A bright light burst out of the orb and enveloped him in it. The yellow paper ground around him had now transformed into to white.
Imfrim was stunned by what he saw in his trance-like state. The image of a dwarf with blue eyes sitting down, his two hands which were clasped together began to separate slowly as sparks of light began to converge to reveal a light brown orb in between.
The scenery changed again, the same dwarf he had seen earlier now stood in front of an anvil with a hammer in his right hand and the same orb in his left hand.
The dwarf began forging in front of him and before he knew it, a black dagger stood in his presence.
The dwarf then placed the orb closely to the dagger and slowly, the orb inserted itself into the dagger.
When it had been completely inserted and the orb was nowhere else to be seen, the black blade of the dagger gradually changed to the light brown color and it glittered even with the lack of sunlight on its hilt.
Then the entire scene vanished and he found himself back in the realm of the technology tree.
He was confused as the orb he held began to withdraw from him.
Dulgol did not waste time in explaining the vision.
"What you have seen is the blueprint for what I needed to show you and it has been etched deeply into your memory,"
"The dwarf you saw is what I call a converter. A new class that I want to introduce to your kinsmen,"
"A converter," Imfrim repeated.
"Yes, if you noticed, some animals and monsters around seem to manifest strange powers that you find troubling"
"It is the reason why the current contests all seek for you blacksmiths to create something more volatile, more powerful than the ones previously forged"
"Do you mean weapons capable of combating these strange powers?"
Dulgol smiled at Imfrim's understanding "Indeed"
But he was even more impressed when the dwarf tried to connect the dots "The converter dwarf managed to manifest the energy or power that those strange beasts use and combined it with the dagger, giving it features made from that energy,"
"You are correct but at the same time, you are not,"
Imfrim was surprised at this response while Dulgol looked at Keystone and bent his head.
"We will like to be on our way now,"
Keystone responded with a bow of his own before proceeding to clap his hands three times, returning the dwarves to the hills.
Dulgol sat on the green fields of the hill they were both on and looked at the now blanketed sky dotted with stars.
"If you want me to explain to you, sit down," he said.
Without a word, the dwarf listened and also joined him in looking at the night sky.
"The power the strange beasts use is called mana. The power the converter used was sensory energy,"
At this point Imfrim was confused but kept paying rapt attention.
"Sensory energy is a strange but dynamic power. You can use it to access realms that you cannot see with mortal eyes use it to boost the energy you primarily wield,"
"What are the dwarves' strong points?"
Imfrim thought for a while before replying "Forging,"
"And?"
"Strength,"
"Yes strength,"
"Imagine being able to manifest your strength into a certain form to use in boosting yourself or the weapons you wield,"
Imfrim's eyes widened in shock "You mean that you want us to be able to imbue our weapons strength to ours but wouldn't we become weaker in the process?"
Dulgol smiled again, he was enjoying the constant barrage of questions he was receiving and more than happy to provide answers "Actually not," he said.
"You gather your strength with the sensory energy but you not only imbue it into the weapon, you also feel a connection with it and this connection allows you to control the strength you placed into your weapons to head towards certain points of it when combating. The strength you gathered will revitalize in a short time instead of shrinking permanently,"
Imfrim blinked twice.
"So you're saying that with this energy, we dwarves can empower ourselves even further,"
"Yes but it won't be easy because your bodies can strictly only accommodate the energy that deals with your physical prowess,"
"To connect with this energy is not something that you can do on your own only through intervention of higher powers,"
"And you are one of them?"
Dulgol gave a nod.
Imfrim immediately sat up and knelt beside the red bearded dwarf while putting his head on the earth.
"I'm I going to be used for this purpose?, If yes, I humbly accept,"
And without a second thought, Dulgol's hand laid on his forehead and a bright light entered the black beard dwarf.
It wasn't long before the red eyes of Imfrim had now become silt making him look a bit unique.
The scenery changed again but this time a layer of soil was above them.
"Where are we now?" Imfrim asked, now noticing that his skin colour was blue while the higher being in front of him was still the same colour of skin as the dwarves.
"This is the sensory realm, the realm where this energy I want you all to learn stems from,"
"And in here is my domain where no monster can reach or enter without my permission,"
"Monsters?"
"Ahh yes, let me show you one,"
The higher being snapped his fingers and the area immediately changed to white similar to the one in Imfrim's vision.
From afar, he could see a strange creature with line drawn legs and a triangular head approaching them.
"This is what you should be careful of whenever you enter here," Dulgol immediately held out his right palm and an axe appeared.
"Because unless I summon you or answer your calls you will not enter my domain but the treacherous outsides where the energy is vast,"
And with those words, he immediately threw the axe, effectively detaching the monster's head from the rest of its body. It wasn't long before the rest of the body turned to ash.
"That contains a lot of sensory energy to absorb," he said.
Imfrim hesitated for a while before obeying later on and then pausing for a while"Uhmm, how do I absorb it?"
"Since there is no medium of absorbing energy for dwarves other than mining and forging then you'll have to eat it"
The stun on the black beard dwarf's face made Dulgol laugh. "You just have to breathe it in, don't worry it won't affect your breathing,"
Imfrim was cautious but still approached the now black ash and breathed in.
To his surprise a strange blue substance rose from the ash and entered his nostrils.
This relaxed his nostrils and he continued to breathe more of it while being unaware that the ash was disappearing at a rapid rate.
When he noticed that the strange smell in his nose had gone, he realized that there was no more ash to absorb.
"So all I have to do is to breathe?"
Dulgol shrugged at this question and replied "Err! That's quite it but be careful not to breathe too deep or else your nostrils will become red,"
That was when Imfrim realized that he felt pain in there and had the urge to cry.
"Now that you've absorbed enough S.E, it is time for you to learn how to master it,"
"Will you teach me how to?" Imfrim asked excitedly only to be disappointed by his patron's response "Unfortunately, this is where we part ways. I have already told you more than what you need to know. You'll have to master how to use the energy by yourself."
"Though you may fail, you have the motivation to try again and again and with this. Learn from the blueprint that tree gave you and if possible, you may discover a new way to use this S.E in your forging"
"Farewell young black bearded dwarf,"
And with those words, the white area vanished and Imfrim was back in the green fields of the hill but in front of him there was no Dulgol.
He raised his head and tried to play over all that had happened from the time the sun had begun to set. As his face looked towards the sky he thought.
"This world is bigger than what I think or what I know. I have been honored enough to be given a task by a being much greater than my lowly self."
His eyebrows squeezed as his palms balled into fists "I must show that I am deserving of such honor,"
Meanwhile in the realm of the key guardians.
Dulgol now in his physical form stood before keystone and his subordinates.
"I've completed my end of the bargain," Keystone said before adding "Now it's your turn,"
"I was going to keep my word before," Dulgol said with a hammer and an anvil in his hands now in front of him.
"But first of all, who among your subordinates will volunteer?"