The class continued as the instructor wanted another slaughter to occur. Unfortunately for him no one was willing to accomodate his wish. Everyone was relaxed as it was the final lesson and no one wanted to exert themselves so close to their exams in case it would impact the results. Adrian and Trozes being the exception due to their fued, Scrya going along with the injured Trozes and Mark and Damian being too weak.
Class ended peacefully to the disappointment of the instructor, with the greatest injuries being shallow cuts and light bruises.
"Ouch." said Andrei flatly, rubbing a bruise on his forearm. He had recieved it after holding back, trying to leave his opponent, female, uninjured.
"So what did you find in their room?" asked Emilia innocently. The boys just looked at each other. Neither wanted to be the one to be the first talk, drawing their attention. The girls stared at Andrei, knowing he was the weaker link of the two.
Unable to withstand the inquisition any longer he simply said "You need to see it yourselves to truly understand. No words can explain the horrors within. Be careful though, your dreams are unsafe."
The conversation drifted off into an awkward place, no one sure what to say.
"So what is everyone's plan for the afternoon?" asked Sam innocently. Her expression was anything but.
"I need to check on my artifact." answered Adrian. It was the correct one, as Sam broke into a cheshire grin. "Anyone want to check it out with me?"
"No thanks." said Andrei with great reluctence. "I have an appointment." The so called appointment was an appology by the girl who caused the bruise, likely for the purpose of approaching him. With graduation approaching some of the girls were getting desperate. The girls agreed to go with him to the Smithery, having nothing else to do.
They quickly ascended to Rory's workshop where he was eagerly awaiting the arival of Adrian. The sword lay on the small coffee table in the corner of the room, which was used to occupy guests.
"Adrian. Where did you find this thing?" rudely asked Rory, not even letting him step inside.
"In the snow." He wasn't wrong. Rory decided to drop the questioning and gestured towards the coffee table. The four of them all sat down, Rory and Sam on one side and Emilia and Adrian the other.
Adrian admired the new sheath on his blade for a moment. It was completely white and seemed to be covered in scales. It was tighter than a normal sheath, which made sense due to the swords lack of guard. Upon closer investigation the scales where actually made of small diamond-like gemstones. It could probably be used as a weapon just by itself.
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"So Rory." began Adrian. "What can you tell me about the sword?" At the mention of the sword Rory's eyes glistened. It was the greatest artifact he had ever had the pleasure to with with. He desperatly wished he could keep it but, as he was thinking he looked at Sam, Adrian was his daughters friend and she would be upset if he stole from him. Not that he did that sort of thing, he was a man of principle, but for that weapon...
"It is made solely from Winter Divinity, and ten star quality at that. The weapon itself however, is only a one star artifact. Despite that, its prowess is equal to a four star artifact. Its main ability is control over anything related to Winter. It has potential for growth."
This last sentenced shocked Sam and Emilia. Among artfacts growth type were undoubtly the strongest. there main advantage was being stronger than anything else of the same level. If you had a two star growth artifact no other two star artifact could beat it. This strength difference was usually decided by how many stages it has grown and how many it could grow. Considering the fact that it started at one star and could progress to ten star...
"Has there ever been a growth type artifact with this potential?" questioned Sam, who felt excited at the thought of witnessing the greatest ever.
"Never. The highest is Prometheus's Flame, but that only started at three stars." Emilia said excitedly. Her excitement was less about the weapon but instead who would wield it. A perfect weapon for a perfect person she thought. How perfect.
Adrian ignored Emilia's fervent stare and instead asked Rory "What is the growth method?"
Rory sighed. "This is the bad part. This weapon appears to be quite...Evil. In order to grow it requires you to pierce the enemies heart and then kill them from the cold, using the hearts blood to temper the blade. The cold also seems to turn their corpses into Winter Puppets and, combined with the swords ability, you will have control over them. The most important part is they have to be alive."
Just the thought of this made the girls shiver. It seemed like a cruel and painful process. Then again, winter was a cruel and painful process and as the main Divinity it somewhat made sense. for the weapon to emulate these characteristics. They wouldn't want the weapon though. No matter how powerful it was just to evil. Not for Adrian however.
"How much will this cost?" he asked, picking up the weapon.
"This one is on the house. Just the chance to work with and observe a ten star artifact is well worth the time spent."
With all business done they said there farewells before leaving the smithy.
"So is there anything else to do?" asked Emilia in the hope of spending more time together.
"We need to get prepared for tommorow. Can I ask you to go to our classmates and inform them of what they will need?" Adrian said, shutting down Emilia's hopes. They quickly agreed and Adrian told
them what they would need to do.
"Why are you not coming with us?" asked Sam, it was a simple task that Adrian could easily do himself.
"It would attract unwanted attention. Even your actions would be highly suspicous, if I were to do it the whole mission could be jeoperdised." with that the two girls headed back towards the Dormatory. What he didn't mention was that he had a conversation with someone quite important on his immediate schedule.