Chapter 47: Chakra and Forging Technique Experiments!

While his hands were still feeling hot and practiced, Ryota dug in and hammered out another three short swords.

By the time half a morning had passed, counting in the previous "Short Sword No. 1," he'd already forged a total of four weapons.

Every single one was good enough to be put on the market for sale.

At the entrance of the forge, Hephaestus, with her uncovered crimson eye, stared at Ryota's tirelessly swinging arms for a solid three minutes—completely speechless.

When she finally saw Ryota show no sign of resting and even looked ready to start another blade, she stepped forward with Tsubaki and spoke up:

"Are you trying to make my entire Familia's forge go out of business?"

Ryota looked back over his shoulder and flashed her a grin.

"You're exaggerating, Lady Hephaestus. I just found my rhythm again, so I wanted to get in a few more reps."

Hephaestus couldn't help but study him for another couple of seconds.

If Tsubaki hadn't personally told her about this kid's downright monstrous talent, she might have actually been fooled by that humble attitude of his.

She had been about to say something else when, in the next moment, Ryota suddenly grabbed all of the finished short swords and—with a loud clatter—threw them straight back into the furnace!

"What are you doing—?!"

Tsubaki's face changed on the spot, and she nearly dove over to save the swords.

"Have you lost your mind?! Those were fully finished short swords worth ten thousand valis each! That's four of them—forty thousand—just burned up in one go! Are you crazy?!"

Forty thousand valis!

An average smith might not make forty thousand in an entire year.

And this kid had just finished four fresh, sellable weapons, and then whoosh tossed them into the fire like garbage!

Hephaestus was surprised too, but she noticed Ryota wasn't saying a word.

He simply stood before the furnace, staring intently, as if waiting for something.

It wasn't impulsive, nor reckless, nor just on a whim—

That absolutely still and focused gaze made both Hephaestus and Tsubaki instinctively quiet down.

In the vast forging hall, only the crackle and roar of the flames could be heard.

The two master smiths exchanged a look, both reading the same confusion in each other's eyes.

Their attention returned to the young man before them, and for some reason, a faint sense of anticipation started rising in their hearts—

Ryota, what exactly are you trying to do?

About three minutes later, Ryota suddenly stepped forward and pulled the molten metal of the swords out from the blazing furnace in one go.

A wave of scorching heat shot out in a fiery burst, but he didn't even pause. The hammer pounded down on the still-glowing mass:

Clang! Clang, clang, clang!!

Tsubaki finally caught on, her mouth twitching.

"This kid… he's reforging them?"

Hephaestus, worthy of her title as the Goddess of Smithing, only needed a glance to see through Ryota's intention.

"Mmm. He wants to melt down those short swords and reforge them into a higher-grade longsword. Not a bad idea."

"However—"

The red-haired goddess gently shook her head.

"It is a bit wasteful."

Tsubaki sighed as well.

"Yeah, those short swords were each worth over ten thousand valis… if he wanted a longsword, he could have just started fresh with new stock. Why melt down all four?"

She honestly couldn't wrap her head around it—why this forging genius would insist on taking such a roundabout path.

Their conversation of course made it to Ryota's ears, but he didn't answer. He simply kept his head down, hammering away at the slowly taking-shape longsword.

Clang!

The final strike fell, and a longsword, roughly matching the Kusanagi Sword he'd bought on the ninth floor of Babel, was complete.

A moment later, the metal quickly cooled, and Ryota reached out to lift it.

He weighed it in his palm a couple of times, nodded with satisfaction.

"That should do it."

Tsubaki and Hephaestus came closer, leaning in for a better look.

The sword's blade was a pale white, its surface showing subtle patterns left by quenching, giving it a far more refined look than the short swords. But—

"Well… aside from being prettier, it's nothing special," Tsubaki remarked, hands on her hips, estimating,

"At best worth thirty thousand valis. A bit pricier than the short swords, sure, but you burned four of them as raw material. You're still down ten thousand overall."

But the moment her words fell—

Fwoosh—!

A rush of searing hot air erupted from the blade!

Along the sword's quiet spine, tongues of crimson flame suddenly curled and danced, almost alive as they rolled and twisted through the air.

Tsubaki and Hephaestus both froze, their pupils shrinking in shock.

Especially Hephaestus, the Goddess of Smithing whose skills outshone all other gods, locked eyes on the longsword in Ryota's hand like she'd just seen a priceless treasure. Her breathing even grew subtly restrained.

Those flames snaked through the air, raising the workshop's temperature higher and higher, until the whole place was blanketed in an oppressive, almost terrifying pressure.

This presence…

This power…

After a long, tense moment, Hephaestus finally forced out words, her voice trembling ever so slightly, as if asking permission:

"…Is this… a magic sword?"

In Orario, "magic swords" referred to weapons that could instantly cast magic.

The wielder didn't need to chant, didn't use stamina or Mind; the weapon itself unleashed the magic.

But the sword in Ryota's hand wasn't that kind of "magic sword."

The flames coating its blade were his own doing—

More precisely, Ryota had forcibly infused his own chakra into the blade.

Just like how, in the original series, Uchiha Sasuke could channel Lightning Style chakra through the Kusanagi Sword.

Ryota had drawn on that exact principle.

Except instead of "immediate infusion," he'd chosen to inject that power right from the forging stage—carefully and stably, from the moment the metal first took shape.

So to Hephaestus and Tsubaki, it looked like he was just hammering out a normal steel blank, one blow after the other.

But in truth, each strike had been a means to "fuse" his own power invisibly into the blade's very framework.

Originally, he'd only meant to test the idea—

Who could have guessed it would work perfectly on the first try?

Still—

The sword was not without flaws.

It hadn't used any high-grade materials, just the remelted short swords.

But for now, it was more than enough for Ryota's needs.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ryota chuckled and replied,

"Sort of a magic sword, I guess, but I'm the only one who can use it."

"Sort… of?"

Hephaestus felt her mind go fuzzy all of a sudden.

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