Author's note: Last batch of crafting for now! We'll be going into the sewers in the next chapter and kill some things! (boy am i glad crafting is done)

I tried my best to draw the blade but i'm really really bad at drawing, It's even worse than my writing! Regardless, click the link below to behold the mighty blade we craft in this chapter! (img and url tags weren't working correctly for some reason... probably my fault)

http://imgur.com/PZsUoi5

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"So... Eoric, do you have clay?" Zaran asked before starting to work on the blade. If he could make a mold for the blade the time needed for crafting would drastically reduce as well as drastically reducing the difficulty level at the same time. He didn't mind doing it the hard way but seeing as he currently didn't have the luxury of time... He needed to take some shortcuts and a mold was the most drastic shortcut to begin with.

"Heh? You wish to use clay?" Eoric asked, his voice filled with disappointment. He wanted to see how his disciple would make a blade that he himself found very hard to make with conventional methods. While he did have some molds laying around for basic weapons, when it came to intricate crafts he had never once used molds.

"I need to make two of them and I am very pressed for time. If I had the necessary time i would definitely make it without a mold but as time is not a luxury I have at the moment I would rather shy away from using the conventional method." Zaran said with a face filled of regret. "I'm very well aware of how much you wanted to see the complete process but... I really am pressed for time."

"Fine then... I do actually have some clay lying around at the back of the smithy. It's more than enough for your weapon."

"Thanks Eoric, I appreciate it. When I am not pressed for time in the future and have to make a better one I'll come drop by and show you the complete process including how to create the shark teeth with conventional methods.

Zaran walked out towards the back and quickly found the clay, which was stored in the shed at the back of the smithy. The clay was stacked in cubes of 20 square centimeters. Zaran took out 30 of the cubes and stacked them next to each other on the large stone table in the smithy.

"Phew..." that should be enough Zaran said as he moved the last block of clay on the table.

"Should be." Nuvahn responded with a huge smile on his face. After Zaran brought back the last ten blocks of clay, Eoric's expression became one filled with shock. From the amount of clay blocks Zaran had gathered he understood that the blade could start at a massive width of fifty to sixty centimeters.

Zaran started shaping the mold. starting by carefully creating a hilt thirty centimeters in length, he continued on towards the blade itself. He crated a blade with a width of fifty centimeters and he would create the length to be one meter sixty centimeters. Thirty percent into the blade he created the first indentation, and the blade's width was reduced to thirty five centimeters. Another thirty percent of the blade's total width further another indentation was made and the blade's width was shrunk by an additional fifteen centimeters, leaving the width to only be twenty centimeters. Finally another twenty five percent of the total blade's length further he made the final indentation before allowing the blade to come together to create the tip of the sword. 

Carefully inspecting his work both Nuvahn and Zaran nodded in approval at the first outline. Zaran then removed 10 centimeters of clay, which was double the amount of the thickest part of the blade. During the forging process the iron would be compressed, causing a rapid decrease in the blade's overall thickness. 

The more Zaran worked on the shape of the blade the more astonished Eoric became. He had seen and crafted a lot of swords and even the occasional greatsword in his life that had a strange shape or a difficult to handle shape but this blade was defying all common sense.  Both the thickness and the length were more than a human should be able to wield properly. He would understand it if they wanted to try the weapon out but of them were set on wielding this thing into battle and they looked like they knew exactly what the blade looked like despite Zaran initially saying that he had never made it before.

Just what is going on? That blade is monstrous in size and thickness. It's not something a zuno nor harpie should wield, rather it looks more like one of these blades demons wield to battle! Eoric thought while attentively watching Zaran's progress.

He wanted to step in and stop them from making the blade with his forge but on the other hand he was burning with anxiety to see the finished product. 

Having finished the shape of the mold the next step was to heat the clay. This was done with the kiln at the back of the smithy. The mold just barely fit in the kiln, if it were even one centimeter longer it wouldn't have fit in. While the mold was in the kiln Zaran already started to melt the iron as it would take a long time for the full fifty kilograms to melt down. 

Having put the iron in the furnace, Zaran had Eoric pay attention to it and dragged more coal inside the smithy. He would need a large amount of coal to heat the weapon during the forging process and he had already calculated in advance that he would need as much as ten kilograms of coal an hour just to keep the heat going. On top of that the furnace itself needed coal so Zaran and Nuvahn worked together to move more coal in and near the smithy. 

A few hours passed and Zaran got the mold out of the kiln and immediately poured the molten iron within.

After the iron had stopped cooling down Zaran heat up the coal. Only after the coal was sufficiently hot did he put the greatsword inside of it until the iron started to have an yellow-orange-red tint to it. Zaran took it out of the coal, took it to the anvil and started forging the blade. The blade currently was too thick and had no sharpness to it just yet but during the forging process the iron would be compressed and the blade's characteristics would become more well defined. 

Zaran took the largest hammer Eoric had and powerfully swung it down time and time again on the iron until the colour started to turn grey again, only being able to continue after sufficiently heating it up again. Slowly but surely the blade started to get thinner and the edges started to be more well defined. 

Hour upon hour passed and sweat poured from Zaran like an endless waterfall. Over the hours Zaran had gained fifteen notices of increases of strength but hadn't paid much mind to it. His mind was solely within the forging process. Again and again the hammer swung downwards until finally Zaran stopped. He quickly took a moment to rest before continuing on. He had finished the first step.

