“Order… of knights with… S rank!” Olivia said as her mouth dried.
Logan looked reluctant as the two huge scrolls were out. Elas had insisted on them sharing this for the future safety of Nuntip.
“W-why didn’t you say anything?!” She said towards Logan.
“I didn’t even know if you knew. I just learned it because of the incident with Jade and the demon. I was extremely lucky to have had a few months of training with this or I would have definitely died a dog’s death.” He said.
“But why did you not instantly take this back to quickly start rebuilding the Golden Lions?!” She shouted.
“Why should i? First off Helix told me to keep it a secret until I was equal to Maxwell.” He said.
“BUT HE SAID THIS IS MY LEGACY! You should have at least shared! I would have lost decades by the time we reached B rank!” She shouted.
Logan looked at her with a condescending glare, “Feels bad, doesn’t it huh? The idea of losing time.” he said.
She instantly turned pale upon hearing that.
Helix sighed, “You weren’t kidding that their family problems were really screwed up.” He said and waved his hand making the scrolls float. “This is going to be a pain to copy. This was the original and has many magical secrets that need a huge amount of mana to copy perfectly.” He cursed but instantly tapped into the unending supply from the dungeon. Instantly the first scroll was trapped in a pillar of pure mana and they felt like they were hearing strange sounds as the pillar thickened a bit.
After a bit the pillar vanished and two perfect copies of the development technique appeared and floated to each.
He didn’t give them time as he started instantly on the next process for the weapon arts. When it was done they each had a scroll but Helix looked tired at having to mobilize so much mana.
“Seems that it is done. Children, please do not fight. It is true that Helix said to keep it a secret. This is not the destiny of the old generation to remake the Golden Lions but the next generation. Olivia, this is very important because the Golden Lions isn’t a simple order of knights. At their prime, they policed the entire continent and had even more power then the most prosperous era of the adventurers guild. The only limit is the fact that the power growth stops at S rank and going beyond would require purely quantity because the one who created the original art was the founder of the adventurers guild. He sadly could not produce beyond that because every existing continent has a similar order of knights protecting it.” Elas said.
“Are they not one large group?” Logan asked.
“No, the technique was unique to each continent taking in the cultures of each continent. Originally, there were sacred beasts that protected each continent but the first thing the demon lord did was to kill every beast. When the war ended, the hero took the same idea and created the knights order in their honor as the new protectors. Sadly the bodies were taken by the demons and had been the weapons of the great demon generals under the demon lord and each was destroyed in their fight with the hero and each was reforged into the hero’s sword alongside holy artifacts after going through purification efforts.” Helix said.
The two understood the weight of what they were faced with.
“Wait, was Nuntip the last one then?” Logan asked.
“No, he did this simultaneously so that each order would be no stronger and it would help maintain consistency in their balanced strength. He reached the end of his life before he could go beyond S rank development. All techniques were created based on both the sword owner and the hero mage’s knowledge of development. He discovered how to achieve a high power level through combining the powers of all elements.” Elas said.
“All… wha! Is that why you had me train in Thunder forest?!” Logan asked.
“Yes, you have amazing lightning and some wind affinity but as one of the two people who learned from Maxwell, the current leader of Golden Lion, your talents needed to be supplemented so engraving your mana pool and mana channels with the wild energy of all types was a sufficient method to quickly enhance that to a base of about 15% of affinity in numerical terms. Your current lightning affinity has already balanced at 40% throughout your body however.” Elas said.
Logan felt conflicted that he was being manipulated like this but the next words shocked them both.
“You both understand the conditions you are in and thanks to Logan’s battle with the demon, we quickly were able to retrieve three holy artifacts and 500 corpses of Legend swords.” he said.
They both gasped upon hearing that.
“But he said he just needed 100?!” Logan said.
“That is probably the number needed for a sword for the new generation of Demon generals. They need weapons to arm all their soldiers and they are aiming for legend swords. We obtained this and can upgrade your weapons with it.” Elas said.
“Huh?” The two muttered.
“All the swords are basically Logan’s loot, naturally we can’t let you keep them all. The kings and emperors of Nuntip need a great number of legend swords and they will be made in mass by my Order for the next generation while us older folks protect the future of our children who will lead the future.” Elas said.
