didn't even hesitate with his response.

"Huh, are you dumb or something? Hehe, I sensed your earth energy earlier when you fought my statue. Haven't you ever heard the saying, an earth Mage can never be blind? Hehehe."

(Of course, I've never heard of that. I've only been on this planet for just over a month.)

Lowen's puzzled reaction told Sid everything, causing him to slap his forehead in understanding.

"Ah, I get it now, you're fresh off your mother's breast milk and have only just started down the path of magic, hehehe, no wonder no wonder. A child's a child after all, heh heh."

Nia's face turned a bright red hearing the word breast and she quickly covered Ben's ears. She wanted to cover Lowen's as well but remembered what happened last time she tried that only to have a weird statue come to life and attack. She couldn't help but look around at her surroundings for some hidden danger, presumably a statue. Ben just looked up at his sister, curious as to why she covered his ears but was comfortable enough that he didn't fight it but looking up he had the perfect view of his big sister's nose hairs and broke out into laughter. Nia mistook this for her not being in time to cover his ears, she thought he was laughing because of the word breast which caused her to feel even more embarrassed, now she could only stand there in discomfort.

Lowen was simply feeling annoyed at this kooky old man.

Finally, Sid's laughter came to a stop.

Lowen furrowed his brow and crossed his arms over his chest, and in a childish yet stern sounding voice, he said.

"Are you done? Because if I'm fresh off of it, then you're definitely still on your mother's tits because you clearly have yet to grow up. Whether it be in maturity or in height, you seem to have failed in both aspects."

Nia's jaw dropped, she couldn't believe what she just heard coming out of Lowen's mouth. She was left standing there completely unmoving as though she were glued to the floor. Sid, however, was absolutely furious, he stomped the ground with all of his might, causing the entire room to shake and tremble. He tore off his blindfold and with his crimson eyes, he stared death at Lowen. With a roar that seemed like it could move the clouds, he bellowed.

"YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER!! YOU INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE WORM. SPEAK ANOTHER WORD OF HER AND I'LL GRIND YOUR BODY INTO THE DIRT!!!"

Ben and Nia both had their ears covered and their eyes shut tight as they hunched down in fear. With their eyes covered they had learned from last time that looking at Sid's eyes would make bad things happen, they didn't know what but they knew for sure they hated that uncontrollable feeling they got. So this time around they instantly closed their eyes when Sid tore his blindfold off.

Lowen was also ready and had already protected himself with his ki. Sid's eyes had no effect on him whatsoever now. Without Sid's eyes, affecting Lowen, the rest was just loud threatening words and with just that Lowen didn't even flinch. Even though blood began to drip from his left ear he still stood there with his back completely straight not retreating even an inch. Instead, he actually even yawned, this caused Sid to be even more enraged. Lowen wouldn't show an ounce of fear in front of an opponent, but his poker face did almost slip from surprise.

(So he let it slide when I talked about his maturity level and even his height but when I mention his mom, a deep cord is struck. Hmm, interesting, I wonder what happened there.)

As Sid was about to bark some more, Lowen had already interrupted him.

"Oh, so you can talk about my mother but I can't say even a word about yours, tell me, does that mean I was right about what I just said?"

Sid hated thinking about the past more than anything else in the entire world. Looking at Lowen, his body seethed with killing intent and now he was ready to kill this child. As he walked up to Lowen, the knuckles on Sid's fist each began to crack one by one, standing in front of Lowen he asked.

"Anything else to say before I grind your bones into the dirt?"

Lowen simply replied.

"I'm still waiting for you to answer my first question."

Sid was confused.

"What?"

"My first question, the whole reason we got here is that you didn't answer my question, instead you just made fun of me. Had you just answered me, you wouldn't have become so upset."

Sid paused for a moment and thought about what just happened, causing him to calm down some, in doing so he noticed something odd. Looking down at the small boy in front of him, he noticed that Lowen was completely unaffected by his eyes.

(What, how, how can this be? this boy, my eyes aren't working.)

With this thought, Sid stared in the direction of Nia and Ben wanting to test his eyes on them. Seeing them both covering their eyes, he furrowed a bit.

Lowen suddenly felt a strange power concentrating on Sid's eyes, he felt the power coming from Sid's eyes increase, causing him to have to circulate even more ki into his defenses. Behind him, Lowen could see Nia and Ben starting to become affected by Sid's eyes. This time Sid didn't stop and Lowen had to intervene. Lowen touched the two on the sides of their temples and passed them some of his ki energy, causing them to quickly recover. Eventually, it removed all murderous intent coming from their bodies, calming them.

