It didn't take long for Krune to arrive at the Blacksmiths Hall. He went to the counter and asked it was possible to talk with a blacksmith at the moment.
"According to your ID, you are contestant Krune, right? This time, all the participants of the Mercenary Selection have high priority in the requests here in the Blacksmiths Hall. I will request one of them to see you in a moment. Please, wait in that room."
The attendant pointed at a door not too far. Krune went there and waited for the blacksmith to come. A few minutes later, a man who looked to be in his middle age appeared. Krune could feel that his cultivation had definitely reached the Core Formation Stage. So he was undoubtedly much older than he looked.
"Hello there! I'm the Five-Star Blacksmith Marcus. You are the one who needs some advice, right?"
Krune nodded. He then took out some paper drawings he had made and passed it over to Marcus. After taking a look at then, Marcus was impressed. It wasn't that it looked like it was hard to make or had any impressive design. The thing that surprised him was the quantity. He looked at Krune and asked:
"Hexagonal Flying Shields, right?"
"It's not hard to make, but are you sure you want these many? You definitely won't be able to control all of them at the same time. Are the rest of them just spare shields?"
Krune then took out of his spatial ring Thirty-Eight spirit stones. They were just low-level ones. He threw them in the air, and they started to float. He was using the spiritual energy inside and his own Divine Sense to control them. After that, he began to make several different movements. Sometimes they separated, sometimes they converged in line, and other times they formed a barrier. Marcus saw that and was really taken aback.
"What a frightening Soul Power and Divine Sense!"
Krune recovered his spirit stones back after that. He used spirit stones to practice because they already had spiritual energy inside them. So he didn't need to charge the spirit stones beforehand.
"The control isn't a problem. So, how much do you think it would cost to do this work?"
Marcus pondered a bit. Krune had asked for Thirty-Eight pieces. Although they weren't hard to make, there was the problem of the materials. But most important of all, it was the Divine Imprints.
"I will need at least Spiritual Azure Steel for me to attend your specs. Unlike other equipment, they will need to hold Spiritual Energy, fly and attach to each other. But those can be dealt with. The main issue here is the Divine Imprint each one of them will need."
Krune was puzzled.
"What is a Divine Imprint?"
Marcus then explained.
"For weapons like swords, for example, the user will only need to hold them. The weapon won't be leaving their hands. So a Divine Imprint isn't necessary. However, for weapons like flying swords, the user will need to control them with their Divine Sense, greatly affected by their Soul Power. If you don't use a Divine Imprint, someone with a stronger Divine sense and Soul power can simply take control over your flying sword, and then you will have no more weapon."
Krune understood the logic.
"Then, we do a Divine Imprint."
Marcus shook his head.
"If it were just one or at most three Divine Imprints, I would ask you to simply make them straight away and put the imprint in the piece of equipment that you want me to forge. You probably could use even seven or eight with your Soul Power and Divine Sense. There are thirty-eight Hexagonal Shields. Once you put your Divine Imprint Inside, it will change a little during the forging. So all your thirty-eight Shields are bound to have different Divine Imprints inside, in the end."
Krune was still puzzled.
"And is it a problem?"
Marcus then continued.
"A big problem!" The compatibility of Divine Sense and the Divine Imprint has to be the same. But since there would be only one or at most eight pieces, you shouldn't have any issues matching the compatibility necessary and control them. But to have thirty-eight different types of Divine Imprints and change your Divine Sense in thirty-eight compatible types will put a huge burden on the soul. As I said, even with a Divine Sense and Soul Power like yours, I reckon that you would be able to control at most seven or eight shields at once. And that is already very difficult."
Marcus then gave him an idea.
"But you could, for example, make seven bigger shields. It would be easier to control."
Krune shook his head.
"In that case, I won't be able to change them in several forms like I'm planning. They will also be much heavier, which will make them harder to control due to the G Force. Is there any other way to keep the Divine Imprints identical?"
Marcus nodded.
"There is! You have two options here. As the second option is out of the question, let me tell you the first."