“But why do our swords need to be upgraded?” Olivia asked.
“Every continent’s order of legend smiths each worked together with the ancient hero to create a special breed of legend sword. It is the main reason why there are countless types of weapon arts of the same attack in that scroll. This choice is free to choose only for Logan, Olivia, as the heir, I ‘am’ going to forge this upgrade for you.” Elas said sternly.
“What will it do?” Olivia asked.
Elas took out a box and from it, two piles of legend swords flew out. “In each pile is 1 sword of every element except holy and demon, for obvious reasons. The weapon I am forging is called the Golden Lion Legend Sword. It is not as simple of a weapon as a common legend sword. This sword has the capability to transform into any magical weapon absorbed into the structure outside of their creation. It can possess 1 type of every weapon in existence but of each element meaning you can have 1 fire magic sword and 1 water and the weapon can actually transform into both at the same time but only ever of the same type of weapon and it can split into only two bodies. Each weapon is separate and each stored within the sword in what is called the Golden Lion Armory. Every last golden lion knight possesses at least a Golden Lion magic sword or legend sword. The capacity of a magic sword is naturally weaker. That said, the main sword grows more powerful each new weapon it assimilates and each new weapon art it perfects attached to each weapon. This is how they quickly surpass the level of awakening.” Elas explained in detail.
“So I will get something like that but Logan chooses?” Olivia asked.
“Your father never trained Logan to inherit the order. He just happened to be in the same place as you and caught his attention because of his magical talent, something very vital for a knight. You were picked specifically for this.” Elas said.
“Will this change Arashi’s name again?” Logan asked.
“No, her legend with that name is already firm thanks to the mist of legends she absorbed. That said, the three forms you have developed with her will split and instantly form three forms with the proper weight and mana channel flow for each weapon. As for the true body… only she can pick.” Elas said.
Logan nodded slowly and looked at the pile before pulling Arashi out. It vibrated happily and showed that she was ready to accept this future if he wanted to. He smiled when he felt that.
“Will anything else change?” Logan asked.
“Seems you picked to accept. Yes, there is a rather drastic change, for both of you in fact. Your swords will instantly connect to the immense legends of the order lost in time. People will start to remember and these will gather around you. Those whom you pick to join the next generation of the order and train the orders technique will equally be bound by the legacy as time goes on.” he said.
“So the level of our weapons will go up?” Logan asked.
“Indeed. Yours is already at the peak of white sword and will likely instantly have the red burns when it comes out of the forge while the girl’s…” Helix said and looked at hers, “She will advance to a grey sword. Child, if you want to develop faster, quickly unlock and develop swords mana channels.” helix said.
Logan looked at her, making her want to kick him.
“One last thing, Logan. Let me see the bone Helix gave you. I need to plan out the magic staff for that little goblin of yours.” He said.
“Oh, right!” he said and pulled out the huge bone.
Elas rolled his eyes, “Did you want me to make knight’s armor for it or something, something this big could make ten staves.” Elas said, glaring at the man.
“Ahahaha, I had been of mind that at the very least you can have it possess a minor transformation ability between a bone club and a magic staff. It is a goblin and if it becomes a light magic healer, it can also become a clergy who trains to become knights.” he said.
“Cut the bull shit already.” Elas said, giving him a slap to the back of the head. “Hm… with so much extra material it is hard to say how it will go. If it becomes a lord or even just an oni, it will be really hard to deal with.” Elas said.
“What is an oni?” Logan asked.
“It is a Junpin term for demons. That said, they generally call anything outside of human magic and have supernatural powers by that. It eventually migrated to here and the term is more used for special ogres who have compressed and pure mana but still became ogres. They are smaller but much more powerful. A lot of their mana crystallizes into magical gems that stick out of their bodies which contain either powerful abilities, can manifest armor or objects and even weapons. There is really no telling, Lords are basically the same.” Elas said.
“Is it too hard to make at this moment?” Helix asked.
“Yes, I am unsure of her future as she has only formed basic mana channels. If she had been at least complete with the third cycle to restore her body fully I could at least use some form of divination to get an idea but there is a lot of interference thanks to the lingering energies around her body.” Elas said.
