I woke up and did my chores as usual, gaining some practice with cooking.
"Mama, today's the day I'm giving the sword to Ciara. We're meeting in the clearing outside town a little before dinner if you and Papa wanna be there to see it." It wasn't a huge deal, but it was the first thing I made for her all on my own. I'd say gift, but mother Irina was paying for it.
"I'll see if we can get off work a bit early to meet you out there, but no guarantees, sweetheart." Mama looked interested, so she would probably be there.
I finished my chores and headed to the forge, ready to finish off the sword, and afterwards, to begin designing my new hammer. It had to work for both smithing and fighting, as I was going to be using it out in the wilderness once Ciara and I were both finished with our apprenticeships. Camping out in abandoned ruins or whatever adventurers did, I'd be sure to watch her back out there. And for that, I'd need a weapon to match hers, but also a tool to do my work better than the one I had now. It was too taxing to make a lot of that special mithryl together, and I only had enough to make one more major tool.
After stopping by work to let Mr. Darius know where I'd be going, to get the gems from the enchantment engraver. It took a while to get to the store and back, but I got to work as soon as I did.
I slotted in the citrine first, letting it settle after closing the fitting. There was a short pulse of light through the blade, as it connected. The same happened for the ruby and garnet. Slotting all three into the hilt took some delicate work and most of the afternoon, leaving only around an hour to start designing my hammer. But before that, I made sure to mark it with my insignia: a small hammer with a carnation on the head and a star at the other end of the handle, all surrounded by a hexagon.
As soon as it was fully carved and etched, the metal flashed and the etch gained a color from each aspect on the sides of the hexagon. White, red, brown, black, blue, and yellow, all in order, opposite their contrary aspects. It was incredible and unexpected, but I didn't let it phase me. The blade was fully finished, sharpened and polished, ready to give to Ciara later today.
But now it was time to design the hammer. It would be similar to my current one, but with an end for piercing on the back of the head. The gems would be slotted around the grip, where they would be least likely to be damaged. It would be larger than my current hammer by quite a bit, but wouldn't be much heavier, due to the much lighter mithryl I was using. It was an exciting prospect, to make myself a weapon on the level of that I was giving to Ciara. I would have to find someone to train me how to fight with it though, losing even more of my free time. With helping Mama while she starts raising my sister soon, apprentice training, magic practice and now combat practice, I would have no time to myself anymore. But it was important to learn it before I finished my apprenticeship in the forge. I would have nothing but free time after that.
After finishing the rough draft for my hammer, it was about time to head into the forest to meet Ciara with everyone. Mr. Darius grabbed the cloth covering for the sword and wrapped it as we headed out. A while later, we were all gathered in the clearing. Mama and Papa managed to make it to the occasion, as well as mother Irina of course. There wasn't much ceremony to it, I just brought the sword to Ciara, unwrapping it as I handed it to her.
"I put my heart into this blade, the single best thing I've ever crafted, just for you. I hope it lives up to any and every expectation you have for it, and that it stays with you, keeping you safe for years to come. Now, please take this blade, and claim it as your own. Make sure to use every type of mana you have." I handed the blade to her, happiness filling my eyes.
"Thank you, Amara. I will cherish this blade always, and make sure to keep it with me at all times." She grabbed the grip and pushed her mana into it, and with the mana flowing from the three gems, the blade started shimmering like a rainbow, getting brighter and brighter. There was a blinding flash, and the sword in her hands stopped glowing suddenly. It seemed to shine slightly in every aspect's color now that it was paired with her.
Due to the effects of [Craftsman] Exp. Has been gained for crafting an item of exceptional quality.
Gained Exp.: 1638 [10% of average Item Quality Level requirement (Lv. 15 -> 16)]
A multiplier has been applied due to the disparity between your level and the quality of the item.
Applied multiplier: 2.5x [Average level of Item Quality (15) / Crafter's Level (6)]
You have gained 4095 Exp.
Due to the effects of a Title, Excess Exp. has been converted into Stat Points at a rate of 1:10
Stat Points Gained: 337
ERROR: MAXIMUM AVAILABLE STAT POINTS EXCEEDED
Stat Points Available: 500
Excess: 62
Attempting to find solution...
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Solution Found!
Allocating Excess to Stats Automatically: Luck and Karma have gained 31 points each!
Due to extraordinary accomplishments, Titles have been gained!
For causing an error in your {System}, you have gained the System Breaker Title:
Certain limitations imposed by the {System} have been lifted!
For proving that your incredible craftsmanship was not a fluke, you have gained the Prodigious Artisan Title:
All items created by you can conduct and contain mana more efficiently; All items created by you are of higher quality; The process of creating items is now quickened, time slows around you while you are focused on crafting; You have gained access to special Class and Evolution options!
Level Up from 6 to 7 has caused Stat Point Excess of 66
Allocating Stats would result in Immortality, but User Must Not Have [Apprentice]-type Class to ascend.
Resolving Issue:
Excess Points will be distributed upon User's command instead of automatically.
