Training with the effigy of Rhosha went about as well as could be expected the next day. She insisted that I needed to prove my mastery of the basics with my longsword before she would teach me any more martial skills, which basically just resulted in her slapping me with the flat of her blade whenever I acted in bad form. I was covered in red spots, small cuts, and bruises when I finally emerged from the training dungeon but I was ready to go back in.

  The other thing she did was disrupt every spell I attempted to cast by sending her own mana into my ritual circles. The backlash from some of the spells breaking, especially Conflagration, was worse than the punishments for misstepping or moving inefficiently. As soon as the spell would be disrupted all of the mana I had already poured into the spell would reverse course and disperse into the air immediately around me. My calves were covered with red flesh, burned by my own rampant mana.

  It wasn’t bad though. The entire session was, as intended, very informative. I now knew better about my weaknesses and sloppy form. Well, sloppy for her. She admitted once at the end that I was ahead of others my age in terms of my understanding of the basics. However, it was clear I wasn’t up to her standards as she also only used the basics against me and trounced me with every spar.

  All of that being said, when I finally emerged from the training dungeon with the sun barely peeking over the horizon, lighting the world in reds and oranges dull and distant, I immediately made my way to the forge. It was time to work on my second sword. My second class was far too neglected at this point and I aimed to resolve that. I wanted both classes to be maxed out by the time the tournament rolled around, and I intended to make that happen. Nevermind the fact that most adults never even crossed the first threshold of power, I was not most people. Not anymore. And I wouldn’t let myself become complacent, not again.

  And so I stood at the forge having collected Luka and Sky before Eva, Rose, and Leshal departed for another dungeon. I had caught them at breakfast preparing to leave just after first light, and it was truly lucky that I got to them in time. I asked if they wanted me to join them but the conversation, as I remember it, went like this.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to join you?” I asked Eva as Sky hopped up onto my shoulder. I hadn’t seen my friends in days and felt a bit neglectful of the relationships, especially with a new member in the group.

  It was Rose who spoke up first, however. “We’re sure. We need to work on our teamwork and, as much as it sucks, your class pushes you to be a solo combatant. We will be stronger if the three of us are able to coordinate but I don’t foresee any specific formations that have you close to us at this time. Even the internal spell you displayed while fighting the rich brat was dangerous to be near, according to Leshal.”

  “Besides, didn’t you say something about working on a project? We three can handle ourselves just fine, and will be better for it when you gain more power with a new weapon.” Leshal grinned a grin with pointed teeth.

  “I mean I can still work with you-”

  “We will work you into some formations later but your combat class is nearly fully leveled right? You need to get your secondary up there too for the tournament. Don’t worry, you're still in the party but we understand you have to prioritize too. So go and prioritize.” Rose interjected firmly. She shook her head with a playful smile on her lips. “I mean, don’t you have to work hard to... How did Adrien phrase it? Woo the pretty, melodious bard you were drooling over?”

  “I don’t believe those words ever left his mouth but you've made your point. For the dames and damsels, then, I shall go and forge a new blade.” I exclaimed with a dramatic flourish causing the group to chuckle as I left for the forge.

  And so I found myself standing before a lit forge. Quickly I placed the ingot of mana steel and another ingot of zephyrim into the coals. The zephyrim was the color of the sky, a light blue metal that gleamed when polished. It took much less time than the infernal iron to heat to a working temperature, making me regret adding it at the same time as the mana steel.

  The first hour or so was spent the same way as when I had forged the other sword, now named Ignium’s Fang. It took quite a bit of time to create three plates from each metal that were each about a quarter inch thick, three inches wide and eight long. I took about half of each ingot to make the plates, resulting in enough material for another sword as well if I was lucky. I separated those half ingots into plates as well, getting it ready for the next sword since I knew I’d need it eventually.

  With that done I had to set my notebook up behind me with the finished enchantment displayed on the pages. Pouring wind mana through my channels, and then through the Flame Forger, I slammed my hammer down and started to etch the first of the runes into the first zephyrim plate. With each strike the runes started to take shape. My muscles, already aching from the training in the morning, kept me focused on my task even as I noticed people coming into the forge to repair their armor, unable to afford or unwilling to pay a certified blacksmith.

