Draconic King of Shadows

As Damion walked towards the Blacksmithing Class, his gait straight and confident, he looked through the messages he had silenced during his fight, a blank expression masking his true emotions.

"Oh! I gained some exp from defeating Toby again," he said, a small smile cracking his face.

A set of female students passing by thought he had smirked at them, and they cringed visibly, hurriedly walking away while throwing him disgusted looks.

Damion couldn't be too bothered by them, so he continued his inspection of the messages without sparing them another glance.

__________

[Demon Weapon]

[Lower Rank 1]

[+2 to all physical stats]

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[Skills]

[Smash(Active): Gather the strength of a demon in the hammer and deal a mighty blow(On Cooldown)]

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[Swallow(Active): Swallow a part of the users Ability and gather it within the hammer head to be released at will(On Cooldown)]

__________

"A demon weapon huh," Damion said, staring at the hammer in his hands. "If it wasn't for the fact that a sword was more suited for me, I would have kept this. It has great skills that work well with my Ability, and I would have loved to explore more with it… but no, it'll only pull me back, defeating the purpose of owning a weapon."

"Though I can exchange it with an O-Katana with the blacksmiths, I'll need to add more credits to get a good one."

Damion held up the necklace dangling from his neck, and a hologram came up in his face.

__________

[Name: Damion Darkblade]

[Age: 17]

[Year: 1]

[Affiliation: Military Base 046]

[Ability: —]

[Credit(s): 163]

[2/5 Tickets]

__________

"I need three more tickets to gain a position," Damion voiced out.

The tickets were scattered in hidden places around the academy, and the students were to search for them and get five each to be qualified.

The slots needed for the positions were only few, but the tickets needed to gain those positions were in excess.

So if there were 10 slots, then there were 250 tickets hidden in the academy.

This not only made the competition fiercer, but it revealed the hidden agenda that only a few could see. The hidden agenda being hindering others from earning a position by stealing more tickets than needed from them.

At the end of the day if no one tried to block others, there would be too many students who were qualified, and they would therefore have to be manually handpicked, those who would be taken, and the unlucky ones who wouldn't.

Damion had realised this after remembering the brief again, and he couldn't help but feel the need to hurry.

He let go of the necklace and focused on his movement, increasing his speed moderately but swiftly.

***

A kilometer away from the approaching Damion, the Blacksmithing Class was in session and students were hammering away with utmost concentration, using the techniques they had learnt.

Today was a special occasion where an instructor of the second year students came over to watch the first years forge, correcting their mistakes and showing them new techniques and blueprints.

The students were all focused on their works, having a hammer in one hand, and a heated ingot in the other.

Their forging method was very different from the old times. They neither had protective wears on their body, nor did they use the regular materials or machinery to forge.

Times had changed, the Demons and Extraterrestrials invasion had led the humans to discover things they didn't believe existed in their world and beyond.

New minerals, various ores with magical properties, beasts with crazy powers, and Humans with special abilities. These were all things that came up after the invasion. And though their origins hadn't been discerned yet, the humans were thankful that they existed, if not, they might have gone extinct from the Demons and Extraterrestrials regular attacks.

The Humans could create futuristic technological weapons and armors, and they could also create magical counterparts using the cores of beasts.

The beasts that were discovered were known to have a core within them, acting as the embodiment of their whole existence, which could be used for various purposes, be it powering up a Mech, using it to forge a weapon or armor, or even using it as a replacement for bodily nutrients.

The numerous ores and minerals also helped boost the quality of the lives of many. They were used to make a variety of basic utensils or large structures, because they lasted longer, barely spoiled —unless misused— and could be recycled to make new ones.

Life would have been okay and sweet had the Demons and Extraterrestrials not appeared from nowhere and began attacking them wantonly without reason, threatening to eradicate them.

However, if they hadn't shown up, Humans wouldn't have found all these things on the face of their planet, though that didn't mean that they still wouldn't purge their world from the Demons and Extraterrestrials.

The forging techniques were found from countless trials and errors. They had been perfected over time, and the new generations were learning from their ancestors hard earned works.

They had seen the best of life, but couldn't enjoy it, seemingly because of the immediate threat of the invaders. Understanding this, they needed to be trained on how to better wield their abilities and fight.

Not everyone, though, was meant for the battlefield. Just like the blacksmiths, their work was to provide ordnance to soldiers and keep them armed always.

There were medics also, having strong healing abilities and other abilities related to tending to the injured and sick. They helped when soldiers had grave injuries, saving them from death and reducing the risk of losing more men to the war.

All in all, everyone was fighting the war in one way or the other, for the sake of their home.

"You there! Put your weight behind your hammer, don't be scared of ruining the metal!"

"Your Axe is oddly shaped, heat it up again and readjust the shape!"

"You, that's a very nice dagger. Pick up another ore and start practicing the second technique of smelting."

"You… you.. you, you, yo…"

The instructor's voice rang out in the forge, mixing in with the sounds of metal slapping metal.

The cacophony of noises were so much that someone might not hear a bomb go off right by the building, and in this same noisy environment, Damion walked in, hands in his hoodie's kangaroo pockets.

He swept his gaze over the working students, a stoic expression plastered on his face. He didn't make any move, only observing them work meticulously.

A minute later, he turned to his left and began to walk over to a counter not too far from where he was.

A female student sat behind the counter, watching the students work with a sharp stare. Even as Damion approached, she didn't notice in time until he placed his palm on the counter and said charmingly.

"Matilda, if I'm not mistaken,"