Heavenly Dungeon - Duel! (1)

The feeling of having his whole body barbequed in the stove wasn't a pleasant experience at all. Putting all his effort to hold the scream from leaving his mouth, Aiolos endured the pain brought by consuming the Lesser Tianhuo Seed.

And inside his body, the energy from the Tianhuo-Shaozi runs wildly.

The flame expands like a crawler vine as it penetrates through the blockage along his vein. His body temperature also rises along with the Heaven's Flame within his core.

The Lesser Tianhuo Seed continued to run inside a little world within Aiolos' mind. There, Heaven's Flame tempered his body like how a blacksmith hammered the impurities out of the iron.

It was a torturous method that even a god would go crazy from the continuous process of burning in flames - hammering - tempering - quenching - polishing - and repeat.

Aiolos also unable to understands how there is so much impurity hidden in his towering stature. The slimy substance he expelled from his body through the pores went straight into flames as they made contact with Heaven's Flame enveloping his body.

Sweat about the size of a bead rolled down but evaporated before it found freedom past his jawbone. He opened his eyes once again, not knowing how long has passed from the moment he closed his eyes Aiolos ran his eyes throughout the room.

Looking at Tetros that sleeping soundly on a chair, a hint of guilt came out of nowhere from just looking at his beloved. He waved his hand across the bed to replace the sheets with a new one before he gently gave Tetros a princess hug.

"I am lucky to be married to such an amazing goddess," Aiolos managed to sneak a kiss on Tetros' lips before the goddess shyly turned her head aside.

"How did I get married to a rascal?" the goddess complained slightly, but her hand on Aiolos' wrist is holding him tight without intention to let him free.

Maybe that's what our crest holders call it. Fate," Aiolos replied to Tetros' complaint by quoting something he was told by Alrune, Yesha, and Pharcis a long time ago.

"I guess you found something that could help you cultivates at a quicker pace, am I right?" Tetros moved her other hand over Aiolos' face and wiped the flakes of evaporated crystals away.

"Yes. Although it won't turn me into an Upper-Tiered God in a flash, it is more than enough to help me win Calvaros." Aiolos nodded. Tetros' hand remains on his face, slowly patting him.

"You must be quite energetic now. Go and wash before you changed into a different piece of a robe. You're a little dirty right now." Tetros added. She loosened the hand that holding Aiolos in place and allowed him to placed her down.

Aiolos covered his wife with a golden fleece before he steps outside of the tent. Walking towards the communal bath that was secured by the two Cohors, Aiolos removes his dirty robe the moment his whole body is submerged inside the water.

A new piece of a robe is hanging on his body the moment Aiolos left the water. He made his way back using a longer route on purpose to give his mind some time to cool down.

The way the positioning of the moon and stars tells Aiolos roughly the time he has taken to assimilate with the energy from the Lesser Tianhuo Seed. Sixteen hours, to be exact.

Aiolos stumbles across Tribunus Archer as he was halfway en-route back to his private tent. The Tribunus seems to be just coming out on purpose to meet with him.

"Tribunus Archer pays his respect to the young master," he said. While they're in the same contubernium, Aiolos was his subordinate. But before public eyes, the Tribunus would have to follow the formal customary between them.

"You may rise. Is there a concern requiring my opinion?" Aiolos asked.

"Indeed, my young master. The legionnaires from Centurion Alloy and my contubernium had moved the scraps you might need over to this spot. I wonder if the young master has an order for us to deal with?" Tribunus Archer asked.

"Oh? Did you bring them here for me? Good, bring me to have a look," Aiolos' eyes shine brightly from excitement.

"Young master, please!" Tribunus Archer led the way for Aiolos until they reached a nearby spot with the scraps separated nicely. Although their effort is commendable, it wasn't as useful as they thought.

Once in awhile, tidiness and arrangement meant nothing to the god.

"Thank you for putting so much effort into carrying the material here. I will put everything into good use." Aiolos accepted them nevertheless.

Aiolos created a Void Space above the material they divided accordingly, where a suction then emerged and absorbed the scraps into the spatial wormhole.

"What? Is it done?" the process was done in less than five minutes, surprising both the soldiers and himself. Aiolos calmed his curious heart down from showing them his rebellious side and chose to return to his tent as soon as possible.

"Tribunus Archer, please excuse me first. Something has come into my mind," Aiolos said. Without waiting for them to react to his sentence, Aiolos made his way quickly back to his tent and escaped from the legionnaire's pursuit.

"What happened to our young master?"

"Did he had a bad stomach and need to relieve it quickly?"

"Hey! Stop thinking nonsense! Are you looking for a beating?" Terrence scolded Centurion Alloy's men for talking nonsense. In his eyes, Aiolos is almighty and incredible.

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Aiolos blocked the entrance to his private tent with a hint of his Godhood Power. Unfortunately, he underestimated the strength of his current godhood power.

The result from his light swing created a thin layer of glass-equivalent energy, which block the entrance along with the available space within the tent.

His Godhood Power is half-a-fold thicker than before, which is more than enough for him to make a name for himself. Perhaps amongst the younger generation of Lower-Tiered God, there are less than 10 people capable of doing so.

