Lonely huh... Alex thought back to Ystella’s words before the two had decided to part.

Although Ystella wanted to know about the Unknown Temple she didn’t wish to go against the church, and Alex, who was now sure that the church and the Seed of Darkness were connected, had no other choice but to make them an enemy.

For the next few days though he had different plans.

He had come to the inner city to test [All and None], according to its effect, he could join any quests regardless of their class requirements.

After finding a somewhat dark alley, he entered his shadow and as he did so he felt the changes.

He was now able to sense the shadows within fifty steps of himself and the knowledge of what he could now do with [Shadow Movement] surfaced in his mind.

Speechless, he sensed that although the shadows were away from each other there was an invisible bond within them, a bond which he could use to move from one shadow to another similar to how Shadow Puppets were able to jump between them.

These invisible bonds were like a chaotic net which he could understand without any difficulty.

He attributed this phenomenon to his being a Pseudo Shadow Spirit and used the bond.

He disappeared from his spot and reappeared a few steps away. If he wasn’t a shadow his eyes would’ve been wide with surprise and joy.

This is amazing! He remarked inwardly and moved to his next destination while jumping from one shadow to another.

Following the way that Ystella had told him, he appeared before a forgery with a giant wooden board at its front.

Haestus Forgery

Although the place was big, he couldn’t hear any kind of noise. It was as if the place was empty but he knew that wasn’t the case.

To stop the noise, most of Nyxare’s buildings were enchanted with sound cancellation magic circles which kept the sounds inside. That was also the reason why no one had come to save Rodric’s Pen even though Allura had caused such a big scene.

After standing there for a while, he stepped over to the door and rang the bronze bell whose thread was dangling beside the door.

The soft yet sharp ring resounded around him and Alex got ready to introduce himself.

However, seconds passed but no one answered him at the door.

He once again rang the bell and waited but just as before, no response came from inside the stone fortress. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Annoyed by their lack of response, Alex slightly pushed the door and to his surprise, it creaked and opened all the way in.

Just as it opened, shouts, sounds of hammer clashing with metal, the heat of the roaring flames, and the humid air inside poured out at once and his face distorted in clear irritation.

"What the fuck?!" He muttered and stepped inside while fighting against the sounds and the heat and as he entered, his gaze fell on various blacksmiths beating the metal with their hammers.

All of them had their upper body naked with a leather apron strapped to their waist and sweat drenched them. Their bodies were as developed as seasoned fighters and those who had long hair had their hair tied into ponytails.

"..." Seeing the sweaty, muscular men Alex was left speechless for a while, and suddenly one of the blacksmiths noticed his presence.

"Who are you?" The blacksmith asked while walking over to him with a blank expression.

Alex looked at him and took out the item Ystella had given him.

He threw it toward the blacksmith and said, "I am Alex Blade. Paladin Ystella Ember recommended this place to me."

The blacksmith caught the item and looked at it.

It was a crescent forged from the scarred metal of the Church of Prime Night – Nyxsteel.

The blacksmith examined the crescent and nodded.

"It’s a real Holy Token," he muttered as he threw it back and added, "I am Yoru, let’s go I’ll show you what we have."

"Alright," Alex nodded.

Yoru turned and gestured to him to follow and the two of them walked toward the storage room which had the weapons.

Before coming here Alex had checked the System Shop and most of the weapons there were either beyond his reach or something he didn’t know how to use.

There were obviously a few Uncommon weapons that he could use, but at the same price, he could buy materials and have this place forge a better one for him.

He didn’t want to change his weapon unless necessary because each weapon was different in its own way and he couldn’t waste time adapting to them so he wanted to have the best he could.

Alex looked at the blacksmiths working on the metal as if it were the only thing in the world and after walking for a few moments, the two of them entered a room filled with weapons and tools.

Swords, spears, shields, bows, maces, and gauntlets filled the place and Yoru asked, "What are you looking for?"

Alex’s eyes shone with greed and he answered with a friendly smile, "I want a sword."

"A sword huh..." Yoru picked up the nearest sword and offered it to him, "Try this."

Alex took the sword from his hand and held it straight then channeled his mana into it.

The blade shimmered as his mana entered it and a few moments later, he shook his head, "It’s not bad but its mana conductivity isn’t good enough."

Hearing him, Yoru blinked a few times and muttered with a dumbfounded expression, "What?"

Alex touched the sword blade and said, "You see when I channel my mana into it, a good amount of it just vanishes into the environment. The reason behind this is that the sword isn’t able to take the mana and flow it within itself like how we do with our mana channels."

Even though the explanation was sound, Yoru was having none of it. He furiously glared at him and shouted, "Who the fuck are you to call our swords bad?!"