The Nine Lords Of Order - Chapter 51

Loftycloud Palace stood out among the three palaces because of four major schools. These four schools were the Beast Taming School, Potion School, the Mechanical School and the Blacksmith School.

Although Mars did not know much about the Beast Taming School, it wasn’t too hard to imagine what the school was all about. Beast tamers obviously focused in taming and raising demon beasts. In fact, when he managed to get Persian to stay with him he became a beast tamer. After the event with the snake in the lightning valley he did a lot of research and ended up figuring out a way to help Persian to evolve his bloodline. Unfortunately Persian suddenly left one day without any warning. Although Mars did not know why he had left, he had a faint feeling that he would be meeting him again in the future.

Mars had also heard very little about potions, even when he stayed for three years in Ascencion city, he never was under the impression that potions were popular or anything. But since it was one of the big schools in Loftycloud he guessed he might be underestimating this profession.

Regarding mechanisms he knew even less. In fact, he had never really heard anything about them.

And blacksmithing? Although he had heard a little more regarding blacksmithing before, that was only because Eanred had briefly told him about it. In the kingdom of Lugasta, although blacksmithing was a profitable profession, it wasn’t something incredible in the eyes of most people.

But since the Blacksmith School and the Potion School, Mechanical School and Beast Taming School held very important positions in Loftycloud, he could only believe that these professions just began to shine at higher ranks.

The 13th elder had ordered him to go the Blacksmith School and get one of the old masters to acknowledge him as a disciple. He had tried to find Ludokai as well but unfortunately he wasn’t having luck with that. Since that was the case and feeling as he had wasted his time for a few days, Mars decided to check out the Blacksmith School.

Walking around for awhile Mars arrived to a majestic looking building. Even from far away he could already hear the rhythmic sounds of hammers hitting metal. Two giant metal doors stood tall in the entrance. These doors were very almost a meter thick and around ten meters in height. Right above these doors there were several words engraved which read, ‘BLACKSMITH SCHOOL’.

After hesitating for a second he decided to step inside and went straight for the reception.

“Are you here for a request or to pick up an order?” Once he reached the reception a pretty lady with a charming voice said to him with a practiced smile.

“Eh… No, I was sent here to learn Blacksmithing” Mars quickly said.

The lady was startled and as she squinted her eyes she asked with suspicion “You were sent here to learn Blacksmithing?”

“Err” Realizing that he shouldn’t have said that he tried to correct himself, “I meant that I suddenly felt that blacksmithing was my calling so I came here on my own volition to learn the art!”

With his signature smile on his face Mars said those words shamelessly.

Mars was already quite dashing, so when he smiled he would immediately leave ladies smitten.

The receptionist blushed a bit and coughed awkwardly. “Sir, in order to enter the Blacksmith School you need to possess basic knowledge regarding the art. There is a blacksmith examination you need pass before being accepted as a disciple from the school.”

Scratching his head Mars said embarrassedly, “What if I don’t know the basics?”

The receptionist thought for awhile and said, “Well, for people in your situation and others who have not reached the required level to enter the Blacksmith School quite a few disciples of the school provide lessons in exchange for merit points.” Then she pointed at a board which was placed near the entrance and had several notices nailed on it. “Sir, you can check that board for the information you need.”

Nodding his head in appreciation Mars was preparing to check the board but found out that the receptionist had grabbed his sleeve.

“I recommend you to go to the lessons of senior sister Jill. She is a core disciple and her lessons are one of the best. Have a good day sir! ” The receptionist said as she gave Mars a meaningful smile.

Mars was startled at first and silently nodded as he turned to leave. Smirking he couldn’t help but think that being good looking was of great help sometimes.

Looking at the board he saw countless notices. After searching around for a couple of seconds he soon found a notice with Jill’s name on it and quickly memorized the details. ‘Ai Five hundred merit points per lesson!? That’s expensive Almost every notice is cheaper… Well, since I have the core disciple monthly allowance I guess I can afford it… But I also have to bring my own equipment and materials?’

Scratching his head he did know what to think. It had to be said that one merit point here was equivalent to a hundred in Ascension city! Even after he had exchanged all his previous merit points he barely obtained less than two thousand. Adding to his ‘allowance’ he just had around twelve thousand.

After traveling around the island for a few days he realised that the prices of regular items had suffered a fierce overinflation! He wasn’t a very knowledgeable regarding blacksmithing materials but he guessed those would be even more expensive as well!

He also wasn’t sure how long it would take him to reach a basic level of proficiency but he suspected it wouldn’t be just a couple of lessons.

Sighing he returned to speak to the pretty receptionist. He still had to figure out what the required equipment and materials were

A couple of days later Mars was standing before a rather big residence. Apparently this was were senior sister Jill lived and it was also the place where he would be receiving his lessons.

After knocking the door a couple of times a maid soon received him. She looked at him up and down however she did not let him in. Apparently it was because she had never seen him.

From her nonchalant expression Mars could tell that this maid was quite arrogant and refused to speak first. While thinking she was a terrible maid he decided to quickly explain himself. He had the faint impression that this maid was actually stronger than himself and that it wouldn’t be a good idea to get on her bad side “I’m here for the blacksmithing lessons.”

“Follow me!” Without giving him a second glance the maid walked him around the house and led him to the courtyard, then she left.

The courtyard was quite spacious and even if a hundred individuals were in here it wouldn’t feel packed. As he walked in he noticed quite a few people were already here. Mars counted there were around 40 people in total. Most of them were females and there were only a few males in this place. Mars was actually surprised by the amount of women in here. In his mind, blacksmithing was a profession for burly men. Although Jill was obviously a woman, he had already pictured this lady as the burly type of lady…

As he walked in some of the individuals in the courtyard gave him a glance but most just proceeded to ignore him.

“Do you think he came because he likes senior sister Jill as well?” One girl said to another while ‘whispering’.

“I don’t know maybe Just look at his face! He probably is a pretty boy trying to test his luck! Hmph!” Another girl responded while ‘whispering’ with an even louder voice.

Mars just ignored them and continued to look around, he noticed that everyone was sitting in their own spot while keeping a few meters of distance from each other. Each of them had a strange ring in front of them and several other tools. Mars quickly decided to do the same thing and quickly found a spot of his own and sat on the ground as well. He pulled a strange ring out his spacial ring, a hammer, and a couple of other tools and materials. The ring had a hollow space of around half meter in diameter, its body was made of some sort of crystal and while it was very thin, the body of the ring was still around five fingers in width.

When he went asking around about the things he needed he was surprised about the materials and equipment. He didn’t know what this ring was but he heard that blacksmiths in Loftycloud use it to craft weapons and equipment. He thought he would be using a hammer and an anvil but now he had this strange ring… Worse of all, this ring was extremely expensive and it was worth five thousand merit points! Shaking his head Mars could only embrace himself for big expenditures. He had already been told that becoming a blacksmith consumed a lot of resources. Who knew he would use half his money before even starting?

After several minutes of waiting Mars soon saw a charming lady entering the courtyard. She had long red hair which was tied in ponytail. Her eyebrows were sharp and her gaze was valiant. Her combat uniform was white and it fitted her tightly which accentuated her voluptuous body and ample chest. Even Mars couldn’t help but give her a few glances.