Chapter 315 - Evaluation

Mercury was about to run away again when he suddenly found himself unable to move as a hand had grasped his shoulder, he turned his head and saw Chloe with a smile on her face, sensing escape wasn't possible Mercury looked back at Mars and asked

"Why did you attack Party?"

"Because that's what I told her, if she ever returned to Salen I would cut her head off"

"...Then why did you bring me here?"

Mars shrugged before he dodged the question

"I wonder?"

Mercury sighed before he looked Mars in the eye and spoke

"If you hurt my parent any more I'll kill you"

"Hoo~"

Mars then turned silent for a few moments before he suddenly showed a smile again and looked to the elf on his side

"He sure got a spine on him, don't you agree Mary?"

"I think he's a little childish, what about you 78?"

"Yeah, though he's got potential to be a real mean living god~"

Mercury felt like they had spoken this line a few too many times and as Mars spoke he was sure of it

"Though let's see what he got?"

Mercury soon found himself in a courtyard facing off against, not Mars, but the woman named Elsa

"Elsa, I can take over if you want?"

"It's fine Mary, if he's related to Party I want to be the one to test him"

Mercury stood there silent for a bit before he asked

"Do I really have to do this? I don't want to fight…"

Watching him was most of the servants and Mars' wives, Chloe, Elsa, Varvei, Mary and 78, though Elsa wasn't really watching she was the one that would be doing the testing, Mars respond to Mercury's mutter

"If you want to see those dear to you again you will do as I say, I have killed many living gods before… If you're tired of life just say the word"

Mercury felt this wasn't a threat, it was a promise, then he asked

"What if I hurt Elsa?"

The courtyard went silent for a few moments before the servants, as well as Mars and the others, began chuckling some commented on how good-natured Mercury appeared to be while others showed outright disdain for him, Mars sighed before he asked

"Do you wonder how your right arm has been reconnected?"

"...I assume you did that?"

"Yeah, I have a potent healing skill"

"Okay then…"

Mercury tapped his foot against the ground and a cane was formed from the stone platform which he held in his right hand, by now the people watching focused on him and didn't make any noise to distract him, only Elsa spoke

"Good control, though it could be faster"

Mercury nodded before he spoke

"Here I come…"

Mercury then tapped the cane once sending a rock shard up from the platform towards Elsa's right shoulder, however before it reached her it turned to dust that blew away in the wind, Elsa narrowed her eyes before she spoke

"Too soft, right now I am your enemy, showing kindness towards your enemy is simply too soft!"

"...Alright then"

Mercury tapped the cane a few times in a second sending multiple rock shards towards Elsa, but when they got within a few centimeters of her they all turned to dust, Mercury attacked multiple places at the same time still the result was the same: all turned to dust, yet Elsa still didn't move

"What are you, the living god of rocks?"

Mercury showed a smile

"No, I am the living god of metal, speaking of which… [Essence consuming]"

Mercury consumed about 2.000 essence points and created a long strip of flexible adamantite weaved of multiple wires 

"[Metal domination]"

Using this as a whip Mercury began attacking Elsa, multiple cracks sounded out as the tip of the whip broke the sound barrier which striking a barrier that appeared to be around 10 centimetres of Elsa's clothes, but still, she didn't move and simply concluded

"This must be the first time you have used your skills in this way… Your coordination is all over the place…"

Mercury continued using the adamantite whip without result for a few minutes before he suddenly showed a smile and muttered

"[Forging blows]..."

Elsa's eyes widened a bit before she disappeared from view, reappearing to the left of the whip before she caught it in her hand, Mercury acted quickly and uncoiled the wire where she had grabbed it and began coiling the individual wires around Elsa's hand, even though he didn't touch her with the wires he was still able to bind her hand and move it towards the path of the other end of the wire

"[Forging blows]!"