“We can leave it for a later date.” Logan said.
That said Elas shook his head, “Sadly we can’t. The order is going to be incredibly busy so making normal magic weapons will be much harder. Tell me, how do you plan for her to train?” he asked Logan.
“Jade… I was thinking of light and water mana which are good for healing and blessings. I plan for her to learn some chores that can be done without much strength.” he said.
“So basically a maid with healing magic.” Helix said jokingly.
“I see you want a supporter. I would suggest you expand her field of medical and healing knowledge if you want a proper healer. Magic, even the strongest magic, can only go so far for healing broken and splintered bones. There are countless arts of healing and you could travel the world and still not see them all. My suggestion is that at the very least have her learn alchemy for making medicine in the field, actual doctoring incase of illness and field medic training for quick healing outside of magic healing and surgery so she can heal wounds that need such.” he said.
“That is a lot and a great deal of this requires hands on practice.” Logan said.
“True but there are many academies and they don’t discriminate against monsters since many people leave intelligent monsters for such studies anyways.” Elas said.
“True but she is my battle beast, there is a limit of distance she needs to be around me while still being a monster with a monster core.” Logan said.
Elas frowned as he forgot that fact. “That is a rather annoying fact indeed, it is difficult to see her forming a solid form before hobgoblin or beyond.” Elas said.
“Well, the main problem is proper schooling and practice, although magic tomes only give information and no tips, it can save years in training. You are covering that now with all the magic tomes you have been buying recently.” Helix said.
“Right but something like surgery needs a lot of training.” Logan said.
“Train on weak monsters then.” Helix replied simply.
“Huh?” Logan said.
“Find a wild animal, monster or an enemy human, beat them up and let her train on them and leave them unconscious. Cracking a few bones or breaking a few is perfect for surgery training followed by field medic training and finally healing magic for mending all the reconnected parts.” he said.
The children were shocked he even suggested and Elas chuckled. “You children clearly never lived in harsh times. Healers and medical personnel who lived the life of adventurers actually trained like that so that when their allies were heavily injured they could deal with even the most unpredictable injury. Even knowing a trick like using healing magic while removing a sword to stave off bleeding and further damage on the pull can save many lives.” Elas said.
They breathed deeply and Logan nodded “I will see to that once she is restored to full health.” he said.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Good. Now, going by the order of jobs I mentioned, I will split the tools I will make. Staff and wand for magic, healer needles for isolating healing magic within a certain area and with some silver I will blend the bone and metal to make a full medical kit for surgery. They will all be magic items so their strength and sharpness can be enhanced by mana and will help when needing to go into really strong people whose bodies are normally extremely difficult to penetrate.” he said.
Logan nodded.
When he looked to the side, he saw that Olivia was showing a jealous expression and neither of the old men missed it.
“You have the elemental flock, I do believe you barely have any space left for regular monsters that could do these jobs.” Elas said.
Her teeth clenched and she stood and bowed, “Please make me a set as well! I definitely at least need a monster to take care of the many things I am hopeless at! I’ve yet to find a party that can keep up with me and those I have never had proper skilled healers.” She said.
“What you want is more of a maid and butler but such skilled professions generally learn everything.” Elas said.
He looked at Helix and nodded.
“Fine. I will make a second set.” he said.
She looked happy.
“Alright, we can head to the workshop.” Elas said and got up.
“In Eshen?” Logan asked.
“Of course not, every last city in every last dungeon has a workshop for smiths of the order. They are heavily protected with magical restrictions and no one can enter the isolated space except for the smiths themselves, me and anyone I bring inside. There is no actual entrance that can be exploited.” Helix said and with a snap, every last one of them vanished and the next moment appeared in a room.
“You children should rest up, I shall deal with the easy to make medical and magic equipment. When it is time, I shall call you.” Elas said and stood up while taking the huge bone. Helix followed to deposit a new one for Olivia.
Logan looked around and saw it was like the living room on the second floor of Elas’s house but far less decorated. He sat down and began to channel his mana to start training.
“Hey, you should start training the F rank of the new technique. Don’t think it is weaker, the mana is special and strong against demons.” Logan said.
Olivia looked at him and at the scrolls before taking the seat away on the other side of the room and started to look through it.
