The saint blacksmith was speechless after Kahn suddenly called him Master out of the blue. Although he knew that the contract he made in the fit of anger had messed up things greatly for him… he didn't actually expect this human to stick around and treat this whole charade seriously.
"What do you mean? I'm not taking you in as my disciple.
Don't take what happened seriously. Be on your way and stop lurking here." said the old dwarf.
"I too signed the contract because you pulled me into this. Are you running away from the responsibility, master Oakenshield?" asked Kahn in a provoking voice.
The very next moment, the second stage dwarf released his threatening saint pressure that spread across the entire building.
Everyone who was still inside the building was frozen on the spot and an insurmountable aura full of killing intent radiated from Master Oakenshield's body.
"Just because I'm going through a rough patch doesn't mean any random passersby can talk down on me." he said in a grim tone that was enough to give anyone a foreboding of certain death. Read full story at novelꞁire.net
"Unlike others of my race, I don't have anything against the human species.
But that doesn't mean I have to treat you any differently than anyone else.
So leave before I stop being nice." threatened the old blacksmith.
However, the very next second…
A black and red aura suddenly exploded from Kahn's body and easily overthrew this dense aura as Kahn activated the War Dominance blessing.
After his rank-up, War Dominance was at stage 8. Enough to allow Kahn to easily withstand the aura of a 3rd stage saint so overthrowing this one from a 2nd stage saint wasn't a problem in the slightest.
Suddenly… Oakenshield's eyes were also left wide open.
"You… you're a saint?!" he asked in a bewildered tone.
"Yes, I am." replied Kahn in a calm tone.
"How?! Since when can humans in the Vulcan empire become a saint?!
The only two human saints in the whole empire are Princess Venessa and Hero of Fire. One is a Fireborne while the other is a summoned hero of our god!
How come there's another one?" he asked again and again.
The reason why Kahn chose to reveal his rank here was for two reasons.
One… if he revealed that he was a saint, the old blacksmith will be less reluctant to teach him. Because he had the potential to become a saint rank blacksmith himself as he already met one of the conditions.
Two… other than the empire's ruling authorities and the church of Hetrax, nobody from the common population had any idea about God of Darkness or who the hell was Hero of Darkness either.
This matter was already a top-secret among the main rulers of the empires of Vantrea. So telling the old dwarf in front of him had a far too low risk of this information being leaked.
"Does it matter? Since I'm a saint… shouldn't that make things easier for you to teach me?" he asked.
"Teach you? Although it makes a lot of things easier. But tell me something honestly…" spoke the old dwarf and continued with a somber expression.
"Have you ever held a hammer in your hands?" he queried.
"Then have you ever tried to make a weapon?" asked the master again.
"No." replied Kahn in a carefree tone.
"Do you ever know how high you need to heat an iron ingot before you use it for forging?"
"No." spoke Kahn truthfully.
"Do you know what's smelting?"
"Yes." he replied with a charming smile.
"Do you know what quenching and soldering is?" asked the dwarf again.
"But have you ever done that?"
"Then why the hell are you trying to get mixed into this?!" exclaimed the old dwarf.
"Because I want to learn from the best." spoke Kahn as he tried to butter up the old dwarf.
However, the old blacksmith's expression turned grim.
"I already said I'll take the fall. And I'm not gonna make a futile effort and waste my time teaching you how to hold a hammer.
Besides, it's me who's reputation and company is at risk.
Just run away… whatever your name is." spoke master Oakenshield as he realized that using force against this human wasn't going to work out.
"It's Kahn Salvatore, master." replied Kahn.
"Who the hell is your master?!
Stop pestering me, boy.
I've lived more than a hundred and fifty years. I already know who is built for blacksmithing and who is not.
It's not like I can teach you and make you a saint blacksmith even in a decade either." spoke the old master in an irritated tone.
"Try me." challenged Kahn as he came to realize one fact about this old man, that when provoked… he loses his sound of reason.
"Don't you dare boy! If I do take you in as my disciple… I'll make you live inside a hellish nightmare.
Besides, my old students betrayed and joined my biggest competitor just this afternoon.
Do you think I'll ever trust someone else with my knowledge and techniques? Stop wasting both of our time." spoke the renowned dwarf.
"Wanna make a contract about it then?
You have to teach me and I can't leave your tutelage for one year until I'm done facing that Helsi guy." asked Kahn in a coy tone.
So far, his method of reeling in this old man was working.
"Ha ha ha! Good… since I'm going to need someone to let out my frustration, it's good to see that someone is willing to make a sacrifice on their own volition." he said and gave Kahn a fierce look.
"But you should know this… being a blacksmith doesn't come free. You'll have to pay me a huge amount of money to learn from me." spoke the saint blacksmith.
"How much?" asked Kahn.
To his question, the old man only showed him two-finger of his right hand.
"2 Billion?!" asked Kahn with a shocked tone.
The old dwarf shook his head.
"Don't tell me… two trillion?! Are you insane?!" said Kahn.
To his query… the old man kept smiling and spoke with a wicked smile as he revealed the price of the tuition fees.