Test in the emerald forest. (25)

From the portal that opened at the edge of the matrix and was completely visible from the top of the fort wall, the warriors did a good job of clearing the trees from the matrix the matrix which had few trees now is basically an open field. Of course, the wood from the trees was cut and stored inside the fort and what didn't fit in the fort was used to create more obstacles around the fort.

The group that emerged from the portal was led by a bearded dwarf, he didn't look anything like a student, but considering that an institute student might be twenty he might not be that old. It's a known fact that dwarfs can grow a beard much more easily than humans, even Vonin has a simple beard that fills his entire face and they shouldn't be much older than me, but the dwarf's beard that leads that team is so big that he even braided it after seeing it Vonin's beard looks very ordinary and styleless.

"I believe that dwarf must be Sindri?"

"Yes, that is the leader of the dwarves who study at the institute. He's about to break through to the green core and they're only a few years older than you."

"The beard makes him look like he's much older than me. Is it that hard to break through to the green core?"

"Clear! Sorry, sometimes I forget you're not a nobleman of a big family, evolving to a green core is much harder than breaking through to the gray core, if it were easy most people wouldn't be stuck in the gray core their whole lives. If the warrior is unable to accumulate a large amount of aura, strengthen his core, deeply understand his aura and have great control over it, the warrior will never be able to advance."

"To various nobles or wealthy merchants who get stuck in the gray core even using higher level resources to strengthen their body, core and aura. These types of people do not understand that money can only help cultivation and not replace it, if it were so easy to increase one's power the rich would never lose their fortunes and the poor would never hope to become stronger."

"I'm surprised, Vonin. I didn't think you were a defender of the common people, aren't you a noble dwarf?"

"In the dwarves we are much more guided by the truth than by idiotic customs like humans and elves, but several beast tribes have customs similar to ours. You really mustn't have interacted much with my people or you would know that kind of thing, no matter which aria a dwarf decides to study he should always give his best because that's the only way forward, we celebrate and respect people much more. individual capabilities of a dwarf than the money he has."

"If a dwarf noble does not have the ability in the field, he has chosen to focus his life on, he is bound to lose his noble status to a dwarf commoner who defeats him in a fair duel. Sindri may be the goddess of powerful dwarves, but he only rose to be the leader among dwarves because of his leading abilities and combat power, he is able to defeat three opponents of the same stage at the same time and with the same level of equipment, he has done this several times in tournaments to prove his worth, remember this my friend, a dwarf leader is never weak or stupid."

"Why are dwarves so different from elves and human?"

"How will I know why? We are like that and you are you, each people have its own culture is not just because we live in the same kingdom that we are equal. We'd better go down, Sindri's group is already here."

I really didn't expect dwarf culture to be so different, I thought they would behave more like human nobles, but not only was I wrong, I also found that even noble elves must have slightly different values than humans. I thought their behavior was just a little different, in the end they all live in the same realm and follow the king's orders and laws.

Although I don't want to be a dwarf, I really liked some aspects of their culture, but I bet it must have downsides or it doesn't make any sense to me at all. There is no such thing as a perfect or entirely fair culture.

When descending from the wall Vonin was already instructing the students who are taking care of the gate to open it, after that it didn't take long to see Sindri and his group formed mainly of dwarfs and wild men arriving.

There is only one human in Sindri's group and she is a shadow and water element mage the rest of her team members are warriors being five dwarves with Sindri and four beastmen from two different tribes, three wolves and two leopards. I'm not surprised by the size of Sindri's team which is large but by the fact that most of them have gray cores and they look well meshed and happy, their ambush mission must have turned out well, even though they don't even have a prisoner.

"Sindri! I was afraid the damn elves had ambushed your group. Why did you take so long to get here?"

"We had some setbacks, but I'm confused as to why the fort here, I don't remember the alliance agreeing to build a fort here or having plans to bring the other students here. What's going on Vonin?"

"Well, things didn't go as they should in the ambush that Ingredi and I led, not only were we unlucky to find the team led by Caliban, the ambush plans were also completely changed, but to make up for all this mess we have a new ally. That warrior on my side is Ulric the leader of the last team the black team, wasn't that what you were looking for before? He only joined our ambush to Caliban's team, if it hadn't been for his team's help, I believe that not only would we have failed the ambush but perhaps we would have ended up hurt by Caliban, he is much stronger than normal the elf families really are investing heavily in this test."

"I'm happy to see that even after so many problems you are Ingredi, they were successful in the end, on our side it was very different."

Sindri finally turned his face and gave me a piercing look, as if he was looking for something. Only after staring at me for a few seconds in silence does, he speaks to me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ulric. I am Sindri my uncle is a friend of the master blacksmith Durin, he was the one who told us about you and said that you were a good person, and that we should help you as a gesture of friendship and at the same time screw with the elves' plans, it would be such a loss to miss an opportunity to make a new friend and screw an old bastard. These are Master Durin's exact words."

Now it makes sense, the dwarves' help really does have to do with Durin, but I'm not the focal point he must be using me to harass the elves to get revenge over some trivial and recent affair. I'm sure this 'old bastard' must be an elf or craftsman who is working for or with an elf family, he probably lost some ingredient or client to the other craftsman."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sindri. I must admit I was curious as to why the dwarves would be helping me, but I didn't expect Master Durin to be behind it, but I can't help but notice from his words that he's more interested in revenge than helping me. Do you know why he is trying to get revenge on an elven craftsman?"

Both Sindri and Vonin weren't upset by my question, they were barely able to contain their laughter as I pointed out the true motivation for Durin's request. The two must know Durin well or his personality must be very famous among the dwarves.

"Well, Uncle Durin is always looking for some rare ingredients, he has a full list of materials he wants, but as neither one of them is common and normal for other artisans and even alchemists to look for these ingredients. At the end of last month, he almost got a few kilos of red solar metal, but at the last moment the metal was bought by someone else."

"So, he must have searched like crazy who bought the metal or who created some object that used that metal?"

Barely able to contain his joy, Sindri continues to tell his story.

"That's exactly what happened, it was an elf family who bought the metal to use in the manufacture of equipment. So master Durin looked for a way to get revenge on the elf family or the elf craftsman who was wasting this rare material, these are master Durin's words, but as he sees no reason to refuse master Durin's request, my uncle instructs me. help you since we all have the same enemy as the elves."

Sindri and Vonin started laughing at the story and soon all the dwarves nearby laughed too, the rest of the students looked like there was something wrong with the dwarves, but that's only because they don't know Durin. It was, simpler than I expected to find out why Sindri, a dwarf I didn't know, wanted to help me so much.