"Status panel," Aiolos summoned his personal information board out to the open.

== == == == ==

|-Aiolos Shangxian-2-Crafting God-|Level 12|

[Strength: 140+60 | Vitality: 500+100 |Agility: 80+50]

[Magic: 180+70 | Godhood Power: 190+130]

[Equipment: Oxaltheim]

-Allows 1 cast of Holy Shield with 100 defensive points

-Allows 8 cast of Holy Heal without GP cost

-Allows 8 cast of Protection without GP cost

-Allows 8 cast of Devotion without GP cost

-Allows 8 cast of Repair without GP cost

[Skill:]

-Weapons Portal (Godly Rank) / Armor Portal (Godly Rank)

-Crafting Hail (Godly Rank)

-Enhancer (Godly Rank)

== == == == ==

"This is a hidden surprise!" Aiolos smiled. His mood is even better than when he finished flirting with Tetros the moment he wakes up.

He felt unbelievable. No wonder his father purposely mentioned about the miraculous ability of a product made from the Tianyuan's Yuanzi. Even if he wished to rationalize the results, the Lesser Tianhuo Seed is indeed a treasure, just like his father's Sky-Needle and Origin Needle.

His total strength was at 1,090 points after the increment from his father's archaic lesson is added. But they pale in comparison when the result from tempering his body is added. The sixteen hours of cultivation added a third of his available point to his body, bringing it up to 1,500 points.

Aiolos read the information written on the panel calmly as he came up with a hypothesis. The sudden qualitative change in his godhood power is likely from the 130 points increase. Aiolos couldn't explain the sudden enlightenment and control over his godhood power. All he could tell is the more refined and efficient godhood power compared to before.

The primuses also delivered a message through Tribunus Archer's mouth.

"Cultivate as freely as young master like. We, the primus, will take care of all responsibility until everyone returned to the surface." their instruction is easy to understand.

Six Centuria will be dispatched outside of the camp, leaving only four protecting their temporary base at all times. As for the gain from the soldiers, their remuneration based on contribution points will be recorded and paid from the primus' own balance.

Their words remove the hesitation from Aiolos' mind, as he opened several spatial portals for the goods to fall into his reach. His new limit of 320 points in Godhood Power strengthened his ability in crafting as well, allowing him to manage two refining stoves at once.

At most, Aiolos is capable of controlling three stoves at the same time. But stretching his ability too much could be detrimental to the product he's going to make, so two would be the best, at least for now.

Aiolos continue at his own pace.

Three days of effort went off in a flash.

--------------------

"Where is Aiolos???" Calvaros stomps on the ground to vent his anger. He felt a hint of disrespect from Aiolos' attitude to make an Upper-Tiered God like him to wait.

"Ancient Gods. I requested that Aiolos were to be punished if he's late for this duel," Calvaros placed his palm together and brought this matter up to the five ancient gods.

"Calvaros, there are seven more minutes before the time of your duel. Calm yourself down." the Southern Ancient God reprimands the Wargod for being impatient.

Furthermore, they're surrounded by the mortals, who are also a part of the Middle and Upper-Tiered Gods present here. Allowing Calvaros to behave this way is akin to slapping themselves with their own privilege.

"Humph!" Calvaros harumphs and returned to his resting area.

Soon, a cheer came from the entrance to the Core Tianyuan Sanctuary. Such a treatment can be considered rare here because everyone understands the difficulty from the 4th floor onwards.

But today, the two Cohors returned in victory.

Their standard equipment looks similar to the followers of Wargod Parthenos. The two primus that should be leading the army is now followed behind a young god, with a towering figure of 2.6meters tall.

There are four pairs of wings on the back of his Holy Armament, with a golden spear and armor. Curly golden hair, with a goddess of equal beauty beside him, they walked towards the Sanctuary Square while witnesses by thousand of gods and mortals.

Such a grand entrance by Aiolos and Tetros won a positive impression from everyone present around the dueling arena. Compared to the brutish Calvaros, Aiolos' proud, calm, and reserved demeanor is much more suitable for the public's appreciation.

"There's one minute left before the duel starts! Get on the arena now," the Core Ancient God shouts. His beckon had Aiolos soared into the sky using his wings and landed hard on top of the arena. With his spear pointing up at the sky, Aiolos secretly activates the power of his Lesser Tianhuo Seed.

The spear immediately turned to a rose-golden spear, with blazing fire followed wherever it goes.

"Look at that spear... How beautiful..."

"I regret not taking up the spear-mastery class when I'm younger."

"If their age gap weren't as much as 1,500 years, Calvaros would be the one losing! He had so many years of experience before the Craft God!"

The public shared their point of view and disdain mainly towards Calvaros. And right on the appointed time, a curtain of godhood power restricts both gods inside the arena. The force is applied to Calvaros and placed his strength onto the same level as Aiolos.

"Start!" the Core Ancient God lowered his hand down as he speaks.

"Upper-Tiered God of War, Calvaros! Heilig Reincar!" Calvaros howled.

"Lower-Tiered God of Craft, Aiolos, Oxaltheim! This is my beloved weapon, Spear of Heaven's Flame!" Aiolos charged at Calvaros, bringing with a trail of fire as he moves.