Once again, my {System} had done something completely outrageous and, if I'm honest this time, totally unexpected. I had somehow encountered an error in my system that had to be resolved. It felt like time had slowed to a crawl as these windows popped up one after the other. As I read them, I became both confused and shocked. I had never seen colors in my [Status] before, and even stranger, apparently there was a maximum for unallocated stat points, at 500. And if I understood this right, nobody had hit the limit before me, leaving the issue unresolved until I happened to stumble into it here and now. There were so many insane things going on that I had trouble understanding it all. I had managed to find a way to increase the unchanging Luck and Karma stats, I had gained titles that "lifted limitations imposed by the {System}" whatever that meant, which was concerning. I had special options opened up for my class in the future. And what was Evolution? I'd never heard of that before. That's something I had to ask about. Also all the things I make will be better than others at my skill level, having better effects and taking less time. It was so much information all at once, flowing into me from the {System}, overwhelming me in the short time I had do take it all in. And due to that, I passed out right into Ciara's sword wielding hands.
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When I came to, I was back in my room and Ciara was at my side, asleep. The messages were still up in my periphery, but I would pay more attention to those later.
'Are you awake?' I was hoping I could speak to her right away, but it seemed like she was out cold for now. I began to get out of bed, and looked for my parents in the dining room.
"Hi everyone, what's been going on?" I was hoping nothing else had happened after I passed out.
"Amara! Thank goodness you're alright. What happened to you? There was a flash of light when Ciara paired with the sword, then it went away, and you just collapsed. We were so worried, but the doctor said there wasn't anything wrong with you, so we just waited here, talking." Mama was extremely concerned, and jumped up to embrace me right away.
"I got a lot of messages from my {System} all at once, and it was kind of overwhelming, so I guess I kind of ended up passing out from them. I earned some new titles, and kind of broke my {System} a bit which also caused me to get closer to immortality than I really wanted to be right now, though it seems there's a failsafe in place to keep apprentices from becoming ageless. That's reassuring, meaning that no matter what we do, Ciara and I won't cross that barrier until we're at least 13. And if that's the case, I don't have to make any special changes to how I do things, and the same is true for Ciara. So some good news at least. Better news, It's best if Ciara tries to get as many stat points before finishing her apprenticeship as possible, to do what I've done. Don't push her, but doing that will definitely help her out in the future. My current stats are the highest they can go until I graduate, so I'll be how I am now for a while. Any new questions?" I tried to explain everything I could about what happened to me after Ciara bonded with the sword.
"That's a lot to take in. You said you broke your [System}? And that you've learned about a failsafe to keep you from becoming ageless too young, which means it was probably a problem encountered in the past, if the {System} automatically fixes them like that. But knowing that we don't have to worry about that specific thing anymore is a relief. If you don't mind, could you tell us your current stats, just for curiosity's sake?" Mama was only a little shaken by the news I had given her, luckily not having any breakdowns.
"Of course you can Mama, Papa, mother Irina." I made sure to look around and make sure nobody was near the windows, before closing them. "Alright, so my strength is 51, my agility and dexterity are both 45, my focus is 50, and my intelligence and wisdom are both 51. I can't gain any more Spiritual stats, and can only gain eleven more Physical stats before my apprenticeship is over." I spoke as quietly as I could with them all still hearing me.
"That's getting pretty close to our own stats in any of those stats, just more evenly spread out. How are you nearly at the threshold then? If I remember right, your luck and karma don't make up the difference there. You should still have about 30 or 40 points in either before it's a problem, right?" Papa was right on with his estimation, though it was a bit surprising to learn that people my parents age normally have a total of around 180 points total towards their stats in either category. A total of about 360 points over all.
"You're right on with that number Papa, but for reasons I'm not willing to explain, I'm still at the threshold. I don't wanna risk someone else hearing why, it's kind of crazy again." I looked at them apologetically, hoping they'd let it go for now.
"Of course, that was one of the things we told you early on. Good on you for remembering, and we should definitely drop it now if you're thinking that it'll be a problem. Our little girl is so talented as well, it's almost taxing to keep it in. Come here, sweetie." Mama opened her arms and beckoned me into them, and as always, I leapt right into them.
"Thank you for everything Mama. I love you. And I love Papa too. Thank you for all your help, mother Irina." Papa joined the embrace, and we stayed there for a bit, as mother Irina went to check on Ciara. 'Thank you for everything you do as well, Ciara. You're the most important person I've met in my life.'
'I feel the same about you, Amara. Thank goodness you're alright.'She responded to me, which means she was finally awake. It was late enough that they had to leave right away to make it home at a decent hour now, so we said our goodbyes and went to bed, even though I just woke up.
'Have a good night, Ciara. I'll see you tomorrow'
'Goodnight, Amara. And thank you for such an incredible sword. It's more than I could ever have asked for.'
'It's what you deserve. Made with my all to be as perfect as it could. It was worth every bit of effort put into it, and so are you.'