Free Web NovelChapter 14: Let’s Forge a Sword
Mr. Monday stared at the broken halves of the Whispersteel sword lying on his counter. He opened his mouth to speak but lacked words to do so.
Likely, Tony was also dumbstruck after seeing what had just happened.
’Kratos just wielded a 30kg sword like it’s nothing?’
When Monday had summoned the swords from the rack, the weights hovered above them. Several of the swords were of the normal weight range Tony was familiar with, that is, 1.2kg – 8kg, however, Kratos’s interest was suddenly captured by the longsword, which can only be wielded by legendary beings in a fantasy world.
Well... Kratos is a legendary being, so what was he expecting of him?
But the most shocking of it all was that he recognized the material that was used to make the sword. A sword that was matte black and seemed to absorb the light that came across it.
’What is the name again?’ he reasoned.
The name he thought about didn’t come to mind immediately, but then, if Kratos’ sword was able to shatter the longsword, just what kind of material is his sword made of?
However, the culprit of the moment didn’t seem to care about what had just happened. Mr. Monday didn’t have to say it, and Kratos had confirmed that the sword was the best in this arsenal. Which meant that...
"Do you have any idea how much that sword cost?" Monday finally dismissed the silence with a raging voice, his plastered smile struggling to hold still on his face.
Kratos looked away from the inner section he had been gazing at and waved his hand dismissively.
"It survived exactly one strike. Actually, it didn’t even survive the strike in the first place. I’d say the sword itself answered that question."
In all honesty, Tony knew that the sword would be held of immense value by another player who came across it. His mind still seemed a little foggy, but he knew that the sword was made from something that was legendary in its form.
Monday too, still didn’t believe his eyes. He bore similar thoughts as Tony. If Kratos’ sword was able to break his best art in two, then where was it forged?
That didn’t mean he was letting the silver-white-haired boy off the hook. That was his masterpiece; he just treated it like it was some stick abandoned to be matched upon on the street.
He opened his mouth to speak again, but Kratos cut him off right in time.
"Besides, old man, you have a forge here, don’t you? How about this? I make a sword to replace that shit over there, and we are even," Kratos said, a smile plastering on his face.
The man looked at him, understanding where the little boy was going with his words, but as someone who was into business, that was cheating.
"I see you get it now," Kratos continued. "It just means that I will forge more than one sword right now with your sword..."
He raised his sword.
"Or don’t you want a similar quality? You will probably be able to sell it off to rich guys for three times the price of that fake sword. If you are not in for the deal, then we are leaving. Thank you."
Kratos sheathed his sword and replaced it behind his back in its usual diagonal position and turned to Tony, who stood static all this while watching the scene before him unfold.
However, they didn’t have to take an inch before Mr. Monday’s voice came, lowly and clearly defeated.
"Fine. Have it your way."
Kratos froze in the step he was about to make, his eyes widening as a wider smile spread across his chin. Then, he blinked his left eye twice at Tony.
"I guess I’ve worked for it now, no?"
Not waiting for an answer, he pivoted and rushed to the inner section of the arsenal shop, where he had seen two specific materials he had been eyeing since he stepped foot in this shop.
Tony watched in realization. After his discussion with Kratos and the blinks of an eye just now, he now understood the reason behind all the acts this swordsman before him had been putting up.
He pulled out his phone, logged in to his bank app, and stared at the figures staring back at him.
’25,000 Credits,’ he exhaled softly. ’I’m glad he pulled that off smartly. That Whispersteel would probably cost at least hundreds of thousands of credits.’
Now, Tony didn’t even wish to know the price of the sword.
"Come on, little brother, let’s go forge you a sword," Kratos’ voice called him out of his daze.
In the latter’s hand, he pushed a cartwheel that carried two stone-like materials of different colors and forms and was headed to the backdoor of the arsenal shop.
One of them was dark silvery-grey, exuding an oil-on-water sheen of matte black, while the second rock was pale silvery-white, clean, and almost looked alien.
