Chapter 168 - Competition Between Masters

Jason was already excited about what he was going to do this weekend!
However, it was already Saturday afternoon, when he sat inside the smithing room, purifying all kinds of ores into perfect bars, like every single day.
Yesterday after his rather easy victory, he reclaimed his special combat class seat before class ended.
Immediately afterward, Max and Seron went their own ways, leaving Jason alone within the combat arena with the exception of Artemis.
Apparently, both youths received a notification, after which their expression soured.
Rushing out of the combat arena, Jason wondered why they were in such a hassle.
`Did something happen with the big Families or maybe even something on Astrix?` he thought bewildered but there was nobody who could answer his question.
As such, Jason decided to change his plan slightly, as he messaged the Fler′s that he wouldn't come home for the weekend.
He strived towards the small blue shining lake′s direction straight into the flourishing forest and only slightly more than 15 minutes later, Jason already stood in front of the lake with the exotic arch in the center.
Spreading out his mana, Jason activated a certain rune below a tree trunk that was covered with another few runes to hide them.
It was as if Jason rang a doorbell when a spatial portal suddenly appeared in front of him, where he immediately jumped through without considering if it was a trap or something similar.
With Artemis squeezed on his shoulder, he stepped straight into Shane and Dalia′s hideout where he was greeted by a radiant smile on Dalia′s face, while Shane only smiled lightly.
Seeing them smiling, Jason almost immediately disregarded his previous trust ranking, even though it was still weird for him, as Old Drake′s words lingered in his mind.
Nevertheless, Jason′s mission right now was something else.
He only wanted to improve his proficiency in perfectly cleansing ores in order to produce the most perfect grade-1 bars.
Jason initially wanted to convince Shane to let him craft his first weapon, but he had a different plan, which he would utilize later.
Somehow a whole day passed with him solely forging in order to purify iron ores perfectly, while he also ate and practiced the Heaven's Hell technique.
When Shane and Dalia noticed how often Jason practiced the Heaven's Hell technique, they were baffled and asked him about his soul energy replenishing speed, which Jason answered honestly.
There was no need to lie and telling them the truth about his 6hour replenishing process would not really hurt him in any way.
However what Jason did not expect was their shock, as they looked at him with widened eyes.
Previously Shane already estimated that his soul energy replenishing process should be faster than the average, but he thought it would at most double as fast as the average that most humans had.
A replenishing process of 12 hours would already be seen as extremely fast and one wouldn't even care about one′s starting soul energy with such a short replenishing time, as it would be better than high soul energy with time passing.
Living for 200 years, one could practice the Heaven's Hell technique exactly double as often as others, which would lead to a devastating gap in soul energy.
When Jason finished another perfect purified jade iron bar, he noticed Dalia looking at him intently as she did for a few days now.
Previously he wasn't sure what she wanted from him, and he didn't feel comfortable with asking her.
As such he tried to ignore her staring at him, but her gaze became even more uncomfortable to endure with time passing.
In the end, Jason turned to Dalia and asked
"Master, can I help you somehow, or is something the matter?" Jason hesitated slightly, as Dalia was thrown out of her stubborn starring, only to look at Jason bewildered.
Clearing her throat, she asked
"Jason...previously I thought you would only forge for a few days before you would ask me what I was waiting for, but it had already been six days and there is still not the desired question I′m waiting for.. "
Sighing deeply, Dalia continued frustrated
"Didn′t you want to increase your soulbond′s potential? I told you that I can increase its potential with enough mana stones to supply and I′m certainly sure that you gained enough from the pseudo magic grade-3 anvil you′ve sold, right?
Why are you not asking me to help you? I feel useless right now because Shane is always bragging about your determination and achievements to perfectly purify ores into bars.
Thinking you might be bored soon, I waited patiently but there is still nothing I taught you... Let me help you, okay? I′ll feel better that way!"
Hearing Dalia sounding almost desperate, Jason wondered to what degree, Shane and Dalia were competing with each other in order to let her emotion escalate like that…
He felt slightly weird, but it was as if a thick rock was thrown against his head when he remembered that he wanted to increase Scorpio′s potential as soon as possible.
As such he smiled at Dalia with a shining smile, before he said "Yes, let's do it!" With a loud voice.
Shane was still standing next to them and staring at his wife with daggers' piercing straight into her because he wanted Jason to continue forging.
However, now that Jason was distracted, it would only end up in chaos, if he were to continue to forge without being completely focused on his task.
As such, Shane could only step back and let Jason′s second soulbond have its potential increased which would take some time.
Dalia walked out of the smithy, while Jason followed her with a bright smile after he extinguished his black origin flame and cleansed everything.
Due to his mana eyes, Jason found the room, Dalia vanished into within only a few moments later, as he noticed something familiar on the ground of the large hall he entered.
A large magic circle, that would dissolve mana stones and isolate everything from within the magic circle from the outside world.
This circle was already familiar to Jason, as Till drew the same one in order to provide him enough mana when he refined his brain to establish his sub-area.
It was a painful memory and he was slightly scared about this circle, as he knew that not a single mana particle could leave the field, as Dalia told him to summon Scorpio.
Jason did as his master told him when his 30-centimeter long miniature Parascor appeared within the palm of his two hands.
Gazing gently at him, Scorpio screeched out in joy, when he noticed Artemis sitting on his shoulder which annoyed it.
Jason was unaware of it, but Artemis and Scorpio became somehow rivals in order to attract his attention, as both of them wanted to have him for themselves.
However, Jason couldn′t be split and they had to share him with each other which didn′t satisfy either of them.
Dalia gave him more instructions that Jason followed, as he placed Scorpio in the middle of the magic circle, where he should stay put.
In addition to that, Jason took out more than half of his stored mana stones which Dalia noticed with a proud smile.
′He really gained a fortune hmm?` She thought as she looked at Shane′s disgruntled expression that caused her to almost blur out in a laugh.
`My greedy one…`