Chainsword Crafter

At breakfast, Hera and George discussed what they had to discuss related to the weapon that the Empress was requesting. Valera also made it clear that George had the permission to look into the materials and spend as much as he wanted to create a legendary grade weapon. As that was the reward she promised. 

That being said, she did make it clear that the matriarch was not going to spend money for mistakes. So, if he were to mess up, he would have to pay for the materials himself. While Hera would still get her legendary weapon, no matter how many times George had to try.

Hera was against that, but it seemed like her position on the matter was not something Valera cared about. The reward was already set, and they were going to give her a legendary grade weapon. Because that was the value of the help she gave them. 

It was somewhat strange to hear Valera saying, 'We are giving you the best possible weapon we can make whether you like it or not.' But Hera wasn't going to argue against it.

Insomniac ended up meeting her after they left the greenhouse and decided to tag along, as he didn't have anything else to do. His job was to help Valera get in contact with Hera and then to help Hera train. But without Hera herself, there was not really anything he wanted to do here, aside from reminiscing with some old friends. 

But even that didn't seem to be a much more attractive prospect. After all, the people in the main house of the clan were very much interested only in his accomplishments and not in himself as a person.

Eventually, after George finished being star struck by the strongest person in the MAZE, they walked over to a house in the forest of this estate, which was where George lived and crafted his weapons and other devices. 

Here, he had an entire room dedicated to displaying the chainswords. Giving Hera a chance to grab them and test the handling without actually turning them on. By themselves, each of the chainswords was decently enough made to not be more than just a blunt instrument. But the real power of them came when they turned on and the chain started to spin. 

Without that, it would take someone rather strong to cut down one tree with those things. But with the chain, even someone at level 10 was able to bring an entire oak down in a matter of minutes.

The Empress walked along the workshop, seeing the weapons that George showed her in pictures. They were all beautiful in their own way. Some had golden guards with tiny blades on the chain, while others were more wild looking, with most of the chain itself exposed and blades of different sizes everywhere. There was even a small pink one with blue plates that was rather cute, although it didn't seem to be all that powerful. However, all the blades were at least of epic rarity.

According to George, he couldn't do something with lower rarity even if he tried. This was not just because of his skill level as he was a Crafter at level 60, but also because of the weapon itself. The chainsword was a very complicated device and the amount of work required to make it was enough to warrant it to be an epic grade item by itself. And like motorized vehicles, if people were able to make it in a single piece and not as a modular thing, it would always come out in an epic grade. 

The reason for that was rather simple. It seemed like the system understood the complexity of items. And the more complicated something was, the more rewarded the Crafter was. Which is why anything that had an actual motor or an engine would generally be at the very least a very rare item, with more often than not being an epic one instead.

But all the weapons had one big issue, which was the reason why Hera was accepting Valera's offer to pay for the materials for a legendary weapon. George, in his attempts to make a proper chainsword that could be used by regular people, always added some version of an unbreakable effect to the weapon. 

Every single one of the chainswords had that either a [Unbreakable] or [Sturdy] or some variation of a skill to make it harder to break. And while it was an interesting idea to have something like that, for Hera's purposes, it would be a wasted skill. 

Even if it would increase her strength and defenses somehow, the Empress didn't feel like having a weapon that was simply unbreakable would help. If she wanted to increase the defense capability of her court, she would go after weapons that had more significant defensive attributes and not just something to hopefully make it stop breaking all the time.

"Okay, Hera, do you mind telling me what exactly are you hoping to get from the sword? Then I can figure out the materials I'm going to have to order. We should have a good amount of them already here in the clan, but I might need to outsource a couple of them, depending on your requirements."

But before she started speaking, she turned to Insomniac.

"You've been around for much longer than I have. If I'm saying something and you have a better suggestion, I'm open to your input, so feel free."

The man nodded, "Sure. I'm not super into crafting, so I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to help you."

Hera nodded and turned back to George.

"You showed me before a few of the versions you created. I really liked the one that had different speeds on the chain and that it could vibrate them to increase the sharpness."

George nodded, "Okay, that's one thing. Well, actually two. I can work with that. I'll probably... this is probably going to take three." He started to write stuff down on a notebook.

Hera roughly understood what he was talking about. It was related to the amount of enchantments and powers he could give to a weapon. Meaning that the two things Hera requested would amount to three enchantments. 

"How many can I get?" the Empress asked. 

"That's going to depend on the materials we're using and how big the enchantments are. I can probably give you all the way up to 12, but those will be minor. If you want more powerful ones, they end up taking more space. So go over the things you want and we will check to see how strong they can be."

"I also like the part about making the chain heat up with you. You know I have a legacy and, well, you know I also have the Azure chain remnants. I'm sure I can combine those effects to affect the entire chain, not just what is on the one you make," Hera added.

"That's something we can do. Do you want it to be just a specific element or would you rather it follow the enchantment you put, temporary buff you put on the weapon?"

"I have all those options?" Hera gasped.

George nodded, "And many more."

"Okay, I think I'm going to take the one where I can choose the enchantment. That would probably be the most useful one of the bunch."

"Especially if you're thinking about like a big chain that extends outside of the weapon. I agree with you," Insomniac added.

Hera paused and turned to Daskka.

"What do you think? Is that going to work?"

The herald, who was mostly quiet during this trip, said after a moment, "Yeah. I think it will, mum."

Hera patted Daskka over her head and turned back to George.

"Yeah. Let's keep it at that."

George nodded.

