Taking a bath at the end of a long day felt absolutely wonderful. Especially so with the knowledge of what I was going to try tomorrow. It was high time I tried making a full blown sword with the rare metals in the smithy. All the things I had made with them so far—the daggers, knives and small, sharp implements—had turned out well.
Just today, I had managed to successful incorporate a few of my better mana circuits into a long hunting knife made of a fusion of several metals. It was high time I made something that broke the current boundaries of my talent.
After spending all of the morning smithing (As well as a good chunk of the afternoon), I studied in the library. Unfortunately, it had been a while since I had come across any new information. The library here was simply too far removed from the center of things, and as such, had little knowledge about the world as a whole.
There was plenty about local things, like this kingdom’s history, or what sort of monsters tended to pop-up. It simply didn’t have the things I needed.
Anyway, like I was saying. The baths here at the palace are definitely first rate. Even after a day full of work, I felt relaxed and invigorated while soaking in its steamy water. Not only that, but the soaps they kept here allowed me to take good care of my skin and hair. While it was true that I didn’t particularly care how I looked, I still wanted to take good care of myself.
Besides, some others seemed to care a great deal about my looks. I could certainly use that fact to my advantage, and already have a few times.
If there was one bad thing I could say about the baths, it was that they weren’t private. And, unfortunately, that meant that while I was taking a long bath, there would inevitably be…
“Ah! Kai, there you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Say, is it true that you met the royal family during the ball, and got hit on by the future Duke of Gibraltar?”
I sank down into the soapy water, wanting to avoid the troublesome person who had just showed up after somehow finding out what had happened during the ball.
When I surfaced, Bea had thankfully gone—or so I hoped with all my heart.
It wasn’t to be though, since she rounded the corner a scant second later, completely naked. She didn’t hesitate to jump into the bath water, and make her way over to where I was with a pouty face.
“Hey, don’t just ignore me—especially after I went to such great lengths to find out what exactly you didn’t want me to hear about the ball.”
“Ugh. Fine. What do you want with me?”
“Not much, I just wanted to hear a detailed and in-depth recounting of what happened during the ball, from your own perspective.”
“I went, got annoyed, and left.”
“Oh, come on—tell me more! I know what had happened, but what did —you— think of the events?”
“Annoying. Go away.”
Bea adopted a face like I had shot her, and moved closer to me in the bath.
“If you won’t tells me, then I’m afraid I might have to use more…forceful means to get you to talk.”
“Hey, what are you doing? Wait, no, don’t do that! No—get away from me!!!”
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Needless to say, Bea managed to get me to spill some of the details she hadn’t heard before, at the cost of my pride and dignity. What exactly she did, I’ll leave to the imagination.
Later, I had managed to drag myself out of the bath, and flee back to my room. Meditation helped me to relax again, though I resolved to keep my guard up around Bea from now on.
Like this, the night quickly passed.
And, like yesterday, I rose at the crack of dawn. Bea however, wasn’t in front of my door like she so often was. I wasn’t concerned by this, since the very same thing had happened a few times before, when she had other things to do. Besides, I wasn’t ready to forgive her for yesterday’s bath incident.
Today was the day, no?
In fact, it was slightly lucky that Bea wasn’t going to be coming with me, since I would be making something capable of very, very dangerous things. It was time I made use of the rare metals in the smithy to make something spectacular.
I already had plans drafted for how the sword would turn out. Since I prefer longer, single-edged swords, I would make another nodachi. It would be slightly scaled down in order to compensate for my short build, and had several circuits imbued into it that will be helpful to me.
As for the metals I would use, I had found that a combination of Manachalite, Boresteel, and Coralium worked exceedingly well together. I would compliment the nodachi with a wakizashi forged with a Tunnel-iron core, and Manachalite sides.
As soon as I got to the forge, I pulled aside all the materials I would need, setting them up near the anvil and hammer I had gotten used to using here. Unfortunately, my normal equipment, like my hammer, tongs, grips and such, were left behind when the summit started. Doubtless, they’re still in the room I had been given as a teacher at the academy.
Now then, first things first.
I decided to start with the wakizashi, since there would be less waste material should I fail part-way through. However, the wakizashi was far more difficult in terms of the technique and power required. Essentially, Tunnel-iron was a mana repulsing material, while Manachalite was a mana attractor. While fooling around a bit, I found out that there is a way to fuse the two metals together, by temporarily neutralizing the repulsive properties of Tunnel-iron. The only way to do that, was to apply heat to the Tunnel-iron, and fuse the Manachalite to it while it was in that heated state.
