[author's note: pls this novel has been republished copy the new link and support me guys!! https://www.webnovel.com/book/xxx-system_28991915008555405]
'Clang! Clang! Clang!'
The sounds of metal clanging against each other, resonated in an underground space. A long rectangular wooden table could be seen in the room, along with several items layed out across the table.
Not too far was several blue glowing orbs, and thick shining silver slates stacked together, forming a huge pile. A little beyond was different quench tanks, some filled with water and others a strange black liquid.
Lastly was a huge pot like object, emitting dangerous smoke from the top and bottom. This was the furthest, as the heat excluding from the furnace alone was enough to melt the skin of a crocodile within seconds.
"How long do I have to continue hitting this swor?" Kyle frowned pausing a bit, as he then wiped the beads of sweat streaming down his head. Luckily for him, he'd managed to pick the hammer up though it wasn't an easy task, as he suffered some few set backs which made him wonder how Darwin made it look so easy.
Kyle suspicious of the dwarf inspected all the hammers, including the one Darwin held. At first he was certain Darwin was playing tricks, but his intuition was quickly debunked realizing all the hammers weighed the same.
"I've been hitting this damn sword for half an hour now and it looks ready to me." Kyle said in annoyance, frustrated and angry Darwin had assigned him this troublesome task. When he'd picked the hammer, he expected a praise at least from this fucking dwarf but all he got was this heinous task. Even though he could now lift the hammer, it still required tremendous strength and stamina to achieve, and Darwin had asked him to hit a hot sword for over half an hour?
He could feel his arms were going to snap any second longer, if he continued. But that wasn't all. no.. the excruciating and scorching heat from the furnace also didn't spare him, adding more handful toll on him.
"It's not done yet." Darwin calmly said, examining a blue arrow taking some puffs from the pipe in his mouth.
"B-but you didn't even look at it. How the hell do you know it's not yet ready?" Kyle frowned more, a new rage rising within him. He didn't know anything much about swords, except they were really sharp and good for killing. Other than that, he was as clueless as a needle in a haystack. But he felt he'd been hitting the sword long enough, to have reached it's finishing process which made him frown at Darwin's words.
"I said it's not done.." Darwin said, dropping the arrow finally raising his head up to look at Kyle.
"Hit it more for an hour and thirty minutes, then you can stop." Darwin said making Kyle clench his heart a bit, taking a few steps back.
"A-an hour and thirty minutes.. I won't last a second longer if I continue you darn dwarf!" Kyle yelled, his eyes slightly twitching as he clenched his fist tightly. He would rather choose to die, than continue with this suicide task.
Staring at him for a while, Darwin seemed to be pondering about something as Kyle could see him stroking his brown beard gently.
'Why does he always touch his beard when he's thinking?' Kyle had been observing Darwin, and he noticed the latter would always stroke his beard lightly when pondering on something.
'Creepy~' Kyle shuddered a bit. He wasn't a huge fan of beards, and looking at Darwin's. it just felt like more of a small forest, than a beard.
"Alright then weakling, take 10 minutes break. Stroll the castle, get laid, not my concern. Just be here when your time's due, no sooner nor later." Darwin said, but Kyle could sense a hidden threat behind his words. Nodding, Kyle then proceeded to head out the underground space when he abruptly stopped remembering something.
"Wait.. how do I get out?" Kyle asked. Unlike the other rooms he could easily access with his card, this one didn't seem to have any security measures. He'd simply seen troy put his hand through, transferring a bit of his energy.
"Are you kidding me boy? How in Deloris name did you get in then?" Darwin sarcastically said, pretending to be surprised.
'Fucking bastard. just you wait and I'll get my revenge.' Kyle vowed gritting his teeth, the memory of Darwin's actions replaying in his head.
"Sighs! just place your hand to the door and insert a bit of your energy. That should be about it." Darwin softly said, puffing some smokes from his small pipe, averting his gaze away from Kyle. Going up the steep steps, it didn't take long before Kyle reached the end.
'Weird.. is it just me or is it now shorter than I remembered.' Kyle inwardly thought. Shaking his head, he then did as instructed placing his hand to the door.
'Wait.. I can't use my demon energy.' Kyle refrained, from inserting some of his demon energy to the door for some reasons. First, he wasn't sure if it'd work as troy used mana, a commodity he didn't posses. And second, he didn't want to take the risk and expose himself, as he still didn't know what hidden traps were laid for him.
