Saint Seiya Evil Skull

"Still trying, still trying." Aluberisi muttered to himself. His forehead was already covered with fine beads of sweat. These beads of sweat slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the ground, forming a small wet mark.

Hagen, standing by, looked at Albelisi, shook his head helplessly, then rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "I've told you a long time ago to learn the forging techniques. But you're either making excuses today or taking the opportunity to slack off tomorrow. Look at you now! When you encounter a problem, you're as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, at a loss as to what to do. Do you want me to find you a forging apprentice to teach you?"

Hagen's relentless scolding was like a torrential downpour, hammering down on Albelisi. Hearing this, he felt as if his heart were being gripped by an invisible hand, tightening violently. Then, the pain spread rapidly, as if an incredibly sharp dagger had pierced his heart deeply, the stinging sensation instantly spreading throughout his body.

You know, Alberich is not only the director of the forge, but also one of the highest-ranking leaders in Asgard! Even if Hagen wanted to guide him, he could have come in person. Or, even if Hagen couldn't spare the time, he could have sent a seasoned and skilled senior forger! But what about now?

Hagen actually tried to assign a greenhorn apprentice to point fingers at him. This was simply a great disgrace and a wanton trampling on his dignity and authority! How could such a thing be tolerated?

"Hagen, you..." Albelici was about to say something when he was interrupted by Hagen.

At that moment, everyone's attention was focused on Hagen. He walked slowly, with steady, powerful steps, toward the blazing forge. He bent down, stretched out his strong arms, and easily picked up the forging hammer on the ground.

Hagen first took the hammer in his hands and weighed it, feeling its weight and balance. Then, he gripped the hammer handle tightly with both hands, raised it high, and slammed it down on the incredibly hard iron on the forge. There was a crisp and loud crash, and sparks flew everywhere.

Unlike Albelisi, Hagen's movements were exceptionally skillful and rhythmic, each swing of his hammer appearing to be meticulously calculated in terms of position, force, and angle. The technique was highly technical and purposeful.

As time passed, Hagen continued to strike the cold iron. With his unwavering effort, the shapeless block of iron began to change. Gradually, the outline of a breastplate took shape.

However, Hagen didn't stop. He continued to wield the hammer intently, further refining the details of the breastplate. After several more strong blows, Hagen finally nodded with satisfaction and put down Alberich's hammer.

By this time, the breastplate was nearly complete, its form and texture perfect. Hagen straightened up, glaring provocatively at the stunned Arubelisi, and shouted, "Look at this! This is a real breastplate! Look at those things you made before—they were just a pile of scrap metal!" Hagen's words were like a rapid-fire barrage, leaving the other party no chance for rebuttal. It seemed only in this way could he vent all the grievances that had been pent up in his heart for years.

"Aha! Hagen, look at your skills now. It seems that all these years you have spent in our forge have not been in vain! As the director, I am very pleased to see you make such progress!" Albelisi, who had finally adjusted his mood, was now shamelessly praising him.

However, Hagen wasn't buying his hypocritical praise. He frowned and snorted coldly, "Hmph! If you're really that pleased, why not just let me take over the forge directorship? Don't just sit there all day doing nothing. Your disgraceful forging skills are a disgrace to our entire forge!"

Hearing Hagen's ruthless accusation, Albelisi's face instantly turned ugly, but he still pretended to be calm and defended himself, "Do you think it's easy for me to be the director? As the director, I shoulder the management burden of the entire forge. As for the forging level, it's inevitable that it's a little rough, which is understandable. However, I will redouble my efforts to improve myself in the future and will never bring shame to our forge again.

Besides, you're still young and have a lot to learn. So, the future of this forge will be yours sooner or later, don't be impatient." But inwardly, he muttered, "You little brat, just based on the arrogance you just spoke, you actually dream of becoming the director of this forge? Dream on! You'll never get that chance in your next life!"

"Hmph! Albelici, don't think I don't know what you're up to! All you do all day is promise people a bunch of empty words. Can you come up with something concrete? And you keep talking about building a breastplate, but what's your real purpose?" Hagen looked at Albelici with disdain, his eyes filled with questioning and dissatisfaction. He knew full well that Albelici had no intention of giving up his position as director of the forge, so he didn't bother beating around the bush and simply laid the matter out to the point.

Faced with Hagen's relentless questioning, Albelisi was stunned at first, but quickly regained his composure. He narrowed his eyes slightly, thought for a moment, then raised his left hand and gently stroked the area where his heart was. He spoke slowly, "As we all know, the heart has always been one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. Once the heart is severely damaged, at best, it may only result in serious injuries, but in severe cases, it may even lead to death on the spot."

My idea is to carefully craft a batch of heart shields for our Asgard warriors, giving them an extra layer of protection in the heat of battle, greatly increasing their chances of survival on the battlefield. After all, only when our warriors return safely can our Asgard grow stronger.

Hearing this, Hagen frowned slightly and pressed, "Even if that's true, why didn't you just assign someone else in the forge to take charge? With your forging skills, are you truly confident you can complete such an important task alone? Or... do you have other intentions?" Hagen stared at Albelici sharply, as if trying to see through his eyes to his true thoughts. Clearly, Hagen wasn't entirely convinced by Albelici's explanation.

Hearing Hagen's words, Alberich's fair face instantly flushed again. He couldn't help but complain inwardly, "This is so heartbreaking! Why do you keep nitpicking about my forging skills?" As he thought, he turned his head away, as if trying to hide his inner embarrassment and confusion.

"Actually, I had planned to carefully craft a few heart-protecting mirrors to test their actual effects. But who would have thought, who would have thought that such a situation would occur..." Having said this, Aluberisi suddenly paused, and the rest of the words seemed to be stuck in his throat and he couldn't say them out.

Seeing that Alubelisi seemed to be hesitant to speak, Hagen took over the conversation without hesitation and said, "Come on, why don't you just say that you failed because of your limited ability!" After saying that, he did not forget to give Alubelisi a slightly playful smile.

However, Alberich had no intention of bickering with Hagen. He took a deep breath, composed himself, and then solemnly announced, "Now that you've arrived and are fully aware of the current situation, from today on, I will officially transfer the crucial task of crafting the Heart Mirror from Asgard to your forge. Furthermore, this matter is of immense significance to our entire Asgard, so it must be treated as a top priority."

"Level by level, one for each level. The first-level God Warrior's breastplate will be personally supervised by you, Hagen. As for the breastplates required by combatants of other levels, they will be arranged in order based on the level of the forger." Albelisi said this, staring intently at Hagen, his eyes revealing a hint of majesty and expectation, fearing that Hagen would take this matter lightly.

"It's just a few breastplates, why make such a fuss? Can't we just find a few experienced first-class blacksmiths to carefully forge them? " Hagen said nonchalantly. In his opinion, if he had to personally do such a trivial matter as forging breastplates, it would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut - a waste of talent.

However, Alubelisi naturally could not directly reveal Jegufri's fatal weakness to Hagen, so he had to emphasize again the importance of strict protection of the heart.

At the same time, he repeatedly reminded Hagen that he must be extremely attentive, must use high-quality materials, and, on the premise of ensuring excellent quality, must try to avoid affecting the normal wearing of the holy clothes... In this way, Albelici kept nagging at Hagen for a long time, until Hagen began to feel very annoyed.

In the end, Hagen had no choice but to nod and agree very reluctantly. After all, he only needed to make a dozen or so heart-protecting mirrors. Even if he did it himself, it shouldn't take too much time and energy.