City of Desire: Chapter 838 Forge (Patreon)

Proofread by Thomas F

Jon Sands

Bam!

“Faster, push yourself harder!” I said as seventeen young girls between fourteen and twenty-three moved across the obstacles in the field, while spells came at them from all directions.

They are all types of spells: fireballs, elemental arrows, ice darts, and others.

All of them are Grade I, and they are coming at them out of nowhere, from the sky, earth, back, and front. They have to guard against every direction.

They are doing well, jumping, skipping, and running to avoid these obstacles and spells that are appearing out of nowhere, and they have been doing that for the past hour.

“It had been only three months, and they had made good progress,” said Madam Margaux, watching the girls.

“They have,” I replied, looking at girls who are burned, blistered, and cut, but still dodging against the spells without stopping. They can not stop; if they did, the spells would hit them.

There are seventeen of them; we tested more, but only seventeen were suitable to become assassins. Yes, I am training them to become assassins.

They already posess the most important thing we were looking for: complete loyalty toward Lord Silver.

It is challenging to cultivate deep loyalty; you can have surface loyalty, but as soon as things become difficult, it tends to disappear.

These girls have proved their loyalty; even among those who stayed, these are the most loyal.

It was the first thing I looked at when I was recruiting them.

Greltheaven is a rising power, and any power needs rogues to do the job that could not be done in daylight. Greltheaven lacks adequate rogues.

The army and the police are both training their own rogues, which I oversee, but I focus most on these girls.

Many of them were not the right age or had the right physique when I chose them, but they have the fire to prove themselves.

It is why, in just three months, they were able to get into physical shape —the rogues need it, but it is not the greatest of progress. It is the mental one.

“I wish we wouldn’t need them to do something like this,” she said. I could see the pain in her eyes, but also the grim acceptance.

She watched for a few minutes before she left.

She comes every few days and watches them. A very few people are aware of this, fewer than ten. It is a secret programme; it needs to be.

These girls are going to be blades of Greltheaven, who will strike the enemies that threaten our home.

Time passed, and the spells kept coming. I could see the sweat running down their faces, their ragged breath, and their strained movements.

They have become tired, but the spells didn’t stop. They kept coming at them.

At each with different intensity; some here didn’t yet have a class, while others are over Lv. 20. Those of higher level are getting not only higher intensity, but also powerful spells.

Bam!

Suddenly, a loud sound rang out as the fireball crashed directly against the sixteen-year-old girl’s chest, sending her down.

The suit she is wearing protected her from most of the damage, but it still singed her skin and made her grit her teeth in pain.

She slowly got up and walked toward the crystal circle outside the boundary. She went there and sat down before the healing spell covered her.

Bam!

It didn’t take long before another girl was hit on the face by a lightning bolt, and she went down.

The third went by ice knife.

They would have done better if they had allowed weapons to defend against the attack, but that is a warrior’s way. Rogues never engage directly with spells, unless they have no choice.

Our greatest tool is our speed and agility. This is why our enemies fear us the most.

One by one, they fell.

The last one to fall was a seventeen-year-old girl. She is a natural and also works extremely hard. When we started, her performance was not even in the top ten, but now, she is at the top.

Ten minutes later, they gathered in front of me, all healed.

“You all did well, better than most rogue trainees,” I praised. It is not empty praise; these girls are really doing well.

“But you all are still lacking compared to trainees of legacy rogue organisations, like the one that had killed your sisters,” I added, and could see the anger and determination appearing in their eyes.

Members of organisations like Night Manor are a cut above the regular rogues.

I had fought with them countless times on the island and had been lucky to survive more than once.

I wouldn't be as good as I am right now. If not for the training I got from the rogues of Dekas and constant battles, which helped me refine my techniques.

I still lag behind the rogues from the peak organisations.

Unlike me, these girls will not have that disadvantage. They are in a city with a lot of Lv. 40+ powerhouses. A legacy, and they are members of it.

The people of a city with high-level powerhouses have slightly better classes than average.

The same goes when there is a legacy. The advantage is even bigger if the legacy is related to their classes, which it is. This is why whores of Greltheaven city and dominion had started getting better classes and skills, advancing faster.

On top of that, these girls are members of the legacy.

It got them powerful classes; their classes are more potent than mine had been at their level.

As for how this helps them, since this is not related to legacy’s classes, it is, because, unlike most legacies, the vision of Velvet Garden is expansive.

