I am the Demon King of the Dungeon!

The adventurers in the training grounds gathered around, all eager to witness this rare "top-level test".

Arthas picked up the rusty sword and went to the wooden stick.

The wooden stick stood upright in the center of the testing ground, less than half a person's height, with runes engraved on its surface. Ironwood is already close to the hardness of low-grade metals, and with the addition of hardening magic, an ordinary black iron adventurer would only break the blade if he swung it with all his might, let alone if he was wielding a rusty sword.

Arthas knew he couldn't solve the problem by brute force, so he didn't rush to attack. Instead, he observed the wood grain, the distribution of runes, and even the density of the ironwood's growth rings. All this information was instantly integrated into his mind.

On the back of the stick, at the seventh growth ring from the top, there is a node where the grain intersects. That is where the ironwood branches forked during its growth. The wood structure naturally contains tiny fractures. Although the hardening magic covers the entire stick, at this node where the grain intersects, the flow of magic is briefly slowed.

Its only weakness.

Arthas raised his rusty sword, the blade tracing an arc in the air before slashing lightly at the point.

"Click—"

The stick split neatly in two, the upper half flying out and rolling to Renn's feet. The cut was as smooth as if it had been planed, without a single splinter.

The rusted sword was intact.

Renn crouched down, picked up the broken stick, examined it several times, and looked up at Arthas as if he were looking at a monster. "How did you find it?"

"Just a guess," Arthas said without changing his expression.

"Guessing again?!" Renn smiled wryly.

The adventurers around whispered among themselves, some of whom had seen through the weakness, but most exclaimed in surprise.

"Ironwood hardened with a hardening spell? It broke in one strike?"

"That sword is rusty!"

"It wasn't brute force, he found the magic node... This guy has incredibly sharp eyesight!"

"How many years of practice does it take to be able to spot that at a glance?"

Among the crowd, a burly man carrying a greatsword shook his head: "I've been practicing Earth Sword for fifteen years, and I still need a while to find the key point. He only looked at it for a few seconds?"

A young mage wearing glasses next to him adjusted his glasses: "It's not a matter of eyesight. You have to find the magical nodes on the stick, which are invisible to the naked eye. He deduced it by looking at the density of the tree rings and the distribution of runes, which requires extremely strong spatial imagination and logical reasoning ability."

"Can't you just say he's amazing?"

"...Very impressive."

The old man noticed Arthas's sword-wielding posture, the angle at which he drew the sword, and the subtle rotation of his wrist when he exerted force. These were not things that could be explained by mere "guessing," but he didn't say anything more and simply took the bow and arrows off the wall.

"Come on, the second challenge."

Arthas put down his rusty sword and picked up the cracked round shield. The shield was lighter and seemed more brittle than he had imagined. Cracks spread from the center outwards, with the largest crack running through the entire shield. If he tried to block an arrow with this, he wouldn't be able to withstand even one.

The key word is "block," not "give."

Arthas stood sideways, his shield tilted slightly outwards.

"Are you ready?" The old man drew the bowstring taut.

"bring it on."

The next second, the arrow pierced through the air.

Arthas didn't take the arrow head-on. The moment it touched the shield, he flicked his wrist, and the shield slid off like a slide. The blunt arrow grazed the edge of the shield and embedded itself in the wall behind him.

The second arrow followed closely, at an even lower angle, heading straight for the largest crack in the center of the shield.

Arthas pressed down on his wrist, changing the angle of the shield. The arrow grazed the edge of the crack, bounced twice on the floor, and rolled to the corner of the wall.

The old man's expression hardened. He drew back the third arrow, taut the bowstring to its limit, and paused for a full three seconds.

Then let go.

This arrow was faster and heavier than the previous two, with a faint, sharp whistling sound as it hurtled through the air, heading straight for Arthas's face.

An ordinary person would raise their shield to block the arrow, but Arthas was no ordinary person. He lowered his shield and, just as the arrow was about to hit, accurately struck the arrowhead with the upper edge of the shield.

"clang--"

The arrow flew straight upwards before finally landing.

The shield wasn't broken; the cracks were still the same—not one more, not one wider.

Renn opened his mouth wide, unable to close it for a long time.

Oris stood at the edge of the crowd, arms crossed, her expression uneasy. Although she knew Arthas was powerful, she hadn't expected this young man to be so strong.

The incredible feat left the adventurers speechless.

What followed was...

An exclamation.

"Holy crap!! It knocked the arrow away?!"

"He used his shield to change the trajectory of a high-speed arrow? Is that even a human's reaction speed?"

"The arrow was hit by the shield, so it naturally went astray."

"You make it sound so easy, why don't you give it a try?"

"...I can't."

"Very good, the next challenge is the third one." The old man put down his bow, took out a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket, threw it on the table, and said, "Hunting the Firehound."

"Out in the wild?" Renn looked at the parchment.

The paper contained a map of the eastern part of Huishizhen, marked with several routes and a circle drawn in red pen.

"The Deadwood Forest east of Graystone Town," the old man pointed to the red circle, "a Firehound with a tail was seen wandering around there. Just bring back one of its fangs."

Ryan was taken aback: "Bring...bring your teeth back?"

"What else? Bring the whole thing back?" The old man glanced at Renn. "The teeth can prove you fought a Firehound. Don't try to fool me with just some wild dog's teeth."

He looked at Arthas and continued, "The Deadwood Forest isn't big. The Firehounds like to roam within it, hiding in tree hollows during the day and coming out to hunt at dusk."

"That simple?" Arthas remembered that there seemed to be quite a few fire-attribute monsters in the Deadwood Forest, which would be a good opportunity for him to interview the third-floor boss.

"Simple?" the old man scoffed. "You'd better think this through. You can't revive in the wild."

Arthas folded the map and put it in his pocket.

"understood."

"Come back before dark." The old man sat back down in his chair, picked up his teacup, and said, "There are more firehounds in the Deadwood Forest at night, and I don't want to send someone to retrieve you in the middle of the night."

"Won't."

Arthas turned and walked out of the training ground, with Renn and Oris following behind him. The three of them passed through the guild hall, pushed open the door, and were greeted by a burst of sunlight.

The streets of Graystone Town were bustling with people. Several adventurers who had just finished their quests were squatting on the steps dividing their loot. When they saw Raine come out, one of them raised his hand to greet her.

"Raine! Going to his death again?"

"Get lost! I'm on a mission!"

"What mission?"

"Tail-grabbing fire dog!"

"What did you say? You're going to the Deadwood Forest?" The person who greeted him froze, almost dropping the copper coin in their hand.

However, Ryan had already walked away without looking back.

The man turned to his companion and asked again, "What did he just say he wanted to catch?"

"Tail Fire Dog"

"Is he tired of living? There are some in the Deadwood Forest..."

"It's alright. The black-haired young man next to Renn just passed the first two rounds of the top-tier Black Iron test."

"Passed everything?"

"right."

The man remained silent for a moment, then casually stuffed the copper coin back into his pocket, stood up, and walked towards the guild gate.

"I need to go in and ask."

"Aren't you supposed to be splitting the money?"

"Why are you dividing the money? There's an emergency."