"Divine Imprints are things we blacksmiths are specialized with. If you can create a Divine Imprints on par with the level of the equipment, they will not change after the forging is done. But in that case, they must be done by yourself."
Krune finally understood.
"Does it mean that Divine Imprints are pieces of equipment themselves. Is it not just some Divine Sense ability?"
Marcus laughed after hearing that.
"Of course not. It doesn't matter how strong your Divine Sense is. If you use it alone without anything else, it will disappear sooner or later. Divine Imprints are like talismans, something you make by fusing your Blood and Divine Sense into a seal that is then attached to the equipment during the forging. Once the equipment is done, only the Divine Imprint owner can control it."
"Because, usually, cultivators use weapons and armors held by their hands and bodies, Divine Imprints aren't that necessary, even if they do use something like a flying sword. They would have one, two, or at most three of them. So even the most basic Divine Imprint is already more than enough for them."
"Simply put, to use this option, you will need to become a blacksmith yourself."
Krune then asked what the second option is.
Marcus once again laughed.
"The second option is out of your reach! When a cultivator reaches the Divine Soul Realm or higher, they can use their Divine Sense and Blood to imprint an ownerless piece of equipment. In that case, the blacksmith would make identical Divine Imprint Seals, and the Divine Soul Cultivator can simply bound it to himself later. Otherwise, any high-level cultivator would need to become a blacksmith himself. That is too unrealistic."
Krune just shook his head. There is a long way until he reaches the Divine Soul Realm.
'So I will need to go to a Blacksmith Guild and apply to become one.'
He then asked Marcus:
"At what level of Blacksmith do I need to be to make Divine Imprints good enough for those shield materials?"
Marcus pondered a bit.
"The shields, you asked me to make, have to resist to even early stages Core Formation Realm cultivators for some time before running out of Spiritual Energy. I reckon that a Three-Star Blacksmith should suffice. Of course, it will take a long time for you to become one. But it is still much faster than wait for the Divine Soul Realm."
Krune nodded.
"Do you know the closest city with a Blacksmith Guild Branch where I can apply to take the test?"
Marcus answered: "Straight away."
"You don't need to leave the Mercenary Headquarters for that. It has employed the Six-Star cultivator of the various occupations. So our Blacksmith Hall can also provide the tests for Blacksmiths. If you go to the other Guilds Headquarters, you will find they also do the same. It's very convenient to have the necessary personal at all times, after all."
Krune was surprised at that. Since he doesn't need to go anywhere, he might as well try it out now.
"Then, I will take the test."
Marcus heard that and laughed.
"No problem! Although you can't become a Three-Star Blacksmith any time soon, it is still necessary to start at some point. As long as you persist, you will reach the level that you need."
He simply thought Krune was choosing the fastest way to get his hexagonal flying shields. Not for even a second, he believed Krune could become a Three-Star Blacksmith before the Martial Gathering.
Krune once again received the necessary material to study and shut himself in his room.
'I won't be able to get the shields ready for the Mercenary Selection, but I reckon I have a chance for the Martial Gathering.'
Thinking like that, Krune started to focus on his study of the materials. First, he would leave his room and go to the Blacksmith Hall to inquire about furnaces, materials, techniques, and the like. He soon became quite a common figure in the Blacksmith Hall during that short time.
Ao was in the Mercenary Headquarters training room, practicing his sword movements. The training room was enormous, and you could see quite a few people there at the moment. He had activated a protection formation in the platform he was to prevent his attacks from going outside. Some looked at him but didn't see anything strange because Ao wasn't using any skills. He just moved his sword around, so no one noticed anything out of the normal.
But if a realm Swords Master was present. He definitely would have his jaws dropped, because there was something else coming from Ao's sword movements. It wasn't the Wind Element Sword Qi that Ao usually used with his swords skills like the Vacuum Blade. It was something different, much sharper, and threatening. Something only masters of the sword should be able to do.
Sword Intent!
It was just recently that Ao started to perceive this difference in the movements of his sword. At first, he didn't understand what it was. Just that it was much more powerful than his Wind Element Sword Qi. It was only after the Sword Intent started taking form that he understood what was happening. Ao had heard about the Sword Intent before, but that was something way out of his reach. So, when he found out he was able to generate a Sword Intent, he was ecstatic and puzzled. Since when did he understand the sword getting so good?
