Mateo Pena had a very unique family. Both grandparents were from Mexico and heavily religious. Them being religious was not without reason. Mateo’s family had a history of being overly sensitive to the unseen, to the supernatural or to be more specific to the paranormal. Seeing sudden silhouette in the night popping out of nowhere was the norm for Mateo. He had a difficult childhood but growing to adulthood made him slightly desensitize a bit as most of the time he tried to ignore their existence.

 

Yet in front of this man called Jason, he felt something else besides the ghost that he usually saw sitting on top of graveyards. He barely remembered the first time they met but he was sure that Jason didn’t give off such a bad kind of vibe.

 

But this second time was different and he couldn’t put his head together of how a person could change in such a short period of time. Even for Mateo, this was a first for him to witness such a thing happening to a real-life person.

 

Blurry ghastly smoke surrounded Jason’s body. It was barely visible yet Mateo could felt the coldness coming from this man. It was rather weird for Mateo to felt such coldness in the smithy. There was never an occasion he felt cool in this smithy since the temperature inside was quite high.

 

Mateo himself was dumbfounded by this and the eerie feeling he got after seeing these things hovering around Jason only made goosebumps crawling all over his body.

 

He heard the question from Jason about being able to make a sword or not. Although he didn’t have formal experience in making one, he did had a side-job of making sword prop for cosplayers.

 

Yet being asked by this person made him questioned himself whether it was a good idea or not to reveal such information. Mateo felt wary about Jason as at times he could vaguely hear creepy hollow sounds but what came next astounded him even more.

 

Above Jason’s head, Mateo saw something. Two numbers floating above Jason’s head depicting twenty-six. This wasn’t the first he had seen such thing, he once saw a group of three people wearing military uniform having a single-digit number floating on top of his head.

 

He heard rumors as well as looking up on the internet, that the military was finally taking a step in fighting against the UC and it was all because of these Awakened, dubbed as a new breed of human capable of vanquishing these monsters. Mateo himself saw the red hair maiden from America fighting in TV against those monsters.

 

Mateo knew what it meant to be an Awakened. One of these days, he had trouble sleeping in the night, afraid of a sudden ambush from these monsters. Although these monsters were still far away from reaching Toronto, Mateo was still worried knowing that anything could happen in life.

 

Then Mateo’s view towards Jason changed. Rather than cowering in fear over whatever that surrounding Jason, Mateo felt it was better to accept this man. With confidence in Mateo’s voice, he answered to Jason.

 

“Yes,” Mateo said.

 

“Good, let’s start then,” said Jason.

 

The two spent time in the smithy as Mateo taught Jason his know-how on how swordsmithing. Hammer hit metal as sparks flew. These two were working together hand-in-hand and after hours enduring the heat of the furnace, cold steel emerged from the depth of water.

 

Jason couldn’t hide his smile seeing the double-edge blade. It was a pretty crude sword considering it was just a piece of metal with both blade and hilt altogether in one form. It made sense considering Mateo was an amateur in sword-making, cosplayer didn’t ask much other than for the sword to be cool.

 

Jason was informed by Mateo regarding that matter but Jason didn’t mind.

 

Crude Iron Sword Category : 1H-Sword Grade : Normal A rather crude weapon made without any formal knowledge of sword-smithing. Still capable of inflicting damage but lacking in durability. Attack : +21

 

Jason held up the crude iron sword in both of his hands. The grip on the hilt was cold and kind of pointy. It was rather uncomfortable but nonetheless, he felt proud seeing this sword.

 

This wasn’t the end as Jason continued to make another one much to the surprise of Mateo. It was already late in the night and he was dead tired but Jason was brimming with energy. Mateo didn’t want to waste this chance thus he put up with it.

 

In the end, the clock struck midnight and another sword was born. This time Jason made the sword from scratch without any aid from Mateo and the result was far different.

 

Crude Iron Sword Category : 1H-Sword Grade : Normal A rather crude weapon made without any formal knowledge of sword-smithing. Still capable of inflicting damage but lacking in durability. Attack : +21(+1)

 

There was an additional damage point for the weapon and looking back on how he made the sword, he put a few ideas in mind as he tempered the sword. Jason didn’t know how to explain it but it was as if a flow of knowledge coming in and out subtly as if brushing against his mind like an autumn breeze.

 

He didn’t know where this inspiration came but he had an inkling that it might be related to his Basic Smithing and he wasn’t wrong. The Basic Smithing he had was aiding him during smithing, correcting his method as well as improvising it.

 

Jason didn’t stop smithing as he continued to make one sword after another. He was growing accustomed to the hammer as well as the furnace and by daybreak, there was a line of sword neatly placed together.

 

Mateo who tried to keep up with Jason fell asleep in the last hour as he suddenly woke up from a bad dream, his gaze met the sight of those swords.

