The Greatest Sinner

Evan had been visiting the library for two months.

He had spent the last few days reading books about blacksmithing and alchemy. He had no intention of becoming either an alchemist or a blacksmith yet, but he might well devote a lot of time to one of these fields in the future.

Alchemy and blacksmithing were some of the most important crafts in this world. Every self-respecting magician should have a basic knowledge of these areas. 

Blacksmiths made the equipment for the magicians that could greatly enhance them and even saved their lives, so everybody respected them. Every powerful clan or family had their own blacksmiths. They were provided with the best materials and conditions so that they could forge superior equipment.

The high class blacksmiths had an excellent reputation, were wealthy, had connections, and were quite influential. Many magicians dreamed of such a thing, and so they began to engage in blacksmithing. But, it was far from a simple path to money and fame but a real test of endurance, strength of mind, and fortitude.

Hundreds and even thousands of those who wanted to become high-class blacksmiths failed to fulfill their dream. There were few blacksmiths for a reason, and each of them was highly valued. The path to blacksmithing skill was thorny and often even extremely dangerous.

Blacksmiths who created "Catalysts," artifacts, and magical armor were the magicians, and therefore they often worked with unusual, rare, and dangerous materials. They didn't just glow iron and forge weapons from it but worked with hazardous poisons and acids to harden metals. They often dealt with materials that exploded in their hands at too high a temperature. That's not to mention the unique parts of the monsters that, if not processed properly, would become unusable and have to be destroyed.

Evan had learned that in "The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes," there were even blacksmith guilds. There were a large number of blacksmiths of varying skill levels working there, and most importantly, they taught it to others. You could say it was a small Academy where only blacksmithing was taught.

After reading about the blacksmiths, Evan learned about a large variety of metals, crystals, unique monster parts, and even some of the beasts and the basic hardening method. But there was no point in him delving further into this subject, at least not yet.

The situation with alchemists was similar. High-class alchemists were also few, and their work was difficult and dangerous. They used all kinds of herbs, plants, poisons, nectars, extracts, and so on to make potions and pills. Very often, they used rare insects, their chitin and various glands were the main ingredients of many medicines. And, of course, like the blacksmiths, they used monster parts.

Many young magicians wanted to become alchemists, for the same reasons, as in the case with blacksmiths. Masters of alchemy were respected and influential people. Without both them and the blacksmiths, the magicians would have lost to the monsters long ago and been killed.

Alchemists also had their own guilds, but as Evan later learned, there was only one alchemist guild in "The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes." They didn't accept just anyone, only those with incredible talent and, most importantly, a desire. No one needed a blacksmith with talent but who didn't make an effort to discover it. All that mattered was your skills and craftsmanship. 

Having talent just helps you to progress but doesn't do all the work for you.

Blacksmithing and alchemy were very complex arts, so alchemists and smiths were clearly separated by rank.

The rank of a blacksmith or alchemist depended on what stage he was at. If a blacksmith was at the "Two-Pointed Star" stage, he could be considered a blacksmith of the second rank. But before that, he had to prove his skill. If he wanted to be considered a blacksmith of the second rank, he had to forge equipment from the materials of the second rank successfully. The same situation was with alchemists. They had to create a potion or a pill of the second rank.

But, ranks were not the only measure of the skill of blacksmiths and alchemists. Two blacksmiths could be at the stage of "One-Pointed Star" and be the blacksmiths of the first rank, but their skills could be strikingly different because of their experience and talent.

To understand which of these two was better in such cases, they'd invented a system of evaluation by the number of stars.

For example, a blacksmith with less skill had the status - a blacksmith of the first rank, one star. A smith with much higher skill had a different status - a smith of the first rank, three stars. The same applied to alchemists.  Five stars were the maximum.

The ranks and the stars for blacksmiths and alchemists were assigned mostly by the authorized guilds and blacksmiths and alchemists of higher rank. But, some alchemists and smiths were closed personalities and did not like contact with anyone. They came up with their own way to prove their skill, namely to record the process of making an object on a special magic ball. If you put your hand to it and pour a little mana, then the image will appear, and everything will be clear at once.

Of course, some tried to deceive others by posing as a high-class blacksmith or alchemist, but that was a big mistake. At best, they were severely punished, and if the client was particularly impulsive, he could even kill the deceiver.

The last thing Evan had read about were books that talked about such a phenomenon as "Gust." He had already entered this state, and Draven had told him about it, but Evan wanted to know even more about it. The "Gust" was not just something unusual. It was a real weapon that elevated the magician's power to new limits for a short period of time.

During the "Gust," emotions became real power and were imbued with mana. Whether it was anger, apathy, joy, or indifference. The type of emotion didn't matter. The magician was superior to himself anyway.

Evan decided to read more about it because he thought that the "Gust" hid something unique and powerful behind it.

<Emotions become power... and the magician has no control over it, that's all understandable, but can I create such conditions for another person to enter an incredibly deep "Gust"? In that case, perhaps some extraordinary power would awaken in him, but it would be extremely difficult to verify it...>. Evan thought, putting the book aside.

If he wanted to know the answer to his question, he would have to experiment on people. Evan wasn't like the nasty bastards who could slaughter entire villages for fun. He didn't see any point in it and didn't get any pleasure out of it. Killing the weak and helpless was boring, to say the least. But, don't forget that Evan was not the main hero in a past life, but the greatest villain.

Villains were not the ones who humiliated and bullied the weak and not those who used them to boost their own egos. Such people had no right to be called villains. They were common scum who had fallen to the bottom. Darkness was the greatest force that could oppose the light, so such trash cannot call themselves villains. They were not worthy of it, their destiny was to rot from within and die like nobody.

Villains were those who pursued goals different from those who were on the light side. Of course, they were not as kind, merciful, and noble as the true heroes. But they weren't savage animals, either. They had their own opinions about the world. Naturally, it was a very fine line.

A true hero fighting on the side of the world would never use or manipulate people, much less experiment on them. 

If it was in his interest, he could easily kill someone. Evan could do it to achieve certain goals. And he had done some creepy and horrible things in his past life.

<Hmm, this is a very curious but very problematic experiment. I need to find people and a place where I won't be disturbed, preferably as far away from any populated areas as possible. I also need to think of ways to evoke different emotions. Eh.... why does it always take so many resources and conditions to conduct an interesting experiment?>

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