"Smart"

However, at that moment Elsa disappeared leaving behind the metal wire, the next thing Mercury felt was a blow to the back of the head before he passed out…

The next morning Mercury awoke in the same room as before, and like before there was someone in his room, this time it was Elsa, she was sitting with a book reading as he woke, she looked up from the book the moment he sat himself up on the bed, she looked at him for a bit before she spoke

"Good morning Mercury"

"...Yeah, good morning, how long was I out for?"

"About 7 hours, It's early morning now"

"Would you like something to eat?"

"I would like to go home"

"Yeah… You have people waiting for you?"

"Yes, my women and my kid"

"Oh, you have a child?"

"Yeah I picked him up, I think of him as my own though"

"That's nice… I have a son too, his name is Alen, he's all grown up now though"

"My kid's name is Max… He's about 7 or 8, though it's hard to tell…"

Elsa tilted her head slightly before she asked

"How come?"

"Well…---"

Mercury told about how he had found Max and how badly malnourished he had been when he rescued him

"---And that's why it's hard to tell his actual age, he's more mature but smaller for his age"

Elsa showed a smile before she commented

"There sure are a lot of garbage people in the world…"

"Yeah…"

"Anyway, you can't go home until Mars gives the go-ahead"

"...Fine, not like I would be able to find it, it could be on the other side of the world…"

Elsa showed a smile before she stood up from the chair and gestured for him to follow her, Mercury limped after her into the hallway where Elsa stopped a maid and asked her to bring a cane for Mercury, the maid soon returned with a cane whích she handed to Mercury that took it with gratitude, it was a simple wooden cane, nothing fancy, but it showed the care he was being shown, even if these people didn't allow him to leave just yet

'And there's always someone watching my sleep… Yep feels just like home'

After walking for a bit the two of them reached the eating hall where the guardsmen and servants ate, Mercury was surprised to see Mars sitting down and eating with the common guards, they seemed to be having a good time too

"Oh hey Mercury, I didn't see you there"

"Morning Mars"

Mercury joined the others and ate with them, after they were done eating Mars suddenly asked Mercury

"So… Mercury, do you have any profession?"

Mercury paused before he nodded

"Yeah, I am a blacksmith… Why do you ask?"

"Well… I hate to break it to you, but you have to work for a living"

"Okay?"

"Great, you make weapons? Armour? Tools?"

"I've worked on weapons and tools, never made any armor though"

"Okay… Then let's have you make armor"

"Armor?"

"Yeah, Armor"

Mercury tilted his head slightly before he asked

"Why?"

Mars showed a smile before he spoke

"It's not the things we are good at we should practice, but the things we've never tried before and by us I mean the immortals"

Mercury could feel the thought clutter come on and lightly hit the side of his head, Mars watched him do this and as he did his smile widened slightly

*---Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang---*

The sound of metal being hit sounded out inside the forging room, Mercury was working on a right-hand gauntlet, the metal was nothing exciting, just grade 3 iron, though there was a certain hypnotic rhythm to his blows, over the next 3 days Mercury would eventually first succeed in making a pair of gauntlets but even make a pair of Aluminium grade 8 gauntlets, Mercury was very proud of this achievement but Mars' next set of orders was rather strange

"Boxing?"

"Yeah, Boxing"

Mars was currently shadow boxing to demonstrate, first, he showed Mercury a stance

"Okay, so you're right-handed right Mercury?"

"Yeah"

"Good, then your left leg goes to the front, you have to widen your stance to about your shoulder whit, like this"

Mars took a boxer stance, his left leg was placed forwards with his right leg behind that, he raised his hands to about eye-level

"Now watch"

Mars then stuck out with his left hand, Mercury noticed he was twisting his right leg along with his hips and his back as he punched out

"This is a jab"

Mars then stuck out with his left hand while keeping his elbow locked in position

"This is a hook"

Then he stuck out upwards with his left hand

"Uppercut"

Then he stuck out with his left hand straight

"Cross… And that's the basic punches, try them out"