'Damn it! Couldn't this stupid piece of crap work like the others? How the hell am I meant to get out of here now?' Kyle deliberated, carrasing his chin a bit.
'Screw it! I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.' Kyle made up his made, not wanting to stay here any longer. Placing his hand to the door, he could feel his heart thumping faster a mix of fear and anxiety.
"Here goes nothing.." Just as he was about to insert his demon energy, the door suddenly made a click sound sliding open to the side.
'Great.. fuck my luck.' Kyle cursed, as he was now face to face with troy. When the door was opening it startled him, but he didn't expect to see troy.
'What the hell is he doing here now.' Kyle panicked a bit, for reasons unknown to himself. He'd sensed troy would return soon, but he didn't expect him to return this soon. The atmosphere between the two was tense, as they awkwardly stared at each other in silence.
"Your training with Darwin?" Troy slowly said after some seconds, finally breaking the ice.
"Good." Kyle simply nodded with an indifferent expression. Troy then stepped back a bit, giving way for Kyle to leave to which the latter didn't hesitate.
'Phew!! now that was awkward.' Kyle sighed out of the room, currently on his way to the dinning room. As all that hitting and excessive heat, made him hungry and tired.
Like a prisoner finally seeing the light of day, Kyle clumsily made his way past the guards. Garning various awkward looks and comments, all to which he ignored.
'Food.. food!' He chanted in his head like a mantra. All other thoughts and reasoning gone, as only food lingered in his blank skull.
A maid was arranging some dishes on an empty table, a bit by the entrance to the room when she paused, hearing someone's feet approaching.
Welcome to the royal dining room how may- her words stuck to her throat, as her eyes befell on Kyle approaching her.
"Ahh!! Zombie!!" She screamed. her eyes going pale, with her legs trembling staring at the slow paced creature. Regaining herself, she ran to the other side of the room joining some other maids, who were also scared to the core seeing Kyle.
"Food!!" Ignoring them, Kyle lazily sat on the chair immediately devouring the plenty dishes in front. Like a savage beast, he devoured more food than a normal human being. Making sure to eat more steak and other juicy meat seasoned foods, which only added more to the terror the maids had causing them to flee for dear life.
Meanwhile, ona still dressed in her blue fitted battle suit could be seen approaching towards the dinning room when she suddenly stopped, seeing groups of maids rushing out.
'What's happening? There couldn't possibly be an attack on the kingdom right now?' Ona said perplexed as she took to her feet, propelling her body fast to the room.
"You! what's going on." Ona hurriedly asked, grabbing a maid by her wrist.
"Z-zombie!!!" the young maid hastingly screamed, pointing to the dinning room. Not waiting any further, as she took to her heels.
"Zombies?" Ona muttered a bit surprised. She knew what zombies were, but she had never encountered one before. Reaching the dinning room, her senses were on high alert as she scanned the room.
It was a mess due to the stampede, but other than that she couldn't find any traces of blood or flesh. She even sniffed the air, to confirm there wasn't any foul stench of blood or decomposing flesh.
Cautiously proceeding more inside, she spotted something sitting on a chair. it's head laying downwards on the table.
'It doesn't look like a zombie.' Ona inwardly said, observing the creature. She hadn't seen one so she still wasn't sure yet. Closing the gap more, she could finally hear snoring noises from the creature indicating it was asleep.
'I have to be careful. though they might be considered slow, a bite or even a scratch from them and it's game over.' With that in mind, ona then brought out a blue light energy dagger tightly clutching it.
Slowly inching closer, she finally got a clearer view on the creature. "Kyle? Sighs! fucking idiots, how is he a zombie." Ona frowned, keeping her dagger as she sat besides Kyle.
'But what's he doing here, isn't he meant to still be training with sir Darwin?' Ona knew Kyle was meant to be training with Darwin now, as he'd soon complete his training.
'He must be drained to the core.' Ona softly muttered touching his palm, feeling the imprint of his rough palm. Looking at him, images of falcon flashed before her eyes.
"I feel your pain~" she softly spoke, wiping some food stains from his mouth with a tissue. Getting up, she stared at him for a while thinking of something.
'We're all just looking for a place to survive.' Shaking her head, she then proceeded out the room leaving Kyle who was fast asleep.