Legacy of the Dark Sage

It was already high noon when Kyran arrived outside Starhorn City's market district.

Kyran, wearing a white hooded jacket on top of a black shirt and pants, also had a black cloth covering half of his face to ensure he would not attract any unwanted attention. After all, he was using Tyr's face right now. He could actually use an incantation to deliberately obscure his presence from other people in a crowded area but decided it was overkill to use it.

Besides, Tyr did not have such an ability. At most, he was average in terms of magic attainment, even though he was a genius in Array.

With Kyran's outfit, he still attracted some curious looks. But that was all. After one look, they did not pay him further attention and went about their own business.

One would think the change that happened within the empire would discourage people from going around cities; however, Starhorn's market district was as busy as ever. People were seen entering and leaving different establishments. Some were lined up outside some smaller shops, waiting for their turn to get inside and have someone attend to their needs.

Every now and then, a noise would erupt as two people, a customer and a merchant was, tried to haggle prices.

Still, such noise was quite normal in the market district.

After walking for almost thirty minutes, Kyran finally arrived in front of the Blacksmith Order's main branch. It was a three-story building made of metal and black stones with a large chimney at the center. Engraved in front of the building's double doors was a golden hammer, the Blacksmith Order's symbol.

Smoke could be seen rising from the chimney, proof that blacksmiths were busy at their work.

At one side of the building, there was an entrance specifically for customers, which was now lined up with people. The entrance led to the public receiving area of the building, where some of the Blacksmith Order's work was displayed for customers to view. It was also where they left their requests for personalized magic items.

As for Kyran, since he had a token, he could enter directly from the building's double doors.

When people saw him, they all gave him a furtive look. Of course, they were aware that one could not enter directly there unless they were part of the order, but with Kyran's stature and even clothing, he did not appear to be a blacksmith. Aside from this, most of the customers lined up were regulars, and they knew and was familiar with every member of the order that worked on this day.

In the end, they could only speculate that Kyran was a messenger from the Mercenary Hall and did not have to enter to the side since both establishments were constituents of the Conclave.

While these people were trying to figure out Kyran's identity, the latter had already entered the building.

It was Kyran's first time going to the Blacksmith Order, and he only knew its policies and such during the few days he was studying under Noir. He also heard some things from Sigma during their spar.

Since Noir, with the support of Stella, had been very thorough in creating Tyr's fictional identity, they also had a private workplace built for his sole use. Of course, this workplace was built the year Noir declared he took in a disciple, and while no one from the order had actually seen anyone enter and use it, they had kept the workplace clean.

The scene that greeted Kyran was an enormous room filled with machines and tools used in armor and weapon crafting. Workstations were built in the middle of the room surrounding the huge furnace that had smaller openings facing each workstation. This furnace was connected to the chimney that could be seen outside the building.

At the moment, all workstations were occupied by Array Specialists. Each was busy working on armor or a weapon according to the request they received from the customers.

Far back the first floor was a big metal door that led to the storage.

On each side of the entrance were two metal staircases that led to the second and third floors. Though it was called 'floor,' it was a mezzanine on each side where more workstations were located. The second floor had private workstations reserved for higher-ranked members of the order. As for the third floor, it was where Noir and Sigma's workstations and office were located. It was also where the blueprints archive room was.

The sweltering temperature, the smell of metal and burning coals, the noise of all the machines and hammers hitting metals instantly caused Kyran to remember his experience in the Knowledge Room when he worked on his puppets.

A small smile tugged at his lips as he watched the other specialists and blacksmiths work.

Seeing their diligent and serious attitude, Kyran did not bother to ask for assistance and decided to find Tyr's workstation on his own. As far as he remembered, Tyr's workstation was located on the second floor —the biggest workstation at the right mezzanine had been converted to Tyr's.

Just as Kyran turned to make his way to the right staircase, the door behind him finally shut close.

BANG!

Even with the noises from the machines, the closing of the door instantly drew the attention of almost all the people working inside.