Additionally, when one has a powerful primary class, their secondary class is also closely aligned with that power.

It is why it’s harder for them to get into a secondary class, but once they do, it will be powerful.

I am interested in the classes that children under fifteen would receive. I wonder whether it would be a class of the Velvet Garden that they have been training for at least 9 months, or an assassin trainee.

I pushed those thoughts away. I do not need to think about it. There had been only three months since they had started training.

Usually, they would have gotten the class by now, but these didn’t, and I am not worried.

I should focus on training to make them the best. So, it wouldn’t matter the kind of class they would get, as they would be able to upgrade it fast, if they are good enough.

“It is why you all should work hard. Push yourself beyond your limits; only then will you be able to match them and protect your sisters.”

There was no response, other than the grim understanding.

They are young, but more mature than their peers. They have seen the world at its worst.

“Follow me,” I ordered and began to walk. Soon, I walked out of the hall, and we moved through the underground hallway. Some of the rooms here were just finished a few days ago.

He agreed to all my proposals, some of which were quite expensive.

That's quite surprising, given the sheer cost of running the dominion. I barely had any knowledge of how state finances worked.

Observing Lord Silver at work gave me quite an insight. I came to find a hundred ways, one could skim money from one project to fund another.

He is giving me everything I need, despite the city being in a financial crunch.

These facilities will be primarily used by these girls, but others, including the maidens, police, and army personnel, will also use them.

The city didn’t have enough money for each group to have its own separate facilities. Though he said he plans to make it happen one day.

Soon, we reached the white door and entered inside. It is a small hall, covered in runes.

“Take your places,” I ordered.

They removed their protective oversuit. Leaving them in only a black shirt and pants. They hung the oversuit up before moving toward the runes.

Each has a different place to sit, according to their attributes. Everyone needs to feel the same effect, but adjustments need to be made based on one’s physical condition.

They sat down, and I activated the wards. They lit up, and one could feel the hum of power from them.

For a few seconds, there was nothing, before the air grew colder, and soon it became cold enough for the unclassed to feel the chill.

This is Elemental Resistance Hall.

It is to build their mental resistance. They will need to fight under any condition, remain calm, and reason. This will help them with that.

I turned to them and saw that all of them had closed their eyes and were taking deep breaths as the temperature turned ice-cold.

They only have one thing to do: meditate in the ice-cold temperature. It’s very hard as there is no protection; the only protection they have is their mind.

Many of them already started shivering, but their teeth aren’t clattering as they used to a few weeks ago.

They are making progress, and it is faster than I had thought.

Though if one compares the other two batches. They will think that these girls are moving at a snail's pace.

Others have already started combat training; these girls didn’t. They are still on the foundation and will remain there for a few more months before I move them to combat.

Unlike the people in the other two batches, these girls have never held a weapon in their hands.

Though it is not the reason, I hadn’t started on combat training. Combat training is the easiest thing; the foundation is the hardest.

I have seen rogues who seemed powerful but got killed so easily. It is one of the reasons why the people of heritage organisations are so strong.

They have a strong foundation. I want these girls to have that.

A minute passed and another. The girls remained in their places, with white mist rising from them as they exhaled, yet they continued to meditate.

They had even stopped shivering, and now, breathing is the only movement I could see in them.

These girls may look fragile, but they are strongest in mind. There are barely any in the two batches that could be compared to them in mental fortitude.

This is their greatest strength, but it remains raw.

Which is great, because it gives me the opportunity to forge them into the weapon that will give nightmares to the enemies of Greltheaven.

As the time passed, crystals of ice began to form their bodies, but their eyes remained closed in meditation.

I observed each of them, even when we started slowly. There had been a few accidents. I could have stopped it, but I let it happen.

It was dangerous with them suffering frostbite and hypothermia, but now there is no sign of it.

They have got the hang of the meditation technique that I had taught them. It was hard, but they learned quickly; it had taken me twice as much time.

Soon, an hour passed, and the formation turned off. A few seconds later, I heard the faint cracking of ice across their bodies.

They are fine, bearing the ice without any side effects.

“You all did well, but this is the beginning; in the next session, the temperature is going to drop further,” I said, and walked out of the hall without anyone following behind.

There will be a few more months before we move to the combat training.

It will be time, other batches will enter the service. There is no time limit here. I have all the time and freedom, with only one responsibility.

To forge the best assassins for Greltheaven.