The difficult part of this was that I had to maintain a temperature capable of nullifying the Tunnel-iron, while keeping a barrier intact so that the rocks under my feet didn’t melt into pure magma. I also had to keep three more barriers active, ones that would hold the metals in a sword shape, while still letting heat in.
All in all, to fuse these two metals together required intense levels of concentration and power.
Never-the-less, it was possible for me.
I quickly shaped the metals slabs into near identical bars about the right length for a wakizashi. When the three bars were as close to perfect as I could bring them, I placed the first three barriers around them, leaving them somewhat separate, but perfectly aligned. The Tunnel-iron in the center was thicker than the two bars of Manachalite—however, I had taken care that there was a near equal amount of the two metals.
Balance was important for this.
Then, I placed the fourth barrier down, the one that would protect the palace from the heat I was about to introduce.
“I summon upon the flames that would end this world—Muspelhiem.” I chanted.
While I had shortened the original chant significantly, I only wanted the fire to be powerful enough to null the metal, not to burn straight through my barrier, and cause everything around me to turn to plasma.
Immediately after applying a bit of mana to the spell, the inside of the barrier started glowing a brilliant white color. I switched over to my other sight, so that I could perceive the inside of this miniature sun. I also began pouring more and more mana into the spell and the barriers, brings things up a notch.
Slowly, I could see that the mana inside the barrier was no longer being rejected by the tunnel-iron, and instead was flowing through it like normal.
Judging this to be the best time, I forcefully brought the three bars of metal together, with the Manachalite sandwiching the Tunnel-iron. In their current molten state, it was easy to weld them together, leaving two parts inside the blade that would be both Tunnel-iron and Manachalite.
With the weld looking successful, I deactivated my fire spell, and the glowing mass of white faded, leaving a super-bright node of pure white metal. I left it in the air to cool off slowly, with all the barriers still intact. If I subjected the metals to too much of a temperature change right now, they would either snap, or deform.
Instead, I began work on the nodachi.
It was much easier to create it, since it wasn’t going to have a Tunnel-iron in it. Instead, I selected the three metals for it due to the fact that they mutually supported each other. As I mentioned, Manachalite draws in mana exceedingly well, so I decided to place it on the outer sides of the nodachi, just like with the wakizashi. Boresteel would be used as the edge, due to it’s innate strength and rigidity. I had found out that it made the finest cutting edge, due to another frightening quality it had. It naturally formed miniscule tubes and wires in it, making the already frightfully strong and sharp metal even stronger, and keener.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Back on Earth, I remember people finding out that some swords had been forged in such a way that these nanotubes and wires formed, making legendary Damascus Steel blades.
Boresteel was like this, but hundreds of times better. It’s a little frightening what a world with mana can form completely naturally.
Lastly, Coralium would be used to create the core, and the heart of the blade. Coralium’s like a sponge with mana, and has a few other useful features in it. For one, since it has such a good affinity with mana, and holds it so readily, it acts superbly well as a circuit board. It’s also nigh on indestructible, so there’s that.
It was much easier this time, to bring these metals up to a temperature that would allow them to weld together. After I confirmed that they had bonded fast to each other, I carefully hammered it into a better shape, while threading mana circuits through the whole thing.
Like I had surmised with my test blades, the mana circuits I was able to incorporate into this nodachi were a level or two above the ones I had done previously. When using the rare metals to craft daggers and knives, I could put one, maybe two serious mana circuits into the blades. I could do more with a full sized blade.
After I got the blade close to my ideal, I dunked it into a nearby quench tank. Steam filled the shop, and I could nearly feel the blade becoming sharper, stronger. When I pulled it out, the blade had adopted a subtitle curve, one that would be further accented during the tempering process.
I put the traditional clay along the edge of the blade, and placed it into an oven to bake for a few hours. 'Strength is nothing without flexibility’, as some one once said to me. This would make it so that the blade wouldn’t snap due to rigidity.
While the nodachi was undergoing the tempering process, I dismissed the barriers around the wakizashi, and shaped it as well, hammering a rudimentary edge into it, and correcting any of the minor warping that had occurred when it had so rapidly cooled. I also added a few mana circuits to it, carefully threading them into the Manachalite on the sides of the Tunnel-iron.
