The morning was filled with Ben fulfilling his promises to the gods, making a few statues quickly to keep them pleased and handing them off to some of Nare’s representatives who came to pick them up before the two left for a meal and to watch the matches that were to come, with both the quarter and semifinals taking place that day for the crowd to enjoy.

Ben enjoyed it too, even if it wasn’t anywhere near the main thing he was looking forward to that day. The entire time as fights were going on right in front of him, his thoughts were on the sword. He’d definitely be able to improve it, it was simply a matter of how much, but he was feeling equal parts confident and impatient.

He just wanted to start, but that was the screams of the workaholic in him. There was no reason to leave the tournament early to do it when there was no urgent reason, and even if he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able. In the end, Vela won both of his matches, making it to the final round the next day which had given him no choice but to stay for the entire thing.

That the contestant had gotten so far ended up surprising Ben a bit too. While he didn’t seem any worse than the rest of the competitors, it felt pretty obvious that Vela was being hampered by his weapon, but despite that he managed to push through both rounds, no matter how narrow the results looked and leaving him to compete in the finals the following day.

“Looks like some congrats are in order,” Ben said positively as the swordsman made his way to them. “You had some exciting matches.”

“Thank you, hopefully I’ll be able to put on an even better show tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it, now come on. Oh wait, first take this.”

“What is it?” Vela asked as he eyed the necklace Ben gave him, not seeing the point of it.

“Dark resistance pendant so I don’t get in any trouble for dragging you through the gate. Now enough questions and daddling, I want to get started.”

Without waiting for more, Ben dragged him off through the gate, off to Anailia where the victim of his plan for fixing the sword was waiting already, the great fire spirit Insedis looking as beaten down as the last time Ben had seen him.

“So what exactly am I being forced to do?” He sighed with his head hung. When they’d asked for him only the day before his niece had made it plenty clear they weren’t actually offering him a choice, more than happy to get some of the other great spirits along with his wife to force him into it.

“Ah, I’m glad you asked buddy. I just so happened to need access to a powerful magic fire, and well, who could fit the bill more?”

“I’m sorry, you need me to act as your furnace?”

“More like my forge, it’ll be fine.”

Ben’s strategy for fixing the blade was actually rather simple when it came down to it. Since the orichalcum that the blade was made from could only be warped and damaged by magic, that meant all of the issues had to have been inflicted by magic. Adding in some consideration for the magic nullification bound to it, to him at least that implied that a certain level of power could overwhelm that effect, giving him the wiggle room he needed to work with the sword to improve its overall condition.

It felt like flawless reasoning on his part at least, but his temporary forge seemed to have a different view.

“If you just needed a magic applied to it then earth mana should have been more than enough for your attempt.”

“I’ll be here if you aren’t good enough to help get the job done,” Thera told him, barely sparing her uncle a glance. “Besides, Ben’s more used to doing things this way.”

“It really does feel more natural to work with a fire than to try and have someone else alter a material’s consistency,” Ben agreed. “I mean, sure, I could do the latter but the first leaves me feeling a lot more in control, you know?”

“I don’t but let’s just get this over with them,” The great spirit sighed, knowing he wouldn’t be escaping the fate forced upon him and at least knowing that even if it wasn’t going to be a comfortable experience having such a blade jammed inside of him, it wouldn’t be as traumatic as his past fight with his niece.

“Great to have your support, if I could just get you to change your shape to really cover the anvil without melting it while generating plenty of heat for me otherwise then we can get started.”

Ben grabbed Vela’s sword as he said it, materializing his mana to quickly create a hammer for himself as he got to work, heating the blade with the spirit’s fire and hammering away, instantly feeling improvement compared to his attempt the day prior as it warped under his blows, if still only slightly.

But that’s more than enough. Even if it takes me hours, this means I can do it.

The excitement left him positively giddy as he worked, focusing on the largest issue first of straightening the blade and putting all of his strength into each swing, his high stamina letting him keep up with the unusually intense workload but still leaving him certain he’d be feeling his muscles ache the next day as the time wore on.

In the moment though it was nothing but the price of an enjoyable challenge, one he was more than happy to pay by the time he pulled the now-glowing sword from the spirit to look it over, finding it perfectly straight and letting him move on to the relatively similar task of fixing some of the nicks and kinks along the edge.

As much as it pained him, with the amount of work it was taking he knew he wouldn’t be getting all of the scratches out but as long as he could give it a good cutting edge then that would need to be enough for the time being. Anything more could be left as the project of some future smith or craftsman if they got the luck to lay hands on the sword.

With each swing of his hammer, Ben pulled it from the flames to look over until he was finally done, the end product as perfect as he could manage. From a purely visual standpoint he could have made any number of swords that would look better but none that would be as challenging to work, and with an air of satisfaction he let himself enjoy the feeling of a job well done as he added the final touches by replacing the missing guard and rewrapping the handle for use.

Which anyone should have been able to do compared to the challenge that was improving the blade itself. Def something to mention to Vela for the next time.

He fully intended to bring it up then and there too, but when he turned to hand over the sword he could see the swordsman was transfixed.

“Well, what do you think?”

“To think you really could fix it to such an extent,” Vela muttered before seeming to realize himself and wasted no time to give a deep bow. “Thank you, I shall never forget this.”

“Ha, I’d hope not. With the way it currently stands it should be good for another couple hundred years of heavy use so make sure you don’t get offed in the next wave.”

“Of course, your efforts on my behalf won’t be for nothing, I’ll show you as much tomorrow.”