NBAA Vol. 6 Chapter 5 Part 2
“Can I take this photo home?”
“Yeah, sure. Oh, yeah, remember how we were talking about the dwarves who can engrave Magic Marks?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
After learning about the existence of magic swords at the recent match, Reito wondered if his own Extermination Blade could also be used as a magic sword. So, he entrusted his Extermination Blade to a dwarf who worked for the Dalton Trading Company and who had the technology to engrave a pattern called a “Magic Mark,” which was necessary for the activation of a magic sword.
She had an apologetic look on her face.
“The blacksmith belonging to our trading company is having trouble with Mr. Reito’s sword… Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“The blacksmith?”
“Wait a minute, I’ll call him up now. Please, Alice.”
“On it.”
At Ferris’s command, Alice scurried out of the room. A few minutes later, she returned to the room and brought with her a man about 120 centimeters tall with a thick beard. The man was small in stature but had a muscular build, and he looked around at the people in the room while holding a hammer on his shoulder. He looked at Reito.
“Chairman… is this the woman you were talking about?”
“No, it’s a man.”
“Oh, well… I can’t tell the difference between human girls and boys, anyway…”
“Um…”
“Mr. Reito, this man’s name is Goyle, the best blacksmith in our trading company.”
Reito looked at the dwarf and then Ferris. She introduced him to Reito, and the man, whose name was Goyle, placed a yellow magic stone on the desk. Then he took out the “Extermination Blade” that Reito had left with him a few days earlier, and the desk began to creak under the sheer weight of it.
“Are you the owner of this?”
“Yes, but… um, have you finished engraving the Magic Marks?”
“About that, let me ask you something. Do you have any idea what this is made of?”
Goyle sat down on the sofa with his arms crossed, and Alice frowned at his attitude, but Reito did not seem bothered and replied by turning his gaze to the blade of the Extermination Blade.
“Adamantite.”
“Hmm!?!”
“ADAMANTITE!?”
“I knew it…”
Ferris spat out the tea she was drinking upon hearing Reito’s response to the question. Alice’s eyes widened in astonishment. Goyle, understanding their reactions, nodded and pointed his hammer towards the blade of the Extermination Blade to elucidate.
“Just as I suspected, it was forged from a legendary metal. No wonder it doesn’t dent even an inch no matter how much you heat it up or how hard you strike it.”
“Oh, I see…”
Reito now recalled that “Adamantite,” the material used for the Extermination Blade, was exceedingly rare. It was also utilized in the forging of the legendary Holy Sword in this realm. According to Goyle’s account, this metal was incredibly strong, rendering it impossible to process through ordinary methods.
Goyle let out a deep sigh as he raised the hammer he had brought with him and slammed it into the Extermination Blade.
“Ngh!”
“Whoa!”
“What the hell?”
“What is this…”
The moment the hammer collided with the blade a violent metallic sound echoed through the air. The blade of the Extermination Blade was not dented. On the contrary, Goyle’s arm went numb. Upon witnessing this, the three others looked surprised. When they looked at Goyle, he slammed his fist down on the desk with a frustrated expression on his face.
“As you can see, it’s quite the tough material… My hammer is a special one made out of rock ore, you know? In spite of that, it doesn’t dent this blasted sword at all. Even when heated up, it shows no sign of melting… How the hell did they create this thing in the old days?”
“So the Magic Mark can’t be added, then?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you… There must be some special processing method to recast this thing. But I have no idea how to do it!”
“Calm down, Goyle! There’s no need to get so worked up!”
Goyle, who was confident in his own skills, was unable to treat the adamantite Extermination Blade that Reito had brought to him, and had tried various methods over the past few days, but in the end he was unable to even scratch it.
“I’m sorry, but if I can’t do it, there’s nothing the other dwarves in this city can do about it either… There may be a legendary blacksmith who might be able to help you… But I don’t know of any in this city.”
“I see… I understand. I’m sorry I asked for so much.”
“But first, let me ask you a question. Who the hell made this thing? Tell me his name!”
Goyle questioned Reito, who was about to take the Extermination Blade.
However, it was the alchemist Reito himself who had crafted this Extermination Blade. He was uncertain whether he should reveal the truth. After pondering it for a while, he decided to initially discuss his own abilities with a calm demeanor.
“Um… do you know what an alchemist can do, Mr. Goyle?”
“Did you say, ‘alchemist?’ I’ve only heard of them. They’re like a bunch of blacksmiths gone bad.”
It seemed that the profession of “alchemist” was regarded as unfavorable even among the dwarves. Within their ranks, alchemy was seen as a less prestigious counterpart to blacksmithing. However, in reality, if alchemists mastered their abilities, they could freely transform metals that were entirely beyond the skill of blacksmiths to handle.