"Okay, then that would take about four of the 12 slots. We are already at six."

Hera paused for a moment. There were a few interesting attributes he had shown her, but she really wanted a big attacking skill. And since this was going to be a legendary weapon, that might be a very powerful one.

"Do you remember that blood red one that you showed?"

George pointed to the left, where there was this crimson chain blade with every single one of the tiny blades connected to the chain in an almost ruby-like color.

"That one?"

"Yeah. It had this attack skill. It was Blood Red or something."

"Bloody Rend," George corrected.

"Yeah, that one sounds good. Powerful. And it didn't take any mana, but it could only be used once every 5 hours, was it?"

George nodded.

"Yeah. It's a pretty powerful skill."

He tapped a couple things on his tablet and a picture appeared on the wall behind him. It was of a dungeon with a large gash on the ground.

"Basically, it takes energy from the area, blood specifically, and lashes out in the same direction. It's really good. Kind of sucks if you're not fighting something that has blood."

"Would be affected by the enchantment that I place on it?"

George paused for a moment.

"It would, but those..." he looked to the side, "If I'm being honest, those options are not amazing. They are good, don't get me wrong, but if you're wanting a really big attack, I have a better suggestion. There's this one called..."

He pointed at a black chainsword with white blades. On the pommel there was the head of a wolf, but the wolf seemed almost twisted, as if it wasn't quite right. And on the very tip, there were a few symbols that gave off an eerie feeling.

"Do you know how beastmen have that Spirit Armor thing?"

The Empress nodded.

"Okay, so I worked with one of them to make that one. We were able to kind of put the essence of a beast on the weapon and you can call it to attack. This is the Bloody Rend."

He showed the picture on the back wall again.

"And this is the Spirit Claw."

He pressed another button on the tablet, and the image shifted. Now it wasn't just one gash on the floor but three, and unlike the previous, which was a good 50 to 70 meter wound on the ground, this should be at the very least 200 meters long and much deeper.

"The biggest problem here was getting a spirit gem or an item that had a very strong connection with a monster. But I have recently acquired tail scales of a black tortoise."

Hera frowned. The way he said it made it seemed like it was something really important, "A black tortoise? I'm sorry, but is that a specific monster?"

George gasped, "You don't know about it?"

"I can't say I do," Hera replied.

But Insomniac was the one who explained, "The black tortoise is one of a few mythical beasts. That's what we call them. It's not something given by the system. People gave them that name. They are strange creatures that exist in the entire MAZE, not even specific rooms. You may find them in any strong room. It would always be at the very least on the 22nd layer. And they are much more powerful than any monster in the area, even though their levels are roughly the same. They also seem to follow some of the famous beasts from earth. The blue dragon, the white tiger, the phoenix, the kraken, the Leviathan, the behemoth. That's why they gained the name mythical beasts. In reality, they are just those irregular monsters that you can find every now and then."

"There are a few lesser versions of them, like the world turtle, that can show up in the lower layers, but very few people know about it. Just due to how rare they actually are. Hence the name, mythical beasts. Things out of a myth. Fun fact, the world turtle is a minor version of the Black tortoise, whose scales I have," Gorge added.

"Speaking of which, how many do you have? I might be wanting to buy a few." Insomniac turned to the crafter.

George nodded, "We can negotiate. But only after I try to make Hera's weapon. Is that okay?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't want to steal her reward."

"Now, like I was saying, the scales of the black tortoise. It's a very powerful defensive item, but this particular version of the tortoise had a snake as a tail. It was a two-headed creature. And the skin I got is from the tail itself, which..." he gestured to the Empress, "kind of fits your motif and I feel like this might be fate."

Hera laughed at that, "I wouldn't call this hardly a motif when I'm quite literally a different species than you, but that sounds interesting. What kind of attack do you think it will have?"

"Highly acidic poison. Or a large sweeping slash. Because of the way the skin is, I believe it will be the latter, but I'm not entirely sure if that's what's going to happen. As the beast itself is the one who chooses the attack. It could also be something defensive that comes from the tortoise and not the snake on its tail."

The Empress nodded.

"Okay, I kind of like that. It feels a bit like fate, like you said. You can use that one and let's use the skin then. I had a friend of mine who had a beast armor and I know how powerful it could be."

"Oh, did you lose him? I am really sorry to hear that." George gave her a sad smile. 

"He's still alive. He just... we kind of drifted apart. Too many memories of the war together. I do need to talk to him soon, though. And having that might be a good idea to show off."

George nodded with a smile.

"Of course. Tell me what he thinks about my creation later. I have cleared this with the beastmen and they know this type of work is going to exist, so it shouldn't be any problems. But if there are, let me know and I'll stop making them. I don't want to cause any issues between anyone, really."

They went over a few more specifications, mostly focusing on how the chain blade was going to look. And after it, they gave George a few minutes to draw up a sketch of the final result. He didn't want to leave anything to the imagination and wanted to be sure that the Empress was going to receive exactly what she wanted.

During the time, Hera and Insomniac looked over the area just checking his creations. And after a few minutes, the Empress noticed a strange hollow handle. It was simple and just a metal tube wrapped in leather with a gem on top. But the item had one skill in particular that she couldn't believe she was found here.

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Handle of Unbreaking.

Any weapon that is attached to the handle will have an increased resistance to being broken. And in a case that it is broken, the weapon will discharge a powerful explosion, while maintaining the handle's integrity.

The strength of said explosion will be based on the rarity of the weapon.

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