The next step would be to take a file and even up any uneven spots. While it was originally his whole craft, Eoric stepped in for this process as Zaran had already been working on the blade for eight hours without a pause. Knowing that Zaran's mind and body should have reached its limit, he had decided to step in and help Zaran so he could finish the blade quicker, as well as give Zaran more time to rest. 

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Zaran gratefully accepted Eoric's proposal and took his time to eat and drink as well as play with Kirin and Cindarrah for a while. Especially Cindarrah needed some attention as she didn't feel comfortable at all in the smithy.

Having rested for half an hour Zaran entered the smithy again and looked at Eoric's process. Much to Zaran's surprise Eoric had already finished filing the blade and had started grinding the blade's edge. After about half the blade was done Zaran's inspected Eoric's work and let out a sigh of relief. Luckily Eoric seemed to know which direction to take the blade in as he hadn't ground the blade too much. 

Zaran took over from Eoric and ground the rest of the blade. The initial two sections where left very thick and only a very small edge was created on them. The two inner sections were ground much further and had the real cutting power behind them. This was all according to the philosophy behind the blade. The first two sections were used to protect and not to harm, while the outer two sections were used to harm instead of protect. Zaran had frowned at this explanation at first but after wielding the blade countless times he found that this philosophy was correct.

Even if he wanted to harm someone with the first two sections of the blade, he could do so but when he did so he just had this gnawing feeling that it wasn't the correct way to use this sword.. nor any sword. Moreover he started to realize why this was so. Not only did his power decrease the closer the enemy was to him but it also limited the options he had in a fight. In all his lives he hadn't met any sword more interesting than this and the more he used it the more he started to apply the same principles to other swords. The more he did so the more he found that the way he had been wielding swords was incorrect. 

Using the last sixty percent of the blade's width for defense and the rest for offense. Once he started doing this consequently his prowess in battle multiplied and those who stood before him and could tell the tale could be counted on his two hands. 

After sharpening the blade's edges, Zaran heated the blade again and cooled it repeatedly. This hardened the blade, making it usable for battle. If he did not do so the blade would be too brittle and would easily break.

Still after all this Zaran was not done with the blade just yet. He still had to craft the handle, but he asked Eoric to do that in his stead as just any ordinary handle would suffice. In the meantime Zaran took out the red and black iron ore. He took ten kilograms of the red iron ore and forty kilograms of the black iron ore and started to melt them separately. He would create an outer layer of red ore and the rest would be black ore. During the forging process the black and red iron ore would mingle to some regard, creating a black and red blade. 

While it obviously wasn't necessary to do so, Zaran's favourite colours had always been black and red and thus as he had the materials available, why not making something that he both liked to wield and at least to his tastes looked cool. 

After both batches of iron had molten Zaran poured about half the red iron ore into the mold, followed by the black and finally more of the red. During this process the red and black had already started to interweave, but because he had casted the red first there was still a layer of red on the bottom. Zaran took the same forging steps as before, but this time not accepting any of Eoric's help even though it was offered to him even when his sweat started to have a red tinge to it, he forced himself to continue to finish the blade. 

After finishing the blade Zaran sat down with his head on his knees as he had pushed himself far beyond his limits to finish it. He had gotten another 10 points in strength and 17 in stamina and advanced to advanced level 6 in blacksmithing, but he instantly disregarded this boxes and rested for a while. Once he was done resting he checked his character stats. 

Character infoRaceZunoProfessionSeeker of truthSub-profession 1Hellbeast masterSub-profession 2N/ALevel12Unspent stat points30StatsHealth500/500Mana300/300Ki300/300Racial ??????/??Strength170Flexibility87Agility112Stamina120Vitality25Focus73Intelligence50Wisdom48Perception10Luck5Charm2Willpower50ReputationHonour5Fame50God's merit1

His character stats were way beyond his level but Zaran still felt like he was lacking. Even with his abnormal stats he was drained after a day of smithing so no doubt he was weaker than most blacksmiths. Zaran let out a sigh at his stats and hoped the sewers would bring in a lot of levels as he really needed to start leveling pronto.

Zaran's eyes shifted to the red-black blade that lied next to him and picked it up and thoroughly inspected it. He felt quite happy with this blade and gave it a few swings. The balance felt about right and the blade seemed sufficiently sharp as a full powered swing barely made any sound. Zaran brought up the blade's stats and was first asked to give the blade a name. 

Hmm, this didn't pop up last time? Well.. whatever. Let's see... a name... it can only be that one right? Zaran thought as a smile surfaced on his face. After entering the name the blade's statscreen automatically popped up. 

Gigenkai (masterpiece)Damage75-100Durability100/100RequirementsLevel10Strength100DescriptionA peculiar blade crafted by Zaran Karaz. Even though it was made with inferior materials, 

the blade boasts tremendous strength and is more powerfull than some weapons made with higher grade materials.

Because of the blade's shape and weight it is a very difficult blade to master.

Due to the sheer size and weight of the blade it applies a knockback effect on weak enemies.

Gigenkai old pal... you join me once again. Zaran muttered as he attached the blade sideways to his back in a simple sheath that he had Eoric make. It really wasn't much more than a few leather belts, but they had sufficient strength to hold the heavy blade in its place. Zaran bade farewell to Eoric and took off with Nuvahn, Cindarrah and Kirin.

First they would go to the training center as both Nuvahn and Zaran were eager to test their new weapons against each other. Moreover Zaran still had to impart Nuvahn with the three skills of Dance of the butterfly that he had thus far created.

And so Zaran, Nuvahn, Kirin and Cindarrah set of for the training field.