It was about an hour later when Logan had done about a tenth of his mana pool when Helix appeared.
“Come children, we have prepared what is needed.” He said.
They both slowly calmed down their manas and stopped the technique and each walked downstairs.
It was just like Elas’ shop and in the back was the massive forge but it was different this time. It was lightning up a spectrum of red light before blue, green, yellow, white and black. Then an icy blue, purple and grey lit up and began to form conflicting energies before the flow of the mana changed and suddenly it all connected and began to slowly flow into each line until it suddenly converted to a pure golden light.
“That light… it is like Logan’s attack.” Olivia said.
“That is Golden Lion mana, a unique blend of all elemental mana focused into light mana to create a faint trace of holy power. It is impossible for any human or monster besides the ancient hero to actively make holy mana. The second best was creating something like mana with the same effect. Thankfully there were artifacts to learn from back then or none of this would be possible.” Elas said.
“How much holy power does a Golden Lion Knight have when they reach S rank.” Logan asked.
“If you didn’t take shortcuts and properly trained, with all the mana in your body, you are likely to have 0.5% out of the totality of your mana. If a knight possesses a holy artifact, they can increase what remains in their body to about 2% after extensive use that the body adapts to.” Elas said.
They nodded and understood.
“Girl, you are first. Your sword must be connected to the legacy of the golden lion first before Logan’s so that you are regarded as the current head. Logan will likely be regarded as a disciple but the quantity and quality is likely to quickly rise.” he said.
“I was just wondering but does the power of the legend energy in each legend actually have a direct effect on us?” Logan asked.
“That would be the power of ‘luck’. If you are lucky, you can obtain many rare and special things. For example, you got Helix’s attention and he gave you the weapon and mana arts which saved your life and you gained a goblin with traces of holy mana surrounding her body. If she is trained, you might give birth to a new saint.” elas said.
They understood, “Oh, before we start.” Helix suddenly exclaimed and quickly stretched his hand and mana began to gather in abundance before it formed a book glowing gold. After that he formed a second and then a third.
When the second came, Logan already knew what it was. “Olivia, that is a rare skill that Maxwell constantly used to monitor our progress and talent. Whatever you do, do not use the spell itself because it is for a C rank with C rank mana development. I almost blew my eyes out for just trying to use it.” Logan said.
She looked fearful at the books instantly, “Is that true?” she asked.
“Indeed, the Golden Lion’s Eye of Truth is a very powerful eye magic which can let you see a lot more. Considered one of the best eye magic in Nuntip but we can’t say for sure how it matches up to the other continents.” Helix said.
He gave it to her to learn. He gave her the proper order while frowning at Helix for ignoring that detail.
She still had to go through a lot of pain because she lacked a lot of knowledge though clearly far less than Logan.
When they were finally done, Elas lit the forge which burned with golden flames. He removed every blade’s sheath, handle and guard and tossed it into the flames before asking for Hydra and removed his as well.
“Is this important?” Logan asked.
“Yes, the Gold Lion sheath is just as important because it changes alongside the weapon. They have to be very powerful to handle the magical energy in the sword, especially the handle and guard.” Helix said.
They all gathered into three balls as they were simultaneously forged but then Elas began to throw more items and even mana crystals before taking the balls of material and started to forge each part.
What was surprising is that after nearly 100 hits, the material was naturally glowing with golden light and slowly began to compress with each hit until it finally formed three bare pieces.
“Huh?” Logan and Olivia muttered.
“Each sheath, guard and handle is unique to the sword. They change and adapt depending to the legend of each sword and the number of weapons absorbed.” Helix explained.
Finally he threw the items blades inside and each of them took one position before Hydra was placed inside.
As soon as it started, Olivia collapsed as the magical brand began to shine intensely as it began to evolve. Under the golden lion flames, the reaction was getting huge and he knew her body was going to change much more than the first time.
Not all swords have a core and a body split like Junpin swords that did not mean that the weapons could not be split in two and Elas did just that. They were corpses and no longer living swords, otherwise that would have completely destroyed the sword drastically weakening the effect in these magical flames, the dead swords only grew stronger as they were infused with the flames that seemed to breathe some life back into them.
