Dimensional Descent

Jac's face was livid, veins bulging through his forehead like coiled snakes.

"I won't bully a brat like you. We'll complete a One Ore Weapon Medley. The ore will also be something a brat like you can deal with. In fact, how about we choose something that you're very familiar with. Polished Glass."

At that moment, Leonel was slightly surprised. This wasn't because Jac was being unfair, but rather because of the exact opposite. In fact, he was being almost too fair.

Polished Glass was just a Tier 6 Ore. If Leonel was claiming to have forged Tier 7 weapons, this was more than reasonable. In fact, Jac had taken into account that it might have been difficult for Leonel to complete Tier 7 weapons and even chose to take it a step down so that Leonel would have no excuses.

Even beyond that, Jac knew that Leonel was a 'part' of the Polished Glass Faction. Polished Glass was an inherently difficult ore to work with if you were unfamiliar with it, but after a certain point, it could be handled with ease.

However, for Jac who might not have made a weapon with Polished Glass in years, he was purposely giving Leonel the leg up knowing full well that not long ago, Leonel had completed several Crafts with exactly this Ore.

As though that wasn't enough, the One Ore Weapon Medley, especially, was a shock to Leonel.

A Medley, in terms of a Craftsmen Duel, was a gauntlet in which a Craftsman would create a series of Crafts. As such, there was no surprise that there were many different types of Medleys.

A One Ore Medley locked a Crafter in to using just one Ore. This might sound simple, but when having to complete differing Crafts having varying kinds of uses, being locked in to the use of just one particular Ore was akin to tying a Crafters hands and feet.

By extension, there were obvious Two Ore, Three Ore, or even Hundred Ore Medleys where Crafters were forced to use every kind of chosen Ore in each one of their Crafts.

These sort of Medleys followed a bell curve in difficulty. Usually, the lowest number of One would be among the most difficult to complete. Numbers around Three or Four Ores were slighty easier and were pretty good from novices. Numbers entering the dozens to hundreds very quickly became more difficult than even One Ore Medleys were.

As such, it could be said that Jac's choice was once again in the middle. It was difficult, but not obscenely so. In Leonel's estimation, this was once again very fair.

That only left, then, the talk of 'Weapon Medley'.

A Weapon Medley was once again a specific type of Medley. But, this one focused in on the Crafting of weapons. As such, one might imagine that there could be Armor Medleys, Consumable Medleys, Movement Treasure Medleys, Escape Treasure Medleys… So on and so forth.

A Weapon Medley also came in several shapes and sizes. But, since Beinala didn't specify, this meant he was referring to the most commonly used Weapon Medley: The Nine Core Weapon Medley.

The Knife, Sword, Saber, Battle Ax, Staff, Spear, Glaive, Halberd and Bow.

In this exact order, one could find the least to most difficult weapons to Craft. During a Nine Core Weapon Medley, a Crafter would start at the easiest and work their way up. In this case, they would only be able to use a single ore to complete each one of these Crafts.

Of course, there was only one problem with all of them…

If Leonel tried to make a spear, it would most definitely combust into a pile of ashes. And, according to the rules of the Medley, he wasn't allowed to continue to the next weapon unless he finished the one that came before it.

This only left Leonel with one choice.

If he didn't sweep the first five weapons of the Medley, he would lose.

When Leonel heard Jac's choice for their Duel, his opinion of the Elder had already somewhat changed. Even if it might have been because Jac didn't believe he needed any underhanded tricks to defeat Leonel, Leonel still altered his opinion somewhat and even believed that Beinala might have been a more skilled Crafter than he gave him credit for.

This realization placed a faint pressure on Leonel. After all, it wasn't as though he could forge a Quasi Bronze treasure with a Tier 6 ore. He would be limited in this regard. As such, he had to surpass Beinala with quality.

At that moment, Leonel grinned, a stifling aura rushing from his body.

"Alright, Elder Beinala. Let's do this."

Jac's expression flickered when he noticed Leonel had gone back to politely calling him Elder, but his mind was still too furious to linger on this for very long.

"Kaela, we still have a large store of Polished Glass, right?"

"… Ah… Yes, yes." Kaela, who was still trying not to shiver, weakly called out.

"Good. Bring it all here."

Leonel's words were full of confidence, his momentum rushing through the room. For a moment, he didn't lose out to Beinala in the slightest despite no longer relying on the Force Arts of his shop.

As Kaela rushed away, news of what was happening in BLACKSTAR spread as though a nuke had fallen in Valiant City. It wasn't long before the news had been sent back to the King of Ores faction.

At that moment, they were all looking toward Sarrieth for an explanation of what to do.

Sarrieth frowned. It was only a subtle shift in his demeanor, but the members of the King of Ores faction felt as though their breaths had been taken away. In these three years, not once had they ever seen Sarrieth's face display anything but indifference. Just what was going on?

"We will go." Sarrieth said coolly, his frown smoothing out.

…

It had been a long time since anyone had seen the remnants of Valiant Hall. It seemed that after they had all been humiliated, they had completely disappeared.

However, somehow, news of these matters reached their ears as well.

Sael sat within a training room all alone, beads of sweat falling down her body like a rain. In fact, as though she had known her clothes wouldn't be able to take it, she was completely naked, her lovely curves partially obscured by countless floral tattoos that covered her.

"Again."

She rose up, causing numerous fighter puppets to appear. With a light roar, she charged out.