A little while after the ruckus we caused at the guild, we went back to Willows shop to start forging the blades. However, we entered in an unexpected scene in the Shop.

“No, it’s not like that! You have to hit it more carefully or else it’ll turn into an iron rod instead!”, Willow said lecturing Athena who was hitting a hammer against an iron rod that was supposed to be a sword.

“What’s going on?”, I asked as the familiar heat started to hit my face once again. “It’s just this girl! She doesn’t know how to smith! I explained to her over and over, but she doesn’t get it!”, willow complained, Athena heard that und got embarrassed for not being able to do it.

“Why can’t you do it Athena?”, I asked Athena who was starting to hide her face from embarrassment. “I…. can’t do it. It’s just too hard.”, Athena mustered to say.

“Well, it seems it’s going to be just me and Willow then.”, I sighed. Athena however, felt bad and said. “No, please let me help.”, she stubbornly said with determination in her eyes.

“What about this. Why don’t you go on quests with Azure? If you cannot forge then you can help us in a different way.”, I said trying to come up with a solution to her problem. If she can’t do it yet, then she should occupy herself by doing something else in the meantime. We must give in the magic swords in three days since we wasted one getting the materials.

Athena nodded and Azure got excited for being able to go on a quest with Athena. I looked at Willow and he nodded as if he understood what we had to do. “Aight’ let’s start makin’ the swords.”, Willow said with a determined smile.

Willow showed me how the magic swords would have to look like, the sword would be a long one that extended from your knees  all the way to the head and a symbol would be plastered on the hilt of the sword. The symbol would be a sun that would be about to set and that would signify the ‘Dawn’ from Dawnwell.

“Now lets get on to workin’ we should have enough Adamantite to make twenty magic swords.”, Willow said, he grabbed the Adamantite ore and threw it into the forge, I then went over there and turned the flames into black ones with ‘Corruption’ and heated it all the way.

“Still gotta ask, what spell did ya use? Was it a ‘Fire Attribute Magic’ spell?”, Willow asked, curious as to what spell I used. The spell was ‘Corruption’, it is pretty much me spreading my mana over the flames and they turned black and then I could manipulate the flames. However, that changed now that I gained the skill ‘Flame Manipulation’, I can now make fire as if I was using ‘Fire Attribute Magic’, the only difference is that it uses dark attribute mana instead of fire attribute.

“It’s a skill that I have.”, I told Willow as a form of an answer to his question. He did not question me any further since he believed in me.

Athena went with Azure to take some quests to level up and get new skills, Athena is almost about to reach level one hundred on ‘Fire Attribute Mage’ and Azure wanted to evolve again to become even stronger.

The Adamantite ore was already melting and the blazes of the furnace were cooling down, it was wonderful how the black flames turned off slowly almost like dust. Willow poured the melted ore into a mold of the sword and then picked up another ore and put it in the forge, this one I would be making while he made another sword.

I waited for the ore to melt and pored it into a mold, I got rid of the heat to some extent to harden it. Afterwards I picked it up and started working, a normal smith would have taken days just to make a sword, but thanks to the skill ‘Flame Manipulation’ I could get rid of the heat in the sword.

I put the molded sword into the anvil and started hitting it, I could feel it hitting swiftly as if I have been doing it my whole life. The skill ‘Blacksmith’ was probably increasing my smithing ability.

The sword had a glow of a crystal, but the appearance of a holy sword, it was beautiful in my perspective. I could feel the shape of the sword shaping itself since I could feel the heat around it, it was as if mana were on it already.

I helped Willow as well, he could probably use magic, but didn’t know many spells. He finished his sword sooner than me, he was a veteran at smithing weapons and I was a beginner at it. The sword was amazing, it looked as if it had power enough to kill a dragon in one swing, it had a weird color as if a rainbow had been imbued to it.

I was still working on mine, so I had to give my best if I wanted to make twenty in three days.

<< The Levels of ‘Blacksmith’ and ‘Flame Manipulation’ have increased. >>

The moon was already at its zenith and I was about to fall asleep from being up for too long. Athena came back home and hasn’t been able to change jobs yet, Azure was walking joyfully because she was able to go on a quest with Athena.

Willow could not work any further, so he left the rest of the work to me. We made seven swords made from Adamantite, we still needed thirteen more.

‘Come on Shiro! You’ve pulled many all-nighters before, this is nothing!’, I told myself as I felt my consciousness slip away, but I held myself together and continued my work diligently. Unlike Willows swords mine looked kind of crude, or rather more like imitations of the original.

No matter how hard I tried the sword would never resemble his, I tried hitting more passionately, more forcefully, more gently, but none of them helped. I even went to the point of manipulating the shape through the heat surrounding it, but that did not work either.

I looked at the sword I just made, had a weird shape, but it still was a sword, however it was not sharp enough to cut. I went to the whetstone that Willow has and started sharpening it, after a few seconds of sharpening it the sword started to look more like it was supposed to.

