BXBX NOVEL Chapter 120 – Black Market Tenth Shopping (9)
“Bang Bang Bang”
Kargos was diligently hammering away at the anvil. Sungjin, as always, stood by as to avoid disturbing him during his work. But no matter how long he waited, the hammering didn’t stop.
It was 5 in the morning, and everything other than the Smithy was shrouded in darkness. Sungjin stood and waited for over two hours. Once the sun began to rise over the horizon, Kargos finally wiped the sweat off his brows and said
“Whew... finished.”
Whether or not it was due to the fact that the Dragon’s Heart was a difficult material to work with, or because a sword had to be made from scratch, it took much longer than when he had the Moon Specter upgraded.
Sungjin who had waited with his arms crossed walked up to him and tapped him on the back.
“Thank you for your hard work, Kargos.”
“Eh. Go ahead and take it. This is your fourth sword now.”
Kargos handed the sword to Sungjin.
“Wow...”
Sungjin couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. It was not because of the sword but because of the elegance and beauty of the scabbard. The scabbard which was made of steel was decorated with images of a Dragon’s teeth and tongue, and flames which shot out of them. When Sungjin tilted the scabbard to inspect it closer, the flames seemed to come alive and dance.
“Wow, when did you make this, Kargos?”
“Well...yesterday morning... Dragon’s Heart wasn’t quite fully melted when I finished Artemio, so I put some work into this.”
“Thank you, Kargos.”
“Eh, you are our smithy’s regular. By the way, shouldn’t you check the content too, don’t you think?”
As he suggested, Sungjin pulled the sword out of the sheath. From the tip of the sword to the hilt, the entire blade was black in color.
It did not have a crossguard, so the boundary of the blade and the handle was difficult to find without looking closely. But its simplicity added to its beauty.
‘Dragon’s Heart’ needs to remain in one chunk he said... so is that why it’s shaped like this...?’
Sungjin thought as he lifted the blade above his head. Held like this, it looked like an elongated horn.
Nameless Sword – Nameless Sword
Legendary Katana – Strength S Dexterity A Magic Power B
Active Skill
Mana Flow (I) – Provides half of the mana used for the next 10 seconds. Depending on the size of the Dragon’s Heart, there is a limit to mana provided.
Passive Skill
Mana Respiration (I) – The Dragon’s Heart and the user restores 1% mana per second.
The first thing he noticed was the name.
‘Nameless Sword... There’s no name?’
Sungjin checked the information underneath. The Stats boosts were on the ordinary side for a Legendary Class weapon, but it was special in that it also had a boost for Magic Power.
‘How fitting for a spellblade.’
And finally the all-important skills. Active and passive both were related to mana. Mana Respiration passive was something he could substitute to an extent with Moon Specter, so it was not all that impressive.
‘Well, it is better when there aren’t any monsters to kill nearby...’
The most eye-catching thing was the Mana Flow. Between the ‘Unique Legendary’ class swords he carried like Moon Specter, Blood Vengeance, and Artemio, the reason why he would choose this sword would most likely be in order to use this Active.
‘It can provide half the Mana cost... with this passive... Soldamyr was right... It looks like an active skill true to the nature of the Dragon’s Heart is imbued to the sword.’
Since it provided half the mana, it was like doubling his Mind Power. The only part he hesitated on was that there was an upper limit.
‘Hmm... it means it cannot give unlimited mana. I don’t know how much it will end up being... but it should be more than what I have.’
While Sungjin was looking at the sword’s specs, Kargos asked from the side.
“How is it? Do you like it?”
“Ah... Yes. I think I’ll have to study the skills a bit more but... It looks like the sword we had hoped for was made. Although... this sword... it doesn’t have a name, does it?”
“Of course it doesn’t have a name. It’s hot off the workshop. Go ahead and name it however you like.”
“Hmm... what should I name it...”
Sungjin pondered for a moment while holding the sword.
‘I don’t have much confidence in naming things... The sheath has a figure of dragons inscribed upon it... the Blade itself is made of the Dragon’s Heart itself... well... the name should include a dragon somehow, right?’
Sungjin thought for a moment about Dragons. And so he came to think of the Dragons he had met the last raid.
‘Khal Gal... and Ariane...’
And among them, he found a name he liked.
“Ariane.”
“Hmm? Ariane?”
“A person... I mean a Dragon I am indebted to... and I was wondering if it would be okay to name this sword after her.”
“Hmm, Ariane. It sounds rather feminine... I think it matches this sword perfectly. When I made this sword... I imagined a rather cold, expressionless... perfectionist mid 30s woman as I was working.”
Somehow Kargos’ image of the sword matched Sungjin’s perfectly.
‘Well... instead of 30s, she was closer to 3000s something woman... but she did look about 30 outwardly.’
Sungjin said to him
“I’ll use the name Ariane.”
“And the nickname?”
“For the nickname...”
Sungjin thought for a moment, but Kargos suggested
“What about Dragon Lady? I think it matches this sword’s image perfectly.”
“Ah, that sounds good. I’ll go with that.”
“Then tell the Operator, that you want to name the nameless sword.”
“Operator. I want to name this sword. The name is Ariane, and the nickname is Dragon Lady.”
[Clearly state the name and nickname one more time please.]
“Name is Ariane, nickname is Dragon Lady”
[Ariane – Dragon Lady, is this correct?]
