Dark King

It was dawn. Hundreds of people had surrounded the door to the hall. Half of them were architects who wore their robes but the rest had more clean and decent clothing. They were outsiders who got permission through relationship to get to this place. Naturally these people belonged to consortia and noble families and were here in their stead to check the results. Some of the masters have sent their students out of curiousity to come and observe the primary architects and report on the results too.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Thanks. Haha. It seems everyone is here to check the bulletin board. The assessment by the Temple will be out today. I’m craving to learn how many exchange points will be given for the crossbow.”

“Certainly it will be a lot. After all in the worst case it is a two star item. If it is a three-star product then it will be much more… ”

“Are you here for checking the tasks?”

“Don’t make a joke. I’m here to see the description of the weapon. I would love to see how powerful it is according to the evaluation.”

“Hey, me too.”

Everyone whispered as they stood before the entrance to the hall.

As the first rays of sun shone from the corner of the building and pierced the place the eight meter tall giant doors of the hall slowly opened. A pale old man was standing in front of the door. His eyes swept over the crowd and his eyelids drooped down. He turned and staggered into the hall.

“On time!”

“Go fast! Go.”

The crowd waiting in front of the hall immediately went into the building.

Everyone was crowded in front of the bulletin board. The first day when a new evaluation is made then it is posted on the bulletin board for a day as a free publicity. However after that day the knowledge about the product or research will be listed in exchange book. The architect himself had to look for the evaluation.

On the first page of the announcements about the evaluation of the research the crowd saw two familiar words: Military Crossbow!

It was the piece of work by the architect which had brough such an uproar last few days,

The eyes of the people moved from the huge name to the level of assessment. The hall instantly went silent.

“Four-four stars?”

After a short silence people began to swallow their salive and tremble in excitement.

Ice-like silence was broken in an instant as everyone broke into uproar. They were shocked to see the evaluation. The four dazzling purple stars were extremely eye-catching and firmly sucked everyone’s attention.

“Purple stars! This is not just an ordinary four-star item but a top grade! Are the assessment criterisa of the Temple have been reduced? How can it be?”

“It is too exaggerated! Was it done by that newcomer? According to the rumors it took him only half a day to produce it!”

“The newcomer is a legend!”

The detailed functions of the crossbow were described below the assessment value. The people who read them got shocked again.

“Oh my God! It is actually a melee weapon!”

“Can you even use a crossbow in melee combat?”

“This research has broken the record! How can a melee crossbow actually get a top grade four star assessment? Has Temple made a mistake?”

“Look at the details! The arrows maintain their trajectory for about 100 meters. No wonder it is evaluated as a melee weapon. Amazing! How the crossbow was made out?”

The utility and functions of the crossbow had shocked people. One architect who was within the crowd squeezed out and went to another station. He found the old man who had opened to door to exchange points.

The people sent by nobles and other consortia noted down the functional effects and flew out of the hall and left back.

…

“Four or four star! top grade?”

Old Chai who was sitting in the conference room of the Scott consortium opened the letter and cried out in surprise. He was shocked by the news.

Rosie who was sitting by the table was surprised as she didn’t expect such a result too.

…

Ryan Castle.

Sander ran into the study room in hurry. He almost fell at the door. He opened the door and went in. His face was flushed and his body trembled slightly because of the excitement: “Father! It is four stars! Four stars!”

“Four Star?” Old Fulin was surprised too but he had a smile on his face.

…

Mellon consortium. Conference hall.

The Mellon consortium did not deliberately hold a meeting today to wait for the results of Dudian’s work. It was time for weekly meeting to discuss their financial situation. Mark patted the book in front of him as he told the review of the financial income from their industries. His speech was halted when the door was intensively knocked.

“Come in.” Mark said with patience. But everyone knew that he never liked to be disturbed during his speech.

The door opened and a youth dressed in suit came in.

Mark saw the youth and indifferently said: “We were in the middle of important talk. If what you going to inform is not important then I assume you are aware of the consequences.”

The youth panicked as he saw Mark’s blunt expression: “Patriarch, I came to report about the evaluation of the Temple about the new product of the architect Dean …”

Mark replied: “That has no importance to us! Get out!”

Middle aged man sitting next to Mark smiled: “Mr Mel let him say the news since he has come over. We are interested too. Does the product made by the little guy is really a three star item?”

“Yes.”

“Let him say and leave afterwards. ”

Few others advised.

Mark looked at the youth: “You have ten seconds.”

The youth’s face was pale: “The results came out. It is four star item and functional in melee combat…I-I…” The youth was worried about the ‘ten seconds’ that Mark had set. The youth was nervous as he talked. He stopped and looked at Mark.

Rudolph was sitting beside Mark. His expression turned gloomy the moment he heard the news.

…

Temple of Elements. Ninth castle.

A young man wearing architect’s robe went into the room in panic. He saw the beautiful Tiffany sitting by the piano near the windowsill. She was not playing it.

She was stroking the keys. The moment she heard boy’s rapid breathing she turned over. The clouds in her heart which was suppressed became heavy as she saw the state the boy was in. She slowly took away her fingers form the piano and calmly asked: “Is it really three-star item?”