Kapitel 40: Which End

The dwarf took his time to calm down and sat down. Leon didn't urge him to talk immediately. While Leon was waiting for the dwarf to speak, Hermes and Casper came. Hermes came to side of Leon and rubbed his head. He was looking happy that Leon didn't get hurt. Casper also looked around and saw a dwarf and a sea of flames behind Leon. He didn't say anything, but his perception about Leon being weak had changed.

Nobody spoke, there was only noises of tree burning until the dwarf spoke.

"My name is Cale, I'm a master blacksmith and I came to trials for collecting ores to forge a masterpiece. With that masterpiece, I planned to become a grandmaster."

Leon nodded and waited for him to continue. But after waiting for long enough, Leon didn't hear the reason for the dragon to go berserk.

"Hey, don't finish with an introduction, why did dragon go berserk?"

Cale coughed and looked away from Leon. He was looking like, he was in a dilemma. After a bit he sighed;

"Well, you saved my skin, so I'll tell you the truth. I was looking for ores, but you couldn't find them on the surface. Until I came to the trials I went to every cave that I found and tried to find some valuable ores. My search was fruitful you know. I found a lot of ores, but still I didn't have any confidence to forge a masterpiece. So the ores that I found wouldn't be enough, even I found tons of them. At last, I found a cave which was filled with ores lying around."

Leon thought he understood the reason. The ores must be dragons and when he took them, it enraged the dragon and attacked him.

"I didn't stop, I went deeper and deeper into the cave. Deeper I went, more ores I found. But the cave also had an end. It was dark in the cave, but dwarves good in dark places, so it wasn't a problem to go deeper. When I reached the end of the cave, I wasn't satisfied. If there was ores lying around at the start of the cave there might be more hidden underneath the surface. So when I reached the end, I pick up my pickaxe and hit the rocks at the end of the cave."

Cale closed his eyes and inhaled from his nose and exhaled and furrowed his brows

"It wasn't the end of the cave, but the end of the dragon."

Leon's corner of his mouth twitched as he looked at Cale. He really didn't know what to say to him. Cale was looking away from them. Casper at first didn't understand what was all about, but when processed the words, he could hold his laugh

"Hahaha, I never heard such a thing. Picking up ores from a dragon's a*s. Haha."

Leon wasn't laughing, but he was biting his lips to hold down his laugh. Hermes also understood what Cale said, he was cawing in a high pitch. Cale's face became red, unknown it was from shame or anger.

"Kid, kill, but don't shame a master blacksmith!"

But he didn't stop Casper laugh, instead Casper laughed harder. Seeing that Cale was getting angrier, Leon spoke;

"You want to become a grandmaster blacksmith right? You saw my strength, so I'll protect you and when we find ores, you can have them, in return you will forge me a spear."

Hearing that Cale looked Leon and didn't bother with Casper. Casper also ceased to laugh, hearing that Leon was talking seriously, at least he didn't laugh loudly, his shoulders were still moving up and down to show that he was holding his laugh.

"What kind of spear?" asked Cale, he already saw how strong Leon was, so it was an advantageous deal for him to be protected by Leon, and he could collect much more ores than he was alone.

"I don't know much about spears, so I let you to decide, but there is one thing I want, it must grow in size when it's needed." said Leon, he didn't want to fight with bare hands like earlier. But even if his spear were to pierce the dragon, it would be useless after he released his real entity. It would be like fighting with a toothpick.

"It's a deal then." said Cale and shook the Leon's hand. Leon didn't know what kind of spear that he would make, but he was sure that it would be better than his current one.

"Hey dwarf, I heard that your kind was good on earth and fire, how come you didn't use fire to see the dragon's a*s?" asked Casper. He was curious about that.

Leon shook his head, he knew the reason for it, but seems like Casper didn't know that.

"Ignorant child, until a dwarf reached to grandmaster stage, he wouldn't cultivate mana or body tempering. It's a tradition in dwarves."

