Chapter 858: Adam the Dwarf Master

The talent brought back by Manigoldo was named Adam Samiles, a one-hundred-and-thirty-five-year-old dwarf forging grandmaster!

Dwarves enjoy exceptionally long lifespans. Although they cannot compare to elves, they can easily live for two to three hundred years, and those with strong power living up to four hundred years is not a problem. As a tier-three early-stage martial artist and forging grandmaster, Adam was projected to live past three hundred years without any difficulty. Thus, at one hundred and thirty-five, he was equivalent to a human youth of around thirty.

Dwarves are honest and simple-natured, yet they are also hot-tempered and direct. When they go crazy, they have no regard for consequences, making it very difficult for them to survive and fit into the human world. Most of them are captured by major factions to be exploited as captive artisans for crafting equipment, and Adam was a prime example. He had spent twenty years in the human continent, kept under house arrest by the Temple of the Mad God, crafting equipment for them. However, he had intentionally concealed his true skill, pretending to be capable of producing only average gear, and therefore had not crafted many truly exceptional items for the Temple of the Mad God.

After the Temple of the Mad God was destroyed by the Father God Church, Adam was rescued by them. Holding an extreme distrust of humans, he deliberately acted even more incompetent than before, causing Jack, who was responsible for cleaning up the aftermath, to disregard him and set him free directly. Yet, thinking of human viciousness, Adam feared being captured by someone halfway on his journey, so he chose to stay with the Father God Church, intending to blend in for a while and observe the equipment used by the church.

As a result, Adam sneered at the standard equipment of the Apocalypse Knights and Holy Knights, silently despising them for months, until he chanced upon Manigoldo and laid eyes on a Cloth; only then did he completely change.

Dwarves have many forging grandmasters because they are naturally creative and enjoy crafting more and better items. When they witness something superior to their own works, a raging fire of the desire to learn is ignited within them, filling them with an urge to study that object.

As equipment produced by the system, the Cloths far surpassed the craftsmanship achievable by forging grandmasters. Ordinary magic steel equipment was absolute trash compared to a Cloth. As an insider, Adam could perceive the extraordinary aspects even more profoundly, causing him to completely lose his composure. He grabbed Manigoldo and bombarded him with frantic questions, begging for a chance to study the Cloth, which almost made Manigoldo think he was gay.

Fortunately, there were other people present at the time, and Adam stated his reasons in a timely manner, preventing Manigoldo from punching Adam's head to pieces.

However, studying the Cloth was simply out of the question. In Manigoldo's eyes, a Cloth was a sacred artifact bestowed by the Father God; how could it be defiled by someone who was not a Saint? Therefore, Manigoldo flatly refused him.

This left Adam deeply disappointed and unwilling to let go. Having finally found something of such immense artistic value, how could he give up? He insisted on studying it no matter what, and ideally finding out who had crafted it.

Consequently, through relentless nagging and pestering of those around him, Adam eventually figured out the origin of the Cloth, learning that it was bestowed by the Father God. He was utterly shocked and refused to believe it from the bottom of his heart. In the eyes of dwarves, there was only the God of Craftsmanship; what on earth was the Father God? He had no idea, but it certainly sounded like a lie.

Therefore, Adam desperately wanted to know which grandmaster had crafted the Cloth, and he never gave up on finding a way to study it. In the end, he could no longer hold back and revealed his true identity and skill level to Manigoldo, leaving Manigoldo astonished for a long time.

Even so, Manigoldo could not possibly hand the Cloth over to Adam for study. To do so would be to blaspheme the Father God; neither his faith nor his honor would allow such an act.

However, letting a dwarf grandmaster slip away was also undesirable. Manigoldo knew that the higher-ups had constantly been searching for forging grandmasters, so after some consideration, he personally escorted Adam back to headquarters and handed the matter of Adam over to Link to handle.

Link attached immense importance to Adam because this dwarf forging grandmaster claimed he could forge magic steel equipment!

Magic steel equipment consisted of top-tier gear originally created in the Solacong world, renowned as one of the supreme masterpieces of magical craftsmanship.

Since forging magic steel equipment required both astonishing forging capability and a constitution naturally insulated from magic, and humans possessed innate magical affinity—while inferior to elves and winged folk, they were still quite outstanding—given the massive human population base, the occasional freak of nature was bound to be born.

Yet it was precisely this natural gift bestowed by nature that made it difficult for humans to nurture forging grandmasters capable of crafting magic steel equipment.

Dwarves were different. Born incapable of practicing magic, dwarves insulated from magic were natural forgers. Cultivating a forging grandmaster who could craft magic steel equipment was far easier among dwarves than humans, making dwarf forging grandmasters highly coveted treasures in the eyes of humans.

In order to obtain dwarf forging grandmasters, humans had once attempted to plunder the dwarf race. However, dwarves were allies with orcs and elves, and the Dwarf Kingdom was located at the southern tip of the Adimen Continent, so the plundering plan could only remain a mere plan.

Nevertheless, the profession of human trafficking existed in every world. Through the efforts of traffickers, quite a few dwarves were still tricked and deceived into human kingdoms, becoming captive subjects of various factions and losing their freedom for life. The magic steel equipment circulating in the outside world was crafted by these very dwarves.

In fact, the ironic part was that the creators of magic steel equipment were actually humans, yet humans were incapable of forging it, forcing them to capture dwarves to serve them.

