Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Don't worry, if you are lucky you might be able to hide after the lesson."

"You aren't planning to play nice now and call me out later, are you?"

She only answered with a mischievous smile. The lesson started and the burly teacher at the front started talking about demonic runes while drawing them on the board. Since Seth had joined in the middle of the semester there was not a lot he understood.

One curious thing was, that <Universal Translation> did not work on these characters. He could neither read nor write them by just leaving it to the system skill. His heart sank. Would he really have to learn a completely new alphabet? He didn't even know why these runes were so important to begin with...

~ they are runes of power and more than just language. That is probably why your skill isn't working. I think I have seen some similar runes on a demonic sword, but I never found out how Demons crafted their weapons. ~

Demons did not share their knowledge randomly. Al'Zalsa was lucky to get her hand on some ballads after much searching. He really should have started in the library instead of randomly joining a lesson...

"So, why are you here? I mean what courses do you intend to visit." the girl spoke to him again after some time. Seth leaned back to sit more comfortably.

"Actually, I just wanted to learn some more demonic forging ballads for enchantment. Some demon talked me into joining this place to learn and ran off after the registration."

Seth smiled at her confused look. She couldn't really follow the string of events without any context. Seen his impish smile, she seemed to realize and also smiled.

"I think you will do well here, even without experience in flyting."

This was looked like her first genuine smile during their conversation, and it was instantly wiped off her face when a piece of chalk hit her at the temple.

"Are you two having a nice conversation in my lesson!? You, young people, have more than enough time to flirt outside of my lessons. And you! Take off that cloak. No headdresses in class. " the teacher hollered. The room shook under his mighty voice.

Seth shrugged and took off the hood of his cloak.

"A human?" the teacher asked baffled and the room full of young demons turned their heads in his direction.

"What?" he asked back at their stares. "Is it that weird?"

The teacher was speechless, but a young demon spoke up arrogantly.

"Of course, it is, dumbass. How would a human get into a bard college? There is nothing here for you. You should run back fast and huddle together with your little human friends before you get hurt." some of the students laughed. Seth didn't really get the Joke, maybe it was lost in translation.

"I appreciate your concern, but you don't have to worry about me. I doubt there is anyone in this institute that would hurt me, or even be able to." Seth said sincerely, his voice laced with magical charm.

"Are you implying we are weak?!" the arrogant demon jumped off his chair.

"Your words, not mine. But seeing you so upset you must really be feeling that your power is in fact insufficient?" Seth kept mocking with a calm voice.

"Enough. You can do this stuff outside my lesson. Keegan, sit down." the teacher scolded.

Although their argument was interrupted everyone could see who had the upper hand. One stood in the middle of the room, his body tense and face grimaced. The other was leaning back in his seat, leisurely and relaxed.

The teacher glared at the student and continued the lesson.

"Psst, Hey. Are you from Delta or from Chrona?" his curious table neighbor whispered.

"I'm originally from Alpha."

"Alpha? I never heard of it."

"It doesn't really exist anymore, so it's not weird."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

They kept whispering back and forth making sure the teacher didn't catch them. Seth couldn't understand anything anyway and he didn't mind being a bad influence. Her name was Ember, and she was invested in the lyrical skills of a demon bard.

After gaining Ember's favor she also gave him some tips to survive college. She also told him that the was a teleportation formation in the school that students could use to travel to the center of Delta.

He now knew his next destination. He really had no interest in verbal duels with demons. If he could connect this place directly with Minas Mar it would become very convenient to come and go.

While strolling around he had not seen this teleportation formation, but the college was completely mapped out with <Map> and he could mark it after listening to Ember.

They left the room together but didn't get far before Keegan and a bunch of others blocked their way.

"You probably think you are something special! Let's see if you are more than just empty talk. I demand a duel in modern flyting!"

Before Seth could answer an announcement echoed through the school.

"The duel between Seth Smith and Keegan Duge in <Modern Flyting> has been approved. Please enter Arena within the next 10 minutes. Absence is punishable by expulsion."

"Haha, Lucky me! So today is your first day! You can't even refuse the challenge!" Keegan said smugly.

Seth could only roll his eyes. How bothersome. He just wanted to learn more ballads, what was with these school kids?

"What is modern flyting?" he asked Ember beside him.

"I explained flyting, right? It was more of a fun sport for ancient bards. Modern flyting incorporates fighting, aside from competing in mocking the opponent. Officially it is to accommodate those that may lack talent in lyrics but shine in other areas. It's just a brawl with dumb trash talk if you ask me." she said

"Oh, and here I was about to be worried. I have no confidence in coming up with good lyrics. Especially during a fight. By the way, who is this Keegan? He's quite aggressive. "

"The grandson of the chairman. He's more or less talented in fighting and forging. When his skills are not enough, he can fall back to his grandfather's backing to evade punishment. " she said annoyed.

"The chairman's talented son? You better wish me luck." Seth said sarcastically as the crowd walked towards the arena.

"You don't need it. I saw you casually carving an uncommon ring to kill time. If somebody needs luck, then it's Keegan."

The arena was located in one of the castle's inner courtyards, close to the teleportation formation. Seth glanced at Ember who could only give an apologetic smile. He put her into the frenemy drawer for now.

The arena was a wide elevated square tiled with thick stone slaps. Before the duel started the judge explained the rules. Aside from fighting they had to take turns taunting the opponent in lyrical verses.

Keegan entered the stage from the opposite side. It was almost cute seeing him be arrogant. He was barely above lv. 20 and his equipment was mostly uncommon. Aside from his uncommon leather armor set, he wore a rare necklace and a rare mace.

Although the ratings were nothing special, the effects were on another level compared to those available in Delta. Most adventurers would be over the moon having these items, but it could not be compared to Seth's loadout.

At this point, Keegan's arrogance and conceited expression were just cute. Like a haughty puppy.

"Are you ready?"

The judge looked between the two opponents.

"Begin!"