Chapter 71 Plans At The Lost Treasure...
This was a Famous Pub within the clan.
To call it a pub might have been a little bit a down play on its defining role. It was more of an establishment. A small branch of a very big tree.
However, it was still known by the public as a Pub.
It was famous not because of its food or wine alone, but because of its 'Exceptional' customer service. Of course this customer service was in all areas.
It was known for its ability to bring to life every pleasure that a man could possible imagine.
Their services could be quite exclusive and their customers always left satisfied.
In fact, many left more than satisfied. There was always something new to explore, or something new that was previously unheard of.
It had been a thousand years since the last great war which happened against the Elves. Apart from small clan wars here and there, and the occasional fights with beast hordes, things have been relatively calm.
In this world, peace was not always a good thing. In fact, many preferred chaotic times. The reason was that it helped to occupy the mind.
Man was a creature that always wanted more. War or rather Chaos was a good excuse for greed and sefishness.
However, many could not satisfy such cravings and this was the reason why places like this existed and thrived.
Its customers were ever flowing in and out like bees at a nest.
Rumors had it that the pleasure this place provided had ruined homes. Marriages torn apart forever. Both men and women slaves to the lust and exotic air it provided.
Deep in the heart of everyman was the search for adventures. But the availability for it was limited. Also, there was the probability of losing life in the process.
However, not in this place. Of course, that could only happen if the visitor so wished it.
In this place, everyone could find new lands in form of human bodies to explore, adventure, and of course, to conquer.
Its doors were ever opened: Come night or day, winter or summer. As long as one could afford it, then one could have it.
This place that was frequented by even elders of the clan was called the Lost Treasure.
Rumors had it that many of the exotic things that happened in this place were fashioned by a dream god who entered the minds of people in their sleep and saw their deepest desires.
At the moment, a man sat in the Pub's dining area, finding the quench to his sadness at the bottom of several empty bottles of liquor. This man was well respected within the clan. Although he was not an elder, and his cultivation had not moved from the Wood rank for many years, he was still an influential man.
If he stood, he was quite tall, and he enjoyed wearing baggy clothes. Some said that if the wind blew hard, it could blow him away. This was the very famous and influential Blacksmith known as Leongu.
He was currently the number one blacksmith in the entire clan. Currently, no one could refute this. He even had orders for swords coming in from different clans. His fame was truly wilder than it had ever been.
However, he did not feel that way. He did not feel like a famous influential man. In fact, he had an inkling of what Ganja had felt only a few months ago when he had mocked him in this same pub.
In a word, he felt 'Empty'.
The reason was simply because he felt like a failure. He had never felt the weight of failure so heavy in his entire life.
And worse of all, he did not have an outlet for this feeling. And so he decided to take it out on Wine.
Only hours ago, he had taken it out on one of the female special service providers here.
But even after conquering her voluptuous land with its high peaks, it was not enough to cancel out this feeling of failure.
He had already drained several bottles and his trusty apprentice sat in front of him, trying hard to comfort him.
However, it was of no use.
Rumors had spread of the Tamashi using a sword that was made by his rival to cut a metal boulder into parts. He had used his influence within the clan to rush to the academy and see for himself if this was true.
To his surprise, the boulder remained there. It was cleanly cut into two. Each side was so smooth that it showed the wrinkles on his face.
Meanwhile, all the weapons he had made for this batch of cultivators had done far less than impressive. Even though he had bathed them with so much beast core stones, they were still worthless as compared to that one sword.
Leongu, just like everyone in the clan knew that a Tamashi could not use spirit energy. This meant that the cutting of the boulder was done entirely by the sword Ganja made.
Leongu had never heard nor seen such a sword. Only those weapons that belonged to immortal beings in stories could possible compare with such sharpness.
He could not help but imagine what would happen if a person that used Spirit energy were to use this sword that Ganja made. He even heard that the Chief of the clan even requested the sword and wanted to buy the sword for fifty Blue beast cores, but the Tamashi refused.
Even with all his fame and wealth, he was still no where close to having blue beast cores in the double digits.
In fact, one could say that he was still miles away from it.
He had taken everything from Ganja. Taken his wife, job, passion, and wealth. And some how, ganja had still managed to be better than him even in Death.
"No! No!! No!!!" He mumbled to himself. This was the greatest of shame a man could suffer.
Ganja in his obsession for the greatest technique and perfect sword had somehow managed to beat him even in Death.
He even heard that the sword also helped the Tamashi guaranty a win against a cultivator. The worse part was that the cultivator was using a sword he made.
That same sword was later brought to him in pieces for him to mend.
Since news of the Tamashi's sword went around, many people have talked about it. Singing praises of the weapon in his ear like the noise of a market place in the afternoon.
Many of his customers have even requested swords of that Caliber. "Are you not the number sword maker in the clan? That means Ganja must have shared his secret with you before he died. I want a sword like the Tamashi's own."
Such requests have been coming in again and again. So much that their voices had started to hunt him in his sleep.
His attention to his work had been completely destroyed.
And at the moment, he was even afraid of seeing his own forge. He could swear for a certain that Ganja was laughing at him from the world beyond.
The dwarf had set out to make the strongest sword, and had made it even at the cost of his own life.
At the moment, there was no blacksmith with the clan that did not admire Ganja. All the old rumors abut him, and the disgust people felt when his name was mentioned had washed away.
Instead, a new found praise had taken its place. Many young blacksmiths now idolized him, and Leongu even heard that many claimed that the god of blacksmiths had made him a saint in the heavens.
Such was the hearts of man. Praises always went to great men that achieved extraordinary things.
Even though Leongu was the current number one Blacksmith in the clan, he remained the number two in the hearts of men.
This was indeed the biggest disgrace one could face.
He had lost to a dead man.
In truth, just like other blacksmiths, Leongu admired Ganja deep down in his heart. But that was what made him hate himself and Ganja even more.
Never in his life had he hated any one as he hated Ganja. The same man he had stripped of everything.
And now, he could not even surpass him. If he wanted to surpass Ganja, he would at least need to study the sword he made or the forging technique.
Both of which were out of reach. The Tamashi's sword had been priced at fifty Blue beat cores. If he wanted the sword or the technique, that would be the lowest price.
This amount was not something a blacksmith of his caliber could reach in his life time.
As leongu stared drunk at the empty bottle he had just emptied, two people approached him. Slowly, he lifted his head to look at both men.
Even though he was drunk, he still recognized them on first sight.
It was Elder Van and Elder Gran of the Healer's association.
Elder Van looked at him and smiled, "Leongu you are hurt, and your enemy is dead, but he left behind something precious. We have been connected by Fate, do you want revenge!?"
.....
Yet again, Fate's in its plans against Chiron Chilvalry of the Chikitsa clan...