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"Nice to meet you. I'm Tsubaki Collbrande, captain of the Hephaestus Familia."Tsubaki held out her hand to Alex.
Alex reached out and shook it. "Alex, captain of the Hestia Familia. Pleasure."
Tsubaki could feel the strength in his grip, and it only raised her opinion of him.
She was a level 5 adventurer—strength and endurance were her specialties.Yet Alex's grip felt even stronger than hers. That surprised her.
Not a bad thing, though. If you don't have power, you can't swing a hammer anyway.
After the introductions, Tsubaki brought him to her workshop and began teaching him how to forge.
Truth was, mortal forging wasn't complicated. With good materials, any decent blacksmith could make a fine weapon.
But a smith with the development ability Forge could take the same materials and craft something far better.
Not only that—the success rate shot up as well.
That was the magic of a development ability.
Alex wanted to learn divine-level smithing, but even that required starting at the basics.No one learns to sprint before they learn to walk… unless they're cheating.
Tsubaki explained the basic forging process, then had Alex watch her forge a weapon from scratch.She wasn't great at teaching verbally, so demonstration was her best method.
Alex didn't mind at all and watched with full focus.
Tsubaki pulled out a piece of dragon scale and tossed it into the furnace.
Soon it was glowing bright red.
She removed it, laid it on the anvil, and began hammering with a massive hammer.
During the hammering, she sprinkled special metallic powders across the surface.
When the powders mixed with the heated scale, some kind of reaction occurred. The scale actually softened.
Its hardness didn't decrease—it just gained flexibility.
After repeated heating, hammering, and adding metals, the dragon scale gradually took shape as a sword blank.
It became a two-handed greatsword, and a pretty good one at that.
Next came the finishing work: grinding the edge, sharpening, and carving runes along the blade.
After that she crafted the hilt and scabbard and assembled everything together.
In just one morning, a top-tier weapon was complete.
The dragon scale and rare metal powders cost about 1,500 valis.
Yet the finished weapon could sell for around 3,000.
No wonder the Hephaestus Familia was rich.
Tsubaki swung the greatsword a few times, then asked, "You get all that?"
Alex nodded, then shook his head.
Tsubaki frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I understood the forging steps," Alex said. "They're simple. But I couldn't understand the runes you carved."
Tsubaki laughed. "That part isn't urgent. Learn the basics first. I'll teach you the rest later."
Alex nodded. He had plenty of time and no need to rush.
He used to hate studying, but ever since the sacred flame purified him and boosted his talent, he'd begun to enjoy it.That feeling of constantly improving, constantly growing stronger—it was addictive.
"Well then, let's go test this sword in the Dungeon." Tsubaki grabbed her things without waiting for his reply and dragged him along.
That was her routine: every time she finished forging a weapon, she tested it herself.
Years of doing this had pushed even a blacksmith like her to level 5—stronger than ninety-nine percent of Orario's adventurers.
They headed down to the 17th floor, where the floor boss Goliath spawned.
Goliath respawned every week. It had been more than half a month since Alex killed the last one, so another had already appeared.
Even without Alex, Goliath would've been cleared anyway—big Familia groups regularly took it down so adventurers could safely pass to the 18th floor. If no Familia stepped up, the Guild would issue an urgent quest to force someone to do it.
With a rumbling roar, the monster tore itself free from the Wall of Lamentation.
Tsubaki tossed the greatsword to Alex, eyes shining. "You try it!"
Alex caught it, his expression sharpening.
A scene flashed through his mind—Luo Hao's sword strike that killed Kenneth in a single blow, back in the Type-Moon world.Back then he couldn't even imitate it.Now… now he felt like he could.
Battle aura surged.
A transparent flame burst from his body. He exhaled, releasing a puff of magic-tinged heat.
All of his magic overflowed into the sword.
The blade ignited with light.
"Whoa… strong." Tsubaki's eyes widened.
She'd assumed the captain of Hestia Familia was level 1 or maybe level 2. A high-level adventurer was the last thing she expected.
Goliath charged him and threw a massive punch.
"Flame… Devouring… Wave Cutter!"
His blade swung.
A crescent sword aura, more than a hundred meters wide, exploded out and sliced Goliath clean in half.
Even its magic stone split cleanly in two.
"What the hell was that? Flame Devouring Wave Cutter? And you're using a sword!" Tsubaki yelped, still stunned.
Even she, a level 5, couldn't have withstood that strike.
Alex scratched his cheek. "Uh… I just yelled something. It's not a skill."
He didn't know why, but he'd suddenly remembered a certain lucky guy with extreme chuunibyou energy and couldn't stop himself from shouting something dramatic.
"You really are a big kid," Tsubaki said with a laugh. She took the sword back and inspected it.
Despite the power of that strike, the blade showed no damage.
It was like electrical resistance. When current flows through something with high resistance, it heats up—keep it up long enough and it melts.
Injecting magic into a weapon worked similarly. Magic resistance inside the weapon caused stress and heat.
The higher the grade of the weapon, the lower its magic resistance.
There was even a material with zero magic resistance—mythril.
In scientific terms, it was basically a superconductor.
After inspecting the weapon, Tsubaki asked, "How's it feel? Handle well? Any improvements you'd suggest?"
Alex thought a moment. "Feels great. But when I channel magic, the blade gets too hot. My hand gets sweaty, and the grip feels slippery."
Tsubaki nodded. "That makes sense. The sword is made from the scales of a fire-attribute dragon. It's great for magic conduction—second only to mythril—but when fire-type scales absorb magic, they heat up."
Alex suggested, "Then maybe swap the hilt for something heat-resistant?"
Tsubaki shook her head. "Too simple. You channel magic through your hands into the hilt, then the blade. If the hilt is heat-insulated, the magic resistance increases too."
Alex nodded, impressed. Every craft had its depth.
Then a thought hit him. "What about using water-attribute dragon scales for the hilt?"
Tsubaki glanced at him and nodded slowly. "Possible… but water-type scales are hard to find. And fire and water don't combine easily."
They discussed ideas as they left the Dungeon.
Back at the Hephaestus Familia, Tsubaki began working on improvements while Alex read through forging manuals.
The day passed quickly.
Tsubaki invited him to stay for dinner, and he agreed.
After eating, he went to the Guild exchange and sold Goliath's magic stone.
Because it was split in half, they only paid 3 million this time—down from the usual 5 million.
Back at the church, Alex found visitors waiting.
It was Riveria and Lefiya from the Loki Familia.
They'd come to study High-Speed Chanting from Merlin.
In exchange, Riveria taught Merlin, Morgan, and Roxy the technique of Parallel Chanting.
Parallel Chanting allowed a mage to attack, move, evade, and chant simultaneously—a true multitasking skill.
In all of Orario, the strongest user of it was Liliruca, with Riveria close behind.
Alex approved of this kind of mutual training. It wasn't some forbidden secret anyway, and it helped strengthen bonds with the Loki Familia.
However, the Arcane Codex and War God Chapters that Hestia had compiled were absolutely not to be shared—only core Familia members could even look at them.
Alex greeted the two elves with a nod and headed to the basement.
There he found only Sakura and Illya playing.
Seeing him, the two little girls ran at him happily.
He scooped them up, one in each arm, making them laugh.
Riveria and Lefiya stayed late into the night before heading home. Alex left shortly after.
He returned to the inn and rested for the night.
"..."
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