We’re on Day 5 of Sword Crafting Week and so far we have achieved:

* Day 1: Smelter and Forge Crafted: Smelter Tier 1 and Forge Tier 0 achieved!

* Day 2: Ore gathered and smelted: Iron Ingot D-grade x 1, E-grade x 3, and F-grade x 6 achieved!

* Day 3. Anvil crafting: Anvil Tier 0 achieved!

* Day 4: First day of forging!: Iron Sword Blank F-grade achieved!

And now we’re on Day 5: Finishing! Which involves turning the plain sword blank into an actual weapon.

Val is the picture of a dedicated apprentice as they take the whetstone to the blade. In the future we’ll have a grindstone to do this with but for right now I think it’s helpful to have the most control when sharpening. Helps give you a feel for the material and the sword to be. This is totally not because when I first started out I was too poor to afford the materials to make a grindstone and ended up making twenty swords and sharpening them with a whetstone. Five days of my life spent sharpening. I still get shivers thinking about it. My arm felt like it was going to fall off after the first three. But yeah, totally not having them do this due to past trauma. Nope, nuh uh.

After a good long while spent sharpening to the point that a leaf dropped on the edge didn’t even pause or shift as it was cut going down. Now that’s a nice edge! Shame the sword won’t hold that edge well, but that’s F-grade for you. Next is the handle. Val managed to scrounge up some really nice wood for it, a piece of E-grade Old Growth Poplar. Since it’s hard enough to keep its shape well while being soft enough to absorb shocks well on top of being porous enough to soak up the glue used for the handle wrap.

Speaking of the wrap, Val is going to use some C-grade leather we made about a year ago right after the big hunt during the annual Feast of Augur, a celebration of the founding of the empire. Val isn’t amazing with a bow and I’m not super interested in killing things for sport so I’m not actually sure how they managed to kill the thing but the Grass Boar they killed had a great pelt. It wasn’t Val’s first time stripping a carcass, their father taught them well there, but I’m the one that showed him the proper way to tan the hide with what we had. Incidentally, a number of chemicals went missing from the apothecary around that time buuuut no one suspected us so all’s well that ends well. The elemental nature of the leather will also add not only to the quality of the finished piece but also might give it a weapon skill which would be a huge boon to Val’s education. I haven’t told them about item skills yet as they don’t have access to the magical materials necessary to get them, so if things pan out as I hope it’ll be a great surprise.

Typically item skills fall in one of two categories: passive or active. Passives are active all the time and give small buffs typically while actives need to be used with conscious thought and most times a keyword, phrase, or movement. I have managed to make a wand with the active skill: Fire Beam before which I got to activate at the press of a button, which ended up looking kinda like a medieval laser gun which I thought was cool as heck. Lia thought it was a lot of work for not much benefit but she never understood my aesthetics half the time. It did sell for enough to buy her a new laptop so I wouldn’t have complained.

Regardless, the skill granted by the Grass Boar Leather would most likely be a passive, my guess would be related to either stamina regen, health boost, or a similar defensive buff due to the nature element’s affinity with support magic.

For the pommel of the sword, Val found a lovely piece of E-rank Rose Quartz, which had a decent amount of enchantment affinity, meaning that post installation of the pommel, any enchantments we try to add on later will have a higher chance of success. Does Val know any enchantments as of yet? No. They uh, don’t really know any magic. I know they have affinity for a number of magical schools but the Quentin Family isn’t interested in “The pitiful affairs of weaklings too scared to fight like real men, hiding in the back lines in a dress and taking the credit for the work of the real warriors like those damn cowards in the Chartrantan Ducal House!” A translation of the ‘esteemed’ words of Robutt Quentin could be said to be “I’m an idiot that doesn’t understand party composition and if I ever run into a monster invulnerable to physical damage I will die whimpering like a lamb”. Buuut that’s just my opinion. Val’s a bit more agnostic on the whole “swords vs magic” debate and I think could make for an amazing all rounder due to the way their brain is just kinda a sponge for knowledge.

Back to the sword. When I wasn’t looking Val finished it! It doesn’t have a crossguard, I figured a simple design might be better and I think Val’s skilled enough with blades that they won’t slice their hand open the first time they swing the damn thing. Also, crossguards in the traditional European style weren’t in use for much of the world. Honestly it’s not a bad piece. Val seems to be waiting for me to say something to them, there’s an expectant, hopeful look in their eyes that I don’t want to disappoint. But let’s check the stats first.

Item Name: Boar’s Thorn

Item Description: Guardless Iron Sword

Item Ranking: D-Rank

Item Stats:

* ATK +50

* DEF +10 (30)

* DEX +10

* MATK +25

* MDEF +7

Item Skill: Boar’s Hide (Active): School of Druidic Magic. Upon use of the keyword , transmutes the user’s skin to a thick boar hide, increasing DEF bonus from 10 to 30 and granting resistance to physical damage for 60s

An apprentice’s first sword, an act of service for and from their master, the first thorn of a new rose. Blessed to defend the young from the uncaring world.

Jeezy Creezy! D-RANK?! “Holy smokes Val! You’re a natural! Look at this beauty! I know we found some good materials for the finishing touches but that alone wouldn’t be enough to raise the rank from an F-rank blank to a D-rank finished product! Did you name it?”

“Yeah I did. Um, did you see the pommel?”

“Did I see what about the pomm- oh.” My voice trailed off as I looked at the pommel of the sword, the translucent pink gem that had previously been raw has been carefully shaped into the appearance of a delicate rose just beginning to bloom. “Did. Did you do that for me?” I ask, my voice a little choked.