  I slammed my hammer down again and again, bouncing the three pound tool off the anvil so that I didn’t overwork my muscles despite having the stats to allow me to lift it myself every time. With each strike wind mana etched a new line on the metal and flames erupted from the head of the hammer to keep the metal workable. With each strike I grew closer to being able to use [Compendium Actualization] to streamline the process every ten or so minutes.

  It took me about twenty five minutes to etch the one hundred twenty five runes the first time. I kept having to go back to the notebook to confirm the order of the runes, not wanting to get it wrong and cause myself to restart.

  I then started the next sheet of metal, etching the runes to each one individually. On the second one I was able to start easing my burden with [Compendium] and sped the process up to eighteen minutes. Seven minutes may not seem like a large amount, but every instance of speeding up the process counted.

  The third plate took only fifteen minutes and the one after thirteen. After that it seemed to stabilize. Then I cut the bars such that I could form the desired pattern in the damascus, trying to make a pentagon form in the swirling metal that would form along the edge of the saber.

  Initially I had considered making the wind based sword into a rapier, but wound up leaning more toward a curved blade made for slashing. A saber would fit my hand better than a weapon made for thrusting. The added weight at the end of the blade would compliment the speed that the enchantment would hopefully provide, allowing me to land heavy strikes at a speed that would be difficult to defend against. At least, that was my logic. That, and I wasn’t as much of a fan of rapiers in general.

  Once the billet was crafted I flattened it back out and reasserted the enchantment, feeling the remnants of magic from the broken one as I quickly etched the runes. As opposed to Ignium’s fang, and the others that came before it, I only needed to etch the enchantment thrice for it to take hold, my intent staying true. It seemed the higher my level in [Runesmithing] grew, the better the enchantments would hold.

  Once the enchantment seemed like it would hold I began to shape the blade, still pouring wind mana into every strike and now focusing on what I wanted from [Maelstrom Modification]. I wanted it to bolster the enhancement enchantment, or at least to amplify each of the effects of the sword.

  Sweat rolled off my brow as I worked, my shirt taking embers and immediately repairing itself as the hammer rained down on the slowly shaping blade. I noticed the foxes attempting to pull me away as I sank deeper into the craft, hammering away at the sword. They took turns leaving to get water for themselves, Helga getting them some food scraps in the edges of my sphere of perception. When it was Luka’s turn Sky held the weapon down with a constant stream of air, taken from the forge such that it didn’t cool the active project before I was ready for it.

  As I sank deeper into my skills, enjoying the music of the hammer and the anvil and the gentle roar in the coals of the forge, the blade took shape. A curved one handed saber, a bit shorter than the longsword I had made before. The pattern was faint on the blade, the two different shades of blue metal glowing under the heat of the Flame Forger.

  It took until mid afternoon for the blade to be finished, for the runes to be placed and to feel the wind magic whirling around it. It took another few hours to craft the handle as I allowed the blade to be heat treated, bringing it up to temperature until [Ephemeral Forge] had it glowing a bright white, letting me know the sword was ready to be quenched. I dunked it into a tube of oil, not positive which type it was. The surface of the oil ignited from the intensity of the heat and nearly singed my eyebrows. As it was, my sleeves lit up slightly causing me to step back in a panic and bat away at it until Sky stole the air from around it, removing the fuel.

  I didn’t teach her that... where did she come up with that idea? I thought to myself as I heard the foxes amusement in my head, the other’s around the forge also chuckling at my panic.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  After recovering from my fear, my heart rate still up despite my calm exterior, I ran a simple file across the edge of the saber, nervous that it wouldn’t be hard enough. When nothing shaved off from it I grinned and set down to polish, buff and scrape away the remaining forge scale - the superheated and brittle metal that adorned the weapon.

