When Kairos, Relestia, and Circi came to the guildhall, the new recruits had largely recovered from the debilitating after-effects of madness. Most of the people who came in contact with the darkness will make a full recovery thanks to how quickly Kairos defeated the chimera, but an unfortunate few will be permanently damaged. To the cultists who hide in the open, these victims became a source of pride.

In the guildhall, the discussion of what happened was the recruits’ coping mechanism for the horrors that they felt when darkness descended. Only Sagrado remained unaffected, trying to divert the conversation topic away.

Even as the three walked in, the discussion did not have any inkling of ceasing. Kairos immediately noticed Sagrado’s irregularity but did not put it to heart.

He did not stay for long either. After explaining the situation and asking them to work hard in improving their cultivation, Kairos returned to Edgar’s hut. As for Relestia, she did not follow because she knows that this period is when Kairos’ creation is about to finish and cannot afford to be distracted.

Kairos may be busy, but the princess is just as occupied with the entire branch now under her management, from logistics to the execution of plans. To save Circi Fer’s teammates is a race against time and they will need to recruit more members to make that possible. As most of the potential recruits are still scrutinising the guild and the validity of the Origin Cultivation Method, there is a lot of marketing work to do for Relestia.

By the time Kairos returned to his master’s hut, it was already midnight. At this time, the forges should have long ceased for the day, yet there was still one lit furnace at the corner of the room when Kairos stepped in.

Under the lamination of the glittering forge fires, he can see his fellow student, Von Von Arisfon. The elven girl is an outlier for both her race and gender in her career choice as a blacksmith. For the slender elves, most would find it impossible to swing a heavy hammer for long, but Von Von managed to persist under Edgar’s tutelage longer than any other student.

Even Kairos is impressed by her dedication, especially when she was given an exceptionally low blacksmith ranking for simply being an elf – and it is not helping her that she has been Edgar’s longest understudy.

Yet, no one thought to question why Von Von had not been expelled by Edgar even after so long. In fact, even her fellow students do not understand why she can remain an understudy despite being unable to get Edgar’s recognition to graduate. Few knew that the elf’s pursuit in smithing simply lies elsewhere, a technique of magic forging that only Edgar had seen because Von Von would forge in secret. Of course, she would also be working during the day where her fellow students are in, but what she shows others are but the standard blacksmithing techniques. Her juniors will laugh at the slender and delicate elf and her incompetency at handling the weight of a hammer, not knowing that she considers that as her daily physical training.

Only when night falls and there is no one to gleam at her secrets, she would practice her art. Because of Edgar’s strict rules that no one can leave his hut without permission, or at least until they graduate, Von Von’s secret had been safe more or less… so far. Until recently when Kairos, who has consent to come and go, noticed her.

However, the elf nodded at him without shying away. Unlike the others, this junior student is still somebody trustworthy, moreover, his crafting techniques is definitely not beneath hers so it is likely he will be uninterested in her secrets. Von Von, on the other hand, is very interested in Kairos’ techniques that caused Edgar to call over four other master craftsmen and to give this junior so many privileges that none other enjoyed.

Granted, she does not know what secrets he held that made him different since the ancient dwarven manuscripts are known only to the five master craftsmen, Kairos, and the dwarven king.

Kairos nodded back at Von Von respectfully and headed towards his bunk. The sleep area is at the back of the hut while the forge is by the entrance and this is also why nobody would notice the elf’s nightly training. Moreover, given her low blacksmith ranking, none will even think she has a secret technique much less bother fishing it out from her.

Kairos had long noticed the strangeness of the elf’s actions, yet it is not in his nature to pry. He had used a portion of his life energy today in the fight as well as to keep Circi Fer’s team alive and is now in dire need of a rest. Despite things looking straightforward from the moment Kairos entered the fray against the chimera, it had come at a huge cost, and it is not wrong to say that his healing progress had taken a plunge of months for his actions. When he introspected, his condition is critical again, and this time, if he does not allow himself to recover properly, there will be permanent damage.

But as Kairos was about to leave, Von Von called out his name.

Listless, but trying to maintain his manners, Kairos paused, but the next things he heard brought a light to his eyes.

Von Von, for the very first time, offered, “W-would you like to see the way I forge?”

Kairos knows that his fatigue is an aftereffect of using Origin Energy and will persist for the next few days. Since he is not physically exhausted, sleeping will not do much and he decidedly abandoned the notion to satisfy his curiosity.

The elf did not speak further after seeing Kairos coming over, and she continued with her work from before.

Time passed swiftly without any words between the two. By morning the elf has already created a fine weapon that would have taken other blacksmiths months. What made her art different is the creative magics that accompanied every part of the process. From using a strengthening spell for hammering, to wind, fire, water spells that systematically regulate the perfect condition to temper the metals, it was a masterful display in a direction that fully utilise the elven magical talents.

While it sounds simple, it is the way those spells work together like an intricate spiderweb that made it artful. Furthermore, the spells used are all derived from combat magic. For example, Von Von tweaked the battle spell Incinerate, but instead of increasing its firepower, she reduced the intensity and turned it into a longer lasting and concentrated flame that she calls the blowtorch.

If the other mages knew how talented Von Von is with spell creation, they will be… well, totally devastated. She could have researched magic for military use and furthered the elven presence on the Axis.

But no, she used her talents and found ways to make the unsuitable slender elven arm to do a dwarf’s job. Von Von had fully demonstrated the elven’s magical aptitude, creating spells that the dwarven masters could never hope to equal.