“No… this one isn’t perfect either.”, I said disappointed by not being able to make a sword just like Willows. Athena and the others were already asleep, I stood up from the whetstone and put the sword together with the others silently so that I would not wake up the others.

I opened the windows, the moon was bigger than the one on earth and the stars were shining more brightly. You could hear the city of Sintel still flourishing with people, the buildings that flowed like the moon gave you the illusion that you were in a painting.

‘Why can’t I make the sword correctly? Willow makes it seem so easy, but it’s really hard.’, I thought to myself in the silence of night, no matter how high my skill went I would never be able to make an exact replica of Willows swords.

“Ya still up? Huh, yer tougher than I thought.”, I heard a voice in the middle of the silence, it was Willow who was inspecting the swords I made. I started getting a little embarrassed by him looking at what I made, but my expression still stood the same, unchanging.

“Yer tryin’ to make swords like mine aye?”, he asked event though he probably already knew the answer. “Ya know… yer the weirdest elf I’ve seen. Ya want to make swords and yer inspired by it.”, Willow said.

He probably thought I was an elf because elf my long ears, he would have never guessed that I was a ghost unless I would turn off ‘Materialization’.

He thought it was weird for an elf to like blacksmithing, elves are not exactly known for liking to use metal for their weapons. Everybody also knew that elves and dwarfs weren’t really fond of each other, however I wasn’t an elf.

I did not respond to his words, I just stood there silent, I looked as if I could disappear at any moment because of my candle wax like white skin. “Yer stuck with the idea that ya have to make a sword like me. Don’t ya?”, he said.

My body twitched a little, it was as if his words hit me right where it hurts. I always thought ‘what can I do to make it exactly like him?’ or ‘how can I make them perfect in my eyes?’, but I never received an answer. I was frustrated that I could not make something that I was satisfied with.

“Ya have to stop thinkin’ that ya have to make everythin’ perfect. You’ll only end up hurtin’ yourself. Emotionally or maybe one day even worse.”, the moment Willow said that I thought about something. “Did the same thing happen to you.?”, I asked curious as to what his answer would be.

He nodded and looked down on the blades I made, his eyes were looking at them as if he were having a flashback. “I was like you ya know? I always tried and tried but I never got the desired outcome. My previous teacher told me to stop thinkin’ bout makin’ something that already exists and to try to make something that only you can make.”, he said.

“What if the thing that you make isn’t like you wanted it to be?”, I asked. Willow looked at me with determined eyes. “Then, you’ll have to try over and over. You’ll see your creation become great and horrible at the same time, you’ll get discouraged many times. But ya should never give up.”, Willow said with all his heart.

“I know it probably sounds like false hope, but just keep on tryin’ till’ ya get what ya wanted, but if ya don’t try then you’ll never know whether or not ya can make somethin’ amazing.”, Willow said, I stood on the same position without moving a single inch, my face was expressionless as always.

“Now! Why don’t we go’n start makin’ more swords.”, Willow said smiling vigorously.

<< The Levels of ‘Status Effect Resistance’, ‘Surpass Limits’, ‘Blacksmith’, ‘Enhanced Human Strength’ and ‘Flame Manipulation’ have increased. >>

I was feeling a lot better after the words Willow gave me, and now my swords started to have more shape and I had the feeling as if I could go on forever. It was already morning and we had nineteen swords already made, now the only thing we had to do was make the last one and then imbue them with magic spells.

Athena would help with imbuing them with spells, since the king’s aide requested ‘Fire Attribute Magic’ spells. We would also be teaching Azure magic, since she has a human body and probably a mind, she should be able to do magic if she practiced.

I finished the sword and Willow appraised it. “Not bad. This one might be the best among them.”, he said truly amazed by my improvement. Athena was still asleep and Azure in her slime form was watching me forge the sword like it was some sort of entertainment for her.

“Aight’ now all we have to do is imbue them with magic.”, Willow said picking up a small crystal stone, it shone with the morning light like fire. “Now I’ll teach ya how to imbue them, you’ll be doin’ it with a normal sword or rather you’ll be makin’ yer own magic sword.”, Willow showed me a stone it looked like some weird metal or charcoal.

“This is Mythril. I’m willin’ to give it to ya. This much should be able to make two of ‘em.”, the stone Willow gave me was Mythril one of the many famous magic ores out there. “Thank you very much.”, I took the Mythril ore and thanked him.

I started working on my own magic sword, I would first do what I should always do, I turned on the forge with ‘Flame Manipulation’ to heat it up, afterwards I inserted the Mythril and waited till it would melt.

Athena woke up soon after I started working on my sword. “Good morning Master.”, she said still tired since she just woke up, her doll like face looked cute even when she was sleepy. “Good morning. Could you help Willow with imbuing magic into the swords.”, I asked of her and she nodded.

“Thank you.”, I said as I returned to my work with a ton of motivation.