  After making sure the weapon was polished to a mirror finish, the blue tinted metals still shimmering despite not being heated even as I pulled it from my skill into the real world. Tying a string around the tang I administered one of the final steps, save for sharpening the edge, by dipping the blade in a tube of acid that was rarely used by the other smiths but held on reserve for dwarven adventurers. Some used it to clean their blades as well, but rare was an adventurer who made damascus. The process took significantly longer even with skills and, far as most smiths knew, there was no added benefit except for a slightly sturdier blade. Considering most adventurers needed new weapons and armor as they moved up in levels to compete with stronger monsters, this was often deemed a waste of time.

  When I withdrew the blade I quickly wiped it down with a cloth, revealing the two different shades of metallic blue that made up the sword. The pattern came out a bit lopsided, one side of the pentagon a bit squished and another part elongated, but it was still a pretty weapon.

  Next, I took a relatively small amount of the dwarvish bronze-like metal, svertim, and heated it. It heated much quicker than the mana steel and once it was ready I forged it into a showy crossguard. I shaped it into a pair of s shaped pieces that would each wrap around a lumina stone, one that would more easily hold wind based mana but could still accept generic mana as well. On the front of the handle I created a guard for the hand that would connect with the pommel to wrap around the larger lumina stone.

  Once I made sure the crossguard fit snuggly, I moved on to finishing the handle and etched the same grip runes onto it that I had with my longsword. The blue wood felt like a bit much to me after seeing the blade glimmering blue, but would function all the same. Lastly, the sheath came into being. A wooden sheath was a little difficult to make for a curved sword, as I was used to making them for straight edged blades.

  I failed on the first one, wasting a bit of the expensive wood before I realized I had messed up. But I wouldn’t give up so easily. The second attempt worked much better, and I was soon left with a beautiful blue sheath polished and clean looking. It was simple looking, especially when compared with the sword itself. Everything on the blade save for the svertim was blue, in various shades. Much like the sky took on different hues depending on cloud cover and time of day.

  Part of me wanted to wait until I finished making all three of the weapons before I checked what it was capable of, but seeing it first would inform me better what changes I needed to make to finish the project. So with some small amount of nerves I cast [Arcane Analysis], hopeful that all of the effects I intended to see would show up.

  Unnamed Saber

  A sword crafted within a Maelstrom Forge by Alexilios, the Hero of Linden

  Gales Genius: With each successful attack, counter, and parry the wind will bolster its wielder evermore. (consumes a small amount of mana with each iteration of the gift of wind)

  Cyclone’s Avidity: The wind follows the user’s mana and enhances it.

  Whirlwind Blade: Feed the sword mana and wind will form on both sides of the blade, eviscerating most things it comes into contact with.

  Each effect that I had wanted had come to fruition. It made me wonder if [Maelstrom Modification] had taken my desires of bolstering the enchantments into consideration and had done so, or if there were some hidden caveat. I wouldn’t truly know unless I made another blade without trying to influence the ability.

  Either way, the blade seemed to turn out as intended but I felt it was a bit lackluster compared to Igniums Fang, if only because the aura skill was so powerful. Frowning to myself I withdrew all the items from my [Ephemeral Forge] allowing them to seep back into their subspace and ignored the folk looking over at my new weapon.

  What I had expected to look cool with all the different shades of blue looked almost monochrome instead. The abilities it wielded were what I had wanted but... It felt like each of the abilities were lackluster compared to the aura and shroud of my flaming longsword. If anything, I wished that Gales Genius would be a more potent enchantment. Perhaps it was and I wasn’t giving it the right attention. It almost felt like adding the third major effect of Whirlwind Blade took too much away from the amplification and enhancement effects.

  With that in mind I entered the guild hall covered in embers and soot, grease on my hands and on the foxes fur. Immediately upon seeing me my companions rose from where they were seated, Rose and Eva did at least while Leshal simply gave me an amused once over.

  “To the baths? Your treat right?” Rose called out, causing several adventurers to quiet their conversations as I walked toward them.

  “It’s probably needed but let me drop off this sword first.” I called back and headed up the stairs.

  To my surprise, Leshal joined us to the baths. As per usual, Rose and Eva led the way to the bathhouse and took the foxes with them along with the brush I had purchased before. Leshal and I made our way into the male side of the bathhouse and sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before the lizardman spoke up.

