Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The medical wing was silent. The healer had left, leaving the cultivator alone, sitting on one of the sick beds. Since the preliminaries, there had always only been one or two people here. it's not like a lot of people got hurt in the stadium.

Lost. He had lost and to make things worse, he once again felt the accursed poison rouse in his body. Just the short moment when he used his Qi to attack, instead of sealing the poison, was enough to tremendously worsen his condition.

Despite reviving, not all the damage had been reset for him. Was even the dungeon god unable to completely undo this ailment? Trying to think of how to continue from he, he was deep in thought.

He looked up when he heard steps in the door frame.freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

A man wearing the casual attire of Urth strolled in and leaned back against the door frame. Nam could feel a pair of appraising eyes wander over his body. Observing the newcomer himself, the cultivator suddenly realized who had come to visit him on the sick bed.

“T-Tower Master?” the foreign words awkwardly rolled over his mostly rotten tongue. The man who just came nodded.

“Wh- Why brings- What brings you here?” he tried talking urthan, but ultimately gave up, reverting to his native language. He knew that the foreign power the Urthans relied on was able to translate for him. He had still attempted to learn their language for the past week.

“You seemed quite desperate to win the tournament. I different kind of desperate compared to the other participants. That was why I wanted to hear you out,” the man said with an irresponsible shrug and a small smile playing around his lips. Nam stared at him for a while. Hear him out? Did that mean he might still have a chance?

“What do you want to hear?” he pressed out, tasting the irony saliva in his mouth.

“What would you have wanted, if you won?”

It was a simple question, but it was complicated to answer. Could he trust this man with his master's work? Had he won, he would have had to answer it, but Minas Mar would have had the obligation to fulfill his wish. But he had not won. His master entrusted him with this on his deathbed.

What if he told the Tower Master and he decided to get rid of him and steal it? it wouldn't have been the first time, but with his current strength, would he be able to resist if they decided to take it? No, he would simply die in vain, trying to protect it...

“A token to work against... this,” he said vaguely, pointing at his bandaged chest. Right, he didn't have to mention the schematics here. he could just stay vague about it.

“Hmm, what is it? A curse? A poison?” the man asked, curious.

“It's a heaven-grade poison called the Deity Rending Poison that can even kill an immortal. Without these bandages, my life would have been long lost,” he pushed himself and gave a longer answer. “I need at least a heaven-grade artifact to overcome it.”

The Tower master's eyebrows rose in surprise when he revealed that he was afflicted by a heaven-grade poison. Yet, he wasn't overly shocked about the name, probably because he didn't even know what the Deity Rending Poison was. If he knew that it was one of the most feared weapons on the Cloud Continent, his reaction would have surely been different. that fact that even the power of the dungeon god that revived him didn't fully reset the effect of unsealing the bandages was proof enough.

“hmm, so what you would have asked for would have been a legendary item with a legendary poison-curing effect,” the Tower Master summarized ponderingly. Legendary?... Right, it was what they called heaven grade. Name shook his head slowly.

“Curing it is practically impossible. But as long as it could weaken the poison, I could push it out using my cultivation. Healing the damage afterward will be easy, ” he explained. This was the plan his master came up with, it was just that they couldn't implement it before his master fell to the Deity Rending Poison. In all this time, he still had been unable to find a material that could handle the formation and a craftsman that could create the final product.

The blacksmith squinted at him suspiciously. He stepped right before him and bent slightly down to look him directly in the eyes.

“I feel that you are still hiding something from me, but it's not actually important to me. The real question is, what can I get from you? How much are you willing to pay to make this happen?” his voice sounded friendly but it had an edge. This was a clear-cut business conversation, but for some reason, Nam was not put off by that.

He had talked with many money-minded sect elders and craftsmen who aimed for the legacy of his master. They just wanted to take advantage of him, aiming to get rid of him at the end of the deal. This was different. The Tower Master showed no interest in the materials or knowledge he had to offer, he was aiming for him.

Nam found this open demand more trustworthy. At least, if the master of Minas Mar wanted him as a slave, he would actually try to help him survive. And as long as he survived there would be opportunities for him.

“Anything. I will give you anything you demand if you can make it happen,” he answered decisively. There was no waver in his raspy voice.

“Whoa, that's a little intense. You should be a little more careful with your words, someone with less character might have used this chance to take advantage of you, you know? Don't worry, I offer you a fair deal,” he said and waved his hand. With a jet of flame, a parchment appeared in his hand.

Nam had heard about these magical contracts the Urthans used. His eyes jumped back and forth, reading the unfamiliar characters on the paper. he didn't know the language, but for some reason, he was able to understand them perfectly fine. The condition could be easily summed up in four points.

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Minas Mar's Offer: An item that would help him recover from the poison one way or the other.

The price: He swearing fealty to Minas Mar, the moment the items were provided and its effect was confirmed.

Conditions to break the Contract:

In case that he broke his oath, his soul would belong to the Tower Master.

Apart from that, there would be a re-negotiation after 10 years if he wished to leave.

The contract even allowed him to buy his freedom if he provided a heaven-grade material.

He thought for a moment. His sect was already gone and he lacked the skills to revive it. He was realistic about this, but he still had something to do. The last point had him pondering. His soul was a high price, but it was only in case he broke the oath. Apart from that it was only about his service. Maybe-

“What if I provided a formation enchantment that will work against the poison from the start?” he finally made the decision to try and trust the Tower Master a little, revealing the work of his master. The blacksmith looked at him in surprise.

“So you can already provide a powerful enchantment? I would have to see, whether I can even use it. If I can, we can renegotiate the period for the contract,” he said and tapped the contract. A new point was added which summarized what he just said.

If the tower master was able to use the enchantment in the creation of the product to be provided, the contract time could be directly negotiated, instead of the re-negotiation 10 years later.

As long as he could survive, even 10 years wouldn't be too long, and with this contract, he would also not lose anything. Either Minas mar succeeded and he survived, or they didn't and he would leave to seek a different way.

Nodding, Nam signed the contract.