“Yeah! Why… do you..not like it? Should I break it? I’m sorry! I was presumptuous!” Val’s expression shifted rapidly from a look of pride to uncertainty to horror. Meanwhile I was trying to hold back tears and didn’t realize what they were about to do until it was almost too late.

"NONONONONO VAL Don’t you DARE Break that sword we spent a week making you dolt!” I shout at them as they start to bring the crystal pommel down against the anvil. Thankfully they have some amazing reflexes and muscle control, probably due to the excessive sword practice, and managed to stop the downward swing before any harm could be done.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You idiot! You do the nicest thing anyone’s done for me ever and then immediately want to take it away?”

“But. But you were crying! I didn’t want to make you cry, I wanted to make you happy!”

“I’m crying because I’m happy, dolt! Gosh! It’s really, really pretty and I’m very happy that you made it for me. This was supposed to be me surprising you with the reveal and now everything’s topsy-turvy!”

“What do you mean ‘surprise me’?” Val asks, tilting their head like a puppy.

“Here, check the item description. I think you’ll be surprised by something there.

“Wow, that's a good ATK bonus! The sword I used during practice barely hit +20! But what’s this Item Skill? I’ve never heard of one like this!”

“Wait, you know about Item skills? Aw man and here I was thinking I’d get to show you something cool!”

“It is cool! But what does it mean by ‘keyword ’? I can’t just say ‘question mark question mark question mark’ in the middle of battle can I?”

“Nonono that’s not what it means. That’s the system’s way of saying that the keyword is either not set, in the case of a crafted item, or undiscovered in the case of dropped items. What that means is that you get to come up with whatever you want it to be. You just say “Boar’s Hide Keyword Set:” and then whatever you want it to be after that.”

“Do you have any suggestions?”

“Nah, I was never very good at coming up with them. Like if the skill gave a defensive buff, I’d just set it to ‘Defend!’ or ‘Protect!’. I was actually, um, publicly ridiculed for that at one point because someone was upset that when they meant to only use one of their skills they instead activated five at the same time.”

“What did you do about it?”

“Told him to stop being a baby and suck it up. Buuut that was because I was mortally embarrassed that my oversight had led to that so we’re going to stop talking about it now, ok buddy?”

“Yeah yeah got it. Then, Boar’s Hide Keyword Set: Thorn Armor!”

“Huh.”

“What, is it no good?”

“Nah, it’s fine. Just not what I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I dunno, nothing in particular I guess. Just not that.”

“Well sorry to disappoint”

“Let’s not linger on this, it doesn’t matter that much as long as you're comfortable shouting that out loud during combat. Though at this stage you’ll most likely only be fighting monsters so probably no one will hear you besides me and, as we have established, I do not care what you shout in the heat of passion.”

“In the WHAT NOW?!” Val’s face turned beet red and their mouth started gaping like a fish.

“Pfft. Hehehehe. HAHAHAHAH. Ahhh sorry buddy, couldn’t help myself. You simply turn the most delightful shade of maroon when I tease you.”

“Well! Well! I I I! You shouldn’t! Do that!”

“I know, I’m sorry Val.”

“We should go home now, Jackson’s going to start looking for me here soon.”

“Alright then, let’s head back. Tomorrow’s sheathe day!”

“Wait there’s more?”

“What do you want to walk around with a bare sword on your back? You’re liable to cut off your butt doing that!”

“Dad walks around with Ythene unsheathed all the time though!”

“You’re going to take safety advice from that man?”

“He at least knows swords!”

“While that is fair, there is also a difference between greatswords like Ythene and the nice little jian you have there.”

“Jian?”

“Yeah, a sword without a crossguard, double-edged blade, long reach. Yeah, seems like a Jian to me.”

“I’ve never heard that word before!”

“Oh, right, it comes from a country back in my world.”

“I forget sometimes that you’re not from here. You just seem to know so much.”

“I have a little help with that, but thanks Val. I think I’d rather be from here, all things considered.”

“You don’t miss your home?”

“Not really. I miss my little sister but that’s about it. Besides her, my home kinda sucked.”

“You don’t miss your mom?”

A sharp image flashes through my mind, doubled over and retching while I feel the horrible sensation of something being wrong inside me. The first time my mother poisoned my HRT meds, before I learned how to hide them correctly.

“Not even a little bit.”

“Are all parents not worth it?”

“Mine weren’t but that’s not to say yours aren’t.”

“I wonder what my mom was like.”

“I. Um. I don’t know. I can’t even remember anyone talking about the duchess.”

“Oh she wasn’t the duchess.”

“I’m sorry?”

“In the politics class, Mr. Kent said that no one knows who my mom was. My dad just showed up with me one day after being missing for a year.”

“I. How? HOW DID I MISS THAT!?”

“I dunno. I think that was a class you always called ‘Duller than dirt put through wood chipper’ whatever a wood chipper is.”

“I. Yeah, that does sound like me. But huh, who knew our Val had such a mystery to their backstory!”

“Don’t. Don’t talk about me like that.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to- yeah sorry. But yeah, now I’m curious too.”

“About my mom?”

“Yeah! Maybe we’ll find her one day!”

“I’d like that. I’d like to get some answers.”

“Let’s set that as a goal for now, but also let’s get back. I’m looking forward to watching you eat a steak”

“Why do you like watching me eat?”

“Lets me imagine eating it myself. Not like I have a digestive tract anymore. OR physical hands. Or teeth. You understand, right Val?”

“We seriously need to figure out a way to feed you. I’m getting tired of you drooling over every baked potato.”

“Look, baked potatoes are amazing and I will not have you disparage them.”

“I wasn’t- whatever, let’s just go eat.”