When the blacksmiths and specialists saw a young man in a white hooded coat standing there, looking suspicious because half of his face was hidden, the eyes of most people inside instantly turned red.

The reason for this was not because they thought the young man was an intruder, but because he looked like a new recruit. After all, the order had an array formation that would not let anyone be able to open the main doors if one did not possess a Blacksmith Order Token.

It was for this reason that the order had no one guarding the doors. They were confident that no one would breach the array formation because it was Chairman Noir's work.

Anyway, there was also a chance the young man might really be an intruder who stole a token and wanted to sneak in, so they had to put up a front.

"Who the hell are you?"

A bald bulky man in dark work clothes, holding a huge black hammer, roared. He was one of the blacksmiths closest to the door.

When the bulky man spoke up, those who were planning to admonish the young man stepped down. Compared to the rest, the bulky man was closer and also looked far more intimidating. Besides, they knew the bulky man had been in a bad mood since yesterday because of his failed craft and only wanted to let out some steam.

Kyran opened his mouth to introduce himself, but before he could even utter a word, the bulky man slammed his black hammer on his work table.

Bang!

The sound was not as loud as when the door had closed, and it was instantly drowned by the noises coming from the machinery and the burning furnace. However, the impact was enough to frighten most people.

Some of the blacksmiths and specialists only sneered in their hearts.

"This place is off-limits! Get your ass out of here!" The bulky man shouted.

Kyran's eyes, which was aquamarine at the moment, turned cold. The effect the coldness did on his current eye color was really frightening. If the bulky man were standing close enough to see Kyran's eyes under his hood, he would likely tuck his tails between his legs and prostrate himself before Kyran at once.

However, even as the coldness appeared in Kyran's eyes, instead of responding to the bulky man's blatant provocation, Kyran only lifted his right hand, holding the token and said, "Pipe down. I am a member of the Blacksmith Order."

The bulky man and the rest of the people inside could not help but frown at the young man's words.

Typically, a new recruit's reaction would be to apologize profusely while stuttering in his introduction after getting threatened. However, they did not expect the young man actually to sound unaffected by the bulky man's intimidation and even told him to pipe down.

Feeling a little annoyed at the young man's audacity, the bulky man approached him with big long strides.

Some looked on in silence; others shook their heads, clearly not amused at what was about to happen and resume their work, while the majority sneered and crossed their arms, clearly wanting to see how the bulky man let out his pent up frustration.

This kind of occurrence was actually not new in the order. While there was a strict policy of no bullying allowed, there was also a strict policy of being respectful to their seniors in the order. In the latter's instance, the senior had the responsibility to 'right' their junior's wrongdoings.

Since they were not familiar with the young man, it was evident that he was a new recruit if he was not an intruder. As such, his attitude was clearly disrespecting his seniors. So, whatever the bulky man did to him, the others would turn a blind eye.

Kyran was aware of the Blacksmith Order's policies. Sigma told him. So he knew why the bulky man was pissed off.

Since he was not in the mood to talk to this bulky man, Kyran slid up the token he was holding so the bulky man could have a better look at it.

"You dare to talk like that? I'll reform your insolent tongue—."

The bulky man stopped when he got a better look at the token. His expression instantly paled, and he felt he had been doused in cold water.

The token in the young man's hand was made of platinum, and the hilt of the golden hammer on the token's surface was white gold.

There were only three issued tokens they knew of that were made of platinum with the symbol of the order made of gold. These tokens differed slightly on the hilts to show hierarchy.

The gold hammer with a diamond hilt was the Chairman Noir's token, while the hilt on President Sigma's token was silver.

As for the third issued token, it was issued a year ago.

That token was issued for Chairman Noir's only disciple.

And the hilt of the golden hammer on the token was bronze.

"Disciple Tyr! Please pardon my rude behaviour, for I did not recognize you!" The bulky man immediately apologized and bowed his head. But then he shook his head violently and said, "No! Not recognizing you is not an excuse! I, Gunter, will accept any punishment!"

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