Half of each sword was melted and combined with the core and body of the blade and they all started to melt but Hydra did not change.
Still Olivia was burning in golden flames and the bit of usage of the technique reacted immensely to the process. It actually forced her to start the technique during this and even started to grind her mana pool and channels out of her control. It was producing F rank mana of the type to change all the mana and make up the foundation.
Changes over the last hundreds of years removed that unique holy power form the mana and now it was being forced through her body.
He drew the core and began to forge.
Helix took out medicine and started actively healing unlike the first time because instantly half of her bones outright broke upon the first hit.
Helix stuffed many different kinds of food pills containing special minerals of different types unique to specific elements.
The process was not nice. The entire mass turned liquid including the original core so each hit slowly forced the metals into a more solid form before putting it back and doing the same to the other.
It heated and melted again for a few times until it wouldn’t anymore and finally began the forging process.
Olivia’s body had already burst countless veins and muscles tore.
Helix even took out an item that nullified magic acting against it and shoved it in her mouth so that she would not bite her own tongue.
All that material had to be folded and drawn out and this blended everything perfectly by the 9th and final fold before it was rebuilt back into a Nodachi. All that matter was compressed but the weight of all those swords did not exist. All of that split into three forms within the internal structure and formed a stable foundation of the three weapons.
He drew it out and placed it in the quenching tank that possessed S rank monster blood of all elements, the tank, however, was small and there wasn’t much blood but the reaction was intense but barely any of the mana leaked and was pulled out.
What appeared was a grey blade with a faint and beautiful flame mark burned into both sides of the blade.
Elas took it carefully to the bench and took the guard and placed it in and then the hilt which bent to the shape of the tang before he put the pin in. Finally the sheath was put at the sword tip and it grew to the size and he closed it.
It instantly began to shine brightly. The circular guard instantly began to morph and formed a five petal design while the bare hilt formed the Junpin blade traditional design with beautiful fabric and the pummel capping it off.
The sheath was similar and shaped with golden metal pieces and designs while a red silk covered underneath.
“What a beautiful but simple design, just as you would expect from a young blade.” Elas said.
He took it and carefully placed it in Olivia’s right hand. Instantly it shined and so did her body. Wounds were in the process of healing and with the glow spreading up the arm and through her body, they closed up and the damage was slowly undone but the mental fatigue had gone beyond her limit and she fainted when the pain stopped.
“Well, this will help her strength quite a bit. Her technique activated automatically but she needs to go over it to make sure that unconscious usage didn’t leave bad spots.” Elase said.
“I will make sure to tell her.” Logan said.
“Good, now is your turn.” He said.
Logan just nodded.
What Logan did not expect is that Elas took the time to examine dozens of guard pieces that would handle the electrical discharge from Arashi until it was basically equal to the wood used to store it.
He took that as his guard piece and together with the sheath and handle, they were forged first and came out the same. When the process of forging started, he finally understood the pain Olivia went through.
His body erupted with golden flames which roasted him inside and out and it was not a peaceful thing as the Golden Lion mana development started up instantly. Even with him naturally using it much more, he was far behind compared to Olivia that needed to redo it to balance the effect.
Half the mana in the area drew towards him like a sinkhole and he was force fed the medicine made by Helix as the forging began.
What he didn’t expect was that Arashi’s brand would glow and from her spiritual world, the horizon and rising sun would shine and instantly cause immense pain as if the effect grew even stronger.
That said, this drew in much more mana as if it wanted to balance him out at E rank.
He grit his teeth and to not let the mana go out of his control, he gripped it as it was doing a spin too wide and clenched it to a shorter grind. Instantly the pain went up but there were no missing areas. He also compressed the spinning radius of the mana that was developing his mana pool reducing leakage and this made it worse but the effect it had was better. Within just five minutes, the mana pool was complete and it began to leave out the five outward flows.
Before he could control it, his bones, muscles, arteries and organs were suddenly all crushed under Elas’ forging. The mana stopped and the healing intensified leaving his head blank for a moment. He forced himself to control the effect but besides just holding the size of the grinding mana in the five points, he had little control because the amount of mana in his body was too huge and painful.
He was thankful that his mana channels swallowed up the mana with all the grinding as it was strengthened as the mystical effect from the mana pool slowly extended out making the internal space of the channels wider without actually expanding.