“Excuse me, can I borrow that hammer?”
“Hmm? You mean this guy? Sure, why not…”
“Thank you.”
Receiving the hammer from Goyle, Reito held out his palm and touched the metal part, first activating ‘Metal Transmutation’ to change the material. He then transformed the hammer into adamantite in front of everyone and swung it down toward the Extermination Blade on the desk.
“Hoi!”
“Hey!”
“Wh-, what?”
“How did you…”
A metallic sound echoed through the air, and unlike when Goyle slammed it down earlier, this time the surface of the Extermination Blade’s blade was slightly dented. Everyone looked astonished at the sight, and Reito returned the hammer to Goyle.
“What the hell did you just do? This metal is supposed to be unbendable…”
“That was a skill called ‘Matter Transmutation’… To put it plainly, I had it transmuted into another metal. That hammer now is made of adamantite.”
“Adamantite?”
“How did you do that!?”
Goyle looked at the hammer. He noticed that the metal itself had changed. He looked at the Extermination Blade to test it out and swung it down himself.
“No way… hmph!”
“What?”
The clang of metal resonated throughout the room once again, followed by a surprisingly cute scream from Ferris.
The spot struck by the hammer bore a dent. Goyle, upon confirming this, gazed at the hammer as if witnessing something unbelievable. Eventually, he observed the metal reverting to its original state as the effect of Reito’s ‘Material Transmutation’ dissipated.
“Are you… actually physically changing the metal?”
“It’s not really a ‘physical change,’ it’s more of a transmutation. It’s one of my alchemy skills. My ability was enhanced by expending my SP on it…”
“What? You used your precious SP to strengthen your alchemy abilities?”
Ferris was surprised by Reito’s statement. She had assumed that Reito had used SP to enhance his combat-related abilities, and was surprised that he had actually enhanced his alchemical abilities, which were considered useless by the general public.
“This ability should be able to be handled by anyone in the alchemist profession. You would have to increase your proficiency and enhance your abilities with SP if you wanted to use it, though…”
“I can’t believe it… you turned my hammer into adamantite, if just for a brief moment. Is this what an alchemist is capable of?”
“I have two other abilities. Please check them out… YAAA!!”
“What the hell!?”
Letting out a strange yell, Reito touched the blade of the Extermination Blade and activated “High Speed Shape Change”. The dented part was restored to its original shape.
Goyle shouted and stood up unconsciously, flustered by Reito’s abilities. Reito had transformed the broadsword, which Goyle couldn’t scrape off even an inch from, just by touching it. Upon seeing that the Extermination Blade had been transmuted to look as good as new, Reito nodded in satisfaction.
“Well, that’s that… It’s called ‘Shape Change.’ I enhanced it with my SP, but it’s a skill that any alchemist can use.”
“I can’t believe it…”
“The other one is ‘Matter Reinforcement.’ In short, it’s the ability to enhance durability. I often use this ability in combat.”
“Enough… what a guy.”
“I can’t believe it. I never thought that an alchemist’s abilities could be so great…”
“Amazing.”
The profession of ‘Alchemist’ was notoriously known for bestowing seemingly useless abilities, but the skills displayed by Reito were so exceptional that they completely overturned this conventional viewpoint.
“I can’t believe I thought it was inferior to blacksmithing!! It’s completely above us in ability… I don’t know which one of us has the loser job…”
“‘Don’t get so down, Goyle. I understand your surprise, though…” commented Ferris.
“It’s not that great of an ability. These three abilities are certainly unwieldy without increasing your proficiency… and they’re by no means all-powerful, either.”
Alchemy was extremely inconvenient if one did not diligently hone their skills. Since these skills were not deemed essential for individuals leading a normal life, it was understandable that this profession was not recognized as a prestigious job.
Reito had a question he wanted to ask Goyle.
“I have one question: how do you engrave a Magic Mark?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. You wanted this to be a magic sword… The Magic Mark is carved into the surface of a weapon’s blade by scraping off the surface and engraving a pattern. At that point, a magic stone is crushed into small pieces and melted, then poured into the grooves and hardened to complete the process. For example, if you want to use a magic sword with a fire attribute, you must prepare a magic stone with a fire attribute.”
“I see… can’t you just implant a magic stone?”
“Yeah, that ain’t gonna work with a magic sword.”
Goyle’s explanation satisfied Reito, and he learned why, in the case of his own Extermination Blade, he could not use the magic sword with the same power of the dwarves’.