Then, I also quenched it before slotting it into a smaller oven in the same process that I had used for the nodachi, which had now been in it’s oven for a few hours. I pulled it out of the oven, and quenched it once more.
And, even though I had just dunked it in an oil bath, the blade was still hot enough to be malleable, so the was the best time to bend out those last few kinks that had happened along the way. Sharpening started after I had cleaned the blade. Because this blade had now become so strong, I had to use a special whetstone to sharpen it, otherwise the stone would be slowly rubbed away by the metal.
The constant rasp of metal filled the smithy.
Luckily, there was no one else here for today, else I might have drawn some undue attention with my smithing.
Another few hours passed, and I began the whole process with the wakizaki this time. Oddly enough, the nodachi had taken on a dull white sheen, like bleached bone, or paper. The wakizashi, however, had turned a dark and turbid black, with faint swirling patterns along its sides.
As soon as the sharpening process was done, the blades were basically finished. I would only need to make the hilts, handles, and sheaths for them. In their current forms though, they were fairly functional.
So, I was able to determine what sort of quality they had become. I nearly fainted after realizing what, exactly, I had just created.
As a result, I made the blade’s fixings in a sort of fugue state, completely guided by instinct.
And, as a result, the two blades gained utterly plain looking handles and sheaths in dull white and black. I had cast the guards a while ago, and only needed to make a few adjustments to get them to fit the blades.
In the end, I gained something as soon as I placed the finishing touch on the blades. I heard a soft ding, and a system notification popped up. Really, why shouldn't this happen now?
New Title Gained: Title: {The Timeless Smith} Unlocked
The holder of this title will have their smithing ability raised significantly, and will be more powerful when wielding a weapon of their own creation
As for the blades themselves;
Sunlight’s Glare
A Nodachi crafted by Katariah Silver
Properties: Karmic Edge Titanic Resiliency Mana Eater Kinetic Drive Amplification This blade has broken past national treasure levels, and is purely meant for combat. One half of an intended set.
Moonlight's Gaze
A Wakizashi crafted by Katariah Silver
Properties: Mana Nullification Titantic Resiliency Swift End This blade has broken past national treasure levels, and is purely meant for combat. One half of an intended set.
Well, it looks like they came out well. Though, I may have overdone it a little with their abilities.
Karmic Edge will allow you to cut anything you wish to cut, provided to supply enough mana. Titanic Resiliency makes the blades durable beyond any belief. Mana Eater makes the Nodachi a massive battery which almost always sucks in ambient mana while unsheathed. Amplification obviously amplifies any spell that I put through the blade. Duh.
For the Wakizashi, mana nullification lets me cut through magic armor, barriers, and spells with ease—A direct result of using Tunnel-iron in the blade.
However, Swift End is scarier by far. When I stab someone with this blade, it ends up being used as a conduit of sorts, venting their mana from their mana pool. If the blade is left in long enough, or I hit the target a few times, they run out of mana. And die.
That’s not the scariest ability these blades have though. Not even close.
That particular honor goes to the Nodachi’s Kinetic Drive circuit.
Do you remember how I nearly set off the nukes kept under the palace, through a blade with a failed mana circuit?
Yeah, that was a failed Kinetic Drive circuit.
Basically, as long as the blade has power, it will move forward. I had some trouble making it so that the blade wasn’t limited to straight lines, though.
Basically, with this ability, I could be swinging the blade extremely slowly, and it would cut a boulder-sized chunk of steel in two.
Along with Karmic Edge, this circuit makes the blade literally unstoppable.
I think I’m a little scared of myself at the moment, actually.
Oh well.
At least I have some new weapons, right?
I decided to go back to my room to put the blades away, and get to dinner. Forging them had taken longer than I had expected.
Rather, that’s what I had been intending to do, until I ran into Bea.
And, she had unwelcome company.
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Author's Note:
Sorry for the wait!
So, this arc is quickly coming to a close, now that Kai has done all she can in this country.
The next one will bring back the Continents, in quite a convenient way.
In other news, I was somehow persuaded into writing a book. (I still have no idea how, but it left me feeling fired up.)
As a result, the second series for RR has been put on the back-burner. Don't worry, this series still takes priority. I promise to get at least three chapters a weeks out—though there might be more than that in actuality.
Lastly, how would you guys feel about voluntary donations? I'm still not sure if this story is at the level where I can feel proud about getting donations from it. (However, I am also now a college student, and find that money for snacks and other things can be very, very good.)