“Yes”
[This item is now Ariane – Dragon Lady. The new name of the item will be valid in case of equipping, de-equipping, or selling.]
Sungjin tried swinging the new sword Ariane once or twice. Perhaps due to being made of Dragon’s Heart, it was slightly on the light side.
“Thank you, Kargos, for making me such an amazing sword.”
“Yeah yeah. Well... when you get more Enhancement stones, bring it back. I am also curious to see how far this one will grow.”
“Ah... Ok got it.”
Sungjin nodded. No matter how good Ariane’s Passive and Active skills were, he wouldn’t be able to do more than some trivial tests for the moment.
The new sword was a rank lower than all three other swords; Moon Specter, which can imbue enemies with a powerful sense of fear, Blood Vengeance, with its immensely high damage output, Artemio, a sword specialized in hunting down mages. Thus, It could be difficult to justify using it as one of the main swords.
“Then I will see you later.”
“Alright. And the price is... oh right, you already paid.”
“That’s right.”
“Ok. Come back when you need me.”
Sungjin left behind the smithy and made his way towards Ninety Nine Nights again. He thought about Ariane’s Active skill Mana Flow as he walked.
‘Since it could basically double my mana... Even with the Ring of the Great Sage’s Active skill, I can use up to Class 4 spells. I should ask Soldamyr what spells are good to use.’
Since the Magic Power jumps up by 5 times, doubling his Mind Power barely made up the difference. He would have to focus on raising his Mind Power for a while. While he was thinking this, he suddenly had a realization.
‘Wait... If Magic Power multiplier bonus is B... it is 1.0x. And if I use the Ring of the Great Sage... the bonus from Magic Power becomes 5.0x!’
Even SSS grade only granted 4.0x multiplier, but using this sword with the Ring of the Great Sage Active Skill would temporarily boost the damage bonus higher than a SSS grade weapon could.
“Whoa...”
Sungjin stopped to stare at his new Sword Ariane.
*
Sungjin finally arrived at Ninety Nine Nights. The time was already 7:30. Rajenta and Cain had already woken up and were romping around. Sungjin who saw them play remembered
‘Ah... Right. I got another Pulp of Evolution last round.’
“Cain stay there.”
He ordered Cain to remain.
“Rajenta, follow me.”
“Kyan?”
Rajenta tilted his head 45 degrees to the side.
“I’ll give you something nice, so come along.”
Rajenta followed Sungjin away from the Inn’s courtyard. Once he checked that he was far enough from Shadowrun and Cain, Sungjin placed his hands on the cube and said
“Operator, give me the Pulp of Evolution.”
The fruit came out of the cube. And not even a second later Rajenta snapped at the fruit with his beak and swallowed it whole.
“Yeah yeah, I told you I was going to give you something nice.”
Rajenta’s body glowed brightly as he began to grow.
“Uhh...”
But he was growing much larger than Sungjin had anticipated. Rajenta was originally half as tall as Cain, but now he was much taller than Cain.
‘Whoa... I knew that Griffins were said to be tall...’
Unlike the time with Cain, no message came announcing that Rajenta had risen by a class. But he had now grown very large; Large enough to ride.
“Kuu?”
Rajenta seemed to find it odd that the world, including his master, suddenly shrank in size.
“I didn’t shrink, Rajenta. You grew up. Can you fly now?”
“Kuuun”
Rajenta flapped his wings from where he stood and lifted himself into the air. His golden wings flashing in the light as he soared into the air was quite a sight to behold.
‘Royal Griffin? I had heard it was a precious bloodline... I can see why. But now that I think of it since he grew up this much... I might be able to bring him into combat.’
Sungjin finished his thoughts and left, leaving Cain who was barking at the flying Rajenta behind as he entered the Ninety Nine Nights. Because he had spent so much time at the Smithy, he didn’t have much left before the raid began. Sungjin showed the new sword to Soldamyr and said
“Soldamyr, this is the sword made of the Dragon’s Heart.”
“Ooh, is that right? What about its specs?”
Sungjin held Ariane up. The Operator showed the newly modified Ariane’s spec sheet with the name applied.
Ariane – Dragon Lady
Legendary Katana – Strength S Dexterity A Magic Power B
“Ooh, it supplies half the mana used? That means...”
Sungjin exchanged words with Soldamyr about the new Sword’s abilities and how it might be used when
‘Rumble...’
A sound came from his stomach.
‘Ah... it’s already time for breakfast.’
Sungjin turned to Dalupin to say
“Dalupin, for today...”
He was about to order but he stopped himself.
“Ahh, wait a second please.”
He paused to ask the Operator
“Operator, how much time is left before the raid?”
[1 hour and 26 minutes]
It wasn’t too late. It was likely time for everyone to have breakfast. Sungjin returned to his bedroom. On the table was the Information sheet he had received last night.
Sungjin brought the sheet back down to the ground floor and sat on the table. Sungjin made another request of the Operator.
“Please give me the Helix Staff.”
The staff emerged from the cube. Sungjin tapped the staff on his shoulder as he read the first line of the information sheet.
‘Information on Kariharan Frostplains’
‘Hmm, this place...’
He recalled the last time he had done this raid. He even knew where the hidden piece was. Sungjin picked up the staff as he continued to read the sheet. He thought it would be a good idea to introduce everyone to each other before the Raid began. Sungjin lifted up the staff and said
“Draft”
It was time for a meeting over breakfast. From the cube, images of Serin, Nada, and Franz appeared.