“I also have one more question: if I could carve that Magic Mark pattern into my sword, would I be able to use it as a magic sword?”
“Yeah, in a manner of speaking. But as I said before, it’s… No, wait! I’ve got it!!! You can dent the blade with your abilities, right?”
“I can, but…”
“That changes everything! If I can dent this hard metal, I can carve Magic Marks on it! Wait a minute… Hey, someone get me some parchment!!!”
“This way, please.”
Alice immediately responded to Goyle’s request and fetched some parchment and a pen.
Goyle accepted it, spread the parchment on his desk, and scrawled multiple patterns on it.
Goyle drafted the Magic Marks necessary to activate the magic sword, which he spread out on the desk and showed to Reito.
“Look at this. These are all the Magic Marks I know.”
Goyle had scrawled five emblems on the parchment. They were not letters, as even Reito’s translation skills could not decipher them.
According to Goyle, the attributes of these five crests were “Wind, Fire, Water, Lightning, and Earth.” He did not know the crests for “Holy” and “Dark” magic, which were considered unsuitable for combat.
“As far as I know, the most famous magic swords are holy swords. Normally, a magic sword can only handle the magic of one attribute when activated. However, in the case of a holy sword, it can handle the characteristics of multiple attributes simultaneously. In the case of Caledfwlch, the holy sword that defeated the Rotten Dragon, it is said to have both lightning and holy magic attributes.”
“I see.”
“Unfortunately, my skills are not good enough to create a magic sword that can handle multiple attributes at once. But I can embed multiple Magic Marks in the blade. You would be able to make use of each attribute individually as you see fit.”
“So you can carve all the Magic Marks into my sword, then?”
“I can. But… Does that work for you? Can you handle that many attributes?”
“I’ll be alright.”
Since Reito could handle the attributes of all the Magic Marks that Goyle could inscribe, he asked him to inscribe all the Magic Marks. Reito placed his palm on the blade of the Extermination Blade and used his High Speed Shape Change ability to engrave the pattern of the Magic Mark.
“Like this?”
“Yes, yes. Just a little bigger… Stop! That looks good. Carve your next pattern here.”
“Yes, sir.”
As per Goyle’s instructions, Reito engraved the patterns into the surface of the Extermination Blade one after the other. Goyle nodded his head in satisfaction.
“All right! I’ll have all the Magic Marks inscribed by tomorrow morning!”
“Thank you very much.”
“I never thought I’d see the day I’d be applying Magic Marks to a legendary adamantite weapon… my arms are practically shaking!”
After returning the Extermination Blade to his storage stone, Goyle hurriedly left the room, and Ferris was taken aback by his excitement. On the other hand, Reito breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that he could safely make enhancements to the Extermination Blade.
“It looks like he’s in a hurry. Oh well. On a more important note, Mr. Reito, have you thought of a strategy for your fight against an undead opponent?”
“A strategy? Well, I can handle holy magic, if that’s what you mean.”
“I see… To be clear, the only way to counter the undead is with Holy or Fire magic. You have to burn the bodies or purify their souls to defeat them.”
Reito nodded, absorbing Ferris’ advice. This time, he was up against a Dead Man’s Puppet, the most formidable among the undead. His arsenal of holy magic was limited to “Photosphere” and “Ultra Recovery Boost”. Since even recovery magic proved effective against the undead, a wielder’s proficiency in such magic directly correlated to the amount of damage they could inflict upon their adversary.
Alice inquired, “Does Master Reito possess a magic stone with a Holy attribute?”
“Holy attribute… no, I don’t have one.” Reito admitted.
Turning to Ferris, Alice said, “Master Ferris, I believe you have a spare Holy Stone that augments the potency of holy magic, correct?”
Ferris nodded, “Indeed, I prepared a gift for Mr. Reito. It’s ready to be given to him.”
As Alice replied, Ferris, as if remembering, pulled out a white-colored magic stone from her desk that was reminiscent of the sun, and handed it to Reito. Reito accepted it and just by touching it, he knew that it was a magic stone that enhanced his magical abilities just by wearing it. It was just like the “Crimson Stone” and the “Wind Stone” that Reito had obtained the other day.
“You are making use of a magic ring, right? If you put it on, it should increase the effectiveness of your Holy Magic.”
“Can I really accept it? It looks expensive…”
“Don’t worry about it. Thanks to Mr. Reito, our business’s reputation is soaring.”
“Um… Thank you, then.”
Reito gratefully accepted the magic stone and attached it to the magic ring he wore. With this, he now had all the magic stones that increased the effects of magic just by wearing them, except for the lightning and dark attributes. He figured they would come in handy in future battles.
~