Adamantine.
Tony suddenly remembered what that shattered sword was made of... but the second rock, he couldn’t get a grasp of what it would be called.
’Kratos should definitely know,’ he mused and joined Kratos, Mr. Monday trailing the steps behind them.
***
Elarion was blatantly known as the Tower World — floor one of the Tower itself. It was divided into four distinct city layers.
Three of those cities were ruled by the leaders of the three great Guilds, with the city named after the guilds. There were the Vermillion City, the White City, and the Monarch City. However, the fourth was called the City of Commoners.
Commoners was a name used to refer to those without the privilege of ecstasy or a bloodline strong enough to awaken as Players.
For years, only Sandra had proven that a Commoner could break that wall. Now, after grinding his way through hell, Tony had done it too. He, together with Sandra, stood among the Players and is now residing in the Monarch city.
And right at the center of these four cities lay a massive training ground, which also used to be the awakening ground. It had been abandoned since the organized establishment of these Guilds, plus these guilds also took turns to host the awakening of players each year.
Right now though, Tony was currently sweating profusely in the middle of the massive training ground, while Kratos was busy and comfortably scrolling through a smartphone.
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine... one thousand," Tony drew his last breath as he swung the last count, the tip of the sword in his grip falling to sink into the stone ground beneath his feet.
Good enough, the sword now served as support, preventing Tony from completely falling to the ground.
The method Kratos had used to teach him was anything but shocking. He had thought all he needed to do was just learn how to wield a sword since he had sword skills in his grasp.
But Kratos had made him perfect his walking steps, then hammer some stances into his being, and now came the swinging of the sword in impossible counts.
It was beneficial at last, but it turned out to be so grueling... and Kratos still didn’t seem to care.
Tony, on the other hand, now sluggishly turned his gaze to the blade that was serving as his support frame. Thoughts began running through his mind at the same time.
When Kratos told him the name of the second rock he had wanted to use to forge a sword, Tony had literally thought it was impossible to forge a sword with the two different kinds of repelling rocks.
The first one, he knew, was Adamantine. It possesses absurd durability, excellent mana conductivity, and ridiculous resistance against elemental corrosion.
On the other hand, the second one, which he later found out from Kratos, was called a "Meteorite," and he immediately remembered its theoretical properties. It carried void-cold memory, starlight resonance, and an edge that never dulled because it had already cut through the vacuum of space.
The reason his sword still seemed to be an impossible feat that was made possible was that these two rocks had properties that hated each other.
Adamantine was weight, order, permanence. Meteorite was weightless, chaotic, and always had a physical-like memory of falling. Put them together and they’d repel like magnets until the forge cracked or the smith’s bones did.
Tony remembered how Kratos had done it.
"Adamantine. A god-metal sword," Kratos had said, setting the matte slab on a crucible anvil black.
Then he thrust it into the godfire of Mr. Monday’s forge. The flames turned clear, then vanished. Adamantine was a metal that absorbed light instead of glowing in it.
Then, Kratos had taken it out of the heat and struck it nine times into nine folds, before he set it aside.
"Star-metal," Kratos took out the meteorite that had remained in the heat and lifted it into the air to let the heat on it recede until silver veins began branching on it like constellations.
The rest was process. Ranging from layering to shaping, it didn’t take much longer before the sword in his grip was forged.
’He’s not just a legendary swordsman, is he?’
Tony could swear that even with his level of engineering skills back on earth, this idea won’t ever cross his mind.
"Alright, little brother. No resting. We need to round up before the night smiles on us," Kratos said, slipping his phone into the pocket of his cloak and getting down from the standing log he had been sitting on.
"You were eager to learn to wield a sword. Since you claim to have the skill as a cheat already, I guess it’s time to learn how to fuse your mana with that masterpiece in your hand."
Kratos winked and began to approach the weakened Tony.