After thinking for a while, the answer was obvious. Krune had been guiding him in elements control all this while. With better control over his wind element, his sword skills improved by leaps and bounds to the point where he could even become a Three-Star mercenary easily. He has no doubt that if he were at the Core Formation Stage, becoming a Four-Star Mercenary would be simple. And, after he opened his own Spiritual Energy Meridians, his control over the elements got even better. For the Sword Intent to form was just a question of time.
It is just that in the Makui Planet, cultivators with Sword Intent usually are at least in the Core Formation Realm and lived for at least a hundred years or more. Those having Sword Intent and still in the Foundation Establishment are just a few. But being in Foundation Establishment Realm, having Sword Intent, and, at the same time, being under 40 years old can be counted using the fingers of their hands!
Ao didn't see the time passing, and soon it's been already afternoon of the second day since his group arrived at the Mercenary Headquarters. He was just practicing as always when, suddenly, someone called his attention outside of the protection formation. Ao was immediately pushed back off that state. He thought it to be sad, but he could only blame himself for that. He deactivated the protection formation and looked at who was calling him.
The person was quite tall, short red hair, and no beard. His name was Turi Belane, a Three-Star Mercenary at the peak of the 9th Stage of the Foundation Establishment, who came for the Mercenary Selection as well.
He looked at Ao with some disdain on his face. The reason he came to bother Ao was that he inquired about the competitors for that Mercenary Selection, who were already in the Headquarters. He then found out that the 'super genius,' Krune, that had been on the news of the Mercenary Guild, had already arrived for the Mercenary Selection too. But it doesn't matter how much Turi looked, he couldn't find him at all. He couldn't be blamed. In the last two days, if Krune weren't in his room, he definitely was in the Blacksmith Hall. So it is no wonder that no one has found him yet.
In the end, Turi found out that this Krune had come with another three people. Two of them were here to take part in the Mercenary Selection too. It didn't take long for him to discover Ao, who had been in the Training Room all that time.
"I heard you are friends. Probably even a team member of that Krune whose the Mercenary Guild claims to be their trump card this time around for the Mercenary Selection. Tell me where he is."
Turi couldn't accept it. He was the leader of the Carnage Team that monopolized the first position of the Sky Rank System the last two times. But, instead of promoting him, the Mercenary Headquarters announced Krune as their strongest member for the Mercenary Selection. The worst of all is that Krune wasn't anywhere close to the top of the Sky Rank System. Turi looked through all the first 100 teams, but not a single one had Krune in it. He didn't know what the Mercenary Headquarters was thinking, so he decided to test the guy himself.
Ao had a nonchalant expression on his face. He looked at Turi from head to toe and then just shook his head. There was nothing worth paying attention to! He just turned around to go back to his sword training when Turi appeared in front of him.
"Are you deaf? If you don't want to get into trouble, then tell me where he is now!"
Turi extended his hand and was about to grab Ao when, suddenly, his hand passed through Ao's body as he was a ghost. Turi's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw that. Then he spread his Divine Sense and found out Ao was already back on the platform he'd been training before. Everyone around looked at that scene and started to discuss what had happened. Turi felt like he was humiliated, took out his sword, and pointed at Ao.
"A puny 8th-stage Foundation Establishment thinks he can take part in the Mercenary Selection, but, in the end, he can only flee. Are your friends as cowards as you just now?"
Ao stopped in his steps and looked back. His eyes were cold, he took a deep breath and asked:
"What do you want?"
Turi showed an evil smile and said:
"Let's have a duel! If I win, you will tell me where Krune is, if I lose, you can ask me anything."
It was then that Ao's eyes lit up. The Spiritual Energy Meridians are good, but they are also bottomless black holes. Every new one uses a lot more Spiritual Stones than the last, not to mention that he needed to leave out some for his own cultivation as well.
Ao looked at Turi, but he didn't see a person anymore, just a treasure trove.
"I accept!"