We find ourselves in a small clearing behind the shop with several dummies made of straw and wood, as well as a giant pole in a corner that looks extremely similar to the one I saw on the mountain.

“So, this sword is an estoc, a sword with an extremely shard tip but blunted sides.” I explain to Claire without knowing if she actually knows what an estoc is, “Typically these are used to pierce armor, but I have bestowed several helpful skills into it. First is that it will lock onto any source of mana in an area, whether it be a mage casting or an artifact being activated. Then the wielder will have two choices. They can either push their mana through and try to stifle the activation of said spell or artifact, or they can lunge with the sword locked onto a single target, which will open a small portal just above the surface of the mana source connected to one directly at the spot of the lunge such that the lunge strike is practically undodgeable.” 

Alex moves to talk but Claire shushes her and asks, “That sounds amazing, but how will it be able to get through defensive spells? This will certainly destroy common artifacts, but a mage will typically have some sort of defense prepared. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad you made this as a catch all, especially since you had nothing before. But mages typically have something to stop enemy spells from forming right under their reach. Especially since it's normally impossible to completely suppress a magic activation with just a sheer torrent of mana from the other effect.”

I scratch my head embarrassed, “I didn’t think anything of other mages since you don’t have any artifacts on you.” I notice her frowning and hurry on to my excuse, “Well, this is made specifically for Sif, so she should be able to overpower any normal mage or artifact with the first option. The lockdown function also compresses mana used in the sensory aspect to delay the activation, letting you channel an additional concentrated burst before launching it, so it will be considerably more effective than just shooting out a stream of mana. As for the portal, I am confident it won’t be able to be easily blocked. The sword has a rather long ranged aura to sense mana. Since I am relying on Sif’s inhuman reaction speed, she needs to merely activate the sword when she senses the ‘loose’ mana of a spell not yet formed or of the transference of mana to an artifact. The sword will then hijack some of the loose mana to augment the magic, so most defenses won’t even register that the portal forming is a foreign magic.”

Claire sighs and shakes her head while Alex explodes into speech, “THAT'S AMAAAAAAZING!!! Truly an absurd idea to use mana still being formed into a spell or being passed through to an artifact to set up your own little backdoor to stab at them! Maybe with something else to boost the user’s speed it will be able to be used by more people than just your friend here! I mean, think of the possibilities, a sword that can effectively destroy any magic user it comes against! But before anything else, test it on the durability pole! All that fancy anti magic stuff won’t do anything if the sword can’t pierce anything!”

My group all chuckles, achieving an annoyed glare from Alex, “I know you’re all confident, but for something made so fast, it has to be tested! Even the best make mistakes, and there’s no telling if a finished product is brittle or has weaknesses until you test it. In fact, you typically do more before actually trying to strike with it but I have no clue what such a magic infused blade could be tested with. WHY ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT ME WITH SUCH AMUSEMENT!” 

“Because last time she tested a blade old Tarkin had to repair the most difficult part of his testing pole.” Claire laughs, though Alex continues to glare, waiting for us to test the estoc.

I toss Lyn a small piece of ore I inscribed with a fortification rune, “Lyn, take this and attach it to the toughest section of the pole. To test you will activate the rune I inscribed, remotely of course, and we will have Sif stand by the door and activate the mana piercer function. Then we can demonstrate both its strength and utility.”

Alex, Claire, and I move to the side of the room facing the pillar. Lyn happily places the ore on the pole then raises her hand. “Reeaadyyy? Now!” 

As soon as I see the ore start to accept mana it is destroyed by a flash of steel. I move to inspect how deep the sword pierced the pole only to have Alex dash ahead. 

“Hmm, about 4 inches into the pole, with another 2 inches through the test artifact.” Nodding her head, Alex beams, “Nice! Just enough to not need to worry about your sword getting stuck somewhere. And no need to worry about repairing these things, unless a part is completely severed off we can fill the gap with slag and the magic in the pillar will combine it to fit the part that’s missing.”

I puff up my chest and brag a bit more, “Not only that, but I put special marks to control how much the sword would go through the portal! So if the user wanted to just destroy an artifact, you can control the piercing depth that will portal through in half inch increments. That way we can use it to just destroy artifacts if we need to take in somebody alive.” 

A mischievous glimmer passes through Alex’s eyes as she questions, “But why bother with a sword? Sure it looks elegant and all, but with your skills wouldn’t it have been better to just make it a spear? You were just-”

Sif steps next to us and interrupts with an explanation, “We were not just showing off a pretty sword. The truth is the wood base of a normal spear would not be able to be reinforced the same was as metal. By using alchemy we can heavily alter metal to become top grade material, but we cannot do the same with wood. We could make the entire thing metal, but that would waste more materials.” 

Lyn also chimes in, “It's also muuuch easier to carry around a sword. Spears are so long and there’s no such thing as a spear sheath. We can just sheath whatever sword Robin makes and nobody will know to get jealous at how amazing it is!” She smirks at Alex and continues, “Anyways, now that this is all done, let me tell you what I request I took. It iiiiisss, spirit wolf subjugation! I assume some wolf pack absorbed too much mana from the mountain festival and evolved into spirit wolves. Should be an easy first task for us!”