  “They speak highly of your skills, you know. Said you somehow knew all the best routes in that first dungeon you went to with them. The spider one.” He started slowly, his eyes blinking slowly. “I wasn’t sure about you. Still am not. I look forward to seeing more than what you showed during our fight.”

  I laughed softly, a bit embarrassed. “I see. I look forward to working with you too. But I do have one question.” I paused dramatically, taking a few seconds to wash the grease from my body. “What kind of food do you like?”

  He stared at me dumbfounded for several moments before answering. “Skewers of Harfilent meat with spicy raspberry sauce. That is not the question I expected.”

  “I assumed you wouldn’t. I was considering requisitioning the kitchen to make something different. I grow tired of stew and potatoes at every supper.” I sighed lamenting our meal choices.

  Over the next half hour or so our conversation devolved from him telling me he wasn’t convinced about me, to us bonding over various foods. I described some dishes I grew up with as a kid, not as a kid in Ravos but on Earth, and he described some which his tribe tended to make. It turned out he came from a tribe of other Lizardfolk that called themselves the Quazit.

  Feeling refreshed, we returned to the guild with me stopping to buy food for myself and the foxes. We were starving and dinner wasn’t for a while longer, and so we made some stops. I also had Eva show me to some reputable spice salesmen and purchased several jars of spices with the funds she gave me from selling the materials in the spider dungeon. The herbs and spices were fairly expensive, costing me over six gold for a few dozen different ones, but to me it was worth it.

  Once we got back to the guild I sat and chatted with them while remaking the enchantment for my sword. I removed the whirlwind blade portion to instead add more to the Cyclone’s Avidity and Gale’s Genius ones. With them becoming more robust I had high hopes that the next attempt would be much more powerful feeling.

  After our conversation at the baths Leshal didn’t seem so concerned about me, at least we got along. We chatted over the meal even with me distracting myself and I learned that the three of them had gone into the same spider dungeon the day before, but didn’t make it all the way through as they had gotten lost in the various tunnels on the first floor. They hadn’t even found a boss chamber, which led to a conversation in which Eva asked how I led them all the way to the bottom floor without getting turned around a single time.

  I just gave what I thought was a mysterious smile before deflecting the conversation.

  After a while we split ways and I went to my room to finish my newest creation. I stayed up fairly late to complete the new version of the enchantment, worried that it wouldn’t satisfy me. That the creation of Igniums fang had skewed my perception on my next few creations.

  The next day was much the same. I woke up, got breakfast, trained with the effigy of Rhosha and went to the forge. I spent the day there, but this time didn’t get as lost in the flow of creating. This sword wound up worse than the one prior, while retaining the same enchantments. The pattern I etched into it was more squished than before, the crossguard wasn’t nearly as smooth, and the entire blade just seemed... lackluster.

  I was discouraged. It felt as though I had lost my touch in a way. Or maybe that I didn’t have quite the passion I needed anymore. The sword would still function, and it would function well, but it didn’t feel like it fit my hand as well as I had hoped.

  And so a third day came, and a new sword was made. This time, I had been drawn into the crafting. This time the pattern came out as I wanted it to with small pentagons running up and down on the blade, almost perfectly shaped. There were deviations on the pentagons edges, of course, but they were difficult to notice to the average person. The crossguard came out fairly beautifully as well, much in contrast to the weapon prior.

  Another major difference was, due to using up more of the azure sycamore than intended on the first weapon, in the sheath and handle. I had used a mixture of the entoak from before and the azure sycamore for both sheath and handle. I even went so far as to add some scrap pieces of svertim for even more contrast, wanting the weapon to not feel so monochrome.

  With bated breath I pushed mana into my eyes and felt the magic flow through them. An influx of information pushed its way into my mind. A smile started to form on my lips as I read over the details. It was very similar to the first weapon but it felt like it was... more. More powerful, more specific. Just more.

  Eager to show my new instructor, I ate, went up to my room, and promptly fell asleep exhausted. No dreams nor nightmares, sleep took me into her embrace peacefully and the next morn, rested and ready, I entered the training dungeon.