Sid literally couldn't believe his eyes, this has never happened in his entire life. Someone was not only able to defend themselves from his eyes, but that person was even able to defend others from his eyes as well, this was simply unimaginable. Thinking back on his life, Sid tore through all his terrible memories.

( I remember all the unfortunate things that these cursed eyes of mine have caused. If only I could have controlled them better then or known the true extent of their capabilities earlier on, maybe then, maybe then mother....)

Sid shook his thoughts away, nothing was worse for him then remembering all those wretched things. His mind cleared and he regained his former calm. He realized that his rush to anger was clearly too much and he had indeed said the wrong things first, but that doesn't mean he would apologize. Sid now revaluated this young boy, he looked at Lowen with the highest amount of curiosity and interest he could muster.

(This kid, what mysterious power was that? It felt like magic but something was off. I must learn this secret no matter what.)

Sid took the blindfold and carefully tied it firmly back onto his head.

"I got too angry but don't worry, hehehe, I'm no longer mad. Now tell me, boy, what was that technique?"

(So he noticed, of course, he has, he truly would be a fool if he couldn't tell that I canceled out his power. But now he wants to know how I've done it, tch, no chance in hell.)

Lowen wanted to say that out loud but he knew if he did this guy would either attack him or maybe even try to take Nia or Ben as a hostage. Lowen was completely regretting ever coming up this stupid mountain, to go through all this just to learn how to make jerky, this was nowhere near worth it. Lowen thought of a better solution.

"First, answer my original question, then, I might just consider it."

With Sid now actually interested, his focus on the conversation was sharp to his highest degree. He thought back on the original question Lowen had posed.

"An earth Mage can never be blind, that question right?"

Lowen gave a small nod.

"Hmm, it's actually really simple. Earth energy is not only in trees and rocks and things like that, but it's also in the dirt as well. When I'm blindfolded, I sense the earth energy in the dirt and in the environment around me to see. Most people hear that and think, doesn't that mean you can only see what's on the ground."

Lowen thought that as well.

(So does that mean he can only see what's below him but that doesn't make any sense, the way he reacts, he looks as though he can see our faces.)

Sid looked at Lowen's confused face and wanted to laugh but remembered his goal and continued.

"But that's not true, dirt isn't only on the ground, it's in the air as well. It's on your skin, it sits on every building, and it flows in every river. It is the one true part of the earth that is everywhere, this is how I see without seeing."

Something in Lowen's mind clicked, he wanted to immediately sit down and try to sense the tiniest bit of earth but had to settle things first. He wanted to ask more about the other elements out of curiosity but Sid's words came back to him.

(He can see because there is earth nearly everywhere but that's not the case for the other elements like air. Air isn't in rocks or the ground and waters not everywhere either. Even fire is limited in the world but dirt really is in nearly every nook and cranny around the planet, this is truly astonishing.)

Lowen looked at earth energy with a new pair of eyes, he felt his heart pounding with excitement but for now, he still had unfinished business.

"I've answered your question, now it's your turn. That technique, tell me its secrets, how do I learn it?"

To Sid's question, Lowen shook his head no.

"When did I ever say I would tell you, I only said I would consider it."

"You."

"However, if you want this technique there's still our wager. With this though, the wager would clearly go up in value. I just don't know if you have anything of worth."

Sid wasted no time and rushed to his huge 15ft metallic door, with a thought the door swung open with a speed unseen before.

For Sid, there was no reason to become upset at Lowen's new offer, when this was a bet that was all but guaranteed for Sid. With that thought, he dove into the mountain in search of something of equal value. For several minutes all you could hear was frightfully loud crashes here and there, like someone was tossing boulders around or taking a sledgehammer to an anvil until finally, there was silence. Old man Sid swaggered out from behind his metal vault-like door. In tow was one of his statues carrying an incredibly thick book. Its length was an incredibly 3ft, while its width was just over 2ft. The thickness of this book had to be more than 3,000 pages. It was the biggest book Lowen had ever seen in his entire life. As the statue laid the book down on the ground, a slight tremble could be felt. Sid approached proudly and said.

"This, this is what I wager."

Looking at the book, it was completely covered in dust. Lowen gently wiped it away and on the cover, 2 simple words were revealed.

[Divine Blacksmith]