27 Sweat Does Not Lie (1/2)

The last words were not thoughts. They were shouted out. The old man could not help but be impressed by Darius's smooth and practiced motions.

The sages were not wrong when they said that 'only sweat does not lie.'

Each strike of the hammer seemed independent to the untrained eye, but the old man knew otherwise. Each motion was carefully calculated and smoothly launched, almost rhythmically connected to the previous strike. Making use of the rebounding force from the previous impact, Darius would raise his hammer, bringing it down along an exact arc, hitting the same spot, at the same speed, in the same manner, along with the same trajectory.

From start to finish, each and every strike Darius performed was exactly the same. The old man was gobsmacked. He had seen Darius' work before, but it had not been at this level.

Could this boy have broken through mentally?

The old man was a Master Spiritsmith whose name thundered across the whole realm. No one who used a smiter did not know of his achievements. If the old man dared call himself the second-best Spiritsmith on the continent, few would dare claim they were the best.

Yet, achieving what Darius had just done, performing ten thousand strikes that were exactly the same without fault, was something he had only been able to achieve when he was in his fifties!

This was not a mere question of precision. One had to breathe the same way, use the same precise grip, and exert the same force. One would need to have heaven-defying control over their body and extreme strength. This state where one had complete control of their body while working was called the Refinement Realm by Spiritsmiths. Right now, Darius was a bonafide Refinement Realm master.

While the old man was lost in thought, Darius felt a heatwave sweep through his body. It was one he was quite familiar with; except that, this time, something was different. The heat suddenly changed into a cooling wave that spread throughout his whole body.

It was such a pleasurable experience that Darius could not help but moan. This was truly unexpected. Magical runes suddenly appeared on his skin. The runes were incredibly small but taken together, they resembled chains that covered Darius from head to toe.

In a few seconds, the chains started to break, disappearing into the void. The moment they all disappeared, Darius could feel that something inside his body was different. Darius looked at his arms, trying to figure out what had happened, but the old man beat him to the punch.

”Congratulations, young man. You have broken a part of the curse!”

…

Darius could not comprehend what the old man had just told him. He had broken the curse? The very notion of it was absurd. Darius knew quite well what the conditions were for breaking the curse, and he knew enough to know that he had not achieved what was required. The old man saw Darius's confusion and sighed.