Today, magic steel equipment could be found throughout the entire continent of Oure. Although the numbers were not so exaggerated that everyone had a piece, it had become somewhat commonplace; basically, any faction with a bit of wealth and status could manage to acquire one or two pieces.

It could be said that magic steel equipment was a symbol of status for major factions, and the reason the Father God Church had previously been viewed with hostility and importance by certain factions was precisely because they had mistakenly regarded the Cloths as magic steel equipment.

Across the entire continent of Oure, only a few major empires possessed dwarf forging grandmasters capable of crafting magic steel equipment; even the Starry Dynasty lacked them. If Adam could be brought into the Father God Church, even if future magic steel equipment could not be distributed to everyone, their elite troops could be fully armed. In that case, the enhancement in combat effectiveness would be far from negligible.

When Manigoldo brought Adam into the study, Link immediately scrutinized the dwarf forging grandmaster, discovering that dwarves were not as short as imagined, standing at a full meter and seventy centimeters. It was merely their developed muscles and wide skeletal frames that made them appear somewhat short.

As for other features, they matched the rumors: a large beard, a big nose, carrying the scent of alcohol, looking somewhat honest and dazed, appearing rather foolish. But if one truly took him for a fool, then the fool would be oneself.

As a dwarf who had deceived the Temple of the Mad God for twenty years, Link definitely did not believe this fellow was honest and loyal on the inside. Nine times out of ten, he had picked up plenty of human flaws, with plenty of schemes hidden in his belly. He needed a thorough tempering before he could be put to use by the Father God Church.

Thinking of this, Link gave Adam a deep look, then smiled and praised Manigoldo, instructing him to step down and rest first, before turning to Adam: "Master Adam, greetings. I have already heard about your situation. It is not entirely impossible for you to study the Cloth, but can you answer me a question first?"

Upon hearing Link say he would be allowed to study the Cloth, Adam's eyes instantly lit up, and he immediately asked with excitement: "What question? As long as you let me study the Cloth, I will answer whatever you ask!"

"The only thing I want to ask is... Adam, do you confess your guilt?" As Link spoke, his demeanor suddenly changed dramatically, radiating a sacred aura, and he unleashed the spell of Confession, which he had not used for a long time.

Ever since the Father God Church became capable of nurturing and recruiting talent on its own and instilling loyalty, Link had essentially stopped using Confession, because he did not want to handle everything personally. For the Father God Church to maintain long-term prosperity, it needed its own set of talent management protocols, so he no longer intended to use Confession to convert talents.

However, Adam was an exception. Dwarf forging grandmasters were exceedingly rare, let alone one who could inherently forge magic steel equipment. Furthermore, dwarves hated lying, and Adam had concealed his true background for twenty years; even if he was coerced, his conscience would inevitably feel uneasy.

Perhaps the erosion of time had allowed Adam to forget the sense of guilt in his heart, but as long as it had occurred, Confession would awaken the vanished sense of guilt and thus take effect.

Now, Link neither feared magical backlash nor feared that his mental power would be inferior to Adam's. His Holy Immortal Power made him vastly superior to others in all aspects. While casting Confession, he also unleashed his pseudo-ninth-tier pressure.

Immediately, Adam dropped to his knees under the pressure, pushed to the brink of collapse, and Confession subsequently took effect, beginning to erode his mind. Although he struggled to resist, the effect was negligible, and ultimately, under the absolute disparity in strength, his sense of guilt was awakened, and he began to weep bitterly in repentance.

Seeing this, Link could not help but marvel once again at the unreasonable nature of Confession. As long as one's strength completely overwhelmed the opponent, making them fall victim to it was far too easy; what remained was conversion.

I must admit, Adam's willpower was formidable. Even after falling under Confession, he was still trying his best to resist conversion, firmly believing that the God of Craftsmanship was the true god, making him quite tricky.

However, Adam's resistance only stirred up Link's competitive spirit. He immediately went all out with his persuasive skills, spouting a plethora of benevolent, high-sounding, and ambiguous reasoning and words, gradually weakening the psychological defenses within Adam's heart.

After enduring a full five rounds of repentance, Adam finally surrendered. Under Link's enticement, he came to believe that the God of Craftsmanship worshipped by the dwarves was actually one of the avatars of the Father God, and that the lofty Father God was the true deity.

"Great Father God, please forgive my humble self for questioning you; merciful Arch-Prelate, please pardon my previous disrespect. I should not have questioned your words, nor should I have attempted to defile the Cloth bestowed by the Father God." Adam bowed before Link, expressing his pious and respectful repentance, and his zealot-level faith status indicated that he had completely converted.

Link was overjoyed. Starting today, the Father God Church finally possessed a forging grandmaster capable of crafting magic steel equipment.

Without delay, Link took out the Dragon Cloth he had kept with him and handed it to Adam for study. This frightened Adam so much that his burly body shook violently, and he repeatedly refused to accept it until Link stated that it was the will of the Father God and explained the nature of steel Cloths; only then did Adam dare to accept the Dragon Cloth.

Rumor had it that dwarves could even infuse certain power inheritances into equipment. Link intended precisely to let Adam test whether the inheritance of the Small Universe could be infused into it. If possible, then even prospective Saints in the future would be able to awaken their Small Universes.

Of course, the probability of this was extremely low and could only be considered a miracle, but Link believed that even if the Small Universe inheritance could not be infused, Adam should still be able to glean insights from the Dragon Cloth and thereby enhance his own forging capabilities.