Chapter 222: Palkus’ Journey! Pause
*DAAAAP*
Seeing the hand coming towards him, Palkus unconsciously brought out his own. The two hands clasped together, and the effect of their meeting made the entire city quake.
"OHOHO!" The blacksmith king laughed hesterically.
"He did it!" Danoris looked at Palkus in shock while feeling the wave of their dap.
"Congratulations!"
"Gratz, Lad!"
"Congrats!" One after the other, the elders congratulated Palkus, who understood nothing of what was going on.
"Congrats for what?" He looked at the elders in confusion, not understanding anything.
"You're the new blacksmith king." The former blacksmith king nodded while explaining.
"Stop, stop, stop." Instead of accepting what happened, Palkus raised his left hand while closing his eyes and looking down, his right hand still clenching the dwarf's.
"What is It ya don't understand? Oh! I guess you didn't know of our tradition." The dwarf looked at Palkus in front of him and then it hit him.
"Tradition…" Palkus, hearing this, opened his eyes in slight confusion and thought back for a second. Then it clicked…
"Ah!" He finally remembered. This dap thing that seemed absurd was something the dwarves gave great meaning to. It wasn't just a simple, dumb act that meant nothing.
In fact, this was a technique used by the blacksmith king himself; that is why nobody but him did it before with Palkus and why the young man was confused.
Of course, this wasn't all there was to the test, but everything else was not as important.
In short, by having two blacksmiths smack their hands together, the intensity of the vibration caused would determine if the one on whom the technique was used won or not.
While Danoris only managed to cause a room-wide quake, Palkus went crazy and caused a city-wide one. Such a thing immediately gave him the pass.
If any of the other elders were to do such a thing with the former blacksmith king, the intensity of the vibration would be so weak that it would barely cause a breeze, and that in itself meant that they failed to even be considered.
Palkus, however, passed, and with flying colors at that. Now, he could take the honorary test that would crown him as the new blacksmith king. It was nothing but a simple contest over who would make the best artifact.
Since both of them were ex-ranks in their profession, there was no inconvenience.
"Do we start now, or?" Palkus asked, finally letting go of the hand of the dwarf.
"Hmm? Seeing as I just managed to make the best weapon I've made this month, as long as ya make something better, I will gladly hand over my title to ya." The dwarf king thought for a bit with one hand crossed while the other touched his beard before he replied.
"But the chances of ya actually losing are small." This was the reason the smithing part was considered an honorary part of the test.
Through the rich and long history of the dwarves, there was no one who could make at least a building-wide vibration that didn't manage to win in the end. And such cases only happened when the blacksmith king at the time had some kind of epiphany or managed to create a masterpiece better than he ever made.
This was the reason Palkus had no way of losing and why he was congratulated so early by the elders.
"… Alright." Looking at the dwarf for a few seconds to sort himself out, Palkus just sighed and removed his shirt to show the group of buff elders his chiseled body.
"My, oh my, that's one fine training you had to get these results." The former blacksmith King, Malgard, commented.
Palkus, however, was already too focused to reply. He headed towards the forge, and in a swift series of events, he started the process of forging.
"Hahahaha! There is no way a lad this focused will lose." Danoris laughed and commented after standing next to Malgard and seizing Palkus' gaze.
"You're right, I guess it's time for me to step down once again." Malgard smiled softly and said. This was his second time being the blacksmith king. The last time such a title was snatched from him, it was by the hands of the Anomaly, Alexander.
*Fwshhhh*
…
*BOOOOOOM*
"WHAT HAPPENED!" Out of nowhere, when Palkus had just finished his work, an explosion occurred inside the forge that forced Valentine to teleport over to see what happened.
"OHOHOHOHOHO, you really didn't disappoint." Entering the room, the first thing Valentine heard was the laughter of Malgard, who looked like he was standing on his last straw.
"Ugh!" By his side, Danoris was on his knees, not even able to look forward.
"What happened!" Not even a few seconds after Valentine appeared, Emily entered the blacksmith guild and even pushed the guild mistress away to see what happened inside.
And the second she entered, she stopped in her tracks as her eyes opened wide and her cheeks turned red.
In her vision was Palkus, holding the greatest masterpiece he has managed to make to this day, it wasn't a sword, nor was it a spear, or even an armor. It was just a simple dagger. At first glance, it looked harmless, and even though it's shape was weird, it still looked normal.
But with Palkus holding it high in the sky with his chiseled body sweating from the hard work he had just put in, it shone in a cerulean luster that got those who witnessed its outburst on their knees, if not straight out unconscious.
"Hmm? What are you doing here, Emily?" Palkus finally came back to himself, and the first thing he noticed wasn't the unconscious elders but his girlfriend, who gulped when their gazes met.
"I- I was worried." She replied.
"Worried? Huh? What happened here?" Palkus finally looked down to notice the elders, those who were flat on the floor, and then those who were still holding on.
"Congratulations on becoming the blacksmith king, young lad."
-----End-----