Before the man could answer, the ground around them rose up, trapping him within it and freeing Ben from his grasp as he turned to his lovely girlfriend who had only just noticed what was going on.

“Ah, Thera, it’s okay! That was my fault, he’s fine!”

She didn’t look like she fully believed it as she walked over, done with the now very scared-looking official who’d just seen her casually use her power before freeing the man from the stone that trapped him.

“Ben, you really can’t just be making enemies constantly. You know that, right?”

“Hey now, I barely have anyone I’d call an enemy.”

“Sure, but two of them are in some pretty high places,” She sighed before pointedly glancing to the sky which Ben returned with a smile.

“Okay, well I haven’t made more. Thera, meet Mister get to the point, I’d just given him an offer to try and repair his sword.”

“And I must remind you that you're supposed to be on vacation.”

He could see in her eyes that his girlfriend was at least semi-serious, leaving him with a single option. Begging.

“Please please please,” He asked, getting on his knees as the swordsman looked on. “This is probably the coolest sword I’ve ever seen and I’ll never get to work on something like this ever again if I give up this chance now. I’m so well rested and my mental state couldn’t be better and there’s still a week after this for relaxing too so I’ll be fine.”

“Huu, fine, but I’m trusting you to properly judge yourself here Ben. If you work yourself to exhaustion then I’m going to be hearing about it from Anailia.”

“What? Why?”

“Because she asked me to specifically make sure you don’t do that when this was all being planned, Mister resource.”

“Got it, I’m too useful to work myself to an early grave. Don’t worry, I’ll be good.”

“Ahem, do I get any say in this?” The swordsman finally spoke up, having the sense to wait for a break in the conversation after Thera had so easily handled him, even if the question left her looking at the man like he was an idiot.

“What, are you really going to turn down the offer of a master craftsman with a sword that looks like that?”

“Well-”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” She told him, steamrolling over anything he might say. “You will be participating in the next wave, correct?”

“Of course!”

“So you intend to fight in a battle where the lives of yourself, the people you’re fighting with, and the entire world are at stake using a sword like that? Something that even a complete amateur could see is in a terrible state?”

“Uh-”

“Of course not, that would obviously be idiotic. So rather than fight against the obvious outcome here, just give in and let Ben help you out.”

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Ben for his part tried to keep from grinning as his girlfriend took complete control of the situation, ending with the swordsman unable to argue, especially in the face of that last point. Whatever his history with that sword may have been, it was making him worse compared to how he could have fought if wielding something proper, no matter how unique the effect it held was. Given that in only a few months, his life and the lives of the people fighting by his side would depend on him being at his peak, how could he possibly turn down the offer of help, even if he thought that any chances of success were going to be slim?

“...If you’re going to freely offer your services then I’ll gladly accept,” The man gave in and was rewarded with the sight of Ben’s eyes lighting up.

“Excellent! In that case, mister employee-guy!” Ben called out to the coliseum official Thera had just been talking to who was still rooted in place as he waited to see if whatever was happening with them all was going to need him to call the guards. “Is there any chance we’d be allowed to use this space for a few hours?”

“Ahem, the area is currently open to the contestants to practice if they so choose so as long as Vela is with you…”

“Don’t worry, Mister get to the point will be here the whole time and it will just be for a couple of hours as I test things!”

“Please, just call me Vela,” The swordsman said, already regretting not having given Ben his name in the first place when it seemed he was happy to be petty about it.

“Can do then. Good to meet you Vela, I’m Ben and this is Thera. For now, just give me a second to get set up.”

With those words, Ben stole some of Thera’s mana and began the thing he did best, materializing both a hammer and an anvil to work with and holding out his hand for the sword as the warrior wielding it starred at the display of power in a shocked daze, only giving it up as Ben wagged his fingers at him.

The moment Ben got the blade, he took a minute to examine it, staring at every nick and scratch as he memorized its imperfect shape and came to a conclusion. Despite the skill that had to have gone into making it, it was far from a beautiful piece, but he could change that, and with that motivation at the front of his thoughts he placed it on the anvil and took his hammer to it to make that a reality.

Due to the nature of the blade, changing it was always going to be near impossible but Ben still tried his best. For two straight hours he delivered blows, one after another, with each strike being filled with mana as well from him treating his hammer like a mage would a staff.

Every swing was to beat the horrendous combination that was magic nullification on orichalcum, and in the end what all of that work was rewarded with was essentially nothing. In the eyes of Thera and Vela, it looked like that work had gone nowhere, though Ben’s eyes told him something different. A tiny, dime-sized section of the blade he’d spent too much time working on had been bent back into place and the warp that twisted the entire blade had ever-so-slightly improved, even if it was barely perceptible to even himself. It had taken constant work and thousands of points of mana to get it there, but it told him it was possible.

But doing this by myself will take months, which means I’ll need to do something else to bring it together. Good thing I already have some ideas.

“Alright, this was a good bit of testing! I am now officially certain I’ll be able to get this fixed for you so Vela, regardless of whether you win or lose tomorrow, meet us here again. I’ll have it fixed before you know it.”

“That seems unlikely.”

“Excuse you, are you questioning a master craftsman to his face? First off, if you think that I didn’t improve anything during all of that then you need to pay closer attention to your sword, but second, you just saw what I could do without the right tools for the job. When you come with me tomorrow then I’ll have them.”

“Come with you?”

“A proper location to work is a tool in and of itself. Now no arguing and go get some rest. I don’t want me keeping you to make you lose tomorrow.”

Giving him a shoving motion, Vela went to do as he was told, leaving Ben and Thera alone to start making their way out to the rest of warriors tower.

“So you’re doing more tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, sorry, but after this I won’t do any more work during vacation, promise.”

“Alright, but I’m holding you to that. So do we need to get you these special tools or are you making them?”

“Ah, so technically we’ll be asking them a favour. Just watch, I’m pretty sure you’ll be getting a kick out of at least half of it.”