Kairos finally understood how Von Von had Edgar let an elf become his apprentice. Unfortunately, because her craft revolves around the new innovative magics, it became the reason why she remained an apprentice despite years of tutelage. There is no way the proud master blacksmith would let any of his apprentices graduate with half-baked skills and those forging spells are far from polished enough to meet Edgar’s standards.

Captivated by this new direction towards forging, Kairos humbly sought the elf’s instructions on how to forge with her spells. Without a second thought, Von Von handed him her notes with all the magics she had invented carefully scribbled down.

Kairos could not hold back his surprise when he received it from her. He gave her a look as though asking her if she is certain. When she gave a nod and gestured to him to read through the book, a bemused expression surfaced on Kairos’ face when he noticed her intention to get into his good books.

Von Von had expected Kairos to borrow it for a while to study the spells she created, but after flipping through the pages, he returned it.

Guessing her thoughts, he explained with a meek smile, “I’ve got perfect recall, but remembering is one thing, understanding is another.”

Von Von squinted. It is impressive enough that he can remember everything so quickly, and she believes the spells that he had yet to understand will not be many. After all, every one of Edgar’s students know of Kairos identity as a summoned hero by now, and the summoning spell only select humans with exceptional magical talents. The only person to receive the title of Magic King in Axis Mundi’s history is a summoned hero.

Seeing that there is still time before the others arouse, she decided to help him with the spells he is uncertain about, but the things he asked next made her head spin.

“Is the blowtorch spell part of another spell? I-I don’t mean to be rude, but it seems like it should be combined with a control magic that could automatically apply heat to specific areas as you forge.”

Not noticing her flummoxed expressions, he continued, “Additionally, there should be an examination spell to verify the material makeup and let the control magic advise the optimal process. The other spells can take advantage of the examination and control spells to become more mana efficient. For example, wind can be harnessed from fire magic, which in turn can be used to produce water to cool the heated irons.”

The elf’s befuddlement increased. No, this is actually an amazing idea. She is just getting her head around the fact that Kairos had not actually failed to understand any of her spells but is questioning why she had not taken the best approach. And then he proceeded to give her solutions that she had not thought she needed.

The two put their heads together to bounce ideas off each other, even when the other students arrived, they did not stop though their discussion turned silent with a privacy magic barrier. Nothing beats a good study session in providing Kairos with endless energy.

At first it was about the way to use spells to replace manual work, but the brainstorming quickly reached other areas like how to remodel other spells for different purposes or to create new magic for unique usages.

Feeling grateful that Von Von would share her secrets, Kairos reciprocated it with the concept he gleaned from the Ultimate Forging Scroll: to combine Enchanted, Magic, and Spirit properties into one weapon. The full content of the scroll itself is a secret that belongs to the dwarven race, but what Kairos had derived from it is his possession to share.

The session went far beyond the elf’s expectations, and she was both overjoyed with all the new ideas that sprung from talking to Kairos and relieved that she had made the decision to share her secrets.

Her impression of this junior fellow had changed from mysterious to talented to

Likewise, Kairos had benefited aplenty. He had started on creating his own spells but unlike Von Von, he had yet to try using magic to augment every possible thing. Thanks to the elf, he has a new notion concocting in his mind, a frightening idea to combine his City Surveillance spell with his ocular magic – the Heavenly Eyes spell – and a new spell that can function as a control system to use other spells as combat augmentation.

Many of his combat techniques uses Ki as the foundation, but after coming to Axis Mundi, he found Aura Arts that could work in mutual extension, and now with the addition to augment himself with spells, Kairos shudders just thinking of the outcome.

The spells of this lower realm may be weaker in firepower, but their ingenuity and knowledge outstretch Gaia by far in comparison.

On another note, Von Von felt that she had finally found a person she could share her interests with. The elf clumsily thanked Kairos, unfamiliar with how to talk to a friend.

“I… I-If you need me to help you with anything, y-you can ask me anytime!”

If the other students saw Von Von now, they will be incredulous that she could make such an expression and say such a thing. Although many of them look down on her skills, the elf is a beauty to behold especially within the ranks of stinky and sweaty blacksmiths and many of them are secretly besotted with her. Of course, the elf did not spare them any of her attention, since none of them are

It was an awkward display of gratitude, but Von Von had not thought that Kairos would tell her about the Ultimate Forging Scroll after he had helped improve on her forging spells.

Kairos considered the strengthening magic that allowed an elf to show the strength of a dwarven forge master and said with a slight frown, “Do you know of the madness that befell the city?”

The elf was taken aback by this sudden turn of conversation topic, but she still nodded. Even though it happened only a few hours ago, there are very few who had not heard at least a little bit about the incident. It was fortunate that the affected area was further away that Edgar and his disciples escaped the ordeal.

Kairos continued with a serious glint in his eyes, “There is something happening in the city’s dungeon, and I think what had caused the madness came from there. Senior, you have been in this place much longer than me, do you know of anything unnatural that happened recently? Anything related to the dungeon will help.”

Von Von thought for a moment, then her eyes suddenly brightened.

“I-I may have heard something from the juniors. They were complaining that some of the monster parts we use in forging costs much more now because many new dungeon divers went missing. Specifically, a certain claw from a monster found at a particular part of the dungeon had become very expensive because many who went to hunt those monsters never returned. I… I think I may know the area where those creatures roam in.”