Eventually it reached all the smallest and entered all the smallest returning channels until it gathered to the main returning channel. All five hit the mana pool together and a new cycle started instantly but the speed of compression and purification intensified. All this was done in half an hour meaning mana pool took 10 minutes and the mana channels took 20.
The mana pool was already almost full at this point but thankfully the third cycle began and it finally matched the absorption with intense consumption.
Outside, Helix watched Logan, “I wonder why the girl was the one the 12th lion picked? This boy’s magical talent is clearly much better since he was raised with an unforged but clearly living Legend sword.” Helix said.
“Affinity.” Elas said simply before continuing. “How many cycles?” Elas asked.
“Just completed the first since the start.” he said.
“Already?” Elas said.
“Well his mana and development had always used it since he got here.” Helix said.
Elas understood and began forging again.
This time the mana pool took much more time and much more mana and just as Elas finished heating for quenching, the mana pool finished it’s 3rd cycle suddenly expanding the internal capacity as the magical effect took place.
When the sword was quenched, the flames finally died and the huge forced growth was done.
The pressure instantly forced the mana to stop and Logan relaxed almost falling unconscious. His head looked towards the place his link with Arashi was and he saw her pulled out. The size was no longer a Nodachi and had returned to her original shape and length.
He smiled lightly as he saw a guard be placed followed by the hilt and sheath.
They all heard faint sounds of lightning as golden pieces with faint lightning and a dragon’s design formed on the sheath while the guard formed a four clover design.
“Heh, the original legend is strong with this one.” Helix said.
Elas nodded and gave him Arashi and his body began to glow as the damage was erased as the golden radiance filled his body.
The feeling of warming spread through his body and his body fell asleep but his mind was drawn into Arashi’s world.
His eyes opened and what he saw was the rising sun finally breaking away from the Horizon. Mountains, valleys, forests and more, nature lit up where it had once been hidden under the glare of the dawn’s light.
Arashi appeared and was double her previous size.
“This world has grown even larger now.” he said.
She nodded and raised the legend.
He watched as lines from the air appeared and a very weak legend from before the legend of Arashi’s birth. It was the legend of the birth of the first Golden Lion and it had formed a connection to Arashi.
At once, the intense extra energy from the main legend began to connect and feed this old forgotten legend only known by the old or the powerful. The legend of the golden lions grew but only the basic birth of the order formed with the excess energy left behind but it would have far greater of an effect on the entirety of Nuntip.
For Olivia, she was in bed but also in Hydra’s world. The six headed dragon had grown three heads each with one of the elements forged into the sword. Purple mist gathered around it in great abundance but all of it slowly formed the ancient legend of the Golden Lion. Half of the mist formed the basic legend as Logan saw and the other half fed this and in doing so, expanded the details and length.
When it was done, she could feel the legend’s story starting at the 1st grandmaster, disciple of the hero. It showed her that the order, at the beginning, was fought against as a free organization much like the guild but both would support one another to eventual success.
It ended at the passing of the 1st master.
She sat there and knew she needed to rebuild the order. Still, she needed to properly train after resting from this overly harsh forging. “Rebuilding it… oh, maybe the children of the old members are a great start!” he suddenly exclaimed.
Although she already had in mind for a final monster to act as a fill in for doing basic duties for her that she can’t do, gathering all the knight’s children and quietly replacing the true mana development with the old one would be a perfect way to sneak the order back into existence. It would be perfect for the top echelon but she needed to meet and learn about them. It required getting a list from Maxwell before searching for them. It was a great journey for her.
She felt relief and relaxed at having a bigger goal for herself. Of course, everything was after she had properly learned all the weapon skills and development. It would clearly take at least a year and she needed to do the same as Logan, supplement lacking magical knowledge to be able to use more advanced magic.
With this, Elas dismissed himself while they were sleeping. “I shall proceed to the HQ of the Order. I will be taking my time, please teleport the material we obtained and properly handle the artifacts.” he said.
“Understood.” Helix said as he teleported Elas to down to the teleportation platform while the elf cloaked himself in magic and proceeded out of the city to an airship station to go the scenic route to where he was needed.