Leon also knew the reason for it. The dwarves were proud of their blacksmithing, so if they were to create a masterpiece without using mana, that would show their potential as a blacksmith and they could even breakthrough further in their blacksmithing. So it was a sacred duel with time for dwarves. If a dwarf couldn't become a grandmaster, they would rather die.

"Anyway, I did find a ruin, but there were strong monsters lurking around it, so I couldn't enter there. If you are curious, I'd show you the way." said Cale.

Leon didn't have any specific objective on his mind, so this proposal was doable for him. Leon nodded, showing his approval. He didn't know that there was ruins in the forest, but it wasn't a surprise for him. The ruins should be a trial in a trial, and to discovering it showing that Cale at least had good luck.

Leon looked at the forest which was still burning, then he summoned water and extinguished the fire. Then they started to walk while Cale was leading them.

…

While they were on the road, Hermes hunted the beast that they encountered. After about three hours of walking, they came near to the ruins. Leon saw a lot of monsters were fighting with each other. Leon was sure if they were to show themselves, their focus would gather on them. But from how they were battling, Leon was sure that the monster's strength was close to each other. If one of them had power above them, the monsters wouldn't try to devour each other. It was a basic instinct of monsters. They would obey the one's who was powerful.

After looking monsters, Leon looked to Hermes. He was powerful but not enough to make them obedient.

"Hermes, go wild." said Leon while pointing to the monsters. Until now Hermes only battled one on one, so this kind of battlefield would be a change and it would make Hermes more attentive to his surroundings. Of course, if there was a danger, Leon would save Hermes.

Hermes cawed and rushed to the monsters. While Hermes was battling, Leon focussed on his fight. He didn't have any problem with battling, but he also gained a few scars while fighting, but Leon didn't interfere. He knew that in order to make him more observant, he needed to learn from his scars.

After about two hours, Hermes was still fighting and Leon and others were sitting on the ground.

"You are not a human are you?" asked Cale out of the blue. While Casper didn't understand why he was asking that, he also focused on Leon.

"What makes you say that?"

"I saw you grow to tens of meters, but I didn't feel like it was a technique. It was more like it was your real body."

["For someone who couldn't differentiate dragon's anus from the soil, he was sensitive huh."] thought Leon and nodded.

Seeing that Leon nodded, Casper was shocked, but didn't say anything.

"I never heard a giant who could get smaller." said Cale, but Leon shook his head.

"I'm a titan, not a giant."

Hearing that Casper and Cale furrowed their brows. From their expression, one could say that they never heard a titan. Seeing their expression Leon said that the titans were scarce and they nodded.

Leon didn't have reason to hide his identity as a titan. They were rare and Leon actually didn't care if they knew or not. It was arrogance of a titan, Leon wasn't arrogant, but the pride of titan bloodline was more direct, they wouldn't solve their issues with schemes or detailed plans. The titans were direct in every sense, if they couldn't solve a problem, that means they were weak, they would try to solve a problem as they got stronger. In the end it will be solved. It was the pride of a titan. Leon might be a human in his previous life but the blood of titan was flowing in his veins, it was natural to him to heed this bloodline calling.

While they were chatting, Hermes killed the last monster and came in front of them. Leon patted his head, then he went to collect the corpses. He put them in Hermes' spatial bag. While Hermes a magical beast, he didn't know how to use mana yet, so he couldn't open his spatial bag without Leon's help.

After collecting all the corpses, Leon and the group passed through arc like entrance and entered the ruins. What greeted them was a garden, but it wasn't looked after and looking like it was a small jungle. There weren't any magical plants in the garden, it seems like the reason of this garden wasn't practical but an aesthetic one.

They didn't dwell in the garden and walk through it while looking their surrounding. After passing through the jungle like garden, they came to stop in front of a two meters two-sided door, and above the door there was a signboard. There was one word written on it "Library", in front of it a couple of letters could be seen but only library could be read.