 

Him being amazed was an understatement. Mateo noticed how every time Jason finished a sword, it would look even sharper than the previous one and even the time spent was getting shorter with each new sword produced.

 

Mateo stared at Jason as if he was looking at a genius blacksmith in the making. But then something else just struck him, the first light of dawn broke through the window as he finally realized it was morning. A new day at work but he was dead tired and not to mentioned the mess in the smithy.

 

Then the sudden thought of price came by. He didn’t have the guts to ask Jason worrying that something bad would happen. But if he didn’t, then his job would be on the line here. Getting his boss piss wouldn’t be the best idea at the moment.

 

Mateo pulled himself together and braced himself.

 

“Sir, the material cost it’s…” but before he could end his word, Jason flashed a card at Mateo.

 

“Swipe it,” Jason said with the swagger of a rich person. He had never felt or act like this before but it felt good having this amount of money.

 

I have to admit, I guess having a load of money really puts confidence in oneself. If a millionaire felt like this then what about those freaking billionaires?

While Jason was lost in his own thought, he then remembered something. He turned back to Mateo who was dealing with his card.

 

“Oh by the way, can you prepare more material for the swords? It would be best if you’ve got a lot more material other than iron,” said Jason.

 

Mateo didn’t know what to say to this man. From the look of it, it was as if Jason was planning to go another round of sword-making. But Mateo had to break the news to Jason.

 

“Sir, there isn’t much material in our smithy considering we are renting a part of this place, the only things we’ve got are iron and a few steel ingots,” said Mateo.

 

“Then buy them,” said Jason nonchalantly.

 

“Eh?” Mateo didn’t quite understand what he meant.

 

“Contact the supplier and buy them in bulk. You don’t need to worry about money, I’ll pay for them along with a fifteen percent commission for your help,” said Jason.

 

It took some time for Mateo to registered it all but as soon as he figured it out, he was gobsmacked in surprise. A sudden business opportunity came out of nowhere. But he wasn’t the one in charge, so he didn’t know how to respond. Then he thought of something.

 

“How many do you need?” Mateo asked.

 

“Enough to make a thousand swords,” once more Jason’s words surprised the heck out of this Latino.

 

Jason approached the gaping mouth Mateo and took back his card, he patted Mateo’s shoulder as he said.

 

“I’ll be back in the evening or perhaps tomorrow morning so try to prepare as much as you can,” Jason said.

 

As he was walking away to the main entrance. Mateo realized he was leaving behind the swords.

 

“Sir, what about these swords?” Mateo asked.

 

“Do whatever you want with them, they are all yours,” said Jason as he left the building.

 

Mateo looked around the empty and messy smithy. He got a bad feeling about this and he was right.

 

“The hell is going on here?” a shout came from behind.

 

Mateo turned and there he was, his boss. Mateo immediately turned flustered as he didn’t expect this situation to happen this soon.

 

“I can explain,” said Mateo.

 

He desperately explained everything from the beginning to the end. His boss had a hard time believing all of this nonsense bullshit but once Mateo showed him the receipt from Jason’s payment, everything cooled down a bit.

 

Next, he went on explaining about Jason’s request. Again, the boss felt it was ridiculous hearing about purchasing materials enough to make a thousand swords but the boss convinced once more after Mateo mentioned about the commission.

 

The boss couldn’t help but turn interested in this new customer of theirs. In the end, he took along Mateo and went to the security room. Both of them watched the security footage that captured the view of their smithy and as he watched it in fast-forward, he finally believed Mateo’s words.

 

--

 

Meanwhile, Jason was back home and as per usual, his mother was worried. He came up with a white lie telling her he spent the night at Hakeem’s house. For now, it was enough to soothe the mother’s heart.

 

After filling up with breakfast, he went to his room slept through the whole day. By the time he woke up, it was already dark. Yet he already had a plan in motion.

 

He got up from the bed and drove himself to a neighborhood. He parked the pink minivan in front of a house. The light on the porch was on and Jason took a few deep breaths before he got out of the car.

 

The moon was high on the sky as he walked over the front lawn, finally reaching the front doorstep. Jason knocked on the door trice before he heard a gentle soft voice coming from inside.

 

“Coming,” said the person from inside.

 

Then the door was opened revealing a gray-haired lady covered with a thick knitted cardigan with different patterns on it. She wore thick glasses with a gentle smile flashing on her face. She adjusted her thick frame glasses and asked Jason.

 

“You must be Jason. If I must say, you have quite the eyes for a young man. Come in, let this old-timer teach you how to sew some clothes,” said the gray-haired lady.

 

Jason went inside the house and after a few hours passed, the clock struck midnight. Jason came out from the house with a smile as well as a full belly.

 

“Thank you Mrs.Prada, have a goodnight then,” said Jason as he walked towards his minivan.

 

His gaze couldn’t leave the sight of the blue thing floating in front of him.

 

Skill: Basic Tailoring acquired